1,554Chapter 9: Volume 1: Chapter 8
Lost Lion
Disclaimer! I don't own warcraft, it is the property of blizzard.
Volume 1: Chapter 8
***The Redridge Mountains ***
The night skies around the mountainous area were well-lit enough due to the starlight. The light pollution, if any, was only from the torches that belonged to the nearby farming villages to illuminate the roadways. The green grass was well kept- cut to an inch short–swaying back and forth in the winds. The only sound was the clinking metal of my patrol group's plate armor. The plate metal itself reflected a bit of the starlight off of it so it was possible to make out the outline in the dark. Every fifth patrolman held an oil lantern in their hand to illuminate the way. Maybe it was because it was the dead of night, but the normal chatter of soldiers was subdued and even nonexistent.
Yet, despite how peaceful everything appeared, I felt that something was wrong.
We had finished our fourth patrol route around the perimeter–which took about five hours–when my feeling of unease worsened. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly was wrong, but I've been told time and again to trust my warrior instincts by Aloman during our frequent spars. Sometimes, my instincts were wrong and Aloman ended up winning, but there were times where it was right to the point of allowing me to score critical hits.
Those instincts, right or wrong, were screaming at me.
"Private Nate," I called out to one of the footmen.
"Sir." He answered as he stepped forward.
"You and Tobias go back to the barracks and tell them to get battle ready, quickly but quietly," I ordered as my eyes continued to scan the surroundings.
"Sir?"
Nate did not understand my orders. However, he didn't need to; he only needed to carry it out. Seemingly realizing that fact a second later, he snapped off a smart salute.
"Sir!"
"Is something the matter, Sir Callan?" High Cleric Mara Fordragon asked softly.
I watched Nate and Tobias make their way back to the barracks quickly.
"Sir Callan?" Mara kept her voice low, which spoke of her experience since the night often amplified any sound.
Throughout the patrol, she had been exceedingly polite. I thought for sure that Mara was going to be a harpy and badger me about the Light. Instead, she didn't ask any questions except to inquire about the group's well-being while offering her services to anyone who needed it. Even her two cleric companions remained quiet and made a show of looking around like my patrol group.
"I can't say, but usually the night is louder than this," I pointed out what had been bugging me.
Now that I gave voice to my feeling of uneasiness, I knew something bad was going to happen soon. Nighttime being quiet was normal. However, it usually had other accompaniments to it. Stuff like owls hooting or maybe some wolves rustling in the trees, stalking their dinner. It wasn't even out of place to see or hear a few of those big ass man-eating spiders skittering around in the forest.
"You heard him boys and girls," Jenkins said as he looked around. "Eyes peeled."
Without needing to be told, Private Allison dragged the three clerics into the center of the formation.
Sometimes in life, there was a need to base decisions on gut feelings. It could be completely wrong, of course, like buying a stock for a company that you were sure was going to do well only to see it fail. Though, in this case, it was with our lives on the line.
"Sound the alarm!" I shouted at Jenkins just as a spear came whistling from the dark, though it was fortunately blocked by a shield along the line.
"Lock shields!" Jenkins voiced carried down the line.
"Form up!" I ordered as we all turned in the direction of the attack and stood shoulder to shoulder while facing the dark forest. Several more spears were thrown our way but were easily blocked. Our crossbowmen fired back into the forest, though what they were aiming for, I could only guess. That was when something caught my eye.
Normally, I would have missed it, but with me being more alert, I noticed a weird silhouette behind Jenkins as he blew on the trumpet. Immediately, I called the Light into my body and then detonated it. With my body at the epicenter, the blast of bright radiance washed into my immediate surroundings, bathing it in golden light and revealing the attacker. It was a person clad from head to toe in all black with only the eyes visible through the slit on their mask. What I thought was one ambusher turned out to be a group of five.
The black-clad assassins must not have expected it as whatever shroud ability they used was broken, judging from their surprised body language. That momentary confusion allowed me to finish gathering the Light in my hand and let loose it upon the assassin. The Penance spell required me to shape the Holy Light into spherical bundles of pale golden light before firing it off like a railgun.
The first volley caught Jenkins' would-be assassin completely off guard. Each hit drove the assassins backward, eliciting grunts of pain. When the final volley hit the ambusher, he tittered and fell to their knees, the smell of burnt flesh wafted around us in the aftermath. At the same time I was defending Jenkins, my guards were not idle, having now seen the revealed enemy they pounced on them ferociously.
"Sir, behind you!" Jenkins pointed, his face looking panicked even as he moved toward me.
Without even looking behind me, I pulled in a massive amount of Light energy and gave it form with a single word.
"Aegis."
A golden translucent shield made of the Light surrounded me. Unlike its weaker counterpart Power Word: Shield, Power Word: Aegis was a much stronger and better protection spell that could absorb a lot more damage. I felt the dagger strike clink against my back, the combination of the magical shield and my armor nullifying most of the momentum from the attack.
I wasn't idle as I swung my five-foot two-handed sword toward my opponent, but it missed as the assassin danced out of my blade range.
"Steady retreat to the barracks!"
I shouted as I heard Jenkins' loud trumpet blare. Unfortunately, it wasn't my soldiers that answered the call but the orcs. Orcish grunts roared as they poured out of the forest by the dozens.
"Clerics! Support my men with your healing!" I didn't have time to say more as the assassin disappeared in front of my eyes. It took only a second before I felt a hostile presence next to me.
Casting Power Word: Aegis on instinct saved me as the shadow assassin's dagger only dug a little bit into my armor instead of piercing straight through. The assassin danced out of range of my retaliation just as the first few dozen orcs attackers crashed into my patrol group.
"Come get some chums!" Jenkins shouted with fervor. "Elrrrrroy Jenkins!"
"Ragggh!" An orc answered mightily as the familiar sound of weapons clashing resounded throughout the area.
I turned in time to parry an axe attack from a grunt before I kicked him right in between the legs. With him bent over from the pain, I concentrated the Holy Light into my muscles and swung down, making a clean cut. Ducking under a second orc attack, I channeled the light now into my sword and struck the orc in the side, sending him reeling back.
I turned back in time to parry the assassin's strike with my two-hand sword. However, its size did not allow me to block as well as a standard-issued longsword could, but I made up for it in other ways. I pushed her off me after another Aegis spell neutralized what would have been a fatal strike. She was already backstepping, as if saying she got a read on what I would do.
'Gotcha, bitch!' I thought viciously as I stopped the sword swing but instead pointed my free hand at the assassin to call upon the Holy Light.
The assassin must not have expected it as a slash of golden light struck him across the body like a whip. I followed up the Smite a second later with a Holy Smite as a second fiery Light attack struck him from above like a bolt of lightning. I capitalized on the attack and rushed the assassin, closing the gap and crashing into him full force. Knocked off his feet, he fell to the ground, rolling. I took a second to reverse the grip on my sword and raise it overhead with the blade pointed down.
"Fight the foul orcs! For Stormwind!" I heard John J. Keenshan's shout and realized the barracks reinforcement was here. However, it distracted me, delaying me for a moment before I stabbed my blade downward.
Unfortunately, my sword was stopped by the downed assassin's two daggers with an accompanying female sound grunt of exertion. The female assassin then pushed my sword away and rolled to her feet before getting back into a combat stance. I held my sword directly in front of me, ready to counter any move.
"Aegis." I said again and saw the orc female body language tell me how annoyed she was with the spell.
At this point, a massive melee was happening between my men and the ambushing orcs. There was no time for pretty formation; it was an all-out brawl, and I was stuck in a duel with this one pesky assassin who wouldn't let me have time to turn and heal my men. Luckily, the Clerics were pros at healing, and they shored up my men's defenses.
Tired of the standoff, the assassin flowed toward me and thrust her dagger at my stomach. I made to block but realized too late that it was a feint as she aimed for the 'T' slit opening in my helmet. I backstepped quickly and barely avoided the high attack, but the tenacious bitch followed me as she slashed, thrusted, and stabbed her way to try and get a fatal hit in order to keep me on the defensive.
I hated to admit it, but the assassin was a much better fighter than I was. She had me beat in terms of skill, edged me out in speed, and was a lot more agile than I was. The only thing I had an advantage in was strength and thanks to the Light, I had defensive spells that made me harder to kill. In a perfect world. it would mean dueling her until a victor was crowned. However, in a melee brawl, that was impossible as a large orc grunt came charging at me just as two footmen came to my side to engage the assassin, breaking the stalemate between us.
"Shield." I quickly threw out two quick Power Word: Shield in an effort to help my soldiers before I turned around to sidestep the overhead axe strike. Using my Light-infused strength, I smashed the hilt of my sword into the grunt's jaw, shattering it and causing him to reel back in pain.
Not done, I charged at him and with my momentum struck him full force, knocking him onto his back. The grunt was enraged and made to get up, but it was too late. Even as he went for his weapon, my sword came down on his neck. Had it been a regular strike of mine, it would have just cut clean through the thick neck muscles. Unfortunately for him, my blade was infused with concentrated Light magic.
The strike landed like I thought it would but instead of his neck being sliced through, it blew up his head, sending bits of destroyed orc skull and brain matter flying everywhere.
I looked at the blade and saw the beginning of stress fractures on it. It was a standard-issued two-hander so it probably wouldn't be a good conductor for Light magic.
"Whoa," I muttered before my instinct warned me to turn around. Blocking the first dagger, I was lucky enough to grab her wrist as the second dagger went for my throat. I smashed my helmet into her face with a headbutt and then kicked her in her stomach to get some separation.
I looked for the two footmen that had engaged her early and found them unmoving on the ground. Anger filled my body as I, for once in either of my life, really wanted someone dead.
"Aegis!"
"Ugh!" She sounded frustrated.
A priest who could heal through damage and fight on top of it all was a Rogue's worst nightmare. Still, she was a handful since even Aloman had never pushed me this hard. I was fighting her with everything I had on top of my Light abilities, and yet, I was only barely breaking even against her, but that was fine. I chose the Anduin skill set for a reason. The survivability, the abilities that allowed me to not die from the rampant diseases in this kind of medieval setting, and his martial skills.
So we went at it, back and forth, in a deadly game of tag. She demanded my full attention, and I got hers. A momentary lapse on either of our part would have been the end of either me or her. After another ferocious exchange with me spamming Power Word: Aegis, I began to see her gradually move a beat slower. My stamina was also getting a good workout, but I could still go on. The female assassin must have known so she kicked away from my chest, and flipped back before retreating a few steps. Her daggers were held defensively, but she made no move toward me. I was about to try to capitalize on finally putting her on the defensive when a heart-wrenching cry cut through my battle concentration.
"Henrietta!" I heard Mara Fordragon scream and allowed myself to turn to see what happened.
The acolyte whom I met late last evening was now a bloody mess, having been hit by a large orc warhammer on the head. Death must have been instant for her, but wasn't Allison supposed to be protecting the clerics? A quick search saw her crushed body by the stunned looking cleric, Victoria.
The orc, happy with its kill, stalked menacingly toward Mara. Instead of fighting back like I expected her to, she backed away, frightened instead. That was when I remembered that the current Clerics of Northshire believed in a nonviolent philosophy. The most radical among them only ever developed one spell to fight back during the First War. Mara was not using that ability which meant that she wasn't the Mara Fordragon I knew of yet. Damn it, I knew that fact, yet I still unconsciously assumed otherwise.
My slight distraction at Mara's cry allowed the orc assassin to launch a blistering assault against me.
"Back off!" I struck her with a Smite again and then made her increase the distance between us with my Penance attack. Quickly disengaging from the battle, I rushed over to where Mara was and charged the orc. I slammed into the orc just as he raised his warhammer to kill his latest victim.
Unfortunately, because he was steady and sure-footed, my charge did not knock him off his feet. My blade however found its way into his back. I thrust the sword toward his heart as I shove it upward. There was a satisfying gurgle from the orc, just before he shuddered and fell limply backward, taking my sword with him.
The orc assassin chose that moment to attack and force me to abandon my weapon as I stood protectively in front of Mara. I could feel the smug sense of satisfaction from the cloaked figure as if she was confident that she could kill me. Normally, she would be right since a disarmed warrior would be easy pickings for an assassin. However, Anduin was a priest, and he understood the priest class inside out. He also suffered in the Shadowlands so he understood the Light's darker side. Light and Shadow were opposite of each other, but they were also different sides of the same coin in an odd way.
"Cleric Fordragon," I spoke up as I kept my eyes on the confident assassin. She was wary of my Smite and Penance volley. I hope that would distract the cleric's eyes away from what I was about to do next. That and I was banking on the darkness of night to help hide the effects of my abilities.
"Y-yes?"
"Gather yourself and continue to heal my soldiers please," I said as I left her alone and stared down my opponent.
I channeled the opposite of the Light, its mirror counterpart: shadow energy. The orc assassin must have sensed something was off as she ran quickly toward me. Just as her daggers would have stabbed me, I let loose an amplified version of a psychic scream. The mental attack swept out from me and disoriented all the majority of the attacking orcs closest to me. I knew the effect would last only a few seconds but that was all my men needed as they pounced on the monetarily defenseless orcs.
My assassin too was affected as she touched her head and staggered back. Not relenting, I called upon the shadow once more and willed it to hurt her.
"Pain."
An energy darker than the night itself wrapped around her and burned her nerves. I had to give it to the assassin; she was tough as the Shadow Word: Pain only made her body shake lightly. I wasn't done as I called upon more of the shadow energy and gathered it into my hand. It was like living dark fire, and I forced it onto my attacker. I wanted to break her mental focus, thus I attacked her mind.
"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed in pain as she clutched and clawed at her head.
I looked around and saw the tides had turned. The orcs were dead or dying. However, what stood out to me more was the fallen soldiers, many having received fatal strikes that would prevent a resurrection. These men, under my command, were entrusted to me and trusted me to lead them wisely, and were dead because of these assholes.
One did not necessarily have to be good and pure of heart to use the Light nor did one have to be evil to use shadow. If there was enough righteous anger, even the Light could harm people. Shadow, it suppose opposite could also be used by those that are good. It too could heal like the Light but it shined most when it used to punish and destroy those who crossed you. I didn't want this assassin to be burned by the Light, no I wanted to hurt this fucking orc.
"Die," I said simply. As I held out my hand, a stream of dark energy struck her, making her scream in agonizing pain. I noticed that mental-based attacks seemed to affect her a lot so I capitalized on it and sent more shadow magic, willing it to destroy her mind. The skill was called Mind Flay and it did just that: flay the mind to peel back the layers of their very sanity. I was not going to let up on the assault until this orc's brain melted into goo.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The orc writhe and thrashed on the ground holding her head.
Once again, I was amazed by how tough this orc was after I maintained my mind flay on her for almost five minutes before she collapsed.
Gradually, I let the shadow magic go. I felt the whispers and promises of power, but I knew how to avoid the mistake of using it too much. I chased away the pesky whispers with the Light as it filled me up again. I saw some of the soldiers looking at me with a sort of awe while others looked kind of scared.
"Wh-what was that?!" Cleric Victoria stared at me with a look of uncertainty in her eyes. "That shadow..."
"Shit...' I thought as I tried to make up an excuse. Denial was not a river in Azeroth after all.
"Sir Callan...what you did..." It was Mara who spoke up as she looked at the orc assassin I defeated. "What was that you used? It wasn't the Light..."
It made sense that they didn't know about Shadow Priests yet since it was too early so it was little wonder why it was surprising to her.
"It wasn't the Light," I agreed. "But it's complicated to explain. In fact, I can't give you an explanation that would satisfy you."
"I-I will have to notify the Order of Northshire of what I've seen."
Shit… Though, at this point, I was too tired to figure a way out. I would just have to deal with the repercussions later.
"Well, remember to include everything you've seen." And with that, I channeled the Light to me and chanted softly, singing under my breath.
I ignored Mara and Victoria's wide eyes gazed as I used the Divine Hymn to heal those that could be healed. The light show wasn't as flashy as my other ones, but it was effective, seeing as my soldiers appeared more energetic now.
"Sir," Jenkins said with a slight reverent tone, any uncomfortable looks he had disappeared after my display of Light magic. I nodded for him to continue as I went to the orc with my sword lodged in it. "Where should we house the prisoners?"
"Prisoners?" I asked as I pulled the sword out and looked at my second in command. Orcs usually want to fight to the death.
"At least a dozen of them are wounded, though only two will probably survive," Jenkins answered.
I turned to look at the orc prisoners that were being prodded and belligerent. I idly noticed the sky was getting brighter, it looked like dawn was around the corner. How long did we fight for?
"Sir?" Jenkins asked me again.
'Kill them.' That was my first thought.
My gaze fell upon the surviving orcs and then those of my dead men.
"Maybe we should just kill them all."
"You can't!" Mara, of all people, protested. "You can't just kill the wounded like that. That's not right!"
I turned to her and looked at her. Playing warcraft for as long as I had, I would like to think I understood the world of Azeroth intimately. I knew the orcs better than she did at the very least. The orcs hated imprisonment; it was a dishonor to them, and they would rather be killed. Preferred it, actually. For the orcs, being imprisoned was worse than death.
Thrall's Horde to this day blamed the humans for sparing them after the Second War. King Terenas showed humanity and mercy by allowing them to live, but it had always been a gripe of Thrall's orcs that they were kept imprisoned and alive. Then there was the fact that any jail or prison they had been kept in could be broken out of due to their orcish strength and abilities, as shown numerous times in the written novels. Did I want more people under my command to die just to keep the orcs fed and alive? Could I consign other soldiers of Stormwind to die knowing that they would probably escape down the line?
"Sorry, Cleric Fordragon, but it's either them or us," I told her and made eye contact with my second in command and nodded.
"But they're defenseless!"
"So were many of our dead citizens. They show no mercy to women or children during their march on Stormwind or have you forgotten," I countered and saw she realized I had a point. "I intend to return the favor."
Did I feel a bit of schadenfreude? Yes, but I knew what the orc was going to do to Stormwind. Knew the brutality they would show its survivors and the desecration they would inflict on the dead. All at the hands of Blackhand and larger atrocities under the honorable Orgrim Doomhammer.
"Jenkins–"
"S-Sir." Jenkins looked uneasy and saluted.
I went over to my orc assassin and kicked her daggers away. I then rolled her onto her back and saw her chest still rising and falling at an even pace. She was still alive. She was smaller than I thought now that she wasn't actively trying to kill me. Compared to most orc females that I had seen during the Siege of Stormwind, she was downright tiny.
Whatever. She dies. I might have been easygoing, but if someone fucked with me, I would fuck them back twice as hard. Only this one was left. Besides, this way, I was leading by example.
I raised my sword high into the air and channeled the Light into it. Instead of one second, I gave it ten. I glanced down at the down orc assassin just in time to see her eyes open through the tiny slit in her mask, staring weakly at me. I stabbed down with my full–
"WAIT!" A powerful voice thundered into the area. I stopped my attack and took a defensive stance. A strange power was filling the area in a very suffocating manner. Then, from the trees, a raven flew out, making my mouth go dry.
I knew that raven.
Said raven made a beeline for me before he smoothly morphed into a human and stood before me. He was a man in his late forties with a trimmed beard, brown eyes, a stern face, and steely blue eyes. He wore a brown cloak and in his hand was a staff with a wooden raven on top of it.
I knew that staff too. It was called Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardians, and its wielder was Medivh, the very same man who was standing in front of me now.
"The Guardian!" Mara shouted with visible awe in her voice. Her comment ignited a brushfire of whispering. They had a celebrity in their midst after all.
"Stay your hand, my young friend," Medivh spoke up amicably and gave a small smile before he took a look around at the battlefield. "I see that you take after your father quite a bit."
The man smiled at his own joke before he wiggled his finger and the orc's assassin mask was ripped off, revealing a human-ish looking orc. Female orcs weren't supposed to look like humans; they were often muscular and had wider jaws. This one had a human-like soft, yet sharp, jawline and facial features. There was only one female orc I knew that had such a look that could pass for a human.
She was Garona Halforcen, and I nearly killed her. Oddly enough, I wouldn't regret doing so after the way she went at me and would have succeeded if it weren't for my cheat. The bronze might have come, but I simply didn't give a fuck in the moment. I guess that odd adage of cooler heads prevailing should apply to me now.
"I must say, you are a lot more brutal than I expected. There is steel in you, young Callan, and perhaps something else."
Medivh looked meaningfully to where the orc survivors were and raised his staff before he slammed it down. Blue arcane light shot out like cracked lightning during a thunderstorm and struck down every surviving orc except for Garona, draining them of their lives within seconds. I knew what that magic was too. It looked like Arcane energy, but it was actually Fel magic.
"Guardian!" Mara looked at the legendary hero of Stormwind with horror in her eyes.
"Young Callan is right. They often give us no quarter so we should show them no mercy."
Medivh turned back to me and smiled. For a moment, I swore I saw a flicker of green fire in his eyes, but you had to have been looking for it to notice it. He then waved his hand over at Garona, making blue arcane runes appear on her body like ropes. After he was finished, he turned back to me.
"I am taking this one to King Llane and your father for questioning. I'll make sure to tell them this one was captured only thanks to you."
I could only silently tilt my head at him. I had kept silent because one wrong move, one wrong word, and the Sargeras-possessed Medivh could kill everyone here. It was a scary thing to have the leader of the Burning Legion, the one who killed all the Titans, standing not three feet away from me.
"Well, not one for much talk, are you?" Medivh finally said before he held a ball of arcane energy in his hand that spread into a circle around him and Garona. "I shall take my leave, but I think I'll be keeping an eye on your deeds, my young friend."
And with that, he teleported away leaving me standing rooted to the spot.
"Umm, Sir, should we begin the clean up now?" Jenkins asked somberly. His question shook me out of my stupor, and I nodded.
I looked at the dead on the battlefield and felt a real sense of loss, doubly so when I saw Private Allison. Her dead body was being cleaned by a haggard-looking Cleric Victoria while their acolyte, Henrietta, was being cared for by Mara herself. I walked my way over and saw that both of the deceased women's faces were disfigured heavily.
They were too far gone now, and I couldn't resurrect them, but I could make them seem more proper. Like Turalyon did with Lothar after his head was smashed in by Doomhammer, I too channeled the Light to reform their head to what it was before so that they at least looked normal.
"How…?" Victoria asked. She wasn't the only gaze I felt on me since Mara was also watching me intently.
"I asked the Light to put them back the way they were before, that's all."
"How did you do those other things?" Mara asked me this time. Victoria also seemed interested. She must have kept an eye on me when I was fighting Garona.
"The Light, I learned, is not limited to healing and curing illness," I decided to reply honestly. It wasn't like they wouldn't learn about it in the next six years. "It can be so much more; it can empower us, give us more stamina and strength, and even consecrate our very weapons, so long as we believe it."
"Bu-but those of the Holy Orders do not fight..." Victoria preached right away. "That is not our way."
Mara nodded at Victoria's words.
I knew the Church of the Light would change in the coming years but currently, the entire Holy Order was like a bunch of fluffy defenseless lambs. They still gave me expectant looks, waiting for an answer. I decided to rip off an earth saying.
"Then the Holy Order as a whole needs to change." I made eye contact with Mara first and then Victoria. "You will come to realize that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing."
I smiled at the stunned expressions on their faces. I mean, sure, I tweaked the famous quote some, but the idea was there. Anything more I wanted to say was cut off when Keeshan came up to me holding two unique-looking daggers.
"Sir, the assassin that the Guardian took left these behind," John Keeshan said as he presented them to me. "These weapons feel off."
My eyes widened as I recgonized what was in Keeshan's hands.
"The Kingslayers..."
*** The Black Morass***
Gul'dan was being tortured in such a way that he felt new levels of pain coursing through his body. His mind was on fire, and his very soul felt crushed.
"Mer-mercy, my master! Mercy!"
"YOU HAVE FAILED ME!" A face made of green fire bellowed.
"Yes, yes I have. Please, let me redeem myself!" Gul'dan hurriedly pleaded. At this point, he would have said anything so long as the pain stopped.
There was another sequence of pain that made him roar in agony. The guards outside his tent ignored his screams since they were told to never enter his tent under any circumstance. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity of torture, his master relented.
"Delay no longer. Do what you must and tell them to attack no matter the cost." The fiery face tilted at an angle as if it was bearing down on him.
"Yes, my master, as you will it! I'll tell them!" Gul'dan sniveled and made himself seem as small as possible.
"They will or you'll suffer the consequences." The green flames tilted back to its upright position. "In the meantime, your pet is amusing. I shall keep her."
"Of course, of course, everything I have is yours, master," Gul'dan hurriedly agreed.
The burning green face slowly faded away, leaving Gul'dan relieved. He eventually gained enough strength to walk out of his tent.
"Arrange for a meeting with Warchief Blackhand."
Gul'dan told his messenger as he looked in the general direction of the human's lands.
"It's time we show these humans the true might of the Horde."
TBC…
AN: Thank you Icura for helping me edit this chapter! Also thanks to the reader and those that left behind discussion comments. I appreciate all of it. Now I know I am gonna get some blow back regarding certain opinions on the orcs… As for the Shadow skill, Anduin learned from Velen true whom have a deeper understanding of the Light and all specs of it including shadow. Then there was Anduin stint in the Shadowlands… anyhow!