Chapter 49: The Storm
"And so! Here I am!" Silas had finished, offering his imp a cracker who darted out from his robe for a moment to snatch it, giggle, and then run back into the Forsaken's robe. I stared at him for several moments, pacing back and forth in the room of the inn he had rented.
"And the first thing I did, my friend, is come here for you! Yes." Silas said, tittering as he stood up to shuffled towards me.
"No." I said, holding out my hand, palm first towards Silas who froze and stepped back a moment.
"But…my friend! It has been so very long! I have missed you so!" Silas said, reaching out for me, but I wrenched my wrist from his grasp.
"Silas, we are not friends. When I last saw you, you murdered someone." I said, looking at the man who had once been my greatest friend. I wonder who had first taken his place. Katarai? Serg? Tengiu? When I thought of those I cared for most, their faces swam up into my vision, not Silas.
"It was war, Phoenix!" Silas shouted, suddenly angry.
"War! War again the Qiraji! The alliance were not our enemies! What did you want, Duskmourne? Did you want glory? Revenge? What did you want from that boy?"
"He was a man grown, old enough to hold a sword!"
"He was a boy! He was a boy playing at being a knight of Stormwind, and you slew him! For what, for who? Answer me!"
Silas shrunk back as my own fury rose to meet his. I glared at him with contempt, my hands clenching into fists. "Do you know what it was like, Matthew? To send flowers to a family who mourned their son? To know their son didn't die to a Qiraji or a Silithid, but to one of their horde? Because of what you did, because of you, that made the battle against the Illidari that much harder! Because of you, the horde was reduced to begging for alliance assistance, and the first thing they did? They asked if we could promise them that all of their soldiers would be safe from horde soldiers. They sent a third of the soldiers that the horde had. A third, and more horde soldiers lost their lives because the alliance couldn't trust us."
Silas had the sense to look ashamed as he looked down at his hands and clenched them into fists. He looked up at me and glared at me. I wonder, to this day, was that the day I sealed his fate? Our fate?
"I hate you." He whispered.
I only stared at him. I shook my head and shrugged. "I do not hate you, Silas. No. I pity you."
I bowed and turned on my heel and left the room. I hoped, I prayed that I'd never see him again. Once, he had been my friend. My only friend, really, but now, all I could think was that boy, that knight, barely out of his days as a squire, burnt and blackened by Silas' twisted magic. I knew he followed me out, and I knew he wanted to shout at me, and I know he followed me down the Walk of Elders, for how long, I couldn't say, but when I finally did look back, he was gone. He sighed and felt my shoulders go slack.
As I did that day in Silithus, I stood there, quietly, brooding, as the sun set and rose and set again overhead. The world continued around me, but I…I needed time to mourn.
I found myself at the doorstep of Circi's apartment some evenings later, looking up at the door, and felt the light of her home wash over me and felt her eyes on me as she opened her door. I walked forward and I needed to say nothing as she shut the door behind me.
The next morning, I was startled to hear a rapid pounding at the front door of the apartment. Circi only grumbled as I pulled myself from her side and rushed to the door, slipping on a crimson bathrobe on the way there. I opened the door and peered outside for a moment, then pulled it open all the way.
"Katarai?" I asked.
"You both need to come to Spire. Now." Katarai said, and I could tell by the burns on his fingers he had smoked several thistle joints just on the way here. "What…are you wearing?"
"It's…" I looked down. The bathrobe was actually not crimson it was pink, frilly, and embroidered with cats paws all over the front. "Circi's. Come in. We'll get ready."
Katarai stood in the kitchen while I rushed to the bedroom and pulled the blankets off of Circi. "Get up."
"No." She grumbled.
"Circi, we are needed at the Spire. Something is wrong."
"Is somebody dead?" She mumbled into the pillow, pawing at the bed as she looked for what I had done with the blankets.
"What? No. I don't know." I said, dropping the bathrobe and finding my clothes.
"Then it can keep." She said, pawing more for the blankets.
"Circi!" I shouted, and she groaned loudly and pulled herself from the bed and dressed with me quickly.
We made our way back into the living room where Katarai had opened the icebox and taken out a bottle of wine, sipping it straight from the bottle. Ghost was waiting patiently by the door, tail gently thumping against the floorboards as he waited to leave.
"That's ours." Circi said flatly, running her fingers through her hair.
"Yeah," Katarai said, wiping his mouth with the back of his glove. "And you'll be needing it soon enough.
Try as we might, we couldn't get any information out of the ranger as we made our way to the Court of the Sun. A small crowd had gathered by the time we had made our way there, and then across the bridge to Sunfury Spire. Inside, there was a sight we did expect to see.
Lor'themar Theron stood with his arms crossed, looking grave, with Halduron Brightwing and Grand Magister Rommath on either side of him. There were what looked like outriders from Thunder Bluff and Orgrimmar as well, a grizzled orc with bloodied bandages around part of his face and skull, and the tauren had one of his arms in a sling, and it was clear that arm would not heal to be of any use to him.
I also saw Silas standing with them, clutching a crumbled piece of parchment to his chest, his emotionless eyes settling on me and never leaving the moment we entered the throne room of the Sin'dorei.
"Regent, what is going on?" I asked, looking around the room.
"These men," Theron gestured to the outriders and Silas. "they bring news from across the sea and from the south, from Undercity, Orgrimmar, and Thunder Bluff."
"Thrall bid us seek aid from the elves," said the orc, looking warily to Lor'themar. "to tell you that our forces are too weak and broken."
"Weak and broken?" I asked. "Weak and broken to face what?"
The tauren snorted, "The cities of orc and tauren went to bed easy last night, but when the morning broke, the dead were at our door."
My heart froze, and I scarcely remember Andris joining us in the throne room. I felt a chill run up my spine and I could feel what I thought was fear creep into me for the first time since the orcs first set their sights upon Lordaeron.
"The Scourge has come, Phoenix," said Silas, wringing his hands around the parchment, "Their necropoli dot the skies above our cities."
"Before we knew what was happening, Scourge forces flooded Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff." Said the orc.
"Undercity was easily defended," Silas said, "but I shudder to think how hard it was to hold the others."
"Thrall and Cairne?" I asked.
"They yet live."
I felt a small bit of relief spread through my chest, and then looked to Lor'themar. "Why not here, I wonder?"
"Who can say?" Halduron said.
I set my jaw firmly. I knew this day would come, but I could not imagine it coming so swiftly on the heels of a battle just one.
"There is more," Andris said, "Word from Light's Hope Chapel."
"Speak, Blood Knight." Halduron said.
"The Argent Dawn reports that Naxxramas began to move after some time dormant. It began to drift north." Andris said.
"What would the Warchief have us do?" Rommath asked, looking at the outriders.
"Save us," Murmured the orc, his jaw quivering slightly as if it pained him to ask.
And that was just what we did. With no small assistance from Reseius, we prepared what vessels we had to travel across the sea to Orgrimmar. As Silas had said, Undercity was easily defended, and Sylvanas out of everyone knew how to fight the Scourge. The journey across the sea felt like it was years long, and it was strange to travel with only Circi, Andris, and Katarai, and even stranger to be travelling with Silas. He said very little to me on the way to Kalimdor, only giving me baleful glances and stares, as if he wished me to burst into fel flame at that moment. I wondered where Serg and Tengiu were, if they were safe, if I would see them standing with Orgrimmar's defenders. I clutched the railing of the ship as I feared for the safety of my friends. I watched Reseius' wave riders rip through the crystal clear waters of the Great Sea, but I wished they would move faster.
Finally, Kalimdor came into view, the shores of Durotar red and brown with the clay and sand of the desert land. The horizon and skyline of Durotar was dominated by the huge, four sided necropolis with its bones and skulls and plague, sitting ominously as if challenging us. Battle was joined almost immediately, and we could see the gates of Orgrimmar firmly bared against the Scourge invasion. I cannot say if the Scourge was ill prepared for reinforcements from Silvermoon or if this was merely to test our might, but what met was only zombies, skeletons, and ghouls that poured forth from the necropolis. One thing I could say was that it was much like fighting the Scourge at Dalaran. A single flamestrike would destroy fifteen Scourge soldiers, but thirty would take their place as they shambled towards us. Blood Knights, mages, rangers, and whatever forces Silvermoon could spare poured from the boat, and I knew some of them had defected back to Lor'themar's rule once Kael'thas was killed. Still, I could not doubt their valor in battle, nor Silas'. He fought just as hard as everyone there, casting his shadow magic among the undead, and Andris and Circi worked well together with their holy magic swirling about. I did not see Katarai enter the battle, but I occasionally would see flashes of white fur tear into Scourge ranks, only to flee and fill a hole left by our fallen, and I would see the Scourge soldiers fall before I heard the gunshot.
Before long, the battle was seemingly done, but only then did more of the Scourge fall from the necropolis and battle was joined once more. Fire, shadow, blades, and holy light fought death at every moment for what seemed like an eternity, with white fur and carefully aimed shots making their own large contribution. I registered very late that we could only see by the light coming off of Destiny and torches we threw into the fray of undead, using only those to see what and who we were fighting. Late again, did I realize, that the early dawn light stung my eyes as a spray of cinders left my hand to cleave through countless undead warriors.
We were prepared for more, but no more came. Finally, we saw the necropolis begin to gently drift off towards the north, spinning gently as we watched it float over the mountains of Durotar, Ashenvale, and only then did it slowly begin to wink out of sight behind Mount Hyjal.
The gates of Orgrimmar opened to us, and I had to stop a moment to catch my breath by the door.
"Matt?" Circi asked, putting a hand on my arm. "Are you okay? You're shaking."
And so, that was how we knew the enemy of all life on Azeroth had come again to challenge us. Thunder Bluff was saved by the might of the tauren, owning to the trolls some assistance from Feralas and The Barrens. Undercity sent word that they had lost few of their own, but the Scourge attack had not yet abated. Thrall ordered us all to begin arming ourselves for the conflict ahead. Ships were to be built, zeppelin requisitioned from the goblins, and arms to be forged by blacksmiths all through the horde, but there was only one thing on my mind as we stood in Grommash Hold, listening to the orders of our Warchief.
"Warchief," I said, shouldering my way through the crowd that had gathered.
"Ah, Matthew, I remember you." Thrall said, looking at me from his throne. "You who gained the horde two allies not three years past, I'd hope to see you take up arms against the Scourge."
"Of course, Warchief," I said, bowing gently, "But Warchief, I had two friends who returned to Orgrimmar after the Illidari conflict. Tengiu, a young troll, and Serg, your shaman."
"Yes, I know of who you speak," Thrall said. "They have gone north already."
"Already?" The pain in my chest was beginning to return.
"The new Chieftain of the Warsong Clan thought that perhaps if they attacked the shores of our enemy, it would relieve pressure on us." Thrall said.
"And did it?" Katarai asked.
Thrall shook his head. "They sailed to the western end of Northrend, to establish a foothold, but I have not heard from them as of yet."
So Serg and Tengiu were already on Northrend, and the Chieftain could be only one orc.
"Garrosh Hellscream has joined the horde?" I asked.
Thrall nodded. "He is eager to prove himself to the horde and has taken some of the finest kor'kron, along with Overlord Saurfang to harry the Scourge there."
I had hoped my friends would be here and we could set out together, but I looked at Circi, Andris, and Katarai and knew they would be just as worthwhile allies.
With those few ships already sailing for the north, Sylvanas would not be far behind either, sailing personally to Northrend as well, with nearly the entirety of the garrison at Undercity, once the city had been liberated. They sailed to the eastern end of Northrend, aiming to pinch the Scourge between the two forces.
It was a long, tense year as ships were built, arms and armor was forged, new soldiers trained, and siege weapons built to all set our sights upon the Scourge. Even the alliance through their lot in with the horde, splitting their forces as well to pinch the Scourge between our combined might. I looked down at my talons, and I looked at myself in the mirror, seeing my glowing eyes, tight skin, and hollowed cheeks. I put a finger in the hollow of my neck where I learned you could feel a person's heartbeat there, and I remembered Dalaran, Lordaeron, and Silvermoon.
I prayed it would be enough as I set looked out from the Windrunner and saw the icy shores of Northrend not far off.
