114
Behind her desk, Ket hunched over the papers in front of her.
Her blue hair fell limp around her face, and she stared at the words for a while before scowling. “You gotta be outta your tinfoil mind!”
“Just sign it,” Tania sighed. She was in a chair on the opposite side of the desk, feet up on top, gently swaying back and forth. “We ain’t asking for your opinion.”
Ket lifted her gaze.
She wanted to scream at the woman.
Shout at her.
Kick her damned feet off her desk.
Instead, she snatched up her pen and signed the stupid form.
“You’re still a chick,” she snarled. “You ain’t seen what can happen to little chicks when a bunch of evil mage hoods get hold of them. You ain’t seen it. But if you keep this up, you’ll be seeing more than you like!”
“I got no beef with mages.” Tania shrugged. “Some of my best pals are mages. But if they think we’re a bunch of pushovers, then they’ve got another thing coming.”
“Tania.” Ket clenched her jaws together. “I’m telling ya this for your own good. Ya ain’t the bees knees of everything. Sure, ya might take down a rank ten. But what about five tens? Twenty? The Court can pull a few dozen outta their ass without breaking a sweat. What can you do against that?”
“Let them come,” Tania said, then took her feet off Ket’s desk and leaned across it with her elbows. “Ya spent too long among them, sister. Ya forgot your job.”
“I did not!” Ket hissed. “And I won’t have some wet-behind-the-legs little tramp coming in and telling me that! You don’t know spit! You don’t know. You don’t know anything.”
“Sure I do, sister,” Tania said, looking unimpressed.
“I know ya were so scared of getting pinched that ya stuck yourself in a dark hole and can’t find your way out.
You think I don’t know? I know. I know what mages can do.
But I also know what we can do. But you forgot that.
Ya skulk about like a little rat in the shadows. For what?”
“I’m doing my job.”
“That ain’t your job, sister. Your job is down in the lower levels. It ain’t up here.”
“You think just because of Milo that you’re some kinda big cheese now?
” Ket squinted at her. “I’ve been around longer than you, sister.
I’ve seen bright sparks of all kinds come and go.
They shine like the damned sun, but then they all get burned out.
All of them. I’m telling ya. If you take this as far as you’re trying, it’ll end with you on a heap somewhere. A pile of slag.”
“I ain’t no slag.” Tania smirked. “And I ain’t no tramp neither.
And I’m getting sick of you calling me that trash.
Keep it up, and maybe we’ll see who’s gonna be the slag.
You wanna do the right thing now, ya old gumboot.
Ya wanna just sit tight. And do what you’re told.
Because ya ain’t much good for anything else, are ya? Not in the condition you’re in.”
Ket let out a growl.
She wanted so much to do something.
But one thing Tania said was right.
She was old.
But she was old enough to remember things Tania couldn’t dream of. She’d seen the wars these mages fought. Seen lightning dance across the sky while towers of flame erased thousands of lives in seconds.
“You don’t know what you’re flapping your face about,” Ket said sadly. “When the Paddstones come, you’ll see I was right.”
“Sure.” Tania poked the papers in front of her. “Just sign the forms, sister.”
Ket started signing forms. But she did it with a scowl on her face.
“I don’t see why you’re making me do it,” she growled. “You could do it your own fool self.”
“I know,” Tania said sweetly. “But I wanted ya to feel useful. Also, it’d wear out my wrist. Easier to use yours.”
Earlier that day, Ket had met Stonks in the street.
The big golem had proudly shown off his knees. They bent now without squeaking.
She was happy for him, but she wondered what price he’d pay for it.
She told him war was coming.
He shrugged it off.
He’d lived through the last one.
And this time he could always get himself repaired in the Workshop.
She’d snarled at him. Called him simple.
He hadn’t cared at all.
That was the worst thing. He used to show respect to her. His tone had always been formal and calm. But now he was twittering on like a bird.
It wasn’t normal.
“There,” Ket growled, shoving the papers away. “Ya happy now?”
“Tch,” Tania shook her head. “I ain’t gonna be happy until I see ya on those old rusted knees of yours. Begging me for forgiveness.”
“That ain’t ever gonna happen,” Ket scowled. “I’ll see your core cracked first.”
“And you won’t see that, sister,” Tania said. “But you’re lucky I didn’t crack yours. It’d be good if ya remember I didn’t. And maybe show a bit of gratitude for it.”
“Gratitude?” Ket thumped her fist onto her desk. “Stick ya gratitude up your skinny ass!”
She didn’t even consciously think about holding her strength.
It was just automatic now.
And all it drew from the other golem was a look of mocking concern. “Careful there, Ket,” Tania said, getting to her feet. “You’ll hurt your delicate little hand.”
“You…” Ket shot off the chair and launched herself over the desk. Her fingers clawing for Tania’s throat.
But the golem’s hands wrapped around her wrists and she was thrown into the nearest wall. She hit it with a crunch. Hard enough that the granite splintered as she impacted.
Sliding down, Ket blinked.
Her shoulders hurt.
“Ya got slow, too.” Tania squatted down in front of her and tapped her finger against Ket’s forehead. “What’s up in there, sister? Ya core covered in dust? Oughtta at least give it a brush off if ya wanna go a round with me.”
“I’ll show ya,” Ket groaned, trying to move her arm. But her shoulder was dislocated. She flicked her wrist. The blade in her forearm made a dull snikt sound, but didn’t release all the way. Only half of the tip stuck through her palm. “Shit!”
“Wow,” Tania said, staring down at Ket’s twitching hand. “I thought that only happened to old men.”
“Ya foul-mouthed tramp! I’ll-”
“Shh…” Tania pressed her finger against Ket’s lips. “You’ll do exactly what you’ve been doing all this time. You’ll do nothing. You got me?”
“You-”
Tania’s voice cut coldly through her words. “You got me?”
The room felt cold.
Ket felt cold.
She felt every single year weighing down on her tired frame. And every ounce of fear that had haunted her was etched deep into her memory. Into her core.
She glared at Tania.
But a small flaw had cracked the glass. Through that crack, the truth was like a dark shadow trying to squeeze past.
The truth that Tania was right.
Every scornful word was right.
Ket had a job. A job more important than anything else in the world. And she’d failed at it.
“I tried,” she rasped. “I did! I tried.”
“I ain’t arguing that,” Tania said.
“I did what I did to protect what I could.”
“And what was that?” Tania loomed over her like a ghost. A vengeful ghost. “What did you protect? Who did you protect?”
Ket shook her head, lips trembling as her eyes snapped shut.
Tania said nothing.
But she reached out slowly and took Ket’s chin in her hand, then lifted it.
Waiting.
Until the blue-haired golem opened her eyes.
“I oughtta drag your ass down to the Workshop,” Tania said. “Lay you out on the slab. And slowly pull you apart. Put every piece of ya into the forge. And then, when all that’s left is your core. I should take one of Milo’s hammers. And turn it to dust. Because that’s what ya deserve.”
Ket felt a flower of rage start to bloom.
But it died quickly, shriveling under the reality of what she’d done.
“I know,” she moaned. “I know…”
“And that’s why I don’t do it,” Tania said coldly.
“Because ya know. Now, I ain’t gonna ask ya to fix it.
I wouldn’t trust ya with making bootleg moonshine.
But I’m gonna use you, ya dirty little moll.
I’ll use ya for as long as I want. So, you just be a good little dame and sit in your squeaky little chair and wait.
Wait for me to come back when I need to use ya again. You get me?”
Ket nodded, her head dropping as tears slid from her eyes.
“Yes.”
“And if ya call me a tramp one more time, I’ll do more than break your arm. Alright?”
“Yes.”
“Good gal,” Tania said, patting her head. She rose to her feet and stood over the crumpled golem for a few breaths.
Then she turned and walked out of Ket’s office.
Ket’s tears didn’t stop until she could cry no more.
At times, her heart raged for revenge. Visions of trampling on Tania’s head tried to lift her spirits. But always those dreams were crushed by her own guilt.
Slowly, she pushed herself up to her feet.
Stood, wobbling slightly. She flexed her arm. She couldn’t move it very well.
Step by unsteady step, she moved to the desk.
Slumped in her chair.
Closed her eyes.
And waited.
Waited to be used.