Disclaimer: While I authored this piece, only the novelties belong to me, and they are mostly based on original Blizzard concepts – so they belong to Blizzard, as well. Please do not copy any portion of the text without permission from respective authorities (in this case, Blizzard or me). But quotes are acceptable :)

Chapter 1: Spying

Little red flies flitted about in the landscape, all hovered over a gargantuan, solid cave in the mountains. There was much activity about the cavern, but there didn't seem to be anything happening about the mountain to normal eyes.

However, the eyes the spies had were anything but normal. They were experienced and ancient, fuelled by the magic wielded by the ones the eyes belonged to, they perceived a very different reality, of which crimson energy flowed around the mountainous region. A blinding, pulsating red barrier surrounded the opening of the grandiose cavern, shielding those within from sight. Meanwhile, a masterfully constructed illusion hung over the cavern, declaring it to be merely another rocky face of the mountain, ordinary and common. The crimson dragons arriving at the cavern had their own ways to avoid detection.

To the spies who were observing them closely now, however, those methods were infantile, almost laughable. The intricacies of magic-wielding were clearly not well-explored for the red drakes who were acting as sentry. One spy nearly coughed, but managed to calm himself.

The spies were in position to observe the activity clearly. Dyralos was a large boulder, surrounded by other small rocks, at the foot of the mountain. He was the younger of the two, and constantly itched due to using magic which he did not grasp perfectly. Cynthyaz was a cunning one. She also posed as a boulder, but unlike her compatriot, she was on the mountain itself, daringly right next to the crimson shield, on a rocky ledge. She gambled that the crimson dragons would not be idiotic enough to bump right into a boulder in the midst of such important activity.

The role the two spies held was extremely vital. With the red dragons declaring themselves on the side of the human magicians, on the pretext that they cared for all life, (though Lord Maligns knew better – they owed a favour to the humans), the silver-blue dragons had to take quick action. Thus, Cynthyaz and Dyralos – two of Lord Malygos' trusted – were dispatched to carry out spying action directly on the home (and base) of the red dragons.

It had paid off well. The spying had garnered new information about battle tactics – it was clear when flocks of red dragons were flying together. They intended to defend Dalaran, instead of leading an offensive into Northrend. Well, that showed that Alexstrasza clearly wasn't a fool. Challenging the blue flight in Northrend would be laughable – while the weather by itself was only slightly ticklish to the reds, the blues could manipulate it quickly to become a frozen tomb for all the red dragons. And since the blues had magical superiority, it made sense for the battleground to take place in a region where their allies at least had advantage. Who knew what magical traps had been set in Northrend? The moment Lord Malygos had returned from his self-induced stupor, the first thing he had done was to secure Northrend. The blue dragonflight now controlled a significant portion of Northrend, and even the Scourge's minions were smart enough to keep away. While it was told that the Lich King and his elite guard, the Liches, had enormous psychic powers and the ability to control the frost elements, Lord Malygos could reverse every spell sent back at them, with twice the frostbite. And his immense powers were certainly greater than even the newest avatar of the Lich King's, the corrupted human prince.

Dyralos was fidgeting again, and Cynthyaz could see his illusion fade just a tiny bit. She suppressed the irritation that grew quickly. Dyralos was a youngling, a new-born – he was merely twelve decades old. He had not yet fully learnt the patience and skill of the adults, even though in raw power he was growing quickly to rival Cynthyaz. He also had few experiences outside Northrend, and this major assignment was clearly one of the first times he had been in a climate which was not in the least chilly. Cynthyaz supposed it was to be expected, given the blues' aversion to warm climates and the complexity of the disguise spell. The spell was weaved by the Lord himself, in order that detection would be impossible for all but Alexstrasza. However, since it was known Alexstrasza was busy rebuilding the red flight, and now that she was also maintaining the barrier and illusion, it was clear she was in no position to detect their presence. Besides, Lord Malygos also had another trick weaved into that spell: it disguised their life-force as miniature life-forms, like earthworms. Only Alexstrasza would be sensitive enough to sense the magic; the other reds took it at face-value.

Dyralos was starting to get worse now. They had only been in place for a week, but the power Lord Malygos had imbued into the spell was nearly used up, and the blue dragons had to maintain the complex spell themselves. Cynthyaz was used to this, for she had been a rouge blue drake fighting many battles before coming under the Lord's wing. But Dyralos was a complete newbie, and he was clearly starting to feel the strain of fuelling the spell.

Although it was potentially dangerous to do so, Cynthyaz reached out and tried to sense Dyralos' remaining energies. There would be two replacements in another week, and she tried to urge him to hold on mentally while she tried to see through Lord Malygos's spell to sense his remaining energy. Dyralos returned that there was not much of a problem – he was merely lonesome, tired, and bored. Cynthyaz sighed – it had to be a disease younglings contracted, this boredom – and insisted on attempting once again to see if Dyralos was truly fine. One poor judgement could cost the entire mission.

That was when a red dragon suddenly materialized and opened its maw wide, right in front of Dyralos. He was obviously a mature male, and sleek, with burning scales. His presence could not be sensed, and the fact that he had managed the feat of appearing without the spies noticing bode ill. He had to be Korialstrasz, one of the few mature reds left. They had obviously greatly underestimated Korialstrasz, despite knowing that he was the most trusted of Alexstrasza's flight and had undergone a mission for Nozdormu before.

It was time to execute the backup plan, the plan if they were discovered. Cynthyaz leapt from her ledge, her large, leathery wings spanning the boulder-illusion she had assumed. All other reds would see was a boulder falling down, not an uncommon sight. She prepared a stun-spell –

A gust of wind knocked her backward. But it was no normal gust of wind – it was clearly magical in origin. There was no choice, now. The façade clearly could not be maintained. She opened her maw and spouted a blast of freezing air, magnifying the frost magics innate in her frost-breath with her own powers. Meanwhile, she abandoned her caution and hovered in the air, gathering more power, for a bigger distraction.

Korialstrasz didn't even bat an eye. The flame-breath from his maw shot forth, into the suddenly silvery-blue boulder. A cyan shield materialized, blocking off the flame attack. Cynthyaz gave a draconic smirk – Korialstrasz might have studied magic with the humans for a while, but that was nothing compared to blue-dragon magic education.

So she was definitely shocked when the shield failed abruptly. A loud whimper of pain shot out from Dyralos, loud enough that the dragons outside the Red Dragon base snapped their heads and flew down to support Korialstrasz. Nobody noticed that there was a floating boulder.

Cynthyaz reached out with her deeper senses, and realized that Korialstrasz had planned it well. The breath out of his mouth was just a flame breath, and any dragon worth his salt knew that would hardly be sufficient for tickling if the opponent knew magic. And he was dealing with a blue dragon, whose magic were their lifeblood. There had been a powerful beam in that breath that had burnt a hole right through Dyralos' wing. It was miniscule, the size of a rock, but it certainly hurt. And distracted Dyralos. There was only one thing to do now. She let loose the powers she had gathered, before seizing Dyralos with an invisible hand, throwing him in her direction. Without waiting to see if Dyralos was following, the unordinary boulder disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Meanwhile, the icy-breath was about to hit Korialstrasz when a shield of flame materialized and warded it off. Korialstrasz sensed danger from above, and saw several icy meteors about to hit the home caverns. As Cynthyaz had surmised, Korialstrasz immediately forgot about the blue dragon he had caught in his immobilizing spell and concentrated on reinforcing Alexstrasza's shield with his own considerable powers. He sensed the other red dragons doing so as well, after he had roared mentally for them to join in the effort. The meteors struck with great force – which showed that the caster was rather powerful – but glanced off the barrier, now supported by over twenty dragons.

But Cynthyaz's objective in that little trick had been achieved – both Cynthyaz and Dyralos now found themselves teleported back to Northrend.

Korialstrasz shook his great head. Blue dragons. He had sensed something wrong with the life-energies outside the Red Caverns, of course, but he had not chalked it up to anything other than paranoia inherited from the humans. It seemed that humans did have paranoia for a reason, after all. The blue dragons had certainly hid themselves well. If not for a momentary blurring in the landscape and a subsequent change in the life-force of two boulders, he might have just ignored them. As it was, the frost-breath attack directed at him spoke of skill which newborns did not possess. Malygos must have found some renegades who were willing to serve under him. It had been only slightly more than a century that his own eggs had hatched into younglings.

He flapped his wings and soared into the caverns. He had nearly forgotten the very reason he returned to his queen. Besides the primary reason, of course. As always, his queen greeted him kindly.

"Dear Korial, how fare you? I sensed some battle outside our very own caverns."

"My queen, my love. There were two spies, of the blue dragonflight. We succeeded in identifying them; however, we did not manage to capture them."

"That's all right, my love. What is it you came for?"

Korialstrasz paused. The news was rather disturbing.

"It seems that the human mages are playing with magic again. Thanks to information from the leader of Theramore, the wizard Jaina Proudmoore, the Kirin Tor has now spells from the Meitre scrolls, and those of de-aging magics. Drenden and Modera have been trying to get the secret after experimenting with that young Khadgar, who was forcibly aged. However, the field wasn't identical and their successes limited. I'm afraid that now they have such magic, they will start growing even greater ambitions. The egos of human wizards are extremely large."

Alexstrasza looked thoughtful. "From whom did they receive such magic? I know of few non-dragon races that might have had access to such magic… high elves? Or night elves?"

"According to my sources, Aegwynn the Guardian has been found."

Alexstrasza's eyes abruptly widened in shock. "Aegwynn? The one who fought with us in that large battle? Four centuries ago?"

"Apparently so. She managed to live for so long with the help of de-aging magic. According to my intelligence, she was the one who brought Medivh back, such that he could rally the races to unite against the second incursion of the foul Legion."

"Hmm. She will be a great buffer against Malygos' forces."

"She has no more power left, apparently. All were used in battling and resurrecting Medivh. She even resorted to using her life-force to power Proudmoore, in a recent battle with a demon."

Alexstrasza seemed rather surprised, but said no more.

"As of now, thanks to the discovery of the blue dragons, we may safely assume Malygos has full knowledge of our plans not to invade. I recommend that we keep it that way."

Alexstrasza was an Aspect, and she nodded in assent. "Any changes would not only be demoralizing to the humans, they would mess up well-laid plans, and Malygos would certainly have preparations in any case, given that his spies have been discovered."

"However, I propose that aid be requested from Ysera and her green flight."

Alexstrasza sighed. "I have communicated with my sister, but she does not wish to be involved in what she sees as a war fought over something insignificant – use of magic."

"Tell her, then, that if she does not help, human cities will be destroyed. And humans are the most versatile of the mortal races currently; they dream the biggest. Perhaps that would work."

"Perhaps. That might sway her somewhat." Alexstrasza agreed. "But I think that the counsel of the consort might be continued some other time. We have work to do, love. You know that. The eggs were delivered last week, and more must be produced.

Korialstrasz grinned roguishly. There was an advantage to being the only consort capable of helping father red drakes. His tail cuddled Alexstrasza's affectionately.

"Certainly, my queen."