Kil’jaeden’s massive head whipped around, and Gul’dan had to force himself not to quail. Then Kil’jaeden nodded slowly.
“You are right,” he said. “If he were an easy and stupid enemy, I would have found him here now.”
Gul’dan began to breathe again. Part of him burned to ask what Velen had done to one who was, he was certain, his own kind in order to earn himself such single-minded hatred. But Gul’dan was wise enough to keep silent. He could live with his curiosity unsatisfied on this particular issue.
“With their temple taken for our own purposes. Great One, surely those that remain will all have fled to the city. They will be there, thinking themselves safe, but they will be trapped instead.”
Kil’jaeden steepled his scarlet fingers and smiled. “Yes,” he said. “Yes. The temple shall be yours. Blackhand is quite comfortably ensconced in the Citadel. But before you order your little puppets to attack the draenei stronghold, I have a little … gift for them.”
Ner’zhul waited until Gul’dan was finished. He watched beneath half-closed lids as Gul’dan wrote letter after letter, getting ink stains on his stubby fingers, using those same stubby fingers to pop a piece of fruit or chunk of meat into his mouth. These were important letters, then; normally Gul’dan would have one of the unctuous scribes send out missives.
The temple had been … purged, was the word Gul’dan had used. The priests that lingered to bravely and foolishly stand against the wave of orcs had been killed with ruthless speed and efficiency. Ner’zhul heard that their bodies had been violated, and found that part of him still held onto enough compassion that the thought sickened him. Those violated bodies were long gone, as were their sacred items. Much of the temple had been closed off; the Council and its servants did not require that much room. Some furnishings had been taken and used for the Council’s needs. Others had been torn down or removed, replaced with the dark, ominously spiky decorations that were rapidly becoming inextricably associated with the Horde. The entire structure had been renamed the Black Temple, and instead of priests and prophets, it now played host to liars and traitors. And, Ner’zhul mused bitterly, he was certainly among that number.
At last, Gul’dan was finished. He dusted the ink with powder to prevent smears and sat back. He looked up at his former master with thinly veiled disgust.
“Address them and take them to the couriers, see that you do it quickly.”
Ner’zhul inclined his head. He still could not bring himself to bow before his erstwhile apprentice and Gul’dan, knowing full well just how broken Ner’zhul was, did not press it. He sat down in the chair Gul’dan vacated, and the moment Gul’dan’s heavy stride could no longer be heard, he immediately began to read.
Gul’dan expected him to read the letters, of course. And indeed there was nothing contained in them that Ner’zhul did not know. He was privy to all meetings of the Shadow Council, though he was forced to sit on the cold stone floor of the Black Temple and not at the huge stone table with those who had the real power. He was not certain just why he was allowed, only that for some reason Kil’jaeden wanted him there. Otherwise, he was certain Gul’dan would have dispatched him here now.
His eyes flew over the words, and he was sickened by them. He felt utterly impotent, like a fly trapped in the sticky sap that flowed down the barks of the olemba trees. Or, that used to. From what he had heard, the trees that provided the sweet nectar had either been cut down, their wood used for weapons, or were dying. Ner’zhul shook off the imagery and began to roll up the missives, his eyes falling on the unused pieces of parchment and still-filled inkwell and pen.
The thought was so audacious his heart stopped for an instant.
Quickly he looked around. He was completely alone, and there was no reason to expect Gul’dan back. Gul’dan, Kil’jaeden, the Council—they thought him broken, as harmless as an ancient, toothless wolf that warmed its old bones by the fire until at last it slipped into the sleep of death. And they were mostly right.
Mostly.
Ner’zhul had reconciled himself to the fact that he had had his power taken away from him. His power, but not his will. If that too had been taken from him, he would have been unable to resist Kil’jaeden at all. Ner’zhul could not act directly, but he might be able to contact someone who could.
His fingers trembled as he took another piece of parchment. He was forced to pause for a long moment and calm himself before he could write anything legible. Finally, he scribbled a brief message, blotted the ink, and rolled it up. The wolf was toothless. But the wolf had not forgotten what it was like to fight.
More orders to march. Durotan was growing heartily sick of it. Their was no respite any more, just battle, repairing armor, eating increasingly tough and stringy meat, sleeping on the earth, and another battle. Gone were the times of drumming and feasting and laughing and ritual. The perfect triangle of the Mountain of Spirits on the horizon had been replaced by the dark, forbidding image of a spire that occasionally emitted black smoke. Some said a creature slept deep inside the mountain, and that one day, it would awaken. Durotan did not know what to believe anymore.
When the courier rode up, Durotan took the missive and began to read it with dull eyes. Those eyes widened as he read, and by the time he had finished it he was sweating and trembling. He looked up, wondering madly if someone had been able to glean the contents of the letter just by watching him read it. Ores strode past him, dust clinging to their rough, flaky skins and battered armor. No one gave him so much as a disinterested glance.
He hurried to Draka, the one person in the world he dared share this information with. Her eyes widened as she read.
“Who else knows of this?” she said quietly, fighting to keep her face impassive.
“Only you,” he said, equally softly.
“Will you tell Orgrim?”
Durotan shook his head. Pain laced his heart. “I dare not. He is oath-bound to tell Blackhand.”
“Do you think Blackhand knows about this?”
Durotan shrugged. “I have no idea who knows what. I only know that I must protect my people. And I will do so.”
Draka looked at him long and hard. “If we as an entire clan do not do this thing … we will attract attention. You risk punishment. Maybe even exile or death.”
Durotan stabbed a finger at the letter. “Any one of those things is better than what will happen if we obey No. I have sworn to protect my clan. I will not give them over to—”
He realized belatedly that his voice had risen and some heads were starting to turn. “I will not give them over to this.”
Draka’s eyes filled with quick tears and she gripped his arm hard. Her nails dug into his flesh. “That,” she said fiercely, “is why I became your mate. I am so proud of you.”
19
I am proud of my heritage. I am proud that I can name Durotan and Draka as my parents. I am proud that Orgrim Doomhammer called me friend and trusted me with the leadership of the people he loved.
I am proud of my parents’ courage … and at the same time, I wish there had been more they could do. But I am not in their place. It is easy to sit back, secure in my position and comforts in this life, decades after the fact, and say, “You should done this,” or “You should have said that.”
I offer no judgment on anyone save a handful of individuals who knew full well what they were doing, knew that they were trading the lives and destiny of their people for gratification in the moment, and did so gleefully.
For the others … I can only shake my head and be grateful that I was not forced to make the choices they did.