JJ: Finally, we are back in the main story. Holidays are coming up, and hopefully, that means I can spend more time writing.

Nell: I don't even see the point of these starting comments...

JJ: Its fun to write them...Disclaimer please.

Nell: World of Warcraft does not belong to JJfats.

Chapter 9

The trip back to Ratchet was easier than the group expected. The dust storms of the Needles had died down and the air in the Barrens was nice and cool. With such great weather, the trio were able to reach the Crossroads in a mere five days. They had rested, resupplied and repaired their gear there. After a good nights rest, they sent messengers to Orgrimmar to inform the Warchief of their discovery. The trio now sat at a food stall near the inn, minding their own business.

Karkon was sitting there quietly, a huge mug of rich, foaming dwarven ale in one hand and his axe in the other. His eyes were locked on the troll bartender. More than once now Karkon had caught the bartender staring wide-eyed at the monstrous size of the orc's coin pouch. Thorka was once again attracted to the strange mechanical items of the local engineer, locked in a heated conversation. Karkon never understood the strange magics known as 'Engineering'. He knew it could do great wonders like the dwarven steam tanks or make bombs which were able to blind an enemy, but most of the time that he had seen engineering at work, it always seemed to backfire.

To Karkon's right, sat Nellera. She was quiet as usual. Patiently scrubbing the muck off of her dwarven steel short blade. Her warhammer and long sword were stacked neatly behind her with her armor. Thats when the orc notice that she wasn't in her armor. A really rare occasion indeed. The blood elf and her glistening purple-magenta plates were almost inseparable. Nell only ever took it of when she needed it repaired, which it already has been, or if she needed a bath.

Nell had always looked attractive. Her porcelain skin and fiery red hair would make even the most stalwart man's head turn. Her armor did little to hide her perfect figure and without it, the effect was doubled. Karkon wondered why no blood elf male never approached her. Was it because of an eight foot orc who constantly shadowed her? Not possible, he thought. Blood elf males were too proud to be afraid of orcs. Was it the fact that she looked menacing with all her weapons and armor and her constant cold glare? Also not possible. Even in full battle gear, she was a beauty.

The answer came crawling into the orc's mind. It was her eyes. Her piercing stare stacked with those blood red eyes were both intimidating and frightening. Even the orc got the chills from making eye contact with her for more than a few seconds. Perhaps it was easier to look upon her before the demon took control of her soul. Kakon would never know. The elf notice the orc glancing at her and stopped midway in her task.

"What?" she asked, although it sounded more like a 'leave me alone'. The orc immediately got the picture.

"Nothing." he said quickly as he turned back towards his drink. He had to somehow come up with a plan to get the elf to accompany him on his quest. He shook the idea from his mind. Stopping Arthas' plan was the top priority at the moment. His grand plan could wait a few more weeks. Years even. With his goals set straight, the orc downed his drink in one great gulp and left the stall.

The next morning, Karkon waited at the eastern exit of the Crossroads, ready to go. He was soon joined by Thorka, who was now chucking a great leather bag filled with bombs and explosives. The tauren seemed to really like those kind of things. Nell was still absent though. Karkon just hoped that those things didn't explode when he was stnding next to the tauren. After half an hour or so, the elf arrived, once again in her repaired plate. Her scarlet hair was wet and sparkled in the sunlight. Karkon sighed. Even though she was bloodthirsty, she was still a woman who took pleasure in her baths. With everything set, the group set off east bound towards the neutral port city of Ratchet.

It didn't take very long to reach the city. The weather was perfect once again and no wildlife had obstructed their route. It was almost as if their luck had turned upside down ever since Nell had told the orc about her past. When they arrived at the gates of Ratchet, they were stopped by the bouncers there who called the town mayor. Nell handed him the necromancer's head, half of it decomposing, the other half already stripped of flesh due to his own spell. As promised, the group was re-welcomed into Ratchet.

As the trio were making their way towards the inn, something caught their eye. There was a huge horde crowd gathered at the center of town. What few alliance members carefully avoided the huge mob. As the trio got closer, they noticed that the crowd's attention was focused on a little cage. Sparks of blur light emnated violently from the cage from time to time, followed by squeaky, frustrated screams. Everytime this happend, the crowd laughed. Karkon and Thorak had no interest in finding out what was the source of amusement, so they carried on. Nell on the other hand stopped and stared at the backs of the horde crowd, furrowing her brow.

"What?" asked Karkon, as he noticed that the elf had stopped.

"I...I recognize that voice." she replied, her eyes never leaving the backs of the crowd. Before the orc could say anything else, the elf charged into the crowd and squeezed her way through. The orcs, trolls, taurens and forsaken quickly backed away from the armored girl. Karkon and Thorka followed closely behind her.

The orc could see the contents of the cage now. It was a little gnome. A mage from the looks of it. He had aqua blue hair which was pointed skywards and a beard and curved moustache of similar color. His robes were blue-gray with red outlines and golden threaded glyphs on it. The flashes of blue light were the results of the gnome repeatedly casting a frost spell at the cage in an attempt to open it. The cage, obviously enchanted, did not budge. Every now and then, the gnome would sit down to catch his breath, while conjuring some water.

Karkon caught a look at Nell's face. Her eyes widened in recognition. Her mouth was half open and stuttering, as if she was trying to say something, but the words refused to come out. After awhile, she finally found her voice.

"Millhouse?! Millhouse Manastorm!?" she exclaimed in common, the note of surprise evident in her voice. Karkon, Thorka and the crowd, of course, had no idea what she was saying. At the mention of the name, the gnome looked up. His eyes too, grew big in surprise. He sprang to his feet.

"Brightarch girl! What a pleasant surprise!" he said in a happy voice, just before he shouted: "Now, get me outta here!!"

Nell winced as he shouted. Karkon was in shock. Was Nell actually afraid of this little gnome? Just as the thoughts came, the gnome spoke up again.

"What? Who called me little!? I know one of you did! Once I get outta this cage, I'll find you!" he yelled. Karkon pushed his thoughts aside.

"Come on, girl! Get me out of this cage!" shrieked the gnome in his high-pitched tone.

"Oh, right!" she said. The elf turned towards the bruiser captain. The conversation began lightly, but soon turned into a heated argument. Karkon was about to step in but Nell then dropped 10 gold coins into the palm of the bruiser and he let the mage go. As the mage stepped out of the cage, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As he exhaled, his eyes snapped open and he yelled out something. The next second, everyone around them turned into farm animals. Only the gnome, Karkon, Thorka and Nell were the only humanoids standing at the town square.

"Hah! That'll teach ya not to mess with the almighty Millhouse Manastorm!" he exclaimed and started dancing. Nell shook her head and dragged him to the inn.

Once there, she bought a round of drinks for everyone. When the mage had finished his ale, Nell immediately began with the questions.

"Millhouse! What are you doing here? What were you doing in a cage?" she asked. The gnome cleared his throat.

"Well, after you got me out of that accursed prison cell, I opened up a portal to Ironforge. I hoped right into it, expecting to be sent home, but I guess the interference in the Netherstorm had messed up the portal somewhat. The next thing I knew, I was lying on top of an unconscious troll. The stupid bruisers arrested me and I have been in that darn cage for a week now!" as he finished, a barmaid put down a second mug of beer in front of him, which a greedily picked up. Before he could begin drinking, he caught Nell's confused and surprised stare.

"What?" he said. Nell stuttered. She was at a lost for words. The gnome spoke up again.

"I have a question, girl. How did you get back from the Outlands so fast? I thought you told me that you were going to be there for a year or so. And knowing you, your not the type who enjoys the use of portals." Nell blinked. She finally managed to find her voice again.

"Errr...Millhouse...the last time I saw you was...err...four years ago." she said. Her eyes never changing from her surprised look.

"Hmm...I guess that the interference on the Netherstorm was worse tan I thought...Oh well." he shrugged it off easily and continued drinking. Nell shook her head.

"That's why I hate portals." she muttered. Nell looked up. Only then did she notice that Karkon and Thorka were both staring at her and the gnome in shock. Obviously, they had not understood a word of her conversation. They had not even taken a sip from their drinks. Nell sighed before changing her speech to orcish.

"Sorry about that. This is Millhouse Manastorm. He is an old friend of mine. Rescued him from a prison ship in the Outlands four years ago. I haven't seen him till today." she lowered a voice into a whisper. "He has some, err, anger issues. You wouldn't want to piss him off."

Karkon blinked at that. Nell was using the word 'anger issues'. If the gnome was someone that even Nell thought was short tempered, he must really have a short fuse. The orc made a mental note to not cross the mage. Finally, Karkon took a sip from his mug. Thorka on the other hand had gone into his 'friends' mode.

"Well...are you going to introduce us?" he asked the elf.

"Huh? What? Oh yes, um." she spat out some gibberish as she tried to switch languages. "Millhouse, these are-" before the elf could finish, the gnome cut in.

"I know who they are. A pleasure to meet you warrior Karkon and druid Thorka. Any friend of young Brightarch here is a friend of mine." he said in perfectly accented orcish. The trio gaped at the mage for several long seconds.

"You speak orcish?!" they said in unison. Then Thorka and Karkon turned to Nell.

"You didn't know that he spoke orcish?!" they said, again in unison. Millhouse had a look of surprise on his own face.

"I spoke orcish?!" he exclaimed in orcish. They all stared at him again. "I hate Netherstorm." muttered the gnome. Karkon cleared his throat.

"I say that this conversation should come to an end before we all go mad." the orc proposed.

"Aye." came the voices of the rest of the group who picked up their mugs and drained them in a single gulp. The group sat there for the rest of the night, drinking round after round of alcohol in dumbfounded silence.

The next morning, the group wished that they were dead. They were standing in the middle of Ratchets town square, waiting for a Nell's contact. Well, sort of standing. None of them were able to stand up right. They were all suffering fom severe hang overs. Millhouse was groaning, Thorka looked like he was going to throw up, Karkon was swivelling on his feet, struggling to stay balanced. Even Nell, who had the most tolerance for alcohol, was leaning on her hammer for support. Her hang over face looked even more scarier than when she was mad. Even so, the occupants of the town avoided them.

After several long hours (and painful headaches), a shadowy, cloaked figure approached the group. It was tall, almost as tall as Karkon, but much leaner. It was most likely a troll. All he did was walk up to the grumpy faced Nell and handed her a letter. It had the Warchief's seal on it. Nell opened the letter and read it out loud. Apparently, the Warchief wanted to discuss the matter with the group himself and therefore has invited them to attend to him in his throne room. Without another word, the group set off for Orgrimmar.

"Why did we have to walk all the way to Orgrimmar again?" asked Thorka, for what seemed like the fifth time that morning. Nell gave an annoyed grunt, obviously not wanting to answer the tauren again. Karkon let out a sigh.

"We have a gnome with us. The flight master won't take him to Orgrimmar. Its going to be hard enough getting him through the front gates." the orc explained.

"Well if the guards charge me, I'll just turn them all into nice big Popsicles!" Millhouse said.

"No, Millhouse. No popsicles." replied Nell sternly.

"Awww. Your no fun." the gnome muttered.

As the group finally reached the Orgrimmar gates, they were greeted with expected hostility.

"Halt!" yelled one of the guards. The group stopped. "Can you explain why you have, that, with you." he gestured towards Millhouse. Millhouse just growled.

"Stay your hand, guard. He is with us. Warchief Thrall has seeked an audience with us." Nell said. The guard sneered.

"The Warchief does not see those of the alliance." the guard retorted. He made a hand signal. The next moment, the top of the watch towers and main gate were filled with archers, all aiming their arrows at the group. Everyone went into a defensive stance, everyone except Nell, who gave an unimpressed smile.

"Try us." she mocked. The guard's eyes started to fill with rage.

"Kill them!" he ordered.

"Belay that, captain." came a booming voice. The orc guard captain turned around and immediately bowed in respect.

"Greetings, Nazgrel. Why do you stop me from eliminating the enemies of the Horde?" the guard asked.

"They are not enemies. The Warchief seeks an audience with them. You will escort them to Thrall's throne room." said Nazgrel. The guard growled, but nodded. Nazgrel's attention shifted to the Millhouse.

"What of the gnome?" he asked in monotone.

"He is with us." Nell replied in a similar manner. The orc sighed.

"Fine, he comes with us." he said before leading them on.

The walk to Grommash Hold was in no way a pleasant one. Of course, had it been only Nell, Karkon and Thorka, everything would be fine, but they had Millhouse with them. Just that one extra person caused the entire city to keep wary eyes on the group. Nell, being the reserved type, was not enjoying the attention and did not hesitate to show her discomfort by snarling and bearing her fangs at anyone who looked their way. That was usually enough to cause the onlookers to back away, intimidated.

The group managed to reach Grommash Hold without incident. Nazgrel escorted them through the ante-chamber, full of shamans, and into the throne room. The throne room was huge. Standing braziers and torches lined the granite walls, casting an eerie orange glow. The Kor'Kron Elite, Thrall's personal bodyguards stood absolutely still in every corner of the room, ready to act at the slightest hint of danger. In the middle of the room was table with the map of Azeroth on it. Behind that table stood Thrall himself, the Warchief of the Horde. He was a magnificent sight to behold. Clad in the black and brass plate armor of the legendary Orgrim Doomhammer. There were other notable people in the room that brought surprise to the entire group, including Nell.

Standing to Thrall's left was a Cairne Bloodhoof, leader of the Bloodhoof tauren. He looked old, wrinkles riddling his face, but the group did not doubt that he still had alot of fight left within him. He wore a leather jerkin with similar breeches and carried a giant totem, obviously used for clubbing. Thrall's trusted scout and adviser, Vol'jin, the shadow hunter and current leader of the Darkspear trolls was squatting beside Cairne. To Thrall's right, stood the dark, imposing figure of Sylvanas Windrunner, dark lady of the Forsaken. She emitted the same chilling aura that Nell always did. The final person in the room made Nell flinch at the sight of her. It was a female blood elf. She wore ornate grey-white plate armor, similar to Nellera's own. Her armor was outlined with blue lines which glowed a faint blue. She had a shield almost as big as herself strapped to her back and a giant longsword sheathed at her waist. Her auburn hair was tied back in a long pony tail. She looked like she was in her thirties, but one could never really tell with elfs. Judging from Nell's expression, Karkon concluded that this blood elf was the one and only, Lady Liadrin, Nell's mentor.

As the group entered the room, the heads of all the leaders of the Horde looked up from the map table. Nazgrel quickly went down on one knee, beckoning the rest to do the same. Everyone followed suite except Millhouse, who stood there dumbfounded. The leaders stared at him in surprise. Sylvanas snarled and made a move for her sword but Thrall grunted and shook his head. The dark lady unhappily released her grip on her blade. Thrall regarded the group.

"Thank you for coming. I'm assuming that the gnome is your companion, is he not?" he said.

"Yes, he is." Nell replied respectfully. Thrall nodded.

"Then he is welcome here. Just make sure that he does not make any sudden moves. Everyone is a little jumpy after hearing the news you brought to us."

"Yes, milord." Nell turned towards Liadrin and bowed. "It is a pleasure to see you again milady."

"And I, you, knight Brightarch." she replied with a smile. Sylvanas sneered and looked away.

"As much as I hate to interrupt the reunion, but we must focus at the task at hand." interrupted Thrall. The leaders nodded and focused their attention back towards the map.

"I have sent my fastest riders to intercept the necromancers in Kalimdor and Sylvanas has sent her own to hunt down the ones in the Eastern Kingdoms." said the Warchief. He turned towards Nell.

"I am sorry, paladin, but I am going to have to send you on an undesirable mission once more. I regret not giving you enough time to recover from your previous excursion." he said solemnly.

"I will do the best I can." replied Nell as Karkon eyed her with a look of surprise.

"Your contact was Warchief Thrall?!" he burted out and immediately shut his mouth as everyone turned to look at him. Nell just cocked an eye brow.

"You mean you didn't know?" she said with an amused grin. Thrall let out a deep chuckle.

"You should be more open with your companions, paladin. They've all you got for this mission." he said. "She will explain the details." the Warchief gestured to another figure in the cornered. To Nell, Karkon, Thorka and even Millhouse's surprise, the figure was a human female. She wore the elegant robes of an archmage. She had a cowl which did little to hide her beautiful face and long, flowing golden hair. She carried a long staff in one hand, a giant, green pulsing crystal sat at the end of it. She stepped forward and bowed.

"This, is Jaina Proudmoore. For all I know, the strongest spell-caster in the world and leader of the humans of Theramore port." introduced Thrall.

"A pleasure to meet you all." she said in a soft voice. Giving the group a smile. Karkon and Thorka jumped.

"We understood what she said!" exclaimed Thorka. "But she spoke common!" Prudmoore let out a giggle.

"A little spell translation I devised. Nothing special." she said.

"So, what needs doing?" Nell queried. Not wanting to waste time.

"Yes, I'll get straight to the point. My spies have informed me about some rumours. Rumours that state that the betrayer, Illidan Stormrage, wishes to journey to this world and confront the Lich King, intending to end his tyranny once and for all." Jaina explained.

"So? Isn't that a good thing. They will just wipe themselves out." Nell said, once again in monotone. The wizard shook her head.

"Before, when Arthas was still an ordinary death knight, it would not have been a problem. But now that he has obtained the power of the Lich King, the results of him battling with Stormrage would be catastrophic! The world would be torn asunder once more." she explained. Nell furrowed her brow.

"But it is only a rumour, is it not?"

"Yes, it is. Therefore we need you to confirm its validity." said Thrall. Jaina nodded.

"There will be a party in Stormwind, exactly one week from now. It is hosted by a high elf mage by the name of Sunbane. My spies have confirmed tat he is a subordinate of Illidan Stormrage. You are to infiltrate that party and interrogate him." explained Jaina.

"And how do you all expect US, to sneak into STORMWIND, one of the most fortified and well defended ALLIANCE capital?" Nell asked, emphasizing some words with a note of sarcasm in her voice.

"I have sent a few of my own covert operatives to the outskirts of Stormwind. They await your arrival and they have assured me that they have a plan." offered Liadrin.

"My most trusted advisor is with them as well." said Sylvanas proudly.

"Just great." Nell groaned.

"If all is well, you will have to leave first thing in the morning." said Thrall.

"Yes sir." replied the elf, solemnly. With that, the group left to get as much rest as possible.

When morning came, Thrall and Vol'jin, along with another troll came and to personally escort the group to the flightmaster. The newcomer, a troll, was dresed in mail armor from neck to toe. They were the color of brimstone and his pauldrons ended in wicked spikes. He had pointed, flame dyed hair and tusks which curved upwards and a long pipe hung from his mouth, black smoke slowly rising from it. Strapped to his back was the most humongous and menacing looking long rifle any of them had ever seen. Its barrel looked like it was fashioned from a dragon skull.

"This be ma best pathfinder, Sey'rans. His skills of trackin be second to none. He be acompanin ya through to da Stormwind. His skill would be needed if ye want ta gt out alive." exclaimed Vol'jin proudly, smacking the pathfinder on the back. The pathfinder just grunted and bowed, never uttering a word.

With everything ready and a new companion, the group got on a wyvern and left for Ratchet, where they would catch a ship to Booty Bay and make their way north, towards Elwyn Forest. Millhouse looked silly on a wyvern and more than once, almost looked like he would fall off as he bounced on the top of the animal. Finally, only Karkon was left. Before he took of on his own wyvern, a gauntleted hand landed on his shoulder. He turned around to come face-to-face with the Warchief.

"Do me a favour ,my friend." said Thrall. "Keep an eye on the girl. She is much more than she seems. If things go out of hand, only you can do something to stop it."

Karkon smiled and urged his wyvern forward.

"Keep an eye on her?" he said, a hint of irony in his voice. "I always do."

He flew off toward the rising sun.

To be continued...