Chapter 4

The Dark Ranger was not too pleased at the ignorance in the room with her. She sighed and glanced around the room. Her patience had died long ago; really she had no time for this. These people had obviously not told the girl of her true family or anything of value it seemed.

Worse yet she was going to have to escort her back to Undercity herself.

"Enough!" Marrah cut everyone off, tired of listening to them bicker amongst each other about who should of told what. "I have orders to detain the girl and bring her back to Undercity with me. The orders are final and to be honest you elves don't have much of a say so.

Tyrendis made his way through Stormwind towards the SI: 7 building. He was not looking forward to this briefing. He had shown himself to the object of his prey and wasn't sure what was going to happen to him. He already had one strike against him from the last escapade. Now this…

As he crossed the threshold of the doorway he wondered why he was the one to be following the girl. SI:7 was pretty much a rogue outfit. He was a druid, a good one sure, but still a druid. Any rogue could have snuck around there watching her. There was neither time for questioning orders nor a place for it.

He could feel eyes following him through the building. Maybe it was his imagin… no they were all turning to look at him. He kept his head up and eyes forward making his way to Master Shaw.

As he approached Shaw turned around to face him. His brown hair always neatly trimmed and styled fell forward framing his face. As the corners of his goatee lifted into a smile Tyrendis could feel his muscles relax. "Tyrendis! You made it back safely!" he exclaimed coming forward to shake his hand.

"Yes, though I am afraid not with the best of news..."

"What has happened?" Shaw's goatee returned to the position it was in, ridden with stress.

"The target saw me in a wide open field." Shaw's face turned to shock and… disappointment. Tyrendis added quickly, "I don't think she knew I was anything more than a common lynx. I know this sounds far-fetched but those elves don't have a clue about druids. Their culture doesn't teach them anything about us, especially at such a young age. Seems they just assume that powers of the arcane are the supremacy."

Shaw's face began to turn into a flustered deep red color. "Tyrendis I sent you there to watch the girl! Follow her! How hard could that have been? After the problems the King has had with you I knew you needed the break, needed to get out of here for a while. Now you tell me she seen you? She seen you! And I am supposed to believe what? That she thought you were just another cat prowling around the isle?"

"No sir," Tyrendis let his eyes fall to the floor. When Shaw put it this way the whole thing sounded stupid. "Why was I following her anyway? I was never disclosed the information behind this."

"You don't have to be disclosed the information! It's not your job to question everything assigned to you."

"I risked my life following the girl not knowing why! I deserve to know what is going on."

"I am sending you back to the Isle to find her, follow her, and complete your mission. Now that she has seen you I don't see any way around it. You are going to have to kill her." Shaw noticed Tyrendis' shoulders slump forward. "Don't start with me; I wasn't the one that exposed myself to her. What other option do we have?"

"I will not kill her not even knowing why she needs to die." Tyrendis lifted his chin at this declaration. Tyrendis wasn't one to kill for the sport.

"I will see what I can do with the King but Tyrendis you have brought this on yourself, all of it. The girl is meaningless to you, nothing but a mere enemy. Yet you would defy your King and let her live."

"See what can be done. If I have to kill her I want to know what she has done. Why am I being asked to kill her? Surely not just because she seen me in a field. She doesn't even know what I am! This whole operation is just a little bit odd." Tyrendis looked at Shaw hoping to piece together some answers. "I am going to stay in the inn tonight, after so much time in the woods a bed would be Elune sent. You can find me there tomorrow and tell me what is going on or you can kill the girl yourself. I will not have innocent blood on my hands."

With that Tyrendis turned and made his way out of the building not looking back. Something was definitely going on here. Surely his people would not hunt down innocent people and murder them for no reason. Were they no better than the Horde?

Adrienne had heard the truth and still did not believe it. The red and gold of the magnificent Court of the Sun had been a blur as they made their way up the long carpeted ramp into the room with the orb. She had known many people who had gone through the orb and either never came back because they were always too busy doing things for the other races of the Horde or because they were dead. She would definitely prefer the former of the two but neither was too appealing.

Marrah stood before the orb and turned to look at Adrienne. "Are you going to go through or have they not taught you how to even use this?" Her eyebrow raised watching Adrienne squirm. Adrienne moved closer to the orb pressing her hands to it and closing her eyes. Before she knew it she had materialized in a drab razed castle courtyard.

"This is the Inner Sanctum," stated Marrah, appearing just behind her. "We need to keep moving I spent more time than allotted explaining myself to your people. The Dark Lady is waiting and she doesn't have much patience. We will be going through the throne room and taking an elevator down." She started to walk towards the stone threshold then stopped and swung back around to meet Adrienne's eyes. "Oh hey, there's some really interesting… creatures here. Don't worry everything here is friendly should you do what you are destined."

What did that mean anyway, destined. Adrienne was pondering this along the way. She had heard of the Dark Lady sure but still this didn't seem like it had anything to do with her. "Dark Lady?"

"Don't tell me your people have not educated you about the Dark Lady. Have they forgotten who saved them? Ungrateful lot..." Marrah's eyes began to dimly shimmer then almost shine. "Why do they even bother to have allies when they are so self-absorbed? They care not for anyone but themselves!"

They made their way down the stairs around the bank and over the bridge of… Adrienne was not sure what was under that bridge. She didn't really want to think about it. They continued around the outer circle finally coming to the stairs ascending slightly near the Apothecarium. "This is the Royal Quarter. This is where the Dark Lady spends most of her days. I suggest showing a little respect if that is possible from a Sin'dorei!"

They crossed the threshold and Adrienne caught a glimpse of the Banshee Queen and could not take her eyes off of her. Being a high elf in life and not a human she only barely resembled the other forsaken. She was beautiful even in death. In fact Adrienne could see a lot of her features in the woman's face and current expression.

Sylvanas' ember eyes rose from the floor meeting Adrienne's. Adrienne could feel her gaze burning through her despite having a friendly expression. "I see you two have made it," she stated more to Marrah than Adrienne, her voice echoing through the Quarter. Adrienne glanced to the left to see three of her own kind here in the room. Maybe she would be okay…

"Yes, our former people have no regard for anyone, it is as you say," Marrah said.

"I have done everything I can for our people. Supplies and troops are always available to the elves. For I am one of the foremost protectors of Quel'Thalas sister. I know these small gestures can never make up for my failure when the Scourge invaded but it is the least I can do. Thrall agreed to take them into the Horde, not without some convincing." Sylvanas' face crumpled into a frown, "Though the elves still do not trust my intentions."

"My Queen, after all you have done for them…" Marrah started.

Adrienne watched, shocked at what she was hearing.

"Enough Marrah," Sylvanas cut her off. "Adrienne I am glad we could have this meeting. Forgive my brashness but there was only one way to get you here. The Sin'dorei would not hear my demands."

"I don't understand…" Adrienne began and trailed off.

"Yes, I know your people haven't told you. For you are my niece… my beloved sister was beside herself with the invasion and killing of our family. It is not like a high elf to accept and claim a half elven baby." Adrienne's mouth fell open. "Yes, you are but half elven. Because you were born with green eyes you were able to be hidden away safely among the Sin'dorei."

Adrienne stood in front of the Queen shocked. She had no idea that she was related to the Windrunners much less half elven.

"You will stay here tonight and we will talk further tomorrow. There is much to be done and I fear the Alliance may have a mark on your head."