Chapter 23
We were moving at first light, each with a full set of armor on-I decided on the leather armor for warmth-and armed to the teeth. Bandit was restless as we made our way to the portal room-a passage to the Blasted Lands was already formed.
We made it to the room, where Father waited, along with Elvira and Delevenia. Elvira held her stomach in such a way that made me smile-she and her lifemate had made a child.
"Be safe, Quel Minn'da," Elvira whispered, throwing her arms around me in a hug and smiling into my shoulder. Her chaotic hair got in my mouth, causing me to splutter, but I laughed through it, returning the hug and patting her stomach lightly.
"If little Loir is born before I return, tell him my stories," I requested, and Elvira nodded, tears trickling down her cheeks as she pressed her lips to my cheek in a show of affectionate friendship.
Delevenia looked tired. Deep, raven hair was in a tight bun atop her head, with bits hanging down and framing her face. Her ears were stiff but low, and she held herself in such a way that fatigue exuded from her.
She had been Mother's maiden from the day she came to the palace until the day she died-the loss had been hard on her.
She looked me up and down, and nodded stiffly, "Don't you die on me, addict." She said, her worry shining through her attempted indifference.
I nodded, giving her a smile, before turning to Father, whose face was damp.
We said nothing, but he brought me into his arms, holding me tight and kissing my hair.
"Be safe daughter, you are all I have," He said, and I squeezed him tight, already missing him.
After a few more moments of indulgent, I pulled away, and gave him a smile and salute.
"Shorel'aran, Father."
The portal pulsed, and it was time to go through.
I led the way, pushing into the portal, and my skin was scalded with hot wind as the harsh red plains of the blasted lands greeted me.
I came fully into the tainted land, breathing shallowly as the smell of gore assaulted my nostrils-it had been months since I had seen true bloodshed.
I stepped aside, brandishing my bow and looking each horde guard in the eye as Anduin came through. They all stiffened, some even finding the hilts of their daggers, but I growled low, calling them off-they will not touch him.
He came to me, feeling the tension and smelling the gore with a grimace, "Some things never change."
"Speak quietly here. They do not trust you," I murmured in Thalassian, reaching out with a hand and grabbing his waist, positioning myself between him and the camp.
Teir stepped through with a rattling breath, a moment of stillness, then a grin, "Oh I've missed a good fight," She said, and I felt a shimmering after image of her old insanity-the vault in her mind shuddered with it.
Kenlora came through, and Teir simply wrapped a hand around hers, and the camp was warned-she was much more pronounced about her savagery.
Thrall walked up, looking tired but relieved, "I am glad that you moved so quickly, your highnesses," Thrall did a small bow, which we all returned.
"Where are we going?" I asked, and his face twisted, nostrils flaring, and I smelled burning.
"Move!"
I dropped down, throwing Anduin towards Thrall in a defensive move as I turned and met the assassin's knife with my own dagger, the clink of steel shattering in such close proximity.
The orc was a deep grey colour-Blackrock, and she was growling in Orcish.
"Invader!" I snarled back in her tongue, and the moment of surprise on her face was all I needed to push forward and slit her throat with her own knife, kneeing her in the stomach to send her off the edge of the camp's plateau to fall or bleed to death.
After a moment, I turned back to see eyes on me, and I realized that I already had blood spattered over my face. I wiped at it with my arm, preferring to smear my armor.
"We are going to the portal. Khadgar, Maraad, and the vanguards await." Thrall said, gesturing to the armored wyverns that awaited riders.
"I will lead us in, clear a landing circle for the wyverns, if one is needed?" Teir volunteered, two long machete style blades unsheathed from her forearms and in her hands in the slicing sound of steel. She had traded in runed axes for runed machetes then.
"I don't know the situation down in the portal valley. They're holding as best as they can," Thrall said, and I turned, looking in the direction of the portal and tugging on Teir mentally.
She flinched, then realized my thoughts. Her eyes turned towards the portal, and we used the death sight.
Chaos, utter chaos.
"Clear a path," we said in sync, and I shook back out of her head, clearing my sight with a grunt, sheathing my dagger to get ahold of the royal bow, pulling it from my back and flicking the taut string.
"Very well then," Thrall nodded, eyeing us apprehensively-the bond isn't necessarily common knowledge, "Teir, go forward and carve a path. The rest of us will be above on the wyverns."
Teir nodded, turning and getting a running start, leaping off of the plateau with a snarl as she barricaded the bond. I looked at her falling figure oddly, why-?
Slam.
The vault busted open as she allowed its contents to pour free, and I felt the presence even through the barricade, and staggered.
Anduin steadied me, but my eyes actually went to Kenlora, who for a split second wore a look feral enough that one could see how Teir was drawn to her-she looked like she could take the prisoner on and kill it without breaking a sweat.
But in moments it was gone, and I realized a strange thing about Kenlora Whisperwind. She was a warrior, and when she had to be, she was every bit the savage creature that the druids learned to control. But she upheld the peace of the light with an iron fist, and would take every alternative to violence she could-until it was about Teir.
I shook out of my epiphany with a small shudder, before I took Anduin along with me and we made our way to the wyverns.
One of the beautiful beasts growled as I approached, his barbed tail swinging, but I simply laid a hand on his muzzle, stroking the coarse fur gently until he quieted, his pupils growing in size and looking up at me with acceptance.
I moved and swung onto its back, adjusting to the low height as I held a hand out to Anduin, allowing myself a moment of admiration.
The hot wind had tousled his hair, sending it flying across his forehead, and he had already shed his tabards, settling for simple armor. It hugged his arms, revealing the toned muscle. His eyes burned with an intensity that the rest of the world lacked, and his face was the epitome of-
"Enjoying yourself?" Anduin quipped, and I jerked, startled, and then blushed, glaring as he laughed warmly. He took my hand and swung up behind me, allowing his hands to grip my hips, and he dug his fingers on intentionally, his laughter vibrating through me as I jumped.
"40 more years of this," he whispered in my ear, laughing harder when I elbowed him in the ribs, my entire body all to hot now.
"Wyverns at the ready!" Thrall called, and I growled, deciding to get revenge by bending low of the creature's back, feeling the press of Anduin's front against my ass.
The harsh intake of breath made me grin, and we were off.
He was pressed against me in an instant, clinging in something akin to fear as I focused on not looking down.
We soared over the burnt and cracked ground, and quickly were in sight of the Dark Portal.
"It should not be that colour," I whispered, unease blossoming in my chest as I eyed the glowing, blood red portal.
I didn't really have time to focus on that though, because the ground surrounding the portal was pure chaos. I saw orcs pouring out of the portal in hordes, and our vanguards were struggling. Siege machines, Khadgar, and Maraad were doing what they could but the outpour was overwhelming.
Teir was a monster. Hair was in every direction, and she was already covered in gore as she carved through orc after orc, and I dared to nudge the barricade with a mental finger.
She shifted visibly, and after a moment, she was sane, "'Bout time you showed up!" Her voice carried on the wind as we came in low, leaping from the wyverns as they turned and fled back to camp. My bow had arrows nocked, and I took down four with shots to their heads.
"Glad to see you saved us some!" I yelled back, and we made our way towards Khadgar and Maraad, the slaughter quickly covering us in gore.
"The portal is different! You can feel life on the other side!" Kenlora yelled as we reached our own, and Khadgar nodded to me, before scoffing.
"You are a small minded elf, sometimes," he chuckled, and I reared back, offended as I snapped an orc's neck.
"You have unstoppable amounts of magic!"
Oh. Right.
I turned to the portal, cocking my head for a moment, before focusing on the unending numbers between the portal and me. I braced myself, focusing, and I felt my magic crackle to life immediately-rising from its quiet buzz in my mind to an eager roar, and I focused.
Kill the invaders.
Howling filled my ears, and hundreds of spectral, magical wolves came into being, snapping teeth and sparking fur, and launching themselves into the fray, ripping into orcs with a vengeance.
"You made…Bandits!" Anduin quipped, and I looked at my hands, the energy still sparking in my veins, a little apprehensive.
No mortal should have this power.
I'll deal with that later. For now-let the…the Bandits rip into the enemy. I unsheathed two blades and starting making quick work of whatever came in front of me.
The numbers were dwindling, even with the portal reinforcements, and at one point-
"They've stopped coming through!" I screamed, and Khadgar took the opportunity.
"This is our chance!" He magnified his voice, "Storm the Portal!"
I sent the wolves forward to clear the path, then dissolving them to bring them back to me, and I pushed up the steps, and jumped in.
Darkness. Movement. Stars. Screaming. I pushed through, seeing the light in front of me, and feeling humid jungle air pushing out from the rift in space. I screamed and forced myself through.
I fell onto hot stone, and on instinct sent out a wave of magic, getting my bearings and unsheathing two knives. Foreign, wet air filled my lungs, and I took in the smell of orc.
Khadgar came through, then Maraad, Teir, Anduin, and Kenlora, followed by the vanguards.
I was already on a perch, staring in horror at the legions of united Orcs stood before me.
"Oh Azeroth," I whispered, horror churning in my stomach.
"Vanguard advance!" Khadgar yelled quickly, and all was chaos as the vanguard and Iron Horde met with a clash of steel.
"We are outnumbered…by a lot!" I screamed, shooting down everything I could, while Teir looked like a taut bowstring herself. Kenlora stepped close to her in a moment, shuddering as she whispered gravely,
"Teir. They need the monster."
I saw the sanity shatter behind her eyes, and I braced myself as I felt a slam ten times more powerful than the first knock into my mind as Teir leapt the steps with a feral screech worthy of a banshee, twin runeblades twirling as she sated her bloodlust.
"Anduin, Kenlora. Keep the vanguard up as much as you can! Maraad!" I yelled, and they took spots at the top of the spots, aiming healing magic at the vanguard to keep their small numbers from dwindling further.
"Khadgar! We have to shut this portal down!" I said, aiming a shaking hand and clearing the higher steps of orcs, protecting Anduin.
He paled, looking at the portal, before nodding grimly-we're going to die here, but we're going to save our home, "Open your eyes, look at the magic!"
I nodded, Focusing-I don't know how to open my eyes-
My face went slack, and I was filled with wonder as a film covered my eyes, and I could see the magic. Anduin glowed warmly with it, while Khadgar was a throbbing light source. The orcs weren't very magical below us, but some pulsed a deep red-blood magic.
I looked around, noticing that my own hands glowed painfully bright, with pulses of different colours pushing through. I saw three pulsing, green and purple spots-two at each end of the second platform, and the brightest just beneath us. Wisps of purple and black magic flowed from them to the portal-
"They're using souls to fuel the portal!" I screamed, horror and rage curdling in my stomach.
How dare they defile the dead that way?
I leapt from the pedestal where I had perched, landing with a shockwave that knocked vanguard and enemy alike off their feet. I moved forward, fury forming a small vortex in front of me. An orc made the mistake of trying to approach me, and I simply made them cease to exist.
I broke into the large room at one end of the platform, and flinched as a large pulsing bulb of purple shadow magic intensified.
"The stones bind us! (shatter the stones!)" I was yelled at by two voices at once, and my sight cleared for a moment to reveal-
I growled, Cho'gall.
"You defile the dead!" I snarled in Orcish, and I noticed the surprise flicker across both faces for a moment.
"Not willingly! (Prisoners for power!)" Cho'gall responded, and I keened lowly as I saw more dead being dragged in-I'll regret this.
I used the hilt of my blades and drove them into the stone, shattering them, and the spirits dissipated with a sigh of relief.
Cho'gall left with a grin, and I groaned, allowing the magic sight to return, and I sought out my next target.
I went back out into the battle, and noticed a patch of the portal was missing.
"They weaken the portal! Bring me that one's head!" I flinched reflexively, recognizing that commanding stature from great stories.
Grommash Hellscream.
I let the sight fall away momentarily, knowing which way to go, and I took two blades from my sheaths, carving my way through the orcs with a vengeance, seeing no end to their numbers.
I looked up to the steps and saw-
Oh. No.
Anduin had daggers out and was weaving through orcs, but he was quickly getting cornered. Kenlora and Maraad were doing what they could but-
"Away!" I screeched, a feral sound that tore up my throat, and from my pointed blades wolves sprung free, charging up the stairs and tackling the orcs, protecting Anduin as they ripped into them.
He will be safe.
I turned back on my target, swinging my blades with magical force, clearing my path, and I was inside the second prison.
I snarled, snapping my teeth at the sight of Teron Gor, who merely said, "They use our life forces to power the portal."
I snarled, rage and necessity thrumming in my veins as I shattered the stone, watching the souls fade and the orc leave through a portal.
I turned to the final source-the most powerful, with a churning sense of knowing what was waiting for me.
