Okay so I was gone for a long time, and I am sorry. A lot of insane stuff happened. In the midst of a heavy college schedule, a job, a cancer scare, my BF visiting from across the country, and losing the progress I had on this chapter due to my computer breaking down, I did not get the time to write a whole lot. I'm hoping this semester will be better.
Once again, I'm sorry – and I'm not dead – enjoy chapter 11.
-Statyck
/*\
Marhail did her best to keep calm. She wasn't expecting to get caught this quickly. In fact, she hadn't been expecting to get caught at all. She hadn't realized just how rusty her combat skills had gotten, but she could think about that later. She may be able to salvage the unfortunate situation and use this to her advantage. Careful not to let her gaze slide to the wardrobe she stood still.
"It's not my fault if you're unobservant," she hissed, "now let me go."
The rogue behind her let her loose, but instead of backing off he swung his knife at her face. Pity. If only Marhail could have tricked him, this could have gone so much better.
Without another word Marhail jabbed outwards, forcing him away, and danced around her room with the other rogue following her. He ran at her and she dodged. He jumped over a couch after her, she swung a stool into his back.
He crashed to the ground and tried to roll back onto his feet, but it was too late. Marhail had him. She straddled the elf with a dagger dripping poison onto his throat.
"Huh," the man said, "I can't remember the last time you defeated me Marhail."
"I've been busy," she spat back, "what are you doing here Astoris?"
"Oh what," he drawled, "I can't come and check up on an old flame?"
/*\
Lilythae looked around frantically amid the chaos. The wolfmen launched themselves at her, their slavering jaws dying to sink into her flesh. For a fraction of a second, she thought about letting them. It could be interesting to see what kind of reaction they'd have to the fel taint in her blood, but she was at a disadvantage enough.
There was a healer hiding in the shadows and she had no idea where. The sparks of light kept coming from all sorts of random directions. Were there multiple healers? But as the wounded men sprang back up, entirely fine, and charged her again and again she knew she couldn't just keep standing there.
She'd wear down eventually.
She caught sight of Mileena leaning on the dwarven man. She seemed to be speaking to him, amicably. He tended her wound while she spoke, and he nodded every so often, listening intently. A terrible thought entered Lilythae's mind.
Had Mileena betrayed them?
Just then an arrow flew past her head and Lilythae found that on top of her assailants, there was now a hunter in the mix.
A hunter who'd just sent a raptor after her. Dinosaurs were the last thing she needed right now.
Lilythae made her decision. She jumped up into the air and sped away into the darkness. No one could see her anymore. But she could see them, and now that she'd made it away from the others, she could finally use her spectral sight.
Ah, so she'd been right. There wasn't just one healer. There were three.
/*\
Feyly prowled the halls with Yvaine following closely behind – wondering what she was doing no doubt. Now that the adrenaline had worn down Feyly found that she was thirsty, she wanted to nap, and she would have loved some food right about then. Not in that particular order but still. There was a girl in the kitchen named Anara who made the best pie….
Oh right, Anara was dead. She'd been slaughtered in the last attack.
Feyly dodged the demon hunters and carefully slinked around the members of Yvaine's raid team. She scanned the different rooms, looking for Lilythae, but she couldn't find her. Her ears pricked with the screaming. It sounded like there was a serious fight going down in the Sanctuary of Shadows. Feyly loped her way there. She turned to ask Yvaine if she was alright only to find that Yvaine was no longer following her.
The younger woman had left, and Feyly was struck by something she hadn't felt in a very long time.
Regret.
But that didn't matter now. Feyly could see the healers assisting Lilythae's assailants, and right now that was what she needed to worry about. As much as it pained Feyly to make the decision, the situation with Yvaine would just have to wait.
/*\
Nareda slowly got to her hooves, rage tainting her heart. Blood elves were treacherous creatures, they proved it time and again, and now one had just shot her. She glared up at Kor'lei. As much as she had a grudge against the elves she now shared her city with, she had much more important things to worry about.
Nareda ripped the arrow from her shoulder, using her healing magic to slow the bleeding. She slammed Kor'lei with the power of the light.
It felt almost surreal. As golden energy burned the elfin whore where she stood, Nareda could only register the sensation of mana leaving her veins. All she could feel was fear, anger, sadness, and all sorts of other things that the convents would have shamed her for. She was no longer the epitome of goodness, of the Light. She was an enraged mother who wanted her baby returned to her, safe and unharmed, at whatever cost necessary.
Nothing was going to save Kor'lei. She could not escape the vindictive power of the light. She could not escape Nareda. No matter how much Kor'lei dodged, or shot, or sent shadow beasts and crows to pick at her eyes, Nareda persevered.
The draenei could shield herself, heal herself, and most importantly she was powerful. It was all Kor'lei could do to fend her off, and they both knew it.
Despite the power Nareda knew she was siphoning from the offensive magic, she wouldn't win. With one last shadow spell the draenei had beaten the elf down. The girl was bleeding profusely from her temple, and blood dripped from a sizzling gash in her side. Kor'lei glared up at the draenei, and Nareda didn't pause one moment to haul the fragile elf up and slam her into the wall, gripping the delicate silk of her outfit hard enough that it should have torn.
"Where. Is. Belrii?" she snarled. Kor'lei sighed.
"So, she's yours I take it?"
"She is."
"Marhail is the one taking care of them. That room there." Kor'lei nodded to the demolished bedroom, the very one she'd just searched. The one that she'd ripped apart entirely and found no trace of her little girl. The draenei let her power just a little loose, singing the other woman's skin where she held her.
"If you continue lying to me, I will kill you."
/*\
As much as Marhail wanted to sneer down at the man before her, she couldn't help wanting to hug him. She didn't of course, but his was a face she had never expected to see again.
"That's the question isn't it? Are you here to check up on me, or are you here to kill me?"
Astoris said nothing but he glared up at her with those calculating green eyes, the same shade as hers. The last time she'd seen Astoris, his eyes had been blue. He reached up carefully, slowly, and brushed a single blond curl out of Marhail's face. His own hair had fallen from his hood, just as long and black as ever. He hadn't changed in the slightest, and for a moment Marhail wondered if she looked the same too. Had the changes in her being been physical? Or was it a strictly internal thing?
"I wanted to see if it was true." he answered slowly. "I had hoped that Auriel had mistaken you for someone else, misheard your name, but I guess not."
"No. She did not."
"Why didn't you return to Quel'Thalas?"
"Would the sin'dorei have taken me back?"
"Yes. We would have," he said, but for a rogue he had never been a good liar. Astoris had a tell, one she'd only learned of because she had once been so close to him, but she knew. It was an imperceptible thing, barely there. When he lied he timed his blinks, as though he thought that no one would pick up on the habit that covered up a tell he'd tried to train away.
Marhail pressed the dagger just a bit closer, letting the poison pool further on his skin. She wouldn't cut him just yet. All she could think about was the last time she'd seen him.
He'd been staring after her with that look of betrayal written all over his face. It had been four days before their wedding, but as much as she'd adored him she knew that she would have never led a fulfilling life with him. But with Illoren? There had been excitement, danger in courting a night elf. Someone who was forever forbidden from her, just as she had been forbidden from him. The war, the prejudice, the murder, it was so dramatic, and she had been so very young. Illoren had been the shiniest, most precious of gems, something that she would forever covet even in his death.
As much as she'd loved Astoris, she knew he wouldn't have been the right choice, though it could be argued that he would have been the smartest choice. She'd known him since they were both children. She'd known how he felt about her. Her parents had liked him, he was well-off, he'd have taken good care of her. She'd have been comfortable. She knew even now that he still loved her, because he wasn't fighting back.
They both knew that he'd be able to overtake her with no issue.
"You know," she whispered, "sometimes I wonder what life would have been like."
She stood up and turned away, waving him over to follow her.
"Do you really think me so pathetic as to turn your back to me?"
"I never thought you were pathetic, Astoris," she answered gently, "but there is something I'd like to show you."
Just as she'd wanted, Astoris approached the wardrobe.
/*\
Once Lilythae spotted the healers, it was all over rather quickly. She picked them off one by one, managing to end them with one hit each, but by the time she was finished with them her newfound power had worn off.
She had returned to her usual size, the tail and hooves gone. Her wings folded neatly into her back, and she debated what to do. When she was a big raging monster that was one thing.
But now she was just herself.
She moved through the shadows, careful not to let anyone see her. It wasn't for a lack of trying, they were rushing off into the shadows one at a time, searching her out. She was debating what to do next when she felt the brush of fur against her leg. There was a wolf standing right next to her, gazing up at her expectantly, as if to say, Well? What are you waiting for?
Feyly had arrived, and at the best of times. She stood ready to attack, her ears flattening when the men started quietly speaking among themselves. She growled low in her throat, just soft enough that they couldn't hear her.
"On three?" Lilythae inquired. The wolf nodded.
The pair shredded through the wolf-men. The strength in Feyly's jaws was enough to rival their own, and Lilythae's glaives parted their flesh like butter. A set of human men came for them, and the story was much the same. They laid wounded on the floor, but there were no more flashes of light to let them recover. A single draenei hunter was easily dealt with when Feyly distracted his animals, and then there was only one opponent left.
The night elf. Yoren. The one who'd been attacking Mileena.
/*\
Illidan observed the state of the Sanctuary of Shadows with an almost impressed air. She'd taken no mercy on any of them. Stray body parts littered the floor. The master of the demon hunters picked up a dismembered arm and inspected the cut before tossing it aside, the interest passing. They had undeniably done an excellent job defending what they could, but that didn't change what had happened.
They'd been a little more prepared this time, a little more on edge with the recent attack, with the little children living in the den. They'd been more ready and willing to fight than they had been in a long while. Perhaps this should be considered as a sort of training. All they'd be doing in less than three days was fight. Mardum was getting close.
But that wasn't important right now. He needed to find the survivors, and he needed to count the corpses. The blood didn't smell as potent as it had the day before yesterday. He hoped that meant there hadn't been as many deaths this time, but until he had the body count he really wouldn't know.
Lilythae would have to change her plans again. While it looked like a fair number of consorts had fallen in battle, he spied quite a few demon hunters as well. He could no longer hear any kind of battle, but all the same he needed to make sure there was nothing else out there. He stepped away from the bodies and continued his patrol.
The assault on Mardum would be more difficult than he thought.
/*\
The dwarf looked up cautiously. He knew that the only reason he was still alive was because he was helping the little elf, and he made sure she didn't step away from him. The demon hunter had become smaller, more womanlike, with a wolf at her feet. The wolf turned into a pretty kal'dorei girl, dressed much the same as the consort who leaned on him. They both looked at the bleeding elf with a mixture of concern and anger.
The demon hunter barked words in an unfamiliar language. Almost like Darnassian but not quite. The girl, Mileena, responded softly. It was as though she was frightened of speaking any louder. The demon hunter's gaze slid to him, and the night elf approached. The dwarf cautiously handed the blood elf over and laid a hand on the knife at his side. He couldn't tell if the demon hunter was going to attack, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to save himself if she did.
She stepped closer, and the dwarf could feel the sweat dripping down his neck. He gripped the knife a little harder, and the wait of a just a few seconds felt like centuries. She stopped just in front of him.
"Why did you help her?" She asked.
"It was the right thing to do." He answered. She studied him a moment more.
"What makes you say that? All the others were either killing our consorts or raping them. What made this different?"
"I have a daughter. Your friend looks like she could be the same age. I am not that kind o' man."
The demon hunter opened her mouth to speak when a loud voice boomed from the other room.
"Demon hunters," a loud, guttural voice called, "report back! How many of them were there?"
"That's Illidan," the woman said, picking up the dwarf's gun, "here. Take your things and get out of here. As thanks for saving Mileena I will not kill you, but I cannot make the same promises for the naga or the demons. Go, now."
And with that she walked away, escorting the other two women back to the den. All the dwarf could do was stand there, stunned.
She'd spared him.
But then the clopping of hooves caught his attention, and he realized that the demon hunter's master might not be so forgiving. So, throwing his gun on his back and picking up his bags, he made for the exit. He'd be able to get out. The raid team had made sure to kill off everything that had been in their way.
He'd have one hell of a story to tell his wife when he got home.
/*\
Marhail wasn't sure what to anticipate, but it most certainly hadn't been this. When Aelelia saw Astoris she immediately jumped out into his arms.
"Uncle! I didn't know you were in Shattrath!"
"Of course! When I heard you were missing, I couldn't not come," he answered, smiling at her. Cautiously the other two girls exited the wardrobe, staring up at him curiously.
"Hello Astoris." Belrii murmured meekly. She didn't meet his eyes when he glanced down at her.
"Hello again Belrii," he answered, "are you alright? Your foot is bandaged." Then he took notice of Va'lyn. "Who might you be?"
The night elf cowered behind Marhail.
"She can't speak Thalassian," the woman said, "she escaped with the other two from a demon interment camp. Her parents distracted the demons, so they could get away."
"I see," Astoris said, "how did they end up here?"
"Because I brought them here." Another voice piped up. There was Lilythae, standing in the open doorway. "Are they alright?"
"We're fine!" Aelelia cheerfully answered, waving. Lilythae's eyes flashed to Astoris.
"And you are an ally, I take it?"
"He is," Marhail intervened, "I knew him in Quel'thalas, he can be trusted."
"Good. Marhail," Lilythae's attention shifted, "come with me, Kor'lei needs help." And with that the demon hunter darted away. Unconcerned for the safety of the three girls now in Astoris's care, she was quick to follow.
Marhail was grateful that Lilythae was so intuitive. If she'd attacked Astoris, she'd have had an entirely different set of problems on her hands.
/*\
Nareda waited for the elf to answer her when it happened. There were no words, no demands, no dramatic overtures. Just a demon hunter, throwing a glaive at her head. Nareda just barely managed to dodge as the weapon impaled itself into the wall, having missed Kor'lei as well. Pity.
The battle was short. Nareda used her magic, and she drew her dagger. The priestess was more than prepared for this battle. She shielded herself with the power of the Light, stopping the demon hunter from hurting her as she let fly the sparks of golden energy that hit the blood elf square in the face. The elf jolted back, the blindfold burning away, and that was when Nareda was ambushed.
A rogue had tried to stab her, poison her. But Nareda was too good for such things. She whirled and using training from a bygone era, expertly drove the knife into the rogue's side.
It was like time had stopped. The rogue's eyes went wide with shock. She had likely never thought to expect such a thing from a priestess. Next was the demon hunter, her face twisting with rage. For a split second Nareda thought she was going to die, because the demon hunter had begun to cast alongside her. But somehow that wasn't the worst part.
No, the worst part was that Astoris had found the children. Not only had he found the children, but he had led them right to her. All Nareda could see was Belrii's face. The little girl – her little girl – had clapped her hands over her mouth. Tears had welled up in her eyes, and she hid behind the blood elf man, frightened of her own mother.
She stumbled forward, reaching out. Babbling that this wasn't what it looked like, she was trying to save them, when she caught sight of her own hands.
Her fingers were doused in blood, but more than that, they were covered in shadows. In fact, her entire body was covered in shadows, twisting and convulsing. It was in that horrifying moment that she'd realized.
She hadn't been calling to the Light. In her anger, her sadness, her terror, something else had been allowed to take over. Something else that was neither a kind nor benevolent thing in the manner of the Light. She had done so well, keeping the darker natures of her power hidden away, beaten down. She never wanted to let Belrii see this side of her, to never even let her know it existed.
Now all that work was for naught. In Nareda's moment of weakness, the voices in her head had completely taken her over.
/*\
Lilythae had to stop herself. She had begun to use her own magic, worried that the shadow priestess was going to harm the children, but the man that had been in Marhail's room had taken on the role of defense. She didn't know who he was, but Marhail had quite clearly stated that she trusted him. For now, that would have to be enough.
She redirected herself and grabbed her glaive from the wall, dragging Kor'lei to Marhail's side. Immediately, Lilythae changed track. She went to inspect the rogue's wound.
It was so much worse than it looked.
Marhail was bleeding out, fast. She gasped, desperate for breath, and blood started to trickle from her lips. The priestess must have pierced a lung. Lilythae acted as quickly as she could. She ripped the midsection of Marhail's armor off with her demonic strength. She tore at her own skirts so that she could craft a makeshift bandage. She applied pressure the wounds.
Lilythae could have cauterized it with her fire magic, but the wound was just too deep. It wouldn't have stopped the internal bleeding. All she could do was press the leather against the wound, but still the blood leaked through.
"Kor'lei, KOR'LEI!" Lilythae shouted, the consort struggling to get to her feet. "Find a healer! Now!"
All the huntress could do was nod, and when she stumbled on her fourth step, she commanded her cat to run out into the temple. The huntress collapsed, rendered unconscious after the beating she'd taken at the priestess's hand.
"It's okay Marhail," Lilythae whispered, "we're going to get you a healer, you're going to make it through this."
"No, no I'm not," she choked out, "don't lie to me."
"We can still save you."
"Let me–" she coughed, blood spewing into her hand, "let me talk to Astoris. I have to tell him-"
"Tell me what?" The other rogue had appeared behind Lilythae, pressing his own hands into the wound, taking over the task. When Lilythae turned she found that Feyly was standing at the defense of the three girls who looked at the situation with worried eyes, a snarling wolf putting herself between them and the draenei. She let go and went to stand by Feyly, the shadow priestess still babbling and staring down at her bloodied hands.
This was not good.
Lilythae drew her glaives, ready to strike. She stepped forward to land the final blow, not looking away until Belrii tugged at what remained of her skirt. Tears streamed down the blue girl's face, but her words were clear.
"Please don't hurt her, that's my mama."
Shit.
/*\
Marhail didn't feel the pain at first. She was too busy wondering how the priestess had managed to stab her.
She fell to her knees, the pain beginning to throb in waves through her body. She faintly registered the feeling of the blood leaking through her leathers, and she thought she could hear people screaming. Through her hazy vision she could see the shadow priestess stumble forward towards the kids, Astoris drawing his twin swords in preparation to defend them.
Suddenly Lilythae was above her. She felt her head being lifted, something soft cushioning her. She could feel the stabbing pain as Lilythae pushed something into her bleeding side, and it was a chore just to breathe. She could feel the blood gushing out of her lungs to her lips, and Marhail was struck with the strangest thought.
She was dying. She wasn't going to make it, and though the lieutenant promised that she'd make a recovery Marhail knew deep down inside that wasn't true.
She'd always imagined her death to be different. She thought she'd be with Illoren or Astoris, someone who loved her more than anything in the world. She thought she'd be old, surrounded by children and grandchildren. After all, that was what she'd wanted, more than anything.
In some of her dreams her children had blue skin, light green hair. In others they were pale like her, with glowing green eyes and a head of hair the color of a raven's wing. She wouldn't get to talk to Illoren, not now, not ever again.
But she could talk to Astoris.
She coughed her request to Lilythae, ready to beg in her final moments if she had to, but Astoris had walked over on his own accord. As he cradled her head in his lap, pressing his hand against her wound, he listened.
"I'm sorry," she breathed, "I'm so, so sorry,"
"What for?"
"The wedding, the engagement, everything. I shouldn't have toyed with you the way I did. I was selfish, I wanted both you and Illoren."
"So that was his name. Illoren." It wasn't a question.
"Yes. I need– I need to tell you something."
"You shouldn't strain yourself like this, there's a healer coming to save you." Astoris chided, refusing to meet her eyes. Black hair fell into his face.
"I loved you too. I loved you so much, but I couldn't marry you because I knew what my life would be."
"Do you think it would have been horrible?"
"I wanted more from my life. I didn't want to spend my centuries just…cooking. Cleaning. Having babies. Having the rest of my life stuck in one spot. I wanted to see the world too. I wanted to travel, to have adventures, to see and live. To have all the same things you would have. I wouldn't have been able to do that if I'd been with you."
"Stop talking Marhail." Astoris ground out, digging his fingers into the stab wound. She hissed in pain but complied.
Yes, she had imagined her death very differently. After a few more labored breaths, she remembered something. In that moment it felt like monumental task, just to retrieve the little letter from her pocket. Astoris helped her.
"What's this?" he asked, and Marhail tried to sit up.
"That is for Illidan."
"So, the Betrayer himself can get a letter from you, but all I can have is a few words on why you couldn't marry me. Figures."
"Oh, shut up you crybaby." Marhail growled, wiping more blood from her lips. "If you reach into the other pocket, there's another letter. For you, if by some miracle there was someone here willing to get it to you in case something like this ever happened."
She watched and felt as he reached into the pocket on her vest, felt the shifting of his fingers through the dulling pain. Come to think of it, she was starting to feel a little sleepy. Sleep sounded nice.
"Hey, hey Marhail," she knew Astoris was speaking to her, trying to keep her from closing her eyes, but it was just too much. Sleep would be much better than pain, right? If she could sleep through the pain, then maybe she'd feel better in the morning when she woke up. No, wait, she'd forgotten. She wasn't going to wake up, she'd been stabbed.
But she was too tired to dwell on it. She wanted to go to sleep. So, she did.
/*\
Lilythae was debating what to do when she saw Astoris lift Marhail from the ground. There was so much blood where she'd been laying. He looked like he was going to take her from the temple.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Lilythae called, jumping out in front of him.
"I am taking her home," he snarled, "she will have a proper sin'dorei funeral. Her friends will be there. Her family will be there, and I will be there. And no one will know what she was doing here," he glanced over to the three girls, still cowering before the shadow priestess. The priestess was clutching her head, as though she were in pain. Lilythae turned back to the rogue. His hair covered his face but the drops falling from his chin betrayed him. He was crying. She wondered how he'd known Marhail, but now was not the time for questions.
"At least let the other consorts pay their respects. There are a lot of people here who will miss her,"
"That's not my problem. I'm taking her home," and before Lilythae could do anything else he vanished, Marhail's body vanishing with him. But she couldn't pursue him, because a door had slammed open from a different direction.
Two blood elf mages were running up to her, and a draenei man was coming to the aid of the shadow priestess. Aelelia darted out from behind Feyly.
"Mama, Papa!" and she bolted for her family. The elves pushed her behind them and stared accusingly at Lilythae. They didn't say a word.
Belrii had cautiously approached the man, speaking softly in draenei and letting him wrap her in his arms while he tended to her mother.
Va'lyn stared apprehensively at both sets of adults, holding a death grip on the book that Illidan had given her. She plainly wasn't sure where to go, who to go to, and so Lilythae slowly stepped towards the blood elves. She didn't know how to speak draenei. She saw the spells charging in their hands, and she slowly dropped her glaives, raising her hands up to show she wasn't hostile. She spoke, explaining that she'd found the three girls in Shadowmoon Valley, Aelelia trying to fend off three felguards with a staff while Va'lyn tried to heal Belrii's wound. She explained that Va'lyn's parents had most likely died distracting the demons so the three could escape, and that Va'lyn had no way of getting home from here. She told them everything, in the hopes that they might be willing to take the little night elf girl away from the temple. She all but begged them to take the girl with them.
The couple hesitated, speaking softly among themselves, Aelelia trying to intervene and quickly being told to hush.
"She can come with us," the man finally said, "what is your name, demon hunter?"
"My name is Lilythae, Lilythae Bloodbringer,"
"Thank you, Lilythae, for saving our children. We will go now," he beckoned to Va'lyn.
The night elf looked up at Lilythae uncertainly, her only source of comfort now that Marhail was gone. Lilythae nodded encouragingly, doing her best to smile in the face of such a grim situation. Cautiously, Va'lyn approached Aelelia and her family and was swept up into the mother's arms.
They conjured a portal and left.
Despite everything else, at least there were no more children in the temple.
/*\
When Illidan heard what happened to Marhail he went numb.
He hadn't loved her, not really, but she had been a very good ally. She kept her secrets close, his secrets even closer. She had done a great deal for him, beyond letting him into her bed. She had been one of his most trusted companions, and now she was gone. But it didn't feel real enough to truly dwell on yet.
He wasn't sure how to process the news, and it came out with his next few words,
"I am sorry to hear that. Now gather the corpses. We need to be ready for their next attack."
/*\
Again, I'm so sorry that it took so long for me to get this out here. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
-Statyck
