Chapter 33
"Anduin, it is actually a good-."
"No!" Anduin shouted for the umpteenth time that night, and I rubbed my temples with my middle finger and thumb, facing off with the oncoming headache.
"Anduin, while I appreciate your faith, not all of us want to live on Draenor," Teir quipped with an arrogance she didn't feel, if the boiling bolt of rage that had slammed into me from the bond upon the telling of my plan was any indication.
Khadgar, Anduin, Thrall, and Teir launched into a furious shouting match once again, while Kenlora sat back and eyed me, her eyes narrowed.
"I do not like your plan." She pitched her voice low, but I still picked up the words through the shouting, and the others paid us no mind.
"I don't like it either, but it is the only way." I spoke just as low, my eyes locked on the night elf.
She hummed, her eyes glazing as she mulled over my scheme.
I had to get them back to Azeroth, from there-.
From there.
I stood, and the argument paused as eyes moved to me, and I realised that my face was stretched into what must've looked like a manic grin.
"I know how I can come with you." I said, and Teir looked at me like I was a lunatic.
"You have no idea if it'd work," she said, looking at me like I was a particularly odd animal caught in a trap.
"But it could. That'll have to do for now."
"What?!"
I realised that no one else knew what Teir and I were talking about.
"Okay, so first I wrench open the rift and get you guys through to Azeroth," I said, earning glares from an agitated princeling, "then, you guys turn around, and with the help of a bunch of other mages and magical people, you could pull me through. All I have to do is keep the portal open as I pass through it so that I'm not split in two!"
I was met with silence.
"That…that could work. But we would have to somehow warn them of the plan, get them gathered and prepared to help us," Khadgar said, and my grin stretched wider.
"I've been thinking about those weird dreams I've been having-I think my consciousness is drifting into the rift between our worlds, pulled closer by the dead and able to move because I'm asleep. I think they're already waiting for us! But I can try and travel there again, when I sleep, and tell them as much as I can!" I exclaimed, excitement thrumming through my veins.
"That is a pretty plausible plan. The only 'ifs' in the entire thing are: does Jadearra have the ability to hold a portal she's going through open, and can she withstand the sheer magnitude of fel energy she's intending on consuming without dying?"
If I were a balloon, then Kenlora just stuck a pin in me, because I deflated at the thought.
"Put it to a vote."
I started, seeing Durotan standing in the shadows, quietly observing our…war council?
"I say we try." Khadgar said, and I saw Durotan stick out a finger on one hand-he'll keep count.
"I will follow," Thrall said.
"No way in Azeroth." Anduin all but growled.
"I don't wish to get ripped to shreds if Jade dies," Teir agreed with Anduin.
It came down to Kenlora, and all eyes moved to the stoic elf, who seemed to be deep in thought.
"Kenlora?" I prompted, and the silence thickened along with the tension.
She looked right at me, her eyes piercing my soul, and gave a terse nod.
"It is settled then," Durotan said as Anduin began to silently fume, "We will march upon the Hellfire Citadel, and Jadearra will consume the magic of Gul'Dan and Archimonde, before transporting you to your world."
The final morning.
We had slept through the night while we traveled atop skyterrors to Tanaan, Anduin had wrapped his arms around my torso and held on tight, his heartbeat a constant pitter patter against my back, his worry so poignant that I could almost taste it.
As the sun rose in the fel soaked sky, I wrapped my hands around his, forcing away my fear of what lay ahead.
"Everyone up! Iron Reavers inbound!" Khadgar exclaimed, and all at once I was alert, arrows knocked, and Anduin thrummed with anticipation behind me, aching to take his anger out on something.
Indeed, we had reached Tanaan Air space, and roughly a dozen Reavers came flying towards us, belching fire. Kenlora and Teir pulled up ahead of us, Teir launching her axe at an Orcish rider's head, and Kenlora pulling it back with a hum of magic.
"Anduin close your eyes, darling," I called, knowing this would nauseate him to no end.
With a clench of my thighs, we flipped upside down, the ropes and restraints around our legs holding us to the saddle, and I felt his body tense as we went into a barrel roll, and I sent arrows flying into the engines attached to the Reavers, sending them spiraling to the ground below.
We shot upward, before turning and diving again, and I felt the blood rushing around in my head dizzyingly, but I wouldn't allow us to get shot out of the sky. It seems Teir picked up on the idea, clinging to Kenlora while the night elf sent them in every direction.
Khadgar blasted the last of them out of the sky, and we all slowed to come in for a landing.
The Terror's claws touched down, and Anduin lurched sideways, still held in the restraints, and emptied his stomach into the foliage beside us. The stench turned my stomach, but I swallowed past the bile defiantly.
"Well, that woke us up," Kenlora said bemusedly as Teir looked half dead, still wrapped around her partner.
"They know we're here, we need to move. The Draenei and Frostwolves should be making their way to the citadel now." Khadgar said, Thrall nodding.
We sent the terrors flying away in the opposite direction from which we'd landed, and began to move through the jungle, numerous weapons at the ready.
The stench of sulfur soaked the trees, and flashes of green lightning above were a constant reminder of the reason I was here.
Kenlora fell into step beside me, and with two fingers to my temple, I felt stronger.
"Preserve your strength, Whisperwind." I said quietly, shoving through the leaves.
The slice of a blade cut through them and made the path slightly more open, "I am not the one on a suicide mission." Kenlora said, and I heard Teir snort inelegantly ahead.
Anduin was behind me, shadowing my every step, and soon we were near a large main road, where chaos had already ensued.
Draenei, Frostwolf, and now…oh hell, Fel orcs clashed with screams and steel.
I raised my hands to help even out the field, but Anduin grabbed my biceps, forcing my arms to my sides, "Save your strength, Princessling," he said gruffly into my ear, even as his magic worked into me to bolster my own.
I glared, irritated, and instead nocked arrows, taking out a couple of orcs to placate myself, while Khadgar got to blast through over a dozen.
Anduin restrained me in the shadows of the trees as the others rushed into the battle, and I glared as the battle continued.
Suddenly, I was pulled into Teir's head, and I was in the battle.
Okay Crankypants, do some damage. Her voice echoed, and I stretched her flaking lips into a wicked smile, twirling through the orcs and bringing her axes down, pleased to get to help out-a look over my shoulder showed Teir lounging in my body beside Anduin, who looked severely disconcerted.
She felt my gaze, and turned to lock eyes with me. She winked.
I turned with a howl and ripped through more orcs, until our forces had overwhelmed them, and our army gathered at the closed gates into the hellish citadel.
The battle fought, I drifted back to my body, and grinned savagely at Anduin, who still looked unnerved.
"That was fun," I said, and he just hugged me close, mumbling curses through my laughter.
"Jadearra."
I turned, all the laughter draining from me, to see Yrel, who glowed with greater power than before, and the symbol of the prophet adorned her forehead.
"What of Velen?" I asked, regretting the question when I saw her flinch so violently.
"The orcs came for Karabor," she said softly, and that was that.
She reached for me, and placed three fingers on my forehead, and I gasped as a slow, warm stream of light magic spread through me.
"Priests! Bolster the deathspeaker, for she shall challenge Gul'Dan and Archimonde!" Yrel's voice echoed, and I nearly took a knee as the steady stream turned into a flood.
So much…power. All I could see was light, and it leaked into each pore.
After many moments, or maybe none at all, the flood ebbed, and I returned to myself, looking into the curious eyes of Yrel.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I feel…" I wiggled my fingers, looking around, "Taller."
I heard a snort from behind me, "She's fine."
"Let's open the gates of hell," Durotan spoke up, leading the forces of Frostwolf, and suddenly, a large pillar was slammed against the gates, and they came down…
To reveal hell.
We were launched into battle, and it was a bloody blur. Blue, green, and red blood splattered in every direction as we pressed forward. I felt the magic of the Draenei push through me, and I took down Orc after Orc with arrows.
Teir was a force of nature, ripping through Orcs then calling them back from the grave before their souls could run away. It was…disgustingly fascinating to watch her work, and how it mirrored my own skill in a perverse way.
Soon Glowing blue orcs joined our ranks, and Teir called out commands in the dead tongue, using the dead as fodder, while our living forces pushed to the places that counted.
Soon, we had the courtyard, and the second set of gates had been slammed shut as the enemy made retreat into their walls.
"The citadel is breached!" Khadgar shouted, and a cheer went up from our people.
Instead of taking a moment's rest, I went to the dead, guiding them from their bodies so that they could move on. The iron orcs left with a rushing feeling that left me annoyed, while our troops sighed, the Draenei even bowing before they dissipated into Mist.
"We need to keep moving," Teir said, bumping my shoulder with hers, before she went to Kenlora.
I watched as the two women wrapped arms around each other, Teir clinging to the Night Elf like a raft in a storm.
I turned away from their private moment, looking for Anduin, and the Princeling was still shadowing me.
I went to him, pulling him close, "When the time comes, you must not follow so closely. There is every chance in the world this could end explosively."
He stiffened beneath my touch, but I ran my hands along his arms, working to calm him, but there was no time.
We parted, and Teir came over to me, a sad but determine smile holding her features.
"We're going to be bonded," Teir said, her pleasure evident through our link, and I smiled for her.
"A Night Elf agreeing to that kind of ritual is…uncommon," I said.
Uncommon was an understatement-as a people, they were very ambiguous with their sexual relationships, while we were more of a monogamous people.
"I know," Teir looked so happy, and I knew that they would be forever.
Durotan walked up to me suddenly, a missive in hand, and he handed it over silently:
Jadearra,
Your ward and I are in position. When you arrive, I will hand the child to one of your party. Do not let her forget the name Frost Wolf.
Draka
My heart Pounded-Shad was near, and she would be coming home with us.
"Thank you Durotan. Your kindness and that of your mate's will never be forgotten," I said sincerely, and the grumpy orc simply nodded and walked away.
I looked to Teir, my smile growing, "We're going to get peace."
She looked elated, "A bond, a child, a future…Do you think we're worthy of such a thing?"
I nodded, sure of it, "Our lives have been hardships. We deserve happiness, if only for a moment."
With that, I shoved my emotions away again, tucking the missive into my vest, the parchment crumpling a bit against my skin, and I shook away the longing for…well, everything, to focus on the task at hand.
"Are you ready, Jadearra?"
I looked to Khadgar, who seemed to be thrumming with concern-quite a few people were, actually, and it itched against my skin.
"I will free this world from them." I nodded, evading the question.
Was anyone ever ready to die?
The army formed up, Orcs then Draenei, with us at the head of the group.
"Brace yourselves, Allies!" Yrel's voice was broadcast over all of us, "Within this citadel a host of twisted and demonic machinations waits, along with one of our former leaders, who wishes nothing but destruction for us and our world! Today, we stop fleeing the Legion. Today, we fight!"
A roaring battlecry went up, and with a gusting gale of sulfuric air, the gates ahead opened.
