The halls of Undercity were quiet as Sylvanas walked through them. She was glad to be home again, even though her visit would be short. She was leaving by the end of the day.
The apothecaries had been petrified when she'd visited them just a few hours previously. Despite all their work, they had been unable to find anything that would help Faith. Jaymin especially had tried her hardest, but the venom that was killing Faith had been specifically crafted for her.
She gave a rare sigh, stopping where she was and leaning against one of the walls, as though it could give her the comfort she needed.
Faith was dying. She'd seemed all right in Stormheim when they'd left Eyir's vault, but as soon as they'd gotten back to Undercity, she had collapsed.
Sylvanas tried to deny it, tried to tell herself that it wasn't true, but the reality of it was right there in front of her: Greymane's poison was countering the necromantic magic that was keeping Faith alive.
There was only one thing left to do, and she hated to do it. Hated everything about what she was going to do. Faith would be absolutely furious with her if she found out. She would most likely leave her.
It was a risk she was going to have to take.
She went to her chambers, finding Faith on their bed, her face grayer than it had been when she'd last seen her.
"Sylvanas," she whispered.
"I'm here," she said, sitting on the bed and putting a hand on her face. "We've almost found a cure for you."
Faith smiled a little, "Liar."
Sylvanas lay her body down next to Faith and pulled her close, "Hold on a little longer, baby. Please. Don't… don't leave me."
"I don't want to leave you." A dusty tear coursed down her cheek, "I never did, you know…"
A nod, "I know. Can you hold on for me? Please?"
Faith nodded in turn, "I'll try. I love you."
"I love you."
"I'm sleepy…"
"Go ahead and sleep. I'm staying for another few hours."
"Hours? Are you going back to Orgrimmar?"
"You know I can't stay here all the time anymore."
"I want to come with you."
"When you're stronger, you'll be able to, okay? I promise." She kissed her softly, pulling away when she heard an urgent knock at the door. "Yes?" she called.
"Warchief, we found something!" It was Lydon's voice.
"Come in!"
He did, his face happier than she had ever seen it since he'd been raised into undeath.
"We weren't able to completely counteract all the nerubian venoms, because there are five separate ones, but this will slow their progress and should make her feel better." He held out a vial filled with what almost looked like urine.
"That smells fouler than the sludge in the canals," said Sylvanas. "Are you sure it won't kill her?"
"Positive. Our test subjects reacted favorably, although it was a little hard for them to choke it down."
"I don't doubt that."
"You want me to drink that?" asked Faith, looking disgusted.
"You drank a potion made of Sylvanas' blood," said Lydon. "And you're getting squeamish about this?"
"I'm not bothered by Sylvanas' blood," she said. "Besides, I've tasted more of Sylvanas than you could –."
Sylvanas put a gentle hand over Faith's mouth, "Do not finish that sentence." She took the vial from Lydon and took a tiny sip of it, grimacing. "By the pestilent gods, what's in this?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
"You're right, I don't. But I'm asking."
"The ingredient list is in the Apothecarium. Jaymin is transcribing it now."
Shaking her head, Sylvanas put the vial to Faith's lips, "Go ahead and drink it. Don't think about it."
"This is when I'm glad that most of my taste buds died when I did," muttered Faith gulping down the potion. She swallowed, cursing every deity she could think of as her eyes watered.
Whatever she had drank hit her body like a wave of frigid water. It burned going down, the taste absolutely abominable. Her body reacted instantly to it, and Sylvanas had to hold her as she shook so hard she could have been having a seizure.
She stopped shaking half a minute later, although her body still trembled minutely. Some of the gray tint left her cheeks, turning them pale again.
"Are you okay?" Sylvanas asked her.
Faith's voice was low, "That was wholly unpleasant. How many times a day am I going to have to take that?"
"Several, I'm afraid. If you want to keep functioning at a basic level."
"Basic level." She didn't even feel capable of lifting her arm, much less do anything else. "It's better than dying. Thank you, Master Lydon."
"Jaymin is the one who figured it out," said Lydon, inclining his head.
"Then I'll thank her personally," Sylvanas told him. "As well as the rest of the team who worked on this. Thank you.
He nodded, bowing. A moment later, he was gone, leaving Faith and Sylvanas alone together.
"How do you feel, love?" Sylvanas asked her quietly, gently brushing a lock of hair from her face.
Faith leaned into Sylvanas' hand, closing her eyes briefly and smiling. "You remember how we would get sick every once in a while with fever when we were alive?"
"Of course."
"It feels kind of like that, but worse."
"Worse?" Sylvanas raised an eyebrow.
"The body aches are more intense." She shrugged, "But if the potion keeps me from dying, we'll have beaten Greymane at his own game."
"Yes, but you'll never be able to go into battle again. I suppose you're right, though. If it keeps you from dying, I can't really ask for more than that." She kissed her softly, "I have to go."
"You do? Can't you stay a little longer?"
"Greedy. I'll be back soon."
Faith looked at her, "Your presence makes me feel better."
A chuckle, "Oh, so the potion didn't have anything to do with it. I see." She got to her feet and walked to the closet, changing into another armor set, this one inky black and gray with a violet hooded cape.
"Going into battle?" Faith asked her.
"No. But I need to look strong, considering what's happening."
"So you want to show people that what's happening to me isn't affecting you."
"Something like that." Sylvanas glanced at her, "You think I can't pull it off?"
"I didn't say that. If anybody can pull off now showing any emotion whatsoever, it's you, Sylvanas."
"And don't you forget it." She started to leave, then turned back and went to Faith, kissing her hard and sliding her tongue inside her mouth. "I order you to remain in bed until I come back. Can you do that for me?"
It took Faith a couple of seconds to respond, as Sylvanas' kiss had scrambled her brain. "Um… what if someone needs me for something?"
"They won't."
"Sylvanas, I'm still queen of Undercity. Sick or not, I have a duty to our people."
"You also have a duty towards yourself. Please, my darling. Rest for a few hours, then you can go to the throne room and see to people. I'll talk to the mages and get them to find you a way to move around without actually having to walk or anything."
"I could just use Winter or Venom."
"You're not fit to ride right now. But it's okay, we can find you something else. Carrick should be back, I'll talk to him about it."
Rotvine already had something ready for Faith to use so that she could get around. He had outfitted a comfortable armchair with wheels based on old designs he had found in the library of Lordaeron. It worked really well, and would allow Faith to get around without tiring herself out.
"If she sprinkles arcane dust on it, it'll make it even easier for her to turn the wheels by herself. It'll move much faster."
"That's great, Carrick, thank you for that," said Sylvanas, inordinately relieved to find that the people of Undercity were taking care of her wife. Part of her wanted to believe that it was because they were afraid of what she would do to them if they didn't, but she knew that ultimately, they did it because they cared about her and hated to see her so ill. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate it." She raised a hand to rub Emmigosa's snout, having missed the little dragon while she'd been away.
Rotvine inclined his head, "Faith is important to all of us," he said. "You know this as well as I do."
She nodded, "Even Nathanos seems to care about her."
"I wouldn't go that far. Rather, he knows that you love Faith more than anybody else in the world and that you would die of sorrow if anything were to happen to her. Because he loves you and he doesn't want to see you hurt, he looks after Faith when he can. It's his way of showing you he loves you."
Nathanos wasn't supposed to still love her, but she supposed there was nothing she could do about it. "I feel bad for not caring about him that way," she said quietly. "He would have made a fine husband."
"Don't let Faith hear you say that, she'll be shattered."
Sylvanas smiled, "Faith has absolutely nothing to worry about, I promise you."
Rotvine chuckled a little, "No, I don't suppose she does. How long will you be gone?"
"No more than a couple of days. Faith will be in charge of the city while I'm away"
"You're not going to Orgrimmar." It wasn't a question.
She shook her head, "Don't tell her if you can help it."
"Will you tell me where you're going?"
"Faith's been poisoned by nerubian venom, right? I'm going to the one place where that venom is most readily available."
"Azjol Nerub," he said.
"I figure I'll find some answers there."
"Most likely. Do I need to tell you to be careful?"
She shook her head, pulling the hood of her cloak over her hair.
"Be careful, Warchief."
With a final nod, Sylvanas left, going to the portal room and requesting a portal to the Argent Crusade outpost in Icecrown. Ten minutes later, she landed in the middle of a compound she had only heard of but had never seen for herself.
It was called an outpost, but Faith had made sure that strong fortifications had been erected around it. A large square tower was at its center, built of white brick and mountain stone, capable of withstanding the difficult weather of the area. It could house, she knew, a battalion of soldiers in case of a siege, for it had an impressive network of underground tunnels.
Small brick structures had been erected around the tower. Sylvanas counted four of them on each side, and noted that each of them was guarded by a pair of soldiers who probably wished they were home drinking hot tea and warming their toes by a roaring fire.
Away from the brick buildings were wooden huts, and Sylvanas guessed that it was there that the soldiers kept some of their supplies. As she glanced around, she saw Argent Crusade soldiers adding whitened animal hides to the hut walls to insulate them against the cold.
She didn't linger, and nobody paid any attention to her, the potion she had taken before leaving Undercity cloaking her from prying eyes. Someone discerning would have probably been able to see her – Faith certainly would have done – but nobody there was expecting an infiltration.
I'll have to make sure to talk to Faith about the lax security here, she thought. She'd hate it if members of the Scourge suddenly took over this place when she worked so hard to set it up.
She walked out of the outpost, passing by a horse who reared at her approach. She nearly laughed, amused that animals were more perceptive than sentient beings.
Her feet left no prints on the frozen ground as she made her way from the outpost to her intended destination, which wasn't that far away.
Icecrown Citadel.
It was still a place of terror. Oh, the Argent Crusade had done a wonderful job clearing the Scourge away, but the undead had still found ways to multiply since the Horde and the Alliance had left Northrend.
Sylvanas, however, was unafraid. The undead let her pass as if she were their leader i stead of the Lich King that was currently sitting on the Frozen Throne.
She ventured down a slippery path that led down to unguarded tunnels of the citadel. She would reach her destination much quicker if she went through the main entrance, but it wouldn't do to have Bolvar Fordragon know what she was up to.
She found the tunnel without any problem and walked inside. It was pitch black, but that wasn't an issue for her, her eyes more than accustomed to darkness.
There were creatures in the tunnel. Creatures that would have made lesser mortals run in horror. One of them approached her, pincers clicking, and instantly regretted it as she swiftly killed it. The other creatures backed off quickly, not wanting to be the recipients of one of her blades.
Glad to be left alone because she needed her wits about her, she moved on, stepping deeper into the tunnel.
An hour passed before she found what she was looking for. An invisible veil, gossamer-thin and narrower than a human body. It was colder to the touch than the frozen air around her, indicating nothing good.
No mortal knew that such a veil existed, which was just as well, or they would have been trying to get through it to see what was on the other side.
And that would have been a very bad idea.
The wheelchair worked really well to allow Faith complete freedom of movement without exerting herself. She was glad of it, because she frankly didn't feel well enough move, much less walk somewhere.
Two dozen people waited for her in the throne room, eager to speak to her about their problems.
Faith heard them out, sometimes dispensing advice, and sometimes taking the situation directly in hand, like when a shopkeeper told her that he was certain that someone was stealing his wares.
"I'll have two cloaked guards stationed at your shop," she told him. "We'll catch the perpetrator, worry not. In the meantime, please make a report with the Undercity treasury about what was stolen, and we will make sure to compensate you."
The shopkeeper bowed low, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Faith inclined her head as he was escorted out. Exhausted, feeling weak, she ran a hand over her eyes and pulled a warm cloak tighter around her shoulders.
"Faith, would you like to take a break?" Rotvine asked her quietly. "I can handle the rest."
"Thank you, Carrick," she told him. "But this is my job as queen of Undercity and co-warchief of the Horde. Besides, I love my people, and if listening to them helps them, I will do exactly that."
She remained where she was, doing her best to help the people who came to her, until finally, every last person was gone.
"You know, you didn't have to do that," he told her.
"Yes I did, and I didn't mind doing it. But I do think I'm going to retire now and get some sleep. It's so bizarre needing to sleep again…"
He nodded, "I can understand that. I'll take you back to your room."
"No need," she said. "This chair is amazing, by the way. Thank you."
"Is it comfortable?"
"Very," she replied.
"Good. I didn't want you to have to strain yourself trying to move through the city."
"I appreciate that more than I can say. Thanks again, my friend. I'll see you later."
"Rest well, Your Majesty."
Faith smiled at him as her chair began to roll away, "And stop being so formal with me! It's weird!"
Bursting into laughter, Rotvine watched her for a while, then turned away to tend to his duties. If he had kept watching, though, he would have seen an orange shimmering portal materializing directly in front of Faith, swallowing her whole before she could even make a sound of distress.
When she opened her eyes again, she immediately saw that she wasn't in Undercity anymore. She was back in Stormheim, not far from one of the Horde camps. Her wheelchair was gone, but Felo'melorn had somehow come with her and was resting in her hand.
How did I get here?
A fork of lightning illuminated the sky above her and she followed its path through the clouds.
Towards the Halls of Valor.
Was she supposed to go there?
More lightning.
The Aegis, she thought. Faith, you have to get the Aegis.
But the Burning Legion was attacking the Halls. The attack was massive, and forces of the Horde and the Alliance were working together with the vrykul to push them back.
Tediously, she made her way closer, finding a group of dwarves and trolls huddled together behind a large boulder, apparently discussing strategy. The sight was so unusual that, for a moment, Faith didn't know whether to stare or laugh.
"General Windrunner!" said one of the trolls, standing up. "We had heard dat you had gone back to Undercity."
"Apparently I'm needed here," she said. "What's going on?"
"Da Burning Legion is stronger dan we originally thought."
"You mean that we didn't expect such a strong attack," said Faith. "Who's in charge of the forces here?"
"I am," said someone coming up on Faith's left. It was a tall man with a trimmed white beard and close-cropped white hair. His face was more lined than Faith remembered, but it was unmistakably him.
Faith blinked. "General White?" she asked, recognizing the man she had served under when she'd been stationed at the Argent Fortress in Icecrown. "Is that you?"
"Faith Everstone," he said, nodding. "I didn't think that we would ever see each other again." He walked to her and shook her hand, "Or should I be calling you Queen Windrunner now?"
"Not unless you have some sort of a death wish, General." She smiled, "I wish we had time for a reunion, but it looks like we have our work cut out for us."
"I'm glad you're here, we could use your magic, although… if you don't mind my saying so, you look like you're about to keel over."
"Oh, you can thank Greymane for that," she said.
"Greymane didn' –," began one of the dwarves.
"You weren't there, friend, so you have nothing to say about what he did or didn't do." Faith held up a hand as the dwarves showed signs of wanting to protest, "Quiet. We do not have time for bickering now, nor do I have the patience for it." She looked at General White, "I'm afraid I have no magical abilities at the moment, but I must get into the Halls of Valor."
"Ya can't, General," said a troll. "Ya'll get killed trying to cross that place."
"I have no choice," she told him. "But before I do that, we need to thin out the demons on the ground. How many soldiers do you have in there, General?"
"Not enough."
"How about priests and paladins?"
"Twelve of them, mostly Horde. I'm having a difficult time getting everyone to work together."
"Where are they?"
"Just this way. Come on, all of you."
They all followed General White towards a position further in the back, where troops were partially concealed by trees and bushes. All of them were looking mistrustfully at each other, and Faith gathered that half of them were Horde while the rest were members of the Alliance.
The Horde soldiers, upon seeing her, immediately stood at attention and saluted her.
"General Windrunner, what are you doing here?"
"We thought you were injured and back in Undercity?"
A Forsaken and a blood elf ran to her and put their arms around her to support her weight as she walked. "Honestly, General," said the Forsaken. "Sylvanas will have our heads on a silver platter if anything happens to you."
"Odyn brought me here. I have to get to the Halls of Valor. Now."
"You can't. General, I know you're our commanding officer here, but I'm more worried about what Sylvanas will do to the lot of us if you're killed. And you're still injured. We'll make you a portal to go home."
"You will do no such thing," she told him. "I was going back to my chambers from the throne room when a portal engulfed me and brought me here."
"But who could have created a portal just like that?"
"Odyn, that's who."
"And what would he want with you?"
"I have to get the Aegis."
She said that part loud enough for everyone to hear, and immediately, the members of the Alliance began to call out insults, countered by the members of the Horde.
"I will be dead before I see the Aegis of Aggramar in the hands of the Horde!" cried a dwarf warrior.
"And we would rather see the Burning Legion destroy Azeroth than let you Alliance dogs grab it for yourselves!" screamed an orc.
Faith looked around and let out a piercing whistle that echoed throughout the valley, quieting everyone down. "Hey!" she called. "That's enough! Now, I don't give a damn what any of you want. We are here for one purpose, and that is to repel the Burning Legion once and for all. In order to do that, we need the Pillars of Creation, and one of them happens to be the Aegis. I need to get to it. If you guys want to come with me, please do so—I'll take five from the Alliance, and four from the Horde, that way there will be ten of us."
The look in her eyes was fierce, contrasting sharply with her sickly demeanor. She glared at everyone assembled around her and went on.
"If the lot of you can't stop bickering, General White and myself will throw you to the demons and see whether you can't do anything about them. Got it?"
"Oh, I'll be doing that anyway," said General White slowly. "I haven't been impressed with either side since we got here."
Faith gave a nod, "Well, then, let's get this done. The more we stand here talking about it, the longer the attack will go on for. Those of you who can wield the Light, you're going to be the ones to do the most damage, so I want you to focus on the Legion commanders in the field. Mages and warlocks, I noticed some demonic crystals surrounded by protective barriers. Do me favor and bring them down as quickly as you can so that everyone can destroy the crystals. Everyone else, work on the other demons."
People just stared at her. The members of the Horde already gearing up, but the soldiers of the Alliance remained unmoving.
"Do exactly what she said," General White told them. "Those of you who will be going with Faith, step forward now."
