Level 15: Rise of the Brotherhood
A/N: Special thanks to SilentMech, GamerGoddessNayru, refferee, Quixotic Enigma, and nioniosbbbb for your comments last chapter! They were very nice and supportive, and they helped me put this together even as life continues to go on and drain energy away from these more fun endeavors. Your comments do help offset that though, so please continue letting me know what you think!
I hope you all enjoy, and please leave your thoughts in the comments below!
“There is a shaman here, Thoralius, who might be able to aid us. He is a friend of Gryan's who has recently come to Westfall to study the elemental devastation that has befallen us. Speak to Thoralius, and see if there is something that he can do to shed some light on the identity of this shadowy figure.”
Being given a new objective steeled the previously panicked duo of Elves, and they looked around the Stormwind camp for where Captain Alpert was pointing.
It so happened that the person he was pointing to was a tall, broad shouldered man with gaudily crafted golden armor, white glowing eyes, hooves for feet, and…tentacles coming off of his light blue face.
Not long tentacles, but small tendril-like things that instantly freaked Trixie out while her more composed partner just flashed a confused look back at Alpert.
“You mean the blue, squid person in golden armor ten feet away?”
Alpert nodded as he gestured again to the unassuming squid-hoof-person in literally glowing armor, “Yes, that would be the one!”
That settled that matter, so Kael grabbed his partner and began to drag her towards their newest in what would be a long line of quest givers. This snapped her out of her confused studying of the odd creature, though Trixie did whisper on the way.
“What’s a squid?”
“Imagine this man’s head without a body, and a bit skinnier.”
Alpert heard their whispering and he rose his voice to chastise them for their conversation, “Now isn’t the time for jokes, go talk to him now while I try to find a way of dealing with this potential riot!”
This time Kael took charge of their conversation, for Trixie was still awestruck and would likely prove less efficient at speeding through the conversation, “Thoralius, we are told you can aid us. I assume you’ve overheard our conversation with your comrade?”
The squid-person nodded to them, though he did not seem to understand that he was receiving odd looks, “Hmm, yes, perhaps I could be of some assistance. When I was in Northrend I helped the people of Valgarde uncover some of the mysteries of the vrykul by delving into the spirit world. Perhaps the same could be done here.”
Nor did he seem to understand that none of that meant just about anything to the travelers speaking to him. He didn’t seem to notice or care even as Trixie outright questioned it.
“…what?”
Thoralius just continued speaking as if he didn’t hear her, a hand reaching into one of his pockets to reveal a scented object.
“This incense will put your body and mind in a deep meditative state. Once the trance begins you will be pulled into the spirit world. Do not fight the trance once it has begun. Allow the spirits to show you what they know.”
A look to the main part of the town revealed ever increasing volume of voices, stamping of feet, and other signs that things were beginning to spiral out of control.
“You must leave now. Go to the Deadmines, a place which I am told holds great significance in the history of Westfall because it was the Defias Brotherhood’s headquarters once upon a time. Once inside, use the incense. You may enter the Deadmines through the old farmhouse south of here. Follow the homeless. Return to Gryan Stoutmantle with your discovery.”
Trixie reached forward to grab the incense…only to take it and then shove it into Kael’s hands, her back turning to him the moment it was in his hands.
“I’m not so keen on taking something I don’t know anything about from a complete stranger. You’re up, Kael.”
He rolled his eyes, though he had to admit she had a point. He would like to have her look after him though while he was under the influence of this substance…but he also feared that they were wasting too much time as it was. These tasks were simple, but they were costing them valuable time they could be using to avoid their Hunter.
“Fine, but you had best do something while I am carrying out this task. Remember, we ought to leave soon, so we need to be efficient.”
Trixie brought a hand to her mouth as she tried to think of what she could possibly do. They still had to find the Stormwind Captain, but she didn’t see how they could possibly do that, so she settled for something else on their list: talking to the Saldeans, even though they were MIA.
“I will stop by Sentinel Hill and see if I can find Hope, since we haven’t seen her parents. I’d like to let them all know about the coming conflict before we turn tail and leave.”
Kael paused and thought briefly before giving her a nod, approving her plan while still being apprehensive, “Be careful. There is a good to likely chance the homeless nearby Sentinel Hill will be in on all this.”
“Oh please, you worry too much. You’re the one going to the Deadmines, which used to be a base for thugs!”
The Elf Prince fought the urge to hug Trixie as she moved to leave and head back to Sentinel Hill, and even after she was far away he held the urge still. Things might get dangerous soon and at a speed none of them could anticipate, and while staying held danger so did rushing things.
Kael set aside his doubts as he went about sneaking back into town. It wasn’t too hard to find the farmhouse given that the small town only had so many buildings, and no-one seemed to pay him much mind going in now that they all were busy discussing their little would-be revolution. The formerly corpselike population was as lively as starved people could be, and it would be heartwarming if not for the fact they were planning on throwing a violent revolution. Kael couldn’t fault them given their station in life, but people would be harmed, and innocents may come to the blade who were not complicit in the suffering of those of Westfall should the Defias return to power.
Inside of the farmhouse were some of the sicklier, elderly, and young from the town’s crowd all huddled across the structure. They were quiet and just murmuring to one another for the most part, though as Kael began to walk through the building he began to hear them say things about him.
“I remember seeing an Elf once…”
“I was once an Elf!”
Not everyone there was likely sane, it seemed, though Kael was proud of his own mind as he managed to find a staircase leading downwards all without rousing any real attention. In fact, this crowd of sullen people seemed to react more to eachother speaking about him than him himself.
“We heard those Stormwind guys are hiring an Elf to do their dirty work. Think it’s him?”
“Nah, it was a woman I heard.”
“Well I hear she’s hiring mercenaries and is going to unleash her fearsome beast on us all!”
“That girl with the poor Saldeans ain’t got no money for mercenaries.”
“They usually give us all food. Where’v they been?”
“I dunno, but I hear there was a prison break a bit ago! There’s that Captain downstairs who’ve they’ve had fer weeks, and I hear he broke his chains. Poor sod didn’t get very far before they beat him back into the dirt.”
“Isn’t that like his third attempt? They aren’t even feeding him much at all!”
After heading down the staircase Kael found a room that led into what appeared to be a cavern. One would think Stormwind would block off this former area of activity for a criminal organization or do anything at all to perhaps make sure nothing was going on here, but given that the homeless who now had Defias sensibilities were gathering by it there appeared to be no mind paid to the area by Stormwind’s forces. Perhaps they were occupied elsewhere far away, enough so that they could not spare anything for the area just outside of their own border?
As Kael passed the last of the homeless taking shelter he took a step into the cave, the darkness of it making him grow doubtful as he thought about what he was doing.
“This is it…”
Taking a glance around, he noticed that the homeless nearby him were all asleep. They wouldn’t pay him any mind, and he was at the location as instructed. Kael brought out the incense and lowered himself to the ground.
“Hopefully this is quick. I don’t seem to be in the main cavern, but I dare not enter any further on my own.”
Using a quick flame, Kael lit the incense and let its scent wash over him. It only took a moment for his vision to blur, and he had a brief moment to thank himself for sitting down before he collapsed completely and became enthralled by the vision he was granted.
The vision was unlike anything Kael had felt, or at least could remember, as it was like seeing through eyes that did not belong to him. The swirled around in the darkness of the cavern for some short time before panning across it and passing by torches lighting the passageways of it at too fast of a speed for Kael to remember them in any detail.
What he did notice though was the multitude of bodies wearing familiar red bandanas, some of which had sword wounds, while others simply seemed to have blood pooling around them despite displaying no obvious wounds.
At the end of the twisting and winding cavern passages came an inner cove, a shoreline with wood standing over it that formed platforms leading to what appeared to be a warship under construction. The size of it was so impressive that it could likely wage a battle all on its own and sink many other ships with its massive cannons, but at the time of the vision it was incomplete.
Kael thought grimly that it would likely remain that way, as this was supposed to be the fall of the Brotherhood, and this was likely their would-be trump card.
The vision’s perspective shifted to home in on the top of the ship, where five men rushed atop it. The one in front was a Warrior with a Stormwind tabard and a wild look in his eyes as he yelled out.
“There's nowhere left to hide, VanCleef! The Defias are THROUGH!”
Nothing happened, though Kael could hear a very hushed voice off to the side. He was not the only one to hear it though, as Warrior soon boomed again.
“We're here to finish this! Face us, coward!”
In a flash a man with blue and bronzed golden leather leapt from the shadows nearby the ship’s middle cabin, a sword in each hand as he moved to engage the Warrior calling his name.
“None may challenge the Brotherhood!”
Kael noticed that the man was wearing a bandana of a similar make to his own, it being a higher quality bandana than the other by far. It covered his mouth as he yelled, though Kael could see a furious expression through his eyes and eyebrows alone. This was a man who was losing everything and would fight to the death to accomplish his goals.
The Warrior parried VanCleef’s first strike, though he ended up with a blade embedded in his side when the second sword struck. The wound disappeared in a flash of light as a member in the back of the party lifted up their hands and cast some magic unfamiliar to Kael.
A loud bang rung through the cavern as a man in full, concealing armor held out a “gun” (as Kael learned they were called) towards VanCleef. The man actually had anticipated the shot and avoided it by spinning around the Warrior and swinging down at the Warrior man’s legs, knocking them from beneath him and causing him to crash to the ground.
That’s when a second bang happened and VanCleef’s assault halted as he stumbled back. A hole appeared in his armor in the middle of his chest, and Kael could swear he could see blood dribbling down from beneath the red bandana.
This did not stop VanCleef from rushing towards one of the others and slashing his sword across their throat as he recovered from the gunshot. The man he slashed fell to his knees and dropped the daggers he had been holding, though the lack of blood spilling from him in conjunction with some light forming around his neck indicated that he too was being healed.
“Lapdogs, all of you!” VanCleef yelled as he moved to his next target, the healer. The healer was a person in robes, and they shrieked as he lunged at them. Another gunshot powered through the large cavern as VanCleef continued to rush forward, though it was apparent that he had been hit once again by the competent marksman.
VanCleef managed to get a moderately damaging strike off on the healer, but the gunshots had slowed him down enough that he was unable to finish his strike as intended. The healer cringed away, and it saved their life.
Edwin was hacking up blood as he brought a hand back and punched the healer off the ship’s deck, causing the clothed man to fall onto the scaffolding and platforms beneath where he was no threat, “Fools! Our cause is righteous!”
The last of the group, an exhausted looking old man in robes, tossed a fireball at VanCleef only for it to sail beyond the ship and fly into the far cavern wall. If it had hit VanCleef it may have set the ship afire, but the man was paid no more mind as the leader of the Defias continued onward to attack the gunman.
Edwin bobbed and weaved as he danced across the deck to approach the man with the gun, a man who stood taller and broader than even the large VanCleef, and as such aiming was difficult for the ranged fighter…so he dropped the gun and drew an axe from his back to parry the swords swinging at him.
The parry was enough to give his Warrior comrade time to finish rising to his feet and rejoin the fray, the man’s fury heightened by his humiliation. VanCleef shifted one sword to the side to parry the Warrior’s blade, but this gave the gunman time to use his size to his advantage and force VanCleef’s other blade up before dragging the axe downward across the man’s chest.
VanCleef took this in stride even as he reached the final leg of his strength, and he twisted around away from the strike so that he was free from a deadly follow up, and as he spun he whipped his sword around so it struck the back of the warrior’s armored head. This strike took the Warrior off-balance and placed him in the path of the gunman, giving VanCleef the a moment to catch his breath despite the blood oozing down his chest from his many wounds.
He coughed out blood as his mask fell from his face, revealing a relatively young man who was living his last moments, “The Brotherhood…shall prevail!”
VanCleef cut down the magic user before any of the others could do anything, his second blade burying itself in the downed man with daggers. The daggers were let go of as the man’s spinal cord was cut.
The Warrior rushed forward and unleashed a powerful slash at VanCleef, one only partly avoided by the heavily wounded man. The bandit’s sidestep let him retaliate with a strike strong enough to remove the man’s helmet, and as the Warrior moved to finish VanCleef another sword cut the man in a perfectly diagonal line from jaw to the top of his rectangular head.
The Warrior’s blade buried itself in VanCleef’s lower gut, but a backhand by the Defias leader forced the Warrior away…
…leaving him an open target for a final shot from the gunman, who seized the opportunity to shoot VanCleef. The shot was too quick to be well-aimed, but it did hit the noble rogue’s body, and it was with this final strike that VanCleef fell to his knees. One of his swords shattered as he used it to prop himself up, its battle damage causing it to chip to the size of no more than a dagger, while his other helped him prop himself up as he tried to cling to life.
“You…” VanCleef coughed as the others surrounded him, “You bastards…are you satisfied with the way things are?
Kael looked on with some sadness, as this was truly a man who thought he was doing what was best…even if it required him to act outside of the law. And here he was dying to some thug from Stormwind who would use this to brag rather than as a teaching moment that perhaps mistreating the poor could result in greater tragedy than some hungry bellies.
The Rogue’s eyes began to shut as his arms dropped and his grip on his swords loosened.
“As for me…I hate it.”
When VanCleef hit the ground, he was most certainly dead given the pool of blood surrounding him, but that did not stop the Warrior from preparing to use his sword on the fallen, ignoble hero’s neck.
“Victory for the Alliance! Glory to Stormwind!” the Stormwind man yelled out in triumph as he prepared to behead the body. Kael could swear he heard a gasp from somewhere, but he could not tell given the haziness of the vision.
The gunman caught the Warrior’s arm as his sword swung down, stopping the blow before it could occur, “What are you doing?”
“Taking proof of his defeat. What, you think they’ll just believe us?” the Warrior scoffed. As he spoke in his haughty tone the healer finally returned and began to heal their spinally challenged comrade, the other one’s death not within their powers to heal.
In a voice Kael could tell was Elvish even through the hazy vision, the gunman chastised his ally for their barbaric action, “He was a noble enemy. Inflicting harm upon his corpse is unseemly.”
The Warrior scoffed in response, tossing his blade to his other hand and finishing the job before anyone could voice another complaint, “What do you know, you bloody Elf? You lot may like things pretty, but we are willing to get our hands dirty.”
The Warrior lowered himself and grabbed the now decapitated head of Edwin by his raven black hair.
“Let us return to Sentinel Hill, allies, and inform Gryan of VanCleef's demise!”
The gunman did not speak further, and their full body of silver armor prevented Kael from seeing their expression. The Elf picked up the body of the deceased old man and began to follow the others who had moved to leave the ship from the opposite end from where the healer climbed, but just as they all began to jump off the ship a surprise occurred.
Coming out of the cabin VanCleef had originally exited was a little girl, likely a pre-teen or near that age, who began crying as she reached VanCleef.
“Daddy...”
The only one of the four survivors to notice this was the Elf, who heard it and stopped in his tracks. He turned back to look and see her just as he stepped off the boat onto a platform.
“Come on Elf! You find something, or you just wasting time?” came the obnoxious voice of the Warrior, the man more interested in going back and being paid and honored for his work than whatever the Elf was taking time to look at.
As the little girl knelt down next to VanCleef and began to cry into his blood soaked body, the Elf turned back to face the others and continued after them. He would spare the girl the pain of being taken or harmed by her father’s killers.
“No. There’s nothing.”
Kael felt his real stomach sicken as he continued to watch the girl cry into the dead body, though as she turned her head and revealed bloody cheek he felt himself sicken for another reason. Looking at her further, Kael found himself only able to think one last thing as the vision came to a close.
'No…'
Gryan Stoutmantle was actually pretty happy to see Kael as the Elf returned to Sentinel Hill, having found the Marshal at the main tower structure he had last been at when Hope was his taskmaster. He was so happy to see him return from Moonbrook that he even missed the gaunt, horrified look on the Elf’s face, though that might have had to do with the fact Kael’s glowing eyes partially masked his expressions like any other Elf’s would. The rest was because of Stoutmantle’s own optimistic outlook at the time.
He was happy. Too happy. Like he was forcing himself to be.
“What news do you bring from Westfall? Your lady friend wasn’t in the mood for talking to ‘another lazy quest giver’, so—”
Kael cut him off without any care for formality, “Edwin VanCleef had a daughter who witnessed the murder of her father by your forces, and she is the one rallying the Defias brotherhood right now. She is using the homeless to swell her ranks to the point they could form a minor army all on their own—”
In return he was cut off as soon as Stoutmantle found himself able to speak, the revelation catching him completely off guard, “WHAT? VanCleef had a daughter?”
Kael nodded affirmatively, causing the Marshal to fall silent as he thought about the ramifications of this news.
“I had no idea that VanCleef had a daughter, friend. If there was one thing that man was exceptionally skilled at, it was keeping secrets…how tragic. Poor thing witnessed a horrible act. Had I only known…”
Had anyone but the seemingly honorable Elf known, Kael was quite sure the girl would have been slain in some quiet manner to prevent the very situation they were in now: a second Defias uprising, lead by a VanCleef.
She would only be a teenager now, but Kael had a sickening feeling that such a thing was not hindering the woman. She could have used her young nature before to pass off as some innocent child, all the while plotting revenge without anyone the wiser.
“Someone did, but they didn’t open their mouth. Now, you need to listen. This daughter—”
A sudden groan from nearby caused Stoutmantle to raise a hand and silence Kael.
“What was that? Did you hear something?”
As they looked around to find the source of the sound, something struck the Marshal as odd. Only two of his normally assigned guards were nearby him, where they had been for hours, while all the others who normally patrolled the area were missing.
“…where are my guards—ON GUARD, MEN!”
The realization struck him halfway through his sentence that something was terrible wrong. Kael drew his own blade as the Marshal did the same, the complete silence in the area catching them all off guard. Even the normal moans and conversations of the homeless were gone, as were the normal masses of people in the area.
Something was very wrong. Kael hadn’t noticed it in his haste to reach Gryan, and Gryan had not known that anything out of the ordinary was happening that day so he wasn’t particularly on his guard anymore than he was at any other given moment.
“I will deploy a battalion of soldiers to Westfall at once! With the Defias Brotherhood reborn, an old threat to the kingdom is renewed. I don't like this, men. Stay alert!”
Upon this statement Trixie rushed outside of the tower’s open entrance and began looking around.
“What the Hel is going on here? What’s the commotion all about?”
Kael was relieved to see Trixie and as such missed the other person who left the tower just long enough for her to slip a dagger into Trixie’s back. Trixie fell to her knees and collapsed on the ground unconscious because of whatever poison was on the shimmering blade held in the hands of Hope Saldean.
The raven-haired girl did not spare Trixie a second glance as she looked up at Gryan with seething hatred, the man turning to her just as she leveled her dagger at his neck. This had the effect of halting his guards as well as Kael, who had cried out in anguish as Trixie fell and was ready to exact vengeance so long as it did not endanger Trixie.
Hope Saldean growled at the Marshal and his men, ignoring Kael as he stood behind them, “You bastards will burn for what you did.”
The sudden betrayal by a girl he had known for years caught the man off guard, and he gasped as he tried to realize what was happening, “Hope! Wha—”
She hissed at him and pressed the blade closer into his neck, his voice dying as fear crept into him, “Hope? Is that what I was supposed to feel when I saw my father decapitated by your henchmen? Hope is a cruel joke, played upon us by a harsh and uncaring world. There is no Hope, there is only Vanessa. Vanessa VanCleef.”
Hope cast aside her outer clothing, revealing a red and black outfit with gold trim that she had hidden beneath it. Upon doing so she pulls out a dagger Kael could not even begin to imagine how she hid until then, its orange and yellow coloration soon serving as a beacon as she lifted it to the darkening sky.
“RISE UP BROTHERHOOD! THE DAWNING DAY IS UPON US!”
Kael felt something smash him in the spine and knock him to his knees, though he considered himself lucky as the other three ended up being struck with something similar to what rendered Trixie unconscious. Only Stoutmantle was able to fight to remain conscious amongst his men, but even he was immobilized as he fell to the ground. Behind each of them now stood Defias warriors like those Kael saw slain in the vision, their dark outfits contrasted by their red bandanas.
Vanessa pulled one out of the tabard she was wearing and fastened it on her face as she spoke to the newly arrived men with authority.
“Tie them up.”
Kael wanted to react, but given the circumstances he knew it would be a fool’s errand. They had dispatched everyone with such ease that he was in no position to act. This was completely on their terms, and he would not endanger Trixie by doing something stupid.
After placing her bandana on her face, Vanessa turned her gaze to where the werewolf-being was held in the stockades. She smiled at him before approaching it and releasing him with some quick lock picking.
As he freed himself from the wooden structure, one of the Defias Brotherhood men handed her a top hat which she in turn held out to the hairy beast.
“Admiral, your hat.”
The wolf-being laughs as he transforms suddenly to a human form, one that could have slipped through the stockade at any point he wanted. He had waited for this moment in case he was needed. The sheer planning put into all of this amazed Kael, as it all came from this teenaged girl who looked older than she was, but couldn’t be more than thirteen to fourteen years old.
The “Admiral” gives a half-bow as he takes the hat and places it on his Human head, “Thank you, my dear.”
Vanessa turned towards Kael and lowered herself to his level, her eyes showing something other than hatred as she spoke.
“And you, Elf, I will spare your life from this all. You have done much to help our cause, albeit unwittingly, but the next time we meet it will be as enemies. Stay out of our way, okay?”
Vanessa makes her way down the ramp leading to the tower, but stops when Stoutmantle calls out to her.
“Just…tell me one thing, Vanessa…”
Kael slowly turned around to face her, but found himself shocked to see the area beginning to burn down around them. Sentinel Hill’s entire area was beginning to be set ablaze, a sudden occurance that most certainly had not been the case moments ago. The source of the fire was none other than a tall being with yellow, a burgeoning gut, and two heads. It was casting fire magic all around it at an astonishing pace, and if not for the conversation Kael would have been enraptured by the beauty of the flames.
Stoutmantle revealed why he had been forcing himself to stay chipper previously when Kael arrived: he had terrible news and didn’t want to confront it.
“Why'd you have the Saldeans killed?! I found their bodies in their room, poison and all!”
That struck Kael harder than the blow that had connected with his spine. The reason the Saldeans had been missing…Salma, her husband…
Kael almost rose and struck Vanessa at the thought that she had harmed the children, but her voice halted him as he began to seethe in anger of his own.
“I had no choice, Marshal. They recognized me. The only people in the world who even knew I existed, recognized my face…” she paused in an attempt to keep the composure she was rapidly losing, “Someone was looking for me…a woman came questioning them last afternoon. She had Stormwind warriors with her. If I didn’t…”
Her voice trailed off as her body shook. The Admiral shot her a look of concern as Vanessa’s voice began to quake.
Kael remembered the night before when Vanessa returned home…she had come home and likely killed the Saldean family in their sleep. She had thought her history would be revealed, and in a panic killed the ones who might be able to give her up. Knowing the Hunter who was likely the woman spoken of, Kael actually understood the worry that the Saldeans might be forced to reveal what they otherwise might not have.
“I…I took no pleasure in their deaths…and the children are going to be safe where I’ve arranged them to go.”
A scared child had acted violently to protect their own life…while Kael hated the fact that the Saldeans were dead, he could not bring himself to hate the girl after all she had gone through. She may have planned to betray everyone, but even now she wasn’t engaging in unnecessary bloodshed.
The girl had the livelihoods of hundreds if not thousands riding on her pulling far more weight than any child ought to have to.
Turning back around and preparing to leave, Vanessa fought back her tears as she yelled out to her soldiers, “Leave nothing but ashes in your wake, brothers! Burn Sentinel Hill to the ground!”
She then tosses her head towards the group at the entrance of the building, and the Admiral grabs Trixie and hoists her onto a shoulder. This done, he steps out of the way for the others to do their job.
The Defias members throw flares, setting Sentinel Tower alight. Vanessa leaves the immediate area of the now burning building and joins a small green humanoid, the Admiral, the firecaster, and a mechanical being like the Harvesters from before. Once together, the group of unique members leave, each of the group forming around Vanessa protectively.
With the others sapped of strength and Kael in no position to fight them, he was forced to watch as his partner was stolen from him. He was powerless to stop them…
Kael began to cry through sheer frustration. Damn Stormwind, damn the Brotherhood, damn all of these damn Humans, and damn the Hunter! All of them caused this tragedy to happen the way it did, all of them set things up to go so terribly as this, and there was nothing a single Elf could do about it.
Coming to that conclusion caused something in Kael to snap. He stood up and moved the soldiers away from where the flames were raging, including Stoutmantle.
After being shoved aside, the Marshal weakly spoke from his position on the ground.
“Go to Stormwind…they must know…warn…”
The response was instant and concise.
“No.”
Stoutmantle gasped from the ground, but he couldn’t muster the strength to do much more than be exasperated.
“What?!”
Kael glared down at the Marshal. He was about sick of having to listen to all of these people complicit in this tragic area, “They took my partner and I know not why. I fear for her safety, and it will take quite some time to travel to your capital.”
“Listen, you insolent Elf, I—”
That did it. Kael crouched down and looked right in the man’s eyes as he lowered his sword to the man’s neck. That was not the way a common soldier with no great station ought to talk to him.
“My name is Prince Kael’thas Sunstrider, lord of the Blood Elves, and you will be speaking to me with more respect.”
That elicited a gasp from Stoutmantle, who suddenly realized why he had gotten a feeling that this Elf seemed familiar.
“Su-Sunstrider?”
Kael stood back up and looked down at his sword before glancing over to another nearby object that lay nearby, “I am here on my own business, not yours, and I will not be ordered around at a time like this by some useless officer.”
“You…” Stoutmantle wanted to argue, but he understood that he had no jurisdiction over the leader of an opposing race who was being gracious by not just killing them all given the relations between their people, “Fine. Go. But don’t expect any help…they’ll have killed those at the Moonbrook outpost by now, and my men and I will be little use like this…”
Kael nodded as he approached the object that had caught his eye: a greatsword nearly the size of a Human man. The long silver blade was well kept, being the Marshal’s own sword, and it continued down into a golden hilt that had a wide cross guard with blue accents, while the actual hilt was largely golden outside of a blue rectangle within it.
A sharpened blade, even if it was immensely heavy, was more useful than a dulled blade given by a dead farmer.
“What are you doing?”
Kael lifted the blade up and realized that he would need two hands for it, which was fitting as the hilt was large enough to fit two hands. Whoever crafted it knew what they were doing. This done, he grabbed a bag from one of the unconscious soldiers and looked inside to find potions like those he showed to Trixie back when they first met.
“I am going to go carve my way through hundreds of outlaws. I am going to use the health potions you and your men are too stunned to make use of.”
If he could not protect a single subject, the one he admittedly cared for most, what kind of ruler could he be? Kael refused to let Trixie be held captive, and he would kill any and every noble bandit in his path if it meant bringing her back, their goals be damned.
“And yes, I’m taking your sword. If you have a complaint, rise to your feet and defeat your foe on your own. ”
“King Varian gave that to me…it is from his own house…”
Kael smirked as he looked at his own reflection in the blade, “Then it is a blade befitting of royalty. Now, rest and try not to burn as I go and do your duty for you.”
He felt a power swelling inside of him, as if he could take on the world. He even felt magic emanating from the blade he now wielded.
‘Trixie, I’m coming…be safe.’
If anyone found out through deductive reasoning who V was, congratulations. Shocking, I know, but such is the way of Warcraft!
Do you know what this means though? Deadmines time! First dungeon I ever remember doing...though I had a party of five at the time. Hehe. Kael could use a good partner. Preferably in green to balance out his red, since they are complimentary colors. Trixie will instead have to deal with being a hostage, but don't expect her to do nothing (cough, Sansa, cough) to free herself.
Thank you for reading, and I hope to hear from you in the comments below! Comments are 
Stats
Page generated in 0.036 seconds
Total duration
668 users online
921,610 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Well, there is a certain mana wyrms chance to shine. I mean, she has to exist for an appropriately tragic death, eventually, right? So for now, she shall be the greatest focus available to Trixie, and thus become her beloved companion, until she dies horribly. Yes I am still bitter about the other story turning into a Shakespearean tragedy on par with freaking Macbeth.
seemed to react more to eachother speaking
The swirled around in the darkness
a second Defias uprising, lead by a VanCleef
The Defias members throw flares, setting Sentinel Tower alight
1. Each other. Two words. Again.
2. They.
3. Led.
4. Threw.
Well... Tricks has been elf/ponynapped and Kael is mad. You know what that means. Summon the Phoenix. I'd almost be willing to think that the ambient magic from all the flames are temporarily charging him up but that could be more adrenaline than anything. I also have no idea what Sansa means but hey, if all else fails, have Tricks sneeze and gallop to safety. Or blink and then gallop.
Hmm... Think anyone would mistake her for a night elf instead if they saw her transform albeit in a different manner? I mean, we have Druids of the Talon and Claw. Ravens and Bears. So y'know... Comparison thingies. What did they call them again... The Kaldorei?
Poor Saldeans though... But yes, why did they take Trixie? Can't be because of the reward, that would be for Kael. Maybe in hopes for her to join their cause? Or maybe Vanessa just likes her? They say misery loves company. But that context might be a little off here. Oh well.
6105495 Mana Wyrm blood hound
And hush. You haven't hit the end of We Remember Everything, you don't know how things will turn out. The story is sad, yes, but I have repeatedly demonstrated in the past ten chapters that being dead isn't really all that final here. Complain about death when everything is set in stone, but not a moment before.
I am going to kill off characters in this story as well, because this is WARcraft. People die when there is conflict. But I'm not George RR Martin, I won't kill off everyone and anyone. I only have two semi-important deaths planned in the long run, out of dozens if not hundreds of characters.
I'm glad you put We Remember Everything on par with Macbeth for tragedy, but give it some slack: it's not done yet, and no-one but me currently knows how it will end.
Now, can we just talk about this story on this story and leave WRE talk for WRE?
6106129 "eachother" is something I believe should be correct despite knowing it should be "each other". It looks/sounds wrong to me, and it's a personal quirk.
Kael is furious, and the Defias are going to learn that soon enough. He's also in a bad position: he has no backup, and to go get backup might leave Trixie forsaken to whatever they are going to do with her. And the Sansa reference was about how Sansa 99% of the time waits to be saved in the show rather than how she has a part in her own escape in the books. Trixie's going to be a bit more proactive. She's going to a hell-of-a prison.
I don't think the others present would care much about Night Elves, since they are literally across the world and many likely have never seen them.
Yeah, poor Saldeans...in the actual game it's a random group of people who get murdered because they knew, but I chose to adapt them out as it made less sense and would carry less weight. At least the orphans were spared, which of course means they'll show up much later.
Why was Trixie taken though? Well, you see, Vanessa wasn't lying when she said Kael had helped them out a lot...Trixie has something of immense value to somebody, something we'll get to see more of in the coming chapters. She's actually more important than Kael in that regard. The Hunter isn't the only one working a bounty job right now! We should just be thankful Vanessa was nice enough to spare everyone else...
6110173 Fine. Also, yes I get it, it's war, but so far Trixie and Kael have managed mostly nonlethal solutions without being killed. Also, my Macbeth comment is more characters I like dropping like flies, than putting you up against the Bard. Also, you have your work cut out with making characters worth the pain they are going to go through. Especially if you pin an important death on a human. Because honestly, screw them and their lazy do nothing army that is just for show and can't even deal with a revolution properly. You don't kill the leader, you hire them and shove them into finance! Then let them figure out where the money for all of the poor is going to come from. Then, repeat in 20-30 years. Seriously, disillusionment plus boring and tedious responsibility will kill the revolution so much faster than some schmuck with a sword, no matter how legendary the schmuck or the sword or both. It's simple observation and planning! Similar if you have a slave revolt, shove the leaders into finance, public relations, or the military if appropriate.
Should be level 15. Sorry I didn't comment. I forgot to read this dammit. I will.
Squids? You dont know what squids are?
*slaps Kael* NO FIGHTING BACK URGES TO HUG YOU IDIOT! HUGS ARE GOOD!!!
learned, had learned, or knew? Or learned later?
you mean "hell"?
So hope is Vanessa? OH SHIT!
Really nit obvious why trixie was taken. Will continue marathoning the story
7565888 Hope you enjoy your marathon! And the reason for Trixie's abduction will be known in time, don't worry
Not every mystery gets solved at the end of the same chapter after all.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts
And I looked, and behold a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him ~
7616662 Keep that Four Horsemen thing in mind for later
...I had a bad feeling about the Saldeans. I'm glad the trio are safe, but still...
7710249 Oh don't worry about them, it's not as if I kill off characters in anything. What do you think I am, Tomino?
Why did they take trix? They let Kael go.