【07】
The following morning, HighExecutor Wroth stood beside Sylvanas atop the command tower, discussing thefuture strategies for Venomspite. Although Wroth and the other officers allappeared as though nothing had happened, they were all silently anxious aboutwhat exactly had transpired in the command room the night before.
After Aeron departed from thecommand tower, the only commotion emanating from the command room was the soundof objects crashing and falling. When an officer dared to enter the room, thescene before him was nothing short of an absolute mess. All the furniture hadbeen flipped over, the documents and maps strewn about on the floor, and a flagthat had been torn to pieces was scattered throughout the room. Sylvanas was onher knees, wailing; whether in laughter or in tears was indecipherable.
The officer didn’t chance gawkinga moment longer and promptly closed the door, and with the scene still freshlyburned into his memory, he forwarded a report to Wroth. Even Wroth couldn’tbring himself to believe the officer’s account of this event had he not sworeupon his undeath no less than three times.
“What is the status with theScarlet Onslaught?” The Dark Lady broke the silence, and Wroth promptly glancedthrough the report from his men.
“That Abbendis bitch is justasking for a good pummeling.” He sneered, tossing the report back to hisofficer. “I’ve heard rumors she’s gone insane. I wouldn’t doubt it, either.Only a fool would be stubborn enough to face the Forsaken head-on at Venomspite.Our scouts and assassins are well-placed within their ranks, so the only thingsthey’ll be ambushing are the rats in the wild.”
“I never doubted your abilitiesfor this.” Sylvanas smiled. Even if the Scarlet Onslaught was itself a mess,Wroth did a very good job dealing with this.
“It’s my honor, Milady,” hereplied, yet his mind was still mulling over what had happened in the commandroom.
※ ※ ※
By the time Wroth arrived andentered the command room with the officer, Sylvanas had already returned to herusual cold self, as if what the officer had seen was a mere illusion. Thefurniture was properly arranged, even if they were clearly in different placesfrom their spots earlier in the afternoon. The tactical pieces were scatteredacross the battle map and there were obviously fresh slash marks where theFrozen Throne was designated.
“Your Majesty! I heard thecommotion of battle coming from the command room...!”
“Commotion? You must be mistaken,High Executor. As you can see, I am the only one here and I’m alive and well.” She elegantly crossedher arms as her mouth formed a perfect smile.
“I suppose so.” Wroth didn’t knowquite to say, but ended up blurting out something inappropriate. “I just sawAeron -- hopefully he didn’t do anything disrespectful!”
When he realized what he hadsaid, he feared Sylvanas would be furious at him, but instead Sylvanas’ bodybegan to shiver uncontrollably before erupting into delirious laughter. Thehidden half of her face now appeared even more sinister than it already was,and the officer who accompanied Wroth cowered behind him in fear while Wrothwaited for the echoing laughter to end.
“No, he did not. In fact, I mighteven have to thank him for helping me rediscover my long lost... emotions. Itcleared my head and reminded me once again who my true enemy is.” When herlaughter subsided, she relaxed into her chair, her expression now twisted butgrinning widely. “I’ve never been better, Executor. I’m in a great mood. Leaveme; I’ll join you in a bit.”
“Yes, Ma’am!” Wroth saluted. Heelbowed the trembling officer and turned to exit.
“Executor Wroth.” the queen spokeagain.
He looked back.
“Remove all traces of Aeron fromthis place. He never came to Venomspite, nor has he fought alongside the Forsaken.”Her light chuckle was everything but happy. It was lonely, crazy, and painful.“I will cut the head off of anyone mentioning this name in front me. This isnot a threat, it’s an order.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
He took his exit. When he closedthe door behind him, the Queen seemed to have blended into the darkness. Wrothmarched down the hall away from the room with the poor officer followingbehind, still cowering in fear.
“S-Sir... Has the Queengone...mad?” the officer whimpered.
Wroth considered this possibilityand replied, “I don’t think so.” He stared far down the hallway, hiding histhoughts under his determined face. “...Maybe crazy is who she truly is.” Heignored the officer’s shocked face after he replied coldly with his hoarsevoice, and continued onward to carry out the Queen’s orders.
Aeron had forever since beenerased from Venomspite. No questions asked.
※ ※ ※
“--Executor Wroth.” The Dark Ladycut off Wroth’s flashback. “Next, you should pay more attention to this area upnorth, and not waste your time with the Scarlet Crusade. The plague experimentscan wait, but you can’t be lax on the front line.” She pointed at the map whilecontemplating the strategies.
“Yes, I agree! I’ve already madethe necessary preparations." Wroth snapped back to reality. “Maybe a goodfight is exactly what we need to get my men in line.”
“Then let’s--” She stopped as an officer rushed into theroom.
“Sir, the son of Saurfang hassent an ambassador to meet with you; the warlocks have opened up a projectionportal and are awaiting your participation at the top of the command tower.”
“The Kor’kron?” Wroth crossed hisarms, puzzled. “Those orcs are looking for me? It’s rare enough that Agmar would seek me out, but now the son ofSaurfang? Do they know the Queen is here?”
“Well--”
“I did tell them of myitinerary.. No matter, let’s go together. I want to know what the Orcs are upto.” Sylvanas cut off the officer.
They went to the attic and weremet with the familiar sight of several warlocks surrounding a portal which wasnow projecting the face of a frustrated, dark green orc. Sylvanas and Wrothstood before the portal, visible to the orc. Sylvanas was indeed correct, theambassador expressed no surprise, knowing precisely where she was.
“Your Majesty. My name is Mulzak,and in honor of Orcs, by the name of the son of Saurfang, I salute you.” Thisso-called ambassador was probably quite highly ranked, judging by his armorset.
“A projection can only lastfifteen minutes without any warlock support.” Sylvanas said.
“That would be plenty of time,Your Majesty. Thank you for granting me an audience.” The orc’s thick lipsshifted and with the tusks showing from his smile, tried to be the leastthreatening an orc could be.
Sylvanas gestured at thewarlocks. They left the room and walked down the stairs in single file, leavingonly Wroth and two royal guards with Sylvanas. “You may speak now.”
“Recently, we’ve been scoutingfor a good location to set up an encampment near the Wrathgate and we came upona Death Knight. At first we thought he was a scout, but it turned out that notonly was he willing to assist our efforts in finding a location, he wishes topledge his allegiance to the Horde. He said--” The orc’s eyes suddenly shiftedto the side. “The Death Knight said he had struggled free from the Lich King’scontrol.”
Wroth could feel the elf next tohim enticed by this information, although he wasn’t sure in what way.“Interesting, a Death Knight. Are you sure of this?” Sylvanas extended herfingers, and then lightly clutched them into a fist again.
“We are certain of this becausethat Death Knight is at our camp right now. We have used multiple methods toensure his truthfulness. Your Majesty, have you ever heard of the Knights of theEbon Blade? My lord believes this is a good omen.”
“That much is true,” Sylvanaschuckled gladly. “Although I don’t know what the cause is, it would appearArthas’ powers have further weakened. Very well, our time has come. I will meetwith you as soon as I am able.”
"Milady, there’s anotherthing.” The orc glanced to the side again. “The Death Knight insisted onreturning to the Undercity to fight for you.”
Wroth was surprised by this revelation,and looked at the Queen next to him. She contemplated this for a few seconds,and slowly replied, “That Death Knight is right next to you, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
Sylvanas suddenly recoiled. ‘What does this mean? Why would the orc saythis now? What does it represent?’
“Doesn’t he hail from the Knightsof the Ebon Blade?” Wroth blurted out before the Queen, causing her to frown.
“No, he made this request on hisown behalf. I don’t mean anything by this, but you seem reluctant on thismatter… Would you care to decide after you see this Knight?”
Sylvanas and Wroth looked at eachother and nodded in agreement toward the projected image.
The orc pulled a Forsaken -- orrather, a former Forsaken made Death Knight by the Lich King -- into thepicture. His hair spiked up high above his head, his eyes carried a soft blueglow, and while he no longer had a lower jaw, he could at least manage to makehoarse whimpering sounds. The moment the Knight saw Sylvanas, he eagerlysaluted to her and took a deep bow.
“You say you want to fight on theUndercity’s behalf?” Sylvanas coldly asked.
“Ough! Ou...Ouss...Oouuggh…”These were the only noises the Death Knight could make.
Wroth scratched his head andshook it before releasing a sigh.
“He said his name is Felgrom,”the orc spoke for the Knight. “Oh, I’m not translating for him. I’m just sayinghe can write, so he has the capacity to communicate. Felgrom is his name.”
“It’s more surprising that orcscan read,” Wroth commented, unable to keep his remark to himself.
Unsure whether it was caused byWroth’s inadvertent joke, Sylvanas smirked. “Not bad. You’ve got an amusinglook going, your hair is pretty hilarious. You pass as a Forsaken.” WhenSylvanas finished her assessment, Wroth immediately covered his mouth and hisbody shook violently as he tried to suppress his laughter.
“Oough! Ooghh!” Felgrom seemed tonot notice Sylvanas’ sarcasm, and happily jumped up and down. “Oo! Ouu!”
The orc was the only one whodidn’t understand the dark humor of the undead. He looked among the three ofthem, confused and unsure if he should laugh along as well. “So, would theQueen accept this Knight?”
When Wroth finally finishedlaughing, Sylvanas took a step forward, and stared into his rottingblue eyes.“Yesterday, someone reminded me of something.” Her voice soft yet evil, just assharp as the dagger sheathed at her side. “He asked me: ‘I know you can’t standhumans, but can you no longer tolerate Forsaken as well?’”
Everyone was silent as she spoke,even Wroth was concentrating on her words.
“At first, I couldn’t answer. Butafter seeing you, I can give that answer an unequivocal ‘Yes’.” She raised herhead and cackled arrogantly. “I hate the Lich King, but what I hate even moreare ungrateful traitors like you. You were once my soldier, but you wereenslaved by Arthas’ powers. Now you’ve regained your consciousness, and you’rerunning back with your tail between your legs to beg for my forgiveness? Tellme, before now, how many citizens of the Undercity did you kill?”
"Uo! Uooorrgghh!!" Felgrom cowered andshook his head violently.
"Death Knight, you should be grateful there is aportal between us, otherwise I would've stomped on your head before the orcintroduced you, and killed you in the most gruesome way possible. How I wish Icould reach through right now and wring off your head." Her ghastly smilestood out on her twisted face. "You are a traitor. You and all your kind are!"
"YourMajesty?" The orc was dumbfounded.
"...Tellhim to leave. It doesn't matter where to." Sylvanas ran a hand through herhair, as she collected herself. "The Undercity refuses any deathknights. You heard me clearly,orc."
"But he--"
"I will not forgive a traitor. Never." Sylvanasturned her back towards the portal, staring intently at Wroth and continuedspeaking. "You want my trust? Sure, get on your knees and beg until I growbored of torturing you. And then maybe -- just maybe -- I will discuss trustwith your corpse. Have I made myself clear?" She tilted her head, waitingfor Wroth's response.
"Very clear, Your Majesty!" He stood talland roared out his loyalty.
"They will most certainly feel it if you doubt their loyalties! Haveyou seen your face right now? You’re testing me, testing everyone. It’s thevery same look when you talk to Wroth."
Aeron had been right. She saw thedoubt behind Wroth's expressions, they were like a mirror, reflectingdisbelief, anger, and hesitation. Aeron was right. Doubt begets doubt, torturebegets torture, and revenge…
"No, you still don'tunderstand." Sylvanas looked away, her voice turning ice cold."Mulzak, dispose of that death knight or let him return to the Ebon Blade.I'm done here.”
“Ou! Ouooss! Ouuooo!” Felgromgrunted laboriously, as if he was calling out Sylvanas’ name, or maybe evencrying. Sylvanas disappeared from the portal’s line of sight, leaving Wrothstanding there alone leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his eyesocket glistening with an icy glare.
The communication was over.
Before the portal went out, Wrothwatched the orc pat Felgrom’s shoulder. Somehow, Felgrom’s wailing sounds still lingered in the tower even afterthe portal shut down.
“...Fucking hell. How far do you intend to go?” Wroth restedhis head against the wall and rubbed his temple, oddly exhausted. No one could answer that question.
※ ※ ※
Sylvanas looked north, toward theWrathgate, her long awaited target. Nothing else was more important whencompared to the Frozen Throne.
Aeron left her with a scar whenhe took off, filling Sylvanas with a renewed hatred. She shouldn’t have come to meet him. But withthe way things had unfolded, she no longer had any room or reason to turn back.Wroth, Aeron, and even Felgrom -- they had all gone their own separate ways,far away from the direction to which she was headed.
‘It doesn’t matter; this is good.’ Their eyes only representedinvasion and betrayal, which was enough to keep her alert at all times,reminding her of how hard she had prepared for this and how she was strongerthan any of them
.
She started to laugh again, evenif she didn’t know why.
Sylvanas elegantly walked on, herboots sternly meeting the floor with each step, and ordered the royal guardnext to her, “Contact the Undercity, and forward the latest updates to theDreadlord. We’ll need to gather all of our forces and meet up with the orcs. Tell Varimathras…”
There were never any doubts whichdirection to go. From the time she was remade as a banshee till now, she wasalways full of hate.
“The war has begun.”
※ ※ ※
“...What will you do once you have your revenge? Where will you lead yourfollowers after you have your revenge?”
Aeron’s voice rang in her earsonce again. Sylvanas closed her eyes and stood in the snowfield outside thecommand tower, embracing the sting of the raging cold winds brought forth bythe blizzard.
She imagined Lavinia standing infront of the house, no scars, no pain. Even if her face was blurry, Sylvanascould still feel the warmth of her smile.
…I guess that’s where I’ll begoing.
《《 The End 》》
Written by: Ms.Ursus thibetanus formosanus
illust by: Magic Shark
Translated by: Vicky Cheng
