Kristie was in that blissful state of just coming to consciousness where she was still asleep enough to be very relaxed, but awake enough to begin making coherent thoughts. And her thoughts were first and foremost of Adam and their conversation last night. She recalled going to sleep against his chest and was surprised at how simple a motion such as stroking her hair had relaxed her so easily. She made a mental note to ask him sometime where he had learned that...or if it was just something that came naturally.

She slowly opened her eyes to see Maggie watching her with an amused smirk on her face. Kristie blinked and immediately wondered why the woman was so amused. She was starting to get to know the agent well enough that when she had that look on her face, it meant that something was up.

Kristie took in a deep breath and let it out to get her blood pumping and as a result wake herself up some more. She was on her side so she rolled to her back to stretch, but came up against something hard. At the same time, she realized there was something heavy on her stomach. She looked down and nearly gasped at the site of an arm draped across her mid-section. Her head immediately turned to see the arm was attached to a tanned and muscular back.

Kristie's eyes grew wide. Had Adam been sleeping there all night? No. He had at least gotten up and removed his leather vest and tunic...not to mention he was on the other side of her now than he was last night. A quiet snicker across the room told her that she now knew why Maggie had been so amused. Kristie threw her a glare as she tried to gently move Adam's arm from around her without waking him, only to find it automatically tighten. Now what?

Kristie decided to try and squirm her way out from under his arm. Her efforts were met with a muffled, "I'm trying to sleep, woman."

"Then remove your arm so I can get up then you can sleep all you want!" She snapped back. The reply was muffled in the pillow so she couldn't understand what he said, but it was obvious the answer was no because his arm remained firmly where it was. Maggie burst out laughing and Kristie turned to snap at her now. "You could help, you know!"

"Oh but this is much too amusing!" Maggie's green eyes sparkled.

Kristie fumed. Now this was totally unfair, two against one. Adam's torso began to shake in the telltale sign of silent laughter now. She glanced around her and spied the pitcher of fresh water on the side table. With a wicked grin, she reached out, grabbed it, then dumped the cold water onto Adam's bare back. He let out a yelp and jumped up in shock and Kristie took advantage of the opportunity to escape. She jumped up and was across the room in a flash.

"Oh, you want to play it that way, do you?" Adam had a feral grin, with an amused look in his eyes as he slowly climbed out of the bed, revealing some tan trousers and bare feet.

Kristie quickly jumped behind Maggie who protested. "Hey! I'm not a shield!"

"You're supposed to be protecting me." Kristie was starting to laugh herself now.

"Yeah... from bad guys, not a rudely awoken rogue." Maggie deftly danced away from Kristie just as Adam dashed forward, grabbing Kristie and tickling her sides. Kristie squealed and struggled to get away from him, but he was clearly able to keep her #easily trapped.

Finally, she had to relent and cried out "Uncle! Uncle!" She laughed again. "Please stop." He did as asked and the three had to take few minutes to catch their breaths from all the laughter. Finally, Kristie stood up straighter, rubbing her sides. "Now, why were you sleeping next to me instead of your own bed in the other room?"

Maggie answered for him. "Because I asked him to."

Surprised, Kristie glanced over at the female rogue. "Why?"

"You were having some more nightmares. And since I knew he had calmed you before, I got him up and suggested he sleep next to you. It helped. Almost as soon as he lay down next to you, you seemed to calm down and had stopped thrashing about." Maggie grinned. "And before you make any protests, remember that I've been standing here the whole time. I wouldn't let anything happen other than sleep."

"And all I got for my honorable effort was a cold splash of water, denying me the extra sleep I need...and the loss of something warm and comfortable I could snuggle up with."

Kristie felt contrite until he made his last comment. She couldn't help herself for making one last gibe at him. "You needed a shower anyhow."

Adam raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?" He started towards her again only to stop a few paces away, sniff the air, and then say, "I'm not the only one." He then dodged the pillow she threw at him and laughed. "Since I was denied my beauty sleep, I get the bath first." He disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door.

...

A couple of hours later the three of them exited their rooms to explore The Exodar. They were in their disguises from yesterday, hunter, priestess, and wolf. As they entered the Vault of Lights, they joined a touring group who were learning about the holographs depicting various demon's and other persona's from the Burning Legion.

Kristie was in awe. "Our people fought against that?" She knew of the Burning Legion of course, but had only imagined what it was like. Nothing she imagined was anywhere near what she saw before her. She glanced at Adam and Maggie in her wolf form. "Did either of you go to Outland?" Both shook their heads.

"I opted to stay home and look after our people here." He glanced at Maggie who nodded her furry head. "Looks like Maggie did the same."

As they moved on to another hologram, a dwarven family with a small boy joined them. The little dwarven boy was a bit rambunctious and found the museum boring. To entertain himself, he began moving up and down the stairs. Unfortunately, one of the stairs had a crack in it, and he had gotten his foot stuck in it. The boy's father quickly helped him out, but the ankle was swollen and sprained.

To Kristie's dismay and discomfort, the mother looked to her. "Can ye heal our son?" Kristie opened her mouth, then closed it. How can she tell the mother she did not know how?

Adam spoke up for her. "She is merely a novice, just starting her training."

"Surely this is nae too hard ta heal."

"I...can't. I'm sorry."

"What's going on here?" A flurry of motion surrounded them as guards and a human priest came over to them.

"Our son fell and hurt 'imself on th' stairs, and tha' so-called priestess is refusin' t' heal 'im. Tha's what's goin' on 'ere."

Kristie felt mortified as the human knelt down and said a quick prayer of healing. The boy stopped his crying and the family gave grateful thanks.

When the priest stood up, he turned his blue eyes on Kristie, waiting for an explanation. Kristie realized he was just a teenager, yet his face and body language spoke volumes of a maturity beyond this age. She heard a sharp intake of breath from Adam and glanced at him. Adam was giving the boy a bow and it suddenly occurred to Kristie why the priest had seemed familiar. It was Prince Anduin!

Kristie immediately fell to one knee and bowed her head until she heard the crown prince ask her to please stand. Adam was the first to speak. "Your Highness. May we have a moment of your time? We can explain." With a nod, Anduin and his guards moved with them to a small area bereft of other museum guests.

The group stood in a small circle with Maggie on Adam's left and Kristie on his right. The prince, of course, had his two guards on either side of him. "My name is Adam. I and my partner, Maggie, are SI:7 agents assigned to protect Miss Kristie Alexston, here. The priestess outfit is just her cover, as we are trying to prevent someone from finding and killing her."

Prince Anduin glanced from Adam to Kristie. "Why is someone trying to kill you?"

"I, uh-" She glanced at her hands and took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. It still bothered her to admit to killing someone, but she no longer saw the blood on her hands. "I killed someone to save my friends."

"She did more than save us, Your Highness. Because she saved us, we were able to save the hostages."

"Hostages?" Prince Anduin had to recall reports sent to him of recent Stormwind activities. Those reports had mentioned hostages, and how the situation had been taken care of. But there were no details of the event. "Ah, yes. I'm sorry. The reports I get are not very forthcoming with details. Who are you hiding from?"

"Marisa du'Paige."

At this point, Maggie moved in front of Kristie and transformed out of her wolf form. "Excuse me, Your Highness. I'm Maggie Strome and in charge here. I'm sorry for not coming out of wolf form right away, but I didn't want to blow my cover. However, the room is now clear of guests." They all glanced around to see that indeed they were alone. "I'm afraid we must be moving on. As we are protecting Miss Alexston, there is a possible danger to yourself. I'm sure Marisa would have no compunction to do something to yourself as well as to Kristie if she had the opportunity."

"You're right. She wouldn't." The small group turned to see Matthias Shaw approach and stop just outside their circle. "I would like a word with you alone, Miss Alexston. Please step over here. Your Highness, perhaps you should hear this as well."

Kristie stepped closer, wondering if it was good news or bad. But why would the prince need to hear it and not Adam and Maggie? "Did you get her?" She asked as she approached.

"Kristie! Get back!"

Kristie's head snapped to the side to see...Matthias Shaw? This one was a bit more disheveled as though he had been in a fight recently. His armor bore scorch marks. With there being two Shaws, Kristie stopped her forward progress and immediately stepped back. Prince Anduin's guards quickly pulled him back and stepped in front of him.

Unfortunately for Kristie, the first Shaw reached out and grabbed her, the illusion quickly shattering to reveal Marisa du'Paige! Kristie only got a glimpse of her madly triumphant eyes before she was swung around and pulled close, a dagger pressed against her throat. The first person Kristie could see as she was whipped around was Adam. He looked ready to explode.

The real Mathias Shaw approached slowly. "This is going nowhere, Marisa. You can't escape all of us. If you kill her, there'll be nothing to stop us from killing you."

Marisa gave a maddened laugh at this. Everyone was looking at Kristie and Marisa, so only Kristie saw Markus come out of stealth right behind Prince Anduin! "Your Highness! Look out!" Kristie felt the dagger cut into her skin as Marisa tightened her hold. But the warning was too late as Markus in a flash reached around the teen's neck and held his dagger there.

Marisa's laugh became louder. By now some of the Exodar's guards were starting to take notice and come into the museum to investigate. As everyone had looked to save the prince, Kristie could feel Marisa move her free arm. She ripped Kristie's sleeve, exposing the skin underneath. A second later, something was placed on her shoulder and Kristie cried out in pain as she felt something dig into her shoulder.

Adam turned back and took a step towards her, but Marisa fixed a hard look at him. "Another step and she'll die now rather than later." Kristie`s heart beat hard and fast as she felt herself being dragged backwards. She saw Markus back away from the others as the two enemies drew closer together.

Marisa muttered a few words and a portal appeared nearby. Mathias stepped forward. "I can't let you leave with the prince." His eyes flickered to Kristie as though to apologize and she knew he was ready to sacrifice her to keep the crown prince safe. "And if you kill him, there'll be nowhere to hide from his father, Lo'Gosh."

Mathias used Varian's other name on purpose. He had to remind the woman just who she was dealing with when it came to Anduin. King Varian had been a gladiator for a short time when he had lost his memory. He was called Lo'Gosh because when he fought, it was as though he took on the heart of the great wolf spirit.

"Oh, there's no worry for that." Marisa spoke derisively. "He won't be looking for me because I'm not going to be the one to kill him." She formed a fireball in her free hand. Kristie could feel the intense heat of it before the woman threw it towards the group standing there, scattering them. In that moment, Kristie felt herself shoved into the prince and the two of them tumbled through the portal.

Marisa gave a triumphant laugh as Shaw slammed into her before she could follow them. Stumbling to the side, she closed the portal, willing to get herself caught before letting them go after Kristie and Anduin. But she wasn`t intending to get caught. She cast a cone of cold air towards the group, slowing their movements enough to then cast her own teleportation spell. In the middle of casting her spell, however, she felt herself go silent, the spell interrupted. Looking around, she saw a night elf standing near where Mathias had entered. Another mage. She glowered at him, ready to cast an arcane bolt in his direction when someone crashed into her.

Marisa fell hard to the ground. A look above her told her it was the one called Adam. She could see pure hatred in his eyes as his hand grasped her throat. "Where did you send her!" His voice was low and gutteral, betraying more of an emotion than that of a simple bodyguard.

Marisa's eyes alighted to this new knowledge. "Ooo...Did I just send away a loved one?" She laughed in his face, stopping only when he tightened his grip on her neck cutting off her air.

"I've had enough with the du'Paige's messing with my loved ones." Adam felt his rage drive him as he could see her struggle to breathe beneath him. His total focus was on her, not hearing or seeing anyone or anything else. So he was surprised when Shaw knocked him off of Marisa.

"We can't get information out of her if you kill her Boxley!" Adam glared at Shaw as the SI:7 leader pulled out a collar with a light blue jewel in it, and quickly put it around Marisa's neck. "Now, where are they, Marisa?"

Marisa only gave a mad smile. "It doesn't matter! By the time you or anyone else finds her, she'll have died the slow and painful death she deserves! And as for the boy, he can do nothing to help her or himself...if he even survives."

With reluctance, Adam, stood up, only then noticing that Markus had been polymorphed into a sheep. He threw a glance to his right to see Mehlumis approach. "I'm sorry I arrived too late to help your friends, Adam."

Adam ignored him for now, as he glared at Marisa. "You better be wrong, witch! I won't let it happen again! Not when I can do something about it!" He spun and walked away, knowing he had to calm himself down before he ignored Shaw's warning and drive his dagger into her gut.

Maggie finished binding Marisa's wrists, perhaps a little too tightly. She glanced at Adam's retreating back and then at Shaw. Mathias shook his head. "Let him cool off. First thing's first. We need to get Prince Anduin and Kristie back." He glanced at one of the Exodar guards who had arrived. "We need a private room for interrogation." The guard hesitated only briefly because he wasn't familiar with the agent, but at a nod of one of the the prince's royal guards, he turned to lead them away.

Mathias turned to ask Mehlumis a question, but stopped as he saw the mage with his hand up and eyes closed in the spot where Anduin and Kristie had disappeared. "What are you doing?"

Mehlumis opened his eyes and lowered his hand. "I was attempting to trace the ley lines of the portal. Unfortunately, because she closed the portal so quickly, I was unable to tell where she sent them. I am sorry."

"You tried. I'm grateful for that. But I need to get this information as soon as possible. I could use your help."

Mehlumis glanced in the direction Adam had left as though he wanted to go after him, but changed his mind and nodded towards Shaw. "Very well."

Maggie allowed the guard to take charge of the prisoners as she fell back into step with Shaw. "What the fel happened back there, Shaw?" She knew she was on the border of insubordination but she didn't care. She had lost her ward and she was pissed. Not only that, but she was beginning to look on Kristie as a friend.

Shaw gave her a growl, but didn't reproach her for her tone of voice or question. "We should have known better than to think she would just waltz into our little trap. She was expecting it." He then told her about how earlier this morning, the disguised sentinels were alerted to intruders. They had attacked who they thought had been Marisa only to find out it was just a temporary clone. They had given themselves away by doing so.

He had just finished his shift and was sleeping when the commotion awoke him. Seeing Marisa in the room, he quickly attacked only to find out it was another clone. He had quickly searched for the mage, but just as he had spotted her, she had already gotten a fireball spell off. Though he was able to avoid the full impact, he wasn't able to avoid the large ball of flame entirely.

The sentinels had been fighting Omar, Terrel, and Morgaine while he had fought Marisa and Markus. As he dodged a blow from Markus, Marisa had been able to shoot a frostbolt into him, slowing his movements and Markus had stunned him.

Using her magic, she had tried to extract information from him, but he had been able to mentally block it due to extensive training. Then, as the others led the sentinels away, she had walked around the room, spotting some parchment and a stylus. Then telling him that there was more than one way to get information, she had muttered a spell on the top parchment and it revealed what Shaw had written on the parchment that had been on top of the pile.

It was then that Marisa had given him a smirk and told him how turnabout was fair play. She took her own potion of illusion, then used her magic to change her voice into his. After that, she had left Omar to take care of him. Shaw called Omar an idiot and he had easily gotten away from him. But it took some precious time for him to find Mehlumis and get him to make a portal. Apparently, the mage had decided to follow.

Maggie listened to Shaw's story and nodded her head. She had one more question. "Did you know that Prince Anduin was continuing his studies here?"

Shaw nodded his head. "I didn't think you and he would cross paths." His eyes narrowed. "Nor did I dream that you would cross his path right when Marisa showed up!" By that time, they had arrived at the room and entered. Mathias was all business now as he gave Marisa a hard look. "Turnabout is fair play after all." He stepped aside to let Mehlumis use his magic to try and extract the information from her.

…

Kristie blinked at the sudden bright light. She felt something hot and coarse under her hands and as her eyes adjusted to the bright light, she saw that it was sand. Lots of sand. Her gaze shifted to her surrounding area only to see more sand dotted with some rocks here and there. A pain automatically brought her hand to her left shoulder and she felt something rectangular attached there. Turning her head, she saw something made of stone and metal with some intricate designs etched into it. There was a slight glow to those etchings. A closer inspection revealed the four corners of the object to be curved down into her skin.

Kristie gripped the object and tried to pull it off, only to quickly let go as more pain ripped into her arm and began to coarse throughout her body. She groaned from the pain and nearly passed out when she felt the pain suddenly stop and die down a bit, though it didn't go away completely.

"Are you okay?" Kristie startled at Prince Anduin's voice. She had nearly forgotten that he had fallen through the portal with her. It must have been him who healed her pain. Well, most of it anyways.

"Not exactly. Whatever this is, it's causing pain. Trying to take it off makes the pain unbearable."

He looked at the enchanted object and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I don't know what it is. Does it hurt only when you try to remove it? Or all the time?"

"All the time...just worse when I tried to pull it off."

"What if I try to heal you and take it off at the same time?" At Kristie's nod, the prince began saying his healing prayers as he tried to pull it off. The healing light held back the pain to a degree, but as he pulled, the pain quickly escalated and even his heals could not eradicate it. Her tears and whimpers of pain told him to stop his attempts. "I guess it stays until we can get some help from someone who knows what this is and how to remove it safely."

Kristie nodded and took a moment to recover before looking around again, realizing for the first time that they were alone. A part of her knew that already, but now it seemed to really hit her. "No agents. No guards."

Anduin looked at her with a question in his face. "It's just us."

"But, Your Highness, I'm not able to protect you. Adam taught me a few defensive moves but..."

Anduin couldn't help but chuckle as he put a hand on her arm. "Believe it or not, I can protect myself, and you even."

Kristie gave him a smile and took a moment to recompose herself as best she could with the constant pain pouring into her arm. "I apologize. I'm...not used to being in situations like this. I'm sorry that you got dragged into my troubles,Your Highness."

Anduin smiled. "I needed a break from my studies anyhow." He then glanced around the desert landscape. "The first thing we need to do is figure out where we are."

"Unfortunately, I've never travelled outside of Stormwind, Goldshire, and Ironforge." She tried to recall maps of the world from her schooling, but it wasn't exactly her best subject.

Anduin bent down and picked up some sand. "Cream, a bit rough, but not too rocky." He looked over at the rocks jutting out of the ground a bit farther away. "Dark brown rocks." He let the sand fall and wiped his hands. "The ground is too flat for Desolace and too light for badlands or any of the Eastern Kingdoms deserts for that matter. My guess is Uldum or Tanaris. Most likely Tanaris."

Kristie watched him with a bit of new respect...not that she didn't respect him before. "So, what do you suggest, oh smart one?" She gave him a wink and a smile to show she meant nothing bad by her comment. The smile was short lived as another wave of pain swept outward from her arm. The more it pulsed into her shoulder, the more she could feel it into the rest of her. She also noticed now that although there was a constant trickle of pain at all times, it would occasionally send a blast of intense pain into her shoulder.

Anduin grinned but quickly became serious. "My first thought is to stay here until they come for us. But who knows what happened after we went through the portal. And with that thing attached to you, I have a feeling we may need to get some help as soon as possible." His eyebrows came together briefly as he thought for a minute. "If we are in Tanaris, then Gadgetzan should be to the east somewhere."

He glanced up to the sky and sighed. "Unfortunately, it's noon. I can't tell which direction the sun had risen or which direction it is setting."

Kristie sighed. "So, stay here until we see a difference in which direction the sun moving? That way we give Adam and the others a chance to come after us."

"True. But we also give Marisa a chance to come after us as well."

Kristie nodded her head, but frowned as a thought occurred to her. "Maybe not. I mean, why send us through the portal and not come herself? Unless they stopped her from following, but then wouldn't they be here by now if they did?" Kristie found herself rambling.

"We wait. Don't over think it. If she shows up, we'll deal with it."

She sighed and decided to sit down on her cloak to rest herself. "I suppose it's not a good idea to travel in this heat anyhow." She realized she didn't need to be so hot in her priestess robe and took it off. The stupid thing didn't keep Marisa from finding her anyhow.

As they sat there, Kristie began to get thirsty. She also began to be acutely aware that they had no supplies whatsoever. No water. No food. No weapons. Looking at the prince, she figured he must know this. How will they survive? She felt a wave of pain again. Anduin came over to give her some healing again, but she waved him off. "I don't know a lot about magic and the Light and such, but I know it takes a certain amount of energy from you to use it. I can tolerate this pain for awhile. I don't want you wasting your energy, Your Highness."

"Please, call me Anduin. I just don't see this as a place for such formality." He moved back, not healing her, per her request.

"Then you can call me Kristie."

An hour passed and there was still no sign of rescue. So, Kristie lay out the priestess robe with the arms at an angle so that it looked at least somewhat like an arrow to what Anduin had determined to be east. The two set off in that direction.

Anduin asked her about the hostage situation she had been in and she told him her part in it. He then told her a little of what it is like to grow up as the crown prince of Stormwind. Kristie laughed at his comment on how he could get pretty bored couped up in the Keep most of the time. "You should meet Amy," she declared.

"Who's Amy?"

"Amy Masters. She's an orphan that Adam and I have been looking after." She paused to let another wave of pain pass. "She's a great kid and it will probably make her year if the prince came for a visit."

"Maybe I will. The other orphans would probably appreciate it as well." He glanced at her mention of Adam's name. "Adam...the same who was guarding you?"

Kristie nodded her head. "We, uh, were just forming a friendship before all this mess started." She fell silent as she thought of him.

"You two are more than friends now, though?" He looked hesitate to pry into her life, but he was hoping to keep her mind off the pain she was in. She may not notice it, but he could see her start to pale.

"He's...very dear to me now. And I know he cares about me..." She fell silent again, but this time, it wasn't because of self-contemplation. She had spotted something in the distance. This something was moving.

Anduin followed her gaze and quickly tried to think of options. "It looks like three people, but I can't tell who. They may be friendly or not."

"Even if they aren't, we have nothing to steal."

"There's more than gold to worry about, Kristie."

She glanced at him. He was right. But she didn't think they could avoid it as the three ahead began to adjust their course and head towards them. As they got closer, Kristie's pale face grew even paler as she saw three figures she had never in her life seen before other than in pictures. An orc, a troll, and a tauren approached. Horde. And here she was with the prince of Stormwind and no way to protect him!

Author's Note: Yeah, originally, I was just going to have Anduin make a brief cameo appearance, but as I wrote this, I couldn't help but think the poor protected prince needed to get out a little more and have an adventure of his own. :) So, instead of Kristie making the journey in the desert by herself as I originally planned, she gets to have some royal company. This should be interesting.