The rain had not stopped since lunchtime and Samuel's shop
was as dead as it usually was but at least the pitter-patter outside gave him
something to listen to. He had thought about rearranging the display racks,
perhaps polishing one or two prized items he kept on display but he knew nobody
would really notice. He considered the plans for organising the repair room at
the back of the shop. As he turned around in his chair towards the room however,
he couldn't bring himself to move to open the door. In fact he even blamed it
for blocking his path. Everything today seemed like too much effort.
The tinny bell that hung above his door brought him back
from wandering in his thoughts. A young girl, perhaps eight or nine had come in
shivering under an umbrella. She had been crying or perhaps the rain had stung
her eyes. He saw that as she approached him, she was biting her bottom lip and
sniffling, he knew that she was definitely upset. She was well spoken for a
young girl so she must have some money behind her but being this far down in
the city meant it wasn't a lot. It was that, or she didn't want people to know
she was here, again betraying her wealth. This excited Samuel a little, the
rich had far more interesting pieces of Numenera and a girl this young may be
more susceptible to tricking her into parting with her possession. She meekly
placed an orb on the table, it seemed to be made of brass but it had tarnished.
It didn't balance correctly and as it wobbled to its side, part of it came
loose. It seemed to be some sort of on arm attached to the spherical shell and
the inner workings of the device. He shook it in his hand and blew on it. The
young girl started to cry a little, telling him not to tell her father that she
had broken it.
Her concern tugged at his morals. He knew this was a
valuable piece, perhaps an automaton of sorts. It could be easily sold or put
into his private collection. It would take time to fix, perhaps enough time to
squirrel it away before anyone would find out. The girl had started to fiddle
with odds and ends on the shelves, reminding him that he still needed to buy a
seat for his customers. The look of worry on her face about her father stopped
his selfish thoughts. He told her that she should come back with her father
later on after he had finished work and he would explain everything. She smiled
a little and quickly grabbed the sphere back before leaving. As the door shut,
he instantly regretted letting the orb disappear. He mumbled a defence about
not being skilled enough to help the girl, an argument that left him disappointed
in himself.
A few hours later the girl returned. With her was not her
father but an older girl, around sixteen. She explained that in her father's absence
she was in charge of the household. The older
girl was more obvious about her wealth. Her nose was nearly pinned to
the ceiling as she lightly fingered over the trinkets on display. She looked
with disdain at the tools he had on his desk. She proudly stated that her
father worked for Lord Narrkonis and that the most likely reason Samuel
couldn't fix the device, was due to the poor quality of his equipment. She told
him that even their servants had better equipment, hand-me-downs from her
father when new technology had been developed. Samuel bit his tongue not to
curse her out of his shop and kept thinking of the younger girl and saw how she
looked at the floor as her sister spoke. The older sister told him that her
father had the device on loan from Lord Narrkonis and needed to be fixed
urgently. She offered him the use of the servants equipment at their house with
a barbed tongue. She gave him the address and told him specifically that where
were servants in the house before leaving.
Within the hour he had made it over to the back entrance of
the house. The walkway was silent but he pout that down to the proximity to the
outer edge of the city. He was about to speak when he heard what he thought was
the young girl screaming. His heart raced but pressed onwards. He passed the
coat stands and the wash room to a dimly lit corridor. For a moment he swore he
could see the shadows ahead flicker in front of him. He walked with caution
towards the end. A low murmur could be heard from the walls to his left. They
were clearer through the door and he tried in vain to open it, so he knelt down
to look through the lock. He could see much. The room was dark and there was no
light from a window. He saw the flash of something metallic, a blade perhaps
and stumbled backwards hitting the wall. He tried to calm his breathing before
standing up but he still felt light headed. He turned to his right back to the
open door and then left to further down and against his better judgement, went
in search for help.
Around the corner of the corridor a figure stood in his way.
A portly woman for her size a little shorter than himself. She was dressed in
maids clothing but refused to answer him. He stepped forward and put his hand
on her shoulder. She felt nearly weightless and his gentle touch knocked her
over. She fell to the floor like a wooden board. He panicked and checked for
her pulse. She was most definitely dead but there was something about her that
wasn't right. She flesh was stiff but pliable and her arms and neck had sewn up
cuts across them. The sound of something
hard and solid hitting the wooden floor in the locked room jolted him upright.
He knew the girls were in trouble and with desperate strength, he kicked the
door down. He was greeted by the familiar smell of rusty metal and cross
between copper and iron. The overhead light gave off little but it was clear to
see what lay in front of him The two girls were at opposite ends of the room,
both sat in chairs with the older one tipped over onto the floor. She lay there
motionless in the pool of blood beneath her. In the middle of the room there
was a flower in a vase and a wooden box with a crystal inlay, untouched
by what had happened. He went to the older sister and righted her stiff body
nearly falling back to the floor. Might like the servant, her body was covered
in cuts, most of which had been sewn.
The one that ran down the length of the underside her forearm had been left
open. It was stuffed with cloth and padding.
There was one thing he could do and even though he knew the
house was most likely empty, he made sure he was alone. He took off his glove
of his right hand and laid it on the girls forehead. He asked her who did this
to her and where they went. The door was locked and the was no window to flee
through. The nerves in her left eyebrow twitched a little and her pupils dilated.
Her tone of voice was familiar to him almost a comfort. She blamed Samuel for what
had happened to her and that she had died before she had seen whoever had cut
her open had left. He instantly pulled his hand away and the vague semblance of
life was snuffed out. He swallowed deeply as he put his glove back on. He
looked back down at the open wound and started to pull out the cloth, finding
only more stuffing and bone. A clink on the floor drew his eye to a parchment,
sealed with an wax and imprinted with an orchid almost an exact copy of the
flower in the middle of the room. As he broke the seal the stitches burst in
both of the girls, showering the room in bloody rags, their bodies now a husk
of skin and hair. He clenched his heart, scrunched his eyes and rocked back and
forth to calm his breathing.
It is finally time for
us to meet if you wish to be liberated of your burden. Take the flower and the
box. In seven days time at noon you will receive further instructions. I have
one last task and then your secrets will be yours.
Samuel looked over at the table at the vase and the wooden
box. He brushed off the fluff and bloodied cloth from the table and looked at
them more closely. He took the box and put it in his pocket, while the flower
remained its vase in his hand. As he walked out he took one last glance at the
bodies of the girls and sighed slightly, knowing he could soon be set free.
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