-1King's Crest

Chapter Eleven: Capture, Battle, and Betrayal

Simonee woke up to that all-too familiar pain in the back of his skull. His vision was blurred, as he noticed when he tried to open his eyes. After a few seconds of sitting in this dazed state, he shook his head, both aggravating his headache and clearing his vision. He looked at his surroundings, noting that he was still outside, but encased in a translucent bubble of purple. Through the purple, he couldn't tell whether it was night or day. To his left and right, he spotted similar bubbles encasing his group mates. Ahead, he saw the mouth of a shallow cave facing him, with Defias keeping multiple pairs of eyes on their captives. There was a table set up inside with two chairs on opposite sides of each other. On Simonee's left was a man constantly drinking from a flask, making sure not to lift the bandana shrouding his identity. He wore a hood to cover the rest of his head. Sitting in the chair on the right was a Defias dealing a deck of cards. He also wore the bandana. Both were clad in blue cloth robes with staves resting on the table.

"So you're awake," called out a male voice, seemingly echoing.

Simonee looked left, right, forward, backward, up, and down, but couldn't find the man behind the voice. "Where are you?" he asked.

"You'll find out, soon enough. I hear you've been causing trouble for my friends in the Brotherhood. I'm here to ensure you don't," said the voice. The echo rang out, repeating each sentence. "Notice your cage, if you will."

"I've noticed it already," Simonee replied, frustrated. "Now please, if you will, get to the point."

"Well, I figured you'd enjoy seeing something from your past. I guess I'm wrong. Since you want me to 'get to the point', think of something around thirty years ago."

Simonee thought. Within mere moments, he had it. "Dalaran? I didn't think any mages besides the ones inside were still alive!" he exclaimed, surprised.

"Bingo, my friend; and guess what? I was inside Dalaran's barrier as the Scourge attacked. You brought them there. They followed you, and your easily traced trail. You brought the downfall of Dalaran, and yet you go about everywhere as if nothing happened. Meanwhile, I learned the town's trade from whoever was lucky enough to live. I tracked you down over the past ten years, and now I've found you," the voice said venomously.

"So, now what do you plan on doing?" Simonee asked, curious. If the man was half as vengeful as his voice sounded, he needed to buy some time.

"I plan to kill you. In due time, of course. But for now, be content to be caged as I once was."

As the echoing faded from Simonee's mind, he realized he was once again alone. 'The voice must've been broadcast telepathically,' he thought. 'Only master mages can do that…'

Trapped, Simonee sat quietly in meditation. Hours passed by without further contact or interaction. The Defias in the cave watched their charges intently, looking for any signs of movement that would warrant some violent reprisal. Simonee and group were only too happy not to give them that pleasure. Simonee himself was too troubled by the mage behind that voice to care. He was sure he could out-cast a Dalaran mage in a normal duel; but someone who's had nothing to do but practice and practice for years inside a bubble with a three-decade-old thirst for vengeance was another story altogether. The mage had believed that Simonee brought the Scourge to Dalaran, which by Simonee's inference, was his hometown. 'But how could he have gotten out of the barrier?'

"Quite simply. We realized the danger was gone after thirty or so years, and so took the shield down," the voice echoed into existence.

"That makes no sense! Why would you just out of the blue decide that the threat had subsided and take the shield down? I'd like to think mages from Dalaran are a bit more cautious," Simonee said.

"After we'd been locked inside a protective cage for decades, you're telling me that we weren't being conscious of another possible attack? You are mistaken, my foolish friend. We took every precaution, even placing an illusion of the shield around the city. As for the decision, it was the townsfolk's choice. Unlike Stormwind and all of the other large cities, we in Dalaran don't place one person over another. Why did you think I joined with the Defias to help capture and hold that fool Wrynn? Look to your right. In that cage lies your precious king."

Simonee hazarded a glance to the next purple bubble down the row. He couldn't see inside, but he took the voice's words to heart. "So what do you plan for him, then?" he asked.

"That's a secret to be told later. I'd be more worried about your immediate future, though," the voice said with a touch of laughter.

"Why?"

The Defias with the flask stood, took his staff, and walked toward Simonee's cage. "Because you and I are going to have ourselves a little duel," he said. The shimmering barrier's edge rose from the ground quickly, ending with the rounded top. Simonee stood and stretched, having been sitting on the hard-packed dirt for hours. The mage walked deliberately to the other side of the camp, turning around after ten paces. Simonee merely turned to face him. He glanced to the cages, counting eight, which included the space his had occupied.

"I'd say there's one missing here," he remarked.

"How so?" asked the mage at the opposite end.

"My group was made of eight. Adding the king would make nine. I only see seven barriers here, and mine would have made eight. So unless you lied to me about the king being here, I'd say you're missing one," Simonee explained.

"So it is; no matter. Brace yourself."

Simonee readied himself, turning sideways with his left shoulder to the mage. He spread his feet apart slightly and planted them firmly into the ground. His counterpart did likewise and the standoff began. They stared each other down for seconds that seemed to stretch for hours, watching for the other to make even the slightest twitch. Simonee concentrated solely on his knowledge of spells, preparing for all but the worst of situations. His eye caught the Defias' movement, and his body's reflexes reacted immediately. He shot off a fireball without hesitation, as the mage lobbed a frostbolt. The spells met in-between. The crystalline shards of ice collided with the roiling flames and the elements canceled out in a cloud of vapor. Another frostbolt shot through the thick steam, and Simonee barely had the time to place a shield around himself. The Defias' aim was true, as the shield absorbed the damage, but the bolt's velocity knocked Simonee backward.

A fireball burst through the clearing vapor next, and Simonee rolled out of the way. The fireball exploded to his left, impacting with a tree. He regained his footing and sent a volley of arcane missiles on their way toward his opponent. They struck the ground in front of him and detonated, sending dirt and stones flying into the air. Using the newly won momentum, Simonee began chanting another spell. A rain of deadly ice shards flew through the sky, bursting on the ground. The Dalaran mage teleported out of the spell's circumference and sent a fireball toward Simonee. He dove away from the flames. He called upon his mana reserves, sending a massive pillar of flame rocketing from the ground to the sky. The mage opposite Simonee cast a shield and stood patiently inside the ring of fire, without having a single hair singed. Simonee grunted with disappointment at his spell's failure to damage his opponent. Meanwhile, the man cast a frostbolt, which hit Simonee directly. His shield didn't survive the impact.

Flung to his back, Simonee quickly stood and fired off three fireballs toward the Defias. One blasted against the man's shield, one went wide left, and the other fizzled out before it could make contact. The fire ward held fast and the duel continued after the mage picked himself up from the dirt. Simonee kept the barrage on as he channeled a round of arcane missiles from his reserves. They hit accurately and the Defias mage stumbled backward, his shield failing. The Defias regained his footing and charged Simonee with stave in hand.

Caught off guard by the tactic, Simonee reached behind him and grasped the handle of his staff. By the time he had detached the staff from the scabbard, he was parrying powerful strikes set forth by his opponent. The Dalaranian mage twirled the stave with a practiced flair before swinging at Simonee's head. Simonee ducked below the blow and swung at the man's legs. The tail end of the staff made contact with the back of the Defias' leg, causing him to lose his stability. He fell backward, and Simonee took advantage of his swing's momentum and grasped the staff by both hands. Raising the staff, he brought it down quickly in a stabbing motion. His counterpart blocked the attack quickly, afterward rolling away and rising to his feet.

The two came together in close-quarters-combat again and each went blow for blow, parry for parry. Simonee's opponent attempted to break the continued fighting, casting a frost nova and rooting Simonee to the dirt ground. Before the mage could escape and recuperate, Simonee matched the spell and the fighting resumed, both parties frozen to the ground. Simonee made each strike deliberate, not wanting to waste energy with wasted swings. The ice melted before too long and the two separated. Simonee didn't allow the other to rest, sending a fireball off before his opponent could down a potion. The spell connected with the ground, forcing the opposing mage to jump backward, away from the blast. The heat from the arcane flame blasted the dirt and sand into rudimentary glass, which was kicked upward from the spell's force. Small shards sliced into the red bandana, shredding the fine-mesh linen.

The mage discarded the now-useless cloth, revealing his face. Simonee could only look on in shock of the man's identity.

"Krionoso?" he asked.

Krionoso grinned and raised the hood from his head. "You should see your face. It's really a sight," he taunted.

"Now I know why there weren't any Defias in Moonbrook that day we killed Van Cleef. You used dummy body parts as stand-ins for dead people. Van Cleef knew he would be hunted, as per his plan, so he had you wait for us and help us as we went through the caves. He essentially gave you the keys to your own mini militia. You tracked our progress as we went along. You coordinated the attack on Sentinel Hill, my capture on return to the mines, and you 'rescued' me from your second-in-command. All the while you were there to ensure we weren't successful in our mission. You decided that this was the best way to pay me back for supposedly helping destroy your hometown; you joined the Defias Brotherhood. Nevertheless, you made a mistake in trying to avenge Dalaran, and releasing me to exact that very revenge. So that's where we stand now. Do I have it right up to this point?" Simonee asked.

"Maybe, though I didn't make any mistake in allowing you out. You see those cages still, right? I'm just as strong as before the duel began," Krionoso said.

"Is that true? Well, let's test that," Simonee replied. He lobbed a fireball at the cave entrance, destroying the table and the man still sitting there. The arcane cages shimmered and fell, releasing the captive prisoners.

"Amusing that you figured that out so quickly. Although your effort is quaint. Look," Krionoso said, smiling. He pointed to the barrier in which he had said the king was being held. It had fallen, but there was no one inside. "Good luck with your search, I really do hope to see you again."

Krionoso vanished, teleporting away to where the king was truly being held.

"All this time, I thought he was with us to help, " Simonee remarked, disappointed. "And to think he's a mage from Dalaran."

He turned to his friends and sighed. "Looks like our search is still on. Let's return to Darnassus, and hopefully we'll have a better lead this time."

A/N: HA! Major plot twist and a 2k word chapter! I'm extremely satisfied the way this chapter turned out, and I hope my readers (you) feel the same way. Enjoy, and hopefully I'll have chapter twelve up soon!