Chapter 35

One month later …

Alyna felt the vrykul die in her arms as she released the magic keeping the woman alive while she fed. She lowered the body down to the snow and looked up at the red eyes watching her keenly. Sylvanas held out her hand to help the san'layn up. She took it and was pulled into an embrace that quickly turned into a slow kiss. If the queen minded her mouth tasting of blood, she never mentioned it during these moments. In fact, she was sure Sylvanas did this on purpose to assure Alyna that she was accepted for what she was, particularly during times like today when her self-worth was low.

This was her first hunt since arriving at the Shadow Vault a month ago. Part of the agreement between the knights and the Forsaken was that vrykul were occasionally captured alive to provide food for Alyna in a controlled environment. Unfortunately, she had run out of prisoners and had been forced to hunt for her next meal. Sylvanas had arrived a few days before on a planned visit and had agreed to go with her.

They had come to the outskirts of the vrykul encampment of Jotunheim to the south west of the Vault. It had been here that Alyna had spent years in service to the Lich King, testing and overseeing the ascension of the best warriors of the vrykul. Over the past few weeks her dark rangers had captured vrykul who had frequented the outer reaches of the settlement, but their numbers had dwindled of late, triggering the longer, more personal, hunt. They had been here for nearly a full day and had only found four vrykul for her to feed on. She suspected that these four had been defying an order not to leave Jotunheim due to the previous disappearances.

The queen soon ended the kiss to say, "I'm proud of you."

Alyna gave her a small smile. "I'm glad you're here."

"So am I." She nodded in the direction of the Shadow Vault. "We should head back before Kyala sends out a search party. This has taken longer than expected."

The captain agreed and she touched the queen's upper arm so they could be stealthed together. When Sylvanas did not immediately surround them in shadow, she tilted her head at her curiously.

"What is it?" she asked the distracted queen.

"I don't often get to do this," she said simply, with a wan smile.

Alyna understood. The past day had been quite different for her lover. As queen, Sylvanas was rarely ever alone, and when she was it was always doing something for the benefit of the Forsaken inside a secure space. When she ventured out, she always had a bodyguard, and she was expected to not put herself into harm's way. She knew that none of that had bothered the leader of the Forsaken until Alyna had become an intimate part of her life again. Now Sylvanas wanted more from her existence, and it was going to be a struggle to achieve that now her people were used to an ever-present queen.

When Sylvanas had insisted that she accompany Alyna on her hunt Kyala had been visibly upset by the concept of her queen venturing near an enemy settlement, but she had been forced to stand down. Sylvanas had tried to give herself more free time so they could spend it together, but that had, again, always happened in secure places. Today, they had been blissfully alone doing the things they both enjoyed as they hunted outside across the mountains.

A thought crossed the captain's mind and she shared it before she fully realised the implications of it.

"Are you happy? Being their queen?"

Sylvanas blinked in surprise, her mouth opening slightly but nothing immediately coming out. She took a moment to find her voice.

"I never asked for this." She shook her head slightly. "I wanted to find you, and it drove me into gathering people around me to help do just that. Before I knew it, I had hundreds, then thousands, looking to me to give them purpose." The queen took hold of the hand that had gripped her bicep and entwined their fingers together. "When I failed to rescue you, I fixated on Arthas. They fixated on him with me. In the end, I need them, and they need me. Does it make me happy? No. But it is necessary."

Alyna absorbed the words, unsurprised at the revelation. She then asked softly, "And what happens after Arthas is dead? Will you still need them?"

The queen gave a short half-laugh of amazement at the profound nature of the question. Again, she thought about her answer before revealing it.

"I don't know, Alyna." She squeezed the captain's hand affectionately. "I have no idea what will happen once this war is over, or how any of us will feel." Her eyes glazed over slightly. "It may be that many of the Forsaken will feel they can finally rest in death. Or they may feel that they can try to live again. I don't know." She made sure their eyes met as she added, "What I do know is that I need what happens next for me to involve you."

Alyna squeezed back with her hand to show she concurred with the sentiment. "Agreed."

The day went darker as Sylvanas pulled the shadows around the pair, signalling an end to the conversation. It was time to return to the Shadow Vault, and all the responsibilities that came with it, for both of them.

The two women climbed the steps to the Shadow Vault in plain view of the defenders. Bodies from all manner of Scourge lay everywhere, telling them there had been a very recent battle. As they reached the top, one of the death knights, an orc, saluted them.

"Lady Sylvanas, the Highlord wishes to see you and the captain. We took a prisoner in the last attack he believes you will both be interested in."

"Indeed?" she replied. "He is in the main hall?"

"He is." The orc stepped aside to let them pass.

The pair weaved their way through the effort to repair and restock the yard. They found Mograine standing near three death knight bodies, no doubt the latest casualties, deep in conversation with Koltira. He looked up at their approach and wordlessly gestured for them to follow him. He led them down into the crypt of the Vault, where Alyna knew prisoners were kept. He spoke when they were out of earshot of everyone else.

"When we defeated her forces, the leader of the last assault surrendered to us." He glanced back at Alyna. "She's a san'layn princess."

Alyna blinked. "I was replaced? By whom?"

Mograine shrugged. "She has decided not to volunteer her identity saying only that she wishes to talk to you. I don't recognise her, and since you just confirmed you were the only princess then I'm going to say she is new to the Scourge."

"How do you know she is a princess?" Sylvanas asked.

Mograine stopped and turned to the queen just long enough to say, "She has wings."

The queen raised an eyebrow as the highlord continued to lead them through the crypt.

Alyna thought about the situation. "I presume you took the necessary precautions?"

"I moved our living volunteers out of her sight during the battle," Mograine informed her. "I don't know of any way to prevent her taking souls so once she said she'd only talk to you I knocked her out to move her. Since then, no one has been down here."

The captain smiled slightly at the thought before asking, "Did she take any souls during the battle?"

"Not that any of us saw. You told me it was a very rare ability, but she is a princess. I was not about to risk her saving that trick for when she grows bored of being our guest. She now has manacles that prevent her from using magic, and from what you've brought up in briefings that should stop her from feeding."

Alyna shrugged mildly. "I couldn't feed until I broke through the spells on my manacles, and I'm supposedly one of the strongest san'layn, even unfed." They stopped outside a cell with a heavy iron-bound wooden door. Three runes glowed with a dark blue light informing the san'layn that the occupant could not hear anything going on outside her cell as all sound was being suppressed. "Still, it is best I go in alone to make sure she is contained."

Sylvanas narrowed her eyes. "And if she tries to take your soul?"

The captain smiled slightly. "She can't," she replied confidently. "Not even Lana'thel is strong enough to take my soul." What was left of it at any rate.

Her queen's ear twitched very slightly and Alyna knew she was confused, so she explained her reasoning. "The power of my magic is based on how well fed I am, but the ability to take a soul is based on individual strength of will, and the knowledge of how to overcome resistance. I was meant to be queen of the san'layn, so my will was purposefully created to be stronger. Even unfed, I can resist the challenge of a single san'layn."

Alyna turned her gaze to Mograine. "Did she give any indication as to why she surrendered? She could easily have teleported away."

The highlord shook his helmed head. "No. I grant you the circumstances are unusual. We have recently had reports of supposedly free Scourge seeking asylum though."

The captain frowned. "It's possible the Lich King's control is being stretched thin by the war. I can conceive of some less important Scourge breaking free, but a princess?"

"You broke free," Sylvanas pointed out.

Alyna arched a white eyebrow. "But I didn't. I was suddenly free, along with many of those in Acherus."

Mograine's eyes dimmed slightly as he narrowed them in thought. "The death knights broke free when we realised the depths of Arthas' betrayal against us. We believe the rest of you were released when Fordring wounded Arthas with the Ashbringer. Perhaps this princess has been betrayed as we were?"

The captain looked at the door. "Time to find out."

Mograine unlocked the cell and she entered, her eyes promptly finding the winged form of the san'layn standing at the far end of the cell, shackled. She was quickly sealed inside as the san'layn raised her face, smiling when she saw Alyna.

She recognised the san'layn instantly.

"Thal'ena?"

Her former roommate chuckled. "Hello, Alyna." She tilted her head slightly, her large headdress ensuring it was a small movement. "You look … small."

"You look like they probably struggled to get you through the door," she shot back before containing her surprise. She took her time as she assessed the strength of the magic imprisoning Thal'ena, only continuing the conversation once she was satisfied the right spells had been applied. "I assume Lana'thel did this to you?"

Black eyes hardened noticeably. "Mother did always believe she knew what was best for me."

Alyna lazily paced before the chained princess. "Is that why you're here? Your reunion did not go according to her plan?"

"Something like that," she said slowly. They stared at each other for a minute before Thal'ena relented. "I died in a skirmish in the Dragonblight. Apparently, my companions did not think to burn my body, because the next thing I knew was a great deal of pain and then my mother demanding that I get out of a large pool of blood." Alyna managed to contain her shudder at the reference to how san'layn were created. "Now, she commands me to do horrific things in the name of our greatest enemy, all the while deriding my performance as not as efficient as whom I replaced."

Alyna made a small sound of amusement. "She misses me? I'm touched."

Thal'ena scowled and tried to move forward, but her chains kept her in place. "I was sent here to kill you. Something we all know I am incapable of doing."

"So, you were sent to your death?" the captain said slowly. "Why not just accept such a fate if you're unhappy with what you are?"

The princess chuckled. "I never said I'm unhappy with it. I was a very average mage, Alyna, much to the disappointment of my mother. Now I have more power than I could have ever managed as an elf. I just have no interest in using it to further my mother's goals, or the Lich King's."

"You are here to defect then?" She purposefully allowed her suspicion to show. "And you expect us to accept you have broken free from his control?"

Chains rattled as Thal'ena tried to move. "I do not expect you to believe anything I say. I have information that I am willing to share that will help prove my intentions, but you need to act on it quickly." Alyna stopped pacing and looked at her intently, waiting. The princess smirked. "Got your attention, I see. Well then, you should know that Lady Deathwhisper has sent a team into Naz'anak. They are to retrieve the heart of Arthas Menethil and take it to the Cathedral of Darkness."

Alyna frowned deeply. Deathwhisper was now the most powerful lich in existence after Kel'Thuzad's demise in Naxxramas, and the supreme overseer of the Cult of the Damned. She only became directly involved in the most important missions, and anything involving Arthas qualified.

"His heart? It exists?" There had always been rumours that Arthas had ripped his heart out of his chest shortly after becoming the Lich King to remove the last of his humanity. No one had ever known for sure though or admitted to it.

Thal'ena's black eyes sparkled in amusement. "I cannot tell you if it exists, Alyna. Just that the cult are going to retrieve something they have been told is his heart. Apparently, one of the Alliance's 'heroes' stumbled across it and it has to now be moved to a safer location."

"A safer location than the forgotten depths of Naz'anak?" It was a question she did not expect an answer to, and she got none other than a vague shrug. Alyna knew of the existence of the nerubian tunnels deep below Icecrown Citadel, but she had never been there herself. It was rumoured to be overrun by the N'raqi, or Faceless Ones; unstoppable creatures of the void supposedly in service to the recently defeated Old God, Yogg-Saron. She wondered if his downfall had made the area more accessible.

Alyna decided the story was plausible. "This is happening now?"

"It is," purred the princess. "You best hurry."

The captain agreed and rapped her knuckles on the door. It was unlocked and she left the san'layn to her thoughts. As Mograine relocked the cell, Sylvanas gave her a look that she knew meant the queen was past the limit of her patience.

"It's Thal'ena," she informed her lover before she turned to Mograine to add, "Lana'thel's daughter."

Sylvanas' pale yellow eyebrows moved upwards slightly. "What does she want?"

"To escape the Scourge. As Darion suggested, she feels betrayed. She was sent here on a fool's errand to kill me."

The queen shook her head slightly. "To kill you? But that doesn't make sense. Arthas told you not long ago he wanted you to go back to him willingly. Now he wants you dead?"

Alyna shrugged. She had wondered the same thing.

"Arthas plays tricks on everyone," the highlord interjected. "He may want Alyna back, or want her dead, or have another plan for her entirely."

"Regardless," Alyna continued, "she told me something we may need to act upon quickly." She looked at Mograine. "She claims that Arthas' heart was recently stumbled upon in Naz'anak by an Alliance champion, and that Deathwhisper has sent cultist agents to retrieve it." The highlord looked between the two women, immediately raising Alyna's suspicions when he did not appear surprised. "You knew?"

He held his hands up for a moment. "Minutes before you arrived, Koltira informed me of the same thing. That champion gave the information to another senior death knight, Thassarian, who passed it back to us."

Sylvanas aired what they were all thinking, still sounding angry at only just being told. "So, the information is genuine."

"Yes," he confirmed. "But it won't be us who act on it." Again, he held up his hands as both women straightened their postures at the decision. "The cultists have infiltrators everywhere, and while it galls me to admit it, I would not be surprised to find one amongst the Ebon Blade." He shook his head slowly. "We are too close to the Scourge. It would be easy to hide amongst us. I trust a few select knights, but their numbers are not enough to launch an attack to gain the heart without Arthas being warned about it."

The queen's eyes flashed angrily. "We have an opportunity to hurt him. I will not sit by and let him reclaim the heart."

Mograine squared his shoulders at the banshee queen, his words becoming heated. "I have done no such thing! I have made sure the information will be given to Tirion Fordring. He hand selects every single paladin under his command, all but guaranteeing he has no informants hidden amongst them." He clenched his fist with determination. "He and I do not see eye to eye in how to wage this war, but I know he will do something about the heart."

The two stared each other down for a while longer before Sylvanas gave him a curt nod. "We know where the heart is going. It would be prudent to put this 'cathedral' under surveillance."

"On that, we can agree." The highlord relaxed his posture slightly. "I'll send Thassarian to make sure Fordring is successful. This could still be a trap, after all."

Alyna tilted her head slightly. "You believe so? Even with two sources, one of whom is a little more trustworthy than a renegade Scourge?"

"Arthas is doing this because he knows what the Alliance have discovered," Mograine stated. "I would not put it past him to use this to his advantage. Our guest could be him making sure the three of us know about it, just in case the Alliance champion failed to share what they saw."

Sylvanas understood where he was going with the line of thought faster than Alyna did and summarised it for all of them.

"Fordring is the highly respected leader of the army that is gathering to fight him. You're the leader of the next most powerful united force, his rebel death knights. Alyna is a formerly powerful Scourge he wants back, and I lead the Forsaken, and tried to kill him." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Even if he manages to kill or turn just one of you or Fordring, that could potentially be a fatal blow to our efforts in this war."

Alyna added, "I would say that Fordring is the greater target in this, considering the living rely on the morale and leadership he brings." She arched a white eyebrow at Mograine. "No offence intended."

"None taken. You are right. Which is why I intend on watching the Cathedral to make sure he survives this." He gestured for the pair to follow him as he led them back through the crypt. "Once the heart has been dealt with, I will decide what to do with our guest." He glanced back at Alyna. "Until then, I want to get you started on our plans for Jotunheim."

The captain faltered slightly with the doubt that suddenly coursed through her body. She felt her queen's hand reassuringly brush her own discretely, and it gave her the courage to speak her mind.

"I have only just started hunting again, Darion," she warned.

"I'm aware. I am not going to throw you into the fray just yet, but you can help another way. A proposal was made to me by someone I believe you know, Lady Nightswood?"

"The quel'dorei banshee?" she asked in surprise. "She's still here?"

"Yes. We freed her from the Scourge when we took over the Vault." They climbed up the steps to the main floor. "She approached me with a plan to infiltrate the vrykul in Jotunheim. She suggested that she possess one of their influential people and use the position to spy and sow discord."

Alyna thought his words through. "That could work."

Sylvanas agreed. "It would help update and confirm the information Alyna remembers and help prepare our forces to attack them more precisely."

They entered the main hall and Mograine stopped their procession to face Alyna. "I want you to liaise with her. Find a suitable target for her to possess, maintain regular contact, and figure out ways to disrupt their trials." He gestured behind him at some sparring death knights and then addressed Sylvanas. "My knights can fight, but we don't sneak around like dark rangers are capable of doing. This is not something we can undertake, so I entrust it to you, our Forsaken allies."

Sylvanas was suddenly looking at her keenly. She grasped why; this was a decision her queen could easily make herself, but Sylvanas was willing to let Alyna make it. If she felt this left her too vulnerable, she could still help with the planning but give the active tasks to Kyala. She did not think that would be necessary though as she could already think of a few targets that had reason to visit the outer reaches of the settlement to make contact easier, meaning she would not have to surround herself with vrykul just yet.

Alyna gave her queen a formal nod, and Sylvanas gave Mograine his reply.

"We'll get started on a plan and keep you informed of our progress, Highlord."

"Excellent. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some things to attend to."

The three exchanged polite nods before the death knight moved off.

Sylvanas signalled for Alyna to follow, and she led them both back to their room. In comfortable silence, Alyna placed new candles into the few holders in the room while Sylvanas used flint to light a wick before sharing the flame. The queen then hung up her bow and started to remove her armour, inspecting each piece to make sure their hunt had not left any gore before placing it on the stand, her voice eventually breaking the stillness as she did so.

"Thal'ena? I suppose I should not be surprised anymore by who Arthas corrupts. No doubt Lana'thel had a say in it?"

"So she says," the captain replied, mimicking her queen's actions.

"Do you trust her?"

"On the basis of one conversation? No." Since Alyna had been doing most of the physical work during the hunt her armour actually needed some cleaning attention. She pulled some leather soap out of a drawer and a cloth before sitting on the cot with the soiled pieces at her feet.

Sylvanas joined her on the cot and watched her fingers work the soap into the leather for a while. "I have to go back to the Undercity soon."

"I know," she replied quietly, her eyes on her work. She wanted her to stay, but it was pointless asking her to.

"I cannot promise when I'll be back, other than I will certainly be present for when we attack Jotunheim." She rested her hand on Alyna's thigh. "I will be by your side when you need me to be."

Alyna covered the hand with her own, her ring glinting softly in the low candlelight. Her mood felt just as low as the lighting. "This will never end, Sylvanas. I may always need you to stop me from going too far. The 'eternal hunger' is what the san'layn call it, and they're not wrong."

Sylvanas replied softly, but firmly. "You have tried hard to not let your hunger define you, Alyna. Why allow it to do so now?" The queen turned her hand over to weave their fingers together. "Fighting it is truer to your nature, and that is how you should see yourself … as the eternal fighter." She squeezed their fingers lightly. "That, too, is not wrong. You've been fighting since the moment I met you."

The captain felt compelled to kiss the hand that held hers, so she raised it up to her lips to do just that. She enjoyed the random acts of affection she found herself increasingly capable of towards this woman. They made her feel less like the monster she knew the living would see her as if they truly knew what she was. And she knew Sylvanas liked them, which at the moment was all that mattered.

"I will miss you," she said, changing the subject to avoid accepting that what Sylvanas had said was possibly true. She needed time to process changes to her mindset these days.

"And I will miss you when I leave, but I am here for now. We have some planning to do, but I see no reason for us to part until I have to leave." She smiled and Alyna felt her world become a little easier to bear. The queen retrieved her hand before holding it out. "So, give me something to clean so we can get this out of the way."

Alyna returned the smile and did as she was told.