A/N:
Thanks to those who have reviewed so far! They're a lot more rewarding than you might think, so keep letting me know what you think of the story!
Also: Had this chapter edited and ready to go, and got a shiny brand new Windows 8.1 blue screen of death, so I apologize if round 2 missed any spelling/grammar/continuity errors. If you spot one, send me a message!
Twisted Fate
Chapter 11
"You never stood a chance." Solarius said.
"Like hell I didn't!" Molikor replied. "I had her wrapped around my finger until you two showed up."
"-and told her you weren't actually a Warlord-" the Paladin interjected.
"Minor detail." Replied the hunter quickly.
"- or a veteran at all really - " Pointed out Solarius.
"She had long forgotten about that anyways." argued Molikor
"– or that you hadn't singlehandedly defeated an entire column of Alliance – " Solarius said with a grin.
"My memory recalls it differently." replied the Orc defiantly.
"- or that you weren't related to Thrall by blood." Prodded the Paladin.
"Bah!" grunted the Orc. "You're supposed to be on my side here!" he grumbled.
"Really, where do you come up with these things?" Solarius replied.
"I have to say, Molikor's version of the story was much better." Nariel said, smirking.
"Thank you!" cried the Orc, waving his hand at the Paladin.
"Still, it was rather hilarious to see her reaction when Solarius told her of your…exaggerations" She added.
"For you two maybe." Said the Orc, his hand moving up to his nearly solid black eye. "Why can't Orc women just slap you like normal females?" he grumbled.
"If you're feeling short-changed I happen to have the necessary qualifications, and I'm feeling generous." Nariel offered with a smirk.
"No thanks." Molikor said flatly, as Solarius howled in laughter behind him.
Nariel grinned widely and leaned back in her chair at their quiet corner table in the inn. They had been traveling for a few weeks, and were now in Undercity. They had no real direction, and had decided a few days rest might help them all so they had found an inn in the part of the sprawling underground city that was still inhabited by the living, where the previous day Molikor had tried to regale one of the women he had found with his stories until Solarius and Nariel had returned from their tasks and corrected some of his oversights.
Since the night in the Badlands, Nariel had been finding that her Paladin friend stirred reactions more and more within her. She sometimes caught her gaze lingering upon his smile for just a moment longer than she intended, or her thoughts drifting to him when she was not otherwise occupied. It was troubling, and she was having a very difficult time coming to grips with what it meant. Deep down she knew of course but as much as she had healed, a stubborn part of her refused to acknowledge that perhaps she might have a growing interest in someone.
A pleasant, but equally unexpected side effect of her new Paladin distraction was that her mind wandered to Sath'rovok less and less frequently. The initial days after their surprising encounter in Stranglethorn were painfully reminiscent of when she had first set out from Silvermoon; he had been everywhere - in every face she saw, every phrase she heard. Her mind was surrounded by him in its entirety, and it was agony all over again, even with the protectiveness of her friends around her. But now their run in was nearly forgotten. She still might think back to it for a few minutes here and there, but Solarius had a knack for recognizing when this happened by the blankness in her eyes, and each time without fail he was there with a witty joke or a comforting hand to bring her mind back to happier thoughts, an act which she appreciated immensely but still served to further the growing inner turmoil she was feeling.
On this particular night Nariel had been out on her own. She had needed to have a few repairs done to her armor, had visited a few shops to collect supplies for more poison, and had done a few other minor errands that she couldn't get done unless they were in a large city, so it was late when she made her way back to the inn. She stepped inside to the sound of her friends' boisterous laughter, and immediately suspected they were drunk, a thought which was confirmed when she saw Molikor slumped over in his chair, one arm around a tall – and equally intoxicated – troll. Solarius was beside him, leaned against the bar with a mug in one hand, his drink sloshing over the top with his every jerky movement, and his other arm wrapped around a slim brown haired female elf. His mouth was turned up in an unnaturally wide smile, and like the Orc she immediately recognized that the he and his companion was drunk as well.
Seeing Solarius with the elf made her uneasy. She wasn't sure why; perhaps it was the way the girl hung off of his shoulder, or the fact that she was practically in his lap. While the girl was annoyingly close to Solarius – or so it seemed to Nariel at least; somehow she doubted that he had a problem with it – what bothered her more was the enjoyment he seemed to be getting from it. She walk up to the pair quietly, and was slightly upset that he didn't even notice her until Molikor shouted out her arrival for the entirety of Undercity to hear.
"Nar…Nariel!" came the Orc's slurred yell. She caught him as he stumbled, trying to get up and walk over to greet her, before pushing him back up into his chair without a word.
"Ha! You're back!" cried Solarius, spinning around to look at her.
"Soli…Solonus, who's thish?" asked the female drunkenly.
She doesn't even know his name. Thought Nariel, making no attempt to hide her scowl.
"Nariel, meet Ish…Ish.." He said, trying to recall the girl's name. "Meet my new friend!" he said finally, settling for a different answer.
Nariel said nothing but watched him with a disapproving look that he seemed not to notice, lost in his drunken stupor. The girl had caught her facial expression and gave a lopsided smirk in return, turning to the Paladin and wrapping her arms around his neck as she leaned in close to him and crawled fully into his lap, giving Nariel a victorious grin as his arm slipped down around her waist unknowingly.
"Here! Drink!" he said, offering her his half empty mug with his free hand.
"No thanks." She said tensely, pushing it away. "I see you two are enjoying yourselves." She added bitterly.
"Aye, it'sh been too long since we had some fun!" yelled Molikor, entirely too loud.
"Yea! Tonight I've got my pretty little elf, and a bag full of beer money, an' I'm not shtoppin' un…until one of them wears out." Solarius said, raising his mug above his head and glancing unashamed down at the girl's chest as Molikor cheered drunkenly in approval.
The comment felt like getting punched in the gut to Nariel, who had seen enough.
"Enjoy your evening then." She said quietly, turning on her heels and quickly heading for the door.
A familiar feeling of sickness crept up on her, one she had known from before, when she found Sath'rovok. Each step it got worse and she quickened her pace, until by the time she reached the door she was nearly running. The last they would have seen of her, had they been watching, was the tip of her ponytail disappearing as she vanished. It would have been hard to spot anyways even if they had not been drinking, but the alcohol was solely to blame for them missing the only other vital clue that she was not ok: the soft noise of sniffling drifted through the inn before being silenced as quickly as it had appeared as she disappeared out into the world.
What was he doing? She thought as her pace finally began to slow.
Couldn't he see she was upset?
She stumbled alone through the streets, for how long she didn't know. She thought of the grin he had been wearing, of what he would be doing right now with her. To her…
Each step she felt more hurt. She felt as if what she had just seen were scraping at the edge of her wound. As if it were trying to grab her feet and drag her kicking and screaming right back into the despair he had so recently helped her crawl out of after so long, and no amount of clawing or pleading for mercy would save her.
He's no better than Sath… She told herself, surprised to believe her own words.
Eventually, arriving to where her legs had mindlessly carried her, she slipped into one of the small hallways that dotted the city, away from the main paths. In these there was a quiet solitude, a retreat from the normal loudness of the world. It was dark, and she could become invisible in an instant. She felt right at home. For the first time in a long time, she felt unprotected. No mask. No Frostbite. No Solarius. All she wanted was to hide, to be alone - and there was nowhere better in Undercity to do it.
How could he do that? She asked herself, feelings of betrayal welling up.
The image of the elf crawling into his lap froze in her mind. How could he let me see him with her?
Her next thought ran through her head before she could catch herself: Do I really mean nothing to him?
Instantly the absurdity of the notion hit her. Of course she meant nothing to him. He was not hers. He had been friendly but had never showed any interest beyond that. Why would he care what she thought if he wanted to go pick up a girl for the night?
I'm being stupid. She told herself. He can do whatever he wants.
She knew it was true, but it did nothing to ease the dull pain or fill the void that she felt at seeing him with another girl. If anything it made it worse; it was an acknowledgement that she was, to him, exactly what she had wanted to be for so long until now - just a rogue. It was wrong. She felt selfish and petty for thinking it, but stripped of her protection and left vulnerable she could not fight the thought that crept into her head:
I wish it could be me he was with instead of her. She thought jealously, a silent tear falling down her cheek.
Even if he wasn't hers, she didn't want to see him like that - drunk and out of control, excited about another girl. That wasn't him. He was kind, trustworthy. He was her anchor in a storm. Rowdy sometimes, but never like that. What she had seen at the bar made her question everything.
Had he truly meant it all, or had his words just been hollow comfort so as to not be rude? She sat quietly as more tears began to fall. She desperately didn't want him to be a lie. She couldn't survive it, but neither could she deny what her own eyes had seen earlier, or what her own ears had heard. She was losing a battle she was fighting alone, one that she hadn't been aware was raging until she saw it look her in the face, one arm drunkenly caressing another elf's body. It wasn't just that; the thought stung more than Nariel had expected it would, but there was something else bothering her.
I want him. She thought painfully, finally acknowledging the feelings she had been trying so hard to ignore. I can't stop it.
She buried her face in her hands, unsure what to think of all the emotions she had been denying that she finally allowed to flow freely.
I'm hopeless. She thought sadly. She had learned nothing. For five years she had guarded her heart closely, weary of anyone and everyone. And now, the first time someone had come along and stolen her so closely guarded trust, she had fallen right back into the trap again.
Right back in…
…love?
That day had been trying for Solarius even before Nariel had wandered off into the city.
He was never comfortable around undead to begin with – he was a Paladin, after all – so being in a city full of them wasn't his idea of "restful". But his friends had insisted it would be good for them all, so he had agreed to stay. It's not like he could really argue against Nariel anyways. She had an odd effect on him. He could go toe to toe on wits with Molikor any day; doing just that provided the foundation of their friendship and the bulk of their entertainment most of the time, but when he was alone with her she had a strangely calming effect. He turned from wild to tame in an instant, and he could easily become lost in all of her intricacies.
She was not like a normal elf, this much he had recognized early on in their friendship. She had been exposed to the cruelness of the world and those who inhabited it, and had survived. Though she did not seem to realize it, he saw that she had an unbreakable will. She could endure years of the worst form of torture alone and still keep from turning bitter and cold. She had been changed, undoubtedly so, by the loss of her former love, but she had adapted, and had channeled that into a life of adventure and exploration. He was enthralled by her. Her beauty, her personality, the iron resolve that could hide her pain so well – even if he wished she would not do so.
So it had made him rather annoyed when on top of being cooped up in a city full of undead, she had announced that she was disappearing for the day. He had wished that she would offer to let him go with her, but it seemed like she hadn't even thought of it, so he had turned instead to the bar, talking away the day with Molikor who was equally as bored. His friend had seized upon the chance alone to pry at the change he had noticed in Solarius recently.
"Are you ok Sol?" he asked, using the name that let Solarius know his the topic was a serious one.
"What do you mean?" Solarius replied.
"You seem off lately." The Orc had asked. "Distracted more and more."
Solarius shook his head. "I don't know." He said. "There's nothing wrong. Perhaps I'm just thinking more often." He added.
Molikor glanced at his friend uncertainly. "Thinking about what?" he asked. "Or perhaps…who?" he added with a telling emphasis on the last word.
"It sounds like you already know." Solarius said.
"Aye." Came the reply. The Orc paused for a moment before adding, "She's an interesting creature."
"That's one way to put it I suppose." The Paladin replied. "I'm finding her in my thoughts more and more."
"Unwelcomed?" asked the hunter.
"Not necessarily" said the Paladin. "But it's difficult to wrap my mind around sometimes."
"What part?" asked Molikor.
"Whether or not I'm infatuated with the prospect of someone new, or something more." Solarius answered.
"Mmm." grunted the Orc.
"And more importantly, the wild chance that she perhaps has the same problem." The elf added.
"You know the easy solution?" Molikor asked. "Talk to her." He added when Solarius shook his head.
"Aye, that would go over well eh?" Said the Paladin. "Hey Nariel, I can't stop thinking about you. I was wondering if maybe you're thinking of me a lot too?" he mocked.
"Short and to the point. I like it" Said Molikor simply.
Solarius laughed before saying "You have no concept of romance do you?"
Molikor gave a wide grin and gestured to his still blackened eye. "If its romance you're after, you might not want tips from me brother." He said.
"But if you're trying to get her off your mind for a bit" Molikor said, gesturing to the bartender. "I think I can help you there." He added as a pair of frothing mugs were placed in front of them.
Solarius eyed the mug carefully for a moment before a tap on his shoulder caught his attention.
"Hey there." Came the smooth voice of a small brown haired blood elf, her eyes narrowing on Solarius. "Mind if we join you two?" she said, motioning to a female troll behind her.
Solarius eyed her for a moment before turning back to his mug, looking at it as if it were trying to tempt him, but unsure with what. Finally he shook his head slowly, patting the bar next to him.
"Not at all." He said. "Have a seat."
And with that he tipped his drink back, chugging the first of what would become many brews for the night.
