Puffgirl1952 the 2nd: oh that's a beautiful idea, for your name. I hope I wasn't indelicate by asking. I'm fine with you being my only reviewer, you're making my day with your comments !
Chapter 4: Back to Stormwind
"I'm going to check the perimeter. Do you want to come?" Lothar asked Karandra.
She nodded. They started walking in the dark in silence.
"You don't talk a lot," he said after a while.
"I only talk when asked to," she replied with a shrug.
Another silence fell upon them as Lothar didn't know what to say next.
"I could easily run away from you right now," she told him a few minutes later. "Go back to them".
He stopped and looked at her.
"Will you?" he asked, his voice nearly a whisper.
She could sense the concern in his voice. Even a bit of sadness.
"No," she honestly answered. "There is nothing but death for me back there".
"I won't let that happen," he said quickly, taking her hand.
She stared at him a few seconds and slowly pulled her hand free. They walked back to the camp. The soldiers were asleep. Garona was lying not far from the fire, and on the opposite side was Khadgar, eyes lost in the fire as he was taking his watch.
She sat against the mountain, Lothar went to take a piece of meat and then sat next to her.
"Well, at least you're not reading," he teased Khadgar.
"He wishes to lie with me," Garona said.
Karandra chuckled and Lothar looked highly amused.
"Beg your pardon?" Khadgar asked, baffled.
"You would be injured," Garona continued.
"I don't want to lie with you," he retorted.
"Good. You would not be an effective mate," Garona said bluntly.
Karandra was trying her best to hide the beginning of laugh she was having, and Lothar was smiling widely as he was eating, enjoying the show, chuckling now and then.
"Why do you laugh?" Garona asked him.
Lothar didn't know what to answer, looking back and forth between the two.
"I can't see how you humans survive such a thing. No muscles to protect you. Little bones that break".
"You don't look that different to us," Lothar replied. "How do you survive?"
"Broken bones heal stronger. Mines are very strong".
Karandra's jaw clenched tightly. Garona and her knew that better than anyone. Lothar looked away, embarrassed.
"I'm sorry," he told the green half Orc.
"Don't be. My name, Garona, it means "cursed" in Orc. My mother was burned alive for giving birth to me".
"They kept you alive though," Lothar said, somehow trying to comfort her.
"Gul'dan did. He gave me her tusk, to remember her".
She lied back in her blankets. Karandra then spoke up, looking into the fire.
"My mother died giving birth to me. Gul'dan gave me her necklace, not even her tusk. Repeating me every day how weak she was, and what a shame she and I are for Orcs. Reminding me all the time how grateful I had to be because they let me live and were keeping me alive. They allowed me to survive all these years…"
"And how old are you?" Khadgar gently asked her.
She counted on her fingers as she remembered what the soldier taught her earlier.
"I will be twenty in two moons," she finally answered.
The two humans looked at her with wide eyes.
"You will be twenty in two months?" Lothar repeated. "You are still a child… How could they do this to a child?"
He looked so angry and sad, it scared her a little.
"My parents gave me to the Kirin Tor when I was six years old," Khadgar confessed. "That's the last time I saw them, or any of my brothers and sisters. It brings a family honour, to offer a child to the Kirin Tor. To have their son taken up to the floating city of Dalaran and be trained by the most powerful mages in the land. Less though, to have them run away".
A little silence enveloped them a second.
"Well, that was tearful," Lothar stated as he stood up.
Karandra followed after him, thinking about what she saw in his eyes when she told them her age. They awkwardly lied down next to each other on the blanket. She was lying on her side, on the edge of the warm fabric, facing him, taking as less space as possible.
When she finally fell asleep, she unconsciously curled up in the blanket. Lothar chuckled fondly as she did so, and spread the blanket on her before standing up.
"You sure have been through a lot of terrible things," he whispered.
He slowly bent down and lightly kissed her forehead, smiling when she moved in her sleep, then went to the fire and took the next watch, relieving Khadgar from his post.
Next morning, he woke up at dawn and saw one of his men on watch, sharpening his blade. He gently woke Karandra up and then woke up the others – not so gently. They ate pieces of bread with a bit of cheese and drank water before climbing back on their horses and continue their road. It didn't take long before they arrived at the Orc base. They tied the horses to a tree far from the Orcs and walked to a hill to spy on the camp.
"The Great Gate," Garona said, pointing to the thing they were building.
"Why do they need so many prisoners?" Lothar asked her.
"Like wood for a fire. Green Magic takes life to open the gate".
"How many more Orcs are they planning on bringing here?"
"All of them. This is just war band. When the portal is opened, Gul'dan will bring the Horde".
Lothar thought for a moment. His two soldiers arrived then and he turned to them.
"Get them back to Stormwind," he said as he designated Garona and Khadgar with his chin. "We'll be right ahead".
Karandra quickly followed Lothar. He helped her climb on the saddle and jumped behind her. He took the reins and took off at full speed. He secured an arm around Karandra's waist to keep her in place, leading his mount with only one hand.
"We won't stop until we're back," he warned her. "We should arrive just before sunset. Can you handle it?"
"I've handled much worse," she said with a shrug.
She liked being on a horse. How fast she was going, the wind in her face, the feeling of freedom… And perhaps she grew to like it so quickly because of her co-rider. But she forbidden herself to think of it. She had no right to do so.
Lothar pushed his horse so much, they arrived in Stormwind three hours before sunset. He motioned for her to follow him as he strolled in the hallways, radiating confidence. He arrived in a council room. She stopped at the gate. No need to start a diplomatic incident by bringing her, the enemy, to this table. Lothar just ran up the few stairs and interrupted the session, announcing that the Orcs were building a portal.
She watched the politicians, each one of them yelling at the others. A young man walked past her and went to deliver a letter to Lothar. She saw him talk with the young man, and become suddenly very pale. He nearly ran out of the room and she followed him, not knowing what else to do and surely not wanting to stay with those people who would ask for her head as soon as they would spot her.
They went inside a huge white tent, the infirmary. A boy was lying on a bed. Karandra had seen him before, at the ambush, when she was captured with Garona. He had a nasty cut on his forehead. She stopped ten steps away from him, giving Lothar and the boy privacy.
"Dad?" he said as he tried to sit up when he saw Lothar.
Dad? Lothar had a son? He had a mate? She felt as if someone had plunged a poisoned dagger in her heart. Lothar checked on the wound.
"I'm fine, it's fine," the boy grumbled.
"You had me worried," Lothar said. "Where is the rest of your troop?"
"They took most of them alive".
"We will get them back".
The boy tried to stood up but Lothar firmly pressed a hand on his chest, forcing him to stay in the bed.
"Don't be in such a hurry," he said as he straightened his son's shirt. "You're all I have".
"I know," his son replied as he removed the hand. "I'm a soldier".
Lothar didn't look fine with that answer but didn't reply. He walked out of the infirmary, Karandra hot on his heels.
"I'll take you to a room, you'll stay there," he told her.
"I'm not going back in the cell?" she asked, surprised.
"No. We only put enemies in the cells. You are not an enemy".
She felt relieved, and glad. She followed him in the streets, keeping her head low so the people would not freak out. They entered the palace again, and he led her through the corridors and the stairs. It was quite confusing for her, all these changes of directions.
He stopped in front of a door, and took her hand in his as he opened it. She felt a strong and warm feeling everywhere in her body when his skin met hers. He pulled her inside. It was a small, comfortable room. A bed on a side, a wardrobe next to a table and a chair on the other. Another door led to a bathroom. Or more likely, to a small room where stood a big wooden bathtub.
"There are clothes in the wardrobe. The Queen ordered for it," he told her.
"It is very kind of her," she said shyly.
"I'll call you a maid for the bath," he said.
He passed his head out the door and soon after, a woman entered and filled the bathtub with warm water.
"Take a bath and rest a little," he told her. "I will come back to escort you to dinner".
He started to walk away.
"Lothar!" she called as he put his hand on the doorknob.
"Yes?" he asked as he turned to face her.
She took a deep breath. She already felt her cheeks heating up and her heartbeat quicken at what she was going to ask. She looked away.
"I can't take the armour off alone," she said.