Fan Fiction ❯ Twin Blades of Olinder ❯ a series of events ( Chapter 1 )

Shai and Taz sat and talked as they ate their lunch of hard bread and cheese.

“After weeding the garden all morning we should at least get something better to eat,” Shai complained.

“Well maybe we should go steal something better and get beaten,” Taz said sarcastically.

“That's not what I meant,” Shai replied. “I just meant, I wish he would feed us better for all the work we do.”

“I know what you meant, I just like to be able to sit down once in a while, those ones from yesterday still twinge a bit,” Taz complained.

“I already said that I was sorry for that, how was I supposed to know Uncle Krek was gonna come home early?” Shai retorted.

“And I already said it wasn't your fault. I agreed to take some coins too,” Taz said.

“I know but I still feel kinda bad that you got punished more, you are my little sister after all. Besides I had more coins anyway,” Shai added.

“Uncle Krek does it because he knows watching bothers you more than the pain does, besides I'm almost as old as you,” Taz declared.

“I know, but I can't help it if he's such a…”

“OK, we better get back to work unless we want more welts,” Taz interrupted.

“Yah, you're right,” Shai said.

They ate their last few bites of bread and cheese, picked up their gloves and spades and headed off towards a particularly weedy row of beans. Along the row Taz periodically stopped to examine insects and odd looking weeds.

“Taz if you don't stop stopping to look at every single bug then we'll never finish weeding,” Shai scolded.

“OK, but they're all so interesting,” Taz said observing a neon green beetle.

“Come on, the sooner we finish, the sooner we can go to the river,” Shai added.

“Alright I'm going,” Taz said reluctantly.

When they were done weeding the garden they ran to the river as fast as they could, stripped, and jumped into the river. Shai laughed as Taz tried to catch ducks. Taz loved to make Shai laugh, she was always so serious when they were working, but relaxed and let it all go at the river. Shai laughed so hard she cried when one of the ducks bit Taz, they barely made it onto shore they were laughing so hard. They finally collected themselves, until they looked at each other, then they burst out laughing even harder this time. When they finally had to stop, or risk suffocating, they lay in the grass looking up at the clouds, a favorite childhood game.

“That cloud looks like a turtle,” Shai observed.

“That one looks like a dragon,” Taz reported.

“That one looks like a duck!” and with that another burst of hysterics swept over them.

By the time they were done laughing it was almost time for supper. Both girls threw on their clothes and took off for the small, old farmhouse they called home.

When they got there Uncle Krek was waiting on the porch for them.

“What did we do this time?” Shai whispered.

“I don't know, I don't think we did anything wrong lately,” Taz replied.

“GIRLS!” He roared.

“Yes Uncle Krek?” they said nervously, this wasn't going to be good.

“Remember when I sent you into town two days ago?” He asked gruffly.

“Yes, we do,” they quickly replied.

“WELL YOU FORGOT SOME THINGS!” He bellowed, spit flying from his lips, a vein pulsing in his neck.

“We're sorry Uncle Krek, what do you want us to do?” Shai asked trembling.

“GO GET IT!” He yelled, threw them a coin purse and stormed away.

“That wasn't that bad, I mean at least we get to go riding now,” Taz said still trembling slightly.

“Yeah, let's go,” Shai said relieved.

A few minutes later they headed off towards town, Shai on a feisty grey gelding and Taz on a high-spirited paint mare. Taz and Shai loved riding, but around Uncle Krek they always pretended to hate it because the more they hated something the more he made them do it. They pretended to hate it so much that sometimes he would make up reasons to make them go riding; they of course loved every minute of it. They would stop in open meadows and race full speed across, the grey with faster acceleration, but the little mare could hold her own and often only lost by a nose. But they were still young and were ever improving.

On the way to town Taz realized something.

“Shai, is there a list in there?” Taz asked worriedly.

Shai quickly opened the coin purse and shuffled through the contents.

“Oh no!” Shai moaned, “I knew something was gonna happen, I just knew it. What are we gonna do?”

“We'll figure it out when we get there,” Taz added glumly.

They rode the rest of the way in silence trying to decide what to do.

“I got it!” Taz exclaimed, “We can count the money, then make a list of what we bought the other day. Well, at least it's a start.”

“I guess it won't hurt to try,” Shai agreed.

After they had counted the money and made a list of the stuff from the previous trip, they hadn't really narrowed down their options much.

“This is hopeless,” Taz said exasperated.

“Yeah, there are just way too many options,” Shai agreed.

“I'm hungry,” Taz said as her stomach rumbled loudly.

“What if we think back farther than the last trip?” Shai wondered aloud.

“We could, it might work,” Taz said thinking about the supper they were missing.

Shai's idea helped quite a bit, but they still had quite a long list. They set to work deciding what to buy and avoid the belt at the same time.

“Lets just get to town then we can decide what to buy,” Shai said.

When they got to town they decided to buy a razor and some tobacco. As they were leaving the store they noticed a strange old woman with a raven on her shoulder leading an old, laden down, bay pack horse down the main road.

“Who's that?” Taz asked.

“How am I supposed to know?” Shai replied.

“It was a rhetorical question,” Taz answered.

They continued down the road wondering about the strange old woman.

“Maybe she's a trader,” Taz suggested.

“Kinda late in the year though,” Shai replied. “Maybe she's a drifter.”

“I dunno,” Taz said shrugging.

“Oh well, we'll probably never know,” Shai said.

Just then they noticed how dark it was getting and raced for home. Uncle Krek was waiting on the porch for them when they returned. They quickly took care of their horses and ran to bring him his razor and tobacco.

“You're late,” he growled.

“We're sorry Uncle Krek,” they apologized.

“Did you get what I wanted?” he demanded.

Shai handed him the bag and waited nervously as he opened it.

“This isn't what I wanted!” he yelled.

“But Uncle Krek we-”

Smack!

Taz fell over sideways and hit her head on the water barrel, then fell to the ground. He threw the bag after her and roared

“Tomorrow you will go back and get what I wanted, and if you waste anymore of my money you'll be sorry!”

He wheeled around and stormed into the house.

“Taz!?” Shai called, she hadn't moved since she fell. “Taz!”

She rushed down the steps to see if Taz was ok. She rolled Taz over and saw a huge gash across Taz's left temple almost to the middle of her forehead.

“Oh no, Taz! Taz!” Shai tried desperately to wake her up. She checked to see if Taz was breathing and was relieved to find that she was, but barely she touched the gash and felt it squish under her fingers, Taz moaned. Shai ran to the stables and quickly saddled her horse. She carefully placed Taz in the saddle, jumped on behind, and raced towards Dr. James' house.

When they got there Shai jumped down and pounded on the door.

“Help!” Shai yelled, “Dr. James, Help! Help!”

After what seemed like hours of pounding Dr. James' wife opened the door.

“What is it child?” she asked sleepily.

“Help, Taz is hurt!” Shai said somewhat hysterically, “I need Dr. James.”

“I'm coming,” he said wearily.

“Hurry!” Shai urged, “She's hurt bad.”

“Let's get her inside,” he ordered. “And get some lamps lit too.”

They brought Taz inside and laid her on the table. Dr. James briefly examined the wound. He turned to Shai.

“This is very serious,” he said grimly. “Her skull is broken and putting pressure on her brain. All I can do is stitch up the wound and give her some herbs so hopefully her brain won't swell too much. But I warn you Shaiya, this is very serious and she might not make it. And even if she does she might not recover fully or even at all.”

Shai collapsed into a chair. What would she do with out Taz? They'd always been together, they were only nine months apart and they had never even spent an entire day apart. They were practically attached at the hip, they did everything together.

“Shai, maybe you should step outside during this part,” Mrs. James suggested.

Shai could only nod. She stepped outside into the crisp night air and walked over to her horse. She patted him absent-mindedly. Then out of the corner she noticed something moving. She turned and saw the old woman they had seen earlier that day, shuffling towards her.

“Good evening dearie,” she said in a wise and knowing voice. “May I go in and see the young girl?”

Shai looked at the old woman flabbergasted. How did this woman know about Taz? Shai jumped when a raven landed on the woman's shoulder. She quickly closed her mouth and looked the woman over curiously.

“How did you know about my sister?” Shai inquired.

“Things work in mysterious ways dearie,” she replied.

She couldn't think of a good reason the woman couldn't see Taz, so Shai nodded her head towards the door.

“He's working on her now, so knock first,” she said.

The woman walked up to the door and knocked. The door opened a crack and Mrs. James poked her head out.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“I'm here to see the young girl,” the woman replied.

Mrs. James looked questioningly at Shai who shrugged her shoulders.

“He'll be just a few more minutes, I'll come get you both when he's done,” she said still glancing from Shai to the old woman. The woman nodded and Mrs. James shut the door. Shai nervously paced the porch, while the woman waited patiently, sitting on a chair by the door. Finally after what seemed like hours the door opened. Shai rushed inside and went over to the bed. Taz had a row of stitches across her head and a nasty looking dent. Shai picked up Taz's limp hand.

“Oh Taz, what did he do to you?” Shai whispered.

“I did the best I could, now it's up to her,” Dr. James said softly.

“She won't give up without a fight,” Shai remarked.

“I know she won't, I delivered her remember,” Mrs. James agreed. “And after a fight like that I think she's ready for anything.”

Shai smiled slightly. Mrs. James was right she certainly put up a good fight then, and she'd do it again this time, Shai just knew it.

“May I bless the child?” Shai jumped, she had forgotten about the old woman. Shai looked over at Mrs. James who merely shrugged.

“I guess,” Shai said uncertainly.

The old woman walked up to the bed and placed a hand on the good side of Taz's head and spoke in a language completely alien to the other three. They couldn't understand the words but they knew it was no ordinary blessing. When the woman was finished she lifted her hand off of Taz and took a step back next to Shai. All of the sudden the raven spread its wings, flew over, and landed on Taz's chest. The raven sat there for a moment then slowly made its way to sit squarely in the middle of Taz's forehead. Then the raven did a peculiar thing, he leaned forward and cried, one tear on each of her eyelids and another on her forehead. The raven let out one loud caw, then flew back to the old woman's shoulder. The woman turned and strode out of the room. Shai stood baffled by what just happened. She finally gained control of her body again and walked outside to thank the woman. But the woman was nowhere in sight. She glanced up the road both ways, then turned and walked back inside. She sat down on a chair head pounding.

“You need to get some rest,” Mrs. James said gently. “I'll wake you if anything changes.”

Shai nodded and trudged wearily up the stairs to the spare bedroom. She barely made it to the bed before she collapsed from exhaustion.

The next morning it took her a minute to remember the nights events, when she did she raced down the stairs and into Taz's room. Shai stopped abruptly shocked to find Taz propped up slightly with pillows wide awake. Shai quickly crossed the room and sat beside Taz.

“Are you ok?” Shai asked.

“Never been better,” Taz said almost inaudibly, smiling weakly. She grimaced as pain shot through her forehead.

Taz you've got to learn to control your mouth, I mean how many times have we been in here for thing like this!?” Shai scolded.

“Five,” she replied, “only once because of you, but that's only because of our mouths, there were all those broken bones, and stitches, and those stupid itchy plants-”

“Ok, I get it,” Shai said shaking her head, “we're in here a lot, mostly it's your fault.”

“Yeah, but I didn't push myself outta that tree now did I,” Taz shot back.

“That was an accident,” Shai said defensively.

Mrs. James walked in holding a tray of lunch for Taz.

“Dr. James would like a word with you Shai,” she announced shooing her from the room.

Shai walked down the hall to Dr. James' office. She hesitated before knocking on the door.

“Come in.”

Shai reluctantly opened the door and walked inside. His office was small and cramped. It made you feel like you shouldn't linger there. He sat in a giant, brown, leather chair behind a cluttered desk.

“Sit,” he motioned towards a small chair in front of his desk. Shai sat and looked curiously around the room. She had never been in this room before and didn't particularly like being here now.

“Shaiya, I'm going to treat you like an adult and tell you the honest truth. You may not like it, but this is how it is.” He paused and waited for a reply. She gave none so he continued. “Taz can't move or feel her legs, and probably will never walk again.”

He paused again to let it sing in. Shai sat dumbfounded staring at her feet.

“I'm sorry but there was no easy way to tell you,” he apologized.

Shai felt numb. She didn't know what to do.

“Shaiya,” Dr. James brought her back to reality. “There's more. I haven't told Taz yet, do you want to tell her, or do you want me to?”

If Shai hadn't been sitting she would have fallen over. Taz didn't know yet? Should she tell her, or let Dr. James do it? Shai's head was swimming.

“I'll give you a few minutes to think about it,” he said walking out of the room.

Shai sat thinking for awhile; finally she got up and opened the door. She stopped for a second and found her voice.

“I'll do it,” she said hoarsely.

“You sure?” Dr. James asked.

She nodded and walked down the hall towards Taz's room. Mr. and Mrs. James watched her walk down the hall, then they went and sat in his office.

Shai opened the door and walked in. Taz sat with a lopsided smile on her face.

“If I smile like this it doesn't hurt as much,” she explained. Shai couldn't help but smile, she looked hilarious. Shai walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Taz stopped smiling.

“Taz-”

“I know, it's really serious isn't it?” she asked

Shai looked down and picked at a loose thread.

“Come on Shai tell me, we don't keep secrets from each other right?” she coaxed.

“Taz,” she paused, “he said you'll probably never walk again.”

“Well, is that all?” Taz said trying to be braver than she actually felt. “If I listened to the doctor every time he told me something then I'd be dead. Don't worry, I'll walk again.”

“Taz this is serious,” Shai said surprised she could joke about something like this.

“I am being serious, remember they said I probably wouldn't live a week, then they said I might never wake up, then they said I'd probably never use my arm again, then they-”

“O.k. o.k., I get it you're stubborn and you don't want to listen to them,” Shai said.

“Exactly!” Taz exclaimed. “Oww that hurt my head.”

“Okay you two Taz needs some rest,” Mrs. James said ushering Shai from the room. “You can talk more later.”

After lunch Mrs. James kicked Shai out of Taz's room again so she sat in the room reading, when all of the sudden CRASH! Shai bounded down the stairs to the kitchen. Mrs. James stood in the doorway, broken dishes around her, staring into the kitchen mouth agape. Shai peered around her, and there was Taz sitting at the table eating a sandwich. Shai couldn't believe her eyes.

“What? I was still hungry,” Taz explained.

“But…” Mrs. James opened and closed her mouth a few times in attempt to say something.

Dr. James walked in to see what all the commotion was about and stopped mid-strode. “That's impossible… with that amount of damage…” he too was at a loss for words.

“And look at this,” Taz said pointing to her head, which everyone now realized didn't have a bandage on anymore. “Not even a scratch.” She was right all that was there was a pure white line where the wound had been. “Cool huh? It doesn't even hurt any more.” Everyone just stood there staring. “I'm not that funny looking guys,” she said shifting uncomfortably.

“Stand up and walk over here,” Dr. James instructed. Taz did what she was told. “Well I'll be damned,” he said awed. “Now stand on one foot.” Taz cautiously lifted a foot and tried to balance. She wobbled a bit but stayed upright. “Good,” he said, “but the thing that baffles me the most is what happened to your stitches?”

“I had stitches?” Taz asked.

Dr. James scratched his head in thought. Mrs. James finally seemed to regain herself and rushed over to examine Taz. Shai stood in the doorway wondering what the hell just happened. After about half an hour of trying to figure how this had happened Dr. James decided to go to his study and think in peace, and Mrs. James left to start dinner. Taz and Shai sat on the couch in the living room.

“So Taz, what the hell happened?” Shai asked.

“I don't really know, it was the weirdest thing, I was laying there trying to go to sleep when I heard this strange `pop' noise and my head stopped hurting,” she explained.

“Come on Taz, I mean we've always been fast healers, but really, that's crazy,” Shai replied.

“Well that's what happened,” Taz said defensively. “And have you ever noticed how hard it is for us to get hurt?”

“Taz don't change the subject, besides bones are strong, it takes a lot to break them,” Shai pointed out. “Besides you break bones a lot.”

“Yeah, but I have to hit something really hard and/or at a funny angle to break something,” Taz said. “Remember that time me and that trader kid dared each other to jump off of the roof of the tallest building we could find? We went to that crabby old man's two story house and jumped off of his roof. The trader kid broke his leg and I didn't even get a bruise. We both jumped from the same spot and landed at the same time but It felt like I knew just how to land so I wouldn't get hurt.”

“You're crazy Taz, you were probably just lucky,” Shai said, knowing full well what Taz meant.

“Fine, be that way, but I still think it's weird,” Taz replied.

They continued talking until dinner, and afterwards they headed out to the stables to check on their horses.

“It sucks that I can't ride yet,” Taz complained.

“Yeah, well it's a miracle you're walking at all, why risk riding?” Shai asked.

“You know you'd wanna ride if you were me,” Taz said irritably.

“Yeah I know, but you'd say the same thing if you were me,” Shai said sarcastically.

“Not funny,” Taz said pretending to pout, but she couldn't keep a straight face.

“Then why are you laughing?” Shai asked poking Taz in the ribs. And with that a huge wrestling match broke out in the hay stack.

“Now how was that not worse than horseback riding?” Taz asked as the walked back to the house.

“Ummmmm… because you couldn't have fallen off,” Shai teased.

“No, but I could have gotten smooshed,” Taz jeered.

“Ok, that's it,” Shai said lunging for Taz. Taz dodged and ran for the house. Mrs. James stopped them as they walked in.

“Girls, Dr. James wants to keep Taz here for one more night, so you can go home in the morning,” she announced. The girls never liked to leave, but they didn't stay too long either, it got kind of boring after a day or two, but there was no chance of a beating here.

Taz and Shai slept restlessly that night and woke early the next morning dreading their return home. They ate breakfast in silence, afterwards Dr. James gave Taz one final examination and proclaimed her fit. They said their goodbyes and headed home. They made the trip last as long as possible, but finally the house came into view. They took care of their horses, then they headed reluctantly towards the house. Uncle Krek was sitting at the kitchen table when they walked in.

“where have you two been? I've had to cook my own food for two days now,” He said coldly.

“at Dr. James' house,” Taz answered.

“and why were you there, costing me more money no doubt,” he questioned.

“because you broke my skull,” Taz answered angrily.

“Taz shut up,” Shai whispered.

“don't you take that tone with me young lady,” he growled standing up. “I never hurt you, you're lying.”

“I am not!” Taz snapped.

“don't do it Taz,” Shai begged.

“what did you just say to me?” he roared.

“I said I'm not a liar,” Taz repeated.

“By the time I'm done with you you're going to wish you weren't!” he yelled walking towards her. He took off his belt and held it so the buckle end was dragging across the floor. He backed Taz into a corner and started to laugh. Taz cowered as he lifted the belt with a wicked smile on his face. He started to bring the belt down when WHACK! He fell to the floor. Taz looked up and saw Shai standing above him holding a frying pan, a terrified look on her face. She dropped the frying pan as if it were an fire, then stood there staring at his motionless body.

“that'll teach him for teaching me how to use a frying pan,” Shai said shakily.

“did you kill him?” Taz asked fearfully.

Shai just stood there so Taz got up and walked cautiously over to where he lay. “he's still alive, but we won't be when he wakes up,” Taz said thinking. “Shai we have to leave.” Shai nodded and they both went and quickly gathered what they thought they would need. After they had gathered everything the loaded it all onto their horses and rode off down the road.

“never thought I'd leave that place for good,” Shai said slightly out of it.

“yeah,” Taz agreed. “ we better get going, if he wakes up and we're still here we'll probably never leave again unless it's in a casket.”

And with that they headed off to who knows where.