Dread and Darkness

We came upon the encampment within minutes, the activity from before long since ceased, and most of the camp quiet, save for the two guards chatting at the front and some shuffling within the tents. I knelt down and pulled a scroll from my belt, summoning an observer, a quirky fellow named Kail'mexx, whose distaste for me was almost equal to his hunger for memories. This particular observer had a unique capability. It hungered for knowledge, but not of the normal sort that you got from books, or word of mouth. No, it hungered for other people's knowledge. Sucking it from their very brain in an attempt to create disorientation. The gluttonous creature had a flaw however, and once sated was easily overcome by my will, falling to my bidding due to its insatiable need to feed.

It was quite a handy creature. I merely controlled how much it consumed, and I was easily able to confuse people into forgetting why they'd seen me, or if they'd even seen me at all. It was imperative that the guards forgot us going in, and coming out.

It didn't take much convincing on Xaedrienne's side to go on with my plan. Despite her protests to the contrary, I had a small inclination that she was secretly crushing on my division commander, and it was this advantage I was counting on. Because he too was attracted to my sister.

Her whole job was to distract Commander Dos long enough to leave his tent, and allow me access to his documents. It was a long shot, but if she could get him away, it would give me enough time to make a copy of the lists and get out before he knew anything had happened. The only issue, was that guards were instructed not to allow other members of other divisions, or civilians, onto the premises without a reason and an escort. I didn't have a high enough clearance to get in with Xaedrienne in tow, but her clearance was higher than mine. I was hopeful that this combined would be enough to get in without a fuss.

I was mostly banking on this working out for about five to ten minutes max. Commander Dos may have a crush on Xaedrienne, but he's a business man through and through. He would only stay distracted so long, before returning to his desk to complete whatever work he was doing. Xaedrienne had already been informed of this, and was silently pondering how to approach the man. If I could get at least five minutes, it would be enough to pick out Crysanthemum's name from a list of sixty-something names. Her name was unusually long, and uncommon, for a goblin. We as a race were stereotypically obsessed with short names with lots of strange letters.

As we inched closer to the camp, I could feel a sense of dread drop into the pit of my stomach. If there was ever a time for second thoughts, now was it. For a brief moment, I imagined turning heal and just forgetting the whole thing and staying in blissful ignorance. But… the curiosity ate at me. If her name was on the list… What then? But then… what if it wasn't? There was only two outcomes it seemed, and I couldn't justify leaving the information behind, to wait until it became public knowledge and find out like everyone else.

No. We had to do this. We had to find out. I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and looked to see Xaedrienne looking at me, her gaze kind.

"No matter what we find Tris," She said, looking determined. "We will get through it. Together. All of us, as a family." I swallowed hard and nodded. It was time to do business.

We straightened up and walked towards the front entrance, making it obvious to the guards that we were intending to head in. As they should have, they both moved to block the exit, weapons at the ready.

"Tristee?" The left guard, Tacham, a Young Tauren said, lowering his staff slightly. "I thought you were relieved for the night?" I silently cursed myself for so brazenly heading out of the compound, knowing it caused it to be obvious that I had left because Commander Dos had let me go after our ordeal.

But I recovered quickly, steeling myself and answering, "I was. But I need to speak with Commander Dos. My sister, Xaedrienne Hexknot of division six has some intel that her division would like to share. However… she needs an escourt." Both guards were rather new to the postion, and I was not surprised to see them both shrug in apparent aquiescence, and move aside.

"Very well, proceed." The Troll said, waving us on in with his polearm. As carefully as we could be, we walked right in, my observer leering at the two guards hungrily. I gave an infinitesimal nod of the head and I felt it begin to channel the minds of the two guards. I sternly limited it to just a few moments, and I could feel it grumbling in irritation.

Finding our way to commander Dos' tent was not a difficult task. Neither was it difficult to meld into the shadows while Xaedrienne stood outside the tent, brushing off her leather gear nervously. I shot her a look and she sent me one back apologetically, standing tall and deliberately stepping loudly outside his tent. I heard shuffling of papers and scraping of a stood against the ground and Xaedrienne cleared her throat.

"Dos?" Xaedrienne said, her voice high and chirpy. I could hear his scrambling footsteps and I imagined him falling over himself trying to get to the entrance to his tent quickly. I watched the flap open and Dos practically stumble out, recovering rather quickly, his eyes wide and smile on his face. Xaedrienne's face was slightly blushed, and I found it very hard not to laugh.

"Xaedrienne!" He responded excitedly. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" I knew he had a crush on her, but I hadn't realized the depth of it. He was completely shameless. And to make it worse, Xaedrienne seemed to bask in it.

"Oh, I just thought I would stop by." She said, bumping his arm playfully. "Perhaps we could take a quick walk around, maybe… discuss some things?" Dos didn't need convincing it seemed, the delight on his face unmistakable. He rubbed his hands together and held out his hand to the left, the opposite direction that I was sitting in.

"O-of course! This way!" He said, the excitement in his voice nearly palpable. The two turned heel and walked away, chatting quietly as they walked. Once they were a safe distance away, I darted into the tent and made an immediate beeline for the desk.

I was surprised at just how neat and orderly Dos' desk actually was. There were many a time where I took him for the sort of goblin that was messy at home, since he was well put together outside and in the work environment. Although this technically did count as work. Everything was organized as an inbox and outbox, with important documents off to the side, secured with a smooth paperweight that probably cost quite a bit of gold.

Nothing seemed to immediately catch my eye as a list however, and the important documents pile did not have the paperwork at the top. I scratched my head, thinking about what Dos would have done with the paperwork, when I saw a thicker parchment sticking out from the pile ever so slightly, enough to tip me off that this was where I could find what I was looking for. I did a quick listen for Dos or Xaedrienne's voice, and then quickly tugged on the thick paper, pulling it cleanly from the stack.

The list was handwritten and looked as though several hands had written it, rather than one person. To make matters worse, the names were not listed in any particular order, and there were a lot of them. Something in my brain reminded me that there was a second list, one with the names of the Death Knights who had taken out entire battalions. I paused my scan of the original list to find the other paper.

I moved the stack aside to where I'd found the first parchment and lo and behold, a smaller slip of paper was lying on the stack, a mere four names listed.

My curiousity could not be contained, and I picked up the list, slowly running my eyes across the names one by one, the sense of dread almost paralyzing as I read;

"Illudari Dawntusk"

"Aktemi of the Darkspear"

"Anoram Qeldal'el"

When my eyes befell the final name on the short list, the paper fell from my hands and I, in horror, watched as the last name on the paper seemed to pop out, separated in my mind from the others. My mind was blank, the terror that I'd felt in the knots in my stomach a sickening reality, as if it were a cruel joke. The words seemed to taunt me, blurring my vision and dulling the sound around me as the text floated across my eyes as if burned there for eternity;

"Crysanthemum Hexknot"

...

A slightly shorter chapter this time around, but I promise I'll try to keep the chapters coming as frequently as possible! Please enjoy!