Adult-FanFiction.org : Games

Shattered	By : Koori Category: +S through Z > World of Warcraft Views: 8001 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 19
- 20
- 21
Chapter Twenty – Sara Conway
She held the reins in her hands, but let the horse pick the best path for them to take across the marshy lands. Nathaniel’s hands tightened around her waist for a moment when the horse took a slight misstep. Then his right returned to play in her hair as they rode. Reaching back, she took the hand from her curls and wrapped it back around her waist. She had done the same thing a dozen times so far today and like the other times a whispered apology was made.
“Sorry, Sis,” he said, “can we stop? I need to pis… relieve myself.”
“No,” she said coolly, “you should have done it back when we ate lunch.”
There was a sharp intake of breath and the hands around her waist tightened, a moment later a whispered “Please,” could be heard.
“No,” she said again.
To her surprise and delight, the warmth of her brother left her as he hopped down from the moving horse. Foster let out a grunt of alarm, catching their brother by the arm before he landed in the mud. “I need to piss,” Nathaniel said, walking a few feet away and doing just that. Afterwards he swung back up on the horse behind her, returning his hands to her waist.
“Here,” Skang said and she glanced over at the orc, he handed Nathaniel something. The elf opened his hand; in it was a large flat rock. “It’s a worry stone,” Skang said, “rub that when your hand needs something to do when you’re awake.” Sara watched her brother run his thumb over the cool stone.
So far their trip through the marsh lands had been uneventful despite Skang’s dire warnings otherwise. The only time they’d seen a dwarf was at a distance after crossing the bridge which connected the Highlands to the Wetlands, but they had been locked in a battle and paid little attention to the cloaked figures traveling through. Nathaniel moved the stone he’d been given to his left hand and once again she felt the gentle tug on her hair as his right returned to it. She let it be, she’d played hard ass enough for one day, the fact he’d disobeyed her was a great improvement. She had no heart to push it further, regardless of Skang’s suggestion in the morning she do so. A thought came to her. “Sleepy?” she asked.
“A little, the sun and these warm cloaks make me drowsy,” Nathaniel said.
Made sense the hair playing happened when her brother was tired. They still had hours to go before dark though. “Want to walk a bit?” she asked, “will wake you up, give the horse a break.”
“What now?” Skang grumbled as she pulled up on the reins and stopped the horse. Nathaniel slid off first and then helped her do the same.
“Just stretching our legs for a bit,” Sara said, handing the reins to Nathaniel, she wrapped her arm around the orc’s. “Lovely day for a stroll … if you like mud, mosquitos … swamps …”
Skang shook his head but didn’t argue. The small group walked in silence, only broken by a steady whisper coming from Nathaniel, at first she thought he was talking to the horse but it seemed to be the same word over and over. She frowned and glanced toward Foster. “Leave him be,” Skang said to her surprise, “he’s fine.”
The armored shoulders of her older brother shrugged and Foster remained at their side letting Nathaniel lead the way. “So what waits for you in the Badlands?” Sara asked.
“A … friend,” Skang said.
“A special friend?” Sara asked with a smirk.
“Very,” the orc replied with a hint of desire in his voice. “We’ve been apart too long.”
“Lucky lady,” Sara replied, which got a snort from the orc and a shrug.
“Watch the skies,” he told Nathaniel, “we shouldn’t venture into their territory but we’ll come close to the Crimson Dragons’ lands; which is not a force we want to trifle with.” Nathaniel gestured that he’d heard. Abruptly the elf swung onto the saddle of the horse he was leading and galloped away from the group. Foster shouted but their brother paid them no heed.
“What is he doing?” Sara cried.
“Running away from his memories,” Skang said, “there is no horse fast enough for that.”
Foster started whispering a now familiar chant and the Death Gate opened, Skang swore as Knight came into view. “We’ll be back,” Foster said swinging onto the back of his haunted steed, “find a place for camp, preferably with cover if you can. Those clouds in the sky look like rain.” Afterwards he raced after the retreating form of Nathaniel.
“You were unfazed by the appearance of that beast,” Skang said, “assume you’ve seen it before?”
“Yes,” she admitted, “many times … though we thought it best we travel without it or the bone griffon …”
“Bone griffon…” Skang shook his head.
Sara nodded. “I call him Fluffy!” The orc made an exasperated sound and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“You will make a good mother, if you can laugh in a situation like this,” Skang said, he gestured toward the rocky cliff walls they had been following. “There is an extra shadow there above that briar bush, might be a cave or something that will make do as one. We’ll have to be careful, the raptors which roam these lands often build their nests in one …”
“Oh, scrambled eggs for breakfast and raptor roast for dinner!” Sara said, trying her best to ignore his mother comment. Her Ma was the pillar in the family, she felt nothing like that.
“Stay here,” Skang said, “let me check it out.” She watched as the orc slipped into the lengthening shadows and disappeared, in the distance she could hear the rumbled of thunder.
A low growl was the only warning she received but it was enough. She slipped the sword strapped to her side from the sheath and whipped around using it to block the razor-sharp teeth of the scarlet red raptor that had snuck up on her. Curling her left hand into a fist she slammed it into the snout of the beast as hard as she could. For a moment she met the glowing eyes of the raptor and was surprised by the intelligence she found there. Around the scaly scarlet neck clattered necklaces made out of bones and beads. Dimwitted beasts would not decorate themselves in jewelry. As her mind wrestled with the fact the creature may have reason, she found her legs knocked out from under her by the reptile’s long tail. She barely got her sword up in time to prevent another jaw crushing attack.
The raptor let out a shriek of pain as Skang appeared, burying his blades into the neck of her attacker. He nimbly leapt over the same tail that had knocked her off balance. “Get up!” the orc growled, “watch the tail; they aren’t called Lashtails for nothing.”
Cursing silently, Sara scrambled back to her feet and shouted at the raptor bringing her blade down across its muzzle, red blood splattered her armor. “Me, you stupid beast! You’ll never get my bones to decorate yourself with!” She taunted the creature trying to turn its fury onto her armored self and off the leather clad rogue dancing around. It worked and as the raptor charged. She dropped to one knee and swung her sword around bracing it with her body. Thrusting up she caught the beast right below the neck, letting its forward momentum bring its own doom. Standing in a fluid motion her blade followed and the head of the beast rolled off and into the marsh as the body tumbled down.
“Better,” Skang said, bending down he used his knife to cut the necklace from the dead beast and then buried the blade of his dagger into a nearby tree with the bloody bone beads dangling down. “A warning to any other Lashtails milling around, they aren’t as dumb as they look … we’ve taken down one of their matriarchs they won’t bother us.”
Sara watched as the orc started to skillfully butcher the beast. “Guess you get your roast and scrambled eggs after all,” he said, gesturing to the cave. “Her nest is in there. You can help by clearing out the animal wastes …”
She bent down and took the knife from him, and started skinning the beast. “You go clean house,” she said coolly, “I’ll take care of dinner.”
Skang laughed and patted her on the shoulder as he stood. “As you wish, my lady,” he said with a smirk.
By the time she had butchered what they could use before it spoiled, Skang had cleared the small cave he’d found of dung and bones. She eyed a small skull he was carrying and frowned, “a child?” she asked.
“A dwarf more likely,” the orc said tossing the bleach white bones into the field. “Still smells like a stable but it’s clean enough, cleaner than some places I’ve had to call my bed. Looks like we aren’t the first to camp here, there is a pile of firewood already stacked. It will save us some time. I’ll drag the carcass away so the scavengers won’t be fighting over it where we sleep. See if you can get a fire started at the mouth of the cave, the rain will be here soon, we’ll want to get that meat on a spit before it does.”
“You’re kinda bossy,” Sara said standing and wiping her bloody hands off. The orc smiled around his miniature tusks but didn’t say anything as he grabbed the small arm of the corpse at her feet and dragged it off. Moving over to the cave she eyed the nest of large raptor eggs, Skang had left alone. One egg would be enough to feed the four of them; perhaps they could find a way to carry the rest with them when they left. Finding the aforementioned wood pile she quickly built a small fire up, adding dried leaves and twigs as kindle until it was burning well. As she waited for it to burn down to coals she worked on the spit that would be needed to roast the meat over the flames.
There was a loud crash of thunder and she startled, looking up the dark clouds that had been in the distances were barreling closer, the darken sky danced with bolts of lightning and the wind started picking up, threatening to extinguish the fire. Grabbing some nearby rocks she started building a small fire pit further inside the mouth of the cave, the hollow wasn’t overly deep though. Afterwards she grabbed fresh firewood and stacked another fire, moving the flames from the first to the second just as the clouds opened up and a torrent of rain extinguished the flames outside. Frowning with worry she worked on supporting the spit and slipped a large chunk of meat over the flames.
“Ugh I hate wet leathers,” Skang said appearing, startling her. “Almost made it back before the rain!” She watched the orc remove his cloak and wring it out, he peeled off his leather jerkin next and did the same, and the undershirt was also removed. Bare chested he walked over to their bags and after a moment found some rope he tied off and used as a clothes line. Next he removed his boots and set them near the fire, she gasped as he reached for the waist band of his pants. Smirking he pulled it down and she quickly focused on the meat over the fire; a view that was suddenly filled with a large emerald orc squatting down with only his loincloth on.
“Seriously?” she sighed.
“They are wet,” Skang said with a shrug. “And you’re awful cute when you blush.”
Rolling her eyes she threw him a blanket. “Cover up,” she growled.
Skang let out a hardy laugh and wrapped the blanket over his shoulders. The gale outside increased its intensity. Frowning she moved to the mouth of the cave and looked out. The marshlands had a gray haze from the storm, lightning danced across the sky, and thunder rumbled. To her surprise the rain drops began to dance across the ground.
“Hail,” Skang said, “don’t worry they are probably waiting it out in a cave similar to ours. It was foolish for him to run off in unknown lands, in his … condition, maybe I’ll make an elf leash.”
“He’ll be lucky if Foster doesn’t have him hog-tied,” Sara sighed. “He knows better than to push his buttons, especially now.”
“Your brother wouldn’t listen to me,” Skang said, “maybe you will. Foster is not the man we knew, the form he is now was born from evil … we’re not safe in his company … it would be best if we sent him on his way, on Fluffy to his own kind.”
Sara smiled at the orc, knowing he meant well. There was just something he didn’t understand. “Tell me about my brother’s son,” she said, walking back over to the fire and turning the meat. “Does he … look like an orc?”
“He has emerald green skin; however his build is slimmer than most Orcs. He was teased as being feminine …”
“That sound familiar,” Sara said.
“A few broken bones later, he wasn’t teased any longer …”
“That sound familiar as well,” Sara said with a smirk.
“He’s quick like a viper, I think he’d make a better rogue than a warrior, but he wants to be like his father.” Skang said.
“So he knows about Foster?” Sara asked.
“He does, he’s spoken about openly in their home, there is no shame there …”
“But elsewhere?”
“There is a name of children born during that time; my sister wasn’t the only one to mate with a human … though one of the few that did so willingly. In Common, it roughly translates to “useless dung, very few of the half-breeds survived after their births …”
“But they are just babies, they didn’t choose …”
“Exactly,” Skang said leaning forward and pressing a large hand on her belly. “As for Thomas, my sister never treated him differently. The small settlement they live in has accepted him, he has proved himself in their eyes.”
“Proved himself how?” Sara asked. “He can’t be much over ten years old!”
“There was a late night raid by the Quillboar half man … half boar creatures that roam near our lands. They tried to burn the village to the ground. Thomas ran into a burning hut to save the child of the clan leader. As they were leaving, the building collapsed, pinning him and the baby to the ground. Only a youth but he tolerated the weight of a burning support on his back, keeping the babe he was carrying safe until they were pulled free. Nignath saved her son’s life, but he bears the scars of his heroism. There is not an orc in that village that wouldn’t lie their life down for that boy.”
“I’ve been burned before,” Sara said, “I’m glad he’s okay.”
There was another loud crash of thunder, startled Sara looked up. At the entrance of cave was a dark figure, she let out a scream. A blade appeared in Skang’s hand, she pondered for a brief moment where he’d gotten it.
“It’s us,” the cold voice of Foster said, stepping into the fire light. Sitting down the leather wrapped bundle he was holding, revealed a soaked Nathaniel. Her elfin brother shook his hair, showering them with water. Something red splattered her face and she touched it, blood. Glancing over she saw he was bleeding from a busted lip.
Skang let out a low growl and a look of confusion crossed Nathaniel’s face, she touched her lip and he mirrored her move. “Oh,” he said, brushing away the blood. “We were just blowing off steam,” he said with a shrug. “Don’t worry, Skang,” he said as he started slipping out of his rain soaked armor. “It was just fists, it’s something we do … just hadn’t had a chance until now. Though I guess my timing could have been better, brutal storm out there.” The elf glanced at the fire. “Where did …”
“A raptor used to live in this cave,” Sara replied.
“You okay?” Foster asked as he started removing his own wet armor.
“Aye,” Skang replied, “she could have taken it on her own with ease. Where are the horses? We shouldn’t leave them out there.”
“I sent Knight away,” Knight said, “the mare is dead.”
Nathaniel stepped into the shadows of the back of the cave. “Remember those dragons you warned us about? Though the one we ran into had black scales.”
The orc shook his head. “Even worse, are you okay?”
“Just cold and wet,” Nathaniel said, reappearing with a blanket wrapped around him and adding his wet clothes to the makeshift clothesline. He cocked his head to the side and walked over to the raptor nest she’d forgotten about.
“Omelets!” She said with a smile.
“Odd name,” Nathaniel said and to her surprise he turned around cradling a small creature in his arms. “I don’t think Ma will let you keep him.”
Skang stood and held out a hand, “let me take care of that … tender meat for tomorrow.”
“You will do no such thing!” Sara said, “He’s just a baby.”
“That is not a baby, that is a tiny ball of tooth and scales that will grow up and rip your head off.” Skang said, though when Nathaniel placed a protective hand over the hatchling the orc shrugged and returned to the fire.
She took the baby raptor from her brother, wrapping its tiny claws and feet up in a blanket she brought it back to the fire. Large eyes watched her. Taking a knife she cut a piece of meat off the raw haunch still waiting to be cook.
“That is wrong in so many ways,” Skang said as she fed the hatchling the small chunk.
- 19
- 20
- 21
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Shattered