A/N - I won't be posting chapter 6 on Wednesday :( I've a few 'shorts' that I want to start putting up that fill in some backstory for Alyna and Sylvanas. If there's no Shattered Souls update on a Wednesday, it's most likely because I've posted a short.

Chapter 5

Sylvanas sat behind her desk and invited Alyna to sit opposite her. Alyna obliged, tugging her mask down so she could talk clearly.

The banshee queen raised a questioning eyebrow. "Your Highness?"

Alyna shrugged. "It was my title." When Sylvanas said nothing, Alyna recognised it was time for more detailed explanations. "I belonged to a 'race' called the Darkfallen. Specifically, to the ruling faction known as the San'layn." She scowled, unable to keep a neutral face. "I was the first, and became part of the ruling blood council along with three princes, and the blood queen. Hence the royal address."

"You are not the queen despite being the first?" Her suspicion was obvious.

"I was not as accepting of my ... condition ... as others." Alyna met Sylvanas' gaze evenly. "The queen and princes fully accept what they are and revel in the power it brings them."

"But not you."

"But not me."

Sylvanas did not seem entirely convinced but she moved on. "Who are the rest of the council?"

"Lana'thel rules the San'layn as the Blood Queen. Keleseth, Valanar and Taldaram are her chief princes. There are other lesser 'royals' but those four comprise the Blood Council, now minus myself."

Recognition showed in Sylvanas' eyes. They had all been magisters of varying reputation, all of whom had vied for status constantly against their peers. Lana'thel's daughter, Thal'ena, had also been Alyna's roommate on Quel'Danas. "How did they come to be Scourge? Through Prince Kael'thas?"

After the fall of Silvermoon, the prince had returned to find his people had been decimated. Ninety percent of the population had fallen to the Scourge, which had led him to rename his people from high elves, to blood elves – the sin'dorei. In his anger, he had taken the best of his followers and he had gone to Icecrown to destroy the Lich King, along with some new allies – the kaldorei demon hunter, Illidan, and a faction of the mysterious serpentine naga, led by Lady Vashj.

Alyna nodded. "By then I had already been … turned, and I was forced to fight against them when they arrived." She did not look away exactly, but found herself looking past Sylvanas as she continued. "I killed Keleseth, and helped bring down a few others. Arthas managed to defeat Kael'thas after he eventually arrived, and once he became the Lich King the prince fled with his allies. He didn't think to burn the elven corpses, or take them with him. The Lich King made use of them all."

Sylvanas nodded her understanding. "You mention 'blood' a lot. Why?"

"We require it for sustenance and to power our abilities." She decided not to mention the soul-feeding aspect, a thread of shame flashing through her at the thought of admitting to the desire."

"You're vampires," Sylvanas summarised, showing no surprise.

Alyna knew Cyndia would have most likely reported on what she had seen. Her fangs, while subtle, had been a clue too. Alyna inclined her head slightly to acknowledge being a vampire. Throughout the ages many had bizarrely wanted to become such a creature, but the reality was they had only existed in stories. Arthas had changed that.

"Yes," Alyna replied simply.

"I assume you require humanoid blood from the living? Or can you feed off animals?"

Alyna was not sure what to make of the queen's clinical questioning. She eventually reasoned that Sylvanas did not have time for the polite conventions of conversation that the living were fond of.

"I cannot feed from animals, no."

"And other undead?"

Alyna actually blanched at the suggestion and her disgusted reaction almost drew a smile from the impassive queen. She was aware Sylvanas was ascertaining the safety of her people, and herself, but Alyna also knew she only had partial information. Alyna could feed from any humanoid soul, living or undead. Blood, however, was a different matter.

"Undead blood is … revolting, to put it mildly."

Sylvanas shuffled through the parchment on her desk and pulled one of them loose, presumably a report. She skimmed through it before stating, "I'm going to have to order you not to feed on the civilian human population, for now. Keep it to the Scarlet Crusade." She looked up at Alyna. "Understood?"

Alyna wanted to ask why, but accepted she did not have that right. "Yes, my Lady."

The honorific appeared to thrill Sylvanas slightly. The queen leant back in her chair and gazed at Alyna coolly. "I know you're still useful with a bow. What else can you can do?"

"Shadow and frost magic. Though, it would be easier to demonstrate the specifics rather than list spells." Sylvanas inclined her head in agreement. Alyna continued. "As I mentioned, my magic is dependent on how well fed I am, both in frequency and intensity. I've retained my basic magi abilities, so I can open portals, teleport, blink. My fire spells are now rooted in shadow." Alyna looked down momentarily. "I tried to use my ranger abilities, but couldn't. I've managed to adapt a few of my shadow magic skills to compensate to varying degrees of success."

"Despite your power, you still want to be a ranger?" Sylvanas sounded amused.

"I never wanted magic fifty years ago, either," countered Alyna. She shrugged, "I'm not as powerful as you think I am. Felo'alann magnified what I had when I possessed it, and now my feeding enhances what I can do now. It's all artificial. The real me is a ranger."

"Power is power, Alyna, no matter the source."

Alyna frowned. "With respect, not everyone craves power for power's sake, even you, my Lady."

Sylvanas started, but conceded the point. Alyna knew Sylvanas was queen by default. No one else had the strength to lead, and Sylvanas' goal was not to gain power for personal gain, but to defeat the Lich King. Being the Banshee Queen served her purpose, and that was it.

"What happened to Felo'alann?" Sylvanas asked.

"I don't know. I dropped it at the Sunwell, and that was the last I saw of it." She chuckled dryly. "I asked after it, of course, but Lana'thel withheld the answer from me, as well as the runeblade."

"She knows?"

"Oh, she knows. She took far too much delight in not telling me to not know." Alyna quirked an eyebrow. "Wherever it is, I have a feeling I'm not going to like it."

"Fate certainly has had a twisted sense of humour of late," remarked Sylvanas.

"I'm not laughing."

The queen raised an eyebrow at the blunt retort. No one spoke to her that way anymore, their fear at her displeasure overriding any urge. She found she did not mind in this instance, but she made a mental note to make sure it never happened in public or with others present.

For now, Sylvanas changed the subject. "I have already taken the liberty of assuming you wish to be a ranger again, considering your attire. To that end, I have ordered my local captain to take you into her company." She looked at Alyna evenly. "I have no doubt as to your physical skills as you appear to have retained them, as we all did, but if you are unable to adapt your shadow magic to my dark ranger teachings we will have to come up with another role for you." Sylvanas reached into the central drawer in her desk and pulled out a small metal disc embossed with symbols Alyna couldn't read. She placed it before Alyna. "This marks you as one of my dark rangers. I cannot give you a commission as you will have to retrain and earn the respect of the others." And from me, she thought. "But, if you learn as quickly as I hope you will, that can change."

Alyna nodded, "I understand." She picked the disc up and examined it. "What language is this?"

Sylvanas looked like she had started to roll her eyes before controlling the involuntary movement. "Gutterspeak. It's a lower form of Common the people adopted as our official language. The dark rangers generally use Thalassian, but I suggest you learn Gutterspeak, and quickly. It would also be wise to learn some Orcish as well, seeing as that's the language the Horde conducts everything in." Sylvanas almost growled her next words. "I should remind you that by joining the Forsaken you are also now a member of the Horde, and everything that entails."

"You don't like the Horde?" Alyna already knew some Orcish as there had been some orc death knights around Acherus, but she would have to find some help with learning Gutterspeak.

Sylvanas took a moment to decide whether to answer the question or not, eventually saying, "They're a means to an end, and they're not overly fond of us either."

Alyna pocketed the disc, belatedly adding, "Thank you."

The queen chuckled ominously, "Don't thank me yet."

A knock on the door interrupted anything else that may have been said.

Sylvanas gave Alyna a small smile, immediately putting Alyna on edge. "That'll be your new captain." She raised her voice so the newcomer could hear. "Enter!"

Alyna stood and turned, failing to keep the surprise from her eyes as Talnia walked in to the office. She looked back at Sylvanas, who was still smiling as she said, "I never said this was going to be easy for you."

Alyna's only consolation was that Talnia did not appear enamoured with the idea of having to train Alyna either.

"Take her to the barracks and get started," ordered their queen. "Come back to me once she has settled in."

Talnia bowed her head slightly, "Yes, my Lady." She looked Alyna up and down before turning on her heel and walking out the door.

Alyna glanced back at Sylvanas uncertainly, getting an expressionless look in return. Realising she had also been dismissed, she jogged after Talnia.

Alyna stalked slowly through the trees, her footfalls silent. Her bow was loaded as she searched around for her objective. After a few minutes, a bright red ribbon came into view above her head. Her focus on maintaining her shadow-enhanced stealth was such she almost missed it.

She frowned at its location halfway along a slender branch that she knew would not hold her weight. A solution forming in her mind, she removed the arrow from her bow and raised herself up on her toes, using the arrow to extend her reach. Concentrating hard, she stretched her stealth around the long arrow and managed to flick the ribbon off the branch. She caught it before it hit the floor and she immediately moved away from the tree. When nothing happened, she attached the ribbon to her belt with the other six she had already found, and continued on her task. She had one left to find.

She kept every sense on high alert as she pressed on through the trees. She had been at this for half the day, and maintaining her stealth was draining. Talnia had put her through exercise after exercise for the past week to try and teach her the new skills the rangers had developed. Conversations had been strictly limited to Alyna's training, at the insistence of both women. It would appear neither of them wanted to bring up Sunsail any time soon. Not directly, anyway.

A couple of abilities had come easily to Alyna, but most were taking a lot of work for her to learn. Her magic had a different source to the other rangers, and she was having to learn to manipulate shadow in a way the rest did not need to do. She had not admitted this, of course. Talnia would have labelled her a failure and taken her back to Sylvanas as untrainable. For now, she was letting the merciless captain think she was just being slow to pick certain things up. As long as she did keep managing to adapt and learn, she knew she could pull through. She just hoped Talnia did not try to teach her a skill she could not adjust to in time.

After another hour of scouting around for the last ribbon, she came across a freshly planted field, though she had no idea what the crop would be. Her eyes scanned the ground for hints of red before her gaze fell on an ancient-looking scarecrow in the middle of the field. Pinned like a medal on its chest, was a red ribbon. Two sides of the field were bordered by trees, and Alyna cautiously made her way around the edge to make sure no one was there lying in wait. When she was sure she was alone, she slowly crept out over the soil, planting her feet softly so as to disturb it as little of it as possible.

The scarecrow was dressed in mouldy clothing, the spores tickling her nose as she reached it. As she stretched her arm out to remove the ribbon from the scarecrow, she felt a force slam into her shoulder, knocking her arm away. She blinked and looked down. An arrow had been expertly shot through the gap between her shoulder armour and breastplate, despite her stealthy approach.

"Shit," she muttered, knowing what was about to happen next.

The pain spread quickly from her wound through her body, and she fell to her knees, knowing her stealth had been broken. Her body shook with the magical poison that had been applied to the arrow, and she managed not to cry out as she doubled over.

She could not hear it, but she knew a pair of booted feet were slowly walking towards her from where their owner had shot the arrow. Her stealth had been so perfect Alyna had not detected her standing in the open field. Alyna felt strong hands roughly force the arrow cleanly through her shoulder, before breaking the shaft and pulling the arrow out from her wound. She then sensed her body try to heal the wound. Despite being drained, she managed to have enough magical energy to seal the injury, though she was incapable of purging the poison even if she had just fed.

Alyna endured the pain as the owner of the boots watched silently. When the poison had run its course, she raised her head to the smiling features of Talnia.

"That arrow was stronger than the others," Alyna managed to say.

The captain chuckled. "I find pain to be an effective teacher. You weren't learning, so I increased your incentive."

Alyna growled as her body recovered. "Not learning? I got seven this time; nearly all eight."

"'Nearly' doesn't make any difference."

Alyna chuckled weakly. "It does to me when I know it took you a week to grab all eight without being caught, and I'm only on day two of this task."

Talnia held up the poisoned arrow head for Alyna to see. "I could have made this a lot worse for you, and you know I want nothing more than to see just how much you can take." She knelt down beside Alyna and hissed her next words into Alyna's ear, "All I need is a reason to do so, Ranger, so I can justify it to our Lady. There are no rules here – just survival. It's in your best interests to watch that fanged mouth of yours." She wrapped the arrow head in a piece of cloth and pocketed it before she grabbed Alyna's unwounded arm to pull her to her feet. "Get back to the barracks so I can set you a new course."

Alyna wobbled unsteadily for a moment and cringed inside. "I need to feed." The admission, she knew, would cost her in her superior's eyes, but she was too weak for another task. None of the other rangers had to stop to eat or drink.

Talnia made a sound of disgust before she let go of Alyna's arm. "Fine." She looked around, picked a direction and started back towards the trees. "There should be some scarlet's this way, if you think you can keep up."

Alyna followed behind her captain, her eyes boring angrily into the woman's back.

The ribbon taunted her as it fluttered in the breeze. This time, Talnia had attached the last one to a weather vane on the roof of a human farmhouse. Alyna cursed the woman. Despite the problematic positioning of the ribbon, she eventually smiled. In Talnia's eagerness to push Alyna beyond her limits, she was actually helping Alyna to exceed her own expectations.

Another two days had passed since her failure at the scarecrow, and she had failed another three times on the final ribbon. But, each failure had taught her more about how to control her stealth in awkward situations. Her stealth was always undetectable at the start of each run as Alyna was at her most powerful. As the task evolved and her limits were pushed, her power drained and she knew it was only a matter of time before Talnia would detect the tell-tale shimmer of air that told the devious captain where she was. Her power drain was unavoidable, but on this run Alyna believed she now knew how to power her stealth more efficiently.

As she now looked at the weather vane, she felt stronger than she had any previous time at this stage. The question now was not whether she could maintain her stealth through exhaustion, but whether she could maintain her stealth and her concentration while climbing up to the roof. She knew Talnia was somewhere near watching with the patience of a hunter. The poison on the arrows was getting worse with each failure, as the captain had promised. This time, Alyna was hoping to unleash a surprise of her own.

She made a quick circuit around the house, keeping to the trees where she could. There was a smaller building up against one side of the house that she could possibly try and scale, and then get onto the larger roof from there. On the same side of the home, and more easily accessible, was a vine-covered trellis that would allow her to scale the entire side of the main house. It was invitingly easy, which made Alyna suspicious. Continuing her circuit, she noted a small family graveyard with small tombstones jutting out the soft ground, a vegetable garden, a pair of hanging baskets hooked to the wall, a few closed windows and a crumbling well. No one appeared to be home. She could see no other obvious paths to the roof, until she realised the house had an external chimney stack that ran from the ground to above the roof itself.

With great care, she slowly walked down the wide road to the farm. It was wide enough for a cart and horse, and the dirt was hard under her feet so she did not have to worry about leaving prints. As she neared the house, the road split into two paths that encircled the buildings. Instead of walking around the side where the trellis was, she went the other way towards the chimney. She carefully looked at the stone used to construct it. While it had been cut by a decent stonemason, it was not of the same quality of a master. She decided it was rough enough for her to climb, and she slung her bow over her back. For the first time she could remember, she appreciated the short sharp claws she now had instead of nails as she could dig them into the soft stone. She did so carefully, so as not to create enough debris to be detected. She found very narrow purchases as she climbed for her feet, the stone not having been laid precisely enough to leave a smooth surface.

It was not a particularly difficult climb, but the task of maintaining her stealth while she did it resulted in it taking much longer than expected. Eventually, she sat crouched on top of the chimney, grateful the occupants were not home to use it. She had no problem with the cold, but heat made her very uncomfortable, as it did for most undead. She eyed the thatched roof carefully as it did not look particularly thick. She walked along the ridge, knowing it was the only guaranteed solid part of the roof. The weather vane stood at the far end of the roof, and she reached it quickly.

And then paused.

She could easily take the ribbon, but as soon as she did that she knew she would have an arrow hurtling towards her. The fact she did not already have an arrow in her side meant Talnia had not seen her, but once she touched the ribbon it would effectively disappear suddenly under her stealth. There was only one possible place she could be to do that, and Talnia would not need to see her to fire her arrow.

Crouched beside the weather vane, Alyna cautiously looked around. She knew she would not be able to spot the cagey captain, but she suspected she may not have to. Talnia had always set up the final ribbons in such a way that she could still trap Alyna even if she got the ribbon. Alyna realised that also meant there were only a few places Talnia could be in order to have a direct line of sight to the ribbon, and also the possible clear routes to it. The house had a modest garden that was used to grow vegetables for the family. The rest of the land immediately around was tilled farmland. Beyond that, was the forest.

From her vantage point, Alyna could see the top of the trellis she had been tempted to climb. Next was a small patch of visible garden, then part of the path, the field, and then the trees. The treeline was over a hundred metres away, but Talnia was more than capable of still hitting Alyna with an arrow from that distance. The tilled soil was too soft to stand on without leaving footprints, and the garden was too close. If Alyna had decided to climb the trellis Talnia would risk being walked into if she had stood there.

She looked at the dirt path. It was not as hard packed as the road, but someone of Talnia's skill would not leave any evidence on it. Alyna raised an eyebrow as she also realised she could see the tallest of the tombstones in the graveyard. Slowly, she smiled under her mask. One thing she had learnt about Talnia was the only thing currently greater than her desire to make Alyna as miserable as possible, was her ego. Alyna would have chosen to hide in the trees which had the most protection and easiest escape route, but she knew Talnia would always prefer to hide out in the open, where she could flaunt her skills the most.

Alyna unslung her bow and fingered the arrows in her quiver, looking for the fletch of a particular one. When she found it, she pulled it free and nocked it into her bow. With a self-satisfied smile, she aimed at the empty air above the tombstone, and fired.

The cry of alarm told her all she needed to know. She grabbed the ribbon and pressed herself down onto her belly. Not a moment later, an arrow whizzed over her head. Having to deal with being shot had delayed the captain's reaction just enough for Alyna to succeed.

"You bitch!" she heard Talnia scream at her, unable to see the woman from her low position.

Alyna crawled back along the beam and climbed down the chimney stack, still maintaining her stealth. She slowly edged around the path, and found Talnia as she had expected to find her. She had been stood on top of the tombstone when Alyna had shot her, but she was now on her knees in front of it, an arrow protruding from her abdomen. She was bent over, her arms hugging her bare stomach.

As Alyna approached, she chuckled, letting Talnia know she was now with her. The captain's body was shaking, and she was trying to control her reaction. She raised her blazing red eyes as she heard Alyna's amusement.

"You fucking bitch!" she snarled with unbridled fury, her words laced with the pain she was clearly suffering. "You poisoned your arrow!"

Alyna pulled her mask down and crouched a few feet in front of Talnia to be able to look her in the eye as she dropped her stealth. She grinned widely, flashing her fangs.

She could not hide the amusement from her voice. "What can I say? You've taught me well."

Talnia grunted as a surge of pain momentarily took all of her focus to control. The poison would get worse over time, just as Talnia's had for Alyna, and she would be unable to talk soon as it reached its peak. When she looked up at Alyna she spat her words. "Do you think this will make things better for you? By attacking your captain?"

Alyna shrugged. She unhooked the eight ribbons from her belt and dropped them before the still suffering captain. "No rules, remember? Your words, your way." My revenge, she added with a thought. She winked at Talnia. "Four days."

Talnia seethed. She tried to say something, but could not get the words out.

Alyna chuckled, "I know, I know. Get my ass back to the barracks so you can set up the next lesson." She gave Talnia a mocking salute. "I'll await your orders, Captain."

Nothing would please Alyna more right now than to stay and watch Talnia suffer, but she'd had her fun. Staying would make it worse for her in the end, so she decided to leave the captain alone.

She focused on the power that flowed through her body. She still had substantial reserves left despite her activities, and it greatly thrilled her. She gracefully traced a deep purple magical sigil in the air, which hovered ethereally between the two women. Talnia watched, still unable to speak. Alyna replaced her mask and gave the furious woman another wink. She then grabbed the sigil, activating her teleport back to Undercity, leaving the captain to make her own way back.