What I forgot mention last time is that Of Blood and Chaos is now over one year old! That, in my opinion, is quite something, to have worked on something for over one year. Oh, and for those few who may have noticed: In the drop down menu where you select the chapter you want to read. . . Excuses for the missing letter in the chapter name, but the site won't let me input anything longer. . .



Chapter 26: Perversity of Nature, Crashed

An immense pain wrecked her head, but amazingly the fall had not send her unconscious. Or perhaps it had and she just couldn't remember the part where she woke up from it. That said, she couldn't remember a lot of things. She opened her eyes, only to shut them immediately again, because of a bright light shining in her eyes. Even through her eyelids the light burned open her eyes. The pain in her head made any sane thought almost impossible, the pain in the rest of her body made any movement impossible.

The last thing she could remember was hanging on to the zeppelin and then something jerking her away from it. She had lashed out at it, only to be dropped to the ground from great height. There were only a few sounds around her, most were of moaning people, one was a bird chirping, and another was a wolf yelping like a dog that had just been kicked.

The light seized to burn so brightly, she could feel the intensity lessen through her eyelids. Once more her eyes opened, one of the few bits of movement she was capable of. It had been the sun burning so brightly, but now clouds had passed in front of it, very, very dark clouds. Just a little to her left was thick row of trees, to the right she heard a lot of the moaning, but it was past her vision.

With great effort, and trying to ignore the pain it added to those already present in her head, she turned her head to the right. Mostly, there was only a great pile of wood, with a few semi-recognisable parts of the zeppelin sticking up. The balloon hung in the trees. One dwarf sat dazed on a large boulder, looking across the crash site. One wolf lay amongst the rubble with a piece of wood through it's flank. It was Xani's.

Keeping her eyes open proved to be a difficult task, one she only barely succeeded at. Something pulled on her consciousness, wanting to pull her into unconsciousness. There was movement amongst the rubble. A pile of it seemed to heave up and down as if breathing. It turned out it was not the rubble breathing, but someone underneath the rubble trying to lift the rubble of him. The someone was Talgrun, who, as far as Xani could see, had only suffered minor gashes from all the splintery bits of wood all over the unprotected parts of his body, his face and neck mostly.

He hadn't seen her lying in the shadows yet, her inherent skin colour and new dark blue armour making that fairly hard. At the moment at least he didn't seem to be interested in finding her, for he moved with purpose to another part of the crash site. There he lifted rubble of another victim. Surprisingly unscathed, Sasha appeared from the rubble. At least for the moment satisfied, Talgrun sat down upon a piece of rubble and started pulling splinters from his neck and face while looking for other survivors amongst the rubble.

He was only looking at the rubble and thus didn't see Xani lying further beyond the rubble near the edge of the forest, the zeppelin had crashed in the middle of a small clearing. Although pain still wrecked her head, the thought that at least some had survived comforted her a bit. After a minute or so Talgrun once more started digging through the rubble. With all the strength she could muster Xani tried to call to him, but the sound coming from her mouth wasn't enough to reach him, the noise he made himself by searching through the rubble drowning her voice out. After a while he stopped digging and lifted a female troll from the rubble. She was either unconscious or dead, for she didn't move. Talgrun brought his left ear close to her mouth, listening or feeling for a breath. Not long after he once more lifted the troll up and then carried her away from the rubble. The fact he took the trouble told Xani the troll was still alive.

He put the troll down not far from where Xani was lying. As he inspected the wounds decorating the troll's body, Xani once more tried to call for him. If sound had come from her mouth, she hadn't heard it, but apparently Talgrun had, for his head instantly turned to her.

After one more glance at the troll, he went over to her. "Are you alright?" She shook her head, or at least as close to it as she could get. She tried to keep her eyes fixed upon Talgrun, but they kept spinning around against her will. "Easy. . . I'm going to look around for others. Don't die on me, okay?" A slight nod was the only answer she managed. Before her eyes could even attempt to track his movement, he was gone, Sasha with him. Her head rolled to face upward, but now she couldn't find the strength to turn it back again. Come back! She wanted to shout, but couldn't. A fear gripped her, now that she lay all alone in the shadows, looking up at an almost black sky. Come back! But again she couldn't speak. Moments later she fell unconscious, into a dreamless sleep.


Thunder rolled through the forest. More lightning streaked across the sky, followed by more thunder. The first drop of rain fell down on Talgrun's ear. Great! Just what I need! This had to be one of the most difficult positions he had been in. Try as he might he could not find a way to at least make their situation a little better.

First problem was he had no idea where they really were. Just before the zeppelin had crashed it had also gone of course, or at least he assumed it was such, for it had drifted closer to a mountain range than they should have ever gotten.

Second problem was that he, besides a wolf and a dwarf who had apparently taken such a hit to his head to have gotten a bad case of amnesia, was the only one physically mostly intact, although he had to admit his head felt as if a trio of infernals were stomping around in it. To Talgrun it seemed quite a miracle that Xani was alive. She had made a freefall for a distance before hitting the ground, at least Talgrun had some bits of zeppelin to slow his fall before hitting bottom. Xani only had the thin layer of moss on which she lay now.

The dwarf was alright physically, but the only thing he had done so far was sit on a boulder and stare ahead of him. The troll he had found was very much the same as Xani, except that the troll hadn't woken up at all. Since the troll he had found only one other survivor, a human. Only, he wouldn't be alive for much longer unless Xani would stand up right now and start healing, which was highly unlikely.

He was in fact leaning over the dying human right now. A large piece of rubble stuck out from the man's side. The human was still conscious, but that wouldn't last. A red stream flowed from the human's side. Talgrun hadn't dared to remove the rubble, not because it wasn't possible, but because it might do more bad than good.

For the past minute the man had been speaking all sorts of nonsense about all the strange things he was seeing right now. Perhaps he isn't quite conscious. . . He had no real desire to sit by the human until the man had passed away, but it didn't feel right to leave the man alone now. In between the man's ramblings he looked to Xani, who it seemed was still unconscious, the only sign that she was still alive the slight heaving of her chest when she breathed.

The rain began in earnest. While trying to shield the dying human's face from the rain, he saw Sasha trying get the attention of the dwarf, who even now remained still upon his boulder.

After a few minutes the human, almost without warning, suddenly let out his last breath, eyes staring. Gently he closed the man's eyes and then left the body. First he picked up the troll and lay her down somewhere out of the rain. He then went to Xani.

Xani was awake and looking extremely terrified. The only part of her that moved out of her own will was her eyes, which were now fixed upon Talgrun. The rest of her body now shook violently, the downpour having already crept into every small crevice of her leather armour as well as her skin. Carefully, to not rattle her battered head any more than necessary, he picked her up and then equally careful lay her down not far from the troll, out of the rain.

The dwarf hadn't move as of yet, but still Sasha tried to make him do so. "Sasha!" He called her to him. After only a second's hesitation looking at the dwarf, Sasha quickly got out of the rain. Together with Sasha, Talgrun sat against a tree in between Xani and the troll.

He tried to find some way to be able to move everybody, but couldn't find it. At least one needed to come to his or her senses or be able to move before he could try anything. Than he'd only have two wounded to transport, which wouldn't be to much of a problem. One could be carried by Sasha, while he carried the other himself. But it didn't look like any of them would miraculously heal on their own.

A touch on his arm roused him from his pondering. He looked to the source and saw Xani had managed to move a her arm, a little bit. "Can you talk?" He asked softly. All he picked up over the sound of the rain was some moans that might have been 'not really'. "Can you move?" Again there was not much of an answer, only a moan that might have meant anything and some shivering. Her eyes remained fixed upon him, seemingly begging him not to go away. He had no intention to do so.

In an attempt to stop her shivering he drew her closer and wrapped an arm around her, to shield her from the wind. She seemed to not mind at all. He cast one more look to the troll on his other side, who was still breathing, and now with Sasha beside her would also be out of the wind and somewhat warmer. The rain continued to beat upon the wreckage of the zeppelin lying in the slight clearing, yet the tree underneath which they sat still provided them with some cover. There was no more he could do for now except continue to ponder what to do after the rain subsided.

And still the dwarf remained where he was, perched on his boulder, staring ahead. Something must have taken a serious hit in his head. . . Was one of the last thoughts before he dozed of into a half-sleep.


Feeling safe so close to Talgrun, Xani had dared let herself fall asleep again. Her dreams did not bring much rest though. Always facing up and seemingly always falling, she had no idea how far away the ground was. The not knowing where the ground was, was the worst. It terrified beyond reason. An impossibility only caused her fear to increase a thousand fold. Suddenly she impacted a branch. The branch broke and she continued her fall, not once did she actually see the branch or the tree, it was as if she had impacted an invisible branch in midair. What else could be floating around, waiting for her to fall upon.

She closed her eyes, trying to make the fear go away, hoping she'd finally hit bottom so it would end. But when she did hit bottom it was surprisingly gentle.

"I've got you!" She suddenly heard the raucous voice of Talgrun which so horribly conveyed the night-elven language, before she even knew she'd been caught. Strong arms kept her aloft for a moment, holding her close, before gently laying her on the ground. He then retracted his arms and stepped back. But the moment he had stepped back, she felt herself sinking through the ground. She attempted to grab a hold of Talgrun, but he was to far away, and neither could he reach her in time.

She took in a big gulp of air, expecting to be swallowed by the earth, but just as the earth came up to her nose, she fell through the ground and was again falling down. Above her was no sign that she had ever sunken through the ground. Again a branch seemed to impact her and break, and again she was caught by Talgrun who again welcomed her with, "I've got you!" Desperately she tried to tell him to not put her down, but he didn't react, he put her down anyway and stepped back. She fell through the earth again and restarted the cycle. Over and over she fell. . .

Until she awoke. . .


First thing she noticed was that the heavy arm around her shoulder was gone and that she was no longer leaning against anything metallic. Second was that the rain had subsided. The headache had subsided somewhat, as had the weakness in other parts of her body. She found she could at least readily turn her head to look around.

The sun was shining, morning having arrived already. To her side sat the troll, awake also, and seemingly in far better condition than before. The troll merely nodded to her, acknowledging her being awake. Xani knew trolls had a historic animosity with anything remotely elven and this one seemed not one bit to pleased about there being an elf anywhere within a hundred feet of her, let alone a mere nine feet away. Sasha lay in between them, seemingly waiting for something. The dwarf remained perched unmoving on top his boulder.

But no matter in which direction she looked, Talgrun was nowhere to be seen. As there was nothing else for her to attempt, Xani bend as much towards Sasha as her painful limbs allowed. Perhaps the rather special bond the wolf had with it's master made it capable of giving some sort of indication. It was wishful thinking, but she needed something other than her pain to think about. "Where'd Talgrun go?" Sasha tilt her head towards Xani once, and then went back to looking across the zeppelin crash site at the edge of the forest on the other side of the clearing. Than, perhaps, that is where he went. . .

But a more definite answer came from the troll to her side. "Talgrun?" She asked, slightly surprised. Xani nodded her answer, something at least all the races she had met readily understood. The troll said some more ,of which Xani understood nothing, and then gestured across the clearing to where Sasha was looking.

Understanding her meaning that that was where Talgrun had gone to, she used one of the few orcish words she had picked up over the past two months. "Okay." Feeling the need to at least know something about the person she might be lying next to for the rest of the day, Xani gestured at herself and said, "Xani"

The troll understood her meaning and played along, also bringing her own hand up to gesture at herself. "Shan'to." The blue-skinned troll spoke, followed by a brief wry grin. After that the troll lost all interest in Xani and started plucking at the light axe that lay on her stomach.

For a little while longer they lay in silence, until Sasha suddenly went half-way to fully standing up. She stared almost longingly across the clearing, as if expecting something to appear. Instead of a something, Talgrun appeared. He climbed his way over the rubble, waving briefly at them when he saw they had noticed him.

Upon arrival he told Xani and Shan'to, respectively in night-elven and orcish, "The only thing I found were tracks that could not have been demons, perhaps they were trolls, but not any I have ever seen. No sign of Horde, Alliance or night-elven forces. At least not in that direction. I'm going to look in that direction." He pointed in the opposite direction from where he had come, directly behind Xani and Shan'to. Before he left, he left them a flask of water he found on his scouting, which had been dropped from the zeppelin.

While Talgrun was gone, Xani continued to try to get limbs to work properly. Although the pain in her whole body receded slightly and she managed to reposition her legs to lie more comfortably, the pain in her head increased from her continuous moving. Even light caused her head-aches, so she kept her eyes closed most of the time.

Having her eyes closed, it was only through the loud thud and the gasp from Shan'to that she even noticed the dwarf had toppled of his boulder. When she looked, she saw it was as if the dwarf had collapsed as if suddenly having fallen asleep.

Sasha seemed none to pleased with the situation and fully stood up to growl at an area to the left of where Talgrun had appeared from the forest. Was she just imagining, or did she hear muttering come from that very direction? Just as Sasha slowly started stalking towards that part of the forest, she yelped for a moment, something having hit her. The wolf growled angrily towards whatever had done so and looked ready to start into a run, when the giant wolf yelped again and dropped to the ground.

There were two small darts sticking out of the wolf's throat. Poisoned darts! Xani quickly realized. Shan'to tried to stand up, which she succeeded at. But a dart imbedded itself in her neck as well, causing her drop to her knees, but the troll refused to go unconscious. Just as she tried to use pure willpower to will herself back up and attack whatever attacked them, a second dart hit her in the shoulder. The poison acted quickly and put the troll down on the ground, unconscious, within the following second.

Xani could do nothing besides squirming a bit as she watched six figures appearing from the forest's edge. They looked like the male variants of Shan'to's race, except that they were far more muscled and had a dark purple, almost black, for skin colour. The six approached, perfectly aware that Xani was still awake. As they did so, Xani saw that these darker-skinned trolls were more animalistic in behaviour compared to the troll which now lay unconscious. They continuously argued, pointing at their catch as if deciding which one was theirs.

Only one didn't argue, obviously the leader of the pack. The lead troll had a long, fresh looking, jagged scar running from almost at his nose down to just below the collarbone. Also, he wore various decorations, bracelets and chains and such, made of small bones. All of them were scarcely clad, sufficing with just cloth and leather bound around their wastes. Some had something akin to armour around their chests and shoulder, but it wouldn't stop much more than the claws of some local animal, which, Xani realized, was exactly what it was made to do. Almost all walked barefooted, only one having bound a cloth around his feet.

Xani desperately wished for Talgrun to step out of the bush right now, but he didn't. In absence of Talgrun, Xani did the only thing she could think of, and actually do, right now. She sat up straight and hid her right hand behind her back, pretending as if she had a dagger there.

The trolls approached to a distance that she could smell their foul stench, hygiene and clean words they had probably never heard of. The lead troll kicked at the wolf and then, when satisfied the wolf wouldn't wake up, said something to his companions. The other trolls laughed at the words while one licked his lips as if seeing something tasty in the wolf. The scarred troll said something about Shan'to, followed by more laughter from the rest, leading the troll to Xani.

"An' what be a pretty elf like yu doin' here?" The troll asked, to Xani's surprise, in broken night-elven. "I think you be desert dan." Followed by bellowing laughter from all six trolls. The lead was quickest to stop laughing and leaned closer to Xani. "An' what be dat you have dar, behind yo back?" Xani threatened to take out her nothingness, seemingly only amusing the troll. The troll leaned so close Xani could smell the troll's foul breath, and see in great detail the degenerative state of the troll's teeth and long tusks. "Why don' you jus' gimme the knife? I promise we'll kill yu before dinna'."

But then came what Xani had hoped for. "HEY!" Talgrun roared at the trolls. He shouted something in orcish, believing these trolls, as the trolls in the Horde, would understand the language. They didn't though. Talgrun stood at the very edge of the forest to Xani's right.

The lead troll leaned closer to Xani and asked. "Yo friend?" The troll than straightened up and turned to face Talgrun.

Noticing the trolls didn't understand orcish, but did speak night-elven, Talgrun switched languages. "Get out of here! NOW!" He drew his massive hammer and held it threateningly towards the trolls.

"Careful! They have poison dar--" She was cut of as the lead troll backhanded her across the face, drawing blood.

"Big guy speaks elf, eh? We'll fix dat!" And to his companions he shouted, "Three darts! I don' wan' him getting' up fo' a while."

And before Talgrun could make any mayor progress towards the trolls, a trio of darts had adhered themselves to his throat. To everybody's surprise, Talgrun didn't drop immediately. In fact, he didn't drop at all, he only wavered slightly. He pulled the darts from his neck and threw them to the ground. While the trolls still looked amazed at what the massive orc was accomplishing, Talgrun steadied himself, obviously at least a bit affected by the poison, and prepared to charge the trolls.

The lead troll was faster though and pulled a small axe from his belt and threw it towards Talgrun. Within the space of a single second, Talgrun stepped back once, followed by the axe hitting his face. As if in slow-motion, Xani saw some blood splatters when the axe impacted the right side of Talgrun's head. His head jerked backwards and his body toppled backwards into the bushes amongst which he had been standing, only a loud thud signalling his impact with the ground.

"Talgrun!" Xani shouted. But before she could say anything more, the scarred troll beat her across the mouth again, rattling her brain severely and drawing more blood. No. . . She thought beaten.