Chapter Three: Stormreaver Trouble
Before Zufli could react Kavu'fon burst in, staff in hand and stuffing objects into the pockets of his robes as he did. "Come on, we got ta go!" he whispered urgently. "I stalled dem, but it won' stop dem fo' long." She jumped out of her cot wearing only her night clothes but barely noticing as it was never cold on the Echo Isles, even at night. Kavu'fon led the way out a window at the back of the small Hut. She heard a strange clink when the old Witch Doctor made the short jump, but didn't want to ask in fear of giving away their position. They made a break for the trees as the clamor behind them started to quiet. They didn't go far into the trees, but instead turned sharply and moved along the edge of the clearing, away from the water. Zufli saw the logic in this, the attacking things would think they had run deeper into the woods.
And it was then, just after observing the logic of her mentor, that she learned she was not the only thing that could creep in the night. With a mumbled, "E'chuta," from Kavu'fon, she felt a sudden draw of mana to her right next and, moving like a striking snake, he grabbed her and pulled them both behind a tree. A bolt of blue lightning lit up a few feet of the forest but she didn't feel anything and Kavu'fon did not clench in pain, so the magic seemed to have missed. She lost track of what was happening for a second because she was unceremoniously dumped as soon as she was out of the line of fire. Zufli righted herself just in time to see a large green form fall over, eyes and mouth smoking from the magic that had just passed through it's head. She looked around, but nothing moved close by so she hoped the skirmish was over. Cautiously she whispered, "Kavu'fon? Are you t'ere?"
"Yes, I' here. I t'ink dat was de only one, come on" He answered. He summoned three more wards, one she recognized as a stun ward and two that looked like they were half pole and half serpent. The stun ward faded into invisibility while at the same time Kavu'fon drew up mana again, producing a large spike-shelled and eerily familiar turtle. Zufli noticed it was much scarier up close, both because of its size and the razor sharp forest of blades on its back. Looking diminished Kavu'fon pulled a slightly luminescent blue potion from his robes, then took one long swig that drained it before moving on. Dat explains de noise when he jumped out de window, and how he was able ta summon so much stuff twice in a row, she thought to herself before following.
The fight had been very close to the Hut and its magical nature would have set it off like a beacon to the attacking Warlocks (that was all they could be if they knew such powerful magic), so they sprinted to put distance between them and the site. Zufli could soon hear the old hermit wheezing and wondered if it was loud enough to give them away. They reached the edge of the clearing again and they both peered out, trying to see what was happening. There position was close to the cove, about fifty yards from the Hut with the opposite side of the field fairly close because the clearing narrowed here. Having been out playing at night just as much as in the day and being of a race well suited to nocturnal activity Zufli had good night vision, so she saw the figures heading towards the disturbance they had made, and she saw a prone and presumably dead form where Kavu'fon's first summons had fought.
Then she heard the aged troll say, "Dey be about ta find de turtle. We gonna run over to de o'der side o' de clearing when dey do. Wait fo' it, d'ough." They sat for a few seconds and she heard, "Now!" They both took off across the open stretch, hearing the whoosh of the stun ward going off clearly because there were no trees to deaden the noise. Soon other sounds were heard, most notably the screaming of Warlocks, the crackling of lightning and the bellowing of a giant reptile. The two trolls made it to the safety of the trees again just as the second battle was drawing to a close. They moved back near the Hut, which Zufli had mixed feelings about due to their extreme closeness to the attackers. They got so close that they were able to hear the Warlocks talking in a grunting dialect of Common that was difficult to understand, with an occasional orcish or troll swear thrown in. Zufli wondered for a moment where the brute had learned any troll.
"Stop running into traps, you Fel damned idiots! Spread out and find him or I'll have your tusks for earrings! A simple cursed sneak attack on an old hermit, and five of you dead, you simpletons. (There was an incomprehensible sound then that probably was an orcish curse) The boss is gonna be so pi... wait, five? E'chuta! Form up! Get back here, you sons of reptiles, stick together from now on! Don't you understand he is getting the better of us because we keep splitting up? Well, I guess you probably don't, you think skulled..."
The voice continued, but Zufli was having trouble understanding the heavy accent so she tuned it out. Four large figures emerged from the tree line on the other side of the clearing. They quickly came together around the largest middle form and made their way toward the Hut. As they got closer Zufli could hear the leader muttering something about his subordinates' mothers' mating preferences. Then the brute raised his voice even louder and it seemed he was intentionaly throwing his voice out to the woods.
"Well, I guess our work here is done, boys. We chased off the COWARD that lived here, but I think the boss will be happy if I get some practice in while we're out! This Hut looks like a good target, what do you guys think?"
He started to draw up his mana and made a gesture. Zufli Watched in horror, but Kavu'fon had apparently decided to act and dropped a stun ward right in the middle of the Warlocks. It did not go off immediately, as it was supposed to be used for traps and had a delay, so Kavu'fon hexed the leader into a small crab. The energy that the orc had still been channeling dissipated harmlessly over the Hut. Zufli sensed the magical retaliation and dove farther back into the jungle, and she saw the aged Witch Doctor follow. He summoned something from the safety of the trees, then downed another blue potion and ran out into the battle. Zufli went as far as the tree line to see what was happening, and saw the three lesser orc magic-users and one summoned crab fighting hard against a serpent ward, a murloc, an old Witch Doctor. Through the fighting she saw the small crab, ignored by Kav'ufon because of the more threatening targets, trying to pinch the stun ward to destroy it before it went off. She saw the summoned murloc nearly cleave the head off one of the enemies before being struck by an intense bolt of lightning that killed it in one hit. Not knowing exactly what to do to help, she drew up some of the "normal" mana and threw it, completely formlessly, at the green-skin that had just finished off the murloc. It struck him in the chest and he flinched, then fell to the ground and rose again seconds later, continuing his volley of magic. Another sentry ward popped into existence and distracted the surviving Warlocks while Kavu'fon moved in and attacked the crab that was gnawing at the base of the still inactive stun ward.
Just as as the leader returned to his normal form with a dramatic crackle of electricity, the stun ward went off. The recently hexed brute and the larger of the two other green-skins were caught in the pulse of magic, falling on the spot, but the smallest was just out of range. While Kavu'fon and the two wards finished off the stunned enemies, the smallest enemy ducked out of range and ran for the closest trees. That just happened to be directly at Zufli.
Not panicking, because she had a sudden confidence that she could pull it off, she drew up her mana, concentrated on the approaching Warlock, and turned him into a lizard. The drain was much more than she expected, probably because that was the largest creature she had ever hexed, but the result was satisfactory. Moving out of the trees, she looked over at Kavu'fon and saw he had finished with the leader and the wards had killed their victim as well. The old Troll came over to the young one and saw what she had managed to do, standing on the lizard's tail so it could not escape.
"Zufli, dis be impressive. I' surprised dat he not back ta normal yet."
She grimaced at what she was about to say and then let it spill. "Actually, Kav'fon, I used, um, de ot'er type o' mana. I' sorry, but I' been practicin' and I found dat it be workin' better dat way."
He looked critically at her for a second, then said, "Zufli, it' fine, I don' care that ya used yo' unique type o' magic. Dis is not practice, in a life o' deat' situation ya do what ya need ta do ta stay alive."
The lizard jerked once, then quickly grew back into the shape of a bent green-skin. As soon as the orc's head was where it should be a three-fingered fist collided with it. He went down swearing incomprehensibly and Kavu'fon followed. When he was right in the face of the injured enemy he said, "Don' go doin' anyt'in' stupid. I' can' make no promises, but it will be easier for ya if ya tell me what I want. Now, how did ya find my Hut?"
It took a second for the green-skin to answer, and when he did it was thick, indicating a bloody nose at the least and a stupid orc at the most. Zufli wondered immediately if their leader's previous remarks had been more serious than they had seemed at the time. "The Boss felt your magic when you summoned that turtle to scout our camp. We followed your tracks and ran into trouble, as you probably know because you summoned the wards. When we found the tracks led to the shore we thought maybe it had been the murlocs, but the Boss ordered patrols near that area just in case. Then the first patrol came back and said they felt summoning magic and Galkot led this war party to investigate." He finished and Kavu'fon was silent for a few seconds. Zufli knew him well enough to know that it meant he was thinking, so she did not interrupt.
"What was dat spell yo' leader, Galkot, was about ta use on my Hut?"
"No clue, that was something the Boss taught him from the book the Boss is always reading. It's about magic, and he learned stuff from it that made him powerful." He shot a glance at kavu'fon, then said, "I don't know where the Fel you come from, but around here tusk-mouths aren't very good at magic. Boss learned everything he knew from the book and it was enough to put him solidly at the top of our band of Warlocks. He taught some of the stronger ones this really powerful lightning stuff, and the spell Galkot was about to use was a special thing the Boss had taught him personally. Then Boss sent the war party here, led by him."
"Ya said 'war party.' How many are left at yo' camp?" he asked finally. The green-skin hesitated then, looking torn about giving up information that might lead to an attack on his camp, but he was smacked upside the head. "Do ya want ta find out what happens to yo' normal body if I turn ya into a lizard, cut of ya tail and let ya transform back? I' give ya a hint, it doesn' just heal over. Now answer de question."
"Uh, there about te... no, um, thirty. There are about thirty of-"
Kavu'fon smacked the orc across the face with the end of his staff. "Yo' camp won' hold thirty orcs, ya idiot! Now tell me de truth!" He emphasized his point by casting something at the green-skin's legs. The spell didn't seem to have any immediate affect, so Zufli assumed it was just for bodily damage.
"AHH! That hurt you... Just... E'chuta," it took a moment for the minor warlock to be able to answer without swearing. "It's just the Boss, a bodyguard and the boss's kid. That's it, I swear! They sent everybody else in a big group so that they would be more protected, but that idiot Galkot had us split up and try to surround the Hut of yours."
"Kid? D'ere be a child in yo' camp?"
The green-skin glanced at Zufli, in her night clothes that she had made to cover very little to combat the stiflingly humid nights while she was alone in her room, and made a very inaccurate assumption. "Oh, you're like that, huh? Well, uh, yeah, he's the Boss's pro-dig-aye, or something. Happened when he got feisty with a she-troll a few years ago after a raid. I'd hate to be that kid, Boss drills him like there's no tomorrow on that book and when he makes a mistake, or sometimes just when he's mad, Boss beats him to a pulp."
Zufli saw the orc take another glance at her and her blood boiled. Reaching down, she found a rock twice as big as her fist and threw it from close range at the male's groin. "Look at me again, ya pervert, and I' do worse dan dat." He fell to the ground and she spat on him, then said, "And I hope ya feel ashamed dat ya were beat by a four year old girl." Then she turned to Kavu'fon and saw a surprised, but not angry, look on his face.
He went on as if nothing had happened. "Wait, troll? What ya talkin' about, de child is trollkind?"
"Oh, you haven't picked up on that yet? What do you think I meant by 'tusk-mouth?' Boss is a troll, stupid. He's not blue like you though, he's green."
Kavu'fon sent Zufli to the Hut then, and she left grudgingly. She had quickly grown to hate the orc and half wanted to have to see it happen. Or maybe do it herself.