As Zorann and Luxxoria emerged on the other side of the portal, a couple of people who were nearby walked over to them. One was a female Night Elf, while the other was a Human.

"You must be Zorann and Luxxoria." said the human, "I'm Baegon and this is Navitas. King Wrynn speaks very highly of you, and yet you arrive here late."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Zorann replied, "Something came up."

"And that's all we're telling you." Luxxoria added. "Now, let's find the Prince and get the hell out of here."

"Very well." Navitas said, "But first, we need to plan. What are your specialisations? I find it handy to know someone's talents, in case a situation arises whereby they could be used."

"My specialisation is Guardian," Zorann said, "and Luxxoria's is either Frost or Fire magic."

"Though I prefer Frost." Luxxoria said with a grin, "There's nothing like freezing your enemy solid and then smashing them into a million little pieces."

"Guardian, huh?" Navitas said, putting a hand on her chin, "That's great. I specialise in Restoration magic, while Baegon here is a master of Retribution."

Baegon flexed his muscles.

"Not that I like to brag, of course." he said.

Luxxoria sighed.

"Can we get going?" she asked, "We're not going to find the prince if we hang around comparing specialisations."

Navitas nodded.

"Of course." she said, "I underwent a ritual earlier which allowed me to locate the Prince. He is currently at a small camp near an ancient well, along with two of the local Pandaren."

Zorann and Luxxoria stood unblinking for a moment.

"If you know where he is," Zorann asked at last, "then why the hell are you not out there GETTING HIM?!"

Baegon sighed.

"Because the entire area is crawling with ancient spirits." he said, "Not to mention the Horde have been seen in the area, along with their new hozen allies."

"Hozen?" Luxxoria checked.

"Monkeys, basically." Navitas replied, "Only with more aggression and less intelligence."

Luxxoria nodded.

"Right then." she said, "Let's go get the Prince, and kill any bozos who dare to get in our way."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Navitas said, as she summoned her Mekgineer's Chopper, "Get in."

Luxxoria climbed into the sidecar as Baegon summoned his own Chopper, beckoning Zorann to get in.

The two vehicles sped off through the forest, the scenery passing by at great speed. The relaxing atmosphere was ruined by the sounds of distant combat, and the smell of smoke.

"The mogu are attacking a Pandaren orchard nearby." Baegon explained, raising his voice so he could be heard over the engine of his Chopper, "Other adventurers are dealing with it, so it's none of our concern."

Approaching the springs, several spirits could be seen, their constant wailing soon making the hairs on Luxxoria's neck stand on end. Exiting the sidecar, she summoned her Water Elemental and placed an intelligence buff on the others. Zorann applied his Mark of the Wild, while Baegon increased everyone's Mastery of their chosen specialisation.

"All right. The camp is on the other side of this place." Baegon said, idly swinging his two-handed sword around, "Let's get going."

The four of them ran into the camp, attracting the attention of the spirits. Screeching in rage, they swarmed the group.

"Be at peace, spirits!" Baegon yelled, swinging his sword in a wide arc in front of him, "We have no quarrel with you!"

"The living are not welcome here." replied one of the spirits, its voice a mix of whispering and hissing, "You must die."

"You first!" Baegon replied, as he unleashed a flash of blinding light from his body. The spirits screeched and writhed in agony before disappearing in a puff of shadowy smoke.

Zorann looked disappointed.

"Is that it?" he asked, "Damn, I was hoping for a proper fight."

"We don't have time to fight everything." Navitas replied, "I can see a campfire on that hill. That must be where the Prince is."

Zorann sighed.

"Don't worry, Z." Luxxoria soothed, "We'll no doubt get to fight something later. Maybe the Horde or their hozen buddies?"

Zorann smiled as Baegon and Navitas walked up the hill towards the campfire. The two former Horde steeled themselves and followed behind.

They took a few steps forward before Luxxoria grabbed Zorann's sleeve forcefully.

"What is it?" he asked her.

Luxxoria glanced at Baegon and Navitas, who were now talking to another human, who was female, and a male dwarf.

"I just realised something." she replied, lowering her voice, "Doesn't Anduin know who we really are?"

Zorann put a hand on his chin in thought.

"He does." he replied, before pointing at their two colleagues, "But I don't think he'll tell those two."

"Maybe so," Luxxoria replied, "but we still need to be careful when we find him."

Zorann nodded and the two of them joined the group around the campfire. The dwarf was sitting down on a blanket with an annoyed expression on his bearded face, while the other human was explaining the situation to Navitas and Baegon.

"... and that's when he used the Mind Control spell on Sully there, forcing him to let him leave." she said, "Needless to say, the Admiral is not happy about it."

Navitas sighed.

"Any idea where he could have went, Kearnen?" she asked.

"He said something about 'finding the Vale' and ran off to the north-west." Kearnen replied, pointing angrily at the dwarf, "I couldn't pursue him because I had to tend to Sully."

"And by 'tend'," Sully chimed in, "she means she read me the riot act about gettin' mind controlled."

He sighed.

"I still cannae believe the cheek o' the wee bugger."

Kearnen tutted.

"I'm sorry, Navitas, Baegon." she said, "But that's all the info I have. If you want to find the White Pawn, you'll have to start by heading in the same direction he did. But I must warn you that the Horde and their hozen allies have been seen in force in the area. They are preparing an attack on our jinyu allies at Pearlfin Village."

She motioned to Sully to follow her and the two of them saluted the group before leaving the camp.

"We're goin' ta help the jinyu!" Sully called over his shoulder, "Good luck finding the White Pawn!"

As soon as they were out of sight, Baegon drove his sword into the dirt with an exasperated growl.

"So now we're back to square one!" he groaned, "What the hell are we going to do now, Nav?"

"We'll camp here for the night," she replied, "and we'll plan our next move in the morning."

The others nodded.

"Zorann, get some wood." Navitas ordered, "Luxxoria, get a fire going, and Baegon... get us some meat."

Baegon and Zorann left to do their tasks, while Luxxoria threw a fireball into the slowly dying campfire.

"You do realise that I can conjure up some food?" she asked.

"Yes," Navitas replied, "but I'm sick of Conjured Mana Cakes. They get tasteless after a while."

Luxxoria shrugged and resumed throwing fireballs into the fire pit, as Zorann and Baegon came back, carrying a pile of wood and meat respectively. Zorann threw some wood on the fire while Baegon passed the meat to Navitas.

"Looks good." she said, "What kind of meat is it?"

"Crocolisk." Baegon replied, "There's loads of them nearby, so I killed as many as I could. Mostly for the meat, but also to keep them away from us."

Navitas smiled.

"Four crocolisk steaks, coming right up." she said, as she used some of the wood to make a spit.

The four of them sat down around the fire, watching as the stars slowly came into view. Luxxoria nudged Zorann in the side.

"Luna does a much better job." she whispered.

"Yeah, she does." he replied, "At least with Luna you can expect a great view. But this... this is just random."

A moment of silence followed the brief exchange.

"I wonder what the girls are doing just now?" Luxxoria said, "I hope the heat wave is over at least. They can't cope without my frost to cool them down."

Zorann yawned and settled himself onto the ground, throwing a blanket over himself to keep out the cold.

"Whatever they're doing," he said, "they're doing it without us."

Luxxoria sighed and lay down, encasing herself in her Molten Armour as an alternative to a blanket.

"Show off." Zorann muttered.

Luxxoria didn't reply as sleep claimed them both.

"I'm sure they're fine, Pinkie." Twilight said, "They're just there to look for somepony. I don't think they'll let themselves be dragged into the war."

"I sure hope you're right, Twilight!" replied the bounding party pony, "I can't wait for them to get back! I'm gonna throw them the biggest, most super-fantastically-awesome welcome back party they've ever-"

Pinkie's words were cut off as she suddenly began shuddering involuntary, much to Twilight's horror.

"Pinkie Sense?" Twilight asked, "Oh, no. What is it?"

"I don't know." Pinkie replied, "But whatever it is, it's a doozy!"

The shuddering was punctuated with a series of rapid blinks and ear twitches. Pinkie gasped in shock.

"Oh, no. No, no, no..." she cried.

"That was new." Twilight said, "But what does it mean?"

"It means..." Pinkie replied, "... that our friends are in danger."

Twilight's jaw dropped.

"We'd better round everypony up, then!" she said, "Safety in numbers, and so forth!"

As she galloped for the door, Twilight suddenly found herself unable to move. Glancing behind her, she saw that Pinkie had her tail in her mouth.

"Pinkie, let me go!" Twilight shouted, "I have to warn the girls that they could be in danger!"

Pinkie spat out Twilight's tail and shook her head.

"It's not our pony friends who are in danger." she said solemnly.

Twilight blinked in surprise.

"If it's none of us," she said, "then who... oh."

Pinkie nodded, her mane and tail deflating.

"Zorann and Luxxoria are the ones I meant..." she said, as tears began to form, "... and there's nothing we can do."

Twilight wrapped Pinkie in a hug.

"Celestia help them."