Chapter 2 - The Huntress

After months of tutelage under Leraar Siltwalker I was finally ready to make my journey to the Emerald Dream. This is of immense importance in the career of a druid, because it is there in which you commune with nature and its guardian spirit, Ysera the Dreamer, the Green Dragonflight. Although there is no time in which a druid must spend here, they will often spend hundreds of years of their long lives in slumber. All my training had prepared me for this, and to gain the most from my experience. Leraar recommended me ready for this far sooner than most druids in training and because of this most of them shunned me further. I didn't bother me however, I took pride in my abilities and especially in my progress. As I selected a barrow den in which to slumber my thought turned once again to that radiant priestess. I decided for my journey into the Emerald Dream I would at least talk to her once more time. If nothing else I felt as though it was the only way to get her off my mind. I went to the small outpost outside of Nighthaven thinking it would be a good place to start, although there were some priests there, she was not part of their pilgrimage.

Wondering if I should continue I, traveled the path to Timbermaw Hold when I heard a commotion. A night elf huntress was arguing with two Moonglade guards standing at the entrance to the hold.

"They are right behind me! Let me in, what is wrong with you two?!", she "pleaded" angrily. You could tell she was really holding herself back.

Just then from the other end of the tunnel, you could hear a rumbling, and see the dancing shadows of approaching figures just around the bend. The huntress flashed an angry look, just for a split second, then turned back to the guards and simply said in a calm voice, "See?"

Both of them hurried into action, the pulled their steel, and pushed her aside, bracing themselves for oncoming foes. With a short knowing glance at each other they readied. The foes, now clearly visible and fast approaching were a group of enraged furbolgs. They ran frighteningly fast, with rabid saliva flying from their roaring jaws. I stood stunned, watching as the two guards resisted the urge to close their eyes, fearful of the maddened enemies, not but beasts in the state they were in, ravenous and hungry and now just a few feet from them. Claws flashed but mere inches from their faces, and they reacted far too slowly having underestimated the enraged furbolgs.

"Latilan, now!", the huntress shouted fiercely, and seemingly from nowhere a large striped white lioness pounced and tore through one of the attacking furbolgs. The guard she saved was pushed harshly down onto his back and could do seemingly nothing but stare at the sudden appearance of this other fearsome beast, thankfully at his aide.

His companion was also pushed aside, but from the huntress herself landing in front of him, 2 arrows already loosed in the time Latilan had dispatched the other furbolg. The two arrow recipients now hit the path hard and slid forward, their momentum still carrying their suddenly lifeless bodies forward. The huntress then pulled her blades out as quick as she had fired her bow. With a flash of steel just quicker than eye could see her two blades tore through the leg and the torso of two more attacking furbolgs respectively.

Not to be outdone, Latilan leapt and pounced a furbolg that believed himself to be unopposed. The huntress smiled at him for a moment, before turning her attention to the last furbolg approaching her from ahead of her. She stared at him coldly as he approached and his pace slowed. Then as quick as a blink, ice shot around him, encasing his body in a freezing prison. She laughed triumphantly and bent to pet her stripped lioness.

At that moment however, the furbolg with the the sliced leg used the last of his strength to hurl his body towards the huntress. Completely unaware of the impending attack on her I did the only thing I could think of to do, I used one of the few spells I knew at this point. A tangle of roots grew furiously from the ground and caught the furbolg in midair, gripping him tightly as the huntress spun around blades drawn once again. She watched, surprised as the roots tightened and crushed the wayward creature until he went limp and the roots finally released from around him. She searched around for the source of the killer roots and she finally rested her eyes upon me, before letting her guard down finally.

"Nice shot again there... hey what is your name exactly?", asked the huntress. Shortly after saving her life, she pulled up the two quite slack-jawed guards and immediately pushed me in the direction of Nighthaven. Where we ended up, was a tavern on the edge of town.

"Ueki, Ueki Dreamstar, I'm a training as a Druid of the Claw", I replied.

"Yoo-kee?", she stammered. She had already had 3 pints of ale by this point and was what you would call the life of the party.

"Oo-Eeh-Key"

"Ah, yes... You-eeh-key! Great shot back there... or... great plant thingys back there!", she said as she reached back and hit me hard on the back in appreciation. The friendly gesture showed me the strength she had in her bow arm, as well as rocking me forward and making me choke slightly in the water I was drinking. "So why is it... that I feel like I'm the only one drinking?"

"You're welcome, and because you are, I don't drink."

"Wheresh the fun in that! You some kinda holy man? Or somethin?", she said as she turned in and peered at me sideways leaning close to the bar.

"No, my master... its part of his teachings. He has a holistic approach to druidism, and only a pure body is suited to purify nature according to him.", I said, slightly unnerved.

"So you ARE some kinda holy man, hahahahaha!", she rocked backwards, nearly falling off the stool, but grabbed my shoulder to steady herself.

"No I, well, so.. what are you doing here?", I asked

"Well, I came here... no good guards... cause I'm supposed to find someone, HEY! maybe you can help me?", she waited for answer for a second before continuing. "Ya see, theres this guy, and my sister, shes this priestess and-"

"Anthra?"

"Yesh....", she looked at me seriously for a moment, then began laughing again, before continuing "So of all the people... its you isn't it?"

"I think so...", I was honestly taken aback, excitement, confusion, longing, hope? How many emotions was I feeling all at once? I felt my face flush slightly, hard to tell through my purple skin but I pressed on. "Your sister, she wanted you to find me?"

"Yup, she wanted me to wish you luck for her, and give you this, if you were still doing that druid thing that is", She handed me a small muffin and a necklace. The muffin looked delicious, with small red and blue sprinkles decorating the top and the necklace was a small vial of water. "And she said, try to keep your mind on your studies, whatever that means"

I nearly swooned. My heart nearly jumped from my chest. I collected the items with shaking hands, fearful that at any moment my heart might jump from my chest onto the bar in front of me. She had been thinking of me too! Nothing in all the realm could have meant as much to me as that, and despite my weak knees and the butterflies in my stomach I managed to ask her, "So what is your name?"

"Moondris... nice ta meetcha!", and with one last smile at me she closed her eyes and drifted backwards, snoring before she even hit the floor.

Moondris the lively huntress, sister to the one I was falling more deeply in love with as days passed, was sound asleep on the tavern floor. Only a few other night elves had even bothered to see what the commotion was. I held the items given to me by the sweet girl I encountered at the moonwell months ago to my chest. I didn't know what the future held but at that time all I could think about was her. For the time I would be in the Emerald Dream, I knew now that I would be captivated by visions of the beautiful priestess, one who already occupied my dreams night after night.

What I didn't know was that someone else who was concerned with the occupation of my mind had heard most of this, and as Leraar Siltwalker found himself peering at the slumbering huntress from outside the tavern window, his mind had already begun to digest all she and I had talked about.