Legacy of Ruin, Chapter 5: Destiny

If captain Adane was happy to see Llorrin, he didn't show it. He looked up from his map –which, in the meantime, had become somewhat closer to being finished- and folded it slowly, taking him in with his dark, almost black eyes.

"Llorrin" he said, with little warmth in his voice. The captain sighed as he looked the lad over. Adane's eyes then strayed briefly to the addled painting on the wall. Llorrin tried hard not to look as well.

"You are late."

"My apologies, captain."

"You have exceeded the time you got for your mission by two weeks. The fact you brought back more ships and survivors than any of the other captains changes little. Still, considering this was only your first time commanding a ship… you'll have to tell me how you managed that."

Even though it had likely been by accident the notion of being referred to as a captain almost made Llorrin swell with pride, but he kept his body under control, convinced it was the worst possible of times to show pride. He was about to answer his captain when Adane discovered the large storm crow hopping about at Llorrin's feet.

"No" Adane immediately said, raising a hand. "First tell me why you brought that thing in here."

"Eh, those things are both related, captain" Llorrin explained with a faint smile.

The captain raised his eyebrows. If Llorrin didn't know better he'd think the captain was doubting his sanity. Llorrin shrugged and looked at the crow.

"Elduin?"

Adane jumped up and reached for his cutlass at the sight of the transformation that took place in front of him. He stopped when he saw that the elf-like creature before his eyes didn't make any threatening movements. Instead, the druid bowed slowly, his tattered cloak rustling like leaves.

"Ishnu-alah, captain Adane. The boy has already told me many great things about you" the druid said calmly. Llorrin shifted uncomfortably and blushed a little.

"Who are you?" Adane demanded, his eyes narrowing. He relaxed, but only slightly, as his hand remained close to his cutlass. Elduin slowly straightened his back.

"I am Elduin. Everything you need to know about me will no doubt become clear through Llorrin's report. The reason for my presence here, however, is far more important than my identity."

Adane's voice sounded doubtful. "How so?" He looked at Llorrin. "Llorrin? Care to explain?"

"I thought it would be better for you to be the first to see him in this form, captain, or I might not have been able to fetch him an audience with you. Eh… You know what some of the men are like" Llorrin said.

"Hm. A valid point" Adane had to admit.

"Elduin's kinsmen are at war with the Horde as well, captain. Once he heard about our mission, he decided to seek us out, hoping he could convince us to continue fighting the orcs."

Adane looked like he was bracing himself against bad news to come.

"On whose authority? We have our orders" he said with a stern look in Elduin's direction, his otherwise commanding voice suddenly thin as paper.

Llorrin swallowed. "He… told us the same thing the warlock did, my captain" he confirmed his captain's fears.

Adane sighed and sunk back down again on his chair. He suddenly looked much older than a few moments before.

"So it is as I feared."

None of them had anything to say to that. Elduin's expression was unreadable, while Llorrin seemed taken aback by this sudden display of weakness, where he would have expected anger. When Adane's hand began to clench into a fist Llorrin's face lighted up, slightly.

"Daelin was murdered, and some of the men would not even agree we should go and avenge him."

Llorrin raised his eyebrows.

"The admiral's orders were clear: 'Should any harm befall me or Benedict-" he started reciting the orders, relieved the recollection of those tormenting words finally came in handy.

"It's not me you have to convince" Adane said irritatedly. "No one questions the admiral's orders, but they doubt our… sources."

The notion that men within their own ranks were opposing the idea of fighting the Horde angered Llorrin. Even if it was a minority, it meant a huge problem. They were going to need everyone.

"Admiral Proudmoore would always prefer this course of action" he said stubbornly. "He wouldn't want us to sit back while the Horde is expanding their borders and growing stronger each day."

Adane nodded, but made a face that showed he didn't think that argument would be enough to convince the rest of the fleet.

"Elduin" he said, for the first time sounding somewhat cordial. "You wouldn't happen to know about Lieutenant Benedict's fate at Tiragarde?"

"They were wiped out by the same storm that wrecked your fleet. A Theramore garrisson has taken their place" Elduin said. Adane shrugged, shaking his head.

"If you speak the truth, we have to return. However, knowing Alverold… I fear he will not abandon our task without solid evidence."

"Then let's stop waiting for him! After all it's his fault this expedition is taking so long, and for all we know he might be dead, so-" Llorrin started, but a stern look from Adane shut him up and made him realize he'd gone too far.

"If you will, captain, my people could easily provide you with maps of Kalimdor, making your mission here redundant" the druid spoke up. He was baffled that these humans had not considered the possibility of friendly civilizations existing on Kalimdor. They truly were very much fixed on the orcs…

"That's all well and good, but only Lieutenant Alverold has the authority to decide whether or not we should trust you, and he's still missing in action. He was put in charge of this expedition. You wouldn't have happened to find him, did you?" Adane asked rhetorically.

"Elduin found many ships and sent them back here-" Llorrin said wryly.

"-but I'm afraid none of them had a captain named Alverold" the night elf finished his sentence for him.

"I'm worried that we may get stuck here" Adane admitted, not hiding his disdain. His eyes were fixed on the painting of Kul Tiras. Llorrin got an idea.

"Jaina Proudmoore is still in command of Theramore. With Admiral Proudmoore dead, she is the nearest source of true authority this fleet has. Perhaps we should seek her out and-"

"No!"

Adane and Elduin shared a startled look when they realized they had spoken simultaneously.

"With all due respect for your admiral's daughter, but she has no mind to lead a war. Strange as it may be, the soldiers I had spoken to were given orders to avoid hostilities with the orcs if they could."

Adane made a rude sound at that notion.

"I agree with the- with whatever you are" he said with a wave of his hand.

"A night elf" Llorrin informed him quickly. Adane continued uninterrupted.

"Jaina's birthright does give her authority, even more so now that Daelin is dead, but if she is allowed to take command of this fleet, we'll never go to war against the Horde, that much is certain. The girl spent too much time on her studybooks, too much time seeing princes, too much time locked in the gardens of Dalaran. Too much, too much. No, she is not fit for war. Not at all," he growled.

She may have saved a lot of people from the Scourge by leading them here, but she also refuses to retaliate, while the Horde killed so many of her men. And where was she when her father died? Llorrin thought, recalling everything Elduin had told him about Daelin's daughter. He was unsure of what to think of Jaina. Part of him admired her, he also couldn't understand her leniency towards the orcs. Still, despite her obvious misgivings, he found the way Adane spoke about her somewhat unsettling, especially since it was coming from a man who had been so loyal to her father.

The conversation stopped, until Llorrin got another idea. He turned to Elduin.

"Those men you spoke of, were they happy with Jaina's commands, avoiding hostilities with the orcs, I mean?"

Elduin shook his head. "Most were not, and they made it clear in no uncertain terms. Many claimed to have lost comrades to the Horde. Although none would speak a bad word of the girl, most clearly harbored no positive feelings towards the Horde whatsoever. However, they seemed fiercely loyal at the same time and willing to set aside their personal qualms out of respect for Jaina."

That was almost exactly what Llorrin had wanted to hear. He turned to his captain, who seemed to understand what he was getting at.

"Captain, we cannot wait for Lieutenant Alverold's return. If he's dead, we may wait forever and rot here. We may not have enough men to fight the Horde, but we should meet them in battle nevertheless. Surely, even if we're driven back, Jaina will not be able to contain her people's resentment for the orcs to the point she could prevent them from coming to our aid."

Adane cleared his throat.

"It's true what you said about our men, but we cannot repeat the mistakes Daelin made. If we're going to face an entire nation by ourselves we'll need everyone to rally behind the same banner, and we can't risk being at odds with Jaina and Theramore, either. Trusting blindly that her people will come to our aid if we attack the orcs is a folly, a risk we cannot take. Besides, that didn't help Daelin the first time either, if I am to assume Jaina's forces did help him in his battle."

Elduin nodded.

"The forces of Theramore stood together with your admiral against the orcs at Theramore, but they ceased to fight after he had perished."

"Why wouldn't they fight on our side again?!" Llorrin exclaimed, slowly getting more and more frustrated at the time this was taking. To him, everything was crystal clear.

"Because Daelin could override Jaina's authority! We, cannot," Adane said in a voice that warned him about the tone he was making. Llorrin lowered his voice, but didn't let up, even though he was growing more and more desperate.

"We're following his orders. That's about as much authority as anyone could ever ask for."

Adane waved his hand dismissively. "That's a risk we cannot take, and besides, our orders were not meant for Jaina's people. I will hear no more about it."

Llorrin had been forced to bite his tongue at Adane's earlier comment on Admiral Proudmoore's 'mistakes'. How could his own captain have been so respectless? He wasn't about to give up this easily. Llorrin turned to Elduin again. His knowledge – his lies, perhaps – were the key to swinging this situation in his favour.

"Theramore still stands even though the Horde ravaged through it. Surely this must mean some of our own men survived the battle as well. They can't all have been killed."

"From what I gathered, those that survived were turned into the Theramore army" Elduin said with a nod. That wasn't what Llorrin had hoped for or expected.

"While Benedict was still holding out on the shores? While they knew of Jaina's…" he looked at Adane to check whether the captain was giving him a warning glance. He wasn't. "… betrayal?" The word left a foul taste in Llorrin's mouth, but it had nevertheless felt like the best way to describe Jaina's pacifist attitude towards the orcs. Denying a man, no, a nation, its vengeance was as much an offense as the offense that had gone before the lust for vengeance itself.

Elduin spread his hands.

"They had little choice at the time. Perhaps those men hoped Jaina would eventually change her mind. Perhaps they thought they should live to fight another day. Perhaps they will follow a proper leader when the time comes."

Adane was less positive.

"Perhaps, however, some of our own fleet will choose to flock to her when they learn she's alive and in command of a city," he said.

Adane was staring at Llorrin intently. His gaze made him uncomfortable and he felt as though he was supposed to say something, so he did.

"We don't have to tell the men about Jaina. As it stands hardly anyone in this fleet knows anything about Theramore. We could simply launch the attack, and-" he started.

"You would lie to our men?"

Llorrin shrugged, slightly, his careless visage a poor reflection of the shame he truly felt inside.

"If that's what it takes."

He couldn't say it was a lie. They had originally set out to defeat the orcs, why should it be a problem to go and do so now? It felt like he was giving away a piece of his soul suggesting this, but his anger towards the Horde won it over his reason.

"No. A plan built on lies is sure to collapse at the most critical stage. I will not lie to the men about Jaina, or her pacifist intentions. If there's one opinion almost all of us share, however, it's that this damn expedition has taken more than long enough. Although not all of them will trust Elduin on his offer, even the most skeptical captains would rather take this chance than sailing further into this unknown land. In the morning, I will try to convince the captains to set sail for Tiragarde."

"But then how will we make sure Jaina doesn't take control of-" Llorrin protested, even though things were already looking up.

"I will tell them we're not under Jaina's jurisdiction. There is another, Daelin's actual heir."

"Tandred?!" Llorrin blurted out.

The tone of Llorrin's voice hadn't escaped Elduin.

"Should I assume this Tandred doesn't have much of a warrior's heart either?" the druid asked flatly.

"That's one way of putting it," Llorrin said sarcastically, a look that bordered on disgust on his face. If they were going to let Tandred take command of the fleet, they might as well bury their swords right now. Tandred was a good man, but he'd never agree on something as risky as an all out war against the Horde. Seeing home again – if it still existed – was tempting, but right now his destiny was here, in Kalimdor.

"Tandred is not the ideal leader we can wish for now, but he is still a better choice than Jaina," Adane explained, seemingly letting the direspect Llorrin had shown to Tandred moments before slip, though Llorrin feared he'd come back on it later.

"And he is many more miles away" Adane added cleverly.

Llorrin finally caught on to his captain's plan.

"We can use his authority to escape Jaina's grasp, but that'll only work temporarily, and I doubt Tandred will support our fight against the Horde. It's more likely he'll keep us to defend Kul Tiras," Llorrin said quickly.

Or send us against the undead he thought, shivering involuntarily. Llorrin was unable to hide his disdain for Tandred completely. How the admiral could have bred such a weak-chinned son was beyond him.

Adane's eyes strayed to his desk. "We're only buying time with this plan, I know. Nevertheless, it is the best we can do right now. I will think of something else."

We could just stay here and have Jaina remain oblivious to our existence, Llorrin thought, but he quickly realized such a course of action meant a dead end.

"It is decided then" Adane said after a few moments of mulling over the plan. "If I can convince the captains, we will set sail for Tiragarde tomorrow, where we will ascertain whether your night elf friend is speaking the truth. If he is, we will continue our way to-"

"Theramore" Llorrin said quickly, interrupting Adane for the first time in his life.

"Theramore? I thought we agreed Jaina-"

"Captain, you said we would need all the men we could get. We can't take over Theramore, but we could convince the remains of the Admiral Proudmoore's fleet who reside there to join us."

"It's too risky. I will not go there and risk Jaina winning over my men," Adane said.

"Then send me, with a small amount of your most loyal men" Llorrin suggested, unable to tell what was making him so audacious. "If you manage to take command of the fleet, you could keep them out of her reach. You were a close friend of Admiral Proudmoore, captain. Surely you should be able to do at least that."

"Theramore it is, then," Adane decided. He suddenly looked very determined. This was no longer a man caught in grief over the loss of an old friend. This was a man that was certain he'd be able to convince his fellow captains to sail with him to war.

"Llorrin, in the morning I want you to take two of our fastest frigates to Tiragarde. Your crew will be awaiting you. I will arrange everything. You will travel ahead of the rest of the fleet and ascertain whether this druid is speaking the truth when you reach the keep. If he is, you will continue to Theramore and try and rally as many men as you can for this crusade. Our orders were to sail to Tiragarde, not Theramore, so I should be able to keep the fleet at and keep them out of sight and out of Jaina's clutches. You will join us at Tiragarde with the men you've gathered, and from thereon we shall sail for Kul Tiras to gain Tandred's approval."

Llorrin was elated.

"Yes, sir" he said, unable to keep a big grin from crossing his face. The smirk slipped from his face when he saw the way Adane was looking at Elduin.

"I am prone to believe you, druid, but know that I am still taking a huge risk trusting you. I could be making an enormous fool of myself if I find Daelin is still alive, and this is just some native ploy to slow down our exploration of your continent. You speak of your people, of maps you are willing to part with, of an enmity with the orcs, but you have no evidence…"

Adane let an uneasy silence reign.

"Llorrin, this night elf will be travelling with you as your prisoner. Keep him locked up until you've ascertained the truth. If it turns out he's been lying, execute him. If he tries to escape, it should be proof enough he's lying, and you should turn your sails" he finally said.

"But captain!" Llorrin protested, appalled at the thought of having to put Elduin in a cage.

"Should I consider picking someone else to lead this mission?" Adane asked, which shut Llorrin up immediately.

"The course is set," Adane stated. To Llorrin's surprise Elduin hadn't even flinched at the notion he was going to be locked up.

"If this is a fate I have to carry for the good of my people and this expedition, I shall" the druid said with a bow. He turned and left the cabin. Though he kept a straight face, locking the druid up didn't sit well with Llorrin. He wanted to go after him, but was stopped by Adane's voice, which carried an unusual amount of concern and compassion.

"Llorrin. Your youth makes you impatient, but know that no justice will be done by throwing your life away. To attain our vengeance we will have to take careful, deliberate steps. For the sake of upholding Daelin's charge, make sure I do not lose you."

This time Llorrin's eyes did follow Adane's gaze to the renewed spot on the painting, and for the first time he had an idea about what the original version must have contained.