FicWad

Six months later Shahdee has adjusted to the life of being without human company. Whisper got very melancholy after Master Wolf died and stopped eating as much as he should have been eaten and eventually was dying of starvation. One day Shahdee went into the ger she had converted into stables and found Whisper lying on his side, barely breathing. And in that moment Shahdee knew he was dying. Shahdee tried to think of a humane way to end the pain Whisper must be in. Her hand started to tingle and she looked down to see little traces of lightning racing all over her hand. Shahdee laid her hand on Whisper's flank and the lightning races out of her hand and into his body, numbing the pain and putting him down at the same time.


Shahdee has also gone through most of what was in the chest Master Wolf gave to her. Including this prophecy she found in the third month she was alone. Shahdee knows now that she has to leave to fulfill her destiny, but she doesn't know when she should leave the place that has been her home forever. In the time since the Massacre, Shahdee has mastered her powers quite well and has discovered that she has control over many elements like fire, water, air, earth, thunder, lightning, ice, and spirit.


"Today is another day Stone." Shahdee remarks to the stallion as she takes him on his walk before she exercises him. "Not that it matters much since you can't communicate with me verbally. But we communicate on a different level." Shahdee starts to jog and yanks gently on Stone's lead, making him trot. An hour later, Shahdee, sitting up in her saddle is walking back into camp from the river side when she stops pulls sharply back on the reins. A fairly large group of people is standing around the sort of public square area of the camp.


"What the devil?" Shahdee says rather loudly.


"Who are you?" A man on a horse, a paladin by the look of him, asks.


"I could ask you the same." Shahdee says right back, annoying the man. It doesn't show on his face but Shahdee catches a quick glimps of annoyance in his eyes.


"Shahdee?" comes the familiar voice of Guy.


"No...it can't be." You say, staring down from Stone at him.


"It is." He says, smiling.


"Oh my God!" Shahdee shrieks, exhibiting her first bit of girliness in quite some time. She jumps off the horse and runs over to Guy and almost makes him fall over by how fast she runs into him.


"It's good to see you too." He says, kind of awkwardly hugging Shahdee back.


"Guy, who is this?" A male with red hair and red armor says, speaking for the group.


"This is Shahdee, the daughter of the chieftain. Shahdee, this is Kent."


"Where's my hello and hug?" A deep voice says from behind Shahdee. She whips around and instantly feels hostile. Because standing three feet away from she is her brother.


"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Shahdee says with as much hostility in her voice as is humanly possible.


"Oh come on, you can't pretend to not know me, I'm your brother."


"I had a brother and then he went and had to go and be the world's biggest self-centered self-absorbed jack-"


"We have young impressionable children here!" A female voice calls.


"Drat. I'll cuss you out later. For now, why the fu- hell have you come back?"


"We were coming through the plains on the way to the Kutolah tribe, but where is everyone?"


"I am to presume you're Lyndis, Hassar's daughter?" Shahdee asks the young brunette who asked the question.


"Yes I am. How did you know my father?"


"Six months ago, my teacher and I were on the way to visit your tribe, it took us three days to get there and when we arrived, we both realized that the massacre everyone would talk about, but not mention the name of the tribe in question was the Lorca. Two and a half day's later we returned here to witness the occurrence of a bloody massacre. Over fifty people dispatched everyone except for me."


"What happened to Master Wolf?" Guy interrupts.


"He died saving me. And before you or anyone says anything else if you want to know where the Kutolah are, the three remaining tribe members are standing in this common ground."


"Everyone? Mother- Father-" Rath says in a stuttering voice.


"Everyone." Shahdee says shortly, whirling on her heel and starting to quick walk to Stone. She stops dead in her tracks when she hears a child's cry.


"Ninian! No!" Shahdee whips around to see a little boy with green hair running as quickly as his little legs will carry him trying to get to the girl, who must be his sister. She has been shoved in front of a horseman who is riding away at top speed on one of the most purebred looking horses Shahdee has ever seen.


"Quickly! We must give chase!" Lyndis yells.


"They won't get far." Shahdee says. Lyndis stops dead and looks at her.


"How can you say that? Look how far away they are already!"


"And they won't get much farther. Not unless they want to risk the girl's life." Shahdee says. She looks up at the sky and says simply, "Rain." The skies open up and it starts to rain. Shahdee sticks two fingers in her mouth and does Stone's calling whistle. He gallops ahead of her and she starts running and with the aid of the wind power Shahdee runs and place her hands on his hindquarters and flies up into the saddle. Galloping in the rain, Shahdee races ahead of everyone else and quickly gains on the kidnapper, who has obviously had to slow down. Not slowing Stone down, Shahdee puts herself parallel with the rider and jumps onto the other horse, behind the rider. She grabs the side of his head and gives an almighty twist, snapping his neck and killing him instantly. She pushes his body off the horse and brings the horse a full one-eighty. Shahdee turns her head and sees more riders and foot soldiers coming to help their fallen comrade.


"Listen, you're safe. I'm getting off the horse now. You ride this horse till you see the others alright? I have some unpleasant business to take care off." Shahdee says, sliding off the horse and making sure the horse has started in the right direction before turning around. A line of three horseman and seven foot soldiers and one wyvern rider stop in front of her.


"The little chit thinks she can fight us without any weapons! That's near laughable. Listen here girly, you bring that girl back to us and we won't kill you." One of the horseman says, laughing so hard he almost falls off his horse.


"Do you honestly think that I would be facing you without weaponry if I wasn't absolutely sure I could defeat you utterly and completely?" Shahdee says to the leader (completely ignoring the rider who made fun of her), who is on the wyvern.


"Ha-ha. That's funny. Do you wish to die where you stand?"


"I will die where I choose." Shahdee says.


"Fine then, you have chosen where you will die. Kill her!" The seven foot soldier's rush at Shahdee with there weapons drawn. Shahdee crouches down into a fighting stance and then lunges and grabs the hands of the nearest soldier, knocking him across the head with her elbow and relieving him of his sword and cleaving his head from his shoulders before his body hits the ground. Shahdee shoves the sword behind her quickly and rams it into a soldier's gut. Quickly pulling it out, Shahdee spins in a tight circle and chops off another person's head. Out of nowhere Shahdee feels a very sharp pain in her right shoulder. Looking at her shoulder, she sees an arrow lodged in it. She yanks the arrow out, clenching her teeth against the pain and tosses it on the ground. Feeling her temper rising, she throws the sword into the ground and backs off.


"Ah, giving up so soon? The show was entertaining!" The leader says, smiling this most horrible smile. He even has the gall to wave the bow at her.


"That was the stupidest thing you have ever done in your life. And I'll bet you've done many a stupid thing. Because now you've made me angry!" Shahdee yells. And as if the weather mirrors her emotions, a loud clap of thunder sounds right over the group. Shahdee stands there among the dead bodies and now afraid (and still alive) soldiers. A fork of lightning is seen in the sky and Shahdee brings it to her, getting lifted off the ground. Sticking her arms out straight, Shahdee brings her left arm down in a chopping motion toward the four remaining foot soldiers. They get thrown picked off of their feet and thrown thirty feet, and they don't get up. The three soldiers on the horses are thrown off when their horses rear up onto their hind legs and turn tail and run (the horses, not the soldiers). Shahdee lands lightly on her feet and throws a huge ball of fire at the horseless soldiers. They are burnt to a crisp within seconds.


"My, my, this is quite a surprise. My master will have to learn about you, if he already hasn't." The leader of the now dead group of soldiers says, leaning forward in the saddle of his mount.


"You won't live to tell him." Shahdee says. In gunslinger fashion, the man lets an arrow fly at Shahdee as she throws ice at him. Shahdee dodges the second arrow and sends ropes of wind forward to pick the man up off the wyvern. With much yelling involved, Shahdee pins him to the ground and uses the wind as a sort of gag cloth.


"I hope you're listening carefully. You have ten seconds to tell me who you are, where you came from, who employed you to kidnap the children or the girl at least, and why. Your ten seconds starts...now." Shahdee lifts the wind off his mouth.


"I'm not telling you anything. To betray the Black Fang would be as good as asking to die."


"Oh really? What's your name then? We'll start from there."


"My name is Heath."


"OK good, that's a start, now why, are you working for murderers like the Black Fang?"


"Like I'm going to tell you!"


"If you want to live you will." Shahdee says in a fake sweet voice.


"Shahdee no! Don't kill Heath!" Lyndis shouts.


"Give me one good reason not to." Shahdee says, looking right at Heath as she says it.


"I guess we have to tell you the truth about why we're here now. But release him first." Shahdee stares at Heath for a second before backing off.


"You've got ten seconds to convince me to not kill him."


"We sent him in as a spy. He was sent into gather information on the Black Fang and watch their movements, to tell us what their plans are."


Shahdee stares down at Heath for a second. Then she starts to walk off, with Heath still on the ground.


"Shahdee!" Lyndis shouts, sounding exasperated.


"Alright." Shahdee says, flinging her hand up in the air. She smiles a half smile as she hears Heath yelling because he got flung straight up in the air. Guy walks forward with Stone's reins in hand.


"Shahdee, if you don't mind me asking, why did you save Ninian? You don't even know her."


"I've seen too many families torn apart for selfish reasons; I'm never letting it happen again." Shahdee says, taking the reins and jumping into the saddle and galloping back to the camp, leaving everyone in her dust.


"You mind stopping this damn rain?" Shahdee very faintly hears someone yelling behind her. Looking up at the sky for a moment, Shahdee silently commands the rain to stop and then turns her head back to the ground so she won't crash into anything.


~Other POV~
"I was only joking when I asked her to stop the rain." Hector says, staring after Shahdee.


"That is not my sister." Rath says, watching Shahdee as well.


"That's Shahdee alright, but...she's changed somehow." Guy says.


"Uh, hello? Did you not notice the fire and the ice and the rain and the thunder and the lightning?" Sarra sarcastically asks.


"She's nice." Ninian says from next to Nils.


"And she's very beautiful." Sain says.


"Sain......" Rath says.


"I was only kidding!" Sain says, holding up both hands.


"Let's get back to the camp, maybe she'll let us stay for the night." Lyndis says, mounting her horse.


"Wait, Guy, if Father is dead, doesn't that technically make me chieftain now?" Rath asks as everyone starts to move back to camp.


"No. The same day you and your father had the falling out and you left, he exiled you from the tribe and said you were no longer his son and he also said if he ever heard anyone mention your name they would be immediately exiled from the tribe. Technically, for the first time in our history, the Kutolah have a female chieftain." Guy says, nudging his horse into a faster walk to catch up with the others.


~Shahdee's POV~
Shahdee gets off Stone and leads him back into camp to his stall. She gives him a good rubdown and she pulls some fresh water from the river and gives him an extra helping of sweet grass and hay. Shahdee leaves Stone happily munching on his food, heading back into her ger to bandage the wound. Shahdee takes a short length of linen and puts it around her shoulder joint and she pulls it with her hand and her teeth, a little too tightly.


"OW!!!!!!" Shahdee shouts.


"What's wrong?" The lady with pink asks, walking into the ger.


"Do you mind? I'm half-naked here!" Shahdee yells, darting into her room.


"Well, you weren't all that modest a few minutes ago."


"God, do you have any sense of privacy or something? You just don't go barging into someone's home without their permission."


"Well, you yelled, I thought you might be in trouble."


"GUY!!!!!!!!" Shahdee yells at the top of her lungs. The girl with pink hair winces and covers her ears.


"You don't have to be so loud." She says.


"Yes I do!" Shahdee shouts, sticking her head out in between the curtains.


"What's wrong Shahdee?" Guy asks, running into the ger.


"Her!" Shahdee says, jerking her head in Serra's direction.


"Come on Serra, let's leave Shahdee alone now." Guy says, taking her by the elbow and propelling her out of the ger. Shahdee goes into her room and pulls off the ripped top and puts on a black one.


"Shahdee, can we come in?" Guy asks.


"Yes." Shahdee calls. She steps into the main room of the ger just as Guy, Rath, Lyndis, some guy with short red hair, and this guy with blue hair step into the ger.


"Shahdee this is Eliwood, he's Marquess Pherae's son and this is Hector, he's-"


"Marquess Ostia's younger brother. Someone from Ostia came through here a few months ago. Not the world's biggest fan of you I might add." Shahdee says, putting stray bits of hair that had fallen out during the fight back into the ponytail.


"Great to know I've got such a - reputation outside of Lycia." Hector says.


"Hey, people travel. But once again, what can I do for you ladies and gentlemen?" You say, moving to the outside of the ger and they all follow.


"Hey, I am not a-" Rath starts to protest, but is silenced by a polite elbow to the stomach by Guy.


"We need your help. We were going to come and appeal to the tribe chieftain for as many warriors as he could spare."


"And originally you thought to do this why?" Shahdee asks.


"Because we are trying to find Eliwood's father and in effect also stop the Black -"


"I'll do it." Shahdee says, cutting Lyndis off.


"-Fang. That was fast."


"Well, when the Black Fang has murdered your entire tribe, you'll want to kick some ass."


"Understandable." Lyndis says.


"Where are all the bodies?" Eliwood asks.


"All over the world." Shahdee says.


"Explain that please." Hector says.


"I cremated them." Shahdee says matter of factly.


"YOU DID WHAT?" Rath shouts.


"Well, I said all the proper prayers and I'm only one person and I couldn't exactly get them all buried without some of them stinking from rotting."


"Okay, I have a sensitive stomach, could you not get that detailed please?" This blond female archer says.


"My apologies." Shahdee says to her.


"Apology accepted." She says. Rath meanwhile is apparently not willing to let it go.


"You cremated our entire tribe, going against the tradition of burying them? Are you out of your mind?"


"I'm related to you so it is quite possible. And you clearly a freaking moron as you aren't getting around the fact that I couldn't possibly bury them in the time required by tradition! So just let it go!"


"You can't tell me what to do! I'm your older brother!"


"Don't make me kick your ass." Shahdee says calmly.


"Ha, that I doubt."


"Rath, considering what she did to those members of the Black Fang, I wouldn't be so doubtful of her abilities." The redhead named Kent says.


"I'll believe she can do that when I see it with my own eyes."


"Fine. Can you use any weapon besides a bow?"


"No."


"Well, who's the best among you with blades and such?" Shahdee asks, addressing the whole crowd.


"Karel is very good." Lyndis says.


"Karel? Karel as in the famous swordmaster Karel?" Shahdee asks. A tall man with long black hair steps forward from the crowd.


"Yes, that would be me. And I'll fight you, if only to shut him up." Karel says, jerking his thumb in Rath's direction.


"Done. Fight with weapons we prefer?"


"Whatever you have a personal preference for you can use." Karel says.


"Alright. Right this way then." You say leading the way to the training field. Lyndis comes jogging up to your side, hand on the hilt of her sword.


"Shahdee are you sure you should be doing this? I mean, you're injured."


"Lyndis-"


"Call me Lyn."


"Ok, Lyn. I'll be fine. Thanks for worrying about me, but your worry is not needed. If you want to be worried for anyone, be worried for Karel."


"You're very confident aren't you?" Karel says.


"I had a very good teacher. So did Guy. Of course I am confident in my abilities." Shahdee says, walking into the middle of the field. Karel and Lyn follow, Lyn apparently having appointed herself referee of this match. You and Karel stand six feet apart and he draws his swords, checking each one and picking the one he likes best. Shahdee takes off the leg sheaths for her weapons and knives and pulls off the sword she has sheathed on her back. She takes off the triton belt and pulls out her two favorite ones to use in the fight.


"I hope you don't mind if I use these." Shahdee says to Karel.


"Not at all, if you're more comfortable with them, I think you should use them."


"All weapons are off?" Lyn asks.


"Yes." Shahdee and Karel say together.


"Alright. If you'll give me a moment." Lyndis picks up all the weaponry both Shahdee and Karel discarded and carries it over to the spectators. She returns and stands so that the three of them form a small triangle.


"Weapons at the ready. Begin!" Lyn shouts. Shahdee and Karel circle each other warily before Karel makes the first move, charging at Shahdee. And soon they are parrying and blocking all around the field and the clash of metal upon metal rings out. Shahdee and Karel go at it for some time before with a yell, Shahdee gets her triton locked onto Karel's sword near the hilt and sends it flying with a flick of her wrist. Karel stands there kinda looking shocked and Shahdee hears someone go, "Damn."


"You're very, very good." Karel says, retrieving his sword.


"You're not so bad yourself."


"Who was your teacher?"


"Master Wolf." Shahdee says simply.


"That old dog still had it in him. He was my teacher as well. Where is he?"


"Dead. Died saving me six months ago."


"My apologies."


"Don't apologize. It's not your fault he died. Lyn do you mind just sticking my weapons in my ger for me?"


"Where are you going?"


"To bathe." Shahdee says, lifting herself up with the wind power and flying across the plains to a river some miles away that was isolated.