After the events at the Thistlefur camp things for Harry's small group had become a little hectic, but probably in a good way for all involved Harry thought as he followed Kelanas down the rocky path they were traversing through the Stonetalon mountains. After calming the two sides down with his admittedly rather brutal threat, Harry had then been forced to argue with the Raene Wolfrunner for some time before he was able to get her agreement to let the Blood Elves go, though that argument may have been helped along when over the course of their walk the pair ended up in the clearing that once contained the Thistlefur camp.
Harry had been forced to change the geography of the area somewhat in order to put out the fires he had inadvertently threatened the forest with, shifting the earth to create pressure on the water table below and causing it to shoot up and out in the form of a geyser. Rather than just let the water cascade down the hill the camp had been made on haphazardly, Harry formed a basin around the geyser after the fires had been extinguished, creating a pool that then fed into a moat around the base of the hill. This would make it easier for the Furbolgs to defend themselves in future as well as looking rather nice aesthetically.
Raene certainly seemed to appreciate his threat a little more when she realised that he had in effect reshaped the earth in order to achieve this result, which was good because the moment she agreed not to kill the horde prisoners Harry had collapsed. The next two days had consisted of Harry resting up in Astranaar before escorting the Horde prisoners back to their closest base, a Lumber camp run by large green skinned warriors called Orcs who had at first seemed more likely to tear Harry limb from limb as opposed to listen to him, making Harry wonder quite how many enemies the humans of this world had and what level of enmity there was to generate such a response.
Coira had managed to calm them down enough to explain the situation, though Harry had to stun one of them as he tried to take his head off with an axe for the second time. After that small display of power it was simple to get the guards to go get their commanding officer, who seemed a lot calmer and more controlled as he discussed things not only with Coira but Kelanas and Nash'ala as well. This Guardian Gurtar was clearly a powerful warrior and had many scars to show his experience in battle, though when he spoke with the Alliance representative, Raene having requested Kelanas act as the night elves representative during the exchange, there was no hate there that Harry would expect from such long standing rivals, merely a sense of martial superiority that the ork did not try all that hard to hide. Whatever had been agreed didn't really matter to Harry overly much, the fact that he had managed to help Coira and the night elves meant that the group could move south without further delay.
Coira had asked why they didn't just fly south to Theramore from Astranaar, given that would turn the 2 week long trip into something that would only take hours, but Harry had other plans for the journey that could not be accomplished from the back of a Hippogryph. Having looked at some of the maps of Azeroth in The night elf capital Harry had several ideas of where he wanted to create a base for his people, but he wanted a more public front to keep people from searching too hard, especially if they had less than pure intent for him or Earths survivors. After all it would not be much of a challenge to link the forward base with the actual one given that was what they had done with the vault
The areas towards Kalimdor's western shores seemed like an ideal location for this front base as the areas were relatively unpopulated by either side and contained several ruins that could easily be made highly defensible if required. The Stonetalons were certainly interesting as an area due to the fact that it bordered both horde and Alliance territory and much of the area was technically unclaimed, but the repeated warnings of Harpies in the area and their penchant for eating anything that came across their path very quickly put Harry off the area as a base, he would prefer it if his people weren't living in constant fear of the skies when they arrived. And that wasn't to mention the black dragons, elementals and other warring factions. That decision and the consensus that the harpies would be difficult if not impossible to negotiate with meant they had travelled South through the mountains to Harry's next planned destination, the region known as Desolace.
The others had been surprised by his interest in an area that had been reduced to a barren war zone by marauding centaurs and the various Legion outposts, but the fact that the Legion had been able to form up such a sizable force in the region meant that the land was almost certainly considered unimportant by the other races and therefore the arrival of the Earthen refugees in the area wouldn't cause too much discord. That was what he hoped at any rate as they traversed the downward slope of the last of the charred vale, an area of the mountain range that looked like it had been hit with a nuclear bomb. From there it was supposedly easy to pass into the desolate plains, Harry already had the location of a fort in the northern region of Desolace that was supposedly abandoned other than the occasional pack of bandits or monsters, such a location would allow him to set up the portal unit safely and allow some back up to finally arrive.
They had thankfully encountered minimal organised resistance passing through Stonetalon, mainly due to Harry's ability to sense approaching ground enemies from a great distance and to summon up cover with a wave of his hands. The elementals in the area had proved some trouble, though Coira and Kelanas seemed to be well versed in facing such foes and had been able to deal with those that were highly resistant to Harry's earth attacks. Nash'ala had been practicing with her bow at every opportunity since the Thistlefur camp attack and whilst it was not particularly useful against the elementals with their lack of physical form, should they be attacked by other creatures it was better than having her entirely defenceless. A sharp bird like cry from above to cause the four of them too swiftly ready their weapons as Harry finished this thought, making him wonder whether there was in fact a curse tied to his thoughts.
Looking up Harry picked out half a dozen harpies diving towards them against the stormy backdrop of the mountains, with obvious vicious intent in their eyes. Given what he had heard about the race Harry couldn't help but draw comparisons to Veela, certainly back in the middle ages when the Veela were feared by both muggle and magical alike, though the Harpies seemed to be a more restricted mammalian/avian hybrid in comparison to the Veela who had alternate forms that they could switch in between. Reaching out with his mind even as he drew the elder wand, Harry was surprised at the emotions that were pouring from the harpies.
The bird women were supposedly feral and simple minded creatures according to his companions, barely able to form the occasional word in common, but the depth and malevolence of the anger and fury that the harpies were emitting in droves was something that no mere animal could muster. But more than that, there were other emotions there that whilst less pronounced were in a state of constant flux as if trying to break through to the forefront. This revelation was enough to convince Harry of two possible thing. Either these creatures were more intelligent than many realised or there was some more malevolent force behind their hatred of all ground based creatures. Sighing as the curiosity he mentally named his 'inner Hermione' was aroused by the mystery, Harry decided that if he was going to work out the problem, he needed something to work on. Raising his wand, Harry channeled his magic and intent into the spell he wanted to cast whilst performing a complex wand movement to help control the spell.
"Flumen!" Lightning burst from his wand and struck the two nearest harpies before they could think about dodging, the two falling from their dive into a freefall that showed that if not dead the spell had incapacitated them. A pair of moblicorpus spells caught them before they could hit the ground, even after all this time as a warrior mage Harry prefered to avoid unnecessary death unless it had something to do with the legion. The remaining Harpies pulled out of their dives at his attack, obviously more wary now that he had revealed he was a magic user.
With a twang Nash'ala loosed an arrow only for the targeted harpy to bat it aside with one of her claws as Harry cast Flumen again, though this time the harpies were ready for it and dodged out of the way the moment he raised his wand, the lightning bolt shooting ineffectively into the side of the hill. Seeing Coira move in the direction of the fallen harpies whilst Kelanas let loose a spell of her own as the Harpies closed in once more, Harry called out after activating his rune to make his intention clear.
"Coira, no killing if you can avoid it, I want them alive." Coira threw him a confused and disbelieving look but Harry was already back to focusing on the approaching Harpies, though the flurry of spells from Kelanas and Nash'ala meant that he was not the sole focus of the Harpies anymore as they avian women dodged and dived in an attempt to close the difference
As he racked his brain to think of spells that were useful in this situation, Harry bought himself sometime with a wave of Earthen Shrapnel from the ground. As he watched the mass of missiles careen into the harpies, a piece the size of a crossbow bolt caught a Harpy in the left wing as other smaller pieces battered her body, causing her to lose control of her flight as the other Harpies soared away hurriedly from the battle they were obviously at a disadvantage with. With the threat from the other Harpies gone for the moment, Harry realised that the Harpy he had injured with the shrapnel had lost control entirely and was careening towards the ground in a way that if it didn't kill her would definitely put her in a state not far from it.
It took a moment for Harry to remember the wand motion for arresto momentum, as he couldn't use moblicorpus on a conscious target without either the targets consent or overcoming their magic. The Harpy's fall slowed to almost a complete stop, eliciting a cry from the creature which was obviously confused as to what was going on. It reoriented itself to land normally though it was clear that it would not be flying anywhere any time soon, eyes fixed on Harry fearfully as he approached, fury overcome by terror in the Harpy's mind at something he couldn't fathom, him killing her perhaps?
"LAND-STEALER, DIE!" Before he could think of how to subdue the Harpy without a further fight Coira appeared behind it and performed two quick blows that sent the creature to the floor unconscious, the Blood Elf looking at him with a calculating look as she checked that the Harpy was in fact unconscious.
"Harry, why did you not just kill these creatures? Did you not listen to anything we said? Everyone knows that Harpies are bloodthirsty creatures who would have you dead in a moment." As Coira spoke Harry realised he still had the bond with Nash'ala active, the drain on his magic having become almost second nature to him over the last couple of days. Seeing that the other two were looking at him with equal askance, Harry waved his wand to stun and then levitate the three Harpies so that they could talk and move at the same time.
"There is something about them that intrigues me, when we set up camp for the night I will explain things so do not worry about it for now. Besides, after my past, I prefer to make my own conclusions about things rather than just assume that what people say is true. I imagine you would prefer it if I made my own opinions about your people Coira as opposed to what the Night Elves have told me?" That was one thing that Harry had tried his hardest to keep regardless of the desperate situation on Earth, after all the preconceptions everyone had held about him both before and after the war with Voldemort he was determined not to become a similar sheep if he could avoid it.
His point seemed to forestall any further argument from Coira as Nash'ala came up to his side, the Naga seemingly a lot more at ease with his decision than the other two.
"I cannot argue with such a sentiment, especially when it probably is what has kept me alive after the Night Elves told you about my kind, but Harry are you sure we should be concerning ourselves with this now? What about your people?" Harry shrugged as he looked South towards the plains of Desolace.
"One of my... companions back on Earth would kill me if I simply slaughtered people whilst having doubts as to whether or not I could work something out with them, so I doubt I will get in trouble from them. And from what you have told me, this fort that we are aiming for is no more than a couple of hours from here. Assuming there are no difficulties in claiming and fortifying the place, we should be able to settle in properly before the Harpies awaken once more." Another advantage of the elder wand making his spells more powerful, stunning spells now could keep enemies unconscious for many hours now with little effort, even if they had innate magic resistance as most of the denizens of Azeroth seemed to have. Now if only he could ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach as he spoke about the fortress, then he would be more than happy with the situation...
Persona: ?, Harpy
When she awoke it felt like she had gorged on the Crone's medicines, mind slow and heavy as she tried to sit up, opening her eyes before she froze at the unfamiliar surroundings. Even as she groggily took in the stone walls that barred her freedom the events of before slowly returned to her, turning her panic and fury at being away from mother sky into fear. She was too young to remember the coming of the land stealers to their mountains, her mother laying her just before she followed the flock to war against both them and the burning ones. The majority of flock who went to war with their Queen never returned, leaving the young, the injured and the old to fend for themselves as more and more land stealers encroached upon their mountains. And as they came in greater numbers they fought her flock for territory, food and dominance.
By the time she was old enough to fight, her flock had been reduced to hiding amongst the desolate crags that once housed many times their numbers and hunting in small packs to avoid being attacked by land stealer patrols. Where once the flock descended in swarms to deal with any interlopers on their lands and took their tribute from those that travelled through the mountains, they now flitted in the shadows and peaks in an effort to gather enough food to survive the coming winter without losing any more of their sisters.
When she had spotted the small group on the hillside below, she had foolishly ignored her Queens instructions, fury at the ground walkers getting the best of her as she fell screaming into the assault. What should have been a battle however turned into a massacre as the tribute of the group turned out to be a magic wielder of all things, and a powerful one at that given the ease at which he had summoned mother sky's lightning and caused the earth to attack. Now she was captive, probably to the Lightning wielder, and her sisters probably dead or worse. Shaking her head to clear her still slow mind, she cast around the room for a way to escape as she sat up. A sharp pain caused her to look at her left wing, which had been covered in some kind of cloth and was bent in an odd shape.
Her wing was broken just below the join with her back, she realised with growing despair as her attempts to move it were quickly stopped by massive bursts of pain, and with it her chance to escape this place was gone as well. Even if she could find mother sky, she could not escape the ground like this and return to her flock, something the ground stealers undoubtedly knew which was why they hadn't chained her to one of the walls or the nest space. Standing up awkwardly from the surprising comfiness of the nest her captors had placed her in, she moved to the door, grabbing the metal ring with her uninjured claw and twisting it to try and open in the vain hope that her captors had forgotten.
The bolt shifted but the door would not move despite her best efforts, and the sounds of footsteps became audible as she continued to try the door, making her back away from the door rapidly. Given that the only thing in the room was the nest thing the only thing she might use to kill the land stealers was her claws and without the ability to fly she was at a definite disadvantage. The footsteps got louder and louder before coming to a stop, probably outside the door, and a moment later the door slid open without the ring moving at all to reveal her enemies.
As her eyes fixed upon the lightning wielder from before, who looked like he had been through a major battle with several fresh cuts on his face and his left arm in a sling, the fear of what would happen to her was washed away in the fury that fell on many of her kind when they saw the land stealers, all rational thought gone as she leapt across the room with uninjured claw stretched out to remove his face. Before she made it halfway the lightning wielder raised his hand and she lost control of her body, freezing in place as two more land stealers walked in behind the land walker and stood on either side of him as the water lizard moved behind him, the other land stealers in similar garb that implied they were also magic wielders of Father Earth.
They eyed her as she tried her utmost to move her limbs, anything to kill those who had taken her from Mother Sky, talking amongst themselves in a language that she didn't understand. The lightning wielder raised his hand once more and she couldn't help but close her eyes to avoid seeing death coming. Instead of her return to mother sky however, a wave of calmness washed over her and contained the fury that had controlled her to the back of her mind. With clearing thought she wondered why she had attacked such a dangerous enemy and why the lightning wielder hadn't killed her, dark thoughts of what the land stealers liked to do with captured sisters filling her mind as the Lightning wielder spoke at last in the land stealer tongue she could understand.
"I mean you no harm Harpy, but I am short of patience so I will only allow you to speak if you do so without wasting my time. Otherwise we will be forced to take what I need to know straight from your mind and I cannot promise that you will survive or even want to do so. Do you understand? Blink twice if you do." The calming effect the lightning wielder had put on her only seemed to counteract her anger and hate, fear bubbling back up at the thought of the land stealers destroying her mind and taking all her knowledge. Perhaps if she spoke she could minimise any threat to her flock.
Blinking twice she was slightly relieved when the Lightning wielder waved his hand once more and she found herself able to move, though she took a couple of steps back as the three talked amongst each other in their own language once more. Suddenly she couldn't wait any longer and the question burst from her lips with an angry undertone that she didn't actually intend given the rather threatening nature of the land stealers.
"Why save me Land stealer? Does the other land stealer and sea lizard not satisfy you? I will tell you nothing about my Queen or my flock and would prefer to die rather than be your slave." Her tone caused the female land stealer to flinch and ready her wand, but the Lightning wielder reached across as he looked at her tensed form with something akin to the look she had when she was very young and watched the actions of the land stealers, before she understood the true depths of their nature at least.
"I will ask you nothing of your sisters that might lead them to harm, though if they attack us I will not show them the same mercy twice. You have powerful magic enscrolled into your very being Harpy and it is controlling you more than you can possibly realise." The fury increased despite the magic the lightning wielder had cast upon her and for possibly the first time since she had been large enough to take to the air she realised how foreign some of the fury felt, as if something else was adding to it. Not that she would believe the word of a land stealer of course, they were known to be devious. The lightning wielder started speaking before she could truly understand her own thoughts and feelings on this supposed revelation.
"I understand that you would neither trust or believe one such as me about such a thing, but I am not a 'land stealer' as you call them from this world, so I would like to discuss with you things about you and your race rather than just rely on what the other land stealers have told me thus far. But first I would like to refer to you as something other than your race and I am certain I do not want to be called land stealer for something beyond my control. I am Harry Potter of the planet Earth, what would you like me to call you?"
A/N: And so another piece of the weird and convoluted puzzle falls into place without much explanation, because that is the purpose of the next chapter of course. I have skipped through much of Ashenvale and Stonetalon mountains because honestly, that is what Harry would do once he had settled on Desolace as a staging area. Those who have played WoW probably know why Harry is injured, where they are and how some of the other Earthen survivors have made it through, feel free to mention theories and ideas in the reviews and I will see how close people are with what I actually have in mind. There is a substantial jump between the last of the Harry PoV and the new PoV, primarily because I wanted to introduce Harpies in at this point. I am sure there will be quite a few that disagree with the idea of me having the Earth survivors even trying to understand/negotiate with the Harpies as opposed to wiping them out as dangerous pests, but I like to be different :P
Next chapter, Desolace in all its bloody, gritty glory and a bit of an exploration into the background of Harpies, Veela and the events on Earth.
Defias Out!