Chapter 27: First Assault

Author's Note: I want to remind you that this is a Warcraft fanfiction which means things like violence, loss, pain and death will play a role from this chapter on. The main plot of the story begins now.

Kelrian's steps were noiseless as he followed Sylvanas through the grass. But he was not the only one who followed her. Nathanos, Zetai and six other rangers followed her through the forest. They didn't talk nor did they make any sound as they walked. It was half an hour before midnight, the air was cold and the night was quiet. The treetops didn't hinder the elves to look at the clear sky. The bright moon was the only source of light but it didn't reveal the position of the rangers. They were protected by the forest so no troll could see them, not even those who were standing on the highest wooden tower in the middle of the base.

The group was not far away from the base. Only a march of ten minutes at maximum. Sylvanas' spies had scouted the baseto the last detail. Sylvanas knew everything about the base. The exact number of trolls which maned the base, the locations of the trolls' traps and the routes their patrols were walking. Inside and outside. She knew how many weapons and supplies they had. She even knew what they were supposed to do. Mel'ron had found a letter which he had handed to one of the few elves who were able to read and speak the troll language.

Thanks to him, Sylvanas knew that Zul'jin wasn't prepared for a real offensive. He planned to let groups of trolls attack different areas in Quel'Thalas to keep the high elves busy. He was hoping they wouldn't lead an offensive against him because he wasn't ready yet. He needed more time to prepare his people for the war.

Of course, Sylvanas wouldn't give him the time he would need. She planned to take control of every single outpost which was occupied by the trolls. Her troops would get closer to Zul'Aman with every base they would conquer. She could siege those bases and demolish them but she didn't want to lose too many soldiers so she had chosen the sneaky way.

Groups of twenty or more rangers would infiltrate the bases at night and kill all trolls which were stationed in these bases. Sylvanas' and Alleria's groups were not the only groups which will sneak into a troll base. Other captains and lieutenants would invade bases with their best rangers and would kill all trolls there.

A group of twelve people would be enough to clear a base of forty trolls. They wouldn't lose a single ranger if they would be careful and kill one small group of trolls after the other. There were always two groups of at least ten people who remained outside the targeted base. They would assist the invading group if they would need help or if the trolls would notice their presence. They also would take care of any troll patrol who was walking outside the targeted base or camp.

The base Sylvanas and Alleria had selected was by far the largest base near the border of Quel'Thalas. There were by far larger bases and camps near the capital city of the trolls. Sylvanas was sure she would need at least five teams of twenty people to clear such a large camp. But this base was not as large as the ones which were awaiting them, so she only needed twenty rangers. She had cleared larger bases with fewer rangers so she was pretty sure everything would run smoothly.

The group merged with the surroundings, hiding in the shadows so they become invisible for the naked eye. The troll lookouts stared in their direction but they didn't see them nor did they hear them. They weren't aware that ten rangers were coming from the west while ten more rangers were coming from the east. Sylvanas' group would kill everyone in the left half of the base while Alleria's group would take care of the rest.

In the end, they had planned to surround the remaining trolls, then kill or capture them. It was not the first time they were doing that. They had used this tactic half a dozen of times and it had always worked. They had always been victorious and only lost one or two rangers at maximum while they had killed most of their enemies and captured the survivors. Sylvanas had a good feeling that this time wouldn't be different.

The group arrived at the wooden wall, which was very thick and tall. Sylvanas didn't need to do more than making a gesture to make everyone understand what they were supposed to do at this very moment. They opened their backpacks and pulled out long ropes with grappling hooks. They didn't wait long to throw the hooked ends over the wooden battlements. The hooks clung on the battlements, allowing the rangers to climb up slowly. They didn't make any sound so none of the trolls, who stood on top of the wall, noticed them.

The first thing Sylvanas' group did was to check their surroundings. They spotted five trolls in their near. Three of them stood on a small tower while two others were walking away from Sylvanas and her group. Half a dozen fire bowls stood on top of the wall, allowing the trolls to warm themselves and use the fire to ignite the tips of their arrows for the case that someone would attack them.

They could spot more bonfires, which were used as light sources, spread all over the base just like the dozens of small tents where the trolls were resting. On top of the large tower in the middle of the base stood seven trolls. Thanks to Sylvanas' good eyes, she could recognize six archers and a shaman who was carrying a wand made out of oakwood and decorated with engraved glowing runes. Sylvanas also recognized the shapes of ten people who had just arrived on top of the wall on the other side of the base. It was Alleria's group. Like her sister, she was also ready.

The trolls on the turret were not looking in their direction nor did the patrolling trolls. Sylvanas and her group weren't invisible anymore so they had to be careful. They couldn't allow anyone to see them. A single shout would be enough to warn the entire base and cause the stealth mission to fail. They had to be careful and avoid doing rash moves. Otherwise, they had to fight all trolls at the same time which would only lead to unnecessary deaths from their side.

Sylvanas' voice was low, she spoke quickly to lower the chance that someone might hear them. She gave her group commands, moving forward when she was sure that everyone had understood what to do. Zetai, Mel'ron and three of her rangers were taking care of the two patrolling trolls while Kelrian, Nathanos and the two remaining rangers will help Sylvanas to take care of the trolls on the small tower.

They didn't make any sound as they came closer to the trolls who didn't notice their presence. They were staring in the far as they talked about something none of the elves couldn't understand because they didn't know their language. Sylvanas knew a few words of the troll language but her vocabulary was not enough to allow her to understand what they were talking about. Women and fighting were the only words she had understood. But it didn't matter what they were talking about because all of them will be dead very soon.

Sylvanas made a gesture, signalizing everyone to attack. Sylvanas slit the throat of the first troll while one ranger pressed her hand on the troll's mouth, preventing that he could scream. The second troll couldn't scream because she was beheaded by Kelrian. Nathanos rammed his sword through the last troll's back. The blade pierced through his heart, killing him quickly. Unfortunately, screams came out of his mouth before he was finally dead but they were muffled by the strong hand of the third ranger.

The screams weren't that loud so no troll heard them. The group laid the dead bodies on the ground behind the battlement so they were hidden well enough.

They looked at the large tower, sighing out in relief as they noticed that none of these trolls had spotted them. But Sylvanas knew it was only a matter of time until they would spot them so her group had to take them out as fast as possible. She looked to the other side of the wall, noticing that Alleria's groups had killed all the guards there. Only the north and south walls were still manned by trolls. For the moment but not for long.

Sylvanas gave her group the next orders. The group split, Zetai and his little group of four rangers climbed down the staircase while Sylvanas rushed to the north wall with the rest. They spotted six trolls in total. Three of them carried large axes in their hands while the others carried smaller axes in each of their hands. Their heads were turned in their directions but the rangers weren't in their sights. Sylvanas noticed that so she told her followers to use their bows.

Five arrows swooshed through the air without getting noticed by the trolls. Four arrows hit their targets, the last one barely missed the large troll with the red mohawk. But he and the other survivor were dead before they could do anything. Sylvanas and Kelrian had shot two more arrows in the meantime where the other rangers had reloaded their bows. Sylvanas' arrow had hit the troll in the left eye and pierced his brain while Kelrian's arrow had hit the other in the neck.

Noises were hearable as the dead bodies fell over. The guards near the base's entrance looked up to the wall but they didn't see anything from their position so three of them walked up the stairs, checking their surroundings again and again with each step they made.

They spotted Sylvanas and her group near the dead trolls but it was already too late for them. The trolls were killed before they could warn their comrades. Sylvanas and her group hid in the shadows only for a few moments but these moments were enough for them to climb down the stairs unnoticed and kill every single troll near the front gate. They rushed over to one of the empty tents, hiding in it. Kelrian and Sylvanas checked their surroundings, noticing that the south wall was cleared as well.

They saw Zetai and his group near the largest base tower on which the seven trolls were still standing without having any idea what was going on. Kelrian was wondering how the trolls couldn't have noticed a thing until this moment. He couldn't believe that they didn't pay attention to their surroundings. They weren't doing their tasks properly, otherwise, they would have already spotted the numerous troll corpses. Of course, he didn't mind that because the inattentiveness of the trolls only benefitted them.

Everything was looking great, nevertheless, he was mistrustful. They had killed lots of trolls so far, nevertheless, he wasn't delighted yet. Something was suspicious about this whole situation. They trolls died too easily. Maybe they were just too dumb to notice the invaders or maybe there was another reason why they didn't pay attention to their surroundings. He was afraid that the trolls had set a trap. He couldn't believe that the trolls were that dumb. They weren't the smartest creatures, he knew about that, but they weren't that dumb either. There had to be a reason why the trolls let themselves be taken out so quickly.

Maybe there was something wrong about this entire base. Maybe Kelrian was just misinterpreting things. Maybe there was nothing wrong about this base but he just thought there was something wrong. Maybe his paranoia was justified. Maybe not. He only knew one thing. He had to be careful and be prepared for everything. Just like the other members of his group.

"Is everyone ready?" asked Sylvanas, her voice was not much louder than a whisper. Everyone nodded their heads.

"Follow me," she whispered then she rushed out of the tent. She grabbed a torch which stuck in the ground and ignited the nearest tents. Kelrian did the same while the three other rangers shot arrows at the trolls on top of the tower. Their shaman noticed them first, casting a spell. A female ranger not far away from Kelrian was struck by lightning. Her body was flung away, landing dozens of meters away from them. Kelrian rushed over to her, checking if she was alright.

Unfortunately, she was not. She was dead, her body was burned. The smell of burned flesh stung in his nose but he ignored it as best as he could. He nocked an arrow, firing at the troll shaman who was already casting the next spell. The arrow missed him, so did Sylvanas' arrow. Sylvanas and Kelrian never missed a non-moving target so it could only mean that magic was involved. They assumed that the flight paths of the arrows had been shifted so they had barely missed their target. There was only one form of magic which could do that. Elemental magic. It was the work of a second shaman who had manipulated the wind.

Kelrian checked his surroundings while nocking the next arrow, spotting a troll next to one of the tower's feet. It was a young female troll with short red hair and an ugly scar beneath her left eye. Her face distorted in anger, her eyes narrowed as she spotted Kelrian. She dodged his arrow at the last moment, preparing a spell. But she was not able to finish the spell because a familiar ranger beheaded her from behind.

Zetai came in Kelrian's sight, kicking the corpse away as he looked in Kelrian's direction. He gave his friend a short nod, climbing the staircase as fast as possible.

Kelrian didn't hesitate to fire arrows at the trolls. The shaman had been killed in the meantime by three of Sylvanas' arrows. The rangers on the ground killed three of the six troll archers, taking cover as the trolls started to fire back. But they weren't able to shot many arrows which could hit the rangers because Zetai and his group approached them and killed them before they even noticed their arrival. None of Sylvanas' rangers had been injured or killed by the trolls on the tower.

Kelrian recognized the warning sounds of horns but it was already too late for the troll garrison. Half of their defenders were already dead and the remaining trolls were spread out all over the base. Half of the elven invaders stood on top of the wall or on top of the base towers and shot at every troll which came out one of these tents while the rest remained on the ground and made sure no troll could escape through the main entrance. Troll after troll fell until only three badly injured individuals remained.

One of them was the leader of the base, a muscular troll with short green hair and a full beard. The two others were younger and slimmer. They were forced to their knees, their arms were tied behind their backs. Their eyes were narrowed and reflected hatred as they stared at the Ranger-General who was leaning against one of the supporting pillars of the large tower. Her sister was standing next to her, making a disgusted face as her eyes roamed over the survivors.

"How many rangers did we lose?" asked Sylvanas, her eyes didn't leave the leader's face.

"Three," responded Alleria.

A sad sigh escaped Sylvanas' lips. She was silent for a few moments but then she spoke. "Bring them back to our base so we can bury them in Silvermoon City. Collect the troll corpses and count them, check the surroundings for trolls who might hide somewhere. Make sure you are always in a group of three rangers when you walk around. I don't want to lose more rangers."

The rangers saluted to her and grouped up, walking away to fulfil their tasks. Kelrian grouped up with Zetai and Nathanos. Together they walked alongside the left wall of the base and looked for survivors. They found two trolls who were hiding in one of the few tents which weren't consumed by the flames.

These trolls hugged each other, their eyes were closed as they muttered a few sentences. It seems that they were pretty close, so Kelrian assumed that they were either relatives or lovers. The trolls turned their heads as soon as they recognized the presence of the rangers. The male got up and positioned himself in front of the female. He lifted his hands in surrender, his lips moved quickly and lots of words came out of his mouth. None of the rangers understood a word but they were pretty sure that the troll was begging them to spare the woman.

Kelrian regarded the female troll from head to toe, his eyes widened as she stood up. He realized why the male troll was begging for her life. She was in an advanced state of pregnancy.

Kelrian was wondering what a pregnant troll was doing in a military base. After taking a closer look at her, he realized what her purpose was. She was not very muscular and not very tall compared to other female trolls. She was not a warrior, a scout or a hunter. She had to be a cook or a healer. Basically, she was a civilian. Kelrian was about to say something to his comrades as Zetai pushed him to the side and pulled his sword from his belt.

The male troll didn't move an inch, his facial expression didn't reflect the amount of fear he was feeling. He was not afraid of losing his life, he was afraid for the troll woman and the child in her belly. The female's expression spoke volumes. She was afraid of dying, she was afraid of losing her mate and her child. Her entire body was shaking, her bottom lip trembled and tears ran down her cheeks.

They were unarmed and they had surrendered so there was no reason which justified that Zetai had drawn his sword and gave them a hateful look. Kelrian noticed that Zetai lifted the arm which held the sword, meaning he was about to strike. He reacted quickly and stepped in front of the troll, stretching his arms out.

"What are you doing?" shouted the irritated Kelrian. His eyes were narrowed and rested on the larger male who gave him a confused look.

"I could ask you the same," said Zetai in return. His voice reflected his lack of understanding pretty well.

"Preventing that you kill them."

Zetai's expression didn't change at all. "But why? They are our enemies. They are brutal murderers. Have you forgotten what they have done to our people? Have you forgotten what they have done to my village or to your mother?" His voice was much louder than before and reflected the hatred he was feeling for the trolls.

Kelrian shook his head. "I have not forgotten what the trolls have done to our people. But these two individuals didn't do anything."

"You can't know that," spat Zetai. "You don't know how many people they have killed so far. Maybe they have killed dozens or more. You can't tell me that they are innocent. Not a single troll is innocent. They are all the same. Inferior mass-murdering creatures who kill others for their own amusement. They deserve to die after everything they have done to our people since the foundation of Silvermoon City and Quel'Thalas. We didn't start the war with them. They started it thousands of years ago when they invaded our land for the first time. Now get out of my way!"

He put his hand on Kelrian's chest, intending to push him away but the smaller ranger remained on the spot, staring into his friend's eyes.

Zetai growled. "Why are you protecting them?"

"She is a pregnant woman. Have you forgotten that?"

"I don't care if she is pregnant or not. She is a troll that's reason enough to kill her. She is carrying her disgusting brood in her belly which means it will grow up eventually and attack us sooner or later. Trust me, I do us all a favour by ending her life before her brood endangers the life of someone else," roared Zetai. His face was distorted in anger, his eyes reflected pure hatred. His hand was clenched tightly around the hilt of his sword, his other hand grasped Kelrian's shoulder. He didn't realize that he was inflicting pain to his friend but the younger ranger didn't say a word. He just stared at his friend, hoping he could calm him down somehow.

"They are our prisoners, Zetai. We don't kill our prisoners, do we? We are not like them or like the orcs. We are better than them, right? You always preached that our race is superior to them. You are not better than them if you slaughter them like cattle."

A loud groan escaped Zetai's lips. "I don't care" he hissed and pushed Kelrian away. He fell onto the ground landing next to the troll pair who was still regarding them, not knowing what was going on. Zetai turned his head, looking at the trolls. "It's time to say goodbye, you bastards," he spat out, lifting his sword above his head. He smirked as he lowered the weapon which came closer and closer to the male troll's head.

He would have chopped his head off if Nathanos wouldn't have grabbed his arm and pulled it back. Zetai turned around, giving the human an irritated look. The irritation disappeared quickly and was replaced by anger. "How dare you? How dare you stop me human?" Zetai growled. The word human was stressed negatively, which told Kelrian and Nathanos that the large elf didn't like humans either. He was disgusted by them the same as he was by trolls. Kelrian had always known that Zetai didn't like trolls but he had never thought he didn't like humans either.

He didn't leap into hasty conclusions but he had gotten the impression that Zetai didn't like other races in general. He had always expressed that he believed the high elves were better than any other race. But that didn't make him to racist, did it? Kelrian was hoping that at least. He knew his friend pretty well and he had witnessed some of his rage outbursts of rage but he had never seen him behave like that before.

These two trolls hadn't done anything to him, nevertheless, he wanted to slaughter them for what the other members of their race had done. Kelrian didn't recognize his friend anymore. Zetai had always been friendly to everyone. Well to every high elf to be exact. He was a pretty smart guy who could control himself and didn't rush things.

But at this very moment, he was anything but that. He allowed his emotions to take control of him. His anger and hatred for trolls spoke and acted for him. He was not himself anymore so he needed to be stopped before he would do something he would regret later.

Nathanos kept holding his arm, trying to pull him away from the trolls but Zetai resisted. He bit his bottom lip hard and focused all of his strength to move the angry ranger away from the prisoners but he didn't manage that. Zetai lost his patience and pushed Nathanos back, causing that he landed on the ground. He turned around, a loud hiss escaped his lips as he noticed that Kelrian stood in front of the trolls and had drawn his swords from his belt. "You have to get past me if you want to kill them. I can't allow that you hurt our prisoners, especially because one of them is a pregnant woman."

A frustrated shout escaped Zetai's lips as he noticed Kelrian wasn't bluffing. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't hurt his friend but a voice in his head told him to kill every single troll he could find. Killing them meant he had to hurt Kelrian as well. He couldn't do that, could he?

But he wanted to kill these bastards so badly. He was thirsty for blood. Killing ten trolls during the attack hadn't been enough for him. He wanted more. He wanted to spill more troll blood, wanted to end more troll lives. He wanted to make them suffer for everything they had done to his family and to his village. He would love to cut the unborn baby out of the mother's belly and then kill her in front of the man's eyes before he would kill him.

But he couldn't because Kelrian and Nathanos, who had walked to Kelrian and had drawn his sword in the meantime, prevented that. Zetai looked at the scared trolls, then he looked at his comrades. He muttered something unintelligible before he turned around and walked away, leaving the elf and the human alone with the trolls.

Kelrian stared at Zetai as he left. He couldn't believe that he had behaved like that. Zetai had some serious anger problems and the events of the past were still plaguing him. He knew he needed to talk to him as soon as he had calmed down. Zetai needed help. He shouldn't go in a rampage whenever he would spot a troll. He would get himself in danger if he wouldn't manage to control his anger. Kelrian didn't want to imagine what could happen if Zetai would charge alone at a group of trolls even though someone had given the order to retreat. He didn't want to imagine what would happen if Zetai's rage would lead him to do stupid things...

Kelrian took a deep breath, looking at Nathanos who frowned. The human shrugged his shoulders, pointing at the troll couple. "What are we doing with them?"

Kelrian rubbed his chin as he looked at them. "We should take them to the Ranger-General," he said eventually. Nathanos nodded in agreement. Together, they brought the trolls back to the Ranger-General. It didn't really surprise them that the trolls didn't fight back or tried to escape. They knew they would only make things worse if they would resist. Their chances of survival were larger if they would behave well and wouldn't cause unnecessary trouble.

Sylvanas walked towards them as she saw them. She stopped in front of them, scrutinizing the red-haired troll and his pregnant partner. She looked at two groups of three rangers each, signalizing them to come closer. "Bring these prisoners back to our base but make sure they are alright. They might be trolls but they are still living creatures. We don't hurt pregnant women, no matter to which race they belong.

"As you wish, Ranger-General" one of Alleria's rangers said.

"You go with them Nathanos."

The human lowered his head in respect. "As you wish."

Sylvanas waited until they were out of her sight so she and Kelrian were alone while the other rangers were still busy. "You did well today," she complimented.

"Thank you" he responded. His face was supposed to reflect pride but instead, his eyes reflected grief.

Sylvanas frowned. "What's wrong?"

Kelrian said the name of the female elf who had been killed by the lightning strike. His voice reflected sadness. "She was right next to me but I couldn't save her..."

Sylvanas exhaled loudly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We can't save everyone, my dear. This is war. People die. People we know die and we can't always prevent that. I know it sucks but that is what life is. Life is cruel. We can only make the best out of it". She put her hand on his cheek, making sure that no one was watching them before she caressed it. She pressed a soft kiss on his cheek, giving him a comforting smile.

"You are right. Like us, she chose this life. She knew about all the dangers and risks but she still chose it because she wanted to help others. We are not doing this for our amusement. We are not going to war against the trolls because we want more territories. We are only protecting our people, that's why we fight against the trolls and orcs.

And to protect them we have to defeat the trolls and orcs once and for all. This war will cost lots of lives but every single lost life will not be forgotten. We will make sure that they didn't die in vain. We will defeat the trolls and the orcs so our people can live in peace without having to fear that they might get attacked by trolls or orcs one day," spoke Kelrian, staring into her eyes.

"You are right about that, my love. This war will be hard but I believe we will succeed. We have the support of the dwarves and humans. The humans have defeated the orcs once so they can do it again and we will help them as soon as we have defeated the trolls."

"I'm aware of the dangerous life of a ranger, so I don't mind risking my life. I'm glad that I'm one of your rangers. I have always dreamed of defending our people together with you. I'm glad this dream came true."

Sylvanas returned his smile, caressing his left cheek once again. She stared into his eyes, so did he. They did that for a few minutes, pulling away as they heard footsteps. Alleria approached them and congratulated her sister for the successful attack. She wrapped her arm around Sylvanas' shoulders, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. Sylvanas smiled at her, caressing her cheek.

"You did well too, sis."

Alleria's smile became wider. "Thank you." She regarded Kelrian for a few moments before she looked back at her baby sister. "Do you have any idea how many men will stay in this base and hold it?"

"I don't have the exact number in mind but we should station at least two hundred people here. The base is so large that it's impossible to cover every corner with only sixty men. You have seen how easy it has been to get in the base and take out the trolls one by one because they had stationed too few warriors there. I don't want that to happen with to our people so I want to cover every single corner with patrols and rangers who always remain on the same spot.

We also have to upgrade the base in general. We should make the wall better and higher, build more towers and let more scouts patrol around this base and the other bases we have captured today. I want to be informed quickly when a group of trolls are seen somewhere so we have enough time to get prepared for an attack. The humans and dwarves sent us five thousand men so I'm pretty sure we will have enough men we can station somewhere or send on patrols."

"You are right, sister," responded Alleria. "Before I forget, we have collected all the dead trolls and pilled them up. Shall we burn them or bury them?"

"Burn them," responded Sylvanas without thinking twice.

Alleria nodded her head. "As you wish, my dear sister." She walked away quickly, leaving Kelrian and Sylvanas alone.

"Come, we should follow her," said Sylvanas.

Kelrian nodded his head. "After you, my love."