Auriana
Auriana stood at the entrance to Blackhand's Crucible, her hands shaking as she contemplated the fight that lay ahead of her. Zala'din stood by her left side, while behind the two Commanders an assorted group of Alliance and Horde soldiers eagerly awaited the order to attack.
In her anger, Auriana had rushed headlong to the Crucible, but now that she stood outside the door, her fierce rage had been replaced by a dark, cold fear that seemed to be eating her heart from the inside out. Behind the doors of the Crucible awaited the orc who had caused her so much pain, who had taken so much from her, and she wondered if she actually had enough courage to step over the threshold and face her tormenter head on.
"Ya ready, little lion?" Zala'din asked quietly, his eyes all to knowing as he stared thoughtfully down upon her.
Auriana forced her hands to still, not wanting to appear weak before the Horde Commander. Zala'din seemed a trustworthy sort, and he had more than proven himself so far, but she could never allow herself to forget who and what he was.
"I'm fine," she said firmly, though she spoke more for her own benefit than his. "Blackhand… Blackhand will rue the day he ever thought to come after me."
"I don't doubt dat he will," Zala'din agreed, wedging one of his swords in the iron door of the Crucible and forcing it open.
Auriana stood back as the soldiers of the Alliance and Horde filed past her into Blackhand's exposed seat of power, her feet seemingly frozen to the ground. Her breath suddenly came on rapidly, and her chest felt oddly tight. It was the second time that day that she had lost control of her traitorous body, and she had to fight down a rising sense of panic as she contemplated fighting Blackhand directly.
Move. You can do this, she told herself firmly, taking a deep breath as she finally forced herself to enter the forbidding Crucible.
The warlord was waiting for them in the centre of the room, nonchalantly leaning against the haft of his hammer as he coldly inspected the assembled soldiers. He had clearly been waiting for this moment, and he looked largely unconcerned by the display of strength before him. From the expression on his face, he might have been about to fight off a group of annoying gnats, rather than some of the finest soldiers of the Alliance and Horde combined.
"You? You're the dogs who have been wreaking havoc throughout my foundry? Step forward! I will put you in your place," he rumbled, his voice grating painfully against Auriana's ears.
As Blackhand spoke, Auriana willed herself forward, stepping out from behind the protection of her soldiers and taking her place by Zala'din's side.
"You," Blackhand breathed as he caught sight of her, his gruesome visage splitting in an unsettling grin. "I was hoping you had survived your escape, so that I might have the satisfaction of killing you myself."
Auriana's heart beat out a thunderous staccato at the sight of him, and she felt as if they were the only two people in the room. Everything else in the world simply fell away, and for a terrifying second she felt as if she were back in Blackhand's torture chamber. Her breath hitched in her throat and her body suddenly ached as it recalled the torment inflicted upon her by the Blackrock orcs, but Auriana refused to allow herself to be cowed.
"Blackhand," she said coldly, fighting to control the tremor in her voice. "I… I offer you one chance. S… surrender the Foundry to me, and I will spare your life."
"Surrender?" he laughed gratingly. "The Blackrock do not surrender."
"Then you will die here," she said warningly. "You know the kind of power I can bring to bear. Do the smart thing, and lay down your weapon."
"Do you think to kill me, witch?" he snarled. "Do you intend to take revenge?"
"If you wish to fight, you should know that I do not stand against you alone," Auriana said quietly, ignoring Blackhand's taunt and forcibly holding back her rage. "All of Azeroth defies you."
"Ha! Do you really believe that your pitiful Alliance can defeat me?" Blackhand roared. "Do you think this pathetic band of rabble calling themselves the Horde will help? They aren't even worthy of the name."
"Careful, mon," Zala'din said calmly, lazily unsheathing his twin blades. "Dat be my Horde ya talkin' about. Trust me when I say we gonna show you da meanin' of pain."
The troll commander's cool, intractable confidence was oddly comforting, and Auriana suddenly felt far braver with him at her side.
"Choose your words carefully, Blackhand," she said, echoing Zala'din's sentiment. "My Alliance was not so pitiful when it destroyed the Iron Docks, nor when we took the Pit. I also can't help but notice that you are very much alone. Where is the might of the Blackrock now?"
Blackhand growled, shifting his grip on his mighty hammer.
"Still a bitch with a smart mouth, I see. Tell me, little girl, how are your nightmares?" Blackhand asked savagely. "You're afraid, I can see it in your eyes."
"Your concern is touching, Blackhand, but I assure you, you should be far more troubled by my rage than my fear," Auriana said roughly, summoning as much power as she was able.
She was gratified to see Blackhand's eyes widen in shock as she began to glow, the white fire of her magic consuming her arms and setting her eyes aflame. While somewhat impractical, Auriana knew her arcane inferno looked downright intimidating, and she was heartened by the slight flash of fear that crossed Blackhand's face.
"To arms!" she ordered the Alliance, though to her immense surprise the Horde also moved on her command.
As one, both the Alliance and the Horde lifted their weapons and shields, while the air crackled with sudden bursts of magical power. Blackhand raised his hammer defensively, his shadowed eyes burning with impossible hatred.
"I will hang your broken bodies from the gates of this Foundry!" he snarled, gnashing his teeth in fury.
"Not if I kill you first," Auriana retorted icily, ready to kill him and have done with the whole wretched Foundry. "Soldiers of Azeroth - attack!"
Both the Alliance and the Horde leapt at Blackhand without hesitation, and soon the Crucible was consumed by one of the most chaotic battles Auriana had ever seen. Blackhand may have been alone, but he was not unprepared, and it seemed as if he rigged the entire Crucible against them.
"I'll tear this place apart if I have to!" Blackhand screamed, using his considerable arsenal of weaponry to break the room around them.
Debris suddenly rained from the ceiling, and the soldiers of Azeroth were forced to scatter wildly to avoid being crushed. Explosions detonated at random around the room, and more than one soldier was caught in the crossfire. It was a masterful strategy, in that it allowed Blackhand to fight smaller duels against his opponents, while the others were forced to flee from his bombs and the collapsing ceiling of the Crucible.
Her body singing with adrenaline, Auriana danced amongst the debris, shooting spells at Blackhand as she wove in and out of the falling metal. Luckily, she was small and swift, and she had a significant advantage over some of the larger and bulkier members of the Alliance and Horde forces. More than one soldier had already been crushed by the debris, and it was only through sheer luck and a spectacular sense of timing that Auriana avoided her own demise.
As the fight wore on, one particularly large chunk of metal sheared off from the ceiling and came plummeting downwards, heading straight for Auriana. She managed to dodge neatly to the side, but as she whirled to face Blackhand once more she realised that Zala'din's second in command had not been so lucky. The troll shaman tumbled to the floor as a long piece of metal hit her from behind, and she was suddenly in very real danger of being crushed entirely.
Gritting her teeth, Auriana threw out a hand and teleported the shaman to her side, only managing to extract her at the very last second. The troll woman reappeared at Auriana's feet, covering her head with her hands before she realised that she was safe. She jerked her chin upwards in surprise, her expression hovering somewhere between disbelief and begrudging respect.
"You… you saved me," she muttered.
"Don't get too excited," Auriana said drily, hauling the shaman back to her feet. "I'm sure you'll have plenty more opportunities to die today."
Auriana thought she saw a small smile flicker across the shaman's face, but a second later she was all business once more. She acknowledged Auriana with a gruff nod, before turning her attention back to the fight against Blackhand. Auriana followed her lead, and together the two women renewed their assault on the master of Blackrock Foundry. Unfortunately, Blackhand was well protected from their magic by his heavy elemental armour, and the dark magic that ensorcelled his namesake arm. He was a mighty warrior, and Auriana couldn't help but to be impressed by the way he maneuvered himself about the room, forcing the Alliance and the Horde to into the flying debris and the chaotic explosions. There were more bodies lying motionless on the floor than Auriana would have liked at this stage of the fight, and her fiery anger burned brighter for each soldier that fell.
It was difficult to fight with so much debris crashing around the room, and Auriana had to work mightily to keep herself and her men protected. She alternated between throwing powerful frostbolts at Blackhand and shielding her soldiers, even resorting to teleporting some of her men to safety as she had done with Te'jaia. It was nigh on impossible to concentrate on so many things at once, and at one point she jumped backwards from an explosion, only to wander in to Blackhand's range.
The orc's cruel eyes widened as he saw her, and he pushed violently past his current opponents in order to charge her down. He was frighteningly quick for such a large creature, and only Auriana's superb reflexes saved her from the mighty punch he threw in her direction. She blinked away instantly, but Blackhand was still able to draw blood across her cheek and nose before she vanished.
Unfortunately, Auriana was forced off balance as she landed and she tumbled over, landing heavily on her backside as Blackhand continued his terrifying advance. Auriana scrambled backwards on her elbows, only just managing to roll out of the way as Blackhand's hammer crashed to the floor only inches from where her feet had just been. Growling angrily, the orc came on again, swinging the hammer back to deal her a killing blow. Still dazed as she from the glancing strike across her face, Auriana had no other choice but to summon a wall of solid ice between her and Blackhand, praying that he wouldn't be able to get through.
His muscles straining with effort, Blackhand brought his hammer down against the ice wall, shattering it into a million pieces and raining chunks of ice down on Auriana's unprotected body. At that same moment, however, he was hit powerfully from behind, as Zala'din slammed his twin swords into a vulnerable part of Blackhand's armour. The warlord howled angrily as Zala'din's blades tasted flesh, and he was forced to turn his attention away from Auriana and back to the troll Commander.
Shaking her head to clear it, Auriana used a nearby piece of debris to clamber back to her feet, forcing herself to concentrate as she regathered her power. Blackhand had his attention occupied by Zala'din and a number of other brave Horde who had come to her rescue, and Auriana took advantage of his distraction to resume her assault. She sent frost flying from her fingers with renewed energy, and was gratified to see that Blackhand's furious defense had begun to slow.
Despite his unbelievable prowess, it was soon clear to Auriana that Blackhand would be unable to hold out forever. He was quite simply outnumbered, and even though many soldiers of the Alliance and the Horde had fallen, Blackhand would be unable to outlast them all. Evidently, it seemed Blackhand had come to the same conclusion, for he forced Zala'din and the other soldiers back with a mighty swing of his hammer, and raised the weapon high in the air over his head.
"We will rebuild this place… but no one will be able to put you back together!" Blackhand crowed, slamming his hammer into the floor with such power that it actually shattered, and together the Alliance and the Horde tumbled down into the darkness below.
The group of combatants plummeted only a single storey, but it was enough to jar Auriana's bones and set her teeth rattling in her skull as she landed heavily on her back. Of course, Blackhand was prepared for the fall, and was the only one who managed to remain on his feet. It was at that moment Auriana realised that the Alliance and Horde had wandered into something of a trap, as the room suddenly filled with unforeseen Blackrock orcs and mobile siege weaponry.
Falling in a fight was incredibly dangerous, especially for a mage, and Auriana only just managed to scramble to her feet before she was crushed beneath a demolisher.
"Spread out!" she hollered as she dived out of the way, her muscles burning painfully from the exertion and the pain of her fall.
Auriana crouched low behind a pile of debris, taking a second to catch her breath as she desperately tried to come up with a plan of attack. When the assault had begun, Blackhand had been outnumbered, though his stunt with the collapsing floor had more than evened the odds, and as it stood the Azeroth coalition was in serious trouble. The demolishers were fast moving and deadly, and the Blackrock orcs that ringed the upper balcony of the room were picking off soldiers with precise and deadly explosive shots.
Lost as she was in her thoughts, Auriana started in fright as someone else dropped down beside her, and she had a spell ready to unleash before she realised that it was a sweaty and panting Zala'din.
"Still alive, little lion?" he asked, wiping blood out of his eyes as he stared out at Blackhand.
"Mostly," Auriana said wryly, grinning up at her troll companion.
"Dem demolishers gonna be a problem," Zala'din observed.
"I know. I think we have the best chance if you have your Horde keep Blackhand occupied while we take them out," Auriana said quickly, lifting her hand to signal her intent to Hafela from across the room. "I'm going to head up top to deal with those snipers."
Without waiting for a reply, and trusting Zala'din to do his part, Auriana teleported herself to the upper balcony, where a dozen Iron Horde soldiers were taking pot shots at the Alliance and Horde forces. Those closest to Auriana looked over in stunned surprise as she suddenly appeared in their midst, and she knew she had very little time to execute her strategy.
Auriana forced her tired legs into motion and slammed into the nearest orc, her hands alive with destructive magic. The Iron soldier died instantly, surprise still written across his face as he crumpled to the floor. Auriana caught his rifle as he fell, gripping it like a staff as she whirled to catch a blow from the orc standing on her other side. She kicked out powerfully, sending the orc stumbling backwards, before nestling the gun into her shoulder and shooting him in the face at point blank range.
The other orcs on the balcony had now realised that they were under attack and began to turn their guns towards Auriana, but she refused to allow herself to be caught. She hurled her stolen rifle at a nearby orc to throw off the soldier's aim, and blinked forwards in the wake of the flying weapon. The orc died as quickly as her comrades, unable to recover her rifle in time and falling to the savage spike of ice that Auriana drove through her chest.
Auriana was on the move again even before the orc's corpse hit the ground, blinking around the upper balcony to find her next target. It was difficult, tiring work, but Auriana's determination to destroy Blackhand won out over her fatigue, and she lost herself in the frantic carnage. She wreaked havoc amongst the orc snipers, using her magic to successfully avoid being shot as she slaughtered orc after orc. At one point, she even managed to get an orc to shoot one of his comrades in the gut, having blinked out of the way just in time.
Finally, she allowed herself to stop as the last orc died at her feet, sagging back against the Foundry wall as she fought to catch her breath. She was feeling distinctly light headed from her exertions, and knew that she couldn't keep fighting for much longer. Fortunately, from her vantage point she could see that the Blackrock demolishers now lay in ruins, and that the Horde had managed to force Blackhand back into a corner.
Sensing that she had a chance to finish the fight, Auriana teleported back down into the heart of the battle, her arms shining with power as she confronted the orc warlord.
"Your Foundry lies in ruins, Blackhand," she growled. "You have no men, no weapons, and no hope. Surrender to me now, and I may yet be merciful."
"Never!" Blackhand screamed, raising his terrible hammer high in the air. "This Foundry's molten heart will devour you!"
There was absolutely no fear in Blackhand's voice, and Auriana realised a moment too late that she had underestimated the warlord once more, as he collapsed the floor for the second time. This was no single storey drop, however, but rather a plunge down into the very depths of the Blackrock citadel. Blackhand seemed unconcerned by the rapid descent, evidently protected by whatever dark elemental magics flowed through his body, but Auriana realised her men would not be so fortunate.
"Catch them!" she screamed to her fellow mages, the wind of their fall all but tearing the words from her mouth.
Auriana hurled spells almost faster than thought, targeting Alliance and Horde alike as she sought to slow their relentless plummet to the magma filled platform below. She caught as many as she was able, and prayed to the Light that those she had missed would be aided by someone else. Her forces had already been significantly thinned by the fighting so far, and she knew they couldn't afford to lose anyone else if they were to succeed.
At the very last second, Auriana realised that she had failed to cast a spell on herself, and she only just managed to slow her descent mere feet from the molten ground. Late as she was in casting the spell, Auriana was not able to slow herself by as much as she might have liked, and she slammed into the floor with a mighty crack, her left shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. She instantly felt pins and needles race down her arm as her shoulder throbbed painfully, though she had no time to dwell on the injury. Auriana was certain that the bone wasn't broken, however, nor dislocated, and that would be enough for now.
This has not been my year for shoulders, she thought drily, rolling to the side and springing back to her feet in one smooth movement.
She looked around quickly, and was relieved to see that everyone who had been alive at the time of the fall was still standing, reforming their lines as they prepared to engage Blackhand once more. The heat in the heart of the Foundry was blistering, and Auriana instantly felt sweat bead on her brow as she moved. Only Blackhand seemed unaffected, clearly in his element in the smouldering core of his Foundry. He seemed to draw power from the surrounding magma, and he threw himself against the Alliance and the Horde in a terrifying, unprecedented frenzy.
Auriana soon began to suspect that the heart of the Foundry was as close to hell as she ever wanted to get. Burning magma flowed all around, and Blackhand was setting off massive slag explosions at random. She was forced to keep moving in order to stay alive, which notably reduced her combat effectiveness. It was difficult to summon powerful or precise magic on the run, and Auriana was reduced to harrying Blackhand from afar with her weakened spells. From what she could see through the haze of heat and flying slag, most of the other casters were similarly affected, and Auriana began to seriously question whether her men would be able to outlast the seemingly tireless warlord.
This has to end soon, she thought grimly, sliding to the side as yet another slag bomb exploded close on her heels.
It was difficult to breathe the thick, sulfurous air, and Auriana found it damnably difficult to concentrate for long enough to think of a plan. It seemed as if she had been running forever, and her still recovering body had begun to ache with the effort. Her skin felt as if it were on fire, and she could barely see from all the smoke and flame in the air.
How can Blackhand possibly withstand this heat? she wondered. He must be attuned to the Foun… oh...
Auriana shook her head hard as the thought came to her, wondering how she could have possibly been so thick. The Foundry was Blackhand's home, and the great heart of flame that lay at its core was more a part of him than anything else. The same elemental fury that powered the Foundry flowed through Blackhand's own armour, and Auriana finally realised that the Foundry itself held the key to the warlord's undoing
You like fire, Blackhand? she snarled inwardly. Let's see how you like this…
Skidding to a halt and hoping desperately that she wouldn't be hit by a stray bomb, Auriana drew on the furious power of the flame all around her. The fiery heart of the Foundry and the fiery heart of Blackhand were indelibly intertwined, and Auriana intended to exploit that relationship to her full advantage. She even went so far as to ever so carefully tap into her fury, drawing on a thin thread of pure rage to bolster her magic as she formed a sympathetic link between the falling magma and Blackhand's armour. She flicked a hand, sending a powerful pulse of magic not towards Blackhand, but rather towards one of the falling curtains of magma that encircled the Foundry's heart. Somewhat to her surprise, the sympathetic link held, if tenuously, and as the magma bubbled and popped under Auriana's spell, so too did the magma flowing through Blackhand's armour. It wasn't enough to kill him, of course, but with the damage he had already sustained, it was enough for Auriana's purposes. Blackhand roared in shock and agony as his own armour turned against him, and as he stumbled to one knee in surprise, Auriana saw her chance.
"Zala'din!" she screamed, gathering her magic for a second devastating assault, "Get ready!"
Auriana drew on as much power as she was able, willing a potent spell into existence as she somehow managed to ignore the falling bombs and the magma and the pain in her body. Her attention was entirely consumed by Blackhand, and the entire world had been reduced to the sight of his hated face. She howled away her fear and anger as she finally unleashed, sending the most powerful frostbolt she had ever cast flying towards Blackhand. It took him hard in the chest, his molten powers cooling as icy fractals cracked his armour and rendered him completely vulnerable to attack.
"Now!" Auriana screamed to Zala'din, falling to one knee as her reckless use of magic finally took its toll.
The troll commander read her intent with uncanny understanding, launching himself into the air with both swords raised. He slammed into Blackhand with terrific strength, shattering the warlord's armour and sending him flying across the molten floor. Blackhand roared in agony as he fell, his hammer skidding away from his grasp. His breath came in ragged gasps, and blood poured from his chest where Zala'din had opened him from shoulder to shoulder. He struggled valiantly to reach his weapon, though it was clear to Auriana that the Blackrock warlord was on his last legs. Zala'din strode forwards ruthlessly, his face cold, and he neatly hamstrung Blackhand so that he couldn't move. Auriana pulled herself back to her feet and followed in his wake, trembling in anticipation of Blackhand's death.
Strangely, however, Zala'din didn't finish the warlord off. Instead, he wordlessly held out one of his swords to Auriana, and with a start she realised that he was offering her the chance to slay Blackhand personally. Auriana's heart surged with a complex and indescribable series of emotions as she considered the sword, though in her heart of hearts she knew she wanted nothing more than to slaughter Blackhand herself and claim her revenge.
Despite her fatigue, Auriana walked forwards on shaking legs and willingly accepted the shining, bloodstained weapon. Without hesitation, she crouched down over Blackhand, her small hand at his throat, and pressed the tip of Zala'din's blade to his chest. She supposed the scene might have looked comical from the outside, the tiny female mage crouched over the monstrous orc warlord, though there was nothing amusing about what she intended to do.
"You want to know how my nightmares are, Blackhand?" she snarled, gazing down at the orc with pitiless eyes.
Without waiting for a reply, she leant her entire weight against the sword hilt, grunting with the effort as she thrust the blade through Blackhand's chest with such force that the point hit the floor. The warlord's eyes widened in shock and pain as his flesh and sinew parted before the cold steel of Zala'din's sword, choking horrifically as blood bubbled up through the wound. Auriana held Blackhand's throat tightly as he died, shivering with a dark, sinister satisfaction as she felt the last desperate rattle of air leave his lungs.
"They're all better now," she whispered, pushing Blackhand's lifeless head roughly to the side as she withdrew the blade from his chest in a single, graceful stroke.
Not a single person spoke as Auriana rose to her feet, trying not to let her legs shake as she fought to rein in her surging emotions. Blackhand's death had lifted a great weight from her shoulders, but at the same time she wondered if his death would ever be enough to heal what he had broken within her. She felt slightly faint as the adrenaline of the fight faded from her body, and she once again felt the same strange hollowness in her chest that she had experienced after defeating Garrosh Hellscream.
Of course, there would be time enough to process her complex feelings later, and Auriana forced her spine straight as she turned back to face her soldiers. It took her awhile to realise that the core of the Foundry was eerily silent, given the number of Horde and Alliance currently ringing the space, and Auriana wondered what had so captured their attention. It took her a moment longer to then understand that everyone was staring at her, with expressions ranging from grim approval to outright fear. She also realised that they were all waiting for her to do something, and she wasn't quite sure how to meet their expectations.
"The Foundry is ours!" she cried, her tone belying her uncertainty as she lifted Zala'din's bloody sword aloft. "For the glory of the Alliance - and the Horde!"
Somewhat to Auriana's surprise, members of both factions roared their approval back to her, the oppressive air suddenly filled with fearsome cries of victory. Auriana smiled tightly, proud of her men - and the Horde - for having been able to work together to bring Blackhand down. The relationship between the Alliance and the Horde was still fraught with mistrust, of course, but as Auriana locked eyes with her Horde counterpart, she couldn't help but wonder if two victories had been achieved this day. The Alliance and Horde no longer stood apart, as they had at the start of the battle, and she noticed that some soldiers had even begun to work together as the cries of victory faded and they began to tally the wounded and the dead.
Auriana turned back to Blackhand's corpse, nodding respectfully to Zala'din as she did so. She did not return his sword immediately, however, instead using it to sever Blackhand's damaged right arm at the shoulder.
"Takin' a souvenir, little lion?" Zala'din asked, coming up behind her as she sawed through Blackhand's heavy muscle.
"Ah, it isn't for me," Auriana said, blanching as the arm finally came free. "Khadgar requested I retrieve the warlord's arm, if it was intact. I have no idea why, however."
"Don'tcha be a mage?" Zala'din asked, his tusks twitching. "How'd ya not know?"
"I'm not that kind of a mage," Auriana said, pulling a face. "I do the killing, Khadgar does the... tinkering."
Her grim task done, Auriana lifted Blackhand's arm over her shoulder for transport, and passed Zala'din his gore covered sword. She then looked over to where Blackhand's mighty hammer had fallen, still smouldering despite its master's demise.
"Do you want it?" she asked Zala'din thoughtfully. "The hammer, I mean."
"I have no need for a hammer," the troll said slowly. "My swords be just fine. I think da hammer be yours by right, Commander. After all, ya be the one who killed him."
"I suppose," Auriana said skeptically, "Though I couldn't have done it without my men… or yours, for that matter. You have just as much right to it as I do."
"No, mon," Zala'din said seriously, shaking his head as he retrieved the great weapon. "Some tings are just… right. All trolls know dis. Da hammer is yours."
He held it out to her with a solemn nod, his golden eyes sharp and sincere. Auriana, however, hesitated, biting her lip thoughtfully as she considered the mighty weapon. She had no need for a hammer almost as tall as she was, nor did she need to carry a permanent reminder of Blackhand, though the more she thought about it, the more she came to realise that she might have a purpose for the weapon after all. The hammer was so heavy that she needed both hands to lift it, carefully balancing Blackhand's severed arm over her left shoulder while she slung the hammer over her right. She grunted slightly as she took the weight, but it was easy enough to carry once its mass was spread out over her upper back. She wouldn't be able to hold it for long, of course, but she could bear up well enough to get the hammer back to Stormwind.
"Thank you, Commander," she said seriously. "Really."
Zala'din grinned, and looked as if he were about to say something, but Auriana dissuaded him with a shake of her head. Never one for maudlin displays of emotion, she turned her attention towards the assembled group of Alliance soldiers, eager to conclude the day's business so that she might never have to return to the Foundry again.
"Hafela!" she called to her lieutenant, who hurried over swiftly at the command. "Fall back to Lunarfall, wounded first, and have some of the gnome engineers leave explosive charges behind as you go. Reduce the Foundry to rubble, I don't want to take the chance that Hellscream - or anyone else for that matter - will salvage weapons from this place."
"I will see it done, Commander," Hafela said, appearing bloody but unwounded. "Do you intend to join us?"
"No," Auriana said quickly. "I need to get this arm to Khadgar while it's still… er… fresh, and then I will report back to Stormwind. The King should know what has happened here today."
Of course, Auriana didn't mention that she had more than one reason for wanting to return to Stormwind as soon as possible. With Blackhand dead, Auriana was finally free from the dark shadow he had cast over her existence, and right now all that she wanted in the world was to be back in Varian's arms. She was also bone tired, and she very much wanted to simply collapse in a bed and sleep for a week.
"As you wish, ma'am. I shall see to it right away," Hafela said crisply.
"Headin' home, Commander?" Zala'din asked, folding his arms across his lean chest and studying her thoughtfully.
Auriana sighed, rubbing a tired hand across her eyes. In front of any other member of the Horde, she wouldn't have dared to show such vulnerability, but she found herself strangely comfortable around the troll Commander after having fought such a fine battle at his side.
"It's been too long," she admitted, her thoughts inevitably turning back to Varian.
"I know what ya mean," Zala'din agreed. "I'll be takin' da Horde back ta Frostfire as soon as I can… and den I think I'll reward myself with a very potent drink."
"You've certainly earned it. I'll make sure that we do not detonate the Foundry until your men are clear," Auriana promised, with a significant look at her Lieutenant.
"I'd appreciate dat," Zala'din said, grinning winningly at Hafela.
"I'll see to that now, Commander, if you don't mind," Hafela said, flushing slightly at Zala'din's smile as she turned to carry out Auriana's orders.
Zala'din chuckled slightly as the draenei departed, and Auriana sighed sadly as she realised that in another lifetime, they might have been friends.
"It's been an honour fighting with you, Zala'din," she said sincerely. "Til next time?"
He slapped her gently on the back in a comradely gesture, his face lighting up with what Auriana realised was genuine warmth. Apparently, he had enjoyed fighting with her as much as she had enjoyed fighting with him, and once again she felt a surge of regret at the fact that they stood on opposite sides.
"Til next time, little lion," the troll agreed, grinning earnestly down at her. "Til next time."