A Convenient Happenstance

Although he heard the words that spilled from the lips of the tall blue girl, Matosawitko did not understand a bit. He knew most of the more popular swear words in Common, so he assumed that she must be speaking Draenei. The elementals were the reason he assumed she must be swearing; as fast as they could mow them down, more spewed from the rift. For himself, Mato cursed his chivalrous nature, for getting involved in this fight in the first place. Better to have just let her die - what was one Draenei more or less?

No, that wasn't right, was it? In theory the Alliance and Horde were at idealogical loggerheads. But he had met many individual members of the Alliance. Some even seemed like rather decent folk. "I mean, look at Thrall," he mused. "He maintains a working relationship - perhaps even friendship - with Jaina Proudmoore despite the fact that Varian Wrynn would cut him down in a heartbeat, given the opportunity." And the Draenei in particular seemed to hold to many of the same ideals as the Tauren.

A wry grin crossed his face as he mangled another elemental. Of all the random circumstances - to visit Hillsbrad Foothills on a simple delivery mission, only to end up fighting side-by-side with a Draenei hunter and her pet ravager. He had spotted the girl in the middle of a field, hopelessly outnumbered and about to be destroyed by the air elementals spawning around her. And instead of riding by, he had shifted into cat form and waded in.

It took him a moment to realize that the elemental onslaught had finally ceased, the feral roar dying on his tongue. He shifted back into his Tauren form and checked himself all over. He had not sustained any apparent damage at all - despite their best efforts, the elementals simply could not hit him as he had dodged and weaved between them. The girl was clearly the worse for wear, though he doubted that she had sustained more than some deep cuts and bruises. Her pet ravager appeared to have a broken tooth and some other damage, but it hissed at him when he tried to take a closer look and he did not push his luck. He felt particularly attached to his fingers, and didn't intend to lose any to an orange, alien... whatever that thing was.

With a shrill whistle, Mato called to his ravasaur mount that had observed the action from near the road. It had halted as soon as he leaped from its back, and apparently had not moved from that spot throughout the fight. He rummaged through his saddle bag and passed a roll of bandages to the girl. Next, he rediscovered an old health potion that he had found somewhere or other, tossed into his bag and promptly forgotten. As a feral druid, he wasn't sure whether he should trust himself to cast any healing spells on her - he rarely used them, even on those of his own faction. He watched in silence as she bandaged her largest cuts and refreshed herself with the potion.

The girl spoke in flowing Draenei. He had picked up enough conversational Common during his travels through Northrend, but knew nothing of the Draenei language. However, her thankful intent was clear enough. He nodded in response and smiled. Then he replied in halting Common - "My name is Matosawitko." Her eyes lit up in recognition, as she patted her chest - "Auryon." Then she pointed at the ravager. "And that is Buka." Buka hissed again, apparently no more friendly now that they were on a first-name basis.

"How did you end up in this field, being killed by elementals?"

"We were on our way from Southshore over toward the big wall near Arathi Highlands. I noticed the disturbance in this field, and stopped to investigate." Auryon gestured to her right, where the rift had been. "What is that?" She pointed at an odd device lying in the grass.

"I have seen these around Orgrimmar. A cult calling themselves the Twilight Hammer is claiming that some great cataclysm - perhaps even the end of the world - will happen soon. Some of them carried devices like this."

She nodded. "I think I have seen the same group down in Stormwind. There have been some odd events there lately, with people talking about all kinds of weird things. Why, just yesterday I discovered that the guards are searching everyone who wants to come into the city. I saw four people arrested just because they had literature that had been distributed by some strange street preachers."

"I wonder if this device is somehow related to the rift? Should we show this to someone?"

"Given the damage they managed to do to me and Buka before you came along, I certainly don't want to touch it." She grimaced, flexing her arm. "If you will be near a city soon, you should take it."

Mato picked up the device. It was a metallic tube, oddly cold and covered with unusual markings. He tucked it into a safe compartment on his mount's saddle. "I'll see that someone from the Earthen Ring sees this as soon as possible."

"That sounds good. Thank you again for your help - I was almost sure that I would..."

Both turned at the sound of loud voices and baying hounds from the direction of Southshore. They could see a group of guards coming across the fields to investigate the commotion.

"Southshore guards, on their way to serve and protect. Although I have no particular fear of them, it is probably best for both of us that they don't find me here," Mato said, a growl tinting his voice. "Last time I was in these parts, the Southshore guards and I had a bit of a meeting. Certain words were exchanged. Also... certain arrows."

"I agree. Thank you again." She turned to watch him swing easily into the ravasaur's saddle. With a wave, he rode over the crest of the nearby hills, headed for Tarren Mill and a long night of travel.