Despite the mass of hopeful recruits to the guild, there was a surprising quiet in the forest that early evening. For Jayavarna, the temperature felt chilly and the light fog added to the excitement. Never before had she come into direct conflict with the Horde; and by the looks of nervousness on many of the others lined up there, she could tell that she wasn't the only one.
Humans, gnomes, dwarves, worgen and even other draenei all lined up and clamored in a rough formation despite having been left to their own devices. None of them knew each other, but most of them had slept around each other; every one of them had made it past the first, unnamed test, and had survived a night in the woods with no direction and few provisions.
The silver haired quartermistress folded her arms behind her and stalked up and down the rows of a few dozen hopefuls. Her assistants, also night elves, stood at the sides and kept watch lest the guild recruitment meeting be interrupted by interlopers. Ener was high despite the overall quiet.
Standing next to Jayavarna were two friends, a human man whose head rose to the same level as her abdomen and a man from her own race who wielded a large warhammer. They spoke in low, hushed tones so as not to cause any disturbance to the serious scene.
"...heard that we're the first non night elves to be given a chance for admittance to the guild. They used to be exclusive, but I think they've realized the value of what diversity can offer."
The human nodded without turning to his large friend. "They're clever ones, those Kaldorics. When you live that long, I'm sure you learn a few things, as you already know."
"You bet we do," the draenei man chuckled in a low voice.
"Are we going to be admitted for sure if we survive?"
Jayavarna hadn't intended for the words to escape her lips, but somehow they had, and loud enough for the two men next to her to hear. For a few seconds they only glanced at her sideways, and she felt embarrassed at her outspokenness.
Fortunately for her, the human smiled wryly and spoke at a volume that was barely loud enough for his friend and her to hear. "If we survive, sweetheart. That's a big if - I heard that we're going up against Warsong."
His draenei friend snorted in dismissal. "Until Captain Gwynneth gives official word, we really don't know anything for sure. I'm Luro, by the way," the male draenei whispered to her.
"Harper," the human added while sending her a wink.
Inside, Jayavarna felt herself stiffen. She knew she shouldn't be letting herself get close to people who might not make it; this was a field test in the literal sense. For sure, not all of them would survive, and answering could let her get attached. She'd already lost so much.
Against her better judgment, she decided to reciprocate. "I'm...Jayavarna," she replied shyly.
"Glad to have you with us, Jay-Vay," the human quipped in an accent she assumed to be strange for his people. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Harper surreptitiously eyeing her broadsword from the corner of his. "Another two hander, eh? Stick close to me; I'm the best shot with my old blunderbuss here this side of Kalimdor. You and Luro will be totally covered when we go in."
Her heart fluttered, not in the sense of being flattered so much as at the prospects of making friends so quickly and easily on Azeroth. She didn't know either of them, and she knew better than to automatically assume that all draenei were her friends, but she felt such a sincerity from Harper and Luro both that she felt very well supported. Which was important, considering the fact that unlike Luro, she couldn't afford a helmet yet.
"I will ensure that none of the outriders are able to reach-"
"Attention!" the silver haired sentinel bellowed, garnering a jolt from all the hopefuls before her.
All at once, the few dozen potential recruits formed three rows of troops, trying their best to impress the woman who could be the future quartermistress of a great number of them. Her sentinel assistants held their positions, absolutely unmoving and unflinching as they continued watching the trees. A handful of bungling humans required extra time to find their place among the ranks, and their faces went from various shades of beige and caramel to bright red as they realized everyone was waiting on them. Eventually, they found their places, and three and a half rows of troops formed before the rather serious looking second in command at the guild. Her nostril wheezed rhythmically as she scanned every one of the potential recruits, making them visibly nervous under her scrutiny.
Out of nowhere, the green haired guild leader materialized before them as if by magic. A few of the obviously younger hopefuls gasped in awe, amazed by the ability of Gwynneth to disappear at will when darkness had fallen. Jayavarna had heard that the natives of the continent possessed such abilities and night, and while she realized it must be routine and mundane for them, she was impressed nonetheless.
Unlike her second in command, Gwynneth looked much less discriminating as she looked over the rows. Not quite pleasant, but certainly less intimidating. When she straightened up, she was taller than everyone except for Luro and one of Azeroth's wolf men from across the ocean, and even then, she was still able to look them both in the eye. Everything about her seemed noble - elegant yet fierce, sleek and stealthy. She hadn't donned her combat armor and instead wore a guild tabard bearing ancient elven runes that Jayavarna couldn't read, though her rather artful and gleaming sword was still sheathed on her belt.
Finally, she spoke in her lightly accented Common. "I shan't mince words; you all know why you're here. All of you - every one of you - passed the first test, whether you realize it or not. Very few made it this far; for that at least, you are deserving of respect." A gnome in the back tried to initiate a round of applause, but gradually stopped when she realized that nobody else responded. Playing it off as if it didn't happen, Gwynneth continued. "For security reasons, little information can be divulged until the operation has reached its completion; however, to show you why we are here is much better than to simply tell you." Gwynneth motioned toward nothing only for two more of her aides to materialize out of thin air as she had. The two women promptly stepped behind a fallen log and began to handle a large object that they lifted with ease.
"Oh my..." gasped someone of indeterminable race or gender from the back row.
Folded up inside a bedsheet laid out by the two sentinels lied the bodies of several people. A human, two gnomes, and a brave night elf sentinel wearing the same tabard as the guild members had all been stuffed inside, obviously by someone bearing ill intentions. The two living sentinels bowed subtly toward the corpses before disappearing into thin air again, leaving Gwynneth and her right hand woman standing before the hopefuls once more.
"This is what the Horde has done to our people; for we all - the members of the Alliance - are one people together. A settlement once lied to the south - well within the boundaries of Ashenvale. Vol'jin, the new warmonger of the savages to the south, swore a verbal oath to our High Priestess that he would put an end to all deforestation operations in Ashenvale in return for logging rights in Azshara; and by the goddess, he has lied.
"This settlement was ransacked by orcs - the backbone of the Horde. They do not intend to honor their leader's promises - not here, nor anywhere else. And an attack here is the same as an attack anywhere else; Ashenvale is Duskwood. It is Hillsbrad. It is Gilneas. And it is Shadowmoon. All that lies beneath the gold and blue flag is one and the same; the Horde seeks you, your loved ones, your communities and all they hold dear. Their purpose is the same everywhere: to put an end to the civilized people of every planet they tarnish, and destroy all in their wake. Negotiation has been exhausted; extermination is all we have left."
"God damn orcs..." Harper muttered through grit teeth.
"The time is now; preparation is through. Behind me lies the murderers of these four, and many more like them; the blood is still fresh on the ground. The barbarians have set up camp in our former settlement because they are unable to achieve on their own; they have raised their bloody flag and covered our buildings in their uncivilized spikes and plundered lumber. Find them in the streets; find them in their burrows. Kill every orc that you find, for they will surely kill you if granted the opportunity. Any greenskin left alive will surely inform his allies, and the cycle will continue. Understand this: you must succeed. All the surrounding settlements depend on it."
Silence fell over the hopefuls as Gwynneth paused for a moment, leaving the corpses between herself and all the rows of troops for them to gave upon. The anger and tension was as palpable as the effect her speech had on the others.
After an uncomfortable amount of time had passed, she gave a very subtle waggle of one of her long eyebrows to her right hand woman. "You have five minutes; prepare yourselves," the quartermistress bellowed, her mouth opening wide enough to reveal her fangs. "Your test is to be undertaken alone; we will watch, but not intervene. If you fail, more innocents will die. Five minutes; be ready to march!" The volume of her voice as she shouted the last part gave the hopefuls a jolt, and people began discarding their travel gear and readying their guns, bows, staves and melee weapons as quickly as they could.
Gradually the group dispersed, and the sentinels who had been keeping watch spread out in a column leading south; they would most assuredly be watching, but would not accompany the hopefuls to the battle itself.
Deep in the pit of her stomach, Jayavarna felt uneasy. All the other hopefuls appeared uplifted and motivated by the speech; even Luro seemed rather excited at the prospect of violent and dangerous conflict. Doubt crept into her mind as she began to wonder if the training she received at the Exodar after crashing on this planet hadn't quite been enough.
Apparently, the guild's leader noticed her apprehension. Taking her by the arm using a surprising gentleness, Gwynneth pulled the troubled draenei aside. Jayavarna stiffened up, worried that her demeanor would result in her ejection from the guild trials.
"You're going to be key in this assault, Jayavarna," Gwynneth whispered to her, pronouncing her name perfectly.
Relief fought against doubt within her; the night elves were so contained that it was impossible to tell if the guild leader really meant it, or was trying to build confidence in a weak link. "You really think so?" she asked in a less firm voice than she'd wished to use.
The faintest hint of a smile cracked at the corner of Gwynneth's mouth. Her breath smelled like garlic, but Jayavarna liked it in a weird way. "Jayavarna...you would not have made it this far had our recruiter not witnessed potential in you. This is a very serious operation; innocent lives are at stake. We would not entrust the task to those we do not trust."
"That...that makes me feel so much better, Captain. I hope that I can do a good job for our people...all of our people."
"You will; of that, I am sure. What you need to do is ensure that not a single orc leaves that settlement alive." The words were difficult for Jayavarna to accept, and Gwynneth noticed. "You hesitate."
"No, no, I'm ready! Absolutely ready. It's just...I knew orcs on Draenor. They are a warlike race, but I knew individuals. Some of them were very kind people, and were also hurt by the Burning Legion. There must be some on this planet who retain a measure of civilization as well."
A long arm wrapped around Jayavarna's shoulder, shielding their conversation from eyeshot and earshot of the other hopefuls, who were nearly finished in their preparations. "Jayavarna...I understand your sentiment. We all have a desire for peace; no civilized person disagrees. But sometimes, a minority of the population must take up the mantle of a warrior so that the majority can have that peace, and not worry about the ugliness of the world. That is why we must do this; the orcs here are not like the individuals you knew. They are evil; every last one of them has been afflicted by demonic corruption. You can't let those memories taint your objectivity here; this is war." Gwynneth motioned toward the runes on her tabard, though Jayavarna didn't quite understand. "Do you understand?" the guild leader asked, placing her hands on the draenei's shoulders softly, much in the way her aunt did during her childhood back in Shadowmoon Valley.
"I guess...yes, I understand!" Jayavarna replied, forcing confidence into her voice. Her chest almost felt restricted beneath the gaze of the quartermistress, who glanced at the private conversation from a few yards away.
"Good. Go on now...your comrades need you. Please, keep as many alive as you can."
Looking behind them, Jayavarna saw Luro and Harper helping each other tighten the buckles of their armor. The two of them looked very serious, but as inexperienced as her; Harper's armor was too large for his small human body and Luro's warhammer wasn't secured to his baldric properly. "I will! I won't let anyone down...not them, not the Alliance, and not the guild, Captain." By the time she'd finished talking, Gwynneth and the quartermistress had disappeared, leaving a handful of sentinels to form a column guiding the recruits south.
The few dozen troops marched; in between the trees, they could already see the fires of the settlement burning. Burnt wood filled Jayavarna's lungs, and her hands shook in anticipation. This would be her first full scale assault; a quiet prayer served as her only words as she hoped she'd live to see the sun rise again.