Of Claws and Totems
Chapter 9
Taur-ahe
The tauren's low moans were coming from a cage twenty paces away. Blackheart and Kalara went immediately to investigate, and were appalled at the sight. A large female tauren was stuffed inside a cage that was entirely too small for her. The cage was a cruel thing, with many metal barbs lining the bars of it. Most of them were sunk into the tauren's flesh; the cage looked to have been made for a human. Blackheart could smell the copious amounts of blood that stained the cage and the ground. How the tauren had lived this long was beyond him.
Once Kalara recovered from her shock, she said, "We have to get her out of there!" She rushed forward to examine the lock. She took the fire totem out of her pack and put it down close enough to set the lock and chain on it. As she carefully summoned magic from her newfound powers, Blackheart could sense her drawing out the flames of the elements and pouring them into the lock. He could smell the acrid scent of the metal being melted away and falling to pieces. When the lock finally fell apart she opened the door and Blackheart took over. He leaned in and as gently as he could he extracted the tauren from the cage. Even with his care, some of the barbs damaged the tauren even more. She moaned in pain a little bit more, and mumbled something in Taur-ahe.
Once he had laid her out, Kalara went to work trying to heal her many wounds. Blackheart was checking over her vitals, and noticed that her eyes seemed glazed over, as if she wasn't fully conscious yet. The tauren had completely brown fur and hair with a white patch on her face that went around both eyes like a mask. He could smell Kalara's healing magic washing over the tauren, and saw the wounds knitting themselves together. "She has some kind of poison in her system that I'm cleansing out now." He could smell the toxicity as the poison was washed away. From its scent he figured it was a very heavy duty sedative. Blackheart was checking her vitals again and was listening to her breathing when she regained consciousness. Her eyes slowly opened and took in the scene for a few seconds before the realization of her situation hit her. There was a large worgen mere inches from her face.
With a surprised bellow she swung her arm with all her might, clubbing Blackheart in the side of the head and sending him sprawling to the side. To Blackheart it felt like getting smacked by a tree trunk. "Blackheart!" Kalara yelled and rushed to his side. Seeing the draenei, an enemy of the horde, she started to crawl away as fast as she could. That's when she noticed the rest of the camp. It had been razed to the ground and there were smoldering, frozen, and dismembered cultists strewn about. The elementals she had remembered seeing were gone as well. There did seem to be an abundance of boulders that she didn't remember the last time she was awake though.
She looked to the cage that she had been imprisoned in, standing open. She was free. But how? She thought she would die in the miserable cage, but now she was free. Which meant she had been let out… and the only two here were a draenei and a worgen. She glanced over to see Blackheart shaking off the blow and assuring Kalara that he was alright. What did they plan on doing with her? Why was a worgen dressed in armor? And why did she itch so much?
Blackheart and Kalara slowly approached the tauren then, trying not to show any signs of hostility. Blackheart realized she had used most of her remaining strength and stamina in trying to club him. The tauren slowly crawled backwards away from the two until she was stopped by a tree. There was nowhere left for her to run.
"Do you speak common?" Blackheart had never seen a tauren's jaw drop in astonishment before. She was completely flabbergasted. "You… can speak?" she asked. Blackheart slowly walked over to the tauren and sat down a few paces away. Kalara paced up and joined him, sitting on the ground in front of the tauren. "Indeed I can speak. I can also tell that you're scared out of your mind right now. You're at the mercy of a worgen and another Alliance member, and you don't know what's going to happen. Is that about right?"
The loud gulp that came from the tauren was answer enough, but in a shaky voice she said, "That about sums it up." She was visibly shaking now. Blackheart turned to Kalara and she nodded. "Well, you can stop worrying. We aren't here to hurt you. If we were, we would have left you in that cage. We also wouldn't have healed you." The tauren looked down, muttering something in Taur-ahe as she checked and saw that she had no wounds and wasn't in any pain. She was just extremely exhausted. Kalara chimed in then, saying, "Well, how about we start with names? I'm Kalara, and this ball of fur is Blackheart."
For a few moments the tauren was too stunned to speak. First, they weren't going to hurt her, then they let her go and healed her, and now they were being… friendly? These were the oddest Alliance she had ever met. "Miakoda… my name is Miakoda Farshot." She found herself saying. What's the worst that could happen? Her life was already in their hands, and they had spared it once.
"Ooo that's a pretty name." Kalara said. She had to admit it felt strange to be talking to a member of the horde, but not as terrible as everyone made it sound. "How did you end up in that cage in the first place?" she asked. Miakoda had a pained look at memories of being caught and stuffed into the tiny thing. "We were sent to the Twilight Hammer to try and infiltrate them and gain some information on them. I thought that we were doing alright… until we woke up those damned cages."
"By we, you me you and the other tauren?" Blackheart asked. Miakoda perked up then. "You found Kuruk? Where is he? Is he ok? I can't remember much after being locked in the cage." The look that passed between Blackheart and Kalara told her the answer. She slumped back down against the tree heavily. "That is… what I was afraid of. I couldn't remember what had happened to him."
Blackheart stood up then. "I'm not familiar with tauren burial practices, but I doubt you will want to leave him the way he is if he meant something to you. If you want I can take you to him." Before she had a chance to answer, yet another groan of someone welcoming consciousness was heard. Kalara and Blackheart looked over to where they had tied and gagged the blood elf a short while before. When Miakoda saw him, she let out an angry snort. Before she could do any of the many painful things she was envisioning to him, Blackheart walked over to the blood elf and unceremoniously drug him by his collar over to the cage that she had previously occupied. Blackheart checked the bindings on his hands and feet, as well as the gag in his mouth. The blood elves eyes widened as he was forced in and he let out more moans as some of the barbs pierced his skin. "That seems like a good place for you to stay out of trouble. Kalara joined Blackheart at the cage and, using her fire totem, she soldered the chain that kept it closed back together. She bent close to the edge of the cage and narrowed her eyes. "Now you be a good little cultist while we're gone. Just keep in mind that you don't need legs to be interrogated." The fear was evident in his eyes as she turned away from him.
Blackheart walked over to Miakoda and offered her his hand. "Let's go see to Kuruk." Still a little wary of the worgen, the tauren shakily got to her feet with the aid of the tree. She took a step forward… and realized she was heading back towards the ground again. She heard a grunt as a furry body intercepted her path and supported her 400 pounds. "So… maybe I do need some help." She put her arm across the worgen's shoulders and let him support her while they walked towards the dead tauren. She was slightly shorter than Blackheart, but his shoulders weren't too far out of reach to be comfortable.
As the group approached Kuruk's body, Blackheart stopped them. Turning his head to Miakoda he said, "I will warn you. It's not pretty." Tears started to form in the tauren's eyes, but she nodded and determinedly held her head up as they continued ahead. When Kuruk's body came into sight Miakoda gasped. Blackheart felt the weight he was carrying increase as the tauren's knees gave out momentarily. Regaining some of her strength, she walked to Kuruk with her own power and grasped the large weapon that impaled him and nailed him to the tree. She gave it a forceful tug but slipped from the blood on the handle and fell to the ground. As she stood up, more of her large tears poured out as she tried in vain to dislodge the weapon.
Blackheart looked to Kalara after the two witnessed the failed attempts. Without need for words, they both knew what had to be done. Miakoda closed her eyes and grasped the handle for one last pull, but snapped them open when she felt something on them. She looked down and saw Blackheart's hand coming from her left, as well as Kalara's hand coming from her right. They were grasping the dagger with her, and with one last pull the combined strength was enough to free the wicked weapon from the tree, letting Kuruk slide down into a heap on the ground.
Looking at the two Alliance, Miakoda quietly thanked them. Blackheart gave her a nod. "Is there anything we can help do?" he asked. "Normally we would set Kuruk in a sarcophagus above ground… but I don't have any of the materials that are required. I will need to build a funeral pyre."
Blakcheart and Kalara set to work gathering up wood for the pyre while Miakoda retrieved some of Kuruk's personal effects. She knew his parents would want something to remember their son by. She had only known Kuruk in passing, both of them being from Camp Narache. Kuruk Thunderhorn, as she had known him in life, had never wanted to be a warrior. She held up the small wooden eagle figurine he had been so careful to craft. She remembered that he had wanted to be a carpenter. She also remembered the angry words of his warrior father breaking the peace of the village when he told him of his dreams. Things that should not have been said were. Miakoda knew that Kuruk's father, Harutt, would forever regret telling his son how disappointed he was and ordering him to train as a warrior. The beautiful things that Kuruk crafted for everyone, like the small eagle she held in her hands, would be produced no more. What a sad waste she thought as she looked at the eagle, noting the beautiful detail put into every part of it. She put the eagle in a pouch at her belt and took the rest of his supplies: some herbs and travel rations, as well as the small knife he used to carve his creations.
After a half hour had passed Kalara and Blackheart had procured enough fresh wood to build the funeral pyre. After the pyre was constructed, Blackheart helped Miakoda move the tauren's body onto the pile of wood. When they stepped back, Kalara knelt before the pyre and carefully summoned forth a small burst of flame to start the ritual.
As they watched the pyre burn, Miakoda closed her eyes and started to sing in Taur-ahe. Though neither Kalara nor Blackheart understood her language, they both understood the tones and sadness behind a funeral dirge. The song was so mournful it tugged at the heartstrings of the worgen and draenei, making them feel the loss as if they had known Kuruk all along. Kalara leaned into Blackheart, resting her head against his arm while wrapping her arm around his. Blackheart could see the tears softly rolling down her blue cheeks, and he knew that she wasn't alone as the fur under his eyes began to dampen.
When the dirge and the pyre finished, they all turned and walked back towards the Twilight camp in silence. Kalara opened her mouth, meaning to say something for Miakoda, to try and comfort her. Blackheart sensed her intentions and quietly stopped her, slowly shaking his head. From the fog of Blackheart's past life he recalled the loss of comrades, and how helpless it could make you feel. Sadness, anger, and self doubt all rolled into one emotion. Sadness at the passing of a friend, a brother or sister in arms, knowing that you would never again share a meal or hear them laugh and would never again fight beside them. Anger at whoever had stolen their life away, the ever burning desire for payback, and knowing that even when you achieve your vengeance it helps nothing and the sadness is still there. Self doubt, the worst of the feelings and the hardest to cope with, feeling like if you had only been faster, smarter, stronger, or had trained harder that you could have prevented the death of your comrade. Blackheart knew all of these feelings, and knew that Miakoda was experiencing them now, perhaps for the first time. Offering sympathy and condolences, while polite, would only dredge up the feelings all over again. This was an emotion that had to be overcome by one's self… and it never got easier.
Quietly, Miakoda asked, "What are you going to do with the prisoner that you have? Will he be brought to justice? Or can I have him?" Eyeing the tauren, Blackheart said, "We will bring him to Azure Watch. The Twilight's Hammer is a threat that we cannot ignore. I will take him to Vindicator Valina, the draenei that leads the local group of the Hand of Argus. I'm sure she wouldn't be above… questioning the blood elf, as well as doling out a suitable sentence for what he has done and tried to do. If we can get any information out of him, it could be beneficial to us." Miakoda snorted, saying, "And here I was hoping to show him the weight of a tauren's hoof on his head. Very well."
When they reached the camp again, Miakoda walked straight for the blood elf prisoner who was still in the cruel cage. She easily hoisted the entire cage up so that the blood elf was looking directly into her eyes. "I know that you have no moral compass to even begin to grasp what you have done, but you will suffer. And you will die, knowing that what you tried to accomplish failed. I want to hurt you. I want to make you experience the pain of dying a thousand times over… but justice will be enough." She dropped the cage then, and as it slammed into the ground she heard the muffled groans of the blood elf as he was thrown against the barbed bars of the cage. Smiling evilly, she bent down and said, "Well… maybe a little pain wouldn't hurt anything."
"I believe we should collect our charge and go, unless there is something you need." Blackheart said. Miakoda was about to agree with him, but changed her mind. "There's something of mine I would like to find, if that's possible." She began rummaging through the remnants of the camp then, moving aside downed tents and looking through wreckage. Blackheart soon heard a triumphant "Yes!" and looked to see Miakoda pulling the largest bow he had ever seen from one of the piles of debris. Kalara gaped at the six foot tall ranged weapon, and asked, "What on Azeroth is that?" Miakoda smiled when she tested the string, making sure it was still good with a loud snap. "This," she said, "is my bow. It makes me very happy to have found it." Kalara, mouth still agape, responded with, "That's not a bow, that's a bloody ballistae!"
Blackheart could faintly smell the pride that wafted off of Miakoda. "We tauren are stronger than other races, so it makes sense that our bows and weapons are bigger." She rummaged further into the debris and found her quiver as well. Blackheart noted that the arrows in the quiver looked to weigh as much as some humanoid swords did. He would not want to be in the firing line of that weapon. As if to prove what he was thinking, Miakoda strung an arrow, pulled the bow back and fired at a nearby tree. In an explosion of charred wood, the burnt tree shattered as the arrow hit it, passed through it, and embedded itself in another tree some twenty yards behind it.
"What will you do now, Miakoda?" Kalara asked, staring at the still quivering arrow. The tauren slung her bow behind her back and thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. I suppose I could try to sneak to the shore of this island… but I don't know where I would go from there. I don't have a boat and we got here by a portal that the Twilight mages created." Kalara thought for a moment, then said, "You could just come with us." The tauren looked at her as if she had two heads. "Come with you? So that I could be killed for trespassing on Alliance lands? No thank you." Kalara shook her head. "You would be with us, as in part of our group. That and you have some information on the Twilight Hammer, do you not? Plus, Horde sometimes come to talk to Tuluun, though they are Earthen Ring shaman. It shouldn't be too big of a stretch. And, if anything goes wrong neither I, nor Blackheart, will let anything happen to you." Miakoda narrowed her brows. "How are you so sure that this would work." Blackheart responded, "They are trusting a worgen… a tauren is not that big of a stretch." Miakoda merely shook her head in exasperation. "Very well, I just hope you are right."
With things settled, Blackheart and Kalara walked over to the blood elf prisoner. With a grunt, Blackheart lifted the cage off the ground and the group began the journey to Azure Watch. "Let me get that for you, Blackheart." Miakoda took the cage easily from him. Blackheart may have been taller, but where he was lean and quick the tauren was a mass of muscle. "Lead on then." She said.
Continuing through the woods instead of back towards Stillpine Hold, the group hoped to make it to Azure Watch before nightfall with a shortcut. While they were still in the forest, Miakoda had to ask something she still didn't fully understand. "Why is it that you freed me, helped me with Kuruk, and are going to vouch for me in your town? I have never known an Alliance to help out a horde like this, at least without some sort of common ground such as the Argent Dawn." Kalara looked to Blackheart then. She hadn't really thought about what they were doing, she had merely gone with her gut feeling and done what she thought was right. Blackheart answered for the two of them though. "Letting you out was easy. For one thing I have a… distinct dislike for cages. Another is that no creature, enemy or not, should be made to suffer that way for no reason. We helped you with Kuruk because it seemed right at the time. I know what it is to lose comrades, and sharing that loss with others always helps. Finally, an old saying keeps coming to mind here lately. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.' I believe I can safely say that you are no fan of the Twilight's Hammer. Let's say that we have a common goal and enemy then." Nodding, Miakoda said, "I thank you, both of you, for everything."
The group continued on in relative silence over the next few hours. The silence was broken only once, by the blood elf vainly struggling and trying to shout through his gag. Blackheart was about to silence him when a small clod of dirt flew in front of his face and struck the blood elf in the forehead, rendering him unconscious. Miakoda started laughing so hard she had to set the cage down, and when Blackheart turned to Kalara she was whistling and trying to make as innocent a face as she could. At Blackheart's raised eyebrow she merely said, "What? I didn't see anything. Did you Miakoda?" Finding it hard to breathe from laughing, the tauren gasped out a "Nope!" before laughing again. Blackheart just shook his head, though he had a wide smile on his face.
The sun was just beginning to set when Azure Watch came into sight. "Well… this is it." Miakoda said. "Lead on, and do try not to get me killed would you?" Blackheart guessed that Kalara and Miakoda would get along well in the future. The worgen arranged them with Blackheart on the left, Miakoda with the large cage in the middle, and Kalara to the tauren's right. When they got close enough for the guards to recognize all the members of their procession, they looked to each other and slowly went out to meet them. With a wary eye on Miakoda, one of the guards addressed Blackheart. "What is the meaning of this? Why do you have a tauren with you and… why is she carrying a caged blood elf?"
"The blood elf is a captive of the Twilight's Hammer clan. The tauren is with us. She was being held prisoner when we found the cultist's camp. Until she returns to her own land, she is under our… supervision. I must speak with Vindicator Valina at once, if you would be so kind as to guide us to her." Blackheart responded to their questions. They didn't seem completely satisfied by his answer and spoke to Kalara in Draenei for a short while. "Follow us." One of the guards said finally. "Just make sure that your charge doesn't cause any trouble." Saluting, Blackheart said, "Thank you. She will behave herself."
The pair of draenei guards led the small group into one of the guard houses at the edge of town. There were more than a few questioning looks from the nearby draenei at the sight of a tauren walking freely in their midst… but after accepting a worgen into their ranks they figured anything could happen. The group was deposited in one of the rooms of the guard house with one of the guards. The other guard said, "I'll go get the Vindicator" as he left. A few seconds after the guard had left, the door burst open. Blackheart was surprised… and disappointed to see Fergus stomp into the room.
"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded, the volume of his voice many decibels higher than was required in the small room. Looking at the group and finally resting his eyes on Blackheart, he yelled, "You! This is all your doing isn't it?" Blackheart's eyes narrowed as he answered as calmly as he could. "I suppose it is. The blood elf is a Twilight cultist and the tauren can provide information about them. She was trying to spy on them when she got caught."
"This farce has gone on long enough" the draenei shouted. "First, I'm forced to accept this wild dog into my village just because he saved Kalara, then I have to let him fight beside us. Both the Vindicator and the Exarch must be off their rockers for letting that wild animal here." Blackheart started to grind his teeth then, trying to think of something pleasant to ignore the draenei. "Then you bring a tauren, a horde.,A HORDE!, into my town! What could either of you possibly be thinking, letting someone who would gladly slit our throats given the chance in here? Not just one, but two of the damned creatures." The worgen felt that Fergus was starting to push his luck with that one. Miakoda merely snorted angrily, but kept quiet. "This is your entire fault" he yelled, directing his attack at Kalara. "You and your getting caught by blood elves. If not for you, none of this would have happened. We wouldn't have a wild animal and two horde running loose in our village." Kalara started to speak; started to argue with the draenei but Fergus cut her off. "You… you're just like that useless sister of yours! Let me guess, you're going to run off and join a cult and kill all of us just like she wanted to? It's too bad all of you didn't go in the crash. Your worthless family and that old fool Tuluun too!" His words hit Kalara like a blow to the stomach. She had no words with which to retort; had no defense against his onslaught. Blackheart was stunned that Fergus would say something of the sort, and when he looked over to Kalara he saw tears rapidly forming. When he saw the moisture start to slide down her cheeks, the temper he had been keeping in check snapped.
