Zuckergewurz. A tiny village inside the Enchanted Forest, so small that it hardly made a speck on most maps. From atop the roof of the wooden chapel in the center of the town, one could faintly make out the bell tower of Castle Felwinter through the mist and clouds in the distance. Not that the residents of this quaint village cared about such things. The world outside Zuckergewurz was as mysterious as the air behind those lofty, slow-moving clouds, and just as far away. There were no roads leading here. No dusty trails for wandering travelers to stumble across. No mercenaries looking get rich. No noble couriers riding in from the grassy meadows, heralding messages from the queen.

And so, when the Circus rode into town one fine morning, it was quite the hullabaloo.

“What's wrong with these people?” Sophia brought the horses to a halt. She and Michelle had to abandon the wagons at the edge of town, for so many of the townspeople had gathered around to admire their caravan that they couldn't pass through.

“Hey, idiots!” Sophia snapped. “You want to move out of the way before you get trampled like men?”

“Show some manners,” Michelle said, taking her hand and leading her through the crowd like a child. They tried to get through unnoticed, but their strange and colorful garments attracted so much attention that they were soon engulfed by another wave of curious onlookers, asking them a volley of questions, like who they were, where they had come from, what they were doing here, and what was inside the wagons. In fact, there were so many questions flying at them at once that Michelle and Sophia never had time to answer or even to breathe the fresh mountain air all around them.

“Would you all kindly SHUT THE FUCK UP?” Sophia screamed. “We're just here for supplies. Geez, people.”

“What kind of supplies?”

“Are you witches?”

“Where did you get those clothes?”

“Can we have some clothes too?”

“So help me, I'll kill you all...” Sophia muttered.

But before she could decide on the best method of murder, an elderly woman with gray hair tied up in a bun came to her and began to wave her hands at the crowd.

“Now, now,” she said. “Give these fine travelers some room to breathe. After all, this isn't a circus.”

The villagers seemed to listen to her and Sophia seemed slightly less likely to become a homicidal maniac.

“I'm the mayor of this small village,” the woman said, extending a warm hand in the direction of Sophia. “On behalf of all of us, welcome to Zuckergewurz.”

Sophia ignored the gesture, so Michelle took the woman's hand instead.

“Pleased to meet you. I'm Michelle, this is Sophia, and…well, this is somewhat embarrassing, but we actually are the Circus.”

The mayor gasped. “Oh, dear me! Of course you are. Those clothes, that wagon, that girl with the makeup all over her body... I should've known.” She put a hand to her lips while Sophia glared at her. “But the Circus? Here in Zuckergewurz? This is most wonderful. Ella will be so happy to meet you!”

“Unless 'Ella' is the town shopkeeper, we have no interest in meeting her or anybody else in this backwater town,” Sophia said. “Look, we got robbed when we were on the highway. The dirty thief made off with most of our stuff and one of our horses. We just need to stock up and we'll be on our way.”

“Robbed? Oh, no! Are you hurt? Are you injured? Should we get you to a cleric? Medic! Oh, medic!”

“Stop that.” Sophia slapped the mayor's hand out of the air. “We're fine. See? Look at me. No blood. Just makeup.” She reached deep into her back pocket and pulled out a leather handbook. “I put together a list of all the things we'll be needing. If you could just—”

“You need food and rest! Yes, food and rest. I can tell.”

“No, we don’t. We—”

But the mayor hurried them over to the marketplace and began to stuff their arms full of the biggest and freshest and most vibrant fruits and vegetables they had ever seen. There were strawberries the sizes of apples, grape bunches as big as watermelons, and carrots longer than their arms.

When their arms were full, she kept piling on more fruits.

“Eat up, eat up,” she encouraged them.

“Are you insane?” Sophia asked, dumping the food into a nearby barrel. “We can't afford this. We got robbed. R-o-b-b-e-d. We barely have enough money to buy what's on the list.”

“Money?” The mayor looked confused. “You mean, like coins and gold…? We don't use money in Zuckergewurz.”

“...Huh?”

“Money is a sin. Here in Zuckergewurz, we share everything. We provide for each other, and our individual talents are our payments.”

Sophia's jaw dropped.

The mayor smiled, patting her hand compassionately, and began introducing her to some of the friendly faces in town.

“You see Helga over there?” she asked, pointing to a heavy-set woman who stopped plowing the soil of her garden to greet the travelers. “She grows the best crops in the land. In fact, she grew almost all of the crops that you will find in Zuckergewurz. And Titania? She's the town blacksmith. She forges the tools that Helga uses to grow crops. And here is Olga, our humble seamstress. She can't make heads or tails of gardening or blacksmithing, but she can hem a dress fit for a queen with her eyes closed.”

“It's true,” Olga giggled. “I don’t know how to do anything else!”

They came full circle and returned to the barrel where Sophia had dumped her fruit.

“Do you understand now?” the mayor asked, plucking the fruit out of the barrel one by one. “In Zuckergewurz, we have no need for money. We benefit each other by doing what we do best. Passion for our craft and love for each other is the only currency we need.”

Sophia’s eye twitched.

“…Are you okay?”

“…I would just like to thank you for this fuckin’ waste of time,” Sophia said. “We'll be going now.”

“But you didn't get what you came for!”

“Hold on, Sophia,” Michelle said. Checking her pockets, she opened her coinpurse and turned to the mayor. “We are but simple travelers. But we have more than enough gold from our last show to pay for the supplies we need. Surely you will take it if we have nothing else to offer.”

“You are the Circus, are you not?”

Michelle nodded.

“Then that is all the payment you need! Although we know little of the world outside of Zuckergewurz, your feats are almost as famous as Rene Chandel. For all the good you have done for the citizens of Ellewyn, you are more than welcome to everything Zuckergewurz has to offer. Let us help you.”

“That would be most generous of you.”

“It would be our pleasure, fair Enchantress. All I ask is that you speak to Ella before you go. She is your biggest fan, after all. Much of what we have learned about your deeds comes straight from her and the books she reads.”

“Of course. We would love to meet our biggest fan. Wouldn't we, Sophia?”

But Sophia was gone. They saw her tearing through the crowd towards the caravan, rage and irritation in her step, and Michelle could only shake her head, embarrassed, and follow.

Meanwhile, inside the wagon at the head of the caravan, the men were all gathered around a small young woman in a white and blue dress. She was down on her knees and holding some of them in her hands with her back to the door, so she didn't see Sophia come barging in.

“Get your hands off of them!”

The girl’s back sprung up, causing her to drop the men, and she threw herself against the back wall and shook like a cornered mouse.

“I'm sorry!” she said. “I'm so terribly sorry. I...I've just never seen men before.” She turned away from Sophia’s furious eyes. “They look just like they do in the pop-up books.”

“Except they're not cardboard cut-outs! They're people, just like you and me!”

“Y-yes, I know...”

“You could've killed them!”

“Chill out, Sophia,” Jesse said. He dusted off his jacket. “She wasn't hurting us. We have a better chance of dying from listening to Jeff talk.”

“That's right,” Jeff said, proudly. “I'm more dangerous than a woman. You heard it from this guy.”

By now, the mayor and Michelle had reached the wagon, and the mayor climbed inside and put her hands on the shoulders of trembling girl.

“Everybody,” she said. “This is my daughter, Ella.”

“It's truly an honor to meet you all,” Ella said, clasping her fingers in her lap. “I hope you are not mad. When I saw your wagon pull up, I just had to see what was inside...to see if the stories were true. Now that I am here, I must admit. It was everything I imagined it would be.”

“...Fuckin' fantastic,” Sophia said, stepping out of the wagon.

Ella watched her leave, and her lips turned into a frown and her brown doe eyes touched the floor.

“…I feel I spend more time apologizing for Sophia than anything,” Michelle said. She put a hand under the girl’s chin. “Ella, please ignore her. It's an honor to meet you as well.”

“T-thank you. You're as pretty as the books say you are, Mischievelle.”

Michelle smiled. “Well, I can tell we're going to get along just fine.”

“Great!” the mayor said, clapping her hands. “Well, now that introductions are over, what do you say we get you your supplies? Ella can help you gather everything you need.”

“You would do that for us, Ella?”

“Of course!” the girl said. “Please, follow me.”

Everybody followed her out of the wagon.

 
-------------------------


Later that evening, the villagers of Zuckergewurz held a great outdoor picnic, to which the members of the Circus were the guests of honor. Tables were arranged in a large circle around the town square, and mountains of food rose as high as the roofs around them. Many of the villagers were cooks, and they were constantly bringing out new trays of the most delicious foods the Circus had ever seen. There were wheels of cheeses as plump as cows, breads of every variety lined across the table like one long train, and even an entire miniature village made of gingerbread. At the center of the circle, a small stage was set up, and three beautiful dames in green and gold garments played a merry tune on their lutes while the villagers talked and laughed and exchanged stories they had heard from the various members of the Circus earlier that day.

The only person in the village not gathered around the town square was Sophia, who had taken a tray to the edge of town and plopped herself down on a rock next to the caravan, with her back to everybody, and ate her meal in the direction of the sunset.

Back at the town square, Michelle and Ella sat across from each other, while all the men from the Circus—Jesse, Mack, Jeff, Roy, Neil, Russell, and even Wallace—were seated in front of Ella, basking in the glory of being the center of attention for once.

“Yeah, it's a dangerous life being a daredevil,” Jesse was saying, as he adjusted the collar of his leather jacket and leaned nonchalantly against the rim of Ella’s plate. “I've been a human cannonball, a human wrecking ball... Once, I was even a human gumball.”

“A human gumball?” Ella echoed.

“It's not as exciting as it sounds.”

“It sounds amazing. Everything you do does. It must be wonderful to be a part of the Circus.”

“Well, I don't mean to brag. We each bring something to the table, just like the women of this town.”

“What do you do?” Ella asked Roy, who was cleaning his frog with a wet rag.

“Why, I'm a regular ol' cowboy, ma'am,” he said. “Hopalong Roy Froggers' the name, but you can just call me Roy. All my friends do.”

“Does your frog have a name, too?”

“That she does, ma’am. I call her Silveria.”

“I thought you frog was a boy,” Mack said.

“That's still up for debate!”

“Well, she's very cute,” Ella said, stroking the frog's back with her pinky finger. “She doesn't bite, does she?”

“That's nothing,” Jeff said. “Look what I can do.”

His voice came from above. Somehow, he had managed to climb his way to the top of Ella’s head. He stood there for a moment, as if reconsidering his decision, and then jumped forward, putting his arms out in front of him, and dove headfirst into the glass Ella was about to pick up. Which was empty.

He smashed his head on the bottom of the glass.

“Ow...”

Ella gasped and quickly turned the glass over, dumping him onto the table. “Are you okay!?”

“Tah-duh!” Jeff stood up, raised his arms over his head, and grinned from ear to ear before he fell over backwards.

Mack elbowed Jesse. “Better look out. Jeff is getting as good as you at doing stupid things.”

“I don’t think it’s stupid at all,” Ella said. “I think he’s very brave.”

Jeff stuck out his tongue at the rest of the guys.

Up until now, Russell and Wallace had kept to themselves, talking either to each other or not at all. As Ella picked up a pitcher of water and began to fill up her glass, she looked at them and smiled.

“What can you do?” she asked sweetly.

She wasn't really directing the question to either of them, but Wallace looked at Russell with a sly smile and he stood up.

“You want some mashed potatoes?” he asked.

“Well, I do. But they're all the way across the table...” She tapped the shoulder of the woman next to her. “Excuse me. Could you pass the—”

Wallace roared and rushed towards the bowl of mashed potatoes. His feet thundered against the wooden table. When he was a few feet away, he jumped and body-slammed the spoon that was sticking out from the bowl. A huge glob of mashed potatoes flew through the air and landed squarely on Ella's plate, perfectly wedged between the ear of corn and the buttered biscuit.

Wallace landed on his feet and punched the falling spoon handle, sending it back into the bowl as he had found it.

Ella was all claps and giggles. “That was wonderful!”

“Show off,” Russell muttered as Wallace joined back up with him and sat down.

Ella smiled, as could be expected, and turned her attention to Russell. “What about you? Do you have any special talents?”

“Why, I'm the Ringmaster of the Circus,” the bearded man declared. “That is special in and of itself.”

“Oh, yes. I imagine it is.”

 “Not only that, but I handle all of the group's finances. I guess you could say I'm really good at counting gold.”

“But money is useless here in Zuckergewurz. What good is a power like that?”

“Well, it doesn't always have to be for gold. For example...” Russell took a quick look at the ear of corn Ella was eating. “Four hundred and sixty-two.”

“What?”

“There are four hundred and sixty-two kernels left on your corn.”

Ella held the cob at arms-length. “That's amazing!”

“That's a gift, sweetheart.”

Ella laughed and began nibbling at her corn while Russell continued to correctly name the exact number of kernels left after each bite.

“I always knew that sex was corny, but did you ever think that corn could be so sexy?” Jeff asked Mack.

“...If you're going to make a pop culture reference, at least make it about a movie people have seen, you moron,” Mack said.

“Can I eat your corn?” Jeff shouted up at Ella.

Ella reached across the table and set a full ear of corn in front of the men.

“You can have all you want,” she said. “Helga grows the best corn, doesn't she?”

Each of the men walked up to the cob and began tearing off kernels and setting them aside until they had made a small pile. Then they gathered around Ella's plate and began to eat.

“I notice there's no meat on your plate,” Neil said. “Is that because you don't eat men?”

All the villagers at the table gasped, and Ella dropped her ear of corn in shock.

“Who would do such a thing?” she asked, horrified.

“I dunno,” Neil said, shrugging. “Lots of women.”

“That is horrible! Why would anyone eat a living creature?”

“Well, they're usually dead first,” Mack admitted. “...Usually.”

“Surely you’ve heard of women eating men,” Michelle said, cocking her head to the side. “Zuckergewurz can’t be that far removed from all the problems of our society.”

“Just gingerbread men,” Ella said sweetly, holding a tiny gingerbread man to her cheek and smiling innocently.

“I’m surprised. A lot of good men are killed every day due to the malicious acts of women. Maybe it’s better not to be aware of all the evil that goes on in this world…”

“I wouldn’t know…” Ella said, lowering her head. “I've lived in Zuckergewurz for as long as I can remember. My mother has taken very good care of me, but I've always dreamed of seeing the world beyond the Enchanted Forest. I imagine it’s filled with such wonders.”

“You've never left the forest?”

“Oh, no. I've never traveled more than a few miles from this place. The furthest I’ve gone is to the edge of the creek behind that mountain. But I have learned a lot from the books I've read. When I hear about the stories of the Circus, of the grand things you've done...it makes me want to see the world, to know what’s out there.”

“Well, we try to inspire.”

“I wish I could come with you.”

Michelle put down her napkin. “All you have to do is ask.”

“Oh, I could never ask such a thing! I would only get in your way.”

“Nonsense. If your mother would allow it, I'm sure nobody here would object to having another woman around. As you can see, there are only two of us to protect all these men. It’s not an easy task. In fact, that's part of the reason we're here now... We're searching for two of our companions. They've gone missing, and we think they might have been kidnapped by one of the members of the royal family.”

“Oh, no. That’s not good…”

“But I see a pure heart in you, Ella of Zuckergewurz. It would be good for the Circus morale to have somebody like you among us.”

“But would Sophia not object?”

“It would be good for her too. I'm sure Sophia would—”

A dark shadow was cast over their bodies as Sophia came up from behind, blotting out the last rays of the sun as she leaned across the table towards Michelle.

“What would I say, Michelle?” she asked, a bit loudly. “Please, enlighten us with your wisdom, O' Great Fortune Teller. Tell everybody my innermost thoughts, since you can obviously read me so well.”

The other villagers began to stare.

“Sophia, please don't do this in front of everybody...”

“It's okay,” Ella said quietly. “It was a silly idea of mine. I didn't mean to bring it up.”

“Well, you did,” Sophia said. “You brought it up for a reason, Little Miss Sunshine.”

“My reasons are childish. I’m sorry.”

“You live in a town where everybody knows everybody else and gets anything wonderfully. Everybody loves you, cares about you, and treats you like a princess. Why in the hell would you want to give all that up to travel with a bunch of Circus freaks who spend most of their time on the road, running from the law!?”

“…Because I want to see the world.”

“You’re an idiot.”

Ella’s eyes began to water, Sophia pivoted on her heels and stormed away, and Michelle’s fingers curled into fists.

“…Excuse me for a second,” Michelle said, rising to her feet.

But Ella stood up and shook her head. “This is my fault. I will talk to her.”

Michelle dropped down into her seat. “If you feel you’re up to it… Just know she doesn’t speak for the rest of us.”

Fidgeting with her dress, Ella walked over to Sophia, who was leaning against the side of the bakery with one hand in her pocket and other against the brick wall. They were out of earshot range from the villagers now, and Ella waited until they had all turned away before she made a move.

“…I didn’t mean to upset you,” she said quietly. “You really are my favorite member of the Circus. I’ve always seen you as an idol…”

“You and a million other starry-eyed girls. Aren’t you a little old to be having heroes anyway?”

“I’m no older than you.”

“Whatever.” Sophia slid her shoulder across the wall, moving further away from the town square, and then turned around. “What’s wrong with you anyway?”

“What?”

“You really want to leave this place? It’s like this town was made for you.”

“I love it here… But I want nothing more than to travel the world.”

“Why not just leave then?”

“I wouldn’t know where to go! Or how to act. Or who to be…”

Sophia stared her up and down. “Yeah, you would get eaten alive out there. Look at you. All prim and rigid and fragile. Are you made of glass or something?”

Ella blinked.

“You said you’ve read all about us, right?”

“Oh, yes! I—”

“Then you know we devote our time to saving people from the greatest threats Adelais has to offer.”

“Yes. From evils unseen, from the darkest of depths, it is the Code of the Circus to help those in need.”

Sophia grabbed Ella’s shoulder with an iron grip and spun her around to face the cheery-faced villagers of Zuckergewurz, lost in their food and songs of merriment. The sun had set and still there was a glow of warmth around the town square as the villagers rose from their seats, interlocked their hands, and danced in a circle around a blazing fire. Confetti as tiny, vivid, and plentiful as cupcake sprinkles rained down from the sky, and the villagers sang louder and danced faster.

“I have never encountered an evil like this before,” Sophia whispered into her ear. “This town is an abomination. Anybody with the common sense to want to be rescued from here deserves our help.”

Ella’s eyes grew three sizes bigger that day.

“Do you truly mean it?” she asked.

“Do I look like I'm fuckin' joking?”

“Um...”

Sophia shoved three fingers in her face. “Three rules. One, you do not touch my guitar.”

“Right.”

“Two, you do not wake me up before noon.”

“Right.”

“Three, you don’t act all cheery when you’re around me. Can you do that?”

Ella tried to slant her eyebrows and stick out her lower lip to look moody, but she only succeeded in making herself look even more ridiculously sweet.

“…Ugh.” Sophia released her shoulder. “We’ll work on it.”

“Thank you,” Ella said. “Thank you ever so much. I promise not to be a very great burden to you on your journeys.”

Sophia flashed a quick, almost indiscernible smile as she nodded and spoke not another word. They stood there for a while longer, the girl in black and the girl in white, watching the idiotic scene before them, and then Sophia muttered something to Ella and began walking towards the caravan.

“…Come on, kid,” she said. “Help me get my guitar so we can give these brainwashed buffoons a real show.”

“Coming!”

 
-------------------------


It was almost midnight in Zuckergewurz, and Ella stood on the wrong side of the window of her small cottage, watching the Circus caravan drive past her and disappear slowly into the shadows of the Enchanted Forest.

The mayor threw another log on the fire and came up behind Ella, putting her warm, wrinkled hands on the young girl’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry, but you couldn’t really think I would let you join the Circus,” the mayor said. “Your place is here, Ella, in Zuckergewurz. It has been, and always will be.”

“I know…” Ella said sadly.

“Still, that was a great show they put on for us. I’m sure they’ll come back this way again. Don’t you think so?”

Ella nodded, but her motions were numb and without emotion.

“Come now…” The mayor closed the curtains and walked Ella towards the fireplace, where a platter of cheese and crackers and a cup of the best tea a girl could ask for were waiting for her. Next to them was a new book, bound in a thick purple cover, whose pages were crisp and unread. A finely-crafted bookmark with intricate gold vines and an engraving that spelled out ‘Ella’ sat thoughtfully on top.

“Take these and go up to your room,” the mayor said, handing Ella the platter. “When you are finished with this book, you can tell me all the wonderful things you have learned.”

“Thank you, mother.” Ella did as she was asked, holding the platter out in front of her with stiff arms and a straight back. She walked as delicately as a waitress carrying a dozen bowls of hot soup as she climbed the old wooden stairs to her humble attic room and set the platter down on her bedside table.

She picked up the bookmark, smiling at the letters of her name that glittered back, and placed them on the bed sheets. Then she picked up the book and closed the attic door with the utmost of care.

Once it was shut, Ella pressed her back against the door, took a moment to exhale and glanced around the room, and then grabbed a leather sack—usually used for picking flowers—that was hanging in her closet. She immediately moved towards her bookshelf, dropped the sack to her feet, and began to stuff it full of the biggest, thickest, most colorful books she could find. Only a small fraction of her collection could fit in the sack, but she didn’t waste time looking at all those she had missed. She quickly folded the flap over the sack, buckled it shut, and threw it over her shoulder.

With a crash, she fell backwards.

“Ella, is everything okay?” her mother yelled from downstairs.

“Yes, mother! I am fine. Just tripped over my shoes.”

“Not again.”

Ella grunted, unstrapped the sack, and opened the flap. Hesitantly, she began to remove the books one at a time, setting them into a neat pile in the center of her room, until the sack was only half full.

She tried again to lift it, but still to no avail.

Once more, she knelt down and put her hands on her hips. She stared at the sack for a long time and then gave a sigh of frustration and turned the sack upside down. The books spilled across the floor and she dug through the mess until she found one exceptionally large tome with no title or words on the cover. Smiling, she held the book at arms-length and then stuffed it into the sack.

She stood up. The sack was much lighter now, so she hurried around the room and filled the remaining compartments with a few potions, a handful of herbs, a comb, and a small bag of trail mix and gingerbread men.

When she was finished, she grabbed a blue shawl from her bedpost and threw it over her shoulders. Then she opened the window, grabbed the leather sack, and tossed it into the night.

She took a moment in the inhale the calm night air before she swung her legs over the windowpane and dropped down beside it.

The town square was empty. She stood in the grass and peered into the window behind her, where she could almost see her mother through the closed curtains. She imagined her mother was in her favorite rocking chair, knitting another sweater, even though winter was many months away.

“I’m sorry, mother,” Ella said, gracing the window with her fingertips. “I’ll be back someday.”

“This is all you’re bringing?”

Ella’s heart jumped and she put a hand over her chest.

“Oh, Sophia. You surprised me.”

Sophia picked up the sack and swung it loosely over her shoulder. “And you surprised me. I didn’t think you had the guts to go through with this.”

“Do you suppose she’ll be mad at me?”

“Part of growing up is pissing off the people who love you. Trust me. She’ll appreciate you doing this.”

“Okay…” Ella moved away from the window. In the distance, she could see the twinkling lights of the Circus caravan, waiting for her just beyond the trees.

“Let’s go,” Sophia said, seizing her hand. “Adventures await.”