Words in italics are English while regular text is Orcish or Common. For the purposes of this story, Common and English are two different languages.
Ashenvale was not a safe place for an orc traveling alone, especially not an injured one. Bargul kept a keen eye on his surroundings as he traveled, alert for the slightest hint of an Alliance party. He was nearing the border to Azshara, but that was no reason to let his guard down. He'd seen enough skirmishes on previous trips through the area to know that he wouldn't truly be safe until he was back within Orgrimmar's walls.
Beneath him his wolf mount, Kalu, suddenly turned her head to stare into the trees lining the road, ears up and nose twitching. Bargul signaled for her to stop walking and turned as well, peering intently at the shadowed underbrush. He went to reach for his twin axes - and was reminded again of his left arm, now missing below the elbow. He spat a curse at the reminder and pulled a single axe from his belt before sliding from Kalu's back.
He stepped quietly toward the trees, able to hear now the clear sound of someone moving through them. Whoever it was made no attempt to keep quiet; either they didn't know he was here, or they were trying to get his attention. Well, if they were looking for a fight, they were welcome to one. The orc lifted his axe and took another step closer, only for the small figure that pushed her way through the branches to almost walk into him.
It was a human, he was as she jumped back in shock, dressed in a strangely tailored purple jacket that covered whatever else she might have been wearing. She didn't seem to be carrying any weapons, so he lowered his axe but didn't drop his threatening stance just yet.
"Are you alone?" He asked in awkward Common.
She stared blankly at him, then said something in a language he didn't recognize. "I don't understand. Do you speak English?"
"You...talk Common?" Bargul asked slowly. He was reaching the end of his Common vocabulary, which mostly consisted of threats and ways to demand surrender. Not that Common was very useful in this situation, apparently. What kind of human didn't speak Common?
"I'll take that as a no, I guess." The human stopped for a moment, seemingly thinking. Then she pointed to herself. "Libby. Li-bby." She pointed at him and raised her eyebrows as though asking a question.
He gathered that she was trying to exchange names, although he wasn't sure why. He didn't answer right away, taking the moment to study her more closely instead. This was obviously no warrior, he decided. In fact, she looked younger than most humans he'd seen on the battlefield. She was soft-faced, and although her jacket obscured some of her form, there was obviously little bulk there. An apprentice mage, perhaps? But again he came to the question of why she couldn't understand Common.
As he stared at her without answering, she seemed to droop slightly, letting her hand drop again. He sighed heavily and said, "Bargul."
"Bargul?" She repeated, the rough syllables awkward on her tongue.
"I am Bargul," he said in Orcish.
She tilted her head and squinted her eyes at him for a moment before speaking. "Iam...Libby?" She said uncertainly, the phrase turning up into a question.
"Yes," Bargul said, surprised. He shook it off and tried another question. "Why are you here?" He asked, trying to use gestures to get his point across.
She shrugged and shook her head, but it seemed to be an answer rather than her not understanding his question. "Here?"
"Ashenvale," he told her. She seemed to recognize the name and gained a slightly panicked look. Maybe she was lost?
He tried to figure out what to do about her. The easiest thing to do would be to drop her off at one of the Alliance outposts in the area and continue on his way, but he didn't like the idea of being shot full of arrows before he could explain himself - well, no. The easiest thing would be to leave her here and move on, but for some reason the idea rubbed him the wrong way. She seemed young and lost and he didn't like the idea of leaving her to fend for herself.
Ratchet was the nearest neutral town, a little over a week to the south. It was completely the opposite way from where he was headed, but going home could wait a little while. He nodded to himself, mind made up. Ships ran between Ratchet and Stranglethorn; he could send her on her way there, where she would be more likely to find her own people, and then return to Orgrimmar.
"Libby." The girl, who had been peering around him to look at Kalu, snapped her attention back to him. He gestured as he spoke, doing his best to get his point across. "Do you want me to take you to Ratchet? You can find other humans."
"Ratchet," she repeated. For some reason she seemed to recognize place names, but not anything else. She nodded. "Sure. It's not like I have anywhere else to be."
"Come with me," he said, beckoning, and turned to lead her back to Kalu.
Sorry about the short chapter. This one's fighting me a bit, so I'm going to upload what I have now instead of making you wait longer.
