Guess who's not dead? Apologies for the lack of updates, April has sort of sucked the big one for me, but I can't tell you how much I have appreciated the supportive reviews and PMs.
Auriana
It was mid-morning in Talador, and the gentle sunlight set the rich green and amber landscape aglow. On any other day, Auriana might have paused to admire the magnificent scenery, but today was not a normal day. Today was about cleaning house, about protecting the brave men and women of Lunarfall from those who would betray them… and more than anything, today was about vengeance.
Auriana felt hard, and tense, like a bomb waiting to explode. She bit her lip, trying not to let her discomfort show as she trekked through the plains of southern Talador with her handpicked strike force in tow. Chasing down the warlocks who had betrayed Lunarfall to the Burning Legion was a delicate operation, and Auriana had put a lot of thought into selecting the dozen or so soldiers that now walked at her side. Among their number were the draenei paladin Lieutenant, Hafela; Auriana's bodyguard Delvar Ironfist; and a handful of Lunarfall's most experienced trackers and assassins.
Auriana had teleported the small group to the outskirts of Auchindoun, where she had briefly conversed with some of her draenei allies before striking out into the wilds of Talador. The traitorous warlock Ayana Blackwood had provided Auriana with the approximate details of her coven's location before her death at Varian's hands, but without any more specific details, Auriana's group had been forced to coordinate an arduous search throughout the woods surrounding the draenei holy site. So far that morning they had cleared two empty draenei tombs without luck, and Auriana had begun to wonder whether the coven had been alerted to her presence and vanished, or whether Ayana had simply failed to tell the truth about their whereabouts.
It was with growing frustration that Auriana pressed on, leading her strike force through a thick copse of trees surrounding some crumbling ogre ruins. She had been especially vigilant for these sort of ruins, knowing that the tomb she sought was located somewhere nearby; though, in this part of Talador, remnants of ogre civilisation weren't exactly hard to find. Delvar Ironfist walked closely at her side, almost uncomfortably so, while the rest of her men fanned out, moving quickly and quietly through the trees. One of her druids had transformed into a sleek nightsaber in order to prowl ahead, while a second had taken the form of a stormcrow to patrol from above. The others - shaman, rogues, hunters - were all otherwise on foot, each sharply focused on the mission at hand.
Ironfist openly carried his axe in hand, and his grim eyes ceaselessly raking the treeline as if he expected the foliage itself to jump out and attack Auriana. He had been irritable and edgy ever since Auriana had recruited him for this particular mission, even more so than usual, and she decided to take advantage of the brief lull in activity to question him.
"So… are you going to tell me what's bothering you, Delvar?" she asked quietly, leaves crunching under her boots as she stepped over a small fallen log.
"Nothin' botherin' me, Commander," the dwarf said stiffly. "I'm here ta hunt warlocks, that's all."
"Don't make me order you," Auriana sighed.
The death knight gave her a strange look, and shifted his grip on his axe. His eerie, glowing eyes were nearly impossible to read, and Auriana felt distinctly unnerved as he stared her down.
"Ye shouldn't have been alone out there," Ironfist grumbled, so quietly that Auriana almost missed the words.
"What?"
"At the shipyard," he explained. "When the Legion attacked. What's the point of ye havin' a bodyguard if ye never let me do my job?"
"I didn't really have much of a choice, Delvar, we weren't anywhere near one another when the fighting broke out, and I wasn't exactly expecting to go to war in my own garrison," Auriana pointed out. "Should I have asked the demons to wait politely while I came to find you?"
"No," he conceded reluctantly. "I just… I don't want ta fail ye again."
The admission clearly cost the dour death knight something, and Auriana was surprised to hear genuine remorse in his gravelly voice.
"Fail me?" she repeated. "What do you mean?"
"Ye were kidnapped on my watch, Commander," Ironfist said seriously. "I refuse ta let that happen again, but I can't do that if ye don't keep me around."
Auriana had never directly spoken to anyone in her command about her experiences in Blackrock Foundry, and she somewhat ashamedly realised that she was not the only one who had suffered lasting consequences as a result of Blackhand's actions. Ironfist took his job as her bodyguard very seriously, and Auriana knew that her disappearance would have weighed heavily on his conscience.
"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "And I hope you know that what happened with... with my kidnapping wasn't your fault. I know I'm not the easiest officer to guard, especially in a chaotic fight like the shipyard attack."
She smiled tentatively at her bodyguard, and was pleased to see that he looked slightly mollified.
"Besides, I had to see to the safety of the King, first and foremost," she added. "You know that."
"I do, lass," he said, his voice surprisingly gentle, "But you need to learn that your life is not as expendable as you seem to think it is."
He looked pointedly at her shoulder and raised an eyebrow, knowing full well that beneath her armour she had a swathe of bandages covering the burn wound she had sustained during the shipyard invasion. The wound didn't inhibit her movement overly much, and she was perfectly fit to be out in the field, but it was yet another reminder of the danger she regularly courted in her role as Commander of Lunarfall.
"Delvar, I…" she started, only to fall instantly quiet as she heard a sharp warning whistle from somewhere deeper into the forest.
As a part of the hunt, Auriana had brought along two of her best trackers, and had sent them on ahead to warn of any potential warlock or Legion activity. All thoughts of conversation instantly forgotten, she held up a hand, singling her troops to stop as she waited for a further signal. Another two quick whistles rang out, indicating possible enemy contact. There was a small ridge lined by crumbling ogre stonework about forty feet south of Auriana's position, and she indicated for her troops to take cover.
Auriana took point position, creeping forward as silently as she was able, before crouching down behind the remains of the stone wall. Her men rapidly moved in beside her, with Ironfist and Hafela taking up positions on her right, and Garona Halforcen on her left. Each of her soldiers wore uncannily similar facial expressions, and each played nervously with their weapons as they awaited the scouting report.
There was a barely discernible rustling of leaves to the right, and Auriana turned her head to see two hunters in Lunarfall livery moving through the trees. The taller of the two was a rangy draenei with a crop of white blonde hair, while her companion was a pale, lilac-skinned night elf with a long, dark purple braid. Both were exceptionally good scouts and trackers, and had shown both skill and loyalty throughout the Draenor campaign.
"Report," Auriana whispered, as the two trackers joined her behind the cover of the wall.
"There's another tomb about half a mile south," Maev Battlesong said excitedly, tugging at her braid. "And this one is most definitely occupied."
"There are two entrances," Kuro added, her lilting draenei voice soft. "The back entrance is well concealed, and looks to be infrequently used, but it is serviceable. Perhaps an escape tunnel of some sort."
"Are we certain there are warlocks down there?" Hafela asked, scratching one of her horns thoughtfully.
Auriana cautiously poked her head up over the ruined ogre wall, and reached out with her magical senses. There was a small outcropping of rock to the south, as the scouts had indicated, where Auriana could make out the graceful, distinctive architecture of a draenei tomb entrance. Her hearing may have no longer been as acute as it once was, but her magical abilities were unimpaired, and she felt the distinct echo of surging magic emanating from the tomb entrance. Fel magic always seemed wrong to Auriana; a dark, twisted perversion of the majesty and wonder of what arcane magic should be, and it never failed to make her shiver.
"Yes," she murmured. "I'm sure. There's definitely something very dark going on down in that tomb."
She lowered her head and turned back to face her soldiers, her lips drawing into a thin, determined line.
"Alright, here's how it's going to go down. Ironfist, you take half of our forces around to the back entrance. Kuro will show you the way," she ordered. "Hafela, you'll take the rest straight in through the front door. We'll pincer them in between the front and rear assaults. We're sure there's no other way out?"
"Certain, ma'am," Maev confirmed.
"Good. They'll have nowhere to run," Auriana said grimly. "That said, be careful down there. There's a good chance they know we're coming. Garona, Maev and I will stay here to guard against the possibility of an ambush."
"Commander…" Ironfist began, clearly displeased with the fact that he would not be fighting at her side.
"You have your orders," Auriana said firmly, giving him a warning look. "Maev, I want you to find a vantage point with a good view of the entire area… including our current position. If anything goes wrong, I need you to get word to Lunarfall, understood?"
She gave Maev a significant look, hoping that the night elf hunter would comprehend her unspoken request. Having Maev take up the right scouting position would provide protection for the strike force entering the tomb, of course, but it would also allow her to keep a close eye on Auriana and Garona. Auriana wanted to spend time alone with the half-orc rogue, to give her every possible chance of disrupting the mission. If Garona intended to betray Lunarfall, Auriana wanted to know sooner rather than later, and so had decided to use herself as bait. The Commander of Lunarfall was a very tempting target, and she very much doubted an assassin still within the control of Gul'Dan would be able to resist a prime opportunity like the one Auriana intended to provide. Of course, she wasn't stupid, and would have Maev in place as backup in the event that something went wrong - assuming, of course, that the hunter had understood her cryptic orders.
Fortunately, the night elf was very clever, and she appeared to have followed Auriana's train of thought. She gave a slow nod, her luminous eyes darting briefly to Garona, before she nocked an arrow and disappeared into the trees. For her part, Garona gave no indication that she had understood the silent exchange, and merely cast her gaze out towards the tomb. Auriana nodded and took a deep breath, before ordering her remaining soldiers to take up their positions in anticipation of the assault.
Auriana watched them go, leaning up against the ogre stonework and scanning the scene for the slightest sign of trouble. It was dangerous enough assaulting the tomb through a narrow ingress point, even with the advantage of the rear access tunnel, and Auriana didn't want to take any chances that her men might be boxed in from behind. The traitorous coven had proven to be clever and subtle opponents thus far, and Auriana would not pursue a needlessly reckless course of action in pursuit of their capture. Of course, she naturally itched to find herself at the front of the fight, but right now she needed to look at the bigger picture.
"Commander, we're… we're just going to watch?" Garona asked incredulously. "I thought you brought me here to fight."
"For now... yes, we are," Auriana said, more calmly than she actually felt.
"For now?"
"I can't rule out the possibility that this is a trap, at least not yet," Auriana explained curtly. "We'll join in the assault once I'm certain there aren't any nasty surprises lurking in these woods."
"Nasty surprises like me, you mean," Garona said, sighing. "You don't trust me."
"I'll trust you when you've shown me that you can be trusted," Auriana said shortly, pointedly keeping her eyes focused on the draenei tomb. "Though in this instance, I was referring to the warlock coven."
In the distance, she could just make out Ironfist's squad slowly moving towards the rear entrance of the tomb, while Hafela's group concealed themselves behind a rocky outcrop near the front. Although in position, Hafela's group paused, awaiting Ironfist's ready signal before launching their attack.
"He said you could be a hard ass," Garona muttered darkly, unable to keep a note of petulance from her voice.
"Gul'Dan called me… a hard ass?" Auriana asked, swinging her head around to look at Garona properly for the first time. "Really?"
"No," Garona said quickly, with a half-hearted snort. "Khadgar. Gul'Dan's descriptions of you were... considerably less complimentary."
Auriana grunted noncommittally. She was not especially interested in small talk at the best of times, least of all during a mission, and she didn't have any particular desire to make friends with Garona. Still, she supposed, in the event that Garona's desire to join Lunarfall was genuine, there was nothing to be gained by being unnecessarily surly.
"Khadgar thinks I'm a hard ass, huh?" she said lightly, turning her attention back to the tomb entrance. "Always such a flatterer."
"Actually, he thinks you're quite brilliant," Garona said hastily, as if afraid that Auriana might be offended. "If a little… single-minded."
"Well, 'single-minded' isn't the worst thing I've ever been called," Auriana admitted, smiling slightly despite herself.
"I'm sure it isn't. You know…" Garona said tentatively, "We aren't so different, you and I."
"How do you figure that?" Auriana asked, genuinely confused. "You barely know me."
Physically, the two women could not have been more different. Garona was tall, even for a woman of her ilk, and while she did not possess the heavy bulk of a full-blooded orc female, she certainly wasn't lacking for muscle. Moreover, Garona was a rogue by trade, a master of quick knives and deadly poison, and her fighting style was dramatically removed from the spectacularly unsubtle and explosive methods that Auriana typically preferred. She was smart and adaptive, from all accounts, but beyond a shared intelligence, Auriana couldn't possibly think of anything that they had in common.
"I know enough," Garona said simply. "I know we're both survivors. We're both lone wolves. And we were both born and bred for a single purpose - war."
Auriana kept her gaze fixed firmly forwards, mostly to hide the fact that Garona's observations had hit unnervingly close to the bone.
"You're a clever woman, Commander, and well born," Garona continued, apparently undeterred by Auriana's silence. "You had other options. Better options. You didn't have to be a soldier, and yet here we are... you feel the call of blood and iron as strongly as any orc. That's something I can understand."
The rogue was talking very quickly now, as if by speaking to Auriana's deepest flaws, she might also confess her own.
"They have a name for you, you know," she added, giving Auriana a wary sideways glance.
"They?"
"The orcs. They call you the 'pale demon'," Garona explained. "To the Iron Horde, you're a nightmare, a story told to frighten children."
"I don't kill children," Auriana murmured vaguely, somewhat surprised by the extent of her own notoriety amongst the Iron Horde. "I'm here to protect my people, nothing more. I have no interest in conquest - nor in genocide. I didn't start this war."
"No, but you intend to finish it," Garona countered, "By any means necessary. Speaking as one who knows - take care you don't lose yourself in the process, Commander."
Auriana coughed, finding herself with no real reply to Garona's warning. The half-orc woman's comments had been alarmingly apt, and she'd somehow managed to tap into Auriana's own scarcely spoken fears. Auriana had already come perilously close to losing herself more than once during the Draenor campaign; firstly, against Garrosh Hellscream, then in Highmaul, and once more in Blackrock Foundry. Ever since the destruction of Lunarfall's shipyard and the ensuing battle, she had begun to wonder if taking Tanaan would take more than she had left to give, and whether defeating the Burning Legion would come at the cost of her own humanity. It was a fear that she'd barely acknowledged to herself, and the fact that Garona had read her so easily was disturbing, to say the least.
"That's enough," Auriana snapped, though she felt a strange surge of sympathy and kinship for the half-orc woman. "The attack will begin shortly. I need you to do your job, not… analyse my psyche. Keep an eye out for anything that looks suspicious."
Garona turned away, looking abashed, and Auriana shook her head as she forced herself to regain her shaken focus. Ironfist's group had now completely disappeared behind the rocky outcrop that concealed the tomb, and Auriana's muscles tensed as she waited for her men to move. The air felt both oddly still and incredibly charged at the same time, when the unnatural silence was broken by three quick, high whistles - the signal for attack.
Auriana watched the valley like a hawk as Hafela and her strike team struck like lightning, breaching the front entrance of the tomb using gnome-made smoke bombs. Brief sounds of struggle followed, before her men moved further underground to press their attack. Ironfist's group was still invisible, and Auriana could only assume that they had breached their own entrance in similar fashion.
Her fingers twitched involuntarily and she leaned forward, scanning the valley for any sign of coven forces or Burning Legion. If Auriana's soldiers had walked into a trap, it would make sense for the coven to wait until the Alliance had entered the tomb before surrounding and slaughtering them. The area around the tomb, however, remained quiet, and after several impossibly long minutes, no one else had appeared.
"I can't see anyone," Garona whispered, her eyes narrowed intently.
"Me either," Auriana said. "Which makes me think that if this is a trap… whatever they have in store for us is down there."
She cautiously rose to her feet, brushing the leaves off her robes as she gestured for Garona to do the same.
"Come on," she said. "Let's get moving, they're going to need our help."
Auriana and Garona leapt over the crumbling stone wall, and made their way swiftly down towards the tomb. With her much longer legs, Garona easily outpaced Auriana, and arrived at the tomb entrance first, her daggers flashing brightly in the sun as she charged. Auriana sighed and blinked forwards, catching up to Garona just as she hit the stairs.
Draenei tombs were all relatively similar, with long staircases leading down into a long central corridor with branching chambers. Together, Auriana and Garona raced down into the depths of the tomb, and quickly arrived at the main corridor. There was still thick white smoke in the air from the initial breach, and Auriana could hear the sounds of intense fighting on either side.
The nearby battle sent Auriana's adrenaline surging, and she quickly gathered her power. Her arms flared as she joined in the chaos, blasting away a pack of flaming imps that had charged out from one of the side chambers. Garona, too, seemed keen for a good fight, and she leapt at any demon that moved with her twin daggers raised high. In her eagerness, however, she had failed to assess the situation properly, and hadn't noticed the male warlock who had emerged from the far end of the corridor, his fingers alive with the sickly green glow of fel energy.
"Get down!" Auriana shouted, tackling Garona out of the way as a massive explosion of fel energy ripped through the corridor.
Both women sprawled face down as the heat of the spell washed over them, though Auriana was quicker to recover. She used the momentum of her tackle to roll her feet in a single movement, and she hurled a quick frostbolt at the offending warlock. The spell missed, but it was enough to force the warlock to stagger away and disappear further down the corridor.
"I know you're eager to prove yourself, but keep your head," Auriana growled, yanking Garona upright. "I'm here to kill warlocks, not to babysit rogues."
Garona nodded, a dark flush spreading across her gaunt cheeks.
"He ran that way, towards the main chamber," Auriana explained, pointing. "Can you stealth?"
"Of course," Garona said, vanishing almost before the words had left her mouth.
Auriana followed suit, casting a glamour of her own and rendering herself temporarily invisible. The warlock who had attacked them had considerable power, and she was somewhat surprised that he had cut and run so easily after forcing both her and Garona to the ground. His quick retreat had made her instantly suspicious, and she decided that in this case, it was best to err on the side of caution and approach him while invisible.
As Auriana moved down the corridor, she could feel, rather than see, Garona at her side. The rogue was very good, and if they hadn't been standing mere inches apart, Auriana might not have known she was there. Together, they crept silently after the male warlock, and followed him along the corridor and down a second set of stairs into some kind of large, ritual antechamber. The warlock paused in the centre of the room, and began to cast a hurried summoning spell. He was alone in the chamber, but of course powerful warlocks were never truly alone when they had the ability to call forth a near endless tide of demons from the Twisting Nether.
His eyes widened in surprise as Auriana and Garona suddenly reappeared as if from nowhere, but Auriana could tell that they were too late to stop his dark ritual. The air beside the warlock suddenly split, as if cut open by a massive knife, and through the portal Auriana could see the swirling, chaotic energies of the Twisting Nether. She gasped despite herself, and inadvertently took a step backwards as a massive bound felguard stepped forth from the impossibly black depths of the portal.
The foul creature bellowed and raised its monstrous axe, and stepped forward to protect the warlock with a menacing snarl.
"Felguard's yours!" Auriana shouted to Garona, "I've got the warlock!"
Warlocks were extremely dangerous, and most non-casters were ill equipped to duel a master of the fel arts one on one. Garona stood a far better chance of taking on the felguard, while Auriana hoped to kill the warlock before he could summon through any more demons. The warlock made an attempt to hide behind the bulk of his enslaved demon, to keep Auriana cornered while he turned his magic against her, but she was having none of it. She blinked past the felguard, trusting that Garona would have her back, and unleashed a powerful barrage of frost shards. The warlock countered the wave of ice with a burst of green fire, before attempting to incinerate Auriana where she stood. He was strong and well trained, a worthy challenge, and despite the seriousness of the situation, Auriana found herself grinning recklessly as she met him spell for spell.
As she fought, Auriana watched Garona from out of the corner of her eye. She was ducking and weaving around the felguard with considerable skill, and even Auriana had to admit that the half-orc rogue was one of the most formidable warriors she had ever seen. The felguard was big and powerful, but Garona was quick and clever, using her superior speed and agility to cut deep slashes across the felguard's muscular back and thighs.
Of course, Auriana didn't exactly have much time to watch, occupied as she was by her own battle with male warlock. He was clearly a master of destructive spells, but if he thought his anger and explosive power could match Auriana's own, he was sorely mistaken. Every sickly burst of green fire was countered with a flash of pure white frost, and Auriana could tell the warlock was getting frustrated by her stubborn refusal to simply lay down and die. He panted heavily as he increased his already frantic casting speed, and Auriana was forced to dive to the side to avoid a sudden volley of fel bolts. She grunted as she hit the cool stone floor, rolling twice before springing to her feet and blinking forwards. The warlock stumbled, thrown by her sudden proximity, and it afforded Auriana the opportunity to snare his legs with bonds of ice. Faster than blinking, she followed up the frost nova with a devastating frostbolt, propelling the warlock back ten feet and slamming the back of his head into the wall.
Auriana advanced forward ruthlessly, magic dancing at her fingertips as she prepared to finish him off, only to gasp in genuine surprise as she felt the spell fade away into nothingness. She flushed, unable to even remember the last time she had failed to cast a simple frostbolt successfully, and she frantically looked around for some kind of explanation.
Unhappily, she found the source of the interference almost immediately - a baying felhunter who had suddenly appeared in the chamber doorway. Somehow, the beast had made it through the chaos of the fighting upstairs, and had homed in on the most potent source of magic that it could find. Felhunters were trained by the Burning Legion for a single purpose - to hunt mortal spellcasters - and this one was clearly out for Auriana's blood.
The demon snarled, and Auriana scowled as she felt her once surging magical energy begin to drain slowly away. With a throaty growl to rival the demon's own, Auriana withdrew her belt knife, knowing that there was little point in casting spells against a creature who could quite literally devour magic from thin air. Unfortunately, she moved too slowly, and before she could adopt a defensive stance, the felhunter had set upon her in a flurry of spikes and snapping jaws.
Auriana cried out in pain as one of the creature's razor sharp feet slashed through the muscle of her upper arm, and she tumbled backwards. She landed hard on her backside, throwing aside her knife and just barely catching the demon by the jaws as it leapt onto her chest and tried its hardest to tear open her throat. The demon's dark, gaping maw was mere inches from her exposed neck, and it took all of Auriana's strength to keep the beast at bay. She was deceptively strong, despite her small size, but there was no way she could hold off a two hundred pound felhunter for very long. The beast's fetid breath was hot and wet against her face, and she whimpered as the gnashing teeth scraped against her soft, unprotected skin.
Auriana's stomach dropped as she realised that the felhunter's attack would likely mean her death, though curiously she felt only regret, not fear. Her magic was useless, and without any other weapons at her disposal, she had no way of fending off the ravening demon. She closed her eyes and willed a quick, silent goodbye to Varian, wincing in disgust as hot, slimy demon saliva dripped down her neck. Abruptly, however, she felt the weight on her chest lessen, as something large and fast moving barrelled into the felhunter and tackled it six feet clear of her body. Auriana didn't hesitate, rolling onto her stomach the moment she was free and scrabbling frantically for her knife.
Her rescuer turned out to be none other than Garona; who, having finally dispatched the felguard, had turned her deadly attentions to the felhunter. Shaking her head dazedly, Auriana dragged herself to her knees in an attempt to aid the rogue, only to realise that the warlock she had been fighting earlier was still alive, and was calling on a spell of devastating destruction that would mean the end of them both. If only to distract him, Auriana desperately hurled her knife at his chest. She was awkwardly sprawled on the ground, and wasn't at all trained at knife throwing, but she had a good eye, and she managed to take the warlock in the shoulder. It wasn't a serious wound, but it was enough to temporarily interrupt his spell casting, which is all that Auriana really needed.
The delay afforded Garona time to slaughter the felhunter, spilling its bubbling, viscous blood upon the ground as she slit its belly from throat to tail. With the demon's death, Auriana felt her magic surge, and she wasted no time calling icy death to her fingertips. The warlock made to reach for his own destructive magic, but Auriana was faster, and no longer encumbered by the felhunter's dampening magic. The warlock had barely raised a hand when she unleashed a brutal burst of frost, impaling him through the neck with a long spike of ice.
It was a quick death, and perhaps better than a traitor deserved, but at least he was dead. Auriana rolled onto her back and breathed a deep sigh of relief, her arm muscles trembling wildly from the effort of holding off the felhunter. Garona, fortunately, seemed unharmed, her long, loping stride uninhibited as she sheathed her twin daggers and moved to help Auriana back to her feet.
"You saved my life," Auriana said, unable to keep the tone of surprise from her voice. "Thank you."
"To be fair, you saved mine earlier. Besides…" Garona said, her forehead creasing slightly, "I told you, I'm here to serve Lunarfall. Letting you die would be a rather poor test of my loyalty, don't you think?"
"It probably wouldn't help," Auriana admitted, giving Garona a somewhat sarcastic grin.
Encouraged, Garona tentatively returned the smile, and a brief sense of comradeship flickered between the two women. It was hard not to form a bond with someone who had saved your life, and Auriana began to wonder if she really could trust Garona after all.
"You fought well," she added.
Auriana wasn't the type of person who was especially liberal with praise, but she felt it would be rather churlish to ignore Garona's efforts with the demons, particularly the felhunter.
"I appreciate that, Commander," Garona said earnestly, "But it's not over yet."
"Agreed," Auriana said, nodding grimly. "There's another chamber up ahead, and I have a feeling that whatever is down there isn't going to be pretty."
She moved to collect her dagger, only to feel her hand spasm reflexively open as she tried to grip the hilt.
"Commander…" Garona remarked, her eyes widening. "Your hands..."
Auriana looked down in surprise, and belatedly realised that the soft skin of her palms was shredded, sending bright red rivulets of blood running down her wrists. In the chaos of the fight, she hadn't even noticed, but it appeared that the felhunter's hide had been covered in scales sharp enough to cut like knives.
"Guess I won't be grabbing on to anything anytime soon," she said ruefully, with a dark frown.
"You really should get them looked at before we keep fighting," Garona said, sounding for all the world like a disapproving mother, rather than a deadly assassin.
She strode over to Auriana's side, retrieved the spellblade, and tucked it back into Auriana's belt sheath with surprising gentleness. Auriana flinched at the unexpected touch nonetheless, stepping backwards quickly in an attempt to hide her discomfort.
"No time," she said stiffly, "I'll be fine. I'm always fine. I…"
She cut off abruptly as Garona's head suddenly whipped around as if yanked by an invisible force. A second later, she realised that the rogue must have heard something, though with her impaired hearing, Auriana was slower to react. She instantly raised her hands into a defensive position, only to relax a second later as the paladin Hafela tentatively stuck her head around the corner and gave the all clear signal.
"Upper chambers and corridors clear, Commander," the draenei said smartly, stepping into the room with Delvar Ironfist close on her heels. "Eight dead warlocks and their demons, as well as a number of Sargerei. All that remains is the main chamber, behind you."
"Good," Auriana said. "Any casualties?"
"Three wounded, no dead," Hafela reported. "I've evacuated those unable to fight back to Maev's position, but the rest of us are ready to press on. Um… what happened to your hands, ma'am?"
"I had a little disagreement with a felhunter," Auriana said dismissively, tucking her hands behind her back. "Are you ready to move? Someone down below is calling on an awful lot of magic, and I'm guessing that whatever they're using it for isn't good."
"Er... of course," Hafela said, exchanging a brief glance with Ironfist. "On your order."
"We need to be smart," Auriana said warningly, her eyes quickly sweeping over her soldiers. "Hafela, Ironfist, you take point. I'll do my best to keep you all protected from whatever's going on in that chamber. Garona, this spell is going to take a lot of my concentration, I need you to ensure that I'm not interrupted."
Garona looked surprised that she had been placed in a position of such trust, but she eagerly flipped her weapons and took up a protective position on Auriana's left flank. Ironfist shot her a dirty look, clearly unhappy with her decision to have Garona act as in a guard role yet again, but Auriana was in no mood to indulge his fierce territoriality. She needed her heavily armoured soldiers at the front to protect the rest of the strike team, and Garona had thus far proven herself a useful ally. The half-orc could have easily allowed Auriana to be devoured by the felhunter had she so desired, and so for the time being, Auriana decided to place her trust in the rogue.
"The rest of you," Auriana added, fixing Ironfist with an unblinking stare, "Kill anything that moves."
She needed to give no further instruction, and her men instantly formed up into a loose phalanx with the heavily armoured Hafela and Ironfist standing at the vanguard. Although it wasn't typically her preference to fight from the rear, Auriana took her place at the very back of the group, and quickly summoned a massive shield of arcane power to protect her men. The spell required considerable energy, not only because defensive magic was not Auriana's particular forte, but because she had no idea what kind of foul energies they were rushing to face. Auriana didn't want to risk under powering the spell and leaving her strike team exposed, and so she threw up as powerful a shield as she could muster as the brave soldiers of Lunarfall charged down the stairs and into the deepest chamber.
It turned out to be a good idea, as the very second Auriana's group burst through the doorway, they were assaulted by a barrage of fel firebolts. Auriana's shield held, if barely, but it was difficult to distribute such concentrated power across such a wide area. There was no way in hell Auriana would allow more of her men to come to harm, however, and so she grit her teeth and poured more power into the spell.
At the same time, she cast her gaze out over the chamber, her mind racing as she tried to come up with a viable offensive strategy. This chamber was much larger than the others, and an unnatural air of wrongness pervaded the entire space. Three warlocks stood in the centre of the room, spaced evenly around a giant rune of summoning and binding, while a fourth guarded the entrance to the chamber with his powerful felfire. While not a warlock herself, Auriana knew enough to understand that the traitors were attempting to summon something big, though she had no idea what some of the darker and more esoteric symbols signified.
"Watch yourselves!" she hollered urgently, redirecting the strongest part of her shield in the direction of the warlock guard.
She shifted the shield just in time, and she grunted as she absorbed a second burst of dark power. Fortunately, Ironfist was very quick on the uptake, and he took advantage of Auriana's protective shield to hurl his axe at the offending warlock. The blade embedded itself deep in the man's chest and he crumpled instantly, the ghost of his last spell glinting on her fingertips as the life left his eyes.
With the guard dead, Auriana's strike force were free to move into the room, away from the dangerous choke point created by the chamber entrance. Without hesitation, they took up defensive positions around the three remaining warlocks, ready to engage at a moment's notice.
"The rest of your coven is dead," Auriana said coldly, eyeing each of the remaining warlocks in turn. "Surrender to me now, and I will spare your life. This is a one-time offer."
"You're too late, Commander," the tallest warlock snarled, her worgen features drawing back into a grim rictus. "The ritual is complete!"
Auriana frowned as she recognised the woman who had spoken, a once faithful servant of the Alliance named Ilena Morley. Dark energy danced around her form, and she no longer looked even remotely sane. She was only made distinguishable by a chunk missing from her left ear, an injury she had sustained while fighting for Lunarfall against the Warsong Clan in Nagrand.
"We were allies once, Ilena," Auriana said slowly. "Give this up now, and you may still have a chance to come back to the Light."
"Does that line ever work, Commander? Did you ask Ayana the same question before you murdered her?" Ilena scoffed. "Enough talking. It's well past time that you faced the wrath of the Legion."
She brought her hands together with ringing finality, and with a mighty, echoing crack, a massive portal appeared in the centre of the summoning circle. The portal's abrupt birth was enough to shake the foundations of entire room, and Auriana's strike force was sent reeling. Something on the other side let out a terrible, heart stopping wail that set Auriana's teeth on edge, and a second later a dark, winged, and monstrous demon stepped through the portal.
Doomguard, Auriana thought, inhaling sharply.
The fel beast sniffed the air almost delicately, clearly excited by the prospect of waiting man flesh. Its eyes narrowed as it looked down upon Auriana, at the same time hefting its wicked falchion and spreading its massive wings threateningly.
"I am Azzanar of the Burning Legion!" it roared. "Bow down before my might, pitiful mortals!"
"Not bloody likely," Auriana muttered.
The doomguard bellowed, and without any further hesitation, struck out violently at the men and women of Lunarfall. Not for nothing, however, had Auriana chosen these particular soldiers. She hadn't only been searching for loyalty when she had assembled her strike team, but also experience. Each and every one of the soldiers in the room had considerable experience fighting the Burning Legion, and weren't at all liable to flinch in front of an onrushing ered'ruin.
Unfortunately, doomguards were relatively impervious to the effects of magic, and Auriana knew she would be of little use in a direct fight against the massive demon. Instead, she placed her trust in her troops and their ability to handle the doomguard, and concentrated her attention on the three warlocks, who had begun to summon hordes of lesser demons. The chamber rapidly dissolved into a scene of utter chaos as a tide of imps poured in from the Twisting Nether, throwing firebolts around the chamber with little regard for where they were aiming. Auriana instantly incinerated three of the little terrors with a wave of her hand as she advanced upon the warlocks, while Hafela, Ironfist and her the rest of her troops moved to deal with the rest of the rampaging demons.
Auriana's eyes narrowed as she focused in on the nearest warlock, a female gnome spitting green fire from her hands like a madwoman. It was hard to believe that someone so small could cause so much destruction, though Auriana supposed that she should knew better than anyone that size was no guarantee of power. She danced lightly to the side as the gnome threw a chaos bolt at her head, brutally kicking an impetuous imp out of the way as she prepared to unleash a spell of her own. Normally, duels against other casters were about cleverness and timing, but Auriana had just about run out of patience for anything even remotely resembling subtlety.
Snarling, she tapped into the deep reservoir of rage that boiled at the heart of her being, and used it to bolster her powers. Despite her recent experiences in Stormwind arena, Auriana was still unwilling to fully embrace her fury, but she had learned enough by now to be able to control the barest trickle of that tempting, seething madness. Oddly enough, Auriana had come to realise that she preferred fire when she was angry, the sweet burn of fire magic far more appealing to her fury than the cold precision of frost. She used that fire now, turning the gnome warlock into a pillar of pure flame with a mere wave of her hand. The gnome had been protected by her own enchanted armour, but in the end such enchantments had about as much power to resist Auriana as a leaf had of resisting a hurricane.
The gnome died screaming, but Auriana didn't care, having already turned her attention to the other warlock. He was a human, tall and powerful, with the same aura of fetid fervour that surrounded all the other traitors that Auriana had fought today. He might have even reminded Auriana of a younger Varian, if Varian had been a fel-crazed warlock, but his resemblance to the King would not save him from Auriana's wrath. She countered his quick shadowbolt with a firebolt of her own, followed by a quick ignite that overwhelmed the warlock's defenses. Auriana slaughtered another imp as she chased the male warlock down, combusting her spells to deal even more damage to the hapless man.
Like the gnome, the male warlock stood little chance against Auriana's power once she had truly unleashed, and he was soon reduced to nothing more than a smoking corpse. Auriana allowed herself the faintest smile of satisfaction as he died, before turning to face the now isolated Ilena. The soldiers of Lunarfall had managed to kill most of the imps and had now cornered the doomguard, leaving Auriana to deal with the last living traitor.
"Just you and me, Ilena," Auriana snarled, already channelling a spell as she advanced on the worgen warlock.
"You know, Commander, I always wondered what it would be like to duel you," Ilena admitted, charging a dark spell of her own. "Are you really as powerful as they say?"
Auriana blasted Ilena with a casual burst of fire, sending her reeling backwards. It wasn't anywhere near as powerful a spell as she was capable of casting, and from the look on Illena's face, she knew it too.
"You tell me," Auriana said lightly.
The warlock frowned and visibly recoiled, and she looked afraid for the first time since Auriana's force had laid siege to the summoning chamber.
"Alright," Ilena panted. "I'll give you this - you hit like a battering ram, but that doesn't make you invincible."
Ilena's wrist twitched, and Auriana grunted as she felt the tendrils of some kind of leeching spell reach out to drain her energy. As a countermeasure, she split the flow of her power and poured some of it into the protective spells that ran through her armour, shrugging off the warlock's curse like it was nothing.
"Come on, Ilena, you can do better than that," she taunted.
The worgen howled and grit her teeth, and threw out her hands as she attempted to drain the life from Auriana with her twisted shadow magic. Auriana quickly cast a counter spell to protect herself, and at the same returned the favour with a massive firebolt of her own. Ilena made a move to resist, but she was entirely outmatched. She staggered, and Auriana pounced like a wolf after prey. She hurled three quick firebolts in rapid succession, burning through what remained of Ilena's defenses as if they weren't even there. Snarling, she finished the warlock off with a mighty pyroblast, sending Ilena tumbling fifteen feet across the room before she finally came to rest against one of the chamber walls.
The warlock was still alive, if barely, and she wouldn't be casting any spells any time soon. Auriana's rage crowed at her triumph, urging her to keep fighting, to keep killing, but she closed her eyes and forced herself to think of Varian. The thought of his face filled her with a sudden sense of calm, and after a few deep, steadying breaths, she was able to regain control.
She whirled, ready to join in the rest of the fight, only to see the demon Azzanar fall to a mighty blow of Hafela's hammer. The soldiers of Lunarfall cheered as he died, though Auriana herself did not join in the raucous victory cry. Her eyes swept the room, noting with some satisfaction that the floor was littered with the corpses of demons. Luckily, no one from Lunarfall had been killed, though Auriana could see that a number of her soldiers had sustained superficial injuries. Ironfist had taken a decent blow across his chest, while a shaman and a druid seemed to be sporting broken arms. Garona had a nasty slash across her cheek and a darkening burn mark on her thigh, but no one else looked critically injured, and most importantly, no one was dead.
Auriana breathed a sigh of relief, and turned back to where Ilena now lay. Two of Lunarfall's rogues had moved to the fallen warlock's side, ready to slit her throat and eliminate the last remaining threat to Lunarfall's safety.
"Don't kill her!" Auriana ordered, striding forwards with a grim scowl. "I want to speak to her first."
Although they were clearly confused, her soldiers nevertheless obeyed the order, holding the badly injured warlock fast while Auriana slowly made her way forwards. Thick, sluggish blood trickled down from a wound on the Ilena's forehead as she stared up at Auriana with hateful eyes, but despite the severity of her wounds, she looked entirely unafraid.
"Do you have a way to contact Gul'Dan?" Auriana asked quietly, folding her arms across her chest.
By way of response, Ilena spat viciously at Auriana's boots and gnashed her sharp teeth. Her defiance was admittedly somewhat impressive, but Auriana was tired, and had no interest in playing games.
"Really?" she sighed, rolling her eyes.
She knelt down beside the warlock, ignoring the pain her hands as she reached into the warlock's robes and fumbled around for the item that she sought. As she had suspected, Ilena was carrying a crude device that reminded Auriana vaguely of a hearthstone, albeit inscribed with different runes. In her haste and pain, Auriana nearly dropped the runestone as she pulled it from Ilena's robes, hastily thrusting it into the warlock's hands to cover her mistake.
"Activate it," she said coldly.
A flicker of surprise crossed Ilena's face, and she cocked her head to the side, her muzzle twitching.
"You're going to kill me," she slurred, struggling to lift her head.
"Of course," Auriana said, shrugging. "What did you think was going to happen? Alliance law only holds one punishment for traitors."
"So why would I help you?"
"Let's call it one last act of service to Lunarfall," Auriana said sarcastically. "For old time's sake."
Ilena scoffed, but after a moment of intense contemplation, she deliberately touched a series of runemarks on the small stone and set it aglow with green fire.
"What's the message?" she asked. "What do you want to say?"
Auriana bared her teeth, and leaned in close as she gave Ilena an unsettling smile. Ever since Auriana had been captured by Blackhand, she had felt like she was on the back foot, floundering as she tried to keep up with the ceaseless menace of the Iron Horde. In this chamber, however, with the traitors of Lunarfall lying dead all around her, she felt truly in control for the first time since her kidnapping
"I want Gul'Dan to know that Lunarfall has been purged of traitors. Your coven tried to tear us down from the inside, but we stand together, unbroken. I don't care what kind of dark powers he has unleashed away in that damn jungle, he will not lay claim to this world. Tell him that the Alliance is coming. I'm coming," she murmured icily, her voice unnervingly calm. "And I'm coming for blood."
