Hello everyone! So, here we are with chapter one. I can't promise that this one is going to be super long, I've had a fair bit of writer's block, but I've been working through it. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to review, positive or not-so-positive.

The portal was broken.

Aelwynn stood with Khadgar and Go'el, looking up at the remains of the portal, regret sinking deep into her gut. She should have stayed on Azeroth. She thought back to her last conversation with the Banshee Queen, her former lover, and winced as she remembered the hate in that crimson gaze. Hate that was fueling Sylvanas down an extremely destructive path. But there was little Aelwynn could do. She turned, giving one last glance toward the ruins of her one way home before following the Archmage and their group.

She dodged and weaved, raising her bow and blocking the strike from a large axe wielded by one of Kargath Bladefist's men. She gritted her teeth as her bow snapped in half at the arm. Aelwynn bared her canines at the orc, drawing her combat sword and kicking him in the chest, turning to her right and blocking another blow. Go'el and Khadgar were both dealing with their own orcs, and the rest of the group behind them was fending off the horde on their own. She ducked as the blade of the axe swung back at her and she lunged, catching the first orc between the ribs, yanking the blade out and slashing across the second one's chest. Both fell to their knees, and she swung her blade again, taking both heads off quickly.

A young shaman was fighting four orcs, desperately trying to keep himself out of their reach, and she took off toward him, kicking another charging orc in the chest before leaping on his shoulder and vaulting behind the group in front of the shaman. She hamstringed two of them, grabbing the first to collapse to his knees and slit his throat, spinning and catching the other in the join of his neck and shoulder. She heard her spirit beast roar in triumph as another two orcs fell, and Loki leapt on the one to her far left as she dispatched the last, looking up at the shaman with a nod.

"Thank you, wolf-sister." He said.

She turned and whistled for Loki, racing off to deal with the last orc, a mountain compared to the last several, one who was currently swinging a mace the size of a small tree at the Archmage. She gave a battlecry, leaping on his back and plunging the knife between his shoulder blades. He yelled, reaching up and grabbing her by the arm, wrenching her around to face him. His eyes were filled with fury, burning brightly in the dimly lit arena. He tossed his mace aside, gripping her other arm and pulled her closer, one hand sliding up to her neck. A crack was heard as Go'el slammed Doomhammer into the hilt of the sword between his shoulder blades, and Aelwynn's eyes widened as the blade shot through his chest and buried itself in her side.

She grit her teeth and braced her feet against the orc's chest, agony flaring in her side, and launched herself off of his chest, landing hard on her back and gripping the wound. The large orc fell forward next to her, dead. Go'el grabbed the hilt of her ranger sword, pulling it roughly from the dead orc and tossed it to Khadgar before hauling her to her feet. "We need to move!" He shouted, pointing at the entrance of a cave and practically dragging her there.

He leaned Aelwynn against the wall of the cave, waving a priest over.

She felt the Light course through the wound, healing the majority of the damage, and waved the priest away as she pulled a bandage from her pack.

"You could have let him finish." Her former Warchief scolded.

She looked up, scowling. "I'd rather have him use a minimal amount of his energy, being a healer down if we're ambushed again would probably kill us all. Besides, he took care of the majority of the damage. I'm healed internally. If it splits I'll use an antiseptic. I'm fine now."

Go'el frowned. "And what would Syl-"

Aelwynn's gaze snapped back up to him and she held up a finger, her normally arcane green eyes glinting yellow. "You better choose your next words carefully, orc. I'm not here representing the Banshee Queen. I'm here on my own. Now, before you get any brilliant ideas, or your mouth runs away with you and you end up pissing me off further, I suggest you check on the rest of our group here."

She snagged a bow from an orc she had dispatched, frowning and shaking her head in disgust. She had no idea how the orc had managed to use it. It was unbalanced and needed to be restrung, and the majority of the ornamental pieces that decorated it would need to be removed.

As she returned to the camp, she pulled the bow over her head, grabbing her pack and sitting next to the bonfire. She pulled her skinning knife, sticking the point in the dirt next to her foot. Khadgar sat next to her on the fallen log, watching her pull the bow apart. She glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow as he watched her.

"I have no idea how they manage to use a bow with the amount of shit they have strapped to them. I'm okay with ornamentation, but this is ridiculous..." She said, bracing the bow between her knees and prying several of the large bones off of it, setting them aside with a critical eye.

Khadgar chuckled. "That's one thing I enjoy about being a Mage. I don't have to have a staff in hand in order to be effective in battle. I don't know how you do it, but watching you in battle is a privilege. You did well today." He said.

Aelwynn shrugged a shoulder, narrowing her eyes and taking in a short breath. "The one thing I can count on is that I'm never alone in battle." She said, gesturing to the bushes.

He looked to where she had gestured, noticing for the first time that her Spirit Beast, Loki, was lying down in the bushes. He was still enough that no one would know he was there even if they were actively looking. Khadgar could see the pale blue of the beast's eyes flicker as he blinked.

"You know, I've worked with hunters before, and while I appreciate the proficiency of ranged fighting, you seem to be just as comfortable in the middle of the fighting as you are away from it." He said. "You remind me of a dear friend of mine. She was a formidable hunter, her loss is still felt today."

Aelwynn sighed, slicing the string on the bow and tossing it into the fire before picking up a whetstone and sharpening her knife. "You're talking about Alleria..." She said quietly.

Khadgar looked down at her, watching her sharpen the blade, and nodded. "I knew her well. I wish I had known her sister before her death. I've worked with Vereesa as well."

Aelwynn's grip tightened on her knife, and she tossed the whetstone down before slimming down the arms of the bow, a dull fury coming over her at the mention of the woman who betrayed Sylvanas.

'It doesn't matter anymore. Just forget it.'

Khadgar glanced down at her again, noticing the way her ears had pressed closer to the sides of her head.

"Commander, if I stepped out of line, I apologize."

She looked up, and he noticed a pale yellow glint to her eyes he hadn't seen before.

"It's fine Archmage. I dealt with the Silver Covenant in Northrend and Pandaria. I don't have many good things to say about Windrunner." She said, her voice strained.

He frowned slightly as she went back to working on the scavenged bow. She grabbed a new bowstring and fixed it quickly to the bow, testing the tension in the string and nodding to herself.

"Her sister is the leader of the Forsaken, isn't she...that must be difficult, having family on the opposing side."

Aelwynn froze. She didn't want to talk about it, yet she felt that the man next to her was going to force it out of her without even realizing it. "Yes." She said hesitantly. "The Dark Lady leads those that broke free from the Scourge. They've done their best to make the best of a terrible situation." Aelwynn finished diplomatically. She could sense a set of eyes on her that were not Loki's, and her ears pinned further to her head as she glanced around. She stood, her knife in hand.

Khadgar looked up, watching her and reached for his staff. "What is it?" He asked, looking back to the bush where Loki had been lying, but the beast was gone.

"I'm being watched."