A Costly Decision

A floorboard creaked. The sound was a nothing, a whisper in the reading room and almost lost amongst the crackle and popping of the flames in the hearth. Circular in shape, the chamber boasted two floors of carefully organized bookshelves with scrolls and documents weighing down each shelf. The center of the room was vaulted, with a railed balcony on the second floor overlooking the center of the room where a number of chairs and divans were arranged to allow those reading the works of the library the ability to do so before the warmth of the fire.

Standing near the stone hearth, Alleriel Sunhaven's long ears twitched once as the sound came to her. Barefoot and wearing loose-fitting robes after her evening martial arts practice and bath, she had just selected a tome to read to put her mind at ease before she slept. She paused, the book half-opened in her hands as her eyes slipped closed. Something around her, something within the room felt wrong and out of place all of a sudden, the sound having alerted her in some subconscious way. She delved deep within herself, finding her center and hunting for the source of imbalance in her Chi.

The moment came and passed, and with it a sense of impending fate. As if the entire thing had been orchestrated, Alleriel whirled, the book folding closed in her hands and coming up before her, her sea-green eyes opening as her Chi came into balance within her once more. Through the air a throwing knife tumbled end over end, the deadly weapon glinting in the firelight as it crossed the distance to what would have been her back in an instant. The razor sharp point penetrated the book's cover, sticking in the pages and quivering there.

Alleriel's mind raced, her body already in motion as the assassin on the upper balcony jumped down, drawing a blade and dagger and advancing on her. As she moved, a second projectile eclipsed the spot she'd been standing as a second attacker failed to strike his mark. In her quick assessment of the situation, Alleriel instantly recognized that she was not being attacked by Sin'dorei, but by orcs dressed in black leather armor with black cloth masks covering half their faces.

Out of time to consider the situation further, the first of the orcs reached her, his blade stabbing out at her with a lightning fast jab. Utterly focused now, Alleriel's hand came up at precisely the right moment to slap the flat of the blade, driving the weapon wide even as she whirled to avoid the slash of the dagger. Within the arc of the orc's arm, her hand lashed out again, striking his underarm as her leg came up to strike his groin. The larger assailant tumbled onto his back, his sword flying from his hands as Alleriel continued to move.

Behind her the second assassin slashed at her, narrowly missing the lithe elf as she darted towards a divan, her bare feet easily allowing her to jump onto the high back of the furniture before she neatly dove down and rolled across the floor. Feathers flew into the air as the second orc's blade bit into the furniture, the second strike missing Alleriel by mere inches.

As the blonde elf ended her roll, a third orc jumped down from the balcony above, slashing downward with two of his blades. Still in a half-crouch, Alleriel swept one of her legs out instead of rising, the two swords whisking over her head as her assault knocked the legs out from under the orc. He fell with a grunt, and Alleriel gave him a quick blow to the neck as she rose and darted forward, knowing it would do nothing more than stun him for a moment. Behind her the assassin that had been chasing her struck again, his strike held up by the fact that his companion on the floor was attempting to rise, gasping for air.

Having bought herself a moment's reprieve, Alleriel rolled again, coming up near a bookshelf. She snatched several tomes from the collection, whirling and hurling them as projectiles as the two orcs both advanced on her. They slashed at the books with their swords, one taking the bound edge of a thesaurus to the face. Pages fluttered around them and they began to look enraged as they stalked her. Realizing she would have to face them both, Alleriel dropped into a fighting stance, taking a deep breath and preparing herself for the battle to come.

Unfortunately, the three orc assailants were not the only attackers. Even as she prepared herself, there was a *click* and a crossbow bolt flew across the open space of the room. Having only a moment's notice, Alleriel was not able to deflect the bolt with a belated swing of her open palm, and the bolt passed through the flowing sleeve of her robes, narrowly missing her arm directly and leaving a bloody welt on her flesh as it exited the other side.

Her eyes darted to the balcony above where a dark-haired Sin'dorei held a crossbow in his hands, sighting down the length. The weapon was of special design, shooting small projectiles but having a loading mechanism to allow it to fire up to five of the missiles before needing to be reloaded. Alleriel's face took on a look of surprise and she darted to one side, somersaulting away as another bolt passed through the space she'd been standing. She fell to her knees, sliding in her robes across the wooden floor and slowing to a stop behind one of the feather-stuffed reading chairs. Even as she stopped, a bolt struck the chair and feathers exploded from it.

With the two orcs beginning to pursue her around the edge of the furniture, the sniper on the balcony above, and the third orc stirring where he lay on the floor in the middle of the room, Alleriel came to the understanding that her fate might be upon her. She took in another deep breath, steadying herself and bringing her Chi in alignment within her. She jumped up, quickly dodging away from the orcs pursuing her, her hand extended towards the balcony above.

She could feel the space between her and the assassin. Could feel his finger as it caressed the trigger. She could see the motes of dust that danced in the air between them, sense the deadly potential that hung within that impossibly small space. Into that void she thrust her Chi, her entire focus on that moment.

Green crackling lightning burst from her open palm, crossing the distance between her and the assassin before he could squeeze the trigger. It slammed into the balcony railing before arcing up and over, and the Sin'dorei cried out and hurled himself backward. His weapon fired, the bolt traveling towards Alleriel but thrown off course now, missing her by a few feet and clattering against the stones of the hearth behind her.

Deep within the interior of Sunhaven Estate, shouts arose as the House Guards heard the thunderous retort of the lightning within the enclosed space of the reading room. Footsteps began to pound down nearby hallways as the defenses of the House began to gather to repel whatever attack was occurring. Within the room, the Sin'dorei on the balcony growled through the mask that covered his face, lightly leaping over the railing and turning towards the door.

Behind him, Alleriel skidded to a halt, twirling on her bare feet and bringing a leg up before leaping to the side. Her foot connected with the head of one of the orcs, the blow to the temple knocking him unconscious and causing him to stumble sideways into his companion as he slid towards the floor. The second orc's attack was thrown off as his companion jostled him, and Alleriel was able to slap his clumsy assault to the side. She stepped towards him, lightning fast strikes hitting him in the groin, the stomach, and throat, and the nose before she jumped back, allowing her two dazed opponents to collapse in a heap.

In the doorway, the Sin'dorei who had been on the balcony paused, his gaze reaching across the room to lock with Alleriel's, irritation at the failure of his assassins clearly written there. He held up a small glass orb, dashing it on the ground and creating a wall of smoke in the doorway, obscuring all sight through the entrance.

Again Alleriel sensed that something was amiss, and she fell to the floor as the smoke cloud expanded. No sooner had she done so than a barrage of throwing stars exited the smoke, hurtling towards where she'd been standing. Several strands of her hair were cut free by near misses, drifting onto the stones around her as the spent projectiles collided with the hearth behind her and the orcs that were attempting to get to their feet.

In the silence that followed, only the sound of Sunhaven guards rushing towards her location could be heard. Of the leader of the assassins, there was not even a whisper to hint he had been within the rapidly clearing smoke cloud. Alleriel jumped to her feet, rushing to the doorway and seeing a window ajar in the corridor beyond. She looked out into the night to see the moon shining down on Sunhaven Estate's grounds. Her keen sight took in the crumpled forms of several of her rangers that had likely been cut down while they patrolled the grounds to allow the assassins access to the structure.

In the corridors behind her, House guards rushed towards her, their voices a cacophony of shouts and cries of dismay. Several hurried into the room behind Alleriel, checking on the two dead orcs and taking the third semi-conscious orc into custody.

Alleriel ignored them all, her gaze locked on the still forms laying in the fields beyond. At the dead Sin'dorei that had fallen defending their home. At those who had died because of her decisions, her leadership. There was a price to pay for every choice one made, for every path one walked. The dead in the fields beyond were the price she paid now for choosing to withdraw from the alliance of four Houses that she had been a part of.

Had they convinced others that she had betrayed the Horde? Would more orcs come, thinking she was disloyal to the Warchief when all she had wanted was to protect the Sin'dorei in her care? Or perhaps one of the other Houses simply found her position inconvenient, and sought to eliminate her so that her replacement would be more compliant. Which House was it? Sunfire, Dawnsea, or Felo'melorn? Who owned the blade of the dark-haired Sin'dorei?

The questions circled endlessly in her mind as her gaze remained locked on the dead. Doubt gnawed at her, a feeling that would hound her relentlessly and was a part and parcel of leading others. Though it would make meditation difficult and keep her awake for many nights to come, she could not be deterred. Too much depended on her keeping House Sunhaven's Sin'dorei safely within Quel'Thalas.

She whispered into the night, her voice steady but having a hint of anger to it that was uncommon for her, “Strike well my foes, strike many times in the hopes that you will stop me. When the time comes that I strike, there will be but one blow and you will fall. No more Sin'dorei will die for this. No more of our kin will be slain at our own hands. This I swear.”

With that she turned, striding away from the window and letting her guards do their jobs. She desperately needed the serenity of meditation in that moment.