Author notes: Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, the release of the warcraft movie and legion trailers have renewed my motivation to write this. Also apologies about the length of this of this chapter it a lot longer that the other chapters and also a filler that needs to be there to get on to Arthas destroying Lordaeron and the attack on Quel'thalas.

Arthas

The air was cold but Arthas kept pushing forward, he had to. He was dressed warmly enough with a thick fur coat, fur boots and so on. Getting clothes warm enough to keep him alive in the cold of Northrend was one of the first things he'd seen to when he'd arrive. It had been a few weeks since he'd arrived and he'd made several plans as to how he was going to reclaim his city and his throne. At the moment he had a meeting with some frost troll mercenaries that he hoped he could offer a large sum of money to get their help taking Lordaeron back. His plan was simple, he would say that he would pay the mercenaries a high percentage of gold and gems from the castle vault. If necessary he would pay it but if not he would settle the debt by ordering the remaining guards to kill them. He wanted to reclaim his kingdom but he would prefer not to lose any of his gold over it. Not when backstabbing was still a good option.

Arthas looked up from his trudging through the snow to see the mercenaries camp, he had arrived at his destination. There were several little huts surrounding a larger one in the middle. To Arthas even the large one in the middle was too small to be called a house, although he felt that many of the peasant under his rule lived in shacks not houses.

'These people must be poor' Arthas thought as he studied the buildings 'Only the lowest of peasants would live in such a place'.

As he thought this the trolls leader came out of his hut to greet Arthas "Welcome to our village mon. We will be discussing business now, ja?"

'Oh it's a village? I thought it was like several little farming family house you can find grouped together in Lordaeron' Arthas thought but he chose his words more carefully "Yes it's a nice place you've got here. I'd love to discuss business now" he said with a huge fake smile.

The inside the tiny hut was at least warm and out of the wind. There was a fire going in a brazier in the centre of the room which warmed the place up. There were some benches made from some dark wood near the brazier which Arthas supposed had been set up for this discussion. To Arthas the benches looked very uncomfortable but he stayed silent about that and thanked the lead troll when he was offered the bench to sit on. It what just as uncomfortable as he had predicted but complaining was unlikely to get him what he needed.

'I have to remember that I'm not the King anymore. People won't do things for me because I'm better than them now even though they still should because I am still far better than them' Arthas thought.

"So what ja be wanting with my mercenaries mon?" the troll ask him

'Idiot. What anybody else wants mercenaries for. To pay them lots of money to kill people. Why does everybody always ask such stupid questions?' he thought but instead he said "I need to hire some mercenaries to help me take back the Kingdom of Lordaeron. I'd be willing to pay an enormous amount of gold from the castle vaults after retaking the Kingdom for your help".

Arthas watched the troll leader as he said this. There was about twenty second of silence well the troll thought about his offer.

"Some money after?" the troll asked finally.

"Yes. I'll pay you half the gold in the castle vault" Arthas replied

The troll thought for a bit longer "Gold after is no good. Taking a city is not an easy thing to accomplish. Several of my men will die and for your promise that you will pay us after. For all I know we could help you take the Kingdom and then you could betray us or just not pay us. I would not like to be betrayed and therefore it's to much of a risk"

Arthas stayed silent and thought 'He's definitely smarter than I gave him credit for. However I only have limited money since they took Lordaeron. Most of the money I could have used for this was the Kingdom's money and not my own personal money'. He thought for a while longer before coming to a decision about what he should do. "Not to far from here there an Alliance base. Perhaps I could turn some of my wealth into something much more to your liking" he said.

The troll nodded "Return to us in three days and we can negotiate a deal then"

"Yes in three days" Arthas replied then he left the hut and the village altogether.

He knew full well that he could never come up with an amount of money that would satisfy the trolls pay before policy and even if he did he couldn't risk that they would try kill him and take his gold. At the moment that seemed like a very real possibility. Arthas was not pleased about the possibility that they were trying to steal for him or questioning his word. He would return to them but not to discuss a deal. He would return to teach the world and the next group he would deal with what happens when they question him.

-
Illidan

The rain poured down upon him but he was determined not to let it stop him. It had taken a bit of thinking to come up with his plan and he had attempted to compare it to other ideas before deciding that it was the best idea. Soon he would return home and would put his plan into action and show all the night elves that the demons had no hold on him. His boots oozed in the mud that was being formed by the rain but he still kept going. It only took him a few more minutes to reach the city. He had planned to go straight home and find what he required to make his plan work but he decided to go visit Tyrande first. He headed for the temple of Elune, hurrying between houses he reached his destination in a few minutes. Normally he would probably wait outside for her but he had no idea when she would be coming out of the temple and he couldn't wait. He hurried inside and quickly made his way to the part in the temple where she taught her students. Although he normally didn't come into temple he had been in before and knew his way around. He headed to her office first but was not really surprised that she wasn't there. Illidan found her quickly after that, she was standing in the centre of a room explaining one of Elune's principles to about a dozen students. Illidan waited patiently for her to notice him. He knew she would be mad if he interrupted.

Much to Illidan's displeasure it took her about ten minutes to notice him waiting there.

"That's enough for today. Class dismissed" she said when she noticed him.

'About time. I swear I could have completed my entire plan and perhaps slayed hundreds of demons in the time it's taken for her to notice me' Illidan thought to himself.

"Illidan your back!" she said "How did your mission go"

She was smiling but Illidan noticed that her eyes were focused more towards the ground that on him.

'She's not meeting my gaze. Is she still mad with me? How do I make it better?' he wondered. "My mission is still to be completed I need something from the house first before I can prove to you that the demons have no hold on me" he told her.

She nodded "Yes, I'll come with you. I believe you can stop the demons if we ever need you to but why are you doing this? You don't have anything to prove to me"

That confused Illidan "But you're the one that said people believe that the demons still had a hold on me. Why aren't you happy that I'm doing this" 'Seriously what does it take to impress this girl?' he wondered.

She sighed "Illidan that was about your use of arcane magic, not this. Let's just get going okay"

They reached the house in a few minutes but Illidan very nearly complained about how long it was taking. By the time they reached the house Tyrande still hadn't met his gaze, a fact that was really starting to both him.

'Perhaps she hopes I won't achieve my mission because she said we could be together if I succeed but what if she doesn't want to be with me? What if she assumed that I'd fail' he thought. He couldn't help but think this sort of thing.

He managed to briefly clear his head of this thought and focus on the task. He hurried into the bedroom and lifted the loose floorboard under the bed and reached down to grab the three vials at the bottom. Then he stood up and smiled holding the vials in his hand like and trophy.

"Illidan what is that?" Tyrande asked him her gaze focused on the vials.

"This is the future but it is also how I intend to summon some demons to kill. Come I'll show you what it does".

He lead her outside and over to a pond of water. Then he poured all three vials in.

"What was that? What are you doing?" Tyrande asked him

"That was water from the well of eternity. This will create a new well of a eternity which will return our former glory of magic powers. Our people can thank me later" he said proudly.

The look on Tyrande's face confused him. She was looking horrified and Illidan couldn't work out why.

"ILLIDAN DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE?" she yelled at him

"YES I DO! THE WELL OF ETERNITY WILL BRING US GREAT POWERS AND MAKE OUR SOCIETY GREAT AGAIN PLUS THIS IS HOW I PROVE MYSELF TO YOU!" he yelled back at her.

She stared at him "IF YOU TRULY WANT TO PROVE YOURSELF TO ME YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE DONE SUCH A THING. YOU'VE PUT US ALL AT RISK!".

Their argument was drawing other night elves.

"YOU RECREATED THE WELL OF ETERNITY? HOW COULD YOU?" yelled one spectator

"TRAITOR" yelled another

"DEMON WORSHIPER" yelled a third.

Illidan didn't hear what the rest of them said, the yelling from all of them become too much to single out what anybody had said.

"WHATS GOING ON HERE?" Malfurion voice called out over the elves.

The elves parted and allowed his brother through. Illidan sighed, if the elves around him couldn't understand he seriously doubted his brother would.

He looked up and gave his brother a fake smile "Malfurion how good to see you" he said

"What did you do?" Malfurion asked him.

Illidan glazed back at Tyrande before answering. She was now looking at the ground and if anything avoiding eye contact more with Malfurion than she was him.

'What did I miss?' he wondered "Brother why must you alway assume I did something wrong. I've recreated the well of eternity that will bring the magic we use to have back. Now's the part where you thank me" he told his brother.

Malfurion looked shocked "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?"

Illidan shrugged "I don't know, it seemed like a good idea"

"And it's how you plan to summon these demon you intend to fight" Malfurion added

"Yep" Illidan replied

"You've put all of us at risk" Malfurion told him

"KILL HIM SHAN'DO STORMRAGE" a few night elves yelled.

Malfurion thought for a moment then he turn to the crowd and said "Are any of the warden's here?"

Two women stepped forward from the crowd.

"You wish us to arrest him?" the leading one asked

"Indeed. I assume you still have room for him at the prison?" Malfurion asked.

She nodded "Of course. I'll take him right away"

"Thank you Maiev" Malfurion said as she came over to put him in chains.

As Maiev finished clamping the chains on his arm he notice Malfurion and Tyrande briefly made eye contact then turned away from each other with a look that Illidan realised was shame. Something did happen between them Illidan realised, but whether it was something as small as a kiss or something more Illidan did not know. But whatever it was they felt shame about it, probably because they felt they betrayed him. Illidan glared at his brother as Maiev and the other woman pulled him away to the prison. He would find out what happened but he knew that things between him and his brother weren't over. Illidan imagined that they would fight again.

Sylvanas

Sylvanas sat on a comfortable chair in a large room at the Windrunner spire, her home. She was reading a book with a red cover and quite frankly that was the most interesting thing about it. She had actually forgotten what the book was about but since she wasn't Queen or Ranger General anymore she had little else to do. Not that she was complaining, she was glad to free of Arthas.

At that moment there came a knock at the door downstairs. Normally Sylvanas wouldn't have heard it but the house was quiet and they had knocked pretty loudly.

"I'll get it my lady" one of the servants called out to her.

Sylvanas attempted to turn her focus back to the novel to at least finish the page she was on but it was so dull that she just put it on the table beside her within a few words. Instead of reading she straightened her hair and prepared herself to see whoever was at the door.

"King Anasterian Sunstrider to see you my lady" the servant said as she returned with the King at her side.

Sylvanas hurried to her feet and bowed at the site of her King.

"What can I do for you your majesty?" she asked him politely. She hadn't realised how accustomed she'd become to people calling her 'your majesty' and not the other way around.

"It's good to see you Sylvanas. Have you settled back into life in Quel'thalas?" the King said

"Yes your majesty. It's quite a change from Lordaeron but I'm glad to be home" she replied.

The King nodded "Would you like your old job as the Ranger General back?" he asked her.

Sylvanas froze for a moment in thought. She would like her old job back more than anything but there was one problem with that.

"What about Lor'themar?" she asked her King

"This was actually his idea. He will return to being your second in command should you accept" he replied.

Sylvanas felt her heart beat faster with excitement. She wanted to be Ranger General but she wanted to check that Lor'themar really was okay with it first.

"Will you give me till tomorrow to decide?" she asked him.

"Yes. Come to the palace tomorrow with your decision" the King replied.

After the King left Sylvanas hurried to Lor'themar's office which would be her office again should she accept the King's offer. The receptionist informed her that Lor'themar was out on business so Sylvanas waited. She hoped that she wouldn't have to wait long but she knew how busy the Ranger General could get. She waited for about half an hour for Lor'themar to return. He seemed to appear all of a sudden, she had not heard him or his hawkstrider outside.

"Lor'themar, I didn't hear you come in " she stood and smiled as he entered.

He smiled at her "Sylvanas it good to see you. To what do I owe the pleasure"

"Can I speak to you in your office?" she asked him.

Lor'themar smiled and nodded "Of course, this way" he said and together they headed into his office.

The office was warm. The light and heat of the sun poured in through the window casting a warm glow about the place.

"Please take a seat" Lor'themar said indicating the chairs in his office.

Sylvanas sat down and said "The King offered me the Ranger General's position back"

Lor'themar nodded "Well you are a very good Ranger General of course he asked. Did you say yes?"

"Not yet. I wanted to see how you felt about it first" she replied

"Say yes. I was the one who spoke with the King about it. I feel very happy to just be your second in command" he replied with a smile.

"Really? but why?" she asked him

"Well you want your old job back don't you? It would be a shame to see you having to start at a lower rank again. Besides I meant what I said you're a Good Ranger General"

"Just good?" she asked with a little laugh "but couldn't I have been your second in command instead?"

"Oh come on we both know if you were my second in command you'd end up bossing me around anyway" Lor'themar replied and to that they both laughed.

"Thank you Lor'themar" she said.

She got up and hugged Lor'themar before she left. As she left the office she couldn't help but think 'Arthas would never have done something like this for me. Arthas was always selfish and would never have put me before anything he could have. Lor'themar however just put me before his career. Why didn't I see this before I made the dumbest mistake of my life and married Arthas? Arthas was so selfish and cruel but Lor'themar is kind, strong, brave and most importantly capable of putting others before himself. If only I had chosen to leave with Lor'themar when he asked if I was sure about marrying Arthas'.

Arthas

He was once again trudging through the snow. This time however as opposed to meeting some mercenaries he was heading to the closest Alliance base. If all went according to plan he'd make the mercenaries pay for questioning him. He could see the lights of the base ahead. Even though he was nearly there he knew he would need to quicken his pace, the sun was setting fast and he did not wish the be still trudging around in the snow after it set. It would definitely be a lot colder after dark and it would also be far easier for him to get lost or fall down a crack in the ice. Hurrying he reached the base within half an hour.

"Who are you" a guard asked him.

Arthas pulled back his hood to reveal his face "My name is Arthas Menethil" he told the guard.

"Your majesty" the guard said looking at him in shock. "Come inside your majesty, it's cold out here and we don't want you dying from Hypothermia"

Arthas raised his hood again and smiled as he followed the guard.

'So they don't know about me getting banished from Lordaeron. They still think I'm King. That will be very helpful' Arthas thought to himself.

The guard lead him into the largest building and up to the third floor and into the commander's office.

"Wait here your majesty" the guard told him while pointing at the commanders comfy chair before leaving the room.

Arthas sat down in the commander's chair. It was far more comfortable than anything that Arthas had had since leaving Lordaeron. Perhaps while he was here he could slightly get some of his old lifestyle back.

Arthas was not kept waiting long, the guard returned with the commander shortly after.

"King Arthas, it's a honour to have you here. To what do what owe this pleasure? What are you doing so far north? Where are your men?" the commander asked him.

'My he's very curious' Arthas thought. He knew that if he was to get anything he wanted from coming to the base he would need to lie. For some people telling such lies would have been difficult as they would feel guilty about it but for Arthas it wasn't a problem, he was used to lying to people to benefit himself.

"We came north chasing a security threat to Lordaeron" he began "We found them but they killed all my men and I was the only survivor" he told the commander in a fake tone like he had been through a traumatic experience

"Well you're save now your majesty" the commander told him gently.

Arthas nodded and smiled "Oh thank you, thank you" he said trembling and keeping up the appearance of a traumatized victim.

"We will catch these threats to Lordaeron tomorrow your majesty. In the meantime you should get some rest. You can have my quarters and I'll get someone to bring you something to eat" the commander said kindly.

Arthas nodded "The people of Lordaeron thank you for this" he said still trembling.

The guard that had shown Arthas to the commander lead him to the commander's room. Arthas had been hoping for bigger and better than the room they had given him but it was still far more comfortable than the tent in the snow he'd slept in the night before. Arthas sat down on the bed and was relieved to find that it was indeed quite comfortable.

"Your majesty, dinner" a young man at the door said.

Arthas stood and hurried to collect the tray of food then he sat down at the small desk to eat. The night before he had had meat that he'd hunted and roasted over a fire himself. It had been burnt and tasted so horrible that he wouldn't have eaten it if he'd had anything else. As he had suspected the food that they had severed him that night was far better than anything he'd had in a few days. After dinner he fell asleep very quickly, it was the first time he'd managed to sleep properly in days.

Arthas woke late the next morning. The sun had filled the room with the light of the day. His breakfast was already waiting for him on a tray on the small desk.

'I should have come here earlier' Arthas thought as he ate his breakfast.

There was a knock on the door as he finished eating.

"Come in" he called out

"Your majesty, your finally awake. The commander is waiting for you in his office, to make battle plans" the guard said

Arthas smiled and nodded everything was going exactly as planned. "I shall see him right away" he said.

Several hours later Arthas sat at a small camp waiting for the sun to go down. The commander had not wanted him to come along originally but Arthas had convinced him. The commander had also not liked Arthas plan of attacking under the cover of darkness but he had eventually been convinced that the trolls were a dangerous enemy and it was for the best. Arthas slowly sharpened his sword. He used to like hammers as a weapon but during his last trip to Northrend he had found a very cool sword that he now used all the time. People had said that the sword had a evil look to it, but that was just the way he liked it. He looked up and noticed how dark it had gotten.

"Are we going to attack now?" he asked the commander

"Yes your majesty, if you're ready" the commander replied

"Of course I'm ready!" Arthas snapped at him.

"Okay men, it's time to get justice for the Lordaeronian soldiers" the commander called out to them.

The troops charged towards the troll settlement, the trolls were definitely surprised by the attack. A few trolls were sitting outside and went for their weapons upon realising they were under attack, however they were taken by surprise and were cut down within a few seconds. Other Trolls emerged from the huts and began fighting the Alliance troops. Arthas saw a fire going in the centre of the Troll's village and got an idea. He grabbed a long stick that the trolls would use as a torch and held it out to the flames. The end of it caught alight and Arthas smiled. He hurried over to the nearest hut and touched the flaming torch out to it. The hut caught on fire and Arthas moved on to the next one. Within a few minutes all the huts were on fire and the Trolls were all dead.

Arthas stood amongst the ruins of the Troll settlement. 'Let that be a lesson to any who get in my way. Now that that's taken care of it's time to return to finding a way to teach Lordaeron that same lesson' he thought.

Author notes: I am aware the whole Lor'themar stepping aside and allowing Sylvanas to take his job might come across a bit weird. There is two reason for this, 1. Lor'themar is in love with Sylvanas, if it was anybody else he wouldn't 2. It's easier for the sake of the story that Sylvanas goes back to being the Ranger General and this is what I came up with. Also I though that I should mention that in my story Arthas is evil, I decided that since warcraft is so big my story could easily get overly complicated so I decided to cut anything I don't think I need. Arthas being evil without out the Lich King's influence is one example of things I've made simpler. Also I don't play a Troll so I struggled with the Troll speech so feel free to suggest how I could improve it. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll try answer as best I can.