Chapter 7
"Come on then, let's finish this trip," Anduin said, helping me out of the bed, and watching as I numbly slipped on my boots and the cloak, picking up my bags.
"Who did you see, Jadearra?" Anduin asked, and I sighed.
"It was a…a memory, of the first time I saw my sister after she…" I didn't finish my sentence, but I didn't have to.
Anduin moved closer, cautiously, but I didn't resist as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I didn't move to hug back, but I simply leaned on him, watching the dying embers of the fire.
After a few moments of just standing there, he pulled back, giving me a reassuring smile, "Let's go then."
We left the room, bags on and ready to Go-Bandit had just jumped out of the window.
"Oh! Do stay for breakfast!" Wrathion was waiting at the bar, and I growled low in my throat.
"We'll eat on the road. Thank you for the tea, Tong!" I tossed him a couple of gold pieces, and he gave me a pleased smile.
"Enjoy your travels, young ones!"
We left the tavern and began our climb.
The mist kept its distance, kept at bay by either my agitation or a certain spirit who haunted my dreams.
Something else however, was approaching.
My ears straightened, and my muscles stiffened.
"Behind me, now." I hissed, and this time he listened, Bandit circling around as I looked up to see a trio of heavily armed Kor'Kron coming down the stairs.
They stopped, not shocked to see me, but shocked to see Anduin behind me.
"Should've known, with all this mist," the middle one said, the Dragonmaw insignia shining on his arm.
"What you got that human fo-Hellscream's fist that's the prince!" another exclaimed, and I bristled, growling low in my throat.
"You kidnap him, or…" their eyes went to my head, and I froze-uh oh.
"Sympathizer!" they hissed, and I moved.
The centre one went down fast, and I kept my knee on his chest as Bandit took the one on the right, having circled around to use gravity for more impact. I jumped and used the one I had tackled and swung him into the final one, sending him down as well.
"One word of this to anyone and I'll see you drowned in enough mist to fill Bladefist bay," I snarled, "I am on work for the Celestials, and that is all."
They got up and went running down the staircase, and I nodded, standing again and looking to Anduin, who was watching me with an emotion I couldn't figure out.
"Thank you," he said, and I gave a half smile in return, gesturing for him to keep moving.
Soon I saw the end of the staircase, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
We raced up, landing in a heap at the top, and I got a great look at the summit.
The golden grass here was scratchy, and it went up to our waists. The hills all rolled northwards, where a mountain range spiked into the sky, with one mountain higher than the rest-that must be Mount Neverest. To the east of it, however-
"The temple," I breathed, shivering as a freezing wind passed through.
I tightened the cloak around me, and we made haste.
"We can reach it by nightfall," Anduin said, both of us eager to stop this constant moving.
"You do realize this means we've walked the width of a continent, right?" I asked, and he nodded, not quite as shocked by that notion.
We came upon a road, and that's where it happened.
Two night elves in the garb of the S1:7 appeared out of nowhere, jumping me.
"Hey!" Anduin turned, trying to hold them back, but I attacked, startled and annoyed.
I sent one flying into the ground, breaking her nose on the stone road, before her kicking her back, and I went for the other one when Anduin wrapped arms around my torso, pinning my arms and pressing me against his torso.
"Easy Jade, easy, let me talk to them," Anduin, whispered in my ear, and I stopped fighting, growling low in my throat as the two approached again.
"Prince Anduin. We were worried that this…elf, had apprehended you," the one with the broken nose said, quelling the flow of deep purple blood with a hand.
I opened my mouth to snarl, but he slammed his hand over, causing me to squawk indignantly.
"I'm fine, thank you-I apologize for that, she's a little on edge today," Anduin said, but the malice in my eyes as I stared at them made it clear I wasn't sorry.
"Do you want us to take her to your father?"
I broke free of his hand then, fury overwhelming me, "I'd kill him with his own blade!"
"Dammit Jadearra stop," He took a knee as he struggled with me, eventually getting a hand over my mouth again, before looking up to the two agents, "No. Not a word to anyone about her, do you understand?"
"Of course, your highness…" they left, fading back into the grass, and he let go of me finally.
"New rule, we don't mention Alliance or Horde or kings or anything like that. I'm just a princeling, you're just a princessling, got it?" Anduin said, and I nodded, accepting the help to stand and fixing the cloak about me, straightening the headband.
"Let's go," he said, and we walked along the road towards the temple.
We reached it just as the sun was beginning to dip down into the horizon, and two guards were there waiting.
"Xuen has been expecting you," they said, and led us through the freezing, snowy grounds.
"Do you have a torch or something?" Anduin asked, and one of the guards handed his to Anduin.
He wrapped an arm around me and held the torch beside me, fighting off the cold for me, and my cheeks reddened at the gesture.
Soon we reached the temple proper, and I could feel all the fires in there waiting.
We were let in, and I saw Xuen in all of his glory.
He did not bother with a mask, as Yu'Lon had, but sat in front of us as a great, translucent white tiger, who had to be at least ten feet tall.
"Ah, we have been expecting you."
I fell into the beds of the sleeping chambers, mind filled with tomorrow's daunting tasks.
"You had us walk the length of the continent, Lord Zhu, why?" I asked, sitting on one of the cushions in front of Xuen and the Pandaren.
"Xuen wanted to make sure that some bonds were cemented, before revealing your true purpose in Pandaria," Lord Zhu said, and I cocked my head to the side, confused.
"Children," Xuen's deep voice echoed in the towering room, "Rebellion and revolution brew, one that could wreak havoc across all of Azeroth. The orc known as Garrosh Hellscream has brought war to the southern Krasarang."
"Then why did we just walk to the opposite side of the continent?! We should be fighting him!" I exclaimed, and Lord Zhu aimed a look at me that silenced my argument.
"Because, the other leaders of Azeroth have come together to rebel. They wait on the Echo Isles now for you."
"Rebellion?" I felt sick, "Everyone? Even…?"
"Yes, Jadearra. Even your parents. They sent you here to receive the blessings of celestials, that they may boost your forces. For the Alliance," Xuen turned to Anduin, "Chi'ji shall bless you with the contagious hope that the Horde will come through and help. For the Horde," he turned back to me, "I and Yu'Lon will grant you the strength and wisdom to see reason, and work the Alliance in such a way that civil war will not be caused amongst the revolutionaries. You receive these blessings in the morning. For now, you rest."
Suddenly, a courier ran in-no, not a courier, one of Sylvanas' rangers.
"Jadearra Theron," Her voice was the rasping of death in a living body, her entire body covered in black ranger armor, white skin and red eyes clashing with it uncomfortably, "Message from the Dark Lady. She has a task for you before you join with the other forces," The ranger handed me a scroll with the forsaken crest on it, before turning and running out again.
I pocketed it, turning to the celestial, "Is that all for tonight?
"
"Yes, you shall be taken to the sleeping chambers now."
Anduin was in a separate bed for once, and it felt…weird, not to have to share the bed.
Shit, I got used to him.
"Lonely over there, princessling?"
I looked up from where I was pondering the still seal scroll.
"Slightly. What about you, Princeling?" I asked, and he scooted over in his bed, raising an eyebrow.
I rolled my eyes, rolling out of my bed and padding over to his, my bare feet slapping the stone floor, and I slipped under the significantly warmer blankets.
"You open that yet?" he asked, and I shook my head.
I finally pulled the seal back, and red the intricate script:
Jadearra,
If you are reading this, then you know the intentions of the Echo Isles gathering. I request that you bring another along with you on your commute. You have the prince already, but I need you to retrieve Teir.
She is haunting the Dreadwind Pass, back in the Eastern Kingdoms. She can teleport you to the Isles once you reach her, but be warned-she and I left off with a…dispute, of sorts.
She may be hostile.
If she is killed, I will come for you.
Sylvanas Windrunner, Banshee Queen
"Great, I have to go play with fire," I groaned, setting the scroll down and leaning on Anduin.
"Who's Teir?"
"She was…she was one of Arthas' first High Elvin death knights, she went bat shit insane after whatever he did to her, and was one of the highest commanders of the Acherus knights until his fall. She was a fear monger, but when he fell, she fled the Ebon Hold and started slaughtering every undead she came across until Sylvanas found her. Now she's her lap dog." I said, annoyed, "And she's a bit…antagonistic."
"Fun, so we fly back to the pass, retrieve her, and get teleported to the Isles?" Anduin asked, and I nodded.
"So this is essentially the last night we don't have to hate each other," He said, and the thought made my chest ache as I nodded again.
He suddenly rolled on top of me, eyes burning with a passion that I reacted to, and he pressed our lips together.
It was…overwhelming. Heat and electricity fired through every vein, arousal and affection and need pooled in my stomach in a way that made me almost cry out.
I ran my fingers through his hair while poking at his lips with my tongue, until he opened up and it became a dominance fight.
We flipped so that I was straddling his waist, and his hands rest on my hips, fingers arching to rest on the edges of my bum as I ran my hands over his shoulders and chest.
There was no thought to this, no sentiment. This was…hungry, thoughtless.
This was amazing.
I suddenly remembered where we were, one ice-cold crystal clear thought in the midst of this insanity, and I pulled back, breathing hard.
"We can't," I panted, and his eyes burned with a need that was definitely mutual.
"I... you're right," he said, and I got off of him, lying down beside him. His arms went around me, holding me in a different way then before.
His hands explored absentmindedly, tracing and cupping and simply moving, but it didn't bother me, so I didn't stop him. I rested my head on the crook of his shoulder, watching his chest rise and fall.
"Going back is going to suck," I said, and he hummed with laughter, holding me a little closer.
"This…I never expected this, when I came here," Anduin said, and I agreed.
"It will be alright…I think. We'll go back to how it was before, and maybe…maybe we can forget," I said, not excited about the idea.
"I don't want to forget," he whispered, and I just nudged him with my head reassuring, before we settled into a sad sleep.
The Filthy Animal in Dalaran. A certain Windrunner traitor had beaten me all to hell, and the rest of me was as filthy as the inn itself. My hair flounced chaotically, and my nose was bloody. A troll finished his magic, fixing all the broken bones, "You'll be alrigh' lass," he said, patting me on the shoulder.
I didn't get off of the bar, but I sat there and leaned on the wall to watch the chaos, until the band struck up a familiar jig.
I stood on the bar, energy and a little too much rum making me grin manically, "Would someone like to dance?!" I shouted, my accent much more pronounced and slurred.
With a cheer, the bar erupted into hilarious chaos. I got everyone on their feet, and we all danced different jigs from different worlds. I went from a troll to a Tauren to an overzealous goblin, and finally to an elf.
"'Ello your ladyship!"
"Oh please, Do I look like a lady?" I said, slurring and cackling as we danced around the tavern.
Ah the days where I drunk myself silly and got into fights instead of dealing with her death.
My eyes opened and I sat up automatically, for once not terrified of my own dreams, and I realized that Anduin was humming the tavern tune.
"They're ready for us if you are," Anduin said, and I nodded, slipping out of the bed and putting my armor back on.
I gave him back his headband, "Teir won't be an easy pill to swallow," I said, and he took it, looking almost forlorn at having it returned.
"I'll give you the cloak when we land, so I don't freeze in the air?" I said, and he nodded.
We gather our bags and left the sleeping chambers, Bandit following behind.
We walked into the main chamber, and I smiled to see Yu'Lon there, looking for all her worth like one of my kind.
"Hello, Jadearra," she said, smiling warmly.
"Chi'ji," Anduin bowed before the crane, who wore the mask of a spindly human, with fiery red and gold hair.
Xuen stood before us as a buff human, his skin overly pale with shadow stripes and navy blue hair.
"Let us get these champions on their way, shall we?" Lord Zhu stood beside the three celestials.
"Step forward."
Anduin and I separated, walking towards our celestial-or in my case, two celestials.
Xuen and Yu'Lon placed one hand on my shoulder, closing their eyes, and I was flooded with power and knowledge.
"There, it is done," Yu'Lon stepped back, as did Xuen.
"Now go, a cloud serpent is waiting for you. He shall take you to the Dreadwind Pass to retrieve your friend," Lord Zhu said, and I nodded, not correcting him-she's not my friend.
We stepped outside of the temple, to see a beautiful black cloud serpent with silver power glowing beneath his scales, and Bandit already harnessed in.
He lowered before me, and I smiled, "Hello Thunder," I said, familiarity flooding me even though I've never seem him before.
I climbed onto his back, helping Anduin up, and once we were set, he launched upwards.
I'm glad I kept the cloak on.
Anduin rest his hands on my hips and his chin on my shoulder, leaning into me, and I sighed contentedly.
One last time.
As we landed in the pass, I drew the cloak off and handed it to Anduin, giving him a blank look.
"I warn you, she-she likes to play with people, get in their heads. Don't let her," I said, unsheathing a dagger and walking deeper into the pass.
Bandit walked beside me, and I heard Thunder fly off, back home for him.
I inhaled, and the scent of death and accompanying cackle told me where to go.
I entered the ransacked village, following the blood trail to the biggest house, and I peered in through a crack in the wood.
There she was.
Teir Windrunner is a psychopath, and it showed. She was short for an elf, with lanky blue hair that reached her mid back when it was down. Her skin was a deep grey, almost like stone or basalt, indicating that she was dark skinned in his first life. Her eyes glowed like ice, and little cracks in her skin oozed a black liquid when she was stressed. Right now, she had on a crazed grin that peeled her flaking lips back to reveal eerily yellowed teeth.
She had a human tied to the chair in there, and the sight of him made me vaguely ill. She looked to be stripping layers of skin and muscle off of him, keeping him alive to watch. Gore covered the floor, along with pieces of flesh, and urine, and vomit.
She has some weird hobbies.
"The lady says that she has my memories, Taylor, did you know that?" she asked, and I assumed she was addressing the human, who whimpered, "She has my memories, but she won't give them to me!" With those last words, she lashed out with what looked to be a skinning knife, and with a sickly slurping slicing sound, a thick layer of flesh came off the side of Taylor's leg, and he screamed in utter agony.
"Taylor, why won't she-oh, we have an audience," She straightened, inhaling deeply and twitching her ears, and then she turned to look at the doorway, "Jadearra! What a surprise."
I appeared in the doorway, making it known that I was armed and keeping Anduin out of sight, "Hello Teir, I see you've been busy," I eyed the sniveling human in the chair.
"Oh Taylor? He's just helping me with my anger. It's very therapeutic!" She took a layer of sinewy muscle from his already bleeding arms, and the agonized roar made me cringe a little.
"You're needed at the Echo Isles," I said, mouth breathing to avoid breathing in the scent.
"You're not alone, darling," She bounced out of the door, past me, "Oh, another toy!"
I shoved her back a few feet, getting between her and Anduin.
"Not a toy, Teir. Find your sanity for five minutes so we can have an intelligent conversation."
"I would, you know. I really would but-" She threw her knife, and it lodged in the wood above Anduin, "My lady's keeping things from me!"
This'll get ugly.
"Teir! This is about killing! We're gonna kill okay?!" Let's play her game.
She stopped, looking at me quite like a distracted child, one blue eye twitching, "Blood? Gore? Death? Secrets?" she said, looking manically excited.
"Yes! Lots of blood and death and gore. We're going to sack Orgrimmar; do you want to massacre Orgrimmar?" I asked, stepping forward cautiously.
"I-" she twitched, her face going from excitement to agony, "Why won't she tell me?!"
"Damn it Teir!" I marched forward while she was distracted and hit her hard in the head with the hilt of my dagger, knocking her out.
She went down, and I grabbed an ankle, dragging her into the room.
"Anduin come here!" I yelled, and he walked in, looking vaguely sick at the sight of Taylor.
"Can you heal him or am I putting him down?" I asked, eyeing the sniveling man.
"Kill me! Please! To much pain!" he screamed, and I turned to look at Anduin.
"There's…to much damage, I can't do anything." He said, sounding sick.
"Go outside and puke then," I said, and he fled the house.
One chop and his misery was ended.
The vultures will find him.
I dragged Teir out of the house and village, Anduin-having emptied his stomach-following.
I got to a river, and dunked Teir's face in.
She gasped, coming to unlife and flailing, until she was flat on her back with me standing over her.
"Wha-what-?"
"Welcome back to sanity, Teir. We got a job to do," I said, and she sagged against the dirt.
"Sylvanas sent you, didn't she," Teir said, looking much saner again.
"Yep. Said you can teleport us to the Echo Isles. War's brewing," I said, and she sighed.
"I'll have to talk with her later." She flared a little, and I brandished my knife.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. I didn't…blow anything up this time, right?" she asked, and I shook my head.
"You were ripping some guy apart layer by layer while ranting, but other than that you seemed fine," I said, and she stood, looking relieved.
"Thank Azeroth-" she inhaled, then whipped around to see Anduin, "Do I kill him?"
"No!" I got between them, looking her in the eye, "Stand down, he's an ally. No killing, not yet," I said, and she groaned, backing off.
"About that teleportation?" I prompted, and Teir shooed me with her hand.
"Yes, yes I heard you. I have my hearthstone on me, it's tethered to my lady. Get a grip kids, we're going across the sea." She said, and I linked arms with her, Anduin grabbing my arm uncertainly. Bandit got a grip on Anduin's cloak with his teeth.
"If you puke on me I'll gut you and sell you as fish bait," Teir warned, and I laughed.
She might be a psychopath, but we got along relatively well when I wasn't saving people from her.
