Nearly a year had passed and news from the west was grim. The stories had reached the High Elves of the terror that Arthas had become. Rumors reached them that he could possibly turn his sights on them, and this had everyone on edge.

Kalesay stood in her room, staring at herself in the mirror. Rather than her typical leather gear that she wore hunting, she stood in a new outfit, the blue and gold uniform of the Farstriders. With the impending threat from west, any hunters that were not already part of the elite rangers were recruited. Any other time being bestowed the position of a Farstrider would be a great honor, but it made her uneasy.

A heavy knock on her door quickly pulled her from her worrying thoughts. "Come in," she said as she picked up her new bow and quiver of arrows, standard issue with the Farstriders.

The door opened and in stepped Gecko, all dressed up in his Silvermoon Guardian armor. He smiled at her; it was one of the few things that could take her mind of all the troubling thoughts that bounced around her mind. "You look nice," he said, shutting the door behind him. "You are a Farstrider now?"

She nodded, slinging her quiver and bow over her shoulder. "Yes, as of this morning I have become one of the Farstriders."

"Well, then a congratulations is in order," he said and hugged her.

"Yes, thank you…" she said, not sounding overly thrilled.

He pulled away to look down at her, now looking somewhat concerned. "What is wrong, love?"

"If these rumors about what Arthas is doing are true," she said, "then Sylvanas is going to lead the Farstriders to the south. We will be Quel'Thalas's first defense."

"I believe that is a great honor. At least you get to be there on the front line," he said with a small sigh.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I have been placed in charge of a small squad," he said. "We are being based out of Tranquillien in response to the threat Arthas poses."

"Tranquillien? When are you leaving?"

"Well, I am actually supposed to be going now," he said, "but I put it off for the time being so that I could come see you."

She smiled only slightly, glad to see him, but knowing that once he left it could be months before she might see him again. "How long will you be down there?"

Gecko shrugged. "Until we know that Arthas is not a threat any longer."

"Well, then I will write to you while you are stationed there, okay?"

"Promise?"

She nodded. "Of course," she said, hugging him once more, "as often as I can get letters out to you."

He smiled and kissed her. "I wish I could stay longer, spend a little more time with you, but I really should get going."

She nodded, not wanting to let him go. "I will miss you."

"And I will miss you too, my love," he said, pulling her close in a hug. Lyna barely picked her head up as she rested on her bed. She had long since gotten used to Gecko being around and had become less defensive of her master.

Kalesay was unable to keep tears from blurring her vision as she pulled away. Gecko smiled and brushed the tears away and kissed her forehead. "I love you," he said, "and we will each other again soon enough. This threat will pass and Quel'Thalas and the high elves will be just fine."

She nodded with a sigh. "Okay," she said. "You should get going, Tranquillien will need your squad. Good luck, love." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He smiled. "Goodbye, love," he said, "and best of luck to you." And after one final kiss and hug, he left.

Kalesay moved to the window, leaning against the sill. She watched as Gecko left the Hunters' Lodging and cut through Farstrider Square. She sighed, wiping away the last remaining tears. "Well, Lyna, looks like we have a lot of training ahead of us now and no distractions." She sighed again. "This is going to be a long few months. Let's go." Lyna got up and followed her master.

"You two," said Sylvanas, motioning to Kalesay and another Farstrider, "Go and get the word out about what is happening here." She kept on fighting as she talked.

The two rangers nodded and without a second thought dashed away. Once they were far enough away from the danger, Kalesay stopped her companion. "We have to split up, to ensure the message makes it to Silvermoon." The other ranger nodded. "Head east, then north. It's a less direct path, but much more safe. I will head up through Tranquillien, and on from there." She swallowed her fear. "You will likely be the one to deliver this message."

They wished each other luck and went off in their separate directions. Kalesay ran hard. She heard something behind her and glanced back. A few brave Nerubians had broken from the rest of the undead army, and they spotted her. She turned and ran harder. Her training told her that this message was more important than facing the enemy. She would run and hide if it meant that Silvermoon City got this message.

She managed to get far enough ahead of the spider beings to find a place to hide, nestling herself into the hollow of a fallen tree. She held as still as she could as she heard them search for her. Her heart hammered, and she was certain that would be a dead giveaway. But after a long time searching, she heard them begin to move away from where she was.

She waited, and waited, not daring to move until she was certain she was safe. Finally, after what felt like hours, she moved from her hideaway. The stink of the undead army hung in the air. They were close. She pulled herself from the rotting tree and ran on. Soon, she spotted the scar of death that the army left in their wake. It extended north, towards Tranquillien. She prayed that the village was safe as she headed that way.

As she neared the village, the sounds of battle rang out, metal ringing out against metal and bone. Smoke billowed up from the buildings as fire swept through them. As she came up the ridge she watched as the undead crowded the path up to the village, and were barely being held back by the warriors that fought to keep them at bay. They threatened to overrun the city as they pushed on.

She couldn't help but think of Gecko amongst those fighting, being stationed at Tranquillien. She thought back to the brief moment that they had, just seeing each other as her and the other Farstriders marched through the small village. She shook her head, she needed to concentrate. She skirted around the outskirts to the east, knowing that going around completely would take too long.

She pulled herself up on the ridge and took a mighty leap on to the roof of one of the buildings not touched yet by fire, hoping to find a clear way through the battle. But there she was frozen in her tracks. From her vantage point she could see down the hill, and see the sheer numbers they were up against not just the dead heading for Tranquillien, but those headed ultimately for Silvermoon.

Below she could see the Silvermoon Guardians fighting and right in middle of it. A flash of blue hair among all the bodies below showed here where Gecko was, fighting hard against the Scourge. The numbers of undead around him were astonishing, and Kalesay was unable to stand and let him fight alone. She pulled her bow out and, within heart beats, five arrows were flying through the air, embedding themselves in the corpses. Those that fell were quickly replaced by more undead, but her aid seemed to help Gecko enough, taking some of the load off of his shoulders.

There seemed to be a break in the legion, where the enemies seemed fall back. The gap in the undead was soon filled by larger enemies, horrid abominations that looked like several corpses cobbled together. Each stood easily twice the height of any of the elves below. Each creature wielded giant, bloody cleavers in each of its' hands. A gruesome third arm protruded from its' back, clenching a thick chain with a nasty looking hook dangling from the end. They lumbered up the hill towards the Guardians, who seemed to hesitate at the ghastly creatures before recovering from their shock and attacking. Kalesay let out a rain of arrows, assisting the warriors once more.

None of the Guardians or Kalesay seemed to notice that the abominations were also accompanied by a tall man on a strange skeletal horse. It wasn't until the creatures were killed and the man swung down from his horse did the Guardians took notice of the new enemy.

Kalesay's heart dropped as Gecko took a step forward, challenging the towering Death Knight. A great sword was raised to fight off against Gecko's attacks. She grew hopeful as strikes were made and Gecko was still left standing. All hope was dashed, though, when Gecko charged at his opponent, only to receive the great sword to the chest, piercing right through his armor.

The seconds that it took for Gecko to fall seemed to stretch on forever. She was completely unaware of the scream she let out. Without even thinking, she notched her very last arrow to her bow and drew it back fully before releasing it at Arthas. The deadly arrows whizzed through the air and hit the Death Knight's plated armor, but not with enough force to pierce the heavy armor, just enough to wind him and stagger him back a few steps.

Tears ran down Kalesay's cheeks. She wanted nothing more than to go to Gecko, to see if there was something she could do to save him. But she had a duty to Silvermoon to do, and she knew there was no surviving that attack. With one last look at Gecko's motionless body, she said, "I love you." Then jumped from the rood and ran.

She ran hard and straight for the city, making good time ahead of the undead army. She gave her message of what happened at the Outer Elfgate and Tranquillien to those in charge. They quickly set about trying to evacuating the city. She reequipped herself with more arrows and joined with some of the Farstriders who had stayed behind. They lined the top of the walls around the city, forming a defense from above to aid the Guardians below.

Slowly the enemy army came onto view. Those who hadn't seen what they were up against stared in horror. But Kalesay was more than ready; she wanted nothing more than to avenge Gecko's death. It wasn't long until the Scourge was there and the battle began. She poured all of her rage and sorrow into the fight, firing at every undead that she possibly could. Within minutes, though, she was out of arrows. She jumped down with into the fray, slicing at the risen corpses with blind rage, wanting redemption for Gecko death.

The fighting went on for hours, and the elves were fighting a losing battle. Soon, they were forced to retreat, getting any left alive out of the city, thought there were shocking few left. They led the survivors east, far away from the invasion of the scourge, past Duskwither Spire. They made camp in a clearing. The warriors, those well enough, offered aid to the injured and scared high elves. Kalesay was among them, in a daze as she bandaged the injured.

As she made her rounds she found Zorrion sitting off at the edge group. He had a haggard, war weary look upon his face as he stared out to the ocean. His usually tidy robes were torn and bloodied, and while he would typically be fretting over a small speck of dust, he was distant in his thoughts.

"Zor?" Kalesay said, her voice hoarse after hours of fighting. But this did not catch Zorrion's attention. She stepped in front of him, but he just stared right through her. A large gash stretched across his forehead. Blood had streamed down through his eye and down his cheek, but it had long since congealed and dried. She sighed and pulled out a set of bandages, setting to cleaning and tending to his wounds.

They were quiet for a long while as she worked until Zorrion mumbled something, only of which she could understand was the word 'dead'.

She nodded sadly. "Yes, there are many dead," she said, looking around at the small group of survivors. "I would not be surprised if not many more people make it out of this alive."

But Zorrion shook his head, unraveling a lot of the work she had done with the bandages, much to her annoyance. "No…" he said, his voice cracking with emotion, "Maeleron…"

She stopped her work and stared at him. "Maeleron?" She hesitated. "Zor, you do not know that. There will be some survivors after the invasion. Maeleron is a tough one, he will make it through and bring others along with him."

Zorrion shook his head again. "No, when the undead hit the wall, Maeleron found me with the other warlocks," he said, wiping blood from his cheek with his sleeve. "We fought together, just like…like we had always done. We were doing well, but then I looked back and he was just…lying on the ground…" The distant look returned to his eyes, obviously reliving the death of his brother.

"Zorrion," she said, feeling bad for her long-time friend. With the distraction of battle long since gone, her emotions finally bubbled up to the surface. Tears welled up in her eyes. "We also lost Gecko. I had passed through Tranquillien on my way back to Silvermoon, the village was completely overrun by the undead. We have both lost someone important to us, I understand how you feel, Zor."

He seemed to suddenly just snap. "No, Kale, you do not understand. Yes, it is unfortunate that Gecko died in Tranquillien, but Maeleron is my brother, my only family, and he is gone," he said, voice quiet and seething with anger. Yelling would have been better than these angry whispers. She had never seen Zorrion like this. He was always the fun, carefree one of the brothers, but this was such a contrast to the Zorrion she had always known.

"And Gecko was my family," said Kalesay, becoming defensive. "He was also my only family that I had. So, I do know how you feel." The anger in her voice matched that of Zorrion's.

"The reason you don't have a family is because you are a selfish bitch, Kalesay, and what family you did have deserved better than you for a daughter." He pushed her away from him then got up and walked away, leaving her stunned with anger.

Her hand was shaking as she gripped her long skinning knife. In another surge of anger, she chucked the blade. It became embedded in a nearby tree up to the handle. She took a few long, deep breaths and the shaking finally subsided. She walked over to the fair-barked tree and went to pull the knife. To her annoyance, the blade was thoroughly embedded into the wood and she could not retrieve it. She sighed, frustrated and left it.

So, this is definitely a much darker chapter than the last one. (And a shout out to Zor, sorry to have done that to your brother, but you understand, right? …Right? *offers box of candy*).

I am also aware as to how bad the argument between Zor and Kale was, but I just needed to get past that moment, otherwise this never would've come out.

Well, thank you for reading and reviews are always welcome. ^-^ Peace until next time.