Casual Huntering

Its time for Friday Fiction again!! If you remember last week, Praxton was in a little bit of a bind, what with accidentally killing one of the Stormwind city guards and all. Last we left off, one of the other guards was about to take Prax out. Things were looking good, and all for some girl that Praxton had dreamed about.

Suddenly, a wall of fire flew up from the cracks of the stone directly in front of guard. With a burst of purple light, Dreth was standing behind Praxton. “Getting into trouble already are we?” Dreth laughed.

“Come, we don’t have much time” Dreth summoned a portal behind Praxton. “To safety boy! Grab your girly friend and begone! I’ll be right behind you.”

Prax blinked. ‘Um, what just happend?’, he thought. It took him a moment to gather his wits about him. Then he remember the girl, he ran and grabbed her hand, then turned to run towards the portal.

Guards began to come at them from all directions. “Now or never!” yelled Dreth. He raised his hands high in the air and the wall burned a circle around where they stood. The walls reached high into the air, and connected to form a barrier above their heads as well. An arrow whizzed by Dreth’s face, bursting into flames as it passed through the shield of fire. “NOW!” he yelled more commandingly. A second arrow came through the shield and shot clean through Dreth’s rib bones and out the other end, hitting another guard. He couldn’t help but chuckle. Am I not a member of the Horde after all?

The captive blinked in surprise, but it didn’t take her long to recover. She shook off the other guard and followed Prax through the portal.

Prax began to increase his speed, and then he tripped and fell head first through the portal.

The girl tried to jump over Prax as he fell, but missed and they tumbled through the portal together.

Dreth stepped through the portal into the open air. The sun looked white, but wasn’t bright. The sky was enveloped in veil of purple fog. He looked at Praxton and the girl he was trying to save. “I apologize for the cold. I knew you would be safe here though.”

Embarrassed as always, Prax started to attempt to get up, “I’m s- s- s- sorrry ab- about that.”

A goblin standing nearby lifted an eyebrow but said nothing.

He attempted to help the girl up as well.

“This is Everlook, run by the Steamwheedle Cartel and Thorium Brotherhood. Not many travelers frequent this area as often as they used to. It’s not much, but it’s better than flaming arrows.” Dreth handed a staff to Praxton. “You left this at the mage tower. I went looking for you at the tailoring shop. Until I saw all the commotion… now here we are. I hope she was worth it.” Dreth looked at the young woman and tilted his head inquisitively. “And you are?”

The girl accepted Prax’s hand, replying as he pulled her to her feet, “No apology necessary. I’ve always been a little clumsy.” The girl eyed Dreth and her chin rose a little, “I’m Kalende. I’m a priestess.”

Seeing this girl up close stunned Prax. There was no mistake; this was the girl from his dream without a shadow of doubt.

“I um, er, um, …” Prax couldn’t get his mouth to work at all, didn’t matter, he didn’t know what to say.

“A pleasure” Dreth bowed his head. A maggot fell from his hair onto the ground. “Blast! I was saving that for later. The name’s Dreth, high mage of the Forsaken, and enemy of the scourge. So, Praxton,” Dreth smirked, “what about this young lady compelled you to act so foolishly?”

Prax began to shiver for the cold, he finally started to look around, when he hear Dreth’s comment, where was he again? Prax looked back at Dreth with his hands in his pocket for warmth. “I d- d- dunno, I um, she was um, er..” He felt so foolish, realizing what he had done for a girl he had a dream about, but there was such a familiarity. He couldn’t put his finger on it. It went even deeper than just his dream, this was not a chance encounter. “I d- d- dunno wh- wh- came over mmmme.” Prax said. He loathed how his voice did this when he was nervous. It began to snow, everything was so bright, it hurt Praxton’s eyes, and his feet were going numb.

Kalende eyed Dreth, “Can’t you see he’s freezing? And for that matter, so am I. Perhaps we should go somewhere more hospitable.”

Dreth looked at the frost accumulating on Praxton’s nose. “Right you are. Let’s go warm up. Ho there! Guard!” Dreth yelled at a nearby goblin. “Where’s your Innkeeper?” The goblin grunted as he pointed to a building off to the west. “Come on, let’s go.” As they walked toward the inn Dreth couldn’t help but wonder why these two weren’t more talkative. Were they not just rescued from certain imprisonment and death? Were they not now free to speak open of their love to one another? Maybe they were not the young romantic couple he had supposed them to be.

Prax knew of goblins, but had never seen one before, he was a little startled, helped get his mind off his freezing toes. And freezing toes helped keep Prax’s mind off on the topic at hand. ‘What the hell am I doing???’ he thought to himself. The three of them entered the goblin town. Prax could hear the pounding of metal on metal in the background.

Kalende eyed her rescuers. The boy’s familiarness was uncanny, almost like looking in a mirror. While she was grateful to be saved, their motives worried her. And what was a human and a Forsaken doing traveling together anyway? They weren’t Cult of the Damned. She lifted the skirt of her robe and trudge across the snow into the inn, kicking the powdery accumulation off her shoes before entering.

The finally entered the inn, Prax rushed to the fire, he started warming his hands, they stung as they thawed out.

Sensing some awkwardness, Dreth decided to give the two some privacy. “These bones of mine don’t take quite as long to warm up as your fleshy frames. There are some bears in the area and I make some MEAN charred bear kabobs. I’ll return shortly”. Dreth bowed, raised one hand in the air, and in a purple flash… was gone.

Prax began to regain feeling of his toes; he wasn’t exactly dressed for winter weather. He kind of wished he was still cold. It kept his mind off of the current events, he rather enjoyed not thinking about anything. He sat down at a near by table, rubbing his hands together, wondering what he might say to this girl. Prax stood up and started to pace back and forth, he felt like he needed to do something.

Kalende watched him, quietly wondering why he seemed so damned familiar. The only people she’d ever known were the cultist who raised her. The priestess found a chair and sat in arranging her robes, “So, to whom do I owe the pleasure of my freedom?”

Praxton turned towards the girl, “p- p- praxton seamsmith.”, he sat down and looked at the fire. He turned back to the girl, “Are you ok-k-kay? Did they um, er eh hhhurt you?” Prax felt strangely comfortable around the priestess, but he didn’t know who she was or what she was about.

“I’m fine, thank you, Praxton.” she glanced to where Dreth had exited. “You two aren’t cultists, are you?”

“Cultists? I don’t um think so.”, Prax was confused, ‘what on earth was a cultist?’ he inquired himself… without much reply. “Wh- where are eh, you from?”, Praxton asked.

(Dreth wandered aimlessly through the snow. “At least… I think there are bears in Winterspring,” he mumbled to himself.)

Kalende was suddenly wary. “If you’re not cultists, who are you…?”

Praxton sensed a change in Kalende’s, “I’m P- P- Praxton Sssseamsmith.” Prax started pacing again. “I was k- k- k- kind of hoping you could ex- explain hm, why, I I saw you in m- my dream.”

Kalende blinked, taken aback, “Your dream? Who do you work for? The Ebon Blade? You don’t look like a Death Knight. The Argent Crusade?”

Prax stopped dead, looked up, blank face. “What?” He thought he had heard of some of these groups, vaguely anyways. “I’m j- just a t- t- tailor. I w- w- was surprise to ssssee you this afternoon. I’m really j- just a nobody.” Prax sat back down, he was in over his head, but he had been this whole week.

Kalende looked incredulous, “Just a tailor? You rescued me because of a dream…?” She got up, lamenting the loss of her staff. It had been left back in Stormwind, ” Well, Praxton, I thank you for your assistance. But it seems this where we part ways.”

“Wait… wh- who are you? My d- do you look so fam- familiar? Wh- why were you in my dr- dream?” Prax felt a pit in his stomach.

Kalende drew herself up and eyed him. The space around here darkened and hissed and she was enfulged in swirling shadows. “I don’t know why we seem so familiar to each other. But I am a member of the Cult of the Damned and you are an Alliance sympathizer. Because you saved my life, I will spare yours. But beware of the Cult of the Damned. We are not all so forgiving.”

Prax took a few steps backwards, not looking he stumbled over a chair, all while keeping his eyes on Kalende.

Kalende stepped over Prax and out the door into the snow.

I realize that it gets choppy at times, that mostly because we have three different writers, sometimes four all writing from their own characters’ perspective. I hope you’re able to follow it. And I hope someone out there enjoys these, there a lot of fun to create.