Deception (a World of Warcraft Fanfic)

Where We Left Off

(Saerah)

"So, what is the prince of Stormwind like?" asked Goraff. His voice hit my ears harshly, I had forgotten Orc voices were so raspy.

"Well, unlike you, I do not have bloodlust. He is very kind, not the best at survival, mind you he is a prince. I misjudged the sha, he came to my rescue. It's nice to have a healer with you." I realized not only my words were defensive, but my actions. I have always been one to talk with my hands, and each gesture was shielding.

"You aren't going around hugging humans now, are you?" he teased, laughing a bit. I joined in, but all I could think of was hugging Anduin goodbye.

"No, I'm still that mysterious hunter you dragged out into the light." I said with a bit of a snap to it.

"I needed something to put me back on top, and lucky me, I found you." He spoke as if I were a trophy, which, in a way, I was. A prized find, his path to earning Garrosh's respect.

"You took me away from my life." I retorted. My thoughts were of the warm afternoons of Mulgore, the shimmering architecture of Silvermoon. Most of all the freedom to go and do all I ever desired.

"Look, kid, I'm sorry about that. I know you don't like me, but I also know that you could have left me for dead the day if the crash, and you didn't. It's better me than Malkorok, you've seen him, right?"

Seen him? Baine and I would make fun of him, under particularly safe circumstances, however. I could recall the laughs, and Baine telling me he was to old to tease, shorly after making a smart remark. "Big, ugly, blackrock Orc. If Garrosh was looking for a pet, I suggest a wolf, they are far more useful, with bigger brains."

He bit his lip, thinking of how to respond.

"What? Malkorok can't hurt me, we're a continent away. Besides, axes? He would be swimming in a pool of his own blood before he could so much as touch a hair on my body." I've come to believe Malkorok is all bark. He seemed to always do things the cowardly way, surrounded by Kor'Kron. He did things in a way so people like me wouldn't get the chance to shoot him. Clever, but cowardly.

"You speak boldly for someone who he has not yet interrogated."

"So I take it you will be reporting this back to him?" the emotionless way I said it sent fear through the Orc General.

"If I were Nazgrim, I'd be under oath, our Warchief took no such measures with me." He winked.

Silence fell among us. He kept a straight face, looking only in the direction we were headed. He did not complain he was tired, or hungry, or that his feet hurt, he did not ask questions, either, and he certainly did not call upon the light for aid. We just continued on, with the occasional grunt or cough filling the place which conversation would take. It felt so empty, but I reminded myself that this is how it used to be, how it was for years. I've always worked alone.

Until you met the enemy prince.

*

"Binan Village is in Kun'Lai Summit." I muttered, holding the map out so the both of us could figure this out, "And as you can see, we should nearly be there. I didn't count on this!"

My gaze met a cliff, one of the largest drop offs I've ever seen, and here we sat, at the bottom of it. It's highest point in Pandaria, perhaps Azeroth, it's in the name, "summit", what was I expecting?

"Do you know how to scale a steep landmass?"

"Not without proper equipment, no. Even if we did have it, this is really something compared to what I've climbed." I stared at it angrily, as if I could make it move.