Chapter 29: Observatories

Kelrian's fire consumed the bodies of the last remaining undead, leaving nothing but ashes behind. He checked his surroundings, noticing that most elves, dwarves and humans had survived the battle. He spotted several wounded but the priests and paladins were already taking care of them, treating their wounds as best as they could. The men looked exhausted but most of them were relieved that the battle was finally over.

A few were visibly sad about the loss of their comrades. Kelrian was not happy either that five elves, three humans and two dwarves had been killed by the Scourge but at least they hadn't been reanimated. He and the other mages had been able to burn their bodies before any necromancer could have raised them. Their bodies could no longer be handed over to their relatives, but at least they didn't have to fight for the Scourge. They hadn't been turned into mindless minions. Kelrian was sure their families would be grateful for that. They had to be informed about their deaths yet but that could wait. The sin'dorei had to rebuild the observatories first, otherwise, Garithos would be furious. Nobody wanted to have that racist and his men as their enemy.

Kelrian noticed that his heartbeat was slowing down. His skin was still tingling nervously, the hair on the back of his neck was still upright and he felt pretty exhausted but other than that he was fine. He was wondering how long they would have to fight the undead. Almost a year had passed since the fall of Silvermoon. Since Sylvanas' death. He was fighting for his home, for his people but mostly he wanted to avenge Sylvanas. He wanted to kill Arthas personally for ruining his life and murdering the love of his life. Sylvanas was no longer herself after he had raised her.

The Sylvanas he had known was gone. He had accepted that and was ready to move on. He couldn't wait for returning to Silvermoon and meet Elena again. He wanted to talk to her about everything and find out if a relationship between them would work out. Sylvanas had wanted him to move on. The longer he thought about what happened between him and Elena, the more he realized that he was feeling something for her. He just had to find out what it was.

He missed Elena but not only her. He missed his son, Alleria, Vereesa and Rhonin. He missed his older sister. He knew she survived the invasion but he hadn't seen her since the fall of Silvermoon. He wanted to meet her again once Garithos would allow him and his brethren to return to Silvermoon. He had no idea how long he would have to fight the undead before he could visit his loved ones. He could only hope he would see them soon.

He was wondering what Raesh was doing these days. He was probably living with his aunts and spending some time with Vereesa's babies. He assumed that the silver-haired woman had her hands full with the babies. He knew how stressful babies could be. He also assumed that Rhonin might plan the reconstruction of Dalaran once the remaining undead had been purged. He was sure Alleria was very busy with ruling the blood elves in Kael'thas' absence and organising the reconstruction of Quel'Danas and the villages in the territories they had reconquered so far.

Everyone was busy these days because there was so much to do. Kelrian was sure his people will need years to retake the areas that had once belonged to them and were currently still occupied by the Scourge. It will take thousands of years for the blood elves to recover and reach their old population of one million. They may need years, maybe even decades to defeat the undead and kill their leader but they will defeat them one day. Kelrian hoped that at least.

Knowing that Arthas was still out there and working on his evil planincriminated him. He wanted Arthas' death more than anything else but there was nothing he could do at the moment to come closer to that goal. All he could do was to help his people and the Alliance whenever he could.

Kelrian and the others walked along the path that would lead them to the shipyard. After a while, they noticed huge clouds of smoke from afar. There was a burnt stench in the air. Something had been burned or was still burning. He could only hope it was not the shipyard. He was shocked when he found out half an hour later that it was indeed the shipyard that was burning.

A lot of freshly raised corpses walked around the area. It was obvious that the undead had attacked the shipyard and killed every living creature they had found. Every single dockworker had been killed and raised. A necromancer was in the near. A quiet sigh escaped Kelrian's lips as he realized they had to fight again.

He was still exhausted from the recent battle, but not as exhausted as he had been an hour ago. Nevertheless, he was not really looking forward to the approaching battle. He had only one mana portion left, meaning he was only able to cast a limited number of spells. He looked at each member of his group, noticing that they were ready to fight. Kelrian sighed and pulled his spellblade from his belt.

Together with the king, he got rid of the necromancer rather quickly, burning their remains. Their comrades dispatched the undead within an hour and retook the shipyard. They were dismayed and shocked when they found out that all ships had been burned or destroyed. There wasn't a single functional ship left.

Kelrian stepped to his king who was regarding the sea with a frown on his forehead. Doubt was visible in his blue eyes. "How do we cross Lordamere Lake?" Kelrian asked.

"I have no idea," responded the king.

"May I be allowed to make a suggestion?" asked a strange voice. The king and the prince, who still had no idea about his bloodline, turned around and looked at the newcomer. They spotted five naga. Three females and two males. The female in the middle was the voice's owner.

She had light bluish skin, four arms, and her head was covered by snakes instead of hair. The snakes came out of the top of her head, their teeth were sharp but they had no eyes. The scales of her fishtail were deep blue. She carried a bow in one of her four hands and there was a quiver full of arrows on her back.

Both Kael'thas' and Kelrian's eyes were narrowed as they regarded the naga from head to toe. The naga didn't seem to have any intention to attack them. They carried weapons with them but they weren't pointed at them.

"What are you doing here, naga?" Kael'thas asked. "I thought you are fighting for the demon Illidan."

"We are on our own now, your majesty. I am called Lady Vashj. My brethren and I come in peace. We want to offer you our aid," the naga replied. Her face was beautiful, even though her skin was pale and her eyes were orange. But the rest of her body was not.

"Your aid?" Kelrian asked slightly confused. A frown was visible on his forehead.

"You have nothing I need, witch," replied Kael'thas coldly.

An amused smile appeared on Lady Vashj's lips. "Is that so?" She tilted her head, giving the king an amused smile. "I thought you might require boats to reach the observatories you seek." She pointed at the two boats that just came in the elves' sight at this very moment.

A thoughtful look could be seen on Kelrian's face. "And you would give these freely?" Why should we trust you?"

"Our two races share a common ancestry. We naga used to be night elves so did your people. Also, we have a common enemy."

Kelrian looked at his king, noticing the familiar look on his face. He was considering her offer. Kelrian was not sure what he would do in this situation. A week ago, he had fought the naga and killed lots of them and now they were offering them their aid. He had nothing against the naga since it turned out that they were not evil. They wanted to fight the Scourge as well, so Kelrian wouldn't mind allying with them against a common enemy.

He wondered if Kael'thas saw things the same way. He did. "I accept your offer, Lady Vashj," he responded and offered her a hand "I'm looking forward to fighting by your side."

The naga shook his hand. "So do I."

---

Months had passed since they had crossed the river with the naga's ships. They had needed weeks to fight their way to the observatories. They had killed hundreds of undead creatures and only lost a few men. They had started to rebuild the observatories one after one as the grand marshal had ordered them.

Everyone who hadn't been a mage or a builder had gone searching for resources while the workers had started to repair them. Kelrian and the other mages had helped them with their magic. They had lifted stones, wooden planks and other materials in the air and brought them to the workers on the higher levels. Thanks to them, the workers had saved lots of time and the work hadn't been as strenuous as they had expected.

They had rebuilt three observatories in total. They had needed five weeks for the first, three and a half weeks for the second and six weeks for the third which was by far the largest observatory. The observatories were massive buildings which reminded Kelrian of the Violet Citadel in Dalaran. They were smaller versions of the once magnificent building, of which nothing but rubble remained. Around each observatory were thick and tall stone walls and there were even four tall towers on whose tops archers and mages were standing and keeping an eye out for enemies.

To Kelrian they looked like small bases. The only difference was that not as many soldiers were stationed in each observatory as in a regular base. The buildings very pretty tall, so the undead could be spotted from afar. The Alliance would have enough time to mobilize their forces and fight the undead if necessary. Only smaller strike forces had attacked the observatories since they had started to rebuild it.

Dozens of mindless ghouls and skeletons had tried to stop them but the Alliance had taken care of every single strike force. Even abominations, nerubians and necromancers had not been enough to stop the workers. Kael'thas' men and the naga had prevented the undead from coming too close to the workers and the observatories. They had killed every single undead creature and burned their bodies

The past days had been rather quiet, meaning no undead attack had happened. Kelrian was wondering why. It was not unlikely that the undead were waiting for reinforcements and were gathering their forces for a large assault. He was glad that he and the others were finally allowed to have some rest. Fighting every day and every night was very exhausting in the long run. Nevertheless, he was worried that the undead may plan a large-scale attack on one of the three observatories.

Most undead creatures might be mindless but these were only the foot soldiers, the cannon fodder. The leadership of the Scourge, their commanders and generals were anything but mindless. They were very intelligent. The absence of smaller strike forces in the past days could only mean that they had changed their tactics.

Maybe they were preparing an assault, maybe they weren't. Nobody could know what they were planning. Kelrian was still waiting for the return of the scouts. He was curious about what they have seen. He was nervous and he knew he wouldn't be able to calm down before the scouts would return. He could only hope they will return soon. With good news at best.

Kelrian heard a familiar voice calling his name. He turned his head, looking at the owner. His racing pulse slowed down and his nervousness diminished a little as he recognized his older sister. Sydori was standing not far away from him and smiled at him. He returned her smile and approached her to hug her, caressing her back softly.

A week had passed since he had last seen her. She had travelled to the largest observatory to heal the wounded that had survived an attack of over a hundred Scourge minions. Kelrian had read in the report that five soldiers had fallen and several had been wounded but the undead had been dispatched before they could have damaged or even destroyed anything.

"It's good to have you back, sister," Kelrian said as he pulled away and regarded her from head to toe. Sydori wore a light blue robe and brown leather boots, her hair was dyed black and made up in a ponytail. "Same counts for you, brother," responded the priestess.

"How you are doing?"

"I'm good and you?"

"A bit worried but otherwise I'm fine."

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Kelrian explained to her quickly what happened in the week where she had been away.

"Three days without any Scourge attacks... That's suspicious indeed."

"Usually, I don't have to be that worried because there is always someone with a higher rank who makes the right decisions. But now that I'm in charge of this observatory, I'm more worried than ever. A lot of weight lays on my shoulders and even doing the smallest mistake can have fatal consequences for us. I cannot allow myself to do any mistakes but sometimes I'm not sure if I make the right decisions."

Sydori put a hand on his shoulder and patted it softly, giving her younger brother a comforting smile. "The most important thing is that you remain calm and don't do any hasty decisions. If you have the time, think at least twice about every possibility."

"You are right. Unfortunately, most of the times I don't have that much time. I have to make quick decisions very often and the decisions I make have consequences for us. Everything went fine so far but I'm afraid of making a decision one day that will have negative consequences for us."

Sydori put her hand on her brother's cheek. "I think all of us are afraid of that. You are not the only one. The leaders we look up to were not born as good leaders. They became good leaders by learning and making experiences in many aspects. We all do mistakes, that's only natural. All we can do is to try to make up for our mistakes as best as we can. You are running this place for a month and I never heard someone complaining about your leadership. You didn't lose many soldiers, did you?"

"I've only lost five men so far. Too many for my liking but still less than I've expected. We did well at defending the observatory."

Sydori smiled. "See. Seems you are not bad at all. I'm sure you can make it. You are a good leader, according to your men. I believe you can do it."

Kelrian returned her smile. "Thanks, Sydori. Your words mean a lot to me."

The smaller woman said nothing in return and just smiled.

"Have you heard anything about Elena?"

"As far as I know, she joined the Ranger-General's unit which fights the Scourge whenever they can. They try to reconquer areas and villages but that's harder than expected. There are still too many undead creatures in Quel'Thalas. Sometimes, our men were only able to conquer an area or a village temporarily. Sometimes, the Scourge retakes some of the areas our people had conquered. It's a struggle but they're making progress. It's too slow for their liking but it's better than nothing."

"I see. At least she is doing fine. I was worried when she got injured in that battle but it seems she has recovered from her wounds," Kelrian said and let his gaze wander around.

"She means something to you, doesn't she?"

Kelrian nodded but didn't say anything in return. He stared at the sky, noticing that it had become darker in the past hours. Sydori was about to say something as they heard loud noises from outside. The trampling of hooves. Many horses were galloping towards the observatory. Kelrian didn't hesitate to walk to the gates, signalizing his men to open them.

He stepped outside, spotting the troop in front of the gates. There were forty horse riders who were led by no other than Grand Marshal Garithos. Kelrian knew that nothing good was about to happen. He had heard of Garithos' many victories at the front, so he was wondering what the grand marshal was doing here. He lowered his head to pay the human the necessary respect. "Hail, Lord Garithos. As you can see, we were not idle while you were fighting at the front. This is one of the three observatories you have requested to repair."

The human eyed him for a few moments before he took a closer look at the magnificent building. His gaze remained there for nearly a minute before it fell back on Kelrian. Garithos didn't intend to praise Kelrian or give him any positive feedback. Instead, he asked him a question. "Where is your king?"

"He's at the third, the biggest, observatory. He ordered me to watch after this one."

Garithos raised an eyebrow, doubt was reflected by his eyes. "You? A common lieutenant? Has he lost his mind? He can't leave a lieutenant without any experience of leading a base in charge of this place. That's unacceptable."

A quiet sigh escaped Kelrian's lips. The human's behaviour was more than just insulting but he remained calm. He didn't show how much he hated the grand marshal and his rude behaviour. "I beg your pardon, milord, but I'm no longer a lieutenant. The king promoted me to a captain. Because of that, I'm allowed to lead to this place. It's legitimate."

Garithos snorted. "Whatever," he muttered. He looked at his men and then back at the blood elf captain. "Are the ill news, I received from the front line, correct?" he asked. His voice sounded strict and a serious expression could be seen on his face which looked a lot older than the last time Kelrian had seen him.

"What ill news?"

"That you've consorted with the vile naga," the human replied. His eyes were narrowed and his teeth were gritted.

"Well, yes, milord. They helped us to cross the river. The shipyard and all the ships had been destroyed by the Scourge, so we had no other choice than allying with them. They are also fighting the Scourge, which means they are on our side. I assure you they pose no threat to us or to..."

An angry hiss interrupted Kelrian. Garithos looked absolutely furious. "They are inhuman," he shouted angrily. The way he stressed the word inhuman reminded Kelrian that he was the biggest racist he had ever met. His hate for non-humans was well-known but no one had ever said anything about it because they were afraid of him. Kelrian was not afraid of him but he didn't dare to get on his bad side, so he remained silent and didn't make a comment about his stupid statement.

Garithos continued. "They must be crushed like any other enemy. Be careful where you place your loyalties, blood elf. I will not tolerate treason in my ranks. Pass that to your king, captain."

Kelrian nodded.

"Now I must return to the front. You will remain here as well as the others who look after the other observatories. I will hand further orders to your king sooner or later." Garithos didn't say goodbye as he gave his men the signal to set off. He didn't look at Kelrian and just gave his horse the order to move. It obeyed him and rode ahead of his troop, getting out of Kelrian's sight within a short amount of time.

---

"As you can see, my king, I have everything under control," said Kelrian as he opened the door and allowed the king to leave the observatory. Kelrian closed the door behind him and followed the king.

"I have expected you to be able to run this place, that's why I promoted you and left you in charge of the observatory. You are a very capable leader. I knew you wouldn't disappoint me."

A small blush appeared on Kelrian's cheeks as he smiled at the king. "Thank you, my king. Your words mean a lot to me."

Kael'thas returned his smile but said nothing.

"How are you doing, my king?"

The smile on Kael'thas' lips vanished. "I'm fine, I guess. I mean, I'm not sick nor am I plagued by nightmares but I still have to think about everything bad that happened in the past year. I think about these events too often for my liking. The death of my father, of my mother-in-law and of my wife still affect me. I thought I've gotten over their deaths but memories of them come in my mind from time to time. It's not easy to accept the events of the past."

"I can understand you, my king. I'm no longer devasted because of the death of my wife and my niece-in-law. But remembering them still hurts. Fighting the undead is the best way to get distracted and not think about them. I'm glad Elena and my son helped me with my depression and my alcohol problem. The grief would have destroyed me if I would have stayed in my room and would have done else than consuming alcohol."

"I'm glad they managed to help you. You did well in the past months. You may have not realized it but our people are happy to have you around. It's an honour for them to fight by your side in these dark times."

Kelrian raised an eyebrow. "An honour? Is that not a little exaggerated?"

Kael'thas' expression was serious. "No, it's not. The men and women respect you. Not only because you were Sylvanas' husband but also because you are one of the best rangers and mages we have. You, Magister Rommath and I are the most powerful mages of Quel'Thalas. You are not aware of how powerful you really are and you can become much stronger. You have a lot of potential. I think I already told you this several times."

"You did, my king."

Kael'thas smiled. He was about to say something to his son as he noticed a human approaching them. He had no doubt it was an emissary sent by the grand marshal. The man, who was about thirty years old, stopped in front of the king and lowered his head in respect. "Greetings, your majesty."

"Greetings, emissary. What can we do for you?" Kael'thas asked.

"I bring word from Grand Marshal Garithos. New orders, to be exact."

Kael'thas raised an eyebrow. "New orders? What does he want this time?"

"Apparently our spies detected a large undead force massing nearby. Lord Garithos has commanded that you crush the undead before they can march on Dalaran."

"That doesn't sound too difficult with enough men."

The emissary sighed. "Well, there lies the problem..."

"What do you mean?" asked Kelrian, raising an eyebrow.

"Unfortunately, your forces may be a little thinned. Lord Garithos has also ordered that all foot soldiers, cavalry and support teams report to the front lines immediately. All humans and dwarves have to go to the front line and fight the undead there."

"That would mean that only my people remain to fight the undead," shouted the prince. He didn't sound pleased.

The emissary nodded, not saying anything in return. It was clearly visible that he understood the king's dismay.

"This is preposterous. Am I to assault the undead with nothing but sticks and harsh language? I don't have enough men to stop the undead. That's suicide," Kael'thas replied, sounding really upset this time.

"The grand marshal has great confidence in your... abilities, your majesty. Be creative. I hope you find a way to deal with the undead, otherwise... I don't want to see you among the ranks of the undead..."

Kael'thas cursed under his breath, dismissing the emissary. He waited until he was out of his sight and turned to Kelrian who didn't look very happy either. "I'm starting to hate Garithos," said Kelrian.

"Me too, Kel. He gives us one difficult task after the other. This bastard just wants to use our people as cannon fodder while his people stay behind and wait for our demise."

"One day he gets what he deserves," muttered Kelrian. Kael'thas didn't respond to that. He shared Kelrian's opinion and his hate for Garithos. The only person he hated more than Othmar Garithos was Arthas. He was looking forward to meeting the death knight again and end him for his crimes. But he knew that he wouldn't meet him so soon. He had to do Garithos' dirty work until the racist would find other tasks for him.

The king was not sure if he would meet Arthas so soon but he was sure their meeting wouldn't end well for the death knight. He will make him pay for everything he had done and he wouldn't stop until Arthas had received his just punishment. The survival of his people was Kael'thas' main goal but the revenge on Arthas was also very important to him. He will guarantee the safety of his people first and then look for Arthas and bring him to justice.

"We should gather our forces and then make a plan to stop the undead somehow," he said.

Kelrian nodded. "I will send messengers to the other observatories."

"Do that. I will think of a plan in the meantime."