The Burning

Chapter Eleven

Among all the books of the Library within the Scarlet Monastery, a young woman sat at a table. Her chestnut-brown hair was pulled back in a high ponytail that arced upwards into the air before spiraling towards the floor in a corkscrew that trailed down her back. Her jade-colored eyes were open wide, as she tried to glean as much light as possible from a nearby candlestand, in order to read the thick book of scriptures laid out before her. Resting on the bridge of her nose, with lenses in front of each of her eyes, a pair of reading glasses aided her in her endeavours, though they hinted at the possibility of her having possibly spent too much time reading in dark environs.

The book the woman was reading was one of the many religious texts kept in the Scarlet Monastery, and there was not a single mark within those pages that was not a masterpiece. Some scholar had most likely spent most of their life writing this, as the pages had gold filigree along the edges, and almost every page had some incredibly detailed depiction in the margins of what the words on that same page were describing, and each letter that comprised those words was a work of art in itself. There were also full-page, or double-page illustrations that were more akin to the paintings of the most talented artists than the sketchy depictions produced by others who wielded a pen. To call the art in this book "drawings" would be like saying that the legendary Medivh had known magic. It would be a grotesque understatement, to the point of being insulting.

The brunette was so engrossed in her reading of the words in this book, not just for what they said, but also the beauty they were portrayed in, that it took someone loudly clearing their throat behind her before she was brought back to the real world. A deep male voice boomed out, "Trainee Mint Evarise stand at attention and explain yourself!" Mint jumped in her seat, and then quickly pushed her chair back and stood up, turning to face whoever it was, while at attention, and stammering out an apology for whatever it was she'd done wrong. Then she saw who it was, and relaxed a little bit. Before her stood a Scarlet Centurion by the name of Jonas Kelborough. He was older than her by a few years, but still one of the youngest members of the Scarlet Crusade to ever achieve his rank. He was also one of her few friends in the Monastery.

Her momentary relief that it wasn't really some superior who was mad at her for something faded quickly to be replaced by anger. "Jonas, why did you do such a thing? You nearly scared me to death!" The young Centurion merely grinned cockily. He had short, wavey blonde hair, and was considered very handsome among the women of the Monastery. With clean, smooth features, and cobalt-blue eyes that always seemed to shine with laughter even when he tried to look serious. Many times that had gotten him into trouble with superiors who thought he was mocking them by pretending to be respectful. He usually was, but Jonas felt that was beside the point, since they had no way of proving it. He was dressed in full battle garb, his red and white combat armor gleamed and made him even broader and more impressive than he usually was. Standing at over six feet tall, and with a muscular but athletic physique, he had won many fights merely by his intimidation factor. She had never seen Jonas fight in anything other than training matches, but she had heard from others who had fought at his side that when he was in a real battle, he fought like a demon. Or more appropriately, like an angel of death.

Jonas seemed to possess an unequaled love for battle, a lust for blood that would have disturbed many if they knew of it, but which only strengthened his position in the Scarlet Crusade, as he relentlessly pursued the destruction of the Crusade's enemies until every single one was dead or had run like cowards. To the younger members, particularly the trainees, he was a hero. To the older members, he was an arrogant upstart. But what both agreed on was that he was devoted to the cause, loyal to his allies, and a fighter of remarkable skill. Jonas didn't comment one way or the other on what he was, and let people think what they wanted. He didn't honestly care what most people thought of him, as long as they didn't get in his way when it came time to do battle. One person, however, was very important to him indeed.

Mint Evarise had been taken in by the Scarlet Crusade when she was a child. They had found her hiding in a barrel after the Scourge swept through her village, killing almost everyone. And most of the survivors were killed by the Crusaders, having been deemed contaminated merely by association. Mint was one of the few who had been allowed to live, and taken in. She had been a disappointment to the combat trainers, as she lacked not only the physical requirements to be a warrior, but also any sort of killer instinct. She was, infact, the most clumsy and incapable fighter they had ever seen. They managed to drum basic self-defense and weapons training into her, but she would clearly never be a real Crusader. She was seen as worthless by many, and a joke by the other Trainees. All of them except one.

Jonas had seen her not as a weak shell of a person, a timid mouse who would be a liability in combat, but a passionate soul whose strengths merely lay in other areas, and could be quite useful to the Crusade if she was given the chance to practice in those areas. He had befriended her, gotten her to open up to him, and learned that she loved learning and reading above all else, and further that she had been taught languages by one of her parents that would be quite valuable in translating the books in the Library. Some of the languages, he had never even heard of, except as vague rumors or legends, and sometimes not even those. He had pretended to merely mention Mint's language skills in passing to the head Chaplain on a visit to the Library for "study material", despite the fact he had stepped foot in the Library perhaps once before in his time at the Monastery, and had never shown any interest in studying.

The Chaplain had been ecstatic at the news, and practically demanded that Mint be transferred from combat training to being his personal assistant. Mint was overjoyed to be invited into the Library to read books as her new job. To be seen as valuable rather than dead weight. To have a way to pay the Scarlet Crusade back for all it had done for her. Jonas didn't tell her what he'd done for her, but somehow she figured it out anyway, and had showed her immense gratitude with a passionate kiss that Jonas would never have expected from the quiet girl. She then surprised him further by confessing she was in love with him, and had been since early on in their relationship. He admitted both to her and to himself that he felt the same way regarding Mint. And that had been the start of a new part of their relationship.

Now, however, Mint was angry at him. And Jonas didn't help matters with his next comment. "You look so sexy when you're mad." Mint growled at him, but he wasn't just teasing her. Seeing the brunette standing there glowering at him, with her lips all twisted up, while she wore an abbreviated version of a Scarlet Evoker's robes, leaving much of her smooth legs bare, she was an appealing sight, and he felt a pang of desire pulse through him. Mint took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, and muttered more to herself than to Jonas.
"My heart pounds fit to burst even now." She had her eyes closed as she sought to ignore the adrenaline surging through her from her momentary fright.
"Oh? Let me see." Jonas said, and reached out a hand, placing his palm on Mint's left breast. Her jade eyes shot open, seeing that the Centurion had a thoughtful expression on his face as he squeezed her soft chest and exclaimed, "Why you're right! Your heart is beating pretty fast!" Mint brought one hand up and shoved his own hand off of her, as she hissed at him.
"Control yourself, Jonas! You can't do that sort of thing where someone could catch us!"
"That's not what you said when we made love in the pool two nights ago!" Jonas protested loudly. Mint put both hands over Jonas' mouth in an attempt to muffle him, as she looked around wildly, expecting the head Chaplain to come out here at any moment and punish them both. She felt something wet on her palms and jerked her hands away to keep Jonas from licking them any further, before wiping them on her robe.
"You are a disgusting pervert." She sniffed.
"But you love me anyway, right?" Jonas grinned. Mint tried to retain her indignant expression but a smile eventually cracked through.
"Yes, I love you anyway you fool." Then the two came together, embracing and kissing. When they seperated, Mint was smiling dreamily up at Jonas, and he was looking back into her eyes like they were bottomless green wells into which he could fall and never hit bottom. He wanted to take her and make love to her right then and there. But this highly tempting line of thought ground to a halt when Mint asked, "So what brings you to the Library at this time of night, lover? Did you come just to visit me?" She fluttered her eyelashes at him, and he had to grit his teeth to keep himself from giving in to the blast of desire that rippled through him. It was with enormous regret that he shook his head and answered.
"No, unfortunately. I was asked to deliver a message to you. You are to prepare the Scarlet Elixir for High Inquisitor Whitemane as soon as possible, and bring it to her in the chapel."

Mint's heart sank at this news. "Again? So soon? She just had it a couple weeks ago." In response to this, Jonas just shrugged his shoulders. Mint bit her lower lip lightly as she lowered her gaze, studying the designs of Jonas' Centurion armor with her eyes, but actually lost in thought, considering the implications. She eventually sighed and said quietly, "I worry for the High Inquisitor. It cannot be healthy to imbibe the Elixir so often." She shook her head, causing her arcing ponytail to wave back and forth. "I ought not to have ever made the damnable thing. I do not wish harm to come to the Glorious One."
Jonas nodded sympathetically, in one of his rare serious states. Both he and Mint were equally dedicated to the Crusade, and its leadership, and did not wish to see harm come to so important a figure as the High Inquisitor. He didn't know the details of what the Scarlet Elixir did, nor what was involved in its production, and was content for it to remain this way. The less he knew of such things, the less likely he was to speak of them to those who should not know of them.
"Perhaps you could mention your concerns to the High Inquisitor when you bring the Elixir to her?" Jonas suggested. Mint looked at him as though he had just recommended she set fire to her head.
"Are you out of your mind?" She asked in polite disbelief. Jonas just shrugged. Mint sighed and rubbed her forehead, before breaking away from the Centurion and saying, "I had best get going. I do not have the ingredients on hand to create the Scarlet Elixir, and will have to gather them." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then walked around him, starting to head out of the Library, but she was snared suddenly, gently but firmly. She turned to see Jonas with a grim expression his face, his eyebrows pointing down, and his mouth set, as one gauntleted hand gripped her by the wrist. His hand was so large that it seemed to engulf half her forearm as well.
"I don't like you going out at night by yourself. It's dangerous."
"Perhaps you would like for me to tell the High Inquisitor, 'No, I'm sorry, I can not obey your orders, because my lover would rather I not'?" Mint asked pointedly. Jonas looked at her with his intense blue eyes for another few moments, before sighing and releasing her wrist, his hand dropping to his side.
"Of course not. But why can't you take anyone else with you? I could arrange to escort you personally, infact! With how valuable you have become to the High Inquisitor, there would surely be no objection to you being guarded."
"Because I have no need for protection! It isn't that far away, and the regular patrols keep any of the plagued monsters from approaching. Furthermore, I am being instructed in the use of our most righteous Powers of the Faith by the head Chaplain, and can defend myself if necessary."
"I... I'm just worried about you is all." Jonas said as he looked at the floor, seeming hurt. Mint's annoyance melted away rapidly and she stroked a hand across his left cheek with her delicate fingers.
"I know you do, and I appreciate it immensely. However, in this instance, you worry too much." In response, the blonde-haired man lifted one of his metal-shrouded hands to carefully pull the soft hand of his lover to his lips, and placed a kiss on the backs of her fingers, one at a time, until he had kissed them all, and just stroked his thumb over them. The two young Crusaders smiled at each other, and then Jonas' familiar grin spread over his face.
"I'll meet you later. Once you have delivered the Elixir to the High Inquisitor I have some things I'd like to do with you we haven't tried yet." Mint arched an eyebrow at this.
"Oh? Such as what?" Mint inquired. Jonas leaned in and placed his mouth next to Mint's left ear, and began whispering to her such things that her face flushed bright red in embarassment, and yet she giggled like a little girl. She pushed Jonas away and he grinned at her as she said, "You really are a dirty-minded boy."
"I notice you do not object to any of that. Am I to take this as acceptance then?" In response Mint just smiled at him in such a way that his heart skipped a beat, and then she turned around and hurried towards the door of the Library. The sight of the back of the brunette's shortened robe flying up from the speed of her movements, revealing her shapely rear and dark-red underwear sent waves of passion roiling through his groin. He was distracted from this highly pleasing vision by Mint stopping and turning around suddenly. He brought his eyes up from where they had lain on her posterior, and wiped the smile off his face, as he affected a neutral expression.
"Oh, when do you next go out on patrol?"
"Ahh," he reached up a hand to scratch the back of his head as he grinned sheepishly. "I was supposed to have left several minutes ago, but I've been here with you instead."
"You really are a fool! Get out there right now!" Mint said in an exhasperated tone as she pointed down the hall outside the Library.
"Yes, ma'am!" Jonas said solemnly as he stood at attention and saluted her, before running out the door, his armor clanking as he did so.
"Kill a heathen for me!" Mint called out after him. Jonas turned around and ran backwards for a few second as he waved to her and gave out a call in response.
"For you, my love, I would gladly slay ten-thousand heathens single-handedly, so that the streets ran red with their filthy heathen blood!" He then turned around and continued running forward, knowing he was late for his duties to the Crusade. Mint just laughed at the description of mass slaughter, considering his words to be terribly romantic. That she had managed to find a man who would fight ten-thousand of those plagued fiends by himself, just for her love... She didn't know how she ever got so lucky.

On the way out of the Monastery, Mint's joy decayed as she thought on what she was going to have to do tonight. It wasn't just the making of the Scarlet Elixir that was bothering her, though that was certainly a problem. She had been contacted earlier that day by someone she preferred not to deal with except when absolutely necessary. Mint Evarise had managed to completely conceal her second reason for coming out here tonight even from the one who knew her best. She had learned early on in life how to keep her secrets. This particularly secret was of enormous importance. For she had did not survive the Scourge attack on her village that killed almost everyone else out of random chance or fortune smiling upon her. She had survived because she had been visited by a raven that was really a man. The man-raven had told her something bad was about to happen, and shown her where to hide, and said not to come out until "good people" found her. The man-raven had taught her things while she hid. Things like how to make the Scarlet Elixir. Things like how to speak and understand many languages. Things like how to wield the power of the Tirisfalen he had gifted her with.

The man-raven said his name was Medivh, and he told her all about the Burning Legion, and of the threat they posed, and said that no matter what else happened in life, she must remember her duty to protect others, and to fight the demons. To use the powers he had bestowed upon her solely for preserving the universe itself. And he told her that there would be others like her that might need her help, and that she would give it, and that if she needed help, they would give her that assistance in return. Then the man-raven had departed, and she had sat in the barrel while the smell of death and smoke wafted over her, until she was found by the Crusaders. She had gone years without encountering any of the others that Medivh had spoken of, until she started to believe it merely been a dream. But then she met the elf named Aerai, and she knew it was all true.

Aerai had never called upon her frivolously, and had even helped her on occasion, when she needed to know about attacks that were planned by the Scourge, or the presence of demons in the area, and such things as those. She trusted Aerai, but she had never really liked her. Their relationship was a professional one only, and only the fact that Aerai had proven she too possessed the power of the Tirisfalen had convinced the Crusader girl that the elf was not one of the plagued. She only hoped as she came out of her recollections and found herself already past the guard check points, and on the mountain road that lead towards the graveyard, that whatever help the elf woman needed, it would not require her stay out here too long. She needed to get the ingredients for the Scarlet Elixir, and return to High Inquisitor Whitemane as soon as possible. For more than one reason. She allowed a brief smile to pass over her lips at the thought of what Jonas had whispered to her, before putting on a cold mask of indifference and shutting out all pleasant thoughts. This was serious business.

Mint came off the road, and approached the graveyard where she had always met Aerai in the past. Sure enough, the black-haired Blood Elf was standing there beyond the ornate grates that surrounded the graves. She prepared to announce her presence, but the greeting died in her throat as she caught sight of what stood on either side of Aerai.

The elf hadn't come alone.

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Meanwhile, Jonas Kelborough was further down the mountain path, having run as fast as he could to reach his companions. He gradually slowed down as he approached them, seeing the looks of annoyance on their faces, and he groaned out, "I know I'm late. I know." He was barely out of breath, despite having run all the way from the Library to the base of the mountains.
"What took you so long?" One of the Scarlet Myrmidons asked angrily.
"What does it matter? I'm here now, aren't I? Now what's the situation?" Jonas shrugged off the looks of disgust shot his way by the other members of this team, and waited for a report.
"Well, there's a camp of humans we believe are refugees from the Plaguelands camped on the north-eastern side of Brightwater Lake..." One of the Crusaders supplied.
"Yes, go on." Jonas urged.
"...And the Rothide Gnolls look to be massing for a push towards that camp from Garren's Haunt." He finished. Jonas waited for more, but when the Crusader didn't say anything else, he asked incredulously, "That's all?"
"Err... What else were you expecting, sir?"
"Oh, I don't know. Some sort of challenge, I suppose." Jonas said, sounding disappointed. The Crusaders looked at each other before one of them spoke up.
"Well what are we going to do, sir?"
"What are we going to do? Isn't it obvious?" Jonas asked.
"Err... Attack the Gnolls before they can kill the refugees?"
"No, no, no! Dead wrong! What are they teaching you in training these days?" Jonas said in disgust, shaking his head. "Clearly these so-called 'refugees' are plagued, else they wouldn't have been in the Plaguelands to begin with. We are not going to be preventing them from achieving the release of death. No, the smart thing to do would be to let the two skirmish for awhile until one side is victorious, then sweep in and wipe out the weakened survivors."
"Makes sense, sir." The Crusader said.
"It does, doesn't it?" Jonas nodded. "However, that is not what we're going to be doing."
"Err... Sir?"

Then Jonas grinned. It wasn't the grin that Mint usually saw. This was a savage grin. The grin that made his enemies decide that cowardice is the better part of valor, and elect not to remain in his presence. With a slight hoarseness to his voice, Jonas the Scarlet Centurion said, "I will not allow a single heathen or monster to fall except at the hands of our righteous Crusaders. We are going to kill them all ourselves." The Crusaders looked at each other again at Jonas' words, and smiles slowly spread over their faces. This is why Jonas had the rank he did. His thirst for blood was without limit. Jonas, for his part, briefly hoped that he had enough time to both enjoy himself properly on the battlefield, and to enjoy Mint in bed. It wouldn't do to rush either one. Then he put thoughts of his lover out of his head, as he roared out, "DEATH TO THE HEATHENS!" His battle cry echoed out over Tirisfal Glades, and he didn't care if his prey heard it and was warned of his imminent arrival. He wanted them to know he was coming for them. His cry was picked up by his companions and repeated, and as they charged down the mountain, and across the country-side, towards the refugee camp, he threw his head back and laughed uproariously. Truly, this was the most glorious of lives he lead. He wouldn't have it any other way.

----------------End Chapter Eleven----------------