"No!" Garona appeared in the doorway, which was only half left. She didn't seem to have slept well last night, but there was a ring of hares hanging from the belt around her waist. It turned out that she had just gone out foraging. Thinking of the malicious speculation about her just now, Khadgar was a little ashamed.

"Roll, bastard," the orc grimaced, "as he cooled down." ”

"You want to destroy my property, why am I going to stand idly by?" said Garona.

Khadgar was puzzled, but he kept his tongue in check.

"Demolition and demolition...... Demolition of property?" the orc seemed to be unable to distinguish between a warped tongue and a flat tongue sound, "What do you think you are worthy?"

"I'm Garona the orc," the lady growled, feigning rage, "I'm in the service of Gul'dan. Gul'dan knew that he was a warlock of the Tyranny Clan. If you dare to harm my property, just wait to explain it to him. ”

The orc sniffed again: "Plunder? I heard that the clan is so weak that it depends on their warlocks to support it, otherwise it would have been wiped out long ago!"

Garona glared at him fiercely, "Oh, but what I've heard is that the self-proclaimed strong Blood Cave recently joined forces with the Twilight's Hammer Clan to attack Stormwind and was defeated. Both clans were driven back. I heard that humanity has beaten you to the ground on the premise of a fair fight. Isn't that right?"

"That's not a bolt," the bloodcave orc said, "they have seven horses." ”

"Can I ......" Khadgar prepared to stand up.

"Sit there, slave!" said Garona, slamming him back. "You can only speak when you are allowed to speak, and shut up all other times!"

The leading orc took the opportunity to take a step forward, but as soon as Garona finished speaking, she turned around again, and a long-bladed dagger was pressed against the orc's upper abdomen. Seeing this, the other orcs scattered.

"Are you questioning my ownership?" Garona roared, her eyes almost bursting with rage, half of the dagger already in the orc's leather armor.

Then there was silence. The bloodcave orcs looked back and forth at Khadgar and the aggressive Garona, and finally sniffed and said, "This waste is also worth protecting?

Then he walked out of the ruins. His men scattered.

One of his subordinates asked him as he walked, "But what is she doing to find a singer to be a slave?"

Khadgar didn't hear the lead orc's answer. But the subordinate jumped up in shock outside: "Damn, pervert!"

Khadgar tried to stand up, but Garona shook her hand at him, and Khadgar shrank sharply at this point.

Garona walked to the window and looked out for a moment. Khadgar, whose legs were weak, was supported by the wall and finally stood up.

"I think they're gone," she said, turning at last, "I'm afraid they'll come back halfway to expose our lies." That boss was only afraid that he would be challenged by his men tonight. ”

Khadgar touched the bruises on his face: "I'm fine, thank you for your attention." ”

Galona shook her head, "If I hadn't knocked you down, the orc leader would have a reasonable excuse to kill you, saying I couldn't control you." ”

Khadgar sighed deeply, "I'm sorry. You are right. ”

"Yes, of course I'm right," said Garona, "and they can keep you alive until I come back, purely because they thought you had something hidden in the tavern. They don't think you're stupid enough to wander around the center of a war zone without any gear. ”

"But is it necessary to be so heavy-handed?" Khadgar asked.

"If you want to ask if I'm doing this to add credibility, then the answer is yes. and if you mean whether I am sadistic, then the answer is no." She threw the string of hares to him, "Take it, skin it and boil it." There were also some bottles and cans and a few potatoes in the kitchen. ”

"Hey, whatever you say to those orcs," Khadgar said, "I'm not your slave. ”

Garona chuckled, "Just kidding. But I grabbed the material. It's your turn to cook. ”

Breakfast is a hearty meal – a rabbit stew with potatoes – cooked by the experienced Khadgar. The ingredients were a few herbs Khadgar had dug up in his kitchen's vegetable garden and Garona's mushrooms had picked in the wild. Khadgar uneasily checked the poison of the mushrooms with magic, and they turned out to be edible.

"The way the orcs test poison with children," said Garona, "and if you don't die if you eat it, then it proves that everyone can eat it." ”

They set off again, targeting Stormwind. The forest ahead was still eerily silent, and all you could see along the road was the scars of war.

At noon, they bumped into the old friends of the Blood Cave in the morning. They were scattered outside the ruins of a watchtower in the wilderness, all lying facing the ground and basking in the sun. There were wounds on the armor from some kind of heavy sharp object, and the heads of some of the guys were mysteriously missing.

Garona began to quickly search the bodies and collect the first aid kits on them. only to see Khadgar staring at the horizon in a daze.

Garona shouted to him, "Aren't you coming to help me?"

"Wait a minute," Khadgar said, "I'd like to make sure that the man who killed our old friends is still around." ”

Garona glanced across the wilderness and then at the heavens. Nothing but scattered clouds were seen.

"Do you really think so?" she said, "but I didn't hear anything. ”

"The same goes with the orcs, and by the time they hear it, it's too late," he said, as he walked over to the corpse of the orc leader, "mortally wounded in the back, struck by them as they fled, and the attacker was even higher than they were." He pointed to the somewhat faint hoof prints on the ground, which had been left by the heavily armed iron-hoofed horses, "Cavalry." Human cavalry. ”

Garona nodded, "That means we're close to our destination." Take as much as you can from them and go. We can use their supplies - they look a little disgusting, but they're very nutritious. Bring another weapon, at least a dagger. ”

Khadgar looked at Garona: "I'm thinking about ......"

Garona laughed at him: "Don't worry, I won't be able to eat you." ”

"We're already on alert in Stormwind," Khadgar said, "and as things stand, I'm assuming Medivan isn't following us, at least not directly. So maybe we should split up. ”

"I've thought about it," Garona said as she tossed an orc's backpack as she pulled out a cloak and a small cloth bag. She opened the bag and found a piece of flint iron inside, as well as a bottle of fire oil. "Fire-making tools," she explained, "orcs love fire, and it's a simple fire-making tool. ”

"You also think we should split up. Khadgar Road.

"No," said Garona, "I said I thought about it. The problem is that this area is not under the control of either the orcs or humans, and if you walk fifty yards from here, you might run into another Bloodcave patrol, and I could be raided by your cavalry friends. So if we act together, we have a better chance of survival. One as a slave to the other. ”

"Captives," Khadgar corrected, "humans don't keep slaves. ”

"It's just a different name," said Garona, "and we should go together." ”

"That's it?" Khadgar asked.

"That's mostly the reason," Garona said, "and the other part is that I haven't been in touch with Gul'dan for a while. Suppose we had to defect to him one day, I would lie to him and tell him that I had been held in Karazan and complain to him that he should not have thrown his men into such an obvious trap. ”

"Do you think he'll believe it?" Khadgar asked.

"I'm not sure," Garona said, "so that's another reason I'm staying with you." ”

"You're changed by what you've learned. Khadgar said, "You've come to terms with that. ”

Garona nodded in agreement, "Yes." But if an axe were to cut off my head, I might still tell the secrets. It's better not to, so for now I'm betting on your stupid side. Now, I have one more thing to do. ”

"What?"

"We had to put the bodies together and sprinkle some flammable material on them. It's good to hide what they don't want, but we have to cremate them. That's the least we can do. ”

Khadgar frowned, "If the heavy cavalry were nearby, the Pillar of Smoke would have summoned them immediately." ”

"I know," Garona looked at the orc patrol, "but it's necessary. And if you see human soldiers ambushed and killed by orcs, won't you cremate them?"

Khadgar pursed his lips and said nothing. He walked towards the farthest dead orc and dragged the body under the watchtower. An hour later, they were ready to stop and set all the bodies on fire.

"Now we have to go," Khadgar said to Garona, who was staring at the pillar of smoke.

"Will this bring in cavalry?" said Garona.

"Yes," Khadgar said, "it will also send a message - there are orcs here." And the orcs felt that the place was very safe and could cremate their companions without hesitation. I'd rather introduce myself up close than face a charging cavalry, let's go, thank you. ”

Garona nodded, and they put on their upturned cloaks and left the smoke-filled watchtower.

What Garona said was true, the orc-version of the field ration was purely a disgusting mixture of hardened jam, nuts, and another thing (Khadgar swore it was a cooked rat). But it was enough to keep them alive and move on, and the two got along quite well.

As the days passed, the ruins gradually turned into endless fields and unripe, undulating waves of wheat. However, there has been no change in the degree of obsolescence. The pens were empty, and the dwellings were collapsing. They found more orc cremation piles, and a growing number of mounds marked the loss of human farms and patrols.

Although they still insist on taking the hidden route. The increasingly open terrain makes it easier for them to spot others, but it also makes them more exposed. One day an orc army drove across the ridge, and the two of them hid in one of the most intact farmhouses in the world.

Khadgar observed the menacing force. There were orc infantry, cavalry riding giant wolves, and catapults decorated with human bones carved with dragons. And Garona, who was beside him, came up with a sentence: "A bunch of idiots." (To be continued.) )