The Winter War: Part 11 - Prison Break
The Winter War: Part 10 - Prison Break
Their motley crew was fifteen strong and as far as Singer could see, would be fine enough folks to kill and die besides.
From the Syndicate's elite casters block, she saw Pai_Stormbringer, as well as Beve's pet pupils, Lisa and Rose aiding the little Wolvar in preparing its ritual. Among those standing guard were elite warriors and raiders, like Gravis_Slipknot and his Henchman_Valik, along with Benedict and a half a dozen bowman.
And finally, there was Kris_Legace, busily setting up her munitions.
Gravis lazily slashed his shimmering blade in the dim sewers, glaring back over his shoulder and muttering, "This green and black stuff you're rigging up. This is that Saronite right?"
"It is, it is," The Wolvar said absently, using a dagger to cut symbols into the stone.
Singer had already known, had felt her heart stirring in its presence, the shadows around her somehow felt more alive but no less familiar.
Valik scoffed, "Didn't think anyone but trolls got their hands on that stuff."
The Wolvar's ears twitched and a low whine escaped its throat, "Rageclaw live generations in Zul'Drak. Of the empire since Frost King Malakk. We are Drakkari; so we have all that the trolls do."
"Done!" Lisa and Rose chimed.
The Wolvar nodded, "Done as well, now as told, take your places and be ready to help Kris make our door, I will remove the magic that blocks our way."
"Can you even use this stuff?" Valik groused nervously.
Pai looked to the Wolvar, "I can assist you; this is more than calling bolts of lightning to awe lay-folk."
The Wolvar giggled like a Gnoll, "I told you, Elder Shaman Moky can do it. Would not have sent me if I could not." They cracked their paws and bared their claws, "I have studied the ways of Word Priests, I know their powers. Be ready."
With an ornate series of runes carved into the ceiling, walls, and floor of the sewer and Saronite nodes jammed into the heart of each, Moky took their place at the heart of the runic ritual.
Paws flashing through movements swiftly, a contorted idol flashing, their words grew strange and alien, sharped tongued troll tones blended with growls and… Something else as the sigils began to shine.
The tunnels around them began to glitter, the arcane light wriggling and shivering as it was drawn forth from the stone as the shadowy light energy began to build and runes burned themselves into the air.
'That darkness… Is at our call…'
Modera glared at Jandice Barov, suspended in the air, held aloft by arcane ringlets that stretched and tugged her body tight, her ruined right leg as stretched and twisted as its kin.
"You have not told us everything yet, Jandice," She intoned, as Kassan lazily twirled his enchanted mace, awaiting the order to strike.
A ragged gasped escaped Jandice's parched throat and with a flick of her staff, Modera lowered her down, scowling as they came face to face. Kassan approached and roughly yanked back her hair, exposing Jandice's throat further for Modera to push her staff against.
"Speak, traitor, or perhaps we need to make our interrogation methods more per…mane..ent?"
Modera and Kassan's gaze were drawn to the circular chamber walls as shimmering magical energies began to pulse weakly, sparkles drifting through the air like shaken loose dust.
"Something… Something is drawing the magic away from the Holds fortifications!?" Modera gasped.
"What about the cells!?" Kassan said, "Those are reliant on magic, without it they are animal pens at best!"
Modera struck Jandice's face, chest heaving, she dragged her forward and growled, "You were hiding other agents from our sight and that damned anti magic mineral, were you not!?"
Jandice's pale features split into a weak grin as she whispered, "Hurting me... Didn't give much reason... To do you a favor, Modera."
Fire near burst from her hand only to die with the pink tinged lights as a surging pulse of… Of something she could not name burst across the Hold, through every stone, steel bar and body.
For one terrible instant.
The magic was silent.
Jandice's restraints failed and she fell to the floor with a cry.
Modera slammed her staff against stone, arcane energies bursting forth, lightning candles and drawing shining crystals back to their pedestals.
But even as light and magic began to return to the chamber, she could hear chaos in the distance.
A Jailer telepoerted into the hall in a burst of light, his arm shattered and blood pouring down his face, "Kassan… They're free!" Before doubling over and crashing to the floor as blood spewed from their lips.
'There are enough nightmares in this hold to tear half of Dalaran to shreds!'
Kassan was already running to the door as it burst open, footmen and mages shouting was drowned out by a warped, draconic roar.
"You made me! YOU MADE ME!"
Fire washed over the crowd and before it even cleared a mangled nightmare of skin and scales, claws and fangs bursting from too small hands and mouth ripped through the footman. It slammed a mage against a wall and ripped out her throat in one bite.
"No!" Kassan's mace blurred and crashed against the monster's side, making them wail like a child.
From over his shoulder Modera let loose a bolt of arcane energy that clipped a malformed wing before it scuttled back into the halls, still screeching for its maker.
More howls and shouted spells echoed from all around her, bouncing off the walls and tearing through stone as the Hold began to rumble with the sounds of battle.
"Kassan, take the North Wing, I shall take the West Wing!" The man was already on the move.
Glancing down a Jandice she spat, "You do not get to die yet," before surrounding her in arcane magics and hurling Jandice into a penned cell before racing out the door.
It was then that she felt an explosion rock the Violet Hold to its foundations.
Dust and rubble flooded the air, but Singer cared not as she raced through the gaping wound they had carved in the Violet Hold's floor. A faint hum on her lips and feeling more alive than she ever had.
"The interrogation chambers are this way!" Pai shouted, a bolt of lightning escaping her finger tips and frying an armored guard in his suit.
Slim daggers slipping from her dress's sleeves, Singer whirled around like a dancer as she let them fly towards several more approaching footman. Each blade gliding between their helmet's eye slits and right into their skulls.
She dipped into shadows and burst free, weaving around mages spells to appear at their backs. Just in time to watch her allies dispel the duos shields, that she could draw her long and short daggers and run them through the guards backs in one fell motion.
Nary a moment passed before they were ducking down another hall, the Wolvar, Moky letting loose a bolt of lightning from a copper idol in their paws that ripped through the enchanted boundary, letting them into the next layer.
The new hall was wider, and a marshalled platoon awaited… Not them evidently, as a nightmarish spider woman with bony wings skittered and lurched across the walls, shrieking for blood.
Her many eyes gaze turned to their party, but Singer let the shadows of the Saronite suffuse her and willed her mind to brush up against the monsters. They followed her gaze to the rallying guards and with a shriek she pounced, ripping through their vanguard in one chaotic strike.
Leaving the monster to her business they barreled forward as roars and howls echoed in the halls.
Malakk looked to Seer Ixit intensely. The capital library had been cleared of all distractions leaving nothing but pristine white stone and arcane powder throughout as the Nerubian and his followers worked their magic.
A rippling proto portal shone intensely at the heart of the Nerubian and Troll fueled ritual. The Nerubian at the helm whispered, their voice echoing across the chamber and rebounding off the walls.
"They have breached the prison, we felt it; their defenses lay weakened and when our allies return to us, we shall be able to break through the spellwork's and secure their escape."
Malakk nodded, Zerat clenched in his hand tightly, healers and elite warriors on standby.
'It is not the escape that worries, but if the magus can harness the wound we leave behind.'
But it was a risk he would have to take to keep his word and protect his allies.
Before the final door to the interrogation chamber even opened, Singer was within. Bursting from darkness and driving a shadow infused dagger into a water elemental's bracers. It gargled in its alien tongue and vanished in a spray of fine mist, too think and light to even be mistaken for blood.
The doors burst open and before its partner could strike her, a barrage of arrows and spells scattered it to mist in seconds.
"Spread out, guard entries, we free her!" Moky ordered, as sword wielders and bowman scattered along the walls and Singer guarded the casters backs as they began to rip away the crackling bars that bound Jandice.
'She will never walk again,' Singer mused, seeing her discolored leg, barely hanging on by a thread.
The woman's eyes were glazed, and her entire body twitched and spasmed weakly, too pained and paranoid to sleep, but too tired to move.
"Dying… Hurts… Wild…" She gurgled.
That was when the West doorway exploded. The dual guards howled for but a moment as one had his head incased in ice and the other was blasted to patty along the walls in a burst of fire.
The purple, blue and gold lined robes marked her as an Arch Magi, and with a sneer she said, "I sensed your coming, like moths to the flame."
Bolts, grenades, and knives hurtled towards her, but with a sharp burst of arcane power she sent each item rebounding back upon its wielder.
"I can take her!" Pai cried, staff crackling with the lightning.
"You will die, traitor!" The arch magi answered, fire writhing at her staff's tip and summoning an explosion at Pai's feet, sending her fleeing backwards.
In a flash Rose and Lisa let loosed dual dispels and the flames ebbed, drawing a snarl from the arch magi who levelled her stave and unleashed a gout of ice, while arcane bolts burst from her back towards the pair.
Pai met the ice with an arcane barrier, it held for a moment, but at the last instant, the energy shattered, and she was launched to the floor, Rose and Lisa screaming as they feebly shielded themselves against the arcane barrage battering their bodies.
Ignoring Pai's cursing and efforts to rejoin the fray, Singer burst from the Arch Magi's shadow, daggers diving towards her heart and throat!
Only for the woman's body to flicker in rippling purple before she flashed a foot away, a burst of air escaping her palm, launching Singer away. Only with a sharp roll and dragging of daggers on stone did she avoid striking the wall.
Paying her no mind, the mage leveled her stave at the prisoner again, a bolt of crackling arcane energy loosed with nary a motion.
That was when an idol, not even a Saronite idol but some strange totem, was lobbed into it and cancelled the spell with a flicker.
"No, no," Moky intoned, from the roof where their claws dug into the stone. "Release Jandice and escape, that is the plan. I, will fight!" Moky drew another idol from their robes.
Modera was seething, "You traitors take orders from a beast, you betray your nations and let loose a host of monsters upon the good people of Dalaran, just to save this worm!?"
She let loose another flash of arcane bolts which the creature did not even try to counter; instead, it released its grip a second before her bolts struck leaving them to blitz the ceiling as her target fell to the ground with nary a sound.
"Original plan was so elegant, so sneaky. This is so messy, how sad," the creature intoned as they toyed with what looked to be a red steel ball in one paw and a carved idol in the other. "Still, you pushed our paw and so we must do things this way."
They jumped back, orbs of lightning crackling to life and forming a shield as they barked, "Come, Archmagi! You fight Elder_Shaman_Moky of the Rageclaw, I shall not let you pass!"
Modera spat, "I will not honor a beast with a damned duel!" Launching a trio of writhing of arcane orbs, each one an explosion blended with a dozen arcane blades locked within it.
'Even their anti-magic metal can only absorb what strikes it!'
The orb descended on the intruders only for the beast to lob a red metal orb the size of her hand at the closest.
Arcane energies ripped it asunder in an instant, but her pride floundered as the spell was lost beneath a surging sea of white foams that only grew and grew as it greedily drank the magic in the air and cut her foes from her sight.
"What is this!?" She roared, arcane barrier battering the swelling foam aside as it washed over the chamber like a wave.
"Elder_Shaman_Moky is very skilled, you come for me, you best be ready for tricks!" The creature cheered from out of sight.
Fire writhed at her feet and with a slash of her stave, Madora burned through the foam, only to be greeted by hissing steam filling the chamber as it was burnt away.
The steam began surging and whirling around her, a burning, hissing mass of elemental fury that would blister away every layer of skin if she let it get close.
Stave and arm crossing over her chest in a sharp X, one single word echoed in her mind, 'Disjunction!' The surge of arcane magic disrupted the bonds of supernal energies infusing the mist.
Stone floors slick with water and her vision still barred, she slammed her stave into the ground and a wave of arcane power parted the remaining mists in one swift motion.
To reveal an empty chamber.
'No, no!' She raced forward, seeking them, the distant sounds of battle crashed and echoed in her ears.
Gaze snapping to a side door, the faint trails of footprints and lingering magic in the air.
"I am ending this, now!"
The unfinished portal had suddenly burst to life and was followed by the distorted sounds of breaking stone and shouts. Malakk and his guards braced before orange masked humans scrambled through the gate, carrying the limp and sickly form of Jandice Barov between them.
"Healers," Malakk barked and the robed priests and shamans raced forward, delicately taking her limp frame from the stunned humans and laying her on a large stretcher.
His guards helped guide escapees from the portal as more of their kin came through, but he could hear crackling shouts and roaring flames and waters in the distance.
In a flash of light, the trio of mages and Moky fell through the gate, all looking a little worse for wear but alive as they were rushed out of the ritual circle and the arcanists began to seal the gate.
"Do not!" Moky snapped.
"What happened Elder?" Malakk asked, kneeling before the shaman.
"Complication!" They yipped, tail thumping against their back frantically. "Archmagus, fought, distracted, tracked us!"
Malakk's gaze snapped to Ixit who clicked, "She holds the portal now, but it can be closed."
"Can the rift recover in time, or will I be expecting bombs and mages at any moment?" Malakk asked, brow arched.
The Nerubian did not answer for some time, which said all Malakk needed to hear.
"Keep it open," he ordered.
"Clarify," The Nerubian demanded.
"Keep the portal open and under your control," He answered, "Gathered in this palace is a Legion of Gundrak, an elder shaman and elite arcanists while on the other side is a fortified prison."
Bith'sa looked to him warily, "Do you mean to hold the prison?"
"Yes, we have no choice," he said, grasping Zerat in one hand and thumping his chest with the other, "We have lost the element of surprise and our sabotage plan cannot go forward. If we lose this chance, they will bunker down and drag this out for years. We must keep them distracted and off balance."
Bith'sa and Kutube'sa knelt before him, "We shall lead this strike force!"
"You shall not," he barked with an almost jovial laugh, "You are my guards, you go where I go, and I shall lead this mission!" He slashed Zerat through the air, making it howl as rippling firelight danced on the blades tip.
'I need to knock the rust off anyhow.'
"Summon Moorabi and his elite escorts if he has not yet left me, they shall join us, but leave the city watchers and guard as they are."
"We can hold the gateway," Ixit whispered in his ear.
Malakk bit back a scoff, "Seer Ixit! Your people wanted the secrets of Dalaran? Then you'd best be ready to fight for them!"
The Nerubians looked to one another warily, before a hiss rose up and Anok'suten lurched forward, dual blade stave in hand, "Then lead us well, or suffer the consequences."
"That is the spirit!" he raised Zerat high, "Heroes of Zul'Drak, with me!"
His warriors cheered, shaking the densely packed chamber, and drawing an angered hushing from the healers. Ignoring the flash of embarrassed guilt, Malakk raced forward, Bith'sa managing to leap just a little ahead of him as Kutube'sa fell in at his side.
In a flash the entire world became a wildly chaotic, writhing mass of color and sensations, before just as quickly it ended, and they burst forth into a dimly lit stone hall with fire and arcane bolts raining upon them.
Bith'sa raised her shield and a barrier of ice formed, melting and cracking under the destructive wave, but blocking the attacks path.
Kutube'sa howled as he leapt off Malakks back and flipped over the two mages behind them, sword ablaze.
Malakk's eyes widened and his spirt sang as he saw the woman before him, power, and rage rippling from her frame and he grinned, 'The Archmage!'
He charged through Bitha's fading defense and slashed Zerat against her defensive barrier. The blade warping and breaking the magical bubble-like tough leather, letting him hook Zerat in and tear it asunder.
Not wasting a moment, she surged backwards, a burst of arcane shaped akin to her body exploding towards him in direct reflection of her path.
Not being a fool Malakk spun out of the way and leapt backwards as it swelled and exploded in a fantastic display of light.
Bouncing off the wall he kicked off it just as fast to dodge another spell of flames and crashed against the next wall, stone crunching beneath his feet before he vaulted towards the floor. A potion flew from his hand and crashed against her next spell, enchanted ichors matched the roaring flame and smothered it beneath a bubbling tide of green.
The roar of his warriors echoed in the halls as they surged through the portal. The arch magus twitched at the sound of her allies fall at the hands of Bith'sa and Kutube'sa. Then, before Malakk could charge her, she grasped a small token on her hip that flashed orange and then pink before she vanished in a burst of blinding light.
'Wise move, if I had known that could hasten teleportation, I would have aimed for it.'
Shaking off his annoyance, Malakk was joined by Moky, Pai Stormbringer and his guards; raising his blade high, he bellowed, "Form war bands, keep together, we must secure all entryways to bar reinforcements, and then crush or capture the remaining foes!"
"Hail Frost King Malakk, as you command!"
Modera materialized outside the Violet Hold, at its very gates which now hung mangled and broken from the reinforced walls. The deep lakes that acted as a moat were tingled with blood from the mangled bodies and her gaze set upon the culprit within seconds.
Occu'thar, the giant, twin headed, eye-stalked covered demon hound must have raced from its cell the moment the spells failed and burst from the walls themselves. Any guards in its way were torn to shred, but by the Lights grace, Drenden and his soldiers had at least arrived to contain the beast.
Roaring, the demon violently swatted and slashed at the bracing footman and knights, tearing some from the ground before its paw strike ground to a halt.
What looked to be a hundred arrows were let loose from all angles, making it snarl.
Drawing back and letting loose accrued fel spells from its many eye stalks as the rangers leapt and weave out of the way.
Modera joined her spell with Drenden's and the other mages to swiftly dispel the demon's magic.
In its distracted state it did not notice the host of knights striking at it from the side, lances jamming into its flanks, making it howl a distorted cry, lurching away from them to try in retreat. Only to back into a wall of ice rising from the city streets by the will of a host of Elite Mages.
Summoning her spare staff, Modera slammed it into the ground and let loose a baleful pulse of heat that made the stone streets hiss and bubble beneath the demon's paws. It reared up, yowling, laying its belly bare for another swarm of arrows.
"Good show, Modera!" Drenden called, letting loose a mighty hail of roiling and writhing ice magic to snuff out the demon's fire breath.
"Where are the others!?" She called.
An explosion from the Violet Hold's peak echoed across the city and she added, "We need more forces here!"
"Would that we could!" Her ally called.
They combined their forces to dispel another wave of demonic curses as the footman bunched together and groaned as one and the demon slammed its gargantuan paw against them, only to draw back at another wave of arrows.
She glared at Drenden who raced to her side, spells never fading, his mind never wandering from the battle, even as he spoke. "Zae'Rathis_the_Mad has rallied captured mages and escaped into the city, and those damn trolls on the coast let loose a barrage on the barrier moments before the Hold fell into chaos."
"So, everyone is occupied!?"
"For now, it is just us," he confirmed.
"Then let us be done with this quickly!"
Crossing their staves, arcane magic began to shine so bright it was blinding, while all around the sounds of battle roared.
'Dalaran, will not fall,' Modera swore beneath the morning sun.
____________________________________
NOTES:
So... This chapter was a lot, so much is coming back to me now that I am editing it, its been so long XD In hindsight I wish I had given Pai more to do and that I'd drawn out the duel more but Moky was aiming to just bail so... I will see if I can address that later.
I can't remember what part of canon made me have Modera be so ruthless, I think it was the fact in that canonized side story it was established she did nothing to stop Garithos ordering the death of the Blood Elves? Also, torture doesn't net information, but WOW uses it all the time so I wanted to throw that out there. The you made me, dragonic experiment is tied to the fact the book on pollymorphing says that Dalaran is understanding about the creation of abominations against nature but that they need to be disposed of quietly... Suffice to say some weren't and are very pissed at their makers.
lead us well, or suffer the consequences is from Visionaries, "Rule me well, or suffer the consequences" was always such a great line to me. Also, if it wasn't clear, portals between locations create passage ways in the Nether, rifts in reality even after the portal closes, not big one's but they are there and like a thread on a sweat they can be grasped and pulled to make a hole. That is what Malakk is afraid of and why he's decided to jump in and try to fight this problem head on, is this a good plan, should he be making this decision unilaterally, is there even a good plan that can be made, who knows!?
I do hope I managed to make everyone involved feel suitably skilled, especially Modera/Dalaran and Moky.
