Syreena took a deep breath of the fragrant air in the Un'goro Crater as she rode down the path from Tanaris. When she reached the bottom and crossed over the river, she saw a small pack of raptors squealing and hissing at each other as they fed on the corpse of a devilsaur. The devilsaur's hide was slashed and torn by talons as the smaller beasts sought the flesh beneath. Something struck her as odd about the scene, but a glimpse of dreamfoil caught her attention.
The little rogue slid down from her skeletal horse's back and began gathering herbs. Bear, the small worg, bounded off to chase the smaller creatures of the jungle.
"I forgot how overgrown it is here," she said to Bones, who was chewing on ferns as his rider led him from one plant to the next, halfway around the crater. "Can you even taste that?"
Syreena mounted up again when her saddlebag was filled with herbs, and she turned Bones in the direction of Silithus. She would catch a flight to Orgrimmar out of the Cenarion Hold and check on some auctions before returning to Outland.
Her hearthstone was buzzing with chatter. A druid had announced intentions to join the Burning Legion and use them to annihilate the Alliance. Other Grims were arguing and threatening over it. The discussion turned to demons and their usefulness or lack of it.
"Some would consider us demons," Muatah said.
"Why would anyone call us demons?" Syreena asked.
"Because we do what others are not willing to."
The little rogue thought about that for a moment before answering. "I think that makes us heroes."
Bones stopped, and Syreena looked up. She had been paying more attention to the conversation over the hearthstone than to where she was going. Out of habit, perhaps because it was the only place in Silithus she had ever gone more than once or twice, Bones had taken her to the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. The rogue sighed. How she hated this desert! She had always hated it here. It was too hot and too dry, and the blowing sands got into the rotten parts of her skin and itched. And the poisons from the spiders and scorpids always distracted her from returning to the shadows, which left her feeling very vulnerable the few times she had hunted here.
Irritably, she loosened her armor and tucked a hand under it to scratch her side. She tried to convince herself that sand had somehow gotten under her tabard, armor, and shirt, and that was why it itched and burned. She almost believed it. Almost.
"Bones," she complained, tugging a rein roughly. "Mossy wouldn't have taken me all the way into a forsaken desert. You're lucky he won't leave Outlands, or you'd be worthless. He's a smoother ride than you, too!"
The rogue started to turn the horse, but she stopped him again as she took a closer look at her surroundings. The golden light of the descending sun shimmered on the perfectly rippled dunes. Worms and scorpids and spiders went about their business with little care of her presence. Some distance away, she could see the faint outline of a Twilight camp, and figures of cultists peacefully going about their evening chores. Again she had the feeling that something wasn't quite right.
The image of the dead devilsaur came to her. She saw again the raptors shredding the beast's hide to get to the meat. She had never seen that before. She had never seen a dead devilsaur for longer than it took a skinner to claim the hide. She had not seen anyone else in the Crater while she was gathering herbs. And as she looked around the desert, near the gates of Ahn'Qiraj, where she'd always seen other Horde and even Alliance when she came here, she realized she was alone. But then, who was keeping the bugs in check?
The little rogue turned in her saddle to face the ruins. She could almost hear the skittering and chattering going on behind the ancient stone walls. Ossirian still stood in there somewhere. It was the one place that Grims had attempted to conquer, spending weeks and weeks battling there, but had never succeeded before the Dark Portal opened and they were called to fight in Outlands. How long, she wondered, before the bug armies spilled out in force upon the desert? How long after that before they spread to the rest of Azeroth?
Suddenly, Syreena thumped Bones's ribs with her heels and took off up the road, back to the Cenarion Hold. when she arrived to the little town which was always bursting with activity, Horde and Alliance alike, she found only the Cenarions. Many of them seemed surprised to see her. Some looked at her suspiciously, others with curiosity.
She took one last look at the desert refuge as she mounted up on a windrider. She wouldn't care if Silithus was overrun by hungry bugs, but she did care about other places in these lands. Azeroth was her home, and her home still needed heroes to protect it.