Chapter 8 chapter eight

Lorena was led into Queen Proudmoore's chamber by De Fei, but there was no one there. Lorena turned to look at Duffy, she was a full head taller than the old woman who was doing chores for the queen."Where is the queen?" she asked. "Don't worry, she'll be right back. An hour ago, she left to meet the orc chieftain—should be right back by now." Lorena frowned: "She went to see Sal?" Defei covered her mouth with her hand: "Oh! Honey, I didn't intend to mention this. Just pretend I didn't say it, okay?" Lorena didn't answer.She made a roaring expression, trying to scare the housekeeper away.

It worked.De Fei ran out of the meeting room like flying, and his glasses fell off the bridge of his nose. After a while, Christopher came in. "Colonel, Duffy said you have something to report." Lorena glanced at the Minister of the Interior.Like the old woman, Christopher was a nuisance, but he really couldn't live without him—after all, a country doesn't just have an army.One of the first lessons her father and brothers taught her was to be kind to people, even if it was just a shop assistant.Compared with those senior officials, these people are the key people to make a department really work.

But Duffy was too annoying, so she failed to follow her father's advice.But Christopher is the Queen's right-hand man, and Lorena can't have the same attitude towards him.She suppressed her distaste for the Minister of Internal Affairs and forced a smile. "Yes, Home Secretary. I have something to report to the Queen. But I must wait for her return." Christopher smiled.Lorena had never seen such a hypocritical smile. "You can tell me first. I promise to convey it to Her Majesty the Queen in full." "I think it's better to wait for the queen to come back, sir. If you don't mind."

"She's on some important business," said Christophe hastily, "and I'm afraid she won't be back for a while." The colonel gave the Home Secretary an equally false smile.She said: "The queen understands magic - she can be back in a flash when she's done. And she wants me to report to her in person." "Colonel—" Whatever Christopher was about to say, he was interrupted by a loud bang and a bright light.Queen Proudmoore has returned. The queen's appearance is not special, Lorena has always thought so, although someone told her a long time ago that she should not judge a mage by her appearance.Lorena has spent her life trying to look like a man—she cuts her hair short, never shaves her legs, and wraps her breasts in tight underwear—but no matter how she dresses, people can still see She is a woman.Sometimes, she often wondered why such a small, pale woman with blond hair and dark blue eyes could make everyone bow down to her?

Lorena thought it might have something to do with her usual behavior.No matter where she stands, even though she is the shortest, she always looks so tall.Her clothes were always immaculate, too: white boots, white blouse, white trousers and a white cape.And the strangest thing is that her clothes always remain a kind of bright white.As a soldier, if you want to keep your shirt from turning gray or black under your metal armor, you have to spend at least several weeks a year cleaning your clothes, and the results are often not satisfactory.But Queen Proudmoore's clothes were always shining white.

Lorena thought, this is probably the benefit of being a powerful mage. "Colonel, are you back?" Queen Proudmoore seemed to have been in the room when she said this, "What news?" Lorena told the Queen, and of course the Home Secretary, about her experience at Northwatch in detail. Christopher wrinkled his thin lips and said, "I've never heard of the Burning Blade." "I've heard," the Queen said, pulling down her hood to reveal her fluffy golden curls. She moved to the table and rested a finger on her chin. "It's a clan of orcs, but it's extinct. I once heard Someone from the team mentioned it."

Lorena didn't want to hear the news.It's fine for Strovo to have heard of it. If even the Queen's personal troops have heard of it, then things are not as simple as imagined. "Those people must be orcs, ma'am, I'm 100 per cent sure." "Perhaps they just wanted to pretend to be orcs," said Queen Proudmoore, "and since they used magic—which is baffling—it is possible to mask themselves. You know, if the orcs attacked for no reason Humans, our alliance is over." "It's also possible," Christophe said. "Perhaps these people are just agitators. They use the banner of an extinct clan for another purpose."

Lorena shook her head: "This can't explain the words that Strovo's brother heard in the Demon Buster Hotel." The Queen nodded.Her thoughts seemed to fly far away, as if no one in the room existed.Lorena doesn't know many mages, but they all seem to have this problem. Unlike the mages, though—who needed a whack in the face to come to their senses—Queen Proudmoore came to her senses in no time.She stood up: "Colonel, I want to send your team to investigate the Burning Blade clan. I want to know who they are, how they act, and whether they can use magic. If they recruit orcs, why recruit humans? Lorena, find out all these things for me—if you need anyone’s assistance, just ask.”

Lorena straightened her body and saluted: "Yes! Ma'am." "Christopher, I'm afraid I have to leave soon. The Thunder Lizard has escaped from the Thunder Mountain Range and is threatening the entire Drywater Valley." The Home Secretary frowned and said: "I don't see how this has anything to do with us?" "The woods that kept the Thunder Lizards in the mountains were all cut down, and the orcs wouldn't do that." "How do you know?" Christopher's voice sounded suspicious. Lorena felt that the Secretary of the Interior was speaking something stupid. "Of course the orcs couldn't do it," she snapped, and quickly glanced at the Queen, "I'm sorry, ma'am."

The Queen smiled and said, "That's right. Go on, please." Lorena looked at Kristoff and said, "Even when they're under the control of the Burning Legion, they wouldn't do that. The orcs worship the land—and, to be honest, it's kind of insane." Queen Proudmoore giggled, "I have to say that human beings' abuse of nature is more like insanity. But the Colonel's point of view is worth learning. Simply put, the orcs are incapable of doing this - take the Thunder Lizard It wouldn't do them any good to let it out. So who else is there? The trolls, now ruled by Thrall; the goblins, in neutral; and us, the allies of Durotar." It looks like it was chopped off. Whether it was transported by land or air, and there is no corresponding means of transport, so it can only be magic."

Lorena didn't like the speculation.She asked, "Ma'am, do you think the Burning Blade has anything to do with this?" "Colonel, after listening to your report, I am more inclined to this conclusion—so I want to send you to investigate them." Christopher crossed his long, thin arms across his chest. "I don't see why you should leave Theramore." "I promised Thrall I would look into this myself," she said with a wry smile. "Right now, I'm his prime suspect. Only I can cut down those trees and transport them outside of Kalimdor. The best way to prove my innocence now is to investigate the matter myself." "I can think of several other ways," said Christophe sourly. Queen Proudmoore walked across the table and came face to face with her Minister of the Interior: "There is another reason. There may be a kind of magic lurking there. Very powerful magic. If there is such a powerful magic in Kalimdor Power, I must know who is wielding it—and why this mage, who has never been seen, is able to hide so deeply." "If there's magic involved in this thing," Christopher sounded a little annoyed—Lorena wanted to beat him up—Christopher let out a long breath, and the two A hand dropped, "Then I think you can do it. At least check it out. I withdraw my suggestion." "Glad you agree, Christopher," said the queen coldly. She went to the table and looked at the scrolls piled upon it. "I'm leaving this morning, Christopher. You'll be in charge of the government while I'm away. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but until I get back, you can exercise authority in my name." She looked again Lorena said, "Good luck, Colonel. You can go." Lorena saluted, turned and left.As she was leaving, she heard Christopher wanting to say something, but was stopped by the Queen. "I said so. You can go, Home Secretary." "Understood, ma'am." Hearing the angry voice of the Home Secretary, the colonel couldn't help laughing. Sometimes Jaina Proudmoore just doesn't wish she had guessed right. She never worried about guessing wrong, thanks to her teacher Antonidas has been teaching.From the day he was an apprentice, he told her that the easiest and biggest mistake a wizard can make is self-righteousness, "If a person has a very powerful force at his disposal-his fingers to be precise-then he will easily Think of yourself as omnipotent,” said the teacher, “a lot of mages think that way, and that’s why we’re not liked,” said the last sentence with an eerie smile on his face . "You're not like that, are you?" Jaina asked. "I have always been like this," was his answer, "the only way is to recognize your own shortcomings and work hard to correct them." Then her teacher told her the history of mages, and the last two of Tirisfal. The story of Guardians Aegwynn and Medivh.Both of them lost in the end because of pride.Years later, Jaina met Medivh.By this time he had redeemed his reputation, and his mother, Aegwynn, was not so lucky.Aegwynn was the first female Guardian—Jaina admired her immensely—and made only one mistake in her centuries of life, which was believing she had defeated Sargeras.But in fact, she just destroyed his body, and his soul has quietly invaded her body.Hundreds of years later, Aegwynn gave birth to Medivh, and Sargeras' soul was transferred to him again.Medivh indirectly contributed to the invasion of Sargeras and the arrival of the orcs, all of which were caused by Aegwynn's overconfidence.She thought she could kill Sargeras alone. Jaina took these words to heart, so she was always skeptical of certainties.She still adored Aegwynn—despite her later blunders.Although Jaina learned magic just for fun, not to learn the flimsy skepticism she was later exposed to, she later even changed Antonidas' opinion. Sometimes self-doubt got Jaina into trouble—she was still reluctant to trust her instincts that Arthas was never coming back.She always thought that if she could do something, maybe everything would change.But there's nothing wrong with that either.Self-doubt would at least make her a competent leader of Theramore. The moment Thrall told her that the forests around Thunder Mountain had been destroyed, she knew right away that it must be magic, very powerful magic.But she still hoped she was wrong. This has almost become an impossible wish.She went straight from the chambers of Theramore to the forest.From the moment she arrived, she smelled magic, and without even raising her mana, she could sense a powerful magic lurking there.In front of her was an endless stretch of tree stumps, extending all the way to the foot of the Thunder Mountain Range.Each stump was the same height - as if chopped off in one fell swoop by a gigantic scythe.And the knife edge is so neat, not even a crack.The only thing that can do this is magic. Jaina knew nearly every mage alive.Except for her, no one who could do this was in Kalimdor, and this time the magic didn't look like it came from a mage she knew.Every mage casts spells in a different way, as long as you distinguish carefully, you can feel who is casting spells.But this time the magic made Jaina unable to see who did it, and the smell made her sick, so it was probably demon magic.Although not all disgusting magic came from the hands of demons, Jaina felt sick every time she smelled the magic of the Burning Legion.Kel'Thuzad's magic stinks too.Antonidas had introduced the two of them during Jaina's third year as an apprentice mage, when Kel'Thuzad was one of the Kirin Tor's best archmages. (Years later, he fell in love with witchcraft and became a servant of the Lich King.) However, the consequences of the disaster far outweighed its causes: Thunderlizards had unhindered access to Drywater Valley and beyond.Jaina had to find another place to lock them up before they destroyed orc farms and villages. Jaina produced a map from under her cloak, one of two items she took from the messy table.She took a look and decided to keep the Thunder Lizard in Scar Rise.Scar Rise is located south of Durotar, just east of Ratchet, separated from the rest of Durotar by a mountain range.The Thunder Lizard will definitely not make it through.And this place has enough green grass and streams, the streams in the mountains are bigger than the one in Thunder Mountain Range.The lizards are safe there, and so are the orcs in Durotar. At first she wanted to send them farther afield—like Feralas on the other side of the continent—but they had limited mana after all.She could easily teleport herself there, but it was impossible to send so many lizards so far away. She took another item out of her cloak - a magic scroll.This scroll can let her know the thoughts of any Thunder Lizard on this continent.She said the mantra and began to meditate.Unlike most reptiles, thunder lizards live in groups, much like buffaloes in this regard, so they tend to congregate wherever they are.Most of the lizards are now in the dry valley.She could feel that they were all quiet.She had planned to magically make them like this, but it seemed unnecessary.Thunder lizards can be either quiet or violent - there never seems to be a middle ground.If you want to send them away when they are berserk, it is an impossible task.Still, she tends to try not to disturb the order of their lives.So she was glad they were so quiet now. For the caster to teleport someone other than himself, he must be able to see the other person-most spellbooks emphasize this point.But Antonidas told Jaina that if she could feel the other party, she could also complete the teleportation.But this is a big risk, because some people's hearts cannot be felt, such as some demons and mages, and some people with a particularly strong will. But these problems do not exist in the thunder lizard.They only focus on three things: eating, drinking and sleeping.Apart from whether they can run fast, the Thunder Lizard only cares about these three things, especially during the mating season. Jaina stood quietly in the cleared woods, paying attention for hours to the thunderlizards that made their way to Drywater Valley, and the ones that were left behind as they made their way out of Thunder Mountain. grass.brook.close your eyes.rest.add.chew.swallow.suck.sleep.breathe. For a moment, she almost lost her mind—though the thunder lizards had a simple way of thinking, there were so many of them that Jaina was almost overwhelmed by their instinct to eat, drink, and sleep. She gritted her teeth, became one with the lizard again, and began to chant the teleportation spell. pain!As Jaina uttered the last word of the incantation, a searing pain raced through her brain.The devastated woods melted before her.A mild pain ran through her left knee.Only then did she realize that she had fallen to the woodland, her knee touching the nearest stump. pain.Injuried.Injuried.Injuried.run.run.run.run.Stop the pain.run.Stop the pain. Big beads of sweat condensed on her forehead.Jaina managed to hold herself back from running through the forest.Something went wrong with the teleportation spell, but she didn't have time to think about it.Her pain had telepathically teleported to the Thunder Lizards, and they were going berserk.She must stop them before they destroy Drywater Valley. Several times she couldn't help but want to break the spiritual connection with the Thunder Lizard, because blocking a group of crazy lizards is like blocking the ocean with a broom, but the only way to control them is to maintain this connection.She closed her eyes, concentrated, and said the incantation.This spell was specially taught to her by Antonidas to calm the raging animals.She clenched her fist so tightly that her nails were about to pierce her palm.She chanted the spell with all her might, hoping to control the Thunder Lizard. After a while, they fell asleep.Jaina disconnected before she fell asleep herself.She was so tired that she fell asleep in no time without magic. Her limbs ached and her eyelids were heavy.Even under the best of conditions, teleportation is a very labor-intensive form of magic.What's more, the number of lizards she needs to teleport is so large, and there is a problem with the spell in the end.Jaina wanted to lie down and sleep like the lizards, but she couldn't.The spell only puts the lizard to sleep for six hours - probably less.So she had to find out right away what was stopping her from teleporting the lizard to Scar Rise. She sat down cross-legged, her arms hanging limply to one side, and began to try to adjust her breathing.Her mind flew to the distance again.This time, he flew to the Scar Heights, especially the center of the Heights. It didn't take long for her to find out why. Someone cast an enchantment there.From this distance, Jaina couldn't say exactly what kind of magic this person was using, but she was sure that this ward - unlike the others - was only used to block teleportation.In order to protect something inside the enchantment. Jaina stood up, concentrating.Before teleporting herself to Scar Heights, she took a piece of dried meat from the pouch on her belt.This was another lesson Antonidas had taught her.Magic, he said, drained the mind, and the only way to replenish it was to eat meat. "Many mages," he said, "are wasting away from being busy casting spells. That's because they forget that mages eat too." Her jaw was sore from chewing on the jerky, but her energy returned quickly.Jaina recited the spell and teleported herself to Scar Heights, to be precise the extension of the enchantment on the Heights. Eating before casting a spell can also be bad.She often interprets the rumbling of her stomach as it digests indigestibles as a side effect of spellcasting.But as she stood on the crags of the Highlands, she had put the sound behind her.Where Jaina stood, there was an abyss behind her, and a large sloping grass in front of her.She doesn't have much room to stand. Although the enchantment cannot be seen with the naked eye, Jaina can feel it.Its power is not very strong.But if it's just for hiding, it really doesn't need to be too strong - Jaina is more and more sure that this enchantment is used for hiding - and it's better not to be too strong, otherwise any mage will find it casually it. So close, Jaina could even smell the magic.She had smelled the magic once when Medivh had fought with him.This is the magic of Tirisfal - but its guardians are dead, including Medivh, the last of them. It took Jaina a simple gesture to remove the ward.She surveyed the heights as she walked.She also casts an invisibility spell on herself so that no one else can see her. At first, all she saw were ordinary things: grass, bushes bearing fruit, and ordinary trees.A wind came from the Great Sea, and when it reached the heights it became a whirlwind, whistling her white cloak.When I was still in the Thunder Mountain Range, the sky was full of clouds, but here because of the very high altitude, the sky is still sunny.Jaina flipped back the hood of her cloak and began to enjoy the sun and sea breeze. It wasn't long before she saw something unusual: fruit had just been picked from a bush.She walked up the hillside and saw a well with some firewood beside it.There is a big wooden house beside a big tree.There are rows and rows of plants behind the wooden house—mostly vegetables, and some are spices. After a while, a woman appeared.She was wearing a shabby light blue linen dress and her feet were bare.She was walking slowly towards the well.Jaina noticed that the woman was very tall—or at least much taller than she was.And she is very old.Although her face was covered with wrinkles, Jaina was sure she must have been a beauty in the past.She had white hair and a crown of faded silver on her head.She also has a pair of green eyes, which go very well with the emerald necklace she wears around her neck. At this moment, Jaina's hairs stood on end.She recognized her.Although they had never met, she had heard her teacher mention it several times—her height, her blond hair, the crown on her head, and especially her eyes.No one would fail to remember such a pair of green eyes. It must be her.No wonder Jaina smelled that way.But didn't she die long ago... The woman put her hands on her hips and said, "I know you're there, don't waste your invisibility." She shook her head, walked to the well, and lowered the bucket with one hand on the rope. "Honestly, they didn't teach you young mages anything. You trampled the violets." Jaina showed up.The woman clicked her tongue as she let the rope go. "My name is Jaina Proudmoore. I am the leader of Theramore, a tribe of men on this continent." "Very well. When you return to this Theramore, practice your invisibility well. You can't even hide from me." Jaina turned her head and immediately realized that this woman could not be someone else and it must be her, although it was impossible, "Magna, it's an honor to meet you, I always thought you had—" "Dead?" the woman began to pull back on the rope, her lips parted slightly as she lifted a bucketful of water. "I'm dead. Queen Jaina Proudmoore of Theramore—hope you don't Mind. But please don't call me 'Magna' anymore. The time is different, the place is different. I'm not that woman anymore." "This name will always be yours, Magna. I don't know what else to call you." "Nonsense. Call me by my name if you must. Call me Aegwynn."