Many thanks to those who've reviewed the previous chapter. I am quite excited to see what people think of the oncoming storm that is the Black Temple Raid, and how the Dark Horde tackles the horrors within! Much gratitude and love for you all, and await the next chapter in two weeks hence! ~F

Chapter 132

Siege of the Black Temple

Jaina felt her heart lurch as Draco was engulfed in the explosion from the thrown device. Telonicus seemed as assured as many of them that the young man had perished, but his smirk was changed to a snarl as the incandescent shield was revealed as the smoke cleared.

"It'll take more than a small grenade to harm me," Draco replied, the shield dispelling around him as he spun out of the way. Shaw stood behind him, already firing a pair of arrows at the Blood Elf high engineer.

Battle resumed, more Blood Elves trying to flood the room where their Prince was cornered, and Jaina had to turn away from the main conflict to manage the Alliance soldiers and her water elementals as they held the line from the pressing Sunfury warriors.

She had had no idea how much the Alliance had changed after she departed for Kalimdor. For the Elves to have changed so much over so short a time was disturbing, and she wondered deeply how fate would have changed had she not heeded the call of the old man, who had turned out to be the Guardian Medievh.

A cry from behind her signaled that the Elf advisor had fallen, leaving Kael'thas without any allies to fight for him. But the Elf Prince seemed to have other ideas in mind, as he raised a hand coated in arcane power. "As you see," he said, the smoothness of his voice covering how truly insane he had become, "I have many weapons in my arsenal…."

All at once, the weapons of his former advisors flew into the air, fighting of their own accord, arrows and bolts of magic flying from a staff and bow, while shield, dagger, sword, and axe flew out at the front line of Stormwind's soldiers.

A pair of towering constructs started up the ramp to try and push their way into the chamber, and Jaina returned to the fight before her, rather than the one behind. Channeling her frost magic, she hurriedly froze the entire passage over, thickening a solid wall of ice for the elves and their golems to fruitless beat upon, blocked off from this side of the room.

Clangs and explosions signaled that the battle with the animated weapons roiled, but Jaina quickly went to the opposite ramp, and froze it over as well, allowing her magic to make that wall thicker than the first, as many of the elves there had fire magic with them, and instantly started trying to melt their way through as the ice started to build up across their only way to their Prince's side.

"Aid Shaw," Jaina ordered, sending the SI:7 agents to join the battle with Kael'thas. Jaina conjured more water elementals, posting them to guard the icy barrier, and planted her staff in a patch of ice at her feet.

There would be no escape for them from this room, and she would need to prepare a powerful teleportation spell to whisk them all away when the time was right. Unfortunately, that would prevent her from really engaging with Kael'thas, but Jaina was not upset to avoid that particular confrontation.

She still remembered the proud and confident Elf that had doted on her in Dalaran. Their ages had been a major factor preventing Jaina from returning the affection, but still, to see him so radically changed now was physically painful to behold.

"Perhaps I underestimated you," Kael said, as the final weapon fell to the ground once again, damaged beyond repair. "It would be unfair to make you fight all four advisors at once, but… fair treatment was never shown to my people," the prince continued, producing a pile of blackened Phoenix ashes, and casting a handful around the room, where they wafted over his fallen advisors, restoring their frames and bringing them back from death.

"I'm just returning the favor," Kael said with shrug of contempt, even as his four advisors roared in rage, jumping back into the fray that they had already lost once.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Line Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nobu'tan followed the directions that Blaise recommended in laying out their siege, almost to the letter.

The small ruin, on a hill overlooking the entrance to the Black Temple itself was to be their headquarters and station of command, and Nobu'tan took a great deal of pride in ordering the banners of the Dark Horde planted on the walls for all to see. The demons and Fel orcs inside the small fort were exterminated, or in the case of the Shadowmoon Clan allowed to retreat into the Valley to bring word to their clan of the Dark Horde's arrival.

The assassin had eagerly led Nobu'tan into the underground dungeon beneath this small fortification, even as their army filled the valley before the Temple, and brought him before the cage with the armored Night Elf warrior.

With a casual gesture, the Fel ate away at the bars keeping this Warden locked away, and the armored head turned.

"I had wondered for a moment when the Ashtongue abandoned the prison," the female Elf said, haughty despite her current predicament.

"You are the one called Maiev Shadowsong?" Nobu'tan asked, judging the state of this prisoner as he spoke.

"I am the Warden," she replied proudly, "and the Hunter of Illidan. You are this so-called 'lord' Nobu'tan which I was told of, who would come to fight the same enemy as me."

Tilting her head to hear the pounding drums and whining bagpipes, the Elf nodded, "You didn't disappoint."

"I try to make an impression…" Nobu'tan said, shrugging impassively. "Care to see the full effect yourself?" he offered, stepping aside and gesturing toward the exit of the dungeon.

For a moment, Nobu'tan thought that the Elf would refuse, but she glided past without a word, ascending to the battlements of the small fort. Nobu'tan and Blaise followed quickly, looking out as the host of the Dark Horde assembled before the walls of the Black Temple.

Unsurprisingly, the Balefire Clan had taken the foremost ranks facing their enemies, flanked by both the Blightbringer and the Dawn's Hammer Clans. The others spread across the entire valley before the gates, shrouding the work of the goblin engineers with the mass of beings.

And throughout all their preparations, the booming of the drums and the piping continued, rattling those who had not been exposed to it for the previous hours of the Dark Horde's long march.

"I admit, I had not expected this large a force to come for Illidan…" Maiev stated, already turning to face the Black Temple herself. Despite the armor covering her face and body, Nobu'tan could sense the intensity in her desire to charge in, alone if needed, and pursue the Betrayer. It was something akin to a predatory instinct; a primal desire toward the hunt.

"Patience, Huntress," he said, turning to gaze at the citadel as well, "He's cornered here; we can enter at the most opportune moment to eliminate Illidan."

"That presumes that his minions will permit such a thing," the Warden replied, and Nobu'tan looked down to see those demons and Fel orcs still loyal to Illidan, as well as many Blood Elves and Naga, already swarming the battlements and surging out of the gates.

"Let them try," Nobu'tan replied, already seeing the signal flags from the goblin engineers. The Stormreaver clan had moved into the small hill fort, and Nobu'tan gestured at a young orc, bearing the standard and leading their signal band. "Let's get their attention, open fire."

The young orc nodded, waving the banner in the direction of the engineers. The drums rang out, rattling high notes over the booms of the army below. The flags of the goblin nation waved in reply, and the engineers set to work. The first snap of rope shot out over everything, and a boulder was flung from the trebuchet.

The projectile arced over the heads of the assembling defenders, and crashed into one of the upper terraces, where several structures housed more of Illidan's forces.

"So it begins…" Nobu'tan stated, as the other siege weapons followed suit, filling the sky with boulders and canisters of explosive liquid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Line Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sylvanas kicked another corpse out of her way, even as her attack force made their way deeper into Scholomance. They had separated on the upper floor, taking every available passage to eliminate everything that moved in this dark place.

The Banshee Queen had taken the main route, knowing that the necromancers and their foul abominations would focus on her, and therefore ignore the other rangers that could go about swifter and do more damage from the shadows.

Meanwhile, she had entered a deep lecture hall, complete with students learning from their dark tutors. The reaction was swift, as all figures in the room had turned their rage on her and her rangers, throwing themselves on the weapons of the Forsaken's elite warriors.

The futility of the action was apparent to Sylvanas, but nevertheless she treated these acolytes as the threats they wished to be, and slaughtered them without hesitation or mercy.

The instructors, a skeletal mage and a rotting husk, were the last to fall, their small defensive magic enough to permit them to survival several black arrows. When the pair of them finally dropped, the other Rangers returned, reporting that the massive bone yard and catacombs under the other sections were cleared.

There were still no signs of the Headmasters of the school, either current Dark Master Gandling, or the Lich Ras Frostwhisper, who remained in the underground academy to research into modifying the Scourge plague.

With only two passages leading out of this hall, and all other locations as dead ends according to her Dark Rangers, Sylvanas speculated that they had to be in hiding in these final chambers. Setting guards to remain here if others of their enemies returned, the Banshee Queen picked a route, the more subtle door that creaked open with great age and dust, and led her Rangers forward.

It was clear that this path had not received any foot travel for years, which allowed Sylvanas to speculate that it was the way to where Ras was hiding. The next door blocking their path barred with iron chains and enchanted runes, lent credence to the notion.

"It will take some time to get these open," one of the Rangers stated, others already setting to work to dispel the runes and break the chains.

"Work swiftly," Sylvanas ordered, allowing herself a moment to relax. The locked door seemed to well predate when they arrived, and therefore it was unlikely that the lich was aware of what was going on in the school around him. "I wish to be done with this place in one swoop, so that we can move on to other targets."

"Yes, my Queen," the ranger said, turning to aid her sisters with the work of opening the door.

It took a bit of time, but not much in the grand scheme of how long Sylvanas had waited to slaughter these Scourge minions. The door ground open, scraping over the stones to reveal a massive alchemical laboratory.

The lich, Ras Frostwhisper, seemed completely oblivious of them, floating back and forth from various collections of vials and other putrid substances, muttering in an icy voice to himself as he worked.

Gesturing for her rangers to spread throughout the room, Sylvanas fitted an arrow to her bow, but did not take aim as of yet. Approaching the Lich, the Banshee Queen desired to try and overhear even a scrap of what he was up to in service of the Lich King, and the temporarily fallen Kel'Thuzad.

"Be wary, child, of Plaguelands plain…" the Lich chanted, reciting a human nursery rhyme, which had surged in popularity immediately after the end of the Third War. Glass clinked as the skeletal fingers wove through them, pouring one or another grotesque substance into another, and noting the changes.

Sylvanas had little knowledge in the profession, and knew that she would have to have Putriss, or another of the High Apothecaries observe the notes and equipment that Ras was using, presuming that they were able to spare the room from the damage about to occur when the Lich realized that his foes were before him.

"Be mindful, child, of the infected grain…" the Lich continued, chuckling to himself. "Yes, grain will be the least of your concerns if what I've discovered proves true…"

"And that is?" Sylvanas said, catching the Lich's attention.

"Sylvanas Windrunner…" Ras said, setting the vial down gently and turning to face her, "Why am I not surprised that you've at last shown your face here. Kel'Thuzad had predicted that our operation would eventually become your main target…"

"Then I presume you know that there is no escape, caught in this little hole of yours," Sylvanas countered, "Better to talk, and have a swift, merciful end, than to have us make you talk…"

"Oh, I'm sure your pet apothecaries will do their jobs well once I am gone," Ras said, producing a dagger from the flowing robes, "but the chance to slay you now will serve my King far better than my survival…"

The dagger flashed, even as the Lich planted it into the gem-like crystal that formed his vile heart. Arrows sailed from around the room, but the damage was already done. The Lich lunged forward, his form already destabilizing. The magical energy holding his form together exploded outward, shattering stone and causing massive destruction.

A body collided with Sylvanas, knocking her behind a stone desk and out of the path of the ensuing blast of power. The dark ranger who had saved her was obliterated, her face resigned as Sylvanas burned the features into her memory.

Another soul lost because of Arthas the Butcher; another candle for the Queen of the Forsaken to add to the flame of her cold fury.

"My Queen, are you unharmed?" another ranger said. Sylvanas rose, looking at her lieutenant, recognizing Thyala.

"I am, thanks to the sacrifice of our sister," Sylvanas said, looking at the destruction around the chamber of the Lich's suicide. "I want Putriss working around the clock to examine this room, once we've secured the site. We need to know what the Lich was working on."

"Yes, Dark Lady," the rangers intoned, stepping away from the area and withdrawing to the previous chamber. "No sign of activity yet," one of the rangers left to guard the room reported.

Sylvanas nodded, "We lost one of our own against Ras Frostwhisper, but the Lich is dead. Let's hunt down Gandling and end this…"

Silence fell around them, as arrows were drawn and bows loaded. They wouldn't make the same mistake as they had with the Lich. Stalking through the corridor ahead, Sylvanas was kept toward the middle as her elite rangers guarded corners ahead and behind, preventing any enemy Scourge from possibly sneaking upon them.

The final chamber was subdivided into many smaller classrooms. The rangers spread out, systematically clearing each chamber, the snap of their bowstrings nearly silent in the lingering stillness of the tomb-like chamber. Sylvanas waited, looking over the main room and guarding her rangers as they moved around the upper and lower floors.

As the last room was cleared, a burst of flame heralded the arrival of a mummified necromancer in the center of the chamber, down the steep stairs from where Sylvanas kept watch.

"If you haven't come to study, I'll use you to teach a lesson…" Gandling said, brandishing his staff in the direction of the Banshee Queen.

She didn't wait, firing an arrow swiftly at the Darkmaster, along with several of the Dark Rangers. Bones flew from the sides of the room, forming a protective shield around the necromancer, and deflecting the arrows.

"School is in session!" Gandling called, even as necromantic shadows erupted from his free hand.

The first bolt of darkness came for Sylvanas, and she flipped out of the way, already pulling back her bowstring for another arrow.

She snapped off a pair of shots, dashing to the side and the cover of the high railing around the upper floor of the chamber. Part of the stone shattered as she ducked behind it, a retaliatory spell colliding with it as she moved.

Gandling was fighting her rangers on all sides, his bone shield taking the brunt of the Forsakens' attacks. Bolts of shadow magic flew in all directions, even as the mad necromancer seemed to be pooling magic for some other attack.

One of the rangers hurled a smoking grenade, which shattered a large portion of the flying bones that formed the shield, even as the master necromancer unleashed his magic. Several of her rangers disappeared, and the gates over the various classrooms slammed downward, presumably sealing them inside.

Focusing on removing the threat that the necromancer posed, Sylvanas watched the rotation of the bones surrounding Gandling. With the massive damage dealt to it, there were large gaps and holes in it, which allowed her to occasionally spot the man's masked face. Steadying herself, she took a steady aim at the mage, waiting to time her shot with the swirling storm of bones.

She let the raven feather arrow fly, just as the wizard turned to strike at another ranger, and it sailed through the damaged shield. Gandling wailed, staggering to the side as the arrow bit into his shoulder, disrupting his spell. The bones showered around him, and the other rangers pounced at that moment, more arrows shredding the robes of the dark wizard and painting the stones with his blood.

Even when the man fell, they continued to riddle his body with more arrows, to make absolutely certain that he was dead. The doors fell open after a few moments, and the disappeared rangers returned, having fought off undead that the necromancer had summoned to try and pick them off one by one.

"This place should be cleared now," Sylvanas said, "and as much as I wish for it to be burned to the ground, we need to understand exactly what they were up to in developing the plague even further…" Sylvanas said, "Therefore we will leave guards to make sure that no Scourge forces return here, and return to our base in Andorhal."

"Yes, Dark Lady," the others said, turning among themselves to determine who would remain and who would escort Sylvanas back to their territory.

Regardless of who they selected, Sylvanas was satisfied that at least this bastion of the Scourge was eliminated. Provided that they took the rest of Andorhal before the Alliance could set their forces in order, the Forsaken could take full control of the western portion of the Plaguelands, sealing off the only other avenue into their lands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Line Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucius had remained behind at Blackrock Mountain, seeing to the remainder of their forces that had been held in reserve, for the right moment to be released onto the battlefield before the Black Temple, however he had not been idle in the meantime.

Weaving the strongest enchantments that he could into his robes, Lucius had experimented with something that he had only witnessed Nobu'tan performing. Using the residual dust and magical essence of various items, he had woven them into his spells, until the robes had shimmered blue with ambient magic, and returned to normal.

After that, he had monitored the situation, using magical mirrors that others from Earth had crafted and tied to identical mirrors that had been carried by those marching with the army from Hellfire to Shadowmoon Valley.

The front lines of their forces were holding their ground, even as Illidan's forces charged from the courtyard, demons, orcs, elves, and serpent-people in their ranks. Even as they tried to cross the no man's land between their armies, ordinance pelted the charging army from the Dark Horde's siege weapons, shattering any possibility of a united front slamming into their line.

The orcs, ogres, and trolls of their ground forces slammed massive shields into the ground before them, forming a solid wall of spiked metal for their foes to collide with. Long pikes were used to counter the charge, and many Illidari forces were impaled as their ground assault was broken.

From within the courtyard of the temple, dozens of creatures took to the air. Fel orcs, riding the captured dragons native to Outland whirled in the skies, turning toward the lines of their armies.

"It is time," Lucius declared, sending the order along for portals to be opened to the front lines, and their own Feldrake riders to go through to counter the aerial attack.

Lucius followed their air unit through the portal, emerging into a small, cliff fortress that seemed to have been taken as a forward command center. The Feldrakes leapt into the sky, gleefully winging toward their opponents, Felflame ushering forth to counter the breath weapons of the Nether Drakes of the remnants of the Fel Horde.

"Timely arrival, my friend," Lord Nobu'tan said, turning from the parapet to look at Lucius. But the Pureblood wizard was more intrigued by the tall, armored figure beside the Lord of the Stormreavers.

From the long ears poking out through the helmet, Lucius judged that the female warrior was a Night Elf, but that rose only more questions as to her identity and purpose for being here.

"As you can see, Lady Shadowsong, we have ample forces to counter any threat that Illidan can throw at us." Nobu'tan said to the elf, almost smug with the presentation that his Horde was showcasing.

"You seem to forget that Illidan has forces to rival this army," the elf, Shadowsong, replied. Nobu'tan seemed to not care about the scathing, haughty tone, but for Lucius it came across as more of the race's superiority complex over all others they encountered. Granted, Lucius had yet to actually meet any other Night Elves in person, but he had heard plenty regarding their High Priestess from Narcissa. The opinion his wife had of the far older woman after she threatened their son was… not positive… in the least.

Nevertheless, Lucius let none of these feelings cross his face as he mounted the wall to get a full look at the scale of the looming battle, and was nearly bowled over at the wave of pure Fel energy that the edifice before them eluded in droves.

It was a monument to the power that the Legion boasted for its followers, and yet turned against those same demons in a fury. There was simply too much to take in all at once, and Lucius found his eye wandering, trying to pinpoint any one source of power or activity as the battle below began in earnest.

Banners waved with another blast of drums and pipes, in signal at another gesture of Nobu'tan, and the baying howls of their wolf riders were heard in return. The Blackrock orcs had taken great care to prepare their mounts for war, and their training paid off now, even as the great canines barreled into the ranks of demons, even as the orcs swung their massive axes, cleaving a channel through their ranks for warriors of their clan to push forward.

At the same time, nearer along the line of their forces, the Balefire Clan pushed through, the massive ogres sweeping their weapons wide under the effects of a maddening bloodlust.

And to cap off their surge forward, a creature Lucius had only ever seen once, briefly, rose out of the midst of their forces, shining with its own crystalline light, music of the Dark Horde's bands echoing and reverberating within and through it, magnifying the music into an inspiring anthem of battle.

"A Naaru?" both he and the Night Elf questioned, each turning to Nobu'tan, who only smiled silently in reply.

"For the Light!" came the cry from that battalion, and the Dawn's Hammer, along with strange foreign warriors charged into the fray, the power of their holy magic crushing any demons that dared cross them.

From both the north and the south, horns blared in reply, and more of these strange warriors, Draenei if Lucius remembered correctly from seeing some of their folk in Stormwind, along with Blood Elves, surged forward to confront Illidan's forces on the flanks of their defensive arc before the gates of their stronghold.

"Orcs wielding the power of Light…" the Night Elf said, her amazement presense for the briefest of moments, "wonders seem to be something that swirl around you…"

"I aim to please, Maiev," Nobu'tan replied, smug even as he laced his words flirtatiously, "The Sha'tar have sent forces to fight with us, both the Aldor and the Scryer armies committing to see the downfall of Stormrage." he explained, even as battle was now pressed fully upon their enemy from all sides.

"You are indeed a being of many great mysteries and contradictions," Maiev admitted, "But there are horrors yet to be revealed, hidden away in that fortress."

Even as she said this, a blaring noise sounded from within the deep gorge that led to the main gate of the Temple, and a monstrous construct of metal and Fel stomped out. Mechanical arms settled into place as it drunkenly ran into the midst of battle, every step sending shockwaves in all directions.

"It will flatten our forces…" Lucius surmised, seeing the massive craters left in the machine's wake.

"Nay, it will not get the chance to…" Nobu'tan said, eyes already gleaming with the power of the Fel. In his hand a strange, double-ended spear manifested, even as he spoke the language of the Legion, and pointed the weapon out toward the battlefield.

In a flash, a massive portal opened itself before the lines of their warriors, and a gargantuan, hoofed foot stepped out. "Illidan Stormrage!" the massive Pit Lord bellowed, raising its arms in defiance as wings flapped at its sudden freedom, "You thought me locked away, pitiful fool that you are. Now I have returned to take my vengeance upon you!"

"What is this that you've done?!" a new voice said nearby, and Lucius whirled to find a creature, much like the others that fought for Illidan, holding curved kamas to Nobu'tan's throat. "You brought Magtheridan back to retake that which he had already lost once?! You betray us!"

"Akama," Maiev started, but it seemed that the other creature was deafened to anyone else.

In a flash of Fel power, however, he was thrown off of the Grand Warlock, and sprawled upon the ground.

"I do not know what you expected when my servant told you of my coming, but this is all toward one goal," Nobu'tan said, rubbing the thin cut where a blade had nicked him, "destroying Illidan Stormrage. Whatever comes afterward is not our business, nor our care. If Magtheridon survives to try and take back Outland, I am not going to support or oppose him."

The words made sense, but to Lucius something about his leader's tone suggested that he most certainly expected something else to happen long before it came to that. This Akama seemed to sense it as well, and rose in silence, ignoring the handful of Stormreaver guards that held weapons trained on him for assaulting their Chieftain.

"You expect the Pit Lord to try and betray you in the middle of the battle?" Maiev stated, voicing what the others had already sensed.

"It is in the nature of greater demons to seek for their own power. I had humbled the mighty Magtheridon, taking advantage of his moment of weakness and forcing him to serve me. He will resent this for a lifetime, and seek to end me, steal all that I have amassed, and try to return to his masters in power. That will not happen, and I have already prepared for such an outcome."

Nobu'tan nodded toward the battle, and the others turned to look where he was indicating. Lucius was the first to see it, knowing what to look for. Warlocks were already flowing through the ranks following behind the Pitlord, who was contending with the mechanical construct, driving it and the rest of Illidan's forces back toward their gates.

"We will be more than ready when Magtheridon decides to turn on us." The Lord of the Dark Horde declared, even as the massive demon succeeded in tearing apart their mechanical adversary, shattering the major remnant of the defenses outside of the Black Temple's gates.

But the defenders on the walls were more than prepared for their advance into the narrow channel that led to the gates themselves. Projectiles and bolts of magic rained down, primarily aimed at the massive form of Magtheridon, but additionally arcing over the Pit Lord's head to assail their front lines.

"Shields up!" leaders on the front lines called, and as one their ranks altered formation, grouping tightly and forming massive turtles of shield barriers in all directions.

"Advance, plant the charges on their gate, I want archers supporting the dragonriders in taking out their parapets," Nobu'tan ordered, and the banners for the Blackrock, Balefire, Blightbringer, and Dawn's Hammer Clans rose higher than the others and waved alongside a blast of pipes and horns.

The indicated clans of warriors marched forward, forming more turtle formations. The trebuchets altered their trajectory, firing at the side wings flanking their only path forward. Once they were in range, arrows and rocks bouncing harmlessly off their broad shields, the Blackrock Clan's formations opened, revealing packs of archers with another new tool of the Dark Horde. Arbalests: powerful crossbows that hurled their bolts farther than even the old British Longbows of medieval Europe.

Volleys of the high speed bolts flew upward, spraying the left wing of parapets, and sending many defenders falling backward from the ramparts.

Taking advantage of the attention all turning toward the front lines, goblin engineers rolled forward more siege weapons. The Scorpions, massive crossbows on wheels, were quickly fired, throwing their powerful bolts over the walls. The metal bolts impaled into the stone, and the long ropes they were connected to were hooked into winches, which started pulling ladders up both sides of the entrance, which would permit more of their forces to climb the walls and support their forward offensive.

Meanwhile, Magtheridon had already reached the gate of the Black Temple. "You think that these gates, which I had built so long ago, can withhold me?" the Pit Lord bellowed, slamming his fists onto the enchanted stone.

All in all, an effective multi-pronged first assault, as far as Lucius saw. But the true test was yet to come when the defenders would start to retaliate. Judging from both Nobu'tan and the impassive Night Elf, they both sensed that the siege would not be as easy as it currently appeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Line Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco sniped another explosive out of the air with his wand, the blast raining shrapnel around their forces.

Kael'thas' advisors hadn't been much of a threat on their own, but together they were particularly dangerous to eliminate. While the two melee wielders were hammering on their front lines, the mage and engineer were supporting from the rear, nearest to their Prince, and had effectively pushed the Alliance forces back from their large gains they had achieved.

A few times there had been opportunity to strike down one or more of the advisors once more, but as Draco lined up his wand to attack, he would be forced to deal with some devise that was hurled his way by the Engineer.

Off to the side, Jaina was locked in a duel with the fire mage, trading spells over all their heads and having them splash off powerful shields of the mage's preferred elements. At the same time, the walls that Jaina had placed to keep the other Blood Elves from interfering were starting to wear away from the barrage of attacks from outside.

The Elve's perchance for fire and flame was not useful to their attempts to bar their way, and their time was growing short before they had to retreat.

Luckily, it seemed that Shaw had come with a few items for just such a potential hang-up in their forward momentum.

A few of the rearmost agents knelt, levering metal tubes on their shoulders, and the hissing of a burning fuse was heard from within.

"Get down!" Shaw commanded, and the front ranks stepped aside, even as several rockets were hurled from the tubes, streaking across the chamber and exploding all around the Engineer and the Mage. The female elf screamed as the pair of them was engulfed in flames. Unlike Draco, however, they did not have the gift of Wizarding magic to protect them, and only charred corpses were left when the smoke clouds were cleared.

Without the support of the two rear combatants, the front melee advisors were easily dispatched, and Jaina returned to strengthening the ice walls that kept out all other Blood Elves, leaving them all alone with the mad prince.

Even with his minions dead once more, the Elf Lord didn't seemed fazed at all. "Alas," he said slowly, stepping forward himself, "sometimes one must take matters into one's own hands. Balamore shanal!"

The torrent of fire that erupted from the Blood Elf Prince's hands was startling; completely unlike anything they had seem thus far in the stronghold. There was no doubt as to why he had been among the leaders of the old Alliance's magi.

Dodging to the side to avoid a pillar of flame, Draco hefted his wand, knowing it was his time to fight all out to eliminate the Prince as swiftly as possible.

The twin emerald spheres whirled around Kael'thas' head, even as the burning eyes focused on Draco, "Fire consume you!" he shouted, leveling a hand at the Earth-born warlock, and releasing a massive, slow-movie orb of flame.

Draco knew, somehow, that evading this spell was out of the question. The orb was moving just fast enough to be a threat, but slow enough to alter trajectory if he tried to elude it. Still, now that he was unrestrained in his magical potential by the will of Shaw, Draco had no intention of backing down so easily.

Leveling his wand, Draco decided to fight fire with fire. "Confringo!" he shouted, lobbing a fireball of his own directly at the oncoming sphere.

Flames detonated in an enormous blast, scattering in all directions, and opening a chance for Draco to fire at the Elf Prince to counter. Several hexes leapt from his lips, sending the jets of multi-colored magic across the chamber.

Kael'thas surrounded himself with a blazing shield of fire, just in time to absorb several of the spells, but it couldn't handle the barrage for long, and quickly fell. A cutting curse made it through, gouging a thin line under the Elf's eye, disfiguring the near-perfect face.

Vanity was something that Draco expected from these Elves, and he was not disappointed when the marring of his face sent the Prince into a rage. A storm of firebolts showered him in response, but Draco's magic was more than capable of defending and attacking at the same time.

The pair traded spells in a deadly haze, even as the rest of the Alliance forces fell back to the far side of the room, urged quickly by Shaw and Jaina. It was clear that they were relying on Draco's unfamiliar magic to defeat the Prince alone, and wanted to keep as many of their people safe while Draco did his work.

Kael seemed to notice this, as he turned his attention to the front soldiers, arcane filling his hands, "Bow to my will!" he called, leveraging the purple magic like a hammer over the minds of the armored soldiers.

A handful fell to their knees, their own self control being overridden by the megalomaniac of a Prince, and trying to turn on their allies. Draco waved his wand, throwing a wide dispelling charm over the area, countering the arcane magic swiftly and releasing the Footmen from their mind controlled state.

The Elf snarled as he glared back at Draco, before thrusting both hands toward him. Draco felt the draw on his magic, even as power was leeched from him by the strange techniques of the Blood Elves.

But in doing so, despite the pain that it caused Draco, Kael'thas had left himself wide open, and Draco would take advantage of that with all he was worth, "Avada Kedavera," he bellowed, whipping his wand toward the Prince as the jet of deathly energy flew outward.