~*~ Author's Notes ~*~
The Priest's gear is called "Merciless Gladiator's Raiment" and is the blue version of "Avatar Regalia". You are very likely to see both these sets in the game-world once again now that 4.3 is live and x-moging is available.
Reuploaded on Dec 5,11 to fix glaring spelling and consistency errors.
~*~ Chapter 2 ~*~
She laughs out loud, soft as her voice is. This voice was not for casting, for whispering words to Elune in praise all the rest of her day. This voice saw almost no use in her upright form. Wild and unfettered, it is strong and resonates. Her warning cry could be heard a mile away, all the way to Maestra's Post. Maestra herself had given her praises.
She glowed now, and bled. Her wounds do not heal as fast as the bear whiles she say in her upright form. The whoosh of adrenaline makes her giddy and gradually subsides. She taps an instant healing spell that is stored in her hearthstone. This healing energy had been put there for emergency use. It requires mental intellect to call it out and weave it around her raked body. Tired as she is, she calls a smaller spell to come forth. It will bind the worse of the shredded skin, numbing the pain. The adrenaline of battle has numbed till now, but as it leaves agony sets in.
Sitting down, she fumbles with her bag. The food gives the magic some minerals to work with, makes it more potent. It works slower than the magic but at least this way she savors flavor. And the drink! A cool wash of clear water will help clear away the weariness and rinse her mind clean of the fight.
No sooner had she settled herself and gotten out her bag than a mind numbing roar assaulted her senses. Wincing, she braces herself against the tree and is using it as support for a gathering of effort. Using the last of her mental strength, she shifts once more. Not into the beautiful cat but into the short and stocky bear. Its brute and strength are her last resort in most fights. She would win this one at all costs!
It was another bear that followed the loser and plans its disposal. It found a dead loser and an injured Druid instead. Intending to make the best of it, it would attack and kill the Druid and consume them both.
Rearing back on hind legs, she let lose with her own roar. The new threat cowers a bit but it is determined. It mimics her, gathering itself on hind legs and they throw themselves at the other's throat. She gets the hold and thrashes her weight from side to side. Smallness gives her a measure of agility. More nimble but less powerful, she will use this to her advantage. Swiping down, the clawed hand would have her head smashed on the ground. Dodging left, she strikes right, gashing the bear's face.
Bleeding from two places, the bear should stop. It should. But it's enraged! Almost screaming, it backs up. She thinks it will leave. It charges instead… smashing it's skull into hers… knocking her senseless.
Two clawed paws and a thick set of teeth decent to meet the hide of the injured Druid. Taking hold of her throat it wrenches its head back and forth, meaning to break her neck in a killing move.
Coming too for a second, she has a choice: expend the last bits of her strength to keep fighting, or expend it to heal and hope she can outrun the bear. She doesn't have it in her to shift into the swift form of Dushu and flee with great speed. Instead she concentrates, diving deep into herself and channeling her rage to feed the healing spell. This is the moderate level teaching when one is little and needs to be able to understand and control the rage that comes when one is frenzied in attack. Controlling the rage, she channels it. As she channels it, bracing against the thrashing of the other bear on top of her, she flexes her mind to change hurt and anger and rage into clean healing energy.
She begins to heal. As she does, she wretches free and turns to run while tapping a second spell linked to her hearthstone. This one takes no mental prowess, it is a rune of appeal to Elune, Who Hears All, calling for the very roots and branches of the forest to flex up behind her and cover her escape.
She feels the ground shiver, the roots move, bend and flex. The bear lets out with a deafening roar of anger when the forest attempts to close up the path behind the fleeing Druid. It crashes wildly threw the first barrier, pulling free with shear determination. She glances back for a moment, afraid to see that the bear has almost caught up. The earth rumbles once more, the very branches of the trees reach down to assist, but what are branches compared to the angry weight of brown bear? The trees groan and shriek as the branches are broken and snapped. The bear pushes threw.
Afraid now she longs for the swiftness of her feline forms. She will not get them. The earth moves one last time, snaking vines across her path, narrowly avoiding catching her thickened hind legs. These the bear slams into. They creak and groan… and hold. The Druid does not look back again, she runs for her life.
Her family will not be able find her here, cannot enact the rite that binds soul to body and heal it to life again. She will get to the road where the path is clear and sure and keep running.
The sounds of the bear struggles are becoming distant, thought not far away. She runs, blinded to anything but the though of the open road and freedom. If she runs far enough, she will escape- this she tells herself avidly. Her fur is slick with blood. The slow gate of this form, normally right with the roll of muscle and strength, is now too slow and weighs too much. Shifting, she is her mortal self again.
Breathing deeply, she steadies her gate and lopes towards the road, injuries taking a back seat to the need to live. The exertion is more than she can handle in her state and she is slowed somewhat. Breathing hard, ears ringing from the head butt, she takes in her surroundings. Finally she comes to a halt, all but collapsing into the path. Heaving, she pulls open her bags and fumbles with the bread and water. Healing isn't fueled by magic alone. Her body is starved for nutrition.
She was careless. Admitting faults fees some of the fog from her brain. Yes, what she close to hunt was indeed a bit strong for her. She killed one that was already injured but wasted her time and mental capacity with needless exertions. The fire of the moon could have been a healing spell instead and perhaps she would have two bears to bring home… And now she has none, losing the dead bear to the live bear when she fled.
Half the bread and water are down her throat before she realizes it is gone. It isnt enough to take care of the worst of the wounds but as she relaxes into the shade, the sun streaming onto her face, her mind very slowly uncurls.
Her thoughts are drifting when she senses the presence of enemy. To her feet in an instant she looks around. Nothing. She senses nothing..
The wildcat slams into her, full of quick life. Elune! Why had she been so foolish… Tearing free of the claws once only to be caught by them again. Her forearms are shredded. She screams, a high-pitched sound. The dark cat answers with it's own shrill song. It is slender and full of grace. It moves with ease, much more energized than the little Druid. It's lithe and speed and agile form is behind her in a second flat, stunning her, shredding from shoulder to calf. The wounds cross over the other set left by the first bear. She cries again and falls to the ground.
There is nothing left. Her wounds bleed. Her body shivers in pain. Dimming green eyes are blinded with the tears of regret. MaytheGoddesswatchoverme,inthisworldandthenext…
The cat screams, a high pitched and shrill sound. Scrambling to get out of the clearing it is thrashing threw the undergrowth and dashing away in fear. Bloody talons rake and claw at anything to get away from her. It smashes threw the foliage, tripping in it's frenzy. Flying head over shoulders, it lands with an almost inaudible thud. Righting itself in no time flat, he tares off into the gathering sunlight.
Gone. For a second she is wondering if Elune had heard her plea. That isn't how it works though… so what was it? Surely the cat was not afraid of her, a dying Druid?
The sound of something big moves behind her. Closing her eyes she all but gives up. The cat must have seen something bigger and run for its life. Pulling her knees to her chin she waits for it to decent on her with a killing blow.
"Mmmm, Druid." A dry and half husky voice purrs, "Lets see if we can't make her turn into a bear. I know a nice recipe for bear burgers."
Another voice chuckles slightly, "I doubt you'll get any good meat off of her even if she were a bear." This voice is not the dry female voice of before. It is masculine and soft, a cultured voice. A reasonable voice.
"Were you watching?" The husky voice croaks, "She got tenderized by two bears and a wildcat. She's squishy now."
"Being pulverized does not make her edible." The male says softly. "Quite the opposite in fact."
"Spoilsport." The woman hisses.
The Druid can feel the gaze of the pair. One, she knows is a warlock. The pure hatred in the fel energy emanating from it is unmistakable.
"She'll make a nice imp."
No! Struggling to stand, she tries to run away. The path the cat took is marked with broken branches and torn foliage. Feet under her, she turns to run… only to find the warlock blocking her path. Undead!HordescuminAuberdine!Oh,Elune,letmemakeithome.Ihavetowarnmyvillage!
Panicked, she turns to run towards the road once more. This time she runs into the owner of the cultured and reasonable voice. Gazing up quickly, trying to gage this threat, she meets soft amber eye with harsh green eye. Not level, for he is a grown man and she is just beyond childhood.
He is beautiful, her first though of him. Cool and collected, he gazes down at her. His face is elven and aristocratic. His stance is easy, the tall and upright posture of a fallen noble. His hair is long and black, slick from expense and care. It falls unbound as a symbol of his rank in his society. There was no need to bind it up, no one can touch him. The air about him says he is used to being in command. And wise. She sees it in his features; he lives in wisdom, a leader. A Priest.
A Blood Elf. Distant relation to her own people, they are cousins. The reason the Well of Eternity is gone… The reason over 2/3 of the world exploded. Because of Azshara and her Priestesses. Most of them died off in the following wars or were turned into Satyrs and Naga. The few that remained had fled before the Dark Portal was opened. Their reckless use of magic caused them to be banished from the kaldorie lands. It took them over a lifetime to find a place to settle. And an immortal lifetime is long enough for them to lose their shade dark skin, for their ears to shorten in response to the cold winters they had to endure and for their high to diminish a bit. They were no longer Night Elves of Nobility… they became High Elves, then Blood Elves… and they on the verge of extinction.
This one looked down at her with a smooth face that only betrayed his curiosity. The Druid wondered how many of her kind he saw up close that wasn't trying to kill him. She had never seen a member of the Horde up close. Just the ones who attacked the towns, and the guards drove them off eventually.
She backs up in haste. The only way to go was back to the bear that had nearly killed her. Compared to what these two will do to her, she would take the bear! Turning to run, her strength gives out. She falls to the earth with a cry of despair. There is nothing left to run with... and nowhere to go really. To be killed by Horde or killed by a bear… it was all the same. She hoped the Priest would be the one to do it. The Warlock would steal her soul and prevent her from being given to the Grace of Elune, where she would some day come back in life and run the cool forest again.
