Ambassadors - A novel based on Warcraft

Chapter 16 - Arathor

Naurosh, Eidil and Eganje had spent most of their time getting food for their group, but on one occasion they had worked together to hunt down a sea monster. The Fuselight-by-the-Sea sailors swore it was the most dangerous creature they had ever seen, making it impossible to set sail. It turned out to be just a big and ugly shark that posed no threat at all.

However, Argheros and Craos had escorted Topijin to copy some weird runes in a Titan vault near the ruins of Uldaman. What seemed to be a simple task turned out to be a nightmare of raging troggs; they barely survived, and they managed to copy only one rune.

The Ambassadors had gone through tasks like these and many more. Wolfeye had tried to keep everyone in a good mood, convincing them that eventually they would be able to get an official endorsement from the Steamwheedle Cartel itself. The sort of political documents they would need to protect the Embassy project.

After long days of hard work, eventually they managed to get enough money to buy them tickets to sail to the Hinterlands. What was worst, there was no ship that traveled regularly to that zone, so the Cartel had demanded more money than the usual.

The only one who was fascinated about the time spent at the Badlands was Ishgo. He was indeed thrilled with the goblins and their ingenuity, and for a moment he had considered staying at Fuselight instead of following the Ambassadors. Fortunately, Wolfeye had changed his mind.

"Damn, I still can't shake the dust off me", Syla complained after a while. "It's a good thing we left when we did... I didn't stand the desert anymore. But, I swear, it would've been more bearable if it weren't for the goblins."

"Don't say it too loud, or Ishgo may hear you", Argheros laughed.

"Yeah... I know. When were you planning on telling me about him?", she asked looking at him straight in the eye, almost without blinking.

"I wasn't planning on telling you", the Paladin admitted and Syla arched her eyebrows. "Can you judge me? Not everyone is fond of dragons, and besides he wishes to be a goblin to our eyes."

"We are supposed to trust each other", she insisted; to her surprise, Irondawn smiled.

"Do you want me to assume that you, among all other people, hide no secrets from me?"

"You know I'm an open book, all you have to do is ask questions."

"Did you ask me about Ishgo?", he inquired, playing her own game.

"Touche...", she admitted, looking away.

"What do you wish to know?", he conceded then.

"There's not much to ask now, actually", she sat down on the ship deck and invited him to sit next to her. "I tried not to freak out when he told me he was a dragon. Shouldn't we be honest with the rest of the group?"

"I had the same argument with Dunris and Ishgo himself. Do you know what the dragon said?", he made a quick pause, but Syla knew it was a rhetorical question. "He just answered: the time of my kind is over; now it's the time for your people to guide the fate of this world... believe me, I know about time."

"Did you? Believe him?"

"Why wouldn't I? After Deathwing was killed years ago, everything changed for us", then he remained silent for some moments, as one of the ship's crewmen passed by. "Now, we aren't certain how our allies would think about traveling with a bronze dragon, but there is one thing we are sure about: he doesn't want to travel as a dragon."

"Why not? I mean, I started believing a lot more in this endeavor after he revealed his true nature. And, c'mon, nothing good has happened to us after I got to know Ishgo's truth... We almost die, we lived in a desert, working for the Cartel, trying to get weapons just in case we are attacked again... because this was supposed to be a pacific mission, we only needed a small army to drive the Syndicate and the Ogres away from Alterac. And still, despite all that, I believe in this like never before. With a dragon by our side, I can only see our chances improving."