Chapter 2: Karandra
They had spent about a week capturing the "small teeth" in their villages. Garona and her were affected to the prisoners because they could speak their language. Once, she was passing around the cages with a little barrel of water for them – they needed to keep them alive – and gave a goblet to a man, a soldier.
"Your friends are crazy, why are they attacking us?" he asked her.
"They are not my friends. They are my masters. They are conquering this world because theirs is dying".
Her voice was blank, emotionless. She was just telling the facts, answering simply a question like she was used to. She didn't even say "ours". It might be the world in which she was born and grew up into, but it wasn't home. It had never been. Nowhere was home.
"The Commander Lothar will go against you. You won't win. The Lion of Azeroth protects these lands".
She stopped and turned to him, looking interested and curious.
"Who is this Commander you are talking about?" she asked the man.
"Anduin Lothar, the greatest warrior of Azeroth".
"Is he your chieftain?"
The man was about to answer but a shadow fell upon them. Her jaw clenched as she turned. It was one of Blackhand's minions. He slapped her violently, making her fly on a few feet. She felt his armour cutting her skin, but hold back her grunt. She would not give him that pleasure. Besides, it was only one scar among many others.
"Shut up, half-breed!" he roared.
He walked to her as she was still on the ground, lying on her stomach, and slowly cut her from one shoulder to another. She bit her pink lips to prevent any shouting of pain. He put her back on her feet by pulling on her hair, making her wince more. She kept her head low in a repentant gesture, and he let her go after ordering her to go to her hut and stay there. She knew she would be deprived of food again that night. She didn't care. She had learned how to survive for several days without food.
After that incident, she was not allowed to go feed the prisoners ever again.
Days later, they were hiding in trees, waiting for humans to come by. They had just attacked a little merchant's carriage, using it as a bait. She was leaning against a branch, breathing so carefully no one could have said she was there. She had learned as a child how to go unnoticed. She looked with great interest as humans on horses came near them. She spotted their leader right away, but did not have time to get a better look as the Orcs started attacking.
The Orc in charge of Garona and her stayed just out of battle, only killing the humans that were coming his way, in a poor attempt to escape. She started pulling on her chain, suddenly feeling a strong need to go far away. It wasn't out of courage though. She was scared as Hell and it motivated her way enough to try an escape, even as uncertain as that one. That's when a strange light came out of the ground and killed the Orc, absorbing the fel in him, consuming him to death. Garona and her were now tied to a dead weight.
They tried to break their chains but it was useless. Garona then caught her and crouched down, violently pulling her toward the ground. An Orc on a horse was coming by. He spotted them anyway and came right to them. She knew him, he was Durotan, chieftain of the Frost-wolf clan, father of the baby she helped giving birth to days ago. He took out his axe and neatly cut the chains, not saying a word. They didn't wait and took off running madly in the forest. She just followed after Garona, not knowing where to go.
They were in such a haste to go away, they didn't really look at their surroundings as they ran, and came back to the spot of the attack. A young human was looking over the dead bodies. Garona didn't wait and jumped at him but he casted a spell and held her back with a blue blast of magic. He pressed her against a tree. She panicked and put herself in front of the human, hands open to show him she had no weapons. However, he put her next to Garona, holding her with magic.
She was surprised that the magic wasn't hurting her, only holding her. She didn't try to wiggle free, for she knew it was useless.
"Over here!" the young human shouted.
The few remaining soldiers and their leader came back.
"You took them alone," the leader said, looking doubtful.
"Yes. Looks like they are the runts of the litter".
As soon as the young human released his magical hold on them, they attempted to run away, but the leader caught her by the arms and a young human soldier pointed his blade right at Garona's belly. They put them in a cage with one of Blackhand's warrior they also captured.
She couldn't keep her eyes off of the human leader. He had a pale skin, black hair, black beard, and piercing, stunning and mesmerizing blue eyes. She could see a few scars on his face, and didn't doubt he had many others. He was quite tall for a human, and strong. And she saw him fight, he was a great warrior. He made his horse walk next to the cage, and looked at her a second.
Deep down in her heart, she felt something shatter. Or perhaps bloom. She couldn't tell. She felt a heat in her cheeks and couldn't look away from these hypnotizing blue orbs. His eyes set on Garona then. She released a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"You," he said to the Orc. "What are you? And why do you attack our lands?"
The Orc didn't answer, he was looking menacingly toward Garona and her.
"He doesn't know what you speak," Garona told the human leader.
"You speak our language?" the young human asked, surprised.
"Say one more word in their language, and I'll cut your tongue," the Orc said in the Orc language.
Garona continued to speak with the human leader. She, on the other hand, was trying to make herself invisible, because the Orc in front of her was pulling on his chain. And once he would be free, he would kill both of them, of that she was sure.
"I will not warn you again!"
He was struggling so much they stopped the cage. The human leader grabbed his sword.
"Tell him to stop," he asked Garona.
"You tell him," she shot back.
The Orc freed himself but just as he reached them, the human cut his head off.
"You're welcome," he told them with a grin before pulling his sword back.
The rest of the journey was silent. The human leader and the young one would sometimes steal glances toward the two half Orcs, and they would do the same toward them, but none of them spoke. When the human leader would catch her staring at him, she would always feel the same heat in her body, and looked away.
Finally, they arrived in the humans' village. It was huge, and made of stones. The soldiers escorted them into the biggest house. The young one told them it was the Royal Palace. They didn't understand what it meant. But once inside what they called the "throne room", they understood. It was their chieftain's house. She just stood behind Garona. You could see from miles away that she was afraid.
"Have you a name?" the chieftain asked Garona first.
She didn't answer as she looked around her.
"You understand our language. Again, have you a name?"
Garona didn't answer as she walked toward the human. The soldiers approached, drawing their swords out, but the human stopped them with a hand gesture. Garona walked past him and toward the golden lions next to the throne.
"Garona. She calls herself Garona".
It was the leader of the soldiers who had spoken.
"And you?" the human asked her, turning to face her. "What is your name?"
She just stood there, keeping her head low.
"She didn't tell us," the leader added. "In fact, she hasn't said a word, I don't even know if she understands us."
"She understands you. And she has no name," Garona told them.
"What?" the humans asked at the same time.
She only nodded once. The chieftain sighed and turned to Garona.
"What kind of being are you?"
"They look more like us than those beasts we fought," a soldier said.
"Orc," Garona said.
"Orc? That's what you two are, or the beast in the cage was? I know every race in the seven kingdoms and I've never heard of Orc. Show me where you come from".
He was pointing to a map painted on the ceiling.
"This is not Orc world," Garona replied. "Orc world is dead. Orcs take this world now."
"Not from this world," the chieftain repeated.
Another man started to speak to Garona. She didn't like his voice. It somehow reminded her of Gul'dan. She pushed those thoughts away, and just knelt on the ground, waiting. Every human in the room was asking questions to Garona. She was surprised when the chieftain talked about freedom for them. They seemed nicer than Orcs.
She was put on a cell, away from Garona, alone. She was looking around her, trying to take in her surroundings. She jumped in fear when she heard people coming her way. The female she saw in the throne room was approaching. She was followed by another female. A soldier opened her cell and stepped back. And she saw that human with the blue eyes, leaning against a gate, feet away from them.
"Your mate is too far to protect you from me," she told the female, trying to sound tough.
It was the first time she spoke to the humans since they captured her.
"Lothar?" the female asked. "He is my brother. The King is my mate. Garona thought the exact same thing".
So, the chieftain is called "king". And this human was Lothar. Like… She knew where she had heard that name.
"The Lion of Azeroth?" she asked with a bit of awe.
"How do you know me?" he asked from the distance.
It was the first time he spoke to her. And his voice was making her stomach jump in the most frightening, yet delightful way.
"A prisoner. I was giving him water, he told me about you".
He only nodded.
"Are you going to harm me?" the King's mate asked her.
"No," she answered honestly.
The woman offered her a small smile. She felt relaxed. This human female was kind, she was a good person.
"The night is cold, I brought you blankets and warm tea."
"Thank you," she said shyly.
"Is it true you don't have a name?"
She nodded.
"Why?"
"I'm a shame to Orcs. They say I don't deserve a name."
Silence fell upon them. The female put a comforting hand on her arm.
"Would you like me to give you one?"
She looked at her, surprised. That was new. A name. It would mean she… actually meant something. Like a normal being. She carefully nodded.
"What about Karandra?"
Lothar's voice echoed around the cell. She felt a smile tugging at her lips. The King's mate smiled too. She eventually nodded, it sounded good.
"Karandra," she repeated.
She liked her name. The female then noticed the chain around her neck.
"I can have it removed if you want".
Karandra nodded once again. The female smiled.
"There is a life here for you, Karandra. A life of freedom. If you want it".
Karandra nodded, and the humans went away, but she shared a long look with Lothar before he walked away. She was afraid of this weird effect he had on her. She lied down and snuggle into the blankets, appreciating the comfort.