Scourge - 5 (Patreon)

By the time the fighting subsided, the last of the undead picked off by the still able soldiers, Vivi, and Caedan, I was feeling the strain from all the magic I had been using. It had been easy enough to stabilise all of the wounded soldiers, patch them up so they wouldn't die before the day was out, but... Donovan was another matter. I couldn't spare the energy to restore the lost limbs and appendages – a leg lost to the abomination's cleaver before Ralph managed to disengage, Sergeant Fallan's fingers bitten off by a ghoul that got past Tricks – when I needed to stop Don' from dying to his wounds.

Lorna hissed in pain as she fumbled with the remains of her left vambrace, struggling to free herself from the twisted metal. "Damnit. How bad is it?" She asked, tossing aside a piece of scrap to lay on the heap with the rest.

Her shield had been entirely caved in and the greave on her left leg wasn't much better off; but better the armour than the limbs beneath. Donovan... hadn't come off so lightly.

"Half his ribs are broken, and one's in his lungs." I said, still trying to ease the broken bone out without making things worse. "His wing is... shattered. Completely. I've stopped him bleeding and numbed it but that's all I can do there, and then there's his legs; he's not going to be walking until I fix those fractures."

Under his gore-covered beak and feathers Donovan crooned unhappily. He wasn't feeling the pain anymore, but the blood loss was bad and making him tired.

"I know, I know." I stroked his feathers. "I'll make sure you can fly with your sire tomorrow, you deserve it. You did amazing, Don'."

Lorna's hand rested next to mine, brushing away some of the gore that was tangled up in his feathers. "So proud of you, my brave little lion-bird. So damn proud." She lowered her head to his beak and just breathed, the tension leaving her body as his breathing evened out.

Even as heavy wingbeats heralded Featherstorm and Caedan's landing a few feet away neither of them moved.

"Och, aye. I hear that." Caedan agreed, sliding off of Featherstorm's back and dropping to the bare earth with a thud. "Eurgh, earth don' feel right here..." He shivered. "Weren't so bad in the air. Woulda been better fer the two o' ya up there as well, but ye held yer ground an’ fought hard. Sometimes ye gotta take hits tae keep kin safe an' ye did."

Featherstorm strode over to the abomination, experimentally clawing at it and reeling back in disgust. His warbling cry was distinctly unhappy.

"Big beastie it were too." Caedan added with an evaluating look at the abomination. "Bigger than a yeti, big as a damn mutant troll. An' jus' as strong."

I smiled up at him as I kept healing Donovan. Hearing his accent again was a balm to my ears, bringing back the good memories of my first flight and the time I spent with him. "Thank you for the help, Caedan. Things would've been a lot worse if you hadn't found us."

He turned to me, a deeply confused look on his face. "Found ye? Lass, I be lookin' fer someone, aye, but I jus' followed that big storm that showed up. Saw some dead'uns that weren't bein' dead right and figured they needed a hammerin'." His beard shifted as he frowned at me, his brow furrowing in thought. "How'd ye ken me name, anyway? We met before, lass?"

Blinking up at him, my jaw hanging open, I was dumbfounded. He couldn't recognise me? It's not like I'd changed that much! My hair was the same, I hadn't gotten any damn taller – I dressed a bit better, but he'd seen me in–

Caedan started laughing, a deep resounding belly laugh. After a moment Lorna was snickering under her breath, one of her eyes open and peering at my expression.

I pouted, crossing my free arm under my chest at the joke. Which, to be fair... he'd got me, and he got me good. "Very funny." I drawled, before falling into a more chipper tone. "But, really, it's good to see you again."

The highlight of the day, by far.

"It be good tae see ye again too, lass." Caedan smiled, then walked up Donovan and knelt beside him. "He be Feather's son, aye?"

Lorna lifted her head and nodded. "He is; I'll tell you the story of how he came to me. Gwen was so confused when she came back holding him."

"I'd just been given a baby gryphon I couldn't afford to feed!" I protested in a huff. "Ordered to come by his mother,  presented with a baby I needed to heal, and then told he was my problem now and that she wouldn't take no for an answer."

"I'll be glad tae hear it, wee ones always be a delight. What'd he do, break his wing? Feathers did tha' too, drove his ol' mum batty." Caedan chuckled lightly, then as Featherstorm bumped him batted his gryphon with his hand. "Ye ken it be true, Feathers! Yer dam disowned ye 'cause ye made so much trouble fer 'er!"

"Like father like son, I guess." I slowly reached out a hand and got the chance to stroke Feather's beak. He was still much bigger than Don' was, almost a third again. And, as I tapped the last of my magic reserves, I knew he'd have the chance to do it; though my vision was filled with spots and my head ached, it was done and everyone was healed. But, before I could rest, I had questions for Caedan. "Did Falstad not read my letter? I warned you so many years ago, and while I'm happy to see you, for you to come back now... it doesn't feel right.

Caedan grimaced and looked away from me. "Like ye asked, I brought the letter tae the High Thane. Watched him read it in front o' me, then... he tossed it in the fire. Said it were more o' me windspeakin’ and mystical malarkey." He scowled and held a clenched fist to his chest. "Words be said tha' day I won't be repeatin', ye ken. But he remembered, sent me tae look for ye, get answers tae what were in the letter."

"You didn't read it?" Lorna asked.

"Nae." He snorted, his scowl deepening. "I were entrusted tae carry a letter tae me High Thane. I ain't so honourless tae read somethin' not meant for me eyes."

"Oh." I deflated. I'd never... I never meant for him to think he couldn't, I'd just... I thought Falstad could do something with it. "I thought..."

"Tried tae come back an' find ye, but tha' boot of a woman at Northglade turned me away. Went to Keel an' got told ye'd not been around by folks there. Gave up aroun' midsummer or so."

I let out a miserable laugh. Oh, what a coincidence. And he wouldn't have known to find Celestine, or the Tolbeckers, and I didn't go to Keel to learn he'd come back. Thomas might've known but I hardly talked to him at any point.

"That's around the time you came back from Dalaran, isn't it?" Lorna said, looking at me sympathetically. "At least you've found her now. What are the Wildhammers doing now that they know about the threat?"

"The High Thane be taken the bulk o' the riders north, tae Quel'Thalas. Gatherin’ all the clans..."

Listening to Caeden describe the details of what Falstad had chosen to do once he learned of King Terenas' death was something of a balm over the rot I felt. It wasn't what it could have been, it wasn't going to stop the Scourge... but maybe Kael would have help in protecting his home.

Small as it might be, that letter had made a difference.

Resting my head against Featherstorm's side, I closed my eyes. I was utterly exhausted and could feel myself crashing. It wasn't the kind of tiredness that made someone sleep, but just zoning out for a bit to the sound of Lorna and Caedan's voices would give my head a chance to stop pounding. I'd forgotten how much mana depletion sucked.

-oOoOo-

“So she be askin’ the stars where more o’ these cultists are?” Caedan said, watching closely as I drew a chalk circle into the stone floor of the chapel underneath a broken part of the roof. The fog. was still thick, but with a little magic it was clear enough for the stars to shine through the hole in the ceiling.. “Fancy. Better’n flying around an’ having tae look in every nook an’ cranny for their like.”

"It's how we found this place." Vivi said, her sword still drawn as she peered out of the ruined wall of the church in case more undead showed up. "Gwen's grown a lot since you last saw her."

Lorna hummed softly. "I'm sure you'd know, wouldn't you."

Ignoring their banter, and trying not to blush as Lorna piled on the teasing as a way to decompress, I focused on the divination I was working on. The necromancer who had set up all of this horror was at the centre of the circle, and unlike the regular cultists I'd encountered before her body was saturated with Death. It was unpleasant to be near her body due to the chill I felt emanating from it, which seemed to seep into my bones.

But that same magic should give me better results from the divination ritual, as would the fact we were in desecrated ground for the casting; like called to like and I was looking for what I had already found.

Raising my head I looked skyward, and as Caedan waved his hand a gust of wind obligingly cleared away the fog that diluted my view of the sky.

A mill amongst hills of mills–

A chapel in a valley laying under a blanket of cold death–

A camp, filled with the dead and dying who held no hope–

A sunken face that snapped–

Pain.

I keeled over to the side, bile rising into my throat and spilling forth. Black mulch mixed with blood and vomit poured out of my mouth and my ears rang. The headache I'd had from my mana depletion earlier paled in comparison to the agony pounding in my skull.

Vivi rushed to my side, flinching back as I whimpered at the sound of her voice. Too loud, so loud.

My vision swam and I curled up tighter as it felt like my guts were– damnit. Focusing inward I started healing the damage, the corruptive Fel magic that was tearing apart my insides.

"Go 'way." I mumbled, the sound echoing in my skull painfully. "Hurts. Loud. Healing."

I couldn't even tell if what I tried to say came out right, the black and putrid mass that clung to my mouth leaving my tongue feeling numb and sluggish. I couldn't hear my own words as anything other than pain.

When they helped me upright and moved me away from the stench of what came out of my body onto Featherstorm, I didn't protest. They weren't talking and I didn't want to be down there even if the sound of their clothes rustling were like daggers in my brain.

It was more of a struggle than it should have been to fix what was happening to me; I could see and feel the curse, something I could take apart and undo, but at the same time I had to stop it from killing me while I felt each time it sent a new flare of agony through my body. In the end, I lost track of time, barely aware of anything going on outside my body as I picked it apart and undid the damage it had done to me.

When it was over, it was dark, and softly glinting stars shone down at me from a clear sky – we weren't in the fog anymore. Which was nice, it was good to feel the cold on my skin instead of inside my bones.

As I stirred, looking up from the blankets they had bundled me in, Tricks nuzzled into my side.

"Gwen's awake!" Vivi called out loudly, sitting close by and... she must have been watching over me. There was something about that, even if she wouldn't meet my eyes, that made me happy. "We were worried. You just collapsed."

"Div–" I choked, falling into a coughing fit. More black mulch came out, and I helped it along. "Oh, Keepers." I whined as I finished emptying my throat of the mess. "That... eugh. Divination ward, blocker, something. I saw... it hurt. It hurt and attacked me for seeing it."

Looking up at Vivi I tried for a smile, though I was unsure if I managed it. "How long was I out? Did anything happen?"

Vivi opened her mouth, then, abruptly her expression changed. She stopped looking worried and returned to the glaring she had been giving me any time our eyes met over the last week. A moment later, she stood and walked off; passing Lorna and Caeden as they approached.

"Are you going to recover?" Lorna asked bluntly.

To prove that I was fine I stood, there wasn't anything wrong with me anymore. "Some of the nastiest stuff possible in my throat, which used to be made of me–" My stomach rumbled, almost comically loudly. "And, very, very hungry. But otherwise I'm fine."

She looked me over, concern written on her face as she tried to discern whether I was lying. Which I wasn't. "Good; we've come to a decision on how we're going to handle where we go from here while you were recovering, unless you have further leads our mission is aborted until Father can provide more reinforcements."

"An' ye'll be keeping what happened here secret from 'at bowfin king o' yers." Caedan said, taking a moment to scratch Tricks' neck. "Good fox ye've got here. Wee Lass wouldnae leave yer side for a moment."

"We're not reporting it?"

"Despite reasons to do so, no." Lorna said, shaking her head. "If we do, the king will close the wall. We can't let him abandon our people and condemn them to die when it won't help. The cultists are already here, and..." She grimaced. "They're recruiting. That woman, the... the..."

Lorna was reaching for a word and couldn't find it, but I knew who she was talking about.

"Abomination. They're called abominations."

"Yes." She said gratefully. "It was... I recognised her, as should you. You saved her life and now..."

Cassandra, someone I saved from gnolls, but turned to the Cult of the Damned when they came. Why? She had... she had said she wasn't weak anymore. If that was really her thought, as the core of whoever made up that abomination. Had she been so traumatised by what happened to it she turned to them to grant her a feeling of safety?

"Yeah."

"They're recruiting Gilneans, and there are ample opportunities within the wall. The gate being open will not change that."

Caedan snorted. "An' it be the right thing tae do. Damn wall weren't right to begin with, if yer king left kin tae die he ain't deservin' o' his crown." He sat down on the ground and slapped his knees. "Now, ye've got a story tae tell me. Unless ye need more of a wee nap."

I met his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. Lorna? Could you find me something to write on? I’ll draft some notes as I go." I was feeling well-rested enough to do this, and... it would be a distraction from Vivi shunning me again.

For a moment I'd thought she'd forgiven me because I'd gotten hurt, her care and worry overcoming her anger. But that was stupid.

Feelings were complicated and didn't vanish that easily.

-oOoOo-

With how many times I'd told people the outline for what happened in the Third War it was frustratingly difficult to keep track of what I'd already mentioned, the various discussions bleeding together. It wasn't easy to figure out when we were either; the timeline was... messy at the best of times, and I didn't have great markers for when things were.

But with Lorna bringing up some rumours she'd heard about Uther fighting Arthas while she was in Expedition Point, and his probable death, the Scourge had to be on their way to Quel'Thalas by now.

Before long events in the Eastern Kingdoms would be, on the front of saving the world itself from the Burning Legion, over. Much of what was left was across the sea.

"Gonna have tae get the Northeron clans tae join up with yer expedition then." Caedan said, running his hand through his beard in thought. "Ye ken if there be any gryphons in this Kalimdor place?"

I shook my head as I put aside my pen and the notes I’d written, my hands finding a more comforting use in stroking Tricks where she rested in my lap. "Not that I know of. Hippogryphs are half-bird half-horse, but they aren't gryphons."

"Bah." He grumbled loudly. "Still gotta find meself a place tae settle me clan as we grow. Yer bloody king ruined a good prospect." Frowning he glanced at Lorna before looking back to me. "What be yer plan fer that, anyway? Ye've got friends in the Alliance an' dinnae seem the type tae stay bottled up fer years behind a wall."

Lorna met my eyes and I nodded slightly; I trusted Caedan, and I felt she should too. She closed her eyes and shook her head, denying the chance.

Though I felt disappointed, I had to recognise it didn't matter much. We couldn't ask for his aid, we couldn't have him join the rebellion; if we enlisted foreign aid, foreign soldiers, in our fight, it would turn the narrative against us. We were to be Gilneans protesting a tyrannical and incompetent king who condemned our kin to death, not traitors aiding invaders who sought to conquer Gilneas.

Even the former narrative might be difficult with how much things had changed. If Genn hadn't made his ultimatum, if I hadn't made the mistake of pushing him into it... maybe I could've believed he would see that staying behind the wall and ignoring the outside world was foolish.

He had proven to be a better person than I expected, even if he was still Genn Greymane through and through. Maybe he still would and I was just biased against him.

"It's hard to say how much of what happened after Mount Hyjal still will." I said, skipping over the subject of the rebellion like Lorna wanted. "If Prince Kael'thas has any success with his plans then many of the struggles of his people will be alleviated. Changes in Kalimdor could alter what happens with Illidan, Malfurion, Tyrande, and Maiev... and what happens in the months before that, beyond death and destruction, I don't know well."

The Scarlet Crusade would be forming, and eventually going crazy, but I wasn't really sure when that happened. Garithos shouldn't be gaining a leading position in the Alliance forces unless something crazy happened after I'd warned the Kirin Tor about him.

Whether the Forsaken even came to exist... I couldn't remember how Sylvanas got free. The Lich King was weakened somehow? Illidan was involved? Arthas kept losing powers until the very end, and there were all the Dreadlords and their... 'deaths'.

"A lot of what needs to be done is making sure we can reorganise after the chaos." Which... I looked at Featherstorm. That would solve one of the problems with my idea, wouldn't it? "Calia Menethil, if Lordaeron had a Menethil to rally behind – two," I reminded myself, "she has a daughter with her husband – things shouldn't get as bad. She wouldn't turn up for a decade or more..."

"If she's missing, there isn't much we can do." Lorna said, something of a disdainful look on her face. "While the princess would make a fine rallying cry for Lordaeron, for the entirety of the Alliance, we can hardly wait a decade for her to come out of hiding."

I grinned. "But, I know where she is. Or where she will be. Her husband and daughter live in Southshore, and after the fall of the capital she escaped and made her way there–"

Caedan sprang to his feet, barking something in Khazud which stirred Featherstorm immediately. He wasn't wasting any time packing his bags.

"–What?

"Southshore got hit by orcs, lass!" He barked angrily. "Yer damn Thrall an' his orcs stole the ships there! Even if he be good, the place ain't safe! Stopped by on me way here an' they be starving in their homes from what he took."

"Vivi!" Lorna yelled before Caedan had even finished speaking. "Vivi, pack for flight! Now! Sergeant, emergency. If you reach my father before me inform him I'm going on a rescue mission."

Tricks whined as the shouting woke her up. Darius hadn't wanted me to rescue Calia, and I'd planned on doing it anyway because it was the right thing to do – but with Caedan we didn't need to be involved. He could take her to Aerie Peak easily enough without us.

I gave Tricks a commiserating scratch behind the ears before pushing her off my lap and standing. "Lorna, Caedan can handle this on his own. He can take the princess to safety–"

"What's going on?" Vivi said, skidding to a stop beside Lorna. "Who are we rescuing?"

"Princess Calia Menethil and her daughter, the last Menethils, are in Southshore." Lorna said, adjusting the straps on Donovan's flank. "We're making sure she and her family get to safety, and Gwen will see that the town doesn't starve through the winter after the orcs stole their supplies."

Vivi's face grew a complicated expression. "Wasn't Thrall supposed to be good?"

"Fer an orc." Caedan grunted. "Being 'good' means not bashing in the 'eads o' everyone they meet."

"Calia shouldn't even be in Southshore yet," I said, a weight settling into my stomach. There hadn't been anything about Thrall emptying Southshore of supplies... he just stole the ships? But, he had to provision them. "She would have been in the capital before it fell and made her way down there afterward."

"Why are you arguing against rescuing a princess?" Vivi protested, looking at me in confusion. "Her daughter is still there!"

"How sure are you she won't be there?" Lorna asked, not bothering to look back at me. "You warned the Kirin Tor, who warned the king, and they defended the Menethils as best as the king would allow. If events changed and Princess Calia died in Lordaeron, her daughter is the last of them. If she was to be spirited away to safety beforehand... where would she go."

"Tae be with her kin. It be what any sane lass would do." Caedan clambered atop Featherstorm, the great gryphon stretching his wings. "Ye comin' or not, lass? Time be wastin'."

They were right, but remembering Darius' protest I wanted to argue that Caedan could, should, do it alone. There was still plenty for us to be doing–

"I'm coming!" Vivi said, hopping atop Donovan in a single leap and strapping herself in. "No way I'm getting left behind this time."

My protests died in my throat. The look in Vivi's eye, the defiant expectation that, somehow, I would deny her this too... I couldn't. I'd planned on doing this with Lorna... was it really so different doing with Lorna and Caedan?

I hoisted Tricks up and passed her to Caedan. "Here, tuck her into your bags. Enjoy the flight, Tricks." She grumbled as she was tucked away, but I felt her glee at the thought.

Cramped as it was, she liked flying.

Caedan, though, was looking at me with disappointment. "Yer not coming?"

Smiling widely I shook my head; if I was going to fly, I was going to do it on my terms rather than as a passenger. Light soaked into my skin and feathers burst forth, arms shifting and clothes melting away.

"Fly," I croaked, flapping my wings and taking wing, "fly on!"

Circling above them I got to see the utterly flummoxed stares of gryphon and rider both, and I couldn't help but croak out a laugh. It only took a few moments for Caedan to recover, shaking his head and chuckling to himself.

"Aye, lass. Let's fly!"

-oOoOo-

I followed Featherstorm, though with far more caution than him, as he dove towards the ground and pulled himself into a landing in the town square of Southshore. Donovan circled overhead, crying out disappointment that Lorna wasn't letting him follow his father down in the same way – I understood why, Featherstorm had skimmed the snow with his claws before he came to a stop.

Vivi's excited laughter came up as she brushed snow out of her hair; this morning she had switched mounts to lessen the load on Donovan a little and had greatly enjoyed Featherstorm's willingness to show off and teach his son a few tricks.

It had been hard keeping up with the two of them, and landing in the snow I was glad for a chance to rest my wings. If it weren't for the wind helping me along and the fact I could ride in their wake there was no way I would have managed it. Hell, if it had just been Featherstorm rather than both of them, I wouldn't have had a chance.

Donovan was fast, but he still had a ways to go before he matched up to his father.

Finding a secluded spot, out of the way of the gathering crowd of people, I turned back into a human. "Have fun, Vivi?" I asked, stepping out. I got a few looks about my sudden appearance, but I still wasn't as attention-grabbing as a gryphon. I needed to ask if Rokkri cared about her form being secret or not, and maybe apologise. Revealing it to Caedan had been a little impulsive of me in hindsight. "Feathers is quite the acrobat, isn't he?"

"Yeah! He is!" She laughed, and Caedan chuckled agreeably along with her.

Two days, two days of flying to get here. We'd passed the southeastern portion of the Greymane Wall, the Ember Passes, in the first day. Not much had really changed there, the old forts blocking passage from the east merely reinforced and added to.

And then, a single day from the wall to Southshore. There was plenty wrong with the place, boarded-up windows instead of shutters to keep out the cold, the fortified tower outside of town demolished and burnt.

The docks lay completely bare, a single fishing skiff amongst the dozen piers jutting out into the harbour. Thrall... Thrall hadn't just taken the ships that could cross the ocean, he had taken everything. It seemed stupid, it seemed utterly moronic – but orcs weren't sailors. They didn't know.

He'd stolen ships that were utterly unsuitable for the purpose he was putting them towards and stripped the livelihood of the people of Southshore away from them at the same time.

"Ah, Sir Dwarf?" A man said, stepping out of the crowd and wringing his hands. "You came back? Did you bring help?"

Caedan stopped laughing and nodded to him gravely. "Aye, I did. This be Gwyneth," he gestured to me, "she be a witch an' can grow ye food fer the winter. Might be lean, but ye'll make it."

"It'll be easiest if you direct me to your fields, or an orchard if you have one." I said. The man looked confused as to where I came from, as I clearly hadn't come down on the gryphons, but he nodded. When you were starving you didn't ask questions about where food came from. "I'll see to that while you look for Calia?"

A girl tugged on her mother's skirts, saying something that made her jump and catch my eye. She looked hesitant for a moment before affirming herself and stepping forward. "No need to look." She said, her accent betraying the differences between her and the man who spoke before. "Thane of Aerie Peak, Gilneans, what reason have you come to Southshore?"

I couldn't say I recognised her, nor the dirty blonde-haired girl of five or six that clung tightly to her skirts; the images I had of people were... misrepresentative at the best of times. But, with Donovan landing, it quickly became clear Lorna did.

"Princess Menethil," she said, slipping from Donovan's back straight into a bow. "My party and I have come to see you to safety if you are willing, having great concern as your circumstances here once we learned of your presence."

"Your husband and daughter too!" Vivi exclaimed, then remembered herself and affected her own bow to the princess. "We can't rescue everyone, but Gwen'll see  everyone else fed."

The princess let out a bitter laugh. "You can't rescue the dead." She said, fists clenched at her side. She collected herself quickly, her blue eyes fixating on me. "Gwyneth, was it? You can provide food for my people here?" I nodded in response. "Then, as the... as the Crown Princess of Lordaeron, I bid that you see the town fed. Do so and I shall forgive your trespass across the border."

My face twitched in irritation at her paying me in forgiveness for doing her a favour, but I could hear the desperation there. Though her daughter looked well fed enough the same couldn't be said for the princess herself, nor the rest of the townsfolk.

And with the loss of her husband, for there was no one else standing beside her, much could be forgiven. "I'll see to it at once, Your Highness."