Ever since she was small, Erikkia had dreamed. Dreamed of a greater destiny than the one that was promised by her family. Magic was something that ran in their family, each generation getting stronger and more powerful, but Erikkia want something else. Sure lighting the neighborhood cat on fire with magic was fun, but she didn't want to be a Mage as the entirety of her family was. She liked swords and daggers and fighting. Her father was disappointed while her mother seemed to take Erikkia's behavior in a much more positive way.
Now standing in a training ring bruised, beaten and blindfolded, she was starting to rethink that.
"You cannot hope to master the blade skills of a rouge if you can't do it first by feeling alone, your eyes have been taken, so use your other senses." Her master called out.
She was only considered a young adult by Blood Elf standards, very young, just scarcely past the age that she is considered 'matured' and not to mention she was used to the pampering of her rich family in Dalaran. Being beaten bloody one day, and having to go through it again everyday was a bit of a shock to her system. She was supposed to be learning here, not being beaten into the ground by a physically superior troll girl who'd been training for months. She'd been here for a mere two weeks, and was still not learning much.
"Concentrate, listen for her footfalls, her breathing, those ears are large, so use them"
Erikkia took a breath and focused relaxing and picking up sounds. It was odd, she realized as she was becoming more accustomed to the lack of vision. Her other senses had sharpened, just ever so slightly.
She heard a nearly undetectable thud that could only be a footstep and then a whoosh. She barely moved out of the way of the practice blade the troll had thrown. She was unfocused enough after the dodge to suddenly find herself flat on her back with the heavy weight of the troll pinning her down, as well as the pointed end of the wooden weapon held to her throat.
"Dead, mon" The troll said helping Erikkia to her feet.
"That's enough for today" Her master said. "Both of you go clean up"
His voice never gave away a hint of emotion, but his eye's were what Erikkia had first picked up on. Always critical, always judging and yet still never betraying any emotion. Now was no different.
"Yes master" they both responded. They split off in separate directions. The different races of the horde all had their own section of the training academy to stay in, each section resembling their architecture. Needless to say the Blood Elf section was the more extravagant one.
She passed by the others head lowered and blindfold still on. She had been instructed to wear it at all times, it had been enchanted to repel all liquids, so showering was safe, as well as being permanently enchanted onto her head until her master saw fit. She could hear the chuckles and giggles of the other girls as she walked by and her name whispered in degrading tones. It was good the blindfold hid her eyes tearing up, she would not let them see her cry.
She had memorized the way to her room hours after arriving here, but without her vision it was a slow trek. She attended to her new cuts a bruises with a wet cloth and a sense of determination, she would be stronger. She would never be humiliated. She knew she could do this, it would be hard and her life definitely wasn't one that had encouraged hard work, but she was determined to make something of herself.
Crouching down beside her bed she pulled out a box and ran her fingers over words carved into it that she couldn't read. Her mother said it was from one of their ancestors that had become a great rouge, but had vanished during The First War. Inside the box was weapon of great power, forged by some of the most skilled craftsmen in all of Azeroth. She opened it and carefully felt around, she ran her fingers over the hilts and along the sides of the two curved daggers. She could feel the gemstones that she knew would be glistening in the sun at this moment. She could feel the fading sun warm on her back and sighed. Now sore and exhausted she put the heirloom away and crawled back onto her bed, barely having time to crawl under the thin blankets before falling asleep.
~ 1 week later.
Erikkia crept silently out of the tower the blood elves called home. She silently picked her way along the flat barren desert towards an average sized hill and sat down. She was already much better at getting around, and being quiet had never been a challenge for her. During her preteen years, she had teamed up with a few 'shady characters' as her family refereed to her choice of friends.
They weren't shady, they just had a different outlook on life. As well as a different home life than her all together. Her friends were an assortment of pickpockets and small time crime typed guys and running with their crowd had made her realize that being a rouge was what she was drawn to. The stealth, grace, speed, fighting prowess and skill all the rouges she had ever met only pushed her more towards the path she was now on.
Then she'd been sent here, the middle of nowhere, in a location she didn't even know of. In all honesty, she was actually happier here. Sure she was a loner, but that's just how she wanted to be right now. Solitude was good for her, especially now that she couldn't see. She didn't feel safe around the other Blood Elves. They taunted and teased at her, at first it stung, but then she realized that what they thought about anything, meant nothing to anyone.
She inhaled taking in the cool desert air. It amazed her how the sun could go from tortuously hot, to a numbing cold. She could hear a snake slithering around off to her left, by her best judgment about eight feet away. A vulture or large bird of some form was starting a dive towards it, She had started this in the first week she got here after the blindfold had been put on. She liked to predict the outcomes of the smallest of the situations. The bird was going to get a meal tonight.
She heard the snake thrash and felt a breeze from what she assumed were the birds wings. She had been correct, a snake was no longer slithering in the sad anywhere near her. The bird was perched on a cactus a ways away tearing into the snake. She sighed and stood up, getting out was easy. Sneaking back in past curfew was a challenge, especially when blind.
She made her way back over the familiar route with something akin to ease. Sneaking came naturally to her, and fighting was gradually getting better. Everyday, she was getting stronger. The layer of fat she had on her from home was turning to muscle and she was getting faster.
Suddenly her ears picked up the sounds of something moving towards her, fast but not big enough to be someone on a mount, and there was nothing that big in the area. It sounded like a small lion. She agilely lept behind a rock. The labored breathing of whatever beast was near could be heard. It had slowed considerably and by the time it reached her hiding place it was dragging it's paws along.
It plopped down panting and whimpering in a cat like way. It must have been running for a very long time.
A weak voice said "It's no use Jed"
The cat hissed in response and she heard it move, getting to it's paws shakily.
"I'm dying, it's okay... Not.. Your fault"
Erikkia leaped over the stone she was hiding behind. "I can help"
The Cat roared and she knew a paw was being swung and her and she rolled out of the way quickly back to her feet. "Calm down, I can help."
"Jed!" The voice said "Listen to her."
She knew the cat was still.
"There is help for you, follow me." She still wasn't entirely sure what the situation was. She dashed off towards the academy, stealth the last thing on her mind.
The cat labored after her, thankfully the academy wasn't far.
When they got to the main building she heard a shift. The cat was no longer a cat, but a rather small druid if the sound of it's footsteps were anything to go by, a young Tauren?
"Keep him talking" The bull said and a weight was tossed into her arms, a blood elf judging by his size. She could hear the hurried clomp of hooves as the Tauren charged for the building.
The blood elf was male, and decently muscled. She sat down with him, lying him on the ground in front of her. "Hey, you doing okay?"
He was breathing heavily but manged a strained chuckle "Definately been better, you?"
"Been better" She said with a small smile. "What happened?"
"Alliance" He paused groaning "I was on my way here, Jed was escorting me for my Mother."
"What are they doing out here? This place is off the map."
"One of them said something about exploring" He said "I don't really know..."
She heard the Tauren returning along with the owners of the academy, all ten of them.
"I was not skilled enough in healing to help him." 'Jed' said.
"Our healers will do what they can for him" One of the masters said.
They ignored Erikkia completely and quickly picked up the boy hauling him away, their footsteps headed directly for the medic area.
Taking this distraction as an opportunity to sneak back to her room, she quickly curled up and tried to fall asleep, but try as she might, she couldn't. She found herself inexplicably worrying about the new elf. He had laughed, even when in pain. Most of her race tended to be... squishy. They hated being in pain, and broke easily. It was what had kept her from ever getting involved in a relationship with any of the men in Dalaran. Their pompous attitudes and selfish ways were not attractive. She hadn't seen the boy, she was drawn to him by something else.
Eventually sleep found her and she woke to the desert sun shining in her eyes. She scrambled out of bed and went about her morning routine of washing, brushing her short redish brown hair quickly and gathering up her training gear.
She was in the process of pulling on her leather training armor while on her way to the training pit when her master stopped her.
"Erikkia I think it is time." He said. "The blindfold may come off. As is tradition, you are allowed to keep it. This makes you it's owner and thus it will come off only when you want it to."
She was stunned for a moment. "Thank you master." She reached behind her head and tugged at the knot keeping her blind. It slipped off and she opened her eyes apprehensively. As she had thought the sight of light burned, and she winced.
"Your eyes will adjust child, don't worry. You are expected in the training arena in a few hours."
"Yes master." She said. He left her slowly taking in the sights around her. Places she had explored without her eye sight became vastly different and alien. Her wooden training blades now had a shape and she took note of how beat up her armor was. She caught sight of herself in a pond and was shocked. Compared to the small, weak girl she had been under a month ago, she had filled out. Her were becoming well muscled, she had gotten skinnier and her skin had a darker tone to it. Her hair was slightly longer and she made a mental note to cut it back to the length she preferred. Short and out of the way. She also decided it was better off it's natural color and decided the next time she could get to a barber she would have I changed back to blonde.
She was staring at herself and was so engrossed in how different she looked from her old self, that she didn't notice someone creeping up on her.
"Fancy meeting you again"
She instinctively whirled around. That voice was familiar. "Do I know you?" She certainly had never seen him, but then she had been walking around blind for months. He was certainly something. Long black hair, tall, muscled and possessing the natural beauty all of her race seemed to be gifted with from birth.
"Oh excuse me, I forgot. You were blindfolded, my name is Krinthon, Krin for short. You played a part in saving my life."
She blinked, so that's what he looked like. "I remember now." She smiled "My name's Erikkia, Rika for short."
"Pleasure to formally meet you" He said bowing.
"Pleasure is all mine." She said not returning the gesture. "How are you doing? I didn't get to see how bad you were last night."
"Well I'm forbidden from any training for a few days, aside from walking around blindfolded. In fact my Master said he'd be here to condemn me to that shortly."
She smirked "It's not as bad as you make it seem."
"How so? Walking around in a constant state of weakness, running into sharp corners, bumping into people and not to mention getting the crap kicked out of you by someone while not being able to see it coming... Sounds like fun"
"Maybe I'll show you how it can actually be fun sometime, Krin." She said entertaining the idea of showing him how the world was still there, it was just a matter of looking at it, in a way, by listening and feeling it. "But here's a little advice, use your few days with it on to get used to using your other senses, it makes life much easier."
He was about to say something when one of the trainers walked up. "Here, do not take try to take this off, it wont come off, you are to wear it until you are told you don't have to, then you will receive it as a sign of your accomplishments to keep."
"Yes master" He said bowing his head respectfully as the undead tied it around his head.
When the master was out of earshot Krin smiled "Well, care to walk with me awhile? I have absolutely no clue where I am going."
"Hmm... I don't know, watching you run into everything could be pretty entertaining..."
"Do I have to beg?"
"It may convince me" She said with a smirk "Unfortunately the only place I can show you to is the training ring, I'm expected to be their soon."
"Well to the training ring it is" He said.
She shook her head smiling and started walking towards the ring, surprisingly for someone who claimed to hate being blindfolded Krin managed to keep up fairly well without veering left and right like most did.
Upon reaching the training ring, Rika aimed him towards the stands "You'll hit the seats eventually, just walk in this general direction."
"Yes madam" He said sarcastically and started cockily jaunting towards the seats, then tripped over a crate.
Rika couldn't help laughing hysterically at him, while he groaned something about possibly tearing a stitch. She left him laying there on the ground and headed towards the ring where her master and her opponent for the day was waiting.
It begun as usual, Rika simply dodging her opponent, but this time with a purpose other than not getting hit, she wanted to exhaust the other blood elf. It was working, she was managing to parry the other girls blows, stepping out of the way and occasionally landing a hit.
She was tiring fast. Rika saw her chance and dodged around the other girl fast, which left the other girls back exposed. She jabbed her in the back with the wooden blade, she knew exactly where and how much pressure she would need to apply to kill, had she had a weapon that could break skin.
"That's a kill" The master said "Good job Erikkia"
She bowed and then shook the other girls hand.
"Take a break both of you, that was a long fight. When you are ready come back."
"Yes master" They both said. The other girl walked off not giving Rika another look
Rika heard exaggerated clapping and cheering from Krin. She rolled her eyes and gave him an annoyed look. She debated going over and continuing talking to him, but in the end just walked away, ignoring his existence.
She went to the pond she was previously at and splashed water on her face and sighed, much better. Damn this heat. She heard giggling and what she had come to know as the sound of 'fawning'. The girls here were no doubt fawning over Krin. Turning around her suspicions were confirmed. Their was a small group of Blood elf females crowded around him being amazed by the fact he had been wounded in battle. Some battle it was, she was sure.
"One of them came at me, I dodged him and stabbed him in the gut. His buddy on the other hand came up behind me and stuck a knife in my back, At which point I turned around and knocked the great beast out, Worgen you see."
"What happened then?" One of the girls asked sounding all amazed.
"My Tauren companion carried my dying self all the way here, poor guy was exhausted by the time we made it. When he stopped for a rest not far from here, I saw an angel, I thought I was about to die. As you can tell though, we made it here and they patched me up, I'm going to be fine, got myself a new scar though."
"Ooooh"
Rika rolled her eyes, these women/girls were the reason her race was looked upon as nothing more than bimbos... Wait a minute, saw an angel? What the hell? Cheeky little bastard. She stood up and walked over, ignoring the 'bimbos'.
"Saw an angel? What the hell?" She said just straight up saying what she was thinking.
"Ahh Rika, anyone ever told you it's rude to eavesdrop?"
"Anyone ever told you bragging is unbecoming?" She asked "I don't believe you fought like you say you did."
"Oh?" HE seemed rather frustrated with her interruption.
"You were banned from all training activity yes?"
"Yes..."
"Well, this is off the record then. Me, you , training ring, right now." She challenged.
He looked apprehensive. "I've only just been healed"
"You seemed fine earlier, what's changed? Knew you were a coward."
"Hey, no one insults my honor. I accept you challenge, Erikkia Sunstar.
"How do you know my last name? I didn't tell you?"
"I have my sources, Rika. Now lets be off to the ring."
Rika rolled her eyes "Get yourself some equipment and meet me there. We'll see if you can back up your bragging."
There were using dulled copper blades to beat on each other, and to be fair, Rika had put her blindfold back on. Surprisingly Krin was a decent fighter. Rika was having fun inflicting the small hits that she was, there was a rather large crowd gathered around watching. She kicked his legs out from undeneath him and he landed on his back, the lept and attempted to 'slit his throat' but he managed to parry her blow and pin her beneath him, she kneed him in the groin and kicked him off her she jumped away, crouching in a corner, she may a be a rouge, but she wasn't going to kill him after that dirty move. She slowed her breathing and calmed herself, becoming invisible to him.
He stood up slightly crouched over "That was dirty, even for a rouge."
She smirked and stealthed around him. When he was no longer close to tears or limping and he was trying to locate her, she crept behind him, slowly stood up to her full height and kicked him down and quickly had her knife to his throat.
Somehow he managed to block her blade and was trying to push it away from his throat. She pushed back trying to touch the blade to his neck, but she was suddenly thrown off. Dammit he had a physical advantage here. She was on her feet in an instant, just in time to dodge an attack from him. This was a long fight already, she was tiring, he hit hard and fast.
She dodged around him swiftly and kicked his legs out from under him and lept on his back, the blade striking his back hard.
"Dead" she said panting slightly and getting up.
"Well well, I didn't expect this much of a fight from a girl."
"I didn't expect that much of a fight from a cocky bastard, but I guess you have the right to it, your a great fighter."
"It's in my blood."
"Your father is a rouge?"|
"No, but he's a great fighter."
"Who exactly is your father?"
He sighed. "My full name is Krinthon Theron. My father is the reagent of Silvermoon City."
"Well well" She said with a raised eyebrow "Royalty then. You don't look much like him."
"Ahh no of course I don't. I inherited most traits from my mother, but good looks run in the family you see..."
"Cocky much" she said rolling her eyes. "Well, back to your fan club, yes?"
"You know, I think I'd rather talk to you. You seem vastly more interesting."
"And you seem vastly boring" She said dryly"I have better things to do with my time. I've proven your better in a fight, you are of no more interest to me." She sheathed the practice blades and walked out of the ring without a look over her shoulder.
She went to find some shade to rest up in, she still had training to do. She decided a nap was in order. Krin was a formidable opponent and she definitely had been tired out.
She drifted in and out of sleep for about an hour before waking for a final time. She stretched and splashed water on her face to wake herself up more. She picked up another sword on her way to the training ring and found that her master was at the ring already.
"I'm ready for my lesson master."
"Today we are working on perfecting your dual wielding, your fight against Krinthon earlier made me realize that you have advanced farther than I had thought."
"You saw that?"
"Yes, you have exceeded my earlier expectations."
She nodded and focused as best she could on the day's lessons. Wielding two weapons was some thing she was already good at, and now her lessons had advanced. She liked it. It was a challenge which she rose to meet with determination and all the skill she possessed so far.
About a month after Krin's arrival, Rika and him had developed a shaky friendship. Rika teased him about his fan club that showed up at his every sparring match, and he teased her about not having any friends and lack of boyfriends. He claimed that they were afraid she'd beat their asses into the ground.
Sitting blindfolded on her bed, she realized he was probably right. She wasn't surprised when she heard him crawl in through her window. Since the male and female populations were not allowed in each others dorms, sneaking became something both of them got a thrill out of. Rule breaking was fun and it was one of the many things the both of them agreed on.
"When am I allowed to take this bloody blindfold off?"
"When you learn to see, without your eyes."
"Which means...?" He said. He did not understand. "I can get around well enough, but..."
"Come" She said grabbing his arm and took him right back out the window. Since her room was on one of the lower floors of the tower sneaking around was thankfully easy.
She took him to the hill where she had sat for many nights before his arrival. They sat down on a rock and she sighed.
"How is this supposed to be helping."
"Shh. No talking." She said. "Just... listen, feel and try to picture what's going on around you."
"Yes master" he said sarcastically. "You think I haven't gotten this lecture from my own master?"
"Well if you do not at least try to follow his advice how can you learn?"
"By my own ways."
"Then why are you still here? You are wasting everyone's time." She huffed and walked over to another rock. "Now shut up."
He mumbled something she didn't catch, she assumed it was about her, but shrugged it off and easily slipped into the meditative state that being out here blindfolded brought on. She quickly caught on to the sounds of the desert in the night. Wings of the scavengers looking for deserted corpses of dead animals, Krin's focused breathing, a mouse near the base of her rock scurrying around. All of these things formed a mental image in her mind. Out of curiosity she removed her blindfold and looked around.
The mental image in her mind was almost exactly accurate. Almost endless the desert seemed. She had known nothing else for months now. The small gardens that the various races kept well tended back at the academy were nothing compared to what she had been used to.
"I can see what you mean" Krin said sounding as if coming to a sudden realization.
"Shh" She said in a relaxed tone "Once you understand fully, everything becomes so much easier. Keeping in shadows, stalking an opponent ...even fighting."
"This is how you defeat your enemies?"
"It's part of it." She said "The rest is from hard work and a natural talent the masters claim I have. This is all just useless though, real battle is far different from this. You get hit with the training swords all you get is a bruise or a little cut. When we're fighting alliance, it wont be training swords we're using, nor other rouges."
"You've thought a lot about this?"
She smirked pulling the blindfold back on. "I have a lot of free time on my hands now."
"You could leave here if you wanted you know. The masters have said so to each other many times."
"If I left, who would I learn from?" She asked. "Where would I go?What would I do?"
"They say you have learned enough"
"But I have not learned all there is to learn, so I stay. My master supports me in this."
"If I could leave, I would. I would go fight with our allies, go to outland, explore all I can."
"Krin, one day you will go all those places, but first you must be as prepared as possible."
"Yes mum" He said sarcastically
"Ass" she said with a smirk. "We should get back before dawn. We still have training to do."
He chuckled and stood, She followed suit and they walked back, Rika acting as his eyes
What her eyes saw as they drew closer, was fires burning, horde and alliance clashing everywhere.
"Shit. Krin, the academy is being burned. Alliance"
He instantly tensed up and looked about ready to run towards the academy. She quickly had a hand on his chest. "No, think about this. All our armor and gear is in the academy, they have superior weapons, armor and more experience. Let the guards fight this."
"We cannot just sit here while they slaughter our allies, our kin."
"We won't, we will fight if the need arises, it looks like one of the masters is evacuating the students... Shit, ok we need to go back to my room."
"Why?"
"My family heirloom. It's still there, I will never live it down if that is lost. I will not be the one rouge in my family for generations to loose the heirloom of the only rouge in our history"
"Alright, lets go."
"Keep quiet, stealthy alright?"
"Yes ma'am" He said with a mock salute.
"That's ser to you."
They picked their way quickly across the desert closer to the academy, seemed they were making their way across the camp, the blood elf tower hadn't been hit just yet, so Rika quickly dove into her room through the window, reached under her bed and grabbed her daggers, as well as a pair of daggers she had kept sharpened in her paranoia of an event like this happening.
She crawled out the window and tossed Krin the blades and their sheaths while tying the sheaths for her's on.
"Let's move."
He nodded and followed her. They were on their way towards the group of evacuating students when a lightly armored Worgen rounded the corner.
"Shit. Double team him"
She sneaked around behind him and quietly unsheathed her blades, while she knew Krin was circling around front.
The worgen howled at him and was about to lunge when Rika stuck a blade through his gut. He howled in pain which Krin silenced by slitting his throat. Luckily she had made sure to keep her weapons the sharpest she could get them.
"Go" Rika said and they made a break for the evacuating students. There was safety in numbers, but it was harder to escape that way. They would likely split into groups further away and make for all the escape routes, just like the drills. Some of the students were on mounts, if they were actually theirs was not important at the moment apparently. An orc sped past them with a troll clinging to his back, on the back of a nightsaber, the orc was yelling a war cry and charging into a nearby fight.
A human was riding by on a warhorse swinging his sword left and right wildly. With a flick of her wrist there was a throwing knife embeded in his head. His horse reared up and drug it's rider behind him.
"Sweet ride" Krin said whistling appreciatively. "I'm driving"
"I don't think so Mr. Blindfolded. Come on" She grabbed his arm and chased after the horse. It had gotten tangled in it's reins which Rika promptly cut. She grabbed on to it's mane and pulled herself up, pulling Krin up behind her. She kicked it into top speed, causing Krin to jolt and wrap his arms around her tightly. She smirk, he was such a baby. She was getting a rush from this, she craved excitement. More than that, she craved battle. She did not enjoy killing, that much she knew. She enjoyed the feeling of defeating an opponent, it made her feel superior.
She craved that feeling, after her first victory it became the driving force behind her training. IT was dark, she knew this. It just felt so good. She could understand the mana addiction her kin went through now. She was addicted to winning.
She shook herself out of this sudden realization, she kicked the horse onward. They were loosing the academy that much was apparent. The master evacuating the students was calling them and she pushed the stolen mount faster, pulling it to a stop in front of him.
"You, Erikkia. There was a summons for you just before the attack, your presence is requested in Silvermoon City. Krin is to return as well, seems your father has a job that requires the best at your level. Think of this as a test run." He said as he continued to usher the students out "I have arranged for a group of experienced people your age to meet you in a village not far from here to escort you. They know the way and will have supplies, including a hawkstrider for both of you. Now go, do not let the alliance catch you."
"Yes master, but first, get this blindfold off Krin?"
"Of course" he reached around and took it off then handed it back to Krin, "You know the drill, now go"
They did just that, Rika kicking the horse till it was barreling along the desert at top speed. Krin was holding on for dear life calling to her to slow down. She would do anything but.
After nearly running the horse to death, they made camp about a days ride from the village. Rika may have pretty much exhausted the horse, but she wasn't cruel. She tied it to a tree, gathered up a ton of grass for it and carefully removed it's armor and tack. There wasn't a source of water around here anywhere, so she used a bit of the water she'd found in a flask in the horses saddle bags to wet a piece of cloth and started to rub down the horse, cooling it down. Judging from the scars littering the horse, it hadn't had the best life. Underneath all the armor, it was fairly scrawny.
"Poor guy." She mumbled running her hand across it slowly. He let out a noise she knew was a horses way of expressing appreciation. The poor thing had been beaten, starved and broken. She moved around to the front of the horse and looked in it's mouth. Judging by this it was a fairly young horse, maybe three or four years old. She had stolen enough horses with her friends back in Dalaran to know that this horse should have plenty of spunk left in him, but he just looked... defeated.
She examined his bridle, it read Stitch. Well that wasn't a good name, by the looks of it he'd gotten a ton of stitches in his lifetime. She was suddenly determined that from now on, this would be her mount, and it would recover from whatever it's now deceased master had put it through.
"Hmm..." She examined the horse taking in it's color and markings. It was a blue roan, of the sturdy breed the humans used and seemed pretty timid. She would help this boy. If he could work as hard as he did, while in a pretty shitty condition, she could wait to see what he was capable of while healthy.
"We'll need a new name for you boy" She said patting the geldings neck. "I'll take care of you, you'll be alright."
He simply stood there swatting bugs, looking dead. She sighed. The armor wasn't necessary for her. If they traveled lighter they would get there faster with less strain on the horse, she could probably get some better stuff made in Dalaran or even Silvermoon City. The saddle would be okay, if she made a few adjustments, the saddle was low quality but for now it would do.
Leaving the armor in a heap she hung the saddle up to let the horses sweat dry out and made her way back to camp.
"That horse, is what you would call a nag."
"He seemed pretty alright on the way here" Krin grumbled.
"He's skinny, scarred and defeated" Rika said sitting down by the small smokeless fire they made staring into the flames.
"So we gonna ditch him?"
"Fuck no, I'm keeping him. For as miserable as he is, he's a fast horse, and a warhorse. You know how hard it is to come by one of those unless you are a paladin?"
"I'm assuming hard? I'll stick to hawkstriders."
Rika shrugged "Once a horse thief always a horse thief. Once a spoiled brat, always a spoiled brat, Krin."
He chuckled and curled up under the single blanket that had been in the pack "Wake me when it's my turn to be on the watch"
"Will do"
She kicked him out of the blanket a few hours before dawn, just enough time to get some sleep and then tack up the horse. She passed out fast again, and woke to Krin kicking her in the side, none to gently.
"Ow" She mumbled and got up groggily.
"Go get that twig tacked up" He said rubbing his eyes.
She sighed and got up. She scooped up the saddle and saddle bags and rushed to the horse, they had to get on the road fast. Alliance may want their horse back. She gave the horse a pat to ensure he was fully aware of her presence then saddled him up. He stood motionless as she put his bridle on. She left him hitched, and gathered up the grass from the oasis of the area and shoved it in the saddle bags. He seemed well rested and ready to travel again. They would reach the village with little trouble.
"Krin, let's head out."
He finished clearing away the remnants of the camp while Rika unhitched the horse and mounted up. She rode over and pulled Krin up behind her and started out at a more leisurely pace than before. Krin knew his way to the village so she was willing to follow his orders for once, and went where he told her.
It was evening before the village could be spotted on the horizon. They stopped for a small break and then Rika pushed the horse again, he held up much better this time and they reached the village before dark.
They were greeted by a small group of members of the horde. There was another Blood Elf, a paladin by the name Nisaln, a Tauren druid by the name of Teena, a moody looking Orc warlock named, belive it or not, Loc and a Forsaken preist who didn't have a name.
All of them seemed relatively young, talented if the praise of the inn keeper was anything to go by. They planned to stay the night at the inn and pack up all their supplies onto the hawkstrider that had been left over by the warhorse filling in.
"You need to name that horse" Nisaln pointed out as they were sitting outside. "You can't just keep calling him the horse"
"I can't think of anything, nothing seems to fit him..."
"I can help" He offered looking thoughtful. "Well what about Blue? Or Wraith. He seems like a wraith"
She chuckled "I'm trying to make him healthy, Wraith, is not a healthy name... But you've given me an Idea. I think I'll call him Wrath. He was abused by his alliance owners, now he's on our side."
"It's settled then, from this point on, he shall be know as Wrath, may the alliance learn to fear him and may he carry his rider to victory in the name of herself and the horde."
"Nice little speech, you do that as a second job?"
He laughed "My father always had a flair for that sort of thing, he was a priest. Rubbed off on me a bit."
She was thoughtful for A moment. Nis was definitely cute, red hair bound back into a pony tail with hair still sticking out of it everywhere, he seemed like a nice enough guy. "That's fine by me, my life could use a little flair."
He smiled "I should go feed my horse. We aren't given them so we can neglect them and Ryder eats, a lot."
"Likewise" She said following him to the stables. "I'm hoping he'll gain some weight over the course of this little trek, as well a some muscle. We might have to go slow for awhile."
"That'll be fine by Ryder" Nis laughed. "He's the laziest mount any paladin has ever seen."
She just smiled and walked into the stables. The orc stable guard eyed them suspiciously. They ignored him and made their way to the food storage area.
"Now, this is why undead are lucky. Aside from the being dead of course. They don't have to feed their mounts, and their mounts never get tired of running." Nis said.
"Well, there is the stench..."
"Right" Nis said handing her a bucket of water "but the faster, more expensive ones have that suppressed."
"I prefer my mounts living, horse or otherwise."
"Same here" He lifted a square bale of hay up and walked to one of the stalls where there was a black charger pawing, eagerly awaiting his food.
Rika went about taking care of her own mount as well as feeding the hawkstrider, before waiting for Nis to untack his mount.
"So, where are you from Nis?'' Rika said trying to make conversation, unsettled by the sudden stillness that seemed to surround the area.
"Silver Moon actually" He said carefully undoing the straps on the armor belonging to his horse "I was born there, Our training was a little more touch and go then yours was I think"
"Oh?"
"As soon as we can hold a sword or cast a spell we go through basic combat training, and after that we rely on the overly busy class trainers to teach us new abilities once we've gotten skilled enough. Everything else, we're on our own. Well you know unless you go scourge killing with a friend, that's always safer. You build team skills that way."
Rika mused on this momentarily her life had been pampered, she'd always had ample time to decide what she wanted to do, even though it was a decision she had come to fairly quickly for a child of blood elf nobles, particularly wealthy ones at that. She could have sat in their mansion happily for her whole life had she wanted to, all she would have had to do was snag a husband to run the family's estate and she would have been off the hook. It pained her that she was tempted by this idea. That was no life. She'd come to love the freedom being away from her family gave her, freedom from the rules someone of her status is supposed to follow.
"I think skill and talent are nothing without the experience and mindset wield it. Your training seems to focus more on experience and getting into the mindset to wield it. A combination of both would probably be more beneficial to Silver Moons troops." Rikka said thoughtfully wondering why this wasn't already happening.
"The nobles find it too costly to offer high end training to the common rabble. More often then not the ones who go through the training I went through are poor or middle class in rank, and more often then not they will die before achieving anything." Nis's tone made her wonder if he was one of the 'common rabble'.
"Then the ones who do survive likely have a natural born talent for combat. Yet it is still a very in effective way to go about training soldiers." Rikka said shifting slightly, something was making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. It was eerie. Ignoring it she continued on "And what of you Nis? Are you part of the talented 'common rabble' that you speak so sorrowfully for?"
"That," He said hauling the armor out of the stall "Is personal."
"Fine I didn't mean to intrude" Rikka said, not wanting to offend her new ally.
"What about you? I know you lived in Dalaran, and have noble blood in your veins"
"There isn't much to tell. I'm spoiled, pampered and up until arriving at the training camp I was used to getting my way."
"Huh. You don't seem as spoiled or pampered as you say you are."
"Turns out getting your ass handed to you for a month or so will change your attitude fairly quickly"
"You sucked that bad huh?"
"No basic combat, we were tossed daggers or swords and told to fight. Then they corrected us, gave pointers and once we were good enough we learned in lessons with one of the trainers. For the most part we were blindfolded."
"Blindfolded?" Nis asked piling his armor in the corner with Wrath's saddle.
"Yeah. It helped to learn to navigate and fight better both in darkness and out of it."
"How so?"
You learn to listen for things you normally wouldn't when relying on eye sight. With enough concentration I can hear a heart beat then from that locate the location of the heart and deal a fatal or at least critical blow. You also can predict your enemy's intentions by the sound of his hear beat." She said wondering how much she could explain to someone who hadn't know what it was like to be more than less blind for, what was to her, a substantial amount of time. "Usually there will be an increase in the heart rate just before an attempted attack. Useful when it comes down to a staring contest. We also learned to control out own heart rates, to keep calm and focused on our tasks."
He whistled impressed. "We were given swords, shown how to swing them and hold them properly, told to go lay waste to certain creatures as practice, and then given tasks from anyone who needed something done. Good way to make a couple silver every here and there."
"You seem to have gotten a better grip on it than swinging a sword around."
He nodded and gestured to the entrance to the barn. "There are two humans out there who seem to have decided that you would make an excellent bed mate for the night"
She raised an eyebrow and looked out her peripheral vision. Sure enough upon listening closer she could catch snippet's of their conversation. Her apparently being the topic.
"Well, I could" She said pretending to consider it.
Nis looked at her horrified.
"Take it east, mister holy pant. I have standards, and taste."
"Oh? And what standards would those be?"
"Well, good looking, which isn't hard to find being a blood elf and all. Umm, at least as logical as I am. A blood elf, I don't do the whole cross breeding thing. As for taste, always had a thing for red heads, money is of no concern to me but I don't like to be used so preferably someone who doesn't care about my riches, hard to find actually. Hmm what else... Nice guys are always a plus, as long as they aren't pushovers, I like my men assertive. Don't need to want a serious relationship, but at least a little bit of one would be nice."
"Well, you never know, you might be surprised by who you end up with." He said sorrow seemed to emanate from him. Something told her he was talking from experience. "Sometimes, the person you end up needing most, falls shy of almost all things on the checklist."
She felt the need to comfort him. He would need to be at his best for this mission. "Hey," She moved closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "If you need to talk about something, I'm always willing to listen. Anything you tell me will be confidential."
He seemed to force himself out of whatever emotional rut he'd found himself in and managed a small but sincere smile. "Maybe someday I will tell you about it, but for now, we've got company."
The two humans were making there way over. They were tall for humans, the tallest one just shorter than Nis, who had at least a foot in height on her.
Nis started talking to them in common. She had picked up a fair amount of common in Dal. Enough to understand what they were saying.
"Can I help you" Nis asked keeping his tone polite as he could.
"Shut up boy. We want your girl, how much can we pay you to have her for the night."
Nis looked at her amused. "I dunno, I was hoping to have her to myself."
They were standing close together, close enough she could swat at him without them seeing, which she did causing Nis to smirk more.
"Set your price, boy"
"I'll have you know, I was probably killing scourge before you were even a thought in your father's mind. Hmm.."
"Well Nis, set a price." Rika said feigning disinterest. Switching back to thalassian "I'm curious to see how much you think I'm worth"
"I'll ask Krinthon. I'm sure he'll know from experience"
Rika was deeply offeneded by his comment. "Just what are you insinuating?"
"I assumed, judging by the way he is constantly ogling you, that he's seen more than he should."
"Um. No, he just ogles anything that is female, blood elf and moves. Trust me, he's seen no more than you."
"In that case" He said and turned to the humans who were looking hopeful "One hour with the lady, is 250000 gold" Well damn, she was pretty by blood elf standards, but there were plenty who fell under the category of 'pretty' Nis had probably seen the best of them in Silver Moon. She was slightly flattered.
The humans jaws dropped. "We don't have that kind of gold."
"Then scram." Nis said looking amused and smug.
"I think we will just take her actually..." One or them had his sword out and swung towards Rika. In an instant her blades were out and she was maneuvering and slashing at the human with practiced ease, ever wary that this was not a sparring match at the academy. For every blow the human aimed at her legs she dodged gracefully. Every strike she dealt was being met with less and less resistance until she had the human backed against a wall with one dagger held to the mans throat and another to his gut.
"I suggest, you leave. Before my blades find their way into your gut. You wont die right away, It will be slow and painful, I can make sure of that."
The human whimpered and she pulled back, he took off. She turned to see Nis with his foot on the others head.
"You heard the lady, leave" he said lifting his plate armored boot off the mans head. He stumbled to his feet and ran after his friend.
"Well, as fun as it was to get into a fight, I suggest we find our rooms before the come back, with friends."
Nis nodded his agreement "That was quite a sight, you have potential."
"Hey wait a minute, out of curiosity how old are you?" Rikka asked as they walked to the one room their entire party had to share. How all of them would fit into it she didn't know
"Just shy of eighty years." He said "You?"
"Sixty five" She said shrugging. Child though she may be, anyone who had the gall to say as much to her was looking at a throwing knife to their nether regions. She was deadly accurate with her knives. She was OCD about keeping all her blades sharp too, the knives doubly so. "By the way Nis, I expect to hear what had you so sad back there soon, alright?"
"I believe it is my decision when I tell you that."
"Oh, it is. I just want you to know you can tell me."
"Maybe tomorrow if there is time" He said opening the door for her "Graceful one first"
She rolled her eyes and walked into the crowded room. Being the last to get to the room meant her and Nis were stuck with the floor. Fine by her she was beat.
An: I take some liberties obviously, the class training and such :p A horde character being able to ride an alliances mount, but I mean, if I had killed someone, I'd steal their mount as a trophy :p I'm a mount whore when it comes to WoW sooo xD Fuck da rules my damn story and I will do what I want. Not sure when the next chapter is going to be up, depends on if my muse keeps up like it is, I wrote a good half of this in a few hours, but before that it'd been sitting on my computer for ages so I may have made a few errors here and there or forgotten to change certain parts :p
I actually have 3 of the characters on my wow account :p lowbies im going to get around to lvling eventually, so I borrowed their names (Erikkia, Nis, Krin.). They are def higher lvl in story than game..
So yeah Rnr Lemme know what u think. If u want shorter chapters let me know, I'm more partial to really long chapters but... If people who read this want smaller I all good with it :p.