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10.2.7
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The Frozen North (Page 42)
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Post by
Morec0
(( Page 42. Fresh out of the oven. ))
“Come now brother!” Cedric laughed, knocking Nilon’s wooden practice sword out of his hands with a sharp rap on his wrist. “You should be better with a blade than I. Why is it that you cannot defeat me?”
“Because you cheat,” Nilon replied bluntly but with a smile. Over the course of the last hour he had been tripped, nearly-blinded, and even kicked in the groin by his brother throughout their duels. And Cedric showed no signs of stopping such behavior any time soon.
“And you don’t think the Scourge will?” Cedric said with a raised eyebrow. “They are corpses without honor and this is war. Whatever must be done to achieve victory must be done, be it a high blow or a low one.”
“Don’t you think that honorable combat is one of those things that separate us from the monsters we fight?”
“I do,” Cedric nodded, “but the field of battle is no place for it. We can save our honor for duels between friends.”
“Like this one?” Both blood elves laughed.
“You know what I mean, little brother. Now, pick up your sword and let’s go again.”
Nilon did so, charging his brother and swinging the wooden weapon at the priest’s head. Cedric dropped to the ground to dodge the blow and kicked Nilon’s legs out from underneath him, knocking the paladin to the ground. Before he could get up the tip of his brother’s sword was at this throat. “Touché,” Cedric grinned.
“I think I’ve had enough for now,” Nilon said, pushing the wooden blade away and standing back up. He headed for the sidelines of the ring, picking up his water skin and drinking from it.
At the other end of the ring Cedric was drinking from his own water skin. “So,” he yelled to his brother after swallowing his drink, “is the city of Stormwind as much of a
dump
as I’ve heard?”
Nilon blinked. “A dump?” he said in surprise. “No, not at all. It is actually very majestic, almost as much so as Silvermoon itself.”
Cedric laughed. “Funny, brother, trying to compare human work to that of elves. Their work is barely above that of orcs and trolls. Your sense of humor has improved.”
“I’m serious,” Nilon said.
“Of course, of course.” Cedric shook his head, still laughing. “Humans…,” the priest chuckled.
“Some of Azeroth’s greatest heroes have been humans,” Nilon pointed out, a tad bit infuriated by his brother’s racist attitude. “Highlord Fordring, Jaina Proudmoore.”
“And they have also produced Azeroth’s greatest villain, or have you forgotten who we are here battling against?” Cedric then pointed out – speaking of Arthas Menethil of course. “I shall even tell you of a more recent case of human betrayal. Not too long ago, while the Coliseum was still being constructed, a human combatant known as the ‘Black Knight’ signed up for the tournament…”
Cedric then retold the whole tale of the Knight; how he had murdered a number of other combatants in the tournament, how he had been an agent of the Lich King in disguise, how he had finally been brought down. He even went so far to describe the knight’s appearance and manner of speaking, pointing out that he was one of the humans from the Elwynn region.
As Nilon listened a frown spread across his face. His brother had a point; not a very strong one, but still one that was there. “I have met many honorable humans in the travels,” the paladin said.
“Of that I have no doubt,” Cedric responded. “They are all honorable at first, but they are also easily corrupted. Too easily to manipulate.”
“Are we so different?” Nilon asked. “Our own prince…”
“Fell into the servitude of the Legion only because of his desperation to save his people. Even then it took the master manipulator of the Legion to do so.”
“All the same, it proves we are fallible.”
“Only under the most extreme of circumstances. Everything fails when put under enough pressure, it just takes considerably less pressure for a human to fail. But enough, we are here to practice for combat not discuss politics.” He picked up training sword but Nilon did not do the same.
“First fill me in,” Nilon said. “How’s the rest of the family been?” He had hesitated to ask about them before in case something had happened to one, but he supposed that it could not be put off forever.
“They’re fine,” Cedric replied, a slight smile returning to his face. “Silian enrolled into the priesthood, and mother and father could never been prouder – or healthier, speaking of which. They requested that she be taught by Belestra personally. However, I feel that Aldrae would be a far better instructor. Oh, mother and father have also been speaking with a Lord Kareithel Arroval about donating a portion of the family fortune to the reconstruction of Quel'thalas.”
“Nilon grew worried by the silence that followed Cedric’s words. “What about Gloria?” Gloria was their oldest sister, merely a few years younger than Nilon and Cedric and also a talented priestess-in-training. She had wanted to join the battle against the Scourge from the beginning, but their mother and father had forbid it.
Cedric’s gaze became one of remorse. “She…,” he sighed. “She fell in with the Burning Legion alongside Kael’thas’ Dawnblade forces. She began practicing demonic arts under their instruction, becoming increasingly sadistic as time progressed and soon began to serve them as a torturer and subjugator.” He paused briefly. “After the defeat of Kil’jaeden I searched through the living and the dead for her, but never found any trace.”
Nilon was speechless. Light… what could have happened to her to make her side with the Legion? She had always been such a kind person, a bit rash at time but could that really have twisted her into what Cedric said she had become? He shook his head with a silent prayer to the Light for her protection. Legionnaire or not, she was still their sister.
“For now, though, such things are of secondary importance,” Cedric said, forcing himself to grin. “What is truly important at the moment is the massive army of the living dead to the south and bringing about the end of its leader. Come, let us prepare for those battle that await us.”
Nilon nodded. Cedric had always been one to worry about the future when and only when it became the present, and that seemed to be the best idea this time around. The paladin picked his training sword back up and then the two brothers attacked each other once more.
Post by
Behelich
This is a surprise, but a pleasant one. Keep them going, Rivendare!
Post by
576272
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Patty
A couple of typos "tail of the Black Knight"
was he a furry?
and "Elwyn" that I spotted, but other than that it was good. :) Are you going to start posting the parts more frequently now, or keep it sporadic? :P
Post by
Morec0
Writer's Commentary:
You know what I meant Patty! Don't judge my simple errors! (Sad thing is, I remember looking right at that too, and I still didn't change it).
This page helps introduces Cedric's personality (as well as provide a brief cameo for Kareithel Avorral for the heck of it). The interesting thing is that this page introduces the fact that Nilon comes from a wealthy and influencial blood elven family, not just some random household in Silvermoon. Cedric's personality seems to match that, but Nilon's experiences have clearly mellowed him out. Two different people, but they're still brothers.
There was a bit of foreshadowing in here, I'll see if you can find it. But I'll let you in on the next page: same scenario, only this time from the Allliance's POV. That's all I have to say for now.
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