The wind howled furiously, racing against the jagged stone walls that closed on the ship from two sides. A small craft, it lurched heavily as it rode the waves to make its way into Daggercap Bay.
Sev stood in the stern, holding onto the railing with a white-knuckled grip. Her stomach tried to turn on itself each time the ship swung, hurled up and down like weightless flotsam. After five weeks and two days spent on water - a nutshell at the mercy of the endless expanse of the ocean, the sight of solid ground was welcome.
Above their heads, large wooden buildings hang on top of the cliffs at almost impossible angles. Looking made Sev even queasier, but she kept staring up. It was better than seeing the jagged corners of stone jutting out of the water here and there in the narrow fijord, sometimes so close collision seemed inevitable. The bay widened abruptly into a rounded gulf and the ship took a sharp turn left, balancing precariously under the wind.
The sudden movement threw Sev forward, her ribs cracking painfully as they made contact with the stout wooden rail. She stepped back grunting, only to be jerked the other way when the boat redressed – crawling incredibly slow along the shore.
Men jumped overboard in chest-high water in a blink of the eye, starting to tie ropes to stout poles with practiced efficiency. The ship lurched and trembled, then quietly settled against the dock, gently swaying with the rolling waves.
During the first moments after landing it was impossible to make anything out in the general yammering. People shouted and crammed towards the dock in a dense stream, each and everyone carrying weapons and bundles and elbowing their way past the others. Sev held back at first, unwilling to mix into that crowd, yet eventually she was pushed towards it by other people making their way onto the deck.
"Move on, move one, don't stand in the way! There's room fo' everybody, just keep goin'!"
A grizzled soldier standing on the dock seemed to be somehow directing the flow of passengers, his voice raising over the rumor. Sev found herself crossing the dock onto a large expanse of trampled grass that seemed to be the bottom of a bowl. She looked around, curiously. Valgarde was not a port, not even a city proper. A wall rounded on three sides, clinging to stony slope, defense towers topping it here and there. Houses and towers had an oddly familiar look to Sev's eyes, and all formed a loose formation that encircled a massive squared hall.
A bell tolled – a high pitched sound that filled the air, seeming to come from everywhere at once. Shouting ensued as large winged forms darkened the sky and a shower of arrows and flame came down on their heads. For a second Sev gaped in astonishment. Then instincts kicked in and she plunged to take cover, landing on ther belly near a pile of crates.
She rolled on her back immediately, just in time to see massive shapes breaking into the fortress' enclosure from the north. Guttural battle cries rose and were met with cries of "For Lordaeron! For the Alliance!" from Valgarde defenders. Soldiers poured out of barracks and tents, some in armor, some not, others only half dressed, yet none hesitated to charge at the incoming enemy.
She did not understand what was going on – but she was a soldier too and she had fought many times before on orders she did not understand. Drawing her own sword, she ran towards the breech in the wall - and almost bumped into one of the attackers. He stood more than twice her height, with muscles as thick as tree roots, swinging a bloodied axe in one hand. Sev met the blow, but the force of it threw her down like a rag doll. Ribs already bruised from the ship's rail protested when she tried to get up. All she could do was roll sideways to avoid another mighty swing of the axe.
"Light, give me strength", she whispered. It was a simple matter of focus and the warmth filled her, spread inside like a growing fire. The pain in her chest felt dim, at the edges of her awareness as she rose to her feet and she called out loud for the Light's blessing, her blade whirling in a sparkling circle… engage, parry, side blow, parry…
Her attacker fell, hot blood spraying out of gaping wound in his middle, to land on her hands, on her face, in her hair. A part of Sev's mind before had she fought something…alive. Except for that one time when…She couldn't make herself remember and there was no point in it either. She let thoughts drain away in the rapture of Light that suffused her as she moved to the next invader, the sword in her hands a being of its own, twisting and glimmering faintly. Another one. And another.
Suddenly she became aware of the silence.
Corpses dotted the grass all around, most of them belonging to the attacking giants, some to Valgarde defenders. The hand Sev rose to mop the sweat from her brow came back red, despite the fact she did not have any wounds – or at least none she could feel right then. Slowly, reluctantly, she let go of the Light and looked around for something to wipe her blade on, before re-sheathing it.
"Good job the'e", a rugged voice said behind and she turned startled to see a bearded dwarf, wearing the insignia of an Alliance officer. "Much better than the green scrubs Fordring's been sendin'" He gave her an appraising look, then shrugged. "Ya did not seem strong enough tho' to carry that sword…" Another long weighting glance. "Never mind…There be work to be done he'e lass…much work. I'll show you to the commander. What, have you lost your tongue, girl?"
"N- no", Sev stammered. She flushed, still looking around in awe. A hard land and hard people these, stranded for years on the very edges of the known world. Everyone seemed to be returning to their normal business, as if the attack had only been a minor annoyance.
Most of the recruits stood on the dock, huddled together, watching the surroundings with wary eyes, except for one or two who, like herself, had dashed to take part in the fight. A grizzled man, with dark eyes and a long scar across his left cheek flashed her a grin and winked as he sheathed a pair of twin ornate daggers. Sev dropped her gaze to the ground and scrubbed some more blood off her forehead.
"Come on, lass… I don't have all day to lose!", the dwarf prodded her. "'tis way".
"Yes sir!" A meek smile touched Severinna's lips. The dwarf rose a questioning eyebrow at her, but she only nodded and hurried to follow. Let him believe what he would, the young woman thought.