To Sunlit Isles (The Never-Ending Circus, Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Castor was in a frenzy trying to get to Regaldi as quick as he could, wishing he was still a bird for just this once. When he finally reached the Ringmaster's tent, the man himself was waiting for him outside. "Castor, what seems to be so important that you had to leave the girl unattended?"

Castor stooped onto his knees, catching his breath. "Sorry boss... just give me a-a, second." He was breathing heavy, these legs and lungs still something new and underdeveloped. When he could finally breath he stood up straight and clicked his heels together. "Agent Castor, reporting!"

Regaldi sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Castor you're not an agent, just get on with it."

"Uh, right. The prisoner says her team plans on infiltrating the circus today, before we open the fairgrounds to the public."

This seemed to grab Regaldi's attention. "Did you say before we open?"

It seemed Castor was having trouble keeping up with the conversation. "Uh... yes. No wait, no! What was the question?"

Grabbing the boy by his shoulders and giving him a shake, Regaldi repeated his question. "Did she say before the performance, or after? Castor! Think carefully, did she say before, or after?"

Castor's eyes were rolling around in his head as he tried to focus his vision. "Um... yes. Yeah, for sure, one hundred percent, she said before. Sorry I got confused-"

But Regaldi didn't give Castor a chance to finish his sentence. He ran through the tents, leaning heavily on his cane, suddenly having flashbacks to his childhood. He came upon the tent he was looking for, a medium sized tent with purple, white and gold colors accenting each other. He pushed away the flaps without announcing himself and caught Madame Ventrea red-handed, skinning the hide off of one of his rabbits.

"First of all, I knew you were using my rabbits for your stew!"

The old hag cackled, looking amused. "You look like you just ran a marathon, all this fuss just to find some dead rabbits?"

Regaldi shook his head, worry written across his face. "No, there's more. The prediction you gave me, it's wrong."

She bolted up right, a staunch look of defiance on her face. "I beg your pardon? My predictions are never wrong! My ability to see into the future may have weakened with my age, but my visions are clear as ever!"

"Well then explain this; the girl we have chained up tells us their planning to attack before the performance, not tonight after the show like you said."

Madame Ventrea looked shocked, "But that's impossible. Unless..." Despite being an old fortune teller, the woman was also a brilliant strategist.

"Unless what, Madame? Please, we must be ready!" The frantic sound of his voice was jarring.

"Yes, yes!" She hollered at him. "Don't rush me you crotchety old miser! Now, where was I? Ah, unless they plan on sending a small force to infiltrate the circus, get what they need, then launch a full assault later tonight like my vision predicted. They most likely need proof of what their searching for before they can take action."

It was a troublesome conclusion, but she was most likely correct. Hurrying out of the tent, Regaldi found Castor who was walking in circles searching for where Regaldi had run off to. "Castor! Here, I'm here. I need you to gather up our forces, all our fighters. Congregate at the south end of the field, we need to prepare. Do you understand?"

Nodding frantically, Castor ran off to collect the others. Regaldi ran into Ailsa and forwarded a similar message to her, and she headed off to fine everyone as well.