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Dawn of the Dragon	By : RotSeele Category: +S through Z > World of Warcraft Views: 3875 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft. I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 16
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- 18
Seventeen
When they were ready to leave the next morning, Anduin was surprised to find Shalya already waiting, a pack by her feet and her swords sheathed at her back. He approached her carefully, pausing for only a moment when she looked toward him. He wondered what the look in her eyes meant, because those pretty orbs narrowed as she recognized his pause for what it was.
"Um, so you're coming with us?" Anduin asked.
Shalya looked away from him. "You need a guide, and so, yes. I'm coming with you."
"What makes you think we need a guide?"
"Do you know where to find the tunnel that leads to the Blade's Edge? Or how about navigating the roads where they pass through naga and ogre territory?" Shalya asked. "Perhaps you know where to find these black dragons you're looking for, or how to-"
"Okay, I get it. Sorry I asked." Anduin said quickly. He thought he saw her smirk before she turned away. He decided he'd never understand girls. Granted, he'd never had much experience with girls beyond the twittering court ninnies who looked at him as a stepping stone to the crown and the occasional adventurer that happened to meet up with him. Those girls - well, it'd be unfair to call them girls, but a number of them called themselves girls even when they were beating in the face of whatever monster or person with sword, shield, or spell - hadn't looked at him like he was a prize piece of beefcake. One of these days I'm going to have to find that hunter and ask her why she said that. Anduin thought. He remembered the blood elf's face clearly, and he was sure there was someone who'd point him in the right direction if he asked.
Wrathion was the first to join him. He glanced from Anduin to Shalya and back again. "What did she do to you?"
Anduin blinked. "Huh?"
"You look like she kicked you in the proverbial balls and then made you thank her for doing so.”
Anduin blinked again. Then sighed. "That's what sort of happened."
Wrathion's jaw dropped open for a moment, then closed and formed a smirk. "I see."
"What? What do you see?"
"I'm pretty sure you like her."
"Like her? I don't even know her!"
"That's the norm with human nobles right?"
Anduin punched Wrathion in the shoulder. "Shut up."
Wrathion only grinned. So Anduin punched him again. Karidormi put an end to the tussle that was just starting to become fun by forcibly separating the two of them. "Stop it, both of you. We have enough to deal with without you two starting drama."
Wrathion smirked. "What's the fun of adventuring with your friends if you can't make fun of them?"
Karidormi narrowed her eyes at Wrathion. "I mean it."
"Getting scolded by an older sister sounds a lot more fun in theory," Wrathion said quietly, "but not so much in practice."
Anduin snickered. "Why? Because you don't want to feel like a little brother unless you decide to feel that way first?"
Wrathion just glowered at Anduin but said nothing. A few minutes later Shandris and Dashiell joined them, making their party number six. Alhroun joined them, offering them full packs of supplies and waterskins. "Follow the road, and don't stray from it. There won't be as much danger that way. Still, be careful."
"Grandfather, we know." Shalya said, hoisting her pack onto one shoulder. "Don't worry so much."
Alhroun just smiled and nodded. He stood there as Anduin, Shalya, and the others headed down the path, and out of sight of the Mag'har group.
Shalya was silent as she led them toward the border of Hellfire Peninsula and Zangarmarsh, but her eyes were constantly scanning her surroundings and her head cocked this way or that, listening to sound Anduin couldn't hear. She only seemed to relax when they entered a shadowy tunnel of sorts, with thorny vines growing all over. Not a real tunnel, Anduin realized, but one created by massive thorny branches that blotted out the sun. It remained a sort of twilight as they left Hellfire Peninsula behind and entered into Zangarmarsh. Giant mushrooms blocked the sun from reaching the bottom, and there was the sound of water lapping at shores. It was such a drastic change that everyone stopped to admire the scenery, causing Shalya to call to them to keep moving.
By the end of the morning, not that you could really tell, the party could see a bridge leading into what looked like a town. Shandris stood straighter as they grew closer, and soon Anduin could see night elves and Ancients moving through the mushrooms and the buildings now visible.
"Cenarion Refuge." Shalya said. "Once we pass through here, we'll be in naga territory. We'll need to be vigilant."
"Do you think the naga would really attack us?" Shandris asked.
Shalya shrugged. "They roam around the area, so it wouldn't be uncommon. There are also all manner of monsters out here. Besides, we could come across pockets of Horde or Alliance fighters, and I doubt you want to waste time tangling with them."
Shandris pursed her lips but said nothing, instead falling into line with the rest of them as they headed into the Refuge. Anduin and Wrathion looked around in awe. Anduin was used to the night elf architecture, but somehow it felt out of place here, like it didn't really belong at all to the surroundings. The Ancients wandering to and fro made the land under their feet shake, and more than once Anduin caught a night elf looking their way. He wasn't sure if the night elves didn't bother to stop them because one of their own was traveling alongside a human, two elves, a half-breed Orc, and a... Well, Anduin supposed Wrathion could pass as a human, but he wasn't doing a very good job of convincing anyone. Mostly because he was staring with his mouth wide open and his eyes as wide as could be, and was acting quite like a hatchling, as Karidormi hissed at him before he brought an Ancient down on them.
Out of Cenarion Refuge the terrain was a mix of cobbled roads and dirt scraped out by years of feet or tails or whatever traveling over the path. There were wood bridges you could cross to get over smaller bodies of water, but unless you wanted to swim through lakes infested with naga, it was safer to go around. Shalya led them on a snaking pathway that led away from the Refuge and turned west, toward the hazy piercing spires of the Blade's Edge Mountains. Every once in a while, a cry went up somewhere that echoed and re-echoed through the marsh, and they would stop and listen to it. Only Shalya seemed unconcerned, though Anduin didn't miss the way her hand went to the hilt of one of her swords each time a cry echoed too close.
When they stopped to make camp, Anduin volunteered to go with Shalya to try and find suitable firewood. And he punched Wrathion for making kissy faces at him, but that was done when Karidormi wasn't looking. Anduin followed behind Shalya by a few feet, his arms laden with a few pieces of good kindling. He watched her pause and scrutinize bits of flotsam bouncing on the waves of this lake or that, or study a mushroom that was starting to bend under its own weight. Finally, Anduin sidled up beside her and asked, "You seem to know a lot about this place."
Shalya looked at him from beneath black bangs. Her sapphire eyes studied him for a long moment. "This is my home."
Anduin flushed. "Ah, well, I guess it is."
Shalya smirked. "You aren't comfortable around me, are you?"
"What? No! I mean, yes! I'm fine! St-stop looking at me like that." Anduin spluttered. "Look, I get it. I'm far from my comfort zone and where I should be, but I'm trying to save the world again. Doesn't that count for anything?"
"Many people have saved the world, some more than once. What makes you so special?"
"I'm the Prince of Stormwind?"
"And I care, why?"
Anduin stared at Shalya, open-mouthed and stunned. Talking with her was turning into verbal quicksand, and Anduin felt as though he was sinking very fast. She smiled at him and turned to walk deeper into Zangarmarsh. "Wait! Don't you want to know why I'm out here instead of back home?" He asked.
"No, not really. I know why you're here. You want to save your friend, Wrathion, from the corruption that's slowly trying to gain hold of him. You also want to save whoever it is that's already fallen to this illness. It's a noble cause. But you're one of a million who've done the same thing." Shalya picked up a piece of mushroom and studied it. "I know the stories. My mother told them all to me."
"Oh." Anduin rubbed the back of his neck.
Shalya paused and looked at him. "What about your mother? Doesn't she worry that you're here?"
"My mother's dead. But I guess she'd be rolling over in her grave if she learned half the shit I've done. My father, on the other hand, will probably be extremely pissed off with me, especially because the last time I went off on my own, I nearly died."
Shalya blinked. Anduin couldn't tell if she was impressed or not. She considered him carefully, then asked, "You almost died?"
Smiling because he figured the question was as good as a request to continue, Anduin told her all about his confrontation with Garrosh. He didn't miss the way her eyes darkened at mention of Garrosh's name. "And I survived, somehow. I woke up in the Tavern Hidden in the Mists and met Wrathion."
Shalya hummed. "And now Garrosh rots in prison, awaiting a trial for his crimes?"
"Yes."
"You know nothing but trouble will come from that. Better to slit his throat and be done with it."
Anduin sighed. "Someone else I know had the same sentiment."
"At least one of you has a brain."
"We can't mete out justice like that. He hurt everyone, not just one race or the Horde itself." Anduin protested. "Besides, it can be argued that he went mad with power. That he didn't really mean to do everything he did the way he did it."
"You're saying he didn't mean to kill innocent people?"
"Well, no-"
"Then you're saying he didn't mean to corrupt an honorable entity and twist it into his own vision?"
"No-"
"Then you're saying he should be forgiven because he was being used by some power he didn't understand?"
"Why is talking - no, arguing - with you like trying to slog through hip-deep mud pools?" Anduin snapped.
Shalya only smiled. "Because men never admit they're wrong when they should.”
Anduin flushed. "I don't think I ever said I was wrong."
Shalya shrugged, indicating she didn't care one way or another. She'd made her point. "Is being a hero important to you?" She asked.
Anduin paused. He tilted his head to the side and considered. Finally, slowly, he said, "No. All I want to do is protect the people I care about, and if this is all I can do, then I'll do it to the best of my ability."
Since she walked away from him, he assumed she liked his answer. He quickly followed her. Shalya and Anduin collected a full arm-load of firewood each, then returned to camp, where Wrathion had managed to get a little fire hissing and spitting in defiance of the moisture. Shandris and Dashiell had established a perimeter, and Karidormi looked anxiously in the direction of the Blade's Edge. Shalya dropped her firewood close to a small pile Wrathion had already made, the crouched in front of the fire and put her hands over it. Anduin put his firewood in the same place, then began to rummage for something to eat. Wrathion rose and started toward him, his head tilting toward Shalya in askance.
"You don't really want to know." Anduin said in an aggrieved tone.
"She does seem rather prickly." Wrathion offered in an attempt to console. At least, that was how Anduin chose to interpret it.
"What's wrong with girls?" Anduin asked.
"Men have been asking that question for as long as we've existed." Dashiell said blandly. "There will never be an answer. Just go with the idea that their minds work differently, and we'll never know what they're thinking, only be expected to know exactly what they want."
"Females." Wrathion smirked. Anduin rolled his eyes and went to get something to eat.
The camp was quiet the rest of the night. They traded shifts, keeping watch all night long. Near dawn, Anduin was shaken gently awake by Shalya. She put her fingers to her lips to signal for silence, then directed his attention toward the hazy twilight only a stone's throw away. Anduin shifted quietly and woke Wrathion, signaling silence. Wrathion frowned, then looked toward where Anduin pointed.
"The hell is that?" Wrathion asked in as quiet a whisper as he could manage.
"Naga." Shalya said just as quietly. "They're from Umbrafen Lake. I didn't think they traveled this far."
"What should we do?" Anduin asked.
Shalya shifted. "They haven't noticed us. We can slip away quietly, try to reach Telredor. We slip around that, we can head straight for the mountains."
Shandris seemed to materialize out of the darkness. "They're heading away from us. Dashiell reports that if we move now, we'll be able to get away before we're noticed."
"Let's go then."
Anduin moved to follow the others when he realized Karidormi wasn't with them. He looked back toward the camp, but he didn't see her. Where is she? She didn't abandon us, did she? I know the mission is urgent, but she wouldn't leave us, would she? Anduin looked toward the sky, hoping that maybe she was soaring above them or was hiding somewhere nearby. He didn't see any sign of her.
Before he could ask Shandris where Karidormi had gone to, a sudden hissing slithered out of the darkness, growing louder and louder. Shalya quickly pushed Anduin forward, making him run toward the path just ahead of them. Wrathion was right beside him, with Shalya behind and Shandris behind her. They hurried as fast as they could to the Alliance holding of Telredor. Dashiell joined them just before they crossed into the sentries' line of vision, then quickly vanished from sight before an alarm could be raised. Anduin frowned as he recalled the look on Dashiell's face - worried, perhaps even scared. But not for himself.
They passed Telredor with little incident and hurried along to the path that would take them to the Blade's Edge Mountains. Anduin glanced over his shoulder, expecting pursuit or something, but all he saw was the shifting glow of the waters of Zangarmarsh, and no bronze dragon.
The mouth of the tunnel loomed before them. Shalya paused, studying the great dark mouth before she moved to make a torch. Shandris looked to Dashiell and asked, "Where is she?"
Dashiell shrugged. "She said she'd be right back. And then she took off."
Anduin frowned. "You let Kari go somewhere by herself?"
"What choice did I have?" Dashiell snapped. "She was going one way or another. I thought she'd be back before now."
Shalya lit her torch and waved it front of the tunnel's entrance. "This way."
"We aren't going to wait for Karidormi?" Wrathion asked. He was suddenly standing in front of Shalya, his red eyes sparking.
She regarded him calmly. "She will find us."
"How can you be so sure?"
"She is a dragon. And she cares about us. If there was a reason for her leaving, then we have to trust that she'll return when her business is done. Now, are we going to where you want to go, or should we stand here and argue some more?"
Anduin wasn't sure if he should be scared or impressed that Shalya managed to stare Wrathion down, but as they headed into the tunnel, he gave his friend's shoulder a squeeze to try and comfort him.
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Dawn of the Dragon