Deception (a World of Warcraft Fanfic)

Temple of the White Tiger

(Sarah)

"Sarah?" The voice startled me, I quickly jumped into a defensive position and turned around.

"By the light, don't sneak up on me like that Andi! You about knocked me off the cliff. Isn't it a little early for you to be up?" I took a deep breath and jumped down from my perch.

"I couldn't sleep, the chills woke me up. You must be freezing!"

He was right, I could see my own breath. The ground had a light veil of frost over it. Despite it being summer, the elevation played key in the weather, there would be snow ahead.

"Come on, I brought you a cloak."

"Thank you." I tried taking it from his hands to put on, but by then he was already wrapping me in it.

"All that metal, it helps on the battlefield, but it sure doesn't keep you warm. What were you doing so close to the edge?" He wore our blanket over his shoulders, extending his arm so we could share it's warmth. I tucked myself under it and we began walking back towards camp where Valurine would be waiting.

"Scouting. Earlier I was taking a walk and came across some sha minions. This time I felt... anger. I fought a few off, but there are so many. They seem to have taken over some local hozen."

"It seems we cannot fight fire with fire."

"The sha just replenish, there is plenty of negativity to go around. Still badly wounded, Horde and Alliance are plotting against each other at this very moment."

"I almost feel it's my fault. I could go back and tell them what I know about the sha, and they maybe would stop this violence."

"Me too." I whispered to myself. Why didn't I warn Nazgrim? I could have so easily... It seems that I am doing too good of a job making Saerah and Sarah two different people.

"The Horde needs someone to step up and be the peacemaker Thrall was."

"The Horde needs Thrall, no one can be him." Baine Bloodhoof could come close.

"No, we we need someone like you, the Horde, too. Your people could end this!"

"They can't." I snapped, "I can't, you could."

"The flaw in Thrall and Jaina was that their people had to come first. That would be my downfall as well. When my father is no longer with us, I must rule over the humans, my people will have to come first."

"I see, but so do mine. They would want us to all be under one flag, but there will always be a Horde, there will always be an alliance. Though they can't be one, they can be friends, like Thrall and Jaina, like us."

"But you're-"

"There you two are! I made a fire, woke up and you two were gone, so were all the blankets..." She shot me a sly look.

"Oh no, I was out scouting and Anduin came to get me, right?" I stumbled a bit as I realize how Valurine could reasonably misinterpret this.

"Yeah. Sorry, I should have left you one." He chirped, innocently overlooking the comment, enough to convince Valurine.

"It's alright, you did bring some food, right?"

"I thought we only ate half of..." I paused mid sentence and turned to a guilty prince. "No. I'll be back."

*

We were at a particularly barren point of the summit, so it was simple enough to run back to the Horde settlement to check for any mail.

Peculiar looks were exchanged among the Pandaren trainees as I, bed-headed and thrown together, ran past them to the mailbox, not to mention I was in human form.