Maia and the Xifarian Conspiracy (The Lightbound Saga Book 1) Read Free Page A

shiny toy, moving rapidly from one trader to another, examining their wares and shaking his head in despair. After following him in a few misadventures, Maia was bored.
    She was desperate to find something remotely interesting when a striped peak of red and white towering over the tops of the last row of shops caught her eye. A circus? Maia blinked, hardly believing her eyes; it was not every day that a circus visited these parts. She tried to peep through the gaps between the shops to get a better view, but only managed a glimpse of the small crowd gathered in front of the imposing structure that had made its home in the fairgrounds. An enormous sigh made its way out of her chest as she stood rooted to the spot, gazing at the tent, yearning to look at it up close. Maia reached for the ends of her pigtails, her mind racing to formulate a plan to convince Herc.
    Just when Maia’s day had begun to show some promise, Herc managed to get into some trouble with a vegetable lady. The woman’s resentful voice rang loud and sharp through the humdrum of the market; she was clearly not amused by Herc’s disrespectful assessment of her merchandise. Herc’s meager apologies were not helping, and between Emmy’s list and the slighted shopkeeper, the poor man was stuck in a hard spot.
    Maia made her way back to Herc, jumping in to pacify the woman. It took a while, and not until Herc had agreed to buy some of the very potatoes he had dared to insult, did she let them leave. As Herc’s face eased with relief at his getaway, Maia realized it was the perfect time to ask him about the circus.
    “Herc?” she started.
    “Yes, miss?” His voice had a hint of a tremble.
    “While you shop around, may I walk over to the fairgrounds? I could meet you at the Tavern, maybe?” she asked.
    Just like Maia had hoped, Herc nodded, barely paying any attention. Maia’s heart leaped. Not wasting another moment, she took off in the direction of the giant tent.
     

 
    4: The Boy with the Levehs
     
    The tent was beyond gigantic. Maia’s keen, observant eyes appraised it quickly—it was about six times taller than her house, and the base that stretched across the dull-brown expanse of grass was proportionately large. A colossal central peak loomed over two smaller ones that stood to each side. “The Solianese Circus” announced a bright sign that hung over the entrance, proudly proclaiming its heritage. Around the mammoth tent lay a maze of animal cages, painted wagons, and carts. Workers scurried to attend to last-minute details while the performers readied themselves for the afternoon show.
    The circus had started to attract eager onlookers, mostly young children and a handful of adults. Maia stopped briefly at the animal enclosures, drawn by the antics of the Spotted Simians, one of the reviled “introduced” species that the first colonists’ carried with them when they dispersed from their mother planet half a millennium ago. Next to it was the pachyderms’ corral. These woolly, four-tusked behemoths were clearly indigenous, with likely ties to the wild herds that roamed Tansi’s Fourth Continent. Maia stood mesmerized by their training routine, moving forward only when the crowd around her began to swell.
    She strolled past the performers’ coaches and around the right side of the big top, stopping in front of a smaller tent of red and gold. From its quiet prominence, Maia imagined it to be the living quarters of one of the star performers or even the owners. She stepped closer, admiring the intricately woven design that covered the structure, depicting kings and warriors, horses and chariots in battle. She wanted to study the delicate filigree on the ivory curtains, but her attention was diverted instead toward the fenced paddock next to the tent.
    There, gleaming in the sun, were two Levehs—single-rider glider crafts. The pilot’s seat was sunk in the middle, right where the long wings met the streamlined body. A pair of