Chapter 15

The screaming was getting louder as I moved through them, and I nearly gave myself over.

Rip. Destroy. Maim. Kill.

A man with light magic was burning soldiers of Sylvanas alive, and I tackled him, legs going around my waist to trap him as I ripped his throat out, spitting it away as we landed. My face was covered in blood, and I looked pretty fucking feral.

I was on a mission-destroy those catapults, and find the leader.

I sliced ropes and through pillars, effectively dismantling the catapults, and I lifted a heavy wheel, swinging it into the sides of two men, crushing they chests almost immediately.

I threw that away, chin dripping, and I saw him.

Farther back, dressed in grand robes, and looking pompous.

I ran.

He saw me, and his horse reared up, turning and fleeing.

I laughed, catching up to another and taking their horse, the beautiful creature's eyes flaring blue as I mounted, and we cantered off after the leader.

I swinging my axes at the beast's sides as we passed through parts of the battle, and I was locked on.

We caught up, and I jumped, crouching and balancing by sheer will on the beast as we pulled up to the side, and then I tackled him off the horse.

We rolled down a hill, and my axes laid at the top, dropped in the fall.

We landed with him on top, and he raised his hand, which began to glow.

I slammed my face into his, knocking him back and pinning him now.

"You'll regret your life when I'm done with you."

Then I shoved my hand into his torso.

His screams filled the air as I purposefully twisted and wormed around, shoving organs out of whack and generally fucking with his system. Then I ripped out his liver, showing it to him as he screamed.

I plunged in again, taking his intestines and yanking, and his screams rose in volume and pitch as I wrapped them around his neck, choking him with them.

"Call off your men, and I'll kill you fast. Or I'll make you survive as long as I will." I bared my teeth at him, the screaming humming through me like magic.

He called off his men, and I rose, grinning as I crushed his skull under my boot.

"Your leader is dead!" I roared, and the Scarlet Fanatics turned to see where I stood, covered in the gore of their leader, my boot in his head.

"Run away, little ones, or you'll be next!"

Some of them had the balls to approach.

I ripped them to shreds, relishing in their screams, before glaring at the rest of them.

"Leave!"

Someone called for a retreat, and they got the fuck out of dodge.

I fell to my knees, shaking. The screaming was unbearable and I wanted to keep killin-

I was out.

"Did you see how easy it was for her to lose her sanity, Sylvanas?"

"Elynae-."

"Lor'Themar, she is dangerous."

"She's waking."

My head hurt, and I blinked my eyes open slowly to see three shades of blonde and one redhead above me, with ears elongating past their heads.

Sylvanas, and the Therons, I remember-

Pain lurched through me, and I held my head, groaning.

"Hi there, psychopath. You got your brain?" Jadearra's words moved through the fog, and I nodded, sitting up, feeling gross.

"The fuck did you throw at me?"

"She didn't." Sylvanas sounded angry, "She commanded you to sleep, and knocked out a good chunk of the forces while she was at it."

She could command that?

I looked apprehensive, and Jadearra sighed, and I noticed that she was wiping at a nosebleed, "Trust me, I don't make a habit of ordering the dead around. Makes me feel dirty."

I nodded slowly, standing and looking around to see that we were in the common, "Thanks. Don't particularly like going batshit, anyways."

Jadearra snorted, and her parents made themselves heard.

"It is time to go," Elynae looked severely hostile, and I decided to play the calm card.

It felt like she could sense how horrid I had been, her eyes flashing like she was whispering you organized her death.

The Therons departed, and Sylvanas sighed, running blue hands through gross hair, "Wasn't tonight eventful."

I laughed dryly, my back cracking as I stretched, and Sylvanas sighed.

"Off to bed with you. You resume work on the mausoleum tomorrow."

With that, I was sent off to go through the motions-bath, new clothes, bed.

I flopped down in the bed, and in the absence of distraction, I thought about her.

I missed her.

In a fit what could be labeled vulnerability or insanity, I crawled back out of my bed, through the common, and knocked on Sylvanas' door.

"Teir?"

I opened it, peeking my head in to see that she was settled in to her own-way fucking bigger-bed, with a candle lit on the nightstand and papers in her hand. The blonde hair was spilling and she wore simple black night clothes.

"I, um.." I felt very stupid, and turned to go.

"It's alright, come in," Sylvanas set the papers aside, patting the spot beside her in the gargantuan bed.

I sat down, sheepish, and noted that the grey my legs matched her sheets, "I um...there's something I might have been keeping from you." I felt both embarrassed and braced for the bitch slap.

"Oh?" She sounded coolly curious-she wasn't sure about the bitch slap.

"Some...someone, actually," I said quietly, hair falling into my face, and I felt her presence sharpen in my memory.

"Kenlora."

My head snapped up, eyes wide and heart hammering-how-?

"You talk in your sleep, little lynx. I assumed you would tell me about her whenever you were ready."

I felt even more embarrassed than before, but I nodded, "I um...when he went under the ice, I patrolled Northrend for a while, and I um...found her, and I followed her for a few months. Kept her safe from the giants, lit the way to caves for her to sleep, and one day she uh...caught me unawares, and..." My chest hurt, and oil oozed from my soul.

"You're in love with her."

It wasn't a question, and I was pretty damn sure that if it were, the answer was yes.

"When he woke up...she tried to stop me, but it hurt so bad-he-he knew that I had-my loyalties had-," my throat was closing on me, and Sylvanas embraced, cooing and encouraging me to keep talking.

"I had...it hurt to even-to even think of her, a-and I had to-I ran away. I-I don't think she ever-ever found out why. I-I-I miss her."

I was a mess, oil oozing down my cheeks and onto Sylvanas' shoulder, but I said it.

Sylvanas was quiet for a while, simply rubbing her hand up and down my back as I shook, before she laid me down to curl into a ball on the other side of the massive bed.

"I'm proud of you, Teir. That hurt for you to admit, and you managed it." Sylvanas' voice was reassuring, and it made me realise that I did feel almost lighter because I had said it out loud.

"I-I don't think I'll ever see her again." I said, sadness surrounding me like a fog.

"I... don't think that's true."

I sat up, looking at Sylvanas, "I can see her?"

The woman sighed, and got up from her bed, "Come."

I followed her to the common, over to one of the windows, and she whispered a few incantations, and it became black.

"Whisper her name, and she will appear."

I stared at the glass, heart hammering, and my voice shook, "Ken-Kenlora Whisperwind."

The glass immediately started to ripple, and it was very shaky and out of focus, until-

My heart caught in my throat, and I found myself with my nose pressed to the glass.

There she was, asleep, the moonlight spilling over her magenta skin. Deep green hair that had grown out laid in a mass around her head, and her skin, and ears, and-

I was crying with longing, but I could see her.

"Thank you, Sylvanas." My voice was barely there, and I wanted nothing more than to press through the glass and crawl into the bed she was in, hold her close, and pretend nothing had changed.

Suddenly, her eyes opened, and she seemed to sense something was watching her.

I ceased breathing as she looked around, and nearly cried out when she whispered, "Teir?"

I wanted to go to her, and-

I did sob, as she pulled my locket out from under her shirt, holding it close and tracing her thumb over the tarnished engraving. She had kept it.

"Oh, Ken," Oil was falling freely once again, and I was shaking visibly, knees knocking together.

She looked around again, as though she could hear me, and then-

Oh Azeroth, she was speaking.

"I'm hearing things now, aren't I? You...you left me." She said quietly, pain lacing her tone, and I wanted to break through to her, "I don't know what happened, but if you were in so much pain, then it must've been him. He's gone now, little one. You could...you could come back to me."

I cried out, longing like a fish for water, and a light appeared in the doorway.

"Kenlora?"

The connection faded, the window rippling to show the woods again, and I looked at Sylvanas, my face shiny with oil and my heart hurting.

"Thank you," I gasped, both wanting another taste and just wanting to go to her.

"You need to sleep now, Lynx," Sylvanas led me to my room and used a cloth to clean the oil off my face, before letting me tuck myself into bed.

She sunk onto the edge of the mattress, her fingers in my hair-a habit she hadn't continued since the first few days of my time here.

I sighed, trying and failing miserably to not think about Kenlora, and I simply tried to focus on Sylvanas' slow, soothing movements along my scalp, which lulled me into a doze...

"My lady..."

I did my best not to tense in my doze. Someone else had entered the room-one of the rangers.

"Not now."

"My lady, The Warchief is calling for an audience...right now."

"At this time of night? Does that orc not sleep?" Sylvanas' voice was quiet but had a cutting edge.

"It appears the Reagent Lady alerted him to your charge, My queen," this one never said my name-every ranger named me freely, but not this one.

What I was more interested in was that the Warchief wanted a conversation in the middle of the night about me.

Sylvanas sighed, "I feel like we'll never get to sleep. I know you're awake Teir."

I opened my eyes, Sylvanas' hand withdrawing from my hair as I sat up again, wanting nothing more than to tell the orc to fuck off and roll over again.

The ranger was holding two floor length, black dusters, with the crest on their back, one for Sylvanas and one for me.

I slid into it, tying the blue mass on my head-which was much healthier than it had been when I arrived-up into a knot, not caring very much about my appearance.

Sylvanas seemed even less excited than I was, and we were led once again to the throne room.

There a towering brown orc stood, eyes a menacing gold and shoulders adorned with tattoos. His jaw was my skin colour, another tattoo.

Garrosh Hellscream.

"Dark Lady," he nodded, then looked at me, eyes narrowed, "It's real then, is it? You took in one of the Scourge generals?"

I flinched, the buzzing in my head causing my ears to droop at the words.

"She was mine before, and she'll be treated as such...Warchief," Sylvanas said the title as though they left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Does it have a name?" Garrosh was peering at me, and I felt distinctly uncomfortable.

"Teir Windrunner."

I jerked, looking at her, but she wouldn't look at me-she used her name on mine.

On purpose?

Garrosh noted my surprise, "So, you really have taken her in."

Sylvanas' presence was overprotectively, and I felt as though I was standing behind a shield.

"Can it speak?"

I bared my teeth without meaning too, and bit my tongue to keep from snarling some choice words.

"Warchief, she was nearly asleep when you demanded this audience. Forgive her if she is a little behind," Sylvanas sounded like she was speaking to a child, and Garrosh noticed.

"You-Teir. Step forward," He ordered, and I had no inclination to move-he wasn't my leader.

Then Sylvanas inclined her head, and I moved forward.

"She doesn't have loyalty to the Horde, only to you." He said this like it was a bad thing.

"She's only been around myself and my guards, she doesn't know you, or any of the Horde, spare for the Thalassian royal family." Sylvanas spoke smoothly, and I simply looked at Garrosh.

"Can it fight?"

I barked a laugh, amused as all hell-of fucking course I can fight!

Garrosh grinned-an unfriendly sight-"So your pup thinks it had what it takes?"

He set his monstrously large axe to the side and lifted his mantle from his shoulders.

"Let's see what it's made of."