"B-but how?" she stammered, unable, but not unwilling, to comprehend the news. "No one managed a way for hundreds of years yet-"
"They were just looking in the wrong places," I smiled.
The answer was intentionally ambiguous, because if Diana ever learned the truth then there was no way she'd let me go through with it.
"I'm just curious, though," I ventured. "What will you do, once you're human again?"
Diana blinked. I wondered whether she had the same idea I did -none. But then her lips shifted, and I saw her dream spill from their faceted surface.
"I always wanted to go on a journey to the East," she confessed. "I want to walk to road Inval once walked. And if I can find any traces of how he lived, what it was like outside of Nethermount, then I'd have that for closure." She cast her eyes to the stars above us. "After that... well."
"Well?"
"We'll see," she said, and locked gazes with me. I remembered my outburst back in the Salamander Nest when I fumbled over my feelings and blurted out the most pathetic confession of love this side of the desert dunes.
I blushed, and she looked away.
"So, how is this going to work?" she asked. "Can we do this here? Now?"
"Yes and yes," I said with confidence. "But you can't move until it's over, or else things could get very complicated very quickly."
Diana narrowed her eyes. "What's involved, exactly?"
"Do you trust me?"
"Marvin..."
"Diana, I'm begging you!" I gripped her by the shoulders, relying on a card I prayed I didn't have to use. "The whole reason you were turned into a Doll was because you didn't listen to Inval. I'm asking you to listen to me."
Bringing up old scars was a low blow, but if it meant I could help her then it was worth it.
"Alright," she acquiesced. "What do I have to do?"
"Just lie down. Leo," I said, and he handed me two wadded up balls of ribbon. "Put these in your ears, alright?"
Diana followed my directions to the letter.
Leo, Will and I drew deep breaths to steady ourselves.
Since Diana and I already had a Contract then the matter of transferring it was fairly simple. Leo did his part by drawing the necessary glyphs in the sand since he knew more technicalities than I did. Will did his part by tying off the space above my knees.
"Are you sure about this?" he whispered.
"Not in the least."
"Then why are you risking life and limb for it?" he demanded under his breath, hoisting me by my ruined collar. "You're a necromancer, a selfish bastard who shouldn't give two shits about Dolls or any other undead."
"Is that what you think we are?" My eyes crinkled at the sides, grinning.
"What's so damn funny about it?"
"Will... I won't lie. Some necromancers are as bad as their reputation, but then again so are a lot of people."
He released me, shoving smelling salts and sedatives under my nose.
"You really piss me off." I watched as his gaze shifted to Leo's knife. "...are you sure you want me to do this?"
"I thought you of all people would've loved to take a dagger to me."
"Yeah, well," he shifted his weight. "You asking for it takes a lot of the fun out of it for me."
"I'm sorry."
"No you're not," he snorted. I caught the glimpse of a smirk.
Will truly baffled me. I couldn't tell whether the man hated me or tolerated me; he certainly had reasons enough for the former.
"Alright!" Leo clapped the sand off his hands. "All done. And since the Contract's already there we don't need an Anchor, so I don't need any blood outta you, Marv."
"Such a shame -considering he's about to lose a bunch."
Leo and I shot Will a dirty look.
"What?" The Demon-Doll shrugged. "It's the truth."
"The rest is up to you," Leo said to me. "Where do you want me?"
"Covering my mouth, just in case." Will handed me a strip of leather he'd cut from Leo's traveling sack. I swallowed hard. "And Will... you know what to look for. Cauterize it with the campfire as soon as you're done."
He gripped the dagger tightly and nodded.
I took a deep breath, hoping I inhaled enough smoke to take the edge off my impending agony. The leather fit snugly between my back teeth. Leo's hand hovered over my face. I twined my finger's with Diana's, and felt for the Contract that had bound us so deeply, till death did us part.
A mighty gust of wind rushed by, but the glyph Leo had drawn so well remained untouched -a sure sign that whatever magic in play was working.
I felt heavy, as though someone wrapped chains around my heart and body. A peek out the corner of my eyes saw color returning to Diana's pale, pale body. The ball-joints unfurled like paper sculptures returning to their uncreased state. She seemed in a deep sleep the entire time, untouchable and blissfully unaware of the change in her state of being. To call that a relief would be the understatement of a lifetime.
I waited for what Purilo had described as a numbing sensation, a feeling akin to a foot falling asleep. This was part of the reason I asked Leo to wait to treat my legs; not only was I about to lose them, but their aching would provide a good contrast so I knew when the plan was working.
And sure enough, that aching vanished.
The process of becoming a Doll was not as painful as I expected it to be, but it was unnerving. I felt myself being emptied. It was a fear of disappearing from this world, fading until there was nothing left. I feared for my life many times before, but this was not one of them. It was deeper than that, a fear of not being myself the next time I opened my eyes.
I dared to raise my head and watched my newly porcelain skin overtake my shins. I forced the words through the leather in my mouth.
"Will, now!"
Leo, blessed Leo, covered my eyes rather than my mouth. I was too stunned to scream, but I knew I had just lost my limbs. Will was merciful and had swiped through them quickly, and he took the spit rod from the fire and sealed the wounds shut.
Leo hurried in reciting the healing incantation needed to stop any internal bleeding. And by the time I regained enough focus my first urge was to look at Diana.
But I saw a pair of sandaled feet.
My eyes trailed to my wrists, where the Ouroboros once sat, now bare again.
"How?" The demon's voice trembled with rage.
"Move!"
Koronos looked ready to strike me for the nerve of telling him what to do, but he stiffened and obediently followed my order. Disbelief bloomed on his face like a pox, to which Will sneered.
"I was there when you made that deal... what was it again?" he mused, flirting with the fires of Hell. "Right. If Marvin turns Diana human again then you're his servant for the rest of his life." He cackled into his sleeve. "Forget about going after you; this is a fate worse than death for someone of your kind."
"Diana?"
My voice cracked.
A middle aged woman stared up at me, her hair growing fairer by the second. Wrinkles appeared where once was smooth porcelain. Her hands grew gnarled and frail in my palms.
Off to the side, Koronos regained a victorious smile, finding a silver lining in his defeat.
"What did you do to her?" Leo demanded for me.
"Why, nothing," the devil laughed. "I simply forgot how fleeting your lives are! Lady Galatea, by human years, is over four hundred year past her time. Now that she's returned to her mortal state the universe has come to collect, it seems."
I shook, holding her shrinking frame in my arms. Her hair had gone from brown to gray, and was now falling. The only constant in this entire process were her eyes, beautiful and pink and swimming with starlight.
"Oh Marvin," she sighed, her voice scratchy.
"I can bring you back, Diana." I said, fumbling to grab the Eyes of the Leviathan off my person. But before I could reach them she stayed my hand. Her strength once left me breathless, but it was the weakness of her touch now that bro
ke my heart. She was dying. Dying and it was my fault. Dying and there was nothing I could do to stop it. "Diana," I begged. "Diana, please."
She coughed and smiled all at once, her skin translucent in advanced age, one of the final indicators of the looming specter of Death.
Her next words... her last words, I knew they would haunt me for the rest of my life.
"Marvin," she said kindly. "You're much too old to be playing with dolls."
I cracked a smile in that horrible situation, as a nightmare I could never imagined came to life before my very eyes.
Diana started at me to the last. I watched them still, I watched as they grew gray and were covered with film. And I gazed upon the place they once were as the woman I loved so dearly was turned to dust and carried off by the silent desert night.
Epilogue
He came to the plains a hollow man, empty like an old reed pipe. Ash and dust of traveled lands stained his hair and hid its hue. The black dye he'd been using since was clearly not the color the Gods had given him, wretched pale worm that he was.
The manner in which he stared at the stars, the care he took in mixing his medicines, and the way in which he kept his distance all told of secrets that left gruesome marks upon his soul.
Miraj was scolded for seeking him out as often as she did; mostly by the man himself than other Hikari, the people of her tribe.
They reached a silent truce of sorts, one where, if she kept her distance and her questions to a minimum, the medicine man would allow her to watch him work.
In his tent of hide and reeds, she studied the herbs hanging out to dry from the ceiling tent-poles. In the gaps of this hanging garden were bottles and pipes she'd seen him get through trade. He spoke in hushed tones to the desert merchants who came to stock up on wares; salves made by the Hikari doctor were deemed to be particularly valuable, though no one but these traders seemed to know why.
Miraj yawned loudly.
"Marvin'assi," she said, using an honorific reserved for respected adults. "I'm bored."
He examined the liquid within two beakers.
"So go outside and play."
"Only children do that."
"You are a child."
"How rude!" Miraj scoffed. "I'm fourteen summers this year! Old enough to choose myself a husband!"
"Ahh." His tone smiled while his face remained an impressive deadpan. "Such a grave decision to make. Then, as advice from a worldly adult, go flirt and see who you like best."
Miraj crossed her arms. "I like who I like, and I hate who I hate."
"Surely you must like one."
"Not really." She swung her legs back and forth over the edge of one of his work stations. Marvin swatted her knees with a branch to keep them still as he walked by. "They're boring. Horses! Battle! These are all they think about. And breasts," she added as an afterthought.
Marvin sputtered his tea back into its cup.
"You know Lekai?" she mentioned. "The one who gives you supplies each week? He tried to kiss me in the fields while we were watering horses. The nerve!"
"Tried to?" Marvin asked. "You told him no, correct?"
"I did more than that!" said Miraj, rolling up her sleeves. "I punched his face in! But now the women all give me mean looks and say I was at fault. ME."
Marvin ran a hand through his pitch-black hair, sighing, "How long ago did this happen?"
"A week," Miraj mumbled. "His face healed fine -his nose is still as big as always- but he mopes around like a rusalka went and sucked his soul out at the river." Miraj sucked in her cheeks, imitating a drowned water spirit.
This brought about a different response from Marvin than usual. He actually looked at her directly, allowing Miraj to see that his smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Is that what you think rusalki look like?" he asked, faintly amused.
"Bah. What does it matter?" Miraj demanded, feeling self-conscious. "So what do you think is Lekai's problem? He's trying to ruin my standing in the tribe."
Marvin put away his beakers and glasses for the day, shaking his head at her antics.
"He's not trying to ruin you, Miraj'a," he said, using the diminutive form of her name. Miraj was prepared to argue with him over that alone as it was used for children -and she was not a child. "He was rejected by the girl he likes. Lekai is recovering from a broken heart."
Miraj cocked her head to the side. "Broken heart?"
"Right." Marvin scratched his head. "I forgot that isn't a common term among the Hikari... A part of Lekai died when you rejected his feelings."
"That's not my fault."
"No, but punching his face in is," Marvin stressed, eying her so she finally looked away in shame.
"That makes no sense," Miraj said, thinking about the explanation she'd been given. "It's not possible to die and be alive still."
Again, Marvin gave her a look, mocking her for something he knew and refused to tell her.
"Miraj'a, I hope the day never comes when you learn what that means." He set a hand on her head, and again used that frustrating half-smile in front of her. "May you never know what it's like to love a one-sided love."
"Love has nothing to do with being dead!" she fumed, still stuck on Marvin's poor reasoning. "You're either dead or you're alive. There's no parts of you dead nonsense. Put it another way or I'm telling everyone you're not really a doctor."
Marvin raised an eyebrow, set a finger to his chin, and thought.
"An arrow leaves a wound different from an axe or club," he began. "Love is a lot like that. It's just a different kind of deadly."
THE END
A Different Kind of Deadly Page 13