Chapter 20
"Are we there yet?"
It wasn't the first time this hour that Merrilynn asked that question, but Jalane couldn't really blame her. She was looking forward to the end of the journey herself.
They had arrived in Ratchet three days ago, and Creton left for Dustwallow without another word. Jalane knew because it was the only Alliance port nearby. It wasn't a terrible loss for the two women, for he hadn't spoken a word to them after he patched up Merrilynn, even though the young girl was clueless as to why he became so angry. She had awoken on the ship one morning with a broken wrist and a ripped dress without any logical explanation. But the thing that got both their spirits down was the scenery…or lack thereof. They were used to lush forests of green filled with woodland scents, and the barren wastes of Ratchet and its surroundings were very disappointing.
Nevertheless, they turned to the local trainer for guidance, but he refused to teach Merrilynn the ways of the shadow. There they got their second disappointment.
"Horde only" He said harshly. But once the town was used to the two humans, and the queer looks stopped, he directed them to a small camp south of the Barrens, ironically the name of the wasteland. There, any lost traveller would find his way through the darkness, he added cryptically.
Arrangements for a horse were made and they were on their way…and still are.
Jalane looked around, and it seemed like they had not been moving at all. To her left was still the enormous tree, to her left the pack of strangely striped animals, and in front of her, nothing but flat horizon.
"We have to be close."
"You said that yesterday too." The girl added grumpily.
…..
"Wad you mean you lost dem? You better be joking, Orc."
Ayiz was not happy, and therefore his raptor shifted nervously from paw to paw. An irritated master usually meant something tasty. Ayiz had met the Orc on the ship, hearing him boast about his great tracking skills. Against better judgement, and advice from his companion, he had hired the Orc, hoping to find the women faster, or at least to provide a distraction for the paladin. He hadn't foreseen the trio splitting up, nor the hunters distaste for warlocks. They had been following the wrong trail.
"You told me to follow the humans…and I did."
"No, I sed to follow da women, wad wud I need wid a stinkin paladin?"
Ayiz was so close to the Orc now that the latter could see the cold fire burning behind those eyes. Had it not been for his Orcish blood, he would have quivered. Instead, he looked back just as threatening.
"Not even Thrall himself could force me to follow two warlocks. I'd rather die."
"Wish granted." And with one swift haul of his blade, the Orc lay severed to the ground, much to the delight of Ayiz' raptor. It proceeded to tear up the flesh as Ayiz mounted it.
"Dey split, which means dey was not going to de alliance port. Den were?" he grumbled, more to himself than to his friend. A mischievous glint came in his eyes.
"I tink I ave an idea. Follow me."
With a swift tug on the reins the raptors left their food and took off.
….
"We should make camp," Jalane stated as the sun was casting it last rays of daylight. "I saw a pond nearby to refill our water pouches." Dismounting, Merrilynn silently took out a feeding bag and proceeded to feed the horse and patting it on the nose.
She hadn't been feeling well. Not for a while now. For two weeks she had been travelling, with no actual goal. All she knew was that she could no longer go back.
"I didn't even get to say goodbye..." she muttered softly as she stroked the horse's neck.
Her parents had died in a Horde attack two weeks ago, terrible things had happened to her during that attack, and she couldn't even remember. Did the new blank day mean that something similar had happened on the ship? She took the lock pick from her pocket.
Whatever had happened, someone had cared enough to treat her broken wrist. At least temporary, the morning after, Creton quickly healed her worst wounds and then proceeded to completely ignore her. It didn't bother her as much as the absence of her imp did. He was supposed to be waiting for them in Ratchet. Had something happened to the small creature? She most certainly hoped not.
Pulled out from her thoughts by Jalane she looked at the woman, realising the older warlock wasn't talking to her.
But to something. It was big, blue and in Merrilynn's opinion, scary. She could easily understand why many people feared warlocks even if they didn't know the history. They themselves didn't look frightening, but what travelled with them at times was enough to put all your hairs on end, she thought, remembering the dog-like creature she met on her first encounter with Jalane.
"Dar'thaan, here are our water pouches, fill them and search for firewood, we will be making camp. I trust you are able to deal with such a task?"
"As you command, master." The creature took the two water pouches and disappeared into the darkness.
"What was that?"
Jalane jumped at Merrilynn's question. She had almost forgotten the girl.
"That? Oh, just a voidwalker, one of the minions we can control. You will have your own one day."
"Ah…speaking of minions, do you know where Pagrin is?"
"In the netherworld of course, where else would he be."
"I don't know, waiting for us in Ratchet? As he promised."
"He cannot stay far from his master in the human world Merrilynn, if he does; his connection to this world breaks, sending him back to the netherworld. All you have to do is call him back."
"How?"
Jalane pondered that question for a minute.
"Well, the imp usually seeks out the warlock, so it shouldn't require much magic to call on him. Just think about it and wish it to be at your side."
Strangely enough, it worked.
"About time you called me, kiddo, I was starting to get worried."
"Weren't you the one that said warlocks had a short life-span?"
"Didn't mean I wanted you to have one."
"Pagrin, you know these lands well I suppose, how far is it to the warlock camp?"
The imp looked around a while and then answered "About six hours in the eastern direction. We should get there tomorrow. Then maybe finally kiddo over here can learn something."
"I have a name you know."
"I do actually, but I prefer not using it."
….
Meanwhile Ayiz had arrived at his destination. Surprising the humans in the dark proved useful. He held one of them close, his blade gleaming in the moonlight.
"Were is da girl?"
"This is a resting ground for weary travellers, Sir Troll, we see many people, but we saw no girl today."
"Ayiz mon, relax, de Barrens are big, dey might arrive later. Give it time, dey will come."
"Den we should prepare a warm welcome."
….
Merrilynn awoke hearing a scream. If it had been in the dream or not, it was enough to wake her up. The embers of the campfire were still glowing lightly and she could see the voidwalker standing in the exact same spot she saw him before she fell asleep.
"Dar'thaan, don't you ever sleep?"
"I am void, sleep is not a necessity, mistress."
"Don't you minions ever use someone's first name?"
"Not until we are commanded to do so."
She didn't even expect an answer but was surprised by the eerie neutral tone of it anyway. These minions sounded very much like slaves. The more she thought about it, the more she disliked the idea.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping, kiddo?"
Pagrin was looking at her with one eye.
"I thought I heard something."
"Well, whatever it was, it's not keeping you up anymore. Sleep, it's going to be a long day tomorrow."
"Goodnight Pagrin." She lay back down, but it took a while before sleep grabbed hold of her again.
Six hours past sunrise, they finally reached their destination. But hearing Jalane gasping 'oh no', something was wrong. She hadn't looked at the camp herself yet, to busy watching the horse's neck. Finally looking up, she wished she hadn't.
The camp was on fire, and the two residents were hanged from a tree. Sensing danger Jalane proceeded to recall Dar'thaan from the netherworld, but an arrow was shot at her before she could finish her spell. She fell forward and lay unconscious. Seeing this Merrilynn was more than alarmed, she was petrified. She recognized that arrow. It was the same kind of arrow that had killed her old horse. They were here. Going to finish what they started. Memories came flooding back as her fear settled in her bones. But just as she was about to break down, something clicked in her mind, and her fear made way for anger. Anger for the death of her parents, and now the injury of her only friend she's had in weeks.
She turned to the direction of the arrow, seeing a Troll grinning at her mischievously. He had been the one responsible. And he would pay dearly for this.
"Pagrin…Get help."
The imps eyes went wide as he looked at the girl surprised. It didn't take him much to realise what was happening to the girl, but that didn't mean he wished to leave her.
"What? Kiddo, you can't even control what's happening yet, no way you're sending me away!"
Flames emitted from her hands as she glared at the imp briefly. Her eyes were no longer purple, but black with fire raging behind them. It would have made even the toughest Troll flinch.
"I said Get Help, Pagrin, Jalane needs help. Go, NOW!"
Reluctantly the imp vanished from sight.
"Silly little girl…" The Troll laughed, but the sound was stifled as he caught sight of the look on her face. He could only just restrain himself from taking an involuntary step back.
"You destroyed my life!" She yelled and hurled fireball after fireball at the offending Troll. Momentarily ignoring the pain in her hands and pretending she didn't feel the blood running down her opened wounds.
The Troll was fast, dodging many oncoming flames, but not fast enough. One struck him head on and then he lay motionless, the flames consuming his flesh, leaving a rotten smell.
The flames in her now bloodstained hands dulled as the pain forced her to her knees.
It was over. They were safe, she thought. But catching something in the corner of her eye she didn't hesitate to cast another fireball into the general direction. She was rewarded with a pained scream, but before she could summon enough strength for another cast, a hand grabbed her by the throat and she was eye to eye with a very familiar face.-
A face she had hoped to never see again. No matter how strong the shadow was present in her body, her eyes returned to their normal colour. She was exhausted and scared.
"You…"
"Me, yeh, I was de one wo destroyed your life. Not my friend. But you will pay for destroying is."
He forgot all about the chase for this girl when he saw his friend fall in battle. He hadn't expected the girl to be able to fight. His rage had been increased when he was hit by a fireball on his shoulder. He was already healing, but it was still hurting like hell. He wanted to hurt her, badly, for all she did to him. But all those feelings of wrath disappeared when he heard her plea.
"Please…don't."
He grinned. He wasn't going to, but since she had so nicely reminded him of why he had been chasing her in the first place, he was going to spare her life…for now. But he hadn't forgotten about her minion. He would be back soon, and he didn't want to risk another fire attack aimed at him. His free hand moved underneath her robe as he grinned dangerously
"I won't…Not now… But I be wanting a souvenir until we meet again."
And without warning he ripped her panties from her legs and brought them to his nose, in front of the shock-widened eyes of the garments owner. Taking a deep sniff he grinned even wider.
"I love da smell of fear in da morning. Tataa for now."
With a maniacal cackle he let the girl drop to the ground and vanished. Trembling like a leaf, she realised she had escaped him yet again. She didn't know if she should count herself lucky or not. He wasn't giving up. He was going to chase her until he got what he wanted.
It gave her a headache. Together with the pain of her injuries and shock from the encounter, she fell into darkness.
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A/N: OMG it's been three months since I updated this thing? Has it really been that long? Oh no!! 'Puts on a blindfold and stands in front of a target disc.' I willingly accept any punishment you wish to throw upon me. 'peeps from under the blindfold and sees fgees relit torch and extremely sharp pitchfork' I brought this upon myself, I must face the consequences. 'gulps'
I wish to apologize for taking so long. It seems like my inspiration likes to see me punished :s. But at least this chapter is somewhat decent.
Someone: Aye, that was. Let's just say that Ayiz doesn't like competition, even if there isn't one
The angel of vengeance: Thx :D and no need to apologize lol, I'm glad you even bother to review (goes for every reviewer!). It's nice to know that you still follow this story. Or at least were, so much time has passed and I've become one of those sporadic writers. I'm the one that should apologize and hereby am for not updating regularly.
Orannis4: Oooh, that's right, blood elfs can be warlocks :D, don't know about a Tauren though, might be a little big for our poor little girl. She'll have her ups and downs, but I promise a happy chapter soon ;)
Fgee: grounded from the computer? Ouch, that's one of the worst punishments parents can give. And hey, no worries, at least you're reading it, doesn't matter when you do. And I'm trying as hard as I can to write.
Chaseboy04: Not discontinuing, but was put on an unannounced hiatus. Again, apologies for not mentioning anything.
Mixcow: Well, Merrilynn is half night-elf, does that count? Thx for the advice, I'll see what I can do
Also thx to zukassi and all the afore mentioned people for reviewing. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting so long; I hope this chapter pleases you