Mark Newton - The Book of Transformations

‘I… honestly, Vuldon. I’d love to give you some nice line here, but I can’t; but if it helps, I understand — I lost a partner, too.’

‘You responsible for her death, rumel?’

Fulcrom shook his head. ‘What I will say is that it sounds like you hold yourself responsible, which I don’t think is fair on yourself. Time can do strange things to one’s memories…’

Vuldon gave him a brooding glance, and Fulcrom respectfully lowered his eyes. Somewhere, under that hunched and rather wrecked mass, was a skilled and determined human, and Fulcrom would damn well coax it out of him.

‘So this new transformation,’ Fulcrom said, ‘do you think you’re ready to go ahead and be part of the Knights? We so desperately need your experience, Vuldon. You were the first of your kind, and you know how these things work. Here’s a chance to reclaim your former glories, to make it clear to people that the past was wrong, that the city can trust you again.’

‘There’s not a lot I can’t handle after what I’ve been through,’ Vuldon muttered, lifting his legs up onto the bed, lying down with a deep groan. The hanging lantern made a lot more of the angles of his face, and he appeared truly brutal even in this relaxed pose. ‘I’ll do what it takes. I’ve nothing else, though if we’re going to undergo such transformations, I’d prefer, where possible, to be renewed — lose the name. The Legend is exactly that, a legend, a myth. Let’s keep him that way.’

*

Fulcrom left the room, passing a stream of cultists and surgeons carrying vials and cases, in order to visit the next of the Knights.

He found Tane in repose on his bed, one arm propping up his head, a half-eaten platter of food by his chest, like some artist’s vision of an emperor. ‘Fulcrom, old boy, the food here’s quite superb. I’ve just eaten a boatload of fruit which I’ve never even heard of before, let alone seen.’

Fulcrom had to laugh. ‘I hope you’re going to take this job seriously.’

‘Absolutely.’ Tane continued his way through the platter with a wide smile at Fulcrom. He offered some to Fulcrom.

‘You don’t seem to be taking it seriously,’ Fulcrom observed, politely waving away the offer.

‘I’ve spent all my life trying to pass those exams for the Inquisition and I’ve got nowhere. Now I have been offered a rather lovely route right to the top, avoiding all that street duty nonsense and all those horrid legal texts. Do you honestly think I’ve no reason to be anything but delighted? I’ve always wanted to help people, and I can make a real difference being one of the Knights.’

‘OK, but don’t think you’re going to have it all easy. You’re going to be transformed, Tane — altered. Changed. You’ll undergo ailuranthosurgery. Do you know what that means?’

‘I was informed that it was something to do with feline-like abilities…’

‘Werecat, Tane. You’ll be merging into a semi-form of a wild animal.’

‘Tigers, someone said, yes, yes, yes. They don’t sound all that wild, if you ask me. Rather regal from the stories I’ve heard. Which of course suits me down to the ground.’

Fulcrom felt his frustrations flaring. How could the man be so casual about this? ‘But the point remains, Tane, that you’re going to be forever different. It will bring with it a whole load of new psychologies.’

‘One must allow for risks in life, Fulcrom, in order to progress. Obviously I’m a little nervous-’

A male scream echoed outside along with the sound of roaring static.

Fulcrom tilted his head. ‘That’s coming your way, I hope you know.’

Tane gaped at him. ‘Is it… going to hurt?’

‘Of course it is, you idiot. You’re probably going to ache for days afterwards, and you’re…’ Fulcrom allowed his emotions to simmer. ‘Look, just don’t make any jokes, don’t try to sweet-talk any female cultists, and for Bohr’s sake do what they tell you to do. It’s for your own good.’

*

Lan was the last of the Knights Fulcrom visited. Her transformation was the most complicated of all, and he prayed to… Well, the god Bohr seems pretty out of touch with all of these procedures, doesn’t he? Fulcrom hoped to whatever powers were involved in all of this that her body could withstand these further changes.

When he reached her, Lan was perched on the edge of her bed, staring deep into a fire burning in the grate, her arms rigid by her side.

‘I’m sorry for putting you through such things again,’ Fulcrom began.

Lan simply shrugged.

‘So you’re the only one in the group who doesn’t really want to be here?’

Lan glanced up at him, and he could see then that she was a slender lady, with such tight musculature. There was something vaguely familiar about her appearance — she looked very much like someone he once knew…

No. Don’t think of her now. Lan’s hair was long and dark, her fringe bold, and he noticed her nails were well bitten. Her brown eyes displayed a distance that he wondered if she’d put there herself, to cope.

‘Well, I’ve been thinking about it,’ she replied. ‘The only thing that repulses me is that there is knowledge being used against me — the fact that knowledge is being used to keep me here. The rest, I’m OK with — I maintain that there were nicer ways of asking though.’

‘We’ve got knowledge on the others too, though it doesn’t make it any better, I know. It’s just a security bond, something to guarantee you’ll not abuse your powers — and I want to stress that they aren’t my orders, this isn’t my style, but I understand that there is a requirement that you yield to the Emperor’s will.’

There was a world of thought in her expression, and Fulcrom could tell his words were being analyzed. He liked that.

‘I did have some money,’ Lan said, ‘but I knew I’d have to get employment eventually, which I knew was going to be limiting, being a woman.’

She stared hard at him then, as if testing him for a response.

‘And this…’ Lan sat up to gesture around the room with one hand. ‘This doesn’t seem so bad. It’s all a little too high profile for my liking, but still. You know, really, they could have just asked me nicely, rather than assaulting me.’

‘They need to use fear to get what they want. If it’s any help, I’ve learned from working in the Inquisition that more often than not, you just need to treat people with respect, no matter who they are, and they’re more likely to respond positively that way. That’s how I would’ve done it.’

‘I like you, Investigator Fulcrom,’ Lan said boldly. ‘You’re probably the first person I’ve met on Jokull who’s treated me as an equal.’

That was a relief.

‘Though,’ she went on, ‘I believe it’s freakish that anyone in your position can keep your shoes so remarkably clean.’

He glanced down to his immaculate boots, then ignored her comment. ‘Lan, in a few minutes those cultists will treat you… just like they’re doing with Tane and Vuldon. I’m sorry, but it won’t exactly be comfortable.’

‘Cultists,’ Lan repeated, ‘I’ve noticed that they have a tendency to look at everyone like they’re an experiment, which, I guess, is a form of equality.’

‘It’s a good opportunity, these new transformations,’ Fulcrom pressed. ‘Especially yours.’

‘Gravitational forces,’ she breathed. ‘That’s what they said, isn’t it?’

‘Yes. You’ll more or less receive metallic plates and a whole bunch of stuff I don’t quite understand, and they’ll enhance your mobility and you’ll be able to alter your interactions with gravity. Which will be interesting to see, given your already useful skills from the circus.’ Pausing on that word, he realized he wanted to know a good deal more about her former life. She seemed so gentle; it disturbed him knowing the pain she would go through. ‘So can we trust you to work for us, Lan? I need to know you want to do this, rather than just being forced to do so.’