"Get down from there! You're going to fall!"
"I'm not going to fall Roza. I never fall. You worry to much." The lithe Lilika continued to walk along the tightrope, never worrying, never looking down.
Roza watched from the ground. "That's suicidal! The rope must be 50 ft up! Are you crazy?! Get down now! Amar," The shorter girl turned to her friend. "Make her come down!"
Amar just smiled. "She won't come down unless I climb up there and drag her down."
The stubborn girl glared at him. "So? Get up there."
He smiled. "Then we'd both fall and you'd be short your two best friends."
Roza glared at both Amar and Lilika in turn. "I don't know how I'm friends with either of you!" She sighed and put her hands on her hips.
"Don't ruin your voice Roza...you have to sing tonight. Mother will be mad if you aren't perfect."
"Mother's always mad..." The singer muttered to her shoes. "And you pay attention to what you're doing! You're going to fall."
"I don't fall! And a little support would be nice." The smaller acrobat glared down at Roza.
Amar smiled. "Besides, if she ever did I'd catch her."
Roza rolled her eyes. "She's going to fall."
"I never..." Lilika stamped her foot to emphasize her point, forgetting that she was on the high wire. The wire bounced and threw the skinny girl into the air. She screamed.
Amar reacted quickly and caught her. She cringed in his strong arms as Roza ran to make sure she was okay. Finally she pried open an eye to glance up at her friend. He smiled. "Fall?"
Lilika sighed. "Thanks." Amar put her back on her feet. "I wouldn't fall if you two didn't bug me so much." She sighed again, trying to get her hands to stop shaking. "Let's go work on our routine. Mother says the visitors are getting tired of the old one and the new one could use a little polishing up before presentation." She stretched and walked back towards the tent.
Amar and Roza looked at each other before following. "I told you she was going to fall." Roza muttered under her breath.
* * * When Roza and Amar entered the main tent they found Lilika already warming up. She was stretching her long legs and arms. She was a very skinny, pale, 18 turn girl with long hair that had been dyed so many times that no one remembered it's original colour. Today it was pure white, which made her look even paler. Her eyes were a beautiful grey/blue and sparkled with laughter, most of the time. Although she was outgoing and friendly when with Amar and Roza, Lilika was the definition of shyness without them. She was also an amazing acrobat and dancer. At 5'10", she was way taller than Roza and only slightly shorter than Amar. She saw them enter and smiled. "You two better warm up to. Mother just went into the other room. She said she'd be back to watch our rehersal."
Roza sighed and closed her eyes. She began to hum quietly, slowly building to a beautiful song that covered all the scales. A tough outside covered an amazing voice. Roza knew her looks were rather homely and tended to dress conservatively, at least compared to the others in the gypsy group around her. She had short hair that she always kept black and dark eyes. She was shorter than both her friends by quite a bit, standing at 5'2". She'd been trained to dance by Mother, but much preferred singing, if she had to perform at all. Roza never took crap from anyone and was the stubbornest person to ever walk the face of Pern. She noticed Amar was staring at her, thinking and she punched him in the arm, hard. "Shouldn't you tune your harp or something?" She sang the words as she continued to practice her scales.
Amar smiled and nodded. He picked up his harp and plucked his fingers over the chords. He closed his eyes and smiled as they rang out in perfect harmony. Standing at 6'2" with a healthy build, he didn't really look like the kind of man you'd find playing an instrument. He kept his hair as long as Lilika did and it had been dyed just as many times. Most people would find this odd, but in their gypsy group long hair on men was the style. His hair was also white today and pulled back into a ponytail. His eyes were light brown and he was always smiling about something. He had a good sense of humour and was a fairly calm person, but when he got angry, people ran. Pern was lucky that few things made him angry.
"Alright you three. Lilika, Amaryliss, Roza, listen up." Mother entered and clapped her hands.
Amar cringed. The use of his full name Amaryliss was one of the few things that made him annoyed...it was also the reason he was strong enough to lift both Roza and Lilika at the same time. When a young man is named after a flower he learns to defend himself at an early age.
The woman that the three gypsy's called 'Mother' was not really their mother. She was the head of the gypsy group and referred to as Mother by all under her control. Amaryliss, Roza and Lilika were all orphans who had come under her control around the same time. Lilika was the only one who knew her real birthing day and she shared it with her friends. They all considered themselves 18, though only Lilika knew for sure. They'd been given to the woman as babies and she had raised them to perform. She had given them all names from flowers...Roza for Rose, Lilika for lily, and Amaryliss for amaryllis, a beautiful pink and white bloom. Mother was now in her late 60's and showing it. She was plump and continued to wear gypsy clothes that clinked and clanked. Her hair was light blue (dyed of course) and kept really short. She was a kind old woman, but demanded the best from her 'children'.
Mother settled herself down in a chair and crossed her arms. "Let's see what you three have managed to put together."
The three looked up from their individual work and smiled. They stepped foreword, into the center of the large tent, and began. Amar plucked out an accompaniment to Roza's song/story while Lilika danced the plot. Mother nodded. The three always worked well together. She waited for the last chord to slowly end before she stood and nodded again. "Acceptable, as usual. You will play tonight for Lord Niyok."
Lilika looked to Roza, who in turn looked to Amaryliss. He looked blankly at Mother. "Lord Niyok?"
The old woman grinned. "Didn't I tell you? He came to one of our performances last seven-day and saw you three. He liked you and offered me a large some of money to send you three over to him for a private performance. You might want to start walking now. It's quite a distance and I told him you'd be there by sun down."
The three best friends stood staring slack-jawed at her. Roza was the one to finally speak up. "You're joking right?"
Mother smiled. "I never joke about large sums of money. Get going." She turned and left the room, jingling all the way.
Lilika, rediscovering her backbone now that the older woman was gone, threw one of her many bracelets at the tent flap that Mother exited. "How do you expect me to walk 3 hours to a Hold and still dance you silly old wherry!"
Amar laughed. "You should try saying that to her face one day Li, maybe she'll listen."
Roza snorted. "Yeah, and maybe she'll get her guards to beat you up and leave you for wildcat meat."
The blood drained from Lilika's face. "Do you think she'd do that?"
Amar laughed and put his arm around his friend. "Don't worry. She'd have to go through me first."
Lilika raised a brow. "You think you're a match for all of her guards?"
"No," Amar grinned. "But I can run pretty fast..."
"Ohhhh...." Lilika swatted him. "You're no help what-so-ever!"
Roza sighed. "C'mon. Mother was right. We should get our stuff and head out soon, or we're going to be late."
"Meet back here in 5 minutes." Amar said before running to his tent to get his costume, make-up and performance harp. Lilika and Roza went to the tent that the two girls shared and grabbed their costumes and paraphernalia. They all met back at the entrance to the big tent and headed off towards the Hold and the mysterious Lord Niyok.
* * * Mother watched with one of her many aforementioned guards close beside her. The mysterious man leaned over to whisper in the old woman's ear. "You're sure you want them gone tonight?"
Mother nodded once, the beads in her hair clinking together at the sharp movement. "Positive. All our sources say that the slavers are planning on attacking tonight. I don't want them to get caught."
"But they all know how to fight, they could help us beat off the slavers." The guard was persistent.
Mother smiled to herself. "Do you really think we can beat them off again. We're gypsies, underneath the laws. Half of the people we perform to agree with the slavers that we should be contained and put to better work. There aren't many of us left...I don't want them to get hurt."
"What about us?" The man muttered it under his breath, hoping the old woman's ears would fail her.
Mother turned to him. "All of you are well paid, and you know about the attack and could have left at any time prior to this. They're just children...my children. They didn't ask to be here, they're not paid at all, and they're not going to die here." Mother nodded once, ending the conversation.
"Yes Mother." The guard lowered his head in respect. "I just hope that when they get to the Hold, Lord Niyok doesn't throw them out for showing up without an appointment."
Mother grinned. "If anything that will delay them longer. They wouldn't dare coming back to me without the hefty sum I mentioned." She grinned to herself. "They know me to well."
* * * "Should we knock?" The three stood in front of the Lord's door. The guard had let them into the Hold proper with an odd comment about 'unexpected entertainment' and 'the Lord always likes a good show, you should have told us you were coming.' His odd remarks left the three performers slightly confused, but at the Lord's doorstep.
"I dunno." Amar looked blankly at the door. He shrugged and pounded on the door with his fist.
A kindly looking middle-aged man answered the door and smiled at them. "Yes?"
"We're the performers that you asked for sir." Roza offered, slightly annoyed. She gave her friends a look that clearly told them what she would do if Mother sent them all the way out here on a fool's errand.
"The performers?" The man was obviously confused.
"Yes," Roza continued, the least shy of the three, she was the designated speaker. "Mother, an old gypsy woman, told us, her children, that you wanted to see us."
Lord Niyok stared at them for another minute before stepping back and opening the door for them. "Come in then."
They looked at each other for a second, but quickly shook their heads and entered. They could hear Lord Niyok muttering to himself. Things along the lines of, 'a new gypsy trick' and 'who does this old woman think she is, sending her children to rob me' and finally 'may as well listen, can always throw them out if they become to troublesome'. The two girls looked to Amar, but he just shrugged and they finished setting up.
"Sir," Roza drew the man out of his mutterings. "We're ready."
"Well start then." Lord Niyok sat down in a chair and continued to look at them warily. His anxiety left the moment the first chords were struck by harp and voice and the instant Lilika began to move. After their first number he begged for an encore, which they diligently delivered. He finally let them go a few hours later, tired and sore. He smiled at them all warmly now and shook their hands. "Wonderful performance. I'm glad that old woman sent you to me. How much did she want?" He walked to his desk to get the marks.
Roza yawned. "She said you set the price."
"Alright." Lord Niyok smiled. "Then I say I'll give you 5 marks each."
They looked at each other. "That's not what Roza meant, sir." Amar finally decided to add. "Although that sum is acceptable by us, my friend meant that you and Mother had already decided upon the price."
The Lord looked at Amar like he was crazy. "What do you mean 'already set the price'? I've never met this old woman you keep speaking of or any of you before this night."
"But..." Lilika was actually shocked enough to address the Lord. "But... why would Mother send us then?"
"Faranth knows! Take the marks and go. I've had enough of this for one night." Lord Niyok ushered the three confused performers out.
"If not for the money, why would Mother send us out?" Lilika repeated her earlier question.
"Maybe she's doing something special tonight and didn't want us in the way." Roza offered the suggestion half-heartedly.
Amar felt a sudden pang of fear jolt through him. "Or maybe something was happening tonight that she didn't want us around for."
The other two quickly caught his train of thought. "Slavers." They whispered in unison.
The three exhausted gypsies ran home.
* * * When they approached the camp, they saw that it was on fire. They stopped, transfixed by the flames that were eating away their tents and possessions. Amar touched both the girls' arms. "Let's find Mother, quickly."
"If she's still here." Roza murmured. They were avoiding the few looters that were still hanging around, but it was obvious that the main action had been over long ago. They didn't run into a soul that they knew as they carefully searched the destruction for Mother.
They finally found the old woman crouching behind a wagon with the last of her guards. The guards looked battered and tired, but Mother looked amazing. She looked better than she had in years, the excitement and adrenaline making her feel turns younger. She gasped when she saw them and put a finger to her lips. The three crept over quietly.
Mother swatted them. "What are you doing back?"
"We figured it out." Roza explained.
"Get lost!" The older woman ordered. "Now."
"But...you need our help." Amar protested. Lilika, tired from the run and performance could only nod.
"No I don't. I want you three to get out of here. The slavers are still around, they're coming back for seconds. Go to your tents, if they're still intact, pack what you need and leave. No arguments." Roza opened her mouth to say something. "No arguments! Go!"
Roza snapped her mouth shut and glared at the older woman, obviously not agreeing with what she was about to do. Lilika stared blankly at her, as if still confused. Amar nodded and grabbed his friends' arms. "Let's go." He started to pull them towards their tent.
"Amaryliss." Mother called him back. He turned to face her. "Split up. I know you three have always been together, but you'll be harder to find split up."
Amar nodded. "Yes Mother."
Lilika looked back at the older woman as well. "Goodbye Mother."
Roza simply nodded.
The three ran to their tents and salvaged what they could. They met again in a forest, just outside of camp. The looked at each other, none of them sure what to say.
"We'll see each other soon." Roza promised. "We'll all meet up at Amard Hold."
"Of course." Amar quickly agreed.
Lilika nodded sadly. None of them believed that and she knew it. Their odds weren't that good.
Amar put his hand out towards his friends. They quickly covered it with their own hands. Amar smiled. "Luck."
Roza managed a smirk. "Luck."
"Luck." Lilika whispered the word so softly that it was barely heard. They all took one last look at each other, turned in opposing directions and ran.
Follow Amaryliss...
Follow Lilika...
Follow Roza...
* * *
Background from Myrror Images.
