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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
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Twenty-One
Anduin rose late, forced awake by Wrathion's insistent shaking. He let out a wide yawn and got to his feet, struggling to force sleep from his limbs. He had camped out before, but not on rocky ground where everything was meant to make your body stuff and your limbs ache. Maybe he was spoiled then, because all of the times he'd camped out before, the ground was always soft. Of course, he spent most of those nights trading watches, so he hadn't had much time to think about comfort. He'd been to busy trying to stay alive. So Anduin stretched and reached for his pack. He hauled it up over his shoulders and looked for Shalya.
She was standing at the head of the trail just beyond the boulder. One sword was in her hand while the other remained sheathed at her side. She looked a little nervous, standing out in the open, but her clenched fist around the hilt of her sword was steady. Anduin moved toward her. The only acknowledgement she gave him was a subtle tilt of her head. He came to stand beside her, looking out on the path that was still subdued by cool shadow, as the morning sun hadn't yet reached this place.
"So, how are we getting through?" He asked quietly.
"If we move fast and are extremely lucky, the ogres will still be sleeping." She replied.
"And if they're not?"
"Then I guess we hope they're not hungry."
Anduin watched her for a long moment, but slowly came to realize that she was serious.
Once everyone had woken up and had something to eat, Shalya herded them down the path, keeping close to the spires of the mountainside so that they were as close to the shadow as possible. Anduin couldn't begin to fathom how adventurers had fared walking these mountains with nothing but their weapons and wits to protect them. Wrathion was more than happy to quietly speculate with him what had happened to those unfortunate enough to be caught by hungry ogres, and neither of them relished the possibility of them becoming the next course on the menu. More than once, Shandris turned to them and hissed them into silence, but Wrathion often ignored her and continued his latest argument with Anduin, until the two of them were barely aware of their surroundings so engrossed in their own conversation as they were.
As they neared the Bloodmaul encampments, Shalya hissed at them both to be silent. She lifted a hand and pointed to the other side of the trail. There, lumbering almost clumsily along, was an ogre. It was huge, with a slack jaw covered in drool, beady little eyes, and sharp teeth. It carried a giant bone in its meaty hand, no doubt meant for clubbing things to death. He, because an errant breeze proved that, didn't look like he had a shred of intelligence to call his own, but had the strength to take on even the most veteran of warriors. The ogre let out a sharp, rasping belch, scratched his stomach, and made a whining noise as he continued on his patrol.
Wrathion slowly started to grin. "Can I?"
Shalya frowned at him. "No."
"But-"
"Do you want to alert the whole damn place?"
Wrathion gave her his best childish pout and folded his arms over his chest. "It's just one."
"And there's more where he came from. I don't know what rules you grew up with, but here, one doesn't kill an ogre unless he can kill the twenty the murdered one's cries bring."
Wrathion seemed to pale. "Twenty? Seriously?"
"Sometimes more, sometimes less. It depends on how brave they are. Or how hungry. I've seen ogres take out Orc warriors, and they train their whole lives to kill ogres in battle."
"Holy shit."
Shalya hummed. "And that's on a good day."
"So how far ahead is this village?" Shandris asked.
Shalya pointed. "Just around that curve, but we have to be careful. The ogres are always on the lookout for food, and they don't care if it's on four legs, two legs, or no legs."
Dashiell stepped ahead of them, quickly gaining distance. "I'll try to clear a path." The rogue suddenly vanished from view. The only sign of his passing was light puffs of dust kicked up where his boots fell.
"Do we wait?" Anduin asked.
"We don't have time." Karidormi said lowly, and then started after Dashiell's path. She moved quickly, staying toward the shadows to avoid being detected by the ogres who were now starting to patrol the area.
Shandris hefted her glaive and moved forward, followed by Wrathion, Anduin, and Shalya. Anduin glanced at Wrathion, trying to gauge his friend's mood. He looked deep in thought, his crimson eyes focused elsewhere while his body moved in the right direction. Anduin nudged him with his elbow and gave him a look of askance. Wrathion just shrugged and replied, "I feel really ignorant, you know?"
Anduin smirked. "Yeah, I know exactly how you feel."
Wrathion returned Anduin's smirk with one of his own. They quickly caught up to Karidormi, who was crouched behind a hut, peering out at a common area where there were several ogres gathered. Shandris frowned deeply. "They don't look to be lacking intelligence."
Shalya slid closer to the night elf. "No, they don't. See that one? The one with two heads? That one's the leader. It's got more intelligence than the rest of its kind. Probably a Mage or warlock."
"How do we get around them?" Asked Karidormi.
Suddenly one of the ogres doubled over. It looked stupidly around at its brethren, then gave a guttural snarl and launched itself at another ogre. Or it tried to, anyway. Blood suddenly flowed from severed hamstrings, and the ogre fell to the dirt, uselessly batting its arms this way and that. The other ogres laughed at their fallen companion, at least until another ogre fell dead, its spine neatly severed between the base of the skull and the rise of the shoulders.
Dashiell dropped the cloak of invisibility he'd held tightly around himself for a mere instant, but it was enough. The remaining ogres flew into a panic, then into a murderous rage, and launched themselves at the blood elf rogue. Or at least, they launched themselves toward the area he'd been standing in when he'd allowed them to see him. The rogue had already moved on, causing fresh chaos in another part of the camp.
"It's disturbing to know how thorough he is," Shandris commented quietly. Then she stole out into view, her glaive leaving her hand with astounding speed. The Mage or warlock or whatever it was suddenly found itself without one of its heads, and Shandris' glaive returned to her hand, shining with ogre blood. The remaining ogres stared at their fallen leader, torn between fighting the new threat and running in terror. Shandris chose for them, throwing her glaive once more with stunning speed and accuracy. The moment the glaive returned to her hand - and the moment several ogre bodies crumpled to blood-soaked dirt lacking heads - she started moving toward the exit of the village.
"Move!" Shalya ordered, pushing Karidormi ahead of her. The bronze dragon didn't need to be told twice; she started to run as fast as she could in Shandris' wake.
Wrathion and Anduin went next, followed closely by Shalya. Huts flashed by, and so did a few towers, along with panicking ogres trying to flee or fight the smaller creatures harrying them. Since they weren't trying for secrecy anymore, Anduin saw Wrathion wind himself up for a spell. A moment later, a great fireball sped toward a cluster of ogres, who fought to scatter only seconds before the fireball slammed into them. Bodies charred beyond recognition flew into the air and slammed back down to the ground, smoking. Wrathion let out a startled laugh and grinned at Anduin. "Maybe I should've picked Mage instead of warrior!"
"I think you're insane!" Anduin cried, chasing after his friend as Wrathion sped ahead. He saw Karidormi pick up speed too, and for a moment, he wondered if she was going to shed her guise and take on her natural form. The ogres wouldn't be so inclined to attack then.
Ahead of them, Dashiell and Shandris whirled around each other, a blaze of steel and skill that made the ogres hesitate in attacking them. Those that did died in spectacular ways, with blood arcing one way and a limb going the other. With those two as a focal point, it gave the others ample time to run as fast as they could toward the village's other exit. And once in a while, mostly because Wrathion couldn't help himself, a fireball was launched toward one end of the canyon, sending rocks and ogres flying upon impact. Anduin pushed Wrathion ahead of him, and pushed himself to run faster as more ogres started appearing in the fringes.
Then, suddenly, Wrathion just stopped.
Anduin and Shalya skidded to a halt and turned around. Karidormi stopped too, whirling on her heel faster than any elf ever could. Anduin watched as sand gathered in her hands, forming a large swirling orb. Then tendrils lashed out, stinging whips that cracked into ogre flesh with the anger of a full-grown bronze dragon, forcing the ogres closing in on Wrathion to think twice about choosing him as their next victim. Anduin quickly called upon the Light, flinging a glowing rope toward Wrathion. A yank of his arm brought Wrathion flying toward Anduin. The blond prince caught his friend before he planted his face in the dirt and shook him. "Wrathion? Wrathion! 'Thion!"
Wrathion didn't respond to Anduin's cries or shaking. What did happen was ogres started converging on them, even with Karidormi doing her best to try and protect them. Anduin hissed and called on the Light, fighting to form a shield over him and Wrathion, hoping to deflect any weapons that came their way. Shalya kept pace beside them, both swords now in her hands.
They were almost to the exit when it happened.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake, as if something big was stomping its way toward them. Anduin tried to pick up his pace, but Wrathion seemed so heavy now. Karidormi released her spell to hurry to his side, lifting Wrathion with strength her form shouldn't have, leaving Anduin to keep pace. Dashiell and Shandris joined them, and just in time, as one of the upper spires of the Blade's Edge Mountains began to splinter away from the mountainside. The ogres paused as the shaking continued, as if they couldn't quite figure out where the little pebbles were coming from. And then the spire broke away and began hurtling down toward the party and their enemies.
"Run!" Shalya shouted at Anduin. He didn't need to be told twice.
They ran, with Anduin and Shalya bringing up the rear. The shadow of the falling spire grew bigger and bigger, covering Anduin and Shayla in complete darkness. Then the tip of the spire pierced the ground, collapsing in a shower of smaller shards of rock that pelted Anduin's shield. He grabbed Shalya's wrist and pulled her close before flinging himself to the ground. The noise of the impact was deafening, just one continuous roar that never seemed to end. When it was over, Anduin looked up and felt like he was experiencing déjà vu. His shield was holding what looked to be a ton's worth of stone above their heads. Shalya carefully picked herself up and shook off Anduin's hand. She frowned as she looked around her, then turned her gaze on Anduin.
"So how are you going to get us out of this one, genius?" Shalya asked.
Anduin smirked because his nature wouldn't allow him not to. "I guess we hope someone digs us out?"
Shalya rolled her eyes and sheathed her swords. "When we get out of here, remind me to kick your ass."
Anduin's smirk turned into a grin. "Well, at least you're still talking to me."
"What?"
"You're not that pissed at me. You're still talking to me."
Shalya stared at him for a long moment. "How badly do you want to die?"
"Kill me, and you die too." Anduin reasoned. He struggled to his feet. As he did so, the rocks piled atop his shield shifted, sliding down the invisible dome and added more weight to Anduin's burden.
Shalya just let out a long sigh. "Can you do anything besides maintain the shield?"
"I can breathe and I can stand. That's about it."
"You're useless."
Anduin gaped at her. "I'm not useless!"
"Unless you can use your Light to move all of this rock off of us and give us safe passage out of here, yes, you're useless." Shalya shifted, moving to study the pale glowing wall of Anduin's shield. "How long can you maintain it?"
Trying not to grind his teeth, Anduin replied, "Two hours. Maybe more, if we have enough air. Why?"
"Because I think your friend Wrathion is going to have to get us out."
Anduin frowned. "What do you mean?"
Shalya looked at him, her eyes resigned. Her voice was grave. "These aren't shards of rock we're buried under. It's solid earth."
Anduin stared at her, unable to comprehend what she was saying. He slowly inched toward her, watching the rocks above his head. When he reached her, he felt the blood drain from his face. No, Shalya wasn't lying. That was definitely solid rock touching his shield. He rubbed his jaw, feeling his nails scratch over stubble, and said, "Well. This sucks."
Shalya just watched him with almost luminescent blue eyes. "Do you think we're stuck here?" She asked at last.
Anduin shook his head. "They'll get us out. I just hope it's sooner rather than later."
Shalya made an agreeing sound and resigned herself to the inevitable wait.
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Dawn of the Dragon