So, long ago, I wrote a world of warcraft story under the name of Eddymouse. That was seven years ago. I found that story while looking around, and I wanted to rework it, I wanted to fix my mistakes, flesh out characters, and for the love of god, keep writing. So, I reclaimed it, and here is the reworked first part of what I had already. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope the troll accent doesn't make you want to kill puppies. 3
Chapter:
One
Ed Meets Chloe.
Ed awoke to the angry rocking of a ship over rough water. By what he could see, the ship was that of blackwater raiders. Brilliant. With a roll of his eyes, he looked around to see what he could find.
As he looked around, he flexed his thick fingers and toes. He found that he was not wounded, save for the lump which throbbed angrily at the back of his head. He closed his eyes, the hunter tried to sense his pet. He knew she was near.
"Dis jus how I want to spend da day, eh Shiva?" He said, the Hyena raised her head and looked over in his direction.
It was clear that all hands were required or he may have had a guard. He used the ships rocking to push himself to a sitting position, then used his long arms and torso to maneuver his bound hands around to his front. Using one of his tusks, he cut the rope around his wrists and quickly began to rub the blood back into his numb digits.
Once he could feel his fingers, his ankles were easy to untie. Soon he was looking around for his weapons, which he realized were likely on the backs of some of his captors. No proper pirate would toss away good weapons. The idea that some human had his bow irked him.
He crept up the ladder and peeked out of the hatch on deck. He quickly dropped his head back down as a canon ball blasted passed where his head had been. He had to laugh, the bloodsails pirates were just the cover he needed to escape, and sure enough, there we there they were; the Loa had his back this day.
A knife dropped by the open hatch, and he snuck an arm out to grab it before anyone noticed. With his new weapon, he walked over to his pet and sliced the leather muzzle and collar off her. He pat her on the side and accepted a few kisses before standing again "Les Go, Shiva."
He moved around to another hatch, waited until most of the crew were at the other end of the boat and crept up onto the deck. His captors were too busy fighting to realize that he was making a clean break for it. Ed helped Shiva up onto the deck, and he turned to look off the starboard bow, he saw strangle thorn in the distance.
"We close to shore, We can maneuver d'jungle. Ain't dat long ago we was dere." He said to his Shiva. She chirped at him and looked at the fighting that went on around them. Ed knew she wanted to go and fight, but for now, he needed to find his bags.
They managed to get to the captains quarters without issue, Ed saw the pouch he needed and looked relieved when he moved to it, and opened it. Yes, the orb was still there. He closed the flap on the bag and slung it over his shoulder.
Then he heard movement, his dagger went up and he crouched down, eying the source of the sound. A strawberry blond girl, in the captain's room. She was tied to the captains bed, in a long white night shift. He rose an eyebrow as he looked her over. She wasn't unpleasant, for a human.
Her eyes went wide at the sight of him, and this made it obvious that she was not a pirate, or from some other neutral clan... but an Alliance girl. She looked too young to have finished any sort of training, but old enough to be an adult. Panic clouded her judgement because she squeaked at him, in the hope he might understand her "Take me with you."
Ed was surprised that she'd ask, but he had no time to argue. There was a flash of what looked like fire outside, someone was trying to sink this ship. He wrapped his arm around her narrow waist and hoisted her up. His knife came down on the leash that had her strapped to the bed as he lifted her.
"Shiva, attack, kill what jou can, den meet me in Grom'gol." He said. The hyena yipped, her eyes going red, her black lips pulled back to show off pearly white rows of very sharp teeth and she took the door off the hinges as she ran out to attack the first thing she saw.
With the sailors thoroughly distracted, the troll ran for the edge of the ship "What are you doing?!" Cried the human girl over his shoulder but it did not matter. Off the side of the ship they went, and into the crocolisk and shark infested waters off the shore. Prayers to the light and the loa were probably the only thing that saved them from a death in the water that night.
When Chloe came to, she remembered the dark figure in the doorway of the captains quarters. She remembered being thrown overboard, and she must have fainted sometime after that because her mind got very foggy. She remembered brief pictures, a fire, the troll, the stars... A sharp and terrible pain... but beyond that, there was nothing. So as she blinked awake and found herself covered in sand and large leaves, she wasn't sure what happened.
The cove they found themselves in was mostly hidden, a ring of risen earth with a dense cover of foliage and trees, the entrance was also covered in brush and trees, so they could not be seen on the beach. Nearby there was a fire which was slowly dying down. It was a beautiful spot; gorgeous foliage, beautiful flowers, warm inviting blue water. A true paradise.
A shadow crept over her from behind, and she turned her head to see the troll that had been her savior. Her mouth fell open and she felt the drip of water from his long braids. He was wet, and he had a rope made from leaf fibers, there were three fish attached to it. "Was wonderin' if ju was gonna get back up or not Girlie. Ju took dat poison fish sting pretty good. Did not tink you was gonna live."
"P-poison fish?" She asked. She looked down, and noticed her foot was bandaged in what might be banana leaves and the sleeves to her dress?! She looked at her bare arms, and saw how red they were turning.
"Ju stayed asleep much longer, ju was gonna fry." He said as he noticed her arms. He moved over to the fire. He added some dried drift wood and pulled a large flat rock over to where he wanted to sit. He began descaling the fish and gutting them. He looked at her as he did this, he must have been a very good cook when he had all the proper spices, because he was careful with scaling and gutting the fish, then spearing it and putting it over the fire.
"How am I still alive if a poison fish stuck me?" the girl asked as she unwrapped her foot and looked at the wound, now closed on her foot. "Did you use voodoo?" She asked, curious.
"Voodoo?" He glared "You tink jus cus Ed be a troll he gon use voodoo on you?" He asked, and he seemed more than a little offended.
"Well, isn't that what trolls do?" She asked, sounding sheepish, "I'm sorry, I've never been able to ask a member of the horde questions."
"Oh yes, Ed used da voodoo, Ed used da voodoo o' alchemy." He held up what was left of a liferoot, and some thorns from a golden thorned bush "Ol' Ed don need no voodoo to cure you, girlie, you simple." He said with a huff.
"How do you speak my language so well?" She asked now.
Ed looked up from his work, he moved to the water to rinse the blood into the sea and returned "Undead was everyting before dey undead. I learn from one o' dem. We in peace right now, ain't want to go about startin' fights over a disagreement." He explained.
That was surprisingly logical, and so she smiled and nodded her approval of this plan.
"Now it Ed's turn. What ju be wantin me t'save ju for? Ju would have been better of wit de pirates, not in dis jungle. Don't ju tink?" He asked. He flipped the fish over, and turned his eyes back to her.
Chloe had always heard that the trolls, orcs, undead, tauren and bloodelves were evil. Dangerous, monstrous. She looked into his red eyes and she gave a half-hearted shrug "I did not want to go where they were taking me."
"Where was dat?" He asked, curiosity was a downfall of his sometimes. His eyes watched her over the fish.
"Home." She said and she wrapped her arms around herself. "I don't want to talk about it." She admitted.
"Dat fine, Ed ain't gonna pry. You got a name Girlie?" He doubted she'd give him her real name, not after she'd already expressed concern over voodoo. Ones true name was a thing to protect.
"Chloe Thatcher" She said softly. She looked at him.
"You Humans call me Ed. The 'orde call me Edjaba." He explained, and seeing the fish was sufficiently cooked, he began pulling pieces off, putting them in a bowl he made froma coconut shell.
"But it isn't your birthname?" She asked.
"Troll don 'ave birth names. Names is earned, you go hunt, you do somethin' worthy of a name. Den you get da name, and you protect it. Dat why I don't mind Ed." He said, and he watched her. He could tell by the way her green eyes lit up, that she was curious, that she saw a mystery she could sink her teeth into. He smirked around his curved tusks and watched her, as if challenging her to find his true name out.
"So, Ed, do you know the jungle? I don't. I'm sort of wondering if there is a human encampment around here some where, one you can drop me off at." She said. She took the bowl of fish flesh and began eating.
He watched her as she ate, then nodded "Dere be one bout tree days walk from 'ere." He said calmly.
"Great, you can take me there?" She asked, and she instantly seemed to realize how terrible the idea was. "Or, I could find my own way there, if you could point me in the right direction." She said.
"Girly, ain't got no shoes." He said, and he looked down at her feet. Then he looked up at her face. He wondered how she expected to go trapsing through some of the most dangerous terrain on all of azeroth, when she wasn't even wearing shoes. She was no mage, she couldn't defend herself, she wasn't wearing armor, she didn't so much as have a stick to swing at a crap.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. Just show me the way to the main road." She said, as oblivious to the danger as a new born baby.
"Ch'loe... I gon explain dis to ju simple as I can. Dis, da jungle. Ju got tigers, raptors, pant'ers, naga, murlocs, gorillas, crocolisk, crabs and basilisks..." He said, as he picked apart the flesh off the bones of a fish. "Den you got de ogres, de goblins, and de trolls. De ogres maybe ju can out smart, but ju pretty stupid." he said, and she made an indignant noise but he continued, "De goblins, maybe dey trade for ju safe passage, put ju on ju knees til a human or other alliance come along." He waggled his brows.
"By the light, they wouldn't... would they?" She blurted, and found she'd lost her appetite.
He gave a grave nod, an affirmation that the goblins would likely give her to their peons as a sort of 'treat' for their loyal service, "Den, you got de Trolls. Gurubashi tribe ain't like de Darkspear, dey eat ju. Dey pick de flesh off ju bones while ju heart still beatin, Girlie." He said, and he looked dark, menacing...
"But you don't eat people, right?" She asked softly, a squeak of a voice.
"Ed wont say no if ju want to give a toe or two, might make da fish taste better." He said, and he said it with such a straight face, that Chloe curled her toes under her feet and hid them with the hem of her night dress. This made Ed roar with laughter.
"What about bootybay?" She asked.
"Dat da worse place we could go. Dey lookin for us. Dem pirates would go dere. Dey look for da girlie and for Ed. We don go dere. Ain't got enough coin to pay our way safe." He explained, "Don't let dis cove fool you, girlie, dis place, it dangerous. Ed keep ju safe, so long as ju don do not'in stupid."