COINCIDENCE & KISMET: CHAPTER 1

THE CONTRACT

“Armesan, if we die here, I just want you to know that I regret ever saving you from that godsdamned dungeon.”

The night elf spared a raised eyebrow for the gnome at her side.  “First of all, you didn’t actually save me, you opened a cell which I had already picked the lock on, and second, what on Azeroth makes you think we’re going to die? It’s literally two trolls and a cart.”

The gnome peered out over the bluff down at the road below them, and answered without looking up,  “And where there’s a cart there’s hidden bruisers.”

“You’re overly paranoid for a warlock, Teegan, even by my standards,”  Armesan sighed, shaking her head.  “They’re not even going to see our camp from the road.”

“I don’t care, I don’t like random horde carts passing by my sleeping place in the middle of the night without at least six demons between me and it,”  the gnome crossed her arms over her chest in a gesture of finality, and grinned up at the night elf.  “And if I can’t sleep, you won’t sleep.”

The amused look quickly shifted to irritation, but didn’t seem to have its intended effect on the diminutive gnome, who continued to smirk at her.  A minute or so of the stand off left the night elf heaving a sigh of defeat and drawing up her hood.  “Sometimes I wish you’d left me in that godsdamned dungeon.”

“Always a charmer, Stripes. Let’s do the ol’ bait an’ switch. I like that one,”  Teegan said nonplussed, and whistled for the demon hound that had been snoozing by the fire, which responded immediately, bounding up to its mistress with all the wanton abandon of an overgrown puppy. A very spiky, scaly, demonic puppy.

It was a common practice between the rogue and the warlock.  When threats appeared, Armesan disappeared and Teegan would act as literal bait.  There was something about gnomes that made enemies, particularly Horde enemies, drop their guard and charge blindly in.  It worked particularly well in dark, craggy canyons like the ones in Deadwind Pass where they were now.  Dead trees cast grasping shadows over the gray and blue boulders to distract the eyes, while the crunch of plant husks underfoot kept the ears twitching at all the wrong noises.  Throw in a single helpless looking gnomish woman walking in what might be mistaken as apprentice mage robes and a staff, and a rogue couldn’t ask for an easier target.

They had made their camp high up on a hill, behind a small outcropping so as to hide their campfire from prying eyes, which now sat smoldering dimly, having been snuffed when Teegan’s felhound had sounded the quiet alarm of company.  While close to the Alliance territories in Duskwood, there was always a chance that patrols would happen through, such as the one they’d spotted coming up from the Swamp of Sorrows.  They were moving slowly, being in fact, only two trolls leading a raptor that was hitched to a cart, and while they did not appear to be hostile, and Stranglethorn was in this general direction, it did not pay to take chances.  Not with the rumors of the undead stirring in the North and various other blight-riddled things rising from their graves.

Armesan slipped into the shadows without another word, silently making her way down the hill to a perch atop some boulders with a withered tree trunk arching over the path.  Teegan was only able to follow her because she’d traveled with the rogue long enough to know what to look for, but if you didn’t have that, you’d be hard pressed to even find a glimmer of silver eyes amidst the shadows of decay and death that hung in the valley.

“Well Luluum, looks like we’re taking a walk,”  Teegan said, petting the demon hound gently on what passed for a head. It purred in response and took off down the hill ahead of its mistress, charting a safe way down that she could follow.

The gnome reached a fork in the road where the cart would eventually have to pass by.  One road would lead to Duskwood, the other to Karazhan.  It was a perfectly legitimate way to stand around as bait without appearing as such, and with her felhound shrouded by invisibility, it completed the illusion of a harmless traveler.  And so she waited, pretending to be attempting to read the signs and discern a direction on a map she had pulled out of her packs.  It didn’t take long for the squeak of cart wheels to approach, along with hushed whispers in a language Teegan figured was either Trollish or Orcish.  She wasn’t the linguist, that was Armesan’s job.

There was one thing she did manage to pick out about the travelers before they came into view.  One of them was definitely heavily armored.  The clank of the metal was an easy tell, but something about the voice seemed off. There was a heavy twang to the voice that didn’t match the other troll.  It reminded the warlock of the Forsaken.  Maybe there had been another party to this caravan they had missed.  Well, that’s why Teegan had a rogue hiding in the shadows.  A few minutes more and she finally caught a glimpse of the cart cresting the hill approaching the fork, the light of their lanterns revealing just the two trolls they had spotted earlier.  One was wearing heavy black armor while the other was dressed in mail and had a shield strapped to her back.  Shaman and a warrior, it seemed.  Tricky, but they’d taken on worse odds before.  Teegan glanced over her shoulder at the cart, made a faux nervous shuffle further out of their path and resumed ‘reading’ her map, fully expecting the trolls to take the bait.  Which is why, when they passed her by with barely a wayward glance, she actually had to do a double take to make sure that there weren’t other carts behind them.  Truth be told, she was mildly put off in that slightly absurd sort of way.  Was she not good enough for them to attack or something?!

“You’re gonna follow them, aren’t you?”  Armesan’s voice cooed from behind the gnome, once the cart had vanished well down the road heading towards Duskwood.

Teegan jumped slightly, never quite used to Armesan’s ability to simply appear out of nothing.  She glared at the rogue instead.  “What kind of troll travels in the middle of the night through Deadwind Pass and isn’t trying to pick a fight with the Alliance?”

“Traders? Stranglethorn is that way as is Booty Bay,”  the rogue shrugged.

“I don’t like it. They should’ve at least made a racist remark if they were traders!”

“You actually wanted to hear them make racial slurs at you?”

“Of course not! It’s just unnatural for Hordies to completely ignore a helpless gnome ripe for ridicule unless they’re hiding something.  And as members of the Alliance it’s our duty to investigate suspicious possible threats to our peoples.”

The rogue facepalmed a bit, though it was hard to see her actual expression under the hood and face mask.  “Your curiosity is going to get us killed one of these days,”  the night elf sighed, already knowing what the warlock was going to do.

“Don’t care, casting, shut up,”  Teegan muttered, quietly casting a minor summon spell.  The disembodied eye she usually summoned for spying and prying materialized out of the ether with nothing but a small flicker of magic, floating there awaiting its mistress’s commands.  The gnome uttered a command in demonic and the eye flew off without a sound, disappearing behind its veil as it honed in on its intended target.

There was about 10 minutes of silence as Teegan concentrated on her link with the demon eye, and Armesan kept an eye out for anything that might try to prey on a distracted caster, when suddenly Teegan drew a sharp breath and cut the link with the demon.  She’d gone a few shades paler than normal, which for Teegan, was impressive.

“What?”  Armesan asked, knowing that things had suddenly gotten a bit more serious.  Teegan was rarely ruffled enough to panic cut a link like that.

“Children. They have children in that cart, at least four or five. There’s a guard in there with them.”

Armesan scowled behind the mask. “Were they bound?”

Teegan shook her head.  “Didn’t look like it, but that could have been what the guard was for. Why else hide?”

“If they have mixed faction children in there, that would be one reason. Orphanages out here in neutral ground may not make a distinction between Horde and Alliance, but the guards still will,”  Armesan said, mostly for Teegan’s benefit, trying to calm the gnome, who was obviously disturbed by this revelation. It wasn’t like it sat well with the rogue either, though she had been playing the espionage game long enough to know that not everything was what it appeared at face value, and jumping in on impulse was a sure way to get yourself killed.  Teegan, while experienced, still had that streak of impatience that got her into more trouble than she’d be willing to admit to.

“I couldn’t see, but we need to follow them. If they’re slavers….”

“Follow. We don’t engage until we’re sure, otherwise we’re not going to help anyone,”  the rogue snapped harshly, her tone laced with a hint of command.

Teegan glared at the rogue, but nodded.  “Fine. We follow. I still don’t like them.”

“No one asked you to. Let’s go,”  Armesan said, disappearing into the shadows once again leaving Teegan to grab her staff and bolt down the road after the cart.

They followed for a good hour, keeping well out of sight of the trolls.  Granted with Teegan’s limited mobility in the dark, it was not that hard.  Summoning her felsteed was out of the question.  That thing stuck out in the dark like a sore thumb, so she was reduced to running, as Armesan’s War-Tiger was still stabled in Duskwood.  Gnomes and running did not go together well.  Thankfully the cart was not exactly sprinting down the road, though the two trolls were getting more skittish the closer they drew to Duskwood.  It set off every warning bell in Armesan’s head, but she ignored the urge and kept her distance.  If anything the warrior was more worrisome than anything else.  Something felt off about him, though she couldn’t quite place what that was. It reminded her of the undead a little over 15 years prior.

Though frustratingly, the more they watched them, the more the rogue was certain they were harmless travelers.  While armed, the two trolls carried themselves more like thieves in the night and would often peek in and whisper at the children in the cart in soothing tones.  Teegan seemed to be coming to a similar conclusion but wasn’t ready to just give up without finding out at least where they were going.  At this point she’d invested too much time in this chase to walk away empty-handed.

As it would turn out, she would be far from disappointed, as the trolls stammered to a halt suddenly, their hushed whispers becoming more panicked, and the orc guard from inside the cart poked her head out and started asking questions.  Teegan paused, worried that she’d been spotted, but a quick glance around told her otherwise.  There was the glow of approaching torchlight and the clank of what the gnome could recognize as standard heavy Alliance armor.  It always had a strange tinny sound to it when they walked.  There was a patrol coming.  They must be pretty close to Duskwood, and the trolls had apparently been counting on avoiding any patrols.

There was a quick glint of reflected light out of the corner of Teegan’s eye; a signal from Armesan asking how she wanted to proceed.  The trolls were starting to raise their voices and get agitated the closer the patrol got, and the shaman was pulling out her shield and mace.  The patrol would dispatch them without a thought, and the kids, who at this point the gnome was pretty sure were part of some orphanage and were being transferred somewhere, would likely be killed as well.  Humans did not like orcs at the best of times.

“Mekkatorque’s left nut, sometimes I wish I was an actual asshole,”  Teegan swore under her breath, and quickly started chanting the words that would summon her felsteed.

The light and sudden audible casting was not lost on the little horde caravan.  The warrior and shaman paused mid rant, and the orc’s eyes went wide as she turned around and saw the telltale flare of purple summoning magic.  Teegan saw her yell something at the trolls and then duck back into the cart.  Apparently it had meant “fight”, because the warrior pulled a huge two handed greatsword off his back, and suddenly Teegan realized just what about the warrior had been so off.  There were glowing blue runes etched into the blade, and they matched a glow she hadn’t noticed coming from under the deep hood the troll was wearing.  She’d heard rumors about those blades; runeblades.  Wielded by the Death Knights of the Lich King.

“Ah shit,” the gnome grumbled to herself once the incantation had been completed.  Her steed appeared in a flash of light and fire, illuminating the immediate area around it with its internal seething hellfire.  Not wasting any time, Teegan hopped up on the scaled beast with practiced ease and spurred it into a gallop to close the distance to the cart, yelling as she approached,  “If anyone in that cart speaks common, keep your heads down and your mouths shut unless you want the business end of that patrol over there.”  She sped by so fast she didn’t have a chance to see if anyone could understand her, but the Death Knight’s blade didn’t come down on her as she rode past to go meet up with the patrol.  “Stripes! Plan D!”  Teegan bellowed out to Armesan, who was somewhere in the shadows.

The night elf, poised in a dead tree just off the roadside by the cart, smirked at Teegan’s demand, and retrieved a few smoke bombs and a pouch of blinding powder from her belt pouches.  The gnome had bolted on ahead to intercept the patrol and concoct some elaborate lie to turn them around.  Last time they had pulled this Teegan had convinced a patrol of paladins that her grandfather was in desperate need of medicine and her mount had died of exhaustion during her ride home.  In reality Armesan had dosed a horse with sleeping herbs.  The dwarven traders weren’t too happy with a drugged mount but paid extra to ensure the paladins didn’t search their containers when they passed out of Silverpine.  This time they didn’t need anything quite so elaborate it seemed, just something to convince the patrol there was a bigger problem somewhere else.

The rogue kept half an eye on the small caravan, watching for any signs of hostile movement while she crudely mixed the powders.  She’d nearly launched some poisoned throwing daggers when the Death Knight had pulled his blade, but Teegan’s passing remark for them to keep quiet stilled his weapon, so something must have gotten through to him.  The shaman was still crouching in a battle stance, shield and mace held at the ready, waiting for something to attack them.  Armesan could only hope the Death Knight would keep her from loosing some magic when the fog bomb went off.  With her impromptu mixture finished, the rogue lightly tossed it to the ground a few feet in front of the raptor that was pulling the cart.  A thick billowing fog began rolling out of the pouch, the flash bang drowned out by the thick blinding powder that made for a nice quick blanket of what, from a distance, looked like fog, which blotted out the dim lantern light from the caravan.  It had the added effect of blocking line of sight to the patrol and Teegan’s felsteed, but any overt moves would tip them off at this distance.  She had to trust Teegan to talk the patrol onto a different path. 

The trolls didn’t attack when the fog started erupting from in front of their caravan, but the level of tension and panic rose another few levels.  The Death Knight even readied his sword again, causing Armesan to unsheathe her blades silently. She’d only seen one Death Knight, and that had been years ago during the incursion of the undead and the rise of the Lich King.  She was not looking forward to having to take one down, particularly when she was pretty sure they were resistant to her usual poisons. Her deadlier stock was with her riding tiger back in Duskwood.

They all held their positions like that for a good ten minutes or so.  The trolls jumped at every sound, even the rattling of their own armor, and in the dead quiet there was quiet whimpering from the cart of the children.  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the curtain of thick fog was broken by the form of the flaming hellhorse, parting the bomb’s effect and clearing the area to fully reveal Teegan sans the patrol.

“Have I mentioned I hate the guards who are sticklers for protocol?”  Teegan said to no one. She glanced around to take stock of the trolls, who were still on high alert. “Coast is clear, Stripes.”

Armesan took the hint and dropped silently out of the trees, allowing herself to be seen only once she’d concealed her daggers under her cloak.  She wasn’t about to let her guard down until the Death Knight’s blade was back in its sheath.  Teegan twitched a bit when she noticed the night elf and groaned.  “Bronzebeard’s ass, make some noise once in a while, will ya?”  Armesan simply chuckled a bit, but didn’t say anything, instead turning her gaze to the Death Knight.  Teegan gave an imperceptible nod and followed her gaze.  “As for you, I really hope you don’t turn out to be slavers, because if I just sent a patrol into that run down manor instead of skewering your asses--”

“We not be slavahs.”  the Death Knight growled suddenly, and angrily in common, cutting off Teegan’s vivid rant.

The gnome blinked, then threw up her hands to the heavens.  “Thank the various gods and devils, one of you speaks common. You just made my night, buddy,” she said, leaning down to look the Death Knight in the face.  Her tone belied the dark look she had in her eyes. “Now kindly tell me why one of ARTHAS’ dread knights is waltzing around Dead Wind Pass with a cart full of kids before I summon Kil’Jaeden down on your head.”

The Death Knight blinked a bit at the threat, either because he didn’t expect such a threat, or because he wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.  Possibly both.  “I dun serve dat…thing,”  he spat in that horribly distorted twanged voice, but he backed off and put his huge two-handed sword away, nodding to the shaman to stand down as well.  She slowly lowered her weapon, but her teeth were bared and a low growl could be heard coming from her throat.  “We be bodyguards fo’ da Matron of Kargash Orphanage.”  He gestured to the cart, and glanced inside, nodding to the orc matron.  She timidly peeked out with a draenei child cradled in her arms.  There were a few other children peering out through the tears in the canvas, orc it seemed, and one blood elf.  “We be takin' dem ta Shattrath.  We need ta get 'em ta Ogrimmar via Booty Bay for a portal.”

“You’re taking a mixed faction orphanage to Booty Bay. Through Duskwood,” Teegan repeated.  The Death Knight nodded.  “You must be the luckiest fucking idiots I’ve ever met if THAT is your plan and you haven’t been caught and skinned yet.  Are you even aware there’s a kill on sight order for undead right now?  And not just your oh so lovely zombie friends up in Lorderon?”

The troll coughed a bit.  “Um…nooo?”

“Oh lords…So what now?”  Teegan asked, both to the Death Knight directly and Armesan indirectly.  “You’re gonna get your asses obliterated going through Duskwood with a pink raptor pulling your cart.  You’d have an easier time walking into Wrynn’s bedroom in drag.”

The Death Knight looked at the cart and the Orc Matron, then back at the gnome who was shaking her head, and the eerily silent rogue.  He fidgeted a bit before speaking up again.  “You two be mercenaries, right?”

“Why?”  Teegan hedged cautiously.

“Um….can….I….wanna hire ya ta get us to Booty Bay.”

Armesan blinked.  That was the absolute last thing she expected to hear.

Teegan, it seemed, was of the same mindset.  “You want to WHAT?!”

“Ta get us past Alliance outposts. It be two days, t’ree tops,” he pleaded hastily.  He glanced back at what now appeared to be his mate, who’s jaw had dropped at what he had said.  Apparently she spoke enough common to know what he had just proposed.  He shrugged with a helpless look on his face.

Having been silent since her appearance, Armesan surveyed the scene before her.  Two desperate trolls trying to ferry this neutral orphanage over to Kalimdor, pretty much reduced to either slaughtering their way across Duskwood or hiring two random passing Alliance that didn’t have to heart to turn over toddlers to overly zealous Humans.

“We’ll do it.”

Teegan actually froze mid word, halfway into starting a declaration of why this was a terrible idea, and looked back at her friend as if she’d just spouted a second head.

“We’ll what?” she balked.

“We’ll take you to Booty Bay,”  Armesan repeated, taking off her mask and hood and addressing the Death Knight and Shaman directly.  “We’ll camp here and head out in the morning.”

“Da kids-”  the troll began but was cut off abruptly by a glare from Armesan.

“Will be fine for a few hours. You two attract way more attention traveling at night,”  she said matter-of-factly.  “You hire us, you do it our way.”

Teegan grabbed the edge of Armesan’s cloak and motioned for her to bring her head over.  “Are you godsdamned nuts?!”  she whispered harshly.

The night elf glanced over at the trolls, who were having their own hushed conversation in which she suspected the Death Knight was getting a thorough lashing from his mate.  “Your other option is to slaughter them all.  That patrol will come back, and they will not take kindly to being lied to.”

Teegan paused, glancing back at the obviously scared children.  “Gods dammit I hate it when you make sense,”  she swore at the night elf, and then sighed, looking back at the two trolls.  “Fine. Booty Bay, then we’re done. 40 gold. Half up front, half when we get you there.”

The Death Knight grumbled, but reached into his pouch for the money.  “Agreed.”

“Then we have a deal Mr. Death Knight,”  Teegan chirped, pocketing the gold with an all too familiar ease. In another life she’d have made an excellent pickpocket.

“Mah name be Dotolo,”  he grumbled.  “Dis be mah mate, Sai’in.”

“Teegan.  Nice to meet you,”  the gnome announced proudly. 

Dotolo looked over at the night elf expectantly.  “An’ you be…..?”

“Helping you,”  Armesan responded coldly.

The troll growled a bit, but held up his hands in surrender.  He had enough sense to realize that they were in debt to the two Alliance, and pushing for anything more wouldn’t get him anything but a headache. 

“Fine den. Where we be campin’?”

“Here, off the side of the road, just like any other traveler.  We'll release your raptor now and replace it in the morning.”

“How da fuck we gonna move witout-”

“Hey, Frosty? Trust me, just do what she says. You’re lucky you’re still breathing….or….whatever,”  Teegan said, knocking Dotolo’s armor with her staff.  “Not every day we’re feeling charitable like this. And believe me, she knows what she’s doing.”

“I told ya…mah name be Dotolo,”  the Death Knight snarled at the little gnome.

“That’s so fascinating, I almost cared, Frosty,”  Teegan sing-songed as she moved to start setting up camp.

Dotolo just stared slack jawed at the gnome, and decided not to push his luck.  These two clearly experienced Alliance mercenaries had saved them from getting spotted and likely having to fight off a patrol, and possibly also from whatever other nasty surprises the Alliance had out there to protect their roads.  And by some miracle they’d agreed to help keep it that way, even if the price was borderline extortionist.  He would have been satisfied with just the not dead part.

It wasn’t until he was halfway into setting up his tent that he realized the night elf had disappeared.  “‘ey, um….gnome-lady?”

“Teegan,”  the warlock corrected from across the camp.  “What?”

“Where ya friend git off to?”

The gnome paused in her work and looked around briefly before shrugging nonchalantly.  “Probably to keep watch. She’s a night elf you know. Sees in the dark way the hell better than me.”

“Dat’s what I be worried about,”  he muttered in Orcish, and continued to get the camp set up and the kids settled, even if it was with extra glances over his shoulder on the watch for daggers in his or his charges' backs.

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