Walk on Watah
"Jus' keep runnin'!"
"But... but Vo'jya... I don' be ponderin' I can... keep grindin' like dis..." Taki panted, trying to keep up with the hunter's long-legged strides.
Vo'jya looked back over his shoulder and curled his lip, showing pointed teeth as he fixed Taki with dark blue eyes. "Oh den you wanna take care of da centaur train behind us? Go ahead, bwa, you was da one dat went runnin' into deir camp. I'm sure you gwanna be able ta handle dem jus' fine."
He never broke stride, streaking across the low grasslands of the Barrens. He knew they should have stuck to the road, but true to his trouble-finding nature Tak'tara had found some excuse to get them wandering the plains, dodging prowling packs of lions, scavenging hyenas, and now a rather aggravated troop of centaurs.
Vo'jya hated centaurs. Their incessant warring had destroyed much of Desolace, what he considered to be his home. And their aggressive and often unpredictable behavior was a constant threat to the inhabitants of Shadowprey Village. You could be friends with one of the tribes one day and at the top of their hunting list the next. Not to mention their stench. A mix of unwashed horse, man, and manure that attracted so many flies their filthy villages and the roads they patrolled were often thick with black swarms. Just thinking about it make Vo'jya's skin itch and he shuddered.
Lukka also hated centaurs and had disappeared from Vo'jya's shoulder in a greasy flap of molting feathers at the first sign of trouble. Probably gourgin' hisself on some kodo carcass, damn bird, Vo'jya thought to himself. An aerial distraction might have been nice right about then.
Taki looked back over his shoulder, noting at least five centaur with bows and spears still on their heels. He panted and stumbled, arms wheeling to catch his balance. He licked his lips, and began to slow up, ears drooping as he tossed out an earth totem to bind and distract their pursuers. "I-if'n truth you t'ink I can make it fly, mon..." he said, haltingly.
He stopped then and turned, brandishing the staff on his back and trying to look fierce. He tossed out a fire totem that started spitting fireballs in all directions as the young shaman squeezed his eyes shut and fought to bring the fire spirit within under his control. It began to settle, pulsing softly as the centaur grew closer. He could hear their grunting and see the black specks of flies at their flanks. Taki pulled at the forces in the air, feeling his fingertips begin to spark. Taki licked his lips again. "Shango, mon, don' leave my side," he murmured.
But before the Loa of storms could answer his entreaty a spear lodged itself with an audible thwunk into the fire totem, tipping it over where it ceased to pulse, the fire spirit inside receding. Another landed in the earth totem and then two arrows buried themselves in the grassy earth at Taki's feet. The lightning spell died on Taki's fingertips and he froze, breath hitching in panic as the centaur were almost upon him.
The angry shrieking hiss of arrows flew past Taki's drooping ears. The first buried itself in one of the centaur's shoulders, getting little but a howl of rage before being ignored. The second went wide and disappeared into the grasslands. But the third hit the lead centaur's leg, forcing it to draw up lame, stumbling and crashing to the ground, legs rolling beneath its bulky body as its companions reared and bucked, trying to avoid trampling him. It boutht the two trolls at least a little time.
Orange braids whipping around Taki looked over his shoulder. Vo'jya was lowering his bow, a powerful look of intense concentration on his face that for a moment took the young shaman's breath away before those eyes turned once more to him, and the set line of Vo'jya's mouth returned to a snarl.
"I was NOT bein' serious, mon!" he shouted as he shouldered his bow, reached to grasp Taki's arm, and wheeled them both about all in one fluid motion. "Now keep runnin'!" He shoved Taki forward and bent to lay a frost trap before sprinting forward, using his hand on the shaman's back to propel the youth before him.
"I'm grinnin'-"
"I know, I know. Yer grinnin' low. Stop apologizin' and use dat t'ick head o' yours once in a while, bwa!" Vo'jya grunted.
"But, Voj, you was waggin'-" Taki tried again between gasps for air.
"I know what I said! I wasn' serious, mon! Dey woulda torn you apart, an' yo' sistah en't payin' me ta get ya killed." He steered them towards one of the oases that dotted the Barrens, hoping they would be able to lose their pursuers in the dense foliage, or possibly beneath the water's surface. Testament to their foul smell centaurs hated water. They broke into the lush trees, miraculously avoiding disturbing any of the animals or more centaur that often patrolled the watering holes. "Head for da watah. We gwonna hide from dem at da bottom," Vo'jya said, pushing Taki before him.
Tak'tara perked. "I can give us da watah breathin'!"
Having grown up among fishermen on the docks of Sartheris Strand Vo'jya was an excellent swimmer and had no qualms about holding his breath. But it seemed as if it would make the bwa happy, so he grunted. "Do it den."
Reaching into his reagent pouch Taki felt the little fish scales and the vials of thick fishy oil he used to conjure the ability to breath in water and walk on its surface. Now if only he could remember which did which... "Okeh... dis one den!" he said, gripping a vial of the fish oil, smearing it over his hand, and then leaving an oily handprint on Vo'jya's bicep and then his own chest as he called on the assistance of the water spirits.
Nearly to the water's edge now Vo'jya never broke stride. Knowing the oasis was deep and loving the water as much as any whelp from a fishing village would, he took a small amount of pleasure in running and springing from a rock, twisting in the air, preparing to cut the water with a well executed dive. Only when he met the water it did not part beneath him, but rather rushed up to meet him as solid as rock. His momentum carried him end over shoulders, skudding across the surface of the oasis, sending up a spray of water as he flipped and rolled in a rather comical mockery of his centaur victim.
The hunter came to a stop in the center of the pool and flopped onto his back with a groan, blinking up at the dazzling sky beyond the oasis canopy not entirely sure what had just happened. The water lapped at his ears and soaked into his clothing, but was otherwise very solid beneath him. "Da spirits, dey be hatin' me."
"Vo'jya!" Taki cried, hurrying to him over the surface of the water. "Vo'jay are you huffin', mon? I used da wrong one... dat was sidewise of me, mon," he said worriedly, falling to his knees on the water beside the hunter.
"Oh you t'ink so, really!?" Vo'jya reached up to grab Taki's tusk and pull his face close. The shaman yelped. "You really are da world's worst shaman, bwa."
"I'm grinnin'-"
"Don' say it, bwa! Jus' get dis spell off'a me before dose centaur get here!" But even as he spoke the first arrow whizzed by and disappeared into the lake with a vicious plipping sound. Another soon followed.
"Okeh, okeh! You just gotta rub it off," Taki said, starting to rub at the oil on his chest.
"Rub what off?!" Vo'jya growled as another couple arrows slipped into the lake.
"Da oil!"
"What oil?!"
"On yer arm!" Taki shouted back, now rubbing at both his chest and Vo'jya's arm.
"What oil on mah-?"
The water gave way in a sudden wet rush, both shaman and hunter dropping out of sight below the surface in a roiling whoosh of oasis water. Vo'jya found his mouth full of liquid and wanted madly to break the surface and cough as he inhaled most of it, but instead he managed to get his bearings, tugging Taki towards the lake bed still, gripping his tusk.
Once at the bottom of the lake he shoved the shaman to the mud and shielded him with the bulk of his body. The water was deep and the arrows and spears lost their momentum as they broke the surface, turning from deadly projectiles to so much drift wood by the time they reached into the depths.
He felt Taki's fingers begin to paw at him, reaching up in the water to touch at his neck and face. Aggravated, he tried to bat the young shaman's hands away, only to suddenly find his own tusk grabbed and something shoved into his mouth. It was small and scratchy and salty... and as soon as he felt it on this tongue the intense burning in his lungs began to clear.
He looked down at Taki who was frowning up at him, brows drawn low over orange-red eyes. "Breath!" he mouthed. Vo'jya took a hesitant gasp of water and found it rather disturbing that it filled his lungs as lightly as air might. Taki was still holding onto his tusk and the hunter gripped the young shaman's wrist, pulling it away as he jerked his head to the side sulkily.
They waited, floating in the weightlessness of the clear water, watching each other with water-blurred vision until the arrows and spears ceased to break the surface of the water far above them. Vo'jya looked up, squinting at the dazzling sunlight filtering down through the blue depths. It was strangely peaceful to be there encased in a world apart.
He looked down at Taki to see the shaman looking back at him. His orange braids and the few spirit charms he wore around his neck were drifting lazily in the still water. The expression on his face was one of rapt attention mingled with a distant blankness that made Vo'jya look back for a moment in much the same way, one eyebrow arching slowly before he pulled both down, frowning.
He waved his hand before Taki's face, drawing a startled look from the shaman who then seemed to blush. Sighing in a strange exhalation of warm water the hunter reached out to grab the shaman's wrist and tugged him up from the bottom of the oasis, giving his arm a hard tug to propel him towards the surface.
Vo'jya broke the water with a gasp and a spluttering dribble of exhaled water. He made it to the bank with several powerful kicks, pulling himself up onto solid ground with a grumbling groan. He was still sore from biting it on the water at break-neck speed. Taki was soon beside him and they both flopped rather waterlogged onto the thick mossy carpet of the oasis.
"I don' be ponderin' it'll slip me next time which reagent does which, Vo'jya. I won' get it sidewise again. Truth, mon." Taki rolled onto his side and started to push himself up onto his knees as he wrung water from his hair.
"Yah, mon. Dat be real comfortin'," Vo'jya grumbled. "You still got dat damn watah on ya aftah alla dat?"
Taki startled and reached for the pack slung cross-wise over one shoulder. Eyes wide he rummaged through the contents and finally sighed in relief, pulling out two filled bladders of water one red and one blue. "Yah, I got dem still, Vo'jya," he said softly, cradling the skins close to his body.
"Good, 'cause I en't takin' yo hide alla da way back ta Tarren Mill on some fool spirit-speakah's errand." Vo'jya got to his feet, shaking off and adjusting all of his gear. He inspected his quiver to see how many arrows he'd lost. In the end fleeing from the centaur had probably been more costly than dispatching them would have been. He'd hoped to save his arrows - they were expensive after all - by simply outrunning the centaur. But even that undertaking had proven costly. He'd lost three distracting the centaur from trampling Tak'tara and at least five more in his tumble over the water.
Vo'jya cast a long look at the waters of the oasis. He supposed he could go back to find them... But then Taki was already on his feet again, stumbling towards the edge of the dense foliage. With another glance at the oasis the hunter grumbled, shouldered his bow, and cut his losses, turning to follow the young shaman back towards the open plains of the Barrens. The cow-wench who had sent them to fetch the water in the first place couldn't be far away now.
After leaving Splintertree Outpost Vo'jya had traveled with Taki and Master Jemba to Orgrimmar. The going had been slow even when they followed the river, because Taki did not know how to ride either a raptor or a wyvern, and Jemba did not feel like running. Finally he'd gotten Taki to the shaman trainers in the city where Vo'jya had fully expected to be able to wash his hands of the young Shatterspear troll.
Much to his annoyance and Taki's dismay they'd learned that Taki's basic shaman training was not complete enough to allow him to be considered as an initiate of the Earthen Ring. No matter that it had been the Earthen Ring itself who had requested that one of Far Seer Longtusk's children be sent to take his place in their numbers.
Taki had nearly been crushed, and it had been in an effort to stymie the gathering tears in his eyes that Vo'jya once again promised to stay with him long enough to get him through the rites of passage he would need in order to gain control of the last two elemental totems: water and wind. Thus, under the direction of the trainers, Vo'jya and Taki had struck out to find Islen Waterseer, leaving Jemba in the city where he seemed content to lounge about in the ankle-deep water around Dark Briar Lodge.
Upon their leave-taking Vo'jya had found his master lying on his back, his long, crooked nose, tusks, and lips protruding from the water. Poking him with one toe he'd said. "We be leavin', Masta Jemba. Yah already passed out, mon?"
"I en't. But you still lookin' like a fen'di even from here."
Narrowing his eyes the hunter responded. "I hope yah do pass out an' drown, mon."
"An' I hope dat Hakkari wind snake put anotha hole in yo' odah ear."
Thus he and the shaman had slowly made their way to Islen who had in turn sent them to find some other cow wench yet farther south. And from there they'd been sent halfway back around the world to get two pints of water, one from Ashenvale Forest and the other from some damn well in the undead-infested lands of Lordaeron. A week and a half later they were on their way back to see the cow bitch who just happened to like living in a hut in the midst of Quillboars.
"Aftah dis you gwanna get yah totem, right?" Vo'jya asked, falling into step next to Taki.
"I don' be ponderin' sure-like, Vo'jya. She wagged ta get da watah to make da sapta... den I gotta crack rocks wit' da spirits, mon," Taki said haltingly. He knew Vo'jya wanted to be done with this business of taking care of him, watching out for him, and guiding him all over the face of Azeroth. He was only doing it, Taki knew, because Zarjaya had paid him. Paid him enough gold to act as Taki's bodyguard for an entire month, though it had already been two weeks since they left Zoram'gar and the young shaman still didn't feel anywhere near ready to be left on his own in the world. Presumably he would, of course, have the Ring to guide and take care of him, but he had no idea what that meant or would be like... and to be honest he would much prefer to have the companionship of the grouchy hunter than all the wise teachers and masters in the world.
In fact he sometimes wished that he would never earn his final totems and the grace of the spirit wolf, all that stood between him and being prepared to become an initiate of the Earthen Ring. Perhaps Vo'jya would never leave him then, staying at his side out of the duty to keep his word. But Taki also knew that this was impossible and extremely childish of him. He only wanted Vo'jya to stay with him because he was the only troll outside of Shatterspear Village that he really knew. It didn't hurt that in Taki's opinion he was also strong and handsome. But remaining with Vo'jya was nothing but wishful thinking. Taki was not truly deluded enough to believe otherwise.
Vo'jya gave the little shaman a narrow look out of the corner of his eyes. "We gwanna get dis done inside'a da month, bwa?"
Taki hazarded a look at the hunter and shrugged. "I en't stone sure, mon. You gwanna hop da wind iffin' we don'?"
Vo'jya shrugged fluidly and looked away, absently tugging at one tusk. "I guess we be crossin' dat bridge when we get to it, bwa," he mumbled.
Taki looked at Vo'jya for a moment longer and then looked away, down at his feet and smiled. "Irie, mon."
Taki had hoped he would never find himself in Silverpine forest or Lordaeron ever again. It had been bad enough running through the place with Vo'jya the first time on their way to Tarren Mill to get the water sample needed for the sapta. But then after all that work just to get the sapta Islen, the tauren shamaness who was willing to guide him to his water totem, had sent them right back to the plagued lands of the Eastern Kingdoms.
The forest was cold and wet and stank of death. The very air was thick with the restless spirits of the dead, undead, and dying and it made Taki's skin crawl. What was even more disturbing to the shaman was the fact that Vo'jya seemed perfectly at home with the undead Forsaken inhabitants as if he could not feel what Taki felt.
Did he not hear the angry voice whispering through the trees and around every tombstone in the great cemetery of the Sepulcher? Taki thought he knew the voice, but was loath to put a name to it, for the name made him shiver even as it filled his mind with senseless peace.
He'd felt miserable and drained almost since they stepped off the zeppelin. He'd felt somewhat the same the first time they'd passed through the plagued lands, but had been able to stay upbeat since they did not dwell there and stuck to the road, which eventually led them to the living lands of the Hillsbrad Foothills. But now to have to be back there actually picking their way through the forests, face-to-face with the undead, and staying in this hideous place of decay that the Forsaken called a village had taken its toll on him.
He felt tired... drained just being there. On top of that he had had to fight with one of the great elemental spirits, and it was no wonder it had become corrupted dwelling in a place like this. So was it really any wonder that he felt so weak and strange?
"Bwa? Bwa, where you be at?" Vo'jya's voice carried dimly above him.
"I bein' down here, Vo'jya," Taki called, looking up the chiseled, right-cornered earthen walls of the empty grave he was sitting in.
The Darkspear hunter's face and shoulders appeared at the lip of the hole. "What in da name of da spirits are you doin' sittin' in a grave, mon?!"
Taki shivered again, and hugged his newly acquired water totem a bit closer to his chest. "It be all hush-like down here, mon. En't no voices cryin'. Deep in da earth where dey restin' he be restin', too, Vo'jya."
The hunter cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head, disturbed by the sight of the young shaman peering up at him from the fresh grave, orange-red eyes ringed, hollow, and wide, skin and clothes smeared with dirt. "Who be restin', mon?"
Taki licked his lips which felt dry and chapped. "Samedi."
Vo'jya winced visibly. "Watch what you waggin', bwa!" Vo'jya caught himself and sighed. 'Waggin' another of the shaman's phrases he'd recently picked up. He fixed Taki with stern dark blue eyes. "We in his domain, mon. Talkin' 'bout da Loa all da time like dat gwonna bring da voodoo righ' to yah. Leave dat to da Shadow Huntahs an' Witch Doctors, bwa, and get yoself outta dat grave befo' Samdei an' da voodoo find da bot' of us. Lookin' at'chu down dere givin' me da shakes, mon."
He reached down, offering his hand to Taki who just looked up at him blankly for a few moments before reaching back. Vo'jya half pulled, half lifted him from the hole and set Taki on his feet where he swayed a bit. Vo'jya looked at the young shaman critically, brushing some of the dark, loose earth from his clothing. Grave dirt was smeared across the bare blue skin of his shoulders and upper arms where his leather vest did not cover and was staining his loose abada pants. "How long you been in dat hole, bwa?" he asked.
Taki shrugged, finally putting his water totem away in the pack at his hip. "Since you took a shake to da Undacity or so I pondah, mon. I weren't about tah go back near dat place. It full o' da spirits and da voices... dey all be screamin' dere. Sharp-like."
Vo'jya regarded the young shaman with a worried eye, shifting his weight as he continued to wipe the smears of dirt from Taki's skin with calloused fingers. "I told ya dat I had business dere, bwa. An' I knew you wasn' comin' along, dat's why I come back fo' ya. But ya didn' have ta sit in a grave while I was away neitha, mon. I thought you was gwonna sleep in da inn. Odahwise I woulda had you come along an' wait at de zeppelin. Now I gottah be back trackin' wit'chu innyways, bwa." Vo'jya tsked in annoyance, trying to look stern to cover how unsettled he truly was.
"I'm grinnin' low, Voj," Taki said softly, still fiddling with his pack, not making eye contact. He did not bother to point out that the "inn" was really a mausoleum. Was there really much difference between sitting in there and sitting in a quiet grave?
Taki felt dazed and lethargic, as if somehow distant from his own body. Even Vo'jya's hands voluntarily perusing his skin did not phase him. "But it was all hushed-up down dere."
Vo'jya furrowed his eyebrows again and sighed. "I got dat, mon. But sittin' in graves en't right behavior for no one dis side o' da voodoo." He leaned forward, flaring the nostrils of his long nose close to Taki's hair. "Least yah en't smellin' like death, bwa. We get goin' now we can be back in Orgrimmar inside a day." He tugged at Taki's arm, leading him out of the cemetery and towards the road that would take them back towards Undercity and the zeppelin back to Kalimdor.
The hunter gave a sharp whistle, calling Lukka, who unfurled himself from his perch on a gravestone, looking more at home with the undead inhabitants of the Sepulcher than with his living companion, and flapped awkwardly to Vo'jya's shoulder. They walked in silence down the ruined road for a time, Taki still watching his feet.
"Oy, Vo'jya," he said at last, looking up at the hunter who glanced back at him. "You don' be catchin' inny of it, do ya? Da voices, dey en't watah clear-like fo' you."
"I en't hearin' no voices, bwa. Not here, not innywhere. You a shaman. En't not'ing wrong wit' you hearing da spirits," Vo'jya said with a dismissive hand-wave.
Taki blinked and looked down at his feet again, speaking very softly. "I en't stone sure, Vo'jya. I guess I t'ought everybody catch what I be catchin'. But mebbe not so much."
Vo'jya was still looking at Taki out of the corner of his eye. The dim light of the forest cast their shadows long on the road behind them, and for the briefest moment in the periphery of his vision the Darkspear hunter thought he saw a roiling blackness in the vague darkness of Tak'tara's shadow. But when he looked fully their shadows were no more interesting than he expected them to be. Still the sight had started a strange buzzing sensation behind Vo'jya's eyes.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don' worry, bwa. Dis place givin' me da jumps as much as you. Soon enough we be back in Orgrimmar and den I buy us bot' a drink. Jus' make sure you keep dat mouth shut dis time, bwa. I dunno what'chu said ta dat orc, but I en't getting paid enough to get inta brawls fo' yah alla da time, mon."
Taki made a soft snorting sound. "I weren't waggin' not'in' at dat orc, mon."
"He want ta pick a fight wit'chu fo' not'in'?"
Taki glanced up at Vo'jya and then away again, his ears coloring a lavender blush. "Mebbe I was makin' da hard eyes at his elf friend."
"What'chu wanna be starin' at some elf for, bwa?" Vo'jya snorted. "Dey fickle as da weatha."
Taki made a face, waving his hands a bit in tired exasperation. "I dun be ponderin' straight-like, but dey just bein' so fierce on mah eyes! Gathah dat deir skin is dis... dis... pink color like da outside da same as da inside. And dey en't got no tusks and dey en't got no nose ta be waggin' about. Only ting dey got is dem ears and da res' being pink an' flat, mon! An' den dey bein' have all dem fingahs. What dey need alla dem fingahs fo', mon?! Tell me dey don' look all hinky an' sidewise! I en't neva spied not'in' like it. An' I couldn' stop wit da hard eyes. I couldn' look away, mon!"
Vo'jya's mouth dropped open a bit and he stared at Taki with wide eyes for a moment before laughing abruptly. "I en't sure exac'ly what'chu jus' said, bwa, but I be pretty sure you jus' called a Blood Elf da mos' hideous ting you eva saw. An' -dat- is funneh!"
Taki sighed, slumping, feeling all the more tired for his excited outburst. He grumbled under his breath.
Still chuckling Vo'jya put a hand on his shoulder. "Jus' keep yo' eyes and yo' waggin' to yoself and everything be irie, bwa."
Taki leaned slightly into Vo'jya touch. "I jus' wanna rest it somewhere dat it don' be smellin' like da dead, and tings get hushed up real quiet-like. Dis place be givin' me da shakes, mon."
"Jus' pray dat we don' have to come back here fo' yo damned wind totem," Vo'jya grumbled.
"May da Loa forbid it," Tak'tara swore.
Vo'jya whapped the back of Taki's head with the heel of his hand. "Dere you go talkin' about da voodoo again, bwa. En't a good idea in dis place. Who know what kind'a attention you be drawin' to yo'self."
((Author's Note: This chapter references the shaman class totem quests, which were removed in the Cataclysm expansion. They sent you all over Azeroth, and were required to advance your shaman's abilities.))