Of Claws and Totems

Chapter 22

Elemental

When the elemental finished getting onto the field, the planar gate winked out of existence. Blackheart could only stare up at the huge elemental standing before him. Could nothing ever be simple? He heard a string of Orcish coming from the one eyed orc beside him which he assumed to be a great deal of cursing. It would definitely fit the situation. He turned to Kalara. "Any ideas at all?"

She looked at the size of the thing for a few moments before she responded. "I'll need time... a lot of time. See if you can hold him off for a while."

Blackheart took another look at the big elemental that was now slowly approaching them. "Hold him off? How?"

"I don't know," she said quietly before she pulled his head down and gave him a quick peck on his furry cheek. "Just be safe," she whispered before she ran towards the night elf encampment.

Blackheart took his claymore in a two handed grip and readied himself for the oncoming monstrosity. If Kalara needed some time, he would do his best to give her time. Being safe though… that was going to be a real challenge. He looked over to the orc beside him then, who he had been ready to kill earlier. It seemed odd to him how things turned around so quickly. "The name's Blackheart." He said to the orc.

"Rognar," the orc responded. "So your woman has a plan to stop this, and we have to hold it off. How do ya think we're gonna do it?"

"Well," Blackheart responded hefting his sword and starting move forward, "I'm just going to have to start with hitting it and go from there." With that he charged forward at the approaching behemoth. The thing was over three times his size and, as he charged forward, he saw where he would start his attack. A grim wave of amusement passed through him for a moment: This must be what a gnome feels like. He was going for the kneecaps.

As Blackheart got within the creatures reach it roared before it rared back and tried to squish the running worgen. Blackheart could hear the rocks that made up its body grinding against each other as the thing moved and watched it swing at him. He had to stop his charge and roll out of the way to avoid becoming a bloody splotch on the ground. The thing was quicker than he had anticipated, and the impact of its fist hitting the ground jarred his teeth and left a sizable dent in the earth. There would be no coming back from getting hit by that. Quickly recovering from the roll he charged forward past the now retracting arm of the elemental and swung his sword at what would have been its knee. In a shower of sparks and bits of rock, the sword rebounded off with a great 'clang' and vibrated in his hands nearly numbing them. It had about as much effect as he had feared. The elemental must have felt it though, because it gave a great howl of anger and kicked at him.

Blackheart quickly rolled out of the way and tried to figure out how on Azeroth he was going to tackle this thing. At least he had its attention, which meant that Kalara had some time to do… whatever it was she planned on doing. Once the things foot touched back down he heard another loud clang a few paces away and looked to see Rognar trying to keep hold of his axe after it rebounded from the elemental's other knee. The orc wasn't quite as fast as Blackheart and this time when the elemental lashed out the orc was clipped in the shoulder and sent rolling away.

Seeing their commander take some damage, a few of the orcs roared and charged the elemental. Blackheart yelled for them to stay back, waving his hands and trying to shoo them away, but it had no effect. Three of them charged forward, weapons raised, straight to their deaths. The elemental saw them coming and, much like it tried to do to Blackheart, swung its fist down and ended one of their lives with a sickening crunch. The other two made it a bit farther, both going to work attacking the leg where Rognar had struck, but doing very little damage. The elemental lashed out, catching one full in the chest with a kick and sending him flying to where he landed and laid still many paces away. The last one was still whacking away at the thing's leg with a large warhammer when it picked the orc up in its massive grip. The orc gave a cry of pain, dropping its weapon, as he was slowly crushed and burned before the elemental slammed him into the ground, leaving little more than a pile of gore.

Blackheart charged back in, ducking under the elementals grasping hands and rolled between the behemoth's legs to come up behind it. He started furiously hacking away, slowly chipping away at the rock and lava that made up the backside of the creature's leg. He hissed in pain and nearly dropped his sword as a chunk of the molten rock broke off and landed on his arm, burning it badly. One of these days he was going to need a real set of armor. Once the large chunk broke off the elemental roared again, but this time it was different; it was a roar of pain. It seemed he had finally injured it. Before he could press his attack he had to run out of the way as the thing spun around, trying to clobber him as he presented his front to Blackheart. Now the thing seemed completely focused on him and it was a bit harder to dodge the earth shaking slams of its fists each time.

As it rared back its great fist once more to try and smash him, it gave another roar of pain. Blackheart spared a glance down and saw Rognar with his feet planted in a wide, powerful stance as he swung his axe repeatedly into the back of the elemental's knee, roughly where Blackheart had taken out a chunk. He looked like he was trying to chop down a very large, very angry tree, methodically cutting out a wedge shaped chunk out of the elemental's leg. Molten rock was splattering all around Rognar as he chipped away at the thing's leg and he seemed to be ignoring the bits the landed on him. Blackheart had to give him credit for that; he knew firsthand how hot it was and how much it burnt.

The elemental soon had enough of the orc hacking away at his leg, and soon turned and slammed his fist down, trying to crush Rognar. Blackheart took this as his cue to mete out some punishment. As he ran forward though, he heard a cry of pain and looked to see what he had been hoping to avoid: Rognar, a bit slower than Blackheart, had been caught by the huge elemental and was struggling to get out of the things grasp. He had his axe in both hands hammering down on the thing's wrist, but to no avail.

As Blackheart was running forward, he saw the back of the elemental's leg where Rognar had been cutting away and a wedge of it was bright red… almost as if the main layer of rock had been cut away and exposed. That was his only chance at doing both permanent damage to the thing and to save the orc. Saving an orc… not something he typically did ever day. Then again, after being turned into a worgen his life had stopped being typical.

The elemental was raring back, ready to smash Rognar into the ground as he had done with the other orc, when Blackheart came into the range of its leg. Running at full speed he leapt, sailing through the air and driving the point of his sword with every ounce of strength he could deep into the elemental's leg. With a roar of pain, the elemental stumbled a bit and, though Rognar was still in its grip, it hadn't turned him into a bloody pulp yet. Blackheart shoved as hard as he could on his sword, but it wouldn't budge any further into the leg. He knew he needed to do more damage before the orc was killed… and before his sword melted. As he was preparing to shove the sword in further he stepped on something he realized was the answer to his problem: the warhammer that the other orc had dropped.

Quickly hefting the large two handed hammer, Blackheart planted his feet wide to get more power and swung with all of his considerable might at the hilt of his sword that was jutting out from the leg of the elemental. His aim was true and with a tremendous crack the tip of his claymore exploded out of the front side of the elemental's knee. The elemental roared in agony again, this time dropping Rognar to the ground as it clutched at its ruined leg.

As Rognar hit the ground he lay stunned for a few moments, trying to regain his breath. He knew he probably had several broken ribs, as well as many burns along his body and legs. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened… the thing was about to slam him into the ground like it did his grunt and then… something had happened and it had dropped him. Not one to dwell on things he didn't understand too well, he struggled to get up and take advantage of the situation. As he got to his feet, he noticed the elemental grasping at its knee where a familiar sword point jutted through it… from the back side.

The elemental looked up to see Rognar standing, let go of his knee, and took a step forward as if to make another grab for him. When it put weight on its injured knee, however, it shattered, sending bits of molten rock and Blackheart's sword, now glowing cherry red, flying in all directions. The elemental made a noise that Rognar could only interpret as… surprise, and started to fall forward. The orc started back peddling as fast as his legs would carry him. The elemental was falling straight towards him and, even if it was tall, it wouldn't take very long for it to hit the ground. The thing slammed into the ground so close to him that it knocked him off his feet as a rush of hot air came out from the thing. That, Rognar decided, had been entirely too close.

Once back on his feet, Rognar continued to back away. Any hopes that the creature was dead were dashed when it used its great arms to push itself upright and let out a bellow right in Rognar's face. It was definitely not happy. The elemental behemoth slowly raised itself off the ground with its arms before kneeling unsteadily on its good leg. It raised one its massive arms and swung it downwards at Rognar. The orc barely dodged to the side in time as it slammed the earth where he had previously been, putting another large dent into the ground. He was still lying on the ground when it rared its other arm back, and for what must have been the fourth time that day, he knew it was all over. As the elemental's arm started to descend, he looked up and was momentarily blinded by a bright light striking the elemental. When the spots cleared from his vision, he saw a stream of lightning pouring into the elemental. He looked back behind him to see Kalara channeling the lightning at the elemental, trying to hold him in place.

Blackheart saw the lightning striking the elemental as well and was immensely glad that Kalara was back and, presumably, ready to solve the situation. What he didn't understand was why she was standing on top of a glaive thrower. As if to answer, she gave one last push of lightning that left the large elemental momentarily stunned and laid her hands on the glaive. A look of utmost concentration passed over her face as she held onto the glaive. As Blackheart moved closer, he understood some of what was going on. He could smell a massive amount of elemental energy coalescing inside the glaive. Her hair was starting to stand on end and he could see sparks arcing between her hands on the glaive; she was charging it up somehow. He ran to her as quickly as he could, not sure if he could help, but wanting to be there regardless.

The elemental roared once more and Kalara knew that her chance was up and it was time to see if her idea worked. Just as Blackheart reached her she yelled to Synthiana, "Fire!" and let loose another salvo of lightning at the elemental. She heard the strain of the glaive launcher and almost felt the whoosh of the huge glaive as it spun towards its target. Small arcs of electricity passed between the glaive and the ground as it traveled towards the elemental. The huge thing's final roar was cut short as the glaive slammed into its chest, sawing part of the way through before releasing all of the built up energy and exploding in a wave of elemental fury. She was suddenly on the ground as Blackheart covered her from the rain of shrapnel, super heated rock and glaive alike, that was raining down around them. She noticed him wince a few times and could smell burnt hair as what must have been a super heated glob splattered onto him, but still he didn't move. As the rain of destruction seemed to come to an end Blackheart started to raise himself up off of her, but she stopped him by holding onto his face. Letting herself delve into the flows of elemental energy once more, she closed her eyes and called upon the power of water and felt it flow through her and into him, healing all of the burns he had received from fighting the huge elemental.

When she finished she opened her eyes and noticed him staring at her intently. "That was amazing." He said. "I don't know how you did it, but once again you saved all of us." He leaned forward and nuzzled her cheek for a second before standing up and helping her to her feet.

"Well it's not like it was just me, you held it off and Synthiana hit the thing in the end."

Blackheart turned to survey the now smoldering ruins of the elemental. It was a fairly magnificent sight to behold. There was a large crater in the ground where the elemental had been standing and parts of its body were still distinguishable: an arm here, a leg there, a hand, fingers clenched into a fist, a few paces away. And there, slowly crawling towards the orc encampment, was Rognar.

Taking Kalara's hand, he headed towards the downed orc. It seemed as if he had escaped a great deal of the blast, but he was still badly injured. When Kalara saw him she made her way past the smoldering remains of the elemental and started pouring her healing magic into him. He was hurt pretty bad from what she could see, favoring his ribs and covered in burns. He closed his eyes as the healing took hold of him and relaxed while the blisters from the burns were covered with new skin and his ribs worked back into place. She had just enough magic to heal him before she was finally exhausted. Her head was starting to throb from the strain. Dueling with a shaman, fighting off an elemental invasion, and killing a giant elemental had finally taken its toll on her. Beside her, Blackheart helped her too her feet, and then offered his clawed hand to the orc.

Rognar considered it for a moment before taking it and being helped to his feet. "Thanks." He said to both of them before surveying the area around them. It was pretty devastated… and if Ragnaros was back more would likely come. He turned to see the worgen he had fought beside picking up the ruined remains of his sword. It was twisted and deformed where it had been inside the elemental's body for so long. His own waraxe lay near the fallen behemoth, luckily unharmed.

As Blackheart examined the sword a wave of sadness passed over him. While he wasn't one to name his weapons or anything of the sort, this sword had been with him since he had met Kalara and now it, along with his shield, were destroyed. Only his chainmail was left, and it had seen better days. There were quite a few damaged links, and one particular spot on the leg coverings that seemed to always pull at his hair. With a sad sort of reverence, he buried the sword blade first in the ground, wincing as the middle bent and snapped in half from the weakness. He dropped the hilt to rest beside it as Kalara wrapped her hands around his arm.

She looked up at him and could sense his sadness over losing the weapon. "Hey furry, we'll get you a new pokey stick ok?" She was relieved when he chuckled and smiled at her before turning back to face the orc.

After he watched Rognar pick up his waraxe, he asked, "Well… what now?"

Rognar looked around, seeing his forces intermingled with the night elves. Now that the mutual enemy was gone, their alliance most likely would not last for very long. "Right now I need to report this to the rest of the Horde. I'm sure your night elves need to do the same. If the Firelord is back… well we've got bigger problems than trying to capture this outpost." As he turned to leave he bellowed something out in orcish and the remained of his troops started moving back towards their camp. Turning back to Blackheart he said, "Maybe we'll meet again. Hopefully we'll be on the same side the whole time then." He turned back and walked off towards the camp.

When they returned with all of the night elves to the post, Miakoda came out to greet them. Blackheart could smell something was off with her. Her mood was one of disappointment, and it seemed to be directed at herself. She searched both of their faces before bowing her head and saying quietly, "I'm sorry."

Kalara's confusion mirrored Blackheart's own as he looked from the draenei to the tauren. "Sorry for what?"

"I abandoned both of you… merely so I wouldn't have to kill a few orcs. I should never have held back. Both of you have helped me out more than any orc ever has. It was the damned green skins that conscripted me and Kuruk and sent us after the Twilight in the first place. If not for you two… well I'd be dead like Kuruk now." She stopped when she felt Blackheart's hand on one arm and Kalara's on the other.

Blackheart spoke first. "Miakoda… you did what you thought was right. That is all that you can ever do. I don't hold that against you at all."

Kalara spoke up next, agreeing with Blackheart. "Yeah! I mean, you've done your fair share of helping us out already. Plus, I'm sure we're gonna have to have your help to get down through the Barrens and Mulgore to get you home. You can vouch for what upstanding mortals we are and maybe the Horde there will leave us alone!"

Their talk lifted the tauren's spirits a little, but Blackheart could still smell the sadness in her. He knew then that they had done as much as was possible for her and she would have to come to terms with her choices on her own. Synthiana approached them then.

"I've got what remains of our healers working to get everyone stable. I also ordered some of the night elves in better shape to retrieve our dead... and to unstack the orcs and lay them out in a better fashion. So what are we going to do now?"

Blackheart turned to her, saying, "It sounds to me like you've got most everything under control. I imagine you're going to have to keep these night elves together and send word to Lor'danel and let them know what happened here. Rognar may take his orcs and go, for now, but if the Horde want this place you'll need some reinforcements." He pointed to the sentinels he recognized from the port city earlier. "I'd send them, that way their captain knows what happened to them."

"What are you three going to do? We could really use your help here." She asked.

"Well… we already had our own journey to attend to. For now, let's just say we hope to not run into any more excitement for a while." He turned away from her then and walked out of the post, Kalara to one side and Miakoda to the other, leaving the night elves to fend for themselves. He'd done enough fighting for one day. He seemed to be noticing a recurring theme of late. Wherever he went he would drop in, help the people out, and then move on. One of these days he was going to be able to finally settle down. Before he was too far away he could hear Synthiana shouting orders out and finally coming into a commanding role. She'd do just fine.

They started out traveling on the road to get out of Ashenvale, but a few hours in Blackheart took them off the road and headed in a North Easterly direction. Kalara didn't understand their course exactly. "Wouldn't it be easier to just stay on the road, since we have to eventually go south to get out of this area?"

He nodded, but said, "It could be easier, but I would like to stay off the road for now."

She noticed he seemed distracted and had been near him long enough to know when something was bothering him. And something definitely had his attention now aside from her question about the road. She could see he was almost leaning forward when walking, as if following some kind of scent or urging to get where he was headed. From the way he was snapping twigs in the underbrush, she knew something was off. For him to not be paying attention to how he was traveling through the forest, something was off. She even saw him trip over an exposed root… and she couldn't remember ever seeing him trip over anything for as long as she had known him.

They had been traveling this way for over an hour when the trees around them seemed to get thicker, choking out more of the light coming from above. The area took on a gloomy appearance and it gave her the chills. She couldn't see anything in particular about this place that said it was evil, but the sense that it gave her said otherwise. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up and she almost jumped when Miakoda spoke silently to her.

"Do you know where we are headed?" The tauren asked quietly. Kalara shook her head no. "I think I do… and I don't know that I want to be."

"Where?" The draenei asked.

"The Howling Vale."

Kalara only had a moment to consider the implications when Blackheart stopped dead in his tracks. She looked around to see what was the matter. Fifteen paces in front of him was a stream with a lone tree next to it, but closer at hand she noticed something metal laying on the ground, partially covered by leaves and the growth of the underbrush. Blackheart slowly bent down and brushed the plant matter away to reveal a blood stained shield with a crest on it that looked like a golden anchor. It was, if she remembered correctly, the crest of Theramore. Blackheart gently lifted the shield from the ground and carried forward a few paces and stopped once again in front of a sword sticking out of the ground. Beneath the sword were the picked-clean bones of some kind of creature, apparently impaled by the sword. She moved closer as he drew the sword from the ground. It was a well made longsword and the cross guard had a familiar looking wolf's head carved into it. Compared to Blackheart's old claymore it was a bit shorter and lighter, but still a sword that could be wielded with one or two hands. The blade looked to be in good condition, which was strange for as long as it must have been buried in the ground. Blackheart quietly examined the sword as she looked at the bones that had been under it. She realized, upon closer inspection, that they were the bones of a worgen.

When she looked back to the sword, more specifically at the cross guard, something tugged at her memory about its unique design. Reaching down through the neck of her shirt she pulled the medallion that Blackheart had given her what seemed like so long ago. She examined the cool metal pendant of a wolf's head on a many sided star that was made of mithril. The design of the pendant matched the one on the crossguard exactly… which meant that the sword must have been Blackheart's.

"This… was my father's sword. They brought it to me when he never came home."

Blackheart walked the rest of the way to the tree before she had a chance to respond, realization of what this place was quickly coming to her. The tree only had one feature that made it distinguishable from all of the other trees around it: Three very distinct scratches gouged out of the trunk. Blackheart raised his hand up to it, extended his claws, and traced them. The size and spread of his claws was a perfect fit to the tree, and it was then that she knew for sure. This was where he'd had his humanity stripped from him. When he finished running his hand along the trunk she heard a clang as he dropped the sword and shield and fell to his knees in front of the stream. Kalara was at his side in an instant.

To come back to the place of such a horrible memory… she could imagine what it was like. Every time she had entered the Exodar all she could think about was her parents dying as it crashed. She walked in front of him, blocking his view of the stream. He looked up to her for a moment and she could see the loss in his eyes. She had never known him to be bitter about becoming a worgen. He never seemed to complain about anything, and if he had not become a worgen she would not have met him… would not have even been alive to do so. But in this place, where the event occurred, she could sense his loss. Kalara reached out and pulled his head in to hug him, trying to be as comforting as possible. As she hugged him to her chest, she finally felt life come back to him and he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. She started slowly running her hands through his fur, scratching slightly as she did.

"This…" Blackheart said quietly, "is where I discovered what I had become. A ways back the way we came is where my group was attacked. I... I can't remember their names anymore. Two of us were killed almost instantly and I held the rest together for another minute or so. We lost so many so fast that we ended up breaking ranks and running for it. The bones were one of the worgen that attacked me. After I ran him through I couldn't get my sword out so I ran. Before that I had knocked one of them out with my shield, but it had a grip on it so I had to let it go. When I got here though…" He went silent for a few moments and she felt his grip on her tighten. She kept her hold and ran her hand down the back of his head, petting him in a soothing manner. "When I got here, there was one left. When I saw it, I knew for sure I was dead… after the bite he gave me I assumed I would bleed out. When I awoke though, the pain was gone but something else had replaced it. My mind was… foggy. Almost like I was drunk, but I didn't have any problem walking. Something seemed to be trying to intrude on my thoughts, almost like a voice in my head that was just out of hearing. I made it to this stream, and that's where I saw what I was. At the time I couldn't remember what had happened, but I knew the face staring back at me was horribly wrong."

She held him for a few more moments before kneeling down in front of him and bringing his face around to look at hers. "Well, you know what happened now. You know who you are, where you came from, and that you're not alone any more. I'm right here with you and I always will be." She bumped her forehead against his and held it there for a moment, just enjoying the closeness. "Come on sweety," she said quietly, just for him. "Let's get away from here."

Once they got up, Blackheart retrieved his old sword and shield from the ground. He didn't understand how they had kept up so well over the years; maybe it was something about this place. It was almost as if they were still waiting for him. He hefted the sword slicing through the air, the familiar weight of it coming back to him. When his father had died they had never returned with a body, only with his sword. When he had joined the military, he had taken it down from the attic of their small house. A few memories came untangled and floated up to him then. He was back in his house, his mother and siblings all watching him silently as he packed his things to go. He knew that, after his father had never returned, they didn't want him to go away as well. But this was something he felt he had to do, and his family knew that once something was set in his mind, there was no stopping it. The memory of that last hug from his mother, of the single tear she had shed as he walked out the door, almost brought him to his knees again. He silently promised them that he would see them soon.

When he was about to put the sword away that familiar sense of approaching danger tingled in the back of his head. He looked around and sniffed the air, but could see nothing. "Something's wrong." He said to his companions. Miakoda strung her bow and fitted and arrow and Kalara prepared what she had left of her magic. Finally a scent wafted to him, and when he recognized it his hairs stood on end. It was the scent of a wild beast; the scent of a worgen. He could think of nothing worse that they could have found. "We're not alone." He said, and as if in answer a blood chilling howl split the air. It was soon joined by two more. Memories of his last experience in the Howling Vale came rushing back to him.

Apparently, all the worgen weren't gone quite yet.