ChaPter 2 - Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

44
It was the epicenter of The City itself. Spiraling out
around the carnival were a tangle of narrow streets and old
buildings that made up clearly stratified living sections. At
the edges, the Untamed Lands encroached; nature tried to
consume The City, and they tried to keep it at bay. Before
the Witch Wars, The City was larger, but the witches had
set nature against the daimons in their final departing blow.
For several centuries now, daimons had worked regularly to
cut back the growth and try to protect The City. Here at the
center, though, was a place of business and pleasure. Music
played constantly. Blind drummers played outside the tents
where delicate deals were arranged; ensembles in the employ
of the pleasure vendors enticed customers with their music
as dancers demonstrated their flexibility; and others simply
played for the coins that were tossed into their baskets. At times
it was a glorious cacophony. Jugglers and fire twirlers showed
their skills in time to the music. All the while, hawkers sold
their wares to those ensnared by the music, sometimes literally.
For all the violence in the The City—much of it in the
carnival—there was beauty, too, especially here. As he walked,
Kaleb’s steps caught the rhythm of a daimon who leaned against
a vendor stall, tapping out patterns on a skin drum. The daimon
had his eyes closed, and Kaleb smiled at the joy in the man’s face.
Carefully, Kaleb swung up into the rafters that supported
the vast ceiling covering the centermost stalls and worked his
way farther into the heart of the carnival. He stopped when
the matchboard was directly across from him. Aya’s win over