Duality Risen

Seven

Mardruk glowered at Cassie’s back as they walked. He was hemmed in, an Alliance on either side, preventing him from running off or escaping. They’d caught a ship from Ratchet to Booty Bay, and were heading north from there, seeking to gain entry into Alliance-held lands. Mardruk didn’t know exactly where Aljei was going, but since he was a sin’dorei (or rather, a high elf, before they’d all went and got destroyed by Arthas) Mardruk figured starting at Silvermoon hadn’t been such a bad idea.

Still, he couldn’t go by any of the normal routes since he had three Alliance clinging to him, so maybe he’d get lucky and Aljei would cause some destruction and give him a clue as to where to go, provided they didn’t reach Silvermoon first.

“We’re being followed.” Tyrrandal said suddenly. Serasin’s glower immediately fell on Mardruk.

The orc glowered back. “I didn’t tell anyone who we are or why we’re traveling together, so lay off!”

Serasin snorted. “It’s obvious. We, de foul Alliance, kidnapped you and are taking you for execution.”

“Really? And here I thought we were just out for an afternoon stroll.”

Serasin hissed, the paladin’s tail whipping from side to side in display of her wish to hit him. Cassidia simply shook her head, then looked at the kal’dorei. “How far off?”

“A mile, maybe less. They aren’t in a hurry, whatever they are. Certainly not a rescue party.”

“We’re getting close to Duskwood; maybe it’s undead?”

Tyr shrugged. “I would think they’d be ahead, not behind. The only other undead were back in those ruins, and if they were going to attack, they’d have done it then.”

“Demons.” Mardruk said suddenly. The other three looked at him quizzically. “Aljei is a warlock, right? A really powerful one. He could summon demons to watch us.”

“Because he knows you’re trying to stop him?” Cassie asked skeptically.

Mardruk shrugged. “I don’t even know what I’m trying to stop him from doing, but yeah. He’s freshly freed, not back up to his full strength. A big enough group could take him down again. It’s like a raid, only much less confusing.”

Tyr nodded when Cassie looked at him. “There’s something he wants to do, no doubt people he wants to get revenge on. He needs time to regain his strength. If we get too close, there’s a good chance we’ll be able to beat him.”

“He wants to avoid that.” Mardruk added. “So if he has the strength to destroy us, that’s what he’ll do.”

Serasin snorted. “We don’t need YOUR input, green-skin.”

Mardruk glowered at the draenei. “All right. You can fight Aljei on your own then. I’ll just head to Light’s Hope on my own and catch a bat to Silvermoon. And good luck with getting past Tranquillien and the guards outside Silvermoon’s gate, too. I wish you all the best.” He swept his arm across his chest in an exaggerated, mocking bow, and took a step forward down the road.

Cassie latched onto his arm and pulled. “You aren’t leaving us to deal with this!”

“You’re the ones who chose to follow me in the first place!” Mardruk argued back.

“Quiet!” Tyr ordered, his lion snarling to make sure everyone obeyed. The hunter peered down the trail behind them, as though if he concentrated hard enough, their pursuers would become clear to him.

Mardruk felt it then, that cold cruelty he had a taste of in his encounter with Aljei upon the warlock’s rebirth. He shivered, his fingers instinctively curling around the hilt of his broadsword. Goran’s words echoed in his mind the entire time. – Don’t run in blind. – the old orc had told him. – You’re bound to do more than just get yourself killed doing that. If you’re outmatched, run. There’s no dishonour in retreating to the high ground. –

Still, Mardruk knew these three would hold their ground. He had no choice but to stand with them, even when his instincts told him to run. When Duskwood would be saver than Stranglethorn’s roads.

Mardruk hissed as he saw them, three giant constructs of the very earth and stone they stood on. Aljei had that much power already? He heard soft expletives from the human woman behind him and realized sourly that this was the first time they had ever encountered Aljei’s powers. Now they had an idea of who – and what – they were chasing.

“What do we do?” Tyrrandal asked, slowly nocking an arrow as though it’d do any good.

“We run.” Mardruk replied. “As fast as we can.”

“Scared, little orc?” Serasin asked with a smirk. Mardruk glowered at her. She tossed her horned head and stepped forward, Light shining around her hands. “His powers are still weak. We’ll be able to defeat him with little trouble.”

“You sure are confident.” Mardruk replied dryly.

Serasin gave him a vicious smile and released her spell. The divine hammer slammed down on the center construct and the creature began to crumble. The draenei gave the orc an ‘I told you’ smirk then yelped as Mardruk lunged at her. He and Serasin collided and slammed into the ground as a giant pillar of stone shot over them. Serasin stared at the mass as it retreated, realizing with a notion of sickness that her head would’ve been pulp on those stone knuckles.

Mardruk hauled himself up and pulled the paladin to her feet, stepping back toward Cassie. The three constructs kept advancing, even the crumbling one.

“Aljei didn’t get his reputation by snuggling kittens.” Mardruk told Serasin. “Even when you think he’s weak, there’s always some trick to look out for.”

“So what do we do?” Cassie asked. “If we can’t beat them, and they won’t stop chasing us, what do we do?”

Mardruk backed up a few steps, his boots kicking up dust. He glanced down, then back at the golems. He took a few more steps back, then laughed. “We cheat. Cassie, you have water spells, right?”

Cassie looked at him oddly. “Not exactly.”

“But you have something that could turn this dirt into quicksand, right?”

Her green eyes brightened and a devious grin spread across her face. Tyr, Serasin, and Mardruk quickly moved toward stable ground, hunter and paladin readying their bows to protect from long distance. Mardruk kept a little closer to the human mage, in case she needed him. Cassie focused on the dirt before her, calling upon her arcane powers to mold them into her ice spell, the fire witch calling on every drop of mana she had at her disposal. The ground around her became coated in a thick layer of ice, Stranglethorn’s own heat beginning to melt the ice into water. The earth couldn’t soak up more than perhaps a third of it, and soon, the dirt became mud, and Cassie had to retreat before she was sucked down. The constructs continued forward stupidly, and the first stepped into the mud. Its leg sunk in to the knee, causing it to topple forward. Its other two companions stopped at the edge as if watching their comrade struggle with the mire it was stuck in.

Those heads swiveled toward the four companions standing safely on the other side, their sightless eyes giving the distinct feeling that those eyes weren’t so sightless after all.

Then, the golems simply crumbled.

“What the hell was THAT?!” Cassie yelled, pointing at the pile of rubble.

“A warning.” Tyr said as he eased up on his bowstring. “Aljei is watching us. We aren’t a huge threat yet, and he has time. He won’t kill us until we pose a danger to him, but he wants us to know he can.”

The four companions shivered. “Let’s just get to Silvermoon. We can figure out what to do from there.” Mardruk said.

To the orc’s surprise, the three Alliance agreed.