He pressed his forehead against the glass and watched Dorothy sitting peacefully on the other side. “Why have you shown me this?”
“I wanted you know that she is safe. And I want you to listen to what we have to say.”
“I’m listening.”
“Not me. You have to hear it from someone else.”
She swept out of the room. The heels of her boots echoed back to him as she walked swiftly down the hall.
He took one last look at Dorothy and followed the Southern Marshal before she got too far. She held all the cards and she knew it. If he had any hope of getting Dorothy back, he would have to play along for a little while longer.
He followed her silently as they continued through her castle. They took so many turns, dark stairwells, both up and down, and went through several secret panel doors, he had no idea where he was anymore. He wasn’t sure if they were even still inside the castle, or if they had traversed through underground caverns away from the castle grounds.
He hadn’t seen a window, or any opening, to the outside for some time. They could have traveled a great distance or could, just as easily, be several feet from where they started.
She stopped at a small wooden door with no markings or decorations on it, save for a single brass handle.
“Beyond this door is the truth. Are you ready for it?”
The door was made from simple wooden planks and, except for the ornately carved brass handle, it was nondescript in every way. It’s most important feature, Caleb noted, was the lack of a lock. At least, he could decide to leave anytime he wanted if he didn’t like what he found on the other side of that door.
“Is the truth going to set me free?”
She grasped the handle. “I suspect it will do exactly the opposite.”
She pushed the door open and motioned for him to step down into the dimly lit chamber. With each step he took down into the chamber, the temperature felt like it dropped several degrees. By the time he made it to the bottom step, it was at least twenty degrees cooler than when he first entered.
Back up the stairs, the Southern Marshal smiled down at him as she shut the door, plunging him into semi-darkness.
His feline eyes pierced the darkness and used the minimal light from strategically placed candles to resolve the room that stretched out before him.
A flare of light off to one side illuminated the face of the one man who always had a knack for showing up when he was least wanted. It was ironic that, deep down in this underground room, the only available light was born from fire. Much like the man before him had been reborn from fire.
Nero held the torch aloft in front of him as he walked past Caleb and used his torch to ignite others along one wall. He said nothing as he walked along the wall, lighting torches up one after the other.
Caleb could not bear the silence any longer.
“Let me guess. You’re a hybrid too?”
Nero said nothing as he circled the room and ignited the last of the wall hanging torches. He had come full circle and stood in the same spot Caleb had seen him ignite the first torch. He placed the torch into the empty holder on the wall.
The front of the room was now brightly lit from both sides and Caleb could see that it was a large storage room. The floor was lined with a multitude of statues stretching off into the darkness, ancient looking scrolls were piled in neat stacks on wooden tables, and broken pieces of ornate carvings leaned against the walls. The room was filled with countless artifacts and treasures that blended into the darkness at the other end of the massive underground chamber.
Nero spread his arms, as if to encompass the entire room in his embrace.
“All those times that I traveled on extended business trips were actually spent here, sorting and cataloging all the artifacts we uncovered in OZ.”
Nero lifted one of the scrolls off the table. “Nearly all the world’s lost knowledge and history can be rediscovered in these scrolls here. All you need to do is learn a language that has been dead for thousands of years.”
He neatly replaced the scroll at the top of the pile. “The answer to your question is no.”
Caleb had been standing there silently listening to Nero. He didn’t remember asking any question.
Nero noticed the look of confusion on his face and did his best to smile through the deep scars on his face.
“You asked if I was a hybrid. The answer is no. I was, however, born and raised among hybrids.”
“That’s not possible; the hybrids were created less than twenty years ago.”
“Did you not listen to anything Zee told you?”
“Zee told me stories…”
Nero slammed his fist down on the table. “And every one of them true.”
Caleb tugged at the hair of his mane in frustration. It seemed that lately, every time he turned around, somebody was spinning him a tale that conflicted with what he knew to be true his entire life.
“I’m sick of the lies.”
The flickering of the torches made the shadows on Nero’s scarred face dance, his face shimmering as if it had a life of its own.
“I agree, Caleb. No more lies. You have to know the truth because OZ, if not the entire world, depends on what you do next. And you can’t make the right decision if you don’t know the whole truth.”
“And you expect me to believe that you will tell me the truth?”
“As much as I would like to, I can’t force you to believe me. But I hope that for your sake, for all our sakes, you do.”
“And why should I believe anything you say?”
“Because I promised your parents that I would look out for you and help you fulfill your destiny.”
And so the lying began again. “Ha! You couldn’t have promised my parents anything. You told me yourself you rescued me from my dying mother’s arms right before some soldiers killed me.”
“That part was true. Only, it didn’t happen exactly in the way I told you.”
Caleb shook his head in disgust. “Then why don’t you enlighten me as to how it really happened.”
“I told you that I was born and raised with hybrids. My closest friend was your father. Don’t give me that look. You wanted the truth, so here it is.
“My mother and father were the only survivors of a shipwreck that washed them up onto the shore of an uncharted island. The hybrids found them and nursed them back to health, but kept them segregated from the colony. The ones who cared for my parents wore sackcloth over their entire body and hid the fact that they were part animal.
“As my parents recovered, they were encouraged to exercise but warned to stay close to their shelter and not venture into the forest. By accident, my mother became lost one day and wandered through the restricted area of the island and stumbled right into the middle of the hybrid colony.
“The hybrids had no intention of letting the world discover that they still existed, and thus could not let my mother go once she knew about them. The elders donned sackcloth to hide their animal appearance and approached my father. They told him my mother had broken the only rule given to them to obey and thus would not be allowed to leave the island. My father was given a choice. He could leave the island alone to rejoin civilization or be reunited with his wife and stay on the island forever.
“He chose to stay and it was on that island that I was born. The only human child among a colony of hybrids.”
“This story is getting tedious.”
“Patience Caleb. I just wanted you to know how close I was to your father. I was only a couple of years older than him and we grew up as brothers. Even before he became king, he knew it was only a matter of time before the humans found their island. They were spreading across the world and becoming more dangerous with each generation. He made me promise that, no matter what happened, I would do everything in my power to keep the colony safe.
“You were barely six months old when a small armada of three human ships found the island. Your father had just ascended to the throne and felt it was his duty to make first contact. He thought that by telling them the hybrids were a genetic experiment, they would show mercy. They did not. He was the first of many to die.
“I spent two weeks hiding you in different caves on the island, staying just ahead of the marauders. When they finally left and the fires died out, I found the bodies of those killed and gave them a proper burial. Including your mother and father.”
“But it doesn’t make sense. How could you have rescued me on the island at the same time you were supposedly rescuing me inside OZ?”
“The reason I was unable to save your parents from the three ships full of marauders was that I brought them to the island.”
“What!? Why?”
“Your grandfather took full advantage of the fact that I was human and sent me out to infiltrate a group they believed knew the location of the ancient source of the hybrid’s power. A small clandestine group, calling themselves the Directors, was searching for the Brahmastra, an ancient artifact that would enable them to conquer the world. Part of the ancient texts they were using in their search made mention of the hybrids. I let my guard down for the briefest of moments and let slip that I already knew about animal-human hybrids. They made me tell them where the island was.”
Caleb was staring into the face of pure evil. This man had lied to him his entire life and, when he finally told the truth, he admitted to being directly responsible for the death of his parents.
“So you gave up my parents, the whole colony, just like that?”
“They were… very persuasive.”
“All this time, you made me believe you saved me when, the whole time, you were the one who killed my parents.”
“I didn’t kill them.”
“But you led the humans right to them, knowing what would happen.”
“I’m sorry, Caleb. But it’s time you knew the truth.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s something you need to do…”
“No! Not that. Why did you betray my parents?”
Nero paused and looked deep into Caleb’s eyes, as if willing him to believe what he was about to say.
“I did not betray your parents.”
He had had enough of this. It was impossible to know if any of this was the truth. For all he knew, these could be all new lies hiding an even worse truth. Caleb shook his head and headed up the stairs. Away from the man who killed his parents. Away from the lies.
Nero called after him. “What I did may have resulted in the death your parents, yes. But I did it under specific orders from the king at the time I was sent out. Your grandfather gave me explicit instructions to find out how close the humans were to finding the hybrid weapon.”
Caleb pushed on the door, but it bumped against something heavy resting against it on the other side. He pushed harder, but his feet slid on the floor and the door refused to budge any further.
He headed back down the stairs as Nero continued. “Your parents knew what was at stake.”
Caleb peered into the darkness at the other end of the underground warehouse. “Is there another door down there?”
“The group your grandfather sent me to infiltrate was getting closer to finding the Brahmastra. A weapon used at various times throughout history by different groups to conquer their known world. Its whereabouts was unknown for over a thousand years until an archaeological expedition, financed by the Directors, uncovered evidence of its final resting place.”
Caleb grabbed a torch off the wall and made his way through the haphazardly placed artifacts and into the darkness of the ever-deepening warehouse. Nero shuffled along quickly behind him.
“I had the Brahmastra in my hands only two days ago, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I lost it again. That would not be so bad if it weren’t for the armada of one thousand airships, each filled with soldiers, landing in OZ in less than a week. They will destroy everything in their path until they have the Brahmastra. We cannot let that happen. You cannot let that happen.”
He continued on as straight a path as he could, but every step he took only revealed that the warehouse stretched even further into the darkness; the far wall always staying just out of reach of the flame from his torch. The flickering fire cut an arc through the air as he turned on Nero.
“Your little story is very interesting, but I’ve had enough earth shattering revelations for today. How do I get out of here?”
Nero panted from the exertion of trying to keep up with him.
“You have to find the Brahmastra and destroy it.”
“I don’t have to do anything. I promised to listen to you and then I could decide for myself what I wanted to do. I want to leave.”
“But what about your destiny?”
“What destiny? I’m nothing but a casino enforcer, thanks to you. I am not some great hero for the hybrids. I’ve been told I can leave after listening to you, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. And I want to take Dorothy with me.”
Nero shook his head. “I’m sorry. If you want to leave, fine. But you will do so alone.”
He leaned in close to Nero, the torch illuminating both their faces in the darkness. “When I come back for Dorothy, I will not be alone.”
Caleb looked out the window of the airship as it descended. As promised, the Southern Marshal said he was free to leave the colony, but that also meant he had to leave the Southern Territories.
And he had to do it without Dorothy.
He was returning to the hybrid colony one last time to gather his belongings before the Southern Marshal’s airship took him over the wall and back into the rest of OZ.
He didn’t plan to stay out of the Southern Territories for very long. Just long enough to gather an army and return for Dorothy.
He didn’t recognize the town rising up to meet the airship and quickly calculated they were landing too soon.
He made his way forward to the cockpit.
“Your instructions were to take me directly to the colony.”
The pilot didn’t turn around but kept his attention locked on the window of the cockpit. “I’m not taking this ship anywhere near that much smoke.”
Caleb followed the pilot’s gaze and his heart thumped heavily in his chest. Thick columns of black smoke rose along the horizon, as if half the hybrid colony had been set ablaze.