MF1.0 - 79 - Plural

‘Child, what are you doing here?’

‘My job, mother, though I doubt the word means anything to you.’

‘You have no right to be disrespectful to me.’

Magnolia picked at the dirt in the lace of her frilly bodice and shrugged. ‘I can’t be disrespectful to you if you I never respected you in the first place.’

The elder magpie screeched, then allowed her beak to melt away. Her feathers slipped into her skin and she leant against the building in the guise of a human. ‘Will you talk to me if I wear this pantomime outfit?’

‘Your appearance makes no difference to me, mother, only your actions.’

‘I have simply been trying to communicate with you, my daughter, mirrorfalls are always worrying. I worry that-’

She curled her lip. ‘What mother? Are you afraid I want it for myself?’

‘Sometimes, yes.’

‘I may hate what I am, but I would not use trapped chaotic potential to change that. You made me, I have to carve out my path. I’m not going to cheat myself by-’

‘Where is this path leading you?’

She tilted her head up, there was only one answer to this question. ‘To my death, of course.’

‘All paths end in death, child, for you mortals. Where is this path taking you?’

‘Leave me be, mother, I’m busy.’

‘He will never love you. He can never love you. Proxies are just ash, they aren’t real.’

Hot prickles ran up her spine and her hand twitched at the though of pulling the knife from her boot and silencing her mother - if just for a few minutes. The muscles in her neck tightened as she fought the urge to react. A reaction was exactly what her mother wanted - to incite another argument, to put herself in the position of power. It was a satisfaction she would not give her.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">The old magpie moved closer. ‘You’ve got the scent of ash all over you, and it’s obvious to me, even if it isn’t to him.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Do not presume to know my wishes,’ she hissed.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘They cannot love. They think they can, they pretend they can, sometimes they even imagine they’re people.’ She laughed a strange burbling laugh. ‘But in the end, proxies will always do their duty.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Duty,’ she said hoarsely, ‘there’s another word you know nothing about.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Your father didn’t know much about it, either.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘At least he tried for a while. More than you ever did. Are you going to leave me alone so I can do my job? So useless as you think we are, mother, we do serve a purpose in this world.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Fighting tiny battles in a war that shouldn’t even exist, you must be so proud of yourself. The day the proxies actually do something of merit, this bird may sing a different tune.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Are you going to leave now, mother?’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">The magpie shook herself a little and feathers sprouted from her dress. ‘If you hate me so, why do you call me mother?’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘I refuse to give you the satisfaction of recognising your real name, I don’t want to give you the power. In any case, “mother” is objective, it isn’t like I’m actually offering any affection.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">Her mother seemed to accept this, slipped back into her usual guise, snapped her beak at her and faded away.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">She waited until the last lingering presence of her mother was gone, then punched the wall beside her. The impact left a spidery pattern on the brick, and blood on her hand. She spat on her knuckles and wiped the blood onto her skirt - there was no point in using a bandage, it would only be a hindrance in a fight, and the bandages around her middle were hindrance enough.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">She swallowed - there was still a faint pain in her throat, but not enough to be distracting, unless she thought about it.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">When the creature pounced her, she realised it was a little more distracting than she’d supposed. She elbowed it in the stomach and forced it back, giving her just enough room to avoid the next strike.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">It was the leech. There wasn’t even a question. Some of the local creatures were ugly, the thing in front of her was grotesque.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">As a child, she’d made it a habit to melt her dolls over candles so that she could elongate the limbs, or weld other pieces of toys onto them. The thing looked like one of those experiments, covered in dog fur.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">Ugly as it was, it was still dangerous. It swung at her and missed, its claws digging into the brick beside her.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Just leave me alone!’ it screamed.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">She didn’t bother to respond - speaking to an opponent only gave them the advantage, and wasted breath. She ignored the knife in her boot and required a new one then stabbed it into the monster’s arm. It seemed to have no effect - or, like her, he was too high on adrenaline to feel the pain.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘We just want to live!’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">We?

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">It grabbed her in its massive arms and began to squeeze her, the tips of its claws ripping the material on her sleeves. ‘Can’t you just leave us alone?’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">Another plural. Either a sign of insanity, or there was more than one leech. Both were bad.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">He squeezed her tighter, and not for the first time, she wished that requirements didn’t ban direct harm.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘You don’t kill every refugee, you left him alone for years, why can’t you leave me alone?’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">She slammed her back against his chest, but he didn’t move. She stamped on his foot, but he didn’t move. She sighed - it appeared the crass solution was the only one. She went limp against him, dropped her arms and required a gun. She angled it as best as she could and shot him in the leg.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">He growled and shook her. She shot again, and this time, he let her go. She swung the gun around but he swiped it from her hand and left a bloody trail up her arm, he pushed her against the wall and raised his hand to strike again.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">A blast of machine gun fire hit him and he spun. He screamed at the assailant, then ran down the alley, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">She was surprised to see Taylor simply shift down to her location, instead of pursuing the leech. She snapped a salute, ignoring the pain in her arm.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">She was very aware that he still has his finger on the trigger.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘That was a pathetic display,’ he snarled.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Yes sir, sorry sir.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Do you have anything to say to redeem yourself?’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">She rubbed her fingers together to dry the blood, then wiped her hands on her skirt. ‘Information sir, I have information we didn’t have before.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">He almost looked surprised at this. ‘What kind of information?’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘We aren’t just dealing with one leech, sir, he mentioned another with him - and another still that we’ve missed, one that has apparently been residing here for years.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">Dead eyes stared at her for a moment longer, then the gun disappeared from his hand. ‘It does not make up for your dismal performance, but it does spare you for now.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘This makes tonight complicated, sir.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘With mirrorfalls, you always have to expect complications, recruit.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Yes sir. What now, sir?’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">He almost looked happy. ‘Now? We question a witness.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">She smiled. ‘Yes sir.’