A Thorren Scene

Thorren stared down onto the plains, shifting slightly as the winds sweeping down from the north buffeted his muscular frame.  He breathed shallowly, eyes searching.  It had been years since he last patrolled Thunder Bluff this way, years since the Cataclysm had roused him from the complacence of never straying from Mulgore, following the duty his family had performed for generations as the defenders of the wandering Tauren tribes.  His grandfather, Enroc, first of the Bluffwatch name, had watched for Centaur marauders and Quillboar.  His mother, Deshra, had fought Centaur and followed Cairne when the High Cheiftan joined the Horde, speaking powerfully against Grimtotem detractors who decried the Tauren’s interactions with other races.  Thorren honored them.  But his duty had called him away from the bluffs.

Thorren spied the lioness a few moments before it sprung upon the zhevra.  The equine beast cried out in fear, but it was already too late.  Thorren’s eyes tracked on.  To the west of them, a kodo train marched toward the outpost, shaking the earth.  In the past, the Alliance would raid these trains in the name of self-defense against the Horde.  Today, though, Thorren feared no Alliance hand.  The humans were occupied, he’d heard, with a Naga incursion in Night Elf lands.  No, today he searched for Taurens.

The thought boiled within him.  He’d been away from Thunder Bluff when Garrosh fought the mak’gora against Cairne, delivering messages to Camp Narache.  Away when the Grimtotem betrayed their people, perpetrating their heinous bloodlust against their own homeland.  Away when Baine, son of Cairne, was driven from Thunder Bluff and many of Thorren’s fellow shamans perished beneath Grimtotem blades.  Away when Thunder Bluff was retaken.  Away when his mother was killed for trusting Orcs, Trolls, and Elves.  Thorren snorted in fury.

The Grimtotem have much to answer for.

He glanced over his shoulder at his compatriots.  “They may have abandoned the plan.  I don’t see them anywhere.”

The female Troll shaman ostensibly leading the group nodded.  “We look elsewhere den.”

Thorren nodded back, shifting his grip on his clawed weapons in frustration.  He shot a final look down to the field, noting the progress of the kudos, before turning to follow his friends down the rise.  Another day.