A Raven’s Trial pt 3

[Karnna]

She was dying, Karnna knew that as her eyes slowly opened, a crimson thread of blood spilled upwards as she continued to sink further into the water.

Is this the end? She thought to herself this is how I die? I expected, something grander. It was a bitter though and she knew it. An assassin should not expect to die heroically or live into old age. Many either get too slow and die on the job, or they quietly fade away, never to be seen again. It seemed Karnna had fallen into the former.

“Let go” came a voice echoing around her, was it her own? No, it didn’t seem like it.

“Let go” it came again, now Karnna could feel panic building up inside her, what was that voice? It was alien to her yet...familiar, she tried to look around and found she was no longer in the moat but in what seemed like endless water and below her total darkness, yet in that darkness she could see...something, shapes shifting and moving within the abyss she was sinking toward.

“Let go...and be one...with us.” The voice was louder now and Karnna struggled to move, yet she had no strength left in her and even the effort to try was only serving to weaken her further.

“You will be one with the shadows, one with the void.” the voice spoke as tendrils of darkness snaked toward her, wrapping themselves around her and pulled at her, speeding her to eternal rest. Karnna let out a scream only to drink in the water around her, she struggled, and tried to fight it but it was of no use.

“No, not like this, there is so much I still want to do!” Karnna wanted to shout. She thought of her brother, there was so much she wanted to tell him, to let him know how much he had meant to her even as he cursed her, then to her sister Kulgha, whom she wanted to keep safe, they had promised to serve as Blood riders together. Her mentor came next, he who warned her of this fate, of becoming too attached to Shadows and it’s dark masters how she wished she had heeded his lessons more carefully. Then lastly to Nakobu, the strange mag’har priest, the one who had stolen her heart, she bitterly cried that she could have stolen his.

“This is where you belong...this is your true home” The voice was louder now and Karnna could barely make out the light above her. Maybe she deserved this fate? Maybe the others had always been right about her, she was a monster, a villain, someone who never truly belonged with the likes of the Red Blades or the Frostwolves.

“You are Karnna Blackfeather, Blood Rider of the Red Blades, sister of my sister, and my friend, remember that.”

That voice was Gul’rok, one of her few friends within the Blades, he had said that to her when she was at her lowest point, when she was ready to give up on the clan and flee into the darkness.

“We are brothers and sisters in arms, you are worth it Blackfeather!” came another voice, of Verzan Skywise, a fellow Nag’Ogar one of whom Karnna had grown to trust; her words had helped keep Karnna from simply walking away from the clan.

Yet that what she was doing now was it not? If she allowed the darkness to take her, she would be betraying the trust they had put in her, no she would not do that she would not give up!

With a surge of strength Karnna managed to pull free of the tendrils of darkness dragging her down and starting swimming upward toward the Light, as she tried to reach the top, she could feel the dark tentacles chasing her trying to catch her again, but she would not let them, she was almost free but it was still so far to the surface, they would reach her before she could make it.

But then a figure dived into the water, she could not make out who it was, it’s hand reached for her and she grabbed and soon she felt herself surging upward and upwards until she felt herself break through and was blinded by a sudden flash of light.

Karnna let out a gasp of air as she woke up and quickly tried to figure out where she was.

It was a campsite, a fire nearby, around them was a familiar landscape, she was back in Alterac Mountains, but how? The last thing she remembered was sinking into the moat of Stormgarde.

“Finally awake? About damn time” came a familiar gruff voice. Turning to see a green figure sitting next to her, his eyes bloodshot and bags hung under them, blueish black hair once done up in a braid, now hanging long and loose, it was her brother, Zarok Frostmane.
“What….how did I?” Karnna began, before her brother raised a hand for silence. “I found you in the ruins of Ar’gorok, you were bleeding, shivering delirious, I had to get you away from there.”  She was stunned, not just the fact she was found far from where she fell, but that her brother had come looking for her, she didn’t even know if he had noticed she had left.

“The hell were you even doing Karnna? You’ve been gone for over a week? We’ve been worried” Her brother continues causing Karnna to let out a scoff “Really? Worried about me? I would not think anyone would have cared if I was gone” She hugged her legs tightly as she sat up, her brother frowned “Of course I’d care, we’re family, and you have your new clan waiting for you, no?” She said nothing, looking away she wondered Were They waiting for her? Did they even want her back? After everything? “I’m...not sure” she muttered and for a moment the two sat quietly by the fire.
She was lost in thought, trying to understand everything that had happened to her? Was it all a dream? A near death experience? Or something else entirely? She notice something though a lightness to high, as if a burden had removed from her shoulders, she could no longer feel the oppressive aura of shadows she normally surrounded her, it had been a constant and grew more powerful the more she delved into shadow magic and with it none she suddenly felt...free, happy. She breathed deeply in the cold mountain air and let out an exhale.

“I’m sorry” she finally said, almost startling her brother. “I have not been...easy to deal with, when you needed I sent you away when I should have talked to you, I drifted far from those that were my friends, my family because I felt I didn’t need them, I was wrong so...sorry.”

Zarok smiled “I am glad you’ve started sounding like a Frostwolf again, and I’m sorry too, for causing so much trouble” Zarok got to his feet first and grabbed something and offered it to Karnna. “Here, these were left behind you by...whoever”. It was a case, bearing the mark of the Uncrowned a symbol that those part of the underworld would recognize. Opening the case, Karnna’s eyes went wide, they were a pair of beautiful short swords, both bearing runes of power with them came a note, opening it Karnna read.

“My Dear Student I am glad to see you’ve completed your task, at great personal risk to yourself. I am hopeful that my words to you might finally have sunk in, as I can feel the presence of dark magic around you has faded. Do not let yourself fall to it’s temptation again or next time I fear you will not be able to come back.”

“I believe these new weapons will serve you well, they are Mageslayers, weapons designed for dealing with magic users, use them well, my raven.”

Karnna smiled, she knew now who had saved her that night, her dear mentor, she would not let him down, nor would she continue to allow herself to wallow in self pity.

Closing the case, Karnna got to her feet and stare out into the landscape, the whole of Alterac before her, it was beautiful. It was her home that she loved so dear, but she knew it was time to leave.

“Come brother” she said, with a step in her voice “It is time for me to return to my duties”