Andy was hit in the face by a whirlwind of sand. He quickly covered his eyes with his sleeve, coughing as he spat out the grains that had gotten into his mouth. "What the hell is with this weather?" he muttered.
As far as the eye could see, everything ahead was yellow. Andy really did wonder if this was the world's desert. Even the few drought-resistant ferns looked listless, their leaves drooping. The climate here was probably even harsher than a desert's.
Andy kept heading south and glanced at the sky. The sun was already sinking in the west, and his stomach was starting to growl. He'd eaten only a few fruits when he entered the Barrens. After walking a little farther, Andy found a sheltered nook between some rocks and fell into a restless sleep for the night.
Andy could barely sleep at all. Hunger was only a minor problem. The biggest issue was the Barrens' extreme temperature swings between day and night. It was so hot during the day he'd nearly melted, but at night, the howling, icy wind alone could freeze someone solid.
By morning, Andy was so hungry he could barely catch his breath. Even so, he had to keep going. He knew the orc invasion would come to a halt in Ashenvale; they wouldn't be able to advance any farther, even if Gul'dan himself came. Beyond Ashenvale to the north lay a crucial part of the Elf Race's territory, and Tyrande wouldn't let them invade so easily. That meant the orcs would soon head south and arrive in this barren land.
Andy forced himself onward until nearly noon. Just as his vision began to blur, he thought he saw a hare dart across a nearby dune. He shook his head, wondering if he was already hallucinating. But when he focused, he saw he hadn't imagined it: a hare was crouched beneath the dune.
Andy immediately perked up. He hurriedly nocked an arrow, dashed forward a few steps, and released it. The arrow pierced the hare straight through. Andy ran over, pulled the arrow from its body, and put his mouth to the wound. A stream of rank rabbit blood ran into his mouth. He choked and coughed, but there was no choice. If he didn't drink the blood, he'd probably die of thirst.
Using the skinning knife he carried with him, he gutted the hare. Then he gathered up a nest of dead grass, struck it with flint, and tossed the hare into the fire. By the time the dry grass had burned away, Andy couldn't even be bothered to worry about getting burned. He dug through the ashes with his bare hands, picked up the hare, and eagerly began to eat.
The hare wasn't fully cooked, and streaks of blood still clung to the meat, but Andy didn't care. At that moment, he probably looked more like an orc than an orc did, blood smeared around his mouth as he devoured half-raw, bloody rabbit.
After eating about half the hare, Andy had a little strength back. He hung the rest from his body and continued south. He had to get out of here before the orcs arrived.
When Azeroth's two iconic moons appeared in the sky, Andy looked around in a daze. He realized he'd missed his chance to find shelter for the night. The wind in the Barrens had turned cold, and it made him shiver as it swept over him.
Andy looked around, but there was nowhere suitable to spend the night. He ran on a little farther and spotted a huge rock standing all by itself. He crouched down behind it, where it blocked the wind. The air was still very cold, but without the icy wind blowing straight at him, it was much more bearable.
Andy pulled his clothes tighter around himself and closed his eyes, half-asleep.
"The cold wind is blowing, but my heart's still warm..." A flame flickered in the wind, drifting toward the huge rock where Andy had taken shelter. No matter how hard the wind blew, the flame bobbed back and forth like a roly-poly toy, but it never went out.
The light came from a torch coated in animal fat. Beneath its glow stood a pig about half a man's height.
A pig? Yes, a pig. You read that right! More precisely, it was a quilboar. Two pointed ears, each about the size of a palm, sprouted from the top of its head. They twitched from side to side as it listened for sounds nearby. Its short legs ended in two cloven hooves, and thin animal hides covered them. Its arms looked fairly normal. Holding the torch between two broad hands, it sang a song no one could understand, then plopped down on the rock.
"Man, it's freezing tonight," the quilboar grumbled. "They still made me go on patrol in this cold. What a bunch of bullies. I've been stuck patrolling at night for a whole month!"
Andy sat quietly behind the rock and listened. He hadn't been sleeping soundly anyway, and the loud pig squeal when the quilboar appeared had woken him up. Andy was glad he had a translation system; otherwise, all he'd have heard was grunting. The thought brought to mind a pig strolling down the road with a torch, loudly grunting as it went.
Andy lost focus for a moment and let out a laugh. In the silent wilderness at night, it stood out like a beacon.
"Good grief!" The quilboar shouted and jumped off the rock. Every night for the past month, it had stopped to rest on this rock while on patrol. The rock had never made a sound before!
After laughing, Andy had hurriedly covered his mouth. He wasn't afraid of the quilboar, but fighting a creature so close to a beast in the middle of the night was hardly wise.
The quilboar brought the torch closer to the rock, looking confused. "Why'd it stop?" it muttered, beginning to circle around the boulder.
"Oh, crap!" The quilboar spotted a dark shape behind the rock and nearly dropped its torch in fright.
Andy was startled too. He had no idea what had gotten into this quilboar. It had heard a noise and still dared to come around and investigate. Andy and the quilboar stared at each other, wide-eyed.
"Y-you, y-you, what are you?" the quilboar stammered.
"Y-you, y-you, what are you?" Andy scrambled to his feet and mimicked the quilboar's stammer.
"I'm a quilboar. What are you?" the quilboar replied. "Don't imitate me!"
Andy couldn't help laughing at the quilboar. It had even noticed he was imitating it. "What do I look like to you?" he asked.
The quilboar moved closer, bringing the torch almost right up to Andy. Andy's pointed ears stuck out, and he wore leather armor and boots. "You're a quilboar too?" the quilboar asked uncertainly. "How come I ain't ever seen a quilboar as big as you?" Clearly, it had only noticed Andy's pointed ears.
Andy nearly spat blood. He glared at the quilboar and snapped, "You're the quilboar! Your whole family's quilboar!"
"Yeah, I am a quilboar, and my wife's a quilboar too!" The quilboar had decided Andy was one of its own. Though this fellow looked a bit strange, it wasn't as wary around its own kind.
"What's wrong with being a quilboar? Don't deny you're one just because you look strange," the quilboar said, edging closer. "Quilboar have their pride too!"
Andy didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What a character. It didn't seem very smart, but he wondered whether all quilboar were like this. He glanced at the quilboar and said helplessly, "Fine, I'm a quilboar. And proud of it!" Andy grumbled to himself, How the hell am I supposed to be proud of this?
"That's more like it." The quilboar grinned, its two tusks making it look even more fearsome. "Hey, why're you out here alone so late?"
"I..." Andy put on an embarrassed expression. "I got lost."
"Huh?" the quilboar said in surprise. "You got lost? You're really something!"
The quilboar sat back down on the rock. "How about this: once I've had a rest, come back with me. That's better than freezing out here in the wilderness. I'm Nak. Which tribe are you from?"
"I..." Andy didn't know what to say. He had no idea what tribes the quilboar had.
"Ah, forget it. You look like you've got an even smaller brain than me. A quilboar who gets lost wouldn't be able to remember his own tribe anyway." Nak, the quilboar, waved a hand. "I'm from the Razormane Tribe."
Andy's mouth fell open. What kind of logic was that? What did getting lost have to do with forgetting your own tribe? But at the mention of Razormane, he still asked, "Where do you live?"
"We live at Razorfen, not far to the east," Nak replied.
Razorfen? Andy's heart sank. This was bad. Had he walked straight into the quilboar's main stronghold?
Before you continue