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Twins The story of Qesra and Ashara By: FinalJustice, ShaBear of the Tribunal |
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| Destron was out of favor with the town elders. After his beloved wife had died during the birth of his twin daughters Ashara and Qesra, he was left alone to raise them . They were his only reason for living and the only light in his life, after the darkness of his bereavement. He was therefore understandably dismayed to hear the call of his gods, “take up your arms and travel to the Castle of Darkness, there to deliver our judgment to the foul Black Dire!” He knew that he would probably die in the attempt and then his daughters would be raised as orphans of the people’s mercy. However, the gods were as immovable as the frosty mountains in their choice and wouldn’t listen to his pleas. So he decided to turn his back upon their summons and continue to nurture his only reminders of his wife’s love. Justcause, the Shaman of Halas, heard the words of the gods (one of the gifts of the Shamans) and saw that Destron didn’t hasten to their will. Therefore, when he told the town council of the gods’ will and Destron’s inaction, Justcause was dismayed when they didn’t cast Destron’s family out for his failure. For the council knew of the love which Destron had for his daughters and furthermore, he was a carpenter, a valued skill in a land with so few trees. When the twin delights Qesra and Ashara had seen five Thawings, it was time for them to become apprentices to The Wolves of the North. As Destron told them when he told them of their new tasks, “listen to your masters, practice what they teach and obey the will of the gods better than I.” His daughters had often wrestled one another in the snow, and their matches inevitably turned to laughter and hugs. However, they were eager to try their skills on other students and to learn the weapons the warriors used. But before they could enter the high halls of the Wolves, the Blackburrow Gnolls struck! Usually these abominations attacked wanderers or small hunting parties, but this time they attacked the very gates of Halas. They poured forth from their hole in the ground and overwhelmed the guards before the Wolves could properly organize. Destron was in his workshop when he heard the discordant barking of the attackers. As he ran to protect his daughters, he felt the hammer strike of The Tribunal’s judgment upon his soul. When he arrived at his house, Ashara was lying in seeming death, discarded like a rag in a corner. As he clutched her frail body to his breast and felt the faint life within, he cried for his life’s second desolation, the loss of Qesra. She was a slave to the hated Ratmen. She was made to clean up in the kitchens by day and slept alone, locked in a black, fetid closet at night. All she knew was misery, as the curse of the Six Hammers made her think that her family had been slain in the Gnoll’s raid. She was regularly beaten and couldn’t even fight back against the least of the Gnolls, lest the retaliation be terrible indeed. The only light in her life were the stories of the Wolves of the North, told to her by the old cook by the hearth, before she was locked in for the night. Her young life of joy had now fallen to despair. The council had spoken their judgment a second time on the matter of Destron and The Tribunal. After Justcause had revealed to them that the strange raid by the Gnolls was a part of the curse, they were forced to banish Destron and his remaining daughter, Ashara from Halas. However, the Wolves were true to their word and allowed Ashara to become an apprentice, even though it meant that she would have to travel and extra 2 hours each day to reach their halls. Because of this, she may have been wearier than other apprentices during their lectures, but she also had a greater desire to improve her skills with sword and axe, so that she could punish the Gnolls for what they had done to her family. Ashara felt the loss of her twin like a great void within her soul, and she sought to fill it with hatred for any who would stand against the Wolves. Therefore, when she was allowed into the patrol roster a scant two years as an apprentice, she unleashed a great fury against the small parties of Gnolls they encountered. All who saw her said that she’d make a great warrior some day. Qesra’s life also changed two years after her the raid. A massive attack by the humans of Qeynos and Surefall Glade to recover prisoners, gave her freedom. It also gave her a new family. Cleet Miller was a farmer in Karana and would deliver his goods to Surefall Glade twice a year. He had family there and would always help them if there were an enemy to punish. This time, it was the Gnolls of Blackburrow. Qesra heard a huge commotion far above her, after the morning meal. Curiosity and a faint hope drove her to sneak up the tunnels to see what was making the noise. Tall men were running about, hacking her tormentors to death! And suddenly, the despair that she had felt for so long turned into elation at her enemy’s terror. An especially large man grabbed her arm in time to save her from a knife in the back from a small Gnoll who had snuck up behind her. “Stay behind me child, and I’ll keep you alive,” the big man said as he skewered the beast who had intended her murder. The rest of the battle went as a blur to Qesra, as he fought guards and twisted knights, as he tried to get her to safety. “Well,” he said, “I guess now’s a good time for introductions, my names Cleet Miller, and I’ll try to reunite you with your family, if you’d like.” “Thank you for your help sir. My name’s Qesra and my family died in the same raid that the Gnolls took me in. I don’t have anybody anymore.” “Well, it would be difficult to fight through to Halas, to deliver you to an orphanage, so would you like to come home with me and become my daughter?” And so it was that Qesra grew up as a daughter to the Millers and learned to care for the crops in the field. She also learned how to get along with other races, as her brothers were an Ogre and a Gnoll who had both run away from their people’s evil. However, Cleet didn’t forget her heritage and allowed her to visit the nearby fishing village twice a week, for training in her people’s weapons and customs. Finaljustice heard the call of his gods, who told him, “Seek out Justcause and learn of the doom of the family of Destron. While the father shall remain accursed in our eyes, you will lift the curse from his daughters. You will know what to do.” And so, after Finaljustice learned all he could from Justcause, he traveled the land in search of the two sisters. First he found Qesra who had left the Miller farm to battle the Gnolls in their stronghold of Paw. They traveled together for many weeks, until he met a great wizard, called Zerwin. Their meeting had been fated of the gods, for as he told Zerwin his secret, the wizard’s face lit up. “I am the master of a guild of mercenaries in Freeport, called the Emerald Flame. We have a fierce warrior of your people, who’s name is Ashara. She must be the other twin!” And so, Finaljustice and Qesra joined the Emerald Flame and helped to protect the great trading city of Freeport. Everyone’s eyes were clouded as to the relationship of the two women, except Zerwin and Finaljustice, as The Tribunal had decreed it to be thus. If any noticed the resemblance between the two, it was usually remarked, “well Barbarians all look the same.” Of course, this was said quietly where neither of these fierce fighters could overhear such a statement. Several weeks after Finaljustice and Qesra joined their ranks, Zerwin took the Emerald Flame on a raid to Castle Mistmoore. He had told the guild that the raid was in vengeance for the wrongs done to his home city of Fellwithe. Finaljustice felt the hand of The Tribunal upon himself as he met the eyes of Black Dire and wondered if he could fulfill his gods’ commandment. As Finaljustice was staggering from the many wounds that Black Dire gave him, two forms passed him on wither side. It was Qesra and Ashara, in full battle fury! They made quick work of the foul beast, as the Shaman stood watching their skill. He was amazed at how right this felt. As Black Dire fell, so fell the confusion on the minds of the guild and the twins SAW each other for the first time. As they stared at each other, they saw themselves as if in a mirror. Their first words were halting and polite, as they now knew that they didn’t truly ever know each other. And then, within each twin, the void that they’d carried for so long was gone. Each one had lived with the desolation of losing her twin for so long that regaining her was almost a sweet pain to them. And then as must surely happen, a small tear escaped Ashara’s eye and all walls were broken down. The two sisters were in each other’s arms, crying for both sorrow and happiness. Unseen in the darkness, Finaljustice and Zerwin shared a handshake of congratulations and each had to wipe a tear from his own eye. And so, the guild’s business in Castle Mistmoore done, the Emerald Flame returned to Freeport. However, they were two members short when they arrived, as the twins decided to visit their father, their home city and enter Qesra’s name into the rolls of the Wolves of the North. The Emerald Flame wouldn’t burn without them for long though, as they soon returned as twin bursts of Winter’s Chill upon the hot sands of Norrath’s deserts. |