Hi. This is my first fan fiction, as stated in the summary. I don't own anything from Warcraft.

All that good stuff. If you have any questions, then just post them in a review. I'll do my best to answer them, which hopefully won't be too hard as I don't expect to get many (if any) reviews

in the first couple chapters or so. But, again, anything you want to know, I will try to answer at the start of the next chapter.

All right, I'm gonna shut up and let you read it. Reviews are appreciated! Enjoy.

"For crying out loud, you little cheat! I don't care if the thing's not selling, I just want it back! Is that too much to ask for?"

"Can't get it back. Yelling won't do anything."

Daniel turned away and ran a hand through his dark brown hair, trying to calm himself. Not that it was working. He seriously doubted that anything would, given the situation. His dream-come-true find had failed to yield anything at all, save for a load of frustration.

Maybe, just maybe, he would have been in a reasonable mood, if it wasn't for the little man who stood in front of him-more specifically, what he had to say, which turned out to be nothing. The gnome had failed to offer any details into the matter, simply stating that it was gone and that he couldn't get it back. He decided that maybe an attitude change would work.

"Okay, ummmm...Can I get anything at all from this? Anything at all?" Daniel asked the gnome, who had started to write something in a large book in front of him.

The gnome didn't bother to spare a glance when he answered.

"Probably not. Even if possible, might not like what you have to do."

Daniel heaved a long sigh. If there was anything to be done about the matter, the gnome wouldn't be of any help in the first place.

"All right, so I might as well leave?" Daniel asked, his sour mood returning.

"Guess so."

The gnome scribbled in his book for a moment longer, then moved out of the room.

Daniel gave the little man a final glance before going back into the wide open city again.

Daniel liked Ironforge. Sure, he liked Stormwind more, but he was a human. Of course he was proud of his race,but Ironforge just seemed a bit more welcoming to him. That was most likely due to the fact that Ironforge Inns had softer beds than Stormwind.

Daniel released another sigh, setting off towards the center of the city. Spending the day pouting wouldn't accomplish anything. Might as well get back to "work".

He didn't particularly like gryphon rides, mainly because he was deathly afraid of heights. The only reason he didn't fall off from fear was because he kept his eyes shut tightly for the duration of the flight. Plus, they were rather expensive, and at a time like this, he had to use his money sparingly.

Daniel dropped a few silver coins into the gryphon master's palm without saying a word. As much as he hated it, he took the trip to the Arathi Highlands and back quite often to find more valuables. Typically, he just sold the less valuable items to the merchants in the camp there, but returned to Ironforge to auction off some of the more shiny treasures he had found.

As he shuffled onto the half-eagle, half-lion, he felt a little uneasy as always. The creature was, quite obviously, in pretty bad shape. Hair was ruffled all along the top of it's back and neck, there were three parallel scratch marks across the side of its beak, and Daniel swore he saw a large scar going up over its eye that looked quite fresh. Still, he was fairly confident that it wouldn't drop from the sky at random.

Fairly confident.

Daniel kept his eyes open for as long as possible as the beast below him hefted its large wings into the air before throwing them downwards, propelling it to a low hover for a second before it jerked into motion.

The dwarves certainly had done a creative job of creating the entrance and exit for gryphons. The passages at ground level were to small for them, so the dwarves made a large opening high off the floor

for them to fly through. That fact had always made Daniel wonder how they did so anyway, even with ladders and whatnot. Magic, most likely. After he passed through the opening, he looked down at the crowd that was always present near the bank and auction house. Most of the figures were clad in elaborate armor and robes, moving around at brisk paces in between the two buildings. Several were mounted on various other creatures, one of the more noticeable being a man on what looked like a bear from Daniel's point of view.

Daniel closed his eyes as until he felt the cold temperature begin to dissipate. He was still over Dun Morogh, but on the outskirts that bordered the Wetlands. The gryphon continued to glide over the hills and mountains, not doing much else save for look downwards a few times. Soon, Daniel was in the Wetlands, staring down at the swamps that covered the majority of the landscape.

He gave a long yawn. Another thing that he didn't like about gryphon rides-sure, they may be faster than walking on foot, but that wasn't really saying much. Gryphon bodies didn't allow for much speed unless they were trained and whatnot, and that training was expensive and time-consuming-both for the gryphon and the rider.

He could now see the old, damaged bridges connecting the Wetlands to the Highlands. He really hated this part, as the Wetlands took a sudden drop down to lower than sea level. The gap continued all the length of the bridges, which was quite a long way. Daniel suspected that the more damaged bridge was blown up by the Dark Iron Dwarves, as he had dealt with them shortly before he came to the Highlands . They had used explosives when he was in the Wetlands as well, but he never had asked how it was actually destroyed.

A sudden burst of strong wind forced Daniel out of his thoughts as he crossed the gap. He closed his eyes again, waiting until he assumed he was over the gap, at which point he reopened his eyes. Sighing with relief, he let out another yawn.

His relief was short, however, as a loud noise from below him made his ears ring and momentarily stunned him. The gryphon jerked violently, and Daniel nearly fell off the side, scrambling to regain his balance. The creature had other plans, however, as it made another jerking movement to the side.

Which actually did send Daniel off the beast.

He frantically began to claw at the air, screaming all the way down until he landed on the ground with a

sickening crunching noise.

"Owwwwwww!" he complained as he attempted to contemplate what had happened. Thankfully, the gryphon had been somewhat low to the ground, which had prevented him from breaking anything. Not that it was much comfort, seeing as The grass below him was a bright green, so Daniel assumed he had made it into the Highlands. He had no idea what had caused the sound or the gryphon's wild movements, nor did he want to stay and say hello to whatever did. All he wanted to do was get to camp.

He got back up as he checked to make sure that his rifle was still on his back. It was, along with the two axes at his waist. His ammunition was also still on him, though he had forgot to buy some back at Ironforge, and he only had a handful left. With a little luck,though, he should be able to make it to safety in one piece.

His hopes were dashed, however, as another loud noise reverberated in his ears. A second later, he was thrown into the air with the force of a boulder, landing a few yards away in a pile.

Quickly righting himself, he reached down to his waist and pulled his axes up.

Three angry raptors charged at him, closing in distance in a second.

Daniel, however, was ready for them, sidestepping the three and wrapping the neck of the nearest raptor in the inside of his elbow and yanking backwards with as much strength as he could muster.

It close lined the thing, knocking it on its back. Daniel followed up by planting his weight on top of the creature and forcing an ax down onto its neck. Something told him the other two wouldn't be as easy.

The raptors parted, heading in different directions and attempting to flank Daniel.

When he tried moving backwards to get them both into his field of vision, they both followed him.

Deciding that the one on his right looked smaller, he feigned an attack at it, but quickly turned around and ran up to the other. It came at him as well, baring its teeth and furiously swiping its claws. Daniel sidestepped again and slashed its midsection a few times before the creature returned with a connecting slice of its own, causing him to stagger backwards and nearly trip on a rock he stepped on.

The smaller raptor ran up to him from behind and slashed his back a good number of times, causing more pain-pain that quickly turned to anger. He spun around, not really caring what the larger raptor did to him, and raised his axes upwards. The smaller raptor begin to back away cautiously while slashing its talons at him. Again, a swipe connected with his shoulder, though Daniel didn't really care.

Taking a step forward, he brought the two axes down onto the the top of the creature's head, killing it instantly.

Withdrawing his axes and turning around, Daniel saw that the last raptor hadn't moved-surprising, but he wasn't complaining. He was just about to make his move when the creature whipped around and began to run away. Daniel however, was not going to let it get away that easily, and he quickly dropped his axes on to grass and plucked his rifle off his back.

Aiming was difficult due to his injured shoulder, and the pain that came with it certainly didn't help, but

Daniel managed to get his breathing under control enough to draw a bead on the fleeing creature as he

The rifle went off, but his shot went high and to the right. He kept looking at the creature through his scope, however, almost trying to force the rifle to reload itself. Not that it would have mattered if it had, as the raptor was almost out of his view and too far away to hit. He slowly lowered his rifle as the adrenaline rush he had disappeared in seconds, replaced by the familiar feeling of pain returning to him. Placing the rifle onto his back again, he bent down and picked his axes up before returning them to his waist as well. He began to limp towards what he hoped was the correct direction of the camp, fairly sure that he wouldn't bleed out before he got there. Still, it was best to get there as fast as possible. Bleeding typically wasn't a good thing.

All right, I hope that you enjoyed the beginning. A few things to say... first one being that, obviously, our dear little Dan has not met miss troll yet. That will happen in the third chapter. Kind of late, I know. But he will. I promise. And stuff.

Another thing is that it might seem like Dan was a bit 'overpowered' in combat. That's related to the story, and will come up later.

All right, that's it. See you all when I get the next chapter up. Assuming that people will read this.

Mayhaps.

I'm just going to shut up and go now. Bye!