Richard Knaak - The Demon Soul

The relentless advance finally came to a halt.

“They are stalled!” shouted Krasus. “Shift focus again and push harder! We must begin to retake ground!”

Again they adjusted the locations of their attacks. A few areas quieted, but just as the Burning Legion sought to take advantage of those lulls, someone among the spellcasters filled the gaps. Nowhere could the demons now stand their positions, much less press forward.

“They’re giving way!” Malfurion called.

“Do not let up!” Krasus gritted his teeth. “Rhonin, I am alerting the captain!”

The druid dared to look at the human for a moment. “What does he mean?”

“It took some convincing, but Shadowsong rode to Ravencrest! He’s been waiting for our signal!”

“For what?”

In answer, the battle horns sounded. A sudden electricity filled the night elves. Gone was the dying hope, the resignation. Once more the soldiers responded to the horns’ cries with vigor, and the host advanced.

The spellcasters adjusted as they, too, slowly moved forward on foot. Their trained cats following close behind, they marched with the soldiers toward the enemy.

And finally the Burning Legion began to retreat full.

First the night elves crossed the ruined gap that the Moon Guard and wizards had earlier wrought to buy them time. Then they started to climb their way over the first of the demon dead. They also passed many of their own, lost hours earlier, but more and more, it was the demons who lay as corpses before the soldiers. The Burning Legion, softened by the unpredictable attacks of the spellcasters, fell away easily as the night elves cut into them.

Another set of horns blew. A lengthy, well-savored roar of anticipation unexpectedly erupted throughout the host. The night elves surged forward, more than doubling their pace.

“Ravencrest must follow the plan!” Krasus snapped. “They cannot chase the Legion too far or too fast!”

A flight of arrows fell upon the demons, slaying scores more. Panther riders charged the remaining fragments of the opposing line, the great cats eagerly tearing into their prey.

Malfurion’s heart beat swifter. “We’re doing it!”

“Do not let up!” stressed the mage.

They did not. Fueled by their success, the druid and the others continued adding to the support of the troops. Exhausted though they might be, they understood well that this was a most critical juncture. Mount Hyjal still loomed behind them, but now it receded slightly.

Then, another welcome surprise—chanting came from the center of the advance. The Sisterhood of Elune, resplendent in their battle armor, strengthened the fighters further. Day might have held precedence at the moment, but the priestesses’ rhythmic singing literally fed the nocturnal warriors. It was as if the moon herself suddenly hung over the host.

Yard by yard they struggled, demons falling with each step. Krasus looked to the shrouded sky and said, “Now! Strike the Eredar at will!”

Every spellcaster focused his efforts on the airborne warlocks. Thunder ravaged the sky. Lightning flashed in a jarring display of colors. Winds howled.

They could not see the results of their attacks, but they could sense them in other ways. The Eredar tried to regroup, but they had to also protect their bearers. That left them strained, weaker. Whenever a spell slew one of the demon mages, the defenders felt a sudden lessening of the evil forces arrayed against them. And the more that happened, the harder Krasus’s group attacked the survivors.

At last, the warlocks pulled completely back. Their retreat left the monstrous warriors on the ground bereft of any shield against the wizards and the Moon Guard.

“They’re fleeing!” Malfurion whispered, awed by the success of his party.

“They are too valuable. Archimonde will need them again,” Krasus replied more dourly. “And he will need them again. The war is not won, but the battle is saved.”

“Should we not keep after them until we push them through the portal and back into their hellish domain?”

Krasus chuckled, so unusual a sound from him that even Rhonin started. “You sound more like your brother than you, Malfurion. Let not the euphoria of the moment take you too far. This host will never survive a pitched battle all the way back to Zin-Azshari. They are running on will alone right now.”

“Then…what is the point?”

“Look around you, young night elf. Your people survive. That is more than they thought they could do only an hour before.”

“Will Ravencrest follow your instructions, though?” asked Rhonin, peering back to look for the noble’s banner.

“I believe he will. Look there, to the north.”

The advance had slowed there and now the soldiers seemed more interested in securing the ground that they had gained rather than taking more. Mounted officers went about waving other soldiers back to the main group. Some seemed a bit disappointed, but others looked more than happy to rest, even if they still had to stand to do it.

Within minutes, the entire front line had completely halted. Night elves soon began clearing the carnage and creating a strong front line, with solemn but determined warriors positioning themselves to repel anyone who might seek to undo the miracle that they had accomplished.

And only then did Krasus exhale. “He listened. Praise the Aspects. He listened.”

Ahead of them they could see only the vague shapes of the horde. The Burning Legion had moved far beyond the range of the arrows, even beyond the efforts of the weary spellcasters at the moment.

“We’ve done it,” Rhonin uttered, his voice almost a croak. “We kept them from pushing us back beyond Mount Hyjal.”

“Yes,” murmured Krasus, eyes not on the demons, but rather the haggard defenders. “Yes, we did. Now the most difficult part begins.”

Mannoroth bent before the black portal, his stocky front legs in a kneeling position and his wide, leathery wings folded tight behind him. The tusked demon tried to make himself as small as possible, for he now communed with Sargeras, who seemed not at all in a pleasant mood.

The way is not yet open to me…I had expected better…

“We struggle,” Mannoroth admitted, “but the task…it’s almost as if the world itself seeks to prevent your coming, Great One.”

I will not be denied…

“N-no, Great One.”

There was silence for a time, then the voice in Mannoroth’s head said, There is a disruption, a wrongness…there are those who should not be but are, and those who seek to awake what should not be awoken.

The massive demon did not pretend to understand, but he still replied, “Yes, Sargeras.”

They are the key. They must be hunted.

“Archimonde is in the field and the Houndmaster is long on the trail. The transgressors will be brought to ground.”

The sinister-looking gap fluctuated, squirming as if alive. Mannoroth could feel the lord of the Legion’s desire to make his way into this rich world. The frustration Sargeras radiated chilled even his hardened lieutenant.

One must be brought whole…so that I may have the pleasure of tearing him asunder slowly and delicately.

An image materialized full-blown in Mannoroth’s mind. An insignificant creature of the same race as the Highborne. He was younger, though, and wore, in comparison to his fellows, rather drab garments of green and brown. The vision the demon had of him showed the night elf in the palace itself. Mannoroth recognized the chamber where the original portal had been created…a place now only a windswept ruin.

Mark him well.

“I have already, Great One. Archimonde, Hakkar, and I all watch for his presence. One of us will snare him.”