Rise of Silverpine chapter 10
I do now own Warcarft of A song of Ice and Fire
Long nine months have passed since the battle for Stromgard.
In the aftermath of the battle and the death of the Trollbane prince, the newly-restored kingdom mourned, yet they rejoiced at the same time. When the kingdom fell, masses of people left for the safety of the south, nothing but a remnant of the Stromgard army remaining behind. People returned to their ancient home now, but the process was slow. Uncertainty was still heavy in the air of Arathi, the looming threat of the Forsaken, although distant was still present. It was both Arya and Magni that brought further security to the small kingdom, the dwarven king offering help in any way for the rebuilding of the capitol, the ancient human settlement in dire need of serious repair. Walls were cracked, gate were broken and towers brought down as houses stood burned to the ground within the ruins.
Arya, on the other hand, rode with a small party all the way to Hammerfall to negotiate with the orcs there. She was bad at it, but no one can deny the seriousness of the situation that the Horde garrison was in. With Silverpine to the west and the way south blocked by dark irons before, they had little to no connection with their allies, yet now, with Arathi restored it was only a matter of time before the five hundred man garrison that included women and even a few children be crushed by the zealous humans of the old king risen anew. The petite queen somehow managed to convince the orc in charge, Drum Fel to abandon the ruins of the internment camp, offering him safe passage to Southshore seeing as Alterac was not an option with winter setting in while Horde ships will be allowed to enter the port town, one at a time to pick up the refugees.
Arya and the Silverpine army personally saw to escorting the Horde men all the way to the harbor town. The queen spent some time with the Drum and his wife as they headed west, some of the men protesting from both sides, but the Silverpine army was held in check by the silver-eyed girl while the orcs, for all their pride, knew that they cannot win against an army that has double their numbers. That and the fact that they surrendered all of their weapons.
For all the animosity between Horde and Alliance, Arya actually liked the old orc, the man been much older than he looked. He was one of Thrall's bodyguards, having a decade or so on the Warchief, before he retired and led an expedition to Hammerfall. When asked why Hammerfall of all places, the orc simply said. 'It is where I was held a slave.'
Both Stark sisters knew of the Alliance's history of slave camps, for that is what they were, and while Arya held little love for the Horde races on a general level, especially the Undead, she was strongly against the concept of slavery. She remembers when she was little how her father rode from Winterfell to punish a lord that had sold some men into slavery. Nevertheless, some of the war stories that Drum told were quite interesting to the young queen.
It took some time for the Horde to get the message and send ships, the five hundred Hordes having to camp outside the town, surrounded by the Silverpine army. For some reason, Arya opted to stay on the field instead of sleeping in the queens' residence in Southshore, something which did not go unnoticed by both Horde and Alliance. Varian, who was returning to Stormwind, traveled with the group and specifically commented on the dedication of the queen to her task.
'Did the decision made sense in the long run? No. One day, those men will be back, fighting us on the fields throughout the world. And yet, actions like these, bounds by honor and forged in valor, are what truly the base of the Alliance is.' Arya remembered Varian saying to her one night when she was having doubts about her course of action as they ever-neared Southshore, the human king taking his ship from there back to Stormwind.
In the end, but a few days later, three Horde ships appeared on the horizon, slow and bulky as they moved across the waves. Goblin made and simply purchased, sailing with the minimum amount of crew and decks cleared of any weapons, all five hundred refugees were able to leave on them easily enough.
Months passed as Stromgard was been rebuild and people from the south were returning back to their ancient home, tens of thousands humans trekking through the Wetlands when spring came four months after Stromgard was freed. They came by the hundreds, wagons with women and children, farmer and workers all heading north. With the Horde out of Arathi, but a few troll and ogre tribes here and there remained. But small specs that could easily be crushed when the time comes.
With the prince's death, Danath was the last living Trollbane and by succession – he was the king. Alas, a problem remained. The last Trollbane was too old to remarry and have any children. Add that to the fact that all other Arathi noble families were extinct meant that Arathi really had no heir and one of the oldest human bloodlines was coming to an end. With the old man nearing seventy, he really did not have much time left. Trollbane knew that problems will arise when he passes away with no successor and not even another noble family that could lay any sort of claim on the throne, but that was a problem for the future. For now, the old lord – turned – king was focusing on restoring his kingdom to its former glory although rumors were already heavy in the air that the kingdom would be assimilated into Silverpine upon Danath's death.
On the other side of Thoradin's wall, the stronghold in Hillsbrad was half-way done, with the main keep complete, leaving only the walls and several additional smaller buildings to be finished. As the fortress was nearing completing, recruiting stations for permanent guards were been set up in Southshore and a few larger villages although with spring setting in, most men in Hillsbrad preferred to remain with their families and tend to their farms.
In Southshore, one more naval yard was constructed, bringing the total number of ships that could be built simultaneously to three. In the dead of winter was when the first of the smaller ships was complete, with two masts and twelve cannons per side, it was much smaller, sleeker and faster than the bulky Greywind. Sansa, who was constantly ordering the construction of new things left and right was been advised almost daily to reduce the pace of militarization, if only to save some money for the long run. The one hundred and thirty thousand gold were now down to only fifty, a no small sum on itself, yet with all the costs of the new capitol, the stronghold in Hillsbrad and the three new ships, it was understandable.
A month later, with the campaign in Northrend ever drawing to a closure, the disastrous assault on the Wrathgate happened. Pieces moved across the board at such a pace that the Alliance party literally did not have time to notify, let alone bring anyone from Silverpine, which was rather ironic considering that it was the closest allied state. Needless to say, Arya was pretty enraged when the news reached her, especially when she heard that Varian had the chance to kill Sylvanas yet having Jaina Proudmoore stop him, leaving the whole attack on Undercity nothing but a waste of time of above all – lives.
The next few months, Darius Crowley returned to Silverpine, the offensive in Northrend moving to its final step. The gates leading to Icecrown were falling slowly, yet at a certain pace. Four have already fallen, leaving only two and the keep itself. Most men that the small kingdom had sent stayed there, fighting daily to bring a swifter end to the war.
It was about the time of Crowley's return that the tremors started. They were weak, all of them, usually once a weak, barely strong enough for anyone to notice. It was about the time when the new capitol was half-way done that there was a tremor every day, yet they remained weak enough, so much so that the people barely noticed them half the time.
It seemed that the dwarves would be able to finish the capitol much earlier than expected, even after the overall size of the build was greatly increased. The massive square keep was already towering high above the tree line in Silverpine along with its adjacent guest house and grand hall where the throne room was been set. The higher, second level on which those buildings were along with the kitchens and guardhouse , all of this enclosed by walls on the very peak of a hill was already complete. There was even what some would have called a Godswoods back in Westeros, although Sansa requested to have a Moonwell build in the center of it instead of some improvised heart tree. Only the lower level remained where the guard houses, stables, kennels and smithies would be located, enclosed by an outer layer of walls. The only gate to the castle would be at the end of a long bridge, going above the old road from Shadowfang to Hillsbrad, the bridge ending on an opposite hill, the road from which going down into the valley and joining the main road.
The castle was made of a much darker stone than usual and there was little to no wood present on the outside, a contrast to the usual construction in the area. Most glasses were made in a amber color, the windows appearing as if burning during the night with the illumination coming from the inside, although with how unnaturally dark Silvepine was even during the day, the windows were eerie looking all the time.
When Arya finally rejoined her sister back in Shadowfang, the first thing she shared with Sansa was the ship that she noticed, although Sansa quickly dismissed the notion of an Ironborn ship suddenly appearing on Azeroth in the middle, or rather beneath a battle, no less. Nevertheless, the girls send out messengers to every allied or neutral state with the description of the ship, asking for any information. Months have passed since that day and yet not even a whisper of the ghost ship roamed the air.
As the final assault on Icecrown drew near, Arya stayed with her sister in Silverpine, waiting for the final call to arms to come so that they may head north.
This time, even Sansa would come to the battlefield. For the long months since the two queens returned from the south, the elder queen has been constantly training with Aegwyn. The massive reserves of raw power that Sansa possessed surprised even the former guardian, yet the red-head had so little control that she got tired after every three spells or so, but then again, those spells had destructive powers like no others. Icicles that can cut through solid rock with ease, thin like needles moving at high speed in a blizzard of destruction was a rather favorite spell of the queen, although that was not to say that she was not capable of other elements, not only frost. Heating a metal to the point of melting was an easy, if tiring exercise, along with lighting or putting out a specific candle from hundreds lined before her were just few of the exercised that the old sorceress put the Stark daughter through.
And finally, at the end of spring, the call rang out. The Argent Crusade had begun preparing for the final assault and it would not be more than a week before battle was joined. Greywind has been sitting on the dock in Pyrewood, waiting for weeks ready for the trip north. Darius was quick to get on the ship for the return north along with a small company of men, while the two queens were to remain behind, Arya even returning to Hillsbrad with her ever-faithful servant – Elida. With the powers that Arya displayed, supposedly gifted by Elune, people slowly began worshiping the lunar goddess, for in their words, the light of the sun had abandoned them, but perhaps the light of the moon will help. As such, more and more night elves began arriving in the kingdom, yet both sides quickly clashed.
Where the night elves tried to get the humans to follow Elune in the more traditional way, praising the goddess, the initially few humans that did praise the moon did it in their own way, praying to the moon rather than the goddess directly from open top temples that were nothing more than stone circles with columns and stone floor, a crescent moon engraved into it. So far, there were only two temples, one in Southshore and one in Ambermil, yet the people that followed the foreign goddess grew by the month.
With the night elves, however, a few draenei arrived. A vindicator even took a special notice of Elida, literally beginning to teach the blood elf about the light after testing the girl in some trial which no one but the two of them knew exactly what it entailed. Vindicator Palanaar trained the poor elf rather brutally, for not only was the Draenei a paladin, but a vindicator at that, a warrior of retribution and justice, forsaking her former life for a higher cause. Add that to the fact that despite a woman, she was easily towering over all of the men in Silverpine and that Elida was just as petite as Arya, the blood elf was constantly going to bed, complaining about sourness and bruises, yet there was unhidden happiness about her for finally receiving a proper training, none of the few human paladins not wanting to bother with her.
As Arya, Elida and their respective mentors were slowly riding towards Hillsbrad, they knew that sooner or later, somewhere something big will happen. Where most other would celebrate at Arthas finally been brought down, the moon in the Silverpine kingdom was much more somber for everyone knew that the lich king dying meant the war with the Horde resuming. A war that was much closer to home.
The castle as I envision it is almost the same as the one in Snow White and the Huntsmen. Leaving all movie critique aside, that was a badass looking castle. Link to a picture in my profile.
Elida finally gets some training and by a draenei, no less. There were a lot of hints for the future of the story in this chapter and I personally cannot wait to write the next few chapters. If only I was not in the middle of exams and of course… there is work…
I hope you enjoyed it.
Thank you for reading.