Thirteen Mercies, Three Kills

by Liv Olteano

  Nana sighed. “Would I?”

  A discreet elbow applied to her arm was the end of that. I followed Nikola with my gaze as she got up and tucked those magic-making hands behind her back. Her lips curved into a small smile, and her dark eyes shone curiously. She gestured for us to follow her into the parlor.

  We exchanged glances as steps sounded from the back of the servant quarters. Soon a line of five people emerged with serious faces and a strange pace to their step. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but they were odd, even eerie. My first instinct was to step back, and by the way Nana’s hands went white gripping each other, I thought she was of the same mind.

  “Ladies,” Nikola announced, “I present you my helpers. The washer, the cook, the housemaid, the carriage man, and my butler. You have met my carriers.”

  They didn’t blink, didn’t smile. Just bowed slightly, practically at the same time. They stood there, their complexions a tad bit odd, not quite pink. A cold shiver zapped up my spine and I stood straighter.

  Nana cleared her throat. “Miss Skazat, they don’t look… well.”

  Nikola walked around her staff, hands still clasped at her back. “Sure they do. They look perfectly fine. They all do their jobs perfectly, but they’re not quite adept at making conversation.” The quirky smile on her face made me frown.

  “And why exactly is that?”

  Finally ending her round, she stood in front of me, a good couple of feet between us. “Golems can’t talk, Cristina Mera.”

  I thought I was going to faint. When I finally made up my mind I wouldn’t, Nana swooned beside me. Nikola was quick enough to catch her before she hit the floor and carried her to a chair in the drawing room and calmly waved some salts beneath her nose. As she came to, I remained fixed to the spot, staring at the five… things before me. Unmoving, unblinking, unaware—or so it seemed, the five reanimated corpses greeted me with their pallor. A house run by golems….

  I shuddered. “You forgot to mention your house was run by corpses.”

  She left Nana’s side and returned to mine. “That’s not very polite, you know. They’re not corpses at all. They’re golems. Are horses running carriages corpses? Or mechanics in the Engine Rooms, the Galleries workers?”

  Wide-eyed, I shook my head. “You wouldn’t call them alive, now would you? Not alive leaves dead as an option, as far as I know. They may be moving about and doing things, but, but….”

  She sighed. “Golems are not corpses. They’re living creatures, though you choose to see them as otherwise. They have little will of their own, that’s true, but they’re marvelous workers and I appreciate them for their qualities. I’m sad to see you’d rather choose to judge them based on their faults. You’re hurting their feelings, you know.”

  She was impossible. “They don’t have feelings. They’re corpses!”

  As if of one mind, all five of them turned around and walked down the stairs. The trot of their steps sent chills up my bones.

  Nikola shook her head, walking into the drawing room where Nana’s cheeks were finally turning pink again. I walked behind her, the swish of my skirts the only sound in the room. After I sat down, I noticed my hands were shaking, so I clasped them in my lap. This was not the kind of house I’d thought to live in, among bodies of terminated citizens. I felt sick to my stomach, but worse than that, looking up at Nikola, I felt terrified.

  This woman before me, she wasn’t just the beautiful rescuer I might have liked to imagine. She wasn’t the powerful being who served to keep hovertowns alive and floating engines running on the fuel of the citizen’s souls. Not even the one capable of bringing grown men to their knees. Right then and there, she was the one able to steal a soul from a body and animate the dead, and that was a whole new perspective I hadn’t contemplated. I tried to look at her in this new light, but somehow my heart still fluttered when our eyes met. And despite the horror of what I’d just seen, she was still a goddess, a twisted one I had an unhealthy fascination with.

  “You’re wrong to think them corpses. They’re no longer human beings—that I’ll concede. They can’t talk, don’t breathe in order to live, and need no nourishment, that’s true. After extracting the soul, the essential parts of their bodies have been replaced by synth mechanisms to keep them operative. But you’re wrong to think them dead. They’re not.”

  “They have no soul, do they? No understanding of their own life, no conscience of self. They may not be properly dead, Nikola, but they’re not alive either. Do they… feel, or think on their own?”

  Her eyes softened as she held my gaze. “I can’t know since I’m not a golem. But my point is you can’t know either.”

  Nana shot to her feet, her face the image of rage. “That’s poppycock, Alkemist, and you know it! What sort of monster are you to live in a house with the victims of your damned doings?”

  That’s when the room got crowded. A flutter of movement and bodies crammed themselves in. I froze midbreath.

  Nana froze, her eyes jumping wildly over the pale faces. “I have a knife and I can use it well,” she announced in a chillingly low voice. “If you touch my miss, I’ll gut you like fish.”

  Nikola crossed her hands over her lush chest and sighed. “Mrs. Herran, you have such a flair for the dramatic. Do these heinous foes of yours seem ready to attack, you think?”

  I could only move my eyeballs to inspect them. They seemed as frozen solid as I was, perfectly still. Not breathing, most importantly.

  The blood drained from my face entirely as it became clear. “Nana, they’re all golems. Gutting them will do us no good.”

  She stepped back slowly, covering me and my chair. “What’s the meaning of this?”

  Nikola walked calmly to her chair and sat cross-legged. “I admire your loyalty, Mrs. Herran. Cristina Mera will need loyalty in the future. The golems around you are your friends, or more specifically, my friends. And I’m Cristina Mera’s ally. You can let your guard down, Mrs. Herran. If my friends wanted to hurt you, you wouldn’t be breathing anymore.”

  I shivered despite the logic of it. “Nana, sit down. If we’re going to die today, we might as well do it in ladylike postures.”

  She seemed to waver for a moment, then finally turned to sit beside me. With the view clear, I found Nikola’s gaze turbulent. My heart was overtaken with spasms and I gulped. Who was this creature? What did she want? It all seemed a mystery.

  I breathed in deep. “What’s happening here, really?”

  The golem butler marched in carrying tea and coffee. I was caught between distrust and a soul-deep need for the delight of a cup or more of coffee. Under my and Nana’s close inspection, the golem butler rather elegantly managed to offer us the choice between tea and coffee without being able to speak. Though I was secretly afraid of his undead reanimated nature, I couldn’t help but admire his manners, his grace, and ultimately his strength. I was aware of Nikola inspecting me as I inspected her butler. My ears were zinging like mad. After a sip or two of coffee, I was moderately calmer.

  “Do they each have names?” I half whispered.

  Nikola smiled. “I like to call them by their human names. I’ve found they respond to it well. The gentleman who just served us coffee, for instance, was called William Tach. I call him Tach, and he rather appreciates it. Don’t you, Tach?”

  Tach inclined his head just a fraction, but enough to make it clear he had heard, understood, and desired to respond to his mistress.

  I was awestruck. “Well, then, Tach, thank you for the coffee. It’s delicious.”

  He inclined his head to me slowly and kept the stoic expression. Nana looked at him wearily, then suddenly got up and began inspecting him up close.

  I was overcome with curiosity. “Is it or isn’t it true that golems are unfeeling, nonsapient workers? I find myself rather confused.”

  Nikola smiled. “There lies the mystery. Though they seem to show no feeling, they understand commands, compliments, requests, however delivered—eve
n in writing, if they knew how to read prior to having their souls extracted. They respond to these things, not always according to basic expectations. We initially thought them senseless, unfeeling as well as soulless, I must admit. That’s why we’ve called them golems. But as time goes on, it seems we might have… miscalculated.”

  I gulped. “I’m terrified and oddly fascinated. But let’s focus on what terrifies me for a bit. What are these friends of yours doing here with us? These numerous friends of yours?”

  She chuckled, got up and walked between them, a contorted sense of pride emanating from her. “These are our guards, Cristina Mera. They’ll be your guards as much as they are mine. I’m a woman of science, you might say, not a fighter.”

  “Doesn’t the saying go, ‘Lover, not fighter’?” I quipped.

  She cleared her throat. “I often find myself in need of guards. Downstairs we have an alkemist’s shop. People are tempted to imagine they can break in and steal a solution to whatever their problem is. Despair makes ugly creatures out of people, as you’ll see for yourself.”

  Nana peeked from behind one of Nikola’s guards. “And you expect me to think these things are here to protect us, as opposed to, say, imprison us?”

  Nikola didn’t roll her eyes, but I got the overwhelming sensation she longed to do just that. “Have you considered going into theater, Mrs. Herran? Or maybe the armed forces? I can’t decide what would fit you better.”

  Nana’s eyes turned to slits.

  Oh sweet ink and needles! “Enough, both of you. Mrs. Herran here makes a valid point. What’s to say these guards of yours would rather protect us than keep us prisoners? Aside from the simple logic that we came here willingly, of course. Will we soon have a reason to fear for our lives?”

  The bright smile on Nikola’s face lit up my heart, the little traitor.

  “We’re allies, Cristina Mera. I’m a woman of my word. You have no reason to fear my golems. But we do have reason to fear Verner, so you might not want to go without guards. Mrs. Herran here might want to, but she understands this is the safest for you both, so she won’t press the matter. Will you, Mrs. Herran?”

  Nana gritted her teeth. “What are you planning, Skazat?”

  “Jean and I are planning a great deal, as you know. Having Cristina Mera on our side is a wonderful turn of events at this point. Getting rid of Verner will be even better for both of us, won’t it?”

  “And yet…?” I asked, nodding slowly.

  She cleared her throat. “And yet he’s coming over for tea accompanied by his dear friend, Natalia Alexeevna.”

  I blinked a couple of times, loud enough to be heard in the silence that ensued. “Why would they?”

  She smiled. “I invited them, of course. How better to deliver the news that you’re now mine?”

  I inhaled quickly. “Your apprentice, you mean.”

  “Of course. With them coming over, I like knowing we have enough help around, should we need it. Edgar Verner is… unpredictable.”

  “And how would you happen to know that? Just how well do you know him?”

  She grinned. “I’ll keep some secrets of my own, if you don’t mind.”

  I minded. One thing was clear: the case of the alkemist Nikola Skazat was getting more and more curious. I sensed a wealth of secrets to be ferreted out. But not yet, sadly.

  “Very well, then. We’ll play visit with the reaper, if you insist we must. I believe we’re safe here, guarded by your golems. They’ll defend us, seeing as though we’re useful to one another. Am I right?”

  She half smiled. “A pragmatic girl—I like it. Yes, we’re useful to one another. And you’re completely safe. You have my word.”

  Dubious value in that, I thought, perhaps unjustly. But it would have to do for now. Should she have wanted to hurt me in any way, she would’ve already. “When are they coming over?”

  Nikola walked up to me. My heart thumped as she reached my hand, drew it up to her lips, and kissed it. Then she whispered, “Any minute now.”

  “Why do you insist on doing that?”

  Nikola frowned. “Doing what, exactly?”

  “The hand kissing,” I replied, blinking a few times. “It’s what a gentleman might do for a lady, but you’re a woman just like me….”

  There was a decidedly wicked glint in her gaze. “Am I, Cristina Mera? Just like you? I wonder.”

  I swallowed thickly and it was my turn to frown. “What… what is that supposed to mean?”

  She shrugged. “See, where I come from, friends greet each other with kisses.”

  “They do not!” I squeaked.

  “Sure they do,” she said, smiling down at me. “Like this,” she said and leaned in slowly until her lips brushed my cheek. She dragged them over my skin for a moment, caressing me with their velvety-hot surface, then gave my cheek a lingering kiss. “Would you like me to greet you like that, and comfort you when you’re frazzled?” she whispered softly.

  My face heated up, but I nodded after I stepped back, then turned around and marched to the sofa. I sat down and arranged my skirts as Nana sat beside me. And we waited patiently to have tea with the reaper I wanted to kill.

  Chapter 11

  WHEN THE guests finally arrived, Verner made sure he kissed my hand in greeting, though Nikola only nodded to Natalia. Truth be told, if she’d tried kissing Natalia’s hand like she had mine, I might have gotten a violent inclination toward the liquidator.

  “Such a pleasure to meet you, Cristina Mera,” Verner declared.

  So he was acting as if we’d never met? Wonderful. I offered my coldest semblance of a smile as he settled into a chair. “Likewise. Natalia, good to see you.”

  She inclined her head to the side, eyes measuring me as the light from Nikola’s fireplace played over her face. “Pleased to meet you too.”

  Natalia’s face settled into a chilling smile as Tach served tea and biscuits. I took the chance to really look at Verner, though. He was a tall and lean man, more of a wiry constitution. It made him seem young. His hair was a vibrant blond and the dark brown of his suit contrasted with it. Instead of a necktie, he wore a flamboyant bright-red silk scarf, all pouty and beautiful. He had a similarly red arrangement of feathers in his coat’s breast pocket, but even that wasn’t the oddest part of his getup. His eyes were perfectly covered by black goggles, and I couldn’t help but feel he was studying me from behind them. After a while he finally reached for the back of his head and pulled the goggles off. Luckily I hadn’t taken a sip of tea, or I might have sputtered it all over the floor. Brilliant golden eyes stared at me with vertical black pupils. He gave me the creeps.

  “Nicky, I think I might have stunned your apprentice into silence,” he said, grinning.

  “Nicky?” I frowned as Nikola took a slow sip of tea.

  “Changelings are always so impressionable,” Verner went on gleefully. “They have to be since you managed to impress one enough to become your apprentice.”

  Nikola ignored that, turning her cup of tea round and round on its plate. “So what do you occupy yourselves with lately?” she finally asked.

  Natalia gazed at her with some shadows dancing in the back of her eyes. “Curious as ever, I see.”

  “The only ones not curious are the dead, or the stupid,” Nikola replied, giving her a level stare.

  Natalia flicked her gaze to me, then away.

  Verner clapped. “Now, now, children. Let’s not get philosophical. We don’t want to die of boredom. Not when there are so many interesting topics to discuss. Like the wonderful things I’ve been hearing about your fledgling, Nikola.”

  None of us was telling even the slightest bit of truth. If that wouldn’t make for an entertaining evening, nothing would. I regarded Edgar Verner in the calmest way.

  He looked me straight in the eye, unblinking. “She seems to be a bringer of Death, even as a changeling. And old as I am, I’ve never quite heard of such a thing.”

  “Bringer of death?” Niko
la asked in a bored tone.

  “Of course I find her person fascinating just watching her. But a bringer of Death! That’s just so exciting!”

  Sweet ink and needles, he was beyond creepy. I smiled at the possible compliment of being fascinating and sipped more tea. My bad feeling about the whole visit was growing by the second.

  “So, then, Cristina Mera, please do tell. What happens to these souls you so kindly free?”

  “You mean the ailing, Verner?”

  He grinned. “I love the way my name sounds on your lips. Yes, these ailing poor things.”

  The room was beginning to feel too hot. “They simply pass on in less pain. I don’t hurry or delay that death, and have nothing to do with it. I just seem to take the pain away while it happens. I don’t know what happens to the souls afterward.”

  But I knew what didn’t. They couldn’t be collected for float fuel or consumed by a reaper. I was quite glad about that. Particularly the no-munching-on-them part, I wanted to say, but kept the thought to myself. For the moment.

  “I can think of the most lucrative of apprenticeships, Nikola. If you’ll permit me propositioning, I’d like to make your fledgling an offer.”

  Another one? He must’ve really wanted to use me for something. I so didn’t want to hear it, but Nikola shrugged. I’d be strong, I told myself. Strong.

  “I’d like you to transfer your apprenticeship under my mastery, Cristina Mera. We seem to have some… common ground, and I believe this skill of yours would find a perfect match with mine.”

  His skill being munching on innocent souls. Hmm, tough call. “Under no circumstances would I consider changing masters,” I informed the beaming blond lunatic.

  He pouted. “You hurt my feelings.”

  “Well, that’s not her fault, is it?” Nikola said, chuckling.

  Verner’s face darkened all of a sudden. The shadows shrank into the corners of the room, all ghosts silent and hidden as far away as they could get.

  “Do you perhaps find my skills lacking, Cristina Mera?” he muttered. “Is that why you won’t consider my offer?”