Warcraft Fic: Unity - Chapter 21
I meant to post this yesterday, but I was very busy and too tired to do anything other than blob on the couch. Still have some exposition for your weekend!
Title: Unity
Part: 21 of 22+Epilogue
Word Count: 6779
Includes: Continued large amounts of exposition, Kylian's dirty mouth, continued personal disagreements.
Pairings: Thrall/Jaina
Summary: Darkness threatens Azeroth once more, and Thrall and his Horde are prepared to meet it head on.
Previous Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Sidestory: Linguistics
13 14 15 16 17 18
Sidestory: Defiance - 1 2 3 4 5 Epilogue
19 20
For a moment, Thrall thought that the elf would argue or dissemble, but as Kylian glanced at Jaina’s serious expression, he seemed to change his mind. “Yeah, yeah. Alright. It starts in Dalaran. After what happened with Kael… you remember what happened, right? The f--”
“I remember,” Jaina said, tersely. “Please.”
“Right, okay,” Kylian agreed readily, though Thrall saw something gleam in his eyes behind the aetheric glow of magic. “Sorry. We were too late to stop Quel’thalas from falling, or Dalaran. Kael realized pretty quickly that we couldn’t just sit around, so he gathered as many survivors as he could -- mages, members of the army, civilians when we could find them -- and decided to go hook up with the Alliance. We’d heard that there was a major initiative to push the Scourge out of Dalaran. Pretty much, we weren’t starving then, but we knew we were going to start soon enough.”
“The Sunwell was tainted by the Scourge, ruined,” Jaina said. “You would have lost everything. All of those golems, the weather control… the runestones.”
“Yeah, pretty much, everything was completely fucked,” Kylian agreed, and emotion twitched across his face briefly. “But there might have been something left in Dalaran, or so we hoped.”
“There were several groups of survivors in Lordaeron,” Thrall noted with a frown. “The Silver Hand reformed into the Scarlet Crusade, for instance, intent on taking back Lordaeron from the Scourge.”
“Really,” Kylian said, with slightly too much of an edge to his voice to sound as casual as he hoped. “Where are they, again?”
“I believe based out of Hearthglen, though there was recently a schism amongst them,” Thrall noted. “Some of their number left to form a splinter group, the Argent Dawn. They're based out of Tyr's Hand.”
“Fascinating,” Kylian noted, a hint of boredom to his tone, and Thrall glanced briefly at Jaina, who was giving Kylian a hard look in her turn. “What caused the schism?”
“From what it sounded like... there was a disagreement in the upper echelons about the presence of non-humans within the order, many felt that only humans should be responsible for saving Lordaeron and so the non-humans should be turned out,” Thrall said slowly. “Those that disagreed with this treatment left. If there are elves or dwarves that survived, they'll be with the Argent Dawn.”
“Ah, I've heard that song before,” Kylian said, waving dismissively, but there was another gleam in his eyes. “Shall I continue?”
“Please,” Vines snapped. “It's not gossip time.”
“Of course, Commander,” Kylian said, smirking. “We made contact with a local Alliance commander, Grand Marshal Garithos. I see you know the name.”
“We've met, briefly,” Vines growled. “Useless as tits on a bull, and has the bull's manners. If the Alliance is ever about cooperation between nations, between races, Garithos was its anathema. He didn't just hate other races, he hated the wrong kinds of humans, too.”
“Mages,” Jaina murmured. “Even now, far too many people just hate mages.”
“Exactly,” Kylian said. “We didn't know, couldn't know. We showed up, with our supplies and our army, full of mages, led by a mage, and he was ready enough to use use to the fullest extent of our abilities.”
“So long as you would die along with it,” Jaina finished, looking angry. “Tyrande talked about it, she remembers Kael fondly. He saved her life.”
“That's skipping ahead in the story,” Kylian rebuked mildly, and then held up his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. Tell me what you know.”
“What Tyrande told me was that she and Maiev met Kael while they were traveling across Lordaeron, searching for Illidan. Kael was fighting off Scourge and finding caches of supplies to bring with them while they attempted to meet with the remainder of Alliance command. Tyrande saved the army from a Scourge incursion and was swept downriver. She came aground on an island and fought them off until Illidan found her.” Jaina traced a figure in the air, blazing a trail across an illusion of Lordaeron. “Malfurion said that Kael and his army assisted him in defeating Illidan, and then revealed Tyrande's fate.”
“Kael never intended to deceive Malfurion, that was all Maiev. He owed Tyrande for saving us, but that was all before Dalaran. The last Malfurion would have seen of all of us was when Illidan took off through his portal to Outland, and Maiev went after him.” Kylian shook his head lightly. “That was a complete clusterfuck.”
“That's the part we haven't heard much about,” Jaina said, folding her hands on the table and watching Kylian intently. “What happened in Outland?”
“We basically showed up to watch our Lord and saviour, Illidan Stormrage, getting thrown into a cage and dragged off by the Warden,” Kylian said. “Not exactly the most morale-inducing sight to see right after our own jailbreak.” He shrugged a little. “We managed, though. We freed him, we put the Warden down.”
“She was only doing her job, and Illidan was dangerous,” Thrall noted with a frown. “Surely there was a way to capture her instead.”
“I'm surprised the person who used an earthquake to murder a bunch of Alliance soldiers is really on the 'law and order' side,” Kylian replied, giving him a nasty look, and Vines turned to stare at Thrall. “But okay, if you want, yeah we could have, but we didn't see the need. It was Maiev or Illidan, and we picked our side the minute we stepped through that portal.”
“Durnholde was empty when I tore it down,” Thrall snarled, half-rising before he could fully stop himself. He felt Jaina's hand on his and sat down. “Are you deliberately trying to annoy me?”
“I don't know, do you feel deliberately annoyed?” Kylian asked breezily. “Anyway, we followed Illidan as he marched across Hellfire Peninsula. Charming place, seriously, but the dust gets everywhere... and we found things. People.”
“People?” Vines asked, distracted from Thrall. “The expeditions?”
“Yes, and no,” Kylian said. “There were signs of old fortifications, ruins really, of the old Alliance bases. Our brave, sacrificial lambs had built up bases of operations near the Dark Portal, the ruins of which we could see from where we were standing, but they had been discarded. That wasn't so much a surprise, and the hordes of rampaging fel orcs weren't much of one either.”
“Was there any sign of uncorrupted orcs?” Jaina asked, even as Thrall felt his heart sink a little further. “Or any of the Expedition?”
“Not in Hellfire, but more than that survived the sundering of Draenor,” Kylian said. “We didn't go far, because Hellfire was our base, but what we did do was encounter non-orc natives. The Draenei, predictably.”
“There were reports that there were human-like aliens on Draenor, according to information provided by Archmage Khadgar himself,” Vines mused, rubbing at his chin. “And there are reports from the Swamp of Sorrows of a handful of them wandering around, though they didn't seem much like humans to me.”
“Sometimes, everything is measured on a scale, of being 'very like a human' to 'very like an orc', and there's a lot of room in between,” Garona observed. Thrall did not jump at her sudden arrival, and he bit back the urge to ask her what she'd found. Jaina, interestingly, did not jump either, but the others at the meeting started, with Kylian's perhaps the greatest of all with a touch of exaggeration.
“Holy shitfuck, where the hell did you come from?” he demanded, holding his hand to his chest.
“Outside,” Garona replied, her voice muffled by her Kor'Kron helm. “Warchief, I have not found what you were looking for.”
“Thank you, Akia,” Thrall replied. “So, these Draenei... what were they like?”
“Afraid,” Kylian said, letting his gaze linger briefly on Garona before returning to his audience. “Fel orcs had hunted them across Hellfire, and longer than that. The war between the draenei and the orcs is an old one, if you can even call it that at this point. Illidan was looking for something specific, but he ordered us to help the draenei in the hopes that they would have some kind of information for us.”
“There are worse motivations for helping someone,” Jaina pointed out. “And it helped a people in need besides.”
“Yeah, pretty much. As it turned out, not only did they have information, but they had useful skills too, and they pledged themselves to our cause. Their leader, Akama, got a promotion up to lieutenant, just like Kael and Vashj. We figured out that the fel orcs were being commanded by a pit lord, and that killing that pit lord would put an end to all the demon summoning and crap they were doing.”
“A pit lord... Mannoroth?” Thrall asked, his tone urgent as he sat forward. Kylian shook his head.
“Magtheridon, a huge, ugly fucker,” he replied. “But there are a dozen of them, as far as I know, maybe more.”
“Pit lords are a lieutenant-class type of demon, sitting third in ranking below the Eredar,” Jaina noted. “We fought several of them at Hyjal as well. Mannoroth is dead, which is a rare enough occurrence that it's worth marking the occasion.”
“Yeah, and so's Magtheridon,” Kylian said, nodding to her. “We stormed his stronghold, a place called the Black Citadel that was being run by fel orcs. It was brutal - we lost a lot to their machine defences - but we managed it.”
“Who was leading them?” Garona asked. “Bladefist? Deadeye?”
“Uh, would have been a guy using the handle 'Maim Blackhand',” Kylian replied. “Missing a tooth, kind of an idiot.”
“That's not a pseudonym, that's his real name,” Garona said. “His twin brother's name is Rend.”
“You're shitting me,” Kylian said. “Who names their kids something that dumb?”
“Blackhand the Destroyer, first Warchief of the Horde, and great tactical idiot,” Garona replied. “Though his daughter's name was Griselda. Is Maim dead?”
“Yeah, very dead. Once we took the fortress, we pretty much immediately were confronted by the shit Illidan didn't want to tell us, namely that the reason he'd gone to Dalaran was because he'd been asked to by Kil'jaeden. If the top rung of the Burning Legion is Sargeras, the second rung is Archimonde and Kil'jaeden.”
“And Archimonde is dead,” Jaina said. “I watched him explode.”
“Yeah, and Sargeras is MIA, so it's Kil'jaeden now,” Kylian agreed. “We found out that when Illidan killed Tichondrius and absorbed the Skull of Gul'dan, he prevented the Legion from invading Azeroth again. You'd think this would be the best news ever, but Kil'jaeden also recruited Illidan to fight Arthas and the Lich King, who decided to rebel or some shit.”
“The Legion used the Scourge and then discarded them... and then lost at Hyjal,” Thrall said slowly. “And Tyrande did say that Illidan told her that he never wanted to rule the world, only that he wanted power, magic.”
“Yeah, well, he got it. Problem was, when Malfurion and Maiev stopped him at Dalaran, he broke his deal with the demons. Illidan was trying to cut the demons off from Draenor by closing those portals and killing Magtheridon, only to have Kil'jaeden waltz in to tell him to get the fuck back to Azeroth and do his job.”
“It's almost as if this Illidan person tries to do the right thing, and is just utterly selfish about it,” Ariok noted, speaking for the first time.
“Illidan Stormrage, a study,” Kylian said, by way of agreement. “Also, largely unsuccessful and whatever he tries to accomplish that isn't manipulating people.”
"Not exactly fond of this Stormrage, are you?" Ariok observed with a frown. "How do we know that you aren't just making him look bad?"
“And who are you to ask?" Kylian asked, answering question with question. Ariok drew himself up with pride.
"Ariok, son of Eitrigg, of the Blackrock clan," he replied. "Sworn to find my father once more and tell him of my survival--"
"Yeah, yeah, okay. Look." Kylian gestured, and left a trail of sparks that dispersed harmlessly. "I don't actually give a shit about your life story. Illidan Stormrage was known to us before he showed up. Ten thousand years ago, he gave the first Sunstrider the means to create the Sunwell, the core of our society until Arthas decided to dump a dead body in it and fuck us all over. He was a hero, right up until the point where we actually met him. Then we realized the same thing any kid learns when they meet their hero: that people are seriously flawed."
"Or, they meet their hero's son, and learn she was actually not a particularly good parent," Jaina murmured. Kylian raised an eyebrow, and she added, "I've met Medivh."
"Oh, how was he?" Kylian asked, even as Vines' mouth fell open in shock. "Still all demon-y?"
"No, actually," Jaina replied, ignoring Vines. "He was dead, first, but his ghost was liberated from Sargeras' control, but was still fully invested with his Guardian powers, which allowed him to manifest in the time of Azeroth's great need, which did directly correspond with Arthas sticking a dead body in the Sunwell and fucking us all over."
Thrall raised an eyebrow at Jaina's turn of phrase. "I didn't think you used that kind of language."
"That's not even close to the worst thing I've ever heard Jaina say," Kylian interjected. "You don't exactly know her very well, do you?"
"Get back on topic," Thrall growled, even as the remark stung. "What about Illidan and the demon?"
Kylian smiled. "Right, how silly of me. So, Illidan got Akama and his people to secure the Citadel against the remaining fel orcs, while we geared up to go to Icecrown." All good humour, forced or otherwise, drained from his expression, and he continued, much subdued. "Illidan opened a portal and we went through with the naga. Vashj and Kael established strongholds in the far north while we attempted to stop Arthas along the coast. We failed and fell back. He had a dragon. He had a fucking dragon."
"The Scourge always have an advantage," Jaina said, her voice laced with sympathy. "Anything they can kill, they can take. You lose your fallen twice."
"Not to mention, Arthas and Kael have a history, even besides that," Kylian said, and shook his head briefly. "Illidan primarily focused on seizing control of special runestones that looked like they had been cribbed from the Runekeepers that could create bridges to the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King was waiting for Arthas. We did everything we could to stop them... Arthas had been losing strength, or so it seemed. The Lich King did... something to him. He came back strong, he had allies, this huge insect-beast, looking related to the other ones we saw in Northrend, but undead instead of living. He drove Vashj back, and... he destroyed our base. I remember the gargoyles coming in. Flying over us, checking to see if there were any survivors. If we moved, we were dead. We lay in the snow, waiting for them to send the necromancers. Kael got us out, he burned them from the sky."
Jaina stood up, crossing to Kylian's side and pulled him into a tight embrace. Kylian put his arms around her, clinging to her and murmuring too softly for Thrall to hear. Jaina whispered back, and after a moment, she drew away. Kylian nodded to her, and wiped briefly at his eyes.
"There was no time to collect our dead or burn them to spare them from the Scourge. We had to tend to the living. Illidan realized that he couldn't gain control of those runestones, so he made one final, suicidal charge at Arthas. We were... too exhausted to participate. Kael was trying to gather power to get us away. I still remember the sound of the battle, the sound Frostmourne made when it hit Illidan's blade... how we thought Illidan was going to win because he stabbed Arthas in the chest, but it left him open... and Arthas isn't alive any more. He stabbed Illidan in the chest and it dropped him."
“So... he's dead then?” Gorgonna ventured in the silence that followed. “He's not the one that did this?”
“I wish it was that simple,” Kylian said, shaking his head. “We thought Arthas was going to turn Illidan. That's how he made death knights, killing them, twisting their souls... but not Illidan. He might have, but something called him, the Frozen Throne, I guess. When Arthas turned his back, Kael ran to Illidan. He said... he said he was still breathing, that we had to get him to healers. To the relative safety of Outland. To... to the magical caches we'd kept aside.”
“How did you get the portal open again?” Jaina asked, sympathy warring with curiosity. “Kael is powerful, but you said you were exhausted.”
“Yeah, we aren't... you know, you or anything, but we're good at working as a team. Kael led the circle, he was... it fucked him up. It was so fucking cold the tears were frozen to his face, but he had it together enough to rip open a portal between Northrend and Outland and took us to the home we were stuck with while fucking Arthas Menethil walked up to the Lich King to give him frozen blow jobs or something.”
“They merged and became a single entity,” Jaina said, her voice so soft that Thrall shivered. There was no sorrow in her voice, not now. Only anger. “He's the Lich King and the Lich King is him.”
“Fucking great,” Kylian muttered. “Just what we needed.”
“What happened to Illidan?” Gorgonna prompted. “You said that he lived, but I'm not certain as to how. Few survive such a wound.”
“I've always personally felt like Illidan was way too much of a pain in the ass to die,” Kylian said, but nodded to her. “We lost a lot of people once we got back... mages, the weakest of the circle. They gave everything they had to get us home, and then their lives. It wasn't pretty.”
Thrall frowned as something tugged at his memory. “I know that mages get fevers when they use too much magic - I've seen it - but how is it possible for it to kill them?”
“What Kael did wasn't shit they teach in Dalaran... when you channel the Sunwell, you use a full circle of mages. All of the mages involved pool their energy together, and when it's over, it redistributes, and those with the most energy are the most drained, and the least the most renewed, because the Sunwell is providing the power. When we did it, Kael was our focus, and we pooled everything we had together... and when we used it up, we didn't have a bottomless wellspring to fill us back up. It burned people out, past just getting mage fever. Past just being sick. It was like striking a match... they burn bright, and then they're ash.”
“I had no idea Kael could do something like that, and the cost... did he know it would kill them?” Jaina asked, aghast. “He never asked me to--”
“We all went to Northrend knowing we could die,” Kylian replied bluntly. “If some people were going to die anyway, it's better that they did it saving the lives of others instead of having their souls violated by the Lich King. You would have made the same call, you know it.”
“I would have offered myself up first before others, you know it,” Jaina retorted, setting her jaw. Even as Thrall admired her determination, a shiver moved through him, the ghost of fear anchored in memory of that great battle in Hyjal, of Jaina's collapse moments after the World Tree had immolated Archimonde and saved Azeroth.
“And that's why Kael never told you how it worked,” Kylian shot back. “You would have gotten yourself killed before you ever hit Archmage because you always want to be the hero, you always want to put yourself in danger for others. You don't know how to delegate responsibility because you think you can do everything.”
“I promise you, I know what it's like to have people die for me,” Jaina hissed. “But I don't see a reason to throw people's lives into a grinder.”
“Neither does Kael, and neither do I,” Kylian snapped. “You don't know what it was like out there.”
“Try me,” Jaina replied, folding her arms over her chest, and Thrall felt the room grow icy, as though he were standing next to a cold box.
“Like I said, the weakest mages, the ones that lost the most, burned out and died, but the rest of us weren't a lot better. We burned through a lot of reserves trying to heal from it. We took to using whatever sources we could, and there's a lot of magic in Outland, all wild and loose and disobeying the strictures of the Kirin Tor. You'd hate it, nothing follows the rules. We got Illidan to healers and they managed to patch him up, but... for a long time, he was just laying there. Not moving, hardly breathing. Akama and Vashj poured everything they had into him, and our healers did too. There were shifts moving in and out of his room in the Citadel, just trying to see if they could get him to wake up. We tried... a lot of things, everything we could think of, and Kael...” Kylian shook his head wordlessly. “Kael was there every second. He wouldn't eat, he wouldn't sleep. He just sat by Illidan, holding his stupid fucking hand and praying that he'd wake up, somehow. I don't even know half of what Kael offered to get him to wake up, or to whom it was being offered, but about three months later, Illidan finally woke up. He... recovered pretty fast after that. A big ol' scar on his chest and none the worse for wear. Everyone was really happy about it... until he started opening his mouth.”
“Opening his mouth... what did he say?” Jaina asked, her tone thawing a fraction.
“I'm not going to mince words here, Illidan was fucking Kael, and while I thought it was a stupid, dangerous idea, Kael seemed to be okay with it. When Illidan woke up, he acted like the very idea was disgusting to him. It hurt Kael a lot, and it's not like it's the first time he's been rejected, but at least that had some kind of context.” Thrall glanced briefly at Jaina, whose expression had only grown more stony. “He accepted it, and moved on... or out, as the case may be.”
“What little I know of Illidan indicates that this is surprising,” Thrall noted. “Did he ever give a reason why?”
“You know, finding out what's up Illidan Stormrage's ass was not high on my list of priorities,” Kylian replied, his voice threaded with anger. “It was more important to figure out where the hell we actually stood within the hierarchy. The answer was pretty much how the Alliance treated us: disposable, but useful from time to time anyway. So he'd send us out to investigate various sites around Outland, looking into magical caches and old ruins. We found a place that seemed steeped in arcane magic. We started calling it Netherstorm. We were, for lack of a better term, mining it for magical essence.”
“Raw magical essence is dangerous,” Jaina objected. “And the refinement of such is considered to be reckless--”
“Yada yada the Kirin Tor expressly forbids, no one gives a crap,” Kylian cut in. Jaina's eyes blazed with anger.
“The Kirin Tor forbids things that get people killed,” she retorted. “And now that they're gone, someone needs to make sure we aren't overrun by idiot mages who think that they're good enough to break the rules that prevent reality from ripping open and sending a flood of demons after everyone!”
“Since I'm pretty sure Medivh didn't make you Guardian when he died, it's not your fucking business to police people about their magic usage, no matter how much you might want to,” Kylian snapped back. “We did what we needed to do, that's all you need to worry about.”
Jaina stood up, slamming her hands against the table, startling Gorgonna and causing Ariok to growl low in his throat. “Just because you half-ass your own duties to the point you can be shown up by an eleven year old doesn't mean that I do!”
“This has nothing to do with--”
“You know,” Commander Vines said, leaning over to Thrall, amusement warring with irritation. “I could have sworn they came into this room as friends.”
“I believed so,” Thrall murmured, his gaze on Jaina's face. Her eyes blazed with anger, as he had seen a handful of times before, and he had no doubt that if she had been an orc, the emotion would have been in her body scent, and would lie more heavily on her body language. This was not an anger meant to arouse. If anything, it would leave someone utterly cold. “I wonder what either of them mean.”
By now, the crux of the dispute had shifted to an incident that Thrall didn’t recall being told of, but it had something to do with chickens. He shook his head briefly.
“Don't know, but we're not going to get anywhere if they get into a fistfight over some magical philosophy or another,” Vines said. “I think I could take the elf, but I don't know about the lady.”
“I can handle Jaina,” Thrall replied. “On three?”
Vines nodded. “Aye. One, two...”
“Three.” Thrall stood, and crossed to Jaina's side, putting his hand over one of hers. Vines went to the other side of the table and grabbed Kylian's arms, jerking him back from the table. “I know that Magister Firesong is obnoxious, ignorant, and almost certainly deliberately antagonistic--”
“Wow, thanks for that,” Kylian muttered, and tugged ineffectually at Vines.
“--but we need to know what happened, so he should have the chance to speak before you turn him into an adorable rabbit.”
“She turns people into rabbits, and you're arguing with her?” Vines asked, incredulous.
“It was one time,” Jaina groused, and took a deep breath. “You're right, this can... keep.”
“Very good.” Thrall smiled at her, and Jaina's lips formed one of her own, blossoming slowly. Thrall nodded to her and sat back down, and she seated herself a moment after.
Vines released Kylian and returned to his own chair, leaving Kylian to stand, eyebrows raised as he glanced between them. Thrall frowned at him forbiddingly, and the look disappeared.
“Right, so, where was I?”
“Mining for magic, I believe,” Ariok said, and glanced over at Jaina. “Which we agree is a poor idea.”
“Yeah, yeah. We needed it, though,” Kylian muttered, though didn't elaborate further. “The important part is that while this was happening, Illidan was up to something. We knew that he had a deal going with Kil'jaeden, and when we failed at Icecrown, it was only a matter of time before he came to yell at Illidan again. So, we waited. While we were waiting, people started... disappearing. Changing.”
“Changing, how?” Jaina asked, frowning.
“Disappearing, from where?” Thrall asked, a moment after. Kylian glanced between them.
“You have to understand, we weren't in good shape when we were in Outland. Outland - or at least, the part we were in - wasn't really meant to be lived in. Not by people who didn't know the lay of the land really well. The land was sick and cracked and dying, and this wouldn't have been a problem if we had the magic and the anchors to landscape the area into something more comfortable, and we thought that was our goal, in Netherstorm, but the magic was too volatile for anything but short-term consumption... so we had to improvise. We suffered for it. At first, we thought people were disappearing because they went on a magic bender and burnt themselves out... and then we found out where they were going.”
“You're leading up to something,” Ariok noted, and Kylian gave him a dirty look.
“It's fucking hard to talk about, is the something,” Kylian snapped at him, and then took a breath. “They were going to Illidan. Like, behind Kael's back, to Illidan, and he was... changing them. The first project, the one that was only mostly a complete failure, at least made sense, but the second one...” Kylian shook his head. “He was turning them into demons.”
Silence descended on the group as the words sunk in. Thrall's first instinct was to disbelieve. Kylian was brash, rude, and dismissive... but the image of the twisted faces of the fel orcs he had fought filled his mind, and then that of the Warsong who had succumbed to Mannoroth's tainted blood once more. Looking at Jaina, he saw similar realization and horror steal over her expression.
“All demons of flesh were once of mortal races,” Garona said, breaking the silence. “The tainted Kaldorei became satyrs, orcs become fel orcs... they might have been given a name if there were enough of them. No one knows the Eredar as anything other than demonic, though they existed.”
“Yeah, that about covers it. There already weren't a lot of us, and when that got out - and I sure as fuck made sure people knew about it - we started fleeing from Illidan in droves, taking refuge where we could... but then we caught wind he was going to fully open up the Dark Portal again. While we were running off and hiding in the fucking woods, Illidan had made nice with the fel orcs. They still had leaders that were slightly less stupid than the rest of them --” Garona snorted, but didn't interrupt “-- and he made deals with them. The draenei, Akama's people, were completely caught out in the open, and he turned them into slaves. The naga... who even fucking knows about the naga, Vashj always had her own agenda. She took Leotheras and fucked off somewhere into the marsh.”
“Leotheras?” Jaina asked.
“Marsh?” Garona asked, at the same time. Kylian glanced at Garona first, avoiding Jaina's gaze entirely.
“Yeah, they called it the Zangarmarsh. Something something huge ass mushrooms something something endless cycle of water draining and returning. I don't get it, I assume it's esoteric floating in the Twisting Nether bullshit, but it maintains a level of humidity and dampness that can safely be considered 'fucking terrible'.” Kylian shrugged. “Apparently the draenei love it. There were nicer places for us to live, and Illidan himself gave the Citadel back to the fel orcs and left them to oversee the Dark Portal while he moved to some temple.”
“The temple of Karabor?” Garona asked, and Thrall watched her dig her fingers into the edge of the table.
“Yeah, I guess. We always called it the Black Temple because it was a huge, ugly pile of fel-tainted iron and bad vibes. I'm not exactly superstitious, but most of us were pretty sure it was haunted, if by nothing else than the ghosts of bad taste.” Kylian paused, and when no one laughed, he continued. “It was pretty much the last straw. Illidan used us and then he was done with us. We threw our lives away for a fake saviour. So when the Dark Portal opened, and the demons were rushing through, we went through too. We can't go back to Quel'thalas, it's completely fucked. We can't stay in Outland, we'll wind up as demons or fodder and fuck that. The Alliance screwed us, Illidan screwed us, Dalaran screwed us. We're not sure what we can do, other than move forward.”
“Theramore,” Jaina said. “Well, Kalimdor, but we have strict treaties involving where we can and can't expand, so Theramore is a better bet. I have control over most of Dustwallow Marsh, and agreements with the rest of those who live there, but Theramore can handle more refugees. It's what I built it on, refugees, survivors, and dreamers.”
“Jaina, I...” Kylian licked his lips briefly, and nodded. “I don't lead these people. I'm not sticking around, especially now that I know what's waiting up north, but I'll tell them. They might go with you, or they might try to find their relatives here. We're... not a united people, not any more.”
“What about Kael?” Jaina insisted. “Why did he allow this, where is he now? Didn't he bring people through?”
“I don't know where Kael is, and fucked if I actually care.” Jaina blinked, and even Thrall had to stare at the way anger, pure anger, twisted the elf's features into something deeply ugly. “He fucked off to do his own thing, maybe screw another demon or three, but he sure as hell didn't clue us in to the bargain. We can't rely on him at all.”
“Then you should be leading, your people need direction--”
“And they'll find it from someone that isn't me,” Kylian cut in bluntly. “Firesongs don't lead, we follow. Talk to Ghlorie, or Voren, or even Rommath... not me. I've got shit to do.”
“She's not going to put up with your bullshit, you realize,” Jaina said. “She has a reputation.”
Kylian smiled weakly. “I'm counting on it.”
The meeting did not continue for long after that, with Kylian excusing himself and Vines turning to Thrall and Jaina. “How long do you think this attack is likely to last?”
“It's hard to say,” Jaina said, her gaze following Kylian out before focusing on the human commander. “On the one hand, if Illidan really is seeking to invade Azeroth, it could take weeks or months to fully stave off the invasion. Fortunately, unlike the previous invasions, we're aware of it as it happened, and not weeks or months after the fact. They won't be able to establish a foothold on Azeroth.”
“A miscalculation on their part,” Ariok growled. “We are ready for them this time, and you humans aren't alone. We stand fast with you.”
“Indeed.” Jaina smiled at him and nodded briefly. “Though I can't help but wonder if it isn't a miscalculation at all.”
“How do you mean?” Vines asked. “You implied there was another possibility.”
“There is,” Jaina agreed. “On the other hand, the Burning Legion has a great many forces, slaves and demons. When they come, unless it's by accident or through carelessness, they come in force. They come with subtlety first, and then when they believe they can spring things on us, they apply extreme pressure. The Scourge were a direct assault, and we broke under that pressure.”
“There are no demons of the higher orders,” Garona observed. “It's all fodder, the fel-twisted, the common demons. Demons have hierarchies, and organized forces are led by powerful demons, who are in turn directed by even more powerful demons. None of those are present here.”
“Which could mean they're still coming,” Vines cautioned, weariness stealing over his face for a moment.
“Or they aren't coming at all,” Jaina pointed out. She stood, and with a gesture, summoned an illusion of Azeroth, spinning lazily. Thrall watched the image in appreciation, watching dark Lordaeron and bright Winterspring spin past, hot Tanaris and icy Northrend, the swirling, chaotic storm of the Maelstrom, and the great banks of fog and darkness blanketing the far ocean between the Eastern Kingdoms' eastern coast and Kalimdor's western one. “Every invasion the Burning Legion has made has had a purpose.”
“The first, at Azshara's call,” Thrall noted. “The second, at Sargeras', and the third at Archimonde's.”
“The first time, the Burning Legion wanted the Well of Eternity, and willing slaves,” Jaina agreed, and the globe flickered, showing a whole continent that fragmented, the pieces pushed out violently by a massive explosion that faded into the Maelstrom. “The writings of the Guardian, Aegwynn, seem to indicate Sargeras' attempts to return were... probing, but ultimately foiled by her.”
“The task that Gul'dan was set to was to retrieve Sargeras' avatar body,” Garona noted. “Presumably so that he would not have to suffer a human's body, and once Medivh was dead, no one would be able to stop him.”
“He reckoned without the Kaldorei,” Gorgonna observed. “They fought back against him.”
“With help,” Jaina corrected her. “Our help. The Scourge built on the pieces of the orc invasion... Ner'zhul's failure, the weakened state of the primary Alliance members, and their pawns, put carefully into place. They couldn't have known, or anticipated, Medivh's return, or the return of shamanism to the orcish people.”
“Or the cooperation of one of the most powerful mages in Azeroth,” Thrall added, his voice warm.
Jaina smiled at him, matching his warmth with her own. “I was his third choice, but I maintain the best. The question remains, though, what is motivating this invasion?”
“Revenge?” Ariok guessed. “He failed to stop the Lich King once, he isn't well-regarded by his peers. He could be lashing out.”
“Illidan isn't beyond acting out of revenge, but this seems to be too far-reaching... if he can teleport anywhere, why not return to Icecrown, or to Kalimdor? He's never met humans, or not for any significant length of time, and if he was doing it for his allies... well, Kylian is a lot of things, but I don't think he's exaggerating about his people being used.”
“He could be a pawn for the Burning Legion, but acting in the least useful way possible,” Thrall offered. “The way one might if they were sent out to fight an enemy they didn't want to fight. Delay tactics, slow movement, looking just busy enough.”
“So you're proposing that Illidan's not even trying, brilliant,” Vines grumbled. "I'd hate to see what he'd be like if he were trying."
"What would his motivation be?" Gorgonna wondered. "He's abandoned his old allies and thrown in with the new. If this were a ruse, surely Kael'thas or Kylian would know of it."
"Unless that's why Kael'thas disappeared, and Kylian wasn't important enough to know," Ariok countered. "He doesn't seem like someone good at keeping secrets."
"Kylan'thas Firesong is not bragging when he speaks of his family being the third family of Quel'thalas," Garona reminded them. "His father served Kael'thas' father, Kylian would have been groomed for the same task. If Illidan did intend on creating a deception, it's dangerous not to at least make certain that your troops won't abandon you. That kind of trust, once broken, is hard to mend even with the best intentions."
"Let's not forget what Illidan was supposedly doing to the elves," Jaina murmured. "There's no excuse for that, no forgiveness. I don't understand this plan."
"A distraction for another strike?" Thrall suggested. "One closer to Ashenvale?"
"It would take much effort, would it not?" Gorgonna asked. Frowning, she leaned in and looked at the map. "And he's using up all his fodder here. Surely he would have to know that people would answer him. If he didn't want to catch our attention, he should have been more careful."
"Unless..." Jaina stared at her summoned globe. "Unless he wanted to be noticed."
"That brings us back to the question of why," Thrall growled softly. "Why throw lives away, why attack Nethergarde? Why open the Portal at all?"
"To provoke action from us?" Ariok guessed. "We couldn't leave such a challenge unanswered. No warrior could."
"Humans don't always act as orcs do," Gorgonna reminded him. "He couldn't have known exactly how the humans would react, or that we would join them. Humans and orcs have not been allies long."
"About four years," Jaina murmured. "But if he's not attacking..."
"He wants us to go through the Portal," Garona finished grimly. "Which we are perfectly willing to do, because we have people we want to find."
"I don't like dancing to this demon's tune," Ariok growled. "What game is he playing?"
"That's my decision to make," Thrall said. "We can't get through the Portal until the way is cleared regardless. We'll make the decision to proceed once we reach that point and not before. A demon lord could come through that Portal next and completely change our perception of the situation. The two of you should go north when you can, and..." He looked briefly at Jaina, before clearing his throat. "Watch Kylian. It's still possible that there are things he hasn't told us, and I won't have a rogue agent threatening the mission of the Argent Dawn, no matter what he claims."
Jaina's face creased with unhappiness, but she nodded once. "I don't believe Kylian would be working for Illidan, but I don't like how vague he was about Kael, or what the Blood Elves were doing. He's hiding something for certain."
"We'll keep an eye on him, Warchief. Lady Proudmoore." Gorgonna saluted, and Ariok did so a moment after. Thrall nodded to both of them.
"Meanwhile, we still have demons to fight," Commander Vines said, pushing himself to a standing position. "Ladies, gentlemen. We fight."
"We fight," Thrall agreed. “If you'll excuse me, I have matters of great importance I need to attend to.” Thrall rose, and nodded slightly to Garona, who nodded back.
“As do I,” Jaina said, and the globe vanished into nothingness. “And there's much to consider.”
Thrall allowed Jaina to depart first, and as he turned to go, he noticed Ariok and Gorgonna exchanging looks. You've only known each other for mere weeks, Thrall thought sourly. You can't possibly be speculating as to our relationship already.
Garona caught his look, and raised an eyebrow. He growled.
[ Chapter 22]
Title: Unity
Part: 21 of 22+Epilogue
Word Count: 6779
Includes: Continued large amounts of exposition, Kylian's dirty mouth, continued personal disagreements.
Pairings: Thrall/Jaina
Summary: Darkness threatens Azeroth once more, and Thrall and his Horde are prepared to meet it head on.
Previous Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Sidestory: Linguistics
13 14 15 16 17 18
Sidestory: Defiance - 1 2 3 4 5 Epilogue
19 20
For a moment, Thrall thought that the elf would argue or dissemble, but as Kylian glanced at Jaina’s serious expression, he seemed to change his mind. “Yeah, yeah. Alright. It starts in Dalaran. After what happened with Kael… you remember what happened, right? The f--”
“I remember,” Jaina said, tersely. “Please.”
“Right, okay,” Kylian agreed readily, though Thrall saw something gleam in his eyes behind the aetheric glow of magic. “Sorry. We were too late to stop Quel’thalas from falling, or Dalaran. Kael realized pretty quickly that we couldn’t just sit around, so he gathered as many survivors as he could -- mages, members of the army, civilians when we could find them -- and decided to go hook up with the Alliance. We’d heard that there was a major initiative to push the Scourge out of Dalaran. Pretty much, we weren’t starving then, but we knew we were going to start soon enough.”
“The Sunwell was tainted by the Scourge, ruined,” Jaina said. “You would have lost everything. All of those golems, the weather control… the runestones.”
“Yeah, pretty much, everything was completely fucked,” Kylian agreed, and emotion twitched across his face briefly. “But there might have been something left in Dalaran, or so we hoped.”
“There were several groups of survivors in Lordaeron,” Thrall noted with a frown. “The Silver Hand reformed into the Scarlet Crusade, for instance, intent on taking back Lordaeron from the Scourge.”
“Really,” Kylian said, with slightly too much of an edge to his voice to sound as casual as he hoped. “Where are they, again?”
“I believe based out of Hearthglen, though there was recently a schism amongst them,” Thrall noted. “Some of their number left to form a splinter group, the Argent Dawn. They're based out of Tyr's Hand.”
“Fascinating,” Kylian noted, a hint of boredom to his tone, and Thrall glanced briefly at Jaina, who was giving Kylian a hard look in her turn. “What caused the schism?”
“From what it sounded like... there was a disagreement in the upper echelons about the presence of non-humans within the order, many felt that only humans should be responsible for saving Lordaeron and so the non-humans should be turned out,” Thrall said slowly. “Those that disagreed with this treatment left. If there are elves or dwarves that survived, they'll be with the Argent Dawn.”
“Ah, I've heard that song before,” Kylian said, waving dismissively, but there was another gleam in his eyes. “Shall I continue?”
“Please,” Vines snapped. “It's not gossip time.”
“Of course, Commander,” Kylian said, smirking. “We made contact with a local Alliance commander, Grand Marshal Garithos. I see you know the name.”
“We've met, briefly,” Vines growled. “Useless as tits on a bull, and has the bull's manners. If the Alliance is ever about cooperation between nations, between races, Garithos was its anathema. He didn't just hate other races, he hated the wrong kinds of humans, too.”
“Mages,” Jaina murmured. “Even now, far too many people just hate mages.”
“Exactly,” Kylian said. “We didn't know, couldn't know. We showed up, with our supplies and our army, full of mages, led by a mage, and he was ready enough to use use to the fullest extent of our abilities.”
“So long as you would die along with it,” Jaina finished, looking angry. “Tyrande talked about it, she remembers Kael fondly. He saved her life.”
“That's skipping ahead in the story,” Kylian rebuked mildly, and then held up his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. Tell me what you know.”
“What Tyrande told me was that she and Maiev met Kael while they were traveling across Lordaeron, searching for Illidan. Kael was fighting off Scourge and finding caches of supplies to bring with them while they attempted to meet with the remainder of Alliance command. Tyrande saved the army from a Scourge incursion and was swept downriver. She came aground on an island and fought them off until Illidan found her.” Jaina traced a figure in the air, blazing a trail across an illusion of Lordaeron. “Malfurion said that Kael and his army assisted him in defeating Illidan, and then revealed Tyrande's fate.”
“Kael never intended to deceive Malfurion, that was all Maiev. He owed Tyrande for saving us, but that was all before Dalaran. The last Malfurion would have seen of all of us was when Illidan took off through his portal to Outland, and Maiev went after him.” Kylian shook his head lightly. “That was a complete clusterfuck.”
“That's the part we haven't heard much about,” Jaina said, folding her hands on the table and watching Kylian intently. “What happened in Outland?”
“We basically showed up to watch our Lord and saviour, Illidan Stormrage, getting thrown into a cage and dragged off by the Warden,” Kylian said. “Not exactly the most morale-inducing sight to see right after our own jailbreak.” He shrugged a little. “We managed, though. We freed him, we put the Warden down.”
“She was only doing her job, and Illidan was dangerous,” Thrall noted with a frown. “Surely there was a way to capture her instead.”
“I'm surprised the person who used an earthquake to murder a bunch of Alliance soldiers is really on the 'law and order' side,” Kylian replied, giving him a nasty look, and Vines turned to stare at Thrall. “But okay, if you want, yeah we could have, but we didn't see the need. It was Maiev or Illidan, and we picked our side the minute we stepped through that portal.”
“Durnholde was empty when I tore it down,” Thrall snarled, half-rising before he could fully stop himself. He felt Jaina's hand on his and sat down. “Are you deliberately trying to annoy me?”
“I don't know, do you feel deliberately annoyed?” Kylian asked breezily. “Anyway, we followed Illidan as he marched across Hellfire Peninsula. Charming place, seriously, but the dust gets everywhere... and we found things. People.”
“People?” Vines asked, distracted from Thrall. “The expeditions?”
“Yes, and no,” Kylian said. “There were signs of old fortifications, ruins really, of the old Alliance bases. Our brave, sacrificial lambs had built up bases of operations near the Dark Portal, the ruins of which we could see from where we were standing, but they had been discarded. That wasn't so much a surprise, and the hordes of rampaging fel orcs weren't much of one either.”
“Was there any sign of uncorrupted orcs?” Jaina asked, even as Thrall felt his heart sink a little further. “Or any of the Expedition?”
“Not in Hellfire, but more than that survived the sundering of Draenor,” Kylian said. “We didn't go far, because Hellfire was our base, but what we did do was encounter non-orc natives. The Draenei, predictably.”
“There were reports that there were human-like aliens on Draenor, according to information provided by Archmage Khadgar himself,” Vines mused, rubbing at his chin. “And there are reports from the Swamp of Sorrows of a handful of them wandering around, though they didn't seem much like humans to me.”
“Sometimes, everything is measured on a scale, of being 'very like a human' to 'very like an orc', and there's a lot of room in between,” Garona observed. Thrall did not jump at her sudden arrival, and he bit back the urge to ask her what she'd found. Jaina, interestingly, did not jump either, but the others at the meeting started, with Kylian's perhaps the greatest of all with a touch of exaggeration.
“Holy shitfuck, where the hell did you come from?” he demanded, holding his hand to his chest.
“Outside,” Garona replied, her voice muffled by her Kor'Kron helm. “Warchief, I have not found what you were looking for.”
“Thank you, Akia,” Thrall replied. “So, these Draenei... what were they like?”
“Afraid,” Kylian said, letting his gaze linger briefly on Garona before returning to his audience. “Fel orcs had hunted them across Hellfire, and longer than that. The war between the draenei and the orcs is an old one, if you can even call it that at this point. Illidan was looking for something specific, but he ordered us to help the draenei in the hopes that they would have some kind of information for us.”
“There are worse motivations for helping someone,” Jaina pointed out. “And it helped a people in need besides.”
“Yeah, pretty much. As it turned out, not only did they have information, but they had useful skills too, and they pledged themselves to our cause. Their leader, Akama, got a promotion up to lieutenant, just like Kael and Vashj. We figured out that the fel orcs were being commanded by a pit lord, and that killing that pit lord would put an end to all the demon summoning and crap they were doing.”
“A pit lord... Mannoroth?” Thrall asked, his tone urgent as he sat forward. Kylian shook his head.
“Magtheridon, a huge, ugly fucker,” he replied. “But there are a dozen of them, as far as I know, maybe more.”
“Pit lords are a lieutenant-class type of demon, sitting third in ranking below the Eredar,” Jaina noted. “We fought several of them at Hyjal as well. Mannoroth is dead, which is a rare enough occurrence that it's worth marking the occasion.”
“Yeah, and so's Magtheridon,” Kylian said, nodding to her. “We stormed his stronghold, a place called the Black Citadel that was being run by fel orcs. It was brutal - we lost a lot to their machine defences - but we managed it.”
“Who was leading them?” Garona asked. “Bladefist? Deadeye?”
“Uh, would have been a guy using the handle 'Maim Blackhand',” Kylian replied. “Missing a tooth, kind of an idiot.”
“That's not a pseudonym, that's his real name,” Garona said. “His twin brother's name is Rend.”
“You're shitting me,” Kylian said. “Who names their kids something that dumb?”
“Blackhand the Destroyer, first Warchief of the Horde, and great tactical idiot,” Garona replied. “Though his daughter's name was Griselda. Is Maim dead?”
“Yeah, very dead. Once we took the fortress, we pretty much immediately were confronted by the shit Illidan didn't want to tell us, namely that the reason he'd gone to Dalaran was because he'd been asked to by Kil'jaeden. If the top rung of the Burning Legion is Sargeras, the second rung is Archimonde and Kil'jaeden.”
“And Archimonde is dead,” Jaina said. “I watched him explode.”
“Yeah, and Sargeras is MIA, so it's Kil'jaeden now,” Kylian agreed. “We found out that when Illidan killed Tichondrius and absorbed the Skull of Gul'dan, he prevented the Legion from invading Azeroth again. You'd think this would be the best news ever, but Kil'jaeden also recruited Illidan to fight Arthas and the Lich King, who decided to rebel or some shit.”
“The Legion used the Scourge and then discarded them... and then lost at Hyjal,” Thrall said slowly. “And Tyrande did say that Illidan told her that he never wanted to rule the world, only that he wanted power, magic.”
“Yeah, well, he got it. Problem was, when Malfurion and Maiev stopped him at Dalaran, he broke his deal with the demons. Illidan was trying to cut the demons off from Draenor by closing those portals and killing Magtheridon, only to have Kil'jaeden waltz in to tell him to get the fuck back to Azeroth and do his job.”
“It's almost as if this Illidan person tries to do the right thing, and is just utterly selfish about it,” Ariok noted, speaking for the first time.
“Illidan Stormrage, a study,” Kylian said, by way of agreement. “Also, largely unsuccessful and whatever he tries to accomplish that isn't manipulating people.”
"Not exactly fond of this Stormrage, are you?" Ariok observed with a frown. "How do we know that you aren't just making him look bad?"
“And who are you to ask?" Kylian asked, answering question with question. Ariok drew himself up with pride.
"Ariok, son of Eitrigg, of the Blackrock clan," he replied. "Sworn to find my father once more and tell him of my survival--"
"Yeah, yeah, okay. Look." Kylian gestured, and left a trail of sparks that dispersed harmlessly. "I don't actually give a shit about your life story. Illidan Stormrage was known to us before he showed up. Ten thousand years ago, he gave the first Sunstrider the means to create the Sunwell, the core of our society until Arthas decided to dump a dead body in it and fuck us all over. He was a hero, right up until the point where we actually met him. Then we realized the same thing any kid learns when they meet their hero: that people are seriously flawed."
"Or, they meet their hero's son, and learn she was actually not a particularly good parent," Jaina murmured. Kylian raised an eyebrow, and she added, "I've met Medivh."
"Oh, how was he?" Kylian asked, even as Vines' mouth fell open in shock. "Still all demon-y?"
"No, actually," Jaina replied, ignoring Vines. "He was dead, first, but his ghost was liberated from Sargeras' control, but was still fully invested with his Guardian powers, which allowed him to manifest in the time of Azeroth's great need, which did directly correspond with Arthas sticking a dead body in the Sunwell and fucking us all over."
Thrall raised an eyebrow at Jaina's turn of phrase. "I didn't think you used that kind of language."
"That's not even close to the worst thing I've ever heard Jaina say," Kylian interjected. "You don't exactly know her very well, do you?"
"Get back on topic," Thrall growled, even as the remark stung. "What about Illidan and the demon?"
Kylian smiled. "Right, how silly of me. So, Illidan got Akama and his people to secure the Citadel against the remaining fel orcs, while we geared up to go to Icecrown." All good humour, forced or otherwise, drained from his expression, and he continued, much subdued. "Illidan opened a portal and we went through with the naga. Vashj and Kael established strongholds in the far north while we attempted to stop Arthas along the coast. We failed and fell back. He had a dragon. He had a fucking dragon."
"The Scourge always have an advantage," Jaina said, her voice laced with sympathy. "Anything they can kill, they can take. You lose your fallen twice."
"Not to mention, Arthas and Kael have a history, even besides that," Kylian said, and shook his head briefly. "Illidan primarily focused on seizing control of special runestones that looked like they had been cribbed from the Runekeepers that could create bridges to the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King was waiting for Arthas. We did everything we could to stop them... Arthas had been losing strength, or so it seemed. The Lich King did... something to him. He came back strong, he had allies, this huge insect-beast, looking related to the other ones we saw in Northrend, but undead instead of living. He drove Vashj back, and... he destroyed our base. I remember the gargoyles coming in. Flying over us, checking to see if there were any survivors. If we moved, we were dead. We lay in the snow, waiting for them to send the necromancers. Kael got us out, he burned them from the sky."
Jaina stood up, crossing to Kylian's side and pulled him into a tight embrace. Kylian put his arms around her, clinging to her and murmuring too softly for Thrall to hear. Jaina whispered back, and after a moment, she drew away. Kylian nodded to her, and wiped briefly at his eyes.
"There was no time to collect our dead or burn them to spare them from the Scourge. We had to tend to the living. Illidan realized that he couldn't gain control of those runestones, so he made one final, suicidal charge at Arthas. We were... too exhausted to participate. Kael was trying to gather power to get us away. I still remember the sound of the battle, the sound Frostmourne made when it hit Illidan's blade... how we thought Illidan was going to win because he stabbed Arthas in the chest, but it left him open... and Arthas isn't alive any more. He stabbed Illidan in the chest and it dropped him."
“So... he's dead then?” Gorgonna ventured in the silence that followed. “He's not the one that did this?”
“I wish it was that simple,” Kylian said, shaking his head. “We thought Arthas was going to turn Illidan. That's how he made death knights, killing them, twisting their souls... but not Illidan. He might have, but something called him, the Frozen Throne, I guess. When Arthas turned his back, Kael ran to Illidan. He said... he said he was still breathing, that we had to get him to healers. To the relative safety of Outland. To... to the magical caches we'd kept aside.”
“How did you get the portal open again?” Jaina asked, sympathy warring with curiosity. “Kael is powerful, but you said you were exhausted.”
“Yeah, we aren't... you know, you or anything, but we're good at working as a team. Kael led the circle, he was... it fucked him up. It was so fucking cold the tears were frozen to his face, but he had it together enough to rip open a portal between Northrend and Outland and took us to the home we were stuck with while fucking Arthas Menethil walked up to the Lich King to give him frozen blow jobs or something.”
“They merged and became a single entity,” Jaina said, her voice so soft that Thrall shivered. There was no sorrow in her voice, not now. Only anger. “He's the Lich King and the Lich King is him.”
“Fucking great,” Kylian muttered. “Just what we needed.”
“What happened to Illidan?” Gorgonna prompted. “You said that he lived, but I'm not certain as to how. Few survive such a wound.”
“I've always personally felt like Illidan was way too much of a pain in the ass to die,” Kylian said, but nodded to her. “We lost a lot of people once we got back... mages, the weakest of the circle. They gave everything they had to get us home, and then their lives. It wasn't pretty.”
Thrall frowned as something tugged at his memory. “I know that mages get fevers when they use too much magic - I've seen it - but how is it possible for it to kill them?”
“What Kael did wasn't shit they teach in Dalaran... when you channel the Sunwell, you use a full circle of mages. All of the mages involved pool their energy together, and when it's over, it redistributes, and those with the most energy are the most drained, and the least the most renewed, because the Sunwell is providing the power. When we did it, Kael was our focus, and we pooled everything we had together... and when we used it up, we didn't have a bottomless wellspring to fill us back up. It burned people out, past just getting mage fever. Past just being sick. It was like striking a match... they burn bright, and then they're ash.”
“I had no idea Kael could do something like that, and the cost... did he know it would kill them?” Jaina asked, aghast. “He never asked me to--”
“We all went to Northrend knowing we could die,” Kylian replied bluntly. “If some people were going to die anyway, it's better that they did it saving the lives of others instead of having their souls violated by the Lich King. You would have made the same call, you know it.”
“I would have offered myself up first before others, you know it,” Jaina retorted, setting her jaw. Even as Thrall admired her determination, a shiver moved through him, the ghost of fear anchored in memory of that great battle in Hyjal, of Jaina's collapse moments after the World Tree had immolated Archimonde and saved Azeroth.
“And that's why Kael never told you how it worked,” Kylian shot back. “You would have gotten yourself killed before you ever hit Archmage because you always want to be the hero, you always want to put yourself in danger for others. You don't know how to delegate responsibility because you think you can do everything.”
“I promise you, I know what it's like to have people die for me,” Jaina hissed. “But I don't see a reason to throw people's lives into a grinder.”
“Neither does Kael, and neither do I,” Kylian snapped. “You don't know what it was like out there.”
“Try me,” Jaina replied, folding her arms over her chest, and Thrall felt the room grow icy, as though he were standing next to a cold box.
“Like I said, the weakest mages, the ones that lost the most, burned out and died, but the rest of us weren't a lot better. We burned through a lot of reserves trying to heal from it. We took to using whatever sources we could, and there's a lot of magic in Outland, all wild and loose and disobeying the strictures of the Kirin Tor. You'd hate it, nothing follows the rules. We got Illidan to healers and they managed to patch him up, but... for a long time, he was just laying there. Not moving, hardly breathing. Akama and Vashj poured everything they had into him, and our healers did too. There were shifts moving in and out of his room in the Citadel, just trying to see if they could get him to wake up. We tried... a lot of things, everything we could think of, and Kael...” Kylian shook his head wordlessly. “Kael was there every second. He wouldn't eat, he wouldn't sleep. He just sat by Illidan, holding his stupid fucking hand and praying that he'd wake up, somehow. I don't even know half of what Kael offered to get him to wake up, or to whom it was being offered, but about three months later, Illidan finally woke up. He... recovered pretty fast after that. A big ol' scar on his chest and none the worse for wear. Everyone was really happy about it... until he started opening his mouth.”
“Opening his mouth... what did he say?” Jaina asked, her tone thawing a fraction.
“I'm not going to mince words here, Illidan was fucking Kael, and while I thought it was a stupid, dangerous idea, Kael seemed to be okay with it. When Illidan woke up, he acted like the very idea was disgusting to him. It hurt Kael a lot, and it's not like it's the first time he's been rejected, but at least that had some kind of context.” Thrall glanced briefly at Jaina, whose expression had only grown more stony. “He accepted it, and moved on... or out, as the case may be.”
“What little I know of Illidan indicates that this is surprising,” Thrall noted. “Did he ever give a reason why?”
“You know, finding out what's up Illidan Stormrage's ass was not high on my list of priorities,” Kylian replied, his voice threaded with anger. “It was more important to figure out where the hell we actually stood within the hierarchy. The answer was pretty much how the Alliance treated us: disposable, but useful from time to time anyway. So he'd send us out to investigate various sites around Outland, looking into magical caches and old ruins. We found a place that seemed steeped in arcane magic. We started calling it Netherstorm. We were, for lack of a better term, mining it for magical essence.”
“Raw magical essence is dangerous,” Jaina objected. “And the refinement of such is considered to be reckless--”
“Yada yada the Kirin Tor expressly forbids, no one gives a crap,” Kylian cut in. Jaina's eyes blazed with anger.
“The Kirin Tor forbids things that get people killed,” she retorted. “And now that they're gone, someone needs to make sure we aren't overrun by idiot mages who think that they're good enough to break the rules that prevent reality from ripping open and sending a flood of demons after everyone!”
“Since I'm pretty sure Medivh didn't make you Guardian when he died, it's not your fucking business to police people about their magic usage, no matter how much you might want to,” Kylian snapped back. “We did what we needed to do, that's all you need to worry about.”
Jaina stood up, slamming her hands against the table, startling Gorgonna and causing Ariok to growl low in his throat. “Just because you half-ass your own duties to the point you can be shown up by an eleven year old doesn't mean that I do!”
“This has nothing to do with--”
“You know,” Commander Vines said, leaning over to Thrall, amusement warring with irritation. “I could have sworn they came into this room as friends.”
“I believed so,” Thrall murmured, his gaze on Jaina's face. Her eyes blazed with anger, as he had seen a handful of times before, and he had no doubt that if she had been an orc, the emotion would have been in her body scent, and would lie more heavily on her body language. This was not an anger meant to arouse. If anything, it would leave someone utterly cold. “I wonder what either of them mean.”
By now, the crux of the dispute had shifted to an incident that Thrall didn’t recall being told of, but it had something to do with chickens. He shook his head briefly.
“Don't know, but we're not going to get anywhere if they get into a fistfight over some magical philosophy or another,” Vines said. “I think I could take the elf, but I don't know about the lady.”
“I can handle Jaina,” Thrall replied. “On three?”
Vines nodded. “Aye. One, two...”
“Three.” Thrall stood, and crossed to Jaina's side, putting his hand over one of hers. Vines went to the other side of the table and grabbed Kylian's arms, jerking him back from the table. “I know that Magister Firesong is obnoxious, ignorant, and almost certainly deliberately antagonistic--”
“Wow, thanks for that,” Kylian muttered, and tugged ineffectually at Vines.
“--but we need to know what happened, so he should have the chance to speak before you turn him into an adorable rabbit.”
“She turns people into rabbits, and you're arguing with her?” Vines asked, incredulous.
“It was one time,” Jaina groused, and took a deep breath. “You're right, this can... keep.”
“Very good.” Thrall smiled at her, and Jaina's lips formed one of her own, blossoming slowly. Thrall nodded to her and sat back down, and she seated herself a moment after.
Vines released Kylian and returned to his own chair, leaving Kylian to stand, eyebrows raised as he glanced between them. Thrall frowned at him forbiddingly, and the look disappeared.
“Right, so, where was I?”
“Mining for magic, I believe,” Ariok said, and glanced over at Jaina. “Which we agree is a poor idea.”
“Yeah, yeah. We needed it, though,” Kylian muttered, though didn't elaborate further. “The important part is that while this was happening, Illidan was up to something. We knew that he had a deal going with Kil'jaeden, and when we failed at Icecrown, it was only a matter of time before he came to yell at Illidan again. So, we waited. While we were waiting, people started... disappearing. Changing.”
“Changing, how?” Jaina asked, frowning.
“Disappearing, from where?” Thrall asked, a moment after. Kylian glanced between them.
“You have to understand, we weren't in good shape when we were in Outland. Outland - or at least, the part we were in - wasn't really meant to be lived in. Not by people who didn't know the lay of the land really well. The land was sick and cracked and dying, and this wouldn't have been a problem if we had the magic and the anchors to landscape the area into something more comfortable, and we thought that was our goal, in Netherstorm, but the magic was too volatile for anything but short-term consumption... so we had to improvise. We suffered for it. At first, we thought people were disappearing because they went on a magic bender and burnt themselves out... and then we found out where they were going.”
“You're leading up to something,” Ariok noted, and Kylian gave him a dirty look.
“It's fucking hard to talk about, is the something,” Kylian snapped at him, and then took a breath. “They were going to Illidan. Like, behind Kael's back, to Illidan, and he was... changing them. The first project, the one that was only mostly a complete failure, at least made sense, but the second one...” Kylian shook his head. “He was turning them into demons.”
Silence descended on the group as the words sunk in. Thrall's first instinct was to disbelieve. Kylian was brash, rude, and dismissive... but the image of the twisted faces of the fel orcs he had fought filled his mind, and then that of the Warsong who had succumbed to Mannoroth's tainted blood once more. Looking at Jaina, he saw similar realization and horror steal over her expression.
“All demons of flesh were once of mortal races,” Garona said, breaking the silence. “The tainted Kaldorei became satyrs, orcs become fel orcs... they might have been given a name if there were enough of them. No one knows the Eredar as anything other than demonic, though they existed.”
“Yeah, that about covers it. There already weren't a lot of us, and when that got out - and I sure as fuck made sure people knew about it - we started fleeing from Illidan in droves, taking refuge where we could... but then we caught wind he was going to fully open up the Dark Portal again. While we were running off and hiding in the fucking woods, Illidan had made nice with the fel orcs. They still had leaders that were slightly less stupid than the rest of them --” Garona snorted, but didn't interrupt “-- and he made deals with them. The draenei, Akama's people, were completely caught out in the open, and he turned them into slaves. The naga... who even fucking knows about the naga, Vashj always had her own agenda. She took Leotheras and fucked off somewhere into the marsh.”
“Leotheras?” Jaina asked.
“Marsh?” Garona asked, at the same time. Kylian glanced at Garona first, avoiding Jaina's gaze entirely.
“Yeah, they called it the Zangarmarsh. Something something huge ass mushrooms something something endless cycle of water draining and returning. I don't get it, I assume it's esoteric floating in the Twisting Nether bullshit, but it maintains a level of humidity and dampness that can safely be considered 'fucking terrible'.” Kylian shrugged. “Apparently the draenei love it. There were nicer places for us to live, and Illidan himself gave the Citadel back to the fel orcs and left them to oversee the Dark Portal while he moved to some temple.”
“The temple of Karabor?” Garona asked, and Thrall watched her dig her fingers into the edge of the table.
“Yeah, I guess. We always called it the Black Temple because it was a huge, ugly pile of fel-tainted iron and bad vibes. I'm not exactly superstitious, but most of us were pretty sure it was haunted, if by nothing else than the ghosts of bad taste.” Kylian paused, and when no one laughed, he continued. “It was pretty much the last straw. Illidan used us and then he was done with us. We threw our lives away for a fake saviour. So when the Dark Portal opened, and the demons were rushing through, we went through too. We can't go back to Quel'thalas, it's completely fucked. We can't stay in Outland, we'll wind up as demons or fodder and fuck that. The Alliance screwed us, Illidan screwed us, Dalaran screwed us. We're not sure what we can do, other than move forward.”
“Theramore,” Jaina said. “Well, Kalimdor, but we have strict treaties involving where we can and can't expand, so Theramore is a better bet. I have control over most of Dustwallow Marsh, and agreements with the rest of those who live there, but Theramore can handle more refugees. It's what I built it on, refugees, survivors, and dreamers.”
“Jaina, I...” Kylian licked his lips briefly, and nodded. “I don't lead these people. I'm not sticking around, especially now that I know what's waiting up north, but I'll tell them. They might go with you, or they might try to find their relatives here. We're... not a united people, not any more.”
“What about Kael?” Jaina insisted. “Why did he allow this, where is he now? Didn't he bring people through?”
“I don't know where Kael is, and fucked if I actually care.” Jaina blinked, and even Thrall had to stare at the way anger, pure anger, twisted the elf's features into something deeply ugly. “He fucked off to do his own thing, maybe screw another demon or three, but he sure as hell didn't clue us in to the bargain. We can't rely on him at all.”
“Then you should be leading, your people need direction--”
“And they'll find it from someone that isn't me,” Kylian cut in bluntly. “Firesongs don't lead, we follow. Talk to Ghlorie, or Voren, or even Rommath... not me. I've got shit to do.”
“She's not going to put up with your bullshit, you realize,” Jaina said. “She has a reputation.”
Kylian smiled weakly. “I'm counting on it.”
The meeting did not continue for long after that, with Kylian excusing himself and Vines turning to Thrall and Jaina. “How long do you think this attack is likely to last?”
“It's hard to say,” Jaina said, her gaze following Kylian out before focusing on the human commander. “On the one hand, if Illidan really is seeking to invade Azeroth, it could take weeks or months to fully stave off the invasion. Fortunately, unlike the previous invasions, we're aware of it as it happened, and not weeks or months after the fact. They won't be able to establish a foothold on Azeroth.”
“A miscalculation on their part,” Ariok growled. “We are ready for them this time, and you humans aren't alone. We stand fast with you.”
“Indeed.” Jaina smiled at him and nodded briefly. “Though I can't help but wonder if it isn't a miscalculation at all.”
“How do you mean?” Vines asked. “You implied there was another possibility.”
“There is,” Jaina agreed. “On the other hand, the Burning Legion has a great many forces, slaves and demons. When they come, unless it's by accident or through carelessness, they come in force. They come with subtlety first, and then when they believe they can spring things on us, they apply extreme pressure. The Scourge were a direct assault, and we broke under that pressure.”
“There are no demons of the higher orders,” Garona observed. “It's all fodder, the fel-twisted, the common demons. Demons have hierarchies, and organized forces are led by powerful demons, who are in turn directed by even more powerful demons. None of those are present here.”
“Which could mean they're still coming,” Vines cautioned, weariness stealing over his face for a moment.
“Or they aren't coming at all,” Jaina pointed out. She stood, and with a gesture, summoned an illusion of Azeroth, spinning lazily. Thrall watched the image in appreciation, watching dark Lordaeron and bright Winterspring spin past, hot Tanaris and icy Northrend, the swirling, chaotic storm of the Maelstrom, and the great banks of fog and darkness blanketing the far ocean between the Eastern Kingdoms' eastern coast and Kalimdor's western one. “Every invasion the Burning Legion has made has had a purpose.”
“The first, at Azshara's call,” Thrall noted. “The second, at Sargeras', and the third at Archimonde's.”
“The first time, the Burning Legion wanted the Well of Eternity, and willing slaves,” Jaina agreed, and the globe flickered, showing a whole continent that fragmented, the pieces pushed out violently by a massive explosion that faded into the Maelstrom. “The writings of the Guardian, Aegwynn, seem to indicate Sargeras' attempts to return were... probing, but ultimately foiled by her.”
“The task that Gul'dan was set to was to retrieve Sargeras' avatar body,” Garona noted. “Presumably so that he would not have to suffer a human's body, and once Medivh was dead, no one would be able to stop him.”
“He reckoned without the Kaldorei,” Gorgonna observed. “They fought back against him.”
“With help,” Jaina corrected her. “Our help. The Scourge built on the pieces of the orc invasion... Ner'zhul's failure, the weakened state of the primary Alliance members, and their pawns, put carefully into place. They couldn't have known, or anticipated, Medivh's return, or the return of shamanism to the orcish people.”
“Or the cooperation of one of the most powerful mages in Azeroth,” Thrall added, his voice warm.
Jaina smiled at him, matching his warmth with her own. “I was his third choice, but I maintain the best. The question remains, though, what is motivating this invasion?”
“Revenge?” Ariok guessed. “He failed to stop the Lich King once, he isn't well-regarded by his peers. He could be lashing out.”
“Illidan isn't beyond acting out of revenge, but this seems to be too far-reaching... if he can teleport anywhere, why not return to Icecrown, or to Kalimdor? He's never met humans, or not for any significant length of time, and if he was doing it for his allies... well, Kylian is a lot of things, but I don't think he's exaggerating about his people being used.”
“He could be a pawn for the Burning Legion, but acting in the least useful way possible,” Thrall offered. “The way one might if they were sent out to fight an enemy they didn't want to fight. Delay tactics, slow movement, looking just busy enough.”
“So you're proposing that Illidan's not even trying, brilliant,” Vines grumbled. "I'd hate to see what he'd be like if he were trying."
"What would his motivation be?" Gorgonna wondered. "He's abandoned his old allies and thrown in with the new. If this were a ruse, surely Kael'thas or Kylian would know of it."
"Unless that's why Kael'thas disappeared, and Kylian wasn't important enough to know," Ariok countered. "He doesn't seem like someone good at keeping secrets."
"Kylan'thas Firesong is not bragging when he speaks of his family being the third family of Quel'thalas," Garona reminded them. "His father served Kael'thas' father, Kylian would have been groomed for the same task. If Illidan did intend on creating a deception, it's dangerous not to at least make certain that your troops won't abandon you. That kind of trust, once broken, is hard to mend even with the best intentions."
"Let's not forget what Illidan was supposedly doing to the elves," Jaina murmured. "There's no excuse for that, no forgiveness. I don't understand this plan."
"A distraction for another strike?" Thrall suggested. "One closer to Ashenvale?"
"It would take much effort, would it not?" Gorgonna asked. Frowning, she leaned in and looked at the map. "And he's using up all his fodder here. Surely he would have to know that people would answer him. If he didn't want to catch our attention, he should have been more careful."
"Unless..." Jaina stared at her summoned globe. "Unless he wanted to be noticed."
"That brings us back to the question of why," Thrall growled softly. "Why throw lives away, why attack Nethergarde? Why open the Portal at all?"
"To provoke action from us?" Ariok guessed. "We couldn't leave such a challenge unanswered. No warrior could."
"Humans don't always act as orcs do," Gorgonna reminded him. "He couldn't have known exactly how the humans would react, or that we would join them. Humans and orcs have not been allies long."
"About four years," Jaina murmured. "But if he's not attacking..."
"He wants us to go through the Portal," Garona finished grimly. "Which we are perfectly willing to do, because we have people we want to find."
"I don't like dancing to this demon's tune," Ariok growled. "What game is he playing?"
"That's my decision to make," Thrall said. "We can't get through the Portal until the way is cleared regardless. We'll make the decision to proceed once we reach that point and not before. A demon lord could come through that Portal next and completely change our perception of the situation. The two of you should go north when you can, and..." He looked briefly at Jaina, before clearing his throat. "Watch Kylian. It's still possible that there are things he hasn't told us, and I won't have a rogue agent threatening the mission of the Argent Dawn, no matter what he claims."
Jaina's face creased with unhappiness, but she nodded once. "I don't believe Kylian would be working for Illidan, but I don't like how vague he was about Kael, or what the Blood Elves were doing. He's hiding something for certain."
"We'll keep an eye on him, Warchief. Lady Proudmoore." Gorgonna saluted, and Ariok did so a moment after. Thrall nodded to both of them.
"Meanwhile, we still have demons to fight," Commander Vines said, pushing himself to a standing position. "Ladies, gentlemen. We fight."
"We fight," Thrall agreed. “If you'll excuse me, I have matters of great importance I need to attend to.” Thrall rose, and nodded slightly to Garona, who nodded back.
“As do I,” Jaina said, and the globe vanished into nothingness. “And there's much to consider.”
Thrall allowed Jaina to depart first, and as he turned to go, he noticed Ariok and Gorgonna exchanging looks. You've only known each other for mere weeks, Thrall thought sourly. You can't possibly be speculating as to our relationship already.
Garona caught his look, and raised an eyebrow. He growled.
[ Chapter 22]