Fate has given me the means to the end, at long last. I shall not squander it.
~From the personal journal of Talaeesh Silverfeather.
It had taken weeks of careful planning, of hiding out in the tailoring shack, for lack of a better term, and keeping his ears and eyes open for the opportunity to act. It was a slim chance to end the maddening pulses that demanded he be rid of the stain, but it was a chance. The enchanter did not plan to let it slip by. With the portals once again working between this realm and Azeroth, he could finish the first phase of this business once and for all, and return to Shattrath on the Draenor they knew better as Outland, to complete the second leg. The compulsion had been hounding him for far too long. Soon enough, in relative terms, he'd be free.
A small amount of disguise and bribery had allowed him into the barracks where the object of his torment had made quarters. A few choice bits of drugged meat had put the fierce massive wolves his prey chose to bunk with into a state of blissful ignorance and a lax sense of duty. The enchanter knew his quarry well enough to rifle through the packs and saddle bags with ease to find the rolled up bit of parchment and replace it with an identical copy. It had taken little effort to learn to forge the trolless's handwriting, a small bit of arcane he'd picked up in his studies, and there were plenty of samples about with which to practice with. The map had been the harder part.
Now, nearly a week later, he was to see his scheming come to fruition.
He'd ridden hard, staying on the trail of the two plumed tails, yet out of sight and far enough back, always staying downwind from the crafty predators that accompanied his prey. At night, he used the tiny light of her occasional campfires to orient himself. He'd nearly been caught twice, the stink of his demonic steed causing the wolves to act with wary caution, but now... Now it would come to pass.
The false set of orders, laid with more than a grain of truth, had led his quarry to the edge of Talador, the border to the jungle known as Tanaan, where it had been gleaned that a large force of the Iron Horde had moved to. His prey had made less and less campfires at night, knowing how close they were and how easily they could be spotted by even a tiny flicker of orange. It mattered little, and he almost missed the main event he'd been waiting for, knowing he had to witness this with his own eyes. Lackeys and go betweens had failed him in past.
A savage snarl that ended on a pained yip roused the enchanter from the light slumber he'd slipped into. With a small mutter, some concentration, and a drop of his own blood, he managed to summon a seeing eye that would take over his own vision for a short time. Long enough, he hoped, to view it all from a safe distance. The faintly glowing green orb floated through the thick trees, settling in a patch of tangled undergrowth where a scant amount of torches had been lit.
One large, white furred body lay in a heap at the edge of the light's glow, a dark stain upon it's fur that was spreading rapidly. Swift movement drew his attention to a similar shaped body that was lunging towards one of the torches, though far darker in color in night's embrace. Snapping, slavering jaws found purchase in a meaty forearm, but it was the creature's undoing, as the orc's comrade used a wickedly curved axe to cleave into the great beast's spine, laying the wolf out low.
"Shame to be wasting them, but even with breaking, they'd still bear watching. Not worth the effort." The large specimen of a brown skinned orc scowled about his tusks, using a booted foot to leverage himself against pulling his embedded axe free. "Now where is the bitch we saw earlier?"
In answer to his question, an arrow thwapped into his shoulder, the upward tilt of the shaft a telling mark of the direction it'd been fired from. The demonic eye bobbed and weaved slightly as Talaeesh frowned. It wasn't like the little feather to miss a mostly stationary target. The growl of the orc drew his attention back to the scene being played out before him, watching the male tilt his head skyward along the angle of the shaft, his companion following his gaze as the two others that had been a part of their patrol paused in their search of the small campsite. Hand signals flashed between them, the one with the arrow stuck in him swiftly becoming known as the leader. Without a word, they slunk back into the dense foliage that surrounded the small clearing.
As the torches they bore became swallowed by the forest, everything became still and silent. Talaeesh cursed inwardly. Had the stubborn pig faced brutes given up so easily? From all he'd studied of them, it didn't seem to be in their nature. This had to be a ploy of some kind, but his time was nearly running out for the spell of sight, the eye becoming more erratic in it's movements. He could re-summon it, but to do so might risk it being seen this time around as it maneuvered into position. Just as he was weighing his options, a slender, dark clad form shimmied down a tree, only visible thanks to the light of the dual moons glinting off bits of metal upon her armor. Just enough to make out a vague silouteete.
He swiftly dimmed the light of the eye, reducing the amount he could see, but also lessening the risk it would be noticed. The figure could barely be made out as it staggered towards one of the felled wolves. A faint rustling of chainmail was heard as the elven hunter bent to clutch gloved fingers into the ruined pelt of the magnificent beast.
The blaring light of a new torch blazing into being nearly blinded the enchanter, and made him miss what came immediately after. His ears, however, did not miss the sounds of a scuffle, of cursing in Thalassian, and then a hard thwack. When his sight was refocused, the leader and his original companion stood over the sprawled and dazed form of the huntress, her dark leather and mail helm dented and far away from her head in the dirt, spilling loose the nearly silver, fine hair that marked her name.
"I'm sure we can break this one, however, and find uses for her." The lead orc turned away and rolled his massive shoulders in a shrug that terminated in a dismissive wave of a meaty paw. "Bind her, and bring her. The General will decide what we do with her."
The eye winked out of existence just as the leader's companion swiftly strung the little feather up tighter than a hog, binding arms and legs together behind her back in an awkward position, then simply hauling her to his shoulder with little effort. Talaeesh could hear his half sister's cursing and defiant screams as they withdrew deeper into the jungle. The sounds soothed both parts of his mind for the time being, as she was out of the way, and not another corpse.
With that happy thought, and part one accomplished, the enchanter quietly moved in the opposite direction before summoning his demonic steed. There was a patriarch to see done away with in Shattrath City for him now, and he'd best be about his task swiftly.