Top of the Spire
Victoria placed her rangers in position whilst looking back to Liadrin who stood nearby, waiting for the Queen to be ready to defend their backs. "Don't worry, Liadrin. We will protect you all." She said, smiling at the Paladin.
"I know." Liadrin said with a smile. "Tyrande and her Kaldorei are leading the charge as predicted. And with you back here, I think we will have a good time during this siege."
"Because I'm one less person for you to worry about?" Victoria asked, raising an eyebrow but smirking at the Paladin.
Liadrin laughed and shook her head. "Of course not, my Lady. I just mean that there's more opportunities to have fun in this siege with taking out our enemies whilst you are back here. I know you've improved a lot since Ironforge so I won't bet with you, but I get to use the Ashbringer against the demons they surely have in this city, so it will be fun."
Victoria smiled and hugged the Paladin. "Go enjoy yourself, Li Li. I'll take the boring but safe job for once, not giving it to anyone else this time around."
Liadrin laughed again and kissed Victoria on the cheek. "I will stay safe too. I won't go out of my way to get my blade wet, but I will try to slay as many demons for the both of us."
"Good. Go catch up to the rest of them." Victoria looked back to Thal'ena who was waiting with a couple of rangers for their next command. "I need to talk to my Magister."
Liadrin bowed her head and caught up with the rest of her paladins who were waiting for her, allowing Victoria to make her way to her Royal Magister and taking hold of her hands. "My Lady." Thal'ena whispered, smiling at her.
"Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, okay?" Victoria looked her Magister in the eyes. "I want us to be safe here, that nothing happens that will get us killed. I want to make sure I get to see my parents after this, once we find them of course."
"That shouldn't be too difficult, my Lady." Thal'ena said. "If they're here for the siege, we will come across them once it's over."
Victoria nodded and squeezed her Royal Magister's hands. "Good. Thank you for reassuring me on this. I just want the siege to go by quickly so I can apologize and hold them."
"Staying here, it will feel like a long siege, but we will be out of danger for the most part. If they have reinforcements then we have to fight, but it should be plain sailing from here on out, my Lady." Thal'ena looked around the Courtyard they all stood in. "It's a shame really, this is a beautiful place."
"Maybe we'll get to visit here again under better circumstances." Victoria told her, taking a leaf of a nearby plant into her hand and stroking her thumb across it. "After we've helped Thalyssra out and the Legion have been dealt with, we probably could visit here often. For both trade and leisure."
Thal'ena smiled at the idea of revisiting this place outside of war, but it was quickly wiped from her face when an explosion rang out from the top of the tallest spire in the city. "What the... We're not even near that." The Royal Magister said, looking over to Victoria.
"But my parents are..." Victoria muttered. "They're in this city, they're the only people who could be there whilst our armies are still trying to push further in."
Thal'ena frowned at her Queen. "Then what should we do? They may need our help."
Victoria shook her head. "No. We have to stay here. My parents can handle it themselves. They're far better together anyway, I just feel sorry for whoever stands in their way."
"Last one." Athrodar said, looking our the window and up to the top of the spire. "We're going to the room just below the roof, Elaria and her scout should already be fighting whoever is in there by the time we get up there." He pulled his head back in the window and looked at Sylvanas who was less confidant now than she was when they began their climb.
Sylvanas took a deep breath and looked out the window. "This better be a very important ally."
"I'm sure it is." Athrodar said, standing on the ledge of the window, offering his hand out to his wife. "Come on, baby. Last one, I will keep you safe again, you have my word."
"I am going to kill the Night Elf of yours." Sylvanas said, climbing out onto the edge of the spire and stopping herself from looking down. "When this is over, I am going to grab her by the neck and strangle the life out of her. Then I will cut off her head and stick it on a spike outside our home so everybody knows to never make me climb up the side of a tall fucking building again."
Athrodar held in his laugh, knowing Sylvanas was venting our her anger and fears by speaking empty threats that she wouldn't follow up on. "I'll help you with all of that, just concentrate more on climbing and less on threatening Elaria."
"Don't tell me what to do." Sylvanas snapped at him, not that she was angry but because she was scared. "I'm going to kill all of them and if you try to stop me, I will kill you too. I don't care if you're my husband."
This time Athrodar did laugh, glancing over to Sylvanas who was focusing on climbing now. "I love you."
"Fuck you." She said, looking over to Athrodar who continued to smile and laugh. "I love you too, just.. Let me be angry and vent whilst we climb this."
"Okay. So long as it doesn't involve killing me, I'll let you vent." Every time Sylvanas climbed a little higher, Athrodar done so too, staying one crossbow bolt behind her to make sure he was nearby in case she fell.
Sylvanas pulled herself up to the next bolt. "Then I will take that Draenei of hers and keep her locked up somewhere so I can toy with her. When I get bored, I'll find the biggest, toughest guy out there and let him take over. I will break everything she holds dear because she made me do this."
By the time they reached their final checkpoint, one floor below the top of the spire, Athrodar stood in front of Sylvanas to stop her from acting on any of her threats, cupping her face in his hands and making her focus on only him. "I'll tell you what, when we make it through this, how about I help you with your plan. Hmm?"
Sylvanas looked him in the eyes, narrowing her own. "Fine. But I swear to whatever Gods are listening, I will throw you in my prison with Luna if you get in my way."
"Hold on a minute." Elaria said, overhearing their conversation. "What are you doing to Luna?"
Sylvanas glared at the Night Elf. "I'll show you what I'm going to to do Luna. Though you won't be around to -"
"Okay." Athrodar interrupted, placing his hands on both of Sylvanas' shoulders and walking her over to the opposite side of the floor they were on, stepping over the demons Elaria and her chief scout had slain. "Look, I get that you don't like heights and blame Elaria for making you climb this high, but can we pull it back just a bit."
Sylvanas glared at her husband, but her face quickly softened and she sighed when she saw the love and hints of fear in his eyes. "I'm sorry, my love." She whispered, hugging him tightly. "I hate heights and it brings out the worst in me."
"I know." Athrodar whispered, looking over to the window and watching two more scouts climb through. "We have to get all eight scouts up here too as well as Luna, Thalina and Tanadia." His gaze returned to Sylvanas who kept her head buried in his chest. "Tell you what, if you still feel like punishing Elaria for making you climb the side of the spire, we can both punish her. For both making you climb the side of the spire and for hurting me by leaving me without my friend."
Sylvanas looked up at Athrodar and saw him smile. "Deal." She said softly, placing her hand on his cheek and slowly pulling him down to her lips, giving him a long kiss. "I love you, so much."
"I love you too." Athrodar told her, moving his hands to her waist. "I love how protective you are of our children." He whispered, continuing his train of thought. "I love that you always try to seduce me, despite knowing that you have already won my heart years ago. I love when you gaze into my eyes and we both get lost in each other's eyes that sometimes, if we're so consumed by each other, we forget to do anything else but breathe."
Sylvanas closed her eyes and smiled, letting a couple of tears roll down her cheeks as she had one real weakness and it was Athrodar complimenting her and pouring his heart out to her, something she had never imagined herself having the day she died, but now was living her fantasy. "Damn you..." She muttered, pressing her ear to his chest. "Stop making me feel like this. I used to be the Banshee Queen."
"I will never stop making you feel like this." Athrodar whispered in her ear. "Saying those things remind you that we are living, together and have a family." He brushed a hand through her hair. "I have seen you when you're alone on the balcony, you get lost in your own thoughts and sometimes you talk to yourself."
Sylvanas widened her eyes and looked up at him. "Y-you saw that?"
"I did." Athrodar said, kissing her on the forehead. "I heard you say that you don't deserve this life. It's something we have discussed several times in the passed and I tell you the same thing over and over again. You deserve all the love you get, and I will always tell you this."
"Maybe I just like having you tell me over and over again..." Sylvanas muttered.
Athrodar chuckled, hugging his wife again and feeling her grip onto the back of his tunic tightly. "We have to leave in a few minutes, the last scouts have climbed up. Luna, Thalina and Tanadia are next." He told her, looking out the window for a second and suddenly getting a memory flash of his dream he had before the siege began.
Sylvanas cupped his face in her hands, noticing his focus had changed as well as his facial expressions. "Hey, what's on your mind?"
Athrodar looked down at Sylvanas who frowned at him. "I had a dream, a couple of nights ago and it's been bugging me. I have tried to ignore it, but I got a feeling it's important."
"What was it?" Sylvanas now asked, knowing the last time he had a concern about a dream, it came true. "Was it bad?"
"I don't know." Athrodar told her honestly, taking hold of her hands. "I saw my great grandfather, but I don't remember him. He was the one who told me who he was, it wasn't something I knew straight away."
Sylvanas tilted her head at her husband. "Dael'Thaelas?"
"That was who he told me he was." Athrodar said. "He had several rangers around him and we were in the middle of a forest. It looked like Eversong Woods, but he assured me it wasn't real."
Tapping her chin with her finger, Sylvanas looked away for a second when something crossed her mind. "Did you see a mage that wasn't meant to be in our camp?"
Athrodar shook his head. "No. The only mage I saw was Thal. Why?"
"Because your family endorsed powerful mages back when the family name was to be both feared and loved." Sylvanas saw him look away as if deep in thought again. "They gathered powerful mages to sway rival families into positions of allies, but not without taking something from them first." She shrugged her shoulders. "If it was him and it turns out he wasn't killed back when you all cleared out the demons and those traitors from the Quel'Danas, then he is coming for you. I don't know what for, but if I know Dael'Thaelas, he will do whatever he can to sink his claws into you."
"He did say to come look for him, that I would know where to look." Athrodar looked back to Sylvanas who had sighed and shook her head. "You know where to look, don't you?"
"I do and if you are going to look for him, I am coming with you." Sylvanas placed her hand over his mouth when he opened it. "Don't argue with me. I don't trust your family, your parents not included, so I am coming with you."
When her hand was removed from his mouth Athrodar began to talk again. "I wasn't going to argue with you, I was going to invite you to join me anyway. I think he wants to give me whatever army still remains in my family name, to fight the Legion."
"Don't accept it." Sylvanas told him immediately. "You do that and he will control you forever."
Athrodar shook his head, noticing Luna and Thalina had climbed through and they were pulling Tanadia up. "I wasn't going to accept it. Not until I spoke to you about it and knowing your reaction, I will stick to my initial thought."
"Good." Sylvanas kissed him on the cheek and turned around to face everyone shortly after Tanadia climbed into the room through the window. "So what's the plan now?" She asked out loud.
Elaria looked towards the door to the flight of stairs that would take them to the top of the spire. "There's not really a plan. We just have to prepare for a fight the moment we get up there."
Sylvanas shrugged her shoulders. "Let's go then."
The fight at the top of the spire had been going on for almost half an hour, Gul'dan was the Orc they were facing, the big leader of the demons on Azeroth and the one person none of them had expected. To them, he was dead. He had died in the Tomb of Sargeras years ago so to see him here was a shock. The start of their battle was just between them and him, but when the fight started to turn against him, he retreated into a spinning sphere in the middle of the platform they all stood on and began summoning demons to fight them instead.
The demons were dispatched quickly, but they were being replaced just as fast. "We need to get to Gul'dan." Elaria told Sylvanas, fighting beside her whilst Athrodar was with his daughter opposite them. "Distract them for me, I'll make sure to not miss him."
Sylvanas nodded, firing arrows into four of the nearest demons to get their attention whilst Elaria slipped between them. She quickly made her way to Thalina who saw what Sylvanas was doing and froze the demons in place. "Help me keep them off Elaria." Sylvanas told the Magister. "She is going after Gul'dan to stop him summoning these demons."
Thalina nodded, moving her hand in a sweeping motion and freezing many demons in place, conjuring a wall of fire in front of her which used up much of her mana and pushing her hands out in front of her to launch the wall of fire into the demons, incinerating them but also making her collapse down onto one knee. "Don't worry about me." She told Sylvanas, trying to catch her breath. "Just make sure they don't get to Elaria."
Sylvanas nodded, watching the Night Elf make her way to Gul'dan and the sphere he was in, tapping her dagger against it to try and figure out a weak point.
"Looking for something?" Gul'dan asked Elaria, laughing at her. "You won't break this barrier."
"No?" Elaria said, raising an eyebrow at him and trying to not draw attention to Tanadia and Athrodar who had managed to sneak by the demons protecting Gul'dan as well due to Luna creating a shield of holy light over her and several of Elaria's scouts, incinerating any demon that got close to them. "Maybe she will."
Gul'dan looked over to Tanadia who placed her hands on the sphere, engulfing his own hands in fel fire. "No!"
Just at the touch of her holy engulfed hands, Tanadia manged to break down the sphere that must have been powered by fel as it had an instant weakness to the spell. "Now!" Athrodar yelled, watching Elaria plunge her dagger into Gul'dan's back, making his hands no longer have the fel magic dancing over them. The Orc Warlock looked back to Elaria and gripped her throat in his hand, lifting her up from the ground.
"You'll regret that." Gul'dan said through gritted teeth, squeezing her throat and making it difficult for her to breathe. "I'll squeeze the life from your -"
His sentence was cut off when a searing pain burst through him, looking over his shoulder and looking at Tanadia who's eyes were glowing a bright gold and full of anger. Her hands were on the Orc's back and burning his demonic flesh with her hands engulfed in holy magic. "Let her go..." Tanadia said with a slight venom in her voice. "Let her go!" She yelled, letting out a pulse of holy magic into the Warlock and burning him from the inside, forcing a scream of agony out of the Orc and making him explode in a ball of fel fire, sending everyone back several feet.
Pulling himself up onto his feet, looking around the platform to make sure everyone was okay and noticing a certain someone was missing. "Thal?" He asked out loud, coughing as he had inhaled some of the fel smoke that was hanging around in the air surrounding the spire. "Thal!?" He yelled this time, stumbling around and trying to find the Magister.
"Help!" Thalina cried, hanging on to the side of the platform, a couple of feet away from the top of the spire.
Athrodar ran to the side of the spire, stretching out his arm towards Thalina and being just mere inches from taking hold of her hand. "Come on, Thal. Stretch just a little further."
Thalina tried to stretch the final inches to take hold of Athrodar's hand with her left hand, only to have her right hand slip from what she was holding onto and falling a couple more feet before holding on to some hanging vines. "I... I can't."
Athrodar shook his head at her. "Don't let go, Thal." He told her, looking around for something to anchor himself to as he aimed to lower himself down. "I'm going to get you, Thal."
Thalina began to have tears roll down her cheeks, looking up at Athrodar who looked the most helpless she had seen him. "I don't want to die. Please don't let me die."
"I won't, Thal." Athrodar said, looking up at Elaria who stood beside him and taking hold of her arm. "Lower me down, I'm going to get her."
Elaria nodded and held onto Athrodar's arm, watching him lower himself down towards Thalina who was now four feet below them, hanging onto several vines hanging over the side of the spire. "We've got you, Thal. Don't worry."
When Athrodar was just beside her, he extended out a hand towards Thal and smiled when she took hold of his hand, gripping onto her tightly and watching as she launched herself at him, but at the last second slipped and began to dangle over the side with just Athrodar holding onto her. "Pull us up, Elaria! Do it now!"
"I'm... Trying!" She strained, having a couple of her scouts rush over to her and try to help pull them both up.
Thalina looked Athrodar in the eyes, both of them terrified of what was happening and swallowing hard as she knew they were all struggling to pull them back up. "I love you, Athrodar." She said, looking deeply into his eyes. "I love our daughter."
"No, don't do this." Athrodar said, knowing she was giving up. "Don't you dare let go of me!"
"Take care of her. She will need you now more than ever." Thalina told him, letting go of his arm and only dangling there due to Athrodar not letting go of her, though his grip was slipping away quickly.
"Don't... Thal, don't!" Athrodar held onto her arm as tightly as he could, but she quickly slipped out of his grasp and he looked on in horror as she closed her eyes and fell several floors to the ground. "No!"
Elaria's heart sank as she pulled Athrodar up to the platform, looking over the side and not finding Thalina anywhere. "Why did you let go!?" She yelled, looking back at Athrodar.
"I didn't... I couldn't hold on... She let go." Athrodar let out a roar of anguish and punched the floor several times, making his hand go all bruised and bloody and possibly breaking a few fingers at the same time. "Where is he?" He now asked, his voice full of anger. "Where is this fucking ally we were here to get?"
Sylvanas slowly made her way over to Athrodar who was in such a broken state, she didn't know if he was safe to be near, let alone what he was truly feeling at this moment. To her, it was a mix of horror, anger, fury, sadness and confusion. "Athrodar..." She muttered, stepping a little closer to him.
A green crystal was lying in the middle of the platform, containing their so called ally and Athrodar reached for his sword, smashing the crystal with the hilt and watched as Illidan's body was laying before him. "Wake up." He said, nudging the Demon Hunter with his boot. "Wake the fuck up, now. You are going to answer some questions."
When Athrodar pushed him again with his boot, Illidan's eyes opened and began to glow a fell green through the blindfold he had over them, quickly covering himself in a purple shadow and knocked Athrodar back a few feet. "You dare wake me!" He roared, stretching out his wings and hovering above everyone there.
Tanadia, being the closest to the explosion, had only just woken up when Illidan began to hover above them all, looking around for her mother and not finding her anywhere. "Mama?" She asked, her voice groggy as she was still dazed by the explosion.
Sylvanas ran to the priestess and held her close as she stumbled forward trying to stand up. "Hey, easy. Gather your strength before you try to stand."
"Where's my mom?" She asked, coughing as she too had inhaled some of the fel smoke in the air. "I can't see her."
Sylvanas looked over to Athrodar, Elaria, Luna and the many scouts still with them as they now faced off against Illidan who was attacking them. "There's something I have to tell you."
The fight with Illidan didn't last too long, with the news of her mother, something had awoken inside the young priestess who had one last burst of energy and sent out a wave of holy light, burning away the demonic presence at the top of the spire as well as forcing Illidan out of his demonic form, making him collapse down onto his hands and knees and have the fel rage that had built up inside him dissipate entirely. "The anger... It has gone." The Demon Hunter said, looking up at Elaria and Athrodar who stood over him. "Gul'dan had been channeling demonic energies into my body and trying to force out the inner demon inside of me to use as a weapon."
Athrodar placed the tip of his blade under the chin of the Demon Hunter. "Are you now a friend or foe? Answer quick because my patience has grown thin."
Illidan chuckled and looked up at Athrodar. "You sound just like your Great Grandfather. I saw how close he was to your Prince when they visited me in Outland." He stood up and towered over them both. "You killed Gul'dan, so I would say we are allies." He walked over to where Gul'dan had exploded in a fel storm, picking up his skull that had remained and turning it into dust. "Tell me, where is the rest of your people?"
"They are fighting in the siege below." Elaria said, looking over to the fiery boulders flying through the air and hitting several buildings. "We used it as a distraction to come here and free you. My scouts have told me you were here after getting word from several of your Demon Hunters."
Illidan looked over to Elaria. "You have my Demon Hunters?" He asked her.
"Did have. They left to fight some demons in Azsuna, trying to reclaim the Warden's base of operations." Elaria looked over to Tanadia who was crying into Sylvanas' shoulder. "Excuse me."
Athrodar was grabbed by Elaria who dragged him to his daughter and placed him down on his knees in front of her. In an instant, Tanadia threw herself at her father who hugged her tightly, letting her cry into his shoulder this time and breaking down himself as she began to cry into her shoulder in return. "So where are we?" Sylvanas asked, wiping her eyes and trying to remain the strong one this time instead of Athrodar whenever she felt sad. "Is he with us."
Elaria nodded and looked back to Illidan who was looking down at Suramar below. "I believe so."
