Chapter 8: Volume 1: Chapter 7
Lost Lion
Disclaimer! I don't own warcraft, it is the property of blizzard.
Volume 1: Chapter 7
*** The Dark Portal - The Black Morass***
It has been a little over two months since the failed assault on the human stronghold. A long slim female figure could be seen standing looking at the swirling green portal. She was on the slimmer side compared to a pure orc female. She could dress like an orc, to armed herself like them, but she would never be one of them.
Garona Halforcen watched with numbed feelings as the warlocks and peons placed the finishing touches on the massive stone structure, it was not as impressive as the one in Draenor, about half the size but just as wide. There were runes of a sort that Gul'dan's warlocks had finished carving in to stabilize the portal even further. Even now, the Dark Portal remained open as hundreds more orcs stepped into this new world. Since their defeat, at least a thousand orcs crossed over daily. Unlike before, it was not only warriors who were pouring through, but also children and some of their surviving elders. Already, their numbers had swelled to more than replace the losses they suffered during their recent disastrous defeats at the hands of the humans.
These humans, Garona admitted, were different from the Draenei. The Draenei relied on concealment and their magicks to fight the Horde. Thousands of orcish warrior could be charging a city of the Draenei and only a few dozens of the mysterious race were needed to man their arcane crystal towers to beat back the charing orcish horde with their strange Draenei could fight if caught out in the open of course but numbers would always win out against them when it came to close range combat.
The humans, however, had magicks that were not nearly as impressive as the Draenei and far less deadly compared to what the Horde faced before. Instead, they had the numbers to become...problematic for the Horde. Hundreds of orcish warriors have died trying to breach their defenses. Then there were the mounted warriors…
Their mounted warriors often proved superior to the grunts. Only the Wolf Riders served as any deterrent against the mounted human warriors. Durotan's Frostwolves were instrumental in covering failed assault after assault.
So, upon Doomhammer's–Blackhand's right hand–suggestion, they started to spread out all over the unclaimed human lands in an effort to find a pathway through the mountains or marshes. It was a good thing that life was abundant in these wetland marshes; they provided a continuous source of food and materials for the Horde.
Garona shook her head as she continued to Gul'dan's tent. She had been summoned after all. That usually meant that her skills were needed. Outside the tent were two of Gul'dan's Shadow Council warriors standing guard. Upon seeing her, they nodded and opened the flap for her to enter.
"I will, great one, I will! We just need a little more time to prove ourselves to you!" Gul'dan could be heard reassuring someone. She found it surprising that the feared warlock actually sounded fearful.
"Hurry. I intend to set a trap for–it appears you've company." The voice sounded of gravel and grinding stones to Garona ears. "You better make sure she accomplishes her mission."
Garona entered just in time to see a green flame in the form of two eyes and a mouth that slowly began to disappear, even as Gul'dan remained subservient before it. Once it was finally gone, she saw the Warlock rise to his feet and turn to look at her. A suffocating wave of power washed over her, forcing her to her knees.
"I am here as you commanded, my master," Garona said quickly in a placating tone. "What is it that you require of me?"
She knew better than to question her master about the mysterious entity.
"There is a target that I need you to lead your cadre of assassins to," Gul'dan said bristly without even acknowledging her. "It was the same human who fought against Durotan in their forest. The one who used the Draenei magicks."
Garona kept her head bowed. She too had heard about it but to her knowledge, only the weak version of the Draenei's Light magic had been seen.
"My...associate wants the human dead, and I need you to bring me his heart. Take however many warriors you need, but get the job done and soon."
With that, she felt Gul'dan's magic invade her mind. The image of a young human male was forced into her head along with his location, a place called the Redridge Mountains.
"It shall be done, master."
+++Southeast of Lakeshire- The Redridge Mountains+++
I looked on as the last nail was hammered into the barrack. It was finally done. The town hall, the first two farms, and now the barrack was completed, all within a month's time. The area we were in was cleared for a full mile radius with all the trees having been uprooted. A road was paved for faster travel between the structure and houses, a single large well was dug for drinking, and a gnomish water pump was installed for ease of access. Finally, but most important of all, the outhouses and latrine areas were constructed to dispose of waste and avoid general illness.
All in all, it was a pretty fast construction; people on Earth would have had a harder time. Once again, I chalked it up to high fantasy bullshit. I guess Yrel's comment during the Warlords of Draenor expansion was not an exaggeration on how fast a human could build. Of course, it was currently all wooden structures, treated of course. Very little stone went into them with it mainly being for the town hall and barrack's foundation, but it provided a framework for more additions if it was needed later on. Maybe even stone walls one day.
"It'll be nice to finally sleep without a breeze coming in, right, Private Keeshan?" Indeed, that was the very same John. J. Keeshan, the guy from the Redridge quest line during the Cataclysm expansion pack. It slipped my mind that he was a veteran of the first war so he would have been around during this time.
"Yes sir!" yelled the Rambo meme. I was pretty surprised that he almost looked like a younger Sylvester Stallone. There were enough differences, of course, but if he had been on Earth, he could have made a good living by being Sylvester Stallone's celebrity impersonator.
"With this, we should be able to house another fifty soldiers, don't you think?" I asked, counting the new bunkbeds, doubled of course, with my fingers. "Should put our numbers at about roughly one hundred and fifty now."
"About, sir," Private Keeshan agreed. "Mr. Clements said that he found a good spot for a third and fourth site for the farms."
"Oh really? Nice!" I gave Keeshan a thumbs up.
I had initially been intimidated by the large scale of the job, but it turns out building farms was easier than I thought. Apparently, farm buildings were less about raising livestock from the ground up and more for resettling the refugees that were caught up in the initial Horde attack. The livestock, which Stormwind had in excess in Westfall–the breadbasket of the entire kingdom–were shipped to these new farms to raise and use.
One farm was not your average farmer's market home type farm, but a massive Kansas style farm. A single farm could feed one hundred and fifty soldiers pretty comfortably. With two farms now, it gave me the ability to supply up to three hundred footmen or crossbowmen. Alternatively, it could let me house and feed one hundred and twenty five knights. As I found out, the horses eat a lot and so do the knights which usually causes a massive drain on a farm's resources. This was, of course, after taking into account how much was needed to feed the farm hands and civilians.
Currently, under me, I had twenty crossbowmen, eighty footmen, and twenty cavalry for scouting purposes with another thirty recruits currently in training. Looking up, I saw the sky starting to turn red. It was going to be night time soon. As time went on, I was relying less and less on my gnomish pocket watch. I only used that when I wanted to tell the exact time.
"Tell Mr. Clements that I will look at the place that he found tomorrow since it's getting dark," I told John. "Also, I believe I'm on night patrol with Corporal Jenkins tonight. Notify him that I expect a squad of thirty men lined up in an hour."
"Sir!" Keeshan saluted before he left.
I stretched my arms and gazed at Lake Everstill. The 'small parcel of land' turned out to be a cleared area in the Redridge mountains, right by a large body of water for farmland irrigation. I could see Stonewatch scout towers, separated from me by a large body of water, in the distance across from me. It was a tiny thing with how far they were now.
One of the things underrepresented and downplayed in the game was Lakeshire. For one it wasn't a single lake, medieval style maps are not exactly detailed down to the minutiae,it was more about broad a way was like those map app where when you zoom out you don't see the small towns, neighborhoods, just the main federal and state road was important. So in addition to lake Everstill, the largest lake in the area, there were also a series of small lake that people had to cross or settled near. The locale had the ideal conditions to help form settlements. Naturally, with my previous life's knowledge, I was pretty sure that the crystal and minerals inside the mountains of Redridge were what was filtering the water from the ocean pathway.
Overall, my new posting was very scenic. A good tourist spot with fresh clean air, pretty decent food, and friendly locals. Vicious wildlife though. I looked up and down the shoreline to make sure the last murloc infestation had been cleared. The kingdom had no idea how the murlocs kept making their way into a land locked area, but again, my theory on the mountain filtration of the sea water could possibly be the same pathway where these fish guys were coming from.
"Well, enough of that." I cricked my neck and grabbed my two-hand sword to prepare for patrol duty. I could see the torchlights were being set up for the night. Some of the footmen for night duty were only now making their way out of the barrack, while others had grabbed food from town hall. When I approached them, all of them snapped a salute.
None of these footmen were from my old legion save Jenkins. Aloman, my best friend, was moving up in the world. The rest were shuffled around to rebuild the three lost legions in the attack while a slow mobilization was called.
A full mobilization, I learned, would add an additional two thousand troops to all legions. That way, you had a good mix of rookies and veterans to cover each other's weaknesses. It felt like they had it rougher while I had it easier, fairly safe behind the lines.
I thought back to the look King Llane and Lothar shared. There was no question that I got this cushy posting due to Lothar. I couldn't confirm it, but it was pretty obvious.
"You ladies gonna be ready in time?" I asked with a grin. "Need more beauty sleep?"
"Hey, fuck off," one of the footwomen cursed me out. She was Allison, older than me by ten years, but never did anything of note to get promoted. She was not the only footwomen under my command. It was pretty interesting to find out that one fifth of the Stormwind's armed forces were women.
Once again, I chalked it up to high fantasy women but in this case made by the titans and then corrupted by the old gods.
"Fine, fine," I conceded before I turned serious. "Now footmen and footladies, we haven't seen a gnoll in three weeks, but that doesn't mean they aren't out there. We all know how persistent these dogs are, right?"
More than one footmen grumbled, agreeing with how annoying they were.
"I also received scouting reports of Orc warbands making it as deep as Elwynn Forest and as close as the Three Corners."
Once more, there were surprised mutterings. The orcs appeared to be very good at finding pathways in the mountains, which was supposed to be a natural defense for the Kingdom.
"Just remember to keep your head on a swivel. If it's green and moving, give it a stab or two for good measure. Can't hurt," I told them, seeing that they were all serious now. "Finish your dinner quickly. We start our patrol as soon as the sun sets."
"Sir!" They all saluted and went to eat as fast as possible.
I too returned to the town hall and was about to eat when Mr. Clements, my civilian–again, I refuse to call them peasants–liaison slash adjutant for non-military matters rushed in, looking flustered.
"Mr. Clements? What's the matter?"
"H-hah." The man, who looked in his late thirties, with the slightly balding head panted and finally caught his breath. "Haa- The High Cleric, the High Cleric is here!"
I stopped stuffing my face and raised an eyebrow. I remembered when I was in Stormwind's Church of the Light, they said a female High Clerics was going to meet me. However, after I got to my new posting I didn't hear any update regarding that so I assumed that they had forgotten about me. I guess they didn't…
"Invite her in?" I prompted. The man nodded and walked out of the simple town hall. It had two floors and was as big as a modern day mansion. Here, a lot of the paperwork and mail were processed. It also function as a pseudo mess hall as there was a large fully stocked kitchen and a large pantry to store excess crops in.
A moment later, Mr. Clements walked back in with three people. Two of them had the same sort of outfit that the Cleric,Maxwell, did while the last person had a fancier white robe with intricate design. To my surprise, I found I could read the runes on the robe tassel. It was in the titan language, the titan Tyr's to be exact, and its meaning had to do with justice and virtues. I blinked my eyes to shake off the knowledge dump. Anduin's knowledge tended to trigger at the weirdest time as always.
It wasn't strange that they were all women either; after all, this was Azeroth.
"You are sir Callan Lothar?" The woman in charge asked. She looked older than me for sure, by at least five to seven years.
"Yep, that's me," I replied in a casual manner. "Which High Cleric are you?"
"This is Cleric Victoria."
The woman in charge with the fire red hair and stunning green emerald eyes gestured to an older blonde woman who could be classified as a milf.
"And this is Acolyte Henrietta."
Henrietta was about the same age as the High Cleric, which meant she either joined late or never attained a higher rank due to her lack of abilities.
"As for me, I am High Clerist Mara Fordragon, but you can address me as Cleric Fordragon. No need to say the full title."
My jaw dropped and, while it might have been rude, I began to scrutinize the famed Mara Fordragon. It would not be wrong to say that, had she been on Earth, she would have been destined for stardom or at the very least, modeling work.
"Sir Callan?" Mara Fordragon furrowed her eyebrows at me. That brought me back to my senses.
"Ah… sorry, I, err, didn't think someone so young would be the High Cleric," I bullshitted and saw the woman look doubtful. "I mean, I met with Cleric Maxwell in Stormwind, and he was old. I was expecting someone much older to be High Cleric, not young and good looking."
Victoria let out a laugh while Hope giggled at Mara's embarrassment.
"The young sir has quite the suave tongue I see. This was clearly not in the report," The older blond said with a smile.
"Anyway." High Cleric Fordragon, who had enough of teasing, finally chimed in, quieting her companion. "We are here to talk to you regarding what you did in Eastvale."
"Well, before we talk, mind if I asked something?" I countered, much to her surprise. After a moment, she nodded in acquiescence. "You wouldn't happen to have family, do you? Like a sister?"
Shock was clear on her face, but then slow suspicion. Once more, meta knowledge with bullshitting skills came to the rescue.
"It's just that I was from Grand Hamlet and saw another woman that looked like you, that's all. She wasn't in cleric clothing. I don't mean to pry; it's just that you really remind me of her, that's all."
There. That should be enough of a flimsy explanation. Mara also looked thoughtful before she visibly became less hostile.
"A sister, I do not have, but a younger brother I do," she answered politely.
Yep. That was Bolvar Fordragon's sister, alright. Many debated that she could have been his wife or mother, though sister was right up there too. I took in her current appearance and realized she was not in the armor that her future statue depicted her as having.
"Well, as much as I would love to stay and chat about the Light," I said, lying brazenly. There was that pesky Bronze dragon Sword of Damocles and all that. "I kinda have a patrol to get to and not to mention the scouting I have to do for new farmlands tomorrow. I'll try to fit you in when I have time? Promise!"
High Cleric Mara Fordragon did not look pleased. Technically, she ranked higher than me as a spiritual leader. BUT I was in the armed forces, and there was a chain of command. For her to be able to override me, she would need to make way to Stonewatch and get an order written for me to cooperate.
"We can accompany you on your patrol since we are healers of some skill, after all."
Damn, this persistent woman…
"I'm sure you must be tired from the journey," I then called out for my civilian liaison. "Mr. Clements, if you'd be so kind as to have them billet in the rooms?"
Since my new settlement is relatively small, there was no inn yet, which left housing dignitaries and guests in the town hall. If there were no more rooms in the town hall, there were the farmers' homes. And because they weren't military, they were not allowed to step foot into the barracks, which was where I was going to be sleeping after my patrol to avoid them. In any case, she had a sword and shield on her statue so she probably shouldn't be out and about, fighting orcs so soon.
"No, I insist." High Cleric Fordragon now had steel in her tone.
Damn it, why couldn't she be like Bolvar. Bolvar was much more flexible before he became Lichified. I didn't have time for this, I couldn't run late to my shift, it wouldn't look good. If Mara wanted to tag along then…
"Fine, but if it gets too rough for you, don't say that I didn't warn you." I shrugged as I grabbed my two-hander and made my way out, feeling the three ladies following behind me closely. "Have your escort coordinate with Corporal Jenkins and–"
"We did not arrive with an escort," Mara said plainly. That made me stop in my tracks.
...Wut?
"I'm sorry, but did you made it all the way here from Northshire Abbey without protection?" I asked in disbelief. Her nod floored me. "Y-You realized that there are orcs raiding parties all over the place, right?!"
"The Light was all the protection we needed," Mara stated matter of factly, her two friends nodded along with her. There wasn't even a hint of doubt in their eyes. "Besides, it wasn't from Northshire we left. Initially, we were already on our way from Northshire to Stormwind, but you left. Tired from the journey, we stayed there for a spell before resuming our trip to you."
"..." I had no words. I was once again reminded that I was in Azeroth now.
"Ahem?" Mara cleared her throat and gave me a pointed look as if wanting my answer.
"Okay, I guess," I conceded as I walked over to the forming patrol.
"Whoa. Who's the fresh meat?" a footwoman named Brie asked curiously.
"Damn it, sir, can't you leave some for the rest of us?" Jenkins complained. I didn't even know what he was talking about! I wasn't a manwhore in the least!
"Tough luck, Elroy!" another footman said loudly before a metal clang could be heard. I ignored them, used to their rowdiness by now. I just needed to train them up; disciplining them was a job for the legion, not for me.
"Private Allison, these ladies are from Northshire Abbey. Kindly keep an eye on them." I looked at the older veteran woman whose expression screamed she didn't want to be saddled with babysitting duty.
"Yes, sir..." Private Allison said before she turned to Mara. "Keep close to me Lady Cleric. The night sometimes bites."
"The Light–" Mara started, but the trumpet signal startled her. It was now officially night as the last bit of the sun finally dipped behind the horizon.
"Alright, boys and girls." I looked at the patrol group, all serious now. "Time to earn our paycheck!"
"…?"
"Pay what?"
"I think he said check?"
"What did we need to check?"
I was about to correct myself when I felt eyes on me from the forest. I turned my head right away, one hand already going for my weapon. The forest's shadows looked ominous today, but there was only the rustling of leaves from the night's wind.
"Sir?" Jenkins asked me as he too looked at the forest, perhaps trying to figure out what I was seeing.
"...Right." I muttered. The feeling was gone now. I turned back to the anxious group and raised my fist. "I mean time to earn our silver, boys and girls!"
"Hoorah!" the patrol replied eagerly as we marched out.
TBC,,,
AN: Thanks for Icura for the beastly editing! I am just banging these out whenever I have free time. Guess the more I write the easier it gets. That and downtime helps a lot!
A few interesting comments for the last chapter and a few worried people too. I see the concerned the worried people have but all I can say is, relax and see how it rides out