Excerpt: World of Warcraft: Fruit of the Loom

Daruk looked up and stared into the night sky. His startling blue eyes gazed at stars that seemed not to sit and watch, but ones who danced and played with each other over Azeroth. Two sharps tusks protruded from his mouth which slowly spread into what a human would probably think was a grimace, but it was in fact a smile. As he remembered the last time he had seen the stars dance like this, his green burrowed brow softened, and he was taken to his home. He closed his eyes and was there among his people, in a long stretch swamp. Huge mushrooms towered overhead, as the small party of Orcs crept silently below. The stars smiled down upon the Orcs as they stalked their prey. They had chased this Talbuk a long way, and it had been a cunning one, outwitting them more than once. Why it had lead them so far away from Nagrand, they did not know, but because their prey had eluded them so well thus far, the hunting party was all the more intent on finishing the hunt here and now. The leader, a younger looking Daruk, tensed and signaled the rest of his party to remain very, very still. He listened and sniffed their air. Daruk of the present chuckled at himself, remembering already what he and his party had found instead of their prey. The Daruk in his mind, caught the scent, and quickly, and silently issued orders to fan out and surround the immediate area in front of what seemed to be a clearing. As soon as the rest of his hunters were in position, he nodded and they burst forward like a pack of large predatory cats. Then to present day Daruk’s surprise, his memory seemed to steer off course. He and his band found burst in upon the Talbuk, who stood tall and looking fierce and prepared to defend itself to the last. This seemed to be what his past self expected, and so Daruk of the past ordered his hunters to close in. One hunter flanking the Talbuk stabbed the talbuk in the haunch with his spear, and a piercing shriek echoed through the Terokkar forest. The Orcs clasped their ears with their large muscled hands trying to tear the sound from their ears as the Talbuk mysteriously disappeared only to be replaced by a ghostly white banshee. Daruk of the present writhed where he lay in his camp, clutching his own ears as if he was also right there, until his eyelids shot open. He stared up again but this time concerned. The stars no longer smiled and danced. Then suddenly, a star blinked out. Daruk grimaced. If he had not been looking at that patch of sky he never would’ve noticed. Then he remembered what he had seen. A banshee, a minion of the Lich King’s Scourge had invaded his dream. Perhaps not an actual Banshee, but maybe the echo of one. He sat up, crossed his legs and stared at the ground between them, as he pondered the horror that had replaced the events that had actually occurred that hunt, and the disappearance of the star immediately afterward.

Meanwhile a long ways away, someone else watched the star snuff it. Thorgard, a Paladin of the Knights of the Silver Hand, blinked and tried to look again as he stood watch upon one of the high outer walls of Theramore, the only true human bastion set upon an island just outside the Dustwallow Marsh in Kalimdor. His long dark hair seemed not to tumble but almost trip or stumble down his back and in front of his shoulders, making him a dashing desire to any lady’s eye. Suddenly something more earthly caught his attention. Though maybe earthly wasn’t quite the correct description as an unearthly high pitched wail filled the ears of Thorgard, and most likely most of the inhabitants of Dustwallow Marsh, as the wail grew into a shriek. Thorgard was on alert staring at the dark ground where he saw a feminine, spectral figure. Mouth wide, and eyes even wider as if in shock and horror itself the Banshee continued her cry, as Thorgard tried to make out the whole scene better unfolding just outside the closed gates of Theramore. Thorgard started and ran towards a large tower: A bell tower. He quickly tugged on the tough rope, sounding the alarm. Just as the first bell rang, several other towers also came alive with ringing sounds. Thorgard, knowing that the alarm would continue, ran down stone steps along the inside of the tower onto the ground and outside and began calling “Undead outside the city! To arms!” at every building he passed. He had come back towards the gate when he heard another voice was shouting out guardsmen to shut the much larger inner gate, when suddenly a cry sounded. A gust of rotting wind through the mostly closed gates open as a huge crowd of ghouls began shambling forward into the port city, consuming the guardsmen who had been attempting to close the gate. Thorgard could only stare for a moment as the ghouls greedily consumed the guards. Thinking that he would be next, only further served to paralyze him. Suddenly, a better, stronger, less fearful cry sounded from the Silver Hand’s Barracks which caught everyone, including the lustily snacking ghouls attention. A group of four paladins charged forward, war hammers held high. The Ghouls quickly moved to engage. Thorgard called out “To the tower! We must defend Lady Proudmoore’s tower. The tower was positioned right in front of the large inner main gate. Who designed this place, Thorgard thought to himself. Thorgard reached the tower entrance just as the other paladins did. The ramp leading up to the tower served as perfect choke point allowing the paladins to battle a small number of ghouls at a time rather than trying to face the full force. Thorgard and the rest of the knights of the Silver hand, unsheathed their weapons. The weapon of choice for most paladins was a mace or war hammer, and Thorgard was no exception. He brandished his Aurastone hammer at the incoming onslaught, as well as unslinging his shield from his back. Before they engaged the undead, each paladin asked the light for its blessings, and Thorgard cast a spell to consecrate the ground around the group, causing it to pain and slow any unliving enemies that walked upon it. The door to the tower opened behind them and Lady Jaina Proudmoore herself stepped out just as the lead two paladins became besieged by ghouls. Immediately, Jaina was casting. As the remaining three paladins, including Thorgard rushed forward. Right after Thorgard had cleanly and neatly smashed a ghouls head flat against the ground with one blow, a sudden tidal wave rose up from the nearby ocean and crashed down onto the streets of Theramore forming into a vaguely humanoid shape. Jaina had summoned a water elemental to aid in the battle, relieving the paladins some. It swept into the side of the advancing ghoul army, and began flinging the ghouls over the walls of the city. Finally the city, and port guardsmen arrived from the opposite side, boxing the ghouls in, and their numbers began to dwindle. Just as Thorgard thought the tide of battle had turned, something chilling caught the attention of all the paladins. The Banshee that Thorgard had seen earlier floated up serenely and raised her hands in the air. Lady Proudmoore spotted her as well, but not in time to do anything about it. The half-eaten corpses of the guardsmen who had been attempting to close the inner gate jolted up and then slowly stood on their wobbly legs. “Brains…” said one. The distraction was enough. Two ghouls rushed forward and ripped out the jugular and the stomach of the two nearest paladins. Jaina lost her focus and the tidal wave that had been the water elemental subsided into a puddle in the cobble-stone street. Guardsmen on the opposite side from the elemental, experienced similar eviscerations as the two paladins near Thorgard. “Quickly Lady Proudmoore! We must ascend your tower, that will draw some of them off, and further disallow them from taking more of us.” Jaina did not have to ask for a second opinion. She turned and hurried inside the mage towers as the remaining three paladins held of the ghouls. Thorgard so the two who had slain the two paladins, gnawing away at their corpses. With disgust, he stood in front of the other two paladins and swung in a wide arch stunning the ghouls in the front. “Go!” he cried and then turned and ran into the tower himself.