There was the sound of a struggle from the hallway. Kate turned in alarm to see a huge shape rushing in and past her. Simon shouted and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her behind the cloak, which he swung like a bullfighter, particularly since he had his stick sword in his hand. A grey furry hulk pushed through the canvas and loped toward Imogen.
When Aethelred reached the young woman, the dog thrust his body between her and the wardrobe and pushed her back a few steps. Imogen grinned and threw her arms around the great dog’s neck with a childlike laugh.
Kate ran forward and grabbed Imogen’s arm. She reached for Aethelred’s collar but found it gone. She then saw Hogarth standing inside the doorway with the broken leather strap in his hand.
“Come, come,” Kate commanded both her sister and the dog, tugging them away. “Hogarth, take Imogen and Aethelred to my room. And stay there with them.”
“Yes, miss.” The manservant took the hound firmly by the scruff and put an arm around Imogen’s shoulders. He escorted the pair from the chilled room. Their footsteps faded.
When Kate turned back to Simon, her eye caught a shade sliding along the wall. As the shape moved, it went from dark to bright pale white. “Behind you!”
Simon moved so quickly, Kate barely saw him. The stiff cloak snapped like a kite in the wind, and it fell heavily on the homunculus, which appeared suddenly pale in the darkness. Simon spoke in a quiet whisper and seized the draped form in a bear hug. It flailed, fighting to extract itself from the tangled cloak and Simon’s immensely strong grip. It thrashed like a wild animal, slamming him against the heavy wooden bedpost. Simon staggered and the sword cane dropped from his grip. He attempted to regain his footing to prevent the thing from taking him to the floor. The frenzied creature took advantage of its unsteady assailant and wrenched itself free.
“Kate! Get back!” Simon shouted as it darted for the open door.
Quills barely missed her as she launched herself aside. Still tangled in the cloak, the creature scrambled out of the room, seeking escape. Simon lit out after it.
The sword glinted on the floor and Kate snatched it up. She tore out into the corridor to see the homunculus with one arm free from the folds of the cloak. Quills rose along its white skin. Kate hissed a warning. In the shallow light, Simon barreled into it with a broad shoulder and drove it down the hall toward the stairs
The impact sent the creature over the banister into the air. The cloak fluttered free. The homunculus plummeted to the tile floor twenty feet below, where it fell hard on its back. Simon leapt the rail and dropped to the foyer with the sinewy grace of a panther. The thing was already on its feet and pounding away through the wide doors of the library in a desperate attempt to escape. Simon snatched up a large chair, single-handedly, and bolted after it.
Kate bounded down the stairs, hardly touching them, wildly falling forward. She hit the floor and raced for the library in time to see the chair smash into the back of the homunculus, sending it sprawling. It gathered its ungainly legs under it again and rose quickly, angry and confused. It spun to face Simon and Kate.
From beyond the sweep of windows, a vigorous moon illuminated their foe for the first time. Its face was humanesque in proportion, but its eyes were large and bulbous, like a chameleon’s. The nose was nothing but two slits and the mouth was a wide gash with snapping sharp teeth. The body was nearly translucent white and it crouched upon long arms, misshapen and bent twice as if it had multiple elbows. The hunched shoulders bristled with threadlike quills that rippled like a field of grain in the wind. It appeared to be naked; Kate noted the contours of thigh muscles and the bulges of bones at its knees, plus long, splayed toes pressed against the wood floor.
“Dear God,” Kate breathed. The horrible distinction between the thing’s human characteristics and its unnatural anatomy left her ill. She was torn between a fierce curiosity about its unusual nature and a desire to see it destroyed. She reached back and closed the library door, locking it, trapping them inside the moonlit room with the creature.
With a hiss, it twisted to show its back. Simon snatched a heavy table and raised it in front of Kate and him like a knight’s shield. There were multiple, rapid plunking sounds against the wood as thin but deadly quills impacted like crossbow bolts. Simon rushed the creature, slamming it into the wall and pinning it there with the thick table.
Tubular pliant fingers crept around the wood near Simon’s face. A bony arm reached for him. Kate swiped at the arm with Simon’s sword, slicing it deep. The creature shrieked and thrashed, shoving the heavy wooden table aside in its pain.