MENAGERIE

Twelve – In which Red Sonja gets the guided tour

Each cage contained a monstrosity. There was a cat with a monkey's prehensile tail, hanging from the topmost bar of its cage; there was some sort of enormous lizard with the tail and sting of a scorpion; there was a large flightless bird with the head of an antelope; there was the wolf with human arms that Jharlen had described seeing earlier.

They were all staring at her intently; and they all had human eyes.

Galud opened a large chest from which a ghastly smell arose. He fished out several hunks of dripping flesh which he distributed to his creations. They attacked the meat hungrily and noisily.

"Nothing is wasted, you note," Galud remarked. "Those parts which I cannot use directly serve as sustenance."

Sonja pondered the meaning of this remark. "You mean some of that meat was – human?"

"Indeed. I assure you that no part of you will be discarded. He opened the door of an empty cage and beckoned to seventeen. In here."

Sonja was carried inside and dropped on the floor. She knew she ought to have seized the opportunity to leap into action, but the pain of being held so long between two sets of teeth wouldn't allow her to do so. The creature withdrew and Galud closed the door and turned a large key. Seventeen then entered its own cage and was fed in its turn.

"Why are you doing this?" Sonja asked.

"I wish to create perfection," Galud said.

"What? You call these monstrosities perfection?"

"Not at all. They are merely the first steps along the road. I have far to go yet. But nature is haphazard, would you not agree? It gives rise to creatures with one or two fine characteristics, but with equally reprehensible defects. The antelope has speed and grace, but lacks strength. The crocodile possesses strength, but not dexterity. And all creatures lack intellect. All save one."

Intelligence, thought Sonja. "Those eyes -"

"Indeed. Each of my creations, well, each since my earliest assays, has a human brain; far superior to that of any beast. But for some reason which I have not yet discovered, a human brain requires human eyes. I tried once to link a human brain to the eyes of an eagle, but it was not a success."

Something else occurred to Sonja. "And you communicate with these creatures?"

"Up to a point. They're not great conversationalists – but I can read their simpler thoughts. See through their eyes, if I concentrate; which is how I knew that you'd snatched up that alembic. And, of course, they do my bidding."

"It sounds as if you're trying to turn yourself into some sort of God."

"What is a God, but a creator of life? What am I but a creator of life?"

"A perverter of life, more like."

"You may think so; but as I said, my work is far from complete. I seek to perfect that which other creators began; and I have, I admit, had my failures."

"What failures?"

"You wish to hear more about my work?"

"I've nothing better to do right now." More to the point, Sonja thought, I need to stall for time. Where in Hades is Jharlen? This must be the floor with the open window; yes, there it is. So where is he?

Distracted by this thought she missed part of Galud's rambling dissertation. "…but of course, many of my earlier creations died. It was only to be expected. Then I found that my control over some was incomplete, especially at a distance."

"You let these things loose in the forest?"

"As an experiment, yes. Regrettably, one failed to return. It will have to be destroyed."

"Let me guess – a serpent?"

"Yes; how did you know? Ah, I see you must have encountered it. I hope you did it no harm?"

"Well, I killed it." Sonja disliked lying, even to maniacs like Galud; but she sensed that the idea would aggravate him.

She was correct. His eyes blazed with a sudden fury. "You did what? By what right do you murder one of my creations?"

"You said yourself that it would have to be destroyed."

"I did. But I was its creator. Only I have the right to destroy it." As suddenly as it had flared up, his temper vanished and his voice became detached again. "I think there must've been some contamination in the serum."

"Serum?"

"Indeed. You see, the biggest practical difficulty I faced was one of scale. Certain parts of some

animals are too small to be usefully grafted onto others. My solution to this was serum, whereby I increase the size of various components. Take number ten, here." He gestured towards the lizard-scorpion, "a monitor lizard; but the tail which I attached to it had to be increased in size many times before it was of any practical use. The effect on its venom, incidentally, was most interesting, as you may discover later.

"But the serum. The serpent – number thirteen – was my first attempt at growing an entire specimen. It failed, at least in part; but I learn from my failures. I refined the serum and have perfected it – as you can see from number twenty."

He gestured to a cage in the far corner of the room. It was furthest from the light and it was hard for her to discern what sort of creature – or combination of creatures – lay within. She stared. It was black, it was huge it was –

In spite of herself, Sonja screamed.