Chapter 30

Shattrath was a gorgeous city.

Pity I was getting gore everywhere.

I sliced through another orc, finally breaching the barrier into the protected city, Anduin and our party right behind me-well, Teir was off being a fucking lunatic with the twin blades that had been returned to her along with her arm.

Draenei came up to us upon our entrance, "Exarch!" the man called, recognizing Yrel, "Are these Reinforcements?"

"We were unaware the city was under siege," Yrel spoke quickly, "We were defending the Auchindoun from the Legion."

"The attack began not long before sunset-where all of these orcs are coming from-." The Draenei was no commander, "We need your strengths Exarch. The barrier is weakening under the assault."

As though to exacerbate this, a fireball hit the barrier above us, and it shook violently.

"Where is the power source?" I asked, preparing to leech magic out again.

"We nearly lost you last time, no," Anduin said, and I turned to him, seeing the worry.

"I'll be okay. There are no traitors here," I whispered, kissing him softly before turning back to the man.

"This way." He turned and began to go up the tiers of the city, and I followed, ignoring the commands that Yrel began to spout.

"I sense your strength, pale one," The Draenei said as he lead me through the city, bypassing the vindicators and other warriors who were running to the front line.

"We have a central chamber in the bowels of the city, where our women and children are hiding. I would ask you to fortify that before the outer barriers," The man said, and I nodded, and down we went.

We reached the chamber relatively quickly, and I felt the weak, preliminary magic of the shield before I saw the cavern of children, who all looked up in fear as the ground shook again.

"Shall I send out a calming spell?" I asked the Draenei, hands raised slightly.

With a nod, I let a wave of cool energy move through my fingertips, and I watched as the children visibly calmed, some even falling asleep. Mothers gave me grateful nods.

"Move away from the Barrier," I spoke, and the Draenei translated for me-the Draenei of Shattrath didn't know common very well.

As the area was cleared, I placed my hands on the thin, almost non existent, barrier, and I focused, watching the barrier strengthen in my minds eye, threads of energy binding together in an interwoven design of protection.

When I was done, I stepped away, opening my eyes to see the barrier almost completely sealed off, the thick energy as solid as stone.

"I can blend it into the wall, to hide them should things go so far…" I trailed off, but the man was staring at the energy in forlorn awe.

"Should it come to that," he said softly, and I shoved my worry aside, pulling threads of magic through the wall and bringing them together, effectively sealing the women and children off from the Iron Horde.

"To the outer rings?" I asked, and he shook off his melancholy, turning without a word and leading the way.

The sounds of the fight returned as we hit the surface, and I saw that Velen himself had taken the scene, blasting out bolts of pure energy to keep the orcs back. Kenlora and Teir were a tornado of action, lacing through and around each other in a chaotic swirl of bloodshed.

Anduin was healing the wounded, ducking under orcs to send bolts of energy to the flagging Draenei, then ducking behind the barrier again.

That's when the ear shattering crack nearly made my ears bleed, and the barrier faded into nothingness.

There was a pause of deathly silence. Oh, Shit.

The orcs poured into the city, and I reacted.

I set both hands outward, sending out the Bandits to give us some breathing room, and I watched as my spectral pack tore into the first line of orcs.

I saw a wave of what looked to be birds moving forward, and I looked over my shoulder to see Khadgar, leaning heavily against a wall, his nose bleeding.

"Bring the barrier back up! I'll hold them!" Khadgar yelled, and I saw a flash of lightning as Thrall came running, the Doomhammer swinging through the never ending flood of orcs.

I couldn't find the man-he was lost in the chaos. So I had to wing it.

I made barriers from nothing at Auchindoun, can't be to hard to protect an entire city, right?

This was how I reasoned with myself as I clawed my way to the top of the city, blades digging into stone to made handholds, and soon I was clambering up to the highest point in the city, and I held onto the frail spindle point for dear life.

This is really high.

"Don't puke, don't puke don't puke," I whispered in a mantra as I took my cloak and tied myself to the spindle tightly. I tugged experimentally, then pulled it tighter just in case.

I looked out over the city, where the fireballs were starting to hit and the damage was spreading.

God I can't do this!

Focus, Breathe. It's just like a normal shield spell, just you know…. really really big.

I withdrew the Bandits, the power racing up the city to meet me, and I think that's when Anduin saw me, because I saw a blast of golden light explode on the field in panic.

Oh if I live he's going to kill me.

Focus.

I straightened my arms, palms pointed outward, and I focused, drawing on the residual energy of the old barrier, and I pushed.

Barrierbarrierbarrierbarrierbarrier. I kept my eyes shut, praying this was working. Sweat was beading on my forehead, and I pushed harder.

I dared to open my eyes, and I saw that a barrier was struggling to come up, but it seemed to be working. Come on! Focus!

I pushed harder, grinding my teeth together and letting a growl loose as my muscles strained. Do not look down.

"The elf is building the barrier! Push them back!" Velen's voice was magically projected, and I ground my teeth more, strangling a scream as blood gushed from my nose. My hair was sticking to my forehead, and a thing of lightning came too damn close to striking me.

The barrier was growing taller-not enough to protect from the fireballs, but the orcs were being cut off from their force, and being isolated and cut down. But it wasn't enough.

Focus!

I drew on Teron' Gor's power, forcing it to work for me, and I watched the barrier climb higher, completely surrounding the city now.

"Push forward while the city is protected!"

Light cascaded all over the enemy ships as Khadgar got Draenei on them, and soon they were being moved again as ships exploded.

Soon there was nothing left.

We were safe.

I slumped over against my cloak, my power trickling back into me as the barrier came down, and I looked down.

Bad idea.

Vertigo hit me hard, and the fear crashed into me like a kodo as I clung to the spindle, fatigue and exertion making my hands sweat as my breath puffed in my face.

Suddenly, Teir was there, her eyes calm with a shadow of fear as she silently untied me, taking me into her arms bridal style, and closed my eyes.

The ground was a beautiful thing. I fell on it as soon as Teir put me down, and I was completely fine with this.

"Jadearra!"

I looked up tiredly to see a relieved and pissed Anduin, and simply smiled at him, "Hey there Princeling. Would you believe that heights aren't my thing?"

Then I puked.

I was pulled upward before I could fall into the vomit, and my vision tilted as a stupid smile laced my Features-I've officially lost it.

"What is wrong with her?" Thrall asked as people knelt around me, Anduin looking into my eyes for any sign of coherency.

"She went into shock after she brought the barrier down and realised how high up she was." Teir said, thumbs moving across my shoulders, and my head lolled forward, only held up by Anduin's warm hands.

"Anyway to snap her out of it?"

Then I was drenched.

I screamed, coming too in a second as I jumped to my feet, shaking as cold water found its way into everywhere, and I whipped around to see Yrel looking at me innocently, a bucket under her arm.

"That worked," She said, and I wanted to kill her.

"Thank you again, Jadearra," Velen said, and I came back to the present to look at him, surely resembling a drowned rat as my hair stuck flat to my head-how much water did she dump?

"Now, rest is imperative. All of you are exhausted." Velen ushered us towards the steps as women and children poured out.

"The barrier came down. Are we safe?" one woman asked, and at Velen's nod, celebrations began.

I had my arm around Anduin still, and when I turned to look at him, I saw a hunger in his eyes that stirred old arousal.

His hands felt possessive on my waist as we moved forward, only half listening to Velen as he directed us to our sleeping quarters.

I felt the hatch close, and looked at Teir sheepishly, and she just rolled her eyes.

We moved out of the cool night wind, and soon, we were alone.

The door closed, and I heard the slide of a latch, and when I turned, Anduin was watching me, his blue eyes absorbing the moonlight and glowing in the darkness.

He moved forward, catching me at the waist and pulling me flush against his front, mouth coming down on mine hungrily, and my hands found their way to his hair, fingers tangling in the warmth of it. His tongue slide along my lower lip at the same time that his hands began to undo the laces of the top, eliciting a gasp that invited him in.

I arced into the kiss, my body on fire as I ached for me, and I didn't even register the air on my back and until his hands freely moved along the planes of my back, and I moved my arms, tugging free of the sleeves and going at the buttons of his shirt.

We fell backwards, until his knees and forearms held himself above me, and we broke away for only a moment as I made quick work of his shirt, and I felt his intense eyes on my freed chest.

His shirt came open, and I ran my nails along his skin, feeling the muscles contract as his breath hitched, and I went for his neck, sucking at the spot where his jaw connects until I knew a mark would remain, and I felt his hips push against mine greedily in response.

Hands ran up and down my front, and I gasped as I felt his touch on my breasts for the first time. He was gentle as he explored, and it was killing me. I pushed him to his knees, then lunged, sending him onto his back so that I was the one pinning him, and hair fell into my face as he laughed, the sound changing into a moan as I made my mark of his chest, moving over the nipples and down across the planes of his stomach.

I stopped at his hips, eyeing the smooth skin that went down into the depths of his trousers, and I looked up at him for reassurance. His eyes were nearly pitch black from pupil dilation, and his face was flushed with want. He smiled.

"Whatever you want, Princess," his voice was husky, and he sounded so sincere that I pressed a kiss to his hip, before I undid the belt and moved it away slowly, eyeing the tent that was now eye level with me.

I pulled his trousers down, then the briefs below that, and was faced with-

"Oh," I felt my face heat as I eyed it, and Anduin actually keened above me, writhing on the bed as the air caressed him.

I looked at it, observing in curiosity-they really do look odd, all…veiny. I brought my face close to it, examining, and a puff of breath sent the Prince into a near fit, which I refused to bust out laughing at. I cautiously ran a finger along one of the veins, from the somewhat drippy tip all the way to where blonde hair grew up into his happy trail, and the noises that got were beautiful. Feeling bolder, I slowly wrapped a hand around, moving it slowly, then hurrying my pace in increments as the noises laced together into a nonsensical stream of approval. Then, without warning, he went off the edge with a sound that was just sinful.

He came down from his high as I cleaned my hand-the stuff smelled weird and tasted worse-and was looking at me with a lazy expression, "You're great."

"And you say I'm motivated by sex drive," I quipped, and I got a pillow lobbed at me in response, and I barked a laugh as it sent me off balance and nearly off the bed.

"C'mere," he slurred, holding his arms out, and I curled into them eagerly, legs intertwining with his as warm arms went around me, and we were laying face to face, our noses nearly touching.

I ran my fingers along his chest, unashamedly looking at him, his own eyes moving up and down my body as we laid there. His hand was in my hair, stroking through the pale mess until it was fluffed out on the pillows around us.

"We should sleep," I said, my fatigue returning in a lazy, prowling manner, but neither of us made any move to do so.

We laid there, in a sleepy haven of watching and warmth and affection for however long, until the silence was broken by the most outlandish request I'd ever heard.

"Marry me."

I actually jumped, a nervously startled laugh kind of limping out of my mouth, "What?"

He sat up, propping himself on one arm, looking at me with light in his eyes, "Marry me."

I sat up, looking down at the psychotic human in my bed, "What the-Anduin, we're on a different planet, not to mention reality? What are you on about?"

He ran a hand through his hair, lazily stretching out like Thess the damn cat, "Jadearra Theron, love of my life and pain in the neck, will you marry me?"

I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it, then closed it again. This was insane! We're both young and he's asking for marriage? I'm an elf!

"I-We-I-Elves don't marry!" there! A good response!

"Why not?" Shit.

"Because we-we have our ceremonies! Our sacred rituals!" I retorted, thankful that mother's days before Pandaria had been spent lecturing me about Lo'Daras the idiot and marriage.

"Why not both?" Stop being smart god fucking dammit.

"I-." I didn't have a response to that, so I stared at him, flabbergasted and shocked, until something-a trivial peace of human rituals-came to me, "You don't have a ring. Humans always have rings!"

He looked lost for a response finally, and I felt triumphant, before his smooth, pleasured façade returned, "So you're saying if I find you a ring to propose with, you'll marry me?"

Shit. I scrambled for thoughts-late night post sex proposals after nearly dying twice in a day weren't what I had in mind.

"I-um-um." I couldn't think of a response, and he sat up, a stupid smile stretching his face.

Suddenly I was pinned, and being tickled within an inch of my life.

"Say it! Say it! Say you'll marry me!" He was shouting and he didn't care as I nearly lost a lung from hysterical laughter, and he was laughing himself, insane glee sparking his features.

The bastard already knew that I would.

"F-fine! Fine I'll m-marry you now st-st-stop!"

"What was that?" he asked, his ridiculous ecstasy stretching his face in a near manic grin.

"I said I'll marry you, you lunatic!"