Hero's March

After days of hard riding, Jeriden and the others finally arrived back in Goldshire. It was surprising what awaited them there. They hadn't known what quite to expect but it was heartening. Soldiers had been sent from all the nearby regions that siblings had adventured through in the past year. It was not an overlarge force; it couldn't even be properly called an army. Just a couple of guards had been sent from Northshire, Elwynn, and Lakeshire. Gryan Stoutmantle had sent a couple of members of the People's Militia and Ravenwood had sent a few members of the Ebon Watch out of Duskwood. Even a couple of Southshore soldiers had shown up. Kahrth had called in a favor with an old Mountaineer buddy and now that friend and two other Ironforge Mountaineers had come. Siri had sent for a friend of hers and that friend, a Darnassian Sentinel and two Huntresses had also come. Even two of Jak's Gnome engineer buddies had shown up. All in all, with the four siblings, Kahrth, Jak and Siri they numbered thirty. Marshal Dughan saluted them and they were off to Stormwind.

Windsor met them all at the gates as promised.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked Jeriden, casting an approving eye at the force they had assembled. Jeriden grinned back at Windsor. The tough old Marshall certainly looked better, clad in the gleaming armor of Stormwind.

"We are ready when you are Marshall," Jeriden replied.

"Then let us go forth and end this masquerade," he said.

It proved that this was going to be no cakewalk, for the minute their miniature army passed through Stormwind's outer gate than Katrana Prestor's magically amplified voice echoed across the Valley of Heroes.

"Seize him! Seize the worthless criminal and his allies!"

From the opposite end of the bridge, flanked by statues of the Alliance's greatest heroes, General Marcus Jonathan and three of his knights rode towards them as the footmen on duty closed in around them. Windsor calmly walked forward and faced the mounted general.

"Reginald, you know that I cannot let you pass," said Jonathan.

"You must do what you think is right, Marcus. We served together under Turalyon. He made us both the men that we are today. Did he err with me? Do you truly believe my intent is to cause harm to our Alliance? Would I shame our heroes? Holding me here is not the right decision, Marcus. "

The general paused. Jeriden cautiously moved his hand to his sword and noticed Balder doing the same and had no doubt everyone else was as well. Though it pained him greatly to think that they would have to spill the blood of noble soldiers of Stormwind to uncover Onyxia's treachery, they would have to do what they would have to do.

At length, Marcus Jonathan, gazing sadly at Windsor replied, "I am ashamed, old friend. I know not what I do anymore. It is not you that would dare bring shame to the heroes of legend - it is I. It is I, and the rest of these corrupt politicians. They fill our lives with empty promises, unending lies. We shame our ancestors. We shame those lost to us... forgive me, Reginald."

"Dear friend, you honor them with your vigilant watch. You are steadfast in your allegiance. I do not doubt for a moment that you would not give as great a sacrifice for your people as any of the heroes you stand under."

Jeriden glanced around him at the statues that flanked the bridge into Stormwind. Danath Trollbane of Stromgarde. Kurdran Wildhammer, dwarf of the Aerie Peak. Khadgar, the mage who was apprentice to the infamous Medivh. Alleria Windrunner, High Elven Ranger-Captain of Quel'Thalas. And situated before them so that all had to piss him as they entered the city, the Paladin-General Turalyon, once lieutenant to Stormwind's mightiest hero, Anduin Lothar. For a moment, Jeriden tried to imagine being as revered as these great heroes.

"Now, it is time to bring her reign to and end, Marcus," cut in Windsor, "Stand down, old friend."

There was a pause. Then Marcus smiled widely and held out an arm, palm raised to the side.

"Stand down! Can you not see that heroes walk among us? " he proclaimed. Jeriden blinked in surprise and Balder nudged him.

"Hear that? We haven't even taken down the scaly witch and we're heroes already!"

"Only difference between a legend and a hero is that the heroes are usually still alive," said their sister Lidia, "It's not over yet."

"Move aside! Let them pass! " commanded General Jonathan, "Reginald Windsor and his allies are not to be harmed! They shall pass through untouched! Go, Reginald. May the Light guide your hand."

Windsor and Jonathan saluted each other, then General Jonathan saluted Jeriden and the others. The way unobstructed, Windsor, Jeriden and Company marched over the bridge and into the city.

Word traveled like wildfire and masses of people lined the roads leading through the city districts to the Company's ultimate destination, Stormwind Keep. As they marched, Jeriden could hear snatches of what the people, including many Guards were saying.

"A living legend!"

"Nerves of Thorium!"

"Make way! Make way!"

"May the Light be with you all!"

"About bloody time someone stood up to Prestor and the Nobles!"

Nobody deluded themselves into thinking that most of the comments were meant for anything other than Windsor. Despite everything that had happened to them over the last year, Jeriden and Company were still largely unknown.

Just as they arrived at the entrance to the Keep, Windsor held up a clenched fist, the army signal to halt. He turned and regarded the little army.

"Be brave, friends. The reptile will thrash wildly. It is an act of desperation. When you are ready, give me the word. The dragon hides behind a royal façade and with these tablets we will reveal her for what she is... If what I have seen holds true, I will not survive this battle, friend. It is you that must finish what I have started. Are you forces ready? Are you ready? We will begin on your command."

"Marshall, are sure what you saw was true? We will be by your side, we won't allow any harm to come to you," Jeriden said. Windsor regarded him sadly.

"My fate is sealed. It is your destiny that is not yet fixed my friend. Don't worry about me, just watch your own backs. Ready then?"

Jeriden turned and looked into the eyes of his siblings. The three of them gazed back at him, proud determination on their faces, a feeling that was reflected in the entire group. Jeriden turned back and nodded at Windsor.

"Onward!" cried the Marshall. As one, the group marched past the unresisting Royal Guards and into the Keep. After a short ascent up the Grand Hall, they entered the Throne room. There stood Anduin Wrynn, the 10-year-old King of Stormwind, who was King only in name thanks to Prestor. The traitorous witch herself stood to Anduin's left as he gazed uneasily at the company of warriors that came marching so brazenly into the throne room. Highlord Bolvar Fordragon, a burly man in armor, drew his sword and stepped in front of the boy king. It was Windsor who made the first move however.

"Majesty, run while you still can. Lady Prestor is not what you think her to be..."

"To the safe hall, your majesty," added Bolvar, still shielding the boy who took off for the other side of the room. However, the boy king stopped and looked back just once and Jeriden could've sworn that the boy performed a short bow in their direction before being hustled off by a pair of Royal Guards. Katrana Prestor merely gazed imperiously at the little army that had assembled in the throne room.

"The masquerade is over, Lady Prestor. Or should I call you by your true name... Onyxia..." Reginald stated, his voice echoing through the room, spitting out the witch's true name as if it had been a particularly vile piece of food. Prestor merely threw back her head and laughed, the sound eerily deep and foreboding for a woman.

"You will be incarcerated and tried for treason, Windsor. I shall watch with glee as they hand down a guilty verdict and sentence you to death by hanging... And as your limp body dangles from the rafters, I shall take pleasure in knowing that a mad man has been put to death. After all, what proof do you have? Did you expect to come in here and point your fingers at royalty and leave unscathed?"

"You will not escape your fate, Onyxia. It has been prophesied - a vision resonating from the great halls of Karazhan. It ends now... " Windsor said as he brought forth the two small tablets he had brought with him from Blackrock.

"The Dark Iron's thought these tablets to be encoded. This is not any form of coding, it is the tongue of ancient dragon."

Was it Jeriden's imagination or did Onyxia's cruel grin falter just a bit?

"Listen, dragon. Let the truth resonate throughout these halls!" Windsor began to read from the tablets and as he did so unknown, unheard sounds flowed through the consciousness of everyone present. Bolvar Fordragon suddenly gasped and clutched at the medallion around his neck. Turning to Prestor, he slowly began to back away from her, sword pointed straight at her. She began to laugh again, the sound growing deeper. Then she began to change. To their horrified amazement, she grew in height until she was nearly ten feet tall. Wings sprouted out of her back, the rest of her body a nightmarish cross between black dragon and human.

"Curious... Windsor, in this vision, did you survive? I only ask because one thing that I can and will assure is your death. Here and now," the dragon-woman growled.

"Dragon filth!" snarled Bolvar, "Guards! Guards! Seize this monster!"

"DO NOT LET HER ESCAPE!" bellowed Windsor.

Before anyone could do anything else, Onyxia lunged forward and swiped, her claws raking bloody lines over Windsor's chest. There was a flash of light and Onyxia was gone. Jeriden and Lidia were about to jump to Windsor's aid when there was a cacophony of snarls. The Royal Guards ringing the room had suddenly turned into black dragonspawn.

"ATTACK!" bellowed Lidia, and the fight was on! The dragonspawn may have been big and tough but against the combined might of the races of the Alliance and an extremely furious Bolvar Fordragon.

As soon as the last dragonspawn fell to the ground, Bolvar immediately rushed to the side of Windsor.

"Reginald... I... I am sorry," he said, a definite catch in his voice.

"Bol... Bolvar... the medallion... use..." but Reginald Windsor, Marshall of Stormwind, Hero of the Alliance, could stay in the mortal realm no longer and quietly gave up the ghost. Jeriden and the others would forever remember this day as the day that one of Stormwind's greatest had perished.

The Secret Lives of Characters

Lidia and Juhani (3)

Twins-the holy grail of dating (According to NCIS' Tony DiNozzo)! And Lidia and Juhani ARE twins, both in-story and in 'real life.' My brother and I had made up two female human characters to play (One player I knew put it very well-Us dudes want something pretty to look at while we're running around!) and it just so happened that his Paladin, called Lidia and my Mage (Juhani) ended up by sheer coincidence having the same face, the same hairstyle and same hair color! So I thought to myself: these would be excellent sisters for Jeriden and Balder!

In the story I kept the fact that Lidia was a paladin and Juhani was a mage. As to their names, Lidia was made up by my brother (as far as I know) and Juhani is named after the Cathar Jedi Knight from Knights of the Old Republic. Initially the character models for them were based very much on their classes i.e. Lidia, as a paladin, was very tomboyish while Juhani was very demure and 'proper.' At one point I even thought to myself that Juhani might have been a bit too much like a Jaina Proudmoore clone. So I did what any revolutionist author would do: I retconned 'em! (I'm looking at YOU Blizzard!) Lidia is now the very definition of a Lady Warrior, trustworthy, loyal, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, brave, pure and mostly reverent. That doesn't mean she can't hand you your butt on a silver platter. Like her brother, she's a strong believer in people and her family and often plays mediator between her sometime quarrelsome brothers. It makes what happens to Jeriden and Balder during Burning Crusade all the more shocking to her.

As far Juhani, she has become the spitfire of the siblings, not a tomboy, but mostly the polar opposite of her sister. No wonder she has a thing for fire magic… She also has a small streak of impetuousness and that's going to get her in trouble during the Burning Crusade.