In the distance, the grey silhouette of Valiance keep was a mere spot on the coastline, its edges grew hazy and eventually disappeared within the embrace of fog.
Taiva's steps were rather slow and wary, muscles would tense as sounds of clashing metal, painful cries, and inhuman screeches grew in volume. She only needed to walk for a few minutes until she was close enough to hear the horrid sounds of battle. They pierced through her nerves as sharp as they did the air. It wasn't that the elf was a coward, she had fought ruthlessly against enemies and killed all the same, which made her a fitting soldier for onslaught on the horde, however engaging combat with something so deviate from anything she knew of was what really filled her with anxiety.
They were abominations of nature.
She had planned on taking a certain route to avoid the entire slaughter of alliance infantries and agents of the Lich King, who appeared as monstrous, insect-like beasts.
Though the assault on the keep would remain at the same pace, it never seemed to cease, it was another reason why she wouldn't want much to do with it. To her, it was a foolish rat race, one that costs the lives of many men and women. Perhaps the whole ordeal could be avoided easily on her behalf; the druid could assume her flight form and reach her destination without the risk of being attacked and at a much quicker speed. The burden she had to carry along with her as a necessity, and bladed staff strapped to her back reminded her why she simply couldn't do that.
Next to come was the pungent odor of rotting corpses and coppery blood, they drifted through the atmosphere like the echoing cries, yet the night elf was determined to continue on her path. Her intent was to get out of the area altogether as soon as she could.
With luck, she had gone on for awhile without interruption. She had tried at best to keep her distance from wherever the soldiers and beasts were fighting, eventually she learned to try and mute them out. She wouldn't let it get to her, as long as she had nothing to do with it, there would be nothing about it she would need to worry about. Or atleast that's what she kept on telling herself.
But then, over all the sounds of chaos, one shrill, distressed cry rang above the others.
Her head swiveled towards the noise immediately, eyes searching through the fog for what ever made it. It sounded like an aged woman. Taiva wasn't quite sure exactly why it had grabbed her attention, but the next thing she heard both confirmed what the bearer of the sound was and that it did indeed have it.
"My poor, poor, child!"
The voice came out like a desperate sob.
Child? She echoed in her own mind. This was a place for anything but a child. Why a child would possibly be out here, she didn't know. She herself found outside the walls of Valiance Keep rather discouraging to venture off to. She huffed out a sigh. It was likely another one of those instances where some young boy wanted to be brave and help out.
"Hello?"
She had stopped moving altogether now, instead calling out to perhaps hear a response that could better tell where the stranger was located.
Silence.
Without another moment of hesitation, she decided what she would have to do. Any apprehensiveness within the night elf disappeared, and she found herself racing towards the voice as fast as her long limbs would carry her. Leather boots would kick up clumps of dirt and dust; she sprinted blindly into the fog before a human woman came into view, her hair dark and earthy streaked with silvery-grey strands, and cloth robe soaked with blood.
She made her way around the aged woman until the distraught expression on her face was apparent. It possibly made her look older than her years, which Taiva could have guessed was around her late forties.
Now the druid could see the blood soaking the woman's robe was not in fact her own. Not a big surprise, actually.
A boy lay propped up against her lap while she knelt down. Puddling viscous liquid gathering around the two, source of the fluid was from spewing stab wounds in the human child's torso just on the ribcage.
A rifle was in place on the soil just a hand's reach from the wounded boy's grasp.
The woman gasped as soon as she saw the night elf. She probably was hoping for aid from her own kind, nonetheless, the situation didn't call for her to be picky. She spoke regardless.
"My son- he's only ten, he shouldn't of been out here. Now something has attacked him."
The possibility that one of the Nerubians that plagued the area had been the attacker was not likely. The creatures would of ravaged his corpse to shreds, the Mother would find the mangled carcass of her son, no doubt.
Taiva narrowed her eyes as to study the wound.
"No," she said. "Someone stabbed him." She was now bent down beside the woman.
"Goddamnit, I don't care who did what to him at the moment, he's bleeding to death!"
Flinching, she tried not to take offense to the woman's words. Indeed, she was right, if not also a bit abrupt. Honestly though, she couldn't blame her. There was her son, damaged, unconscious and bloodied, dying in her arms.
Reaching out to rest a hand near the wound, her fingers stroked the gaping hole and began to glow a light tint of forest green. Her eyes were shut in concentration, but she suddenly opened them again in a matter of moments after.
The stab wound between the boy's ribs had declined it's bleeding before she would stop the process of healing it.
She could sense it, something that wasn't right. Something invasive and unnatural within the boy's bloodstream.
The night elf thought she could even smell it, a strong, sickening, chemical odor through the scent of all the blood, but there was no telling for sure.
"He's poisoned…" She began, not wanting to meet the eyes of the woman to see her reaction.
"Well, what are you going to do, druid?" There was a hint of sour impatience in the woman's voice.
Taiva had no specialty in the area of healing wounds, although she could briefly lessen the severity of one. The only reason she could do this was because her Mother, being a priestess, had taught her how in the past, incase desperate times ever called for such a thing.
It was obvious now was the time.
"I am no healer." Taiva glanced up to meet the woman's glassy brown eyes, now hooded by slightly furrowed brows.
There was a pang of pity felt there, to see the hopelessness the entire region carried cast upon the sole human female's face was mortifying.
"What I mean to say," The elf corrected herself, "is that since something has poisoned him, I can't simply just close his wounds, either can I fully remove the poison… I'm sorry."
"So why waste your time appearing here?" The woman was now patting her son lightly on the forehead, disdainful expression now becoming a scowl.
The druid couldn't help but sigh inwardly. "I'm trying to do what I can."
She traced the punctured flesh with her fingers again, once more shutting her eyes in concentration. This time the skin around the wound began to scab, the bleeding had almost ceased altogether. She knew the boy needed a proper healer, not one like herself.
"Go now," she proclaimed, "bring him back to the keep. Make haste. I can only do so much."
The woman blankly nodded to night elf and gave empty words of thanks. She scooped up the limp child by the back of his knees and shoulders, making a small grunt by the effort and grabbed the rifle, racing back into the mist the direction the druid had came from.
Taiva just knelt on the dampened ground and stared at her own digits, now covered in the blood of an innocent child. A more disturbing thought about the situation came to mind as she did so. It was something that woke her from the perfect world she had seen so far in her younger days, and bought her to reality.
Somewhere out there, someone's hands were coated in the poor thing's blood too, but not because they were aiding his wounds, rather because they had done such a horrifying deed- without a regret.
...
The sky, now hued orange and pink seemed so out of context to the somber colors of Borean Tundra.
Everywhere she would look, she would see different shades of brown, like the matted dry grass, bush and soil, grey in the stone pillars, or even whiteness that splotched the mountains in the distance. But the sun had begun to set, and the time of day surprisingly made the clouded sky a beautiful display of colors.
It almost seemed unreal, that some place so plagued and troubled could at all be beautiful.
Taiva knew, however, that the beautiful part was soon to end. The colors were soon to fade away in a matter of hours, give or take; instead, immense darkness would spread across the region in the form of night. Judging by the thick blanket of clouds that never seemed to be cast away, it would likely be an empty, moon and starless night.
Her eyesight was quite strong in the gloom obviously, but she could only begin to guess what kind of dangerous creatures would come out at night, taking advantage of the shadows. And so she found that it would be most logical to search out a place for the night. Her journey would continue on tomorrow, and she would finally be out of this unsightly place.
Thoughts of being able to leave the region the next day was enough to give Taiva the will to go on. The excitement of battle made her pick up a pace to get as close to the borders of Wintergrasp as she could before settling down for the night.
The druid had taken the form of a saber; sleek pale salt tinted fur covered her frame and kept in her body heat. She had been taking advantage of the auxiliary speed it gave her, taken up a good pace and running along the pathway until twilight had come.
The colors faded along with the light, ravishing orange and pink had become dimmed, dull ebon clouds once again.
By the time this happened, her lungs burned and heart raced. The bottoms of the pads on her paws were sore and worn from running on the hard ground. She decided the time to stop travelling would be now. She soon found herself strolling casually along the fields along the bases of the snow peaked mountains until she found a suitable spot to rest. She glanced and sniffed about, nothing seemed to be askew here in the least.
Something about being in her animal forms calmed her down. It made her feel more attuned to nature, even in such unnatural parts. The druid let out a sigh, which came out as a low growl, and shook her haunches to make the pack roll off her back and onto the long grass. It rustled as the wind blew by, and the breeze that once seemed so chilling and alien actually felt nice on her over- sweltered skin.
She then flopped over; sore frame met the cushiony carpet like foliage the terrain had to offer. Golden eyes grew hooded as she gazed into the dark, empty abyss of The Borean Tundra night sky. Surprisingly relaxed, she hadn't even bothered to set up a camp. The day's earlier events had left her with little appetite. She had bought a sleeping roll with her, but found the dry grass rather comfortable.
The shape-shifted druid lay sprawled out on the earth for several moments, blinking slowly and lazily, feeling the effects travelling on foot for the majority of the day had on her. She relaxed her muscles and kneaded the air with her claws, stretching and sinking lower into a state of repose.
She let her guard down, and she really shouldn't have.
Something was caught in the corner of her eye, a large, dark beast-like figure. Taiva scrambled to try to get to her four limbs, but immediately felt impact on her side. The creature barreled into her, it sent her tumbling, she yelped before she was pinned down by a heavy weight, massive claws of the creature pressed against her furred chest.
Then, she could clearly see what the attacker was.
Looming above her own, was the face of a massive brown bear. It snorted and growled at her in warning, the druid did the same back before her lithe cat frame became that of a large ursine to match her opponent.
The druid was now at clear advantage in the assault, her bestial form being slightly larger and evidently more knowledgeable.
She drew all her strength to her forelimbs to impel the attacker from her own body, heavily muscled appendages pushed against its ribcage and detached the offending creature from her torso. The bear hauled itself on back limbs after stumbling rearwards from Taiva.
It stood, immensely tall in stature and bared its teeth in a bubbling growl, no more than a foot away from the druid.
She was quick to pull herself from the earth, rising on hind legs herself to size the creature up. The serenity she had experienced just moments before the attack was completely abolished. Instead, she found herself acting no less than an animal herself. The only evidence she was a Night elf rested in her physical appearance. Ears of an ursine that should be rounded were lengthier and pointed, and yellow eyes still had an illuminant, sentient glow.
Taiva then lunged towards the creature, long curved claws meeting pelt, but could barely impale flesh due to the thickness of the wooly fur that covered it. The bear closed its jaws around Taiva's shoulder, and she roared in pain and anger before unhooking her right limb from its flank to strike it across its eyes. She could feel her claws tear through the thin flesh on its skull and blood dampen her fur.
Wounded, the bear loosened its grasp on the druid's shoulder briefly, and Taiva knew it was the time to strike again. Her jaws clamped onto its jugular, leaving the bear momentarily breathless. The druid could feel her teeth piercing through skin and could taste something metallic in her mouth. She then violently jerked her head to the side.
Finally liberated from the bear's jaws, she threw her neck to the side again, and this time, the creature moved along with it.
Letting go of her hold, the creature went limp to the ground. Its breath came out in noisy, staggered pants.
All four limbs of the druid met the earth once more. Taiva kept her distance back. She knew it couldn't possibly be able to attack her again, therefore she stood and studied it with both growing curiosity and caution. There were no native bears in Borean Tundra. An enemy's hunting pet was the only possible explanation.
The druid unshifted, silhouette became the slender frame of an elven woman once more. Blood of the beast coated her now humanoid arm and trailed down her cheek. Taiva wiped it away with a hand. She'd always be messy after combat like this, but it was something she had grown accustomed to.
She moved around the creature to gather her staff, knife-edged blade gleaming silver in the brown grass, the only thing that told her where it was in the long foliage. If combat had to make her a mess like this, she could at least be able to finish it off while keeping herself relatively clean.
With that, she would make haste to execute it.
Fingers closed around the handle of the staff as she stalked closer around the bear. Taiva regained her composure and actually felt pity for the thing, but shoved the thoughts from her head as soon as they came. It bought this on itself by attacking her, after all.
Blade raised above the neck of the animal, she was prepared to slice its head clean off and end its misery. The druid took a final step closer.
SNAP!
Taiva cursed in her own language and dropped the staff onto the earth, hands instead flying to her left ankle where an extreme jolt of pain was felt.
A steel jawed trap had clasped around her leather boot. It would have dug deep into her leg as well. The thin material had stopped just a bit of the force, and it still punctured quite far into her skin.
As if conditions for the druid couldn't have become much worse, her head snapped up to the sound of a clicking gun. Sharp eyes caught the sight of a figure, carrying a large blunderbuss aimed pointedly at her head.
A troll stood beside his collapsed pet. Brows furrowed, and she could tell he didn't look pleased. She stared back at him, dumbfounded. She had only taken a glance at her injured leg for a brief second.
When will I ever learn not to let my guard down?