Mohryn's Tale 5

…In what manner does one know sorrow…happiness…? How does one know loss or gain? If one does not fight how does one know the harms of battle beyond the superficial glance through the lens of the past?

My father told of wars far before me, of Azshara and of Illidan. Flashes of magic wisped around in my head, meeting with the clash of steel. In my mind’s eye I was with my father as he fought…my mother as she stood valiantly beside. None dare stood before their fury… but what does a child know of bloodshed?

I could see the storm approach as the Echinoid cut through the waters with reckless abandon. Its jaws were set tight, closing the rows of wind around us as its thunderous laughter mocked our plight and still the cannon fodder fell. I still see her when I close my eyes…

Equinox threw open the fury of her men and ship when the first shots were fired. Hope was an afterthought. Hail and fire rained down upon our heads and yet the Echinoid prevailed…volley after volley. Thunder was echoed with gunpowder…the billowing wind with the cries of death. I did all I could to stem the unnatural fury of the storm…I still hear her in the silence of my thoughts…

Wood buckled to our indignation. Men died to our hands…to my hands. They cried out for our deaths in theirs and still the storm mocked us.

Sulfur and blood, the ‘scent of hell’, rose through the sheets of rain bringing down a mixture that stung our eyes. Desperation overcame thought as the Echinoid’s guns went silent. The madness of battle rushed in to meet the void. As they boarded, Equinox unfurled her cloak. It was as if the hand of Ragnaros had risen from the core of the world to swallow those before her. One ship and three fold men fell to her wrath. Then the end came…

No manner of magic could shield us from the torrent of volleys that came. Within minutes the Echinoid was no more and I was merely another piece of flotsam amidst the cackling storm. The laughter passed swiftly and I was left with a familiar yet unknown voice.

“ Dalaran? Yes of course it is a good choice Abbess..”

With little left I submitted to the veil of unconsciousness.

I awoke already beaten and chained to a rock wall. What personal items I had were taken from me or still floating out at sea. I was surrounded by men clad in red sashes… For sometime I was mocked for little more than my race…but then the questions came. Questions to which I had no answer came between the passing moments of inhuman torture. I could hear Equinox some distance away…her pain I have not the heart to tell.

I knew little of the unfolding events I had stumbled into and luckily they knew little of me. Three months of torture I endured. I could no longer here her past the first…

My usefulness reduced itself to the mines where I spent another four months…biding my time. It was amidst one of the numberless days that I saw her once more, the mistress of the Echinoid. She was broken and bore the chains of a rabid animal but still I could see the fire within her. She would not tell me of her ordeal and I did not ask. Our paths crossed quickly and frequently from then. Thus our escape was planned.

I had long feigned my broken spirit beneath a freshly scarred body. When the chains were released from my numb hands I finally knew bloodshed. Elune’s grace found me once again in the form of my pack and journal. With Equinox in tow we passed from underneath Westfall’s stone to Northshire Abbey.

There Equinox fought yet again for her life. Infection had followed her along the path to safety…I will never forget the year of true peace…