The Defense of Strahnbrad

Arthas III

Arthas had always enjoyed the countryside prefering it's simplicity over the overcrowded cities of his kingdom. He considered himself a simple man, who enjoyed the life of an adventurer, helping his people with all of their problems. Whether it was to heal, protect or simply teach, Arthas had always enjoyed doing what was right for his people. He viewed himself not as prince but the first servent of Lordaeron, his duty was to guide and protect.

Today his former mentor and friend, Lord Uther also known as "The Lightbringer" had summoned him and his friend and brother in arms, Jon Snow to the quiet town of Strahnbrad. Though Strahnbrad was a small town with barely 2000 inhabitants, the town stod as the gateway to Lordaeron from Alterac, and so it's location was crucial for the security of his kingdom. Should Strahnbrad fall, the entirety of northern Lordaeron could be flooded by bandit scums and vile orc raiders.

Arthas and Jon finally arrived at the camp, where they were greeted by the sight of various soldiers ranging from Footmen who were sharpening their blades, dwarven riflemen who were pollishing their barrels and elven priests who were practicing their holy magic. as they ventured further into the camp, they began drawing the attention of the awestruck men.

"It's Prince Arthas..."

"I heard he caught Hellscream..."

"Must be serious if the prince came all this way..."

Arthas had to stop himself from blushing in embarrassment, he didn't feel like he deserved any praise, he had just done his duty. "It's not funny..." Arthas mumbled to Jon, who was trying his best at not laughing, for he knew that Arthas was humble to a fault and there was nothing more that he hated then being endlessly praised.

After what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached the command tent, where Uther was waiting for them with a look of amusement.

"Welcome my lords! The men and I are honored by your pressence." Uther spoke jovially.

Arthas rolled his eyes. "Can the formalities, Uther. Its good to see you." he said as both he and Uther clasped each others hands.

"It's good to see you again, lad." Uther told Jon as he clasped his hand.

"You to, Uther." Jon replied with a wide grin on his face.

Jon had always viewed Uther as a father figure and the old man himself had viewed Jon like the son he never had. At first Arthas had been jealous of their relationship, however it was only when he grew older that he understod why Uther had cared so much for the boy. Jon did not have an easy time growing up, being driver away by his stepmother and being alone in this new world that he found could drive any man to be bitter and alone, yet thanks to Uther, Jon had grown up to be a fine man, A knight of the silverhand!

The soldiers were now gathering around the command tent, gossiping and observing their commander and their prince, many were also wondering about the knight that had came with him.

Arthas smiled, Jon will have made a name for himself after today.

Uther was laughing at a something Jon had told him. "Look lad, as much as I enjoy having you both here, we need to remeber why we are here." He told them seriously. "Follow me, I need to show you two something."

They both followed Uther into the command tent, the men scattered returning to their duties and preparing for a fight.

"Look at this" Uther gestured towards a map on a table. "Our scouts have confirmed that there is an orc encampment that lies just beyond the next ridge."

"Then lets wipe out the beasts!" Arthas exclaimed hotly.

"Easy lad, I wasn't finished." Uther told him calmly.

Arthas nodded, embarressed at his outburst, he could not help it. Arthas had always hated the orcs, he loved his father and believed him to be the greatest ruler Lordaeron had ever seen, however Arthas could not for the life of him understand what compelled his father to spare the orcs, these monsters that had come to enslave them all and take their home. The beasts that burned down Stormwind to the ground and slaughtered it's people, they would not even hesitate to exterminate humanity yet his father had showed them mercy.

Now Arthas was a paladin of the light and so he had been taught the mercy of the light, however he did not feel like it applied to the orcs, some creatures were just beyond redemption.

"Our scouts also confirmed that the orcs have assembled to attack Strahnbrad, the town has a small militia but they will never be able to repeal a horde assault of this size." Uther continued.

"Why are they attacking the town?" Jon asked.

Uther shrugged. "Who knows maybe they just need supplies, maybe they just love killing so much that they have made it a habit."

"Now I need to move against the orcs' camp immediatly to prevent them from fleeing back into the mountains. Can you two handle Strahnbrad's defenses on your own?" Uther inquired.

"Of course, Uther. Don't worry about us." Arthas replied quickly.

Uther nodded in approvement. "Good. Meet me at the orc camp once you've saved the town." Uther left the tent.

"Be careful, lads." Uther glanced back at them one last time.

Uther, and most of the soldiers began marching away, leaving just a handful of Footmen behind, Arthas looked over the men, 'This isn't nearly enough men to defend against an orc raid...' he cautiously thought, he had needed almost 5 times the men to capture Hellscream and that had been a small raid.

"I hope you're ready for a tough fight.." Arthas mumbled nervously to Jon.

Jon smiled briefly. "Not getting scared are you, Menethil?"

"Never." Arthas frowned. "Men. Move out!" Arthas called to the soldiers.

They came upon some homesteads on the outskirts of Strahnbrad, the villagers looked cheerful, well as cheerful as one could be while living at the border with Alterac. Many of the villagers came up and greeted the soldiers, one of them even tried offering up his daughters hand to Arthas, he politely declined, breaking the poor girls heart, some of the men, most likely Alliance veterans, took up arms and joined Arthas' company.

"We'll fight for Lordaeron!" they proclaimed. "Get your swords!"

Arthas had hesitated at first but ultimately accepted. He was going to need all the help he could get for the coming battle.

They finally reached the Menethil river, across it stood Strahnbrad with its imposing walls, smoke and fire rose from behind the walls.

"Damn, the attack has already begun." said Arthas, rushing across the bridge his men not far behind.

"Slow down, Arthas!" Jon called. "We can't just run into battle! We need a plan." Jon tried to reason.

But Arthas barely heard him, nor did he care, all that mattered was saving his people and stopping these monsters.

"Help!" cried an elderly villager panting as he did, he was fleeing from the city gates, a group of burly looking orcs not far behind.

"He's escaping!" roared their leader.

"He-" the villager never got to finish his sentence as he was cut down by the orcs.

Arthas began radiating with righteous fury. "KILL THEM ALL!" he roared in anger.

"DAMN BEASTS!" cried one of the Footmen.

Zeal overtook the men as they charged into battle blindy, cutting and slashing into the orcs, more orcs were drawn out at the sound of clashing steel.

"FOR THE HORDE!" roared one orc.

Arthas ran right into the heart of the battle, he caved in the skull of an orc warrior, breaking the arm of another. One of the orcs tried to pounce at Arthas, but he quickly avoided the greenskins clumsy attack, bashing his skull in as he did.

His men were finding similar success, Jon had already cut down two orcs on his own, his men cleared off the rest.

"Well done, men!" Arthas happily exclaimed with beaming pride. "But the battle is not over yet, move into the village!"

"FOR THE ALLIANCE!" cried one of the men. "FOR LORDAERON!" cried another.

They ran into the village, its road littered with the bodies of dead villagers, men, women and children alike, none had been spared the onslaught, orcs could be seen looting the corpses for any valuables. The sight filled the Arthas and his company with grim resolve, as they began clashing with the looters.

"NO MERCY!" Arthas cursed. "LEAVE NONE ALIVE!"

One of the footmen was cut down by a lucky blow, he collapsed to the ground, yet he did not remain there for long, Arthas channeled Holy Light into the fallen man, healing him of all wounds.

Jon cut a path through the orc lines, causing the cowardly beasts to flee. Arthas found himself impressed at Jon's swordsmanship, he must be the best he had ever seen.

"THE ORCS FLEE!" one footman cried. "AFTER THEM!"

"NO! Stay your blades. The orc are falling back to a better position." Jon calmly stated. "Don't be fooled."

"Listen to Jon!" Arthas commanded with authority.

Jon nodded in thanks. "The orcs are at the edge of the town, the narrow path will limit our advance and we can't attack like idiots!" Jon said.

"Arthas and I will lead the attack you men will follow behind and not engage until we have cleared a path, that understood?" Jon asked.

"YES, MY LORD!" The men shouted.

"I am not a lord..." Jon quietly mumbled.

"Not the time, Jon" Artnas quickly whispered with a hint of amusement.

The plan proceeded smothly the men did exactly as they were told, Arthas and Jon easily dispatched the few orc defenders, they approaching the edge of the town, before them stood a horse drawn cage carriage, filled with sobbing villagers.

A red skinned orc riding atop a brown charger glared at them hatefuly. "Haul these wretches off with the rest of them." He spat with venom.

"HYAAA!" Cried the carriage rider as he whipped the horses.

Arthas and his men made to stop the carriage but found their path blocked by the red skinned orc. His charger crashed into the company causing many of the footmen to stumble onto the ground, one unlucky soul found his skull caved in by the chargers hoof.

Jon charged at the mounted orc, but his horse panicked and kicked Jon in the stomach causing him to fall over, Arthas used that moment to run in and drag down the orc onto the ground, the red skinned orc roared in anger and tried to tackle Arthas to the ground, but instead found his arm cut off by Jon, who had suprisingly recovered from the kick.

The orc cried out in pain as he tried to crawl away from the duo, Arthas leapt into the air and leveled his hammer at the back of the orc, breaking his spine. Arthas seized a hold of the orc.

"Where are you taking them?!" He roared in anger.

The orc spat blood into his face, laughing maniacally as he did. "TO THEIR DOOM!" He taunted. Arthas snapped the orcs neck, ending its miserable life.

"What do we do now?" Jon asked dejectedly.

At that moment, a rider arrived, the standard of the silver hand on his chest. "Prince Arthas, Lord Uther needs you at the Orc encampment immediately."

Arthas sighed, guilt washed over him, he had failed Strahnbrad, yet he couldn't even rest for a second. "Never a dull moment..." he said tiredly. "Let's go." he told his men.

Thrall III

It was early in the morning, birds were singing, flowers were blooming yet Thrall found himself frustrated. It had been three days since the prophet had last spoken to him, 'I hope I'm not making a huge mistake by trusting him.' he thought.

He had dispatched messages to all the remaining clans in Lordaeron, calling them to his banner. He had no doubt that most would join him, after all they had fought with him at Durnholde and sworn their allegiances to him.

A knock brought him out of his thoughts. "Enter." said Thrall.

An elderly orc entered the hut. "Warchief, the clans are assembling as you ordered." the old orc said. "But it will take them some time to reach us."

Thrall nodded. "Then we must prepare this camp immediately." Thrall ordered. "I want my warriors to have food and proper lodgings when they arrive."

The elderly orc saluted. "As you say, Warchief." he said, leaving the tent.

Thrall would follow him, to inspect the peons, they had already started cutting down wood to use for the burrows, it would take them mere days to shape up their encampment.

'The benefits of slavery." Thrall dryly thought.

He approached Grux, his second in command. "Gurx, has there been any word from Grom Hellscream?" Thrall asked. "He and the Warsong clan should have been here by now."

Grom had been with him at Durnholde, and had not strayed from his group, logic dictated that he should have been here first but days had become weeks and Grom had yet to show up.'

"No warchief, we haven't heard from Hellscream in some time." Gurx told him.

"Damn it, Grom." Thrall cursed, he didn't even want to imagine what kind of trouble the damned orc had gotten himself into. "Where the hell are you?" he bitterly mumbled.

At that moment an orc ran towards him, the same old orc from before. "Warchief, Warchief, humans..." he said while panting.

"Calm yourself old one, what of the humans?" Thrall asked cautiously.

The old orc collected himself. "The humans are at the river, they are building a makeshift bridge to get across." he spoke incredulously.

Thrall and Gurx glanced at each other quickly. "Gather your best warriors." he quickly told him.

"Yes, warchief!" Gurx said.

Thrall narrowed his eyes at the old orc. "Show me." he said.

The old orc led them a distance away from the encampment towards the river banks and sure enough, there were human guards tying wooden panels with rope on the river, their officer spotted their approach.

"HALT!" he yelled. "You orcs are in violation of the Alliance internment act!" he smugly told them. "We've already captured on of your leaders! If you surrender now, we'll spare your lives! the human continued.

"One of our leaders..." Gurx whispered. "Maybe they are referring to Hellscream!"

Thrall bristled in anger at the thought. "I hope not." he spoke quietly. "But if they have captured Grom, then I'l make them regret it!" Thrall moved towards the edge of the bank.

"A fine offer, human." he spoke with contempt. "I'll make you a better one, surrender any orcs that you have captured and maybe I won't slaughter you!"

The officer laughed with contempt. "Savage beast, It was a mistake to ever spare your kind." he mocked. "Men, kill them all!"

The humans charged across the makeshift bridge, screaming murder as they did. Thrall hurled a lightning bolt towards them, silencing them all.

He then slowly strode over to the barely breathing officer, who was trying his best to crawl away from him.

"Damned beast... it isn't right..." he spoke weakly.

Thrall crushed his skull with Doomhammer.

Thrall then kneelt down and put his hand on what remained of the humans head and closed his eyes, channeling his energies. He then saw a vision of a human guard toward inside was a dungeon filled with captured orcs, amongst them was Grom.

Thrall rose from the ground, frowning. "Let's get on with this." he bitterly spoke, moving towards the human encampment, his warriors not far behind.

Thrall and his warriors finally saw the tower ahead but its entrance was guarded by a group of human soldiers, mostly footmen with a few riflemen at the rear.

Thrall quietly motioned his warriors to attack, they charged at the humans with unmatched savagery.

"FOR THE HORDE!" Thrall cried, causing the humans to panic.

Combat was joined, axes clashed with swords and riflemen began firing at his forces, one of them got lucky and hit an orc straight in the head, causing it to implode into a gory mess. Thrall bristled in anger, and threw lightning at the responsible dwarf, yet the dwarf endured, in fact his wounds were being healed right before his eyes, thats when he spotted the elven priest standing atop the tower.

Thrall raised doomhammer towards the sky and called down lightning at the tower, instantly reducing the elf into dust. With the elf dead, the battle quickly turned one-sided, his warriors cleaved the humans to the last, none of them survived.

"Stay here and watch my back." Thrall ordered his remaining warriors.

Thrall ventured into the tower, meeting little resistance from the remaining humans. He finally reached the dungeons where the captured orcs were being held, he quickly broke open the gates, setting them all free.

"Thrall..." Grom began. "How did you-"

Thrall cut him off. "Grom, are you alright?" Thrall was too worried to berate his old friend.

Grom chuckled lightly. "I'm fine, little brother." said Grom. "Luckily, they only injured my pride."

"Good." Thrall said quickly. "Cause we're getting out of here now. We're leaving the human lands for good!"

"Finally..." Grom drawled. "Follow me. I have an idea." Thrall followed him down to the coast. "Haha, we can set sail, on the human's own ships!" Grom exclaimed happily, revealing several human galleons.

"Perfect." said Thrall with a smile. "Gurx, Summon the horde... we are leaving."

A.N: Yeah it took a while, honestly had some stuff to deal with and I was kinda busy writing a Warhammer fic, got the idea and I am kinda impulsive when it comes to stuff like this but yeah... what to do.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it and as always stay safe!