Welcome fellow fan-fiction readers, I want to start by saying that I do not own Warcraft and am only am only a person with an avid interest in its lore. With the new expansion pack Warlords of Draenor coming I have been thinking about the history of Azeroth. More specifically the time between the second war internment of the Orcs and the third wars coming of the Legion/Scourge. It is during that time period in which this story will take place and how it could have happened differently. With all that said, I hope you enjoy, and read on.

Watching - Alliance POV

It was in the forest of Duskwood slightly up the road from the village of Darkshire at which Watchman Wilren stood atop his post at the recently constructed Darkshire Forts tallest tower watching for an attack. It was at the end of the second war when the Alliance had defeated the Orcs and were debating on what to do with them that they decided upon giving them the lands of Deadwind Pass, Swamp of Sorrows, and the Blasted Lands. The Orcs had earlier during the first war that they had created the fortification, which they had recently expanded upon, called Doomhammer's Rebout aptly named at that time and now held the border between Deadwind Pass and Duskwood Forest. In order to oversee that he Horde held to their peace the Alliance had constructed the fort of Darkshire and due to the diminished amount of troops at Stormwinds disposal the King of Lordaeron had sent some of his troops. That was how Wilren had found himself within the darkened Duskwood; prepared to give his life in a suicide mission, if the Horde should decide to attack, so one man might reach the city and defenses could be prepared and troops readied.

Having spent the better part of the night atop the tower Wilren had become tired of staring at the surrounding scenery and listening to the other watchmen, and so in order to entertain himself he thought over what had transpired in these last months. The one thought that continuously entered his mind was of seeing the faces of those who had fought and died to the Horde mongrels. Among those who had died had included several of his family and now all he had to look forward to in Lordaeron was his eldest brother and his youngest sister, both of which he would give his life for. As he thought over all of this a question he had asked himself before to no avail forced its way into his mind, 'Why did the Alliance leaders allow those things to live rather than meet out holy justice and exterminate the lot of them.' As he was thinking over the question he failed to notice the others once more begin talking and only returned back to reality when he hear his name.

"What. . .did you ask me something Orisup?" ,Wilren asked turning around to meet them.
"I asked what your opinion was on wether it would be better to be chasing Orcs in Lordaeron or sitting here watching these fortifications." ,Orisup said clearly aggravated that he had to repeat himself.
"Well, while it is much safer down here in Dusk. . ." ,Wilren began before he was interrupted by a watchman he couldn't put a name to.
"SAFE, we didn't ask you if it was safe or not, what we asked was if you'd rather be chasing Orcs or standing still." ,said the watchman to his right who had one of the newest long range weapons called crossbows. Wilren himself preferred the rifle that all Gilnean hunters were equipped with for hunting.
"Well, what I meant was. . .he began again before the fourth watchman a dwarf from Khaz Modan took over.
"Aye, we did nae ask 'em that now did we, however we did ask 'is opinion an' so I believe we should listen." ,the dwarf said in a deep husky voice before turning and looking towards Wilren as if trying to encourage him.
"Thank you master dwarf, what I meant was. . ." ,once more he was interrupted by the dwarf who was attempting to correct him on the use of master and telling him merely to call him Halbrek. After having been interrupted several times and the others seeming to forget about him once more Wilren went back to his thoughts. It was not long before an elven huntress named Kael'shade came down from a new addition to human towers similar to a crow's nest on one of Admiral Daelin Proudmoore's vessels.
"Alright boys stop talking relief is coming to take morning shift, and I'd rather not have to listen to the lieutenant lecture us on how talking distracts us from our work." she said before giving them all a grin and climbing back up into the tower nest, as some were beginning to call it, and with that the four of them resumed their positions each of them counting the minutes before the relief arrived. When they finally did arrive Wilren and the other three headed down the tower and into the open courtyard and began making their way to the small tent the five had to share until proper barracks were installed. Inside the four of them were surprised to see that the elf had beaten them back to the tent even though she hadn't been seen on the stairs.
"You don't become a skilled hunter in Eversong without learning how to climb even with limited hand holds." ,she said casually to a question Wilren hadn't heard.
"So lass, what you're tellin' me is that ye scaled the side of the tower down to the bottom rather than take the stairs like tha rest 'o us?" ,Halbrek asked.
"Yes I did, now before I say anything more I wanna ask you all something. I've been wondering these past few days why we haven't had any wildlife attack like when this base was first being built." ,she said sitting back with a wondering expression on her face and looking towards the for of them.
"Simple, I sacred them off after the first few attacks when I was killing them with my axe and crossbow holding the line for us." ,the unnamed watchman said obviously trying to impress the elf, and causing the dwarf to fall over laughing and clutching at his side.
Orisup after having thought for a moment came up with a more plausible explanation when he said, "perhaps the commander sent some hunters out after the local wildlife in order to protect the peasants."
"That would be probable if I hadn't looked through the commanders reports and found no indication of a scouts report or hunting orders." ,the elf said blatantly causing everyones jaw to drop at the indication that she had snuck into the commanders office.
"What, of course I would sneak into his office I like to find every weak spot in a outposts armor." ,she said discovering the look that all of them had cast her.
"Well then. . ." ,Wilren began beforehe was interrupted by the sound of the drummers and fifers signaling that the base was under attack causing everyone to jump.
"Well perhaps we're about to find out what has happened to your wildlife." ,Orisup said smirking as the left their tent towards the sound of distant combat to which the elf replied. What she said however was lost to Wilren when a massive green skinned orc leapt atop the watchman, whom he had yet to get a name from, knocking the watchman off his feet and sending his crossbow skidding across the ground. The watchman having lost his crossbow started crawling towards it while the orc who had landed on his feet ran to take up the weapon himself. When the orc reached the crossbow it realized all to slowly the crossbow had been a feint and the human had bought himself the time to rise to his feet and draw his single bladed axe which had been held at his waist. With them both standing weapons drawn the two of them charged each other and it took only moments before Wilren and the rest to attempt to join only to be stopped by two black bears; a silver pelted wolf, and a venomous spider.

"Well lass, now we know what had happened to that wildlife of yours." ,the dwarf said briefly before charging one of the bears with the elf leaping to attack the other, and Orisup took the spider. For a time Wilren just stood facing the wolf with his rifle ready and a small dagger in his other hand, and then the wolf leapt and the sound of a rifle going off resounded throughout the forest. The next thing Wilren knew was that he had been knocked back, the rifle sliding from his grasp and the wolf mere feet from him with one of its hind paws missing. The wolf began to move as fast is it could now missing a paw towards Wilren who jumped to reach his lost rifle only to be pinned to the ground by the wolf which bit into his arm as he raised it in defense. Still to far from his rifle for it to be any use and his arm beginning to weaken from the loss of blood he began to search for another way out, and when his arm fell weakly from the wolfs mouth and the beast readied itself to tear into his throat he raised the dagger and as the wolfs mouth descended the last thing was a yelp as his blade entered its heart.

After having dealt with the wolf Wilren pushed the corpse off of him, and after gathering enough strength rose to his feet. When he was fully upright he noticed that the elf and the dwarf were still fighting one of the bears and that Orisup was fighting the spider, and he finally noticed the Orc and the Watchman had moved farther from the rest. Wilren immediately gathered his rifle and began heading towards where the Watchman fought. As he moved towards the two fighting he futilely tried to devise a plan and succeeded on a near impossible one when he noticed an untended ironer. When he was only seven feet from them the orc suddenly punched the Watchman in the stomach when he raised the axe above his head which sent the man onto his back a foot away.

As the watchman reeled from the blow that had knocked the air from him the orc pinned him to the ground with his foot and prepared to finish him.
"You put up a good fight pink skin, but in the end you shall die like the rest of your miserable race." ,the orc growled as he raised his large double bladed sword to his side.
Just before the orc would have swung the sword Wilren shouted, "Unhonorable filth, is this what your kind does with treaties follows them for a time and then preform skirmishes."
"Argh, you think I accepted this 'treaty' of yours pink skin I will show you the meaning of honor when I kill the weaklings behind the wall after I kill your friends, you I will be back for." ,that last he aimed at the watch man before cutting deep into his leg before heading towards Wilren who merely wielded his dagger. When the orc reached Wilren he sung his sword low intending to take Wilren in the abdomen, however much to the orcs dismay Wilren side stepped the swing struck deep into the orcs thigh causing him to collapse onto his knee. With the orc collapsed Wilren was unable to remove his dagger and instead drew his rifle which was only half out before the orc swept Wilren off his feet allowing the orc to pin him to the ground. This act caused the rifle to fall mere inches from his hand which he grabbed as the orc once more raised his sword intending to end this short encounter.
"Take aim little human I am to close for you to successfully hit and my sword is wielded in the other hand." ,the orc laughed and continued to do so after Wilren had fired and failed to hit the orc.
"You know someone should really shut you up as you talk to much to win any fight, also I didn't miss." ,Wilren said craning to see if the bullet had gone where he had intended, and when he looked back at the orc it snarled once and the sword began to fall. The sword never reached its destination however as a small click above his head and the clatter of metal on stone rang in his ears as the orc slumped to his side and his eyes became glassy. With that Wilren once more rose and walked over to see how the watchman had fared.
"You're alive, but the bullet it missed. . .it," ,the watchman said staring in disbelief.
"No, it didn't I banked it off the tower, an ironer, and the street into the orcs head," ,Wilren said kicking the watchman's axe to him before he realized the others were surrounding them and the elf was even petting the last black bear.
"So, we all survived, tha elf lass made a new friend, an' we discoveredwhat happened to the animals am I missing something," ,Halbrek stated more than asked.
"No, nothing that I can think of aside from the battle on the other side of the courtyard," ,Orisup said slightly pale looking and sounding quite winded, and with that the five went to help in dealing with the final orcs.