text: The following Short Story is the first of many, set in the world I’ve created for my fantasy/steampunk novel. The aim is to flesh out the world a little and give a bit more depth to some minor characters (and possibly a couple of the main characters) that you’d come across when/if I get published. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the characters/setting or any constructive criticism you may have. Thanks for reading! For some time now animal life steered clear of Mulsoa Forest’s depths. Almost as if they feared whatever was lurking there, and with good reason. In the forest’s deepest part a small clearing sat in silence with a solitary cottage in the center. A sky blue mist clung to the ground, anyone steeping in it would struggle to see their own feet. The smell, that is the smell of death, seeped out from the clearing and wherever the smell went the mist followed closely behind. The clearing hugged tight to the cottage and candle light flickered out from it’s tiny windows. Inside, a skinny, dark haired young man, dressed in long white medical overalls and adoring a strange set of spectacles worked frantically at a workbench of sorts. His fingers occasionally flicking over minuscule switches along his spectacles rim causing various lenses of different magnifications and colors to fall into place. Every piece of wall space seemed to be covered in shelves holding jars containing all manner of things. Some contained herbs and various other plants. Other larger containers seemed to be preserving a variety of body organs, and the odd glass tank here and there contained whole body parts, at least one and full persons worth, although clearly they didn’t all belong to the same person, or species for that matter. Close to where his work bench lay, small shelves full of tiny jars were scattered around full of small pills. More than likely his most commonly used. A puddle of blood grew on his bench ever so slightly, dripping occasionally down to the cobbled stone floor. This was clearly some manner of Doctor and patient situation. His overalls were splashed here and there with blood, both old stains and fresh spatters. His hands were working delicately on the amputated arm of a man, this seemed to be the source of all the blood. The grunts and moans of pain that could be heard almost every time the Doctor made the slightest of moves with his long fingers, would suggest that the patient was awake. A socket of sorts protruded from what was left of the mans arm, just bellow the elbow where the bone would have been. The doctor carefully made adjustments to it, making sure it was securely bolted into the skin. He set his tool down on the bench, it looked like a horrific device, like his spectacles, many switches along it’s length would cause one tool to flip out and be replaced by another. The Doctor disappeared into a small back room and reached up to one of the highest shelves. Even with his height of 6ft he couldn’t quite reach. He sighed to himself and darted back into the main room where his patient lay groaning, he grabbed a small stool and rushed back to the shelf he was trying to reach. Placing it down, he hopped up onto it excitedly. He whipped dust cloth off and his eyes lit up as he examined the device on the shelf, a bronze forearm with pistons and pipes along it’s length. On one part some letters were inscribed in the common tongue which read: Dr. Reginald Qu’s - Armed & Dangerous Gently picking it up and carefully stepping down from the stool he looked it over. He held in his hands a mechanical arm each of the fingers as well as the wrist seemed to be connected to a series of pistons and each of the pistons formed the body of the arm, connecting to a fitting at the end which looked like it would fit his patients socket perfectly. He chuckled to himself. This was the first time in a long while he’d had the chance to try one of his devices on a living subject. He remembered back to his last attempt, a small street urchin that nobody would have missed from a nearby town whom he had lured to his home in the forest. The boy didn’t have the pain threshold for the procedure and the replacement arm didn’t even work how it was supposed to. An expression of horror over how badly it went crept onto his face and he quickly shook it away replacing it with a smile, This was the forth try overall and he was feeling slightly more confident this time. He stepped back into the main room and placed the arm on the bench lining it up carefully with the mans stump. “Now...” He said, holding his breath as he considered what was about to happen. Trying not to get his hopes up as his work was, hopefully, about to come to fruition. “...This may hurt a tad, and as you know I’m all out of pain suppre..”. The patient interrupted him with a low gravely voice, he shouted through gritted teeth “Get it ovur with!” The man on the bench seemed to draw as much focus as he could to glare at the doctor. It only lasted a few seconds before he had to let his head roll back to rest on the table and take a deep breath, clearly in agony already. “As you wish Mr. Rasmussen...” The Doctor replied in a tone that said don’t say I didn’t warn you. He flicked his fingers over a couple of switches on his spectacles and the lenses switched around to be replaced with clear glass. He grabbed the mans stump and the patient growled. Then he slid the mechanical arm up and the socket slid into the matching fitting and he twisted it a little locking it into place like he would a light bulb. The man screamed and did his best to cut the scream off as soon as he was able. Deep breathing, teeth grinding and low growls followed as the pain subsided. The pistons began to hiss and move and as they did so, the fingers and wrist followed suit. The Doctor grinned “Ha!” He exclaimed. “Try making a fist?” He suggested. The man did so with ease. “Fantastic! Now, try moving all of your fingers and your hand like you would normally be able to?” The pistons hissed a little as he did so and steam began to emerge from a vent near the socket. Doctor Qu bent over and examined all the moving parts one by one. “Seems to be working just fine!” He stood up straight and an ear to ear grin flashed to his face. “Now obviously you won’t be able to feel anything with this” he said looking down and shaking it, as if trying to gesture towards what he meant. Rasmussen growled through gritted teeth once more as he did so. “Oh... sorry” he said after realizing the poor fellow was still in pain. Rasmussen began to sit himself up, Qu assisted him and began talking again “You must remember to let your arm heal before using this... Do.. Not... Lift anything ot lean on anything with my arm until you feel the pain has gone. By that time it will be healed and you go about your business as usual..” He paused to make sure he had eye contact with Rasmussen before continuing “...If you use it before it is healed, the wound will tear open again and the socket and all my hard work will be ruined. And you Mr..” he poked his chest with two fingers “..You will be lying in a puddle of blood and bleeding out before you can say...” He paused again as he searched his mind for a suitable large and difficult to pronounce word, quickly giving up he hurriedly added “...pretty damn quickly OK. Only whatever God you pray too will be able to help you then”. Rasmussen nodded in understanding “Fine..” He said impatiently. “How lon till av healed?” Qu shrugged with his lips and then nodded to himself “You should be fine in about two span, but like I said before, once it’s comfortable, once the pain stops, then try it.” he rummaged around in a draw under his workbench and pulled out a long piece of material tying both ends to each other. “Here is a sling, you can use it to support your arm until it is ready to use.” He threw it over him and helped him put his arm in it. Rasmussen swung his legs around and slid himself of the bench. standing up straight he was a clear 7 inches taller than the Doctor. he was broad and seemed to be made entirely of muscle, and now metal. Qu helped him get dressed and swung his long coat over his shoulders after only getting the one of his arms into it. The other coat sleeve hung lifeless on his left side. With his good hand he dug deep into one of his coats pockets and pulled out a large purse, he weighed it momentarily in his hand before tossing it towards the Doctor who caught it in his chest with a thud “Da gold in ther shud cuver da cost plenty...” It was easily more than Qu was thinking of charging by a large amount so he didn’t argue. When he looked up from the coin purse Rasmussen had already opened the door, tuning back he nodded at the doctor and stepped outside walking silently out into the dead of night. Qu dropped the purse on the workbench and raced over to the open door, shouting after him “Feel free to come back any time you need further replacements or modifications! Tell your friends! Doctor Reginald Qu at your service! Provided you have gold of course, otherwise you’ll be at my service!” He fell silent and watched Rasmussen disappeared between the thick trees, not once acknowledging him. He swung the door shut and turned on his heel flicking a switch by the door as he did so. A loud series of clunking and grinding noises followed as which seemed to emanate from the door itself. He sat himself down in his soft leather chair, not bothering to clean up and began to doze off sighing happily to himself he said “Ahhh, another satisfied customer...” and let his eyelids fall shut. A cold breeze made its way around the room seemingly from nowhere and in his ear he head the whisper of a woman’s voice, her breath felt icy against his skin. Her voice was beautiful, gentle and delicate “The first satisfied customer you mean” She said playfully with a slight giggle.