The Nutcracker Bleeds (40 page)

“I
am trying to find Anne,” the nutcracker yelled. “They took her here to kill
her. She’ll be eaten. If you know anything about where this might be going on,
you had better tell me and pray that you’re right.”

The
jester was stuck. He hadn’t known this was about Anne! Sure, the nutcracker had
mentioned Anne earlier, but that was all he had said! Was the woman in danger?
The angel–the terrible wretch? This was not good, especially after he’d been
leading this soldier straight on to the rat pit.

The
truth of it was that he had an idea of where his beloved Anne might have been
taken. But how, now, to cover his tracks?

“I
might know of a place, but there’s only one way to get there…”

“Show
me,” Armand said without hesitation.

7

Anne’s
feet nearly refused to move, but the rat insisted upon dancing. There was no
music, but they moved across the floor slowly with the large, black–furred abomination
dragging her along. He held her against him, and she smelled the strange oil
that slicked back his hair. The woman had fallen into a daze now, hardly
thinking as his grip held her so she couldn’t escape.

Perhaps
her dream had shown her the truth when her legs had turned to porcelain within
it. She had become as lifeless and hopeless as a doll.

“I
suppose your nutcracker friend told you about me,” she heard the rat King say.
“He’s a sensitive one. He dwells too much on the past.”

Anne
didn’t respond with words or with movement, but she listened to the words he
spoke, meant for only her to hear.

“I
know he’s in this house, but I’m sure he thinks I don’t. Those puppets told me
that you had been trailing around with him. A guardian? A fine job he did, hm?
As fine a job as he did for the last one he was obligated to protect.”

Somewhere
in back of her mind, she heard the story that Armand had told her about his
past. Clara…and the man who took her from him.

“You
probably think ill of me for what I’ve done–for Clara and Armand–but you
shouldn’t feel that way,” the rat said gently. “The child was perfect. She
deserved to be more. To have her visage immortalized! She was not the only one
that I’ve stolen in the past, but she was special. As for Armand, his legacy
was nothing worth preserving.”

Armand…

“I
had to kill the child to take care of her properly, but I have taken care of
her! It wasn’t what I had originally planned, but I have treated her with the
greatest of care all these years. I animated her–as God!–and she followed me.
Shortly after, I unanimated her once again and, carefully, had her brought
along with me all these years that I have traveled. Several decades ago, I
brought her back when I could not bear to live without her for another moment. We
were in England then, and even though I did not have all I desired, she managed
to bring me some degree of joy.”

The
rat guided Anne around in a circle and Anne continued to be silent, though
inside, she felt a bit angry. He was completely twisted. He had to be, in order
to justify all he’d done–to humans
and
to the toys! They had not asked
to be alive! Had not asked to feel pain or sorrow! He was not God. He had no
right!

“I
hope that you see my point in this,” he went on, unaware of her private thoughts.
“Those are the things that a father does for his child. Armand would have never
had the patience or the dedication. Then again, I suppose it is exactly
dedication that has urged him to track me all these years.”

Bastard…

“I
don’t know your feelings for him, but you should know that he is a mistake.
There will be no more running. He will not last the night.”

“That’s
amusing,” she uttered, finally forcing her lips to move. “He said the same
thing about you.”

Augustus
faltered in his step for just a slight moment, but swiftly recovered, jerking
her up roughly and pulling her tightly against him until she could hardly
breathe. She was having a hard enough time as it was with the scarf and the
tightness of the dress.

“Hush
now,” he said. There was a hidden snarl in his voice. “The time will come for
you to bleed, and then nothing will matter at all–except that until your dying
moment, you will know that it is your blood that will allow me to crush my
enemy.”

8

She fell
silent now, but she had already managed to make him angry. He would forget
being gentle. She would have the most horrible time of her death. He wouldn’t
start at the head. He’d start with the limbs and let her watch him chew the
bones.

How
dare she stand up to him in Armand’s place! How dare she rekindle thoughts of
uncertainty within him! Augustus shouldn’t have doubted that he would destroy
Armand easily. When he was strong enough to mutate, his ascended form would be
three times the size of the nutcracker–but in a back corner of his mind, there
was a knowing that Armand’s anger would be enough to make him invincible. It
would be enough to destroy the rat.

Did
the Master not have enough problems already? His little Clara was running
around with all sorts of wicked concerns, there was still another human girl
that he’d not managed to capture yet, and nearly half of his own army had
secretly turned against him. All these things were problems of their own, but
when the Rat King thought deeply about it, his numerous problems all seemed to
point their accusing fingers at one singular trouble.

That
trouble’s name was Edge.

The
misfit doll was the one who had filled Clara’s head with rebellious thoughts.
He had attacked the Lady’s kingdom but had refused to secure the girl. He had,
with his alluring nature, convinced many of the rodents and toys under
Augustus’ rule to turn and follow his own plans. It had been a mistake to allow
Edge to live this long. That problem needed to be remedied.

The
rat sent his mind forward to locate that snake in the grass, surprised but not
entirely shocked to find the toy in this very room. Edge was silent, but when
the Rat King looked through the doll’s eyes, he saw himself. The doll watched
him intently.

“Foolish
little nothing,”
Augustus sent directly into Edge’s mind. The rat saw a slight wavering of
Edge’s vision when the toy heard the Master’s voice, but he was not done
speaking. It was time that this pawn knew the truth. “
Did you think you
could hide your intentions from me? I have heard every word that you have
spoken to Clara and to others about your plans of overtaking me. I created you!
How could you possibly think I could be outsmarted?”

Augustus
continued to dance with the woman, his back to the spot where Edge stood. For a
moment, the doll made no response. And then,
laughter.

It
was a rumbling chuckle, unheard by most but echoing clearly in Augustus’s mind.
This infuriated him like nothing else. Then Edge opened his mouth, and out of
it came words that made the patient rat fly into a rage.

“Everything
you saw,” Edge said quietly with a sly hiss, “everything you heard, I
planned
.”

No.
It was impossible! How could the toy make such a claim? Everything had been
calculated? Everything? But what would be his gain?

Where
there was normally sense and rationale rose up an angry beast, and before the
rat even had to strain and command it, the skin at the back of his neck was
twisting up and forming a new shape.

Within
seconds, the growth had sprouted from the back of his head, slimy and bloody,
but alive. Augustus held onto Anne tightly so that she would not try to run,
and his second head that had emerged behind him focused on Edge. Its red eyes
gleamed with hatred, and it opened its wide mouth, spitting out a mass of fire.

9

Edge
was ready for something like this, though perhaps not this specific thing. He
smiled at the sight of the growing power that he thought he might one day
attain. But the Master’s enchanted fire did not reach him. He had already
pulled the lever.

The
flames missed their intended target, but did manage to crash into several
unsuspecting toys and rodents that stood nearby. The burning victims screamed
and screeched, and the room was taken by the smells of wood smoke and burning
hair.

Edge
leapt out of the way, securing himself, and as the rat’s newly formed head
prepared to launch another glowing ball of flame, a large grate in the wall
slid open. It was near the place the Rat King had entered the ballroom from,
and from within it there was a chorus of hissing sounds. Within that dark,
nothing could be seen.

The
gathered toys and rodents were scattering now, knowing that they shouldn’t be
disruptive, but fearing their master’s new anger over all else. Edge only
smiled at it as if this had been part of his plan all along. Augustus saw this
with his new eyes. He was lit with hotter fury.

Another
huge ball of flaming phlegm was hawked forth, and after Edge had dodged once
again, seeing the orb break apart against the tile and continue to burn, he pulled
the blade from his back.

The
edge of the razor touched the floor, dragging across the porcelain tile. The
sound that emitted from that rattled every ear in the room. The screech it made
was like a rodent’s cry. Within the deep darkness behind the open grate came
the rumbling sound of many feet moving at once, and out onto the floor rushed
dozens of rats.

10

With
the beasts loose, there was complete chaos within the room. Toys and rodents
were fleeing and screaming left and right. The Master had completely lost sight
of the treacherous Edge, and while he would have loved to turn the doll into a
pile of flaming nothing, he knew he couldn’t very well destroy all of his loyal
followers or his beasts. One set of eyes scanned the area, past the rats and
their victims, looking for an opening. The other set looked down at the woman
he held.

She
was staring up at him, her irises trembling in fear. She had seen his second
head emerge, and had seen the fire that had formed from his belly. In her grey
eyes was the respect that he so richly deserved. Admiring the expression on her
face, he smiled evilly.

Something
inside Anne snapped.

Perhaps
her life never did have much worth, but she could not allow herself to die like
this. She couldn’t let him have the pleasure of killing her!

Opening
her human mouth, and even as he watched, she sank her small teeth into the skin
of his arms that held her. The pain was very real to him, and even through all his
concentration, the Rat King yelled out, recoiling from the pain. The woman fell
to the floor, out into the midst of the chaos.

When
the rat realized what he’d done by separating himself from the woman, he moved
forward in an attempt the remedy the situation. Anne struggled against her
dress to stand and run, and just before the Rat King’s claws reached her, his
second head saw Edge.

The
doll rushed forward with his blade as if to do battle with the rat, and the
Master prepared himself. It would be simple to destroy this foolish one.

A
ball of fire ignited in the second head’s mouth. Edge moved toward it, his
blade ready…

At
the last moment before the fire shot out, the doll used his blade to vault into
the air and over the rat’s heads. Both heads snapped at him but neither made
contact. Edge landed gracefully on the other side, the woman named Anne had
gotten herself up, and without a moment of lingering, Edge grabbed her arm and
pulled her off into the depth of the maelstrom.

11

Augustus
breathed deeply from two airways into one set of lungs. This was all so
ludicrous that he could hardly think straight. The woman and that loathed toy
with her had gotten away from him, and it was so easily done–so laughable–that
he could not even move to stop it. But what to do now? Let this perfect time
for the ritual pass him by and wait until another time? He tried to think.
There was too much noise.

The
monstrous King of Mice lifted both his heads into the air, and together, his
jaws released a roar that contained so much rage that every mouse, rat, and toy
that heard it stopped what they were doing and fell down to the floor on their
faces, groveling in silent reverence.

With
the new silence, Augustus could hear the fleeing footsteps of the woman and the
doll where they had escaped through the gate of the rat pit. They would not get
far.

The
Master raised a clawed finger.

“Get
them,” he said with a new calm. “Bring the woman back. Rip the other apart.”

Without
hesitation, every minion in the hall came up from the floor and obeyed.

12

The
strangely attractive doll pulled Anne along, and while she didn’t know its
intentions in rescuing her, she followed it by her own will, only because they
were headed
away
from her other fate. This doll… Something about it was so
familiar, though she was certain she’d never seen it before.