Feeling overwhelmed, I take a dive
To a once overfilled but now empty place to hide.
The day you turned on me is the day I died,
And I've forgotten what it's like,
And how it feels to be alive.
~Gone-Daughtry~
It was not a happy morning for anyone. Khaidric seemed oddly fussy and would not settle at his mother's breast properly. Cordana was glaring at Khadgar whenever he came near her. There was so much anger in her, so much unhappiness. When she took the baby to Toriona and returned she donned the encounter suit without a word and stood near Garona and the purple orb.
"I need you to watch Garona carefully," said Khadgar. "The ritual I am going to perform will attempt to draw the darkness from her, and I am not sure what to expect. I must not be interrupted and I trust that you will handle any potential distractions that occur. Your link to her will let you know if she is under extreme duress. You know what to do."
"As you wish, Archmage," said Cordana coldly.
He cast a magic circle of protection around her, around himself, and began.
Tendrils of soft blue and violet emanated from his hands and swirled around Garona then targeted the orb. It pulsed angrily, its aura radiating a black cloud. Khadgar's words of magic made Garona cry out and fall to her knees, clutching her head. She fell over, writhing, and Cordana was about to shout at him to stop when a black shadow shimmered over her, slowly taking form. A horrible screaming, screeching came from the prison bubble but it was not from Garona. The dreadful apparition that was slowly being pulled from her was fighting against the magic. Khadgar increased his power draw and his words grew louder and more insistent.
Garona crawled away as the spectre was torn free of her. It reached out clawed hands and floated to the edge of the prison. Khadgar dissolved the bubble and shouted for Cordana to destroy the thing.
The Warden stood unmoving, seemingly mesmerized and Khadgar yelled at her once more.
"Cordana! Destroy it! Now!"
She did not move. Angered, Khadgar threw an arcane missile at the creature which it absorbed instantly. It would continue to absorb his magic and grow stronger. The only way to defeat it was to use physical attacks, and Cordana was the only one present who could do that.
Light what is wrong with her? He thought. Is she trying to allow the thing to attack me? He shot her with a force bolt, which knocked her off balance and to his relief she snapped out of her reverie. Cordana leaped at the shadow, slashing at it, making it scream. Each hit it took brought it out of its alternate dimension, making it less ethereal and more solid. Cordana attacked it with a vengeance, and soon it sank into the ground and vanished without a trace.
He stepped closer to her and took off her helmet. "Are you alright my love?" he asked softly, cupping her chin. She moved her head aside and stepped back, her voice icy.
"I am fine. See to the prisoner."
With sad eyes he turned away and moved to where Garona had crawled. The former assassin looked up at him with wide eyes.
"H...he is gone," she said. "My head...it is quiet...there is only silence!"
She slowly got to her feet and looked around, a smile forming on her face. "I am free!" she suddenly cried, throwing her arms around a surprised Khadgar.
"You have saved me! I owe you my life!"
She ran to Cordana and nearly embraced her but thought better of it after seeing the bladed cloak up close.
"Both of you! I owe you both! Thank you! Thank you!"
Khadgar could not help himself and smiled. Her joy, her exuberance, was heartwarming. A far cry from the crazed wild thing she had previously presented as. He channeled a spell through her to see if any of the Fel corruption remained, but after seeing that spectre removed and defeated, he felt assured that she had been freed. Garona did not even notice the tendrils of energy moving through her. She was wide eyed and awestruck by the event. Khadgar was relieved and pleased that the corruption was gone.
Garona stood before Khadgar and looked up at him. "I am your humble servant. Anything you ask, I will do. I will protect you with my very life! Both of you."
Khadgar laughed and put his hands on her shoulders. Although he was aware that this was not his friend Garona from long ago, her manner, her face, truly everything about her seemed the same. "Garona, I would be happy with your friendship and your assistance. I take it that you might be interested in exacting revenge on Gul'Dan for the years of slavery forced upon you?"
Garona nodded emphatically. "Yes! I want to see him completely destroyed! What must we do first! I can take you to his lair! We must raise an army!"
Khadgar nodded in approval. "There is much to be done yet before we can mount an attack. Come, the three of us will discuss the matter."
Cordana did not follow him as he led Garona back to the tower.
"What about my sister, Maiev?" she called. "Is she to remain inhumanely imprisoned? Are we not to release her as well?"
Khadgar stopped in his tracks. Cordana was speaking of Maiev with a fondness that did not match her previous feelings. She knew the former Warden was insane, driven mad by some unknown force. The orb did not seem to affect Maiev as it had Garona and that led Khadgar to believe there was something entirely different going on with Maiev that would require more research.
"She is not afflicted in the same manner as Garona," he said. "I must study her situation before we can proceed. Come along, Cordana. There is work to be done."
After they had spoken awhile, a discussion in which Cordana did not participate, Garona was taken to the garrison and given a room. She was put under guard as a precaution but did not protest and went along amiably. She was delighted to be able to choose her meals and drinks, to sit and think and say whatever she wished, without commands or repercussions. Jaaral felt it would be best to allow Garona some time to adjust to her new freedom. Her lifetime as a slave to a Fel master would have left some psychological scars, and those scars would assert themselves over time.
Jaaral also insisted that the former assassin be checked out at the infirmary. She was found to be in good health and even better spirits, and the staff took to her immediately. The Garona that Khadgar had known had been friendly and gregarious, with a curious mind. This one presented no differently.
Khadgar had wanted to begin the next phase of his plan, but aside from Garona's time out, a more serious issue reared its ugly head.
Khaidric refused to take to his mother's breast.
He fussed and writhed and whimpered pitifully but refused to suckle.
Khadgar took him from Cordana, holding him close, and the little boy settled down but he was hungry and unhappy.
"What have you done to him?" asked Cordana coldly.
Khadgar stared at her. "Done to him? Why would you even ask such a thing Cordana?"
She did not respond but glared at him, and reached out to take Khaidric back. She tried to put him on her breast again but he let out a terrible wail. His beautiful eyes filled up with tears and he began to cry, just like a human child.
Cordana stared at him in horror, then she looked at Khadgar who was equally shocked. "You have turned my son against me!" she cried. "Just as they said you would! You and your vile arcane magic!"
She tried to comfort her son, but the baby was in distress now.
Khadgar took him from her and Khaidric instantly stopped his crying. "What are you talking about Cordana?" he asked softly, trying not to raise his voice despite the agitation he felt. "Who told you this? Who would say such a thing?"
"You are not who I thought you were!" she cried. Khaidric whimpered. "I want nothing more to do with you!"
"Cordana please do not raise your voice. Can you not see it is affecting our son?" He rocked the baby gently, walking around and speaking soothingly to him but the little boy would not settle. Cordana tried to take him back, but Khaidric became terribly distressed when she came near.
"He is hungry," said Khadgar as calmly as he could. "Since he will not accept your milk, I am going to take him to the garrison and find some goat's milk. He must eat."
The Archmage did not waste time walking outside to the permanent portal. Instead he cast where he stood and walked through fully expecting Cordana to at least follow him.
She didn't.
Toriona and Jaaral watched with concern as Khadgar offered the unhappy little baby a bottle of carefully warmed goats milk. At first Khaidric did not know how to deal with the strange nipple but his hunger won out and soon he was drinking deeply. He finished three bottles before going to sleep, his little hand curled tightly around his father's finger as if afraid he would lose him. Khaidric had eaten so much this time that Khadgar wondered how long it had been since his last feeding. It concerned him greatly.
"I cannot understand it," said Khadgar sadly to his friends. "Cordana has become an entirely different person since Khaidric's birth. And our son's reaction to her this evening, it was disturbing. This little guy has not cried once since he was born. Cordana reacts to his needs before he knows he has them! But lately..."
He sighed and rested his cheek against his son's head.
"She has been a bit distracted lately," said Toriona softly. "Although I can't really put my finger on it, there has been something about Cordana that seemed off. I thought it might just be the challenge of being a new mother, and the stress of simply being here, dealing with our mission. She and I talked about it, and she told me she sometimes doesn't feel quite right inside."
Jaaral walked around the room, keeping his hoofbeats as quiet as he could. "We must look at what is different and what is the same since she gave birth," he said. "That other Warden, Maiev. This is someone Cordana knew and loved, yes?"
Khadgar nodded.
"Then is it a stretch," Jaaral continued. "To think that what this woman says to her would carry some weight? Perhaps Cordana cannot truly accept the madness, and somehow Maiev has gotten to her."
Khadgar frowned and shook his head. "No...that is not possible Jaaral. Maiev was unable to speak to her as I placed a silence over both the prisoners."
"But you said yourself she has insisted that she is being told these things. How is this then?"
Khadgar lay Khaidric in the bassinette, and began to rinse out the baby's bottles, wanting to occupy himself with busywork.
"Khadgar," said Toriona gently. "You know there are other ways to communicate besides the obvious. What if Cordana has been compromised, just as Garona and Maiev have been?"
Khadgar looked at her with horror. "Madness? My Cordana? No! Garona was under Gul'Dan's control since birth. It was Fel magic that held her to him. Maiev is not under Gul'Dan's control. The Orb does not seem to affect her. Cordana has had no dealing with the Orb regardless."
"But the orb has been present all along," she said.
"Then how is it that I have not succumbed to its guile? I have had far more dealings with it than anyone else!"
Jaaral stopped his pacing and faced Khadgar. "The same explanation as to why some fall to illnesses while others do not. Differences my friend. We must consider this."
Khadgar struggled to wrap his mind around the suggestion that his beloved wife had fallen under the influence of the Fel. Had something he had done caused this? Could the orb be responsible? He had brought the orb to the Tower. He had warded it carefully but what if his wards had not been effective for her? Could their precious son have also been tainted?
"You had said once before that Cordana helped you by monitoring Garona. What does that mean exactly?" asked Toriona.
"She wanted to make sure I was not hurting Garona too much. She was always concerned with the prisoner's well being. So I had her...I...oh no...no..."
Khadgar sat down hard, with his face in his hands.
He had used Fel energy to power the portal he used to save her.
He had linked Garona and Cordana to enable his wife to monitor the other's vital signs. He had opened up a pathway for Gul'Dan straight into his wife's mind.
He looked up at his friends, his face a mask of grief and pain.
"I did this to her," he said, his voice ragged, color draining from his face as the realization hit him. "She is my life, my love...my everything...she trusted me and I did this to her..."
The resounding silence could not have been louder had all life everywhere been suddenly extinguished.