Way too late.
Faith made a run for it, positive that one of the Bloodtotem tauren was going to come out from the shadows an ambush her.
But she made it out of the camp unscathed, finding her companions very much alive near the tree their mounts were in.
"General?" asked one of the Farstriders, coming to her. "What's the matter?"
"We need to get out of here. The warbraves are dead, poisoned."
"Poisoned?" asked Haro, looking stricken. "What do you mean? By whom? I know the Bloodtotem are vicious and that they generally like to kill outsiders, but they don't use poison to do it."
Faith shook her head, "Oh, I don't think that they're Bloodtotem anymore. That was no ordinary poison I found on the ground next to your friends."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I know the smell of various venoms. That one had a sickening scent that any Forsaken knows better than the smell of roses."
"The Plague?" asked one of the rogues.
"No, but it's definitely not something you would find on Azeroth, I promise you that. On Argus, maybe."
"The Legion…" whispered Haro. "You think they did this?"
"I think we got there too late. It probably wouldn't have mattered if we'd gotten there three weeks ago, I think that the Legion got to them long before we realized they were in this area." Faith called Ivory down, and the other eagles followed her. "Let's get back to Thunder Totem quickly."
She conjured a portal, ushering everyone through it, including the eagles, who were baffled to see the swirling vortex before them. But they followed their riders through it easily enough. Faith was the last one through, still expecting some kind of ambush.
"I don't understand why they didn't attack me," she said as she landed. "They could have all killed us in a second, and we wouldn't have even seen it coming."
"Maybe they wanted to scare us," said Haro. "And it's working."
"Don't let it. The Burning Legion can be defeated. We just need to figure out how we're going to do that." She quickly walked through the city, finding Mayla once more in the Hall of Chieftains, having something to eat with some of her advisors.
She looked up when Faith entered, and got to her feet, not having expected her back so quickly.
"That was fast," she commented. "Did you get our warbraves back?"
"I'm afraid I have some bad news," Faith told her quietly.
Mayla stared at her, "You're positive that it's the Burning Legion."
Faith nodded once, "Yes Mayla. You have to understand, I'm positive it's them. I recognized the scent of the poison: it's definitely Legion-made."
"I don't want to believe it," said the chieftain of the Highmountain tribe. "I mean, I don't want to think that my people could so easily be corrupted."
"Look, the Burning Legion knows how to seduce people, it's second nature to them. I've seen them corrupt people who were paradigms of good just as easily as people who were inherently more evil." She found herself chewing on her lip and stopped immediately, "We need to figure out exactly where these tauren are and what they're doing. There was a drogbar imprisoned in their camp who tried to warn us."
"You can't trust the drogbar."
"None of them?" asked Faith, raising her eyebrows.
"Maybe a few. I don't know how many of them follow their king."
Another nod, "In any case, we can't let that one go to the Burning Legion. It may be a good way to get the drogbar back to your side. We're going to need all the help we can get against the demons."
"All right, what do you suggest?"
"I suggest that we go back to that camp and try to figure out where the Bloodtotems went. They can't have gone very far."
"You want more warriors?"
"If it's not too much trouble."
"I'll see who else we can spare, but I can't promise a large number." She made to leave, but Faith took her hand gently.
"Look, you do realize that if the Bloodtotem tribe really has allied itself with the Burning Legion, we're going to have to kill them, right?"
A pained look crossed Mayla's features, "I know. They may have been the most hateful members of the Highmountain tauren, but it's still hard to believe that we're going to have to do this to them because of a choice they made."
"I'm sorry."
Mayla sighed and left, asking guards to gather any additional volunteers to help Faith with her task.
It didn't take long for people to start coming to her. There weren't many of them, as most of the tauren of Thunder Totem had a hard time believing that any of their members would have turned to the Burning Legion, but there were enough.
"Thirty people," said Haro. "What do you think?"
"It's better than I could have hoped for."
They all left an hour later, taking the portal that Faith conjured back to Cliff's Edge.
The camp was still utterly deserted, but the bodies of the fallen warbraves were still there, as was the poison that had been used to kill them. Haro picked up one of the goblets and sniffed it, nearly gagging at the smell.
"How in the world would they have drunk that willingly?" he asked, setting the goblet down and trying not to heave.
"They could have been forced. It wouldn't be that difficult, to be honest."
"What's that on the floor next to the cage?" asked someone.
Faith looked over and saw something violet glinting on the ground, some kind of crystal shard. She couldn't be sure, but it reminded her of Navarrogg, maybe part of the armor he'd been wearing… "Can you see any more of these?" she asked, picking it up.
"There's one right here," said Haro, pointing to something near a clump of bushes that led away from the area they were standing in.
Altogether, they found four shards in the camp, the last one being very close to the exit.
"It's a trail," said Faith. "Let's see where it takes us, but be on your guard."
"Yeah, drogbar aren't really trustworthy anymore," murmured Haro. "It could be leading us into an ambush."
They began to follow the violet trail. It wound through a patch of forest that was teeming with harpies and oddly behaving bears that Faith guessed they would have to take care of before long. She also saw an enormous ettin roaming the between the trees, and hurried her companions along, not wanting in the slightest to come face-to-face with that thing.
"It's bigger than the ones in Silverpine Forest," said one of the Forsaken rogues as they made their way out of the forest. "And those were a pain to take down, let me tell you."
"I believe you," Faith told him.
For the better part of an hour, they followed the trail, noticing that they didn't need to keep looking for the violet shards: the tauren had begun to leave substantial tracks on the ground once they'd gotten away from their camp.
They stopped walking when they reached a lake in the middle of a shallow stone valley, listening to their surroundings. They heard no birds, no animal footsteps, just the sound of the breeze whistling through the trees and, very faintly, voices in the distance.
"That sounds like them," said Haro to Faith.
Faith was tense, "We're being followed," she whispered.
Her statement caused all of them to tense and look around them more carefully. They saw nothing, but they sensed that Faith hadn't been wrong: someone or something was definitely following them.
"Let's move," she said. "Carefully."
They did, walking single-file, with Haro in the lead and Faith right behind him, ready to cast a spell should anything happen.
They crested a rocky hill and stopped, staring.
"Oh, by An'she," breathed Haro.
It was the Bloodtotem tribe, all right – Faith recognized the two guards at the entrance to a much larger settlement than the one they'd left.
The Bloodtotem tribe, with their eyes and horns glowing a dull fel green.
In the service of the Burning Legion.
"Damn it," hissed Faith. "I didn't want to be right. I'm sorry, you guys."
"What do we do? Do we fight them?"
She shook her head, "Let's get out of here. We can't attack that settlement, there are way too many of them. Pull back, quietly."
"Back to the lake?" asked Haro.
"Yes. Go."
Faith waited until everyone had left before she moved away from the settlement. She kept an eye on it the whole time, making sure that none of the tauren there had seen anything.
She reached the lake and immediately worked on creating a portal for her companions, all of whom were looking around fretfully, trying to make sure no ambush was coming their way.
But the one who ambushed them wasn't the kind of creature to be seen if it didn't wish to be. And it waited in the shadows until Faith was the only one left there. As soon as it saw she was alone, it let out a terrifying snarl that would have caused even the hardiest warrior to wet his pants.
Faith, however, didn't cower. She heard the snarl, recognizing it for what it was, and so wasn't at all surprised when she saw Greymane leaping at her from behind a boulder.
There was a smell to him, not just the small of feral dog that she'd come to associate with the worgen, but another, fainter aroma.
Poison. She smelled it very clearly when he took a swipe at her, meaning to tear out her throat.
His claws… he's coated his claws in venom, she thought distractedly as she put up a barrier of arcane energy to counter his attack. The sound his claws made when they hit was akin to thunder, making her suddenly very aware of the fact that they weren't very far from the tauren settlement she'd just left.
"Give it up, pretty one," snarled Greymane. "You're not going to survive this."
Faith parried his next blow with Felo'melorn. His blood flew in an arc, spattering a boulder nearby, causing him to let out an involuntary whine. "All right, Genn, you want a duel to the death? I'll give you one."
"Drop your sword then," he snarled at her.
"So I can be defenseless when you come at me with venomous claws? I think not. Come at me!"
He howled, leaping at her with frightening speed. She faced him, but just as he was about to hit her, she felt a burning pain in her shoulder blade, almost hearing the knife as it sliced through her.
"Oh, you coward…" she hissed at him.
The knife she'd been hit with had been poisoned as well, and she felt its effect just before Genn swiped an enormous paw at her abdomen, tearing robes and skin. Sizzling agony exploded across her, and she couldn't help but cry out in pain.
"It's no more than you and your wife deserve."
Faith staggered, but managed to stay upright until the worgen behind her stabbed her again, causing her to fall to her knees.
The poison was already making her sluggish. She tried to conjure her black fire to protect herself, but only a small black flame flickered in the palm of her hand. Whatever venom the worgen had concocted, it was definitely strong, and had been made specifically for her.
Greymane laughed and aimed a kick at her side, sending her crashing against a rock. "I told you, you're not getting out of this alive. You can't even perform magic anymore." He kicked her again, this time catching the side of her head. Her vision blurred, and she could do nothing as both the worgen fell on her, snarling and stabbing at her. She couldn't even scream, only able to recall a very similar situation in Durotar when…
"Wait," said the king of Gilneas, backing off and pulling his friend with him. "Don't kill her… let someone find her. I want Sylvanas in agony as she watches her die."
Faith's vision was going gray. She blinked, trying to stay awake. She had to… couldn't lose consciousness where she was.
"Search her. Make sure she doesn't have a way to get home."
She couldn't struggle as the venom began to paralyze her. The worgen reached into her pockets, extracting the hearthstone Sylvanas had given her. As he touched it, it disintegrated into his hands, thanks to a spell Faith had imbued it with to keep anybody from getting to Sylvanas if anything happened to her.
She blinked slowly, feeling bolts of pain shooting deep within her body from the wounds she'd sustained. She tried speaking, but found herself unable to.
"Take that sword from her. The Alliance should have it, not some Horde whore."
The worgen was only barely able to pry her fingers from Felo'melorn, but couldn't actually lift the sword. Whenever he touched it, he pulled back, his fingers singed by the metal grip.
Greymane snarled in frustration and kicked at the sword, but it didn't budge from Faith's side. With a curse, he grabbed one of Faith's arms and began to pull her away.
"I don't believe it, Genn… the sword is following her."
"Damn it. How the hell did she get to be one of the wielders?" He kicked Faith again, hitting her face this time.
Her world dissolved into obscurity.
There was darkness around her, impenetrable, thick as molasses.
She couldn't move, didn't know which way was up or down, or even whether she was standing on something.
Was she standing?
There was no sound.
Just pain. A tremendous pain coming from specific points in her body. Burning like a fire that was slowly simmering away the tissue around the wounds she'd sustained.
Was she dead?
By the gods, Sylvanas, am I dead?
She tried to raise a leg to walk, but immediately felt a dizzying swooping sensation that made her feel so sick she heaved. Again and again, her stomach twisted itself in every way, trying to expel something that wasn't there. It was horrible – she'd hated being nauseated when she'd been alive. It had been one of the most uncomfortable things for her, laying there, wanting to throw up but being unable to.
She felt that way now, but it was worse, much worse. Her limbs felt heavy, saturated with poison.
The feel of the poison was familiar to her, making her understand what it was. Nerubian toxins, something she was particularly susceptible to.
She coughed and felt something acidic in her mouth. The taste of venom.
I have to get out of here…
Tears running down her face, suspended in the dark, Faith tried to move, but it was impossible.
Sylvanas… help. I don't want to die, my love. I don't want to be without you…
There were footsteps. Cautious, at first, then running. A muffled exclamation.
"General? General, can you hear me?"
"Is she alive? Can you feel a pulse?"
"She's a Forsaken, idiot, we wouldn't feel a pulse even if she were walking around talking to us." The person who had spoken, a male Sin'dorei, made a dismayed sound in the back of his throat. "Look at this… whoever did this, they butchered her."
Faith struggled to open her eyes and make a sound to indicate she was alive, but only managed to part her lips a little.
"Did you… did you see?"
"I think she's alive!"
She sank back into the darkness.
Sylvanas was walking around Orgrimmar, reviewing troops when she heard someone screaming out her name. She turned her head in time to see an orc running towards her, looking so pale she thought he was going to faint on the spot.
Fear seized her. Instinctually, she tried to reach out to Faith, but felt nothing, not even the wall that had stopped her from getting through to her before.
No please no not this we just got married I can't she has to be alive…
"Warchief," panted the orc, reaching her.
"Where is she?" Her voice sounded steady. How could her voice sound steady?
"She's just been transported to Dalaran."
"Dalaran," she repeated. "Very well, thank you."
Going back to Grommash Hold, she went to her and Faith's room and pulled a set of black robes out of their trunk. Putting those in a bag along with a few other things, she walked out of there and found a mage waiting for her.
"We have a portal ready for you, Warchief," she said.
She thanked the mage and took the portal that had materialized in front of her, landing in the magical city a moment later.
She vaguely remembered the layout of the place, and was able to find the clinic fairly quickly, not caring about some of the looks she was getting from the general population. Most of them were hostile, while others were clearly petrified at having her there. But nobody tried to stop her, which was their saving grace, as she would have probably killed them first and asked questions later.
A healer met her as she was entering the healing center, wordlessly taking her through the building until they reached an area Sylvanas had never been to before. Its walls were white and pristine, with a few brightly colored paintings hanging there for decoration. A couple of people lay on stretchers in the hall, awake and conversing quietly with their healers. But in a small room, surrounded by a paladin, priest, and druid, lay Faith.
Faith.
Her wife.
The woman she had loved for over a century, the one she had died to protect.
Her skin was a faded mottled gray as opposed to the almost creamy alabaster color she'd been reborn with, with the skin under her eyes having turned a darker shade. She was naked, and this fact allowed Sylvanas to see everything that was wrong. How her veins were nearly black with the poison she could actually smell, and how the creature that had attacked her had savaged her.
Felo'melorn lay on the bed with her.
Oh, my darling love…
One of the healers turned to look at her, "Warchief," he said, giving a bow. "I'm so sorry, we're just about to wrap bandages around her."
"Without healing her?" she asked, not wanting to hear the answer.
"We… I'm sorry, My Lady, we can't."
"You can't, or you won't?"
"We can't. We don't know what kind of venom was used against her, but it's unlike anything we've seen before. She's undead, so it shouldn't be coursing through her veins, and yet it is."
"It's nerubian," she said. "She's always had a problem with that type of venom."
"But it's not the only one she's been hit with. It looks like a mixture of sorts. We can't figure it out."
"Then get me someone who can," said Sylvanas, her voice measured. "Now. Go."
The healers exited the room, leaving her alone with Faith.
Bracing herself, she stepped closer and took her beloved's hand, fully expecting her to turn to ash before her very eyes. With her other hand, she pulled up the sheet, covering the worst of her wounds.
"Oh, my love, what did you get yourself into this time?" she asked quietly.
Faith's hand twitched within hers. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Syl…vanas.
"I'm right here. Come back to me."
Can't…
"Yes, you can. I know it's hard, baby girl, but you need to fight this. Come on." She got closer to Faith, pressing their foreheads together, "You can do it, my love. Come back to me."
Sylvanas.
Faith could hear her voice coming from a faint point of light just out of reach.
You are not dying today, do you hear me?
She didn't want to die. She didn't want to leave Sylvanas. She couldn't.
But she couldn't move.
"Help me, Sylvanas…" she whispered.
Something threatened to pull her further into the darkness, grabbing her by the spine and causing untold amounts of red-hot pain to flow through her very bones.
She shrieked.
Faith had finally quieted down. She'd screamed for ten minutes, with Sylvanas attempting to calm her down in every possible way. Finally, she'd kissed her, which, miraculously, had seemed to help.
The healers were back in the room, along with several people Sylvanas was more than happy to see.
Rotvine was sitting next to her, waiting for people to finish working on Faith. Closer to Faith's bed was Lady Liadrin, who was examining a list of venoms, trying to figure out what Faith had been poisoned with exactly.
"You think it was the Burning Legion?" Rotvine asked Sylvanas in a low voice.
Sylvanas shook her head, "No. I have no idea how the Legion would get their hands on nerubian venom in the first place, and how they would know to target Faith with it. Do we know what happened?"
It was Liadrin who answered, "Halduron got word from the rangers who found her."
"Rangers found her?" asked Rotvine.
"Yes. They were hunting in the area and came upon her about an hour after she'd been attacked. They carried her out of there and ran into tauren from Thunder Totem who came back with another mage to get her."
"I'd like to speak to these rangers."
"Halduron already questioned them," said Liadrin. "Trust me, Sylvanas, you don't need to talk to them yourself."