Author's Note: And welcome back to Wanderlust HUZZAH! The really random adventures of Enoki continue in this exciting new installment! Enoki has left The Barrens in the dust, but how can he find adventures in a boring ass place like Thousand Needles? By moving on to the Shimmering Flats of course, where he can indulge his inner speed demon. Nothing bad could happen mixing Enoki with volatile fuels, fast cars, and alcohol could it?
Hello, and welcome again to "Wanderlust" the tale of a young troll and his adventures in the big wide world of Azeroth. It should be known that this fic will embrace the more wholesome, family-friendly aspects of a world at war, including but not limited to: Hot, sweaty naked male Trolls and Orcs, said big, muscular male Trolls, Orcs and other venerable races of the Horde such as the delicate and graceful Sin'dorei getting their 'Freak on", gratuitous acts of violence, mercenaries, male self-service, stealing, lying, cheating, drunken bar fights, and perhaps the kicking of a very cute and vulnerable puppy. With that in mind, please, curl up with a hot cup of chamomile, a blanket, and a loved one and enjoy, "Wanderlust." And remember, "For the Horde!"
Chapter 1: On the Road Again
Morning rose in a white-hot disc of razored flame over the parched land of the Barrens. It touched the Eastern seaboard first and woke the industrious residents of Ratchet, and then it moved on in its already stifling hot sweep over the arid land and veiled the Crossroads in its glory. It flooded sharp fingers through every barrack, every window of every merchant, and every captain and brought to life the busy Horde territory with its vivacious rays. Elsewhere, beneath the boughs of a squat old tree, it also peeked through the waxy leaves and gnarled branches and touched the lids of a soundly sleeping Troll with a blaze of red hair and his raptor companion. The elements awoke with a joyful song, and so too did the traveler nestled in the roots of the wise old tree.
Enoki's verdant eyes slid slowly open to greet the dawn, and a crooked, sleepy grin spread across his lips. One more day of traveling lay ahead, and it felt damn good. He rose from his spot, threw his arms over his head to stretch with a noisy yawn, and smacked his lips as he scratched his chest and reached over to gently scritch the dewlap under Zynn's chin. The raptor made a fussy sound and rolled onto his side, sleeping on while his master got up, dug in his pack for something to munch on for breakfast, and splashed his face with his waterskin. He looked out onto the road in the distance and wondered just how far away he was now from the steadily fading memories of the Barracks.
Everything already seemed like it had happened years ago. His adoptive home in Mulgore with his Tauren grandfather, the whirlwind romance with Jyota, the chivalrous Troll Hunter now apprentice Shadow Hunter, their volatile break-up and his satisfying revenge, even all of his misadventures on routine missions as a Barrens Guard he had always managed to make interesting in some way or another seemed like an entire other lifetime. A lifetime he was slowly coming to discover he didn't even miss. He belonged on the road in the garments of a true traveling Shaman, discovering everything there was to know about the world he was so connected to.
Enoki was many leagues away from his old home in the Barrens Barracks, though not entirely sure where he was. Having left when the sun was directly overhead on the day he cut his ties and freed himself, Enoki had really no clue which direction he was heading when he rode off having his victorious last laugh. Not that it mattered to him. Any way he rode would take him out of the Barrens, and out of the Barrens was his only goal. After several days of travel, when he finally thought to check, he discovered he just so happened to be heading South, and South was just as good a direction as any. In fact, he was glad to be traveling South, for he knew all too well what lay to the East and West. He had even seen the border to Ashenvale once, so he knew what lay to the North. South was a complete mystery to him and that made it all the more exciting.
The road was paved with worn old stones and wrought with the altogether new peril of riding alone far past established Horde civilization in the North. The sun bleached golden grasses turned a deeper shade as he made his way down the Gold Road and dark green brambles coiled from the rocky earth and possessively embraced the hills to claim them for their savage inhabitants. South was Quillboar territory. He had been into their dens many times with his comrades in the military, and made certain to give them wide berth. Though often he could see them, watching with beady, savage eyes as the young Troll passed alone, sizing him up for a meal or at least for the shiny trinkets and fine clothes he wore.
In the more open fields, he and Zynn rode alongside rumbling, crackling herds of Thunder Lizards that rippled with pure muscle under ruddy magenta scales and made the air hum with static and smell of fresh ozone. Once the duo even rode boldly through a pack them after Enoki steered his mount curiously into their midst. They joined the herd for but a moment, flash of red hair peeking between the fleshy crown of fans cresting each humped back, Troll astride a thrilled raptor sparking with electricity in reply and riding the rolling earth that rumbled and shook under the mighty stampede of heavy feet. Enoki's heart raced as Zynn deftly bobbed and weaved in between the behemoth creatures, for he could feel and hear the thrum of the earth and sky and let the pounding rhythm take him.
Further South, further than he had ever been, the ruins of some ancient civilization unlike anything he had ever seen rose up from the dust like long forgotten fingers of some behemoth. Stone spires covered in careful and loving scaffolding dotted the pit where Dwarves bustled about with picks and brushes, chattering loudly in their strange tongue which Enoki understood none of. A newer building, obviously Dwarven in construction with its thick, round turrets and eagle-headed ballistae standing guard outside, loomed on the hill overseeing it all. Enoki had no idea there was any kind of Alliance settlement in Horde territory, so, intensely curious, he slowly and cautiously brought Zynn closer to see what exactly the short, bearded creatures were doing.
The dwarves dug in deep pits, unearthing pots, charms, and even more parts of what had to have once been a truly magnificent temple. They took wheelbarrows filled with earth and stone up the winding ramp and dumped it outside their excavation pit, carefully brushed sand and clay out of ancient inscriptions and frantically logged data and checked reference books. Enoki was complacently sure he could watch as long as he wanted and never be noticed the Dwarves were so engrossed in their work, but before long a cry rang out and a bullet whizzed over his shoulder, soundly bringing his watching to a close. Amidst a hail of gunfire he finally wheeled Zynn around, laughing hysterically, and fled back to the safety of the road that wound tirelessly South.
Around it the mountains rose high and narrowed into a brambled canyon filled with treacherous and dark twists and turns infested with slavering Quillboar. The young Shaman had heard many tales of the horrors that existed inside Razorfen Kraul and the Downs, the ancestral sacred home of the pig men, in his time in the Barrens. As much as he longed to charge headlong into them and clear them out personally, even he knew better. He was sick and tired of coping with the disgusting beasts anyway, he reasoned as he spurred Zynn swiftly past the dark and misty entrances further down to where the Barrens ceased to be.
At the end of The Barrens, the world simply fell away. Gazing out as he approached, Enoki saw only blue sky rimmed in nonchalant clouds sprawling out endlessly. The sight stole his breath away from him, and had it not been for the Tauren guards standing sentinel at the cliff's edge, the squat horned totem burning with a guiding flame, and the slight movement and whirring of some contraption, he might have simply rode off the precipice in rapture. As it was the bovine sentinels shifted uncomfortably, afraid the rapidly approaching Troll might do just that, but at the last second he gave a sharp tug on Zynn's reins and ground him to a halt. The guards heaved a sigh of relief, and Enoki's jaw fell open in wonder.
Tall fences painted in familiar Tauren pictograms walled off the precipice, save for two openings for long wooden bridges jutting out over the canyon below. They rambled out over open space until they too ended at a singular totem that jutted proudly into the air and guided the stately little cars that rose up and down on an elaborate rope and pulley system. As he stared, one of the elevators crested the gangplank leading to it and paused just long enough to discharge its Orc passenger. The Barrens Guard lead his ruddy wolf along the pathway with care, and spurred it hastily onward once he was on solid ground with only a nod of thanks to the Tauren guarding the strange mechanism. Enoki turned as the canine and rider tore past with a dusty rush of wind, and whipped his head back around toward the guards with an unholy, gleeful grin.
"What de HELL is dis thing?" he exclaimed raucously, throwing his hands in the air, "It be AMAZIN'!"
The Tauren guard closest to him blinked owlishly and adjusted himself in a professional manner.
"This? This is The Great Lift," he explained to the Troll.
"Great Lift huh?" Enoki repeated, craning his head curiously, "Where do it go?"
"Down… Obviously. Into The Thousand Needles," the same Tauren retorted dryly.
Enoki shot him a sidelong, scathing glance, but shifted his weight on Zynn thoughtfully.
"And what kinda stuff be down dere?" he asked.
"Stuff…? Well, not much. Centaurs and hot springs mostly. If you're going down follow the road and it will take you to Freewind Post. That's our post there. Further along it'll take you to the Shimmering Flats where the racetrack is, and beyond that the Tanaris desert," the second Tauren elaborated.
Enoki listened, but only two words really sunk in. His eyes widened, his jaw fell open, and his face lit up with pure boyish glee.
"A racetrack?" he exclaimed, "Seriously? Like racin' what?"
The two Tauren exchanged glances again, and could not help but smirk at each other as the Troll's infectious excitement washed over them.
"Well… I think you'd best be served seeing that for yourself," the first guard answered, and gestured behind him, "Go on, one of the cars should be up shortly."
Enoki needed no more enticement than that, and swiftly thanked the two bulls as he spurred Zynn along the wooden plank to the boarding platform. Mere moments after he arrived on the edge the rattling contraption marched its way up the pulleys and ropes and paused invitingly before him. Zynn fearlessly trotted inside the wooden cage protecting the rider, and after a few moments the carriage made a shaky jerk and slowly began to sink down into the canyon.
The Thousand Needles cut through the earth in a bloody red scar filled with its towering namesake needles of ancient stone. Enoki watched, enraptured, as his elevator car traveled slowly downward through the bands of time recorded in vibrant, ruddy shades and revealed more and more of the teeming, rugged landscape. He swore he heard the familiar screech of wyverns in the distance, and he could hear the thundering hooves of herds of centaur dangerously close by echoing ominously off the canyon walls. As he sunk lower, he spotted what were clearly Tauren structures dotting the tops of some of the wider mesas and he smiled to himself as he thought briefly of his tiny village in Mulgore.
The cart slid, rattled, and jostled its slow and deliberate way down to the platform at the bottom of the canyon, and finally ground to a screeching halt to discharge its passenger. Disappointed it was over already, Enoki led Zynn back out onto the base of the conveyance and pouted as it quickly began its mechanically clockwork trek back up to see if it could be of assistance to anyone else. However the second cart, as if sensing his distress, plopped neatly into place just on the opposite platform. It beckoned him with its cheerily painted canvas hood and its sturdy wooden construction, and Enoki heeded the call without haste, swiftly spurring Zynn to the other side and boarding the second car.
Raptor and rider together rode up the canyon once more and watched history in reverse through the bands of colored rock. Enoki enjoyed the second ride almost more than the first, for going up made his stomach lurch and flutter with excitement blended spectacularly with gravity and if he edged Zynn's claws just to the edge and peered dangerously over, it was almost as if they were taking off in flight. He grinned the entire time, but all too soon it was over again and he was back up atop the cliff. A bright peal of laughter rang out over the precipice, and both Tauren turned and watched, wide-eyed, as the very same Shaman that had just left rode down the plank, circled around them, and then went back down the other side to go down again. Perplexed, they spared one another a glance, unsure they had really seen what they had just seen, and decided it was better not to speak about it and simply attend to their duties.
Enoki rode down the Great Lift for the second time, and at the bottom finally disembarked and headed on his way through the canyon. The Thousand Needles was unlike anything he had ever seen before. It was easy to see where its namesake came from as he navigated Zynn around countless towering pillars of rock that punctured the floor of the ravine like a pincushion. Ravenous hyenas feeding off the kills of the Centaur patrolled the parched, rocky ground. Wind Serpents sailed the warm updrafts from the various hot springs and currents funneling through the deep scar through the earth. Occasionally the majestic form of a Wyvern would pass silently overhead, its presence only known by the dark and wicked shadow it cast upon the ground. The spirit and voice of the earth was strong that deep into a cut into its flesh, and Enoki took calm comfort in it and the soft red hue of the atmosphere as he made his trek to Freewind Post.
Night had long fallen by the time he reached the lift at the bottom of the mesa identical to the one he had ridden down into the new land he explored, and he was nearly nodding off atop his mount. His head bobbed heavily, his eyes burned, and his lids yearned to close, but luckily for him the kind female Tauren guard at the base saw how exhausted he was and took his reins for him to lead Zynn onto the elevator. Enoki crossed his arms happily over the crimson raptor's crested head and lay his own atop them to doze as he rode up to the top of the stone spire. Luckily the jerky stop roused him from his short nap, and he was able to find the faculties to drowsily steer the both of them to the inn.
The duo each collapsed separately, but gratefully, into their respective beds; Enoki at the inn and Zynn on a blissfully soft pile of hay in the stables. Having been without a proper bed for many days as they exited the Barrens, both companions slept well past noon in the comfortable embrace of restful sleep. Enoki's stomach acted as a painful, rumbling alarm, but by the time he managed to roll out of bed, bathe, and shuffle downstairs to get something to eat it was so late it was almost pointless to start traveling again. The amount he had filched from Jyota was fairly substantial, however, and so Enoki decided it was perfectly reasonable to stay one more night at the inn in Freewind. Not to mention it was a truly breathtaking place.
The air was fresh, warm, and swift that high over the scar which made the air so crisp and clear he could see for miles all around him. Rocks balanced precariously atop each other on needlepoint stone formations rocked and swayed in timeless slow motion, and in the distance the smoldering orange haze of the dusty canyon faded into a lush tint of green suggesting a forest just beyond to the West. For a brief moment, Enoki wondered if he could perchance make a quick jaunt over, just to see what it was before continuing. He quickly decided against it, realizing that he would only end up having to spend one more night in the same place after he had left, and the more the thought about that the more anxious and twitchy he became. It would be best to just move on to the Shimmering Flats like he had decided before, but that didn't stop him from enjoying Thousand Needles for the one additional night he was already spending there.
The young Troll took his simple dinner of Kodo meat and potatoes, and then went out at sunset to explore the intricate network of bridges and platforms that made up the rear part of the town. The main stone spire large enough to house all of the shops and the inn was linked to many smaller and progressively shorter twins in a series of long rope bridges streamlined over vast airspace with nothing beneath them but a deadly plunge to the unforgiving ground. They seemed to weave their way down toward the ground with all the practiced architecture of a spider web, but Enoki couldn't know that for certain. Not until, of course, he'd gone down every single one. On wolf's paws he took off in the brilliant crimson light of dusk and tore over the bridges and open air with his tongue lolling and his heart racing.
The sound of the solid wood beneath his paws, the feel of the lofty air through his pelt, and the slight sway of the bridge as he crossed it made his spirit soar with joy. As he ran he looked down, and was able to watch the ground pass by in brief, ruddy flashes through the gaps in the planks and the occasional teasing knothole. Enoki coursed over one bridge, twisted around the dirt path and charged down another. From that vantage point he could clearly see that the series of paths and bridges between bluffs lead all the way back down to the ground. Satisfied, he turned around and loped his way back to the highest point he could climb to.
There, on the center of the rope bridge, he transformed back into a Troll again and leaned over the rope railing to watch the sun disappear into the West. All of Azeroth lay out before him touched by the dying rays of the day. All four directions open, exciting, new and wonderful, just waiting for him to travel into the worlds unknown he had only been able to dream about before. He truly was free. A strong gust of wind greeted him cheerfully as he gazed out upon his new frontier, and rocked the old pathway beneath his feet with a gentle hand, making the ropes and the worn wooden planks creak and sigh.
Enoki glanced downward at the rope bridge again. He examined the sturdy construction for a moment, gripped the rail, and gave an experimental push with his feet against the wind. The bridge replied with a slow, weak rock, and a devious grin crept slowly over the redhead's face as a wholly delinquent idea crept into his brain. Without even stopping to think about it he vaulted over the railing, twisted nimbly around and hooked his legs firmly over the planked walkway. His body secure, he let his upper half slide loosely down the ropes, and finally let go to swing his body out into space.
A rush of exhilarated dizziness swept over him as his weight caused his perch to sway in the open air. He spread his arms out wide to steady himself, and finally looked down at the ground far below. With nothing between him, suspended in midair, it was almost as if he were flying. A triumphant peal of laughter rang from his throat and he swung his body with all of his might with the slight momentum the bridge already had. It obeyed, and slowly the dusty construction began to sway back and forth between the buttes it was secured to.
Swing after swing, the bridge rocked further each time Enoki pumped his powerful body in perfect synchronization with it. He crossed his arms over his chest boldly, and surveyed the ground beneath him as it passed in a spectacular palette of reds and golds. He felt light and weightless. The winds rose to meet him and tossed his billowing red cape and long tail of hair behind him like a trail of flame catching the ruby light of sunset. It was positively glorious.
Enoki swung on his makeshift ride until the disc of the sun melted beneath the black abyss of the horizon, and he eventually garnered the attention of the guards who came thundering over the bridge to see what was wrong while others frantically steadied it. His ride over, the Troll simply coiled gracefully back up onto solid pathway, gave a crooked salute to the guards and trotted back to the inn for a good night's rest before heading out again in the morning. Baffled, the Freewind Braves exchanged glances among each other and silently prayed the strange Troll would migrate soon before he caused any serious damage or mayhem.
Freewind got its wish that following morning at dawn when Enoki rose with the sun, packed up his belongings and saddled Zynn. He bid the pleasant Tauren outpost a fond farewell with his customary salute, hopped on the elevator and rode it down to return to the path had had come on.
The road leading out of Thousand Needles was no less treacherous than it had been coming in. It lead straight through a cluster of wind serpent nests and around dangerously close to even more centaur encampments. Luckily for Enoki, it was significantly shorter than the ride in to Freewind Post, and before he even knew it the needles shrunk back into the earth, the acrid scent of dry salt filled the air and a strange white haze loomed on the horizon to welcome him to the Shimmering Flats.
The transition from red clay and dust to pure white, glittering salt was abrupt and fascinating to the young adventurer seeing it for the first time. Enoki actually stopped and dismounted off Zynn to crouch down and inspect it. He nudged a few of the larger crystals with a finger and they crumbled pleasantly under his touch. His intense curiosity was only aroused further, and after sliding his eyes from side to side as if to make sure he was alone, he bent down and licked the ground experimentally. He had always enjoyed the salted, dried pork often the only meal on long treks through the Barrens, and sure enough the ground, though hinting of a musty aftertaste of dirt, was the very same tangy, pleasant ingredient.
"Hah!" Enoki exclaimed, turning to the patient raptor beside him, "It realleh is salt! Try it, Zynn!"
Zynn blinked several times in a row, lowered his head to sniff at the white frosted ground, but then only ended up sneezing violently and hissing as he shied away. Enoki laughed and got up to calm and mount him once again, then steered him down what he guessed was the road leading to the raceway.
It was really more of a worn down depression in the thick layer of white rather than a proper road, lined with a few braziers and signs to lead travelers in the right direction almost like an afterthought. The Shimmering Flats sprawled out around it in an endless barren, hazy white plane of nothingness. Visibility was frighteningly short in the thick and saline air, a harsh and howling wind tossed his bright red cloak around him, and in the distance the hulking shadows of basilisks and scorpions skittered over the parched earth just waiting for an unsuspecting meal.
Enoki remained coolly unconcerned. The raceway was somewhere in the Shimmering Flats after all, and if he kept riding he was bound to find it, eventually. There was no fear in his heart as he struck off into the strange new land, even as the sun slipped low beneath the tall canyon walls still closing him in, and sharply cold night fell. The duo of raptor and rider was forced to stop and camp in the open terrain without the safety of trees or even an outcrop of rock to shield them. Enoki boldly tried to sleep, figuring even a basilisk would think twice about attacking a fully grown raptor and an armed Troll, but more than once he was jerked awake by some shuffling, clattering sound of heavy armor or the crunch of paws in the brittle salt bed.
Miraculously, but with no little annoyance, Enoki awoke a little late in the morning and swore constantly under his breath as he packed up his sleeping roll, stamped out his fire and moved on. The second day dawned on much the same as the day before, but with one very subtle and very promising change. As they rode, Enoki began to see bits of rusted metal and wood corroding and forgotten in the earth. Cogs, pistons, splintered carriages and all manner of things that could only belong to errant racers dotted the landscape like corpses and monuments to failed engineering. Or failed piloting, Enoki reasoned as he smirked at the grinning fuselage of a Goblin rocket that had detonated instead of burning out its fuel as intended.
He was close, he could feel it. The thrum of excitement was in the air and a distant, throaty purr of engines was tantalizing on the wind. Enoki swore he could smell motor oil, exhaust, and burnt rubber, which beckoned to him like a siren's call. He could just see the racers in all their gritty, grimy, illustriousness, and just as he was contemplating straying from the path to explore out into the uncharted wilderness in his zeal, something gave a bestial roar nearby and a plume of white dust exploded into view.
Faster than any raptor, any wolf, Enoki had ever seen, they came. Rattling, screeching behemoths wreathed in flame and smoke, two racers tore across the salt desert in a blur of screeched commands between the pilots and brilliant colors splashed across the desolate and colorless land. They rose up from the salt and towered over Enoki as he watched, spellbound, and just as quickly blazed past him and continued on, the sound of their engines dying in a lower pitched rumble in the distance. In their wake they left a noxious cloud of exhaust and acridly salty dust which sat thick and bulbous on the ground before the wind swept it over Enoki and Zynn.
The Troll hacked and coughed as the bitter air assaulted his nose and throat, waving a hand in front of his face. His eyes burned and he was forced to close them until the stinging, bitter mist blew on and dissipated. When he opened his eyes again to cleared air, he was met with the single most glorious sight he had seen in all his short years. Before him, still far in the distance, lay the pointed garages, vast bleachers and teeming pits of the Mirage Flats Raceway, checkered banners just barely visible flying in the wind.
"Look! Dere it is! HAH! We made it, Zynn!" Enoki cheered, pumping a fist in the air, "Lets GO!"
Zynn threw his head back and gave a mighty roar as his master dug his heels into his flanks and spurred him forward, taking off obediently at a run with his fluid tail sweeping behind him. Together they sprinted and flew across the salt plains toward that sight, hearts racing together in excitement, plunging headlong into whatever the seedy, gritty racetrack might bring.
A bit of a filler chapter one, but now the good stuff! If you enjoyed it please leave me a happy little review it will make my day! :D