by Liv Olteano
I nodded and saw him smile. The room was lit in pink for me. I could see with ease. Verner and Nikola probably could too. Everyone else, though, was wrapped in thick darkness, my smoke being invisible to them. I could also see the glow of Verner’s golden eyes. They shone through the darkness in the ballroom, the horizontal pupils blown out into circles.
“No reason for your guests to worry, yes?” I whispered and smiled at Verner.
He approved of my idea, and I liked it all the better. As far as he knew, I was manipulating the crowd into remaining calm, not preparing to extract his soul. The weak spot in his shield of power was his arrogance. The idea I might try something wouldn’t even cross his mind. It was obvious from the way he looked at me, happy I was giving his ball and him such consideration. Truly I was. It just wasn’t the kind he thought.
Nikola brought her arm to the small of my back and she leaned in. “Great job, Mer. Keep Verner’s guests calm.”
I shivered and nodded like a good little changeling. She took a step or so toward Verner, exuding calm.
“Candles are such primitive light sources,” Nikola whispered. “Need any help with sorting this?”
Verner chuckled. “I have golems for that. No worries, my friend. I do appreciate your help, though. And Cristina Mera’s help, of course. Such a marvelous gift she has, yes?”
Nikola nodded. “Oh yes. We’ve been working on developing her skills. She shows great promise.”
Verner fixed his golden eyes on me, and he grinned. “You’re doing great work with her. It’s obvious. How is she taking to potionism?”
“Oh, just marvelous. She’s a natural.”
“Is that so?” Verner asked, staring at me.
My face heated up. Why was he watching me so keenly? Did he suspect something after all?
I nodded and smiled. “Potionism is just riveting,” I chirped.
My stomach fluttered. How would I do this if he kept staring at me? I needed Nikola to distract Verner. The element of surprise would be a great help. I was doing this for the first time, after all.
“What’s taking those idiots so long?” Verner muttered.
“Perhaps it’s beyond their skills?” I said, slowly shaking my head. “Perhaps someone needs to supervise them. It’s below your alkemist station, of course. But I could see what’s taking them so long.”
Verner preened and Nikola gave me a glare.
Verner stepped closer and placed his hand on my arm. “Darling, you’re so considerate. I’d appreciate it if you’d look into it. It almost feels like it’s our ball, that we’re hosting it together,” he whispered, leaning in even more. “I’d love such a development.”
I held my body in place, suppressing a shudder. I saw what his angle was on this. Though I’d turned him down as master to my apprenticeship, he thought he might use me for a more personal perspective. Sweet ink and needles, I’d rather gouge my own eyes out with blunt forks than have anything to do with him.
But I smiled sweetly and stepped back. “Well, then, I’ll be right back.”
I walked away smoothly, heading for the corner of the room. His golems were standing there, staring at the large candle supports. Odd. Why were they not lighting them? I tapped one of them on the shoulder and he turned to face me.
“Light up the candles,” I said, smiling tightly.
He stared at me, his blank expression and lifeless eyes chilling. I turned toward the alkemists, willing my smoke to slither up Verner’s legs. It got his attention immediately and he turned to face me. I shrugged at him, pointing at the golem. He held up a hand and the extraction device in his palm shone for a moment. I frowned and looked at the golem. The blank expression on his face remained in place, but the dullness of his eyes diminished slightly. Could Verner’s control over his golems be so tight it would prevent them from performing some simple actions?
“Please light the candles,” I whispered again.
The golem nodded ever so slightly and began to light them. The others didn’t, though. I made my way back to Verner.
“Oh, darling, I do so apologize,” he said, taking hold of my hand.
After he kissed it, I pulled it back and tried hard not to wipe it on my pants.
“I keep a tight hold on my golems. For the balls, in particular, they only respond to direct command outside of the regular orders. I’ve found that my guests don’t feel at ease with the golems, so I restrict their actions to bare minimum. I’m afraid lighting the candles again is outside of the regular,” he said, smiling softly.
“I see,” I said, nodding. “Should I give them all the direct command? Or should we just wait for that one to light all the candles?”
“I’ve allowed them to obey your direct command to light candles, darling. If you’d be so kind as to tell them, I’d highly appreciate it.”
I nodded, fake cheer glowing on my face. The cocky bastard was tickled pink I was so willing to serve him. So thrilled that he indulged me by letting me tell his golems what to do in person when he could have simply willed them to do his bidding, as he had the extraction device on him—and why did he? Verner wasn’t in the habit of always having it on him, as far as I knew, and he hadn’t had it on the two social occasions I’d met him. Did he expect some trouble, or was it one of his ball customs? This was my first, after all. I didn’t know. I had to trust Nikola would have said something if there was anything odd going on.
Verner cleared his throat, then addressed the ballroom in a firm, sickeningly sweet tone. “Please be at ease. My friend Cristina Mera here is helping with the lights. Nothing to worry about, just some aberrant breeze that must’ve blown the candles out. The orchestra will resume playing,” he added, and within a moment, it did.
Nikola was quick to chat him up as soon as I stepped away. I slowly made my way to the next candle’s support as music poured over the room again. Natalia walked up to me and gripped my hand.
“What is this all about? I saw a few guests blow out those candles, Cristina Mera.”
Despite my impulse to do so, I did not freeze midstep. I leaned in closer to her. “Perhaps some of the guests thought to increase excitement?”
She snorted. “No one would dare think such a thing at the resident alkemist’s ball. It wasn’t Verner’s doing either, I can tell. And you were so quick to offer help,” she drawled. “Trying to ingratiate yourself with him?”
“Why would I do that?”
“To persuade him not to kill you, perhaps,” she whispered. “It was nothing personal, your servant told you, yes?”
I patted her hand. “I understand,” I said calmly.
Of course I didn’t. She’d just acknowledged she’d been ordered to poison me. Who would be able to take that sort of news graciously?
“It wasn’t supposed to kill you, as you’ve seen. Just a small reminder of who you’d said no to,” she said, shaking her head. “If you persuade him to be more… personally interested in your welfare, I believe you’ll be safe for a while, at least. You’ve thought well, Cristina Mera.”
Well, I was so glad Natalia approved. That truly warmed my heart. I smiled at her, wondering how much she saw with her synth eyes. I wasn’t able to tell they were synth until now, but in the light of my smoke, they shone a glassy, unnatural light blue. He’d given her higher tech than other citizens. No other eyes, including Herveux’s, shone in such a way. Of course he gave his liquidator enhancements. She was his hound, after all. Apparently also his personal assassin.
“Tell me, Natalia, would your previous offer still stand?”
Her eyes shone as her gaze jumped over my face, then settled on my eyes. “Yes,” she answered simply.
“But you’d consider it even if there’d be a waiting period? I’m only a changeling. I might remain one for a while.”
“Oh, time is of no consequence to me,” she stated.
I frowned. “None?”
“None whatsoever,” she assured me, shaking her head. “I’m sure you can already tell,
Cristina Mera, I’m not a simple woman either. Not anymore.”
“Verner’s work?” I guessed.
She smiled oddly and glanced at me out the corner of her eye. “Some of it, yes. He wanted to outdo the improvements I already had.”
I shook my head and frowned. “From…?”
“So there’d be another resident, you’re saying,” she mused, reverting the topic without blinking. “Your mistress Nikola Skazat, I’m guessing?” she said, grinning.
I acquiesced tentatively and walked toward another golem. After instructing him to light the candles, I slowly returned to her and nodded toward the next. She accompanied me in strolling from one to the next, slowing our pace so we’d have time to chat about it. Verner was some distance away from us. Judging by his grin, Natalia and me chatting as I did his will seemed pleasing.
“What if you had to pick sides tonight, though?” I ventured.
Natalia looked around. “Hmm, some of the guests are moving. It’s slight, but if you look for it, you can notice. I wonder if Verner knows?”
“Natalia, which side?” I asked.
If she picked him, our little attempt would most surely end badly. Natalia was not someone you wanted as your enemy. But I thought, or mostly hoped, I could enlist her as an ally.
“Depends on which side would appear to be the winning one,” she said, patting my arm. “I’m only looking out for my interests, Cristina Mera. There are two kinds of options for me: going with the winner or falling with the loser. I will not choose an option that ends with me out of commission. It’s nothing—”
“Personal.” I ended the sentence for her. “Yes, I know. Can I count on you holding off on intervening until the winning party is clear, at least?”
“Not tilting the scales in either direction? Hmmm… yes. It seems like a good idea. After all, I’ll be surprised by whatever might come to pass. I’ll need a moment or so to take action. But once it is obvious that I have to take action, I will. In whichever direction.”
“Fair enough,” I said confidently. “I’m looking forward to working with you, Natalia.”
She smiled. “You’re an enterprising young woman. I like that. If we end up working together, I will be pleased. Good luck,” she muttered and walked away to stand by Verner.
I decided if she was going to warn him, she might as well do it now rather than later. Either she had told him, or she was truly holding off to see which side it would be better to take. I trusted she was looking out for her own interests. All I had to do was make sure they aligned with mine.
I instructed another golem to light the candles nearby. Then I turned around slowly, and as I was heading toward the next, I stopped. Within a moment the smoke in the room gathered and circled around me and then Verner. He squinted at me. I could see it all the way from over here. Nikola jumped on him and struggled to reach his hand. She was trying to take his extraction device away. I closed my eyes and pulled myself out of my body, seeing the room from the spiritual realm. Mother’s ghost materialized before me.
“This is it, Mother,” I whispered. “Either we take Verner out, or he’ll destroy us.”
Her sewn lips twitched and she shot in his direction. Her arms went through his chest, and he screamed out as Nikola finally managed to pluck the palm device from him. Nikola threw the thing at me, and it scratched against the floor where it landed. I kneeled and picked it up. As soon as I did, it glowed with alkemic light. My heart shuddered as a strange tingly sensation coursed through my body. The light still hurt my skin, it turned out, a burning that made me wince, but it was slower than it used to be. My skin became red where the light touched. I gritted my teeth against the throbbing pain. I willed the device to work and aimed it at Verner. As I did during my father’s termination, I felt a pull on my own soul as the light shone. The thing hummed with energy. A beam of multicolored light fixed on his chest. He growled. The horrible sound almost froze the blood in my veins.
A thin layer of pink smoke misted up from the floor. It froze everyone around us. They wore calm expressions on their faces. No human would intervene. Natalia stared between me and Verner, then glanced around at everyone. The throbbing in my palm got worse. The beam aimed at Verner grew thicker.
“You poisonous wench! Think you can take me on and survive? Stupid little—”
Nikola punched Verner. She got in the way of the extraction beam. Stupid woman! I’d take Verner calling me names over Nikola getting hurt anytime!
“Nikola, get out of the way!” I screamed.
They struggled. I couldn’t point the extraction device like this. I ran to get right next to Verner and aimed the beam at his chest again. Verner flipped both of them over, though. Nikola lay on top of him and he hid beneath her.
“Damned man,” I muttered and hit the floor.
My stomach glued to the floor, I aimed the beam at Verner. I could reach him this way, but they kept struggling, turning around.
“Will you keep him still?” I screamed at Nikola.
“Darling, I am trying,” she shouted back.
Verner punched Nikola’s face. A sickening breaking noise exploded. My stomach tightened. This was not going well.
“Natalia, please,” I screamed, not looking at her.
She snorted. “I’m tempted to quit on you both right now. This all is pathetic.”
Nikola bit Verner’s ear. He screamed and punched her face again.
“They fight like little girls,” Natalia mused from close by.
I laughed out loud, more on the hysterical side. “I’m guessing physical fights are not a common activity for alkemists. They have powerful liquidators for that, right?”
She sighed. “Verner’s golems are coming in. Better hurry along now, if you were planning on doing anything.”
Oh damn it. “Please, do something! Help us!”
She tsked. “Nikola has golems too.”
The doors burst open. Golems poured in. I could see one of them was Tach. A group of them slithered through the standing guests, circling us. Verner’s golems came at our little party. They pulled and pushed, trying to make their way to us. But each time the extraction beam touched Verner, his golems froze for a moment or so. His will to control them needed concentration, then! Rolling around the floor with Nikola and me using the device had him distracted—but it wasn’t enough. We needed to distract him more. But how?
“This is not going too well,” Natalia mused, still standing there. She crossed her arms and her head cocked to the side. “I would have planned things quite differently.”
The burns on my skin sizzled. The smell of singed flesh was sickening, even if faint. Waves of nausea rolled through me.
“Care to make any suggestions?” I said through gritted teeth.
“Oh, fine. But you’ll owe me for my services,” she chirped.
“Yes, yes, of course. Now please just help!”
She sighed and moved swiftly around us. I saw out of the corner of my eye golems were suddenly falling to the ground. Their heads were rolling away from the bodies. I heaved. There was no blood. Just blank eyes and bodies that still twitched. Sweet ink and needles, she was pulling off heads as if picking flowers!
“Well, don’t just stare like some statue! Have these corpses make themselves useful!” she screamed.
Of course Nikola’s golems couldn’t have guarded more loosely. She was too distracted to control them too.
“Nikola, have five of your golems come to keep him down,” I screamed.
“A little busy here, Mer.”
Oh really? Like I wasn’t busy burning my own hand as we spoke! “Can you give me control over them?”
I felt a warmth dance down my spine. The golems around us all turned to face me. Oh… oh my. How to…. I willed them to turn around. As if pulled by strings, they did. I willed them to guard us, to keep every golem who escaped Natalia out of the area. Five of them walked to the struggling alkemists. They picked Verner up by the arms and legs as Nikola fell to th
e floor. They held him still finally. He pulled and pushed and frothed at the mouth, wiggling about. But he was kept in place.
His golems attacked harder. Natalia took them out one by one. I watched her for a moment. I admired the grace with which she glided between bodies and plucked off heads with a set of knives. Of course new golems kept coming in. And I knew in my heart a particular one of them, my father, would eventually appear and lose his head. I gritted my teeth and looked away.
“You’ll never be able to take me down,” Verner bit out.
Nikola got up and dusted off her suit. She ignored the torn stitches and gaping holes here and there. Verner’s suit didn’t look any better. They had bite marks and swollen red blotches all over their faces.
I had the odd impulse to laugh. I shook it off. Aiming the device at Verner’s chest, I walked closer and smiled. “Perhaps. But there’s no harm in trying, yes?” I said sweetly.
I pulled his goggles away from his inner breast pocket with my free hand. Rage and a sliver of concern were easy to read in his eyes. Right then I figured we were both wondering the same thing. Would I manage to extract his soul?
I closed my eyes and willed the pink smoke to wrap around that beam of light shooting into his chest. I imagined the smoke as hooks and stabbed them into Verner’s bright soul. Then I pulled the smoke out. New hooks went into him as the ones that gripped pulled out. Verner howled and thrashed violently.
“It’s working,” Nikola muttered. “Can you do it quicker?”
Beads of sweat glided down my face as I focused. “I’m doing what I can,” I whispered.
My voice sounded faint, almost ghostly. The hooks kept going in and pulling at Verner’s soul. But I knew as it happened that it wouldn’t work. That I wouldn’t succeed.
“Nikola, it won’t be enough. You have to help.”
She gritted her teeth. “I can’t extract without carrying.”
I turned to look at her, confused. “What does that mean?”
“If I intervene I’ll be stuck with his soul. That’s the difference between reapers and regular alkemists. Reapers will consume some or all of what they extract while regular alkemists store and reuse.”