Chapter 16: First Flight
"Are you serious about this?" Kir asked as he looked down from twenty meters above the ground.
He'd climbed up a rope ladder to get to the trapeze in the big tent, which was the first tent everyone in the circus set up before making the rest of their camp. It was his first time inside it, and there wasn't even a safety net down below.
Kir suddenly found himself wishing he learned if magic could affect gravity.
"Of course I am! Trust me!" Morn laughed, hovering in front of him with a steady motion of her wings.
"You sold me out to a prick for money," Kir reminded her.
"Aye, true, but I wasn't gonna do murder for him! Besides, he probably just wants to drive you out. Protect his precious sister from being in class with you." She showed off, flying around Kir in a circle. "Now, you see that bar with the ropes? Pick that up since you're feeling skittish."
Skittish wasn't half of it. Kir was downright terrified. The only training he'd gotten on the ground was her checking to make sure he could flap his wings. After that, she told him to climb.
"How do I know you aren't just trying to get me killed?" Kir asked. "Make it look like an accident."
"Well for one, be real shitty of me to do that after not burning you in the cart. For two, I had a word with the beastmaster on the way in," she put two fingers in her mouth and blew a very loud whistle.
Down below, Kir watched as the circus' beastmaster walked into the ring with a very large gryphon. "If you fall, Earnest will catch you."
The beastmaster saluted, waving amicably. He was a human fellow with a round face and a wide smile.