Chapter 7: Pack Mentality
"Not Sparse?" Zackel said. "What, was there someone behind him, pulling some scheme you screwed up? Or…did you have a friend who was really more trouble, but Sparse's more irritating obviousness kept you from noticing him?"
"No. Good guesses though." Rielle said. "My 'error' was thinking I'd gotten the message clear across when I exposed his cheating. I did, to everyone who had sense. Do you know who didn't have sense?"
"Sparse?"
"Think a little bigger."
"…the mages in general."
"Like I said. Multitudes was THEIR game. You would think Sparse's disclosure as a cheat would have gotten him kicked out of their little clique. Wrong! Remember how I was talking about how mages had trouble grasping certain parts of reality, because of ego and whatnot? What I failed to account for was just how far they'd go to hold onto their comforting delusion." Rielle said. "I will tell the truth, Zackel. My species practices magic, and holds it in high esteem. But my experience with mages has been, had been, small before I'd joined the Wintergrasp efforts. And from what your fellows showed me…you're all a bunch of bastards."
"What did they do." Zackel said, a hand over his face again.
"Well, since Sparse didn't bother me after that, I didn't see what was coming. I'm thinking Sparse convinced them I did what I did as some sort of plot to make them all look bad. Even down and out, he seemed to have a talent for presenting his case, pack of lies or no." Rielle said. "'Look at the warrior. She made everyone thing all us magic users are cheats and frauds. All the while she had one of her own dealing the cards. She deserves to be taught a lesson.' And so on."
"You're probably pretty close." Zackel said, hand still on his face. "What happened?"
"I thought I'd prevented problems from forming between our ranks." Rielle said. "Turns out that my efforts were a waste. These idiots didn't want solutions. They wanted to be right. No matter what they had to do to get it. A few weeks later, they got their chance."
The recently fallen snow crunched under Rielle's boots as she made her way towards her goal: the semi-volcanic crater dubbed the Cauldron of Flames. She didn't know her two companions well: they were both recent additions to the ranks at Wintergrasp. One, a Dwarf hunter called Fomfur Rockspark, was turning one of his gun bullets over and over in his fingers, his gorilla companion pet walking alongside him quietly and obediently. The other was a black mage, one Wirekoth Gleamember, who broke tradition with mages by wearing pants and a vest instead of a robe. He carried twin wands on his back: supposedly he had created a unique custom spell that let him fire off bolts of energy like one of the circular cannons dwarves were forever failing to get to work properly.
"Hold it." Fomfur said, stopping. His gorilla, who Rielle didn't know the name of, stopped to scoop up some snow and eat it. After a few seconds of doing so, the primate chuffed and began pacing around.
"Grasp's got a taste of something. Uncomfortable. Might be magical track covering." Fomfur said.
"Can't you tell?" Wirekoth asked.
"You're the wizard, lad. I thought maybe you could."
"Great." Rielle said, turning around. "Okay, look. We need to confirm whether there's been a resurgence of elementals in the Cauldron, and we need to do it without tipping off the Horde. Split up. Fomfur, go get our backup and tell them to also split up. Wirekoth, you'll go to the rendezvous point and meet up with me there. You encounter the Horde, you don't fight, you run. Don't want them to get any idea there might be something that we, and by extension they, can get from the area." Rielle said.
"Sure that's wise lass?" Fomfur said.
"A group is easier to spot than individuals. I packed invisibility potions just in case: they don't allow rogue levels of stealth, but they'll do." Rielle said, tossing one of said potions to Wirekoth before looking up and checking the sun. "We'll meet at the selected location in twenty-five minutes. Fomfur, you and the backup will meet at the fallback spot. If we're not there, proceed to the main rendezvous. If you run into Horde, retreat. We'll assume that you DID run into Horde if you're slow, so don't be."
"Got it." Wirekoth said, adjusting his glasses as he spoke.
"Okay then. Let's get a move on, they're not paying us by the hour." Rielle said, as the three separated and headed off their own ways.
"…it had to have been planned." Rielle said, scratching at her ebony-silver hair. "It was too neat not to be. They just needed me to put myself in the right situation, and I did. I think Wirekoth may have been along with me just for that."
"He didn't head for where you were supposed to meet?"
"Oh no, I think he did one better." Rielle said. "That being going just close enough to step in when it was needed."
"Step in?"
"I got to the point on time. No one was there." Rielle said. "It was a good location for surveillance. Well hidden. I'm just letting you know that, so what's about to happen seems clearer."
Rielle cursed under her breath, glancing skyward at the sun once more. Wirekoth was seven minutes late. Maybe she shouldn't have trusted a rookie to know where he was going.
Or maybe he'd run into Horde, an event that would technically fall under being 'her fault'. Rielle raked a nearby rock with her fingers and thought over her options. As it had turned out, there was NOT an elemental resurgence happening in the Cauldron: indeed, there were no elementals at all. The mission was a wash, and she really should have just left. The fact that Wirekoth hadn't actually done anything to earn her impatience made her stay a bit longer.
The captain wasn't going to be pleased. The Horde had launched a massive campaign the previous week, and supplies were starting to run short. They needed more material for their vehicles, and that was one thing Dalaran could not easily provide. Maybe they'd have to reach even farther afield. Between that, and the whispers that had begun passing through the ranks of something vast and dark sleeping in the cracks of Northrend, another terror to add to the Lich King as problems faced by the adventurers who had come here, something called Yogg-Saron, it didn't seem like the…
The rock seemed to liquefy beneath Rielle's hand. The draenei barely had time to let out a noise of surprise before her whole cover gave way and she was suddenly sliding down the mountainside. The bouncing, rolling trip was anything but pleasant. Neither was the landing, as Rielle crashed down on the scorched black rock and dirt of the Cauldron, a snarling curse emitting from between her teeth.
Her second curse died on her lips as she looked up. Even as she did, she realized that she hadn't just been subjected to a random, catastrophic rockslide. Her hiding place, and a route down into the Cauldron, had been broken apart and transformed by outside hands. Specifically, by a Tremor Totem belonging to the Tauren shaman she could now see.
The shaman wasn't alone. A Forsaken rogue was tossing a dagger in his left hand, his grin made far more hideous by the fact most of his cheeks had rotted away. Behind the rogue, a black-cloaked orc warlock laid a hand on his felhunter minion, the dog-like demon snapping its teeth at the air, acidic spittle dripping down on the ground. The blood elf hunter that rounded up the foursome had an even nastier looking pet, a giant dire wolf that began prowling around to fully cut off Rielle's escape.
Rielle felt her mouth go dry. She had no idea if, or when, any backup would be coming. She was on her own against six opponents.
A moment later, she stood up. A moment after that, she worked up enough saliva to spit, drawing her axe.
"All right then. Who wants some first?"
The rogue Forsaken laughed, before vanishing into nothing. The Orc warlock barked something and the felhunter took off towards Rielle, even as the Tauren sat down and meditated amongst her totems. Rielle's eyes darted back and forth, lowering into a defensive stance as she did so.
If the blood elf hunter had chosen to fire at her at that moment, it might have been all over. But it was clear the arrogant Horde member thought the deal was already done, and watched with sadistic glee the torment that was about to befall his opponent.
The felhunter leapt at Rielle.
Rielle did not introduce the summoned demon to the business end of her axe. Instead, she took two quick steps to the left and then swung the weapon's flat end like a baseball bat straight into the creature's side. In a battle between her strength and the demon's momentum, her strength won.
In the battle between her eyes and the faint traces the rogue left as it moved, the rogue lost, as Rielle smashed the felhunter directly into the rogue, completely catching him off guard and sending them both tumbling away. Even as the two impacted, Rielle took off at a dead sprint towards the hunter, whose bug-eyed expression of shock looked even more comical on the typically haughty face of a blood elf.
The orc warlock reacted better, snarling a curse in Orcish and then hurling a bolt of shadowy destruction at Rielle. He had good aim, leading the shot well, but Rielle had better reflexes, leaping over the small explosion as it impacted on the ground. The hunter finally recovered enough to order his dire wolf into the fray, and the giant canine took off at high speed, reaching Rielle in less then three seconds.
Its mistake was trying the same jumping tactic the felhunter had. Rielle didn't counter this time: instead she went low and slid right under the jumping wolf. The blood elf almost gaped at her, even as he went for one of the arrows in his quiver. Rielle spun up as the hunter nocked his projectile, taking aim.
"RARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" Rielle bellowed. She got her hoped-for end result, as the sudden noise startled the blood elf and threw off his aim, just a tad. In Rielle's case, that meant the arrow scraped her horn instead of imbedding itself in her forehead. Suspecting an intimidating shout wouldn't work again, Rielle lanced in and slashed down with her axe.
The hunter was quick, avoiding her attack and thus keeping both his hands from being severed at the wrist. He was not quick or clever enough to see that as the feint it was, as Rielle stomped on his foot and held him in place. Blood flew (quite apropos) as Rielle swung the hilt of her axe around and slammed it across the hunter's face. He went down like a sack of potatoes, and she swung her axe up to finish.
The dire wolf pounced on her, its teeth digging into her waist. Rielle hadn't been caught completely off guard though, and moved to protect herself: instead of using her axe, she dropped it, even as the impact of the wolf began to push her over. With insane speed that belied the armor she was wearing, Rielle twisted and broke away from the bite, the teeth snaring her personal packs and yanking them off in the process. The blood elf hunter was just starting to recover when Rielle seized the still-in-mid-air dire wolf and half threw half slammed the pet into its own hunter. Her axe hit the ground and was back in her hands within a second as she knelt down and snatched it up.
The warlock was whipping up another spell, red energies burning on his hands and eyes. Worse, the rogue was back, and had apparently decided stealth was for other battles. It was holding up a knife, runes alighting on it. Rielle knew, from her experience with Sognus and other rogues, what was coming next.
Even as the rogue whipped his hand out to throw the knife, several dozen others seemed to materialize out of nothing, firing in a wide arc before him. No escape. Nowhere to hide.
Rielle did neither, She charged.
Had the draenei run directly at the rogue, she would have been transformed into a pincushion. She didn't. Instead, she ran at an angle, deflecting what blades she could with her axe, several knifes still ricocheting and burying themselves in her armor. Rielle didn't slow her pace, trusting the fine craftsmanship she'd paid good money and reputation for to protect her, as she sprinted along the blackened rock of the cauldron. The rogue whipped out both primary knives to meet her.
Rielle ran past the Forsaken. It jerked its head to follow.
A second later the orc warlock finished its spell and thrust out both hands.
Said warlock had been paying too much attention to the spell: its target had just inserted the Forsaken rogue between him and her. For some spells, line of sight was what mattered.
The end result was the Forsaken bursting into flames instead of Rielle.
"RAUUUGGHHHHH!" The Forsaken yelled, doing a ridiculous dance as it fought to beat out the fire. Rielle gave a wicked grin and raised her axe.
The felhunter pounced on her, driving her onto her back. The draenei warrior just managed to get her axe hilt into the demon's mouth before it clamped onto her throat.
"Grahhhhhhh!" Rielle snarled, feeling the disgusting weight of the creature pressing down and clawing at her, acidic spittle landing and hissing on the ground beside her head as the felhunter jerked back and forth, trying to gnaw through the axe's metal handle and get at its prey.
"Bad doggy." Rielle hissed.
The knife she kept in her gauntlet sprang out as she twisted her wrist. Apparently the gnome engineers who had rigged the mechanism up actually knew what they were doing. So did Rielle, as she rammed the knife into the felhunter's throat. Its inhuman cry made Rielle feel like her ears were bleeding, but it also made the demon recoil, allowing Rielle to get her leg under it and hurl the creature several feet away.
"Play dead." Rielle said, spinning back up to her feet.
The green arc of energy struck her then, and it was like a switch had been thrown in her muscles. All of Rielle's adrenaline and battle lust abruptly died out, the alien collapsing to her knees as the weakness abruptly overcame her. She gasped at the suddenness of it, even as she recognized it. A warlock curse. She had to fight back, its crippling effects would only last a few seconds…
That was long enough for the blood elf hunter to get a shot off. The arrow struck Rielle and exploded, throwing her in a bone-breaking tumble across the ground. She came to a stop nearly twenty feet away.
Blood spilled out from Rielle's mouth as she gasped: her armor had held up but the impact of the arcane shot had been too much even for it: something was broken in her. Despite the one-two punch, she'd managed to hold onto her axe, and she tried to use it to push herself back to her feet.
The nasty humor that had been worn on the Horde's face was gone now, replaced by black hatred at how the so-called easy mark had made fools of them. Rielle knew that if they got the chance, they'd make her fate particularly ugly.
She'd tear her own throat out before she let them do that.
Even as the terrible situation loomed over her though, Rielle noticed something, out of the corner of her eye. Bright flashes of power, over a semi-distant hill. If her blood wasn't pounding so hard in her ears, she might have even heard sound to go along with the lights.
It was a brief observation, made before she returned to far more immediate matters. The Horde was spreading out again, and she doubted she'd manage to get another set of openings like she'd tried to exploit already. Worse, the rogue and forsaken seemed no worse for wear. Those damn shaman totems, likely fixing up the damage seconds after Rielle had inflicted it.
…Shaman…
…totems.
The blood elf hunter cocked another shot, this one meant to impale through the draenei's leg.
It hit the rock behind Rielle instead, as the alien forcibly broke through the remains of the curse and charged again.
Directly at the tauren shaman. The Horde had made another mistake in their anger, and left their support exposed.
The tauren, however, was not unprepared to defense herself, lifting up to her feet with a grace that matched Rielle's own, producing a black metal mace, blue runes of power shining on the head-sized orb. As Rielle closed in, the tauren lifted one foot.
Rielle struck first.
By bringing her axe down on the brown totem to the Shaman's left side. The tauren let out an alarmed snort, but was too late to stop the attack.
Attacking a shaman's totems was generally a bad idea. A shaman could restore them instantly, and worse, if you hit them when the shaman was drawing power through them, said power would be released all at one time, which never ended in a good way. In most situations, it was far too much of a risk.
This was not most situations. The madness of it all had even infected Rielle to the point where she preceded to grin at the Tauren.
"Ready to rock?" Rielle managed to ask.
The Tremor Totem spasmed once before the power within it unleashed, the equivalent of an earthquake in mid air. The shockwave of force consumed Rielle and the tauren in a dust cloud, throwing all the remaining Horde off their feet at the same time.
A few seconds later, the Tauren crashed down nearly forty feet away: the low to the ground nature of the totem had caused the force to primarily be directed upwards for her, tossing her across the Cauldron like she was a child's ball. The falling impact broke her leg, and it took her a few minutes to heal the injury and for her companions to recover themselves.
Their immediately-following hunt was intense, the four Horde members deeply eager to find the broken or dead body of the draenei warrior and properly assert their displeasure. The hunter quickly located a blood trail, and the four gave chase via it. Much to their great anger, it ended after nearly half a mile, along with some empty vials that the tauren confirmed had contained healing elixirs. Utterly furious, the hunter of the group had kept tracking, the other Horde eagerly behind him. Their rage caused them to walk into an Alliance ambush. All in all, for them, it ended up being a pretty lousy day.
Of course, Rielle didn't know the last events of the other side. All she knew was that she'd woken up from where she herself had been tossed, managed to get up (luck had been on her side when it came to landing), and stagger off until she finally managed to get her emergency bag out of its hidey-hole in her thigh armor, and bring herself back from the brink with the healing potions she kept there. Once she'd done that, she resumed bugging out.
She'd done it. She'd survived a four-on-one ambush.
If someone had told her that, in a way, the worst was yet to come, she would have laughed in their face.
"All right Zackel." Rielle said, pausing to take a drink. "Now based on this story, let's see if you reach the same conclusion I did."
"…you were set up."
"I severely doubt I could have been so properly exposed without someone knowing I was there."
"They tried to kill you."
"No. The mages weren't THAT stupid." Rielle said, her voice becoming grim. "I think the plan was that they were going to ride over the horizon and come rescue me, Sparse probably in the lead. In one fell swoop, he'd be able to repair all the damage I'd done. 'Look, Sparse came to the rescue of the draenei who exposed him for the lying cheat he is, he must not be so bad when the chips are down. How'd she end up in that situation? She split her companions up and went off on her own?' Never mind that's a normal tactical option, all it takes is for it to 'go bad' to make the person choosing it look bad. If I made any wild accusations of them being behind it, I'd look like I had a case of sour grapes for 'getting in over my head' and needing help. And of course, Sparse would justify it to everyone that HE, the mage, saved ME."
"…why would…"
"Why would the mages go along with it? Like I said, Zackel. Nothing to get people to do something stupid like give them a sense of false persecution." Rielle said. "I don't think me being sold out to the Horde was part of the known plan, though. I don't know how Sparse did that. Maybe through that Warlock, they have that Kilrogg eye thing…who knows. The problem for them came about when Sparse decided to trust the Horde. Bad idea. Remember those weird flashes I briefly saw? Thinking back, I recognized them as magic. I think Sparse's rescue party found themselves another party, a Horde one, who wasn't part of the plan. In the Horde's case, once Sparse opened his big mouth and made his deal, they probably thought several Alliance kills were better than one. So I go no rescue effort, as the mages had to rescue THEMSELVES. I made it out alive…but things could have been different. Very different."
"…well…are you sure they sold you out? It might have…"
"One last part, Zackel." Rielle said. "You see, I didn't realize all this at the time. I've been putting it together in my head while I've been lying here in this damn fortress. When this happened, I thought I'd just escaped a very dangerous situation THAT WAS SOLELY MY OWN BAD LUCK. I might not have even suspected anything…"
"…so what happened?"
"One final assumption, I presume." Rielle said. "For all the mages knew, I DID know about their little plot. Oh, they weren't so far gone as to try and kill me…but they still decided they had to get rid of me. And they did."
Running away from a bad situation could be very confusing to your sense of direction, and Rielle had gotten a touch lost before she'd finally managed to get back on track to Wintergrasp. At least she hadn't run into any more Horde along the way.
Indeed, the first face she saw was friendly (so to speak). She'd spotted the Wintergrasp fortress looming in the distance seconds before she'd spotted him, the Alliance member trying to remove a frozen plant that was located at the roots of a large tree.
"Hey! Hey!" Rielle said, waving her arm. The mage's head snapped up in surprise, frozen briefly in his crouch before he stood, something Rielle didn't notice as she walked up. "Thank the light. Wait I know you…Niraband isn't it?"
"Uh yes, yes miss." Niraband Chillbreath said. He was a rather short sample of a man, his face marked with ance scars and his hair in a long greasy red ponytail hidden beneath his robes. Rielle didn't know much about him: he mostly kept to himself.
"Had a real bad run in with the Horde. I need a portal."
"A portal?" Niraband said, his eyes widening a bit. At the time, Rielle didn't notice. Later, she recognized the expression: the faint surprise of someone who can't believe something just occurred. Specifically, something that had occurred as someone had insisted it would.
"Yes. To Dalaran. I lost all my supples, and my armor's seen better days." Rielle said. "I need to restock, get repaired, then I'll use Dalaran's direct portal to come back and tell Commander Zanneth what I learned. Say wait, have you seen Fomfur or Wirekoth? I was with them, but we got separated."
"Uh…um…I think they're back at camp?"
"Really? Damn it. Must have run into Horde. More bad luck for me. I think I just used up my share for the month, if not longer." Rielle mused. "Well, I'll check when I get there. Right now, make with the portal. I'll pay you back later. Promise."
"Uh, um…okay." Niraband said in a small voice, as he went hunting in his bags. Rielle tilted back her head and sighed, trying to let her sore muscles relax. Maybe she'd treat herself to a bath while in Dalaran: her intel wasn't so urgent that the commander needed to hear it right away. The thought of it kept her from noticing the fumbling nature and over-long time it took for Niraband to manifest his portal.
"Here." Niraband said in a small voice.
"Thanks kid. You're a life-saver." Rielle said, giving a thumbs up. Unlike the last times, she DID notice the way Niraband cringed back from the motion. "What? What's wrong?"
"What? Nothing!" Niraband said. Arching an eyebrow, Rielle placed her fingertips into the shifting void of the portal, but all she got was the cold tingling that indicated an established transfer. Anyone who took mage portals learned the signs of an incorrectly-called or unstable one, if one didn't want to end up fused into a wall or at the bottom of a deep lake. Rielle could notice none of those signs here.
"Yeesh. Calm down kid. Too much tension spoils the blood." Rielle said. "Your portal's fine."
"…okay." Niraband said, his voice still small and soft.
"Right." Rielle said, as she started heading into it. "Well, see you later kid, I'll make sure to toss you a bone…"
The motion to her right caught Rielle's ever-alert, supremely observant gaze, and she turned to look at it even as her forward momentum was carrying her into the portal.
Her eyes widened in surprise. Sparse.
"BONE voyage." Sparse said.
The mage's words hit her like a fist in the gut. Something was wrong. He couldn't just be here and his words and…The thoughts tumbled through the Draenei's brain, as she tried to turn around, to confront him, to…
Too late. She'd stepped too far into the portal. It had her now, and there was no resisting it. With her free hand, Rielle reached out to try and grab the wizard. He took one step backwards to avoid it, the smug grin never leaving his face.
It was that, as Rielle went completely into the portal, that made that event the worst of them. Even against four Horde, with death breathing down her neck, she could have taken consolation that she would have went down fighting, not backing down one iota. There, she had been able to DO something, even if it wouldn't have mattered in the end had things gone different.
Here, she could do nothing. She was helpless.
That was what made it the worst, as she tumbled through a cold void and finally emerged out the other end.
Her lone consolation was that she wasn't dumped into the massive crater where she emerged: instead she landed on the edge of it, falling face first onto the ground with a pained gasp. Her wits swiftly returned, and she surged up.
The change in temperature was what hit her first. She'd gone from borderline unpleasant cold to pleasantly warm. She'd traded ice and snow for green grass, a distant forest…and a giant crater in front of her, a crater with rocks floating in the air above it and a crackling field of purple energy extending for miles around the place. Rielle stared at the sight for several long seconds, before it finally clicked.
She'd asked to be sent to Dalaran. She'd gotten what she asked, in special sabotaged style. She was where Dalaran had ONCE been.
Countless miles from Northrend and with no direct way back.
When the rage came upon her, Rielle was surprised the grass beneath her body didn't burst into flames, as she threw back her head and screamed to the heavens.
"SPPPPAAARRRSSSEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
When she was done with the litany of curses she went through, she was also surprised to see no blue air before her either.
"And just as one final kick in the ass post-note to this mess, the Kirin Tor mages that were still stationed around the crater refused to portal me back to Dalaran. Something about not knowing me. Hell, I was barely able to talk one of them into fixing up my armor." Rielle said. "Once I'd figured out where I was, and since I lacked the EXALTED reputation I apparently needed to get them to expend more effort, I stalked off trying to find the Alterac Valley conflict I heard was happening in this area. The idea was I'd find a mage there and see if THEY would be more reasonable. But I haven't spent much time on this continent: I did most of my training over on Kalimdor. I got lost. The more lost I got, the angrier I got. And when I finally heard some noise and ran towards it, and found a bunch of ogres rampaging around a certain mage…well, I needed to blow off some stream."
"And then I went and got you stuck here with me instead of going back to Northrend." Zackel said.
"Yeah, there was that too."
Zackel said nothing. Rielle, having been examining her hand, looked up to see the melancholy in his eyes. She blinked.
"I'm sorry." Zackel said. "I'm…three times over sorry. For getting you stuck here, for not having Runes of Portals…and for anything else, everything else…I'm…I'm sorry."
"…Yeah." Rielle said. "Yeah, you are."
The words took a bit to sink in, and Zackel cocked his head. He wasn't sure if she had been accepting his apology, or throwing it back in his face. Considering the dark cloud that had descended on her as she'd told the latter half of her story, he wouldn't fault her for the latter.
"Then again…" Rielle said, reaching over and picking up a log. "Maybe it's for the best what happened. If I'd been ported back immediately, I probably would have immediately tracked the asshole down and cut Sparse in half. I believe the Alliance still frowns on first degree murder…" Rielle said, leaning in to add the log to the flames. "Extenuating circumstances or not…"
The fire flickered towards her, casting her face in its light. Zackel watched…
Flames everywhere.
The stink of blood and death.
Screams, distant and so close…
That red, laughing, laughing mouth…
Zackel wasn't even aware of the long, thin dagger of ice forming between his clenched hands. Rielle, on the other hand, was quick to notice it.
"Zackel?"
Zackel blinked as reality violently re-asserted itself. He was back by the fire, sitting on the furs he'd worked so hard to clean.
"What are you doing?" Rielle said, still by the fire, having shifted to a slightly more wary stance. Zackel became aware of the moisture in his hands, and looked down at the weapon of frost he'd formed there. He blinked a few times.
"Uh…." Zackel said, before putting a hand behind his head, a sheepish grin appearing on his face. "Sorry, zoned out for a moment there. Must be more tired than I thought."
"Uh huh. What's that?" Rielle said, pointing at the ice knife.
"Just…a drink stirrer. Cooler. Both." Zackel said, inserting it into his summoned drink and swirling it around. "Sorry for the pointy part. That's what happens when I don't pay attention."
Rielle stared for a moment, and then crawled over. Zackel knew the forehead flick was coming, and let it happen as she leaned in and did it.
"Ow."
"Next time, do. Really." Rielle said. Zackel was about to reply, before he realized just how close the draenei was. Specifically, with how close she was, how deep her glowing eyes became.
Zackel said nothing. He just looked. At the soft illumination, and the depths within.
"Lergh. Bad breath." Rielle said, breaking the moment as she moved back to her spot. "Well, my story time is done. So unless you have something interesting to say, you might as well go take your pointy drink stirrer and go stir your drink over on your sleeping arrangements."
"Well…" Zackel said, stirring his summoned water. It was best not to tell Rielle the real reason he'd reacted the way he did. He doubted she'd like it. "My life is pretty boring."
"For some reason I doubt that will keep you from telling me anyway."
"Oh not much to tell." Zackel said. "When I was one, I was dropped on the porch. When I was two, I had pneumonia. When I was three, I got the chicken pox. When I was four, I fell down the stairs and broke six ribs. When I was five, my uncle was decapitated by a watermelon. When I was six, my parents hit me in the head with a shovel. When I was seven, I lost my index finger to my pet rat…"
Rielle cocked her head and stared.
"When I was eight, my dog Spike got hit by a harvest golem. When I was nine, my mother lost her arm to a rabid Goretusk. When I was ten, my sister was torn to bits by a pack of dogs. When I was eleven, my grandfather killed himself because I was ugly. When I was twelve, my grandmother killed herself because I was ugly. When I was thirteen, my father poked out his eyes with a pitchfork in a drunken stupor. When I was fourteen, my brother lost his hand to a carrion bird. When I was fifteen, my aunt choked to death on a chicken bone. When I was sixteen, I lost my cousin to a gnoll. When I was seventeen, I cut off my left big toe with a hoe. When I was eighteen, my father lost his right leg to the same harvest golem that killed my dog. When I was nineteen…"
Rielle tried to hide the smirk and brief chuckle: the ridiculousness had finally managed to get even to her. Zackel noticed anyway.
"I knew if I kept chucking excrement at the walls, something would stick."
This time, Rielle smacked Zackel with one of his bunched-together furs, knocking him on his side.
"I shouldn't be surprised you'd be well-acquired with excrement." Rielle said.
"I think you broke something."
"Considering how fragile you are, I would think I broke a few somethings." Rielle said. "Storytime is done, Zack. Go to bed."
"I think I'm paralyzed."
"Fine I'll kick you over there."
"I can walk! It's a miracle!" Zackel proclaimed, scrambling away from the draenei before she could inflict more punishment on him.
"No, a miracle would be if you can actually get through a conversation with me without me hitting you." Rielle said, lying down on her bedding. "Oh, and by the way, tomorrow you're cleaning the privy. It's positively WRETCHED."
Zackel groaned to himself, but said nothing. He'd been expecting that to come sooner or later.
He was starting to doze off again when Rielle spoke.
"Zackel?"
"M'yeah?" Zackel muttered.
"…you're not a bastard."
To that, Zackel again had no reply.