Directions and misdirections ((story-RP))

The crunching of course sand under each hooftstep seemed to echo loudly. She imagined the entire sand troll village being alerted to her interloping with each step closer to the large bonfire. Such it was when one was trying to be sneaky, that any sound was louder than it really was.

The intel that had been gathered suggested that there were no guards in this part of the village. Almost all of the sand trolls were in another part of the village, eagerly awaiting a meal that poor Niko was to be the main course of. She prayed he was still alive and that she’d be able to do her part of the mission.

She clutched the heavy sackcloth sack tightly to her chest as she continued to creep between the tents. A panderan in the group had quickly concocted an incendiary surprise for the trolls, but someone had to carefully place the package near the bonfire at this part of the village.

“I asked how I can help,” Niashado quietly whispered to herself as she fervently scanned the area for any guards. Each step closer to the firepit meant there she was more exposed. In the distance, as if mirroring her worried frantic heartbeats, the sounds of troll drums increased in tempo.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to force the fear-induced paralysis to the back of her mind and carefully took the last few steps to the fire. The heat was a welcoming respite from the desert chill.

Quickly unspooling the long fuse, she set the package a little way away from the fire just outside a nearby tent. She glanced up at the cliffside she’d have to scramble up and then at the fuse in her hand.

Stretching the line, Niashado started to bring it toward the firepit when a spear narrowly missed her head and slammed into the burning wood. Firey embers sprayed into her face and she barely managed to stifle a surprised yelp. Turning, she narrowly dodged another spear that had been aiming at her neck.

Dropping the fuse she rolled on the ground, still trying to dodge more spear strikes. Niashado grabbed a handful of sand and threw it toward her assailant, who leapt back and was forced to wipe their eyes.

Scrambling to her hooves, Niashado turned to see a troll woman rising and rubbing her eyes. Snarling, the troll brushed the tan hair from her face and charged forward with her spear. Niashado scrambled to unsheathe her sword, but it was jammed in its scabbard. With a cry, she abandon the sword and scrambled back toward a tent shelter. The troll woman surged forward, kicking crates out of her way and continue to toss the spear from one hand to another as if finding which would make the killing blow more efficient.

When Niashado started struggling with her sword again, the troll suddenly rolled to the side. Before the draenei could react the troll’s spear slammed into her left horn. The impact reverberated in her skull, causing the draenei to gasp and clutch her head. The troll’s knee rammed into Niashado’s gut, causing her to double over.

The troll deftly rolled to behind the draenei, took her spear with both hands and began to press it against the front of Niashado’s neck. Her gasp was stifled as she felt her windpipe being crushed. Niashado tried to step on the troll’s barefoot, but she found her hooves being lifted off the ground as the strong troll woman lifted her up by the pole pressing against her neck. She raked her fingernails against the spear pole to no avail.

Through the blood rushing her head and the ringing of the early impact to her head she heard the troll muttering something in a language she couldn’t understand. Darkness was starting to creep into the corners of her vision.

Niashado finally remembered her dagger and fished it from its sheath on her ankle. Then she drove it into the troll’s thigh. The troll howled, releasing the neck hold she’d had with her spear.

Niashado fell to the ground, coughing violently, but trying to crawl away from the female. She felt a savage kick to the abdomen and again the air fled from her lung. The draenei collapsed onto sandy ground and was kicked again to roll her onto her back.

The troll sat on the draenei’s abdomen and began to bring the tip of a stone dagger to a sternum. Niashado grabbed the troll’s arm with both her hands and tried to resist, but the troll’s strength and gravity were working against her.

“N-no. Stop,” Niashado coughed as saw the tip creep closer and closer to her sternum. The cold tip touched the skin between her breasts and began to break skin.

Out of desperation, she released one hand and abruptly squeezed the troll’s injured thigh. The dagger sank deeper into her chest but was abruptly dropped as the troll cried out. Without thinking, Niashado grabbed the stone dagger and swung as fast as possible across the troll’s neck.

She didn’t even know she’d made contact until she felt the spray of blood on her face. The troll tried to stop the bleeding to no avail. Niashado watched, shivering, as the troll’s struggles faded and her eyes became glassy. She looked down at the blood-soaked dagger. Blue and red blood stained the stone blade.

The draenei shuddered, suddenly not knowing what to do. Even though she’d been forced to take a life before, this was the first time she’d literally had blood on her hands.

Through the ringing in her head, she noticed that the distant drums suddenly stopped beating.

“Niko!” Niashado gasped. She’d been delayed by the troll’s sudden attack. Trying to ignore the spinning vision and the migraine that growing, the draenei staggered to her hooves, recovered her dagger and staggered outside.

They were out of time. Ignoring the delay fuse, she grabbed the sack and hurled it into the fire. Niashado dove for cover just as the first firework issued from the firepit, flew just over her head and exploded nearby. Another, and soon many others joined in. Explosions echoed throughout the canyon and thick white smoke issued out from the fire and obscured the area.

If things had gone according to plan, she’d have had about two minutes to begin scrambling up over canyon wall. Now, she’d have to make the climb with fireworks flying around her and through the thick miasma of smoke.

Keeping low, she crawled through the camp as she made her way toward the wall. Troll voices could be heard yelling in the distance. That was soon followed by the sharp reports of rifle fire.

As chaos unfolded, the draenei slowly made her way to the wall and began climbing up it. But with more exertion came stronger headaches and a deeper feeling of fatigue and confusion.

Deep in her addled mind, Niashado knew she’d suffered a concussion. Now that she wasn’t in immediate danger, the adrenaline was wearing off. She could feel the front of her shirt growing soaked with her azure blood.

She was about halfway up the ledge when a firecracker suddenly crashed next to her. It exploded, causing her to fall down the slope. Using the last of her energy she stopped her fall, but now was within the blanket of sulfur smelling smoke that now blanketed the canyon valley.

Her vision grew darker as she wondered if the others would be successful in rescuing tauren child.

Something heavy grabbed her by her arms and Niashado felt herself lifted off the ground. Then, everything fell dark.

As consciousness returned, it was greeted with pain. Her body felt battered. She coughed, trying to expel the acrid desert dust from her lungs. She could still hear the echoing of the explosions echoing in her mind.

With effort, Niashado rolled to her hooves and hands and took note of the stone floor she’d been laying on. Brushing in her bluish gray hair from her eyes, she took stock of the room she was in. It was dark, with dull gray light casting shafts on through the large windows. She didn’t recognize the place at all and it seemed out of place for Tanaris.

She slowly stood up, trying to ignore the pain of the battle she’d just been in. Then, her head whipped at the slow clopping sound echoing from the shadows beyond the room she was in.

A hoofed foot appeared in the light cast from one of the windows. Niashado reached for and withdrew her sword as more of the dark brown fur satyr stepped into view. Even without his horns, he towered well over her. Long brown hair framed his face. His fangs flashed in the dull light as he grinned at her.

“Wh-what am I doing here?” Niashado asked, pulling her sword from the scabbard. Taur tilted his head slightly in amusement. His hooves issued loud clopping sounds as he walked around her. “You are dead,” the draenei stated, staring at disbelief at the demon she’d been told died on Argus when she’d been rescued.

“What is death to a demon, but a chance to learn from our mistakes,” Taur replied with a silky voice that left Niashado feeling unclean.

She felt herself trembling as he glared down at her with his crimson eyes.

“Have you ever studied the striders of the Barrens?” he asked. Niashado replied with a look of confusion.

“What?”

“Striders? A large flightless bird. They are all over the Barrens,” he specified.

“I know what striders are! What are you going on about?” Niashado nearly screamed. She didn’t know where she was, and worse, what Taur had planned for her.

“They’re usually harmless birds. Easy to hunt. Easier to kill. Except that in a pack of striders, there’s always at least one that’s aggressive,” Taur continued, completely ignoring her outburst. “This strider is a bit ornery. The other striders, the docile ones, like to stay near these birds for protection. See, the docile ones don’t want to fight, but they’re happy to let the ornery ones do that for them.”

He stopped pacing around her and finally turned to leer at her. Then, he gestured at the wall behind her. Cautiously, she turned and spared a quick glance at the wall. Then, Niashado cried out.

Heads were mounted on plaques along the stone wall. But these weren’t the heads of deer or tigers like she had seen in other places. These were of orcs, humans, elves and even other satyrs.

And she recognized some of them. Jaou, Sundar, Ravenstar, Snowraven, Izdazi and others.

“Do you like my collection of prey? I have worked so hard collecting them,” Taur all but purred.

Anger built up like bile in Niashado and issuing a cry she struck her sword towards Taur. The satyr swiped his claws and shattered her sword. Then, he grabbed her shoulder and slammed her against the wall. The draenei tried to punch and scratch him but he slammed her against the stone wall several more times before the fight was knocked out of her. Then he threw her to the floor.

Taur strode up to her and slammed his hoof against her chest, blowing the air from her lungs.

“You’re nothing without your magics,” he cackled. He pulled the gasping Niashado back to her hooves. “You’re just like a docile strider, who stays safely near the fiercer ones. Weak.”

The draenei tried to twist past him, but he dug his claws into her arm, breaking skin. She cried out.

“I thought you an easy hunt, but you surprised me. But now, there is no place for you on this wall,” Taur taunted. He shoved Niashado to the floor, where she immediately held her bloodied arm.

“Without your magic you are useless to everyone around you,” he continued, grabbing the front of her shirt and pulling her up again until his face was up against hers. Niashado recoiled at his foul breath. She could feel spittle spraying on her face. “Your friends think you are useless.”

“They- they do not,” Niashado whispered. Taur still heard her and brought his mouth closer to her twitching ear.

“Why should they? You think yourself to be useless,” he whispered back. He laughed at his own joke. “But you are useful to me. You may be a pathetically easy to hunt; unworthy of being a trophy, but…”

She turned her eyes toward his grinning visage.

“… you will make excellent bait. See you soon,” he hissed.
Then, he broke her arm. Niashado screamed at the painful shock…




… and thrashed as several arms held her down. Her arm was in agony and through her blurred vision she could make out several figures surrounding her on the ground.

“Dat woke her up,” someone said near her.

“Hold still!” a gruffer voice said.

“Calm down, Niashado,” she heard someone with a strong Gilnean accent say.

“Reynolds?” she asked. Her mind was clearing as the pain in her arm quickly began subsiding. “What is happening. Was Niko rescued?”

“We got the boy. He’s with his father being checked out. Troll here is healing your broken arm. You looked like you took a beating,” the worgen explained.

“For da last time, my name is Jaccoby,” the troll druid snapped at the worgen hunter as he continued healing her wounds. “I had to fly you out of the canyon.”

“So, Niko is safe with us?” Niashado asked again, just wanting to make sure.

“He’s safe. We got him out thanks to the diversions you and Jaccoby were able to set.” Thrum explained. He stopped holding her down as she relaxed. “And our sharpshooting worgen, as well.”

Reynolds tapped his hat and walked away.

“Give me ten more minutes wit da healing and she’ll be good to walk,” Jaccoby said.

“Good. We’ll need to move fast to get to Shimmering Lake before sunrise,” the older tauren said. He handed Niashado a skin of water, which she accepted with a nod.

She wanted to revel in their success, but the dream, vision, whatever it was she’d just had with Taur still echoed ominously in her mind.