Chapter 7

Tyrande was up before the first light.

That is why she heard them coming.

She woke up with the harsh realization that she needed to leave. After last night there was nothing left for her to do here. She found out who orchestrated this arbitrary punishment for her. Now was the time for action. She was sure, she could take most of the Unbent soldiers even without her glaives ... but Admedar was a real concern for her – he would be a formidable opponent even if she had her weapons, but like this? Barehanded and naked? Her only chance would be an element of surprise ... maybe. No matter the odds, Tyrande was done, she had to get out. She will, or she will die trying.

Heavy hooven footsteps approached her door, but she was ready. Tyradne jumped up on a small cabinet behind the door just as it opened. Without so much as a whisper, she leaped over the door entangling her muscular legs around the visitor’s neck and using her momentum she flung the heavily armored draenei onto the ground, locking her legs in a chokehold around his neck, slowly squeezing her thighs together.

It was Admedar.

His confused gaze met hers and she felt him ease. “I come to help,” he whispered with what little breath he still had.

Tyrande paused. Could she trust him? Wasn’t he also one of the Unbent, meant to hurt her?

“Why should I trust you?”

She eased the tension in her thighs so that he could take a small breath. She was ready for him to try and fight her – she would gouge his eyes out if he moved...

“I ... I lost my way ... but I want to help. Please we have to move.” His eyes were pleading deep blue pools that almost swallowed her and Tyrande, with one swift motion released her hold on his neck and jumped to her feet.

“I came to ask you,” said Admedar between coughing “if you believe that those sentinels would help. They have been helping Maiev, but they also seem to still follow you.”

“Call them here.” Ordered Tyrande, her voice regaining her former regal authority. How could she let herself go like this? Lost in the pleasure of her own defilement like a common whore...

No, she told herself. She will not live her life in regret, and she refuses to be a slave – not to Maiev, nor to any notion of victimhood. She took what was offered and gained what she could. Now was the time to take everything back – her revenge most of all.

They were moving swiftly, jumping from shadow to shadow. Sunrise was a few minutes away and between them and the safety of the forest lay a spread of farmhouses and about a dozen tents filled with Unbent soldiers. As Admedar explained, they would not follow him. Over the past few days, it has been clear, that Maiev grasped their imaginations and they would fight for what she promised them.

Luckily the three sentinels were eager to join Tyrande in her escape. Something was done to them, she was sure, but in their own twisted way, they were still loyal to her. She reminded herself that she would have to try and find out more ... once they were out.

Tyrande and her sentinels, silent as a breeze, moving swiftly, followed by a muscular, lumbering form of Admedar. Tyrandes armor was beyond repair, so she was given a simple white tunic, that was a bit shorter, than she would normally like, ending well above her knees. She used a piece of rope for a belt, so there was nowhere to store her glaives, that were luckily left behind by Maiev.

Tyrande was glad for their weight in her hands, it calmed her, reminding her of her power. She was just thinking about how easy it would be to slaughter all these soldiers in their sleep as she originally intended, but Admedar warned her that there were more Unbent on their way here and that they were more capable than she thought.

Suddenly a shadow entered her vision. She looked up and met the focused gaze of the troll she met on her first day here. She prepared to lunge at him, but something stopped her. It was his sad eyes. His hands did not reach for his weapon.

“I will not fight the moon priestess,” he said, his words stumbling over his accent, “I want to help the elf-queen.”

Tyrande glared at him for a while, then nodded with a grunt, “Follow me and keep quiet then.”

She can question his loyalty and his motives later. Admedar and the troll exchanged a few hushed words and they were on the way.

A dash to the forest – silent and unnoticed. Elune blessed them that night.

Once they reached the forest Tyrande looked back at her companions – three sentinels of questionable loyalty, draenei captain and a troll deserter ... what a group ... and you, a voice in her mind whispered, a broken thing, ruler unable to protect her people ... a whore queen.

Tyrande shook her head.

“Follow me,” she said, “I know a place.”

The cave was a great hiding spot. Tyrande used it as a hidden base to launch ambushes against the Horde during the last war. She was sure Maiev or her people didn’t know about it because only Tyrande, Shandris and a couple of sentinels knew of it.

Within just a couple of hours, they reached it and set out to prepare a small camp.

The troll’s name was Rak’venith and in his sad eyes Tyrande saw a broken soldier, ready to latch onto anything in search of meaning, in search of purpose, a way forward ... past the blood of the battle. She knew those feelings very well.

If a man like this put his faith in her, she would gain a fanatical follower ready to die for her.

It seemed he was never convinced of Maievs promises, but something made him go with her either way, He definitely had some connection to the spirits akin to the shamans of his people, only it was raw, unrefined. Tyrande wasn’t sure that he was even aware of it. He had a quiet demeanor and shortly after they spoke, he left to hunt something to eat.

For some reason, Tyrande was sure he was not going to betray her to the soldiers still camped by the tavern.

Admedar didn’t know much about him but seemed confident in his faith anyway “He proved to be an honorable man ... more than any in the group I have had...” his eyes wandered off and he lost himself in thought so Tyrande turned to the three sentinels. They seemed eager to receive orders and happy to be in the woods, although some shade still hung over them.

“Let us pray to Elune, sisters,” said Tyrande and all four of them sat together in a circle.

She could feel Admedar’s eyes on her as she began the ceremony.

“Be swift and be invisible” she said to the sentinels before they set off. They were tasked with finding Shandris and bringing her here. Tyrande knew she needed help and Shandris was the only one she could trust completely.

The ritual went well, in the light of Elune Tyrande saw that the sentinels were not controlled by some foul magic, but she also saw the damage, that was done to them. Maiev tried to condition them, to make them believe, that by serving her, they were helping Tyrande. She helped them how she could, but to heal them fully she would need more time. Time they did not have now.