Tauren Tale

Chapter 10: Alliance

“What do you mean by that?” Jorga gasped.

Sanja turned to look. He seemed more stunned than angry.

“Of course we're in a hurry! I want to see Mom and Dad again.”

Sanja flopped down on her butt and covered her face with her hands. “We will. We will see them again, but Kazbo needs time to recover from his injuries. And hurrying isn't going to get us back any sooner.”

“Of course it will!” Jorga yelled, ignoring the Gnome for a moment. “Every day we sit here is one more day before we get home.”

“Ugh,” Sanja groaned. “I was really hoping I wouldn't have to tell you this yet, but to get home, we have to go through the Stonetalon pass. Even if we left Kazbo behind – which we won't – and started hiking now, then we would be too late to get to the pass, it would already be filled with snow.”

She looked up into her brother's eyes. They were full of disbelief.

“There's no way to get through the snow. I'm sorry, Kiddo, but even if we dug our way through it, we'd just starve to death or freeze.

“We're going to have to camp in the foothills for the winter.” She winced and prepared to say what she had been holding from him. “And then we can cross back into Mulgore when the snow melts next summer...”

Jorga's jaw hung open. He gasped. “You lied to me!”

“No! I never lied to you,” Sanja said, trying to keep calm. “I said that we had a very long journey ahead of us.”

“But you could have told me!”

Sanja nodded and stared at her knees. “I could have. I was afraid you'd give up, or refuse to go on if you knew just how long it was going to take.”

“You're doing this on purpose! You don't want to go back to Mulgore.” She looked up to see flames behind the little boy's eyes. His black mane seemed to stand on end. The white splotch on his forehead shined like a beacon into her soul. “You don't want to go back because you don't have any friends back home!”

“That's not true!” she shouted.

“You're keeping me from getting home because you're hoping Kazbo will take you back to Gnomeregan, so you can read books and be a librarian!” He looked almost panicked. He smelled panicked. The insides of his ears were bright red. “I don't want to go to Gnomeregan! I want to go home! I want to see Mom and Dad!”

“We will go home. I promise!” she said. “We're going as fast as we can. But no matter how much we hurry, we can't get home this year.” Her eyes were full of tears.

“I hate you! You're the worst sister anyone has ever had!” He screamed. “I hate both of you!”

# # #

Sanja watched him run from the campsite, his tail hanging low, but she felt too weak to chase him. She looked over at the Gnome when she had finally composed herself.

“You should go after him. Don't worry about me.”

Sanja shook her head and wiped away a few tears. “He's got every right to be mad. He just needs some time to cool off.” She tried to manage a smile with only mixed success. “Tauren blood runs hot. He's angry, but he won't go far.

“Besides,” she added, “getting your herbs is more important. We need to get that poultice on you before infection sets in.”

# # #

Sanja returned with a variety of roots, leaves, and berries by mid-afternoon. Kazbo looked worse than when she had left, but at least he was still conscious. His lips were black and blue from sucking on bruiseweed.