Many people said that Tirisfal Glades had become a desolate wilderness after the Forsaken had laid claim to them. But, while tainted, the glades were, to my eyes at least, beautiful to behold.

The Western Plaguelands, which had been lush when they'd been part of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, were a true wasteland. The land seemed to be festering beneath the horses' hooves as they walked, and the trees all looked diseased and in pain. The putrid stench of death and decay was more prominent than even Undercity, where Faith had managed to teach the mages a spell that permeated the air with sweet smells.

She rode next to me, despite Prince trying to move away from Venom. She kept him in place, running her fingers down his white mane and whispering to him.

"We should split up," said Faith to me. "We'll attract too much attention like this."

I nodded and mentioned to the rear guard to stay back with Rotvine while Faith and I took twenty others deeper into the Plaguelands. Faith moved a little away from me, looking for the Scarlet Crusade, because they weren't far away. Running into them now would spell disaster for our mission, and I didn't want to attract the attention of the more unsavory characters that inhabited this desolate part of the world.

We proceeded with caution until we came within sight of Andorhal. Even I was shocked by what I was seeing. Despite how far we stood, we noticed thousands of Scourge fiends writhing within the ruined city.

"Anar'alah Belore, what have they done to the city?" breathed Faith. "I've never seen so many members of the Scourge before."

"Yes you have," I reminded her.

There was no way we could pass close to the city without being detected.

"Let me go find Velonara. She won't be far."

"Not alone, Faith."

"Yes, Sylvanas. Alone. Now, get back before they see you."

She dismounted from Prince, who immediately started to panic when she handed the reins to me. He was too scared to whinny but I saw he was ready to bolt. He tried to pull away from me when Faith began to leave, and I began talking to him quietly in Thalassian. The language seemed to soothe him, but I could tell he was trying his hardest not to look in my direction.

We retreated back behind some trees to begin our wait. I felt very uneasy, hating to be stationary, but what choice did I have?

It felt interminable, although I knew it must have only lasted a couple of hours. We did see a Scarlet Crusade patrol, but they looked absolutely terrified out of their minds about getting anywhere close to Andorhal, and they didn't bother us.

Faith returned to us with Velonara as what passed for the sun here reached its apex. Prince was overjoyed to see her and nuzzled her happily, making soft noises.

"Shh, sweetheart," she told him before turning to me, "They went to Caer Darrow."

Caer Darrow.

My cousin Zindarin was working for the Scourge.

"Are you all right?" she asked me. Her eyes looked sympathetic.

"Are you sure they went there?" I asked Velonara.

"Positive."

I closed my eyes. I didn't want to risk my troops on a rescue mission for two children. But they weren't just any children, they were Vereesa's sons. I had nothing more to do with my mortal family, but I didn't want them to end like that.

"Sylvanas, they'll be raised into the Scourge. We can't let that happen."

"Felicity," I said. "Go back to the Rear Guard, and tell them what's going on. Stay with them and go to Caer Darrow from the north if you can. We'll take the south entrance to the island."

Faith put a hand on my leg, "Thank you," she whispered to me.

I briefly passed my hand over hers, squeezing it gently while Felicity galloped away on her skeletal horse.

We set off again, moving very slowly and leading the horses as we passed one by one over the bridge that led across the small expanse of water coming from Darrowmere Lake.

At the pace we were going, trying to avoid the few Alliance patrols in the area, it took us a full twenty-four hours to reach the spit of land that connected the island of Caer Darrow to the mainland. Aside from a couple of Scourge soldiers, the journey was uneventful, which led me to believe that something more sinister awaited us.

The reek of the island hit us fully as we stepped onto it. Faith vomited, nearly falling off Prince as she did so.

"We should leave the horses on the main land," I said. "They'll know enough to return to Undercity if things go south."

"I'm fairly certain that Prince will go anywhere but to Undercity," said Faith with a small smile. She kissed his nose and led him away so that he could stand with the skeletal horses. He didn't look too reassured and concealed himself behind a withered bush as she came back towards me.

"He'll be all right," I told her.

"I know."

We proceeded with caution. Not a sound did we make as we stepped onto the worn flagstones that had made up the courtyard of the Caer Darrow Keep. My eyes trailed forward while Faith kept an eye on everything going on around us. It was eerily quiet, with not even a bird overhead.

We were approaching the entrance to the keep, skirting a small graveyard when we heard the sound of something gargantuan ahead of us.

"By the Sunwell…" breathed Faith.

It was an abomination, more than nine feet in height, and a common occurrence in the Scourge, who created them from several body parts. I had actually taken to doing the same, although Faith hadn't been made aware of that, or she would have probably fled Undercity.

"Burn it," I told her.

She obeyed me without question, sending a tongue of black fire hurling towards the thing. A glimmer of low intelligence sparked in the abomination's eyes a second before the fire hit it and consumed it. It made a roaring sound, attempting to flee back inside the keep, but another mage reeled it back with arcane magic so that it wouldn't escape. It fell where it was, the smell of its burning putrefying flesh even making me feel uncomfortable.

"So much for us coming in here unnoticed," said Faith to me. "I'm sure someone heard that."

"Maybe not. It's possible that thing was on some sort of patrol. Still, we'd better hurry."

We got out of the open and stepped into the keep. It was as dark as a mine shaft inside, once we moved away from the entrance.

"Be on your guard," I said.

A rat scurried over my boot and I looked down at it. It wasn't an ordinary rat, judging by the dead eyes it fixed me with. A second later, I'd crushed it, feeling its bones grinding into the stone floor.

"Please don't do that," Faith begged me. "I cannot breathe as it is."

"You should be used to the smell, shouldn't you?" I asked her.

"Not helping," she hissed, renewing a spell on herself.

There were skeletons in the corridor, inanimate ones still showing some skin and gore on their bones. I didn't want to know whether the children had seen anything like that. Faith seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"Sylvanas, if they're dead –."

"If they're dead, we'll deal with it then."

We began to see signs of Scourge activity when we walked down a winding flight of stairs. A foul violet light seemed to filter through the glistening walls, showing us manacles chained to the stone at regular intervals. One of the manacles had unmistakable signs of blood on it, long dried.

Next to me, Faith was trembling. I didn't know whether it was from fear of what we would find down there, or from fury. It might have been both.

Sound reached our ears. The growl of unnatural monsters coupled with what could only be people – the ones known as the Cult of the Damned, who had delved so far into necromancy that they'd turned into shadows of their former selves.

"Get ready to fight," I said. "We won't get through them unnoticed."

"Sylvanas, how will we find them?"

I smiled grimly. "Listen."

Just then, a child's cry filled the air. It was a sound meant to cause a reaction. I imagined terrified parents running towards the child in question, picking it up and soothing it. But instead, all we heard in response to the cry was cold laughter. There was an echo of skin striking skin, followed by another scream and more laughter. I heard chains rattling on the ground.

The child was being tortured.

Faith jumped forward before I had even opened my mouth to tell her not to move. She gave an enraged cry, and by the time we burst into the cavernous room, which, at a glance, was a reliquary, she had already killed two cultists and set three skeletons alight.

I didn't have time to call out her name. She was moving quickly, reminding me of the time we'd fought together in Quel'Thalas. She had a spellblade in her hand and was stabbing a woman over and over again. Blood sprayed everywhere, but she seemed to pay it no attention.

"Faith, for the Light's sake," I hissed at her, pulling at her arm. "You've butchered her." One of the mages set the woman's remains on fire, and we grouped together to fight the oncoming rush of skeletons that materialized through an unseen door.

Whatever resided within these halls, it knew we were here. We heard thick clotted laughter that came from the walls. It would have sent us running had we been alive. But we were Forsaken, and Faith was beyond being scared, from what I could see. Dripping with the woman's blood, she cast spell after spell, burning the skeletons to a crisp.

A child shrieked. Faith pounced and I went with her pulling her back before she could run through the door without a thought. I held up a finger, signaling for her to wait. In the dim light, I saw that her pupils were dilated, her eyes wide and scared. But she was fueled by revenge. She wanted to kill every single scourged being in here, and she wasn't going to stop until we dragged her away, or until she joined them as a living corpse.

"You wait just a second, Faith before you get yourself killed. Cast a silencing spell."

She blinked and focused on me before nodding. Her hand reached out towards the door, and I saw faint movement as the spell disrupted the air in front of her. Something inside the chamber stumbled.

We went through the door and froze.

There were ten members of the Cult of the Damned inside, and they surrounded three figures. One of them was a lich. The other two, who were motionless on the floor, were Galadin and Giramar. The lich's skeletal hands were poised over the twins.

"One more move and they join us as they are."

"By the Light, if we have to die here," whispered Faith.

But to take out the lich was going to be easier said than done. Faith had only one shot, and I had no doubt she was going to take it. I reached down and touched her hand once. She reacted immediately, casting a fire spell so strong I felt the burn of it on my face. The next moment, the lich's hands were wrapped in black fire and I'd shot two of the humans through the heart. Our mages cried out spells while Faith and I forged a passage towards the boys, stepping over countless bones and destroying dark altars in our way.

Faith reached the lich first and cast another spell at it, freezing him where he was.

"That won't hold him," I said, already reaching for one of the twins. Even to me his skin felt like ice. But I found a pulse in the child's wrist. "They're alive."

She turned towards me and picked up the child closest to her while I did the same.

"Retreat!" I called.

We scampered out of the room as Faith cast another black fire spell to block the cultists behind us. I noticed two of our mages on the floor as we left.

The reliquary we had passed through wasn't empty anymore, but I hadn't expected it to be. The child I was holding woke up and began to scream, fighting me.

"Close your eyes, little one," I said to him, pressing his face against my shoulder. Not having the use of both my hands, I could only pull out my sword to kill whatever was closest to me. Beside me, Faith was setting fire to every foe she could, alternating between her black fire and a fire I'd never seen before, a blinding white one.

"Mamma!" cried the child.

"Shh," I told him, pushing a cultist out of the way with the flat of my sword. A spurt of blood washed over us and I nearly slipped in a puddle of gore.

"We'll have to make a run for it before they block the entrance," said Faith. She and the child in her arms were also spattered with blood and some unidentifiable substance.

I agreed, and we began to run. We were just about to reach the exit when a monstrous creature barred our way.

Faith shrieked in surprise, not having expected a crypt fiend to be here. Her hatred of spiders was just as pronounced as I remembered, and the creature before us, as a servant of the Scourge, made it twice as repulsive to her.

The creature clicked its pincers and began to speak in a low and terrifying voice.

"Where…sss… are you taking… sss… theseeee… morsels?"

"Get out of my way, you demon." Faith cast a spell, but the nerubian blocked it. It was a spellcaster. She cursed, something I'd never heard her do before, and cast again, and again. The air between her and the vile creature became hazy as both of them fired spells at one another.

"They're coming behind us!" cried one of our mages.

"Take the kids and go! I'll stay behind and cover you!" cried Faith. She cast another spell, which hit the nerubian's in midair, and handed the second child to me. For some reason that I still don't understand, he willingly came into my arms and clung to my neck and to his brother.

"Have you lost your mind?" I screamed. "I'm not leaving you here!"

"You have to save the boys! Go!" With both of her hands free, Faith attacked the nerubian with full force. My horror mounted as the First Magi Cops pushed me towards the exit.

But I couldn't leave her there to fend for herself. I put on a burst of speed and whistled, loudly. It sounded a little different, but in essence, it was the whistle I'd used to call Prince when I'd been alive. I just hoped he would hear it and obey.

He did. His ears were flat against his head, but he did come to me.

Quickly, I placed the first child onto the horse. Evidently, he had done this before, because he gripped Prince's mane tightly and buried his head in his neck.

"Hold onto your brother," I said to the second child. "Tight!"

Miraculously, the child listened to me. A moment later, Prince began to canter away, moving cautiously, conscious of the children on his back.

"My Lady, where are you going?"

"You make sure these kids get to safety!" I knew that the mages were in no condition right now to create a portal. "Go!"

I pulled my bow from my shoulder and moved back towards the keep. Faith and the crypt fiend were nowhere in sight, but I could hear them fighting. The creature was trying to keep her inside Scholomance.

I found them back inside the chamber, where Faith was outnumbered ten to one. She was bleeding from half a dozen places, most severely from a wound on her abdomen, but she was still fighting tooth and nail.

Nocking an arrow, I fired straight at the fiend, hitting it on its hindquarters. It bellowed, allowing Faith to slash at it with her blade, nearly severing its head. Ichor poured from the wound and onto the ground.

She saw me, and her eyes widened in alarm, but there was no time to say anything. We had to keep fighting if we were going to get out of there alive.

But Faith was drained. She'd used so much magic in such a short amount of time that her stamina had disappeared. She blocked an attack from an oncoming warlock and slumped back against the wall. I leapt, landing on top of the human and killing him with the arrow in my hand, which pierced his throat.

"Faith, get out of here."

"No." She was panting.

"You are not dying here!"

"Actually, you're both going to die here," said someone in a syrupy voice.

It was Zendarin. I hadn't seen him in several years, but my cousin was unmistakable.

I backed up, keeping Faith behind me. "What in the Sunwell are you doing?" I snarled at him.

"Why, my master's bidding, of course. You see, you've been a thorn in his side ever since he first went to Quel'Thalas. Killing you didn't seem to do much good, and now, you're killing off members of his army by the thousands. We can't have that."

"How could you work for the Scourge?" cried Faith. She tried to get out from behind me, but I moved with her.

"No, see, my dear cousin, you can't protect her again. My master will rip your mind from your body, for good this time, and use your powers for himself. As for this delectable girl of yours, he's got… plans for her."

Catlike, he suddenly grabbed Faith's arm and yanked, pulling her away from me. She screamed.

"Kill her," said Zendarin to the mass of people and creatures waiting for his command.

They attacked.

"No, Sylvanas!"

Backed up against the wall, there wasn't much I could do against the necromancers now coming towards me. I fought, spending all my arrows, then using my bow and my sword to hit anything that came near me. They were casting spells, but they weren't touching me. I realized Faith had called forth a barrier so that the cultists would be forced to face me in hand-to-hand combat, which I excelled at.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zendarin force Faith to the ground. He hit her once, twice, after which I heard the sound of ripping fabric.

My world coalesced into the two of them. He was going to rape her while I fought for my life. He was going to rape her in front of me.

I began to scream, letting out a banshee's wail so loud that everyone around me, including Faith, stopped moving to clamp their hands over their ears. My scream faded, but it took a while for everyone to recover. Faith did so first, and began to struggle again, and Zendarin slapped her so hard across the face that her head whipped from one side to the other.

Rage took over me as I leapt towards him. He saw me coming and smiled, slashing at me with a blade I hadn't seen.

Faith screamed my name as I crashed to the ground. But I wasn't hurt. The blade had caught my shoulder armor.

"What are you waiting for?" yelled Zendarin. "Kill –."

His voice was cut off when Faith, using the last of her strength, summoned a ball of black fire and hurled it at his face, hitting him directly. His cries filled the room as he stood and began to run towards the necromancers, some of whom shied away from him. There was no help for him there.

I positioned myself between Faith and the Scourge when the attack came from my left.

"For the Kirin Tor!"

For a second, I stared, not understanding what I was seeing. The chamber we were in filled with people in purple robes with the eye of Dalaran etched on their breast.

Magic shrouded us, making the air sparkle with fire, arcane and frost all mixing together and falling upon the members of the Cult of the Damned, who were fast retreating into the deeper recesses of Scholomance.

"Block that door!" cried a voice I remembered from a long-ago past. Rhonin fired spell after spell at a necromancer who was attempting to fight back, but I didn't watch to see what happened next, instead turning towards Faith.

She was trying to scramble to her feet. Her robes lay shredded on either side of her, exposing her bruised body.

"Sylvanas!"

I caught her in my arms, cradling her against me. I felt unspeakable relief, something I didn't think I would ever be able to feel again. She was safe.

"Is she all right?"

Rhonin stood next to me now. I wondered how he had gotten here, and why. I nodded in answer to her question, pulling the tattered cloak from my shoulders and wrapping it around Faith's body. "She will be."

I picked her up, "Let's get out of here."

"Yeah, the door won't stay closed for long. Do you want me to take her?"

I shook my head and followed him outside, nearly stopping in my tracks when I saw the sheer number of people on the island. There must have been over a hundred Dalaran wizards standing there along with the First Magi Corps, including the ones whom we had sent to attack from the south.

At their center stood Prince, the twins still on his back. They gave cries of delight when they saw their father, who immediately ran to them and held them when they fell off the horse's back. On his knees, he held his sons close, tears running down his cheeks.

The tips of Faith's fingers touched my cheek, "You did that, my love," she said to me, her voice weak.

I smiled briefly at her, then looked at everyone, "I hate to break up this tender moment, but if we stay here, we're going to have a mess on our hands."

A wizened man stepped forward, "We've got a portal going to Dalaran. This way, my Lady."

I wasn't sure I wanted to go to Dalaran with Faith in this state, but I didn't argue, following the man towards the bright circle of magic that made up the portal. Rhonin and the boys went through first, followed by several others. Prince trotted after me as I stepped through with Faith still in my arms.

I had been to Dalaran before, a long time ago, and it didn't look very different than what I remembered, save for the fact that some of the buildings looked much newer than the rest, and of course, there was the fact that Dalaran was now in Northrend.

Healers stepped forward to greet us, two of them already looking over the twins, who were currently hugging my sister. She was sobbing against Rhonin, and he patted her on the shoulder, while stroking his son's head with his other hand.

"You can let her go now, Lady Sylvanas, we're going to take her to the clinic."

What? I looked to the healer who was looking at me with gentle brown eyes. He wanted me to let Faith go? "I'm not giving her to you."

He blinked, "Will you follow me, then? It's this way." He began to walk, turning to make sure that I followed him towards a well-lit entrance over which were written the words 'Clinic of Dalaran'. Behind me, I heard Rhonin tell Vereesa that the boys had to get checked out immediately.

I followed the healer into a great bright room with walls that had been painted to reflect healers of every race. On one wall were druids healing a forest creature. On another one, I saw a cathedral in which priests prayed together to heal an elderly couple. On the third wall, I saw shaman using the elements to clean an infected wound. Finally, the fourth wall, which was split in half by the glass doors, showed paladins summoning the Light to mend soldiers on the battlefield.

"You can set her down here," said the healer, gesturing to a large bed with clean white sheets. When I hesitated, he smiled, "I promise, we won't hurt her."

"It's okay, Sylvanas," said Faith. I felt her kiss my cheek softly, and my eyes closed for the briefest moment.

"All right." I gently put Faith down onto the bed. Only then did I see just how bruised she was, and how many wounds were spread across her body.

"Excuse me m'Lady!"

The tiny squeak of a voice made me look down. The smallest gnome I had ever seen scurried past me, wearing a white healer's frock over a small red and black dress. She had long blonde pigtails that she'd streaked with red and black, although I couldn't guess the reason for that.

But while the gnome's appearance made me pause, her healing spells almost made me smile. Faith gasped once, then relaxed against the pillows.

"You're healing her without looking at her?" I asked.

"I can see her injuries right here, m'Lady!" she squeaked at me. "They're not deep, but this one is poisoned." She pointed to the wound on Faith's abdomen.

"Oh, so that's why it's burning like that," whispered Faith, trying to laugh but wincing instead. She reached for my hand and I took it.

Vereesa and Rhonin came into the room, carrying the twins. They set them down on the same bed, and healers began to work on them straight away. Rhonin looked at me, "Sylvanas," he said.

I nodded to him.

"Did you see what they did to them?"

"No. They were unconscious by the time we got there." I paused, "But we heard them."

"Heard them do what?" Vereesa turned to me, her cheeks streaked with tears.

"What the Scourge does best," I replied, knowing it would be enough. I didn't want to tell my sister that I'd heard her sons being tortured in any way. I turned back towards Faith, whose face was regaining some color, "And by the way, Faith, I didn't do that." I nodded to the children and their parents, "You did."

She squeezed my hand, "We did."