Ukyo uncomfortably shifted around while she was sitting on the back of the pack horse, right in the middle of all the bags with their provisions and other luggage. Compared to the noble steed Halvar was sitting on, riding ahead, clad in his heroic armor and a noble expression on his face, it was unterstandable that Ukyo felt like she was treated as a servant.
For the most time of their journey through Ashenvale and the Barrens, she barely managed to get any conversation of the warrior from Stormwind. The only few times he said something, it was something like 'Set up the fire!, or 'Take care of the horses!' or 'Polish my armor!'
Naturally, Ukyo refused to act as the haughty nobleman's vassal. The one time she snapped and yelled at Halvar for being a jerk, he just turned his head and refused to look at her for the rest of the day.
How much Ukyo had wished that they would have at least attacked once during their journey to Durotar, so she could unwind a bit of her spent-up anger at some undead, wild beasts or other dangerous creatures. But they managed to get to the Southfury River without any interruption, except for that one time they had to dig their way underneath the barricade the Horde had put up between Ashenvale Forest and the Barrens.
"I don't get it!" Ukyo protested. "We're supposed to go to Orgrimmar as emissaries, right? We don't want any trouble. So why can't we just tell the guards of the Horde what we want and be on our way?"
"That's the reason why you are a mere chef," Halvar said grimly. "Leave the thinking to the warriors and tactitians. Those Horde guards attack any member of the Alliance without thinking. Did you take a close look at them? Those green brutes and their primitive, cow-like allies... they are savages, the whole lot of them! Incapable of having a single civilized thought! Now get a move on!"
Ever since that moment, Ukyo had decided not to talk to him anymore.
Sure, she knew nothing of the Orcs... but there had to be a reason why High Priestess Whisperwind trusted them, right? Sensei Furion always told her that Tyrande was the person on Azeroth he trusted the most. She couldn't be that wrong about the Orcs. And all the stories about how they worked together in the battle of Hyjal...
She almost rode past Halvar when he stopped his horse. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Why are we stopping?"
"We have to cross the river," the warrior explained. "It's shallow enough for our horses to wade through."
Ukyo looked to the South, where she could see a bridge, not too far away from them. "Um... why don't we go and cross the river there?" she asked.
"That kind of question can only be asked by a cook," Halvar huffed. Ukyo gritted her teeth. Noble warrior or not, the next time he says something like that again, she'd give him a taste of her spatula.
"The bridge is guarded by the Horde," Halvar said, not even looking at Ukyo while talking. "We can't risk being attacked by them now that we're almost at our destination."
"We have a letter from Lady Whisperwind, for heaven's sake!" Ukyo almost cried. "A letter of immunity! Why don't we just show them and..."
"Are you that naive?" Halvar shouted, glaring at her furiously. "Never trust an Orc! NEVER! They are just waiting for a chance to bury their tusks in your flesh!"
Ukyo raised an eyebrow and looked at the muscular-armor-clad man with worry. Was he slowly getting nuts... or did he have some secret reason for why he was hating the Horde, and especially the Orcs, so much?
Halvar gestured at the water. "Bring your horse on the other side!" he growled. "That's an ORDER!"
The okonomiyaki chef gritted her teeth. 'I promised I'd do anything to help Lady Whisperwind, but I don't know how long I can stand this. If that guy keeps this up when we've reached Orgrimmar... let's just hope the Orcs are not easily insulted...'
High up on the massive walls of Orgrimmar, two Orcs were engaged in a furious fist-fight.
"You looking at ME?" the Orc grunt on the left yelled at his companion. Not even giving the other Orc a chance to reply, he smacked his fist into his fellow grunt's face.
"What's the matter, Tark?" the other grunt growled while wiping his chin. "Is that the hardest you can hit? You no-good son of a human..."
"BASTARD!" the Orc called Tark shouted and swung his fist at him again.
"You stop that!" Shampoo shouted, as she suddenly appeared next to them. "Warchief Thrall no wants you to fight, he wants you to guard. You stop right now!"
Tark glowered at the purple-haired human that dared ordering him around. "I don't take any orders from a human! You pale-faced meddler..."
"Well then, would you take orders from ME, perhaps?" a deep voice behind them spoke up.
Tark and the grunt he was fighting with nervously turned around, recognizing the voice. "High... High Overlord Saurfang..." he stuttered. "I didn't mean to..."
"Yes, you did," Saurfang stated. "You boys know this lady is the personal friend of Drek'thar AND that the warchief assigned her as the new captain of the gate guards. And I expect you to listen to her orders as well as you would listen to mine."
"But..." the other grunt tried to protest. "She doesn't even wear armor. She's no WARRIOR!"
"Do I have to repeat myself, Gorrum?" Saurfang asked, narrowing his eyes.
Gorrum just gulped and wisely decided to stay silent for now.
Saurfang nodded. "Good. Now, back to your posts, both of you!"
Both Tark and Gorrum hurried to follow the High Overlord's instructions.
Saurfang sighed as he turned to face Shampoo. "I am sorry about this."
"Is no your fault," Shampoo said. "Shampoo has been around gate guards for several days. Now knows Tark and Gorrum pretty well. They no like humans, yes? Maybe Shampoo should do something else..."
"You wished to serve the Horde," Saurfang reminded her. "Drek'thar made sure that you'd be given a task befitting of your capabilities as a warrior. He told us all about you. And from what I have heard about your tribe, it is a tribe of proud warriors. Of course there are other jobs within Orgrimmar you could do, but... would you really want to clean the stables of the wolves?"
Shampoo saw a glint of amusement in the High Overlord's eyes, so she knew he was joking around with her, but she still sighed. "Maybe would be better. Orgrimmar no is good place for human, yes?"
Saurfang stepped next to her and let his gaze sweep across the rough land that was Durotar. "You know... that is exactly what the warchief is striving for. A united Azeroth, where the Horde and the Alliance work together against more dangerous threats... such as the Burning Legion, or the Scourge. In dire times, we managed to stand united... but he is worried that it could not happen again. So, we all must work together to make sure that at least here, in our new home, people become used to his idea. And what better way could be there than having a human ally within our city, working with us and teaching the young warriors about her own way of honor?"
"Maybe Shampoo not the right person to teach," the amazon muttered. If the few days she had spent in Orgrimmar had taught her one thing, it was that she could still learn a lot from the honor of the Orcs.
"Well, I think you..." Saurfang stopped himself in mid-sentence. He squinted his eyes and looked to the West.
"You see something, High Overlord?" Shampoo asked.
"I see two riders approaching Orgrimmar," Saurfang murmured. "Now this is peculiar..."
"Why?" Shampoo wondered.
Saurfang gestured down at the dust-covered hills. "Because it never happens that two humans show up in front of our city gates, without any sort of entourage."
Shampoo took a closer look, and then her eyes widened. "Isn't that...?"
Down below, the two horses slowed their pace as they came closer to the gates. The two grunts guarding the front gate lowered their axes and glowered at the humans.
Ukyo decided that getting on the good side of the Orcs from the very beginning was a good idea, so she smiled as she searched for the declaration of neutrality Tyrande had given to her. "Hey there! We're here on behalf of..."
"Be quiet!" Halvar growled. "Leave the talking to me, understand? You know nothing of the finesse of negotiations. You want to get us killed?"
Spurring his horse, he slowly rode forth and raised his right hand, shouting: "Listen, Orcs! I am Sir Halvar, emissary of the Alliance! In the name of the king of Stormwind, I demand to be let inside!"
Ukyo facepalmed. "Great going, Sir Moron!" she whispered. "Now who is getting who killed?"
Halvar did not hear her. "Did you not hear me, savage?" he shouted at the gate guards. "I'm here to talk to your uncivilized leader, so let me in!"
"Careful, human..." the gate guard growled. "If I were you, I'd choose a different tone when speaking of Warchief Thrall. I will give you one more try, and if you pick words that are befitting of our warchief, I might just let you live."
"Honorless brute!" Halvar hissed. "You dare threaten me?" And he drew his blade in a swift motion.
Realizing that the Orcs were only one step from attacking them both, Ukyo decided to intervene. She quickly jumped off her horse's back and ran in-between them, waving around the piece of paper. "No, wait! You got it all wrong! Please, excuse my friend... we're not here to cause any trouble. We're here on behalf of High Priestess Whisperwind of the Night Elves. Here, we even have a declaration of neutrality."
The grunt snatched the tiny piece of paper out of Ukyo's hand and carefully studied it, while his fellow guard kept an eye on Halvar.
"Well, I guess I should let you in," the grunt then grimaced. "But there's still the matter of the insults your friend threw in our faces."
"Lower your weapons, guards!" the calm voice of the High Overlord said as he appeared behind them. "And let me talk to them."
With respect, the grunts made way. Saurfang narrowed his eyes while looking at Halvar. "And I would advise you to sheath your blade, warrior, or I cannot ensure your safety within our city."
"But it away already!" Ukyo hissed. "Don't you see they're only acting like this because you insulted them?"
For a moment, Halvar did not react to Ukyo's words at all. He and Saurfang seemed to fight an unseen fight with their eyes. But after a while, even the proud noble of Stormwind grew nervous under the High Overlord's glare.
In the end, he sheathed his sword. "Very well... take us to your warchief!"
Saurfang nodded. "A wise choice, noble warrior! I recognize your tabard. You are a member of the guild 'Dark Glory', are you not?"
Halvar's eyes widened in surprise. "You know of us?"
Saurfang chuckled. "We know of most guilds that have managed to acquire at least a bit of fame. I had the honor of meeting your guild master once... and even though he wasn't a noble, he was much more courtly than you, I might add."
Halvar was about to reply something, but maybe it was for the best that Shampoo chose this moment to make her appearance. "Spatula girl?"
Now Ukyo's eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of their sockets. "Shampoo?" she blurted out. "What are YOU doing here? And... what are you WEARING?"
"Oh, this?" Shampoo smiled as she looked down at the light leather armor with the Warsong emblem on it. "This is present of Warchief Thrall, for honorary member of the Horde, Shampoo. But you no are wearing your usual outfit either, yes?"
"W-well... this outfit is from the armory of the Silverwing Sentinels... but... why are you in Azeroth at all?"
"While I'm sure you have a lot to discuss, can't we continue this conversation inside?" Saurfang intervened. "I'm sure the warchief would love to hear what news you bring from Darnassus... it certainly doesn't happen every day that two members of the Alliance just come for a visit like this."
Ukyo wanted to say that she wasn't really part of the Alliance, but the heavily armored Orc didn't give her much time to speak. "But before you go, can you tell me the name of your friend, Shampoo?"
"She is spatula girl... I mean, Ukyo Kuonji," Shampoo muttered. "And she NOT Shampoo's friend!"
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(Posted Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:40)
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