Raging Tauren Part 3

When all was quiet Xasxas silently padded his way to the edge of the precipice. Looking down, he crept over to the gully that lead down to the dwarves dig. Cautiously he made his way through the filth the dwarves had left in their wake as ripped in to the Earth Mother’s flesh. Xasxas the stealth lion kept to the shadows of the setting sun as he approached their camp site.

Overhead clouds from the east threatened to overtake the beautiful Mulgore sunset. A slight mist began to fall, lightly coating Xasxas’ mane as he lay in wait. An hour passed with Xasxas listening to the dwarves laugh while wooden mugs filled and refilled with Dwarven ale. He inched forward into a mud filled trench in which the dwarves had been working. The light rain had turned the earth to ooze that reminded Xasxas of the Earth Mother giving up her blood as the result of the Dwarves treachery. The muck coated his fur as he crept forward ever so slowly…making him blend perfectly with his surroundings

The hours wore on as he made his way closer to the campsite, now a dry patch in what had become a sea of mud. With the setting of the sun, the temperature began to drop. The twin moons where full, their light glistening in the drops of water on his fur, shinning like diamonds. Water ran down from the precipice filling the formerly dry gulch. The rhythm of the water pounding like kettle drums in his ears. He waited-until midnight-then ever so cautiously he made his way into the campsite. Hiding in the shadows, Xasxas carefully placed each paw so as not to create the slightest sound. At the center of the camp, the fire dwindled. One of the two remaining dwarves reached behind him and threw another log into the center of the flame, stoking the fire. He recognized the older of the two dwarves at the fire as the leader of the dig site. Both dwarves stared intently into the flames as shared a conversation. This was just the distraction that Xasxas was hoping for.

The mighty lion Xasxas crawled on his belly, edging toward the unsuspecting dwarves. Soon he was within pounding distance.

From his hiding place he could see the two dwarves laughing. Laughing at the families of Mulgore no doubt. Then, the older dwarf pointed directly at him! How could this be? He had been discovered. His mind raced, trying to decide on a course of action. Too soon his foe set upon him. In a moment the leader and reached him….

…pulling him out of the mud. Xasxas smiled as he remembered his mother looking down at her little boy, that she and her friend Morningstar had seen hiding in the bushes again.

“Xasxas!,” cried his mother, holding him at arms length.

There was little Xasxas covered from head to foot with mud and leaves plastered all over his body. Morningstar burst out laughing behind his mother; and soon his mother joined in the laughter as she surveyed the condition of her son. Setting down her little boy, she smiled down at him.

“Have you been playing mighty lion protector again young man?” she asked.

“Yes mommy,” said Xasxas ever so sheepishly. “Have I been bad?”

Mother and child made their way back to the wooden bench to join her dear friend Morningstar near the fire at the center of Bloodhoof Village. She sat little Xasxas on the bench between the two of them.