Follow Aruna and Anura, gnome sisters, as they attempt to create peace between the Horde and the Alliance so that the two factions may work together to defeat a greater enemy. However, certain political leaders will be their downfall, and a simple mission will lead into something much more dangerous.
The intense heat of the sun raged down upon the barren Durotar land. Blasted, orange ground formed into well-traveled roads and natural craters, which housed the area's less-than-friendly-wildlife. A lulling background noise came from the raging and crashing of the Southfury River's waters. On the sandy banks of the rushing river that parted Durotar and the Barrens-- were two figures that one would least expect in orcish lands. They were far from any wanderer's path so as not to be noticed as they talked in hushed whispers.
"Easy Becca," murmured the first figure, leaning forward to keep the massive brown kodo calm, "we're almost there, almost."
A fresh breeze rushed by. The looming silence and the lack of activity were holding the scarlet and gold armored beast on wit's end. Mounted upon a simple leather saddle was a gnome of no more than two and a half feet of height. Her striking neon pink hair was pulled back into two pigtails that dangled off the sides of her head. She wore no display of flamboyant clothing, but was only dressed in golden plate armor commonly known as the 'dreadnaught'. Slung on her back was a reinforced rectangular slab of wood, decorated with the royal seal of Lordaeron. At her side rested a vrykul sword, its red designs representing courage and honor running up both sides of the crude iron blade.
"Why do you linger, Aruna?" The second figure snapped, "Come on, let's get on with this..."
Compared to the first figure, the second was nearly the same height, if not a big shorter. She rode upon a maroon girded, muddy green raptor, whose eyes could not contain anger that both rider and mount shared. The rider had tangled, shoulder-length, near-black brown hair in which certain locks were intertwined with frost. Through the web of unruly bangs pushed thin wisps of cerulean smoke, which came from a larger mass hovering within her vacant eye sockets. A death knight's raven black and blood red scourgeborne plate covered the second gnome's tiny form.
"Don't be so impatient, Anura. Just remember that we're coming before the Horde in the name of peace. Try not to be reckless..." Aruna mumbled something else before coaxing Becca into traveling upriver.
Anura stood and continued to keep her raptor there for a moment, "She's too trustful, too supporting, and too hopeful." The death knight whispered before quickly jerking the reigns of her raptor, "Ride Tektali! Ride!"
---o---
Master Mathias Shaw sat disgruntled behind his desk. He glanced up from his recent assignment to peruse the number of SI:7 agents wasting their time. Most of the thieves were already assigned work, and he needed somebody to take this job of his hands. It was another pathetic little assignment King Wrynn decided was not important enough to take care of himself. Now that there was a higher calling for him in Northrend, Varian began sticking the jobs he didn't want to dirty his royal hands on with Shaw and the SI:7.
The master rogue was getting quite sick of it.
He glanced over the orders, once enclosed in an elegant envelope, again. There was only one agent he could think of that was not skilled enough for something more pressing and important...
"Jackal!" Shaw barked.
Little time was wasted, which Shaw was eternally grateful fore, when a particular rogue came running up the stairs. The thief pushed and shoved through fellow agents, much to their annoyance. Jackal managed to bump into a much larger rogue, who thought another rogue did it, and proceeded to punch that rogue into a man buying poison. That man dropped his poison which rolled down the stairs and tripped another rogue who was trying to pick-pocket a fellow agent. Mass chaos ensued as the entire SI:7 building was thrown into a man against man fight. At the scene, Shaw had to use every ounce of willpower to keep from burying his face in his palm.
"Yes sir! Jackal reporting for duty!" The young man was now leaning practically in Mathias' face.
Shaw pressed a hang against Jackal's short black hair and firmly pushed him off the desk. Jackal could have been no older than his late teens, a human, and pathetically skinny-- with his hands shoved in the pockets of his black leather armor.
"I have a set of orders for you, Jackal," Mathias continued and Jackal once again leaned in, "something has attracted the King's attention..."
He pulled a single paper from the stack of documents in front of him. The parchment was turned so that Jackal could read it, and Shaw pointed a finger at whatever was printed on the front, "We need you to find this..."
---o---
Aruna turned her ear to the sound of beating drums and lifted her gaze to the column of smoke rising above the stone walls. She eased her grip on Becca's reigns, the kodo slowing to a complete stop.
"The grand orcish city of Ogrimmar, the names of brave heroes carved upon its very walls..." The warrior waved her hand in a gesture towards the capital, a sparkle in her eye, "just remember your place, sister, while we're here. The title of Warchief is not tossed around like a birthright as the Kings of Stormwind, Thrall is a true hero among heroes."
She looked at the death knight riding beside her, who had stopped, lost in thought. Aruna carefully pulled her yellow-lens goggles over her eyes and set a small brown leather backpack on the ground. Anura watched curiously as her sister removed two grappling hooks from the bag.
"What, did you think we were walking in the front door?" The warrior laughed at Anura's expression.
"You sounded quite confident in your Horde allies..." grumbled Anura.
Aruna ignored her as she tossed over one of the clawed pieces of metal attached to a crude braided rope.
---o---
The soil was black, the dying husks that were trees were black, the corpses of critters were black.
And in the middle of the charred ground was a soot stained blood elf. His jade eyes barely gleamed under a layer of ash, red hair mistaken for black was pulled into a wild ponytail, and scarlet Thalassian robes were burned against a spell-caster's body. He stood there for a while, staring at his surprisingly clean palms. A spark, a glimmer of red and orange peaked out from the center of his hand. The flame grew, and soon his other hand mimicked the channeled spell. He was just about to release his conjured inferno, his lips rapidly muttering an incantation.
A hand tapped the blood elf on the shoulder and he fell forward onto his face, straight into the black mud.
"Whoops."
The elf waved a now non-flaming hand in the air. Jackal grabbed said hand and helped the blackened fire mage to his feet, "What a mess, Phoenix! Are you trying to deforest Elwynn?"
Before Phoenix could even speak, Jackal shoved a peace of paper in his face, "Shaw gave me something to do for SI:7 and I was wondering if you wanted to tag along with me..."
The elf squinted, "I can't see it."
His rogue friend leaned in and slapped the black mess out of his eyes, before pointing to whatever was written on the paper, "We need to find this..."
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