Beside him, Kalecgos took a sharp intake of breath. Anduin wanted to leap to his feet and yell at Tyrande, Stop this, please, stop! As if somehow Tyrande had heard that silent cry, she nodded to Chromie. The scene, mercifully, disappeared. Anduin exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding.
Tyrande turned, her eyes blazing triumph bought at a dear price. Her voice strong and bell-like, she said, “Your witness, Chu’shao Bloodhoof.”
29
Baine Bloodhoof did not rise at once. He was too stunned at what he had seen. He could not imagine inundating Jaina with a series of questions after this, let alone attempting to say anything positive about Garrosh Hellscream. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at the orc. He said a quick, silent prayer to the Earth Mother for guidance, rose, and approached the one-time lady of Theramore.
“Lady Jaina,” he said quietly, “I would be happy to ask for a respite, if you so desire.”
She looked at him with a mixture of unreadable emotions, and her voice was flat. “No. I’d like to get this over with.”
“I am sure no one in this room can blame you.” He did not offer sympathy. She did not want it—not from him. “And while we in this room struggle with our own reactions to what we have just seen, we can only guess at how you felt after this cowardly attack.” He did not shrink from the word. Baine was a tauren who called things what they were. No one who had just witnessed the Destruction of Theramore could possibly call it anything else. “Could you please tell us, in your own words, how you felt?”
She stared at him, then started to laugh. It was harsh, bitter. He flattened his ears, taken aback. Jaina struggled to get herself under control. “I don’t think the words exist for how I felt.”
“Please try, Lady Jaina.”
“Angry. So very angry. There was so much . . . rage. I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t eat; I could barely move, I was so angry. What you saw here? Yes. It was horrible. I see many of you weeping. But you still weren’t there. You didn’t see your friends . . .”
She pressed her lips together and grew silent. Baine gave her a moment, then prodded gently, “You were angry. What did you want to do?”
“I wanted to kill him.”
“Garrosh Hellscream?”
“Yes. Garrosh, and every single orc I could get my hands on. I wanted to kill every goblin, every troll, every Forsaken, every blood elf, and every tauren, including you, Baine Bloodhoof. I wanted to wipe out the Horde the way Garrosh Hellscream had wiped out my home. Had wiped out my life.”
Baine was not angry. His voice and mien continued to be gentle as he spoke. “What did you do?”
“I went to King Varian, and told him what Garrosh had done. That he had been right, about his distrust and hatred of the Horde, and I had been wrong. I told him we needed to make war on the Horde—and we should start by destroying Orgrimmar.”
“How did King Varian react?”
“He agreed that we needed to go to war. But he didn’t want to strike right away, as I did. He said we needed to have a strategy, to rebuild Northwatch Hold. I promised him the Focusing Iris, and said I knew how to use it to destroy Orgrimmar as Garrosh had destroyed my home.”
“What was his response?”
Jaina looked down at her hands again. “He said . . . we couldn’t risk adding to the Alliance’s losses by acting precipitously. And Anduin said he thought even some of the Horde might be angry with Garrosh for his cowardly actions. I told them it was too late for that.”
“What exactly did you say?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Lady Jaina, I can produce a Vision of this encounter if you cannot tell me what you said.” His voice was kindly, but nonetheless her head whipped up, and he saw . . . shame in her face.
“That won’t be necessary,” she said quietly. “I told Varian he was a coward, and I . . . apologized to Anduin for any part I had in creating his gullibility. And . . . I walked out.”
“What did you do then?”
“I went to Dalaran. I told Vereesa what had happened. How brave her husband had been, that he had been the one to save me, and her, and everyone else he possibly could.” Baine did not look up to see Vereesa’s reaction; she had not returned after the respite. “I begged the Kirin Tor for aid. I wanted them to uproot Dalaran, as had been done before, and use it to raze Orgrimmar. They refused.”
“So no one, it seemed, wanted to wipe out an entire city. Even after what had happened in Theramore,” said Baine.
“No, they didn’t.”
“What did you do then?”
“I had recovered the Focusing Iris before the Horde could do so. And when no one else would aid me, I learned how to use it.”
“With no army, no flying city to assist you?”
“That’s correct.”
“What was your plan?”
Her eyes didn’t move from his. She stuck her chin out. “To send a tidal wave composed of water elementals to wipe out Orgrimmar.”
“I think it safe to say that we all know that you did not do so,” Baine said. “Were you prevented? Or did you change your mind?”
“I . . . a little of both.”
“Can you explain that?”
Jaina’s brow furrowed. “I . . . had everything worked out. I knew exactly what I planned to do.” She paused, perhaps trying to choose her words carefully, perhaps trying to remember just how she had felt at the time. Kairoz had found this precise moment and was quite irritated that the tauren had opted not to show it. Baine did not think it would help Garrosh’s case to show a raging, broken Jaina carefully crafting vengeance, nor did he think it would bring anything but further pain to a woman who had had more than her share foisted upon her in one day.
“I was on Fray Island, and I had created the wave. I was only a few moments away from sending it north, to Orgrimmar, where it would gather even more strength along the way.”
“Why did you not release it, Lady Proudmoore?”
“Go’el interrupted me.”
“How did he know where to find you?”
“He had had a vision, from the elements. They called out to him and asked him for help. He said he would not let me drown Orgrimmar. We . . . fought for control of the wave.”
Baine looked over at Go’el. He was with Aggra, leaning forward, watching intently, his blue eyes sad. The friendship between human diplomat and orc leader had been unique. Garrosh had destroyed that, too.
“Who was winning?”
Jaina followed Baine’s gaze, then glanced down quickly. “I was,” she said. “I was about to kill him.”
“What happened?”
“Kalec found me. He joined with Go’el in trying to dissuade me from my path.”
“Did they? Or did they overpower you?”
Jaina’s expression was troubled. “They . . . told me that I would be no better than Garrosh. No better than . . . Arthas. And I realized . . .” She lifted her face. “I realized they were right.”
“And that Garrosh would also be like you?”
“With respect, I protest!” said Tyrande.
“Fa’shua, I am attempting to make sure we all understand the witness’s words correctly,” Baine said.
“I agree with the Defender,” said Taran Zhu. “Witness may respond to clarify.”
“Yes,” said Jaina. “We would be alike.”
“And you didn’t want that.”
“No. Never.”
“But for a moment, you understood how he could want to do such a thing. To destroy a whole city, even civilians.”
“I—yes. Yes, I did.”
Baine inclined his head. “Thank you, Lady Jaina. I have no further questions.”
“Do you, Accuser?” asked Taran Zhu. His paw went to the mallet; apparently he assumed the answer would be no.