one hundred Alliance lives lost in the Northrend campaign.”
Jaina felt the breath go out of her and she stared at the unlit candle, clasped in a hand that suddenly started shaking. She looked around … there had to be at least two hundred people in the cathedral, and she knew that others were gathering outside, wanting to participate in the remembrance ceremony even though the cathedral was filled to capacity. Twenty, thirty—perhaps forty or fifty thousand people … dead. She closed her eyes for a moment and turned back to the archbishop, painfully aware that the gnome couple next to her was staring at her and whispering something.
When she heard raised voices and startled gasps from the back of the cathedral, it was almost a relief. She turned and saw two weather-beaten Sentinels talking animatedly with the two priestesses. Even as she rose and tried to exit quietly, she saw Varian already on the move.
The human priestess, apparently against the wishes of the dwarf, who looked put out, was steering the two Sentinels into a room on the left-hand side. Jaina hastened to join them. Even as she walked through the entrance to the room, Varian joined her. There was no time for greetings, but the two exchanged acknowledging glances.
Varian turned to the paladins who had also moved to join them. “Lord Grayson,” he said to the tall man with black hair and an eye patch, “get these soldiers some food and drink.”
“Aye, sir,” the paladin said, hastening off to do so himself. Such was the attitude of paladins; any service, however humble, that helped another was of the Light.
“Please, sit,” Varian said.
The taller of the two night elves, a purple-skinned woman with white hair, shook her head. “Thank you, Your Majesty, but this is no pleasure errand. We come with dire news and stand ready to report back as soon as possible.”
Varian nodded, tensing slightly. “Then deliver your news.”
She nodded. “I am Sentinel Valarya Riverrun. This is Sentinel Ayli Leafwhisper. We come with reports of attacks by the Horde in Ashenvale. The treaty has been violated.”
Jaina and Varian exchanged glances. “We knew when we signed the agreement that there would be a few holdouts, on both sides,” Jaina said hesitantly. “The borders have long been a source of—”
“I would not be here if this were a skirmish, Lady Jaina Proudmoore,” Valarya said icily. “We were not born yesterday. We know to expect the occasional row. This was not such a thing. This was a slaughter. A slaughter, when the Horde claims to be peaceable!”
Jaina and Varian listened, Jaina with ever-widening eyes and Varian slowly clenching his fists, as the gory tale unfolded. A dozen Sentinels had been ambushed as they guarded a convoy of harvested herbs and mineral carts making their way through the green forests of Ashenvale. None had survived. Their deaths were only discovered when the convoy was two days late in arriving at its destination. The carts and all they had contained were gone.
Valarya paused and took a deep breath, as if calming herself. Her sister Sentinel stepped beside her and squeezed her shoulder. Varian was frowning, but Jaina pressed on.
“It is indeed a violation of the agreement,” Jaina said, “and as such needs to be brought to Thrall’s attention. But even so—I’m afraid I still don’t see what makes you call this a slaughter rather than an unfortunately not uncommon incident.”
Ayli winced and turned away. Jaina looked from one to the other. These were warriors, who had likely been fighting for longer than Jaina had been alive. What had rattled them so?
“Let me put it this way, Lady Proudmoore,” Valarya said through clenched teeth. “We weren’t able to recover the bodies.”
Jaina swallowed. “Why not?”
“Because they had been methodically chopped into several pieces,” Valarya said, “and those pieces were taken away by carrion eaters. This was, of course, after they had been skinned. We’re not sure if they were alive for that or not.”
Jaina’s hand flew to her mouth. Bile rose in her throat. This was beyond obscene, beyond an atrocity. …
“The skins were hung like linens from a nearby tree. And on that tree, written in elven blood, were Horde symbols.”
“Thrall!” bellowed Varian. He whirled on Jaina, glaring at her. “He authorized this! And you prevented me from killing him when I had the chance!”
“Varian,” Jaina said, fighting not to be sick, “I’ve fought beside him. I’ve helped negotiate treaties with him—treaties he has always honored. There is nothing about this that sounds like anything