Chapter 6

The War Quarter took up the entire north western section of Undercity. The activity in the quarter was constant with blacksmiths forging, warriors and hunters training, and various citizens bare-bone brawling. The canal that ran through the whole city also passed through here, glowing a vibrant green with algae and other contaminants that even Alyna did not want to think about.

Alyna stood on one of the bridges that stretched over the canal, watching the inhabitants of the city go about their business. She was waiting for Talnia to call her to her next training session, having not seen her since she teleported away the day before, and had grown tired of the minimalistic ranger barracks. The other rangers were still giving her a wide birth, and she figured that would continue until Talnia deemed her to be fully trained, or at least capable enough to be assigned to a unit. They saw no point in getting to know her if she was not sticking around for long. She recognised most of them from their time alive, but knew few of their names, most of them having been in companies Alyna had had little to do with. She wasn't sure if they even wanted to know her, considering she would always be their queen's ex-girlfriend. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't particularly want to get to know them either, having got used to being alone. But, she knew if she was to make her time here worthwhile, she would need to make friends. Or passable acquaintances, at least.

"Well, look what the Scourge dragged in," purred an amused voice speaking in Common.

Alyna turned to meet the glowing blue eyes of Koltira Deathweaver. Several other death knights were visible at the base of the bridge. They were trying to look casual, but she knew they were waiting for any sign of trouble. He saw her glance in their direction and added, "They won't cause you any bother unless they want to answer to me."

She looked at him in barely contained surprise. "Why would you defend me?"

He chuckled. "Oh, trust me, it's not you I care about in this instance. But," he shrugged, "I have a new queen now, and like my old boss, she has a mean temper. I'm not keen to test it any time soon."

Alyna raised an amused eyebrow. "You mean test it again? I heard about your jaw."

"And I've heard you're Talnia's new plaything."

She snarled at him. "I'm nothing of the sort."

He smiled, and suddenly swapped to speaking in Thalassian. "She keeps you too busy to hear the gossip about her. You'll want to watch your back around her." He looked her up and down suggestively. "As well as your other assets."

Alyna laughed at the implication, and replied in her native tongue, "Talnia does not go there, Koltira. Someone's been pandering to your starved imagination."

He shrugged. "Perhaps, though considering who my sources are, I doubt it. Even undeath gets lonely, and when you're surrounded only by women …" He trailed off, having painted a vivid enough picture.

"We're dead," Alyna stated bluntly.

Koltira met her eyes and held them for several moments. "You don't feel it?"

"Feel what?" Impatience tinged her words.

He opened his mouth briefly before closing it, at a loss for words for a few moments. "I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." He paused before adding, "Or maybe you won't. What do I know about Darkfallen physiology anyway?"

She understood why Sylvanas had broken his jaw as she wanted to do the same. She was about to say something snide when he kept talking.

"I can't say I know what it's like to have been you for the past few years, but I saw enough. Most death knights want you dead because of how you drove us, but I was there from the beginning, like you. I know what he made us all do, and I know you had even less freedom than we did." He shook his head slowly, "My point is, I have decided not to hold your actions while in the Scourge against you, and will judge you by what you freely do now."

She had no idea where that declaration had come from, and if it wasn't for his perfectly serious face she would have thought he was joking, but he wasn't.

"She must have hit you really hard."

He actually laughed at her comment. "That she did." He held out his forearm slowly so he did not startle her. "Truce?"

She stared at his arm for a long while before she raised her own to grasp his firmly. "All right, truce it is." She wasn't about to trust him, but it was better than having him as an enemy.

When she released his arm, he turned to leave before looking back at her.

"Perhaps, sometime soon when you go hunting scarlets, I can come with you? You can feed, I can slaughter." He gave her a genuine smile. "We'll have fun!"

While Alyna had to feed, death nights had to cause pain. They were both slaves to their natures, and she understood what drove him. And who knew? Perhaps they could even enjoy each other's company.

She nodded, "I'll come find you sometime."

She watched the death knights move away towards the part of the quarter they had found themselves taking over. The conversation had surprised her. It was not in their nature to be 'nice'. It was not something Alyna was practised at either, which had made not tearing off Talnia's head all the more difficult. Despite being leashed to the Scourge, she'd been in a powerful position of command and had been used to getting her own way. Starting again from the bottom had been very trying on her patience. She was only going through with it because she knew the Forsaken were her best hope of getting revenge on Arthas.

And she didn't want to let Sylvanas down.

She hadn't seen the queen since Talnia had led her away from the throne room ten days ago. Perhaps that was to be expected now. Sylvanas was a queen with a nation to run, and Alyna was a rookie ranger recruited from their hated enemy. Queens did not deal with the likes of her; Alyna had certainly not when she was a princess.

She considered going back to the barracks when a female elven form appeared in her view, walking easily along beside the canal. The slender woman wore the trademark hood of a dark ranger, but it was how she moved that had caught Alyna's attention, and it appeared that she was walking towards Alyna.

She felt a small smile tug at the corner of her lips under her black mask as she waited on the bridge. The other woman came to a stop before her, her bright red eyes having already looked Alyna up and down as she approached. They regarded each other coolly for long moments before Alyna was wrapped into a tight embrace before she could react. Unsure how to respond, Alyna eventually raised her hands to return the hug briefly before they broke apart.

Kyala chuckled at her stunted reaction. "When the Dark Lady sent us out to look for you, I could hardly believe my ears. But, here you are."

Alyna couldn't help her curiosity. "You've only just got back?"

"When Lady Sylvanas wants someone found, she casts a wide net." Kyala raised both her eyebrows in amusement, "And she really, really wanted you to be found."

Alyna raised her own eyebrow in response, knowing that Sylvanas had not had time to cast that wide a net before she'd been found. She hadn't been that far away.

Kyala laughed. "I see there is no keeping anything from you, as always." She shrugged. "I'm part of Areiel's company, not Talnia's. We were called home to help look for you, but once you were found we went back to our base at the Sepulcher."

"So what brings you here?"

"My, my, someone is definitely used to always having all the answers, aren't they?" teased Kyala.

Alyna rankled at the words, unable to see them as a joke. It wasn't. She was absolutely used to knowing everything that was going on around her and manipulating it to suit her needs.

Kyala winced. "Too soon? That was too soon." She glanced around quickly before stepping closer and dropping her voice. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to …" She appeared unable to finish the sentence. "Let's start that again?" Alyna gave her a brief nod and Kyala stepped back a bit.

"I don't know much about what happened to you, as I'm sure you've heard plenty of times because none of us do, but I'm here to help you figure out what happens from now on."

"Sylvanas asked you here?" probed Alyna.

"Lady Sylvanas summoned me here to assist in your transition, yes." The emphasis was not lost on Alyna and she bowed her head, accepting the reproach. She was not used to thinking of or calling her former lover by anything other than 'general' and her first name, even in death. Each time she had slipped up, she had been corrected without hesitation, such was the fanatical respect, and fear, the Forsaken had for their queen.

Alyna was no fool, and she spoke her thoughts bluntly. "You're my babysitter."

Red eyes flashed with humour. "Think of me as your guide, not just to Undercity and the Forsaken, but to the rangers as well. You may have known some of their names in life, but things are quite different now. I'll help you figure it all out before you piss anyone off enough to want you truly dead."

The former princess rolled her black eyes. "I think it's too late for that."

Kyala nodded knowingly. "I can't imagine being trained by Talnia is a thrilling experience for you."

"I can handle her," replied Alyna defensively.

Kyala didn't immediately respond, looking at her former captain carefully. "We'll see," she eventually said.

Alyna was not sure what to make of Kyala not showing complete confidence in her ability to pass Talnia's training. In two successive conversations, the people before her had always seemed to know something she didn't, and the concept unsettled her deeply. On the other hand, she also now knew that whatever Talnia was up to for her next lesson, she had not told anyone about what Alyna had done to her as Kyala would have certainly mentioned it. She found that curious, and wondered if Sylvanas even knew. Somehow, she doubted it.

Now she just had to figure out exactly what that implied.

Not giving Alyna anymore time to dwell, Kyala stepped aside and gestured towards the ranger barracks. "So! Has anyone shown you around Undercity yet?"

Alyna blinked, and then shook her head. "Not really. I can get to and from the barracks, and have orders not to wander around without an escort."

"Ah," Kyala nodded. "That'll be the former Scourge thing. We need to give the locals a little time to get used to your presence. I understand they're gossiping wildly about you – nothing much changes does it?" She laughed. "How about we make my first action as your guide to be your actual tour guide, and then we can go somewhere quieter where we can catch up properly? Unless, there is something pressing you need to attend to?"

They both knew Alyna had been standing idle on the bridge with nothing better to do. Alyna wordlessly accepted the invitation and the two women stepped off the bridge together.

Sylvanas watched the two women move anticlockwise around the canal that ringed her city. It would seem Kyala was going to show Alyna the area that mainly contained the Apothecarium first. Incidentally, the entrance to her own Royal Quarter was also there.

She had been watching Alyna the entire time she had been on the bridge. She had not planned to. It was the banshee queen's habit to prowl her own streets unseen so she could think on the matters at hand. It helped clear her thoughts, but it also meant she could gauge the mood of the Forsaken as a whole and listen in on gossip. The general Forsaken greeting and farewell of 'Dark Lady watch over you' was more accurate than they realised, though she did not do so out of any sense of protection for them. It was simply a good means of gathering information.

Koltira's approach had intrigued her. She had not been aware there had been friction between Alyna and the death knights she had commanded, though she wasn't surprised either. She had already been planning to keep Alyna away from her former subjects as much as possible, and witnessing the exchange had cemented that initial feeling. Sylvanas had been concerned that maintaining any former Scourge ties would keep Alyna from fully integrating into the Forsaken. While their reconciliation had appeared genuine, it had not changed her mind.

She had been more interested in Alyna's almost lack of reaction to Kyala. They had been close friends in life, and her response to the familiar ranger had been underwhelming at best. It was just something else to add to the list of things to investigate about Alyna. She was now an unknown entity, and Sylvanas did not like unknown entities, especially in her city.

Which was why she had summoned Kyala to Undercity to do exactly what she had told Alyna she was there to do – keep her out of trouble. And to spy for Sylvanas, of course. The wily ranger was one of the very few Sylvanas felt she could trust with sensitive tasks. She had also yet to come across anyone who did not like the bubbly undead elf. Somehow, despite being a banshee, she was almost perpetually cheerful. She had taken everything that had happened to them in her stride and just accepted it all. Sylvanas was not sure Kyala was entirely sane, but she was undeniably loyal and dedicated to her queen. At the very least, she would help Sylvanas figure out just how far she could trust Alyna. She wanted to trust her former fiancée, but she reluctantly had to admit to herself that her judgement was impaired.

The canal was not normally as busy as the central parts of the city, but there were enough people to keep the noise level high enough to make it difficult for Sylvanas to hear what her two rangers were saying. From what little she could gleam, she was not missing much, though Kyala was taking her position as tour guide seriously.

The Apothecarium was bustling with activity, as it always was. Sylvanas had poured a lot of resources into the research that went on here. Her apothecaries were responsible for creating the stiched-together abominations that guarded the Undercity, as well as for developing variations of the plague of undeath. While the Forsaken controlled the Tirisfal Glades and Silverpine Forest, Sylvanas had been determined to bring the rest of the former kingdom of Lordaeron under her control. She had also decided that just killing the humans would take too long, and be a waste of resources. Why just kill them when she could recruit them? Her plague would allow for that event sometime in what she hoped was the near future. The number of recruits she could claim would be enough for her to turn her attention to Northrend, with or without the Horde's help.

Of course, to the public eye the Apothecarium was an innocent research facility where she was trying to find a cure for the plague. All of her real interests were actually further underground beneath them, being tended to by alchemists who were so fanatical about their work she knew she could trust them to keep their secrets if they wished to continue their research.

In a moment of great irony, the Apothecarium was also where the shaman and druid trainers had decided to set up their academies within the city. On the edges of a zone dedicated to eradicating life to raise it as undead Forsaken, were a conclave of very much living tauren who were dedicated to the cultivation and protection of all life. She had allowed it as she figured they would report back to the Horde that Sylvanas was trying her best to help find a cure.

She wondered if they had any clue at all as to what the truth really was.

She doubted it. The giant bull-like humanoids were as gentle as they looked brutish. While they were formidable in battle, they preferred to see the good in all races, including the Forsaken. It had been their support that had fixed it so the Forsaken could join the Horde, so Sylvanas tried to cultivate at least some bilateral cooperation with the gentle giants. She had allowed a contingent of them to live in Undercity, while her people maintained a small presence in Thunderbluff, the Tauren capital city.

So when she saw Alyna suddenly step away from one of the seven-foot tall females in what appeared to be fear, the scene had her full attention, and she moved closer.

"I'm sorry," started the female tauren, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Get away from me!" warned Alyna.

Kyala looked between the two with an expression of confusion on her face. The tauren held her hands up in a submissive gesture and backed away slowly, bowing her head. Kyala grabbed Alyna's arm and dragged her away from the canals and into a side street that led to the inner ring of the city. Sylvanas followed.

Kyala pushed Alyna up against a wall. Alyna was still agitated, her fists clenching and relaxing as she paced slightly.

"What the hell was that about?" Kyala demanded.

Sylvanas decided to drop her stealth at that moment, coming into view just off to their side. Her eyes were focused on the pacing Alyna. "Yes, what was that about?"

Kyala's head whipped around as she heard her queen and she snapped to attention, bringing her fist up to her unbeating heart in a salute. "Lady Sylvanas, I did not see you there."

Sylvanas gave Kyala a quick glance that clearly stated that had been intentional before returning her attention to Alyna, who had stopped pacing. The newest ranger looked between Kyala and Sylvanas before eventually settling her eyes on the latter.

"I'm sorry, my Lady. It won't happen again." Her voice was calm, but Sylvanas could sense considerable effort behind the control.

Sylvanas let her irritation at still not having an explanation show. "And what did happen, exactly?"

Alyna shook her head slowly. "Nothing, my Lady. It's fine."

Kyala was visibly trying to restrain herself from saying something, and Sylvanas almost laughed at how obvious it was. Thankfully, the queen had no such need to hold back.

"That did not look like nothing, Alyna."

Black eyes finally met Sylvanas' red ones and the queen understood that Alyna had now fully composed herself.

"I'm just not used to tauren, my Lady. She … startled … me."

Sylvanas was convinced Alyna had just lied to her, but only had her gut feeling as evidence. Without anything to challenge the statement, Sylvanas eventually just nodded her acceptance of the explanation.

"All right. As long as you keep your reactions in check, we'll speak of this no further." She looked between the two women before verbally dismissing them. "Carry on with your business."

Alyna nodded gratefully and began to walk back to the canal.

Sylvanas grabbed Kyala's upper arm to get her attention, and their eyes met briefly. She didn't say anything to her ranger; she knew she didn't have to. When she let the other woman go, she knew Kyala had understood what her queen wanted her to do …

… to find out what had spooked Alyna.