by Eric Vall
“You mention those two things a lot,” the cat-girl stated as she ran a delicate hand over the surface of the machine and stared into her reflection’s eyes. “Jailed… killed… I don’t know what they mean, but every time they pass your lips, I get a strange, awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. Why is that, Charles?”
I noticed over the passing days, Valerie had become more articulate. Her words and speech were more advanced than when I first created her, so it was clear: the feline learned through experience.
“We live in a matriarchal society, Valerie,” I explained, and the blonde’s arched eyebrows furrowed. “Women are considered a higher class than men because they are born with the ability to wield magic. Men have always been at the lowest end of the food chain, we are second-class citizens… sometimes, barely even that. Men are the servants of our betters, some of them even take us as consorts and use us for our bodies. We’re not even considered human by some of them, merely animals or beasts with the ability to talk.”
“Has it always been this way?” Valerie muttered as she lowered herself onto my stool and followed me with her eyes.
“Yes, maybe even since the beginning of time,” I sighed with a single nod. “I’ve never known anything different. There’ve been a few revolts and uprisings against the matriarchs, but each of them was swiftly squashed with little effort. The women are just that powerful.”
“And this Duchess?” the cat-girl spat out as her lips curled against her pointed teeth. “Is she as powerful as the others?”
“Even more so,” I told her as I replaced my tools into their rightful cabinets. “There are other women like her in the larger cities, but in this province, she’s our ruler. She controls everything in this city because she’s the strongest. Her family’s been in control of this town since it came into existence.”
“Then I will defeat her,” Valerie plainly stated as she rested her hands daintily in her lap. “Then she won’t own you.”
“What?” I snapped my head in her direction with a befuddled expression. “No, absolutely not, the Duchess can’t even know that you exist.”
“Charles,” the cat-girl stated calmly. “You just said that only women wield magical power, doesn’t that mean I too hold some type of supernatural essence within me?”
Valerie was right though, she had to possess some type of power within her body. The cat-girl hadn’t shown any signs of magic for the past few days, but the power would awaken eventually… it had to.
“I’m sure you do since you were created from a human female,” I nodded. “A woman’s powers develop when they’re around the age of ten or eleven, it just makes me wonder, how long will it take for you? You’re not like the other women I’d been around all of my life.”
“How will I know I’m ready?” Valerie murmured as she bent her legs, launched herself smoothly up onto the examination table, and then rolled over onto her stomach.
“Again, I’m not sure.” I turned, leaned against the countertop, and leveled my gaze at her. “I don’t know what it feels like since I’m a man, but have you felt anything… strange? Like a sixth sense coming ablaze in your body?”
“I don’t know what that feels like, Charles,” Valerie snickered, but then suddenly took on a more serious expression, hopped off the table and pressed her hands to her lower abdomen. “But I’ve noticed this strange sensation, it started in my belly the moment you brought me out of the machine.”
“Can you describe it?” I prodded, and the blonde shook her head.
“No, not that I know of,” the cat-girl shrugged and then looked pensive for a few passing seconds. “It started in my belly, as I said, and then over time, spread through all of my limbs. The only way I can put it into words is that it feels as if all of the cells in my body are vibrating at the same time.”
“Interesting,” I said.
“And…” she purred as she wiggled closer to me on the table. “The feeling gets stronger when I’m near you, or when you look at me, or when I think about you, or when--”
“Okay,” I laughed. “That’s not quite what I’m talking about. I’m talking about magic.”
“Ohh, this is magic,” she giggled as her blue eyes bored into mine. “You make me feel wonderful.”
“Is there any other feeling?” I cleared my throat. “Something different from when you look at me?”
“I’m sure it’s definitely there,” she giggled. “So, I will get my magic soon, and then defeat the Duchess, maybe not today or tomorrow but, I will do it with you by my side, I promise, Charles.”
“I love the enthusiasm, Valerie, I do,” I snickered and then let the smile fall from my face. “But we can’t do that, we can’t take down the Duchess or anything like that. Edony is the single most influential person in this city, and if she died or went missing, I’d be the first person they’d look into. I’m the only man in the city that she’s ‘close’ with if you could even consider us that.”
A faraway bell rang, and Valerie nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound. It was the alarm bell I’d rigged to alert me anytime someone passed through the gates of the manor, so I hurriedly grabbed a stray crate, slammed it down in front of the overhead small window and peered out. It was high noon, so I squinted my eyes against the bright sun, gripped onto the stone window sill, and then gasped.
“Shit,” I breathed as the familiar carriage pulled into the drive and stopped in front of the manor.
“What is it, Charles?” Valerie asked as she skipped forward and attempted to climb up onto the crate.
“Get down,” I instructed as I jumped from the crate and then searched for a place to hide Val. “It’s the Duchess.”
“Why is she here?” A.B. cried.
“Now I shall defeat her!” Val proclaimed as she jumped to her feet and raised her fist up in the air.”
“Not now!” I groaned.
“Well, why else would she be here, if not to challenge me to a duel over your heart,” Valerie growled. “Ohhh, I get to fight to the death over you! How romantic!”
“I don’t know why she’s here,” I groaned, “but it’s not because of you. She does this every time, just shows up totally unannounced.”
“Then you should tell her to leave,” Valerie offered, but I shook my head.
“I can’t just do that,” I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair. “She’s paying me to do this, hell, she even gave me this manor.”
“Then this is the perfect time, Charles,” Valerie giggled as she dropped low to the ground and swiped at the air with her hands.
“For what?” I asked.
“For me to kill her like I just said!” the cat-girl snickered as she tucked her arms, forced herself forward, rolled across the floor and then pounced forward with her teeth bared. “Rawr!”
“No, absolutely not.” I forced out. “Shit, we need to find you a place to hide.”
“What?” the blonde cried. “Why?”
“The Duchess is here!” I reiterated as I grabbed the cat-girl by the shoulders. “She’ll want to see the improvements on the machine, she does every time she visits.”
“Then tell her no.” Valerie repeated as she dragged her feet.
“Listen,” I stated and turned the feline to face me. “I can’t just go around telling the Duchess what she can and can’t do. I’ve told you what will happen if I go against her, I will be jailed or killed. Do either of those things sound good to you? I’ll answer that for you, no, they don’t. Will you please cooperate with me?”
“Yes…” Valerie exhaled as her oceanic blue eyes fluttered to the floor.
“Great,” I grumbled as I grabbed her by the wrist and then glanced around the room for an optimal hiding place. “Where should we put you? …Here!”
My boots pounded against the cold stone floor as I raced toward the expansive cabinets. Then I grabbed the door to the largest one I used for sizeable mechanical parts and gestured inside. Valerie glanced between me and the dark space inside with an
unsure expression.
“Please, Valerie,” I begged softly as I squeezed her hand. “I don’t have much time, and you can come out as soon as she leaves.”
“I’ll do it, Charles,” the blonde finally agreed as she stepped inside and squeezed herself between two massive pistons. “But I get an extra hour of exploration time, got it?”
“Yes, yes,” I frantically nodded as I attempted to smear on a smile. “You can have whatever you want as soon as this is over.”
“Annnnddddd we get to snuggle under some blankets while you pet my tail?”
“Yes!” I growled. “Just get in!”
“Yay!” Valerie giggled softly and smiled as I closed the cabinet door.
I frantically glanced around the room for any sign that the cat-girl had been here, but there was nothing. I sighed loudly as my eyes closed, and I took a deep breath to clear all of my racing thoughts. I exhaled loudly as I pulled my eyelids open and grabbed the corrugated door’s handle. I whipped it open, and bright light burned my eyes as I climbed the stairs two at a time.
Blaring heat beat at the skin of my face as I stepped up the last stair onto the gravel. My boots crunched loudly as I glanced toward the stable to my left and saw that it was empty. No, the royal woman wouldn’t want her perfect carriage sullied in my dirty stable, so she had to be out front. I heard a horse’s whinny and the soft trot of impatient hooves in the distance, and I crept around the house and took in the shape of the Duchess as she paced the drive.
The Duchess of Edenhart wore a turquoise silk dress with hints of black in the detailing and lace. The tailored jacket she wore over it matched the same shining silk as the rest, and the folds of the hem brushed at the ground as she took a step forward toward the manor. Her corseted waist seemed even tinier than before as she placed a black-gloved hand irritably on her hip and sighed. Swatches of black lace covered her collar bones and chest, and a long, beaded necklace rested against the fabric and glittered in the hot sun. The Duchess held a black cane in her gloved hand and I spied the familiar ivory handle carved into the shape of a sharp hook.
Her almost white hair was styled down today and curled onto her left shoulder elegantly. A small hat the same color as her dress and jacket nestled into the tightly curled hair at the top of her head. The tiny accessory didn’t budge at all as she swung her head toward the house and then back to her carriage irritably.
Two guards stood behind her in pristine black suits, and I could tell from their stiff shoulders that they were ready to attack at any moment. I’d seen them many times, and though they’d never threatened me, the Duchess had on many occasions.
The Duchess and her guards mere presence made my hair bristle at the base of my neck, but I had to admit, I was more afraid of her than her guard dogs.
“Hello, Charles.” Edony’s head snapped in my direction as her eyes narrowed and her sour expression deepened.
“Good Afternoon.” I plastered a smile over my features. “What a lovely day it is? How are you? You look lovely.”
“I don’t have time for such pleasantries, Charles.” The Duchess barked as her delicate, gloved hands tightened on her cane. “What took you so long to receive me?”
“I apologize for the delay, Duchess,” I uttered as I came to stand in front of her and swept into a low bow. “I wasn’t prepared for your visit today.”
“Of course, you weren’t,” Edony chuckled lightly as her violet eyes bored into me. “It’s best for me to check up on you when you least expect it, that way you can’t hide anything from me.”
I pressed my lips into a hard line and suppressed the urge to scoff at her choice of words. Little did she know I was hiding something massive from her.
“Why don’t you come inside?” I forced a smile and gestured toward the house. “We can have some tea, I recently bought these delightful elderflower crumpets, and they are to die for. We can sit down and discuss what you came here for.”
“I have no interest in sitting down and having tea with you like two gossiping hens,” Edony declared as her hand tightened on her cane. “I came to see the work, I want to see my machine. Take me there immediately.”
Her machine? Hers? The Duchess paid for the damn thing, sure, paid for the parts and mechanics, but it wasn’t hers. I built it with my bare hands and toiled over it when it broke down. If it wasn’t for me, the precious machine wouldn’t exist at all, and the blonde bitch had no ownership over it.
I sucked in a breath, plastered a smile over my features for the second time, and nodded as I turned on my heel.
“As you wish, Duchess,” I grumbled under my breath, and the blonde chuckled with satisfaction.
Edony followed so close behind me that I almost felt her breath on the back of my neck. I led her to the stairs, and she glanced down them with disdain as she did each time she visited. Then the Duchess clicked her tongue, sighed loudly as she rolled her eyes, and then hiked up her skirts. Underneath the sleek silk of her dress, I made out the pristine white of her underskirts and petticoats. I had to wonder how she could stand the heat under all of those layers and layers of heavy fabric. Half the time, the aristocrats in town looked as if they were melting, but never the Duchess, it was as if she had ice melded into her veins.
“I don’t know how you can stand to work in a disgusting basement, Charles,” Edony sniffed as I swung open the door for her, and she glanced inside. “But I guess you Neanderthal vermin don’t seem to mind dark and dank holes, do you?”
“Very true,” I grunted as I cleared my throat and moved to swing the door closed.
“Keep it open,” the Duchess snapped as the tip of her cane clattered against the corrugated metal. “My guards are at the top of the stairs, they can’t hear our conversation, but if I scream, it’s over for you.”
“Haven’t we worked together for long enough that you know I won’t harm you?” I sighed as I crossed the room toward my machine. “It’s over here, I’ll show you the improvements I’ve made and the things I need to work on.”
“You never know what a man will do when he gets a woman alone,” the Duchess rasped as she stalked closer. “You are beasts, after all, aren’t you?”
“I don’t speak for the entire species of man,” I retorted as I kept my tone light and friendly. “But I’m a scientist, and a doctor. I have respect for my fellow man… and women.”
“Don’t talk like that, Charles,” Edony quipped as she gazed at me with those strange, violet eyes. “You’ll start to sound like someone who wants to overthrow the matriarchy, and you know how all of those uprisings ended.”
“Ew,” a familiar voice cried from a vat of clear liquid on the other side of the room. “Get that thing out of here! Blech, doesn’t she know that teal is so not her color?”
I snorted and hastily covered my mouth as the Duchess glanced at me over her shoulder with raised eyebrows. Edony didn’t react to the sound, and I didn’t expect her to, she simply couldn’t hear the brain talk.
A.B. floated in a large tank of crystal-clear liquid, and round bubbles bumped against his uneven surface. His regular jar sat empty in the sink to the right of the vat and waited to be cleaned within the next few days. The brain looked like an obscene exotic fish as he bobbed through the cleansing liquid and I stifled a low chuckle as his brain-stem wriggled underneath him like a tiny, thin tail. Every month, I’d dump A.B. out into the vat of clean water with a special cocktail of glucose, minerals, and vitamins and let him soak for a couple of days until he sparkled. He’d come out squeaky clean, but not only that, he’d be fully rested too.
He’d been snoozing for the past couple days, and it’d been eerily quiet without him, though it’d been nice having alone time with Valerie. I had to admit that the silence without him was dull and I’d missed my loudmouth assistant.
“I see you still have that disgusting installment,” Edony’s lips curled down at the corners as her violet eyes landed on A.B. and his container. “I would’ve had it burned the moment I laid
eyes on it, it’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Edony acted as if A.B. was some sort of weird, surreal art installment, and I almost burst out laughing. I couldn’t explain to her the reason why I’d brought A.B. home, she’d probably have me restrained in a straight jacket and thrown in the looney-bin.
“I’m a doctor,” I smirked as I rocked back on my heels, and Edony glowered at me out of the corner of her eye. “The brain is fascinating, I love studying it. That’s why I keep it, is there anything else in my laboratory you’d like to criticize?”
“Hear that, lady?” A.B. shouted and I barely stopped the snicker this time. “I’m fascinating, fas-cin-ating!”
“Insolent, little shit.” The Duchess snarked and moved so fast that I barely had time to register what was happening. “You dare speak to me in such a way?”
Edony gripped her cane by the length, swung out with it and caught me by the shoulder with its hooked handle. The crook caught me by the shoulder and snagged the fabric of my shirt so tightly it nearly ripped. Her violet eyes burned in their sockets as she ripped the cane downward but I stayed in place and ignored the pain ripping through my shoulder. This had happened a few times before but I was prepared, I wouldn’t bend and sink to my knees.
“You’re testing my patience today, Charles,” the Duchess cursed through gritted teeth. “If you were any other man…”
“Forgive me for my sharp tongue,” I forced out. “I forgot my place for a moment, I am very sorry.”
“Don’t let it happen again,” The Duchess narrowed her eyes, glared up at me, and then lifted the cane away with a scoff. “The next time, I won’t be as merciful.”
“Yes, Duchess,” I nodded as I rubbed my sore shoulder. “It won’t happen again.”
“Now,” Edony breathed as she turned on her heel toward the enormous structure. “On to what I came here for, my machine.”
“It’s not your machine, lady,” A.B. snarked from the far corner. “Charles built it, you had nothing to do with it except supplying the money.”
The blonde stepped closer, and her low heels clicked against the cold floor. The Duchess leaned back her head and examined compartment B first with squinted eyes.