Part 2
Titus set his son down and ruffled the boy's hair. "Pay attention to your studies. I'll be back soon, I hope."
Uthern watched his father mount the Tiger, then ride off.
He turned back to his nanny and went into the home.
Titus rode for the tram, his crew following him.
"Wait," Devinia told him and slipped off her mount, then dropped two scrolls in the mail.
"What are those?" Gregorias asked.
Titus answered. "A missive to my clan and another to our guild master, telling him we're unavailable for the near future. And rewards for information."
Antonius smirked. "I still say we should assassinate the guild master. He's a fool."
"You know, you've never been a very good priest," Gregorias told his brother.
The rest laughed as Devinia pulled herself back onto her mount.
On the tram, Gregorias and Antonius tossed a small glowing black orb back and forth as their ride accelerated.
"Knock it off," Titus ordered, running a sharpening stone against his sword. "That thing gives me a headache."
Gregorias tucked it into his satchel. "You're such a wuss."
Titus flung his throwing dagger into the tram's metal.
"All right, I take it back." Gregorial pulled the dagger out and tossed it back. Titus caught it and shoved it back into its sheath on his shoulder.
When they arrived, the group rode into Ironforge, heading for the king's chambers.
"Shite, I need to go to Shattrath," Titus remembered. He had a thousand Firewing Signets to turn in. When his crew had done their turn in, he had been finishing up a quest he had had to solo. "All right, first we talk to the king, then you all catch the boat I'll meet you in Gadgetzan?"
They nodded as Titus pushed a clutch of gold into a minister's hand and waited. A few moments later, they were called into an audience with the Dwarven king.
"My liege," Titus said as they dropped to their knees. "You honor us greatly with this audience."
"Rise and speak, Lord Threeblade. I'm sorry to hear of your father. He once returned an item of great value to me."
"Yes, he told me that story as a child. I wished to know if you had possibly heard anything of who had murdered my father."
The king thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Sorry, child, I know nothing of it. But, I will keep my people looking."
Titus nodded, stood, bowed, then turned and left, ignoring the niceties. King Anduinn was of no use for this. The boy would be more interested in the adventure of it all than helping.
"I can't believe the royal cousin was advanced to king," Titus muttered as they walked away. He stopped just outside the audience chamber, kissed Devinia, then activated his hearthstone.
Titus handed over the last of his marks and nodded as the man finished making marks in a codex. He spent a few minutes doing figures, then smiled. "Adventurer Titus, congratulations. You are now Exalted with Scryers."
Titus nodded and only barely stopped himself from correcting the man. He stopped to buy a new offhand dagger, then went to find the portal to Darnassus.
Titus was walking along when he heard someone call his name. He turned to see Aloria, one of his younger sisters waving and running towards him. She hugged him tightly. "When is daddy's funeral?"
"Day after tomorrow. Have you seen Cryten?" Her elder brother and the second born in the family.
"Yes, just this morning. He was trying to get some from a Night Elf trollop." She pointed to the inn and said, "I have to go. I'm heading into Zul'Gurub with some guildmates."
She waved goodbye and rushed to join a group standing around a portal. Titus went to find his brother. He found the man, deep into his cups, with a Night Elf sitting on his lap.
"Go away, trollop," Titus ordered.
She looked at him angrily, then did as he ordered when she saw his armor and the power roiling off him.
Titus dropped into the seat across from his brother. "Sober the fuck up."
"Dun wanna," Cryten replied. Titus didn't accept that. He pulled his brother to his feet and punched him in the face.
Cryten tried to swing back. Titus caught it and swung him around, then shoved him into the wall. With the younger Threeblade dazed, Titus dragged him to the water dunked his head in it. He kept doing so until his brother sobered enough to sound normal.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Cryten asked. He hung his head and stayed on the ground.
"Because I need you sober. You're fucking Regent of our House now. In other words, shape up or I'll fucking shiv your Paladin ass."
When Cryten stood, he took a swing at his brother. Titus scowled angrily and punched his brother in the face with his dagger pommel. The force of impact sent blood flying and Titus spat what landed in his mouth out.
"Are you done? Because I can keep beating the shit out of you until you're dead, then have one of the Paladins running around rez you."
"I-I'm done," he moaned around his shattered teeth.
"Good." Titus poured a healing potion on his brother and waited as the magicks healed him.
"Now," he said a minute later. "Get back to Stormwind, make sure our mother is all right and run our House or I'll Exile you."
Titus watched his brother post a request for a portal then headed for the exit and to the flight point.
Zaccharias, Gregorias, Antonius, and Devinia sat in the inn of Gadgetzan, ignoring the Horde filth that kept making faces at them. The four Forsaken and the Troll had the aura of combat readiness and were obviously attempting to bait the four.
Tired of waiting, Devinia yawned, then left the inn and mounted. She rode off as the others continued playing their game of guessing who had what Darkmoon Faire card under their hand.
She found herself quickly killing the scorpions, basalisks, and hyenas then skinning them as they awaited Titus's arrival.
Devinia yawned as she ate an essence mango during a break in violence, then jumped when she heard Titus's voice in her ear. "I'm about thirty minutes from flying over." She scowled at her lack of discipline. She had had the communication stone in her helms for ten years now and it still caught her off guard almost daily.
She held her finger up to where the stone was and murmured, "I've missed you."
"You don't miss me," she heard him whisper back. "You miss what I do to you in bed."
Devinia blushed, glad no one could see her and summoned her mount. A few minute long ride, she was at the coast and harvesting thick and rugged leather and turtle scales.
Titus turned at the feel of someone grasping his cloak, then looked down to see an elderly Orc female holding out scroll. She spoke in common. "Greetings from the Cenarion Expedition."
Titus nodded, then flicked the scroll open as he mounted the gryphon in Ratchet.
He pulled his mask down to cover his eyes and leaned down, letting the heartbeat of the beast lull him. It was as defenseless appearing as he allowed himself to get.
As they neared Gadgetzan, the gryphon squalled and he sat up, yawning. "Thanks," he murmured.
On the ground, he made his way to the bank and dumped the items he didn't need. He hesitated a moment as he stared at his collection of mounts, safely stored in null orbs. Their time inside was nothing. Each didn't know time passed. He still reached out and ran his hands across them. Regular and thoroughbred mounts of each type, most had been gifts save for his original horse which stayed at his home in Stormwind, head of the family's herd of thoroughbreds.
Titus shook his head and went to find his team. He found the other male members throwing a leather ball back and forth across the inn, ignoring Dirge as the goblin occasionally yelled for them to stop.
"Where is she?"
"Grinding for leather, probably."
Titus touched his left ear with two fingers. "Devinia? Come on back."
She made an affirmative sound as he dropped onto one of the hammocks and slit his eyes to wait. His pet panda cub popped out of its nether orb and his bag and looked around. The little cub pulled bamboo from the nether orb and munched happily, watching the different species of Azeroth come and go.
