CHAPTER 7
1.
It took them the rest of the day and nearly all night to find Light's Hope Chapel, nestled as it was against a steep mountain range and all but hidden by the thick forest that surrounded it on three of four sides. The outpost had grown considerably since Vaala had been there, and had changed from a place of prayer and meditation to a full-blown military encampment. Aside from the chapel itself, a number of trees had been cleared to make room for several rows of tents, and a crypt had been built at the back to offer a fitting resting place for those who had fallen in battle with the Scourge. Where once only humans had served in the Order of the Silver Hand, people of all races now gathered under the black and silver banner of the Argent Dawn.
The hour was late, but their arrival still managed to cause a considerable amount of commotion. True to their purpose, the paladins immediately offered their assistance in healing Reevan's injuries, and offered Vaala and Kael'thas a tent, fresh food, and water while they waited. At first, Vaala insisted to stay at her brother's side. It wasn't until one of the paladins stated that they might need her to defend the chapel later on that she agreed to let herself be lead away. Kael trailed one step behind her, dreading the moment they would finally be alone. She hadn't spoken to him at all since they'd landed and barely acknowledged his presence otherwise, introducing him as a former conscript of the Shattered Sun Offensive when she was asked. In any other circumstances, he would have probably laughed at the irony.
Their tent was large enough to fit six men, but still it felt too small for the both of them. Vaala sat down without a word, hugging her knees, eyes closed. She looked worse than Kael had ever seen her, which was little wonder considering she hadn't slept in more than a day and barely touched any food at all. For a moment he felt compelled to reach out to her and offer whatever comfort he could, then he pushed that thought away. This was his fault. He had no right, and she would probably lash out at him again.
Still, he found himself longing for even that. Anything was better than the heavy silence that hung between them, and the dread that after this night, regardless of the outcome, things would never be the same again. If he'd refused their aid and made away to brave his new life alone, none of this would have ever happened. It seemed as though wherever he was and whatever he did, his destiny was to always bring death and misery to those around him. How could he even begin to think otherwise? He dwelled on that, reliving again the few memories that had managed to find their way past whatever it was that was keeping most of his recent past from him. He felt a mounting horror with every new reminiscence of the things he'd done. No… he had to leave now, before he could cause any more harm.
His resolve made, Kael'thas stood up. He fervently hoped that there would be no pursuit this time. After all, he'd killed all-
"Get back here."
Kael froze, wondering if he'd imagined the whispered command, but when he turned he saw that Vaala was glaring at him in a way that made it clear she wouldn't let him leave the tent alive. Hope stirred, but he pushed it down with all the determination he could muster. "Forgive me," he said softly. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"I wasn't sleeping." She ran her hands through her hair, eyes closed for a second, then pinned him with her stare. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I was... going to see if your drake is properly cared for," he answered, hesitating only briefly.
She shook her head. "You're a terrible liar. Whatever you were going to do, forget it."
"I…" By the Sun, why was it so hard to speak the words? He knew them to be true. "I have caused you and your brother enough-"
"I haven't been fair to you, have I." Her voice softened a little. "I'm sorry."
At first, he thought he'd misheard. She was apologizing to him? "No," he managed, startled at this sudden turn of the conversation. "It is I who should be apologizing to you. Had I not been-"
"-what?" Vaala interrupted. "Had you not been alive to cause all this? Well, save yourself the guilt trip, because here you are. And, in case you forgot, you were the one who saved our lives yesterday."
"You put yourselves at risk to defend me," Kael'thas argued, even as her words brought with them unspeakable relief. "This was the least I could do."
Vaala gave him a curious look. "I was expecting you to run away."
"It would seem that you do not know me at all," Kael answered with the ghost of a smile. "I wish I had met you before… well, before all this." I would have delighted in your company, he thought, but it was too bold a statement to voice now.
"Enlighten me, then," Vaala said, shifting her position so that she leaned towards him slightly. "What's the real Kael'thas Sunstrider like? I never had the chance to know you before you-" she fumbled for the right words, then gave up and finished, "so I won't judge. And, before you say anything else, we did meet once, on the day that my brother became a magister of the Kirin Tor. Not that I'd expect you to remember it, since all I did was curtsy and say what an honor it was to be in your presence, etcetera."
This was unexpected. "You... didn't swoon, did you?" he asked, although that wasn't the most reliable way of remembering. Women had tended to swoon a lot in his presence back in the day. It was a perfectly acceptable bid for his attention, and also the one that he'd been the most annoyed with.
"My mother did," she answered with a grimace. "Just for the proper amount of time, too. She was very proud of herself after."
This, at least, sounded vaguely familiar. The female magisters and their families tended to carry themselves with dignity but, now that she mentioned it, he did vaguely remember one such incident in particular, during a ceremony where several new magisters had been welcomed into the order. "What were you wearing on that day?" he asked.
"Do you really…" She paused, rubbing her temples, then said, "One of my mother's dresses, I think... Black silk and lace, Silvermoon crest embroidered on the front in gold and green… I think she'd also given me her rubies necklace, but I'm not…"
"Yes, she did. I remember. You were the only one who looked me in the eye."
"Despite being told not to," she couldn't help but add.
He almost smiled. "I meant to speak with you after that, but by the time I returned you had already gone."
"I snuck out before my mother could introduce me to any potential suitors," Vaala said with a crooked grin. "Her one dream was to marry me off to a noble, and there were plenty of those around. In fact, one of them came calling not a week after... although I assume you already know how well that turned out. Did you find anything else of interest in that journal, by the way?"
The sudden change of subject caught Kael'thas completely off-guard. "I apologize," he said quickly. "I should have never-"
"I don't mind," Vaala interrupted. "It's all in the past now, unless the ghost of my mother came back to decry how she would never un-live to see the family name carried on. Then again… if she knew that I'm sitting in a tent with the Prince of Quel'thalas, she would probably die from happiness all over again." She spoke the words lightly, but her voice was hollow and for a moment he saw something akin to regret flicker in her eyes.
"Former prince," he corrected her. "I have long since cast away the privilege of using that title... along with everything it entitled me to." The old pain, forgotten for a few precious moments, came back to haunt him again. How could it have come to this, when all he'd ever wanted was for his people to be free, no matter the cost? Perhaps that had been his mistake all along. Was it possible, then, that the ends didn't always justify the means? What terrible chain of events had lead to his desperate last stand at the Magisters' Terrace? Whether it was for weakness or a deeper instinct of self-preservation, he was terrified at the thought of searching deeper into his mind.
"And where do you want to go from here, Your… former Highness?"
She'd meant it as banter, but the word cut deep. "I do not know," he answered, realizing for the first time that he had never thought too far beyond their most pressing needs at any given time.
"It will come to you," she said softly. "A friend once told me to take things as they come. I never realized how right he was until the Black Temple fell. I thought I had nowhere to go from there... and then, life found a way to prove me wrong. One thing at a time. One day at a time." The memory of whoever it was made her smile, and for a moment she looked much younger than she was.
"Neither of us chose to be here, though," he observed. "Does free will mean nothing at all?"
"We chose to live. You chose for all of us to live." Suddenly, she shifted towards him and took his hand into her own. The gesture seemed to startle even her, but she went on, "Things happen whether we want them to or not. How we react to them makes all the difference. We fool ourselves into thinking that we did what we had to do. There's no such thing. There's always a choice I could have simply refused to assist you, or run you through with a sword, because why not?"
Kael'thas considered this. " You chose for yourself. I sought to make the right choices for my people... our people… and that is where I failed. I never realized the true horror of the path I had taken until it was already too late, and then..." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "I never meant for any of this to happen, Vaala, but that does not make me any less responsible for what I did. The more I think about it... the more I realize that things should have ended when they did."
2.
This conversation was going in circles, much to Vaala's chagrin. While listening to Kael'thas lament his past mistakes did provide a reliable distraction from the worries that had been plaguing her for most of their journey here, his constant brooding wasn't helping anyone. Not a day before, she would have sworn to the Nether and beyond that she couldn't care less how Kael'thas felt, and she was more than happy to leave him guilt himself to the grave, if that was what made him happy. That was no longer true. A troubled companion was a liability, especially in their predicament. And, if she managed to lose him now, she would have to go out and find him or Reevan would never let her hear the end of it.
The thought of her brother made her feel a sudden pang of concern. The paladins had assured her they would do everything in their power, although they cautioned the path to recovery would be long and arduous and there were no guarantees that they could forestall any permanent damage. Sylvanas and her Dark Rangers had more than just poisons in their arsenal, they'd said; their arrows were enchanted with spells that made flesh and muscle decay to the point where not even the Light-
No. There would be time to think about this later, once she knew exactly how bad things were. For now, she decided to focus her attention solely on the task at hand. And, speaking of hands… she was still holding his. She withdrew hers quickly and reached for the jug of water the paladins had left for them, then drank for a long minute. She needed to distract the prince. Somehow.
There were only two things that came to mind, and both were equally unpleasant. "Now you're the one who's being unfair," she began, even though she didn't entirely agree with that statement.
Kael'thas glanced at her for a second, his expression troubled. "I merely-"
"What you fail to see is that your actions kept all of us alive even before you set foot through the Dark Portal," Vaala went on, cutting him off. "You know you were mislead – first by Illidan, then by Kil'jaeden. Somewhere along the way, you lost yourself, but now, you've been given another chance. Are you going to waste it with your self-pity?"
"Why do you care?" he murmured. "Last I recall, the only reason you ever agreed to any of this was that your brother demanded it. If it were up to you, would you not rather see me dead at your feet?"
It was a fair question. To her surprise, the answer came easily. "No."
"You lie."
Vaala bristled. "I am many things, Kael'thas Sunstrider, but a liar I am not. When-"
She stopped abruptly, remembering not for the first time how much she loathed talking about her past. But then, she reasoned, Kael already knew about this. The harm was done. "When Athun died, I blamed myself for it. For the longest time, I thought that if I'd talked him out of it, or at the very least gone with him against my mother's wishes, he needn't have died fighting the Amani. I blamed my family, too, and left with no thoughts of ever coming back. The next time I saw my home was well after the Scourge had swept through Quel'thalas, and everyone was gone."
She felt nothing as she said it. Her mother, father, the house servants, even the little hawkstrider minders she'd played with and teased and helped with their reading. All dead. "Had I stayed," she went on, stamping out the memory, "I would have shared their fate. I was lucky to have left when I did, just as you were lucky that my brother and I found you first. Everything happens for a reason, but to find it, one must look forward... not back."
Kael sighed. "Your words make sense, as always... And still, when I look to the future, I see nothing."
"And what do you expect to see? We have a full day's rest ahead of us, a warm meal after, and the certainty that we'll be alive to enjoy both. Why try to imagine anything past that? We'll deal with things as they come."
"And how long can we stay before we wear out our welcome? When the Argents realize-"
"Good grief, do you want to feel miserable?" she growled, the thin thread of patience that had kept her in check snapping at last. "Do you care not at all for everything we sacrificed to even get you here?"
This seemed to finally get to Kael'thas, because he stopped ranting and looked away, ashamed. "Forgive me," he said quietly. "I am truly grateful for everything you both did. I… I never asked for any of this." He closed his eyes, fists clenching at his sides. "I remember death. And I remember dying. Other than that, I don't…" Silence again, longer this time. Then, very faintly, "I wish I knew what I am meant to do."
His words stirred her deeply, and she felt slightly annoyed with herself for not having seen it sooner. Of course he was frightened and confused above all else, as he had every right to be. After all, who wouldn't feel that way after suddenly finding themselves brought back to life, with such a clear memory of their final moments? It would take weeks, perhaps months before he could come to terms with his new predicament, and even then…
The thought trailed off as another idea came. As far as she remembered, Kael'thas was far more pleasant to have around when he had something, anything, to occupy his thoughts. "You might as well learn how to make yourself useful while we're here," she said cautiously and, to her relief, she saw his eyebrows raise in a minute display of interest. "I see you carry a sword. Do you know how to use it?"
"I trained with the finest swordsmen in Quel'thalas," he answered, his voice tinged with hurt pride.
Better, Vaala thought. "I didn't ask who you trained with, but what you can actually do. Tomorrow, I want you to show me everything you know. Then, if you're not too bad at this, we'll see if we can make some extra coin by helping out the Argent Dawn. They're always looking for new conscripts, and I assume you're just as eager to take down some Scourge as I am." Truth be told, she wasn't, but there was nothing like leading by personal example.
"I need no coin to fight the Scourge," Kael said fiercely.
Vaala chuckled at this, amused by more than just his words. "I'm sure the paladins will appreciate the sentiment. Most of them think the same."
3.
Kael'thas didn't even remember going to sleep, but it must have happened since it had been night before, whereas now a few rays of sunlight were stirring the half-darkness inside the tent. He sat up and looked around, but saw no sign of Vaala. Instead, there was a tray with a covered bowl and a thick loaf of bread next to her cot, with a small note which read, Better than orcish food. Trust me.
The bowl turned out to be filled with a sort of soup, thick with vegetables and boiled meat. The taste was bland, but not necessarily bad, though his Quel'dorei ancestors would have cringed at such a barbaric, simple dish. After eating the late breakfast, Kael took a moment to comb his hands through his hair and tie it back, then grabbed his sword and went outside.
The sun was high up in the sky, which meant it was past noon or close to it. The Argent camp was deserted; most of the paladins were out battling the Scourge, he assumed. Some distance away, the chapel rose like a monument of defiance against the creeping undeath, and as a testament of hope that the future would bring better tidings. Next to it, in the open space between the building and the first row of tents, he saw a mass of purple and yellow. On looking closer, he recognized their netherdrake. He made for it, aware that he was being regarded with open curiosity, although he read no hostility around him just yet. Most of the paladins were human, although he saw some dwarves and even a few of the elusive, nocturnal Kal'dorei. None of them seemed to bear any animosity towards the lone blood elf walking in their midst.
He found Vaala tending to the drake, as he'd expected. She looked far more cheerful than she'd been on the previous night, and when he greeted her she beamed at him with an expression that could only mean something had gone extremely well.
"They said the corruption hasn't spread too far and that, with any luck, there won't be much beside a scar left," she said without bothering with greetings first.
Kael'thas smiled at her with genuine relief. "That is good news indeed. And… you?"
"Bored," Vaala answered with a small shrug. "I was going to see if the Argents have anything for me to do, but then the drake got all feisty on me and I had to take it out to feed. Luckily, we ran into some wolves not too far from here. It ate three of them before I even knew what we were chasing after."
'...what we were chasing after.'
Kael'thas blinked at the unexpected echo. There was a cliff behind them, true, but Vaala was facing away from it and there was nothing that could have bounced the sound back. Had he imagined it? "You should be careful out there," he said after a few puzzling moments. "Between the Scourge and the wildlife, there are plenty of things that could catch you off-guard."
'Scourge... things... catch...'
This time, he turned fully around, but saw no-one there. Still, there was no mistaking that voice, faint and high-pitched, like a child's. For a moment, he wondered if he had actually gone insane. Then, to his utmost surprise, he realized that the drake was watching him intently, its head tilted to one side, one enormous eye blinking lazily towards him.
Vaala gave him a curious look. "What's wrong?"
Kael brought a finger to his lips and listened intently. Sure enough, he heard the same voice say, 'What's wrong?'
He grabbed Vaala's arm and pulled her aside. "Did you not hear that?" he whispered.
Vaala frowned. "Hear what?"
'Hear what?' said the voice.
Kael waved her into silence. From what little he knew, netherdrakes were fierce and independent creatures, hard to tame and harder still to keep around. While they did show the occasional sign of intelligence, no-one had ever documented any cases of talking beasts on Draenor.
Then again, the dragons native to Azeroth were known to be able to do much more than just talk. In fact, unbeknown to all but the most prestigious members of the Kirin Tor, one of them – a red dragon who went by the name of Krasus, but was in fact called Korialstrasz – had walked among them for decades and even acted as a member of the Six. "I believe," Kael said cautiously, "that your drake is trying to learn how to communicate."
Vaala's eyes travelled between the drake and her companion, her expression guarded. "You mean… that thing can talk?"
'You mean that thing can talk?'
"Yes," Kael said to both of them. Despite himself, he felt a curious wave of elation. This was unheard of, even on the other side of the Dark Portal. He turned to the drake once more. "Hello?" he tried.
'Hello?' he heard back. Then, a moment later, 'What's wrong?'
"Fascinating," Kael murmured. "It remembers!"
"I'm going to check on my brother," Vaala announced, equal parts disinterested and relieved that the prince had something to do. "Have fun with whatever you're on to and let me know how it went."
Kael'thas acknowledged her words with a distracted nod. "What is your name?" he asked the drake.
'Name. What... is... name?'
"My name is Kael'thas." He pointed at himself to demonstrate the concept and marvelled at how quickly the drake had been able to go from merely repeating words to forming a vaguely coherent sentence. Or maybe it had been listening to others talk and was only now realizing that it, too, can do the same thing. "And yours?"
'My name.' Another pause. Then, the drake rose on its hind legs and flapped its wings several times, letting out an ear-splitting roar.
"I see," Kael said when he could hear his own voice once again. He didn't know if that was truly the creature's 'name' or simply a display of frustration over not having one to begin with. "However, I was looking for a word, I fear."
The drake lowered its head and made another sound, almost like a whimper. 'Wrong,' it said, somehow managing to convey its dejection despite the fact that its voice hadn't changed. 'My name... is... not. What?'
"You don't have a name, do you," Kael realized, piecing the meaning together. "Would you like one?"
The drake hesitated at this. 'Like. Yes... My like. What?'
"Tempest." It was the first word that came to mind, but it fit well.
The drake seemed to like it, too. It repeated it several times, trying out different inflections, then curled up and, for lack of a better word, purred its approval. 'Your Tempest,' it concluded, settling for a particular inflection.
"Oh no," Kael said quickly. "You belong to Vaala, not me."
'Vaala?' the drake repeated, its tail swishing from side to side as it attempted to understand. 'What is Vaala?'
4.
Reevan was being cared for in one of the large tents that were closest to Light's Hope Chapel. When Vaala entered, she found one of the paladins that had welcomed them upon their arrival, a woman going by the name of Elizabeth Reed, and another human wearing bright purple clothes and a matching hat who hadn't been there before.
"He came to his senses this morning, after you left," Elizabeth said without preamble. "He was delirious, I think... He demanded to see Kael'thas Sunstrider and didn't believe me when I told him that the prince was dead. Then he said that we should thank the throm'ka, whatever that means, and then he asked Rohan if he was willing to trade his hat."
The man in bright purple clothes looked up at this. "Said he'd give me a hundred gold pieces for it. Then I said, a deal's a deal, here's the hat, give me the gold, but he passed out again. D'you think he'll remember?"
"Clearly delirious," Vaala said, rolling her eyes in an ostentatious display and hoping her pride didn't show. One hundred gold pieces for a hat? Reevan had probably realized that he'd slipped up, and rallied on the spot. He was even more clever than she'd given him credit for. "If he wakes again, I want to know it, before he decides to trade either me or Cerian for a coat." Belatedly, she realized she'd blurted out a name at random. She made a note to tell her companion that he'd be known as Cerian Dawnstrike for the foreseeable future, and hoped he hadn't already introduced himself by another name.
Elizabeth put a gentle hand on her arm. "You should know that he may not wake again for a while," she said softly. "He needs time."
"How much time?"
"A week at least, until we can be absolutely certain that the worst has passed... and two weeks more if he is to recover his strength enough to travel again. You may all remain here in the meantime, of course. We never turn away those in need."
Vaala had been expecting something like this, but the news still made her shoulders sag. If Ilastar hadn't given up on the pursuit, he would have more than enough time to comb the Plaguelands and find them before they could move again. The Argent Dawn were notorious for their apathy towards any conflict that didn't involve the Scourge, but even they would have to comply with a demand coming from such a high-ranking official of Silvermoon...
...although they probably wouldn't be so eager to turn over three conscripts of their own ranks if it came to it, which fit perfectly with what Vaala had in mind. She took her leave, giving Rohan one last glare to emphasize just how much she disapproved of her brother striking any bargains with the human, then spent some time wandering around the camp with no apparent purpose while her mind worked on the fine print of her latest plan. From what little she knew about the former Order of the Silver Hand, most of it had been decimated with the fall of Lordaeron. The Argent Dawn, on the other hand, was not only enduring, but thriving on the Scourge's very doorstep. The surviving paladins had likely realized that strength was indeed to be found in numbers and decided to employ people of all races and all trades under their banner.
Earning the appreciation of the Argents was the easy part. Vaala was confident that she could dispatch a few dozen Scourge to prove herself to them, and Kael'thas... well, he did carry a sword around, didn't he? The first order of business, then, was to see what he could do with it, since casually tossing spells around would be too far a cry from his supposed mercenary self.
She made Kael leave their netherdrake alone, even though he'd seemed too caught up in exploring what he insisted to refer to as its 'intelligence' to want to move. They walked to a training circle, away from the main camp and any prying eyes, then she said, "Show me what you can do."
He nodded once and began a complicated series of swings and thrusts. To his credit, even though exercise was fairly difficult, he executed it with the speed and grace of one who had done it hundreds, perhaps thousands of time.
However, Vaala had seen plenty of skilled swordsmen who were so confident in their routine they lost sight of the fact that battle was chaos, not form. "Stop," she called out. "Pretty as this is, it doesn't say anything about your actual skill."
"How am I meant to prove myself to you, then?" Kael'thas asked, pausing awkwardly mid-swing.
Vaala drew her swords and took a step forward. For a moment she remembered the first time she'd sparred with her old master and how afraid she'd felt at the thought that he could kill her by accident. Kael'thas appeared far more confident in his abilities than Vaala had been on that day, but he was obviously in two minds about doing what she wanted him to do. "Come at me," she said softly. Then, on a whim, she added, "And don't worry, I won't hurt you."
The taunt had its intended effect. Kael gave her a look of hurt pride, then charged without warning. His swing was elegant, but powerful. Still, just as Vaala had predicted, as soon as their swords clashed he focused entirely on trying to overpower her and didn't stand a chance as she drew back, crouched and swept his legs from under him in one fluid motion. A moment later he was blinking at her from the ground, likely wondering what in the hell had happened there.
"Lesson one – fight dirty." Speaking, Vaala offered him a hand to get up. "If you see even the slightest opening, use it. Otherwise-" Whatever else she was going to say was cut off by a gasp when he yanked her arm forward, causing her to lose her balance and collide with him. A moment later she felt his sword pressed against the back of her neck.
"Lesson two," he said casually, although there was the faintest hint of sarcasm in his voice. "You should never underestimate your opponent, even when they are down. "
With one arm still held in an iron grip and the other pressed too tightly against her body to do be of any use, Vaala quickly found that she was more or less unable to do anything against him without breaking her earlier promise. "Lesson learned," she answered in the same tone. "Now let go."
They parted, then clashed again. She was content to let him attack for a while, and it soon became obvious that he was sparring by the book, if such a thing could be said. While his strikes were quick and precise, they were also thoroughly predictable. He could probably hold his own against lesser undead which didn't have much of a brain to think with, but all in all, swordsmanship was clearly not his forte... and neither was endurance, because it didn't take long for his breathing to become labored. His movements, too, lost some of their grace. Still, he didn't stop until Vaala finally took pity on him and announced that they were done for the day.
"Have I passed your test?" he asked immediately, quirking a brow as if to challenge her to say otherwise.
"That… wasn't bad," Vaala said after a moment. "If anything, I'd say you're off to a good start. You'll have to learn how to think on your feet, though, and I can't teach you that."
"I will learn," Kael said fiercely.
She studied his expression, and found nothing but determination. Good. "Tonight, then. Now go get some rest," she called over her shoulder as she walked away. "Next time, I won't hold back."
