Chapter Twenty-Nine

Six months was more than enough time for Hyleana to call the Earthen Ring her home. In the plains, she ran with her bow ready and her saber rushing ahead of her as they attacked their prey, a young clefthoof. "Be careful!" She heard in Orcish behind her. But as she shot the killing blow to the large creature, she turned around to face her hunting companion. "I got it!" she replied in very rough Orcish, her beautiful elven accent unable to follow the orcs harsher language.

Kagus, Grothos's brother, was hunting with her today. In the last six months, she'd tried to learn Orcish the best she could, but was still in training for the most part. At the very least now she could get the gist of her communication with the other orcs that did not speak common. Kagus mumbled something, but she couldn't make out the words. "Again?" she asked for him to repeat himself. "Nothing. Bring back to camp." She made out his reply as the short orc pointed at the clefthoof.

While she'd been considered somewhat reckless to those in the faction, she'd been very effective and had helped take initiative on more than one occasion. Working for the Earthen Ring, she decided, was something interesting and rather marvelous. However, she was never completely at home. So long as Lorus was out there, she couldn't sleep well enough at night.

When they arrived back at the camp, Grothos met her with a smile on his face. "Another successful kill?" he asked, speaking in Orcish. Kagus said something to his brother in a bothered tone, but again, Hyleana could not make it out completely. "What did he say about me?" she asked in common. "You're severe and he can't keep up. It bother's him." Her friend laughed with a deep boom.

Sighing in content, the night elf entered her tent. Technically, it was Grothos's tent, but the two were now living together, due to lack of space for her own private quarters. Had she not been the wiser, it would have reminded her much of her time with Lorus. But this tent had a different, more Orcish structure. She found that she enjoyed it more than anything she'd lived in prior to.

Lying down on her bedroll, she looked up at the tent's ceiling. "Word came in from Fizzlepop. It seems he has news we might be interested." Grothos had since met with Ryney on multiple occasions, and seemed to trust his judgments for the most part. Exhaustion seeping into her lean bones, Hyleana shook her head and mumbled, "Travel all the way out there? Well... I suppose we should get a move on then..." Standing up, she led the two of them back out of the tent.

"Tell me she take cat with her." She made out Kagus's complaints from the other side of the opening. "No. Cat stay here." She responded in Orcish, laughing cruelly as she left Haru to doze in the social area of the camp. Her saber had become somewhat of a mascot to her recklessness, and Grothos's brothers had wanted to cook Haru on multiple occasions.

The two still had their gryphons from their initial flight to Nagrand, deciding to keep them rather than return them. As the creatures flew through the sky with ease, Hyleana enjoyed the freedom she felt being off the ground. The sky was so beautiful, and for some reason, she felt a sense of peace. It had grown slowly over the last few months, but it had finally come to her. A sense of clarity accompanied it.

She turned to look at her orc companion, wondering if he enjoyed the sensation of flight just as much as she did. His face was well composed and he kept his brown eyes straight ahead as he looked ahead of them. He'd grown his hair longer, as it now reached down below his shoulders. Hyleana stared deeper at him, noticing that he'd grown in strength as well. Landing her gryphon, she saw his sense of confusion as he landed beside her. "We could still fly the rest of the way, why do you land?" he asked as his gryphon came to a trot beside her own.

Hyleana smiled, her fangs gleaming slightly, as she rode her mount with confidence. "I wanted to speak with you." In the past six months, Grothos had returned to his duties and training to become a shaman. With both of them busy, she found that she hadn't had much time to anyways. "What is it you wish to speak with me about?"

He kept her gaze on him, being very intense on purpose; she could still recall when she'd first seen him and he'd been too shy to meet her silver eyes. She smiled at the memory, despite it's dark surroundings. Even though she'd been miserable, and even though she preferred not to think of that particular time, she still couldn't find it in her to hate meeting Grothos.

"I wanted to compliment you on your newfound growth." She mused. The shaman smiled around his tusks and shook his head. "You bring me down here to speak of such trivial matters? I did not think that elves wasted such time." Her playful silver eyes narrowed at his comment as she teased in return, "You feel I am wasting time?"

Chuckling darkly, the orc looked ahead as he stated, "Time with a young blood should be time wasted to such an ancient creature." Hyleana stopped her gryphon abruptly and watched the orc take lead. Looking after him, she wondered what had brought upon such a change in attitude. Although they shared a tent together, she found that her orc friend had been more than quiet for the most part. Was there something bothering him, she had to wonder?

Something made her chest hurt slightly and her emotions twist into anger. Grothos stopped his gryphon only a few paces ahead and turned around, now noticing that his companion was no longer at his side. "Hyleana?" he asked her. "What would make you say such a thing?" she asked, her voice getting the better of her, revealing her displeasure. Grothos sighed; even in anger, elven accents were like music.

"Hyleana it is true. I don't know what more you expect me to say?" he asked her. Hyleana shook her head. "It is not true. Was it not you who said that we could die at any moment? That lifespans no longer applied? Don't ever think or say such a thing again." She warned as she brought her gryphon back to flight. "Hyleana!" Grothos called after her, kicking his own mount into flight. "We should get there as fast as we can, should we not?" the angry night elf retorted as she flew ahead.

They arrived in a timely manner, about an hour later, at Fizzlepop's tent. Lymkin greeted them as they entered the tent, her pink hair now up in pigtails. The small inventor rushed up to greet them and explained that Ryney would be in at any moment. "He just had to get some water. I'm not really sure what his news is for you two though. I wasn't here when it happened." She shrugged.

"Hyleana. I have a question for you!" The gnome suddenly picked up. "What might it be?" she asked. "I've gotta run this important operation in a few weeks; it'll involve some dwarves in southern Nagrand. Apparently there are some ruins and they need a bodyguard and some gnome tech. And I'm not much of a body guard, but if you go they'll pay you handsomely!" Lymkin had started finding Alliance forces to sell her gnome tech to, seeing as Ryney was selling his to the Earthen Ring. Along with this, she often offered her night elf friend a few jobs here and there.

Grothos spoke up, "What do the dwarves expect to happen?" Hyleana shot a metal glare in his direction, wondering why it should even concern the shaman. "Hey, Nagrand's a dangerous place, you know? They probably just want some piece of mind." The gnome's large eyes seemed to mock the orc as she added, "Why, you scared your girlfriend's going to get hurt?"

Grothos opened his large maw to speak, but Hyleana cut him off. "He should be more concerned that I'll hurt him!" she laughed. The orc's tanned face seemed to darken as he looked to the ground; perhaps he was confused as to whether or not he and the night elf were on mutual terms again? Hyleana could hear something pattering on the top of the tent; it had not been cloudy when they left, so why was it raining now?

"Sudden change in weather... I hope Ryney's okay..." Lymkin noted. At that moment, the tent flap opened and said goblin entered. "Well, we wanted water..." he grumbled. "I left all the buckets outside, honey." He explained to his wife as he sat down and shook his now waterlogged hair. "Now as for you two, I got something I thought you might be interested in." he started. Hyleana didn't know why, but something in the pit of her stomach felt as though the news would be more than negative.

"The other day, the fella came in. New guy. Never seen 'em before. Now apparently, some Horde fella's advised him to get weapons from me. Along with that, the guy was completely serious. Not friendly. Says he's looking for some people and needed some weapons to track 'em down." Hyleana looked to Grothos and saw that his eyes had widened; were they both thinking the same thing?

"I thought ya guys might make that face." Ryney continued after a moment. "He's a blood elf. Lorus Sunblade. You know him?" The name hung in the heavy, moist air for a moment. "Yes." Grothos kept his voice even, he knew that Hyleana's temper could go off and he felt that he needed to be the stronger. But to his surprise, the night elf was more composed than himself.

"He said it was an orc and a night elf. I don't know many, but I sure as hell knew it had to be you guys." Ryney sighed rubbing the back of his head as he took note of his wife's now unsettled look. "You didn't give him anything did you?" Grothos asked, trying to hide his anger. Had his goblin friend knowingly given Lorus some sort of advancement, he felt he might tear the tent apart and ring the small goblin's throat. Lymkin's blue eyes seemed to be just as enraged as she waited for her husband's response.

"I didn't." Ryney shook his head. "What's that look for?" The goblin's face seemed disgusted that his companions would think so lowly. "Oh Ryney I knew you wouldn't do something so terrible!" Lymkin squealed as she lunged at her husband with a mighty hug. Eyes bulging and chocking from lack of breath, Ryney coughed out, "I thought you guys should know... You need to be careful... Careful!" he yelled as his loving wife gripped tighter.

Hyleana stared ta her orc companion and merely needed to reveal her eyes for him to understand what was going through her head; this was where it all needed to end. If they were ever to be free of fear and of their previous oppressor, they had to kill him now when they had the chance.