no move yet. Su’ura realized that he was waiting for her to stand. Once she did that, he would move in to finish her. While the night elf did not fear him, she knew from the way her body ached that she was injured inside. More important, this was Garrosh Hellscream, whose prowess in combat had already become legendary.
Another nightsaber suddenly came between them. Unafraid, the orc turned to face this new foe. The cat swatted at Garrosh but did not close with the hulking warrior.
“Run!” called the rider. Only then did Su’ura realize that it was Illiyana.
But her would-be rescuer had underestimated Garrosh Hellscream. The orc lunged under the nightsaber’s claws. He took the axe and jammed it upward, beneath the great cat’s jaw.
Illiyana’s mount yowled and pulled back sharply. Blood seeping from the wound above its throat, the animal writhed in agony.
The scout was tossed toward the corpse of the other cat. Illiyana struck the heavy body hard, then rolled over.
Su’ura had not waited all this time. She had risen to a crouching position, trying to determine not where to flee but how to help Illiyana battle Garrosh. Now she instead had to rescue her rescuer.
Although badly wounded by the warchief’s daring attack, the trained nightsaber returned to the struggle. Su’ura used the animal’s bravery to help Illiyana up.
“That . . . did not work . . . as I planned,” the other night elf gasped.
“How are you?”
Illiyana grimaced. “I think my left arm is either broken or perhaps just pulled.”
“Then we had better hurry away from here.”
“I can fight—”
“No argument! We are behind the line now! We have got to get back to the rest!”
The horrific wail of Garrosh’s axe cut through the air again. It was followed by an angry and pained roar from the nightsaber. Su’ura did not look back. She regretted the cat’s sacrifice but had no choice. To stay would be suicide for both fighters.
Several yards to the west, she saw some of the defenders again regrouping, but farther to the east the situation grew more and more desperate. There, individual Sentinels, cut off from hope, fought against one or more foes, odds too often quickly fatal. Su’ura watched in horror as an orc lopped off the head of one of her officers. The body of the Sentinel staggered a few steps before finally collapsing. Elsewhere, severed limbs marked the dooms of other night elves. Now and then, a glaive would go spinning past, but those signs of resistance grew less and less with each passing second.
Su’ura and Illiyana had managed to get within a few yards of a small party of archers when Su’ura sensed that they were not alone. With regret, she shoved Illiyana toward the other defenders, hoping that the other night elf’s reflexes were still sharp enough to compensate for the sudden loss of the commander’s help.
Su’ura barely got her weapon up in time to prevent an older orc with an eye patch and covered in maritime tattoos from cleaving her in two with his heavy axe. He was no Garrosh, but his experience and sheer determination put her on the defensive from the first moment.
“I’ll make this quick,” he rasped. “You wouldn’t want to be around when he unleashes them, anyway. . . .”
She had no idea what he was talking about and did not care. What concerned Su’ura more was that the leg that had been trapped under the dead nightsaber was now tingling. It had been injured, after all, and now that injury was causing problems with her balance.
The night elf followed Garrosh’s trick, suddenly lunging into her opponent when he would have expected otherwise. The startled orc backed away. Su’ura slashed with the axe, but managed only a thin red line across his arm.
An arrow from behind her struck the ground between them. Another bounced off the orc’s shoulder armor.
The green-skinned warrior snarled, then withdrew as two more arrows harassed him.
Two Sentinels seized Su’ura and pulled her back to the archers. As they did, the commander heard the buzzing of a shredder. Some of the goblins had managed to get their foul mechanisms on their feet again and were tearing apart what the falling trees had not already destroyed.
Su’ura smelled fire. The main building was ablaze, whether by the goblins or some other source, she did not know. She considered taking a chance and rushing into it to retrieve some of the valuable charts stored there, but knew that it was too late to do