The Diary of Atherya Sunleaf - Entry 5: Hillsbrad

29th Day of Spring

   Green! It's Green! There's actually Green out here! The further south I travelled from Silverpine Forest, the greener the land grew! I ended up following the road into a place called Hillsbrad, just south of the Alterac Mountains. It was a beautiful place, and I would have stayed had the presence of the Forsaken not been so strong. I realise that these Undead are not the Scourge, and are, in fact, our allies, but for the life of me, I can't get comfortable around them. They may not be the monsters of the Scourge, but they're still very vicious for being fully in control of themselves. Everything they do, they do consciously, and with full knowledge of its consequences. I couldn't bear it anymore, so I followed the road on through, hoping to find something else further on.

   As I followed the road west, though, I did pass a very interesting place. Durnholde Keep. This was where the old Warchief, Thrall, was raised. As I understand it, he was born nearby but his parents were killed, and he was found by Humans. He was taken to Durnholde Keep, which was an internment camp at the time, and was raised there as a gladiator by its owner, a Human named Blackmoore. He befriended a young girl named Taretha, I think her name was, and she slipped him books and things and educated him in secret. In the end, he managed to break out from the place with her help, and freed all of the Orcs, but it cost her her life. After that, with the help of Orgrim Doomhammer, he created the new Horde, travelled to Kalimdor and set up a peaceful life for his race away from all the Humans.

   I went in there as I passed. The place is utterly deserted, but I think I caught a glimpse of an enormous elemental as I walked along the walls. I managed to avoid them, however, and got a look inside the ruined cabins. They're burned down and in a bad way, but it's clear that the orcs were imprisoned in a very small space. There are still ball-and-chains on the ground and old beds squashed near one another. The more I walked around the place, the more I wished I could have gone back in time and witnessed the break-out. I'm sure it was spectacular.

   I'm just about at the Arathi Highlands, now. It seems just as green as Hillsbrad, though perhaps a little flatter. Either way, I'm excited to explore the place.

-- Atherya Sunleaf