Doll Legs

Fingers digging at hard, unforgiving marble flooring, a warrior drags herself through the halls of an abandoned castle. Inside the tall walls, the warrior’s gasps and grunts echoed. Outside, a war raged. One side slaughtered another in a war waged for kings greed and false pride.

     Crawling through cold, neglected halls, she continued on. Searching for something, anything to stop the bleeding. Anything to give her a second chance. Her legs gone, she was useless out in battle. But she didn’t come here to die a senseless death.

     Her hand hits cold metal. Casting heavy-lidded eyes up, she sees the painted face of a doll staring down at her from behind the bars of a cage. It’s eyes were glittering gems with a depth unknown in any other pair.  

    It’s mouth opened and a voice came out, sounding distant, as if from an old radio. “Poor thing.”  The voice fades in and out of static. "Poor poor thing.“ The doll tilts it head, eyes staring unblinkingly down at the wounded warrior. It’s movements shuttered and slowed as if it hadn’t moved in a long long time. Cobwebs hung from its hair and arms and it’s yellowed, lacy clothing.

    ”I will give what you are missing. I will give you my legs. They are useless to me.“ The doll’s words nearly faded out by the last line, sounding far, far away.

    "G-give?” The warrior’s own words came out far more faded than the doll’s. It seemed not to hear as it slowly reaches long, jointed arms towards her. Her senses dulled and pricked as she fell unconscious. The last thing she felt was the cold hands of the doll.

_____

    She woke to the deep, deep eyes of the doll. It leaned against its cage. With a shuttering gasp, the warrior scrambled away and sat up. Clutching a hand to her chest, she looked over the doll. It hadn’t moved when she had and instead sat perfectly still, slumped against the bars. She could no longer see its face through its curtain of hair.

    It looked as if it hadn’t moved in centuries.

    She watches it warily, trying to recall where she was and why. It wasn’t till a look around revealed a path of dried blood that she remembered. Casting a reluctant look down she saw legs. Long, slender, smooth white legs. Tentatively, she touched them. It was as smooth as it looked, colder than the floor below, and as hard as the marble.

    These were not her legs. The contrast of her own brown, calloused hands contested that.

    She had lost her legs. And here were new ones. Remembering the faded words, the warrior glanced over at the unmoving doll. Then at the empty space its legs had been. Its arms the same smooth white of her legs.

    The doll had given the warrior its legs.

    Slowly, she moved towards the doll, fear replaced with worry. Was it broken now? She wanted to thank it, even if it didn’t mean anything to a doll. Was it broken beyond repair?

    The doll still didn’t move. Frowning, the warrior looks up at the cage surrounding the doll. Golden and tall, reminiscent of a gilded bird cage with no door. The bars had enough space for an arm to go through, even a leg, but nothing more.

    As she placed a hand on the deceivingly delicate bars, the doll stirred. Drawing her hand back, the warrior watched the doll shiver and shake. Pops and clicks could be heard, along with a distinct sound of whirling. The doll straightened it’s self, straining to lift its head and look at her with jewelled eyes. Its mouth opened limply and she could hear the same distant radio voice.

    “Do they work?”

    Looking down at her legs, she hesitated. Only with the pressure of the doll’s eyes on her did she dare to try. Again, she gripped the cage bars and used them to push herself to her feet in one strong heave. Wobbling, she kept a tight hold on the bars. Slowly, slowly she let go and put her full weight on the legs.

    The white doll legs held her weight easily. They were longer than her original legs. The height difference must have lead to a lot of her imbalance. The warrior could bend the legs on their own, though the movements were tight and resistant, requiring more concentration than she was used to using.

    After a while of simply testing the mobility and flexibility of her new legs, the warrior heaved a heavy breath and sat back down. Exhausted and in pain, she smiled. Surely, she would learn to walk with these legs.

    Looking back up at the doll, she saw it was still watching. Its face was showing a half worn away blank expression. The warrior could not tell if it was happy or if it could be happy. Still, she smiled at it.

    “Thank you. I’ll find a way to repay you…. In fact!” She scooted closer to the bars, assessing the gaps. “Would you allow me to try and fix you up?”

    The silence that followed was so long that she worried the doll had stopped working again. Eventually, the doll nodded, emitting a grinding sound as it moved closer to the cage wall the warrior was at. Close enough that she could reach through and take an arm.

    “You fixed me. Now it’s my turn to fix you. Only seems fair, right?”