Chapter Text
From the moment he showed up at the meeting spot, the hilltops that bordered the west fall of Orgrimmar, his comrades were laughing, cursing, and shaking their heads in disappointment at his bold yet stupid decision.
"That's gonna be a dead fuckin' giveaway!" Llane scolded, pacing in the darkness behind the cover of a jagged dirt mount. "You'll clickity-clack with yer armor one time and set the alarms off!" He was practically screaming as quiet as he could've, anger surging through him as disappointment filled his eyes. 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘢, 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯' 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘴... 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥! 𝘐𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥? Es gave him a disappointing look as well, which made his gut wrench with guilt and regret.
Choosing not to waste further time, Llane quickly assigned four operatives to sap and incapacitate any guards that may be patrolling the nearby house, five operatives to storm the building and take out Kenlain along with any bodyguards he may have hired, and for the newest operative to stay back and watch, should his armor give off any unnecessary noise. Kenlain's residency was almost completely secluded from the rest, allowing for a swift and successful mission.
They propelled down the hills and silently onto the rooftops that lined them, the new blood paying extra attention to not give off any noise. It didn't take long to find the house, dimly lit windows and two bodyguards on the outside. The seclusion from the rest of the city gave little reason for the guards to roam nearby, especially in the presence of forsaken bodyguards.
Four operatives went off to make sure the house wouldn't be disturbed, five made their way to a house across the way from Kenlain's,and the new guy sat back behind them all nearby and listened to their plans. Es glanced over her shoulder and flashed him a halfhearted smile before pulling up her mask and heading to Kenlain's house with the other four operatives. The minute they were all withing 20 yards of the front door, a large spotlight flared at them from second story window, revealing the five stealthed assassins and freezing them all dead in their tracks, their bodies being taken over by shock and surprise.
Arrows shot at the operatives from the house in small uniformed waves. The no name hid his head behind the house he took cover behind, not daring to look, until he heard Llane's call for retreat. Somehow, nearby guards didn't take any notice, or perhaps they were all just sapped in the first place. No name took off from behind the house and headed towards Llane, who was attempting to get his operatives back up the hillside. Arrows littered the floor around him, along with three bodies and several trails of blood. A masked female Draenei lay dead beside a hulking Worgen, he realized that these were the two who slept on either side of him, the Draenei has an arrow sticking out of her neck, still spurting blood as the Worgen lay on his stomach with four or five arrows protruding from his back. He looked to the other body, who seemed to be still alive and attempting to crawl to safety on its side, he also realized that this body was...
"Es..." his heart sunk as he called her name with a jerking tear, running over to scoop her up and rest her head in his lap. Two arrows stick out of her chest, staining her dark blue armor to a purpley-red. He tore off his helmet to reveal his tear to Es, which she saw and quivered her bottom lip as she furrowed her brow, tears already streaming down her face.
"Don't cry, you" she croaked heavily, now helplessly sobbing in his lap. "You... should go-"she tried to demand, but was interrupted with a deep inhale for the air she couldn't have. Her head rolled to the side as her eyes turned hollow looking, leaving the plated warrior to mourn a lifeless body he barely got to know.
Fueled by rage and a sudden newfound deep-seated hatred for the Horde, he carefully lays Es beside him and closes her eyes, picking up his helmet and threw it on as he shot to his feet and made a B-line to Kenlain's front door. The cries of the wounded and commands of Llane were drowned out by his loud armor clanking away as he sprinted. Llane took notice of his seemingly suicidal recruit rushing to his certain death, 𝘖𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴. "JENEL, WITH ME!" He shrieked, the two operatives following the warrior on their joint-suicide mission.
With one quick movement, the heavily plated warrior disembodies the two forsaken bodyguards with his great sword, not even dripping from blood due to the cuts being so fast and clean. His rage had consumed him so far that he just ran into the door head-first, shattered wooden panels collapsed around him the door became utterly destroyed. The two bodyguards inside didn't even have time to react to the warrior charging past them, locking eyes with a one handed Tauren.
"KENLAIN!" His bellow echoed off the walls, only giving the Tauren but a moment to turn around into a great sword. Kenlain clutched the blade that sunk into his chest as he was lifted from his feet into the air. The thump that a Tauren made when it hit the ground was much louder than he had expected, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦... his train of thought was interrupted by two more thuds behind him. Llane and Jenel stood behind him at the door, hovering over the now twice-lifeless bodies of the forsaken.
Llane looked at the blood-lusted recruit with confusion, "Good shit, but we need to run. Now." He commanded. No protest was necessary as the three of them scaled the dusty hills to meet with the rest of their party. "HEADCOUNT! One, two, three, four, five, six, and including me, that's seven." Llane's voice got lower at the end of his sentence, realizing the cost of their victory. "A moment of silence." The small group bowed their heads as they stood atop the hills, looking onto the battlefield that unfolded in front of them in only a matter of minutes.
- - -
Operatives paraded through the dim corridors of the guild quarters with the warrior sitting high on their shoulders, people surging out of their rooms to greet them with laughter and cheers over a successful mission. The loud chanting of "Helmsdeep! Helmsdeep! Helmsdeep!" echoed through the crowded halls. Helmsdeep forced his smiles, cheering, and chanting of his own new name, trying desperately to hide his hollow and emotionless looking face. The parading stopped at the briefing room, the operatives let Helmsdeep off onto his feet on the massive stone table.
Shandra stood at the back of the room near the briefing boards, slowly clapping her hands and giving him a genuine smirk. "I see the mission was a success, then?" Followed by immediate cheers, whistling, and more name chanting.
"Yes head mistress, though three were lost in the attempt. It was an ambush" Llane replied, his words carrying heavy sorrow among the prideful guild members. "Var'Tad, our most skilled poison specialist, Jacobs, our finest tracker, and Esmeralda, our best thief." 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧... 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘔𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵'𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 Helmsdeep thought to himself, his blank face catching notice of the guild leader. Shandra knew something was going on between those two. She had come to the private training room they were in to offer him a quick job, and was surprised with loud moans coming through the door, distinctively sounding like Esmeralda's voice.
"The name Helmsdeep has been bestowed upon this fine man, for charging through a door headfirst in a suicide attempt, desperate to bring honor to our guild! Today we recognize officially, Helmsdeep, as not only a guild member to us, but a member of our family!" The uproar that the operatives around him made gave him a light blush, filling his soul with pride and a sense of renewed valor. Shandra did her best not to notice the pain he his behind his forced smiles. 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴... quickly biting her lip through her manic thoughts for him to see it.
Candles were being blown out and Llane did his usual "Pillow time, fuckers!" at the end of the night. Helmsdeep didn't mind the empty beds that sat on either side of him, he felt more alone knowing that near the entrance of the room, Es would no longer be sleeping peacefully nor keeping him up with her sly winks across the room. He avoided looking at her bed, desperate not to cling onto the feelings he had easily caught for her. This time, as Llane walked past Helmsdeep to his own bed, he tapped him on the shoulder. Helmsdeep rolled over and rubbed his eyes, having just managed to doze off for a moment.
"Sir?" he struggled through a yawn, eyes heavy with sleep deprivation.
"The mistress would like to see you."