Chapter 4
"But Mistress Starwater!" said Meisha, looking over her shoulder as she groomed her Nightsabre panther's sleek hide. "Are they not our enemies, like all who seek to defile the lands of Kalimdor?"
The two Night Elves stood in the shade of the Ancient of War, safe in the glade they had chosen for their outpost.
"Technically, yes," Viri Starwater sighed, scratching her own mount behind the ears as she leaned her elbows on the animal's back. The Grassbounder lioness turned and lapped her face with an enormous rough tongue. "Eugh. Down, Brightfangs. But let me explain something to you, my Warrior. At present this outpost contains twelve wisps, six archers, two huntresses besides you and me, one dryad, and one druid of the claw whom, I would like to add, I have not seen in the last week. And whatever beasts we can convince to aid us, of course, but they cannot be relied upon. Do you know what will happen, if we attack an Undead settlement in a cliff-shadow with no flying units?"
"No, Mistress," Meisha said, though it was plain she had clear ideas on this head.
"We will be obliterated. Undead buildings can defend themselves, although not in the same way that Ancients do. And I, a mere huntress, cannot defend any of us against the chill arts of a Lich." Viri brooded on this for a moment in silence. "This way, at least, we have hopefully forestalled any further destruction of nature until we can find another way to approach the problem."
"Then you do have a plan, Mistress?" Meisha said hopefully. "We will increase our strength, and then fall on the rotting Undead like a stone upon a dry twig?"
Or vice versa, Viri thought, but did not want to dim her friend's enthusiasm.
"I see you have divined the general outlines already," she said, forcing a smile. "See that the other warriors understand the cursed enemy is not to be trifled with, for now."
"By Elune!" Meisha said cheerily, gave her panther a final pat, and swung up onto its back. Viri watched gloomily as they bounded into the leafy shadows that made the camp indistinguishable from ancient deciduous forest. Of course, that was not particularly helpful, given that they were otherwise surrounded by palm trees. No wonder the Lich's spies found us so quickly.
Meisha was really too good a huntress to be saddled with a commander like Viri Starwater. Viri's lack of zeal for the Goddess was no doubt responsible for her assignment to this minor reconnaissance post out in the Barrens, where it was difficult for Ancients to take root.
It all just seemed so… Pointless. Viri had been a huntress for several thousand years without hope of promotion, assigned to useless post after useless post. By this time she had no hope of being trained as a Priestess, because she couldn't manage to muster the kind of enthusiasm that seemed to come naturally to Meisha.
Not even her druid of the claw seemed to take her seriously, and druids took everything seriously. Goddess only knew where he had wandered off to now.
The sun was rising, hot rays streaming through the tree branches above. Viri rested her head on Brightfangs' back for a second. Perhaps the Lich will keep his bargain, and I have nothing to worry about, she told herself.
She was not entirely sure she believed it.