The Second Battle For Tranquillien

"That's a lot more than I thought would volunteer." Athrodar said, looking around at all of the civilians who answered the call to defend their home. "Perhaps this will be a lot easier than I first thought."

"Keep in mind they are still civilians, son." Dael'Thaelas said, making his way towards him and the King. "They aren't as experienced as us and the many other rangers we have here."

"And I suppose the mages and priests we have with us." Athrodar said, looking over to Thalina and Vilandil, both Dawnstrider siblings talking amongst themselves with their father nearby, talking to Belo'vir. "Experienced mages as well."

"I'll pretend you were looking at me when you said that." Kael'thas said, chuckling when he saw Athrodar's attention switch to him quicker than he thought possible. "Relax. I think it goes without saying that I am an experienced mage."

Athrodar began to smirk, looking south of Tranquillien. "Full of yourself, aren't you?"

Kael'thas laughed again, looking to the south of Tranquillien too and waiting for the approaching undead. "Like you wouldn't have said the same thing."

Athrodar laughed this time, nodding his head in agreement. "I probably would have said the same thing, yes." He looked over to the King who had a grin on his face. "Clearly we think highly of our own skills."

"Seeing as you're a Lieutenant, or was, I think you need to rethink your skill set a bit more." Dael'Thaelas said, making Athrodar sigh and Kael'thas laugh again. "Alina should be back soon with her scouts, then we will have a rough idea of when the undead will arrive."

"And in the meantime, I will go check on those who aren't professionally trained to fight." Athrodar said, walking away from his great grandfather and Kael'thas.

"He's still sensitive I see." Dael'Thaelas said, watching Athrodar make his way towards the Dawnstrider family.

"I wouldn't call it sensitive." Kael'thas said, looking over to Lord Sunblade. "More like he's just tired of everything that has happened in the last few weeks and just wants to relax. Given the whole Lana'thel thing, finding out he has a daughter and now the undead attacking, he's not really had time to let things simmer down and take a breath."

"No, you are right." Dael'Thaelas said, making the King raise an eyebrow at him. "What? Surprised I would admit such a thing?"

"Surprised you admitted that you were wrong." Kael'thas corrected, hearing Lord Sunblade chuckle.

"I didn't say I was wrong, I just say you're right." Dael'Thaelas told him, making the King laugh again and nod his head slowly.

"There's the Lord Sunblade I grew up knowing." The King said, looking over to Athrodar now. "Do you think he's ready for this?"

Dael'Thaelas looked over to his great grandson again, frowning a little when he began to think about his answer. "He's been out of the loop for two years, I don't know if he has been training in that time, but he is also a Sunblade." His attention returned to the King who kept his attention on Athrodar in the meantime. "We're practically born with a bow in our hands."

"Who's looking after your son?" Thalina asked, showing concern for the little elf whilst they were all away from him.

"Do you remember Viraleth?" He asked, watching the mage nod slowly as well as her brother Vilandil as they tried to recall the elf in question. "Used to be my father's Chief Scout, as well as being the Ranger-General's Chief Scout?"

"Ahh yes, I remember her." Vilandil said, looking over to his sister who frowned at him. "What? I have a good memory."

"Well, my son is with her husband and their daughter until this is all over. Viraleth and her husband will take care of him should something happen to both Sylvanas and I."

Thalina gasped and placed her hand over her chest. "What!? What about Liadrin and I?"

"Are you both married to each other now?" Athrodar asked, watching the mage pout. "I didn't think so."

"Still... Auntie Thalina and auntie Liadrin love him." Thalina muttered, looking away from both her brother and Athrodar who were now chuckling at her. "We weren't even considered, were we?"

"If you marry Liadrin, I will consider it." Athrodar told her. "Can't give my son to half a family, Sylvanas won't allow it."

"Great..." Thalina sighed, looking over to her brother. "At least I have a better shot at being his guardian than him, right?"

"No way. I'm his best friend! If anything, you're the last person he would give his son to." Vilandil said, making Thalina glare at him.

"It's always nice talking to you two. Especially when it involves my death and who gets to be my son's guardian." Athrodar told her, knowing they weren't listening as they both were now glaring at each other.

The glaring contest only went on for a few more seconds until they were all interrupted by three sharp blows on a horn in the distance, signalling both returning rangers and incoming enemy. "Get ready!" A voice yelled, making everyone drop what they were doing and getting ready for the undead attack. "They're coming!"

Athrodar made his way beside the King, watching Alina and her scouts return through the gates of Tranquillien, carrying a couple of rangers who had been injured. "How many were there?" The King asked when Alina looked over to him.

"A lot more than last time." Alina told him, helping one of her scouts towards the local inn turned infirmary. "I hope the upgrades to the Gatekeeper are as effective as we think, otherwise we might be in trouble."

"Well..." Athrodar muttered, looking over to the King. "No pressure."

"It's impossible to hit the bastard." Lor'themar panted, diving out the way of a bolt of fel magic and watching Alexandros and Liadrin try to distract the demon again.

"And when we do hit him." Sylvanas began, letting loose an arrow and dodging a bolt of fel magic shortly after. "He brushes it aside."

"He seems to only be weak to holy magic." Vandellor told them, casting a magical shield around him, Sylvanas and Lor'themar to protect them whilst Liadrin and Alexandros kept the demon distracted. "At this moment in time, you two are just more targets for him to hit."

Sylvanas held onto her bow tighter, hating that she was essentially useless and throwing her bow to one side after a few more seconds, pulling out her swords and glaring at the demon. Fuck this, I'm tried of being useless." She told them, stepping out of the magical shield and engaging into combat with the the demon and being backed up by Lor'themar, leaving Vandellor in the back to heal any cuts or grazes they may get from the fight.

"I have to say, your blade is very underwhelming." Balnazzar said, laughing at the Highlord. "Perhaps it was a mistake to try and take it off you."

The Highlord began to grin at the demon. "I was just getting warmed up, demon. But I think I have you figured out."

Swinging his sword at the demon, the Highlord as well as Liadrin, Sylvanas and Lor'themar began to smile when they saw a cut that lingered on the demon's arm. "Looks like we found his weakness." Liadrin said, casting a spell on her own blade and enchanting it with holy magic. "You demons really are weak to holy magic, brilliant."

Growling at them, Balnazzar swung his clawed hands at them wildly to try and land a blow, making his attacks predictable and easily avoidable for the elves and Highlord. "I'm growing tired of this fight!" He spat, raising a clawed hand to the sky and summoning four felhounds around them. "Deal with them, the Highlord is mine." He told the new members to the fight, having everyone turn their attention to the felhounds and focusing on the Highlord in the meantime.

Having one of the felhounds target him, Vandellor smacked two tentacles away from his body with his staff, not noticing a third one attach onto his leg and letting out a yelp in pain. "Gah!" He cried, casting a holy spell and blasting the felhound in the face, making the tentacle detach itself from his leg. "Don't let those tentacles touch you." He told them, feeling a little light headed. "They drain your mana."

Nodding at his warning, Liadrin span her blade around in her hand and cut off four tentacles from the felhound, plunging the blade deep into the mouth of the demon in front of her. "I'll protect you, father." She said, making her way towards Vandellor and dealing with the felhound in front of him. "Keep the spells up and make sure we don't die."

Vandellor let out a small laugh and placed a hand on Liadrin's face when she looked at him. "You'll be fine." He told her, brushing some blood off her cheek with his thumb. "He is weakening, I can feel it."

"Good." Liadrin said, looking over to the Ranger-General and Ranger Lord who had just finished killing their felhounds too. "The sooner we deal with him, the sooner we can clear the rest of the city and return home."

"That's the plan." Vandellor told her, casting a barrier between them and Balnazzar when he saw a spell coming their way. "Best get back to the fight, little one. I can't protect you forever."

"Ha ha." Liadrin laughed sarcastically. "I'm the one protecting you here." She glanced over to the Highlord who landed a couple more blows on the demon. "Well, he is."

"Enough!" Balnazzar roared, letting out a pulse of fel magic and knocking everyone back against the wall. Just as they were collecting themselves, the roof of the room began to crack and crumble, making several pieces of debris fall to the ground and forcing Sylvanas to dive out the way as well as the Highlord, finding themselves beside Balnazzar who was conjuring a spell in his hands. "Time to end this." He said, conjuring a giant, sickly green and black ball of magic in his clawed hands.

Pulling out a knife from her boot, Sylvanas stuck the blade into the leg of the demon, hoping to distract it and getting mild results when she heard his painful gasp. When she looked up at him, she realised what had happened when she saw Alexandros drive his blade through the back of the demon, watching the demon begin to burn up from the holy magic being released by Ashbringer. "Burn, you demon filth." The Highlord said to stunned demon, pulling Ashbringer out from Balnazzar's back and swinging it around to lop off the head of the demon in front of him.

Watching the head roll, Liadrin let out a small laugh. "Is that it?" She asked, helping her father onto her feet just as Balnazzar's body turned into several bats and disappear, leaving behind the chest plate the demon was wearing and the hole Ashbringer had made in it. "Oh... Well, now that's it." She then said, closing her eyes and giggling when she felt Vandellor wipe more blood off her cheek. "Stop!" She cried, pushing him away and looking over to the Ranger-General, Highlord and Ranger Lord. "Are we done here?"

Opening the twin doors that were shut behind them, Lor'themar looked down the hallway and saw many dead crusaders, a few rangers and Silver Hand paladins. "I think so." He said, locking eyes with Halduron who was checking on one of their wounded, getting a nod from him and nodding back to the Ranger Captain. "I have a feeling they were all corrupted by this demon."

"Well, it looks like we are going to be fine in terms of numbers." Sylvanas said, watching two rangers in the distance talk and laugh with each other. "Is it bad a part of me is really annoyed they made it through this without at least an injury?" The Ranger-General asked after noticing Clea and Anya in the distance.

Lor'themar began to laugh and pat the General on the back. "Knowing how annoying they are, I would say it's not bad to think that. Just don't tell them that and I think you'll be fine."

"Ah crap, they're coming this way." She said when she locked eyes with Anya, watching her drag Clea along with her the moment she began to run towards the Ranger-General.

"Good luck." Lor'themar said, slipping passed them and making his way towards Halduron.

Before Sylvanas could say anything to stop them, she was tackled by both Anya and Clea who hugged her tightly. "I'm not your mother, you know!" Sylvanas struggled to say as they squeezed the life out of her.

"I thought you were going to die!" Anya cried, holding onto the General even tighter.

"We both did!" Clea added, both of them ignoring two sets of sighs coming from both the General and her Chief Scout.

"Viraleth, please?" Sylvanas asked, watching her roll her eyes.

"Fine..." She muttered, taking hold of the tips of their ears and making them let go of the General. "Come on, let's get you away from the General and somewhere more... Loud."

"Thank you." Sylvanas said once they had left her alone, looking at Viraleth who frowned and tilted her head at her. "What?"

"You're scratching your palm." The Chief Scout said, always being the more vigilant out of the two of them about their quirks.

Looking down at her hand, Sylvanas had noticed she was scratching the palm of her hand without even realising it until she had pointed it out. "Stop doing that!" She cried, hearing Viraleth chuckle. "Here comes your theory on what you think that means now..."

"I think we both know what that means, Sylvanas." Viraleth said, using the General's name which told her everything she needed to know that she was talking about something personal. "You want to return home to your son and Athrodar and you're getting nervous that something is happening or might happen."

Sylvanas smiled and looked down at her hand again. "It's the first time I have been away from my little one. I'm sure it's the same for you too."

"It is." Viraleth agreed, smiling at the General. "But I have confidence in Thelian when it comes to looking after our daughter. I'm sure Athrodar can handle it too, so you have nothing to worry about."

Sylvanas smiled a little wider and rubbed the palm of her hand now with her thumb. "I hope so."

"How many do you think that is?" Athrodar asked, glancing over to the King who pulled out an ancient, yet powerful, elven sword and held it tightly in his hand, engulfing the blade in a bright red flame. "There has to be at least five of them to every one of us."

"I think it's closer to eight." Dael'Thaelas told him, holding onto his bow and keeping an arrow nocked in place. "Easy odds for the rangers amongst us, but it's a mountain to climb for those less trained."

Pulling his mask up and over his mouth and nose, Athrodar nocked an arrow on place on his bow and scanned the thousands of skeletons, ghouls, shambling horrors and many other variants of undead minions. "We won't have enough arrows for their entire army, but I hope we can thin their numbers before we have to engage in melee."

"You better have trained your sword skills then." Dael'Thaelas told him, watching as the undead army marched closer and closer towards them, noticing a giant, skeletal mage in the distance. "I think I see their leader. Either that, or they have a new weapon."

Looking over to the giant, skeletal mage, both Kael'thas and Athrodar, along with everyone else present on the walls of Tranquillien, noticed they seemed to be casting a spell already before the fight had begun. "This might not be good." The King said, casting a fire spell in his free hand whilst his sword - Felo'melorn - was engulfed in the same bright red flame that covered it only moments ago. "As soon as that spell has been cast, I suspect the fight will begin."

Noticing the spell too, Belo'vir and Telramar Dawnstrider, the two Grand Magisters present in this defence, began to cast an arcane shield that covered those on the wall in a protective barrier, being helped by several mages that had joined them in the defence to create what they hoped would block the spell from hitting any of them.

"Will this hold?" Athrodar asked, looking over to Belo'vir and Telramar.

"We're about to find out." Belo'vir told him, watching as the spell was launched from the skeletal mage's hands and hit the magical barricade, making the barricade shimmer as it absorbed the attack but quickly dropping when the spell looked to be too much for the barrier to handle. "Just about it seems." The Grand Magister said, casting his own personal barrier when several arrows and spells were launched by the undead army now, knowing many of the mages and priests would do the same as well as spellbreakers. The rangers however had to take cover, though a few of them were seconds too slow and were hit off the wall by the barrage of projectiles and either killed or seriously injured.

"Nock!" Dael'Thaelas yelled, nocking an arrow in place. "Draw" He yelled shortly after, drawing back the arrow on his bow. "Loose!"

As one, both ranger companies let loose arrows into the charging undead army, killing only a fraction of the undead the projectiles had hit as many of them continued to run with arrows sticking out of them. "Burn them when they get close." He told the King who nodded and ordered the mages with them to do the same.

"Foolish elves!" The Skeletal mage yelled. "You are only slowing down the inevitable! This Kingdom, this world, will be cleansed of life! We will release you from the curse of flesh!"

"Well that doesn't sound like fun." Athrodar commented, dodging a spell and letting loose an arrow into the undead mage that tried to kill him. "This is going well so far."

Just as he had finished speaking, several nerubians, spider-like creatures that served the undead, burst through the ground in front of the walls of Tranquillien and began to climb up them. Some of them were repelled by spells and arrows, others by the wards that had been set up by the Gatekeeper, though there were still many that made it up and over the walls as their numbers worked against the spells the Gatekeeper had erected. "You had to speak." Kael'thas said, thrusting his sword through one of the spider-like creatures and burning them from the inside out.

The fighting was fully underway now and many of the elves defending the wall had climbed off of it and were now behind the one thing stopping the undead from breaking through. It's not that they were letting the undead march up to it, only that they had to climb down from the wall because the nerubians were quickly taking over the majority of it with their numbers. "Get the wounded into the inn!" Dael'Thaelas commanded them, watching several civilians who had volunteered, help or even carry some of the fighters into the inn so they could be treated. "My King, we may need to fall back soon."

"Not yet." Kael'thas told him, burning the ground beneath several of the undead and turning them into ash the second the spell was cast. "We can hold out a while longer yet. Once we deal with these spider creatures, we can focus on pushing the rest of them back."

"If the Ranger-General and the rest of our rangers were here, I would agree with you." Lord Sunblade told him, looking over to many of the rangers left behind with them and watching as they were either cut down, dragged towards the inn or fighting for their lives. "We have a coupe minutes, if that, until we are overrun. We underestimated the undead again our defences here and we need to pull back."

"And then what? Let them ravage our lands until they reach Silvermoon?" Kael'thas asked, shaking his head. "We need to hold them here for as long as possible."

"My King, remember what I told you." Athrodar said, overhearing their discussion, watching Kael'thas cast two more spells and leaving two holes in the undead army for a few seconds until they were quickly filled by the many more undead soldiers waiting for the walls to collapse. "Listen to your advisors here." He told him.

Kael'thas gripped onto his blade tightly, looking over to Lord Sunblade and Athrodar and nodding once at them. "Call for them to fall back."

"Wait." Athrodar said, placing a hand on his great grandfather's arm. "I have an idea."

"I'm listening." Lord Sunblade said, knowing they didn't have much time for this but was willing to spare a few seconds to hear him out.

"Slowly pull back in a layered retreat." Athrodar suggested. "A group of us will pull back to the other end of the town and set up a defence there whilst the rest of you retreat, then when we pull back, you can set up a defence further inland until we get there, hold the undead off some more until you have to retreat and then we do the same further inland. And we repeat this until we're back at Silvermoon. It should keep the undead distracted on us and cause little to no damage to the rest of the Kingdom."

Dael'Thaelas and Kael'thas nodded slowly to the proposition. "We will need to be fast." Lord Sunblade said. "Quicker than the undead in our retreats."

"Who will take up the first defence?" Kael'thas asked.

"I will, along with Alina and her company." Athrodar told him, looking over to the inn shortly after. "We will need to hold them off long enough for the injured to be far away from the undead."

Kael'thas nodded his head slowly, placing a hand on Athrodar's shoulder. "You best get going then." He told him, looking over to Dael'Thaelas and giving him a single nod, telling him with that single action to call for a retreat. "Good luck." The King then said, smiling at Athrodar once more. "This will work."

"I hope so." Athrodar said, looking over to the inn again. "Tell them to retreat whilst I go find Alina and what remains of her company?"

"I can do that." The King said, finding it odd he was taking orders from Athrodar, a Lieutenant at best, but knew that this wasn't his battlefield and wasn't as experienced in warfare as the rangers with him. "Go."

Making his way towards Alina, Athrodar cut down a couple of nerubians who tried to stop him as well as a few gargoyles that were now flying overhead, making it to the Captain who was pinned down with her company on the far end of the town. "Thank the Titans you're here." Alina said, holding onto her bow tightly. "Where's the rest of you?"

"It's just me." Athrodar told her. "We're retreating. But first we have to hold them back at the other end of the town."

"Not much of a retreat if we're all just moving to the other side of the town." Alina told him, telling her rangers to make their way to the other end of Tranquillien.

"Thankfully it's just me, you and your company holding them back then whilst the rest of them retreat further inland." Athrodar told her, letting out a small laugh and watching Alina stare at him wide-eyed. "Relax, we're just holding them back long enough for the injured to get away."

"So you say." Alina muttered, standing up and making her way to the other end of Tranquillien with Athrodar. "We could be killed before they're even out of line of sight."

"Then we die with honor." Athrodar told her, hearing a nervous laugh from the Captain.

"Brilliant." She said, catching up to the rest of her company. "This better work."

"I'm sure it will." Athrodar told her, not believing it himself, but he had no other plan that had a chance of working.

"Twenty-six dead out of the three hundred and sixty rangers we have with us. So that's not a bad loss." Lor'themar said, looking over to Sylvanas who was focusing on Alexandros in the distance. "Something on your mind, General?"

Sylvanas kept her attention on the Highlord who was sitting on his own, Ashbringer leaning up against him as he looked lost in thought. "I think finding out that a long time friend was killed and taken over by a demon has finally hit him." Sylvanas said, looking over to Lor'themar. "At the time, I think he was just trying to cleanse this place from that demon. But now I think it's hit him that he will never get to see the real Saidan again."

"Do you think it will distract him in his fight against the undead?" Lor'themar asked, watching Sylvanas shake her head now.

"I think he will be more determined than ever to cleanse this place of the undead." Sylvanas said. "If not for himself, it will be for his friend Saidan."

"Ready to leave?" Alexandros asked, standing up and picking up Ashbringer with him.

"Are you?" The General asked him.

"This place won't purge itself of the undead." Alexandros told her, having what remains of his Paladins come to his side. "Ready?"

Sylvanas nodded her head at the Paladin. "I am. After you, Highlord." She said, gesturing to the next district.

"How long do you think it will take to cleanse the rest of this place?" Lor'themar asked the General quietly, walking beside her as they followed the Highlord.

"I can only guess, but I would think now that he has this fire burning inside him, it will go quicker for us now." Sylvanas suggested, glancing over to Lor'themar. "Just keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't lose himself to rage."

"He's a Paladin." Lor'themar told her. "I think he will keep his head."

Sylvanas didn't seem too convinced of that, looking over to the Highlord once more. "Arthas was a Paladin and look what he did."

"That's a fair point." Lor'themar said, not speaking for the rest of their march towards the next district of the city.