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calling-gull · 6 years

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The Duchess’ Children and the Fate of the Warlock

((Co-written with Nallaen Ravenstone’s mun, who doesn’t have Tumblr))

Lightning cracks the sky as a peel of thunder booms, sending a heavy, dead pulse of sound through the cores of the men and women that fought to keep their vessel afloat. Rain pours heavy, making the stained wooden surfaces of the Anchor ship slick and slippery, many fighting to keep their footing as they struggle to heave rope and drop weight. Torrents of water spill over the decks as chaos reigns, commanding officers barking orders in hopes to keep that dread hound misfortune at bay.

All through it, the only thing that Nallaen Ravenstone can think about right now is the two children currently hiding in the captains quarters, crying and scared from the noise and tumult outside.

"HEAVE!" Calls the first mate, attempting to direct the crew to pull on a rope to keep the main sails up and steady.

Nallaen himself wasn't a sailor, but it didn't take much nautical experience to be told to pull on a rope as hard as one could. The chain of Anchor sailors and mercs pull hard, but the gale winds prove to be too much and snap the rope from their hands, the crew spilling to the deck. Nallaen's face bounces off the rain slick wood, shattering his nose as gulps of raw, rancid sea water fill his mouth. This was an unwinnable fight and Nallaen knew it.

Coughing and sputtering, the warlock spits out the salt water, wiping some blood away from his visage. This was mostly a futile attempt, as more just poured out to replace it, the life fluid much more dull than it ought to be. Nall scrambles to his feet, helping a fellow crew member up reaching up to his ear.

"DANIEL." He yells into the comm, the sound of heavy wins and rain flooding the channel and distorting his calls. "DANIEL. SOMEONE. ANYONE."

Daniel had just finished working on the ship for the day, sending his crew back to the cabins, to their food and well-earned rest. The building was going well and, since he couldn't do anything to help the rest in Stormhollow for now, Daniel focused on what was before him. Once more, he ran his hands over the well-worked wood, the beautiful carvings the shipwrights were putting everywhere. They were turning this ship into, not only a transport, but a display piece for the Anchor Trading Company. Something the Duchess could look at with pride.

The shout from the comm startled Daniel out of his musings, and into 'danger' mode, alert to every sound that was being transmitted to him. What could he do in response to the panic in that voice, but to respond?

"NALL I'm here! What's going on?"

Daniel stood still in the Captain's quarters of the ship, every sense stretched as far as it would go to get every bit of response, his need to help and protect riled up by that panic.

"SHHHHRKT SHIP BZZZT STORM WRRRRRRRRRRRRST KIDS BZZZZZT STOR-"

Nallaen's panicked message is cut off as another wave crashes down onto the ship. His body ragdolls over the deck with the sea water, slamming the main into the guard railings and keeping him from going overboard. Every bone in Nallaen's body screamed, the man fighting to keep consciousness as he tries to speak into his comm once more.

"BZZZT WORKSHSKKRT" He yells, pushing himself back up to his feet and trying to keep his footing as he makes his way towards the captain's quarters.

This idea of his was the only chance that the children were going to make it out of this storm safely and even them, Nallaen might be damning them to a fate worse than drowning, but what choice did he have?

"Shit!" Danny yells as he hears this jumble of sputtering and words, and stormed to his trunk to begin putting a bag together. He knew that Nallaen was tasked with taking the children to safety, and clearly something catastrophic was going on.

Clothing, tools, and a waxed packet of jerky were packed along with a small emergency medical kit. One never knew what would be needed, so most of this emergency pack was already prepared. He heard the words ‘Kids’, ‘Ship’, ‘Storm’, and, he thought, also ‘Workshop’, perhaps.

"Tell me what you need! Try! Where are the kids going!"

"BRRRRRRT ZZZZZZTTTTT SAME TESTISKZZZZZZT FRRRRRRRT PORTASKRRRRRT WARE-"

Nallaen continues his scramble to the captains quarters, dodging bodies and sliding crates and barrels, weaving his way through the chaos as he struggles to make it to his final destination. Eventually, and with some effort, the rain soaked man makes it to the Captains quarters and throws the doors open, barging into the room with little regard for how frightening and image that might be for the young children.

"Nerina...." He pants, grabbing the young baby's bassinet and wrapping the toddler's hand firmly around the hand. "Nerina...you're going to see mommy real soon okay?" He says, trying to calm the screaming child, blood running down the front of his face. "I need you to hold your breath and hold onto your sister. It will be over quickly. I promise."

With that Nallaen produces a gleaming, onyx orb and presses it into the toddler's hand, wrapping her tiny fingers around it.

"It will be over soon..."

The warlock forces her hand closed and crushes the stone for her in her hand, letting go as a torrent of magical energies take both the toddler and the infant far away from the quickly sinking vessel. Nallaen touches his ear once more.

"Daniel. They are on their w-"

That's as far as the warlock gets as the large glass panels at the back of the captain's quarters shatter inward, destroyed by the immense force of a supernatural wave. Water and glass rockets towards the warlock, bouncing him to and fro in the captains quarters as the vessel takes on too much water to float any longer, sails slipping beneath the waves.

Nallaen's comm is nothing but static now.

Already pelting out into the night, Daniel listened to everything he could hear, trying to make sense out of the chaos. It was as he threw himself on his sturdy mountain horse that he understood. The warehouse where they had tested those damn spheres!

"I'll be there! Nallaen! NALLAEN! I'll get there!"

He had no idea if the man could hear him, or if something unthinkable had happened, but he continued, whipping his poor horse into a flat-out run toward the small, hidden boat that would take him across a short span of water to Boralus, and the portals that had been set up there.

Wind whipped the horse's mane into Daniel's face like tiny stinging insects, but he didn't slow one bit. If he was right, the children were now alone in that warehouse, and needed someone there -now-.

Upon reaching the hidden dory, Daniel ripped his saddlebags off of his horse, and smacked the good creature's rump to send him back 'home' to his stable in the ship's shadow. A note was tacked to the saddle for the builder crew, so he shook that worry from his mind.

He pushed the dory out of the shadowed bushes, and out into the water, rowing fast and as quietly as possible to another hidden spot on the shores of Boralus. Keeping himself out of the hands of the userper's authority was absolutely necessary for his crew's safety.

Upon reaching the shore, he hopped out, and pulled the small boat up onto the shore, and tied it safely to an iron ring already set up into the stone. It had already taken him three hours to reach safety past the mountains, and would be at least another hour of walking to reach the portals set up in the Tradewinds Market.

After a seemingly interminable time, he made it to the familiar sights, sounds, and scents of the Market. He stopped only at two places, spending a bit of coin before he left for Stormwind. At one place, he gathered bottles of milk, juice, and soft sausage rolls, nice and warm. At another place, he stopped for a couple of teddy bears. After all, the girls were there alone, after something awful had happened. They would need comfort.

It was thus supplied that he stepped through the Stormwind portal, enduring that gut-wrenching, nauseating feeling of transport.

The storm continues to rage overhead, large pieces of wood and glass swimming around him as he fights to swim upwards and out of captains quarters towards the surface of the water. Around him, Nallaen can see bodies of his compatriots struggling and swimming towards the surface as the destroyed ship sinks around them.

Nallaen was already tired, however. Tired from trying to keep the sails up. Tired from being smacked around. His clothes were waterlogged and so, so heavy. The warlock can feel his oxygen starved body start to scream as he tries push himself towards the surface. Suddenly, his paddling stops as Nallaen allows himself to stop and rest, staring at the water's edge above him.

The fact of the matter was that it didn't matter. None of it did.

The kids were as safe as he could make them and Daniel was on the way. While this wasn't his preferred method of exit, it was a neat one. The warlock opens his mouth and lets the last bit of air flow from his body, salty sea water replacing it in his mouth.

This was good.

Nallaen's vision slips to black and the warlock knows nothing for some time.

Coming out through the other side of the portal to Stormwind, Daniel makes his way directly to Nallaen's warehouse. He remembered the way (and wasn't likely to forget it after that portal test!), and was able to get there within twenty minutes. It had now been four hours since that last panicked yell, leaving the two children alone in the warehouse.

Checking the door for locks, or magical interference - whatever the hell that might feel like, he'd really never know - Daniel simply shoved his muscled bulk against it, snapping the lock out of the wood itself. Fuck this door in particular.

He was greeted by the terrified screams of the girls, and he hurried to set a light glowing and to their side.

"Hey, hey now, it's Danny, remember me? I'm here ta take care of ya for mummy an' daddy."

He continued to talk like this, his voice a low, soothing rumble as he sat on the floor of the mostly empty warehouse, and pulled the girls into his lap. He held them, rocking back and forth slowly, saying soft, calming things, and eventually humming soft songs from his childhood. Those songs spoke of salt scent on the wind, the cold deep of the sea, and the blessed toil of working the waters. They spoke of going home to where one truly belonged, and the peace that follows.

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It took a while to get them calm, and get food and drink into them, but he managed it. After all, the man wasn't all stoic silences and glares, harsh voice and strictness. There was a soft, cuddly core that none but Sabine had seen in him in a very, very long time. For these two mites, it was on full display.

"Captain Conaroy, can you hear me?"

A female voice came over the comm, a voice he'd heard before, from a woman he'd been told about a few times. Someone trusted very well, Sevia Montemayor.

"Aye, I can hear ya."

He looked down at the elder of the two girls munching her way through a sausage roll, and giggling as the baby in Danny's lap wiggled, and squiggled around, burbling happily with a belly full of milk, and soggy bread scraps. "What d'ye want?"

"Do you have the girls? were you able to get to them? Are they safe?" The worry in the woman's voice was almost a touchable thing.

"Aye, they're safe."

"Very well, I will come for them, and bring them back to Stonewall with me, and Lady Randall's three children."

"Good." Daniel gave Sevia the location of the warehouse, and prepared to wait for her to come get the children. It was a shame, really. These were two cuddlesome tiny things, and it had brought him back to babysitting for his younger sibs. But he had work to do, a Sabine to take care of - when they rescued her, at least. If he’d the manpower to get in there and rescue those taken, he’d be doing it, and seeing to it there were plenty more dead to send to the Tides when he’d done.

A slight sigh left his lips as he continued to sing low lullabies to the Duchess’ children. They deserved peaceful dreams after all they’d been through. As he sang, he blanked his mind, refusing to fret over mister Ravenstone’s fate. That was in the hands of the Tides. He only sent a brief, but fervent prayer that the man would be protected, and waited for the battle-hardened protector to come for Nerina and Abby.

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