Smoke and the cordite smell of crushed rock billowed down the stairs into the little cellar room. Panda could barely breathe. She gathered up a handful of her cloak and pressed it to her face, trying to get some clean air. Nothing was visible from their hiding place, and the noises were deafening.

The grate burst open and the rebel warriors sprinted out of the secret room and up to the main floor of the tavern. Avaiidan pulled both of them father into the corner and ducked down. No one seemed to notice them.

"What's happening?" Panda gasped.

"I cannot tell if we have been found, or if they are simply attempting to question the warriors at the front. Either way, I must get you back to the Palace so that both of us have an alibi… but I cannot leave him here alone…"

"Who?"

Avaiidan didn't answer. Panda lowered her cloak and peered out from behind the barrels, trying to get a glimpse past the stairwell.

Another crash shook the floor above them. A scream of agony rang out and something tumbled down the cellar stairs, coming to rest a few feet away from her. It thrashed for a few seconds and lay still. Panda leaned closer, but quickly hid her face again. She recognized the blue and gold armor of a House acolyte.

Metallic clangs and thumps echoed down the stairs. Glass smashed and the entire tavern shook. More unintelligible shouts and screams floated through the smoke, but the sounds seemed to be moving farther away. Avaiidan pushed Panda back and crept out of their hiding place.

"I think they have been pushed back. Come, quickly. I can't say I am surprised at this outcome… the Minister was a fool to think he could take him on with only one contingent."

Panda let him lead her up the stairs, stepping over the acolyte's body and pulling up the hood of her cloak. Most of the lamps had been smashed, and the smoke was too dense to see anything clearly, but the room had been wrecked in the fight. Fires flickered on almost every wooden surface, tables were overturned, and glass crunched under Panda's boots.

"RETREAT! NOW!"

It was Kakapos, but he seemed much farther away. Panda instinctively shrank back and looked down. The dead eyes of another acolyte looked back at her, and she tried to look away. There were bodies everywhere, slashed and mangled beyond recognition. Blood stained the cobblestone floor and ran down the brick walls. Panda's stomach heaved violently, but Avaiidan seemed unaffected by the carnage around them. For a second, she wondered how many other dead he had seen.

The remains of the tavern door creaked open. Avaiidan pushed Panda behind him and looked up.

"Was this you?" the man asked. Panda frowned. It was the voice of the warrior who had followed them from the Palace. "City security would have been Alanyxe and Tiiger, not him."

"I hope not. You were the only follower I noticed." Avaiidan put his sword away and kicked at one of the acolyte bodies. "Nicely done."

The warrior didn't answer. Panda heard him wipe his blade clean on the clothes of one of the fallen.

"How many retreated?"

"One." The warrior laughed. "Acolytes should know better than to turn their back on an attacker. Cover for me at the Palace. The Minister got away, but they'll come back with more."

"Of course. Stay safe." Avaiidan grabbed Panda's arm and steered her out the door.

A thousand questions ran through her mind. She chanced a look back at the warrior, wondering why Avaiidan seemed to know him. He met her gaze as they passed, and her heart nearly stopped.

"That was Jaka!"

"Princess, you are very good at stating the obvious, but that is not helping either of us right now." Avaiidan was walking too fast for Panda to even stop for breath.

Even more questions whirled around Panda's thoughts, but she could only articulate one. "Why?"

"I think I know, but we need to hurry. If the Minister returns to the Palace before us, they will know we were involved. I need to give alibis for all of us, and pray that the Regent is somehow too distracted to realize exactly who went missing from the Palace here."


Serena was in the middle of reading her thousandth report of the day when Aria and Alanyxe rushed into the throne room, supporting a bloodstained figure between them.

"In the name of the Light-"

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, the complaints need to wait," Alanyxe barked.

"Kakapos!" The Minister was pale as death itself, and his gold robes were slashed and bloody. Serena dropped her papers and hurried down off of her platform. "What happened here?"

"They were attacked at a tavern two hours ago. He thought he spotted one of your Queensguard entering the place, but one of the occupants activated some kind of incendiary smoke device when he entered. Evidently they had been expecting a raid." Alanyxe lowered the wounded paladin to the floor and wiped her bloody hands on her robes. "The contingent was slaughtered. There were two survivors who made it back to the acolyte barracks. I healed both of them to the best of my abilities, but he could not identify the attacker."

"One attacker? How many acolytes were with him?" Serena hoped she had heard wrong.

"Twenty-five. It was a confined space, and the attacks were devastating. Kakapos did observe… something suspicious, but he is in no shape to speak now."

"Talk faster!" Serena snapped. "What did he see?"

"The fighting style was similar to the one taught to prospective applicants who choose to endure the End of Days tasks. As I said, he cannot give any coherent witness, but we assume the assailant may have been the Queensguard he was tracking."

"Where are they now?!" Serena yelled.

"One is on the city wall with Princess Panda. One is outside Princess Kara's room. Your two are in the kitchen warehouse supervising the sealing of the underground passage. They are all accounted for… which is why none of this makes sense to me."

Serena blinked in confusion. "How is this possible? I want them all here now, with the Princesses!"

Warm Light energy shone through Alanyxe's hands as she knelt over Kakapos again, trying to cover his wounds. "I have summoned them already, but it will take time. He needs a healer from the College… the warrior was many times stronger than he expected to face. These are careless, defensive wounds. I have seen them on victims of ambushes in the past."

Serena didn't relish the thought of having to wrangle with Fontn for a healer again, but it would give her a good excuse to yell at him. "Get Kakapos to his quarters and find a competent aquamancer. Lock down the street and retrieve the acolytes' bodies. Question the witnesses, if you can."

"Beymuch is there now. Most of them have fled. Tiiger tried to round them up, but the few she did manage to find are not speaking."

"Damn it. We need to find whoever was responsible for this, Queensguard or not. If I cannot trust my guards…" The back of Serena's neck prickled. She wondered if it would be possible to recall Q_T from the desert and leave the mines for another time.

"That will take time we do not have!" Aria's nasal voice cut across Serena's thoughts. "I have a report from Arathi-"

"I do not have time for shaman affairs Aria. I trust that you can deal with any complaints independently-"

"We are under attack!" Aria shouted. "Two forces have been spotted marching out of Thornhill and Attherough, numbering upwards of ten thousand. They will be here by tomorrow. As you can see, this incident was poorly timed. I need city security and all acolytes mobilized out of Doriven as soon as possible."

Serena's stomach dropped into her toes.

"What?"

"The shamans have rallied behind the old extremist leaders. We cannot ignore this. If they do manage to breach the city walls-"

Aria's voice faded away. Serena's thoughts flew back and forth between the warrior who had attacked her, and the invasion report. They feared the Emerald Heart more than any other. They would not risk a march on the city if they believed the Heart was still in her hands…

"They planned the attack," Serena muttered.

Aria stopped panicking. "What?"

"The warrior who tried to destroy the Emerald Heart was sent by the shamans. It was a precursor to the invasion. They do not know he failed." Serena twisted her locket chain and sighed in relief. "We have the advantage in this fight. We can easily wipe them out if we need to."

Alanyxe looked extremely confused, but she shrugged and propped Kakapos up against one of the marble pillars lining the wall. "Will you use it now?"

"No. They will turn back if they see it. I need them to come closer." Serena snapped open the pendant and dumped the stone into her hand. "We need to look helpless. Keep the gates sealed and remove the wall guards. Summon whatever forces the College has, and move only the Stormwind acolytes into position. We don't need reinforcements."

Aria's eyes widened. "What are you thinking?"

"I am going to destroy them," Serena said quietly. "If Luc thinks he can defy me again, he is sorely mistaken." She thought of the terrified look on his face when she had slaughtered Icelyn in front of him, and nearly laughed out loud.

"Tell Beymuch to alert the city and keep all Stormwind citizens out of the streets until it is over. I will give their leaders one single chance to parley and surrender. But if they want a war… we will give them one."


Elivagar's horse plodded over the rough path and up the crest of the hill. He brushed the trail dust from his eyes and looked over the coast valley below. The dull grey walls of Stormwind looked miniature from miles away.

A rider galloped up the road towards the back of the marching column. He watched them hand something to Silver and Luc, and fall back into the line.

"Scout," he said to Icelyn. "They're looking for weak points in the gates and trying to estimate how many soldiers are in the city."

She nodded and rubbed the handle of her ruby thorn nervously. "I've never been in a real fight…"

"I know. You probably won't see any action."

Hooves clattered on the rocks and Zinc appeared next to them a few moments later. "Stormwind is locked down. The walls are nearly empty. Silver thinks they are going to try and wait out the siege, but Luc is still very wary. I cannot tell what they are planning." He looped his reins around his hand and twisted them thoughtfully. "There are no signs of the Emerald Heart… yet."

"Axoy might have been successful, but died shortly afterwards," Icelyn said bleakly.

"That is the best possible outcome. In my experience, that is a thing that rarely happens."

Elivagar tried to put it out of his mind and looked up and down the force. Luc's Council members were keeping to themselves. He spotted Syncro and Iris up ahead. Neither of them had acknowledged his presence, and he had avoided them as well.

"There are no reinforcements coming from Arathi or Doriven. Either the Regent knew they would not get there in time, or she is confident that she can wipe us out without them." Zinc sighed irritably. "I do not like this. There is too much uncertainty in the outcome, and the stakes are too high. Silver would not listen to me when I brought it up to her. She is too much like Luc in that regard. Once she is set on something, she will do it, no matter the costs."

"Is the College there?" Icelyn asked. "They would have mages on the city walls as a first line of defense."

"The wall was almost deserted. There was a gate guard and tower lookouts. Both were in Palace uniforms."

"We have no choice but to go closer," Icelyn muttered. "Whatever they are planning…"

"I know. And it frightens me," Zinc said. "But there is nothing we can do now."