BPB - Entangled (A Warcraft Story)

A Bothersome Tail

Zen'Kila was being followed.

It wasn't the first time and no doubt it wouldn't be the last. She stopped and examined a clump of plants with yellow flowers, and satisfied that it was indeed wild steelbloom, pulled her knife from a pouch to make a cutting.

"Kila."

As usual, the elf pointed to what she was doing and spoke words she could not understand. She glanced at Artion, who was leaning against a nearby tree.

"Ahhh!'

The troll cut him off, exasperated. She was sure he was telling her she was doing it wrong.

He often spoke to her when she was making cuttings and had even stopped her and insisted on showing her how to do it. Though she couldn't understand the words, she did understand his tone, and sometimes she regretted returning to meet him.

But returned she had, after five days, as she said she would. She had watched determined to be the one doing the surprising this time and it wasn't long before she spotted the elf.

She summoned Gol, her forest moth pet, and sent the large white moth flying over to the elf. She watched in amusement as Gol landed on his head, and he tried ineffectually to dislodge her.

When Zen'Kila appeared right next to him she was rewarded with the elf jumping back in surprise. The moth then fluttered from his head to her hand as she held it out and walked to the bushes keeping her smile from her face.

And so they met every five days for weeks and it had become custom for Zen'Kila to send Gol in first to announce her presence. Then at their first unplanned meeting, she had been pleasantly surprised when he produced her ebony-handled knife.

While not worth anything, it had been her mother's and she'd been upset when she realised she did not have it. She'd searched the glade, noting that the body of the furbolg was gone, and had resigned herself to the fact that the blade was lost.

Zen'Kila had soon found these unplanned meetings becoming regular occurrences. They happened so often the troll soon realised they weren't an accident.

She had cast entangle on Artion a few times and run off, but had given this up when the thought that he might be attacked again while caught in the enchantment meant she always doubled back to keep an eye on him until he was free.

Right now the exasperated troll wrapped her steelbloom cutting in cloth and pointed it at the elf who was still watching her casually.

"Go away." She waved at him with the plant. "Go."

He gave her a smile and shook his head, shrugging and holding his hands up speaking softly but making no attempt to leave. Zen'Kila turned and stomped away instead, not noticing the elf's head snap to the side in her rush.

"Kila!"

The annoyance she felt prevented her from hearing the urgency in his voice and her eyes widened in surprise as the elf grabbed her and quickly pushed them both up against a tree, his hand over her mouth.

"Kila."

He said again softly, the look in his silver eyes stilled her struggle and he removed his hand, placing it instead, over his eyes.

Then she heard the voices and understood what he was doing. She nodded and changed shape, backing into cover as Artion stepped out from behind the tree.

Before long he was joined by a group of fifteen others, twelve elves and three humans. The elves leader hailed him in darnassian before switching to common. The elves were escorting their human allies to the Astranaar. They asked what Artion was doing and with a shrug, he told them he was patrolling.

After more small talk the group continued on their way and Artion moved back into the trees. As the sound of the departing group faded Artion looked around for Zen'Kila. She was in her cat form and was as hard to find as he was when he was using stealth.

"Kila?" He wandered through the trees calling out to her.

"Ya speak common." He whirled at the voice and couldn't keep the shock from his face.

"You speak common?" He asked her, surprised. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Ya didn't ask." The troll looked at him and he groaned, then gave her a rueful smile.

"I didn't." He acknowledged. "You are full of surprises, aren't you?"

He had been intrigued by the troll, she was the first Horde member he had come across that when given the opportunity, hadn't immediately tried to kill him. That was the second time she had surprised him.

The first time was when she caught him in her tangle enchantment, and while it had hurt his pride to be caught like that he was glad it had happened or he would have killed her then and there without a second thought, not knowing she was different.

The furbolg attacking him had been her fault so Artion did not feel that he owed her anything, but still found himself revisiting the briarthorn glade each day to check the vials rigged there, collect and replace the full ones and ensure the incisions did not close.

When they met again she appeared genuinely happy to receive the vials and that had, again surprised Artion. So much so that he impulsively decided to continue the chore of checking the vials for her.

Even the fact that she was a she had surprised him. He had wrongly assumed she was male.

He looked at her now. She stood straight and tall and they were the same height, with the unruly style of her hair making her appear taller.

Two tusks protruded from her bottom jaw, but they were relatively small for a troll. Artion supposed that she wasn't entirely unattractive, again for a troll, and he added this realisation to the list of things about her that were surprising.

She met his silver gaze with steady orange eyes and seemed to be waiting for him to speak again.

"You collect a lot of herbs." He says finally.

"Observant, aren't ya." She waits, then speaks again. "Ya been trying to talk ta me for weeks now, and that's what ya have to say?"

"Well..." The elf trail's off. "It's a start."