Talanji couldn’t help the look of despair that crossed her face as she and her wife rode into the camp. Her wife, Rehan, released a gasp of horror from behind her as they took in the morbid sight before them.
“So many lost…” She breathed, her usually elegant and gentle features twisted in horror and the sight of so much death.
Hundreds of injured or dead warriors were spread out around the clearing. The last remnant of the royal army that managed to evacuate from the battle.
Below them, Tze’na released a small whining sound, the raptor clearly upset at the loss of her Loa.
“I know…” Talanji began as she lowered a hand to rub against her mount's side. “I miss Rehzan too…” she continued before dismounting to the side and helping her wife to do the same. Then, once the two of them were steady, she brought her wife in close. Their foreheads rubbed against each other as they sought strength from their bond. Tze’na too sought to offer comfort, her head nudging into their sides as another low whine echoed in her throat.
“Oh Rehan, what do we do now?”
After a moment she released her wife, but not completely, grabbing her lover's hand in one hand and Tze’na’s reins in the other before slowly making her way into the camp. They stopped every so often to check in on the soldiers that were still alive or to offer their condolences to those who weren't so lucky. Talanji eventually lost track of how many hands she shook and prayers she offered, just that it was too many, far too many.
Eventually, they reached a small clearing in the sea of caskets and sick beds. Within it stood a single tent, bright blue and decorated with gold lining, the royal tent. She could feel Rehan’s hand tighten in her own as an offering of strength, one which Talanji accepted readily. She let one of the guards take Tze’na from her but not before she whispered a promise to her mount that she would return soon. Then she took a deep breath, squeezed her wife’s hand, and stepped through the part in the tent flaps.
Her father was lying in a small cot, his broad chest rising slowly as he took a breath. She took note of the many bandages wrapped around him, covering the entirety of his left arm and a good portion of his chest. He looked to be a mummy from one of the temples in Vol’dun, were it not for his breathing she would hesitate to even think he was alive.
She faintly heard Rehan talking to one of the healers but their words were muddied as she stepped forward to take a seat at her father's bedside. She pulled his much larger hand into her own on her lap and began to draw faint patterns on the skin of his palm, just feeling the warmth of his skin and the reassurance of his heartbeat. After a few minutes her wife joined her, sitting just off to the side, close enough to be ready should she be needed but far enough away to offer Talanji the small moment of privacy.
They sat there for Lakali knew how long before someone eventually interrupted. Rokhan, the Horde’s envoy to Zandalar, was a reasonable person. Calm but determined, he had grown to be quite the advisor and, dare she say it, a friend. He quickly made his way from the entrance to stand a few feet away from the end of the bed, his hands twitching as he attempted to keep them still.
“What can I do for you, Rokhan?” Talanji asked as she gently placed her father's hand back across his chest.
He opened his mouth and then paused, his eyes moving between Talanji and Rehan, clearly uncertain whether this conversation was fit for all parties present.
“I shall leave you to your discussion.” Rehan said as she rose from her seat. “I will be at the healers' station should you need me.” She told Talanji before stepping out of the tent.
Once she was gone Rokhan began.
“The men, that is to say the ones still alive, are waiting for your orders.” He told her.
She knew they would be, with her father injured and unresponsive the burden of leadership fell to her. She had thought much about what she should do on her journey here, various plans and ideas crossing her mind yet none seemed to offer a solution.
“What do you believe would be our best course of action?” She asked him.
“Well, I am no Zandelari but with the fleet still-”
They were interrupted as the tent opened once more. The young troll shaman froze as she saw the two of them before quickly attempting to make a retreat, both eyes wide as he stared at the two most powerful troll leaders alive, but Talanji stopped him.
“Come, do your duty.” She ordered him.
The two of them watched the young troll pause before slowly acquiescing. Shuffling awkwardly towards the king and pulling a voodoo doll from his bag.
It was a strange thing, covered in deep blue markings and very visible vein markings down its arms. A single bone crossed through its head, tangling in its dark black hair. Then, once he was prepared, the shaman began to chant.
She barely paid attention to him, focusing on her father instead, watching as his breaths became more even as some invisible weight seemed to lift from him.
“What did you do?” She asked in amazement.
“I prayed for Bwonsamdi to look elsewhere, I suppose with everything goin on outside, he chose to do so.” The shaman responded before offering her a bow and exiting the tent.
“Ahem, as I was saying Princess-” Rokhan began once more, but she wasn’t listening.
Her mind was focused on a different thought, it was crazy, a sure-fire way to get herself killed, but if it worked…
“Rokhan,” she started, interrupting the Horde Troll and causing him to look up at her in surprise, “get yourself a mount, we are going to pay a visit to Bwonsamdi."
“Princess I be understanding ya predicament but surely there be better ways of solvin ya problems than this?” Rokhan whispered as they rode through the dense bogs of Nazmir.
“I wish there were, but with Rezan gone and my father unfit to rule, this be the only option.” The princess responded solemnly.
The two of them had left camp an hour ago, making their way into the thick jungle and heavy fogs as they wandered in what Rokhan prayed was the right direction. One would have thought that a temple dedicated to an all-powerful death Loa would be easier to find, what with their pension for large statues and sacrificial courtyards, yet as they traveled deeper and deeper into the unforgiving terrain he was beginning to have his doubts.
“And what makes you so certain that Bwonsamdi be willin ta help us? He never struck me as the charitable kind of Loa…”
Talanji wished she had an answer for him. At this point, she would be lucky if the Loa let them into the temple without smiting them, let alone granting them an audience. Over the years her family had done much to anger the death Loa, from refusing to ask his protection in their tombs to leaving him last at the prayer table, they were certainly no friend to Bwonsamdi. Yet now, more than ever, they needed him most. She held no doubts that if she failed here her people would be doomed.
“We shall simply have to hope he is in a good mood lest he-”
She paused, the air around them had suddenly gone cold, a chill ran down her spine as a thick grey fog poured out from behind the trees and bushes. It coiled around their feet, sliding up their legs and over their armour as their surroundings began to fade away, almost as if the trees had been uprooted and shifted onto ice, sliding away into the fog.
Then a bright blue flash.
She quickly threw an arm over her eyes, lest she go blind from its power, but when she lowered it she almost wished she hadn’t.
Where barley a moment ago there had been mud and grass beneath her feet, she now stood on solid stone. The trees and fog had given way to dark coloured marbles and large stone effigies. Beside her Rokhan stiffened like a board before pulling his saber from his back, the metal gleaming in the low light of the pale blue souls floating around them.
“I’ll have you know that I can be plenty charitable when I wan’ta be. Not that I be hearin much from the isles anymore.” Bwonsamdi said, his voice echoing all around them.
Slowly, one of the pale blue souls hovered over to float above the great chasm before them; it gradually began to glow brighter as a vague troll shaped form began to materialize from it. Eventually, the Loa of Death floated before them in all his glory, various skulls and bones sticking out of his leathers and the bright blue fire of his eyes gleamed with what she could only assume to be self-satisfaction.
Rokhan still had his blade out but at this point, it seemed to be more because in his surprise he had simply forgotten he was holding it. Bwonsamdi took notice and let out a boisterous laugh at the sight.
“Ya best be putting that away Troll mon, it won’t be doin ya any good here.” He waited patiently for Rokhan to do as he instructed before his gaze lazily turned to Talanji.
“So…” he drawled as he floated down to stand on the platform, “it’s been a long time since one of ya royal types be comin down here. What can I be doin for the royal family today?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before responding, making sure her voice came out even and strong, but also respectful (lest she gets the both of them killed with her disrespect).
“Oh, great Bwonsamdi, Loa of Death, Protector of De Other Side, Great Keeper of Souls, I come as no more than your humble servant to beg your assistance with-”
“Ya can be stopin with all the formal talk, as much as I may enjoy it, your flattery will get ya nowhere real fast.” He interrupted with a lazy wave of his hand.
By this point he had sat himself down on the arm of the left-most effigie, reclining back against it as though it were a throne. A part of her was infuriated at the casual way he was treating her, but the larger (more rational) side of her brain was quick to remind her that she was a guest in his temple. If he so wished both her and Rokhan would be nothing more than stains on his floor, it wouldn’t take much. So she once again took a moment to calm and collect herself before raising her eyes to meet the Loa’s own.
“I require your power to aid my people and save my kingdom.” She told him as she clenched her fists at her side, it was painful to admit but no less the truth.
He seemed to ponder her offer for a moment, his head bobbing once to the left and right before he slid off the arm of the effigy, doing so in an almost serpentine manner, to land on the ground nearby.
“Oh, I see…” His arms swung low, like a puppet with its strings cut, before rising back up in a grasping motion towards his chest, a laugh escaping his lips as he continued. “So ya want ta make a deal with me, go on go on…” he finished as he took a knee, his left hand giving a small flourish of encouragement.
“Become my Loa,” she began, ignoring the look of shock and horror on Rokhan’s face, “grant me the power to recover my kingdom, to aid my people, and I will elevate you above all Loa!”
There was a whooshing sound as Bwonsamdi suddenly disappeared before her very eyes and for a moment she looked down in disappointment, thinking he had decided to refuse her offer, that is until his presence suddenly reappeared right beside her.
“So ya get your kingdom back, all very nice,” he began as he picked one of the white feathers from her headdress, leaning forward to poke at her chest as he continued, “but soon you'll tire of old Bwonsamdi.” He retreated, spinning around so his back was facing her as he told her his thoughts on her deal. “You’ll go back to the living loa, the ones who bring the rain, make the crops grow, now wither and die…” He said with a tired drawl, the feather he had pulled from her headdress burning away to nothing in between his fingers.
“No no no, I need more than just your word…” He trailed off as he looked back at her from over his shoulder.
This was clearly a step too far for Rokhan. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Do not do it, Princess, there are surely other ways, better ways to save your people. Give the Horde a few more days, a week, enough time for me to get more forces onto the island. We can rally our strength and wipe the blood trolls out!” He said it with so much conviction, she wanted to believe it, but then Bwonsamdi cut back in.
“Oh yes, you could gather your forces, an army strong enough to conquer de island ten times over! And then what? Ya get ta watch from ya tower as thousands more die for nothin, becoming nothing more than blood to power their dark magic.” He told them from his crouched position. “Ya might as well hand dem da throne now and save us all de trouble.”
She gently removed Rokhan's arms from her shoulder as she responded. “I appreciate all the Horde has done for us if it were not for you and your champions I fear we would not have lasted as long as we have, but this is not a problem the Horde can solve.”
She took one last breath to calm her nerves before turning to face the smirking Loa, he knew what she was about to offer, it was the only thing she could offer and they both knew it.
“If you do this for me...I will bind my bloodline to you.”
Bwonsamdie’s eyes flared at her words, his smirk turning absolutely wicked as he stepped closer. “And all who follow you would keep this bargain? To serve me in life, and, in death?”
“Forever.” She answered, her voice calm in only the way the truly desperate could be.
Bwonsamdi took his seat once more, a self-satisfied smirk on his lips, before extending his arm for a shake. “We gotta deal...”
She began to raise her own hand, pausing for barely half a second as a look of hesitation crossed her face.
“Don’t do it, Princess…” Rokhan begged her softly, his eyes wide and pleading as he took a small step closer, only for his face to fall and his eyes to close in disappointment as her features schooled and her arm rose to take the Loa’s own.
The moment their arms were linked in a warrior's greeting the Loa’s power began to transfer into her, the deep purple lines of magic crossing into her body from Bwonsamdi before, with a clap of thunder, they were gone from the temple. Reappearing in the middle of their camp much to the shock of all the people around the,.
She stared down at her arm in concern as the weight of her actions (as well as the last of the Loa’s power) truly sunk into her. She stared at the offending appendage for a moment before startling as a smaller hand gently rested on her own. She looked up into the warm face of her wife, bright orange eyes glowing in concern as those beautiful features pulled tight across her face.
“Talanji? I...felt something, a moment ago… Has something happened?” She asked softly.
The sight of Telanj’s love had a small smile crossing the Princess’s lips. She was quick to cup her wife’s hand in reassurance as a small smile crossed her lips. She could tell that it didn’t reach her eyes and she would be a fool to believe her wife hadn’t noticed it either.
“Do not worry my beloved wildflower, I have taken care of everything.”