Tauren Tale

Chapter 5: Written Language

Sanja was surprised to see Kazbo's determination. He wasn't looking so well by nightfall, but he was still struggling to make good time.

“There's not going to be a lot of game in this desert.” She shrugged. “Rabbits, snakes, mice... but I don't like the idea of stopping to hunt here. We need to get out of Magram territory as soon as possible.”

Kazbo nodded silently. Jorga had spent the entire day teaching him words and he had responded in kind all morning. But by mid-afternoon, he had grown so weary that it took all his focus just to put one foot in front of the other.

Sanja felt compelled to voice her thoughts out loud whenever the boys went quiet. There was just something ominous about walking in silence. A feeling of doom, perhaps? When she voiced her thoughts, it felt like they had a better plan then they really did.

“Some of these plants should be good to eat, but we'll have to burn off the spines. When we make camp, we can collect some up.”

“Not that we have berries, roots, or even meat,” Kazbo suddenly piped up, “but are you certain that cactus is safe to eat?”

“It should be fine,” she reassured him. “Plants grow spines to keep animals from eating them. Poisonous plants don't have to do that.”

“I'm hungry,” Jorga whined.

“I know.” She put a hand on his back. “I doubt dinner will be particularly tasty either, but I don't think there's much we can do about it. Don't worry. Once we get to the road, we can take our time, and look for game as we go.”

# # #

Kazbo looked like he would drop at any moment, so Sanja started looking for a place to camp. It was already dark, and the temperature had dropped.

When they cleared a small rise, the trio was surprised to see a small campfire directly ahead of them. Theodore was cooking something that smelled delicious.

He was the last person on Azeroth that Sanja wanted to see, but there was no point in trying to avoid him now. Unless they wanted to carry Kazbo, they might as well stop.

“So you've decided to come with me to Nijel's Point, eh?” Theodore sneered. “Good! I could use the silver.”

“Did you hear something, Kazbo?” Sanja held a hand to her ear and looked around. “No? Well, I suppose it was just the wind.”

Kazbo didn't laugh. He laid down in front of the fire and closed his eyes. She doubted he would be awake much longer.

The rogue approached Sanja and put his face directly in hers. His grey eyes sparkled in the firelight. “I should slit your throats while you sleep,” he muttered.

“Did we do something to make you hate us?” she asked. “Did my people wrong you somehow? Is that why you are so cruel to us?”

Theodore ground his teeth while picking his words. “I'm cruel to you because you're a half-breed abomination. The man in me wants to put your head on a spike. But the smell of you...” He leaned in close and took a deep breath. “The smell is driving the beast in me wild.”

The rogue looked a little crazed. He took a step closer and she took one back.

“To him,” Theodore whispered, “you smell a little like a woman and a little like a cow. Those are two things the beast really likes... for two very different reasons.”

Theodore had been brutish since she had met him, but until this point, all his words had seemed hollow. Sure, Sanja feared becoming a slave, but she figured this talk was mostly bluster on the rogue's part.