Chance
...
Alstromerea was definitely lost.
She sighed and pulled a crude compass from her pack, smacking it a few times in an attempt to force it to work the way it was meant to. But alas, the thing was broken, it seemed. That, or Zandalar was a lot more magnetic than she'd thought to give it credit. As it were, she wasn't looking forward to hacking through miles of jungle with nothing but a broken compass and her Staff, trying to navigate her way back to the camp she'd just left.
She knew she should have taken Azra and Kayzeri up on their offer to go with her, they needed to traverse across as well, but they were taking the longer, well beaten path, considering their little one they were toting about, and she felt awkwardly along the lines of a third wheel by traveling with the happy family. As lovely as she'd thought it was, she'd declined, and now she was paying the price for her discomfort.
Zandalar wasn't much different from some of the jungles she'd visited before. Zangarmarsh. Tanaan. Just as lush and full of creatures she'd rather not get too close too. The bottom of her dress would permanently be the color of putrid mud, and she was trying hard to resist using a levitating spell on herself, lest she draw even more attention to herself in the swampy jungle. She was already culminating the draw of the light, as many had told her before, and there were plenty of enemies to be had in the area. Some of the Zandalari trolls they'd come across before had warned her small war-camp about the Blood trolls. She wasn't keen on dealing with that. Her specialty was in healing. Not in fighting off blood-thirsty trolls.
"Why do I do this to myself." She whispered to herself, taking another glance around the dense foliage. She still had no idea where she was, and had no idea how far she'd have to go to get to the new Horde capitol. She could be traveling around for days for all she knew. She sighed. So much for that.
A rustle from the east caused her to pause in her musings, tensing as she tried to see through the lack of light. The rustling stopped, and she sighed. She was being paranoid. It was probably just a small animal, or the wind. She really had to stop reading those strange novels she'd gotten off that peddler in Duskwood.
She trudged through the muck again, taking care to be more careful of how much noise she made, and stopped when she heard the lurch of a tree limb above her head. Slowly, infintessimaly, she raised her eyes above her. There, perched precariously, was a strange pale troll, with deep burgandy extremeties, as if they'd been dyed with blood.
Just fantastic.
She shifted the staff from her back and channeled the light through it, pulsing out a shield just in time to ricochet the arrow before it hit her in the shoulder. The troll growled and swung down from the limb, landing lithely into the mud. She was three times Alstromerea's height, not suprising, considering the little priest was a goblin, but it made it even more intimidating to see. She wore a large blood painted skull with strange tokens and totems hanging off of it, her clothing sparce and meant for ease of movement. The troll tilted her head and chuckled darkly, speaking at Alstromerea in a language with which she was only slightly familiar. Her parents had taken the time to educate her in many a dialect, insisting that business was the crux of all life. Being able to barter and trade with all races was essential, and thus, knowing the lingo, also essential. She scrunched her nose.
"Li'tum noma tii." She said slowly, backing up. The troll seemed surprised that she had understood what she'd said. "Ut'an dhaki tendabir. Todasta-"
"Nictum Ana'bah!" The troll cried out, pulling a long sword from her side. Alstromerea paused. The troll had told her to halt her retreat. She jabbed the sword in her direction, and Alstromera heard more rustling. To her horror, more blood trolls shifted from the shadows and the plants, until she was completely surrounded.
"Haba ti! Nictum Ana'te!" Alstromerea gritted her teeth. This was not going to end well. She could sense it. These trolls intended to capture her. For what, she could only imagine. Sacrifice probably. Just perfect. She closed her eyes, channeling the light as slowly as she could into her staff. She could summon a holy nova, but she wasn't a fast runner. The muck would no doubt slow her down as well. If they were desperate enough, they'd easily be able to capture her.
One of the male trolls reached forward and grabbed her arm. She hissed at him and swung her staff, causing him to back up and pull out his staff. Suddenly, all of the trolls were armed and had her surrounded. She groaned and lifted up her staff defensively.
"Ju betta not try anymo o' dat, leetle gobby." The female troll from before said, her orcish terribly rudimentary. "We be not so patient. Lowa ya staff to da groun'." Alstromerea clutched her staff harder, her knuckles nearly yellow with the effort. A couple of the trolls laughed and drew slightly closer.
"It be in ya bes' interes' ta leave da priestess be, Coria." Came a voice from above them. Alstromerea looked up to see a male troll with jungle green hair perched above a strong limb, his blue skin tattooed with white tribal symbols, a Zandalar troll, wearing the garbs common for his people. His eyes were a glittering green, and he held two deadly looking daggers, shining with something violet along the edges, which she had a feeling was extremely poisonous.
The female troll growled and gestured for her hunting part to continue advancing on the small goblin, but she kept her eyes on the Zandalari. The newcomer frowned, swinging down right next to Alstromerea, splattering her robes with more muck.
"Ikta Na'tume Nasha!" He said, his teeth grinding against his tusks, which were impressive in size, and looked to be well maintained. "Ti-ada Cantu Ne mintaka Nu!" The other trolls skittered back a few steps but Coria merely growled, twisting her hands around with dark blood magic.
Alstromerea didn't need any more reason than that to shoot the holy nova forth. It sent the hunting party sprawling back several feet, and looking dazed as they were repelled from the small goblin. Coria was interrupted completely, and growled in frustration as she too was sent back. The newcomer troll grinned, turning to her.
"Fiesty, you be." He said. "I be Navi. We escape now, yes?" She nodded and shrieked in surprise as he lifted her up off her feet, and began to leap across the jungle, seeming unhindered by her weight, and also, she noted, very fast. The other trolls hadn't recovered enough to follow. He kept up the even pace, breathing deeply and ducking between trees quickly as he followed what she could only assume to be an internal compass. She still had no idea where they were. But then, in less time then she could have imagined, she saw the familiar structures of the Horde. Tall spikes. Red dyed leathers and the Horde symbol carved into the wood and metal randomly about. The troll, Navi, set her down and grinned at her, seeming pleased with himself.
"Erm... Thank you." She said in orcish, tilting her head curiously at him. "I wasn't interested in becoming a sacrifice today." Navi threw his head back and laughed. She blinked, and took note that unlike the darkspear, Navi never crouched down into a hunch. His back was perfectly straight. Held up proudly.
"Ya be a strange little one." He said. "But I like ya attitude. Without it, ya may have nota suprise' all of dem so much." Alstromerea was rather taken aback. She looked at him inquisitively.
"What do you mean?" She said. "They seemed pretty unsurprised to me."
"It be ya dialect." He said, his eyes twinkling. "Da trolls here be lackin' on the communication skills. Dey didn't expec' a small goblin, like yaself, ta speak da lingo near fluent."
"It was rudimentary at best." Alstromerea said modestly. She tucked a wavy length of azure hair behind her ear and looked up at him, smiling.
"Ya too 'umble. It was pretty good. I even undastood it." She flashed another smile at him, and he returned it happily.
"What be ya name?" He asked, looking at her curiously. "I can't be forgettin' such a fiesty priestess like yaself." She smiled coyly, turning towards the Horde fortress.
"The name's Alstromerea." She told him. "I owe you one for savin' my neck their Navi. Would you care to join me for a pint or two?" His grin widened and he scooped her up unceremoniously.
"I didn't tink ya'd eva ask."
...
The last time you read about Alstromerea, she was a forsaken. Now, she's a goblin. This actually works out in my favor, as Xotufexo, once a forsaken hunter (and one of my husbands toons on WoW, is now a BE... So yeah. All sorts of fancy stuff. Just pretend that story is something else entirely. This is the new canon for me. Thanks for reading ya'll! 3