A Bad Night

Celessarae frowned and ducked back out of sight, avoiding the Blood Knights who stood watch outside the tavern. She had asked around and apparently her cousin Kyli usually enjoyed having a drink at Silvermoon City Inn from time to time. Celessarae had hoped to see her there, but now there were Blood Knights on patrol and guarding the entrance and there would be no way for her to sneak in to visit her relative unnoticed.

She bit her lip in frustration and thought about the situation for a moment. How was she to see her cousin if the Blood Knights were going to keep the city on lockdown like this? She had to leave Kyli a message somehow and get the other Sin'dorei to meet her outside the city gates, where it would be safer. Perhaps it was time to revisit old haunts. It was the safest course.

Mind made up, Celessarae turned and walked deeper into the alley. She never saw the wooden club that descended from a narrow doorway as she passed it. The blunt object struck her against the back of her head, throwing her to the dirty ground of the alley. Rough hands quickly reached down and grabbed both of her arms, hauling her to her feet. Her vision swam as she looked up groggily, trying to make sense of what had happened.

"Well well. I told you it would be easy t' find the scum, didn't I lads?" a familiar voice said. Celessarae squinted and her vision came back into focus, the green goblin face of Rustbolt coming into view. She snarled and tried to lunge at him, only to be hauled back again by the hands that held both her arms. There were two orcs behind her, firmly keeping her limbs clamped in place and preventing her from harming the goblin.

"Come on now Rusty, is this any way to treat an old friend?" Celessarae said sarcastically. She was rewarded with a backhanded slap across the face. The mail armor covering Rustbolt's hand scored cuts in her face and made her head snap to the side.

"Shut up wench! You've only been back a few days and you already got several of my men killed, ruined business opportunities for me, and got me death threats," the goblin snarled. "I don't care how much you were willing to pay for that part on your ship, it's not worth the price."

He eyed Celessarae over, reaching up to caress her face before wrapping on of his green hands around her throat. "Besides, I bet I'll be gettin' a better price for turning you in, or sellin' you on the market. Whatcha think of that?"

Celessarae turned and spit a glob of blood from her mouth before glaring at the goblin again, "I told you not to cross me Rusty. We had a deal, and I was willing to pay you fair price for that part. You best be getting away from me before too much longer if you know what's good for you. I didn't come back to this city to be sold out by lowlife scum who can't even keep their end of a deal."

The goblin and his two henchmen laughed as her words came out and he casually walked closer. He motioned to the two orcs and they painfully wrenched Celessarae's arms behind her. Despite herself, she cried out in pain, which only made the sadistic goblin's smile widen. He stepped closer and delivered a mail-armored punch to Celessarae's midsection before reaching up and grabbing her by the hair.

"Ya know wench, there's other markets beyond those for flesh in this city. The cabals of warlocks here could sure use a still-beating heart for some rituals. Maybe I'd best be done with you that way." Rustbolt reached out, his hand hovering an inch from Celessarae's shirt over her heart, that sadistic grin plastered on his face now. Celessarae mumbled something and he frowned, leaning in close.

"What was that you said? You better hope to Fel it was some begging 'cause I'm not feelin' very generous today," the goblin smirked. He released his hold on her hair, letting her head fall forward.

Celessarae looked up at him, her face a mask of hate. "Didn't you hear the rumors Rusty? They say I cut my own heart out at the battle near the maelstrom and threw it in the sea. It awaits an audience with Azshara now."

With that she brought her head down hard, right against Rustbolt's face. She was rewarded with the satisfying crunch as his nose broke and he reeled back away from her, blood on his face. His henchmen loosened their grip slightly, staring in shock at their wounded boss.

It was all Celessarae needed.

She lurched forward out of their grip, their mail scraping cuts in both her arms as she freed herself. One of the two orcs reached for his blade and her hands lashed out, grabbing his arm and twisting it in ways it was not supposed to bend, snapping the bone and causing him to fall back in pain. She grabbed his blade and whirled, parrying the attack of the second orc. Steel rang as she counter-attacked, driving the other orc back while Rustbolt yelled frantically for him to finish her off.

Her mind was distant and detached as feelings arose within her. She always tried to keep herself calm and collected, always tried to stay in control, but deep within her her spirit raged. Maybe it was anger at her lot in life, maybe she was angry with herself for all of the things she had done, maybe it was guilt for disappointing her family and friends, or maybe, just maybe it was exactly the incident she had just mentioned that brought up the anger all over again. The battle at the maelstrom. The deaths she had caused there. She didn't really know or care, all she knew was that the black rage was upon her again, consuming her entirely in its fire and making her forget everything but the bloodshed that was about to come.

Her blade lashed out again and again, and the orc before her frantically tried to parry as she began to score hits here and there, slowly bleeding him. She didn't even really see him, she only saw the blades, only the red mask that had fallen over her vision. She stabbed, lunged and dodged. She rolled under the orc's guard and suddenly her blade was through his heart. His sword was in her other hand before his dead body hit the ground, and she whirled on the first orc who she had wounded initially. He was on his knees, a pleading look on his face.

She cut him down.

Celessarae turned to Rustbolt, who was cowering against a wall in the alley, his face depserate. "N-now there's n-no need for this!" he blurted out. "I-I can g-get the part! I'll d-do it for free! I c-can get you help in the city. I'll f-find you a place to hide!"

Celessarae looked at her blood soaked blades and back at the goblin and slowly shook her head. "No Rusty, you broke the deal. You know how we live. If there's any sort of code of honor, it's that you keep your word when you give it, otherwise there's no reason for me to be trustin' anything you say. You break your word, you lose everything, and I take what I want." She leveled one of the blades at him. "I want your life, and it's mine to have."

She didn't give him time to argue or beg. It wasn't her style to listen to such things anyway. She just casually cut him down where he stood, and threw the two blades on his corpse before staggering away. Now that the battle was over the rage subsided within her, and she could feel every scrape and cut. Her face would be bruised for days, and she might have a new scar or two on her arms after this. She didn't really care anyway.

She had stopped caring long ago.