Obligatory disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft, or I would have gotten more of the details right.
As they moved away from the wreckage, Ga'vik's sensitive ears pricked at a soft sound from the direction of the burnt wagon, and then his nostrils flared as he caught a whiff of something distinctly non-goblin. After a moment's hesitation, his inquisitive nature got the better of him, and he wheeled his raptor around and dismounted lightly. Eikahe was trailing behind on foot, and joined him as he returned to stand beside the charred rubble.
"Did you hear something?" Eikahe rumbled in Taur-ahe. He glanced toward the rest of their party, trudging sluggishly away from them. The orcs on mounts moved slowly to keep pace with those on foot.
Ga'vik ruffled his spiky hair front to back, back to front, and clicked his teeth in thought. It had not taken him long to determine that the inside of the wagon contained nothing that would produce sound - not even another fly-ridden corpse.
"I thought I did," he replied in the same tongue. He knew that Eikahe appreciated when he spoke Taur-ahe, and it came more easily to him than the Orcish they spoke amidst their party.
Ga'vik's pet, Lujin, prowled slowly toward him and sniffed delicately at the nearest wheel of the cart, before sitting on her haunches and showing sudden interest in a meticulous groom of her tail.
Clicking his teeth again, Ga'vik considered the wreck. Abruptly, he dropped into a low crouch, pressing his hands into the dirt and bringing his chest level with the ground to peer under the wreckage. There was a small hissing sound that reminded Ga'vik of a startled kitten, and then he found himself staring directly into wide, white-rimmed eyes. They were a blend of colours that the troll appreciated: green and brown with flecks of gold, like a forest. As Ga'vik waited, the blackness around the eyes slowly resolved itself into a crouched figure, camouflaged with soot.
Eikahe had also crouched low to peer into the blackness, though he'd had to lie laboriously on his stomach to bring his broad hairy face close to Ga'vik's. His heavy tauren build did not allow the frog-like position that the lithe troll crouched in.
"It's a human calf!" Eikahe rumbled in surprise. He glanced again at Ga'vik, who merely grunted and sat back on his heels, curiosity sated.
Eikahe pressed himself further into the dirt, staring into the hazel eyes for a long moment, before reaching slowly into the darkness and grasping the human by its shoulder. He drew it, unresisting, into the light, and looked it over. The human trembled and stayed huddled on the ground, head downcast.
It was filthy from head to toe, smeared with soot and ash. Blood and serum wept from a badly burnt leg, and one hand was tucked protectively against its chest. It wore only a blackened slave collar around its neck, and a short sack-like garb that was badly charred around the bottom edge. Its hair was burnt as well, and stuck to its head in greasy, blackened strands at about chin-length. Ga'vik reached out to rub a strand between his fingers, finding it was actually a light golden brown colour under the ash, and much finer than his own.
"Careful, he's badly injured, and might bite. Are there others?" Eikahe glanced around edgily, as if expecting hidden humans to emerge from the shadows, but the only movement was the lazy dance of the corpse-flies and the dusty progress of the orcs.
Ga'vik snorted. "You've been celibate for far too long, my friend. It's not a he. Or a calf." He leaned down and inhaled deeply, the more primitive parts of his brain confirming this was indeed a female of breeding age, despite the overwhelming stench of char and blood and death.
"Are you sure? It's so small, and... small." Eikahe frowned doubtfully. He took in the tiny creature, comparing it mentally to a Tauren female's voluptuous shape. He inhaled noisily himself, then made a choking sound and released the air again with a bullish snort.
Ga'vik grasped the human by the upper arm and pulled her easily to her feet. Once she was standing, her feminine shape was more obvious, despite her slight build. The thin garment she wore revealed faint curves at the hips and chest. She was small - much smaller than he and Eikahe - and skinnier, he thought, than other humans he had seen, though he had never had the luxury or urge to inspect them so closely. Still, her thin build belied her surprisingly long legs, and he decided her height was adult-human-ish. She came roughly up to the middle of his chest.
"What do you think, Lu?" The sleek, black panther had crept closer to twitch her whiskers delicately at the creature, and turned to Ga'vik now with wide golden eyes. Her expression was one of open disgust. She was disdainful of most everyone she met, but the human's filthiness seemed particularly abhorrent to her.
Ga'vik turned and spat in the dirt. "I know, it already smells half-dead. Shall I put it out of its misery?" When Eikahe only frowned, Ga'vik continued forcefully, "Best to leave it here in peace, then. Come." He released his grip abruptly and started to move toward their mounts, gesturing for Eikahe to follow.
"Do you think she'll live?" Eikahe called to his friend, without taking his eyes off the female. She swayed slightly and he reached out carefully to grasp her shoulder again, holding her steady.
"No," the troll answered immediately. Then, turning back to look at his friend, he added more gently, "It's badly injured, too far gone. Burns are bad. The desert will claim it soon."
When Eikahe made no response, Ga'vik scowled and ran his hand through his hair. The large tauren was as soft-hearted as he was stubborn, and his silence spoke volumes.
Ga'vik tried again. "I shouldn't need to say this, Eik, but it's a loa-damned human. I know it looks like a calf, but it's not. She's full-grown, and she's Alliance. It would be fucking treason to help her."
Eikahe looked back at him with his big sad cow eyes. "She doesn't look like a fearsome Alliance soldier to me," he said, his deep voice low and persuasive.
The troll trudged back over to him with a huff. He leaned forward, lightly brushing some debris off of her slave collar to reveal the faintly glowing runes underneath. "She may not be very big, but she's got magic of some kind, or they wouldn't bother with one of these loa-damned things to suppress it." He rubbed at the collar again to reveal more runes. As he did so, the metal band dropped an inch down her neck, taking a piece of blistered skin with it. The human jerked in Eikahe's hand, and the burly tauren jumped back in surprise, letting her crumple to the ground.
Ga'vik snorted, "Don't worry, they rarely bite. Their teeth are mostly dull, like yours." He flashed his own sharp canines playfully at Eikahe, but the tauren was still gazing steadily at the human. She was quaking now, and staring up at them with her disconcerting forest-coloured eyes, the whites nearly glowing against her blackened face.
"Do you think we can take the collar off? Maybe she can heal herself."
"That's a great idea. She can heal herself, and then kill us both!"
"I don't think she's in any state."
"For all we know, she's the most powerful human mage in the whole fucking Alliance."
"You're so dramatic. Look at her. She's a slave hiding under a burnt turnip cart in the middle of the desert, not a prisoner in a high-security dungeon."
"We can't take the collar off. Not without removing her head first. Probably nobody can, but the mage who sealed it. For all we know, she'd rather die than live like that, wearing that loa-damned thing, with no magic or powers."
"If she wanted to die, she wouldn't have tried to stay hidden."
Ga'vik sighed. He was not opposed to mercy. As a hunter, he killed out of necessity: to eat, to clothe himself, to earn a living. As a solider, he killed those who would otherwise kill him. He was not a sadist, and would prefer not to leave her here, to die of thirst. Still, he felt obligated to offer a token resistance, dancing about the subject until it seemed the only reasonable option, for his own sake as well as for Eikahe's. They were each in enough trouble with their superiors as it was.
"You probably won't be able to heal her. The collar suppresses all magic. Burns are nasty things," he reiterated, ruffling his hair again, already considering logistics.
"I appreciate your faith in my abilities." Despite the sarcastic words, Eikahe's voice held a definite note of gratitude as he patted the troll's shoulder with a large, hairy hand. He already knew he'd won.
"Gurk will probably kill her as soon as we get to camp," Ga'vik continued, pulling out his own water skin and crouching to hold it to her lips. The human didn't hesitate, but brought one fluttering hand up to grasp it as she drank greedily. The troll allowed her several gulps, then drew it slowly away before she made herself ill. She gazed straight at him, licking the last drops from her cracked lips with a small, pink tongue.
Then she fainted into his arms.