Part 7
OwlDance sat on the floor of the tram car as it hurtled toward Ironforge, the ache in his head and the lump under his hair a glum reminder of how useless he really was. He supposed he should be grateful his Guild master had given him back his prized twin daggers, and still thought him worthy of the fine matched blades.
"Stop it, boy. Moping doesn't help your looks and sulking is the province of children," Kill said at his shoulder.
"You hit me," Owl accused.
"I hit you all the time in training," the Gnome muttered back. With OwlDance sitting they were eye to eye and the hard dark eyes of the Master Rogue gave no sympathy.
Owl hunched down further into himself at that and ignored his Master as they whooshed through the glass tunnel underneath the lake.
Mechaswarm snorted a humorless laugh beside him, then tugged on one long backswept ear. Owl shook his head vigorously to dislodge the Master Rogue's hand. "Either you're mooning over Jevalyn again or you've done the unthinkable and fallen for the Copperbolt girl."
"Aren't you worried about them at all? And even if I did fall for Ancasta why would you care? Wouldn't you be more inclined to say she'd be a good influence on me?" Owl retorted.
Mechaswarm did laugh at that and shook his head. "Good influence? Amergin Copperbolt's granddaughter? The girl's going to be a one-woman army if the apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree. If anything, you'll be the good influence. Now stop the sulking. You're not too old for me to spank, and I've no qualms about doing it in front of the Jenkins boys." The Gnome paused for a moment, then glanced at him again. "You didn't answer my question. Are you mooning over Jevalyn again? Because if you are I can't take you on this mission."
Owl said nothing but got to his feet as the tram jolted to a stop.
-O-O-
The Jenkins clan was a strange family, and no one was certain if any of them were actually related by blood. It was entirely possible they'd all adopted the surname Jenkins as some kind of group eccentricity. The only commonalities between them was that they were all Human and they were all elite veteran warriors of one sort or another. Several were in service to the Church as Paladins, several more were former Guardsmen, a few were known Warlocks or Mages. While only two of their number actually belonged to Kill Mechaswarm's Guild officially, it was not unusual when the Master put out a call for swords that the entire clan would show up armored and ready to go.
They met the Jenkins family in the Stonefire Tavern as the family lived in and operated out of Ironforge. Four of them had showed up at Mechaswarm's call this time, but along with them sat a veritable Goddess-sent windfall of far-flung Guildmates who had not been among them in many moons - the Human Warlock Zarissa, and the Human Rogues Leonydus and Zachius. As they were settling in around the table and calling for drinks from the tavern's bartender, the Night Elf Hunter StalkingWolf ghosted in the door on silent feet.
"The Alterac Mountains, Master," StalkingWolf said quietly in answer to Kill's query as to his whereabouts lately. As all the chairs around the table were taken the Hunter joined OwlDance in sitting on the tavern's wide hearth. His gray wolf lay down at his feet and his barn owl flitted up to perch on the tavern's door lintel. "I've been summoned home to Teldrassil, but I was planning to return to Stormwind to speak to you before I did so. It's lucky chance we are both here today."
Owl turned to give his fellow Elf a long look and whispered a question in their mother tongue. StalkingWolf looked startled, then nodded once in answer.
"Longears business," one of the Jenkins boys muttered.
"Care to share with the class, boys?" Zarissa called over.
Owl opened his mouth to answer but StalkingWolf gestured him to silence and smiled up at the Human Warlock. "It is indeed Elven family business, my dear. Quite literally. Owl simply inquired whether I was recalled home to present myself to the Frostsabers as a potential rider. I have not yet been granted that honor, yet now the Circle calls me home for just that."
"All to the good," Kill said before anyone else could question further. "But can you wait a few days? We could use you on this raid."
"It is possible," StalkingWolf said. "But Master, first I bring news. As I was leaving Alterac, I paused at Ravenholdt to pay my respects to Master Fahrad. He charged me with delivering a message to you. I do not know what the message contains but he said it is to do with the recent attack on the Merchant Guild masters."
The Hunter reached into his hunting pouch and brought out a folded parchment sealed with Ravenholdt's sign imprinted in the red wax. Mechaswarm hopped down from his chair, took the letter and clapped the Hunter on the shoulder in thanks.
Beside StalkingWolf, OwlDance felt his whole world silently crashing down around him.
But his Master did not open the letter, merely tucked it into the inner pocket of his black leather vest and returned to the matter at hand. He began to lay out what he and the other surviving Guild Masters had pieced together from the fatal attack on Stormwind only the day before.
None of them noticed when Owl got to his feet to stretch and wandered back into the Tavern's kitchen. It was an hour later when Kill thought to wonder where his Apprentice had gone, and an hour after that to realize OwlDance had vanished.
-O-O-
Flitting from shadow to shadow in the hushed and shock-numbed streets of the Dwarven District, OwlDance felt the terrible scream of betrayal threatening to burst from his throat. His mind whirled with thoughts, accusations, a dozen questions all spinning down to one word - why. Avoiding the Trade District and its blood-soaked square, he took the street beside the canal and crept into a narrow doorway. The smells of ale and Dwarven stout wafted through the air from the barrels behind the crude wooden bar, and the Dwarven bartender barely looked up at him as he sharpened an axe. Owl slipped out the taproom's back door and into the tiny weed-infested courtyard and alleyway beyond.
He sprinted across to the tiny inn, really more of an ancient house with an extra room to rent out to those not looking to answer questions. The woman who acted as innkeeper sneered at him as he came in the door, then muttered something dark into her tankard of cheap wine. The place was dingy at best, dirty and foul smelling at worst. The rains had brought rot to the wood of the walls and fouled the plaster with mold, and rats and roaches seemed to be permanent residents. The stairs creaked ominously under Owl's weight but he didn't care. There was no sense hiding his approach, and he didn't want to.
He flung open the crude wood-plank door at the top of the stairs and was across the room with his hands at the other's throat in a blur. His momentum carried them both back until the Elven man in his hands hit the wall, rattling the entire room with the impact.
"You lied to me!" OwlDance growled.
The pale, thin face shifted into soft laughter and in one motion the armored arms broke Owl's hold and flung the Night Elf across the room. OwlDance hit the wall but landed in a crouch, drew his blades and leaped at the other Elf.
The Elf lifted a hand and clenched his fist and OwlDance stumbled and fell in mid-leap, choking, dropping his knives to clutch at the invislble claws tearing at his throat and cutting off his breath.
The Elf laughed softly again and crossed to the room's one wooden chair, sat down and stretched, and casually crossed his legs at the ankle. Fine black armor, a combination of darkened mail and blackened plate, clung to his lean graceful form. The dark leather of his pants outlined long muscles and the intricate tooling of his boots showed magical sigils embroidered and carved in the leather. Long ivory white hair cascaded around his shoulders and over the quillons of the long broadsword glowing red through the slits in the scabbard. His green eyes looked on the choking Night Elf with considerable amusement, a sly grin playing on the thin face as the Rogue struggled to breathe.
"Lied to you? In what way?" he asked in a light voice. "I paid you good coin for your work. But trust a Kaldorei to confuse business and pleasure."
Abruptly the Strangulate spell released and OwlDance gasped in a breath, falling forward over his knees, dark spots dancing in front of his eyes and a roaring of his blood in his ears. He pushed himself upright and sprang up from where he knelt in one motion, pulled and threw one of his throwing knives at the smirking Elf. It hit dead center of the Elf's chest and shattered on impact with the magical blackened plate armor. Shards of tempered steel sprayed around the room.
Suddenly the black-clad Elf flowed to his feet and shoved OwlDance back again, pinning him bodily to the wall and catching the Rogue's hands and digging his thumbs into the tendons of the wrists. OwlDance choked on his cry of pain as his hands went numb and his daggers fell to the floor.
"What did you think you were playing with, Kaldorei?" the Elf hissed at him, green eyes flashing suddenly red. "One of your own? Do you think for one second that one such as me would want one such as you for anything other than a business transaction? You were a whore in bed and a whore when you dropped that poison into the Merchant Guildmasters' wine cups. You sold yourself for pleasure and pride. But you Kaldorei are so weak and corrupt you will sell yourselves for coin of any kind."
"And you'll only sell yourself for blood?" OwlDance snarled back.
The smirk reappeared. "And the power it brings me."
OwlDance struggled in his hold but the laughing Blood Elf simply evaded his every attempt to kick or wrench his arms free. The Blood Elf stepped back abruptly and sketched a glowing white sigil in the air, and instantly OwlDance's hands and feet were encased in thick shackles of ice, forcing him to the floor again.
"So many possibilities," the Blood Elf mused in a purr. "You on your knees. But then you always end up that way, don't you?"
The door burst inward with a howl of power and hurtling through the explosion a small black blur leaped upon the Blood Elf in deadly silence. OwlDance saw the greenish shine of poison on the silver glittering blades a split-second before the Blood Elf gave a gurgling cry and fell in a spray of blood to the floor.
"Zarissa!" Kill Mechaswarm husked out as he leaped away from the Blood Elf's body.
"Oh let me at that son of a -" Zarissa snarled at the doorway.
"Owl first!" StalkingWolf said as he followed their leader to the stunned and terrified Rogue.
"Hold still, honeybunch," Zarissa said as she came to him and looked at the ice shackles around his hands and feet. With a whispered spell the shackles burst under a sudden gout of fire magic. "Kill?"
"Get rid of that filth," the Gnome Guildmaster growled. "Owl! Look at me!"
OwlDance looked down at his freed hands, dropped his head onto his Master's small shoulder, and gave one long terrible howl of grief-stricken, soul-rending agony as Zarissa began to cast her dread demonic magics.
"That bastard's going to pay for this for a long time, I promise," Zarissa vowed as the Gnome and the Hunter held the grieving Rogue.
-O-O-
"His name was BloodThorn," OwlDance said listlessly, his voice rough with exhaustion and strained from his grief. "I thought he was Kaldorei."
Zarissa and StalkingWolf pretended they didn't see the fresh tears starting down his cheeks and the furtive sniffle. They were sitting on the steps of the Cathedral where the little group had wandered in a daze after Zarissa had gotten done binding the Blood Elf's soul into a soulstone. Kill stood on the steps below them, arms crossed across his chest as he watched his apprentice. He was deeply worried about the younger Rogue, and wondering who else among his Guild had been compromised in similar manner.
"How much did you hear?" OwlDance asked.
"Enough," Kill said. He took the two steps up to stand at the Night Elf's knee and tugged on a lock of the black hair. "You know you are not allowed to take contracts that I have not approved. You agreed to that when you became my apprentice."
"But it wasn't -" OwlDance started.
"He paid you, one way or another," Kill said implacably.
OwlDance dropped his gaze from his Master's and nodded.
"Kill -" Zarissa began.
"That Horde tried to murder him, Zari," Mechaswarm said in a growl. "He had my apprentice on the floor in Ice Shackles, trying to decide how to kill him."
"It's more than that," OwlDance said wretchedly. "He - BloodThorn - I swear I didn't know he was a Death Knight. Not until today. I thought he was - I don't know, maybe a Sentinel. Or a Paladin. At least, I used to think so. Until he asked me to kill the Merchant Guildmasters."
"And you still trusted him after that?" Kill demanded.
Owl shrugged helplessly, then nodded, too ashamed to look his Master in the eye.
Kill glared at him for a long moment, then shook his head and reached up to rub his eyes wearily. He dropped to sit on the step at Owl's feet. "Ah hell. What a mess. Whatever possessed you - no, don't answer that. You're young, and you Elves are as randy as rabbits at your age."
"You make it sound like a bad thing," StalkingWolf said dryly.
Kill snorted a laugh at that, then looked back up at his apprentice still silently weeping. "You got attached to him, eh? The Horde?"
"He wasn't a Horde to me!" Owl insisted in defense. "He was -"
"Beautiful? Obviously highly trained and highly skilled, yet endlessly interested in the goings-on of a leatherworker and a cook?" Kill supplied. "And I'll bet was all shocked with wonder when you showed him how you could sneak unseen into a room full of people and pick their pockets clean even of stray threads. Made you feel invincible because he cared for you."
Owl nodded reluctantly.
Kill made an exasperated sound at that and glared at his apprentice. "Well, I suppose congratulations are in order. You've just acquired your first life-long regret."
"Kill, you have ice water for blood," Zarissa muttered at her Guild master.
"And I'm a sucker for strays," Kill returned.
-O-O-
"So, how are we to find them?" Leonydus said an hour later, once more in the Stonefire Tavern in Ironforge.
Mechaswarm sat back in his chair and looked down into the depths of his Human-sized mug of Thunderbrew. He sat silent for a moment, then back up and around at his Guildmates gathered around the table. "Have you ever noticed that when you are out hunting or clearing out a bandit camp or going through the Defias infestation in Deadmines, you have a sense always of where your fellows are? If you become separated you can find them easily, even in confusing terrain or cave systems, you can still find them. It's as if you had a map and their positions were written upon it with a glowing dot, and all you had to do was follow it to them."
The Jenkins boys looked uncomfortable at this, but nodded. Zarissa, Leonydus and Zachius did the same.
"I thought that was simply something given to us by Elune," StalkingWolf said beside OwlDance. "I didn't know it was common to the rest of the world's races."
"It is," Kill said with a brief nod.
"Yet another pact made with mortals by the Gods?" Zarissa asked.
Kill shrugged. "That I don't know. And I don't know who you would ask, since Father Patraic is lost to us at the moment. But I think we can use it to our advantage now, and find our lost women. I found Wasichu's rifle on the steps of the Cathedral yesterday. It's a custom-made Draenei rifle, with his name in Draenei runes on the stock. But Wasichu's body was not among the dead in the entry hallway. I suspect Jevalyn, Ancasta and many other magic-users were within the Cathedral proper, while Wasichu and others were defending by shooting out the front door when the Horde came. Wasichu and I have spent a lot of time hunting Horde together. And something in me tells me he's north - far north. Not Alterac or Hillsbrad north, further still. I think he's in Northrend."
"And you're counting on Wasichu being held in the same place the mages are being held?" Zachius asked skeptically.
"Yes, or near to. The Death Knights are holding his sister, his only living relative. Jevalyn says jump and he says how high," Kill said with a smirk. "Wherever he is, if he isn't with her he's trying desperately to get to her. And I will be able to find him."
The Jenkins all looked at each other, clearly only half-believing their Guild Master's claims. Leonydus and Zachius looked thoughtful and not entirely convinced.
"Northrend's no place for green younglings," Leonydus said at last, obviously trying to be dipolomatic, but just as obviously meaning OwlDance sitting silent and pale beside his Master.
Kill sighed. "I know."
Owl looked up at his Master at that.
"Circumstances are not making for easy decisions," Kill said, looking around the table. "I'll make a decision on that after Owl and I have talked. For the moment, that's the plan. I suggest that if any of you will need supplies for this trip that you avail yourself of the vendors. I want to leave at midnight."
-O-O-
"You're in no shape for this," Mechaswarm said in the shadows under a stairway on Ironforge's Great Forge concourse. "Even on the best day of your life at your current level of skill you wouldn't be up for this. This is not a slight on you - one day you will be equal to this, and if you're not I'll hang up my knives and go home to Gnomeregan and let the damned Troggs have me. One day, you're going to be my greatest work. But that day isn't yet. And right now you're shattered."
OwlDance nodded silently.
Mechaswarm put a hand on the hunched, muscular shoulder. "Boy. I will bring them home. One way or another."
Owl nodded again. "I guess now you know I haven't been chasing Jevalyn all this time," he tried to joke.
Mechaswarm laughed softly at that and tugged on the nearest long ear. "No, you haven't. And now, I wish you had. Now she would be a good influence on you. The Copperbolt girl... I'd suggest you learn to hide behind her. I think you two will be together for a long time."
"Am I always going to be hiding behind Gnomes?" Owl asked as he got to his feet.
"No. Not always," Kill said. "Now come on. Finespindle is a good man. While I'm gone, you will be making me a new set of dark leathers. I think I'm probably going to need them."
