Chapter 11: Surveillance
Addy found that she enjoyed her new job. She spent her days cleaning dishes and tables and generally helping out around the bar. The pub didn't get very many visitors, and most of those who did would vanish behind the mysterious door to the basement and stay behind it for hours. A few gave her curious looks, others sneered and some even laughed at her. Addy didn't know what the joke was, but she never asked. She found that the longer she was there, the less she wanted to know about the comings and goings of the strange people.
She'd packed up her stuff from the Golden Keg, giving Betsy a teary goodbye and taking her meagre belongings across town to her new home. She kept the one dress Betsy had given her, as well as her white scarf. The wardrobe in her new room was empty, and her only belonging was her small backpack with her coin purse.
But she felt better. She was working for money, instead of having it given to her. She earned her room, and it was her own. The strange man, who had later introduced himself as Mr. Tim, said she could do whatever she wanted with it as long as she didn't damage it. She thought about buying some flowers to liven it up, and to mask the dreadful smell that seemed to seep up from below her.
She got one day off a week, on Sunday. It came much quicker than she thought, and she soon found herself unsure of what to do with herself. Before Gryan left she spent most of her time up at the Keep, in the courtyard. But she remembered her encounter with the Prince and wondered if she should risk running into him.
Instead she decided that she should write to Gryan.
She knew that there were ways to send letter's, even if she couldn't write. She had a handful of coppers saved up, as well as her weekly silver. She left the silver under her mattress and grabbed her scarf and her copper, heading out into the city.
After asking for directions, she soon found herself at a public scribes office. She paid a few coppers and dictated a short letter to Gryan. She told him about her new place and new job - she only mentioned it was in a pub, not which pub. Judging by the distaste in Betsey's eyes, she doubted Gryan would be all too pleased with her choice of employment.
She also left out her sparring match with the Prince. She could already hear his patronizing tone as he bemoaned her lack of respect.
The Scribe handed her the letter, pausing only a moment before he did so.
"I'm not usually supposed to comment." The man spoke hesitantly, "However, if you're sending this letter to Westfall, you're going to have to send it through the military mail system."
Addy wrinkled her nose, confused, "Er...how do I do that?"
The scribe gave her instructions to the military postal office, and she went on her way. It was located in a small alcove just off of Old Town. Old Town itself wasn't exactly the best place to find oneself on a good day, and as Addy walked through she kept one hand on her coin purse. The alcove was a lot nicer than the grimy district, reminding her of the green parks of the Mage District. There was a large building to the left which seemed strangely empty, and a smaller building to the right, near a large stable which held what must've been half a hundred horses. Addy gave them a wide berth. Once when she was a child she saw a stable hand get kicked in the gut by a frightened horse. It wasn't something she wanted to experience.
The Office was mostly empty, with just a single officer in a Stormwind tabard sitting behind a desk, scribbling with a quill.
Addy walked over to him, holding her letter in her hand, "Er...Hello?"
The officer looked up, giving her a friendly smile, "Hello Miss."
"I, Uh... I wanted to send a letter?"
He nodded, pulling out a new piece of Parchment, "To whom?"
"Captain Gryan Stoutmantle."
The man nodded, "Which company?"
"Er..." Addy froze, staring into nothing as she racked her brain. Did Gryan tell her before he left? She wasn't entirely sure.
The man took pity on her, giving her a friendly smile, "Where's he stationed?"
Addy heard the sound of the door open behind them, but ignored it, "Sentinel Hill, Westfall."
The officer nodded and scribbled it down, and Addy handed him the letter. He told her to wait a moment as he walked into a back room with it.
Addy waited awkwardly, looking around the room. She spotted the lone man who had walked in, a red haired man reading a scroll with a frown. He looked up when he spotted her and gave her a smile which didn't seem nearly as friendly as the officer behind the desk.
"Hello." He nodded at her.
Addy winced, hoping the man wouldn't try to start a conversation, "Hello."
"Miss Adeile Fairchild, correct?"
Addy startled, whipping her head so fast she strained her neck, staring at him incredulously, "Excuse me?"
"Nineteen years old, moved to Westfall with your grandfather when you were five. Father was Dalmas Fairchild, Mother Philomela Fairchild, missing, presumed dead-"
"Excuse me." Addy repeated, her teeth grinding together in rage as she glared at the stranger in front of her, "Who the hell are you! And how do you know these things!?"
The man gave her a wry grin, looking amused by her anger, "Just had to make sure. My name is Mathias Shaw."
He paused as if he expected her to know what that meant. She just glared at him, clenching her fists at her side, "Who are you!" She repeated.
"My apologies." He said unapologetically, "I'm the head of Alliance intelligence. It's my job to...know things about people."
Addy loosened a bit, but she still glared at him. "What do you want?" She snipped.
"Well." Shaw rolled up the scroll he'd been reading, slipping it into his belt, "There are people who wish to know about the girl who'd caught the Prince's eye."
"Oh, light." Addy groaned, hoping her cheeks didn't look as red as they felt, "Look, he asked to spar with me."
Shaw chuckled, shaking his head, "I am not concerned with that. The King simply likes to know what kind of people his son spends his time with - and whether or not he should be concerned."
Addy sighed. She probably should have expected this. The King's fierce overprotective behaviour concerning his only son was legendary. The only thing that surprised her was that she hadn't been approached much sooner.
"So?" Shaw questioned, "Should he be concerned?"
Addy scoffed, crossing her arms as she shrunk in a bit, "Look, the Prince spoke to me. I never once went looking for him. In fact, as far as I'm concerned I could go the rest of my life without ever speaking to him again."
Shaw chuckled, "Yes you seemed quite upset with him."
Addy opened her mouth to respond, only to pause as a thought came to mind, "Have you been spying on me?"
"Not me personally, no." He seemed to find the idea laughable and Addy wondered if she should feel insulted, "But I have contacts in the Royal Court who found your exchange very amusing."
Addy immediately tried to think of anyone who had been in the courtyard that day. It had been the usual people. The same off duty city guards practicing in the sand pits, the same group of courtly ladies gossiping, the same families spending their time with their children...there hadn't been anyone new or notable that had caught her attention. She wondered which one of them had been spying on her since she arrived.
She swallowed, ignoring the sinking feeling in her gut, "Like I said. I have nothing to do with whatever the Prince does."
"And the five hundred gold he bought your farm with?"
Addy bristled, her face flushed, "You think I'm blackmailing him?"
"You can understand that the King is concerned." Shaw tried to defend himself.
Addy felt her fingernails digging into her palm as she tried to keep her cool, knowing it most likely wasn't a good idea to clock the Head of Intelligence in the face. "I haven't touched that gold, and i don't plan to. If you really had a 'contact' in the court, then they would tell you that I told His Highness where he could stuff it!"
A voice cleared their throat and she straightened, looking at the floor in embarrassment. She turned to look at the Post officer who stood there awkwardly, but still holding the same professional stance.
"Your letter will be sent within the week." He gave her an uncertain look.
"Thank you." She replied with a stiff smile.
She turned and gave Shaw one more deadly glare, before pushing past him and storming out of the post office.
How dare he make such assumptions about her! If he knew anything about her he'd know that his assumptions were unthinkable.
Her mind flashed to what he'd said about her parents. Missing, presumed dead. She wasn't sure what to think about that. She assumed it was because no bodies had ever been found, but she was pretty damned sure they were dead. Whether or not they'd stayed that way was the mystery.
Either way the man had no right to bring them up. She hoped he'd gotten whatever the hell he'd came for because if she had her way she'd never speak with him again.
Her rage made her walk towards the keep, subconsciously heading to the place where she usually vented her age. She paused in front of the main gates, chewing her lip as she stared through the doors.
On one hand, whacking training dummies with a blunt sword always made her feel a bit better. On the other, she was terrified that the bloody Prince would be there, waiting for her. He'd mentioned that he spent most of his time in the library, where he'd seen her training from. Would be try to speak with her if he saw her there?
She could go somewhere else. But she was a creature of habit, and she was comfortable with the courtyard.
Addy steeled her shoulders. Damn him! The courtyard was a public area, and she wasn't going to let him chase her out of it. She liked it there.
Without another word she marched through the gates and through the keep, taking the steps two at a time as she made her way to the courtyard.
She stormed to the sand filled pits, immediately grabbing a sword without checking to make sure it was balanced properly, picked a dummy and started to whack.
Sometimes the dummy was the Prince, other times it was Gryan or Shaw. Other times it was the Pit Lord or the King or whoever else she felt even mildly annoyed with. The sword was too heavy in her hands, so she tired quickly, but nearly destroyed the dummy in the meantime.
Eventually she felt ready to collapse. The ground around her was filled with strewn straw and patches of cloth that had made the Horde tabard on the dummy. She ignored it, walking over to the weapons rack and placed the weapon back. She already felt a bit better, and not like she was going to hit the next person who spoke to her.
"Hello."
Oh boy.
Addy clenched her jaw, desperate to give whoever had made the mistake of speaking to her while she was in such a foul mood a chance. She turned to glare at the offending figure, but was surprised by who was standing behind her.
It was one of the courtly ladies who usually spent their day's on the benches on the edge of the courtyard, fanning themselves and gossiping about whatever had caught their fancy that day. The woman in front of her was probably around her age, maybe a bit older with pale skin and large doe eyes. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into an elegant bun at the base of her neck and she wore a large high necked blue dress in the Gilnean style.
She held herself up straight, watching Addy expectantly.
"Er...Hello?" Addy asked nervously.
The girl smiled, not a friendly one, but one that told her that she knew more about Addy than she was comfortable with, "How are you?"
"I'm fine?"
The woman nodded, her head tiled slightly, "I'm sure you must be confused." Addy nodded, "I just say, some of the other girls were...curious about you. Considering ."
"Considering?" Addy bit, feeling a headache forming.
The woman raised an eyebrow, "They're interested to know in your...relationship with the crowned Prince."
Addy clenched her jaw, "They're interested? Or you're interested?"
The woman smirked wryly, "Well...I can't say I'm not curious."
Addy rolled her eyes in annoyance, turning away from the woman to slam her sword back onto the rack. "Well there's nothing to tell. No relationship. No nothing. In fact..."
Addy turned back glare at the woman.
"I think I'd be perfectly alright if I never saw him again."
The woman tilted her head again, looking like she was studying her mentally, "Really?"
"Yes, really!" Addy snapped, done with trying to be polite.
"And the money?"
Addy recoiled like she'd been slapped, before her entire face burned red with humiliation. She looked around to see groups of people watching their conversation. Did everyone know about that? She saw the looks which she had assumed were curious, now looked suspicious and even accusatory.
"You think I'm blackmailing him." Addy hissed under her breath, furious that she had this conversation twice in one day.
"The Prince is paying you an rather incredibly amount of gold for practically nothing."
Addy fumed, "That was my home." She defended, "And I never asked for that money. He can keep it for all I care."
The noble woman nodded her head politely, which only made Addy more frustrated. Why couldn't she be as calm and collected as this woman. Instead she seemed like an uncivilized maniac, frothing at the mouth as she yelled at the rich and powerful of the land.
"You can see why people are concerned." The woman pointed out.
Addy's mind went back to Mathias, and her eyes narrowed. He'd said something very similar...
Addy flickered her eyes back to the noble woman, a flash of realization going off in her head, "You're the one Shaw was talking about. His 'contact' in the Royal Court."
The woman didn't respond, but she didn't deny it so Addy took it as a confirmation.
Addy suddenly felt exhausted. She wasn't sure how she'd ended up in the middle of this mess, but she sure as hell did want to be. Politics and court gossip bored her. All she wanted to do was practice her sword fighting in peace.
She glared at the woman, "I never once approached the Prince. I've spoken with him three times. Once at the Goldshire camps. Twice at the Cathedral when he was looking for information about the attack. Third when he asked to spar with me. If it's such a problem that we converse, take it up with him."
Addy grabbed her scarf which blew in the wind, making sure it was tucked into her neck. She marched away.
Before she got too far away she turned around and glared at the woman, who was watching her leave quietly.
"And tell him to stay away from me!"
Mathias Shaw stood in the shadows of the Keep of Stormwind. The Young Prince was in a meeting with several military commanders, discussing troop movements, surprising new situations and other day to day operations of the leadership of the Alliance. Shaw thought it was good that the Prince was getting this kind of opportunity. Growing up, Anduin had always tried to have a stronger foot in helping his father with the running of the kingdom. But Varian's vicious protective streak had kept Anduin at arms length. It seemed in the last few years that that barricade was fading, and the King was trusting his son more and more to the duties that would one day be his.
Of course Mathias had several of his people in the room with them, not that any of them knew that. But he had a duty to collect information.
The soft tapping of shoes against the marble floors of the keep caught his attention. He looked over to see a young woman walking towards him in a long blue dress.
He tilted his head in respect as she approached, "Your Highness."
Princess Tess Greymane nodded back, a smile on her face, "Master Shaw. A pleasure."
She walked over to him, holding out her hand. He grasped it lightly and placed a kiss on the back of her palm. He felt something shift into his hand from her's and he smiled, straightening.
She smiled back at him, "I'm hoping His Highness won't keep you long."
And without another word she continued on her way through the long hallway, do doubt heading towards her chambers to retire for the night. The Princess had a room close to her father in the keep, and fitting of her station. While her kingdom may be no more, people still offered her the respect she was due.
Mathias looked down to his hand, and the piece of paper she'd handed him. Only a handful of people knew of Tess Greymane position within SI:7 and he'd prefer to keep it that way. It was infallible to have someone in such a trusted position of power providing information. Tess Greymane had such an innocent visage about her nobody would expect her to be one of his top agents.
He unfurled the paper in his hands, reading over the words. A short coded message gave him information about several people she'd been keeping an eye on. A duke with ambitions near treasonous. A few soldiers who may have conflicting sympathies. And, of course, a small Westfall farm girl suspected of blackmailing the crown.
He read over the letter, a bit annoyed at Tess's direct approach. Mathias preferred a more subtle way of gathering information. Tess was much more forceful, sometimes going as far as to outright ask people for the knowledge she was seeking. She trusted her innocent demeanour too much and Shaw knew one day she'd get in trouble because of it.
The door to the briefing room opened and Mathias hurriedly tucked the scroll into the sleeve of his tunic. Two guards stood at attention as several men and women in their dress uniforms marched out of the room. Most of them seemed upset, some furious. Mathias was used to this. He'd rarely seen a man happy after a meeting with Varian Wrynn, and he doubted his son would be much different - no matter what the rest of the Court had thought.
The guard motioned for him to enter the room and Shaw nodded at them, walking into the briefing room.
Anduin Wrynn was rubbing at his forehead as he looked over a large pile of scrolls and parchments. The young prince looked a bit haggard, his hair slightly disheveled and dark circles under his eyes.
"How does he do it?" Anduin groaned, closing his eyes.
Shaw smirked as he walked over, "I believe the whiskey helps."
Anduin snorted, straightening with a wince, "Well I feel like now is about a time as any to take up drinking."
Mathias chuckled, walking over towards the table.
"What did you need Master Shaw?" The Prince asked politely.
Shaw pulled a thick scroll with a deep red seal on it. Anduin straightened up, his face becoming a mask of seriousness. "What's this?"
Shaw placed the scroll in front of him, "I believe it's a response to your father's letter."
Anduin swallowed nervously, but took the scroll. He broke the sigil of the Horde and opened the letter, his eyes moving over it. He saw the young Prince's eyebrow twitch upwards, no doubt because the letter had been written in Zandali, most likely as a power move. But Anduin didn't seem to have much trouble, his eyes moving over the letters.
Shaw already knew what it said. He'd read it hours before. He had his people open all mail sent to the crown. It didn't take much to put a poison power or potion into a scroll to kill whoever opened it. And letter's from the Horde were more scrutinizingly studied.
The Horde was pulling their troops out of Ashenvale, and into Azshara to mount a defence of their northern border, very similarly to what the Alliance had done with Westfall.
"Tyrande will be happy." Anduin pointed out, and Shaw agreed. "Although I'm not sure how I feel about the Horde amassing their military."
"As long as it's focused on defence." Shaw pointed out.
Anduin nodded, "Let's hope it stays that way."
Shaw agreed. War was exhausting, especially for a rogue. He'd lost too many friends over the last decade. He wasn't eager to lose anybody else.
"No Horde warlocks involved." Anduin pointed out with a note of frustration, "And they have no leads on the source of the attack."
Mathias nodded, but he knew there was a 'but' in there. That the Horde had the same suspicions that they all did. The suspicions that nobody wanted to say out loud in fear of making it true.
Anduin rubbed his forehead again, "My father only arrived in Teldrassil a few hours ago. He won't be home for a few more days. Until then, let's keep this between us. I don't want Gryan and Jaina to find out the Horde is building an army, no matter whether or not it's for defence."
Shaw nodded, "And the other leaders? The Council? Mekkatorque?"
"I can't make a decision like that." Anduin shook his head, "Not without speaking to my father. We'll wait till he comes home. And then we'll decided where to go from there."
Mathias supposed if the young prince had one weakness, it was his indecision. He was barely more than a child and more often than not the master spy saw him second guessing his decisions when left in a position of power, waiting for his father to come and take control. But Shaw knew that confidence would come with experience. And the young Prince should have plenty more experience before he comes into power - years and years no doubt.
But very quickly Shaw realized that Anduin's leadership abilities were about to be put to the test.
Because in that moment, the sound of a loud explosion echoed through the room, causing the table they were standing by to shutter lightly.
Anduin and Shaw exchanged look of worry, before simultaneously running towards the large window and looking outside over the city.
But it wasn't the city.
It was across the bay, over the skies of land you could barely see over the horizon. A large, swirling green mass with bolts of lighting and a roaring echo Shaw could hear from the castle.
Shaw felt his limbs go numb as he realized what he was witnessing.
Westfall was under attack.
A/N: Yay rogues! I'm not a huge fan of playing rogues, but I loved the rogue class order campaign so I'm definitely including it. Also I love Tess Greymane, I think she's severely under utilized in the game.
WARNING: So there's been some issues with the alert system on . I know I haven't been getting emails for all my alerted stories, and I know a few of you weren't getting alerts for this one. I think FFN has fixed this issue, and I don't know if it was an issue with my account, or the entire site. However if you're still not getting updates, I also post this story on Archive of Our Own.
Now that thats out of the way - thank you so much for the support for this story. You guys have been so amazing. Your reviews are so lovely and make my day. Feel free to follow me on my WoW tumblr medvh.
Until next time,
-Ash