For the Whored Ch. 078

Lucinda, Cody and Lydia ran up beside Grogek and Darguni.

"Can I learn one too?" Lucinda asked. "I want the staff!"

"I want a sword!" Cody clapped.

"Alright, alright. We have to speak to your parents first." Grogek laughed.

Harvard sighed. "Listen, why don't' you go back home, and we'll talk tonight."

"No!" Bradly took off running.

"Shit!" Harvard yelled, before he started chasing after the child. Harvard chased along trying to catch Bradly before he made it out of the safe perimeter. "No. NO! BRADLY COME BACK! He screamed as he lost sight of the boy. He ran in circles for some time before turning and running back to the training yard. "GENERAL GROGEK!" He screamed as tears ran down his face.

Grogek met him halfway. "What's the matter?"

"My boy! My boy, he ran past the perimeter! I don't know what to do! Please. I know he was cruel, but he didn't mean it." Tears streamed down the man's face.

"Stop. Calm down. Do you have a direction?"

"Yes!"

"Wait here, I have to get Elunara." He turned and ran. At the door he pounded on it.

Elunara yanked open the door. "We'd only just started."

"That kid, Bradly, he took off running. His father lost track of him at the edge of the safe perimeter."

"Dumbass kid." Elunara sighed. She looked back. "I'm sorry, we'll have to reschedule."

"Oh no." The woman put her hands to her face. "Do we need a search party?"

Grogek shook his head. "We need Elunara. She's the best tracker we have."

"Take me."

They met the father on the north end of the perimeter. He put his hands on her arms. "Please, help me."

Elunara narrowed her eyes. "I've got his trail." She pushed past the man and went through the barrier.

"But, she's unarmed." Harvard frowned.

"I assume Elunara is unarmed is folly." Grogek frowned.

She followed his trail like a blood hound. At fist the trail was pretty straight forward, but it soon became obvious where he ran into trouble and which directions he'd darted off to. He had gotten turned around several times, and almost dipped into demon territory. She continued pursuit and swore in several colorful languages when she realized he'd made his way up into Gorgrond.

Dark came quickly and she was plunged into a starry night. Still she tracked his strange and erratic pathway. On the one hand she gave him props for making his way so far so fast, in hopefully one piece. The occasional traces of blood were no more unusual in this sort of situation. It was large quantities you had to worry about. With a groan she snuck into Laughing Skull territory. She stopped a moment and pulled out a sheet of paper. She scribbled hastily and then took the sheet of paper and wadded it up, tossing it over her shoulder.

"Where ARE they?" Harvard whimpered. "Shouldn't we send more people out?" He rubbed his arms.

Grogek frowned from his seat on the ground. "Elunara is the best." A piece of paper floated down and he snatched it reading. "She's tracked him to Gorgrond... Laughing Skulls." Grogek sighed. "How could such a small child get so far, so fast?"

"How..."

Grogek held up the sheet of paper. "This is Elunara's communication."

"How goes it?" Renwa stepped forward.

Grogek passed him the paper.

"Damn!"

"Admiral! He refuses to send out more men! We should—"

"Wait on Elunara. No one can do what Elunara does. We wait. If she calls for backup, then we worry."

"You two have an awful lot of faith in her." He pulled at his hair.

"We know her." Renwa spread his hands.

A woman came running out of the town. "No one told me until now! Why?" She stomped her foot.

"With a small child, one would assume he couldn't get that far." Grogek sighed. "Elunara has tracked him farther than I thought possible for him to go."

"Elunara? That whore?"

Grogek raised an eyebrow.

Harvard turned around and glared. "I see where he GETS it now..."

"Fighting now won't do you any good." Grogek shook his head.

Elunara felt that she was close. Painfully close, but she couldn't find the hole he had hidden himself in. It was the whimpering that alerted her to his presence. She bellied down and crawled in a small alcove. He whimpered back. She scribbled runes on her paper and lit them.

"It's just me, kid."

He lunged at her, wrapping his arms around her neck. She felt the tell tale stickiness of drying blood.

"Listen, let go for now. I need to send your parents a message."

He nodded and released her. She scribbled on her paper. Taking the message, she wadded it up and tossed it over her shoulder. It burned brightly and she saw he was covered in scratches and scrapes. The paper died out.

"I'm not sure if this will work, but I'm going to try." She laid her hands on his leg and closed her eyes. She focused on the prayer, a transference of good feeling. He seemed to relax under her hands. "Alright, come on out." She backed out slowly and pulled him with her. He shivered against her and she wondered if he was shocky.

He gasped and clung to her. She sighed. "Dammit to fuck." She hissed.

Two Laughing Skull orcs were looking at her with their heads cocked. She dodged the first spear and leapt over the second one. One arm was wrapped around the kid, but he was clinging to her in panic. She freed her hand and dodged and jumped until she was able to bury the dagger in the back of one's neck. Dropping down to the ground to dodge another spear, she was able to jam the dagger up under the jaw of the remaining laughing skull. She dismissed her knife and took off running. Through some miracle she was able to escape the encampment without attracting any others.

She hid in a small alcove and sat him down. Pulling out a length of rope, she was able to make a harness. He still wasn't talking and she was growing more concerned. "Come on kid, the only way I'm getting us out of this, is if I tie you to me. OK?"

He nodded.

She roped him to her back, and once he was in a comfortable position, secured him. "If you were my kid, I'd have already beaten the snot out of you for this." She sighed and started running sprints. Something grabbed her ankle and she hit the ground with a nasty crack. She turned and started slashing vines with her dagger. She cussed and swore as she started dispatching the vine creatures trying to eat her. She jumped on the back on a genesaur and stabbed it in the eye before jumping down and running for dear life. The enraged creature charged after her, flailing and roaring. She continued her mad dash until she felt like passing out.

The gratitude and amazement of the young charge on her back went a long way towards replenishing her supply. By time she made it to the edge of Talador, she was begging for a reprieve. With a groan she smacked her forehead. Elune might like her, but whoever controlled this lousy world thought it was funny to dump Iron Horde in her path. She lay on the ground, face buried in the dirt. The boy was perfectly quiet, a fact that continued to haunt her.

She jumped up and made a break for it, killing whatever hapless Iron Horde got in her way. She bailed into the bushes on the other side. With half a laugh, she patted a giant pissed off tiger on the head. "Goooood kitty." She dug in her pocket and with a prayer, opened her hand. It took the morsel from her and swallowed it in one bite. It licked her hand. "I know we smell like food..." She began patting her pants hoping to have something else. The boy held forth some sort of food item and she took it from him and fed the tiger. It rubbed up against them with a merowor.

Slowly, she headed towards town, careful to not run while the tiger eyed them. Should she run, it was as good as putting an "eat me" sign on her butt. Strangely, the beast started trotting along beside her like a puppy. She put her hands on its neck and pulled herself up. Seemingly game to the idea, the tiger began to run along. When Elunara tugged on its neck, it went the direction she led it. She drove it towards the barrier. It hesitated in confusion. "Go on, it's ok." Cautiously, the tiger pushed through the barrier.

Dropping off of the tiger, she stood up. In the campfire light, it was a beauty with black hide sporting red stripes.

Grogek and party swarmed her.

"I need Ina. The boy needs medical attention." Elunara sighed.

"I'm here. Let me have him."

Elunara cut the harness, and let him drop into his father's arms. She ran a hand over the tiger's head. "Why is the boy not speaking?"

"He ate some bad fruit in Gorgrond." Ina shook her head. "We need to get him to my building. If we don't get the antidote in him soon, he'll suffocate on his own tongue."

Harvard hugged her. "Thank you so much." He turned and followed Ina with the boy.

"Ugh, I need a bath."

"It appears you've made a friend." Grogek laughed.

"Yeah." She looked back. "He's a big one. I'm going to need some meat for him." She sighed. "Spare me from dumb children."

"You realize our own child is going to make dumb mistakes eventually."

"And I'll just have to beat the not out of him." She scoffed.

Grogek laughed. "Yeah, like you would."

"Depends on how stupid."