Survival

[Rhonya]

Finally it was time. The march had begun, the armies gathered, the weapons sharpened, supplies strapped to the body or for some even on their riding mounts as they would try to take them through the battle. Everywhere were different expressions visible on faces. Angry faces, scared faces, determined faces… All so different, but they were all there together nonetheless. Standing on the ridge in front of the ominous red glowing portal, looking down. Battered, bleeding and tired, but the battle wasn’t over yet. Not by long. The hardest part was still to come.

Rhonya stood on the edge herself, looking to both her sides, at those standing close. The ones she loved, she cared about, all together going with her for this last stand. She wasn’t alone. She could do this, together with the rest, push though. Bloodmark started to move, towards the portal and everyone followed. Tauren, Elf, Pandaren even, all kind of races were with them, fighting on their side. The portal cast moving shadows on the ground, like flames dancing across the broken earth. The she-orc followed her bloodbrother, putting her fears aside and looked up at the portal. Rhonya had never liked the thing. Not when it was still green, and especially not now it was red. There was no telling what was on the other side. But she had to go. For herself, for her cubs, for the tribe. So she stepped on, along with her brothers and sisters of the tribe.

And so the weird feeling came over her as she stepped through the reddish magic, a somehow familiar feeling but also different. For a few moments she didn’t see anything, closing her eyes in reaction, until she opened them again as the feeling faded, and took in the scene in front of her. Chaos. Screams surrounded her, those dying or those wounded, and she had just a moment to prepare before the masses started to move. Rhonya moved along, not having much a choice. Strange magics were at work here, she could feel it, but it was unknown to her. The once familiar steps on the other side of the portal were not familiar at all anymore, brown orcs fighting everywhere with the forces they’d taken through the portals, dangerous looking machines whirring nearby, weapons clanging together in a dance of death…

She tried to stick to rest, ran along past the chaos, trying to follow Bloodmarks form, as suddenly the red portal behind them flickered and went out. She looked over her shoulder, and suddenly something crashed into her. She gasped for breath as she fell to the side, hard. Something glimmered above her and she was just in time to see a weapon coming down towards her. No time to react, she simply shut her eyes, but a heavy weight dropped on her a second later. Confused that she felt no pain, that she wasn’t dead, she looked up, seeing an orc lying on her. Brown skin, grey heavy armor, but he wasn’t moving. An arrow stuck from his neck, a crudely made thing with bright feathers and before Rhonya could see anything else she was jerked away from under the corpse by her arm.

“Steel’eart, no time ta lie aroun’ an’ sleep, now! Gotta move, come on!”

It took her a moment to realize it was Kyrazha who’d shot the orc, the enormous form of her direhorn right behind her, bodies scattered around, the horns bloody. A mighty beast indeed, in a situation like this. Kyrazha herself was covered in blood too, but for as far Rhonya could see it wasn’t all her own. Her armor was hanging in rags around her, some small cuts here and there, her face flushed with the bloodlust. The pregnant female looked more ferocious than ever, covered in warpaint and blood, the pregnancy making her shine, even now.

Together they moved through the chaos, Kyrazha steering Rhonya by her arm. Rhonya’s breathing came ragged, probably something messed up her ribs when she was pushed aside, and when she tried out to call the elements, confusion filled her head. This… She couldn’t work with this. Confused about the things she was hearing, she simply followed Kyrazha, though she had no idea where they were going. Where were the others? Where was Therak, Bloodmark..?

“Where is everyone else, Kyrazha?” She asked while they moved away from the portal now. Kyrazha turned her head, a serious expression on her face, but before she could answer the whole structure behind them simply blew up. The massive force threw them both off their feet, and a dark shadow moved over her, but she noticed it was just Cera protectively standing over them both, catching the worst of the blow for them. The outside armor of the beast protected her from the most small rocks that came flying their way by the force of the explosion. Kyrazha cursed something in an odd tongue and scrambled up to her feet, taking Rhonya’s hand in her own.

“Move, we gotta move! ‘Tis no’ safe ‘ere. I dunno w’ere dem ot’ers wen’, I los’ dem in da c’aos, bu’ I saw ya. W’y aint ya usin’ dem elements? Dey could’ve ‘elped ya, no?” The female spoke fast, the heavy accent slurring her words, but Rhonya could understand them.

“The elements are not responding as.. they usually do. I can’t make them out, I don’t understand them!” A slight panic came in Rhonya’s voice now as she realized she was actually completely helpless without her trusted elements, she had no weapons. Nothing to defend herself with. They moved again, quickly, towards some shouts about ships, passing some sort of jungle. Kyrazha moved fast and with precision, this type of area well known to her of course, even though it was a different, new, unknown land.

“We’ll worry abou’ dat later. Fo’ now we gotta focus on getting’ back to da res’. We be no’ safe alone out ‘ere.” She said, before starting to jog, Cera on her heels, moving pretty fast for an animal of her size. Rhonya was tugged along, her hand still held by the other she- orc. They didn’t encounter much others in the jungle, apparently somehow moving around most of the fighting, though Kyrazha kept her bow firm in hand. It felt like they walked there for hours, until Kyrazha noticed how hard Rhonya was breathing and stopped.

“We can’t res’.. I know. Ya sit on Cera. S’e carried ot’ers before, jus’ ‘old on tig’t.” she spoke with a determined voice, nodding, already moving to lift Rhonya up on the massive direhorn. Cera didn’t even seem to notice the extra weight as Rhonya clung on clumsily, and they continued moving, Kyrazha up front. After a while they finally reached the shouting at the docks and Kyrazha steered them right through the masses, the direhorn making others move aside the moment they saw her running towards them. Rhonya looked to see if she saw anyone familiar, but in the chaos of the masses she didn’t see any Red Blade tabard.

Once on the ship, Rhonya finally had some time to look at herself as Kyrazha helped her off Cera. Probably only her ribs were hurt… Her gaze moved, and fell on the savage female that was checking the direhorn for any wounds. “Are you alright, Kyrazha…? I mean..” Rhonya motioned with a hand to the females stomach. Kyrazha looked up and over her shoulder at the question, and just grinned wide.

“Never better. T’oug’.. Ta be ‘ones’, woul’ be better if da res’ were ‘ere. I los’ Sadok in da c’aos. Bu’ I t’ink  I saw ‘im las’ surrounded by da ot’ers so I ‘ope ‘e be fine.” She nodded at her own words, as if to convince herself. The female looked determined, but Rhonya could see a worry in her eyes, a worry she didn’t blame the she-orc for, because she felt it too. The ship suddenly started to move. Were there more ships? Was this the only one? It couldn’t be…

In the distance where first the portal was, now only rubble and dust filled the air, Rhonya could see it from their position on the ship as they started to sail. Tiredly she sat down against the railing, rubbing her eyes.

A movement jerked her awake. It took Rhonya a moment to realize the ship was suddenly moving a lot more than before, and quickly she opened her eyes. Another movement threw her over, and suddenl y she was clinging on to the rails as a crack like a cannonshot sounded and the whole structure heaved to the side. Rhonya’s hand slipped and she let go, before hitting the cold water with a splash and breath was knocked out of her. Did they crash? Frantically, Rhonya tried to swim away from the ship. She managed to reach the shore, shivering and freezing, stepping on.. snow. Of course it had to be snow, one of the things she hated most. Confused she peered around, the ship having sailed on a bit further after the initial first crash. So she was alone now, couldn’t see the ship anymore and she had no idea in which direction it had gone.

With a sigh Rhonya started to move, rubbing her arms against the cold. She couldn’t stand still or she’d go into hypothermia, and then she’d die all alone out here. Her gaze caught on something at that moment though and she noticed Cera standing a little further along the coast, nudging something on the ground. Quickly Rhonya made her way over, and found Kyrazha. Soaked, half her armor gone now, her lips a pale blue.

“Oh no, no! Don’t you dare…” Rhonya said as she kneeled down next to the female, turning her on her side quickly, checking her breathing. There was none. Cera let out a low huff through her nose, keeping a close eye on Rhonya, but she didn’t interfere as Rhonya turned the she-orc back on her back and pinched her nose. Without hesitating she brought her own mouth down on the females cold lips and breathed her own warm breath inside. This she continued for a few times.

“Come on, Kyrazha.. You’re stronger than this. You can’t give up now!” the words were nearly growled as she pressed her hands down on the females chest. Suddenly Kyrazha started to cough and splutter, spitting out a lot of salt water as she turned on her side with a groan, curling up. Rhonya breathed out in relief, but knew they were not safe yet. They were both soaked, alone on this frozen shore, with nothing to keep them warm.

“Come on… We need to walk. Keep ourselves warm, find a shelter, make a fire… And then we can focus on finding the others back, wherever they are…” she said softly, though Rhonya didn’t sound too secure of herself. Gently she helped Kyrazha to her feet, and supported her as they started to walk. As if a wonder, they found the females bow not too far away, and some of the arrows also scattered on the frozen beach. Gathering what they could, they set out together, Cera following them closely.

A few days later, Rhonya was sitting at their fire Kyrazha had managed to make and keep burning for the time. Rhonya felt useless, not having her powers, not able to do much apart from the most basic survival things. Compared to Kyrazha she was more a liability at the moment. The savage female seemed so sure of herself, with what she did and how, even though they had only found corpses along the road so far. Orcs, green orcs.. Grunts. Kyrazha had found a female corpse of about her own size and had salvaged of the armor what she could. It wasn’t the most warm outfit, but it was better than the scraps she was wearing before. Rhonya had taken one of the cloaks from the dead and murmered a soft prayer. She’d tried to burn the first corpse they’d come across, but the ground was too cold, and as they came across more and more orcs washed ashore, she gave up on the idea. Rhonya couldn’t burn them all, it would take her days, if not weeks and she didn’t have the means to do it.

They’d moved more inlands, through the snow, and made a crude shelter, like Therak once taught her. Night had fallen and now she was just sitting there with her fire, Cera laying nearby, sheltering them from the most of the harsh, cold wind. Kyrazha moved into the shelter, dragging some hares with her by the ears.

“At leas’ dere be some small game too. I t’oug’t I’d seen big t’in’s back in Na’ran’, bu’ some o’ dose animals walkin’ aroun’ ‘ere be ‘uge!” she said, grinning from ear to ear. Kyrazha had adapted to the situation a lot better than Rhonya had, taking things day by day, living in the moment, instead of worrying all the time. Or perhaps she did worry, but just didn’t show it. Rhonya couldn’t tell, she didn’t know Kyrazha that well. Her gaze was on the female as Kyrazha started to skin the hares and stick them on a sharpened stick, hanging them above the fire.

“So where do you actually think we are…? This isn’t like anything I’ve seen before in Outlands. Before we moved through the portal they found maps of.. Draenor, but I don’t remember snow in Outlands..” Rhonya spoke softly, maybe more to herself than to Kyrazha, though Kyrazha looked up from her work a second to reply.

“I dunno. I never saw w’ole o’ Outland eit’er. Be dere not’in’ in da annals ya keep about da worl’ o’ old?”
Rhonya frowned, not even noticing Kyrazha licking her knife clean of the hare blood. “There are, but… How can this be Draenor? It was destroyed… Though, the annals say of a frozen wasteland where Clan Redblade once used to live. Though I don’t understand how we could be there, if that’s really where we are.”

Kyrazha shook her head a moment. The shelter was filling with the delicious smell of roasted meat, fat dripping into the fire, making it sizzle. “Ya t’ink too muc’. We can worry abou’ dat later. Fo’ now we jus’ need ta make sure we fin’ da res’. Da link doesn’ seem ta work, jus’ like ya powers. Somet’in’ be very wron’ ‘ere, I feel it too.” Kyrazha put a hand on her chest a moment, before they just sat in silence until the meat was done. Slicing the tender meat, Kyrazha gave Rhonya her share.
“Eat. Ya need it. We gotta move on tomorrow again.”

Sighing, Rhonya nodded, slowly taking bites of the meat offered to her. Kyrazha was right, it was no use to worry too much now. For now they’d just have to survive. And Rhonya had promised to herself she’d look after Kyrazha a little too, for as much as she could, for the female still carried her two cubs. Her bloodbrothers sons. She’d get Kyrazha back to him, one way or another. If only they could find the tribe again…

Tomorrow was a new day, to continue their search. For now,they were safe in the shelter.