Fhaliona

Mission Critical, pt 1

Fhaliona leapt from the wagon as soon as it stopped, eyes scanning the war camp for the commanders' tents. After checking in, she found her gear already unloaded and a few squires standing ready, unwilling to meet her gaze. “Hero of Darkshore”. There are plenty of those. These boys act like they've never seen a hardened soldier before. She turned to the closest one as he squirmed. “Where's the furthest tent from here? I need my beauty sleep.” He pointed toward the east side of camp and they all scrambled to pick up the cots, bedrolls, and packs of personal supplies. May as well get things ready before Diz gets here. Making their way through the camp. Fhaliona caught the usual stares and whispers, but ignored them as the squires lead her to a more quiet area of the camp, away from the hustle and bustle, oaths about how many Troll ears would be taken and how much Orc blood would be spilled. Most of them would be lucky to survive if a real battle broke out.

The small group finally reached their destination, where two tents were already pitched near a small fire pit with logs around it as impromptu seating. She simply nodded her thanks as the gear was dropped and the squires scurried away, setting up her supplies in one of the tents and fetching wood from a nearby pile. Dizarak wasn't terribly far behind, just enough for her to tease him about being late even though he'd had farther to travel than she did.

The first few days were uneventful. The powers that be saw fit to send them on simple scouting missions. They'd come across a Horde encampment where captives were being held. Fhaliona had wanted to charge in and free them immediately, but the commanders' orders were simply to observe. She hated missions like this; patience and stealth were definitely not her forte, and why give the Horde the opportunity to further abuse and murder Alliance citizens? After a week of watching the captives slowly disappear, her rage had build to the point where it was barely controllable. Still no order to attack. It was a small camp; she could take them all out herself, and even more easily with Diz striking from the shadows.

Nearly two weeks passed. The captives had dwindled to half their original number. Fhaliona grumbled from her hiding place as Diz appeared beside her after once again taking count, knocking a fist against the side of the tree she crouched behind. “Ready?” he asked, knowing she'd grown tired of sitting while he'd gone ahead.

“To what? Charge in? I could only hope that's what you meant.” She hated sitting around, and hiding behind a tree when she could be ridding the forest of the Horde invaders was just shameful and cowardly.

“If only.” Dizarak looked just as annoyed as she felt. Fhaliona sighed. “Maybe soon-” Diz's voice was drowned out as screams pierced the camp nearby and both froze.

“Now?” Fhaliona asked, springing to her full height, unsheathing her sword and nearly dancing with excitement.

“Now!” Diz snarled. The word had barely left his lips as Fhaliona rushed toward the camp and screams, the rogue hot on her heels.

Finally! Fhaliona burst through the undergrowth and leapt over the spiked wall to find the Horde camp in complete bedlam. The initial screams they'd heard were from a young Kaldorei woman, who was on the ground clutching a small bundle. The men, the few who were left, had begun fighting their captors with improvised weapons. Dwarves kneecapping Orcs with small boulders; there was even a Gnome who'd made it up a tree and was sending tiny boiling elementals conjured from the cook pots and cauldrons at the faces of the enemy. It was utter chaos; the kind Fhaliona thrived in. She glanced over her shoulder to Diz before throwing herself into the fray. “Take out their leaders. I'll handle the rest.” He vanished into the shadows as she struck, her blade taking the head cleanly off the nearest Orc. The captives hesitated and she barked, “You're not alone. Keep fighting! Take their weapons!” Diz had already finished with the commanders and saw fit to take out their Goblin engineers as well. Explosions rocked the far side of the encampment as he tripped their bombs from a safe distance. Good boy. Trolls, Orcs, Sin'dorei, they all fell before her whirling blade, but the battle had casualties on their side as well. These captives were not soldiers, and the Horde had ordered their immediate execution when the fighting broke out. The only one left was the young mother, and she took off running as soon as the fighting had begun in earnest. Another scream was heard from deeper into the forest just as Diz emerged from the shadows. The two shared a look and he disappeared through a void tear as Fhaliona turned back to the Horde soldiers that remained, her face a grim visage of cold fury as she took her large sword in one hand and picked up another from one of the fallen.

mentions: @dizarak