Havemercy. Part 25

A funereal atmosphere hung over the whole building like a shroud, the airmen reduced to less than half their number, and I could see it on the faces of those who remained that not one of them was daring to imagine any of their fellows could escape if theyad lived long enough to be imprisoned.

The airman Rook hadnat been among the men whoad made it back, and for that brief, dark window of time when wead all thought him dead, Iad spent many a day trying to alleviate the weight of Thomas misery. It had given me a distraction from my own fears, for even then no one had been speaking of our certain victory with the a.s.surance theyad exhibited during the time of the ball. Rather, everyone skirted around the issue, as though they were afraid theyad tempted fate quite enough for one lifetime, and now they were waiting to see on whose side she truly fell before they all began to congratulate themselves.

The day Iad received my letter from Royston had been the day the Airman received word as well about Airman Rook, who was alive, and the status of the other airmen, who were not. It was a month after the battle. Thom had come to meet me soon after, rather than stay and show his relief in the face of the Dragon Corpsa staggering loss.

aAs much time as Iave spent with them,a Thom had said, voice hooked low on some rougher emotion, ait isnat something I would presume to . . . intrude on.a I understood, then, that he felt as strongly about Airman Rook as I did about Royston. I couldnat say I particularly understood the reasoning behind it, but then if I were being perfectly fair, I supposed it wasnat exactly the sort of thing you could explain to anyone with reason alone. People are connected in many different ways, and I was only beginning to learn a few of them.

Things happened very quickly after that.

Iad half expected thaEsar to organize another ball, since winning the war seemed a much better reason to me than covering up an insidious plague, but after head returned, Royston told me that wasnat the way that things worked. Apparently signing a treaty had all sorts of complicated connotations, such as how you couldnat really celebrate your win too much because that would be too close to parading under the Ke-Hanas noses, and that wasnat the way to foster proper peace between two nations.

aBut we are at peace,a I said, staring out of one of Roystonas many round windows at the city, cloaked that afternoon with the grayest rain.

aYes,a Royston said. I felt his rough cheek against my ear, and I smiled. aI never thought Iad be there to see it, but indeed, it would seem we are.a Even the city herself seemed to acknowledge it. It was a beautiful sight stretched out before us, all of Thremedon smiling privately to herself beneath the clouds.

Then the invitations to the ceremony arrived, thick and ornate as everything else from the palace. That it was called a ceremony, Royston a.s.sured me, didnat mean it was going to be anything particularly terrifying, even though he spent the better part of the day searching for his favorite cuff links and moving about as though he couldnat sit still, which he only ever did when he was very nervous.

aIf youare going to tell me not to worry about something,a I said, perched on the window seat of our drawing room with a roman in my lap, athen the least you could do is have the courtesy to pretend youare not doing the exact same thing.a He paused in the middle of the room, then came to sit on the couch beside the window, leaning his head against my hip. I thought it couldnat be very comfortable, but the flush of warmth low in my stomach prevented me from actually suggesting another position might be more favorable.

aIam sorry,a he said. aIt would seem I set a very poor example on top of everything else.a I smoothed the gray at his temple with my fingers. aWe could always stay home and read,a I suggested. It was not an entirely practical suggestion, and one he was bound to refuse, but I thought it was important I offer it nonetheless.

Royston laughed then, hoa.r.s.e as though he still hadnat completely returned to his old health. aHal,a he said, aI believe it is my duty to prepare you for the very real possibility that one day you may be reading a history of these very events we have so unexpectedly managed to survive and find yourself a character in it.a aOh,a I felt my cheeks go warm. aSurely not.a aNonsense,a he said. aIf it hadnat been for you, this all would have ended in the Basquiata"and I include myself in that a.s.sessment.a I crawled down off of the window seat to sit beside him instead, putting my arms about his shoulders and resting my face right against the break of his high collar where I could see his throat. aI did it for you,a I said quietly. aNo one else needs to know.a aAh,a said Royston. aWell, itas a pity that I made mention of it to the Esar, then.a aWhat?a I blinked, sure that Iad misheard him, or that this was one of his dry jokes that Iad not yet entirely got the hang of and, sometimes, suspected I never might. aAre youa"You arenat serious?a aI certainly am,a he said, fingers making idle patterns against my shoulder blades so that I sighed. Somehow, his touches calmed me, despite the more and more alarming information he imparted. aI believe he made some mention of offering you a position of honor at the aVersity.a aWhat?a I said again, feeling as though Iad missed some vital detail, or that perhaps Iad fallen asleep again the way Iad done for a time after the war had ended, dropping off without warning as if my body had just decided to catch up where it could whenever it felt like it, so that Royston would find me curled up in strange places and find himself inspired to move me to the bed.

aWell, Iam sure it will all be sorted out at the ceremony,a he said, and kissed my forehead. aThat is, if I can find my blasted cuff links.a

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

THOM.

The ceremony was set in a long reception room at the palace that had plush red carpeting running down the center of it and chairs on either side where the n.o.blesse sat. Behind them, the higher-ranking officers of the Volstovic army stood. At the very end of the room stood thaEsar himself, and seated next to him was thaEsarina, resplendent in crystal and pure white.

This was ceremonial dressa"it had been for generationsa"and none but a rare few were allowed to see it.

At any other time, I might have felt out of place, but there was no room in my heart or my head for anything except the man standing not quite mended at the back of the room with his fellow airmen.

They were a much smaller group than theyad been before.

As thaEsar read the names, first of the magicians who had given their lives in the final battle, as well as those who had fought and lived, I found my gaze drawn irresistibly to what remained of the Dragon Corps, dressed that afternoon all in black instead of their customary royal blue with the gold epaulettes of their dress uniforms. Balfour held his new hands folded awkwardly in front of him, still not entirely comfortable with the prosthetics the magicians had created for him. Once, I would have been fascinated to know that there were magicians who could employ the same technology theyad invented for the dragons to make prosthetics for a man whoad lost his own hands, but I felt no pleasure now to see the science in action. They shone silver and alien, and a little too big for him, but most poignant of all, I thought, was the fact that he had no gloves that would fit them. Ghislain stood still as a shadow at his side, his arms crossed over his chest. Adamo stood by himself, pointedly ignoring the moment when Luvander slipped in late to stand with the rest of them. He wore a bandage over one eye, and inclined his head toward Ghislain to ask what head missed, their mouths moving in near-silent whispers. Every now and then, Ghislain would nudge Rook with his shoulder, to get his opinion, and Rook would scowl the same way each time, knowing full well Ghislain hadnat forgotten where he was injured and where he wasnat.

Rook hadnat spoken to me since wead set foot in the palace, not even to snap at me for following him watchfully, as though I was afraid his ankle would give out on him at any second. Rather, he ignored me completely and limped to the room where the ceremony was being held, melting in with the other airmen as soon as he arrived and not once looking back.

I told myself it didnat matter. Acknowledgment was more than I could ask for and I should have been thankful head lived at all. It was much more than many people in my situation had been left with.

By rights, being neither a hero nor a soldier, I had no place among those attending, but Rook had made some bitter remark about family, and in the end no one seemed to have noticed me enough to object to my presence. ThaEsar himself even had some misguided impression that Iad done something instrumental in all this mess; that Iad aided Hal or put Hal in position to solve the riddle on his own with barely a second to spare. I wasnat sure if this was true or not, but as always, there was no arguing with thaEsar. You did as you were told, and kept quiet about it.

That left me here, in this somber, private room, watching Rook, as always, from afar.

I noticed as some of the magicians pa.s.sed me by that they were dressed all in black, just as the airmen, so that despite the finery of the n.o.blesse and thaEsar and Esarina themselves, the ceremony was ultimately a dark one. The war had ended, and a provisional treaty had been signed, which was more progress than wead previously made in my lifetimea"in several lifetimesa"but it had still come at an unimaginable cost. There were so few magicians remaining to us, and no more than the barest remnants of the Dragon Corps, not to mention their dragons. Iad overheard Adamo speaking to the Margrave Royston about ita"of the fourteen girls, there were only five who still resembled themselves. Havemercy wasnat one of them.

When I thought of her in pieces on the other side of the mountains, I felt a distant sadness overtake me. She wasnat my dragon, and it was often said that, because they were made of metal and machinery, the dragons had no souls at all for us to mourn their pa.s.sing. But when I recalled Havemercyas affinity for the dirty jokes Magoughin told, and the sharp, fond way shead spoken to my brother, I couldnat help but wish shead made it through in one piece. If not for her own sake, I added more privately, then for my brotheras.

We were given medals individually; that was the ceremonyas purpose. Mine was a small silver star for services rendered to the crown. Each of the airmen received a golden s.h.i.+eld except for Rook, who received two, one of them inlaid with rubies, and the magicians were each given a crescent of ivory. There was no celebrating.

Hal himself was honored separately, and I saw how uncomfortable it made him. There was no precedent for what sort of war medal he should receive, and so thaEsar had chosen to hang about his neck a silver key, which I thought fitting and which made Hal blush to the tips of his ears when he knelt to be decorated with it.

And then, after a period that seemed both as swift as mere minutes and as endless as days, it was done.

Marius caught my sleeve as we began to file out of the room, his hands shakier than usual, but his eyes as clear as theyad ever been before the disease had almost taken him. The sight of his familiar face so overwhelmed me that I was speechless while he fingered my silver star, a rueful smile playing across his lips.

aI told you youad manage it,a he said at last, clapping me on the shoulder. His voice was still rough from his ordeal in the Basquiat. aThere was a time when I a.s.sumed Iad been talking out my a.s.s, but Iam glad youave proved me wrong.a I ducked my head to hide the bitter turn my laugh took. aYou were right about it,a I said. aIt was an opportunity I could never forgive myself for pa.s.sing over to another.a aThere was no other,a Marius said. aI know you donat entirely ascribe to my side of the philosophical border, Thom, but these things do happen for their own reasonsa"and not just because Iam a stubborn old man who was bored with hearing men argue foolishly over what was to be done over a trifling offense.a aImpatience or fate,a I murmured, too weary to be properly wry. aI wonder which it was?a aIad say a combination of both,a Marius offered. aCompromise is all the rage these days.a He paused, then added, aWill I see you back in the aVersity come spring? Weave a dearth of keen minds since you left. Though in all fairness, Iam not supposed to say as much out loud to any of my students.a aYouall have Hal soon enough,a I pointed out. aFamous throughout all of Volstov.a aAnd rightly so,a Marius said. aWe all ought to go on missions to the countryside, same as Royston.a I smiled somewhat more honestly at that. Who knew what friends Marius had lost during this time? I shook his hand in mine, letting the grip linger, and his sharp eyes softened.

aWell,a he said. aWhatever you choose, Thom, I hope it serves you as well as you have served.a There was nothing I could say to that, and we parted ways soon after, Marius in the company of a red-haired woman named Marcelline, and I alone, wis.h.i.+ng I were the sort of man Marius believed I was.

After that afternoon, Rook had something of a relapse, and because he was too feverish to protest, I tended to him. Adamo didnat objecta"in fact, there was something in the set of his jaw that seemed to indicate he rather endorsed my stubbornnessa"but I was too busy tending to Rook to think about it. There were burns along his left side, and there had been some question as to whether or not head be able to fight off the infection that had crept into the raw, open wound over his chest. On his backa"when I had occasion to see ita"was a complicated web of precise, deep cuts, already healed over, that would one day be a map of scars. Those were no battle wounds; head suffered them at the hands of the Ke-Han, and every night as I tried to sleep I saw them before me like a tangled maze, out of which I might never find my way.

It was foolish of the other airmen to have let Rook attend the ceremonya"though in truth head insisted on ita"and now he was suffering the effects of that rashness.

aYou might not even have the chance to see them unveil your own statue,a I told him one night a few days later, believing him to be asleep.

He grunted, and opened one eye. It was piercing blue, not touched by any fever, and my heart dropped all at once.

aDonat f.u.c.king lecture me,a he said. aYou got no right to it.a He was right, and I turned my face away from him, seeing to the basin of cool water and the wet cloth Iad been using to bring down his fever during the nights, when his temperature inevitably rose.

aNo,a I said. aThatas true.a I could feel his eyes on me a long time after that, even after head closed them, and his breathing had evened out into the regular patterns of sleep.

On the fourth morning he was well enough to stand, and though I saw how bitterly he hated to do it, at midday he allowed me to help him to the window, out of which we could see the unveiling. The other airmen were in attendance, and so the Airman itself was once again pervaded by that eerie silence when she was left all to herself. It was all the more eerie for the knowledge that it would never hold the same boisterous noise as once it had, and that the men Iad come to know and even, if only a little, to understand would never return to leave their boots lying in the entranceway, or play their confusing game of darts against the common-room wall, whose paint still bore the pocks and marks of the game. Perhaps it always would.

I hoped, strangely, that no one would ever paint over that smaller tribute to the men whoad lived and died for all of us. In the most complicated of ways, I truly missed them, even if Iad never been their friend at all.

aThat big one,a Rook said, startling me out of my reverie. aThat one me?a I turned to him, barely daring to hopea"but his face was turned away from mine, caught in a shaft of sunlight, and so beautiful and still as to be a statue himself, though I doubted theyad included on his statue the small scar at the corner of his eye, tearing through his right eyebrow, or the sharp, unhappy line of his mouth.

I longed to embrace hima"to be embraced by him in turn. My brother needed me, and could no more reach out for me than he could rebuild his Havemercy. We were on opposite sides of the window from each other.

aIam not sure,a I replied, careful with my words. aPerhaps, when they return, the others will tell us.a aMaybe,a Rook agreed, nodding once, and seemed to believe that was final.

I suppose it was.

When he was again well enough to walk on his own and had no more need of me, I still sought to do the littler tasks for him, bringing him his meals when he preferred them and otherwise hovering around his doorway like a moth beside a lamp, just in case he might still require my a.s.sistance in some matter. This was how I caught him at packing soon after the unveiling of the statues.

This was also the first time he ever truly invited me inside his room.

aStop f.u.c.king lingering,a he said, rolling up a pair of trousers into a ball and shoving them into a canvas rucksack. aEither get in or get out, but being in between like that can be f.u.c.king annoying.a I chose the former optiona"how could I nota"and slipped inside, closing the door quietly behind me.

aYou seem to be leaving,a I said. It was the only thing I could think of, and I knew it was I who needed to speak first.

aYeah,a Rook agreed. aLooks like, doesnat it?a I clasped my hands behind me and dug my nails deep into my palms to find some surer footing. aIs there,a I began, ado you havea"any particular destination in mind?a aNot good to stay someplace where everyone knows what you look like down to the b.u.mp in your f.u.c.king nose,a he said. aGhislain told me the statueas pretty f.u.c.king spot on, so Iam taking my corps money and going somewhere else.a aOh,a I said. aSo youare going toa"travel.a aThatas what going somewhere else means,a he said.

I couldnat let him leave; not without saying what I should have said before anything else. aJohn,a I told him, all in a rush, aIam sorry.a He went still for a moment, and I thought he was going to yell. He struggled with something very tight in his jaw, but he seemed suddenly to overcome it, and all he said was, aYeah. I got that from all the f.u.c.king crying.a aFor what I did to you,a I said. aNot for how it turned out for me.a aLook,a Rook told me then, aainat it better just to say we donat have any brothers anymore? Twenty-one years, for f.u.c.kas sake. Canat you just let it drop?a aNo,a I replied. The conviction in my voice frightened even me.

aWe did some mean f.u.c.king things to each other,a Rook said. aAnd there were times when we pretty near almost did more. I wanted to break your f.u.c.king jaw sometimes, or worse.a I swallowed. aYes,a I said.

aYou lied to me,a he said, and from the roughness of his voice I almost thought he might have meant, And I lied to you, too.

I stared at his poster of Lady Greylace, wondering if head take it with him, some small memory from homea"but Rook wasnat the sort of man who indulged in any sentiment, much less nostalgia, the most cloyingly sweet of all. I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose with my fingers.

aI did,a I said.

Beyond that, I didnat know what else I felt. I wanted something from hima"John, Rook, my brother and the man head becomea"but it was such a jumble of emotions I could barely untangle one from the other, not unlike the maze of torture carved into his back.

aYeah,a he said. aSo thatas that, and Iam going.a We were quiet for a long time, standing on opposite ends of the room together. I was unsure of how to mend myself, but men were resilient creatures, and somehow we might both manage it, given enough time. Rook was going to see the world. I was going back to my studies at the aVersity. We might yet find each other again, even if it took another twenty-one years.

I could barely swallow my own excuses, but I forced myself to do so.

aPerhaps,a I said, my voice shaking despite my best efforts, ayou might send me a card in the post.a aCare of,a he said. aMaybe.a aWhen are you leaving?a I asked.

aTomorrow morning,a he said. aGot myself a ride and everything.a I made my excuses and took my leave of him before I did or said anything rash. If Rook was going, then there was no more reason for me to stay in the Airman. I had to rearrange the pillow on the couch, dig the last of my notes from underneath the cus.h.i.+ons. I was missing a few socksa"part of one of the earlier pranks, no doubt, and one which Iad never got around to realizing until nowa"and then I sat down all at once as my legs gave way beneath me and cried at last in the common room for all the times I hadnat.

No one came in; no one saw me. It was as private as Iad ever managed to be in the Airman, now that I no longer required such privacy.

Because I was so tireda"because Iad been unable to sleep properly for weeksa"I must have drifted off, and when I woke it was early morning, my whole body stiff from the uncomfortable position Iad been curled into all night long.

I combed my hair with my fingers. My suitcase was already packed; I was already wearing my shoes. I paused only for a moment by Rookas door, but it was quiet inside and no light spilled out from underneath it, and I knew immediately he was already gone.

That was it, then, I told myself, and squared my shoulders against the change. I would have to write Chief Sergeant Adamo, now exa"Chief Sergeant Adamo, a letter of thanks; and shorter ones for each of the other airmen, Ghislain and Luvander and Balfour. It was a small gesture, and one by which theyad like as not be baffled, but I was certain I needed to bow to the formality of the moment, as if by treating my time with the Dragon Corps as a chapter in my life I could just as easily end it as one.

Except for Rooka"Johna"who was sitting on the stairs when I opened the door. I nearly fell over him before I caught my balance.

The sun was rising from the direction of the Cobalt Mountains, rising properly now, and the whole sky was alight without any hint of the grayish color of predawn.

aSo, Hilary,a Rook said, awhereare we going?a I closed my eyes and let the sunlight wash over me. aIave always wanted to see the hanging gardens of Eklesias,a I said.

Rook stood up and s.h.i.+fted his sack more comfortably over his right shoulder. aI donat even know where the f.u.c.k that is,a he said.

ROYSTON.

Things had changed, and they also hadnat. For some time since the unveiling, there was talk of tearing the Airman down now that it no longer served a purpose, and popular opinion had long been that the building was a blight on the architecture of Thremedon, flat and too modern and entirely out of place. Yet no one ever quite got down to doing anything about it, and it went on standing solid and gray as a mausoleum, a testament to the Dragon Corps in its own way.

The view from the Rue daSt. Difference was different now that there were statues lining the crossing between lower Miranda and upper Charlotte. I couldnat walk my usual route home from the Basquiat without seeing all fourteen of them, which I supposed was the intention when it was decided they should be erected there. Nevertheless, it was still jarring to see the faces of men Iad known magnified and elevated to the status of war heroes.

In that respect, I was exactly like Hal: not entirely prepared to deal with the realities of living in a time when the statues were freshly built rather than hundreds of years old.

On the days when Adamo wasnat giving guest lectures at the aVersity, alike some f.u.c.king professora as he so adeptly phrased it, we would meet occasionally for lunch, and it was during these times that I took full advantage of the opportunity to compare him to his larger bronzed counterpart.

aHeas taller than you,a I said, signaling our waitress in the hopes of speeding up the service of our coffees. If there had been a statue of me set along the Mirandaedge, I was sure this wouldnat have been a problem, yet Adamo refused to use his fame toward such petty ends as obtaining a decent and expeditious cappuccino. How very like him. aAnd handsomer, certainly.a aYouare sure you didnat lose your eyesight in that plague?a Adamo drank his coffee any way it was served, and particularly if it was black, which forced me on occasion to wonder why we were even friends at all.

aThat was quick,a I said. aPerhaps your time at the aVersity hasnat been wasted after all.a He shrugged easily, though there was still darkness in his eyes when he turned to look at the line of statues all along the Rue. aAfter dealing with my boys,a he said, atalking to a bunch of students wh.o.a.re actually interested in what youave got to teach aem isnat really much of a challenge.a aOh, donat be so sour just because youave found your true calling so late in life,a I told him, and laughed when he brought his teaspoon down hard against my knuckles. aBastion, look at the hat on that one.a Just as the Ke-Han in their lapis city, we were rebuilding. It was a slow enough process even without the daunting task of restoring destroyed buildings to their former glorya"something the Ke-Han alone must suffera"but there were some days when I believed us up to the task, and some when I suspected I would never see my city fully recovered. Between the loss of the airmen and what colleagues Iad bid farewell to beneath the golden dome, it seemed as though there was no replacing what wead lost. There were days when I could no longer look at the Basquiat without remembering, and it had once been my favorite sight in all the city.

At my suggestion, Hal and I went on long walks around the city, and I pointed out the best places to go for a quick meal in between daily lectures, or where he might drop in to a private library if he needed to study in real peace and quiet.

aAnd I just follow Whitstone Road to get to you?a he asked on one such walk, when we stood side by side in front of the aVersity fountain, sun dappling the water so that it arced like molten gold in all directions.

aThat will take you to the Basquiat,a I confirmed, and slipped an arm about his shoulders for no other reason than that I wanted to and could.

He fished for something under his s.h.i.+rt at the neck, and drew out the silver key the Esar had given him with a glad look of triumph. aThis time, they canat keep me out.a aI would use my Talent to explode anyone who had the gall to try,a I confirmed, and he kissed me then in front of the spray, so that by the time we were finished we were most unfortunately damp.

For the first time I could remember, there were empty seats in the Basquiat, but there were familiar faces too, and more than Iad dared to count on. The handy trick about doing a service for royalty was that they couldnat turn around and banish you once again after theyad made a public acknowledgment and handed out the medals.

Among the magicians Iad known before the plague, Caius remained, and though I was sure Alcibiades would rather have spat on us than join our numbers, I did see him about the city every now and again, mostly with groups of men who I a.s.sumed had been soldiers once. There was talk of erecting some sort of a monument for those magicians who had died during the plague, and when after a few weeks it became evident that no one was particularly keen on reentering the room at the top of the golden-domed tower, it was cordoned off. One of the magicians with a Talent for sculpting stone carved an uncanny likeness of their faces around the walls, and though Iad visited it with Hal when it had first been opened to the public, I found I couldnat bring myself to go again after that.

What had started as a plan to acclimatize Hal to the winding streets of Miranda unofficially became his habit of walking me to and from the Basquiat every day, pointing out everything Iad showed him with the kind of tenacious memory and eagerness to learn that I knew would serve him well at the aVersity. Iad been right to bring him to the city, and not only because head saved all of our lives in the process.

Hal belonged in Thremedon; he belonged with me.

Iad never before been a man p.r.o.ne to permanence. In that respect, I was much the same as the city herself, for even with all her familiar landmarks she was constantly s.h.i.+fting just below the surface. For the most part, her appearance remained the same, but she was always changing just enough to keep me on my toes. I, too, felt myself in constant flux, adapting to her whims and pleasures. For Thremedon, it would not have been a problem to remain ever so in this permanent state of mutability, but I was a man, and there were some things that for me must necessarily remain constant if I were ever to remain this content.

One afternoon, barely half a week before the spring term began at the aVersity, I returned home to my private tower to find Hal waiting for me on the top step. In one hand he held a long roll of fine papera"I recognized it immediately for a list of required textsa"and an envelope in the other, its aVersity seal broken. His cheeks were flushed from the brisk nip of late winter air.

aItas so long!a he exclaimed, as soon as he saw me. aHow am I ever to find all these books? I thought Iad start early, but Iall never be done!a I drew close to him, giving the list a brief glance. aYouall find,a I said gently, aif you look at the t.i.tles a second time, while better composed, that you are familiar with at least half of them. If you wait a moment while I fetch my wallet, we shall visit the shops together, and Iam sure by the end of the day weall have them all.a aThank you,a Hal said simply.

There was a wealth of feelings in his words, which extended far beyond the moment. I found it necessary just then to turn my face away from his, and in doing so I found myself faced with all of Thremedon descending before me toward the water, the uneven rooftops catching the clean sunlight through crisp, bracing air. This was my city, beautiful and dangerous and twisting and coy, and I knew in that moment that I had at last come home to her.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS.

JAIDA JONES is a nervous j.a.panese student at Barnard College, Columbia University, studying monsters in modern j.a.panese literature and film. Sheas a native New Yorker, and lives in Brooklyn with her two cartoonish cats and equally cartoonish parents. She has had poems published in Mythic Delirium and Jabberwocky, and a collection of poetry published by New Babel Books. At some point, she a.s.sumes that someone is going to wake her up and tell her sheas not allowed to write about giant metal dragons. Until then: more metal dragons!

DANIELLE BENNETT is from Victoria, British Columbia, where she studied English literature at Camosun College. She has never seen a firefly, but has held many interesting jobs that merely got in the way of writing, and knows exactly how to make your decaf iced venti unsweetened one pump mocha soy caf con leche. Her parts of Havemercy were written while amply caffeinated between four A.M. openings at Starbucks. This is her first published work, but definitely not her last.

HAVEMERCY.