"Wake up, wake up!"
"Get up, Liam!"
An anxious voice reached Liam Greymane's ears. It sounded familiar, but who was it? He felt dizzy, unable to see anything clearly. Something seemed to have gotten into his right eye, causing him great discomfort. He wiped it away, finding it sticky, likely blood flowing from his brow.
"I… Where am I?" Liam groaned. He felt someone shaking his shoulders forcefully. "Who is it?"
His thoughts were muddled, and he couldn't remember what had happened. It wasn't until his left eye could see clearly that he recognized Sir Vincent Godfrey, his father's most trusted advisor.
Liam's head was swimming, but he still remembered his situation: "We were defeated… No, no, we're running away!"
With Sir Godfrey's help, Liam stood up. Not far from him was his beloved steed, 'Snowy.' She lay sprawled in the rocky ravine, white foam tinged with blood at her mouth, a large pool of blood beneath her belly. Her intelligent eyes were filled with pain and pleading.
"Help me up, Sir Godfrey!" Liam felt a burning pain in his left leg. Blood trickled down his trouser leg, almost overflowing his boot.
He groaned in pain, wanting to tend to Snowy, but his left leg wouldn't obey. He could only press his trembling hand near the wound and pray for the blessing of the Holy Light.
Seeing that he could walk without difficulty after his self-healing, Vincent urged him in a low voice, "Prince Liam, we must hasten our retreat. Scouts have just reported that a Scourge force is pursuing us!"
"My father? Is there any news of him?" Liam asked anxiously.
"No," Vincent shook his head. "The Scourge forces have completely cut off our contact with Gilneas City."
Liam took a breath and reassured himself, "No definite news means there's still hope." He strode towards his warhorse, pressed against her neck, and called upon the Holy Light, attempting to heal her injuries.
Vincent hesitated, feeling that Snowy was beyond saving.
This proved to be the case. Liam's plea was answered by the Holy Light, but Snowy's injuries were too severe, and she couldn't stand. Even if she lived, she would be confined to the ground like a paralyzed patient for the rest of her life. But with the Scourge army at their heels, how could he save her?
Snowy was a mare with snow-white fur, given to Liam three years ago. Having spent day and night together, he had long regarded Snowy as his closest companion. Now, after being healed, Snowy looked at him with her large eyes, revealing a human-like tenderness and pleading.
Liam knew what that meant. The intelligent Snowy fully understood her master's dire situation.
Liam drew his sword, looking into Snowy's gaze, and felt utterly incompetent and cowardly.
He couldn't protect anyone. His father had shielded him from the enemy, blocking them head-on. He couldn't even protect his warhorse, forced to watch her die.
Liam choked back tears as he handed his sword to Sir Godfrey, turned his back to Snowy, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing. The rushing tears immediately soaked his gloves.
Vincent sighed, raised his sword, and severed Snowy's head, ending her pain and preventing her from being resurrected by the Scourge.
He returned the sword to Prince Liam and said softly, "Let's go, we must continue. We must reach Duskhaven before nightfall!"
—
Aiden immediately went to the Throne Room after receiving the intelligence that Gilneas was invaded by the Scourge. Everyone else was already there; he was the only one missing.
Antonidas, seeing him rushing in, joked, "Aiden, I didn't expect you to be late too!"
However, King Terenas, an experienced man, immediately noticed that his expression was wrong, and he immediately asked with concern, "What happened?"
Aiden said in a deep voice, "The Scourge Legion has invaded Gilneas. It should already be more than half fallen now."
"What!"
"This… How is this possible?"
Everyone was so shocked by the news that they were almost speechless. They all looked at Darius Crowley, the commander of the Gilnean Brigade. At this moment, the originally heroic general was slumped in his chair, his eyes vacant, completely unable to accept the news.
Antonidas's eyebrows were almost knitted together, "Gilneas built such a magnificent Greymane Wall, and the coastline is protected by the Snapping Reefs. Large ships simply cannot pass through. They were invaded, how could we not have received any news?"
Daelin asked, "Could it be that people from the Cult of the Damned secretly released the plague into their food?"
Aiden shook his head and replied, "The Scourge Legion has a huge flying fortress. The Greymane Wall is useless in front of it. Moreover, Gilneas has indeed suffered from the plague. First, the garrison of Greymane's Keep, and then Gilneas City. When I got the intelligence, the Greymane Wall was basically already under the control of the Scourge."
"So what should we do now? Everyone is almost not ready yet." Duke Bolvar Fordragon was also frowning. The theme of the meetings these days was to have the Alliance forces complete their assembly within a month, leave a part to defend against the Scourge's sneak attacks, and the rest would form an expeditionary force to go to Northrend to directly eliminate the Lich King, the chief culprit.
But now the Stormwind legions have not yet set off. Even if King Varian is notified immediately, it will take him twenty days to come to Lordaeron with his army.
The situation in other countries was basically the same. Only the Valoran Federation and the Kingdom of Lordaeron would react slightly faster. The former was because Aiden had been preparing for war, and the latter was because it was happening on their own land.
"Time waits for no one, we must solve the immediate problem," Aiden said loudly, "If the entire Gilneas is captured by the Scourge, then the enemy we face will occupy a strategic chokepoint, sitting on hundreds of thousands of undead troops. We cannot attack it from the sea, we can only attack the Greymane Wall head-on. I'm afraid even if we gather all the armies of the Alliance, it will be difficult to capture such a magnificent fortress. But if we leave it alone and go on a northern expedition, it can easily occupy most of Lordaeron!"
Although Gilneas is isolated, its population ranks second among human nations, second only to Lordaeron. If it really completely falls, people can't imagine what the result would be. When hundreds of thousands of undead troops appear in front of them, I'm afraid they can contend with the Alliance without relying on the Greymane Wall; these evil armies.
King Falstad Wildhammer of Aerie Peak spat rudely and said fiercely: "Damn it, that son of a bitch Genn, he was lazy and slippery during the war, but he was energetic in building fortresses after the war!" After saying that, he felt that there were people from Gilneas present, which seemed a little inappropriate. But he glanced at Darius, and found that he still hadn't recovered.
Antonidas also sighed: "King of Gilneas, this is really digging his own grave! The Scourge has blocked the Greymane Wall, and humans have nowhere to escape."
Everyone began to grumble. Even if they looked down on Genn Greymane, they had to admit that the Greymane Wall, which had almost exhausted Gilneas' national power to build, was definitely a defensive structure that made people despair.
Terenas waved his hand to stop their cursing and said loudly: "Stop these meaningless complaints, let's think about a solution! If the Scourge's flying fortress is carrying a large number of undead soldiers, and then drops them into our hinterland, what should we do?"
Aiden said: "We should strike first. We must not allow Naxxramas—that Scourge flying fortress—to freely break through our airspace."
"Tell me your method," Daelin said. At this time, Darius also began to turn his attention to this suddenly rising leader of the Alliance, hoping that he could provide a way to save Gilneas—although he hated King Genn, he had always loved his country in his heart and did not want to see his people threatened by the Scourge.
Aiden nodded and began to explain his plan: "First of all, we must monitor Naxxramas, which requires some air reconnaissance units. I think my flying troops and the Wildhammer clan's gryphon riders can handle this job."
Falstad thumped his chest and said: "Don't worry, the lads under my command are experienced!"
Aiden continued: "Then we must support the survivors of Gilneas. Large ships cannot pass through the waters of Gilneas, but we can let small boats go in to meet the survivors, and then transfer them to large sea ships to send them away. Similarly, the troops we send should also land from the coastline and establish a defense line to ensure the safety of the survivor evacuation operation."
"Sounds feasible," Darius's eyes rekindled with hope.
"In addition, we must have the ability to stop Naxxramas from flying away," Aiden looked at Archmage Antonidas, "At this time, we need a flying fortress that can match it."
Antonidas knew what he meant and said: "We can let Dalaran take off. As long as the power is sufficient, I think we can stop it."
After thousands of years of reconstruction, Dalaran has become a veritable city of magic. If necessary, it can also take off. Moreover, it is twice as big as Naxxramas. After activating the magic circle, its defensive and offensive capabilities are not bad.
"When the survivors are transferred, Gilneas' natural barriers will instead become a prison to trap the Scourge. If they don't have ships, they can't leave from the sea. With Dalaran's obstruction, they can't escape from the air. In this way, as long as we guard the gate of the Greymane Wall, we will have the initiative in the war," Aiden's voice was full of confidence, "At that time, whether to go on a northern expedition first or annihilate them first will be up to us!"
"Wonderful!" Terenas took the lead in applauding, "It really feels like clearing away the clouds and seeing the sun. Aiden, your analysis of the war situation is too thorough!"
Aiden said: "I just got the information first, so I had time to think about it more."
Terenas said: "Don't be humble, you have such ability—then, shouldn't we send troops to rescue Gilneas as soon as possible?" he asked for opinions.
Aiden said: "Yes, the sooner the better. We need sea ships, all kinds of sea ships, big and small!"
Daelin immediately said: "I will send a message back immediately, and the Kul Tiras fleet will be able to reach the designated location within three days!"
Terenas also said: "Our fleet will also be assembled as quickly as possible."
Antonidas said: "I will go back and convene a meeting immediately to let Dalaran take off!"
Falstad said: "My gryphon troops will be in place tomorrow!"
Prince Galen stood up: "I will go back immediately and let my father prepare for war. The Stromgarde army will rush to the battlefield as quickly as possible!"
Bolvar Fordragon said: "The Stormwind army will also come as soon as possible!"
Kurdran said: "I will go back now and see how many warriors Ironforge and Gnomeregan can dispatch!"