Disclaimer: I do not own anything whatsoever that has to do with the Warcraft series, games, books, blah-de-blah-de-blah. It's all Blizzard Entertainment's.
A/N: SO. Came to read my story, eh? Hopefully, that means I wrote a fairly decent summary which is a skill I decidedly lack. Anyway, this is a story I started writing many a year ago shortly after the Burning Crusade expansion came out. (Yeah. I know. Forever ago, right?) Which means, this story is set in the Burning Crusade era. Blood Elves have just joined the Horde, Silvermoon City is on the rise, Outland is Illidan and Kael'thas' realm of bat-shit crazy, etc. The first several chapters were written while I was still actually playing the game, I, however and unfortunately, have not played WoW in several years so I'm a little rusty on lore and zones and all that good stuff. Hopefully, this won't show in the newer chapters I've typed up since I do still research what I can on the subject matter. ANYWHO, I know you're already tired of reading this and I'm pretty impressed if you still are, I'll cut to the chase on the important stuff. THIS STORY IS RATED MATURE. I curse a lot and like sex, so naturally it shows up in my writing. If you are NOT comfortable or old enough to read this type of material, please heed this warning. I repeat, there is foul language and sexual content in this story. This may however be a high point for some readers, so if it is for you, enjoy. (I see you fellow gritty literature lovers. ;) ) So, here we are, chapter one. Read, review, don't. It's up to you! I just wanted to share. -BCerise
Liam scowled as he leaned over the ancient tome, reading the same paragraph for what felt like the hundredth time. He could not concentrate one bit.
Her giggling was driving him absolutely mad!
Slamming the heavy text shut, the irritated Sin'dorei marched to the hall.
"Piros!" he barked. At last, Liam heard the girlish laughter cease and there was much shuffling in the next room. A moment later, his raven-haired friend came stumbling into the hall, hastily doing up the front of his tunic. He was grinning quite like an idiot.
"You called, my brother?"
Liam eyed his friend with haughty distaste.
"I cannot properly read my texts when you are entertaining guests that squeal like piglets," he replied grumpily.
Piros' grin did not falter.
"My apologies, friend. We shall find another quiet corner to exchange pleasantries," he said with a polite bow before disappearing into the room once again. Liam rolled his eyes. He knew there was to be a lot more exchanged than "pleasantries".
"Don't trouble yourself, Piros," he called, turning away. "I'm leaving."
Liam was not surprised when he received no reply.
As the Sin'dorei set about gathering scrolls and a few smaller books to carry with him, he fought to shut out the passionate sounds that already were drifting from Piros' chambers.
It was a good thing that the path of Light wasn't so strict on the vow of chastity, otherwise Piros would have never been able to join Liam way back in their early training days.
Hefting his stack of reading materials, Liam shuffled out of the front door and in the direction of the Court of the Sun. A nice secluded bench would do.
Though Liam greatly loved his childhood friend, he could not handle the constant parade of mistresses Piros brought through his home. Liam was an elf of duty, his mind constantly on his work. He rarely ever indulged in such worldly pleasures as Piros did.
Which was precisely why Liam had his own small home in the quiet edges of Eversong. However, when his services were needed in the city, Liam quartered with Piros in his extravagant city abode.
He was just climbing the steps that preceded the Court when a young squire came scampering down them.
"M'lord Eversun!" he called, skidding to a halt in front of Liam and bowing deeply and respectfully before the superior Paladin. "Greetings, most-respected sir!" he gasped.
"State your business, youngling," Liam said, surveying the winded boy languidly.
"Lady Liadrin requests your presence immediately, great sir!" he panted.
How queer. What could Liadrin want of him so urgently?
Liam sighed. He was already in a rather detestable mood and he was sure a visit with the Blood Lady would only further along his sour spirits.
Regrettably deterred in his reading once again, Liam and the boy set off for the Blood Knight Champions' Hall at once.
"Piros has not come?" Liadrin asked, eying Liam haughtily. The chamber was predictably dim, only a few sputtering torches wavering in the dank corners. The Lady Blood Knight looked rather fear-instilling in the ominous flickering light.
"He was not informed his presence was required," Liam replied disinterestedly. He was not intimidated himself by the arrogant leader of the Blood Knights. He thought her almost comical in her authoritative, overly-majestic mannerisms. The Lady's impressive gaze shifted to the young boy in Liam's shadow.
"My apologies, my great lady! I thought-" the squire piped up, looking terrified.
"Insolent boy!" she boomed. "I asked that you bring them both!"
The squire immediately dropped to his knees, his face angled at the floor as he mumbled continuous apologies.
"You are dismissed from our ranks! Be gone from my sight," she growled. The boy scurried from the room at once, his face scarlet with shame. Liam almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
"I see you still carry a heavy hand for the trainees, Liadrin," he commented off-handedly.
"I must. How else would I produce such great students as you and Piros? Besides, these whelps nowadays can't retain a single fragment of information you drill insistently into their heads. Though, I find that pain and humiliation are excellent memory-enhancers," Liadrin replied with a bit of a smirk. She rounded the grand desk at the end of the chamber and sat behind it.
"No matter that Piros is not here. I know I can trust you to pass word to him," she said, clasping her hands on the desktop and peering somberly at Liam. "I ask that you take a seat, Eversun."
Liam consented, watching the aging paladin with slight intrigue.
"As you know, the alliance between Lor'themar and the Dark Lady grows stronger with each passing day. The more Forsaken troops she pours into our lands to help our cause, the more of our people she requests to help their's. To me, their exchanges are foolish and I would sooner bed a Dwarf than accept an allegiance to Undeath as that Farstrider fool has done," Liadrin said with an unpleasant grimace.
Leaning into her high-backed chair, she surveyed Liam for a moment, the shadows playing dramatically off her hardened features.
"At first, I considered sending you back to the Bulwark. The Dark Lady is always asking for aid on the Plagueland fronts. However, due to your recent experiences against the Scourge-"
Liam involuntarily twitched as his thoughts wandered to the impressive scar arching down his back, parallel to his spine. The fading injury prickled with a dull burn as he remembered it.
"-I thought it would be best to put your skills to work elsewhere. It just so happens, that an even greater plea than the Dark Lady's has come to Silvermoon's attention."
Liam raised his brows.
"You are a well-informed knight, Liam, and have more knowledge than many even beyond your years. I would assume you know much about the Outlands," Liadrin replied.
The golden-haired elf nodded.
"The realm of Illidan, where our Prince Kael'thas resides."
It was Liadrin's turn to nod.
"There is a city there, Shattrath, that is divided and filled to the brim by refugees fleeing the bordering war-torn lands. The salvaged city houses the Shattered Sun, an ever-growing group of warriors who work to defend the city and the surrounding lands. They are constantly in search of aid, whether it be financial or combat. Lor'themar has decided to answer their call for help. But before he sends the masses in to aid them, he asked that I and a few others gather some of the city's most elite champions to determine the situation in Shattrath first-hand."
"You are commissioning Piros and I to fight in the Outlands," Liam stated.
"Yes, among a group of five champions, you and Piros will travel to Shattrath. Upon your arrival, you will join forces with the Shattered Sun and aid in the training of their soldiers as well as in the defense of the city," the High Lady replied. "Do you accept, Eversun?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Of course not."
"I would have said 'yes', anyway."
"I knew there was a reason I liked you," the Lady said with a grin.
She snuggled closer to him, laying her strawberry head against his broad chest. Her soft hair cascaded across his bare skin in smooth rivers of rosy blonde, her dainty fingers tracing delicate patterns on his stomach. The elf maiden sighed contentedly.
"Oh, Piros," she whispered.
Piros ran his fingers through her long, shining tresses. She was a stunning maiden. He would definitely remember this one. Lilia River-something-or-rather... Ehh, he'd get her name right the next couple of encounters. He always did.
"I always knew you'd be the one," she murmured sleepily. Piros froze.
Uh oh.
Not one of these ones, again. He'd just gotten rid of the last female barnacle, Raina Something-something.
"Oh?" he asked gently. It was important to keep his cool. The best way to handle these situations was to play along.
"The moment I saw you, I knew you would sweep me off my feet!"
Piros couldn't disagree with that. He often had women off their feet. The dark-haired elf grinned at his own cleverness.
Suddenly, a flash of brilliance came to him.
Leaning down he took her face in his hands and kissed her softly.
"You will forever be mine, beautiful Elena," he said in her ear.
It worked like a charm. Lilia sat bolt upright.
"What did you call me?" she asked, her eyes narrowing fiercely. Piros was momentarily distracted by the waterfall of golden hair that tumbled over her exposed bosom.
Quickly regaining his senses, he blinked at her in false confusion.
"Whatever do you mean, my lovely flower?" he asked her charmingly, speaking in elegant Thalassian. The elf maiden softened slightly. Damn, he was too smooth for his own good.
Gazing upon her exquisite naked body, desire began to cloud his thoughts again. Perhaps he could ravage her one more time before sending her on her way...
"I thought you called me Elena..." she said quietly, a veil of lust beginning to sweep over her vision as well.
"No, never, my love..." he murmured, pulling her against him. Their lips met in a heated passion.
Suddenly, he heard distant sounds down on the first level of his home. He knew Liam had returned. This realization seemed to snap him from his arousal.
Pulling away from her, Piros moved to the edge of the bed, his back facing her.
"I can't, Elena! Your beauty is too much for me! You'd have me tangled in these sheets all day, you tantalizing succubus!" he cried dramatically.
"You just said it again!" she said, her tone hardening once again. "Who is Elena?!"
Piros gasped and turned to face her, grasping her small hands in his.
"No one, my sweet Lilia! You are my one and only!"
"It's Lilith, you pig!" she shrieked. "LILITH!"
Oh. Well, he had been close.
Lilith smacked him soundly across the face before she swept across the room, gathering up her clothing. Piros rubbed his throbbing cheek as he wordlessly watched her dress, all the while ranting and raving about 'selfish, lying bastards' and about how 'all the rumors were completely true'. A minute later, and she was gone in a whirl of silk robes and fiery hatred.
Standing and stretching, he surveyed his handsome face in the looking-glass. Just a little redness in the cheek, nothing serious and it would fade by the night. It was better than the black eye Lola Silverwind had left him with for half a week or so.
Pulling on his trousers, Piros went in search of his timely friend. He found him in the study down the hall.
"That went over well," Liam commented, not lifting his gaze from the militant-looking scrolls he was reading.
Piros shrugged, coming up to his side.
"It was a good riddance. Another Raina," he replied dismissively.
"Another 'Rina', you mean?"
"That's the one," he said, stretching non-chalantly. "What's that you have there?"
Liam looked up at last.
"Briefings for our new commission. We're being sent to Outland," he replied.
Piros raised his brows in surprise.
"A significant task, at last," he said. "I've grown tired of the daily city grind."
"Have you, now? That would explain why you indulge in extracurricular activities far more than your duties," Liam commented lightly. "How your womanizing has slipped beneath the nose of Liadrin this long is beyond me..."
Piros smirked.
"Oh, lighten up. You could use with a little distraction these days." Piros elbowed the blonde elf playfully. "How's that hole in your back healing up, anyway?"
Liam only scowled a little deeper as he read over more documents.
"It's just fine, thanks," he grunted.
Piros sighed. Sometimes Liam was easier to read than a book and other times he was the darkest, most mysterious of enigmas. During Liam's post at the Bulwark was one of the only times he and Piros had been assigned apart. At the time, Piros had been overseeing training in Silvermoon and was not able to join his brother-in-arms out on the field. When Liam had been returned to the city, half-dead and his body nearly split vertically in two, he had emerged a different Sin'dorei. Given Liam had always been the more serious, dutiful half of the pair, Piros still noted the sizable difference in his personality.
He never did speak fully of the day he'd rubbed shoulders with death and he was much more stand-offish nowadays. Liam hardly did anything except for practice his skills and read his librams. Piros often found him up in the latest hours of night, either reading or simply sitting alone in the dark. Worried for the mental well-being of his oldest friend, Piros tried to convince Liam to stay in the city with him whenever possible. He didn't like the thought of him in his solitary Eversong cottage.
Piros picked up a loose piece of parchment among the books strewn across the table.
"What's this? " There was a list of names scrawled down it.
"The others that will accompany us on our mission," Liam replied distractedly.
Piros went down the list.
"Ramus Frostwill. Piros Firegold. Darius Dawnstar. Kiralai Brightwing-" Piros paused. "Brightwing? That's-"
"Farstrider scum," Liam sneered. Piros nodded slowly,
"Interesting they would send a ranger along with a company of arcanists and Blood Knights."
"It's preposterous. I do not approve of working alongside one of those naturalist nitwits."
Piros patted Liam on the shoulder.
"It'll be fine, trust me, brother."
"If this woman is a relative of the Ranger General himself, she's bound to be high off her bloodline! I'm positive she'll be cramming her beliefs up our backsides the whole way to Shattrath City!" Liam ranted.
"If you say so, brother," Piros replied in exasperation. "When do we leave?"
"In two days' time."
"Well," Piros said happily. "I plan to spend the next two days in the arms of many women and at the bottom of many wine bottles!"
Liam raised a disapproving brow at the black-haired elf.
"Your vices will be the death of you, Piros."
"A fair assumption," he nodded. "Anyway, I'd rather die between the legs of a beautiful maiden than by the festering claws of the Scourge. Wouldn't you?"
"There's something wrong with you."
"You can't deny that I'm right!"
"But I can deny that I associate with you," Liam replied, but he was grinning.
Piros chuckled.
"Come, have a drink with me! We ought to enjoy the luxuries of Silvermoon before we're thrust into the chaos of Outland!" Piros said, throwing an arm around Liam's shoulder.
Liam was silent for a moment, torn between his reading and the prospect of spirits.
"Alright, then," he said at last. Piros nearly bounced with joy.
"There's that old Eversun-shine!" he said cheerily, shuffling his blonde counterpart from the study.