Chương 14: 14. The encounter on the way.
Eskalios was not surprised to hear that Westfall was attacked because it was also like this in the original First War. In the original, the Stormwind's territories are being swallowed up one by one by the Tribe and left only Elwynn forest and the Stormwind city before it falls.
The thing that made him frown was the time. It took two to three years before it reached the point where there is only Elwynn forest left, but it took only one year after the war started for this world, which is faster than the original for almost one year.
It also has the possibility that Stormwind city is the capital of the kingdom, so it is very hard to attack, and took the Tribe many years to destroy it. But that possibility is very small, although the orc sucks at siege battle, they also have several strong figures such as Blackhand, Orgrim, and many other tribe leaders. Eskalios estimated that these guys should be at the same level or slightly inferior to him Anduin. With these strong fighters, it is almost impossible for Stormwind city to hold on that long.
The more reliable theory is that this world is different from the game universe, although the general trend and story are the same as the game universe, it proceeds at a much faster rate. This sounds a lot more reasonable considering how overpowered the Tribe was compared to the Stormwind kingdom at this time.
When he receives the order, Anduin executes it without hesitation. He gives the commander position of this Redridge pass to Gavinrad that coming back from assaulting the Horde's sabotage teams. Gavinrad is an experienced knight and warrior. With him around, this pass should be able to hold on for the time being.
As for Anduin, he goes back to Stormwind city to take the post there along with one thousand soldiers and Eskalios.
"Sir Anduin, I think it's time to talk about that." Eskalios ran to catch up with Anduin and spoke with him.
"What that?" He asked, looking down from the horse. At first, Anduin intends to let Eskalios ride on the horse too, but the boy rejects it because he did not know how to ride the horse and did not think that this is a good time for it.
"About evacuating people from the kingdom."
Anduin accelerates his horse while hearing his word, showing he did not want to talk about this topic. Eskalios also did not let it go easily, he quickly ran after him before continuing to speak.
"I clearly told you not to talk about this anymore, you are brave, smart, strong, you are good at everything, why thought about running away all the time?" He frowned while speaking in a serious manner.
We run because we cannot fight! And this is the original! You also fled with the ship to hug the tight of Lordaeron before becoming the supreme leader of the alliance in the Second War!
Eskalios wanted to speak all this, but he knows he couldn't, Anduin will not only not believe but it may play an opposite role, so he decides to speak in a more reasonable tone.
"Alright, I will not convince you because the holy light let me saw that there is a deep dark power behind the horde. We will talk with reasons and principal. Let's think about this, with all the troops in your hand, how confident you are to win against those green skins."
His words made Anduin silent. Although he did not want to admit it, he really has no confidence in fighting against the Tribe with the troops of Stormwind. Seeing this, Eskalios knows his words have some impact, so he quickly continues to speak.
"Moreover, our situation is very dire now. The Tribe attacked Westfall and Redridge Mountains, both areas next to Elwynn forest. If one of the defense lines collapses all the orcs will be at the front gate of Stormwind city. Even if we assume that we can keep the city as long as we have enough food, maybe months or even years. But what about the people?" He looks at Anduin intently.
"Now all the refuge from Redridge Mountains, Elwynn forest, Westfall, and many other regions has fled to the Stormwind city, it has no problem because now everyone can live in vast Elwynn forest, but what if the orcs invade this region? How many can Stormwind city contain? How many will be left outside."
"..." Anduin was silent for a long time before speaking in a low voice "I understand, after going back and seeing the situation clearly, I will convince his majesty to contact Kul Tiras to let them... let them transfer our people away from Stormwind kingdom."
He spoke the last word with a little shaky voice because adopting Eskalios advice means admitting that they are losing and need to flee from their hometown. For the highest commander of the kingdom, the pain and humiliation he felt might be just a little lower than the king himself. But he is also a reasonable person and knew that Eskalios is correct. Although he has his pride, he will not let it harm the people of Stormwind he swore to protect.
"That's great." Eskalios said with a hint of relief in his heart.
Anduin looks reluctant but Eskalios knows from the time at the Redridge camp that he is a man of his word, if he said that he will convince Llane then he will do it wholeheartedly. Moreover, deep down Anduin also thinks that they should have some countermeasure for the kingdom or else he won't be easily convinced like this.
After completing his purpose, he went back to the marching line and thought that there shouldn't be anything that he needed to pay attention to. But he is wrong, around two hours after starting the march, the army encounters something. The thing they encounter isn't the starving refugee or the orc's skirmish team, but two travelers composed of one female orc and one mage.
The moment he heard that there is a female orc, the first thought of him is impossible, but after calming down and realizing that this might be a very important figure in Warcraft 1, Garona. And after realizing who she might travel with, his second thought is to run away quickly, because the one that travels with her might be Medivh, one of the biggest bosses in the First War. It's not until he knows that the human is the young man that should be Khadgar that he has a sigh of relief.
Khadgar is the disciple of Medivh, his close friend, so Anduin naturally knows this young mage. At the time Eskalios came, he was already talking with the two of them.
Khadgar is one of the most important characters in Azeroth. He appears since the dark portal to after the fall of the Burning Legion. It can be said that he is one of the characters that survives the longest in the story. This made Eskalios very interested in meeting him too.
The image that everyone remembers of Khadgar should be the whit-haired old man, but that's because he was cursed by Sargeras that possessed Medivh. His real age in the First War is still in his teens. So, Khadgar now is still a young man with black hair like he appears in the movie.
"Khadgar, it's been a long time since we last met." Anduin said with a smile on his face before looking at Garona with some dangerous sign in his eyes, asking. "And why did you travel with this...orc?"
"Ah! Sir Anduin, you did not have to look at her like this. She is different from the other orcs; my master has already approved her. By the way, her name is Garona, she is..." He quickly explained everything. Roughly telling the stories since Garona was found, and now they are trying to find what's behind the orc invasion.
His words make Eskalios understand the timeline a little bit better. This time should be the time after there are strange demons attacking Karazhan and Khadgar teaming up with Garona and killing them then come out from Karazhan with her because he feels that there is something wrong with Medivh and suspects that he is the one who opens the dark portal.
In the original, they will go to Stormwind city with Anduin and tell king Llane the truth which the king is refused to believe while Anduin decides to send a small team to investigate and found out the truth before killing the guardian. Not long after that, Garona will be bewitched by Gul'dan to assassinates king Llane, ending the first war with the death of the king and the kingdom's destruction.
It is then that Eskalios realizes he has skipped almost all the campaign's mission to the latter half of the story, and it won't be long before this kingdom is destroyed.
But saying that, now the orc hasn't reached the Elwynn forest yet, so there should be several months left before it happens.
Seeing the future master of Karazhan, Eskalios suddenly wants to lead Anduin to kill Medivh right now, but considering his identity, he should wait for Khadgar to tell the man like the original.
"So, it's like this, if Medive recognizes you then I will consider you as a friend for the time being. Sorry for my attitude before." Anduin speaks with Garona with a softer tone than before, but there is still a trace of vigilance from the word 'for the time being' in his words.
"It's okay, I am used to being treated like this." Garona spoke, her voice is deeper than the human girl, but still have feminine in it. "By the way, are you a chieftain of the Stormwind tribe?"
"Chieftan...no, what makes you think like that." He asked, bewildered by her question and the fact that an orc could speak human language.
"Because we orc choose the leader by strength, and you look like the strongest human I've ever seen." She explains then looks at the troops behind Anduin. "And there are a lot of people following you, isn't it?"
"It's not like that, we humans are..." Anduin who faced cultural differences for the first time tried to explain the monarchy system to her.
Then, Khadgar noticed Eskalios who was listening not far from them because of the conspicuous white hair, and after looking carefully he also found that there are traces of holy light in his body, as well as the presence that belongs only to the mage. This made him very curious about the identity of this white-haired boy and asked.
"Sir Anduin, who is this young man over here? Why can I feel both arcane power and holy light from his body?"
This question made Anduin stop talking with Garona before introducing Eskalios to Khadhar. He said that the boy was the footman he had spotted his talent and decided to take him as a personal apprentice.
He didn't tell Khadgar about Eskalios' sword creating power because he thinks that it is Eskalios' private information which the boy should have said himself, and they will be traveling to Stormwind city together, so it will be only a matter of time before Khadgar knows it.
"Possessing a high talent that could master both holy light and the arcane magic in a couple of days, this...this is..." Khadgar opens his mouth wide enough to put an egg in it. He has some pride in being accepted as Medivh's student, but after hearing about this guy's talent he feels like he has been hit hard on the head.
"Sir Anduin speaks of me too highly. It is true that I have the talent but now I'm just getting started and cannot even compare to a normal mage. I also hoped that I can gain some insight from you on this journey." Eskalios smiles, trying to ease Khadgar's emotion. He reaches his hand out while saying. "I've heard that our masters are close friends. I hoped that we could also become like that."
"No problem, I'm sure that we will be good friends after some talks. Feel free to ask me about magic knowledge if you have any questions. Although I cannot compare to my master I'm sure I can provide you with some basic knowledge."
Khadgar at this time is just a mage apprentice and still lacks some maturity although he is more than twenty years old. Seeing that Eskalios did not have any arrogance and was eager to become friends with him made Khadgar feel a little flattered and had a good impression on the boy. He quickly extended his hand and made a handshake with Eskalios.
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