Chapter xxi

The Shady Rest Inn was a blackened husk; the foundations carved a large burnt rectangle in the stony ground. A few resilient timbers had remained steadfastly pointing to the sky. The remains of furniture sat forlornly and neatly arranged, exposed to the elements.

The road, the stables, the entire area was completely deserted. I felt uneasy. We were no longer lost, and it was time for the Argent Dawn council members to depart, unless we so happened to be travelling in the same direction. We could offer them nothing now, and there was not the protection of the Theramore or Dustwallow periphery guards to ensure our protection.

I had faith in Band, but his brute strength would probably not resist the strange powers of the Troll.

Looking around, I had seen everybody was thinking the same thing. They were all standing deadly still, yards apart, eyes transfixed.

What do we do now? I wanted to say to Band, but he was too far from me to hear.

Sena slowly and deliberately withdrew his wand. He pointed it towards Band.

'You knew this moment would come. All of you,' he said sternly, slowly drawing the wand in an arc, pointing at Band, the prisoner, and finally me.

Band spat and stared adamantly at the frail figure of the troll. 'You are not part of the Argent Dawn at all, are you?'

Sena looked genuinely confused. 'What would make you say that?'

'Sen'Atal of the Darkspears?' Band laughed. 'They are a shamanic race. They have no time for the obtuse pomposity of the Magii.'

'It is true,' Sena darted the wand directly at Band, and a few sparks erupted from the tip, floating hypnotically to the ground. 'I am somewhat of an outcast from my people. Which is why I joined the Argent Dawn.'

'Yet you told us your position,' Band snapped.

Sena withdrew. I was under the impression that members of the Argent Dawn do not tell non-members their rank.

Sena let his wand dip slightly, and prepared us for the explanation.: 'I merely stated that I was on the Plenipotentiary Counsel,' he spoke, calmly. 'We are merely diplomats, and as such have no rank to speak of as yet. Like I explained, we were heading south from a small Argent encampment in Durotar to a Tauren town in the Thousand Needles.'

I had no idea what most of this meant, but my eye was distracted by the bandit we had caught. His chains had been surreptitiously loosened, and he had snuck behind Rolore whilst the party was staring intently at the exchange between Band and Sena.

With consummate ease, and before I could react, he slipped out a dagger tied with string to the lumbering Orc's leg and leapt back, cutting his bonds as he did so.

Rolore, reacting too late to save his dagger being swiped, whirled around and withdrew a meaty axe from his belt.

The Orc and the pirate were at a standoff. I could see the muscles tense in Rolore's bulging green biceps as he wrapped his large yellowed fingers around the haft of the intimidating axe.

The commotion had drawn the attention of Sena, who quickly pointed his deadly wand at the brigand. Band lifted his sword and pointed the tip right at Sena's eye. Sena had no choice but to withdraw his wand and aim it back at Band's torso.

This, I must admit, was a bizarre situation.

I quickly took stock of the predicament. In front of me stood a Troll facing a Night-Elf, and an Orc facing a pirate. With both pairs having drawn weapons in stalemate, my next actions would be highly decisive.

Why would Sena and Rolore turn on us? I was led to believe the Argent Dawn were peacekeepers. It must be the lack of trust between this rather unorthodox grouping of races that has been ever-present during our nightmarish journey through the unforgiving marshes.

Now we were in open ground, and apparently not lost any more, we had no need for unity. Band was clearly thinking it by giving the pirate a severe gagging order earlier, but Sena reacted first.

I guess I had been too naïve to think that everything would suddenly be roses and sunshine when we reached the Shady Rest Inn.

Standing on the threshold of the charred foundations, I realised that this could quickly turn into a bloodbath. The unfortunate ones would probably lie here, undiscovered, for, what: days? weeks? …ever? That didn't bear thinking about.

I came to the conclusion violence would be a last resort. As such, my next move was one of diplomacy.

'Help me out here,' Band said, urging me to take up arms against the Troll.

I calmly, and quite regally stepped in the centre between the two stand-offs. With their weapons held firmly, the four sets of eyes slowly dragged to my position.

'Nobody is harming anybody,' I said firmly. 'Lower your weapons.'

The pirate laughed a hearty 'arrr!' and waved his dagger around. Rolore raised his axe higher.

I raised my arms to instil a sense of calm. 'Listen,' I spoke, loudly and clearly, 'none of us have reached our destination.' I looked at Sena, and then to Rolore. 'You two have yet to reach the Hundred Needles,'

'Thousand,' Rolore barked. This was the first time I had heard him speak in the common language. I reeled back slightly. He huffed his disapproval at my mistake.

'Thousand Needles,' I corrected myself. 'I daresay you are even close. As for Band and myself, we have yet to find sign of the four priests that headed this way. They have most likely vanished; swallowed up by the Dustwallow Marshes. Or they are ahead, further down this road.'

'Or,' the brigand said quietly, 'burned to ashes in this forsaken place.'

'Quiet, you!' I snapped. 'You are only one hair's width from having this husk your final resting place. You've nowhere to go but back.'

'Kill him, then.' Band shouted at Rolore, who understood by motioning to swing the axe.

'No! Stop!' I quickly said before the Orc and the pirate came to blows. Thankfully, they did so, and the uneasy truce was reinstated.

'You' I said, nodding at the brigand. 'Take one step back.'

He did so. I drew my dented blade.

'Now lower your dagger.'

Slowly, the brigand did so, and lifted his arms in surrender.

Quickly, I pointed at Rolore. 'You do the same.'

By my body language, Rolore understood and did the same, though he kept hold of his axe, letting the head swing down and rest on the blackened earth.

I came between the two. Looking at the brigand, I said 'now run.'

He did so, sprinting towards the trees that marked the boundary of Dustwallow Marsh. We watched him disappear out of sight.

Once gone, I turned to Rolore and picked up his dagger. In a defiant act of nonaggression, I symbolically handed his dagger back to him.

'What are you doing?' Band said. He and Sena had not moved an inch throughout this. Band's blade was flagging, and he kept reasserting its position so the tip of the blade stood inches from Sena's neck. Sena did likewise with his wand, which was fizzing angrily. Both were taut, ready to spring.

Instead of running to Sena's aid, and risking messing up this whole diplomatic thing I had going on, Rolore opted to--thankfully--stand still and watch events unfold.

Feeling a little more confident in my negotiation skills, I marched up to Sena and Band, and stood between them. This forced both hands to withdraw wand and sword to retract a safe distance. Although I could see in Sena's eye that he could have pulverised me with a single flick of the wrist, should he need to. But that would also be underestimating the speed at which Band could have counteracted. Neither party wanted the indignation of injury, particularly in this empty, forlorn part of the world.

'Now,' I said as calmly as I could, ignoring the thunderous beat of my heart in my ears. 'We will talk.'

'About what, exactly?' Both Sena and Band asked, in a similarly suspicious tone.

Stepping back, I addressed the Troll. 'Sen'Atal of the Darkspear Tribe; you are a member of the counsel of the Argent Dawn. Whom is your enemy?' I asked the question with as much firmness as I could muster.

'The Scourge, the Lich, the forsaken scum that dare speak out against the army of Tirion Fordring,' he stated, regally, with much venom at each utterance.

'Now, do you see any being of that ilk in front of you.'

Sena looked on angrily, before admitting: 'no.'

'And you, Band, son of Bandu,' I said, making note that addressing those by their full names and titles really helped the diplomatic process, 'who are you allied with?'

'The Noble Alliance, formerly under the services of Garran Vimes, Captain of the Theramore Guard, and currently the Feathermoon Stronghold.'

'Right…and who is your enemy?'

'The Horde.' Band shot his eyes at Sena.

'But this Troll is not Horde!' I said. 'Remember the badge he showed? It clearly was Argent Dawn.'

There was silence, before I continued.

'And as such, demands our allegiance.'

Band was unmoved. 'He threatened to attack us first!'

Sena butted in. 'I heard you threatening the brigand. Our ears are of similar size, and as such our hearing is of equal calibre to yours. Tact is clearly not your forte.'

Band struggled to riposte. 'What of it?' he asked feebly.

'You planned to attack us once you realised this is no neutral ground. I am a Troll, I am not stupid.'

This was quickly going to become heated, so I interrupted. 'Fine, we are all suspicious of each other. But we have no reason to be. None of us are sworn enemies; the only difference we have is race.'

I could see the two withdrawing from each other, slowly. My tactic was working.

'Now, let us discuss any future actions with dignity. Lower your weapons, now is not the time for fighting.'

Like precocious children, the Troll and the Night-Elf let their arms drop reluctantly to their sides. I gave a huge sigh of relief, which I disguised as a deep yawn.

'Sena, where are you heading to find this Thousand Needles?'

Sena pointed to the south, directly at the canyon walls of this desolate pass we were standing in. 'The Thousand Needles lies directly south as the Gryphon flies. However, we must venture west into the Barrens beyond, and then take the Gold Road south until we reach what is known as the Great Lift, and from there venture to a Tauren town by the name of Freewind.'

I turned to Band. 'And where are we headed?'

Band sighed. 'We have to act on the assumption that the priests made it through Dustwallow and have passed this way already. Unless a search reveals their remains here, which I doubt it will, then we can only hope they have proceeded along to the Gold Road.'

'Then we are all heading in the same direction!' I said brightly. 'There's no need to kill each other at all!'

'Don't be so optimistic,' Band said cynically, 'for the Gold Road is under the control of the Horde. It is not completely unsafe for travellers like us, as there are many havens and traders along the route, but it certainly gives the Troll and the Orc here the upper-hand if they feel like attacking us again.'

'Then that leaves me with one single option,' I said. As they waited for my response, I threw my plan into action.

"The plan", as it were, was rather ad hoc, but I had been running it through my mind whilst all this negotiation was ongoing. In fact, the diplomacy I enacted was primarily to keep the others distracted whilst I set "the plan" up.

It took lightning reactions, but I felt up to the challenge. I had been nervously rolling the ring on my finger around and around, and I felt the gem inset in the golden band draw and channel the power of the earth and the elements. This energy spread through me with refreshing vigour, the way gulped water does after a long drought. I was so happy to have found this ring in that abandoned watchtower; it made my movements so much lighter, as if I were walking on air.

What the others had not noticed whilst the talk was going on, was that I had withdrawn my cloak from my pack, which was left on the floor beside me.

With one deft movement, I swung the cloak around me, which immediately obscured my presence to the three onlookers. Not pausing to see the reactions of the three, I sprung forward. With my left hand, I snatched at Sena's wand, using my elbow to knock the staff clean from his unsuspecting fist. With my right, I snatched Band's sword at the hilt, straight from his relaxed fingers.

It was easier than I had intended.

I threw all the weapons out of reach as I darted in Rolore's direction. Being the greatest in hulk, Rolore was the slowest to react, which is why I left him last. His confusion was still apparent at the sudden disappearance of me, so I could easily wrench the axe from his two-handed grip.

I victoriously threw the axe onto the pile, and stuck myself between the three nonplussed characters and their weaponry.

I threw off the cloak, appearing in front of them.

'You have no reason now to be suspicious of each other,' I said triumphantly, 'only of me.'

I gathered up their weapons and threw them in my pack. They could only watch impotently.

'Do not worry,' I said cheerfully, chest pounding with adrenaline, 'I will return them all intact, should the need arise. Say, if we are attacked by wild beasts in the Barrens…'

I laughed, quite proud of the achievement that I managed to disarm three seasoned warriors right under their noses.

Amongst the barrage of dissent and anger directed towards me, I heard stirrings that echoed quietly off the canyon walls.

'I hear something--be quiet!' I told the mob. I realised there was something among us--a creature; most definitely not the brigand or his friends--creeping around our circle.

I drew my own sword and turned full circle. The disappointment that I may have to return the weapons so soon to the others washed over me; all that effort for nothing!

'What is it?' Band asked, cocking an ear.

'It is coming from behind those rocks,' I said.

Before I had the chance to let the weapons out of the bag, the huge creature leapt from behind the rocks, flying at speed towards us.

I gasped.

Band called out incredulously: 'Dunafalore?'

Mercifully, it was. That damned cat must have traipsed us all through the marshes.

'Where in Sargeras' name have you been?' Band reprimanded. The brilliant white striped sabre looked sheepish and pawed pathetically at Band, who could not stay mad at the beautiful creature for long.

He hopped up on Dunafalore, and turned to us.

'Seeing as I am weaponless, I would serve better as a swift scout, and will venture on ahead. You three are welcome to travel at your own pace.'

Before I could protest, he sped off westwards towards the Barrens, leaving me stranded between the giant Troll and Orc.

This was my punishment, I realised, for siding with the enemy. I looked nervously up at the narrow eyed pair, who looked down at me with disdain. I never realised how much bigger they both were than me until now.

They could have ripped me limb from limb and merely taken their weapons back. I could see they were thinking it too because of the way they looked at me. Fortunately, Sena simply said:

'We should carry on until we find the road. I daresay we are all famished and in need of a long rest. There are many inns along the Gold Road. Come.'

He marched off. Rolore shrugged, and followed him, leaving me, alone, standing in front of the blackened remains of the Shady Rest.

I picked up my pack, which was nearly too heavy to carry, and trundled onwards to the next stage of our journey, regretting having stolen everyone's rather cumbersome weapons. I cursed every bead of sweat that trickled down my forehead, and looked angrily up at the sun, which had been hidden from me for so long.