Cogling

by Jordan Elizabeth

  “They won’t send her to the tuck-up fair immediately.”

  “Gallows be gone. I know all that, and they’ll call in a parish-pig too, but what’s that got to do with Edna and her brother rotting away?” Ike kicked the chair over. Hilda winced as it struck the floor.

  “The chaplain will come today or tomorrow, I reckon.” Hilda returned to the newspaper. “What about the Lady in this game?”

  “Don’t suppose she said a word of good against Edna.”

  “She’s at Demeter.” Hilda pointed to a line. “The hags will want her out of the way, and no better place than the city asylum.”

  He frowned. “Nobles like to cover up such mistakes.”

  “I suppose Mother Sambucus is using a bit of leverage there, offering the public more story to whet their gossiping minds. Didn’t you say you wanted Rachel to talk to the King too?”

  “He won’t listen to her word much now. If she’s in Demeter, the kingdom will think her mad. I doubt she would’ve come with us anyway. All she wanted was to get to her aunt.”

  “Who then, according to this, turned her in to the authorities. Lovely family the chit has.” Hilda set the paper down. “I know a little about the city prison. They put the worst of the bunch in the dungeon. I reckon that’s where Edna and Harrison will be.”

  “How do you know about the prison?”

  “Do you know what’s down there?” Hilda grinned.

  He ran his fingers through his hair. “Odd bodkins, just tell me.”

  “Trolls,” she purred. “You know what troll hair is good for, don’t you?”

  Ike met her glittering gaze. “Poison.”

  “Mix in a troll hair, and the poison’s clear. Odorless. Sometimes I sneak into the dungeon for a few hairs. A bit tricky to do. Gotta get the troll to sleep first. I don’t do it often.”

  “So we’ll get them out that way.” Sweat beaded on Ike’s forehead. “Hilda, you’re wonderful.”

  “I’m more than that. First, Edna’s dear cousin” —she pointed at him— “is going to go in and try to get her to talk about the Staff Ring. She won’t be speaking, since it don’t exist. They probably haven’t told her or her brother much about their imagined crimes.”

  “Her cousin. Me?” Ike laughed. “You’re right, Hilda. You’re a genius too.”

  “If you go in, it’ll be a mite suspicious. Strapping young man like yourself. If Edna’s cousin’s a girl though… a girl with a protective chaperone.” Hilda returned to her cauldron.

  “You, then.” Ike took her flowered hat from its peg and dropped it on her head. “Let’s go then.”

  “I’m a pauper’s healer. My face is too well known amongst the poor class.” She took off the hat and tossed it onto the fallen chair. “We get Lady Rachel first, then we rescue your Edna, and it’s off to your cherished King.”

  His shoulders dropped against his will. He forced himself to straighten, maintain his in-charge attitude. “How do we get Rachel?”

  “We start by filling these vials. Never know when you need poison. Go out to the streets and find a homeless wench. Get her to come back here. Try to have her look like Rachel, if you can.”

  “Then what?”

  “Trust me.” She patted his cheek.

  Ike willed himself not to pity the girl huddled near an alley fire. A tattered shawl hung around her shoulders and a broken straw hat perched atop her head. She resembled Rachel very little. This girl’s face was longer and thinner, with a broader chin, and she looked older, but life on the streets aged a person faster than living in a mansion. At least their hair color was similar.

  “Excuse me.” Ike leaned against the mossy brick wall.

  Dark circles hung beneath the girl’s bloodshot eyes when she looked up. “Wotcha want?”

  “You lookin’ for a job?” Ike crossed his ankles.

  “Depends on wot kind o’ a job.” She wiped her hand across her pug nose. A thick scar ran across her collarbone to disappear into her worsted dress.

  “House cleaning?” He let the question hang. Since she studied his face, he licked his lips to appear seductive.

  “I tried that an’ got cheated for an honest day’s work. I don’t do honest no more.” She stretched out her hands toward the small fire. He took a penny from his pocket, left over from the morning’s theft, and flipped it toward her. It landed in the dirt near her bare feet.

  “What about not so honest?” he asked.

  She stood and picked up the penny with her toes, then used her hand to drop it into a hidden pocket at her waist. “I’m willin’.” She sauntered near to him and ran her fingers over his vest. Her skin reeked of unwashed body, but life on the streets had taught him not to cringe.

  Ike caught her wrist. “My place.”

  “You got a place, eh?” She looked him up and down, slowly, the corners of her lips curling upwards. “Interestin’.”

  Before finding the girl, he’d stolen more money and purchased some clothes from a cheap shop. The black pants and white shirt with the blue vest overtop weren’t the best quality, and the gray jacket was thin, but he knew he looked like he had money when she flicked his collar.

  “How much?” She trailed after him from her alley.

  “That depends on how much you’re willing to do.” He winked, and she giggled in her raspy voice. When they reached Hilda’s apartment, he opened the door and bowed his head. The girl swept in first and he followed, kicking the door shut with his heel.

  “This place looks a bit feminine. You got a lass? I’ll do ya both for extra.” The girl turned to him, her mouth open as if to say more, but Hilda stepped into the kitchen from the sitting room. She pressed a cloth over the girl’s mouth and pinned her against her torso. The girl struggled for only a minute before her eyelashes fluttered. Hilda helped her to the floor, shaking out the rag at Ike.

  “She’ll be out for a couple minutes, and then she’ll be loopy for a good five hours. Help me get her into one of my old dresses.” Hilda slid her hands under the girl’s arms to drag her into a flat position. “Then we’ll head to Demeter.”

  “They won’t hurt her there, will they?” Ike tossed the poisoned rag into the trash.

  “The life she’ll get there’s better than one on the street.”

  You call me wicked.

  achel sat in a chair against the wall, singing Edna’s lullaby as quietly as she could. The window beside her shed light across the apron in her lap. The nurse had told her to sew the hem, but she’d never worked with needle and thread. Being forced to do menial labor reminded her how grateful she was for servants.

  The others in the sewing room with her worked with their mouths shut. Haggard backs bent over tiny work. One woman coughed into her arm. A mechanical nurse swept through the door to grab the cougher’s wrist.

  “You work.”

  “I was workin’,” the woman stammered. “I didn’t talk none.”

  “Work.” The nurse released her and glided away.

  Rachel lowered her eyes, but the nurse must’ve seen her gaping. The mechanical woman yanked Rachel’s apron away.

  “I was doing…” Rachel swallowed the rest of her protest.

  “Make it neater.” The nurse twisted her hand and a pair of scissors protruded from the space between her metal thumb and index finger. She cut out Rachel’s stitches as she’d done the last five times she’d looked them over. Rachel cringed each time the shears split the tiny threads. The nurse tossed the apron at Rachel. “Here at Demeter, we strive to be self-sufficient. Those who can work to benefit everyone. Punishment follows those who decide not to participate.”

  Memories of the ice water made Rachel shiver. “Yes, ma’am.” Under her breath, she added, “Saints take you.”

  Another nurse knocked on the door. “I have come for Lady Rachel.”

  Rachel’s heart skipped a beat. Did Doctor Louis want to submerge her again? Have his way with her? She wrapped her arms around her stomach. What if she never left the asylum?
>
  “I’m ill,” she moaned.

  “Lady Rachel,” the new nurse said in her mechanic, monotone voice, “you must come now.”

  Rachel kept her arms locked around her middle as she followed the nurse. They wouldn’t protect her from Doctor Louis. If anything, they would hold her down for him. He’d make her, officially, a fallen woman. She’d never considered surrendering her virginity to anyone besides her husband on her wedding night. No, she wouldn’t surrender to Doctor Louis. He’d take it from her by force. She couldn’t picture the act in her mind, but she knew she didn’t want Doctor Louis to be a part of it.

  The nurse led her down the narrow hallway toward the front of the asylum. Peeling paint on the walls transformed into fresh, white coats; thick, carved doors replaced plain, wooden slabs. They passed a young man scrubbing the hardwood floor on his hands and knees, sweat soaking his gaunt face. How many patients didn’t belong, merely victims of fate as Rachel was? A tension headache pounded in Rachel’s forehead.

  The nurse led her into the grand entrance. The ceiling arched, with a candlelit chandelier hanging from the middle and a wide staircase leading upstairs. A young man stood beside two women, accompanied by another nurse. She glided forward to take Rachel’s hands.

  “Your cousins have come to talk to you about your ordeal. Our gracious Doctor has permitted you to visit with them in a private room, granted you do not act violently. He believes that will not be a problem.”

  Rachel frowned at the visitors. The man kept his gaze on the floor, and the two women were shadowed by large bonnets. Rachel didn’t have cousins. Her father’s siblings had died young, and her mother only had Aunt Kate.

  The nurse inclined her mechanical head to the guests and grabbed Rachel’s wrist to drag her toward a small door near the staircase. The nurse opened the door and pushed Rachel inside. The room lacked furniture, and kept only one small, barred window amongst the white walls.

  As the visitors entered, the nurse said, “I will be outside if there are issues. You may open or shut the door.”

  “We’ll keep it shut, thank you,” the taller of the two women said.

  “As you wish.” The door closed on the nurse. A metal spyder crawled across the wall. The young man kicked it off and crushed the tiny body beneath his boot heel.

  Rachel backed against the wall. “I don’t know who you are, but—”

  “You must know me by now.” The young man looked up and removed his black top hat.

  “Ike!” Rachel gasped, leaping into his arms. He caught her in a quick hug before he stepped back. He’d been Edna’s friend. She’d never expected him to come, yet he had. He did care.

  “This is Hilda, my cousin.” He waved toward the taller woman.

  Rachel grabbed Ike by the shoulders, crumpling his red jacket. “They locked me up in here. I didn’t do anything. The hags say I—”

  “We know.” He pushed her away to point at the other visitor. “That’s going to be you.”

  “I think there’s evil planned for Edna and Harrison.” Rachel glanced at the second woman. “Wait, what do you mean?”

  Hilda pulled the bonnet off the woman’s head. Her mouth gaped, and the left corner of her lips sagged, a glaze covering her narrow eyes. She didn’t move, and Rachel realized Hilda had been leading her through the asylum.

  “That’s not me,” Rachel sputtered.

  Hilda tossed the bonnet to Rachel. “She’s been drugged, but it won’t last forever. I didn’t realize the nurses would be robots, but it can’t be helped now.”

  “What are you talking about?” Rachel plucked at the bonnet’s green ribbons.

  Hilda hissed breath through her teeth in a sigh. “Listen, love. We’re gonna dress you like this ragamuffin and leave her in your place. Then, we’re gonna waltz out of here with no one but us the wiser.”

  To leave the asylum, with horrid Doctor Louis, his ice water, and his emotionless nurses. “For truth?”

  “Yes, now hurry up.” Ike tugged at the drugged woman’s clothes. While Hilda helped him, Rachel removed her asylum smock.

  Ike turned his back and Hilda redressed the girl while Rachel struggled into lace undergarments and a velvet dress. Hilda had to help her fasten the back.

  “This was all we could get in short notice,” Hilda explained.

  Ike yanked the bonnet onto Rachel’s head and knotted the ribbons. “Keep your eyes on the floor. Let us do all the talking, you hear?”

  Words strangled in her throat, so she nodded. She couldn’t free herself, had to rely on them, but she could cooperate and prove her gratitude.

  “Nurse?” Ike knocked on the door. “We’re ready. My cousin won’t talk.”

  As the nurse opened the door, Hilda said, “What a waste of time this was. Come, we’re leaving.”

  “Sometimes patients act this way.” The nurse took hold of the drugged woman’s hands. Her head lolled to the side.

  “We won’t be back.” Hilda flicked a hair off her dress. “A complete waste of time.”

  “Let’s get home then.” Ike held out his hand to Rachel. Her heart pounded as she accepted his arm. She could do this. They would escape.

  “I will make certain Doctor Louis hears about this. Come, back to sewing with you.” The nurse’s voice beat against Rachel’s back.

  Another nurse opened the main door for them and they departed down the front steps. Rachel stumbled on the stone, but Ike tightened his grip. She held her breath until they were past the gate and onto the street. Then, she paused to calm her heart, rubbing her dry throat.

  “You’re free.” Hilda straightened her flowered bonnet.

  “What’ll happen to the girl?” Rachel wet her lips.

  “You actually care about someone else?” Ike muttered.

  “They’ll learn she isn’t you,” Hilda said. “They’ll let her go. It’s you they want, not some whore from an alley.”

  Rachel shuddered at wearing clothes a trollop touched. “They’ll hunt me down.”

  “Yes, but by then we should be with the King.” Ike pushed her forward.

  “But Edna—” Rachel lifted her skirt to keep from tripping on the hem.

  “We’re rescuing her next.” Hilda grinned.

  Why should I believe you?

  omething scratched on the wall; the sound jerked Edna awake, her heart pounding. She sat up so fast her head slammed against Harrison’s where he leaned over her. He fell over into a puddle of water with a grunt. She massaged the side of her skull as she helped him stand up.

  “Wot was that for?” He rubbed his head. “I was sleepin’ there.”

  “You were supposed to be the lookout. Now hush. I heard a noise.” Light filtered through the barred window to leave a yellowish square on the floor. She’d hoped that with morning, it would be safe for them to take turns dozing.

  “We won’t be trapped for the rest of our lives,” she’d sworn to him. The scratching sounded again. She glanced into the dark hall. The cell across the way had the same square of daylight.

  “Now I’m even wetter,” Harrison grumbled.

  “Shh,” Edna hissed. “The sound came from the window.”

  Harrison wrung out his sleeve. “Look at what you done.”

  Edna slapped her hand over his mouth as a stout shape slithered between the bars. “You think that’s another soot demon?”

  Harrison shrugged. She released him and stepped closer to the window.

  “If it comes in here, we attack.” She clenched her clammy hands into fists. “Whatever it takes, I won’t allow anything else to harm you. If I have to, I’ll use fingernails and teeth.”

  “Don’t they only come out at night?” Her brother spoke in a hoarse voice.

  “It’s dark, so I don’t think that would matter none. The trolls are still wardin’.”

  “But they ain’t been by in a while.” He wiped water off his cheek onto his torn sleeve.

  The shape glided by again before it squeezed through the bars. It squawke
d and wiggled, then popped through and fell on the floor with a keening plop. Silver scales reflected the muted sunlight.

  “Silver!” Edna scooped the dragon off the floor. He wound his neck around her. “I hadn’t expected to see you again.” Her heart filled with relief and tears pricked her eyes. “How did you find us?”

  Harrison whistled. “We got a dragon in our cell. This the one you told me about?”

  “Yeah. Silver, how did you get away from the Nix? You were gonna stay there. You were safe.”

  The dragon keened.

  “He can’t answer you,” Harrison said.

  Edna hugged the dragon tighter. At least he was there, another force on her side. “Maybe you can help us get out of here.”

  “He’s just a dragon.”

  “I can call for help, and when the troll comes to save us from the dragon, we can overpower him. Do you think trolls are more powerful than baby dragons?” She carried Silver to the bars and peered into the hallway while petting him. He cuddled against her, still keening softly. No one in the other cells stirred, making her wonder if they were too weary or asleep.

  “This is keeping us in here.” Edna tapped the lock on the bars. “Can you bite it?”

  “Dragons are that strong?”

  “Maybe.” Edna stared into the dragon’s eyes. “Will you do it for me, Silver? Will you try to bite the lock apart?”

  Silver tipped his head and blinked his black eyes.

  “Please.” Her voice wavered. “I can’t think of another way. Don’t hurt yourself, but will you try, please?”

  “He doesn’t understand,” Harrison began, but Silver hopped out of Edna’s arms to wrap his talons around the bars. He snaked his head out and tapped his mouth against the lock.

  “Please.” Edna rested her hand on Harrison’s shoulder, stepping back. “We won’t be stuck in this dungeon forever.”

  The dragon bit at the lock. The metal scraped against his teeth and the corner bent.

  “Yes!” The evil jumped to attention.

  Silver bit again, then went at the lock with sharp, fast movements. The metal bent and pinged. Gears snapped. Pieces struck the floor.