Stranglethorn Vale

If there was one thing Taizen could say, is it was quite comfortable to travel in the vale. Maybe it was his heratige or maybe it was his penchant for burning things (a trait he's sure he picked up from his mother), but Taizen was quite at home in the sweltering heat and humid atmosphere. He sat atop his raptors back, taking the safe route and using the path all the way around to Grom'gol base camp.

Taizen let the raptor trod along as he pulled out the map, confident that the well traveled beast would know the usual path route by heart. He checked his heading, and did the math concerning time. If they did not get too many interruptions they could be back at Booty Bay by midnight. It wasn't too bad of a schedule, if he slept in a little. The path seemed quite empty, not many adventurers traveled through the vale anymore. That was all the more reason to keep on his guard, the well worn roads already showed signs of reclaiming by nature. The last thing he needed was to be a Panther's lunch.

Luckily, he didn't come across any problems and arrived at Grom'gol tired but untouched. After getting past the gate checkpoint he made his way into the camp, finding it much different from the last time he was here. The place was barren, with only the skeleton crew to keep it going. It seemed that the war to the North was taxing indeed on the Hordes reserves. It made his mind drift to his father and brother, who were out there somewhere, fighting the Lich King or alliance.

Taizen didn't like thinking of such things. After tying up his mount he found the small inn run for the visitors and soldiers. He would wait there till the scheduled zeppelin arrived.

The zeppelin made it’s way over the shallowing waters of Stranglethorn Vale the night sky reflected in the tides as they washed over the sand. Coming to dock against the worn wooden tower the propeller came to a hault and the goblins cast lines to keep it in place.

Elsie rushed to the edge, holding one hand to her large brimmed hat. The excitement overwhelmed her.
"TOOKIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" She called out in her loudest, most high pitch tone. She scanned the area for him. Her mouth open in a huge smile.

Taizen visibly flinched when he heard a familiar shrill cry echo through the camp. The few patrons in the small in all looked around wondering what exactly was going on. Taizen solemnly got out of his seat and meandered up the ramp to the zepplin.

"Quit yah screamin' I be heah.", he muttered as his head popped up from the ramp entrance.

He stood a respectible distance from her for a moment, not exactly sure how to approach her. He wasn't great at these sort of things, he was always socially awkward, even with his family. After a long drawn out moment that seemed to be ages for him, but about ten seconds in reality he spoke again.

"Glad to see yah safe."

Elsie turned around, a bit startled. “HAAAAAIII!!!”
She made her way through the few people and goblins on the zeppelin and onto the platform. She stood there a moment, arms behind her back, swaying slightly as he mustered up whatever he called a greeting.
“You arrrre?! Aww!” She threw herself against him, arms around his neck in a big hug. A goblin walked over setting a rather large, suitcase next to the two.
She kissed Tai’s cheek. “Awwwsa big brovah worried abou’ mmeeee?!” She knew he hated the baby talk… but she could never resist embarrassing her brother in public. It was just too easy…

Taizen found himself smothered, and recoiling slightly at the kiss. And of course, she started the baby talk. He rolled his eyes, giving her a light pat on the back, but unable to stop his face from turning a little blue.

"Stop dat you know I hate it.", he said as he gently pulled her off him.

Taizen turned and looked at the large suitcase, sighing and wiping his brow.

"Dis what you call traveling light? What be in dere? You smuggling gnomes?"

He walked over to test the weight, and found it was indeed quite hefty. Picking it up he turned back to Elsie, hoping that the time for embarrassing him was over.

Elsie let go of her brother smiling all the while.
“What?! It’s only one suitcase. It’s not even half of what I wanted to bring…”
She frowned, a bit disappointed. She turned and looked out over the tower at the water.

“Oohhhh it’s so pretty! Is this where we’re staying?” She looked over her shoulder to see him weighing the suitcase.

“What is it too heavy for you? Need me to carry it, bruddah?!”

Suddenly remembering something, she turned back to the Zeppelin. She leaned and looked around the zeppelin for the blood elf she had spoken to the whole ride over.

Taizen frowned, grabbing the suitcase firmly.

"Ah got it."

Taizen was could be considered the runt of the family, physically weaker than both Tuli and Zenosi he often tried too hard to make himself seem more manly. He quirked his brow as she started looking around, and at the same time noticed the necklace around her neck. His eyes narrowed, wondering how long she's had that.

"What you lookin' for? C'mon we ain't got all day sistah."

She watched him heft the suitcase, suddenly feeling a little guilty about it. She took a step towards him, wanting to offer help. Elsie hesitated, knowing he’d refuse.

“Omigosh there was this Blood Elf guy I was talking to. He was a lord or duke or something. Mom was like, SO rude to him.”

She was still staring off when her brother was trying to move her along.

“Whaaat we’re not staying here?” She pouted a little, hoping the new place would be as nice as this, despite the humidity.

Taizen shook his head, but didn't say anything about the elf she met. Elsie brought boys around all the time, and Taizen has gotten quite used to it. Zenosi on the other hand tends to scare them away, Taizen isn't sure if anybody will be good enough for his sister with his father around. Personally, he was over the issue.

"No, we ain't. Dis is Grom'gol we gotta take a raptah back to Booty Bay."

Taizen started down to Grom'gol proper, taking the winding ramp all the way down to the base of the tower.

"And then you're going to stay there until I get back from what I gotta do. Because, if faddah finds out somethin' happened to ya then he'll have mah head."

They reached the small in built into the bottom of the tower, and he lead her out into the courtyard. The camp seemed even deader than when he first visited as the evening was starting to set in.

“Boot-eee baaaaay!” Elsie did a little dance at the mention. “Sounds fun!”
She skipped down the ramp along side him. She took her hat off and shook her hair, entering the inn.

“Do I get my own raptor?!”
She was filled with a thousand questions; she did her best to not annoy her brother. But hell, it was almost her job.

Walking outside, she looked around at the dead horde camp.
“Where’s the party at?” Elsie looked around, eyes bored.

"Did moddah give you money? If not den your riding with me."
He moved across the courtyard to the stables where he kept his raptor tied to a pole. It was a red raptor that has apparently seen alot of years. Taizen patted its neck and it made a responding hissing noise. Most people couldn't tell if a raptor was happy or angry, but Zenosi had taught him how to read a raptors body language.

"The parteh? Up north, in the freezin' wastes. You be in a Horde camp Elly not in a resort. The people who worked here got moved up to the fight in the north."

Taizen busied himself tying the large case to the side of the raptor, it looked a little unhappy about the uneven weight. Taizen patted it's neck again.

"Sorreh buddeh", he muttered.

“She gave me money… But I don’t want an old one like that…”

Elsie wrinkled her nose. Her brother knew damn well she didn’t know how to ride her own. Her dad had yet to teach her. It was something she was somewhat embarrassed of, though. Most of her friends her age had been riding for a few years now. Sure, she knew how to hop on a horse… but there was something to the raptors of her people that she hadn’t mastered. Zeno kept promising to teach her, but work too frequently called him away.

She stopped where she stood as he managed her suitcase. The gravity of the situation became suddenly clear. All she could think of was from years ago riding with her father…..

“Ohmigosh how embarrassing, do I have to sit in your lap or something?!”

Taizen rolled his eyes, sometimes his sister could be so naive.

"You jump up and hug meh from behind, so you don't fall off. Your too big to have on mah lap."

Taizen grabbed on to a stirrup and swung his body up onto the raptors back, after securing himself he reached down and offered a hand to Elsie.

"C'mon I wanna get some sleep before I be leavin' in the mornin."

The night has already set in and it would be a treacherous ride back, but he needed to be there in the morning. If he didn't leave with the other adventurers then he might miss his chance.

Elsie’s eyes would have bugged from her head if they could have.
“I’m NOT big!! I’m telling dad you called me fat…”

She pouted for a moment, then seeing he wasn’t giving in… she took his hand, hoisting herself up. She grabbed onto his waist looking over the side at the ground.

The raptor let out a strange noise, to her.

“Ohmigosh doesn’t it not like me…?” Elsie started to half panic. She curled her legs up tight and gripped his waist harder. She let out a timid yelp, squeezing her eyes shut when the raptor moved…

Taizen let out a sigh at her first comment, hanging his head in defeat. He was about to tell her not to hold on as tight when the raptor took off without his consent. It let out a hiss and dove out of the camp into the wilderness with abandon.

"What did ya do!? Stop squeezin it!"

The raptor ducked and weaved wildly through the trees, leaving the path they were supposed to take far behind. Taizen fought to regain control of it and keep it on the right track. It was a practice in futility though, if Elsie didn't let up her hold on it.

Elsie screamed, unready for the monster to take off. Small branches whipped at her legs, she was horrified of letting go. She wrapped her arms completely around his waist, squeezing for her life. She buried her face into his back, afraid to open her eyes.
Her hat blew off from it’s loose tie around her neck.

How did this happen? This was so stupid! She wanted a horse! A HORSE! Screw these dumb lizards… Why was she here?!

If the jungle was asleep before, it was sure as hell awake now.

The raptor whipped around a large hill, dashed between thickets of trees and leaped over small streams. Every stride took them deeper into Stranglethorn and made Taizen's stomach lurch. He gathered his strength and reared back hard on the reigns trying to get it to stop.

The raptor skidded into a small clearing, but couldn't gain its ground. Taizen knew what was going to happen next, but he could barely let out a yelp before the raptor lost its footing. It tumbled sideways and fell into a roll. He didn't know what was up or down, he couldn't feel anything other than fear and the hard ground slamming into him every few moments. He wasn't even sure if Elsie was still behind him.

The last thing he knew was he was flying through the air, and felt a sharp pain in his neck, before passing out...

Elsie opened her eyes just in time to see the ground rushing to her face. Her mother always told her that ragdolling was the best in crash situations, which is why drunken dwarves often made it out alive from ram collisions. The thought passed briefly, just in time for her to completely tense up and smash, head and shoulders, into the leaf covered floor.
She lay on her back a moment or two, breathing heavily, ears ringing. Opening her eyes she could barely see a speck of moon…or was it star… passing through the thick canopy of the vale.

She drew her legs near in an attempt to get up, but nearly cried out. A searing pain ran up the outside of her thigh. She sucked in a breath and turned to look. The vine ridden ground must have cut through what was her shorts leaving a nasty abrasion up the left side. She whimpered a little seeing the same damage to her left shoulder. She placed a protective hand on the skinned shoulder and sat up slowly. She looked around in the darkness.

“Tai?” She called out barely above a shakey whisper.
Her lower lip trembled, she couldn’t see him. Or the raptor.
‘Don’t cry, don’t cry!’ She told herself.

Suddenly what had seemed like such a beautiful quiet place was now alive with movement and noises from creatures she was too afraid to visualize.

Taizen looked up at his father, grinning from ear to ear. He held firmly on to the sword he'd gotten from him, standing next to the much taller Tul'xil. He'd been waiting so long to be included in the training that he could barely control himself. His mother sat near the house playing with a young Elsie.

"Nah follow us Tookeh, we gonna t'rust an den slice. Like dis."

Taizen watched as his father executed perfect strikes with his greatsword, thrusting it forward forcefully then bringing it round to slash horizontally.

"Readeh?"

Taizen nodded eagerly and readied himself, as both his father and Tuli began their strikes Taizen brought the sword to bear. He thrust it forward, but suddenly the weight caught him off balance. He couldn't quite hold the sword up as easily as he thought, and when he tried to bring it back for the horizontal swipe it flew out of his hands. The sword flew across the yard spinning wildly. It slammed into the back door of the house nearly hitting both Juniper and his little sister.

"Oh no!", he whispered into cusped hands.

Zenosi was already near Juniper making sure she was okay, but Tuli stood there with his sword propped up on his shoulder giving him a cold stare he could feel deep down in his gut.

"Yah should give it up Tai."

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Taizen jerked back awake, he was breathing erratically and sweating all over. His clothes were drenched but he wasn't sure if it was his own sweat or if he'd landed in a pool of water. He tried to lift his head, but a biting pain shot down his neck, nearly causing him to black out again. He reached up to touch his neck, trying to make sure he wasn't seriously injured.

"Elsie?", he muttered not quite able to speak clearly.

When he was satisfied that he hadn't broken anything he lifted himself up to a sitting position. His head was swimming and the pain hadn't gone away. Thick foliage surrounded him, and he couldn't see the raptor or his sister. He tried to shake the memories out of his head, and get some coherence going.

"Elsie!?", he shouted.

Elsie’s eyes blurred as she moved to her knees, she groped around for something to balance herself with. A guttural noise in the distance made her duck her head and cover her ears. She started to hyperventilate. Tears dropped from her eyes as she stay there frozen. There was movement in some bushes ahead. She couldn’t catch her breath.

She was nearly gasping for air.
“T-t-“ she erupted in sobs, then quickly slapped a hand across her mouth. She didn’t think that was Tai anymore. She turned her head to the side, her eyes wide. She shook like a leaf, small whimpers escaping her mouth with each tremble.

Vaguely she heard what she hoped was her brother calling her. She snapped her head to the direction it was coming from. Her eyes rolled back to the moving bush. She took a few deep breaths then looked back towards where the voice was.

Her choice was to stay there, and hopefully make it til sunrise. Or haul ass in the direction the noise was, praying it wasn’t something else. If she heard it again, she’d go. She had always been the fastest in school. Hopefully fast enough for now. What she really needed, was her suitcase…

Taizen pulled himself up to his feet, using a nearby tree to steady himself. It felt as if all the blood in his body fell to his feet in one instance, and he nearly plummeted to the ground. He kept his balance though and tried to regain some form of composure now that he was standing up. Squinting his eyes, he looked around him, hoping that Elsie wasn't lost, or worse.

A sudden fear took hold of him, Elsie was out there and she might be knocked out, or dead. It gripped at his heart and he felt as if he had a lump in his chest. Taizen forced his legs to move out of pure strength of will, stumbling around in the night groping for hand holds to steady himself every few seconds.

"Elsie!?", he shouted again, desperation cracking his voice.

There it was.
Go…
GO!!
GO, YOU STUPID, GO!!!!
Elsie’s legs felt like anvils stuck to the ground. The fear gripped her hard and squeezed.
She squeezed her eyes tight, and let out a racking sob before pushing off from the ground, running as fast as she could in that direction. Her whole body pumped battery acid, her hair flew behind her as she hopped over fallen branches and splashed into mud puddles.

Her fists tightened.

‘Call my name, Tai… Say something…’ she thought, but was too afraid to shout out.
Reaching the top of a hill she skid on a patch of mud, slipping off the other side. Elsie landed hard on her back. She didn’t feel sorry for herself this time. Covered in filth, she got straight back up and ran. Blindly she was coming to a clearing. It was then she felt the presence behind her.

She couldn’t hold the feeling any longer, and screamed for her brother.

He heard her, that was all he needed to get going. He ran in the direction of her voice, pumping his arms and legs like his very life depended on it. He rounded trees and rocks heading slightly uphill, barely slowed him down. He tore up the side of a hill and burst into a clearing. Leaves and brush covered his body, his whole form looked as if it had been in a grinder.

"Elsie!", he shouted.

He saw her running toward him, and another tall form appearing at the other end of the clearing. His eyes widened, and he tore towards her wrapping his arms around her body.

"De're be somethin' behind ya!", he said as he tried to keep her away from whatever was on the other side of the clearing.

The form stood at the other end of the clearing, and it looked quite familiar to him. Suddenly he heard a noise from behind him. He turned to look and saw similar form rising out of the brush. A green skinned Troll emereged wearing primitive tribal leathers and carrying a very large spear. Two more appeared on the northern and southern end of the clearing staring at the two of them. They were surrounded by four strange Trolls.

Even as her body crashed into her brother’s, Elsie couldn’t stop screaming.

He held her tight, speaking to her. Hysteria had set in deep for the moment. She couldn’t hear him over her manic sobbing and temporary insanity. Her thoughts weren't even rational enough to consider death.

She shook uncontrollably grabbing his robes until her hands felt like they would bleed. The more she tried to calm herself the more she felt lost in the fear.

She hadn’t even taken a moment to realize the inclosing company they both shared.

Taizen did his best to calm his sister, to get her to some semblance of normality. But, her cries were too loud for him to speak to her and her thrashing limbs inhibited his ability to react. His head started swimming again, all the testosterone that he'd produced starting to wear off at the worst of times.

The Trolls closed in, on them holding up their spears and growling in Trollish. Taizen didn't know Trollish too well and he only caught a couple of words that didn't seem to make sense to him. He knew if he tried to cast something he'd be gutted quicker than he could utter the words.

"Calm down Elsie!", he said as he hugged her tightly, "I got ya..."

A two trolls reached out an grabbed his hands tearing him away from her, they held him as he thrashed trying to get loose.

"LET MEH GO!"

He was thrown roughly to the ground and a thick rope tied around his wrists.