Chapter 5

Over the next several months, I re-acclimated myself to life in service to Silvermoon. My Blood Knight training was more than a little beneficial to my physical rehabilitation. Mastering the Light and bending it to my will was not nearly as difficult as I had expected and I was even starting to make new friends.

Ahnri, Nightfawn and Ashmea had decided that I was "cute" and, in a frenzy of overzealous female whimsy, would often abduct me from the rigors of training to restyle my hair and get me drunk in the hopes of watching me make a fool of myself. I would often wake up hungover and copperless in those days, but it gave me something to care about. Getting used to the sight of former enemies walking around in my home city was going to take a while and, with Lady Sylvanas gone, the Sunwell destroyed and the Scourge on our doorstep, anything positive was a welcome respite from an otherwise dreary and somber reality.

Finally, the day arrived when my training was complete and I was deployed to Light's Hope Chapel to join with the Argent Dawn in beating back the tireless Scourge Army. Shino, Pammajay and Albtraum were the first Sin'dorei that I encountered upon arrival to the base camp outside the chapel so I naturally gravitated towards them. Shino and Albtraum were priests charged with serving as medics to the wounded who found their way back here.

I was beginning to get along with them nicely. Pammajay was a very sweet Blood Elf who had somehow befriended a gorilla in the wild. I had always appreciated exotic animals and just as I was getting to know her primate companion, a Draenei Paladin approached me.

"Hail." he stated as he approached me, his posture stiff and formal. "I see that you have made some friends, Recruit. We encourage that..." I began to speak but was abruptly interrupted as the Draenei continued to speak. "But I would suggest that you diversify somewhat. We are about unity here. No race is given preference over another. It is a hard lesson for you blood elves to learn sometimes, but we are patient and we hope that you will make every effort to uphold our pious ideals."

With that, he turned on his hooves and pranced off into the night.

I gave what he had said some thought. I befriended a gnome named Sparklemouse who had learned 'everything about Gnomish Engineering' from a blood elf 'like me' before he disappeared in battle. I could only assume she was referring to Klaive as he was a well-known inventor and mechanic. I had several intriguing conversations with a Forsaken named Morgan Sloat who had been a Lordaeron noble that stood to inherit a sizable fortune before the plague wiped out his family and subsequently scattered his wealth and I got to know Tanta the Tauren Druidess fairly well. She was quite nice but often grew depressed with the state of the lands around her. She could feel their pain.

In time, I came to view the entire Argent Dawn as a family upon which I could rely, a sentiment I had not felt since the days when I had been a Ranger under Lady Sylvanas. I had tried many times to befriend the Draenei. I wished to know more about them than I already did. All I knew so far was that they had crashed into Azeroth after fleeing from something and that two of their leaders had defected with the remainder of their people to join the Burning Legion. It was not a flattering history. I wished to hear their side of things so that I could allow myself to forgive the crimes of their race and instead focus on its merits.

I was snubbed each time I tried to reach out to them. The females treated me as an object of disgust while the males had difficulty concealing their loathing for me each time I drew near. I was not certain why they carried such a demeanor about them where I was concerned, but I was later informed that it traced back to the Outland conflict between the Aldor and the Scryers.

Still, I remembered the words of that Paladin and I resolved that despite our differences, I would protect them just the same. We were united in opposition to the Scourge. I would not let petty grievances get in the way of that.

Several days passed, each the same as the last. I patrolled the Plaguelands with Tanta, Sloat and Pammajay. Joining us were two Draenei; the Paladin who had first approached me and changed my perspective so dramatically and a female Mage who looked at me as though I were a ten-day old murloc corpse washed up on a pristine white sand beach. Their names were Zander and Xylia respectively and I only knew that much because they referred to one another by name from time to time.

Yes, these were the so-called "Children of the Light" but they were aliens, after all. I had to cut them some slack. It had to be hard to live in a foreign world so beset by strife. "Perhaps," I thought. "In time they will come around."

One night, as we were bedding down near a camp fire we had built in a small clearing by Blackwood Lake and Sloat and I were discussing the rumors that the Lich King's hold over some of his stronger forces had been slipping of late, a Saronite Arrow exited the shadows and lodged itself firmly in Tanta's shoulder. She immediately slumped over and fell unconscious. Either the arrow was enchanted or it was poisoned. Sardonic laughter emerged from the darkness as a vaguely familiar Blood Elven woman stepped into the flickering firelight. We all had our weapons at the ready, but the realization that she carried no bow gave us pause. Clearly, something else was lurking just beyond our field of vision.

"Bed time for the Agent Dawn already?" she chided, turning her inscribed blade so that the flames of our camp fire danced in its mirror-polished surface. I recognized that blade. It belonged to Nadjaa. I had met her in Silvermoon along with her brother. They had matching custom blades and seemed inseparable. She was a kind and devoted girl but now... she was working for the Lich King. I could feel the unholy energy radiating off of her.

"You won't be getting much rest tonight, I'm afraid." she continued with faux regret in her voice. "The Lich King has asked me to collect your hearts and deliver them to him personally." She extended her hand towards me and tendril of violet energy yanked me into her grasp. Her strength was unnatural. She held me off the ground by my throat with but a single hand. Struggle as I might, I could not escape her death grip. "I intend to come through." she added. It was then that Nodel emerged from the tree-line and begin picking off the skeletal archers behind her one-by-one. It seemed the hand of fate had finally lead him to this place. Perhaps he could turn the tide of this confrontation.

Sloat began to fiddle with something behind his back. I could tell she hadn't noticed and made no motion that might give it away. Moments later when a mob of bow-wielding skeletons emerged from the darkness, I heard the sound of metal scraping and skittering across the ground. Nadjaa looked down at the object Sloat had thrown by her feet and her eyes barely had enough time to register the surprise she felt before the fel iron grenade detonated.

I could hear little more than ringing in my ears for several moments, my body throbbing from the shockwave of energy that had sent me flying from Nadjaa's grasp. Sloat was unconscious next to me, Tanta was still knocked out from the arrow and Pammajay was either dead or faking it quite well. Nadjaa recovered first, enraged. She approached me and glared down into my face as I lay prone and helpless before her. "Time to die." she said simply, thrusting her sword towards my chest with the grace of a fencer.

Her blow was completely deflected by a bubble of light that surrounded me in my moment of desperation. I had been well-trained to manipulate Light energy and I wasn't about to go down without a fight. I leapt to my feet and reached into my bag for an Elixir of Giant Strength, but found that I had used the last one earlier. With a look of disappointment upon my face, I drew my sword and faced her, preparing for battle.

Smirking, Nadjaa held up my hearthstone that had been knocked out of my bag by the explosion. "Looking for this?"

"It seems you have me confused with a Human." I retorted. "You're in for difficult battle, Nadjaa."

With that, I leapt at her with a downward cleave which she barely side-stepped. She saved her energy, knowing that my bubble would protect me for a few seconds longer. Finally, the protective light faded around me and we began to fight in earnest. We were evenly matched, my mighty blows cutting deep into her armor and sinking into her flesh while her deft upward slashes left me wounded and bleeding. Her minions remained engaged in a heated exchange of arrows with the troll taking cover among the trees, his turtle Tammy slipping up from her hiding place in the lake to inflict a crushing bite to one of their legs before retreating back into her aquatic cover.

It looked as though this would be a stalemate. We stood staring into each other's eyes and trying to catch our breath, our bodies covered in cuts and bruises ranging from minor scratches to deep gouges. We were both sizing the other up, looking for an opening and thinking of ways to exploit any weakness the other may possess.

That is when I heard Sloat laugh weakly to himself, still lying face down in the dirt. This time, the grenade bumped into my foot and stopped rolling. I attempted to jump back but took the brunt of the blast. Luckily, Nadjaa was hit almost as hard as I was. I couldn't move at all.

Zander pulled Xylia to her hooves and attempted to drag her away in the resulting confusion. "Shouldn't we help him?" I heard ask the Paladin. "No," he replied. "He is just a blood elf. We must save ourselves. Now is our chance. Let us go." He ran off into the night and she followed without so much as a look back at me.

"Just a blood elf..." I thought to myself. "Damn them. Damn them all. They should have died with their world. They should have..." The world faded away into blackness.