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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-Five
Anduin followed Shalya's path through the underbrush, watching her and mimicking every move she made. He wondered if he'd be able to sneak up on Broll or his father using the skills he was learning from her, because Shalya seemed to move like a ghost, making no sounds even as she padded on fallen debris. He wondered how much of it came from the way she'd been raised - you couldn't sneak up on a talbuk if you were making lots of noise, after all - and how much of it was her own skill. She looked back at him now and then, signaling him with little gestures, warning him about hidden dangers or alerting him to a new trail to follow. And, not for the first time, Anduin wondered if Shalya wondered if he was staring at her ass.
Which he was. Not that he'd admit to it.
Shalya paused and crouched low, one sword half-drawn in her hand. Anduin crouched with her, gripping his staff. He was ready to fight, if it came down to that. So far, they had been successful in avoiding patrols, and had lucked out by finding a few patrols heading away from Everglade and Ruuan Weald, toward a hidden place complete with heavier patrols of orcs and whelplings, and the occasional drake that wheeled overhead before continuing its flight toward distant peaks or the canopy of trees.
"Either we're in the right place," whispered Anduin, "or someone's having a party and didn't invite us."
Shalya looked back at him. "You should stop trying to be funny."
"I wasn't trying."
Shalya rolled her eyes and stood up slowly, keeping her back against the tree trunk they were hiding behind. She sheathed her sword and quickly bolted to a nearby bush, huddling behind it before the patrol ahead of them turned around. Anduin waited, then followed her the moment the path was clear. The two of them flitted from bush to tree, always keeping an eye on the patrols so that they moved at the right time and weren't caught or spotted. Shalya and Anduin finally made it to a clump of prickly bushes that afforded them a decent view of the wide mouth of a cave and most, if not all, of the patrols.
Anduin watched as orcs filed into and out of the cave, leading whelps or carrying them. Of those that were being carried, Anduin was appalled to realize that most of the whelps were corpses. Their wings were malformed or they were lacking limbs, and to Anduin, it didn't seem like those with missing limbs had been born that way. The dead were tossed into a pit watched over by hulking dragonkin, each monster dressed in black and red plate armor and carrying a shield and halberd or sword.
"Who's in charge of all this?" Shalya whispered, watching two orcs struggle with a large egg. The egg was pierced in one side, and yolk sloshed out with each jostle. It, too, was tossed in the pit.
"I don't know," replied Anduin, "but this is just wrong. Who could do such things to dragons?"
"Someone who believes in control through torture?" Shalya shifted, kneeling down so she could try and get a better view of the closest orcs. "They look like they're almost cleaning up."
"From an attack?"
"Or experiment."
Anduin shivered. While he had no love for the Black Dragonflight - Wrathion not included - he hated seeing the members tortured for no reason. "Is there anything we can do?"
"Doubt it. Anyway, I don't see any adults. Whelps, mostly, with a drake or two and some dragonkin, but nothing that could be what Karidormi is looking for."
Anduin pushed a few thorny branches out of his way. "They look organized, don't they? Someone has to be in charge. Maybe we can find out who. I mean, these eggs have to come from somewhere, right? There has to be a brood mother in the cave."
"Or maybe they've always had these eggs. Dragon eggs can survive an immense amount of time before hatching." Shalya's tone told Anduin that she didn't quite believe what she herself was saying. Her head tilted to the side. "If there is a mother dragon somewhere, I don't want to meet her."
"Yeah, we probably don't." Anduin watched as a massive Orc stepped out of the cave and began roaring at the peons rushing to and fro in a madcap dance to try and make him happy. "And I don't want to meet him."
"I guess we know who the leader is." Shalya said dryly.
There was a commotion on one side of the clearing, with the harsh laughter of orcs accompanying a girl's voice. It was a minute before Anduin and Shalya could see the procession, and when they did, the first things they saw were orcs carrying cages or carrying tiny whelps under each arm or in a tight, double-handed grip. Shalya gripped Anduin's arm when he made to burst out of cover and shook her head, pressing a finger to her lips. Anduin glowered at her, and his glare became even more scalding as the procession continued and a raven-haired, crimson-eyed girl came into view. She struggled with her captors, fighting the chains that were tight around her wrists and neck. And behind her, the reason for Anduin's intense glare, was Wrathion. The Black Prince was slung over the shoulder of a male Orc, unconscious. He looked battered and bruised, as if he'd put up a fight. A fight he lost, but a fight nonetheless.
Shalya jerked Anduin back so hard that he fell on his ass. "Don't you even." She hissed.
"That's Wrathion, Shalya!" Anduin hissed back. "Our friend! Or have you forgotten?"
"I haven't forgotten shit!" She grabbed him by his collar and forced him to look at the whole area. "I know he's your friend - he's my friend too - but if you charge out there, you're gonna get killed and then what good is that gonna do him?"
"But-"
"Use your head for once instead of your heart."
He glowered at her. Her glare had bite. "He's my friend. Besides, if they find out what he really is-"
"Do you think Wrathion's incapable of defending himself?"
"No."
"Then shut your mouth and pay attention."
Anduin gave an impressive growl. "If they start torturing him-"
Shalya punched him in the shoulder. "They won't. Not yet. Look. See the girl? Look at how she's fighting. He's going to deal with her first before he thinks about dealing with Wrathion. And if Wrathion's smart, he'll do his best to keep out of anyone's attention while he tries to escape."
"And us?"
Shalya was saved from answering by a tremendous roar of laughter that came from the direction of the cave. Both she and Anduin looked toward the gathering of orcs and saw the huge Orc lean forward into the girl's face and say something. They watched her headbutt the leader. Blood gushed from his nose and he clapped a hand over it while the other came across and crashed into the girl's face hard enough to send her and the two orcs holding her to the ground. More laughter erupted, laughter that was quickly silenced by the Orc leader. Subdued, the orcs carried the whelps into the cave, and soon Wrathion and the girl were hauled into the cave as well.
Anduin shifted to move, and was surprised when Shalya beat him to it, quickly breaking cover and heading for the closest sentry. Her blades barely made more sound than a whisper as she first cut the orc's knees and then his throat before he could sound a warning cry. She caught the corpse, then quickly dragged it behind a nearby tree trunk. Anduin watched in amazement as Shalya darted from one concealment to the next, taking out patrols with ruthless efficiency. Yeah, thought Anduin, my dad would love her.
Anduin didn't hesitate. As soon as Shalya signaled him, the Prince of Stormwind left cover and followed her. Together, the two skulked along the trail they eked out between cover and murder. Anduin let Shalya do the killing; he was a pacifist at heart, but at the same time, he knew that if these orcs lived, they would betray the presence of him and Shalya, and then they would be lucky to find Wrathion alive, if they were lucky to find him at all.
They finally came to the stretch of ground between the last vestiges of cover and the open maw of the cave. Shalya wiped clean her swords on a scrap of cloth then sheathed them, crouching low behind the clump of prickly bushes they were hiding behind so she could get a better view of what - or who - was left between them and their goal. The remaining guards paced away from each other, reaching a certain point before turning around and pacing back the way they'd come, passing each other at the midway point. Shalya and Anduin watched them for a few minutes, then winced as a shrill cry emanated from the cave. The cry, once faded, was met by laughter from the pacing guards.
"Looks like they caught a good one, eh?" Said one of the guards when they paused before the cave, their backs to Anduin and Shalya.
"She's gotta be from the last batch." Replied his friend. "That little bitch and her friends have been causing trouble for years. Always attacking us, taking the whelps or killing them outright. You think this one we'll be able to break?"
"If not her then the other one."
Anduin looked at Shalya. She looked at him. She lifted her hand and held up three fingers. Slowly, she put them down one at a time until she held a solid fist in the air. Anduin attacked first. He delved into the darker side of his priesthood training and unleashed a spell designed to get into the mind of an enemy and take control of them. Anduin wormed his way and will into one orc's mind, tearing away the man's inhibitions and making him susceptible to Anduin's will. Anduin took control fast and commanded the Orc to attack his companion. The other Orc looked surprised to see his companion turning toward him, weapon raised. There was a muffled cry - Shalya had crept up behind the other Orc and had wrapped her arm around his neck so the crook of her elbow pressed against his throat. Anduin's mind-controlled Orc slid his blade between his companion's ribs and effortlessly slew him.
Shalya grunted as the body in her arms suddenly went limp. She hauled the corpse to a clump of nearby bushes and shoved it into them, not bothering to conceal this one as well as she had with the others. Then she looked at Anduin, who seemed sort of grey in the face. "You okay?"
Anduin shook himself. "Yeah. I just don't normally use the shadow priest skills."
"You gonna be sick?"
"No."
"Good."
Anduin fought to keep from glaring at her. "When you learn the skills of the priest, you learn everything that goes with it."
"I'm not judging you. You just don't seem like you've got the courage to kill."
"I have the courage!" Anduin replied, a little affronted.
Shalya only smiled, her blue eyes knowing. She gestured toward the mouth of the cave. "Shall we go rescue our friends then?"
Glowering, Anduin forced his mind-controlled orc forward toward the cave mouth, putting him in the lead. Anduin and Shalya followed, heading into the maw that led to Wrathion.
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Dawn of the Dragon