I realized I had not uploaded anything in forever. So, because I am ill today and wrote a little thing, here is a little something for the fans. If you have not read my other stories I might not make much sense ^^
***
Two riders challenged the rain as they made their way through the darkness.
One would think that their kind was not bothered by mere water, but it soaked their skin and crawled into their bones, making the joints stiff, making the bone brittle.
Their horses moved slowly in the cold, damp night. The creatures did not need to eat, nor did they ever rest, but the creaking of their knee joints was keeping up with the heavy tapping of the rain on the ground.
Eyes that saw just as well in dark as light noticed the ruins of a long forgotten barn even through the threes surrounding it. The roof was nearly caved in, but in the end that still held some shelter a fire was burning, the livid colours of flames dancing happily as if they were laughing at the weather outside.
"Stay!" the first rider ordered as he slid of his horse and slunk away without a sound.
Standing in the shadows outside the ring of light he took in the scene of the campfire, the troll beside it, the raptor with the Horde's colours under its saddle and the carcass of a deer, hung from a rafter. If he'd still had taste and smell his mouth would have been watering.
"Ah can smell yah, rogue," the troll said, his calm eyes not moving from the meat he was roasting.
The raptor lifted its head at the sound of his master's voice, and then resumed eating the deer-entrails with a happy snort.
The rogue stepped out from the shadows and called for his friend, who led their horses over and into the shelter of the nearly fallen roof.
"Dar be room for us all here," the troll smiled, light glinting in ocean-blue eyes. "Name be Za'rhin..." He turned to look at them, urging them to introduce themselves.
"Bones," the rogue growled and slumped down, rubbing his bad knee. "And this is Soggy. Soggy Bottom."
"Ah bet he has!" The troll slapped his thighs and laughed heartily.
"It's his name," the rogue said dryly, without even a hint of humour.
"How yah got a name like dat?" the troll asked, turning to the ragged fellow with the rather unfortunate name.
"Look," the rogue sighed. "It really very simple. He was alive, then he died. Then suddenly he's alive again, and he don't know who he is or what he is. Only thing he knows; he's miserable and his bottom is soggy."
The troll laughed again, turning the meat over on the fire, while the rogue watched him thoughtfully. Eyes trained for spotting the smallest details noticed the scars on blue skin, battleworn hands, the necklace of beads and feathers which would tell anyone who knew anything about troll culture that this was a highly regarded warrior.
"Which tribe?" the rouge asked, not really wanting to admit he did not recognise the tribal tattoos running down the troll's left arm.
Blue eyes turned to look at him, and for a moment the rogue felt an instant desire to feel the weight of a dagger in his palm, because in the deep of those ocean eyes there was a storm blowing towards him.
"No tribe. Mah own," was the short answer he got. Then the moment passed and the troll smiled again. "How yah loose dat arm?" he asked, pointing to the rogue's stumpy left arm which ended at the elbow.
The one called Soggy Bottom made a strange noise that could have been laughter, and the rogue threw a small dagger at his bony foot. Not taking any notice of the weapon, Soggy grinned with fleshless lips and said:
"Dog."
The rogue hissed at him, before turning to Za'rhin to explain:
"I travelled with this hunter for a while. Dumb orc he was. He had a dog, right? Some great, big wolf-thing with a brain the size of a pebble. And one day I was so unfortunate as to get my arm stuck in this... well, whatever, long story... arm falling off, wolf running away with it, thinking it was a twig, and I spent three weeks searching the whole forest to find where he buried it."
The troll was smart enough to just snigger quietly at this, but then he raised his head suddenly and sniffed the air.
"Yeah," Bones spat. "I noticed them too."
The trio that came in from the rain were all trolls and greeted Za'rhin in Zandali.
"Ah smell dat meat an' Ah tell dem: Dat be troll-cookin'. So we come," the tallest of them told the undead in orcish.
The troll was huge and muscular, with long, blond hair, and walked with a spring in his step that could make a female whimper inside. As he folded his legs under him and sat down by the fire, Za'rhin grinned friendly at him.
The rogue did not seem please by the newcomers, and tried to ignore them as he lit a cigarette and placed it between his lips.
"Yah got one of dem for good old Bara too?" the huge troll asked, grinning widely.
With a snort the rogue threw him the pack of cigarettes.
"Lovely," the troll said, letting the smoke out in great puffs as he lit a cigarette. "So, Ah be Bara, dis here," he poked the troll beside him, "be San'jo. An' dat little snack be Aka," his finger pointed to the hooded female who still was keeping her distance from the others. "Ah pick dem both up along da way, 'cause we're goin' da same way an' Ah like company."
San'jo greeted the others with a warm smile, while the female seemed to be occupied with getting huge amounts of water out of her boots. As she pulled at the left boot it suddenly came loose with a sucking-sound and made the troll lose her balance and tumble backwards out in the rain again.
Aka crawled back in again and found her lost boot, before joining the others by the fire. She smiled a little embarrassed as Bara, trying to be a gentleman, put his dry cape around her shoulders and Za'rhin handed her a nice piece of meat.
"It be nice to see some more trolls," the bluehaired warrior sighed. "Ah have not seen others of mah kind for a long time."
"Wa's yah name?" Bara asked, chewing on the end of his cigarette.
"Za'rhin."
The newcomers got very quiet and looked at each other quickly.
"Like, Za'rhin, of da Meri Kri?" San'jo wondered.
"Yeah," Za'rhin nodded. "Just like dat." He hurried to introduce the other two to change the subject. "An' dis be Bones and Soggy Bottom."
"Soggy Bottom!" Bara roared. "Ah bet he has!"
Thus the tale of the undead and how he got the strange name was told once more, this time by Za'rhin, who really made an epic tale out of it all.
As they all shared the meat and tales of where they came from or where they were going, the rogue and his silent companion mostly listened. Bones watched the trolls while letting their voices fill the gap in his mind that always was there when he was alone.
"It be dis big!" Aka exclaimed, stretching both arms as far as they would go. "An' strange colour, like blue, but not blue..."
"Purple?" San'jo volunteered. "Dat be almost blue..."
"Yeah," Aka grinned. "Puuur'pl," she purred. "Dat be da colour."
Za'rhin was going through a small pack hanging from his belt and found some small black twigs. As he distributed these among the troll there were cheers and clapping of hands.
The rogue eyed the things suspiciously as one was offered to him.
"What's that?"
"Black stick," Bara told him. "Makes yah head ring an' yah body warm."
"Does it work on undead?" Bones wondered, but all he got from the trolls were four shrugs. "Guess someone got to try it then..."
He bit down on the thing and pulled a piece off with his teeth before handing it to Soggy. Nothing much happened, so he took another bite when it was handed back to him.
Aka was still telling her story.
"Ah pull, an' da fish pull, an' Ah pull. Mah feet was down in da sand, an' he pull me over da sand an' to da water. So Ah think: Aka, dis fish be too strong, he wanna eat yah now. An' Ah pull back with all strength..."
In Bones' head her words had a strange, hollow sound. His eyes struggled to focus, and when he lit a cigarette he sat staring at the glowing tip for a long time, feeling strangely warm and cosy. Beside him, Soggy was trying to hum, which sounded like he was having a severe case of asthma.
"But da fish be dis big!" Somehow Aka managed to stretch her arms even further. "An' him be strong, so Ah throw a big rock at da head, an' he eat it! Ah take a bigger rock an' hit him head with it, but he eat dat one too!"
"So wat yah do?" San'jo asked, completely fascinated by the story.
"Wat Ah do? Ah take da biggest rock Ah can lift an' Ah drop it on him head! An' den he was dead."
Bones blinked his tired eyes. The flames were so nice and friendly and they were dancing for him, and his head felt like it had been stuffed with something soft and fuzzy.
"Ah don think it be a good idea to give undead black stick," Bara snorted as the rogue fell forward and was just barely saved from falling into the fire by Za'rhin, who had eaten too much black stick in his life to be more than a little hazy.
"Now we know," Za'rhin grinned. "Dey cannot eat much black stick."
The trolls laughed as the bluehaired warrior gently put the undead down on a patch of hay and wrapped the rogue's cape around him. Soggy was still having trouble breathing, or trying to sing, it was a little hard to make up your mind about it.
San'jo turned to the female troll and smiled pleasantly.
"Tell Za'rhin da story yah tell me, about dat fish who can talk."
Aka smiled back, almost lost her boot in the fire when she fumbled the stick she used for drying it over the flames, and started another tale.
Za'rhin was listening only half-heartedly, he was thinking of how good it was to have someone to listen to, and that maybe he had to go visit his friends soon.
***
Thanks for reading.
Bara belongs to my friend Alina
Aka (my favourite fisher ever!) belongs to the Pygmy-goat-of-doom ^^
San'jo belongs to my friend Videl
And Za'rhin, Bones and the poor Soggy Bottom all belongs to me
Wow belongs to blizzard... but I guess we all knew that ;D