by Paula Mabbel
“I know I am. You know, you can look at me as though I’m crazy all you want,” he said indignantly. “But I know what I’m doing. I know where those humans went wrong last time. I know how to clear the earth of you all once and for all.”
Sam thought about everything his captor had said. “What do you mean those humans? You’re human aren’t you?” He asked, as he eyed the man with suspicion.
“Don’t be stupid. Of course I’m not human. How do you think I managed to break through your glamour spell? I’ve lived in the human world long enough to know their ways though. I’ve lived with them long enough to understand their special brand of magic.”
“Humans don’t have magic,” Sam said quickly.
“Oh, but they do,” the guy said with a smirk. “It’s just to them it’s called science.”
“So, go on then,” Sam pushed. “Why don’t you tell me this master plan of yours, since you’re so sure that you will succeed?”
The guy looked at Sam for a moment with a deep look of thought. It was as if he was trying to decide whether telling Sam could do any harm, but he must have decided that it couldn’t because he opened his mouth to speak. “I’m going to get you all to turn on each other,” he said gleefully. “You should see the progress I’m making the anger drug. It’s amazing and it’s working a treat on your sister,” he said, as he brought his eyes down to meet Sam’s.
“What are have you done to my sister?” Sam demanded to know, but the guy just laughed at him. “Tell me what you’ve done,” Sam roared, as the guy unlocked the white door and walked back out of the room that Sam was stuck in.
Sam could feel the heat in his chest getting unbearable, as his whole body started to twitch with the urge to shift forms. He knew though that it wouldn’t be safe. If his sister was somewhere in the building, then he had to save her and that meant that he couldn’t shift because he’d bring the whole building down around him. He was stuck and he was quickly running out of options.
*******
The door’s lock started to click open and Sam turned his head, so that he would be able to see whoever it was who was coming in. The door swung open in front of him and he found himself looking at another middle aged guy with messy sandy coloured hair and warm smile that seemed oddly misplaced considering the situation.
“I’ve brought you some food,” the guy said, as he lifted his arms, so that Sam could see the tray that his was carrying. He walked over to the bed where Sam was still strapped and started to loosen the ties when the door had finished locking itself. “I’m George by the way,” he said when he’d freed both of Sam’s hands, so that he could eat his food.
“What is this like good cop, bad cop?” Sam asked as he reached out and took the roll of bread that was balanced on the edge of his plate. He took a bite out of it and found himself overwhelmed with the taste of staleness and mould.
“What?” George asked him a little confused.
“Well, I saw the boss of the operation earlier and he certainly wasn’t as friendly as you,” Sam explained, as he reached over for the cup of water, which he was sure wouldn’t be tainted with age. He took a deep drink from the cup and felt the relief from the cooling touch of the water.
“You know, he isn’t my boss,” George said with a small shake of his head. “He’s my brother; we’re working on this together.”
“Why would you do this though?” Sam asked him because he felt as though George might give a more reasonable answer. “Why would you try to destroy your own kind?”
“You’re not my kind. Not anymore. Your kind kicked us out of the woodland when we were only children. Our parents didn’t survive out here. We were left to defend for ourselves. We realized that the humans had been right. Magical creatures are not the good beings that they claim to be. If they were then they would have never had sent my mother and father to their death and they would have never have sent two boys into a world where dreams die,” he explained to me.
“Why was your family expelled from the forest?” I asked him because there was something about the story that just didn’t make sense. Sam had heard about creatures being banished from the forest before, but only because they had committed serious crimes that would have been impossible to forgive.
“I don’t know,” George said. “I mean I’ve asked my brother because he’s older than me and he remembers more about it, but he won’t tell me. He just says that there was no real reason and that we must help the humans to clear the earth of the impure souls that live among them.”
“You realize that even if that story is true, not all magical creatures are bad. My sister is a good woman. She’s good hearted and kind mannered, she had done no harm to anybody and yet, you chose to kidnap her.”
“Is your sister the pretty red headed girl who was taken yesterday?” George asked Sam.
Sam nodded. “I believe so, yes.”
“Then you have no reason to fret. She will not come to any harm. She’s been picked to be a pusher like you.”
“What’s a pusher?”
“It’s kind of complicated. I mean my brother realized a long time ago that the humans could never win the war on magic. He realized that the only way to properly wipe it out was to turn each creature against the other, but obviously he had no idea about how he would do it. That’s when he started to look into science. He figured that maybe human magic would be able to help and he was right. He’d managed to make an elixir that changes the way that magical creatures think. I’m not sure how it works exactly but it turns other people with magic into their enemies.”
“So, what you’re going to build a magical army to destroy the rest of the magical community?” Sam asked because he needed confirmation that he’d heard everything that he had and that he wasn’t going crazy.
“That’s the plan,” said George with a small nod. “I mean we’ve already got the stuff working on your sister and she’d doing great, so I’ve got very high hopes for you. I mean can you imagine how unstoppable we’ll be with two dragons on our side?”
“I will never fight for you,” Sam said with more force than his current situation really allowed for.
“Oh, but you will,” George said, as he took in Sam’s stony expression. “I mean you won’t really have a choice in the matter. You should be happy though. I mean you’re getting to do all of this with your sister. It could have been worse. We could have made you kill her instead.”
“What you’re doing is wrong,” Sam tried to explain to George, but he was pretty sure that it was a useless attempt. “The magical world is not your enemy. The only enemy here is you and your brother. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see that what you’re doing is wrong? Can’t you see that the magical community just want to live in peace?”
“The magical community don’t what peace even means. That’s why you’ve locked yourselves away from the rest of the world. Because you think you’re so much better than everybody else. You think that you can just hide away until you’re forgotten about and then come back and take over, but it’s not happening. My brother and I will protect the world from all of you and then we will be thought of as heroes.”
“Is that what your brother has told you?” Sam asked. “Is that what your brother had led you to believe? Do you not realize that if you are to truly purify the world of magic then you both would have to die along with the rest of us?”
“We are more human that magic,” said George-shaking his head. “We will be fine.”
*******
Sam had been locked in the white room for at least a week or that’s what he estimated. There weren't any windows in the room, so he couldn’t be sure how many times the sun had risen and then fallen from the sky. He was basing his estimate on how many meals had been brought to him by George.
He’d brought him seven meals, which made Sam believe that he’d been there for seven days. He wondered how much longer they were going to keep him captive. He couldn’t understand why they had done nothing with him. So,
when the door opened and George walked through with his eighth meal, he decided it was time to get some more answers.
“How long do you plan to keep me locked up?” He asked George, as soon as he could see him.
“I don’t think you’ll be in here much longer,” George said, as he loosened the straps that were keeping Sam tight to the bed.
“What are you going to do with me once I leave this room?”
“Well, aren’t you full of questions today? You’ll undergo the same process that your sister is going through now.”
“What’s the process? What are you doing to her?” Sam asked and he couldn’t hide his anger from his voice.
“Don’t worry she’s perfectly fine. She’s been taking the elixir for just over a week now and she’s almost ready.”
“Where is she? I want to see her. I want to make sure that’s she’s alright,” Sam said, as he pushed the tray of food roughly towards George who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“I don’t think I can arrange that,” George said and there was sadness in his eyes, which Sam didn’t expect. “I mean I really would if I could. I know how important family is and I know it must be driving you wild knowing that she’s here and that you can’t see her.”
“She’s in this building?” Sam asked quickly.
“Well, yes, but you won’t be able to get to her. My brother and I knew perfectly what you both were before we brought you out of the forest and these rooms have been designed to be totally dragon proof. The only way that you’re getting out is if we let you out.”
“Then why don’t you let me out? You’ve got a key. I just want to make sure that she’s alright,” Sam tried to reason with George.
“If I let you out then you’ll kill us all. I’m not stupid.”
“I give you my word that I won’t, as long as my sister is okay,” Sam said and he meant every word.
“I wish I could believe you,” George said. “My brother would never forgive me though. If you’d like I could pass a long a message to her, but that’s all I can do.”
“How do I know that you’ll really give her the message?” Sam asked him.
“You don’t I guess; you’re just going to have to trust me.”
“I’m supposed to trust the man who won’t trust me?” Sam countered him.
“Well, I don’t think you’re in much a position to negotiate,” George pointed out.
“I guess you’re right,” Sam said and he felt defeated. “Will you tell her that I love her and that I’m sorry I didn’t listen?” He asked George because he knew it would probably be his only chance to get the message to her, even if the chance was slim.
“I’ll tell her that,” George said with a fierce honesty that made Sam feel compelled to believe him.
“Just out of interest,” Sam said when he saw that George was getting ready to leave, “but what kind of creature are you? I mean you look human and I can’t see a glamour spell on you, so--what you are a shifter like me?”
“Kind of,” George said with a conflicted look in his eyes. He looked as though he wasn’t sure whether to tell Sam the truth. He looked as though he was afraid of getting into trouble for saying too much.
“Well, what do you shift into?” Sam pushed him curiously, because he’d never seen a magical creature be so shifty about their origins.
“Anything,” George said with an instant look of regret on his face.
“What, you’re a shapeshifter?” Sam asked in surprise. He’d heard about shapeshifters, but he’d never met any. They had become somewhat of a legend in his part of the woodland. The only known sighting of one had been around twenty years before, when a murder had taken place and they’d been thrown out of the forest. “Oh,” Sam said before he could stop himself.
“Oh?” George asked him quickly sensing that Sam had worked something out. “What do you mean, oh?”
“Nothing,” Sam said quickly. He didn’t want to reveal the truth to George. He didn’t want to tell him the bitter story that his brother must have known, but had decided to keep from him.
“What do you know?” George asked him and a frown creased lines into his forehead as he waited for Sam to answer.
“I don’t know anything,” Sam said as he avoided George’s eyes.
“Stop lying to me,” George demanded, as he threw the empty tray at the wall. It smashed into it and then clattered to the floor. The sound echoed around in the nearly empty room for a moment, before a heavy silence took its place. “Tell me what you know,” George said again with a steady voice that had been born out of rage.
“Well, I’m not sure I actually know anything,” Sam said quickly. “It’s just a rumour that I heard growing up,” he explained as he tried to downplay the information. “It’s just I heard about a shapeshifter family who got expelled from the forest, but they weren’t expelled for no reason. They were expelled because their eldest son had murdered an entire village.”
*******
George looked at me blankly. “I don’t believe you,” he muttered, as his head started to shake. Sam could tell from the look in his eyes though that he did believe him. He could tell from the sick look of realization of George’s face that he was seeing his brother for the first time for what he really was. “Why did he do it?” He asked without Sam having to say anything else.
“No one knows,” Sam said gently. He wanted to reach out and comfort George. He looked like a broken man. His playful eyes had dimmed with the truth; his bright smile had faded into sorrow. “I’m sorry you had to hear this from me,” Sam said because he didn’t know what else to say and there was nothing else he could do to make the situation any better.
“It’s not your fault,” George said weakly. He walked over and took back his seat at the edge of Sam’s bed. He looked weak. He looked almost as though he might pass out at any moment. “Do you think this is why my brother is setting up the attack? Do you think he is trying to finish the job he started all of those years ago?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that your brother is wrong. The magical community is a good place. The people who live there are good people. They do not deserve this. They do not deserve to be killed. They went into hiding in the hopes that one day we might live peacefully among the humans. That is all we have ever wanted.”
“I don’t know what to do,” George said. His voice sounded distant coming from his mouth, but that didn’t surprise Sam because George’s eyes had totally spaced out. Sam wondered what George was thinking about. He wondered what choice George would make at the end of his thought process.
“You should do the right thing,” Sam said as he gently tried to push George into the right direction. “If you stop this now, if you go back to our people and explain what happened then they will welcome you home. There is no reason why you should be living like this. You have done nothing wrong and I will vouch for you,” Sam reassured him.
“You’d vouch for me after I kidnapped you?” George asked with a look of disbelief. “You’d vouch for me after I’ve been drugging your sister to comply with the will of my brother?”
Sam had to swallow hard at the mention of his sister. He knew that George wasn’t an innocent party in what had happened, but he also knew that he’d been manipulated into it. “Yes, I will vouch for you. It isn’t because you have done no wrong though, it’s because you’re going to show me that you know what’s right,” Sam said deeply. “You need to set me free from these chains. You need to let me find my sister and in return, I will ensure that you have a place in the forest with us.”
“What will happen to my brother?” George asked reluctantly.
Sam thought about his answer. He knew the easiest and probably safest option was to lie, but he didn’t feel as though that was the right thing to do. He was trying to gain George’s trust and that meant that he had to be truthful. “I’m going to kill him,” Sam said in an even voice.
George didn’t look surprised with Sam’s answer. “Is there no other
way?” He asked.
“Do you think that you’d be able to make your brother stop what he’s doing?” Sam asked him.
“I doubt it,” George admitted.
“Then it must be done for the safety of our people,” Sam said and he could feel his look turn grave with seriousness. “I’m sorry, I know it must be hard for you to hear, but your brother has done this to himself. Your brother is the boy who slaughtered an entire village and tried to frame somebody else for it. Ultimately your brother is the reason that your mother and father died when you were so young. If he hadn’t committed the crime, then you would have all been welcome to say.”
“I know,” George said. “I know that it must be done, but that doesn’t make this any easier. He is still my brother. I will always love him. That is not a choice that I get to make.”
Sam nodded. He could tell that George had accepted what had to be done. “Will you release me please?” He asked him, as he lifted hands, so that George would be able to reach the locks that were keeping him in place.
“Yes,” George said with a sharp nod. He leant forward and pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, before he placed one of them into the lock. A click rang out in the room and Sam felt the pressure release from his wrists. He waited for George to unfasten the chains around his ankles and then he swung himself off the bed so that he could stretch.
“Thank you,” Sam said when he’d clicked and cracked every bone in his body. He could feel the baby starting to move again in his stomach, as the blood started to flow properly around his body. “Now, where is my sister?”
“I’ll take you to her,” George said, as he stood up quickly.
Their eyes met for a moment. Sam could feel George starting to explore his eyes, as they stood looking at each other. He wondered what it was that George was trying to find. “It’s going to be okay,” he said eventually when George had turned to look at the door.
“Maybe,” George said, as he unlocked the white door that had been keeping Sam from the outside world.
“Hey,” Sam said as he reached forward and grabbed George’s arm. George froze under his touch. Sam could feel a strange tingling sensation rush over his body, as George’s hot skin burnt through the fire that was already living within Sam. Sam knew the feeling. Sam had felt it before with his wife. George and he had spent too much time together and now their bond was getting stronger. “It’s going to be alright,” he said to George whose cheeks had started to burn pink.