DISCLAIMER: This entire story is Copywrite. MINE. Got it? World of Warcraft, however, is NOT. Most characters are my own, except characters like Thrall and such. The world, too, belongs to Blizzard.

Don't forget to sit back from the screen and keep the room well lit while you read!

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Chapter 5: Beyond the Boat

I woke up slowly, hearing the wind in the trees. I let out a content sigh, because for the immediate instant when I regained my consciousness I forgot the situation I was in. That's how waking up is. Either you're mad because you just got interrupted from a great dream, or your happy because for a moment you take the world at face value. I opened my eyes and flicked a bit of hair out of my face habitually. I pushed myself up, peering a few feet away from me towards the closest sound. Kujajin lay asleep restfully beside me, breathing steadily. I watched him for a moment of inquiry, remembering the night before when we had fallen asleep mid conversation. I stood up, careful not to wake him. I flipped around the tree, with my back against it and opposite the side where Kujajin slept. I tied my gear over again to make sure it was all still on properly, and began thinking over and over about that dark storm, and how it reminded me of that horrible night so many years ago with Hejan. I guess I still hadn't got that out of my head, and touched my temple lightly as I shook myself gently.

"Come on," His voice broke my trance.

"Huh?" I looked up at him, standing over me as I finished clicking my boots to my shin protectors, adjusting his quiver.

"We still have a while to go, Nasrina." He said with a nod, looking at me through the corners of his eyes as he faced the road before us that had appeared from the fog.

"R-right." I agreed, standing up beside him.

In a matter of hours, we came upon the shoreline. We rushed through a creepy bony mouth towards the ocean, through a small cave and found ourselves in Booty Bay. At last. It was a beautiful place, covered in movement. I felt safer here than I did in the rest of Strangethorn, due to the potential to be ambushed at any second. It was sheer luck that we made it here without trouble, and for once it felt like my luck was changing.

We hurried down the docks, picking up the few supplies that we had lost in the storm first. It felt so stupid to be buying goods that Kujajin just purchased the day before, but it had to be done. We thanked the merchant and searched for both the boat to Ratchet and for Alpine and Votheilia. We reached the end of the dock and spotted the boat getting ready to leave. The captain was standing on the docks, conversing with some other goblins. We approached him hurriedly.

"Captain, sir." Kujajin addressed him formally.

"What can I do you for, friends?" He turned to us with a goblin grin.

"When does the next boat leave?" Kujajin asked, rather desperately.

"Sorry mate," He shrugged sympathetically, as if knowing the problem, "next boat comes by in a long few hours, and this one leaves in just a minute." He explained.

"A minute," Kujajin repeated, his voice drifting aimlessly.

"I gotta go kid;" he turned, "board if ya like." He gave us a wave before getting on the boat.

"We have to wait for Alpine," I reminded him sternly.

"We can't wait that long; we'll lose too much time." He said calmly, "We have to get to Orgrimmar before the next set of troops leave, that could be tomorrow."

"Well what do we do, then?" I asked loudly. I didn't want to leave anyone behind, because that wasn't me at all. But then again, they might not find us for a long time, and the Stormwind invasion is imminent, like Kujajin suggested.

"Look," someone shouted in Common, and Kujajin and I both perked up, "it's one of them!" I snapped my head towards the origin of the sound to see a group of Humans pointing at Kujajin, "He's yelling at that Human, and the Horde attacked Ironforge, we've got to stop them!"

"Wait!" I stood in front of him, "Booty Bay is neutral, and he's with me."

The Humans stopped and looked at me funny. They looked angry and confused. But before they could say any more, there was a sharp pain in my shoulder. I cringed and fell backwards, but before I smacked into the hard wood of the docks, I felt a pair of arms catch me. Of course, he always had to be the hero. I glanced up at Kujajin with a look of gratitude before looking over at where the arrow came from.

"Eh mon," a Troll called from a dock above the Humans, "They're workin' together," he seemed to say to a group behind him, "Kill 'em both!"

"Yeah," the Humans raised their weapons and began charging. Somehow, they were listening to the opposing faction in order to launch some kind of attack on a member of their own. Not too bright, these guys were. I heard from behind me the boat groan as it moved away from the dock.

"..." I let out a groan of pain and tried to move.

Kujajin lifted me off the ground as well as he could and bolted backwards, jumping off the dock and barely catching the boat as it passed. He looked back at the crowd of Humans who were just out of range. They shouted curses before they began attacking the Trolls, and the Trolls back at them. We had landed smoothly on the deck of the boat. Kujajin knelt down and placed my legs on the ground, still holding my back for support. Typical, not even bothering to ask if it was all right, just picking me up whenever he feels like it, just like when we first met. Not that I was too angry, though.

"Are you okay?" He asked, staring me worriedly. It was funny, to see him so flustered and troubled.

"It's not that bad," I groaned a response, yanking the arrow out of my arm, "It didn't get that deep."

I looked down at the arrow in my hand, feeling the trickles of blood on my fingertips. It was sticky and sickly, but not at all something I was unfamiliar with. It was just strange to feel the warmth of my own blood once in a while, you know. I shook off the feeling of impending disaster, like usual, and tossed the arrow a few yards away. I still felt the entirety of the wound tract, for it had pierced right into a soft spot in my armour.

"Just in case, let's get you into some bandages." He stated, picking me up once more, for he never did fully release me.

"Hey" I yapped, and grew angry again, "I can walk, you know!"

"S-Sure, sorry," He stuttered in his embarrassing mistake.

I wriggled out of his grasp and though my arm hurt to not be coddled, I walked as though nothing was wrong. I never told anyone when I was in pain. We made our way into the boat and found an empty room. I sat down carefully on the cot and Kujajin sat next to me, again asking if I was all right. He reached into one of his bags and pulled out a bandage and some kind of elixir, and begun to get ready to apply it. I still wasn't too into the idea, to be honest.

"You don't have to—" I urged him, but was silenced his waving hand.

"I want to." He flashed me his sly smile before returning to his work. I blushed but narrowed my eyes and pursed my lips defiantly.

I wouldn't look at him while he did it, I didn't want to look glad for his help. I was, though. My bandage was applied slowly and carefully, and I was thankful that I didn't have to attempt to put the thing on with one arm anyway. It didn't bother me too much, the dull throbbing I mean. I was used to think kind of thing. It's part of being a tough tank. I sighed and relaxed in my bed. He was still sitting beside me, closing the bottle of what he told me was some kind of potion his sister gave him.

"You stay here and rest; I'll go find some food, okay?" He told me as he got up with a groan of his own.

"Whatever." I frowned stubbornly. Sometimes I just act rather irritable, for no real reason to be honest. Well, maybe I was a little embarrassed.

"I'll be right back," He said as he stalled for a moment, then looked down at me and stared. I flushed and gave him a really mad and curious look. He must have found it amusing, for bent down and kissed my hand softly. I flinched and turned bright red.

"What was that about?" I asked, sitting up and growling, ignoring the stabs of pain from the quick jolt to my arm.

"Courtesy," he turned on a dime and walked towards the door easily.

"W-well," I thought of the right things to say, "Cut it out, got it? I don't like to be touched."

"You're just upset because you liked it." He smirked as he looked back at me.

"No I did not," I defended, almost hitting the bed with the fist of my wounded arm to show my affirmation.

"It doesn't matter anyway," He sighed, leaving the room.

I stared at the doorway, with angry eyes. I didn't feel too mad, though. I felt more, I don't know, lonely. I don't know why. I'd been alone much longer, and yet, only now I was feeling so secluded. I waited for a few minutes before he came back. He returned to the room quietly, bringing with him some baked goods. I thanked him silently and ate quickly. He sat on his bed and ate leisurely, because I suppose we had a long way to go. My wound already felt better, it was healing up nicely. I heal quickly. Plus, whatever was in his sister's herbal remedy elixir did wonders.

"How long is this boat ride?" I asked suddenly.

"The captain said it would take a long few hours to get back to Booty Bay for the next ride," he reminded me, "so probably just a couple hours, we should be arriving soon."

I groaned and lay back down on the cot. I didn't like spending hours just sitting around. It wasn't my kind of thing; I would rather be out training myself or something cliché like that. I folded my arms behind my head and swung one leg over the other, bouncing it up and down impatiently. I just then noticed that my shoulder could move in such a way, and supposed that it was doing well. Magic is a crazy thing, it really is.

"So what do we do, then?" I asked in a bored tone, staring at the ceiling with drooping eyes.

"I can think of one thing we can do," He trailed off.

"…?" My mind wandered around about what he meant by that, causing heat to rise back to my face. I bit my lip lightly as to not start yelling at him.

"Perhaps we can plan our route to Orgrimmar, and maybe what we're going to do once we get there." He suggested, taking a map out of his bag.

"Y-yeah, I was thinking that too." I lied, rolling off my bed and walking over to him, sitting close beside.

"Okay, so we're on a boat, and somewhere in this basic part of the ocean." He pointed to the bottom of the map, "and we're going to land here," he pointed to an area near Ratchet.

"Right. So should we just cut through the Barrens to Durotar or what?" I asked, looking up from the paper.

"That could save some time, yes, and that way we don't have to go through the crossroads. Though the real problem is here," he gestured to a spot near the edge of Durotar and the Barrens, "The Far Watch Post, it's guarded by Horde guards to stop any Alliance from entering Durotar. If we just swim across the river we could attract unwanted attention from the crokolisks or wanderers, so we're going to have to find a way across the bridge."

"I could stealth, but that's no guarantee," I scratched my head, I didn't know the area very well anyway, so I relied on Kujajin for that.

"If I distract them, that might work." He smirked, some kind of idea forming.

"What do you mean?" I asked, having an idea of what he might propose, of course.

"You stealth until I give you a signal,"He started, "then, without breaking stealth, sprint over the bridge while I have them occupied." He told me, "Sound good?"

"Okay, I'm pickin' up what you're layin' down," I joked and nodded, letting my eyes wander around the map for a few seconds, "wow." I traced places across the map.

"What?" He asked me, as if perhaps I had discovered something important. I hadn't not really.

"I'm just looking at how far we've gone the last few days," I muttered, scanning the Eastern continent, through twists and turns of journeys.

"Ah, I know," He seemed to agree with me.

I looked up at him slowly, staring into his glowing green eyes as he wound the path I'd already examined. He looked so very approachable right now, just me and him on this boat, in this room, alone. He raised his head and stared back at me. Our eyes lock for a moment. It was startling, how different a person's eyes can feel from when they're looking at something else and when they're looking at you. Especially when they look in your eyes. It's almost intimate, I'd venture. I quickly averted my gaze and stood up.

"I-I… um, I'm going to go outside for a minute," I quickly, yet quite clumsily, exited the room.

I rushed up the stairs to the top of the boat and quickly hurried to the side. I grabbed it roughly and lurched to a stop, breathing somewhat heavily for such a short rush. I sighed and stared over the side, calming down. The water was glistening in the sun, like it always did when you really didn't want to see anything pretty. The World always glistened in the sun when you were with men. I gripped the side of the boat and groaned in frustration. I hoped that this feeling wasn't what I thought it was. What is this Blood Elf to me, anyway? I couldn't answer. Maybe I was just making too big of a deal out of this, I tended to do that. Over exaggerate things.

After relieving some Rage I grumbled softly, letting my arms fall onto the top of the railing. That was one was to make yourself feel better, squeeze the hell out of something that wont budge. It kind of makes you madder, then you feel a little better because you're tired and can accept it. I laid my head on my arms again and let out a deep breath. Beneath the low grumble that escaped me in my hour of desolation, I heard footsteps approach me and a sigh as someone leaned on the railing beside me. I looked up slightly over my cheeks and saw Kujajin standing there, looking out over the sea. I swallowed the lump in my throat quickly.

"You okay? You left in kind of a hurry." He spoke like the seagulls and the misty waves.

"Fine." I almost snapped at him, though instantly afterwords I felt a pang of guilt.

I frowned. What I really wanted to say was "I'm sorry," or "I don't mean it when I bark at you," or something. Because really I didn't mean it, it just happened. I act weird for no real reason sometimes. I'm crazy, I swear it I am. I gently and subtly leaned against him, silently asking his forgiveness. He slipped his arm over my shoulders and gave me a smile. I shuttered with nervousness and bolted backwards in spite of myself. He stared at me with a confused look. Man, I was really all over the place.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're sending me mixed signals here," He trailed off slowly, watching my reaction.

"I-" I couldn't really think of something good to say, "well, you see… Uh, Um, I…" my thoughts contradicted each other, and I finally just let them go, "Can we just try focusing on the quest for now?"

"Well, sure I suppose." He seemed kind of sorrowful as we went back downstairs to finish mapping our route, and though it bothered me to see him like that, I made no notion to ask forgiveness. I was far more awkward than he took into account. It's hard for some people to understand others, I mean, I don't think he'd ever be able to understand that after being so betrayed, it's hard to trust anyone again. As cliché as it sounds.

After another short while longer, I heard the sound of voices shouting. They were talking about pulling something in. I assumed that they were talking about pulling the boat into the harbour, but it could have been about fish. Had this been a fishing boat, that is. Which I knew it wasn't, so obviously we were there. That, and the rumbling of the close ocean floor was enough to tell anyone we were there.

In silence I packed my stuff, which I hadn't unpacked very much at all, so it was a quick job. It didn't take long until we felt the ship stop moving entirely, and that was the signal to get off. We left the room after remaking the beds, my idea, and exited the ship onto the bright docks of Ratchet. Goblins roamed around trading, selling, and chatting. Whatever they usually do. I didn't see any Alliance or Horde; strangely enough. It's just as well, I mean, either way someone probably would have tried to attack us. That always seemed to happen to me. I has very unlucky that way, I had a reputation for pissing people off and starting fights.

We travelled West towards the Barrens, the way we had plotted we would. We didn't want to lose any more time getting lost or backtracking. We've done enough of that. I noticed the scenery, as we left the limits of the port. There were hyenas, raptors and zhevras roaming around, and the dirt was a deep beige colour with tall, wavy trees and patches of brown-green grass. I stopped and looked around. It was some kind of safari, with tall mountains spread all around. I suppose I hadn't been to Kalimdor much lately, because a lot of this wasn't too familiar.

"Which way do we go?" I asked, looking back at him, for I had taken the lead unintentionally.

"North, we'll hit the Far Watch Post pretty quickly." He informed me, nodding in the direction that his compass guided him. I, myself, didn't carry around such a tool. I preferred figuring it out for myself. And, to be honest, I always broke them anyway.

"Kay." I muttered as I turned my footprints Northbound.

Just as he said, it didn't take long to reach the Far Watch Post. I really should start listening to him. But then again, I'm too proud to listen to someone else's word. It was this massive bridge structure littered with Horde, all talking amongst themselves as factions do. Becoming so focused on their own people they don't give a second idea to the others. I stiffened in anticipation, regardless. He grabbed my hand and scurried behind a tree. He squatted and pulled me down with him.

"Okay," he whispered, "I'll go over to them, and start talking, okay? In about ten, fifteen seconds, you sneak behind them and bolt over the bridge. Got it?"

"Got it." I repeated, nodding surely. I knew I could do this, piece of cake.

He exhaled slowly, probably calming himself, and then stood abruptly. He walked slowly out from behind the tree whistling nonchalantly as if he was goofing around, then bolted towards the guards. He waved his arms frantically, getting their attention, and screamed loudly. I frowned, was this his brilliant plan? It was rather poorly thought through. He stopped to catch his breath in front of them and talked slowly.

"Help-help," He coughed, "The Alliance," He started, and a nice touch, turning them against us, "They're retaliating! They're attacking at Ratchet, and are going for The Crossroads fast," He said convincingly as the guards started commanding each other.

I went stealth and crept behind the guards, who had all now rushed over to Kujajin to help him. He pointed at down the path away from me hurriedly and begged for help. I grinned and booked it past them as quickly as I could, sprinting. It was a short bridge, so I made it over no problem. I looked back hesitantly, sighing in relief when I saw no one even noticed. I slowed and then stopped gradually after I got into Durotar, and rested behind a large rock, glaring at a boar menacingly. It just snorted and walked away. I had successfully avoided suspicion.

I slid my back down the rock as I sat, taking a short breather to let my adrenalin dissipate. I waited for a few minutes before I saw Kujajin stroll over the bridge, whistling nonchalantly again, as if it was a calling card, clasping his hands behind his back innocently. I glanced at the other side of the bridge and saw that most of the guards were gone, and some were running around crazily. I smirked. They were rather disorganized. Perhaps Thrall had all of his good men working on this operation.

"We should leave before they find us out." He said as he approached me, reaching to take me by the arm.

"Agreed." I nodded, but dodged his advance and moved of my own will.

He put his hands in his pockets defiantly and followed somewhat slower. Not that I was really paying attention, I was too interested with looking around this place I hadn't really been to before. The landscape was vast and deserted. I don't recall seeing many humanoids, either. Just boars and raptors and the like. It was nearing dusk, and we decided to stake out camp just beyond the walls, until we had an idea of what was going on in the city at the time. I sat down a little ways away from the city and out of sight, leaning against a rock. Kujajin remained standing, and after a short moment of silence he turned and began leaving.

"I'm going to the city; I'll get some food and ask around a little bit. I'll check the situation in there, and see when is a good opportunity to sneak in," He told me as he waved over his shoulder. He seemed eager to leave, and I didn't try to stop him

"Do what you want, Elfboy." I replied callously as usual, sighing and trying to relax.

I stared up at the creepy reddish sky swirling around ominously above me and felt uneasy. This place was so foreign to me. I didn't like being here, especially alone. I shut my eyes and tried to calm myself, tried to convince myself I wasn't actually here, and leaning against the thin wall of the capital of the faction that wants to rip me to shreds. While keeping on my guard, I remained still and silent, waiting for Kujajin to return. Damn he was taking a long goddamn time. He really was. And for me, whenever I'm either in a moving vehicle, or waiting for a very long time, I get real drowsy. I mean really drowsy. Almost a kind of dizzy drowsy, like, I cant hold my head up or keep my eyes open unless I'm doing something like talking to someone or sharpening my sword or daggers. I don't know, I hate the feeling, trying to deprive yourself of feeling fully relaxed as to sleep. I wasn't good at it, either. I tried to fight the urge to sleep, and kept trying to snap my eyes open, but my brain wouldn't work any more, and I fell asleep. A deep sleep, and a long one.

I felt the smooth metal graze my throat and instantly became aware of a presence. Though I tried to remain clam, I could help but panic in my head. As soon as my heart beat an instant faster, my wrists became tight and the harsh, ragged metal tickled my chin with a most grotesque delight. My eyes slid open to meet his. There was a strange pressure on my lower stomach, were I assumed he was straddling. He grinned with the knife held between his teeth, dangling threateningly loosely.

"You should be more careful, I could have killed you then and there." He said with a cocked eyebrow and arrogant smirk.

"…" I grunted, recognizing the dagger as my own, a bead of sweat trickling menacingly down my temple.

My heart pounded against my chest nervously, still calming down. I felt his hands grope my wrists tighter and slide smoothly up until two of his fingers grazed my palms, so his grip was gentle but firm. He moved my arms further up and let the knife slide from his lips to the ground next to my neck. I nearly died at that moment, with or without the knife actually hitting me. I swallowed hard. He leaned back and laugh a light laugh. I groaned angrily and knocked him off of me and pinned him to the rock with the sheer force of my being.

"Cut that kind of stuff out," I narrowed my eyes, "this is serious."

"I know," he nodded with a gracious smile, still holding back laughs.

I rolled off of him and glanced back up the sky, as to estimate the time. I hadn't been out long, but much longer than I intended. He remained still, so still I hardly heard him breathe. It was no wonder he could creep up on me, but still I felt stupid for allowing it. I was being very irrational, letting myself become so totally vulnerable like that. But then again, maybe it was a sign I wasn't so totally afraid of people any more. I don't know. I was about to ask him if he had found out anything about the plans in Orgrimmar, when he spoke up.

"I heard there's a meeting in the Valley of Wisdom, with Thrall and a few of his major army heads." He stated, cutting me short.

"When?" I hurriedly recovered and responded.

"They said it was tomorrow morning, one hour after sunrise." He looked over at me, "I heard it from a guard, who thought I was an invited guest for such a purpose."

"That soon?" I said, a little alerted. I was sure we'd have time to plan an assault or something, but one night was hardly enough.

"Yeah," He spoke a little softer, he must have calculated more as well.

"I guess that means we're going to have to plan right now," I bolted up and began drawing in the dirt with a stick by my foot. I wouldn't let either of us be discouraged, not now that we've come this far.

"Hmm?" He actually stood up, just to talk over and sit beside me. Guys like him never crawl, I suppose. They walk, even when it's faster to crawl, "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, we can't just waltz in and say 'oh hey guys, we're here to stop your meticulously planned invasion, so we're just going to ask nicely since there's about two thousand of them and only the pair of us'," I said in a sarcastic voice, which rapidly raised into an irritated snarl as I waved the twig around dangerously.

"Well we could, it'd only a thousand for each of us, but it wouldn't work very well," He shrugged, "I'd end up having to rescue you again," I twitched at that remark, "Like we originally planned, we need to find two people close to Thrall, ambush them, and take their identities."

"That sounds good." I handed him the stick roughly, "Draw a basic map of Orgrimmar, if you can."

"Of course I can," he grinned, ignoring my frustration, and drawing in the sand. "Here, there's a vantage point on this rooftop, just outside the Drag near the southern entrance," he drew, "we can wait there until we find one attendee alone, get him, and then wait patiently for another." He paused, and then as if I didn't understand he went deeper, "If we take them on two against one, we can definitely take them out fast, before anyone sees."

"I see," I mumbled, inspecting his rather detailed rendition, "How do we get in there, though?"

"You can scale over this wall and climb on the rooftops, and I'll make sure you go unnoticed from the inside." He suggested, "Just follow the rooftops above me, I'll lead you away from the Trolls that stalk to roofs."

"Oh, great, Trolls that stalk the roofs, that's comforting, "I grumbled, almost shivering.

"Relax, I'll be with you, remember?" He gave me that confident smirk again, and though I tried to look at him objectively, I felt my body temperature rising.

"Okay," I coughed, "and once we get the bodies; we take their DNA, mix it with the potions, and sneak into the meeting." I finished, making sure I had the whole idea.

"Precisely." He nodded.

-x0x-

Preview of Next Chapter:

"Come on, the meeting is about to start." Kujajin warned me.

We crouched, out of sight by the who incapacitated Orcs, and mixed the DNA of the Orcs with the potions I had stolen. We dropped the small pieces of identity into both vials, and watched it bubble ominously. The potion was a strange liquid, thick in texture and steaming softly. Kujajin looked up at me over the vials and through the swirling effervescence.

"We have to drink them," He told me with a straight face.

"You've got to be shitting me." I said evenly, sure that it was a sick joke.

"Seriously." He nodded, with no trace of lies in his voice or expression. I cringed at his request.

"Jeez, this must be some kind of teenage-wizard-movie plot twist," I muttered, downing the liquid in one, disgustingly vile gulp.

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