InsaneJournal

Scyllaine gabbled excitedly as she crested one of the green hills of the Golden Plains ahead of the rest of the group. Her hands flew in her personal language as Necronim looked up at her and he smiled as he said, “She’s spotted her.”

“How do you know?” asked Kalya.

“I only know one Blood Elf that would sleep so casually in a tree,” replied the rogue. “Well, besides her brother but Hresden is a creature all his own.”

He urged his wolf ahead of them to the top of the hill and nodded, confirming, “That’s her. Good eyes, Scy.”

The warrior smiled at the comment and clapped his shoulder warmly before she started trekking towards the sleeping figure in the tree. Necronim followed her quickly, leaving a nervous Kalya to bring up the back of the group with Kwaaku at her side.

As they got closer, Necronim lifted his hands to cup around his mouth and shouted, “Bal’a dash, malanore!” The figure in the tree was startled upright at the shout then swung down, bounding swiftly towards the rogue. As it approached, Kalya saw the clear traces of age in her as one could sometimes see with older Elves but she was still beautiful. Behind a swath of short flame-red hair, fel green eyes glowed and then a gauntleted hand swept it back to scowl at Necronim as he swung down from his wolf’s back.

“You still speak the tongue horribly,” she commented, her voice cool but with a note of humor underneath. “But still…sinu a’manore, Necronim.”

The rogue shrugged, replying, “Sinu a’manore, Lymalis. And I haven’t had much cause to practice much more than your brother taught me.”

“A fair enough reason,” said the Elf. She then focused on Kalya and cocked her head to the side. “A human? You are taking stranger and stranger traveling companions.” Lymalis then shifted her attention back to him and asked, “So what brings you here, Necronim? You do know I don’t go anywhere at this time of year.”

He held up a hand, saying, “I am well aware, Lymalis. We’re actually looking for your brother.”

“Hresden?”

“Yes, unless you have some other brother I don’t know about,” jibed the rogue.

The huntress snorted then said, “My little brother is a fickle creature…you should know that better than anyone, Necronim. He could be anywhere from Mount Hyjal to Netherstorm.”

“And yet you always know where he is.”

Lymalis smiled and nodded. Then she looked at the three ranged behind him again and sobered, asking, “What is this about, Necronim? What are you planning to drag Hresden into?”

Necronim smiled tightly as this was now the mother in her speaking and not the sister. Lymalis was liable to switch between the two at any moment in regard to her younger brother since she had raised him since birth and was more mother than sister to him.

Slowly he replied, “We have need to ask him about a spell possibility. You have heard of the problems with the Undercity, yes?”

“Everyone has by now,” she replied, standing stiffly suddenly. “You, her, and a few others - including Ranger-General Sylvanas.”

“Ranger-General?” queried Kalya, looking confused.

Lymalis smiled gently at her despite the interruption.

“Her old title before she became the Banshee Queen of the Forsaken. I knew her as that in Quel’thalas before it fell and for those memories I still call her the same.” She then turned back to Necronim and asked, “What of the matter there? Don’t tell me you’re investigating it?”

At his silence, her glowing eyes widened and she leaned down slightly so her face was level with his.

“Necronim…they trusted you with this?”

“I broke out of the Deeps of Stormwind,” snarled the rogue. “I broke back in and rescued a woman. I survived through the fall of the Undercity and nearly all the rest of my kind. Myself, Scyllaine here, Sylvanas, her guards, and a mage by the name of Resden, are seemingly all left of the Forsaken. Who else would they send?”

“The rest?” she queried.

“Scourge.”

Lymalis paled underneath her sun-darkened skin at that and leaned back, fingers tapping against her lips. She stared hard toward the horizon where the heights of Thunder Bluff towered then breathed out one sentence.

“Do they chase you?”

“We’ve tangled with them once – with ghoul’s and some strange new creature. But I don’t think they chase us.” Necronim reached out to touch her arm, drawing her gaze to him, and hissed, “I will not let any harm come to him, Lymalis. You know that.”

She frowned then nodded, saying, “I do trust you, friend.” Sighing heavily, she continued, “Hres should be in Winterspring. He’s been working with the furbolg’s of Timbermaw Hold this past year.”

Necronim smiled as Kwaaku bowed, rumbling, “Our thanks, milady.”

“I’m no lady, noble Tauren,” she intoned. “Now shoo and let me get back to my sleep. And…”

“And…?”

Lymalis leaned forward, grasping the rogue’s leather vest, and growled, “You protect my brother with your life, Necronim. He’s all I have left.”

“You have my word,” he swore and meant it.

“Good,” she hissed, letting go. Leaning back, she smiled at them all then said, “Al diel shala.”

“Anu belore dela’na,” murmured Necronim, bowing his head. He then smiled and added, “At least, I hope it does.”

“One can only hope it will,” said Lymalis as he swung back up onto his wolf’s back. “I would suggest looking for Hres around the entrance to the Hold tunnels or in Everlook. Be safe…I would come with you but you know why I stay out here during this time.”

“I know,” he said. “Thank you.”

She smiled then stepped back, Necronim snapping his mount’s reins to send it charging away. The rest of the group charged after him and Kalya urged her wolf up next to his.

“Why does she stay out here?” she asked curiously over the panting of their mounts.

He frowned then replied, “She is a Blood Elf, Sin’dorei as they say, and therefore prone to the thirst for magic more than her brother. Though unlike most, she tries to meditate the urge away as she once did and does manage to do so for the most part. But eventually the strain catches up with her and she flees here, draining away dregs of magic from the creatures out here where she can do no harm to those around her.”

Kalya gaped for a moment then breathed, “That’s so sad.”

Necronim shrugged nonchalantly at that, frowning at the path ahead of them.

“It is a far better existence than some.”

“Saran…”

“There are worse things to be than what I am, however,” he said. Smiling sideways at her, he added, “I’m fine, Kalya.”

“No, you’re not,” she said back. “You’re worried. About what they might do to us.”

Necronim frowned and reached out to touch her hand, not caring anymore about trying to pretend there weren’t feelings between them. With this…they were trapped together in something bigger than themselves. And they should have some small happiness if anything else.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he promised softly.

Kalya smiled and leaned over in her saddle to kiss his pallid cheek. Then a tear ran down her face as she murmured, “You can’t protect me against everything, Saran.”

Necronim clenched his jaw and glared ahead of them as they continued to ride towards Thunder Bluff.

“I’ll damn well try,” he snarled. “You can be assured of that.”

Thalassian Translations

Bal’a dash, malanore – Greetings, traveler

Sinu a’manore – Well met

Al diel shala – Safe travels

Anu belore dela’na – The sun guides us