#58th Argent Crusade

[graceintheshadows]

Lucky ones - Part 2

[see @lordaeronslost for part 1]

The dagger gleamed on the coverlet, polished gunmetal with the smallest hints of blued steel showing through, like stars in the night sky.  The moonstone in the pommel glowed dimly, like Elune set high on a winter night.  The pieces that matched it were laid out to either side and she stood at the edge their bed, staring at the weapons laid out across the blankets.

“Roiya.”

She nearly flinched at the gentleness in her husband’s voice, wondering how many times he’d said her name before she’d heard.  The distraction—no matter the source—that had swallowed her whole was unforgivable.

I’ve gotten soft.  Perhaps dangerously so.

Of course, that had been by design.

“We’re sure they’re safely settled?”  She half-turned toward Keydyn, her brows knitting.  “That nothing will—”

“Siryn will be with them this time,” her husband said, setting aside his whetstone boot dagger.  “And Lord Sam and Lady Mina will be there, too.  They’ll be fine while the rest of us—”

“That’s what we’ve said a dozen times,” the priestess said with a deep sigh.  “More than that, even.  And sometimes it hasn’t been that way.  It hasn’t been fine.”  Her lips thinned slightly as Keydyn’s hands settled on her arms.  For a moment, she squeezed her eyes shut.

“What’s really bothering you?” he whispered.  “It’s not as if you’re actually capable of staying retired.  You’ve tried three times and it hasn’t stuck.”

“This could have been the time,” she said with the barest trace of wry humor.  A lump built in her throat and she stepped closer, leaning into his chest and inhaling the scent of woodsmoke and leather.  “I just thought—I thought it would be different.  This wasn’t in my plan.”

“What was?”  Keydyn rested his cheek against her temple, wrapping both arms around her as her head settled against his shoulder.  “Were you intending to go out hunting for—”

“Yes,” she whispered.  “No.  I don’t know—maybe I was.  Maybe I was going to make a request of someone to—to do it.”

“We knew that something bad was going to happen,” he said softly.  “The minute Jude got that letter, we knew.  I suspect you knew sooner than that.  Did he...?”

She nodded slightly.  “He did, but the warning wasn’t as stark.  I don’t know why.  Maybe he expected me to be able to glean more information from what wasn’t in the note than I did.  Perhaps he thought Elune would grant me insight.  Damned if I know.”

“Do you think he’ll join us?  Be called up like we are?”

Roiya took a slow, deep breath and shook her head.  “I don’t know.  Based on everything I know, I’d assume that he has duties that will keep him closer to home and considering that we don’t know exactly what kind of situation we’re going to be walking into...no.  No, Keydyn, I don’t think they’ll be calling him up soon.  Not unless he comes as a volunteer.”

“While the rest of us are voluntold.”  He shot her a grin and pressed a kiss to her jaw, then feather-light one to her lips.  “At least we get to go into this with family.  Speaking of, are you ready to eat?  I heard a rumor about one last big meal tonight before we have to finish making ready.”

“A last breath before the storm,” Roiya said softly, glancing back at the weapons laid out on the coverlet.  “Hopefully they’ll be able to see us off from Stormwind.”

“I’m sure that arrangements are already in the works,” Keydyn said, squeezing her one more time before he released her.  “Does she know?”

Her eyes fluttered shut and she sighed.  She knew who he meant.

She shook her head.  “No.  But by morning, she will.  Would you like me to...?”

“I’ll have something to send with yours just after dinner.”

Roiya nodded, letting one hand trail down his arm until their fingers wove together.  “We’ll make time,” she said softly.  “To make up for it.  The three of us.”

“And then the five of us,” he said softly, fingers tightening for a moment.  “This time, you’re stuck with me, Roiya Shadowpaw.  Whether you like it or not.”

The ghost of a grin curved her lips as she stared back at him.  “Bold of you to assume that I’m the one stuck, Keydyn Silverstag.  I am far more of a handful than you are.”

The ranger laughed and dragged her close again, slinging his arm across her shoulders.  “We’ll see about that.”

“Will we?”

“Certainly.  And so will any damn spider that tries to come between us.”

“Hell.  Any fate that tries to come between us.”  She reached up to run her fingers along his cheek and jaw.  “I love you.  You know that.”

“I know,” he agreed.  “And you know the same of me.  I came back from the dead for you.”

“You came back from the Dream for me.”

One corner of his mouth kicked up into a smirk.  “A little bit of both.  At least that’s how Nikus explains it.”

“Speaking of—he’s coming with us, isn’t he?”

Keydyn frowned, glancing toward the door.  “That’s the impression I got, but you know him.”

“I certainly do.  We both do.  But this—”

“I know.  We’ll have to see.  Have to find out.”

“Yes,” she said softly.  “Yes, we will.”

She didn’t like the idea of the druid staying behind.  They’d need both he and his daughter both in the field as healers at the very least, regardless of the magnitude of what they’d end up facing.  That was still an unknown beyond knowing that it would be nerubians.

To what end and what fresh war they were walking into, the priestess-assassin known as Shadowgrace wasn’t certain.  All she knew was that after three attempts at retirement, she was headed out again to war.

[lordaeronslost]

Lucky ones

The warning had saved their lives.

From his small desk in their shared office at Valiance, Arcavius watched his longtime commander turned mentor as she read the latest report for what was now the third time.  Outside, the wind keened with a storm that had swept in off the water, leaving the windows and exterior walls coated in ice.

Somehow, given the reports that kept coming in, Northrend’s gales seemed far preferable to the fate that had come to so many who’d been in Dalaran instead.  Grimstryke’s warning had saved them to be certain, though the chill that crept down Arcavius’s spine had nothing to do with the cold.

Two more days and they’d have been back in Dalaran.  Half of them had been due to go and meet with some colleagues there ahead of their next duty rotation.  He had no doubt that whatever the plan had originally been for that, it was about to change.

He cleared his throat.  “Is there anything new in that one, Commander, or is it the same as the rest?”

“No,” she growled.  “No, not really.  No one seems to—blast it all.  No one seems to know anything beyond something apparently going terribly wrong just after the teleportation.  Some kind of attack.  This one at least suggests that more information could be forthcoming but I’ll be damned if—”

“Jude.”  Quin stood in the doorway, fully armored and cheeks ruddy from the cold.  Some of the snow and ice from outside was melting into her short-cropped hair in the warmth from the stove in the corner.  In her hand was an envelope bearing an Argent seal and she held it out toward the red-haired mage.  “Another report.  Orders were for your eyes first.”

Brow furrowing slightly, Jude came around the desk to take the letter from the paladin.  “Who delivered it?”

“You sure you want to know?”

Jude winced at that before she slid her thumb beneath the seal.  “Of course I don’t.  Do you think that—”

“I think that everything is coming at us very quickly and that every side is going to need every level-headed commander that they have at the ready,” Quin said, folding her hands behind her in a parade rest.  “Present company included.”

Jude winced again, reading the report once, then again.  Lips thinning, she handed it back to Quin.

“What is it?” Arcavius asked.

“We’re to leave a skeleton garrison here and immediately report to Stormwind for imminent deployment,” Jude said quietly.  “Alert the others, Cavandar.”

“Of course,” Arcavius murmured, feeling his heart start to crawl up into his throat.  “But why is the Argent Da—Crusade sending us to Stormwind for deployment?  Where are we going?”

“Seems that the attack on Dalaran involved nerubians,” Quin said, folding the report.  “Curious, that.”

“Very curious,” Jude agreed.  “But it does explain why they want us.”

“Yup,” Quin sighed.  “Because if there’s one thing that we’re as good at dealing with as undead…”

Arcavius winced.  “…it’s nerubians.”

“Spread the word, Arcavius,” Jude said again.  “Portals up at dawn.”

[wynilthyrii]

A letter to Zanrethan Sunforge - 5 September

The letter comes bearing a surprising number of seals across its seam—the Order, House Ilthyrii, and that of the Argent Crusade. It’s written on good parchment but is a bit creased at the edges, as if from the bag it was carried in, and entirely possible that the courier that brings it to his posting wears the colors of the Argent Crusade.

Zan,

I can only guess where you are, though my gut says that your unit was one of the ones immediately dispatched—likely before anyone truly knew what was going on. The official reports only started coming when I received your letter and actual word of anything happening has only reached the public in whispers and rumors.

Please tell me you were not in Dalaran when it fell from the sky. I’ve only seen two reports with any sort of depth of description and both left me sick to my stomach. The casualty lists contradict each other—no one seems to have a good accounting of the living or the missing or the dead.

They are asking for volunteers to go with the relief—some by portal, some with the fleet. The Magistry is reluctant to commit many mages to the cause at this point, given what’s happened and the number of unknowns, but the Kingdom sends troops to be certain. I have word that the Alliance does the same. Clearly, so do other organizations. I’m sure you’ve noticed the Argent seal on the letter. Their request for volunteers came even before the official ones were posted at the Hall. I think Tyr’s received a direct request but I doubt he’ll ship, not yet. There are things that must be done before he can think of it, but I deeply suspect that his unit—the 58th Argent Crusade—is already en route if they’re not already on-station.

My uncle and Lord Hawksong are coordinating the Farstrider volunteers and the reservists and retired rangers signing up for one more fight sourced from the Watch and the people of the Everlight. Hawksong is making noises about going himself but I’ve not heard what anyone thinks of that, least of all athair.

Ardus intends to go. That’s all I know right now.

I pray that wherever you are out there, you’re safe for now. If there’s anything you need that may be in my power to give, ask. I’ll do what I can.

Please, my brother, be safe.

Faithfully,

Wyn.

[ @zanrethan-sunforge ]

In response to

[lordaeronslost]

(( I am unfamiliar with your characters -- tell me a little about them, please!))

All four hailing, ultimately, from Lordaeron. All four formerly of the Retribution of Arathor, two of the Servitors of Lothar, one of the Golden Veil. All four currently in service of the Argent Crusade, stationed near the wall in Hallowfall with the 58th Argent Crusade.

Jude Auroran, Commander Frost, Viscountess Greymantle - eldest surviving child of Sam Auroran, Earl of Ware, and his wife, the half-elven Mina Greymantle. Mage of the Kirin Tor, raised between Dalaran and Lordaeron, she has given her service to the Alliance, the Kirin Tor, and the Argent Dawn and Argent Crusade throughout her adult life. These days, she leads a remnant of her former Alliance auxiliary command under the banner of the Argent Crusade—not a terribly far calling from the one her unit started with decades before her joining. Mother of three, wife of a man many would call a barbarian given his origin and upbringing, she is approaching middle age but no less sharp or spry as she was when she first entered Alliance service nearly twenty years ago.

Karinlyyn Auroran Steelshatter - youngest child of Sam Auroran, Earl of Ware, and his wife, the half-elven Mina Greymantle. Lyyn has spent most of her adult life in the service of SI:7, in part at the suggestion of her father. After the fall of Theramore, her friends and family thought her dead for years as she worked deep cover for the organization. She resurfaced after several years of the work and made herself known to a pair of old friends, who kept her secret until she was ready to reveal herself again to her family. She’s still an active agent for the organization, though up until recently made her home base in Dalaran, where she lived with her husband Anthus and their daughter, Sky. A warning from a distant cousin sent the family elsewhere just in time, leading both to fresh service in Hallowfall with the 58th Argent Crusade under Lyyn’s sister, Jude.

Quin Adama - one of the few survivors of an expedition sent in support of Prince Arthas’s mission, returning to the shores of the Eastern Kingdoms after years trapped in Northrend. A former mage turned paladin, Quin gave her service to the Argents after she began to physically recover from the suffering she’d experienced in Northrend before the fresh campaigns in the north. She was raised as part of the Earl of Ware’s household, trained as a mage by Lady Mina, and was the lover of the late Tanitharil Auroran, former heir to the title. She, Jude, and Lyyn are as close as sisters, and Quin was among those that kept Lyyn’s secret when she revealed herself but wasn’t yet ready to approach their family. She and her husband, Connar, have spent a great deal of time in Northrend working for the Argent Crusade in the years since the end of the war with the Lich King, mopping up remnant forces and investigating rumors of problems. Rumor has it she, like Lyyn, also works for SI:7, but she rarely admits such. She is also assigned to Hallowfall with the 58th Argent Crusade.

Arcavius Cavandar - paladin training as a mage, clerk, secretary, assistant and apprentice to the Viscountess Greymantle, Arcavius has served with the Argents almost since their founding. He was among those assigned to Northrend very early on, suffering a serious injury during his service there which ultimately led to his assignment to Jude’s command. A curious bookworm and researcher, he is well-suited to the role of clerk for first the Retribution and now for the 58th Argent Crusade.