A Lesson for the Cyclops

Chapter 12

The incident with the elephant had established D’Arbignal’s reputation as heroic, athletic, and brave … if perhaps not especially bright.

At first, the men at the circus had been a bit standoffish, unsure of where the stranger would fit within the established pecking order. Now, seemingly overnight, they had fallen into one of two camps: they either wanted to be just like him, or they wanted to punch him in the face.

The women, on the other hand, adored him. All  the women.

Pahula flirted with him coquettishly, actually going so far as to flutter a paper fan in a manner she must have thought enticing. The female dancers preened within his field of vision, and giggled like little girls when he noticed them.

But of course, all the women stood aside when Conchinara was around. Without saying so much as a single word, she had claimed D’Arbignal as her own and not one of them wanted to cross her.

Meanwhile, the Cyclops died a little each time she saw him surrounded by admiring women. She longed so much to be near him that she felt it as a physical pain in her heart. Yet how could she when such beauty surrounded him all the time? He had his choice of a dozen women, all much prettier than she. What chance did she  have?

Now he was telling the story of his adventure with the elephant to a crowd of admirers. His practiced voice was mesmerizing, and he gestured and pantomimed with great skill. His audience was rapt.

Her heart pounded when she thought about the incident, and how close she had been to being trampled, save only for Marco’s timely rescue. And then D’Arbignal’s magnificent heroics!

She clutched her hand to her chest. The feeling in her was so large; it amazed her that she could conceal it without anybody noticing.

Of course, it had been Marco who had saved her. D’Arbignal had only come by afterwards, but somehow it almost felt as though it were D’Arbignal  who had saved her from near death. It was nonsense of course, but it felt true to her heart.

“… and once I had come alongside the beast,” D’Arbignal was saying, “I secured the other end of the rope to the saddle on my steed. I leaned forward and instructed my horse to ride straight and true, and then I began to inch my way along the rope toward the lassoed elephant.”

The Cyclops blinked. When had that  happened?

“I shouted to the elephant the words B’raen meeloh aka, which are powerful Elvish words of command. I could see the elephant struggling against those words, trying to overpower them, but it was to no avail; he was caught, ensnared by the magic of the Eternals!”

The Cyclops continued to stare wide-eyed as D’Arbignal recounted even more astonishing details. Was he even describing the same event she had seen? How many elephants had he ridden?

Pahula had stepped away from the crowd and eased her way over to the Cyclops. Her smile was wry.

“He’s a good-looking man,” Pahula said, eyeing D’Arbignal. She mimed tracing his body with her hands. “Very … how you say, gorgeous. But he’s not so very good with the truth. He’s good with the—not lies, what’s the word?—ah, yes, with theexaggerations. I wonder how much we should trust him.”

The Cyclops stared at Pahula open-mouthed. After a moment, the Tattooed Lady took her hand, her eyes narrowing in sympathy. For a moment, the Cyclops feared Pahula had figured out how she felt about D’Arbignal.

But then Pahula said, “Dearest, you looke terrorfied. This story, it reminds you of what happened, yes?” She pulled the Cyclops into her enormous bosom for a nearly suffocating hug. “The elephant, it did not come really that close to us. We had plenty of moments to escape, even if Marcoo had not come.”

She kissed the Cyclops’s forehead with motherly tenderness.

“You do not need for fear. We keep you safe, dear. We never let anything hurt you.”

The Cyclops’s smile was wan, and she glanced past Pahula at D’Arbignal as he bounded about, telling his tale. Her friend meant what she said, no doubt, but she was too late: the Cyclops had already been hurt, and the wound showed no sign of healing.