« And thus my brethrens, we shall head back to our home world at once. We have hid from the alliance and the scourge on this husk of a world long enough, from Illidan we have learned to tap into energies of magical creatures to sate our thirst, it is time we bring this knowledge back to our people and use it to mount a final offensive on the frozen throne! The scourge that has decimated our homeland will be destroyed, and our slain kin shall be avenged!" Kael preached to the assembled blood elves.
The vast majority of the gathered elves cheered at their leader's inspirational speech, but a few protest rose.
"What of the mana forges we started building? You said we could use the netherstorm's energies to restore the sunwell, are we to just give that up!" a mage shouted out.
"What good would the sunwell be if we are still at risk of having Arthas come and raise one of his minions with his energies? The scourge's destruction must be our first priority if we are to ever regain our lost glory!" Kael claimed.
"The Lich King's forces outnumber us ten to one! We do not have the might to stand against the lich king yet!" A solider pointed out.
"Yet?! What do you mean yet? The Lich King's forces will only grow if left unchecked and much faster then our own. But where he commands walking, soulless corpses, our armies are proud and powerful warriors who will fight with the passion and fury the likes of which they have never witnessed! We will join back with our people in Quel'thalas to bolster our ranks and then, we shall march on Icecrown glacier and visit the undead with the full extend of our wrath!" The prince shouted back, earning him more cheers from the crowd, delusional as his claims might have been, he still had a way of lifting his people's spirit.
"Those who remained behind are supposed to be claiming back our ancient lands to ensure that our inheritance doesn't disappear…must we give that up too? Must we risk extinction because we are too proud to ask other races of Azeroth for help?" a peasant woman standing away from the warrior crowd screamed, holding a little elven boy close to her.
"Like who! The humans? The dwarves? Or maybe you were thinking of the orcs? There is no one on Azeroth we can trust, we are on our own, and we always have been! The future of the sin'dorei will be made by our actions today, and these actions we must take!" Kael answered.
Meanwhile, Maiev made her way though the corridors of the fortress, looking for either Kael, her equipment, of some sort of indication to either. She turned around a corner and met two young blood elves gearing up in golden plate armor hastily.
"C'mon, I can hear the cheering from here, whatever the prince's telling them it outta be big."
"You think it's really about going back to Azeroth and fighting the lich king?"
"I dunno, I wish it is."
"What? You're mad, you fought the Icecrown battle right next to me, you saw the horror, and you really want to go back there?"
"Oh, get real, prince Kael isn't stupid, we're going back to Quel'thalas first to, you know, regroup and plan our strategy, probably try to get a few allies along the way and "then" we assault the Lich King, it's not like he's heedlessly sending us into an hopeless battle, Kael's not like that."
"I wouldn't take that as face value, not anymore" Maiev interrupted them.
The two blood elves turned around, surprised, to look at the night elf. One of them eyed her from head to toe and whistled.
"Nice…" he said suggestively.
Maiev look down at herself and remember she was wearing nothing but a small silk cloth to cover her body. She quickly took offense at the comment and spun around, delivering a fierce kick to the offending elf jaw.
"Pervert!"
The other elf, who was also, if more subtly, enjoying the view of Maiev's barely covered body, realized it was a highly talented assassin of night elf justice standing before him and went for his two bladed sword.
Maiev blink next to him grabbed his arm and twisted it in an arm lock.
"Tell me where to find my equipment or I'll break your arm…" the warden threatened coldly.
"I…I think Prince Kael had it sent to Mel'nadin's lab…it's this way." The soldier answered shakily, pointing in the right direction with his free arm.
"Thank you." Maiev said with a slight smile before knocking him out.
The warden headed in the direction that was indicated to him and came upon a door behind which she could feel strong arcane energies. Plus, it had a small sign with the name "Mel'nadin" written on it, proof enough it was the place she was looking for.
She kicked the door open and stormed the room, sweeping her eyes around it, looking for her gears. There was a white haired elf turning his back to her who spoke up as soon as she came in.
"Prince Kael?" the old elf asked without turning around.
Maiev walked up to the Mel'nadin, picking up a dagger lying on one of the many messy tables on her way. She wrapped her arms around the old mage, placed the dagger on his throat and brought her head to rest on his right shoulder.
"No, though luck…" she whispered in his ear.
"Y…you, why are you here?" the old man asked in a strangled voice.
"You have a few things that belong to me I believe…" She looked around the room and spotted her warden armor, her bladed cloak and her weapon, the moonsword umbral crescent. "But it looks like something is missing?" she added, pressing the blade just a little harder against the Mel'nadin's throat.
"The orb…the prince took it, I warned him, I told him it could have insidious effect on the mind…but he wouldn't listen, he picked it up an then…went running through the fortress to do the light knows what…" the wizard explained quickly.
Maiev released the mage from her grasp and remembered that, indeed, the event coincided. True she had always been zealous in her pursuit of justice, but it had taken a dramatic turn for the worse after she confronted Illidan in the tomb of Sargeras.
After she assembled the shadow orb…
"You were right. Whatever Kael is out to do, he's no longer himself, he has to be stopped." She said with resolve.
"Agreed, but he happens to be one of the greatest mage alive today...and he commands the loyalty of all the blood elves…" the old mage pointed out as if it was painfully obvious.
"Just leave it to me…" Maiev said as she picked up the chest piece of her armor to don it.
A ball of pure arcane energy appeared in Mel'nadin's hand.
"I will not let you murder Prince Kael! Step away from there at once!" he threatened, lifting his hand in the air.
Maiev placed the chest piece back on the table with the rest of its pieces, which were all lying meticulously aligned as if someone was wearing them. Suddenly, Maiev disappeared only to reappear lying on the table "inside" her armor, every piece fitting as if she had just don it hastily. The old mage panicked and fired his magic bolt, but Maiev was already gone, in another corner of the room where she grabbed her cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders. In desperation, Mel'nadin tried once more to fire an arcane bolt at the intruder, but she vanished again. He looked around, on edge, looking for where the warden might have reappeared and on his second sweep of the room, his throat came in contact with cold metal, but it wasn't a dagger anymore. The large bladed ring could have beheaded him in one swift motion of the now metal clad hand. He looked at the two glowing silver orbs in the lids of the helmet, wondering if his time had come.
Much to his relief, the now fully armed warden lowered her moonsword.
"Your prince has spared my life, I will do him the same favor, but he must be stopped before he hurts others, of himself. You will NOT stand in my way, right?" she asked coldly.
The old mage only nodded, which Maiev found a satisfying answer. She left, following the clamor and cheers, assuming it would lead her to Kael'thas.
"There can be no more hesitation, every moment we waste the Lich King's forces grows. We must strike now and take our rightful revenge!" Kael raised his fist in the air. "ANAR'ALAH BELORE!"
"ANAR'ALAH BELORE!" the booming chorus answered as one, raising their weapons in the air.
"That's enough Kael!" a steely feminine voice claimed as the clamor died down. Everyone turned around to look at Maiev Shadowsong standing on the top of a nearby tent.
"Maiev…if you still entertain this ridiculous idea of defeating me, I daresay you picked the wrong time…" the prince stated, raising a disdainful eyebrow.
"No Kael, I didn't come here to fight you, I'm hoping I can convince you that this orb is affecting your mind for the worst, you are not thinking straight and you are leading your people down a path that will only lead to their destruction…" the warden warned.
Many archers had knotted arrows and where aiming at Maiev, daring her to make a move against their prince.
"HAHAHAHA…forgive me Maiev, but hearing you lecturing me about how to lead my people is hilarious indeed, if you knew anything about leadership, maybe you'd have a few watchers to back you up on this claim, no?" the blood elf prince laughed out, soon accompanied by several of his men.
The prince's taunt stuck Maiev right where it hurts, it reminded her of her failure, her guilt…all those things she could not realize when the orb of shadow was clouding her judgment. Still, she showed no sight of it, controlled or not by the sinister artifact; she would not give Kael the satisfaction of seeing his words hurt her…
"It's true I made mistakes, terrible ones, that led to the death of all who followed me Kael, a lot of it was certainly due to my recklessness and zeal, but the shadow orb made me forsake everything in the name of my obsession. Don't you see it's doing it to you too? In the name of your crusade against the Lich King, you are willing to sacrifice the life of your soldiers, the future of your people, and the safety of your ancestral homeland?" she challenged him
The words were wise and rational, but Kael was far beyond reasoning. His features hardened as he shot a menacing glare at the warden.
"Seize her!" he ordered.
Arrows and spells fused all around Maiev, but she wasn't there to take the hit, in an instant she was behind Kael, but the prince had seen her coming. He invoked a great burst of energy around himself just as the warden materialized, sending her tumbling to the ground, away from the small army gathered, from the impact. She stood rolled on the ground, getting back to her feet quickly.
"I will not let you fall into the same trap as I did, this monstrous artifact must be destroyed!" she cried out.
She threw her umbral crescent at the shadow orb, which since it was hovering around the prince's head could have beheaded him if Maiev, wasn't so skilled with it. It missed the orb but struck one of the green spheres around Kael's head. Barely acknowledging the attack, Kael'thas invoked one of his favorite spells, five circles of glowing red runes formed around Maiev's feet, and she knew only too well what awaited her if she didn't move, but she had to end this fight quickly, and she might not twice have such an opening, especially with the army ready to come to the prince's aid.
She wrapped her cloak around herself and raised a single arm in the air, the one with which she had hurled her moonsword. While Kael was casting his spell, the orbs around his head stopped moving for a moment, and thus were easy targets. Raising her arm in the air was the motion to activate her umbral crescent's power, it turned around in the air and came back to her hand, hitting the orb of darkness and knocking it off the orbit of Kael's head in the process.
But as she planned out this surgical strike, she made no effort to avoid the flamestrike spell Kael had casted at her, all she could hope was for her cloak to protect her from the searing flames that were even now rising around her. She lowered her head as the heat around her started to rise, knowing full well it would only get worse soon enough.
"It's true I have not been the most pious of your daughters recently…" she whispered.
The raging pillar of fire engulfed her, causing severe burns all over her body.
"…but now I call upon your mercy…great Elune…if my prayers can reach you even from the faraway world…"
Maiev collapsed on the ground after the worst of the spell hit her, gravely wounded, but still alive, but the flamestrike spell left the ground still burning and she couldn't do anything to evade it
"…please allow me another chance to make up for my mistakes!"
Then, she fainted.
As for Kael, as the moonsword knocked the shadow orb from around his head, it seemed as if he was suddenly drained of all his strength, he fell to one knee and slowly recovered his senses.
He raised his head to see the umbral crescent fall on the ground next to Maiev's motionless body, surrounded by the flames of his own spell. She had kept telling him that the orb was affecting his mind…and now it seemed…plausible, he still felt a powerful urge to pick up the cursed artifact and resume his war preparation, leaving the foolish warden to burn…
But he fought that urge, Maiev, had she wanted to could have decapitated him, twice, but she didn't, she only freed him from the orb, and as only thanks she was being burned alive as he stood there, moreover, several blood elves were gathering around him to help him to his feet, but nobody was helping the warden…
He pushed away the elves trying to help him and ran up to Maiev, quickly wording a spell to make raise a shield against fire around him, and picked her up from the ground. He could feel that, through some miracle or incredible will to live, she was still alive. "Good" he though.
"I want three competent healers in the room we arranged for her this instant!" he ordered.
"Sir…"
"You heard me, get moving!" he screamed with authority.
"But…the war…the Lich King"
"Everything I said up while the orb was around my head is not to be taken as my opinion or an order, this device was indeed clouding my judgment, and now that I see clearly I see this woman was the only one who stood up to me while I was leading you to your death, I do not blame any of you for your loyalty, but she needs and deserve to be healed, NOW!" he repeated on a tone that left no room for reply.
"Sir, what about the orb?"
"Nobody touches it, nobody gets near it! I'll deal with it myself, later! No hurry!" he commanded.
Maiev felt good…better than she had felt in several millennia, she felt content, safe and unexplainably joyous. She was floating in the vast reaches of the night sky, among the stars, it was very serene, liberating. Then she was bathed in pale silver light and she heard a soft and caring voice whisper to her hear: "very well, dear daughter…"
Suddenly, she opened her eyes to find herself, again, lying in a large bed, wrapped in bandages, wearing a simple silk nightdress and feeling her body wrapped in pain.
"Awake at last?" a familiar voice called out from her left.
With much effort she turned her head to face Kael'thas.
"I'm having déjà-vu here…" she said, and to her great surprise, she smiled. She didn't know what else to do, for the first in a long time she had been successful in doing what she though was right, that made her feel good enough to smile.
"You should stop trying to take on people stronger than you…" he said teasingly, smiling as well.
"Be thankful, I wasn't actually trying to kill you." She replied, and it seemed she couldn't wipe the smile of her face. She was too happy to be alive and that the shadow orb was…
"What happened to the shadow orb?" she asked suddenly, trying to stand but only sending waves of pain through her body.
"As soon as your health was stable I casted it over the edge of the netherstorm and into the twisting nether, it's either destroyed or lost forever in there, in both cases, no longer a problem." He assured her.
"That's…good, speaking of my health, I can feel I'm in pretty bad shape…" she said.
"not so much, you're still in pain because our magical healers aren't what they used to be, but those using more traditional means have had much success treating the burns inflicted by my spell…sorry about that by the way…" he apologized.
"Can hardly blame you can I…" she replied with a sheepish smile.
"…Well, the good news is you won't have any lasting scar thanks to what little magical healing did work. Would have been a shame, high degree burns scars can really disfigure even the prettiest of faces…" the prince added, with a playful smile.
And on this day, Prince Kael'thas learned that night elves blush black.
"…I…eh…right." Was all that Maiev could manage to answer, too shocked as she was to come up with anything more coherent. She had not been complemented on her look for a long time…and certainly not by someone several millennia younger.
To break the awkwardness of the moment, the same blood elf girl that Maiev had seen when she woke up the day before…or she assumed so, she might have been out for several days for all she knew, came into the room with the mage Mel'nadin.
"Prince Kael, the situation is getting worse, what started as whispered complains as escalated to small riot, the people demand answers..." the girls said.
"And not just any answers Prince Kael, a good majority of them expect you to get rid of this warden before Illidan finds out." The old wizard warned.
"The stress of the exile and the unstable nature of this region must be taking its toll on my people, do they not realize Maiev probably saved us from extinction!" Kael spat at this news.
"My lord, this orb came along with the warden, many of our people feel betrayed that she was in the fortress all along without their knowledge in the first place. They feel this entire situation is your fault." The girl explained.
"They feel you took decisions in secret for your own benefit rather than the good of your people, the worst extremist are starting to doubt your reliability as a leader…" Mel'nadin added.
"This is preposterous! How there they challenge my leadership over this! I did what I though was right, how do they suppose this is for my own benefit?" Kael shouted angrily.
"Well…my lord, I'd rather not get into the details of the most salacious rumors I've been hearing with a member of the royal family, call me old-fashioned…" the aged elf said.
"Salacious?" Kael growled, ripples of heat starting to form in the air around him.
"My prince, people are confused, opinions are divided, as to why you did this, but the general consensus is that there is no way this benefits our people, in any way….you will have to talk to them, or we fear the worse." The girl said.
Kael took a deep breath, closed his eyes and opened them again when he was calm.
"You two are still on my side it seems, why?" the prince asked.
"We cannot expect you to be flawless just because you wear the name Sunstrider my prince, you have your flaws, sure, but you're still the only elf alive I'd ever call king." The old elf answered.
"I believe you did what you though right, even though there were great risks and no tangible reward, and if some think this doesn't make you a good leader, I think it makes you a good man, one I'm proud to call my lord." The girl answered.
"Thanks you both" Kael said, smiling "it's good to hear. Tell the people I'll be speaking to them at dusk."
"At once, my prince!" Mel'nadin said. Then, they both left.
Kael closed the door behind them and rested himself on the wall, rubbing his eyes.
Maiev looked at the prince and saw him in another light. She though she knew all about leadership, but Kael'thas Sunstrider was obviously facing pressure far worse than she ever had, he wasn't made a leader because of his skills, he had been expected to develop these skills to show himself worthy of this crown. He wasn't just responsible of a military unit, the fate of an entire race rested on his shoulders and he couldn't afford to think about himself, the need of his people had to be greater then his own. Not only that, but since Kael was still referred as prince, it most likely meant his father had died recently, leaving him with the task to safeguard his people at his (relatively) young age.
A few days ago, she had never though she could ever feel sympathy for this man, but now, quite despite herself, she found out she did.
"Kael…why did you rescue me?" Maiev asked when they were alone.