User:Khandivya/Lost

Shahkra wandered down the beaten trail that was the mainstay of traffic through Stranglethorn Vale. She had heard through mystical means that the Kodos were holding a party in Booty Bay, and being a troll of impeccable timing and sociability she had started out immediately upon hearing the good news. She had been in Tyr’s Hand at the time.

It had been a longer walk, but it was worth it. Several days in fact, but when she stopped to think about it, she was pretty certain that she didn’t have anything else that needed doing anytime soon. And besides, the walk had been both good for her and wondrous.

She had finished the Plaguelands before she knew it, so quickly did she move. As she walked past the gates of the city formerly known as Lordaeron, Tati had called out to her.

“Shahkra! How are you? What are you up to?” She cried as Shahkra kept walking past her.

“Goin’ t’de partay!” She replied cheerfully.

“But Shah…the party is next week…?” Confusion and concern for her friend crept into Tati’s voice.

“Oh, dunt joo worry ‘bout dat. I’ll be dere on time.” And she kept on walking.

She noticed the trees in Silverpine Forest, and how much more green and vibrant they were. The wind blew through them at times and tiny needles fell upon her focused head. Through the trees she saw a human fighting for his life against giant wolf men and thought “How tewwible! I must help!” Not even leaving the path, she started to cast a spell. As she continued her walk, the two sheeps followed behind her, happy and nuzzling against each other.

The sun broke through the trees as they lessened, and fields appeared in front of her as she moved from Silverpine into Hillsbrad Foothills. She waved to the humans in the tiny village of Hillsbrad, and they waved back, their shiny things glinting in the brilliant afternoon sun. When they got to close, she thought “How gweat! New fwiends!” and she turned them into sheep. Armed with her staff, she gently herded her sheep down the road into Arathi Highlands.

The trees disappeared entirely now, replaced by meadows of bright green. Here the scourge of the Scourge had not even touched the land, and her mood was brightened further as she walked. Her sheep grazed and were happy. She walked past an ogre mound, and as she did Keishe came running down the hills, with what looked like two ogres chasing close behind her. She hopped over a couple boulders, deftly keeping one or two hand lengths in front of the massive beings the entire run. Shahkra watched and was amazed by the young mages dodging ability.

“’eya Shah, whatcha up too?” Keishe said when she finally caught her breath. The ogres had been added to Shahkras herd.

“Imma goin’ t’de partay! ‘ow ‘bout joo?”

“Oh, I’ll be dere lata. Right now, I ‘ave some ogres t’kill!” And Keishe ran back up the path she had just skipped down. Shahkra continued on her way, certain that Keishe would be ok.

As she crossed Thandol Span, some dwarves tried to stop her.

“I hafta get to de partay!” She exclaimed at them, “Awen’t joo comin’?”

The dwarves looked at her briefly, confused that a troll would be trying to communicate with them. They stopped to wonder why she had an honestly confused look on her face, and then got their wits back about them and attacked. Moments later Shahkra’s herd had grown. She gently patted her new sheeps, loving them just as much as the others.

In the Wetlands her boots got wet. The bog was so thick that she kept having to run back to pick up her sheep and carry them across. It took her several days to get the entire herd along, but she was a mage and could conjure good food and water out of nothing. The herd prospered while Shahkra toiled on their behalf.

They didn’t appreciate her efforts, and upon entering Loch Modan several of them started to chew on her robes. Over these few trouble makers she cried at night, and eventually ended up leaving them with a dwarven farming community that she passed on the way. She wondered briefly whether she had given the farmers dwarf sheep or human sheep, but then continued walking. It didn’t really matter.

The Badlands, Searing Gorge and Burning Steppes she didn’t notice much. It was orange and grey dirt respectively. No new friends here, just dirt. Lots and lots of dirt.

When she came to Redridge Mountains she was delighted to find a lake on her path! She washed off her sheep, and when more humans came to say hello, she washed those sheep as well, hugging each one tight to let it know that she cared about it. She hoped that she wouldn’t have to leave any of these ones behind.

In Elwynn Forest she was happy to see trees again, big, bountiful trees filled with birds and leaves and worms. A smile formed on her face again as the sun was now joyous instead of burning and hateful. When she got to Westfall, more farmers, human this time, came to greet her arrival. She tried to invite them to the Kodo party, but they would have nothing of it. They absolutely insisted upon giving her the pointy end of their sticks, and upon refusing not once but twice, Shahkra had no choice but to freeze them in place and continue her walk through the world. She picked up one or two more sheep, but the herd was so large that to add many more would mean that there wouldn’t be enough of her love to go around. Some sheep might think she was ignoring them, and that just wouldn’t do.

She walked through Duskwood and finally into the place she had been trying to get through for days, Stranglethorn Vale itself. The jungle was thick above her head and around her. She had to stay on the trail otherwise she might get lost and eaten by monkeys. When she finally made it to Booty Bay, she had the feeling that some of her sheep might have been carried off by those monkeys. She imagined their poor sheepy selfs being taken care of by a gorilla and she laughed and wished the sheeps her best.

The guards tried to stop her army from entering the city, but the force of their immeasurable hunger and desire to follow Shahkra foiled the guards. They stood by the sides of the gate and shrugged, unsure of what to do about the white tide that now followed the powerful mage.

Her and her flock walked along the top deck of the wooden city towards the Salty Sailor Tavern. The city folk stopped and pressed themselves against the edges of the deck as her herd wandered past. Some people lost hats. Others had mysterious bite marks out of the pants and boots. Some people fell over the frail railings on the edges and landed, painfully, on the roof tops of the buildings below. A single death was reported that afternoon, but most people agreed that the sheep were probably innocent, as the victim had been found with a knife buried deep within his chest. Some believed the sheep had used their teeth to wield the knife.

Shahkra entered the Tavern to find that her friends were all already there. She spotted so many people! Tati and Keishe had made it on time and were dancing slowly and closely in the corner. That confused Shahkra, as their dancing didn’t move in time with the music at all.

Brennie was standing near the center of the dance floor, dancing with whomever would get close enough to dance with her. Suntarin was no where to be found. Ever helpful, Shahkra picked up her favourite sheep (she tried not to show favourites, but sometimes it happened) and handed him (it was a him) to Brennie.

“Hwere! Joo kin dance wit’ Bobby!” Shahkra grinned with joy at being able to help out her friend. Brennie accepted the sheep, and then when Shahkra wasn’t looking put him down next to another sheep which she thought was a female. It was hard to tell without getting to personal with them.

Out of the corner of her eye Shahkra spotted Ghann, the shaman with the magic touch.

“It’s magical Ghann!” She yelled and ran over to give him a giant hug.

“Yup. It sure is.” He replied, starring at the sheep that now covered the dance floor.

“Dance wit’ me Ghann!” Shahkra grabbed Ghann and spun him around wildly until he thought the world would never stop spinning.

One or two sheep injuries occurred over the course of the evening, but they were minor and Tati fixed them up just fine the next morning. Over the evening the party went from slow to wild and then back down to slow again as the party goers left alone and in pairs to fall asleep after a long night of revelry.

The next morning Shahkra managed to find all of her sheep except for two. She cried briefly for poor lost Bobby and poor naïve Susan, but she hoped that they were together and happy where ever they were.

Years later she saw a pair of sheeps walking peacefully through the yellow and brown wasteland of the Barrens. She waved to them but didn’t stop to greet them. They had their own lives now and she had to accept that.

''((This started out as an entirely different story...I was going to have Shahkra lost in Booty Bay, but then I thought of Tyr's Hand and how she spends a lot of time there...and well, the walking rambling story happened. After I finished it I realized it was a story about Shahkra's sheep, so I went back and made it all sheeps instead of some other things I had done. Fascinating story writing process Smiley))''

Khandivya's Stories