World of Warcraft: Journey of the Huntress

Chapter Six

The sun was already starting to hang low in the sky by the time Bixby was finally feeling up to going on a scouting mission at the wreckage Rogers had told them about. She'd grumbled in protest, saying she'd rather they waited just a bit longer, but Larraine pointed out they were going to completely lose daylight soon. She finally gave in, but only after she was told she could have an extra few minutes to prepare a potion for herself that she knew would help her recover more fully from the effects of her over-indulgence in the local cider that morning.

As the three of them made their way across the bride leading away from Paw'don Village, Larraine quietly took in the scenery. Pandaria was a beautiful place, and if it weren't for the situation she might have considered taking the time to fully explore the area and simply relax and enjoy her surroundings. Now was not the time to be waxing poetic about nature, however. They were on a mission, and as beautiful as the land surrounding them was Larraine knew that Anduin was somewhere trying to survive.

Bixby began to violently hack and cough behind her, and she turned around to find her half doubled-over with her face drawn into a pained expression. Tears filled her large eyes and one hand went to her throat, and Gardenia stepped closer to her sister and began patting her back.

"Is she okay?" Larraine asked, concerned.

"Fine," Bixby answered before her sister could. "Just..."

She held up her other hand as another coughing fit began, and Larraine saw a half-empty vial of bright purple liquid in it.

"It tastes like feet!" Bixby complained, then took a few deep, shaky breaths before holding her nose closed and downing the rest of the potion. Another round of coughing commenced – this time peppered with a few choice curses – and once she had finally calmed down a bit Gardenia gave her a canteen of water so she could at least wash the taste out of her mouth. She took several hearty swallows of the contents, then handed the canteen back and slapped herself in the face as she let out a high-pitched roar .

"Are you good to go now?" Larraine wondered with a raised eyebrow, and Bixby nodded as she began walking once more toward their destination, passing Larraine on the bridge.

"What do you think we'll run into?" she asked, unsheathing one of her twin swords from her hip in order to apply some poison to the blade. "Murlocs?"

"I'm not sure they have murlocs here," Larraine told her. "Gardenia, you read the report Rogers got from the scouts. What did it say?"

"There were no reports of any hostile entities at the crash site, just some local wildlife."

"Poo!" Bixby exclaimed, angrily shoving her sword back into its sheath. "Here I was, hoping we might get to have some excitement."

"Bixby," Gardenia said her sister's name, a warning tone in her voice.

"You're right," she said, turning to look at them and holding up her hands in surrender. "This isn't the time to be itching for a fight."

Larraine smiled a little at her and playfully mussed her hair as she walked past to take the lead once more, but her smile fell when she finally reached the top of the hill overlooking the wreckage that Gardenia had described from the scout's report. The deck of the ship seemed to be largely intact, but judging by the angle at which it was sitting in the shallows and the amount of debris littered along the rocky shoreline it appeared as though the lower decks had likely been destroyed when the vessel ran aground – if not before. As if that hadn't been disturbing enough, there were also at least a dozen large, ape-like creatures milling about what was left of the ship.