Many thanks to those who've reviewed, every small bit adds to keeping moral high and increasing inspiration for new ideas. Project: Raven's Flight has begun! writing an original work is significantly more difficult than fanfiction, but I am neither surprised not daunted by the task. I am sure that, once ground work is well established, this project will flow from my fingers as quickly as Stormreaver does. In the meantime, enjoy the next chapter several hours early, if you happen to be up at this time of night (for me at least.) ~F

Chapter Seventy Eight

Tying the Notts

Sylvanas watched as more and more orc, troll, and tauren warriors emerged from the latest zeppelin from Kalimdor. Thrall's mandate that they could not let the attack on Arathi stand came as something of a surprise to her. The orcish Warchief, always so cautious when engaging in military affairs with other factions, had more than leapt at the need to reestablish their control of the region.

At the same time, she had received word from Quel'Thalas and her dark rangers. The Scourge was still thick in the Ghostlands separating the rest of Lordaeron from the elven kingdom, and they were having difficulty punching through.

She was already planning another front from the northern sea to Eversong directly, but she had to be subtle, or else the rest of the Horde would be concerned that she was not contributing forces to the new offensive in Hillsbrad.

Still, the visual of the Forsaken gearing for war and loading their ships off the north sea did inspire some of the Horde leaders to look more favorably on them, as though there would be a conjoined effort in this campaign, and that was something that the Banshee Queen was not unhappy to have for the time being.

They knew that her interest lay in securing an ally to the northeast, and if their ships suddenly diverted to that, they would be unable to blame her for abandoning their fight in the south. The Scourge presence alone in the region of Quel'Thalas was enough of a threat that her forces would be more than needed to contend with them and push to Silvermoon properly.

What would only make the situation better would be if her champion, and new secret weapon, returned soon so that she could employ them into her plans. Alas, last she had heard regarding Nathanos and her new Death Knight they had passed into the Plaguewood and infiltrated Stratholme successfully.

Few Forsaken dared to enter that place, with so many powerful necromancers and other Scourge servants in charge there it was downright dangerous for them to venture in, lest they were captured and turned back into mindless slaves of the Lich King.

Still, some news would have not gone amiss if they had survived or were returning, but Sylvanas was certain that they would. Nathanos would not dare to disappoint her again. Until then, she would continue her plan without them, and perhaps when they returned, Varimathras would forward at least Nathanos to her side with reinforcements, while handing off the special mission to their new tool and weapon.

If the Dark Horde was to be stopped, their leaders needed to be dealt with, and the fact that they had a powerful undead with them such as that Death Knight was a potential in that the Dark Lady was more than willing to take advantage of. She would use their own monster against them; and stab this warlock leader in the back with his own blade.

Still, the difficulty would be in getting the Death Knight back to his master to fulfill Sylvanas' wishes without arousing too much suspicion. It would be odd for the beast to just wander back in after being gone for so very long after whatever mission he had originally be sent for, or at least the Banshee Queen assumed this much. It was what she would expect if someone she sent out too far too long to accomplish their goal with no word.

Still, even if she did not devise a surefire way for the Death Knight to reason out of being so terribly late to return to his master, but either being destroyed at the hand of the other was a win for her and the Forsaken. A Death Knight was a terribly powerful foe to content with on the field of battle, although she would much prefer the warlock to be slain out of the pair.

For the time being however, she would have to wait and plan, as she would not be able to put anything into motion with the Death Knight until he returned with Nathanos, and that was presuming that they arrived before she took to the field to sail into Eversong Woods and take the fight against the remnant Scourge to the frontlines of the elven kingdom.

The zeppelin started away from the tower halfway between the entrance to the Undercity and Brill, off to return to Orgrimmar, and likely another batch of soldiers waiting to funnel through on the Warchief's command to reinforce Hillsbrad and attempt another assault on Arathi.

"My Lady, what are our plans for this movement of the rest of the Horde?" a Forsaken lookout asked, also standing on the walls of the ruins of Capital City.

"We do nothing for the time being," she replied, "let them move on the Dark Horde, we will continue with our plan to bring the Blood Elves into the Horde, and add their magical prowess to our might."

The undead nodded, not wishing to do anything more than accept his queen's commands and see the wisdom that Sylvanas held just by being herself.

In due time she departed, returning to the depths of the Undercity, and the plans that she had been requested by Warchief Thrall in preparing the actual defense of Hillsbrad, specifically the area around Tarren Mill and the river that separated the position held by the Dark Horde with the rest of the region.

She had some ideas for how they could array their troops, but there was only so much she could do without knowing the full complement of warriors that were coming to man the positions. As on now, she had only pointed out the locations that poised likely assault points if the Dark Horde went on the offensive, as well as issued orders for spies and scouts to look at the land beyond the river, and observe the Dark Horde as they rebuilt Thoradin's Wall.

The problem was Durnholde Keep. The Dark Horde seemed to have moved in and started repurposing the former human fortress into a forward outpost guarding the gatehouse of the wall. It was a large hurtle that would make invading Arathi once more extremely difficult without air support. Unfortunately the wyvern and bat riders were too valuable to lose against the same destructive anti-air defenses that the Forsaken had already faced.

Siege weapons seemed to be the only answer, but the demolishers and plague catapults were slow and would take several weeks to get in any great number down to the river to start bombarding the area.

Personally, Sylvanas was hoping that some other leader would be on the ground with the troops rather than herself, as she wanted to go herself to Eversong, where she felt that a victory would actually be achievable. Still, detailing key locations where they could guard the river, short of Southshore and the Alliance held territory, she did what she could. Perhaps they could even herd the Dark Horde into attacking Southshore first, and swoop in to push back and take control of the entirety of Hillsbrad for themselves.

Yes, she smiled as she starting putting troop locations toward Southshore, they would find a way to profit from this terrible situation.

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Narcissa sighed as she sat in her favorite chair in her home. It was growing tougher to stay on her feet for long periods of time, and the politics of Stormwind were something that she had a great deal of standing and walking involved with.

A gentle charm removed her shoes and stockings to their places, and another started the pleasurable process of massaging her feet, which swelled terribly after the day's work. The former denizens of earth were starting their own group of power within the houses of nobles among the other Stormwind leaders, and Narcissa had been unanimously chosen to represent them in the body.

Her association with the royal family also had won her the approval of several other noble houses, which had provided the votes required to get the house of Malfoy into the House of Nobles, which was an assembly very similar to the Wizengamot from their former home.

She had written to Lucius many times, always expressing her love for him, but also with questions of how to proceed, as he had been far more involved in the government of their old home, and would be able to instruct her on the best methods to gather more influence with even the holdouts for any sort of change in their political environment.

She did not expect absolute approval, but so far the major powers were very much in the camp of House Malfoy, as well as involving them into the other, subtler things that allowed the massive nation to work day to day.

It took a great deal of her time these days, as much as she could devote to it around her pregnancy, but Narcissa still tried to make sure to have time daily with Draco, checking in with him and what was going on at the palace, as well as relishing in having her son around for so long.

Granted, even then there were things that Narcissa wanted to handle on her own, without Draco underfoot. This was one of those times, as she summoned over a stack of letters that needed finishing. A quill started scratching out her thoughts for the wording of the same generic letters for the others of the earth population, giving updates on the House of Nobles and the future of Stormwind in the wake of Varian's return.

Meanwhile, she pulled one sheet closer to herself, and brandished a quill in her own hand. This letter was going to be a personal invitation, which she planned to have Draco deliver in person to Jaina Proudmoore. The young woman felt like a kindrid spirit to Narcissa, and after what little she had learned from her time spent among the nobles of Stormwind, she felt that they ought to get to know each other more.

The fact that she wanted Draco to get to know her as well was only an added bonus, as the young woman was an ideal match for her son, even if the boy's heart lay elsewhere. Things might be able to change, even if Narcissa wasn't cruel enough to try and force her son to court the young sorceress, she could at least foster a friendship and see if anything sprung up out of it.

The invitation only took a few moments of drafting until she was satisfied. The young woman seemed to have a great desire for company, if she had become so heavily involved in the Stormwind Royal Family, even given the honary title of aunt by Anduin, who ought to have been arriving shgortly if Narcissa's sense of the boy's timing was stil correct.

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door, and Narcissa heard Draco moving through the house to answer it. From what she had last heard, Lucius was involved in a large project far to the north for Nobu'tan, and as such the leader of the Black Harvest had extended the time that Draco would remain in Stormwind, until the pair traded off so that Narcissa was not alone for any length of time.

She figured that the man had heard about the problem with Onyxia, and had decided that this late in her pregnancy that she needed to have her family around her at all times. "Hello Anduin," she said, turning out of her thoughts as the light booted feet entered her room.

"Hello, Lady Malfoy," the boy replied happily, entering carefully as he held a small tray with two cups of tea, sugar bowl and the other requirements for a proper British tea. The pair had taken to having afternoon tea together quite frequently, as Narcissa wasn't able to make it up to the palace as often as she'd like, and the young prince was as endearing as ever, wanting to know what was going on between his father and the House of Nobles.

Narcissa felt that Anduin was quite shrewd in his idea, hearing both sides of the issues by speaking with both her and his father. He would make an excellent leader in his time, if such an event came to pass. Although the future was bleak for those who fought against Nobu'tan, Narcissa hoped that the words they had shared in Westfall many months ago still were in the younger man and that he was still considering how the other factions could aid them against the Legion, and work to free the warlock from their grasp.

Perhaps, in drawing their faction closer to the Sorceress of Theremore, Narcissa could help show Nobu'tan that this world would accept them, even aid them against the Legion if that was what he ended up choosing, adding a bit of insentive was what a motherly figure was supposed to do after all, was it not?

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Teg'Ramm stared around the vacated ogre mound, waiting for the forest trolls to make their appearance. He knew that they had likely been scouting ahead into the Stranglethorn jungles, waiting for the much larger and less stealthy group of ogre warriors to make their way down from the Deadwind pass, but to leave no one behind to greet them and update them on the progress of the mission was something of an annoyance.

Despite knowing that this mission was of utmost importance to the troll, Teg'Ramm couldn't help but feel that there was some sort of hidden agenda that the troll had yet disclosed to them, something dark and sinister about their need to go up against the Gurubashi Trolls of the south.

Unfortunately, there was no proof that he could use to motivate his refusal to aid them, and therefore he had little choice but to move on in near blindness with the troll's plan. Soon enough, he felt the presence of one of the lanky green creatures approaching, and turned just as the scout dropped from a high treetop.

"It's about time one of you showed up… we've been waiting too long in the open…" Teg'Ramm grumbled.

"Der's been a slight change to da plan…" the troll replied, motioning for Teg'Ramm and the other leaders to follow closer to a large flat rock near the entrance of the vacant mound.

Unrolling a parchment that comprised of a map of the southger region of Stranglethorn, the troll explained. "Warmaster Voone took most o' da troops to the soudern villages, rousted dem all up into a frenzy. Da problem iz dat now they attacked our camp, and captured many o' our bruders… I was sent back to getcha so we could free da rest of our trolls and march on Zul'Gurub directly…"

Teg'Ramm frowned, this was not what he had agreed to, but at the same time they had already come so far into dangerous lands to just turn around and go back with nothing gained. "Fine, we will do this… lead the way…" he said angrily, hoping tha the troll wouldn't waste anymore of their time and go straight to this prison camp in the jungle.

"As you wish…" the troll responded, gathering his map and turning to lead the way up and out of the ravine that the mound lay within. They skirted the human's road and took a more direct route to the bridge to the south, which was the only easy way to enter the northernmost part of the jungle.

After that point, they had little choice but to follow the road, even knowing that they would be likely observed from the small encampment of Alliance lookouts on the highest point of the northern ridge, but they were large enough of a party that there would be no threat to them. The numbers in the human's camp were not nearly enough to threaten them. The worst may be that word is sent out to Stormwind of their movement, but as they would likely be teleporting back it would amount to nothing.

Once past that point, they veered off the road once more, to discourage any spies from following their company, and headed east toward where Teg'Ramm had recalled Zul'Gurub was located.

"Our bruders are being held just over der," the troll scout informed Teg'Ramm, gesturing down into the valley just before the massive jungle ruins that the jungle trolls had claimed as their place of residence so long ago.

Gesturing sharply, Teg'Ramm threw an Eye of Kil'rogg into the sky, allowing him a better bird's eye view of the area. Sure enough, there were a large number of cages filled with Forest trolls, closely guarded by the vilest looking creatures that the ogre mage had ever seen. Hulking beasts with trollish features, but large as an ogre and bent nearly double as they moved shifted carefully through the area.

"Now I see why Voone wanted us to back up their forces," Teg'Ramm said, more to himself than the others, and a voice responded behind him.

"Yes, da brutes be a concoction of da Gurubashi, and we can't be fightin' dem on fair ground while dey use dese abominations…" the voice of the warmaster added.

Dispersing the eye, Teg'Ramm turned to find the rest of the forest trolls had slipped into ranks of their ogres silently.

"Where do you want us, just charge in and keep their massive brutes occupied?" Teg'Ramm inquired.

"Dat was the gist of the idea," Voone responded with a shrug.

Teg'Ramm shook his head, mildly annoyed at the simply mindedness of the rest of the Horde, forgetting that the Balefire Clan was far more than a club to wield against their enemies, but for the time being they did have the strength needed to contend with those kinds of foes.

Gesturing, Teg'Ramm launched forth a powerful bolt of chaos, blasting the nearest hulk of a troll, and sending the signal for the Balefire warriors to charge into battle.

The ogres let out a massive roar and stormed down the ridge, trampling anything in their way as they ran for the massive troll bruisers. The trolls, large and small alike in the valley, turned at the massive burst of noise, but did not have the time to form any sort of defense before the first line of Horde warriors hit them.

As the ogres plowed through the front lines, cleaving down little trolls and grappling with the hulking ones, the forest trolls followed Voone into the camp, going straight for the cages of their brethren.

Teg'Ramm watched from his vantage point with the shaman and few warlocks that he had handpicked for the assault, occasionally taking potshots with their spells into the massive melee. It seemed to be an effective clean sweep of the makeshift prisoner camp.

The problem was going to be the uphill battle to the front gates of Zul'Gurub. At the top of the massive set of ruined stairs, more of the massive trolls were wheeling boulders to the edge, in preparation to throw them down on any approaching force.

Somehow, Teg'Ramm got the feeling that Voone would want his forces to take the front of that endeavor, and he was not pleased at the thought of his people being so rapidly thrown away. True, the brainless oafs that made up the rank and file ogres were no great loss, but it made Teg'Ramm look bad by extension.

The rest of the Gurubashi trolls fled up the side of the massive structure, while the Horde rallied in the center of the field, and the shaman of the Balefire Clan used their power over water to heal the wounds of those who were not mortally injured.

"We be needing to push onward!" Voone called, gesturing at the temple staircases, "Da ogres can take de front and block dose boulders as they come down at us!"

"I have a better idea…" Teg'Ramm countered, gesturing at his warlocks. Together the half dozen two-headed creatures started to hurl their Fel magic at the top of the ruins. Bolts of shadow, fire and chaos shattered stone and forced the massive trolls to flee, leaving the boulders to fall with no targets waiting below them.

At a signal, the warriors started up the now cleared stairs, shoving aside the rubble and dead trolls that had fallen in the bombardment. The forest trolls followed, but Teg'Ramm stopped Voone with one massive hand, "Never try to use my warriors as fodder ever again…" he threatened the troll, "we are strong, but we are also just as cunning and intelligent as other races, and if we are threatened we will crush any who stand in our way, be they friend or foe…"

The forest troll warlord backed away a step, but did not seem intimidated in the slightest by the warlock ogre mage. Teg'Ramm did not wait for a response however, and moved to follow their forces, knowing that without either of the two main leaders it was likely that the entire united front would grind to a halt at the next obstacle.

And what an obstacle it was. Past the tiny gate, one that would only permit one ogre at a time to pass through showcased the enclosed temple grounds, which surrounded the main complex via a system of rope bridges.

Before them a literal wall of trolls stood waiting for their arrival, armed to the tusk and clearly ready to die in defense of their home. "Don't even start," he said to Voone as the warlord appeared at his side, before the ogre lord beckoned to his warriors.

It was too amusing to watch the very same boulders that the trolls had hoped to crush them with rolling down into the ranks of the Gurubashi, crushing many and forcing them to fall back. The Horde charged into the vacated space, allowing them to funnel even more of their troops into the initial spec of land, and start to attack, pushing towards the two rope bridges that connected to other parts of the network of raised land around the central, sunken temple.

Teg'Ramm paused, sensing a great swelling of energy in that central temple, of a type that he had never encountered before. Voone saw him watching, and was quick to offer a reason. "The Gurubashi be summonin' deir god, Hakkar da Soulflayer… a powerful Loa spirit…"

"I have never encountered such a power before…" Teg'Ramm admitted…

"Hopefully, we be stopping dem before dey finishing da summonin…" Voone said, although Teg'Ramm could hear in the troll's voice that even he was worried.

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Blaise had wasted no time in traveling as far to the south as he could, checking out the ruins where it seemed a coven of warlocks were summoning demons wantonly, but it seemed that Kohor had already sent word ahead, because they were purposefully sending their demons away and packing up their devices to withdraw back to Thunder Axe Fortress by the time Blaise arrived, and therefore there was nothing for him to concern himself with.

Further to the south he encountered a massive encampment of centaur. Having been already forewarned of the devastating and cruel nature of these creatures by Tyranis Malem, a strange fellow that resided in the Fortress of the Horde, despite being himself one of the blue skinned night elves.

Rather than engaging them, Blaise skirted around the edge of the settlement on the west side, looking for the hidden pass into the lush forests that were reportedly south of this region. Typically, Blaise wouldn't have bothered sparing the murderous creatures, but he felt that it was a likely resource that Edgran and the rest of the Fel Centaur wouldn't want to waste.

Blaise knew that Teg'Ramm and Warmaster Voone were already doing all they could to increase their numbers in the Horde, as the race with the largest percentage of warriors held some sort of prestige and power over the others, but the Centaur, Veela and Goblins had woefully yet to find any means outside of their own breeding to increase their numbers, which was not efficient in comparison.

Perhaps he would win some favor amount the Fel Centaur with the information of their brutish cousins in this area. Until that time however, Blaise would do as Lord Nobu'tan commanded, and explore this region to the fullest, before returning and making a full report of all that there was in this desolate land for them to make use of.

The pass was simple enough to find, even if it was supposedly hidden, but it was heavily guarded by one of the clans of centaur, and Blaise chose instead to turn to the west and find the rest of the coast.

The mountain range did a great deal in preventing any sort of sea access, but there was a sloping valley beyond the ruins where Kohor's fellow warlocks had been practicing their craft. Beyond that Blaise found the first sparse selection of timber in the area, which was rather slim and shoddy by the account of trees, but foliage was plentiful on their slender branches.

What concerned him more was the presence of the massive Horde banner over a small village on the very edge of the coast. Trolls, loyal to Thrall's horde, occupied the region, and utilizing a small eye of Kil'rogg, he spied on them conversing with a large warrior in a mantle of furs. Alongside this strange being was a massive bear, which seemed perfectly docile as it lumbered alongside its companion.

He had heard rumor of this warrior back in Orgrimmar. The being's name was Rexxar, and he was entitled as the champion of the Horde. Apparently the bear was only one of the beast master's many allies. If such a being was here in this land, there was a potential threat to their operation.

That was enough to warrant his return to Thuderaxe immediately, and start his report to Lord Nobu'tan. He made a point to recommend that a contingent of Fel Centaur be brought to this land, in order to recruit the native clans into their forces, as well as a font of Fel Blood be summoned and enshrined in the fortress for their use. Blaise was sure that his requests would be allowed, because Lord Nobu'tan recognized that Blaise only thought in the best interests of the Stormreavers, and their internal plan to undermine and eliminate the influence of the Burning Legion throughout Azeroth.

"Did you find what you sought, Lord Tenebrous?" Tyranis said, the elf moving gracefully into the chambers that the warlocks used mutually for their projects.

"Some things," Blaise said calmly, knowing that this elf was an ally to their cause, although he wasn't certain of the full extent of Tyranis' loyalty. "But there was a threat in the false Horde's encampment that requires us to move up our schedule of transporting equipment and forces here to help defend us…"

"What can we do to help?" Tyranis replied.

"Simple, I need Fel power to create the portal back to Blackrock Mountain and our main base of operation, in order to present this intelligence to Lord Nobu'tan."

"I believe we have enough warlocks to power such a portal for as long as you'll need it…" the elf said confidently. Blaise smirked in return; he could happily work with such willing acolytes.

Therefore, that night Blaise gathered with the elf, Kohor and three other warlocks gathered in the darker part of the rear cave for the ritual. Blaise had never headed such a spell before, although he knew exactly what the ritual entailed and harnessing that amount of Fel power to cleave open a portal in space, allowing him to see back to the fiery land of the Burning Steppes.

The face he saw however was not that of Lord Nobu'tan. "Ah, Tenebrous… Lord Nobu'tan told me that you would be in contact soon. Truth be told I did not expect it to be so soon…"

The figure started stepping through the portal, and Blaise was forced to move back and admit the illusioned orc body that he knew was in actuality Theodore Nott.

The fourth in line of the council of the Black Harvest looked about as he stepped through, sizing up and judging everything around them, and nodded, "I can see what Lord Nobu'tan had said regarding this place. It will serve us quite well."

"There are a few potential problems, as I was going to report," Blaise started, but Theodore continued over him.

"It will be on no great concern… we have all the resources that we need, I will see to it…" Theodor said, but Blaise had a inkling that the other warlock had his own interests in mind with regard to his supposed control on this new base of operation.

"Come, show me around the domain that I will soon be managing for our mutual leader, and tell me of your concerns in great detail." Nott said, even as the young man's father followed through the portal before the Fel magic was dispelled.

Blaise was at a loss of what he could do, other than comply. He would have to get the confirmation that Nott was indeed going to be in charge of this location before he surrendered any information whatsoever, and even then his specific mission would not be even mentioned except to Nobu'tan himself.

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Draco was not surprised that his mother had been busy writing letters to all manner of people throughout the Alliance. What did surprise him was the request for him to deliver one specifically to the Sorceress of Theramore. He could tell that there was a spark of interest between his mother and Lady Proudmoore when the sorceress visited them, but he had not expected that to manifest into anything further.

But now he found himself on the Stormwind docks, boarding a ship bound for Kalimdor and the satellite nation. How he had been persuaded so easily, he still wasn't even sure. But there he was nonetheless, waving goodbye to his mother before the long trip across the sea to visit Jaina once more.

It was odd to him, as clearly the woman had suspected something terrible to come to them and outright ask about the taint of the Fel upon him. Narcissa knew this too, so why had she pushed for Draco specifically to meet with the woman once more and personally invite her back to visit them in Stormwind.

It was almost as though Narcissa had forgotten that Draco was engaged to Pasny and thought that she might spark some sort of romance between himself and the Sorceress…

Draco almost laughed, but the sound caught in his throat. His mother was exactly the type that would view the power that each of them carried, and the fact that they indeed have several things held in common, had laughed together and shared many conversations during that one visit. But the problem still existed that Draco loved Pansy, and not Jaina… and he was more than certain that she held no such feelings for him either.

He could not place where the heart of the sorceress lay, but there was a wall around her feelings, even if Draco was desirous to breach them and get to know her more. But even as the ship pulled away, he realized that that was what his mother wanted them to think of each other, and by Draco delivering this invitation in person, it would come across as an attempt at courtship.

Sitting on a small bench on the deck of the ship, he tried to piece together why his mother would do such a thing. Clearly Narcissa did not disapprove of Pansy, the interactions the two women had previously attested to that. Draco knew well how his mother acted around those she disapproved of, and she would never have treated Pansy with any amount of kindness if that was what she thought.

He wasn't even sure if he had the right to be mad at his mother for this. It was subtle, yes… possibly even a trick to get them together, but if he thought hard about it, it didn't come across as completely nefarious or sinister in trying to include the young Sorceress more with their family. It was not as though Draco actually didn't like Jaina. She was powerful and beautiful, but the emotional connection was not there, and he wasn't sure if it would be ever.

Perhaps it was simply a mother wanting her son to see that there were many more options in this world, and that he, like Lucius and Narcissa, needed to be absolutely sure of what he wanted before binding himself forever to Pansy Parkinson.

Still, regardless of his understanding of his mother's objective and motivations, it was still rather inappropriate of her to impose so heavily on his love life. Propriety demanded that he fulfill the wish of his mother, but once he returned to Stormwind, he was planning to have a long chat with his mother about what exactly she hoped to achieve by this.

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Theodore Nott knew that Blaise was suspicious of him, and he would have been disappointed in the sixth member of the innermost circle of the Black Harvest if that had not been the case. "Yes, I guarantee that Lord Nobu'tan has sent me to manage this fortress and build up out front into this land," he said as soon as they were away from the natives of this world and therefore free to talk.

Theodore's father had come with him, and would start the important work of establishing the permanent portal back to Blackrock that would allow them to funnel the resources needed to refurbish the orc fortress to be worthy of housing members of the new Horde.

"I see," Blaise said, still seeming to wish to withhold information, and that was fine with Theodore, so long as it had nothing to do with his new fortress and lands.

"You will wish to bring Fel Centaur into this land," Blaise started, "there is a large number of the same creatures in this land, and we might be able to increase the numbers in the Horde through their intervention and the placement of a Fel Blood well in the fortress."

"That is good," Theodore agreed, "but that will have to come later on, the Fel Centaur are currently occupied up in the Arathi Highlands, where a potential threat is forming against Lucius…"

Blaise looked unsure of what Theodore spoke of, but nevertheless the higher ranked member of the Council continued, "I will see about getting several of them here as soon as I can, but the font of Fel blood will not be safe until we perfect the defenses of this place, and I sense that you found some sort of potential threat to us in this land."

"I did," Blaise affirmed, "the other Horde has a base here, on the southern coast, and the Champion of that Horde, a being named Rexxar, roams these lands with his beast companions."

"I do not fear some beastly creature," Theodore said quickly, but Blaise interrupted him.

"I would not be to quick to dismiss this creature," Blaise said quickly, "rumor had circulated in Orgrimmar that he singlehandedly united a clan of ogres to their side, as well as fought off a powerful Alliance admiral and destroyed an entire army himself. It would be wise to at least treat him as a potential threat, allied against us, and operate as such."

Theodore could tell that Blaise was telling this honestly, and felt a great deal of unease about this being, and nodded. "I admit, I was willing to overlook such a potential threat. We will proceed more cautiously in that case."

"Thank you," Blaise replied, "I hope that you indeed have success with this land, and take my advice to heart."

"Where will you go?" Theodore asked, legitimately curious. Ever since Nobu'tan first sent Blaise out to this land, the other warlock had become very aloof and secretive, and as his old friend from so long ago, Theodore was concerned.

"I have other work left to do, and some information for the ears of Lord Nobu'tan alone. I need to go south and east, circling back toward the large land of the barrens to see the rest of the mainstay of this land…" Blaise explained.

There was something more in there, but Theodore was not willing to push into anything that might be for the ears of Lord Nobu'tan, and nodded, "If you need assistance getting back to Blackrock, come back and we will make you a portal." He offered, knowing that the strain on crossing the sea was possibly weighing heavily on his old friend.

"Thank you," Blaise said, even as he turned to depart once again, "I need to move if I am to slip past the centaur guarding the pass to the south. Give my best to your father and the others, and good luck with this land."

"And good luck to you and your endeavors as well," Theodore replied, standing and watching as the warlock assassin took off down the path toward the road to the south, disappearing into the shadows of the night.

Breathing gently to taste the cool, dry air of this land, Theodore returned to the group of warlocks, including his father. The schematics of the permanent portal were out and being reviewed by the orcs, and one elf, while they spoke among themselves.

As Theodore approached, his father looked up as though sensing his arrival, and moved to meet with him. "They say that they have all the materials we would need in the ruins just to the south, where they had previously been trying to summon a legion of demons for their own attack on Orgrimmar."

"Well, a legion of demons may yet be needed, but not to go to all out war with the other Horde… at least not yet," Theodore replied, "I need some of the Fel Centaur to come through for a special purpose, and all the stone and timber that can be sent with peon workers… this place is run down and sorely lacking in proper defenses."

"You expect conflict?" his father asked, watching him closely. Theodore smirked. His father was always a bit of an overprotective man, but through the intervention of Lord Nobu'tan in selecting Theodore as a member of the innermost council of the Black Harvest. His father might have been only a fundamental member as well, but that specific selection by Lord Nobu'tan directly had given Theodore's father pause to think that maybe his son was ready to operate on his own, with no more than sideline support rather than attempted control.

"There is a possibility." He affirmed, "There is another outpost for the other Horde here, and sightings of a powerful champion of the Horde and its values here in this desolate land. Therefore I want to make sure that we have out defenses shorn up and prepared in case war comes to us as it has for Lucius."

"Then that is what shall be done…" Theodore's father replied. Theodore walked away at that point, thinking hard. They might also consider giving some names for these orcs to call them by. There would be a great deal of confusion and suspicion unless they did so after all.