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Elise wore the disguise of a Gypsy girl Sarah Dobbs was a lishwouise in preparation to tell fortunes The wolish fortune-teller seriously and that hy she darkened her skin with grease, her eyes with kohl, and wore a bright scarf tied around her head The cockney accent was gone, and Elise stared in wide-eyed wonder at the crystal ball Sarah had placed on a son
"Would you like your fortune told?" Sarah asked, her voice thick with another accent, a foreign-sounding one
"Sterling said that you can&039;t really see into the future," Elise responded "Besides, I believe a person decides his or her own destiny"
Sarah lifted a brow and glanced down into the ball "I see that you are running froasped "How did you" She promptly closed her , or Elise supposed it was easy enough to guess her situation "You are wrong," she clipped "Good eve, and I guess good-bye I aon and heard Sarah laugh softly
"You are not going anywhere Sterling is your destiny"
The fine hairs on Elise&039;s aron What did the wo, Elise assured herself Sarah&039;s fortune-telling abilities were all an act Making certain the scarf covering her hair was still in place, Elise wandered through the wagons A crowd had already begun to gather Several torches lit the area Elise saw that a cage of sorts had been erected Sterling would no doubt perforhts to tantalize your senses" Philip, resplendent in one of his strange outfits, stepped into the circle of light He began to juggle three balls, all of which caught the light fro dark
"I bring to you an exotic flower from the desert A wo of snakes I bring you Mora"
While Philip distracted the croith his juggling, Mora had stepped froht, snakes draped froe basket at her feet She lifted a strange instruan to play The lid to the basket teetered It fell away and the crowd all inhaled a breath at the sae black snake rose from the basket The snake&039;s head suddenly expanded His tongue slithered out and he hissed, but still Mora played
The tune changed and the snake began to descend into the basket Once the crowd could no longer see the cobra, Mora walked over, placed the lid upon the basket, and gathered it up She bowed to a burst of applause, and coins were suddenly being tossed upon the ground Dawn scrahten your mood, the antics of Nathan and Iris!" Philip booht They were dressed in wild costuht a shed out loud at their silliness andThe crowd did indeed laugh and applaud their efforts, all oohing when Iris did a triple somersault in the air and landed upon her husband&039;s shoulders to end their perforain Dawn moved into the circle and collected the bounty
"Now, the bravest man in the world!" Philip stepped forward "A e beast, turn even theyou the Beast Tae that had been erected earlier Inside, Raja and Leena paced The croild A tall olden head He wore tights that hugged his muscled contours to the point of indecency, and two leather straps crisscrossed over his broad naked chest Heat rushed to Elise&039;s head, a the crowd sigh appreciatively
Elise did not like it, the way the wo He cracked a whip and e and stepped inside The crowd grew deathly quiet Sterling cracked his whip again, issued a command, and the cats took their seats upon two stools that were arranged inside of the cage Raja growled and pawed at Sterling when he passed, causing Elise to suck in her breath
Sterling shouted so and the cats sat up on their haunches The crowd roared He turned his back on the cats and bohich Elise thought was a frightfully stupid thing to do The crowd appreciated his bravery, however, and coins flew to the ground Since Dawn did not scramble forward to collect them, Elise assumed the performance had not ended
Indeed, there wasco down on the ground and rolling over, to an ih a hoop that was on fire Sterling also juht a spray of more coins Elise felt like her heart was in her throat, but she couldn&039;t deny the exciteh her veins
What she hoped was his last act of bravery was to open Raja&039;seain he turned his back upon the cats and bowed to the crowd Raja suddenly attacked fro to the ground Man and beast wrestled and all Elise could do was stare on in horrified fascination Ahopped on Raja&039;s back, riding the tiger
The applause was deafening; the glitter of coins old The torches around the cage were extinguished, and the crowd roared for ht has not ended!" he boomed "Know your future, find your fortune, or maybe discover if your wife has been unfaithful Lady Fortune awaits you in her wagon"