Chapter 40: Arguments

Kelrian didn't open his eyes when he realized that he was awake. His head hurt for some reason. He had no clue what happened the previous day but he had had a weird dream. In his dream, he had kissed Elena and done much more than that.

That was absurd. He would never kiss a woman who was not Sylvanas. There was no way he would ever cheat on her. He was loyal and he would never do that to Sylvanas. He loved her too much so he would never do anything which would hurt her.

He opened his eyes after quite some time, noticing that the entire room was dark which meant he was not able to recognize anything around him. He had no clue where he was. He noticed that a person laid next to him as he lifted his upper body a bit. The person could only be Sylvanas. It couldn't be Elena. There was no way it would be her.

His eyes got used to the darkness eventually but he was still not able to recognize who it was. He pulled the blanket away slowly, revealing the nude form of a woman who laid on her belly. He didn't need long to notice that this woman was a bit smaller and slimmer than Sylvanas. The woman's ass was not as round as Sylvanas' and there was a small tattoo on the woman's right hip. Sylvanas had no tattoos. This was definitely not Sylvanas.

That could only mean he had woken up next to another woman. How could he? How could this happen? He would never cheat on Sylvanas. He was an honest and loyal person. Doing things in secret was not his style. He had no reason to cheat on Sylvanas. He loved her. She was the most beautiful woman on Azeroth, there was no one who was more beautiful than her. No one who was like her. So why did he end up in bed with another woman? Nothing made sense for Kelrian.

He felt guilty. He was confused and shocked at the same time. Confused why he had done it and shocked that he had done didn't remember how it had begun nor did he remember what they exactly had didn't remember a thing. He didn't need to remember anything to know he had made a mistake.

Sylvanas will be furious when she will find out. Not only furious. She will also be hurt. She didn't even know he was still alive. It would break her heart if she would find out. His mind told him to not say anything to her but he couldn't lie to her. His head said yes to lying but his heart said no. He knew Sylvanas will find it out sooner or later. There was no way she wouldn't. The longer he will keep it secret, the angrier she would be at him. He had to tell her everything as soon as possible. Maybe it would be easier for her to forgive him one day.

He regarded the woman next to him one more time, noticing her turquoise coloured hair for the first time since he had woken up. It was indeed Elena. Sylvanas will be furious.

A sad sigh escaped Kelrian's lips as he stood up and put his clothes on. He left the room quickly, making no sound as he sneaked through the corridors to the shared shower facilities. It was very early in the morning so no one was up who could spot him. He entered the bathroom and removed his clothes.

He was lost in thoughts as the semi-warm water came in contact with his skin. He reflected what had happened the following weeks. He had the assumption that one of the potions the troll alchemist had given them was responsible for what had happened. There was no way he would get involved in love-making with Elena under normal circumstances.

But Sylvanas would never believe him even if it was true. It sounded so strange that Sylvanas might interpret it as a bad excuse for his actions. Sen'za would be the only one who could tell Sylvanas the truth but he didn't think she would believe the troll. He had a big problem and he had no clue how he could prevent that Sylvanas will be mad at him.

The shower didn't make him feel better nor did it wash the shame off his body. But he didn't want to feel better. He couldn't forget what happened but he needed to make his head clear so he could consider what he should do. He dried his body and his hair with one of the towels which hung there. He got dressed again, leaving the room and the barrack.

He started to run circles around the barracks, hoping he could get his head clear. He ran until the sun came out and shined on him. He stopped walking then but he didn't go to the barracks. He wanted to avoid Elena because he didn't want to talk to her about what happened on the previous evening.

He walked to the largest barrack which served as the dining room. He took a seat on a table on the right side of the room after he had received his meal. He spotted a few rangers he knew but he didn't talk to them or invited them to take a seat on his table. He ignored the glances of the others and their quiet talks as he began to slurp his hot soup.

It was not very delicious but it was better than nothing. During times of war, people had to be satisfied with what they could get. He got another bowl of soup, eating it as well. He lifted his head eventually, noticing that the others were no longer staring at him.

The ones he knew, passed his table and told him that they were glad he was back while the others ignored him or at least didn't speak to him. Kelrian was fine with that. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He got up when he saw Elena entering the dining room. She wore a fresh uniform, her hair was combed and dark red lip-stick covered her perfect lips. She was stunningly beautiful but Kelrian didn't care.

He walked right past her, ignoring the smile she was giving him. He couldn't see the confused expression on her face as he left the room. In the following days, he avoided Elena as best as he could. He only met her when he was surrounded by others so she couldn't speak to him in private. Kelrian was glad about that because he didn't want to talk to her about that night.

He knew he had to speak to her one day because he had to tell her that he was not interested in her. He had to do it one day but he didn't want to do it on this day or the day after. Maybe in two days. He hoped Elena would lose interest in him but he knew she wouldn't.

The base was not the largest so it was not easy to avoid Elena all day. He knew he couldn't avoid her forever but fortunately, both of them had duties to do. Ranger-Captain Vara Sweetblossom had assigned them to different groups. He and his group had to watch over the main entrance of Zul'Aman while a second group watched over the secret entrance through which Kelrian, Elena and the others had fled.

The group Elena had joined watched over Zul'Aman during the night which meant Elena slept during the day while Kelrian slept at night. They barely saw each other which made it easier for Kelrian to avoid her. He felt bad about avoiding his friend all day but he saw no other option as long as he had no clue how to deal with the situation.

He didn't want to break her heart but he knew he had to. He didn't want to make her false hopes nor did he want that she would seduce him again. He didn't know if the potion still affected him so he didn't want to risk anything. Keeping her at distance was the best solution.

If only he knew how to tell Sylvanas about the mistake he had made. He assumed she knew already that he was alive so she would come to him as soon as possible. The time he had to consider the perfect way to break the news gently to her was limited.

It was in the late evening as he walked from the training area to the barracks. He passed the first three barracks, walking straight to the fourth were his room was.

He stared at the full moon as he walked alongside the right shorter side of the uniform didn't really protect him from the cold air. He was exhausted from the daily work routine and the training he had done after he had returned to the base. He just wanted to take a shower and fall asleep in his bed.

He stopped as he noticed a person who was leaning against the wall. It was too dark to see who it was so he came closer until he recognized the person. It was no other than Elena. The female ranger had her arms crossed in front of her chest, her expression was neutral. He had expected that she would be angry at him. Or at least confused but her facial expression didn't give him any hint about how she was feeling at this very moment.

Elena's glowing eyes rested on him, her lips formed a thin line. She jumped away from the wall and walked to him slowly, her eyes didn't leave his. She stopped in front of him but didn't say anything. Nor did he. They stared into each other's eyes. Elena's facial expression didn't change but Kelrian's did. He raised an eyebrow, giving her a curious look.

"Why have you avoided me during the past days?" she asked eventually. Hurt was reflected by her eyes but Kelrian chose to ignore it and not comment on it.

"I didn't avoid you on purpose. I was busy" he lied. He didn't want to lie to her but he had no other choice if he didn't want to hurt her feelings. He knew he had to tell her the truth one day but he didn't want to do it on this day. He didn't know why but for some reason he wanted to wait for the perfect moment to tell her that he was not interested in her.

"Weird. For me, it seems that you didn't want to see me after the night we shared."

"Well, I was busy."

"You said that already," responded Elena and put her hands on her hips.

"And we work in different shifts so we can't spend much time together. I train most of the times when I'm not working. I couldn't train for almost two months, you know," he explained.

"Nevertheless, you could at least eat with me in the evening. You go to the dining room without telling me and leave whenever I come. Sometimes, you leave even though you haven't finished your meal. Tell me, why are you avoiding me!" she demanded and stepped closer to him. He backed off but she followed him, driving him backwards until his back came in contact with the wall of the opposite barrack. He couldn't escape her anymore.

"As I have told you already, I'm not avoiding you." Kelrian was good at many things but he had never been good at lying.

Elena's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe that for a second," she hissed.

Kelrian remained silent as she continued to stare into her eyes. He noticed the small tears in her eyes. "Did I do something wrong?" Her voice sounded weak and less confident than it had been before. She sounded whiny.

Kelrian shook his head but gave her no answer.

"What's the problem then?" she asked. Her voice sounded much stricter and more confident this time.

"I have a girlfriend, that's the problem."

Elena's voice reflected jealously. "Who is it?"

"What?"

"You heard me clearly,"

Kelrian sighed. "It's none of your business who she is. What matters is that she exists and I'm already in trouble when she finds out that we slept together. I don't want to make it worse and give her more reasons to be mad at me."

"I don't believe you. You told me years ago that you have a girlfriend but I never saw her nor did you introduce her to any of your friends. I think she doesn't exist and you have only made her up to use her as an excuse to not go out with know for years how I feel about you but you've always ignored my feelings. If I'm not beautiful enough for you, just say it."

Kelrian hesitated. "You are beautiful but you are nothing more than a friend to me. I told you this more than one three times but you refuse to believe it. It's not my fault that you can't accept that I'm not interested in you. I have a girlfriend if you believe it or not."

Elena didn't say anything in response. She chewed on her bottom lip, a thoughtful expression was visible on her face. Kelrian wanted to make a few steps to the side but the woman pinned him against the wall, preventing that he could walk away. She was stronger than he had expected. Strong enough to press him against the wall and prevent that he could get free. She stared into his eyes, he tried to avert his gaze but he couldn't.

He opened his mouth and tried to say something but he didn't get the chance to do that because a pair of lips were pressed against his the next moment. These lips prevented that any sound came out of his mouth. He didn't kiss her back but he didn't even try to fight her or push her away. He felt weak while she kissed him. He wanted to pull away and stop the kiss but he couldn't. His skin tingled, his heart was beating rapidly in his chest.

Kissing Elena felt wrong. He wanted to end the kiss but the woman pinned his arms against the wall. Not only his arms but also his entire body. He could feel her large breasts against his chest and her hips against his. He could feel that the area between her legs was rubbed against his upper thigh. She was very horny. But he wasn't.

He heard her quiet moans but also the quiet steps of a person. Someone was coming closer. He panicked and tried to push Elena away because he didn't want that anyone would see them. Once again, his body let him down so he didn't manage to gain the upper hand. The quiet steps felt the presence of a person and smelled a familiar scent. The peach perfume of a certain person who was very important to him.

Somehow, he managed to push Elena away. He turned his head, looking at the person who was too shocked to avert her gaze. Kelrian cursed under his breath as he recognized that the person was no other than Sylvanas. She stood there as if she had been struck by lightning. Her eyes reflected disbelief, hurt and betrayal.

"Sylvanas...I" but before Kelrian could finish his sentence, she had rushed to him and raised her hand. The palm of her hand came in contact with his cheek but not only with his. Elena also got hit by her, red marks could be seen on her cheek. Tears formed in Sylvanas' eyes as she ran away and left the stunned rangers behind her as fast as she could. She disappeared into the darkness before Kelrian could say anything.

---

He rubbed his closed eyes, running his fingers over his face. He could no longer listen to the complaints of his ally. He was tired of hearing his excuses and demands. The ally was not in the position for demanding anything but he still did it and that annoyed him.

If he wouldn't have been, his ally would have been captured by the Alliance. At this very moment, he was hoping the Alliance would have captured Zul'jin so he didn't need to deal with him anymore. Unfortunately, the troll had hidden long enough in his temple, so no one had captured him before the dragons had come to the troll's aid.

Orgrim Doomhammer wished they would have killed Zul'jin. Nothing Zul'jin had ever planned had worked out. He had been captured by the Alliance once and Doomhammer had lost many warriors to free the leader of the Amani trolls.

It hadn't paid out yet. The only thing the Amani had been good at was keeping the high elves busy but they didn't win against them. Zul'jin had one job and he kept failing over and over again.

Doomhammer opened his eyes and looked at the troll leader whose white hair was made to a mohawk. He noticed worry in the troll's eyes but also fear. He was afraid. Afraid of losing the one he loved the most. That person was his wife who had been kidnapped by the high elves.

At first, Doomhammer hadn't believed his advisors when they had told him that two of Zul'jin's prisoners had escaped and taken his right hand and his wife hostage. He had asked himself several times over the past years how incompetent Zul'jin must be. He had done a lot of mistakes since they became allies but he had never failed so hard as he had recently.

Not only had he told him too late that the high elves prepared an attack on Zul'Aman but also had he given them an important person they could use as leverage. He hadn't done it on purpose. Somehow, the elves had managed to take them hostage. It sounded absurd that two prisoners managed to escape on their own and take two relevant trolls hostage. But it had happened.

The Warchief of the Horde had often toyed with the idea of abandoning Zul'jin and let him fight the high elves alone. Zul'jin's incompetence just hindered him. He had to help him out all the time and whenever he did that, he lost too many soldiers only to save the troll's ass.

Doomhammer had come to the conclusion that Zul'jin was not worth all the loses. He was better without him and the few thousand soldiers he had left. Zul'jin had had tens of thousands of warriors once but most of them died during the past years. Only three to four thousand were left. Doomhammer had also lost lots of warriors but his remaining army was much larger than Zul'jin's.

'Shall the trolls keep the high elves busy. Let's see how long they will hold out,' Doomhammer thought.

Doomhammer will abandon Zul'jin and attack the humans. That was his new plan. He still had the dragons but he was aware that the Alliance were trying to free them. It was possible that they could do that. He assumed that he had the dragons only for a limited time so he had to make the best out of it.

The forests of Quel'Thalas burned so did the fleets of the human kingdoms. His army had destroyed numerous villages and military bases but they hadn't conquered one of the capital cities yet. Silvermoon City was protected by a powerful magical barrier which had been erected by the high elves. Not to mention that there was something which weakened the power of his spellcasters. His mages, shamans and warlocks couldn't do much in the lands of the high elves. He could only send the dragons and his raiders to terrorize the civilians of Quel'Thalas.

His advisor Gul'dan had explained to him the reason why the magic of the spellcasters was heavily weakened. The warlock had described it as an invisible dome around Silvermoon City and Quel'Thalas which weakened any intruder who used magic to fight. Shamans, warlocks, mages, priests and all the other spellcasters were basically useless. He could still send them to fight the humans which he would do. If he couldn't conquer Silvermoon City then he would attack the capital city of Lordaeron.

His eyes stared into the yellow orbs of the troll."What do you want Zul'jin?" Doomhammer asked in common. He knew that Zul'jin's orcish was not very good so using the common language was the only way to communicate with him.

"I need ya help," Zul'jin responded and gave him a determined look.

"I expected that, so what do you want."

"De high elves stole ma wife and ma unborn child, I need ta get dem back."

Doomhammer raised an eyebrow. "What do you expect me to do?"

"Burn Quel'Thalas ta de ground and save dem."

"You know I can't do that as long as the barrier is intact."

Zul'jin came closer. "Den destroy deir villages and bases until dey surrender and let ma wife go."

"I destroyed most of their villages but the citizens took shelter in their capital city which I cannot attack. I can only attack the last remaining bases but that wouldn't change anything. There is nothing I can do for you," replied Doomhammer.

He didn't tell Zul'jin that he was sorry. First, because he didn't care about the troll and his family. Second, in his opinion, only the weak were sorry about things. And he was not weak. He was an orc, a proud and strong warrior who showed no mercy, had no regrets and was not sorry for anything.

"Dere must be somethin' ya can do. Ya agreed ta help me and ma people if I keep de elves busy which I did. Ya owe me dis."

Doomhammer gritted his teeth. "I have to do nothing and I don't owe you anything. I saved your useless ass weeks ago when the Alliance attacked your capital city. You and your clan would have died without my help. You are the one who owes me something. I saved you two times and I didn't get anything in return. You just had to do one thing. You just had to defeat the high elves but you failed again and again. You are useless. A useless piece of shit," he hissed.

Zul'jin's eyes narrowed, insults spoken in his native tongue escaped through his gritted teeth. He couldn't control the anger which was overwhelming him so he did the only thing which came in his mind. He stepped forward and intended to grab the Warchief of the Horde by his neck but the green-skinned orc was faster and grabbed his hands first. He held them, kicking the angry troll in the belly. A painful cry escaped Zul'jin's lips but he didn't stop. He managed to free his hands and attacked the Warchief again.

Doomhammer made a gesture, signalizing his guards to remain on their spots. The orcs nodded at him and remained where they stood, regarding the happening curiously. Neither Zul'jin or Doomhammer had weapons so they could only use their bare fists.

Zul'jin managed to land a few blows, knocking out one of the Warchief's teeth but for each hit he landed, he got hit two times in return. In the end, Zul'jin laid on the floor and writhed in pain. His face was bloody, a few ribs were broken but other than that he was fine. He was alive and he could be glad about that.

Doomhammer stood next to him, regarding him from above. He wiped the blood from his face, running a finger over his burst bottom lip. "You are on your own now. I wish you good luck. You will need it if you want to defend your people and rescue your wife. The Alliance will try to blackmail you. Either you fight or you surrender. It's up to you, Zul'jin. I don't need any useless allies like you. I will defeat the Alliance on my own, I don't need your help for that."

He regarded the leader of the Amani for a few moments, noticing the hatred in his eyes. He looked up to his guards, signalizing them to come closer. "Escort him back to Zul'Aman. I don't want to see him again. From now on, kill any troll who dares to enter our territories," he commanded.

The guards nodded to their leader and lifted the injured troll up. They dragged him out of the room and closed the door behind them. Doomhammer regarded the door for a few moments before he turned around and looked at his most important advisor.

The warlock looked up to him and came closer slowly. He was old, his back was bent and his skin was creasy. Large bones, which reminded Doomhammer of horns, stuck out of his back. Because of them and his age, he couldn't walk very fast.

"Do you think I made right the choice? Was it right to abandon Zul'jin and his people?" asked Doomhammer.

"This fool's incompetence cost us too many lives. We lost too many of our brothers and sisters because we had to help him. We are better without him," convincedGul'dan.

"I hope you are right, warlock."

Quiet laughter escaped Gul'dan's lips. "I'm always right. Always right about everything. I was the one who convinced Hellscream to make the deal with the demons. Thanks to their blood, we became much stronger than before. Nothing can stop us. The Alliance will fall. First the humans, then the dwarves and at last the elves. I will find a way to destroy their barriers and the dome which weakens our spellcasters. They can't hide forever."

"I trust you, warlock. I hope you won't disappoint me."

The corners of the warlock's lips formed an evil grin. "Don't worry, Warchief."

Doomhammer didn't respond to him. He turned around and walked to the huge table in the middle of the room. The regarded the map on the table and the figures on it. Gul'dan followed him but he needed much longer to reach the table. "We can't destroy Silvermoon City yet but we can attack Lordaeron. There is no barrier which can protect it forever. Lordaeron has no Sunwell which keeps their magical barriers up."

"Lordaeron is the perfect target. The high elves will be busy defeating the Amani trolls so they won't be able to help the humans. They won't be able to send a large army to them. They need every soldier they can get to defeat Zul'jin and the Amani. They might send a few thousand, maybe less but their troops won't matter.

The right time has come to destroy Lordaeron just like we did with Stormwind. That's another human kingdom we will leave in ruins," responded Gul'dan. An evil smile was visible on his chapped lips as he rubbed his hands in anticipation.

"Alright. I will prepare the attack then. You will tell Zuluhed the Whacked and his clan to join us. We will need the Dragonmaw clan and their dragons for the battle"

"When will we attack?" asked the warlock curiously.

"As soon as we can."