The Siege of Tranquillien

"There's so many..." A ranger muttered, catching Athrodar's attention and making him look over to the ranger who looked terrified.

"Focus." Athrodar whispered to them, making the scared ranger look over to their Lieutenant. "We aren't going to fight all of them on our own, alright?" He looked around at the rest of his unit. "We are here to slow them down, we will retreat back to Tranquillien and regroup with our army." He looked back to the thousands upon thousands of undead marching towards them, trying to convince himself in the meantime that they would even make it off the gate, let alone regroup with those at Tranquillien.

"You don't believe that yourself, do you?" Viraleth asked, keeping her voice low to not draw attention to their conversation.

"Can you blame me?" Athrodar answered with another question. "Look at them and then look at us. They have us beat on numbers at least a hundred to one. If we return to Tranquillien, it drops to two to one, which makes this in our favor." He stroked the tip of the arrow in his hand, watching the undead get closer. "I have to believe we will return home so they don't lose heart."

A couple minutes quickly passed by with the undead army coming towards them, getting closer and closer until the stench was almost unbearable. "Nock arrows!" Viraleth yelled, nocking an arrow in place. "Draw!" She then yelled, all of them drawing back the arrows and aiming at the undead charging towards the elf gate now. "Loose!"

The twenty or so rangers let loose their arrows, all of them hitting their targets yet only felling five, maybe six. "They're still moving." Athrodar said, watching a shambling corpse filled with arrows continue stumbling towards them, it was just hanging on, but such a thing did scare several of the rangers.

"How are we meant to defeat them? Our arrows did almost nothing to them!" One of the rangers yelled, dropping their bow. "We can't even kill ten, let alone the thousands there!"

"Stand your ground!" Athrodar yelled at them, telling the rest of them to fire at will and making his way over to the panicked ranger. "Pick up your bow and fight. The entire army is counting on us to slow them down so they can set up the defenses and we will do just that. We need everyone here to pull their weight." He picked up the bow and handed it to the ranger when they didn't move. "Are you going to fight?" He asked, watching them slowly nod. "Good."

Athrodar pulled out an arrow from his quiver, letting it loose into the army of undead trying to smash down the gates and quickly succeeding as it began to crack and creek under the constant pressure from the undead. "We need to retreat." Viraleth said, looking over to Athrodar. "They're going to break through any minute now."

Before Athrodar could call for a retreat, a giant, fleshy monstrosity charged forward and slammed into the gate, shaking the entire structure and almost knocking over the rangers on the wall above the the gate. "Shit..." He muttered, looking down at the giant undead slamming against the wall. "The abomination will take this whole gate down." He said, looking over to Viraleth. "We've got to get out of here."

"Retreat!" Viraleth yelled, following Athrodar off the walls of the first gate and retreating back towards Tranquillien. "Fall back!" She repeated, watching all the rangers follow their Lieutenant back to the rest of their army.

Tahnir stood beside his father Aerinan, both of them looking south and towards where Athrodar would be returning with his unit. "He's coming back." Aerinan told his son, looking over to him. "Your grandfather wouldn't have put so much faith into him if he wouldn't come back."

"He put so much faith into my son because he is the only one available for marriage and it just so happens to be the Ranger-General who is interested." Tahnir looked down the long line of rangers standing either side of them, spotting Sylvanas in the far distance. "I'm starting to cave under the constant pressure they're both putting me under. I think I will just let them be together after all of this."

Aerinan smiled a little, keeping his attention on the road leading south but listening to his son the entire time. "You fought the good fight, Tahnir. But sometimes you do have to concede defeat, even if you believe your fight was just. For all we know, he could learn to love her back. Or he could hate her, we will never know until it happens and just listening to the conversations both the Ranger-General and your grandfather have, I know she can't stop thinking about him. It's been a couple of decades since this started, you've made her wait long enough."

Tahnir began to smile a little. "It was nice having power over our General, even if it was for one thing."

Aerinan laughed and nodded his head. "Just don't tell your grandfather that. You're already on thin ice with him."

The two of them continued to discuss more mundane topics, family life and just trying to distract themselves from the battle that was about to happen any minute now. They were eventually interrupted by a High Elves war horn followed by Halduron's scouting party as well as Athrodar and his unit retreating back from the first elf gate. "They're coming." Athrodar told them once they were all inside Tranquillien. "Five minutes out. There's thousands of them, they broke through the first gate with ease."

"They'll find the second a lot harder." Belo'vir said, getting an agreeing nod from Sylvanas.

Making their way over to him, Sylvanas placed a hand on Athrodar's shoulder and making him face her. "What else did you see?" She asked, ignoring the knot in her stomach the moment she got close to him and focusing on the issue at hand. "Anything we should be concerned about?"

Athrodar looked his General in the eyes and the moment he locked eyes with her, she saw the fear in them. "They have these... Giant, fleshy monsters wielding massive cleavers and hooks. It took only one of them to smash through the gates. And the soldiers... Some of them took several arrows before dying, the rest just continued walking as if they didn't have five arrows sticking out of them."

"Then we use magic." Vandellor said, looking over to Grand Magister Belo'vir. "I'd presume they're brought back by magic, so magic might be their weakness too."

"It's worth a shot." The Grand Magister said, looking over to Sylvanas who was focusing on the Lieutenant. "What do you think?"

Realising she was being spoken to, Sylvanas looked over to the Grand Magister and nodded her head. "I think it could work." She said, taking a guess at what their conversation was about.

"I'll send the mages to the walls and leave a few back to maintain the magical ward we have up." Belo'vir told the General, bowing to her and leaving with Vandellor.

Being left alone with the Lieutenant now, Sylvanas suddenly was a loss for words and was hating every second of it. She was a seasoned ranger, the General of the Farstriders and one of, if not the most skilled ranger when it came to hand to hand combat as well as the use of a bow and arrow. Before she could even get a word out, she was interrupted by Ranger Captain Tahnir who hugged his son after making his way towards Athrodar the moment he arrived back. "Did you lose anyone?" He asked, looking at his son and only his son.

Athrodar shook his head. "We're all fine. Viraleth has taken them to join up with our company." He looked over to Sylvanas who smiled a little at him. "General." He said, bowing his head. "I'm going to find our company."

"Before you leave Lieutenant." She said, making Tahnir look at her and forcing Athrodar to stop. "I would just like to say thank you. It was a brave thing you all did, slowing down the enemy. Even if it was for only a minute, it has bought us some time."

Athrodar looked to his father then towards the General again. "I'm just doing my duty, General. I'm sure anyone else would have done the same."

Sylvanas smiled a little as just hearing him say that reminded her of why she chose him over anyone else. His loyalty and commitment to the people without even thinking of the risks spoke volumes about his character compared to the other candidates she pushed aside at first glance. "But only you and your unit went south, nobody volunteered." She glanced over to Tahnir who was watching them both. "If you make it through this, Lieutenant, come find me."

Before Tahnir could intervene, Sylvanas was already returning to the walls. "Come on." He said, patting his son on the shoulder. "Let's get ready."

Minutes slowly crept by, keeping every ranger, mage and priest on their toes as the stench of rotting flesh quickly began to roll through the forests of Quel'Thalas, forcing many to cover both their mouths and noses just to not breathe in the smell. "They're here." Viraleth muttered, looking up at her Lieutenant.

"We'll hold them here." Athrodar told his Scout Captain, getting a nod from her in return. "This gate will hold."

As minutes began to tick by, everyone was getting more and more anxious as they could smell, sometimes even hear the undead army nearby, yet nobody could see them. "Where are they?" Tahnir asked nobody, looking around the forests before them just to see some semblance of an enemy. That was when the ground began to shake and crack in front of the walls.

Bursting through the earth. several skittering Nerubians began to climb the walls quicker than many of the rangers had time to react, eventually getting cut down and blasted with magic, but not before taking out a handful of elves each. Shortly after the Nerubians tunneled through the ground and climbed up onto the walls, several undead followed them out the tunnels the have burrowed, attacking the gates and having their attacks rebounded back by the magical enchants on them. "At least they're holding." Vandellor said, glancing over to Belo'vir who let out a small laugh.

"That's a good sign." The Grand Magister said, casting a ball of fire and launching it at a group undead below, incinerating them quicker than the rangers could take them out. "They seem to be weak to fire."

"If only we had one hundred or so mages." Vandellor said with a grin, casting a holy shell around him and several rangers and mages beside him, protecting them from arrows and spells coming from the undead army.

Sitting on his horse amongst the undead army was Arthas, watching his army clash against the elves and struggling to breach the walls of Tranquillien. He had sent forward the abominations to break through the walls and gate in front of them, but most of them were killed by the elves before they got close and those that did, were being repelled by the magical shield erected by the Gatekeeper in front of the elves, keeping the undead away from the gates and making it next to impossible to break through their defenses.

"You're failing, Prince Arthas." A voice whispered to him, one that had become all too familiar with the traitorous Prince. Kel'Thuzad was his name and he was the reason why Arthas and the undead army was here. They had come to use the Sunwell to resurrect Kel'Thuzad into a powerful Lich, something that was quickly becoming a fantasy as more and more of the undead were being held back by the elves. "Break through their defenses!" He practically commanded.

"You don't think I'm trying, Necromancer!?" Arthas spat, glaring up at the elves on the walls before him and sending forth shadowy tendrils that wrapped around one unlucky elf, pulling them off them wall and onto Frostmourne, a runeblade that drained the souls of its victims. "Elven cowards! Hiding behind your walls of magic!"

Sylvanas heard Arthas yell from the middle of his army, locking eyes with him and glaring at the Prince. "Hiding? You blame us for hiding when you attack this land, fully knowing its defenses. Or did your father forget to tell you that?"

Arthas glared at the Ranger-General and kicked his horse into action, charging towards the wall she and the rest of Silvermoon's army stood on, letting loose arrow after arrow, spell after spell, into the undead army below. Once he was beside the wall, he took Frostmourne and pressed the tip of the blade onto the wall and sent forth a path of frost the quickly spread up the side of the wall, freezing a handful of elves in place who were unfortunate enough to be there. "I will break this wall down myself if I have to!" He yelled, commanding the next wave of undead to charge forward.

Athrodar and Tahnir both looked up into the skies when they saw several gargoyles fly overhead, some of them being hit by arrows and spells, though most managed to get past the projectiles and begin to dive bomb the defenders below, picking them up and throwing them over the side of the walls. "We've got to kill them before they take any more of us out." The Lieutenant said, getting a nod from his Captain.

"Go." Tahnir told his son. "Take a group with you and deal with those flying beasts. We'll hold here."

Seeing him lead a small group of rangers towards the gargoyles, Liadrin came to help her friend in dealing with the stone beasts, casting a couple of holy spells herself and erected a holy barrier around them all to keep the gargoyles from flying down and snatching any of them away. "I thought you could use the help." She said, grinning at Athrodar who looked back to her and smiled.

"Glad to see your training wasn't all for nothing." He said, hearing her scoff.

"Oh, ha ha. If we weren't fighting for our lives, I would hit you." Liadrin told him, getting a laugh from Athrodar and laughing herself. "Now focus, Lieutenant. Don't want to embarrass yourself in front of the entire army now, do you?"

"Nor you in front of your father." Athrodar shot back, getting a gasp now from the priestess.

"He knows how good I am!" Liadrin snapped back, holding up the barrier with one hand whilst the other fired a holy shock towards a gargoyle, punching a hole in its chest with the spell and watching it crash into the floor nearby. "See?"

Sylvanas looked over to the group dealing with the gargoyles and smiled a little when she saw Athrodar and the rangers with him dealing with the stone beasts with some ease, looking back and forth down at the line and noticing most of her rangers had pushed back the undead climbing the walls and were now letting loose barrage after barrage of arrows and spells into the army before them. "Keep it up!" She commanded them, letting loose a couple of arrows into the undead whilst trying to find Arthas at the same time. "They're going to fall back!"

Arthas let out a frustrated growl. "There's no breaking through!"

"Fall back, Prince Arthas." Kel'Thuzad's voice whispered to him. "It's not worth losing the army of this. Fall back to Lordaeron and regroup there."

"I'll be back." Arthas told the elves when he ordered the retreat, looking up at Sylvanas who stood on the walls, looking down at him. "And I'll take your precious Kingdom with me."

"Kill them! Make sure as little of them escapes as possible!" Sylvanas ordered, letting loose arrow after arrow into the retreating undead. "Purge them from our forests!"

Liadrin dropped the holy barrier and looked around as everyone began to cheer the moment the undead retreated back into the forests. "Was that it?"

"The gates really did hold..." Athrodar muttered, looking over to Liadrin who overheard and looked over to him too, both of them laughing and hugging. "I didn't think it would."

"Me neither." Liadrin told him, pulling back from the hug and looking at her friend. "Now that is has..." She pushed him back several steps and glared at the Lieutenant now. "Who do you think you are, running off and ignoring all of us back home, huh? We get worried when you don't send letters back, you know!"

When she slapped him on the arm several more times, Athrodar placed his hand over where she was hitting and backed up slowly. "Okay, ow? When did you start hitting hard?"

"It's pent up anger towards you, Little Sunblade." She told him, softening her glare but still keeping her focus on him. "Could have at least written us in your letters back home to your mother."

"I've written letters, okay?" Athrodar told her, reaching into the small pouch all rangers got for such things as letters, personal belongings and mementos of battles past that mean something to them. "I just never got around to sending them."

Liadrin looked at the stack of ten or so letters and quickly softened her features. "Oh... Well..." She took them off him and picked out the two letters for her. "Only two?"

"Oh come on. Just a few seconds ago, you thought I had written nothing." Athrodar told her, getting a laugh from the Priestess.

"I know, I'm just pulling your leg. I'll read them later." She pocketed all the letters and looked around Tranquillien, watching two companies of rangers leave through the gates to pursue Arthas and his army, aiming to drive them back into Lordaeron whilst the rest stayed for cleanup and to send the dead back to Silvermoon. "I suppose I should get back to my job of healing the wounded. I'll make sure everyone else gets their letters too." She looked over to him and smiled. "Glad you're safe."

"I'm happy you're safe and here too." Athrodar told her.

"Was that it?" Anya asked, looking over to Clea who shrugged her shoulders.

"I think so." Clea responded.

"Well that sucks..." Anya said, letting out a long sigh. "I at least wanted to get nice and dirty, fighting toe-to-toe with the undead. Now I'm going back clean."

Clea looked at her closely, slowly shaking her head. "Sometimes, I do worry about you. The things you come out with are just... Odd."

"Yeah, but you love me all the same." Anya said, pouncing at the ranger and hugging her tightly.

Clea laughed and hugged her back. "I do. You're my sister first, social pariah second."

Anya laughed too now, looking around for the Ranger-General in the meantime. "That's why our General keeps me around. She loves herself a social pariah too, even if she tells herself she doesn't. Everyone loves them a piece of Anya."

"Those two might not." Clea said, nodding over to Dael'Thaelas and Aerinan. "Lord Sunblade and his son. They scare me more than I'd like to admit."
"That Athrodar is cute though." Anya said, looking over to the young Sunblade. "I think he and Liadrin are just friends too, so who knows... I might use the ol' Eversong charm."

"Ah yes, your infamous; 'There's a forest named after me by the way.' A clear lie, since you're called Eversong because you wanted to change your family name after your parents were killed and you chose Eversong forest because, and I quote, 'it would be cool.'" Clea smiled when she saw Anya pout. "I like the name though, just not the fake story part."

Viraleth looked around Tranquillien, walking up to her General but trying to not make it obvious as she had gone to her several times since this war started. "I see Lord Theron and Captain Brightwing have gone after Arthas and his army."

"They've been tasked to drive them out of our lands. Belo'vir gave them a handful of mages each to help too, so it shouldn't be long." Sylvanas glanced over to Viraleth, keeping her body facing southern Quel'Thalas, but her attention remained on her Chief Scout and now spy. "I... May have made a move already."

"Oh?" Viraleth raised an eyebrow at her General. "What was it?"

"I told him to come find me once this was all over." Sylvanas told her, suddenly realising something. "You know... L-like now."

Viraleth widened her eyes when she saw her General begin to panic and try to hide away. "Uh oh. Sylvanas, look at me. Just so you don't, by the looks of it, panic yourself to death, I'll tell him to come find you at your Office in a couple of days, once we are sure our lands our safe."

"Thank you." Sylvanas said, letting out a long sigh of relief. "I could just see him coming over here when I least expected it and I would make a fool of myself by stuttering or panicking and saying nothing. Or worse, I'd blurt everything out to him, say thank you and run."

Viraleth began to laugh and smirked at her General. "Is it bad I kinda want to see that?"

"A little, yeah!" Sylvanas cried, covering her face in her hands. "I'm going back to Silvermoon. The King and the council need to know of our victory."

"I'll send him to your Office in Sunfury." Viraleth told her, getting a nervous laugh from her General. "You'll be fine."

"General?" Larysa watched Sylvanas enter the main hall of Sunfury Spire, following her in shortly after and watching as the entire Convocation still in Silvermoon as well as the King, all turn their attention to the General.

"My King." Sylvanas said, kneeling in front of him and the Convocation. "We held the traitorous Prince Arthas and his army back at the second elf gate outside Tranquillien. Ranger Lord Lor'themar Theron and Ranger Captain Halduron Brightwing are making sweeps of everything south of Quel'Thalas, forcing and killing any of the undead still in our lands before we set up a company on the first elf gate and get builders to work on the repairs."

"How many did we lose?" Anasterian asked before any of the Convocation could get a word in.

"We lost about a company's full of rangers, spread over the ten companies we have." Sylvanas looked back to Larysa, recognising the Sunblade politician who done most of the dirty work for Dael'Thaelas when he wasn't around. "Slow day?"

"It's been an average day, General." Larysa told her, watching a small grin play on Sylvanas' face and narrowing her eyes at the back of the General's head when she turned her attention back to the Convocation and the King. The two of them, whenever talking politics and the future of Silvermoon, had never seen eye to eye. A minor problem for the General since she had her eye on Larysa's grandson. "Though clearly not for you."

"Let me guess, you want a ceremony for the brave soldiers who fought and died beside you?" One of the Convocation asked, sitting back in their chair. "How much is it going to cost us this time?"

Sylvanas sighed and looked over to the member of the Convocation who had just spoken. "As always, I can see your love for ceremonies and honoring those who laid their lives down for this country is still as big as ever, Sanath."

"It's not so much my love for ceremonies, General. It's the cost. We spent almost every coin in the royal coffers to pay for the last big ceremony." Sanath told her, looking over to his King. "We can't delve into the pockets of the King every time someone dies."

"I'm asking for a ceremony that will honor one hundred elves, not the two thousand we lost during the Second fucking War." Sylvanas snapped, closing her eyes and calming herself down. There was something about staying in Sunfury Spire for too long, talking politics with the Convocation that just made her angry. "It will be a fraction of the cost, all I'm asking is that the people get to honor the fallen." Her attention turned to the King, praying he would at least see reason as the two members of the Convocation normally on her side, Belo'vir and Vandellor, weren't currently here. "Please, my King."

Anasterian looked over to the rest of the Convocations, getting a majority of shaken head and a couple of nods, looking over to Larysa now who nodded slowly too and smiling a little to himself before returning his attention to the Ranger-General. "You'll get your ceremony, General. In a weeks time, we'll honor the dead."

Sylvanas smiled a little when she heard the collective sighs and saw the disagreeing members of the Convocation shifting on their chairs. "Thank you, my King."