One of the dwarves leapt onto her back, its sharp claws ripping at the cloak. The draenei slipped free of the travel cloak, at the same time using it to entangle both that foe and another just reaching for her.

But they were continuing to swarm from everywhere around her. Iridi struck another in the chest with the hard part of her palm. The skardyn had hard, muscular torsos like their cousins, and the draenei's own bones shook.

She quickly looked up. The skardyn with the net were nearly in position to toss it on her and the ones surrounding the priestess kept her from moving out of the way.

Then, the skardyn suddenly hesitated. Several glanced past Iridi.

She felt a wave of energy fill the chamber and feared that. In addition to the skardyn, the blood elf was now upon her.

But the skardyn scattered, forgetting her as if she were nothing. Even those above quickly crawled like spiders back into their holes, dragging the net with them.

She turned... and faced not Zendarin... but the monstrous mageslayer.

Vereesa and Grenda hunched together as the skardyn watched over their captive cousins. They had no idea why they had been taken alive, only that it behooved them to find some manner by which to quickly escape. Clearly, whatever fate the creatures’ mistress had in mind would not be a pleasant one.

"No one's seen Rom anywhere," Grenda murmured. "He and five others are missing. One of those, I know for sure is dead and there's those that can claim seein' two more slaughtered out there."

The ranger nodded. They both assumed the worst. Now what mattered was what to do next and, with Rom no more, Grenda was in charge of the dwarves.

"We are inside," the high elf said.

"I'd be happy with that if we weren't locked up in here like pigs waitin' to be slaughtered."

Indeed, the band was sealed in a set of cramped holes dug into the side of the dimly-lit cavern. Old but still reliable iron bars hammered into the rock kept the prisoners secure. More than half a dozen skardyn acted as guards, with one bored dragonspawn overseeing them.

Rask had been thorough in having the captives searched. None of the Bronzebeards could volunteer anything useful to deal with the locks, much less the guard beyond.

But Vereesa was still not sad to be inside. She was close now to her quarry and, she hoped, also close to wherever Krasus was being held.

"Keep watch for me," she whispered to Grenda.

As the dwarf obeyed, Vereesa reached to her right boot. She slowly and casually felt for a small depression near the calf area....

"The guards are straightening!" Grenda hissed. "Someone approaches!"

Vereesa moved her hand away just as a shadow passed across the bars. Her eyes widened as she saw who it was. "Hello, my dear cousin...."

"Zendarin." The ranger did not rush to the bars, which she hoped at the very least would disappoint the blood elf, who no doubt desired such a reaction.

"Ever the calm, calculating ranger." he mocked. "Are you still that much one of us, anymore? With so much human taint in you, it would be a surprise...."

"One should not speak of taint who has taken to draining the foul magic of demons."

"You find that distasteful? We are doing more for Azeroth than all the Alliance combined! We are the most feared of foes the Legion has!"

Still seated, Vereesa shook her head. "You are becoming the Legion, Zendarin... and the only reason any of you do this is because you hunger for that magic. You need it. Without it, you would wither...."

He sneered. "Not all of us have such a ready source with which to indulge ourselves daily...and nightly, cousin...."

"I have been free of the hunger for quite some time, Zendarin... thanks especially to my husband, the human. He did more for me than any of my own kind could have. My children are a sign of my freedom, for I would never have dared bring them into this world if I had remained sickened like you...."

Zendarin scowled, then snapped his fingers. A skardyn stepped up to the cell door.

The blood elf opened his hand. A staff akin to Iridi's materialized in his grip.

"Step out, cousin," he ordered as the skardyn unlocked the door. "Unless you'd like to watch one of these others skinned alive."

Vereesa had no choice but to obey. Waving off a silent protest from Grenda, the ranger left the cell.

Her cousin looked her up and down. "Still fit. You must revel in your human pet. Good! The stronger you are, the better you'll serve her."

"What do you mean?"

"She's in constant need of laborers, the death rate running very high...." Before Vereesa could retort, Zendarin suddenly ordered, "Still your tongue and put your hands behind you." He emphasized the order with a thrust of the point of the staff at her throat.

The ranger did as she was told. Zendarin pulled the staff back, then brought the crystalline point up to the top of her head. Slowly, he lowered the point until it finally aimed at the floor beneath her feet.

"Ah." He raised the staff a little higher, the point now leveled with her calf.

Vereesa gasped. Her calf felt as if on fire.

"Surely you are stronger than that," her cousin remarked coldly. "You don't know what it is like to truly burn...."

There followed a tearing sound—and the slim, metal blade that the ranger had kept secreted in her boot flew out. It landed next to Zendarin, the metal still orange-hot.

Favoring her other leg, Vereesa simply stared at the blood elf.

"I knew that there would be something. Not only is a ranger versatile, but so is the line of Windrunner...."

"You are a stain on the line, Zendarin."

He scoffed. "Any more than one who sleeps with a human, even breeds with them? Any more than a banshee, perhaps? I am far from the darkest stain on our family; in fact, I am its future!"

She said nothing, still bitter about his comments. The ones concerning her were not so terrible; she had faced the prejudices toboth her kind and Rhonin's and, for the most part turned those with the prejudices into believers. No, it was more his comment about something so accursed as a banshee.

A banshee, like her sister, Sylvanas.

But Sylvanas was a situation for another time, perhaps another life.

"Silence becomes you." Zendarin gestured for her to return to the cell. He briefly pointed the staff at the dwarves while Vereesa rejoined Grenda. "Ah. Everyone else is being good, I see. No other hidden blades..."

The skardyn had been good about searching their cousins, but not with Vereesa. Now, Zendarin had dealt with that situation.

"Your poor, poor children," he added, staring at her through the iron bars. "How will they feel when they discover that their mother has abandoned them? Well, soon they will have their uncle to console them...and raise them after their father, too, falls to return."

This time, Vereesa let out a cry of rage. She leapt back to the bars, her hands seeking Zendarin, who had already stepped back. He laughed, the skardyn and the dragonspawn joining In.

"I have enjoyed this family reunion," he finished. "It makes me more eager than ever to renew my acquaintance with my nephews...."

Dismissing the staff, he left the prisoners. The dragonspawn moved to the cell, whipping Vereesa back.

"Sit!" the behemoth roared. Then, satisfied that they were under control, the dragonspawn returned to its post.

The ranger scowled at her captors, then grudgingly returned to Grenda.

"I'm sorry about all that," the dwarf whispered. "Maybe your male will be able to stop him, being a wizard and all...."

"Rhonin's skills aside, I have no intention of placing all my hopes on that," Vereesa answered, her expression far more calm than moments before. "We will be escaping and I will face Zendarin again... of that I will at least swear."