Working the Problem Cases was a group effort. They worked as a team with two mercenaries, Adrien and Mathis today. The mercenaries still called him ‘Colosse’, but they said it with affection now.
Lissie enjoyed the immediacy, the pressure of coordination. It drowned out her mind.
“First is bathing today, yes?” Adrien’s accent was thick. He was holding the long pole loosely in his hand.
Lissie shuddered and said, “Oh. Bathing.” She felt Niko’s hand on the center of her back. It was cool. She leaned into it, just enough to feel the strength of it through the leather.
The stairs led down. Lady Maribelle insisted that the stairs be lined with lavender. The smell reminded Lissie of the infused vinegars her mother made. Those were floral and tangy, but this smell was chemical and laced with refuse.
Mathis unlocked the heavy iron grate. The sign above was carved scrollwork, ‘Guest Bedrooms’. They could hear the screaming from up the stairs, but when the door opened it condensed into a wall. She walked through it.
Lissie checked the clipboard, and her heart sank when she read ‘Emma May’. Lissie had pushed for her to receive the cure ahead of the worst symptoms, but she progressed quickly. Riley had argued with Cora and Cora had argued with her mother. But there was no logic in the request. Only memories.
She looked through the iron bars and saw the girl’s naked, trembling frame. Her teeth snapped at the air. The ring around her neck was connected to her wrists by poles. Her fingers bent, searching with cracked, bloody nails.
Niko said, “There are only twelve ahead of her. It won’t be much longer.”
Lissie took a deep breath. He unlocked the door. The two mercenaries burst in like they were attacking. Lissie just watched.
Mathis waved a piece of meat at the end of a long pole. Emma’s face twitched, her nose wrinkling like a dog’s.
As she moved for the meat, Adrien slipped his pole into her wrist catch. He pulled hard. She twisted, bending her legs to stabilize herself.
It’s amazing how much mobility they maintain. Nelli’s voice was filled with clinical awe. My first test cases could barely crawl.
Lissie watched Mathis reverse the pole, the meat swinging away. The other side had the clip, and he jammed it into the other wrist restraint. They led her out into the hall.
Niko and Lissie stood back to let them pass. She followed, not looking up from her feet except to make sure she did not walk too close. Emma May had wounds and bruises, her footsteps catching and dragging as she was led.
The Bathing Chamber had iron loops on the walls and a drain in the center of the floor. There was a long iron chain hanging from the center of the ceiling above the drain. Wooden shelves lined the walls, and the stone was stained with rusty streaks.
Fresh wounds in the masonry let a long copper pipe in from the ceiling. Beneath it were heavy wooden buckets, and Lissie made her way over to fill one. She handed it to Niko.
Niko clipped it onto a stick and poured it slowly over Emma May’s head and body. She snapped her teeth. The clicking sound set Lissie’s nerves on edge the way the screams did not.
Lissie filled another bucket and traded it with Niko for the empty one. She grabbed a sponge with a long handle and worked a bar of soap into it. She used more than she normally would.
The soap dripped into Emma May’s eyes and she screamed. They were red and crying, just like the first time Lissie had seen her. But now there was a rolling wildness to them. She stomped down the memory and moved down her body, focusing on the rashes.
Niko rinsed her and they marched her back to her cell.
Only twelve more and I might be able to talk to her again. Get a chance to apologize. Would it have even made a difference?
Mathis asked, “What’s the next name on the list?”
It was a name Lissie did not recognize. “Damio? Is he new?”
Adrien and Mathis shared a look. Through the green glass, she could not read their faces. She closed her eyes and opened them. The Gallian mercenaries were usually full of greens and blues, but both burned bright yellow. She closed her eyes again.
“He was carrying a sword.” Adrien’s Gallian accent was thicker than she had ever heard it. “He came in from the east.”
Niko said, “The Problem Cases do not usually carry things.”
“Collose, my friend, he was wielding it.” Mathis tightened his grip, his gloves stretching over his fingers. “He killed three men.”
Nelli’s voice was elated. I had only hoped!
“We will need to be careful.” Lissie followed the mercenaries as they walked down the hall. They went slower this time.
The man’s naked body was lithe and strong. She could see no rashes and he did not scream. But she could hear his jaw snapping. He stood in the center of the room, mouth gnashing.
Adrien unlocked the door and Mathis entered first with the meat. Damio’s head moved slowly towards it. Adrien moved in as before, swinging the pole for the man’s wrist. Damio turned hard and dodged. Adrien stepped forward, and a hand slid out of the ring and caught the pole.
Mathis swiveled his around, aiming for Damio’s other wrist, but Damio’s whole body dropped to the side, and Mathis missed. Adrien thrust for the clasp on Damio’s neck. Lissie watched in horror as the other hand slipped free and Damio caught the shaft.
He punctured the wrist bladders! Higher reasoning. Nelli’s joy was tinged with fear, to Lissie’s surprise.
The restraints dangled, spinning off his shoulders now.
Damio fought with Adrien for the pole but the inhuman strength won out. Mathis swung again, not aiming to latch on now, but to crush the creature’s skull. Damio parried the blow with his seized weapon, and swung Mathis down with it. Mathis toppled forward, and Damio fell on him teeth snapping. He was biting and tearing at the green glass.
Adrien had gotten to his feet and was trying to get out of the cell. Damio paid him no attention. He bit at Mathis, and then paused. His bloody eyes seemed to drift and then focused. He began clawing at the man’s face, tearing at the leather seal.
The glass slipped, and Mathis screamed, his voice joining the chorus in the dungeon. Lissie stared as chunks ripped away from the Gallian’s face.
Niko burst past her into the cell. His fingers sank into the beast’s shoulders, and Lissie saw the leather on his back frosting over.
“Just shut the cell, Niko! Leave him!” Lissie screamed, but she could not move fast enough.
Lissie surged forward, and felt Adrien’s hands on her shoulders. She writhed against his strength, but the Gallian wrapped her in a tight hug. She could not hear the words he said over her own screams.
The protective jerkin split and fell off Niko in fragments. Niko tore the man’s body apart as though opening an envelope. Damio exploded, and Lissie fell quiet.
Mathis crawled on his back, scrambling out of the way of the falling entrails.
Niko’s gloves crumbled. Lissie stared at his blue skin, the infected blood froze against it and flaked away.