Hey! It feels like I am starting all over again. Maybe it's 'cause we're in a different zone now. Hmm. Maybe. Anyway, like I mentioned a few chapters ago, I'm playing through all over again, at the same rate that I'm writing, so I have absolutely no idea where some people are at the moment. So, with Hobart and Greely, that was a guesstimate. Yeah. Hmm.

Cheers!

~Ice.

Chapter 10

The Lost Isles

She could vaguely hear voices through the darkness.

' . . . what are you doing . . . sitting there . . . recognise . . . Marcei! . . . breathing . . . Kezan . . .'

' . . . sorry, Doc . . . dead! . . .'

' . . . back . . . resuscitate . . . jumper cables . . . clear! . . .'

Marcei felt a painful jolt shock though her body.

The voices started to become clearer.

' . . . I've got . . . up to her now . . . Marcei? . . . snap out of it! Don't go into the Light!'

Marcei coughed, and forced open her eyes. The light was initially blinding, and she squinted a bit as she raised her head in an attempt to take in her surroundings. She was lying on a piece of driftwood, just off the shore of an island. With effort, she sat up. Doc Zapnozzle and Geargrinder Gizmo were with her. Doc was holding some dripping jumper cables.

Doc grinned. His sallow skin was burned from the midday sun. 'You made the right choice. We all owe you a great deal, Marcei. Try not to get yourself killed out here.'

She winced, and rubbed her eyes. A mistake, considering they were wet with salt water.

'Well,' Doc said, standing up and dusting off his hands, 'there are more survivors to tend to. I'll see you on the shore.'

Marcei nodded, and looked over to where he was gesturing. The island was fairly big, and covered in rainforest. In the distance, she could see a giant mountain looming over everything. Gizmo shuffled next to her. She looked at him. His red shirt and jacket were torn and shredded.

'Marcei, I'm sorry. I thought you were dead!' he said. Marcei shrugged indifferently.

'This is just crazy,' he continued. 'We sailed into a fight between the Alliance and Horde!'

She blinked. 'We did?'

'Yeah. I dunno why they fired at us, though.' He looked around, and there was an awkward pause.

'You know, our brothers and sisters still need to be rescued,' he said, pointing at the water. Indeed, there were floating escape pods bobbing everywhere.

'I'm going to get the guys out there -' He pointed further out into the water. 'And if you could help everyone closer to the shore – if you're up to it, of course – that would be great. Let Sassy know that I'll swim in shortly.'

Marcei's eyes widened. 'Sassy's okay?'

He nodded. 'Could hear her on the shore from here. She was hollering somethin' loud, that one.'

Marcei breathed a sigh of relief. Sassy was okay, which meant the others must be too.

'You should go,' Gizmo said. She nodded.

She dove off the driftwood and paddled through the water. She hadn't had too much experience in water, but she had a general idea about what she was doing. She kicked over to the nearest pod, and tried to jimmy the door open without success. With a groan, she looked at the water around her, trying to find something that would help. Her vision focused on a bag bobbing nearby. She paddled over to grab it, and inspect its contents.

Bombs. Little tiny ones smaller than her closed fist. Marcei grinned, and fished one out. Pulling out a lighter she always kept in her boot, she lit the fuse, chucking it at the pod. The locking mechanism on the door blew off. The rest of the pod was too sturdy to be affected.

Marcei swam open and pulled the door open.

Gallywix.

She swore, and tried to slam the door shut. But she wasn't quick enough. Gallywix kept it open and gave her his trademark grin of absolute evil.

'Hello there, Marcei' he said. 'So nice of you to rescue me. No hard feelings, right?'

'No hard – no hard feelings?' Marcei spluttered. But he wasn't listening; he dove out of the pod and swam towards the shore.

Marcei groaned. If he had died, this whole marooning thing would be so much better. With a sigh, she looked around for another pod.

An hour later, several shivering goblins had gathered on shore, the majority of them shooting Gallywix looks of the utmost loathing. Marcei could relate. So much for Azshara. That plan had been ruled out, and instead, they were stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere. That was just great.

Some goblins were also slightly disgruntled with Marcei, because of her tactic of blowing open the escape pods, though thankfully, her level of dirty looks were fewer.

Sassy was gathered in the middle of the survivors, attempting to keep order, and reassuring many that Gallywix would be dealt with. The biggest look of relief spread over her tense face when she saw Marcei.

'Oh thank heavens that you survived, Marcei! I thought for sure that you'd drowned!' She ran over and hugged her, slightly teary-eyed. 'Look at all of these folks you saved!' she said, pulling away.

Marcei looked around. A basic camp had been set up near where one half of the yacht had washed up onto the sand. Several crates of salvaged supplies were stacked up in one huge pile, and a campfire had been set up nearby. Marcei chucked her bag of bombs down on the sand next to her, and plopped down by the fire beside Izzy. The red-head looked up tiredly and nearly cried with relief when she saw Marcei.

'Oh hon! You're okay!'

'Yeah,' Marcei mumbled. 'M fine.'

'Ace went for a wander,' Izzy said, looking at her intently. Marcei jumped at his name. She didn't want to see him. She was mortified at how she had reacted about Chip on the yacht, and was even more ashamed that he had to see her that way. She was keeping her distance. No interaction was the best, for now.

An awkward silence passed, and Izzy raised her eyebrows. 'Are you . . . going to go and find him?'

'No,' Marcei snapped, before widening her eyes at her own reaction. Izzy didn't know what was going on in her head. It wasn't her fault.

'Um, no,' she said again, leaning back slightly and rubbing her eyes, taking in the warmth coming from the fire. 'Sorry, Iz.'

Izzy shrugged indifferently. 'Just thought you'd like to consider it.'

'Huh.' Marcei looked around. For some odd reason, there was a beach chair and umbrella set up next to them. She pointed. 'How the hell did that survive?'

'Candy made Chip go and salvage it for her.' Then, realising her mistake, Izzy went pale and whispered, 'Oops.'

Marcei winced and rested her head in her hands, but didn't say anything. Her head was full of conflicted emotions. Part of her had been hoping that Chip hadn't survived the explosion, but another part was horrified she was thinking of such a thing. The rest of her was screaming to go and die in a hole. That was rather appealing actually, but she wasn't the suicidal type. If something was bothering her, she'd normally go kill someone else, not herself.

All of this thinking was making her head hurt. She wasn't a philosopher. She was a mechanic, if anything at all. With a groan, she rotated herself so she was properly facing Izzy. 'Did the others survive? The rest of the KTC group?'

Izzy nodded, vacantly staring into the fire. 'I'm pretty sure. I haven't actually seen Greely and Grapplehammer, but I'm assuming they're in the group that went with Dampwick in search of a mine. Ace reckons he saw them.'

Marcei raised her eyebrows. 'A mine? Already?'

Izzy shrugged, pulling a what-the-hell-don't-ask-me face. 'I wouldn't know why. I'd be more concerned about getting some sort of settlement established, but I'm not the one in charge around here.'

'Who is?'

'Gallywix. He entitled himself our leader. And watch out,' she said, lowering her voice and casting a wary eye around. 'He really hates you. He's blaming this whole goddamn marooning on you. And he's trying to turn everyone against ya while he's at it. So good luck with that, 'cause I think it might work.'

Marcei groaned and rested her forehead on her fingers. 'The bastard.'

Izzy winced and nodded. 'He's a bloody manipulative bugger. However,' she said, brightening up slightly, 'everyone hates him at the moment, because of his crappy choice of ship navigators. They steered the yacht straight into the middle of a bunch of Alliance ships attacking a Horde one.'

Marcei perked up slightly. 'Gizmo said that happened, but I didn't really get any details. How did you find out?'

Izzy pursed her lips and pulled a peculiar face. 'One of those rich socialites that Gallywix didn't hate was shrieking on about it. You couldn't be any louder. Got the whole story.'

Marcei nodded, looking at her feet in front of her.

'Afternoon, ladies.'

Marcei froze, her heart pounding in her chest and her ears going hot. Izzy looked up at Ace as he parked himself on the sand next to them. 'Since when did you get so formal?' she asked indignantly, quirking an eyebrow. Ace shrugged a little, ruffling his hair with his hand and sending sand flying.

'Beats me.' His gaze travelled over Izzy's head, and he grinned at Marcei.

That was the trigger. Something heavy dropped in her stomach just like that, and she didn't know why. Because absolutely gorgeous-looking grins never unnerved her.

She leapt up like a started rabbit and muttered out some cover story that even she didn't understand, before turning and bolting. Izzy yelled something after her, but she wasn't listening.

Megs and Slinky were with some of the survivors that were setting up shelters. Because they were far away enough from the campfire, she helped Slinky support a thick branch while Megs tied it in place with some rope.

When this was done, Slinky properly turned and acknowledged her. 'Hey, Marce.'

Marcei nodded just as a yawn escaped her lips. The sun was just setting, and the majority of the goblins were returning from their search for food, bringing whatever they had retrieved.

Megs came to a stop next to them, inspecting their shelter with a critical eye. Marcei winced slightly at it. It was two uneven branches supporting a large plank of driftwood sitting at a diagonal angle.

'It's rubbish, but it'll do,' Megs grumbled.

Slinky shrugged. 'I don't give a damn as long as I don't get wet, and nothing eats me.' She gestured absently into the jungle. A roar shook through the trees, making her jump.

'It keeps out the wind,' Marcei offered unhelpfully.

Megs grunted. 'If you say so.'

Slinky grabbed the pair of them by the arms and started tugging them to the campfire. 'C'mon, I'm hungry. You can contemplate our crappy shelter some other time.'

Megs shot her an incredulous look over Slinky's shoulder. Marcei shrugged in response.

Slinky finally let them go when she had deemed them close enough to the food source. Those that had gone searching had done extremely well, considering the circumstances. There was a large stack of fried fish, some big, pink spotted eggs, and an assortment of nuts and fruit. A few unfortunate crabs that had been found on the beach had also been chucked onto the fire to roast. Marcei plopped down on the sand and accepted a fish from Sister Goldskimmer. She looked around at the survivors. There had to be roughly fifty or sixty. Those who had died had been buried in a makeshift graveyard next to the yacht.

Gallywix and his followers all sat together up one end. Gallywix was sitting up on a rock, to give himself height above everyone else. He was boasting about something, but Marcei didn't really care. She'd tolerated his rubbish for long enough back on Kezan. Here, she could go her own way.

She picked a chunk off her fish and popped it in her mouth.

Dinner, thankfully, wasn't too much of a subdued affair. Most goblins attempted to keep their spirits up by talking, and at one point, someone started up a game of flinging coconuts at some of the wild birds attempting to scrounge their food.

After about an hour, Gallywix stood up, like he was going to make a speech. The hubbub subsided, and he cleared his throat.

'Now, I know what situation we are in,' he started. 'But we do not need to worry. This is just a short stop on the way to Azshara. Once repairs have been made, we will be on our way again. But,' he said, raising his voice, 'I think we all know who's really responsible for the mess we're in! Don't worry, I'll see to it that Marcei get what she deserves!'

What the . . .

Marcei gave him her most deadly glare, and tried to stand up. Slinky grabbed her by the arm.

'Don't,' she hissed. 'He's trying to get a rise out of you. Then everything will be ten times worse. You know how destructive you are!'

Marcei shot Gallywix another heavy glare, but stayed seated.

'You thought to take my place on Kezan, Marcei?' Gallywix asked. 'You reach too far! I made you what you were . . . "were" being the operative word. You're nothing now! Nothing!'

Marcei snarled, and ignored Slinky's warnings. 'You coward,' she hissed, standing up. 'You actually knew that I had a chance of taking over from you! So this is your way of trying to fix it all. You won't keep that power forever. There's no point to it now; we're all probably gonna die out here anyway!'

There was a collective gasp at that statement. Marcei refrained herself from rolling her eyes. She couldn't believe that they were all thick enough to not be able to see that.

'That may be so,' Gallywix replied silkily, 'but until that very point, I am still in charge here. I've got my eye on you, Marcei. Let's just say that only one of us will be leaving this island, and that goblin's name begins with Trade Prince!'

'But what are you the Trade Prince of?' Marcei snapped. 'The coconuts? Whatever happens to live in that jungle? Face it bucko, there's nothing here. There's no damn point!'

'I don't care, because I am still in charge!' he shouted in response.

'This isn't Kezan! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Kezan isn't there anymore!'

There was another gasp at this. Damn it, they were so stupid.

'It doesn't matter where we are,' Gallywix snarled, 'because you are all my slaves and I own you! Face that, you idiot girl. It's the inevitable. I. Own. You.'

'Well, I'd happily go and toss myself off that cliff over there, but that means I'm leaving everyone with you. And I'm not gonna do that, 'cause for all I know, you're just gonna brainwash the lot of them and use them as means to get outta here!' And with that, she turned on her heel, and stalked off in the general direction of the shelters.

'You will regret the day you even considered crossing me, Marcei!' Gallywix yelled.

'Whatever,' she muttered, shoving her hands in her pockets.

Here comes the sass. Heh heh. To cheer everyone up, there's potential Gallywix bashing in the future. Yay!