A Day of Broken Faith

[Xaraphyne]

Xara's Tale of the Eclipse, Vol II

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Part IV: A Day of Broken Faith

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“Hm?”

Xara blinks at you over the rim of the mug at her lips. After a moment, she lowers her drink, looking at you with surprisingly appraising eyes considering the amount of alcohol she's imbibed this evening.

“Ya wanna know the rest of my tale of the Eclipse? I'm surprised ya even remembered me tellin' the first part (http://wow-tng.org/showthread.php?t=16429)...”

Her golden gaze falls to the fire, reflective of its flames and more. She lifts her etched silver tankard for another sip before speaking again.

“I suppose there is quite a bit still to tell...”

She's quiet again, the only sound around the crackling of the fire. It seems like she might decline the request; then she smiles and lifts one shoulder in a shrug.

“I was gonna make some joke 'bout how obviously I lived through it, considerin' here I am, and Accalia ended up defeated, considerin' here we are, but... A hell of a lot more than just survivin' happened in those days. Not everyone came out in one piece. And if ya wanna hear it, why not? I've got time ta kill, and a bottle of rum as well.”

She raises her tankard to you in a small toast, then is quiet again to collect her thoughts for a short time.

“So, Sinaku had beat me nearly ta death and had bound his sister ta him, we knew precious little about the Old God Accalia – the Beast – and what the purpose of Her curse spreadin' was, and when the event known as the Eclipse would happen, we had no idea either... But nothin' and no one was waitin' fer us ta catch up. Things kept right on happenin'.”

***

[Xaraphyne]

[[ The tale of the Eclipse, as told by Xaraphyne. The story is not entirely complete, as some parts have been left out or modified for ease of writing and due to the perspective. Also note, many of the characters involved belong to others, and this is merely a tale of how Xara recollects them acting, which may not be accurate to what the characters were truly like, especially since much time has passed.

Please view with a dark background. Scroll down to the very bottom-left of the page to select the dark color theme if you're not already using it. ]]


While I was resting in Fairbreeze, recovering from my brush with death at Sinaku's hands, it was discovered that Videlle had gone missing. Considering the sway the mark held over her, it was a cause of great concern. Some tracking revealed that she had departed and gone on a destructive rampage through the other continent, north into Winterspring. I arrived in Everlook as she was being brought in, and heard in bits and pieces the story of what happened to her and how she was discovered.

Something about a fight with Sinaku, Videlle killed, or all but killed, and re-risen – pages from a black tome burned into her back. Jazziks, Jeshua, Rannoch, and Risticus had found her in one of the frozen lakes and saved her. The pale lady was resting then in the goblins' inn, where most of us had convened.

Jazziks told us, then, about when Sinaku had begun to change.

It was when their father had begun to die. He took to spending time with his son, discussing things in which Jazziks was not included. Finally, Sinaku left for the greatest amount of time he had ever been apart from his sister, and returned with a book – a black tome.

“Without an ounce of light,” Jazziks described it.

Sinaku would read the book for hours on end, in the dark. (I had to wonder how that worked... but I didn't ask.) The deeper he got into the book, the more erratic his moods would become, until their father finally passed away. That was when he started leading the Rangers of the Dark Sun down a new, darker path.

We were discussing something – Videlle's bracers, I think, and how they seemed to be barely functional anymore, but Thoraggar had an idea – when I noticed Elek quietly get up and leave. Something about the set expression on his face made me nervous, and when I found him outside saddling his charger, I knew my gut had been right.

“Where're ya goin'?” I asked. “Bad things happen when we split up, in case ya hadn't noticed.” I tried to keep my tone light, but it fell flat despite my best efforts.

Elek didn't look at me as he tightened a belt on the harness. “I'm going to find him,” he said.

“Wh... what? Sinaku? Are you crazy?” I waved my hands at myself, still somewhat battered all over despite the massive amounts of healing that had been performed on me. “In case ya didn't notice, he's not exactly a one-person operation, even if that person's you!”

Elek still didn't meet my eyes. He puts his gauntleted hands on the saddle. “I can't let him hurt anyone else, Xaraphyne,” he said quietly. “He's just toying with us. With you. With Videlle. The next person he targets, who's to say he won't go just that little bit further and kill them? What if it's Toraneko?”

He looked at me now, and his words and his blue eyes together were like a punch in the gut. Sweet Toraneko – always, always getting in over her head. “That's not fair,” I whispered. Then I shook my head. “But that doesn't change the fact that you don't have a chance of taking him on yourself, Elek. Trust me... I know!”

He pulled himself up onto his saddle, and I grabbed his mount's reins to keep him from going anywhere.

“Elek!” I protested, a touch sharply at his stubbornness. “You can't be serious... that'd just be suicide!”

“No,” he said. “I have a plan.”

“Care to share this amazing plan of yours with the rest of us?” I said, exasperated.

He reached for the reins, but I didn't relinquish them. He looked at me again, then sighed. “Remember on the ship?” he said. “When the frenzy took me?”

“Yes?” I said suspiciously, not seeing how this was relevant. Elek had managed to stave off falling back into a that state by subsisting on crystallized mana he had taken with him out of Dire Maul. How long his store would last, I didn't know, but it had at least kept him from going crazy like Videlle had. Then again, Videlle seemed much more dramatically affected, while Ydania was barely affected at all. Something about that tickled my mind again, but it faded as Elek spoke.

“I'm going to let it happen again,” he said, “and make sure Sinaku is there.”

I must have gaped at him for a few seconds. “That's it?” I finally managed. “That's your plan?”

In my inattention, he pulled the reins from my grasp. I tried to grab them again but his mount backed away.

“Elek!” I said. “It won't work... he'll just kill you! And you'll have sacrificed yourself for nothing, without even seeing if there might be something you can do!”

He didn't see it that way. To him, it was intolerable to not face Sinaku. I could see it and feel it in him. The person he was would permit nothing less, even if the price were far too great, even if it were unreasonable. His mount started to turn.

“Elek,” I said yet again, “please...”

He looked over his shoulder at me, his red hair partially concealing his face. This, this had made him stop, but I could say no more.

Elek was the only one who had been by my side since the beginning of all this, who hadn't faded in or out, whom I had been able to trust to be strong even if he got hurt. Who understood and believed I was giving everything I could, who didn't put any additional obligations on me, who tried to help as much as he could and actually was able to take some of the burden off my shoulders. And he felt like he had to sacrifice himself to this noble ideal and, and leave me, leave me to face all this, to protect all these silly, wonderful, pretty useless elves by myself from an evil that had already hurt me more than I'd ever been hurt in my life. Until now.

He waited, but I could say nothing more. I was his brother's lover, Elrioch's loyal first mate, and I could say nothing more than “please.”

He said something terribly cliché, I think it was “I'm sorry,” and rode off into the slowly falling snow.

http://renedreamer.com/wow/ec-17elekleaves.jpg

***

[Xaraphyne]

It was before the rest of us left Winterspring that I found out why both Jazziks and her brother loathed Blood Knights, of all the sin'dorei, especially.

Jazziks asked me to take a walk with her, and Rannoch came along. We didn't go far; just far enough to appreciate the icy wilderness and manage some privacy. When we stopped by one of the frozen lakes, we set up a campfire, and she told me, haltingly, the story.

As quel'dorei, high elves that had not turned to the fel magics to sustain them after the fall of the Sunwell, she and her brother were not well-received in Silvermoon. Suspicion often turned into hostility. Still, they were known loyal to Silvermoon, and thus no one could justify throwing them out or attacking them outright. In public, anyway.

Jazziks had been alone when the sin'dorei Blood Knights found her.

She cried as she must have cried over this many times, and I held her and comforted her as well as I was able. My soul was sick with the knowledge of what they had done to a sweet, bright-spirited girl like her, and with how the act had spurred Sinaku into seeking the power that had now twisted and corrupted him into something unrecognizable.

http://renedreamer.com/wow/ec-18winterspring.jpg

We returned to Everlook some time later and the group decided to head back south, having had enough of the wintry landscape. I couldn't agree more. We also decided that one thing we really, well and truly needed to do was discover when the next eclipse would be taking place. There was little doubt that at that time, Accalia would act.

I decided to swing by Silvermoon. Elrioch was supposed to be there, and it had been far too long since we had last spoken, considering that it had ended in a shouting match. At that time, I was entertaining thoughts of reconciling with him, and maybe bringing him up to speed on the situation. With Elek haring off after Sinaku, I definitely needed my Captain at my side.

There was no way I could have known. But, that's neither here nor there.

I twisted the ring on my finger as I walked out of the orb of translocation room and down the ramp. There, at the bottom by the fountain, I spotted Elrioch waiting. His back was to me, but I knew the fall of blonde hair, the set of his shoulders. A smile curved my lips.

There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, but something in my stomach fluttered uneasily. I ignored it and called out, “Cap!”

Elrioch turned around to face me, his bright green gaze meeting mine. Like I had noticed when I first laid eyes on him, he had a very piercing stare despite the eyepatch that covered one eye. Now was no exception, and he smiled; but it somehow wasn't his usual slightly bemused-at-himself, indulgent smile just for me. Again, something seemed off, but I couldn't see anything to justify the feeling, so I ignored it.

“Xaraphyne... It's been a long time,” he greeted me as I came to a stop in front of him. His tone was almost diffident.

“Are you still mad at me?” I asked, a bit hesitant now. We'd gotten into shouting matches before, but they always blew over. He had a temper, but he cared about me, and in the end that was always what counted. I found myself fidgeting with my ring again and made myself stop.

“Of course not. In fact I am not close to mad at all.”

I smiled in relief. “Oh, good.”

Before I could say more, he went on. “I've grown past that... You see... My eyes have been opened, and I see you – I can see them all.”

He didn't sound like himself in the slightest. Completely taken aback, I stared at him. “Uh... what?”

He was still smiling his not-quite-right smile.

“Cap.... yer actin' strange?” I'm not sure why it came out as a question.

“Strange? Dear Xaraphyne, how can you say such things?”

He'd never called me 'dear' anything since we'd met. I turned to watch him as he began to slowly pace around me. Studying me like I were a quaint curiosity. “Elrioch.... what are you doing?”

He turned away from me then, facing the fountain. I found myself following his gaze. “This is where I would have given you my life... My soul...”

My attention was dragged back to him instantly. This place, by the fountain, was where he had proposed to me; where I had accepted the ring, but told him I would have to think on the answer. “Would have?” I echoed, the words falling from my lips without thought having any part in their making.

He walked back up to the fountain, one hand reaching up to his face. “Now my eyes have been shown the truth... Rue has shown me the path, and the betrayal you have conspired against.... me.”

When he turned around again, his eyepatch was dangling from his hand. The revealed eye had an orb of pure black. My heart stopped for a moment. I knew then what all this was.

“The demon... the curse you brought back... it's in you,” I said faintly.

In Northrend, his entire crew had been horrifically slain by a demon that had called itself Rue. It had trapped Elrioch there, toying with him, nearly driving him mad, before finally letting him go. But not without laying claim to his soul first. This was what had hung between us, the fear that his soul was not his to give to me, for what would become of him, no one could say. And now... this. The demon had harbored itself in his soul and was beginning to show through.

“How could you?” he said as though I had not spoken.

I shook my head, trying to think of what to do. He thought I had betrayed him? The demon had twisted him into believing that, somehow? “I haven't betrayed you, Elrioch. The Bloodsail have not been compromised to the Cartel. Videlle and I spoke, and –”

“You deny what I have seen?” he shouted suddenly, stepping forward. “The Cartel... that woman... my own blood? You left me to die, to suffer alone?”

I was stunned. I had left him to die alone? He couldn't possibly have any idea what I had just been through. But he wasn't done yet.

“I have seen you both, my own brother... my only family... I... Of course he would take up my place at your side!”

He grabbed at his eyes as though trying to escape visions his words described. My blood ran cold when I realized he spoke of Elek. But I hadn't, there hadn't...

“How...”

Elrioch moved forward and seized my arms. I didn't resist, still too stunned, as he shouted at me. “How? How could you? The guilt – I see it in your own soul!” His grip was hard enough to bruise. I started to struggle to pull away.

“I haven't betrayed you!” I shouted back. “Nothing has happened! You trusted me once, Elrioch, you trusted me a hundred times, trust me now!”

He stepped back, and to my further astonishment, his hand went to the hilt of his sword at one hip. And he drew the weapon. I stared at him, unbelieving and unmoving. “I will end this,” he said, “he will make it all better again... I loved you... I...”

“If you ever loved me,” I said, “you would believe in me now... and not what this Rue, playing on your worst fears, is telling you... Please, Elrioch...”

He stared at me, and I couldn't tell you anymore what he saw. But I don't think it was enough, whatever it was. I watched in horror as his eyes both went a dark crimson hue. He slowly sheathed his blade. Then, he made an elaborate bow, his manner abruptly gone from somewhat enraged to cordial.

“It's a pleasure to meet you. Allow me to truly introduce myself. I am Cadeau de Nuit... I am the Gift of the Night, Rue.” He smiled at me.

“You're the curse,” I said.

His smile widened. “The curse? No, my sweet, I am no curse; I am his salvation, and your world's end.”

“You broke his faith in me. You... ruined his love for me.” I took a step forward, one balled hand rising. “You're the reason I couldn't be with him!”

He waved a hand. “Don't try it, Xaraphyne my dear. Keep in mind, I hold all the cards here.”

I hesitated.

“I could snap him in half, or... I can make sure that none make it out alive. Your choice, my dear.”

I lowered my hand, shaking with rage. This was worse than when Sinaku had held both Jazziks and Toraneko hostage. This demon held Elrioch's soul captive. The soul of the man I loved, that I hadn't been able to promise myself to, because of this.

“This world is such a beautiful place, it would be best covered by my hand of course... don't you agree?”

I stepped back, and lifted my hand again, this time to point at him. “Rue... wherever you came from... I'm finding a way to send you back.” I swore then and there. “Elrioch's soul is mine.”

“My blade still needs to be sharpened, he must be the one to do it... and he will.” He looked at me. “You lost him, girl, he fought me hard to the end. Now he knows the truth.”

“You lie!” I shouted, but I was shouting at empty air. He was gone; simply vanished.

A couple passerby were gawking in mute fascination. I ignored them, turning away. And I walked away, having no idea how I would deal with this on top of the whole mess with Jazziks and the Eclipse...

...Actually, I had one idea.

http://renedreamer.com/wow/ec-19fountain.jpg

***

[Xaraphyne]

Where was I? Stonebreaker Hold, I think. I really wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings at that point; I could have been anywhere in Azeroth or the Outlands, it was all the same to me then.

I had my rum, I’d had my rum and then some, and things were looking much much better. Blurrier, but better.

Now, if you know me, which clearly you do if you’ve been willing to spend this long listening to me tell a tale, you know I like to drink. And that I’ve had a lot of practice at it. But I can safely say that right then, I was beyond smashed. Obliterated, maybe. How I was still conscious, I couldn’t tell you. Maybe I can credit my trollish blood again.

Anyway, yes, getting more drunk than I’d ever been was the idea I’d had. Pretty good one, eh? I thought so.

At some point, I became aware of a delicious scent in the air. Someone nearby was cooking vegetable stew. Eventually, wandering around, I bumped into – literally – a tauren bent over a pot, stirring slowly.

I couldn’t tell you, anymore, exactly what he looked like, but even in my drunken state I could tell he was a shaman. He looked up at me and his eyes were wise. Then, he bent toward me and sniffed. “Bloodsail,” he said.

I tottered back a little, then moved to the side to see if I could peer into the stew. Something in it smelled really, really good, and the cook in me wanted to make note. Too bad I couldn’t distinguish what lumps were what. “Nnnope,” I said. “Just a friend!”

A massive finger under my chin turned my face back toward the shaman. I blinked at him as he withdrew his hand. “Bloodsail, you are First Mate to Admiral Elrioch.”

“Somethin’ like that,” I said.

“And you are very drunk,” he noted.

I looked back at the stew, simmering over glowing embers. Maybe it was a tauren-known herb that made it smell so good? I didn’t know much about tauren cuisine, then.

The shaman let out a sigh and resumed stirring the stew. When he spoke, he didn’t seem to be talking to me in particular, although there was no one else around.

“I always told that young man to stay away from the drink.”

I had to laugh. “Ya can’t be talkin’ ’bout Elrioch!”

“I am, child. I speak of the Admiral.” He nodded at me once, slowly, in that somber tauren fashion. “I am Lorewind Windrage, his advisor.”

I’d never met him, not that I could remember, anyway, but I didn’t spend that much time around the greater Bloodsail. I didn’t even identify myself as one, as you heard. “Ya may ’s well have told anyone else ta stay ’way from water,” I told him.

Lorewind let out a hearty chuckle. “I see you are a positive influence on him,” he said.

“Somethin’ like that,” I said again.

I sat down as he continued to cook his stew. The brief silence was companionable, but eventually he spoke again.

“Have you ever been told your future, Xaraphyne?”

“Nnnope,” I said. I watched him stir the coals to provide a little more heat.

“Stand for me, child,” he said.

I looked up at him and saw he had already gotten up. Blinking at him again, I took his extended hand and let him pull me to my unsteady feet.

“Give me your other hand, child,” he said.

I placed my other hand, still holding my nearly-empty flask of rum, into his. He sighed.

“Loose the bottle,” he told me.

“But...” I said.

His hands squeezed mine in warning. I dropped the flask, and it bounced to the ground at my feet and rolled away.

“Now... let’s begin.”

Around us, four totems sprung from the ground, or the air, I don’t know which. I blinked at them curiously, not noticing at first how a breeze had picked up inside the partly-enclosed building we were in. I looked back at Lorewind as he began to chant in Taurahe. I didn’t know the words then, but I know them now.

“I call upon the Earth... to keep us safe on our journey through enlightenment. I summon fire... to light our way through the darkened sky. I summon wind... to point us to our direction of peace. And finally I summon you, water... to carry us to our destiny...”

His eyes opened, and a storm raged in them. It reminded me too much of Elrioch’s changed eyes, and I tried to pull away, but his grip on my hands was painfully strong. “Ow,” I said.

“Darkness... I see it... the evil that surrounds you.”

“Evil,” I echoed, ceasing to struggle.

He let me go, and the totems sank into the ground. The breeze settled. “Xaraphyne, it seems I am right on time. Bless the Earth Mother we are not too late.”

“Too late...” I said.

“Hrm?” he responded. I started looking for my flask, and he frowned. “Not right now, child.”

“But...” I said.

A new totem appeared, and this one summoned forth a fire elemental almost as tall as I was.

“...Kay,” I said, sitting down obediently. The fire totem and elemental vanished.

Lorewind knelt by the stew again, reaching out for the ladle as he spoke to me. “I came here from Kalimdor, and have found that the entity that holds Elrioch is very... ancient. He is a clever being with more power than the hells of this world can see.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Your Elrioch was chosen by fate to be his instrument of war. Elrioch’s soul has been in the ‘forge’ since the day he was born. This being has kept him safe, until now.”

“My Elrioch?”

“The war approaches. Elrioch has been through so much in his life – war, famine, death... chaos. It always found him, no matter where he went. It was set into motion.”

“Chaos,” I said.

“Elrioch has given himself to his will, and right now, there is little we can do. But, there is a way to help him.”

This sentence was one I had a possibility, if slight, of grasping. I said, “How?”

“There is much to be done before I can tell you, but we can at least try to appease the evil that has him. Possibly even drive his direct influence away.”

“What can I do?” I asked.

He lifted the ladle and sipped the stew. Seeming satisfied with it, he removed it from the coals. “There is another reason why I was on my way to see the Admiral,” he said.

I looked at the stew. “But he doesn’t like vegetables,” I said.

Ignoring that statement, Lorewind went on. “He told me in his letter weeks before his voyage out toward Northrend that I needed to be here to conduct a ceremony.”

I was silent.

“I thought him a smart and charming lad, and I couldn’t refuse his request. He had found someone for his heart. I was amazed that young man could ever bring himself to do that.”

He poured me a bowl of the stew, and I accepted it wordlessly. It was as delicious as it had smelled, but I no longer had much of an appetite.

“He loves you, Xaraphyne, even when the words don’t make it out.”

His finger touched my chest, just above the heart. I looked down at it. “I know,” I said, “I’ve always known...”

“That heart still beats for yours, Xaraphyne. If my understanding is correct, his heart will find you. Right now what keeps him here is the thought you are still here, waiting for him.”

“So... what do I do...?”

“Be patient, child,” the shaman said.

“Okay,” I said.

“That’s all you must do.”

His hand stroked my head, like a parent soothing a child. I closed my eyes and sighed.

“Sleep, Xaraphyne, and everything will be all right.”

“...Rum?” I said.

I heard the pop of another totem appearing and the rumble of an elemental.

“...Kay,” I said.

When I woke up, he was gone, and I never did find my flask.

http://renedreamer.com/wow/ec-20lorewind.jpg

***

[Xaraphyne]

Elek had undoubtedly headed to the Ghostlands. We knew Hatchet Hills was where Sinaku's Rangers of the Dark Sun made their home, though they were not prone to sitting around and waiting for people to come to them. A small network of spies and scouts ensured they could stay one step ahead of anyone trying to track them down.

Unless they wanted to be found. Elek had said it best: that Sinaku was toying with us. Once he figured out Elek was trying to face him alone, he'd have a fun game of it. Until then...

The rest of us couldn't very well sit around and wait for whatever move Sinaku decided to make next. We didn't have much to go on, but someone suggested we search the Ghostlands for the location where Sinaku had performed the ritual that had bound him to his sister, or so he claimed. Maybe then we could find out more about what he had done, what that meant.

It was in the Ghostlands that I found out we'd added yet another member to our group. He was a paladin named Taeln. He seemed nice enough, but I didn't really speak to him. I did, however, notice the attention he paid to Jazziks. I had to sigh inwardly. Now was not the time to be developing relationships. That I knew for certain.

I decided to go exploring for a bit by myself, heading into the eastern part of the Ghostlands where there is a river-fed lake. In truth, I hoped to come across Elek and try once more to convince him that there had to be a better plan than the one he'd come up with, but it wasn't him that I found.

Spying out some tracks, I followed until I discerned the fog-shrouded figures of a couple of elves by the bank. Silently I slipped behind a tree close enough to listen, soon picking out three voices, all of which I recognized.

It was Leoren, his fiance Nymare, and Skafloc. But although I knew them not to be hostiles, I didn't show myself right away, because one of the first things I heard them mention was my name.

http://renedreamer.com/wow/ec-21spying.jpg

Leoren was evidently more concerned over the Eclipse than I'd suspected. He still wanted to step in, with the authority of the Blood Knights behind him, and intervene. I grimaced at the thought. I just couldn't see it ending well. Leoren was understandably suspicious of me and my involvement in it all, considering how all I'd ever done was try and throw him off the trail of the whole thing, but Skafloc seemed to be assuring him that nothing nefarious was going on and that I could be trusted.

I waited as the conversation died down, and they seemed ready to part ways. I'd used my ability to cover my tracks and didn't think they'd spotted me... until Skafloc stepped around the three and greeted me with a “Hello, Xaraphyne.”

“Ermm... Hi,” I said, stepping away from the cover of the tree with a sheepish grin. “Fancy meetin' you here.”

He didn't seem to mind my eavesdropping, but that didn't mean I was about to be let off easy. To my surprise, he started pressing me rather hard for the whole story of what was going on. I really didn't want to get more people involved, but he gave me little choice. Eventually, I caved and told him pretty much everything I knew about the curse, the Eclipse, and Sinaku. Skafloc mulled it over for a bit as we stood in the murky forest together, Leoren and Nymare waiting politely out of range.

“And you're trying to take care of all these people by yourself, aren't you?” he asked finally.

He really was an extremely perceptive person. I won't lie; it alarmed me a little how transparent I was to him. “I... There are more than enough folks helpin' out,” I managed.

He wasn't having any of that either. That was when he promised me he'd help me. He already had a few ideas about places he could visit to find out more about Accalia; some ancient ruins that might hold some relevant lore. It lifted my spirits a great deal.

After that, I spoke briefly to Leoren and Nymare; I couldn't tell you what was said, though, because of what would happen next. A message on my hearthstone from one of the crew had me whistling for my mount and riding west at breakneck speed for the Golden Strand.

Sinaku had shown himself.

***

[Xaraphyne]

[[ Some of this section has been adapted from a post that Jazziks/Theira wrote (http://wow-tng.org/showpost.php?p=123097&postcount=38) in the original Eclipse thread. ]]


In retrospect, although it certainly felt like it at the time, it simply wasn't true that I was the only one doing anything. Others were always around Jazziks, desiring to protect her as well, and they really didn't do any worse of a job than I did. It was just that no one had any idea how to ultimately stop Sinaku and Accalia, and in the end I felt like it was my job to save everyone.

And I'm not the only one who suffered for the effort.

I rode up onto the beach just in time to see events start to unfold. Jazziks stood in front of two of the paladins – the new one, Taeln, and Risticus, and before her stood Sinaku, flanked by two massive wolves. Jazziks clutched her marked hand and even from where I was I could see it glowing.

Nearby stood Videlle and Toraneko. They appeared to be supporting one another, Tora supporting Videlle more so, with the pale lady looking barely aware of her surroundings at this point. I almost didn't see little Slaid standing nearby as well.

As I dismounted and drew my bow, Sinaku struck Jazziks, the shockingly powerful blow easily sending her to the sand. Grimly I nocked an arrow, but Risticus and Taeln were both already moving, drawing the weapons they'd foolishly had their hands on but hadn't removed from their sheaths until now. Rist was slightly faster and swung at Sinaku ferociously.

Sinaku parried the blow with nothing more than his bracers, and as he did, he looked up at me and smirked.

I loosed the arrow, but Sinaku sinuously moved aside so that it flew past, as he did so delivering a swift blow to the off-balance Risticus, who hadn't expected his adversary to be so quick. I knew the feeling. Risticus was the next to hit the ground, and to my shock, Jazziks immediately threw herself over him. Taeln moved to cover them both, eying Sinaku with a new respect.

“Stop it, leave him alone!” Jazziks cried. “Don't hurt him!”

Sinaku stared down at his sister with unbridled disgust. “This man?” he said. “This Blood Knight? You care for him?”

I fired another arrow as Taeln lunged forward. Sinaku dodged both attacks and countered with a blast of dark energy that hit Taeln and sent him flying a distance into the water, where he landed with a splash. Jazziks shrieked.

“I am so glad I have an audience for this,” Sinaku said. I saw then that he was holding a book in one hand; a book so dark it seemed to darken the entire area around him. There was no doubt it was the tome spoken of before. His feral gaze glowed amber; the eye that was exposed, the right one covered by an eyepatch. For the hundredth time, something shifted in the back of my mind, but I did not have the time to chase down elusive memories right now.

Risticus was struggling to his feet; Sinaku had hit him pretty hard, to put a plate-wearing paladin down for that long. Jazziks still clung to him, trying to interpose herself between him and her brother, still crying hysterically. Unceremoniously Sinaku threw Jazziks aside and attacked Risticus with his bare hands. Rist parried the first blow, but quickly found himself disarmed, knocked back down, and being beaten savagely. Both shots I fired missed and I swore, not wanting to accidentally hit Risticus. Nearby, Sinaku's wolves simply awaited command, unconcerned by the whole scene.

“Do you love this man, this Blood Knight?” Sinaku shouted. He grabbed Risticus and dragged him halfway up, which also forced me to stop shooting. “You'd better answer, dear sister – he looks as if he won't hold out much longer, and remember, I see all!”

I knew the answer before Jazziks' tearful cry. I hadn't been paying the slightest bit attention to the elves' interactions with one another, and had had no idea Jazziks had developed a crush on Risticus, but realized it was far too likely of something for her to do. Sobbing, Jazziks crawled forward, throwing her arms around her brother's legs. “Yes, brother, yes I love him, please leave him!”

It was the wrong answer, but I don't think there could have been a right one. Sinaku glared down at his sister, lip curled in a snarling sneer. Was that a flash of fangs? But then he dropped Rist and stepped away from Jazziks, striding toward the water. Taeln, who had made it back to the sand, moved away in alarm, but Sinaku was paying no attention to him. Instead, Sinaku looked over the water as the dusky evening began to reach over us, somehow hastened by the tome he held.

I hesitated, not knowing what to expect from our capricious adversary. Jazziks had moved to Risticus' side and was trying to bind some of his wounds. Rist appeared to still be conscious, possibly able to stand, but wasn't about to try. Toraneko, Videlle, and Slaid had drawn near to me, none of them daring to intervene. Tora looked more bandaged up than I remembered seeing her last.

Eventually, Sinaku turned around and spoke.

“You love a Blood Knight, do you? One of their filth? After what happened?” His gaze glowed fiercely. He raised the book, its pages fluttering of their own volition. “Come to me!” he roared.

Toraneko yelped suddenly as Videlle threw her off. Videlle's eyes seemed to widen in surprise at herself, but she began to walk forward. Her back was engulfed in a dark marking that shone through her robes. What was this? I hesitated again, and in that time Videlle walked up to Sinaku, who smiled, pleased, and petted her like... well... a pet. Her gaze had gone vacant now and she seemed to be in a trance-like state.

“So good of you to come to me, my dear, not that you had much choice of it. Now,” and he looked over to Jazziks and Risticus, “you also care for this Blood Knight, don't you?” He was still speaking to Videlle, not that she seemed to be processing his words. “Yes, I believe you do. Good. Your beloved friend does also. You should kill him so he cannot love any other. Let her feel the pain she brings you and I, and kill him.”

I watched in horror as Videlle turned and began to glide toward the two prone elves, her hands rising, curved. Her gaze was still vacant, but something of a frown etched her brow. Jazziks looked up at her desperately.

“Fight it, Videlle, please… sister. You have his heart, I will not take it from you, you have my word... Videlle!”

Toraneko had started to step forward. I put a hand out to stop her. There was nothing we could do about this. Someone... someone was going to get hurt here. Sinaku was chuckling to himself.

Videlle's hands started to shake. She didn't seem to have heard Jazziks, but she wasn't acting either. Jazziks threw herself over Risticus again, and Sinaku frowned. A wave of his hand, and suddenly Jazziks was pulled by an invisible force across the sand to his feet. He placed a boot on her back, pinning her down. “I cannot have you getting hurt, dear sister, that would be the death of me.” He snickered as though at some private joke of his own.

Unable to wait any longer, I loosed another arrow, and it flow true toward Sinaku's heart. But then... Sinaku grabbed it out of the air, now looking at me again. He said nothing, but suddenly both wolves came bounding at me. The arrow snapped in his hand and fell to the beach as he returned his attention to the scene before him. Tora reached for her daggers. Slaid had vanished, for which I was thankful; she didn't seem much of a fighter to my eye.

Tora and I went back to back, holding off the wolves with arrows and daggers. I could hear the others crying out, shouting. Then Sinaku roared, “Kill him!”

Taeln's voice rang out next. “I love her, Sinaku, take me! I love your sister, spare Risticus!”

Oh, elves. I risked a quick glance to see Sinaku turning toward Taeln, but our adversary didn't seem unduly concerned. “Busy, aren't we, sister? Two Blood Knights? You never fail to surprise me!”

“It's not like that! I swear, Sin!” Jazziks cried.

Sinaku spoke to Taeln. “She does not love you, filth, and I see through your soul... I don’t have to kill you, your own plague will.” Seeming satisfied with this, he turned back toward Videlle and Risticus. Videlle had not yet moved, frozen in place as she warred against Sinaku's command. Rist had struggled to his knees, leaning on his sword, and could move no further.

The moon was rising from the waters beyond us, providing a pale backdrop for the unfolding scene. Jazziks was crying even more hysterically than before, reaching toward Risticus and Videlle from under Sinaku's foot; her brother was breathing hard, probably more from excitement than exertion. Taeln was hesitating, looking to Videlle and Rist as well while dripping seawater in an unfortunately silly manner. The wolves circled Toraneko and me, fangs gleaming and saliva dripping from their maws. I could hear Tora panting for breath, winded due to her injuries, and the creaking of my bow as I kept an arrow nocked.

Not one breeze stirred an additional grain of sand on the beach, not a single extra sound passed through the air, only the small noises each of us there made in that moment. And only Videlle and Risticus were utterly silent.

“Kill him,” Sinaku said again, and this time his voice resonated with a command that made all of us flinch. Videlle's eyes widened, the whites showing clearly, as the marking on her back flared with a brilliant darkness. I saw the remaining green glow vanish from her gaze in an instant, and she threw her head back and howled; a terrible, haunting cry I'll never forget. The two wolves did the same, in unison.

I wish I could say I never heard a sound like that again, but unfortunately that isn't true.

***

[Xaraphyne]

“Videlle,” Risticus said.

She was changing. Her outstretched hands warped, arms lengthening, claws sprouting from her fingetips – six or seven inches long. She grew taller, her face twisting unnaturally as lupine teeth started to show from under lifted lips. There was a great crack as her knees switched directions. Her body grew leanly muscled and her eyes flared a feral amber.

Slaid had reappeared, reaching mutely in Videlle's direction in horror. Jazziks' shrieks tore through the air, Sinaku's laughter weaving through the sounds. Taeln had an expression of horror on his face, but Risticus, he just looked up at the thing Videlle was becoming with nothing but concern for her. He lifted a hand toward her face above him.

Videlle looked down at him and plunged her claws into his heart.

Her strength was such that she punctured right through his plate armor, the claws so honed that Risticus barely even reeled from the impact. Blood flew.

Risticus' hand closed around Videlle's arm. He pulled her to him, pulled himself into her arms, her hand still imbedded in his chest. Videlle stared down at him, transfixed as the rest of us. Risticus smiled; he reached up toward her; he glanced once toward Jazziks, reassuringly; then he died, his arms falling limp.

“Let's hope you learn your lesson this time, sister...”

Sinaku was gone, and his wolves as well. Videlle threw her head back and howled again, this time one of the most mournful sounds I have ever heard. She clutched Risticus to her warped body and howled and howled as Jazziks wailed and wailed.

***

[Xaraphyne]

A spray of sand, and Skafloc jumped down off his mount next to me. It snapped me out of my horrified immobility. With him was a dark-haired blood elf I'd later learn was Evanthe, his current fiance. They went to help the others; Jazziks started freaking out and ran into the water, not wanting to touch anyone, to infect anyone else. I checked on Toraneko to make sure she had not sustained any injuries that needed immediate attention, then started gathering up everyone to head back to Fairbreeze.

We tried to speak to Videlle, but she lashed out at us, not letting anyone close to her or Rist's body. Eventually she was necessarily subdued with some force and we made our way back to the village.

I checked on Jazziks later, upstairs, to find her passed out clutching a pillow to herself for dear life. Videlle was resting as well; after she had received some mana, she had reverted back to her normal form. It helped that Thoraggar had arrived with the bracers he'd devised and they seemed to work well to keep the insatiable need of the curse at bay. He did, however, warn that they would last for only awhile.

Someone took Risticus to be buried next to his sister.

I spent some time thinking as things wound down. Eventually, as the sun began to rise once more, I got up and left.

I knew now exactly what would happen when Elek let the frenzy take him in Sinaku's presence. There was no time to waste; I had to find him before Sinaku found him. Before someone else...

Back down toward the Ghostlands I went. But I didn't get far.

***

[[ End Part IV. ]]

[Xaraphyne]

[[ Continue to Part V: Beyond and Beneath (http://wow-tng.org/showthread.php?t=20416). ]]