Trade

Quel'Thalas

Turalyon led his army to a valley and told the soldiers on night watch to be careful of the enemy, as Troll were very good at ambushing in the forest, especially at night.

"Alleria still hasn't returned?" Khadgar asked before Turalyon even reached him. The mage nodded and habitually sat down beside him. "I sent Alleria's Ranger to find their commander, but the news is that the Female Elf has vanished without a trace."

After hearing this, Turalyon closed his eyes and pondered. Khadgar could tell that he was suppressing his emotions. If he weren't the commander or Khadgar wasn't there at the moment, Turalyon would have been furious.

"Relax, Commander." Khadgar tossed a piece of wood into the fire. His words reminded Turalyon of his responsibility to not let personal emotions cloud his judgment.

"I understand, Khadgar, thank you." Turalyon gazed at the flames, now deeply grateful to Lothar. The battle-hardened Warrior seemed to have anticipated this problem, which was why he had Khadgar come along. He had instructed Khadgar to keep Turalyon focused at all times.

"General Turalyon!" A soldier rushed into the tent. "Something's happened!"

Turalyon and Khadgar quickly stood up. They hadn't heard any shouts of battle, which meant it wasn't a night raid, but something else entirely. But what they saw the moment they stepped out of the tent shocked them.

Fire! A raging fire engulfed the northern forest under the night sky! It even set half the sky ablaze.

"It's the Horde, they're burning the forest!" Khadgar shouted, looking at Turalyon for instructions. The Paladin stared in that direction, then turned to look at Khadgar, who nodded.

"We must stop them!" he shouted, looking up once more to confirm what he saw, then turning to the messenger behind him. "Notify all troops," he announced. "We will march north. Upon encountering the Orcs, we will launch an attack, catching them off guard. Remind everyone to take as much water as possible and assign some troops to extinguish the fires. We cannot allow the forest fires to burn around us." The messenger nodded, saluted, and turned to relay the latest orders.

The light from the raging fire attracted all the creatures in the forest. Nathanos was on his way to Windrunner Tower, and unlike during the day, he had donned a black cloak and leather armor. As for why he was here—he was still somewhat worried. Having witnessed the entire process of Ogre being transformed, Nathanos had even more doubts about whether the Alliance could withstand the Horde's attack. On the way, he encountered the group of Elf hunted down by Zul'jin. The ground was covered in pools of blood, and more importantly, the Elf's deaths were extremely gruesome, their wheat-colored skin stained with blood.

"Only these two Elf lay together, their expressions showing only surprise, not fear, and their weapons hadn't been touched, meaning they died before they could even react. Was this the starting point of the conflict?" Nathanos looked up at the large tree behind the Elf's corpse. He could clearly see traces of Troll standing above it. They were experts in ambush. Nathanos continued searching for any possible clues, finally arriving beside the Elf who had blown the horn.

"Is this the guy who lured me here?" Nathanos stared at the broken horn still clutched in the man's cold hand. "Disemboweled? How gruesome!" He stood up, dusting off his hands. Judging from the scene, the Troll had an overwhelming numerical advantage. Apart from the two Elf who had been killed by the same Troll, the other Elf all bore wounds inflicted by three or more different weapons.

"At their speed, they should have reached Windrunner Tower by now," Nathanos thought. This was originally none of his business, but he told himself it was bad news and urged him to hurry to support the Windrunner.

"Damn it! Why am I thinking this? Why am I worrying about Alleria?" Nathanos muttered. "I should be investigating the fire instead of wasting time here." He muttered to himself, trying to change his mind, but to no avail. His heart controlled his legs, and he ran towards Windrunner Tower.

Horde

Orgrim urged his Warrior to continue setting fires, then ordered another Warrior to stand ready. Rend was baffled by Orgrim's idea; it was completely contrary to the original plan. He had warned Orgrim that doing so would reveal the Horde's location, but Doomhammer told him that the Alliance was meant to be discovered.

"If you want to lure the Alliance here to walk right into our trap, we should take advantage of the terrain and ambush them," Rend said, walking up behind Orgrim.

Doomhammer placed his weapon on the ground, his hands gripping the hammer's handle. "No need. I just need to lure them over."

"You once said we should not reveal our whereabouts. What made you change your mind?" Rend asked, eager to know, as did the other clan leaders.

"It's that human messenger from earlier." He grinned, a look Rend knew all too well that Orgrim only wore when he was victorious, but his words only deepened the confusion among the surrounding Orcs. Only Rend knew that Doomhammer had brought him to a valley a few hours earlier, where they had encountered a human. Unconsciously, Rend's thoughts drifted back to what had just happened:

"Why did you bring me here?" Rend followed behind Orgrim, but the other did not answer him.

They moved step by step down a mountain path into the valley below. It was late at night; the other Orcs were long asleep, but Doomhammer had something important to do, and he had Rend with him. The Great Chief moved silently, one hand gripping the warhammer hanging on his back to prevent it from bouncing around, the other reaching forward to feel for the way. A waning moon hung overhead, its light enough for him to discern his surroundings. A few insects chirped nearby. Apart from that, there was no other sound in the mountain.

As they approached the valley floor, they suddenly heard other sounds and saw a human figure in the distance, clumsily making its way down. Doomhammer crouched down, concealing himself on the side of the path, and took his warhammer from his shoulder, holding it in front of him. The sound of shoes crunching on the stones grew louder as Doomhammer cautiously observed. Soon he saw the cloaked figure descend the last slope and enter the valley.

Rather than calling this a valley, it's more like a hiding place. It's not spacious, and the cliffs on all sides make it a good shelter or hiding spot. Choosing to meet here was a wise move.

As the Doomhammer stared unblinkingly at the man, who was leaning against the stone wall, panting, he stood up and looked around. "Is anyone there?" the cloaked man whispered.

"I'm here," Doomhammer replied, straightening up and stepping forward. The stranger also straightened up, taking a deep breath as Doomhammer approached. Doomhammer noticed a finely crafted longsword hanging on the man's back, unworn, and realized this human clearly didn't know how to use a sword. 'A coward,' Orgrim thought disappointedly. He had hoped the man was a Warrior; those people would have stated their position directly.

"You... you are Doomhammer?" the man stammered, extremely nervous. "You can speak human languages?"

"There are many prisoners of your race in the Horde's prison, and I can speak Elf, which was taught to me by the Troll," Doomhammer replied. "And you, human? Did you send me the message?"

"It's me," the man replied, pulling his hood down to completely cover his face. Doomhammer noticed it was made of fine fabric with intricate patterns along the edges. "I want to talk before anything... anything unpleasant happens between us." He spoke slowly, as if talking to a child.

"We should kill him." Rend gripped his battle axe, ready to strike. The human made some frightened sounds and hurriedly backed away. Orgrim stopped Rend, who looked at him in confusion.

"That's good." Doomhammer ignored Rend's doubts and glanced around. He wanted to know if this person had brought any assassins with him. Even if they had, they wouldn't be able to be detected by smell and hearing alone. He had no choice but to take the risk and trust that this person had come alone.

"It's not the first time we've contacted each other anyway," Doomhammer said slowly. A human had also come to him when the Horde attacked the Alliance in Hillsbrad. "It's just a different method. Is this how you humans communicate? Through trained birds?"

"This is one method," the man replied. "I know my men can't send you a message the way they did last time by approaching the Horde army, and I can't think of any other way, so I had to release a bird. Did you kill it?"

Doomhammer nodded, unable to contain his smile, noticing the man's face beginning to sweat. "We only realized it was a messenger when we found a parchment tied to its leg."

The man extended a trembling hand and waved it to indicate that everything was alright, his voice remaining remarkably calm. "It's just a bird," he pointed out. "I'm more concerned with preventing a far greater loss of life."

Doomhammer nodded. "That's what you said in your letter. So, what are you going to do?"

"I'd like to discuss it with you," the man replied.

"What are you discussing?"

"As a Warrior and a leader, you can control the actions of your men," he replied. "With a single word from you, my people and my city can continue to live in peace and prosperity. There will be no killing, no looting, no destruction, or any other atrocities."

Doomhammer pondered his words, placing his warhammer behind his back. "I understand," Orgrim sneered. This human represented the weakest link within the Alliance; he had come to make a deal. "So what will we get in return?"

The man laughed, offering an attempt at friendliness, but Orgrim saw only obsequiousness. "A passage, absolutely no eyes or ears, no obstructions whatsoever." He slowed his speech, letting the words linger in the air.

"Oh?" A hint of urgency flashed in Doomhammer's eyes, signaling him to continue.

"You and your Warrior are attempting to attack Quel'Thalas," the man pointed out. "You are trying to annihilate the Alliance army here, but I must tell you, Lothar has only sent half his army to stop you, meaning the other half of the Alliance army remains in Lordaeron."

Orgrim crossed his arms. "I know all that. Now tell me something I don't know."

"Even if you defeat the Alliance here, you will have to return to Lordaeron to defeat the rest of the Alliance, which may be several months later, because your army needs to rest. Then you will lead them across the snowy mountains to invade Lordaeron, but Lothar can easily stop you with the dangerous terrain there." As the man spoke, Orgrim finally heard what he wanted to hear.

"For those familiar with it," the man patted his chest and smiled, "It's not difficult to resist an army several times larger than yours. Your Horde might be able to win, but it will suffer heavy losses. In that case, you will not be able to conquer Lordaeron."

This human is absolutely right. Orgrim had also considered this, and planned that the war might continue for several more months, or even a year.

"So, are you here to provide us with some tactics?" Rend looked at the human with disgust, ready to kill him at any moment if he made any inappropriate moves.

"No, as I just said, I'm here to provide you with a passage, and I guarantee that the guards in this area will not stop your army. The Horde can safely reach the Lordaeron."

"A passage in exchange for the safety of your country?"

The human nodded. Orgrim knew he was smiling, but why couldn't he just be direct? He could see the stranger's features, previously partially obscured by the hood. Lean and somewhat elegant, he appeared shrewd, but this couldn't hide his fear.

Both sides fell silent until...

"Very good, I agree!"

Rend's thoughts lingered there. He remembered how he had tried several times to persuade Orgrim not to trust humans, but the Great Chief had scoffed at him.

"Now! Attack!" From deep within the jungle, Turalyon the order to Charge, leading his soldiers toward the orcs who were letting the Orcs pass by.

"It's finally here!" Doomhammer gripped his weapon tightly.