Richard Knaak: The Well of Eternity

And as Cenarius finished, the light drifted over to Malfurion, sinking harmlessly into his head.

The night elf’s eyes opened.

“Malfurion!”

Tyrande’s voice was the first thing that registered with Malfurion and he quickly seized upon it, using it as a tether, a lifeline. He pulled himself from the abyss of unconsciousness toward a bright but comforting light.

And when he opened his eyes, it was to see Tyrande under the morning sun. Surprisingly, the daylight did not bother him and he even thought that it revealed to him a Tyrande so beautiful he could not at first believe it.

He almost told her, but then the presence of the others made him shut his feelings inside again. He settled for touching her hand, then acknowledging the others.

“The—the shield—” His voice sounded like that of a frog.

“Is it—”

“Gone,” replied a figure who was and was not a night elf. To Malfurion, surely this had to be Krasus. “For now, the Burning Legion has been held in check…at least in one place.”

Malfurion nodded. He knew that the war was not over, that his people still faced annihilation. Yet, that did not take away from the night’s triumph. If nothing else, there was still hope.

“We will fight them,” Tyrande promised. “We will save our world.”

“They can be beaten,” agreed Brox, brandishing proudly the weapon that the young druid had helped create. “This I know.”

Krasus remained pragmatic. “They can…but we will need more help. We will need the dragons.”

“You’ll need more than the dragons!” Cenarius bellowed.

“And I go now to see to that!” He stepped from the others, but gave Malfurion one last smile. “You’ve made me proud, my thero’shan …my honored student.”

“Thank you, shan’do.” He watched as the demigod melted back into the trees.

“Do we return to Suramar now?” asked a figure in a Guard officer’s uniform. Malfurion could not place him, but assumed the others had a reason for him being here.

“Yes,” said Krasus. “We return to Suramar.”

With Tyrande’s help, Malfurion rose. “But only for a short time. The portal through which the demons flowed was destroyed, but, unlike the shield, the Highborne can remake it easily. More will come, I’m afraid.”

Despite his wish otherwise, no one disagreed. Malfurion looked to the direction of Zin-Azshari. A terrible evil had come to his land, one that had to be stopped before it could raze all in its path. Malfurion had helped in great part to stop the Burning Legion’s initial advance and, for reasons he could not himself explain, he did not doubt that it would somehow fall to him again to assist in keeping the invading demons from destroying his beloved Kalimdor.

Malfurion only prayed that when that time came he would be found ready to face them…or else not only Kalimdor but the entire world risked obliteration.

Continued in

War of the Ancients book two

The Demon Soul

Richard A. Knaak is The New York Times bestselling fantasy author of 26 novels and over a dozen short pieces, including THE LEGEND OF HUMA and NIGHT OF BLOOD for Dragonlance and DAY OF THE DRAGON for WarCraft . He has also written the popular Dragonrealm series and several independent pieces. His works have been published in several languages, most recently Russian, Turkish, Chinese, Czech, German, and Spanish. He has also adapted the Korean Manga, RAGNAROK, published by Tokyopop, for American audiences and will be overseeing the new WarCraft Manga, the first volume of which will be out about the same time as WELL OF ETERNITY. In addition to the second volume of WAR OF THE ANCIENTS—THE DEMON SOUL, the author is at work on EMPIRE OF BLOOD, the final book in his epic Dragonlance trilogy, THE MINOTAUR WARS.

Future works include THE BURNING LEGION—the conclusion to the WarCraft trilogy—and a third Diablo novel. His most recent hardcover, TIDES OF BLOOD, the sequel to NIGHT, was just released by Wizards of the Coast.