Above the Stars and under the Flames

10. A Familiar Voice

Thellandria growled to herself in frustration, taking an angry bite out of a stale loaf. She glanced down at the bread, wrinkling her nose as she forced herself to swallow the piece. Immediately, she opened a canteen and took a gulp of water, desperate to nourish her rapidly drying throat. A beetle crawled out of the sand and onto her toe; normally, she would have allowed such an occurrence, but at the moment, she was extremely peeved-and so, with a flick of her foot, she sent the little insect flying.

The druid had been stuck in Silithus for days, waiting for word that the Paladin had arrived-but no such information made itself apparent. She had anticipated that she might be waiting for a handful of days, but now she was beginning to realize that he may take quite a long time-if he even comes at all. These thoughts were constantly nagging at her mind, making her more and more furious by the moment; they only added to the stress that she was feeling, given the fact that now, she also had to cut back on her money spending, in preparation for the possibility that she may she need to survive out in the desert for a long time... on stale bread, unfortunately.

With one last painful swallow, Thellandria choked down the last bite of her disappointing meal and stood up. She heaved a sigh and washed her "food," if she could call it that, down with a sip of water. As she looked around, her eyesight caught on something peculiar-something golden and, as she looked more closely, blue. A jolt went through her body as it occurred to her that these were Alliance colors. Alliance? she asked herself incredulously. Out here? There are very few things that could mean. Hope fluttered within her heart. One of which would just about make my day.

She narrowed her eyes and peered more closely at the colorful figure, and slowly, a grin began to creep its way onto her lips. It's him! she shrieked inwardly. By Elune, it's Frederic Bennet!

Quietly as she could, she crept closer and closer. Had she been paying attention, she would have noticed that Nightwind was nowhere to be seen at the stables, but of course, her thoughts were focused entirely on her prey, who was now tying his steed up nearby. After he finished, he immediately set out on the path leading away from the Cenarion Hold. Already at it? Thellandria said to herself smugly. Too greedy, prideful, and ignorant to even remove your armor before entering the desert. I suppose that will pose a bit more of a problem for me, but nothing more than I can handle.

It was hard to remain hidden once the two of them were out in the wide open sandy plains of Silithus, so she had to do her best to use what scarce contraptions the insect-like Silithid inhabitants had constructed. Most of them, if not all, were either odd hive-towers or structures that looked much like enormous insect legs sticking out of the ground, so the experience was not exactly pleasant for the druid-but nevertheless, she did what she needed to.

Eventually, Frederic seemed satisfied with his location, and he began looking around for traces of ancient items. Eagerly, Thellandria approached him with a strangely calm and pleased aura. Her feet sank silently into the sand with each step, and it was not until she spoke that her presence was made known.

"Earl Frederic Bennet," she began, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin and look up.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he demanded sourly, wiping a few beads of perspiration from his forehead, as he had already started to melt in his sweltering plate armor.

Thellandria's expression twisted into an amused smirk. "What? You don't recall me?" she taunted, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small scarab figurine-the same one that she had used to bait Frederic into Silithus in the first place. She inspected it and nonchalantly tossed it up and down in her hand for a moment, then suddenly flung it directly at the Paladin. Before he even had time to react, it collided with his plate armor and shattered. "Simple clay, crafted a couple of days prior to its purchase. This is the first time it has been on the same continent as the ancient Silithid empire here, never mind within this very desert." She waited a moment, then decided to add insult to injury by making things painfully obvious. "It's a fake," she said in a pretend whisper.