Animal Control
(An event that happened prior to the Phoenix Wars and the second Battle for Darkshore...)
- Muroco Rockhoof kicked the trunk of an already dead, lifeless treant away from the road.
Several covered wagons drawn by pack kodos lumbered behind him as they ventured through the gloomy forests of Darkshore. It had been at least two months since Teldrassil had been set aflame, and now the once vibrant tree jutted out in the horizon as an angry, charred-black pillar, its colossal branches still emanating smoke that billowed in the sky. While the Horde had roundly defeated the night elves, their spirits had not been broken. To ensure their dominance in the continent, the Horde needed to consolidate their positions in northern Ashenvale and Darkshore as a whole, lest the Alliance managed to rally themselves and push them back to square one.
Many of the soldiers assigned to guard the supply lines were callow and untested. The fighting forces of druids, night elves, and worgen who still remained in the region would not hesitate to use any means necessary to hinder their progress and cripple their lines, so Muroco opted to leave Quel’thalas for a time to be where the fighting could be thickest.
A scout he had spoken to a month prior had told him of an unusual path that snaked around Darkshore’s most turbulent rivers and was well away from its main roads. Though the path was visible, trees covered the terrain on its left side and a ledge covered its right. While the ledge could have proven to be a liability, the tree-line provided cover from any scouts coming from the west. They had utilized the path for two weeks and had no major issues.
That, of course, changed for the worse when one of the orcish soldiers cried out in alarm.
Muroco wheeled around and saw that several of the caravan guards had been killed. Their recently mangled corpses lay still in the grass as a dozen druids shapeshifted into various animal forms and charged towards the caravan. The remaining guards brandished their weapons and mobilized to meet them, but he knew they would not last long unless he intervened.
“Bring the kodos to a halt,” ordered Muroco as he shifted the weight on his tower shield, Mammoth. The first driver, a goblin shaman named Crizzgik who had an usually mellowed demeanor, nodded in assent and brandished a peculiar lightning rod he carried to better direct his spells. The tauren charged, his mighty hooves thumping against the ground as he met his first opponent, a druid in the form of a muscled tiger. His axe struck home against the druid’s skull, killing the shapeshifter in a single strike. Another druid bounded towards him in the form of a jaguar, leaping off a small incline in the terrain to pounce. Muroco rushed forward, lowering his upper body to meet his attacker, and his horns gored themselves upon the beast, the momentum causing her to fall and crumple to the ground.
Three more druids noticed the commotion happening behind them and turned to attack. One shifted into his humanoid form and began to gesticulate wildly in a spell as the other two transformed into a bear and an owlkin. Muroco felt thick roots burst from the earth and began to coil themselves around his legs. He spared a moment to glance behind him; Crizzgik clutched his lightning rod in one hand, preparing a spell of his own.
“Now, Crizzgik!” ordered Muroco. “Like we practiced!”
The shaman pointed the rod towards Muroco and gestured with his free hand. A bolt of lightning snaked through the air towards the warrior, but rather than strike him, it arced between the metal-tipped tusks of his enchanted shield. Crizzgik clenched his fist with a shout, and the lightning rushed from the shield and struck each druid in a chain effect, causing the attackers to jerk and twitch in wild spasms. Muroco felt the root spell weaken and with a roar he broke free, bounded forward and decapitated the spellcaster. The moonkin recovered and began to cast his spells, Mammoth came up in a flash, smashing into the beast’s midriff. The foe doubled over, still on his clawed feet, and Muroco gored him with his horns, causing him to crash to the ground in a lump.
In the din of the chaos, the remaining Horde soldiers rallied forth with a cheer at the sight of their champion and began to push back against their attackers. Muroco and the druid of the Claw circled each other, and the latter struck first, bringing its paws up in a wild thrash. Muroco blocked each attack, feeling every impact bring shockwaves up his arm. Once the bear overextended herself, the tauren swung Mammoth at the bear’s face, causing her head to snap back before Muroco cleaved her skull with his axe.
The force of the swing caused the weapon to get stuck, and as Muroco finally yanked the axe free, he was beset upon by another foe. This druid has shapeshifted herself into a bear as well, but she used her full weight to crash into him. They both skidded to a halt, and before Muroco could react, a paw struck him in the face. Stars exploded behind his eyes as his helmet fell off from the impact, and the tauren found himself on the defensive, every swipe and thrash pushing him back step by step.
Another strike wrenched Mammoth free from his grip, the shield landing with a resounding thud, and Muroco was forced to one knee. He attempted to parry another strike with his axe, but she feinted and headbutted him in his stomach, causing him to drop his axe. Before he could grab his flail from his belt, the bear attempted to thrash him to the ground, but he grabbed both of her arms in his plated fists. They locked eyes momentarily, and she hesitated for a moment for a reason he couldn’t understand.
It was all he needed.
He stood up on both hooves, and with a roar he swung her away, causing her to crash into a nearby tree. Her spell protected her enough to prevent any bones from breaking, but the impact caused her to lose form. She shifted back into a human, but she looked far too savage to be just that. Likely a cured worgen, or some freak who spent too much time around nature - it didn’t matter. Muroco retrieved his axe and stalked forward, preparing to end it.
“Wait!” she said to him in Taurahe, raising her arms to shelter herself.
That had caught Muroco off-guard. He wasn’t used to human apes being able to speak his native tongue. There was something about her that caused unease, and that was certainly an uncommon feeling for him. He glanced around the battlefield - the rest of the druids were pushed back, and the soldiers fanned out to surround them, just as he trained them weeks ago. He presumed this little human was their leader, especially with how savagely she fought, and if her remaining followers could witness her death…
His former Grimtotem tendencies set in. He just needed to keep her distracted.
The human slowly began to stand up. “Please, listen to me,” she pleaded, “you don’t have to do this! This is not the way of the Shu’halo, to slaughter friends like beasts. The Horde will not serve you as you serve it.”
Muroco looked around the field again, feigning confusion, but her words were stoking his rage. “Please, do not follow the Banshee Queen! She will bring this world to ruin! You do not have to follow --”
Her words were cut short as Muroco silently and mercilessly brought his axe down at an angle, the arcanite metal shearing through her leg like a scythe. The druid toppled to the ground and looked at her leg momentarily before screaming in agony, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.
Presumptuous little runt. ‘Friends’ indeed - nearly every human Muroco had ever come across had regarded him as a beast and a barbarian. The Horde may have now been under the leadership of a conniving cadaver, but the Horde saved him from a meaningless existence in the Grimtotem Tribe.
“You don’t understand a thing about my people,” he spoke back to the druid.
The rest of the attackers quickly fell to Muroco and the soldiers, their morale shattered from the death of their leader.
As Muroco returned to his fallen shield, he noticed that the druid leader was still alive, her breaths coming in ragged shallows. Since she had, at least, put up a worthy fight, Muroco raised his axe to give her a clean death.
His execution was cut short as a gale of wind pushed him aside. Muroco staggered on his hooves and reeled around to see a hippogryph swoop down and retrieve her. He glanced up and noticed a half dozen more hippogryphs, elves on their backs, bearing down upon them, their bows drawn back to fire.
“Look to the skies!” warned Muroco, and the soldiers raised their shields in defense, Muroco surged forward before Crizzgik and raised his shield, three broadhead arrows intended for the goblin bouncing off its surface. The goblin called another surge of lightning, zapping one of the riders from her saddle and causing her to tumble to her death. The other soldiers followed suit and took cover; some aimed their bows from behind the wagons and fired, with one lucky arrow hitting another night elf. The remaining riders wheeled their mounts around and flew north, gradually becoming specks in the horizon.
--
“Not bad, chief,” Crizzgik said, wiping the sweat from his brow, “not bad at all.”
“How many did we lose?” asked Muroco, who was wiping the blood and viscera from his horn with a cloak he ripped from one of the druids’ bodies.
“Nine,” Crizzgik said with a frown. “Three got injured, but I managed to patch ‘em up.”
Muroco breathed in and slowly exhaled from his nostrils. That was more than he would have cared for. Most of these soldiers were young, and the grim, unfortunate truth was that their families would be waiting for sons and daughters that will never return home.
“Let’s get the caravan moving.”
Crizzgik glanced around his surroundings. “What about…” “I know,” interrupted Muroco. “I wish we could give the soldiers a proper pyre, but we have no time. Those hippogryphs were moving fast, and it’s only a matter of time until more night elves bear down on this area.”
Crizzgik nodded and climbed back in his seat. Muroco rolled his shoulders as the drivers began to move their wagons forward again. Perhaps, when this was all over, he could find some way to make it up to them.
It was an annoyance that one of those druids had managed to survive, but Muroco assumed she would simply die from her injuries.
Or so he had thought. @incomingtrouble







