What the Hell Have You Gotten Me Into Chapter 29

The morning after building the Simulacrum, Bellon visited Harmon. "Is it possible that tomorrow, an hour after breakfast, either Thrall or Khadgar call Vowrawn into a meeting, a long meeting?" he saw a glint in the human mage's eyes.

"Very easy, Khadgar is arriving tonight and is quite eager to meet your Lord Vowrawn. I take it you won't be able to attend?"

"He's not mine." Bellon grimaced. "Other duties will call me away. I do hope the negotiations go well." Bellon stuck out his hand and shook Harmon's. "If they go as planned, Azeroth will gain a strong ally."

Bellon spent the rest of the day briefing Vowrawn about the psyche of Azerothians; he worked hard at being a model Imperial soldier and carried out his responsibilities dutifully. Despite his dissembling, he could not bring himself to emulate the fear and awe he once held for the Sith. He recognized that it grated on Vowrawn and his Sith bodyguards. He noticed Phallas was also being a model sycophant. Bellon wondered if he was engineering his own escape from Vowrawn's control. He didn't see his friends until they met in the tavern over supper.

"You are to take the Imperius back to Drummond Kaas and report to Keeper," Vowrawn announced the next morning as they finished breaking their morning fast in the Legerdemain's tavern. "My men have retrieved your uniform." He snapped his fingers and a trooper stepped forward presenting the uniform to Bellon. "Change, you leave immediately." He spun on his heels and left.

"As you wish," Bellon muttered taking the uniform; he headed up to his room. He tucked the battle kit he wore into his backpack, used some water in a basin for a quick bath and dressed in the uniform.

As he entered the tavern, he saw the mage Harmon explaining the need for Vowrawn to meet with Khadgar now before the archmage had to return for an Argos strategy meeting aboard the Draenei ship. Harmon suggested it might behoove Vowrawn and Phallas to accompany Khadgar back to the ship.

Nice touch, Bellon thought and saw Vowrawn cave. He would go with Harmon and return with Khadgar to the war council. The captain of his guard assured Vowrawn that they could handle transferring the recalcitrant Imperial agent to the Imperius.

"This will afford you an excellent opportunity to observe the strengths of both factions of Azeroth, Darth Vowrawn. I understand the Draenei are skilled astronauts," Bellon said. He smiled at the Sith lord. "I leave Azeroth in your most capable hands." He bowed his head, turned on his heels, and headed out the door of the Legerdemain and onto the streets of Dalaran. "You might want to wipe the X70-Phantom's protocol droid's memory," he mentioned off-handedly to the captain.

"Good idea," the captain agreed.

Bellon glanced back to see Vowrawn and Phallas following Harmon toward the Violet Citadel. Unfortunate, the other three Sith were following the troopers and him. He looked down when Torque poked his leg.

"We're here to see you off in style." Torque nodded his big head toward a crowd up head, a group of humans smiling and waving.

Bellon recognized the crowd has residents of Bradensbrook: Mayor Heathrow, Rhys and Douglas Carrington, Jonathan Fieldstone and his family. His eyes popped at the sight of two statuesque elves towering above the humans at the back of the crowd, Alexstraza and her consort, Krasus. Bellon then saw the small gnome, Chromie push to the front of the crowd and wave grinning. The crowd surged forward following her.

"I invited them when I collected the poop," Cinnabar admitted.

"Make way," the inquisitor shouted as the crowd converged on them. He was ignored as the milling mass swarmed around Bellon. He cringed when the towering woman with horns strode forward glaring down at him; he involuntarily stepped back.

"We heard you were leaving and had to say good bye. If not for you, we wouldn't have a home." Mayor Heathrow, a normally dower man, grinned at Bellon and clapped him on the back.

Jonathan pushed himself between the Imperial captain and Bellon and threw an arm over Bellon's shoulders. "Patricia baked you a farewell cake. Made with our own wheat, our own milk, our own eggs; we it owe it all to you."

Bellon chuckled nervously. "I had help," he protested.

"It was your genius, your strategy," Alexstraza said replacing Heathrow. "Your departure will be our loss."

"I look forward to seeing you in the past again," Chromie chimed in as she opened a box. "Goblin fireworks." She threw the box into the air and rockets took off exploding in a rainbow of colors.

Suddenly the humans of Bradensbrook contorted and shapeshifted. They raised their Worgen muzzles and let out howls of celebration.

Vowrawn's captain was struggling to move the admirers aside and get his hand on Bellon. A couple of times, the larger creatures got between him and the small-framed Chiss he was to ensure returned to Drummond Kaas to face discipline for insubordination. He sighed when someone bumped him and he was again next to Bellon. His relief didn't last long when Rys Carrington, a burly smith in human form, an even bigger and burlier figure in Worgen form, picked him up and moved him aside so he could talk to Bellon. The captain winced when the Worgen all began singing.

The crowd escorted Bellon up the street past Sunreaver's Sanctuary and into the gates leading up the stairs to Krasus Landing.

The captain was relieved to see the shuttle waiting, it's loading ramp down and guards standing at the toe. "Major, tell this crowd to stand down."

Bellon looked at him, somewhat perturbed and grumbled in Cheunh.

Alexstraza faced the crowd and her voice rose commanding the revelers to be quiet. She smiled at Bellon. "We will miss you dear friend, and for some savior. I know you will find all that you seek where you are headed. Know that Azeroth will ever welcome you with open arms." She bowed and kissed Bellon on the forehead. "Go in peace." She glowered at the Imperial captain before she stepped away.

The captain felt a chill down his spine at the look of warning the woman had given him. "He shall be kept safer than an artifact, My Lady." He recognized that the power emanating from her rivaled, perhaps surpassed, that of his master Darth Vowrawn. "Major," he prompted.

Bellon glanced at his friends as he headed for the shuttle ramp. The three Sith watched until Bellon was aboard the shuttle and it lift off. The group quietly turned away.

Bellon stood on the threshold of the shuttle. Everything around him was still and quiet. Nothing was moving, not even the air.

"This way friend," Chromie reached up and took his hand. She lead him away from the landing to an alcove just right of the entrance. The Simulacrum was propped against the wall with Babs Gearsprocket frozen beside it.

"Thank you, my lady," Bellon bent over and kissed the dragon's cheek.

"I'll see you when you visit," she assured then led the Simulacrum away.

Bellon felt the world break free and heard the noise of the crowd on the landing.

Babs grabbed his hand and ran dragging him deeper into the sewers of Dalaran. She stopped, glanced up and down the tunnel, then tapped the wall. When a hidden door in the wall opened, she dragged her charge through and slammed it shut.

"Welcome to the Thieves Guild, master assassin." She gestured around.

"I'm a spy, not an assassin."

"Six to one, half a dozen of the other, Billy. This is your new home until your doppelganger is safely on its way. Let me show you to your room."

Bellon followed the Goblin woman to a small but neat room off what seemed to be a common area.

"Torque left this for you; said you're supposed to do the calculations." Babs handed him a detailed map of desert terrain dotted with towering mesas. One in particular was circled and the elevation of it's table noted. "Said something about when you depart for freedom."

Bellon glanced around and saw that all the gear, which he had accumulated during his three-and-a-half months on Azeroth, was there. That would include his map of the continents with latitudes and longitudes.

"It'll give me something to do. Thanks, Babs. You're a peach."

She blushed and smiled. "Tell that to Torque. Oh, anything you want to eat is on a tab. Just tell Byron." She pointed at a man in an apron moving through the common room. She closed the door and left Bellon alone.

He knew that she had retrieved the Simulacrum and hidden it until the switch was made. He felt overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from people who barely knew him. He sat on the bed and tried to remember the last time anyone had considered him more than a lethal tool to be plied against their enemies. He had made true friends here. He felt a sadness at leaving; he always seemed to end up leaving once he made friends. At the same time, he was excited about what lay ahead: his beloved Loa carrying his child, the union of his family to hers, a life of peace in the home he barely knew but loved.

He shook his head and laid out the maps.

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