Black Tide
Black tide
The tide was slack, the sea black as ink
Three rafts rode the swell, Cloth-wrapped armor, and muffled oars keeping the approach silent.
Ahead of them, the shadow of a fort perched atop a cliff loomed in the gloom. Only faint torchlight marked it’s presence; Even the White lady and the Blue child hid behind clouds tonight, as if unwilling to watch was about to happen.This was the kind of mission Jess’s Iron squad, the The screaming Gryphons, were always given --- The the dirty work no one else wanted, the kind that saved lives at the expense of honor.
Jess’s raft carried Oswick --- a mid thirties Corporal and Swordsman, --- And Cassie, A green--eyed, and blonde--haired Cleric in her Mid twenties. A capable fighter and excellent medic. -- And Korrath, a Hulking Draenei Warrior sat opposite of it, He was a shock trooper, and wore enough armor to make their raft sail low in the water.
Jess studied her teammates, Their breaths were measured, steady. Cold sea spray splattered against her face, dripping down to the edge of her mask as the raft bumped the cliffside. Cassie’s green gaze found hers --- reassurance in those eyes, and something else she didn’t dare name.
Jess held the look for a heartbeat longer. Then Captain Alexi lifted his hand and closed it into a fist. Twelve figures stilled in the Darkness.
The climb began.wrapped hands found holds in the wet cliffside. Quiet scraping of boots on rock. The shadows shifted and tested each grip before hauling themselves upward. Somewhere Ahead, Jess heard a familiar, “Tsk… tsk… tsk…”--- Renna, the gnome engineer scurried up the cliff with her tongue clicking as she counted her handholds.
Caswick was the first over the top. He rolled over the wall, dropped low, scanned then stood to give the all-clear. For a moment, Jess saw his silhouette as it had been years ago --- handing her a battered guitar he’d taught her to play after a mission like this one.
Over the wall, the twelve of them moved low and fast, hugging the shadows. Caswick stood at the base of a watchtower ladder with Oswick. Both men had their arms outstretched as Vethira, their Kaldorei scout, scaled the tower like a squirrel. She vaulted over the side, Jess heard metal on leather, a startled gasp, then the wet splatter of blood. A troll watchman toppled backward, falling into Oswick and Caswick’s waiting arms. They lowered his body to the ground and propped it against the wall’s shadow.
Alexi’s next signal came: Fan out. Clear the Barracks.
Moving like grave dust, they split into teams of four. Jess went with Oswick, Korrath, and Enrick. --- a stocky kul’tiran heavy and former dockworker from Boralus. New to the team but learning fast.
They slipped into the barracks, knives drawn. One by one they made their kills. Silent gasps brief struggles. Blood dripping from cots onto packed dirt.
Jess hovered over a sleeping orc, pressing the tip of her knife tro his ribs, angled for the heart. He shifted slightly at the touch but didn’t wake. She hesitated, Seventeen at best. His arm stretched toward her in his sleep. She slid around it and leaned in, ramming the dagger between his ribs. Her free hand over his mouth as his eyes snapped open, bulging in shock. He convulsed once, then his gaze rolled upward. His fingers slackened, releasing a small carved wolf pendent.
Jess caught it, crouching beside the bunk. The carving was immaculate But you don’t take from the dead. She curled his hand around, folding his arm over his chest, and moved on.
The second barracks was as silent as the death that filled it, already clear.
In the third, a scuffle broke the quiet. Jess stepped inside. All but one occupant was dead; something had alerted the last and the team had dropped back into shadows or low behind bunks. He swung his legs off his bunk, wiping groggy sleep from his eyes. His gaze drifted to the orc in the next bunk he leaned closer --- recognition dawning a heartbeat before surprise replaced it. His legs were yanked from under him by Tal Greenbrook, a human rogue who began to pull him beneath the bunk. Before he could fully hit the ground Alexi had stepped from the shadows and caught him with one hand while the other drove a dagger deep into his throat. Another barracks clear.
Out in the clearing, Jess caught glimpses of her squad members slipping through the fort.. Cassie stepped toward a hut. Reaching to peek inside. A Sin’dorei man emerged suddenly, bumping into her. He mumbled an apology then froze --- realization hitting him. He barked out a half cry of alarm. Jess’s dagger was already in motion, the blade burying itself in his open mouth.
Cassie stumbled toward her as the elf collapsed lifelessly back into the hut, eyes wide. A surprised gasp and shout came from within the hut. An orc wearing a chefs hat barreled out, looking around in panic. He dropped to his knees hand over his mouth shaking his head.
Mira appeared behind him, shoving his head back and clamping her gloved hand over his mouth. The orc convulsed, tried to fight, but his body went limp in seconds Mira withdrew her hand ---- the bitter green residue of kingsbane powder clinging to her glove.
The team looked to Alexi. He shook his head, then signaled: Sweep
Shoulders sagged, but orders were orders. It wasn’t just soldiers now. It was everyone. It was the fort. Rustling could be heard as more bodies came to investigate the shouts…
Minutes later, Jess slipped into the Storehouse. Branth, their demolitions expert and second gnome, Sat on a barrel humming an off-tune marching beat while he armed a charge. Across the room Renna hummed along --- in perfect tone and pacing as she armed her own.
The fort was graveyard when the first of the gnomes’ charges went off. They left the way they’d come. Jess watched from the raft as orange flames bloomed within the fort’s walls, fed by silently incendiary charges.
They rowed back to the rendezvous ship. No one spoke.
A haunting silence lay over the waves, a silence Jess knew would join her collection of memories--- the boy’s wolf pendant, the sin’dorei woman's strangled gasp as she saw Jess and the terror and realization covered her face as she understood her husband wasn’t coming home from the tavern. But worst of all. The cabin full of young teenagers. The children that would be responsible of polishing the forts defenses. Running ammunition and powder. They’d heard the brief struggles and had begun preparing to do their job sleepily when Jess Oswick and Korrath stepped into their cabin. Korrath had blocked the door…and Jess and Oswick with longswords gleaming in the hearthfire had set to work.