Chapter Four
Morrigan's Gift
From the lack of tension in the air Shamira knew her companions were all sleeping. She did not want to close her eyes. She couldn't risk falling asleep. She knew something was wrong. She was sure of it, wasn't she? Yes. There was definitely something, unless she had fallen asleep. Her test was to pinch herself. It hurt. No, she was still awake. She laid on her back eyes wide open. Maybe it was just her imagination, or perhaps paranoia of having another dream that was making her force a sleepless night. She needed to sleep, even if it wasn't needed as much as the others, she still needed it. She decided to let go. She closed her eyes.
Almost instantaneously she knew it was her mistake. She sprang up, her heart pounding in her chest. Peering into the dark opening of the thicket she knew someone was there, even if she couldn't see him or her.
"You can't hurt me Shamira." Came a voice from the one hiding in the dark woods. "I can't really hurt you either. I only want to talk. Come Shamira, come and talk with me."
The voice sent chills down Shamira's back. Hairs on neck stood up. It was especially frightening because she couldn't tell if she was dreaming, or if it were only her who could hear the voice. It hardly spoke in a whisper. Surely Kimball would have heard it, or at least Nuri, who was the same distance away.
"I told you to come." The voice repeated, this time seemingly annoyed.
"No." Shamira daringly whispered.
All at once regret set it. An immense pain consumed her body. It was like she was on fire. She wanted to scream, but couldn't. A moment later it subsided, though it's after affects seemed to linger.
"You said you couldn't hurt me. You've already lied. Why should I trust you?" She yelled into the darkness.
Maybe she had stirred the others, but Nuri just rolled over.
"Ah, my dear. I said 'I can't really hurt you'. There is, as you've found, a difference. There will be no lasting damage, but I can cause immediate pain. Now be a good girl and come." It demanded.
Shamira hesitated. She swallowed hard and glanced around. Did she dare leave the campsite? She had been told to keep watch. But how was she to protect anyone from something only she could hear, and possibly see. Thinking about it, she wasn't even sure if there was something to be seen in the first place. Reluctantly she rose from the warmth of her sleeping bag and slowly trudged towards the voice.
A sickening feeling overwhelmed her the closer she got. Not death, but pain was scented in the air. Whoever this was, was an enemy, a powerful one, but she couldn't feel his physical presence. Shamira knew that something was there but not physically. The air was hot and stale. The cool winds were no longer blowing. It seemed that everything had stopped. The anger had faded and a feeling of sick pleasure filled the presence. Shamira stood in the darkness waiting. She had wandered for beyond the glow of the fire. She didn't bother drawing her sword. Somehow she knew it would be of no use to her.
"Well," She started to say testing her limits, "you got me out of bed. What do you want? Or are you too cowardly to show yourself."
"Patience is a virtue." It said from behind her.
At first it seemed to have come from thin air, but slowly a figure began to materialize. Someone stood in front of her, but he wasn't there. She could see right through him. Shamira stepped backwards to get a better look. The man had a black cloak on with his face hidden in the hood. He took it off revealing a decaying looking man. His eyes were blood red. The look of disgust on Shamiras face made him smile showing his rotting fang like teeth.
For some reason Shamira's brain seemed to fade out, because when she snapped back from the shock of seeing a translucent decaying being she realized who it was. Her first thought was to run, but to where? She knew she had nowhere to go. No one else could see Morrigan standing in front of her, only not standing in front of her. She was stuck.
"Shamira, what a pity we never met. I knew your mother though. Silly woman really." He taunted.
Shamira flared up with intense hatred. She wanted nothing more than to attack him. Blind rage took over and she charged towards him, forgetting, that he wasn't physically there. She ran right through him and hit the ground hard. Sheer terror and pain had hit her hard as she passed through. The pain was almost unbearable. She screamed in agony feeling as though every bone in her body had been broken at once.
Morrigan sneered cruelly at her, his eyes with awful pleasure at the sight of her pain.
I should have known better. She thought. Master Kimball was always trying to teach me to control my temper. He knew. He knew something like this would happen.
"Master Kimball?" Morrigan asked, abruptly ending the tormenting laughter. "Master Kimball has been teaching you to control you temper? I daresay he was only trying to inhibit you from following you're natural instincts. Let your temper flow dear girl. You'll find yourself feeling much more satisfaction in a kill that way."
"A kill?" She asked sounding almost interested. She had picked herself up off the ground now. She wasn't going to lay there while he taunted her.
"Why yes! Haven't you had the pleasure of taking a life yet?" He asked.
"No! Of course not! I'm not a murderer! I'm not a monster like you!" She screamed. Her heart began to pound against her chest again.
The smile faded a bit from his face. His lips pursed into an evil grin.
"Oh, it will happen. And it won't be for pleasure, well, not at first anyway, but you will kill people. You'll have to in order to protect your so-called prince over there."
Shamira said nothing. She supposed that would eventually become true, though everyone knew that was a possibility when this was the path you chose. Not everyone became a warrior of course, it was something you chose to try to be and not everyone who wanted to be was, but what did that have anything to do with it?
"You poor girl. Nothing is worse than an animal being deprived of its natural abilities."
"What natural abilities?" She screamed in fury, "What are you talking about?"
"It doesn't matter now I guess. What's done is done. We have business to conduct. Come here."
She stayed stubbornly where she was. He only rolled his eyes and gestured his hand like he was calling a dog. At first she was angry at him for presuming that she'd come if he called her like an animal, but than a feeling of helplessness consumed her and her feet moved towards him on their own. He put his arm like he was going to put it through. She immediately braced herself for the pain she'd felt before when she'd passed through him, but it didn't happen. Instead he was able to grab her. She was so stunned she felt her body stiffen and couldn't will her limbs to move. He stared into her eyes with amusement then placed his hand over her chest. It was burning, but she merely stood there motionless. He smiled and released his grip.
All at once Shamira was exhausted, like something had drained all the energy from her.
"What-did-you-just-do?" She asked between breaths.
"A little gift for you. The mark on your chest will linger for a day or two. Then it will seem to have gone, but it will still be inside of you. You'll feel it when you need to. Use it and you will have more strength and power that you could ever imagine."
She didn't like the idea of using something he gave to her. She had no reason to trust him. There was no reason for him to help her, unless of course, he somehow benefitted from it in some way.
"One more thing." He said interrupting her thoughts, "Let's not speak of this to that old fool, or your little friends."
She wanted to defy him. She wanted to scream at him that she would not listen, that she would tell Kimball as soon as she got back to camp, but something inside of her made her nod. There was something about this that she knew she could not tell anyone about. He knew what she was thinking. He smiled his evil smile and faded away into the twilight.
Twilight. Dawn was already approaching. Kimball would be waking up soon and if she was not there he would suspect something was wrong and there would be lots of unavoidable questions. Shamira gathered all of her strength and ran back towards camp. As she was headed back she noticed an abandoned nest with some eggs in it. Without question she grabbed the eggs.
She came out of the forest just in time for Kimball to see she was not there. He had just stepped out of his tent. He glared sternly at her. She knew immediately he wanted an explanation. She respectfully dropped to her knees and bowed.
"Master Kimball, forgive me for leaving without permission to do so. I just couldn't sleep and thought I could get a head start on breakfast." The words poured out of her like it was etched into her brain.
She held the eggs out in front of her still bowing. For a moment it looked as though he doubted her, but seemed to push the mistrust aside.
"Well, why don't you get a head start on your meditations. You'll need a clear head for this afternoon." He said taking the eggs from her in an approving manner.
"Yes Master."
She stood up and walked to where the clearing was that had practiced the day before. Not once did she glance back, feeling a sense of unwanted satisfaction.
The day was hot and muggy. Both Nuri and Shamira were extremely anxious to fight, as was Bardia to watch. It was very tedious for Nuri and Shamira to have to redo the same basic training they had done years ago. Bardia on the other hand was enjoying himself immensely. By mid-day his strength had improved greatly as well as his speed. He found himself being able to run faster than anyone he'd ever played basketball with and to show off his new strength started pulling whole branches off trees. He quickly stopped that when Shamira uprooted one. They raced up trees, which aggravated him because he wasn't nearly as fast at Nuri or Shamira, though Kimball promised in time he would be, though Shamira scowled at that. The activities of the day and the anxiety of the upcoming fight took over the memory of the happenings of last night. Shamira forgot about the fading handprint on her chest.
The sun began to set when Kimball finally called for them to stop. He handed them each a loaf of warm bread and water.
"Rest now. In a half an hour we will begin again. Shamira, Nuri, I suggest you stretch well." He told them.
They did as they were told, both stretching out their muscles in their entire body. They exchanged intimidating remarks getting their energy flowing. Bardia naturally sided with Nuri, thinking there was no way she could beat him. The time finally arrived. They stood at opposite ends of the field.
"Now for goodness sakes try not to show off too much. Remember, this is supposed to be a learning experience for Prince Bardia." Kimball said, though not expecting much results from it. He told them to begin.
Immediately they charged at one another, swords drawn. Bardia was still amazed at the speed they had. They clashed their swords together and it made such loud noise it echoed through the air.
Bardia let out a small, "Whoa."
At the moment of impact Nuri had stumbled back a bit and Shamira used the space between them as an advantage and landed a kick to his shin. Nuri spun completely around and seemed to be unaffected by the force of her kick, though he'd have a nice bruise there later. Nuri flipped over Shamira who was immediately face to face with him when he landed, but hadn't anticipated him swinging his sword and cutting through the arm of her shirt. They both looked at where it sliced and watch a small amount of blood pour out. She looked back up a Nuri and being impressed smiled as he winked at her. She backed up quicker then he moved towards her. She put her left hand up to her chest then forcefully pushed it through the air towards him and stopped when her elbow locked. Nuri didn't have a chance to react, but his eyes widened. He braced himself for the forceful wind that seemed to shoot right out of Shamira's hand, knocking him at least ten feet away.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Shamira clicked with her tongue "Come on Nuri. I thought you'd be a bit more of a challenge then this. Didn't you say you'd been practicing?" She taunted.
"Master Kimball, when will she learn? She's got to be more serious than this, hasn't she?" Shaylee, who had fluttered back and sat on Kimballs shoulder asked.
"Well, they are just having some fun, besides she'll regret her lack of focus in a second or so." He amusedly responded.
He was right. Shamira had been so busy trying to play with Nuri's emotions she failed to notice he had planted his hands flat on the ground and they turned a slight shade of red, by the time she realized this, it was too late. Her feet began to burn like they were on fire. She gave a slight yelp and dove to the side. She laughed and raced to get herself up again, Nuri was dashing towards her with his hand positioned like he was getting ready the throw a ball.
"Ooo, haven't played catch in a while." She mocked.
He smiled at her and threw his hand in front of him. As soon as he did a ball of fire shot out of it. Shamira readied her hands to catch the ball of fire a small tornado now formed and as the ball entered it she tipped a bit off balance but quickly regained it and threw the fire back. Nuri ducked out of the way at the last minute, normally he would have caught it and tired again. Shamira didn't expect this and obviously didn't expect him to have continued running at her. He swung a fist had her and barely missed, having scraped the top of her head. As she ducked away from his fist she shot her leg out tripping him. He fell on his back and quickly jumped back up. His back was to Shamira, so he swung his arm backwards but she was in the air hovering over him.
Bardia wasn't sure what he was seeing. Was Shamira flying?
Shamira was indeed in the air and not falling, but she wasn't flying, a small tornado kept her up in the air. Nuri smiled up at her.
"Getting desperate Shamira? Pulling out the big guns already?" He taunted.
"Hardly. Just showing off." She replied.
Her body began crashing down back at him, her hands balled up in a fist. Just before she would have landed her punch she abruptly stopped. She fell to the ground and hit it hard. Nuri laughed, so did Bardia, but Kimball anxiously looked around as though something was coming, he'd seen the look in her eyes just before she fell.
"Master Kimball, what is it?" Shaylee asked alarmed, looking around as well.
Bardia and Nuri were still laughing, Nuri was actually getting ready to make another move when Shamira jumped up from the ground her hands tightly gripping her sword. Nuri stopped and noticed that Kimball had started racing into the field.
"What is it?" He asked Shamira, now drawing his own sword.
"I don't know. I can't be sure … "
Something changed, but she wasn't sure what it was. A chill raced up her back making the hairs on her neck stand up.
"Shamira, are you sure something's wrong?" Kimball asked, not noticing anything.
"Yeah, I don't feel anything." Nuri added.
Shamira shot Nuri a look and said nothing to Kimball. She then realized it wasn't just a chill she'd felt before; she was cold, and getting colder. Everything around them was silent. The sky, which had been bright and sunny, was dark and cloudy. When she saw Bardia rub his arms up and down she let out a deep breath. Bardia gasped. He'd seen the frosty mist that came out of her mouth. It was getting colder, and now everyone felt it. Without hesitation Shamira, Nuri, and Kimball stood in front of Bardia each had their own weapon drawn.
Bardia opened his mouth to speak, but was hushed before a single sound came out. Feeling it was best not to argue he obeyed and stayed quiet.
"Nuri." Kimball said sternly.
Nuri, understanding what was to be done, nodded. He began to concentrate on the ground where the hint of frost now melted away. Warmth surrounded them now as though nothing had changed. Kimball broke the new comfort.
"Shamira."
Immediately Shamira stepped away from the barrier they had created. She closed her eyes and sniffed in the air carefully and listened closely for any sounds in the distance.
"Master … " Nuri whispered, "…where…"
"There." Said Shamira before Kimball could answer.
She had spun around and pointed ahead. No one, but Shamira had a chance to react.
Three sharp icicles soared towards them. Shamira leaped over her companions and struck them all down. Nuri ran over to her, his hands each holding a ball of fire.
"Come young sir. This is no place for you." Kimball said softly to Bardia.
"But, I want to." Bardia began to argue, but had no chance to finish his statement.
A loud crashing sound directed his attention back to the fight. On the ground in front of them were thousands of little pieces of broken ice and a girl scrambling to her feet. Her hair was the lightest blue Bardia had ever seen and her eyes, though stricken with fear were bright as diamonds.
Bardia was led off to watch from a safe distance by Kimball who explained she was a guardian of the ice world, and more importantly a minion of Morrigan.
"Though I'm surprised to see he sent such a weak warrior." He said as the fighting continued. "The poor thing is only a child."
By this point, the girl had been knocked off her feet multiple times by Shamiras wind and all her feeble attempts to pierce them with her ice weapons were undone by Nuri's fire.
"Oh come on. This is ridiculous." Shamira spat out after a few minutes of the same thing.
She threw a strong wind at the girl knocking her to the ground and the breath right out of her. Shamira charged towards her so she had no chance to get back up.
"Shamira wait!" Nuri yelled. "She's down! Just bind her!"
But Shamira was beside herself. Instead of tying her new enemy up she stood over her struggling to pick herself up, and kicked her in the gut. Only a few feet away Nuri winced, knowing what was to come, but still headed towards them creating ropes to bind the girl with. He glanced at Shamira when he knelt on the girl's side and tied her hands behind her back.
"What?" Shamira asked naively.
Then all at once she remembered the mark on her chest, for it began to burn. For some reason she felt herself spinning around defensively, her arm out and eventually grabbing the staff that had been headed directly for her head. She jerked the staff away from Kimball and stared him directly in the eyes, with one emotion, pure hatred. Everyone stood still for one brief second, momentarily frozen to their spot, including Bardia who had been trying to keep up with Kimball. The sheer anger radiated from both Shamira and Kimball who still glared at one another, until Shamira, who seemed to wake up from a nightmare, realized what she had done. The intense anger and hatred dissolved with this new level of alertness. Now Shamira stood horror-struck, her mouth gasping to form words to spill out some sort of explanation, but failed miserably. Still clutching the staff she waited for Kimball to make the next move, which he did quite forcefully. With his hand gripped in a fist he used to back of his hand to knock her to the ground where she did nothing but scramble into a bowing position. She shuttered as he prepared to kick her, just as she had done the girl who watched terrified, but just before impact he retreated.
"Get up." He said.
Shamira rose to her feet, but didn't dare glance at anything other than her own two feet. Kimballs staff was on the ground right next to her feet. He reached down to pick it up and she braced herself expecting to be knocked back down. But it never happened. Instead Kimball merely stood in front of her thinking.
"Explain yourself." He ordered.
She wanted to tell him everything that had happened. She wanted to tell him about the ghoulish Morrigan that had visited her the previous night, about the mark he had imprinted on her chest, how it burned right before he tried to hit her with his staff, and that she couldn't explain what she was doing, only that she couldn't stop from doing it. But none of this came out. Instead the mark on her chest burned again this time almost painfully and words poured out of her mouth like a rehearsed speech.
"I don't know Master." She said just above a whisper. "I don't know what came over me, sir. Maybe just the energy from the fight."
"Go back to camp Shamira. Go back and don't move." He demanded in a cold voice very few had ever heard.
Shamira didn't hesitate and knew he had placed a spell on her that once she got back to camp she couldn't move even if she wanted to.
Returning to the campsite she began dissembling the tents. The scorched logs from the fire she tossed in various directions into the woods. With a small wind from her hands she rid the ash left over. In only a few minutes no one could tell that people had ever spent more than just a few minutes standing there. Now there was nothing left to do but sit and wait, and think.
What came over her? She couldn't help wondering why she had acted like that. She'd never kick someone who was weaker and more importantly obviously beaten. That wasn't honorable. No, the proper thing would be to tie them, question them, and let them go. They owed you their life after that and she knew very well that, that bond could not be broken. That girl, who was still a child, did not deserve to be treated like an animal. Guilt ate at her insides. Had she become the monster she had fought her entire life not to be? No, no it was just in the heat of the moment, but that thing on her chest.
Shamira gasped. It was the first time she'd thought of it since Kimball had hit her. She looked down the front of her chest. If she didn't know there was a handprint etched into her skin she would not have seen it. What had it done to her? She knew that Kimball, the greatest warrior, her master, had been right behind her, that he was swinging the staff. She'd always had more than exceptional reflexes, possibly the best Kimball had ever seen (she knew he thought this after unintentionally over hearing him telling Master Dishodo), but to get the better of him? She didn't think that could be possible. Not yet anyway. He wasn't old enough to be losing his ability to sneak up on people. She'd gotten lucky, yeah. That's all that it was, it was just luck.
She had almost convinced herself when she heard them returning. Kimball emerged from the woods into the clearing and found Shamira already on the ground bowing. He said nothing to her and walked right by her as if he didn't even notice. That was something she had not been prepared for. She'd take him beating her any day over that. She wasn't sure if it were safe for her to rise and follow until Nuri placed his hand gently on her shoulder and whispered to her.
"Come on Shamira."
She got up and he looked at her with an expression of either pity or sympathy, Shamira couldn't be sure which. Bardia was plainly sympathetic. He had seen Shamira overreact and couldn't really understand what the big deal was, that girl was sent to kill him wasn't she, child or not? Behind the sympathy or pity in each of them was a hint of brief fear. She hated Kimball then, there was no doubt about it. It was in her blood red eyes. She hated him. Shamira looked to the spot Kimball had his back to her. He was waiting for something and had Nuri not been there she probably never would have thought of it.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat. "Shamira. You know, you know what you have to do."
She stared at him blankly. Then like a brick to the head it hit her. She had done something dishonorable. This meant she needed to beg for forgiveness. She had to ask Bardia, her prince for forgiveness and if it was granted, she would be pardoned and the rest was up to her master, if not, she would be stripped of her title and exiled from the warriors. She dropped to her knees in front of Bardia, her face so low and close to him she almost kissed his feet out of desperation.
"My Prince, please, I beg for your forgiveness for the unjustified dishonor I've committed today." She pleaded. "Sir, I beg of you … "
"You're forgiven." Bardia said not letting her continue. There was no gloating in his tone, just as her apology was not forced.
"Nuri, young prince, go on ahead of us. We cannot stay here any longer. I thought we'd have a day or two more, but Morrigan was obviously ahead of us." Kimball said suddenly still not facing them.
Shamira felt a twinge of guilt again. She couldn't be sure, but something told her this was her fault. Bardia and Nuri took one last sympathetic look at Shamira and started towards their next destination, which must have been planned while she was packing up camp. A few minutes past, all though it seemed like an eternity, and Kimball had yet to even look around at her. It had been some time since Shamira had been at a total loss for action. She wasn't sure if she should break the silence, but figured that would probably be the worst thing she could do. Her stomach tied itself in tighter and tighter knots. She jumped when two buckets filled with rocks attached to one long stick appeared in front of her. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and lifted the device over her shoulders. Kimball began to walk after Bardia and Nuri. Shamira followed, allowing some distance between them.