Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 89
the doorway, and as he did Calandria May screamed.
"No no no!" He ran out into the hall, but stopped in the
doorway to the bedroom. A thing was on the bed, and its great
golden limbs bounced from the canopy and down again as it
tried to stab Lady May. She was holding onto the yellow
blades at the end of the thing's arms, and was raised and flung
down repeatedly as it tried to get past her hands to stab her.
Blood ran black down her wrists, and from her throat. She was
still screaming.
Jordan stood frozen in horror. It could not have crept
past him as he stood in the lavatory, he would have seen or
heard it. That meant it had been in the room all along, either on
top of the canopy, or... under the bed.
He backed away. He had the gauze--he could make a
break for it now, and nothing in this place could touch him. If
Lady May wasn't dead she would be in moments. He could
escape.
And run until he had to sleep? And then to awake with
Armiger in his tomb? What, now, could he escape to?
One of the golden thing's legs was right at the edge of the
bed. Jordan tried to shout--it came out as a choking sound--and
running forward, he kicked at that leg. The thing lost balance
and toppled past him onto the floor.
It rose in a flurry of hissing, whirring limbs. He expected
it to attack him but it didn't, instead moving around him to
remount the bed.
"No!" He dove onto the bed, raising the gauze above
himself. Terrified, staring into glass curves and white metal, he
still heard Lady May moving behind him. "The sheet," she
croaked.
The mechal thing's arm struck past him. It lifted
Calandria May and tossed her across the room in one motion as