Auriana
Auriana had been to Frostfire Ridge on a handful of occasions, but she lacked the intimate knowledge of the area necessary to land her teleport as accurately as she might have liked. Instead of arriving precisely at the position that Vol'jin had indicated on the map, she ended up knee deep in the middle of a snowdrift about two miles south. It took a fair bit of time and a great deal of swearing, but she eventually pulled herself out of the drift, shaking the snow out of her dark hair as she took stock of her surroundings. As far as Auriana could tell, she was the only living thing within miles, and if she hadn't known better, it would have been easy to assume that she was the only person left in existence. Frostfire Ridge was undeniably a desolate place, though she supposed there was a stark beauty in the dark, sweeping outcrops of stone and the occasional bright flash of red magma bursting upwards through the otherwise unbroken white snow.
The wind was blowing fiercely, and Auriana shivered violently into her cloak as she began her journey north. She absolutely detested being cold, and often went to great lengths to keep herself warm. On more than one occasion, she had even joked to Varian that her affection for him was mostly based on his naturally high body temperature, which never failed to make him laugh and pull her closer.
Auriana sighed at the thought of her King, and not for the first time that day she wished he was by her side. He was older, wiser, and far more experienced when it came to the intricacies of politics than she, and while Auriana genuinely believed her plan represented the best chance of getting the Alliance out of this mess unscathed, she would have welcomed his opinion. Auriana also would have welcomed his company, if for no other reason than trudging through the snow was incredibly dull.
She made good time, at least, even despite the weather, and she had only been walking for an hour by the time she found the location of Vol'jin's scout. Despite the Warchief's assurances that the scout was trustworthy, Auriana chose to fade into invisibility as she approached his position, wanting to get the measure of the scout before revealing her presence. She crept slowly forwards on soft feet, and was somewhat surprised to see that Vol'jin had sent her in search of a lone tauren bull. He was far younger than Auriana might have expected, with a dark grey hide the colour of charcoal and long, white horns. He was big, too, even for a tauren, though he moved with the ungainly lope of young animal as yet unused to the length of its legs. He stood facing towards her, his dark eyes bright as he gazed out across the snowy plains, though of course he couldn't see her through her spell. Auriana had no idea why the tauren was out here, alone, and scouting this particular area of Frostfire Ridge, and quite frankly she didn't care. She wasn't here to spy on the Horde, and all she really needed was for the scout to agree to contact Zala'din on her behalf.
She moved until she stood about twenty feet away from the scout before she cautiously removed the glamour and slowly shimmered into visibility once more. The tauren caught sight of her almost immediately, starting violently at her sudden and unexpected appearance, and immediately moved into a powerful defensive stance. He carried a vicious looking polearm, its long haft carved with the distinctive shapes of running wolves, and Auriana decided she'd rather not find out just how good he was with a weapon.
She slowly lowered her cloak so that he might see her face, though she never took her eyes off the sharp point of the polearm.
"Arith Stormchaser?" she called, using the name Vol'jin had provided and praying that she hadn't accidentally stumbled on some other tauren.
"Come no further, human!" the bull bellowed, a strange, nervous tremor echoing through his deep voice. "Leave this place now, and no harm will come to you, but I cannot guarantee your safety if you stay."
"Peace," Auriana said calmly. "I've come a long way to talk to you."
She freed her long dagger from her belt, and lifted it high in the air so he could see. The tauren instinctively thrust his weapon forwards, but paused as Auriana threw the dagger point-first into the snow, its jewelled hilt glinting in the morning sunlight.
"I'm unarmed," she added, holding out her hands in a gesture of placation.
Stormchaser looked down at the dagger, clearly thrown off guard by her gesture, though it did nothing to relax his fighting posture.
"You're a mage," he grunted warily, shifting his grip on his polearm as if he expected her attack at any moment. "That doesn't mean much."
"Well, you're not wrong..." she conceded, shrugging. "Though I assure you I mean you no harm. How did you know I was a mage?"
"You're the Alliance commander from Blackrock Foundry," the tauren said slowly. "There aren't many other human females who would risk coming this far into Frostfire."
He leaned forward, his ears twitching and his weapon inadvertently lowering as he inspected her closely.
"Nor many quite so small," he added. "By the Earthmother, you really are tiny."
The tauren bull tilted his head curiously to one side, and Auriana realised that he wasn't nearly as intimidating as his size might have suggested. He stood his guard with the same nervous eagerness that she'd seen time and time again amongst green soldiers in the Alliance, and he didn't seem to have realised that at this point she could have killed him many times over had she so desired. It had, however, occurred to him that his statement regarding her size may have been offensive, and a distinct look of abashment crossed his bovine features.
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I haven't seen very many of your kind before."
Light, is this his first day? Auriana wondered, though she had to assume Vol'jin had some reason for sending her to this particular scout as opposed to any other.
"It's quite alright," she said quickly. "Arith - I need to talk to your Commander, but I have no way of directly contacting Frostwall. My best hope was to find a scout who could relay my request, and so I came here."
The tauren's ears pricked in interest, but he still looked skeptical of her intent.
"How… how did you know where I was?" he asked. "How did you know my name?"
"I… I can't tell you. I'm sorry, I know that's a rather inadequate answer, but suffice to say my mission here is of utmost importance," she said sincerely.
"How can I possibly trust you if you won't give me all the information?" Stormchaser reasoned.
"If you know I fought at Blackrock Foundry, then you know I'm an ally to the Horde, if not precisely a friend. You also know that your Commander trusts me," Auriana countered. "So if you really think about it… I'm asking you to trust him, not me."
The tauren snorted and shook his head, his breath sending soft spirals of vapour into the snowy air. His heavy brow was furrowed in suspicion, but at least he had given up all pretence of threatening her with his weapon.
"Arith, please. Would I be here if it weren't important?" she added, taking a tentative step towards him. "I don't just go walking around in Horde occupied territory for giggles."
"I suppose…" he conceded, though he still looked rather put out. "What is it that you want?"
"I need you to relay a message to your commander," Auriana said swiftly. "Tell him… tell him that… um..."
She trailed off as she gathered her thoughts, trying to think of the best message to give to the scout. Vol'jin might have vouched for him, but the less people who knew the full details of her mission in Frostfire, the better, and so she would need him to relay a message that was clear enough for Zala'din to understand, while at the same time cryptic enough that no one else would deduce the truth.
"Yes?"
"Ah… tell Zala'din that… a little lion went walking through the woods and found a… a wounded raptor," she said finally.
Auriana cringed at the awkwardness of the phrase, and judging from the look on his face, Stormchaser was similarly unimpressed.
"Er… what? I have no idea what that means," the tauren said, stamping his left hoof in agitation.
"Zala'din will figure it out," Auriana said, with far more confidence than she actually felt.
"I don't think anyone could figure that out," Stormchaser huffed.
"Well… it's a little obscure, I'll give you that…" she conceded, sighing. "Though my mind is rather frozen in this weather, you could cut me some slack."
She suspected that the tauren might have smiled at that, but it was hard to tell whether his mouth moved beneath his dark, shaggy coat.
"So, you want me to tell the Commander that 'a little lion went walking through the woods and found a wounded raptor'?" the scout repeated, frowning.
"Yes, that exact message. He'll know what do," Auriana said. "Thank you."
"I'm still not sure that you are trustworthy, mage, but I will do as you have asked," he rumbled, nodding his great head. "My wyvern is about two hundred yards to the east, and it's about an hour's flight to Frostwall. Will you wait here?"
"Yes," Auriana agreed, though she wasn't thrilled about the prospect of having to wait out in the driving snow.
With little choice, however, she gathered up her dagger and sat herself down against one of the smoother looking rock outcrops nearby, and pulled the hood of her cloak back up as she watched Stormchaser slowly loped away. He was quickly swallowed up by the snow, and Auriana was once left alone, a single point of darkness against the austere white plains. She rested her head back against the rock with a sigh, trying to get comfortable as she settled herself in for a long wait. Not for the first time in her life, Auriana was immensely grateful that she was a mage, and had the ability to use her magic for warmth. Tucking her knees to her chest, she sent a slow burst of power shivering down her icy limbs in an attempt to heat them from the inside out. She still wasn't precisely warm, but at least she wouldn't freeze to death before Stormchaser returned.
As she sat and waited, Auriana's thoughts inevitably drifted to Varian, as they always did when she had time alone to think. She desperately wished that she was right now leaning into his strong shoulders while he held her tightly, though she did wonder darkly if he would be quite so affectionate once the truth of her capture of Vol'jin was revealed. Although she knew that she was saving him an awful lot of trouble by her act of dishonesty, part of her still hated the thought of lying to not only her King, but the man she loved as well.
Her lonely reverie was eventually interrupted by the sudden wild shriek of a wyvern from above. Auriana instantly leapt to her feet, her power surging in her veins as she sought to determine whether the wyvern carried friend or foe. She held up a hand to shelter her eyes, and was just able to make out the dark shape of the beast as it came into land. It was not Arith Stormchaser that flew towards her, however, but rather Zala'din himself, almost unrecognisable in the heavy pelt that covered most of his face and chest.
"Where be da Warchief?" Zala'din demanded, the moment his feet touched the ground.
"I see you understood my message. He's at Lunarfall," Auriana said quickly, not bothering to waste time with pleasantries. "Someone decided to leave me the gift of a Warchief outside my garrison last night."
"Is he safe?" the troll commander pressed her, his expression darkening.
"He's fine," Auriana assured him. "He was badly injured, but I had him healed."
"Who by? Who else knows about dis?"
"Well... you, me, Anduin Wrynn, and whoever else knows on your end," Auriana said, shrugging.
"Varian Wrynn's in Lunarfall?" Zala'din exclaimed worriedly. "With da Warchief? Dat can't be good..."
"I said Anduin, not Varian," she said calmly. "The High King has no idea that any of this is happening."
Zala'din looked very skeptical, and it was only then that Auriana noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the weariness in his posture. He must have barely slept the previous night out of worry for his Warchief, and Auriana felt a twinge of sympathy. She couldn't imagine how she might have felt had it been Varian who disappeared without a trace, and she genuinely respected Zala'din's concern for his friend.
"Look, I understand this must all be very confusing," Auriana added gently. "Let me explain."
Zala'din nodded tersely, but listened in rapt silence as Auriana detailed what had happened the previous night, from the initial shock of discovering the beaten and bloodied Vol'jin in the woods outside Lunarfall, to his healing at Anduin's hands, and finally to her long conversation with the Warchief that very morning. Fortunately, like Vol'jin, Zala'din very readily grasped the reality of the situation, and the importance of keeping the Warchief's disappearance and a return a secret from all but a select few.
"What do ya want from me?" he asked swiftly, once she had finally finished speaking. "I'll give ya anything ya need if it gets da Warchief back safe."
"Let me be clear, I want to turn Vol'jin over to you as soon as I can," Auriana said firmly, "But I also want to take the opportunity to try and draw out whoever is responsible for this attack."
She quickly outlined her plan, explaining how she intended to use Vol'jin as bait whilst at the same time keeping the whole affair secret. Zala'din looked rather displeased at the idea of risking his Warchief's life so brazenly, but Auriana could also see that understood the merits of her strategy.
"Of course, in order for this to work, you'll have to be publicly seen leaving Frostwall so as to draw the attackers out," Auriana said. "Which means you'll have to fly back, so we'll have to wait a few more hours before we attempt the exchange. And we'll need to find somewhere appropriate to set up our counter ambush."
"That I tink I can help with, actually," Zala'din said thoughtfully. "Let me show ya."
He swung back into the saddle of his wyvern and beckoned, indicating that she should climb onto the beast behind him. Auriana hesitated, however, not really sure if she wanted to get so up close and personal with the troll commander.
"I don't bite, little lion," Zala'din said drolly. "Come on."
Auriana flushed, silently cursing him for so swiftly deducing the cause of her reticence, and quickly took a seat at his back. She wrapped her arms around his slim waist for balance, tightening her uncertain grip and leaning forwards as the wyvern took to the air. Auriana could feel every movement of Zala'din's lean muscles beneath her breast as they flew, and she blushed nervously as she wondered what he might be thinking with her pressed so firmly against him.
At least he's warm, she thought drily.
Zala'din turned his wyvern northwards, and they were airborne for about twenty minutes before he finally directed the wyvern to land. Auriana dismounted quickly, not wanting to linger around Zala'din any longer than she had to, and tried very hard to ignore his roguish grin as she inspected her surroundings. He had taken them to the very top of the Frostfire mainland, where a bedraggled looking cluster of trees ended ahead of a series of high, windswept cliffs. Auriana could hear the crash of the ocean somewhere below, and in the distance she could see the points of a ragged mountain range.
"Whatcha tink?" Zala'din asked, leaning casually against his wyvern as Auriana paced about.
"This will work," she said, nodding approvingly. "With the cliffs on one side we can limit possible lines of approach, and that outcrop over there would be easily defended. We can always run into the treeline if we need cover, and I can augment our defenses with magic."
Still unable to quite meet Zala'din's eyes, Auriana busied herself with readying the site for Vol'jin's handover. The troll looked on in thoughtful silence as she summoned a number of wards around the perimeter, as well as a number of rather nasty frost and fire traps. She had no way of knowing how many ambushers they might face, if any appeared at all, but it was safe to assume that in the event of an attack, she, Zala'din, and Vol'jin would be greatly outnumbered. The traps were her way of evening the odds, and she actually felt a brief surge of pity for whoever would be so unlucky as to set them off. She also added a number of other murderous surprises, and by the time she was finished the entire area was a veritable nightmare of concealed magical trickery.
"Well, I think this place is about as deadly as it's going to get," she said finally. "All that remains now is to return to Lunarfall to retrieve Vol'jin, and to pray to the Light that everything goes off as planned."
She turned back to Zala'din with a bloodthirsty grin, ready to bid him farewell before she teleported back to her garrison, only to find him staring at her with a kind of fierce intensity that she had never before seen on his face.
"Auriana…" Zala'din said tentatively, and she cocked her head in surprise at his use of her proper name. "Thank you."
"What for?" she said.
"Ya done right by the Horde. Again," he said seriously. "I'm startin' ta feel like I owe you a drink."
"Zala'din, please..." she said, frowning in mock seriousness. "If we manage to pull this off without getting ourselves or Vol'jin killed, you're buying drinks for all of Lunarfall…"