Undeath Beckons

Chapter 6 – Violet Holdings

LOADING…

FETCHING CHARACTER DATA…

CHARACTER SELECTED: DYSTRESSI

ENTERING WORLD…

I awoke in a cell, which was, surprisingly, neither cramped nor stinking. There were no bars or windows; I was being held behind a sparkling purple wall of energy, through which I could see nothing. I looked around. Standard issue cot, small but oddly clean toilet, no other markings. This little room seemed… unused. Perhaps I was its first inhabitant? I found that strange, but then, the whole situation was peculiar to a high degree.

I took stock of what I had to work with. They'd dressed me in plain clothing—no combat gear, just itchy pants and a thin white shirt—and given me no weapons or other tools. Although the lockpick I'd stitched into the lining of my armor was, obviously, still in said armor, I had the other lockpick I'd been keeping in my arm bone. A strange location, to be sure, but I'd discovered that having an exposed humerus did come in handy: a small piece of the marrow had rotted way, leaving a tiny cavity. It wasn't exactly the most pleasant idea, true, but it beat my other primary option, which was… well, somewhere they weren't likely to search. Not like I was using that particular portion of my anatomy for anything else anyway: I'd never been less interested in sex than during my few weeks as a Forsaken. The only person I'd even considered hitting up in Deathknell was Venya, and she didn't seem interested despite numerous passes on my part.

I shook my head. I was getting sidetracked.

The lockpick was useless anyway, I quickly discovered. This wall of force had no tumblers to crack. It was magical, through and through. I paced the length of the room a few times, searching for any other means of prying apart walls or slipping through cracks. Nothing doing. Despite everything David had taught me—I remembered well the prison break training session he'd put me through—I was at a loss. This cell seemed impenetrable. No sooner had I about given up than I discovered a startling fact: standing beside the purple wall caused it to become transparent, allowing me a view of the chamber beyond.

It was a titanic room, done in purple and gold. The area I could see was a rough semicircle, with a stone guardrail on the far side, and a few other violet portals like the one entrapping me situated along the walls. Clearly, this was a jail of some kind, and not just for one or two criminals—a quick look upward revealed dozens more cells at varying heights, some in seemingly impossible-to-reach places. Wherever I was, it was a lot bigger than I'd initially thought, and I was but one of many people being held here.

But why was I being held here? I took a seat on the cot and scoured my memories. Spectress… who was she? I could barely recall anything about her. ButI could remember her, at least a little, and that was important. It meant I'd met her before. Cassandri, she'd called me. Was that my name when I was alive? I assumed as much. So she knew me before whatever happened to me happened, and now she'd come back to… what? Kill me? No, I'd already be dead. Save me? This hardly seemed like a rescue. What had she said? Nothing much. She'd been rather direct about things, and took no nonsense from me when I made a move to flee.

Spectress seemed a dead end for now, so I focused on other details. My signet ring was missing; I assumed it'd been taken as well. What was I doing with a Violet Eye ring? Had I once worked for them? When Spectress took me, she'd been wearing their tabard, and the way she spoke made me think she was acting under higher authority. Along those lines, something else bothered me: how had she located me? If her choice of where to search was just a guess, it was a damn good one. No, there was simply no way she'd found me by luck. She must have known where I was.

Under what circumstances had I left the Kirin Tor, if I'd been working for them? Was it possible they knew where I'd be because I was planning to go there? That seemed rather far-fetched. Infecting myself with the Plague, only to be picked up under sketchy circumstances many weeks later, was too ridiculous to even consider. Perhaps… the ring? Could they track me by it? I found that a likely possibility, since they'd confiscated the ring now that they had me in custody. Their homing beacon was no longer necessary. Well, until I escaped, anyway. I sat for some time, pondering, when suddenly I heard a loud zoop noise from outside my cell.

The magical wall faded away, and before me stood a battalion of soldiers in Kirin Tor garb—tabards, robes, the works. Two human men held guard with armor and pikes at the ready, while a trio of battlemages waited behind them, hands cracking with fire, ice, and arcane energy. Clearly, I was perceived as a rather serious threat. That was good. I could leverage that to my advantage.

"Stand aside," a high, icy female voice ordered. The mages parted to allow passage for… what sort of being was that? I did not recognize her species, though something told me I'd seen it many times before. She had pale, peach skin, like a human, but was gaunt and tall, with excellent curves beneath her violet robes and tabard. Her eyes glowed a creamy blue. She had thin, telescoped ears and tremendous eyebrows, and her straight blonde hair—gorgeous by anyone's standards, including my own—hung in a stylized ponytail behind her perfectly sinister face. Gods, what was the word? I knew this creature! Ulf… no, maybe ent? No… elf? Elf! High elf! I felt slightly relieved by my recollection.

Alongside this powerful woman walked two more figures, one of them familiar, other not. "As you can see," Spectress was saying, "she is quite clearly still undead, even after all this time." The words were in Common, yet I found I could understand them; some part of my memory had been unlocked during my internment. Spectress gestured at me as the three paused on the threshold of my cell.

"Yes," the bearded human beside the high elf said, "the Scourge have certainly had their way with her, haven't they?" His voice was aged, as was his face: I could see wrinkles upon wrinkles, like melting wax. He had a flowing white beard, which accented his regal green robes and the gnarled greatstaff at his back. I could feel a certain… aura about him, as if my concentration were enhanced. As if he were more real than reality itself. Although I could not explain why, I sensed that he was the senior among the three mages now holding the line in front of my prison. "And whatever the Lich King didn't get, the Forsaken took for themselves. There's almost nothing left of her now." He seemed to pity me.

"Excuse me," I said, slightly irritated. "I'm sitting right here, you know."

"You will speak when spoken to," the high elf snapped. She raised a glowing glass quarterstaff in her slender hands, and I saw bolts of arcane magic begin to course up and down its length.

"That will do, Kaelana," the man chided. Kaelana growled in protest, but lowered her weapon.

"Cassandri is right, Archmage Nilas," said Spectress, shooting me a subtle, friendly glance. "She is here before us now. Our questions can be answered." They turned expectantly toward me.

I stood. My toenails clicked against the masonry. "Listen, I think you need to answer some questions for me, first," I told them sternly, hoping they were interested enough in what they thought I knew—for in reality I knew almost nothing of value to them—to garner their favor.

"Such insolence and disrespect, Cassandri!" Kaelana shrieked. "You forget to whom you are speaking!" She reached for the staff again.

"It's all right, Kaelana. She has clearly been through much these last few weeks." Archmage Nilas turned his eyes to me again. "Cassandri, Spectress tells us that you do not remember who you are or what you were doing when you became… infected?"

I shrugged. "Maybe I do. Maybe I don't."

"Hmm, I see. Your attitude has certainly changed. What did they do to you in that filthy crypt they call a town?"

"Look Archmage, I want to know some things before I'll be sharing much information with you, all right?" I pointed a claw at him, and saw him draw back slightly. Was he… afraid of me? Gods, I hoped so.

Nilas sighed. "I suppose it is only fair. What do you wish to know?"

I began pacing back and forth in the cell, trying my best to think of every possible avenue of inquiry. I needed to get as much out of them as I could while I had their attention. "Okay, my first question: where are we?"

"This is the Violet Hold, in the city of Dalaran," Nilas informed me. "It is a prison for enemies of the Kirin Tor, and those who stand accused as such."

I nodded. "That brings me nicely to my second question: why am I here?"

"You are here-"

"I think, Archmage, that it would be better if we did not answer that query," Kaelana interjected. "After all, we need to determine her guilt or innocence, don't we?"

Nilas agreed. "Very well. Have you any other things you wish to know?"

"Yeah," I grumbled, upset that Kaelana had stolen my thunder, "who are you three?" I pointed at Spectress. "And what are you? I don't remember ever seeing a being like you before." Spectress appeared hurt by this remark, and I regretted it immediately, in part because I wished to stay on her good side, and in part because deep inside I felt emotionally connected to her, though why that was I could not say. Archmage Nilas and Kaelana also seemed a bit taken aback at my comment.

Spectress spoke up first. "I am a draenei," she replied quietly. "Spectress the Seeker. I am an assistant mage hunter for the Violet Eye. As you should well know, it is my duty to track down people and objects that the Kirin Tor wishes to locate." She gave Kaelana a look.

The high elf tossed her blonde hair out of her face. "Magistrix Kaelana Starfury. Assistant to Archmage Nilas. Acting High Executor of the Violet Eye's intelligence and observation council, the Seekers. Spectress works for me, and I work for-" She nodded cordially at Nilas.

He gave me a small bow. "Archmage Nilas Arcanister. One of the Six. Successor to Kael'thas Sunstrider."

"Uh huh. Well, since we're making introductions, don't call me Cassandri anymore. I chose a new name, to better complement my… situation." I placed a fist over my heart. "In undeath, I am Dystressi." Nilas appeared unfazed by this news, while Kaelan scowled and Spectress looked even more concerned than before. "Okay, if you won't tell me why I'm being held, can you at least tell me this: how did you find me?"

Kaelana gave Nilas a piercing look, but he ignored it. "Why, the signet ring you were wearing. It led us right to you." He made an of course gesture with his hands. "Took us a while to find you once the Scourge got their claws into you, and then we had to wait for the Forsaken pick you up, but once we realized you weren't headed here willingly—we kept an eye on you via our scryers—we sent a Seeker to bring you back."

"I see," I answered. "How about-"

"Archmage, I really must protest," Kaelana interrupted. "Shouldn't we get on with our questions? Or are we really going to stand here and let some diseased mercenary tell us what to do?"

"Now Kaelana, there's no need to-"

"Archmage Nilas!" a male voice cried. All three of my interrogators and the entire contingent of guards turned, distracted. Fools. Without missing a beat, I took a swift step forward and pilfered the nearest important-looking object I could find: a rolled up scroll sticking out of the pocket of Kaelana's robes. "Apologies, sir, but the Council has requested your presence. They say it is a matter of great urgency!" I finally spotted the speaker—one of those pikeman guards had run up from elsewhere in the Hold.

"Very well," Nilas replied with a sigh. "Kaelana, I trust you can handle things from here?"

"Certainly sir," Kaelana replied. I detected heavy traces of malicious pleasure in her voice. Not a good sign.

"Very well. See if you can obtain the information we discussed, and report back to me in due time." He pinned me beneath his dark eyes for a moment. "Dystressi, we will speak again." Then he turned and followed the guard out. I heard a crackle, and they disappeared in a flash of light.

Spectress and Kaelana now stood facing me. The battalion of guards remained in their places outside the cell. The draenei had an unreadable expression on her face, but I knew what Kaelana's look meant: she was going to enjoy whatever she was about to unleash upon me. Somewhere, far off, a scream rang out.

"Dystressi, is it then?" Kaelana purred, her voice suddenly very mild. She wasn't fooling me: I could sense the claws beneath her gentle mewing. "Just a few questions for you, if I may, and we'll leave you in peace."

"And release me?" I added.

She smiled, showing her teeth. "We'll see. Sit down, please."

Spectress was watching Kaelana warily, I noticed. Did she not trust her mistress? That may also prove a useful fact. So many interesting things to keep track of… I took a seat grudgingly.

Kaelana spoke to me as though reading off a courtroom document. "Two months ago, you were under contract with the Kirin Tor, searching for artifacts we desired and eliminating agents of enemy factions. Do you remember this?" She tapped her foot as she waited for my answer.

"Vaguely," I said. It did seem kind of familiar. I could recall bits and pieces: a flash of paperwork, the Violet Eye seal, a shield and sword in my hands. Someplace dark and warm, like a cave or fortress. Lava.

"One month ago, you disappeared from Dalaran without permission or contractual obligation. It was later discovered that you'd left word with Spectress—you were going to the Plaguelands find your sister. Is this right?"

Sister? Plaguelands? I didn't remember that. "Perhaps."

Her venomous smile widened. "Dystressi, do you remember it or not?"

"No, I don't."

"All right. Can you tell me what happened after that?"

I paused to think. What did she want to hear? What did I actually know? "All I can say for sure is that I became infected with the Plague, died, ran around as Scourge for a while, and then became Forsaken. I've been in training the last two weeks."

She nodded. "I see. One more question: where is the Heart?"

"The… Heart?" I stammered, confused.

Kaelana glared at me, no longer smiling. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No, I really don't."

She pursed her lips until they practically disappeared. "I'm only going to ask you once more: where is the Heart?"

"What Heart?" I yelled back.

The high elf sighed. "I see." She looked off toward the back of the cell for a moment, and said absentmindedly, "Spectress, you may leave us."

Spectress suppressed a gasp. Her eyes went a little wide. "M-magistrix?"

"You may go. I wish to have a moment with Dystressi… in private."

"I… very well, Magistrix." Spectress bowed and turned to leave. She cast a glance over her shoulder at me. That look was unmistakable: she was afraid to leave me behind.

I swallowed audibly.

Once Spectress had gone, Kaelana snapped her fingers in the air. "Wait for me," she ordered the guards, who grunted various replies of affirmation. With a wave of her hand, the portal behind her slid shut, sealing the prison. It shifted from purple to black, and I assumed that meant we were now hidden from view.

"Kaelana-" I started.

"I wasn't sure I believed Spectress when she first said you'd lost your memories," Kaelana began, "but I'm almost certain I believe it now. You're not nearly as afraid of me as you once were." She grinned wickedly at me. "We're about to fix that."

In seconds I was in the air, rocketing like a boulder from a catapult, as bolts of arcane energy exploded against my chest. I hit the far wall with a thud and slid to the ground. A groan escaped my lips involuntarily; I couldn't breathe very well. Before I could recover she'd raised me to my feet with some sort of telekinesis, and was lifting me into the air. I hurtled the other direction, right into the force field. My shoulder took the brunt of the blow. I crumpled on the floor, sputtering and crying out in pain.

"As if it weren't bad enough," Kaelana thundered angrily, "you running off with the Heart, then you had to go and get yourself fucking plagued, didn't you? Why couldn't you have had the good sense to die all the way, and save everyone a lot of trouble?"

"Errghh," I moaned. "Don't… know about… Heart…"

"Like hell you don't, you filthy, thieving whore!" she screamed. I felt her staff hit me in the stomach. I coughed up some black blood, and began to see spots before my eyes. "Cassandri, Dystressi, whatever your name is, I want that Heart back!"

"F-f-f-f-" I tried to reply. She picked me up again and spun me like a leaf in the wind. I hit one wall, then another. Halfway through my third crossing, she blasted me with an arcane barrage, and I screamed as it pinned me to the floor. I was bleeding heavily from concussive wounds on my torso now. The world began to grow fuzzy.

Kaelana strode up to me. "You listen to me and you listen good, undead." She said the word as if the very acting of uttering it disgusted her. "The only reason you are still alive is because I know you had the Heart when you left Dalaran. If you don't remember where it is, then you are of no use to me. So start thinking, or pretty soon you'll end up how all your kind should be—burnt to a crisp and thrown in a shallow grave. And trust me: when I'm through with you, you won't be climbing out again." She jabbed me in the face with her staff, cracking part of the bone.

"Agh!" I yelped. Blood was dripping into my eyes, clouding my vision further.

Kaelana turned to leave. "You have three days." Almost as an afterthought, she spun back again and spit on me. Then she was gone; I heard the portal open and close, but couldn't see a damn thing though all the haze. I felt myself slipping out of consciousness from the overwhelming pain. The last vision I caught before I went under was the purple wall flickering, as if opening a third time…

I awoke on the cot. My first instinct was to bolt, but being unable to move, I laid still. A cool rag was pressed to my head, and two soft hands were in the midst of coaxing water down my throat. As I opened my eye orbs, I heard a sigh of relief.

"Good. You are alive," Spectress told me softly. "I was worried you weren't going to wake up."

I murmured in reply. Every inch of me hurt. Glancing down, I saw that I'd been patched back together with some sort of pink bandages. I studied them, wondering what they were made from. I'd never seen material like that before.

"Netherweave," Spectress said, as if reading my thoughts. "From Outland."

"Out… land?" I stammered. "Where is…" I couldn't finish my sentence.

"Shh. Rest now. I will explain." Spectress helped me drink another sip of water, and rewetted the washcloth on my scalp. "You really do not remember anything, Cassandri?"

"Dystressi," I corrected.

She sighed deeply. Mournfully. As if she'd just lost something valuable. "Clearly not. Well, I don't have a lot of time before Magistrix Kaelana notices I'm gone. I couldn't say anything with her and Nilas around." She leaned in closer. I could feel her breath against my battered face, and see her plump, dark lips moving as she whispered, "You stand accused of stealing a very important artifact from the Kirin Tor—the Heart of K'ure. It is a powerful relic from Outland, homeworld of the orcs. The Dark Portal was reopened a few months ago, just before you left, and this item was one of the first to come into the Violet Eye's possession. I know because I was one of the people who helped recover it."

"Whazzit do?" I asked, slurring.

Spectress shushed me again. "The Heart of K'ure has many uses, but one of the most interesting among them is its ability to cure the Plague from a single infected person. After that, it's consumed." She glanced over her shoulder worriedly. "You left five weeks ago to look for your sister. She'd been missing for a few months, and you said you were worried about her." Spectress moved in even closer. Now I could feel the tickle of her breath in my ear; despite all the agony wracking my body, and the tension of the circumstances we found ourselves in… I was a little turned on.

"Uh huh?" I groaned.

"I know you did not steal the Heart for your own gain, Dystressi," Spectress said, her voice practically below a whisper now. "I have reason to believe you took it to protect it from theft. That you knew someone else was going to steal it, so you stole it first. I can't prove that yet, but trust me: I will be doing everything I can to clear your name. In the meantime, you must try to remember whatever you can about the Heart: why you took it, where it is, all of that."

"Why?" I turned my orbs toward her, and locked onto her radiant silver eyes. "Why're you helping me?"

Her face twisted, as if she were in pain, and she did not speak for a moment. When she did, I could sense a deep sadness behind her words: "I have my reasons." She rose. "I must go now. I have been gone long enough as it is." I saw her conjure a few loaves of bread out of nothing; she placed these alongside a couple pouches of water on a small, enchanted table that she'd created next my bed. "I will be back," she told me hurriedly.

"Wait," I said. Spectress was already halfway out the door.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

She smiled at me. What a beautiful smile she had. "My pleasure." Then she was gone, and I was alone again in my cell. Feeling weak, I quickly drifted off to sleep. I had no dreams.

My strength came back slowly over the next two agonizingly long days. When I was able, I stood and walked around. The food Spectress left me only lasted a morning; thankfully a pair of guards delivered meals regularly, so I wasn't ravenously hungry at any point. I tried to stretch and exercise my muscles, but it was difficult; the pain often overwhelmed me, and I'd pass out for hours at a time. My face was especially sore thanks to the crack Kaelana had put in my skull. Oh, if I'd but a pair of daggers and five minutes alone with that bitch…

Spectress didn't come back at any point during those boring hours. Neither did anyone else, for that matter. Had they gotten all they wanted from me? Perhaps something else was going on out there, some kind of disturbance. I couldn't be sure. My only contact was with the guards, and they weren't exactly chatterboxes. But I did have one thing to mull over: the paper I'd stolen from Kaelana. As soon as I could see straight I'd taken it from its hiding place in the lining of the cot—having massive claws does come in handy for cutting holes in fabric—and studied it carefully.

The only prominent feature was a twisted green design that took up the majority of the page. It radiated with a powerful energy, as if the symbol itself had magical properties. I turned it round and round, trying to understand what it could mean, but all I saw was the shape. Finally I spotted a tiny smidgen of writing along the bottom of the scrap. Alas, it was in a language I could not read or even recognize. I decided the note must be encrypted, perhaps enchanted, so that only those with the proper decoding spell could understand it. Phooey. Still, I hung onto it in the hopes that it may prove useful later.

Day three of my confinement. Well, I figured it was day three: with no clocks or windows, I had only a vague notion of the passage of time. They never shut the lights off, which made sleeping tricky, but at least I was never left shrouded in complete darkness—although frankly, my Rogueish side would've preferred that. I'd recovered the bulk of my strength, and my head was finally clear enough to allow a bit of lucid thought. So, this Heart of K'ure… I'd taken it? As Spectress pointed out, I had my reasons. But what were they? I couldn't remember anything about it.

Nor did I recall what my relationship was with the Kirin Tor. Kaelana had called me a mercenary. Perhaps I was only a hired hand? That didn't seem too far from the mark; after all, magic doesn't solve every problem. Sometimes the liberal application of cold steel is precisely what a situation calls for, and these fragile mages couldn't lift a sword above their heads, let alone charge into melee. So yes, someone with my skills would be a valuable addition to their fighting force. The way Spectress and Kaelana spoke gave me the impression that I was a part of the Violet Eye, at least on a contract basis. Maybe I'd even had something to do with the acquisition of the Heart in the first place.

The hours crawled past like the slow creep of a glacier. I paced the cell endlessly, mumbling theories to myself. Where might I have taken the Heart? Where was my sister, if I even had one? What happened to me in the Plaguelands? If the Heart could eliminate the Plague, and I took it to the Plaguelands when I went to find my sister… was I trying to cure her? But Spectress said I took it to protect it. My sister's fate, then, remained unknown. Perhaps she was Scourge. Maybe even Forsaken. Had I possibly run into her in Deathknell? I couldn't be sure.

So caught up was I in the furious machinations of my mind that I didn't notice when the lights overhead began to flicker intermittently. My distraction was only temporary; when the lights shut off completely, throwing me into black, I was combat-ready in a matter of seconds. No weapons. Well, I'd make due. I quickly reacquired the slip of paper from the cot and stowed it in my shirt. Then I took up a hidden position in the corner of the prison, and waited.

After a few minutes, lights illuminated the room again, but these were not the white ones I'd come to know; rather, I now saw everything as purple, for the glow was pure violet in color. The portal at the far side of the room shut down, revealing a figure in ebon clothing. I spotted the hooves and horns immediately.

"Dystressi? Are you in here?" Spectress urgently hissed.

I stepped forward from the shadows. "Present."

She thrust a bundle of armor and weapons into my hands. "Get dressed, quickly. I'm busting you out of here." I did not question this. In moments I was fully suited up: black leather pants, vest, gloves, bracers, boots, and belt. She'd procured some enchanted weapons for me, much to my delight: the jagged dagger at my left hip burned fiery red, while the shortsword at my right crackled with icy energy.

As I slipped the gloves over my hands—claws bursting through the fingertips—I said, "Let's get the hell out of here."

"Gladly," Spectress retorted, turning and dashing away. I followed silently. The whole prison was now awash with that purple light, and strange, violent noises were coming from every angle. "The city is under lockdown. Something has happened to the Council,' Spectress explained. "Hence the lighting."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. I figured this would be the perfect time to launch the escape attempt I've been preparing for." We made our way across the round area and into a network of tunnels. Weird monsters howled at us from behind walls of force as we took turn after turn. "But we only have a short amount of time before-"

"Stop them!" a voice cried. We both turned. A gang of prison guards was at the far end of the tunnel we'd just traversed.

"Time to see what their insides look like," I growled, drawing my weapons.

"No," Spectress snapped. "That's an elite squad of highly trained mages. We need…" She spun quickly, looking for something. "Ah!" With a shout, she yanked a large lever on the wall.

All the containment portals along the hallway shut off.

"Time to go," Spectress ordered, snagging me by the arm. I managed to catch a glimpse of some sort of gigantic, flaming, two-headed hound barreling down on the hapless guards before we rounded the bend. Another few series of tunnels. Spectress seemed to know her way, so I followed without protest. Still, I wanted some action! I wanted to sink my blade into the throat of one of those squishy mage guards!

After every corridor, Spectress released the locks on the portals. "This should keep them quite occupied," she told me, a bit of laughter in her tone. I grinned.

The final hallway opened up into a huge circular chamber, with cells on every side save one. The far wall had two titanic doors built into its surface. It was toward this wall that Spectress led me, her hoofed feet echoing loudly in the wide space. We were just at the center of the circular area—I now noticed a colossal Violet Eye design on the floor—when the doors suddenly burst open. A female human sauntered into the room with three pikemen at her sides. She was a brunette, with a luminescent crystal sword in one hand and a large tome in the other. Her robes appeared purple, but then, so did everything else.

"Not so fast," she scolded, her voice deep and spiteful.

Spectress froze in place. "P-p-private Sinclari?" she stumbled. "What's going on?"

Sinclari bristled. "It's Lieutenant Sinclari now. Field promotion. And the Magistrix is quite upset that you decided to disappear during our moment of crisis."

Regaining her composure, Spectress coolly replied, "I am escorting this prisoner out of the Hold for further questioning."

"Bullshit," Sinclari countered. "You're helping her escape. Magistrix Kaelana warned me this might happen." She snapped her fingers, and the three pikemen began to march toward us. "Perhaps these gentlemen can teach you a bit about loyalty?"

With my reagent pouch now at my side again, I felt far better equipped to deal with these buffoons. I hurled a smoke pellet and vanished, reappearing seconds later behind one of the thugs. A cheap shot from my dagger put him out like a pinched candlewick, buying me precious seconds. Just as I was about to lunge at the next closest one, he let out a roar and transformed into… a tiny brown rabbit. I stared, dumbfounded.

"On my target!" Spectress shouted, unleashing a flurry of arcane missiles at the remaining active guard. I wasted no time. In seconds I was behind him, thrusting my dagger into his armor, trying to locate a weak point. I found it. He barely got a chance to cry out before I ripped a wide hole in his ribcage. Spectress launched a fireball, finishing him off.

"This one next!" I cried, performing a front flip over the confused bunny and landing with my sword on the guard's shoulder. He recovered quickly and countered with the pike. Shit, the rabbit had changed back too. Time for another of the tactics David had taught me: Evasion. I took a deep breath, forced myself to relax, and began bending around and between pike swings like a reed in the wind. Duck, lean, jump, tumble, making sinister strikes when I could, waiting for my chance. I hoped Spectress was cooking something up, because I couldn't do this forever.

She was. One of the guards came at me again, but out of nowhere found himself launched into the air by a blast of icy wind. He crunched against the floor some distance away. I spun quickly onto the other thug. Splorch! My dagger struck a critical blow, severing his throat. He collapsed, gurgling. Spectress was busy raining down pellets of ice on the head of the remaining guard, creating a blizzard through which I could not safely traverse. The moment she stopped her assault, I dashed into the fray and eviscerated the guard, sending his guts to spilling unceremoniously to the floor.

Lieutenant Sinclari, I was pleased to note, seemed rather uneasy. "Tch," she grumbled. "Child's play. Let's see how you handle something a bit more… unstable?" She reached for a lever near the door.

"Sinclari, don't-" Spectress began to scream, but it was too late: all the containment portals around us flickered out. I felt my stomach drop to my toes. This was really not good. We were surrounded on all sides by slavering beasts, bloodthirsty demons, and homicidal humanoids of every shape, color, and variety.

And most of them looked pretty fucking pissed off.

Three demented birdmen adorned in a variety of colorful beads and feathers waddled out of their cells atop a short set of steps to my left. Two were carrying small, sharpened twigs. The center one, clearly the ringleader, lofted a curved sword and squawked, "Free to—mm—fly now. Ra-aak… Not find us—ekh-ekh! Escape!"

Up another staircase from them hovered a massive, muscular black and blue entity with lustrous eyes and sparkling, magical armor. I heard its nebulous voice ring out as it cried, "I am… renewed."

Directly before me floated a being made entirely of water. It was holding a metal shield and massive iron club in its liquid hands. "I… am fury… unrestrained!" it rumbled, its voice distinctly female.

"Back in business!" a smooth male voice called. A glance in that direction revealed another strange humanoid: a man made entirely of light particles, loosely constrained by what appeared to be linen bandages. He was wielding a crystalline staff. "Now, to execute an exit strategy."

A plethora of roars and growls rounded out the varied utterances. With growing terror, I turned to see another of those immense two-headed fire-dogs come bounding from a large cell, accompanied by a floating, tentacled, one-eyed demon with a cascade of serrated teeth and a tongue bigger than Spectress and I put together.

"What do we do?" I shrieked. My draenei companion was looking about in her travel bag frantically, searching for something. At last she found it: a small stone emerged from the satchel, clutched between her fingers.

"Hold them off me for a minute!" she instructed. "I'm getting us out of here." Her hands began to shimmer with magic as she cast a spell. I spun wildly. Enemies were coming at me from every side. The world seemed to slow as I realized just how outnumbered I was, and how likely it was that both of us were about to die grisly, painful deaths.

Deep breath, Dystressi. One, two, one, two. Remember what David taught you: speed is a Rogue's best friend. React faster than time allows. I prayed I'd cooled down enough from my recent fight with the pikemen; I'd need a lot of energy if I hoped to fend off this gang for even a brief period of time. Keeping my composure, I reached into my thieves' tools and took out several reagents. Ready… steady… move!

The three winged weirdos yipped loudly as I hurled an explosive pellet behind them, causing them to turn in curious distraction. They spotted the Voidwalker up the stairs, and engaged him in combat, squawking loudly. I sprinted round the circular battlefield and blew a puff of blinding power in bandage man's face—or what I assumed was his face. He stumbled around, groaning. Next stop was the water elemental; I thrust the icy sword into her, causing part of her "flesh" to freeze. She let out a wail and staggered back.

I did a few handsprings and gouged the floating demon in its big eye, buying me all the time I needed to leap atop the hellhound and drive my weapons into its back. The beast roared in agony. Spectress, meanwhile, was still casting her spell. I tumbled off the front of the dog's face, dragging my dagger through its nose as I did so, and landed in a roll.

Perfect timing. Right as I rolled up to Spectress and popped to my feet, a glimmering portal erupted from the empty air. It let out a high-pitched screeching sound as it flickered between various intense colors. I felt a gentle suction coming from the bright chasm, as if it were trying to pull us in.

"Why didn't you do that before?" I shouted over the din.

"There's a dampening field in the prison!" Spectress yelled back. The monsters were coming out of their stupors, and beginning to advance. "I don't know where this portal will take us!"

I gestured around and shot her an exasperated glance. "Anywhere is better than here!"

"You think you've escaped?" Sinclari hollered from her post by the doors. "We'll hunt you down, Seeker! You and your undead friend can't run from the Kirin Tor! You of all people should know that!"

"C'mon!" I cried. Before Spectress could protest, I grabbed her arm and threw both of us into the portal. My feet leapt out from under me as we spiraled round and round in a flashing, dizzying world of colors. Shapes and sounds zipped past like arrows. I clutched her hand tightly, trying hard not to stab her with my inordinately long nails. Gripping her fingers in mine, although they were not warm to the touch, gave me a sense of comfort that I hadn't felt in weeks.

For one brief, beautiful instant, I wasn't scared anymore.

Then I was again, because we'd appeared hundreds of yards above the ground—which, despite its distance from us, was approaching faster and faster with every passing second.