Urga

The six women in the group were all elves. Arenia and her four bodyguards were seasoned campaigners, and climbing mountains was second nature to them. Jinli was a ranger, skilled in stealth and infiltration; even sheer cliffs were as easy for her to cross as flat ground.

They brought Kalei with them and reached the mountainside in less than half an hour, arriving at the cliff behind Bearclaw Valley.

By then, the clouds had cleared, and the White Lady's light poured down, illuminating the cliff as brightly as day.

The group hid in a thicket behind the cliff, peering through gaps in the branches. The cliff edge was deserted—not a single Furbolg was on patrol. It was clear that the Furbolgs had focused all their attention on the valley entrance and completely neglected to guard this spot.

"Looks like luck is on our side," Luna whispered.

But Arenia didn't let her guard down. She shook her head. "Don't rush. The Furbolgs will be least alert in the hours before dawn. We'll go down then, to be safe."

The others nodded in agreement. Just as they were about to find somewhere concealed to wait, a sharp crack came from beneath an oak tree nearby, as if someone had stepped on a dead branch.

Hearing the sound, they thought they'd been discovered and were startled.

This mission concerned the safety of Bristlimb Village. They couldn't afford to fail.

In an instant, the group went on alert and sprang into action.

Jinli reacted fastest. She gripped a curved blade in each hand and shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. Her afterimage flashed through the trees, and in the blink of an eye, she had circled behind the oak.

Kalei stared, dumbfounded. He had never imagined that in this magic-filled world, anyone could train their body to move so fast that he could barely make out their afterimage.

The "uninvited guest" behind the oak had clearly failed to react in time. He had only just snapped a dead branch beneath his foot when a cold blade was already at his throat.

The fellow dropped to the ground with a thump, trembling all over. His round eyes stared blankly at Jinli as he let out a series of plaintive whimpers.

Jinli frowned and was about to swing her blade and cut off his head when Arenia hurried up behind her and shouted, "Jinli, don't attack yet!"

Jinli asked in confusion, "It's a little Furbolg. Shouldn't we kill him?"

Arenia said, "This little one is different from the others. He's perfectly normal. Look closely."

The others ran over and examined the little Furbolg.

Indeed, he was nothing like the Corrupted Furbolgs in the valley, whose bodies glowed dark green and whose eyes were savage.

His fur was deep brown, fluffy, and soft. His skin showed no signs of corruption, and his chubby body looked like a ball of fluff. His bright, black eyes were full of fear. He didn't look frightening at all—in fact, he was rather silly and cute.

Jinli waved her curved blade and frowned. "Even so, we can't be sure he isn't with the others. If you ask me, we should kill him to avoid trouble."

The little Furbolg had just thought he'd escaped with his life. At her words, he scrambled up and began knocking his head against the ground in front of them, whimpering incessantly as he begged for mercy.

His antics made everyone laugh, and the tension eased at once. Their urge to kill him faded, too.

Arenia said, "Let's keep him alive for now. We might be able to ask him about the situation in the mountains."

The little Furbolg had clearly understood Arenia. He got up, moved away from Jinli, and came to stand in front of her.

Seeing that, Jinli smiled. "In that case, I'll spare your life for now. This is our sentry squad captain. She's going to ask you some questions, so answer properly. Otherwise..." She made a vicious throat-slitting gesture with her blade, and the little Furbolg hurriedly nodded.

Arenia thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you speak Darnassian?"

Darnassian was the language the Night Elves had passed down since ancient times.

In ancient times, the Furbolgs had once allied with the Night Elves. Many Furbolgs had learned their language so they could communicate with them.

The Furbolg gave a small nod and, in a rough voice, repeated a word several times. "A little... a little..."

The group laughed again when they heard him. Darnassian sounded as beautiful as a song when spoken by Night Elves, but coming from a Furbolg, it sounded like a pig grunting.

The little Furbolg saw them laughing but didn't realize they were laughing at him. Thinking they were encouraging him, he joined in.

Seeing how innocent he was, the others felt embarrassed to laugh any more.

Arenia raised a hand to stop the others from teasing him and continued questioning him. "Which tribe are you from?"

The little Furbolg thought for a moment, then struggled to get two words out. "Bristle... limb."

The group grew serious at the words "Bristlelimb," but no one interrupted.

Arenia continued, "Do you have a name?"

The little Furbolg thought again, then said a word.

Arenia said, "You mean your name is Urga Bloodclaw?"

The little Furbolg grinned and nodded.

Arenia's heart stirred. "I remember that the chieftains of the Bristlelimb Tribe have always used 'Bloodclaw' as their surname. Could you be the chieftain's son?"

The little Furbolg nodded again, pride showing in his round eyes.

Everyone was surprised. They hadn't expected this little Furbolg to be the son of the Bristlelimb Tribe's chieftain! It was an unexpected stroke of luck, and the group eagerly urged Arenia to keep asking questions.

After a difficult conversation, they finally learned from the little Furbolg what had happened to the Bristlelimb Tribe.

It turned out that seventeen or eighteen years ago, the Bristlelimb Tribe had clashed with another large Furbolg group—the Timbermaw Furbolgs.

The Bristlelimb Tribe's current chieftain, Ugo Bloodclaw, hadn't wanted to fight another Furbolg tribe. So he had led his people away from the forest behind Bristlelimb Village and settled in their former holy land, Bearclaw Valley, hoping to make a fresh start.

The Bristlelimb Tribe had lived peacefully in Bearclaw Valley for more than a decade. Then, nine years ago, the Furbolg Priest Wumu secretly brought a Satyr back from outside.

With Wumu's help, the Satyr excavated the Night Elf ruins buried beneath Bearclaw Valley and found a Magic Tree seed inside.

Afterward, the Satyr somehow corrupted the seed and grew a corrupted Magic Tree. The corrupted ancient tree radiated powerful shadow energy, secretly corrupting many Furbolgs.

By the time the little Furbolg's father, Ugo Bloodclaw, realized something was wrong, more than half the tribe had already been corrupted. For the sake of his people's future, he led the remaining Furbolgs into a fierce battle against the corrupted ones.

Unfortunately, Ugo lost. He had no choice but to flee into the mountains with his son and the remaining uncorrupted Furbolgs.

For the past few years, Ugo and the other Furbolgs had been hunted by the Ebony Priest and forced to hide throughout the mountains.

According to Urga, a corrupted berserker had bitten his father Ugo a few months ago, and his wound still hadn't healed.

Urga had been in a bad mood that day and sneaked out of the cave to play. By chance, he saw Kalei and the others coming up from the foot of the mountain.

Urga often heard his father tell stories about the Furbolgs of the past. His father had told him that the Furbolgs were an intelligent race, not beasts, and told him about the great deeds of their ancestors, Ursoc and Ursol, who had fought the Burning Legion.

Through these stories, Urga had learned about the Night Elves. He knew they had once been the Furbolgs' allies and were a powerful race.

He had seen that no treatment could heal his father's wound, so he had risked coming down to find the Night Elves, hoping they would save his father for the sake of their former alliance.

After hearing Urga's request, the group immediately realized this was an opportunity—a good chance to win over an ally! If they could persuade Ugo to lead the remaining uncorrupted Furbolgs into an alliance with them, they could learn the valley's defenses and gain an additional force.

In the end, they decided to risk going with Urga and see if they could persuade his father to help them fight the corrupted Furbolgs at the foot of the mountain.

Urga was overjoyed. He let out two excited yelps and bounded up the mountain to lead them onward.