Ellie was sitting by a tree- her long, pale fingers flipping through pages in an old and torn looking book. She had been there for several hours, determined to finish her prayer book that a high priest had loaned to her to further her studies. Her ears perked a bit as she continued to read. She could've sworn she heard footsteps behind her but she tried to tune it out the best she could. However, she quickly found herself growing annoyed. The sounds were causing her to space out and lose focus on her book- she had reread the same paragraph several times but could not digest the meaning behind it. Sighing, she closed her book and peered over her shoulder. A small breath escaped her lips as she saw a figure hunched over on the ground. It was nearing sunset so she couldn't make out exactly who or what it was, however from their shoulders Ellie could assume it was a man. But who? Setting her book down on the grass, she moved closer and began to reach her hand out.

She screamed as the figure grabbed her arm and pulled her towards them- a silver blade pushed against her throat. She gripped their arm tightly, attempting to push the blade away. However, after a moment, she was released. Ellie fell to her knees and brought a hand up to her throat. There was no blood, thankfully. She gave herself a moment to recuperate before pushing herself back to her feet and looking at her attacker. In front of her stood a Forsaken man. The first thing she noticed was that his face was surprisingly intact, save for a small scar across his cheek. An intact face wasn't uncommon by any means but after several visits to Undercity and seeing the variety of rot-touched faces, it was always refreshing to see one. She observed his eyes next- the familiar, faint glowing yellow that was the tell-tale sign of a Forsaken. When he spoke, it snapped her out of her observations.

"Don't just walk up to people," he said sternly. His voice was slightly deep with a raspy undertone- he sounded younger but not overly so. He had probably been in his mid twenties when he died.

"Don't walk up to people?" Ellie asked incredulously, "I thought you were injured! I was trying to help you," she argued, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

The Forsaken made to speak before shutting his mouth and before she could blink- he was gone. Stealthed, it seemed. Puzzled, she dropped her arms back to her sides and looked around her. Why did he stealth?

"Where are you?" she asked, still turning her head and looking around her. The whole situation was making her paranoid.

"Shhh," the Forsaken whispered nearby.

"What are you doing?" she hissed quietly, still turning around slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse of where the man was.

"Before you came along...I was trying to bait a rogue."

Her eyes widened slightly. "Wait, an Alliance rogue? Here? And you're making ME the bait?!" she hissed slightly above a whisper causing the Forsaken to shush her again.

"You're fine. Just act normal. So, maybe stop talking to yourself."

She rolled her eyes as he said that- she could hear the mocking tone loud and clear despite how quietly he was talking. This guy. If she made it out of this alive, she was going to kill him. However, she went along with it. It was dangerous to have an Alliance rogue wandering Eversong Woods so if she could possibly help capture him, she wanted to try. She walked back over to the tree and opened her book. She had no idea if the Forsaken was still there or not- it was extremely quiet. She had to take his word that he had actually seen an Alliance rogue and wasn't just messing with her. The doubt made it hard for her to play along, however she did her best to make it at least seem like she was absorbed in her book.

Fifteen minutes had gone by and when she was close to just leaving, she felt it. A sharp weapon tip pointed into her back. It was uncomfortable at the very least but bordering on slightly painful. Quickly, she put up a holy bubble around herself before turning to see a human rogue. A very young one at that. He must have only been in his teen years- which seemed like a baby to Ellie. Before she could react, The Forsaken hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of his dagger. The human dropped quickly- his weapons falling on the ground beside him. Ellie just stared, confused. The Forsaken looked around and walked towards the flight post, whose flight master had apparently gone away on break. He grabbed some rope that was lying on the ground and proceeded to check the human's pockets before quickly tying up his hands and feet. When he was finished, he slumped the human against the tree that Ellie had been sitting under moments before. Kneeling down, he observed the human's daggers and wound up tossing them into a pouch he had hanging loosely around his hips.

"Wait, you're just leaving him here?" Ellie asked, staring at the human- tied up and slumped against the tree.

"Yep, that's the plan."

"Shouldn't we hand him over to the guards or something?" she asked.

"You go ahead if you want," the man shrugged as he began sheathing his own daggers.

"Excuse me?" No. You're the one who found him and hit him. YOU bring him to the guards."

The Forsaken, however, wasn't listening. She watched as he was instead adjusting some things in his pouch. Annoyed, she picked up the heavy volume lying on the ground with both hands, brought it as far back as she could and launched it straight towards the undead man. She watched as he made to turn and move out of the way but was a split second too late. The book smashed into the back of his head hard- causing him to fall forward.

"What the fuck!" he yelled loudly.

Ellie breathed quickly, not believing she had actually done that. She had wanted to do it, but didn't think she would. It felt kind of good, if she was being honest. She watched as the man began to get up from being on all fours. She ran towards him and hopped on his back. He grunted from the sudden weight and she held onto his neck tightly.

"If you want to be on top of me so bad, maybe you could do us both a favor and wait until I'm facing the other way," he grunted beneath her weight.

Ellie could feel her cheeks burning at his statement, however she continued sitting where she was. She was determined to have him see her point of view, no matter what.

"Excuse me, miss. Is everything okay?"

Ellie looked up and she felt the blood drain from her face. A Silvermoon City guard had approached them.

"Er..." Ellie stammered. She was mortified but her body seemed to be frozen in place.

"Sir, this woman is attacking me," the Forsaken said as he looked up at the guard.

Ellie sighed and was about to explain when the guard took notice of the rogue they had found.

"What do you two know about this?"

Ellie followed his gaze towards the human. Okay, this she could explain. She slid off of the man and rolled her eyes as he stood up and dusted his clothing off. As if his clothing wasn't absolutely dirty to begin with. "Yes, actually. This man found him. The human attempted to attack me and we took care of him. Well, he did."

The guard looked at them both before responding, "Did anyone else help you?"

"No...," Ellie answered confused by the question. What an odd thing to ask.

"Come with me, please. Both of you."

This time the Forsaken stared at Ellie, annoyance written on his face. She stood a moment, watching two other guards come by and take the human away. Something was very strange.

Ellie and the Forsaken followed behind the city guard who insisted on moving at a brisk pace. Ellie imagined that if he wasn't carrying such a large shield, he'd probably be running. He finally stopped outside the front of Sunfury Spire and asked the two to wait.

Ellie watched as the guard left towards the Spire. Her eyes then returned to the Forsaken who was staring back at her- that same look of annoyance still on his face.

"If you have something to say, say it," she muttered.

"Just know that whatever it is we wind up having to do- this was your fault."

She sighed and looked away from him. He did have a point. She honestly wasn't expecting to be called down here. She figured the guards would take care of it and return the human to the Alliance in return for other Horde soldiers or maybe they would question him. What had she gotten them into?

Her question would be answered soon enough. She watched as two Royal Guards walked towards them.

"So, it was the two of you?"

Ellie nodded, "Yes."

"We have orders for the both of you to scope out the area and find the Alliance camp."

"Wait. An Alliance camp? In Eversong Forest?"

The Royal Guard eyed her before continuing, "Yes. We've had a few cases of civilians being attacked lately. We believe they have a settlement within our borders."

Ellie took in what he said and nodded at him. She looked at the Forsaken but he seemed to just be staring blankly at the ground, completely uninterested.

"Any questions?" the Royal Guard asked, looking over both of them.

"When can we stop looking for this camp or whatever?" the Forsaken quipped, leaving his blank gaze and looking at the guard.

Ellie wanted to nudge him but decided against it. How could he be so rude? The Royal Guard just smirked at the Forsaken before answering his question.

"You'll stop when the camp has been found and everyone has been taken care of."

Ellie swallowed, "Taken care of?"

"Killed or taken prisoner. Whichever is easier."

"Understood?"

"Yes," Ellie answered, very unsure of herself. She looked over at the Forsaken and saw him give a nod.

"Good."

And with that the guards left back to the Spire- leaving Ellie alone with a very annoyed Forsaken man.