Illidan

15

Maiev ducked the ogre’s blow and sliced his stomach open with the return stroke of her blade. The creature gave an idiotic chuckle and clutched at his intestines with one meaty hand, trying to hold them in. With his free hand, he brought his massive club swinging back. She jumped over the tree-trunk-sized weapon. There were times when she thought it was true what they said about ogres, that the creatures felt no pain.

Anyndra threw herself out of the way, but tripped over a clutching root and stumbled back into the murky water. Sarius growled. His cat form emerged from the shadows and pounced on the ogre’s back. Claws raked, drawing blood. Maiev focused her power, blinked through the intervening space. She aimed a blow at the jugular. Blood sprayed. This time the ogre fell. Anyndra rolled clear of the tumbling corpse and stood. Algae-discolored water streamed from her hair and turned her tunic a muddy brown.

Maiev glanced around. Her troops were finishing off the ogres. She could not guess what foolishness had made the huge brutes ambush them. They had grown more and more aggressive toward travelers on the roads through Zangarmarsh in the past few months. It seemed they had forged an alliance with Vashj’s naga. Whatever spell engines the serpent folk were building neared completion. Maiev’s efforts to sabotage them had met with failure. All she had managed to do was free some Broken slaves, useless as recruits to her forces.

She counted fallen combatants. Two draenei corpses lay in the water, heads submerged in a way that told her they would not be getting up. Sarius had already begun healing the wounded. She felt the surge of druidic power as he set an arm broken by an ogre’s club.

Anyndra shook her head, sending drops of water splashing down into the murk. Maiev wiped sweat from her brow, then swatted a huge insect that had landed on the back of her hand. Its blood-bloated body burst, staining her hand crimson. By Elune, there were times when she hated those little monsters more than she hated those who abused magic.

“I think we have taught them not to attack us again,” Anyndra said. She studied the body of the fallen ogre. He must have weighed as much as ten elves even though he was only half again as tall. He was so broad as to seem almost squat, and a thick layer of fat overlaid his swollen muscles. Red and brown mingled in the water around him. A water-walking insect had its feet stained red. A large fish broke the surface and took it down in one gulp.

“They are too stupid to learn that lesson,” Maiev said. She squatted down and washed her hands in the water. She could not get them truly clean, but at least the blood came off. “No matter how many of them we kill, they will insist on fighting.”

“What do you think the naga are up to?” Anyndra asked. Maiev shook her head. Her lieutenant persisted in questioning her as if she had an answer for everything.

“I do not know. But if Illidan wants it done, we must see that it is not.”

Anyndra looked away as if the answer had disappointed her. Maiev wished she had a better one. She wished she could think of some way of taking the war to Illidan, but the Betrayer had not stirred from his fortress in the weeks since Akama had reported Kael’thas’s disappearance. No doubt Illidan felt vulnerable without the blood elf prince’s aid against the Burning Legion, but Kael’thas’s absence had not helped her cause any.

She pushed the thought away. It was too easy to give in to despair. She would find a way of bringing Illidan to justice. She just needed to keep trying and the way would open. She was a night elf, and she was used to thinking she had all the time in the world. Of course, since the devastation of the World Tree Nordrassil and the loss of the night elves’ immortality, that was no longer true, but old habits died hard.

A tingling sensation started at her right side. She stepped into a patch of shadow. She took the stone Akama had given her out of her pouch and focused her thoughts on it. The image of the leader of the Ashtongue appeared in her mind. The Broken looked even more shriveled with age. His eyes were tiny pinpricks. There were deep lines on his face that had not been there before.

“What is it?” Maiev asked, knowing her voice would be heard by no one but Akama and herself.

“Meet me in Orebor Harborage. Things move swiftly. The time for our vengeance has arrived.” Akama sounded tired and listless. His voice was feeble in a way she could not ever recall it sounding before. Perhaps something was interfering with the spell, she told herself. Perhaps it was just her imagination.

“What? How?”

“Meet me where we first met. I have much to tell you, and it is best we be prepared to move at an instant’s notice. Make sure your people are ready to fight.”

“What is going on?”

“I do not have time to explain. I must go, and go now. Meet me and be ready.”

Abruptly the contact was cut. Maiev wondered what was going on. Had the long-awaited hour finally arrived?

She put the stone away and stepped out into the light once again. “Mount up,” she said. “We are going to Orebor Harborage.”

Some of the troops groaned. They had been expecting a rest after the battle. The urgency of Akama’s summons was going to deny them that. Having a chance to capture the Betrayer, at long last, far outweighed their desire or any good they might do here destroying the naga’s spell engines.

“We ride,” Maiev said.

Her followers leapt into their saddles. They left the corpses of their foes behind them as food for the denizens of the great marsh.

Maiev paced impatiently inside the hut Akama maintained for their meetings in Orebor Harborage. Her troops watched her closely through the windows. They had learned to step warily when she was in this mood. Where was that damn Broken? He had communicated urgency, but now he could not even be bothered to show up.

She put her hands by her sides and smoothed the seam of her tabard. It did not do to reveal too much impatience in front of the troops. They looked to her for leadership. She slowed her stride, measured her pacing, and turned her thoughts inward.

It was not like Akama to be late. The Broken never missed a meeting. He usually turned up early for them. She hoped nothing had happened to him. It would mean the loss of a highly placed spy if the Betrayer had slain him for treason.

That would never happen. Akama had eluded Illidan’s gaze for years, and that spoke of a far greater-than-average ability to hide things. He had deceived even Illidan. All he had to do was continue to do so for a bit longer.

She thought about the strangeness of it all. Her strongest ally in Outland was a mutated aberration who served her greatest enemy. He had proved more reliable than any of the so-called leaders of the forces of Light. She told herself she should have more faith, but she struggled with that. It was not easy to let go of things, to pass control to someone else.

The air shimmered. A way opened. Akama stepped through. His shoulders were slumped and his eyes were downcast. His steps dragged even more than usual.

“Greetings,” he said. “I bring grave news.”

He looked up at her, and his eyes seemed sunken, their glow dimmed.

“Let us hope that it brings us a little closer to victory than your last tidings. Prince Kael’thas may be a deserter, but that has done us no good.”

Akama stumbled over to a table and poured himself a goblet of wine. He seemed to have aged significantly since the last time they had met. His hand shook as he put the jug down.

“You look as if you have seen better days,” Maiev said.

Akama shrugged and spread his arms wide. “The Betrayer has had me working magic day and night since last we spoke. It has drained me. His schemes come to a head. And I believe I know what he is up to.”

“Tell me!”

“Give me a moment,” the Broken said. He took out a small flask of magical elixir and stirred it into the wine. He raised the mixture to his lips and downed it in one gulp. Within heartbeats, he stood taller and some of the weariness faded from his frame. Maiev’s eyes narrowed. She had never seen him like this before. She had never suspected he needed unnatural stimulants to maintain his strength.

“Are you all right?”

Akama’s head bobbed slowly up and down. He seemed to want to reassure her but appeared incapable of it. His movements were still slow and pained. He looked as if he was very ill. Perhaps the strain of his long subterfuge was taking a toll on his health.

“The Betrayer has finally revealed his hand. He plans on opening a new gateway.”

“Can you be more specific than that?”

“I know only the rumors that I have heard around the temple. And I have managed to take a look around his sanctum, and I have found clues that he plans to perform some sort of mighty ritual.”

Disappointment lent anger to Maiev’s tone. “None of this is of any great help to us. If he remains within the Black Temple, there is nothing we can do. He is too well guarded.”

At this point Akama smiled. It was like watching a cold moon emerge from behind dark clouds. A strange glint entered his eyes. “To perform this ritual, he is going to have to leave the temple.”

“What do you mean?”

“The portal can only be opened at a specific time and place. And that place is not within the Temple of Karabor.”

“How can you be so certain of this?”

“I managed to get a glimpse at the scrolls he has prepared. Some of them contained maps.”

Is it really possible? Maiev wondered. Was she finally about to get the opportunity she had waited so long for? “Maps of where?”

“The Hand of Gul’dan.”

“The volcano in Shadowmoon Valley? Why there?”

“It is a location upon which enormous powers are focused. Gul’dan severed the orcish people’s connection with the elemental spirits there.”

“Illidan will be well guarded,” Maiev said.

Once again Akama gave that strange, cold smile. He shook his head. “All of the signs point to the fact that he plans to move in great secrecy. He is assembling supplies for only a few.”

“How do you know this?”

“One of the advantages of being a Broken is that almost all the slaves and servants in the temple speak my language, belong to my people. Few notice the lowly Broken, but we see many things. There is little that is done there that I do not have some inkling about.”

“You think he is planning on performing the ritual in secret.”

“He has talked to me about needing to make a trip in the utmost secrecy within the next few days.”

“Why has he talked to you about this?” Maiev was suddenly suspicious.

“Since the prince of the blood elves vanished, Illidan has taken me more and more into his confidence. He needs someone to take charge within the temple while he is away, and the Illidari Council members are all blood elves. He thinks me too lacking in ambition to plot behind his back.”

Bitterness tinged Akama’s speech.

“Then he is definitely going,” Maiev said.

“I have never seen him like this before. He is consumed with excitement. It is as if a plan that he has held for a very long time is coming to fruition. I strongly suspect that it has something to do with all the elves he has been training.”

Curiosity tugged at Maiev. She had long wondered about the tattooed demonic fighters. “Is he taking them with him?”

Akama shook his head. “Their leaders have been told to stand ready to move at a moment’s notice. I think the order will come if the ritual proves to be successful. I do not think he wants to risk them beyond the temple if it is not.”

“He values them so highly?”

“They are the apple of his eye. He spends more time with them than he does planning the defense of his empire. It is puzzling. They represent something very important to him but I cannot work out what it is. I believe that it will be revealed within the next few days.”

“Who will accompany him for the ritual?”

“I have studied the duty rosters. Small groups of sorcerers are being dispatched from the temple almost every day. All of them are wizards of considerable strength, and all of them are well practiced in ritual magic.”

“He intends to assemble them on the Hand of Gul’dan?”

“It is the only thing that makes sense.”

“And you believe he is doing this in secret because…?”

“He is worried about spies, and not without cause.” Akama gave a sour grin.

“How many of the sorcerers have been dispatched, and how many more are going to be?”

“There will be thirteen groups of thirteen assembled on the slopes of the volcano. The number has mystical significance. It ties in with the number of nodes on the pattern he is trying to create.”

“Even if there is only a small force, that number of wizards could prove a significant threat.”

“Not if they are involved in complex ritual magic when the attack comes.” Akama’s words hung in the air. The moment was finally here. It was now or never. She was never going to get a better chance to attack the Betrayer. If what Akama said was true.

“You are certain of this?” Maiev asked.

“As certain as I can be of anything, under the circumstances. I believe that the Betrayer will be on the slopes of the Hand of Gul’dan and that he will have those sorcerers with him. He intends to perform a mighty ritual and open a portal to somewhere else. Perhaps he thinks he can escape the vengeance of the Burning Legion by opening a way to some other world, where the demons have not yet established a beachhead.”

“No.” The word escaped from Maiev’s mouth before she could stop it. She could not let the Betrayer slip from her grasp again. It would be just like him to leave the defenders of his fortress to face the consequence when the servants of Sargeras arrived. It still did not explain what he was intending to do with his elven trainees, though.

“If you will accept my advice,” Akama said, “you will take your force to the slopes of the volcano and investigate. If I am wrong, you will have lost nothing. If I am right, you will get the best chance you will ever have of capturing your great foe.”

“And what about you? Where will you be?”

“I will be with you. I want to be there when you overthrow the Betrayer. I will bring my people. We will aid you.”

Maiev paused for a heartbeat. “Akama…”

“Yes?”

“I have been critical of you and your people in the past—suspicious of your motives, too—but this day you have proved that my thoughts were unworthy. Together we will bring Illidan down.”

Akama took a deep, rasping breath and held her gaze. “I pray that you are right.”

“I will tell my people to be ready,” Maiev said. “We have far to go and very little time to do it in.”

“I will open a way for you, and then I will return to the temple and prepare my people. The time has come for us to take vengeance.”

Maiev shook her head. “The time has come for us to bring the Betrayer to justice.”

“However you wish to portray it, this is our chance to achieve our goal. Let us overthrow Illidan. Let us free Outland from his wickedness. Let the Temple of Karabor be returned to my people.”

“It shall be done,” Maiev said.