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Abducted Hope	By : Quicksilver.Maiden Category: +S through Z > World of Warcraft Views: 27552 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: World of Warcraft is owned by Blizzard, and I do not make any money from writing fanfiction using their world.

Chapter List
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A faint rustling drew closer to Saerah until it startled her, momentarily replacing her overwhelming loss and loneliness with fear.
Uktengga had said that no animal would approach, and she knew from her training as a hunter that this was true, so it could only be someone sneaking up on her.
She crawled toward the kodo, hoping she could hide behind its great bulk and avoid detection. She could not see who or what entered the camp due to her crouched position by the kodo’s hind legs, but she did hear the snuffling of a tracking animal, and closed her eyes, hoping it wouldn’t smell her against the musky, fur-covered kodo.
“Saerah?” she heard a gruff voice call to her mind. “Where are you?”
She gasped and stood, coming around the kodo’s head.
“Ginta!” she nearly shouted, as the coyote placed his paws on her chest and licked her face. He then sniffed her warily, as though confirming a fear.
“So you have taken a mate, then?” he whispered mentally.
“Well, not exactly,” she said aloud. He shook himself.
“Your scent has accepted his, so you must have accepted him.”
“I… don’t know what you mean…”
“If you didn’t want him, you would smell of him, but not like him. You’ve formed a bond, and you smell like a committed female.”
Saerah digested this information, astonished that her human body was even capable of revealing such things. Of course, now that she considered the matter, she realized that the idea of going off and marrying some unknown human man seemed a cold and empty prospect, but she wasn’t sure yet that she would be able to spend her life with Uktengga, or if he would even want to try.
“I don’t know, Ginta. I don’t even know if he would want me. I’m so… this,” she gestured to herself.
Ginta whined and sat beside her on the ground. Saerah was glad that her nausea had passed, and followed suit. She buried her face in his fur, noting that it was longer than Uktengga’s and bore an undercoat. She had never noticed such things before.
Ginta’s low growel warned her that she would not be alone long, and she gripped the fur at his neck to hold him back as Uktengga burst into the camp, axe at the ready, having heard Ginta’s growel and suspecting the worst.
“It’s okay, my pet found us,” she said t him quickly.
He did a double-take, then laid his axe across his back and approached cautiously. Ginta’s growls subsided as she mentally connected with her coyote, telling him to stop threatening the man who had saved her life.
“I didn’t know you were a hunter. What’s his name?”
“Ginta. He’s a bit nervous just now.”
Uktengga spoke soothingly in Taur-ahe, and Saerah felt her heart flutter, though she didn’t know what he was saying.
“Can you teach me your language?” she asked suddenly, then blushed. “I mean, you know common so well…”
Uktengga’s face clouded. “I know common because that bastard Forsaken knew common, and it rubbed off when he was inside my head,” his face cleared with an effort, “However, it would be very good to speak my native tongue again, and I am honored you care to know how. I will teach you as we travel, but you should be resting for the moment.”
“Actually, I’m feeling a lot better. Hungry, even.”
Uktengga nodded, smiled, and sat beside her. He had a descent-sized bag full of bread, and handed it to her to look through.
Saerah chose a small loaf of dark brown bread that smelled faintly of figs and tore off a hunk of it before beginning to eat.
Within half an hour, Uktengga had packed up the camp and set Saerah gently on the great kodo’s saddle. He climbed up behind her and they started on their way.
Two hours later, they had a fright.
A male night elf was walkng along the road ahead, and it was clear from his expression that his superior eyesight had allowed him to make them out from quite a way off.
“Hail, friends,” he said when close enough, and they could see the tabard of the Cenarion Circle on his chest.
“Hail, friend,” responded Uktengga.
“Might I ask your business? Do you make for the Cenarion Grove?” he asked, interest obviously piqued.
“We aimed for Ratchet, eventually, but I was not aware that the Cenarion Circle had holdings in the Desolace.”
The tall elf seemed surprised, but Uktengga explained, “I haven’t been in this part of the world for a long time. I’m very much… uninformed.”
Thfe lavender-skinned man made a noise of understanding, then looked sidelong at Saerah, who blushed.
The elf’s eyes widened fractionally, and he addressed her after a moment of close scrutiny.
“You would do well to carry your burden far from here, madam. The powers that be do not take kindly to new revelations. Elune be with you,” and strode down the road on his way, obviously flustered.
“Cryptic, isn’t he,” said Uktengga, and Saerah sighed.
“Most of them are, from what little I know of them. I wonder what he meant by my ‘burden.’ I have no possessions but my clothes, and I’m not carrying any guilt, or anything. There’s nothing I’ve done that’s wrong.”
“Except accept my friendship. Many people on both sides would see us as traitors, and lay us low if they got the chance.”
Saerah looked contemplative, as though considering whether that might have been what the elf meant. A thought struck her suddenly. “Poor Emmalina, though. Gornk is married, but she can never go back home. I hope she finds a safe place for the baby.”
Uktengga’s hands had frozen on the reins, a stricken look on his face. Tears fell unnoticed through his fur, and Saerah turned around and pressed her face into the fur of his neck, whispering soothing words and stroking his mane.
The kodo, sensing a lack of direction from the reins, slowed and began to browse the vegitation to their left.
“What is it, Teng?” He covered his broad muzle with his hands and began to sob.
Saerah stretched her arms up and around his neck and hugged him tightly, shushing and soothing to no avail. Uktengga’s heart had begun to bleed for a reason she could not guess, but she could feel the devastating heartbreak he was undergoing. She pressed her lips to his jaw softly, then rose higher on her knees and kissed the top of his muzzle. He grasped her tightly, clinging to her in desperation.
After several minutes, he quieted, though tears still dropped steadily from his large, expressive eyes. Saerah was stroking his mane, humming softly, and it seemed to have the right effect.
“I’ve not dealt with their deaths as well as I’d thought,” he said quietly.
“The other girls?” She asked. He nodded.
“Five needless deaths, and I had a heand in all of them.”
“I’m not dead, Uktengga, and I’m not going to die any time soon.”
“He shook his head, and she ducked a little lower, wary of his sharp, upright horns.
“One of the women, she was with me for a long time. A dwarf woman. She… we… “ a noise of utter lament ripped itself free of Uktengga’s soul and howled out of his throat.
A few moments later, he said, shakily, “She had a babe. She died from the birth, and the child followed her an hour later. My daughter… “ he sobbed, “She couldn’t breathe… she never ate… she died hungry and without her mother in my arms. She never even squalled. I never heard her voice, she was fighting so hard for air…” his own voice broke.
A breathy, mournful “oh” escaped Saerah, and Uktengga buried his face against her, one of his white horns laid on each of her shoulders.
“I’m so sorry, Uktengga,” she whispered, tears watering in her eyes.
He pulled back carefully, snuffeling. “I gave her mother binding words, wedding vows, when it was clear she was dieing, and sang a death chant to put her spirit to rest, along with our baby,” his eyes closed, “My Ahatah.”
Saerah smoothed her hands over his nose and muzzle, “It wasn’t your fault, Teng.”
“Of course it was!” he snapped, growing suddenly angry. “If she hadn’t had my blood, they’d both still be alive! If her father had been a dwarf, or a human, or even an orc the baby might still be alive!”
Saerah shook her head. “The breathing is the giveaway, Teng. She was born too early. My sister’s a midwife, and she says that if a baby is born just a few weeks too early, it can sometimes cause that to happen. Even a skilled priest with all the right potions is hard pressed to save a premature baby. Eight out of ten of them die, despite every effort made for them.”
Her voice was quiet, regretful, but she was staring into his eyes, her hands holding his face gently. Guilt and sorrow still swam in his eyes, but understanding was slowly slipping in beside them.
“But, what causes babies to come too early?” he asked, afraid he already knew the answer.
Saerah’s frown deepened, “Lots of things can, really. Poor nutrition, trauma or a shock, the mother being too old or too young. Some women are just incapable of carrying a baby to term, and nobody knows why.”
“Trauma… “ he whispered. “So it was my fault… “
“No!” she nearly shouted. “If trauma caused it, it was the fault of that damned bastard that trapped you there! And if he was serving the same stale bread and mouldy cheese then as he did to us, nutrition definitely played a part. You can’t take the blame for that.”
“I always gave her the food, and only ate after I was sure she had gotten enough.”
“Just like you tried to do with me,” said Saerah softly. “But still, just because she got enough to fill her stomach doesn’t mean she got what she needed. A pregnant woman needs fresh meat and vegetables.”
Uktengga seemed to be struggling with instinctual guilt and the knowledge that he couldn’t have done anything more.
“She was really too old, as well. There were lines on her face and her hair was beginning to turn grey beside her ears,” he finally assented. “She was still quite lovely, though I have no idea whether the people of her own race would have considered her thus.”
“You’re the most remarkable man I’ve ever met.”
Uktengga almost huffed a laugh. “Bull. I’m a bull, not a man.”
Saerah pressed her lips to his gently but hungrily. “Whatever you are,” she said when she pulled back, “I love you.”
Uktengga’s wounded heart lifted itself out of despair to regard her. He brushed the backs of his knuckles down her face, wonderingly, then replied, “I love you as well, Saerah of Elwyn Forest.”
He took her shoulders gently in his massive hands, mindful of her still-fresh injuries, and pressed his lips to hers in what he hoped was a fair approximation of what she expected from a kiss. He was wholly surprised when she ran her tongue along the underside of his top lip, but managed not to break the kiss until she pulled back, gasping, and laid the bridge of her nose against his armoured collar bone.
“I’m not sure I need to go to the barrens, anyore,” she said quietly.
“I… I need to seek the council of my teachers, Saerah, and I am afraid that you would not be easily welcomed, even if I bound myself to you, unless we publicized what has happened… Could you not stay with your brother for a time, until I can return to claim you?”

Saerah clutched him tightly, then kissed the side of his muzzle. “Do what you need to, Uktengga, and come back to me. There’s not any rush, I’ll love you for the rest of my life.”
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Abducted Hope