Skirmish In the Plaguelands
"Promise you'll remain calm no matter what the results are."
Victoria nodded her head, sitting on the opposite side of the desk to Athrodar. "I promise."
Athrodar smiled and looked down at the sheet of parchment in front of him, taking note of how excited yet nervous the young ranger before him looked. "The lowest score was seventy-three, which is just below the average of seventy-eight."
"What did I get?" Victoria asked, sitting forward a little just to try to read the results that were hidden from her.
"Your score was seventy..." Athrodar glanced up at the young ranger who sat forward a little more, smiling a little and looking back down at the parchment in his hands. "... Seven. Placing you in fourteenth out of twenty-four"
Victoria stood up and stretched her arms into the sky. "Yes! I am no longer the worst one!" She cheered, making Athrodar's smile widen at her innocence.
"What happened to staying calm?" Athrodar asked, laughing a little.
"I lied." Victoria told him, grinning at Athrodar who continued to laugh.
"Well, congratulations. You have been improving a lot compared to our first day." Athrodar told her, looking over to the entrance of the room they were in when he caught a glimpse of two women waiting for him. "Keep practicing, okay?" He stood up and made his way towards the door when Victoria stood up too, opening it and watching the young recruit hop and skip her way through the Academy. "What now?" He asked, looking at both Viraleth and Liadrin.
Viraleth watched Victoria disappear further into the the academy before looking back to Athrodar. "I take it you haven't told her then?"
"I have not, because she's not mine." Athrodar told the Chief Scout, looking over to Liadrin who made a slight noise. "What?"
"Well... That's not technically true." The Paladin told him. "I may have ran some tests on you whilst you weren't aware and then faked a random test with that ranger and... It's pretty hard to argue against her being yours."
Viraleth gestured to the Paladin beside her. "There you go. Now, do you plan to tell her?"
"I..." Athrodar opened his mouth to speak, trying to find the words to answer the Chief Scout and failing every time, only getting out a single sound. "I..."
"Leave us for a few minutes?" Liadrin asked, placing a hand on Viraleth's arm and getting a nod from her when she looked over to the Paladin. "Thank you." Her attention returned to Athrodar when she was left alone with him, folding her arms across her chest and watching a thousand thoughts race through his mind in front of her. "Are we really surprised this has happened?"
"I don't want to joke around with this, Liadrin." Athrodar told her, watching the Paladin begin to smirk. "Glad you're finding this funny."
"I mean... It is a little funny." Liadrin told him, watching Athrodar glare at her and waving his reaction away. "Oh please. If it was Vilandil, you would joke about it too."
"This is bad, Liadrin... Lana'thel wants to have a kid with me, I already have a son with Sylvanas and now you're all telling me this ranger is my daughter?" Athrodar rubbed one of his temples and began to pace a little. "She is going to freak out when she finds out..."
"Lana'thel or that ranger?" Liadrin asked just to make sure she understood who he was talking about and getting a small laugh from him in response.
"Both, I suppose." He said, making Liadrin laugh a little too. "I really should have learn to keep it in my pants."
"You don't say." Liadrin said, placing a hand on his back. "I'll keep this a secret unless you want me to tell people. But I am almost certain that's the last thing you want."
"Thanks." Athrodar said, looking out a nearby window. "I have to tell Lana'thel though. She has a right to know."
"That ranger too." Liadrin muttered, grinning when she heard him sigh. "But I'll leave that to you. Besides, she might react better than we both think."
"Really?" Athrodar asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "I don't think she will like being told that her father isn't really her father and that her mother slept with me whilst she was engaged to him."
"No... No that's true..." Liadrin said, shrugging her shoulders and grinning at him. "Good luck."
"Thanks... Useful as always." Athrodar then said, getting a laugh and a hug from the Paladin.
"Relax, Sunblade. No matter what happens between you and the other women in your life, you will always have me because we both know that I will stick to you like there's no tomorrow." Liadrin told him, looking towards the door to the room they were in. "Best call in that scout. She will want to know what your plans are so she can relay them back to Sylvanas and in return, make the General force herself into your life some more despite your protests." Liadrin grinned a little wider. "Though, it's not as if you're protesting hard. I know you want her to stay a constant in your life."
"Th-that's not true." Athrodar said, making Liadrin laugh at his stutter. "At least... Not completely."
"Poor little Sunblade, having to choose between a beautiful General who is madly in love with you and an almost equally beautiful, yet seductive, Magistrix." She pat him on the back and placed a hand on the door handle. "How will he ever decide which one is right for him?"
"You're not helping." Athrodar told a chuckling Liadrin.
"I know, I wasn't planning to." She told him in return.
Just as Athrodar was about to speak, Liadrin opened the door for Viraleth who was waiting patiently outside. "You can both go now." He told them, though it was mostly aimed at Liadrin who had enjoyed teasing him, even if it was only for a few minutes.
"Have you decided on what to do?" Viraleth asked him.
"Yes. I am telling Lana'thel and we will figure out what to do from there." Athrodar told her, turning his back on both women and slowly pacing around the room his was in. "Just... Leave me and let me think."
"Don't you two have anything better to do?" Sylvanas asked, reading through the reports on her desk and glancing over to Anya who was playing with Talanas whilst Clea sat on the opposite side of the desk.
"Of course not." Clea told her, watching Anya make Talanas laugh and smiling at them. "You've kept the entire company in the city until you're ready to move out."
Sylvanas looked over the report she was reading and smiling when she heard her son giggle along with Anya. "When there's some news on the Amani or the undead that means we can move out, we will then move out."
"I hope it's the Amani..." Clea muttered, glancing over to the General. "I'd rather not fight the undead."
Sylvanas laughed a little and nodded her head. "Neither do I." She said, looking over to the door when there was a knock. "Can you get that?"
"Fine." Clea said, sighing and standing up. As she opened the door, she smiled and moved out the way. "I think this is for you." She said, watching Sylvanas look over to her.
"We need to talk." Athrodar said, nodding towards the hallway he stood in.
"Anya, don't kill my son." Sylvanas said, standing up and making her way over to Athrodar and leaving her office with him momentarily. "What are we talking about now?" She asked once they were alone, feeling him take hold of her hand.
"You were right. She is mine." Athrodar told her, watching her closely for her reaction and getting nothing but a smile from her.
"I told you." She said, squeezing his hand. "How did Lana'thel take it?"
"I haven't told her yet." Athrodar said quietly, looking down at her hand. "I wanted you to know first and I don't know why."
Sylvanas smiled brightly, moving her other hand up to his face and making him look her in the eyes. "We both know why." She whispered to him, turning her smile into a smirk. "She scares you."
Athrodar chuckled and leaned against her hand a little, making the General smile widely once more. "Maybe a little."
"What are you going to tell that ranger?" She whispered to him, looking around the corridor they were in and noticing they were alone and away from certain prying eyes. "Do you want me to be there with you when you do tell her?" She now asked, stepping closer to him.
"I... I don't know." He told her, closing his eyes when she placed her other hand on his face now. "A week ago, everything was going to plan. Kael'thas was being made King and I was planning my future with Lana'thel. Now I have this daughter, Lana wants a baby and I am more confused now about my feelings for you than I ever was."
"W-wait... Lana'thel wants a baby?" Sylvanas asked, stepping back and taking her hands on his face.
"She does, yes." Athrodar told her, frowning at the General who began to shake her head a little.
"No..." She muttered, looking him in the eyes. "Please... Don't."
"What?" Athrodar tilted his head at the General. "What do you mean?"
"You can't." Sylvanas told him. "Don't have a baby with her, please."
"I'm sorry, since when were you in charge of what I can and can't do?" Athrodar asked her, narrowing his eyes at the General. "I actually agreed with her, Sylvanas. Maybe I can be there for this one more often than ours."
Sylvanas began to glare at him. "That's not fair." She told him. "We both agreed on the amount of time you can spend with him. You were in Stormwind at the time and understood that it would be a lot for him to move from Silvermoon to Stormwind more than one week every month."
"That's it, put this on me." Athrodar said, scoffing and shaking his head. "Unless you've forgotten, you're the reason why it's like this with us."
Sylvanas gave him an incredulous gasp. "How dare you bring that up again. We settled this, did we not? I am sorry I didn't tell you about your father, I am reminded of that every day I wake up and you're not beside me. How long are you going to hold that against me whenever we have some form of an argument, huh? It kills me to know that you're with someone else because of that mistake."
Athrodar closed his eyes and sighed, brushing a hand through his hair. "Look... I'm sorry I brought that up."
"Just leave, Athrodar." Sylvanas told him, looking away from him. "Go have that baby with your Magistrix. Perhaps you will both be better parents than the evil woman who looks after your son."
"Sylvanas wait... You're not an evil woman." Athrodar told her, making Sylvanas scoff as she put her hand on the door to her office.
"No? Then why do you like to remind me of that one mistake?" She asked rhetorically, opening the door and walking into her office, slamming the door shortly after and leaving Athrodar on his own in the corridor.
"Fuck..." He muttered, pressing his head against the door for a few seconds before sighing and leaving shortly after.
"Seeing as you're in charge of our spies now, I was wondering if you knew anything yet." Kael'thas asked, sitting opposite Lana'thel who was joining him for lunch.
"Other than the usual, nothing has really changed." She told him, taking a sip of her drink. "Actually, there is something. The King of Stormwind has been spotted fighting in gladiatorial fights around Kalimdor and parts of the Eastern Kingdoms."
Kael'thas raised an eyebrow at the Magistrix. "Are they accurate reports?" He asked, getting a shrug from her in return.
"I couldn't say. I've tasked a handful of our spies to keep an eye on such stories and try to follow them up, but it's not exactly easy given the very little information we have." Lana'thel looked over to the entrance of the building they were having lunch in, smiling at Athrodar when he began to make his way over to them. "Better late than never, my love." She said, standing up and kissing him before hugging him shortly after.
"Sorry, I've had a really stressful day." He told her, waiting for Lana to sit down and pushing in her chair for her before sitting down opposite the King and next to the Magistrix.
"Anything we can help you with?" Kael'thas asked him, noticing the worry on Athrodar's face the moment he asked. "It's bad, isn't it?"
"It... It's not necessarily bad. But it doesn't look good." Athrodar told them, resting his head on Lana'thel's shoulder when she pulled him in for a half hug. "It turns out, I have a daughter. She's ten and she is a student of mine, trying to learn to be a ranger and has no idea I am her father."
Kael'thas looked over to Lana'thel who was staring at Athrodar in return. "When did you find this out? And how do you know she's yours?"
"Sylvanas and Viraleth told me they had a good feeling that this ranger was my daughter, then they had Liadrin confirm it only today." Athrodar told them, hearing Lana'thel scoff and shake her head.
"So Sylvanas and her Chief Scout told you, then paid one priestess to confirm their story." Lana'thel said, patting Athrodar's hand. "I don't believe them, my love. I think they're just trying to get into your head and have some wild scheme to split the two of us apart." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "I don't think you need to worry or stress over this, okay? Think about it for a second, the moment we announce we're engaged, suddenly the mother of your child says you may have another child with someone else entirely and that isn't just a little suspicious?" Lana'thel looked over to the King who nodded his head slowly.
"It does seem a little coincidental." Kael'thas told him. "I'm not saying it's not true, but I would take it with a grain of salt. Sylvanas is very clever when it comes to getting what she wants and I think we all know what her main focus is right now."
"See?" Lana'thel said, squeezing Athrodar's arm. "Unless her mother can confirm it, you don't need to worry about this ranger and her being your daughter, okay?" She smiled and kissed him on the lips when he looked at her. "Now, let's enjoy this lunch with our King and then I will accompany you for the rest of the day in the Farstrider Academy."
"Sounds like a good plan to me." Kael'thas said, returning to eat his lunch. "Now, let's get back to your spies."
"Deal." Lana'thel said, holding onto Athrodar's hand when she noticed her wasn't eating, trying to keep him calm and comforted with just her touch. "Hey, let's focus on this, okay?" She asked, placing his hand on her stomach. "We should worry about our little one when the time comes."
"You're both planning to have a baby?" Kael'thas asked.
"We are." Lana'thel told him, smiling brightly at the King. "He is the one I want to settle down with. He has been nothing but loving and kind to me since we met and I think he is perfect to be the father of our child." She kissed him on the cheek again. "Then we can both annoy Lord Sunblade together by keeping our son or daughter away from him."
Athrodar smiled and kissed Lana'thel properly this time, nodding his head and squeezing her hand shortly after. "At least I will know that the child is mine and not a plan to get me away from you."
"Exactly." Lana'thel purred, hugging him tightly against her and kissing the top of his head. "Nothing they said is true and we'll be fine, together as a family." She whispered to him, glancing over to the King. "And working for a King who will build our people into a strong nation. With help from our Kaldorei cousins, of course."
"And if the Amani or the undead on our borders become a bigger threat than they are, Sylvanas and the rest of them will be busy dealing with them to worry about us." Athrodar said, getting a smile and a nod from Lana'thel. "Then we can focus on our professions and our family." He said softly, placing a hand over the top of hers.
"Well, I can focus on them." Lana'thel told him. "You will be trying to not pull your hair out with twenty or so kids, all trying to be a ranger and failing miserable for the first couple years."
Kael'thas laughed and shook his head at the pair of them. "Trust you both to put down our future rangers."
"I didn't say anything." Athrodar told her, looking over to Lana'thel who laughed with the King. "She's the one who said they'll be bad for a few years."
"I did." Lana'thel agreed. "But that's mostly because you'll be a terrible teacher." She said, laughing when she heard Athrodar sighed and hugging him again. "But you're my terrible teacher." She began to grin at him and leaned closer to his ear. "Just like I am your bad, bad student."
Kael'thas choked on his drink and looked over to a giggling Lana'thel. "What?"
"Oops." She said, giggling again. "I think I let one of our bedroom games slip to our King."
Kael'thas, recovering from his choking fit, looked over to Athrodar who pinched the bridge of his nose. "There are times I forget what you're like, Lana'thel. Then you remind me almost instantly when you speak like that."
"What can I say? I am an acquired taste." Lana'thel told him.
"Four? No wait... Three." Anya said, looking over to Clea who had her eyes closed, rubbing her temples.
"Why are we here again?" Clea asked, looking over to Viraleth and the half of their company who were sent to Eastern Lordaeron by the General.
"Because the General is tired of having you both around and being the responsible one out of the three of us, I have to lead half of the company whilst the General stays in Silvermoon, waiting for updates." Viraleth looked back out to the undead grouping in the distance. "And you were right the first time. It's four hundred so far."
"So since we'll be here for a while, I need to know if that recruit actually Athrodar's daughter." Anya said, leaning up against a dead tree and looking over to Viraleth.
"Yes." Was all Viraleth said as a response, glancing over to the ranger who seemed to get giddy with that confirmation. "He might be fighting it, but we all saw how similar they looked with added confirmation by Liadrin too."
"What was the point of telling him again?" Clea asked.
"It was two-fold really." Viraleth told her. "On one hand, it will show that he doesn't care for engagements, so he shouldn't expect others to care for his. But it also distracts him and allows our General to make her move on him whilst his mind is preoccupied." She looked over to the undead again. "And I suppose I get a slight kick out of meddling with people's relationships."
"No way, so do we!" Anya exclaimed, grinning at the Chief Scout.
Whilst Anya and Viraleth began to bond over tormenting the people in their lives, Clea frowned and moved towards the undead a little, noticing a group of soldiers in plate gear charging towards a bigger group of undead. "Uhm... What's that?" She asked, making Viraleth look over to her and look at what she was watching.
"That's..." Viraleth frowned and tilted her head at the group fighting with the undead. "A group a humans?"
"Looks like it to me." Clea said, glancing over to the Chief Scout. "What should we do?"
"They seem to be handling themselves just fine." Anya said, squeezing in between the two of them to look at the group of humans attacking the undead, being joined by the rest of the company who quickly became interested in the commotion in the distance. "Do you think they'll win?"
"Well, they're using the light." Viraleth told them. "So they know what they're doing."
"Let's go help them!" Anya exclaimed, being held in place by Clea who gripped onto the collar of her tunic.
"Down girl, not yet." Clea told her. "If they can handle it themselves, we may not need to interfere." She looked over to Viraleth who nodded her head in agreement, keeping an eye on the humans in the distance.
"Get closer to them." The Chief scout said, glancing over to Anya and Clea. "Don't get caught and don't engage unless you're set upon. Then we will come to your side as soon as we can."
Anya threw her arms in the air in triumph. "Yes! Finally! Some action."
"Oh yeah, we're the perfect scouts." Clea muttered, shaking her head. "Alina and her company are already out here anyway."
"We can't send a full company out here with them, so we're here with half a company to keep the Convocation silent." Viraleth pushed the two of them lightly. "Now go, we'll be there if you're caught."
"Fine... Anya, let's go."
"Burn, abomination." One of the humans said, thrusting a light empowered sword into an undead soldier, burning them the second the blade pierced its flesh.
"I think our paladins are better." Anya muttered, glancing over to Clea who was watching the humans closely. "Don't you agree?"
"I couldn't say." Clea whispered back to her. "We've not seen them fight."
Anya pouted and folded her arms across her chest. "Well I think they're better..." She muttered, watching a couple of the humans get cut down by the undead. "We should help them out soon, their numbers are dropping."
Noticing this too, Clea looked back towards Viraleth and the rest of their half company, signalling the Chief Scout to ask for her permission to help the humans and getting an acceptance to her request shortly after. "Okay, let's go." Clea said, pulling out an arrow from her quiver and nocking it in place on her bow.
Letting loose a couple of arrows into the undead, both Anya and Clea stood behind the group of undead fighting against the humans, trying to help them out by thinning out the necromancers at the back and being joined by Viraleth and the rest of their half company shortly after, cleaning up the remaining undead with the help of the humans. "Thank you for your help." One of the humans said, carrying an odd looking sword in his hands.
"What are you all doing here?" Viraleth asked, making her way to the front and towards the human carrying the sword. "The undead have a floating fortress nearby and would have been alerted to the fighting."
"We're trying to reclaim our homeland piece by piece." The human told them, placing the sword on his back. "Sorry, we didn't introduce ourselves. I'm Alexandros Mograine, Highlord of the Knights of the Silverhand."
Viraleth looked down at his hand and took hold of it. "Viraleth, Chief Scout of Silvermoon. I didn't know the Knights of the Silverhand were still around after Arthas destroyed his home."
"There are a few of us still alive and kicking." Alexandros said, looking over to Naxxramas in the distance. "Not enough to take on that beast, but that's not our fight yet."
Viraleth looked over to Naxxramas too and nodded her head slowly. "We've been scouting out the area around it for weeks now. They're gathering more and more undead by the day that it is looking unlikely that we will launch an attack on it first. It's looking more likely that we will wait for them to attack us and repel them again."
"Then you'll launch a counter attack.." Alexandros muttered, nodding slowly and looking over to Viraleth who smiled a little at him. "I would like to join you on that attack when the day comes, but I'm afraid our work isn't done yet." He looked over to a large cloud of smoke to the west. "Our fight right now is in Stratholme."
Viraleth looked over to the once great human city, now turned into a bastion for the undead. "I think you'll need more men for that fight too."
Alexandros nodded his head in agreement. "Luckily we have a foothold in Hearthglen. We are finding more and more soldiers every day turning up there to fight for the Silver Hand. It's only a matter of time before we can launch an attack on the city."
Viraleth looked back to Clea who was eyeing the blade. "I'm in no position to ask this, but would you like to come back with us? It seems we share the same enemy and now that we know there are humans here trying to fight to reclaim their land, our King might be willing to help you out with paladins and priests of our own."
"Anasterian would be willing to help us out after leaving the Alliance?" Alexandros asked, a little surprised. That surprise was quickly turned to confusion when he saw sadness creep along all the elves faces. "Did I say something?"
"Our King died a few weeks ago." Viraleth told him. "Prince... King Kael'thas is in charge now."
Alexandros nodded his head slowly, thinking about the proposition. "I would have to send a runner back to Hearthglen. But if we can get some food, rest and reinforcements out of this, I can't see why we wouldn't try. This will have to be brief though, we do plan to attack Stratholme in the next week or two."
Viraleth signaled for her rangers to move out the way. "Once the King and Ranger-General know of your plans to attack Stratholme and eventually Naxxramas, I'm sure they will be more than happy to help."
Alexandros looked back to his men who all looked exhausted and a little underfed, placing a hand on the shoulder of one. "We'll follow you back. It would be nice to see some more living faces for once." He told the elves, getting smiles and looks of relief from his men. "After you, Chief Scout." He then said, looking back to Viraleth.