New Blood

I'll show 'em useless!  Tashorr fumed as he stalked through the undergrowth, moving quietly despite the fury that gripped him.  He breathed in a deep breath of warm jungle air, trying to calm himself to keep focused on moving silently.  The sea witch was sending her murlocs against the Darkspear, and they'd refused his help!  He was thirteen years old, nearly a Darkspear man!  His scowl darkened further as he made his way through the jungle.  The murlocs had stopped coming for a few hours now, but everybody knew the sea witch was just calling up more.  The bright green plants only waved slightly as he stalked by, his fur blending in with the foliage.  Tashorr's fury softened as he grinned.  I'll show 'em useless!

Soon he came upon the spot, not directly in the route the murlocs had been coming, but still close by.  He looked over the area critically, the large tree that had drawn him to the spot surrounded by thick brush and ferns, but no other trees nearby.  He carefully walked over the area, mind running over different ideas, wondering how best to do it.  His musings were interrupted by a light rustling behind him, and as Tashorr spun around, ready to face the hordes of murlocs that'd somehow snuck up on him, he found instead a small, dark-haired girl facing him.  He'd seen her around the village, the girl who thought she was a hunter; she even had her own spear and a sling hanging from her belt.  Her hair was wild around her face and she was dressed very similar to Tashorr, a loincloth wrapped around her waist like his.

"I see you, dark-hair.  Why don't you get back to guarding the village with the rest of them?" he said, lowering his spear.

She scowled in return, staring him down.  "Why don't you?  I'm gonna kill some murlocs, show everyone what I can do!" she pounded a fist on her chest as she spoke, fiery eyes focused on him.

He smiled, nodding.  A second pair of hands would come in handy.  "Let's work together then, eh?  And after we kill one, we can fight over who gets to take its head back to the village," he said, grinning as he planned out how to beat her once they'd done for the murloc.

She smiled back, nodding.  "Sounds fair, let's get to work then," she said, pointing at the tree.  "I got an idea."

Later they crouched together, watching as the last of the murlocs threw themselves at the village.  The young girl tapped him on the shoulder, pointing to a white one who was lagging behind, slower than the rest.  He nodded to her and she loaded a stone into her sling, whipping it around and launching at the murloc.  Tashorr admitted himself impressed as he watched it fly straight at the fishy horror, the stone thudding into it.  They stood up just enough so the murloc could see them as it let forth a gurgling shriek of pain and fury, swinging a large blade as it charged off the jungle path into the undergrowth after them.

The two young trolls laughed as they ran, both grinning at each other, trying to out-do each other for speed and making noise, glancing back to make sure the murloc was still pursuing them.  As they came to the clearing, they ran behind the large tree in the middle, hearing the gurgling pants and rustling as the amphibian chopped and barged through the jungle.

"Oh, no, is it still after us!" Tashorr shouted as it came into the clearing.  The girl giggled as they peered around the tree, ensuring the murloc knew where they went.  Its legs windmilling, moist skin glistening in the sun as it rushed toward the tree.  They waited, hearing a gurgle and a thud from behind the tree.  "Now!" Tashorr yelled, and both of them pushed on the trunk they'd worked to weaken for hours, the crackling and groaning of breaking wood filling the air as it dropped down.

A massive crash sounded as it fell, then the cries of birds startled from their perches.  Silence followed that.  Gripping their spears, they both carefully walked around, looking for the murloc.  Suddenly the girl cheered as she waved Tashorr over.  He walked over, seeing the murloc, tripped by the snare that he'd set up, crushed by the trunk and branches of the large tree.  He let forth a triumphant war cry, raising his spear over his head.

"Now what?" she asked him, eyeing him carefully.  "It was my plan, I should get to take the head back."

"I set the snare, the murloc would've just stepped aside without me," Tashorr said, looking back at her, face serious.  "The head should be mine."

"You woulda been--" she cut off as a gurgling shout sounded in the clearing, both of them grabbing their spears as they dropped to the ground, slowly edging around the tree to see the source.  A second murloc stood there, another blade dangling from its hand, its slitted amphibian pupils scanning the clearing, nostrils flaring as it sniffed the air.

The two young trolls began edging back toward the jungle, hoping to reach the concealing trees and brush.  The murloc leaped up on the fallen tree's trunk, however, quickly spotting them and charging at them with a watery war cry.  Tashorr quickly leapt to his feet, gripping his spear, ready to stand against the murloc's charge.  The girl darted to one side, moving to get around the murloc as she kept her own spear pointed at it as well.  Trolls and murloc together shouted their hatred as they closed in, sword waving, spears jabbing out.

Exhausted, the two trolls lay on the jungle floor, praying to hear no more rustling or gargling.  The jungle's natural ambience had returned, the buzz of insects, the cry of birds, the distant rush of the ocean.  Finally Tashorr propped himself up, walking over to the murloc, taking the fallen blade from its hand.  "At least now we don't have to fight over one head," he said, panting, smiling at the girl lying next to him.

She nodded, grimacing at the bruises she'd gotten when the murloc had slapped her with the flat of its blade.  "Yeah, good thing that frog was as bad with a blade as you are with a spear," she grinned back.  "What's your name, anyway?  I'm Quet."

Tashorr laughed, hefting the blade.  "I'm Tashorr," he said, nodding back, pointing at the dead murloc underneatht them, their spears still stuck in its body.  "You get this head, I get the other; deal?" he said, pointing his new blade at the one still pinned under the tree.

"Deal," she nodded.

Tashorr nodded back, stepping over to the murloc and lifting the blade.  "Now we're real Darkspear hunters, both of us," he said, grinning at the dark-haired girl.