Darker Than the Night

Late at night, Azeroth's two moons, one large and one small, hung in the sky. Moonlight turned the river silver and lit up the plants along its banks. That only made the deeper forest look more frightening.

The canopy blocked the moonlight. Gred watched the dark yellow eyes fixed on them, trying to work out which wolf was leading the pack.

If he killed the leader immediately, the others would lose their nerve and scatter. Their chances of surviving would improve enormously.

Several smaller, younger wolves stood nearest. They kept growling and baring their teeth, almost daring Jess and Gred to strike first. Gred ignored them and watched the older wolves waiting on higher ground.

"I think it might be that big one on the edge. See it?" he said.

"How can you tell?" Jess asked.

"It's directing the young ones. If you watch carefully, you can see how they look at each other. Just keep an eye on that one. If you get a chance, kill it. Don't waste too much time on the others."

While Gred was explaining, a young wolf suddenly lunged in from the side and bit at his lower leg. Gred kicked it onto its back and was about to stab it, but several other wolves barked sharply around him. He hesitated, and the fallen wolf escaped.

Seeing that they'd provoked the two men, two more wolves attacked Jess at once from different directions. Jess thrust his staff at one. It tried to dodge but took a glancing cut to the shoulder and let out a low whine.

The other wolf had already jumped on Jess. Before it could bite, Gred grabbed it, pulled it off, threw it down, and broke its spine with a kick.

After that exchange, one wolf was wounded and another lay twitching, barely alive. The attackers slowly retreated. The older wolves watching from above began to move.

"Are they testing us, too?" Jess asked.

"Yes," Gred said. "Be careful, Jess. They probably think you're easier to take down. You're their target."

Once the older wolves joined in, the young ones grew noticeably bolder and barked even louder. As soon as the old wolves began barking, the younger ones charged, racing past each other. Sure enough, every one of them went for Jess.

Gred wanted to go after the older wolves, but when he saw Jess suddenly surrounded by a crowd of attackers, he had to turn back and use his sword to hold off several young ones.

For the first time, Jess appreciated how long his staff was. One hard sweep in front of him kept the wolves from closing in. Whenever he sensed wolves approaching from behind, he turned and swept the staff again, making them hesitate.

Any wolf reckless enough to charge straight in was cut down or wounded by Gred. But Gred kept checking the positions of the old wolves. They were cleverly hiding behind the younger ones, clearly waiting for a chance to land a decisive attack.

The older wolves must have changed their plan after the first few were injured. After a burst of chaos, both sides ended up facing each other again.

As the night wore on, Jess grew tired and his movements slowed. The same was true of Gred.

"I think they're wearing us down," Jess said. "Shouldn't we finish this quickly?"

"You're right," Gred said. "Jess, protect yourself. I'm going to take a chance."

"Go for it," Jess said.

Jess wasn't at all sure he could handle several wolves attacking him at once, but if this dragged on, they were guaranteed to die. Gred gripped his sword with both hands, eyes fixed on the old wolf he'd identified earlier.

Jess gathered his courage and shouted. Several wolves in front of him turned toward the noise. Gred kicked a young wolf out of his way and suddenly charged the older wolf.

The abrupt move threw the pack into confusion. Some young wolves lunged after Gred but couldn't keep up. Others tried to surround Jess, but they came at him one at a time instead of together. Jess drove his makeshift spear into the waist of a young wolf, burying the dagger deep and killing it instantly. He pulled it free and swept the weapon across another wolf, opening a cut that sent the youngsters yelping in panic.

By then Gred was yelling wildly as he charged the old wolves. The one he'd targeted stepped back and let two others stand between them.

Gred brought his sword down at one wolf's neck. His strike was so fast that the wolf couldn't dodge in time, even as it tried to retreat. The blade caught its muzzle. Before Gred had recovered his balance and drawn his sword back, the second wolf sank its teeth into the back of his leg.

The dwarf's scream made Jess turn in alarm. He saw the wolf that seemed to lead the pack circle around behind Gred, ready to deliver a killing blow. Gred realized the danger and cut the wolf biting his leg so hard that its head came off. But the severed head was still clamped to his leg, and he couldn't shake it loose.

He swore loudly in Dwarven. As Jess watched, a sudden burning pain tore across Jess's back.

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A wolf had jumped onto him while he was distracted. It clawed at him and tried to bite the back of his neck. Jess threw it off with all his strength. But once the other wolves saw that he was hurt, several that had been circling him without attacking rushed in, barking madly.

They knocked Jess to the ground. He held his staff across the jaws of the wolf in front of him and shoved it away. As he tried to stand, another wolf seized his sleeve and dragged him down again. When he reached for its eyes, a smaller wolf began tearing viciously at the back of his leg.

Burning pain shot through all four limbs. He couldn't get any leverage to fight back. Gred was surrounded by several older wolves. The dwarf was so short he was almost hidden among them. Jess could only see a straight sword swinging back and forth and hear the occasional scream of a wounded wolf. The old wolves showed no sign of backing down.

If he didn't risk everything now, it would be over.

Ignoring the pain, Jess kicked the young wolf biting his right leg and sent it tumbling. He grabbed the one dragging at his sleeve and snapped its neck with a hard twist. Then he seized the staff and struck another charging wolf on the head, leaving it stiff and flat on the ground.

The remaining wolves had worked themselves into a frenzy. They didn't seem to care how many of their own had died. Before Jess could finish off a wounded wolf on the ground, another seized his clothes from behind and dragged him back several yards, nearly knocking him down.

Anger, fear, and wild panic tightened their grip on Jess's mind.

Now. It was time.

—Fuaiget.

The long staff in his hands trembled slightly.

That small vibration snapped Jess back to his senses. The emotions that had almost overwhelmed him calmed. Then fierce pain rushed into his arms, legs, back, and neck, making him close his eyes.

He endured it for several seconds, until it faded enough for him to bear.

But when he looked around again, not a single wolf was standing nearby.

Howls of terror filled the forest. He caught glimpses of wolves fleeing with tails tucked between their legs, as though they'd seen some horrible demon. They didn't dare look back.

The older wolves surrounding Gred were gone as well, leaving only a few corpses and badly wounded animals that couldn't move.

The leader was still alive. It stood there shaking all over and staring at Jess. It had soiled itself in terror, but it still refused to retreat.

Gred wasn't looking at the wolf. He was looking at Jess.

"...Did you do that, Jess?"

Jess didn't know how to explain. He looked at the staff in his hands. Evil-looking purple magical light seeped through the gaps in the coarse cloth wrapped around it. He felt terribly cold. Waves of cold and pain kept washing over him until he could barely stand.

The leader finally fell, its eyes still fixed on Jess even in death. Gred stood motionless, staring at him. His sword had fallen to the ground.

"Your hands, Gred," Jess said, pointing.

The dwarf slowly looked down and saw that both hands were shaking violently. He couldn't control them.

Neither spoke for a long time afterward.

Gred crouched by the river, washing blood from his body and clothes until his hands stopped trembling.

Jess checked his wounds. They were much less serious than he'd feared. There wasn't a great deal of bleeding, so no important blood vessels seemed to have been damaged.

He tore up his shirt, already ruined by the wolves, and used it for some simple bandages. Then he sat on a large rock by the water.

After gathering their things, the dwarf came over with a small flask of liquor.

He lay back on the rock and took a deep breath. "A spell that strong... Did you learn it from those two books?"

Jess shook his head. "I learned it from other warlocks."

Even through that thick beard, Jess could tell how serious Gred looked.

Jess said nothing. Gred placed a hand on his shoulder. "While we're resting, let me tell you a story."

"Long, long ago, Ironforge was the shared home of all dwarves. From the earliest days of our recorded history, we lived among the high mountains of Dun Morogh. Ironforge was the greatest city ever built by all dwarves together. It was our pride."

"But nothing lasts forever. There were too many dwarves in Ironforge. Some were forced to move out into the mountains and caves of Dun Morogh. The three largest clans—the Wildhammers, Bronzebeards, and Dark Irons—all wanted to remain in Ironforge and rule it. More than two hundred years ago, the last High King died. That's when everything fell apart."

"I don't want to judge who was right or wrong, who struck first, who killed the most dwarves, or who did the worst damage to Ironforge. All that is buried in history now. Nobody can say for certain."

"In the end, the Bronzebeards won. My ancestors went north and carved another enormous underground city from the mountains, a city that could rival Ironforge: the great Grim Batol."

"But not many years later, the Dark Iron king who'd fled to settle near the Redridge Mountains—Thaurissan, who called himself the Sorcerer-King—used the rich ore and timber there to build an army of golems. Then he and his wife Modgud each led an army to attack Dun Morogh and Grim Batol at the same time. They wanted revenge and meant to conquer every dwarf."

"Modgud attacked Grim Batol. That witch besieged the city, but she couldn't take it. In her fury, she used some evil magical object she'd found somewhere to curse the whole place. She died in the fighting, but the object's power was far greater than hers. It was that thing that corrupted her and corrupted Thaurissan, who had once been a wise sorcerer-king. By the time anyone understood what had happened, it was too late. The dwarves could never return to their old glory."

"The object fell into the depths beneath Grim Batol, and nobody saw it again. But it turned the entire city into a fallen abyss filled with evil souls and shadow curses. Thousands of dwarves died in agony. We had no choice but to leave and continue north, until we reached the Hinterlands."

"Dark magic is no good, my brother. It makes people lose themselves. It steals their judgment and drives them to extremes until they become someone even they wouldn't recognize."

"But I don't want to make your choices for you."

"Everyone has the right to choose. My people love freedom, and we know how hard it is to win. That's why we don't like others telling us what we should or shouldn't do. And I don't want to treat anyone else that way, especially you."

By now the dwarf's words were growing a little slurred. He took a drink after every few sentences, but Jess knew he didn't get drunk that easily. He wanted Jess to give up dark magic without directly telling him to, and the struggle was weighing on him.

"Still, I have to admit that spell of yours was incredible." Gred looked at the wolf corpses scattered along the riverbank. "I was fighting for my life when I suddenly felt a kind of fear I'd never felt before. Not even facing troll hunters at night frightened me that much. I thought it was the end. I thought I knew I couldn't win and was about to get eaten, and that I'd simply lost my nerve. Then I saw the wolf was even more frightened than I was. It was shaking like it had seen a real lion. Quite a sight."

"That's when I realized... ah, we were both afraid of the same thing." The dwarf chuckled softly.

"If one day I'm not myself anymore, kill me," Jess said.

Gred shook his right hand, which was still trembling slightly. The smile slowly faded from his face.

"You know I couldn't do that, Jess. Even if you turned into someone else—even if you turned into an orc—I couldn't do it. But if that day ever comes, I'll go far away. As far from you as I can, until I've forgotten you completely."