Chương 45: Chapter 37

"Are you certain this is a good idea, Krivax?"

"I don't see the problem, Masruk. We were able to verify that the letter genuinely came from Stormwind's leaders. The magic contained in the letter's emblem was impossible to fake."

"That does not mean that this is not a trap. This all seems incredibly suspicious."

"Weren't you the one who was complaining that Capital City suddenly became too boring after the soldiers went off to war and that you had nobody to spar with? I thought that you'd be glad for the chance to fight off potential assassins."

"Hmm… your argument is compelling."

Krivax snorted in amusement and turned his attention back to the nondescript building that the two of them were approaching. He could feel that the building had several protective wards that would alert the occupants when someone was approaching, but the wards felt as if they had been put up fairly recently. It gave Krivax a sense that this location had been prepared just for this meeting and had not been actively used for a significant period of time.

It took quite a bit of effort for Krivax and Masruk to discreetly arrive at the meeting location specified in the letter that he had received from Stormwind, but he eventually managed to do so.

After receiving a letter that was requesting that he meet privately with a few of Stormwinds representatives to discuss an important matter that affected both them and Azjol-Nerub, Krivax had been extremely curious about what they wanted to talk about. Of course, he didn't hesitate to present the letter to Hadix, but the Vizier was too busy with his own affairs to really pay it much mind.

He simply instructed Krivax to bring along someone for protection and reminded him to use his magical emergency device if he needed to call for help.

Unfortunately, trying to secretly make your way to a clandestine meeting as a giant spider person was not a simple matter, but it was nothing that sufficient amounts of magic couldn't solve. It helped a bit that the designated meeting location was in a poorer part of the city. Most of the residents went out of their way not to concern themselves with what other people were doing, which meant that the magic hiding their presence was significantly easier to maintain.

"What now?" asked Masruk, bringing Krivax's attention back to the matter at hand.

"I suppose we just… knock on the door," Krivax said hesitantly. It wasn't like the letter had included any secret passcodes for them to use once they reached their destination.

Krivax walked through the ward and moved to do just that, only to be interrupted when the door opened up slightly before he could knock, allowing a wary half-elf man to peek through and glance between him and Masruk.

"Good morning," said Krivax, keeping his tone friendly.

"I believe that we are expected?"

Given how distinctive the two of them were, Krivax didn't feel any need to verify their identities. The man only hesitated for a moment before opening the door fully and gesturing them both inside. Krivax moved to go inside, but Masruk insisted on entering first, staring suspiciously at the half-elf the entire time and nodding to Krivax after he saw nothing out of place.

After Krivax ducked down through the doorway and skittered inside, the half-elf closed and locked the door before turning to face them.

"Good morning, Vizier Krivax. My name is Devan Everdawn," said the half-elf as he began to walk off deeper into the building; Krivax moved to follow him after only a moment.

"I apologize for the rush, but we have a limited amount of time before our absence is noted by certain parties."

Krivax and Masruk followed the man without comment as they were led to a room that looked as if it was the office of some noble. There were only two people in the room, one who Krivax found unfamiliar and one who he recognized in an instant. The former was an old woman with a severe expression who was wearing several large gaudy rings on her fingers, and the latter was the crown prince of Stormwind himself, Varian Wrynn.

The fifteen-year-old boy was obviously doing his best to appear serious and regal while sitting behind a desk and was admittedly doing a better job than Krivax would have expected, likely as a result of his training and upbringing. The only glimpses that Krivax had previously had of the kid were when he was looking miserable, but Varian did a good job of cleaning himself up.

"Welcome, Vizier Krivax. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me," said Varian as they entered the room. Devan Everdawn moved to stand behind his prince while Krivax made their way to the cushions that had been prepared for him and Masruk stood to the side. Krivax was glad for the consideration, it always made him feel awkward to loom over people that were so much smaller than him.

"As you likely well know, I am Varian Wrynn, crown prince of Stormwind. With me are Pathonia Shaw and Devan Everdawn, two members of Stormwind's intelligence service, SI: 7."

Krivax glanced at the old woman in surprise once he heard her name. The only Shaw that he was familiar with was Matthias Shaw, who had been the leader of SI: 7 and spymaster of Stormwind for most of the canon timeline.

Is this woman his grandmother?

Devan Everdawn was someone who was completely unfamiliar to him, so Krivax assumed him to just be some kind of nameless spy.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Wrynn," said Krivax, bowing slightly.

"I confess, I'm very curious as to why you've called for this meeting. Especially when the only participants are two intelligence agents and you seem to be without a guard."

"Just because you haven't seen a guard, does not mean that one doesn't exist," said Pathonia Shaw, her lips curling up into a smirk.

"I promise you, nerubian, our crown prince is more protected than he seems."

Krivax hummed in consideration before glancing at Masruk, who nodded in affirmation. The people of this world were capable of a supernatural degree of stealth if they trained for it or used enchanted items, and Masruk had always been a tad more observant of his surroundings than Krivax.

"She speaks the truth. I noticed a few of their guards as we were passing through the hallways," said Masruk.

"Hmph. You have good eyes, lad. Although it's probably cheating when you have eight of them."

"To answer your question, Vizier, I asked you here to discuss a matter that affects both Stormwind and Azjol-Nerub," said Prince Wrynn, continuing the conversation as if Pathonia and Masruk hadn't spoken.

"Specifically, I wish to make you aware of a threat to both of our kingdoms."

"And what threat is that, Your Highness?" asked Krivax. He had a suspicion about what Prince Wrynn was referring to, but he wanted to hear it from him first.

"I'm referring to the forces responsible for manipulating the nobles of Lordaeron into not sending aid to my kingdom in its hour of greatest need," said Prince Wrynn, a thread of anger and hatred slipping into his tone.

"The same force which I have reason to believe is attempting to turn public opinion against Azjol-Nerub."

Krivax was suddenly very glad that the humans had no way to understand nerubian facial expressions; even if he'd already had suspicions, the prince's words still surprised him.

How did they manage to catch on to Deathwing? I don't remember anything like that happening in the canon lore.

"That's a strong claim, do you have any evidence for this?" Krivax asked in an attempt to acquire more information. He needed to figure out how much they knew.

The prince nodded before turning to Pathonia Shaw.

"After Stormwind's destruction, we immediately grew suspicious as to why none of the other kingdoms had sent us aid, despite our repeated pleas for assistance," Shaw explained before gesturing to the half-elf standing beside her.

"Devan Everdawn had skills uniquely suited for finding the truth of this matter, so I assigned him to the investigation. At first, our results were… inconclusive."

"How so?" asked Krivax, suddenly very curious.

"I began my investigation by approaching the Lordaeronian nobles with the closest ties to Stormwind, such as House Blackmoore, Reneigh, and Whitehall," said Everdawn.

"Without exception, they all claimed that they had simply considered Stormwind's dire situation to be unfounded rumors and that they did not consider looking any further into it."

"Did you consider that they might have been manipulated by magic?" asked Krivax, voicing the obvious conclusion that they would have reached.

"We did," said Everdawn.

"It looked like such an obvious case of magical manipulation, that we were actually surprised by the arrogance of it all. It seemed as if they were not even interested in hiding their activities. However, when we decided to look into it further, it became clear that their arrogance was well-warranted."

At that, the half-elf's expression twisted into one of tired frustration before he continued, "No matter what tests we ran, we were utterly incapable of detecting any traces of magic having influenced these individuals. No matter how hard we tried, we failed to gather any evidence of foul play."

Krivax was a bit surprised at that, but not completely. Deathwing was probably one of the most potent sources of Void magic on Azeroth aside from the Old Gods themselves and the creatures that had been created by them directly, the N'raqi. Krivax didn't know how skilled Deathwing was at actually using the Old Gods' power, but he'd had plenty of time to train given how old he was.

After joining the Order of Kal'tut and studying the spellbooks that they had given him, Krivax had learned how insidious the Void could be. The fact that Deathwing could manipulate the minds of Lordaeron's nobles without leaving any traces was surprising, but not overly so.

"Then what has changed?" asked Krivax.

"I don't think you would have called for this meeting if you didn't have any evidence to present.".

"After our attempts to detect the magic affecting the nobles failed, I turned my efforts to more conventional methods," said Everdawn.

"I began looking for signs of bribery, coercion, blackmail, and other more mundane means of persuasion. I figured that even if there was some kind of magic involved, it probably wasn't possible for them to mind control every noble in Lordaeron or there wouldn't be a need for subtlety in the first place."

Krivax hummed noncommittally. Deathwing was extremely powerful, but after some consideration, it did seem unlikely that the old dragon could just mind-control every noble in the Eastern Kingdoms who happened to get in his way, right?

If he could, then why wouldn't he just use the Void to mind-whammy the governments of the Alliance and have the Horde roll over them without any difficulty? The most obvious explanation was that his power either had a limit or he was unwilling to risk being discovered by the other Dragonflights. Given that there was still no sign of him doing so despite the letter that Krivax had sent to Krasus, it seemed more likely to be the former than the latter.

Krivax couldn't really know for certain; Warcraft lore was filled with contradictions so it was difficult to guess how those contradictions would fix themselves when translated into the real world.

"I did manage to find some evidence of bribes that were coming from somewhere in Alterac, but not enough for me to narrow down the potential suspects, the trail had simply gotten too cold… until recently," Everdawn continued, his mouth turning up into a satisfied smile.

"After they began making efforts to turn public opinion against Azjol-Nerub, I was able to gather enough evidence to narrow down our potential suspects to the House of Ravendholdt and the House of Prestor."

Prestor… where have I heard that before?

Krivax searched his mind in an attempt to remember where he had heard that name before; he had a strong feeling that it was incredibly important.

"Interestingly, House Prestor is a relatively minor family with holdings in one the most mountainous and obscure regions of Lordaeron, yet they spend gold well beyond their means," said Pathonia Shaw.

"Not only that, but despite Lord Prestor being such a minor noble he was able to marry his daughter, Katrana Prestor, into one of Stormwind's most powerful noble families."

Katrana Prestor! That's the human name of Deathwing's daughter, Onyxia!

While the name of Deathwing's human form was relatively obscure Warcraft lore, most fans of the franchise would recognize the name of Onyxia's human form. This meant that there was a good chance that Deathwing's human form was a noble from the Prestor family, just like his daughter.

"What is the name of the current head of House Prestor?" asked Krivax.

"Lord Daval Prestor," Prince Varian immediately answered.

"Why do you ask?"

"I wanted to know if I recognized the name," Krivax answered truthfully before changing the subject.

"Have you brought this evidence? I would like to see what you have managed to uncover. If these noble houses are indeed working against Azjol-Nerub, then that is something that I would like to know."

"Vizier Hadix and Anub'rekhan would both want to know about this as well," Masruk nodded in agreement.

"Of course," said Pathonia Shaw, retrieving a stack of neatly organized documents from the desk and presenting them to him.

What followed was a long explanation given by Everdawn of what they had uncovered with Shaw offering her own contributions from time to time.

Apparently, there were numerous instances in which House Prestor had either bribed members of Lordaeron's nobility or instances in which Daval Prestor had been seen interacting with nobles who changed their minds on some important matter shortly after meeting with him. One particular example of evidence was testimony from one of Lord Whitehall's maids, claiming that the noble suddenly became skeptical of Stormwind's pleas immediately after meeting with Prestor.

A more recent example was a similar incident that occurred between Prestor and Count Dalton.

Aside from that, there were also signs that House Prestor held a long-term business relationship with House Ravenholdt, who had long been rumored to hold connections to organized crime in Alterac. SI: 7 had even managed to identify Lord Prestor's closest servant—a goblin of all things, that went by the name of Kryll—to be the one responsible for managing Prestor's shady affairs.

Krivax looked through the gathered information and couldn't help but feel conflicted. He really didn't want to antagonize Deathwing—he'd much prefer leaving him to be dealt with by someone more qualified—but this was too good of an opportunity to ignore. After sending his anonymous letter to Krasus, he had already upended the sequence of events that would have led to Deathwing's defeat at the hands of the other Aspects.

That being the case, it would probably be better for Krivax to do anything he could to ensure that the Aspects found Deathwing and had the opportunity to defeat him. That wasn't something that he could do by staying uninvolved.

"We are aware that Azjol-Nerub is in negotiations with Alterac," said Prince Wrynn.

"We hope that you reconsider that in light of this information, as well as consider the offer that we made to you."

"That is not something that I can decide on my own," Krivax responded before changing the subject.

"How do you all expect Azjol-Nerub to help handle this matter? Also, why have you chosen not to present this to Lordaeron's House of Lords?"

"Because we do not know how far this corruption has spread," said Prince Wrynn, slightly frustrated.

"And given that many of the parties that have been compromised are members of the House of Lords, we would need much more convincing evidence than what we currently have. As for what Azjol-Nerub has to offer, I was hoping you could answer that, Vizier Krivax. You are far more familiar with your kingdom's capabilities than I am."

After a moment of consideration, Krivax decided that this was probably too important for him to decide on his own, "Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Prince Wrynn. Although I can't commit to anything right now, I intend to share this information with my superior as quickly as possible. I think that it's likely that you will receive a favorable response."

That was probably an understatement.

Krivax immediately thought of Hadix and the Order of Kal'tut. They would not be pleased once they learned that a human noble from Alterac was using the Void to brainwash people against Azjol-Nerub.

I suppose things in Capital City aren't going to get any quieter anytime soon…

Daval Prestor, also known as Deathwing, listened to the mad goblin who he had taken on as a servant with annoyed exasperation from the comfort of House Prestors ancestral home. All goblins were mad, but this one was more so than most. The only reason that he put up with the creature was that Kryll was undeniably competent in his role.

"Then Ravenholdt and his cutthroats have agreed to our terms? My plans for Kul'Tiras cannot continue without the aid of their assassins and saboteurs, Kryll," said Lord Prestor, interrupting the goblin.

"Of course, O prince of duplicity! Everything is going exactly according to your plans, great one!"

"Good," said Lord Prestor, nodding in satisfaction.

After his plans to capture Alexstrasza had failed, he had chosen to return to Capital City for a few different reasons, one of which was that there was simply little for him to do with the Horde that he couldn't do from afar. Being in Capital City allowed him the opportunity to search the minds of the human nobles for sensitive information that could be used against the Alliance.

Not only that, but being exposed meant that he could afford to take actions that were much less… subtle than he had been taking previously. One of those was leveraging the nascent Void cult that was beginning to form among the Kul'Tiran Tidesages to his advantage.

Unfortunately, there were simply not many of them and they hadn't managed to grow as much as Lord Prestor would have wished. Maybe in a decade or two, they would have been able to completely subvert the organization, but that was something that would never happen now.

As it was, Lord Prestor had been forced to hire mortal criminals to aid the cultists with the sabotage of the Alliance's fleet. It was fortunate that his daughter was so fond of playing her games of deception, and that she had spent so much time gathering resources and building up the Prestor name. It made so much of what he had to do much easier.

It was a shame that the rest of his children were not quite as useful as Onyxia.

He had also gone to Capital City with hopes that he could discover how his plans had failed, but there had been little luck in that direction. Ravenholdt had been able to discover that a goblin from the Steamwheedle Cartel had been hired to deliver a letter to Krasus, also known as Korialstrasz, but not much else. Despite the fact that Lord Prestor had personally peeled the goblin's mind apart in search of information, he had not managed to find anything of significance.

Oh, he was fairly certain that the nerubians were somehow involved; the whispers coming from his masters had informed him of such, but there was little that Lord Prestor could do about it in the short term. No, his revenge against the traitorous creatures would have to be a long-term endeavor. For now, he'd simply have to content himself with ruining any plans that Azjol-Nerub might have of reaching an agreement with Alterac while also turning opinion against them.

Although it didn't truly matter very much.

After the Alliance and the Aspects were defeated, then there would be little that could stop him from collapsing the nerubians' underground kingdom on top of their heads.

After all, the earth was his domain and nobody else's.

"I see the shadow of a smile on your face. Is someone about to die a horrible, grisly, bloody death, O venomous one?"

"Spare me your nonsense, Kryll," Lord Prestor replied as he turned his attention back to the goblin.

"If you have nothing left of importance to report, then remove yourself from my sight."

Prestor tuned out the goblin's nonsensical words as it left his presence. There was much that he needed to do, but there was not much time before the Horde would be launching their invasion of Hillsbrad Foothills, and Prestor wished to witness the fruits of his labor. With a flex of will, Prestor cast a scrying spell that allowed him to look through the Void and watch the events that would soon unfold.

He was curious to see the performance of the undead dragons that he had gifted to the Horde. As the Aspect of the earth, it was a trivial matter to find and retrieve long dead dragon corpses and deliver them to the Horde, but Prestor was not quite certain how well they would do when compared to a living dragon. Still, along with his other efforts, he was confident that the Horde would be able to make landfall and launch their invasion in earnest.

With a wicked smile on his face, Daval Prestor sat back in his comfortable seat and prepared to watch the always amusing sight of mortals slaughtering each other.