Author's Notes: No, I'm not dead and no, the story hasn't been abandoned. Okay, so I hate myself for letting it get to this point and procrastinating when it came to publishing the chapter. Everything got so busy and I suddenly found myself with less free time to use for writing. But once I start something, I ALWAYS have to finish it. I'd be driven insane by just letting it collect dust at the bottom of my computer files, so I finally got around to it. Things have been sorted out and there is no way there will be a delay like this again. I just won't allow it.
On that note, please accept my sincerest of apologies. Read, and hopefully enjoy. And as always- -reviews are much loved :)
Taiva would never forget a face. It was to her surprise, or even to her dismay that a crown tempered so brutally with a blow she was still obviously failing to register did not cease the ability. She didn't cease the ability in the situation. She thought for a moment it could have been how she managed to recognize Sestri earlier, after all the changes, it definitely was plausible one could find her unrecognizable.
The firm arm across her chest was drawn tighter, it was a cruel action, and likely not needed. She couldn't think of a way she could manage to possibly flee. In fact, it did nothing but contribute to more so a difficulty taking an inward breath. It was the pressure against her frame that made the night elf sway a little, and from that, she received a stinging thread-thin slice on delicate skin. It was an eye-opener to the seriousness of the situation. They were not here to be friends.
Taiva changed her mind. It wasn't the constriction that threw her breathing askew, it was panic.
Those features, even when between the lines and folds of an unreadable expression on the other being's blue-grey face were still discernible in her eyes. The being that she gaped at had familiar blood red eyes, without a doubt anything but her own race's.
A lighter thought came to mind, probably unsuitable to the situation. She remembered the common belief of opposing races that every member of the other looked merely the same. This wasn't the case with her, she couldn't shake the gut-wrenching feeling that she had been stalked or followed by the Troll she had met up with before for reasons undetermined. If she had thought for a moment it was nothing but paranoia taking place, that he was just some stranger she had never seen before, it wasn't likely that the "stranger" found himself accompanied by a dishearteningly familiar bear.
Disheartening, because she remembered what that Troll had told her before he left, presumably for the first and last time.
"Are you here to fulfill your own prophecy, Jul'dan?" Taiva tried to disregard the condensed warm breaths on her shoulder, instead she spoke to the figure she could see, peering back at her through the gap in the thicket —the one she somewhat knew. There was a strange sort of comfort in that. It was apparent that he wasn't the one holding a weapon to her that threatened her continued existence this time.
It didn't matter though, her existence was threatened nonetheless, and what ever pity Jul'dan could have felt for her, or whatever reason was true that he hadn't decided to kill her the first time, whoever held her fate could likely not have it.
He didn't say anything, and in the moment, it was apparent that nothing was more dismal to hear than nothing at all. As she stared back at him, she saw his features shift and bend under the grey winter light, like one trying to understand foreign text within a scroll. Jul'dan was studying her, she figured. Deciding how to respond, or more likely deciding how to kill her. This time, he might just let it happen.
There were dark feathers in the sky, wings churning air, wordless calls demanding. Wordless but audible, breaking the silence. She always heard the things that didn't matter, and failed to hear the things that did.
No, that wasn't right. Taiva corrected herself. Having a blade against her throat just awakened a new type of alertness, if not inappropriately too late. Her gaze went briefly upward, and she wondered whose death the crows were foreseeing. Those on the battlefield? Her own?
"Let 'er go, Dakjo." Taiva's attention was turned quickly to Jul'dan again as she was shaken from her wandering thoughts, in time to see it indeed was him speaking, as he did so once more.
"She be ah harmless pathetic little ting."
Her pursuer shifted, as if hesitant. Cold metal moved slightly against her neck, humid respiration was on her shoulder. It was a daunting sensation, but one ignored as any other emotion was that would make the druid cautious while she spoke. And so, it never prevented her from doing so.
"Am I truly that much of a nuisance, in which I deserve to be hunted like the rat destroying the farmers crops?"
Revenge was honor, self dignifying. She wouldn't be surprised.
"Ah, nevah changed at all. Still talkin' bout what she deserve ahnd why she be deservin' it." There was the same type of condescending tone in Jul'dan's heavy voice, and another alarmingly accompanied it, behind her chill-bitten delicate ear.
"So, dis is dah same elf I be seein' yah foolin' wit." It was deep and exotic; tell-tale to what race owned it.
She heard the faint crunch of shuffled footing in snow, a tongue clicking in disappointment. She even thought she could see in the corner of her eye, a yellow tinted ivory tusk curling past her left cheek and coming into view.
Was he truly spying on us from the night before? How does he know?
Taiva's heart sped up a bit faster at that moment. She felt betrayed in a way, although her conscience couldn't pinpoint exactly why. She decided to remind herself there wasn't possibly a way you could betray an enemy, an enemy shouldn't give trust in the first place. It was then when she once again did consider herself a fool.
Her true thoughts were only masked in the best way she could come up with, perhaps even subconsciously. Arrogance.
"You two seem pretty straight forward about yourselves, so I'd expect you'd give me the appropriate answer when I ask you what the hell your motive is here." Her entire frame kept still, and she gritted her teeth as she spoke, frustrated façade.
The night elf kept her eyes on Jul'dan, waiting for an answer- any answer. Uncertainty was sometimes more troubling to deal with than knowing. But this time, he didn't answer. His face was a blank canvas, grey-blue and unpainted with the color of emotion. His bear lumbered beside him, too waiting for something, but a fierce expression was only evident it was the command of attacking.
"Eh… yah not da only one who be rememberin' tings clear. But mon, I only see it as more of ah reason ta get rid a 'er.
The wrong troll spoke, and she winced away slightly from that voice behind her, still hot on her nape. It sent an indecent shudder down her entire frame.
"No. We're wastin' time. Save watevah sick desire yah have fo' killin' tings fo' when it's helpful." Jul'dan's voice gave way a bit, annoyance seeping through the cracks of his tone. Taiva felt as if his blank stare was directed quite accurately into whomever's was behind her, the eyes of someone unknown- she may never have the chance to see, the way he wanted to deal with the situation.
"Still da same. Yah right, Jul'dan. Da elf speakin' out foolishly when it'd be a foolish time ta do so. But where yah wrong is, be'in stupid deserves its consequences."
The other troll completely brushed-off the hunter's attempt to make him compliant. Taiva braced herself for the look of submission that would likely find itself on Jul'dan's face soon enough. There he was, defending someone who didn't even seem they had the will to live. Any rational being would have kept them self quiet during such an ordeal. The druid knew questioning yourself if you really were rational meant you most likely weren't.
She never did see the look though.
"Try ta stop contradictin' yahself den. If ya were right, I suppose yah'd want dah creatures tah catch up wit us den. Be'in stupid deserves its consequences. I see ah clear display ah dat now, and it not only be by dah elfie." Jul'dan's eyes unfocused for a moment, off somewhere in his own mind. "Taiva." He mumbled, correcting himself unnecessarily in an awkward fashion. Taiva wished he hadn't.
He liked to do that, didn't he? Turning one's words against themselves, as he had for her and "Dakjo", intentionally or not.
Taiva suddenly found herself stumbling forward, as the arms roughly let go, leaving her skin with only the thin puncture she received on mostly her own flawed liability. Her knees were weak, once again with the likelihood of emotion rather than injury.
Her vision swayed back into the brief darkness as it had done before, returning when it was only too late. Taiva caught herself weakly with her forearms; face mere inches from scraping in the ice.
While even being nearly blinded by the hues of white in front of her, she imagined the resentful look on the other troll's face, as giving in didn't seem like something he liked to do, and his actions only seemed to enforce the statement. Imagining it wasn't needed any longer, though.
She saw the legs of the other troll appear across from her, covered in pants made of the dark hide of some animal, tall and lanky, like any troll's would have been. The same type of material made up his boots, which accommodated for his two-toed feet. Pale from the cold, she assumed was the reasoning for his skin tone. They were bare and vulnerable to the frost. But she realized they were actually a natural tint, quite similar to Jul'dan's. Taiva never understood how trolls kept themselves warm walking around practically bare-footed most of the time.
She refused herself from looking up to see his face. Or she simply couldn't do it.
"You're calling us the creatures."
Her long silvery locks draped down over her face, glimpses of the two humanoid figures briefly making their way into her vision.
"Look at yourselves." she said dryly.
The right foot of the troll in front of her made a movement, one that probably shouldn't have been unexpected after Taiva's statement. There was little she could do to prevent the foot from landing a blow; a breath shattering kick directly into her gut.
Hard and precise, Taiva clenched her jaw tightly in agony, also squeezing her lids shut, disallowing any tears an escape.
"Don' even know what yah talkin' 'bout. Yah make me wonder if yah were even wantin' ah foul reaction. Shut up." Commanded one voice, the one creeping into her ear from before.
The night elf's arms finally gave in, and she fell over, landing abruptly on one shoulder.
There was still air again, not a sole understandable word, but the continued cawing of some crows above.
"What is your motive?" She repeated herself, finally breaking the silence. The druid pushed herself up from the ground, off of her throbbing shoulder, the chill of the earth numbing her palms as she did so and making her muscles quake uncontrollably.
Then there was no avoiding looking promptly at the being who nearly decided on her death. In their face, or rather the one that was supposed to be there, at least supposedly visible.
The troll was hooded, clad in the same material all around. No features were determinable; his eyes alone were barely seen, covered in a sheet of shadows the overhanging fabric provided him with- an obvious rogue at even a quick first glance. A quick glance was all that was really needed, but Taiva soon found her staring prolonged. Something was just so maliciously intriguing with what could have been her fate in humanoid form, an entire aura of one who seemed to have no qualms with death itself. One who seemed entirely built for slaying and assassination, who was also provoked out of the former. Taiva wondered why and how.
"I not be talkin' bout' da Alliance, if yah mean dat." Taiva snapped her neck around rapidly enough to feel the burning sensation incline where she had received the minor wound. The druid took sight of Jul'dan watching her. He possibly had for the entire ordeal, in which she once again wandered too far off into her thoughts. There was something off in his mahogany eyes. A certain type of knowing. It bothered her too, because it really could be compared to how Sestri looked when she was trying to convince her to leave the battlefield.
"Funny how ya'd assume dat. Part ah yah has ta tink its true." The hunter said, unwavering expression.
There were quite a few things Taiva felt like saying at that moment, but there also were quite a few things she'd also learned within the last few minutes. She restrained herself from verbalizing the thoughts she'd thought have more of a dire impact on anyone's mood, for only her own well-being.
"Then I would appreciate it if you cleared things up." She decided to say, regaining her stance weakly. A sarcastic smile played on her lips.
Jul'dan smirked. But it was different this time. It was cold and condescending, only lightly tinged with humor.
"Deres been an invasion ah sorts."
Taiva lifted a thin ashen brow. "An invasion?" She repeated. "I wouldn't call that to be too much out of the norm."
There's something terribly wrong when you have found yourself saying such a thing. The druid thought with an inward sigh.
Nonetheless, she continued on her quarry. Simply because she was fed up with not getting answers.
"Yah came from dah eastern path?" Dakjo questioned her. She reluctantly looked to the shadowy form that was where his face would be. Part of her mind could piece together a look of inquisition on his clothed visage from the tone in his voice.
"What kind of question are you asking me? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Ah reasonable one. Ah good one. Explains how yah end up bein' dah last ta know what be goin' on." His fingers toyed with the grip of his dagger. It was buckled onto his waist. He had sheathed it since the druid was let go.
"Damn fools tink dey be smart. Fightin' by where dah true enemy be hidin' out. It was only a matta a time befo' dah situation be takin' advantage of. Ahnd exactly dat has happened."
"Da undead scourge. Dey killed comrades ahlike." Jul'dan finally said. "Alliance, Horde. Dey don' care. I woulda tink yah'd catch on. It'd be dah only reason why yah still breathen. I don' lie when I tell yah I'd kill yah if we met unda normal circumstances 'ere." He lifted up his bulking shoulders in a shrug. "But uh, didn't turn out dat way."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. More surprisingly, she couldn't believe part of her knew there was a possibility for some truth to be in the broken words.
Dakjo sneered in response to what the hunter had said. "Thank whatevah deities yah have for dis occurrence. 'Cause if it was not possible ta endeavor to each udah, I would be ah lot less tolerant tawords ahn alliance fool."
Taiva narrowed her eyes into golden slits. "Funny how such occurrences are so common as of late, hm?" The night elf saw Dakjo shrug to what she said. "But I have doubts they are about the doings of a higher being, only that they are about the bullshitting of the lower ones."
Dakjo's fist drove straight into her face. He succeeded in delivering what he must have believed to be a well-deserved blow. This time it was upon a soft spot near her jaw line. Her hands flew up to cradle her throbbing chin. Everything in front of Taiva; the high growing thistles, the snowy fells, the two males, were almost engulfed by blackness. It was several seconds before it all reappeared again.
When everything did though, something else was additionally there.
It was Sestri.
She appeared so suddenly, as if she were some ethereal figure to make it through the bushes without a sound. The dark haired druid's hands motioned about, forming a mist-like green light in their quake.
Both of the trolls were at least twice as dumbstruck as Taiva was. They didn't move a muscle, and by the time anyone could process what Sestri was doing, it was already done.
There was snarling and snapping. Jul'dan's hunter pet was being attacked by thick vines of sewage-hued ivy. The bear clenched his long muzzle around the plants, pulling desperately and pleading in loud growls and roars.
Sestri's mouth began to move, but the sound that came out was strange. It was almost distorted to Taiva. The druid felt as though she had a slipping grasp of consciousness, her head swung aside lowly as if she had a snapped neck.
"It looks as though we're evenly matched now." Sestri took up a combat stance, blade edged spear present in her hands. Her eyes were viscous— orbs of silver cold steel. Taiva had never seen her look so much like that before.
Her head drifted back up and the pain subsided a bit. She stumbled a bit forward, but soon regained proper footing.
"I wouldn't say that." Taiva muttered to herself quietly. "That idiotic bear already counts as negative one, immobile or not."
Sestri grinned deviously, deep blue lips upturned and exposing her teeth. Then she thrust the weapon in the direction of the troll closest to her. Taiva jumped from her place in shock at the sudden assault, biting her lips and clenching her fists so vigorously her own nails dug into the skin at her palms.
The rogue jolted away so quickly, his form could have been mistaken as a moving shadow. He certainly had the appearance as one, just a dark blur silhouetted against the white of the snow and the brown of the thicket. Taiva quietly thanked the Goddess it happened to be that rogue. Was it because she didn't wish for ailment on Jul'dan's part, or knew that Dakjo had a better chance of not getting a spear through his skull? It could have been both, and that frankly bothered her quite a bit.
When the spear passed through thin air, Sestri's face twisted into a frustrated scowl. "Get away, Taiva." The dark haired druid commanded in hectic Darnassian. "I will handle this." She started to shoot out spells towards the moving shadowy shape. The rogue had a speed his lanky figure could easily allow, and there were certain moments when Taiva couldn't make out where he was and where he used to be. Hot and fast like green fire, Sestri pulled back her wrists and casted again when the spells hit and melted the snow, or eventually missed and dissolved into the air.
Taiva heard a gun click. That dreadful sound she had heard before didn't mean end for her this time, Jul'dan's gun was aimed elsewhere. It was all happening too soon, and so unpredictably. "Stop!" Taiva screamed. It was a spur of the moment thing to do, but Taiva darted to the side from her place, making solid impact with the other night elf. Both of them hit the ice and landed in a rut in the terrain, Taiva on her palms and Sestri on back.
She frantically looked to Jul'dan. "Don't!" She shouted in orcish. She fell on her knees and held her right hand out in front of her like a shield. He looked at her, which made him pause for the smallest of moments, his blunderbuss still aligned with his line of view. That alone was enough to hold back the release of a life ending bullet that could easily have been released a mere split second after.
"Sestri is a friend of mine." The white haired druid motioned towards her.
Taiva cocked her head sideways, dreading the hint of betrayal she caught in the other druid's eyes. "They aren't here to look for a fight." She said to her in her own language quietly.
Just as she thought the adrenaline of the fight had been subdued, and that both sides had given up on killing the other, something else happened.
BANG.
Taiva's heart plummeted to the bottom of her chest, and the look in Sestri's eyes was replaced with utter terror.
"No!" Taiva half expected Sestri to be falling to the ground, to be suffering through the bullet in her chest with her last unsteady breaths.
Instead, her ally shifted on her elbows until she could see behind her. There she sat, gaping. Taiva followed her gaze. The bullet landed elsewhere. What looked to be a putrid, gnarled carcass lay sprawled out, rotting fleshy limbs twitching in spasms underneath it. A large hole occupied a grand portion of what she thought to be its decaying face. The disgusting creature lacked a lower jaw, but she could see the hole in his cranium was fresh. Jul'dan did that.
It squirmed about and made shrill noises. They were long and thoughtless, as automatic as the sputtering of the machinery that was often heard throughout the terrain. The ghoul outstretched one clawed hand towards the two of them, then the other in an attempt to begin a twisted crawl.
Dakjo was on top of it before it could even make a second stride. He sliced its head clean off, oozes pouring out of its neck and mixing with the snow.
The rogue pulled his hood off, and Taiva saw him for the first time. He simply did it so that Taiva could see his smug expression, appearing on his face as a morbid smirk. "Still tink we be bullshittin'?
AN: I must say that initially, this chapter was supposed to be a bit longer. I decided to just go for it and get it out there, so if I wanted to add in what I had before I'd end up causing more of a delay with the publishing. So anyways, chapter 6 is soon to come because I technically have a large proportion of it done as of yet, stay tuned and reviews are always lovely.