Brother Linden's backup plan

The cart carrying Brother Linden, Sister Lilith and Siegfried was more than a block away from the center of the village when Siegfried suddenly looked up and saw the giant dragon.

"Fire!" he exclaimed, pointing at the dragon's fiery breath. "Fire!"

And just like that, he was climbing out of the cart and running like hell away from the dragon.

"Well, so much for that idea," said Sister Lilith.

"Relax!" cried Brother Linden. "I have a backup plan."

xxx

Twenty minutes later, Brother Linden and Sister Lilith were knocking on the door of a certain house on the edge of the village.

A dark-haired man in a monk's robe answered and asked, "What do you want?"

"Are you Warden Meers by any chance?" asked Brother Linden.

"Who wants to know?" asked the man at the door.

Brother Linden replied, "I represent the Dark Brotherhood of --"

"Oh, for Lucifer's sake!" exclaimed the dark-haired man. "I told you folks before that I'm not doing any more contract work for Adelle and Topher. I'm tired of being asked to fix Whiskey and Echo and don't even get me started on all the issues you've had with Alpha. If you wish to have your galateas and galateos fixed so badly, why don't you all go to that Geppetto guy and his assistant the Blue Fairy? I'm done playing Pygmalion for you people."

"Silly warlock," said Brother Linden. "We don't represent the Dark Brotherhood of Rossum. We present the Dark Brotherhood of the Wolf, the Ram and the Stag."

"So?" asked the dark-haired man.

"We wish to acquire the services of the two golems you refer to as the Girlfriend and the Slayer," said Brother Linden. "Specifically, Salome and Mina."

"How did you find out about them?" asked the dark-haired man.

"We have our sources," said Brother Linden.

"Well, I'm not sure I can lend them to you," said the dark-haired man.

"Oh, we're prepared to pay you a hefty price for their services," said Brother Linden. "Also I feel obliged to inform you that a man in your position is better off having the Dark Brotherhood as a friend rather than an enemy. Unless of course, you wish us to tell the Watchers Council about the type of stuff you've been doing with Salome and Mina in private."

The dark-haired man turned pale.

"Of course you may have them," he replied. "Just give me a little time to get them both ready."

"Take all the time you want," said Sister Lilith. "However, I am obliged to ask you just one more question."

"What is it?" said the dark-haired man who was so obviously Warden Meers.

"Have you managed to imprint either figure with the Asimov spell?" asked Sister Lilith.

"Hell, no!" said Warden Meers. "That spell is a son of a bitch to imprint onto this type of golem."

"So, in other words, you have two golems with superhuman strength and absolutely no qualms about taking a human life," said Sister Lilith. "That's good to hear!"