War of Azureon Part Four: A-Hunting We Will Go

[moonshadows]

The demigod was waiting for them.

“They have made their move,” he said without preamble.

Azureon tilted her head. “How did you know?”

“Three beasts foreign to this world attacked a group of night elves not far from here,” he replied sternly, “and another group approaches their position. The trees whisper to me that it would be wise to save them.”

“We’re on our way, Shan’do,” Malfurion promised.

Cenarius patted his student’s head gently. “Listen to the forest. You will know where to go.” He shot Azureon an inscrutable look. “Your friend Azurewing should be able to find them, as well.”

“And what will you be doing?” the disguised dragon asked innocently.

“I must consult with the others,” he rumbled sternly. “Go now. The demons must not be allowed to live.”

==================================

Nerves taut, they followed Malfurion as he tentatively pointed the way towards the demons roaming the forest. Tyrande kept an arrow to the string of the hunting bow the late Stormrage parents had kept in a shed, and Illidan nervously held a pair of long knives in hands that shimmered softly. Brox merely kept his axe handy, while Azureon skipped along almost blithely. It wasn’t long before the first bodies started coming into view, sprawled painfully across the trail as though tossed there. The young priestess watched both brothers with worried eyes, but while Malfurion seemed to withdraw into himself, his twin’s expression hardened into stony determination.

 

“Look,” Brox said brusquely, pointing to a horribly twisted body that, unlike the others, was withered rather than ripped apart. “Mage.”

Illidan paled slightly, but tightened his grip on the two knives. Very alert now, the five of them continued past the bodies of six night elves and their nightsabers before a body different from the rest brought them to a halt.

“It’s bigger than I expected,” Tyrande said after a minute’s horrified silence, her voice shaking only slightly.

The beast would have stood nearly as tall as a night elf at the shoulder, its body hideously muscled. Claw wounds from at least one of the nightsabers marked its flanks and snout. Illidan gingerly prodded the suckers at the end of its limp tentacles with one knife, then turned the blade and sliced it off. The ease with which the demonic flesh parted made him smile grimly. His brother simply stared, pale and horrified, druidic senses screaming at him that this thing, even dead, was an unclean abomination.

“Dead,” Brox said with a hint of impatience, pointing with his axe to the butt of a polearm protruding from the thing’s chest.

The disguised dragon clapped his hands. “Right! Well, that should leave two of them. Moving right along now…”

As if on cue, a horn sounded nearby. Malfurion took off like a shot, Illidan hot on his heels. Tyrande was a mere breath behind them. Brox and Azureon stared at each other for a moment, startled by the elves’ reaction, before following. A few minutes later, they stared passing the bodies of Moon Guard and their mounts again, and fighting could be heard through the trees. The would-be druid stopped suddenly at the edge of a clearing and looked frantic, hands outstretched as though reaching though the forest itself. As the others caught up to him, the reason became apparent. A second enormous felhound snarled at roots holding its thick limbs immobile while just out of reach, a mortally-wounded night elf struggled to back away despite vicious gashes in his leg and abdomen. A glance around the clearing hinted that this wounded elf was the only survivor of his party, although the beast had also been marked by several blades.

Tyrande wasted no time, an arrow leaping across the distance to bury itself into where the thing’s eye would be, if it had any. Undeterred, she drew a second arrow and let fly at its throat. Brox simply charged the monster with a war cry, axe sinking easily into the felhound’s skull before it could reach for him with its suckered tentacles. The creature shuddered and crumpled to the sound of applause. Startled, the assorted elves and not-elves turned to where a second armed party had entered the clearing.

“Lord Ravencrest!” Illidan gasped, then his golden eyes went wide. “Behind you!”

No stranger to battle, Ravencrest threw himself to one side as two knives whistled over his head, their shapes limned by a soft amber glow. The elven lord’s armed guard began moving angrily towards Illidan, but he ignored them. Ravencest watched intently as the knives magically controlled by the youth sliced neatly through the tentacles of the felhound that had been about to pounce on his party, then buried themselves in the creature’s skull. Like its fellow, it shuddered and crumpled to the ground.

“Hold,” he called casually. The soldiers stopped immediately. Ravencrest stood and inspected the dead demon before tugging the knives out with some difficulty – the magical thrust had buried them to the hilts. “Nice work, lad,” he said easily, holding out the knives in a wordless command for Illidan to take them. “That’s an application of the arcane that your superiors in the Art haven’t thought of.”

“My lord?” Illidan took the knives back and cleaned them.

“You are Illidan Stormrage, are you not?”

The golden-eyed youth looked startled. “Uh…yes, my lord.”

Ravencrest laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Of course I know who you are, lad. I’ve been watching you with interest, and I have to say I’m pleased with what I’ve seen. Those things took out a patrol of mine earlier tonight, and my oh-so-talented sorcerer was the first to go according to the coward who played dead and was the only one who escaped that fate. He ran straight to the Moon Guard, of course, and it looks like they came to investigate and got more than they bargained for. You’re almost old enough to go into the Moon Guard yourself, aren’t you?”

“Yes, my lord,” Illidan stammered. Joining the elite corps that answered solely to Queen Azshara wasn’t actually something he’d wanted to do; being independent appealed to him more.

“How would you like a place as my personal spellcaster, instead?” The elven commander turned his gaze briefly in the direction of Zin-Azshari, expression troubled.

Illidan straightened as Malfurion stepped forward to stand at his side. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, my lord,” he said firmly. “I am still a student. My Shan’do, Magus Azurewing, has the final say in what I do.”

Azureon picked her way through the clearing to rest her hand on Illidan’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Lord Ravencrest, but he still has too much to learn. I will keep him as my student until I have no more to teach him.”

The elven commander looked thoughtfully at the twins. “You, young Malfurion. You are rumored to be the student of Cenarius. Is this true?”

Malfurion bowed. “It is, my lord. I was able to hold this one still by trapping its legs with tree roots.” He flushed slightly. “I’m not yet able to do much more than that. I have much to learn still from my Shan’do, as well.”

“Still, that’s quite remarkable,” Ravencrest said. “I had no idea the powers of nature could be used like that. Please, keep my offer in mind as well.” He looked back and forth between the two brothers. “I wouldn’t want to separate two who are so close.”

Azureon peered curiously at the twins as they both flushed slightly.

“They’ve been known to start fights in the other’s defense,” Tyrande supplied dryly.

“My lord,” Illidan half-pleaded, somewhat desperate to change the subject, “what were you doing out here? Those things could have killed you.”

“I was summoned to Zin-Azshari.” Ravencrest scowled at the memory. “On my way back, I encountered the sole survivor from the patrol that ran into the beasts first.” He walked over to the still form of the night elf that had scrambled away from the second felhound, only to bleed to death shortly afterwards. “Twenty good men dead, and they only took down one of the beasts. Yet three youths and their…” he stared at Brox. “…friend took down two without a scratch. Humbling. Destiny truly shines on you, Stormrage.”

“We were well-armed, my lord,” Illidan protested. At Ravencrest’s pointed look towards his knives and his brother’s empty hands, he flushed harder. “With knowledge, my lord. We knew the beasts’ strengths and weaknesses.”

“Indeed,” the elven commander murmured. “How did you manage that?”

“My Shan’do.” Illidan shot a guilty look at Azureon, unsure if he should have said that.

“I came up from Eldre’thalas to investigate an irregularity in the ley-lines,” the disguised dragon lied cheerfully. “When I arrived here, I began my investigations and discovered the beasts we just killed. Thorough scrying and analysis revealed their natures.”

“I am Broxigar the Red, not thorough scrying and analysis,” Brox muttered in orcish.

Ravencrest studied Azureon carefully. “Well, your investigations saved my life and many others. I shudder to think what would happen if these creatures had gotten to a populated area. Might you be interested in…” he trailed delicately off.

“My apologies, but I’m honor-bound to guide my tauren friend here on his vision quest. Seeing as it has so far led him to the Stormrage brothers, I am reluctant to interfere with what seems to be a clearly-marked destiny.”

The elven commander examined Brox again. “Indeed. I would hesitate to get in the way of that myself. He turned his gaze to Tyrande.

“I’m spoken for, my lord,” she said hastily. “My life belongs to Elune.”

“I am not about to poach in the Goddess’s domain,” he chuckled. “I was just wondering how you came to be involved in this.”

“She’s our friend,” Malfurion said quickly. “I do some work in the Temple gardens, and I told her about Brox. She wanted to meet him.”

Ravencrest didn’t look entirely convinced, but let that pass. “Well, I owe all of you a debt. I hope that should anything come up that you don’t … feel like bothering the Moon Guard with, you will come to me instead.”

Tyrande gave the twins a hard look, but neither of them seemed to see it.

“We will, my lord,” Illidan assured him with a formal bow.

“For the moment, however,” Azureon chirped, “It’s time for these two to get a good day’s sleep.”

“I won’t keep you from your well-earned rest, then. Stars guide you all.”

“Elune light your path, Lord Ravencrest,” Tyrande replied politely.

“Let’s get out of here,” Azureon said quietly as Ravencrest’s party rode back into the forest. “I don’t want to be here if someone decides to investigate this.”