Courne Supremacy

Alicia crossed her arms and smiled when she saw Lily tiptoeing towards the circular stairs leading into the foyer. She stood at the top of the landing and glanced back down the hallway. “She’s saying goodbye to me,” Alicia thought. Lily crept down the stairs and strung a satchel over her shoulder – no doubt filled with her clothing and some foodstuffs from the kitchen. Alicia leaned against the double doors leading into the mansion’s courtyard and made a little cough.

Lily stopped in mid-adjustment of her satchel strap. She did a double take. “Who–” she began.

“The mechanical girl,” Alicia said still smiling. “I heard you in the kitchen earlier.”

Lily lowered her gaze. “I think it’s time I went.”

“Alright, but, could you wait one more day? I need your help. I need someone to come with me to Lebenwald and do some shopping for the mansion. Please?” She put her hands on Lily’s shoulders.

Lily pulled her satchel off and dropped it on the floor.

“Thank you,” Alicia said. “Go get some breakfast and we’ll be off. Let me fetch my keys.” She led Lily towards the dining room door and hurried up the stairs.

“How is she?” Alicia recognized the voice of the Watchmaker, Doctor Wilhelm Gottfried, as she emerged on the second floor balcony. He was already dressed in his slacks, shirt, tie, and vest ready to work in the laboratory.

“She’s still young,” Alicia said. “I remember being like that myself.”

“Thank you for making this run to town for me,” Doctor Gottfried said. In his hands he held a dancing canary. She had finished it and left it by his bedroom door in a bird cage. “I think when you return, you’ll be ready to help me fix my son.”

* * * * *

The town of Lebenwald was one of the larger cities Alicia had been too and as the name implied the taller buildings made it look like a forest of stone and steel. She circled over the city taking a good bird’s eye view of the town. Upon hearing Lily vomit, Alicia descended and made a landing outside the city walls. Once the plane slowed, Alicia cut the propeller and removed the two keys that turned on the plane’s engine. The keys were attached to a leather cord that she wore as a necklace. She tucked them under her blouse and climbed out of the cockpit. Two guards approached her with their hands on their sword hilts. She pulled off her helmet letting her hair free and waved at the guards. They relaxed.

“Traveler,” the head guard said. “What business do you have here?”

“I’m picking up supplies from the market. Something the matter?” Alicia said helping Lily out of the back and watched her head off to the woods with her pail in hand.

The guard began: “The town’s been on alert. Creatures have been spotted in the night. We ask that you be careful and report to a guard if you see or hear anything suspicious.”

“What kind of creatures?”

The guards eyed one another.

“A wolfman,” the junior guard said. His superior glared at him and grimaced.

“Thanks for the warning.” Alicia patted her holster. The guards nodded and walked off. Lily returned with a clean pail and sat down on a tree stump by the plane. Alicia pulled a list from her pocket and tore it in half. “I’ll go pick up the machinery, tools, and parts, and I’ll leave the produce for you.” She handed Lily a small pouch of money. “There’s a little extra for you as well.”

As both women walked away from the plane, a voice caught their attention. “Yes! Yes, this was what I saw flying through the sky! At first I thought it some strange demon or monstrous insect, but its nothing of the sort!” Alicia turned around and spotted a plump man shaped like the bell of a mushroom with a tuft of red hair examining her mechanical bird.

The plump man turned towards Alicia and his lips split into a wide smirk. “My dear is this your marvelous contraption?”

“Yes,” Alicia said returning to the plane. Lily bumped into her from behind.

“Brilliant craftsmanship! Who is your master? What is his name? I would like to meet him.”

“My name is Alicia, I’m my own master, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister–”

“Doctor, my dear. Doctor Bartram Kessel, a scientist of all studies.” He bowed. “A woman as her own master?” He laughed. “This flying machine. I’ll pay you a thousand gold pieces for it!”

“It’s not for sale, Doctor.”

“Ten thousand, my love,” he said taking her hand.

“Don’t touch her!” Lily shoved Kessel away. For a brief instant Alicia thought she saw Lily’s hand transform into a set of talons. Kessel’s men stepped forward – they must have seen it too.

“I’m sorry,” Alicia said pushing Lily behind her. “It’s not for sale.”

“Everything is for sale, my darling. What would you trade for it?”

“I can’t dally any longer, Doctor. Good day to you. Come, Lily.”

As they walked away, Lily asked Alicia, “What about the plane?”

“The guards will protect it just like these other carts and horses. That’s what they’re paid to do.” She fingered the key under her blouse.

Alicia and Lily split up once they entered the city. Alicia saw Lily off into the market and she entered into the industrial area of town. She covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief. The air smelled of burnt fuel and the blue sky she had seen from above was covered in a brown haze. Workmen wore sooty faces and trudged through the streets with no mind as to where they went. The only women Alicia saw worked inside of the taverns and pubs. She went about her business and purchased the parts on her list – it was a list she and Doctor Gottfried had come up with as they worked. As night fell, Alicia rode back through the streets in a mule-drawn wagon carrying all of her boxed wares, and she began to load the parts and tools into the back of her plane. How Lily would fit in there would be another problem. Maybe Lily could spend the night in the city? It might do wonders for her morale to be uncaged from the mansion for a time.

Speaking of which, where was that girl? Alicia watched bodies enter and exit the city gate but not a sign of Lily. It couldn’t have taken her that long to select fruit and vegetables, could it? Alicia finished packing everything and closed the back hatch and locked it. Nailed to the back of the hatch, which she missed, was a wax-sealed folded slip of paper. Annoyed, she pulled the nail out of her plane and examined the letter.

It said: “If you would like to see your friend again, come to Marshal Square alone. - Doctor B. Kessel.”

Alicia stuffed the sheet in her pocket and ran through the city gates. With some help she found her way to Marshal Square. It was a secluded war-memorial park far removed from the hustle-and-bustle of Lebenwald’s nightlife. Each wall surrounding the square was covered with ivy vines and at the center stood the statue of a lone soldier leaning against a pole with Lebenwald’s flag swaying in the night breeze. The moonlight painted the statue in shades of blue but the torchlight standing nearby gave it an orange glow around the edges.

“I was once friends with Professor Elana Bellafore. She wrote to me of a new student who was interested in the flight of birds and human beings alike.” Kessel emerged by the statue and stood under the flickering torchlight. “You were her student.”

“Where’s Lily?” Alicia pulled her pistol on the doctor.

A growl emerged from the shadow and a wolf standing on its hind legs stepped forward. Tucked under his arm was Lily. The wolfman was draped in the blue moonlight and outlined by the orange warmth of the torch. Another appeared behind Doctor Kessel and a third to his other side.

“After our little exchange this morning, I noticed that my arm hurt.” He showed Alicia three scratches across his traveling cloak. “I thought, the peasant girl that took a swipe at me must have done it, but these looked more like claws from a bird. A girl that is a bird. I had read stories of such a creature. So I had to track her down, and there she was in the market purchasing tomatoes as if she were a commoner. So we snatched her.”

“Give her back!”

“I’m certain you must have read The Age of the Common Man. The world of magic, witches, wizards, and creatures of impossibility is over! The age of reason and the triumph of man has come! Man will weld science, technology, and industry and create a new world not governed by metaphysical forces! Your friend is not a friend of mine, nor does she have a place in this new world.”

“Hypocrite! What are those!”

“Men who have accepted a form of evolution.”

“You want the plane. For Lily.”

“Alicia, don’t give it to him!” Lily struggled in the monster’s grip. “Maybe he’s right. I don’t belong in this world anymore. Take the plane and run!”

“The plane’s yours,” Alicia said. “It’s beyond the city gates where you saw it this morning. Here’s the key.” Alicia pulled a key from her pocket and tossed it to Kessel.

“Show me how to fly it,” Kessel said looking at the key in his hand.

“You’re a scientist! You figure it out unless you’re inferior to me.”

“Kill the witch!”

“Kessel!” Alicia shouted. “The Age of the Common Man says a superior man should use reason and be fair and just! When you took the key you implicitly agreed to our arrangement! Are you saying that you’re not a superior man? Then I should kill you!”

Kessel wrapped his gloved hand around the key and narrowed his eyes at Alicia. “Drop the witch. Disguise yourselves.” The wolfmen shrunk, their muscles deflated, and they became human and wrapped themselves in garments and cloaks. Kessel being shorter than Alicia still managed to look down his nose at her as he walked by and said, “No one is more superior than me.” He marched past Alicia with his three guards. Once they were gone, Alicia ran to Lily and hugged her.

“Why? You spent your life on that mechanical bird! You told me so! And you just–”

“I can always replace a mechanical bird, but I can’t replace you, can I?” Alicia pulled a knife from her pocket and removed Lily’s bindings. Once she was free she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Alicia touched her blouse and felt the pair of keys dangling underneath. “Lily, do you mind staying longer? I’m going to need your help to get my plane back.”

I’m a big fan of Galaxy Express 999. I heard about it after watching Kino’s Journey, which is also an excellent anime, that is if you’re into the journeying, wandering, somewhat philosophical type of anime. It’s not for everyone. Wikipedia recommended Galaxy Express 999 if I really liked Kino’s Journey. Live-Evil is currently fan subbing it. Believe me, I’d buy the series if some half-way decent American anime publishing house would put out the 113 episode television series, but seeing how the show is from 1978 and we live in America where most anime ends in the word “-mon” that’s probably never going to happen. It would probably also cost me a small fortune to purchase all 113 episodes. I showed my fandom in other ways by purchasing the Viz graphic novels that were released about 6 years ago (so I got them all used) and I’m currently trying to get my grubby freakishly large hands on the original 18 volumes written in gibberish, I mean, Japanese. It’s all the same to me. Even half of English is like that.

The photo above is of Tetsuro and Maetel from the Galaxy Express 999 movie. It’s my favorite scene in the movie as illustrated by the statue. Maetel also gives Tetsuro a great speech in the end which I won’t ruin for you, but it has to make you wonder, “just who is/where is my Maetel?” It’ll make more sense if you watch the movie, which you should. The photo is also of a toy statue that my friend Genevieve or “The Wuffles” got for me during her trip to Japan. I was actually pretty blown away that she got me this, because I had seen the statue on eBay and other anime toy sites and thought to myself, “If there was one Galaxy Express statue I’d want, that would be that one.” Somehow she read my mind. She got me some other great Galaxy Express movie/art books that have enough pictures that I don’t have to worry about reading them. If I were more of a fanboy I’d probably be cackling in glee.

I finally brought this statue home from work today where its been adorning the side of my dust covered desk. I wanted to photograph it. I figured I should also try and do a decent job of it too instead of the half-baked shaky cam affair that is my standard. I wanted to try putting together a small studio environment so I could shoot it with a matte background and some decent lighting. Here’s what I did. Using two 18in. x 24in. pieces of paper, a chair, and an arm lamp that I can hang off anything, a tripod, and my trusty Canon A80 digital camera, I put this setup together:

Nothing elaborate going on here. I don’t have filters to disperse the light. Tape is holding the paper to the chair back rest and seat, and I actually did use Galaxy Express 999 mangas to prop the statue higher for a better shooting position. I’d want to say I did a bit more of a professional job shooting the toy, but honestly, the word “professional” would be giving me too much credit. I’m an idiot with a camera and I tend to shoot from the hip — like what I try to do with the sniper rifle in Halo 3, and like Halo 3 I manage to shoot everything other than what I want. One upside to this is that a 14 year old doesn’t come and teabag my corpse if I foul up. I’ll give myself this though: it’s slightly cleverer than not setting up the makeshift studio.

Once I had things going I used the MF scale on my camera to really get the focus set properly on the model. When you look at the images you’ll see lots of dents, scratches, and divets, but I love ‘em. It’s crystal clear. You can see every little bit of dust, debris, and detail.

Here are some more photos of Maetel and Tetsuro:

If you want to see the entire photoset from my shoot you can go to Flickr and take a looksee. You can also see all the picturs in their super high-res glory.

So there you have it. A simple makeshift studio. Maybe I can play around with using tin foil as reflectors and get some rim lighting going in here. That would be something nice. Then maybe I can upgrade myself from being “slightly clever” to a full on “clever.”

“She’s getting worse,” Alicia said, as she pulled splinters from under Lily’s fingernails with a small pair of pliers she took from the laboratory. She used a wet cloth and cleaned the blood off Lily’s fingertips. Lily jolted and jerked with every tinge of pain but her eyes stayed closed and she remained in a deep sleep. The Watchmaker sighed and paced at the foot of Lily’s bed. Alicia turned her eyes to the scratched-up headboard. Lily must have been raking her fingernails across it all through the night. “There’s no doctor nearby, at all?”

“Unfortunately, no,” the Watchmaker said. “But, I’ll think of something.” He left the room. Alicia finished pulling the last of the splinters out from Lily’s fingertips and set the pliers aside. She picked up one of the Watchmaker’s journals and began poring through the pages on bird anatomy.

For the past month, Alicia committed herself to studying under the Watchmaker. Before he allowed her to step foot in the laboratory and try anything, he handed her his journals and notebooks and commanded her to read them. Alicia absorbed herself in his theories on building calculating machines — it was the basis for all of the Watchmaker’s creations. She picked it up in no time, and now, she was ready to construct her own mechanical toy.

She choose to build a canary. As a child, she had seen live ones when traveling merchants visited their village, but her parents never had any money left over for one. While waiting on Lily, Alicia had built the bird’s wireframe body and tinkered with building the core calculator to run it. All of the bits and pieces sat on Lily’s nightstand.

At noon, Alicia took her lunch in the mansion’s courtyard. The sundry machines, that surrounded her, went about their business watering the garden, pruning the bushes, or cutting the grass.

CRASH! Alicia glanced skyward and jumped to her feet. CAW! CAW! A massive black bird blotted out the sun, and with a few flaps, it zoomed right over the walls guarding the house. Alicia scrambled up the stairs to Lily’s room. The Watchmaker stood by the remains of the wall in which the bird burst through. He pulled a brick from the side and dropped it on the floor. The bed had been snapped in two, and the nearby walls and nightstand were shredded and poked apart. Alicia picked up the gears and mashed wireframe body of her toy canary and set them back on the nightstand.

“That giant bird took her,” the Watchmaker said.

Alicia surveyed the damage. “Funny,” she said. “Most of the glass is on the outside. The bird would have had to break into the house some other way, fly here, and then carry her out.”

“There’s no way, I would have heard it.”

“In either case, I need to take the plane out.” Alicia said picking up a black feather.

By mid-afternoon, Alicia was back in the skies. There wasn’t a cloud to be seen and the sun shone brightly. She opened the canopy to let the wind rush over her skin. “It’s been a long time,” she told herself with a smile. Alicia flew over the ground low enough so she could keep an eye to the skies and another one on the land ahead for any sign of the bird. A black feather twirled across her sights. A mutilated cow in a fallow field caught her eye along with more black feathers. Alicia landed in the nearest dirt path and drove back to the farmhouse. With her rifle in hand, Alicia ran to the fallow field to find the farmer cursing and fuming over his dead cow. By the farmer’s side was a man and his horse examining the dead bovine too.

“What happened here?” Alicia said. As the words slipped out of her mouth she saw the black feathers against the white of the cow’s hide and the red of the cow’s blood. She picked up one of the feathers.

The farmer scratched his head. “A giant bird, larger than anything I ever seen. I heard my cows cryin’ and saw it fly away trailing blood n’ feathers all over.”

“It took my friend,” Alicia said. Alicia tightened her fist. It probably ate Lily too. “Did, did you see her? A young girl, just coming of age?” The farmer shook his head. She turned to the other man. He rubbed the stubble on his chin and slung his rifle back over his shoulder.

“Which way?” The hunter got back on his horse.

“That way,” the farmer pointed.

“Lil’ Miss, how ’bout you go back home and let me handle this. I’ll bring your–”

Alicia cut him off, “You head off on the ground. I’ll meet you in the air!” She jumped back in her plane and revved the engine up. The hunter’s horse neighed and reared its front legs almost throwing him off. Alicia turned the plane around and sped down the dirt road and took off. She brought herself a couple hundred feet off the ground. Below her, the hunter rode fast and hard. Alicia pulled her plane back and allowed the hunter to go ahead of her. It was easier to keep an eye on where he was going and then keep her other eye to the sky. At times he glanced back at her — she could imagine the disdain on his face but thought nothing of it. The hunter pulled his rifle out. Alicia saw what he was aiming at. To her right, a giant black bird broke out from the treetops and cawed.

“Spawn of a demon bird,” Alicia thought, that was the name Lily had been called in her hometown. If that were so, the scratching against her headboard made sense. Maybe Lily’s cries and screams in her sleep were really caws that a raven made. Crack! The giant raven shuddered and its wings failed to keep it aloft. It plunged back through the trees. Alicia saw the puff of smoke trailing behind the hunter. “Oh, no, Lily!” Alicia barreled the plane down and made a hard landing on the ground. The wings wobbled as she cut through a field of tall grass. The raven cawed and cried loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. The plane slowed, Alicia hopped out, tucked and rolled into the grass. She winced as the plane slammed into a nestle of trees growing by the edge of the forest, but a second shot sent her running. “Don’t shoot!” Alicia ran through the forest. The hunter took aim for his third shot. Alicia put her shoulder forward and rammed him. They toppled over together.

“What are you doing?” The hunter yelled. He pushed Alicia off and aimed again. He searched down the barrel of his gun. “I had a perfect shot!”

A girl’s cry came from across the small opening. “Lily!” Alicia found her leaning against a tree with a bullet hole in her left leg and another bullet shot just above her. Alicia checked her wound. From the air it looked like the hunter shot her left leg since the the giant raven was flying to the right of them. “You’re the Black Bird Witch.”

“Alicia! Help me!” Lily cried as she grabbed Alicia’s hand.

“She’s my black bird witch,” the hunter said with his rifle pointed at Alicia. “She’ll make me a fortune. Her heart alone is worth a hundred thousand gold pieces. Step aside.”

Alicia stood between Lily and the hunter. She had left her rifle by the tree.

“Your life isn’t worth that much girl,” the hunter said taking aim at her.

“Don’t you shoot her!” Lily’s scream turned into a raven’s caw. Alicia and the hunter covered their ears and dropped to the ground. The raven jumped over her and onto the hunter. It cawed and pecked at the hunter’s body. Alicia backed away. The hunter screamed as the bird pulled his intestines out and gulped it down. What it couldn’t eat it tore to shreds and threw it all over the grass. Alicia grabbed her rifle and ran behind the tree. She raised her rifle and thought, “Please don’t make me do it.” She aimed but couldn’t put her finger over the trigger. Alicia slumped against the trunk, closed her eyes, and tears streaming down her face.

“Alicia!” It was Lily. Alicia got to her feet and peered around the tree trunk. She took baby steps into the field where the hunter had been. Lily sat crying in the middle of the field. Her nightgown was stained with blood and the hunter’s remains were splattered all over the grounds. “I couldn’t help it!” She didn’t turn to Alicia when she talked. “Y-You must be disgusted with me.”

Alicia bent down and raised Lily’s chin with her finger. “You protected me,” she said in a quiet tone.

Lily sniffled. “Of course, even the raven knows you’re a friend!”

Alicia didn’t know whether to smile at the sentiment or not. “Up we go,” she said. She helped Lily to her feet and back to the plane.

Lily watched the walking machine’s row of legs below them move in a wave-like pattern, raking across the forest floor sweeping debris, leaves, and anything else that might be in the way through its wooden legs. She flattened herself against the monster’s fur afraid that if the machine hit a rock it might send her over and she would become mangled in its unstoppable legs. Alicia held the reigns she had lashed across the top of the beast. As they traveled through the Watchmaker’s Forest, Lily asked Alicia to explain how she managed to get the monster to work again.

Each time Alicia began to explain, Lily found her eyes glazing over and her mind wandering. Partially, she didn’t understand. The other reason was her rumbling stomach. She had eaten just fine, but half of her was still starving. Caw! Caw! She clung onto the matted fur and closed her eyes. The Black Bird was always looming in the back of her mind. Sometimes it slept but not always. It needed to feed right now. Her parents had tried to help assuage the hunger by allowing her some of the old pigs and goats. They kept her confined to the farm as much as possible hoping that the stimulus was enough to tire her out and not excite her, but Alicia’s arrival changed all that. A blessing and a curse.

The up-and-down swaying of the beast slowed as they approached a tall stone wall. Lily was afraid that the machine was going to walk straight into the wall but it stopped about an arms length away. Even standing on the back of the machine monster, Lily estimated that the wall was still at least four times higher than they were. Alicia jumped down from the top of the beast. Lily had to lower the mechanical boy to the ground first and then climb down the side.

She carried the mechanical boy to Alicia and found her crouching to the side of a giant, metal door. “What’re you looking at?” Lily asked as she peered over Alicia’s shoulder. She was holding a metal plate in one hand and inserting and pulling pegs out of it with the other.

“I think it’s the key to the gate,” Alicia said. “It fits this slot.” She tapped her finger against a long rectangular slot with grooves lining the top edge.

As Alicia began to slide the plate into the slot, Lily snatched her arm. “What if it’s a trap?”

“I’ll take my chances,” Alicia said as she slid the plate in. The wall churned to life. Lily backed away. A whirling sound came from inside of the stone wall and when her fear subsided Lily pressed her ear against the wall and listened to the ticks and clicks of the gears sandwiched between the bricks. A spring snapped and the large metal doors responded with a thunk. But the gates did not open. The slot spat the metal plate out. Alicia took it and wandered away studying it.

Lily knocked on the gates and hollered for someone to open the door. She kicked around the nearby rocks and torched tufts of grass in her hand as she waited for Alicia to find the right combination. She sat against a tree stump trying not to think of the raven’s hunger pangs. Try after try, Alicia failed, but she kept trying. Lily smiled. “I would have given up a long time ago,” she said to herself. Klong! The gates started to swing open. “You did it!” Lily said jumping to her feet.

Alicia scooped her rifle up and Lily did the same with the broken boy and they walked through the gates. Together they entered the courtyard of the mansion, and in front of them machines bobbled, wobbled, and hobbled all around. The courtyard’s lawn was being trimmed by a machine that looked like a metal sheep. It rolled along the grass stopping to chew every so often. After it traversed a distance the metal animal deposited a small bale of trimmings from its rear and resumed chomping away.

“This place is amazing!” Alicia said with a laugh.

“I’m glad you think so.” Lily glanced around but didn’t see anybody. The sound of the voice seemed to come from a black cone mounted at the corner of the wall. “I see that you have carried my son back.”

“I found him wandering through a town miles away from this forest,” Alicia said. “An accident befell him and I’ve brought him back to you. Please, I wish to meet you. I have much I’d like to ask.”

“You seem worthy. Very well, please accompany my daughter!”

The doors to the main house opened and a white faced girl wearing a baby blue, lacy dress appeared and marched towards them like a toy soldier. Instead of a rifle in hand she held a matching baby blue parasol. Lily and Alicia followed behind the girl into the main foyer and down a long and wide hallway.

The interior of the house was even more bizarre. A railing ran against the upper and lower halves of the walls. Little wheeld carts raced along those tracks dusting as they went. A machine walked across the floor dragging spinning arms made out of mops to clean the marble tiling. As they closed on a large set of double doors the sound of a piano grew louder. To Lily’s astonishment the piano player was a giant wooden spider dangling from the ceiling using its eight legs to tickle the ivories. A small pipe filtered a gust of air over a pinwheel powering the piano player.

The mechanical girl stopped and pushed open a set of giant doors. The room she revealed was the largest Lily had seen yet. The walls were packed with full bookshelves. There were rows of long tables cluttered with half finished gadgets, loose papers with doodles, and a myriad of tools. A cacophony of gongs and chimes went off to Lily’s right. That wall was covered in clocks all announcing the arrival of a new hour each in their melodic and artistic way.

“Bring him here young lady.” Finally, there he was, the Watchmaker. He was an elderly yet fit man. He was clean-shaven and his gray hair was combed back. She laid the boy on the empty table. The Watchmaker walked around the boy examining him through his bifocals. “His entire head must be replaced,” the Watchmaker said rubbing his chin.

“How can I help you?” Alicia asked. “I wish to know how he works.”

“Do you?” the Watchmaker said. “Then, follow me.”

Lily followed behind them to a table covered in a white cloth. The Watchmaker pulled the sheet off to reveal legs, arms, and a child’s disembodied head. All the parts looked real to her, but he began to explain how he built them. The eyes in the head seemed to follow Lily where ever she stood and finally she backed away from the table altogether and bumped into the mechanical girl. The machine, in a jerky fashion, raised its hand over its mouth, snapped its jaw down and giggled. Its soul-less eyes stared at nothing in particular. Lily left the scientists and the girl and explored some of the other nearby tables. On one workbench sat a wooden skull filled with gyros, gears, and wheels spinning and ticking like a watch. Eyes of all colors sat in a row staring at her. A jawbone with fresh teeth lay on the table. By it was a stand with a hook holding a disembodied arm wrapped in spongy stuff and next to it was a drawing of human muscles wrapping the arm bones. Lily smelt the dots of fresh blood staining the drawing.

A stronger, foul scent permeated the air where she stood. Lily followed the scent to a closed door behind a bookcase in the corner of the room. She peered behind her to make sure no one was following and pushed the door open and threw her hand over her nose to block the pungent scent of decay. Her eyes grew wide at the sights inside. Human bodies lay on surgical tables. A man with his skin sliced off — it was stretched out next to him — and his arms neatly removed and hanging from a hook just like the mechanical one on the workbench. Other parts: eyes, brains, and organs sat in putrid smelling vats lining a nearby shelf. The stone floor and walls were clean of any blood.

Caw! Caw! The black bird begged for a meal. She had starved him for so long. Her mouth watered. The raven within wanted to be free of her body and to feed on the decay and dead in the room. Lily slammed her eyes shut and hurried to leave but bumped into the Watchmaker. He put his hands on her shoulder. She shrugged him off. “My dear, don’t fret. The bodies come from a nearby village, they all died of natural causes or accident.”

The cawing of the raven inside of her mind was growing fiercer still. Lily’s stomach, which she shared with the raven, grumbled and gurgled.

“Lily,” Alicia began. “I know its disturbing. I also studied anatomy at the University of Aeterall. We learn how to heal people by dissecting the dead.”

Lily shook her head. “You don’t understand. I can’t stay here anymore.” She broke into a run. In her mind, she could hear the giant raven’s invisible wings flapping and see its shadow looming in every dark corner of the house as she ran. Alicia’s calls for her to stop were drowned by the noise of the bird’s cawing. Lily ran as hard and fast as she could to the house’s doors but stumbled over the machine mopping the marble floor and crashed against the floor smacking her head. Caw! Caw! The sound drowned everything else out. Alicia running toward her was the last things she saw.

In case you’re interested in reading from the beginning, I’ve setup a page that links to all of the individual stories.

Chapter 0: Alicia and the Mechanical Bird

Here’s the original story in which my current short stories are all based off. This story follows the life of a young woman named Alicia, who believes that her past life was one as a bird. She’s born again without the ability to fly and goes on a journey through her life to recover it. The world she inhabits is 19th century-like. The stories that come after it are her journeys beyond her homeland. If you think they feel like Kino’s Journey after you read them or remind you Grimm Fairy Tales, then you’re not far off the mark. Enjoy.

Chapter 1: Alicia and the Briar Rose

Chapter 2: Alicia and the Broken Doll

Chapter 3: Alicia and the Black Bird Witch

Chapter 4: Alicia and the Watchmaker’s Forest