Corrupted

Athrodar followed Lord Ravenholdt into one of the many shops in Dalaran, watching him show a coin to the shopkeeper and then whisper a few things to them before having a passageway open to what appeared to be a secret room. "Follow me."

"Ooo, a secret room. Fun." Elaria grinned and followed Lord Ravenholdt into the back room.

Athrodar followed Elaria shortly after, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious whilst the Night Elf in front of him was excited. "Who exactly have you gathered for this meeting?" He asked Lord Ravenholdt, making the human stop to address his question.

"Valeera, Marin Noggenfogger, Mathias Shaw, a Pandaren named Taoshi... I haven't seen her work but I was told to ask her to come. Fleet Admiral Tethys and you two." Lord Ravenholdt looked over to Elaria who had a grin on her face. "Leave Valeera alone, or I will ask Marin to give you some of his Elixer. I know how much you hate it."

Elaria shivered thinking about the Elixer. The taste was bad enough, but to have some side effects that she didn't like along with it was worse. "I don't want that... The last time I was a skeleton for hours."

"It was ten minutes." Athrodar told her. "And you secretly loved it. Especially when you used it one Hallow's End to scare some kids."

Ravenholdt laughed and began to walk further down the narrow corridor they were in. "Sounds like her." He said before pushing open a door into their new base of operations. "Welcome to the Hall of Shadows."

"Woah..." Elaria breathed, looking around at the many people walking back and forth, carrying vials of poisons in boxes, or parchments from one place to another. Many knives, daggers, swords and bows placed around the nearby surroundings. "This is so cool."

"Like an underground secret lair." Athrodar commented, following Lord Ravenholdt to a different room where the names he had spoken of earlier had convened. "Valeera." He said with a smirk, slowly placing a hand on the hilt of his sword. "I haven't forgotten when we were last in this city."

"You're not a Death Knight now, Athrodar." Valeera said, standing up from the chair she sat in and making her way over to him, standing directly in front of the taller elf and looking up at him with a cocky grin. "I reckon I could take you in a fight."

"Is that so?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Want to put that to the test?"

"Enough, you two." Ravenholdt commanded, standing at the head of the table. "We're not here to settle petty rivalries. There are bigger things to worry about."

"And I thought I would have been the problem child." Elaria whispered to Athrodar, chuckling shortly after when he sighed. "If you want, I can take her mind off everything for a good ten or so minutes. Once this meeting is over."

"That sounds more like a treat for you than a punishment for her." Athrodar told her as they all sat down around the large table in the room.

"Yeah, so?" Elaria grinned at him. "Come on... You know I know her weaknesses."

"I know, which is why I'm not saying anything." Athrodar glanced over to the Night Elf who sat on his left. "We need to find my daughters, not sleep with potential allies who can help us find them."

Elaria pouted and folded her arms. "Fine... But just so you know, the second I see an opportunity, I am taking her." She began to grin again after looking over to Valeera and watching her look away from her. "She knows I am hungry and what I can do."

Athrodar rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Why do you always talk as if you're going to eat them?"

"I'm going to be doing a lot more than just eating her." Elaria said, smirking at Athrodar. "If you know what -"

"Yes, I know what you mean."

"Put some weight onto it." Tanadia said, sitting on her sister's bed and watching intently as Victoria slowly began to stand up.

"Okay... Here we go." Victoria took a deep breath, closed her eyes and held onto her sister's hand as she began to stand up slowly.

Tanadia stood up at the same time her sister stood up, holding onto her hand and smiling brightly when Victoria remained standing on both legs. "How do you feel?" She asked, looking down at her visibly weaker leg.

"I can stand, but I don't want to try walking on it just yet." Victoria looked over to her sister who smiled warmly at her. "You want me to walk on it, don't you?"

"I'll be with you every step of the way... Literally." Tanadia smiled at her again, holding onto her arm now to help keep her balance. "When you're ready. I will be here to help you and heal you should you need it."

Victoria took a step forward, smiling and taking another when she began to grow confidence in walking again. "So far so goo-ah!"

Tanadia let go of Victoria's arm the second she fell to the floor, engulfing her hands in holy magic and placing them on her leg. "Two steps is better than none." She told her sister, looking at her face and seeing a couple of tears roll down her cheek at both the pain of her leg and just how fragile she was at losing her entire guard and her General. "We have a long road to recovery, luckily your leg isn't entirely weak but it's not as strong as it was."

"Then why did it buckle and make me collapse to the floor?" Victoria asked, leaning her head back against the mattress of the bed behind her and gritting her teeth as her leg began to throb. "I thought it had healed."

"I'll go get the Archdruid." Tanadia said, stepping over her sister and making her way out of the hut to find Malfurion. On her way to where the Archdruid spent most of his time, she saw several druids run passed her in a hurried manner, frowning at them but continuing her journey to the Archdruid. "What's going on?" She asked when she saw a couple of druids standing nearby, talking to each other in a heated conversation.

"You and the Queen have to leave, now!" One of the druids told her, spinning the priestess around and marching her back to the hut. "It's no longer safe here, a darkness has been creeping in the forests and is threatening to consume us all."

"B-but my sister isn't ready to leave yet, she can barely stand let alone walk." Tanadia tried to talk some sense into the druid pushing her towards the hut her sister was staying in, but all of her talking fell on deaf ears as the pushed her into the hut.

"Get your things, I will have someone bring your Nightsaber and the cart you arrived in. Head north and run if you come across anyone. There are Tauren living to the north, they will look after you now." The druid picked up their weapons and threw them on the bed, watching Tanadia pick up her sister. "Don't stop until you are out of this forest and into the territory known as Highmountain."

"Wh-what's going on?" Victoria asked, being picked up by the druid and carried to the cart outside the stables, placing the Queen down in it and attaching the cart to Snow's reins. "Tana, talk to me."

"I don't know, Vic." Tanadia said, picking up her staff from the cart and climbing onto Snow's back, looking behind her and towards her sister. "They just told me a darkness is spreading and we have to leave." Tanadia looked over to the druid who began to follow the other druids who ran towards where Malfurion spent most of his days. "We're heading north."

"North? But our parents... They won't know where we are if we leave!" Victoria tried to sit up, but Tanadia kicked Snow into action and they began to make their way out of the Grove of Cenarius. "Tana!"

"We have to leave!" Tanadia yelled back at her, hating that she was raising her voice at her sister, but following the druid's commands as she saw chaos begin to spread around them. "We are to head north towards the Tauren who inhabit a place called Highmountain."

"How do we know we're not running into whatever has these druids spooked?" Victoria asked, holding onto the cart tightly as Snow began to run through the forests, being steered by Tanadia.

"We don't." Tanadia told her, petting Snow with her holy magic engulfed hand to keep him calm as they raced through the forests of Val'sharah. "Come on boy, we need to get to safety again. We will find a place to stay when we're out of the forest."

"So you and Elaria are back in Dalaran with your old Assassin's guild boss and several other rogues, assassins and cut throats?"

Athrodar smiled and nodded his head, looking over to Elaria who slept on the bed beside him, at least that's what Athrodar guessed was happening as she had remained silent. "I know, it's a step back from where we were, but Lord Ravenholdt is trying to recruit us into the fold and in return, we get to use their spy network to track down and find Victoria and Tanadia."

Sylvanas raised an eyebrow at the image of Athrodar, smiling at the prospect of having an entire network of rogues looking for their daughter with them. "You know that I am going to tell you to get their help, right? We will need the numbers if we can't find them on our own."

"Is that Sylvanas?" Elaria asked, taking the communication disc off Athrodar and grinning at the image of Sylvanas. "Why hello there."

Sylvanas rolled her eyes at the image of Elaria that now took over her disc. "Hi Elaria, what do you want?"

"D'aww, is that any way to treat such a loving friend?" Elaria smiled sweetly at Sylvanas, trying to win her over and seduce her at the same time. "You know, I've always thought we had a special connection."

"Uhuh..." Sylvanas grumbled, rolling her eyes again. "Put Athrodar back on."

"Why, so you can both discuss super secret stuff in your native tongue so I can't understand it?" Elaria pouted at the image of Sylvanas when she agreed to everything she just said. "Boo. One day I will learn your broken language."

"It's only broken because we use the same words for some things." Athrodar told her, taking the disc back from Elaria and smiling at his wife. "Sorry. I'll try to make it difficult for her to do that again."

Sylvanas just smiled and shook her head. "It's fine. Cute that she thinks she has a shot at claiming me, little does she know I will rock her world."

Athrodar blinked slowly whilst his wife giggled at her last sentence. "Am I in a dream or something? You're talking about sleeping with another woman to your husband... Wait no, this has to be a nightmare, because that woman is Elaria."

"Oh hush, like you haven't thought about getting in her pants before."

Athrodar went red in the cheeks a little. "I... I may have, once... But she is like a sister to me now, it would be weird."

"Okay, okay." Sylvanas held her hands up, smiling at her husband. "I won't force you to sleep with her... But I most certainly will want to in the future... Maybe bring Luna in to make it a very hot, sweaty, women only threesome."

Athrodar groaned, hearing Sylvanas chuckle back to him. "Why... Why do you torture me so? You know I would love to be in the middle of that."

"I know." Sylvanas whispered with a grin, biting her bottom lip just thinking about it. "You just have to convince yourself to have Elaria with us."

Athrodar looked back to Elaria who went back to laying on her bed, whimpering and looking back at the image of his wife. "She doesn't like men that way. It's the only reason I haven't tried something with her."

"The only reason?" Sylvanas teased, winking at the image of Athrodar who groaned at her teasing. "I miss you." She told him when he looked at her again.

"I don't know if I can say the same. I forgot how much you can really get me going, only to blue balls me for the fun of it."

Sylvanas chuckled. "I'm sorry, baby." She purred in a seductive voice. "Maybe I can make it up to you."

"No communication disc sex." Thalina said nearby, loud enough so Athrodar could hear and thus Elaria behind him. "They're used to keep up to date with the other group, not for your personal time."

"Really?" Elaria asked, standing behind Athrodar and looking at the image of a now embarrassed Sylvanas. "You would do that whilst I'm in the same room?" She punched Athrodar on the arm. "Come on man, have some boundaries, please!"

Sylvanas and Athrodar both gave each other an apologetic look, both hating that they were caught in a semi innocent chat. "We should stop this before it happens again." Sylvanas whispered, getting an agreement from Athrodar. "I love you."

Athrodar smiled at his wife, hating that he hasn't held her in two days now, but at least having a conversation with her on the daily makes up for it, even if only a little. "I love you too." He whispered back to her, both of them closing communications for the night. "Don't say it. Don't you even dare say it."

Elaria grinned when Athrodar pulled his bedsheets up and over him, up to his neck. "Really? You were about to have sex over that communication device, thing? How is that even possible?"

Athrodar let out a long sigh. "We weren't going to... You know what, why am I even having this conversation?" He sat up and looked at Elaria who stood over him, hands on her hips and with a cocky grin painted on her face. "Nothing was happening, nothing remotely close to that. Thal was just saying that so we would stop talking to each other because she is jealous."

"Uhuh..." Elaria continued to grin at him, not believing that for a second. "Is that why you both said my name and Luna's name?"

Athrodar groaned and laid back down, pulling his bedsheets over his head. "Goodnight, Elaria."

The Night Elf chuckled and retired to her bed beside him. "Goodnight, Athrodar. Don't try anything on me whilst I'm sleeping."

"Oh, fuck off." Athrodar muttered, making Elaria chuckle some more as the both drifted off to sleep.

Tanadia climbed off Snow's back and looked around the dense forest they were in. "This place... It's sick." She whispered, looking at the now red and black trees, hearing the very forest groan as the darkness surrounded them. "This sickness is dark, like a corruption."

Victoria looked around the trees and came to the same conclusion. They were no longer in druid territory and she knew it, there was no life here, only sickness and one that was heavy on the heart. "We need to leave, Tana." The Queen whispered to her. "Whatever done this is near. This corruption is.. it's tainted the land."

Tanadia pet Snow gently when he began to fidget, knowing whatever this corruption was, was affecting him too. "It's okay, boy. We'll get moving again very soon. We just need to rest and have some water."

Victoria watched Tanadia take the harness of Snow and let him run around a little whilst she took a drink from her water pouch. "Hand me mine."

Tanadia handed Victoria her water pouch, looking around to look at Snow and not finding him in their immediate surroundings. "Snow?"

Victoria sat up to look for Snow too. "Snow?" She yelled too, not finding him either. "Snow! It's not funny, your mother is worried."

Both Queen and Princess looked around for the nightsaber, Tanadia falling back towards Victoria when the darkness began to creep in around them. "Snow!" The priestess yelled, holding onto her staff tightly when a pair of eyes glared at them through the trees. "Snow..?" She now asked quietly, stepping forward a little and hearing the eyes growl at her. "Snow? It's me, Tana... We're family."

Victoria looked over to the pair of eyes too, reaching for her bow and quiver as the eyes began to move closer. "Snow, it's us." She said when the nightsaber crept out of the trees, eyes full of anger and something else, something that neither of them saw in his eyes before. Hate. "Snow, it's me.. It's your mother." She said softly, stroking the fletching of one of her arrows, not wanting to use the arrow but knowing she had to if he attacked.

"What's wrong with him?" Tanadia asked, keeping her eyes on Snow. "He looks... rabid?"

"Snow!" Victoria yelled at him, hearing him growl as he got low, ready to pounce and the Queen knew it. "Tanadia, get back!"

Tanadia looked back to Victoria just as Snow pounced on her, being knocked over by the giant cat and screaming as his jaw clamped down on her staff. "Snow, please! It's me, Tanadia!"

Victoria swallowed hard and dug deep to find the courage to attack her Snow... Her best friend. "Snow.. Let go." She said calmly, pulling the arrow back on her bow and aiming at the nightsaber. "Snow..." She said, her voice wavering a little as she didn't want to fire an arrow at him, but she had to get him off Tanadia. "Let.. Go!" She snapped, pulling the bowstring back a little more and locking eyes with Snow. "Don't..." She muttered.

Tanadia fought hard to keep his jaw from clamping down on her, kneeing the nightsaber in the belly and rolling him off her with all her strength. "Snow, stop it!" She cried, pulling herself up with her staff and conjuring a ball of light in her hand. "We're family!"

Just as Snow was about to attack Tanadia again, Victoria let loose the arrow into Snow's leg and gave her sister the opening she needed to escape his attack. "Snow, I'm.. I'm so sorry.." Victoria's heart began to break when she drew another arrow back in her bow, her bottom lip quivering when she saw pain in his eyes now and some confusion, though it was all masked by his anger and hatred for them and everything now. "Run, Tana. Get behind me."

Tanadia ran to the cart and stood behind Victoria who was aiming her bow at Snow again, holding onto her staff tightly. "Vic.. What are we going to do?"

Before she could answer, Snow pounced at them again, even with the arrow in his leg and was shot by another one, this time in his belly and making him collapse just in front of them, panting hard on the floor. "Snow..?" Victoria whispered, looking over the side and down at the nightsaber who now looked scared. "Snow.. I'm so sorry..." She reached out and placed her hand on his head gently, hearing him groan and watching him look up at her with the one eye that could see her, her heart breaking once more as she saw how terrified he looked. "I'm so sorry, Snow..." She muttered, her voice breaking as tears began to roll down her face. "I wanted us to grow old... You weren't supposed to die here."

Tanadia ran around and began to heal the nightsaber. At least she tried to, knowing she was not experienced enough to heal these injuries, but still tried. "Snow.. I forgive you." She whispered, kissing him on the head as she felt his life slipping away. "We should have gone south, coming north was a mistake. You fell into this corruption and I'm so sorry."

Victoria climbed out of the cart and sat down beside Snow, stroking his head before resting her own on his, hugging him tightly. "I love you, Snow." She whispered to him, kissing his head and hearing his heart slow down, as well as his breathing. "I love you..." She choked, crying into his fur when his belly stopped rising and his eyes glazed over. "I love you..." She repeated, screaming into his fur when someone else she loved had died within the same week.