by Eric Vall
“You’re not going to throw him in a jail cell until Delphine is found?” Milton squeaked. “You do know that if you leave him unattended, he could go out and do the very same to another aristocrat.”
“Or you could do that, you’re the Deputy Warden after all,” Afton scoffed. “We have more important things to do than stalk a seemingly innocent man.”
“He may be a man, which are inherently untrustworthy,” Zinnia uttered. “But we cannot go around arresting people for no good reason, we need proof that he committed a crime.”
“Where are you learning these things?” Edony snapped, stepped so close to Zinnia that their noses almost touched and narrowed her eyes. “You should arrest him even if you don’t have proof.”
“Madam, I don’t work for you,” the redhead sniffed. “Those before me may have, but I work for the Ministry of State and Order, and these new regulations are straight from the capital of the queendom. The Warden may obey you, but that doesn’t mean the constable-force has to. We are simply following orders as the capital has instructed us, and if you please, we have important investigating to do.”
“But you,” Afton turned toward Daisy, narrowed her sharp blue eyes, and set her jaw. “You speak too freely around your consort.”
“Excuse me?” the bear-girl scoffed, pressed a hand to the middle of her chest, and drew back. “What ever does that mean?”
“You act as if he isn’t a beast or brute, at all,” Zinnia brushed past the Duchess, brushed off her coat, and stood with her arms crossed. “It’s unacceptable.”
“I’m only treating him the way he should be treated,” the bear-girl shrugged. “With respect and diligence.”
“That’s where you're wrong,” Afton snapped. “We may not be able to arrest the Alchemist yet, but we won’t treat him as if he is on the same level as we are. We’re women, we’re stronger and more powerful than he will ever be with his pea-sized brain.”
“Charles is a doctor and scientist,” Daisy assured. “He doesn’t have a pea-sized brain, he’s brilliant.”
“There, that right there is what we’re talking about.” Zinnia narrowed her eyes. “You speak as if he’s an equal to you. As the Duchess said, we don’t know how you treat your consorts in the east, but here in Edenhart, they’re beasts with the ability to speak.”
“As I said--” the bear-girl started but was cut off by Afton, who raised a single finger into the air.
“You know you could be arrested for that, right?” the mousey-woman squinted. “Not many have been in Edenhart, but it’s not unheard of. Those who treat men as equals are just as bad as they are and deserved to be punished.”
“Even if the police don’t do something about it.” Edony stepped forward, glared down, and held her cane tightly in her fist. “I will. I have more power and ability than they do when it comes to transgressions like this.”
“You speak and act as if you are subservient to him,” Zinnia loomed closer. “And that is not allowed. The rules of investigation may be changing, but the laws about the treatment of men and consorts have not. You can be punished for the way you’re treating him, jailed maybe but him… oh yes, he’d killed, immediately. Once a man is treated with kindness, he comes to expect it from all those around him, and those types of creatures need to be put down.”
“We wouldn’t want you and your consort to end up dead, would we?” Edony snarled through a wicked grin. “I’m already your enemy, you wouldn’t want to make more on the constable-force.”
“I-I… I’m sorry,” Daisy folded her hands, lowered her head, and bowed low. “I will correct my actions and treat him according to local custom.”
“That’s better,” Zinnia nodded. “Very well, Afton, shall we return to the station? We have a long night ahead of us.”
“Yes,” the mousey-brunette inclined her head. “Good evening everyone, we will take our leave. Don’t forget what we said, Alchemist, we’ll be on you like flies to honey if we find any evidence that implicates you, understand?”
Zinnia jerked her head to Afton, the mousey brunette nodded, and they both bowed to the Duchess, glanced in Milton’s way, and then headed back toward their carriage. Edony and Milton watched the two women go and only turned back toward me when they were gone for sight.
“Do you think this is over, Alchemist?” Edony snarled. “It’s not, even if the constables won’t arrest you, I still have some power in this town.”
“Do you?” Daisy raised a single eyebrow, rested a hand on my shoulder, and then brought me to my knees. “Charles is under my care and protection.”
“Ah, following the rules now?” the Duchess smirked. “Adorable… but heed my warning, Daisy Browning, I will have Charles, no what. He will give me what I paid for him to produce. Even if you stand in my way, you can’t protect him from my wrath, even if you try, I’ll take you down with him.”
“You may be the Duchess, and you may be powerful,” Daisy stated, stepped forward, and rose to her full height. “But you don’t scare me, Edony. As the constables said, you can’t do anything to me without being charged, so please, attack me, do whatever you want, but what happens after is your fault.”
Edony’s spine snapped to attention, her nostrils flared, her violet eyes burned bright, her hands turned into fists, but right as I’d thought she’d attack, she spun on her heel.
“Milton!” the blonde shrieked. “We’re going back to the manor! Hurry up, you, vermin-trash, I don’t have time to wait for you. You were supposed to be on patrol anyway, don’t think you’re off the hook for that! You’ll have to make up the hours you’ve wasted here.”
“Y-Yes, Duchess!” the bald man sputtered, raced after her, glanced over his shoulder once, stopped, and then pointed. “The constables might now be able to do anything, Charles, but I do. I don’t have the same rules as they do, so from now on, everywhere you look, I’ll be there. Every place you go, I’ll follow, you can’t escape me… I’ll get you for what you’ve done to my precious Duchess, even if I have to murder you myself!”
Milton snickered, turned on his heel, raced forward, and then disappeared around the corner.
All of my anxiety had built up until this moment, but I couldn’t rest until I knew all of them were gone, so I crept across the gravel, pressed myself against the brick of my manor, scooted closer, and then peeked out around the corner. Edony climbed into her carriage with the help of Milton, and then the bald man scrambled up after her. The constables were already gone down the hill, and I could barely make out their sleek, black carriage in the darkness.
The Duchess’s carriage pulled away as her driver snapped the reins, guided the horses through the gate, and then down the drive. I gasped, let out all the air in my lungs, hung my head, and slumped against the outer wall of my home.
“They’re gone,” I panted, leaned my head back, and gazed up at the stars. “They’re finally gone.”
“Charles?” Daisy called in a weary voice, stepped forward, and held her hands to her chest. “T-That was scary.”
“You did so well!” I pushed off the wall, opened my arms to her, and wrapped her tightly in a hug. “I can’t believe you came up with all that by yourself!”
“I remembered it,” the bear-girl uttered. “Maybe it’s something I inherited from Delphine, but the rules of the aristocrats are very clear in my mind.”
“Charles!” the cat-girl called, appeared out of thin air, and raced forward with her arms outstretched. “We got them to leave, Charles!”
“Valerie!” I boomed, raised a single finger for her to stop and set my jaw. “What did I tell you earlier?”
“Uh… uhhhh, uhmmm…” the ash-blonde hummed and tapped her chin. “You… you definitely told me something…”
“I told you and Daisy to stay in the laboratory.” I raised my eyebrows meaningfully.
“Oh!” the cat-girl cackled, slapped her forehead and grinned. “That’s what you said! I forgot! I’m sorry!”
“You didn’t forge
t,” I shook my head. “You deliberately disobeyed me, that’s not alright. You could’ve been caught!”
“But, I had to get Daisy something to wear!” Valerie protested. “She was in that stupid lab coat and kept shivering! So, I snuck in through one of the windows, we crept upstairs, got her something to wear and then… Daisy was hungry.”
“We stopped in the kitchen for a snack…” the bear-girl mumbled as she let go of me, dropped her chin, and fiddled with her fingers. “We’re sorry, Charles.”
I took a deep breath, calmed myself, and then smiled at both of them. I didn’t want to be angry with Daisy and Valerie, we’d survived an attack from all sides, and I was surprisingly proud of us.
“It’s fine,” I nodded, held out my arms, and brought them to my side. “Just… if they show up again, stay down in my laboratory, okay? I can’t risk being caught, especially right now, when it seems we’ve almost gotten away with it.”
“Weeeell, Daisy can’t stay in the lab if they come again,” the cat-girl giggled. “She’s your Mistress now! Hooray!”
I sighed, steered the two of them toward the stairs, and stepped down them with ease. I wanted nothing than to fall face-first into bed, but I had more problems to deal with. The Warden had made a threat on my life, he wouldn’t wait for the constables to clear me as innocent, he’d kill simply for going against the Duchess.
I swung the door open into my laboratory, glanced toward A.B.’s tank, sighed softly, and then lowered myself onto a stool.
“So, that was a lot of yelling,” the brain whispered. “What’s going on?”
“Well, in short, the Duchess and the Warden threatened my life, though I’m more afraid that Milton will be the one to act on his threats,” I explained. “Then the constables showed up, they know that Delphine’s missing, they don’t suspect me yet but… they could at any moment. Oh, and apparently, I’m Daisy’s consort, and that’s the only reason the Duchess can’t do anything at this moment.”
“That’s a lot of information to take in,” A.B. chuckled. “Soooo, the Warden’s the biggest threat right now? Or the Duchess? Or the constables?”
“Definitely Milton,” I stated, curled my hands into fists and rested them on my knees. “But what can I do? It just feels like… whatever I do, I’ll still end up dead.”
“I would say you could pay him off,” the brain offered. “But all of your money is the Duchess’s, and he’d tell her immediately.”
“Yeah, I can’t do that,” I chuckled, shook my head, and gazed over at my machine. “I could give him one of the suits of armor in the hall? He loved them, but still, that’s a bribe, and I can’t be certain if he wouldn’t tell Edony.”
“Why don’t you kill him?” Daisy curled up next to my still warm machine, snuggled deeper, and gazed over with her honey-colored eyes. “That would solve all of your problems.”
“W-What?” A.B. shouted.
“No way.” I did a double-take, snorted, and leaned back. “We’d be in the same situation as we are now with Delphine, but they’d be even more suspicious of me.”
“Hmmm, then we don’t get caught.” Valerie shrugged, lowered herself to the ground, rolled forward in a ball of fluffy tail and ears, and came to rest next to her sister. “Just like last time.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?” I snickered as I leaned against the examination table. “We don’t exactly have a lot of resources left. I’m already being questioned in the disappearance of Delphine. If the Warden went missing this close to her, they’d suspect me immediately.”
“Hmmm, we could make it look like another animal attack?” Valerie offered. “Like with the two other men? I guess they didn’t think it was a wild animal, after all.”
“No, we can’t do that again,” I sighed. “It obviously didn’t work.”
“Well,” Daisy yawned, stretched her arms, and then snuggled deeper against the warm panels. “We could make it look like he killed her, partially buried her, and then killed himself out of guilt.”
“Wha-what?” I exhaled.
“It’s effortless,” the bear-girl assured. “We kill the Warden somehow, maybe lure him out into the woods or something. Then we take Delphine’s corpse out into the woods too, it’s in the compartment, not very burnt at all. We make it look like he killed her, buried her in a shallow grave, and then killed himself out of guilt since he’s a man and all.”
Was this it? The solution to all of my problems?
Chapter Nineteen
“It’s just that simple,” Daisy yawned, rested her head against Valerie’s shoulder and nuzzled deeper. “We kill the Warden. Maybe after a nap?”
“We… kill the Warden.” I echoed, fell forward, buried my face in the palms of my hands, and then tugged at my messy, black hair. “Is that how we solve all of these problems?”
I couldn’t think of myself as a killer, no, not at all. Yes, I’d murdered one of the Warden’s lackeys in the woods, but that was self-defense and all the patients used in my machine… that wasn’t murder, was it? I hadn’t killed Delphine, my machine had taken her life as it had with so many others before her. Could I even call it murder? I’d never wrapped my hands around the throat of my victims and watched the light leave their eyes, I couldn’t consider myself a murderer…
Could I kill Milton? Could I settle my eyes on his toady face, find the resolve within my body, and then snatch away his life?
“You alright over there, Charlie?” A.B. called. “You’re looking… not so great, maybe you should take a nap like Daisy said? I know you’re going for the ‘astute scientist’ look, but right now… you’re just looking like a full-on mad scientist. When was the last time you had a good night’s rest?”
“I’m fine,” I sighed, dropped my hands, and leaned back in my chair. “I can rest when there’s no one after us.”
“Soooo,” Valerie whispered, glanced over at her napping sister, giggled, and then raised her eyes. “Are we going to kill the Warden or not? It sounds like a good idea to me.”
“I think…” I breathed, stood from the chair, brushed off my pristine white shirt, and stepped forward to the middle of the room. “I think it’s our only option at this point…”
“When are you going to do it?” the brain bubbled.
“Tonight,” I stated, gazed around the room, ticked off everything we’d need for the night, and then got to work. “We’re going to kill the Warden tonight.”
“Wha-What?” A.B. shrieked. “Charles, that’s too soon! The Duchess, the Warden, and the constables just left! You can go out and murder one of them like that!”
“And if I don’t, A.B?” I questioned over my shoulder, rustled through one of the larger cabinets, and grabbed two heavy-handled spades. “I don’t think I left any evidence, but what if I did? The constables could come back and have me jailed. What about Edony, huh? She’s already livid with me, and she doesn’t exactly need a reason to execute me, she can do whatever she wants in the town. The constables may think they have some source of power over her, but that’s not true, the Duchess rules this town with an iron fist, and the queen will take months to respond, if she even cares. The duchess can do whatever she wants to me, it doesn’t matter if Daisy said she was my Mistress, Edony will have her way.”
“I… I guess you’re right,” the brain sighed. “But is this the only way?”
“I’m not hearing any other suggestions.” I leaned the spades against the wall, grabbed a spare tarp, draped it over my shoulder, and then turned. “If you have a better idea, A.B., I’m dying to hear it.”
“Well, if you hadn’t turned your back on Edony,” the brain offered. “I would say that you could tell her that the Warden is the one doing the poaching, something like that for her to turn on him.”
“I had no other choice than to betray the Duchess, A.B.,” I stated. “Look around the room, do you see any super-soldiers? No, because I haven’t been able to create one, and my deadline was fast approaching. I couldn’t give her wha
t she wanted, no matter how much money she threw at me or how much time I spent working on the machine… I had no other choice.”
“I just have one question left, though,” A.B. muttered. “Why did she want the super-soldiers anyway? She never gave you a reason, and I don’t understand why she would want them? She’s the most powerful woman in the city, money-wise and in her magical abilities. What in the world could she be doing that would need beefed up, tiny-brained minions?”
“Maybe she wants to take over the world,” Daisy mumbled with her eyes closed. “She has power, prestige, and wealth over the whole city… but what if she wants more? Didn’t you say there was a queen? That sounds like a lot of work to me, though. I’d rather just take a nap.”
“But that doesn’t sound like Edony to me.” I shook my head. “Maybe Delphine, but… the Duchess, she’s happy in her place as the ruler of this town.”
“But you don’t know,” Valerie shrugged. “It’s not like she would tell you what she wanted to do with them.”
“And not like she could wipe out the whole male population,” Daisy murmured. “Without men, there’d be no way to create the new generations of aristocrats. Unless she used the super-soldiers as proxies, mindless drones to impregnate the queens.”
“What?” I whipped around, glanced at the snoozing bear-girl, and then turned my eyes toward Valerie.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” A.B. echoed.
“Uhhh, what do you mean?” The cat-girl shook her sister lightly. “I think… she’s sleep-talking?”
“It’s just an idea,” Daisy sat up, rubbed her eyes, yawned, and then blinked. “I don’t know why the Duchess wants them, I was just rolling around ideas.”
“Sounded strangely prophetic,” A.B. tittered. “Are you seeing the future or reading Edony’s mind or something?”
“No,” the bear-girl whispered. “Just… so… tired.”
“We can’t nap right now, my dear,” I shook my head. “We’ve got work to do. Valerie, take those spades and put them in the back of the wagon. Also, could you possibly hitch the horses to the cart? I’d like to get a move on as soon as we can, we need to get this done tonight before any of them come back.”