They want to kill my son. My Arcas.
They're going to die.
I will protect him with my life. I thought he was dead; I'm not going to lose him again.
I stand up, towering above them all. I'm stronger than them all, they stand no chance.
Arcas.
I remember him as a little baby, so delicate, so small.
Bear cubs are born blind and helpless; something I didn't know before I had Arcas. How could I have, I was never in contact with bears until I was turned into one. He was so cute, so dependant on me. He had no teeth; a fact I was very grateful for when he suckled on my teats. All he did after he was born was yelp for attention and then suckle.
His voice was high pitched and immediately made me drop whatever I was doing. I learned how to pick him up with my teeth and carry him on my back when I was searching for food. I didn't need much for myself, but I was worried my milk would run dry if I didn't eat enough.
It took several months for him to become more active. His eyes opened and he began to move around, exploring the world. He was a very curious little cub and constantly got in trouble. Every day was a new adventure for him - and for me, trying to keep him safe.
We had three years together as mother bear and cub... then he shifted into a human child for the first time.
"Alis, calm down!" Torben shouts and I look down at him. He's not shifted and neither have the others. Silly humans. I can squash them in a heartbeat. They're threatening my son.
Wait, not them.
The Fates.
I turn to the three women in their lofty white robes and let out a bellowing roar. They don't even flinch, which makes me even angrier.
I let myself drop to all fours, shaking the entire house.
Arcas is my son! I roar, sending the message mentally at the same time so they all understand me. You will not touch him!
I'm breathing hard and it takes all my willpower not to trash the place. Or the people.
They are threatening Arcas. They want to kill him.
Over my dead body.
I swipe my paw over the floor, leaving deep claw marks in the white wooden panels.
Promise me you won't do it!
"It's your son or the end of all bear shifters," the black-haired bitch says coolly. "Would you take that upon yourself? That you caused their extinction?"
Yes! He's my son! Kill me if you want, but not my son!
I want the shifters to keep existing. I want them to get babies again. I'd go through hell, torture, whatever to help them. But not my son. Everything but that.
He was the first shifter. They all owe him their lives.
"Is there no other way?" Torben asks the Fates, looking just as helpless as I feel. Yes, I'm angry, raging, but beneath all of that is helplessness and despair.
Can I really condemn them all to be the last of their kind? These men in front of me will never have children. Isla will never have a child, now that she's one of them.
Isla.
I open my barriers a little, letting her in.
Are you okay? she asks, her mental voice wavering.
She's so concerned. I've told her many times that she's too compassionate, too weak, but right now, I'm almost grateful for her sympathy. She's seen Arcas in my memories, she knows him at least a little. She will understand more than the others.
What would you do? I ask her, but I think I know the answer already. She doesn't have any children yet, but she's a woman. It's in her blood.
I'd let them die, she whispers. I'd never let my son be killed if I could help it. I'd die for him. And I'll be with you, no matter what you decide to do.
Even if that means you'll never have children of your own?
She chuckles sadly. You think I'd sacrifice Arcas for hypothetical children I might never have?
No, I'd never think that, and she knows it. I'm just trying to show that she's one of them, that I can hate her, hate them all, blame them all, kill them all.
My feral side is bubbling to the surface and I'm having a hard time reigning it in. Just because I'm a bear doesn't mean I need to behave like a beast. It was Arcas, actually, who helped me with that. After I'd been turned and adjusted to having four paws instead of hands, I went on a bit of a wild rampage. I enjoyed the freedom I suddenly had. I wasn't a nice person... bear. I let myself go. Until I gave birth to Arcas and suddenly had someone to care for. He showed me that bears aren't violent and angry. They can be mothers, gentle and protective. Holding him in my arms was the best thing I ever did.
Then he died and I thought I never would. But maybe there's still hope. I might yet get to see him again. Smell his scent. Lick his fur.
I claw the floor in frustration. The Fates are watching me, almost as if they're bored. The four men seem more concerned, but they're staying back, knowing that I'm unpredictable in my rage.
"You could try and persuade Van Deen to willingly separate himself from the bear," Lachesis answers Torben's question, which I had almost forgotten about. "But that's very unlikely. He's one of the most selfish and power-hungry men I've ever seen."
I roar in anger. That man is going to die. Slowly. I imagine carving up his body until his entrails fall out onto the ground. Then ripping out his throat, watching as he drowns in his own blood.
He has done so much harm. To my son, to all those women he raped, to the people he brainwashed, to his own children. I can't believe I didn't know about it. Before I merged with Isla, I watched the bear shifters, but I never imagined looking for one who was a human originally. If I ever saw one of his shifter children, I may have just assumed it was one of the original shifter families who'd moved away.
But what now?
I growl. It helps with venting my frustration, but nothing more. Standing here, clawing the floor, won't do any good.
Lachesis said we could try and persuade him. Maybe we can trick him somehow. Bribe him. Threaten him.
But I know the chances of succeeding are minuscule. We'd need an extraordinary amount of luck.
Alis, can we shift back? Isla asks hesitantly. I'd like to talk to the guys.
I shake my fur, relishing in the movement. I like being a bear. It's freeing, despite my size. But Isla has a point, she won't be able to talk while we're shifted, and she seems to be better at doing the whole diplomacy thing. Maybe the Fates will be more likely to help her than they would me.
I'm not sure I still have a thread they can manipulate. Maybe that's why they don't seem to like me much. The way Atropos is looking at me... but then, she was just as impolite to Isla, and my girl is one of the nicest humans I know. No-longer-human, I mean.
With a sigh, I let go of my bear form and let Isla take over. She does it with practice and elegance and even manages to look confident when she notices that the robe she was wearing is now lying in pieces on the floor.
Sorry, I mutter, and she gives me a mental smile in return.
"Arcas is not going to die," she tells the Fates and her men, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Good girl.
"But I imagine he may choose to do so, if he learns what his death could do."
No! What are you doing, Isla? I shout at her.
"I'm wanting to give him a choice," she says aloud. "If it was me, I'd gladly die to save the bear shifters. I'm one of you now and I care about you. I don't want bear shifters to stop existing... it would be a very sad world without them."
I wonder what Arcas would decide. I've not seen him in so long... the young man I knew would sacrifice himself without a second's thought. He was so selfless... Isla reminds me of him. But maybe he's changed. He's been a prisoner of Van Deen for over a hundred years now. That must have had some sort of effect on him. Maybe he's become like his abuser? Stockholm effect? Or maybe he's filled with hate for all bear shifters, unable to distinguish between the good and the bad?
Oh my, Arcas. I wish I could have protected you. I wish I'd known that you weren't dead. I'd turn heaven and Earth just to get you back. I would have gone to Zeus, to other Gods, begged them to give you back to me.
But now it's too late and I'm terribly afraid for you. For me. For all of us.