Lilian stared at the fire as she sat there contemplating what had happened so quickly.

Did I do the right thing?

No. She thought to herself. She knew she hadn’t.

She tried to think of all the possible scenarios of which she should have done things differently.

Should I have denied Anna back at the village? Make her stay back there were it was safe?

Should I have been paying closer attention to Anna to make sure she was alright?

Should I have…

           

*SIGH*

                    

She threw the stick she had been picking at with her fingers into the fire.

Watching as it cracked and fizzled before darkening and curling in some spots.

Lilian saw the fire was getting low. So she threw a few more pieces wood on to the coals.

                 

Lilian went back to contemplating what she should have done differently.

                              

Where was it that I went wrong? What should I do now? Was it it my fault? I dismissed Anna so quickly… but she can’t be a shaman. There is just no possible way. It is stupid to even consider it. That is proof she was succumbing to the madness. Which I guess, I should be thankful that she came to me first before she just wondered into the swamp by herself.

                                    

Lilian heard a flap being pulled back from a tent nearby.

She looked to see Horrik coming out of his and Harks tent.

“Oh! Umm… good morning Warchief…”

“Hmm… good morning…”

“You… you took the first watch didn’t you?”

“Yeah… I did… I wanted— …I needed some time to myself to think… to think about everything that has happened.”

“I… You realize that it’s nearly morning now right?”

Is it?

She looked up and saw that the stars had indeed shifted to the point that it was going to be a few more hours until dawn.

“Huh?… I… I did not even notice.

“Yeah. You basically took all three shifts yourself.”

“Yeah…” She just readily agreed with him before going back to staring at the fire.

Horrik looked at his lost Warchief.

He walked up to her and sat on the log next to hers.

“Want to talk about it? Let it out? It might help relieve your thoughts. Maybe help you come to an answer.”

She smiled at his words. But continued to stare into the fire.

“Thanks Horrik… But I am not even sure what I would say?”

He shrugged his shoulders before noticing she wasn’t looking at him.

“Anything. Everything. Just start talking. It’s what my sister tells me to do when it comes to talking about my problems.”

Lilian nodded her head slowly. But continued to say nothing as she sit there and stare at the fire.

Horrik decided to just sit there and wait for her, as his sister had done for him when his mate passed away.

After a while, his Warchief took a deep breath before speaking.

“We cannot fail this mission Horrik… I am keeping that as the first and foremost in my mind to keep reminding myself on what is important…” She trailed off as she stared at nothing. Looking for words to say.

Horrik recognized this look. He had worn it a few times himself.

He nodded along with what his Warchief had said.

“That is understandable. The responsibility of being a leader is a heavy burden. One I am glad I don’t necessarily wear myself.”

This got a snort out of Lilian.

“Yeah… I am realizing it is not all that cracked up as my father made it seem… it was also the tipping point for the scales for me…”

“What do you mean?” He asked her gently.

“About what happened earlier last night with my mate; with Anna… I… I had to make a choice last night between my duty, and my family… I— I was so concerned about her well being, that I made the decision to get her back home before our mission is complete… I put her health before the millions of lives I have resting on the line; that if we cannot get to the human capital in the next six weeks, we may have a war on our hands. And with how things have been going, with the fact we have to go back towards the wetlands, then back through the swamp again, we might not even make it in time.”

Horrik nodded along with her reasoning. It was a very valid concern.

“Those are reasonable things to worry about. But what about Anna?”

“*SCOFF* What do you mean? What about Anna?” Lilian asked Horrik for clarification with a glare directed towards him.

“I just mean,” He said with raised hands in surrender. “that what about what happened last night. You just said that your duty was the was the tipping point. But what about what happened? About what she told us?”

Lilian looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“About her babbling about being a shaman? Horrik, you know as well as I do that humans can’t sense the elemental spirits. It is one if the reasons I can’t. I am a halfbreed, my human half prevents me from having a connection with Rayala like the rest of our people.”

“But yeah, but! What about the other things she did? What about the rocks she spun?”

“So she learned a new trick recently… Or maybe she has known it all along… I am not sure right now. I will be talking with her about it, once we get back from the delegation. I am hoping this is a result of her time she was spending with Tharhym. That he taught her some sort of mage trick to using magic… because the alternative scares me so much.”

“The alternative?”

“…… That my mate has consorted with a demon of some sort.” Lilian face darkened at her own words. “If that demon’s name is this Agra’Yala she spoke of. I am not going to rest until I find a priest or something to help us rid my love of this demon if that is the case.”

“…………………”

Horrik just stared at Lilian as she said this with a look of concern and confusion.

“What?!” She shouted at him.

“I just… Why have you dismissed the possibility that what she was saying was true?”

Now it was Lilian’s turn to stare at Horrik incredulously.

“Horrik. I just said the reasons why she cannot be a shaman. Why are you so insistent on this.”

Horrik looked down at his hands that had his fingers interlaced with each other.

“I just…… I,— I am convinced she is.”

“What?” Lilian asked in disbelief.

Horrik shrugged.

“I just… I didn’t tell anyone about my mate… that she has passed; or about my daughter, that I am having trouble with what my daughter: she knew about both.” He looked up at Lilian with a haunted expression on his face.

“How would she know all of that if she wasn’t a shaman?!” He asked her worried.

Lilian went to speak. But even she was stumped by this for a moment.

“There are plenty of reasons for this.” Came a voice off to the side.

“Harks…” Lilian said with thinly disguised anger. As she watched the old man walk his way from his tent.

“Please Warchief. Don’t bark at the sight of me, just because I was right. It is unbecoming of a leader. Just own up to your wife's mistakes.”

She had to grit her teeth as his words.

“Sorry Harks, did we wake you?” The ever apologetic Horrik asking Harks for forgiveness for whatever.

“BAH! The old don’t sleep until we’re dead. Then we can rest as long as we want……” He looked up at them after popping the joints in his neck. “Provided that the young ever shut their traps.” He spoke slyly.

“Enough of your taunts old man; just explain yourself.” Lilian ordered.

Harks took his time to saunter over towards the fire, sitting himself down and getting comfortable before answering.

Harks shrugged.

“It is simple. She is a witch then.”

“A witch?!” Horrik exclaimed.

Lilian narrowed her eyes at Horrik.

“And you think this is the answer to everything?”

He shrugged again.

“Why not? It fits everything.” He ticked off a finger. “She came through a portal. She can use magical energy. And she can see spirits.” Harks lifted has hand up and let it fall down on his leg, in a gesture of a far gone conclusion.

Lilian glare intensified as she listened to Harks assessment of her mate.

“But there are many other reasons she could have seen spirits! They could have just been revealing themselves to her for some reasons!”

“Do you really believe that? That in this extraordinary circumstances, that your mate is just somehow a human that can see spirits and can use magic?” He waved his hand dismissively. “Besides being a witch or a mage that can see spirits, she could be a warlock with a contract with a demon.”

Lilian was about to argue, but was interrupted by Horrik.

“But why are we dismissing that she is a shaman so easily?”

“Are you kidding me lad? You can’t believe that she might actually be a shaman?!” Harks asked incredulously.

“Why not? I mean… she is from another world right? A different planet? Maybe she was a shaman from her own world.”

“No,” Lilian answered him. “She wasn’t a shaman. She was a florist.”

“”A florist?” You mean she sold flowers for a living?!” Both Horrik and Harks questioned Lilian. Harks asking the letter question.

Lilian raised an eyebrow at this.

“How do you know what that is old man?!” She looked at him skeptically.

“I have been around for a long time Warchief. I haven’t always lived in the marsh land, I used to live in Port Gramrim.”

“Port Gramrim?! Isn’t that a goblin town?!”

A voice shouted from the near by tent.

The three sitting by the fire looked towards the other tent where their other Mokra’Torc companions slept.

Where we thought they slept. Lilian realized.

“Idiot!”

     

“OW! Hey! Don’t smack me!”

                    

Then their flap opened as Safarti came waltzing out of his and Grak’Horve tent.

“Sorry about that. We didn’t mean to eavesdrop. We have been up since Harks came out.” As he was making his way towards them by the fire, Grak’Horve was pushing his way out of the tent.

Lilian just gave him a solemn nod.

“Do not worry about it.”

“*SIGH* Yeah… Anyways, as I was saying. I think she might be a shaman.”

“Not possible.” “Can’t happen.” Lilian Harks disagreed with him at the same time.

Lilian’s gaze moved to glare at Harks who also spoke over her. To which Harks ignored her harsh glower.

“But can we say that for certain?” Horrik asks them. “For everything she said… It sounded as if this was a thing happening for awhile now… and from all rumors back at the main clan. It seems she did visit clan Dracogusse’s shaman quite often.”

“But that was because she was from another world! Not because she was a shaman! If she was, don’t you think I would have noticed that she was by now?!” Lilian argued.

Horrik shrugged.

“I do not know Warchief, she did tell you that she had been keeping it a secret… All I know is, that she correctly spoke of my family’s situation. And I have been doing nothing but praying to my ancestors; praying to my mate, since even before I came on this trip…… And I have been wanting to ask for your advice for a long time now anyways Warchief; regarding my daughter.”

Lilian shook her head in surprise.

“Me?!” She questioned in bewilderment.

“Yes… I wanted to know if the Dracogusse clan would home and house me and my family. Because I want to seek a new clan… one where my daughter can have a future she wants.”

“One she wants?”

“She wants to… to take after me, or more likely take after you; She wants to be a warrior.”

“”AH!””

All four of the orcs understood what the Horrik’s problem was in an instant.

While there was no law dictating how one lives their life: With the exception that if one does not work, they do not eat.

It is heavily implied by their traditions that females are relegated to certain tasks.

Lilian stretched the back on her head as she thought of his situation.

“I certainly do not have a problem with this. But as you know, the elders will throw a fit over this. So while I can promise you shelter and safety; with the allowance that your daughter can learn to be a warrior. I cannot force the general to train her.”

Horrik looked down at his hands.

“Yeah… I figured as much.”

             

They all sat their in a weird contemplative silence. Before anyone spoke again.

“If… If you would allow Warchief. I may know a way we can prove this situation.” Horrik spoke up.

“What situation?”

“To prove whether your mate has a madness or is a shaman otherwise.”

“And how would you do that?!”

“Can’t shamans summon our ancestors and allow us to speak to them through themselves as a medium?”

“AH! Yes! I have forgotten about that……” Harks chimes in.

“That is something Shamans do for us?” Lilian questioned

“Figures a mountain dweller like you knows nothing on this.” Harks berates.

“You just admitted to not remembering it!”

“I am old damn it! I am entitled to forget where I left my boots after shoving them up some young whipper-snapper’s ass for angering me!” He defends. “So don’t use my forgetfulness to excuse your ignorance!”

“…So anyways… I was thinking that if it was acceptable with you Warchief. I could ask Anna if she would be the medium for communing with my departed mate. Then with that… we should be able to tell if she is a shaman, is that not correct Harks?”

“……I am not sure……”

“Not sure? I was beginning the suspect you knew everything old man.” Lilian Goaded.

“Knock it off! I am not some all knowing thing of knowledge! I just have my years of experience to fall back on. And to answer your question Horrik. The answer is, that I don’t know. I don’t know how warlocks, witches, or even priests commune with the departed… so if she is any of those things, it is hard to say if she couldn’t somehow fake being a shaman be using the powers the other three spell casters are.”

“I see.” Lilian said in contemplation. “But it is worth a shot, I suppose. Is there anything specific you know about when a shaman communes with the ancestors? Maybe that could help us figure it out?”

“Hmm………..” Harks was quiet for a moment. “Give me a moment to think about it. See if I remember anything worth telling that we don’t already know.”

“Well… I do know that if the shaman wish to commune with dead. They can do it freely… but to be a medium for the dead. They have to allow the spirit to inhabit their bodies.”

“What do you mean? You mean like possession?!” Lilian asked panicked.

“I’m… not sure? All I know is that my shaman from my clan refused to allow my mate to use him as a medium.

“Did he say why?”

“Yeah…” Horrik for the first time since everyone had met looked angry. “… He told me he would not allow a female soul into his body.”

“Oh what a fucking baby!…” Harks groused.

“I did not think I would hear you complain about that?” Lilian commented.

“Why? Do you assume I have an issue with females?” Harks raised a quirked eyebrow at her. “That is far from the truth. I have a problem with you and your wife.”

“What?! Why?!” She questioned angrily.

“Because I am racist.”

“………I guess that is fair then…….…” Lilian conceded.

                                       

“So Warchief? What do you think? Do I have your permission to try?”

Lilian sat there as she turned to look into the fire as she contemplated benefits and the demerits of this plan.

“The worst case scenario that we might run into, is that we are tricked in someway because of this and whatever has possessed Anna or has come over her mind, leads us deeper into the swamp to be attacked by the elemental guardian; which she seems to want to go and find for some reason.”

“Best case scenario is, that we now have a shaman within our party…”

“But you also have to take into the fact that we won’t be able to tell if she is lying once she begins her…—! *SNAP* AH! I got it! I just remembered something!” Harks announced with a snap of his fingers.

“”WHAT?!”” Four voices ask at once. “Tell us!” Lilian demands.

“I don’t know the specifics of shamans. But I do know that witches require engraved tattoos onto their body to preform certain spells, along with building a circle to preform what they call a seance that allows them to commune with the dead.”

“Oooo-kay then, that is a start. So I know she doesn’t have tattoos on her body… on that you can trust me.”

Harks did a dismissive gesture with his hand a Lilian’s smirk.

“Yeah whatever! Keep your bragging on how you fuck your wife to yourself.”

Lilian felt her face heat up, but didn’t say anything. She felt she deserved that a little.

“A-Anyways! If we can rule out her being a witch, that leaves warlock and demon possession, …or she has gone mad.”

“Umm…” Grak’Horve raised a hand.

“Yes? What is it?” Lilian asked him.

“Don’t demons hate elemental spirits? Or something like that? I thought they were incompatible, or something like that?”

“No boy, not incompatible; the same.” Harks comments.

“”HUH?!”” Another four sets of voices sound at once.

Harks rolled his eyes.

“Don’t your shamans teach you anything?!” He groused. He pointed to Lilian. “You get a by on this, but that is only because you were isolated in the mountains for your entire life.” He turned and glared at the rest of the younger Mokra’Torcs. “But the rest of you, I am disappointed.”

This time, it was Lilian who rolled her eyes.

“Enough of being a father figure. Tell us what you know old man.”

“I want to know where my boots are so I can shove them up your ungrateful arse missy!” He cleared his throat after yell. “Anyways, back to the subject: Demon’s are spirits born from the malevolent evil of mortals, that were cast into the very void itself. This results in demons being born formless, much like elemental spirits do; elemental spirits on the other hand, are born from the collection of energy of a planet or where sources of elemental energy concentrates. So by their very nature. Elementals cannot be demons; but demons can be elementals.”

“Okay… so that tells us nothing.”

“Not so. We know that this guardian has been in this swamp since our great ancestors before us. So it is likely not a demon that has been manipulating your wife… that is, unless you know of someone coming into contact with her, who could have introduced her to a demon recently: and by recently, I mean within the last few days.”

“Then you should know the answer to that old man. That is, unless one of you wishes to confess to being a warlock right now?” She looked at the faces of everyone here.

None looked at her guiltily.

“Okay… so, that leaves us with that she is a shaman then.” Horrik declares.

“That or crazy.” Harks comments.

Lilian threw him a glare before turning to Horrik.

“Horrik, if you are sure you wish for Anna to try this, to show us whether or not she is a shaman. Then I will allow her to help you.”

“Thank yo—“

“BUT!” Lilian interrupted him. “Do not touch my mate! And I will be sitting in on your session with you. I realize that this is usually a private ceremony between family members when they get in touch with their departed ancestors: but this is my mate. And I will not allow anyone or anything to happen to my mate. Nor will I let another touch her. Do you understand?! Can you abide by this?” She asked him while looking him dead in the eyes.

Horrk gave her a solemn nod of his head.

“I understand. And this is acceptable Warchief.”

“Good.”

She said with a groan as she stood up. She popped her joints that had gone stiff from sitting for so long.

“Let me go get Anna. The faster we resolve this. The sooner we can get back onto the mission.”

The four nodded their heads at their Warchief’s declaration.

                     

Harks looked at Horrik as their Warchief walked away towards her tent.

“Are you sure about this Horrik? No one will fault you if you do not wish to accommodate the Warchief’s demands.”

Horrik shook his head.

“No, as selfish as this may seem. I am using the Warchief and Anna for my own gains with this: I… I need to hear from my mate… I need her guidance on what to do with our child. I do not wish to keep going on without answers.”

Harks nodded his head.

“Very well then. We—“

                          

“ANNA!”

            

The four were up with weapons drawn in an instant at their Warchief’s cry. They saw that she was a few dozen meters away from her tent behind it.

“What is it?! What has happened?!” Harks asked as he approached his Warchief.

She looked up at him with despair in her eyes.

“She— *HIC* She’s gone!” She said in a strained voice. She pointed towards the swamp. “Her trail goes,— *HIC* deeper in…”

At her words. Her men knew that this just turned into a side rescue mission to find the Warchief’s missing mate.