Hope from the Horde

Lady Shiva: Ty for your kind review :) I meant to acknowledget you in the last chapter but my brain fried. It smelled like bacon!
Darkmoon_Knight: Thanks for being my very first multiple reviewer. I'm starting to feel like there's a fan :)

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Many times in the last five years Calistera had woken up to the tiredness and muscle soreness proclaiming that she'd been mostly dead when the healer had come by. Resurrection was worse, but only marginally. Attempts to move were hampered by feeling some of the worst muscle soreness she'd ever had. She racked her memory to figure out what she'd managed to do this time, but came up completely blank. The taste in her mouth was utterly vile. She must not have been awake for a few days to feel this bad. Right on schedule with that thought her hair and skin started to itch furiously. Groaning, she made it to a sitting position in the hammock where she'd been sleeping.

"Good, you're awake," a voice said in passable common, and in the dim light provided by the candle she saw something move. The gentle voice kept her somewhat calm, but she didn't recognize the accent. "It has been three days since we pulled you from Naxxramas."

"Naxxramas?" She vaguely remembered going there, but as much as she pushed her memory, all she could remember associated with that place as the vague impression of stone walls and a feeling of dread. "I don't remember anything at all."

"Probably a good thing. Does your head hurt, little Draenei?"

It had been a long time since anyone had addressed her as 'little'. Over six feet tall, there were few who could call her that. She felt a frisson of fear as she watched the shadow grow and twist about the room.

"No." Carefully she watched as the monstrous shadow moved about the room lighting candles.

"Nargsmarsh will be pleased. He has been your other caretaker. We have cared for you since we pulled you from Naxxramas, and from the ah...things that were happening there."

Increased light revealed a massive Tauren warrior, his shoulders appeared as broad as she was tall. Her body involuntarily startled bringing a groan from her throat involuntarily.

"I am called Serrok." He said, moving closer to her, but staying well outside her personal space and bowing to her a bit.

"I am called Calistera." She responded, tried to stand, and promptly fell back into the hammock gasping for air.

"Sorry." She managed to get out as she tried to regain control of her body. She thought briefly that she'd been wrong earlier. She'd never been resurrected feeling this bad. "Serrok, what happened to me?"

He looked thoughtful, his oddly gentle eyes reassuring, but she saw something else behind that which frightened her slightly. He was angry, not at her, but incredibly angry.

"Are you hungry, Calistera?" Even the mention of food made her belly growl, it seemed suddenly aware of how long it had been since she had eaten.

"Yes." She was blushing for some reason at her belly's loud protest of emptiness. It was hardly as if he'd never heard a belly growl before. Given his immense size, he'd heard it plenty. There didn't seem to be any fat on him, but he was easily three times her size.

"Narg will be here soon with food."

"There's some in my pack." She tried to rise again, slower this time, and managed to get to her hooves. She trembled all over with the exertion of standing, wondering what the hell had happened to her that she felt this badly.

"I'll get a snack for you. Sit, Calistera." The command was made gently, but she obeyed, staggering over to a chair and sitting.

"I'm surprised you can walk, you were in poor shape when Narg and I brought you out."

"What happened?" She asked again, this time looking him in the eyes. She couldn't have missed the flash of deep anger, but his voice stayed mild.

"There was a battle, and things didn't go well. You were the only survivor."

"And only because you and Nargsmarsh? Was that his name? Showed up?"

"Yes." There was a wealth of intention in that single word. A wealth of information, but she couldn't really understand it. The Tauren looked familiar, and she watched him for a few moments as he moved around the room assembling supplies out of his and another pack. She noticed that he didn't touch hers, which were assmebled neatly underneath the armor-dummy that held her armor.

He presented her with a large amount of honey spiced lichen and some seal whey, which she started eating. Halfway done with the snack, she finally got her sluggish brain to work.

"You were the Horde in the summoning chamber."

"Yes." He admitted.

"I remember only that much, after that it is all blank until I remember you wrapping me in your cloak and carrying me out."

"It's probably for the best." A different voice spoke then, coming from the direction of the door. Startling again, she stifled a groan as her body turned too fast for her sore muscles toward the door. She recognized the distinctive profile of the male orc, who was grinning as proudly as if his wife (if he had one) had birthed a son.

"Greetings." He said, smiling toothily and putting down his packs. "By the sky and sea it is good to see you awake!"

"Greetings." She said formally to him. "May the blessings of the Naaru follow you both." She tried to stand, and managed to using the table as support. "Blessings upon both of you for your help."

She was not precisely sure why they'd helped her. She remembered the cheerful wink and wave, but was confused as to why Horde would bother to help a Draenei. They seemed decent, indeed, rather likeable, but they were Horde. Not that there weren't evil people and good in the Alliance. She supposed she'd better start using the head that she was given for something other than a hatrack.

"Thank you for saving me." She said formally. "Given the way I feel right now, I probably owe you both a life-debt."

They looked at each other, both with a shocked look upon their faces. It was surprising to Calistera to see how much the pair looked alike.

"No speech of that, little one." The Tauren finally said. "The situation is unusual enough without us having to explain you in our cities!" It came out genially, as a joke, but left no doubt that neither the Tauren nor the Orc felt they'd done something deserving of a life-debt. Relieved, Calistera sat back down and relaxed somewhat. She hadn't exactly been sure how to repay a life-debt to the Horde, but honor had demanded that she make the offer to them.

"Thank you for saving my life." She repeated again.

"You're welcome." Said Nargsmarsh, still grinning like a small boy who'd gotten away with sticking his hand in the cookie jar when no one was looking. "And now, dinner!"

The basket he'd brought smelled wonderful, and despite the ruined plate of honey-spiced lichen she found room for grilled bonescale with vegetables as well. It seemed that Tauren and Draenei shared the dietary habits of not eating much (if any) red meat. The Orc was busy with shoveltusk steaks, but shared their vegetables. Calistera gazed on him questioningly when he took a second helping of vegetable.

"Orcs eat vegetables." He said, somewhat defensively.

Serrok snickered, Calistera giggled, and soon all three of them were sharing gales of laughter. It had been an unintentional joke, but a good one, and a feeling of kinship started to grow between the three of them in that moment. Searching her memory, there'd been a few meals like this shared with fellow travelers, but she couldn't remember many. Trying to remember bothered her, as the hole in her memories was at the forefront, a gaping psychic wound that would take a while to heal. She probed the edges of it with her mind, trying to remember more, but only stone hallways and the impression of spiders too impossibly large to be true answered her.

She sighed, and scratched, and when she scratched her back her fingernails came away tinged with blood. She'd ripped the healing skin with only the gentle pressure of her own nails. She looked at her hand in shock, and the pair of Horde looked at her, then each other.

"Perhaps you need a bath?" Nargsmarsh hazarded. "There are communal baths here in the Underbelly, and we could help you there."

She hesitated for a moment, unsure of her strength at this point, but feeling very much like a bath would help the horrible itching of unwashed skin and half-healed wounds. There had been no scabs, but the healing flesh was tender enough that it couldn't have been healed for more than a day.

"You were not in good shape when we ah..found you." Said Nargsmarsh. "It took a few days worth of healing to make you well enough. We were afraid you might not live."

"I feel worse than if I had been dead." It was a fact, she'd been resurrected before.

"The monsters inside Naxxramas are expert at inflicting the most amount of pain possible." The statement made by Nargsmarsh was of fact, but Calistera detected a double meaning that she just wasn't able to understand. She was annoyed slightly by the fact that she'd been taught most of her life that Tauren and Orcs were stupid. Neither of these males had shown one ounce of stupidity since she'd met them. Obviously she'd been in enough trouble that it had taken some doing to extract her from it. Both showed the signs of recently healed wounds as well, although theirs were less pronounced than hers.

"To the baths, then?" Suggested Serrok.

"Please." She dragged herself to her feet again, and managed to walk all the way over to her packs before simply collapsing into the floor, exhausted.

"I'll get something from the lady downstairs." Said Serrok and disappeared out the door.

"I think you're going to need some help getting there. Fortunately, you're pretty light at the moment despite how much you ate."

"Excuse me?"

"Perhaps Orc women just have more muscle." He said, grinning toothily at her, then knelt down beside her. "Put your arms around my neck, then let me help you stand. After we're both standing, I'll carry you."

"Carry me? To the baths?" She protested even as she twined her arms around his brownish-green neck. She'd never been this close to an Orc before, and noticed that he had a spicy smell, like cinnamon and cloves. It was pleasant, and he held her steady as they rose to a standing position.

"Serrok carried you at a dead run all the way out of Naxxramas. The least I can do is carry you at a sedate walk to the baths, which are not nearly so far, let me tell you." He brought his arm behind her knees and pulled her to his chest, cradling her almost like a babe. She was amazed at the strength and power he had contained in him, and not for the first time, was impressed with the Horde's males.

"Besides, Calistera, you're able to hold on and help with your weight now. He carried you as deadweight, sometimes over his shoulder."

Well, that accounted for her sore abdomen. She sighed. "Call me Cali. That's what my friends call me. I'd like to hope that saving my life makes us friends.

He looked down into her eyes and saw that she meant it. "Call me Narg." He smiled, and she realized that he smiled frequently. You can call Serrok, Serrok, or just Ser. Although I think he likes to be called Ser more, it makes him feel important."

She found herself grinning conspiritally back at the Orc as he carried her out the door. She couldn't think of companions that she'd rather have chosen if the choice had been given to her.

"Narg?" He looked down at her, questioningly when she said his name. "Thanks again."

"You're welcome." He said, seriously, and obviously taking her seriously. "Now let's get you that bath. You don't stink, the healers have washed you every day, but I bet you want to get in that hot water and let those muscles relax so you can move."

"You're not just whistling."

"I know."