Peaks and Valleys (Myst of Pandaria)

Alnarra rushed towards, Moonglade as fast as her wings could carry her. The wind beneath her feathers was like a rush of adrenaline and with each flap her heart beat a little faster. She had been pondering whom to ask to officiate the event she intended to setup, but had not felt anyone right for the job. Then as if someone had lit a candle in her mind it had come to her. She could think of no one better to ask then Master Dathans, her mentor and closest friend.

If Birds of Prey could smile, she would be grinning across the whole width of her beak. She knew that if there was anyone that she could trust to pass on this tidbit of information to, it was Dathans. He had after all been the first one to figure out her gambit the last time she had been involved in setting up an event like this, why not this time?

She crossed over the last mountain, spreading her wings to catch the always-warm draft from within the glade. As her eyes focused, she changed her approach. Alnarra wanted to be sure to land right at Dathans’, doorstep, no better way to deliver the news then directly to the man himself.

With a quick thought, as she approached closer and closer to the earth, she shifted out of her avian form, landing gently on the door before Master Dathans’ small home. The grin that crossed her face was from ear to ear; she brimmed with confidence as she began to open the door, shouting, “Dathans, are you home old man?”

She pushed the door slowly, “Come on Dath, I’ve got to...” her speech cut short as she realized that Master Dathans’ house was not empty, in fact it was nearly full. She blinked a few times trying to gauge the crowd. Among the gathering were many of the older druids that the old man had always like to speak with and even some old drinking buddies. Oddly absent; however, was Dathans himself.

She looked around the room for a second, a bit surprised “Well if the old man had told me he was throwing a party I would have come much sooner,” the grin still clear on her face. Alnarra looked to the crowd “Well where is the old man?” The eyes from members of the crowd began to drop, no one willing to look her in the eye. Alnarra blinked a few times, “Oh come now, now’s not the time for him to be hiding, I’ve got to ask him to preside over my wedding….” Her speech slowed as began to realize that the crowd continued to avoid her eyes, none of them speaking.

Finally, one of the elder druidess stepped forward, putting her hand on Alnarra’s shoulder slowly. The look in her eyes, Alnarra had seen it too many times before, that same look that always sat in the eyes of someone about to deliver news, news that no one wanted to hear. As the elder began to open her mouth, time seemed to come to a near halt, each word landing, it’s meaning echoing in her mind, “I’m sorry child, but Dathans… is no longer with us”

The grin that had once adorned Alnarra’s face began to shrink away, her hands dropping to her side, her mind seemingly locked in place. As Alnarra began to lose her footing, almost slipping back outside the frame of the door the Elder druid caught her, stopping her fall. “Wha…. What?” Alnarra managed to say in a near whisper.

An older looking dwarf stepped forwards slowly, a stern look in his eyes. “Aye! The old man was taking a training class north of the border between Ashenvale and the Barrens on an exercise. A group of Kor’Kron ambushed the old man and the class. The trainees were able to escape, but… well lass.”

Alnarra sat down slowly in the frame of the door, her heart pounding, “Where is he? What’s happened? Let me see him, I can help him” she screamed at no one in particular. The Elder druidess simply stroked her hair “I’m sorry child, as soon as one of the trainees returned to us, we dispatched a group to assist Dathans, but when they arrived…”

A grizzled human soldier stepped forward holding in his hands what was unmistakably a piece of armor that used to belong to Dathans. “When the Circle’s group arrived to provide support, the Kor’Kron had already hung the old man’s corpse up like a banner,” his tone was uncaring as he threw the armor piece into Alnarra’s lap.

Alnarra began to stutter, “I don’t… I don’t understand, why would…. “, Her words broken and filled with grief “Dath… he was a member of the circle through and through why would….” She clutched the armor piece holding it tight against her chest. Her eyes were wide, and filled with an incredible anger, she reached down clutching the armor piece again, her words descending into a mixture of Darnassian and Druidic, “What are you all sitting around here for then, why are we not down there right now murdering those wretched green skinned monsters?” her hand clenched around the piece of armor nearly shattering it in her grip.

“Calm yourself child, at this time the Circle must now more then ever ensure that we do not side with or against the Horde Warchief. It is a matter of internal affairs. In addition an investigation must be performed….”

Alnarra cut the elder druidess off “So what, we’re going to just sit here after they have murdered one of our own? Is that what you’re telling me?” the rage clear and present in her tone, “And after they ambushed Hammul, killed Arch Druidess Renferal?” her hands scraping against the wooden floor of the doorframe.

“Again child, the Warchief has already cleared his name of that incident, it was the Twilight cult that performed that attack”
“Sabershit, and we all know it, we should be gathering a party right now, to tear those heartless monsters limb from limb.” Alnarra’s breathing was heavy, as she slammed her fist into the doorframe, splintering a bit of the wood.

“You know we cannot…. not as things stand,” the elder Druidess hugged Alnarra pulling her close, “We will find our answers, but it will take time”. Alnarra closed her eyes wrapping her arms around the Elder druidess, “He can’t be gone… not now, not after all that we’ve been through”.

“Shh… it will be alright child, Dathans would not wish you to mourn his passing, and his death was not in vain. He saved those trainees”,

Alnarra clutched the small engagement ring on her finger, her tears joined by the rains of a passing storm, “I just wanted him to know…. To know I was ok, that I had moved on… that things were changing, and now… now how am I supposed to tell him?”

The room remained silent as the sound of rain against the roof began to overtake the solemn ceremony.

“I've got to… I need to go,” Alnarra said quietly, picking herself up. She began to make her way towards her small home.

Alnarra tried to sleep soundly that night, lying peacefully in the arms of her fiancé atop her makeshift hay bed. As he snored peacefully through the night, her mind drifted elsewhere, to memories of Master Dathans and the lessons he had imparted on her. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see before her were the tattered remains of her once proud teacher, hung for all the world to see. As she lay staring at the ceiling above she came to a conclusion.

Being as quiet as possible she kissed her fiancé’s forehead before dawning the armor that she had become so accustomed to. She reached into her drawer pulling all manner of extra dagger and the likes. She began to scribble on a small note leaving it on the nightstand. “I’ll be back soon dear,” she whispered pulling a cloak over herself.

The rain had begun to pick up, and was now coming down quite heavily. No matter to Alnarra, the more nature could provide a cover for her mission the better. The bright light of the twin moons had been covered by a dense cloud cover, blanketing most of the northern end of Kalmidor “Perfect,” Alnarra remarked before taking her avian form and soaring into the wet night sky.

She traveled quickly over the mountainous region that was once Hyjal, dipping back into the valley of Ashenvale. It was not long before she would be reaching the border of the barrens. The rain intensified forcing to drop closer to the canopy of the forest below.

Even with poor visibility it was not hard to start making out the Horde camps along the ridge of the barrens, chopping away at the forest below, destroying any semblance of balance “Disgusting green skin filth,” she thought as she began to circle, looking for any sign of the green skin “Banner”.

It did not take long for the light of one of the Orc fires to illuminate her objective. As her eyes caught a glimpse of Dathans’ corpse strung up and flying from one of the Orcish encampments, she nearly plummeted from the air, sick to her stomach, “By Elune…. Dathans”. She dropped low to the camp, quickly retaking her human form. Her hope was that perhaps the rain and darkness had driven most of the Orcs inside for the night and she could retrieve his corpse without too much trouble.

Unfortunately a watchful Worg sniffed her out in the dark of the night, and with a single howl her position was quickly compromised. She muttered a myriad of Darnassian vulgarities before trying to make her way to the banner as quickly as possible in hopes that she could get in and out before the patrols arrived.

As hurried Kor’Kron gaurds began to approach the howling worg continued it’s howl. Alnarra knew that she was no match for any kind of garrison, especially not if she intended to flee this place with Dathans corpse in hand, but the persistent pup was leaving her very little choice. With a flick of her wrist she drew her spear to her side slamming it into the Worg’s throat, coaxing a bit of druidic magic to try and silence the beast, “There there…. Shhh… sorry”, she remarked as she quickly dragged the slain creature behind some trees, covering the blood in dirt.

The Kor’Kron patrol was quick to walk near the area, seeing no sign of the Worg that was responsible for the howl they began to fan out. “Son of a…” Alnarra muttered, “Well at least I can take them out one on one. Orcs may be many things, but speedy is not one of them”.

With due diligence she began to creep around the auspiciously lit camp, careful to watch for any other patiently waiting Worg, “I'm not as good at this as I used to be…” she said to herself rounding another corner nearly tripping over a crate of horde supplies.

But with patience came her objective. As she approached the banner she began to pull the daggers from her satchel making short work of the Kor’Kron lashings, “Damn Greenskins… no respect”. As Dathans’ corpse was released from the constraints of the makeshift banner, Alnarra caught him narrowly, “Dear old friend, you have put on some weight haven't you,” she tried to chuckle.

In her painstaking attention to freeing her former teacher; however, she failed to notice the determined Kor’Kron guard wielding an axe mere feet from the back of her skull. The sound of a snapped twig was all that gave his presence away, she turned and dived narrowly avoiding the massive cleaver

She gulped looking at the massive green beast, “Just don't make em like they used to eh?” she laughed moving Dathans’ corpse free of the fighting. Making a quick run she leaped onto the Kor’Kron warrior’s chest slamming the two daggers in her hand into either side of his neck, a blood curdling scream could be heard throughout the camp.

“Well…” she gave a quick wipe of her brow, brushing the sweat away, “Guess we're going to do this the har-“ her words were cut off by an arrow whizzing alongside, grazing the leather along her arm. She didn't have time to look down and see if it had managed to get past her armor, this was now going to be a fight for survival. She responded by shape shifting into her feline form and leaping at the opponent who had launched the arrow.

With an exchange of blade and claw, she managed to bring the orcish archer down, suffering a few scrapes and cuts. The pain burned, but it was nothing she hadn't handled before. On top of that, it seemed that now that the hornets’ nest had been stirred there was no stopping the onslaught. Just as quickly as the orcish archer had been slain two more of the Kor’Kron were quick to attack with mace and shield. After a few jarring blows to the head, a well place strike of her fangs and claws, the opponents lay before her.

“I can’t keep…” she barely managed to say before another arrow had landed near her. Shaking her head, she let out a sharp whistle, hoping that perhaps one of the Hippogryphs was flying a nearby route. If she could catch one of them back to Moonglade, it wouldn't be a problem.

The whistle failed to produce results, and just as quickly as she had let loose the sound another three arrows landed around her, one slicing into her shoulder, “ Definitely not as good as I used to be”

She managed to take down two more of the archers before the third was able to land a blade in her side, electing a howl and forcing her to shift from her feline form. As she clutched at her side, she rolled towards her former teacher’s corpse managing to trip the final archer in the process.

Her strength fading quickly, she slammed a spear through his chest ending the green skin’s life, “Now… would really be a good time… fo-“

“What are you doing down there?” a shout came from above. Alnarra looked up to see one of the many Astannar scout patrols had finally circled around, “Yeah…. Like that…” she panted.

As the Hippogryph approached, Alnarra threw herself and the corpse atop it, quickly asking the rider to take them back to the nearest Alliance encampment. With brief words exchanged, and a fair share more arrows raining down the pair finally managed to escape the horde encampment, Dathans in tow.

“You mind explaining what I’m doing flying a corpse home?” the sentinel demanded, “Sorry…. I just…. Well… someone needed to make sure he got home”. As the flew back to Astannar the rain began to come down harder, Alnarra’s wounds mixing with each drop, leaving an unsavory sight, “You could have gotten killed you know that?” the sentinel’s protest continued. Alnarra could only chuckle “Probably would have been if you hadn't shown up”