Adventure Loves Company, Too
Chapter 4: Unlikely Target
The seemingly effervescent gloom of Duskwood permeated the fragile shell of cheer that the small group had, and quickly dampened their spirits. Gelt had a habit of catalyzing the effects with his default gloom mode, and Claryssa was getting surly. Jen'Zin noticed this, and started to get a bit quiet, which Gelt noticed and thus got even gloomier. So, the death spiral continued until the three of them fell into silence, broken a bit by Issa's uncomfortable chitters and the low rumble of Gelt's kodo. After a while, though, Jen'Zin felt brave enough to speak up.
"So, uh, who's hungry?" He grinned nervously and looked at his companions. Gelt grunted and Claryssa harrumphed in agreement. They slowed and backed off the road a little bit, and Jen'Zin built up a campfire and Gelt wandered into the forest to find something edible. Claryssa stared into the fire, feeling a bit better now that Gelt was out of her sight.
"Sorry about being so mean, Jen'Zin," she muttered, tossing bits of stick into the fire. "I guess between the gloom of the forest and Gelt's pessimism, I can't seem to think of anything cheery."
"Dat be okay, Clar," he said, patting her on the head as he always did. She decided not to comment on the nickname at this point in time. "I understand whatcha mean. Tauren be a very down-ta-eart' bunch, and rarely have a good sense o' humor. Gelt even more so." He made a face, referring to the bad references he had made in several of his equally bad jokes. He shrugged, however. "Best ya can do is not let it get to ya. 'M sure dat as soon as we get outta dis spider-infested forest, da sooner all of us'll lighten up, yah?"
Claryssa gave a wan smile and sighed. Gelt then reentered with a slightly smoking, very sad-looking deer. It was quickly skinned and butchered, and some thin steaks were being grilled on a makeshift grill made by Gelt out of a breastplate found discarded nearby. After a small meal with the remnants thrown to Issa, they remounted and started off again.
They made camp that night in a small clearing. If you could call it night. The only discernible difference between night and day in Duskwood was the increased chittering of spider legs. Claryssa unconsciously inched closer to Jen'Zin, and got a reassuring pat on the head in return. She smiled nervously and listened to Gelt go on about the various spider venoms and how they affected the body, depending on where you got bit. IF you didn't get instantly killed by the spider's fangs. They ate the rest of the small steaks that were carved off of the skinny deer and pulled out their bedrolls and settled in for bed.
Except for Jen'Zin, who had lost the game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who on the first watch.
Claryssa shivered in her oversized blanket, listening to the chilling chatter of arachnids, punctuated by Gelt's rumbling snore. Jen'Zin had disappeared, hidden in the trees near their camp. Every now and then she'd hear a chattering death squeal from a spider who had wandered too close to his post. She sighed and tried to relax, and didn't even remember falling asleep.
Jen'Zin sighed and scratched his chin. Sitting in one place doing nothing wasn't really his forte. He growled and lazily flung another ball of electricity at a spider. It hissed spitefully and spasmed onto its back and died. The troll sighed and relaxed in his tree. Another two hours until he could wake up that smug Tauren and get some sleep. He jumped over several trees and settled down again.
A thin shadow took advantage of Jen'Zin's relocation. It had been holding its breath right below the troll, trying not to be noticed. It slipped around the tree it had its back pressed against and moved towards the camp. It paused, watching the two figures sleep. It noticed the smaller of the two and crept toward it. There was a small rustle of paper and a pause. The shadow pulled out a small dagger and a thick piece of cloth and approached Claryssa.
She didn't know why she woke up. She just did. She didn't even feel anything, she just snapped awake suddenly. Just in time to see the vague outline plunge a dagger toward her. She screamed and rolled, getting tangled in her oversized blankets. She stumbled out of them as Gelt gave out a roar and threw a searing ball of green light at the attacker, who evaded it easily. She did not, however, evade the bolt of lightning.
The attacker flickered back into existence and gave out a series of foul curses and flung a dagger at Claryssa in a last-ditch attempt as Jen'Zin gave a cry of victory and leaped out of the trees. The girl's legs moved faster than she had anticipated, and she danced out of the way of the projectile. Jen'Zin landed next to the would-be assassin and grabbed it, electricity surging. The assassin went limp, passed out.
The three of them breathed heavily, and slowly began to laugh shakily. Claryssa, who had never had anything remotely dangerous happen to her, felt like she was in a fog that made everything move in slow motion. She was disoriented, her eyes wide, her heart pounding, her balance thrown off. She staggered into something covered in coarse fur, and looked up to see Gelt looking at her with an eyebrow raised. She vaguely heard Jen'Zin laugh.
"Poor t'ing, got an adren'lin rush." His voice sounded miles away. She felt something heavy on her head and turned sharply, seeing the troll grinning at her, his hand on her head again. She flashed a quick smile at him and slowly started to calm down. She shivered, her hands shaking.
"Never had a dagger thrown at me," she muttered, her eyes unfocused and her muscles twitching. It was altogether unpleasant, and she felt a blanket being laid over her shoulders.
"Yeh, well, go run laps, 'r somethin'," Jen'Zin suggested. It occurred to Claryssa that that was wa spectacular idea and went to run around the campsite a few dozen times. The troll shook his head and returned his attention to the one who attacked his friend.
A cloth was wrapped around its head, and Jen'Zin quickly undid it, then pulled back, astonished. He looked at Gelt, who returned his look.
The assassin was a Night Elf. A rather short, female Night Elf, to be exact.
Gelt's eyebrows furrowed and Jen'Zin rifled through her pockets. He pulled out a bit of tattered paper and unwrapped it. It was a wanted poster. His eyebrows shot up and he showed it to Gelt, who stared at it in shock.
"Wait, what?" He took the poster and his eye twitched. "'Wanted: Claryssa Silverhart, for the murder of twenty soldiers and assisting a criminal in his escape. Reward, 1,000 gold.' Are you serious? The girl can hardly hold a dagger, let alone kill someone...or something. What's the meaning of this? And what's with this reward?" He waved the parchment at the troll angrily.
"Well, we were kinda obvious in our escape..." Jen'Zin ran his fingers through his hair. "She wanted ta come wit' me, and I couldn' resist, yah? I guess dat t'ey included her in my escape plans, an' you know how anyt'in' havin' ta do wit' an enemy gets multiplied ev'ry time it be retold."
Gelt grunted and crumpled the paper up and tossed it into the fire. "Humans are so stupid sometimes. They only see what they want to see, and don't even stop to think about it, no matter how insane their assumptions."
Jen'Zin remained quiet and disarmed the Night Elf, and quickly tied her up. He then tossed all of the poisons he found off into the forest. The satisfying sound of breaking glass accompanied each toss. He then threw all of the weapons into the fire.
Claryssa finished her circuit around the camp and slowed to a stop and panted, her hands on her knees. Jen'Zin grinned at her and began to break down camp. Fifteen minutes later, they were headed out, the Night Elf tied to the back of Gelt's kodo like a dead deer. The girl yawned from her place between Jen'Zin's legs and rested against his chest, trying to get back to sleep. It was quite hard. Her companions were talking among themselves in Orcish again, and Issa was prancing. She did, however, fall into a slight doze, using Jen'Zin's armor straps as stability again.
"You know that we aren't going to be able to approach anything remotely Alliance now?" Gelt muttered, snapping his reigns slightly to keep his kodo from lumbering off the trail. "Every bounty hunter and adventurer looking to make an extra copper is going to be looking for her. She's obviously an easy target, and they aren't going to expect her to have any defenses."
"I know, I know. 'S not my fault dat dose idiots in Stormwind are overreact to da slightes' t'ing," Jen'Zin replied, his voice surly. "Yah, I put 'er in danger, and I told 'er dat dere would be danger, but she ignored it an' came 'long wit' me anyway. If ya wanna yell at anyone, yell at 'er, not me."
Gelt sighed and rubbed his nose. "Why did I agree to come with you guys?"
"I be an irresistible white-hot ball 'o charisma?" Jen'Zin supplied with a grin.
"You're being facetious, of course."
The response was a grin.