by Milton Garby
She pursed her lips. 'Fine. Though last I checked the Hammer was torn apart after the Cataclysm ended.'
'That was thirty years ago. Plenty of time to get their feet under them again. Listen lass, I'll keep yer secret, but once we get to Ahn'Qiraj and you don't need em' to carry around equipment, they need to meet their maker. If you absolutely need nobody to know, we can say the Qiraji killed them. Big tragedy and all.'
Sara sighed. 'Fine. Thank you for your assistance, sir. I'm just stuck between a rock and a hard place.'
'Yeah, I know that feeling. If ya ever need me, I'm two floors down, second door on the left. Don't be a stranger, Sara.'
'I'll keep that in mind,' she said. Sara stood and undid the telepathic link, and decide to walk around the swaying ship and occupy her mind as the last bits of shoreline vanished from sight.
The voyage passed in monotony, but it was the sort of monotony Sara tolerated. Each day she could go to the deck and mesmerize herself with the endless, churning ocean waves, always reliable in their unpredictability. She liked to play a little game with herself, crowning the biggest wave she saw each day as the victor, only to be unseated when she saw a bigger one. Now and then the tropical waters stirred up a storm, but the ship successfully steered away from them. All Sara could do was lean against the railing and gaze longingly upon the colossal, anvil-shaped clouds. Everyone else was doing alright - except for that one woman who was seasick - and the rest of the passengers gave her no trouble. Meals were served at six, noon, and six on the dot, consisting mostly of seafood to her endless amusement.
A week passed, then another week passed. They swerved past the grip of the Maelstrom, so it never came into sight. The Twilight's Hammer mostly kept to themselves, no surprise. Sara also kept to herself, except for when Leira had some spare time and they could share a conversation either by words or thoughts.
With little more than half of the trip behind them and Kalimdor 'fast' approaching, Sara found herself beneath partly cloudy skies and looking down into the ocean.
She heard a faint clip clop behind her grow closer and glanced over her shoulders. Leira all but collapsed next to her, resting her head against the rail. Sara's eyes widened. "Are you alright?" she asked, worried. She didn't know exactly what initiates in the Twilight's Hammer underwent, but she doubted it was anything pleasant.
The tall - so tall - draenei grunted. "I'll live," she breathed. She looked around. "So do you really spend all your time up here?"
"More now than at the start of the trip, why?" she asked.
Leira poked her in the arm and grinned. "Because you're getting pretty tan." Leira narrowed her eyes, looking closer, and then winced. "Oh, sunburns too."
"Yeah yeah." Sara swatted her hand away. "Didn't mean to, but I really like it up here. Guess it'll help a bit for Silithus. Maybe."
"Isn't the whole 'tans protect against sunburns' thing a myth?" Leira asked.
Sara paused, then shrugged and decided to change the subject. She leaned over the rail, looking at the dark water below. "How deep do you think the water is right now?"
"Dunno. How deep do oceans usually get?"
"Beats me. I'm a scholar of magic, not oceans. Must be pretty deep though. I mean, look at this." She dangled a hand over the edge and began channeling magic into her fist. The power went from black orbs to swirling purple, then changed in hue until it was almost necrotic green. Sara opened her hand so her palm was pointing straight down and shot a narrow beam of raw mana straight down. The violet magic blasted into the water, displacing exactly none of it. It was visible a few dozen yards down, but beyond that the inky depths of the ocean swallowed the magic up.
"My magic can't even get close to the bottom. Kinda explains why Neptulon's the strongest of the elemental lords." She ended her magic and turned to Leira.
Leira whistled. "Yeah. Think he's watching us?"
Sara shrugged. "Beats me. Elementals are weird. Or so I hear." She shrugged. "So, any ideas about the Hammer?"
Leira frowned and tapped her head, right where her horns started. Sara nodded and opened up a telepathy link, though with slight reluctance. Who knew when her magic would begin harming on principle? 'Not yet,' Leira said. 'I mean, the plan was at first to just observe them, come back, and then the entire guild brings the hammer down on them.' Sara chocked back a laugh. 'Pun intended. Problem is I didn't get any fucking warning, they were just suddenly herding us onto a boat to go visit C'Thun for Light knows what reason. Maybe they're gonna give resurrecting him another whack.'
'Ridiculous. The longer something's dead the harder it is to bring them back. It's been over thirty years since C'Thun died. There's no way.'
'They might not know that.' Leira punched her lightly in the arm, making Sara wince. Leira was pretty strong given all the training she'd put into becoming a warrior. 'Not everyone's as knowledgeable of resurrection as you. Say, you don't think they want you to - '
'Out of the question. I can barely bring back a human who'd died a minute ago. And if they don't know that, and try to force me to... ' She held up a hand and let green magic flicker menacingly across it, despite how much it pained her to make it green.
Leira rolled her eyes when she put out the magic - it was tricky to see since her eyes glowed, but Sara could tell. 'Right, magic. You know, there's an easy way to get around spellcasters.'
'Really? What?'
Before Sara knew what happened, Leira lashed out and gently brushed a hand across her throat, laughing. Sara bristled. "Boom. My sword just cut your throat open."
It was Sara's turn to roll her eyes. "Very funny. But yeah, I'm sure we'll think of something. I mean, we still have all the time until we reach land, then we have to travel across the entire fucking continent to Silithus."
'Hope so. I'll keep you up to date if I hear anything.'
'I'm thinking maybe I'll go chat with whoever's in charge of the cult around here. Flex my authority.' It was more like 'flex my faceless magic authority' but Sara was putting off telling Leira.
A tense silenced lapsed between them. A particularly powerful wave - strongest all day - smashed into the ship and sent up spray. 'So,' Sara sent. 'What's your guild like?'
Leira visibly brightened, and glimmer entered her eyes. 'It's great! Everyone there's wonderful. Well, except for Alex. He always sulks in the corner glaring at everyone, you two'd get along. There's also this dwarf, Anra, I go out drinking with her and her friends on the weekends. You should at least stop by once, let down your hair a little.'
'Thanks for the offer, but I have plenty of fun on my own. Besides, the Deeprun Tram scares me. Anyway, catch up with you later. I'm gonna go chat with the cult leader. That high elf right?'
'Yeah, but stay on your toes. Higris is a very... disturbed person.'
'I'll keep it in mind.' She stood from where she leaned against the boat and cut the link, heading below deck.
She formulated a plan. For the Hammer, she needed to be direct and forceful, make it known in abundant terms that she was the one in command. She was the one calling the shots, not them. Sara forced her elated smile to crumble into a scowl as she approached the Hammer's quarters. Once before the door she took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Then she slammed open the door, glided inside with the grace of a hurricane, and slammed the door behind her just as hard.
She found the high elf Higris in his bunk, laying on his back and reading a book that was covered in unintelligible symbols. He looked up when she approached, but before he or the eight other cultists could move she wrenched him out of bed with her magic and slammed him against the wall. A flickering green barrier shielded her from the other cultists.
"I do not appreciate being kept in the dark. You will tell me what the plan is with C'Thun."
"Or what?" he asked coldly, a sly grin on his ugly mug.
She paused, then narrowed her eyes and grinned wickedly. With one hand sustaining a stream of magic that pushed him into the wall, she held up her other hand and forced
violet power to crackle along it. "Have you ever drowned? What if I made it so you never stopped drowning?" She could probably do it too. She'd just need a few hours to locate the parts of the brain that handled breathing, and from there the parts that handled what to do when the person wasn't breathing...
To her eternal satisfaction, the elf's eyes widened ever so slightly. "The Old Ones and their servants are the only ones capable of such punishments, and you are but a pale shadow of them. You're bluffing."
"Wrong." She reached into his mind and severed his vocal cord tethers, then jabbed at the pain center of his brain. He went limp in her spell and she let go, stepping back to let him fall down as he tried in vain to scream. The other cultists protested and tried to get up, but Sara glanced their way and cowed them. "Maybe you need a reminder," she told the elf. "I wield the power of the masters. I control life and death like a lever. You will tell me what you intend with C'Thun."
She gave him back his voice and, when he recovered, he glared up at her. "The plan," he wheezed. " - is first and foremost to find a way to revive the Great One. Failing that, we would take samples of his greatness to the other Old Ones, possibly reviving them. If not, then we'll take pieces from each of them and find our way to the last of the Masters."
Sara nodded. "Clever plan. I doubt you'll be able to revive any of them, they've been dead too long even for me." Now she knew that she'd have to check them for any apocalyptic contraband when they were through with Ahn'Qiraj. "Also relies on you even being able to find the fifth Old God, especially before anyone else does." She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Good luck with that. If you want this plan of yours to work, you'd better get it together." Sara released him and turned around to storm out of the room. Leira had to be informed at once. Fardol too.
A wave rocked the boat, sending Sara off her feet and into the wall. She held out her hands and steadied herself, foul mood cured instantly.
... maybe after a few more hours of watching the ocean.
Sara
She was barely awake when land came into sight.
The twinkling stars were quiet in the light of the full moons, and the sky was remarkably clear. All around the boat, the ocean sloshed like ink as it lapped at their vessel. It was on deck, late at night, that Sara saw land.
The ship's crew was remarkably calm about the event, but Sara could only see the approaching land with trepidation. After all, it meant that the easiest part of the journey was over and now they had a long, long flight across Kalimdor ahead of them. It was a shame that this was the fastest way. Stormwind had no boats to Ratchet in the Barrens, and the ruins of Theramore were still wreathed in arcane radiation.
So it was a cross-continent trip that loomed ahead of her. At the very least it would all be on the back of flying mounts, so aside from her legs falling asleep the trip wouldn't be so unbearable. Aside from lasting an entire week with her dangling in the air, but maybe it'd be interesting. Certainly it would be an experience.
She let a jaw-cracking yawn as they got closer. As they did, more and more details of the island came into sight. The most striking feature was the growth upon the island. It was the tree stump of Teldrassil, so much taller than anything she'd ever seen in her entire life. From so far away it wasn't much more than a silhouette, but even then she could make off the branches hanging off the tree like little tentacles.
She'd found a bench to sit on, and leaned her head back to rest on the wall as she watched the oceans go by in a haze. Dimly she knew she should be trying to wake up; it'd do no good to take off in the air while half asleep. It was only when, as they got close enough to make out Rut'theran Village, that she realized that they needed to unpack and she got moving.
Springing up from where she sat, Sara thundered below deck and slammed open the door where her non-cultist companions rested, sleeping soundly.
The smash of the door startled some of them into waking up, but then Sara started to yell. "Alright, everyone wake up, now!" Startled shouts and complaints filled the air. "Rut'theran Village is maybe half an hour away! Everyone up! Go to the bathroom if you have to, get your belongings together. Dianna, Frazzle, start organizing our equipment. Bring it on deck and we'll distribute it like we discussed. Eat your breakfast on your own time!"
They were still getting up, so Sara stormed to her bunk and pulled out the knapsack containing her belongings. Nothing much. All she had was a diary, some pencils, sandwiches, and clean clothes. Her pack was quite large though, so she had a lot of space left over. She slung it on her back and went back to the doorway. Once there she looked over her shoulders and took a deep breath. "I said now!" she barked.
Before she could start helping out, she had one quick stop to make. She barged uninvited into the Twilight's Hammer's room and shocked them each with some pain – except for Leira, who she simply woke up. "Everyone up! Get your asses over there and help out everyone else. Don't even think about tampering with this equipment. Remember, my success is just as important for you." Sadly Sara couldn't do anything if they did decide to tamper, so she just had to hope her little demonstration on their leader made them fear her enough.
She left them behind and went back. In the hallway there was already a line of mages and warlocks in their sleeping clothes blearily stumbling up the stairs. Sara went into the door and towards the back. Just like she had instructed, the warlock Dianna and the gnomish mage Frazzle were busy unpacking the equipment from the first of the two boxes.
"I'll help," she said. She slung her pack off and opened it, revealing all the space still inside.
Dianna nodded, still blinking the sleep from her eyes. "Thanks." She reached in and handed a small wooden box to her that could easily fit in her hand. "This one has the detection wand."
"Mmhmm," she said, putting it away with her belongings.
The gnome handed her another box, about twice the size of the other. "This is the recorder to go with the wand," he said.
They continued unpacking until Sara's bag was full. She closed it and slung it over her shoulders, stumbling for a moment under the weight. She took a deep breath and stood, moving out. "Get the rest of the gear handed out, we'll be coming up on land any minute now."
She headed out of the room and climbed the stairs with some amount of difficulty. On deck her shouting at her underlings had whipped them into shape, and they were busy going down to get their own equipment, cramming in an early breakfast, and generally preparing as fast as they could. There were also the other occupants of the ship lazing about, and Fardol Brighthammer rested patiently on a bench, as hard to look at as ever. Ahead of them, Teldrassil loomed higher than she felt anything had a right to grow, and nestled in between two city-sized roots was a sleepy little town of purples and blues, jutting out to sea by way of a pier.
It was another ten minutes before they would arrive. Five minutes before that, her two dozen followers had all come on deck, all their equipment with them.
"Alright!" she shouted, standing in front of them. "Rut'theran has a reputation as a fairly friendly place, nice locals, good food. We're not staying one minute for any of that! Once we get off this boat we're making a beeline for the hippogriff master. Everyone here know the rules for air travel?" Nodding heads filled her sight. "Good, then I won't need to repeat them. Our first stop will be in Auberdine, you'll all get a chance to eat and rest once you're there. If anyone has not yet used the restroom on board, go now! You won't get a chance to in flight." Sadly she wasn't able to get a good schedule for a boat to Auberdine from Rut'theran, so flight would have to do.
A handful of the people with her went downstairs, leaving her to turn her back to everyone else and gaze at the approaching village with baited breath. Rut'theran village bloomed open as they approached, and even from the boat Sara could see the resident night elves going about their daily lives.
Sitting at tables and talking, walking in and out of stores and inns, walking around hand in hand. Night elven architecture itself was nothing to scoff at.
She'd seen pictures, but it was something else entirely to see a house literally carved into a tree, or perhaps the tree had purposefully been grown that way. All the dark purple was easy on the eyes too.
Before too much longer the boat pulled in to harbor and came to a complete stop. Sara led the twenty five of them off the boat – Fardol followed – and into Rut'theran. Their group got a few looks, but Sara didn't care. She marched to the right, over a small wooden bridge that ended in what she almost mistook for a birdhouse at first glance, but there were no walls and the birds were half equine.
She'd seen hippogriffs in pictures, but standing before one was another experience entirely. The front half of its body was covered in deep blue feathers the size of her arm, and its head sported glowing eyes and a sharp, pointed beak. Proud antlers sprouted from its head, decorated with little bead. Underneath its wings Sara could see a line of red feathers standing out vividly against the blue, and towards the end the feathers revealed a splotchy teal hide, with a fibrous tail extending out over two solid hooves. The hippogriff's talons played idly with the hay.
The hippogriff master was a tall woman. Instead of the powerful violet skin most night elves had hers was on the blue side, and she had the tattoo of a leaf sprawled across her forehead. All around her were beds filled to the brim with straw, a few of which even had hippogriffs resting in them.
The night elf was already looking her way as they approached. As Sara sped up to reach her, she noticed the animals all looking right at her, dead silent. "You must me Ms. Smithers and company, yes?" she asked in a Darnassian accent. "I have your rides ready, please step this way." Sara had forwarded the gold to her by way of mail earlier, and not just to her but to all the flight masters. She had, naturally, wanted their spots reserved ahead of time.
"Yes, tha – "
Whoosh! Sara's eyes snapped to the right as a brilliant, snow white armored gryphon took off into the horizon, Fardol upon it as he flew to the mainland.