When he pulled back there was a look of relief on his face. “It’s really you this time,” he murmured, looking into her eyes.
“Yes. Yes, it’s me.” Lauren didn’t want to be a cliché or repeat everything the clone had just done but she couldn’t help tearing up just the same. She sniffed and blinked, trying not to let her voice shake too much. “How…how did you know? Blix said even my own mother wouldn’t have been able to tell me apart from that…that thing.”
“She probably wouldn’t.” Xairn changed his grip on her so that he was cradling her protectively close to his chest like a baby. “She doesn’t have my sense of smell.”
“What?” She frowned. “We smell different?”
“The clone smelled like you in your pre-altered state,” Xairn explained. “You smelled different this morning after the DNA alteration had completely taken effect.”
From the shadows of the empty stall, Blix cursed. “That stupid Bleek! To think what I paid and he gave me a pre-altered finger!”
Xairn glared at the thought thief. “You took her finger? You harmed my Lauren?”
“I thought it was a dream,” Lauren confessed. “The weird stork-looking servant gave me a brownie to eat and it must have had some kind of drug in it. I passed out but before I did he…he cut off my little finger. But when I woke up, it was still there so I thought it must have been a nightmare.”
“He regenerated it, of course,” Blix said. Casually, he reached down for his severed fingers, the digits Lauren had bitten off, and reattached them one by one.
It’s like he’s made of Play dough, Lauren thought with a shiver.
Blix eyed her coolly. “No, my dear—plasma. But you’ll have years to find out all the particulars about me, never fear.”
“What are you talking about?” Xairn demanded. “Lauren is leaving with me. But before I go, I’m going to rip you to fucking shreds.” He started to move forward menacingly but Blix sidestepped him.
“Oh, I don’t think so.” Reaching into a pocket of his purple cape, he withdrew something. “Pardon me, your Eminence,” he said, nodding to the Judge of the Market who had come to stand in the entrance of the empty stall. “But I seem to have those defective food cubes after all. See here?”
“Let me examine them.” The Quinlow held out one burning hand.
Gingerly, Blix dropped several blackened cubes into the Judge’s branch-like palm, being very careful not to touch the pale blue flames. “They’re rotted—see, your Eminence? They can have no possible value at all.”
After a moment, the Judge nodded. “Blix is correct—these cubes are defective.”
Xairn set Lauren down and pushed her behind him. “I can’t believe we are even having this conversation. The Spider has just admitted to bribing one of Slk’s servants to maim my female in order to grow a clone to fool me. His crimes should be punished!”
“I was only trying to get what was rightfully mine without a fuss,” Blix protested. “In fact, your Eminence, I propose an amicable solution. Since the true clone and the original are exactly the same, let Xairn have the clone and I will keep this female.” He pointed at Lauren who shrank back against Xairn.
“What do you mean, just the same? We’re not just the same!” she protested.
“I’m afraid you are,” Slk said. Taking the true clone by the hand, he led her forward. “I have been speaking to this female—Blix had even given her your memories. For all intents and purposes, she is you.” He turned to Xairn. “I cannot tell you how I regret this. I will punish the servant Blix bribed in the sternest possible fashion.”
“Death is too good for him,” Xairn snarled. “This female is the only one I want.” He put an arm around Lauren and pulling her protectively close. “I brought her here and I have sworn to see her safely home which I still intend to do.”
Suddenly the Judge, who had been standing silent and thoughtful, spoke in his creaking, sonorous voice. “Blix makes a valid point. As the cubes are defective, it should be his right to take the female into his possession. Xairn the Scourge may have the true clone to do with as he pleases.”
“What?” Lauren felt like hear heart was going to stop. “Surely you can’t be serious.”
“Do you dare to doubt my judgment?” The Quinlow strode forward, its arms outstretched, the blue flames crackling like deadly lightning between its fingers.
Lauren bit her lip. Somehow she knew that if it touched her with those hands, that if even one twig-like finger brushed her cheek, the results would be horribly painful, and quite possibly fatal.