p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Disclaimer/strongspan style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;": /spanThe characters and settings created by Blizzard Entertainment Inc in this story are owned by their creators. I do not claim them as mine in any way, shape or form. I am not receiving monetary profit from this story and no copyright infringement is intended./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal;" /p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Note/strong: There are some serious spoilers for My Life for My Prince (the first one) in this chapter. Feel free to skip this chapter if you want to avoid that. Don't worry, the following chapters will still make sense!/p
p class="MsoNormal"…/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongChapter 41: Initiation Rite/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongW/stronghen they noticed me waking up, I guess they sent for Saturna. She was there before too long./p
p class="MsoNormal""Turaho…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"They'd put me in a cell, down in the Sunspire. That's how unstable I was. I was seated on one of those typical jail-house benches, the kind that's chained to the wall for a reason I was yet to figure out. Though, I was beginning to see it. Everything around me suddenly looked like it could become a good weapon…/p
p class="MsoNormal"Then I looked down and calmed again. Saturna had come into my cell, opened the gate and slipped right inside. She then sat at my feet, looked up at me./p
p class="MsoNormal"That entire cell-block was empty, I think. They wanted to tuck me away, to keep me very quiet about what Kael'thas had done, with hardly a thought./p
p class="MsoNormal""Turaho, you can get angry and throw me out if you want, but I hope you won't. You started a war with us in the royal treasury. Your Goblin friends had a ship of some sort—a submarine. And it was docked at Sunsail Anchorage? How did you all do that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I glared at her. "I'm that good."/p
p class="MsoNormal"She shook her head. "The entire city, and the Horde, it feels like, is in an uproar. We're arguing that you are ours to detain. Kael'thas, of course, wanted to finish things with you before it even got that far. The Horde wants to recall you back to Orgrimmar. Thunderbluff wants you as well, but they want you in prison for collaborating with the Venture Co."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Orgrimmar, please."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Warchief Sylvanas intends to interrogate you. Well, Nathanos is begging to do it for her, which feels… worse."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Nevermind then. I'll just die here."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna shook her head, "But there are more important things to a Blood Knight, a Knight of the Blood Nexus than these mere entanglements I'm describing. You'll soon see why. I have something critical to say that could change everything for you. Today and beyond."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Look. I hate to say it, but you're never supposed to sit so close to a Tauren's hooves when he's in the state of mind that I'm in—"/p
p class="MsoNormal""What?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Do me a favor. Sit next to me, now!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna didn't want to, but she would have picked up on the life-or-death urgency in my voice. Trained soldiers can usually set their opinions and even their personalities aside and take orders like that in an emergency. That's how you win wars. Every military outfit on Azeroth should at least be able to train their people to obey commands and stay alive./p
p class="MsoNormal"Only when she was safely sharing the bench with me did I explain, "I have the instinct to stampede. All Tauren do. I don't want… I don't want to." I stopped myself from saying I didn't want to kick her skull in, after a fit of pure rage./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna tucked pale blond hair back near her long ear. "I know it's the last thing people want to hear, when someone they love has died, but…" Then, she decided to put it another way. Till this day, I don't know why she thought it was better. "I know how you feel about Kael and Meydiri. I lost the one I loved, once. He was murdered."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh?" I would have rolled my eyes if I'd been feeling that juvenile. Whoever she had been madly in love with around the time Silvermoon fell to Arthas did not compare to Kael'thas singling out my woman for a torturous demise. I felt sick at the very notion./p
p class="MsoNormal""I… I once killed Kael'thas."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I didn't hear it. I couldn't have. I just stared at the floor./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna leaned over, as if it were an agony to say it at all./p
p class="MsoNormal""I killed Kael'thas. I murdered him."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I squinted, shook my head and horns. This was unreal, it didn't make sense. "He's still here, though."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna raised her hand, for me to let her get the truth out, in her way. "Years ago. It was years ago and we were at the Black Temple together. I was on a mission, like yours. Yes, in a way it was like yours. I was supposed to investigate him. Me, Pyorin, Sunthraze and Fennore. I was their commander, I was supposed to… lead them well. I didn't."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I watched her let out a breath. I watched her linger as the sin left her lips. "Like you, I failed. Kael'thas, he wouldn't change, but I refused to see it. He wouldn't turn away from the Legion, he wouldn't stop using and lying to people. All the while I was… falling in love with him, sleeping with him-"/p
p class="MsoNormal""The mission was fatally compromised."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, fatally compromised. How true." She held onto the edge of the bench, "Illidan was also using Kael'thas, badly. Or, worse—really, we found out it was the other way around. Kael'thas was manipulating Illidan so deftly, and we all felt so sorry for Kael, thinking he was the one victimized, all these puppet strings… And there's more, I—" she had to stop herself./p
p class="MsoNormal"I looked at Saturna, ready to cry for her. I couldn't begin to imagine how horrifying that must have been. She was such a… well, a fangirl. A zealot. For that man, sure, it made no sense, it was sickening to recall then, but... I didn't like to imagine Saturna with such a broken heart./p
p class="MsoNormal"She lay her hand on her chest, had a new breath. "I don't remember all of it, but I was pushed beyond extremes, somehow, with Illidan. It was Illidan, who had entranced me, I believe. Somehow, it was like Illidan had this spell over me and I wanted to hate and rip Kael'thas apart for everything he had done to me, my mission, our people, us. Him and I together… I was just burning up with agonizing rage. I wanted to end it, I was sick, sick with anger and guilt, and so exhausted. I wanted to snuff it out. I wanted it all ended. And Kael'thas was the villain, wasn't he? It's what the Sha'tar wanted. It was what the Army of Light wanted, and the Scryers. I had that intel."/p
p class="MsoNormal""How did you do it?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Her eyes were wide, as if she was bewitched. "That scar on his neck. I gave him that scar. I kiss it every night. I feel his beating pulse, under his skin. Sometimes, he won't let me kiss him there. But I see it and I feel for him, then can't help it."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Did you cut off his head?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""A proper execution."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I did the obvious thing, felt around my own neck. Actually, she was doing it too./p
p class="MsoNormal""After I killed Kael'thas, then I tried to kill Illidan, too."/p
p class="MsoNormal"My whole body felt heavy. My teeth even hurt, the roots of my teeth. It was a marvel my mouth could make the conciliatory words, "Well, it's what the Army of Light wanted to do, back then. Like you said. You did the right thing." I did wonder what the hell Illidan had done to Saturna exactly, what happened between them and how he 'entranced' her. Though I was starting to have an idea./p
p class="MsoNormal""No, it wasn't like that. I was sent, all the way to Outland… to kill Kael'thas. To execute the Prince of Quel'thalas if all the rumors were true, if he was not a good man. If he was betraying his people."/p
p class="MsoNormal""So you did your job."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, Turaho. I murdered the man that I loved. End of story."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I had to know, "How is he… alive now?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Illidan knew, and Lady Vashj knew as well, that I was capable of going that far. It was my mission. And I suppose they saw how I was a fool, a desperate zealot. And, that I was also close enough to Kael'thas to get the bloody job done. Those stitches around Kael's neck, that you can still see today, that was the fulfillment of their part of the… gruesome quest." She eyed me, beneath shorn white hair that had slipped back into place, shadowing her pale, ghoulish gaze. "You can't sew a head back on until it's been cut off. They wanted to use some Naga magic in the stitches, control Kael'thas that way. Make him into the puppet. And I, fully conscious of what I was doing, because hate drove that execution strike, a desire to get revenge drove it... I, his lover, chose to become his butcher."/p
p class="MsoNormal"And she could still smile at Kael'thas. Saturna could still smile at all./p
p class="MsoNormal""As for the rest, it is a very, very long and ugly story."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, no, no… tell me."/p
p class="MsoNormal""What? You're stuck in here. You want to heal and calm, and get out beyond these bars. Not get even more depressed." She recoiled. Not at me, nor our situation. At the past. Her past that was obviously more horrible than my own. Saturna gripped the edge of that cold seat again. "Alright. Though before I do, I should confide something else."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I couldn't help her feel better about it, not in my state. I sat there, hands on my knees. I didn't try./p
p class="MsoNormal""Turaho, with your powers, with your ability and your personal code of honor… I, too, want you to become a Knight of the Blood Nexus."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh. It's what Pyorin, Sunthraze and the others said that one night. At the holiday party. It almost feels like a lifetime ago. No, Saturna. I can't even consider doing something like that. Not now. Never."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I will only tell you the rest of this story if you agree to consider it. Seriously think it over. This story is valuable to me and to other Nexites, there is no other possible reason I would re-live it. Ever. It re-forged me, but only after it broke me, shattered me into desperate little pieces that felt like… Like they never knew being whole. Will you at least try and think over what it must be like to go through something like I did, and how much good you could contribute to our people, and to the Horde, the world, with a devotion to saving others just as I—we—once recommitted ourselves after such tragedy, and ultimately saved someone like Kael'thas?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I no longer wanted to listen. But Illidan's words came back to me, that this would be a rare chance even he wished he had. I folded my hands together. I must have nodded my head. I was so focused on not crying again in front of her./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well then… To go back to the beginning, it all started when we got to Shadowmoon Valley, and I told Fennore, Pyorin and Sunthraze that, even if we knew Kael'thas had become so lost, so lost that he had joined Illidan Stormrage at the Black Temple, we were still going to try and save him."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I swiped at my eye, "And I bet you had a… hot little red number, a slinky, strappy weapon in your kit-bag to help you do it."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna smiled for a little while./p
p class="MsoNormal""…You did, didn't you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Of course not. The dress was white. Red would have been too obvious."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I rolled my eyes at her. Then I smirked../p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna went on to tell me about this three-ring-circus she and her three friends got up to, appeasing Kael'thas, then falling out with him, her falling in love with him… there was a naked sky-fall over Nagrand at one point—that was Kael'thas, holding onto Saturna while she was screaming and he was without his robes, killing off some enemies on flying mounts that'd jumped them. An even longer story./p
p class="MsoNormal"I was amazed at how exciting, even humorous it had been, before things went wrong. I sat with my elbow on my knee, my chin in my palm, for a while. A Tauren in deep thought./p
p class="MsoNormal"After a while, the real adventure came together for me. It was more than just about Kael'thas. Pyorin the Tank had recruited Sunthraze. Well, she called him Brother Sly. And Brother Sunthraze the Sly eventually recruited Brother Immortal. Fennore the Immortal, after a long time, recruited Sister Maneater. And then, there were Sister Tempestraven and Sister Weaver… All of them were saving one another, helping one another, as well as Kael'thas. Pyorin had tried to tell me the story before. I'd chuffed him. But, now. Now it was becoming so real./p
p class="MsoNormal"Pyorin once stopped Sunthraze from attacking his own mother who schemed against him. Sunthraze had frightened the Army of Light so badly, as one man, that it bought them more time to focus on Kael'thas and try to bring him around to the side of right, their way. Fennore was the one to heal Illidan from Saturna's wound, and so keep Illidan from giving the command to have them all killed, when things eventually went sour at the Black Temple. Some terrible situations had arisen and some ghastly decisions had to be made, in order to survive. Just to survive. But it implied an amazing character in each of them. All were more ruthlessly committed to staying alive and keeping their country alive than a lot of Silver Hand Paladins that I'd met in my travels./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna tried to put it simply for me, in the end, "Paladins ask politely for you to embrace the Light. Shrug and walk away from Stratholme when you don't do it. Blood Knights will drag you kicking and screaming into the right thing. Can you imagine how an order like ours would have handled Arthas?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"The Blood Elf people had suffered so much for it. It was hard to say anything after that./p
p class="MsoNormal""And seems it…" I could hardly believe I was really saying the words, "it worked on Kael'thas. He's come back from the dead, literally. Back from the Burning Legion itself."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You can't force someone like Kael'thas into being a good man. We can't really force anyone. But we don't have time to pour you a cup of tea and hope you'll go along with it." I blinked at that echo in my mind, of me sitting down to tea with Illidan in some version of Mulgore, not so long ago, "So we'll crack heads with our maces if that's what it means."/p
p class="MsoNormal""And then Kael'thas fell beneath your blade when he refused."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna didn't say anything on her end, for a while. "Death… wasn't the end. I chose it, and I knew that it was very final, and he may never forgive me for it. But I used one of Fennore's spells on us, in that state, to escape from the Black Temple and get Kael'thas away from Illidan. Kael'thas just needed to be away from Illidan. That was it. That was the answer. Or so I thought that was the solution. I nearly succeeded. But then I lost my own life."/p
p class="MsoNormal""…And after that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""You're a Pathfinder, or you were. I think you've already filled in the blanks. Besides, the rest of the story would take all night, maybe longer. I was undead, a ghost of sorts. I was brought back with the help of the Sunwell…?" She looked me in the eye to see if I was following her. As she said, I had already pieced it together. Albeit through em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Goblin Gentleman's Magazine/em…/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, Kael'thas forgave you in the end."/p
p class="MsoNormal""And I forgave him. He… He was a complete asshole as my boyfriend. I think it's safe for me to admit that now. I refused to see it back then."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I can totally see Kael'thas being an asshole boyfriend."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, he and I had some lovely moments, too." Saturna looked down at her hands, "Now, listen. Only the Bloodknight Matriarch can give the test, to become a Knight of the Blood Nexus. Pyorin may have invited you to join our ranks before, but only I can give that test. Do you understand?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I could scarcely comprehend it, even though I nodded and tried to keep up./p
p class="MsoNormal""My test will come when you least expect it, Turaho. You must show that you are willing to sacrifice everything and can be trusted to protect the future of the Blood Elves. And I mean the Blood Elves."/p
p class="MsoNormal"That annoyed me but I was too exhausted to argue. The Blood Elves were part of the Horde, supposedly, so fine./p
p class="MsoNormal""Prove that you would put life, survival, before your own selfish designs. Prove that we are not like Arthas. We can wield all the power that we need and still be trusted to take care of our own, at the end of the day. Not destroy, but defend. Does that make sense?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I nodded./p
p class="MsoNormal""It's a big thing I'm asking you."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't remember agreeing to anything at all."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I told you my story. And now I'd like to give you your test."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Wait—"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Forgive Kael'thas."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I got up immediately. I paced in the tiny cell. Then, I shouted at her, "You don't think this isn't a little bit-!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Shitty of me to do? To you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, stilted of you! To ask me to forgive your husband when he is a sick, twisted monster! And the test, you said that I wouldn't know when it was coming, that it would be mystical and spiritual, some crap like that."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, you do sound surprised to me."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Though I also like the other 's' word you chose! Yes! This is shitty of you!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Turaho. One other reason that I killed Kael'thas was because he took back our engagement. To be married. Sort of. He was dangling the engagement ring in front of me in that moment, when I fully lost it. Then, near Shatthrath City, Illidan murdered me—"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Wait. You didn't say that before. That is, indeed, a very petty, zealous… fangirl thing for you to do—"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Be quiet." Saturna slapped hands on her thighs, then stood as well. "After the Black Temple, after I was gone, Kael'thas wanted to kill Illidan out of revenge for my death, but he couldn't, so Kael went to the Legion for more power, and on and on. As for me, I even almost… I was a ghost banished from my own body, trapped in a world of pain with a man that I used to love, but hated. I almost killed my own son, the lone tether I had to this world, to have it just end. To sever the bond with Kael'thas, finally. Do you see where this leads? Do you see how it is a cycle of hate and self-destruction that never, ever ends?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I took the bars in my hands, looked out instead of within./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna's voice faltered, "I love Kael'thas so much. Almost more than my own life. I can't live without him."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't say that. You're even influencing me to get what you want. Some test!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"She thought better of herself, "No… you're right. I shouldn't be saying things like that."/p
p class="MsoNormal""And you should never believe a thing like that, not about any man!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna stepped closer, stood just behind my large shoulder, "This situation between you and Kael'thas came up naturally, on its own. You had a job to do, and he had a kingdom to defend. Now is a good time to ask yourself, Turaho, if you would throw away a chance to help others with your powers, your future here in Quel'thalas and beyond with great, great friends, and me… the way that only Blood Elves interpret being Paladins do, as a fellow Blood Knight, a Nexite? Only because you would rather have the power to destroy one man."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Kael'thas is more than a man." I turned around, "And this is blackmail if I've ever heard it. The very epitome of blackmail." I looked over at her./p
p class="MsoNormal""What did I say before? A Blood Knight doesn't care about that. A Blood Knight knows that there is a man upstairs, and you already know his story and how horrific it would be to him, if he ever lost his wife, his kingdom, all that he agonized to build… and that you, Turaho, have the ability to stop that chaos from erupting. Save his soul. Save Kael'thas. Save your own soul. Will you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""No! This is about money, power, your comfortable life, getting to… keep screwing a man who is a complete asshole—he still is! And that's also why he's so attractive to you, admit it. All women are the same."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Is that what Meydiri saw in you? And why you are acting like this right now?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I turned back and slammed the bars with my fist, "…Get out, Saturna."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Either I'm right, or you're wrong about all women. You get to decide how it is."/p
p class="MsoNormal""GET OUT!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Finally, she listened. I heard her footfalls go. But the last thing Saturna said, she told me from the other side of the bars./p
p class="MsoNormal""What if Blood Elves and Tauren aren't so different?" And she mispronounced 'Tauren' but whatever. "What if Kael'thas and I are just like you, protecting someone—something greater—that we desperately care about? I may not know everything about Greatfather Winter and what took place when you found him, but in my core, I trust Kael'thas. He is a changed man. I know that he is better than everything that has been happening around him."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Protecting the ones you care about? By lying to me and running me around in circles?" I slammed the bars again, made her start a step, "By holding Greatfather Winter captive someplace until this all blows over? Until Kael'thas forced me into killing Meydiri! Until I give up?!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"So, we had both shown all our cards./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna swept a curled white bang from over her eye. She lifted her chin, "…Yes."/p
p class="MsoNormal""She finally comes clean. You are a liar. You are a user. You are his queen! Why did I ever fool myself into thinking I'd get any less from you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""All you can see is anger. Anger begetting more anger. Instead, make friends. Make peace. Fully accept the Blood Elf people, even our broken sovereign, into your heart. Even his Blood Knights warped by pain and nearly facing the extinction of their people. If we are curved blades, then fine, but we're meant to do a specific job! I know you appreciate what we can do, that you want that power for yourself, and to bring us closer into the heart of the Horde. And I've seen your ways, and I want it too. Yes, I admit that. It's not one-sided, this request. Become a Blood Knight, Turaho. Swear an oath of loyalty to my people so we can trust you and take the first step closer to the heart of the Horde. Swear an oath to that man, and heal that side of the conflict within you. Forgive Kael'thas his faults before that kind of hatred destroys you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I shook my head and horns at her./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna put hands on her hips. "You know my story, Turaho. All of it. Therefore, you know that this isn't the first time I looked at someone behind bars and told them, all three of them, that they had underestimated me and Kael'thas too."/p
p class="MsoNormal""So? Who are you talking about? Oh, his old champions, that pathetic orgy he had before he threw them in the dungeon so they wouldn't talk. Then you went to go ask them if he was a bad man or not. Feh!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, it didn't go like that. They went too far. Those three were also his security officers. But they were selfish and exacerbated the conflict with the Sha'tar—"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I rushed the bars with my horns. Saturna at last got distance from me. She backed up to the far wall./p
p class="MsoNormal""Kael'thas made me KILL the woman I loved! He made me murder her!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna tried to say, "Let me deal with him, about that—"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Who the HELL is so special that you would do all of this, just to protect them? WHO?!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I answered it for her, because she seemed to realize that, even in my state, I was an investigator, I could get information out of her and have her tell on herself, even here. Too true./p
p class="MsoNormal""One of your fancy friends, Saturna. And the stakes are pretty high, aren't they? How far up does this go, my queen?" I sneered, "What is the worst possible thing that the world could think of your husband, your people, now?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"She looked to the way out. Realized she should have left me long ago, or perhaps she should never have come./p
p class="MsoNormal""Who, in Kael'thas' inner circle, is still working for the Burning Legion? Still keeping that old, vile connection alive, that we thought we had all conquered, as two factions, Horde and Alliance united?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna clasped her hands together, shook them as she spoke, "I'm not saying that I agree with what Kael'thas did to you and your friend, forcing the… final showdown to happen sooner than it was meant to! But that's not how marriage works. I don't have to agree with every little thing he does."/p
p class="MsoNormal""How marriage works? What are you talking about now? Are you taunting me?! What Meydiri and I might have had if we only we were better people? As good as you two? Then we could have what? Merely talked things out instead of…" I felt wild./p
p class="MsoNormal"She'd made up her mind not to run. So she tried to quiet me instead, "I'm talking about me and Kael'thas, obviously. I'm not making comparisons at all. Look, now. Maybe you should sleep-"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD! ANSWER ME!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna bumped up against the wall again and dug her nails into the paint. She had her warrior face on, but still. There was a line and a limit with a queen./p
p class="MsoNormal"Well, I'd done it. Her guards would be coming soon. My threat was only a bluff, anyway… for a couple reasons./p
p class="MsoNormal""Turaho, what we were discussing has nothing to do with Greatfather Winter."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, it does. Of course it does. I just haven't figured out that one part yet. But Darnassus is involved…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"The guards came. They used ranseurs to prod me back. Deep into my cell, like some animal. Then, they checked the lock. Twice./p
p class="MsoNormal"As Saturna went away down the hall, her escort marching alongside, I called out to her./p
p class="MsoNormal""You better hope I don't ask my good Night Elf friend! He misses me, you know. And I like Al, and his Alliance, a helluva a lot more than I do Kael'thas right now! It's only a matter of time before the Night Elf works things out on his end, rains hell down on your head!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"And I meant it this time. By then, I was more than happy to betray everything I had ever known./p
p class="MsoNormal"When a man has no future, he tends to rip a new one./p
p class="MsoNormal"A Grimtotem told me that, once. He was bleeding out, white warpaint like a skull and bones smeared across his face and black fur chest. Lying on the ground, before the barrel of my shotgun. Together, we were counting down the moments before one of us was no longer a threat to tribe and country./p
p class="MsoNormal"My enemy. How right he was. On that night in the prison cell, I felt closer to a Bloodtotem than I did any of these sly Blood Elves. Him and Meydiri, even Illidan, all the people on the wrong side of this cold war. All of us felt like blood-brothers. It was very tempting defy what the queen of the Blood Elves wanted, to go the other way./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; line-height: normal;" /p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Note/strong: There are some serious spoilers for My Life for My Prince (the first one) in this chapter. Feel free to skip this chapter if you want to avoid that. Don't worry, the following chapters will still make sense!/p
p class="MsoNormal"…/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongChapter 41: Initiation Rite/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongW/stronghen they noticed me waking up, I guess they sent for Saturna. She was there before too long./p
p class="MsoNormal""Turaho…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"They'd put me in a cell, down in the Sunspire. That's how unstable I was. I was seated on one of those typical jail-house benches, the kind that's chained to the wall for a reason I was yet to figure out. Though, I was beginning to see it. Everything around me suddenly looked like it could become a good weapon…/p
p class="MsoNormal"Then I looked down and calmed again. Saturna had come into my cell, opened the gate and slipped right inside. She then sat at my feet, looked up at me./p
p class="MsoNormal"That entire cell-block was empty, I think. They wanted to tuck me away, to keep me very quiet about what Kael'thas had done, with hardly a thought./p
p class="MsoNormal""Turaho, you can get angry and throw me out if you want, but I hope you won't. You started a war with us in the royal treasury. Your Goblin friends had a ship of some sort—a submarine. And it was docked at Sunsail Anchorage? How did you all do that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I glared at her. "I'm that good."/p
p class="MsoNormal"She shook her head. "The entire city, and the Horde, it feels like, is in an uproar. We're arguing that you are ours to detain. Kael'thas, of course, wanted to finish things with you before it even got that far. The Horde wants to recall you back to Orgrimmar. Thunderbluff wants you as well, but they want you in prison for collaborating with the Venture Co."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Orgrimmar, please."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Warchief Sylvanas intends to interrogate you. Well, Nathanos is begging to do it for her, which feels… worse."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Nevermind then. I'll just die here."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna shook her head, "But there are more important things to a Blood Knight, a Knight of the Blood Nexus than these mere entanglements I'm describing. You'll soon see why. I have something critical to say that could change everything for you. Today and beyond."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Look. I hate to say it, but you're never supposed to sit so close to a Tauren's hooves when he's in the state of mind that I'm in—"/p
p class="MsoNormal""What?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Do me a favor. Sit next to me, now!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna didn't want to, but she would have picked up on the life-or-death urgency in my voice. Trained soldiers can usually set their opinions and even their personalities aside and take orders like that in an emergency. That's how you win wars. Every military outfit on Azeroth should at least be able to train their people to obey commands and stay alive./p
p class="MsoNormal"Only when she was safely sharing the bench with me did I explain, "I have the instinct to stampede. All Tauren do. I don't want… I don't want to." I stopped myself from saying I didn't want to kick her skull in, after a fit of pure rage./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna tucked pale blond hair back near her long ear. "I know it's the last thing people want to hear, when someone they love has died, but…" Then, she decided to put it another way. Till this day, I don't know why she thought it was better. "I know how you feel about Kael and Meydiri. I lost the one I loved, once. He was murdered."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh?" I would have rolled my eyes if I'd been feeling that juvenile. Whoever she had been madly in love with around the time Silvermoon fell to Arthas did not compare to Kael'thas singling out my woman for a torturous demise. I felt sick at the very notion./p
p class="MsoNormal""I… I once killed Kael'thas."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I didn't hear it. I couldn't have. I just stared at the floor./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna leaned over, as if it were an agony to say it at all./p
p class="MsoNormal""I killed Kael'thas. I murdered him."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I squinted, shook my head and horns. This was unreal, it didn't make sense. "He's still here, though."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna raised her hand, for me to let her get the truth out, in her way. "Years ago. It was years ago and we were at the Black Temple together. I was on a mission, like yours. Yes, in a way it was like yours. I was supposed to investigate him. Me, Pyorin, Sunthraze and Fennore. I was their commander, I was supposed to… lead them well. I didn't."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I watched her let out a breath. I watched her linger as the sin left her lips. "Like you, I failed. Kael'thas, he wouldn't change, but I refused to see it. He wouldn't turn away from the Legion, he wouldn't stop using and lying to people. All the while I was… falling in love with him, sleeping with him-"/p
p class="MsoNormal""The mission was fatally compromised."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, fatally compromised. How true." She held onto the edge of the bench, "Illidan was also using Kael'thas, badly. Or, worse—really, we found out it was the other way around. Kael'thas was manipulating Illidan so deftly, and we all felt so sorry for Kael, thinking he was the one victimized, all these puppet strings… And there's more, I—" she had to stop herself./p
p class="MsoNormal"I looked at Saturna, ready to cry for her. I couldn't begin to imagine how horrifying that must have been. She was such a… well, a fangirl. A zealot. For that man, sure, it made no sense, it was sickening to recall then, but... I didn't like to imagine Saturna with such a broken heart./p
p class="MsoNormal"She lay her hand on her chest, had a new breath. "I don't remember all of it, but I was pushed beyond extremes, somehow, with Illidan. It was Illidan, who had entranced me, I believe. Somehow, it was like Illidan had this spell over me and I wanted to hate and rip Kael'thas apart for everything he had done to me, my mission, our people, us. Him and I together… I was just burning up with agonizing rage. I wanted to end it, I was sick, sick with anger and guilt, and so exhausted. I wanted to snuff it out. I wanted it all ended. And Kael'thas was the villain, wasn't he? It's what the Sha'tar wanted. It was what the Army of Light wanted, and the Scryers. I had that intel."/p
p class="MsoNormal""How did you do it?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Her eyes were wide, as if she was bewitched. "That scar on his neck. I gave him that scar. I kiss it every night. I feel his beating pulse, under his skin. Sometimes, he won't let me kiss him there. But I see it and I feel for him, then can't help it."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Did you cut off his head?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""A proper execution."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I did the obvious thing, felt around my own neck. Actually, she was doing it too./p
p class="MsoNormal""After I killed Kael'thas, then I tried to kill Illidan, too."/p
p class="MsoNormal"My whole body felt heavy. My teeth even hurt, the roots of my teeth. It was a marvel my mouth could make the conciliatory words, "Well, it's what the Army of Light wanted to do, back then. Like you said. You did the right thing." I did wonder what the hell Illidan had done to Saturna exactly, what happened between them and how he 'entranced' her. Though I was starting to have an idea./p
p class="MsoNormal""No, it wasn't like that. I was sent, all the way to Outland… to kill Kael'thas. To execute the Prince of Quel'thalas if all the rumors were true, if he was not a good man. If he was betraying his people."/p
p class="MsoNormal""So you did your job."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, Turaho. I murdered the man that I loved. End of story."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I had to know, "How is he… alive now?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Illidan knew, and Lady Vashj knew as well, that I was capable of going that far. It was my mission. And I suppose they saw how I was a fool, a desperate zealot. And, that I was also close enough to Kael'thas to get the bloody job done. Those stitches around Kael's neck, that you can still see today, that was the fulfillment of their part of the… gruesome quest." She eyed me, beneath shorn white hair that had slipped back into place, shadowing her pale, ghoulish gaze. "You can't sew a head back on until it's been cut off. They wanted to use some Naga magic in the stitches, control Kael'thas that way. Make him into the puppet. And I, fully conscious of what I was doing, because hate drove that execution strike, a desire to get revenge drove it... I, his lover, chose to become his butcher."/p
p class="MsoNormal"And she could still smile at Kael'thas. Saturna could still smile at all./p
p class="MsoNormal""As for the rest, it is a very, very long and ugly story."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, no, no… tell me."/p
p class="MsoNormal""What? You're stuck in here. You want to heal and calm, and get out beyond these bars. Not get even more depressed." She recoiled. Not at me, nor our situation. At the past. Her past that was obviously more horrible than my own. Saturna gripped the edge of that cold seat again. "Alright. Though before I do, I should confide something else."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I couldn't help her feel better about it, not in my state. I sat there, hands on my knees. I didn't try./p
p class="MsoNormal""Turaho, with your powers, with your ability and your personal code of honor… I, too, want you to become a Knight of the Blood Nexus."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh. It's what Pyorin, Sunthraze and the others said that one night. At the holiday party. It almost feels like a lifetime ago. No, Saturna. I can't even consider doing something like that. Not now. Never."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I will only tell you the rest of this story if you agree to consider it. Seriously think it over. This story is valuable to me and to other Nexites, there is no other possible reason I would re-live it. Ever. It re-forged me, but only after it broke me, shattered me into desperate little pieces that felt like… Like they never knew being whole. Will you at least try and think over what it must be like to go through something like I did, and how much good you could contribute to our people, and to the Horde, the world, with a devotion to saving others just as I—we—once recommitted ourselves after such tragedy, and ultimately saved someone like Kael'thas?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I no longer wanted to listen. But Illidan's words came back to me, that this would be a rare chance even he wished he had. I folded my hands together. I must have nodded my head. I was so focused on not crying again in front of her./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well then… To go back to the beginning, it all started when we got to Shadowmoon Valley, and I told Fennore, Pyorin and Sunthraze that, even if we knew Kael'thas had become so lost, so lost that he had joined Illidan Stormrage at the Black Temple, we were still going to try and save him."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I swiped at my eye, "And I bet you had a… hot little red number, a slinky, strappy weapon in your kit-bag to help you do it."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna smiled for a little while./p
p class="MsoNormal""…You did, didn't you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Of course not. The dress was white. Red would have been too obvious."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I rolled my eyes at her. Then I smirked../p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna went on to tell me about this three-ring-circus she and her three friends got up to, appeasing Kael'thas, then falling out with him, her falling in love with him… there was a naked sky-fall over Nagrand at one point—that was Kael'thas, holding onto Saturna while she was screaming and he was without his robes, killing off some enemies on flying mounts that'd jumped them. An even longer story./p
p class="MsoNormal"I was amazed at how exciting, even humorous it had been, before things went wrong. I sat with my elbow on my knee, my chin in my palm, for a while. A Tauren in deep thought./p
p class="MsoNormal"After a while, the real adventure came together for me. It was more than just about Kael'thas. Pyorin the Tank had recruited Sunthraze. Well, she called him Brother Sly. And Brother Sunthraze the Sly eventually recruited Brother Immortal. Fennore the Immortal, after a long time, recruited Sister Maneater. And then, there were Sister Tempestraven and Sister Weaver… All of them were saving one another, helping one another, as well as Kael'thas. Pyorin had tried to tell me the story before. I'd chuffed him. But, now. Now it was becoming so real./p
p class="MsoNormal"Pyorin once stopped Sunthraze from attacking his own mother who schemed against him. Sunthraze had frightened the Army of Light so badly, as one man, that it bought them more time to focus on Kael'thas and try to bring him around to the side of right, their way. Fennore was the one to heal Illidan from Saturna's wound, and so keep Illidan from giving the command to have them all killed, when things eventually went sour at the Black Temple. Some terrible situations had arisen and some ghastly decisions had to be made, in order to survive. Just to survive. But it implied an amazing character in each of them. All were more ruthlessly committed to staying alive and keeping their country alive than a lot of Silver Hand Paladins that I'd met in my travels./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna tried to put it simply for me, in the end, "Paladins ask politely for you to embrace the Light. Shrug and walk away from Stratholme when you don't do it. Blood Knights will drag you kicking and screaming into the right thing. Can you imagine how an order like ours would have handled Arthas?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"The Blood Elf people had suffered so much for it. It was hard to say anything after that./p
p class="MsoNormal""And seems it…" I could hardly believe I was really saying the words, "it worked on Kael'thas. He's come back from the dead, literally. Back from the Burning Legion itself."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You can't force someone like Kael'thas into being a good man. We can't really force anyone. But we don't have time to pour you a cup of tea and hope you'll go along with it." I blinked at that echo in my mind, of me sitting down to tea with Illidan in some version of Mulgore, not so long ago, "So we'll crack heads with our maces if that's what it means."/p
p class="MsoNormal""And then Kael'thas fell beneath your blade when he refused."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna didn't say anything on her end, for a while. "Death… wasn't the end. I chose it, and I knew that it was very final, and he may never forgive me for it. But I used one of Fennore's spells on us, in that state, to escape from the Black Temple and get Kael'thas away from Illidan. Kael'thas just needed to be away from Illidan. That was it. That was the answer. Or so I thought that was the solution. I nearly succeeded. But then I lost my own life."/p
p class="MsoNormal""…And after that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""You're a Pathfinder, or you were. I think you've already filled in the blanks. Besides, the rest of the story would take all night, maybe longer. I was undead, a ghost of sorts. I was brought back with the help of the Sunwell…?" She looked me in the eye to see if I was following her. As she said, I had already pieced it together. Albeit through em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Goblin Gentleman's Magazine/em…/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, Kael'thas forgave you in the end."/p
p class="MsoNormal""And I forgave him. He… He was a complete asshole as my boyfriend. I think it's safe for me to admit that now. I refused to see it back then."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I can totally see Kael'thas being an asshole boyfriend."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, he and I had some lovely moments, too." Saturna looked down at her hands, "Now, listen. Only the Bloodknight Matriarch can give the test, to become a Knight of the Blood Nexus. Pyorin may have invited you to join our ranks before, but only I can give that test. Do you understand?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I could scarcely comprehend it, even though I nodded and tried to keep up./p
p class="MsoNormal""My test will come when you least expect it, Turaho. You must show that you are willing to sacrifice everything and can be trusted to protect the future of the Blood Elves. And I mean the Blood Elves."/p
p class="MsoNormal"That annoyed me but I was too exhausted to argue. The Blood Elves were part of the Horde, supposedly, so fine./p
p class="MsoNormal""Prove that you would put life, survival, before your own selfish designs. Prove that we are not like Arthas. We can wield all the power that we need and still be trusted to take care of our own, at the end of the day. Not destroy, but defend. Does that make sense?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I nodded./p
p class="MsoNormal""It's a big thing I'm asking you."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't remember agreeing to anything at all."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I told you my story. And now I'd like to give you your test."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Wait—"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Forgive Kael'thas."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I got up immediately. I paced in the tiny cell. Then, I shouted at her, "You don't think this isn't a little bit-!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Shitty of me to do? To you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, stilted of you! To ask me to forgive your husband when he is a sick, twisted monster! And the test, you said that I wouldn't know when it was coming, that it would be mystical and spiritual, some crap like that."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, you do sound surprised to me."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Though I also like the other 's' word you chose! Yes! This is shitty of you!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Turaho. One other reason that I killed Kael'thas was because he took back our engagement. To be married. Sort of. He was dangling the engagement ring in front of me in that moment, when I fully lost it. Then, near Shatthrath City, Illidan murdered me—"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Wait. You didn't say that before. That is, indeed, a very petty, zealous… fangirl thing for you to do—"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Be quiet." Saturna slapped hands on her thighs, then stood as well. "After the Black Temple, after I was gone, Kael'thas wanted to kill Illidan out of revenge for my death, but he couldn't, so Kael went to the Legion for more power, and on and on. As for me, I even almost… I was a ghost banished from my own body, trapped in a world of pain with a man that I used to love, but hated. I almost killed my own son, the lone tether I had to this world, to have it just end. To sever the bond with Kael'thas, finally. Do you see where this leads? Do you see how it is a cycle of hate and self-destruction that never, ever ends?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I took the bars in my hands, looked out instead of within./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna's voice faltered, "I love Kael'thas so much. Almost more than my own life. I can't live without him."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't say that. You're even influencing me to get what you want. Some test!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"She thought better of herself, "No… you're right. I shouldn't be saying things like that."/p
p class="MsoNormal""And you should never believe a thing like that, not about any man!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna stepped closer, stood just behind my large shoulder, "This situation between you and Kael'thas came up naturally, on its own. You had a job to do, and he had a kingdom to defend. Now is a good time to ask yourself, Turaho, if you would throw away a chance to help others with your powers, your future here in Quel'thalas and beyond with great, great friends, and me… the way that only Blood Elves interpret being Paladins do, as a fellow Blood Knight, a Nexite? Only because you would rather have the power to destroy one man."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Kael'thas is more than a man." I turned around, "And this is blackmail if I've ever heard it. The very epitome of blackmail." I looked over at her./p
p class="MsoNormal""What did I say before? A Blood Knight doesn't care about that. A Blood Knight knows that there is a man upstairs, and you already know his story and how horrific it would be to him, if he ever lost his wife, his kingdom, all that he agonized to build… and that you, Turaho, have the ability to stop that chaos from erupting. Save his soul. Save Kael'thas. Save your own soul. Will you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""No! This is about money, power, your comfortable life, getting to… keep screwing a man who is a complete asshole—he still is! And that's also why he's so attractive to you, admit it. All women are the same."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Is that what Meydiri saw in you? And why you are acting like this right now?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I turned back and slammed the bars with my fist, "…Get out, Saturna."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Either I'm right, or you're wrong about all women. You get to decide how it is."/p
p class="MsoNormal""GET OUT!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Finally, she listened. I heard her footfalls go. But the last thing Saturna said, she told me from the other side of the bars./p
p class="MsoNormal""What if Blood Elves and Tauren aren't so different?" And she mispronounced 'Tauren' but whatever. "What if Kael'thas and I are just like you, protecting someone—something greater—that we desperately care about? I may not know everything about Greatfather Winter and what took place when you found him, but in my core, I trust Kael'thas. He is a changed man. I know that he is better than everything that has been happening around him."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Protecting the ones you care about? By lying to me and running me around in circles?" I slammed the bars again, made her start a step, "By holding Greatfather Winter captive someplace until this all blows over? Until Kael'thas forced me into killing Meydiri! Until I give up?!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"So, we had both shown all our cards./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna swept a curled white bang from over her eye. She lifted her chin, "…Yes."/p
p class="MsoNormal""She finally comes clean. You are a liar. You are a user. You are his queen! Why did I ever fool myself into thinking I'd get any less from you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""All you can see is anger. Anger begetting more anger. Instead, make friends. Make peace. Fully accept the Blood Elf people, even our broken sovereign, into your heart. Even his Blood Knights warped by pain and nearly facing the extinction of their people. If we are curved blades, then fine, but we're meant to do a specific job! I know you appreciate what we can do, that you want that power for yourself, and to bring us closer into the heart of the Horde. And I've seen your ways, and I want it too. Yes, I admit that. It's not one-sided, this request. Become a Blood Knight, Turaho. Swear an oath of loyalty to my people so we can trust you and take the first step closer to the heart of the Horde. Swear an oath to that man, and heal that side of the conflict within you. Forgive Kael'thas his faults before that kind of hatred destroys you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"I shook my head and horns at her./p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna put hands on her hips. "You know my story, Turaho. All of it. Therefore, you know that this isn't the first time I looked at someone behind bars and told them, all three of them, that they had underestimated me and Kael'thas too."/p
p class="MsoNormal""So? Who are you talking about? Oh, his old champions, that pathetic orgy he had before he threw them in the dungeon so they wouldn't talk. Then you went to go ask them if he was a bad man or not. Feh!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, it didn't go like that. They went too far. Those three were also his security officers. But they were selfish and exacerbated the conflict with the Sha'tar—"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I rushed the bars with my horns. Saturna at last got distance from me. She backed up to the far wall./p
p class="MsoNormal""Kael'thas made me KILL the woman I loved! He made me murder her!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna tried to say, "Let me deal with him, about that—"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Who the HELL is so special that you would do all of this, just to protect them? WHO?!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"I answered it for her, because she seemed to realize that, even in my state, I was an investigator, I could get information out of her and have her tell on herself, even here. Too true./p
p class="MsoNormal""One of your fancy friends, Saturna. And the stakes are pretty high, aren't they? How far up does this go, my queen?" I sneered, "What is the worst possible thing that the world could think of your husband, your people, now?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"She looked to the way out. Realized she should have left me long ago, or perhaps she should never have come./p
p class="MsoNormal""Who, in Kael'thas' inner circle, is still working for the Burning Legion? Still keeping that old, vile connection alive, that we thought we had all conquered, as two factions, Horde and Alliance united?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna clasped her hands together, shook them as she spoke, "I'm not saying that I agree with what Kael'thas did to you and your friend, forcing the… final showdown to happen sooner than it was meant to! But that's not how marriage works. I don't have to agree with every little thing he does."/p
p class="MsoNormal""How marriage works? What are you talking about now? Are you taunting me?! What Meydiri and I might have had if we only we were better people? As good as you two? Then we could have what? Merely talked things out instead of…" I felt wild./p
p class="MsoNormal"She'd made up her mind not to run. So she tried to quiet me instead, "I'm talking about me and Kael'thas, obviously. I'm not making comparisons at all. Look, now. Maybe you should sleep-"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD! ANSWER ME!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Saturna bumped up against the wall again and dug her nails into the paint. She had her warrior face on, but still. There was a line and a limit with a queen./p
p class="MsoNormal"Well, I'd done it. Her guards would be coming soon. My threat was only a bluff, anyway… for a couple reasons./p
p class="MsoNormal""Turaho, what we were discussing has nothing to do with Greatfather Winter."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, it does. Of course it does. I just haven't figured out that one part yet. But Darnassus is involved…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"The guards came. They used ranseurs to prod me back. Deep into my cell, like some animal. Then, they checked the lock. Twice./p
p class="MsoNormal"As Saturna went away down the hall, her escort marching alongside, I called out to her./p
p class="MsoNormal""You better hope I don't ask my good Night Elf friend! He misses me, you know. And I like Al, and his Alliance, a helluva a lot more than I do Kael'thas right now! It's only a matter of time before the Night Elf works things out on his end, rains hell down on your head!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"And I meant it this time. By then, I was more than happy to betray everything I had ever known./p
p class="MsoNormal"When a man has no future, he tends to rip a new one./p
p class="MsoNormal"A Grimtotem told me that, once. He was bleeding out, white warpaint like a skull and bones smeared across his face and black fur chest. Lying on the ground, before the barrel of my shotgun. Together, we were counting down the moments before one of us was no longer a threat to tribe and country./p
p class="MsoNormal"My enemy. How right he was. On that night in the prison cell, I felt closer to a Bloodtotem than I did any of these sly Blood Elves. Him and Meydiri, even Illidan, all the people on the wrong side of this cold war. All of us felt like blood-brothers. It was very tempting defy what the queen of the Blood Elves wanted, to go the other way./p