Of Claws and Totems
Chapter 11
Spirits
As consciousness filtered back to Kalara, she tried to fight it. She didn't want to wake up from her dream, a most peculiar one involving flying boats. She just wasn't ready to let that one go yet. That and she was warm and comfortable. When she finally relented and opened her eyes, she thought she must still be dreaming. She was lying atop of Blackheart, wrapped in his arms and he was still asleep. Yet another dream that she definitely didn't want to let go. The longer she lay there though, the more unpleasant the dream got. Blackheart's breathing wasn't very steady and there was some kind of uncomfortable pressure around her waist. When she smelled blood though, her eyes snapped open and full consciousness came rushing back to her.
The draenei tried to move but found the pressure at her waist only increased. She noted that she was actually tied to Blackheart with a rope. She reached down and, very carefully, called upon her fire powers to use a small jet of flame to cut the rope. Once she was free of her bindings, she took stock of her surroundings. There were pieces of splintered wood lying around her, as well as a few felled trees. One thing in particular stuck out as odd: the mast of a ship. How did a ship's mast end up this far into a forest she wondered? And why was Blackheart's sword and shield laying so far away? She decided she would wake Blackheart to get some answers, but when her eyes fell upon him her heart skipped a beat.
The worgen lay in a dark pool of blood. The one arm, his right, that had held her was the only part of his body that didn't look like damaged. She gasped, and gagged, at the site of the rest of his body. His other arm was broken in many places. The bone from his forearm protruded out of the skin. His shoulder had bone ripping out of it too. The side of his face had a gnarly slash across it, and he was missing the tip of his left ear. A stream of blood was running from his mouth and she noticed a red stain on the leather jerkin under his chain mail. It looked as though upon landing a rib had been broken and pushed up through his chest, possibly puncturing a lung. Looking at his lower body, it seemed as if the impact had dislocated and broken his leg. Her heart was restarted when Blackheart coughed violently, spraying blood on the ground next to his head.
Kalara rushed forward to him. She was trying to speak… trying to find something to say to him when he looked up at her and smiled. His eyes were half glazed over when he weakly said, "You're safe. Good…" another coughing fit took him then, wracking his body with spasms that worsened his already garish wounds. When he finally stopped, he looked forlornly in her direction, a single tear rolling down his cheek. "I'm sorry" he said in barely a whisper, and then the light left his icy blue eyes.
"No," the draenei muttered, denying what was happening in front of her. This can't be happening, not now, she thought. "No!" she yelled at Blackheart's fast expiring body. She slammed her fist down onto his chest, tears streaming freely from her glowing eyes. She had to do something; she couldn't let him go like this. Frantically she searched the area and spotted what she sought: her totems. She rushed over to them and dropped them around the dying worgen, then called forth all of the healing magic in her power. She didn't care what kind of shape she was in. She didn't care what happened to her at all if she overused the magic, she just needed to save him. A torrent of power rushed from her hands, infusing Blackheart with healing energy. She saw the cuts mend themselves. She saw the bones heal and realign… and she saw his last breath escape him as it was too late to heal his mortal wounds.
"NO!" she cried out. There must be something else she could do. She thought of the elements then. Summoning a picture in her mind of the four elementals she had made pacts with, she cried out to them for help, desperate to do something, anything for the worgen who had given his life to save hers. It was as if time stopped for her then.
In her mind's eye she saw the elementals talking… about her. She was floating in her own consciousness and watched as they discussed… something. Why couldn't she hear what they were saying? She tried to move, tried to scream out at them but couldn't do anything but watch. She caught snippets of their voices, but could only make out a few words like, 'It is time' and 'is she ready?' The elementals finally seemed to come to a consensus, and turned to face her. They moved to surround her when Temper spoke. "We have decided that you are ready to learn the ways of returning the spirit to the body." She wanted to shout out to them, thank them, beg them to tell her right now, but she still couldn't move or speak.
"What we are going to show you is not only dangerous, but should only be used in dire need. The gift of life is a precious one, but all things must come to an end. In some cases, however, the end is not meant for those that meet it, and thus you may return a being to life. This poses a great danger to you, as well as the life you are trying to save. In order to save Blackheart, you will have to leave your body behind and venture into the spirit realm; the realm of the dead. You must find Blackheart and convince him to return to the realm of the living. If you are unsuccessful, your soul, as well as Blackheart's, could be lost forever. We will impart this knowledge upon you, but do not use it lightly."
As if she was in a dream she opened her eyes and was immediately back to reality, kneeling in front of Blackheart's healed, but dead, body. A faint whisper echoed in her mind then. "Only if you are certain that you would risk your soul should you try to bring them back." She nodded her head then. Blackheart was the reason she was alive, and had saved her more than once. She would risk anything to save him.
Starting the ritual with the knowledge imparted upon her by the elementals, she oriented her four totems and kneeled down beside the worgen. She didn't know what she was doing; she only knew that it felt right for what she needed to do. She carefully drew specific portions of magic from each of the elements, and when they were at just the right levels she released them all. With an explosion of shamanistic magic, her world shifted. There was no sound any longer except a faint whooshing, and all of the color had been washed away from the world, leaving everything in drab shades of gray. Lying on the ground in front of her was a solid black outline of Blackheart's body… as well as one of her own kneeling next to him. She was standing outside of her body. This must be the spirit realm, she thought. She could feel something… menacing, and it was just out of sight. It was as if thousands of eyes were watching her, and if she turned fast enough it felt like she could see what it was, but turning all around she saw nothing. The feeling gave her goosebumps all over. Next to Blackheart's corpse was a set of footprints leading away from the body, glowing a bright white against the dull gray of the spirit world. She quickly set off following the prints; she had to find him.
When Blackheart had apologized to Kalara, he knew that he meant for leaving her alone. Waking up in the spirit world a short time later had been disorienting at best, and terribly depressing at worst. His time was up though, and it was time to meet whatever was waiting for him. He had looked around him, noticing the place seemed to be empty and colorless, but something… familiar drew him in one particular direction. After what seemed like hours of walking towards the familiarity, he stopped in his tracks at what he saw. "Hello son." He heard a familiar voice call. "You're a bit early, don't you think?"
Kalara didn't know how long she had been following the foot prints. It seemed like it could have been any amount of time at all; it could have been an hour, or just a few seconds. The feeling that something was watching her never left. She was a spirit whose body was still alive; she didn't belong here. The grayness of the area made it hard to see, and the constant feeling of being watched and the sole whooshing sound set her nerves on edge. Still following the trail intently, she almost missed a sound. Stopping to listen it sounded like something was… slobbering. She looked wildly around, fearful of what it might be but still couldn't see anything.
She broke into a quick trot then, wanting to find the end of the trail of foot prints as fast as possible. Looking over her shoulder she gasped at what she saw. Slithering along the ground chasing her was some kind of twisted being. It vaguely reminded her of the volatile mutations that had appeared right after the Exodar had crashed. Only this one was trying to consumer her soul. She sprinted a short distance ahead and decided to stop, or at least slow the creature down. She turned and cupped her hands together, deciding to call down lightning to strike this creature and give her some time and felt… nothing. She felt none of the elements at all here. She felt totally defenseless. She tried every school of magic she knew, and nothing, no flames, lightning, ice, earth, or water would come to her call. When she looked back to the creature… it was no longer one, but two, then three, then even more. They seemed to materialize from behind trees or under rocks, some just coming up from the ground itself. Countless slobbering twisted monsters were slithering across the ground, all coming to feast on her soul. She dropped all thoughts of stopping the creatures and ran for her life.
She couldn't see anything ahead of her, only the glowing trail of footsteps leading her on. She desperately wished that Blackheart was there to save her. She chanced a quick glance over her shoulder and tried to push herself faster; there were an endless die of the soul monsters chasing her. Kalara was so intent on the thing chasing her she failed to notice the being in front of her until she smacked off of its back and fell to the ground. "Kalara?" she heard, and looked up to see a human with a concerned look on his face.
She was stunned for a few seconds before remembering the beasts chasing her, but when she turned around they were gone. "Kalara what are you doing here?" the human asked. There was something very… familiar about him. She was too stunned to speak. How did this human know her name? "You aren't dead Kalara, how are you here? And why are you here?" A hand appeared at the human's shoulder then, accompanied by a voice coming from behind him. "Kaleth, I told you that you were too early. She's here to take you back."
Kalara's eyes widened at the name given to the human spirit standing before her. The footprints she had been following led right up to him. He was seven feet tall and had black hair that hung down to his shoulders, looked to be very strong, had two large scars on his neck and… had icy blue eyes that she would know anywhere. "Blackheart?" she quietly asked as he reached down to help her up.
Once over her initial shock, she let him help her to his feet. She could feel his essence just being next to him which told her for sure that it was Blackheart standing before her, not to mention the foot prints stopping at his feet. It was really him.
Blackheart turned back to his father. "Take me back? Back where?"
Derrick laid a hand on his son's shoulder. "I told you that you were too early. I meant that you were too early to die. You have great things to accomplish still. She's here to bring you back to the world of the living." Blackheart's eyes widened at the realization. He turned back to Kalara, amazed at what she had done.
With the feeling of being watched returning to her, Kalara said, "We need to go." She tugged on his hand, slowly pulling him back towards where their bodies were. "One thing though, Kalara."
The draenei turned around to face Blackheart's father. The resemblance was striking except for the blonde hair. "Take care of my son for me would you? I don't want to see him here for a long, long time." As he finished saying those words he faded from sight. Kalara looked up at Blackheart. He was still staring at the spot his father had been standing in. With another tug, he finally turned away and they started to head back to their bodies.
Blackheart noticed that Kalara seemed to be in a hurry to get back; she was on edge. "What is it?" he asked her.
She was constantly looking from side to side, and didn't look to him as she spoke. "Don't you feel like something's watching you? Didn't you see any of the monsters that are all over the place? They were chasing me until I ran into you."
Blackheart gave her a confused look. "Monsters? Watching? No, I don't feel anything here and I know I haven't seen anything but you and my father. Perhaps it's because I am actually dead that I can't…" When he trailed off Kalara looked at Blackheart and saw that we was staring at something to his left. When she followed his gaze, she saw the thing that had been chasing her earlier. It didn't take a second tug on his hand to get him to pick up the pace. "Run!" she yelled as they took off, retracing their steps.
Kalara was giving it all she had but Blackheart was easily keeping up with her. She chanced a look over her shoulder and saw what she knew was coming: legions of the soul monsters. Except that now it wasn't only her soul in danger, they would come after Blackhearts as well… and they were slowly closing the gap between them. Blackheart noticed the creatures too and took Kalara's hand and drug her on. But the creatures were still gaining on them.
"There!" she heard Blackheart call, and when she looked ahead she could see the solid black outlines of their bodies. When she looked back, the monsters were almost within reach of Blackheart. "Hurry!" she called out. Kalara watched in horror as the monsters slowly gained on them. Kalara didn't have time to warn Blackheart of a tendril that snaked out and wrapped around his leg, eliciting an anguished cry from him causing him to tumble to the ground. Kalara skidded to a halt, then ran to Blackheart, trying to pull him free of the things grasp. After repeatedly kicking the thing in the face, it let go of Blackheart and Kalara tugged him to his feet and they ran to their bodies. Within a few paces of them, she heard him cry out again and when she looked back, she was horrified. There were tendrils from multiple monsters around his legs, arms, and chest. The places around where the tendrils were leashed seemed to be… fading away. "Go!" she heard him yell through grunts of pain. She ran to him, ignoring his command and tried to pry the tendrils away. The second she touched one, she involuntarily jerked back from the pain. It was unlike anything she had ever felt, as if all of the pain receptors in her hands were firing at full effect. Just the short second she had hold of the tentacles made her knees weak, and it made her wonder how Blackheart was still standing with five of the things wrapped around him.
She reached for the tendrils again, gritting her teeth in the expected pain but was suddenly thrown back. She looked in surprise up at Blackheart, now being pulled down to his hands and knees by more tendrils, who had just used a sudden burst of strength to throw her to her body. He was sacrificing himself, again, for her. Her cry of denial was cut off abruptly when she hit her body and her world went black.
When she opened her eyes, she dropped from her knees onto her backside, exhausted from her excursion to the spirit world. Blackheart's body lay motionless before her, an empty shell with no soul still. "No no no no…" she said over and over again as she forced her exhausted body to crawl the few paces to his. She reached for him and shook him, listened for his heartbeat or breathing… he was still dead. She fell forward onto his chest and began to weep in earnest. She had not only lost him in life, but had lost his soul as well. She started to wish she hadn't made it back to the living.
She was still crying when Blackheart's body lurched forward suddenly, throwing her off, and he gasped for air, clutching at his heart. He barely had time to register that he was alive once more when a draenei missile hit him in the chest and he felt Kalara's arms tighten around his neck, hugging him tightly. He could smell the relief coming off of her in waves, and he heard her quietly sob out, "I thought I had lost you." He answered her by wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly to him.
Once she had overcome her tears, she fixed a tear stained death stare on him and grabbed both sides of his head with her hands. "Don't you ever die on me again, do you hear me?" Blackheart nodded and was surprised when she pulled his head down to her and kissed his forehead. "I can't lose you." He heard her whisper. He nuzzled her face and neck with his nose in return. "I can't lose you either." He said. The two sat in silence for some time, just bathing in the pure joy of being alive. Kalara broke the silence first, asking, "What happened to us anyway?"
Blackheart told her of Deathwing appearing, as well as the boat being on the edge of the tidal wave and jumping to try and save her. "I guess I know why there's a mast over there now." Kalara said, pointing to where the mast of their boat lay mangled in some trees. Nodding, Blackheart tried to stand, but toppled over and was caught by Kalara. "Hey furball, you just came back from the dead, take it easy will you?" she fussed at him.
He nodded and with her helping to support his three hundred pounds they hobbled towards his equipment. "We need to look for the others." He said. Blackheart almost staggered from picking his sword and shield up, but with Kalara's help he managed to put them on. The worgen closed his eyes then, and breathed deep the air of the forest. He could smell the salt water from the ocean all around him, and smelled the wood and brine from the pieces of the boat. After a few seconds he caught a scent he was searching for: blood. "This way," he said, and the two slowly made their way in the direction his senses indicated.
After a few minutes slow travel they came upon the first fatality of the crash. One of the night elf sailors from the boat lay smashed against a rock, a bloody streak showing her impact and the subsequent slide of her body to the ground; she had died instantly. As he went to move away, Kalara pulled him back. "Shouldn't we… I dunno bury her or something?" she asked.
It pained Blackheart to have to leave the corpse as it was. "There are others that might be alive and will need our help. We can come back for the dead later." Kalara could hear the sadness in his voice. "Right now, we must care for the living."
They continued into the forest, finding more dead as they went. The first survivor they found was one of the sailors from the ship. She was in pretty bad shape; she had gone through the trees on the way down and had several lacerations, as well as a broken leg. She seemed to barely recognize them, muttering indistinctly in Darnassian. Kalara was severely drained from venturing into the spirit realm, so she triaged as best as she could while Blackheart set the night elf's leg in a splint to help with the break. Luckily the night elf's water skin wasn't damaged, and Blackheart left Kalara with her to refill it from a stream he heard nearby. Blackheart returned carrying not only the water skin, but Captain Solia as well. She was unconscious, and had a nasty cut on her head, but didn't appear to have any broken bones.
Once they treated the captain's wounds, Blackheart's ears perked up as he heard a slow, repeating 'thump, thump, thump' in the distance. "What is it?" Kalara asked.
Blackheart shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I'm going to go find out." He started to leave when Kalara grabbed his hand and stopped him.
"Not alone you're not." Kalara's tone left no room for argument. Blackheart knew she was loud in the forest. He also knew he didn't want her angry. They slowly made their way through the forest towards the thumping noise, zeroing in on its location as it got steadily louder. When they reached the origin of it, Kalara covered her mouth and tried not to snicker. Standing under a tree was a very dirty, very angry Miakoda who was looking up at her bow which was stuck in the branches far out of reach. She was angrily muttering to herself while kicking the base of the tree. It violently swayed each time her hoof connected, but the bow never moved any closer to becoming dislodged. "First I have to ride a stinking boat. I hate boats. Then a dragon comes, and ruins the trip. I hate dragons. Then the boat starts flying. I hate flying. And now, my bow is stuck up in a tree. I. HATE. TREES." The last three words were accentuated with particularly violent kicks, the final which resulted in a faint crackling sound, followed by loud pops and a crash as the tree fell over from the force of her blow. The tauren walked over to the fallen tree, picked up her bow, and when it gave a satisfying twang when she drew it back, she slung it over her shoulder. Blackheart and Kalara came out to greet her then. She pointed an accusing finger at Blackheart, saying, "I am never riding with you on a boat again, furball. Do you hear me?"
When they returned to the two night elves they had found, Captain Solia was up and about. "I'm glad to see that some of us survived." She said. Instantly assuming a command position, she said, "We need to find all of the survivors and gather them up into some sort of camp. You three appear to be in the best shape, so go find some survivors while Jiyana and I set up some sort of camp." She pointed a little ways off in the woods towards a large portion of her once fine ship. "We'll be over there looking for supplies, and we can use the wreckage as shelter. Let's go."
The three spent the next few hours searching throughout the woods for members of the crew. It seemed they found more dead than alive, and in total only twelve of the thirty crew had been found to survive. Some were missing and couldn't be found anywhere. Captain Solia hadn't been idle while Blackheart's group had been searching either. They had scavenged medical and food supplies from the wrecked boat and were treating the more injured of the crew as best as they could. Kalara was called for when a standard patch job wasn't going to cut it. She had just finished healing the last survivor they had found that night when exhaustion hit her. She had spent entirely too much energy that day, and would have toppled over when she finished her last healing if Blackheart hadn't caught her. He picked her up then, ignoring her weak protests, and carried her to where the food was, forcing her to rest, eat, and replenish her strength.
Only once they had done a headcount did they realize the other party member that was missing: Relarus. The captain, still in command it seemed, had half of those that were readily able to move search for him while Blackheart, Kalara, and Miakoda rested. The captain had organized three groups of two survivors each containing the least injured ones to hunt for Relarus. Two of the groups had been having no luck, and were resting for a short time at the camp when one of the searching night elves, a young female named Sinara, limped into camp. Blackheart's hackles rose when he noticed she was injured. The night elf had fresh blood on her, some of it was her own, and some of it had an amazingly foul smell to it. She was also alone. Captain Solia rushed over to her, demanding a report.
In a weak voice, Sinara said, "We found Relarus… the satyr have him. Jalina was captured as well." Blackheart heard some of the night elves around him curse in Darnassian. He didn't know the language, but the feeling put into one of those words was pretty universal. At least they knew where Relarus was, however dealing with satyr was never something to look forward to, especially in the party's current state. They had a history of being vile, cunning, and evil creatures. Though the entire camp was exhausted, Blackheart knew they would have to move, and fast, if they hoped to rescue their comrades alive.