Loch Modan was still covered in shadow when the first shafts of the sun fell upon the land aptly known as the Twilight Highlands. Rocks as black as pitch cast dark shadows across the high peaks, and the ominous silhouette of the Twilight Citadel became visible through an ever present cloud of fog.
Toh'Yella stood at the edge of his camp and sucked in a long breath of air. A troll of many seasons, he had to admit that this was easily the most desolate land in which he had ever worked. But even the most desolate land can carry within it a treasure. Peel away the layers of scorched earth and soot, and one found a valuable prize: in this case, mounds upon mounds of elementium.
The Gadgetzan Frontier Mining Authority quickly took notice when word of the valuable ore first hit their greedy pointed ears. Crews were assembled and dispatched, lofty promises of shared loot for able-bodied workers were made, and mining camps soon littered the Twilight peaks.
Each crew was a fully equipped unit consisting of all the needed members. Twenty workers to lift and move stone. A large security detail to deal with the constant threats of the land (and make sure the workers weren't walking off with any ore). Overseers and taskmasters to keep things running smoothly. And a single shaman to work with the elements for quick and efficient mining.
A grimace of pain came to Toh'Yella's lips at the thought of digging work. As the camp's sole shaman, he had spent most of the previous day and night up to his shoulders in stone, ripping out chunks of earth from the ground and blasting holes for tunneling. He rubbed his sore muscles and looked over the results of his handiwork that consisted of, more or less, a big hole in the ground. If his ancestors were watching, he thought, they were probably laughing at him.
Since he first set a totem to the ground it was his dream to be a battle shaman just like his father, and his grandfather before him, and so on since time immemorial. Years of physical training gave him the agility and toned physique of a warrior while his intellect and affinity to the elements gave him powerful abilities. But when it came time to venture into the world and seek his fortune he quickly found out there wasn't much of a place for him. And so here he was. Digging a hole.
When word came to him about this job he had dared to hope. Mining in a foreign and dangerous land, the promise of treasure and the threat of dragons and cultists; surely he would be called upon to fight. Yet when he asked to be part of the security detail he was told that a troop of elven paladins from the Badlands had already filled the slots and that his skills were much better suited for digging work. His first task had been to dig a latrine. His second task was to start a fire for the taskmaster's toes.
"Yo Toh'Yella, wa gwan mon?" came a trollish voice from a cluster of stones behind him, interrupting his reverie. "You best be getting to work or the master gonna thrash you again."
Toh'Yella sighed and turned around, ignoring the troll's taunt. "Many thanks for the concern, Nungana," he replied, "but I haven't gotten no orders yet."
Nungana's mouth stretched into a wide grin as he scratched his scruffy head. "You got them now!" he exclaimed. "Yesterday was hot work, ya know, and we all be filthy. Boss man says you need to make it rain so we can get cleaned up."
"He want me to give you all showers?"
"Ya mon."
"Boss man wants me, the shaman, to ask the elements to give you a shower," questioned Toh'Yella again flatly.
"Ya mon," repeated Nungana.
Blood flooded to Toh'Yella's cheeks as he lowered his eyes in shame. "This be ridiculous," he growled, "this be so insulting."
Nungana laughed out loud. "You mad, brother?"
"No mon," sighed Toh'Yella. "Let's get this over with."
#
The mineworkers were all grinning and slapping each other on the back after their elemental shower. For many of them, it had been their first real cleaning in over a year. Toh'Yella watched one worker leisurely stretch and proceed to lie in a puddle of mud. The shaman resisted the temptation to drown him in it.
"Shaman!"
The yell came from the taskmaster's hut. Toh'Yella turned to see the brutish orc stomping towards him. A monster of a man, Durot Skinflayer was always covered head to toe in black plate mail with the leather whip that was his birthright on his hip. He rested a huge two handed battle club on one shoulder as if it were light as a twig.
"What you need, boss man?" Toh'Yella answered. "You be needing a shower too?"
Durot scowled at him and hefted the club off his shoulder to his other hand. "Talk to me like that again, troll, and I'll be bathing in your blood," he snarled, "Do you understand me?"
"I got ya mon."
"That's better," grunted the orc. "Play time's over. Go talk to Nungana for your next assignment."
Toh'Yella raised an eyebrow. "Nungana my superior now, boss man?"
"The mess I left in the latrine this morning is your superior, shaman," Durot replied dryly. "Nungana's just got the gear we need your expertise with."
Puzzled, Toh'Yella walked off in search of the obnoxious troll. He found him near the mess tent seated next to a pile of gear and covered in messy bits of beer-basted crocolisk that had missed his mouth.
"Yo Toh'Yella," greeted Nungana, loudly smacking a chunk of fatty meat between his teeth. "Boss man say you need to carry this gear up the hill."
"What?" exclaimed the shaman, "He got twenty workers and he want me to carry the gear?"
"Ya mon," replied Nungana, "We all be tired from the work, he say you got a strength stick to make it all easy."
Toh'Yella's hand involuntarily went to the bag at his side, filled with several dozen of the "sticks" the taskmaster mocked. Objects of power, each piece of wood was hand carved into a totem and served as a focal point between the shaman and the elements. With a totem, a shaman could channel the elemental power while concentrating on other tasks. While lifting bags was not the kind of task Toh'Yella thought appropriate, the totem certainly would make the job easier.
"I got the sticks," answered the shaman after a pause, "But you got to leave and let me work." In truth, he just wanted Nungana to go away.
"No problem," Nungana said cheerfully, jumping to his feet. "Boss man say we get the day off, only utility workers got to work," he added.
"U-til-i-ty?" questioned Toh'Yella, sounding out each syllable like Nungana. "What be that mon?"
"That be you mon," laughed Nungana. "Catch you later."
Once the troll had gone Toh'Yella pulled a totem from his pack, his fingers curling lovingly over the intricately carved piece of wood. Kneeling down, he cleared his mind and asked the spirits of the earth to imbue his totem with strength that he might carry out his tasks. As the totem approached the ground the stone seemed to part and reach up towards the wood, welcoming the shaman's anchor into the element's domain. Toh'Yella felt a surge of strength; his exhaustion faded only to be replaced by the thrill of immense energy pulsing through his muscles.
He turned to look at his load. A large backpack brimming with supplies sat atop four huge bags bulging with far more gear than they should have been able to hold. Toh'Yella strapped the bags around his tall body and began walking easily toward the next dig site, far uphill at the edge of the cliffs overlooking Loch Modan.
#
The uphill climb was steep as he approached the sharp peaks near the edge of the highlands. The wind blew more fiercely as it whipped around the tall rocks, yet Toh'Yella moved through it with ease. A shaman respected the elements, exulted in them; rarely did he fall victim to them.
But after forty yards of walking, his strength finally faded. The combined weight of the bags bore down on Toh'Yella's shoulders and he fell to the ground. Instinctively the shaman reached out to the earth, pulling its essence into his soul and clothing himself in skin as hard as stone. He hit the ground with the weight of a boulder, cracking open the rocky terrain and falling further as the crater left by his impact revealed a tunnel. He fell into darkness.
Dazed by the fall, Toh'Yella sat up and looked around. From the pitiful shaft of sunlight above he estimated that he had fallen several dozen feet. The tunnel was dark but the shaman guessed it was very large; the air around him did not feel at all oppressive.
He reached into one of the bags and pushed aside food, weapons, and other trinkets until he finally found a torch. The shaman directed a surge of elemental flame to the cloth-bundled end of the torch, revealing tall walls at his back and to his sides. The hole he fell through was nearly thirty feet up and impossible to reach.
Toh'Yella searched the bag again, this time looking for weapons. His hand lingered briefly over the scabbard of a sword, but he decided against it. For whatever reason he had simply never been able to figure out how to use one properly. He settled instead on a small pickaxe and a shovel, as they would probably be more useful for tunneling if necessary.
It occurred to the troll that Durot Skinflayer would most likely beat him to a bloody pulp for losing the gear, but there was nothing for it. Even if he laid another totem there was no telling how far he would have to walk, and it would be impossible to carry the gear and fight if fighting was required. He strapped the axe and shovel to his belt and lifted the torch high as he proceeded down the wide tunnel.
After nearly an hour of walking, Toh'Yella had to wonder if he was actually going deeper into the Twilight Highlands instead of out of it as he had previously thought. Fifteen minutes later, he finally saw the tunnel open up into a large cave. Yet still there was no light.
Walking into the mouth of the cave, he swung the torch around and saw nothing different in the walls or ceiling. Looking at the ground, however, he noticed small prints made by clawed or booted feet.
"Goblins," he spat, regarding the cave with new wariness. Though they were friends to the Horde, if goblins made the cave it was very likely the whole thing could explode at any moment.
He advanced around the perimeter of the cave, which he soon discovered was monstrous in size. Finding nothing of interest, he turned to the center of the cave that had remained shrouded in darkness. In the torchlight he could see the goblin footprints becoming more and more clustered as he walked, until finally he came upon a box.
Calling it a box was an understatement. It was huge, nearly as tall as Toh'Yella and just as long across. Each of the sides was made of a thick sheet of oak with wide strips of brass crisscrossing in the middle. Heavy copper tubing ran along all of the edges, the joints held in place by large steel balls. One side of the box held an assortment of gears on its surface; two gears as big as a troll's head and three which connected to the top corners of the box.
Toh'Yella gaped at it in wide-eyed wonder. He had never seen something so mechanically complex.
He licked his lips. "Toh'Yella," he said to himself, "you know this be bad. Go back to camp. A thrashing be better than goblin trickery." Mouth compressed into a thin hard line, he turned away from the box and started to take a step away.
"But," he said, reversing his turn to look at the box again, "it be an amazing box. And going back to boss man just seem rank."
The thought of going back to the camp in shame without the gear made bile rise to his throat. He was already treated with such disrespect, being forced to admit failure to Durot and especially Nungana would surely sap away the last of his beaten pride. And besides, he thought, what treasures might be inside?
Finally the temptation proved to be too great. Toh'Yella moved closer to the box, torchlight flickering on the steel joints and his breath evaporating off of the brass plating. He reached out his hand tentatively and rested it on top of the box. He was thrilled to feel the wooden lid vibrating softly.
"I wonder how you—," he began when his foot suddenly hit a lever he had not seen on the bottom of the box. The entire contraption began to shake violently as the top ball joints separated from the frame. Great bursts of steam shot into the air from shining hydraulic pumps revealed by the box's walls rotating outwards. And from the inside he suddenly heard a piercing cry. Holding the torch in front of him, Toh'Yella saw eyes looking at him from within the darkness of the box.
The shaman dropped the torch in panic, his hands rushing to his totem bag. The squat shape inside the box leapt forward straight at Toh'Yella's midsection and knocked him backwards. His eyes closed in brief pain when he hit the ground, then flared open to assess the enemy who had him pinned down.
He was very surprised to see a rather unkempt dwarven child.
The dwarf scowled at Toh'Yella, lifting its hands into the air. The shaman guessed the dwarf was female, which she confirmed by pointing at his face and yelling, "ZAP!" in a high-pitched voice. A tiny bolt of lightning, no thicker than a string, shot from her fingertip and smote Toh'Yella on the nose.
The troll blinked in surprise. Then he began to giggle. The tiny dwarf scowled deeper, which only served to make Toh'Yella laugh harder. Soon he was barely able to breathe as great gusts of laughter escaped him. Through teary eyes he saw that the little dwarven girl had also started laughing, which made him laugh until his lungs hurt.
It was as if all the vile poison bottled up inside him finally escaped in that laughter. The shame, the wounds, the fear he bore split open, and the infectious ooze that was his miserable feeling of self worth was washed away. He took huge gulps of air to stifle his laughter.
"What's your name mon?" he said to the dwarf on his chest.
"Dunno," she replied, still giggling. "What's your name?"
"I be Toh'Yella."
"Toyla," she repeated.
"No no, Toh'Yella. Call me Toh," the shaman offered, "or Yella. What's your name?"
"I don't know!" she snapped.
Toh'Yella cocked his head. "What your parents call you?"
The dwarf shrugged and said, "Girl."
"That don't be a name!" Toh'Yella laughed. "Let's see. I will call you Ding. What you think?"
"I like it," Ding smiled.
Toh'Yella considered her thoughtfully as she played with the tips of his tusks. Here was one who was innocent. There was no pity or disdain in her eyes, no lust to destroy a Horde enemy. She was untouched by the cares of the world. The fact that she seemed to have a knack for shamanism made her all the more intriguing.
"You be something special," Toh'Yella smiled. "How'd you get here?"
The dwarf frowned, and her eyes grew round and scared. "Green things came and took me!" she cried. "I was asleep, and they put me in a sack and locked me in the box." She pointed into the box and the shaman could see a small sack crumpled at the bottom.
The urgency in her voice made Toh'Yella remember where they were. The torch still flickered on the ground beside them and the wicked box was still within reach. He imagined legions of goblins bristling with explosives and weapons pouring into the cave to check on their captive. They needed to get out, and fast.
He grabbed Ding by the arms and she looked at him questioningly. "We need to leave," he said, "they be back any time. You want to come with me Ding?"
Her eyes widened and she looked back at her box. Toh'Yella pitied her fear and vulnerability, and felt a pang in his heart. But she looked back at him and nodded firmly, "Yes, I want to come with you."
The shaman wasted no time. He jumped to his feet and re-assembled the weapons and totem bag at his sides, then bent to retrieve the fallen torch. Walking to the infernal machine of a box, he also grabbed the crumpled sack and looked at Ding.
Ding sucked in a quick breath. "What's that for Toh?" she asked, her voice tense. "I hate that bag. Hate it."
Toh'Yella sighed and kneeled in front of her, bringing himself somewhat closer to her level. "Ding," he began, "this walk's going to be tough. And I don't know who or what be waiting outside this cave. You stay in the sack. I keep you safe."
He expected tears or flat out refusal from the young dwarf, but instead she smiled. "I trust you Toh," she beamed. The troll's heart swelled with pride as she bounded forward and began to crawl in the bag.
Once Ding was inside, Toh'Yella put his long arms through straps sewn to the back and stood up. Though the dwarf was stocky, she was still very light.
"You ready mon?"
Ding poked her head up through the top of the sack. "Ready mon!" she laughed. "But how will you get through the mountain?"
Toh'Yella reached back and ruffled her hair fondly. "No problem. If there's one thing I be good at," he grinned, "It's digging holes."
#
"We're lost."
"No we're not," snarled Toh'Yella, "we're just being careful. Dwarves be all over the place."
It had taken the shaman several hours to rip apart the mountain and bore a hole through. The troll had started nearly a dozen holes just to find the section of wall that led to the outside world. Once he finally found that, flame blasts and shocks sent through the earthen surface finally opened the cave to the steep slopes of Loch Modan. He and Ding had blinked furiously in the afternoon sun until their eyes adjusted.
When Toh'Yella could finally see, he noticed a large elven lodge set into the mountainside very close by. He ran away from it with Ding on his back as quickly as he could, clambering down hills and piles of rocks along the mountain wall until at last they reached the base of the mountains. Here the land was wooded, with trees for cover and game for hunting if need be. With the mountains at their backs, Toh'Yella quietly wandered through the woods uncertain of what to do next.
He was very much unwelcome in this part of the world. A journey south into the Badlands would be treacherous, and while he would find allies in the orcish town of New Kargath he doubted he could hide Ding for long. Though he longed to leave his old life behind, it seemed that his best course of action was to climb back up to the Twilight Highlands. He would avoid the mining camps of course; there were plenty of other towns where he and the dwarf might find sanctuary.
"I'm bored," came a wistful voice from his back.
"Ya mon," Toh'Yella replied, "but we can't do none else now but walk."
Ding let out a noisy gust of breath. "I wish I had something to play with," she pouted.
"What do little dwarf girls like to play with?"
"Oh I don't know," Ding said. "Dolls. Hammers. You know, toys."
Toh'Yella stopped and patted at his various pouches and pockets. Reaching around, he finally found a small strip of leather cord in a pocket sewn to the back of his pant leg, and then bent down to pick up a hefty rock from the ground. Ding swung around on his back through the gyrations and giggled gleefully.
He slid a totem reverently from the bag that was always at his side. Holding the rock at arms length, he stabbed the totem into it. Normal wood would have broken on impact; his totem was taken into the stone lovingly. Toh'Yella held the totem like a hammer and wrapped the leather cord around the shaft, then tossed it over his shoulder into the bag.
"Ow!" screeched Ding.
Toh'Yella smiled. "You like it?"
"I love it. Thanks Toh."
He walked on with the dwarf once again nestled in the bottom of the bag. But this time he knew where he was going. It made sense to get back to the Twilight Highlands as quickly as possible. He was close, he knew the territory, and would find many more places to hide in the largely unpopulated area.
Toh'Yella had not even taken twenty steps when he heard a high-pitched whooshing sound near his ear. A throwing knife struck a tree next to him, the blade planted almost to the hilt. "Ding, stay quiet," the troll warned, then spun around. But no one was to be seen.
"That could have been your head, troll," came a gruff voice from the distance. "The next one will be. I just hate to stab folks in the back."
Another knife sliced through the air, thrown so quickly Toh'Yella didn't even see where it came from. But he was prepared now; his mind was clear, and he could hear every whisper in the wind. As the knife sped towards him, he extended both arms and moved his hands in a swirling motion, generating a magical gust of wind. The blade spun towards the ground and was buried in the dirt. The shaman lifted his hands again and peered into the woods for the next attack.
"Impressive!" bellowed the voice from directly behind him. Toh'Yella jumped several feet into the air and spun around, arms flailing in the direction of the speaker. "No, no need for that. Just giving you a good old dwarven welcome."
"That's how dwarves do a welcome?" Toh'Yella asked nervously, remembering Ding zapping him on the nose when they first met.
"It is when they're welcoming a troll, lad," the gruff dwarf replied, plopping on the ground. He pulled the knife he had thrown at Toh'Yella from the ground and started to trim his fingernails with it. "Now. Maybe you'll tell me what you're doing here?"
Toh'Yella regarded the dwarf grimly. Ding was being very quiet on his back, and he hoped she could stay that way. The dwarf was barely looking at the troll, instead appearing to be very involved with grooming his nails. But Toh'Yella was not fooled; he saw how fast the dwarf could move, and counted no less than eight dagger hilts protruding from his belt.
"I be Toh'Yella," the troll replied calmly, "and I come from the Highlands." He pointed vaguely up the steep mountains to the east. "I fell down the mountain while I was walking. And I got to get back."
The dwarf raised an eyebrow at him. "Fell down the mountain, did you? Just like that?"
"Ya mon," said the shaman. "Just like that."
"Well!" exclaimed the dwarf. "That's a fine story if I ever heard one, Yella. The name's Grimbrand Ironknuckle. Pleased to meet you." He slid the knife into one of many scabbards on his belt and extended his hand to Toh'Yella.
The troll looked at the preferred hand dubiously, then reached out and slapped the dwarf's palm with his own.
Grimbrand barked a hearty laugh and wiped his nose. "I tell you what," he grinned, "you'll have the best luck heading east of here just north of the hunting lodge. It seems there's a new cave that just got blasted in the mountain this afternoon. Maybe you can get back that way."
Toh'Yella eyed the dwarf suspiciously, but Grimbrand returned the look with one of pure smiling innocence. Toh'Yella decided it was beyond time for he and Ding to go.
"I best be going then mon," he said, "many thanks for the help."
"Of course, of course!" smiled Grimbrand. "Oh and I forgot to ask, you wouldn't happen to have seen a dwarven girl around, have you lad?"
It came out so quick and innocently that Toh'Yella almost confirmed that yes, he had seen one and she was currently playing in the sack he carried. But the slight rustling at his back and his own nervousness saved him.
"No mon, I seen nothing but rocks and you."
"Ah, I see, I see," lamented the dwarf. "Poor girl was taken by a band of goblins. The niece of a clan chief. There's a pretty penny for her return if one were to find her."
"I just want to go home," the troll mumbled.
Grimbrand's face split in a large grin again. "Of course you do, lad! I'll leave you to it then. Good day!" He wandered off into the woods, whistling and tossing a dagger into the air.
"Yo Ding," Toh'Yella whispered.
"Yes?" Ding squeaked.
"We got to get out of here."
Toh'Yella and Ding made it about halfway up the mountain by the time there was no light left to see. The way was treacherous, but a combination of worry and wariness gave the troll speed. By the time they found a flat area to camp for the night, he was more exhausted than he'd ever been in his life. It had been a very eventful day.
Ding used her bag as a blanket, lying inside it on a grassy patch of earth hanging from the mountain. She looked at Toh'Yella and smiled as he stretched out a few feet away.
"Ding, why you want to come with me instead of going home?" the troll asked quietly.
The dwarf yawned and shifted in her bag. "I'm tired of living in a hole. I want to see the world. And learn to be a shaman like you. My dad won't let me learn."
"I understand," Toh replied, but noticed Ding was already fast asleep. He thought about staying awake to keep watch, but fell asleep before the decision was made.
#
"Toh, help!"
The desperate cry brought Toh'Yella to immediate awareness. His eyes flared open and he jumped to his feet, hand on his totem bag. Glimmers of sunlight were visible on the peaks above, and the moon illuminated Ding. Her face was a mask of terror as she squirmed and kicked in the arms of Grimbrand Ironknuckle.
"You let her go!" shouted Toh'Yella, "You got no claim to her!"
"Aye, but that never stopped this old rogue before," growled the dwarf. "I knew you were hiding something troll. Turns out you're hoarding the grand prize!"
A white-hot burst of anger took hold of Toh'Yella's mind, and he roared primally at the dwarf. His hands flew up, and waves of rolling flame began to form and flow down his arms. He thrust out both hands and a burst of lava roared toward Grimbrand's head.
The dwarf looked surprised by the ferocity of the attack and was barely able to sidestep before the fireball passed his head, singeing his beard. As he regained his balance, Ding drove her elbow into the rogue's gut. Grimbrand bellowed and dropped Ding to the ground.
"Ding, run!" cried Toh'Yella. "Up the mountain! I deal with him."
Ding didn't hesitate. She jumped for the rock wall and began to scramble up the jutting rocks. Toh'Yella feared that the Grimbrand might follow, but instead the dwarf pulled two knives from his belt and began to advance toward the shaman.
"Deal with me lad?" Grimbrand snarled. "I wish you luck with that!"
Before the rogue had finished his taunt he jumped forward, knives a blur. Toh'Yella was amazed the stocky dwarf could move so quickly. The troll spun out of the way but grimaced in pain as a knife glanced his ribs. Ignoring the blood flowing from his side, he pulled two totems from his bag and in a smooth motion slammed them both into the rock wall of the mountain. The elemental essences of water and air came together in a flow of tranquility and energy that flooded his being.
Grimbrand slid past the shaman and aimed another strike at the troll's spine. Toh'Yella jumped away from the attack and spun, electricity crackling between his fingertips. Two bolts of lightning left his hands in rapid succession and the stones on the ground shook from the thunderclap that followed. Both bolts missed their target, but they bought the shaman time to thrust another totem into the ground. It began to glow with a menacing red light.
The shaman sent another burst of flame and more lightning at the dwarf. Thunder rang out all around, yet not a single attack struck its mark. Grimbrand weaved around the projectiles easily, bearing down on Toh'Yella with grim determination. The troll took a step back to the mountain wall and waited.
As Grimbrand closed in, Toh'Yella knelt with both hands on the ground.
"Won't do you no good, lad!" howled the dwarf triumphantly while leaping into the air with his cloak and beard billowing out behind him and deadly intent on his face. His jump cleared the fiery red totem Toh'Yella had placed into the ground moments before. At that moment, the shaman sent a surge of fire at it.
The totem under Grimbrand exploded in a wave of flame. The dwarf wailed as he was thrown forward toward the shaman with immense force. Toh'Yella lifted both hands and pounded them into the stone. A solid bar of rock suddenly sprouted above the shaman's head from the mountain wall, striking the flying dwarf. It caught Grimbrand directly in the gut, knocking him backwards off the cliff.
Toh'Yella took several ragged breaths as he crawled out from beneath the stone bar he had created. Wasting no time to celebrate his victory, he began climbing the mountain again in search of Ding.
He reached the top completely exhausted. The wound at his side ached and the adrenaline from the fight with Grimbrand had completely faded. He staggered over the edge and into the Twilight Highlands, eyes casting about in the dawn light for any sign of Ding.
"Ding!" he called out raggedly, shambling forward.
A groan to his left caught his ear. "Quiet mon," whispered a shattered voice, "or they hear you."
"Nungana?" Toh'Yella asked, running to the direction of the troll's voice. "What are you doing here?"
"Everyone…dead," Nungana mumbled from the ground where he lay. He was covered in wounds that were certainly fatal. "Durot. Everyone," he continued, "I ran, but I'm dead soon too."
Toh'Yella tried to heal him, but the shaman didn't even have the energy to do that. Instead he knelt beside the dying troll and whispered, "What happen here?"
Nungana looked at Toh'Yella, and there was terror in his eyes. "Twilight cult," he said. "They go and come out of the tower and attacked us. The paladins," Nungana spat, "all covered in some kind of magic shield. They ran away. The cult, they kill everybody."
The shaman did not immediately respond, but instead looked around fearfully for Ding. He did not want to imagine what would have happened to her had she been captured. He looked back at Nungana, but saw that the troll had already died. Toh'Yella shut his eyes and committed his soul back to the earth as befitted a troll brother.
Toh'Yella stood up and quietly began his search for Ding. If there were still cultists in the area, he could not afford to yell for her. When the shaman had first been trained in the art of infusing totems there was a particular spell that allowed him to see anything in range of his totem no matter where he was; however, it had been so long since he cast the spell he could not remember it. Instead, Toh'Yella channeled the energy of the wind through his eyes, allowing him to spy upon far away places.
He looked to the camp and saw the bodies of the mining workers along with that of Durot Skinflayer. Several dead cultists surrounded the former taskmaster. His elementally imbued eyes went next to the Twilight Citadel, yet there was still no sign of Ding. Frustrated, his wandering vision searched the entire plateau. But he found no sign of his beloved friend.
Suddenly a cough disturbed his spell casting. His vision returned to his body, and when his eyes snapped open Toh'Yella found that eight black robed cultists surrounded him. Without a word they all rushed in, gleeful at the chance for yet another sacrifice.
With little time to think and so many enemies to take on at once, Toh'Yella raised a hand to the heavens instinctively. A monstrous bolt of lightning fell from the sky to the tips of his fingers. Electrical energy burst from the troll's body, exploding the air around him and sending the cultists flying back. The two that had been closest died instantly and three others flew in the direction of the cliff's edge just as Grimbrand Ironknuckle appeared at the top.
"You won't be rid of me that—what the hell?" he roared as the body of a cultist hit him and knocked him off the mountaintop once more.
Toh'Yella didn't have time to think about the dwarf. More cultists were swarming to the fight from the surrounding boulders and rocks, screaming hatefully at the troll. The shaman gathered his energy again, sending another burst of electrical energy at the closest attacker. The bolt of lightning hit him in the chest then moved on, striking three other approaching cultists.
A robed human snarled and fired a large ball of shadow from his fingertips. Toh'Yella spun as the shadow solidified into the form of a black skull that screamed as it narrowly passed his head. The shaman pulled a totem from his bag and shoved it into the ground as he moved. A lance of ice that was rocketing towards him struck the totem instead and shattered.
From the corner of his eye Toh'Yella saw a black blur slide past him. Both the warlock and mage gasped for air and clutched their bloody throats as Grimbrand ran by.
"Need some help with this trash, lad?" questioned the dwarf, flipping a knife into throwing position and casually tossing it at a howling orc. The blade struck the orc in the chest, piercing his chainmail.
Toh'Yella fired a burst of flame at another warlock who was preparing to cast a spell. "Help be most welcome!" he said before pulling another totem from his bag.
Waves of fire rolled down the shaman's arms into the totem, and he placed it into the ground at his feet. An inhuman wail split the air, and a burst of fire shot out of the totem and materialized into a huge flame elemental. Clusters of oncoming cultists fell to the burning figure as explosion after explosion hit their ranks. Those who did not die were taken out by lightning bursts from the shaman's hands or the blades of his rogue ally.
But even that was not enough. Still more cultists were appearing every moment, and both Toh'Yella and Grimbrand were struck by fire and steel. The shaman healed himself and the dwarf where he could, but had to focus the bulk of his energy on the fight. The rogue cut down three more cultists with a spray of knives, their dying screams drowned out by the fire elemental's roar.
Grimbrand ran toward Toh'Yella, cutting down another orc on the way. "I'm about out of weapons. Got any other tricks up your sleeve, lad?" he grunted.
At that moment the burning elemental howled and unleashed a huge blast, killing many cultists. Then the flames of the creature dissipated and the totem from which he was born went dark. And yet fifteen of the enemy remained. The shaman lifted his hand, but the spark of electricity leaving his fingers fizzled. His energy was spent.
"I think—" he began, but was cut off by the sound of chanting. Flame, ice, and shadow formed in the air and flew directly at the troll and dwarf. Both were hit and went down, unable to defend themselves any longer. Toh'Yella thought of Ding as he fell. He had finally found something to live for in this world, and he had failed her. He hit the ground next to Grimbrand and lost consciousness.
The remaining cultists cheered at their victory. The death of so many of their clan members did not matter. Members of the Twilight Hammer did not fear death; they knew they would be rewarded for it. They gathered around the fallen shaman and rogue. Humans, trolls, orcs, even a lumbering tauren rejoiced in the death of their enemy.
And then…a trickle. A tiny, almost infinitesimal stream of healing energy touched Toh'Yella and Grimbrand. The troll's eyes fluttered open. He saw the group of cultists, still discussing their kill. He looked to Grimbrand and saw his eyes were open and confused. And then he saw Ding.
The little dwarf stood behind the crowd of Twilight Hammer cultists, defiant and unafraid. At her feet the toy hammer Toh'Yella had made for her was planted in the ground, and it pulsed with a warm blue light. Fifteen members of a cult of homicidal madmen all looked at her in confusion as she lifted her hand and yelled, "ZAP!"
As before, the tiniest trickle of electricity left her fingers. It struck the lead cultist in the chest and fizzled out without even burning a hole in his robe.
In the haze of his near death experience, Toh'Yella's mind was remarkably clear. The experiences of the past day burst into his thoughts. He remembered his frantic fight with Grimbrand on the mountainside. The maddening escape from the cave flitted through his mind. Then he remembered his fall and discovering Ding trapped in her box in the vast hollowed out tunnel beneath them.
As the murderous clan of cultists prepared to attack the defenseless child before them, Toh'Yella laid his hand against the ground and begged the spirits of the earth to unleash their fury on these heathens. The spirits answered, and the earth began to tremble.
The cultists all looked at the ground as cracks and fissures began to form in the rock. They tried to run away from it, clawing and shoving their own clansmen, yet there was no escape. The earth shook, stone shattered, and a great hole formed beneath their feet. The fifteen cultists screamed and cursed as they fell. Moments later their cries were ended with a crash against the tunnel floor.
Toh'Yella looked at Ding in wonder. She rushed to the troll's side as he lost consciousness once more.
#
He woke to Grimbrand and Ding sitting next to each other and a small fire. They broke from their conversation as Toh'Yella sat up.
"Toh!" cried Ding, blinking away tears, "I'm so glad you're alive!"
The troll smiled at the girl. "Thanks to you Ding," he said, reaching out to touch her hand. "You saved us."
His body ached, but he stood anyways. He felt a small fluttering of healing energy flow to him from the little dwarf, and he smiled at her fondly. Then he looked toward Grimbrand. The rogue grinned back.
"I know what you're thinking, lad," the dwarf said, "and you can save it. I'm not going to take her from you."
Toh'Yella let out a relieved sigh. "What change your mind? She still worth a pretty penny, ya?"
"That she is," replied the dwarf, "but if I'm not mistaken I believe I see a mining camp nearby. I'm pretty sure I will find what I need there. Besides," he smiled, "I owe you. Both of you."
"You have my thanks mon."
The dwarf grunted in return. "So where will you go?" he questioned.
Ding looked at Toh'Yella, her face alight in curiosity and exultation. The troll smiled at her and held his hand out. She grasped it and stood by his side.
"Wherever we must," replied the troll. "This shaman have a lot to learn."