An Old Legend And Old Grudges

Shirley

Back in the castle I go to my lessons. The elder of the Dragon Guard seems pleased Rashter and I already took care of the saddle so he focusses on preparing me to go for the soul bind. He mostly focusses on what changes between me and Rashter once it happens. I do listen to him but I can't completely focus. My thoughts keep drifting away. Soon I have my own saddle and I can fly on Rashter's back. Then we can learn to fly together and do aerial combat. I just cannot wait.

At the end of the day I sit against Rashter and look outside. It kinda is beautiful here. I'm so entranced I don't notice Celeste is approaching us. Only when she grumbles I look behind Rashter. 'Oh master! I didn't notice you arrived.'

She shakes her head disapprovingly. 'It isn't time to sleep yet nor is this the place. However, it is time for you to be shown something. Something... reserved for the Guard and its dragons.'

I get up. 'What is it?'

She tilts her head as an indicator I have to follow her. Rashter follows me in turn. We walk down several halls and down, only not towards the dungeons now. We arrive at another giant room with vaulted ceilings and statues on either side of the central walkway, which has a red carpet with gold embroidery on it. Tall windows behind every statue let light come in. Celeste moves a claw in a theatrical fashion to the hall. 'Welcome in the hall of heroes. This is where the greatest heroes of the riders get immortalized. If you prove yourself as a rider with an extraordinary feet, you will get your own statue here.'

With my mouth wide open I walk down the walkway. At first it is only humans, but soon I also notice a dragon and other creatures. Looking back I see some of the humans got pointy ears and more pronounced cheekbones. I stop in front of a statue of a snake lady. 'I don't want to sound disrespectful but what is she?'

Celeste stands next to me. 'This was Kai'chira. She was the first and only one of the few Gorgon riders. Gorgons have the power to turn people to stone. However she had the power to cure that same curse. Her dragon she saved from that curse. As a thank you the dragon brought her here and she was welcomed in the order. In the end she was so powerful she cured the Great Blight. If only she could have saved herself.'

It sounds like Celeste was there. I lay a hand on the statue. 'I never knew there were other species around. Especially not ones like snake people...'

Celeste hits me with her tail. 'Never call them that again. They deserve our respect even though they are a bit... secluded and very protective. And what did you think? That it is just humans and dragons that are sentient? No, the world is filled with sentient people. Some more prevalent than others. Elves wonder the woods, their bows the peak of quality and efficiency. Dwarves live under the mountains. Their forges produce the best steel and their masons the cleanest buildings that will last longer than a dragons lifetime. The Gorgons tend to the swamps and caves, keeping the deadliest threats under control. Minotaurs roam the plains in the Far East, their rough hewn weapons usually used for raiding villages and farms. Even trolls and Orks can be troublesome, both being pretty much living war machines. If you look over there, there used to be an Ork rider to who made it here. Goroa.'

She points to a statue that is large even for the statues. It shows a tall, bulky powerhouse with two oversized tusks sticking out of his lower jaw. His clothing looks like scraps but the statue shows a massive sword on his side. That sword, even in more modest size of real life, would be massive. 'How big was he?'

Celeste sighs. 'I do not remember. I do know that he was the strongest rider to ever live. Also he was one of the youngest to make it into here. Sad thing he had to ruin it by dying so quickly.'

We stand there for a time before I ask something. 'Earlier on, with Kai'chira, it seemed like you knew her. How do you know her?'

Celeste looks at her statue again. 'I was her teacher. Back when I was a younger mage, still in my prime, I taught her a lot of magic. She was a very good student. One of the best. What you have with your bow, she had with her magic. She had a feeling for it no one could explain. She was so good at it... I let her study under my sister to. That was a mistake. My sister betrayed us all. Kai'chira tried to reason with her during a battle. Her dragon got shot out of the sky. She survived the crash landing but her wounds were to terrible and she couldn't cure them herself. It was what killed her.'

I put a hand on her statue. While it slips down I feel a seam. It seems odd as the statues and the bases they stand on are seamless. It feels like some kind of block was carved out, invisible but findable on touch. I press it and hear a hiss. Celeste exclaims a small cry of shock. 'What did you do? You are desecrating the dead...'

I step back and look around at what happened. A small drawer opened in the base of the statue of Kai'chira. In it lays a staff, similar to the one the statue holds, but then more proportioned to human size. I look at the staff in awe. 'Is it normal that the weapons of the people the statues represent are inside them?'

Celeste shakes her head. 'Not at all. It never happened before. These kinds of mechanisms take dwarves to make. But why she hid it in here... I do not know.'

I look closer in the drawer and see a note. 'She left something else. Look there.'

I point at the note. Celeste picks it up and reads it out loud.

'If someone finds this, I have perished trying to reason with the sister of my master. It does not however mean I am truly gone. Whoever finds my staff, please bring it to the swamp where I was born. Talk to the elder there and show it to him. As per my instructions he will tell you to keep the staff, after bringing it to the village center. There it will awaken my magic, allowing me to return with time. If my master is still alive, Sa'nor, do not grief about my death. It was neither your fault nor the councils. It was my choice to make and I made this choice. I choose to believe your sister isn't truly evil and can be reasoned with. If I am wrong, then it is my price to pay.

Sara'ti

Kai'chira

Her tears flow down her cheeks. 'This was written by her. This is her handwriting. Everything is as it used to be, down to how she called me... Sa'nor.'

I lay a hand on her paw. 'Is it to late for her to return? Is she gone permanently or can her magic still be activated?'

Celeste shakes her head. 'I cannot tell. She was always odd in how she did things. Her return could be a full rebirth, or just her spirit roaming the world...'

I put a hand on her paw. 'We could give it a go, you know. The letter did say to do it, and it didn't say any deadline...'

Celeste shakes her head again. 'I cannot do it. I cannot go back there. It will be to painful even if they let me near...'

I carefully grab the staff. 'Then I will go. After all I'm the one who found the staff. So if you want to keep me safe you have to come with me.'

The staff head is shaped like a snake head with two rubies as eyes. The handle is wrapped in what appears to be a green cloth and the butt end has what seems to be an ornate spearhead. Apparently she was smart enough to not go down just the magic path. Though, she seems smarter than anyone here as she set up an entire ritual to return and she hid her staff in plain sight. Celeste sees me with the staff in my hand. 'You sometimes look so much like her, Shirley. You have her nobility and her furious spirit. With you holding that staff like that you almost seem to have her body to...'

I look down and just see myself. She must be hallucinating. With that confirmed I start walking back to the exit. Celeste runs after me and then overtakes me. 'I will not let you go alone. The swamp Lamia are a peculiar people and they don't take kindly to strangers walking into their territory. Maybe if I join you, you get the chance to talk your way out of it...'

Holding the staff tightly I go to her study to find some maps.

Days. That is how long I sit in the saddle on Celeste her back. At first it was fine but slowly I start to cramp up. Every day the cramp comes earlier and when we stop for the evening to eat and rest it takes longer to go away. Eventually Celeste pushes on while we are flying over a swamp. During the night a light appears ahead, indicating some sort of settlement. Celeste angles her wings down and goes in for the landing. I see several people who look a lot like the statue slither away, however one slithers towards us. He seems older but not any less dangerous. 'I thought I had declared this swamp off limits for dragons. Especially you, mage.'

I unbuckle my legs and slip down, groaning a bit as the cramp truly hits me. Then I listen to the discussion. Celeste responds. 'I never meant to return here, however the situation has changed elder.'

He points his staff to Celeste. 'The last time I saw you, you were here to tell me about the death of my daughter at the claws of your sister. Because of you my daughter is dead. You knew your sister wasn't good news yet you let my daughter form a bond with her. As her dragon it was your job to keep her safe.'

My mouth falls open. 'She was your rider? Is that why... you care for me? Because I remind you of her?'

Celeste looks down at me. 'Among other reasons but yes. You may not be as magically adept as she was, but your other traits remind me of her.'

The elder falls silent. Then he turns to me. 'I guess you are that vile monsters new rider, since you are being taken care off by her and you rode on her back?'

I shake my head. 'No. I got another dragon I will soon get a soul bind with. No, we discovered something in the hall of heroes, at the statue of your daughter. Because the dragon I chose cannot be ridden yet without my saddle being finished, I had to ask my master to fly me here.'

He slithers around me. 'It isn't often that humans ask to be brought to a Lamia village. Humans live in human settlements, Lamia live in Lamia settlements. That is how it has always been and how it will always be. You should leave and take your ruinous master with you.'

I nod. 'Agreed. I didn't expect hostilities to be with my master and to be so deep. However, I have to show you something first.'

I walk over to Celeste and pull the staff from her saddlebag, unwrapping it from the leather I put around it to protect it. The many Lamia around us gasp as they see the staff. Even the elder is left breathless. 'That cannot be. This was lost. When she died her staff couldn't be found...'

I nod. 'She had hidden it in her own statue. She had a dwarf make a hidden drawer in which it was placed. I discovered it last week and asked... my master to fly me here.'

The elder beckons with his head. 'Follow me, Maichi. You to, mage. We have something to talk about.'

The elder leads us to one of the larger huts and beckons us to sit down. Then he holds out both hands. 'Can I hold it for a moment?'

I hand it over and he gingerly lifts it out of my hands. His fingers slide over the snake head, then down the shaft and towards the spear end. 'Her baby fangs... she put them in her staff. This was also her first shed skin. She thought she would die when she saw her skin left behind. Her ritual knife, sharper than any knife anywhere in the world... this is her staff indeed. Please take really good care of it.'

As he hands the staff over to me I grab the leather to wrap the staff up but then he stops me. 'No. That is not what I meant. If she left it where you claimed she left it, then you were meant to find it. It is your staff now. My daughter was was always a devious one and always prepared for the future.'

I cradle the staff. 'She left a note with it to. She said to bring the staff to the village center to awaken her magic, whatever that meant.'

The elder looks up. 'She never truly abandoned us. Her spirit guides us still. In my grief I was to blind to see it. Very well. Follow me to the ritual site. I do not know what magic she mentioned but knowing her... it won't be disappointing.'

After a short walk we arrive at a stone circle. All the stones got carvings in them, beautifully intricate and showing scenes from what must be the Lamia history. I look around the place but then notice something. In the middle of the stone circle there is a slot that is filled with moss and earth. With my fingers I clear the slot as well as I can and only then do I notice the slot is the same shape as the blade on the staff. As I stand there I see the Lamia gathering around. This must be it. I slide the blade in the slot and notice it slides in all the way, very smoothly. Texts on the stones glow green, as do the eyes of the staff. A small orb of green light forms showing what must be her...

Celeste

As Shirley stands there, almost frozen in place and looking entranced at what happens around her, I see her ghostly shape form. Under my breath I softly speak her name. 'Kai'chira...'

Tears well up as I see her. My rider. We never soul bonded as we both knew I was incompatible, but I nevertheless cared about her beyond anything. In the silence my tears impact the stones loudly, so loud in fact the elder puts a hand on me and finally notices he isn't the only one still grieving. Then the ghostly image turns to me. 'Sa'nor. Please, I did tell you not to grief. It was my choice to ignore you...'

I look up still crying. 'Kai'chira... I should never have listened to you and flown you close to her... because of that you died. Your death is on me.'

She shakes her head. 'No. You did what you had to do. You knew that if you didn't fly me there, I'd find someone who would. You tried to protect me and even to heal me when I failed. You did your task, Sa'nor. As did you bring the one who found my staff here. You have done all you had to do and I'm glad you did. You remembered my wishes.'

The elder speaks to her. 'Daughter... why? Why did you sacrifice yourself like that? You could have done so much more...'

She looks at her father. 'Father, my dead ended up being necessary. Because of it my master became ready to train a new generation instead of focussing on me. Not only that, but I discovered something even you and our late ancestors forgot. Life is a part of death, and death a part of life. It is a never ending circle. Death feeds life and life feeds death. The returning of my staff here means I can be reborn again, in due time. And so the circle continues...'

He seems astounded. 'Daughter... what you found should not be possible. Those who return to the swamp never come back...'

She smiles softly. When she does that tears swell up again in my eyes. She was so beautiful in life. 'Those who are Buried in the swamp indeed don't return. Those who are entombed as heroes do. To live a life worth remembering, that is what makes a hero immortal. All the heroes of the Riders will return in due time. Some with their memories, some without. But all will return. Death is not the end, father... there is no end.'

Finally Shirley speaks. 'Why did you let me find your staff? I'm just some lucky woman who survived a dragon attack. I'm not a mage, nor a hero, nor even a rider yet. I'm a former hunter. A nobody.'

As she looks at Shirley with her smile I can see a bond between them. Kai'chira speaks softly, so softly I doubt anyone but me with my stronger hearing and Shirley can hear her words. 'So was I once. I was a rebellious daughter of the Elder. At your age I decided living in this swamp was not my preferred way of living so when the dragons came here to see if anyone was worthy to become a rider I volunteered. I may not have lived very long after it, but it was the best years of my life.'

The elder speaks now. 'How... will you return? You have no body any more. Will you become one of the swamp?'

She turns to him. 'No. I will be reborn in this village, from one of the unbound. When you see me you will know it is me. When I'm strong enough I will return to the dragons keep to finish what has been started there.'

She then turns to Shirley again. 'Keep the staff. It will amplify your magic, as will it allow you to use the powers of the swamp if you are trained by one of my people. Also one other thing. Trust your master. Sa'nor is wise and powerful. She may be secretive, planning behind your back and sometimes speak for you to others, but in the end she is wiser than most and always has your best interest in mind. She never leads you astray. Now you have to let me go. Pull the staff out and my rebirth will start.'

I see Shirley hesitate for a moment as she looks at me and the elder, but then she nods and slowly pulls the staff out of the slot in the ground. Right before Kai'chira would disappear she moves at high speed and into the crowd, probably to her new body. Somewhere I am still sad but seeing her again... it has done something with me. A weight is lifted from my shoulders. Then the elder slithers forward. He speaks loudly so everyone can hear. 'The events leading to my daughters death over a century ago have caused me to lead our people with a clouded mind. She always had been headstrong and I should have known it was always part of a plan, as was everything of her. For over a century we have isolated ourselves and in the process we have been... declining. I can see it now. How sparse our life has become. How depraved we have become to the point of becoming hostile to outsiders. My daughter knew our future isn't in here, but out in the world where we can truly guard the balance. She was wiser than me in many respects. Therefor I will re-open the boundaries. The riders are now welcome once more, and so are those who wish to become riders.'

He then turns to Shirley and me. 'You are welcome to stay the night. Also thank you, human. You have returned to me a treasure beyond a memory of my daughter. Even if you won't be recognized by the riders as a hero, you are a hero of this village.'

He hits his own chest with his fist. The highest sign of respect from a Lamia.

Shirley

The next morning I'm sitting in one of the huts that wasn't being occupied. Celeste is laying across the room from me, against the single rounded wall the hut is made off. As I'm sitting there I'm looking at the staff on my lap. I somehow feel unworthy of it. This staff was made by a legendary hero from some of her own body parts, even if they were shed during her life. Even the blade is special. I do notice now that she carved Celeste her face in the blade. This should be returned to Celeste, not held by me. However when I think about it I hear the words of the hero again. She told me to keep it and use it.

I'm so entranced in my thoughts I don't hear Celeste stir and wake up. Nor do I notice the elder entering the hut. Eventually I feel a hand on my shoulder. 'That staff was made by me for her sixth birthday, as that is when she came of age. As a youngling she already was strong in magic. The gems were mined by the Dwarven miners in the northern mountains. The wood of the staff was grown in its shape by the elves of the woodland realm. Even the knife was forged by a dwarf and then sharpened by an elf. I spend most of my riches on it, plus some of the villages trade wares. The funniest part is I'm not even bothered by her giving you the staff now, even thinking back at how much it has cost me.'

I look up at him. 'Still it feels like I'm not worthy. When I'm not fighting my magic is barely usable. I'm not worthy of using a staff of such a great mage. I'm not even a Lamia...'

The elder helps me get up. 'You may not have the body or spirit of one, but for what you have done, you are now one in name. If ever you are lost or in need of help, you are welcome with us, miss scale-kin. If I understood correctly you pushed the mage to come here to fulfill my daughters wish, and I thank you for it. Because of that I would like to invite you to join our ritual...'

Celeste nods very slowly once I look at her for confirmation. Then I follow the elder to the center of the village. He picks up his own staff along the way and at the stone circle I see the entire village is here. Without a word he guides me to within the circle and starts chanting with his staff raised high. I see a translucent shield of many colors appear high in the sky which shatters into many pieces. The pieces dissolve into nothingness before they hit anyone but it is a spectacle. The elder speaks then. 'Once again we are open to the world. Whoever wishes to move out into the world is now free to do so. However, I wish to do one more thing here. Miss, please give me your arm.'

A bit shakily I offer my right arm to the elder. He grabs it and draws his knife, which like the one inside my staff, is carved with some intricate carvings I cannot understand. He then puts the knife on the underside of my arm and starts to slowly carve out something. The pain is an overwhelming sensation and I forcibly close my eyes as he does it. When I feel he has stopped I open my eyes again and see he opened his mouth and has folded open fangs, from which he is collecting some fluid. What is he doing? He grabs my arm again and holds the vial above it. 'This will sting a bit. Once this is done you are a friend of the Lamia until your death.'

Then he pours the liquid in the wound he just carved. He softly chants something as he does it and as he does, the wound starts closing. It causes a stinging pain but now I can force myself to watch as the carvings turn into a green scar, depicting a Lamia with raised staff. The carving faces me and the tail, from where it would touch the ground if it had been real, moves up in a serpentine fashion. Only the eyes aren't closed, instead they remain open wounds. As the elder lets go of my arm I touch it softly. 'This looks like her...'

The elder tenderly touches it. 'This would be you, had you been born here. Maybe once Kai'chira has returned, you can become this. Maybe you can before that time. I do not know as magic isn't my speciality. I do know that this is right, miss poison blood. My poison is now in your blood. You are now our kin. This village is now your village to.'

Softly I mutter my thoughts. 'I lost a village and I gained a village... faith truly is odd.'

The elder lifts my head. 'I learned the hard way not to linger on the past. Yes it has shaped you. But remaining in the past has been harsh for my people. Look at the future, poison blood. Look to the future and smile as it can only become better.'