A/N: Please note that this is of course Fan Fiction, therefore the events described would be slightly deviated from the orginal telling.
And nope, I in fact do not own Warcraft or anything else I write about.
Chapter 31
Three skeletal horses rushed out of the main gate of Lordaeron's former captial city. The trio of horses were all spurred on roughly to reach their maximum speed as they followed the winding cobblestone roads to the docks. Going so quickly that the ghastly smoke exhuming from the horses left long trails following behind.
Each horse carried a pair of riders, Wayne in the lead with Nollis seated behind. On the other two a Deathstalker held the reins with a separate apothecary behind, both were frightfully holding on. Wayne slightly smiled to himself as he glanced back to see the alchemist's arms clutching tightly to the assassins. Each held their eyes tightly closed as their mouths softly mumbled for the ride to end quickly. Wayne turned back to watch the road and thought how rare it was to see an undead show fear.
Soon the road straighted out and the Deathstalkers closed in tightly on both sides for protection. They both reached a hand out onto the reins that Wayne held to slow down his horse, clearly something important had caught their attention. Wayne was on the verge of angrily asking what the was the meaning of this when a Deathstalker whispered, "Enemies ahead."
All came to a halt on the road as Wayne's eyes scanned the darkness for any sign of danger, but saw nothing. Nollis took out his bow and threaded an arrow, his senses were picking up something that until now only the Deathskalkers could sense. The apothecaries were relieved to no longer be moving, but now slightly more fearful of being butchered in the dark.
"Where and what?" Wayne asked quietly to nobody in particular.
Both Deathstalkers lifted their arms and pointed with a single finger towards the north, where Wayne saw nothing but darkness.
"Difficult to say," whispered a Deathstalker.
"Master DeLovely," said an apothecary. "This should help the situation."
Wayne looked to see a small brass sliding telescope extended towards him and accepted it.
"Well done," Wayne said as he scanned the eye of the scope into the darkness where the assassins pointed. At first he saw nothing but the same darkness he had been peering into, but then his eye caught something. A flicker of light, first it was faint and brief, but then stayed steady. A fire was being lit in the vast distance and around it a number of figures moved. Wayne's first thought was Scarlet Crusaders, but they never ventured this far from their monastery, or made their presence so easily known. It could be a trap, but he doubted it. Whatever this was, it must be foreign to these lands.
"You two scout ahead and return, do not strike," Wayne said to the Deathstalkers as he lowered the telescope. Both dismounted and ran silently into the forest like shadows. Wayne ordered everyone else to dismount and leave the horses here.
"Master DeLovely," the same apothecary piped up apprehensively. "Can we afford this time delay? The Dark Lady expects us to sail by now."
Wayne was silent for a moment. He knew the apothecary was right, however cowardly his reasons might be. But this was a threat that must be dealt with, nothing was allowed to freely transverse Forsaken lands.
"We cannot ignore this violation of our sovereignty, the Dark Lady will understand," Wayne answered.
"A group of dwarves," said a Deathstalker beside Wayne, causing him to nearly stumble backwards. The assassin appeared beside him with no warning, as if he just appeared out of thin air. Wayne quickly collected himself and eyed the Deathstalker for his impressive stealth.
"Very well," Wayne said as he began limping towards the dwarven encampment. "This is a conference that I must attend."
"There is no need, we can eliminate them now and spare you the walk," said the Deathstalker, sending his eyes down to Wayne's damaged leg.
"Oh no," said Wayne, still walking towards the camp. "I must find out their intentions."
"Master," Nollis said. "They will surely attack you on sight."
"Perhaps, perhaps not, I expect all of you to be ready regardless," Wayne said as his eyes scanned the group. "This won't take long I assure you. It has been a lifetime since I've been in the company of dwarves and I cannot say that I've missed it."
Minutes later Wayne stood just out of sight of the firelight. Nollis was close by, bow in hand. One of the Deathstalkers hovered over the encampment on a tree limb, ready to strike. The other was left to watch over the apothecaries and horses.
He counted eight dwarves total, though more could be foraging nearby. All looked slightly nervous, as if they were aware of all the eyes on them. They were all armed, a few were keeping a tight grip on their blunderbuss and keeping their eyes on their surroundings.
Wayne began the short walk into their perimeter, being as clear and audible as he possible. He walked slowly, leaning more heavily on his staff than he had to. The attention of the dwarves was caught immediately as all stood up with guns in hand.
"Who goes there!" shouted a dwarf as he continued to aim his gun barrel in different directions.
"I could ask you the same question," Wayne said lightheartedly as he continued to advance into clear sight. "Now please, lower your weapons, I mean you no harm."
"This one speaks," said another dwarf in a disbelieving tone, none of them were lowering their arms.
"Be careful with your movements," Wayne warned sternly as he came to a halt. "You have entered the realm of the Dark Lady, death lies all around you."
"We killed quite a score of creatures like you. Burned them in the fire to make sure they don't rise again. What makes you believe you are any different because you speak!?" demanded a dwarf.
"No...not like me," Wayne grinned. "You have much to learn. I do not blame you, Bronzebeard dwarves always had trouble with comprehension."
This caused many of the dwarves to cast sidelong glances at each other.
"How is it that you know our clan!" demanded the same dwarf, jabbing his gun forward.
"You're wearing it, please let us talk, I believe that we can do a service for each other," said Wayne, walking forward again. "Besides it has been so long since I've felt the heat of mortal fire...it is..unpleasant."
The dwarves did not open fire but backed away as Wayne carefully lowered himself to sit on one of their stools. They continued to exchange questionable glances towards each other, not knowing what to do. Wayne gazed into the fire and indeed found the remains of several low class ghouls burning into cinders.
"Make a wrong move and we put you in there," warned a dwarf, all with their guns still pointed towards him.
And who says that trust between the living and the dead was a long gap to bridge?
End of Chapter 31
