So we decided to stay. Leona led me around the Rakkor village. Pantheon and Uzug were taking care of tonight's meal. I couldn't wait to see what they were capable of. She led me to the blacksmith and the training fields where some people trained all day long, not entirely free of harm. After observing the last warriors leaving the fields, the skies started to turn dark blue so we went back to Pantheon's house. We were met by a great smell when we entered. After being subject of Uzug and Pantheon's strength combined we decided it was time to sleep. After a quiet night in the bruising town we decided it was time to move to Targon's summit where the Solari resided. I was quite sure of our mission since we had a member of the Solari with us. I wondered how they would receive us since Thrall mentioned that the Solari do not interact much with strangers. A clear path led us the way which made walking a lot easier. An hour or two after departing we reached an outpost where we met Shen, he had reported to the High Council already and they were awaiting our arrival. We reached an enormous building which was used to support the Solari Leona mentioned. It was made up of smaller buildings and a square-shaped patio. We followed the path in the patio as I looked to the three floor high buildings around it, each with a sun emblem above the door of the balcony. We came to a building at the other side of the patio which was guarded by two men. They stepped aside as they knew who were coming. We entered a room which seemed to be the core of the building; rich decorations on either side of the room were telling me some of the Solari's history. This place was filled of light and radiated a calm ambience all over the room the only thing that made me feel uncomfortable were the three men in the far end of the room behind a desk'. 'Uncomfortable is lightly expressed' I answered in my head to my own quote. The corridor seemed to be endless, slowly but surely we moved to the ''High Council''. The man in the middle stood up as the right one took a pen and a paper scroll. 'We heard you were sent by Thrall, for that you were allowed to enter our sacred city, he has earned his respect but you', he paused for a moment 'you are not worth our time, Thrall should have come himself, speak quickly, we have more matters to attend to', he sat down; his voice was heavy and inconsiderate. 'We were indeed sent by Thrall, he has sent me and my friend Uzug to request your aid to defend the Eversong woods against a human invasion, the humans of Stormwind to be specific. 'Your own people were unable to stop them?' he asked raising his brows. 'They aren't there, not yet, but we have decrypted a code message a group of scouts lost, telling us of it'. The right man wrote down what was said, the left and middle one whispered some. Finally they seemed to have an answer. The middle one stood up again and spoke: 'We cannot help you, we don't know if the humans will invade for sure, and we have our own troubles, now, off with you'. I did not know what happened in that hall but suddenly I seemed to have nothing more to live for. I walked away leaving the others behind, I hated this place. I sat down on a bench in the patio. I didn't pay attention to what was happening around me. It was until Leona put her arm around my shoulders that I came back to reality. 'I will help you', she whispered, 'and I am sure Pantheon will follow me'. 'It won't matter', I said 'we can't stop the humans with just four people, why do you care so much about my homeland anyway?' She seemed to search for the right words and said that she was planning to move to Eversong, together with Pantheon but he didn't know it yet. 'Please do not tell him, I want it to be a surprise'. I let out a smile; it was nice to hear that someone actually cared about Eversong. 'I also want to show my loyalty to Thrall; I have heard stories about him, I would be glad to help him'. 'What do we do now?' I asked. 'We can go north, to icy land of Freljord and ask for reinforcements of the barbarian tribes, I know their leaders well, and they will come to our help'. I felt renewed hope after hearing this and I was eager to leave, 'what are we waiting for then? Let's go', I let out. 'Relax', Leona calmed me down, 'we have to make preparations first, the journey is cold'. Pantheon and Uzug appeared, 'we couldn't change their minds', Uzug spoke. 'Nothing can', Leona answered, 'they are just selfish and will not help others, we will seek our salvation in the regions of Freljord. 'You mean..?' Pantheon started. 'Yes', was her answer. Pantheon gave a smile, 'smart choice'. We decided to go to Pantheon's house and prepare for our depart tomorrow. I followed the sun going from its highest point in the sky to the horizon as we were coming down the mountain, ultimately finding it emitting an orange glow over the world as we reached the small Rakkor village. On our way to Pantheon's house Uzug decided to make dinner for us together with Pantheon and requested us not to enter until they were finished. This was a nice opportunity for me to ask about the place we would be going. 'Well', she said, as she sat down the grass in front of the curtain-covered window of Pantheon's house, 'the place itself is an oasis in the snow, there's not so much to tell about it, but the people there are barbarians united by one king, who is really nice, and their queen is a really good friend of mine'. 'Seems great to have friends at high places', I said. 'It doesn't really matter', Leona answered, 'I have known their queen, Ashe, for a long time, even before she got that title, and it doesn't affect her, fortunately'. 'That reaction didn't quite cover up my question', I said. 'Some people think they are on top of the world when given power', Leona responded. I thought of the so called ''High Council''. 'Ashe isn't such a person, she remains loyal to a friend, which is something that actually matters about the place we will be going, the people', she finished. I agreed. I was suddenly pulled out of my own thoughts when I saw a wolf approaching. For some reason it calmed me down. Instead of awakening my senses to grab my bow I calmly let it come to us. Once it was closer I could see that this was no ordinary beast, instead, this one had a white, ghostly pelt and radiated a soft glow. Its body suddenly took on other forms, hands, arms and legs formed, the shape of an Orc appeared, an old Orc, 'Thrall!' I yelled. I had many things to tell him but as I gasped for air he calmed me down. 'I am aware of what happened here', he said in an easy voice, 'I am just as deceived as you are, I wouldn't have sent you if I weren't sure that they would help you'. Leona seemed quite surprised after seeing this little magic trick. 'And you, Leona, thank you'. 'I... How do you know my name?' was all she could bring out, clearly astonished. 'I know many things', was Thrall's answer. 'I will assist you from here to ensure that things like this will not happen again, but for now, go inside and take your rest for tomorrow a new task awaits, I believe your friends just finished, may the spirits watch over you'. Leona and I stood up and waved after the wolf disappearing in the distance. 'So this is the great shaman Thrall, I wonder what he is capable of, he is quite powerful according to the stories', Leona said. I told her we would know soon enough. Uzug opened the door and gestured us to come in. They had already prepared sheets next to Pantheon's bed for the night. The table was made up nicely and ready for us to join.
After my morning rituals and a good breakfast we were disturbed by a knocking on the door while packing. Pantheon stood eye to eye with Thrall when he opened. I had told Pantheon what had happened yesterday already and he let him in without hesitation. He only had to introduce himself to Pantheon and sat down on the bed. Thrall told us that the humans of Stormwind would be delayed due to a sudden storm in their harbour, 'actually it isn't so sudden' he said, 'I caused the storm myself', he laughed a bit, 'it drains a great deal of my power but their repairing and additional preparations should delay them long enough for us to get out defences ready'. He also told us that what I already knew but of which Pantheon and Uzug were unaware. For some reason they had not even asked either of us where we would be going, Freljord. 'The frost archer and the barbarian king will help us for sure', he said, finishing. 'Where have I heard that before', I thought. Leona, mind-reading as she was, reassured me once again. We continued packing as Thrall gave some more information to Pantheon and Leona. Once we were finished, we immediately left, not wanting to waste a minute. We had told no one what we were going to do and where we would go, so the inhabitants of the Rakkor village seemed quite surprised when one of their strongest warriors ran off with three complete strangers. Thrall led the way, we would have to rely on his sense of direction, I didn't doubt a second about that after he had even found us at the other side of the wastelands. Hours went by, and at some point the temperature had dropped to a point at which we put some extra clothes on. Leona, however, seemed unaffected by the cold. Thrall, in his wolf form had a thick layer of fur keeping him warm, but for Leona I could not say what was going on, it probably had to do with her commitment to the Solari. We let the grasslands behind us and entered the first snow plains heralding the border of Freljord. Ice, Ice and yet more ice was the only thing we could see. 'We will have to enter that mountain pass', Leona said, she pointed her sword to two mountains, which both closed a razor-edge in the distance. I didn't quite fancy this place, not at all, it was cold and darkness was falling in, blurring our sight. I accelerated my steps and whispered to Thrall who was walking a few yards in front of us: 'do you know a place where we can spend the night?', 'not yet', he answered. He took on the farm of a hawk in the blink of an eye 'I soon will', he said, and flew away. 'What is he going to do?' Uzug asked me. 'Find us some shelter', I replied, 'I'm getting tired'. Pantheon, not so known in the ways of magic, watched him fly away with his mouth open. All he could say was, well, not a word was heard from him. We followed the direction in Thrall went off and he soon returned. He landed in front of us and said that he had found a cave not too far away from here as he shifted back into a wolf. My vision on the mountain pass became really unclear now due to the sun setting and an upcoming mist. 'Well, where is that cave?' I asked Thrall, not seeing any possibility for a cave on this glacier. 'Right here, young one', he answered, and suddenly disappeared. I took a few steps to the place he had gone and found out there was a hole in the ground in which he must have descended. I followed him. This place was an underground hollow, filled with unnatural warmth. It seemed to be formerly occupied by some animal; there was a layer of twigs in the one side of the room. I took my extra clothes off, since it was warm enough here. I asked Leona how one could or would make one's home here. 'You see', she started, 'The people I told you about make their home in a valley, sheltered from the cold. I yet had to see that, it seemed quite unrealistic that there would be places here sheltered from these harsh colds. 'Enough talking already', Uzug's voice echoed in the cavern 'let's eat!' 'Agreed!' Pantheon insisted. After finishing our last reserves it was completely black outside. The temperature inside the cave seemed to stay at the same level. Leona's magic was now clearly visible; she put the cavern in an enchanting, bright light. 'We must reach Ashe and Tryndamere tomorrow', Pantheon said. 'Of course, we have no food left', I thought chuckling. 'We will', I answered. The thing that I could not have known by then was that that tomorrow would be covered in a raging blizzard. We proceeded to the mountain pass, slowly, but steadily. The pass neared. And after what seemed to be ages, the blizzard calmed down as well. We could see clearly now. The sudden tranquillity was just as suddenly disturbed as it had come. Yelling was heard from behind. 'Humans!' I exclaimed. 'Stormwind humans', Uzug added. Uzug was right; they carried the Stormwind emblem on their shields. 'And it seems they are in for a fight', Pantheon finished. 'It's about time', Uzug said 'I haven't had a good fight in months'. I usually hate resorting to violence but I was surrounded by it this time and there was no escape. We were outnumbered by a dozen to five but the presence of Thrall seemed to stimulate all of us. I grabbed my bow, pulled the string and fired a shot, miss. The second arrow had more success; one of the Humans grabbed at his chest and fell to the ground. Leona responded to this by raising her sword to the sky. Seconds later a beam of light descended upon the group of Humans, leaving them disorientated. Uzug and Pantheon rushed in dealing massive blows with spear and mace. Thrall shifted to his human form; now appearing with a giant mace instead of his great staff, he threw this into the blinded group of Humans, striking one down. Thrall called forth an earthquake, rooting the Humans in place; it didn't seem to affect Uzug and Pantheon though. The strange thing is that whenever I felt my arrows come to close near either of them they seemed to change directions. After a short but crushing fight, the Humans, of which only two survived routed. 'Let them!' I yelled to Uzug and Pantheon, they were already chasing them down. They quit the chase disappointedly. 'That will keep them from ambushing us again. This had been my first encounter with the Humans of Stormwind which ended in conflict. I don't like the Humans that much; they had oppressed the Elves for centuries and treated them like dirt, so we joined the Orcs who were sworn enemies of them. Thrall told me that he had once fought alongside the Humans against the Demons of Outland, a common enemy, but after their victory, and the disappearing of the Burning Legion of Demons the Humans lost their trust in a bond. They started attacking Orc villages in a quest for power. Thrall was the one that rallied the clans and led the defence, with success. He founded their Capital City of Orgrimmar. And now he was with us, fighting the Humans of Stormwind once again.
