The four carts all disgorged their contents at the same moment, right into the flanks of the Empire infantry units. To make matters worse the yellow and blue clad Empire soldiers were deployed in column formation, and the impact of the demons was so quick that their crossbows were useless. The crossbowmen reached for their hand weapons, and bravely turned to face their adversaries. The spearman had just enough time to turn, raise their shields, and brace for impact. James’s horse reared up in fright, so much so that he almost lost hold of the rein to Saturin’s steed, but in short order James regained control and was able to direct both animals away from the conflict. James observed that Captain Kendrich, Elana and Bearclaw Irontooth were gesturing and yelling at the soldiers. Magical sparks were flying causing tree bark like armor to appear on the spearmen and wolfskin to materialize on the crossbowmen fighting with their hand weapons. The attackers were hideous. True to the advertisements on the sides of the carnival carts, the demons did manifest as human in shape, but were massively warped by the malign influences of Chaos. There really was a boy that looked like a crustacean and fought with ferocious lobster claws. A colossally large man with glowing eyes and tentacled arms charged into the spearmen. A lithe female shaped demon, missing her head, sliced into the formation of crossbowmen, wielding her whips and chains. Three warped young men of southeast Asian descent, armed with snake-like weapons, simultaneously jumped from their wooden carnival cart. James was shocked to see the reason for them to act in unison was that they were all three physically attached to one another at their chests. A ten foot tall mummy strode towards Kendrich, Elana and Bearclaw. The roadway was rapidly becoming a battlefield and so James reasoned the safest alternative might be to loop around the front of the carnival carts and get himself off the road. To do this he had to navigate himself around the Royal Cage cart, getting uncomfortably close to the Mountain Chimera, but the captive beast was remarkably calm while he stared at the action taking place on the road ahead of him. The coachman at the reins of the two horses pulling the Royal Cart had control of his animals, but had no ability to reverse or turn the cart, so he remained in place, also observing the developing battle. James was sure that he could exert no positive influence over this battle. The outcome would have to be decided by those stronger than James, which at the moment, seemed to be everyone else. ‘Why on Earth did I sign myself up for this world, again?’ thought James as he slipped round the back of the Chimera’s cage and made his way on to the side of the road where the carnival carts had parked themselves. He didn’t even see a point in drawing the sword Captain Kendrich had supplied James with. As he was looking for a safe place to lead Saturin’s horse he was surprised to see that the opposite side of the lead carnival cart had a carnival employee looking out the side towards James. Although it looked ridiculous, given that on the road facing side of the cart, a life and death battle was taking place, the carnival worker was beckoning James to approach the cart. And to his surprise James found himself responding to the encouragement of the carny, “Step right up! Step right up young man! Try yer luck! Try yer luck! Ye can’t win if’n ye don’t play!” Unbelievably, James noted that this side of the carnival cart had a fully arranged midway game setup. The carnival worker sat behind a wooden counter with several carved throwing balls on top of it. Behind him was a row of angled empty wicker baskets sloping towards James. Above the baskets hung ornamental dolls, folk art constructions and hand made toys. Despite himself, James suddenly felt that he needed to own one of the wooden dolls. ‘Maybe I could give it to Saturin?’ thought James. “Step right up, young lad! This game is easy! Yee can do it, if I can!” instructed the carny in a practiced and appealing tone. With that he grabbed one of the balls and deftly reached towards James, then tossed the carved wooden ball back towards the nearest wicker basket. It landed gently into the basket, bounced a couple of times and came to rest. “See! Easy, peasy! If I kin do it, then so can yee! James felt his mind racing away from his control, as he found himself dismounting his horse. ‘Wasn’t there a battle going on?’ ‘Where was everybody?’ ‘Was this carny doing something magical to James?’ but all those thoughts were distant and unimportant compared to winning that doll for Saturin. This game did look easy! All he had to do was throw the ball into that basket. James reached for one of the balls. “Not so fast, young man! Yee needs to pay to play this fine game! What coins do yee have?” asked the carny. James reached into his pocket and produced a small handful of one and two pound coins that he had had in his pocket since his most recent arrival in this ‘Alternate Earth’. The carny’s eyes brightened as he spied James coins, reaching across the counter to pick one from the palm of James’s hand. Lifting it close to his left eye, which suddenly bore an optical magnifying device he hemmed and hawed and responded, “Very nice, very nice! Yes, each of these coins will give you two chances to win the prize. Two throws per coin!” Suddenly another carny appeared, as if from thin air, with his arm outstretched. “Just hand the reins of yer two horses over to my assistant, will yee. That’ll make it a sure thing for yee to win the prize of yer choice!” explained the carny. And then to his assistant the gnarly carnival worker continued, “Geazet theazese meazares teazo Bleazack Heazeart!” James handed the reins to the assistant, as requested. ‘Wait!’ he thought to himself. ‘There is that bizarre foreign language again.’ Didn’t it remind James of something…… No, it couldn’t be. James had to win that doll. He dropped one of his coins onto the counter and picked up two balls. James tossed the first ball mimicking as closely as possible the toss made by the carny. “Clunk clank! “He thought he had been gentle but for some reason the ball bounced forcefully out of the basket and onto the wooden floor. A second toss yielded no better results. James dropped another coin onto the counter and grabbed two more balls. He had to win the doll! For Saturin! James tried some backspin for his third throw. “Clunk clank!” Still no luck. More backspin for the fourth throw. Once again the ball ended up on the floor. The carny interrupted at that point, picking up one of James’s failed attempts and effortlessly flipped it up, and into the basket, where it easily settled into a comfortable resting place. ‘Why can’t I do that?’ wondered James. ‘I only have to do it once!’ Wait, did that carny just reach underneath the counter to flip some sort of switch? James dropped another coin into the palm of the carnival worker, grabbed two more balls, and was just about to try his luck again when a ruckus ensued to his right. “Saturin! What are you doing here?” exclaimed a very confused James. What was happening? Saturn held the reins of both horses in one hand and her other hand pinched the ear of a very forlorn looking carnival assistant. “Jimmy boy! These charlatans are a bunch of swindlers! They would sell their own mothers for a quick buck! What in blazes are you doing back here with these crooks?” In a moment the spell was lifted. Suddenly the pursuit of the kewpie doll seemed a ridiculous distraction and James was able to pull himself away from the ball throwing game. What had come over him? “That guy cast a spell on you to drive you out of your mind James! Come around the front with me and we will see if we can save our friends,” insisted Saturin as she led him back around to the battle side of the carnival carts. It was a grim site indeed. Several Empire soldiers lay dead or injured on the road. A tremendously large bear battled with two demons, the Headless woman and the Mummy. All three looked wounded. The Siamese triplets and the goat headed man waded through the spearmen, and the Strong man was pounding hand weapon armed crossbowmen with his massive fists. Lobster boy took notice of Saturin and James’s entry to the battle and strode towards them with his claws clicking and snapping. Elana was standing up on the road bank doing her best to support the Empire fighters but she looked completely overwhelmed and exhausted. “This is not going well, James,” explained a distraught Saturin. “I don’t suppose you have another trick up your sleeve for a moment like this one?” “I don’t!” responded James. ‘What on Earth could defeat demons?’ thought James. “I BANISH YOU FROM THIS REALM!” peeled out over the battlefield. The words permeated James’s entire body and overwhelmed every sense. What was going on? James turned to look up the roadway towards Bellsburg and coming over the crest of the hill was a shocking site. Two white horses, almost appearing to be glowing in the afternoon sun, pulled a red cart with a verdigris green roof, topped with a sculpture. The sculpture depicted a hero holding a massive battle axe, and at the controls of this amazing vehicle was none other than Prelate Franz Xavier. “Theodor saved us!” exclaimed Saturin. Franz Xavier’s carriage rapidly picked up speed as it descended towards the battling parties. All of the participants, Empire soldiers, as well as the Chaos demons, seemed momentarily stunned by his entrance. But it was the demons who paid the price. Bolts of pure green power blasted out from the sacred statue that was bolted to the roof of the coach. Each time that a bolt found its mark the demon's presence was erased. In just over a minute the battlefield was cleared of Chaotic creatures. Prelate Franz Xavier brought his carriage to a halt immediately behind the Royal Cage Cart. The damage caused by the battle was considerable. Seven Spearmen were down, five appearing to have passed from their terrible wounds. Shields were scorched by what looked like acid burns, and spears were broken and bent. The crossbowmen had fared even worse. Eleven down, and six looked to have suffered fatal wounds. Captain Kendrich was also a casualty. Elana was at his side with tears in her eyes, as she rolled out bags of healing herbs from her Emerald Magic pack sacks. Bearclaw Irontooth had resumed his human form and was busy inspecting the Royal Cage Cart. The Mountain Chimera paced back and forth within the confines of the steel bars. Two pairs of uninjured Empire soldiers were searching the Carnival of Wirr carts for additional threats. Prelate Xavier had stepped off of his coachman’s seat and onto the roof of his altar wagon, where he was inspecting the still steaming metal sculpture of Theodor. Softly chanting, he fell to his knees before the statue and prayed. James’s attention was drawn away from the Prelate and over towards Lord Irontooth, who was approaching. “It wouldn’t do to lose control of the beast now, Master James,” commented Bearclaw Irontooth as he strode towards James and Saturin. “The cage remains strong and stable. We should move to assist our Healing Mage. She will be sorely pressed to save all of the injured men this day, and I fear that many who have passed will be irretrievable.” Lord Ironclaw continued in the direction towards Elana and Captain Kendrich. James was about to ask Saturin about Lord Irontooth’s concerns, when he noticed movement from the carnival carts. The two carnys that had tempted James with the Midway game were approaching. James immediately tensed his body afraid of another assault on his mind. Saturin responded with a defensive posture, but looked towards James to gauge how to respond to the oncoming threat. “Donna worry, donna worry. I mean you no harm. We are just checking ta see if we can be of any service to yer fallen friends over yonder,” explained the carny with practiced ease in his voice. “We had na idea that these acts were capable of such violence! Na idea at all! Can we be of any service to yas?” James simply couldn’t believe the audaciousness of the approach of the two carnival workers. Could they really be serious? “I don’t trust you guys any further than I could throw you!” blurted Saturin, clearly unimpressed by the offer of assistance from the carnys. James was confused. “We mean ya na harm! Na harm at all. If yas don’t want our help we w’all just be on our way then,” explained the carny. James was surprised that no notice had been taken of the carnival workers by any of the Empire Soldiery. It was as if they were invisible to most everyone on the roadway. The lead carny made his way back towards the line of carnival carts followed by the second fellow and James felt a strong need to question their actions. As the two carnys lifted the first cart‘s door back into place, bolting it shut, James intervened, “You can’t have been transporting demons like that around the country without knowing what they were capable of! No one would believe that cock and bull story! I’m going to get these soldiers to arrest you both.” “Na, na, not so fast laddie. We meant no harm at all. Just hard working entertainers is all we are. Bring a little fun to the poor folk of Sudenland. We do’need na trouble with the law. How can we convince ya ta let bygones be bygones, and let us go?” and with that he reached into his pocket and brought forward a handful of shiny coins, including some which he had obtained from James previously. As he studied James’s reaction, the cagey carny could see that James was not likely to be bought off. In response he turned to his partner and calmy said, “Teazell Bleazack Heazeart teazo bleazow theaze beazomb.” and with that the carny’s assistant strode off towards the rearmost carnival cart. There it was again, that ridiculous language. To James’s ear, there was a tremendous familiarity to it, but where could he have heard it before? Then it came to him, all at once. He and his friend had learned a very similar “language” when they were in grade school, to keep their own school conversations private in the hallways. So what did that carny just tell his partner? He sounded it out slowly to himself, ‘Tell Blackheart to blow the bomb!’ James turned to Saturin and urged, “Don’t let him get away, I gotta go tell Lord Irontooth!” James ran off towards Elana and Bearclaw Irontooth, reaching the pair as they sat caring for Captain Kendrich. Both looked up with a start, clearly recognizing the urgency in James. James glanced back in time to see the first carny backed up against the wall of the lead cart with the canine form of Saturin angrily barking and snarling at the frightened carny. “The carnival has a bomb, and they’re about to set it off!” blurted James. “He’s going to tell someone named ‘Blackheart’!” Bearclaw Irontooth rose in an instant and bolted off in the direction of the second carnival worker, who was just now rounding the parked cart. James followed, and arrived at the backside of the cart on Bearclaw’s heels. A previously unseen door was open, revealing a dastardly appearing man with bushy black hair and a thick black beard. He immediately reached behind the door and produced a large black powder pistol, leveling the barrel towards James and Bearclaw Irontooth. All in one motion the Lord of Animalia transformed into his massive brown bear form, bent underneath the wooden cart, and bulled forward, lifting the nearest two wheels into the air. “BOOM!” blasted the overly large pistol, sending its bullet whizzing above James. With an enormous exertion the Wizard bear lifted the cart into the air, toppling the coach onto its side, then pounced up and onto the Black haired marksman. Groans and screams filled the air. The assistant carny took one look at James and turned to run. James pursued and overtook the fleeing carnival worker, tackling him and holding him to the ground. When he looked up two Empire soldiers were standing over the pair and one offered, “Well done, Sir James! Well done indeed! We can take over from here”, said one of them as they leveled their spears at the carny’s throat. With that the threat was extinguished. A further investigation revealed that a large and poisonous incendiary device was found in the fourth cart. Apparently the intention of the carnival workers was to set off the device, and escape in the confusion. All of the carnival workers were arrested and escorted back to the military police barracks in Bellsburg. The offending carts were assembled into a large pile and the “bomb” was used to ignite what remained of the ‘Carnival of Wirr’. Elana did her best to save as many as she could, which fortunately included Captain Kendrich. But, despite her best efforts, eight Empire soldiers passed that day. Funerals and burials were held that day in a makeshift roadside cemetery. Elana had expended every ounce of her vitality to accomplish the healing of the injured and was able to return 3 perished soldiers to the land of the living. She was unconscious herself, by the time James was able to see her. Lord Ironclaw explained to James, “Mage Elana was sorely tested and will require several days to recover. “Prelate Xavier has graciously agreed to accompany us to Badendorf and bear our Healing wizard along the way, while she recovers.” By afternoon the next day the Royal Cage Cart and its guardians were able to resume their journey to Badendorf.

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