Chapter 3, Page 18: First Flight
I was up before the sun, pacing quietly around the small cave in my nightshirt, trying not to wake Uzil with my musings. My heart was jack-rabbitting in my chest as I waffled between one thing and the other.
Thrall was a warrior. The Horde were warriors, respected warriors.
But I was coming, essentially, as a supplicant.
The Horde seemed to love the clash of arms and physical strength.
But I didn’t want any mistaken chance that someone would think I was threatening him.
I wanted to show proper respect.
Respect to my people was not the same as respect to the Horde.
Round and round I padded, glancing between my armor and the dress Siwili had brought me. Finally, with Uzil beginning to stir slightly in a way that told me he’d be up soon, I made my decision, slipping out of the nightshirt and into the dress. After all, Uzil had gone to try and get that meeting every day in his black cloth suit. I wanted to look like the meeting mattered to me. It did. It was only the rest of my life, after all.
I snugged the dress down over my hips and smoothed the skirt out. It was such a pretty dress. I hoped no one would be trying to puncture it.
Uzil blinked, lifted his face in my direction, blinked again. He seemed confused. And then… suddenly, he wasn’t. He sat up as abruptly as if the mattress burned him, stripping without even glancing at me, and then throwing on his clothes hurriedly. Were we late?
“Ready to go, cute dress girl?”
I finger-combed my hair, trying to set my locks in something resembling order. What I wouldn’t give for some scented oil, a bristle brush, a mirror, some shimmer powder for my eyes… all of a sudden everything about the cave seemed dirty and barbaric and just… unready, that was what it was. I couldn’t be ready like this! Swallowing the sudden tremor of hysteria, I forced a smile in Uzil’s direction. “Okay wear dress?”
“Dress is wonderful. Relax. Not haughty. Just Soldier requesting citizenship for comrade, not representing entire people. Besides, dealing with salt-of-the-earth people.” Uzil smiled gently at me, stood and set a hand on my shoulder. “Look beautiful. Long ride, though.”
I swallowed, nodded, and put my arms around Uzil’s waist, hugging him briefly and then resting my forehead against him with a sigh. “Thank you, Uzil. Cannot say enough thank you for all of this.”
Uzil returned the embrace. “No need to thank. Just looking out for friend, or more-than-friend. Feels good to take care of. Ever ride before?” Without waiting for an answer, Uzil disengaged, blew on a seemingly soundless whistle, and began walking towards the entrance to the cave. “Know you haven’t ridden raptor before…”
I walked with him, nodding. “Ride on hawkstrider. Seen Trolls on raptors, seem must ride same way… but raptors much, much bigger, of course. Ride Wildhammer griffon once or twice, too. Raptor will not bite, right?” I asked a little nervously.
“MY raptor will not bite. More likely to run away. Or hit on. Pervert. Going to ride on Raptor, then Zeppelin, then maybe more raptor… And stay close. Have forms, saying you are an official guest, etc etc, but still not entirely safe.” With that, Uzil pulled out a positively dripping-with-legalese document, with a simplified, handwritten note at the bottom: “Multipass.”
I couldn’t help laughing. “Your raptor like you, huh?” I teased, smiling up at him. I glanced at the paper, then nodded. It looked wonderful, exactly the way a government form should look. “Will stay close, Uzil. Would anyway, not know way around.” I picked up Temper, setting the little serpent around my neck like a scarf, and shrugged on the vest Hakkajin had given me, tucking the multipass safely inside it.
Uzil quickly kissed my forehead, and then left the cave, looking around for the raptor. “Going to be riding near Scourge cities. Cuts a lot of time off our trip. Might want to… keep eyes closed after we pass Chillwind camp. Just… warning, is all.” Uzil still glanced about, seemingly distracted.
I shivered slightly and nodded.
Uzil nodded, and sighed as a large, bipedal reptile slowly, reluctantly lumbered up the hill, looking over his shoulder every few steps. Finally, it reached the entrance, and chirped at Uzil, then looked at me, tilting its head in confusion, occasionally glancing back at Uzil.
I looked at the raptor, then glanced down the hill to see if I could spot what was bothering it. “It pretty,” I said quietly to Uzil, admiring the raptor’s glossy hide.
Suddenly, I was in the air, Uzil lifting me toward the raptor… and then pausing with me still suspended in his arms. “How… uh, exactly do you ride with a dress? Like a kilt?” He furrowed his brow.
“Um, usually sideways? Skirt and legs one side? Hard without right saddle, but you riding with, I hold onto you, yes?”
Uzil nodded, set me on the saddle, then climbed on as well, sitting further to the back of the saddle, his arms wrapping around me as he reached for the reins. “Comfy? Or close enough to comfy?” It was a simple saddle, little more than some leather padding, straps, and a cloth underlay, so there was no inconvenient saddlehorn or such to provide support or somewhere to hook my knee.
However, having Uzil sitting behind me provided me with plenty of balance. I leaned back against him, pulling Temper off of my neck (and away from Uzil’s face) and into my lap. “Yes, nice and comfy,” I said, smiling a little. The raptor bounced and swayed unsettlingly, but I knew Uzil wouldn’t let me fall.
Uzil nodded, and gave the beast a gentle tap in the middle of its neck. The raptor didn’t budge an inch, except to look at Uzil, confused. An exasperated sigh later, Uzil slapped his feet against its side and snatched up the reins as the beast unsteadily hurled itself down the hill.
I gasped and clutched at Uzil’s arm when the beast began jouncing its way across the green. It moved much faster, and much jerkier, than I’d been expecting. I watched the hills whip by with wide eyes.
Uzil wrapped his left arm tight around me, holding me in place and radiating calm as he violently, but with total control, guided the raptor with his right. Whoosh! The bridge flew by, and the raptor made a hard right, soon leaping through a Troll camp, with little regard towards the now-armed Trolls.
I squeaked, pressing myself back against Uzil’s chest. I wasn’t a coward, and I’d infiltrated my share of Troll camps, but I was utterly out of control here and unarmored to boot. My grip on Uzil’s arm tightened.
Uzil just rode onward, kicking at the hand of a Troll who snatched at us. “It’ll be alright.” We shot past a small camp of elves… who looked, and didn’t even bother to stand. “Angling south…” Uzil murmured, reassuringly.
I nodded, turning my face away from the elves and pressing my cheek against his arm. I’d been afraid that they might have seen me, assumed the Troll was doing something bad to her, shoot at us… they couldn’t possibly have recognized me at this speed… but they were too apathetic even to move. My mouth had a bitter taste in it. Pity and contempt warred within my breast. They were still living in their own cages.
Uzil rode onward, focused on the invisible path only he saw. some The Quel’danil Lodge was barely visible far off to the north, and Uzil began to veer towards it, aiming for some brush to the side. Instantly, he ducked his head, and his mount picked up speed.
“Down.” A simple command.
I scrunched down, tucking Temper into my vest, peeking up and around again as the landscape flew past.
We blew through a small outlying camp, and arrows sang through the air as they failed to strike the bouncing, speedy target or his two riders. An alarm went up, and the rangers sluggishly ran out to find… nothing, as the raptor scrambled up the hill to an overlying path, heading due north. Soon, a large clump of black cloth obscured Nen’s vision, as some fires became visible further north.
“Put around neck, please?” A reassuring pat, and a tightening of the left arm accompanied a nod from Uzil.
I stiffened as the cloth covered my face, and pushed it out of the way. I leaned forward as the tabard tumbled back to lie across my back. The raptor’s neck was warm, the scales surprisingly smooth, almost like pebbled skin rather than snake’s scales. I looked around, wide-eyed. “What are fires?”
“Chillwind camp. Alliance border with Plaguelands. Need passage, easiest to just ride through as member of Argent dawn. Please drape over neck?” Uzil’s speech had a light sense of nervous urgency. “Sorry, scared for you. Trying to stay calm. Too used to being alone for this, not sure how they’ll react.” The fires loomed closer.
I reached back for the tabard, fumbling with it and then finding the neckhole and slipping it over my head. “Alliance more likely to shoot you than me,” I pointed out. “Quel’dorei still supposed to be neutral to Alliance.”
Uzil grimaced slightly. “But acting as bodyguard for member of argent dawn on cross-factional mission into Andorhal, if we get stopped, okay?” He met my eyes, and nodded. “Won’t just shoot, chance of hitting you.” The first guard camp stood as they passed, but stopped, and sat back down. “Understand?”
I nodded. “Andorhal,” I murmured, turning my head to look at the human guardsman. “Understand.”
“… First big city to fall. Major scourge center, but Bronze dragon inside, small bastion, constant Scarlet Crusade incursions. Warzone. Might want to close eyes soon.” Uzil snorted, and rode through the final checkpoint, a strange tentacled blue fellow catching his eye. “Fuckers. Here too.”
I boggled at the figure as we whizzed past. “What… what that?” I couldn’t think of anything that looked like… that.
“New Alliance allies. Scum.” A low growl escaped from Uzil’s throat. “Look at me. Not elsewhere.” Uzil fell silent, and rode, the town of Andorhal slowly becoming visible on the horizon.
I glanced up at the growl, but I already knew why he was telling me to look at him. I could smell it… it was all around. My gaze left his face… I couldn’t help it.
We were riding into a city of the dead. I stiffened and pushed back against him, horrified. “Uzil…” I whispered. We were heading straight into it!
“Stay calm. We’ll be fine.” Despite riding around the outskirts of the town, we did attract some attention, slavering ghouls howling as we rode by, frostbolts screaming over our heads. “Stay calm. We’re fine. We’re okay.” A constant gentle whispering, reassuring, and a deep sense of warmth. “It’s okay.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and hid my face against his arm. I supposed, dimly, that I was a coward and that Uzil thought less of me, but I couldn’t help it. I hadn’t seen the undead since… I opened one eye, caught sight of an abomination, dragging his hooked chains behind his bloated body as he waddled through the streets, and squeezed it shut again, shuddering.
“It’s okay, Nen. It’s okay to be afraid. Not ready yet to face them, to see them.” We rushed through a wheat field, time seeming to slow as they rode through it, all manner of hellish beasts in pursuit. The dry grasses whickered against the raptor’s belly and our feet. “Almost to the Bulwark, Nen. Is okay.”
Uzil’s chatter ceased, and he rode in silence as the scourge abandoned the chase, and Andorhal faded behind us.
I nodded against him, but still didn’t open my eyes. The smell of undeath seemed to creep into my nose no matter what I did, choking me. I buried my nose and mouth against the fur lining of my vest and tried to breathe through it.
A long time seemed to pass.
Finally, the smell faded somewhat, and Uzil shook me. “Is okay. Open eyes. Are in Tirisfal. Horde land.” In the distance, a tower came into view. “Zep tower.”
I lifted my face, then boggled upward. We had towers and spires and all manner of similar structure in Silvermoon… but they were smooth stone, or metal, sweeping and ornate and graceful. This thing looked like it was going to fall down at any moment. Two undead with swords stood in front of it, and I eyed them. I assumed they weren’t Scourge, since they didn’t rush to try and kill me… “Um… that um… safe?” I whispered to Uzil, not wanting the Forsaken to hear me questioning their tower.
“Ran up it more than I care to count.” Uzil halted and dismounted slowly, lifting me off the beast. “Safe, Nen, safer than the ride here.” The raptor rode off in a flash, and Uzil ascended the tower, motioning for me to follow.
I followed him closely, eyeing the weathered wood and rickety timbers mistrustfully. They creaked and swayed slightly in the wind in a very disconcerting way, but since it didn’t fall over and Uzil said it was okay, and Uzil was much heavier… I kept to the edge of the stairs all the same, in case I needed to try and leap clear of the falling mess.
They reached the top without incident, Uzil nodding at the goblin before squatting calmly. I edged closer, standing pressed against his side and looking around nervously. It seemed inevitable that one of the Horde was going to walk up and put a sword through me before too long.
“Calm down, Nen. Is okay. Nothing going to happen now.” As he spoke, a Zeppelin pulled up to the tower, all aboard leaping off before it reached the tower. “Boat’s here.”
I stared at the zeppelin, grinning despite myself. I’d heard about the airships the Horde used to transport their troops, but I’d never seen one and certainly never thought I’d ride one. I stepped aboard, catching my balance when the dock swayed slightly beneath the airbag, and then leaned over the railing, still grinning. “Wow!”
“Heh.” A grin creased Uzil’s features, as he embraced mefrom behind. We were alone on the deck. “Don’t fall. And don’t start any fires.” A tight squeeze and Uzil paced away, to sit at the back of the Zeppelin. “Will take a bit, so get comfortable.”
I went with him, settling down next to him, still peering over the edge with delight. When the Zeppelin ground to a start, engines chugging and back rotor whirring, I gasped a little, drawing away from the edge before being drawn inexorably back to gaze at the moving world. “This great! You have this! This amazing!”
Then I stopped short and blinked at him. “Fires?”
“Gas bag. Can catch on fire easily, if you light it. No good. And contracted with Goblins, but…” He couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks. Horde is proud of them. Still have paper?”
I nodded, patting the side of my vest. Temper clawed his way out of it, to my shoulder, spreading his wings and shrieking loudly at the sky all around, clearly laying claim to the domain of air. I winced slightly. “Of course have paper, Uzil, not going to lose something so important! Oh, you have this back?” I pulled the black tabard off and offered it.
Uzil nodded and took the cloth, jamming it into his pack. “So, whole sky is yours, Temper? Might have some competition…” He grinned, and wrapped an arm around me, yawning slightly. “Rocking always puts me to sleep, or tries to. This is what I mean by ‘fly’.”
I cuddled herself against his chest, carefully spreading my skirt to avoid making it a wrinkled mess. “Don’t sleep, you will miss whole trip! Are we go over ocean?” I asked, tracing a finger along his cheek.
“Long trip over ocean. Forever trip over ocean, seems like. And have made the trip hundreds of times, Nen. Not as big of a deal anymore.” A finger ran along my spine as Uzil’s grin grew fond and indulgent. “Will lose its magic, eventually, but glad you enjoy it.” The vast sea slipped by below us.
I shivered slightly and smiled, leaning up and over him to watch the ocean. “How can not be a big deal to fly like this?” I looked down and kissed the end of one tusk. “Silly Troll.”
