A Word of Warning
Over the past year, Victoria had been getting reports of several similar signs that the Burning Legion were coming, none more so than from Admiral Wilson who had been tasked to sail up an down the coasts of the Eastern Kingdoms, gathering reports from local villages and towns on such signs.
"Windrunner Harbour has reported seeing similar signs, your Grace. It's been happening all over the Wetlands actually." The Admiral looked over to Sera who narrowed her eyes at the human. "Apparently they have a few worshipers hiding around the area that they have yet to track down. It's scaring the civilians in Windrunner Harbour, your Grace."
"Damn it..." Victoria muttered, looking over to Sera who continued to narrow her eyes at the Admiral. "What about Westfall, Redridge and Duskwood?" She asked the General, regrabbing her attention.
Sera bowed her head at the Queen. "I have found that most of the reports are coming in from Westfall. By the looks of things, that place is a hotspot for the Burning Legion."
Victoria sighed and went to thank the General, but then she saw that she was holding something back. "What else?" She asked, making Sera flinch a little.
"Tyrande is visiting the city in the next hour or two. Apparently she has had the same signs about the Burning Legion and looks like she is coming here to compare notes." Sera bowed her head to Victoria again. "I'm sorry that this is last minute, my Lady, but I only found out a few minutes before we started."
"Fucking hell..." Victoria groaned, covering her face with her hands. "I'm not in the mood for a meeting with the High Priestess. Especially if it's about these Burning Legion banners, rituals or whatever it is they are doing." She sighed and sunk down in her throne. "I haven't seen her since we were all in Pandaria three years ago. We didn't even get along there if memory serves me right, she liked my mother more."
"Then now will be a perfect time to make a good impression." The Admiral said, smiling at her Queen. "Show her that you have a plan to deal with whatever the Burning Legion plan to do. You have already fortified Stormwind, Goldshire, Northshire and Lakeshire. Sentinal Hill is under construction as we speak. If the High Priestess knows that your people will be safe behind the walls that have been erected, she may send some of her people here who aren't as protected."
"As much as I hate to admit it, the Admiral is right." Sera said, rolling her eyes at the smug look Emma gave her. "If you can show Tyrande that her people may be safe in the city, she might send them here."
"So you're both saying Darnassus isn't safe?" Victoria asked, watching both woman try to defend their points but found that the words wouldn't come. "I don't think she will send her people here." She told them. "Darnassus is probably safer than here and she has a plan for her people anyway." Victoria looked over to Sera. "I need you to meet her. I'd rather have my General meet the High Priestess than anyone else, especially since you're Kaldorei."
Sera bowed her head to her Queen. "Yes, my Lady. Sounds like a good idea."
The Admiral watched Sera leave with the royal guards, stepping closer to the Queen when she sensed Victoria was on edge. "You look like you could use a distraction." She whispered, standing beside her throne and sitting on the arm of it, waving her hand in front of her and summoning her pet Succubi from the shadows.
"You know I told you to not summon her in here. Only when we're somewhere private." Victoria looked over to the Admiral who had pulled her hood down and began to stroke her hair, already falling into her trap. "Do you think you can leave me with her? Just for a few minutes?"
The Admiral chuckled and kissed the top of her Queen's head. "Of course, your Grace. Just call for me when you want a third party. I'll be in the war room."
"Shyvia, isn't it?" Victoria asked, watching the succubus seductively walk over to her, deliberately swaying her hips and flicking her tail around to entice the Queen into throwing herself at the demoness.
"It is, your Grace." She said almost professionally, sitting on Victoria's lap the second she got close enough. "You are a rare thing, allowing a Warlock to be so close and high up in your army."
"I didn't know she was a Warlock at the time." Victoria whispered to the succubus, closing her eyes when she began to nip at her neck. "But she has proven to be very useful."
"And your General?" Shyvia asked, trailing a long lick up her neck and across her ear, making the Queen shiver with delight. "I can see that she doesn't like my master. Will that be a problem in the future?"
"Not if they can keep from going at each other's throats." Victoria began to work on taking off the tight-leather bodice Shyvia was wearing, hearing the demoness giggle when she dropped it to the floor. "You know what to do." She whispered to her, watching the succubus grin and slide down her body until she was on her knees, pulling down the Queen's leggings.
"With pleasure, your Grace." Shyvia purred, knowing all the right places to kiss, lick and touch to get the Queen moaning.
The meeting with Tyrande took much longer than either of them expecting with the High Priestess opting to stay in Stormwind for the night before returning to Darnassus. Something that intrigued the Queen's servants as they were tasked with looking after Tyrande should she call on them, though at the moment they were bathing their Queen who was practically sleeping in the tub.
"Long day, your Grace?" Chloe asked, washing Victoria's hair.
"Very." Victoria muttered, closing her eyes and letting the three of them do their jobs.
"Where's the General?" Amanda asked, massaging her Queen's feet and rubbing her hands up and down her legs.
"Doing a last minute task I gave her. She should be back just before I go to sleep." Victoria began to get too comfortable in the tub, sinking down a little as her tiredness began to catch up to her. "Which is closing in sooner than later." She said, sitting up when she realised she was sliding down.
"What task?" Chloe asked, stroking her Queen's hair some more.
"Just a quick..." Victoria yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand and blinking hard twice to try and wake herself up. "... A quick errand. Something popped up in Westfall that needed a quick look at. Shouldn't be more than an hour."
Sophie looked over to her Queen who had closed her eyes once more. "Does she know about the Admiral and her Succubus?" She asked, watching Victoria open her eyes.
"No, she doesn't." Victoria told her, narrowing her eyes at the servant sitting on her lap, washing the upper half of her body. "And she won't ever know." She looked away from Sophie and towards the assortment of soaps and incenses to her right. "The Admiral and her Succubus have some sort of grip over me... I can't be alone with them."
"Do you think she is a part of the Burning Legion?" Chloe asked, having that thought on her mind ever since the first time she saw the Succubi. "You told me they could send spies to infiltrate our cities and disrupt us."
"She's not a spy." Victoria said with almost certainty. "She became my Admiral before these signs began to appear and is a Warlock. They enslave demons into their service as well, so she is to be trusted on that front." The Queen looked over to the nearby bathrobe, pointing her finger towards it. "Hand me my robe." She said, watching Chloe make her way over to it and climbing out of the tub in the meantime. "And come sleep with me, until Sera arrives."
All three servants followed their Queen to her bed, climbing in on both sides once she was settled and cuddling up to her before they all drifted off to sleep within a few minutes of each other, staying in the bed together for the rest of the night as Sera hadn't returned to Stormwind yet. Something that the Queen noticed a few seconds after waking up the next day.
"Sera?" Victoria called out, sitting up and looking down at the three woman who were sleeping either side of her. "Are you here?"
When there was no response, the Queen began to climb out of bed, trying to not wake up her servants and successfully doing that as she made her way to the wardrobe and picked out her ranger outfit before crouching down in front of Snow who yawned where he was laying. "Stay here, little one. I am going to be an hour at most, I just need to check on a few things before I come back here." She smiled at the Nightsaber who lowered his head back down onto his paws. "Sera didn't come home last night, so I need to send out a few scouts, check the barracks and with the other Officers, just to check if she fell asleep somewhere else."
As she opened the door however, she saw Sera standing outside in the hallway, talking to a messenger and glancing over her shoulder towards her Queen. "My Lady! I'm so sorry I took so long, the forest trolls you sent me to deal with were larger in number than we first realised. They had reinforcements from Zul'Gurub and gave us a good fight, though we were still victorious." Sera thanked the messenger she was talking to and was left alone with her Queen. "I apologise again, my Lady." She said softly, being hugged by the smaller elf. "But I have just been given some more good news that you will want to hear."
"Oh? What news?" Victoria asked, not letting go of her General as she kept her arms around her in a hug.
"Your mother is pregnant." Sera told her, feeling Victoria pull back and smiling at her. "A couple months at the moment, perfectly timed with their trip to Winterspring so it's safe to say the enjoyed the alone time." The General saw Victoria begin to smile at the idea of having another sibling. "I'm sure we will get more updates as the months go by."
"It's going to be another girl." Victoria said with the utmost confidence. "My father has three biological children and an adopted one. Three of us are girls, one is a boy and if it's to be believed, his family have only had boys, so it's only natural that he is the one to have more daughters." She began to laugh at the idea of having a third sister. "Plus he surrounds himself with women, so it's only natural that most of his children are girls."
Sera chuckled and kissed her Queen lightly, having her deepen it so much that the Night Elf had to hold herself up against the wall. "Wow..." She breathed, hearing Victoria chuckle as her head began to spin. "You missed me that much, huh?"
"I thought something bad happened, yes." Victoria hugged her General once more. "With all these signs that the Burning Legion are coming, I was worried you were captured by some of their spies."
"They would have captured the wrong elf if that were to happen." Sera told her with a smirk. "I would have cut their heads off before they could interrogate me."
"As long as you're safe with me, that's all that matters." Victoria muttered, holding onto her General tightly.
Sera held onto her Queen until she was certain she wasn't worried about her anymore, though that didn't last as long as she had hoped as they were interrupted by another messenger after a couple minutes. "Your Grace." They said, bowing their head to the General and Queen. "There is a visitor in the throne room. He says his name is Khadgar."
Victoria frowned at the messenger. "Why do I know that name?" She asked, looking up at Sera who shrugged her shoulders. "Tell him I'll be there as soon as possible."
Sera listened to the messenger begin to leave, leaning down and kissing her Queen once more. "Let's go see what this Khadgar wants. Maybe talking to him will jog our memory."
"It's going to be so obvious, isn't it?" Victoria asked, walking beside Sera as they made their way to the throne room. "Like... It's going to be staring us right in the face."
"I don't think he will be offended if we don't recognise him at first." Sera told her Queen. "Just play nice, be yourself and I'm sure he will be okay with it."
Entering the throne room, Victoria looked over to Khadgar who stood in front of the throne, looking around the throne room and smiling a little as he remembered this room fondly. "I stood exactly here when I was talking to Turalyon and Alleria before we came up with the plan to push the Orcish Horde back to Outland." He looked over to Victoria who suddenly realised who he was, smiling at her wide eyed expression. "I knew your aunt, yes."
"Khadgar..." Victoria muttered, smiling a little when she remembered the stories she heard about the legendary mage and the Sons of Lothar. "Do you know where she is?" She asked, sitting forward on the throne.
"I'm afraid not." Khadgar said, letting out a small sigh. "But I still believe she is out there with Turalyon. They're both strong as individuals, but together? Nothing will take them down."
Victoria smiled and looked over to Sera who stood beside her throne. "As much as I would love to sit here all day and listen to stories of my aunt Alleria, I presume that's not why you're here?"
"Unfortunately not, your Grace." Khadgar said, holding onto a wooden staff in his hand with a raven crafted on the top, a symbol of the Guardian that would protect Azeroth, another story Victoria was familiar with. "I have been to Orgrimmar, Dalaran and Ironforge, informing them of a looming threat that will happen sometime soon." He waved his hand and summoned an image of the green fire surrounding an army of demons. "As you know, the Burning Legion have begun the first stages of their assault by sowing descent around Azeroth. But the predictions on the next stage of their plan was off, way off. Stage two has already happened, your Grace."
Victoria frowned at the mage, leaning back on her throne now and looking over to Sera who looked back at her. "How do you know this?"
"Dalaran have caught several demons over the last few months and imprisoned them in the Violet Hold. They have been here for half a year already." Khadgar waved his hand again and changed the image from a standard image of the Burning Legion to the Tomb of Sargeras. "This is where I believe they will start the assault, on the tomb of their leader."
"When will this happen? How long do we have?"
Khadgar shook his head. "I'm afraid I do not know. All I can say is that you and every other leader needs to get their armies ready. I fear the assault will happen within the year and we must be prepared for it."
Victoria nodded her head at Khadgar. "We will be prepared, Khadgar. I will tell Tyrande to do the same when she joins us." She looked over to Sera who nodded her head at her and leaving almost instantly. "Thank you for the warning."
"I will be making my way to Silvermoon and Undercity. Lor'themar and Nathanos will be ready I presume?" Khadgar asked.
"Undercity will be, yes. I'm afraid I can't answer for Silvermoon, though they will be ready I'm sure." Victoria stood up and offered her hand to Khadgar. "Stay as long as you need before you head out. I will have my people look after you until you're ready to leave."
Khadgar took hold of her hand and shook it, smiling at the Queen. "Thank you, your Grace. I will be leaving tomorrow for Undercity and Silvermoon before heading to Theramore." He laughed lightly at the Queens frown. "I know, I should have gone there when I visited Thunder Bluff and Orgrimmar, but I'm saving Varian for last as I plan to spend time there to talk to Jaina and learn as much as I can from her library."
"Feel free to visit Windrunner Village and inform them on what you have discovered. Despite my parents wanting to stay out of the life of war, they want to keep in the loop." Victoria smiled when Khadgar laughed lightly and nodded his head. "Perhaps you can talk about Alleria to her sister, I know she would love to hear the stories you have."
Khadgar smiled and bowed his head to the Queen. "I'll keep that in mind, thank you."
"Welcome to the fifth year of our Ranger Academy." Alina said, walking back and forth in front of the new recruits. "We have seen a sharp increase in our budget, allowing more of you in, better equipment for you to train and an overall improvement to the entire programme."
Victoria sat nearby and watched the Captain begin her lesson, always enjoying this month as she got to see how good some of the new recruits were and how bad the rest certainly were. "This is the last year, Snow." She said, petting her Nightsaber. "The Burning Legion will make sure of it. No more new recruits until the end of the inevitable war."
"Sounds like a fun conversation." Thal'ena said, the Royal Magister sitting down beside her Queen in their yearly routine of reviewing the recruits. "Try to keep it light whilst I'm here though."
Victoria smiled and looked over to the Royal Magister. "Sorry, I'll change subject." She placed a hand on the Royal Magister's knee and saw her look down at the action. "How have you been?"
"I've been good, your Grace." Thal'ena said, placing a hand over her Queen's. "A little bored the last few days, but that's about to change now that we have these recruits to laugh at."
"We're not laughing at them." Victoria said, though she had a huge grin on her face and trying to surpress a laugh. "We're watching the new blood we have... And maybe laughing at them later in the day."
Thal'ena laughed and nudged the Queen with her elbow. "See? We're going to laugh at them." She hooked her arm around Victoria's and watched Alina give them the same presentation she had been doing every year. "How are you feeling? I heard about Khadgar visiting the other day and explain what was happening. Are you ready for your first major war as Queen?"
"No..." Victoria muttered, leaning against the Royal Magister. "I was hoping I would get to have some more experience as Queen during peace time. Now I have to lead my people into a war we have no idea about. They could be sending the entire Legion for us, I don't even know how to fight Demons."
Thal'ena put an arm around her Queen, stroking her back slowly. "It's okay, you have many experienced Officers at your disposal. Just don't make your people think you are incapable of leading and you will do fine."
"Will you be there by my side?" Victoria asked, finding Thal'ena's presence calmed her as she regarded her as her closest friend outside of the General. "I would love to have you with me when we first face off against the demons."
"I can't promise anything, even if you are the Queen, but I will try to be by your side throughout the entire campaign against the Legion when they come." Thal'ena kissed the top of the much younger elf's head when she rest it on her shoulder, forgetting she was so young as she had been Queen for over three years now and doing a good job too, especially for someone who wasn't exactly born into this life. "I think you'll be fine. If the demon horde has infiltrated the major cities by now, they would know Vol'Jin is the Warchief and their biggest target."
"As much as the comforts me, I can't help but now feel bad for the Warchief for having such a big target on his back." Victoria watched Alina yell at one of the recruits who were messing around whilst she was going through today's activities. "I think I will have to have Alina with us too. She might just scare the Demons off the planet."
Thal'ena laughed and nodded her head. "I agree. For such a small woman, she is scary."
