Laughter rang throughout the small hut while Ziggly turned around and danced, snapping his fingers and lifting his knees. Tia’Zula laughed the loudest as she sat beside a shirtless Cris on the bed, making sure he was comfortable. “Oh and then I showed them this move!” Ziggly slid across the hut, his feet looking as if he were gliding across the sandy floor. Cristianno laughed, leaning back against the wall. He had regained some strength but he was still weak and needed support on his back. On occasion, he had rejected Tia’s request that he get up and start walking more, but he usually said he was too tired and remained in bed.
His voice still weakened by the injuries, he said rather hoarsely, “It’s true. I remember that.”
“Oh I totally tricked him! He was so out of it because he was trying to figure out my moves that Cris snuck past him and we made a clean getaway!” Ziggly laughed and patted Cris’ knee. “Good times, eh Wolf?”
“Yeah.” Cris smiled and took a deep breath, as he winced trying to adjust himself against the wall. “We’ll have more of those times again soon.”
“Joo jus’ be sure to get bettah, ya?” Tia smiled at Cris and reached to assist him in his search for comfort. “I be tinkin’ mebbe joo need a new look. Ta celebrate, ya?”
“Oh! Go totally mysterious and shit!” Ziggly added, pointing to his tuft of black hair.
“I don’t know,” Cris said softly. He slowly reached for his dark hair and glanced at it. “This is my mother’s hair color.”
“It be gud for joo. An’ I be coverin’ dat scar for joo. I be tinking a tattoo. Whatchoo tink?”
“Sure, if you’ll do it.”
“Ya, mon!” Tia reached for Cris and tried to pry him off the wall. “Joo need ta start getting’ up, Cris. ‘Specially since joo plan on leavin’ soon.”
A wince followed by a soft grumble escaped Cris’ lips as he tried to move away. “This is going to be harder than I imagined.” Ziggly reached for his legs and pulled them off the bed. “Can’t I just stay in bed a little longer? My neck still feels stiff--” His voice was cut off by a forced yell. Tia and Ziggly looked at him, concerned and worried that perhaps something had gone wrong.
“Cris, wat wron’?”
“My…my pocket. What the fuck? It’s burning!” Cris winced again, leaning over to his left side. “Gah, my neck.” Tia’Zula reached over him and into his pocket. Cris felt her large blue fingers against his leg and gave a slight chuckle followed by a wince.
“It burn all da way to joo skin, Cris! Wat hav’ joo here?” She pulled out a small, black, obsidian obelisk from his pocket from the black leather strap. “Wat be dis?” She looked at the pendant closer. It seemed to burn brightly and as she tried to touch it, she pulled back her fingers. “Tis ‘ot.” Her gray eyes examined it for a few seconds before she spoke again. “Zig, take Cris outsida. He need mo’ practice walkin’, ya?” Cris stared at Tia curiously for a moment, to which Tia returned a silent nod toward the door. Very slowly, Cris limped toward Ziggly and with the goblin’s help; they walked out the out of the hut, leaving the troll woman with the pendant.
“Der be some bad juju ‘ere,” she muttered. She took a deep breath and enclosed her hand around it, feeling it burn for a few seconds before it was cool to the touch once more. She opened her eyes widely and looked at the pendant. The glow was gone and it was simply humming against her skin. However, for the brief moment that the shard burned in her hand, she was able to feel the faint resonation of Abyssals whispering with urgent desperation of destruction. Tia opened her eyes and looked at her door. “Joo will nevah stay outta trouble, eh Cris?” She shook her head and continued to stare at the shard in her hand.
“Dammit, I have a hole in my pants,” Cris winced, holding on to a crutch Tia had made for him. Ziggly chuckled and placed his hands on his head, walking slowly so to keep pace with Cris.
“So what do you have in mind for when we leave? I know we still have to go to Stormwind and according to the rumors, there’s some heavy taxing going on there. We’re going to have to be careful and watch who we talk to.”
“The port authority owes me a favor. We’ll see what we can do.” Cris stopped to catch his breath. His eyes caught Misae, his wolf, running around and barking with a female goblin, who laughed merrily and played with the wolf. “I thought you’d be tapping that little number by now.”
Ziggly looked at the female and chuckled. “I don’t think she’s ever been with a man before. She’s too much like a child.” Ziggly shrugged and waited for Cris to move, which he did, very slowly.
“Has that ever stopped you?”
“She belongs to Tia and I don’t want to piss Tia off when you’re still in need of her help, ya know?”
“I appreciate the consideration.” Cris chuckled softly and looked down. “I just want my damn neck to stop being so stiff.”
“We can go to The Bay’s Booty when we get back and have some wench rub your down. They’ll be so happy to know you’re alive.”
The brothel’s name made Cris stop and stare out at the sandy beach. “Zig, what exactly happened?”
“With?”
“Why did I die?”
The goblin stopped and looked away, “Some asshole sliced your neck.”
“But why?”
“What do you remember?”
Cris saw a fallen log along the beach and he limped toward it, struggling to sit as Ziggly helped him. “I know it was my fault that…” He took a deep breath and placed the crutch across his lap. “…That she left me.”
Rolling his eyes, Ziggly sat beside him. “Because you went to a brothel? Please. I know more tolerant women than that.”
Cris chuckled, “She was a noble, Zig, even though she denied it.” His sea-green eyes wandered off to the nearby waters, its waves crashing against the shore as the wind began to pick up slightly. “She still has a lot of that noble thought in her mind.”
“Pft, nobility. Lousy assholes.” Ziggly looked away, a finger digging deep into his nose.
“It was still my fault though.”
“That doesn’t mean you deserve to die.”
“So, you were there?”
Ziggly nodded. “You rode to the ship with her in your arms and as you were about to board, a death knight stopped you two.” Cris narrowed his eyes, his gaze lost in thought as he tried to recreate the moment, but it wasn’t clear to him. “We hid and prepared the ship in case you needed a quick escape, but we saw you place the wench on the ground and the next thing we saw was your body fall onto the sand.”
Cris closed his eyes. Nothing the goblin said made sense to him. Ziggly glanced at Cris and pursed his lips for a moment. “So someone else killed me?”
“She told him to.” Cris’s eyes opened and he turned his torso to look at Ziggly. “We…we saw her move her head, as if signaling the death knight to strike.”
“What?” His voice cracked slightly, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Ziggly nodded, carefully choosing his words to make them convincing as possible. “We saw her eyes open and she nodded as soon as you placed her on the ground. It was then that the death knight swung his sword and…well, you know.”
“But, why would she do that?”
“We sent a spy to Silvermoon the day after. She said that the wench was so excited to be free from you that she drank all night and flirted around. She left before she saw anything else happen.” Ziggly shook his head and hit the log with his fist. He glanced at Cris while he stared out at the water. “Cris, it seems she just wanted to get rid of you.”
“But… I kinda remember booty bay. I remember admitting to what I did. She…she was broken. Why would she…”Cris stopped as his mind raced. He recalled that Kahlen had walked away and the death knight and another held him back. He remembered that long period between the break-up and up to the moment he ran out of the estate with her in his arms. “She…she must have hired him to…”
“To kill you. Yeah.” However, Cris wasn’t convinced. The information did not make any sense and he was slightly shaken for a moment. Ziggly watched his reaction and knew he was losing. “For all we know, Cris, she’s probably with some dick fucking each other’s brains out. There never was a funeral or memorial for you. Our spies never heard a thing.” Cris closed his eyes, taking in a deep sigh. “Cris, she has forgotten all about you. I think you should forget her. Start new.”
The waves continued to crash against the shore and Cris finally spoke, his voice cracking slightly as he looked down, his auburn hair falling forward, covering any signs of sadness. “I…I guess I should.”
Nodding, Ziggly patted his friend’s shoulder. “There’s someone better for you out there. Someone who’s not a snotty noble like her. Someone who’s a real woman.” Ziggly continued to describe the type of woman Cris should acquire, but he simply tuned him out. His heart was slowly breaking and he didn’t understand fully why. In his mind, he simply repeated over and over, this was my fault….this was my fault….this was my fault….this was my—
“Cris! Joo suppose ta be walkin’!” Tia shouted from the hut with her hands on her hips. Cris and Ziggly turned to look at her and smiled.
“I guess we should walk back then, but remember what I told you, yeah?” Ziggly patted Cris’ arm before he stood up.
“What choice do I have now?”
“Stay dead to her.”
“What?”
Ziggly helped him get up slowly and walked ahead of him. “She thinks you’re dead.”
Cris thought for a while and tried to nod. “I see.” They walked back toward the hut and Tia shook her head.
“If joo gonna sit, sit inside.” Ziggly looked back and waved at the female goblin, who waved back and continued to chase a butterfly with Misae. Tia noticed the gesture and shook her head. She stopped Cris before he entered. “Joo an’ I need ta talk.”
Cris stared at her intense gray eyes, the severity of the issue written all over her face. “Alright.” He simply continued into the hut, followed by Tia.
The female goblin laughed happily as she hugged the white wolf Misae before they blissfully rolled around on the sandy beach.
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