Late happy Easter. I don't even own an Easter Egg.

Chasing Through Hell

Reunions

The Legion's sudden counterstrike hung like a heavy cloud over Maurus the following weeks. When San'ji had first reported, he had felt something writhe and gibber in his chest and stomach and it had been hard to breathe. It was more than just the shock of the terrible news, the Legion's retaking of Zangarmarsh had cut Maurus off from Azeroth. He was stranded, separated from his home not just by distance, water and alien magic, but now also by an enemy army and that was far more of an obstacle. Up till this moment, going home had been relatively, at least in his head, and the need for permission from command had not seemed much of a hindrance. It had only been a matter of time and energy. But with the Legion physically barring the way and tightening their grip day by day, the green hills of Mulgore seemed more unreachable than the moons above.

He had only barely kept his composure, in no small part thanks to Arianna's presence and it had taken him more effort than he liked to admit to get back in the right frame of mind to act the leader. And that was necessary, because there was more news.

The lost ones had been delivered and his cavalry on their way back. Reinforcements were on their way to Hellfire and dwarven engineers and night elves were set to harass and slow the Legion in Blade's Edge. But those bright notes were countered by San'ji's report that there was also more activity in southern Terrokar while in Blade's Edge there was both activity in the north and around Death's Door. In reaction, the Horde and Alliance had given up on slowly taking the Netherstom and were now wholly focused on a single goal: To capture Tempest Keep.

There was no word on the specific reason why the Keep was suddenly so important, but Maurus and the others came to the agreement that it wasn't just about taking the Keep out of enemy hands. if what they had heard about the Exodar was true, taking the Keep could be a way to regroup on Hellfire. It was a desperate gamble, but it might be a better option than facing the Legion were on several fronts.

The new goal meant that the Horde and Alliance forces were moving more swiftly into the Netherstorm and with no reason to worry about getting too far ahead, Maurus reluctantly upped the pace of the Torn Wing and despite putting more focus on scouting and raiding, as ordered, they moved quickly across the isles.

Mathias, unsurprisingly, was thrilled with that and Maurus found himself thoroughly irritated at his friend's skewed priorities as they made their way over rumbling ground into the fiercer parts of the Netherstorm.

In fairness to Mathias, it wasn't entirely his fault that Maurus' moods were black. It was a heavy strain, managing the Torn Wing through fast marches and frequent raids and when he had time to think, he often couldn't help thinking that they had played into the Legion's hands from the beginning and that they probably still were. In his worst moments, he wanted to curse the Warchief for taking the bait when the Portal had suddenly opened. He had never asked, but he hadn't heard anything about the initial forays through the reopened Portal and it seemed like it should have been an utterly grueling, brutal battle to take a pass that narrow and which was also inherently destabilizing to attackers. If it had been so bad, the rumors would have spread, which meant it had been easier than it ought to have been.

The suspicion that they were still being played for fools was strong on the morning Maurus looked down at the completely unguarded bridge that led to Isle Coruu, the most south-eastern corner of the Netherstorm. Once again, he was standing in a captured outpost, this one on a shielded bluff in the hills above a wide shelf of craggy ground that looked ready to crumble into the abyss.

That possibility was underscored when the earth rumbled again, the shaking radiating up Maurus' legs and making the pebbles around his hooves dance.

Thankfully, the outpost had contained no lost ones, like most of the places he had chosen for raiding, but there was a whole other problem. The beautifully sculpted building in the cliff behind him, incongruous among the squat, orcish-looking dwellings almost made him regret taking the outpost, but they needed the supplies and he couldn't spare his elves forever. So now he stood and waited as the trolls and undead cleaned up fel orcs, demons and traitor blood elves, putting the latter in a separate dwelling than the former two.

Arianna was leaning against his side, quiet and still and this time, Maurus was sure he wasn't the one taking the most comfort from the touch.

The slow singing behind him was interrupted by a triumphant exclamation, which was followed by a melodious string of words that were unmistakably a curse. Arianna stiffened against him and he swallowed as he turned around.

"Got a live one, Boss," Tu'jan shouted and as expected, the captive he was pulling to his feet was a battered elf to his knees. One of the forsaken, Graeme, was stepping back from the elf, golden light fading from his hands. It seemed the elf was directing his curses mostly at him and Graeme's shriveled face was a mask of neutrality, his eyes as distant as the moon.

Maurus' chest felt tight as he felt the tense muscles in Arianna's shoulder. They had encountered blood elves a few times before, but this was the first time they had captured one alive and he almost wished they hadn't. He squeezed Arianna's shoulder before stepping away and waving at Tu'jan, who with the help of Zilja pulled the elf toward him. As they approached, he waved Calen and Slova over, noting as he did that the elf was dressed in red robes, in a cut he had begun to recognize as common to elf mages. When the elf was thrown down in front of him, he let one hand hang free and made sure he was within arm's reach.

"I see a speck of light and I take off your hand. You say something I don't understand, I take out your tongue," Tu'jan growled, having apparently had the same thought.

The elf just glared up at Maurus. His eyes were bright and a glance left and right, at Calen and Arianna, confirmed that they were glowing far more than theirs. Another difference was the redness around his eyes, an irritation that reminded Maurus of the discoloration that was around Slova's eyes.

"I am Maurus Ragetotem," he said, keeping his voice calm despite the anger smoldering in his chest. "What is your name?"

The elf's face scrounged up in disgust and he spat at Maurus' hooves. Tu'jan immediately smacked the back of his head, throwing his messy hair into his face. Maurus carefully kept the discomfort from his face, painfully aware of Arianna's presence beside him.

"Answer him, traitor," Calen said, his voice as cold as ice.

The elf gave a bitter laugh as he raised his head. "The King will rip your souls from your bodies. He offered you paradise and you chose to scrabble in the dirt with savages and dead men."

Maurus' jaw clenched and his hand snapped out, cuffing the elf across the chin. When the elf went sprawling to the ground, he clenched the fingers he had used into a fist, feeling sick. They had caught prisoners before and interrogated them, but this was the first time he had had to deal with an elf and knowing how it hurt Arianna to see him made his anger grow quicker than he had expected.

As Tu'jan picked the elf up again, Maurus blew out a frustrated breath. "Changed my mind," he said. He caught the eyes of Tu'jan, Slova and Calen in turn. "Give him a tour, then take him to the elf dwelling. Find out what he knows."

Maurus caught confusion in the elf's eyes as he was dragged off. He probably didn't know whether to be triumphant or terrified.

Zilja gave him a questioning look and he waved a hand at her. "Do what you like."

She aluted before following the others and when she was out of earshot, Maurus heaved a sigh and turned around. In truth, he was relieved to hand over the task to someone else. He really had no stomach for interrogation. Or, more accurately, the ease with which he took to the violent part of it disturbed him, because striking someone unable to fight back offended his honor. He had managed it with the fel orcs and the demons, finding that their demonic appearance made him feel less guilty, but with someone who looked so much like his allies, the guilt hit him full force even while his anger drove him toward violence.

The anger he felt toward the traitor elf flared up as he looked at Arianna and felt a stab in his chest. With everyone around occupied with their tasks, she had let her mask of indifference fade and her face, already pale, was drawn with misery.

Maurus stepped over to her and drew her into his arms. It was only in these rare moments, when she melded against him in pained silence, that she felt as small in his arms as he rationally knew she was.

"I wish I could say something to make this better," Maurus said after a while of silence. He heard the ghost of a growl in his voice and winced internally, but Arianna didn't react to the sound. With no idea what else to do, he kept quietly speaking: "The only real betrayal I've felt was about Sowa and Tuga and I had already begun to distance myself from them when you made me realize what their intentions were. So I don't know what you're feeling."

Arianna took a slow breath and with half-hearted dryness said: "Sorry about that."

Maurus felt his expression ease into milder folds at her words and the sting of the memory and Arianna's pain shrank. "Educating someone is never cause for an apology," he said gently, rubbing a finger along her bare neck.

"Good," Arianna said, in the same half-hearted tone she had used before. "Wouldn't want to have to apologize to you all the time."

That made the corners of Maurus' mouth turn up in a small smile. "That would get tedious," he agreed. More seriously, he asked: "Will you be alright?"

With her head nestled beneath his, he felt her nod. "They've abandoned all that they were," she said, reciting words she had said before in a mantra-like cadence, her voice gained heat with every syllable. "They've lost their minds and joined the Legion."

The earth rumbled in the short pause before she pushed herself back so she could look Maurus in the eye. Despite the eye contact, he knew the words were more for herself than him when she added, voice filled with a mix of hot anger and wavering sadness: "Rabid animals must be put down."

Maurus looked at her determined expression, ignoring the hint of moisture in the corners of her eyes. For a few moments he was silent before nodded. "You are strong," he said soberly. "I always admire that, despite your unfortunate predilections."

As he spoke, Arianna's expression went from proud to pleased before settling on playfully offended and Maurus smiled wider, pleased at her reaction. There were still stormy emotions just under the surface, but for now, she wasn't completely miserable.

Looking back toward the camp, Maurus saw Mathias approaching and rolled his eyes.

"Looks like something can always be counted on," he murmured tiredly.

Arianna followed his gaze and her hand fell to the bone dagger on her hip. Matching his tone, she agreed.

The tour for the traitor elf paid off. It was a trick that had worked once before, dragging a captive through their outpost while keeping a close eye on him, letting him betray any secrets with furtive glances. A map and a stack of documents were found before the disposed of the elf and Ba'ril, Thalmir and a handful of trolls and elves made sense of the findings in short order. Their conclusion was surprising, though in tune with what little information they had gleaned before. The enemy forces were withdrawing, abandoning holdings to congregate on Isle Duro, in the valley beneath Tempest Keep. They had even abandoned Sunfury Hold, the blood elf garrison on the northern edge of Isle Coruu that they could finally put a name to.

Once again, his suspicions were raised, but there was no denying that the wake of a withdrawing army was close to the ideal environment for raiding and tracking Ven'Zarul, so despite his misgivings, they crossed the bridge the following afternoon, leaving pyres burning to point out the outpost to the Horde that would follow.

He was pleasantly surprised to find the bridge in full working order, because with what he had seen in Ashenvale, collapsing a bridge under the enemy seemed both sensible and likely.

In the following week, the abandoned bridge made more sense, because it seemed they weren't the first Horde force coming this way. Several times they came across trails from warbands and judging by the animal footprints he could make out, the paw and claw prints were from wolves and raptors and the wide, round ones were from kodos.

They stopped seeing those signs soon enough though, because the trails of Horde went east and south while Ven'Zarul's pointed north-east, ensuring that the Torn Wing kept the northern edge of Isle Cooru. The opportunities for raiding died out as they skirted the edge of a massive maze of ravines and sharp ridges, but the plentiful warpstalkers, basilisks and mana wyrms kept them fed, if barely.

Almost two weeks later, the land on their left flattened out, allowing them to see across the gorge to Isle Duro. There was only a small ledge on the opposite side before the land rose steeply into massive cliff faces that reached into the fiercely crackling sky. It was a thin mountain range, the remains of true mountains that had crumbled into the Nether over the years and it ran like a purple, thunder-rent wall along the entire south edge of the isle.

According to the maps, similar mountains protected the north side of the isle and the valley between them contained Tempest Keep. The alien fortress was anchored close to Manaforge Duro, floating over a plain open to the stormy abyss to the east and the crumbling isles to the west.

When Arianna checked their course, Maurus was not even surprised that it looked like they were going straight toward the eastern-most pass, the one closest to the Keep. His lack of surprise didn't do anything for the fear he felt at the prospect though.

A day's worth of travel brought them to another bridge and this time, the bridge was not unguarded. It was allies around the bridge though. They had been able to see the smoke from pyres from far away and when they got closer, they saw what the scouts had reported. Scattered around the bridge was a large group of orcs and trolls, as well as a handful of forsaken, surrounded by their bats and wyverns. Most of them were on the northern side of the bridge, setting up tents and starting cookfires, but a few were on the same side as the Torn Wing while three of them were flying around the bridge.

Maurus raised a hand and hollered a greeting when he came within earshot, getting a lazy wave to approach.

Maurus struck his fist to his chest and introduced himself, Arianna and Mathias when he stopped in front of the orc that had waved at him. She was slight for an orc, and had her hair cropped short. Her face was covered in thin scars and her lips were so dry that he could see cracks in them when she grinned at him.

"Windwarrior Shroku Swiftstrike, leader of this lot," the orc answered, her eyes running up and down him before moving to Arianna and Mathias at his sides. "The Torn Wing?"

Maurus looked back and saw that Drim was raising the banner in the middle of where the 27th was settling for camp. That they were doing it without his order at maybe half-way between noon and evening made him realize they were really beginning to know his way of leading. Turning back to Shroku, he nodded.

Her grin got a little wider and she held out a hand to the orc beside her, who reluctantly fished a gold hammer from her belt and put it in Shroku's hand. Maurus raised an eyebrow.

"Saw you flying over. Bet that you would be the first ones here," she said. Glancing at the orc at her side she added dryly: "Not exactly a longshot seeing as the others went the wrong way."

That got an irritated grunt from the orc and Mathias hummed in interest as Maurus felt his lips quirk into a smirk.

Shroku lead them to a dark hide tent raised on the south side of the bridge. Tension flowed out of his shoulders as he stepped in and he blinked as he realized just how much of a relief it was to speak to a Horde member not from the Torn Wing again.

"How's the war?" he asked.

Shroku raised a hand and wobbled it from side to side, grimacing slightly. "Things are bad around Zangarmarsh. Hellfire is secure, Terrokar is a two-front battle. Nagrand's alright. Blade's Edge's bad, Death's Door broke the siege and has cut our forces in two. Progress is good here, at least. Got a hold on some isles and manaforges. We are not touching them though, whatever the goblins say, we have no idea how they work. The other warbands seem to have a handle on this isle, though the manaforge is holding out and Sunfury is suspiciously quiet."

For a few moments, Maurus was silent, digesting the lightning briefing and carefully not looking at Arianna to see how she had reacted to the mention of the weird structures her kin had erected in the Netherstorm. The news were better than he had feared but worse than he had hoped. His first thought was that it was a shame they hadn't simply destroyed the mana forges, because he could not fathom how anything good could come of the flood of violet energy he had seen going through the pipes they had passed. But then again, he could understand the need for caution.

He managed to gather his thoughts and gestured to Arianna, who placed the maps and lists they had found on the table. Shroku pulled them toward her and skimmed them before pushing over to her two companions. A short while later, they exchanged a few quiet words with Shroku and when she turned her attention back to Maurus, she nodded in approval.

"That's more support on what we've gathered. Nice to know that Sunfury is empty and that the warbands aren't going into a trap."

Maurus felt a small swell of accomplishment in his chest and stood a little straighter despite the low canopy. "Many warbands here?" He asked.

"Five, other than you, from what we saw. Will be quite a few more when the flanking force gets here."

He nodded and waved a hand in the vague direction of the bridge. "Can we pass soon? And what are you doing?"

"Peeling the dynamite off the bridge supports and cables."

Despite knowing he was in no danger, Maurus felt his stomach flip as he was confronted with the exact thing he had feared before.

"And no, you can't."

Out the corner of his eye, Maurus saw Mathias take a half-step forward, his stance becoming more slouched.

"Mathias," Maurus snapped, and the irritation in his voice wasn't entirely because of his friend. As Mathias stepped back, he asked: "What?"

"There's a general halt on movement while we secure the isle, though I'm guessing we'll move sooner after the report on Sunfury. The flanking force is gathering here and we were supposed to make anyone we met wait for them.

"I don't know if you've heard, but we have other orders than the other raiders and scouts," Maurus said. The amount of frustration he heard in his own voice was surprising, but then again, Arianna had sworn that they were getting very close just an hour earlier, gaining a firmer fix on Ven'Zarul than she had had in a month.

"Didn't hear about any exceptions," Shroku said. There was nothing in her voice that showed that she'd noticed Maurus' tone and he didn't see indecision in her eyes. He looked at Mathias and Arianna, but they both reluctantly shook their heads, apparently not able to think of anything to add either.

"Guess we'll have a break then," Maurus sighed.

"A lot of people would appreciate that, after the move you've made," Shroku said neutrally.

Maurus snorted, almost in unison with Mathias, though where Mathias' snort was pure frustration, Maurus' was half-amused. That had almost sounded like a compliment.

He looked back, out through the tent flap and up toward the mountains. He could just see the pass a little off to the right of the bridge, a jagged scar down through the wall of purplish rock and for just a moment, he was back in Ashenvale, in the moments before he entered Demonfall Canyon. He remembered the worry and the lack of confidence he had felt then and decided that maybe Shroku was right. Time to prepare was probably a good thing.

With that in mind, he glanced at the orc Shroku had won gold from. "I've got some coins to make up for your loss, if you'll wrangle up a few flyers to do a bit of scouting for me." He glanced at Shroku: "If you'll allow it of course."

Shroku pursed her lips, the expression drawing attention to the fangs at the sides of her mouth.

"You're as stuck here as we are, I guess," Maurus added. "This way, you waste less time and the wyverns get some movement."

Shroku tilted her head to one side in acknowledgement. "I guess. Interested, Lora?"

Lora nodded and grinned, showing a lot of sharp teeth. "I've got a few who'll be interested. Depending on the price and the task."

Maurus restrained a wince. He was scraping the bottom of what he had earned since Ashenvale and he doubted the services of windriders would be cheap. He turned to Arianna. "You certain where he is?"

Arianna gave him a look of mock offense. "I've got a bead on him now. If we can borrow a windrider, I think I can confirm it, but even without it, I'm almost certain he is on the eastern side of the pass."

Lora chuckled. "Half the trolls will give you a ride for free. I'll find one that isn't doing it to drop you. That doesn't require more than one though."

Maurus felt his eyes narrow. "No. I want you to find all cave entrances west of the pass. Well, within reasonable distance. If you can find paths up the eastern side, that'll be appreciated too."

"That's something else," Lora said. Glancing at her superior, she asked: "Shroku?"

Shroku looked conflicted for a moment. "If you're enough to take care of yourselves, it's fine," she said reluctantly. "Not that different from where I was sending you anyway."

"You just had to ruin it, didn't you?" Lora groaned and Maurus smirked.

"Can't be that expensive then," he said and received a glare and a half-hearted display of teeth. "Let's figure it out."

After a round of haggling that left Maurus poorer than he had hoped, he went back toward the Torn Wing's camp with Arianna and Mathias in tow.

"Why east caves?" Mathias asked. "We know where he is."

Maurus stopped looking around for To'ro and turned his gaze to his friend. A small smile appeared on his face and once more he felt absurdly pleased that he had thought of something before his more experienced companions.

"I think Zarul's figured it out by now. He won't be where the important business in the pass is and there'll be bad things in store in the pass. It is too convenient to not be a trap."

"True," Arianna agreed and Mathias nodded, waving a hand for Maurus to continue.

Maurus paused beside Wiven, who passed him a filled waterskin. He smirked at Mathias' and Arianna's expressions as he took a long drink before answering: "This reminds me of Demonfall Canyon. And with all the gunpowder we've suffered under, I think he'd like to drop a cliffside on those passing through the canyon. We can't have that."

Arianna nodded, though there was a hint of worry in her expression. "Reasonable. But if he knows we can find him, he might just stay with the most important forces?"

"Double bluffs are a thing," Mathias agreed. "At the very least, he'll be ready to be found."

"I know," Maurus replied, shrugging. Before he could continue, he noticed Wiven's expression change, his eyes growing brighter and his lips spreading into a smile.

Hearing rapid footsteps, Maurus turned, just in time to see something black, green and slightly red slow down just enough to not hurt itself when it hugged his armored leg.

"Hi, Boss," Widget chirped, looking up at him with a face that seemed all happy, toothy grin.

"Widget," Maurus answered, his mouth spreading into a wide, warm smile. His hand found her head, engulfing her uneven mess of red hair and he stubbornly maintained his smile even when he touched her mangled ear and felt a sting in his chest.

Her expression fell for an instant too, but the grin returned immediately as she looked around. "Elf, Dead Guy."

"Snot stain," Mathias replied.

"Widget," Arianna greeted politely, but there was a glint of warmth in her eyes.

"What are you-" Maurus began, but trailed off as Widget disentangled herself from him and walked over to Wiven. Maurus' brows rose when she hugged Wiven and he actually gracefully returned the hug, his seated position making the hug much less mismatched than they usually looked.

"Good to see you," Wiven said pleasantly as Widget stepped back. "I did not expect to see you out here."

Widget looked around and Maurus saw her throat move as she swallowed. There was a bit of forced nonchalance in her voice when she said: "When you left, I came to the conclusion that you can't be without your personal sapper." She pointed a finger at a wyvern standing a little further back, its rider scratching its mane vigorously. "So I hitched a ride when I heard what these guys were doing."

Maurus felt the warmth in his chest grow. He had really missed his little friend and he took it as a great sign that she had wanted to return to the Torn Wing. He considered the cliffs again and nodded. "You're right, you'll be great help for what comes next."

"That sounds ominous," Widget said. Despite her apparent best efforts, there was a note of real fear both in her words and in her wide eyes.

Maurus pointed toward the pass. "Zarul is up there. So are probably a trap and a load of explosives like in Ashenvale. We're going after all of it."

This time, Widget didn't even try to hide the nervousness in her grin or the real worry in her voice when she said: "You know he knows we're coming right?"

Arianna and Mathias smirked as Widget got straight to the point her arrival had interrupted.

Maurus shrugged again. "He'll have a trap for us. But playing 'he knows we know he knows' won't do anything but confuse us. Unless the scouts or the sergeants convince me, I'm going with the simple plan."

"Okay," Widget said and the nod she gave seemed mostly for her own benefit. There was still fear in her voice but it was obvious she was trying to rein it in.

Maurus looked around. "Any ideas to improve our chances are of course welcome."

He blinked when he saw the expressions around him. Arianna's eyes were proud and confident, confident in him he realized and Wiven and Widget showed the same confidence, even if it was balanced by a shade of worry.

Mathias eyes shone and there was an almost hungry expression on his face and Maurus felt his lips stretch into a grin, again feeling the fluttery mix of fear and excitement in his belly, something that vaguely matched Mathias' feelings. "When Zarul springs his trap, we'll just have to turn it around again. He's ours this time."

Well, here you go. Not that much action in this one and maybe a little much setup and infodump, but I hope it was at least somewhat interesting. I'm really looking forward to writing the next chapter.

As always, any input you may have, be it praise or criticism, will be warmly welcomed.