Urgh. I'm sorry about this massive delay, I'm really being pounded in this last week before the exam. This Chapter is a little slow, and short, but hopefully after exams in 5 odd days, I will be able to sit down for a good few hours and get a decent chapter up. If you're reading this, thanks for reading, I'll get the next chapter up in at most a week.
Part Two: A New World
Chapter Four: Seein' Gnomes
A soft wind pushed the escapees of Gnomeregan forward towards Ironforge. Perhaps it felt mercy, or perhaps it was just a gentle wind. It had a small amount of bite from the hills around, but the Gnomes had far more on their mind than the weather. Each of them still felt the bite one feels when they lose a majority of their people. Each of them felt the sore pain of having to flee, leaving their possessions, even their families behind.
Meanwhile, this sorrow, and this sick feeling, was nowhere to be found among the Dwarves of Ironforge. Most were continuing with everyday life, all unaware of the plight that had fallen upon Gnomeregan. Dwarves wandered about selling their wares, forging armour and weapons, crafting and exploring.
Outside the great mountain, the vigilant Mountaineers watched over Dun Morogh. They warded off the occasional wolf or bear that threatened travellers. They also delivered news quite often and gave information to adventurers or merchants. This life often left them with a lot of spare time, and spare time for Dwarves often led to...
"Beer," one such mountaineer exclaimed, as he took a mug that was passed to him.
"Yer eyes are bigger than yet liver Baerlan," another Mountaineer warned, "Five is too much, even fer a keg like yerself."
"I'm no sissy," Baerlan replied. He wasn't an actual mountaineer, generally being a drunk reduced employment opportunities especially in careers of discipline. As if he needed to prove the fact that he could drink more alcohol than healthy, he tipped the jug up and sent the thick Dwarven liquid down his throat (or, in his beard as most of it did).
"Well, you sure showed me," the Mountaineer next to Baerlan commented, shaking his head in disbelief as he waited a few moments to see if the drunken dwarf would fall or stay standing. Disbelief that someone could consume so much alcohol and still stand, and disbelief that someone could actually willingly consume so much alcohol. Now, any self respecting Dwarf would say there's no such thing as too much alcohol. But when you were at a forward post, where the majority of your day was spent cautiously warding off bears, there was such a thing as too much alcohol.
Baerlan proved this, as he stumbled over and used a fence to prop himself up. He actually looked quite awkward; half perched up, staring off into the distance, cocking his head as if he was looking at something interesting. "I... I think I... lil' bit too much..." he stuttered, almost at the point where he was going to fall over.
"Ya think?" the Mountaineer rolled his eyes, moving forward to help Baerlan up.
"I'm seein' Gnomes," he almost cried out.
"What?" the Mountaineer exclaimed, sighing yet again. One of his cousins had once started seeing Gnomes, they had to cart him off to Stormwind to find a priest, while he babbled about kodos. "Get up you old foo..." he trailed off as he saw what Baerlan was looking at. "What?" he whispered again, his jaw dropping as he too was "seein' gnomes."
The Mountaineer dropped Baerlan and took a step forward, "Gnomes?" he questioned, as if he was wanting a confirmation that they were indeed not a hallucination.
Vimmi happened to be at the front of the group, and she was actually disoriented enough to barely even notice the others, only intending to march to Ironforge and tell them, before falling into a heap and sleeping for a week. However they seemed to follow her like a leader, they were all as scared and lost as she was. Tozzle almost didn't stop staring at her, he thought she was more like her mother than ever, marching on even when she should have fallen long ago.
"Help..." was all Vimmi could gather from her shattered thoughts.
"By Magni's beard, what happened?" the Mountaineer asked, moving forward nearly stunned.
"Gnomeregan has fallen," Vimmi moaned, falling to her knees in admittance of the fact. Behind her, the injured moaned, some of them falling to their knees too. Some of them were even crying, almost as if it hadn't happened until now, when Vimmi had said it. As if they were too lost to even realize today's events, until now.
The Mountaineer's eyes widened, "By the titans," he breathed again, his fingers stumbling and clutching for a horn on his belt. He lifted it up to his lips and blew a trembling blast, before adjusting his grip and blowing a proper one. It only took a minute for a messenger to sprint down towards the Dwarf from up near Ironforge. He was ready for this often, most of the time the message was something along the lines of: "We have a bear carcass, fetch someone to cook it." However today, it was a lot worse.
"Yes, what is i..." the messenger trailed off too, "What the..."
"Go tell Ironforge!" the Mountaineer snapped, "Make lodgings and food and shelter, Gnomeregan has been lost, tell the King!"
The Messenger turned and stumbled into sprint, his mind racing as fast as his legs. He shouted out to the other Mountaineers on the way, who reacted by running down the hill also, to help the Gnomes up to Ironforge before they froze to death. All of them shivering and moaning, as ice slicked over their wounds and their breath frosted at their little mouths.