It had not taken
Mariskka long to travel by gryphon from Aerie Peak to Menethil Harbor.
Although she hated to travel by sea, she'd managed to take a boat from
there to Theramore, and was only bedridden with seasickness for two days
after the voyage. Figuring she'd made good time, she happily set out on
the next stage of her journey to uncover everything that had been
discussed between herself, Chelody Smallwing, and the Forsaken named
Mortanus that believed an alternate view of events transpiring in the
world.
As she left the swamps around Theramore behind her, the shaman immediately began to encounter signs of the ongoing struggle between the Horde and Alliance within the Southern Barrens region. Men, supplies, war machines, horses, and a variety of other things streamed down the roads in a never-ending wave that often left her standing by the side of the road to let the crowds pass her. A few times guards at security checkpoints questioned her harshly, wanting to know where she was going and what her business was about. She managed to dismiss their concerns, explaining her skills with healing and convincing them to let her pass through.
When she finally entered the barrens themselves, she encountered precisely what she had been hoping to avoid; endless war. Armies clashed on the grassy fields, and it took the shaman quite some time to navigate her way around the conflicts in an effort to avoid being sucked into them.
It was from this journey that she found herself crouched in some tall grass, her eyes taking in a sight that shocked her sensibilities to the core. Before her the wreckage of the peaceful Tauren village of Camp Taurajo spread out as far as the eye could see, feeble trails of smoke still curling from the wreckage of tents and walls that had once protected the villagers from the natural forces on the open plains of the barrens. Even at this distance, Mariskka could see the bodies lying still amongst the debris, carrion birds circling overhead and diving down to feed now and then.
Seeing movement, the shaman leaned forward, parting the grass before her to get a better view. Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw; looters stalked the remains of the village taking valuables from the burned houses and off the bodies themselves; looters dressed in the uniforms of the Alliance military.
"No...is not being so," Mariskka murmured, watching the humans as they pried simple copper jewelry from the body of a dead Tauren. Many of the bodies lying amongst the rubble looked like they were too small to be the powerful warriors of that race, and Mariskka had seen enough genocide in her days to know that not all of the dead had been defending the camp.
She gasped as two sets of hands suddenly reached out and grabbed her from behind, dragging her backwards through the grass. Another hand covered her mouth as she tried to call out for help and she was roughly dragged by what she realized were a group of three humans. Her hooves dug furrows into the ground as she was pulled away from the underbrush where she'd been hiding.
Despite her larger size she was outnumbered three to one, and her struggles did little but earn her a few cuffs to the side of the head as the men took her towards a large, free-standing tree near the edge of the destroyed Tauren village. There, amongst the undergrowth around the tree's base, another human stood, his arms crossed as he watched the distant activity in the camp. He turned as the trio dragged the shaman before him, roughly shoving her forward.
"Well well, what have we here?" The man said, looking Mariskka over carefully. "A draenei, out here in the barrens? And what exactly were you doing?"
"Captain! We saw her spying on the camp!" One of the men behind Mariskka blurted out.
Mariskka said nothing as the man, no the 'captain' looked over her shoulder and shot the man a withering glare, silencing him. He turned his attention back to the draenei, his expression promising that she'd best answer his questions. "And did you see anything interesting little spy?"
Mariskka blinked and shook her head. "Am not being spy, no. Am coming to see vhat is happening at camp. Hearing bad things, yes. Alliance army command is saying looters are being rounded up, is saying Tauren are being beaten here and...how you say...driven off?"
The captain looked at the three men behind Mariskka with a smirk. "Yes, all of that is quite true as you can see. The Tauren have been defeated, although if I'd have had my way I would have ordered them all slain rather than 'accidentally' allowing some of their young and feeble to escape through our lines. Such is the nature of war I suppose."
Mariskka looked at the human with surprise. "Young are not being varriors, no. Should not be killing or letting come to harm. Are being future of peace."
The man barked out a harsh laugh. "They are beasts, nothing more. The ones that remained got what they deserved, and I hope that the rest suffer greatly before they too get what they deserve. We've tolerated the Horde for long enough."
Mariskka sighed and shook her head. "Are having too much hatred, yes. Should be stopping var, not adding to it! And...vhy are vatching looters in town? You should be stopping, yes. Are..vhat is vord...desecrating...the dead? Yes, are desecrating. Is not right. Am seeing spirits there in great pain."
The man smiled cruelly at her. "I was sent to stop the looters, this is true. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate any. A shame, wouldn't you say?"
Mariskka tilted her head, her pigtails bouncing as she looked at him in confusion, totally missing the subtle point he was making. "Vhat are talking about? Am seeing them right there! Are being almost a dozen in sight, yes!"
The man frowned. "Such a disappointment. I was hoping that you would see the...opportunities we have here. The army does not pay nearly well enough you know."
The shaman's eyes widened in shock. "You are letting them bribe?! Are desecrating dead! Must be stopping!" Her outrage was clear in her words.
The man took a step closer to the Draenei, his frown having turned into a mask of anger. "As I said, there are opportunities here that one cannot pass up. It dawns on me that there are quite a few additional opportunities that I'd not considered when I awoke this morning."
The last sentence was punctuated by a rather lewd look that lingered far longer on Mariskka's body than the shaman cared for. The men behind her chuckled, picking up on the captain's suggestion immediately. The captain stepped closer, a hand's width separating the two. She could smell the stench of sour ale on him as he spoke again.
"Not only did we not find any looters, but we also didn't see any Draenei today either," he sneered. His hand came up to caress her face and Mariskka recoiled, pulling her head back to the laughter of the men behind her.
She glared at the captain and shook her head. "Is being shame that you are not learning lesson from vords alone, yes."
She reached out and pressed her hand against the man's chest. He felt an odd tingle, but thought nothing of it at first. His vision became blurred, and he shook his head as it seemed the draenei was suddenly beginning to tower over him. He looked up at her in awe, thinking she was now almost five times his size. As his vision blurred more, her huge form, now hundreds of times larger than him, loomed over his like a shadow of doom. He realized in a panic that he was almost eye level with one of her hooves!
Frantically the man called out to his men, who had stunned looks on their faces. Unfortunately, all that came from his mouth was a *ribbit*.
Mariskka smiled and bent down, scooping the frog that had been the captain up in her palm and turning to glare at the men behind her. A tension filled the air around her, like a storm about to break. The feeling it gave them was primal, and like animals seeking shelter they involuntarily took a step back from the Draenei. Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she held the frog out for them to see.
"Are stopping looting now am thinking," she said quietly. "Vould not vant to be...hurting you. Are taking others and reporting back to army command, yes?"
The men quickly nodded, turning pale at the threat. They slowly backed up farther and turned to go. The last of the three paused and shot Mariskka a glance, speaking softly. "What uh...what are you going to ummm...do with him?"
Mariskka smiled sweetly at him and said, "Vill see if he is getting vhat he deserves, yes? Is vhat he is vanting of Tauren after all."
The man had no comment as he turned and hurried away. An hour later a group of ten would-be looters reported back to the Alliance Forward Command. They were harshly disciplined, but did manage to survive the experience and learn something from it.
******************************************
In an area of the barrens that had been overtaken by massive plant growth, the captain's eyes opened and he looked around him in shock. For a time, his thoughts had been scattered and confused, and the idea of eating insects had been appealing to him as his frog body had given him natural urges.
Now though he was back to his normal form, or at least so he thought. He could feel his fingers and toes, and think clearly, but something was wrong. The trees around him were growing from the sky!
He blinked a few more times, clearing his vision and realized that the trees were not growing the wrong way, instead he was hanging upside down! He looked 'up' frantically and saw that he was in the grasp of one of the wild vines that had spawned in this region of the Barrens, suspended far above the ground.
He pinwheeled his arms frantically, but the vine held tight, keeping him far from the ground and the ability to escape. In a panic, the captain looked around, spying the simple hide tents of a tauren outpost nearby. With shock, he realized that his own hope of escaping the vine would come if he yelled loud enough to get the tauren to aid him.
He had been left to beg mercy of those to whom he would give none. A just punishment for a man of his wicked desires. He could only pray that his foes would aid him, instead of giving him what he really deserved.
Mariskka never looked back as she rode away from the clearing, her warhorse's hooves giving off a soothing rhythm that calmed her mind. She would have much work to do settling the spirits of the Tauren who had died around Camp T, but it was work that she looked forward to. She could do much good here it seemed.
As she left the swamps around Theramore behind her, the shaman immediately began to encounter signs of the ongoing struggle between the Horde and Alliance within the Southern Barrens region. Men, supplies, war machines, horses, and a variety of other things streamed down the roads in a never-ending wave that often left her standing by the side of the road to let the crowds pass her. A few times guards at security checkpoints questioned her harshly, wanting to know where she was going and what her business was about. She managed to dismiss their concerns, explaining her skills with healing and convincing them to let her pass through.
When she finally entered the barrens themselves, she encountered precisely what she had been hoping to avoid; endless war. Armies clashed on the grassy fields, and it took the shaman quite some time to navigate her way around the conflicts in an effort to avoid being sucked into them.
It was from this journey that she found herself crouched in some tall grass, her eyes taking in a sight that shocked her sensibilities to the core. Before her the wreckage of the peaceful Tauren village of Camp Taurajo spread out as far as the eye could see, feeble trails of smoke still curling from the wreckage of tents and walls that had once protected the villagers from the natural forces on the open plains of the barrens. Even at this distance, Mariskka could see the bodies lying still amongst the debris, carrion birds circling overhead and diving down to feed now and then.
Seeing movement, the shaman leaned forward, parting the grass before her to get a better view. Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw; looters stalked the remains of the village taking valuables from the burned houses and off the bodies themselves; looters dressed in the uniforms of the Alliance military.
"No...is not being so," Mariskka murmured, watching the humans as they pried simple copper jewelry from the body of a dead Tauren. Many of the bodies lying amongst the rubble looked like they were too small to be the powerful warriors of that race, and Mariskka had seen enough genocide in her days to know that not all of the dead had been defending the camp.
She gasped as two sets of hands suddenly reached out and grabbed her from behind, dragging her backwards through the grass. Another hand covered her mouth as she tried to call out for help and she was roughly dragged by what she realized were a group of three humans. Her hooves dug furrows into the ground as she was pulled away from the underbrush where she'd been hiding.
Despite her larger size she was outnumbered three to one, and her struggles did little but earn her a few cuffs to the side of the head as the men took her towards a large, free-standing tree near the edge of the destroyed Tauren village. There, amongst the undergrowth around the tree's base, another human stood, his arms crossed as he watched the distant activity in the camp. He turned as the trio dragged the shaman before him, roughly shoving her forward.
"Well well, what have we here?" The man said, looking Mariskka over carefully. "A draenei, out here in the barrens? And what exactly were you doing?"
"Captain! We saw her spying on the camp!" One of the men behind Mariskka blurted out.
Mariskka said nothing as the man, no the 'captain' looked over her shoulder and shot the man a withering glare, silencing him. He turned his attention back to the draenei, his expression promising that she'd best answer his questions. "And did you see anything interesting little spy?"
Mariskka blinked and shook her head. "Am not being spy, no. Am coming to see vhat is happening at camp. Hearing bad things, yes. Alliance army command is saying looters are being rounded up, is saying Tauren are being beaten here and...how you say...driven off?"
The captain looked at the three men behind Mariskka with a smirk. "Yes, all of that is quite true as you can see. The Tauren have been defeated, although if I'd have had my way I would have ordered them all slain rather than 'accidentally' allowing some of their young and feeble to escape through our lines. Such is the nature of war I suppose."
Mariskka looked at the human with surprise. "Young are not being varriors, no. Should not be killing or letting come to harm. Are being future of peace."
The man barked out a harsh laugh. "They are beasts, nothing more. The ones that remained got what they deserved, and I hope that the rest suffer greatly before they too get what they deserve. We've tolerated the Horde for long enough."
Mariskka sighed and shook her head. "Are having too much hatred, yes. Should be stopping var, not adding to it! And...vhy are vatching looters in town? You should be stopping, yes. Are..vhat is vord...desecrating...the dead? Yes, are desecrating. Is not right. Am seeing spirits there in great pain."
The man smiled cruelly at her. "I was sent to stop the looters, this is true. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate any. A shame, wouldn't you say?"
Mariskka tilted her head, her pigtails bouncing as she looked at him in confusion, totally missing the subtle point he was making. "Vhat are talking about? Am seeing them right there! Are being almost a dozen in sight, yes!"
The man frowned. "Such a disappointment. I was hoping that you would see the...opportunities we have here. The army does not pay nearly well enough you know."
The shaman's eyes widened in shock. "You are letting them bribe?! Are desecrating dead! Must be stopping!" Her outrage was clear in her words.
The man took a step closer to the Draenei, his frown having turned into a mask of anger. "As I said, there are opportunities here that one cannot pass up. It dawns on me that there are quite a few additional opportunities that I'd not considered when I awoke this morning."
The last sentence was punctuated by a rather lewd look that lingered far longer on Mariskka's body than the shaman cared for. The men behind her chuckled, picking up on the captain's suggestion immediately. The captain stepped closer, a hand's width separating the two. She could smell the stench of sour ale on him as he spoke again.
"Not only did we not find any looters, but we also didn't see any Draenei today either," he sneered. His hand came up to caress her face and Mariskka recoiled, pulling her head back to the laughter of the men behind her.
She glared at the captain and shook her head. "Is being shame that you are not learning lesson from vords alone, yes."
She reached out and pressed her hand against the man's chest. He felt an odd tingle, but thought nothing of it at first. His vision became blurred, and he shook his head as it seemed the draenei was suddenly beginning to tower over him. He looked up at her in awe, thinking she was now almost five times his size. As his vision blurred more, her huge form, now hundreds of times larger than him, loomed over his like a shadow of doom. He realized in a panic that he was almost eye level with one of her hooves!
Frantically the man called out to his men, who had stunned looks on their faces. Unfortunately, all that came from his mouth was a *ribbit*.
Mariskka smiled and bent down, scooping the frog that had been the captain up in her palm and turning to glare at the men behind her. A tension filled the air around her, like a storm about to break. The feeling it gave them was primal, and like animals seeking shelter they involuntarily took a step back from the Draenei. Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she held the frog out for them to see.
"Are stopping looting now am thinking," she said quietly. "Vould not vant to be...hurting you. Are taking others and reporting back to army command, yes?"
The men quickly nodded, turning pale at the threat. They slowly backed up farther and turned to go. The last of the three paused and shot Mariskka a glance, speaking softly. "What uh...what are you going to ummm...do with him?"
Mariskka smiled sweetly at him and said, "Vill see if he is getting vhat he deserves, yes? Is vhat he is vanting of Tauren after all."
The man had no comment as he turned and hurried away. An hour later a group of ten would-be looters reported back to the Alliance Forward Command. They were harshly disciplined, but did manage to survive the experience and learn something from it.
******************************************
In an area of the barrens that had been overtaken by massive plant growth, the captain's eyes opened and he looked around him in shock. For a time, his thoughts had been scattered and confused, and the idea of eating insects had been appealing to him as his frog body had given him natural urges.
Now though he was back to his normal form, or at least so he thought. He could feel his fingers and toes, and think clearly, but something was wrong. The trees around him were growing from the sky!
He blinked a few more times, clearing his vision and realized that the trees were not growing the wrong way, instead he was hanging upside down! He looked 'up' frantically and saw that he was in the grasp of one of the wild vines that had spawned in this region of the Barrens, suspended far above the ground.
He pinwheeled his arms frantically, but the vine held tight, keeping him far from the ground and the ability to escape. In a panic, the captain looked around, spying the simple hide tents of a tauren outpost nearby. With shock, he realized that his own hope of escaping the vine would come if he yelled loud enough to get the tauren to aid him.
He had been left to beg mercy of those to whom he would give none. A just punishment for a man of his wicked desires. He could only pray that his foes would aid him, instead of giving him what he really deserved.
Mariskka never looked back as she rode away from the clearing, her warhorse's hooves giving off a soothing rhythm that calmed her mind. She would have much work to do settling the spirits of the Tauren who had died around Camp T, but it was work that she looked forward to. She could do much good here it seemed.
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