The tauren stood there quietly, waiting for the taureness to respond. Anything would have done. A baffled expression, a mummered question or even a curse directed at him for disturbing her so late at night was expected.
Yet Winoa simply stared at the older tauren at the entrance, waiting to hear more.
He narrowed his eyes at her, engaged in a staring contest to see who would speak first. The tauren desperately wanted her to break, but she kept her lips firmly together. He hated it when he had to deliver new to people like this.
The tauren sighed heavily as he considered the words on his tongue carefully.
"Is this about Jafern?" The taureness asked quietly.
Oh boy. This was going to be a fun conversation.
The Brave nodded his head. "He was a brave….well, Brave. I want you to know that he fought with dignity and honor. "
The taureness furrowed her brow, seeming to be confused by his words.
Why did they make him give the bad news to their families?
He mentally scolded himself to get back on track. Unable to think of anything more to say, he took out an envelope from his satchel and handed it to the taureness.
She held her hand out to grab the letter. Her fingers moved gingerly across the front of the envelope and read the words across its front.
"This is Jafern's handwriting." She observed as she looked up to meet the tauren's eyes. "What did he do?"
The Brave felt his eyes widening as she stared at him and asked the question again, this time sounding more like a demand than an inquiry. "What did he do?"
He gulped nervously before answering her. "He joined his brothers and sisters in arm to battle."
The taureness glared at him, her outrage apparent as her eyes became more hostile. "And?"
Her voice was laced in fury as well. The tauren thought it must have been at him though, as she sat her body upright to get a better angle of his anxious figure.
The Brave decided to ignore it, letting himself continue on speaking in hopes of getting out of the tent as soon as possible. "I'm sorry Mrs. Summerdream, but he didn't make it out of battle."
"Was the battle at least won?" A new voice inquired.
Both turned to see the darker taureness looking at him hazily as she lifted herself off of the mat. She hadn't taken being awoken as well as her friend, but she seemed aware enough to keep looking at him, waiting for an answer. Winoa looked back to the tauren and stared.
Before him were two faces: one of worry and one of rage. He knew he couldn't alter the upcoming outcome, so he simply shook his head.
"No."
The word echoed in the tent, met only by the silence of the taurenesses. He took this as an invitation to continue speaking.
"He died for the sake of the word, but the demons were overwhelming our troops. There was just too many of them. We were forced to retreat soon after we arrived. Many good soldiers are missing, but we suspect most of them are dead."
"How can you be so sure Jafern is dead then?" The darker taureness, Kennocha, asked.
Winoa nodded. "Indeed, if you aren't sure if many of them are dead, then Jafern could still be alive!"
The tauren looked at the two of them with his sad old eyes. Both of them were allowing themselves to get too hopeful.
"True, we are not sure on many of them. However, Jafern is one of a few confirmed dead." The gray-furred tauren explained. "Many of us, myself included, saw him as one of the first to charge towards the demon flank. He took down a few demons, but he couldn't hold them off for long."
The Brave took a deep breath before resuming where he left off. "We don't know how he exactly he died. All we know is that a gut-wrenching scream escaped from an unfortunate fellow. It was filled with agony but quickly died down. We didn't think much of it in the heat of battle. There were so many cries and screams that we couldn't waste time listening to each of them.
"It wasn't until we were forced to retreat that we noticed he and many others were missing. While we couldn't tell which screams belonged to which soldier for the most part, Jafern was different. He had actually screamed out a word as he died."
He paused, looking towards the two taurenesses. Kennocha stared at him with tears running down her face while Winoa was holding her close to her chest. She stroked her fingers across her friend's mane, silently watching the tauren as she realized he had stopped.
"What was it?" Winoa asked quietly anxiously.
The Brave hesitated for a moment before speaking. "It was a name."
Kennocha looked up and questioned. "Which one?"
"Maliko." The name rolled off his tongue without a second thought.
Kennocha furrowed her brow, not making the connection with the haze of sleep still looming over her. Winoa, however, widened her eyes.
"Maliko…" She whispered the name by Kennocha's ear. "How could we have forgotten about Maliko?"
The dark brown taureness finally realized what they were talking about. Her tears only came down harder and she buried her face in Winoa's robe. "It was the Broken Shore, was it not?"
Winoa embraced her friend in a tight hug. "Oh Sister….." The taureness comforted in a low whisper as she rubbed her back.
The Brave couldn't help but feel guilty as he watched the scene. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he knew he had to do something.
But what?
He had no answer to that, only staring at the grieving taurenesses. It stayed like this for a while until Winoa looked up the Brave.
"Is there any word from Elder Stonestrider?"
Her question confused him for a moment before he understood its meaning.
"No, you two were the first to hear about this."
The light brown taureness nodded. "Alright then. You don't need to send the news to them. We'll do it ourselves. Our son needs to hear about this, as does the rest of the tribe."
The Brave was confounded by the focus in her eyes as she spoke, but decided to leave it as is. He didn't want any more trouble than he was already in.
"Of course. Do you need any help with your journey?" He asked with concern.
Winoa shook her head. "We will be fine. Thank you for sharing the news. If you wouldn't mind though, we need some privacy."
The Brave nodded.
She held Kennocha's hands, placing them by Nisi before rising from her spot. She ushered the tauren out of the entrance he had come out of.
"Ancestors watch over you, dear Brave."
"You as well, Mrs. Winoa."
The tauren frowned as she turned back into the tent.
Finally.
He began walking away to check on his own child, but not before muttering a quick prayer to the Earthmother to watch over the two taurenesses. They would need it.
Gizzie was getting tired of restraining this damn wolf.
"Boss, how long until we get there?" The goblin groaned as she held a rope around the wolf as she tight as her fingers would allow.
The boss didn't seem to notice her comment, only continuing to walk forward until she reached the front of a large building. It was a generic Orcish hut, complete with a fence of bones and barbed wire. Boars roamed the area of the fence, snorting as glop flew out of the only window of the central structure. A grunt could be heard from within as something green flashed by the window.
"Stop." The boss ordered.
The familiar shape of a giant, bulking orc opened the front door, walking towards the group of goblins. He wore dark grey plate that covered his entire body like a military uniform. His head was completely bald, with only a shining green cap to show for it. His face wore a snarl similar to the wolf she was restraining, eyeing each of them down before looking towards the wolf.
"Finally! I've been waiting for my wolf for a long time. You better hope you have a good explanation for this."
The boss laughed. "See, I told you guys he'd be ecstatic!"
Now, Gizzie may not know much, but she knew what an customer like this would do to a goblin like her. Seeming to agree with her, the wolf tried to step back, growling at the large orc.
I hope ya got a good explanation boss. We'll need it.
Author's Note-Alright, I just edited all the chapters and added a new, so not bad work for the day. If there are any errors, please correct me. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed reading this and have a spectacular day!
