Herald
07-22-2008, 09:33 AM
First there had been War. Death had ridden then.
Famine had been next, years past. And so easily forgotten.
--={}=--
Geldriana Hawkwind was on patrol when she first noticed it.
Patrols in Teldrassil were a quiet affair. An occasional spider wandered too close to the path, or sometimes the furbolgs made trouble. The harpies were on a different route than the one Geldriana had drawn for the week, which was fine with her. She'd had a long week, and was looking forward to a few days of easy duty.
Her patrol went quickly, and before the evening came she was wandering back towards Darnassus, giving a wave to the nearby Sentinels on watch. She gave a friendly pat to the Ancient standing guard, then paused.
There was something on her hand.
Geldriana raised her palm to her face, a thrill of shivers prickling at her scalp. In her hand was an insect, bulbous, blind, and a sickening pale hue. It was maybe an inch long, and it took the sentinel a moment to actually place the creature's genus. With a tiny pat another of the antlike things dropped onto her hair, and she looked up.
Wriggling sluggishly around a tiny hole in the Ancient's bark were termites, pale things grown fat and bloated on the cauldron-fumes of the Eastern Plaguelands. Geldriana took a step back as the Ancient groaned like grinding wood, its breath smelling of the rot that was eating towards its wooden heart.
Geldriana dropped the termite and ran towards the city, where already more reports of infestation were coming in from around the night elves' home in the great tree.
Pestilence had come to Darnassus.
Famine had been next, years past. And so easily forgotten.
--={}=--
Geldriana Hawkwind was on patrol when she first noticed it.
Patrols in Teldrassil were a quiet affair. An occasional spider wandered too close to the path, or sometimes the furbolgs made trouble. The harpies were on a different route than the one Geldriana had drawn for the week, which was fine with her. She'd had a long week, and was looking forward to a few days of easy duty.
Her patrol went quickly, and before the evening came she was wandering back towards Darnassus, giving a wave to the nearby Sentinels on watch. She gave a friendly pat to the Ancient standing guard, then paused.
There was something on her hand.
Geldriana raised her palm to her face, a thrill of shivers prickling at her scalp. In her hand was an insect, bulbous, blind, and a sickening pale hue. It was maybe an inch long, and it took the sentinel a moment to actually place the creature's genus. With a tiny pat another of the antlike things dropped onto her hair, and she looked up.
Wriggling sluggishly around a tiny hole in the Ancient's bark were termites, pale things grown fat and bloated on the cauldron-fumes of the Eastern Plaguelands. Geldriana took a step back as the Ancient groaned like grinding wood, its breath smelling of the rot that was eating towards its wooden heart.
Geldriana dropped the termite and ran towards the city, where already more reports of infestation were coming in from around the night elves' home in the great tree.
Pestilence had come to Darnassus.