#maraad

Devos, Davos.  Davos, Devos.

Orcs flowed unending from the Dark Portal, a writhing river of flesh and steel that looked for all the world like a scene from the First or Second War, if not for the baleful red magic that swirled between the stone pillars instead of a sickly green.

Khadgar kept his gaze and senses firmly fixed on the portal, watching and waiting. He knew that the only one way to stop this invasion was to sever the portal link from the other side - the only problem was that it involved getting past the waves of invaders into the portal. And currently the torrent was enough to make any assault impossible.

So the mage stood and waited, watching the orcs and using his magical senses to detect the slightest waive or change in the magical energies that would grant them the opening they needed.

“You’re not trying to destroy the Dark Portal by will alone, are you?” Maraad’s amused voice cut through the archmage’s thoughts. He spared the draenei the merest glance from the corner of his eye.

“I tried, but all it gave me was a headache.” Khadgar replied. “Besides, I’d prefer not to deepen this crater if I can. We need to wait for an opening. I will let you know when there is one. For now, allow your champions to clear up any of this...Iron Horde’s stragglers. We cannot afford them to escape our containment.”

Maraad made an affirmative grunt.

“Very well, Khadgar. But you don’t have to watch all of the time. Give yourself a break, or you won’t be able to see the opportunity when it comes.”

“Thank you for your concern, but I will be fine.” As soon as he said that, however, the vindicator’s gauntlet came down on his shoulder, and despite the protective mantle, Khadgar could feel Maraad’s grip and the unspoken words behind it. He sighed. “All right, all right. I suppose I could do with a change of scenery.”

He glanced over to see the corner of Maraad’s mouth quirk upwards in a smirk, before he clapped Khadgar on the shoulder and left, striding away to speak to an Alliance champion.

At that moment, the archmage caught the sound of Thrall speaking to a Horde champion, and the sound of their approach, and he smiled.

“It is good of you to come, champion,” he said. “Thrall has spoken highly of your exploits, and I am more than glad that you can lend your strength in storming the Dark Portal.”

He turned around to face the champion.

And looked up.

Towering before the archmage was a giant troll woman, with dark blue skin with darker scale-like blotches under her eyes, blazing red hair pulled up into a mohawk with four braids hanging down over her breasts, piercing glowing blue eyes and tusks that were longer than the mage had expected them to be. By her side was an equally big ravasaur, red scaled with teal stripes and feathers of dark navy blue, watching him steadily.

Khadgar knew trolls were one of the larger races on Azeroth, but the one standing before him was enormous; for a tall man, he barely came up to the middle of her chest. Which was awkward, to say the least.

More awkward was that the sight of her had utterly robbed the archmage of his train of thought - frankly, of any words at all - and he was very aware he was just staring at the troll now with his mouth open. As first impressions went, it wasn’t great.

The troll tilted her head slightly, her glowing eyes (that reminded him of the kal’dorei) still boring into him, and she seemed to be weighing up her words.

“You be da one dat called me here?” She asked, her Zandali accent thick and rich around the Common words, as if they were foreign to her.

Thankfully her voice reminded the wizard how to speak himself.

“Oh, yes! Y-Yes, I did call you here. A-At Thrall - sorry, I mean Go’el’s - recommendation.” Khadgar stuttered, feeling his face start to burn. “I-I apologize, you’ve quite caught me off guard. I am familiar with trolls, but I-I don’t think I’ve ever seen your kind before.”

The troll’s face twitched, and Khadgar could have sworn it had softened somewhat.

“I be one of da Zandalari.” She replied. “It be...a long story.” The mage blinked, his eyes widening.

“You’re a Zandalari?” He breathed, his eyes doing a quick sweep on her frame. “Light. I am truly grateful you are one of the ones on our side.” He glanced down to the ravasaur. “And your companion too.”

Khadgar cursed suddenly as a realization hit him.

“Ah! I’m so sorry, I’ve not asked for your name. Or your friend’s either,” he said, smiling weakly and hoping she would forgive him.

A smile grew around the Zandalari’s own tusks, and Khadgar’s heart breathed a sigh of relief.

“My name be Draggka. Dis here be Spike.” The ravasaur made a grunting noise that sounded friendly - friendly for something with many sharp teeth and talons, anyway.

“A pleasure to meet the both of you.” The mage bowed. “I, I will let you know when we are ready to make our offensive. For now I, I think Go’el has some tasks for you regarding some iron Horde invaders. Hopefully they’ll serve as a warm-up for things to come.”

Draggka gave a nod.

“I will be here when you be needing me,” she said, bowing her head respectfully before moving away with her ravasaur.

As he watched her, Khadgar felt he could take a breath in, and ran his hand through his hair, finally realising that he was flustered. That and his heart was beating a quick two-step in his chest. And that he was still staring at her as she went over to Thra- Go’el and struck up a conversation with him.

The mage tore his eyes away, swallowing hard. What’s wrong with me? A beautiful, formidable woman shouldn’t put me about like this so much. It feels I just got my first crush-

His eyes widened.

Oh. Oh no.

“Is everything all right, Khadgar?” A deep, familiar voice sounded out behind him. “You look like someone has ruffled your feathers.” Maraad grinned properly now, and Khadgar wanted to just shrivel up into his robes.

“I’m fine.” He replied, desperately trying to will his tell-tale blush off his face. “I was just...taken off guard. I didn’t expect a Zandalari to be joining us. Not that I would refuse her help, of course...” He stole a glance over to the hunter as she appeared to be speaking to her ravasaur, petting his feathery mane as the beast seemed to chirrup back at her like an affectionate cat. Khadgar’s heart warmed to see it, and his glance became a bit more than that.

“I see.” The grin in the draenei’s voice made the mage realize what he was doing, and he quickly snapped his gaze back to the vindicator. “Whilst you should take a rest from staring at the Portal, don’t allow yourself to become distracted by other things, Archmage.”

He was mercifully called away before he could further rub it in, but Khadgar groaned regardless, covering his face with his hands.

Draecember 2018 - Day 7. Grief