8. It Ain't Ogre II
A small single eye set in the center of a hideous head that looked down at her from atop a huge bulky body. Sunset’s body tensed as she felt that single hateful orb focused upon her, as its owner let out a guttural growl that spoke clearly of its intent.
“Sunset, get a hold of yourself!” It was not Helcular’s warning, but the explosion on the ogre’s body that shook Sunset out of her shock-induced state.
When the hell did an ogre come here? Sunset thought as she stood up, looking at the ogre , who seemed none the worse for the wear despite the spell leaving some serious burnmarks on its body. Instead, it seemed to look around, confused as to where the spell came from before it returned its gaze back to Sunset. Its little piggy eye squinted at her in anger before it roared and charged towards her, each step making the ground shake.
Sunset, in response, did what any other sensible person would do, so she turned and ran.
“Why the hell are you chasing me?” Sunset cursed as she felt the ogre’s club smashed into the ground where she was standing mere seconds ago. “That wasn’t even my spell!”
Right, ogres are stupid, it probably just blamed the first thing it sees. Silly question. Sunset’s mind thought unhelpfully as she poured all her effort to avoid being turned into a pile of flattened meat.
The sound of rumbling footsteps shaking the ground behind her was all the clue that Sunset needed to know that the ogre was on hot on her heels.
Unfortunately, it seemed that she could not outrun it, seeing as the shadow of the ogre had begun looming over her again. Sunset risked looking back, and saw the ogre raising its makeshift maul of a tree trunk again. Reacting immediately, Sunset threw herself onto the ground just as she felt the rush of wind as the trunk missed her by mere inches and smashed into the wall of a nearby house, which shuddered from the impact of the blow.
Looking up, Sunset saw the ogre grunt as it realised it missed, before reaching out chubby, oversized hand towards her. The intent was clear, it wanted to pick her up, what it wants to do with her afterwards was but a guess that Sunset had no intention of finding out.
Calming herself, which was a miraculous feat considering her current situation, Sunset gestured and half said, half screamed a word of power. The ogre growled in surprise as it found its attempted grab was rebuffed by a purple translucent sphere surrounding Sunset. The growl erupting into a roar of anger, the ogre raised its club and smashed it over the shield.
Sunset gritted her teeth in pain as the force of the blow knocked her down to her knees, however, she kept her concentration strong, and the shield did not even budge as the ogre stumbled backwards from the force of its own blow. Sunset, in return, only gave the smoldering look of rage and indignation.
Why was the ogre attacking her? No, what had she done to deserve this? To put her life on the line so soon? Fine! Sunset was done caring! Still in her kneeling position, Sunset snarled out a phrase and pointed at the ogre, the purple shield pulsed once before bursting forth in the shape of lance that struck the ogre mid-swing. Caught unguarded, the ogre could only roar in pain as the lances pierced through its thick hide and stumble backward as it let go of its weapon, the tree trunk tumbling to the ground as it clasped its wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Sunset had ignored the sudden rush of fatigue that came with the spell, instead pouring her mana into another one. An orb of fire pulsed between her two hands as she channeled into the spell, watching the fireball grow as time passed. Then she flung it at the ogre as casually as one would toss an apple to a friend.
The resulting explosion knocked Sunset onto her back with its shockwave. Winded, Sunset coughed as she looked up at the ogre, trying to spot it through the clearing smoke. Obviously, it was still alive, if the cries of pain were any indication. As the smoke cleared, Sunset got a clear look of the towering figure. It was not a pretty sight, aside from the gaping wound in its chest, one side of its body was completely charred black, with some parts still glowing red and smoking. However, while it may probably still be in a whole lot of pain, its eye was still fixated on Sunset, glaring at her with pure hatred.
“Can’t take a hint?” Sunset growled, “with you being so stupid, it’s no wonder your species lost alongside with the Horde!” Chanting quickly, Sunset took a bead of sweat from her forehead and let her mana flow into it. She watched as it froze and grew, becoming a spike made of ice and sent it flying at the ogre, who raised an arm to block it. The ogre snarled in pain as the ice spike buried itself in its arm, but otherwise seemingly ignored it as it took one lumbering step forward.
Too tired to get up from the ground, Sunset prepared another spell, hoping that it would be enough. Her mana was getting rather low, and the fatigue from recent events was beginning to catch up to her. This last spell would be the last one she could cast, and if it failed to stop the ogre, it might mean the end of her.
Fortunately, someone else has other plans.
A warcry sounding behind her, Sunset watched in wonderment as an armored figure rode past her and swung his greatsword at the ogre, burying it deep into the ogre’s flesh. The ogre roared aloud in pain and tried to punch the rider, who merely raised his shield and let the blow glanced off of it.
“Back, you lumbering fool!” Laughed Captain Erik, his voice booming from behind his full-face helm. He pulled his sword back, leaving a gaping wound which bled profusely at the ogre’s side as he rode off. For half a moment, Sunset was worried that he would leave her alone with the monster, only for the Captain to turn his steed back as he took another chop at the ogre.
The ogre was prepared, however, and raised its arm to grab the blade. Unfortunately for it, it had been too engrossed with the good Captain to notice another rider coming up behind it with a warhammer raised.
It probably did notice when the warhammer caved in its skull.
Captain Erik gave Dame Finora a nod before he steered his steed towards Sunset before dismounting and offering her a hand. A hand which Sunset gratefully accepted, only realising how tired she was now that the adrenaline from the fight has subsided.
“Nice work, girl!” Captain Erik praised, his voice echoing unnaturally, probably because of his helmet as he pulled her up. “Glad to see that you are fine! The battle’s over, you can rest easy now.”
“Yeah…” Sunset murmured dazedly, before she stumbled, her legs giving way, apparently she was more tired than she thought, or felt. Luckily, Erik caught in time and held her up with a supporting arm.
“Easy there,” Erik murmured before she turned to Finora, “Can you go and get Mandin? Might want him to have a look at her.”
As the other Knight rode off, Erik looked around before asking the girl leaning on him for support. “Say, where is Orys and Helcular? Have you seen them?”
“Orys?” Sunset blinked as she tried to remember. Then it all came flooding back, Orys getting swatted, the charred corpses on the ground, the dying screams of the gnolls. “Urp!”
Sunset pushed away from the captain in shock as she knelt on the ground as she tried to empty her stomach of it non-existent contents. Nausea rose as she tried to calm down by taking deep breaths, yet all of it was in vain as she could not help but remember the day’s events.
She did not know how long she stayed there in that state, it could have been seconds, or hours, but the next thing she knew was a soothing wave washing away all her doubts and a gentle but strong voice talking to her.
“There, there. There’s nothing to be anxious about. Come on, deep breaths.” It encouraged.
Sunset complied and breathed deeply, finding it easier to do so now that the nausea had passed. Blinking away the wetness that had pooled at her eyes from the ordeal, Sunset looked up to a wrinkled but kindly white bearded face looking at her.
“Feeling better?” the man asked. When Sunset nodded, he smiled and patted her on the back. “First time?”
Sunset stayed silent.
“I understand.” He said. “It was pretty much as bad for me too, but you know something?”
Sunset blinked as the man dressed in white robes slowly pulled her up and faced her in the direction of the tower. There Sunset saw the townspeople slowly file out of the structure, as they embraced their loved ones or as the kids run around in joy now that the danger had passed.
It was calming. Soothing even.
“When you think about the lives you take in battle, think also about the lives you are protecting.” He said, smiling at Sunset as he did. “A wise man called Alonsus Faol told me that once.”
“Ah.” Sunset had no idea how to respond to that. The name rang familiar, but she could not place it.
“Name’s Mandin, by the way. I am the priest attached to Sir Erik’s command.”
“Sunset.”
“Oh I know who you are, Lady Shimmer, Captain Erik was yelling it into my ear as I was heading over to you.” Mandin chuckled, before he looked around. “Ah, speak of the devil. Captain!.” He waved at the familiar form.
Captain Erik cut a very imposing figure when clad in armor. Now however, with dirt and blood covering the metal plates, Sunset could not help but be intimidated by the larder man as he approached. “Lady Shimmer! You alright?”
“She just needs some rest,” Mandin replied in her stead. “How’s Orys, by the way?”
“He’s fine, got some broken ribs, but nothing that the local healer can’t fix.” Erik sighed as he looked at Sunset, before lowering his head apologetically. “Sorry about being late. I saw my friend Helcular fighting an ogre and had to gather my group to rush over to him before he told me that another one was chasing you.”
“It’s okay.” Sunset nodded as she accepted his apology.
“Thank you, Lady Shimmer.” Erik smiled before he turned back to Mandin, and frowned. “Though there’s something fishy about this.”
“About what, Captain?” Mandin prompted.
“Apparently the men says that gnolls and the ogres attacked together.”
“Ah yes, that they did, Captain. It was a surprise to me too, and more so when they retreated.” Mandin replied, “However, I was certain that there were at least four when the assault began.”
“That’s the thing, ogres don’t work with gnolls, and they do not retreat, not unless they are under orders or scared.”
“Could be a falling out, Captain?”
“Ogres tend to solve arguments by bashing the opposition over the head.” Captain Erik replied as his eyes narrowed. “No, they are being led by something. I am certain of it. The question is, by who?”
The gnoll sat in the dark room, alone and chained to the wall. Still, that did not stop it from trying to break free as it struggled against the bonds that held it to the wall. Unfortunately, no matter how hard it tried, it only gained another bruise to show for it.
It was then when the door to the room swung open, revealing a tanned human in red robes. Helcular sniffed in distaste as the pungent odor of gnoll dirt, sweat and urine assaulted him when he entered, but ignored it as he set his eyes upon the hateful little beast lying on the floor.
“Well well, look what we have here.” He sneered at the gnoll, “A beast that thinks itself at the top of the food chain.”
The gnoll mere snarled in return, and would have snapped at him if not for the muzzle sealing its mouth shut. “Hah, pitiful beast.” tsked Helcular, “don’t worry, you guys almost caused me my master’s trust with what had happened today. Thankfully for me, the good captain was around to help, but don’t think for a second that that will help your case now.”
Helcular drew his fingers across the air, tracing a variety of symbols as he muttered words that sounded unintelligible to men. Once his spell was finished, Helcular’s eyes and hands glowed a sickly green as the man himself smiled, the action itself petrifying the gnoll with untold fear.
“I know the Erik told me to make it quick, but he never told me to make it painless.” Helcular chuckled as he grabbed the gnoll with both of his hands. “Might as well take what little pleasures I can.”
The gnoll tried to scream in pain, but found that it could not speak. Then again, even if it could, nobody would have heard it.
It had been two days since the attack on the village. Sunset was feeling significantly better from her ordeal though sometimes she still had retching moments wherever she smelled the scent of blood.
She still got over it in the end, mostly thanks to Brother Mandin. The kindly priest had been most helpful in getting her over… her issues.
Truth be told, contrary to what the Brother had preached, Sunset found it easier to justify her taking of lives much more easily when she saw the freshly dug graves of three of the townsfolk who had not survived the attack. Perhaps it was the fact that those gnolls and ogres may had been the ones responsible, and she was merely avenging the fallen.
Best not to think about it. Sunset sighed as she reminded herself that she was here to cool off and relax, not to remember what she had done.
So here she was, sitting on a bench, drinking from a mug of chilled water as she watched the townsfolk go about their business as though nothing had happened. There was something comforting about how peaceful it was, almost like how Canterlot’s city area had been. Not really something Sunset would think she had missed.
Oh well, Sunset shrugged as she downed the rest of the contents of her mug down her throat, enjoying the feeling of the refreshing liquid running down her throat, it was about time for her to get back to her personal project anyways, those books she had left in the inn would not be reading themselves. Besides, it was not like she could find Helcular or any of the group to discuss anyways. Orys, she was avoiding for personal reasons, don’t get her wrong, she was grateful to him for saving her life, but he seriously needs to cut down on the stammering, then the rest had either left with Helcular early in the morning or were helping to fortify the village.
Dismissing the mug with a wave of her hand, Sunset made her way down to the inn, Sunset meeting with little opposition as she did so, in no small part due to the townspeople giving her a wide berth. It would have bothered her if she wasn’t used to it already. After all, in Canterlot, the maids and nobles were quick to scamper out of her way once they learned of what she had done to that pompous brat Blueblood.
Sunset cracked a small at that particular memory. Good times.
She almost reached the inn door when she was hailed by a call behind her. Wiping away the frown that briefly appeared on her face, Sunset turned to see Finora striding down the street down towards her. The large woman was wearing a set of mail armor, having forego her outer plate armor for the heavy lifting jobs required today. Still, she was no less imposing and Sunset would not underestimate her, especially after how she had seen Dame Finora swung that warhammer of hers.
“Lady Shimmer!” The knight smiled as she caught up to her. “How’re you feeling today?”
“I’m fine, Dame Finora.” Sunset put on her most convincing gentle smile, which was actually quite good. Those years of sucking up to certain nobles and professors certainly helped. “How may I help you?”
“Sir Erik and Helcular had returned, and they want us to gather into the townsquare.”
“Understood.”
The two of them headed over to the town square, which was really just a clearing in front of the tower. It did not take them long before their group came into view. Captain Erik had somehow pulled a table out into the open clearing and was standing around it, accompanied by Helcular, Redrick and a giant of a man with a bush red beard and a mane of matching color who Sunset vaguely recalled introducing himself as Sergeant Miller. If Sunset remembered correctly, he was Erik’s second in command and had been in charge of the town’s defense the other day, having reached it earlier alongside the other eleven men that had been sent forward with him. They all seemed to be discussing something urgently as they studied a piece of paper on the table.
Not any piece of paper, Sunset realised as she approached them, but a map.
“Ah, Finora, Lady Shimmer.” Erik looked up and smiled. “Glad to see you see you didn’t waste any time coming over.”
“Good to see you too, Captain. How’s squire Orys?” It would be impolite to not ask.
“He’s fine, he’s on the way to recovery.” Erik sighed, “though he would have to sit out this next assault.”
“Assault?”
“Indeed, during our scouting this morning. Helcular here,” He indicated the mage, “had managed to find interrogate the only gnoll we captured the other day, and gathered the rough location of the gnoll’s camp. We went there this morn and found that abandoned cave, but guess what else?”
“Ogres?” Finora prompted sarcastically.
“Not only that, I found our mastermind, there’s an orc with them.”
Orcs! Sunset had never seen one before, but she had learned much about them during her time spent helping Jaina with her project, and during her spare reading session when she went through the various works Archmage Antonidas wrote about them. While the accounts vary from writer to writer, one thing was common among them all, they were brutish creatures that almost could stand toe to toe against the Alliance and would have wiped them all out if not for the infighting they had suffered during the Second War.
And there was one here, and Captain Erik had pegged it to be the one that had coordinated the ogres and gnolls attack on the town.
“Where?” Redrick asked.
“Here.” Sergeant Miller placed a green stone on the map. “Looks to be an abandoned mineshaft and the folks here say that there is only one way in and one way out, unless the gnolls’ been digging.”
“There were two ogres left outside when we checked. Probably the two that did not come back to attack the village.” Helcular said, “Also, it will be safe to say that the orc possess magic of some kind, no one could command so many gnolls so easily otherwise.”
“How many gnolls were escaped the other day?”
“Around ten and five. But there could be more left in the shaft.”
“Two ogres, around fifteen gnolls and one magic orc.” Erik grunted.”Not a pleasant group to deal with, but I had fought worse, with harder odds. So here is what we’ll do…”
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Why can’t anyone ever use ogres that don’t care or are at least the neutral types
HA! I knew Helcular was an acolyte! Question is if they're gonna bring Sunset down the same dark path though...
I have not read a story on this site in a ver long time. Nothing really caught my interest, but this. This is the first thing I’ve been this excited to read in probably two or three years. I anxiously await what comes next!
9771681
Well, that's mostly because this time, the fic takes place after the Second War, so not really a lot of options to use neutral ogres, unless I somehow take it to Kalimdor, where most of those are.
9772259
It will be fun wouldn't it?
9772605
Wow, So glad to have you then! I hope I would not disappoint you or any of my other readers!
9777781
Hmmm what about young lunk that pacifist ogre
9777874
That's in Blackrock lands, still abit aways for Sunset.
9777889
Okay you got me on that logic I just like the ogres
9778015
Eh, it's all good. The fic is still young tho, so you might see more of them. Though sadly not for the next few chapters, those are already written and I'm just proofreading them myself when I'm free. So sadly, I don't think you can see as much ogres after this arc for the foreseeable future. But no worries, its Warcraft, I would be remissed if I did not use the ogres in the future along with a few other races.
9777781
Oh yes it will XD I'm almost getting giddy just imagining the potential story-lines XD
Though one thing I'm almost praying that you're gonna do is to have the Prophet either KNOW or at least hint at Sunset being the ''Lost daughter of the sun'' I've always wanted to see the kind of reaction something like that would get from the people around Sunset and also herself in these kinds of alternate mirror worlds XD
And yes I know it's not technically correct =P But it would be hilarious XD
9778040
Tuskarr, Vrykul, centaur, Furbolg, and Mighty morphin gnomes
Alright, let's see here. Very interesting so far, very intrigued to see where this takes our wayward ray of sunshine. Also my first contact with anything related to the Warcraft universe so I can confirm that it does a decent enough job explaining what's going on even if you don't know what's what.
That being said, there is one thing that needs to be addressed.
This story needs an editor. Sure there's some awkward phrasing here and there, but the thing that throws me off the most is that this story is clearly supposed to be written in past tense, but has a word slip into present tense or something else that doesn't belong there almost every other sentence, sometimes more.