The company walked in the great hall. The air felt warm and moist because
in the center of the room, steam poured out from a small pit. Saunas were
apart of the orcish culture. All around them there were blazing torches
which gave off the only light in the hall. At the far end opposite the
company sat Thrall, the warchief of the orcs, and Cairne Bloodhoof,
chieftain of the tauren race. Other grunts stood around them, ready to
receive any orders their warchiefs might send for.
The two were in the middle of having lunch when Nazdhar walked closer to them. Thrall put down the chicken leg that he was eating and looked up at him. "Father, I have come back from the council in the north. I have brought some companions back with me, we have set out on an expedition to the south and we have decided to stop here for a few days." Nazdhar finished as he knelt on one knee.
"Is that so? When I received the letter from the sorceress in the north, I was going to go myself. But then the next morning, you were nowhere to be seen and you had left a letter on your pillow saying that you went instead. You couldn't even manage to say goodbye? Now you come back to me saying that you and your companions are going into the unknown south? The least you could do now is give a bit of insight." Growled Thrall. He ached inside. He was now very old and wasn't as agile as he used to be. He was still a little disappoint in Nazdhar for leaving his home in the middle of the night. "You and your friends can stay the night in the upper quarters. In the morning, you can tell me all about your little campaign."
"Yes Father." Nazdhar said. Then Thrall waved a hand and two female orc maids came in from a side tunnel. They beckoned the company to follow them back down the tunnel which would eventually lead to the housing areas. They walked through the pitch black corridor and came to a fork in their path. The maids lead them down the right hand hall which held many doors on either side of the walls. The company followed until they came to the very end of the hall and where there was one great, oak door. One of the maids took out a key chain and opened the door.
The room behind it was one of the oasis suits. Directly in front of the door, was a seating area. Straw chairs and sofas surrounded a large, steaming sauna. On each side of the seating area were stair cases which lead to the upper story of the suit. At the very top was a kitchen and two short hallways leading to the bedrooms and bathrooms. There were only five rooms in total. Which meant that every one had to have a roomy. "Here we are." Said the maid who unlocked the door. "I'm sorry, but there are only five rooms. But each room has too beds, so there'll be enough space. I hope you have a good night. Someone should be by soon with your baggage" She said finally and the two maids left the room and shut the door behind them.
"Oh great!" said Sylan. "Now were gonna have to have sleeping partners!"
"Yes. Now I think is a good time for us to pick our partners." Said Titania. "Taeowyn, you can stay with me."
"Me an' Bazzil!" said Borin.
"I go wit Tor." Said Shehn.
"Well then who does that give me?" asked Nazdhar in an hurtful way.
"How about you and Jonas?" suggested Titania.
"What!" yelled Nazdhar. "Me and that pink skin!?"
"Yes, you and Jonas." Concluded Titania. "And that only leaves you two." Titania looked at both Sylan and Shandris.
"Oh, no. No way am I goin' with that pin head!" Stammered Shandris.
"Oh shut up you cow!" growled Sylan.
"Oh why I oughta'. . ." next thing you know it, both elves were at each other like a couple of nightsabers. Shandris threw the first punch, which caught Sylan in the side of the lip. Then Sylan twirled around and kicked her in head. Shandris went down like ladder. Then she swung one of her long, slender legs and brought Sylan right off her feat. They were at each other again, rolling around on the floor, scratching and pulling the other ones hair. It turned out to be a brutal cat fight. Borin and Bazzil were cheering them on. "Grab her hair. . . ooo, yeah!". " Right there! Ouch!" "Ok, now pretend you're doing it in slow motion!"
Then Titania called over top of the dwarves voices, "Ok! That's enough!" She waited a few seconds but the two elves continued screeching at each other. "Arrrg!" Titania got fed up and pointed her staff towards them. The sapphire at the end of her staff glowed and Sylan and Shandris stopped what they were doing. Magical chains appeared around their wrists and ankles. Then they stood up straight. They both opened their to say something but it seemed as if their mouths all of a sudden zipped up like zippers. They mumbled curses at each other, but they couldn't be understood.
"Nazdhar, Jonas, if you please." Titania commanded. Nazdhar and Jonas looked at each other, then went over to the too girls, picked them up and carried them to one of the bedrooms down the left hand hall. They opened the door and threw them in. "Thank you, you two." Then she shot a zap from her staff and a golden lock apeared on the door. "Now, when our bags get here," she called to them, "we'll let you out. Until then, you two work it out." Then they heard a crack and a zip, which obviously meant that their chains were taken off and their mouths unzipped.
"Ok, well for now we can just sit around and wait. I think their might be a chess game or something in those closets over there." Suggested Titania.
"Or we could sit around the fire and tell each other of our own tales and adventures." Said Jonas. And that is what they did, except for Borin and Bazzil who tried a game of chess, but didn't have a clue how to play the game. Jonas told tales of how he had rescued countless princess' from ferocious black dragons. They must have been widely exaggerated to impress Taeowyn, but she hadn't been listening. Instead she was staring at ceiling, which was painted to look like the nights sky, day dreaming of something else. The three Horde members told them of bloody battles that they fought with the centaurs in the barrens. Nazdhar also told them of a tale when he was lured into a trap from some harpies. They had held him prisoner for many days until an orc Shaman and some of his tribe members strolled by their nest, and saw him there. They killed off the harpies and brought him back to civilization. But Titania bedazzled them with her extravagant battles with wicked sorcerers and witches, the summoning of the Island Citadel of the new found Kingdome Theramoor and most terrifying of all of the Battle on Mount Hyjal, which no one there had really been in the heart of it like she had been.
Hours passed as the company told each other about their adventures. Borin and Bazzil even joined in after they had given up with chess when there was a knock on the door. "Well that took long enough." Said Borin as he got up to answer the door. He opened it up and two scruffy, muscular troll berserkers walked in with all their bags.
"Sorry about de delay." Said one of them. "But all your horses were scattered all over da city. We had to chase dem all down."
"Oh, how silly of us." Said Titania as she smacked her head. "We're terribly sorry about that, thanks for bringing this stuff up for us." She said kindly. The two trolls dropped the bags they carried and started to walk back down the hall when Titania whistled to them. They turned around and she threw a bag of gold their way. Borin and Bazzil looked up and leaped in the air to try and grab it but missed and fell on each other. One of the trolls caught the bag and laughed. The other troll snatched at the bag but the other pulled it away from reach. Then he ran back down the hall with the other one on his tail. Titania pointed her staff at the door and it closed.
"It's getting late. I think we should all get some sleep. Can someone take Sylans and Shandris' stuff to their room?" Borin and Bazzil nodded their heads and took the elves bags to their rooms. Everyone else took their own bags and went up to their rooms.
Early next morning, Nazdhar woke up from a terrifying nightmare. The memory of his mothers death still haunts him to this day. Nazdhar was born in an enslavement camp during the second war. Thrall had an affair with another orc maid when he was kept a slave by the humans. They had a baby orcling, Nazdhar, and tried to keep it a secret, but when the Human captain found out, he killed the mother. The captain made Nazdhar and his father watch as he stripped her down and whipped her naked skin. Then he burned her at the stake, giving her a long and painful death. The captain left Nazdhar with nothing but long, jagged scar on his upper back.
Nazdhar looked over at his human room-mate. He knew that the Horde was at peace with the Human Alliance but he still kept a hatred for them. He got up from his bed and put on his shoes and armor and he left the room. He quietly tiptoed down the hall and out of the front door. He walked down the tunnel he came through the night before. He entered the great hall where his father and Cairne had their supper. The table full of food was still there from the night before. "We Orcs always were slobs." He said to himself. He grabbed a chicken leg and began to chow down on it. When he finished he walked to the closed gate which led to the outside. He opened the door and walked out into the cool, morning air.
It was still the early morning and no one was up yet. He climbed down the long, steep stair case, off the plateau and onto the ground. Streets of burrows and other small Great Halls rolled over the hills of the oasis. He went to a road on his right and walked down it. Ten minutes later he came to a rather larger burrow, a little away from the other burrows. This was his fathers home. He walked up the steps to the house. On the left side, a pig pen held very large, fat hogs. He walked up to the door and opened it. I small, round table was in the middle of the room. A kitchen and living area were also present within the room. A hall led down to a bedroom and then outside to an outhouse. Thrall and his wife, Nahar, Nazdhar's step mother, sat at the kitchen table.
"Good morning son." Said Thrall.
"Welcome back son!" Said his step mother. She got up and ran over to embrace him. She stroked his long, black hair, and kissed him on the fore head. Nahar went back to the table and sat down.
"Come and sit down with us, Nazdhar, and tell us of your company and of your errand." Said his father and he beckoned Nazdhar to sit in a chair beside him.
So Nazdhar told them all about the council at the Pandemonium, and of Titanias premonition. He told them that they were headed to the south where they think they might find an unknown jungle. His father nodded many times during the story. Then finally, Nazdhar finished and his father stood up. Thrall walked over to a window which looked out into the south. He looked across the barrens.
"We have undergone several threats from centaur marauders while you have been away." He said. "They attacked Fleshgale six days ago. We managed to keep them from completely destroying the village, but a prisoner said that more would come. He also told us that they have a new leader from the south. Maybe this is the same undead horror that this, Titania, told you about."
"It must be. Do you have any guess's on when they will attack again?" Nazdhar asked.
"No I do not. But we are fully equipped to hold off any attacks. But we have no idea when they are going to attack. It could be today, or it could be in the next week or two." His father said. Just then, a loud horn blew off in the distance. Another one went off several moments after on the other side of the city. "Sounds like their attacking us right now! Quickly, get back to your suit in the Fortress and gather your weapons. Get your companions ready too. Meet me in the hall. Nahar, darling, meet me there too!" Thrall ordered and ran down the hall to his bedroom. Nazdhar ran out and back up to the Fortress.
The two were in the middle of having lunch when Nazdhar walked closer to them. Thrall put down the chicken leg that he was eating and looked up at him. "Father, I have come back from the council in the north. I have brought some companions back with me, we have set out on an expedition to the south and we have decided to stop here for a few days." Nazdhar finished as he knelt on one knee.
"Is that so? When I received the letter from the sorceress in the north, I was going to go myself. But then the next morning, you were nowhere to be seen and you had left a letter on your pillow saying that you went instead. You couldn't even manage to say goodbye? Now you come back to me saying that you and your companions are going into the unknown south? The least you could do now is give a bit of insight." Growled Thrall. He ached inside. He was now very old and wasn't as agile as he used to be. He was still a little disappoint in Nazdhar for leaving his home in the middle of the night. "You and your friends can stay the night in the upper quarters. In the morning, you can tell me all about your little campaign."
"Yes Father." Nazdhar said. Then Thrall waved a hand and two female orc maids came in from a side tunnel. They beckoned the company to follow them back down the tunnel which would eventually lead to the housing areas. They walked through the pitch black corridor and came to a fork in their path. The maids lead them down the right hand hall which held many doors on either side of the walls. The company followed until they came to the very end of the hall and where there was one great, oak door. One of the maids took out a key chain and opened the door.
The room behind it was one of the oasis suits. Directly in front of the door, was a seating area. Straw chairs and sofas surrounded a large, steaming sauna. On each side of the seating area were stair cases which lead to the upper story of the suit. At the very top was a kitchen and two short hallways leading to the bedrooms and bathrooms. There were only five rooms in total. Which meant that every one had to have a roomy. "Here we are." Said the maid who unlocked the door. "I'm sorry, but there are only five rooms. But each room has too beds, so there'll be enough space. I hope you have a good night. Someone should be by soon with your baggage" She said finally and the two maids left the room and shut the door behind them.
"Oh great!" said Sylan. "Now were gonna have to have sleeping partners!"
"Yes. Now I think is a good time for us to pick our partners." Said Titania. "Taeowyn, you can stay with me."
"Me an' Bazzil!" said Borin.
"I go wit Tor." Said Shehn.
"Well then who does that give me?" asked Nazdhar in an hurtful way.
"How about you and Jonas?" suggested Titania.
"What!" yelled Nazdhar. "Me and that pink skin!?"
"Yes, you and Jonas." Concluded Titania. "And that only leaves you two." Titania looked at both Sylan and Shandris.
"Oh, no. No way am I goin' with that pin head!" Stammered Shandris.
"Oh shut up you cow!" growled Sylan.
"Oh why I oughta'. . ." next thing you know it, both elves were at each other like a couple of nightsabers. Shandris threw the first punch, which caught Sylan in the side of the lip. Then Sylan twirled around and kicked her in head. Shandris went down like ladder. Then she swung one of her long, slender legs and brought Sylan right off her feat. They were at each other again, rolling around on the floor, scratching and pulling the other ones hair. It turned out to be a brutal cat fight. Borin and Bazzil were cheering them on. "Grab her hair. . . ooo, yeah!". " Right there! Ouch!" "Ok, now pretend you're doing it in slow motion!"
Then Titania called over top of the dwarves voices, "Ok! That's enough!" She waited a few seconds but the two elves continued screeching at each other. "Arrrg!" Titania got fed up and pointed her staff towards them. The sapphire at the end of her staff glowed and Sylan and Shandris stopped what they were doing. Magical chains appeared around their wrists and ankles. Then they stood up straight. They both opened their to say something but it seemed as if their mouths all of a sudden zipped up like zippers. They mumbled curses at each other, but they couldn't be understood.
"Nazdhar, Jonas, if you please." Titania commanded. Nazdhar and Jonas looked at each other, then went over to the too girls, picked them up and carried them to one of the bedrooms down the left hand hall. They opened the door and threw them in. "Thank you, you two." Then she shot a zap from her staff and a golden lock apeared on the door. "Now, when our bags get here," she called to them, "we'll let you out. Until then, you two work it out." Then they heard a crack and a zip, which obviously meant that their chains were taken off and their mouths unzipped.
"Ok, well for now we can just sit around and wait. I think their might be a chess game or something in those closets over there." Suggested Titania.
"Or we could sit around the fire and tell each other of our own tales and adventures." Said Jonas. And that is what they did, except for Borin and Bazzil who tried a game of chess, but didn't have a clue how to play the game. Jonas told tales of how he had rescued countless princess' from ferocious black dragons. They must have been widely exaggerated to impress Taeowyn, but she hadn't been listening. Instead she was staring at ceiling, which was painted to look like the nights sky, day dreaming of something else. The three Horde members told them of bloody battles that they fought with the centaurs in the barrens. Nazdhar also told them of a tale when he was lured into a trap from some harpies. They had held him prisoner for many days until an orc Shaman and some of his tribe members strolled by their nest, and saw him there. They killed off the harpies and brought him back to civilization. But Titania bedazzled them with her extravagant battles with wicked sorcerers and witches, the summoning of the Island Citadel of the new found Kingdome Theramoor and most terrifying of all of the Battle on Mount Hyjal, which no one there had really been in the heart of it like she had been.
Hours passed as the company told each other about their adventures. Borin and Bazzil even joined in after they had given up with chess when there was a knock on the door. "Well that took long enough." Said Borin as he got up to answer the door. He opened it up and two scruffy, muscular troll berserkers walked in with all their bags.
"Sorry about de delay." Said one of them. "But all your horses were scattered all over da city. We had to chase dem all down."
"Oh, how silly of us." Said Titania as she smacked her head. "We're terribly sorry about that, thanks for bringing this stuff up for us." She said kindly. The two trolls dropped the bags they carried and started to walk back down the hall when Titania whistled to them. They turned around and she threw a bag of gold their way. Borin and Bazzil looked up and leaped in the air to try and grab it but missed and fell on each other. One of the trolls caught the bag and laughed. The other troll snatched at the bag but the other pulled it away from reach. Then he ran back down the hall with the other one on his tail. Titania pointed her staff at the door and it closed.
"It's getting late. I think we should all get some sleep. Can someone take Sylans and Shandris' stuff to their room?" Borin and Bazzil nodded their heads and took the elves bags to their rooms. Everyone else took their own bags and went up to their rooms.
Early next morning, Nazdhar woke up from a terrifying nightmare. The memory of his mothers death still haunts him to this day. Nazdhar was born in an enslavement camp during the second war. Thrall had an affair with another orc maid when he was kept a slave by the humans. They had a baby orcling, Nazdhar, and tried to keep it a secret, but when the Human captain found out, he killed the mother. The captain made Nazdhar and his father watch as he stripped her down and whipped her naked skin. Then he burned her at the stake, giving her a long and painful death. The captain left Nazdhar with nothing but long, jagged scar on his upper back.
Nazdhar looked over at his human room-mate. He knew that the Horde was at peace with the Human Alliance but he still kept a hatred for them. He got up from his bed and put on his shoes and armor and he left the room. He quietly tiptoed down the hall and out of the front door. He walked down the tunnel he came through the night before. He entered the great hall where his father and Cairne had their supper. The table full of food was still there from the night before. "We Orcs always were slobs." He said to himself. He grabbed a chicken leg and began to chow down on it. When he finished he walked to the closed gate which led to the outside. He opened the door and walked out into the cool, morning air.
It was still the early morning and no one was up yet. He climbed down the long, steep stair case, off the plateau and onto the ground. Streets of burrows and other small Great Halls rolled over the hills of the oasis. He went to a road on his right and walked down it. Ten minutes later he came to a rather larger burrow, a little away from the other burrows. This was his fathers home. He walked up the steps to the house. On the left side, a pig pen held very large, fat hogs. He walked up to the door and opened it. I small, round table was in the middle of the room. A kitchen and living area were also present within the room. A hall led down to a bedroom and then outside to an outhouse. Thrall and his wife, Nahar, Nazdhar's step mother, sat at the kitchen table.
"Good morning son." Said Thrall.
"Welcome back son!" Said his step mother. She got up and ran over to embrace him. She stroked his long, black hair, and kissed him on the fore head. Nahar went back to the table and sat down.
"Come and sit down with us, Nazdhar, and tell us of your company and of your errand." Said his father and he beckoned Nazdhar to sit in a chair beside him.
So Nazdhar told them all about the council at the Pandemonium, and of Titanias premonition. He told them that they were headed to the south where they think they might find an unknown jungle. His father nodded many times during the story. Then finally, Nazdhar finished and his father stood up. Thrall walked over to a window which looked out into the south. He looked across the barrens.
"We have undergone several threats from centaur marauders while you have been away." He said. "They attacked Fleshgale six days ago. We managed to keep them from completely destroying the village, but a prisoner said that more would come. He also told us that they have a new leader from the south. Maybe this is the same undead horror that this, Titania, told you about."
"It must be. Do you have any guess's on when they will attack again?" Nazdhar asked.
"No I do not. But we are fully equipped to hold off any attacks. But we have no idea when they are going to attack. It could be today, or it could be in the next week or two." His father said. Just then, a loud horn blew off in the distance. Another one went off several moments after on the other side of the city. "Sounds like their attacking us right now! Quickly, get back to your suit in the Fortress and gather your weapons. Get your companions ready too. Meet me in the hall. Nahar, darling, meet me there too!" Thrall ordered and ran down the hall to his bedroom. Nazdhar ran out and back up to the Fortress.
