Sisters Part 1

11 Years Ago at the Brighton Manor

“This is Francisca. From this day forward, she will be your sister and sparring partner,” a looming Lord Brighton told the 8 year old Moira, who meekly brought her hand up to the young girl standing in front of her.

“Hi, I’m Moira Brighton, heir of the Golden Rose, future Warden of the Shield of the Order of the Golden Rose!” she said with pride in her voice but rather fast, showing her nervousness.

“Moira! Say it with pride but at a pace your lessers can understand!” commanded her father, who she nodded to in understanding.

“Hi, Moira. I am Francisca, but you can call me Fran for short,” said the young orphan, who was picked up by Lord Brighton personally just hours ago. She grabbed Moira’s hand and gave it a weak squeeze as the two shook hands. Moira looked over the girl, who had long, white hair and gentle green eyes. The girl looked rather small and skinny, as if she didn’t have enough to eat.

“Come, let us get a photograph of this happy occasion,” Lord Brighton said as he pulled the two girls close, one on each side of him. All three of them smiled as the photographer counted down and then snapped the picture.

“Aaaaand done! I’ll go get this printed out and framed as soon as possible, my lord,” said the photographer as he quickly left to fulfill his task.

“Now, show her to the training barrier and prepare her for your first fight,” Lord Brighton ordered his young daughter to her new step-sister. Moira grabbed her hand and basically dragged her to the back yard where the barrier was located.

“Ok, here are all the weapons we have!” Moira said as she summoned the weapons rack. She reached over and grabbed a small shield and warhammer. “These are my two favorites!” she said as she posed with the hammer and shield. “Father says I need to learn how to fight with a shield since that’s my Golden Rose weapon, and I just really liked swinging around a hammer,” Moira explained to the girl as she looked over the various weapons in front of her.

“I’ll take these ones…” she said as she grabbed a sword and shield, a mirror of Moira.

“Ok, ready? Let’s go!” an excited Moira exclaimed as she rushed Fran, who was no match for the more experienced warrior. It only took a few quick blows from Moira to disarm her new sparring partner and make the girl end upon the ground, crying. Moira let out a cry of joy as she beat her opponent.

“Moira, did you show her the basics of using mana?” asked Lord Brighton from behind, who surprised Moira by his sudden presence.

“Um, no father…” she answered.

“Did you show her the proper way to hold a sword and shield?” he asked.

“No father…” Moira’s head lowered as she realized what her father was about to say.

“Then why are you celebrating? You beat an untrained girl who can’t even use magic! That should be something you can do in your sleep by now!” his voice boomed over the young girl, who held tears back. “Now, show her how to properly use magic and weapons, and then fight her. If you manage to best her after that, then you can celebrate,” Lord Brighton ordered his daughter, who nodded and went over to Fran, helping the girl up.

“Here, let me show you how to use magic first, and then how to hold weapons. After that, I’ll show you how to use magic to enhance your weapons and skills! It’ll come in very handy!” Moira told the sobbing girl, who showed a weak smile.

“Thanks,” she said as she wiped away the tears and listened to Moira’s explanation. Moira spent the next few hours explaining magic and proper weapon usage to Fran. At the end of the night, the two decided to try one more fight. The two squared off, 10 feet from each other. This time, both girls were in good form as they waited for the other to make a move. Moira was the first to make a move, rushing her new step-sister. Fran dug her feet in the ground and readied her shield. She noticed during Moira’s examples that she always swung with her hammer to start anything and was ready to counter the attack as soon as Moira finished her swing. As Moira’s shield came close to Fran, she tilted her shield so the hammer slid off it instead of bashing directly into it. Fran jabbed towards Moira’s abdomen with her sword. Moira noticed the incoming attack, and barely dodged the attack, her shirt receiving a slight cut from the tip of the sword. Moira, thinking quickly, bashed her shield against Fran’s, the attack caught the new fighter off guard and caused her to stumble backwards. Moira quickly followed up with a strike of her hammer against Fran’s shield, a loud cracking noise was heard and Fran let out a deathly howl. Moira immediately froze, not knowing what to do. Fran, however, had dropped her sword as she fell to the ground and grabbed her shield arm, crying as blood squirted from where the bone had broken through her skin. The mix of pain and endorphins clouded the young girl’s mind as she didn’t know what to do. Two hospitalers rushed out of the manor and to the girl’s side. They removed the shield and quickly began casting their magic to undo the damage that Moira had wrought upon the new Order recruit.

“MOIRA!” bellowed Lord Brighton as his large hand wrapped around Moira’s arm and dragged her towards the manor. “You must learn control, child! You could have killed your new sister and Order recruit!” explained the furious man, disappointment heavy in his tone.

“I-I’m sorry, father! I got so caught up fighting that I didn’t notice how—“ but she was cut off before she could finish her explanation.

“Exactly! You were too focused on beating your opponent to a pulp that you didn’t fully analyze your surroundings. What if there were multiple enemies? You’d be too focused on the target in front of you that you wouldn’t have noticed the enemies surrounding you!” explained her father.

“Yes, father…” a dejected Moira agreed with her father as she followed him inside.

6 Years Ago

“199….200!” Moira boasted as she finished her set of push-ups, double the amount of any of the Order soldiers.

“299…300!” an even louder boast came from Fran, once again outdoing Moira. Moira hid her anger at being bested by her step-sister and instead put on a fake smile and congratulated her.

“Excellent job, Fran! You are truly an example for every Order soldier to aspire to!” she said through her teeth.

“Yes, well, I’ve always thought the Warden should be the example of Order soldiers, not the soldiers themselves,” Fran replied, cutting into Moira’s pride as the Warden-In-Training.

“Well, I don’t want to set too good an example, then the troops may feel like they could never reach that pinnacle, and would lower morale,” countered Moira, who had spent years verbally sparring with her adopted sister.

“Well, how about we give these guys a show, hmm sister? A sparring match, just like when we were girls. What do you say?” asked Fran, already knowing Moira’s answer.

“Of course, dear sister, I would be happy to!” she said as she summoned her shield and warhammer from her broach. A young recruit, clearly infatuated with Fran, scrambled to grab and bring her equipment to her. The two prepared themselves for the match, both with near identical posture.

“Are you ready, Moira?” asked Fran, a wide smile on her face.

“Of course, Fran. It’s always fun to spar with you for the troops,” she said, her attempt to make the spar about the troops rather than which sister is superior was seen through by Fran, who attacked first.

Fran swiped at Moira with her sword, the young Warden to be deflecting with her shield, which was exactly what Fran wanted as she bashed her shield against Moira’s shield, forcing the blood daughter of Lord Brighton to stumble backwards and open herself up to a lunge attack by the adopted daughter of the same man.
Moira saw the incoming attack and countered by bringing her hammer down on the sword, forcing Fran to release her grip on it and instead she attempted to swipe at Moira’s legs with a low kick, which connected. Moira fell to the ground, her shield pinned under her as Fran rushed to retrieve her sword. Moira used her feet to propel her away from her step-sister while still on her shield. The scraping noise caused many of the audience to cringe, but their eyes stayed glued to the two sisters as they fought. Fran, not allowing Moira to get away, charged after her. The sword and hammer clashed as Moira blocked Fran’s latest attack, but with herself on the ground, she knew she was at a great disadvantage.

As Moira parried another blow, she attempted to get up, but Fran would not allow it. She brought her shield down onto Moira’s legs, who let out a yelp of pain as her legs crumbled beneath her and **** her back to the floor.

“Yield, sister!” demanded Fran, her sword pointed at Moira.

“The…Warden of…the Golden…Rose…doesn’t…YIELD!” she yelled as she hurled her shield at Fran, who brought up her own shield to block the mobile artifact. Moira used this chance to get back to her feet but underestimated the damage to her legs from Fran’s earlier attack, and collapsed again. Fran, seeing her step-sister and rival beaten, lowered her sword and made her way over to Moira and leaned down next to Moira’s ear.

“It’s a shame the Blessing is passed down via bloodlines and not who is truly worthy of it,” whispered Fran before she got up to the cheering crowd. “Thank you, thank you but we all know the Warden went easy on me. Afterall, she could never hurt her little sister, right?” Fran said as she made a cute face, which the male recruits ate up. Moira just lay, defeated, anger boiled in her for once again being bested by her sister. Worst of all, however, were Fran’s words. That she wasn’t worthy of the Blessing and that Fran should have it. No, I am the descendant of the Brighton bloodline, I am the rightful heir to the Blessing of the Lady! I will be the Warden of the Shield! thought Moira as she slowly got up and hobbled away to get healed.

2 Years Ago

“We are gathered here to celebrate the promotion of Francisca Brighton, adopted daughter of myself and step-sister to the Warden-in-training Moira Brighton, to the rank of Grand Inquisitor! Over the past 2 years, she has shown great skill as an Inquisitor and has proven time and again how dedicated she is to the Order’s cause! She has, on many occasions, single handedly taken out entire safehouses of the Cabal’s warlocks or challenged rampaging ogres. Not even a wyvern stood a chance against her when the rest of her team was struck down by the creature! All that hard work and dedication has paid off, because now she will lead our elite shock troops: the Inquisitors! All hail Francisca Brighton, Grand Inquisitor of the Order of the Holy Rose!” announced Lord Brighton, every word filled with praise. The crowd roared in appreciation and happiness for Fran as she made her way to the stage that was set up for the ceremony. She was dressed in her newly forged white armor with gold trim. The shoulders had what appeared to be heads of a dragon or wyvern on them, clearly a reference to her fight with a wyvern. Her helmet, too, was shaped like a dragon.

Moira stood next to her father, a smile on her face, but anger burning in her heart. Fran had beaten her to the rank of Grand Inquisitor before Moira had become a full-fledged Warden, just like Fran said would happen. Once again, she had fallen behind Fran after finally catching up. I vow the next time we meet, I’ll be the Warden and savior of the Order!

Present Day

“Lady Moira, the Grand Inquisitor has arrived. She is heading to meet Lord Brighton,” Reginald informed Moira, snapping her out of her memories of the past.
“Thank you, Reginald. I shall go and meet them now,” she said as she put down the picture of herself, her father, and the newly adopted Fran all happily smiling, and made her way to her father’s study.