Warcraft belongs to Blizzard
Fate Stay Night belongs to Typemoon
Warning! This is more of a spin off instead of a direct cross with modern day Fate/ Stay Night.
Also, this fic take place during the first Orc -Human war.
Special thanks to the following in Alpha Order, Cheeser who lay down the law, Wayfarer who eviscerated any and all mistake and Xbox432 who finished the the pathetic straggler that was my horrendous grammars. Mad respect!
Lioness of Stormwind
Chapter 8
***** The Black Morass, Two Months after the Battle of Three Corners ****
Saber rode silently next to Sir Anduin Lothar as an army of thirty-five thousand Stormwind troops marched into what was previously considered enemy territory. As a light cool breeze caressed her face, she looked up to the sky and noted that the sun had already started its descent in the over the horizon.
"We have almost arrived at your hometown, Commander Arturia," Lothar informed his companion, making out the ruined town of Marshal in front of him.
Saber nodded. Lancelot and Squire Gawain was on her right, while Prince Llane was riding protectively behind Lothar surround by the Brotherhood Knights and Royal Guards. "Our scouts have seen no movement, do you mind if I go on ahead first, Sir Lothar?" she asked politely. At the Commander General's nod, she spurred her horse and raced off in the direction of her old hometown.
As for the reason why she was currently traveling with thirty-five thousand companions in the midst of such high profile personage. Peace.
An Orc, by the name of Garona Halforcen, had arrived over a month ago to represent her people. She claimed that certain elements of her people had foolishly attacked the kingdom of Stormwind in their quest for more land, but they were now dead with the survivors never wanting war in the first place. And so they came to Stormwind to beg for mercy.
The female Orc had come to Stormwind alone to negotiate a peace treaty on behalf of her people with the Humans. King Adamant had been skeptical, but Prince Llane pointed out that unlike the Gnolls, Kobolds, and Ettins, the female Orc was clearly intelligent. He argued that wiping out an entire race over the actions of a few was not noble. While he was cautious, Prince Llane was moved by Garona's plead on behalf of her people and her desire for peace between their people.
A great debate amongst King Adamant and the Nobles of Stormwind had followed. Some were in favor of giving the Orcs another chance, some against. Despite Prince Llane's hopeful overtures, the Nobles of the Court were still in a deadlock on whether or not to trust such an overture. Just as King Adamant was about to deliver his verdict, the great Archmage Medivh appeared and backed Prince Llane's position. Though the Archmage's words carried weight, King Adamant was still not completely convinced. Attempting to sway the King, Garona had asked them to visit an Orc town by the name of Stonard and meet the Orc Chieftain to show that they were civilized, not just bloodthirsty savages.
Prince Llane volunteered for the trip, as he had proposed the idea of reconciliation. He also promised to react accordingly if the claims proved false. Lord Lothar, seeing his best friend going, volunteered to go along as well to ease King Adamant's worry. Naturally where those two go, the third would follow as Medivh, long-time friend to Prince Llane, also volunteered to go. And so, the greatest soldier in the Kingdom, their beloved Prince, and their most powerful Archmage set out to verify or disprove the claims. To the surprise of many, Prince Llane took quickly to Garona and it appeared to be mutual. Even Lord Lothar was impressed with Garona and the two became friends. Medivh himself spoke to Garona like a friend and appeared to be quite open to her. Even his newly arrived protégé, Khadgar of Dalaran, was taken with her.
They couldn't, however, gather the necessary forces at such short notice, with the majority of their men fortifying the choke point at Three Corners. As a result, it took time to mobilize an appropriately sized army. Perhaps most surprising was how much time Arturia spent with King Adamant and Queen Varia while Prince Llane was playing host to the orc.
During that time, the girl had her lineage traced, thanks to the arrival of her mother, who had been in awe of the royal palace and all of the Stormwind heroes present. King Adamant himself had given her a room there along with her mother so that the nobles would stop complaining about her spending time with the Barrington's. When they finished tracing Arturia's line as far back as they could, many were disappointed, including King Adamant, that she was not of royal or noble blood. In a private conversation, King Adamant had lamented the fact that he had no more sons to wed her, much to her surprise and embarrassment. Of course that was not all that happened. Saber found that she was suddenly hated by many ladies of the court, including the future Queen, when it was revealed that Lancelot had pledged himself to her. Her mother on the other hand had been ecstatic.
That in itself was a headache Saber did not need. Somehow, it became public knowledge that she was the King's favorite and that anything she wanted, the King provided. Saber did not care. King Adamant was a wise ruler who had ruled longer than she ever did and kept his kingdom stable. The two spent their time talking about philosophy and were of a similar mindset in many topics. Saber concluded that King Adamant would had been a King Britannia deserved.
Saber was surprised when King Adamant insisted that she'd go with the expeditionary force to scout the Orc intent along with his son and the others. It was almost unheard of for someone of her position to be trusted by the King for such a prestigious and important role. To silence any protest, King Adamant made Saber's battlefield commission permanent. She was now officially Commander Arturia. What she was in command of remained to be seen, but with her new rank and pay, she was now important.
This brought her back to her current situation, riding into her abandoned town followed by Lancelot and Gawain.
"Are you alright, Commander?" Lancelot asked in concern for his king as his gaze swept across the ruins of the town. The Orcs had clearly looted anything of value and stripped the houses down for the wood.
Saber looked around her former village and tightened her fist. Everything was gone. Pots, clothes, wood, everything. She had distantly hoped that this town had been left alone during the Orcish force's rush to invade Stormwind.
"Commander Arturia," Lothar spoke in a soft, respectful tone as he rode in accompanied by Prince Llane, Medivh, Khadgar, and Garona (who had a guilty look on her face). "I am sorry for your loss."
"It's people that make the town, not the town that makes the people," Saber replied firmly as she looked around. The villagers will return and when they did, they would make this town even better than before. "The people are safe, and our duty here is to ensure that they remain safe."
"Well-spoken for one so young," Archmage Medivh praised. "If the Orcs are peaceful, then the people of this town would the first to have a working relationship with our former enemies."
Saber saw as Llane, Khadgar and Lothar nodded in hopeful optimism, but she couldn't help but feel that something was off about the situation. "We shall see," she conceded before turning back around to join the main army.
"Despite being so young and pretty, she's a hard one! Isn't she, my disciple?" Medivh grinned slyly to his protégé/spy from Dalaran. He had caught the young man sneaking glances at the girl from time to time. The girl's natural beauty was obvious to all. And even he was not unaffected, yet it repulsed him. The light that she shone with was so pure, so untainted, and so righteous, that it left a foul taste in his mouth.
'That's because she is something you could never be again, mad Titan. She reminds you of yourself when you were uncorrupted by your twisted ideals,' a voice spoke into Medivh's head.
'SILENCE!' Medivh mentally shouted back at the specter that continued to haunt him.
"Are you okay friend?" Lothar asked the Archmage in concern, seeing his abrupt stop.
"Oh yes. Fine. Just feeling the ley lines, maybe we should build a mage tower around here for young Khadgar to be closer to Lady Arturia, hmm?" Medivh playfully teased his protégé, who sputtered out denials as his face turned even redder.
It took them another three days from Marshal, to reach the Orc village called Stonard. Saber did not know what she expected, but seeing the greenskins moving about like regular village folks was not it. The rest of their forces were setting up traps and clearing a straight path from Stonard to Marshal so they could fall back quickly if needed.
"Company halt!" a Brotherhood Knight shouted. Immediately, five thousand soldiers stopped their march.
The Orcs in the village stopped what they were doing and many went inside their little hut-like dwelling as if to hide from the Humans.
Garona jumped off her horse and spoke to another Orc in a strange and foreign language. One of the Orcs replied before he turned and stepped aside to let Garona enter. To everyone's surprise the Orc guards were looking at the little blond girl in their company warily.
After five minutes had passed, Garona returned, this time with a large male Orc in tow and a giant dire wolf following obediently behind him. "Lok Tar Humans," he spoke in perfect common. "I am Durotan, chieftain of the Frostwolves and I welcome you to Stonard."
"I am the Commander General of the Stormwind Army, Anduin Lothar, and this is Prince Llane Wrynn, who would be on par with a clan Chieftain in your culture," Lothar returned the greeting as he stood face to face with the Orc, not the least bit intimidated.
"Yours are a strong people, Anduin Lothar," Durotan replied respectfully as he saw not a hint of fear in any of the Human eyes present. The Draenei had shown fear and rightly so, but these Humans were different. "Come, let's partake of these talks of... peace."
"Peace talks," Prince Llane corrected and saw that the Orc nodded at his correction, not taking offense. Getting off his horse, Lothar, Medivh, and Lady Arturia walked into the town accompanied by one hundred royal guardsmen.
After a short while, they reached a stone hut larger than the others. Durotan walked in first and saw the Humans enter in after him.
"Is it just you and Garona who speak for your people?" Prince Llane inquired.
Durotan paused for a moment and nodded. "Many of our people that wanted war with your people are dead, their corpses rotting on your fields. I now speak for all when I say we want peace between our people and yours," he answered, his tone surprising the Humans he could see. "We are not all warmongers."
"That is great news is it not, Prince Llane?" Medivh pointed out happily and saw that Lothar nodded along with the Prince. "Though they made a costly mistake and were the aggressor, they have paid a heavier price for it than we did, don't you think?"
"Yes, many of our best warriors, husbands and fathers lie dead, and we cannot fault you for it. They got what they deserved," Durotan explained, the regret in his tone spoke of his feelings on the matter. "I asked you to come here to see us for what we are, a proud race that would like peace before any more sons and fathers, on either side, die."
Garona watched as Prince Llane and Lothar considered Durotan's words. Medivh had made his feeling clear regarding the Orcish race thinking they could be great allies to Stormwind Kingdom. The short golden haired girl, however, appeared to be scrutinizing Durotan and her surroundings with a keen gaze.
Durotan looked to each of the Humans and schooled his expression as to not give away his thoughts on the matter. He wished it did not have to be this way, but his opinion did not matter to the Warchief. It was emphasized to him by Doomhammer that only his honesty and desire for peace could save the Horde, even as the Horde was rearming themselves deeper into the Swamplands. He needed to buy time for their people or else they all would die. His wife, his infant son, all of them.
And that could not happen.
"What is to say you would not attack our people again?" Prince Llane spoke up suddenly and gave Durotan a hard look. "Why shouldn't we end you now and be done with it?"
Durotan resigned himself with a sigh. "Then do as you wish, I am not one for words, if you intend to wipe us out, you will find that we will die fighting. Your army is bigger than ours, your forces even more so, you are more powerful and could crush us under your foot easily. We wouldn't be able to resist you, but we will not die quietly either," he replied honestly.
"What guarantee do we have that you would not try to attack us when our guard is lowered?" Prince Llane continued, trying to find how far he could push the Orc Chieftain.
"No more than I can guarantee the sun will rise tomorrow or that your forces would not simply come here to kill us down to the last male, female, and youngling," Durotan countered, standing up tall. "As I have said, we are a proud race and now we are asking you to spare us in your mercy. You already destroyed our forces, and it will take us generations to recover from the loss, in that time maybe our people can work together in hopes of building a better future."
Prince Llane looked at Lothar and nodded, even as Medivh looked pleased for some odd reason. "I will make camp here tonight outside your town to consider your words," he stated as he watched the Orc Chieftain for any sign of deception. Yet Durotan was who he said he was. He was proud, he did not beg, but he did not fill himself with overwhelming pride either.
"Then, if you do not mind, would you share an Orcish drink with me, in hope that our two people could live in peace," Durotan offered as his mate came in with a pitcher of a milky white liquid. He started to pour it into crudely made cups for each person. "This is Elekk milk wine. It is a popular drink among our people."
Prince Llane looked at the liquid uncertainly, Medivh, looked at it with mild curiosity, Lothar gave it a tentative sniff and found his nose overpower by the strong smell. Saber looked nonplussed by the drink.
"Well then let's see what this is shall we?" Medivh said gleefully before he took a hearty gulp from his cup. Immediately he took the cup away from his lips, but maintained his composure. The wine was much too strong for his refined taste.
Prince Llane smirked at his insane mage of a friend and followed suit. Immediately he found himself nearly gagging on the taste of milk and alcohol but somehow managed to maintain his composure. After drinking the amount etiquette would require of him, he put the cup down. "Not... bad." he declared politely.
Lothar examined at the cup in his hand and slowly, cautiously tasted it once. He found the taste overpowering. It was as if the mead was trying to force his taste buds to conform to its will. Like Llane he drank the acceptable amount courtly etiquette dictated.
Durotan had seen the fractional change of expression from the Human males and smirked. He recalled a time when the Draenei's reacted the same way, for all their culture, they could not handle such an exotic wine. He then turned his eye on the last person, which was the golden haired demoness the survivors had spoken of.
Saber looked at the mead in front of her, then at the one called Durotan, before returning her attention back to her cup. Picking up the cup she held it to her lips and slowly drank the mead letting herself savor the taste.
The Human males looked at their female companion as she slowly drank from the cup. Thinking that Arturia would stop after the polite amount, they were surprised when she kept drinking, tilting the cup further back until it her head was craned back, before releasing the cup. After removing the cup from her lips, the girl slammed it down onto the table and looked the Orc Chieftain in the eye.
Durotan kept his eyes on the girl's face to make sure it wasn't bravado but her expression never changed as she drank the mead. After she was done all she did was gave him a challenging look. He could not help but smile at her tenacity. Doomhammer was right about this girl.
Saber saw the three men look at her in amazement before they turned to the Orc Chieftain. "You will have our answer within the next couple of days," Prince Llane said before he walked out, followed by the rest of the group. Saber was the last to leave, giving one last hard look around the room.
A moment after the Humans and Garona left, Orgrim Doomhammer walked in from another entrance. "Do you think you convinced them?" he asked his long-time friend.
"I think the one called Llane is open to the idea of peace. Even though he is a warrior born, he is not warlike. The ancient one, Lothar, is suspicious, and rightly so, but if the one named Llane votes for peace, then he would follow suit. Their Warlock disturbed me on many levels, but he seems to be thrilled at the chance for peaceful talks," Durotan gave his impression of each individual from the party.
"And the 'Saber'?" Doomhammer glanced at his friend. He had found himself impressed by the little female's ferocity in battle, having even landed a couple of solid attacks on him. Oddly enough, her strength did not match her body size, which in itself was mysterious. He hated to admit, but it was her blade that failed the girl, not her skill. Still, he wanted his friend's impression of the Human female.
"I think if she was the one in charge, she would have razed us to the ground on the very spot," Durotan replied after a few moments of consideration. "Whether she saw through our ruse or simply does not like us. I suspect we would be fighting her right now if it was up to her."
"Well, it is a good thing she was not in charge then," Doomhammer nodded to his friend and poured himself a cup of mead. "You might have just saved our people."
"They clearly want to live in peace with us, perhaps if we were to honor our end of the bargain," Durotan lightly pleaded with his friend.
"No, that is not the Orcish way, we will take their lands from them and crush them under our heels like we did the Draenei," Doomhammer assured his friend, greedily drinking his mead. "Within ten months, we will have hundreds of thousands of orcs through the dark portal and then we shall blanket their land like a tide of darkness."
Durotan sighed sadly. It seemed that once again, he and his people would be responsible for the death of an entire race. Yet between his race or theirs, he would have to choose his every single time no matter how much they were in the wrong.
**** Marshal's Keep, Months Later ****
Saber was in her pavilion tent, looking at the updated construction list of materials to rebuild the town. In a show of trust that startled the majority of Stormwind Nobles, Commander Arturia was put in command of the reconstruction of their holdings in the Black Morass. Now that they knew for sure there was another major power to the southeast of their kingdom, it suddenly became important to fortify that territory. Of course, to lighten the political outrage, Governor General Mara Fordragon was officially named as the person in charge of the effort. Saber would be the boot on the ground, so to speak, and her word was law on this frontier.
"The third battalion has just returned from the patrol, and reported that they cleared another acre of forest," Adjutant Timothy Reed reported to his commander.
Saber nodded as she dismissed the adjutant and looked at what she considered a king's bane. Paperwork. "Ugh," she groaned as she looked at the stacks of paper that wanted her approval. She wished she could go back to killing Orcs, that was much simpler. It was then her tent opening was pushed aside by a friendly face.
"Arturia! You forgot about lunch again!" Tiffany announced as she walked in carrying two trays of sandwiches stacked at least a foot high. Both of them for her friend, of course.
"You are a godsend Tiffany," Saber declared happily as she took the plate filled with food and voraciously ate her fill.
Tiffany looked at her friend who was eating everything she brought with gusto. This was a side to the Lioness of Stormwind that few got to see, and she had to wonder what the people would think if they could see her like this. Once Arturia was finished, Tiffany handed her a cup of melon juice for the girl to finish.
"Thank you," Saber said as she wiped her mouth with the back of her gauntlet, much to her friend disapproval. She then looked to her friend. "But surely bringing in lunch for me was not all you are doing here."
"Well, Stormwind is sending a small group of mages here today, and you'll never guess who's just finished her studies at Karazhan!" Tiffany exclaimed excitedly.
Saber blinked for a moment, before remembering a small pretty girl that had shown an affinity for the arcane arts and was inducted into the mage tower when she was ten. "Alice is coming here?" She asked.
"That's right! She's just an apprentice, not a regular like me of course," Tiffany proudly puffed out her impressive chest at her newly attained rank. After the Battle of Three Corner she had gained enough experience to be made a full-fledged cleric.
"I look forward to seeing her again," Saber mused softly before looking at her friend. "But that is not all, you are dancing around the issue again. Spit it out."
Tiffany had the decency to blush before looking at her friend with her most pleading expression. "I need you to help me court Gawain," she confessed shyly.
Saber raised an eyebrow then at her friend. "Squire Gawain? Not Sir Lancelot?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tiffany threw her hands up in the air. "Sir Lancelot is yours! His devotion to you is clear for everyone see," she said exasperatedly. "But Squire Gawain has this cute, innocent boy thing going on that's just so adorable! It also doesn't hurt that he's very handsome."
"What is it with you holy women and naive men with pure hearts?" Saber mumbled to herself before looking back at her friend's hopeful expression. "Well, I can't order him to fall for you."
"Actually, with the next rotation coming up if you were to let Squire Gawain accompany my group of Clerics, I believe I might have a chance," Tiffany pleaded earnestly to her best friend.
Saber looked at the rotation schedule and the clerics assigned to her. Nodding she took out her stamp and endorsed the change. "Here are your new orders then. Good luck," she said as she handed her friend the papers.
"Thank you soo much, Arturia!" Tiffany squealed joyously as she threw her arms around the Lioness of Stormwind. "I am going to name my first child after you!"
"Tiffany!" Saber shouted scandalized by her friend. She had thought it was innocent courtship, not... THAT. Saber was no stranger to sex, of course. That night with her, Shirou, and Rin was... well it wasn't easily forgotten. "Please, I believe Lancelot still needs to continue his training, control yourself."
"Hmph," Tiffany pouted as she brushed a lock of brown hair out of her face. "I need to train him too. Like my mother says, a man's training is like the Light's works, never done."
Saber had no more words to say to her brazen friend. Tiffany had blossomed into womanhood in the short time they had been separated. Now the eyes of the men at the keep were upon her wherever she walked, even when she was still in her conservative cleric's robes!
"Oh another thing, have you decided on a surname yet?" Tiffany inquired in an offhanded manner to her pretty blond friend.
"I am still thinking on it," Saber admitted. She was granted a minor noble title and some land in Lakeshire by the Governor General Fordragon. No doubt to tie her to Redridge, since the Black Morass was unofficially contested land now that a peace treaty had been hammered out with the Orcs.
Prince Llane, Highlord Lothar, and Archmage Medivh had endorsed the peace treaty despite Saber's own misgivings, but when those three were united on an issue, even King Adamant had to agree. However, King Adamant had decided to fortify the Black Morass up until his old borders and had told the Orcs to remain on the other side. As such, the army of thirty five thousand men was now permanently stationed to the Black Morass to ensure the safety of the returning villagers. Then of course there was the new influx of people who had decided to move to the old lands to rebuild or make a new life for themselves. The project would be to clear the forested area and split the lumber all over Stormwind as the Black Morass had lumber in abundance. Of course, there was also the discovery of the mines containing mithril and gold. It became a priority to map the previously unknown lands. Still, the main project was to build a defensive keep that would have two entrances. One to face the Horde, with walls built wide and Watch Tower's along its line for three miles in either direction, while the rear entrance would be for transporting ore and receiving supplies from the works in the area. Finally fifty thousand men would be stationed here at all time, making the renewed Marshal's Keep a military post first, a town second.
The townsfolk were encouraged to build their new settlements a mile behind the lines until the situation changed. Of course someone like her, while holding a military rank, needed a noble rank of some sort as well to quell the politics back in Stormwind. And so, Saber was awarded a minor noble title. But a noble needed a surname, and she still didn't have one.
"Why not go with Sir Lancelot's suggestion. Pendragon fits you Arturia," Tiffany suggested, looking at her friend. "It's a good, strong name that the people would follow."
Saber frowned. She had reasons for not choosing Pendragon despite her being very proud to have carried it at one point in time. Firstly, Pendragon was a King's name, and she was no longer King, thus not deserving of the Pendragon name. Secondly, anyone who has worn the Pendragon name has died horribly. First was Uther, then her, and finally Mordred. Finally, there was the real reason why she did not want the Pendragon name. If she chose to bring the Pendragon name into this world, people would start calling her Lady Pendragon. The only Lady of the Pendragon household was Guinevere.
"I said no," Saber stated firmly and went back to work. A moment later she saw Tiffany was still standing in her spot twiddling he thumb guiltily. "Something else you want to tell me?"
"Well..." Tiffany quailed under her friend look. "I was called away before Sir Lancelot could explain to me that you were against it. I thought it was magnificent and so did High Cleric Orlais."
Saber stood up and slammed her hand on the able. "Tell me the High Cleric kept it to himself..." she half pleaded.
"Well... about that..." Tiffany said looking at tent wall, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "The High Cleric might have told Lady Fordragon..."
"GOD DAMN IT!" Saber cursed in frustration at her knight's and friend's loose lips.
Tiffany sensed her friend's distress and tried to comfort her. "For what's its worth, I think Lady Pendragon rolls right off the tongue!"
****** Tanaris *****
The sun was setting on the desert land as four cloaked figures could be seen standing on its beach looking out to the sea. A moment later, a large ship sailed across their peripheral vision, setting them into motion.
"There, that one," the first cloaked figure spoke up with a female voice.
"Get it, Chromie," the second cloaked figured ordered, his tone much more masculine.
"Alrighty then," the third cloaked figure replied in a feminine voice. A bright flash of light appeared, before a massive Bronze Dragon revealed itself. "Off you go then," the giant drake rumbled to the other three figures.
The other three cloaked figures climbed onto the massive bronze dragon's back. With a beat of her mighty wings, the dragon took off and headed straight for the deck of the Goblin ship. Letting out a loud roar she landed on the goblin ship deck. A moment later the massive beast began to claw, bite, and swipe at the crew. The cloaked figures on her back jumped down onto the decks and pulled out double blades staffs before rushing into the lower deck. Shouts of surprise and outrage arose from the lower deck before clashing of steel could be heard.
Chromie turned around as she felt arrows and bullets assault her tough hide. Looking up she saw their little bird nest was filled with mini Goblins firing down at her. Climbing up on the mast itself, she snapped up a jaw full of Goblins, killing them instantly.
Down below, the Pirate Captain Gorkian watched as the door to his quarters was blown opened as the bodies of his dead men were hurled inside. A moment later, three tall, cloaked figures walked in.
"What do you want from me?! We did nothing to you!" Gorkian shouted in desperation, trying to understand why a Bronze Dragon would attack his ship.
One of the cloaked figures walked up to the goblin pirate and pulled back her shroud to reveal a High Elven face. "Your ship."
"My... My ship? That's all you wanted?" Gorkian asked in surprise. "Then why did you kill my men?!"
"Because they stood between us and the ship. We know your kind, Goblin, you would see this ship burn before it fell into enemy hands. We simply had to make sure we killed you all before you could do so," she answered pleasantly as her hands flashed out. A second later the Pirate Captain lay dead.
"Clean this up. We need to set sail for the disturbance," the unhooded High Elf said to the two cloaked male figures. Walking back up to the deck she saw that it was still in a serviceable state and that the deck crew was dead. A moment later she was joined by a behemoth Bronze Dragon.
"There are some swimming to shore, should we let them live?" the Bronze Dragon voice boomed.
"Leave them, we got what we wanted," the female elf-like creature responded. "We now head to the Eastern Kingdoms and track the source of the disturbance."
The massive dragon slowly morphed into a small Gnomish being and looked up questioningly at her superior. "So where should we go first?"
"Kul Tiras. And take on a Human disguise," the female elf shimmered lightly and slowly turned into a Human.
TBC...
AN: Note I did not give Saber a last name on purpose because she's a peasant. Now that she has rank she can choose. Unfortunately it was chosen for her. Lol right? It seems that people want Shirou in this story but that would defeat the entire purpose of this story. If I wanted Shirou to be the main in a wow story, I would write it as such. I like Saber, we need more Arturia-saber stories, this is to correct that oversight! Arturia is love! Arturia is life!
That being said... I noticed that a lot of people is asking for "No no you gotta ship Shirou and Saber!". I want to take the time out to tell you my own personal philosophy regarding fanfic writing. If I was writing an straight up actual fate stay night story, then the canon pairing might be okay. To me a personally, a canon pairing in a cross over story defeat the purpose of the story. The canon ending already happened, it was told by Type Moon itself in the last story. Had Saber not been reborn in WoW, she would have been sleeping for all eternity waiting for Shirou. After all, if the translation to the whole Last Story is correct, Saber died and kept waiting for Shirou for lord know how long.
Does that mean Saber does not love Shirou in this story? Not at all, but those who have experience first love and lost it know that while you will always recall your first fondly, whoever you ended up with made you happy.
My own personal Crossover writing philosophy is to see something new and different. I don't want the same old tired and beaten tracks. If I just end it with Shirou and Saber then that completely defeat the purpose of this fic. Nothing changed. I might as well not wrote this and we know Saber would end up with Shirou. I find it interesting that Shirou get pair a lot with different women despite still loving saber in fanfic while Saber must be regulated to Shirou no matter what.
I write this story in mind already from the get go with the intent to change that. Who she ends up with? I am undecided but it would be a WoW character. After all THEY ARE the other half of this story. I realize I am being kind of preachy but I just hate stringing people along for more reviews. If you hate the direction then I rather have you hate it now before I get into the REALLY deep part with the story.
Still, after all that I have said, I would like to say that while romance is an option, it is not the focus of this story. This story is Saber in WoW with her knights. How it change what could be... the small pebble creating a ripple spreading out. Saber is that pebble,Saber is the focus, Saber is the main character.
Finally, I do appreciate all the reviews I gotten thus far. I am thankful for it but most of it is asking when Shirou should show up or when they would eventually get together. That's not the focus of this story. I might lose a lot of readers for my take on it but it would be wrong of me to keep leading people on for what, a few more reviews?
No, my story stand or fall on it's own merits. If it suck so be it. ^_^
Once again thank you for your reading! As always C+C welcome reviews appreciated!
Pertinent Info-
Stonard- Actual WoW location and it was there since the first war. Alliance razed it to the ground... sorta in Cata.
New Marshal Keep- OC
Goblins- They are a Horde playable race. This is just a hint and teaser of why they actually joined the Horde in the second war. Goblins if I recall have a governing body called the Trade Princes. One single Trade prince joined the Horde during the Second War. That has always been kept vague.
Bronze Dragon- Chromie is an actual WoW character, the rest are made up O.C. Again Bronze are really only about preserving the timeline and will always try to keep it back on track. Case in point, they went back in time to help Arthas slaughter an entire city. Granted that city was doomed but you help him become the Lich King along with Opening the Dark portal.
Durotan- Actual Lore Character, father of Thrall. He's conflicted, he knows honor but his people's survival trumps honors every single time. Case in point, he opened the city of the Draenei so his people could sneak attack them because he remembered their special password from long ago. He didn't want to remember but when confronted with the possibility of his clan getting destroyed or giving up the password: Bye Bye Draenei.
He would be the best face of the Horde as he is honest in his desire for peace but he is being used.
Doomhammer- He's never been peace loving. He loves a good fight and is content with being second in command. It was not until his best friend died that he actually gave a damn about the whole "Horde might be poisoned." type of deal. Still didn't stop him from destroying Stormwind and launching a genocidal campaign against the Kingdoms of Lordaeron, both Humans and Elven. But he's the current Horde hero.
Khadgar- Medivh's only apprentice in canon. Medivh trained him seriously, and from that little bit of training he became the strongest mage in all of Lordaeron.
Titans- Gods of WoW, they don't show up too much yet but one of them turned evil, Sageras. That's the one in Medivh's body now. ^^