Undeath Beckons

Chapter 17 - Booty

LOADING…

FETCHING CHARACTER DATA…

CHARACTER SELECTED: BLIGHTFIRE

ENTERING WORLD…

"You what?"

"I killed you."

"I'm not sure I understand," the woman said, slightly aghast. Everyone was staring at me, a circle of intense gazes. Before I could explain further there was a tremendous crack, and an explosion of arcane symbols announced the return of the bronze dragons.

"Mortals," one of the three called as they landed beside us, their rippling muscles still tense from flight. "Our master has issued new orders. We are to bring you directly to her, in the Caverns of Time. Please, climb onto our backs once more." The Shadowstalkers looked to me. Well, like it or not, our mission was a failure so far. Best to push onward. I figured the drakes wouldn't take no for an answer anyway, so I nodded. Our new rogue, mage, and hunter friends were already mounting up. I took Mitexi's hand and guided her to one of the great beasts, and in moments we were airborne.

"Hold on!" the dragon we rode cried. The lead drake opened a wide portal rimmed with shimmering runes, and we flew into it.

I let out a little shriek. Mitexi, sitting behind, gripped my ribs tightly. We were flying through a terrible void. The sheer size of it boggled me-all around us drifted floating stones, lost in a sea of purple sky and distant stars. There was a dull humming sound, and I felt wind rushing past us at a swift clip. The very space itself seemed to warp and bend, and though I could feel minutes ticking by, time had become distorted, and I could not be sure if we spent days in that place or only mere seconds. Was this the Twisting Nether, or an even more horrible, awesome realm?

"Where do you think you're going?" A voice, echoing not in my ears, but directly in my thoughts. Then suddenly, a flash of black. A horrible, lung-shaking screech. Something big. Something huge. Something so monstrous and wide that it filled our vision, a crackling mass of black and gray and cold energy. It swooped past us once, then again, then a third time. Before us another of the rune-rimmed portals opened, and our dragon flew through it, but… something was wrong. We began to list to one side, and Mitexi and I clung to the dragon's smooth scales as best we could. Our carrier tried to correct course, but it was not enough-the dragon tilted and dropped, losing altitude in a dive. I saw a wide, verdant forest below us, unlike anything I'd seen before. Above, the sky was blue, just beginning to shift to purple and orange as the sun teased the horizon, far over a distant sea. The other two drakes at our sides were falling as well-all of us falling, falling, nearly losing our grip, our mounts dropping first like gliders, then like stones, and we crashed through the canopy and I was flung from the back of the beast, tearing through leaves and branches, a living missile coming to a slow stop as I tumbled over boughs, until I finally exited the upper trees and crashed into a huge trunk, then rolled down it to the forest floor, and blacked out.

When I awoke I was staring up into the glowing eye orbs of Mitexi, her head bathed in a halo of greenish light filtering through leaves above. Ah, Texi, my faithful friend. She had a jagged cut down her alabaster cheek, leaking black blood slowly. I groaned, aching all over. The air was warm and humid, and I could feel soft grass beneath my back.

"Ah good, you're awake," she said wearily. "C'mon, the others are over here." She tried to pull me to my feet, but as soon as she started to lift my right arm I cried out. The inside of my shoulder throbbed with pain. "Oh," she said softly. "You're hurt. Maybe… dislocated arm?"

I could only wince. "Maybe."

"Okay. You just wait here. If you can get up on your own…" She took a step back, then turned and went off. I watched her go into the underbrush. With considerable effort I managed to stand myself up. My arm hung limply, the joint definitely out of place. My shoulder was bulging all weird and awful. It didn't hurt much when I wasn't moving it, at least. I remembered the pain I'd felt as Silina. This was different. Duller. More distant. I silently thanked whatever powers were out there for this unusual benefit of my undead state.

"Blight!" Mitexi called from out of sight. Her head appeared in the brush. "Over here."

"All right." I made my way through some large ferns and grasses, until I came upon a rough circle of my friends and the newcomers. All but two were here now-I spotted the rogue some distance off, dragging the mage through the grass. "She okay?"

"Just unconscious," Mitexi told me. "Most of us were." She went to help the rogue, and a few moments later the mage awoke, looking confused. I followed her gaze around the circle.

The orc was standing in the middle of the group, collecting supplies for a campfire. He looked no worse for the wear, but I noticed his wolf companion was absent. Lost in the crash? Or just busy elsewhere? Along the outside of the ring stood Mitexi, her only apparent injury the cut on her face; myself; Iyania, whose hurt ear was now wrapped with a shimmering pink bandage; the pink-haired Forsaken rogue; and the bewildered Draenei mage whom I was sure I'd killed outside Oshu'gun. Still had no explanation for that. I hoped one would be forthcoming, because I felt as confused as she looked.

"It'll be night within an hour or so," the orc grunted. "We'd best settle in and see if we can find a fortified area." He lifted his chin at Mitexi. "Warlock, did you have any success in finding the drakes?"

Texi nodded. "It's not pretty. Come." All of us followed as Mitexi led us down a dirt trail, terminating a short distance from a large stone ruin. At the end of the trail lay the three dragons, not too far apart. All were dead, their throats cut. Brilliant red blood leaked down their lifeless fronts.

"By the Light," the Draenei whispered. She dropped to one knee and mumbled something-a prayer, perhaps.

"C'mon. Nothing we can do now. Best make camp," the orc said stiffly. Striding forward, he led us on a sojourn through the stone ruins further ahead. We found them empty. Selecting a dilapidated room with only one intact wall, we dubbed it our temporary refuge, and the orc lit the campfire in the center. Then he put his fingers to his lips and blew a shrill whistle. Out of the brush came his wolf at a run, carrying some sort of beast in its jaws. "Good, Swarie," he said to the animal. It dropped its prey-a large green python-and panted. The orc patted Swarie's head firmly, then began skinning the snake.

"Hey, let's get you fixed up," Mitexi said to me gently. She had Iyania assist her as they prepared to repair my injury. "This is going to feel bad," Texi told me. "Hold her steady, Iya." Iyania took my other arm and held me in place. "Three, two, one…"

"Agh!" I howled. Mitexi had driven her shoulder into me full force, wedging my arm back into place. "By the hells!" My vision swam from the pain, but I held myself together. After a few moments it started to subside. "Thank you." They both nodded and stepped back. We all stood there, staring at one another for a moment. Introductions were in order, but I was feeling a bit woozy, so I was glad when the rogue spoke up instead.

"What are your names?" she asked, taking a seat around the fire. Her shimmering eye orbs were fixed on me, a playful flicker in them that I felt like I recognized. The rest of us joined her on the packed earth.

"Iyania," the blood elf said, watching the orc prepare the snake.

The warlock beside me nodded. "I'm Mitexi."

"Blightfire," I said. "And you?"

The rogue smiled widely, her eyes even brighter than before. "My companions," she waved a hand at the orc, then the Draenei, "are Lokregar and Spectress." The woman stood and curtseyed. "I'm Dystressi."

Well, that woke me up. "Dystressi?" I stammered.

"Dystressi?" Mitexi echoed, seemingly as shocked as I was.

Dystressi grinned. "Abso-fuckin'-lutely."

I could scarcely believe it. "You found me? But I've been looking for you!"

"Didn't look hard enough, it seems," she replied, still smiling. "Though, to be honest, I'm not sure how you could've found me anyway. I was in Kalimdor."

"Kalimdor…" The word seemed foreign. A place? I couldn't quite remember. Anyway, that didn't really matter. "Dystressi, I'm… you're, uh…" I kind of lost my train of thought. "This is harder than I expected. I guess I didn't really know what I'd say when I met you."

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.

"You're my sister. You're Cassandri."

Now it was her turn to be shocked. "You're my sister?" Mitexi and Spectress were watching this exchange with rapt interest, while Iyania and Lokregar seemed less intrigued. Iyania busied herself helping the hunter skewer and roast our dinner. The rest of us, meanwhile, moved away from the fire to the corner by the wall, and sat again. "The dragons told me to find Blightfire. They didn't mention you were… wow." We both held silent for a moment.

"It's… good to see you," I said after a time. "I'm afraid I can't really remember what you were like before you became undead. Not even sure when or how it happened."

"You don't remember me? That makes you the first in a while," Dystressi said with a slightly bitter laugh. "Seems like everyone knows who I used to be." She patted Spectress on the leg in a friendly manner. "Anyway, um…"

"With respect, Dys, can I cut in here? Something is really bothering me. I have to ask." Spectress interrupted. Her accent was mysterious. I'd never heard the like.

"Sure," Dystressi replied.

Spectress looked at me steadily. I didn't like the intensity in her gaze. "You said before that you killed me. Care to explain?"

"Yeah, I was wondering about that," Mitexi chimed in.

"Okay, look, I just met you, and this is crazy," I said, "but here's what happened." I explained that I'd been having occasional dreams, or flashbacks, or something. I wasn't sure what. I told them about the one I'd had in the Cathedral, and our recovery of the Heart of K'ure from Oshu'gun. "You were there," I said, pointing at Dystressi. "Only you were still alive. You had blonde hair and blue eyes, I think…"

"That's her!" Spectress gasped. "Go on, please."

"Anyway, after we recovered the Heart of K'ure, I-"

"Hold on," Spectress interrupted again. I was starting to wonder if that was a habit of hers. "You're saying you found the Heart? But that's impossible."

"Why? Couldn't I have found it months ago?" I countered.

"No. Because I found it. With Seekers from the Kirin Tor."

"Yes, that's what I'm getting to. After we found it," and here I explained how I'd awakened to see David Trias using the same artifact. "When I woke up by Oshu'gun again, Kirin Tor mages ambushed us and we fought them. I killed one that looked exactly like you."

"Well," Spectress said breathily. She seemed put off by my story, as if she were offended at my having told it. "This had to be a hallucination. Because I went and got the Heart of K'ure. Months ago. And I brought it back to Dalaran, and then Cassandri stole it."

My thoughts leapt immediately to the letter, still folded inside my robes. I extracted it. "Dystressi, do you remember writing this?" I handed it over.

She read it slowly, as Spectress looked over her shoulder. "Wow," Dystressi sighed. "I used to be this sentimental?" She cracked a grin. "Just kidding. But seriously, you're sure I wrote this?" I noted a look of unease in Spectress's eyes as she studied the missive.

"Positive. I found it in my bank vault, which was a holdover from my days as a human. I didn't even know the password-I had to get it from one of my dreams."

"This is not making any sense," Mitexi cut in. "Can we just back up for a second?"

"Grub's on," Lokregar called. The four of us made our way back to the fire and ate a meal of roasted python. It wasn't a lot, and I could barely taste it, but it certainly hit the spot. We continued talking as we ate.

"Let's just recap," Mitexi continued. "Blight says she remembers finding the Heart with her sister, who was alive, and killing Spectress, who was then not alive. But Spectress says she found the Heart, and she is clearly still alive, and Dystressi wasn't there, and is also not alive… is that even right? I'm so confused!"

Spectress and I were nodding. "Yes," we both said in unison.

"So what's true?" Mitexi asked, exasperated.

I locked eyes with Spectress. She didn't flinch… but I did. There was no denying the reality in front of my face. "I guess I must have dreamt it. My version didn't happen."

"Clearly," Spectress retorted icily.

"Blightfire," Dystressi said after a moment. "Do you know anything about this?" She turned her head, pulled aside the bandana concealing her neck, and pointed at the tattoo there. Same as mine.

"No. I was hoping you did."

"Damn. Well, anyway, can you tell me how you ended up in the Monastery with all those Scarlets?"

"I will if you will," I replied with a grin.

Her eyes shimmered. "Deal."

I launched into a long explanation of my unlife up to that point. As I spoke I took a moment to study the three newcomers more closely, particularly my sister. Dystressi, or Cassandri as I'd once known her, was lithe and muscular, much as I'd seen her in my dreams of Outland. She'd clearly forsaken her warrior's mantle in favor of that of the rogue, but her combat prowess, from what I'd seen, had not diminished. I noted several plague-ridden sores on her forehead and cheeks, but at least she had glowing eye orbs-unlike me with my hollow sockets. She wore black armor made of tough leather, and as she listened to my tale she seemed enraptured, giving me her utmost attention. Perhaps she was only trying to pick out any details that might aid her. Perhaps she still cared about me as her sister. I couldn't say for sure which it was.

"So you were looking for me, right?" Dystressi asked. "But you got sidetracked."

"More or less. I mean, I had nothing else to go off of. I was adrift with no past-all I wanted was to find some tether to who I used to be." I sighed. "It seems all I managed to do was get two people killed." I'd been trying not to think about Vorrell and Savenia, one missing in action, the other cut down before my eyes and, worse still, carted off to become Scourge chattel. Mitexi hung her head, and Iyania looked down into the fire.

"Well, it's only fair that you listen to my side now," Dystressi told me. She launched into an equally long and complex tale of adventure. The night grew darker, but no colder. By the time she'd finished, a picture of the current situation had begun to form in my mind, but before we could begin to hash it out together, the orc stood.

"Best get some sleep. If my guess about this place is correct, we're a few days travel from civilization. First watch will be myself and Blightfire. Mitexi and Spectress have second. Dystressi and Iyania take third." None of this was a suggestion. I bristled a little at being given orders, but he was right: we'd need our strength if we wanted to make it out of this jungle alive.

"We'll talk in the morning," Dystressi promised me before heading off to find a comfortable nook to sleep in. I settled myself onto a piece of broken stonework near the fire. Lokregar took up a post further out, facing the other way. It was mere moments before I found myself lost in thought. I now had more pieces of my puzzling past than ever before, yet the image they were forming remained as confusing as ever, if not moreso now.

It began months ago. I, for whatever reason, was in the Plaguelands, learning Gutterspeak. Something happened to me-presumably involving the plague-and I dropped out of contact with friends and family. Cassandri, meanwhile, worked as a mercenary for the Kirin Tor. She and Spectress were together then, but things changed when Spectress returned from Outland with the Heart of K'ure. Cassandri, suspecting trouble, stole the Heart and brought it with her to the Plaguelands, searching for me. She didn't find me, but instead fell to the plague herself, and lost the Heart. An unknown amount of time later, Cassandri awoke in Deathknell, and began training with Trias as Dystressi. I was still two weeks away from returning to unlife. Spectress, under contract to find the Heart, recovered Dystressi and imprisoned her, but broke her out of jail three days later. From there they traveled through Un'Goro, Tanaris, and along the coast to Orgrimmar, along with a troll named Katyaa. They met Lokregar in the orcish capital and took a zeppelin to Undercity. Meanwhile, I was busy meeting Mitexi, saving Brill, raiding Shadowfang, and leading the expedition into Scarlet territory. As for how we all came to be together, well, it was quite simple: Carolyn Ward, our boss, directed them to the Monastery.

All of this new information answered many questions, but raised more. What were my dreams really about? Why did Lokregar save Dystressi and Spectress in Orgrimmar? How had David Trias gotten ahold of the Heart of K'ure? What would happen to it now that its power had been spent? How and why did I become undead-and how did the same fate befall Cassandri? Where did our matching tattoos come from? Why had the Bronze Dragonflight tasked Dystressi with finding me? And the most pressing question of all: what should I do now?

The dreams or hallucinations of my life as Silina troubled me greatly, because I now knew them to be false. Yet they felt so real! How could I explain my knowledge of the Heart, or Cassandri's appearance, if these visions were fantasy? But it was impossible: Spectress was alive, Cassandri was not, and the Heart was clearly never in my hands. So what, then?

"Hey," Lokregar said in a low voice. "You napping? You don't have eyes, so I can't tell."

"Just thinking."

"Well, don't get too distracted. I'm counting on you to watch my back."

"Yeah, yeah." I stared into the night. The forest was black, yet felt alive and writhing all the same. Out there somewhere were the answers I needed. I just had to figure out how to find them.

It was three days hike to Booty Bay. We camped each night along the side of the road, which we stumbled upon halfway through the first day. I spent time talking with Dystressi, mostly, but between fighting off wild beasts, finding food, making camp, and keeping watch, I had less time with her than I'd have liked. Worse yet, she remembered as much about our shared past as I did: nothing. So after hashing and rehashing our stories of arrival at our current state, we almost ran out of things to talk about.

Our one major area of speculation was our tattoos. Neither of us could understand the symbolism, but Dystressi rightly noted that the chains were bronze, not the expected gold, silver, iron, or steel. We theorized they might have something to do with the dragonflight that had tasked Dystressi to find me. If that were the case… then my involvement in her tale was bigger than I imagined.

Booty Bay, which only Lokregar had previously visited, greeted us on the other side of a tunnel marked by the jaws of some great shark. The city was a wooden rickshaw spilling around the sides of a cove. Every building stood on wobbly stilts, beneath which scurried countless merchants and tourists of all stripes. We made our way to the docks quickly, not even stopping to resupply.

"The ship leaves once a week," Lokregar had explained. "If we miss it, we're stuck until the next." Fortunately, one was docked right then, waiting for midday to set sail. The six of us-Dystressi, Spectress, Lokregar, Mitexi, Iyania, and myself-approached the dockmaster, a scrappy-looking goblin with a peg leg.

"That'll be twelve gold for the lot o' ye!" he bellowed. "Payment up front!"

Spectress dug around in her robes and produced a few coins. "Anyone else got some?" she asked. The rest of us shrugged.

"I've never even had more than two gold in my life," Mitexi said bewilderedly.

Grumbling, Lokregar reached into a parcel he'd been carrying with him throughout our trip. I saw the gleam of handfuls of gold as he extracted a few additional pieces. Dude was loaded. "You all owe me for this," he said in a low voice. "I don't work for free."

"Except when you do," Dystressi commented cheekily. "Like when you saved us in Orgrimmar."

"That was different," he replied cryptically.

"Good, good. Clean money, that's what I like!" the goblin cheered. "Welcome aboard!"

"Finally," I muttered, "something's going right for us." Shouldn't have said anything: just moments after we'd trundled onto the deck of the ship, a deafening yet familiar crack boomed above us. A shower of black arcane symbols rained down as a shadow fell over the ship-and half the cove.

"I don't think so!" a terrifying voice thundered, shaking the timbers below our feet.

"Ready yourselves!" Lokregar bellowed, drawing his rifle. Spells and weapons flew to hand, but what could could they do against that? A dragon, impossibly large, hovered in the air above us. Its scales were black and gray, and some sort of silvery brightness shined from its feet and head. The beast roared again, this time shaking us so badly that half the party stumbled and fell. Lokregar fired a blast, which appeared to do nothing.

"You'll have to try harder than that!" the dragon jeered. It swooped down and let loose a breath of black and silver fire, which ripped straight through the planks of the ship. The boat immediately began to tilt and dip into the water.

"Abandon ship!" the goblin captain shouted. We didn't need to be told twice. I dashed for the edge of the boat, managing to grab the railing just as the ship's far side hit the water. The angle was too steep; I couldn't walk any further, and instead hung onto the railing. In seconds my feet were dangling in the air over the water, which was getting closer by the second. I saw Mitexi and Spectress tumble into the surf. Dystressi, Lokregar, and Iyania had already escaped back to the dock, but they had their own problem: the dragon was attacking the pier! Another blast of flames tore it to shreds.

"Blightfire!" Dystressi called to me. To no avail: my grip on the railing failed and I dropped into the warm water. The sinking ship below and beside me created powerful suction that started to pull me under, but I managed to snag the edge of a barrel which buoyed me to the surface. I floated there beside Spectress and Mitexi for a few moments as we watched the dragon rampage across the town. It didn't seem interested in actually harming the citizenry, instead focusing all its efforts on wrecking any and every spot where a boat might be able to dock. When every quay in the bay was a smoldering ruin, the dragon laughed.

"That ought to slow you down! Hahahaha!" With another loud crack, it vanished into a ring of symbols in the sky. The world was suddenly much quieter. I heard the lapping of the water against the floating debris and started swimming toward the shoreline. The six of us regrouped near a ladder that had miraculously remained undamaged. No one had been injured in the attack, which was also odd.

"What the hell was that?" Mitexi asked. She wrung some more water out of the sleeve of her robe.

"No idea," Dystressi said. "But… something about it felt familiar."

"I thought so too," Spectress added. "The aura of it. Did you feel that when we were riding the drakes?"

"I did."

"Me too." They shared an uneasy look.

"Now what?" I asked. "We're stuck here!"

"So it seems," Lokregar said flatly. "Best find an inn." We made arrangements at a place called Skindle's for accomodation, and settled in at the bar for our first decent meal in days. The mood was bleak: with no ship and no dock, it would be weeks or months before we could progress toward Gadgetzan and the Caverns of Time.

"So… what do we do in the meantime?" Mitexi asked the assembled group as we sat by the bar. No one had an answer for her.

"We could use a mage portal," Iyania suggested.

"Too risky," Spectress replied. "There's… trouble in Dalaran. It would be dangerous. They'd know if I went through a portal. They could track me."

"Well, you don't have to follow us," Iyania countered. "Just open it and we'll hop in. You can wait here."

"I'm not leaving Cass-... Dystressi," Spectress said definitively. "End of discussion." Iyania glowered at the draenei.

"Is there no other way back?" Mitexi wondered. "A zeppelin, maybe?"

"I fear that we are hunted by that dragon," Lokregar said, "and that any attempt we make to use another means would be thwarted just as the ship was."

"Why would that dragon attack us?" I asked.

Dystressi, who hadn't spoken for some time, said, "I have a theory." Eyes turned toward her. "The Bronze Dragonflight enlisted me to find Blightfire, right? And I did. We're here together now. But the dragons spoke of an enemy-someone tampering with time. The attack on the dragons in the Twisting Nether and this attack now… they're connected. Whoever or whatever the dragons are fighting has added us to its list of foes. But they didn't kill us, yeah? They probably could've. Which means they want us alive for some reason."

"Then they'll keep coming after us?" Spectress asked worriedly.

"After Blight and me, maybe," Dystressi replied. "The rest of you are free to follow your own course. We're the ones the dragons want. If you left now, I wouldn't blame you." There was quiet for a minute or so as the party thought about her observation. It was true enough; she and I were the only ones with the tattoos, and the dragon Dystressi had met had asked for me by name. I looked worriedly from face to face. Would our allies stand by us?

"I'm staying," Spectress said, glancing at Dystressi with obvious affection.

"Me too!" Mitexi cried, giving me a similar look.

Iyania shrugged. "I will follow for now."

"Lok'tar! I've come this far with you," Lokregar chuckled. "You'll have to tolerate me a bit longer."

Dystressi's smile broadened. "Thank you, everyone. I think I speak for my sister when I say we're both grateful." I nodded. "Now then, how about we get some sleep?"

We retired to various rooms for the night. Mitexi and I were sharing a cozy corner room with a window that let in the warm tropical breeze. Outside, the city hummed with activity, perhaps a bit dampened by the destruction of the afternoon but nonetheless bustling. Gaslights sparkled on the various tiers of the town, lighting the way for merchants and merrymakers. The plank streets were alive with members of many races as they wandered the markets and taverns.

Mitexi was taking off her robes for bed as she spoke to me, "Blight, what are you thinking about?"

"I've never seen so many people before," I said quietly. "Undercity is the biggest place I can remember, and it was… well, pretty dead."

Mitexi laughed. "Yeah."

"It's a bit intimidating," I added.

"Don't let it worry you. No one out there wants to hurt us," she assured me.

"Yeah. You're right." I kept staring out the window. A feeling beat within my dead heart. I wasn't sure what it was yet, but… I felt lonely. Yes. Loneliness. "Do you remember Lonek?" I asked softly.

Mitexi was halfway into her sleeping clothes. "The tauren from Silverpine?"

"Yes."

"Yeah. He was interesting."

"He was heroic."

"Why do you ask?"

I sighed to myself. "No reason." A few stars twinkled at me. "I think I might go for a little walk."

Mitexi gave me a confused look. "Yeah? Okay. I'll be in bed then." She dove onto the cushy mattress and shuffled into the blankets. "Nice to sleep on something that's not the ground for a change!" she giggled.

"Goodnight Texi," I said gently. "See you later." I left the room and made my way out of the inn. The air was salty and fresh, but I could barely sense it on my decrepit skin. I wandered toward the market row I'd seen from my window, not really going anywhere in particular, and sank deep into dark thoughts. What was I doing with my unlife? The destruction of the ship and dock had served to remind me that there were many things beyond my control and understanding. Why was I even still around? What was the point of going on? My sister was back with me, but without our memories we might as well have been strangers. I felt little for her save a sense of camaraderie from our days trekking through the jungle. Mitexi was probably the person I cared about the most now, but would she even miss me if I weren't around? I felt lost.

I was lost. I'd taken a few turns and stairs and suddenly I didn't know where I was. I turned and noticed a goblin giving me an unusual stare. "You, uh… one of them Forsakens?" he asked uneasily.

"I am," I said.

He looked relieved. "Good, good. Thought so. Here to shop?"

"Well, no, I-" I froze mid-sentence and stared. The goblin stood beside a large machine, the likes of which I'd never seen before… but I had seen it before. Somewhere, deep in my past. Silina's past. It looked right to me, somehow. Yet wrong. "This machine…" I began.

"Oh, you're interested in that?" the goblin chirped. "Well, yeah, okay! This baby is a transporter. Ultra safe! Takes you wherever you want it to go! It used to be hooked up to Gnomeregan, but, uh… it's broken." He paused. "Two hundred gold and it's yours."

"I can't afford that," I murmured, unable to stop staring at it.

"Yeah, I thought not," the goblin said, half to himself. "Okay then, how about some machine parts? A grab bag of spare parts is only fifty silver!" He shook a bag, which rattled satisfyingly. "Now, these bags here, they contain only the finest junk. Most of it is worth just a few copper, but sometimes you'll snag a nice piece of technology for dirt cheap!" He grinned. "That sound more your speed?"

I gazed at the bag. When he shook it again, I recognized the sound of some of the items clicking together, though I could not name them. "Yes. I'll take four."

"Hot diggity!" the goblin cried.

I left the market stall and the transporter behind and found my way back to the inn. The four pouches of spare parts clattered softly as I returned to my room and set them by my bed. I could scarcely wait for morning, though I could not say why.

I sat at a table with the four bags of parts and a glass of moonberry juice waiting expectantly in front of me. With a sort of neutral patience I reached into a bag and took out a small gear. The next bag yielded a round piece of metal. I let my fingers tell me what to take from the third bag, producing a round piece of glass. The fourth bag yielded a spring. I repeated the process, each time allowing my instincts to guide me. After a while, I gazed down at the small pile of assembled pieces on the table before me. There was something hidden inside all this debris, I just knew it. All I had to do was figure out what it was and put it back together.

I began to tinker. The gear fit with another gear, so I put them together. The round metal dish had spaces for screws, which I found I could tighten with my claw-like fingernails. I noticed the spring would fit nicely into the system and added it. The moonberry juice dipped lower and lower, then reappeared as the barkeep came by and switched my glass for another. This happened twice more.

Then suddenly it was done. I'd built something. It was a small, ticking object with hands that went round beneath a glass cover-a gyrochronatom, I remembered. I put it aside. There were still more things in this pile of parts, waiting to come out.

I tinkered on and on for hours. Mitexi eventually came to see what I was up to, and seemed impressed by all the knick-knacks and gadgets I'd built. She suggested I sell them, so once the bags of scrap were empty, I returned to the goblin merchant near the transporter and unloaded all the items I'd made, netting a tidy profit… which I immediately spent on more bags of parts. The goblin seemed pleased with this arrangement.

And thus it was for the next three days.

I made fireworks, some of which I shot off on one of the piers, to the amusement of many onlookers. They burst green, red, and blue in the sky over the bay.

I made flares and smoke bombs. They lit up the night as I tested a few, hurling them off the inn's balcony into the water.

I made grenades. These were harder to test, as they could cause a lot of damage, so I took them out into the jungle a short distance and blew up a few trees.

I made jumper cables and medical syringe injectors. An opportunity to test these arose by accident when a brawl broke out in the tavern. A troll who'd had one too many picked the wrong orc to mess with and got laid out flat. I resuscitated him with the jumper cables while treating the orc for his wounds.

I made engineer's goggles, which granted me magnified sight and a bit of low-light vision when worn. I kept them dangling around my neck most of the time as a mark of what it took me three days to realize I was: an engineer.

And finally, for my greatest feat: I found us a way out of Booty Bay.

On the fourth day of selling junk to the goblin, he stopped me and said, "I've got an offer for you, undead."

"I'm listening."

"You're clearly an engineer of no small skill. These things you've been making… they're top notch. I don't think I need to hide the fact that I can turn a profit on what you sell me. So I thought I'd make use of your services to help both of us. You like tinkering, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"And I'd like to be able to use this hunk of junk." He pounded a fist against the broken transporter. "So, if I front the cost of the parts, will you try to repair it?"

I didn't hesitate. "Yes."

I began immediately. The goblin provided a box of items of much higher quality than the junk I'd been buying-bars of mithril, cores of earth, water globes, aquamarine crystals, truesilver… I was eager to start refining them, but first I had to dig into the machine. I spent a day poking around in its guts, identifying by instinct the places that needed repairs. The second day I worked on bending the materials to my will. I found that I could use a modified fire spell to warm the metal enough to warp it. Soon I had assembled a number of mithril cylinders, which I inlaid with gold wiring, and truesilver transformers, which I could connect to the cylinders using copper cable. It all just made sense in my hands, though I couldn't have explained why it worked. On the third day I started installing the parts into the machine. Oil and grime covered my hands, my face, my robes. I lost track of time, as always, and spent most of the daylight hours adjusting this and that. When I came upon the controllers for the transporter's destination, I knew just where to set them, again by unconscious memory alone. On the fourth day, I was ready to test it.

"But how?" the goblin wondered. "I ain't volunteering!"

I presented the problem to the others that evening. Where had they been all week? I had no idea. But not idle, as soon became evident.

"I think I can help you, Blight," Mitexi said with a grin. "Behold!" She stood, muttered in Demonic, and summoned a fiery green eyeball about the size of a coconut. It floated in the air a moment, then zipped away. Mitexi's eyes were closed, yet the eyeball avoided every obstacle as it did a lap around the tavern. Then it vanished in a puff of emerald fire. "That's the Eye of Kilrogg," she explained. "I learned it from a demonologist in the lower levels." She lowered her voice and winked at me. "I'm not gonna tell you what I had to do to get him to teach me!"

"How will this help?" I asked.

"I can see what the eye sees. If we send it through the transport, I should be able to see where it goes."

"Worth a shot," I said. The others agreed. We all tromped out to the machine and I got it set up. Mitexi called forth the eye again and set it on the transporter platform. I felt nervous. "Okay," I said, hand on the button. "Here goes." I pressed it.

There was a soft zip as the eye vanished. We all looked to Mitexi. She seemed to be asleep, but without warning her eyes opened again. "Wow!" she cried. "It worked!"

"Where were you?" Spectress asked.

"It was… a city. In a desert. I saw goblins and sand and brown buildings. And there was another transporter there that I came out of."

"Yes!" I cheered. "It worked!"

"Haha! Hot diggity!" my goblin merchant friend replied. "Now I can start makin' real money!" He extended a hand toward me. "Thanks so much. You've really set me up for success with this."

"Nothing to it," I answered with a smile. "Time for the true test run."

"Wait… we're really going to use this?" Lokregar asked. "I'm not-"

"You saw for yourself: it works!" I gave him a fierce look. "You can wait here for another month while they fix the dock, or you can follow me."

Dystressi was studying me with a curious half-smile. "Save the warlock, save the world," she muttered.

"Who's with me, then?" I said. Iyania, Dystressi, Mitexi, and Spectress all nodded. After a moment, Lokregar did as well. "Then it's settled. I'll go first."

"Seein' as you fixed it and all, I'll let you and your friends ride for free," the goblin told us. "Good luck out there."

I stepped onto the transporter platform. "Thanks." Addressing the party, I said, "You all can follow me when you're ready, but I'm going now."

"We'll be along soon," Mitexi said. "Just need to get my stuff from the inn."

"See you there, then," I told her, and pressed the button.

There was a soft zip and suddenly I was in a new place, surrounded by dry, hot air, the murmuring bustle of crowds, the hiss of sand in the wind. I took a few steps forward off the transporter and stared in wonder around me. Sandstone buildings rose high on all sides beneath a bright blue sky and glaring sun. Goblins, orcs, humans, trolls, night elves, and more rushed along all around me. I could smell dust and sweat. Next to the transporter stood a gnome, who studied me with astonishment.

"Second one today!" he cried. "Guess someone fixed the box on the other end, huh? Impressive!"

"Where am I?" I asked, already knowing the answer but needing to make sure.

"Where are you? Why, madam, you're in the Jewel of the Sands! The Oasis of Southern Kalimdor! You, my dear, are in Gadgetzan!"