Of Claws and Totems

Chapter 25

Ratchet

The first thing that Blackheart noticed about Ratchet was the noise. It sounded almost like one giant party going was on. There was a lot of music playing, constant yelling, and a few screams here and there. The second thing he noticed was the smell. Even from here, over the salt coming off the ocean, he could smell the alcohol and the stench of bodily fluids. He was beginning to have second thoughts about how nice a bed might be, especially considering what might be stained into that bed when they got there. Last of all he really grasped the size of the port city. It was huge, much larger than he had heard or expected. It looked to stretch nearly a mile up and down the cost, with what seemed like every light in the city blazing. The streets looked to be haphazardly strewn about with no clear goal in mind. That would be a city that was easy to get lost in.

He turned to Sinyo, saying, "Well… it's certainly unique. So this town is neutral? As in there should be a place for Horde and a place for the Alliance?"

"Ohhh no. The goblin owners of the town refuse to segregate anyone. There's a rule that you have to pay for anything you break, so a fight breaking out is actually good for business. They tend to charge… a bit on top of what the cost for replacing they're tables, windows, and doors are. Since the goblins also run the local lumber mill and carpentry shop… well… they have interest in keeping things separate. They're definitely not hurting in their bank accounts, that's for sure."

"Well… there's nothing to it besides getting down there I suppose." Kalara said before threading her arm through Blackheart's. "Let's go."

The closer they got to the port, the worse all of the smells became. For once, Blackheart really wished he could just turn off some of his senses. Mingled in with the smells of alcohol and bodily stench was a massive jumble of confusing emotions. Love, hate, fear, lust, hope – all seemed to be mingled together. The noise was a racket, making it harder for him to hear things around him. It was as if the ambient noise was trying to drown out what was going on in his vicinity. There was even a smoky haze about the place that was obscuring his vision. How on Azeroth could anyone live in this place?

When they reached the edge of the port they were met by a small crew of heavily armored goblins with wicked looking clubs and nets on their belts. "Bruisers, the town guards," he heard Sinyo say as they approached.

The one in the lead marched directly up to them, checked them all out, eyeing their weaponry, before asking, "What are you in town for?" The goblin didn't even come up to Blackheart's hip and had quite a few scars about him. He also did not seem at all bothered that every member of Blackheart's party was over twice his height. In fact, he seemed quite bored.

Miakoda spoke for them this time. "We need a place to stay and to get some food."

"Ah!" The goblin's mood seemed to change immediately at the prospect of increasing the wealth of his town. "In that case you'll want the entertainment district. To get there follow this street behind me up three blocks, then take a left. Walk up that one for, oh, about another 6 blocks and take a right. Take an immediate left, then walk 2 blocks on and another right, then 5 blocks down take another left. That'll get you to where all of the inns are."

None of Blackheart's group could say anything. His eyebrow was arched in his typical quizzical look, both Kalara and Sinyo's mouth were gaping, and Miakoda just covered her face with her large palm. With a resigned sigh saying this happened all the time, the goblin pointed behind him and to the left. "Just go that way. I'm sure you guys will find it."

When Blackheart moved forward to follow his pointing finger, the rest of them seemed to wake from their stupor and followed him. The district they were currently in must have been the bazaar or trade district. There were shops everywhere and Blackheart could hear the shopkeepers and stall owners hawking their wares. There were calls claiming the finest silks in Kalimdor or the best looking jewels, sharpest swords, and strongest armor in all Azeroth. It seemed to him that if he had ever needed anything, this would be the place to come and get it. Even now, close to dusk, the streets were still packed with members from seemingly every race. To his left he could see an orc haggling over the price of an axe and the next stall over was a dwarf in a heated argument about a gem stone he was pointing at. It was all a sort of barely managed chaos, with the occasional patrol of bruisers making their way through the crowd.

It wasn't long before he got to see these goblin guards in action. Hearing shouting, he turned to follow the sound to see what the commotion was. A troll and a human were yelling at each other in front of what appeared to be a potion stand. He couldn't understand what the troll was saying, but from the words the human was yelling it was going to get ugly fast. The stall keeper was, with practiced precision Blackheart noted, moving his wares off of the stall in front of him and into a padded case behind him so that when the inventible fight finally did start and the troll choke slammed the human onto, and through, the table his wares were safe. The human retaliated rather quickly, sweeping the trolls legs out from under him and leaping on him, trying to pummel him with his fists. In mere seconds though, bruisers seemed to appear from nowhere and give them both a good whack to the head before netting them and dragging them off to what was likely the local jail.

One of the bruisers stayed behind and handed a coin pouch to the stall keeper, they shook hands, and he made his way following the others. Without missing much of a beat the stall keeper pulled a new table from his small cart and had his wares displayed and was hawking them in under a minute. It was quite an impressive display. He immediately went back to hawking his items and business, chaos, returned as normal.

As they were walking in the general direction they had been shown of the entertainment district, a jeweler was on the cusp of harassing people as they walked by, jumping out in front of them to try and sell his goods. Blackheart had hoped that they could pass by unnoticed, but they had no such luck. When Kalara was almost past him, the little goblin leapt in front of her, brandishing his necklaces and rings almost as a weapon. Blackheart had to help her keep from running the goblin over.

"You!" he shouted, though they were only a pace away, "What a beautiful draenei! A creature as beautiful as yourself deserves beautiful jewelry, though you easily outshine these baubles, they could only enhance your radiant appearance. Surely one of your race can appreciate the craftsmanship of my wares, the draenei are, after all, master jewel cutters. Surely this brilliant sapphire brings out your glowing eyes more so than that… wolf medallion does. Ahhhh and that hair band! It is much too simple for you, what about this piece?" He, seemingly from nowhere, produced a gem studded band," This would suit you much better I think!"

Kalara stopped for a moment, considering the goblin's words. It was definitely flattering to be doted upon as much as this seller was, though she felt it was more honeyed words than anything else. She knew what Blackheart thought of her, though she didn't think beauty and herself were things that went together. The jewelry that the goblin wanted to replace though… those were irreplaceable. The hairband had been a gift from her parents. It was possibly her most prized possession. It was the only thing she really had left of them. She touched it and the memory of them giving it to her came in a rush.

She had been young, barely able to run around without falling down, when she had found it in among her mother's clothing. She had been trying to get it to stay on when she was found out. It was just too big for her at the time, but her mother had given it to her anyway, telling her that she could keep it until it would fit and then wear it. If it hadn't of been with her things it would have been destroyed during the crash.

Then she touched the wolf medallion hanging from her neck. It was the first gift that Blackheart had given her. Well, the first material gift anyway. He had given her a lot, but before he had found his father's weaponry this had been his only real link to his past, the one item he truly owned and he wanted her to have it. The medallion was more precious than anything that the goblin had to offer, and the weight of it against her chest made her feel safe.

She looked down to the goblin then, saying, "I'm sure your jewelry is beautiful, and might even look good on me, but these few things that I have are worth more to me than any other jewelry I can imagine. My hairband was from my mother, and this pendant was from someone very special as well."

The goblin, after years of selling his baubles, knew when he wasn't going to make a sale. He merely nodded, saying, "As you wish, my lady. But if you find you ever need more jewelry come back and I assure you I'll find something just for you." And in a moment he was leaping in front of other people trying to sell his wares.

As the group continued on their way, Kalara snuck a peak at Blackheart. She could see that he wasn't exactly smiling ear to ear, but was very pleased that she treasured what he had given her. She did feel him pull her a bit closer though, and being closer to Blackheart was always a good thing in her book.

They finally managed to weave through the crowds, avoiding any more shop owner confrontations, and made their way to the entertainment district. It seemed to them that if the Darkmoon Faire had chosen a place to set up permanent residence, this would have been it. There were live entertainment venues, inns, brothels, and taverns...lots and lots of taverns. When they entered the district, Miakoda had to sidestep to avoid a drunken human that came toppling out of the first tavern that they came to.

"Let's not go into that one." She said. The others easily agreed and moved on down the street.

Ignoring the fights, sights, and cat calls from the less savory businesses, Blackheart lead his group down the avenue for another minute or two until they came to an inn that seemed, if only marginally, less rowdy than the rest. The sign swinging from the post above the door read 'The Splintered Hare' and showed a painting of a wooden rabbit. As he opened the door he hoped it would be a peaceful evening.

The common room wasn't as loud as some of the other places they had passed, but it wasn't quite by any stretch of the imagination either. There were quite a few tables scattered about and most of them were occupied by members of the various races. Kalara let out a slight hiss at the sight of a group of blood elves seated at one of the tables, but beyond that she chose to try and ignore them. There was a group of humans who seemed to be intoxicated and were making the most noise. One of the serving girls came up to them when she was free of her last table.

It was a rather short female troll, and in her odd accent she asked, "What can I get for ye?"

Blackheart stepped forward and answered for the group. "We need two rooms and," he sniffed the air for a moment, "a table for all of us and some of that boar you have roasting."

The serving girl nodded to them and directed them to a table before promising to return with food for them. The table was longer than it was deep, with two chairs on each side. Blackhear took a seat next to Kalara while the two tauren took over the others. Finally being able to just sit and relax was nice, but the table they had been given was not ideal, at least not to Blackheart's sensibilities anyway. It wasn't near a wall and every chair had its back to some of the other patrons. Blackheart had seen how efficient the bruisers were in dealing with trouble, but he still didn't like the idea of having his back to anyone.

Once they were all seated, Sinyo turned to ask Miakoda one of the many things that had been on his mind that day. "So… what is this log incident you were talking about? And what did that have to do with those raptors?"

"Oh well the fuzzball there seems to have some sort of handy built in sixth sense about danger." Blackheart gave an exasperated sigh at being called 'fuzzball'. "We were dealing with some kind of giant elemental tornado and out of nowhere Blackheart yells at us to duck. It was so loud I could barely hear him! But, seeing as how he hadn't lead us astray yet, we hit the deck and when we did this big log comes bouncing along the ground straight for us, which Blackheart also somehow deflected with his shield. I'm still not sure how we survived that."

"Wait wait wait, giant elemental tornado?" Sinyo asked, completely confused. Miakoda proceeded to tell him in full what had happened with the tornado in Darkshore. For perhaps the 5th time that day, his jaw went slack and fell open. With practiced patience, Miakoda reached over and closed it for him.

Sinyo turned to Kalara in amazement. "You… you communed with the elementals to fix a storm that Malfurion Stormrage couldn't stop? That's…. well that's just purely incredible. What was it like? What was the air realm like? I mean, I've spoken with the elements to form our contract but the contact I've had since them has been limited at best. What about…"

Sinyo asked so many questions so rapidly that Kalara was having trouble keeping up an answering. After the 10th or so question, Kalara heard a smack and looked to see Sinyo holding the back of his head and Miakoda pointing at him. "Boy, you need to slow down. You're going to overwhelm Kalara with all your questions, especially if you won't wait for an answer."

Sinyo looked abashed then. "Sorry about that. It's just to meet someone who has accomplished so much as a shaman is… well it's an honor really. Usually only the masters are easily able to commune with the elements, like Thrall."

Blackheart could see that Kalara was blushing now by the rosy tint in her cheeks. He was very happy to see another shaman showing her the respect that he knew she deserved. She was in the process of answering when they're food arrived, carried by the same waitress, as well as another, that had greeted them.

As the troll set the food down, she handed two keys to Blackheart. "Room five, along the left side, be big enough for the tauren. Your room, fifteen, be further down, around the corner."

"Thanks." Blackheart said, taking the keys before they dug into their meal. He hadn't eaten a proper meal in quite a while so even the relatively simple fare of roasted pork and some vegetables was quite delicious. Judging by the silence emanating from the rest of his group, he assumed that they felt the same. Once the meal was finished, Kalara spent the next couple of hours answering questions for Sinyo. Most of the common had cleared out by the time the tauren's appetite for answers, and food, was finally sated, so they all got up and headed to their rooms.

They said their goodnights to Sinyo and Miakoda when the tauren reached their room and Blackheart and Kalara continued down the hallway. As they reached the corner, Blackheart started to become uncomfortable. It wasn't his sixth sense about danger, at least not specifically, but it was definitely something. As soon as a familiar smell wafted over to him, he knew what was making him uncomfortable. The mix of alcohol and the sickly sweet smell of magic told him that a few slightly inebriated blood elves stood around the next corner. Before he could stop Kalara she turned the corner and ran flat into a blood elf. Blackheart was able to catch her before she hit the ground, but the blood elf landed flat on his butt.

Strangely enough this seemed to amuse the rest of the standing blood elves a great deal. With the amount of alcohol each one of them smelled like they must have been quite drunk. They were saying something in their language to their fallen comrade. Blackheart couldn't understand but from the inflections it seemed rather… mocking. Once he had righted Kalara he offered his hand to the blood elf still on the floor. He just stared at Blackheart's hand for a moment, almost as if he didn't understand what he was doing, before slapping it away angrily.

He got up in a huff saying, "Watch where you are going draenei," putting emphasis on Kalara's race, as if it had something to do with the accident. Blackheart could tell from the way Kalara's face was twisting up she was about to say something that could possibly cause them some problems. Blackheart put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. She looked up to him and sighed before muttering. "Sorry."

The blood elf just scoffed at her apology. Before the situation could escalate, Blackheart decided to intervene. "It was just an accident, it could have happened to anyone." He then took Kalara's hand and led her down the hallway towards their room.

They were maybe halfway there when the blood elf called out, "Just keep your woman in check, human."

Kalara was jerked to a halt as Blackheart stopped in the hallway. She looked back at him and she could see the anger starting to slowly spread across his features. She knew they didn't need any trouble, and that that blood elf certainly wasn't worth any. "Come on," she whispered, giving his hand a few tugs.

She could tell she had won him over… until the stupid blood elf opened his mouth. "Maybe you should get a leash for your goat to make sure it doesn't get out again." The insult stung her, true, but she felt more sorry for the one that had uttered it. Stupid, foolish blood elf. She let Blackheart's hand go with a sigh as he turned around and started slowly walking back towards the elf.

Blackheart was going to let the damned elf go. He knew he didn't need trouble and sure didn't want trouble… but no one insults Kalara, at least not more than once. As he was walking back towards the offending blood elf, his comrades were laughing though Blackheart couldn't tell at if it was at him or the other blood elf.

As he approached, the blood elf said in a mocking tone, "What are you planning on doing? What could a mere human do to one as superior as I?" He managed to get most of that out without slurring, and Blackheart was mildly impressed, though that was fairly well buried under his anger.

When Blackheart finally reached him and stood towering over him by over a foot, it seemed to finally dawn on the blood elf that perhaps this was a bad plan, taunting someone much bigger than he was. When he looked around, part of his good sense realized that his comrades were laughing at him and were backing away, wanting nothing of what Blackheart was about to bring, and leaving him to face this large, irate human alone. He almost realized he should just leave, he was so close to making a good decision… but then alcohol took over. This human in front of him suddenly didn't look so big. What was he even worrying about? He'd put this fool down and then go on about his night, but with a great story to tell.

Blackheart looked down at the offending elf and tried to carefully consider his options. In a way, he was acting similarly to the blood elf: he knew this was probably a bad idea, but the anger at someone mocking Kalara said to hell with that, this guy needs a beating. He did, at least, retain the courtesy to give the elf a chance.

"You," Blackheart said, poking the elf in the chest so hard he staggered backwards and almost fell, "are going to apologize to her. Now."

"Or what, you big oaf?" The elf said, once he had regained his balance.

"Or, I'm going to knock you into last week and your friends will have to carry your sorry hide out of here."

"You would dare to attack me?" The elf said in mock disbelief. "I don't think so!" He shouted, and made his final mistake that night: he swung a fist at Blackheart's jaw.

As amusing as it might have been to the worgen any other time, to see someone having to stretch up to reach his face, the humor was lost on him as he saw the clumsy punch coming in. With ease, he batted the fist aside, cocked his arm back, and laid the elf out with a single blow that sent him tumbling backwards to land at the feet of his companions. Blackheart wasn't sure that the elf ever saw it coming, but he definitely knew that the elf would feel it when he woke up the next morning.

The elf's companions looked between their friend and Blackheart a few times before collectively sighing. One of them pulled out a key, opened a nearby door, and all of them unceremoniously dumped the unconscious elf into the room. Without a further word they shut the door and left, continuing on to whatever merrymaking they had planned... though minus one participant.

Blackheart was still watching them go when he felt Kalara's presence behind him and felt her arms wrap around his waist, hugging him from behind. Her voice was muffled as she said, "You didn't have to do that."

He turned around so he could face her. "Yes, I did. It makes my blood boil when anyone talks badly of you and that… elf had the audacity to insult you. I can't let those things slide."

They started walking towards their room once more as Kalara said, "But why does it bother you so much. It's not like they're insulting you or anything. When I chose the path to be a shaman I knew I would receive ridicule from even my own people, though perhaps not overtly. I have prepared myself for people saying bad things about me. Having one of those fool blood elves say mean things isn't any worse."

They had reached the door then. After entering, they set their things down and Blackheart turned to Kalara, taking her gently by the shoulders. "Whether or not you have a thick skin for those things is not the point. It's also not the point that it wasn't directed at me. However… you are mine, and whenever someone threatens you, physically or emotionally, they're going to have to deal with me. A threat to you is basically a threat to me. Face it; you have an overprotective watchdog, sometimes literally, in me."

Kalara was blushing as she hugged him. It felt so good for Blackheart to say that she was his and, she had to admit, it felt good when he was so protective of her. She had always feared being with someone that would treat her like an object, or someone that wouldn't protect her. Not that she often needed protection, but Blackheart had never let her down in that sense either. She could feel Blackheart playing with her hair while her face was buried in his chest. She liked that too. In fact, she liked everything about Blackheart.

Blackheart continued to rub her hair for a few more moments before stepping back slightly and gently tipping her chin up so he could look her in those blue eyes he always felt enchanted by. He let her eyes swallow him up for a few moments before leaning in and lightly kissing her. She eagerly responded, and soon they found themselves on the bed, missing clothing neither could remember taking off.

There were many hurdles they would have to overcome in the coming journey, and it would likely be long and arduous. Tonight though… tonight it was just Blackheart and Kalara in their own little corner of the world. Whatever tomorrow brought could be thought about tomorrow. This night, they thought of nothing but each other.