Disclaimer: I do not own Blizzard. Naolin and Viola are my toons though. Lockehart was used with permission.
Chapter Two
"So, how'd you get your pet?" Viola plopped down on a small sheet in front of the tent they had set up. Locke was reclining on the ground across from Naolin, a hand propping her head up as she laid on her side. Upon hearing Viola's question, the mysterious kal'dorei had taken sudden interest and looked up at Naolin, idly nibbling on a marshmallow.
"Hm?" Looking over to the black lion resting next to her, Naolin smiled lightly, "Humar? I saved his life…"
She reached out and scratched behind Humar's ear, satisfied to hear the purr.
--
"Come on, papa! We're gonna miss the ship!"
"Yah, yah hold yer horses, Nao. I ain't a youngin anymore," a man in his mid 30's chuckled as he caught up with his energetic daughter, "You keep runnin' off from me, you can't blame me!"
The young blood elf giggled, "Sorry, Pa. Just trying to keep you in shape." With that, she smirked.
"hey now! You sayin' that yer old dad's fat, huh?" The man let out a fake sniff and pouted, "you're mean."
"Oh, I'm kidding! Come on, lets goooo…. I wanna ride the ship!"
"Ya go ahead, I'll catch up. Just don't stray off the road! Ya hear me, Nao?" He shouted out to the retreating form of his daughter and chuckled softly, "She'll be the death of me one day."
"Don't worry, Pa!" the young girl shouted back.
About halfway down the road, the sight of fleeing gazelles stopped Naolin in her tracks. It looked like they were running away from something. Just then, she had a strange feeling. Like something… or someone was in trouble.
Trying to shake off the ominous feeling, she kept walking down the road towards Ratchet. Although she kept a safe distance from the gazelles in case.
The feeling, however, did not fade away. It grew stronger instead.
Then she heard it. Faint crying.
Suddenly alert, Naolin peered around and out across the meadows surrounding her. When she glanced over to the left side, a black furry creature caught her eye. From a distance, she could tell it was a young panther cub.
'What is it doing out here and not in a jungle?'
It wasn't long before she realized where the crying was coming from.
The cub was crying out in fear.
Nearby, two raptors were stalking closer to the cub. With a fear-stricken heart, Naolin ran with all she had towards the cub.
"Oi, Naolin! Where you goin'?? Get back on the road!" Ignoring the shouts from her father, she spotted a large branch that had been broken off the tree and snatched it.
"Away! Get away!" She shouted at the predators as she stepped in front of the cub and held the branch up in front of her defensively. One of the raptors became enraged, wanting it's meal now, launched towards the girl.
An arrow was fired in the side of it's head and it topped over with a shrill cry of pain. As the other raptor was distracted, Nao took a swing at it's head with the large branch and screamed at it again, "Get away, you beast!"
The raptor let out a pained cry and backed up before fleeing, deciding the meal wasn't worth it's death.
"Naolin! Don't do that again, ever!" His father stalked towards her with a bow in his hand, face slightly red with anger but his eyes held tremendous worry.
"But papa, they were going to kill this poor panther!" She turned to look at the cub to see if it was okay.
The cub whined out and cowered back against the tree. Naolin had almost cried when she saw it's body shaking from fear, "You poor thing… where could've your mother gone off to? Here, it's okay…" She cooed softly to the cat, she slowly reached her hand out. She knew not to be too forcing or rush it. It needed time to be reassured that it wouldn't be harmed.
"That's no panther… it's a rare breed lion," The man muttered softly as he crouched down next to his daughter and smiled, "See that small mane?"
Naolin was amazed. She had never seen a lion in such color ever and it was the most unique thing. Her face lit up when the cub slowly padded towards the extended hand and sniffed at it timidly. When the cub looked up to lock it's gaze with the girl, Naolin gawked in awe at it's emerald eyes.
The girl's father smiled again happily at the sight. The cub had licked her hand, as if it was letting her know he trusts her.
"Y'know, you'll make a great hunter one day, princess."
A soft smile crept across Naolin's lips as she petted the cub, "Mom said that too."
"Only if she were here to see this. She'd be proud…" the man sighed and looked up at the sky.
"Don't worry, papa. She already knows," She sat down Indian-style and patted her lap, "Here, boy… don't be afraid."
Her father looked down back at his daughter, somewhat amazed. Yet, his heart warmed. He was proud of his little girl. She might be a child, but she seemed so grown up sometimes, "What will ya name him?"
Naolin blinked and looked back at him, "You mean I can keep him??"
"Of course… I don't see it's mother anywhere. Besides, he seems to like you." He nodded his head at the cub laid across her laps, purring softly and licking at Nao's hand. From time to time, the cub would bite at her hand playfully, trying to make her play with him or rather, to get her attention.
"…I think I'll name him Humar," she gently threaded her fingers through the cub's rich fur and smiled yet again, "Humar the Pridelord."
--
"Wow… that poor guy! I wonder where his mother was," Viola frowned and looked at Humar who was sleeping peacefully, "How long it's been?"
"Ten years now, saved him when I was ten years old. What about yours? I must say, that is the most beautiful animal I've seen!"
Viola grinned as she glanced over at her cat, "Her name is Artemis."
Artemis' ears perked up and she looked up when she heard her name. It's eyes gave off a faint glow as she purred at Viola.
"Huh, it's eyes…?"
"Ah, they only glow brightly when she is engaged in battle. I still do not know why." the purple-haired elf blew out the fire that had caught on the marshmallow and smeared the softened food onto a slab of chocolate on a graham cracker, "She was given to me on my eleventh birthday. Had her for nine years now. She may be an old girl but she's still strong, very strong." Viola smiled as the white tigress licked her cheek and padded off towards a small pond nearby.
"I see," the sin'dorei quietly mused and chewed on her marshmallow before swallowing it. After hearing about how Viola got her pet, she was more curious about how the other elf got her wolf.
Out of the blue, a strange language was shouted out from a distance. Naolin was able to classify it as Common from the latin words.
"Shit. It's one of the alliance guards. I think they're looking for you!" Viola cried out and stood up.
Naolin let a low growl, "It must be that druid I ran in back at Booty Bay!"
"Wait a minute, did the druid come out as an arrogant asshole then ran away?"
"Yeah, he did!"
The kal'dorei let out a huff, "No wonder! That punk really needs to get a new hobby! Come on, we have to get out of here. For all we know, he could be watching us right now."
"Oh, I'll go and give him something to rat about," Lockehart finally grumbled and got up, "Saya, you stay with them." After she ordered her wolf, she disappeared off in the woods towards the guards' shouts.
"So, I'm not the only member of the Horde faction that had been ratted by him?"
"Nope. His name's Ferado… he's like the bloodhound for Stormwind. All he does is sniff out any Horde and tell on their location and where they're headed. Pathetic, really. I don't believe that you're working for the Burning Legion. I've seen Horde fighting against them." Viola explained as she hurried around, gathering up the sheets and started on taking down the tent. "Nao, you should get out of here now. Don't worry about these, I'll take care of it.."
"Viola… thank you. I'll never forget you. Tell Locke I said goodbye, aye?"
The kal'dorei smiled genuinely at Nao, "You got it. I hope to see you again. Please, take care. You too, Humar." Viola petted the cat who had awoke from the shouting and whistled for her pet to come. "Oh, do you have a flappy?"
"Say wha?"
She laughed softly, "Ah, a flying mount. We call them flappies… more faster to say."
"Oh," the sin'dorei chuckled along with her, "Yes, I do have one."
"Alright, good. I suggest you head to Westfall near the shore and take off from there. They'll hear you here."
With a firm nod to the young kal'dorei, Naolin bid her farewell and gathered up her quiver along with her bow and ran off by the river heading west towards Westfall.
--
The bushes not too far from the tent where Viola was rustled quietly as a stealth slinked it's way through it.
"You're truly a moron, you know that, Ferado?" A husky voice growled at the bush.
"Heh… I see you're helping the scum, Locke. Pathetic. Maybe I should inform the guards of that," the druid sneered at the huntress as he slipped out of stealth mode in his panther form.
"How about I just kick yer ass right here and now," Locke casually grasped the strap of her quiver and pulled it off of her, letting it fall to the ground by her, "No weapons or spells. Nothing. Just our fists, how about it?" With that, she cracked her knuckles and grinned at the druid, "Oh, no forms either."
A scoff, "Right. You're wasting my time. Now if you'll excuse me--"
"Oh? So, you're afraid to fight me? Some underdog you are."
Offended by the accusation, the druid growled at her, "Fine! You got it." He morphed into his elf form and glowered at the female. As predicated, he was a fool to take the first shot and tried to strike his fist across her jaw.
Unfortunately he was too slow and Locke was faster to react and sent a right hook to his stomach before sending her left to his face, hard.
The druid spat out a mouthful of blood and wiped the rest off his lip with his hand, "Wow, you hit like an old lady…"
Another punch was thrown, right at his nose. Locke smirked when she heard the sickening crack of his nose breaking, "Better?"
"YOU BITCH!" He held his nose to stop the bleeding and glared at her.
"Hey! What's going on here?!" Locke muttered a profanity under her breath as an alliance guard approached the two, obviously having heard the commotion.
"Oh, nothing. He tried to feel me up, so I had to stop him, you see."
"W-what?! That's a lie!" The druid cried out and pointed at his nose, "You see my nose?!"
"Uh-huh, serves you right for trying to rape her!" The guard made grabbed the druid and twisted his arm behind him, "Come on, off to the dungeon with you! Don't think you can try anything, Brock here has a spell-warder."
Another guard glared at the man and held up a blue glowing crystal. The druid knew he was helpless now. The crystal was used to lock the spells on any caster, preventing them from using it against the guards.
With a last grin and wink at the druid, Locke picked up her quiver and headed off towards Viola.
--
"Damnit, I gotta deliver this damn letter before I head back home," Naolin sighed heavily. She had been hiking across acres of lands and a river or two to get to her destination. A burden was lifted off her shoulders as she saw the sea up ahead. After securing the grounds around her, she reached down the collar of her armor and pulled out a small silver whistle.
She gave it a firm blow and the whistle gave out a shrill cry, as if it was calling for something.
No longer than a moment or so later, a large shadow swept over the ground towards Naolin and stopped above her. She grinned as she looked up at the large creature. It's long, black and transparent wings moved through the air gracefully, keeping it's body hovering. It looked just like a dragon except it didn't breathe fire. It's skin was as black as the night sky. Naolin moved so the nether drake could land. She looked into it's bright blue eyes as it stared back at her, awaiting her command.
"Good boy, let's go to Karazhan," She climbed up onto it's back and buckled herself in with the leather straps of the seat on the drake's back. She then wrapped the reins around her hands firmly and tugged on them.
Obeying the huntress, the drake spread out it's massive wings and pushed itself up into the air. The huntress let out a content sigh when the air blew against her as the drake flew at a steady pace towards her next destination.
Not too far from where Naolin had just summoned her mount, a pair of emerald eyes watched silently and the onlooker let out a soft sigh before shaking few leaves off it's purplish-blue fur and slinked away.
TBC
Author's notes: Yes, I know that flying mounts can't be used in old world, but I thought I'd change that one little fact in my story to make it more interesting. :P