Beneath broken stone and warped metal, a solitary raven panics as it senses imminent danger. It escapes certain death mere seconds before the structure finally crashes to the ground. On soaring above the devastation, the bird spies a wet-eyed woman...
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I relaxed, somewhat, on receiving Vrsadra's compliment. I puffed out my chest a little, sufficiently pleased that I seemed to have swayed a characteristically volatile creature to my favour.
How utterly wrong was I?
In a blur, her hand swept up, and my driftwood prison was knocked from its location, sinking steadily to the floor of the cabin.
I flapped my wings, panicking. As the cage hit the floor, some of the driftwood spars shattered, but that wasn't the worst of it; my air source burst. Without it, I would drown.
My fear multiplied tenfold. Water cascaded down my throat while my wings didn't so much flap as they wafted through the water.
I felt acute pain in my chest. I was going to die!
Images flitted through my mind. The wet-eyed woman, playing a significant role in my swansong. I saw her sweet face; laughing, crying, angry... Then the silver-haired man - I saw him on his knees, his shoulders heaving. As he lifted his head, I saw through his eyes. He looked up and saw the purple-hued creature I had seen at the Dark Portal.
It was standing over the crumpled wet-eyed woman. The creature knelt and picked her up as the silver-haired man's heart clenched. The woman was dead. She had died in the act of saving...
"Illidan!" I gasped, bubbles spiralling from my effort.
The Naga scooped me up. Her face loomed into view, and I saw her lips moving, but I heard nought other my heart pounding in my ears.
Then, just as suddenly as my struggle to breathe started, it ended. I was surrounded by another bubble, this one larger than that which had encased the cage.
I staggered on Vrasadra's hand, gulping, hiccoughing, retching.
"How do you know him?" she demanded.
I was still trying to catch my breath; the pain in my chest, taking its time to recede. She shook me, causing the opalescent sphere to wobble - transforming her features into a more grotesque version of the sea-dwelling creature she was.
Her face moved closer, the scarlet orbs darkening as her pupils dilated, making her eyes almost black.
"Wh – who?" I managed.
"The one you just ssspoke of; Illidan!"
"Illidan?" I answered weakly. "I do not know ..."
She shook me again. "You lie! Tell me how you know of the Lord of Outland?"
I knew she could snuff me out in an instant if she so wanted, but there was a desperation in her voice.
My next move would either be my saving grace or my folly, but my desperation made me daring. "Allow me time, I will recall. Pictures -memories I think, of - of a woman, a man and a – a horned creature with wings. They invade my mind with growing frequency. I am desperately trying to remember who I am. Perhaps if you tell me about him, it will help me remember more."
Vrsadra cooled, her regal poise resumed. "You are trying to deceive me?" she hissed.
"No! No! I tell you the truth. But..." I swallowed, trying to refrain from gagging as I did so. "I would fare better on land. Underwater is an alien domain for me."
"Yesss, it is, isn't it, little birdman? But you will ssstay here until you either answer me or ..."
"Die?" I gasped – a tad pathetically, I admit.
Her laughter rang out once more, a hint of mockery evident.
Things were not going according to plan, but I was in no position to do much about it. As she was a sorceress and we were in her realm, I knew trying to do anything with a frost bolt would also put an end to me.
I could feel the power she possessed, and a little bird like me was no contest. If I were in my 'true' form, the odds I reckoned would be very much in my favour. For now, however, I had to focus on staying alive.
She placed me on an old table which lay pressed in the corner of the wrecked cabin. As it rested at an angle, it was not an easy task staying upright. The location served more of a prison than the cage. One wrong move and my air supply would be gone.
"I have no desire to kill you, raven, for I sssense great magic in you," Vrasadra said.
"You don't? You do?" I was babbling - get a grip, I told myself. "But – but I thought you wanted to know about Illidan?"
"Yesss!" She coiled her way across the room and stood, staring out of the window again.
After a few moments, she swam back towards me. There was a longing in her eyes; a distant wish.
"Very well, you will listen to me, firsssst," she commanded.
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