Riding across the city proved to be a challenge in terms of how the citizens of Silvermoon reacted to seeing me. Some of them cried out in horror while others just stared in shock.
When we finally arrived at the inn, the First Magi Corps were waiting for us. They absolutely had not expected to see me there, and scrambled to stand at attention when I pulled up with Faith riding double with me.
"My Lady!" cried Felicity. "You're here!" She stared at Faith with what would have been huge wide eyes had she still been living.
I raised an eyebrow at her, "Where else did you expect me to be, Felicity?"
She bowed to me, "I meant no disrespect, Your Majesty."
"Mount up, everyone," said Faith in a carrying voice. "We ride."
"Are you giving commands now?" I asked her, poking her.
"Weren't you going to say the same thing?"
I started to protest, but they had already obeyed her, each of them having climbed upon one of the skeletal horses that they'd brought. "I guess you are giving commands."
"Well, I was in charge of this mission until you showed up," she told me, turning to look at me.
"It's good that they listen to you."
I heard Lor'themar snickering, "If you two are done, maybe we can go? You know the way to the village, I presume?"
"It's been a while, but I think I remember the way." I rolled my eyes and kicked Venom into a canter.
Eversong Woods looked just the way I remembered them. Beautiful and magical, they had once filled me with peace and joy, but now, all I felt was sadness. Sadness that my place was no longer here.
Faith, whose body was warm and firm against mine, put a hand over mine on the reins. Both of us were wearing gloves, so I didn't really feel her touch, but knowing it was there gave me a little comfort. She turned her head briefly to look at me, and in her eyes, I saw my emotions, every single one of them. I pressed my body against hers and she did the same.
We approached the Dead Scar, that blighted hell the Scourge had left behind in its wake. The rangers on the scar were fighting several fiends, but I saw a necromancer too close to the fight. How he had gotten so close to Silvermoon, I didn't know, but it was obvious he was there to replenish the ranks. One of the rangers fell, and even at a distance, I saw that the wound she had sustained would be fatal.
"Faith."
"I see it." She was already casting. "Protect the fallen body!" she cried behind her.
The mages responded, and as I fired an arrow at the undead, I saw an arcane spell snatch the body away from where the necromancer was beginning to cast its spell, even before the girl had fully died. Faith leapt off of Venom and sent three huge balls of black and white fire into the fray.
The balls exploded, fire hitting each undead and sparing every living creature that was fighting. The fire burned hot enough for the rangers to shield their eyes and step back. But the necromancer was too strong to be killed by the fire. He focused on Faith as she pulled out her sword, a beautiful elven blade that glowed with potent fire magic, and ran towards him.
I sprinted, noticing that I wasn't alone. Halduron was with me, as was Lor'themar. We reached Faith less than ten seconds after she struck at the undead thing that appeared to be laughing. I unsheathed my own sword and guided Venom so that it was level with the necromancer. My blade cut the skull from the rest of its body. Faith hacked its sternum in two, while Halduron and Lor'themar each cut off an arm and a leg.
Still, the thing kept moving, the magics that kept it alive not so easily conquered.
"Move back!" cried Faith in such a commanding tone that I obeyed instantly.
She began to murmur spells in old Thalassian, her fingers beginning to swirl with black flames. I heard their sizzle as they began to burn Faith's skin, but she was oblivious to it. She released the fire and it split into five tongues of flames engulfing the necromancer's remains. She kept chanting, sweat beginning to pour down her face as runes appeared beneath the fire, glowing a bright blue.
Finally, she stopped and the fire died down, leaving nothing but ash behind. She collapsed and I caught her before her body hit the tainted earth of the scar.
"Faith?" her body was burning up. "Say something."
"You're beautiful."
"Something else."
"I love you."
"Now you're just being silly." I helped her stand, and she leaned heavily on me. "She's fine," I told the others, who were watching us with odd looks on their faces.
"Are you sure you're okay to keep going?" asked Lor'themar.
"Oh yeah," she said. "I've been through worse than that." She turned to me, "You feel cool."
"That's because you nearly killed yourself countering the necromantic magic," I told her.
"That was amazing, by the way. I thought only paladins could do that," said Halduron.
"They counter necromancy with the Light. I countered it with white magic, so to speak." She swayed and I picked her up, "I can walk!"
"You can barely stand, you silly creature," I hissed, lifting her onto Venom, who obligingly stood stock still.
"How's the ranger?" asked Faith, looking around.
Felicity came over to us, shaking her head. "She's gone," she said, her raspy voice sounding sad.
"Thank you for making sure he didn't raise her," Lor'themar told her.
"Least we could do."
"You should always have a fire mage around to burn the bodies when they fall in battle against the Scourge," said Faith. "They can't raise ashes."
"What about the funeral, though?"
"Better to have a memorial service for a true death than to have one for someone who was raised by the Scourge. Remember that. If you have necromancers around, it's because the Scourge wants to get more members, and that's the only way they can do that."
I climbed onto Venom behind Faith, securing her against me. The others did the same while Halduron spoke quietly to the rangers.
"Are you all right?" I asked her, my mouth close to her ear.
She nodded, "Of course." She raised a hand to my lips and gently peeled off a piece of skin that hung there. I could tell she was about to kiss me and hurried to prevent it.
"Where did you learn how to counteract necromantic magic anyway?"
"Dalaran. But I'd never tried it before."
"Good job," I whispered to her, squeezing her hand. Now that it was over, I felt a disquieting fear coming over me. I wanted to protect her from everything that could potentially hurt her. I wanted to yell at her for being so reckless against the undead. For having left my side. I tightened my grip on her.
We were ready to go again, Halduron having arranged for someone to escort the fallen ranger back to Silvermoon. We went on our way, crossing the rest of the hideous scar that devastated the land.
"Sylvanas, are you also seeing skulls in there?" Faith asked me.
"Yes. Look away."
"Nine hundred thousand people dead because of the Scourge," she whispered.
"Look at the trees, Faith," I said to her as the land became healthy again. "I was around here once when I realized how much I missed you."
She sniffled once. "Is that true?"
I'd missed Faith a lot when I'd been alive, "Yeah, I was definitely around Eversong Woods somewhere."
I heard her sigh. Her hand touched my leg. She whispered something so softly that I chose to act as though I hadn't heard it, although I had. If I'd been alive, I would have pulled Venom off the road and she and I would have made love under the trees, frightening the songbirds with our gasps and cries. But the only thing I could do was feel her against me as we rode for Fairbreeze Village at a much faster pace than usual.
I felt Faith tensing more and more as we got closer to our destination. She started to shake.
"Sylvanas…" she whispered at some point. The village was visible.
I felt like I'd hit a brick wall. I could see it. The area where I'd let Faith go. The spot where Arthas had skewered me with Frostmourne. The small tower where he had dragged me for the last hours of my life. Cold. For the first time since I'd died, I felt cold.
Faith let out a sob.
I stopped Venom and climbed off him, catching Faith as she fell. Letting her go only when I noticed that she was steady on her feet, I began to walk around, feeling strangely lightheaded.
The kiss I had given Faith popped into my mind so suddenly that I stopped in my tracks. She had been so scared, so desperate to keep me with her. What would have happened if I'd gone with her? I had no doubt that Arthas would have followed us and killed us anyway.
It was best for you to let her go.
Yes, except that the way I felt betrayed that thought. I wished I were alive.
But do you wish that Faith had died?
Of course not. I would have never even entertained the idea of letting her die instead of me.
I looked up and saw something that almost made my jaw drop.
It was a memorial. A huge statue of me, done in what appeared to be black marble, depicted me looking at the sky, with my hair flowing behind me and my bow at my side. The expression on the marble face was fierce, yet kind. Inscribed on a silver plaque of the memorial were the following words:
"In loving memory of our beloved general and her rangers that lost their lives for Quel'Thalas. It is here that Ranger-General Sylvanas Windrunner fell while fighting the Scourge. May her brave and noble sacrifice never be forgotten."
I'd never thought that they would erect a memorial in my memory. At the foot of the statue, I saw that someone had deposited a pretty bunch of wildflowers.
"This is weird," I said.
"Seeing your own memorial…" Faith was next to me, looking pale. There were huge circles under her eyes, which momentarily distracted me. I put a hand on her face and she looked at me, her eyes wet with unshed tears. We didn't say anything else, just looking at each other in silence. I could feel her shaking.
A while later, I let her go, my eyes on the tower. I had never told anybody what had happened in there, although I guessed that Faith had figured some of it out the moment she'd seen my body in Silvermoon.
I began to walk slowly, the memory fresh in my mind.
I had been dying. Frostmourne had pierced my armor just above my stomach and below my breast. I'd been bleeding and waiting for death when he had grabbed me by the hair and had dragged me to the tower, some of his minions following.
"Tie her up," he had snarled to them once he'd reached the tower. "So that we can teach her to mess with Arthas Menethil."
One of his minions, a freshly raised male elf, had hammered chains into the wall that had spanned the breadth of the tower. He had then tied the chains around my wrists, suspending me in the middle of the tower with my feet barely touching the ground.
My blood had been flowing freely, dark and slimy. I remembered hoping that I would die soon, but Arthas had decided that another type of punishment was in order.
He had ripped the chain mail off my back, leaving it hanging from me. I hadn't been able to see what was happening behind me, but a second later, I had screamed as sizzling pain had ripped down my back, the echo of a whip pounding in my ears.
The whip had come down again and again, and I'd felt blood trickling down my back. Although I'd promised myself not to give him the satisfaction of hearing me screaming, I couldn't help it.
Then, something else had happened. I'd felt his sword on my mail leggings, ripping the small chain links one by one. I'd felt him against my back, and I'd struggled with the waning strength that had remained in my body.
But had been futile. He had been savage, and my screams had been lost amongst the screams of the dying villagers around me.
I sank to my knees as I entered the tower, crawling to one the wall closest to the entrance and huddling there. The chains were still dangling, and I saw faint splashes of my blood on walls that had been white once upon a time.
"Sylvanas?"
Faith's voice caused me to turn my head, but I couldn't really speak. I didn't want to talk. I didn't want to feel the anger an hatred inside of me. I only wanted to die.
She walked in. Not a word did she say as her eyes swept across the tower. She walked to one of the chains and picked it up. The sound made me wince as she dropped it. Her hand reached up and touched a splatter of blood. My blood.
It was more concentrated on the floor, even though someone had tried to clean it up. But it had already set.
"This is yours, isn't it?" she asked me. Her voice sounded strange to my ears. Hollow.
I could only nod.
Her eyes touched mine, and she came to me, sinking into my arms.
I held her. She held me. We both cried.
"You were so brave, my love," she whispered. She kissed my forehead, "I love you, Sylvanas. I love you so much."
I nodded again, because I still couldn't utter a word. She pulled me even closer to her so that I could bury my head in her shoulder and stay there. I didn't want to move.
Over and over again, she softly whispered that she loved me, that she was there with me.
"Don't leave me," I said quietly. I'd never be able to take it if she left me. I knew that now. I needed her.
"Oh, my love, that won't ever happen, I promise." She kissed me as tears fell from her eyes. Her tongue parted my lips and I kissed her back, holding on to her the way I'd done before we had separated.
She pulled away and I whimpered – to this day, I can't believe that I whimpered – and clung to her.
"Hold on to me, my love," she said. Her voice broke, "Hold on."
I don't know how long we stayed like that, holding each other as tightly as we could. My hood had fallen off, and Faith stroked my brittle hair gently, kissing me on occasion. I almost felt safe in the circle of her arms.
When Lor'themar found us, he didn't say a word. He just looked at us, a sad expression on his face before he left us alone again.
Finally, the two of us calmed down. Faith moved away without breaking the contact between our bodies, and slowly wiped at the corner of my eyes, where my crying has split open the skin.
"Thank you," I told her. I felt raw, exposed, but I knew Faith wouldn't betray that.
"I love you, Sylvanas."
"I know." I kissed her, murmuring my love to her in return.
We slowly got to our feet. Night was falling, which meant that we would have to sleep here. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do that.
"Will you stay with me tonight?" Faith asked me. "In bed? I don't want to sleep alone."
I gave a nod.
Together, we left the darkened tower where I'd taken my last breath. I had been utterly alone, with nobody who loved me by my side.
"You were the last person to go through my mind when I died," I told her. "I was thinking that I didn't want to leave you. But I couldn't hold on any longer."
Faith stopped walking to take my hand. Slowly, she took off my leather glove, exposing the silver ring that still circled my wedding finger. "I was with you," she whispered. "You were in my heart the whole time." She pressed her lips to mine, but briefly, conscious of people watching us. "I will always be with you, no matter what, Sylvanas. Always."