Chapter 13 - Offensive on All Sides! But Which One Am I On?

Loriel sighed in the heat of the post-dawn sun. It beat against her eyes and skin with an intense heat. Endless dunes were all she could see. In her arms lay a limp, battered, bloody, and scraped up Jennifer. Behind her limped her lynx, fur dark with blood. The three were steadily crossing the treacherous desert, and though they couldn't see it, not far from the Horde camp.

Lori huffed and trudged forward through the sand. Her legs ached for rest, and her eyes ached for darkness. Arms weary from carrying her injured partner. Mentally, she refused to fall. She would never fail, never again. And so her progress went slowly, but it went. Never stop moving forward... She thought. Her gear clinked as it bumped against her in her endless march.
~
Two scouts burst forward with extreme speed, what they had been trained to do, and met with Lori while she was still a little ways off from the base. "Huntress! Status update!" They called, closing in quickly. She mentally groaned, and slowed even more.

"Objective fucking complete. Two wounded, bad shit, but none dead. Can you please help me to get them the fuck back to the camp?" She felt vulgar from her language, but she was far too tired and worn to care. They didn't flinch at the remarks, probably heard it all the time. One lifted Jennifer from her arms, and the other picked up the lynx (It showed its affection by licking his face, much to the displeasure of the scout.) and moved with her toward the camp.

A priest homed in on them after entrance. Resting in the shade of a tent with her injured, she glanced up lazily from a bed as he pushed in. Face covered by a hood, he wasted no time, said nothing. Light flared into life around his hands and bolts whizzed out, striking the cat and the woman, and flesh knitted itself together, bruises vanished, and injuries faded.

The crusty, dried blood, however, did not move. It coated them as they shook themselves awake. Jen gripped her head, flopping onto her back in a groan. "Ugh, what happened?" She mumbled. The priest departed silently, robes brushing the sand. Jen's clothing had been changed, from the torn mail to some silk sleeping garments, reserved for the wounded.

"Well, you had the hell beaten out of you by a giant fucking scorpion." Loriel's head was pounding, and she mentally scolded herself for using the language again. She didn't want to make it a habit. Jennifer sighed, and lay against her pillows.

"Oh." She mumbled, sleep's fingers already gripping at her. Soft snores slipped from her throat moments later, body relaxed and restoring itself from the draining journey. Loriel followed suit moments later, eyes drooping closed, arms relaxed behind her head, lynx snuggled up against her side, its warm body heating her side.
~
That night, hoots and howls and moans awoke Loriel. Someone was having a sexy time, she thought wistfully. She had been lacking that for a long time. Just hearing them already had her turned on. Fingers dived into her silk pants, fingers toying around her slit. Fluids coated her fingers in moments, and wet her clothing. Despite how much she wanted the sexual stimulation, sleep wanted more to have her. And it had her, hand still resting on her cunt, she drifted back to sleep, dreaming of many fantasies, to the noise of sex across the camp.
~
Dawn came all too soon for her, and she rose up from the bed automatically. Everything she did after such was on auto, without brain recognition. She dresses herself in loose wool clothes, some pants with a drawstring and a thin shirt, with a light vest over that. With a dazed look she makes her way toward the tent flap. Lifting the gray material, she's met by a blast of sunlight, which awakens her.

Looking around groggily, she realizes she's back and dressed. Shrugging in relief at no longer having to march the desert, at least for now, Loriel moves to walk amongst the camp and discovered what had happened in her absent. Roughly eight hours after Roul and Aeris had left camp the first time, she had been deployed on the longest hunt of her life. Three extremely powerful Qiraji were found without guardians, and she had to hunt down, stalk each one to isolation, and slay them. Jennifer had been deployed to help her, in case of excess danger.

On the final target, he had seen her too early and initiated combat. He was a scorpion style beast, two huge pincers on both sides, and a massive tale curving upward behind him, two stingers at its end. It had bashed her lynx, but Jen had suffered the worst.

It had snatched her up, crushed her ribs, slammed her against a rock wall nearby, and would've done more, had Loriel not blasted it to pieces with magical arrows and a few explosives. It had been a quick, but bloody battle. They had been far north, and had a long way to travel. Unable to move, barely alive, Jennifer had to be carried, making the journey that much more tiring and long.

She snapped out of memory lane when a sight caught her off-guard. Fully naked except for a collar, was Aeris. She looked different, and not just because of her dress, or lack there of, but her body was physically different. Taller, maybe? Muscles more prevalent for sure, hair was short now. Her eyes! That was the most startling change, instead of green, they were like normal eyes, except almond. They were almost bored in expression, as she looked amongst the camp. Men cowed at her gaze, Lori noted. Attached to the collar, which was a leather band, no more, was a string, double helixed with another, which extended into the hands of a beautiful blood elf.

Her clothes were a bright purple, flamboyant in appearance with gaudy gold designs embroidered and a red streak here and there. Her hair was a deep crimson and fluttered in a mini wind that surrounded her alone. Blue eyes regarding everything with a scrutinizing gaze.

Next to her was a much more conservative girl, Lori decided. She wore plain blue robes that wrapped around her, blond hair drifting in the occasional desert breeze, eyes changing colors as they danced from person to person. Both were quite beautiful, if not small. Lori thought smugly, that she looked far better, tan instead of pale, with large breasts compared to theirs.

She waltzed up to Aeris who regarded her with a nod. "What's up? I've been gone, for how long I don't even know. I left after you guys did. Speaking of you guys, where's Roul?" She shot out questions one after another, lacking any pause between words.

In a haughty tone, the girl holding Aeris's leash spoke, "Go ahead, pet. Tell her what occurred during her absence." Aeris threw her a soft glare, and Lori mentally cheered for her. Aeris's cool gaze locked onto Lori.

Starting from the venture into the cave, Aeris related all the events from her side, skirting a bit over the amount of pregnancies she went through in such a small time, and entirely skipping the part of the eggs (Which no one but her knew about, excluding the Silithid.). When finished she sighed, the story had taken a bit, and the sun had shifted through the sky some, nearing its apex.

"Well... That's..." Lori struggled to find an appropriate adjective for the situation. And finally shrugged, losing her combat for words. Aeris nodded, agreeing with her about the indescribability.

Loriel took note of the pregnant stomach for the first time, and looked up with an arched eyebrow, "Is that...?" She gestured with her hands toward it, trailing her words off with a swirl of her hands. Aeris simply nodded and cradled the stomach lovingly. Loriel mentally worried for her, with such an odd mentality things could get hairy soon, when it came time for birth.

"Come on, Aeris." Kate had dropped the pretense of pet, which had been for comical purposes, rather than anything serious. "We need to see Roul, then the General, and in a little bit our good friend, whoever it is that's playing Ambassador for the head of Silvermoon." She listed out the events with a bored wave of her hand.

Aeris shrugged and followed her. Loriel briefly wondered if she should say or do anything to or for Aeris, and then dismissed the thought. Aeris had plenty to deal with, without Loriel's opinion convoluting the situation further. So she shrugged and went off back to check on Jennifer.
-
Aeris knew it was coming soon. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone, but she knew that birth would be that day. She vainly hoped that she could let them slip out and away quietly, at some point, but she doubted that would be possible. Aeris worried, her mind diverted. It wasn't till hot lips found hers that she found her way back to the present. Roul held her in his arms, mouth on hers, hungrily begging for her acceptance. And she gave it to him. Their lips parted and tongues tasseled, in a duel with one another. Kate reached in and pulled the two of them apart.

"I'm happy for your lovely reunion after the separation, but we need to focus on dealing with the people we're going to meet in a little while. Aeris needs to pose something pretty damn good if she wants to live. Almost the entire military has a mind to kill you. If nothing else, we need to last a while into the day. Madison and I may have a way to save you if all else is failing." She spoke quickly and business-like, her voice losing its honey flavor, far more bland when she had no emotion but a twinge of worry.

"First of all, making a good impression on the general is massively important. And that," Kate pointed at the pregnant belly, "will not be helping. Is it going to pop soon?" She asked, walking right up to Aeris and holding the thing, peering at it like an experiment.

Aeris rolled her eyes at the lady but spoke softly, "Yes. Today, any time, and we can accelerate it, but I want a guarantee of their livelihood at the time of birth and for two hours afterwards from you and anything you associate with." She spoke with a voice that brooked no debate or negotiation, she had a clear cut plan of what was to occur, and wasn't shifting it in the lightest.

Kate sighed and talked with Madison. They returned and nodded only a few moments after huddling to speak. "Fine, we'll go along with your idea of what will happen to them, how soon can you make them come out?"

"Now. Any time. I already said that."

"WONDERFUL, let's get moving!" Kate shouted with faked exuberance and excitement, dragging Aeris by the arm out into the camp and off to a secluded area.
~
Aeris watched the last of her children scuttle off into the sand toward the Hive, where she had sent them mentally. Her connection to the center was gone, but if one got in range she could communicate with it. Roul had refused to be present for the event, he wanted nothing to do with the bugs, and Aeris understood him.

"Now then, for what's going to happen with the general..." Kate began, setting off into a slew of orders of what was going to have to happen. Aeris found herself wishing she could just form her chitin and strike down some of the annoying figure heads, and take her new found friends and Roul away to somewhere nice.

The two had chosen to help her. She could never repay that debt to them. They had chosen to help her when no one else would. When she had told them this, they had told her they would take their payment often, with a wink. Aeris had giggled, and she still did when she thought of it. It was fun to mess around with them, all the passion though, was saved for Roul.
~
The General glared out from under a helmet when they entered his tent, slightly more spacious than the others, more of a pavilion than the other teepees. "Kate, Madison, Roul." He nodded to each one, but refused to deign a reply to Aeris. She reciprocated the same, returning his steely gaze with a blank, uncaring one.

She was to remain neutral and not speak a single word, let Kate and Madison do all the talking, and Roul stood next to her, following the same instructions. He was to appear to be defending Aeris. She briefly considered him, and decided he wasn't just pretending to defend her.

Kate was babbling on to the General of Aeris's usefulness. As a miracle of nature, they could study her and gain a one-up on the Silithid. They could use her as a combat weapon, with increased strength and so on. She could be wielded as a tool with her telecommunication to confuse enemy Silithid attempting to attack. So on and so forth.

The General simply sat there listening, seeming to ponder the usefulness of each suggestion as it was put out there, his eyes flashing with thoughts as he considered her possibilities. When Kate was finally out of information and out of breath, he started speaking in his gruff voice.

"Well. As it would seem, she could prove quite useful. I will throw my lot in with keeping her as a Militaristic tool. But it is up to your ambassador to decide her fate, life or death, not mine. I wish you luck, he'll be here only a little while from now." He left them with that, dismissing them with a wave of his hand, returning to strategizing the next attack.

Back in the Mage's tent, the four spoke to each other, considering what to do. "Well, it doesn't seem good. We brought the General over by just an infinitesimal amount; we can't do that with the Ambassador. We're calling in the trump card." Madison nodded, and went into a trance-like state.
~
Night was nigh upon them, and the Ambassador had just arrived and was preparing to meet Aeris and her 'owners', as they had dubbed themselves. A clacking noised echoed throughout the camp.

Everyone went dead quiet. Clack. Clack. Snap!

A voice rang out, "SILITHID ATTACK!" Everyone jumped to defensive positions. Another voice cried out.

"They're here to get Aeris!"

The Mages glanced at their captive, she shrugged. "Can't hear their voices. Don't know if it’s just striking or actually here for me."

A horn blew, a third voice called.

"ALLIANCE! OTHER SIDE! TWO SIDES ASSAULT!" His voice was booming throughout the camp.

Madison nodded in approval. Aeris regarded them, "You guys?"

They nodded. She sighed and shook her head, a faint smile on her face. "How can I ever repay you for helping me?"

"Oh I'm sure you'll find out once we're out of here." She waggled her eyebrows, before grabbing Madison and Aeris, and nodding for Roul to come with them. "They'll send in a large initial strike force, and they'll pick us up."

"Wow, I'm a Horde soldier, a Silithid Queen, and now an ally, or rather captive, of the Alliance. So many sides to this conflict, and I'm apart of all of them!" Aeris joked quietly, and they shared a soft laugh, as Alliance soldiers surged toward them, hands extended to lift them.

As the horses pounded the ground, thunder on four legs, their riders focused their gazes on the four that awaited them. They knew that the four they were sent to pick up would die if they failed here. They had prepared to save these four, and there was no way they were going to fail.

The four separated from each other, redirecting attention to the riders that split to dash toward their targets. Aeris lost sight of the woods, metaphorically, and saw only the tree. His horse shot at her with lightning bolt speed. As if in slow motion, when he reached her, she saw each detail on his hand. Her own palm connected with his, and a grin of excitement split her face.

Reality surged back and time returned to its normal pace. She was forcibly swung onto the back of the rider's horse. From here she could access the same weapons he had strapped to the horse. She spoke over the wind, in his ear, "Do you mind if I help you, in killing some of the Horde and -maybe- the Silithid?"

He glanced back at her with an arched brow. It dawned on Aeris; they couldn't speak the same language. She gestured towards the weapons and made a slashing motion, and pointed at some random Horde members, who were preoccupied with fighting and didn't notice them. He seemed to vaguely understand what she had suggested, and nodded his head.

Rifling through the steel, she located a scythe. Not her weapon of choice, but it was close enough. Death on Horseback the two rode; her borrowed weapon rending souls from their bodies, bones from their flesh. Men took notice of her. She laughed madly, enjoying the thrill of what was occurring. Her blade flashed through the air, a glimmer of metal.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something. She had failed to see her companions board their own saviors, and thankfully they seemed to have done so without too much disaster. They had followed her precedent, and had discovered weapons or magics to strike down the various foes that decorated the camp. But that wasn't what had caught her eye. Aeris saw Loriel fending off several Silithid, her lynx injured behind her. They were closing in, and she couldn't fire off enough arrows to slay them.

Aeris tapped her Horsemen, and redirected him toward the battle. He glanced at her, perplexed but she gave him a pleading look. His eyes turned ponderous, and he shrugged, turning the horse to the girl losing ground fast.

Loriel was surprised when she saw the Alliance rider close in, Aeris could see the defeat and shock in her eyes. She lowered her bow, she would not be able to kill him and the Silithid, but little did she know, Aeris was behind him. Her scythe struck out, reaping destruction amongst the beetles. Purple blood splattered her; she grimaced at it, but winked when Loriel caught sight of her.

A horn sounded. Aeris glanced at the camp. Ravaged and destroyed, corpses littered the ground like decorations, bugs, Horde, and Alliance bodies lay around in mutilated forms. She shook her head at the death, it was saddening, but the excitement had been so exhilarating. She had loved battle, but not death, how paradoxical.

She restored the tool of killing to its position amongst the various edges on the Horse, and the Rider redirected them to join the retreating, though Victorious, Alliance soldiers. They whooped and hollered, weary smiles on their faces. Aeris let out a cheer. Not for the victory, for in a way it had been a loss for her, but for the fun the whole thing had been.

Roul waved at her, from his Rider. All of the riders were cloaked with hoods and chain-mail, leather across their arms and torsos. She could only guess at appearances by the occasional glance and gender by the curve of armor. He held the same sad joy she felt in his face. A bloodied sword was held in his grip, a longsword, for combat astride a Horse.

She smiled at him, reciprocating the wave. He too had some bloodshed on himself, but both of them were no worse for wear. The Mages looked dead-dog tired, though neither bruise nor blood touched them. Magic still crackled about their features, Kate tried to look as imposing as ever, and only looked silly in the process. The Riders brought them together, a small caravan amongst the foot soldiers. The Horses moved slightly quicker, and Aeris had noted no other Horses in the camp, though they might've been outside of the battle.

Her possibility was confirmed, at the head of the column rode several figures decorated with ornaments of battle. One wore golden armor, an eagle carved into the shoulder pad on his left side, a blue drape slung across them. On top of that, from his right shoulder to left hip and beyond swung a massive two handed blade, emblazoned with swirling gold and the Alliance Lion. Next to him was a man in silver plate, much less fanciful, holding only basic curves and designs as to was most armor. His weapon was a large sword, platinum in color with a golden cross-guard. A sword boasting the emblems of the Alliance and its races.

A few others in far less dramatic clothing walked at a brisk pace next to them, barely keeping line with the horse riders. Their gear seemed more battle worn and ready, bloodied weapons swaying at hips and shoulders. Dust plumed at their feet. The march went in the direction of the Alliance camp, Aeris thought.

The Four Riders brought them up to the tip of the company of soldiers, to the men at the front. Aeris's Rider took charge of the situation and took the front of their group, speaking to the fancy man and his imposing friend. Both wore helmets, the gilded man's was a square with two wings, magic swirled in front of eyes, giving them a light blue color. The other was a basic full-helm, a curved cylinder.

The language was Common, Aeris could discern that much, and a few basic words she could catch, like 'a' or 'the' and other small things. Gestures flew between the men, to the Riders, the camp, the soldiers, and the people on the backs of the Riders. Their voices were calm throughout the whole discussion, business-like, it seemed to Aeris, or almost as such.

Madison and Kate seemed quite attentive to the conversation as it went back and forth, but the expression on Roul told Aeris he was as lost as she was. The speakers' voices steadily went from 'report' to small debate. They fired back remarks to and from arguing some point or another. Aeris couldn't tell.

Finally, they finished with a nod from both, and a salute from the Rider, who said a word Aeris actually knew, "Sir!" Not that that was such an achievement, however. The man gestured to his Riders, and they pulled up along him. The trip settled into monotonous march, with only the wind for company to the two Blood Elves who couldn't speak Common.
~
An uneventful journey behind them, they rested now inside a small caravan wagon. At the camp, a wagon had been awaiting them, and inside they had piled Kate, Madison, Aeris, and Roul. Leaving them to their own devices was too much, and the Riders had thus followed them. With a jostling motion the wooden box creaked to life, a team of rams pulling it along.

They hadn't rested for five minutes inside the camp and they were already heading out and off on their way.
~
As time drew upon reserves, Aeris thought it must be, for days did not last this long, they rolled along. The sun dwindled into the horizon, and ahead loomed the vigil of the druid town, Cenarion Hold. Aeris remembered her brief visit here, when she had been knocked unconscious.

Doom and gloom far behind, they stopped there for the night. Piling out and into a large building, obviously an inn, by structure and an interior filled with beds. The druids nodded at them, this had obviously been planned, or at least they had been forewarned of the situation.

The journey over to this town had been filled with a little bit of information. Kate had explained that the Alliance had seen fit to decide that Aeris's life was worth saving, if for nothing than the decency of protecting life, life that wasn't out to kill them. But they also saw a great opportunity to strike the Horde, and simultaneously collect a possible weapon.

She also was attempting to teach the two some basic Common, so they could at least converse with the Riders, they'd have a long flight ahead of them. Aeris briefly wondered about that flight, what they'd be riding and to where. The Riders had laughed at her and Roul's struggles with the language, and she had given them a jovial glare.

But these experiences faded before the sudden desire to be in sleep's embrace. Sprawled across a bed she looked to her left and right. Beside her, on a separate bed, was Roul who was already fast asleep and snoring. To her left were the two Mages, in a single bed, and if they weren't asleep, they were good actors. The Riders rested above them.

Aeris sighed, snuggling against the pillow. During the fighting a loose arrow had removed her collar, and it felt good to be free of all clothing limitations, against a soft bed, surrounded by people who didn't want her dead. She decidedly liked the feeling, and in her comfort drifted to sleep.
-
The Hive was filled with noises that hadn't raised such a cacophony in an eternity. They needed a new mother; they needed to produce more, to make up for the vast losses when they had strived to retrieve her. But they didn't have one. The beetles scurried around, making circles, squawking and clacking at everything.

Deep in the cavern, snuggled away from all this hubbub were the eggs from Aeris. Only Aeris knew of them, she had kept it a closely guarded secret. Or she thought she had, the Brood Father had learned about them, only near the end. But they weren't in his thoughts at the time. In fact, they weren't in anyone's thoughts. But that didn't make them vanish. No, actually, they were hatching.

Out crawled four creatures faintly resembling Aeris in body structure, covered in the black chitin. They looked to be about the size of a six year old. Their eyes were the same almond color, and hair sprouted and grew at a rapid rate, filling out to the same dimensions as Aeris's, slightly differing lengths and designs, colors shades of hers.

Their minds immediately linked to the Hive mind and assimilated all the information they could snatch up from the minds of the beetles and from the Brood Father, but nothing noticed them. They pieced together the whole situation.

They turned, and in perfect Thalassian spoke with one another. "We need to get back mother." One said, its anatomy suggested it was male, its hair shorter than all the others, body slightly more aggressively built. His voice sounded like a child's, but its knowledge was expansive.

"Why 'get' her back? Why not go join her?" Another ventured, its voice was higher in pitch and form suggested female. Her hair was the longest, longer than Aeris's own, in fact. The chitin covered them entirely, except for their faces, which bore the similarities to their mother that a normal child might. Their skin was pale, like a Blood Elf unexposed to the sun.

"I like that idea. Let's go join mommy!" It was another female, her eyes shone with simple happiness, at the thought of just finding 'mommy'. The others arched eyebrows at her, and shrugged. They knew each other, if no one else did. They were telekinetically linked.

The fourth one spoke. Its body was slightly smaller, though definitely masculine, than the others. They all looked at him when he spoke, eyes brimming with cold power. "We go find her, and then decide from there what we should do." They nodded, a point they could all agree on.

So, four six-year old sized bodies stole into the night of the desert of Silithus unmolested by the bugs in the Hive, and even the natural predators of the sands ignored them.
-
Aeris awoke in the night. A noise captured her attention. Voices talking. She opened her eyes slowly, and saw Roul still sleeping soundly. Darkness seeped around her, and only a beam of moonlight permeated it, gifting her minimal vision, until hers adapted. To her left the noises came.

She softly turned in her bed to face that direction. She stared dumbfounded by what she saw, rolling her eyes at the fact that she had been worried. In fact, the sight she saw was almost comforting. If not a bit silly to her.

The two Mages were having it out. Their cover was long gone, on the floor in a slumping pile. And with it their clothes, in similar style. Flesh was their clothing now, and it was soaked with sweat. Aeris guessed they had been at this for a while. Both of their nipples were erect, and both were pressed against one another, lips locked in passion. It wasn't so much lust that drove the two, but a desire to be with the other person, Aeris inferred.

However, lust definitely was present, as Kate was fondling Madison's breasts, and Madison was groping at Kate's cunt, a finger vanished into the small Blood Elf's slit. The noise that had woken Aeris came again; it was Kate moaning through the kiss.

The two groped at each other, and Kate lifted her legs to wrap around Madison and grind. Aeris shook her head, she wasn't in that kind of mood at the time, and she felt she needed her sleep.

She turned her back and drifted back to sleep. Odd dreams pervaded her, though. Dreams of strange people she had never seen searching for her. Images of children hunting for her. Dreams of a woman that she met in that dream. The woman was in a cloak of white with purple shoulder pads, which peaked up on the edges. A staff slung across her back with a green crystal at its apex. Her hair was blond her eyes blue. Her lips were a faded pink, and her teeth white. She was a human, and she spoke in a friendly manner to Aeris, but she couldn't make out the words. A name came up that widened Aeris's eyes.

She knew the woman only by stories. Only by reputation. Only by rumors of where she had fought. The only true knowledge was that of her power. And Aeris knew in her heart, that she was going to meet that woman.

(Sorry for the lack of 'fun' I promised. Didn't feel right, but I'll fix that in the chapters to come!)