Forgotten Memory
Duke grinned as he crouched down in the shadows, his hand on the hilt of his saber. He waited for a full minute after the crew of men set the crates down and left the warehouse before slinking out of his hiding-place.
The place was dark, with only one pool of light that just happnened to spill on the four crates of sapphires that Duke was eyeing. There were various other crates and containers scattered over the floor, which he carefully avoided by moving along at a steady pace. He was just ten meters away when he felt that he was not alone.
He did not hear them. They were obviously experts who worked with the same finesse as the Brotherhood thieves. He knew they were there, though, and he knew that there was more than one of them. And he knew that they knew he was there, and he knew that they knew he knew they were there. If he kept very quiet and pretended to look for game elsewhere, they might leave him alone...
Vanessa! his mind screamed when he saw the first thief step into the pool of light. Others followed her. And Samantha...Phoebe...Jaq...Fireslide...and Angel...
For a moment, he relaxed and was about to call out and let them know it was their old leader and friend, Duke l'Orange, but then he remembered that he had practically abandoned them almost four years ago. They might not be too thrilled to see him...at least, not the way he'd want them to be thrilled.
About half a dozen others also appeared, all female, but Duke didn't recognize them. Then...
He froze.
The last of them, their leader, stepped from the darkness--so like her, he thought--and stood so the moonlight deepened the blue tints in her hair and eyes. The scar over her left eyebrow and the winking sapphires on her swordsheath--her favorite stones, he remembered--chilled him to the bone with their taunting familiarity.
"Shan!" he called out, not caring now what would become of him. His tone grew solemn and he swallowed hard. "Shan, I held you in my arms when you died--I was there! Don't try to tell me it never happened..."
The band of female thieves turned towards his him, those he had previously known reflecting some shock when they recognized his voice. Nevertheless, they quickly extracted the sapphires and, at the flick of their leader's hand, they dashed away, like a regular flock of ducks.
"Shan, don't leave me like this!" Duke's pitiful cries were ignored as the team of thieves disappeared. He did not bother trying to follow them. He knew better than to try to keep up with Shan Nightblade.
* * *
"That was Duke..." Vanessa murmured as she stared out the window, a can of pop in her hands.
"I wonder what's he doing back here," Fireslide said bitterly, taking a swig of her own pop.
"Slide, that's not fair!" Vanessa spun around to face the younger duck. "You know as well as any that Duke left us because it was necessary for the survival of the planet."
"That doesn't mean I have to like it," the rebellious teenager slid onto the counter and regarded Vanessa with a challenging glare in her eyes.
"He abandoned us, Nessa," Angel sided with Fireslide. "He left us to die!"
"He left us so he could fight Dragaunus," Vanessa corrected them with a wag of her finger.
"Sure we went through hard times," Jaq chipped in. "But think of what would have happened if Duke had stayed with the Brotherhood and let Dragaunus run wild."
"His leaving brought us together," Samantha pointed out.
"Either way anyone sees this," Phoebe interjected,"the fact remains that Duke is back now. And we can either do something about it or ignore it."
Automatically, all heads in the kitchen turned towards Shan, who had been sitting by herself in a corner, quietly sipping her tea and staring off into space. When she didn't appear to notice them, Samantha spoke.
"Shan? Do you think we should do something about Duke or not?"
"Hey, Shan..." Fireslide perked up,"...how did Duke know who you were?"
Shan continued to ignore them for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was flat and hollow.
"Duke l'Orange is none of our concern."
That said, she stood and walked casually to her room, leaving a band of bewildered ducks behind her. When they heard the light thud of her door closing, they resumed drinking their cola in silence.
* * *
Shan peered at herself in the mirror. She tried remembering what she looked like ten years ago. She was taller now, of course. Not gawky anymore. Her hand went up to the scar over her left eyebrow.
Ten years ago...
Ten years ago, she had gotten that scar. Ten years ago, she had met Duke. She had been only fourteen at the time and he had been about twenty. She remembered how bloodthirsty she had been back then, how no one had believed in her...no one except Duke...
I'm sorry, Duke...but you were wrong, she thought mournfully, a tear glittering in her right eye. I tried to be good...really, I did...I just couldn't do it. All the others...they were right about me.
She wrenched her mind away before she could begin crying. Changing into her night garb, she crawled into her bed, laying her sword beside her so she could reach it at a second's notice. She spent a few minutes rearranging herself in different positions to find the most comfortable one. When she finally found it, she stared up at the ceiling.
Past images danced in front of her eyes, and she could hear old laughter and old scorn.
Curse you, l'Orange! Why can't you leave me alone!
Images of her younger-self passed through her head. She had been so fed up with the monks telling her to live peacefully. She didn't want to be peaceful anymore, she didn't want to be merciful to her enemies or to love them. How could she possibly love them after what they did to her family? They hadn't been merciful! No, she didn't believe in mercy, she didn't believe in forgiveness. She didn't even believe in love. She believed in revenge, in hatred. And she longed for the feel of blood spilling over her hands. So she had killed. Killed many and without reason.
Then there was Duke. What were the words he had said to her? "Now you'll suffer like those who you made suffer"? And he had meant it. He had aimed the point of his saber directly at her throat and was preparing to run her through. What had stopped him? Something about the way she had looked?
* * *
Shan...it was Shan!
Duke laid his saber on the bed and sat beside it. Now, when was the last time he had seen Shan before tonight? Ten years ago...their meeting had been much like their parting; Shan looking death in the face. When they had met, he had been death...but he had spared her. How could he not have? She was just a girl...younger than he had been. And there had been something about her...something that made him think she had the potential to change lives...for the good. He had tried to teach her. And she had been doing very well until that day...
She had looked up at him as he held her tight. The blood from her wounds wouldn't stop...they just kept trickling down...and she had cursed bitterly. She tried to make light of the fact that she was dying...said that she had it coming to her all her life. But that didn't stop Duke from crying. She couldn't die, she couldn't die...she still had so much to give, it wasn't fair...she hadn't even started yet.
Duke had waited until her body stopped trembling. He had felt for a pulse, listened for a breath, but had found none. She was dead...he had made sure of that. And then he had broken a hole in the ice and let her down gently. He had sat at the edge of the ice until her mangled body had disappeared beneath the blackness of Puckworld's icy waters. Only then did he get up and leave. Only after he had made sure she was never coming back...
How could she have come back? he pounded his temple in frustration. Even if she could have survived the cold water gushing into her lungs, she couldn't have gotten out of that scrape without a tell-tale limp or disfigurement--almost every bone in her body had been broken!
* * *
The old flower shop looked even more desolate than she remembered. It was there that Duke had taken her when she refused to join the Brotherhood of the Blade. For almost an entire year, she had made the flower shop her home. Duke had come to visit her every day. Occassionally, he would bring a trusted Brotherhood friend. They would go down to the basement, which had once been used to store newly-arrived flowers. There, Duke and his friends would watch her as she practiced her combat skills.
They never knew I heard.
Duke and whoever was with him would whisper or talk in hushed voices. Everyone thought that she should be "disposed" of. She could still hear them...
"She has good potential," Duke would say.
"Yeah, killing potential," his friend would retort with
a cynical laugh. "Better get rid of her now before
that potential blooms."
The floorboards creaked behind her. Someone else had entered. She knew who it was even before he spoke.
"I had a feeling you'd come back here," Duke said softly, gently. "Brings back memories, doesn't it, little sister?"
"Memories that should be forgotten."
"You don't mean that, Shan..."
"You were wrong, l'Orange."
"So, I'm 'l'Orange' now? What happened to 'big brother' or plain old 'Duke'?"
"Besides the point."
"What was I wrong about? You?"
"Yes. I heard them. I heard them all. You always tried to defend me; that's why I tried so hard to be good. I tried so hard to be what you wanted me to be. But I wasn't. I'm not good. The others were right about me. You must realize that now."
"That's not true. You're not killing every person you meet now, you're just stealing every sapphire in town. Look at you...the way you led those girls, like a true leader."
"By Drake. I've become you."
"What's that?"
"I've become you. Leading a band of jewel thieves. Like you did after I left."
"That's what I wanted to ask you..."
"How I survived?"
"Yeah..."
Silence.
"It doesn't matter. I survived. That's all you need to know."
She turned to leave.
"You're just going to leave? Without resolving anything?"
Shan paused at the doorway and sighed. Looking back over her shoulder, she said,"Since you're so wrapped up in memories--do you remember how I used to love reading mystery novels?"
Duke nodded. "Yeah..."
"Well, let's just say that that's one memory you can remember."
"So you're just going to leave me in the dark...so you can remain a mystery?"
"You should be happy that I haven't forgotten every thing."
"Shan..."
Shan walked to the corner. She knew Duke was not far behind her. Pausing for just a moment, she looked back at him. He stared back. Then she did the unexpected.
"See you around, big brother."
She smiled faintly and disappeared.
FINIS