She woke up in a soft bed, covered with sheets of white as pure as snow. Aegwyn sat up and looked around to see four walls and a door on the left side of the bed. She looked to see a table nearby with a bowl of water, letting out gentle wisps of steam, and a white towel, neatly folded. There was a window to the right side of her bed. The sunlight was leaking in from behind the closed curtains and spilled onto the floor.
Aegwyn stood out of the bed and stretched her arms. Her whole body ached but she managed to walk to the door. She put out her hand and reached for the handle when the oaken gateway opened slowly.
A woman with a head of golden wheat hair appeared and closed the door behind her. She smiled as she looked at Aegwyn. “I’m so glad to see you’re awake! But you shouldn’t be up! You’ve taken quite a beating.”
Aegwyn was too surprised to resist as the woman ushered her back towards the bed. “You must be hungry. Don’t get up, I’ll get you something to eat.”
The woman smiled tenderly at Aegwyn and pulled the sheets up. She turned and then headed back towards the door.
“Wait! Where am I?”
The woman stopped and turned towards Aegwyn. She opened her mouth and then shut it. “Oh my, it’s stuffy in here. I should go open that window before you suffocate!”
She spreads open the curtains and then pulled the window open. The salty sea air rushed into the room, filling it with the fresh scent of the open world.
The woman turned and then looked at Aegwyn. “Now where was I. Oh yes, I was going to get your meal! Be right back!”
Before Aegwyn could say anything, the woman had left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.
Aegwyn sat there for a moment, gathering her thoughts. She threw the sheets off and then stood up and walked slowly towards the window. She looked out to see a bustling city beneath her and many people walking along the cobbled roadway beneath her window. She was three stories up and had a great view of the sea beyond the roofs of the buildings before her. Several ships were moored at the docks and she could see one or two out of the bay. A single tower lay in the distance, somewhat blurry because it was so far out.
The door opened behind her and Aegwyn turned around. The woman was back with a wooden tray on which was a bowl, two slices of freshly baked bread, and a spoon. She looked at Aegwyn disapprovingly. “I told you not to get out of the bed!”
Aegwyn turned to the window and pointed outside. “Which city is that?”
The woman let out a content sigh and gently set the tray down on the bed. “That is Kul Tiras, home of any person who loves the sea.”
Aegwyn’s eyes widened. She looked out again and felt the fresh salty air press against her face. It had changed so much since she was last here. There were so many more people.
Aegwyn looked down to see a black cloaked figure was standing beneath her window, staring up at her. The face of the person was hidden by the shadow of his cloak but she could see his chin and grim mouth.
“What are you looking at?”
Aegwyn turned and looked at the back at the woman. Aegwyn looked down to see that the stranger had vanished. There were only ordinary folk down there once more.
Aegwyn paused. “Nothing.”
“Well, back to bed with you!”
Aegwyn allowed herself to be set down upon the white bed. The woman took up the tray and set it down on the table, and then tucked Aegwyn in. She set the tray of food on Aegwyn’s lap and then made sure Aegwyn was comfortable before she left.
Aegwyn took the spoon in her hands and slowly sipped on the soup in the bowl. Try as she might, her mind remained on the stranger outside. Who was he?
***
Night darkened upon the city when the creak of the windows could be heard from the streets below. A woman, heavily laden with cloak, pack, and weather-worn clothes slipped quietly out of the window and down the three stories to the gravel roadway below her. She gave a smart tug of the rope and the coil fell to the ground
.
Aegwyn slowly wound up the rope and threw it over her shoulder. She was grateful for these people, for helping her. She wished she could have stayed longer, stayed as long as they wanted her to. But she didn’t have time. The darkness was approaching. She could feel it. There had to be someone who would qualify as another Guardian.
She had so little power left...it had to be enough!
The gravel crunched beneath her feet as she walked, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Aegwyn stepped off the roadway and onto the dirt so that she wouldn’t make so much noise. The buildings of the city slowly slipped away behind her and the forests of the island drew nearer and nearer.
She stopped, and put down the pack. By the light of the moon she made on last check of her belongings before she put the heavy bag back upon her shoulders and went off into the forests.
The sweet smell of pine and the scent of the forest gave her comfort that she hadn’t felt since her return to Azeroth. It had been so long since she had tread these grounds, but then, her heart wasn’t nearly as troubled as it was now. At that time she thought that her end was coming near, had thought that the world was in safe hands so long as she was gentle with the child within herself. She let out a long and heavy sigh and scrambled up a steep hill to look across the landscapes. The Orcs. What could have happened to Medivh?
Something caught her eye. Aegwyn turned and saw a faint flicker a distance from where she stood. That was the light of the fire. She slowly crouched down and tried to get a better view but all that she saw was the single light, burning bright.
Suddenly she felt too exposed on the hilltop. She slowly crawled down until she was safely hidden within the walls of the forest. Aegwyn closed her eyes and began to stealthily make her way towards the location where she had seen the light. Soon the flames of the fire could be seen through the tree trunks, casting long and dark shadows in a circle around the camp fire. Aegwyn made her way closer, making sure not to step on the dry leaves that were scattered about the forest.
She tested the wind, made sure that the people there wouldn’t be able to smell her. She crept forward and found...
An empty camp site.
She still stayed there, cautious and tense. When no one came back she slowly crept towards the light. The fire was still burning. There were footsteps all around the light and a flattened bed of leaves was there to show that someone had slept.
She was pulled backward and a hand clamped itself on her mouth. Her eyes went wide with terror and Aegwyn began to struggle. She pulled against the arm, which held her, until she felt a sharp prick in the middle of her back. “Don’t move.”
She went still
.
“Turn around. Don’t make any sudden moves or I’ll run you through.”
He let her go. Aegwyn turned slowly around and saw a man in a dark, long cloak with the hood pulled up over his face. Through the flicker of the flames she could just barely see his face.
He gasped when he saw her. He turned and then his cloak blurred and he was gone.
“Wait!”
Aegwyn began running in the direction that he had fled, trying to catch up to him. She recklessly ran through the trees, brushing aside the little limbs and the stomped on the leaves beneath her feet. “Wait! Please wait!”
“Who are you?”
Aegwyn stopped and turned around. The man was sitting, almost carelessly upon one of the low-lying tree branches. One of his legs was hanging and swaying beneath him.
“What is this?”
Aegwyn heard him again. She swiveled her head to see him standing in the light of the moon, flanked by trees on either side of him. She looked back towards the tree to find that he had left that spot.
“Is the Aegwyn a spellcaster?”
Aegwyn turned around again to see the stranger standing upon a rock, his cloak throw back to reveal his long, shiny coat of mail and armor plates which gleamed in the sunlight.
“Do not lie!!” The sound echoed through the forests like the voice of thunder itself, causing Aegwyn to stumble and the trees to shake, as if with fear. She looked around but the voice seemed to be coming from all directions, as if some great omnipotent creature had spoken.
“Is the Aegwyn better than the Death Knight?” The voice was soft.
He suddenly appeared in front of her. He gently took her hands before she could move. His hands were soft, fleshy, and warm.
He pulled back the hood of his cloak. Aegwyn gasped to find that the hideous skull had vanished, and was left by a strong, well-toned man in his prime. His hair curled about his head and fell to the nape of his neck. He had an almost gentle look in his eyes as the pulsed a quick green. He looked familiar for some reason...
“And now I have a new question,” he said, softly.
The Death Knight knelt down before her and took her hands in his own. “Can the Death Knight, become a Guardian?”
