Chapter II

Defending Tarren Mill

'Oh, you woke up?'

Zhora opened his eyes. He was lying on a bed in someone's house. And looking at him was probably the owner of the house: an undead. At once Zhora tried to punch her, but he still felt dizzy so his attack was easily blocked.

'So this is the thanks I get for dragging you out of the river and nursing you for three days?' – she asked. Zhora calmed down.

'Oh, you're… Forsaken, right? Sorry about that.' – he said. – 'It's just the last thing I remember was a battle against the Scourge and… River! You pulled me out of the river right?'

'Yeah, you almost drowned and…'

'Was anyone else there? A female blood-elf in white robes?'

'No, just you.'

Zhora looked down.

'What's the deal with you? I practically save your life, give you shelter and instead of thanking me you first try to kill me and then keep asking some questions.' – she said. – 'Are all blood elves as impolite as you?'

'You're right, sorry.' – Zhora said. – 'Thank you for saving my life.'

'That's much better.' – she said smiling at him. – 'How do you feel?'

'A bit dizzy…'

'You're probably hungry. How about some breakfast? I know a few recipes people like you.'

'People like me?' – the blood elf asked.

'You know, the "not undead" type.' – she laughed.

Zhora looked at her. She was dressed ina short swampy-colored shirt, dark-brown knee-high shorts, tightened by a leather belt and a pair of heavy shoes. If Zhora would take a closer look, he would notice her outfit was scratched and torn in some places. Her long raven black hair and relatively charming smile were proof she used to be a beautiful human girl. Yet now with her grayish rotting skin and perfectly visible spine, elbow and knee bones she looked almost like any other grim Forsaken. The only difference is that the leather belt tightened across her face, covering the eyes, didn't make her look scary. On the contrary – it seemed she would look far worse without it.

'Ok, I'll be back in a minute.' – she said cheerfully. – 'By the way, my name is Haru.'

In a few minutes she brought him some food. During breakfast Haru told him about where he was. They were in a town called Tarren Mill – a Horde town in the Hillsbrad Foothills, south of Undercity, the Forsaken capitol. It was also far south from the Ghostlands, where Zhora had fought for his life. It was a miracle he got swept away this far and survived. He also found out that the town had many conflicts with the nearby Hillsbrad Farms. The town of Southshore to the south on the other hand didn't want anything to do with it. They were far too busy trading goods over the sea.

After the most important things were said, she told him about herself. Strangely she didn't have any memories from the time she was still human. The last thing she remembers is waking up in a pile of Scourge bodies in Deathknell – a small settlement not far from Undercity. That was about half a year ago. Its residents welcomed her as a fellow Forsaken since she wasn't a mindless slave of the Lich King anymore. After helping the village with some local issues, she came to Tarren Mill and became a leatherworker.

'So what about you? Anything interesting?' – she asked him with a cheerful smile.

'I was born on Sunstrider Isle. I had a good life, loving parents and many friends. Then when the Scourge came invading everyone I cared for got massacred. My best friend sacrificed himself to save me. Since then I was spending my days locked up in my house. Not long ago my former teacher persuade dme to join the military. I almost found new friends among the platoon members when we got ambushed by the Scourge and again – again, everyone but me and a priest who saved my life were massacred. I lost sight of her and since she didn't wind up here, I'm guessing she's also dead. Interesting enough for you?'

He said everything monotonically, without any emotions. It was as if he was talking about someone he didn't know and didn't care about. Haru's cheerful smile faded.

'I'm… sorry.' – she said.

'Don't be. No one ever was, so it's no big deal.'

'But…'

'Please don't. Don't make me feel sorry for myself.' – he said in that same emotionless tone.

For a minute both were silent.

'Look, you still have some time. I'm not letting you go just yet. You nearly died, so you'll have to rest some more, but you can stay here as long as you like.' – she said with a smile.

'I wouldn't feel comfortable with being nursed by someone for free, and I don't have any money, so…'

'You don't have a choice. If you want to leave, you'll have to pass through my room, and I have a LOT of skinning knives there. Trust me – I know how to use them.' – she said with an evil grin. Zhora stared at her. He was confused. How did this cheerful person change into this sadistic monstrosity?

'Just kidding.' – she laughed with her cheerful smile again. Zhora was still a bit shocked.

'I think you might have overacted…' – he said.

'You'll get used to it.' – she laughed.

'So how long are you planning on keeping me here?'

'Don't worry. Only as long as it takes for you to get better. But like I said: stay as long as you like.' – she smiled.

A week had passed. Zhora was just lying in bed filled with apathy. He was feeling empty. And no wonder: being the only survivor of a slaughter would probably beat anyone down. Haru cooked for him every day, kept him company as often as she could, tried to talk to him. But all Zhora did was thank her and answer her questions without any interest. It made her sad to see him in this state, but there was nothing she could do about it. It probably would have remained that way, if not for what happened next.

It was a quiet evening. Haru was in her workroom making some boots for a neighbor, Zhora was in bed just staring through the window as usually. Suddenly the door busted open.

'Those bastards!' – shouted a female's voice.

'High executor Darthalia, what happened?' – Haru asked.

Darthalia looked shocked and angry, her face was expressing a will of revenge. Her yellow eyes with no pupils were slightly glowing from beneath her deep purple hood, making her almost colorless face look very creepy. If that wasn't enough, she had barely any flesh on her body. She was practically a walking yellowish skeleton.

'So she's probably in command here.' – Zhora thought.

'Those blasted farmers! They're attacking! They killed every bat we had here!' – the executor shouted.

'What?' – Haru was shocked.

'Their main attack force is nearing! They probably sent assassins to kill the bats so we couldn't call for help. Bat Master Zarise is furious! She's ready to slaughter them all to the last man! But she can't fight them alone, now can she? We need to gather everyone we can get for this fight, or they'll burn the town to the ground along with us!' – Darthalia sounded really nervous. It was obvious the fight would be a hard one.

'I'm going!' – Haru said grabbing a few knives and running outside. The executor was about to leave when she spotted Zhora.

'You! You're that blood elf Haru fished out of the river, right? Great! We could use your help!' – she said dragging Zhora out of bed. – 'Help us out, or you'll get eradicated along with the town!'

Zhora understood he had no choice. He took his staff that was standing in the corner of the room all this time and followed Darthalia outside.

'Haru is just a leatherworker… Are you sure she should fight?' – Zhora asked upon exiting the house. Darthalia laughed.

'Guess she didn't tell you. You'll be amazed by what you'll see.' – she replied with a grin.

The sun had almost set. Tarren Mill was filled with fear and anger. The Forsaken were moving around: some were preparing for the upcoming battle, others – looking for a place to hide. The town reminded Zhora of a small ant's nest - everyone was running somewhere, doing something, shouting at someone. The town itself wasn't elegant at all. It was surrounded by huge pines, so the ground was covered with tiny pine needles, swimming in mud. The old ruined houses and the church in the middle made Tarren Mill look like a real ghost town. Well, the Forsaken don't really need luxury.

The center was filled with members of the Horde, mostly undead. The only ones who were "alive" were Zhora and a tall massive heavily armored orc. If he wouldn't be that stooped, he would probably be even taller. The pale green skin covered with scars proved he has seen many battles. He looked like he had everything a great warrior needs.

'Now that we have everyone gathered here, we go to protect our town! We shall fight to the death!' – Darthalia shouted.

'Slaughter those bastards for what they did to my babies!' – another undead woman with purple goggles shouted. That was Zarise, the local bat master.

Everyone else let out a roar which meant they were ready. The crowd moved to the outskirts of town. Zhora tried not to be in the front lines. He wouldn't be much use in close combat, but he didn't think he could be of much use at all in his depressed state. He even thought about running away. And then he realized the reason for his apathy. He was feeling guilty, guilty for being the only one surviving a slaughter at the price of someone's life. Twice! Fate has given him a third chance. Determination rose within him with every second – he would not let this happen again. This time he would be on the side that wins! He would be the one who saves, and not the one being saved!

In a few minutes dozens of lights appeared in the distance – torches of the Hillsbrad farmers. The enemy was nearing.

'Something's not right… There's too many of them!' – Zarise said.

'Looks like they hired some footmen from Southshore. This is going to be a tough fight…' – Darthalia replied.

'And their timing is too perfect. They're attacking us when most of our town guards are away in Undercity. – a sick and very weak looking Forsaken near Zhora added. Strangely his voice was quite majestic and confident. It was clear he was tougher than he looked.– 'So, I'm guessing you're a mage too?' – he asked turning to Zhora.

'Yes.' – Zhora answered.

'Well then, let's see what you've got, elf.' – the Forsaken laughed. – 'They're almost in range.'

When the alliance troops were close enough, the mage spoke to Zhora again.

'Land your fireball in front of enemy troops, but not in the center. Aim further to the left. Don't hit them with this attack.'

Zhora wondered how this would work, but did as he was told. As soon as his spell hit the left side of the enemy's frontline, the spell of the undead hit the right the ground began to burn in lines, creating a firewall separating the farmers from the footmen. Zhora was amazed how much they did with just two fireballs.

'Don't be so surprised.' – the Forsaken said. – 'We defended our town many times from these troublesome farmers as well as other Alliance forces, so we developed tactics. For situations like this we spilled oil on the ground. Our spells only ignited it. And now that the enemy is separated, our soldiers can take down the farmers. Without the footmen who are used to battles they are practically helpless.' – he laughed. – 'Meanwhile we'll blast the shielded footmen with our magic.'

The melee forces rushed into combat against the farmers while Zhora and the Forsaken mage used spells from afar – just as planned.

Filled with anger Zarise caught her first prey, threw him on the ground and killed the farmer with a single punch in the out her sword she was making her way to the next target. Though the defenders of Tarren Mill were much stronger,the farmers still had their advantage in numbers. They quickly surrounded the undead and began using hit and run tactics, attacking from several directions at once. Even though the heavy armored orc, Darthalia, Zarise and some other strong warriors were able to counter most attacks and kill the farmers in just a few blows, they still had trouble dealing with this many opponents. Not even the orc's huge two-handed sword could slice through them all. Caught up in her rage, Zarise rushed deeper into enemy lines. One farmer managed to pierce her leg, but that was far from enough to take her down. She broke off the end of the fork in her leg and thrust it through the owner's chest. Blinded with anger she didn't notice the two enemies who were just about to stab her from as they were ready to strike, streams of blood started flowing from their necks and both fell down dead with Haru appearing behind them out of nowhere.

'You know how much I envy you every time you do that?' – Zarise smiled looking at Haru.

'And you know how I hate hearing that every time from you.' – Haru replied and a short while the farmers started to fall back. They weren't stupid enough to stay and get they suffered big losses, there were still about sixty of them defenders had only lost three guards and had Zarise injured, but with the disadvantage in numbers that meant I lot. The biggest problem was that oil didn't burn forever and the circle of fire surrounding the footmen started to fade away. Since only the two mages were attacking the militia, there were quite a lot of them left. The tables seemed to have turned.

The enemy forces regrouped and were moving in for the attack. The defenders had to make their last stand now. They formed a defensive circle around the two mages and were ready for the incoming attacking forces kept a distance between themselves, which made it problematic for the mages to blast a few enemies at best thing they could do was freeze some of the footmen to lower the number of enemies attacking at helped the defenders a lot. They fought almost one on one. The only person who was not in the circle was Haru. She could be seen appearing among the enemies, slicing or stabbing a few of them and vanishing again. It was something like nothing Zhora had ever seen or even he understood what Darthalia meant.

'Surprised, eh?' – the Forsaken mage asked. – 'So were we when we saw this. The girls can actually become invisible whenever she wants.'

'How is it different from a rogue's stealth skill?' – Zhora asked.

'While stealthed, a rogue can still be detected or sensed when he is close enough. Haru can stand right in front of you and you won't even know it! On the down side this costs a lot of energy and she can't stay like that while she attacks.'

Suddenly she became visible a few yards outside the circle. She was kneeling trying to catch her breath. No doubt she was exhausted. The humans saw the perfect chance to strike her down. She was too far away from any backup and would definitely have trouble resisting. One of the footmen rushed her head on and tried to pierce her with his sword. Although Haru barely managed to dodge this attack, a second attack came from a different direction by another soldier. The sword slashed her from the shoulder all the way down through her torso. Haru fell motionless to the ground.

As Zhora witnessed this, he ran out of the circle. Not again! He wowed this would not happen! His eyes were glowing like flames, his hands started burning. Then instantly a pillar of flame arose in the center of the enemy's forces burning a lot of the farmers almost to ashes. The next second huge flaming boulders started flying from Zhora's hands one after another hitting every enemy in sight.

'What the… flamestrike and pyroblast spells without any casting?' – the Forsaken mage thought. – 'This elf intrigues me…'

Killing so many enemies in one time gave the defenders a great opportunity to strike back. The circle formation was now broken and the residents of Tarren Mill charged in for the final strike. They tried to kill as many humans as they could to make sure they would never come back again. The farmers started to run for their lives back to their farm after seeing no sign of victory, while the remaining footmen stayed to fight till death. Zhora shot a few fire spells at the retreating farmers and suddenly collapsed. He had lost too much mana to remain of the remaining footmen were killed, but a few were taken prisoners under Darthalia's orders.

'It's never too late to kill them. First I want to find out who planned the attack.' – she explained. – 'And I think Zarise would like to know who killed her precious bats.'

The battle was now over. The armored orc picked up the heavily wounded Haru in one arm and the unconscious Zhora in the other and carried them into town.

'You two showed quite some spirit back there…' – he said to them, although he knew they didn't hear him.

He quickly took them to the house of the local apothecary who didn't participate in the battle.

'Lydon, anything you can do about her injuries with your potions?'

'Bring her here quickly, Krusk.' – he answered. Krusk put Haru on a bed. – 'Is the elf injured too?'

'No, I don't think so.'

'Good. Bring him to Wordeen Voidglare's house. Looks like the magus took some interest in the kid's abilities.'

'Will do, Lydon.' – the orc answered.