Varian ran as quickly and with as much litheness as his momentary companion. He bared his teeth as he imagined the nearby pack pursuing its prey, and increased his pace in order to better his chances of joining the chase before it was too late. He knew that the pack would not hunt too far apart from one another. Their lupine tendencies would make the worgen follow certain traits that Varian understood very well.
Genn Greymane would rue his audacity, the younger monarch decided with much satisfaction. Better if he had stayed in hiding, something he’s good at.
The brush ahead shook. Varian immediately froze.
A doe rushed past him. She was small, barely adult. Varian could smell her surprise and fear. He almost fired, then held off. He had no time for his own hunt, no matter how much the urge to give chase swelled within him. What Varian wanted was to follow Genn’s prey and show that he could take it even when his rival knew that he was there.
Varian slipped behind a tree just as another worgen burst through in pursuit of the doe. The king recognized the worgen’s markings: Eadrik. Genn’s servant moved with more assurance than the other male Varian had seen, not a surprise. Genn would have the best around him, as any monarch would.
Eadrik paused. The worgen sniffed the air. Varian watched as the other hunter turned his direction.
A slight movement in the opposite direction caught Eadrik’s attention. The doe, acting only on her instincts and unable to meld those with common sense, had chosen an inopportune time to begin running again.
The worgen lunged after her. Varian waited for a moment, then stepped from the tree. If Eadrik was here, the lord of Stormwind considered, then his master could not be far.
The bow once again ready, Varian moved in the direction from which Eadrik had come. The worgen hunted as a pack to a point. Being also men, those like Genn would seek their individual kills.
Varian retraced Eadrik’s path, moving through the brush as readily as the worgen. His eyes constantly surveyed the vicinity and his ears and nose sought signs of his prey.
And at last he saw a worgen who could only be the Gilnean king. Genn flung himself after a massive boar with tusks so sharp and strong that, if the animal turned to face the worgen, Genn would truly risk death. At the moment, though, the boar thought only of flight.
Genn, however, was fast gaining. He ran sometimes on only his legs, but other times used his hands too. With a litheness that Varian had not even seen from the much younger Eadrik, the veteran ruler closed on the boar.
Having measured the situation, Varian entered the fray. Although without the “benefit” of the curse, he moved with all the skill and pace of one who had survived more critical struggles than surely all the worgen combined. Yet, it was more than merely the reflexes of a former gladiator that served Varian now. Another force guided him, drove him in among the worgen as if he were one of their own and not simply a man. Others in the past had called him Lo’Gosh . . . and, at that moment, that name was more true of him than the one with which he had been born.
Growls greeted him as he moved out into the open. Two raven-black worgen—one a female with a narrower snout—leapt toward him from the trees beyond Genn. Their appearance did not surprise Varian. He had already marked them as guards.
Ahead, Genn’s ears pricked up as he heard the warning growls. He glanced to his side and saw Varian with the bow.
Varian purposely ignored his rival, instead following the boar’s trail. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted Genn’s sudden understanding of just what the lord of Stormwind intended.
With a challenging growl, Genn pulled up. Only then did Varian also stop.
“So . . . ,” snarled the worgen. “You’ve come to prove yourself my better after all?”
“I’ll always be your better, Genn.”
“Rubbish! You can only imagine the powers that the curse has given us, powers beyond mere humans, powers—”
“Powers to outbrag anything,” interjected Varian. “At least, that’s all I’ve seen thus far!”
The other two worgen neared. Genn angrily waved them off. “Don’t know why I ever sought your approval for our people! If the rest of the Alliance chooses to follow you down your doomed path, then so be it!”
Varian ignored the insults. “My quarry’s running hard. You