Chapter 17: Aegwynn and the Dragon Hunt

Anduin rushed through the dark corridor of the city walls, stopping every now and then to peek out to remain aware of his position. He knew better than to run through the streets of the city, and this was the quickest way to the Cathedral from where he'd been.

He eventually arrived beside the Cathedral District, and pulled himself out of the wall. A few people recognized him, but he was a common site at the church so nobody stopped him or questioned him as he quickly ran up the steps.

He entered the Cathedral and nodded to the Bishop before making his way to the stairs that lead to the basement. He briefly remembered meeting Addy there, it had been the first conversation they'd really had. But he pushed that to the back of his mind. He was on a mission after all.

He travelled into the back room with the shelves of books not meant for public consumption. Rare books and old books and books with information on dark rituals and evil magics that were best kept under lock and key. He searched through the shelves, trying to locate what he was searching for.

He quickly located a scroll with a purple ribbon wrapped around it tightly. It was old and he was gentle as he unrolled it and placed it on the table, the flickering candlelight lighting it up.

The scroll wasn't uncommon, but it was old. Very old. One of the very first copies of Aegwynn and the Dragon hunt. His eyes scanned the scroll, looking for something very specific.

"Fearing that Sargeras' spirit would linger on, Aegwynn locked the ruined husk of his body within one of the ancient temples of a lost goddess of Kalimdor that had been abandoned and destroyed when the Well of Eternity collapsed"

Anduin knew his history. The Kalimdor this scroll referred too was not the Kalimdor they knew today, but the huge continent that had once included all land they knew today.

This wording in this scroll was different than more modern versions of the tale. Newer tales say the building was sunk, but this one simply said destroyed. But that wasn't what concerned him. The scroll spoke of 'Ancient temple of a lost goddess'. Newer tales referred to it as an Ancient hall, but this...this seemed to hint at something else.

He went back to the shelf, looking for a different book. This one was newer, a few decades old at most, but it was the only copy of it in the entire world.

Anduin located it easily enough, the blue and gilded gold bindings made it stand looked over the title with a small smile.

'Tales from The Second Great War' by High General Turalyon.

Anduin knew there were hundreds of people who would give their right arms for a chance to read this book. Anduin had read it a hundred times, it was one of his favourites, if only for the fact that it was written by Turalyon himself. But also for another reason.

This book bad been written after the second war, but before Khadgar and Turalyon and Alleria and the other heroes had gone through the Dark Portal. He had interviewed hundreds of men who all told their tales and he had complied them into a history of sorts.

But what made this book truly unique, however, is that the Paladin had interviewed many of the captured Orc's, getting an altogether different side of the story.

He remembered something in here quite clearly - a great mystery of the Second War. It seemed so obvious to him now that he wanted to slap himself. How hadn't they seen it? How hadn't they made this connection?

He quickly found what he was looking for. A nameless orc, a foot solider in the infant Horde. But he had spoken of something that none others had: The Fate of Gul'dan.

"...He took a boat, our fastest. And some orcs, not fighters, the ones who wield the magic of Gul'dan. They travelled into the great sea. I heard them talking, talking of a temple where a great power rested, a power that would rid us of any enemy that stood in our path..."

A temple...

Many people had wondered what had happened to the Warlock. He had simply vanished, and no one had seen him until Illidan Stormrage had shown up with his skull. How he'd died had been a mystery.

Gul'dan worked for the Legion, in this timeline and the next one. If Sargeras was trapped in a sunken temple...or a destroyed temple, no doubt he would seek him out.

It had been years since the assault on Hellfire Citadel, the defeat of Archimonde and Gul'dan. But Gul'dan hadn't died. Could he have found his way into their world? Their timeline. And if so, what was stopping him from completing the very mission his alternate self had died trying to accomplish.

He gathered up the two books. He needed to take this to his father.

Addy spent her evening training in her room. Sit ups, pull ups, push ups. She did so until the sweat rolled off her body and she collapsed into her bed, not bothering to light a fire. There was enough heat from the pub and the winter air from outside cooled her hot skin.

She regretted it in the morning. She curled up in her bed, freezing, long before the sun rose above the horizon.

She pulled herself out of bed, dressed, and made her way to the tower where she started her run. She usually began without Father Samuel present, but by the time it ended he would be waiting at the end of the tower for her.

Her runs were much better than they had been. She still had to walk the last lag, but she was no longer crawling for half of it.

Afterwards Father Samuel took her to an arena: didn't matter which one, as long as no one else was there. There he would proceed to pummel her for several hours.

He swung his large sword down on her and she side stepped, swinging to strike at his unprotected side, but he pulled back. She quickly brought her sword to her front, ready to protect herself from any hit.

He swung at her neck and she ducked, twisting to sweep his feet out from under him. He fell back, but landed on his hands, flipping and springing back to his feet.

"Get in closer." Samuel barked, "You're smaller, with a smaller sword. Get in close and those with a large sword can't reach you."

Addy nodded and twisted in close, slicing upward. He leapt back and she came in close again, and again, and again. She twisted and turned, slamming the blunted metal against his. Neither of them could get a hit until with a dingle move Samuel grabbed her pony tail and yanked her to the ground. She screamed as he pressed the tip of his sword to her throat.

"And get rid of that." He grumbled, overtop of her. "Cut it off, or braid it tight. Anything the enemy can grab is dangerous.

Addy rubbed her head where he tore at her hair, stumbling to her feet. "You're grumpy today."

He didn't respond, instead opening his water skin and taking a deep drink.

Addy narrowed her eyes, "Why are you grumpy?"

Father Samuel looked up at the skies. He reached behind him to redo the elastic which held his dreads out of his face. He had a contemplative look on his face and it concerned her a bit.

She wouldn't say they were close, at least not anymore than mentor and apprentice. The only words they ever shared were commands and affirmations. But she spent more time with him than any other, even the prince and Mr. Tim, so she was getting good at reading him.

"Every winter I travel to the Abbey." He said, "Only for a fortnight, usually to train a few common folk who make the voyage for basic training from the local farms."

"Why the winter?" Addy asked, curious, "Wouldn't summer be better?"

"Most of the men and women I train are farmers." He explained, "Some want to protect themselves from bandits, others want to be warriors and soldiers and require basic training. They pay a small tax to the church, offers their services for the winter, and in exchange the church trains them. As a Paladin I am a servant of the church, and I answer the call most winters."

Addy nodded, swinging her sword around, "Alright, then we'll take a break for couple of weeks, I'll train on my own. It's not that big of a deal."

He paused, then shook his head, "It's different this year. The majority of the Stormwind army was decimated. People are lining up, coming from all over the Eastern Kingdoms to train. It's the cheapest and quickest way. Normally I train half a dozen, right now there's more than fifty waiting, and more come every day."

Addy felt like she'd swallowed a lemon, "How...how long will you be gone?"

"Until spring." Father Samuel winced, "Maybe longer. Depending."

"Oh."

She felt bitter. He was supposed to train her, she did everything he wanted, trained sun up to sundown and worked harder that she'd ever worked in her life. Her body had hardened, her muscles growing, her power growing. And now he was going to leave, for months? She needed to be ready for the next attack, and she wasn't right now! What if they attacked when he was gone?

"You have options." Father Samuel continued. Addy looked at him curiously, "You can stay here, train on your own, continue your exercises, and wait for me to return. Or..."

Addy waited for him to elaborate, "Or?"

"Or." He smirked at her, "You could come with me."

Addy paused for a moment. She hadn't thought of that. She hadn't ever considered leaving Stormwind. She'd only been here six months or so, but it was her home now. She had a bed, some friends. Was she willing to leave it all behind again?

The last time she left home she'd never returned.

"Think on it." Father Samuel raised his sword, "Now block!"

Addy scrambled her sword up as he swung at her with his massive two handed sword.

Anduin spent maybe an hour trying to explain his train of thought to his father. At first his father had seemed dubious, but the more Anduin went over everything the more his Father seemed to believe him, and even agree with him.

"I think it's the same temple." Anduin explained, "Aegwynn buried the Avatar of Sargeras in an old Night Elf Temple. If Gul'dan was working with the Legion it would make sense that he would search for this Tomb, and release the essence of Sargeras from the Avatar."

His Father frowned, looking down at the accounts of the First and Second wars written by Turalyon. His eyes looked far away and Anduin got the sense he was lost in memory.

"What if alternate Gul'Dan went to the same place? It's probably soaked in fel energy already, and nobody knows where it is."

"We need to talk to Tyrande." HIs father muttered, looking around, "Maybe she know's where this Temple is. Or where it was at the very least."

Anduin walked over to a large map of Azeroth his father kept pinned to the wall. It was covered in drawings and lines and small pins recoridng newly discovered land and troop movements. He saw a line of small pin holes in the drawn outline of Pandaria and winced, knowing immediately that it was the remnants of his Father tracking Anduin's movements in the continent.

He looked over the map and started to locate possible areas where an undiscovered island might be.

"Here..." He motioned to an area of sea south of Pandaria, "We've never explored here. And...here." He pointed to water west of the Khaz Modan, between it and the Maelstorm, "We always avoid this area because the Maelstrom creates a riptide and unpredictable waters. But then again, we never noticed Pandaria until a few years ago and it's practically in the middle of our shipping routes."

"One step at a time." Varian sighed, "I'll ask Tyrande if she has any maps from before the sundering. If we can track this temple back then, maybe we can narrow down where it ended up."

Anduin let out a breathe of relief. They finally had something of a plan, an idea where to look.

"I have some bad news."

Anduin paused, feeling a moment of panic as he looked up to his father. The man looked pinched and awkward, but more amused than anything. Anduin relaxed a bit, but still watched him hesitantly.

"What is it?"

His father opened a wooden drawer and pulled out a scroll, "Got this. Apparently Princess Tess has decided to travel to Darnassus to spend the holiday's with her mother."

Anduin felt the blood drain from his face, "What?"

His father's lip twitched, and he looked down at the scroll, "Yes. So it seems that she won't be able to attend the ball with you."

Anduin groaned and dropped his head into his hands. Since Tess had come to live in the city she'd attended every Ball of the year. At first they'd both assumed they would be married one day, but then Tess discovered a rather strong crush on Duchess Lucia and that future seemed to vanish. After that it was a sort of ruse, attending with each other to avoid having to attend with someone else.

"What if I don't go with anyone?" Anduin asked.

"Well..." Varian tilted his head, "If you want to risk offending every Lord and Lady in the city. But you know what I think about that."

Anduin snorted. His father always managed to offend at least three nobles at any good event. Anduin was never sure what he said but more than once he'd seen officials glancing at him wistfully, like they couldn't wait for the day they didn't have to deal with his father anymore.

Anduin sighed, running over potential people in his mind, "Who hasn't sent a proposal for marriage?"

"Lady Faraday." HIs father thought about it, "Lady Margaret. Duchess Lydia. And...I think Lady Bradley."

Anduin groaned. Lady Faraday was engaged, Duchess Lydia was a forty-seven year old widow, and Lady Bradley was seven. Lady Margaret could be appropriate but he knew she would likely attend with Lord Farley, with whom she'd been having a rather sordid affair.

"What about Miss Fairchild?"

Anduin groaned, "Not this again."

His father shrugged, "You're friendly with her. You might as well attend with someone whose company you'll enjoy."

Anduin shook his head for a few seconds, before straightening,"I don't think it's something she'd be interested in.'

"You won't know if you don't ask." Varian pointed out. He reached around the table and grabbed the papers and books anduin had brought him, "I need to find Tyrande."

Anduin nodded and waved him off, watching as he left the room. Anduin sighed and looked down, wincing as he stood up.

His father had a point.

Addy was surprised to find Anduin standing outside her room the next day.

"Are we sneaking out again?" She snorted, smiling at him, "I'm not exactly free today, you know."

"Would you like to attend the ball with me?"

Addy's expression froze, "Excuse me?"

"The Winter Veil ball." It was only now that she noticed how awkward he looked, his face red and pink and avoiding looking directly at her, "As friends, I mean."

Addy blinked, still trying to process what he was saying. To be honestly it sounded...awful. The exact opposite of something she would find enjoyable. Lords and Ladies parading around in jewels and crystals and a year of someone's life stitched on their backs. She could imagine their jeers and sneers and constant attention on the poor ugly peasant girl who'd come with the Prince.

"Normally I got with Tess." Anduin continued, rambling, "I know she's not interested in me and it keeps the others at bay. But now she's gone to Teldrassil to spend the season with her mother. And throwing me to the wolves..." He muttered the last bit to himself, his face pinched a bit.

Addy snorted, but still shifted awkwardly, words flowing from her mouth before she could stop them, "I can't actually...I'm er...not going to be in the city."

She regretted them as soon as they left her mouth, as Anduin deflated completely, "Oh. Where are you going?'

She racked her brain trying to remember the place, "Northshire. Father Samuel is heading up there to train new recruits and I'm going with him." She paused, looking at his surprised expression, "I was going to tell you, but it was a recent decision."

As in five seconds ago.

He paused, "How long are you going to be gone."

"Spring." She remembered Father Samuel saying, "Maybe a bit longer. It depends on how many need training."

"Yeah, we need the men." Anduin spoke like he was reading off a script.

"Sorry about the ball." Addy spoke, trying not to sound as relieved as she felt, and trying to erase the expression on his face from her memory. The word 'crushed' came to mind.

Anduin shook his head, "I'll figure something out. May I write you?"

Addy blinked at him in surprise, "Why?"

"Why?" He frowned, "We're friends. Friends write other friends."

She flushed. He was her friend, wasn't he? How had they become friends without her realizing it? Especially since she'd been so against it? She looked up at him face, which looked so bright and eager and innocent and realized that it had probably been inevitable.

"I can't read." She reminded him, "Or write."

"I'll write you anyways." He shrugged. "I'm sure there's a scribe there somewhere."

Addy didn't reply to that. She felt a bit..strange, thinking about that. She wasn't sure she'd want anyone to see her messages with the Prince. She didn't think they would talk about anything sensitive in nature, but at the same time she still felt rather private about their time together.

"I'll keep you updated too." Anduin promised, "About the attacks. As much as I can anyways."

Addy gave him a grateful smile, "I'd appreciate that. I...did you find out whatever it was you figured out yesterday?"

Anduin paused, but then nodded softly, "Yeah...I just remembered these old books that might have some hints about where the Legion's portal to Azeroth is."

Addy peered around the small hall, looking at the door that lead back into the pub, "Why don't you come in. I don't think Mr. Tim likes you very much."

"Probably because he thinks I'll have him arrested for the illegal Warlock Cult in the basement."

Addy gapped at him, her mind reeling, "The Illegal what in the where now?"

Anduin snorted before covering his mouth with his hand, flushing, "Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"I'm gonna skin him." Addy grumbled, narrowing her eyes at the door to the pub before opening the door to her bedroom, "Come in."

Anduin hesitated, and Addy supposed it was improper. But she didn't care. She wasn't planning anything untoward and she knew Anduin was too honourable to try anything with her. He walked into her small room, looking around with a small smile.

"I like the flowers." He pointed to the small pot of purple chrysanthemums beside her bedside table.

Addy shrugged, sitting on her bed, "I pick them from the garden by the mage tower. The local gardener is annoyed, but hasn't figured out it's me yet. I've been thinking about switching to tulips just to mix things up a bit."

Anduin raised an eyebrow. The mages were rather proud of their small charmed garden. It grew, even in winter with arcane barriers around it to keep out the snow. He knew they were probably more than a little annoyed with her innocent thefts but he found himself smiling along with her.

"It's too bad you'll miss New Years." Anduin smiled, opting to stand instead of sitting on the bed with her, "The fireworks are spectacular."

"I know." Addy smiled softly, "You could see them from Sentinel Hill. I used to go every year and watch them with my Grandfather and Gryan."

Anduin looked a bit nervous at the mention of Gryan, and Addy knew he still felt guilty for his death - as if he'd personally caused it. He leaned against the wall in her room, crossing his arms, "When I was a boy, my father and I used to watch them from his room in the keep - he has a perfect view over the city. I remember once when I was eight he didn't show up. I was...sad, I think. He'd been getting more and more distant at the time. Now I know it was due to Onyxia's manipulations, but it still hurt. He showed up a few hours later and I remember seeing the look of realization on his face when he saw me sitting there. Ever since he's made sure to come back to see the fireworks with me. Even when he was in Northrend he had a portal opened so he could come back home and watch them with me."

Addy felt a burst of something in her chest - nostalgia for something she'd never known. She'd never had a father, or a mother. Not that she could remember. And for the first time she could remember she thought she might actually miss them.

"He loves you very much."

Anduin had a dopy side smile that made her heart race a bit in her chest. "Yeah. I know. It's unbearable." He joked lightly. "He was the one who suggested I ask you."

"W-What" Addy's voice raised a few notches, "He what?"

Anduin laughed at her confusion and flushed face, "Calm down. He just knows that we're friends and that I like to avoid...I suppose 'courtship proposals' would be a polite way of phrasing it."

"Is it really so bad?" Addy asked, feeling a bit amused and glad for a change to a more light hearted topic.

Anduin seemed to sink into himself, groaning, "Not really. I mean..." He trailed off, "It's more the staring. Most Ladies of the court would never approach directly. They wait for you to approach them - so for the entire night they stare, like a group of lionesses waiting to pounce on their pray."

Addy snorted, "Sounds dangerous."

"Yes, well it's nothing like what my father has to go through." Anduin smirked, "He never takes a date, because of well...you know. But plenty of ladies seem to think that he might actually remarry one day. At least I usually have Tess to keep the lions at bay."

Addy tried to imagine Anduin crouching behind Tess Greymane, the tiny girl in her fancy blue dress and chuckled to herself.

"Oh it's good to know the Alliance is in the hands of such brave warriors." She quipped.

Anduin laughed outright at that, looking surprised at her audacity.

They entered a comfortable silence for a few moments, the sounds of people walking by outside and the occasional caw of a raven echoing from outside and the cackling from the small fire place in the corner of her room.

"You'll come back, right?" Anduin asked suddenly, looking at her sadly, "To Stormwind?"

Addy looked around the small room that had become her home. She'd probably have to leave it, she couldn't afford to keep paying rent for it if she wasn't working. "I'll go wherever Father Samuel goes, until I finish my training."

"And after that?" Anduin asked.

Addy frowned, "After that...I'll go where I'm needed. To fight the Legion. So I suppose you'll just have to find that portal for me."

"I suppose so." Anduin mumbled, a small frown on his face.

Addy paused for a moment, trying to understand what had cause his mood to sour, "I'll come back eventually, I...suppose this is my home now. I'll always come back home."

Anduin smiled a bit, but it didn't reach his eyes, "Would it be too forward of me to say that I'll miss you?"

"I don't know." Addy gave him a soft smile, "I might be offended."

"I hope not."

Addy paused at the serious tone in his voice, "I suppose...I would miss your company as well."

"Just my company?" He asked, his eyes bright and playful like they always should be. Addy flushed and he gave her a wide smile, "I'll write...I promise."

"And I'll come back." Addy retorted, "I promise."

Both of these promises weighted on their hearts as they talked long into the night.

A/N: Definitely a shorter chapter than last time - sorry to say but long chapters like that aren't gonna be the norm. This chapter's a bit of a filler, with a bit of exposition which I hate but what can you do. To be honest I kind of hate this chapter. It's mostly just full of stuff that didn't fit into last chapter, but didn't fit into the next one.

I'll try to update soon. Next chapter is a long one and kind of a two for one sort of deal. Lots of Addy and Lot's of Father Samuel that's for sure.

Feel free to follow me on my WoW tumblr anduinnwrynn (changed from medvh).

Until Next time,

-Ash