Chapter 21: Us or Them

It would be six, long years before Lordaeron would truly be threatened by the might of the orcs. In that time, we did our best to prepare for the coming onslaught. Truly, in that time, the humans saw some of their greatest advancements in that time. We rid ourselves of the simple catapults and created the ballista, it could be hauled anywhere and the steel tipped bolts could break enemy bulwarks. The gnomes introduced to us their flying machines for scouting enemy movements and emplacements, and we knew that many of these battles would be fought at sea, so the gnomes also were hard at work creating a way to monitor the horde's movements through the sea without being detected.

As the years dragged on, I think the other nations and our allies began to take the conflict less and less seriously. The elves, for example, sent very few warriors to defend Lordaeron's borders, and the dwarves sent even less, mostly demolition experts. The gnomes sent mostly inventors and machines to assist the Alliance, but sent no raw man power, but I can't quite blame them for that, due to their small size. We would do our drills, but some of our soldiers were sometimes seen sleeping on their watch, or the elves would be too busy fraternizing with some of the humans. It was infuriating, and even I began to wonder if the horde would launch another attack on the humans.

My answer came in the form of a badly damaged flying machine, the gnomish pilot badly wounded by a spear that had found its target. He brought news from the south, or the horde marching from Blackrock Spire, into Khaz Modan, and spoke of the horde using Stormwind's ruins as a launching point for their naval forces. We knew, at least, what they had spent the six years doing, and that was the same thing we were doing.

Lothar was absolutely infuriated by their audacity to use Stormwind as a shipyard. He wanted to ride out to Khaz Modan and meet them, but he knew it would be certain death. He was appointed Commander of the Alliance of Lordaeron due to his marginal success with the defending Stormwind.

We scrambled to mount a defense, but with so much of our forces spread so quickly, we quickly had to rethink the plan of spreading our forces across the north. Meanwhile, at this time, the horde used their 'wave riders' as they called them, and took the islands of Zul'dare, Crestfall, and Tol Barad. At the same time, they landed troops at Arathi and the Wetlands.

The Alliance of Lordaeron was not off to a fantastic start of things. We were quickly cut off from our gnomish and Dwarven allies, as the horde pushed into Khaz Modan and managed to push the greatly outnumbered forces of the gnomes and dwarves into Ironforge. A great deal of our ground and air support at that time took a devastating blow.

Stromgarde and the Trollbanes were the first to truly engage the horde in a battle that would mark the start of the Second War, and it would also be our first real victory. I wager they underestimated Stromgarde's vast military, and most of their forces at Arathi were soundly defeated by Stromgarde and Kul Tiran reinforcements. Still, the horde managed to land a sizable army on our shores, and Terran Mill, Southshore, and Hillsbrad were all assaulted in the opening months of the Second War. This brings us to where we are now!

"I thought we'd be done with Hillsbrad for a time." Muttered Turalyon as we strapped his helmet into place, ensuring all of his armor was secured and in place.

"Fate sees it fit to lead us back there." Uther replied, doing much the same as the other.

It was at this time that the Archbishop, Alonsus Faol, had spent much time among the Clerics of Northshire Abbey. They suffered greatly and saw much of the carnage and bloodshed caused by the orcs first hand. Since they were mostly unsuited to be in direct combat, Alonsus took to the knights of Stormwind and trained them in holy magic. These two men were among the first of the Paladins as we know them today.

I looked at the horse in front of me and sighed heavily. I had grown weary of travelling via horseback, but knew it would be the easiest way for us to counterattack the horde at Southshore and Hillsbrad, since we could not risk drawing attention to Dalaran, which had magically shielded itself during much of this conflict. All the same, I mounted the horse and looked up Lothar as he approached.

"May the truth be told, Matthew," He said, strapping Quel'Zaram to his back. "I grow quite tired of these battles with these vermin."

"As do I, Lothar, but we must ensure that what happened to Stormwind does not happen to Lordaeron or anyone us. It is us or them, my friend." I said, adjusted the cuffs of my robes.

"True enough."

We would leave from Lordaeron and marched south, joining with forces from Gilneas, as Greymane had seen the attacks on the islands at his coast first hand, and refused to allow his mainland to be taken. From there, we marched to Hillsbrad and met up with a squad of archers from Quel'thalas. During the defense of Hillsbrad, we lost more than we had hoped, but the towns there were successfully defended, but we were left with a rather concerning question on our minds.

"How in the fel did the horde know to use the mountain pass?" bellowed Thoras Trollbane to some Stromgardian soldiers.

"I understand your anger, Thoras, but shouting at your men won't help." Said Turalyon, his left pauldron crushed in by an ogre's mace. "We are all just as shocked as you, and we will get to the bottom of this as to how the horde knew where to strike."

And truly, it was maddening at first. Travelling through Strahnbrad virtually undetected, all the way from Arathi, using mountain passes very few knew of, save our kingdom's leaders.

"Never mind that for now." Lothar said while rolling up the parchment he was just delivered. "Things in Khaz Modan have gotten worse, much worse."

"Commander, allow me to lead my forces south with my son, we'll route the orcs out of the Dwarven lands and bolster our forces with Dwarven arms." Thoras said, crossing his arms, but Lothar would only shake his head.

"Grim Batol, Dun Modr, and Dun Algaz have all been taken by the horde. They are using them as fortresses to move troops through to our lands. The dwarves have been, for all intents and purposes, defeated." Lothar said grimly, leaning on his horse.

"Defeated?" Thoras said quietly.

"What of King Magni? Has there been any word from him?" I asked as I approached, having taken stock of what supplies we had left.

"If he lives, the dwarves will fight to the last." Thoras said.

"Aye," Lothar began. "But we cannot rely on their support now. We must come up with something of a different strategy."

The horde had laid waste to most of Khaz Modan and our Dwarven allies confined to the city of Ironforge, safe from the clan of orcs called the Bleeding Hollow that sought to end their lives. It was a dark, dark time for the dwarves, but their bravery would pay off in the end.

For the most part, at this time, the horde as a whole was outnumbered by the alliance at least two to one. We had them beat, once again, in numbers and the quality of our equipment, but it seemed their technology and their magic improved day by day.

I remember I had a cadre of archers from Quel'thalas escorting me back to Dalaran to gather mages for our cause who would be willing to fight when we were set upon by one of the elves' most dangerous enemy.

"Taz dingo!" they yelled form the trees, little hand axes flying wildly through the brush, killing two of the archers before we could retaliate. It was a short battle, but the short battle told us that the forest trolls of the Amani had joined the horde.

"His name is Zul'jin." Alleria Windrunner began at the council meeting between all of the leaders. "He is a powerful warlord of the Amani tribe. He has been the chieftain of the Amani for many years."

"And these trolls have allied themselves with the horde?" Greymane asked, petting his beard in thought.

"We believe so. We had Zul'jin in captivity near Arathi Highlands when the horde attacked and destroyed my ranger's camp." Alleria said, putting her hands behind her back. "None were spared and we saw no trace of Zul'jin or his troll guard when reinforcements arrived."

With this alliance between orc and troll, the number of each of our standing forces was effectively equal. The elves were excellent at stealth, but so were the trolls. Our night raids on orcish camps came to an end shortly after.

As Lothar had predicted, Thandol Span was a pivotal theater for us during the Second War, the bridge constantly changing hands between the horde forces and the combined, Kul Tiran, Stromgarde, and Gilnean forces. Many lives were taken on that bridge, but if not for that choke point, the Alliance would likely have been obliterated.

Many battles were fought, as we suspected, at sea against the Kul Tiras navy, desperate to destroy the naval bases of the horde to prevent further attacks on our mainland forces, but it would be some time before Tol Barad could be taken, and the same would be said for Zul'dare.

As the horde marched around Lordaeron and much of the north, the alliance constantly shifted their forces here or there to retaliate. It became clear that the horde had new leadership at this point, and they were an excellent strategist, using something akin to guerilla warfare at times to avoid the alliance's defensive maneuvers. When we sought to dig in and defend a position, they would strike elsewhere.

"The orc you fought at Stormwind was called Blackhand the Destroyer." Khadgar said as he held onto his staff for support, the staff of the former Guardian. He had taken it up after it had been cleansed.

"Original," Muttered Terenas.

"He was murdered by another orc who sought the title of Warchief, their highest ranking member who leads them in battle." The old wizard said, taking a drink of water from the goblet in his hand.

"Pray tell, Khadgar." Antonidas said. "How did you learn so much of them so suddenly?"

Khadgar hesitated, staring at the water in the vessel. "I was useless while my magic was not with me, and my body made it so I could not fight conventionally. I took one of the gryphons and flew south over the horde forces to Karazhan."

"Why?" I asked suddenly.

"To see if I could find more information on these orcs, of course. Medivh had chronicled much of their culture in a few of his tomes." Khadgar said.

And that was how we learned of the inner workings of the horde. I will spare you the details of it as most of you already know the old horde and how it worked then. We learned of Blackhand the Destroyer, the various clans within the horde, and of Orgrim Doomhammer, the orc who had slain Blackhand to usurp his position when Gul'dan had fallen into the coma.

But enough of all that. You can find more on all that in most history books.

We held our forces back when the horde attacked Southshore and Hillsbrad once again and allowed the Stromgarde and Gilneas forces to defend the Hillsbrad area. We needed to get on the offensive, and during that time, the horde was mounting an offensive on Aerie Peak. The gryphon riders of Aerie Peak had seen the force begin to form at the edge of the Hinterland borders, and were unaware of us.

Finally, we would be attacking the horde first, rather than defending when they struck first. It pained many of the combatants to leave Hillsbrad in the hands of what they seemed to be foreigners, but it was a risk we needed to take to gain the upper hand sooner, rather than later.

The rest of the battles up to this point were just small skirmishes, but this was the first major battle of the second war, the prior months of meaningless battles, but we would meet them in a full force of battle now.

I have to admit, it was exhilarating to be take part here. The veterans of this war, Uther, Turalyon, and Lothar led from the front, but we were greatly outnumbered, seeing as the elves pulled the bulk of their support back towards Quel'thalas to defend the elven borders. We had thought, originally, that the horde struck at Aerie Peak because they wanted to remove the Alliance's support from the gryphons and Wildhammer dwarves.

We met in battle sometime early that morning, Lothar ordering the match to split into two groups, pinching the orcs between the two forces of the Alliance. The Lordaeron host took the orcs by surprise that had grown fat and arrogant on their swift victory over the dwarves and gnomes and did not expect us to strike before their army was ready to march on the Peak. It lasted until the late evening, with the horde attempting to take refuge in Jintha'alor, but the gryphons would be the ones to flush the stragglers out.

"Lothar, you look troubled." I asked as we began to march back to Aerie Peak.

"Did this victory seem sour to you, Matthew?" He asked quietly, looking over at me.

"How is that, Lothar? It seemed satisfying enough." I said, walking along side his warhorse.

"The Wildhammer said there were easily three times as many troops here than we faced in battle." He said, rubbing his beard. "And none have fled that we can see. They wouldn't turn tail now."

I looked back at the ruins of Jintha'alor behind us and made a face. Lothar was right; there were far too few trolls for this to be the main force.

It was when we returned to Aerie Peak that my fear was realized.

"There's an emissary waitin' for ya in the common room, Lothar, Matthew." Falstad, the Thane of the Wildhammer dwarves said when we arrived. "I thank ya for ye help sendin' them off like that. We've got new orders and…" I didn't hear anything else that the dwarf had to say to Lothar, I wanted to meet this emissary.

It was a ranger, lithe and a medium build like most of them, with long dark hair. He was accompanied by a young, pure white wolf of some kind. His bow was slung over his back and he was hunched over in the large chair, a mug of steaming liquid in one hand, his forehead in the other and didn't look up until I gently cleared my throat.

"You are the emissary?" I asked as he stood and set his mug down.

"Yes. My name is Katarai Felbreeze. I'm with the Ranger corps, serving under Lady Alleria Windrunner, Ranger General of Silvermoon." He saluted me, a clenched fist over his heart.

"Well met, Mister Felbreeze. Matthew De'tylmarande, Councilman of the Council of Six, representative of Dalaran in the Alliance of Lordaeron. Forgive me, but how did you get here?" I said so with a great bow and a wave of my hand.

"Dragonhawk, sir," He answered plainly.

I nodded. "What brings you so far away from Quel'thalas, Mister Felbreeze? I thought the ranger corps was recalled to Quel'thalas. Border protection, Alleria said it was." I didn't hide my distaste for Alleria in my speech, it was her responsibility to hold the line for the Alliance at Aerie Peak, but she decided withdrawing her rangers was what would be best.

He didn't seem fazed. "Alleria send her regards to you and Sir Lothar, but sends troubling news. While the Alliance's forces were diverted here, this seemed to be a decoy. The horde's forces have managed to infiltrate Quel'thalas through the cliffs, undetected. They're burning the borders as we speak, and the runestones are all that keep them at bay."

My eyes went wide at his explanation of what he was doing here, and I couldn't help but gape at him.

"It seems…" The ranger hesitated. "Alleria put too much faith in the Alliance of Lordaeron."

"Watch yourself, Felbreeze. A moment, if you would." The elf waved me off flippantly.

I rushed up stairs to find Lothar and Turalyon and explain to them the situation.

"They're attacking Quel'thalas?" Lothar said, surprised. "I suppose this is part of the deal that Doomhammer cut with Zul'jin. No matter. I am sure the el—"

"Lothar, I would suggest not finishing that sentence. The dwarves still draw breath only because their city is inside of a mountain. I urge you to move the Alliance forces north to defend Quel'thalas." I said, putting myself between him and the exit. "Quel'thalas has afforded us rangers and barely trained archers, nothing more. It has been a political move, to ensure they do not look bad in the eyes of the Alliance."

Katarai had come upstairs to join us and was eyeing my unfavorably. He leaned against one of the support beams, but I cared not for what he thought.

"What are you suggesting, Matthew?" Turalyon said from Lothar's side.

"Bring the force up through the cliffs behind them to strike at their flank."

"It will be a long journey." Lothar said.

"We've an ace." I said, looking at Katarai who could only roll his eyes in disgust.

"And if the elves do not throw their full might in with the alliance?" Lothar asked as we began to sound the order to march.

"Then I propose we send our armies south. Take the Thandol Span and hold the Thandol Span, then liberate Khaz Modan. Replace one ally with another."

Katarai felt fit to speak now. "So are your allies simply just disposable if they are not useful?"

I looked at him and cocked my head to the side. "If I thought that, Mister Felbreeze, I would urge Lothar to march south and liberate Khaz Modan now while the horde is occupied. I have no love for Alleria right now, Katarai, or you. But I have love for a great deal of people in Quel'thalas and I will not let your home fall as Stormwind did."

That seemed to surprise the elf, but I had no time to educate this man. The order to march came and we were off shortly, Katarai following alongside us on a steed loaned to him from Falstad. We circled around and went to the shores of the Hinterlands, signaling a Kul Tiran fleet just off the coast. Our soldiers loaded up and we disembarked just a short distance to the north at Tyr's Hand. It shaved a few weeks time off of journey and before long we were on our way to Quel'thalas via the Thalassian Pass.

"Here," Katarai said, showing us the steep cliffs surrounding the elven lands. "This is where the horde scaled its warriors and supplies up, all around the countryside here, under cover of night. Before we knew it, there was an orcish base at just the end of Eversong Forest."

I sniffed the air, but Katarai already knew what I was discovering.

"What's that smell?" Uther asked as he lifted up his visor.

"Brimstone," I replied quietly. "The orcs have dragons?" I looked at Katarai, who nodded.

"Dragons, you say?" Turalyon asked. "How is that even possible?" He called out.

"They are…" I covered my nose and mouth with my handkerchief when we rounded the pass, witnessing the effects of dragon fire on the white oak of Quel'thalas.

"Yes. They have dragons," said Katarai as he pushed his steed forward.

I will admit, it pained me greatly to see Quel'thalas in such state, and it stretched on for some ways. In what little time we travelled, the horde had cut through a great deal of Quel'thalas, and it seemed the orc's debt to the trolls would be repaid.

Lothar put our footmen and knights in rows as he always did when we prepared to engage the horde. They had learned much from their initial defeat at Stormwind, but their go-to strategy was still to rush us and attempt to flank us at any opportunity, which the wide lines of our swordsmen prevented. Katarai led the archers in their lines behind the human soldiers, while our very few mages and I supported from the rear.

We found many traces that the orcs and trolls had been here, but no sight of them for quite a ways into Quel'thalas. The only thing we found was burnt orcish buildings and corpses.

Finally, we began to approach the river that separated Eversong Woods from the rest of the forest, and that was where we found our foes, attempting to burn the rest of the forest, their target obviously being Silvermoon. I could see, from my vantage point, the two Windrunner sisters, Sylvanas and Alleria, defending the river with their rangers and archers, and there were even a few mages and priests among their ranks.

"What are your orders, Commander?" Uther asked, readying his hammer.

"Pincer them, allow the elves to retreat if they must, do not allow them to apply any further pressure to elven lines." Lothar said, drawing Quel'Zaram.

The horn sounded to attack, and it seemed to surprise both our foes and allies, as our allies immediately began to, not retreat, but gain ground back for once since this battle began. I laid waste to the horde ranks from the top of the hill, targeting the ogres first, since the only moderately armored elves could not stand toe to toe with one of the ogres. Catapults were targeted next, but before I could begin my assault on them, I felt a sharp, angry pain in my left shoulder, feeling the whack to the bone and the searing pain, seeing the troll's throwing axe embedded into my shoulder. Knowing I could not remove the weapon that easily since I knew it was buried deep in the bone, I tried to fall back, only from another axe to come flying my way, deflected by an ice shield at that last moment. However, casting set me off balance and I fell onto my backside, sliding and tumbling down the hill. Not my most graceful of moments.

From where I was now, I was practically inside of the enemy's lines, and was bleeding badly from the shoulder wound, and it hurt more than anything else I'd experienced to that point. I stood slowly, when I noticed the three trolls converging on me. Well, at least I would go out with a blaze of glory. I blasted the troll on the furthest left, but the other two would not have a chance to retaliate, as I saw an armored elven knight use his warhorse to clear the entire lake in a single jump, his armor gleaming and his sword whirling to cut down the two trolls in a matter of moments. He pulled the armored horse to me and offered me a hand, which I gladly took. We rode back across the bridge to avoid the major fighting on that side of the bridge, taking me to where the elves had set up their camps among the trees.

By then, the wound had torn further open and was bleeding heavily. The knight that had rescued me helped me from the horse and that was when I recognized him. I was too weak to say anything, and he wasn't exactly in the best of shape either, with a large gash over one eye, and part of his leg plates caved in.

"We need a healer!" Andris shouted as I slumped against him, "Circi!"

Much of what happened next is fuzzy. They told me after that Circi came and took me to the medical tent. Andris had to hold me down while he pulled the throwing axe from my shoulder. I was healed, but blacked out shortly after the wound was mended by Circi. The fighting was over shortly after, the combined might of the elves and the humans simply too much for the horde to handle, even with their troll allies.

I woke up to voices just outside of the tent early that evening, finding Alleria, Lothar, and Andris, seemingly ready to break camp.

"It seems you were right after all, Lothar," said Alleria, one of the healers tending to a wound in her left thigh.

"I wish it was not so, Lady Windrunner." Lothar said. "But we must strike now, before their forces have time to regroup."

"Agreed, the forces of Quel'thalas will now be fully ready to mobilize, and we'll make short work of the horde."

"Together." I said, groaning as I sat down on a nearby stump.

"Matthew, you should be resting." Andris said. In the time since I had last seen him, he had grown a small beard, and had more extravagant armor than before.

"I am fine. Dear Circi did fine work making me well. Lothar, what are you planning to do?" I ask, rubbing my still sore and raw shoulder.

"We cannot focus our might in one area. It leaves us vulnerable at others. Gilneas and Stromgarde cannot hope to hold the Thandol Span alone. I propose to split my armor in two groups." Lothar said, drawing some plans in the dirt with a stick.

"You will weaken our might here, Lothar." Alleria said as she examined the plans. "We should focus on pushing south."

"We will. However, half of my army will remain here to do so, push the horde out of Quel'thalas. I will lead half of my army south, through the cliffs, and finish what we started in The Hinterlands, securing the assistance of the Wildhammer."

"I will send a detachment of destroyers there, and to the shores of Lordaeron to break their siege at Hillsbrad." Alleria said, offering her input, Lothar nodding in agreement.

"Then the remaining forces, with the elves, will push the horde south."

"You aim to sandwich them at Hillsbrad, then rendezvous and take the Span." I said, craning my head to look at the plans.

"We must take Tol Barad and Dun Modr if we have any hope to push the horde further south." Lothar said, stabbing the stick into the ground. "But first, we must ensure the Wildhammer can support with their gryphons, and the elves can support with their magi and rangers. Once we secure our lands that are under siege, we take Tol Barad, and then onto Dun Modr."

I looked at the plans and nodded. "I will remain here, if it is agreeable, Lothar. Quel'thalas is my home as much as Dalaran is. I owe the elves a great deal for their friendship." This made Andris and even Alleria smile. "And I will ensure the horde is thrown from Quel'thalas."

"Very well, we strike at dawn."