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Bal'a Dash, Malanore	By : Makkoska Category: +S through Z > World of Warcraft Views: 3070 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I only own my characters, not the WOW fandom, or anything else in it. I'm not making any money of this story

Chapter List
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A/N: This chapter pretty much refused to go where I wanted it to go, but I had just too much fun with it to rewrite it.
A/N #2: thank you all who commented, gave your encouragement and pointed out my mistakes! All feedback is cherished.

Part 4 – Encounters

Zangah’s and Ardel‘s first stop when they arrived to the Eastern Kingdoms had been at Undercity. It was close to the Zeppelin tower and Zangah had heard so many stories of it that she was curious. On the other hand, Ardel’s sister, Shenna lived there.
Shenna was the black sheep of the Silverblade family. Ardel had told Zangah about her on the Zeppelin trip – once she could concentrate on anything else than her panic, that is. She had started to train as a priest, just as their mother, but more and more she dwelled into the shadowy arts.
‘Our mother’s curses was quite famous and feared in her prime,’ Ardel had said ‘but she always knew where the threshold of social acceptance lay. My sister… I think she knew as well, she just didn’t give a shit.’
Zangah had found Shenna quite pleasant – she had murderous, dry wit and accepted their relationship with no further comment then a raised eyebrow.
Their stay in Undercity however had been quite a horrid experience. It hadn’t taken her more than a day to feel claustrophobic. With no natural light and hardly any ventilation the city had been dark, gloomy and smelly. The inhabitants had only added to the atmosphere.
Zangah would have been ashamed to admit, but staying with so many of the Forsakens had disheartened her. The Darkspears haven’t lived with their dead so close as some of the other tribes. Zangah had heard stories of the Sandfury trolls rites, and had ventured close enough to Zul’Farrak to see some with her own eyes. Still, she was not afraid of the dead.
Few of the Foresakens lived in Orgirmmar as well (although rarely come out to the blazing heat, which was understandable) and she had fought with them side by side few times. They had been … all right. A bit creepy, but all right.
But to live amongst such high population of them was another matter altogether. Much to Zangah’s chagrin the elf seemed much less bothered than her. Shenna didn’t seem to mind it at all, but she had been living with them for years. Zangah had no idea how could she stand it.
Fortunately Silevermoon city was nothing like the undead capital. Zangah loved the wild streets, the fresh air, the trees and flowers… Quite a pity, she thought, that its inhabitants weren’t any more welcoming.
No, that was unfair on the undead. While they were blunt to the point of rudeness, they were not openly hostile with their visitors.
The elves however either stared at their little group openmouthed or glared at her with indignation. Ardel had warned her of course, but still she found it quite ridiculous. She wanted to shout at the next idiot who stopped to gawk to stop being such a child. Ardel told her that just outside the gates the elves lived a much harder life, fighting for survival. However the citizens obviously liked to pretend that any problem existing outside the walls was not their problem. That “outside” didn’t exist at all, more likely, she mused.
That not all of them were soft like that became obvious when they walked over to the skirts of a training area. Ah, the sweet sound of metal clashing on metal! Zangah couldn’t help but admire the fighters’ smooth movements. Pretty but deadly, they all were, though nowhere as deadly or pretty as her elf. She had chosen well.
Draz cleared his throat irritably.
‘Can we move along please?’ he asked loudly then added in an after tone ‘And could you stop staring at them?’
‘Don’t be a spoilsport elf,’ Zangah grinned ‘I never seen so many of ya kind together. Let me have me look.’
Still, they moved along slowly. The fighters didn’t pause their contests, though they did glance at their group from time to time. At the side of the ground the rangers were practicing. The auburn haired women who raised her bow at that moment obviously paid them more attention than what she was doing, and missed the mark badly. Zangah couldn’t help but snort.
All the archers turned towards them. Their mentor walked up to them and leaned against the low fence separating the grounds from the street. Draz and the others greeted him respectfully which he returned, all the while inspecting Zangah quite cheekily.
‘So troll,’ he said at last ‘you think you could do any better?’ The challenge was unmistakable in his voice and Zangah was never one to back down.
‘Why pretty,’ she replied, leaning against the fence as well, closing the space between them. She was a bit disappointed when the elf didn’t back down. ‘of course I can. Just give me da chance to show it.’
‘Come in then dear guest,’ Master Whatwashisname said as he gave a sarcastic bow ‘and show us what you have.’
‘T’ will be me pleasure,’ Zangah replied and she was over the fence in no time.
Draz’s feeble protest of this being a bad idea was drowned by the others enthusiastic cries of encouragement. Passer byes stopped to watch. She was confident she would give them a good show.
‘Let’s make this a competition to make it more interesting,’ the elf suggested. He was smiling but his green eyes remained cold.
‘Between me and ya men?’
‘Between you and me. The winner… can have their reward.’
‘And what ya reward would be elf?’
‘Let’s see,’ he said thoughtfully. Reaching up in a mock affectionate gesture he flicked one of Zangah’s bright red braids behind her shoulders. ‘If I win, I’ll shave your hair and keep it as a trophy. How does that sound, troll?’
Zangah felt her lips pulling into a snarl. Why the little arrogant bastard… The crowd was snickering and laughing. By sheer will she forced her voice to remain calm. So he wanted to humiliate her? Two could play that game.
‘Fair enough. If I win elf – I want ya to kiss me.’
She knew from the horrified look that appeared on his proud face that she hit her score. He regained his calm quickly however.
‘In the improbable case of you winning – you can have that.’
It soon became obvious that they were quite a match. The tittering crowed fall silent after the first few shots.
First it was a still target that they aimed for, while they got farer and farer from it. As they both failed to miss, next it was a dummy the elves moved on rails.
The first turn was the elves. The dummy rolled at a high but constant speed from one end of the square to the other. By the time it had reached its destination the bull’s eye painted on it had five golden feathered arrows pointing from it.
However when Zangah targeted it, it wasn’t rolling smoothly at all. It lurched to sudden stops then reeled forth at high speed suddenly. Zangah, who hunted and fought battles armed with her bow more time than she could remember, still managed to get five arrows to its “heart” just the same.
With maybe the exceptions of Ardel’s friends the crowd was supporting the elf so no one said a word about the obvious cheat. Zangah felt her temper rising. She wanted to slap the bastard, to bang his face against the hard ground until his arrogant expression was gone forever, to shoot the next arrow through his slender neck… Stay calm, she reminded herself. It would surely cause some diplomatic disturbance if she would murder this fool, who must be high up on the social ladder if one looked at how the other elves were sucking up to him.
‘You are not bad, troll,’ the cheating scum in question turned towards her and she managed a smile. Imagining beating him into a bloody pulp did raise her spirits after all. ‘Here’s my last challenge if you accept: shoot through a flying target before it hits the ground.’
‘Where’s da catch?’ It sounded… too easy.
‘I’ll try to,’ here the elf flashed an evil grin ‘distract you. If you pierce it – you won. If you fail to – you lose.’
Her battle instinct was screaming danger. This was obviously a trap, but how could she decline without losing face? So playing oblivious she agreed. She pulled a few arrows from her quiver and stacked them in the ground in front of her while the elf went off to whisper instructions to his assistants.
As they got ready to launch the target the elf walked up close behind Zangah. So close in fact that their bodies were touching. Zangah wanted to laugh – was that how he wanted to distract her? Obviously there were no limits of his big headedness. Although it was not pleasant to have someone so hostile at her back it wouldn’t distract her from missing a target. The bowstring was tautened by the time the small disc was fired, and there was no way she would… suddenly a sharp bit to her arm, under her elbow. It was just enough for her hand to waver a little and the arrow to hit only the side of the mark. The disc started to spin in the air and the arrow fall to the ground.
She had no time to stop to swear or even to look down at her arm, which she knew had to be bleeding. Fast as lightning she pulled another arrow and fired again. This time it hit the mark square in the middle – she heard a dull bang, she saw that the disk got dented, but it didn’t break and the bolt didn’t pierce it. Someone was shouting “cheat!” and it obviously was. She had underestimated her enemy.
Grinding her teeth together she pulled the third arrow. The disk was now dangerously low, but if she simply shot again, it would just bounce the arrow off once more.
Closing her mind to the outside word she focused on her mark solely. When it was just a few feet above the ground she let her third arrow go. It couldn’t go through the thing, however the force of the shot pushed it against a practicing board. There was a bang that a crack – and everyone started to shout at the same time. The disc was hanging on the board, almost cracked in half, but still hold up by the arrow. She did manage to hit the point where it was weakened by the previous bolt, and that, combined with the backward force of it being pressed against the board was enough for the last arrow to break it.
She wanted to walk up to it – she was really interested what material could it be made from, but Ardel’s friends were running up to her, clapping her on the back, inspecting her arm and shouting at the double-dealing scumbag behind her.
The disc can wait, she decided, it was time for enjoying her victory. She inspected the wound on her arm but it wasn’t too serious. The elf’s intent was obviously just to distract her, not to cause a severe injury. Her kind was famous for healing quickly anyway. Still she made a show of licking off the half-dried blood, earning horrified gasps from the crowd and a disgusted look from her opponent just as planned. Good.
‘Time to collect me reward, eh?’ she asked, looking him in the eye. Clearly it was the last thing he wanted to do but to his credit he didn’t try to back out. Though when he came within arm-length of Zangah he looked around as if for help.
‘Master Brightwing,’ Selira said sweetly ‘surely you know you have lost on your own terms.’
‘Yes Sir,’ Aelun added ‘time to pay up the fee now.’
“Master Brightwing” looked so nauseous at the concept of kissing her that she would have found it insulting if it weren’t so funny. He slowly closed the distance. It had soon become obvious to him that Zangah wouldn’t help in this; she pulled herself up to her full height, so he had to stand on tiptoes to reach her. When their lips met, Zangah suddenly grabbed his nape, so he couldn’t pull back and bit down hard on his lip until she tasted blood.
When she had let him go, he stumbled back, clasping his hand in front of his mouth. His eyes widened when he saw the blood on his fingers, but to his credit his voice is even as he said,
‘That was – not a kiss at all.’
‘Sure it was,’ Zangah replied ‘a troll’s kiss.’ She gave the elf a curt bow and said as sarcastically as she managed, ‘It was a pleasure gaming with ya, Sir.’
With that she was off, with the gang at her heels.
The atrocities of the day didn’t end there though. Draz actually gave her a speech – it looked like he was the voice of reason when not drunk on alcohol, magic or whatever he drugged himself with, though the others were on the opinion that Brightwing had it coming. By the time they reached the market square they managed to convince Draz that there would be no consequences of Zangah’s act.
‘Honestly,’ Aelun said laughing ‘what could he do? He cheated, he lost… if he pushes the matter he will get just more humiliated.’
They were all in high spirits as they rummaged through the market’s supplies. Zangah was never one for shopping, but the amazing variety of the goods on sale -from food to clothes, weapons to jewels, trinkets and gadgets that probably had no use at all other than looking pretty – bewitched her.
Selira was just trying to get her away from the weapon smith to convince her to buy some new cloths (as if they were selling anything in her size) when she became aware of someone staring at her. She looked around casually until her eyes met the gaze of a delicate woman’s.
Generally the inhabitants looked at her in surprise or irritation. This gaze was different. It radiated with hatred. Turning to Draz, Zangah asked if he knew who she was.
‘Ah, that is Aelna, ‘ Draz replied and from his sour face it appeared she was not his favorite person. ‘She is, erm…, she was…’
His voice trailed away as the woman made her move and came up to them. She didn’t bother to conceal the loathing and revulsion on her face.
‘So,’ she said when she reached them without any further ado ‘this is the famous troll.’
‘And who you be?’ Zangah asked back with a raised eyebrow.
Pretending that Zangah hadn’t spoken at all, she had the audacity to actually walk around her as she looked her up.
‘Aelna,’ Draz said angrily, ‘that is quite rude. There’s no need…’
‘No,’ she cut him off, ignoring him completely ‘no matter how I look, I still don’t see why he would choose this.’ She shook her head angrily.
Ah, Zangah thought, so it was that kind of an encounter. She was kind of expecting woman crying over Ardel not being free any longer, but this level of hostility was surprising. Deciding to take a clue from her book she ignored the seething woman and didn’t speak to her directly.
‘Draz, should me be expecting a lot of jealous woman in dis city? Just dat I can get prepared.’
‘A few,’ he replied solemnly. ‘The worst by all means though is Aelna.’
That got her attention of course as they started to bicker. They left Zangah out of it, of which she was glad. It was only after she stormed away and they started to walk back to Ardel’ house when she asked about her.
‘She’s a mean little bitch,’ Draz said, although that much was obvious already. ‘Thinks she is superior to everyone. She made an ugly scene when Ardel decided to go away to Kalimdor. Then she hooked up with another guy before he left. Be prepared of her trying something.’
‘I’d like to see her try,’ snorted Zangah.
‘So do you,’ asked Draz ‘agreed? On you know, not getting on with anyone else.’
‘No. But you’d rather not start hitting on him.’ She did wonder about him and Ardel – Draz was quite protective of him.
As of her and Ardel - although there was no agreement between them, she did think of the elf as hers, even if only for the time being.
‘I wouldn’t!’ Draz exclaimed. Zangah believed him as she wanted to – she started to like him - it would have been a pity if she would have to beat him away from her territory.
All in all it was a very eventful morning. She still wanted to visit Vengeance in her quarantine, but was curious to know first how Ardel’s meeting with his father went, He might need her support. Or he may want to leave immediately, she thought a bit wishfully. Also, he might need to know that Zangah had met his ex-girlfriend and had a… collision with Master Peacock at the training grounds. Saying goodbye to the others as they reached the house and making promises that she would tell Ardel to meet them again tomorrow, she entered.
The elf’s father was gone, but his mood didn’t seem improved at all. His grim face evaporated Zangah’s joy and put her on edge.
‘Hey elf,’ she said softly, deciding probably it wasn’t the best time to tell him her adventures ‘you all right?’
‘Just peachy,’ he replied sourly. ‘We are visiting my parents tomorrow.’
TBC…
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Bal'a Dash, Malanore