Majesty

by Brooke Vinson

  I looked up at Zuhara O Kande and the angry looking girl and cat in her terrifying, electrified grasp. “Hello Ms. Magnus, Lale. I am Able and I have a few questions about your father.”

  “He may have made me, but he is no father of mine. I would also very much appreciate you having your witch let go of me. She’s ruffling my fur.” I looked at the disrespectful cat and considered letting Zuhara O Kande give him a little zap.

  “Little cat,” I looked down at him and let my eyes glow in warning. “I am here to collect information and to have my train fixed. If you aren’t willing to assist my inquiry, I’ll have you skinned.”

  “Don’t hurt him!” Magnus let out a snarl and her existence seemed to shift into that of a creature, not human, but feline though not any feline I knew of. Zuhara O Kande stopped her shifting with a zap that made her cry out and she noticed Lale’s shift too late.

  I caught the angry, now humanoid creature’s gaze and stopped his clawed hand from ripping into her. I stared at him for a second, taking in the aspects that had transferred over. He looked human, though his coloring was still that of his smaller form. “There is more to you two than meets the eye. Zuhara O Kande.”

  She let them go with an almost angry, definitely annoyed, shrug. “We aren’t here to hurt you, but if you threaten us, we will take action. Would you like some clothes, Lale?”

  “My lord!” I glanced as Raven came out of her bedroom and fixed her gaze on Lale. “I leave for two minutes and come back to find a beautiful young man waiting for me. Nude to boot! A bit too feminine for my normal taste, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate.”

  “Lale is mine you freaky transvestite thing.” Magnus hissed and Zuhara O Kande let a small spark travel across the room to burn the bottom of their feet.

  “They’re going to answer a few of my questions before I do something infinitely foolish.” I said. Our two guests looked at each other with skeptical realization in their eyes.

  “Are you…” I nodded at Magnus to continue and with my permission her whole demeanor seemed to change, becoming more wistful, powerful in a way. “Stupid? Sneaking into his laboratory is like walking straight into hell with a target painted on your back!! He will cage you, rip you to pieces, see what he can make with live Skypians. He hasn’t had a pure Skypian in years and the mongrels he keeps making with what traces of their blood he has left are becoming more and more deformed, their expiration dates falling sooner and sooner after their birth!”

  “It is my greatest flaw, but I am greatly intrigued in the immoral yet, ingenious methods he is using to create these mongrels you speak of.” I looked at them, intrigued by the simple fact that they were homunculi.

  “How long ago did he make you two?” If their expiration date was what I believed it to be, then they must have accelerated growth to be in their teens.

  “I was made three years ago.” Lale answered slowly. “She was born eight, or is it nine, years before me.”

  “Why the differentiation?”

  “She is his biological daughter. He likes the pretty ones, he likes them a bit too much.” He was truly twisted to have experimented on her, his own flesh and blood.

  “We leave at next dawn, the second after our train is repaired. I will not be long in my explorations and I will be sure not to be spotted.” I stood and as the sun finished its accent put my sunglasses on to cover the dreadful, incoming light. “Let them go. If you need me, I’ll be sleeping.”

  “Wait,” I looked at Lale and he looked around at my interested but silent crew members. “May I talk to you in private?”

  I narrowed my eyes at the request; I was vulnerable during the day and if he were to have my death on his mind, I would be little more than a babe in his hands. As I saw his form flicker, I made my decision. “Escort her out. Come with me.”

  “Quickly!” I blinked as Lale turned his back to me, exposing his neck. “What does my code say?”

  I looked at the bar code and the numbers above it. I stared in shock and even touched his neck before he lost his human form. He shuddered a few times as the cat creature before turning his gaze to me. “She won’t tell me… How many years? How much longer do I have to live?”

  “Do you really wish to know? To know your future. To know the end of your existence?”

  “Would it be better to know you have no future and that you are forever stamped with your own death day yet to never know what little time you have left? I would like to know, for I already know I will never live long enough to see the world remade in peace and happiness. Tell me Master Able, before I even lose the use of my tongue. My body is weak and every human action I do exerts me beyond my limit.”

  “In a fortnight in ten years you will lose your life unless misfortune finds it first.” I nodded at him but his gaze never wavered from mine. “Is there anything else you would request of me? A fool who never asks, never receives.”

  “Take her with you, just to the next town if you won’t take her farther. If he grabs her again, she will only wish for death.”

  “Her only?” I inquired, wincing a little at my pounding head. Why couldn’t he have gotten to his point a little sooner? “Why don’t we take both of you? We just so happen to have an extra room open right now and if you’re in it when we leave this place, we’ll take you at least to the next town.”

  “Thank you.” The small cat bowed his head to me and slunk back out of my room and off the train.

  “Someone keep watch. I don’t trust this place.” I ordered before closing my door and falling into silent darkness.

  Excursion

  It was only a second after the sun had set that my door was opened and an only partially dressed Raven came to get me. “There seems to be a ruckus outside and not of a friendly sort to us.”

  “I’m up anyway.” I rolled out of bed and grabbed at my suit only to have her shake her head.

  “Hurry. You should see this. I don’t think…” she shuddered and I ran to the door. I stopped at the sight, knowing that if I went out I would be caught in the crosshairs.

  They were creatures, not of the living sort though, these were automatons and they felt no pain as Magnus fought to get away from their grip and their iron ropes. She, however, felt pain, lots of it from the sound of her cries and the welts on her body. They used the ropes they were trying to wrap her in to deal powerful, lashing blows even though she had no way to escape. They continued to beat her until she collapsed under the weight of their blows. Then they wrapped her as tightly as they could and dragged her, though they could have easily carried her, towards the warehouse.

  “What—”

  “I think my excursion into enemy territory just became justified,” I muttered, staring after the retreating creatures. “There are some things I don’t understand though. I don’t like not knowing the reasons behind peoples’ actions. Raven, I want you to—”

  “Prince of the night, wait a moment before you take flight.” I looked as Zuhara O Kande as she stormed into the room, holding something that looked sort of like a bomb. “The girl is injured and needs your help; here is a concoction of shade and kelp. Odd it is to heal any, but I know what I’m doing, this has helped many. A word of caution I will also give, if you want to live. There is one who knows inside and out, the place you plan to prance about. Go and find him, share her plight. Gain his wings to aid your flight.”

  “Tell me where to find him; I don’t plan to stay here long. The mechanic finished his work earlier yesterday, but was told to lie and stall us. I have a feeling that if we aren’t gone by the time the night ends that we will be in the same situation our new friend just encountered.” I motioned for Raven to carry out the orders I had stealthily written down for her. The prying ears that were standing just beyond our door wouldn’t have the opportunity to report back to his waiting master.

  “Across the stretching water, behind the cliff so high. Lies a small crevice big enough only for a fly. In this crevice you fly deep, many technologie
s you will see. Part of the warehouse this whole island seems to be. Inside this crevice…” She fell silent and sighed, showing unusual exhaustion for someone who was always ridiculously energetic… especially in the afternoon. I had never seen her sleep I realized with a small jolt and I had to wonder if she could. “How about I draw you a quick map?”

  “That didn’t rhyme.” I teased and she glared back at me.

  “Rap,” she snorted out and I laughed a little. She handed me a piece of paper after what only seemed like seconds of scribbling, but her map was beautifully and masterfully detailed.

  “Is there anything you can’t do?” I wondered aloud, but she only gave me a quick snort. Maybe she did need a nap, Zuhara O Kande was not one to act petty and annoyed over something trivial.

  “Go prince of night and fly fast, that girl, alone, shall not last.” I nodded, but stopped before I opened the door.

  “Can I get to this place without having to fly?”

  “Can you climb?” I raised my eyebrows at Zuhara O Kande and her attitude. We would have to talk later and see what her problem was.

  The trip to the cave Zuhara O Kande had told me of wasn’t much of a trip, more of a leisurely walk and the climb wasn’t much of a climb, I could have jumped up to the small area.

  “Hello? Lale?” I asked, knocking on the wall of the cave to try and get his attention. “I don’t have the time to play hide and seek.”

  “You’re a bit audacious for someone I just met.” The night panther hissed, walking out of the cave. “What do you want?”

  “You’re a bit rude for someone who asked me for a favor. Especially since I came here bringing news about your girlfriend.”

  “She’s not my—What’s wrong with Magnus?”

  “Some weird guys came and kidnapped her.” I saw the worry register on his face and I was suddenly facing his human form. “And I just so happen to want to explore this place. I believe we could use each other—”

  “You would just slow me down. Thanks for the information but—” I captured him with my eyes easily and smiled.

  “It’s not a request.”

  “You better be able to do that mind thing to everyone. I’ve only tried to get out of his lab on foot once and we didn’t get out unscathed.” The Night Panther looked like he would rather chew off his own foot than escort me, but he climbed deeper in the cave slowly, allowing me to follow. “This cave connects to one of the outer cells in the lab. The real challenge will be getting from the outer cell to his private quarters which will be where he has her.”

  “What else is there? I’m curious as to how this place is set up.”

  “There are four set of chambers: the outer chamber where he stores the things he doesn’t want anymore, the east chamber where he stores the mistakes, the west chamber where he stores what he calls the successes and the inner chamber where he stores his favorites. Everyone vies for the inner chamber… but it comes with a big price tag.” Lale stopped for a minute and I watched eagerly as he felt around the rocky roof before lifting it and climbing up. I looked around the damp, dark room, almost like an old style jail cell from before SD. He placed the carved piece of rock back carefully and went over to the door, jingling, banging and finally pushing it open.

  “So this is the outer chamber?” I looked around the ridiculously filthy hallway in disgust. As a fellow researcher, I had at least expected him to keep his facility clean and well managed, but this hallway looked like the streets of Sodom. It was absolutely revolting.

  “No, this is the entrance to the outer chamber. Labs one through four are to the left and to the right is the outer chamber. We’re going to the left.”

  I gasped as we passed the first occupied chamber and a malformed humanoid thing lunged at the bars. She may have once been a Skypian but now… I wasn’t sure what she was. Rotting horns protruded from her forehead, her arms were covered in something that may have once been feathers and the bottom half of her body was completely covered in welts.

  “What is that thing?”

  “Wife number one.”

  As we passed by another malformed, once-upon-a-time Skypian looked out at us, but this one didn’t bother moving from the heap it was in. “Wife number two.”

  “Whose wives?”

  “Magnus’s father of course. He’s on number… seven, I think. But only one through four are down here. Five and six…” He didn’t say what had been done to them, but it wasn’t hard to figure out.

  “Hey!” Lale yelped as I turned and ran back towards the way we had come from. I had to see it; I had to see the outer cells.

  I couldn’t find words as I looked up at the cells running in circles all the way to the ceiling and all around the edges of the enormous room. Each cage was filled with creatures in various stages of death and decay, most still with human pain on their faces. As they noticed me, a wailing went up and as each creature added its voice or what was left of its voice, it became deafening.

  “What has been done to them?” I asked as I turned around and started walking back so they wouldn’t notify the doctor of our presence.

  “Injected with Skypian DNA… purified DNA modified to specifically alter the already present genes and make them…” Lale couldn’t seem to find the words. “More bestial, almost like he was trying to illuminate the genes Skypians share with humans.”

  “To what end?” I stared at the lab we skirted in disgusted awe. To be evil and psychotic he was a true genius. His equipment wouldn’t be mass produced or be utilized properly for years to come, but he had managed to isolate, reproduce and modify Skypian DNA. He was a genius, a true genius.

  “He wants to be a Skypian.” Lale checked around a corner and we started walking down a better kept hallway that shined pure mythril. This had to be the inner cells and as we passed doors I noticed small, still barely furnished, but infinitely better than the jail cells, rooms behind their gated doors. “That’s why he wants Magnus. She has his DNA but Skypian. He keeps testing her, making her even more Skypian so the DNA he extracts can be transferred to his body and make him what he wants to be.”

  “King,” I finished for him. The doctor had succeeded to an extent; he had immunity from my gaze and a broken but still effective copy of my ability.

  We walked slowly and I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the place the doctor had created. It was as magnificent and expansive as it had first appeared from the outside. It was filled with technology I barely knew about and was far from being available to the public. His research, though disgusting in its method of extraction and application, was world changing. Humans becoming Skypians… or vice versa was monumental at the least, though inapplicable.

  “Here’s where he used to keep her.” As Lale opened the door, it took my hypnotic gaze to stop the Skypian from crying out for help. I forced him asleep and closed the door back, looking at Lale.

  “Any ideas? I’ve had my tour so I’m ready to leave when you are. If we don’t finish within the hour and head out, I really will be dead weight.” Lale looked like he knew where she was, but didn’t want it to be true.

  “Can you use your mind thing on the Doctor?”

  “It would make this situation easier but unfortunately no. Though I can use my supernatural strength on him.”

  “That…” Lale sighed and just motioned for me to follow him. “I’m about to lose my hold on my human form too… She can only be in one place. The Doctor’s private lab… where he is.”

  “Hmm… I have a plan if you would lead me to this private lab. We’ll see how fast the Doctor can think in a stressful situation.” Lale was in his feline form when I looked back at him and I followed him deeper into the building. When a Skypian servant turned the corner, I easily caught her with my gaze and smiled. I had found the most essential part of my plan. As she turned I was taken aback by the welts on her back.

  “She must have displeased the Doctor. For all his talk of becoming a Skypian, he does not treat Skypians like they are huma
n.” I knew my eyes flashed with anger and my temporary slave shivered.

  “I think I might change my plan a bit,” I leaned in close to my slave and whispered. “Go set fire to his first four labs when the hour strikes. Lie if anyone asks.”

  She wobbled off with a nod and I opened the door to my right ensnaring two more Skypians. “Go free the Skypians in the outer, east and we—”

  “Not the west.” Lale interjected and I looked at him. He shuddered, remembering something that made his ears flatten in fear. “The west wing… the things in there aren’t human anymore, they aren’t Skypian… they aren’t even animals.”

  “Right…” I had no personal connection to anything here so I let it be. I opened one final door and grabbed the lady inside tiredly. “Go tell the others in the inner cells that Doctor Vanguard had ordered them to meet on the first docking deck.”

  She left and Lale watched me curiously. “Are there multiple entrances to this private lab?”

  “Three but—”

  “Show me.” Lale walked me through the closest door and I nodded at the simplicity of the lock. Nobody used old style locks for a reason: they were just too easy to break. When he took me to the second, I smiled; it was beside a bulletin board. Starting a fire here was just a matter of the lighter in my pocket. “Be ready.”

  I lit it and started running back to the other door quickly. It would take a minute to get strong enough to attract their attention, but timing would be what would make or break our escape. I heard yelling and running after a minute, then I broke the lock and we were in. I ran to the door they had run out, slammed and locked it. Then I turned to Magnus. She was beaten and unconscious on the floor, her hands bound by mythril cuffs.

  I cursed as I realized we would have to find the keys. So as Lale tried his best to wake her, I searched for the key. When I couldn’t find it, I cursed. You couldn’t break mythril and the heat required to melt it was too strong for humans, or Skypians to survive. Yet we couldn’t take the chance of confronting the Doctor. Mythril keys couldn’t be replicated either.