A Long Walk Back

Author's note: Chronologically, this story falls before the previous two, since it describes events that occurred very shortly after Mato and Lith arrived in Thunder Bluff.  If this bothers you, think of it as a flashback.

He glanced up sharply as screams invaded his thoughts.  Ahead on the path, he saw a group of Tauren women and children coming toward him, down the slope from the Barrens.  As they drew closer, he recognized some of the women.  Not that he really knew them personally, but he knew their faces and recognized that they were from the Southern Barrens town of Camp Taurajo.

"What is going on?"

One of the older women replied.

"Alliance at Camp Taurajo!  They attacked without warning."  She paused and looked troubled.  "I gathered the women and children, and we ran for Mulgore.  The men stayed behind to fight off the attackers."  Her face pinched as she struggled not to cry in front of the children.

Matosawitko whistled for his ravasaur and swung into the saddle.  He pointed down the trail.

"As you no doubt know, Bloodhoof Village is just a little way down this road.  Use caution, but I don't think anything will bother you.  You will probably meet guards near the town.  Tell them what has happened, and they will gather help for you.  Also, please ask Gennia Runetotem to inform my daughter of where I am.  Gennia will know best how to handle it."

"But I don't know your..."

"She will know."  He smiled grimly.  "She'll know."

-----

The battle clearly had not lasted long.  Faced with overwhelming force, most of the defenders had been cut down where they stood.  Now smoke rose from the burning husks of buildings as Alliance looters shuffled through the paltry materials and resources left behind.  Even in its heyday Taurajo had not been a large or rich town; most of its inhabitants lived simple but poor lives.

A white blur from his left knocked Mato out of the saddle and sprawled on his back in the dirt.  He squinted up to find a ghostly white cat sitting on his chest, its fangs and claws inches from his throat.  Then, a vaguely familiar voice spoke in Common, her words dripping with irony.

"I definitely did not expect to see you here."

He rolled his eyes to the left, not daring to move as the cat held position too near his jugular.  Then she motioned with a sharp word in Draenei.  He flinched, but instead of attacking, the cat leaped from his chest and paced back to sit at its master's side.

"A new pet, I see.  Is this one better at protecting you from elementals?"

She glared at him.  "I'm a hunter.  Hunters have pets for any occasion."

"So this is your 'attack an out-of-the-way, harmless village for no apparent reason' pet, is it?"

Another glare, then she spit.  "I was in Southshore.  You know this.  You 'saved' my life just in time for the entire might of the Horde to fall on the town and wipe it out.  Many of those who once proudly served the Alliance now shuffle to war under the Forsaken banner.  It was only good fortune that I am not among them.  Thanks for the warning, by the way."

She paused at the look of shock on his face.  "So, you did not know, then?  I suppose that is marginally better."  Then her face hardened again.  "But you are Horde.  You are allies with the blood elves, who have tried to decimate my people, and the Forsaken, who would just as willingly decimate all life.  Even the orcs have a rather bitter history with the Alliance."

"I am not a blood elf, an orc or undead.  I did not know, nor would I have approved.  Not that my approval or disapproval means anything.  But how did you survive?  And how does that result in you now attacking a defenseless town half a world away?"

She had the decency to look embarrassed.  "Wrong place at the wrong time.  I was asleep in the inn when the Horde...  excuse me, the Forsaken, attacked Southshore.  I awakened to muddled shouting; a guard burst into the room and carried me out of town to the graveyard.  Morbid, but apparently that was where they took people to get them out of harm's way.  He rushed back into the town to save more, but then the plague bombs started falling and the next time I saw him he had risen as a Forsaken."  She shook her head.  "Only a few of us got out alive."

"After that, I wandered around in confusion for a bit.  I steered clear of the Forsaken, of course.  I wasn't sure where to turn.  Even the peasant village up the road from Southshore was turned into a festering pit of undeath.  Animals and humans, all..."

"Corpsified and gross?  I've seen it before.  The word 'Wrathgate' probably doesn't mean anything to you?  Except that was a breakaway faction within the Forsaken.  Lady Sylvanas was opposed..."  After a moment of troubled thought, he continued.  "So, you survived Southshore.  What happened then?"

"After a few hours the few remaining survivors gathered together and ran for the Arathi Highlands.  We didn't know if it was in any better shape, but we had to go somewhere and from all appearances that was the only way out.  We eventually made it to Refuge Pointe.  A few decided to stay there, while others wasted no time seeking out the flight master.  I flew across the bay to Menethil Harbor, where I was conscripted to join a small force that came to Theremore Isle."

"And that's how you came to be attacking Taurajo?  Vengeance upon the uninvolved, for an attack that you survived?"

"How you do go on about that!"  She scowled.  "I actually got here after the battle - it was a long ride from Theramore, through unfamiliar territory.  This was not at all what I expected.  We were told that this place was a training camp for Horde warriors - that this would be a decisive stroke against the Horde's ability to make war.  Instead, we find poor people scratching out a meager life from what they can gather or hunt.  Those quillboar are more dangerous than the people who lived here.  However, we were at least told to let those go who chose not to fight back.  So as long as you aren't going to struggle, I guess you can go."

"I'm fine, by the way.  Thanks for asking.  No thanks to your little kitty."  He rubbed the small of his back where he had fallen.  "I'm sure this won't be the end of the story for Camp Taurajo."

"Perhaps not; it's not up to me.  However, next time I might not call off my pet.  You had better return to your people."

"This will at least make an interesting story to tell my daughter.  All about the big bad Draenei hunter who..."  He noted her hand twitch toward her bow.  "Okay, okay.  I was just leaving.  However, there will probably be other members of the Horde swarming this area soon.  You might want to be scarce by then."

"I'll keep that in mind.  Now scram."