The Haunting Past

Shirley

I'm surrounded by dark clouds. No up, no down, no surroundings whatsoever. As I walk nothing gets revealed but more clouds. They boil and roil until they split, showing a single figure. The face of the figure looks a lot like my own, though it is older. She has black hair and like me is clad in what seems to be Elven armor, though without a Royal Seal and darker. She doesn't wear a cape either and the blade on her hip seems not Elvish, however I do notice she has Elven ears and the cloth hanging from the bottom of her chest plate has the Elven tree on it. The difference is this is a blood red tree on a black background. It seems she sees me to and she looks surprised. There is something else to in her emotions. An emotion I cannot place...

As the vision fades I hear a voice. 'Shirley, wake up please. Shirley... ah there you go.'

As my eyes slowly open I see Sha'iva leaning over me. I got a headache so it takes some time before I notice it is her. 'Sha'iva? What happened...'

She smiles softly. 'You joined in the celebrations, beat the living daylights out of the female Ork in a bar fight and then drunk one mug of ale to much. You've been out for two days now.'

I notice I'm sitting against Rashter now, feeling a bit bruised but otherwise fine. 'I'm never touching alcohol again. This went so awfully wrong... not to mention the vision I just had.'

Sha'iva gives me a small vial with a liquid in it. 'Drink this. it should help with the headache. I can't say anything about the vision though.'

I drink the vial and feel the headache slowly dissipate. Then I let my head rest against Rashter. 'Please tell me I don't have to climb into the saddle right now for the flight back...'

Sha'iva smiles softly. 'The king wasn't to fussed about it. The tavern is a mess but it wasn't all your fault. Brawls have been going on there for half a day.'

Then I notice the two Orks some distance away. Treknal is bruised all over and the female Ork looks even worse. She also has some gashes on her arm and a small bump on her head, just like one of her tusks is broken off. I blink twice. 'Did I draw my sword during the brawl?'

Sha'iva shakes her head. 'You took a bar stool and slammed it on her back so hard it broke and then used the remains to beat her up. That's all splinters...'

I rub my head feeling the crown still there. 'The worst part is I cannot remember doing it. All I got is some bruising...'

The female Ork walks over. 'You can fight, Wing Leader. You beat me up good in that fight. Only why did you do it?'

I shake my head. 'Whatever the reason may be, I can't remember. I must have been off my face when it happened.'

The Ork laughs. 'Well, even drunk you showed why you are the leader and not me. You broke my tusk with nothing but a piece of wood.'

'That makes me less of a leader, not more. As a leader I should not be beating you up for a reason I can't remember...'

I then see the king walk over. 'Ah good. Ye are alive. The Dragon Guard and the queen of the Elves would hurt me quite badly if you died during our feast.'

I slowly get up, supporting myself on Rashter. 'I gotta keep my hands off of any form of alcohol it seems. Now it went somewhat all right but if this happens with an Elf I could kill one without even being to aware of it.'

The king laughs. 'Nah. They were fighting, ye got annoyed of it and decided to interfere. Ye beat up the female so hard the male turned around and walked against a beam knocking himself out.'

I let my head fall back against Rashters scales. 'I guess everything is going back to normal now?'

The king looks around. 'Somewhat. There is still talk about ye seven, but otherwise everything is as it used to be. Well, somewhat. No one got badly injured.'

He then walks away leaving me with the full squad. After finding my composure again I speak to them. 'All right, start preparing please. We'll leave in the afternoon. It is time for me to face off with the council, again. One of these days I'm going to blow up to them...'

As they start going to work I check the saddle again and lean against Rashter. 'Did you see my vision to?'

He seems calm as he answers.'I did, Shirley. The Elf looked a lot like you, but what the vision meant I cannot tell. What I can say is that some of her features were different. Her eyes don't match yours for example. However, she is a relative of you. A real relative.'

'So let me get this straight. You talked with the Dwarves, then gave them an order that defied our direct orders not to go there and led them there yourself?'

I stand there defiantly. 'As one who lost her father years ago I knew they needed it. I could not just stand there and do nothing. They are part of my squad and my responsibility. Maybe I wouldn't have defied you straight up if you had more sense.'

The Dragon Guard council member looks like he is about to blow up. None of the other council members speak. I decide to push it further. 'My loyalty lays with this council as long as the decisions made by it are sensible. Your decisions would have put Oruk and Noruk out of action for months. Therefor I decided to defy you and do what is best. My right hand deserves better than you offer him.'

The council still remains quiet, until the leader takes the word. 'Loyalty should not be easily shifted. However, as the leadership of the Dragon Guard and its different branches, we should still lead with wisdom. That is not, in any way a free ticket to defy our decisions whenever you see fit, Wing Leader Shirley. Appropriate punishment will be put in place after a full assessment of your actions and its consequences have been assessed. Next to that I also wish to say this: stop taking responsibility over your squads actions. Your right hand has to do his own paperwork, not you. You protect your squad way to much.'

I look straight to him. 'That is my task, leader. A leader, even of a squad of only seven, protects those assigned to the leader. My wing in a way is my family. I was at the burial of Oruk and Noruk's father. I carried his slab to his niche with them. Oruk asked me to do it over the king.'

The Forge Master, one of the two Dwarves, stands up. 'Leader, this meeting is not going anywhere. All this is about is one person refusing to let a Wing Leader do her work and strengthen the bonds between her entrusted. Wing Leader in training Shirley has the loyalty of Oruk and Noruk over the loyalty of their own king. My king. To continue this madness of one old human with delusions is to punish someone for doing her work, though through unconventional measures. Her stone is strong and I will not blunt my pickaxe on it.'

The Forge Master walks away. Then the other Dwarf stands up. 'The refusal should not have been given in the first place. It was asking for defiance. Though my work was made harder with the trip, it has not been in vain. To cut a gemstone before knowing its use is a fools errant. I will return to my duties.'

The Dragon Guard council member is fuming now. 'You cannot be serious about this! She defied our decision. The decision we came to together!'

The Dwarf holds up a carved stone I recognize. I grab in my pockets and take out a similar stone, holding it up to. Then the Dwarf nods and speaks. 'She has been given access to the Dwarven Holds. That is more than the king does for you. Now, I'm off.'

The Dwarf puts the stone away making me think I have to do the same. He then walks off leaving the Dragon Guard council member, Celeste, the leader, the Elf in charge of the hunting grounds and the Elf who is in charge of the farms. The two dragons besides the Leader from the council got bored at the start and already walked off to do better things. Now both Elves stand up. One of them speaks. 'Though her lack of following the rules and guidance of the council are a red thread, her results leave no doubt. I'm sick of these meetings when the results we are seeing counter the issue of disobedience. Stop calling meetings about a Wing Leader who delivers results despite your incompetence. You should have mentioned those two Dwarves were from her squad as then it would have been clear there is no danger.'

As the Elves walk out Celeste gets up. 'Shirley, I am disappointed you don't follow our leadership. You seem to walk your own path instead of the path that is the Rider path. All decisions made by us are made with a reason. I start to believe you do not have the wisdom to lead yet as you do not trust the wisdom of others.'

I look straight at her. 'I do trust the wisdom of others, however I make my own decisions based on my knowledge and that wisdom. In this case I distrusted it.'

Then Celeste walks off. The leader closes his eyes. 'Wing Leader Shirley, you are dismissed. The council member and I have some private business to attend to. We will return to the issue at hand later.'

When I'm dismissed I go to Celeste. As I enter her study she looks up. 'You are the last one I expected to come here, Shirley.'

I walk over to her. 'I need to talk with you, Celeste. Something happened while I was in the Dwarven Hold. After the burial... I had a vision. I saw someone who looked like me but... she was an Elf. She wore a different armor and carried a different sword. The armor was darker than mine and the symbol... it was a blood red tree on a black background.'

Celeste is quiet for a moment. She walks to one of the bookshelves and pulls on a book, turning the entire bookshelf outwards revealing a tunnel. 'Follow me. I will reveal the truth to you now.'

The tunnel is short and as we come out into another room, darker but also with bookshelves and a desk. She walks to one shelf and grabs a single book, blowing the dust from it and then handing it over to me. 'Please find the Elf you saw in this book.'

As I go through the thick book I see many Elves but none seem to match her... until one of the last pages. I see her face and get flashbacks. 'This is her.'

Celeste takes the book over and nods. 'Tresh'ta the Bloody. I guess I have an explanation to make. The war the Dragon Guard is in, is with the Demon forces. Now this would have been fine, if the Demons didn't have a way to corrupt people they find interesting. Not all get corrupted. Those who find their minds strong can easily resist the corruption. However, others who are in doubt of whom they are will not. Only squads who are strong are send out to fight the Demons. Tresh'ta was in one of those squads. Her dragon died in combat with a Demon and she went nearly mad. The Demon corrupted her and turned her into what she is now. A demon Elf. An Elf of fire. Why you had a vision of her, I cannot tell. All I can say is you have some of her looks. Until you are certain of who and what you are, do not go near her please. With her the unknown can be dangerous.'

I close my eyes and put my hand on my sword. 'If she wishes to fight me I'm all to glad to do so. Both my dragon and I have seen the vision and I have had enough of her already. If she wishes to die she will keep on haunting my dreams. Then I will find her and run my sword through her. I'm not weak or soft. She is messing with the wrong person.'

Celeste stops me with her tail. 'Shirley, she has killed many a rider already. To face off against her is to commit suicide. Not even a trained squad could face off against her and live. She is a commander of the Demon legions for a reason.'

I draw my sword and hold it in front of me. 'Celeste, this sword is given to me with a reason. To protect the Elves, Dwarves, Orks and Humans. If she is a murderer and a traitor it is my job to fight her and kill her. It is my duty.'

Celeste looks at the carved sword and then at me. 'It seems I cannot stop you from doing this. I guess all I can do is prepare you for it.'

Behind me I hear the voice of the leader. 'A sword is worth nothing if the wielder falters. You need a lot of training before you can go and fight a commander of the Demon Legions.'

I sheet the sword and turn to him. 'If I can get a break from the paperwork I'd be glad to. I don't even have time to sleep currently. At least, when I'm not on my way somewhere to get practice in the field.'

The leader walks over. 'Many things have been set in motion, Shirley. Some you may never know happened, others you may find out about very soon. However, for now you are not ready to face off with Tresh'ta. However, once you are and if you do indeed beat her, you have earned your place in the hall of heroes. One other thing though. I can give you the freedom to travel to the Elven, Dwarven and Orkish territories for now, if you use these rights with due diligence. However, I cannot let you travel anywhere else yet. The world is getting more dangerous and for someone who hasn't killed a soul in her life it is even more so.'

Celeste then turns to the leader. 'What happened with the member of the Dragon Guard. Did you actually do it?'

The leader nods. 'I had to, Celeste. You know the rules as well as I do. If more than half the council walks out on you telling you that you take it to far and are wrong, then the rules are clear. We are now one council member short.'

I then walk out of the room with quick steps.

The clouds part again. There she is. I want to draw my sword but notice I don't carry it with me. Nor does she have her sword or her armor with her. She looks up at me, clad in black cloth. 'How could this be? You should be dead.'

I look at her with a venomous look. 'If you don't stay out of my dreams you will be dead quite quickly. My sword will know no mercy.'

She looks me over. 'I cannot fully see you but you look just like I thought you would look when you would grow up...'

I quickly look around for a weapon but see nothing. Then I ask the obvious question. 'Who are you to me, that you know me?'

The vision fades quickly know as someone shakes me awake. Sleepily I open my eyes to see the entire squad around my bed. 'Please let me sleep. It is still early...'

I roll over to go back to sleep just to get pushed back by Sha'iva. 'Wing Leader, it is already afternoon. You have slept through the morning. This is unlike you.'

I look around the room. 'I'm fine. If you give me a moment I'll prepare myself for training. Sha'iva, can you help me put on my armor as far as I'm not wearing it already?'

As they leave I throw the blankets off and get out of bed. Once we are alone I speak softly. 'I've been having visions. I talked with the mage of the council and together we found out who it is, however I'm not allowed to share with you who it is yet. I can't tell anyone. All I can say is she is a murderer, traitor and... an Elf. I almost had an answer just now. She knew me, Sha'iva. She said: "How could this be? You should be dead". This is not just someone who once saw me. She must have been a significant part of my life yet I know only her name and some of the things she has done.'

As Sha'iva helps me in my armor she just listens. Once she is done she finally responds. 'It is disturbing to hear about these dreams of visions. Whoever you saw, it must be some kind of enemy and I doubt we want to know who she is to you. If you are correct the may be quite the fight to beat.'

I turn to her. 'Sha'iva, if she is a danger to anyone here, I'll find her and kill her. It is my duty to keep you all safe. At whatever cost I will do such.'

Sha'iva nods. 'You show again why we follow you. However... doesn't it go a bit far? It is just a person you are dreaming of, who may or may not be still alive. If she indeed goes after us... is it then not early enough to worry about her?'

I shake my head. 'If I understood it correctly not. I hear she is very strong and killed many a Rider. If we come up against her without me having been trained for the encounter, we may not survive it.'

After the training session I go back to my room and start working on the paperwork as usual. This time I notice something odd between it. Between the usual training papers and the request for a scripture of todays training session there is also a request for a transfer. At first I'm afraid one of my squad members wishes to leave, until I read it well. One of the Dwarves from another squad wishes to join my squad. For a moment I roll the quill in my hand as I think about it. I do have a handful with my current squad already and he could be a bad fit. However I believe I can handle it if Noruk also carries his weight for once. I'm really tempted to dump one evening worth of paperwork on his desk and let him deal with it.

Eventually I decide to agree with the transfer and sign the papers, sealing it with wax and my seal as well. Then I return to the massive pile again. Five weeks of backlog in reports I didn't answer because I was away. Several evaluations I have to read through and sign to get on with the training. Evaluations I have to write on specific members of my Wing, while not being allowed leeway in their progress. I hate that part so much. To report on my own people on how they perform. Its like telling a teacher your best friend is misbehaving so you don't get put in the naughty seat for protecting him.

Eventually I'm sick of the paperwork and put the quill down, going to my balcony. There I sit at the edge and look out over Celaris. Finally some peace on my mind...

The next few weeks I don't get any more visions. I can train with my squad unfazed and even evaluate the new transfer. It is a somewhat older dwarf who carries a hammer and shield. I can also see why he asked for the transfer as with the others in my wing he arrives in his own equipment. His dragon is a tad on the larger side and he forged metal plates as an armor for him as well. However he is also headstrong and a tad troublesome when it comes to formation flying. I guess he needs some training in there.

After the two weeks I do get another vision. Now I won't be left without answers. As I stand before her, once again unarmored, I see her. She looks me in the eyes. 'Shirley... the one who survived.'

I ball my fists. 'What are you to me, that you know me? Why do you return knowing it will be your death?'

The Elf takes a step back. 'There is no need to be aggressive with me. I haven't attacked you... yet. I'm your mother.'

My fists unclench as I hear that. 'You? Tresh'ta the Bloody? The traitor? You of all people are the one who is my mother? No. I will not stand for that. I will not be your daughter. I heard what you did. You killed dozens of Riders for your own entertainment. You lead legions of Demons to conquer and kill innocents. I'm what stands between you and those people and I will not falter.'

She steps towards me. 'Even if you deny it you cannot escape the truth. I am your mother. You can ask around in that little castle of yours but in the end the truth cannot be changed.'

The clouds close in on me again.

I walk up straight to Celeste. When I stand before her I look up to her face. 'Why did you never tell me?'

Celeste looks at me confused. 'I do not know what you are talking about, Shirley. I didn't hide anything from you.'

I point to the bookshelf behind which her secret room is hidden while yelling. 'I know what she is to me, Celeste. You cannot hide it from me no more. I know.'

Celeste seems even more confused. 'Shirley, I have no clue what you are talking about. Can you clear it up please?'

Tears stream down my cheeks. 'Celeste, you know it. I'm her daughter. I'm the daughter of Tresh'ta. I'm the daughter of the traitor. The murderer. You knew it all along.'

Celeste seems in deep shock. 'You are her daughter? You are a halfblooded Elf? How... can that even be? Halfbloods are not viable. They should die before they are born...'

I'm screaming through the tears. 'I don't care about that, Celeste. I have foul blood flowing through my veins. You should have known from all people...'

I then collapse on the floor in tears. I'm unworthy to be a Rider. My mother is a traitor which means I'm destined to become one to. Then I feel Celeste pick me up and carry me somewhere, though where I do not know. Eventually I hear her speak. 'Leader, we need to talk. Someone needs your wisdom.'

As I am sobbing in Celeste her claw I hear the leader speak. 'Leave her here. I suspect the cause. Go back to your studies.'

As she puts me down and walks away I slowly get words formed. 'She is my real mother, leader. Tresh'ta is my mother.' I hold my right wrist up with my left hand. 'I got HER blood flowing through my veins. A traitors blood. A murderers blood. How can I be a Dragon Guard if my own mother is a monster who fights against its very core principles? It's impossible, leader...'

The leader lays behind me and grabs my wrist. 'Though you have her blood, it does not make you her. You are still your own person. That your mother is a traitor does not mean you have to be one to. You can remain loyal and lead your squad against your mother.'

I look at him through teared up eyes. 'Leader, I'm tainted by a traitor. You cannot truly believe that I'm impervious to my mothers downfall...'

The leader taps with his tail on my chest. 'Your mother didn't use this. Your mother followed the rules to the point. When she was confronted with a greater Demon she fought it according to the rules instead of realizing she was about to fight a beast of great power and asking for back up. She lost her dragon to the Demon who then mocked her, saying only he had the power to bring her back. She has been enslaved since, however, she is not seen on her dragon ever. She has succumbed to madness and only craves for blood.'

I tap his tail. 'Leader, this means I have the same weakness. The same soft spot the Demon can use against me to enslave me.'

The leader pushes my head to the side to make me look into his eyes. 'You aren't. You follow your heart. I have not seen you follow a single rule or order straight up since you came here. Even your meeting with Celeste came to be, because you entered a room you were not supposed to be. If your mother had even an ounce of your unruliness she would have been your trainer instead of a commander of dark legions. The only thing she ever did that didn't follow the rules was you. You were born before she fell, though only now do I realize this is the case.'