Serlah sighed and glanced again at her mate. Lurigk was frowning out the window and seemed content to let her speak for them both.
"We cannot come with you, Galmak. There's too much here for us to tend to. We would lose our livelihood if we left our farm for such a long journey."
Her son nodded regretfully, knowing she was right but wishing it could be otherwise. He would be their eyes and ears among these lost clansmen; he would learn all he could about these people and who they had become.
"All these years," Lurigk said. "More of us on Azeroth this whole time."
"Oh, my son," Serlah sighed and squeezed Galmak's hands. "You've been given such a gift. Use it well and find our kin."
"I will, Mother," he said quietly and pulled her into a hug.
There was much to do before they set out and his stomach leapt with excitement at what awaited across the sea. Olkhor had immediately announced his intention to come and Galmak couldn't blame him. And then, much to Galmak's surprise, Gheris had also asked to come along. The orc had laughed heartily when he caught the gleam in Gheris's eye: this was an adventure, and Gheris didn't want to miss out. Well, in a way it was an adventure, and Galmak couldn't deny him.
Hyara was excited yet also apprehensive. It had shaken her deeply when Galmak had finally told her of his dreams and admitted that they'd been going on since coming through the Portal weeks ago. He hadn't known until recently that they were anything more than odd nightmares, but she still wished he'd said something since the dreams seemed to speak to another strange ability the ancestors must have known about. Was this what he'd been fated and named for, to seek out the last of his kin? It seemed so, and yet Hyara had to admit to herself that it all scared her a little.
Only a few days later the group was retracing their path back south to Ratchet and debating the route they should take to get to the Hinterlands.
"Doesn't make any sense to go way the hell back south to Booty Bay again," Olkhor grumbled. "From the map, it looks to me like the Hinterlands is on the whole other damn side of the world from there."
"If you look at it that way it doesn't make much sense," Hyara answered. "But the lanes from Ratchet to Booty Bay are safe. They're well-traveled enough to be free of pirates and slavers."
"But what about the trip north overland from there?" Galmak said, raising an eyebrow at her. "That's a lot of ground to cover and quite a bit of Alliance territory to cross."
Hyara sighed and shook her head. He had her there.
"I think you're all failing to see the obvious," Gheris said. "We don't go overland and we don't take a ship south."
"And where and how does that take us?" Galmak asked.
"That takes us by ship to Faldir's Cove," Gheris answered with a smile.
Hyara sent Galmak a questioning look but he just shrugged.
"Oh, come on. Faldir's Cove in the Arathi Highlands? Neither of you?" Gheris rolled his eyes. "It's the biggest smuggling port in the northern half of the continent. And by big, I mean… gods, a few hundred people at the most." He grinned. "But the drinks are mostly excellent."
Hyara groaned. "You would come up with something like that, Gheris. A smugglers' and pirates' port? I thought I mentioned that 'safe' was a consideration."
"Hey," he said defensively. "It's run by the Blackwater Raiders, so they have something of a reputation to uphold. It's actually a pretty tame place if you can believe it. Pretty businesslike. They have a lot of contraband goods to move to supply most of the northlands, after all. And the best part is that it's a dead certainty we can get a well-armed ship headed straight there. If there's anything goblins are serious about, it's protecting their gold and making more of it as quickly as possible."
"Well…" Galmak eyed the vindicator skeptically, but it sounded as if it might be a plan. He exchanged a look with Hyara. Gheris might have a bit of an adventurous streak, but he also knew where to draw the line. "I suppose that would make things easier," Galmak conceded.
"How long will this put us out at sea?" Olkhor muttered, sending a sidelong look at Gheris.
"Eh, I wouldn't worry. It shouldn't be much longer than the trip between Ratchet and Booty Bay," the vindicator answered offhandedly, tugging absently at one of the tendrils on his chin. "I wonder if that one tavern is still there…"
Luck was with them; there was a ship leaving Ratchet the next day for Faldir's Cove. It had taken a little bit of doing to find it since the goblins weren't in the habit of openly advertising their smuggling runs, but fortunately Gheris was acquainted with some of the right channels.
"I think I should keep a closer eye on you," Hyara laughed that night as they had a final drink of the evening in the inn.
Gheris raised an eyebrow at her. "If it means I can keep a closer eye on you, I'll go for that deal."
"How do we know we can trust these goblins?" Olkhor asked. "I've heard some things about the slave trade around these parts. Maybe I'm too old to be worth much, but the three of you would make a fine catch for any slaver. 'Specially you." He grinned and waved his mug at Hyara.
"Olkhor, can it be that you're actually concerned for our safety?" she gasped in mock-amazement, earning a surly glare from the old orc.
"Not likely," he muttered, taking a last swig of ale and then shutting his mouth for the rest of the night.
"The Steamwheedle Cartel doesn't move slaves through Faldir's Cove," Gheris said. "Not enough of a market for them up there and the Blackwater Raiders don't really care for that particular trade of the Cartel's anyway. In any case, I know this is a legitimate ship we've got. We shouldn't have any trouble."
"I hope you're right," Galmak said a little more grimly than he'd intended. Not too many years ago the prospect of taking a few riskier risks than usual to go on a journey to an exciting and unknown destination would have thrilled him beyond measure. When had he lost that sense of reckless exuberance? He didn't have to think about that question for too long; he'd lost it when it had also become a matter of Hyara's safety. Those few intervening years since they'd met had taught him that there was plenty of trouble around and it didn't need any help from him in finding them.
But Gheris's information about the ship proved to be correct; it was legitimate and it was captained by a very efficient, very capable goblin. It was a good thing too, Galmak thought, since they'd paid an obscene amount of gold to make this crossing. Yet it had been fully worth it, he and Hyara had to admit, because for the first time in weeks they found themselves sequestered every night in a room of their own, safely beyond hearing of Olkhor or Gheris. Paying through the nose had its perks.
The captain ran a tight ship and he'd already threatened (jokingly, they thought) to throw Gheris overboard if he got his "menace of a giant tail" in the way again, so after that they passed most of the days of the voyage in the passengers' common room below decks, trying to stay out of the way of the crew.
"Has anyone seen Olkhor much in… two days?" Hyara asked, tossing a pair of dice again idly and knowing she would lose once again to her brother.
"Come to think of it, no," Gheris said, collecting his winnings.
"I think the problem is that this room has windows," Galmak said and gestured to the long stretch of paned glass at the back of the room.
"Aah." Gheris nodded thoughtfully. "Doesn't much care for the open sea, huh."
"Maybe he'd rather the world end in a sheer cliff down to the nether," Hyara said skeptically.
"Mind if I join in?" A huge, white-maned tauren dragged a chair over to their table and paused politely for a response. Galmak nodded and scooted his own chair over to make room, slapping the tabletop beside him for the tauren to join them.
"Thanks," the bull said. "I'm Firthom. Most people just call me Fir. Gets a little boring around here, doesn't it?"
"It does, but we have the power to make things very interesting. How much you in for?" Gheris grinned.
"Gheris…" Hyara said warningly. The tauren slapped some coins on the table. "Alright, I'm out," she said. "I can't believe there was a time when I used to beat you." She stuck out her tongue at her brother.
"Well, you were just a kid. I had to let you win once in a while to keep you coming back," Gheris shrugged. "Of course, back then we used to play for rocks so the losses and wins weren't quite what they are now."
The tauren narrowed his eyes. "I hope for your sake you don't cheat, draenei."
"He doesn't cheat, friend," Galmak said placatingly. "He's just pretty damn good. A little too good for me," he added in a mutter, eyeing his own diminished pile of coins. He'd never been much use at the gambling table. Hyara always told him adoringly that it was because he was too honest, but he suspected it was just that he never paid close enough attention.
"What's taking you to Faldir's Cove?" Gheris asked Fir.
The tauren snorted and shook his mane. "Not that it's any of your business, but I'll tell you anyway. There's some group been terrorizing Arathi lately, running around attacking farms and such. Not sure if they're Alliance or what, but my brother's at Hammerfall and wanted me to come out and help look for 'em. Only Horde farms have been getting hit, see. Now, that might only mean they haven't moved on yet to the human places closer to Refuge Pointe, but you never know."
"Could be the Witherbark," Galmak said.
"Could be," Fir shrugged. "Not ogres, but other than that, nobody seems to know yet. They always hit at night and nobody's gotten a look at 'em. Don't really bother the people, see, just go after the livestock and burn crops." He turned an eye back on Gheris. "Now, how about yourself?"
"Oh, I'm just along for the ride," the draenei said dismissively, gesturing toward Galmak.
"I'm going to the Hinterlands to look for what's left of my clan," Galmak explained.
Fir snorted again. "Orcs in the Hinterlands? I suppose just about anything could live up in those mountains and half of it we wouldn't know about," he said thoughtfully. "Strange company you keep, though."
"There aren't very many of my clan left," Galmak said. "And as for the company I keep, it's the best kind."
"Not the best kind if you want to keep your gold." Fir glowered between Gheris and the coins in front of him.
"Can't argue with that," Galmak grimaced. "Last round for me."
"At least he's honest about it," the tauren growled. Gheris grinned at them and proceeded to clean up.
"Drinks on me," the vindicator said and strolled over to the goblin tending bar.
They made port at Faldir's Cove on a blustery, chilly evening just as the sun was sliding into the fiery water behind them. Lights were beginning to wink on in the little village, gold and orange in the falling darkness. It was a tiny place, but by the looks of the docks it was plenty lively. Snatches of music and raised voices drifted across the water from some of the buildings ranged along the narrow streets jutting up the side of a steep hill, and the place had an aura of bustle and industry despite its small population. Olkhor had at last shown his face on deck once land was sighted, staring intently at the shoreline as if his gaze could make it approach faster. Hyara felt a little sorry for him as the old orc practically jumped the rail to get onto the dock.
The captain stopped them as they were disembarking. "Understand I'm not recommending against anything, but if I were you I'd head past the inn near the docks and go up the hill to the smaller inn," he said with a wink.
They thanked him and decided to take his advice, as they could see the larger inn from here and it looked to be surrounded by a small crowd of noisy sailors in varying degrees of sloshedness.
"Hey, that's the tavern I was thinking of," Gheris said. "Looks a little seedier than when I was last here," he added hastily when his sister shot him an amused look.
The smaller inn was also much quieter and looked as if it played host to the port's more businesslike clientele. They saw a mix of goblins, Horde, Alliance, a few Syndicate humans, and even a couple of ogres in the common room chatting or bargaining in low tones over drinks. There was a troll playing a wooden flute in one corner, but he looked as if he were doing it more for his own amusement than for the benefit of the other patrons. Only two rooms were available so it was decided that Gheris would share with Hyara and Galmak for the night. Olkhor looked delighted to be left to himself again.
Galmak fell asleep a few hours later wondering how he would find his clansmen now that he was near. Should he try to contact them again in the dream? Could he contact them again?
Before he'd even made a conscious decision to try, the fog wrapped around him and the whispers pressed at his ears. His dream-self sighed inwardly, wishing he could be done with this place once and for all.
"Hello?" he called softly, not knowing how else he could call his kin into the dream, if that was indeed what he did here.
After a moment the fog in front of him began to grey and substantiate slightly, revealing a hazy figure.
"Have you come?" a voice said.
"Yes," he answered. "But now I need to know how to find you. We're in Arathi."
"Ah. You are close then. But who else do you bring?" the voice asked warily.
"My mate, her brother, and another clansman of ours."
"Are your mate and her brother of our clan also?"
"No," he answered.
The figure must have detected the hesitation in his voice. "What clan are they from then? Some of their kin may be here as well."
Galmak didn't want to answer, but he realized he couldn't very well not say anything and then show up with two draenei; that would put Hyara and Gheris at risk and it would be unfair to his clansmen to hide it from them. He knew his clansmen would never dishonor themselves by refusing to welcome his mate as a sister in the same way they welcomed him as a brother, but better to find out now if they decided not to welcome him at all because of this.
"They're draenei," he said reluctantly.
There was an intake of breath and then silence for a moment. Galmak wished he could read his clansman's expression.
"Go into the Aerie Peaks north and west of Hammerfall," the voice finally said. "We will find you when you're close to us."
Galmak nodded and the dream dissolved around him, leaving him to sleep undisturbed for the rest of the night.
It would take about a day's ride to get to Hammerfall. Galmak seemed a little subdued and preoccupied, but Hyara understood the reason. He had been born at the internment camp that had now become the Horde's major settlement here, so the place held special meaning for him. Unfortunately that special meaning was not entirely pleasant and Galmak didn't choose to think about it very often. Olkhor seemed to catch on to Galmak's mood and may have guessed some of the reason behind it because the old orc began prodding him for details about Hammerfall's history. Galmak answered him as shortly as he could manage. He didn't share his parents' sorrowful, quiet drive to escape the past by spreading knowledge of it.
But Olkhor didn't seem inclined to let the young orc escape so easily.
"Funny how we've swapped places now, isn't it," Olkhor said with a touch of venom. "I want to know what you can tell me and suddenly it's so much better to let it all lie."
"It isn't the same," Galmak muttered. "You want to hear the bad parts."
"To my view, there weren't any good parts in what you wanted to hear either."
"I thought we determined that wasn't true," Galmak glared. "The ancestors weren't talking to me from the Legion."
"And what do you think I remember from most of my life, my young clansman? Not the time of the ancestors. I was young as you or younger when I swore my soul away, and the Legion had already been twisting at us for years before that. I don't know your utopia. If you find it, let me know," Olkhor said bitterly.
Galmak's face burned in shame and anger. He snarled a command to his wolf, surging forward ahead of the group to ride some distance down the road by himself. Hyara let out a small sigh and let him go, knowing better than to follow him. Gheris was looking away over the highlands' rock-strewn hills toward where Gink and Palla were both nosing after something in the distance.
"Well, look at this," the old orc laughed dourly. "Now I've got myself a draenei escort." He reached out a hand and grabbed Hyara's tail, trying to pull her horse closer.
In a flash, Hyara had an axe out and pressed the blade lightly into his side. "Do that again and you'll be missing a hand or more," she hissed.
Gheris looked shocked. Olkhor had frozen but he relaxed visibly as Hyara slowly withdrew the axe.
"Taboo, is that?" the old orc muttered, looking sidelong at both of them. He seemed a little embarrassed. "Didn't know… he does it all the time." He nodded toward Galmak up ahead on the road.
"Yes, my mate does it," Hyara said angrily. "Be sure you never touch me again."
"Well, ah…" Olkhor swallowed and stared down at his hands where they tightly gripped his wolf's saddle. He glared and swallowed again. "I… I'm sorry then. And I'm sorry I insulted you on the road that time."
Hyara was stunned speechless for a moment, but then she couldn't help but smile. "Apology accepted," she said and extended her hand.
Olkhor hesitated and she thought she saw the ghost of a smile cross his face for an instant. "I have your permission to touch your hand, do I?" he asked.
"Yes," she said solemnly and his huge hand swallowed hers briefly.
Up ahead Galmak had halted his wolf and was waiting for the rest of them, gazing off toward the distant mountains. He resumed the ride silently at Hyara's side but he gave her a small smile and rested a hand on her leg. She returned the smile encouragingly and hoped his spirits would rise soon. She thought it might help if Olkhor would give him an apology too, but that would mean hell freezing over twice in a day and she wasn't holding out hope for that. Later on she'd tell Galmak about the apology she'd gotten; that would surely cheer him up some.
They passed several other groups of travelers on the road that wound northeast through the hills to Hammerfall, but Gheris didn't seem to be very concerned about moving out of sight for any Horde. Instead, he merely raised a hand and nodded a greeting right along with Galmak when they passed a pair of tauren headed the opposite direction.
"A little respect goes a long way," the vindicator shrugged when Galmak commented on his fearlessness. "You might be surprised the situations I've gotten out of. Besides, if we run into a group big enough to give us trouble they'd probably find me hiding someplace off the road anyway."
That didn't stop Hyara from extending her senses to search uneasily the closer they got to Hammerfall. She well remembered that night on the road out of Hellfire Peninsula during her first week in Outland and she dreaded the day they might again run across people like that trio who wouldn't be very likely to care that she counted herself loyal to the Kanrethad and not the Alliance. And if they didn't care about that, they certainly wouldn't hesitate to kill a member of the Alliance, regardless of how respectful he was toward them.
The group stopped short of Hammerfall as twilight began to drop across the hills, and they set up a camp at the base of a tor within a stone's long throw of the guards patrolling the town's walls. They were uneasy about staying the night out in the open, given the story they'd heard from the tauren on the ship about the raiding bands plaguing the area lately, but of course Gheris wouldn't be welcome in the Horde settlement. Instead, Galmak rode into town to inform the guards that they'd be camping within sight of the walls. Hopefully they would be near enough to town to discourage an attack, and if the guards knew they were there they would be unlikely to be mistaken for an enemy.
As dusk fell on the group's little camp, Galmak looked up at the mountains silhouetted against the darkening sky, their snowy peaks glowing faintly in the dying sunlight. He wondered what he'd find up there. How many of his clansmen were there, and how many others were with them? The Aerie Peaks were a harsh place to call home. He pulled his eyes away from the mountains and concentrated briefly on the feel of the elements around him, sorting through the now-familiar threads of feeling until he had coaxed forth a tiny flame, flickering weakly in his palm. He focused on it until it grew into a healthy blaze, then pushed it carefully over to feed on the pile of tinder and wood Hyara had arranged.
"That's pretty handy," Gheris yawned, settling his back against a boulder.
"Maybe a little too handy," Galmak grunted. The hunter half of him that had learned to make a fire without magic laughed derisively at that skill and called it cheating. It was such a small thing; perhaps he ought to go back to his trusty flint. Palla rested her muzzle on his leg and he sighed to himself and ran his fingers through her fur. Could he ever find a balance within himself?
To his other side, Hyara rested her head against his shoulder and he put a warm arm around her. She was bundled in a blanket; spring was still chilly at night in the highlands.
"You haven't been back here in a long time, have you?" she said softly.
He shook his head. "I never had any reason to. More than that, I never wanted to. I heard enough about it from my parents." His voice rumbled low, for her ears only.
"But you were born here. It can't have been all bad for them." The years surrounding her husband's birth were still something of a mystery to her and she found that troubling. His parents had told him so much that he'd chosen to remain silent about. Her own parents had told her so little and there was so much she wished she knew, so much she'd heard only from others outside her family: teachers, friends, friends' parents. She didn't even know…
"Gheris, where was I born?" she asked quietly, suddenly not caring if the question called up painful memories for him.
Her brother looked startled but then he frowned into the fire. "You're joking," he murmured. "They never even told you that? They were wrong not to tell you that much at least. You were born in Zangarmarsh, Hyara. And I didn't realize it then, but it was the best day of my life and the reason I cared about continuing." He looked away into the darkness. "Everyone has a right to know where they come from."
Hyara felt tears on her cheeks but she smiled to herself. She'd been born amidst the mushrooms. She liked that thought. She reached out to her brother and he squeezed her hand tightly, his face still averted.
Olkhor stirred the fire and watched the sparks swirl upward on the wind. His face was surprisingly calm, free of the glower he usually displayed to the world.
"And I was born in Blade's Edge," he said quietly. "My father used to take me out with the hunting parties when I was old enough to sit a wolf with him. Remember nights when I could hardly sleep from the excitement. Just a huge world full of adventure and honor to be earned and I could barely lift an axe for myself. And then the Kosh'harg festivals in the spring and fall… When I was just a youngling I'd fall asleep on my mother's lap in front of the fire almost before it was dark. Those were always the days to get up to mischief with the other children." A sad smile twitched his lips. "Most of all that died with my childhood. Died when me and the rest of my ilk decided to kill it."
They listened in silence as Olkhor finally spoke the memories he hadn't let himself think of in so many years. At last the old orc looked up from the fire and met Galmak's eyes. "You were right about what you said. There is some good worth knowing. And worth remembering."
Galmak nodded slowly and an understanding seemed to pass between the two orcs.
"I've found that there usually is," Galmak said, almost to himself. Perhaps he'd always missed the point of his parents' stories of his birth. His mind had always latched onto the despair and brutality that he'd been born in the middle of, but he could remember now the light that had always entered his parents' faces when they talked about his birth. Even in the darkest of places… Hyara, unexpectedly there at the bars of his cell, reaching out to him. Raizha's little snippets of news. That note, and the greatest, most intense surge of hope he'd ever experienced in his life.
Galmak smiled into the flames without seeing them. "Time to sleep. We have a climb ahead of us tomorrow."
Hyara lay down at his side but her luminous eyes stayed wide in the darkness. She'd take the first watch and then she'd wake Gheris for his turn. And then perhaps she'd dream about her little city on top of a mushroom, the place she'd been born.