Chapter Three: The Horde's Response

Warchief Thrall arrived at Razor Hill on wolfback. Yet he found the place oddly deserted. The few warriors that were there were scurrying around in a panic. Meanwhile, the peons were scurrying to build forts.

One of the warriors rushed up to him. "Warchief, you are here. Thank the spirits."

"Where are your wolf riders?" asked Thrall.

"There was an attack on the Valley of Trials," said the warrior. "A single human appeared and killed the teacher, along with several students. One of them escaped and alerted us; he said the attacker wanted to join Lieutenant Benedict."

"I have heard that human adventurers have defied Lady Proudmoore," mused Thrall. "Still, none have been so brazen before now."

"We sent the wolfriders after them," said the warrior. "They fled into the Valley of Trials. There was only one, however…"

"Look Warchief!" said a warrior.

Thrall did look and saw, coming out of the Valley of Trials, a force of humans clad in white and red. With them were a strange banner and one orcs. Thrall peered at it beneath the sun and finally got a look. "That emblem, a flame. I've never seen the like on any human.

"No matter. Our wolf riders are likely dead. Though how they entered the valley with none knowing is beyond me. Gather the infantry. We will move to intercept them before they reach Tiragarde Keep."

And so the army began.


Tanith had a pretty good feeling about things so far.

She'd killed a lot of orcs, and now more of them were coming down toward them from the hills. However, some of the men with her shuddered as they saw a particular huge orc coming toward them. He was on a path to intercept them.

"That's Warchief Thrall," said one.

"Really?" asked Tanith. "Is he good? At fighting?"

"Very," said Turus. "If we face him alone, we're likely to fail badly. And he looks to be trying to put himself between ourselves and Lieutenant Benedict."

"Do you think we'll make it?" asked Tanith.

"Even if we do, Thrall is very powerful," said Turus. "I doubt any of us will be able to defeat him. He's also a brilliant tactician. And if he has come to Razor Hill, then he is almost certainly going to meet with Lady Proudmoore."

"Well then, it's a good thing he's left Razor Hill, isn't it?" said Tanith. "With the troops, he's brought down from Razor Hill and those wolf riders we killed, there isn't much left in the town."

"If we make for it, he'll see us," said Yarrog.

"Those imps you summoned before?" asked Tanith. "Do you have any more of them?"

"Yes," said Yarrog.

"Then send them against him," said Tanith. "They'll keep his forces occupied while we sack the town."

"Very well then," said Yarrog.

Moving forward, Yarrog began to summon the imps who before had merely been hiding. They came forward, and he sent them to attack. As he did, Tanith moved before her men, they'd be hers soon enough. "Alright, listen all of you! We're not going to have a lot of time, so get your priorities straight! Our goal is to steal supplies and essential equipment, killing as many people as we possibly can while we do it!

"No gold, no jewels! Nothing that doesn't have a use! That comes later! Now move it! If anyone falls behind I'll hack them down myself!"

The imps charged toward Thrall and his warriors. They began pelting them with fireballs.

Thrall replied by launching a barrage of lightning that killed several. Yet as the warriors tried to close, some of the imps ran back while others fired. Then the ones who had been running fired while the others ran.

At this rate, they'd end up getting drawn out and exhausted.

Thrall decided not to let that happen and summoned many spirit wolves that came at the imps from behind. As they were hit, the orcs closed, and a melee ensued. Before long, the creatures were being hacked up by the superior warriors.

And then Thrall saw the burning.

Looking up from the fray, he saw Razor Hill was on fire. The humans were running amok, killing, and burning everything in sight around them. Peons were being herded into buildings as the towers were torn down. "Cowards! To me, warriors! We must aid our brethren!"


Tanith slashed down a number of peons with ease. Then she snatched up a burning stick from a brazier and tossing it into the nearby house. It burned with a nice light.

After that fiasco with Melchious, she'd been feeling really down. But it was nice to finally get back to raiding and pillaging. Not that there was really time for proper looting. Of course, they'd had to prioritize proper supplies—food and such.

Yarrog came up to her. "They seem to have realized your plan."

Tanith looked down to where Thrall was coming toward them. They looked very angry. Then she looked to where the peons were being rounded up as she ordered. "Herd these into the town hall, then set it on fire.

"Once you do that, we'll make a break for it. It may slow them down."

The plan was pretty standard practice, and it worked perfectly. Either the orcs lost a village, or Tanith delayed the pursuit. By the time Thrall arrived, she and her warriors were making a run for Tiragarde at full speed. A glance back revealed that Thrall was summoning rainfall. It was putting the fires out while warriors splashed buckets on the water.

Soon enough, they'd left Razor Hill behind. Ladened with goods of all kinds came before the gates of Tiragarde Keep. As they did, men with many arms came forward while archers peered down from above.

Lieutenant Benedict, or so Tanith assumed, came forward. "I am Lieutenant Benedict of Kul'Tiras! Who are you? State your business!"

"We are enemies of the Horde," said Tanith with a shrug.

Benedict eyed her warily. "…Then we have a common purpose. If it is true." Then his eyes fixed on Yarrog. "Why are there orcs among you?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," said Tanith. "These orcs are no longer part of the Horde. But they've got their uses.

"I have a token of goodwill." She motioned, and the goods and food were brought forward. She also tossed the bag of heads to Benedict, who looked within and nodded. "The best kind of token."

"Unfortunately, we have a problem," said Tanith. "The orcs pursued us here and destroyed our rear guard. I'm afraid that they will soon attack us. We have to stand ready to defeat them."

"We've stood ready since Admiral Proudmoore was slain and before," said Benedict.

"Right, I know," said Tanith. "Here's the thing, though, I don't think we can take them here."

"Then we will die honorably," said Benedict.

"Sure, but wouldn't it be better to live honorably while doing further harm to the Horde?" asked Tanith.

Benedict halted. "Yes."

Tanith smiled and drew out the letter from Jaina. "Well then, I suggest you accept this offer."

Benedict looked at it. "An offer from Colonel Loreena of Theramore to evacuate us to safe regions."

"It's from Jaina, of course," said Jaina. "She thinks pretending her most subordinate is acting against her will convince you. I don't expect you to have any faith in her. Who would have faith in a witch who killed her own father?"

"Then why did you bring this to me?" asked Benedict.

"Because I'm on your side," said Tanith. "And I think that Tiragarde isn't worth holding. Your just a nuisance. The Alliance doesn't benefit from having forces out here. Especially forces that could be useful elsewhere.

"So, you should accept this offer and then join Jaina's military."

"You would have us fight for her?!" asked Benedict.

"I'm not asking you to fight for her," said Tanith, at once recognizing the weakness. "Fight for humanity, for the people who the Horde threatened. They'll feel much better, I'll feel much better, with loyal soldiers like you guarding them, rather than patricidal morons like Proudmoore.

"Proudmoore has no honor. But her subjects still need protection. Serve them, not her. Serve the Alliance."

"Tanith, this plan will never work," said Turus flatly.

"What do you mean?" asked Tanith.

"There is an entire orc army that will be coming toward us," said Turus, motioning. "If it attacks and wins, we'll all die. If it attacks us and we win, Proudmoore will never be able to accept us back."

"Well then, it's a good thing that the white flag has been invented," said Tanith.

Turus' words proved prophetic. Soon enough, Warchief Thrall arrived. But he did not come with a small force, but a huge one. Vast numbers of orcs were marching, with wolf riders and ogres among them. As they came, Tanith motioned. "Raise the flag of parley."

"What are you going to do?" asked Benedict.

"I'm going to explain that all of this was an unfortunate misunderstanding," said Tanith.

Benedict choked. "You're joking."

"No, really," said Tanith. "No one we've fought has actually survived aside from Razor Hill. So, I'll say that I was attacked by the orcs I killed and slaughtered them in self-defense. Then Razor Hill was necessary destruction to get away from an attacking army."

"What about the one you let go?" asked Yarrog incredulous.

"I'll just call him a liar," said Tanith with a shrug. "Can I uh… challenge him to single combat or something?"

"That might actually work," said Turus.

"Hmm," said Yarrog. "In questions of honor, orcs are forbidden from choosing champions. They must fight for their own honor so if we can convince Warchief Thrall to determine whether or not we are guilty based on the duel. We'll at least put him in the position of breaking his word."

"That will clear me, but not you," mused Tanith. "I know, we'll say that we used an obscure ritual to seize control of demons summoned by another demon we killed.

"Also we succumbed to the fel corruptions, but we've changed."

"Zmodler?" guessed Yarrog.

"Yes, that," said Tanith. "And we were planning to unsummon, but the wolf riders attacked us, and we had to kill them."

"Do you honestly think that anyone is going to buy this?" asked Benedict.

"No, but we put out this story and then stalemate Thrall, he may let us go out of sheer frustration," said Tanith.

"…This is never going to work," said Turus, shaking his head.

"Then we'll improvise," said Tanith. "Benedict, are you alright with this plan?"

Benedict looked around. "Against my better judgment, yes."

The white flag was raised.

Now hopefully, the orcs would hesitate. If not, well, Tanith could always kill them all.


Jaina stared at Thrall after the emergency call.

She'd arrived in Razor Hill and found the place in ashes strewn with corpses. Quickly meeting with Thrall, she'd been filled in on the situation. How had things gone so badly so quickly? "These humans, they were in orc territory?"

"Yes, and there were orcs among them," said Thrall. "All wore the same tabards. It seems that both of our people's have traitors in their midst."

"It would explain why these ships you spoke of didn't respond," said Jaina. "I'll have to take a hard look at the members of my guards.

"Still, what are you going to do now?"

"We've received reports that they've been heading toward Tiragarde," said Jaina. "Our armies are amassing there, as we speak. We'll have to crush the keep unless they surrender."

"I have someone who should be negotiating with the keep as we speak," said Jaina quickly. "I was hoping to convince Lieutenant Benedict to leave peacefully, but…"

Jaina stopped and thought about things. "Thrall, I don't think he's part of this."

"The evidence is against him," grunted Thrall.

"It doesn't add up," said Jaina. "Benedict and his men are trapped in the past, but they are fighting for my father's memory. Father would never have sanctioned working with the demons, and they know it. Isn't it possible that these demon worshippers went to Benedict as an act of panic?"

"What do you mean?" asked Thrall.

"Well think about it from their perspective," said Jaina. "You're part of a conspiracy that has been working to undermine the truce between the Alliance and Horde. Your plan is working.

"Why would you then break cover in a way that unites the Alliance and Horde against you? It isn't in the Legion's character."

"Then you believe they panicked and made for Tiragarde in the hope of forging an alliance?" guessed Thrall.

"It is the logical thing to do, once you've been brought into the fold," said Jaina. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

"Keep gathering your armies and get ready for the siege. I'm going to head to Tiragarde and see if I can figure out what is going on."

"Very well then," said Thrall. "But if any of them try to leave, they will be killed."

Jaina sighed. "They certainly seem to be working well together. But how? Who could have engineered something like-"


Jaina should have known.

Tanith was walking among the men like she was in command of the place and barking orders. "Draw back! You heard me! I don't care if it means ceding ground, these fortifications are too broken to be of any use! We'll stick to more defensive terrain for our purposes!

"Get that barricade ready!

"You, make another ward. This building has to stand up to earthquakes for us to survive a siege."

Jaina moved forward. "Hello, Tanith."

Tanith looked at her and smiled. "Lady Proudmoore, I can explain how everything is going well."

"…Go ahead and try," said Jaina.

"Alright," said Tanith. "I arrived on the shore at night and decided to walk to Tiragarde. But I got turned around and ended up in the Valley of Trials. I went to ask some orcs for directions, and they decided to murder me and say the quillboars did it since I was alone.

"I killed every single one of them, but while I was doing that, two travelers arrived, and one attacked me. I guess he assumed I was the aggressor. I defended myself and killed him. His associate ran off on his own."

"And then you cut off their heads and hung them from Tiragarde Keep?" asked Jaina, seeing the grisly trophies.

"I thought that some orc heads would be valuable in getting Benedicts trust," said Tanith.

Jaina looked over to see numerous demon worshippers. They were hard at work, summoning imps with unholy rituals. "And the demon worshippers?"

"They aren't demon worshippers," said Tanith with a shrug. "They're hawks with bad fashion sense. I ran into them while hiding from wolf riders. I found them in a cave and learned that they had just finished a battle with a powerful demon named Zmodler. They defeated him by turning his own minions against him and having them tear him apart.

"We were about to finish the job of unsummoning them when the wolf riders showed up and attacked us. They said something about the Burning Legion. Some sort of cult, I guess.

"Anyway, we killed them in self-defense and made for Tiragarde so we could get a chance to explain ourselves. Thrall tried to kill us, and we used the imps to distract him so we could make our escape. Coincidentally said, escape led to us going through Razor Hill. Someone knocked over a torch, and the orcs there attacked us."

"The person you let escape, he said you murdered his grandfather. He said it was so you could give his head to Benedict," said Jaina. "So you'd have an even number."

"He's a damn liar," said Tanith with a shrug. "And I'll prove it over the body of any orc you like. Oh, good news, Lieutenant Benedict has volunteered to accept your proposal."

This was... not good.

Jaina struggled to not blast her where she stood. "… I'm going to go tell Thrall your claims. You'd better hope he believes you. If he doesn't, he'll probably kill every last one of you."

"I'd like to see him try," said Tanith flatly.

This was going to be a long, or very short, negotiation. Jaina was almost hoping for short.


Author's Note:

Just so everyone knows, the book series Tanith is from is now available on Wattpad for free.

Search Heaven and Hellfire, the Dreaming Goddess on Wattpad if you want to see it.