Inhuman Chapter 4
Chapter 4Stillness descended on the camp as night crawled over the forest. Valary continued practicing her control of the golem legs. After several clumsy attempts to stand, she finally got the limbs to bend, creating something close to human knees. The woman crawled over to the nearest tree after a while. Then, she painfully inched up to her feet, using her back against the rough tree trunk. Despite the trouble, she found herself surprised at the strength of the new legs and feet. The stillness outside the camp shattered from the familiar crack of a musket shot. She stared toward the noise, but no other sound followed. With a shrug, she focused on her legs. Lifting them several times, Valary carefully took a step away from the trunk. After another half step, she finally dropped her hand from the tree. Gathering a breath, the woman tottered forward as she slowly relearned the sensation of balance and movement. Several steps later, she stumbled into another closest tree and her face on the trunk. Taking a deep breath to regain her focus, she got herself up again and worked her way to the next tree. Her legs wobbled, but each step gave her confidence. The crack of a crushed pinecone caught her attention. Looking down, she suddenly noticed the rough texture of the cone beneath her hardened mud foot. How? She remembered him mentioning the nerves in her legs. Still, she didn’t expect Grym’s spell would allow the sensations of the ground to reach her brain. The woman tilted her head, letting her foot come down on the cone again. Then, she let out a frustrated breath. The bastard! Valary finally accepted the inhuman understood far more about magic than she knew. The very thought left her frustrated. Finally, a determined expression filled her face as she continued her training. A few moments later, she reached the outskirts of the campfire light. While the woman rested against a trunk, she only heard her labored breathing. So focused on relearning to walk, she failed to realize her limited stamina. Still, the ability to walk renewed her hope. After regaining her strength, she started back to the campfire. Movement in the trees caught her eye, and Valary stopped. As she stood in the shadows, her eyes adjusted to the dark outline of a figure crouched down just beyond the range of the campfire light. The shape of the lean figure and leather hat confirmed Grym’s presence. She took a step toward him. Valary felt the strange need to show off her ability to walk again. She stepped closer. When the ghoul glanced back, she nearly fell at the sight of his blood-covered face. Valary stumbled away while glancing over her shoulder. In her haste, she tripped and landed hard on the ground. After catching her breath, she physically pushed her legs under her body and rose. The woman carefully tottered back to the campfire, unable to see Grym’s figure any longer. Her muddled mind was unsure of what she could do. Valary stopped next to the fire. She looked down while wishing for hands. Anything to help defend herself from the bloody thing she saw. After a moment, the fear retreated enough for her to realize she had no options. I can’t do anything! Her head hung. The bloody face of Grym haunted her thoughts. She could only accept her death if he wanted it. The snap of a twig forced her to look up, and fear immediately filled her again as he walked into the camp. Grym stepped next to Valary, his menacing expression cold and lifeless. She looked away. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the object in one hand; the grisly remains of a fox. The blood from the carcass dripped down onto the ground next to her. Valary jumped when the dead animal landed on the ground next to her. “What are you shaking about?” His monotone voice sent another chill through her. “You have nothing to fear from me for the moment. Blood from a fresh kill will stop the urges for a while.” He stepped away, then stopped. “In my experiments, I’ve found that an inhuman can stop the overwhelming desire for human flesh temporarily through various means. Still, the analysis also found that a ghoul will eventually go mad if not fed meat to meet these unbearable cravings.” He fell silent for a moment. “My experiments proved the time and extent of necessary feedings,” he sighed. “To keep this urge at bay the longest, I must gather fresh kills on a regular basis. The more blood, the better for my cravings.” Valary remained quiet for a moment. Finally, a question came; she needed an answer. “I’m confused. You sound like a scientist. Still I’ve seen so much that I can’t understand. Are you really an inhuman with magic? Is this the price you pay to become a slave to a dark god?” “That’s a foolish question after what you’ve witnessed,” Grym looked up at the star-filled sky. “You should know that Peyra is a goddess of mischief and lust. To such an immortal, I’m simply another tool to meet her desires.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “No doubt she’ll watch over my path to a degree, but you misunderstand gods. They don’t care about what we do. Free will and chaos exist because they give power for you to fulfill their needs, not yours.” “And what is her need?” The inhuman chuckled, then shrugged. “Who knows the mind of a god?” He glanced at her. “At the end, why should we care? It doesn’t concern you or me. We live and die by their whims or others. Still, we need power and opportunity. Peyra’s given me that already. You’ll receive that from me.” “One more thing you will learn. You will not like some of my methods to keep from eating human flesh. An inhuman will never lose the desire for human flesh. I can only suppress it for a while by using blood and stubblefield cigarettes. I’ll do anything I can to stop the raging madness that fills me. That means your world will turn dark and blood will flow like the madness of a battlefield. There’s no turning back.” He looked at her. “I will not allow you to hesitate when the time comes.” His icy tone froze her for a moment. Valary waited for a moment. She understood the implications of his words, but she realized that the man had no intention of telling her more. “Where are we going?” Valary asked. He smirked as he turned back to look at the night sky. “To a fine manor house with a scenic view of the Junw Mountains. It is there that you’ll get your new body. After that, we’ll make further plans. You earn trust by doing your job.” Grym crawled into the tent. “I’ll cook the rest of that fox for your breakfast when the sun rises.” ~~~ The sun fell behind the Junw mountains. Dennel Veil read the letter again for the fourth time that afternoon. Each time, her beautiful smile turned into a vulgar smirk at the audacity of the person behind the words. Normally, the signature line would send shudders through women who found themselves under the scrutiny of the author. However, Dennel saw an opportunity instead. Erdem thinks he’s the hunter. What a foolish man! “My lady, you appear in good spirits.” Eostre’s voice interrupted her thoughts. The mistress glanced back as her maid placed the tray containing afternoon drinks upon the desk. The maid poured chocolate into a porcelain cup while Dennel enjoyed the view. Eostre glanced up with a gentle, knowing smile. With her blond hair, well-endowed body, and oval face, she recognized the look. It came often enough from men and even a few women. After all, the maid could nearly pass as Dennel’s twin sister. Many considered her mistress to be one of the most beautiful women in the empire. “Yes, changes are coming soon to our little world. I received a letter from the emperor’s son.” Dennel leaned back in the chair. “Like the others, he’s suddenly enamored with me.” “My, that’s excellent news,” the maid handed her mistress the cup. Eostre took her position behind the desk as Dennel slid the letter back into her desk drawer. The maid waited as her lover reflected on the letter. She knew better than to interrupt her. Instead, she waited. Unflinchingly loyal to her mistress, Eostre always remembered her station as she happily retreated into her thoughts. A smile came to her lips as she looked over the paintings along the wall. Tasteful and elegant like her mistress, the room reminded her why she loved the grand house. She considered the estate her first proper home. Jupas may have built the estate; however, Dennel furnished it properly. The servant silently laughed at her role in ending the woman’s marriage to her second husband, As an uneducated girl from a small village, Eostre knew her fortune rested with the goddess standing only a foot away. Dennel may have cut her husband’s throat, but the maid’s poison helped dispatch the only obstacle to their plans. A wicked smile came to her lips. Jupas died with the squeal of a butchered hog. Jupas was such a fool! She looked down at her proud and arrogant mistress with loving eyes when Dennel patted her shoulder. Immediately, Eostre massaged the area with her hands. The mistress nodded lightly before she sipped the warm chocolate again. “I’ll need to go to Haj City soon,” Dennel confided to her maid. “I’m sure the prince will make his offer to put me in his concubine. However, that’s just the first round of negotiation. Once, he realizes he can’t tame me like the others, I’ll take the top top. While we wait for the official invitation, I’ll leave you to coordinate with the rest of the servants to arrange the move.” “Will you be leaving the Veil estate permanently?” “No,” Dennel sat her cup down. “We have more work here and I’ll need you with me to Haj City.” She looked around the room. “This place is mine. No man will take it from me. While my second husband was a fool, he carried enough foresight to equip this house properly. My rural location gives me the privacy we need. A place to work on my more dangerous—well, as Jupas called them, experiments. It’s a shame I couldn’t use his body for the recent work. We’re near a breakthrough; I can feel it.” The woman sighed as she leaned back. “Still, I must deal with the infuriating court politics soon. There’s never enough gold to keep this place going and to continue our work.” Dennel glanced up to see the maid staring at her. She smiled at the look in her lover’s eyes. The mistress enjoyed the attention on her large breasts, enhanced by the low cut of her ruby dress. “This place remains isolated from the intrigues of the emperor’s court.” Dennel reached out and took Eostre’s hand, placing it upon her shoulder. “It’s a perfect place for our time together, but you’ll need to be careful in the capital. The emperor’s spies are everywhere. I can’t have you make a mistake.” “I’ll be extra careful,” the maid squeezed tenderly on the woman’s shoulder. “By the way, what will you do about those creatures below? There is no one else you can trust, is there?” Dennel patted Eostre’s hand. “I’ll take care of the problems before we go. While I didn’t expect the prince's interest so soon, I need to respond to this letter. Ensure that dinner tonight is light, for we have work to do. I’m sure the next batch of the solution will achieve what’s needed. After that, well—we’ll see.” “I understand, mistress.” Eostre nodded with a knowing smile. Dennel watched her maid leave the room, musing about her lover’s smile as she closed the door. It’s going to be a long night! A flicker of a smile came to the mistress’s face as she began her letter. As the twin moons rose over the estate that night, a screeching cry of agony rang out. Then, silence filled the vast tunnel lined with thick stones. The underground corridor seemed to swallow the sound, but the oppressive atmosphere still haunted those inside the cell. Two prisoners waited for their expected turn as they often witnessed prisoners walking by, never to return. Dust-covered racks held various-sized cocks, and bottles of fine wine sat across the cells of the estate. Forty-eight dusty glass containers became the army of imagination. Unable to read the words on the labels, the brother and sister simply made up games using the bottles across from them. The various hues of colors and shapes became parts of the fantasy stories to relieve their boredom. The familiar footsteps coming closer made the girl tense up. She quietly began to sob. Her brother patted her slightly on the arm while steeling himself despite a dreading shiver filling him. Both knew the cell next to them no longer held prisoners. The last man left several hours ago. They were sure they heard his screams earlier. It was always the same since they arrived in the dark tunnel. The light of a lantern gradually pierced the dark confines of the cell, showing two emaciated children dressed in rags cowering in the corner. Eostre pulled a key from a waist pocket and unlocked the cell. Sliding the key back into her dress, the maid stepped inside; her impassive face unaffected by the stench coming from the moldy straw on the floor. Looking at the two prisoners for a moment, she reached down to grab the thin arm of the boy. As she wretched him to his feet, the boy’s sister grabbed on to him. Instantly, Eostre struck the girl with the back of her hand. “Stop it!” The boy yelled out as he struggled to pull away. A series of slaps struck him from the furious maid. “Fight me and I’ll kill that girl!” the woman screamed. The boy immediately stopped resisting. Eostre yanked him back to his feet, and they went out of the cell door. She led the boy away while he glanced back at the cell. As they turned the corner toward the main corridor, his sister ran up to the bars. “It’ll be okay, brother. Stay strong!” She called out. At the end of the passage, the maid and her prisoner reached a stone staircase. After climbing to the next part of the tunnel, the maid stopped at a gate and used her key to gain access. She led the prisoner to a closed door, which Eostre opened. Lights inside the room greeted them as she pushed the boy through the door. Shelves of books and parchments covered the walls, with a small desk sitting in one corner. In the middle of the room sat two patient tables. The boy’s attention immediately went to the naked young man strapped down on the closest table. The prisoner recognized him as a fellow prisoner in the other cell. “Silar?” he called out meekly. “Quiet!” Eostre pushed the kid to the next table. The boy noticed Silar’s open eyes didn’t bother to look over at him. Instead, Silar’s mouth slowly opened and closed, moving in rhythm to the tick-tock sound coming from a large clock hanging on the wall. Then he noticed the man’s eyes fixating on a pendulum which swung beneath a large clock hanging on the wall. “Get on the table,” the maid ordered. When he failed to move quickly, Eostre slapped her prisoner on the back of the head. After the boy crawled on the stained wood, the maid strapped his arms and legs down. Her icy stare mixed with his fear condemned the child to silence, despite the deadly atmosphere filling the room. The acidic smell coming from a nearby table caused him to cough. When he looked over at the source, the child noticed several flasks with colorful liquids simmering under small burners. An enormous book opened on the table revealed strange, colorful symbols which he could not understand. The door opened, and the boy turned his head to see a pretty woman step into the room. Her blond hair and pale blue eyes captivated him. Oddly dressed in a man’s white shirt with the rest of her covered by a leather butcher’s apron, she came to the table. “Fill a syringe from the second batch of refined blood from the other table. The mixed aether from yesterday’s experiment ran through the distillation process. I’ve added twenty drops this time for number 48,” Dennel told her maid. “Note that in the journal!” “Wh—what are you doing?” The boy finally got the question out as his body shivered with fear. The beautiful woman gave him an icy glance, then stabbed the strapped-down prisoner on the other table with a hypodermic needle. Silar remained in a trance-like state as she filled the hollow glass tube of the syringe. “Disgusting peasant asks me such a question,” Dennel finally spat out as she worked. “At least you’ll be of some use in this world by the end of the night!” The woman took Silar’s blood vial to the table with the burners, where she poured more liquid into a vial given by her maid. After swirling the mixture together, Dennel warmed the concoction over one burner until the red color turned to a dark brown. The boy watched her work as his stomach growled for food. However, he also carried growing nausea from the apprehension building inside him. He whispered to Silar, but the young man remained fixated on the clock. “Save your breath, boy. His mind has already gone. He’s a passive nothing who will follow his orders without question. I’ve told him to watch the clock pendulum. He’ll do that until he dies.” After filling another syringe with the liquid, the woman went over to the boy. She smirked before she brutally inserted the needle into his other arm. The boy winced, and a tear came down his cheek. Still, he refused to cry out. However, the blond woman ignored him and looked at the maid. “You can start the notes on number 49. Keep an eye on the time, as this is becoming critical for our report on each phase of the experiment. I’ll review your work tomorrow before I meet with the Holbult family,” Dennel nodded to a leather book on the table. Eostre picked it up while taking a seat at the table that held the flasks. She looked up at the clock, then began writing. The boy felt a warmth slowly fill his body, stopping his shivering. Then, his eyes widened as his brain sensed the danger swirling inside him. He barely heard the maid call out the time while writing in a notebook when his limbs began to quake and struggle against the straps. A moment later, the child’s teeth ground from the pain filling his organs. His screams filled the room as his veins and arteries burned from the toxic mix of monster blood, chemicals and enchanted aether. Dennel watched with impatient relish as the frail body writhed back and forth, unable to break from the straps while bones snapped along his ribcage. With a final horrifying scream, the youngster fell unconscious, and Eostre’s monotone voice called out the time. “Pretty sudden, but it’s a small body. Five minutes and twenty seconds to completion,” she stated while writing in the leather-bound journal. The mistress leaned over the boy and pulled open an eyelid. She placed her finger on his neck to feel for a pulse. “He’s in a catatonic state with dilated pupils and a slow heart rate. We should see a transformation in a few minutes. Please note the time when this occurs as well. We must give our benefactors detailed notes on our investigations.” Nearly three minutes later, the boy’s eyes opened. Dennel swung her hand before his face, yet he did not respond. Only the eyes followed her movement. “At this time, I achieved a sleepwalker state. Note it down along so we can reference past experiments.” She checked his pulse. “No pulse, but definite eye movement.” “Alright, let’s see the next phase.” The mistress picked up a scalpel, then she placed it close to his eyeball. The boy did not react, and she smiled at the sight. Then she pushed the scalpel blade into his eyelid and carved a line down his cheek. The boy’s blood slowly oozed out, now giving off a noxious smell. He remained impassive. “Test number four successful,” Dennel stated. “I see no reaction to pain. Also, there is no fear of immediate danger. It appears my husband’s work finally came to fruition. He’d hate to know he much I’ve progressed. His ego would never allow it.” “You’re a much better scientist than he could ever hope to become,” her maid smiled. “As you told him, a mage can’t possibly understand the mindset of scientific discovery.” “Yes, he was too timid to take the next step.” The woman agreed as he unhooked the strap holding the boy’s one arm. She placed the scalpel in the boy’s hand. “Take this knife and cut into your belly,” she told him. A wintry smile filled her face when the boy followed her instructions without hesitation. Blood spilled down the side of his body as she removed the scalpel from his hand. The impassive face of the undead creature she had created stared ahead with no sign of reaction. Death, hate, love, fear, along with so many other emotions, no longer mattered to the thing lying in front of her. I wonder what this creature thinks. Does it even know reality? The woman’s cold features softened slightly as she considered the thought. She carried the look of an angel for a moment. However, the moment quickly passed as Dennel returned to her grand experiment. Control over the living was within her reach. “I’ve confirmed the final stage of a sleepwalker. Brain function continues despite apparent death. Next, I’ll dissect both experiments. We’ll see how long they survive without internal organs.” “My, this will be a long night,” the maid sighed. “I’ll get the buckets ready.” Dennel paid no attention as she took the bloody scalpel and quickly cut into the body of the unresponsive boy on the table.
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