Even at the best of times, Brill was far from the most hospitable of places. The once thriving human town was now a literal ghost of its former self, a huddled collection of decaying buildings inhabited by the undead forms of its former population. The unearthly green skies meant that, even in the middle of the day, the town was dark, while the dense plagued woods surrounding it only added to the claustrophobic air.
While the town was a shelter to the Forsaken, it was rare that members of the Horde's other races would be found there. Orcs, Trolls and especially Tauren found the Forsaken settlements disquieting at best and downright disturbing at most, and preferred to avoid them. When they did have business in Tirisfal, many of chose to stay for as little time as possible before moving on to whatever task was at hand.
Despite this, Brill was a shelter of sorts, and a relatively safe haven in the otherwise troubled lands. It was for this reason that a trio of riders pulled up outside the town's inn, dismounting from their animals as they did. They were a shabby trio, an Orc, a Jungle Troll and a Forsaken, all clearly injured.
"Dis was a bad idea, mon." The Troll began as he strode towards, the inn, clutching his right arm. His hand was missing with only a stump remaining. While the skin had already closed over the wound, it would be some time before his hand redrew. "We shouldn't have done it."
"Shut up, Upchaak." The burly Orc replied, clutching his arm to his chest. Both ad been bandaged recently, and were splattered with his black blood. "This was just as much your idea as it was mine."
"Yah, but it were your idea to actually fight, mon." Upchaak spat back. "We coulda jus' left right dere an' den, Hogruk!"
"What, and back down from one little elf girl!" Hogruk shouted out. "We could have taken her easily! You're just making excuses, you coward!"
"I am no coward, mon!" He snapped back. "I ju' said we shoulda desecrated da tomb an' gotten da hell outa dere!"
"That's not what you said earlier." Hogruk sneered. "You knew just as well as I did that if any Alliance saw us, they'd fight to protect their precious monument. And then we'd have an excuse to let them have it."
"Oh shut up the pair of you." The Forsaken snapped as he hobbled past them, clutching his back. He seemed to be more hunchbacked then usual for his kind, and was clearly in pain as he walked. "You sound like a pair of old women."
"Hey!" They both called out.
The Forsaken glanced at the pair of them. "We all agreed on this plan, and we are all to blame for what happened."
"Ya well..." Upchaak nodded as he stepped into the inn. "At least we be able to lay low here for a while. Don' wan' Aunty Jack ta find out-"
"Find out what?" A voice interrupted him as he stepped into the common room. The three of them stopped in shock as they assessed the figure standing there. It was a female Orc, tall and muscular even by their standards. She had dark green skin, and a shaved head, save for a pair of long pigtails. He face was turned into a snarl, while her eyes were hidden by a pair of goggles. Otherwise, she was dressed in a rather ugly floral frock which hardly flattered her muscular figure.
"Now we're in trouble." The Forsaken priest muttered.
"Ah..." Hogruk began. "Uh, Aunty Jack..."
"Yeah, uh, we wasn't expectin' ya to be here..." Upchaak continued.
"I mean, this being Brill and all..."
"An' you bein' busy wit... stuff... in Ogrimmar..."
"What the bloody hell happened to the three of you!" She shouted, the room shaking around her. "You step in here half dead with your guts hanging out? You had better bloody well have an explanation!"
"Well..."
"Y'see..."
"Umm..."
"We were..."
"Fighting..."
"Scourge!" The priest finally spoke up.
"Yeah!" Upchaak and Hogruk both nodded.
"We were tryin' to stop the Scourge, like what Kristoff said." Upchaak continued.
"Because, they, um, were massing. For an attack." Hogruk added.
"On the Bulwark." Kristoph offered. "So they could break through to Tirisfal and assault Brill."
"Except... there were lots of 'em"
"Ya mon." Upchaak grinned nervously. "Like, armies of 'em. An' we were outnumbered like."
"So we did what we could before we could beat a retreat."
"Fortunately, the damage we inflicted was sufficient to slow their advance and disrupt their formation." Kristoff finished, clearly a lot more clam and collected then his comrades. "Naturally, we alerted the garrison at the Bulwark as to what was going on. They sent us back here to Brill to recuperate while they organised their defenses."
Aunty Jack contemplated this for a moment. "So the three of you faced off with a Scourge army all on yer own and managed to beat 'em up a little before you were forced to retreat. In doing so, you bought time for the rest of Tirisfal to prepare." She rubbed her chin in though, her fingers playing over her stubble. "That'd be a pretty good story if a single bloody word of it was true!"
The three of them recoiled back. "But Aunty..." Hogruk began.
"But Aunty bloody nothing!" She shouted out, again shaking the room. "The three of you all bloody well snuck off to pick a fight with the bloody Alliance, didn't you? Only it didn't bloody well sort out ant you got your bloody arses handed to you!" The three of them glanced back at her with a look somewhere between guilt and absolute terror. "I should rip your bloody arms off."
"Dey allready did dat." Upchaak whimpered.
"Right." Aunty Jack sneered. "The three of you had better get yourselves on the next bloody blimp back to Ogrimmar and stay there where I can keep my eyes on you. You got that?"
They nodded.
"Right. If I see you trying to pick a fight with the Alliance again, I won't be nearly so kind. Thrall told us not to attack them, and he's the bloody Warcheif, so I expect you to follow his bloody orders"
The trio nodded again.
"Now get on that bloody Zeppelin! Go!"
It was all the incentive that the three of them needed. Despite their injuries, they were scrambling out of the room, desperate to get to their mounts and ride to the Zeppelin tower.
Aunty Jack waited until the three of them had left before herself walking outside. However, rather then heading to the Zeppelin tower, she instead walked around to the side of the inn.
"Well?" A voice asked from behind a derelict barrel.
"Yeah, you were right." She admitted. "They bloody well snuck off to pick a fight with the bloody Alliance, despite everything I bloody well told them."
"See?" The voice continued. "They're unreliable."
"And you are reliable." She replied. "'cause you followed 'em, then got back to me in time to tell me what they'd really been up to." The Orc nodded to herself. "So you knew I'd want to throw 'em out, and, as a consequence, need replacements in the Show. And you, having shown so much initiative would be perfect for it."
"That's right, yes."
"Well then..." The Orc turned and lunged, throwing the barrel aside and grabbing the figure behind it, a rather shabby looking Forsaken man. She hoisted him into the air, her face twisted into an angry snarl. "If I catch you spyin' on me lovlies again, I will rip yer bloody arms off!"
"okies" he managed to squeak out.
"Good." Aunty Jack dumped him, then turned away, angrily stomping across the withered grass towards the Zeppelin tower.
"Well that no worky." The Forsaken muttered as he watched her leave. "Okies, me needs new strategy."
Author's Notes[]
- This story takes place between Reconnecting and But I Like Ice Cream!