Night of the Dragon

then all his might had not been enough.

Not being restrained herself, the priestess had hope that she would be more successful. Iridi looked around, debating what she should first attempt to free. A paw would have made much sense, but the maw was closest and possibly the simplest to do without being seen.

Yes... Zzeraku said.

The nether dragon had chosen for her. The draenei went to the nearest crystal.

A skardyn dropped down from the wall to the side. It stared at her in surprise.

Iridi released the staff, which vanished. She seized the monstrous dwarf by the arm and pulled the creature forward. As he flew into her, the priestess struck the skardyn at a predetermined point on the side of the neck.

The skardyn collapsed. Iridi hurriedly shoved the body behind part of the wall's natural formation. The skardyn would be found, but she hoped to be finished before then.

Recalling the staff, the priestess focused the point on the first of the crystals keeping Zzeraku's jaws sealed. She felt the crystal's vibrations and understood what the nether dragon had meant. Concentrating, Iridi tried to do as he had suggested.

The crystal resisted. Sweating, the draenei pushed herself to her limits. If she could not do even this one, then there was no hope whatsoever of freeing the immense captive.

The crystal's frequency altered. It was very slight and not enough as far as Iridi was concerned, but it was a start. Just a little more effort, she believed, and this one would be finished—

A howl of alarm echoed through the chamber.

Iridi had been discovered.

The priestess made one last concentrated attack on the crystal, then stepped back. Skardyn came at her from all sides.

She used the staff to fling the nearest pair away, then dismissed it and fought the ones that followed with her hands and feet. While the skardyn outside had used whips and pikes, those here for the most part wielded no weapons. Why should they have? They had obviously never expected a foe to appear in this particular chamber.

But that one advantage was short-lived. Iridi caught sight of more skardyn emerging from holes above. Some of them had whips bound around their waists; others carried a large piece of mesh... a net for her, no doubt.

One of the dwarves leapt onto her back, its sharp claws ripping at the cloak. The draenei slipped free of the travel cloak, at the same time using it to entangle both that foe and another just reaching for her.

But they were continuing to swarm from everywhere around her. Iridi struck another in the chest with the hard part of her palm. The skardyn had hard, muscular torsos like their cousins, and the draenei's own bones shook.

She quickly looked up. The skardyn with the net were nearly in position to toss it on her and the ones surrounding the priestess kept her from moving out of the way.

Then, the skardyn suddenly hesitated. Several glanced past Iridi.

She felt a wave of energy fill the chamber and feared that. In addition to the skardyn, the blood elf was now upon her.

But the skardyn scattered, forgetting her as if she were nothing. Even those above quickly crawled like spiders back into their holes, dragging the net with them.

She turned... and faced not Zendarin... but the monstrous mageslayer.

Vereesa and Grenda hunched together as the skardyn watched over their captive cousins. They had no idea why they had been taken alive, only that it behooved them to find some manner by which to quickly escape. Clearly, whatever fate the creatures’ mistress had in mind would not be a pleasant one.

'No one's seen Rom anywhere,' Grenda murmured. 'He and five others are missing. One of those, I know for sure is dead and there's those that can claim seein' two more slaughtered out there.'

The ranger nodded. They both assumed the worst. Now what mattered was what to do next and, with Rom no more, Grenda was in charge of the dwarves.

'We are inside,' the high elf said.

'I'd be happy with that if we weren't locked up in here like pigs waitin' to be slaughtered.'

Indeed, the band was sealed in a set of cramped holes dug into the side of the dimly-lit cavern. Old but still reliable iron bars hammered into the rock kept the prisoners secure. More than half a dozen skardyn acted as guards, with one bored dragonspawn overseeing them.

Rask had been thorough in having the captives searched. None of the Bronzebeards could volunteer anything useful to deal with the locks, much less the guard beyond.

But Vereesa was still not sad to be inside. She was close now to her quarry and, she hoped, also close to wherever Krasus was being held.

'Keep watch for me,' she whispered to Grenda.

As the dwarf obeyed, Vereesa reached to her right boot. She slowly and casually felt for a small depression near the calf area....

'The guards are straightening!' Grenda hissed. 'Someone approaches!'

Vereesa moved her hand away just as a shadow passed across the bars. Her eyes widened as she saw who it was. 'Hello, my dear cousin....'

'Zendarin.' The ranger did not rush to the bars, which she hoped at the very least would disappoint the blood elf, who no doubt desired such a reaction.

'Ever the calm, calculating ranger.' he mocked. 'Are you still that much one of us, anymore? With so much human taint in you, it would be a surprise....'

'One should not speak of taint who has taken to draining the foul magic of demons.'

'You find that distasteful? We are doing more for Azeroth than all the Alliance combined! We are the most feared of foes the Legion has!'

Still seated, Vereesa shook her head. 'You are becoming the Legion, Zendarin... and the only reason any of you do this is because you hunger for that magic. You need it. Without it, you would wither....'

He sneered. 'Not all of us have such a ready source with which to indulge ourselves daily...and nightly, cousin....'

'I have been free of the hunger for quite some time, Zendarin... thanks especially to my husband, the human. He did more for me than any of my own kind could have. My children are a sign of my freedom, for I would never have dared bring them into this world if I had remained sickened like you....'

Zendarin scowled, then snapped his fingers. A skardyn stepped up to the cell door.

The blood elf opened his hand. A staff akin to Iridi's materialized in his grip.

'Step out, cousin,' he ordered as the skardyn unlocked the door. 'Unless you'd like to watch one of these others skinned alive.'

Vereesa had no choice but to obey. Waving off a silent protest from Grenda, the ranger left the cell.

Her cousin looked her up and down. 'Still fit. You must revel in your human pet. Good! The stronger you are, the better you'll serve her.'

'What do you mean?'

'She's in constant need of laborers, the death rate running very high....' Before Vereesa could retort, Zendarin suddenly ordered, 'Still your tongue and put your hands behind you.' He emphasized the order with a thrust of the point of the staff at her throat.

The ranger did as she was told. Zendarin pulled the staff back, then brought the crystalline point up to the top of her head. Slowly, he lowered the point until it finally aimed at the floor beneath her feet.

'Ah.' He raised the staff a little higher, the point now leveled with her calf.

Vereesa gasped. Her calf felt as if on fire.

'Surely you are stronger than that,' her cousin remarked coldly. 'You don't know what it is like to truly burn....'

There followed a tearing sound—and the slim, metal blade that the ranger had kept secreted in her boot