First Down

by Paula Mabbel

  He turned off the main street and into a dark ally. He needed a moment to get his mind straight. He needed a moment to focus his attentions on his sister’s scent and her scent alone. He stood, unmoving in the shadows, as he left his body behind and went deeply into his mind. He shouldn’t have done that. He should have kept his wits with him. He should have known that the creature that had taken his sister had done so in the hopes that others would follow.

  Sam felt something tight wrap around his throat from behind. For a long moment he could do nothing, but struggle with the seemingly invisible attacker. He let his arms fly wildly in the hopes that he might make contact, but he didn’t. His lungs had started to burn. Not in their normal simmering way, but in the desperate bid for oxygen. Sam could feel the world starting to grow hazy around him. The darkness that he had walked into was surrounding him and pooling around his eyes, as his brain started to run sluggishly. He tried one last time desperately to strike out at his attacker, before he fell to his knees and everything went black.

  *******

  Sam opened his eyes and closed them again quickly. He could sense the ambience from the bright lighting he had just encountered, as his eyes tried to repair themselves from the shock. He let his eyes open slightly again in the hope that he might get them used to the light. It took him a while, but eventually he could where he was. Not that being able to see helped him.

  The room was white with no windows and only one door. Sam was lying down uncomfortable on something hard. He could feel pressure on his ankles and wrists where they had been strapped down to whatever it was he was on. He tried to lift his head, but he found that he couldn’t.

  “Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?” Sam called out into the empty silence. His throat felt sore when he spoke. It reminded him of how he’d gotten into the position he was in. He instinctively tried to reach his hand up, so that he could check out the damage, but was quickly reminded of his straps when they tore into his skin and forced his hand back down. “Hello? I’m awake,” he called out when he realized that nobody had to come to his first little outburst.

  He heard footsteps echoing from behind the door. He tilted his head, as much as he could, so that he’d be able to see whoever it was who was about to step through. The door seemed to unlock slowly. Sam could tell from the intricate clicks of the system that it wasn’t something you’d be able to pick to get yourself out. The door swung open without making a sound and a middle aged man with sharp cheekbones and lively blue eyes walked into the room.

  “I’m sorry that we’ve had to bring you in like this,” he said, as he pushed the door gently and it swung shut. The intricate clicks started again and Sam knew that the door was locking itself. “I’m sure that you can understand our trouble though, I mean it’s not like you’re all going to walk into this willingly,” the guy said, as though Sam knew what was going on.

  “Walk into what willingly?”

  “What? You don’t know?” The guy said with surprise filled eyes. “I thought you would have realized when people started to go missing. To be honest I thought that you would have sent out more heroes like yourself a lot sooner than you did,” he said, as though he knew all about the magical community.

  “What’s going on?” Sam asked in frustration because it was clear that the guy in front of him was playing games.

  “You know that’s no way to talk to me if you want answers,” the guy said as he clicked his tongue. “You should have better manners.”

  “Says the guy who’s strapped me down to a table,” Sam said dryly.

  “I had to do that for my own protection,” the guy said a little defensively.

  “Well, you wouldn’t have had to protect yourself if you hadn’t kidnapped me in the first place,” Sam pointed out.

  “You just don’t get it do you?” The guy said and a glimmer of madness touched his eyes. “All of this has to happen. The world needs to be cleaned of dirty magic blood. We must purify the earth,” he said in a tangent.

  “You think that you’re purifying the earth?”

  “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 wh
ere 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?”