Disclaimer! I don't own Wow. Blizz does, and your soul too.
*** Quel'Thalas – Silvermoon City ***
Yesterday was a whirlwind of events involving a series of meet and greets that I could barely remember. There was that talk with Kael, his daddy, and then the grilling by the magisters. They wanted to know more about the demons that my father faced, but I knew their true aim. They wanted to know if the orcs were involved with the Burning Legion and if this was an invasion or not. There were times when I just wanted to tell them outright the demon types, but there was no way I could explain how I knew all of that without looking suspicious. After all, their existence was supposed to be a secret that was only privy to the high-ranking Magister and the Council of Tirisfal.
After they were done, came the magisters who were interested in my ability to bring back people from the dead. One familiar twat was particularly interested in my method of reviving the deceased, and that was Dar'khan who would eventually become a well-known traitor to both the elves and the Alliance. By the time his intense grilling was over, I had thought of severals ways to arrange an early accident for him. Nothing concrete, but it was still a great thought exercise.
Once they were done, I was escorted to a guest quarter that was very upscale even by Earth standards. It was in there, on top of the bed, that I promptly collapsed on and slept like the dead. Haylea and my guards took turns to keep watch while I slept. When I woke up, Lirath was there to greet me in the guest chamber, saying he had someplace he wanted to take me. So with that, I found myself in armor, riding a giant chicken creature, known as a hawkstrider, to the western side of Silvermoon.
"You're not gonna tell me where we're going?" I asked after an hour into our journey.
"You'll see," Lirath said mysteriously. He gave me that stupid perfect punch-able smile while he was at it before turning to my bodyguard, Knight Arabella and proceeding to continue his charm offensive against her.
'Oh, they gonna fuck,' I thought as Arabella and Lirath seemed quite taken with one another. I guess Windrunner's liking of humans was a hereditary trait.
Lirath had been polite enough to make small talk, knowing that I was still groggy from the morning. It also gave me a chance to sightsee over an area that was destroyed in the game. Western Silvermoon was not a place I remembered much of when I played as a blood elf. I only recalled that it was very spacious and filled with crack-addicted elves known as the withered.
Well, there certainly was no 'withered' in the area now. Instead, it was populated with healthy-looking elves who were glancing my way. I couldn't blame them; the sight was not common in Silvermoon, I would imagine. So I did my best to smile and waved at the curious children. I 'bro' nodded to the men who made eye contact with me while winking and doing finger guns at the ladies we passed by.
The children, having gained the attention of adults, energetically waved back to me, while the men returned the bro nod. Some things just transcended space and time. The women, however, just gave me confused looks and decided to take the wide route around me. Yeah...I couldn't blame them for that; I didn't know why the fuck I was doing it either.
Gradually, we began seeing fewer people on the road and more soldiers. I blinked as we traveled further toward a wide area that, I idly noted, would be easily defensible if attacked. Then it hit me. This was the area for their barracks. After passing a certain set of buildings, I spotted all the signs that confirmed my thoughts. It was a wide open area, spacious enough to contain three pits dug into the ground about the length of a football field each. The pit that caught my eye immediately was the one with hawkstrider knights clashing with each other in a practice drill.
True to elf aesthetic, the Sun Knights armor had that intricate artisan flair to their design of forest green and gold. In the second pit, I saw elf ground pounders sparring with one another. They wore less armor than the knights, opting for chain mail that looked like someone took a bunch of small leaves and linked it all together. Their swords had the stylized curves that the elves were known for. I wondered how heavy those swords were as I watched the elves continue their drill. To me, it looked like they were rehearsing for a routine with how elegantly they attacked and defended against each other strikes.
The second area must have been for the recruits. The people there were in plain clothes. Some clumsily held swords while trying to hit specific areas of the wooden dummies. There were spear users who were learning how to thrust the pointy end at their enemy properly. I winced when I saw an elf lancer's aim was off, his momentum causing him to slam face first in the training dummy. Finally the last group was a smattering of archers learning how to draw the bow. I noted that the arrows that they were training with had blunted tips.
"The farstriders train here too?" I asked Lirath who looked at me once before laughing. "What?"
The elf composed himself and shook his head at me. "Farstriders are the most skilled of us all. These elves here are simply archers."
"Oh," I replied. So the farstriders were like the special forces of Silvermoon then. That...actually made a lot of sense.
"Come, we are here," Lirath said as he jumped off his mount easily.
I couldn't do that and instead just opted to dismount my steed as if it were a regular horse. Once on the ground, I turned to my mount and stroked the hawkstrider's soft feathery neck.
"Thanks for the ride, girl," I said gratefully to her.
"Warrhk," the white hawkstrider let out a warble in acknowledgment. Then it lowered its neck to butt my head once before taking back its usual stance.
"Looks like you made a friend," Lirath said while blinking a few times. "Hawkstriders aren't known for being that friendly."
"Did it come from a Windrunner ranch by any chance?" I asked. Lirath just looked at me weirdly.
"...this way." Lirath ignored my question as we walked past the training area, drawing the eyes of more than a few elves on the way.
It wasn't long before we reached a large circular dome building. It was then that Lirath stopped just before the entrance. Looking beyond him, I saw that there was a tall female elf who was more on the muscular side standing in the way with arms crossed. She was pretty, of that there was no doubt, with her dirty blonde hair half covered by a green cowl. Her eyes were a soft blue that was eerily similar to three elven women I had met in recent days.
I knew who she was before Lirath turned to me to introduce her.
"Callan, my friend, meet my favorite sister, Sylvanas Windrunner, the next Ranger General of Silvermoon," the elf declared with brotherly pride.
"You best pray that Vereesa and Alleria did not hear you say that," the future Banshee Queen warned her brother. I was taken off guard upon hearing her voice. It sounded melodious and lacked the torturous inflection I remembered her having.
"If you do not tell them, no one would know, allowing me to avoid their wrath," Lirath said cheekily. Sure enough, Sylvanas could only sigh as she indulged her little brother's teasing.
"Have it your way, but as to being the next Ranger General, nothing is certain yet," Sylvanas countered his second assertion. "Alleria may yet take up the mantle over me. She is the eldest and more skilled."
"Sister." Lirath gave her a deadpan look. "You and I both know that Alleria does not want the position."
Sylvanas gave a noncommittal sound before her eyes fell on me. "And you must be Lord Callan Lothar, last of Thoradin's line."
"Lady Windrunner," I replied politely. "Though you don't have to call me Lord or Sir, Callan would do just fine. Lirath here has no problem with it. Your sisters as well. At least, the ones I've met."
Sylvanas appeared thoughtful before she tilted her head toward me. "Then, since you are so familiar with my brother and sisters, feel free to call me Sylvanas."
"You do me much honor then...Sylvanas." I dipped my head in her direction and saw her nod in acknowledgment.
"Sister..." Lirath cut in and seemed to be giving his sister a meaningful look.
"Ah, forgive my rudeness," Sylvanas said as she suddenly bowed her head deeply in my direction. "Thank you for saving our mother. It was truly a great debt the Windrunner family owes you."
"Oh, no, no. That debt has already been repaid," I quickly informed her as I gestured toward Lirath. "Your mother hosted us for the night and Lirath here helped me convince King Anasterian to have you all join the Alliance. I say that makes us more than even."
Sylvanas turned to her brother and raised one of her long eyebrows in his direction.
Lirath flushed in embarrassment and shook his head quickly. "You give me too much credit Callan. All I did was perform the musical score as you instructed. You came up with the play and the tempo. I merely helped."
Sylvanas who had a perplexed expression on her face suddenly took on a look of understanding. "Ah, the Lion's Memory."
"The what now?" I asked. It had a name already? I looked at Lirath to see if he knew anything about it, but he merely shrugged his shoulders.
"You are referring to the magical play that you showed the king, correct?" Sylvanas asked. Upon seeing us nod, she smiled. "Then that is the Lion's Memory that I have been hearing about."
"Lion's...memory?" I asked to confirm it.
"Yes," Sylvanas sounded almost apologetic. "It is what the King had dubbed it. It should be made available to the public soon. I must confess that I too am looking forward to seeing this memory."
"I see..." I replied. I had no idea how I should feel about the whole thing.
On one hand, I wanted to play it off cool, but another part of me just wanted to hide in my room from sheer embarrassment. With my luck, there was probably another transmigrator in Azeroth who could call me out on my plagiarism…
"Now, Lirath." Sylvanas tone became firm. Gone was the sister, and in her place was the Ranger General in training. "Why are you here? I told you many times not to visit me at the barracks."
"Well, you see, Sylvanas," Lirath began smoothly. "Everyone in our family has met Callan except for you. I simply thought that was unfair."
I blinked. My bullshit meter was telling me that Lirath was being full of it. Technically, I did meet everyone else, but was it that necessary for me to meet the future Banshee Queen? Unexpectedly, Sylvanas and I shared a look as we both knew Lirath was lying through his teeth.
"I would have met Callan here when we eventually depart for the human kingdoms," Sylvanas said casually, much to my surprise. "The truth, little brother."
Then I processed her words. 'Wait did she just say—'
"You're traveling with Callan to Lordaeron?" Lirath voiced my thoughts. His expression suddenly got sly. "You know that Prince Kael'thas is also going to be accompanying him, right?"
"Yes," Sylvanas answered as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her brother.
"That's great!" Lirath's expression suddenly brightened. "Well, sorry to bother you, dearest sister. I shall be taking Callan to the Royal Orchestra Theater then. Come along, Callan."
I stared at the elf who I had become fast friends with. He was gesturing for us to head back to our mounts.
'So it was you...' I could not believe it. It was written that Kael'thas suddenly approached Sylvanas and proposed. It felt like an odd inclusion of new lore at the time. Like really, what did that add? Now, I finally realized why Kael'thas proposed. He had been tossed Sylvanas' way by her matchmaking little brother.
"Hold." Sylvanas voice cracked like a whip, making Lirath freeze in his tracks. She marched past me and moved next to her brother before her hand whipped out in a blur and pinched his pointed ear.
"Ahhhhh! Dearest sister!" Lirath cried as he tilted his head in the direction of his ear being pinched. "Please have mercy!"
"I told you a thousand times." Sylvanas voice came out hard. "Do not interfere in my personal affairs!"
"But—but you and the prince make such an eye catchin—ahhh—ahhh!" Lirath squealed painfully as the future Banshee Queen squeezed down harder on his sensitive ear.
During this exchange, I noticed many of the soldiers and recruits had moved further and further away from us.
"Mercy, sweet sister, mercy!" Lirath's ear was twisted at an angle that would have been painful even for a human.
"I warned you time and again, little brother," Sylvanas said in a stern tone. "Do not take my affection for you as weakness. Never do this again. Do you understand?"
Lirath, to his credit, tried his best to nod his head before the future Banshee Queen let go of his ear. The elf immediately rubbed it gingerly as he looked at his sister in an accusatory manner.
"Need you be so rough?" The youngest Windrunner shot his sister a baleful look. "I'm only trying to ensure that you have a happy future!"
I saw a small look of guilt flash across her face when she realized she may have gone too far with the ear twisting. With a soft exasperated sigh, she shook her head.
"I find it perplexing that you would worry about me when Alleria is the eldest and you don't bother with Vereesa in the slightest," Sylvanas said in a confused tone.
Lirath let go of his ear that was still red and scoffed at his sister. "Unlike the other two, you seem content to be married to your duties."
Sylvanas actually looked shocked by his words. However she found herself unable to refute him, judging by how her mouth kept opening and closing with nothing coming out.
"Alleria, at least, knows people outside of her duties. For her, I do not have to worry about finding a match, and with Vereesa, despite her rebellious nature, she is quite sociable. Those two do not require intervention." Lirath pushed on, making Sylvanas take a step back when he pointed at her. "You, however, live no different from a hermit crab one can find on a beach. Perfectly content with being alone. I'd not have my favorite sister alone for eternity!"
Silence reigned over the area. Yes, silence, as I noticed that everyone—from the recruits to the sun knights in training—had disappeared, leaving only the Windrunner siblings and my party here.
"Her-hermit crab?" Sylvanas expression screamed outrage at his comparison, yet the man did not back down as he nodded. "You—!"
I turned to my knights and saw that Arabella and Emery were both looking at the scenery in random directions as if trying to commit them to memory.
"That's it." Sylvanas finally composed herself. Her indignant anger could be felt from here. "You always wanted to be a Farstrider. As the vice ranger of Silvermoon, I will be assessing your skill right here, right now."
Lirath who had been very proud of his comment suddenly paled as finally the area had been cleared. His situation awareness might have been why he failed at being a farstrider, and how he got caught off guard by a troll raid in another time.
"N-now, now, beloved sister. Let's not be—wait," Lirath whipped his head in my direction and I could see the gears turning in his head. "Sister…"
'Oh no.' I tried to communicate to the youngest Windrunner with my eyes to not involve me in this family dispute. His face looked surprised before he nodded at me and then turned to his sister.
"I select Callan as my stand-in!" Lirath said with a wide smile.
'Why?!' I glared at him. Did he not understand the look I shot him?
"If you happen to defeat him in combat," the troublemaker continued to his sister. "I'd undergo any training you want. Though, don't forget, he did defeat Zul'jin in combat."
'You little shit!' I thought before turning to Sylvanas to convey that I didn't want to fight so she could punish him to her heart content.
"Fine." Sylvanas' eyes hardened as she looked at me before turning back to her brother. "I suggest you prepare yourself for some of the most intense training of your life."
'God damn it!' I thought helplessly. Did elves communicate differently with their eyes than humans?!
Sylvanas then turned back to me. "Since we will be fighting together soon, would you allow me to take measure of your people's martial prowess?"
Was she trying to justify our duel as something other than punishing her brother? Suddenly, I felt two pairs of eyes on my back. My knights wanted me to answer her challenge. It was one thing for me to come to Lirath's defense; I could decline that. However, for the pride of Stormwind's army? Well...that was a different matter entirely.
'Fine,' I thought as I nodded to her. 'Let's do it.'
"What are the rules?" I asked. As she beckoned me to follow her to a training arena.
"The winner scores a killing hit?" Sylvanas suggested.
I knew what she meant as I stepped onto the flat terrain. Pretty much if I would score a hit that could kill her, I win. Naturally, it was dependent on my skill to pull back and not deliver the hit. Likewise, I was relying on her skill to not kill me also. If we did draw blood, then it would be a loss due to our lack of skill. She was actually giving me a lot of respect by trusting me to not botch it.
"Will you be using a bow?" I asked her. She was primarily an archer with some melee skills after all.
"I wouldn't want this contest to be unfair," Sylvanas said with a straight face, but I saw the corner of her lips curve upward.
D-did I just get trash-talked by Sylvanas?
She then pulled out two long elven daggers. "I shall be using these."
It might have been a long time ago, but my memory was telling me that those daggers were not Edge of Night, the famous dagger set she used as the Banshee Queen. Well, one good turn deserves another.
"Fine," I replied as I unsheathed my sword. I looked to Arabella who tossed her shield at me which I promptly caught. "I shall not be using the Light to make this fair."
Sylvanas arched one of her eyes at my declaration, but this time, the corner of her lips was tugged a bit higher. Lirath on the side was grinning like a fool. Unfortunately, we had struck up a friendship but 'bro' or not, he and I would be having words when this was all over.
Taking in my surroundings, I became aware that the missing elves were suddenly standing around the training arena, watching the two of us. The elves really did move as silently as they had been portrayed as in various fictional works from my old world.
"I hope you're not unsettled by the presence of spectators," Sylvanas said. She didn't even bother to acknowledge our audience.
"Lady Windrunner," I replied casually as I lifted my shield in front of me before taking a defensive stance. "This is not the most hostile crowd I've ever fought in front of."
Sylvanas gave me an approving nod as she held out her daggers in an attacking stance. "Well then, little lion. Prepare yourself."
'Did she just call me—' I shook my head. Now was not the time to be distracted. From the audience, I saw a female elf dressed in a ranger cloak grab a Silvermoon banner and strike the bottom of its pole down on the ground twice.
With that, Sylvanas' eyes hardened as she and I circled one another with barely ten feet in between us. Her stance showed that she was ready to strike while mine was ready to defend against it. Truth be told, had it been a year ago, I would not have been confident or skilled enough to be facing off against someone of Sylvanas' caliber. There had always been that intimidating factor I got when interacting with famous lore characters—no, people. I guess, I subconsciously placed them on a pedestal and automatically assumed that I would lose. They were legends in World of Warcraft after all.
However, from the moment I fought Garona and trained with Gavinrad, my outlook had changed. The first, I had won barely by the skin of my teeth, while the second had fixed a lot of my bad habits in the martial aspect. I was no longer as sloppy, and my strikes were now far more precise. Thanks to the siege of Redridge, I had a lot of orcs to help me refine my close combat skills. The sparring with my father showed me that, while I still had a way to go, the distance was not out of reach like I had thought it was before. Not to mention that, even though I didn't know it at the time, I had killed Zul'jin.
Without knowing who he was, I fought him like any other troll. Nothing Zul'jin did was outside of my expectations, and I adjusted accordingly during that fight. Had I known that he was a famous troll, my mindset would probably have been different. It really had taken me a long time to finally realize that legends bleed like anyone else. Add on to the fact that I know Sylvanas was better with a bow than in a melee, I felt confident that I was competitive enough.
"Here I come, little lion," Sylvanas told me in a show of sportsmanship. She must have noticed my internal thoughts, I dipped my head in acknowledgement and with that, that was the signal to start the match.
The famous elf-ette came at me quickly. To me, it looked like she was gliding toward me. Yet, before her daggers could slam into a gap in my armor and end the fight early, I brought my shield down to easily block it. I wasn't idle as my sword arm was already stabbing down at her head. Credit to her, Sylvanas did not even look surprised as she used her free dagger to block the strike. Then with a quick twist of her wrist, she deflected it with strength that belied her frame. My sword was pushed away and left me open to her dagger that was aimed at my throat. Before it could reach me, however, I had already pushed forward onto my shield and shoved her back, making her barely miss it.
If Sylvanas felt any surprise at my counter move, she did not show it. Instead, she pirouetted and tried to hit me from my exposed side. I quickly chopped down with my sword in a move that would have taken her hand if she had not retracted her strike. Naturally, we both knew I wasn't really going to cut her hand off, but if she pressed on, she would have had to admit defeat. So, seeing no way for an easy victory, she flowed around my strike and made for my eyes. An easy shift of my shield was all that was needed to end that.
Sylvanas changed her tactic and aimed another strike at an exposed gap in my leg armor, but with a small shift of my shield, I blocked that off too. Most people would have backed away and tried to reoriented themselves to find another avenue of attack. Not the future banshee queen though since she kept up her assault that was not unlike the two famous assassins I faced before. However, thanks to Gavinrad, I learned how to guard using my shield with the most minimal amount of movement. It was enough to deflect or block her strike outright.
My sword arm was not idle either. I aimed for her head, neck, shoulders, and arms at every chance that I got. The elf was quick enough to parry, deflect, or outright avoid my strike within a hair's breadth. She was deceptively elusive with how she moved her body. I had seen it in action before in another lifetime, but her movement was like a ballerina fighting with the striking force of a heavyweight boxer.
We continued the exchange of blows for what felt like an eternity to me. I was pretty much aware that while Sylvanas movement was elegant as she attacked me, I probably looked oafish in comparison. My strike was definitely not as fancy. Instead, it was just me using my speed to strike her in the most direct way possible.
Eventually, in the midst of our intense exchange, the fight began to slow down for me, and I suddenly knew with certainty what she was going to do next. My sword thrust at her side making her spin away from it, but her face showed surprise when I threw my body weight forward with my shield. The sudden push knocked her off balance and onto the ground. More importantly, I created separation between the two of us as I backed away with my shield raised, just in time to deflect her thrown dagger. She must have known I was just about to jump her on the ground to pin her.
If the middle Windrunner was surprised by my attack, she didn't show it as she was already on her feet to close the gap between us. She even scooped up the thrown dagger in an easy motion before she was upon me again. This time, I met her head-on, dropping my defensive stance as I attacked. Her strikes became heavier, but thankfully, my armor took most of the beating, proving its sturdiness, though I was sure that it would be very dented by the time this was over. On the flip side, she began to have trouble dancing out of my strikes and for the first time, I was able to put her on the defensive.
Taking a gamble, I dropped my shield and maintained a two-handed grip on my sword. Now, I was going to gamble it all by going all out on the offensive. I was gambling on the fact that with the full weight of my strikes, Sylvanas would be forced to use two daggers instead of one to deflect my strikes. I realized during our exchange that although she packed a punch, I was still stronger than her.
Seeing my chance, I swung from the side in a golf club swing and watched as she danced backward to avoid it. I sprung forward quickly and hammered down with an overhead strike and was rewarded when I saw her raise her two daggers to block it. Her body even sagged a bit from tanking the blow. In that moment, our eyes met and we both knew that we're moving onto a different phase of the fight as the momentum shifted.
This time, it was Sylvanas who tried to create separation between us, but in a reversal of our earlier roles, I doggedly pressed the attack and refused to let her breathe. We both knew the situation could end at any given moment if there was a mistake from either one of us. I kept my all-out offensive but slowly realized that she was getting used to my pattern. That was when I knew with certainty that she was going to bait me.
Sure enough, when she charged at me, I swung my sword at her neck. However, she didn't stop. Instead, she dropped down onto her knees, sliding across the ground under my strike. Something clicked in my head; I knew with a strange certainty that I had seen her do this before. My body moved before my mind could catch up, I leaped back, just before her daggers could slice at my legs in an outward slash. Before she could pull back her daggers, I stabbed my blade down at her exposed stomach.
Or would I have if I did not forcefully pull my sword back at the last second to avoid breaking her skin. Sylvanas stilled and slowly looked down to where the tip of my sword was only less than a millimeter away from running her through. If she had another second or I had been a second slower, it would have been my stomach that would have been opened by her twin daggers. However, in the end, that did not happen and my sword tip was almost resting on her flawless abdomen. The result was clear for all to see.
I had won.
We both looked at each other in surprise. She was probably surprised because I anticipated her move, but I on the other hand finally remembered where I knew this counter from. It was Arthas' move! He used this same strike to kill her in the future and stabbed her in the stomach when she was lunging for him on her knees. At the time, I remember a lot of people from my previous life made fun of her for exposing her stomach to the enemy. However, having been on the receiving end, I realized Sylvanas only used this move when she baited an enemy into a certain attack pattern. It was fast and deadly. Had it been anyone else, their guts would be falling out by now.
'Huh…' I thought. 'The more you know…'
Shaking my head, I quickly stabbed my sword into the ground and extended a hand to the woman in the spirit of sportsmanship. "Lady Windrunner."
Sylvanas stared at my hand for a second. She shot me an unreadable look before she took my hand as I pulled her to her feet. "Like I said before, you can call me Sylvanas."
"Sylvanas then," I acknowledged. I had to err on the side of caution in case she didn't take kindly to losing.
The middle Windrunner sister began to brush the sand off her body which gave me a chance to admire it. All this time, I had been distracted by the fact that she was Sylvanas Windrunner and only saw her as the future Banshee Queen. When I finally paid attention, I realized that not only was Sylvanas still alive, but that she was quite attractive. I never found her attractive in the slightest in my old world. Many did, but to me, she was a rotting corpse, and I was not into necrophilia. Just the thought of her skin rotting during coupling gave me the creeps, and that wasn't even mentioning the decomposing smell she would probably have.
It would be just all-around weird.
Now, however, she was healthy with perfectly unblemished skin and most importantly, alive.
"Amazing!" Lirath was the first to break our attention as he rushed into the arena and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You saved me, Callan, and for that, I am grateful!"
"I had half a mind to throw the fight in the first place!" I chided the elf who only smiled at me. Damn, bro code, but it was what it was. Who knows, maybe one day he'd bail my ass out of a stupid mistake too.
"Well, it was enlightening. It seems that we will be fighting alongside capable allies," Sylvanas said as she slowly sheathed her daggers and made to pick up her bow.
With the fight over and her being amicable in her loss, I glanced over at our elf audience and saw them nodding in respect. My own knights were giving me that unbearable proud look that I'd been getting since Redridge.
"Though—" Sylvanas' voice brought my attention back to her as she held up a bow and drew it without looking at her target before letting go. I traced the arrow as it struck a bullseye directly in the center quite a distance away. "I wasn't really fighting with my full strength. It might have changed the outcome."
'Oh, that's how it's gonna be?' I raised an eyebrow and held out my hand to that same bullseye and felt the Light begin to infuse my body.
"Funny," I replied with a straight face as I unleashed seven large orbs of Penance and destroyed not only her arrow but the target dummy it was pinned to. "I wasn't fighting with my full strength either."
Sylvanas' blue eyes blinked at what I had done while more than a few elves looked on in surprise.
"If you like." I smiled at her. "We could call it a draw?"
"No." Sylvanas shook her head. "Today is my loss. Perhaps next time, we both can duel with our full abilities?"
"Perhaps," I agreed.
Sylvanas then shot me a smile. "Then I would like to invi—oh."
The Windrunner stopped and looked beyond me. I turned around to see two elves, a man and a woman, approaching. At a glance, I noticed that the female elf was smaller than Sylvanas, though no less attractive with her hair done up in a simple ponytail. As for the man...well, he looked like a male elf—a handsome face with a lithe build—but unlike the arrogant demeanor most of them sported, he reminded me of Lirath, friendly and approachable in a way I couldn't quite explain. The female was looking at where I destroyed the target dummy and then back to me while the man could be seen nodding at something.
I glanced over to Sylvanas to see that her demeanor had changed back to her professional one. Were these some big shots or V.I.Ps or something? Before I could even ask Sylvanas, they had already crossed the distance and were right in front of us.
"Lady Sylvanas," the male elf greeted the future Ranger General politely before turning to me. "And you are Lord Callan Lothar. Though, I hear that you prefer to be called simply Callan. Is that correct?"
I blinked. Tha-that was the first time I didn't have to explain my preference. I nodded happily. "That is correct, lord…?"
The male elf laughed softly. One could even say he did it in a kindly manner. "I am afraid that I'm no lord, Callan."
"Yet, you hold prestige on par with one all the same," Sylvanas answered from behind me as she stood next to me. "Callan, this is High Priest Vandellor of the Silvermoon Church of the Light and his companion, Priestess Liadrin, also of the same church."
I blinked again. I knew that name...not the male, but the female. Holy shit, that was the blood matriarch!
All three elves gave me weird looks. It was only then that I realized I muttered that last part out loud. Quietly, but that wasn't quiet enough for elven ears.
"Blood Matriarch…?" Liadrin's confusion was clear for all to see.
'Oh fuck! Ohhh fuck!' I thought in a panic. She was looking at me, wanting an answer to her question. The High Priest and Sylvanas shared the same look.
How do I explain that, in the future, this woman was responsible for sucking the life force from a Naru to form her own paladin group called the blood knights? The solution was obvious: I don't! I just needed to distract them with something else. Not for the first time, I did something I didn't want to do.
"Never mind that," I said brusquely as I waved away their questions. Before they could protest, I called upon the Light and held an orb of it in my hand. "I am going to take a stab and say you are here to inquire about how I used the Light?"
Seeing the manifestation of the Light, all of their questions dropped away for the immediate shiny topic in front of them.
"Is it true you can resurrect those who die?" Liadrin asked eagerly. I blinked and saw the High Priest close his eyes indulgently.
"Yes," I confirmed. This was an out! Time to put my slip of the tongue behind us. "I would be happy to teach you what I know before I leave. Whether you can learn it or not would be up to you."
Liadrin suddenly blushed as she probably realized how rude she sounded while her mentor merely chuckled. "Don't be in such a rush, Liadrin. We will have plenty of time to learn from him."
Wait a second...plenty of time? The last time I heard something like that was...oh, no. I looked at the elf priest with trepidation. "Don't tell me you two will be—"
"The king has given us leave to accompany you and most importantly, learn from you," the high priest said with a wide smile. "Though I had visited the Church of the Light many times, I must confess that being able to visit the Clerics of Northshire is quite an exciting prospect."
He must have seen something on my face as he held up a hand.
"Do no worry," Vandellor said hastily. "While we are given leave to learn from you, we understand that you have duties that you must fulfill. We only ask for your free time when able. In truth, I would be leading our order and would be busy with helping the war effort. Liadrin would be your shadow to learn and act as your assistant if you do not mind."
'Well, shit,' I thought, but what could I do? I couldn't say no, not when they were helping Stormwind.
"Well, the more, the merrier I say!" I lied through my teeth with a wide smile.
Ah well, Liadrin wasn't supposed to be a paladin for another two decades anyway, I couldn't fuck up her skill that bad. In fact, since she's a priestess, I felt pretty comfortable giving her pointers. The more I thought about it, the more I was warming up to the idea.
For the first time in a long while, things were looking up.
*** Arathi Highlands – Thandol Span ***
Knight Commander Archer Stratford was a man well into his fifties, yet he still had the build of a man in his prime. He had, unlike most of his contemporaries, come from peasant stock. His father had died in a border skirmish with Alterac when he was a year old. His mother was taken five years later in a troll raid. Bereft of both mother and father, the town of Dabyrie raised him until he was old enough to join the local militia. From there, he made a name for himself by fighting off trolls and bandits as well as the brushfires of armed conflict between Alterac and Lordaeron.
In his decades of service to the kingdom, he owed his continued survival to his gut feeling. It had saved him many times from walking into ambushes. Now, here, standing before the Thandol Span bridgeway, his gut was roiling with unease.
"Draw steel, boys," Archer warned his men from atop his steed as he unsheathed his sword. "Something isn't right."
His men, fifty knights strong, drew their weapons on his command. Archer knew that if the dwarves saw them like this, it could cause an incident, but that was for his king to sort out. King Trollbane had sent out a general call to arms due to news from the Capital City about some invading force coming from the south.
Being the very first scouting forces here, the bridge looked normal. It was one of the largest bridges he had ever seen and was wider than any man-made road ever built. He felt a bit nervous when he looked over to the side and saw how far down they would drop if someone slipped. In the distance was a large stone structure that was supposed to house the dwarven border guards. Nothing appeared out of place as they crossed, yet his gut was still roiling. His men remained alert until they reached the building.
"Hello there!" he shouted at the building. "I bring news from Stromgarde and would like to talk with your captain!"
Silence was all he received in return for his greeting. Swallowing, he shouted the greeting three more times, but he still received no reply. Now, another commander would have ordered a scout to begin searching the building, but his gut was telling him that something was very wrong. So, in lieu of orders, he made the choice to retreat.
"Back away, boys, and keep your guard up. Something about this stinks," Archer said as his knights began to turn their horses away from the building. His gut proved true when the sound of growls and grunts came from inside the building. Then, like a lanced boil, a flood of greenskin troll-like beasts flooded out from every one of the building's openings.
"Retreat!" Archer shouted as a spear missed him by a hair's breadth.
A loud war horn sounded and across the other side of the bridge, he saw hundreds upon hundreds of the greenskin appear from wherever they were hiding and swarm toward the bridge.
"By the Light!" someone yelled in shocked horror.
"Double time!" Archer ordered, cutting through their fear. "We must warn King Thoras that the news is true!"
Archer heard the jeering shouts from the greenskins, but his knights were already on the other side.
"Sir Cain, split our forces into groups of two and send them to warn every local garrison and village along the way," Archer ordered in an urgent tone. "Have the people make for Stromgarde Keep. I'll bring the word to the king myself!"
The veteran Knight Commander turned back around to see a sea of green bodies streaming forth into the mouth of the bridge. Even with the local garrison that was responsible for the bridge's security, he doubted two thousand men would do much against such a large force. Thankfully, his king, in his infinite wisdom, had already shifted the army on the Alterac/Lordaeron border just in case the news was true.
Now, all Archer could do was pray to the Light that his people could weather the surviving days and that his king had a solution.
TBC…
AN: And so It begins!
First off as always, despite his busy work schedule, my pah-nah in crime, Icura always make that time to help me edit this! I am sure those that see the sneak preview wanted to gouge their eye out. For that I apologize!
Second, thank you for all the patron supporters, you guys rock and help so much. I really appreciate it! Thank you very much!
Now, as for this chapter. That's right, I, personally never was a fan of Sylvanas. Putting her crimes aside, she's a rotting corpse! Like...ew! Just made me shudders thinking about it. However, to write a character I loathe to be likable is actually pretty fun and challenging. Also, that's my head cannon for why Kael'thas suddenly propose to Sylvanas.
On the warfront side...to quote from Star Trek: Best of Both Worlds. "Tell Alliance command, we have engage the Horde." Dun dun da dunn!
Once again, thank you all for reading and the discussion. My flame retardant suit didn't see much use. I get that what I did in the previous chapter might not gel with some people but glad it was accepted and understood by so much more! Thanks you again.
As always discussion are welcome as are any comment and criticism.