There was no time to grieve. I pulled at Faith's arm and kissed her briefly. "Keep fighting."
She looked at me, and I saw the pain in her eyes. But we had to go on. Nerubians were coming out of the ziggurats, followed by necromancers and constructs of untold origins. I saw Scourge generals, who immediately made for us.
Faith was ready. I handed her the spellblade back, and we began to fight, back-to-back. Every time one of us killed something, she set it on fire. Soon, more than three dozen fires were burning all over the dead city as everyone followed suit.
But they kept coming. We had lost several people as well, other than Felicity. Still, we didn't stop. I knew, however, that as long as we were locked in battle, Dar'Khan would stay safe.
"Enough!" cried Faith suddenly. "Sylvanas, get down!"
I obeyed her without question. I felt her throwing herself on top of me and shout a spell as she jammed the wand she'd been holding down into the ground. Intense light surrounded us, so bright that I was completely blinded until Faith put her free hand over my eyes.
We got up.
The battle was still violent all over the place, but in a ten-foot area around the two of us lay several dead bodies of constructs, nerubians, and members of the Cult of the Damned.
I didn't have a clue as to what Faith had done exactly, but whatever it had been, it had obviously taken a lot out of her. I put my arm around her, "We have to find Dar'Khan!"
"I know!" she shouted, blocking some spell that had been aimed at us.
We didn't have time to search all of the ziggurats. But one of them was more heavily guarded than the others. "Faith!"
She followed my line of sight, and together, we went there, slaying anything along the way.
The guards put up a hell of a fight, one of them nearly besting me. It would have done, had Faith not hit it from behind.
"You're not respecting the rules of engagement," I told her, trying to make a joke of it. "Hitting someone from behind like that."
She snorted, "Rules of engagement, right. Remind me of that when we're not fighting the Scourge."
We walked inside, a couple of Farstriders right behind us, along with Perovir, who looked a little worse for wear. We were cautious, Faith in front of me as we stepped further and further into the structure, our faces bathed in foul green light.
The sound of necromantic chanting reached us. Faith hurried along, and I caught her hand instinctively, wanting her to slow down.
"Come in," came Dar'Khan's voice. "Come in! Why must you stand in the doorway? Are you so afraid to meet death?" A chuckle, "And if you're thinking about getting out of here, it's already too late."
I took Faith's hand and squeezed, hearing that whatever was behind us had pincers. A nerubian. She squeezed back and let me go so that we could walk into the underground chamber together.
Green light filtered from the walls, the same way it had when we'd been in Scholomance. I saw four necromancers with their skeletal minions on either side of the chamber, and elven sacrifices on the floor.
Standing in the middle of the room, staring right at us, was Dar'Khan, traitor of Quel'Thalas. Undead now, he was tall, with long dirty gray hair and dark gray skin. He wore robes that had once been blue, but were now a dirtier color, torn in several places. He didn't look much better than my Forsaken.
"Ah, look. The two lovers. That's just cute. Come here to avenge your late lover, Faith?" He laughed, "Shouldn't you have brought someone with you? Oh, your little army upstairs? No, I'm afraid they're all going to die and come back to serve us. And you'll be first."
He cast a spell so quickly that I didn't see it coming, and Faith wasn't able to block it. It hit me straight in the chest and I collapsed, my knees knocked out from under me. My bow fell from my hands, as did the arrow I'd been holding.
Faith screamed, but was cut off almost immediately when the nerubian used its own brand of magic to hurt her. I saw dark tendrils of shadow pick her up by the neck and dangle her from the ground.
No! Faith! I couldn't say anything, couldn't move. The spell Dar'Khan had thrown at me had paralyzed me, and all I could do was watch, helpless, as Faith's life was slowly drained from her body.
I struggled. I struggled harder than I ever had in my life and undeath. I couldn't let Faith die. Not here, not now, not like this, not ever.
Dar'Khan chuckled, "Oh, it's too easy."
One of the Farstrider rangers fell to the ground, dead. A minute later, she twitched and slowly got to her feet, her movements oddly disjointed.
"Faith!" I cried. I gave myself the biggest push I possibly could and launched myself at the nerubian, whose concentration was snapped. It fought me as Faith crashed to the ground, burying its fangs into my arm.
I heard shouts from behind me as the second Farstrider was killed and raised as well. Perovir, for his part, was oddly still. Catching a glimpse of him, I realized he was in shock, paralyzed by his own fear. I punched the nerubian's face away from my arm, giving a cry when one of its fangs stayed lodged in my arm.
Faith was stirring. I don't know by what miracle, but she was able to cast a fire spell that hit the two fallen Farstriders and engulfed them quickly. However, the fire also lit up the vile substance that was on the floor.
"I never said you two could fight back," said Dar'Khan, stepping towards Faith. He pulled a short sword from the folds of his robes. "Don't worry, Faith, this will only hurt for a second."
I couldn't get to her, as the nerubian demanded all of my attention. I called out her name.
"No, banshee. You won't be able to save your beloved, not this time."
I saw Faith's eyes opening wide. She pulled her foot up and kicked hard enough between Dar'Khan's legs for me to hear something cracking. He made a sound I'd never heard an undead make before, and it would have been comical had the situation not been so dire for us.
He collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain, which was when all eight of the necromancers struck.
I pulled a blade from beneath my shoulder pads and stabbed the nerubian multiple times until it fell.
The liquid on the floor was catching fire quickly. Two of the minions on the far side of the wall were trapped and screaming as the fire turned them to ash. We would all be roasted alive and dead if we didn't get out of there quickly.
Still unable to get to her feet, Faith was casting spell after spell, creating invisible barriers so that we would have time to get out of there.
I stumbled over to her, grabbing my bow along the way and crashing into Perovir. That seemed to break his fear, and he blinked, looking around himself with terror in his eyes. "Move it!" I screamed at him.
He began to fight, hard, just as Faith got to one knee and cast another spell, aimed at one of the necromancers, who froze in his tracks. His minion exploded into flames. Fire began to burn in that area too.
Faith reached for me and I caught her hand, pulling as hard as I could with my injured arm, which felt as though it was about to be pulled right off my body. I didn't really feel much physical pain anymore, but this was something else.
I didn't care. I pulled, and she came, nearly colliding with me.
"Perovir, let's go!"
Dar'Khan was slowly getting back up. The dark gray of his face had paled, but he was still too alive for my liking. I threw my blade at him and saw it embedding itself in his hand. He screamed again.
Perovir joined up, going on Faith's other side and helping her up the stairs.
"The necromancers!" he cried.
"They'll have to fight… the fire if they want t-to get out," gasped Faith. She coughed once, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
"Can you block the door?" I asked.
She raised a hand, turning it slightly so that it faced the doorway we had just gone through. A dark blue light seeped from her fingers towards the stone archway, which collapsed a second later. It wasn't much, and would probably buy us five seconds at most, but they were precious seconds.
We ran as fast as we could, which admittedly wasn't very fast. We had barely managed to make it outside when we were met by three skeletons. But this time, Perovir's fear had left him, and he was able to get rid of them quickly, his sword nearly singing in his hands.
"I said that neither of you are going anywhere!" snarled Dar'Khan from behind us.
I stumbled and fell, bringing Faith with me.
Nerubians and necromancers were approaching us. If we were going to do anything in order to survive this, we had to do it immediately.
Faith was murmuring a spell, a powerful one. I understood the words, a mix of Thalassian, Common, and tongues of old. Something about the Light and the elements coming together with magic to protect us all. As she murmured, her entire form began to emit a pearly silver glow. A sliver of moon somehow filtered down through a gap in the clouds and touched her.
She released the spell.
The moon ray jumped from her body and hit Dar'Khan straight in the chest, lifting him and slamming him into the doorway of the ziggurat. The light jumped again, hitting the nearest nerubian and burning it on the spot, doing the same to a skeleton that had ventured too close, and to a gargoyle.
Dar'Khan crashed into a puddle of noxious fluid, burned, definitely hurt, but unfortunately still alive. Whatever necromancy was keeping him moving was very powerful indeed.
Faith pressed something into my hand. It was her spellblade, and it was glowing brighter than before. Its magic soothed me, helping me get to my feet and walk over to where he lay. He tried to hurl a spell at me, but I heard Faith shouting something, and a wall of arcane force suddenly appeared in front of me, stopping his spell, while allowing me to move forward.
"You're looking a little bad there, Dar'Khan," I told him.
He was no longer smirking. In fact, he looked scared now.
"You're one to talk, Banshee." He spat at me.
"You had a little something to do with that, didn't you, traitor?" asked Faith. She was walking again, steadier on her feet now.
Dar'Khan opened his mouth to say something, but in one swift move, I separated the head from his body. Dark viscous blood sprayed over both Faith and I, almost immediately turning to ash. Faith set the remains on fire as I held up his head for all to see, "Your leader has tasted true death!" I cried, my voice carrying over the noise of the battle.
A few people stopped fighting, and Faith used that opportunity to set fire to two gargoyles. Several constructs, no doubt held in place by Dar'Khan's magic, fell apart as we watched, their pieces raining down onto the floor and rolling around like some grotesque versions of a child's ball.
The First Magi Corps renewed its efforts. Fire began to fall from the sky as Faith joined her spells to the ones paladins and priests were chanting. One of the ziggurats suddenly exploded.
We couldn't stay there any longer. We had killed Dar'Khan, but we were still outnumbered, and now, we were hurt. I hated to have to give the command that was on my lips, but I had to, "Retreat!" I called.
I caught Faith by the waist, and we began to get out of there. She was still casting spells in every direction, and Perovir's sword danced against fiends of all shapes and sizes. The remaining gargoyles took to the skies, fleeing the battle, which was a victory in and of itself.
As we ran, I saw bodies of the fallen. Faith set them each on fire, taking a bit more time than I would have liked. It was enough for a necromancer general to hone in on us and cast a spell on Faith as we closed in on the entrance to the city.
The jet of dark magic missed her by less than an inch, and only because I pulled her out of the way.
A protective barrier of holy magic surrounded us as we finally managed to exit Deatholme. It burned me, but allowed us to get out of there safely. We were the last ones out, from what I could tell, everyone else who had survived the battle was staring at everything, wide-eyed and stunned.
"Concentrate all your magic on the entrance!" I shouted.
Faith turned from me, beginning a spell that was taken up by every mage, priest, and paladin we had with us. Magic of every kind hit the gates of Deatholme, turning the open doors there red, then white. Stone and metal seemed to fuse together, then melt, and finally, with an explosion that sounded more like a scream, the entrance collapsed surrounded by black fire, knocking some of us back a few feet. Both Faith and I were blasted backwards, landing on top of a couple of elven rangers.
"Wow, look at that," said Perovir, watching as flames rose twenty feet above the city.
I struggled to my feet, holding onto my arm, which was practically limp at my side. My fingers were still clamped around Dar'Khan's head. I dropped it. "Someone put that in a bag. We'll bring it back to Silvermoon as proof."
A Farstrider took care of it, handling the head with a grimace on his face.
Faith came to me. She was swaying a little, and her face was ashen, but she didn't look badly hurt. I felt a stab of relief and smiled at her, "Are you okay?"
She nodded, "Let me see your arm, Sylvanas."
"I'm fine."
"That thing nearly took it off. Now, let me see it."
Carefully, she pulled my hand away from the wound, slowly taking off the bit of armor around it.
My arm had nearly been severed. I could see the bone poking out from whatever bit of skin and muscle remained attached to my body, but that was about it. I nearly burst into laughter, "Great. Just pull it off and I'll get a new one in Undercity or something." The pain coming from the area came in agonizing flares, and I grit my teeth against it.
"You'll need a necromancer to fix that," whispered Faith.
Speaking of necromancers, "Someone has to go to the Spire to check on the others." I called out to everyone. "Perovir, take fifty of our troops, and go give them aid. Evacuate them as quickly as you can. Now! We'll meet back in Tranquillien."
"We can't split up, Sylvanas. We'll be sitting ducks if we do. We have no idea how many forces were amassed at Windrunner Spire."
We had gone into Deatholme with nearly five hundred people. Out of that, I estimated that maybe two-hundred had fallen. We were injured, and needed a serious rest, "If we all go, it'll be another massacre. Go, Perovir!"
"I'll go with him."
"No you won't. I have no idea what damage that nerubian caused you."
"Sylvanas –."
"If you go, I do," I hissed at her. "I am not about to let you go off like that without getting you checked out first."
"I'm sorry, my love, but you're in absolutely no condition to do anything." She turned and climbed on the nearest skeletal horse, "Get the queen back to Tranquillien immediately. Take the main road, but be careful. Ride as fast as you can. I want fifty able-bodies to come with us to Windrunner Spire, on the double."
I tried stopping her, but she waved a hand at me so that white light froze me in place. I could only watch as she galloped away with Perovir and four dozen rangers, mages, and priests.
I couldn't believe it. She had left me. Left me to get healed so that she could continue fighting without having to worry about me, but she had left me! To fight the Scourge!
Venom came to me and nudged me.
"My Lady, I could probably heal your arm partially, to keep it from… falling off."
I glanced around at the priest who was looking at me. I doubted he could do much of anything, but I consented, "Don't forget that I'm dead, priest. My wounds don't work the same way they would for the living."
Bracing myself for the momentous pain I knew was going to come, I grabbed on to Venom's saddle. Holy magic hit my arm so hard that I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming. I felt as though I'd been dipped in fire that was consuming me from within, starting from my injury and radiating down to my fingers and my chest. I couldn't help it. I cried out.
The priest stopped, breathing hard. What he had done hadn't really helped much, only getting some sinew to fuse itself back together. It had also leeched some of the poison out of my system. Until then, I hadn't even felt it. I swayed and he put a hand on my back, boosting me onto my horse.
"Go to the Spire," I said dully.
"We can't, my Lady. Lady Everstone gave us specific instructions."
"And I'm giving you new ones. Take me to Windrunner Spire. Now!"
But he didn't listen. Nobody did. Someone took Venom's bridle, and it was all I could do to stay on him as they led me away from Faith. I wanted to struggle, but I think that the holy magic had made me sluggish, because I couldn't summon the necessary strength to do that.
Darkness descended upon me.
When I emerged, I was lying on a bed, and someone was setting my arm carefully, aligning the bone so that it would be healed properly. Gentle hands probed the skin there, infusing it with magic. I winced and blinked, seeing Faith right there.
I whispered her name. Her eyes flickered to my face, "How are you feeling?" she asked me.
"Absolutely furious with you. You left me."
"You couldn't fight with that arm, Sylvanas." She took a cold cloth and wiped my forehead, "I've never seen a Forsaken with a fever before."
"Fever… I don't have a fever."
"And yet, you do. It's not from the poison. I think it's more what Dar'Khan did to you."
"Well, that's just great," I said. "I nearly lose my arm, now this." I glared at her, "You left me."
"You did the same thing to me a few years ago. Get over it." She put her fingers to my arm again and whispered an incantation that made me jump.
"Faith, what are you doing?"
"Healing you."
"Not with that magic, you're not. Where in the world did you learn that spell?" I shook, "I don't want you using that kind of magic."
"You use it."
"I'm dead, Faith. And I was a member of the Scourge for a year. You are alive, and one of the purest people I know. Please don't use necromancy."
"It's just one spell, and it's working. See? Your arm is nearly completely reattached."
Faith had worked carefully while I'd been lost in the darkness that passed for unconsciousness with the Forsaken. Almost no scar was visible where my arm had been ripped from my body.
"Faith, no…"
"Shh, my love. I'm almost done." She kissed my lips softly, before beginning again.
I didn't want Faith to use necromancy, not even to heal me. I felt tears pricking the back of my eyelids. What had I turned Faith into? Was she turning to darkness now? "How… how did it go at the Spire?" I asked, my voice trembling.
Faith looked at me and kissed at the salt at the corner of my eye, "I love you," she whispered to me. "And I will always love you, my heart." She kissed my forehead, "It went pretty much as expected. Altogether, we lost less than half our force. Most of them were Forsaken."
I nodded, having expected that. The Forsaken respected life more than anything, and would have easily died to save a fighting blood elf, especially since they had once been my people.
Faith performed one last bit of magic on me, fully closing the wound, sealing it with more necromancy. Her fingers emitted green shadows as she worked. I sat up, "Faith. Where did you learn that?"
"Undercity," she responded simply. "I asked one of the necromancers there to teach me a thing or two in case I needed to heal you in an emergency."
"There are other ways." I couldn't remember feeling so sad, even when I'd died. I didn't like the look on Faith's face. "Faith, please."
She looked at me, "Can you move your fingers? Do you have sensation everywhere?"
I did, moving my fingers as she'd asked and flexing my arm. It felt normal. "You're not going to talk to me about it?"
"Not until you talk to me about what you're building in the bowels of the Apothecarium. I thought I was having a nightmare when I saw the abominations, Sylvanas. I didn't think you'd be able to resort to that, but you did."
"And that makes it okay for you to use necromancy too?"
"It means that you can't say anything to me about it. Don't worry, it's not my preferred form of magic. But I can't use fire on you, I'll kill you."
"You'll try, you mean."
She gave me the ghost of a smile. "We're going back to Silvermoon in the morning. Thrall's coming."
"Thrall?" It was about time. I started to get up, but caught the look on Faith's face. "What is it?"
She shook her head, "Nothing… I… you know, I thought I'd be happy. We killed him. The one who let Arthas in here. But I feel lost, Sylvanas."
I could only look at her. She didn't cry, but she looked shattered. "We avenged Quel'Thalas, in part. I don't suppose it will ever be completely done, not until we kill Arthas and Kel'Thuzad."
Faith shrank away at my mention of Kel'Thuzad, and I pulled her close to me, "Faith. We'll get them all right? It may not be today, but we dealt the Scourge a mighty blow today, even if they killed a lot of us." Picking up a hairbrush, I began to brush her hair gently. Slowly, she relaxed, resting her hand on my thigh. "How many Scourge did we kill, you think?"
"Rotvine and Mavren were just tallying the numbers. Enough to matter. They won't be active here for a while, and the Farstriders will be able to handle whatever's left."
"We can only hope that they don't get reinforcements from the Plaguelands. Gargoyles can still come here from there."
"I don't think so, at least not for some time. We did a good job back there."
"Yeah, we did." I loosely braided her hair, wanting to hold her.
We rode back to Silvermoon the next day. Along the way, people hailed us, calling out that we had saved Quel'Thalas. It took a lot for me not to stop and tell them to be ridiculous. I didn't know how long it would take, but the Scourge would probably rise again and would be active for quite some time in my former homeland.
Silvermoon had a festive air as we arrived. Music was playing in all directions, tunes that I knew and had sung when I'd been alive. I had even danced to one of the songs I was hearing with Faith, the two of us hidden in her room, holding each other tightly for what had seemed to be only a moment.
"Oh, this brings me back," said Faith to me.
"Titans, did I want to kiss you the day we danced to that," I said quietly. The feeling was crystal clear to me, even now. "I wanted you so badly I could taste you."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because Estelien came into your room a minute later and we had to jump apart. Maybe it's a good thing he did, or I would have found a way to take you right there and then."
"You remember exactly how you felt, don't you?"
"Don't you?"
"Every day."
"And you're holding on by a thread," I remarked. Now that the fear of losing me had passed, she wanted me again. The lust was wholly evident in her eyes and flushed cheeks when she looked at me.
"You're the one who's refusing me. Although I think I could make you surrender to me, eventually."
I burst into surprised laughter, which caused several people to turn around and look at us. "And how do you plan on doing that?"
"Wait and see."
"Oh, I really don't like the way that sounds," I told her. My arm went around her waist. As incredible as it felt, at that moment, I was happy. Faith and I had survived the battle in Deatholme, and we'd done what we had set out to do. Flower petals fell all around us as we rode through the streets. People shouted our names.
We reached Sunfury Spire, where Lor'themar, Halduron, and Lady Liadrin, the leader of the Blood Elf Paladins, were waiting for us. All of them were dressed in their finest, almost making me think that they would be taking credit for what we had done in the Ghostlands.
They greeted us with bows and handshakes as we dismounted from our horses.
"Welcome, heroes of Quel'Thalas," said Lor'themar. I had to force myself not to laugh out loud. "I would like to personally thank you for what you have done at Deatholme. Getting rid of Dar'Khan the traitor was no small task, I'm aware, and we honor your bravery, your sacrifice, and your dedication to seeing it done!"
People began to cheer, and Faith and I looked at each other. Since when had Lor'themar become so… ridiculous?
The cheering died down, and he looked at us, "In all honesty, though. Thank you. Thank you for everything you did. I understand you lost a lot of people?"
"A fair amount, yes," I responded. "We'd expected it, considering the fact that we were outnumbered from the beginning."
He nodded somberly. "I would then like to have a moment on silent for the heroes who fell, not just now, but since the Scourge first invaded us all those years ago."
Faith blanched at the thought, but I nearly laughed again. I was going to have a moment of silence for myself? The smile that was threatening to emerge suddenly disappeared as I remembered the moment Frostmourne had pierced my body. I remembered thinking about Faith and how much I'd loved her, and how unfair it was that I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life with her.
Lor'themar looked up, "I declare today a Silvermoon holiday! Everyone in the city is free to do whatever they wish, within the limits of legality, of course. All food and drink are free on this day for everybody! The Spire will pay any and all costs necessary today."
The cheering resumed again, and a huge party began immediately as we entered the Spire for a bit of respite. Faith saw the look on my face and came to me, but I waved her away. If I started talking to her about whatever I was feeling, I'd ruin her day too, and she was already mourning Felicity.
"Thrall will be arriving at any moment," said Lor'themar as soon as we'd closed the doors behind us.
We sat down at the large meeting table, Faith angling her chair closer to me than was strictly necessary.
"Is it official, then?" she asked. "Are we officially in the Horde?"
"I believe so, but he'll confirm that once he arrives." Lor'themar looked at Faith, "Are you all right?"
"Oh… yes, I'm fine, thank you."
The response was so generic that, had we been alone, I would have forced her to talk to me. But he seemed to take her at her word, although it was obvious that something was bothering her. Her hand kept going into her pocket to squeeze something.
"I understand you were injured, Sylvanas."
"Nothing Faith couldn't handle," I told him, reaching out under the table and placing my hand on her thigh. Almost immediately, her hand covered mine.
He nodded, "How many people did you lose?"
"Nearly three-hundred Forsaken. Maybe a hundred elves. It could have been a lot worse, but not by much."
"It's going to take us a long while to train the replacements for the Magi Corps," whispered Faith. "I don't know how we're going to manage it."
"We'll find a way," I said.
"I would be more than happy to ask whether people here would be willing to go to Undercity and help with the training."
"That would be welcome," I said just as someone came in.
"They're here, Regent Lord."
We got up, following Lor'themar to the portal chamber, where a couple of orcs were just materializing from a portal that led to Orgrimmar. They were guards, and Thrall joined them soon after, with several others.
"Welcome, Warchief of the Horde," said Lor'themar to him. I hoped he wasn't going to get more flowery than that, or Thrall would think him a complete idiot. "We're glad you could make it."
"I'm happy to be here on such a joyous occasion." He cocked his head to the side, "You're already celebrating?"
"They're celebrating the fall of Dar'Khan, Warchief," said Faith, bowing slightly. "Sylvanas slew him herself."
I glanced at her. Why was she giving me all the credit? "I might have done, but you weakened him first," I replied.
"You're certainly persistent, Sylvanas," said Thrall.
I didn't smile, but Faith did. She knew that when I wanted something, I usually got it, by any means necessary.
Lor'themar led the way back to the meeting table, which was now so full that Faith was practically sitting on my lap. The heat from her body radiated over me, and I realized that I could smell her when she was this close to me. Slowly, I moved my leg so that it touched hers, wanting to yell at myself. What was wrong with me? Faith shivered at my touch.
We began to talk about what had happened at Deatholme, Faith filling in the details of what she and her team had done at Windrunner Village as well. It was a long tale, and when she mentioned Felicity, I saw a tear splash onto her hand.
"She died bravely," said Thrall in a low voice.
"Everyone fighting the Scourge dies bravely." Faith's voice trembled and I put my hand on her knee to keep her from getting up and fleeing.
Thrall looked over at Lor'themar and Halduron, "I think that Faith is a credit to your race."
"She's more a credit to Sylvanas than to any of us, but thank you."
"All I know is that if every blood elf is like her, I will be more than happy to have them as my allies. So, I can officially say, welcome to the Horde."