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Chapter 1:
A Magician, A Mirror and Mowz Bil-Laban
A veil of black suede billowed upwards. It was a cloak of mystery and hovering above it a skeleton’s sun stained arms reached, its slender bony hands grasping the material. With a swift pull, the bony figured revealed the bright red inner lining of the cloth. Upon the revelation, the skeleton and the cloak twisted and turned about, as if being blown in a strong torrent of wind, until it vanished, leaving an enormous pillar of a man.
The giant’s garments were rather outlandish and obviously had the motif something of a magician. His chest was branded with a large crimson question mark, a black and white striped pattern down the sides of it. Baggy at the hips pants also had the same recurring colors. His forest green cape blew behind him, as if he was beamed with strong gusts of wind, though there was no wind present in the small market square.
With such a spectacular entrance several people going about their daily business in the desert market couldn’t help but hustle over to the giant of a man. Like a mouth to a flame, this was something unique for the wearily law stricken province. The magician stood at 6’8”. His squinted blue eyes gazed down at them, though the gaze of his peeps seemed lifeless and empty he was prepared to perform quite the show for them. His sharp mustache ranged from cheek to cheek, twitched as his lips formed a crocodile grin. He then took the navy blue, almost black top hat off of his head to greet them; it had a checkered ribbon at the rim and a large yellow question mark on it as well.
“Good morrow to you all, I am the ultra-fantastic Davoski the tricky.” His thundering voice introduced himself, lifting the hat off his head to greet them. With a sudden bout of weakness his trunk sized arm plummeted downwards as if the hat had suddenly become extremely heavy.
The hat rolled to the ground and like a tumbling coin did a small dance as it landed top down., The opening of the hat was presented for all to see as a pair of sleek, silk covered limbs popped upwards from it. The arms of a young maiden stood erect from the foot tall hat as it sat on the ground. They wriggled about, causing the hat to wobble.
“Ah, she’s stuck.” He spoke with an amused-annoyed voice to the crowd, placing bulky gloved palm to his forehead.
A muffled voice came from the hat. The man kneeled down to captivate the crowd with his misfortunate. “Tis my assistant and she is in need of something…”
“Pmnd… pmnd..” The girl’s voice continued to mumble.
“Ah-ha, she needs a Pound.” The man chirped, flipping a coin into the hat. Her arms came out a bit further, as if the money enchanting her to come into existence.
The people stared with anticipation at the hat. Several cocking brows, a couple skeptics tilting their head’s sideways, wondering if there was an actual girl in the hat or if it was some sort of mechanical apparatus. The hum of questions amongst the people whispering to one another grew.
With a smirk and tilting his glasses back to his face, Davoski knew they were now captivated, the show would go on. “Hold on… I’ve got some more somewhere…” He checked the trick pockets of his cape, all sorts of knickknacks spilling out. From canned snakes, to instant flowers, but he couldn’t produce any more money.
“Coin.” A little boy offered the man a single Pound.
“Now, now I couldn’t accept that.” He lied.
Soon several others who were more curious about the trick more than the act offered their money as well.
“All so gracious, now let’s set her out of this conundrum.” He smiled to them all as his poured a small handful of money over the hat.
Soon the slender arms grabbed the hat’s rim and pulled its own body out. A rather curvaceous, yet extravagantly dressed assistant climbed out of the hat, her ample chest got stuck, but she managed to mold the pliable mounds to fit her way, squishing herself, then her hips got caught. Davoski looked to the audience for more money, which a few more pounds were offered and the hat seemed to grow to fit her hips.
“My assistant needs to cut down on those Mowz, if you know what I mean.” He held a hand to his cheek slyly whispering to the audience. Mowz being a popular banana milk to the region.
Now free from the confines of the hat, his assistant was wearing an ensemble composing of a white veil, with an upright and to the side cone, almost like an elf’s hat, which framed her slightly tanned face. Her bosom was clad in a sandy white brassiere with a moon and star shaped pendant at the center of her bundled up breasts..
Though her outfit was skimpy compared to all the women dressed in saris and the traditional covering of drapery over the head, Her elegant climb from the shadow hat and the way she held herself as the magician’s assistance went over well. Once standing, feet still in the hat, she leapt doing a front flip, landing on her feet. . Her half skirt billowing behind her, while her legs were tightly wrapped in lace and silk, she had tall, white leather foot ware, which clicked against rocks, as she dutifully avoided sinking her heels into the sand.
She was juggling all the coins that had freed her, throwing each one into the air one last time, having them vanish. Standing beside Davoski she was dwarfed by his massive height, being only 5’5” he nearly had a two foot difference over her.
“The Gods, accept your tokens for freeing me.” She gave them a smirk and a wink, she was about to introduce herself as Shielsia, the mystical genie of the hat, but instead she turned to Davoski, her crimson eyes, like his in a way seemed dead and had a soullessness to them, but her well animated body made up for it as she pointed to him in a façade of ferocity.
“I…I couldn’t breathe in there, now I feel like I’m going too…” She was purpose breaking character from the genie in the hat motif to add a bit of humor to the act. She wobbled about as if she was light headed.
“Hmm, seems like you have a case of the Tricky’s!” He announced to the gawking and building crowd, laughing as if her illness was a joke, and of course it was part of their act.
He opened his glove covered hand and snapped his fingers, the overly large draping garment materialized a large egg shaped pill in his palm. “This oughta do the trick.”
The girl suddenly looked even sicker than before. She covered her mouth with her hands and shook her head frantically. “See, I’m all better now!” A feint of fear for the foul feeling pill she clasped in her hands.
“Eyes, look your last!” He quoted after the pill transaction. He was fidgeting a couple hidden mirrors in his cape, there were also some in the hat and planted in the panes of the buildings beside them. Nobody in the audience seemed to notice. The beauty Shielsia had brought to the act was distracting enough, any good trickster would guide the audience’s attention to anything besides what was actually being done to perform the art.
“Come bitter conduct… Unsavory guide…” She gritted her teeth taking the large capsule, and popping it into her mouth. She wobbled even more, the white skirt covered her as she fell over, her body completely concealed by it.
“Come, come, be not your last stand!” he kicked the skirt to get her up. “Tsk, lazy Americans…”
A couple small giggles sounded, but were silenced as soon as he pulled the large white cloth away from the girl revealing that there were now four of them. The people gasped. Each girl moved precisely the same, so in order to keep the allusion she didn’t move much.
Davoski had twisted the large white skirt he removed from her with the darker cape he used to open his act and threw them in the air, connecting each one to different poles, making a canopy, blocking out the sun’s interference with the mirror trick.
“The Tricky spell’s secret has been in shroud of myriad rumors, until now. Anybody want to take one home?” He jest his arm hovering over the four Shielsia’s on display, but one guy raised his hand, in it a wad of bills.
“Tis a steep price my friend.” Davoski warned, whilst auctioning the illusive Shielsia’s off.
The man shuffled into his wallet, fetching out even more money, to which a small knife pierced them and stuck them to a wall. Davoski pulled the fishing line attached to the knife, bringing the stack of cash toward him in another hovering illusion.
“Sold to the highest bidder!” He took the man and dragged him over to a sarcophagus, opening it there was another image of the beautiful assistant, she was winking.
“Iresh, wait, Sir I…” The man didn’t want to be put in, as he was clausterphobic.
“Reap your benefit my gracious man.” The magician pushed him in, locked it and chained it up, keeping the crowd upon him and not the illusion girls. He turned to them. “In order to claim such a wayward girl, one shall have to journey to a darker realm of existence.” He chuckled, leaving the man locked in the practically sound proof coffin.
He smirked. “The magnificent Davoski still has three girls to give away.” He kicked the hat up off the ground, catching it, then tossed it like a Frisbee at his assistant, but the hat became three covering up each remaining girl. Now three giant hats stood, a daunting question mark on each one.
“A callous enterprise that I may run, but 100 pounds to choose a hat.” He was whoring out his assistant in a game of chance.
Now that she no longer had to be on display, Shielsia was tucked behind the ample cover Davoski’s cape gave off. The girl was drinking an ice tea pouch. “Hey we got plenty I think, don’t screw around too long, or else they’ll catch on you’re no pimp!” She was counting her coins and bills in the dark void.
Davoski’s sun burnt face frowned and he elbowed his cape, which made an audible squeak. “Ah, no sir I guess she left that hat, care for another go, what about you?” He was looking for more cash, handing each sum of bills to the girl in his cape.
Though she now had a bump on top of her head, she was more focused on counting the money. Gypsy life was easy and it paid well, but you couldn’t stay in one place for too long. “536 pounds. That is enough, let’s split.” She whispered.
“How lazy, can you get?” This time he was openly speaking to her from behind his cape.
Suddenly picked her up and held her over his head. “Aha-here’s the ticket, 750 pounds for the night!” He acted as if she came from the sky rather than his cape.
A scrawny, scruffy looking man had offered 750 pounds for her company for the rest of the day.
“You sick… Get off!” She struggled, but her miniscule size was nothing compared to Davoski’s powerful form. He made the transaction and left her, in a puff of smoke. A trick that could even at the worst times evade Shielsia.
There she stood alone with several strangers, some upset having been ripped off and one of full intent of using her services for the night. She frowned. “Look guy- I…”
He pulled out his wallet and showed her pictures of his family. “Is daughter’s birthday miss…”
“Birthday…?” She gave him a freaked out smile, but since he didn’t seem to be a pervert and he was sincere she went along to treat his family to a magic show, the whole time grumbling vengeance against her dad.
It was a shyly lit bar, the desert night keeping the drinks cold, as the ‘exuberant’ Davoski sucked down another glass of Banana milk with rum. He no longer had his magician outfit, he now looked more like a businessman beaten by the world, in his disheveled dress shirt. Another untouched dish was in front of him. His eyes looked even more empty and sorrowful with each swig of his drink, then he was bashed hard on the head.
“Ah Shielsia, did he make a woman of you yet?” It was obvious he was carrying a heavy burden on his mind.
“Don’t gimme that crap, you’re lucky he wasn’t a creep or else you’d all be done.” She sat on a stool beside him. The bar keep offering her a drink, but she just waved him off. She then glared at the duck entre. “So what’s that?”
“Your share of the profits girl.”
“H-how much?”
“320 pounds, plus tip-“
She went to hit him again yelling. “You know we can’t even taste that! Why would you piss away our money on it?!” The angry contortions of her face could crack a mirror.
He caught her fist, not even flinching away from his drink. “Y’know, I miss the taste of Coor’s and Limerock…” His heavy tone was finally noticed. “The cool spring breeze.”
“What, of America? Even if we go back it’s not going to be the same.” She gazed at him with concern. They had both suffered a great tragedy, but this was the first time it seemed to take its toll on him. Her wide reddish eyes stared unblinking. “We can’t feel sorrow, we can’t feel joy, what would going back do?”
“Well staying here isn’t going to do us any good either. We’ve checked every desert with a fine comb; those millennium items are long gone.” He sighed taking another swig of his drink. His eyes then matched hers with stern and commandment. “Besides, don’t you think it’s time to stop living like this. Maybe we’re not cursed; maybe we just lost our way.”
For the first time she could see insecurity in her dad’s face, it frightened her, though he like her was a con artist she could tell when he was being sincere.
She took a bite of the duck, tasting nothing at all. The sweet succulent sauces, the spices all wasted on her palate. Her lips smacked annoyed by this, even unsure of how to chew the damned thing.
“I phoned my friend… He didn’t seem too happy to hear from me but-“
“We’re just going to bug him huh? Sounds stupid. I’m staying here until I die, or fine a way to undo this curs-“ Her head dropped and she was snoring.
Davoski smirked. He knew without the taste drugging her would be an easy task. “She’s had a bit too much to drink.” He lied to the bar tender as he threw Shielsia over his shoulders and took to the road. Next stop Cairo International airport, then Chesston Road Island.
 Shielsia · Tue Aug 06, 2013 @ 01:59am · 0 Comments |
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