So, it seems that my rage and ferocity have made me unbalanced. I recall the lessons of my youth where I was told to be austere and dispassionate, that strong emotions are the enemy of balance, but I never took them seriously. Once I had learned to tap my primal instincts, it became easy to dwell on the rage of the bear, or the ferocity of the lion. So, after all this time, how do I satiate such feelings? I have fed the wolf inside me, and he has become so big that he is unmanagable. Perhaps the truth is that I fear facing the ravenous beast inside me and it is easier to just let him run free.
Tonight Meekha and I have found a new camp in the grassy valley of Mulgore. I am so happy to share this place with her, I lived as a calf here once long ago and my love for this land is rooted in my very soul. An elder once told me that the Earthmother nourishes the grasses of Mulgore to grow tall as she nourishes the Tauren of Mulgore to grow virtuous.
"Master!! look what I have found!!" Meekha yells out in delight over the evening winds.
From out of the grass she runs holding in her hands something that looks like a large chicken with a huge, axelike beak.
"Meekha, put that down. It is a Plainstrider hatchling and its mother is likely looking for it." I say firmly.
"Oh no Master, I havent seen its mother anywhere. It's all alone Master, shes an orphan! We have to take care of her."
My heart flutters in my chest. A full grown Plainstrider can easily kill a lion with its very sharp and powerful beak. I would hate to have the face the fury of a matriarch protecting its young.
"CAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWW" the hatchling lets out a cry.
"Meekha, put the bird down now. It wants to return to its parents!" I command.
The little gruntlings eyes grow wide and she drops the bird at her feet. To my dismay the hatchling just sits there and begins making an awful noise, like its being murdered.
I rise to my feet, surveying the grassy fields around us, no plainstriders in sight. With a quick motion I scoop up the bird and head off away from camp.
"Meekha, Stay here!"
I walk a few hundred yards away from camp looking for the herd where this hatchling likely came from. In the fading evening light it is hard to make out exactly what is stalking the prairie. Then, my nose catches the scent of rotting flesh. I follow the scent and find the slaughtered remains of a plainstrider lying in the grass. It appears to have been shot with a rifle of some sort, and the best cuts of meat have been sliced away from the carcass.
We have always known that we have strangers living in our valley. Goblins from a band calling itself Venture company, and a group of filthy Dwarves digging for artifacts in the nearby hillside. It is likely that this dead Matriarch is a victim of one of these groups.
It is then that I notice a shape moving across the grasslands not far from me. It's hard to make out because of the dying light, but it appears to be carrying something large. Perhaps it is our poacher!! I place the orphaned hatchling down in the grass and shift to lion form.
However, to my horror, the Plainstrider chick begins to squawk loudly at the perceived danger of a predator. Hot flashes of rage shudder through me as I quickly consider whether I should kill the hatchling on the spot to shut it up. However, guilt over what Meekha would think if she found out quells my frustration, and instead I slink away into the grass after what is now my prey.
To my relief it seems the birds cry of alarm did nothing to alert the poacher, and I quickly pick up the trail left in the grass. Once I pick up the scent of my quarry I am surprised, it is not the smell of a goblin or any other foreigner but that of a tauren, and mixed in I can detect the faint odor of a rotting flesh.
Now, two things puzzle at this point. First, a tauren native to these lands would recognize the cry of a plainstrider, and know it as an alarm. The first thing we learn as children is to hide when you hear that sound because danger is likely nearby. Second, no tauren hunter would cut the best portions of meat from a kill and leave the rest of the carcass to rot. When we hunt we use all of our kill. I have heard tales of tauren who have been raised in other places across Azeroth some who have even joined groups like the Venture company. Perhaps this is the case with this trespasser.
I continue chasing the strange tauren through the grass, careful not to give away my presence. After a short period of time the figure comes to an area near the some trees at the bottom of a hillside. I can see in the starlight as the tauren gently places the bundle on the ground and sits down next to it. Not long after, I hear sobbing.
"Bellana my dear, I have found a nice place for you to rest. I wanted to take you back to Ashenvale, but it is too dangerous for me to go there." the quiet voice is carried on the shifting wind to my sensitive ears.
Both her scent, and my recognition of the voice makes me realize that this tauren is Charibdys. I also get a better scent of the bundle she is carrying, it smells like the unmistakable stench of a dead night elf, I recognize it as the one we killed on the bluff the day before.
"Oh little sister! I am sorry for what has happened! Why did you have to come?!? You knew there was a chance I would be here." Charibdys exclaims.
Rage wells up inside me again. There are those in the order of druids that are friends with Night elves. But this elfling was no druid, she was a huntress. Why would Charibdys have such a close relationship with her? Why would would she call her sister!! Perhaps Charibdys is an Alliance spy!
The grieving tauren rises from the ground and begins digging with a small shovel. I looks as though she is making a grave for this elf in our sacred earth.
I must think. If I confont her now she may tell me lies and try to hide what she is doing. If I kill her outright, as I want to, then the elders will never know if I lost control and killed her without reason. Maybe it is best to simply go to Elder Hamuul and tell him what I saw. I know where this grave is, it will be my proof for the elders. I can redeem myself to them and expose a traitor.
Carefully, I back away from the scene. Under the cover of night and the wind it doesn't take me long to make my way back to Meekha.
"Master, you are back! Look who came back to our camp before you."
There sitting quietly next to Meekha is the plainstrider hatchling. I stare at the two orphans in astonishment. Two peas in a pod.
"Master, what is wrong? You look mad again? I stayed here like you told me I swear! The bird came to me." Meekah says pleadingly.
"It is okay Meekha, I an not mad at you. Something is not right and I have to tell the elders."
"Is the Alliance back Master!!" she exclaims.
"No Meekha," I pause for a bit, deep in thought. "Lie down and go to sleep, we will return to Thunder Bluff in the morning."
I recall the elder once telling me that we need to send infiltrators into the Alliance to prevent a war. Perhaps the Alliance are sending their people to us first to start a war. If Charibdys is one of these spies I will see to it that she suffers.
