Chương 52: Chapter 42

Anub'rekhan watched in fascination as the charging line of orcs collapsed under a volley of gunfire. Their bodies were quickly trampled over by the orcs that followed behind them as the Horde launched their latest attack against the Alliance forces in Hillsbrad Foothills. This battle, however, was already anticipated to be the largest land battle of the war so far.

Anub'rekhan had already realized from the first time he heard of them that these 'guns' would be potent tools of war, but it was still something different to see them personally. From what he could tell, their power was not meaningfully different from an enchanted crossbow, but their ability to be produced in large numbers made them a formidable force multiplier. Anub'rekhan began to muse on the feasibility of integrating these weapons into Azjol-Nerub's military.

It would ultimately be the responsibility of the Circle of Viziers to design a gun fit for nerubians and the Weavers to handle the manufacturing. Still, it would be his assessments that the High King would use to determine how much of a priority constructing these weapons would be, and if their effectiveness against the Horde was any indication, Anub'rekhan felt like it should be a fairly high priority.

They were doing much to help the Alliance compensate for the Horde's superior numbers and greater physical abilities compared to the humans. Though will it be enough? Despite the consistent volleys of incoming gunfire, the Horde's warriors remained undeterred. Even as a large number of the orcs were killed, many of them simply ignored the projectiles tearing through their bodies and continued their reckless charge forward.

"Damned monsters. The humans are filling them with holes, and the beasts are just ignoring them!" Anub'rekhan glanced down at the agitated figure of Trixie Tinkwrench as she used her gnomish goggles to observe the ongoing battle from afar. After learning that Anub'rekhan and a team of elite nerubians intended to capture a Death Knight during the next skirmish, Trixie had immediately offered to assist.

Anub'rekhan had not seen any particular reason to refuse the gnome given that she seemed competent enough to not jeopardize their efforts. Currently, they were waiting for the Death Knights to enter the field while hiding away in an area that had been warded by the Kirin Tor against casual observation. After all, this would be Anub'rekhan's first time joining the battlefield against the Horde, and he very much wanted to surprise them.

"Their ability to ignore pain and injury is commendable, although their reckless tactics are worthy of disdain," said Anub'rekhan, turning his gaze back to the battlefield. The human gunmen were beginning to fall back as the Alliance replaced a line of guns for a wall of shields and spears.

"Why do they keep trying to attack head-on? I get that the orcs aren't the smartest, but they aren't stupid either," said Trixie, her expression one of confusion"According to the intelligence gathered by Alliance, these creatures consider such tactics to be 'honorable,'" said Anub'rekhan, not bothering to hold back a scoff.

"A concept that their current leader seems to value highly."

"Honor?! How could the orcs ever consider themselves to be honorable?!" Trixie spat out in outrage.

"Where is the honor in genocide?! Damned hypocritical bast—." Anub'rekhan tuned out the gnome as she began letting out a stream of curses against the Horde. Personally, he considered the concept of honor to be a useless one, even if he agreed with Trixie's contempt for the Horde's hypocrisy. The only thing that nerubians had that even vaguely resembled the concept of honor was their devotion to the defense of Azjol-Nerub.

Anub'rekhan knew that when pushed to the point of desperation, sapient beings wouldn't hesitate to cross any line and throw their honor away, much like the Horde had. Since that was the case, why even bother worrying about honor in the first place?

"Be glad that the Horde is foolish enough to limit themselves," said Anub'rekhan once Trixie finished.

"Not only are the orcs much stronger than the humans, but they are also more numerous. The Alliance must exploit every advantage that they can find." Trixie continued to grumble but didn't bother to argue. The Horde's long charge was finally about to collide with the Alliance shield wall and neither of them wanted to be distracted. Had they actually managed to freely impact, the orc's natural strength would have given them a good chance of breaking the human lines.

Unfortunately for them, it was hard to breach a shield wall when you were being ambushed from below by a swarm of arachnathids. Anub'rekhan felt satisfaction flow through him as the orcs' charge was broken by the unexpected attack. Arachnathids began emerging from the ground in large numbers and threw themselves at the Horde without the slightest bit of hesitation, tearing at them with their massive claws and injecting them with lethal venom.

The Horde was eventually able to recover, but whoever was controlling the arachnathids simply ordered them to fall back. After a moment, the Alliance army began pushing forward spear-first in an attempt to take advantage of the Horde's broken momentum. Any orc that approached was quickly impaled on the humans' spears, and any weak points in the human formation were swiftly reinforced by highly mobile arachnathids.

Mages from the Kirin Tor created localized firestorms throughout the Horde ranks whenever they could, and the few elvish archers that fought with the Alliance killed orcs with pinpoint accuracy. The superior armaments and tactics of the humans allowed them to fare much better against the Horde than they would have otherwise, but Anub'rekhan knew this state of affairs would not last for long.

"Looks like the Horde finally got tired of the Alliance tearing them apart," Trixie said with grim satisfaction.

"They're finally sending in their ogres." Anub'rekhan turned his gaze to the back of the Horde forces and saw that Trixie was correct. Pushing their way through orcs without any care were two dozen ogres, each wielding massive wooden clubs and crudely made shields. Anub'rekhan did not find the creatures particularly intimidating given that they were still much smaller than him, while also being incredibly unintelligent.

Several of the humans opened fire on the ogres with their guns, but the creatures had even less reaction to the bullets than the orcs.

"The Alliance needs to increase the power of their firearms," said Trixie, frowning as she closely observed the ogres with her goggles.

"Even if the orcs were crazy enough to ignore the pain of being shot, the guns were still doing a lot of damage to them, but these damned ogres barely seem to care at all. The bullets are punching through their armor, but it's slowing them down enough for their thick muscle and fat to protect their vital organs."

"It would be better if the mages focused their efforts on the creatures, preferably with fire," said Anub'rekhan, his tone thoughtful.

"Muscle and fat will melt all the same, even when it is thick. I wonder if the ability of these creatures to ignore pain extends to being cooked alive." Anub'rekhan noticed Trixie turning to look at him strangely, but he ignored her and continued to watch the battle. Despite the Horde's underwhelming performance in terms of tactics, Anub'rekhan found himself slightly concerned about the natural abilities of the orcs and the ogres.

As if to punctuate that thought, one of the ogres viciously swept its club through the human shield wall. Several soldiers were turned into a gory mess as the ogre's immense strength smashed through their armor, instantly killing them and creating an opening for the orcs to exploit. Several arachnathids leaped forward and began crawling up the ogre's body, but their claws and stingers had difficulty harming the creatures significantly.

If Azjol-Nerub goes to war with the Horde, our forces will need to be instructed to aim for the ogre's vital spots, Anub'rekhan mused to himself. The arachnathids would be much more effective if they aimed their stingers at the ogre's vulnerable parts, such as the eyes or the groin. It was likely that whoever was controlling the arachnathids was smart enough to reach a similar conclusion, but they simply didn't have the ability to control the arachnathids so minutely.

"This is bad, the ogres are going to completely destroy the Alliance formation!" Trixie cried out in worry before turning to Anub'rekhan.

"I know we're supposed to be waiting for the Death Knights, but a lot of people are going to die to those monsters. Shouldn't we help them out?"

"Unnecessary. The Alliance is more than capable of responding to this," said Anub'rekhan, pointing toward one ogre in particular.

"Observe." Just as it was beginning to look like the Alliance line was about to collapse, a long figure glowing with the Light stepped forward. Anub'rekhan could instantly see the effect that Uther's presence had on the human soldiers as their morale was bolstered and they began zealously fighting off the Horde. The ogre bellowed at the challenge and attempted to bring its club down on Uther's head, but the paladin neatly dodged to the side and swung his hammer into the ogre's knee.

The creature immediately fell with a cry of pain as its knee was obliterated by Uther's Light-empowered strength before its skull was swiftly caved in by the paladin with a single blow. Anub'rekhan felt a wave of satisfaction flow through him at the display. He looked forward to testing the Light's ability to augment his own abilities, as it did for the paladin. Trixie let out an appreciative whistle, "Those paladins are a lot stronger than I expected.

Still, I don't think they'll be able to handle all of the ogres before the human lines collapse. There are a lot of the beasts left." Before Anub'rekahn was able to respond the entire battlefield seemed to stumble as the ground began to shake and the ground beneath one of the ogres seemed to fall in on itself.

Anub'rekhan chuckled as he heard the tell-tale screech of a jormungar before the beast revealed itself by slowly emerging from the earth and spitting out the lower half of the ogre that was unlucky enough to become its first victim. The Horde had proven themselves to be brave and reckless warriors, but even they couldn't help but waver as the jormungar began rampaging through the battlefield, devouring orcs whole and crushing many beneath its massive weight.

Before the Horde could organize an effective defense, the giant worm quickly burrowed itself back underground. Anub'rekhan had been surprised when he learned that the Alliance had successfully managed to produce someone capable of controlling the jormungar. It was a skill that typically took much time to learn, jormungar handlers being a specialized occupation, but he was glad that he was being given the opportunity to study the jormungar's combat effectiveness against the Horde so soon.

He could already tell that Azjol-Nerub would learn much from this war.

"Well, that's more than a little terrifying," said Trixie, her eyes wide as the jormungar tore apart another ogre and threw the Horde ranks into chaos.

"What are you even supposed to do against something like that? The thing just disappears back into the ground before anyone can do anything about it!"

"It's likely that the Horde will be forced to deploy their Death Knights in response," said Anub'rekhan.

"They cannot afford to sustain such losses for much longer." The presence of the jormungar seemed to further invigorate the Alliance's morale. Anub'rekhan had heard the human soldiers commenting about how glad they were to 'have their own monsters to throw at the Horde' on more than one occasion. The Horde commander must have agreed with Anub'rekhan's assessment of the situation because it wasn't long before the moment that he had been waiting for finally arrived.

Flying toward the battlefield was a sight that sent a ripple of dread through the Alliance forces.

"Finally," Anub'rekhan said gleefully an undead dragon began to pass over the approach. According to reports, one of the dragons had died a second death during the naval battle in Baradin Bay, so the Horde still only possessed two of the undead for the time being. One of which had been sighted recently far way, in the eastern portions of the Hillsbrad Foothills.

The Alliance's mages did their best to mitigate the first pass of the dragons' fiery breath with their magical barriers, but many human soldiers were still cooked within their armor as the undead beasts set the battlefield aflame. Several more Death Knights also suddenly appeared from the Horde ranks and began ruthlessly cutting down any human that got in their way before raising their corpses to fight their former allies.

It didn't take very long for the Knights of the Silver Hand to respond, and throw themselves at the Horde's Death Knights. Anub'rekhan tore his attention away from the scene and turned toward the elite nerubian warriors who would be joining him in his assault. Due to Azjol-Nerub's many years of peace, there were very few nerubian warriors who actually experienced combat, but these few were the exceptions.

The Dread Stalkers were a group of highly trained warriors who served the High King directly and typically served to discreetly further his interests. The requirements to become such a warrior were incredibly strict, requiring both loyalty and a level of skill that was difficult to find. There were a few occasions in which they had been sent to undermine Zul'drak when doing so became necessary, but they were more commonly deployed for… internal security purposes.

Nerubians were a people who tended toward unity, but only to a certain degree. Each of the Dread Stalkers was equipped with some of the finest enchanted armaments that Azjol-Nerub could provide. Anub'rekhan looked forward to watching them cut a bloody swath through the Horde.

"We will attack as the Death Knights make their next pass over the Alliance," said Anub'rekhan, assessing the ten warriors in front of him.

"I will be primarily focused on subduing the Death Knight, you all will be responsible for slaying any Horde who draw near. Are your orders clear?" The Dread Stalkers replied as one, "Yes, Spiderlord!" Anub'rekhan nodded in satisfaction and turned to look down at Trixie, who was currently examining her wrench and shrink ray as she prepared for the battle ahead, "Are you certain that you wish to join us? We will be pushing straight into the heart of the Horde forces." Reading on this site?

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"It's a bit too late to turn back now, big guy," said Trixie, her eyes filling with determination.

"These monsters aren't going to stop until they are forced to stop. My people won't be saved until we push them back past Khaz Modan. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't do my part to make that happen." Anub'rekhan observed the pink-haired gnome for several moments and felt a level of admiration that surprised him. His superior power made it easy for Anub'rekhan to throw himself into danger, but he knew that Trixie lacked his natural advantages.

Blows that would do little but bounce off his body would likely prove to be immediately lethal to the tiny warrior, yet he could not perceive the slightest bit of hesitation in her expression or in her heartbeat.

"Very well," said Anub'rekhan, lowering his body to the ground and placing one of his hands in front of the gnome.

"You will not be able to match my pace once I begin charging. It would be more convenient if you were to ride on my back until we reach our destination." Most Spiderlords would never even consider allowing something like this, but Anub'rekhan had always cared more for practicality than propriety. Trixie's expression shifted from surprise to eagerness as she quickly climbed onto his hand, "I'm not going to lie, big guy. I've been wanting to do this ever since I got over how freaking scary you spiderfolk look."

"Then I'll be sure not to disappoint," said Anub'rekhan, lifting the gnome onto his back. Once she was there, he turned his attention back to the battlefield just in time to see the dragons about to make another pass against the Alliance lines.

"So, how're we going to hit those flying abominations when they're so high up?" asked Trixie.

"We'll simply have to bring them down," Anub'rekhan said calmly. The Spiderlord immediately began expanding his innate telepathic sense throughout the battlefield. As soon as the dragons began drawing close, Anub'rekhan didn't hesitate to order the flyers that were hidden among the Alliance forces to intercept them. The undead creature was soon beset by a large swarm of nerubian flyers, who swiftly began immobilizing them with webs.

The Death Knight riders tried to kill the flyers as quickly as they could, but there were simply too many of them and it wasn't long before the dragons were crashing into the ground. Trixie let out an impressed whistle, "Well, that's one way to do it. How long's that webbing going to last? They've fallen behind enemy lines so those flyers are probably going to be taken down pretty quickly."

"Long enough," said Anub'rekhan, already eyeing the path between him and his target.

"We begin now. Do your best to survive, Trixie Tinkwrench."

"Don't worry about me, big guy," Trixie said fearlessly.

"Let's just hurry up and get going. We've already been staying back for too long, and I don't want to give those bastards the chance to get back up into the air." Seeing no reason to delay, Anub'rekhan nodded and began charging down the hill where he and the Dread Stalkers were hiding, straight toward the Horde. They had chosen a position that allowed them an unobstructed path, and Anub'rekhan had every intention of using it to its full advantage.

It wasn't long after he passed through the wards that were hiding his presence before the first orcs noticed his presence and attempted to organize a defense, but it was already far too late. Most of the surface races, in his experience, greatly underestimated the speed that Spiderlords could run. Anub'rekhan plowed through orcs as if they barely even existed, crushing them under his massive weight and slicing them in half with his scythe-like arms.

Any who survived his charge soon found themselves cut to pieces or impaled by the spears of the elite nerubians warriors that followed in his wake. Anub'rekhan felt exhilarated as the entire Horde seemed to shudder at the scene of his bloody entrance to the battle. He could tell that Trixie was just as excited as he was from her thrilled shouts. Is this what war feels like? The Spiderlord and his elite warriors cut through the Horde with ease, making their way to the downed dragon all the while.

A pair of ogres attempted to intercept them, but they didn't last long as Anub'rekhan simply overpowered one before neatly decapitating it, while a particularly agile Dread Stalker buried his spear into the eye of the other with a leaping thrust. Anub'rekhan barely registered Supreme Commander Lothar letting out a bellowing warcry meant to raise the Alliance's morale and start a counterattack. Just as he was finally about to reach his target, several orcs let out warcries of their own and leaped onto his back.

He would normally demonstrate why this was a bad idea by simply rolling and crushing the creatures under his weight but obviously couldn't do so without hurting Trixie as well.

"Die, monsters! For Gnomeregan!" Even with his superior hearing, it would still normally be difficult to tell what was happening on his back, but the distinctive sounds of a gnomish shrink ray, confused orc grunts, and the crunch of shattered bone were enough for him to guess. Still, Anub'rekhan knew that the orcs would not stop attempting to climb onto his back to take advantage of his lack of flexibility, and Trixie wouldn't be able to hold them off forever.

Thankfully, the Queen who created the Spiderlords was smart enough to anticipate such difficulties. The moment that the next group of orcs attempted to jump onto him, Anub'rekhan unfolded the scarab-like carapaces on his back and directed the locusts that lived inside of him to emerge from the nesting area located near his wings. Orc screams resounded through the battlefield as a swarm of locusts emerged from his body and began devouring any orc foolish enough to approach him.

The creatures flailed about and attempted to protect themselves from the swarm, but they could do nothing as the locusts bit through their skin and crawled into every orifice that they could find. Anub'rekhan heard Trixie curse out in surprise, but he chose to ignore her in favor of focusing on his target.

Despite having killed all the flyers that had brought him down from the sky, the Death Knight had already given up on freeing his thrashing undead mount in time and was instead holding a large sword with both hands and pointing it at Anub'rekhan.

"You are wise to abandon hopes of escape and instead prepare yourself for battle, as futile as your preparations will be," said Anub'rekhan as he approached the Death Knight. Trixie quickly jumped down from his back and ran off to assist his Dread Stalkers in securing a perimeter.

"If you wish to share your name, then I will hear it. I am Anub'rekhan."

"My name is Ragnok Bloodreaver, creature," the Death Knight said stoically as powerful waves of dark magic flowed off his body in the form of a black mist that killed any locust that got too near. Without further comment, Anub'rekhan channeled the Light into his arm just as Archbishop Faol had taught him and lept at the Death Knight. The creature proved to be quick on its feet as it avoided having its legs cut from under it by jumping away from Anub'rekhan's glowing arms.

The Death Knight swung at him with its sword, but only managed a glancing blow that failed to pierce his carapace. However, Anub'rekhan had his first experience with the Horde's magic once a strange darkness began spreading from the point of impact. It felt to Anub'rekhan as if his body was rotting wherever the magic of the Death Knight spread, and he instantly knew that the level of pain that he was feeling would be debilitating to most creatures.

It's a shame Archbishop Faol did not have the time to teach me how to remove curses, Anub'rekhan mused as he ignored the pain and once again threw himself at the Death Knight. Still, it shouldn't be hard to suppress it long enough for me to deal with this troubling little creature. Unfortunately, Anub'rekhan had been ordered to capture the creature alive, and Ragnok Bloodreaver seemed intent on showing why the Alliance seemed to fear the Horde's undead warriors so much.

Despite being fully armored, the creature consistently managed to deftly avoid Anub'rekhan's attacks. The Spiderlord knew that the Death Knight was likely planning to leverage its inexhaustible stamina to outlast him, but he had no intention of allowing that to happen. Anub'rekhan was a nerubian, and his people didn't believe in fighting either fair or in fighting alone. Ragnok Bloodreaver stumbled as the arachnathid burrowed under his feet emerged from the ground and buried its stringer in his necrotic flesh.

The Death Knight quickly cut the arachnathid in two, but not fast enough that he was able to avoid a brilliant Light-infused blow that tore off his right arm and sent him flying through the air.

"Ur'gora!" Anub'rekhan didn't understand his enemy's words, but he couldn't really bring himself to care, "Does your rotted flesh feel pain, Ragnok Bloodreaver? If so, it would be in your best interest to surrender."

"Honorless beast!" Likely knowing that he had no hope of achieving victory after being maimed, the Death Knight pointed his single remaining arm at Anub'rekhan and desperately released a concentrated stream of death magic. The Spiderlord grunted in pain as the magic began rotting and eating away at his carapace. Focusing on his conviction and desire to serve Azjol-Nerub, Anub'rekahn channeled the Light and summoned a radiant shield between him and the Death Knight.

Fortunately, Ragnok seemed to be unable to sustain his magical attack for very long.

"Are you done with your futile struggles?" asked Anub'rekhan, still glowing with the Light as he approached the collapsed Death Knight.

"The difference in strength between you and I is simply too large to be overcome; the outcome of this battle was already decided from the moment that you crashed into the ground." Everything that Anub'rekhan said was the truth as he saw it. He had learned much from fighting the undead warrior, but he was one of the most powerful Spiderlords in Azjol-Nerub and simply far stronger than his opponent. Ragnok Bloodreaver glared at him hatefully as he responded, "I'm not done yet, creature."

Anub'rekhan was taken by surprise as a stream of dragon fire crashed into his left side. Ah, I failed to notice that it had succeeded in struggling out of its webs. How careless of me… The stream of fire was higher than he had expected, as in there was a chance that it might actually overcome his powerful defenses given enough time. Anub'rekhan had no intention of actually giving his enemy that time, however, and immediately charged through the fire at his highest speed.

The Spiderlord crashed horn-first into the undead dragon and used his immense strength to push it off balance. From there, it was a relatively straightforward process to pull the creature apart, starting with smashing apart its skull and then moving on to destroying its wings and rib cage. It was actually much quicker than dealing with the Death Knight because the dragon lacked the ability to avoid his blows.

Anub'rekhan only stopped once the bright red glow faded from the undead creature, signifying that it had died its second death. The Spiderlord turned his gaze back to the Death Knight and saw it looking back at him with an expression filled with both shock and fear.

"Are you done now?" It turned out that he wasn't, but the Death Knight wasn't able to adjust so quickly after losing an arm, so Anub'rekhan subdued him relatively easily. Turning away from the limbless figure that continued to glare up at him with hate-filled eyes, Anub'rekhan began to assess the rest of the battlefield. He could tell that most of his Dread Stalkers remained uninjured, though one of them was fighting unevenly due to having a broken leg. How careless.

He shouldn't have been injured while fighting the Horde's common warriors. Anub'rekhan was relieved to see that Trixie seemed to be uninjured, although he could tell that she was beginning to grow tired. He watched in curiosity as the gnome nimble ducked between the legs of an orc and used one of her inventions to shoot him with a beam of energy that… turned the orc into a chicken? He had heard Trixie mention her so-called 'Poultriyizer,' but seeing it for himself was even more ridiculous than hearing about it.

The rest of the battle did not last for very long, mostly due to the collapse of the Horde's morale after watching Anub'rekhan and his elite warriors tear through their army and defeat one of their most powerful warriors. The Horde lost many warriors in their retreat, but not as many as Anub'rekhan was hoping. Supreme Commander Lothar refused to chase after them for very long, fearing that his forces would become overextended.

Despite losing the battle, the Horde still far outnumbered the Alliance, and more of them were crossing Baradin Bay every day.

"So this is one of the Horde's Death Knights," said Trixie as she approached Anub'rekhan and the limbless Ragnok.

"I've got to admit, they live up to their reputation. Why'd you even want to capture one of these monsters alive…ish?"

"My kingdom has reached an agreement with Dalaran to study the Death Knights so that we might learn more of the Horde's magic," Anub'rekhan explained calmly, ignoring the flash of fear that he saw in Ragnok's eyes. Not even the Light could compel him to feel sympathy for the creature after witnessing the Horde's actions firsthand.

"According to what I've been told, Archmage Kel'thuzad is quite excited to work alongside our Viziers to discover the Horde's secrets." Trixie looked to be slightly disturbed by this information, but she seemed to shrug it off after a few moments, "Well, glad I'm not him I suppose." Something in the gnome's tone caught Anub'rekhan's attention and he turned to examine her expression, "I expected you to be more excited.

The Alliance has achieved victory today, and the Horde is much less likely to succeed in conquering the Hillsbrad Foothills."

"It's a bit hard for me to be happy about this when the battlefield's still littered with corpses, big guy," said Trixie, her voice filled with sadness. Anub'rekhan looked around and suddenly became aware of the many humans that were moaning in pain and mourning over their fallen allies. Before Trixie drew his attention to it, the sounds had been nothing more than idle noise to Anub'rekhan, but he now found it difficult to hear anything else.

The battle itself had filled him with a feeling of exhilaration and fulfillment, but the aftermath was… decidedly less pleasant. He couldn't quite tell whether or not the feelings of sorrow that the sounds evoked were caused by the Light, or himself.

"Bring the Death Knight back to the Alliance camp," Anub'rekhan said to the Dread Stalkers, hoping to distract himself by focusing on his duties.

"Remember to retrieve all of his limbs, and bring the dragon bones as well. Vizier Crinis should be waiting to transport the materials to Dalaran." The walk back to the camp was devoid of conversation, as neither he nor Trixie was in the mood for it. Once they arrived, Trixie informed him that she intended to go elsewhere to clean herself of the orc blood caking her body, and the two of them went their separate ways.

Most of the humans were too busy with their own affairs to pay him or the Dread Stalkers any attention as they made their way to the portion of the camp set aside for the Kirin Tor. Anub'rekhan was glad to see that Vizier Crinis and the Kirin Tor had already opened a portal and were waiting for them.

"Finally," said Vizier Crinis as soon as they were within speaking distance.

"I'm glad to see your mission was successful, Spiderlord. The Circle of Viziers has been growing increasingly anxious to uncover the Horde's secrets." Anub'rekhan acknowledged the Vizier with a nod and directed the Dread Stalkers to take the materials through the portal. There was no particular need for him to follow after them, as Vizier Crinis was more than capable of leading them to the Violet Hold. That was where the Circle of Viziers and the Kirin Tor intended to conduct most of their experimentations.

Once the last Dread Stalker was through the portal, Anub'rekhan began to turn away only to be surprised when he was unexpectedly stopped by Vizier Crinis, "Spiderlord Anub'rekhan, please wait for a moment, I believe that there's something that you need to know." Anub'rekhan withheld an annoyed grunt at the Vizier's continued refusal to refer to him without his title, "What is it, Vizier Crinis?"

"I think it may be in your best interests to return to Dalaran for the next few days," Vizier Crinis said with uncharacteristic hesitation.

"I've been informed by Vizier Hadix that he and his student will be traveling to Azjol-Nerub to meet with the High King."

"What? For what reason?" Anub'rekhan asked in genuine surprise.

"I don't know. Vizier Hadix refused to explain no matter how many times I asked," said Vizier Crinis.

"However, I've recently been hearing… strange rumors from my colleagues in En'kilah. Nobody I've talked to knows exactly what is happening, but there have been whispers that something considerable is going to happen soon."

"Something considerable?" Anub'rekhan dubiously repeated.

"How is it that your colleagues can know that something noteworthy is about to happen while not having any idea of what that something is?"

"Again, I don't know. I've been told that many of the kingdom's powerful Viziers have begun acting strangely, but nobody has any idea why. That's all I know about the subject." Anub'rekhan was tempted to dismiss the Vizier's words, but the fact that Hadix was traveling to meet with the High King added a lot of credibility to the rumors. After all, the High King had explicitly ordered him to pay particular attention to Vizier Hadix.

The Vizier was a rather suspicious figure who had recently been inexplicably injured while investigating some kind of conspiracy that involved mind-manipulating magics. Now Hadix intended to meet with the High King and he was refusing to explain his reasons to anyone? Anub'rekhan could tell that something big was going to come of this.

"Very well. I will return to Dalaran after a few days," said Anub'rekhan after a moment of consideration. Although he wouldn't be able to return to Azjol-Nerub without explicit orders from the High King, Anub'rekhan very much wanted to hear the news coming from the kingdom as quickly as he could.

"There are just a few matters that I need to attend to before I do so." Vizier Crinis nodded her understanding and made her way through the portal. As soon as she was gone, Anub'rekhan turned to head back into the camp, his mind fully absorbed in wondering what changes would soon be coming to his future.