Draekon
07-08-2006, 12:24 AM
The Inn in Bootybay was just as smokey and noisy as it was on any night. The dull murmur of voices mixing in with boisterous laughs and bellowed orders for whatever the patrons sought. A massive form entered, heavily cloaked and hooded in a long, black cloak. Where as this might have drawn a few eyes, it did not. One attempting to hide their identityin such a place as the 'Bay' was normal. The figure moved in a sure, powerful way. Each of his steps offering a metallic clatter of the armor beneath. Two miss-matched eyes stared out, green and blue pools in the darkness, searching for four specific beings within the croud of humans, orcs, trolls, goblins and numerous other races of Azeroth. He had finally found them, the upper area , across the rope bridge. They all sat a single table, brooding over their mugs of mead and ale, talking quietly to themselves. The Orc was heavily scarred, but what Orc wasn't? The scarring matched the description, especially the cross shaped one that took up nearly the entire left side of his face. The other two were Trolls, splindly creatures both of them. One was a bright green while the other a light blue, both carried no tribal paintings and had their right tusk removed. Brothers, the figure knew, that had been exiled from the Darkspear for their actions against the Horde. The figure approached their table but the three seemed too distracted by their muttered conversation to notice. The cloak parted and suddenly the troll at the back of the table was staring down a heavily bored mithril barrel. The gun roared and breathed fire while the upper part of the green troll's head disapeared in a small cloud of red mist, and a jagged hole was made in the side of the ship behind his now cooling corpse. What was left of the first troll fell to the table just as the Orc wiped the stupid look from his face, along with the grey matter of his companion, and drew his daggers as he slipped from his chair. The figure, which now threw it's cloak aside reveiled itself as a Tauren, black as night and dressed in dull red platemail. "Time to die, Tauren." The Orc snarled as it shifted its weight to the balls of its booted feet and leap at the creature. The Tauren curled his hand about an iron gernade at his side and pulled it from the weapon harness that stretched across his chest and wrapped about his hips, curling his arm in as if he were about to punch the Orc. Though, instead the tauren thrust his hand forward, openning it so that the orc's face slamed neatly into it and forced the gernade partially down the orc's throat. The Orc thrashed widly as it gagged, thrusting one of it's daggers into the Tauren's arm, just above the elbow, deep enough for the Tauren to feel the blade scrape across the bone. A small flick of the heavily muscled arm tossed the Orc through the earlier weakened wall, a dull explosion and the lower half of the orc coming back through the hole a moment later, the latter flew past the Tauren and landed haphazardly in the middle of the floor. The other troll, his blue skin seeming rather white now, began to beg. Falling out of his chair, the creature sprawled himself at the Tauren's feet and mewled like an injuried kitten. The Tauren pulled the dagger from his shoulder and tossed it to the side, ignoring the blood as it ran freely down his arm.'Please, mon. You be killin' me bruddas but don' be killin' me. I be givin' ya anythin' ya won' mon. Jus' please...Please don' be killin' me.' The Troll whined patheticly.The Tauren's eyes narrowed and he raised a single massive hoof and brought it down on the middle of the troll's back. The troll exhaled explosively and cried out, writhing beneath the Tauren's weight. "You and your friends raped and killed a friend of mine." The Tauren growled, "I'm sure she asked you the same." He growled, his voice a deep and gravely, "I don't smile much. I don't smile ever, but if I did, this would be it." With that the iron hard, cord like muscles of the tauren's leg would draw taunt, bearing the strength and the weight of the creature down, snapping the troll's spine, bursting his lungs and crushing his heart. The creature turned and exited, stopping only to deposite a small pouch of gold at the bar to pay for the damages. Though, vengance was metted out, the Tauren could not enjoy it. No satisfaction. "This is not the way..." He muttered to himself as he entered the darkness of the moonless night, the sound of the waves gently lapping against the supports of the peir-town and the wall of rock behind it not soothing him as it used to do so aptly.
"...I must find another way to live."
* * *
One month earlier...
Distant thunder rumbled over the dead grey of the ash wastes. Silver hues flickering in the distant drab of the horizon, dancing amongst over cast clouds. Wolves bayed and howled inconsistantly, directionless and confused as if they had never been introduced to the concept of a pack. The ash stretched forever, though Draekon knew this to be untrue, the cold, yet stale, winds that blew at his back and kicked up ash tornadoes about him told the Tauren mountains were near by. Grinning skulls of all the races stared up at him with hollow and accusing eyes... Some friends, some foes and some just innocent passers by caught in some type of hellstorm that blew through this area. The air was saturated with the scent of blood and stale fear. Amongst all of this death, all of this lifelessness, a single hill rose, and Draekon stood apon it. As he further inspected the area, tearing his eyes from the soul rending destruction wrought on the field, he noticed a single gathering behind him. In the gathering stood two of each of the new nations, one male and one female. Two Orcs, two Forsaken, two trolls and two Tauren all standing togeather in a circle, their backs to the Tauren. Their symbols were unknown to him, the tabbards they wore were blurred and incoherent, but as he looked closer, he noticed that each was different yet the same. There were Hunters, Warlocks, Mages, Warriors, Rogues, Shamans, Priests and Druids, all standing togeather, heads bowed in what looked to be reverance.
'I am the hammer.'
Their voices seemed disembodied, yet rumbled out in a perfect coirous. None of their lips moved, but each raised their own weapon and extended it towards the middle of the circle, creating a wall of steel and wood.
'The edge of the sword,
The tip of the spear,
The gauntlet upon His hand.'
At this, they raised their weapons slowly as one, and continued to chant the odd right. It reminded Draekon of a prayer of some sort yet...This was different. The circle of blades, staves and other weapons became a cone above the figures heads.
'I am the shield,
I am fore of the charge,
I am the armor before the blade,
I am the Guardian of His flesh.'
The group seemed to complete their rite, slowly lowering their weapons back to their sides. They became silent, and as Draekon tried to speak he found that his voice would not come. The male and female Orcs looked amongst the others and said. 'Forever faithful, Brothers and Sisters.' Each in turn nodded and spoke their own vow in their own tongue, ending with the Tauren. 'Pawane Shutame.' They muttered, in perfect unsion. Forever faithful. The howling of the wolves had gone, but Draekon hadn't noticed untill now. The howls rose once again, yet these were not discordant but defiant, a proud nation coming togeather as one, raising up as a tide in chorus, seething before rushing forward and swearing swift death to all those who comprimised their freedom, their way of life. The group then turned to Draekon, as if knowing he was there the entire time and spoke to him, attempting to part some great knowledge of his future to him in their words, yet they never came.
Draekon awoke with a start, grabbing the short, broomstick handle of his pistol beneath his pillow. The warm, three fingered hand at his shoulder was familiar and the scent told him it who it was. The iron muscles relaxed slowly, hammock creaking as it swung slightly from his start. "Drae, It-Its cold, may I sleep with you?" The soft, slightly accented voice whispered in the darkness, and Draekon shifted over slightly in his hammock before the small, warm form joined him at his side. He pulled his hand from beneath his pillow to gently touch the female troll's forehead, gently stroking her long, white hair. "Couldn't sleep, Selene?" The Tauren rumbled gently, knowing why she had joined him rather then sleep by herself. He wished he could rid her of the nightmares that bothered her. Unlike him, he had dealt with his own deamons for so long that he had become accostomed to odd dreams...But that last one... "Too cold." She muttered sleepily, and a moment later, as a testimate, she was quietly a sleep. A bundle of warmth against his torso. Draekon settled back, allowing his horned head to rest easily on the pillow again and feel the re-assuring lump of his pistol within easy reach beneath it. He pulled his blanket over himself and tucked it in about her as he began to grow accustomed to the darkness of the room in Booty Bay. The distant creak of the peir the entire town was built on mixed with the rush, swell and digress of the waves. It soothed him, yet his mind was still filled with the dream. "I am the hammer..." He muttered, but his mind soon moved on to the small, light blue trolless that slept next to him. Had it been six months already? He had saved her while he was hunting down a bounty head. A rather nasty group of Ogre and Troll mercenaries that had commited some crime against the Steamweedle Cartel. Draekon took up the job and had caught them with their pants down late one evening. All of them had been drunk, and the disordered chaos Draekon was able to make with them after a few shots with his morter against their compound made it easy for him to get in and out, Selene in tow along with the bounties, their heads tucked neatly into a water tight leather bag to be turned in. Selene had been used for some rather unsavory acts and as a serving wench/maid for the entire group. She was still scarred by it, but was working on her own now, demanding not to be locked away in the house, or 'Protected' as Draekon called it. She collected herbs to sell in town when Draekon was able to escourt her. He sighed quietly, and closed his eyes, clearing his mind. He was soon back in a light sleep...
* * *
The Tauren spent the next three weeks off of work. He had saved for a while for a vacation and now spent it quietly with Selene. Days crawled by, moving out into the edges of the Jungle with Selene to help her gather herbs, flowers and pretty stones. Draekon would often leave on his own to collect more ore and stone for his engineering.
"You should just open a Gun Smithy." Selene said one day, the airy tone of her voice telling him thats exactly what she would rather him do. Draekon laughed from his work table that dominated the western wall of the room. Tools scattered across it, accompanying numerous peices of half completed projects and parts. He continued to fiddle with a thorium widget he had found, trying to learn exactly how it was made. Of course, it was far too advanced for him. "What I'm doing now pays much more." He replied, looking over a broad shoulder at her with a mischevious grin. The trolless huffed at him and continued to stir her cooking pot, she had offered to cook rather then him. Draekon figured that burned meat, boiled clams and various boiled vegitables from the forest were getting old. The stew she made smelled wonderful. He set the widget aside and turned about in his stool, leaning back against his work table as his large, sinuous arms crossed over his leather apron. He sat, watching her for a long moment, head cocked to his left slightly. She turned and looked at him with a smile before brandishing the wooden stirring spoon at him like a club. "You need to let me go out more often." She said in a playful yet threatening manner. "I'm tired of being cooped up here whenever you're gone. I want to go out and sell my herbs by myself." He sighed, a massive three fingered paw raising to rub his chin, jaw shifting. He knew that was coming. "Well, you're grown." He replied, "I'm sorry if I've treated you unfairly. I was just worried about any of the ones I left alive there would come back and track me down and hurt you as well." The trolless balled her fists up and put them on her hips, her white dress swaying with the action. "I can defend myself thanks." Not wanting to invoke her wrath, Draekon smothered a laugh but couldn't help but smile at her. "Aye then. You know, you never really had to listen to me in the first place." The male pointed out to her, a digit giving her the 'wag' as if saying 'You knew better.' The Trolless shrugged her shoulders and continued to stir the pot before dipping up a few bowls. "I know, but I thought I owed it to you."
The next two days the two spent the day light hours apart. The first Draekon was left to himself as Selene went out to sell her herbs and the next Draekon went out to explore some of the northern areas of the jungle and hunt for ore. It rainned that evening, making progress slow and bogging Draekon in knee deep mud. After a while, Draekon was able to find a good solid, stoney patch of ground to camp on untill the morning...
The smell was regonisable to the Tauren long before he even neared his door, two of the Booty Bay bruisers were standing outside the small, wooden domicile. Both of the four foot tall creatures looked well seasoned, missing teeth and carrying numerous scars. They wielded their morningstars as if they were extentions of their own bodies and the netguns they carried on their backs were well known to Draekon, having at one time tried to buy one off of one of the other guards. His home's door was slightly openned and the scent continued to pester him. It was blood. The one on the left raised his hand to Draekon as he neared his door. "Don't go in, Tauren." The goblin said with his grating voice, apparently having smoked and drank a little too much in his life time, "You don't want to see whats in there." Draekon grunted, moving past them. His fear built and his heart pounded in his ears. The home was dark and it was a mess, as if it had been ransacked. Schematics, tools, silverware, pots, pans, everything that had been in his house was on the floor as if it had been thoroughly searched. In the far corner, a small form laid, hidden by the shadows. Draekon felt as if his heart had stopped. Moving slowly to the little form, he found his fears confirmed. Selene lay in a pool of her own blood, long since congealed and her corpse cooled. She was cut in numerous places, odd, runic designs carved in her soft, smooth blue flesh. He lifted her head as he sank down to the floor, gently cradling her against his chest, a paw stroking her white hair. "No..." He whispered to her gently, the Tauren's soul rent from his body, "You didn't deserve this..." He whispered to her, jaw setting against the raise of his tears. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath to steady himself. After a few minutes of fighting he was able to open them again, only two rivlets of water staining his muzzle. He looked at her again and noticed a single clue in front of his eyes. Reaching down past her body, he picked up a oddly serrated edged dagger bearing odd runes. The runes weren't magical, and there wasn't the gentle warmth of a magic item in the grip of the Tauren's hand, they probably showed ownership. The Tauren's sorrow was profound, but the wave of hatred combated this. "MURDERS! I WILL FIND YOU! I WILL NOT SLEEP! I WILL NOT EAT! I WILL NEVER REST! AND WHEN I FIND YOU, I WON'T JUST KILL YOU! NO! I WILL CONSUME YOUR SOULS! I WILL LEAVE NOTHING OF YOU! NOTHING! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I WILL DESTROY YOUR VERY -ESSENCE-!" The Tauren screamed in pain, rage and disbelief. His very being had shattered and reformed, hardening beyong any care for his life. The Tauren had offically lost everything. Friends dead, family dead and everything he loved taken. He had only one thing left, and that was vengance. He would once again Hunt, but this time the 'game' was not an animal or beast.
* * *
The battle had raged for the last thirty minutes or so, the Goblin and his two Orc bodyguards barred the thick, iron door leading into his office. The crime boss was small time, just an information broker to any sleeze who had enough gold to gild his palm. The explosions that ripped through his small compound within the Barrens half an hour before brought him to believe his other Goblin competitors had made the final move, attempting to take him and his buisness in one fell-swoop. Though now, by the sound of it, he was beset by a wounded dragon.
"I AM THE HAMMER!"
A thunderous crack emitted, sounding as if one of the great Ashenvale trees had been split in twain. The door bent inward and then cartwheeled across the room, smashing his desk into splinters and clipping his left arm, shattering the bones as the half tonne mass of metal crashed through the back wall. The two Orcs hefted their axes and shields, preparing for whatever came to the door with a side-ways, worried expression to one another. Black smoke followed, billowing into the room, accompanied by the screams of their dying comrades. Suddenly, a figure burst through the smoke, flame covering it's tall yet lanky form. It flailed and bat the flames to no avail and ended collasping in a heap in the middle of the room, crying out in angwish in its last terrible moments of it's life. A metallic clatter followed as things became quiet, a round, spherical object rolling into the room. The Orcs stared stupidly, leaning over to look at it just a moment before it exploded, tossing their ragged corpses and dismembered limbs across the room while splattering bodly fluids across the wooden planks of the room. Out of the smoke rose a horned demon, dull red platemail smudged and bloodied. A long rifle was within the daemon-tauren's grip, the long, slightly curved bayonet fixed on it's end drippping with blood and viscera. The Goblin had just begun to regain his hearing from the gernade, protected from his prone position on the floor. Though, he had no time to get away from the Tauren as it stomped it's way into the room, kicking the limbless corpse of one of his bodyguards through the hole as it got in his path to the injuried and horrified creature. "Wh-What do you want!?" He wailed, expecting the end as the Tauren reached him and then picked his form easily from the ground by the collar of his shirt. The Tauren dropped his rifle and reached into his belt, drawing a dagger and waving it in the goblin's face. The goblin knew who that belonged to and he moaned pitifully, knowing what was to come. "Who'd this come from?" The Tauren rumbled, his voice like distant thunder to the small creature. "Where is he?" The goblin gulped, shaking his head. "I-I don't kno-know his name!" He screeched back, "I ju-just know h-h-he takes bounties n-n-n-now and then!" The goblin whimpered as the Tauren stared at him, the cold, emotionless molten gold eyes of the creature boring into him. It was like looking into the abyss. "Where can I find him?" The creature rumbled, placing the tip of the dagger under his jaw in the fleshy region that would, with a swift thrust, slide the blade straight up into his brain. "His favourite Haunt was in Orgimmar! He and his two ex-Darkspear Troll friends got kicked out! He just made Booty Bay his territory!" The Goblin wailed as he spilled his guts, "He bought information on you and the Troll! Knew you had been taking out contracts! He said he didn't want you hunting him...So-So, I told him where you lived..." The last part was murmured, looking into the eyes pleadingly, all he could see now. "Please don't kill me.....I-I have a family!" The goblin cried wretchedly.
"...Everyone does."
And that was the last thing the goblin ever heard.
It was then the Tauren prepared that night to go to Booty Bay and to find the three that had assaulted his home and killed the woman he had come to love. Revenge would be sweet...
"...I must find another way to live."
* * *
One month earlier...
Distant thunder rumbled over the dead grey of the ash wastes. Silver hues flickering in the distant drab of the horizon, dancing amongst over cast clouds. Wolves bayed and howled inconsistantly, directionless and confused as if they had never been introduced to the concept of a pack. The ash stretched forever, though Draekon knew this to be untrue, the cold, yet stale, winds that blew at his back and kicked up ash tornadoes about him told the Tauren mountains were near by. Grinning skulls of all the races stared up at him with hollow and accusing eyes... Some friends, some foes and some just innocent passers by caught in some type of hellstorm that blew through this area. The air was saturated with the scent of blood and stale fear. Amongst all of this death, all of this lifelessness, a single hill rose, and Draekon stood apon it. As he further inspected the area, tearing his eyes from the soul rending destruction wrought on the field, he noticed a single gathering behind him. In the gathering stood two of each of the new nations, one male and one female. Two Orcs, two Forsaken, two trolls and two Tauren all standing togeather in a circle, their backs to the Tauren. Their symbols were unknown to him, the tabbards they wore were blurred and incoherent, but as he looked closer, he noticed that each was different yet the same. There were Hunters, Warlocks, Mages, Warriors, Rogues, Shamans, Priests and Druids, all standing togeather, heads bowed in what looked to be reverance.
'I am the hammer.'
Their voices seemed disembodied, yet rumbled out in a perfect coirous. None of their lips moved, but each raised their own weapon and extended it towards the middle of the circle, creating a wall of steel and wood.
'The edge of the sword,
The tip of the spear,
The gauntlet upon His hand.'
At this, they raised their weapons slowly as one, and continued to chant the odd right. It reminded Draekon of a prayer of some sort yet...This was different. The circle of blades, staves and other weapons became a cone above the figures heads.
'I am the shield,
I am fore of the charge,
I am the armor before the blade,
I am the Guardian of His flesh.'
The group seemed to complete their rite, slowly lowering their weapons back to their sides. They became silent, and as Draekon tried to speak he found that his voice would not come. The male and female Orcs looked amongst the others and said. 'Forever faithful, Brothers and Sisters.' Each in turn nodded and spoke their own vow in their own tongue, ending with the Tauren. 'Pawane Shutame.' They muttered, in perfect unsion. Forever faithful. The howling of the wolves had gone, but Draekon hadn't noticed untill now. The howls rose once again, yet these were not discordant but defiant, a proud nation coming togeather as one, raising up as a tide in chorus, seething before rushing forward and swearing swift death to all those who comprimised their freedom, their way of life. The group then turned to Draekon, as if knowing he was there the entire time and spoke to him, attempting to part some great knowledge of his future to him in their words, yet they never came.
Draekon awoke with a start, grabbing the short, broomstick handle of his pistol beneath his pillow. The warm, three fingered hand at his shoulder was familiar and the scent told him it who it was. The iron muscles relaxed slowly, hammock creaking as it swung slightly from his start. "Drae, It-Its cold, may I sleep with you?" The soft, slightly accented voice whispered in the darkness, and Draekon shifted over slightly in his hammock before the small, warm form joined him at his side. He pulled his hand from beneath his pillow to gently touch the female troll's forehead, gently stroking her long, white hair. "Couldn't sleep, Selene?" The Tauren rumbled gently, knowing why she had joined him rather then sleep by herself. He wished he could rid her of the nightmares that bothered her. Unlike him, he had dealt with his own deamons for so long that he had become accostomed to odd dreams...But that last one... "Too cold." She muttered sleepily, and a moment later, as a testimate, she was quietly a sleep. A bundle of warmth against his torso. Draekon settled back, allowing his horned head to rest easily on the pillow again and feel the re-assuring lump of his pistol within easy reach beneath it. He pulled his blanket over himself and tucked it in about her as he began to grow accustomed to the darkness of the room in Booty Bay. The distant creak of the peir the entire town was built on mixed with the rush, swell and digress of the waves. It soothed him, yet his mind was still filled with the dream. "I am the hammer..." He muttered, but his mind soon moved on to the small, light blue trolless that slept next to him. Had it been six months already? He had saved her while he was hunting down a bounty head. A rather nasty group of Ogre and Troll mercenaries that had commited some crime against the Steamweedle Cartel. Draekon took up the job and had caught them with their pants down late one evening. All of them had been drunk, and the disordered chaos Draekon was able to make with them after a few shots with his morter against their compound made it easy for him to get in and out, Selene in tow along with the bounties, their heads tucked neatly into a water tight leather bag to be turned in. Selene had been used for some rather unsavory acts and as a serving wench/maid for the entire group. She was still scarred by it, but was working on her own now, demanding not to be locked away in the house, or 'Protected' as Draekon called it. She collected herbs to sell in town when Draekon was able to escourt her. He sighed quietly, and closed his eyes, clearing his mind. He was soon back in a light sleep...
* * *
The Tauren spent the next three weeks off of work. He had saved for a while for a vacation and now spent it quietly with Selene. Days crawled by, moving out into the edges of the Jungle with Selene to help her gather herbs, flowers and pretty stones. Draekon would often leave on his own to collect more ore and stone for his engineering.
"You should just open a Gun Smithy." Selene said one day, the airy tone of her voice telling him thats exactly what she would rather him do. Draekon laughed from his work table that dominated the western wall of the room. Tools scattered across it, accompanying numerous peices of half completed projects and parts. He continued to fiddle with a thorium widget he had found, trying to learn exactly how it was made. Of course, it was far too advanced for him. "What I'm doing now pays much more." He replied, looking over a broad shoulder at her with a mischevious grin. The trolless huffed at him and continued to stir her cooking pot, she had offered to cook rather then him. Draekon figured that burned meat, boiled clams and various boiled vegitables from the forest were getting old. The stew she made smelled wonderful. He set the widget aside and turned about in his stool, leaning back against his work table as his large, sinuous arms crossed over his leather apron. He sat, watching her for a long moment, head cocked to his left slightly. She turned and looked at him with a smile before brandishing the wooden stirring spoon at him like a club. "You need to let me go out more often." She said in a playful yet threatening manner. "I'm tired of being cooped up here whenever you're gone. I want to go out and sell my herbs by myself." He sighed, a massive three fingered paw raising to rub his chin, jaw shifting. He knew that was coming. "Well, you're grown." He replied, "I'm sorry if I've treated you unfairly. I was just worried about any of the ones I left alive there would come back and track me down and hurt you as well." The trolless balled her fists up and put them on her hips, her white dress swaying with the action. "I can defend myself thanks." Not wanting to invoke her wrath, Draekon smothered a laugh but couldn't help but smile at her. "Aye then. You know, you never really had to listen to me in the first place." The male pointed out to her, a digit giving her the 'wag' as if saying 'You knew better.' The Trolless shrugged her shoulders and continued to stir the pot before dipping up a few bowls. "I know, but I thought I owed it to you."
The next two days the two spent the day light hours apart. The first Draekon was left to himself as Selene went out to sell her herbs and the next Draekon went out to explore some of the northern areas of the jungle and hunt for ore. It rainned that evening, making progress slow and bogging Draekon in knee deep mud. After a while, Draekon was able to find a good solid, stoney patch of ground to camp on untill the morning...
The smell was regonisable to the Tauren long before he even neared his door, two of the Booty Bay bruisers were standing outside the small, wooden domicile. Both of the four foot tall creatures looked well seasoned, missing teeth and carrying numerous scars. They wielded their morningstars as if they were extentions of their own bodies and the netguns they carried on their backs were well known to Draekon, having at one time tried to buy one off of one of the other guards. His home's door was slightly openned and the scent continued to pester him. It was blood. The one on the left raised his hand to Draekon as he neared his door. "Don't go in, Tauren." The goblin said with his grating voice, apparently having smoked and drank a little too much in his life time, "You don't want to see whats in there." Draekon grunted, moving past them. His fear built and his heart pounded in his ears. The home was dark and it was a mess, as if it had been ransacked. Schematics, tools, silverware, pots, pans, everything that had been in his house was on the floor as if it had been thoroughly searched. In the far corner, a small form laid, hidden by the shadows. Draekon felt as if his heart had stopped. Moving slowly to the little form, he found his fears confirmed. Selene lay in a pool of her own blood, long since congealed and her corpse cooled. She was cut in numerous places, odd, runic designs carved in her soft, smooth blue flesh. He lifted her head as he sank down to the floor, gently cradling her against his chest, a paw stroking her white hair. "No..." He whispered to her gently, the Tauren's soul rent from his body, "You didn't deserve this..." He whispered to her, jaw setting against the raise of his tears. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath to steady himself. After a few minutes of fighting he was able to open them again, only two rivlets of water staining his muzzle. He looked at her again and noticed a single clue in front of his eyes. Reaching down past her body, he picked up a oddly serrated edged dagger bearing odd runes. The runes weren't magical, and there wasn't the gentle warmth of a magic item in the grip of the Tauren's hand, they probably showed ownership. The Tauren's sorrow was profound, but the wave of hatred combated this. "MURDERS! I WILL FIND YOU! I WILL NOT SLEEP! I WILL NOT EAT! I WILL NEVER REST! AND WHEN I FIND YOU, I WON'T JUST KILL YOU! NO! I WILL CONSUME YOUR SOULS! I WILL LEAVE NOTHING OF YOU! NOTHING! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I WILL DESTROY YOUR VERY -ESSENCE-!" The Tauren screamed in pain, rage and disbelief. His very being had shattered and reformed, hardening beyong any care for his life. The Tauren had offically lost everything. Friends dead, family dead and everything he loved taken. He had only one thing left, and that was vengance. He would once again Hunt, but this time the 'game' was not an animal or beast.
* * *
The battle had raged for the last thirty minutes or so, the Goblin and his two Orc bodyguards barred the thick, iron door leading into his office. The crime boss was small time, just an information broker to any sleeze who had enough gold to gild his palm. The explosions that ripped through his small compound within the Barrens half an hour before brought him to believe his other Goblin competitors had made the final move, attempting to take him and his buisness in one fell-swoop. Though now, by the sound of it, he was beset by a wounded dragon.
"I AM THE HAMMER!"
A thunderous crack emitted, sounding as if one of the great Ashenvale trees had been split in twain. The door bent inward and then cartwheeled across the room, smashing his desk into splinters and clipping his left arm, shattering the bones as the half tonne mass of metal crashed through the back wall. The two Orcs hefted their axes and shields, preparing for whatever came to the door with a side-ways, worried expression to one another. Black smoke followed, billowing into the room, accompanied by the screams of their dying comrades. Suddenly, a figure burst through the smoke, flame covering it's tall yet lanky form. It flailed and bat the flames to no avail and ended collasping in a heap in the middle of the room, crying out in angwish in its last terrible moments of it's life. A metallic clatter followed as things became quiet, a round, spherical object rolling into the room. The Orcs stared stupidly, leaning over to look at it just a moment before it exploded, tossing their ragged corpses and dismembered limbs across the room while splattering bodly fluids across the wooden planks of the room. Out of the smoke rose a horned demon, dull red platemail smudged and bloodied. A long rifle was within the daemon-tauren's grip, the long, slightly curved bayonet fixed on it's end drippping with blood and viscera. The Goblin had just begun to regain his hearing from the gernade, protected from his prone position on the floor. Though, he had no time to get away from the Tauren as it stomped it's way into the room, kicking the limbless corpse of one of his bodyguards through the hole as it got in his path to the injuried and horrified creature. "Wh-What do you want!?" He wailed, expecting the end as the Tauren reached him and then picked his form easily from the ground by the collar of his shirt. The Tauren dropped his rifle and reached into his belt, drawing a dagger and waving it in the goblin's face. The goblin knew who that belonged to and he moaned pitifully, knowing what was to come. "Who'd this come from?" The Tauren rumbled, his voice like distant thunder to the small creature. "Where is he?" The goblin gulped, shaking his head. "I-I don't kno-know his name!" He screeched back, "I ju-just know h-h-he takes bounties n-n-n-now and then!" The goblin whimpered as the Tauren stared at him, the cold, emotionless molten gold eyes of the creature boring into him. It was like looking into the abyss. "Where can I find him?" The creature rumbled, placing the tip of the dagger under his jaw in the fleshy region that would, with a swift thrust, slide the blade straight up into his brain. "His favourite Haunt was in Orgimmar! He and his two ex-Darkspear Troll friends got kicked out! He just made Booty Bay his territory!" The Goblin wailed as he spilled his guts, "He bought information on you and the Troll! Knew you had been taking out contracts! He said he didn't want you hunting him...So-So, I told him where you lived..." The last part was murmured, looking into the eyes pleadingly, all he could see now. "Please don't kill me.....I-I have a family!" The goblin cried wretchedly.
"...Everyone does."
And that was the last thing the goblin ever heard.
It was then the Tauren prepared that night to go to Booty Bay and to find the three that had assaulted his home and killed the woman he had come to love. Revenge would be sweet...