Needless to say, there were a lot of very garish and outlandish outfits for sale—singing boots, aquarium hats, moonbeam underwear—but only Charry (who did buy the singing boots) gave in to the merchants’ relentless salesmanship. The rest all chose comfortable clothes that they could wear without embarrassment when they eventually moved on from Babilonium.
The Carnival Island was all Candy and Malingo had hoped it would be, and more. It attracted people from right across the archipelago, so there were all kinds of shapes and faces, garments, languages and customs. The visitors from the Outer Islands, for instance—from Autland and Speckle Frew—were dressed simply and practically, their sense of Carnival limited to a new waistcoat or a little fiddle playing as they walked. Celebrants from the Night Islands, on the other hand—from Huffaker and Jibbarish and Idjit—were dressed like escapees from a magician’s dream, their masks and costumes so fantastic that it was hard to know where the audience ended and the entertainment began. Then there were the travelers from Commexo City, who favored a certain cool modernity in their outfits. Many wore small collars that projected moving images up around their faces—masks of color and light. More often than not it was the Commexo Kid whose adventures were playing on the screens of these faces.
Finally, of course, there were those creatures—and there were many—who, like Malingo, needed neither paint nor light to make them part of this prodigious Carnival. Creatures born with snouts, tails, scales and horns, their forms and their voices and their behavior a fantastical show unto itself.
And what had all these Carnival-goers come to see?
Whatever, in truth, their eager hearts and spirits desired. Mycassian Bug Wrestling in one tent, subtle-body dancing in another; a seven-ring circus, complete with a troupe of albino dinosaurs, in a third. There was a beast called a fingoos, who put its snout right through your head to read your mind. Next door to that, a thousand-strong choir of mungualameeza birds were singing excerpts from Fofum’s Bumble Bees. Everywhere you looked there were entertainments. The Electric Baby, who had a head full of colored lights, was on display here, as was a poet called Thebidus, who recited epic poems with candles perched on his pate, and a thing called a frayd, which was billed as a beast that had to be seen to be believed: not one but many creatures, each devouring the other to make a “living testament to the horrors of appetite!”
Of course, if you didn’t wish to go into the tents, there was plenty to do in the open air. There was a dinosaur on display—“lately captured by Rojo Pixler in the wilds of the Outer Islands”—and a hoofed beast the size of a bull delicately walking a high wire, and of course the inevitable roller coasters, each claiming to be more heart-stopping than the competition.
The air was filled with the mingled smells of a thousand things: pies, caramel, sawdust, gasoline, sweat, dog’s breath, sweet smoke, sour smoke, fruit nearly rotten, fruit beyond rotten, ale, feathers, fire. And if happiness had a smell, that too was in the air of Babilonium. In fact, it was the fragrance that hovered behind all the other fragrances. Nor did the island ever seem to exhaust its surprises. There was always something new around the next corner, in the next tent, in the next arena. Of course, any place that boasted such brightness and wonderment had its share of shadows too. At one point the group made a turn off the main thoroughfare and found themselves in a place where the music wasn’t quite as upbeat and the lights not quite so bright. There was a more sinister, serpentine magic at play here. There were colors in the air, which made half-visible shapes before dissolving again; and music coming from somewhere that sounded as though it was being sung by a choir of irate babies. People peeped out from behind curtains of booths to the right and left, or flew over them, their shapes changing as they somersaulted against the sky.
But they’d come to the right place, no doubt of that. Right up ahead was a large canvas sign that read FREAK SHOW, and under it a brightly colored row of banners on which a variety of outlandish creatures had been crudely painted. A creature with a fringe of arms and tentacles around its huge head; a boy with a body of a reptile; a beast that was a bizarre compendium of pieces thrown together carelessly.
Seeing all of this, Methis the zethek quickly realized what was being planned on his behalf. He began to fling himself around his cage, cursing obscenely. The crudely made cage looked as though it might break beneath his assault but proved stronger than the creature’s fury.
“Should we feel a little sorry for him?” Candy asked.
“After what he did?” said Galatea. “I don’t think so. He would have murdered you in cold blood if he’d had the chance.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“And destroying the fish like that,” said Malingo. “Pure malice.”
The zethek knew he was being talked about and fell silent, his gaze going from one person to the next, hatred in every glance.
“If looks could kill,” Candy murmured.
“We should leave you to make the sale,” Malingo said to Skebble when they were within a few yards of the freak show.
“You should have a little coin for yourselves,” Mizzel said. “We could never have caught the creature if not for you. Especially Candy. My Lord! Such courage!”
“We don’t need any money,” Candy said. “Malingo’s right. We should leave you to sell the creature.”
They paused a few yards shy of the entrance to the freak show to make their farewells. They hadn’t known one another very long, but they’d fought for their lives side by side, so there was an intensity in their parting that would not have been there if they’d simply gone out sailing together.
“Come to the isle of Efreet one Night,” Skebble said. “We never see the sun up there, of course, but you’re always welcome.”
“Of course, we got some fierce beasts live up there,” Mizzel said. “But they stay to the south side of the island mostly. Our village is on the north side. It’s called Pigea.”
“We’ll remember,” Candy said.
“No, you won’t,” said Galatea with half a smile. “We’ll just be some fisherfolk you met on your adventuring. You won’t even remember our names.”
“Oh, she remembers,” Malingo said, glancing at Candy. “More and more, she remembers.”
It was a curious thing to say, of course, so everyone just ignored the remark, smiled and parted. The last time Candy looked back, the quartet was dragging Methis’ cage through the curtains into the freak show.
“You think they’ll sell him?” Candy said.
“I’m sure they will,” Malingo replied. “It’s ugly, that thing. And people pay money to see ugly things, don’t they?”
“I guess they do. What did you mean when you talked about my remembering?”
Malingo looked at his feet and chewed on his tongue for a little time. Finally he said: “I don’t know exactly. But you’re remembering something, aren’t you?”
Candy nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I just don’t know what.”
IT WAS THE FIRST time on their journey together that Candy and Malingo had realized that they had different tastes. Up until now they’d traveled in step with each other, more or less. But faced with the apparently limitless diversions and entertainments of Babilonium, they found they weren’t quite so well matched. When Malingo wanted to see the green werewolf star juggler, Candy was itching to go on the Prophet of Doom ride. When Candy had been Doomed six times, and wanted to sit quietly and gather her breath, Malingo was ready to go take a ride on the Spirit Train to Hell.
So they decided to separate, to follow their