10 - The Lady of the Sea

My eyes sprang open and I felt an overwhelming sense of fear. I quickly surveyed my surroundings. The most alarming thing I discovered was that I was located next to a glassless window with a sea view. An under sea view!

My eyes blinked rapidly as I watched, in disbelief, shoals of fish swim past my line of sight. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. How was this even possible? I inspected my feathers. They were dry. But everywhere around me, was water!

It was then I realised I was once more a prisoner. Being incarcerated was becoming something of a habit with me. This time, I found myself in a shoddy cage made of driftwood, no less.

The only thing it had going for it was the fact it was roomy. Its base was lined with stones and shells to weigh it down I assumed, and seaweed; a slippery kelp on which my claws struggled to grip without it coating my feet in a slimy, gooey substance. It felt quite revolting. I eyed up the spars of twisted, gnarled wood, trying to gauge where the weak spots were. Surely with a decent effort I would be able to escape this somewhat pitiful prison.

A hiss came from my left. I hopped round to see the female naga staring at me, her red reptilian eyes almost pulsing as her pupils adjusted to the varying light filtering through the wreck. Her face rippled, and as she moved around the cage, her gaze never leaving me, I saw her entire form become misshapen, warped, then return to normal and warp again.

I looked around the cage from top to bottom, left to right and then it dawned on me. The cage was encased within a giant air bubble. Her body's reflection on its surface was what I had just witnessed.

With that realisation however, came the true terror of my predicament. To try and escape this would mean my demise. If I burst that bubble I would not be able to breathe, and as I was no doubt quite deeply submerged I would drown for sure before reaching the surface.

At this point, I sorely wished I had eaten a bloated corpse floating next to the pier at Southshore instead of trying to snare fresh crab.

She circled twice more before coming to a stop in front of me. Although the bubble still distorted my view of things, with the cage suspended from a hook in the ceiling, I was able to get a better look at her.

I noted she was not as tall as she was on land, having lowered herself on her ophidian tail. Closer inspection informed me that facially she was not quite as snakelike as I had first thought either. Although yes, her nose and mouth did bare the semblance of a serpent, I could still make out some characteristic elven features. Her neck, cheeks and forehead were covered in small iridescent scales, but they did not detract from the beauty she had once been. The eyes however, they were undoubtedly naga, and fierce.

"Atijshaz ni whi shaz ti arez."* She said, tilting her head at me. I hopped back a little in the cage, my feet delving into the slime and slipping down between the stones. She laughed, then circled me again. She spoke in a mixture of Nazja, the language of the naga, and common used by both elves and humans.

Deep in my brain, I knew I had a smattering of Nazja, but it was insufficient to carry a full conversation. I at least got the gist of her question. The problem was, how could I answer? Did she have an affinity with creatures such as Lunk had? I answered telepathically. "I am searching to find out those very answers."

I realised that it was not a method of communication for her when she repeated her question again. This time I gave a series of clicks and caws in response.

She hissed loudly. Even underwater the hiss of these creatures was unnerving, dulled not in the slightest by the watery surroundings. I shrank to the back of the cage, trembling. I felt as helpless now as I did when I was trapped under the stone at the Dark Portal. I could figure no way out of this.

Her scaled lips curled in a smile. " Ni azj vrasadra, sorceress sha leadzja vash ke Southshore nazja."*

Her softer tone took me by surprise for I had expected her to scream at me in frustration at not understanding my attempts to answer her. Then I watched as she raised her hand in front of the cage.

In her palm, a nacreous orb formed. At first the size of a small pearl, it then grew in circumference and its opaque appearance gave way, becoming more transparent as it expanded. When it covered her hand, it stopped growing. Insane though it was, considering my odds of survival, my curiosity drew to the front of the cage.

Her pupils dilated as I approached then without warning she blew on the orb and it slipped gracefully into the cage, distorting as required in order to enter unbroken, into my bubble. I stumbled back. My wings opened automatically to regain some balance.

The orb seemed to hover in front of me. In its centre I could see wisps of entwining magic and I could feel their power. I just caught sight of her flexing her fingers before the orb burst and the wisps wound their way around me. I was rooted to the spot, but my heart was hammering. "Do you understand me now?" she asked.

I blinked. The magic translated her tongue? "Y-yes..." I cawed back, but to my utter astonishment it was not the raw click and screech of an avian creature which sounded from my throat. It was the voice of a man.

"I assumed common language was mossst appropriate for ussss to communicate," she replied in a surprisingly erudite tone. I watched her, in silent awe as she crossed the small room and glanced out one of the windows. She seemed to be looking for something, or someone. After a moment, she returned to my side.

I thought it appropriate to speak at that point. "I understand only a small amount of Nazja. The difficulty was conveying that to you, but your magic has alleviated that problem."

She studied me like a gnomish engineer poured over the schematics for some incredible new invention. I think I swallowed at that point, wondering if indeed my metonymy was accurate, or whether it should have been more akin to a starving worgen looking at a trembling lamb in a pen. Whether she sensed my apprehension or not, I do not know, but she smiled and moved away as if the distance would offer some reassurance that at least she wasn't planning on eating me.

"Now perhapsss, you can answer my question," she said, her webbed fingers treading the water. "What and who are you?"

I tried to get a good purchase on the kelp covered stones before repeating my answer from earlier. "I am searching to find out those very answers."

She slithered back across to me. I did not flinch as she neared this time. "How do I address you?" I ventured, still amazed at hearing my manly voice.

"My name is Vrasadra," she replied.

"Lady Vrasadra? Or Highness?" I knew I was pushing it a bit, but I had to attain her trust. I was at her mercy down there in the shipwreck. It was imperative that she found something likeable enough about me that I would not end my days buried beak first in the bottom of the Great Sea.

She coiled her way around the cage. "Hmm, you have charm, ssso I deduce you are elf of human. I favour elf of courssse, as they are mossst becoming." She spun round, her tortile movements graceful, lithe. "In answer to your inquiry, I am Lady Vrasadra."

"My Lady," I said, and extending my left wing I bowed, inwardly grimacing as my chest brushed the kelp. I thought I executed the delivery with adequate flourish and from the corner of my eye, I thought I saw confirmation as her face brightened at my act of deference.

"Well," she said, her eyes snapping to their full blood-red colour. "If you are not elf, you may be the most eloquent human I have ever met."

I relaxed somewhat on receiving her compliment. Actually, I puffed out my chest a little, sufficiently pleased that I seemed to have swayed a characteristically volatile creature to my favour. How utterly wrong I was.

In a blur I saw her hand sweep up and the next thing I knew my strange confinement was knocked from its location and sinking steadily to the floor of the cabin.

I flapped my wings in panic. As it hit the flooring some of the driftwood spars shattered, but that wasn't the worst of it. My bubble burst. Without it I would drown.

My fear multiplied tenfold as water cascaded down my throat while my wings didn't so much flap as they wafted through the water. I felt acute pain in my chest. I was going to die. Images flitted through my mind. The wet-eyed woman playing a major role in my swansong. I saw her sweet face; laughing, crying, angry... Then the silver-haired man, I saw him on his knees, his shoulders heaving. As he lifted his head I saw through his eyes. He looked up and saw the purple-hued creature I had seen at the Dark Portal.

It was standing over the crumpled form of the wet-eyed woman. The creature stooped and picked the woman up. The silver-haired man's heart clenched. The woman was dead. She had died in the act of saving..."Illidan."

I felt myself being scooped up. The naga's face loomed into view and I saw her lips moving but heard nothing other my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.

Then, just as suddenly as my struggle to breathe started, it finished. I was surrounded by another bubble, this one larger than that which had encased the cage. I staggered on Vrasadra's hand, gulping, hiccoughing, retching. "How do you know him?" she demanded.

I was still trying to catch my breath; the pain in my chest slowly receding. She shook me causing the opalescent air-filled sphere to wobble, transforming her features into a grotesque version of the water dwelling creature she was. Her face moved closer, her orbs darkening as her pupils dilated almost making her eyes black. "Wh – who?" I managed.

"The one you just ssspoke of. Illidan!"

"Illidan?" I answered weakly. "I do not know ..."

She shook me again. "You lie! Tell me how you know of the Lord of Outland?"

I realised she could snuff me out in an instant if she so wanted, but there was a desperation in her voice.

My next move would either be my saving grace or my folly, but my relentless curiosity made me daring. "Allow me time, I will recall. Pictures, memories I think, of – of a woman, a man and a – a horned creature with wings, invade my mind in growing frequency. I am desperately trying to remember who I am. Perhaps if you tell me about him, it will help me remember more."

"You call him a 'horned creature with wings'?" She laughed, the sound shrill almost manic. "You are trying to deceive me?" she hissed.

"No! I tell you the truth. But..." I swallowed, trying to refrain from gagging as I did so. "I would fare better on land. This is an alien domain for me."

"Yesss, it is isn't it? But you will stay here until you either answer me or ..."

"Die?" I gasped – a tad pathetically, I admit. Her laughter resounded once more. Not quite how I had hoped it would go, but I was in no position to do much about it. As she was a sorceress and we were in her realm, I knew trying to do anything with a frostbolt would also put an end to me. I could feel the power she possessed and a little bird like me was no contest. If I was in my true form, the odds I reckoned would be very much in my favour. For now however, I had to focus on staying alive.

She placed me on an old table which lay pressed in the corner of the back wall in the cabin. As it rested at an angle it was not an easy task staying upright. The location served more of a prison than the cage had. One wrong move and my air supply would be gone.

"I have no desire to kill you, bird. I do wish to know who you are though, for I sssense great magic in you." Vrasadra said.

"But – but I thought you wanted to know about Illidan?"

"Yesss." She coiled her way across the room and stood staring out of the window again. After a few moments she swam back towards me. There was a longing in her eyes; a distant wish.

Her red orbs held me. I was fixated like a mouse staring up at a feline daring it to move so it could pounce and torment it. She surprised me however.

Her features softened and there was a look of quiet reflection on her face. Her voice softened as she went on to explain. "We evolved from the Highborne. Many of our people were cast to the depthsss of the sea, where the Old Godsss punished us for Queen Azshara's poor judgement call, summoning the Burning Legion to our beautiful land. We were turned into this…" She gestured herself.

Her tail rippled and she swam to the back of the cabin then returned to face me once more. "We were mutated over and over and forced to live in the darkest depthsss of the oceans. After the Well of Eternity was destroyed, those who survived in elven form ventured to these landsss to became the high elves; blood elves, sind'orei, as they are known today."

She watched me keenly, her red eyes flashing as they adjusted to varying shadows within the cabin. She continued with her story. "Their skins paled, losing the lustre of the lilacs, blues and greens of our heritage, as they travelled further from the sssource that was once our power. With them however, a sssacred vial, holding some of the Well's essence came with them and once more, they thrived upon the forbidden magic. The Sunwell was born and their hunger for the arcane ssseduced them once more."

Whether it was a look of disgust or a deep rooted longing which crossed her reptilian features I was unsure, but there was no mistaking her lingering empathy for her people. "They had not learned from the highborne's passst mistakes and once more they blindly opened the door for the Legion."

The exculpation in her next words was also crystal clear. "Othersss such as Illidan who remained in the ruined continent of Kalimdor became night elves, focusing more on nature and the druidic way of life. He however, was ssso much more than those who followed the Emerald Dream. He was still fundamentally, a highborne, but ssstronger than any who had preceded him. He cared not for the night elves infatuation with nature. He was ssstill lured by the ancient ways. Yet, he had seen first hand what the Legion had planned for this world and that was when he was truly born."

I listened intently it was not until she paused to look once more out the window that I realised I had been holding my breath. A strange thing indeed for a raven to do. It merely confirmed that I too, was more than I seemed. The tale she conveyed was only partially known to me. I had never considered it from a naga's point of view before. As such, it was as if I was hearing the history of the elves for the first time.

I gulped in air as she continued talking while she stared out across the expanse of seabed. "It wasss Illidan who called forth many of my people, his people, pulling them from the depthsss to aid him in vanquishing the Burning Legion. Those willing to right the wrong our gracious queen unleashed upon the world, answered his call. He has since delivered what he promisssed, and they have remained loyal in his preeminence."

She returned to the table where I remained transfixed. " So, focusss little bird. Pull yourself from the depths of your mind."

"I do not know much yet. The images are muddled."

"Concentrate!"

I felt extremely uncomfortable at this. Most of the images I had seen were of a very personal nature, a bond between the silver-haired man and the wet-eyed woman. So I tried to sift through all those which I could recall and search my mind for this Illidan she so desperately wanted to hear of. I had to admit, as I let my mind work through the images, a sense of familiarity did start to push through. And, I was seeing through anothers' eyes. I was the silver-haired man! I saw this purple creature quite clearly then. He was encased in some green hardened substance, and many like him were milling around, securing him.

As I scanned the individuals around me, I saw many races. Dwarf, night elf, worgen, human. Some were wounded, others helped them. We were in an enormous room, which looked more like a cavern. Part of the wall served as a huge window, and on the ledge I saw the wet-eyed woman sitting, toying with some small object in her hand. I started walking towards her.

Then I saw them. Naga. Four of them were moving up the ramp. "They are the Coilskar, loyal to Lord Illidan," someone informed me. I looked to my left to see who had spoken. I knew him. He was like the one encased in green. A demon hunter! Kayn.

"Coilskar," I mumbled.

"Yesss?" Vrsadra neared me. For the first time I saw her forked tongue. A shiver passed over me. Last time I saw one of those so close it belonged to the green drake which tried to eat me as I hid underneath a hut in the Swamp of Sorrows. I glanced up at her eyes and was mightily relieved to see there was no malice any more. "They were the first naga followers of Lord Illidan?"

"Yesss. They still are. Keep focusing."

Other memories started to filter through. Like vines burrowing upwards from a seed buried deep in the earth, links to my past started to merge with my present. My heart started to pound once more. Faces were rushing forward and with them recognition of who they were. Demon hunters, night elves, blood elves, dwarves, worgen, orcs, humans…Draenei – Ocel! My dearest friend and confidante. Lukha! Ocel's niece, another dear friend.

And... Distantly I heard a cry. A babe. Then a feeling, an emotion so overwhelming I felt my legs give way. A son? Mine. I had a son! With this knowledge all memories rushed me at once. The wet-eyed woman. Sarah! My beautiful Sarah. I saw her wrapping her arms around the silver-haired man. Me! I watched as I saw her lips move...I heard her voice! "I love you," she said. "Khadgar."

My wings beat wildly as I tried repeatedly to gain my footing. The bubble burst and my panic went through the roof. Now that I was remembering I did not want to lose the chance to return to my family. Vrsadra quickly conjured another bubble and placed me within it. She picked me up so I was not struggling against the slant of the table to keep balance. After a few moments, I calmed and sat quite still on her palm. "You remember things now?" she asked, a hint of a grin on her reptilian mouth.

"I am called Khadgar!" I replied.

Her mouth split in a rather unnerving smile. "Ahh, trussst!"

"Trust?" I asked, momentarily confused.

"Your name, Khadgar. It means 'trust' in the dwarven tongue."

Once she explained, I recalled that too. "Yes, so I believe."

Without warning, I saw the two male naga appear from behind her, spears at the ready. "Ni azj Lady vash ke szea, shi nazja trej narsh,"* Vrsadra said. She looked down at me. "Time for you to go home, raven." Then, holding me in both of her hands she spun and swam out of the cabin. I watched as the sea floor dropped from my view and the golden light of early evening permeated the water, growing brighter as the naga returned me to the surface.

*"Atijshaz ni whi shaz ti arez" – Tell me who and what you are.

* "Ni azj vrasadra, sorceress sha leadzja vash ke Southshore nazja" – I am Vrasadra, sorceress and leader of the Southshore naga.

* "Ni azj Lady vash ke szea, shi nazja trej narsh" – I am Lady of the Sea, we naga travel north