Chapter 38

Strange Words

Sylvie ran along the railing of her training rink, the tall
posts that marked every five feet blurred almost to a solid line. As she
practiced her forms for the show, she ran through what Taryn had told her that
morning on her mother's condition.

"Sylv, I just don't know what's wrong with her." Taryn had
said fretfully. "She's taking the medication, and Halls tells me her legs are
getting stronger, but she seems so weak when I see her. She has to meet me at
the window, and can only get outside with extreme pain."

"Pain?" Sylvie said in surprise. "I didn't think her disease
had caused her pain there in a while. Something about the nerve clusters being
dead or something?"

Taryn nodded. "That's true. You remember how she was before
this whole craziness started. She had been weak and unable to get out of bed
for more than a few minutes at a stretch. After I was a centaur she was able to
come out for that ride for longer, but it taxed her horribly. While we were on
the farm your mom told us that she had been working on getting stronger every
day, and was staying up longer. Now…" Taryn seemed on the verge of tears. When
Sylvie had gone to put her arm around her, Taryn had brushed her off. "It's
okay." She muttered. "I can do this." Taking a deep breath, she continued. "Now
she can't stay upright on her own at all, her body is fighting constant pain,
and according to Halls, her condition isn't improving even with her getting her
regular meds again."

Sylvie hadn't wanted to bring this up, but she knew it had
to be asked. "Do…do you think Nightshade is poisoning you mother to keep her
weak?"

Taryn had jerked back slightly, and then her eyes had
narrowed thoughtfully. "I wouldn't put it past him." She said thoughtfully,
"But I don't think so. Mom's condition is delicate enough as it is. Any poison
that Nightshade could give her in her state would more likely kill her than
anything else. He won't risk that."

Sylvie nodded in relief. "Well, at least I don't have to
worry about that, although it would have been nice."

"WHAT!" Taryn had almost shrieked. Returning her voice to a
whisper, Taryn had glared at her and bristled like a hedgehog. "What are you
saying, you'd rather my mom was poisoned?"

"Yeah," Sylvie said bluntly. "If it was, then we could stop
it, your mom would get her strength back quicker, and then we could risk
sneaking her out past the guards, get on a boat or something back to the
states." It seemed so obvious to her. Why couldn't she see it? Taryn had always
been the smarter of them.

She shrugged uneasily. "I guess you have a point there." She
muttered balefully.

"Well, we can only deal with what we've been given." Sylvie
muttered back quietly. "And Tar? I'm so sorry about that. I was a jerk."

"Yeah, you were. But I forgive you." Taryn said after a
moment.

Sylvie was relieved. She hated when they argued. "I guess
we're out of options then, until you mother is better." Sylvie said resignedly.
"We won't be getting out of the show anytime soon."

"I guess so." Taryn said quietly. She seemed to be thinking.
Sylvie had a feeling about what.

"Look Tar, even if she gets stronger in a month, Nightshade
will have us in Africa before then. We'll have to stick with him there because
he knows people and we'd get lost in a heartbeat. I hope it isn't a long
engagement, and he'll take us up to Paris. I've got some friends there who
would be able to help us."

"You do?" Taryn asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I had that semester abroad, and my class was given
the choice between Paris and Berlin, and we chose Paris."

Sylvie shook her head irritably. The plan sounded all well
and good, but that meant at least another half a year of living with Nightshade
and his carnival. Sylvie was unsure if she would be able to do that. Why did
everyone else in this stupid carnival have to be so blasted nice? Sylvie waved
absently to the Congars, a nice couple that worked with the show's laundry
group. Nightshade had convinced them to work for him after paying their
daughter's college bills. Sylvie had been asking around as cautiously as she
could, and found that Nightshade's preferred method for enslaving his workforce
(though no one else put it quite like that) was to help people out of a
financial jam and then ask that they work for him to pay off the debt. The
money he paid was good, and higher than most of them had made before, plus the
chance to see new places all the time. By the time the worked off their debts,
most were happy with what they had. Few approved of what Nightshade had done to
her and Taryn, but Sylvie was sure none of them wanted to go out on a limb to
help. It was a troublesome fact that was going to make escape from Nightshade
that much more difficult.

"Hello Sylvie." Ed Johnson waved cheerfully as he walked by
carrying a couple of pipes over his shoulder.

"Hello ED." Sylvie waved back politely. "Still having
trouble with your water pipe, huh?" Sylvie knew Ed's RV had been having issues
with leaks in his water line. Apparently he was going to fix it for good.

"Yep, but hopefully not for much longer." Ed said. "By the
way, how's Taryn doing? I see her around, but she's always talking to her mom
and I don't want to interrupt them."

"She's fine, I guess." Sylvie kicked herself mentally. That
was way too fast. Indeed, Ed's eyebrow had climbed his face a bit at her tone.

"Glad to hear it. It's nice Nightshade was willing to pay to
bring her mom out here. Not a lot of bosses willing to do that."

You have no idea,
Sylvie said mentally. Aloud, she told him, "Yeah, he seems to be a nice guy
now." Sylvie hated lying, but was becoming used to it. Nightshade had spread
the rumor that he had heard that Taryn's mom had been sick and had brought her
out to the show to be with her daughter. Taryn, and through her Sylvie, had
been strongly encouraged to stick to that story in order to keep everything
peaceful. Sylvie hadn't thought the story would work, but it appeared that
Nightshade's people were more comfortable with their delusions than with
reality.

"Tell her I said hello. I'd like to stay and watch, but that
pipe isn't going to fix itself!" Ed gave her another wave and walked off.

Sylvie returned to her practice seething. The lack of
reality in this flea-bitten circus was unreal. Pun intended. Sylvie worked on
her forms for more than an hour and then headed back to her trailer to cool
off. A quick shower later, and she felt at least presentable, though it seemed
to take forever for her horse body to dry. It really wasn't all that bad,
Sylvie supposed. At least she wasn't shaggy and long-haired with a thick winter
coat yet. Sylvie supposed that was the nice thing about being in the southern
equator, it was warm enough that her body didn't make her a natural sweater.

Outside, the air was cold on her damp hide. Sylvie shivered
and drew her stage jacket a little closer around her. The nice thing about
working for a homicidal maniac with drug connections is that the clothing
quality was top-notch. Sylvie was sure it was real buckskin, and it was
surprisingly warm and comfortable.

On her way to the arena, Sylvie felt her horse hide dry,
which made the air around her seem that much warmer. Sylvie started to walk
towards the RVs, determined to find Taryn and talk to her. The perimeter fence
was lined with faces of people that had high hopes of seeing her. They nudged
each other and pointed cameras at her while the security guards Nightshade had
hired, along with some of the handlers, did their best to shoo them away.
Sylvie had seen it so much that it no longer registered; she was much more worried
about what she would have to say to Mrs. Grogan. This would be the first time
they had spoken since Nightshade kidnapped her. What did someone say to the
mother of your best friend that you had practically betrayed? Sorry just seemed
so insignificant. A Band-Aid to cover a gushing wound.

Sylvie still hadn't found any answers by the time she had
made it to missus Grogan's trailer. It was a nice RV, Sylvie noticed
distractedly. A fresh coat of paint glinted in the sun, and a mural of a
rearing Taryn in full war regalia was painted on the side. Sylvie blinked, she
was painted on there too! Dressed in buckskin and aiming that rifle, she was
behind Taryn and slightly to the left. The mural looked good; it had to have
been done by Mark, one of the handlers. He was an excellent artist.

Taryn, the real Taryn, came trotting around the corner of
the RV with her mom riding on her back. Mrs Grogan had a huge smile on her face
as she leaned against her daughter's back grasping her around the middle so she
didn't fall off. Taryn saw her and waved, turning slightly to come over to her.

"Hey Sylv, what'cha doing? Taryn asked as she came to a stop
in front of her.

"Not much." Sylvie replied. "Just wanted to talk to your
mom, and to remind you that we have a show in an hour and a half. You might
want to take your shower now so you aren't performing wet."

"That's a good idea." Taryn agreed sweatily. She turned
around so Sylvie could help her mom off her back, and then waited while Taryn
hugged her goodby. When Taryn had trotted off the way Sylvie had come, Sylvie nervously
decided to start the conversation.

Sylvie opened her mouth to comment on the trailer, but what
came out was; "I'm so sorry Missus Grogan! I didn't mean…I swear I never wanted
this to happen to you. I mean, I never wanted any of this to happen at all, but
it's MY fault, not Taryn's. I was so stupid to stand in front of that glass, if
I hadn't…I mean…"

"SYLVIE!" Mary shouted. Shocked, Sylvie subsided, nervously
scudding a hoof across the ground. "I don't blame you, never did. None of this
was your fault," she continued in a more normal tone. Sylvie desperately wanted
to agree with her, but she knew the truth. "I know what you're thinking, and it's
not true. I don't hate you, and I CERTAINLY never blamed either of you for my
abduction. In fact, I was glad of it, for I got to see my baby girl again."

"But you don't understand, Missus Grogan." Sylvie said
miserably. She told her what had happened that day they had met Nightshade, how
she had wanted to get a better look at the man meeting her father and had wound
up giving themselves away. How, by wanting to remove that stump and prove her
worth, she had gotten Ben's parents killed in their night-clothes. How, because
of her desire to get on the news so folks would see her, and she could expose
Nightshade, he had reacted by kidnapping her. And she finished by telling how
Nightshade was transporting them all to Africa at the end of the week, and how
the next opportunity to escape wouldn't come until they made it to Paris, which
could be a couple of years.

By the time Sylvie had finished, Mary had gone to her bed
and was sitting there, propped on her elbows, listening. Sylvie was leaning up
against the window frame, looking in. Mary had a thoughtful look on her face. "It's
a good plan." She finally said, jade eyes coming to rest on Sylvie's face. "There
are lots of factors that you can't anticipate of course, but having your friends
stage a distraction and running in the confusion is smart. Getting out to the
embassy is genius." Mary said admiringly. "Nightshade won't dare follow you
there, and he would be forced to pack up and run before the police snap him up."

Sylvie blushed under the praise. "Thanks Mrs. G"

"You're welcome, Sylvie. Don't give up hope though; things
may work out for the best soon."

"What?" Sylvie asked, confused.

"Did I say something dear?" Mary blinked slowly. "I'm not
sure anymore. It's been a while since I rested."

Oops. Taryn would kill her if Sylvie let Mrs. Grogan hurt
herself by staying up. Making her apologies, Sylvie turned and walked away,
pondering her last words. What did Mary mean? Or was it simply the woman's
optimism and hope coming through her tiredness? Sylvie wasn't sure, but hoped
that if it was a delusion, then she was able to make it last for Taryn's sake.