Chapter 33

Two weeks later …

Alyna sat in the snow on the hill behind the Forsaken camp. She pulled her knees up to her chest, rested her arms across the them and dropped her forehead down to hide her face from anyone watching. She wanted solitude and privacy, both of which had been hard to come by at the tournament since she won the archery contest for her queen earlier that morning. She had not even wanted to take part in the foolish display, but Sylvanas had insisted her former protégé be her representative. When the queen had dangled the alternative of Nathanos being her selection instead, Alyna had caved immediately. Now she was a main topic for gossip, the relative anonymity she had enjoyed thus far a blissful memory.

There were too many people here. Their hearts beat loudly in her ears. They were inescapable. Everywhere. Enticing.

Thump thump, thump thump.

One heartbeat in particular was louder than the others, getting closer. She raised her head to tell the living to leave her alone.

"Alyna?" came the tentative question.

"Lirea," she replied. The captain swallowed her ire when she saw her sister.

The priestess looked a little uncertain at the ranger's demeanour. "I wanted to come and congratulate you … for winning the archery contest." She shifted uneasily. "Are you okay?"

Alyna looked up at her sister. Her robes were still off-white under her Argent Crusade tabard, but they were heavy and fur-lined to ward off the cold. She had a hood pulled up over her head, but it did not hide the genuine concern in her green eyes.

"The attention is uncomfortable." She decided to keep it simple, though it was no lie. She had no desire to go into the details of her san'layn physiology with a living person, no matter their relation to her. Lirea had been remarkably open, so far, but she doubted that would remain so if she found out her sister fed on the living to survive.

"You always did veer away from the limelight where possible. I can't say I blame you." She moved to sit down beside her sister in the snow. Once she was settled, she smiled. "It really was fun to watch you compete. Everyone expected the Farstrider to win it easily."

Alyna quirked a small smile for her sister. "A Farstrider did win it easily. Just not the one they expected."

Lirea laughed. "Indeed!" She tucked her hands deeper into the fur muff she carried. "That's the first time I've ever seen you shoot, you know. I can see why Sylvanas once chose you as her protégé."

The captain's smile grew slightly as she tried to recall a memory. "I was awful when she first saw me shoot. I had made my own bow and arrows, and they were terrible." She looked off into the distance as she spoke. "She handed me her own bow, and I was so nervous I thought I'd drop it."

The priestess observed her closely with the patient look of someone who had heard the story before. Alyna couldn't remember. For once, her inability to recall specific details from her previous life bothered her.

"You clearly impressed her that day."

"Apparently so," she admitted as she looked back at her sister. "Whatever talent I have though, it was Sylvanas who nurtured it. Everything you saw today, was her, through me." She could see the protest coming so she held up her hand to stall it. "I am not discounting my ability here, but raw talent can only take one so far before it has to be developed by another who knows more. That teaching can make or break a person." She lowered her hand. "Sylvanas was the only one willing to give me a chance, and I was fortunate in her ability to teach me."

Lirea nodded in understanding. "You're grateful, I get it."

It was more than mere gratitude, but she wanted to change the focus from herself. "Do you have a mentor yet?"

The younger woman blushed slightly. "Uh. Well, yes, actually." She looked away and then glanced back at her sister. "Lady Liadrin kindly agreed to teach me what she knows."

Alyna came close to rolling her eyes, but she managed to refrain from the act. She should have known the matriarch would be involved somehow. "But, she's a paladin now?"

"She is, but most paladins start in the priesthood. She still has her knowledge and ability; she just chooses to focus it in a more martial way."

The ranger thought about her words for a moment. "Is that what you want? To become a blood knight?"

Lirea chuckled in amusement. "No. For now, I am content as I am. I do find a certain satisfaction in battle, but I would miss the other aspects of being a priest."

Alyna found she was relieved to hear that. While she was still unsure what to make of having Lirea in her life, she knew the existence of a paladin was a tough one. She did not want that hardship for her sister.

A strong tremor chose that moment to coarse through her body and she hugged her knees tighter to her chest in her effort to contain it. Lirea's heartbeat was pounding through her head and she realised she had to go feed, and soon, if only to take the edge off of being around so many of the living. She was not sure why it was becoming such a problem of late. Dalaran had been almost intolerable when she passed through it on the way to the tournament. She had been so keen to be posted back to Northrend, but the Undercity had now become an oasis of calm she desperately wished she could return to right now.

Either her sister did not notice the shaking, or she assumed Alyna was just feeling cold, a concept alien to the undead.

"The main event starts later in the central arena. Will you be there?" Lirea asked.

Alyna nodded. "Yes. All the leaders are expected to attend, with a bodyguard."

Lirea smiled. "A champion for a personal guard. I doubt anyone will mess with you after today." If only that were true, Alyna mused as her sister paused for breath. "I'll keep an eye out for you." The ranger nodded as her sister stood up from the snow, signalling an end to their talk. "Congratulations, again, sister."

Alyna inclined her head, accepting the praise. She considered replying but she did not want to extend the conversation any further. She needed to be alone.

It was clearly too cold for Lirea to remove a hand from the muff to wave, so she just smiled again before leaving the ranger to her thoughts.

And her hunger.

"Where is she?" hissed Sylvanas.

Kyala shook her head nervously. "I don't know, my Lady." The queen reached out and grasped the bottom of the ranger's hood at her throat, pulling her in close when she did not get the answer she wanted. "She's not in the camp!" the lieutenant added quickly.

Sylvanas moved her grip to the ranger's arm and dragged her away from the viewing stands in the grand Crusaders' Coliseum. The main event had already started with a huge magnataur currently facing off against a mix of Horde and Alliance veterans. There were no dark corners in the circular building, so she took Kyala outside into the deepening night to find the privacy she desired.

"Tell me everything," she demanded, finally letting go of the woman.

The ranger again shook her head and spoke quietly so as not to be overheard. "I know little more than I've already told you, my Lady. She's been struggling somehow since we came back to Northrend." She gestured at the queen. "You saw it for yourself in Dalaran. She has spent a fair bit of time behind the Forsaken camp by herself, saying she needs the space. It became worse after her victory this morning."

"And the tremors?"

"More severe, as far as I can tell." The lieutenant allowed the queen to see her concern for her captain and friend in her increasingly despairing tone. "She feeds more often, as you know, but she cannot do it anywhere near the camp, so she goes into the hills. There are vrykul to the east of us, and I believe some Cult of the Damned to the west."

Sylvanas narrowed her eyes slightly. "There are cultists? Near here? Why have I not been informed?"

"I was only just notified of their presence." Kyala shifted her weight before asking carefully, her voice respectful. "May I speak freely, my Lady?" The queen gave her a half-distracted nod as she considered the new information. "Something is happening to Alyna, and I don't believe she is aware of it. She shows great restraint in some areas, such as not feeding on the proto-drakes despite needing it, yet when she does feed, she … gorges herself. I cannot really describe it any other way."

The queen had never actually been on a hunt with Alyna to see what happened during them. She had seen her feed, but it was limited to the occasional offering she arranged in advance for her lover.

"From what you've told me," Sylvanas started, thinking her words through as she said them, "she has 'gorged' herself in the past before?"

Kyala nodded. "Yes, but now I think about it, those were times when she restrained herself too much and so had to. These days, she's different. She never lets herself starve. And still, she eats more."

Sylvanas pinched the bridge of her nose, frowning. She wanted to scream at Kyala for letting Alyna out of her sight, but a part of her knew it was unfair. While she had orders to keep an eye on her, she still had her duties to attend to, given by the very woman she was meant to watch. The lieutenant was good, but even she could not be in two places at once.

None of them knew how much a healthy San'layn consumed, not even Alyna herself. All they had to go on was what they were told by a woman who was experiencing certain things for the first time. Alyna had promised her she would come to the queen if her drive was ever too much, and she had accepted her word on the matter as she wanted to show her the trust she knew Alyna deeply desired. But now she wondered if that was a fair promise to extract from her lover in the first place. Does an addict ever know they have a problem until they go too far? She had heard it all before. People using narcotics recreationally, fully believing they were in control. Until one day, they weren't, but they failed to notice until it is too late.

She came to a decision. "Tell Nathanos he will remain here to represent the Forsaken. You and I are going to look for Alyna."

"My Lady, are you sure that's wise? I can tak—"

Sylvanas cut her off abruptly. "Now, Kyala."

The lieutenant snapped into a salute and trotted back into the coliseum to pass on the order. The queen turned and cast her eyes down the long open-air approach to the arena, torchlight flickering lightly in the mild breeze. It faced west, the same direction the newly arrived cultists were.

Alyna hated cultists.

Had that been her trigger?

Sylvanas did not know where Alyna was, but she could only imagine four reasons for her lover to not be at her side tonight: she was dead, captured, too wounded to move, or her feeding had got out of control. Every single one filled the queen with dread. Logically, she presumed the last reason was why Alyna was absent, which was why she only wanted Kyala along to help in her search. If she was right, then what her lover was dealing with was deeply personal and having anyone else present might make the situation worse.

She was not about to let Alyna down any further.

People roared in victory behind her as she presumed the magnataur had finally been defeated, feeling their thundering voices vibrating through the floorboards. She knew she should be there, supporting her own people. The truth was, none of it mattered if the one person Sylvanas truly loved was in trouble. The best thing she could do for her people right now, was to make sure Alyna came home. If she stayed and something happened to Alyna, she would be forever broken.

Again.

This time, for good.

The moment Kyala returned, they set out to find the only thing that mattered to the Banshee Queen.

Sylvanas knelt down in the blood-stained snow to examine the remains of what had been a human female. Like the other corpses that lay strewn across the area, she had been a cultist. She had no marks on her, leaving the queen to surmise she may have been one of the lucky ones to die quickly. She raised her gaze to take in the carnage that told a story of uncontrollable rage. If she was in any doubt as to who was responsible, small fires of purple shadowflame continued to burn in numerous places, their light almost haunting in the darkening night.

"I … have seen this before," Kyala confessed quietly. "Though not as extreme as this." The ranger looked down at her queen. "She's out of control."

"That much is apparent," Sylvanas snapped as she rose to her feet, taking in the scene before her.

Her keen eyes were trying to find any sign of Alyna's trail, but the destruction was making that difficult, as was the lack of light bright light. The fires had half-melted some areas of snow, removing any tracks that may have been there. Other areas were so heavily trampled by panicking cultists she could barely make out anything individual at all, let alone her lover's footprints. To make matters more challenging, Alyna had not left any kind of linear path to follow. They were just all dead.

She silently led Kyala through the remains of the fledgling settlement. Whatever reason the cultists had for being here, they had already managed to set up several solid tent structures, stone firepits and a forge. The rocky shelf they were on was large enough for potentially hundreds of people. There were only dozens now going cold in the snow, but even that was staggering. She had seen what Alyna could do first-hand in Utgarde Keep, and she had also witnessed Keleseth wield the power of the san'layn royal council at Vengeance Landing. She had been warned. Yet, despite both, she was only now starting to appreciate just what they were truly capable of.

What Arthas had made her love into.

The ledge suddenly narrowed into two paths, one heading down the cliff to the shore below, and another weaving up the mountainside. Both had corpses lining the way as far as she could see. Neither held any indication as to which Alyna was currently along, if she was even still here. She tried to listen for any sounds of activity, but the area was exposed to the wind coming off the sea. If there was anything to hear, it was being carried away from her.

She turned to her lieutenant. "Anything?"

Kyala shook her head in reply. "But you're going to suggest that we split up, and I'm going to advise that we don't. She's dangerous, my Lady."

Sylvanas gave the woman an incredulous half-laugh. "You're right, she is." She pointed back at the camp. "And she's done that to dozens. Whether there's one or two of us won't matter, Kyala. What does is that we find her, and soon." She turned back to the diverging paths, assessing her options. "I'll take the mountain route. If you find her, don't approach her. Try to signal me and wait for my arrival."

"Yes, my Lady," came the automatic reply.

Sylvanas was in no mood to deal with Kyala's obstinance so she started up the trail without another word. She knew it was the ranger's duty to protect her queen, and Sylvanas encouraged it for the most part. This was not about her though, but about finding and protecting Alyna from herself.

The path wound unevenly up the mountainside in a series of ascending switchbacks, growing steeper in places and almost level in others. As she climbed, the last rays of sunset disappeared over the horizon, leaving a weak crescent moon to illuminate the way. She was still encountering bodies, but the gaps between them was growing larger. At each she encountered she stopped to examine it briefly, until she finally noticed they were getting warmer, the kills fresher. Considering the cold temperature and wind, the queen knew she was potentially only minutes behind Alyna. With her senses on high alert, she continued moving up the path that appeared to be nearing another levelled section.

A terrified scream managed to pierce through the wind, and Sylvanas broke into a jog to quickly cover the rest of the ground to the ledge. She stopped when she saw Alyna. Through the dark night, she could just about see the woman had her back to the queen, with her runeblade sheathed along with her bow. She had no need for them as she raised her arms. Sylvanas watched as familiar white streams passed from the cultists to Alyna; their souls.

The queen moved forward just as their screams died down, along with the wind. The squeak of her boots on the snow was loud to her own ears, and Alyna turned to face her. There was no rush in the movement; she did not feel threatened, so confident she was in her power. Sylvanas' eyes narrowed as she took in the extended eyeteeth and the entirely black eyes that showed no recognition as they bore into her.

Too late, she tried to call out to Alyna but instead felt a unique pain start in her core. Time slowed, and Sylvanas' mind was transported to the only other time she had felt this way: the moment Arthas had ripped her soul from her body. It was an unforgettable and unmatched agony, and she knew she was beginning to feel it again. Horror gripped Sylvanas as the woman she loved tried to kill her.

She screamed.

Not as a woman, but as only the banshee queen could, and with everything she had.

The hold on her soul dropped, and so did Sylvanas. She fell to her knees and forward onto her hands, gasping at the lingering pain that throbbed around her soul. She could still hear her scream reverberating off the mountainside as she glanced up at Alyna. The force of the banshee's scream would have been enough to outright kill most people, but the san'layn had been thrown onto her back. She was now rolling onto her side, holding her head in clear discomfort.

The queen did what she knew she had to. She quickly rushed to the woman's side, drawing a sword as she kicked at Alyna's shoulder. She held the blade to her lover's exposed throat, knowing she was also holding it to her own.

She felt her throat clench with emotion. "Don't make me do this, Alyna," she heard herself beg.

Alyna blinked a few times, still dazed. She then looked up at Sylvanas, causing the queen to tense, expecting the worst.

"Sylvanas?" Confusion and pain wrapped itself heavily around her single word. Alyna focused on the blade at her throat, then up at her lover. They were still completely black, but she was starting to realise what had just nearly happened. "No … no! Sylvanas! I … what have I done?"

The words tore the queen in two. She was more than scared of what Alyna could do to her and every instinct was telling her to protect herself. But wasn't this partly her fault? Alyna had explicitly told her she could not feed on souls, and when she had started Sylvanas had said nothing. She had not challenged the behaviour, or voiced concern. Because she was proud. She had become proud of what Alyna could do, and she had let it blind her to the cost.

Sylvanas let go of her sword and knelt beside the stricken woman, pulling the san'layn into her arms. Alyna shook uncontrollably, the shock of what transpired finally sinking in as she clung to the queen, trying to bury her face into the queen's neck. Without thinking about it, Sylvanas fumbled with the straps to her pauldron, removing it to allow Alyna the space to get closer. And she did.

"I'm so sorry," came the anguished words, said barely above a whisper.

The queen sighed. "I know." She closed her eyes for a moment as she whispered back, "I'm sorry too, my love." She pressed her lips down to Alyna's ear to make sure nothing was lost to the wind. "I should have done more. But I'm here now, and we will get through this." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Together."

Alyna heaved a dry sob and curled her body into the queen, muttering over and over how sorry she was. Sylvanas just held her, not really sure what else she could do in that moment as flurries of fresh snow began to fall. It did not take long for the cultists' bodies to become lumps of white. Her own white covering did not bother the dark lady as she kept her head bowed over Alyna until the shaking started to slow and the pained sobs subsided. She watched patiently as her lover's eyes slowly returned to normal and as her fangs receded. It was only then that she dared to break the silence between them.

"Alyna?" she asked softly.

Dark eyes finally dared to make contact with her red ones, and the despair she saw would have made her heart stop if it had still beat.

"Help me," came the strained request.

Sylvanas tried to push as much confidence as she could muster into her reply. "I will." She pressed her forehead up against Alyna's, needing the closeness. "We'll make you well again."

Alyna closed her eyes. "I'm not sure I was ever well." Self-loathing tinged her voice as she explained, "What if I can't do this without the will of the Lich King controlling me, Sylvanas? He suppressed so much to make things easier to … accept. He said I would go back to him willingly. What if a san'layn cannot be free?"

The queen shook her head. "I won't accept that, Alyna, and neither should you." She kept their faces close as she gently cupped her lover's cheek. "I know it is difficult for you to see right now, but you are not alone. We will figure this out."

Alyna whispered, "I don't want to lose you."

"You haven't."

"But I nearly kil—"

Sylvanas pressed her lips against Alyna's to stop the destructive train of thought. It was simple and chaste, but after a second she felt a light pressure in return. A moment later she felt a hand at the back of her neck, and she opened her mouth to welcome the ranger as their kiss deepened. Desperation, relief, even some shyness was expressed by Alyna in the intimate contact, and Sylvanas welcomed it all, sensing the longer they kissed, the more Alyna became grounded in herself. She tried to express her love and acceptance in return to the woman she was deeply thankful to still have.

When she pulled away marginally, she tried to reassure the ranger. "But you didn't." She smiled a little. "And at least I now know I can knock you on your ass."

Alyna gave her a very small smile at the attempted humour that did not reach her eyes, not that the queen had expected it to.

"Lady Sylvanas?" came the hesitant call from some feet away. The queen turned to see Kyala through the dark, her bow at the ready, having just reached the plateau. She could just about make out her eyes moving between the two women, trying to assess the scene. "I heard you scream …"

"We're fine, Kyala." She glanced back down at Alyna. "Or at least, we will be." Black eyes looked back at her without reply to the statement, still unsure it would seem. The queen started to stand up, pulling the ranger with her as the snow that had settled on them both fell in clumps. After managing to locate where her pauldron had been buried, Sylvanas reattached it, and then retrieved her sword.

She looked at Alyna and asked quietly, "Do you want to go home?" Alyna nodded wordlessly so she turned to Kyala. "I'm taking Alyna back to the Undercity. I need you to inform Nathanos he'll be my representative here for the foreseeable future. I'll send word to Fordring with my apologies, and to inform him of the fate of these cultists. If anyone asks, Alyna did this under my orders. Understood?"

"Yes, my Lady," returned Kyala.

The queen turned to Alyna and held out her hand. Hesitantly, the gesture was reciprocated.

Sylvanas felt her heart lighten for the first time all evening.

"Let's go home."