WarCraft: Partners - 1.5

A night in Elwynn (continued)

The "tramping" of Thygore's hooves awaked her. The elf found the sensitivity of her ears incredibly annoying now.
"How can you be so loud at such an early hour?" she asked without opening her eyes.
"How can you still sleep at such a late hour? The sun has risen long ago."
"I am a Night Elf, my sun is the moon!"
"I'll go find us some food" Thygore claimed ignoring Selina's answer. The elf muttered something to herself, and pulled her robe on her head protesting. But the cloth couldn't hide her too long.
"Selina, wake up!"
"Leave me alone!"
"Come on, you have to see this! You won't regret it!"
The woman threw the robe off her fretfully. Thygore waved at her to follow him, but quietly. The woman stood up eventually, and after getting up the cloth again, she followed him.
The tauren led her to a small clearing, where a large deer grazed, wearing beautiful antlers. Its brown fur was so clean and shiny, that instead of a beast of the wild one could have mistaken the animal to be a pet of a wealthy person. The deer raised its head with grace, as if it had known well, how perfect it looks.
The tauren watched the animal smiling, when he noticed, that Selina had already strained her bow, and was ready to shoot...
"No!" Thygore yelled, and pushed the elf's hand, which held the weapon. At the same moment Selina shot. Less than an inch from the neck of the deer the arrow flew away. The beast immidiately fled, as fast as it could.
"What on Azeroth do you think you are doing?!" the woman cried out.
"It was so beautiful... I thought you elves valued such things."
"Maybe... but we don't starve for them!"
"My father always said: taking one life can never be the only way to save another."
"NOW I'll kill you!" Selina pulled another arrow from her quiver, and aimed towards the bull.
"Wait!" Thygore motioned, and with his healthy side he dashed to a tree with full force. Several yellow fruits fell on the ground. He raised one, the thin stem disappeared behind his thick fingers.
How about a pear?" he offered to the elf, who was still holding her bow towards him, but then she lowered her arms.
"I swear, you're driving me crazy!"



Selina could see, as Thygore bent down to spread his large arms around a dozen of fruits, but the picture started to became blurry. She saw strange colors and light, she thought she would faint. The tauren was approaching her with his usual grin on his face, not seeming to notice her weakening. Selina watched him long, when the face seemed to change. The fur slowly disappeared, and only concentrated on the top of the head, and in a long white beard. The grin phased into dimness, and the green eyes that used to show happiness now turned black and scanned her with suspicion. Instead of the sunny clearing, Selina was again in her dark cell, where she was imprisoned for treachery.
"I do not understand it!" the human male fumed in front of her. He was wearing a purple and dark blue robe, indicating his former archmage rank.
"I just do not understand, what you're hiding from me, elf, and how!"
The mage had the job to interrogate the elf. For this he did not use physical torture, but a spell that allowed him to see into the minds of the captives. With it he could watch even the most humiliating memories of his "patients", which were printed out in the local yellow presses, if interesting enough.
These "treatments" made no wounds, yet they still wore the captives down, taking from them their very last property; their own thoughts. Not to mention, a more hours long session caused a serious headache, which may have been sharpened by self-consciousness. Many lost their common sense through such interrogations. Elves made it even more difficult, since they lived much longer, than other races, thus they had more memories, that had nothing to do to the with the inspection. The human mage - who reminded Selina of the greatest masters of the old Dalaran - was assured, that the woman had done nothing less than give a map with all of the secret passages to Stormwind to an orc warchief.
"What information did you give to the Horde, that it needs to be hidden so well? How powerful is the spell that protects it from me?"
Selina watched him, not stirring an eyelid.
"We'll continue tomorrow. I'm tired. But I suggest you see reason, maybe you can have an easy death... traitor!" he said, and slammed the door before storming away.
Selina's head was booming. She could hear the hum of thousands of insects, as if they were trying to break out of her mind. She could never get used to it, though she had been a captive for a week... or a month?
How many times did she have to see the moon through the barred window, she pondered. Seven... or seventy-seven? Maybe a whole year has elapsed? She could never figure out. Nor did she remember the name of the small town, that had that oubliette as the greatest - and only - sight.
She overcame the constant complaining in her head, and turned to look around. The dry haystack she was lying on was scattered next to the wall, above it was the small, barred hole, supposedly a window. The edifice had been built of black stone, so it was dark inside, even when the sun shone intensely outside. The walls were veloured by green mold.
On the two sides of her cell were more cells, also one in front of her, but first a long and thin corridor ran through, that the guards and the interrogator used. Viewing the cell, Selina's eyes caught the glimpse of black eyes.
The rough face was slightly illuminated by the moonbeams falling on yellowish tusks... an orc. He was sitting on his haystack and watching the elf. His stare was filled with hatred. Selina felt, if the green-skin could kill with his gaze, she would have been dead for long.
She turned to look to the ceiling. She only noticed now some monotonic muttering. She looked up to realize, it came from the cell next to hers. A tall, blue troll sat there with a crooked back leant on the wall. He wore blood red hair, that concentrated in a thin line dividing his head vertically. His tusks were much longer, than the orc's. On his lap lay a much smaller one of his kind. Neither the latter one's hair nor his bones weren't as developed. Probably father and son.
The little one often coughed, sometimes quite hard, and the elder one kept chanting something to him, possibly healing magic words.
Magic... the kid would rather need a strong potion Selina thought. But she noticed, that the father stopped talking now to inspect her with gimlet eyes.
Embarrassed, the elf raised her gaze to the ceiling again, so after a short time the troll continued muttering. But the boy never ceased coughing.
Selina turned to the wall and listened to the healing words, remembering the ones she was to study once. Meanwhile she still felt the stare of the orc on herself.


To be continued...