Commander Pinter Ch. 01

Reality returned to Pinter, and she ran past the dead Ogre, past the charred husk of the Dwarf. She ran to the Draenei paladin who still cried in pain near Gug'rokk's throne.

Her armor was shattered on her waist. Her dark purple skin was ripped open from Gug'rokk's dagger slash with chunky viscera in the wound. The Draenei didn't have long as blood poured from her in a thick pool. She looked at Pinter with eyes that glowed bright blue but knew death was only moments away. She didn't want to die. Pinter wasn't going to let her.

"I am here," Pinter said, and she pulled Kerrak's rune from her backpack. She held it over the Draenei's awful wound, and she cracked the stone in half.

A cloud of glowing cinders rained on the Draenei. They fell on her open innards with a loud sizzle, but the paladin didn't scream in pain. She was quiet as the wound regenerated before Pinter's eyes. The flesh regrew. The skin reappeared, covering the Draenei as if nothing had happened. The armor was still cracked and broken, but the paladin was alive. She was whole again. She touched her side when it was done, and she looked at Pinter. "You saved me," the Draenei said.

"I guess I did," Pinter said.

"My name is Mandala," the Draenei said as she sat up. Pinter took her hand and helped her to her feet.

"Pinter."

They said nothing else as Mandala found her weapons. As she chopped off Gug'rokk's head. As Pinter took the Ogre's knife and cut the thorny ring from his finger. As Mandala ripped off his ear to get the stone trinket embedded in the cartilage. They said nothing as they left the chamber, as they retraced their steps along the trail of dead, as they thought of their two fallen comrades that they left behind, as there was no trace of their ally who had fled in terror. They found the entrance to the mines, and the sunset was as pink as a rose blossom in the west.

"It's a long way back to Shadowmoon Valley," Pinter said.

"Lead the way, Commander Pinter," Mandala said.