Mutation Genesis

by George Willson

  He had not wanted to send his subject to Erim during this coma phase, especially when this was the period when most of his earlier trials had died. To date, he had one survive the full term only to die within a day of his awakening. However, the alchemist had been merely studying him during that day and suspected that the lack of fresh blood had killed him. This time, he was prepared.

  He looked to the rear seat of the Cart, where an indistinct form squirmed under another tarp. While the alchemist did not condone the Tepish transmutations or outright murder, he knew this was necessary in the course of his work. One of the Tepish goals for this mutation was to create warriors who killed thoughtlessly, and remembering how his prior trial had violently attacked the walls of the cell in which the alchemist kept him, he had a good idea of what to expect. He looked to the Cart’s driver.

  “I will carry the subject,” the alchemist said. “You carry our other guest.”

  The driver nodded and walked to the squirming form. He uncovered a man who looked at them through frightened eyes. He was gagged and bound hand and foot, not that he would be able to fight against their strength. Muffled yells barely made it past the gag as the unfortunate man fought with what strength he had available to him. The alchemist did not wish to know anything about this person in order to minimize his guilt in doing what he had to do.

  The alchemist lifted the unconscious subject while the driver carried the human into the city hall behind him. The human continued to struggle, but the driver barely noticed.

  “Obadiah, would you mind getting the doors for us?” the alchemist asked the mayor. Obadiah nodded and led them into the building.

  They walked down the main hall past the four offices to the end of the hall where instead of the plain wooden walls, the walls were adorned with decorative wood panels. The alchemist was certain that if anyone ever did come this way to enter the town hall for a meeting, they would say something about the unusual paneling covering what they would perceive to be the back wall of the building. The panels were each about six inches wide with natural wood deformities.

  Obadiah pressed a switch inside one of the panel’s knotholes, and three panels popped open together revealing the alchemist’s secret research rooms in the rear of the building. The outside of this secret door had no handle or any or control besides the button that popped the door outward for access. The alchemist led the driver through this door, and Obadiah closed it behind them using a handle on the inside of the door. Obadiah pressed the light button in the hall, and the Fempiror lighting system fired to life, uniformly illuminating the hallway. This was the only building in Kelïrum to have the system in place as the Tepish felt it was of the utmost importance for the alchemist to possess this safe alternative to fire for lighting the night.

  This secret section of the building was one hallway lined with four doors of varying types beyond which were four rooms of vastly different functions. The first door to the left housed the power supply for the lights; the first door on the right was his office and laboratory. They walked past these first two rooms to the second room on the right through a heavy metal door where Obadiah pressed another light button outside the doorway to light that room as well.

  The room had no windows and the walls were lined in stone and metal. The alchemist had this room reinforced to hold up against a Fempiror’s strength just in case his subjects were unruly, and dents remaining on the walls from his most recent trial showed the wisdom behind his foresight. He had moved a long, smooth, wooden table normally used by an undertaker into this room in the subject’s absence in preparation for his return as well as a plain, wooden chair for an unfortunate and most temporary visitor. The driver placed the human into the chair while the alchemist laid the subject on the table.

  “How long until he wakes up?” the driver asked, ignoring the human’s struggles.

  “He was stirring as I carried him,” the alchemist replied as he looked the subject over, “so it won’t be long.” He stood and looked at the driver. “When can we expect Vladimir?”

  “He told me tomorrow evening,” the driver replied. “At that time, he’ll want to know what happened tonight. Since the last one died during the first twenty-four hours, he was not interested in coming until after that. He wanted to know if you were conducting any further tests.”

  “Information gathering, mostly,” the alchemist said. “Is there any other news from Erim?”

  “Yes,” the driver said. “An Elewo stole one of the vials containing the new serum last night. The Kurvatz Malnak believes they could easily figure out what it does, and when they do, they’ll come here.”

  “They know where we are?”

  “He has a very high opinion of them.”

  “We’re going to have unexpected guests?” Obadiah asked, his voice betraying considerable fear.

  “I would guess so,” the alchemist replied, unconcerned. “Rastem or Elewo or both. It’s hard to say how many or what guise they’ll use. Report any newcomers to me as soon as they arrive.”

  “At once, of course,” Obadiah said nervously. “We don’t want any trouble.”

  “I doubt they’ll be any trouble,” the alchemist said. “In fact, if we didn’t know they were coming, we probably wouldn’t know they were here at all.”

  The subject gasped drawing in a large breath of air. The three of them turned to him. This was consistent with the last trial so far. The subject’s eyes shot open and he sat up, still catching his breath. His eyes darted around the room, fear stretching across his face.

  “How do you feel?” the alchemist asked him. He had precious little time to talk with these new Fempiror, as the last one’s mind deteriorated quickly, though he had lost none of his physical prowess.

  The subject opened his mouth to speak, but it took several attempts before anything came out. The alchemist was worried that even now it was too late. “Hungry,” the subject finally groaned out.

  “What would you like?” the alchemist asked gently.

  The subject shook his head, panic taking hold of him. “I don’t know,” he breathed out.

  The alchemist gestured to the driver. “Unbind our guest and bring him.”

  The driver lifted the person from the chair and tore his bonds from his hands and feet but kept the gag in place. The person tried to run, but he stood no chance against the driver’s strength. Obadiah stepped well out of the way. The driver pushed him forward and dropped him on the ground in front of the subject’s table.

  “Will this help you?” the alchemist asked the subject. The subject sniffed the air around the human. The human whimpered through his gag, tears streaming down his face. The subject smiled widely, and the alchemist heard Obadiah gasp and take a step backward. Dominating the subject’s smile were two long upper canine teeth serving to complete the Tepish leadership’s desire for a Fempiror that more closely resembled the vampire myth. He eyed the cringing human on the floor and nodded.

  “Then he is yours,” the alchemist said.

  The subject jumped off the table next to the human on the floor. The human backed away from him, but the subject grabbed him threw him against the wall away from everyone else. The human righted himself and backed up against the wall with nowhere to go. The subject leapt across the room and sank his teeth into the human’s neck. The human screamed desperately in pain through the gag as the subject tore a gaping hole in the human’s neck. Blood flowed freely from the wound. The subject placed his mouth over the hole and drank the blood hungrily from the human’s neck. The human struggled fruitlessly against the subject’s strength crying and whimpering as his strength waned.

  The driver and Obadiah both shrank back in horror. The alchemist tuned to them, stoically. He knew he would never forget the look on their faces. They clearly had not expected the subject to behave this way. He struggled to retain his own composure after the grotesque display they had all witnessed, but with what he had been through before, very little could break his blank look.

&n
bsp; “What have you done?” Obadiah asked. Obadiah, in particular, looked as though he would vomit at any moment, but still never looked away from the hypnotizing sight.

  The alchemist turned back to the subject as he drank unceasingly. “What has been asked of me. What they expected of me. I shall continue to observe. Vladimir expects a report soon.” He looked at the driver directly. “You can return to tell him what you have seen. You don’t have to stay.”

  The driver nodded slowly and backed away from the scene, unable to avert his eyes. He finally passed into the hall and walked quickly away. The alchemist and Obadiah continued to watch. The human finally lost his strength and passed out. The subject continued drinking.

  “That thing won’t try to attack any of the human populace, will it?” Obadiah asked worriedly. “We have a deal with them. They’ve never done anything to us.”

  The alchemist shook his head. “We won’t let it leave the building. You can expect it to return to Erim when the time comes.”

  The subject stopped drinking. He backed his head away from the human and looked at him like a confused animal. He shook the body and tried to drink a little more, but he had drained the victim completely. He angrily tossed the body into a corner of the room where it crumpled like a rag doll. He turned to look at the alchemist, blood running down his chin. The subject wiped the blood from his chin with his hand and then licked his hand clean.

  The alchemist and Obadiah quickly left the room, closing the door behind them. He looked back to the subject through a small, reinforced window. He did not dare to attempt to retrieve the unfortunate human’s body that the subject had tossed unceremoniously into the corner of the room. The alchemist could not be certain that subject had quenched his thirst. However, looking at the subject’s skin, he did not appear as pallid as he had been when he arrived.

  Obadiah bid the alchemist a farewell and passed through the hidden door to return to the public part of city hall. He knew that Obadiah was relieved to be as far away from his creation as possible.

  The alchemist went to his laboratory to look over his notes about the mutated serum. There was still one more observation before he could consider this project complete. He had spent several years of his life perfecting this serum, and now that he saw the results, he had mixed feelings. On the one hand, he felt an enormous sense of accomplishment. He knew the Order would be happy with him. On the other, he had created a monster.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Evaluation of the Newcomers

  Frinyar stood against the wall in the shadows of the Kelïrum tavern on the edge of town watching two newcomers approach in the early morning hours of the 13th. He had cropped brown hair and sharp blue eyes that pierced the darkness and evaluated every move the newcomers made. He was dressed sharply, but simply, in brown breeches, waistcoat and jacket with off-white stockings and shirt. His leather shoes were tied and he had not worn a hat in years. After all, the primary purpose of a hat was to deflect the sun, which was not a problem living at night.

  “Hold there,” he heard a familiar voice call out to them as they approached. “Who are you? We don’t get many strangers.” Frinyar glanced at the Fempiror mayor, Obadiah, as he held out a torch to assess the strangers in a better light. They introduced themselves as David and Elizabeth, a young married couple who had been changed on their honeymoon not long ago.

  They spoke of Erim and the Tepish, and it was a tale they had heard so often in Kelïrum that Frinyar might have believed them without question had Obadiah not told him about potential troublemakers coming into town from Erim just before these two arrived. When David mentioned they had come from Erim, he wondered if these two could be them. They seemed harmless enough, but then he noticed that David carried something unusual in his rucksack.

  Frinyar turned his head to try to make out what kind of object this David was carrying. Part of him believed it might be a sword, but a typical rucksack would not accommodate a sword’s length. He turned it over and over and could not come to a satisfying conclusion except that he needed to watch these two.

  He knew this even before they had arrived, of course, since Obadiah had asked him to stand ready this evening just in case the spies of which the alchemist had spoken arrived. Obadiah often called upon him because several years ago, he had trained as a Tepish in a series of caves to the west. He was one of the best recruits, and on the eve of his assignment to a unit under a Redäl Kötz, the former inhabitants of the caves decided to attack the Tepish and route them from their training ground. Frinyar personally killed several of them before his group of Fälskrüz surrendered.

  He had played along with the charade of turning to the side of that faction, which he learned was Elewo, but as soon as the Elewo released them, he and several others left the caves to try to find their own way. During their wandering, several of them died when the days caught them off guard. Finally, after months of moving from town to town, hiding, and stealing, he found Kelïrum, a town of peaceful Fempiror that did not want to force any ideals on him. He settled here, and helped Obadiah with troublemakers.

  After a brief dialogue between Obadiah and David, he heard Obadiah say, “Well, then you must be ready to find repose. Just follow Harrison.” Obadiah sent the newcomers with his personal servant, Harrison, to Fiona’s inn, and then immediately gestured to Frinyar. Frinyar walked casually to Obadiah, but he suspected Obadiah had tried too hard to get rid of the newcomers.

  “Watch them, Frinyar,” Obadiah said softly. “I want to know everything. What they do; where they go; what they say. Understand?”

  Frinyar nodded and followed them at a distance toward the inn. He waited outside for several minutes to allow them time to get a room before entering the inn. He did not want them to know he was following them since he would likely trail them during their entire stay. He walked through the open door and saw Fiona snap her head to him and smile broadly. Frinyar found Fiona to be very friendly, but as talkative as one might expect someone who was old and lonely as she was. He hoped she would notice he was in a hurry and not say anything.

  “Greetings Frinyar,” Fiona said cheerfully behind the counter.

  Frinyar rolled his eyes. If the newcomers were listening, they would know he was following them. He could only hope they were preoccupied. While he did need to find out some information from Fiona, he wanted to get away from her quick enough to hear their conversation.

  “Fiona,” Frinyar greeted. “The newcomers that just came in: what room are they in?”

  “Those two?” Fiona asked. “Oh, they’re sweet, aren’t they? It always makes me sad when I see the young ones come in. I have lived my life, and I don’t mind it so much, but they always make me sad.”

  “Yes, I know,” Frinyar said. “It is sad.”

  “Well, I put them up in 202 because I thought that was the best place for them,” she continued.

  “Thank you,” he said shortly and bounded up the stairs. He moved quietly to room 202.

  He heard a muffled voice and knelt down to the keyhole to peer into the room. He saw the male, David, standing over the bed. David removed Elizabeth’s shoes and covered her with the bedclothes. She had fallen asleep quickly. David then extinguished the light.

  He heard some minor shuffling that sounded like David removing his shoes in the darkness and then silence. Frinyar cursed under his breath.

  Equally upset that he had missed everything they said, but also satisfied that they had lain down for the day, Frinyar stood and walked back down the stairs to give Obadiah a report.

  “You’re not going to trouble the poor dears, are you, Frinyar?” Fiona asked, worriedly.

  “I’m on orders from Obadiah,” he told her curtly.

  “You don’t think they’re the ones he warned us about, do you?” she asked. Frinyar was surprised only for a moment, but then he knew it would only make sense for Obadiah to tell Fiona about what was to transpire since they were staying in her place.

  “That’s what we have to f
ind out,” he told her simply, and then walked outside.

  The sun was just below the horizon. He had to get to city hall quickly to tell Obadiah what he had seen, simple as it may have been, and then get a day travel cloak to go home. He thought about the newcomers, and his memory nagged him. Had he seen them before? He thought about everywhere he had been.

  After leaving the caves, he had passed through small town after small town, any of which could have been the hometown for these two before their change. He had been a wanderer for over five years before settling in Kelïrum, so the possibilities were endless. Yet, part of him could not let it go. He knew they were not just incidental people. He had never talked to them, but he was certain he had at least seen them.

  He shrugged off the memory as he entered city hall and walked down the main hallway past the doors of the day people to Obadiah’s office. The office was large enough to accommodate Obadiah’s modest-sized wooden desk and his chair along with two other chairs on the opposite side of his desk for any visitors. As mayor of the Fempiror, he had considerably fewer responsibilities than the human mayor did, but his desk still had several papers on it along with a pen and inkwell along with two candles that provided the only light in the room. Frinyar closed the door behind him as Obadiah looked at him. He stepped to the desk and bowed in courtesy to his leader.

  “They entered the inn and are now asleep,” Frinyar said simply.

  “Anything out of the ordinary?” Obadiah asked.

  “No sir,” Frinyar replied. “When I reached their room, she had already fallen asleep. He covered her and lay down himself.”

  Obadiah nodded thoughtfully. “Thank you Frinyar,” he said.

  Frinyar turned and left Obadiah to his thoughts. Light was beginning to creep across the town and Frinyar walked to a closet where a few day travel cloaks hung for those who were still in the city hall when day broke. He wrapped one around himself and proceeded to the main entrance where he passed the human mayor, Paul Stalik, as Paul arrived for the day. They exchanged greetings, but Mr. Stalik was always wary of his Fempiror town-mates, and he did not conceal it well.