Changing of the Glads

by Joy Spraycar

  “Well...” His lips formed a grim line, and his gaze met hers.

  “Well what? Hurry, open the door before they find out you’re here.”

  “I cannot.”

  She searched his eyes. “The keys to the dungeon are in the guard’s room. Couldn’t you find them?”

  His eyes dropped to the floor.

  She pulled her hands from him and curled them back around the bars. “How will you open the cell without a key?”

  “I have not come to open the door.” He looked back at her and wrapped his hands over top hers.

  “What? You have to.”

  He shook his head.

  “Why?”

  “You cannot leave.”

  “Of course I can.” Zalphia laughed nervously. She tossed her head toward the stairs. “All you have to do is get the keys, come back, and open the door. We can run. But this time we’ll go faster, get further away. They’ll never find us. I know it.”

  His hands slid off hers, and he sat back on his heels. “You do not understand. I cannot release you.”

  “But you’re here.” The tips of her fingers dug into the fleshy part of her thumb. “All you have to do is get the keys. Come on, Max. Hurry before they discover you.”

  Rising back to his knees, he slid one finger through the bars, and she felt it trembling as he brushed it across her cheek. “I wish that were the case, but it is not. Platy has booby-trapped your body.”

  Zalphia huffed. “I don’t care what Platy’s done. Neither should you. She can kill me here. Or we can try to get far enough away that she won’t be able to reach me. So go, Max. Go and get the keys.”

  “No. Platy can control the chips. I will not take chances with your life by running.”

  “So what? You’ve cut chips out before. You can do it again.”

  He cupped her chin. “You cannot know how hard that was for me. I am no physician, and you are lucky you were not killed. I could never do that again.”

  “Then let the chips stay. I don’t care. If I stay here, I’m dead anyway.”

  “It is not only Platy. There is more.” He moved his face closer. “There are murmurings about the Arena Board wanting something from you. Have you any idea what that might be?”

  “No.”

  “I have heard Platy discussed something with the General, and they called a meeting of the entire board.”

  “The whole board?” Her brow furrowed. “But why?”

  Max shook his head. “I do not understand myself.”

  “Can’t you just look into Platy’s mind and find out what she told them?”

  “I tried, but she is a blank, just like you. So, you must appear before the Arena Board so we can ascertain what they want.”

  She didn’t care what the Board wanted. They needed to run, to leave the arena and inquiry far behind. That was their only option to stay alive.

  Zalphia grabbed his hand. “Max, look at me.”

  Fear laced his eyes when they met her gaze.

  “Why do you care what the Arena Board wants? I don’t.”

  “It is not I that care what they want... it is –”

  “Then – let – me – out.”

  “I wish from the bottom of my heart that I could.” He rubbed the back of her knuckles with his thumb. “But it is imperative that we find out what they are looking for.”

  “Well, I don’t care what they’re looking for. And neither should you.” She reached out and laid her other hand against the line of his jaw. “I want you. I want us to be together. Don’t you care what I want? Don’t you want what is best for us? Leaving me here at the mercy of men like the Arena General is not in my best interest. You know that. I’ll never believe you would put them before me.”

  “I am not putting them before you.” He squeezed her hand. “I would never do that. But your well-being requires you to stay here. Be close to Platy.”

  “Close to Platy?” Zalphia jerked her hand away. “You have got to be kidding! She’s the last person on earth I want to be close to.”

  “Shhh.” Max glanced at the stairs before turning his attention back to Zalphia.

  “Don’t shhh me. Get me out of here.”

  “I wish I could.” He grabbed her hand.

  “But you can. All you have to do is get the keys and open the door.”

  “Zalphia, if it were all about the two of us, I would. We would have already left. I would find a way to take care of the chips. But we have a mission. And that requires that you stay.”

  “Noooo. You can’t really be leaving me here to be tortured and killed. You know what the Arena General will do. I’m doomed. And come morning, they’ll crush me between the stones.”

  “I do not believe they will.”

  She grabbed his face. “Don’t you love me?”

  He put his hands on hers. “You know I do.”

  “Then why would you even consider leaving me here? If you love me, let me out.”

  “But Zalphia. Our mission.”

  “Is it because I’ve gone back to fighting, isn’t it? I’m a killer.” She pulled her hands from his face and scooted away from the bars. “You can’t love a killer.”

  “No. It is nothing like that.” His hands fell back to his lap. “You are the other half of me.”

  “If you love me at all, you’ll let me out.”

  “You must see our mission requires you to stay.”

  “No, I don’t see that. What I do see is that you won’t consider another plan.” She crawled closer again. “Please don’t leave me here. I can’t do this. I can’t stay with these people. Just open the door. I’ll run on my own. You don’t have to be a part of what I do. Unlock the door. I’ll do the rest.”

  Max’s lips quivered, and his voice shook. “No. I cannot. You have to stay. Can you not see?”

  “I won’t tell anyone you were involved. Just let me out.” She shook the bars of the cell. “I’ll find another way to save this planet. I’ll go to Kilapon. Simeon can teach me all I need to know. Then I’ll come back and do what I have to. But for now, I have to run. Can’t you see that’s the only way that I’ll make it through another day?”

  “Platy will never let you go.”

  “So that’s it? You want to know what Platy told them? Why don’t you march up to her and ask then? Nothing Platy has ever done was good for me, especially since she got me back. You have no idea what she’s put me through.” A tear of anger slipped down her cheek.

  “I do know.” Max wiped the tear with his thumb. “At least some of it.”

  “All the more reason you should set me free.” Zalphia turned and looked at the wall so he wouldn’t see her frustration. “Platy had the doctor implant several chips in my head. I can’t look into anyone’s mind anymore. But that isn’t all.” She turned back to face him. “I hate her, Max. She stole you from me... thrust me back into this life I now despise. I want the things you showed me. I want the life together that you promised. You’re here now and have the ability to help me, but you refuse. Why?”

  “Simeon said –“

  “I don’t give a crap what Simeon says. What about me? What about what I want?”

  “I care what you want.”

  She banged her fists against the bars. “Then let me out of here.”

  “We have to see where the corruption starts.”

  “WE! Ha! You mean ME! I have to see where it starts. You’re doing nothing but hiding in the shadows. I’ve been the one fighting. I’m the one sitting here in a dungeon cell. I’m the one at the mercy of the Arena Board. We… my ass.” Tears of frustration now rolled unbidden down her cheeks.

  Max reached in and grabbed her fists. “Please, Zalphia. You have to understand.”

  She shook his hands from hers, jumped to her feet, and backed out of reach. “No! I don’t! I’ll never understand how you can sit there and tell me that we’ll end all this. It’s me who will see how far up the chain of command the corruption goes. Me who will face the Arena General a
ll by my lonesome. And me that will suffer whatever they decide.” Every part of her shook in anger.

  “But we promised to save this world. And that requires that you remain here.”

  “Oh, it does, does it?” She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “So then leave me here.”

  Run you coward. Go ahead. I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone.

  “I wish I did not have to. I wish I could take you and run. But they would stop us, like they did before.”

  “Would they? Are you sure?”

  He nodded.

  “Then go. I don’t care. You can watch them crush me beneath the stones come dawn. Then you’ll have to save this measly planet all by yourself.”

  Max wrapped his hands around the iron bars. “They will preserve your life. I am sure of it.”

  Zalphia chuckled in spite of the anger. “Are you? And what makes you think that?” She folded her arms across her chest. “I’ve been treated no different than any other Glad. Why wouldn’t they kill me come dawn?”

  “I don’t know.” Max reached for her.

  She took another step away from him. “Well then, there you have it. I don’t care about this world. They can go straight to hell for all I care. They deserve it.”

  “No.” Max’s hands fell to his sides. “You can’t mean that.”

  “Oh, but I do.” Zalphia lifted one eyebrow.

  “It was your idea to come here. You decided that we were the last hope for this planet. Now you are willing to let them be destroyed?”

  “No. You’re willing to. You’re going to leave me here to be crushed for cheating in the ring. You’re the one willing to let this planet get what they deserve. You’ve always been willing to go only so far. But me?” She stabbed her finger into her own chest. “I have to suffer whatever you and this Simeon character decide I must suffer. So you’re the one, Max. You’re the one dooming this planet.”

  “No.” Max’s face twisted. His eyes begged her to understand.

  “You, Maximillion, have left me to suffer unbearable torture at the hands of Platy. You’ve let me return to the arena and fight for my life. You have been the one to sentence me to death.”

  “You forget, Zalphia. We are linked.” He grabbed the bars, and they squealed their complaint beneath his hands. “I have felt everything you were subjected to as if it had been done to me. I know what you suffered at Platy’s hands. I suffered right along with you, but that does not change anything. It does not change why we came here. I wish I could take your mind and show you how you really feel about these humans, but your chips prevent it. We need to find the leader of the arena games. Find where and how things went wrong here. We must stay. You must stay. Go through the procedures of the inquiry. See where it leads.”

  “Pshh.” Zalphia shook her head. “You mean I have to stay. You will go on your merry way, and I’ll be left to their mercy.” She glared at him. “They’ll kill me. You know they will.”

  The bars groaned again. “No, I will not let them.”

  “Oh you won’t?” She haughtily shook her head side to side.

  Just like you didn’t let Platy have me back. Just like you didn’t let Platy torture me? You never do what it takes to save me and provide the life you promised.

  He pressed his face between the bars. “You’ve changed, Zalphia.”

  “Really? I didn’t think you’d noticed.”

  “No, I mean there is a childlike feeling around you. Platy has discovered the source of that feeling. And so you must stay until you discover it, too.”

  “And what if I never do? What if in the morning I’m dead? Then all your promises are worthless.”

  Max held his hands through the bars, wiggling his fingers as if doing so would bring her within reach.

  Zalphia backed away until the cold stone met her bare skin. He had broken every promise he had ever made. How could he profess his undying love and leave her here? No. He didn’t love her. If he did, they would even now be headed for Kilapon. But no, he wanted her to stay here.

  His cheeks pressed against the bars. “I know how bad it has been. I do. But you are strong. You can do this.”

  “If you love me, you won’t ask me to do this. You won’t leave me here. You can’t expect me to go through more than I already have.” She moved closer but stayed out of reach. Her eyes narrowed. “Or kill me.”

  He sucked in a quick breath.

  “Kill me now. Don’t condemn me to this torture any longer.” She closed her eyes hoping he would see reason.

  “No,” he whispered. “You cannot expect me to –”

  Zalphia’s eyes popped open. “Then go,” she growled and turned away. “I won’t endure this any longer, I won’t. I’ll fight them. I’ll fight until they have no choice but to kill me. If you leave me here, that’s what I’ll do.”

  “No.” The anguish in his voice caused her to glance over her shoulder.

  His eyes brimmed with moisture. “Oh, Zalphia. You cannot know how much I wish I could take you away. Leave all this behind, but I must not. You must not. We have to see this through. We promised to save this world. If I could take your place, I would. You know that I would.”

  Zalphia whirled back to face him. “No! You wouldn’t. You’re a coward, Maximillion. It’s so easy for you to sit out there and decide my fate. You wouldn’t take my place, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise.”

  She retreated to the corner and collapsed onto crossed legs facing the moist rock. She would be dead come morning. So he might as well have executed her himself. To hell with him! She didn’t need him. If she were going to survive, it would be on her own shoulders to do so.

  “Just go.” She dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

  “Zalphia, my love, it is not true. I would give anything to take your place. I will be as close as possible without getting caught. I will never leave you.”

  “You already have. Twice.”

  Silence met her ears.

  To hell with Max and his promises. She hated him. She hated everyone.

  She was a Glad and knew how to fight. Come morning, somehow, she would fight her way out of this situation. A killer! That’s what she was after all. And she would show them just how tough she could be.

  “I hate you, Max. And I never want to see you again,” she whispered in the darkness.

  Tears spilled down her cheeks, and her heart shattered into a million pieces. She never should have believed in him, never should have trusted him or what he promised they would have. Anger and betrayal drove the familiar bile into her throat. The adrenaline subsided, allowing betrayal to mix with emotion and come heaving out her mouth. Over and over she puked until only her sides heaved and nothing more could be expelled.

  When she fell exhausted onto the slimy floor, she listened. Max had left. Good riddance. Right now, she didn’t care if she ever saw him again. Everything she had been holding onto for the last seven months had just gone up in smoke.

  If he was willing to let the Arena Board have her, then so be it. Love shuddered– a flame in the breeze – then went out.

  ***

  Max slowly released the bars. Zalphia’s anger cut him to the core. How he wished he could say to hell with the mission and take her away. But what would happen then? Once Zalphia regained her memories, she would hate him more than she did now.

  Why did she have to be in this position? Always her that suffered. And he remained the outsider looking in.

  He stepped into the shadows and sat on the stairs, his heart pining to free the woman he loved. The sacred promises he made in the forest were being broken, one by one. How could Simeon ask this of him? Of her? They should be together, not held apart by the arena and these bars.

  How could he watch over her when she was at the Arena Board’s mercy? He longed to gather her in his arms. If only she could feel what was going on inside him, she’d know that he would give his life for her.

  He couldn’t reach her. No way to lay a hand of co
mfort on her back. No way for him to creep in and calm her thoughts. The pain of leaving her here was almost more than he could stand. He watched for several minutes then pushed what he could from his mind to her, in spite of knowing she couldn’t feel it.

  Her voice pierced the quiet. “I hate you, Max. And I never want to see you again.”

  She could have physically stabbed him with a dagger and done less damage than she had with those words.

  Anger boiled inside.

  This was all Simeon’s fault. The truth about their mission seemed to be constantly changing. Why was nothing as simple as it seemed before they came? Nothing had worked out as planned. Now Zalphia would suffer who knew what at the hands of the Arena Board.

  Max rose and fled up the steps and out the door. He crept quietly to the guard’s room. The keys to the dungeon hung on the wall. The guards were out making their rounds.

  Reaching for the keys, Max’s hand trembled. If they ran, what would become of this world? Simeon’s words played over in his mind. How could he find out where the Glad games had been instituted without Zalphia going before the board? What was it about Zalphia that seemed to change everything? First, how the games were fought, then how lucrative they became. Everything changed because of Zalphia. And now another change was coming, but what?

  He would have given his life for her, right here on the spot, if it would fulfill their purpose for coming to this world. But it was to be her that would face whatever the next days would bring. Pain rolled in his chest, and he lowered his shaking hand.

  How he wished he could whisk Zalphia away. Save her from the horrors that awaited her. But according to Simeon, they must see where this led.

  Max fled through the gate leading to the outside. Darkness and silence met him on the street of the city. A lone guard passed, metal breastplate clanking. Max leaned against the stone wall and nodded to the man.

  When the soldier rounded the corner, Max wandered down the shadowed street. Stars winked in the inky blackness overhead, but the moon had yet to rise and lend light to his path. However, the murky darkness matched his somber mood. He plodded up one road and down the next, letting thoughts tumble over in his mind. How could he solve this and save his wife from any more pain?