Jaina's Warning

In the wilderness outside Theramore, the blazing sun scorched the cracked earth, and the air was thick with the briny stench of salt flats mingled with sea wind. Onyxia leaned against a heavily weathered boulder, her black scales gleaming with a cold metallic sheen beneath the sunlight. Her dragon tail impatiently lashed the ground, kicking up a cloud of fine dust.

"You'd better hurry," she said, narrowing her vertical pupils as her golden eyes contracted into thin slits while she looked toward the white-walled city-state of Theramore in the distance. "I don't want to stand out here in the sun all day." A cluster of Black Flame ignited at her fingertips, and with a casual flick, she melted a loose stone into molten glass. It dripped onto the ground with a sharp hiss.

Deren was adjusting the "Agricultural Advisor" badge at his collar. At her words, he looked up with a sly smile. "Relax, we're just signing some paperwork. It won't take long." He patted the finely tailored dark-patterned robe he wore. Wheat stalks and explosions were embroidered along its cuffs—the emblem of The Barrens Agricultural Development Company, understated yet carrying a hint of danger.

Beside him, Chromie had already transformed into the form of a gnome girl wearing round glasses. Her golden twin ponytails were tied with meticulous neatness, and she held a thick ledger in her arms. The gilded words "chief financial officer" on its cover gleamed in the sunlight. She adjusted her glasses, their lenses flashing coldly, and said in an affected gnomish voice, "Let's go, humans. Remember to call me 'Ms. Milo, chief financial officer'—if our cover gets blown, I'll convert all your budgets into Copper Coins!"

Onyxia snorted, her dragon claws carving several deep scratches into the rock. "If Jaina finds out about your little scheme, don't expect me to bail you out." Her gaze swept over Theramore's distant towers, where faint pulses of Arcane Energy could be seen. "That 'favored daughter of heaven' doesn't care much for the Dragon Race."

Deren shrugged and pulled a document covered in seals from his Space Bag, giving it a little shake. "Legal procedures, legal business. Who could turn down a merchant devoted to 'enthusiastic agriculture'?" His tone was casual, but his eyes flicked toward Theramore Harbor, where several Goblin merchant ships were docked—the crucial point in their plan for transporting "special supplies."

Chromie rose onto her tiptoes and patted Deren's arm. "Stop dawdling. Time is money—though I have plenty of time." She winked, and a thread of bronze-colored time energy flickered across her fingertips. "But if we delay any longer, Onyxia's patience may be thinner than a Goblin contract."

Onyxia's tail suddenly swept across the ground, whipping up a burst of dust. "Shut up, gnome." A trace of her Dragon Awe leaked out, and the surrounding air instantly turned scorching hot.

Deren promptly raised both hands in surrender. "All right, let's get moving. Onyxia, you handle the pickup; Chromie, take care of the paperwork; and me..." He grinned. "I'll go to City Hall to handle the formalities."

The three figures split apart across the wilderness and headed toward their respective goals. The sunlight stretched their shadows long behind them, as if foretelling the undercurrents hidden beneath this seemingly ordinary "agricultural project"—undercurrents powerful enough to shake Azeroth.

The marble steps of Theramore City Hall gleamed with cold white light beneath the noon sun. Deren straightened his collar, making sure the "Agricultural Advisor" badge on his chest was properly placed and conspicuous, then stepped up the stairs. Chromie followed closely behind, clutching a heavy ledger, her golden eyes gleaming shrewdly behind her round glasses.

When they pushed open the carved oak doors, a wave of cool air met them. City Hall's interior was simple yet solemn, with blue Alliance banners bearing lions hanging on both sides. Several uniformed clerks sat with their heads lowered over paperwork. Deren approached the outermost counter, where a young human clerk with a freckled face sat behind it. Gold-rimmed glasses rested on his nose, and his eyes behind the lenses showed both exhaustion and suspicion.

"The Barrens Agricultural Development Company?" The clerk adjusted his glasses and slowly flipped through the application documents Deren had handed over, his brows gradually knitting together. "You want to establish a trade transfer station in Theramore?"

"Yes." Deren gave the sincere smile unique to merchants, lightly tapping the counter with his fingers. "We primarily deal in high-efficiency fertilizers and Soil Conditioner, and we plan to ship them inland across Kalimdor through Theramore Harbor."

The clerk's gaze moved back and forth between Deren and Chromie before finally settling on Chromie—a gnome chief financial officer was uncommon enough, especially one whose glasses seemed to carry a faint bronze gleam.

"Fertilizer?" the clerk repeated skeptically. "But the land around Theramore is all saline-alkali soil. Even weeds barely grow there. What kind of fertilizer could you possibly sell?"

"Precisely because of that!" Deren suddenly raised his voice, as if someone had struck the source of his excitement. He quickly pulled a small bag of white crystals from his satchel and pushed it before the clerk. "Our Potassium Sulfate compound fertilizer is specifically formulated for saline-alkali soil and delivers remarkable yield increases!"

The clerk hesitantly took the bag, rubbed some of the powder between his fingertips, then leaned closer to smell it. The pungent odor immediately made him cough.

Chromie promptly handed over a finely bound "experimental data report." The cover bore a conspicuous forged seal from an agricultural research institute, its edges trimmed in gold. She pushed up her glasses and added in a saccharine gnomish voice, "After six months of field testing, our fertilizer doubled yields on wasteland reclaimed by Lordaeron refugees. Of course, you know Lordaeron's current situation, so we decided to expand our business into Kalimdor."

The clerk leafed through the report, its densely packed figures and charts making his eyes swim. After hesitating for a moment, he finally sighed, picked up his seal, and stamped the documents heavily. "Fine. But all cargo entering and leaving the harbor must be subject to inspection—Theramore's rules cannot be broken."

Deren's smile grew even brighter. He reached out to take the documents, his fingertips casually brushing past the clerk's sleeve as a small gold coin silently slipped into the other man's pocket.

"Of course, of course. We'll fully cooperate with inspections." He gave a slight nod, his tone so sincere that no fault could be found in it.

Chromie had already opened her ledger and was rapidly jotting notes with a feather pen, muttering words such as "harbor tax" and "storage fees" under her breath, looking every bit the meticulous chief financial officer.

As the two turned away from the counter, Deren caught the clerk secretly touching his sleeve out of the corner of his eye, a faint smile lifting the man's lips. It seemed that gold coin had done its job.

However, just as they were about to step out of City Hall, a low cough sounded behind them.

"Wait."

Deren stopped in his tracks, and Chromie's ears perked up slightly.

The clerk adjusted his glasses and lowered his voice. "If you really want to do business here... you'd best not cause trouble." His gaze meaningfully passed over Chromie's glasses. "That person in Theramore isn't very friendly toward magical creatures."

Deren's smile did not change. He merely nodded lightly. "Thank you for the warning."

When they stepped out of City Hall, sunlight fell over them once more. Chromie let out a long breath and snapped her ledger shut. "Done!"

Deren narrowed his eyes toward the harbor, a meaningful curve forming at the corner of his mouth. "Now we can openly ship 'fertilizer' into Theramore."

In the square outside City Hall, sunlight filtered through the clouds onto the white marble ground. Deren and Chromie had only just descended the steps when an unnatural ripple suddenly spread through the air. Arcane Energy rippled outward like waves across water, and the temperature around them abruptly dropped several degrees.

"Careful—" Chromie's golden pupils shrank sharply, and one small hand was already resting on the Time Sandglass at her waist.

A brilliant blue portal abruptly unfolded before them, and Jaina Proudmoore stepped out with elegant yet dangerous strides. Her long golden hair drifted slightly in the lingering wake of Arcane Energy, while the crystal atop her staff glowed with an icy blue light. Theramore's ruler showed not the slightest sign of welcome.

"Bronze Dragon." Jaina's sharp gaze locked directly onto Chromie, her voice as cold as a northern wind. "What are you doing in my city?"

Chromie adjusted her round glasses, and a fawning smile peculiar to gnome merchants instantly spread across her face. "Just doing some part-time financial work, Lady Proudmoore. You know, Time Magic is especially convenient for checking accounts."

Jaina lightly tapped the ground with her staff. A ring of frost spread outward from her, stopping abruptly before the tips of Deren's boots. Her gaze shifted to him. "And you—a human—employing a Bronze Dragon as an accountant?"

Deren spread his hands and gave an innocent smile. "A skilled professional, reasonably paid. We're merely fertilizer merchants here to conduct legitimate business."

Jaina's gaze moved back and forth between them before finally settling on the Company Badge at Deren's chest. Arcane Energy gathered at her fingertips as she lightly traced the badge's surface, seemingly inspecting it for something.

"The Barrens. Agricultural Development?" When she spoke the name, her tone was openly suspicious. "Theramore does not welcome trouble."

Chromie suddenly pulled a sheet of parchment from her ledger, covered in various seals. "All our documents have been properly approved! Including certification from the Dalaran Agricultural Research Institute!"

Jaina took the document, her fingertips lingering briefly over one of its seals. Deren noticed the slightest crease form between her brows—that forged Dalaran seal likely could not fool a former Dalaran mage.

The air seemed to freeze. The guards in the square unconsciously softened their footsteps, while several passing merchants wisely detoured around the area.

At last, Jaina tossed the document back into Chromie's arms. Her voice was low, but it carried unquestionable authority. "It had better be. Remember this: in Theramore, my eyes are everywhere."

With a flurry of ice crystals and a flash of blue light, Jaina's figure vanished. Only the frost flowers left upon the ground proved that she had been there.

Chromie let out a long breath, her round glasses sliding down to the tip of her nose. "Did she find out?"

Deren wiped away sweat that was not actually on his forehead. "Not sure. But at least we're 'legitimate' merchants now."

As dusk deepened, the wilderness beyond Theramore was dyed with a dark golden afterglow. Onyxia sat leaning against a weathered boulder, idly playing with a flickering cluster of Black Flame at her fingertips, her dragon eyes glowing dangerously in the shadows.

In the distance, Deren and Chromie finally appeared on the horizon. Chromie jogged along, her golden twin ponytails bouncing with every step, while Deren strolled at an unhurried pace, idly turning the stamped permit over in his hand.

"If you'd been any later, I would've had to consider turning this entire wilderness into glass." Onyxia snorted. The Black Flame in her palm went out, becoming a wisp of smoke.

"Sorry, we ran into a little snag." Deren shrugged. "Jaina personally 'welcomed' us."

Onyxia's pupils suddenly narrowed. "She noticed?"

Chromie hopped onto a boulder and brushed the dust from her skirt. "Hard to say. The way she looked at me was like I was a ticking bomb that could blow up her city at any moment." She mimicked Jaina's icy tone. "'Theramore doesn't welcome trouble'—ha! As if we were terrorists or something."

Deren chuckled, took a bottle of Dwarven Spirits from his Space Bag, pulled the stopper, and took a swig. "The good news is, we got the permit."

Onyxia casually took the bottle without caring that Deren had already drunk from it, then tilted her head back and drained it. Her Black Dragon constitution left her expression unchanged. "Father would never imagine that his destroyer would be a shipload of 'agricultural supplies.'" A savage smile curled her lips. "Beneath dragon scales lie nothing but the laughable blind spots of mortals."

Chromie pulled out a ledger and quickly flipped to a certain page. "The first batch of raw materials will arrive at the harbor in a few days. According to the plan, they'll be transported under the name 'Soil Conditioner' to a warehouse on the edge of the Swamp of Sorrows." She adjusted her glasses, cold light flashing across the lenses. "Of course, their real destination is your lair."

Deren spread out a map and traced a line between Theramore Harbor and the Swamp of Sorrows. "Jaina may send people to watch us. So the transport route needs to take a detour—we'll head north first and pretend we're going to The Barrens. You'll collect the shipment halfway there. No one will file a report, and who would know the goods were taken by a Black Dragon?"