The Shadowblade was not a fan of ships. After a traumatic and nearly deadly encounter in the Deadmines once, they’d gained a strong dislike of them. And yet they kept finding themselves aboard vessels of all kinds. Airships in Northrend and Pandaria. Ships to travel the breadth of Azeroth.

  Now, even the damned Legion apparently had ships designed specifically for space. They wondered why the Legion had not used them in their first or second major invasions. Perhaps Azeroth had been deemed not worth their deployment. Or perhaps they’d been too far away.

  Currently, they were aboard the Crimson Veil, a ship Fleet Admiral Tethys was borrowing, while he reclaimed his own ship, the Horizon’s Edge, from Dread Admiral Eliza Goreblade. A former Bloodsail Buccaneer subordinate turned undead pirate that had apparently captured his vessel at some point in her betrayal.

  The Shadowblade was less than thrilled with the operation, but Tethys needed a worthy weapon for his swashbuckling combat style, and the Dreadblades were it. With stealth and speed, they would kill two birds with one stone, reclaim Tethys’s ship, and arm him for combat with the demons.

  Garona Halforcen was somewhat reluctantly once more wielding the Kingslayers, so named for the assassination of Llane Wrynn, by Garona. The Shadowblade themself had acquired the Fangs of the Devourer, and together they were confident they could assassinate the Dread Admiral.

  But first, of course, they had to sail all the way to Azsuna, where Eliza and her cronies were anchored, according to their intelligence. The Shadowblade groaned as Tethys called for them to set sail. It was going to be a long trip. They just hoped the world didn’t end while they were sailing.

  Dead Man’s Bay - Azsuna, Kalimdor

  Two Uncrowned Shadows slipped through the darkness of Dead Man’s Bay, and onto the stolen Horizon’s Edge. Silently, they made their way to the captain’s deck, only to find the First Mate instead, with the Dread Admiral nowhere in sight.

  Tethys was a different kind of Rogue. In that he opted to let others do his dirty work. The Shadowblade and Garona were to make the First Mate ‘sees their side of things’, as he and the crew were camped on and around the Horizon’s Edge. In a flash, the subtle assassins attacked, Garona taking the crew, while the Shadowblade handled the First mate. They struck from stealth simultaneously.

  Garona cut the crew down with ease, while the Shadowblade stayed in his target’s blindspot with steps through the shadows, stabbing repeatedly into his back. The First Mate quickly realized he was outmatched.

  “What!? How’d you get past my crew!? Useless, the lot of you! Back to the temple! Leave that pile of driftwood to them!” He shouted at the now mostly dead men, before running away and leaping over the side of the ship. They seemed to be high-tailing it to the ruins. Those few who’d survived Garona were also fleeing. The Uncrowned pursued him, rightly assuming the scared, rotting rat was running to his mistress.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He and the crew ran into an old Kaldorei temple, once known as the Temple of a Thousand Lights, only for the group to pause, as they saw the crew taking places around a chained sea giant standing bound in the center of the temple courtyard. Tethys shouted, because of course he did, as they made out an undead silhouette leading the group with a pair of large cutlasses, “Eliza! Yer end has come! Time to pay the blood price fer betrayin’ yer crew!”

  “You are the one who killed my crew, and stole my ship. Release the giant. I have business to attend to.” What was left of the crew eagerly complied, and the chained sea giant was released into the trap with them. Then the Dread Admiral vanished.

  “Who keeps a bloody Sea Giant as a pet!?” Tethys complained.

  The First Mate was all too happy to answer. “Our mighty leader! The unstoppable Dread Pirate Eli-”

  The First Mate stopped talking, as the sea giant turned him into a red meaty stain with nothing but his foot, and pressure.

  “Less talking. More stabbing.” The Shadowblade murmured to Tethys, before stepping through the shadows to slice and dice the giant’s backside.

  Garona followed their lead, stepping into the air above the giant, as it was also technically in shadow.

  A being that large, against three of the world’s best Rogues, did not last long. Its strikes were powerful, but slow, and as it fell lifeless to the ground, the entire courtyard shook.

  Without a word, the Shadows moved back into stealth and followed after the Dread Admiral. They came upon a pair of Dreadguard, and the Shadowblade signaled for them to wait. Not because they had to, but because he was curious what the foot soldiers of the Legion spoke of when they thought nobody was listening.

  Helpfully, for some reason, they were speaking in Common. “You hear of new Enchantment?” One grunted. The other nine foot tall demon nodded. “Good for killing Mortals. Sharpens blade with life-blood.” The demons grinned, and admired their weapons, leaving the Shadowblade somewhat disappointed.

  Within the chamber, after removing the demonic guards, they heard Eliza talking to an Eredar through some sort of long distance Legion communication device. Seeing them despite their stealth, the demon gave Eliza, who was now obviously in its thrall, her final orders. “Destroy them! Your blades thirst.”

  Eliza turned, scanning the room for the rogues. “It will be my pleasure…”

  Surprising everyone, Tethys struck first, stunning the Dread Admiral. “That’s fer takin’ MY ship!” His cutlasses danced across her frame with blinding speed and precision that the Shadowblade had, until now, been convinced Tethys simply didn’t have. “That’s fer killin’ MY crew!” He spun into a culminating strike shouting, “And this is-”

  His heroics were interrupted, as one of the Dreadblades caught both of his, while the other opened his stomach. A swift, brutal kick sent Tethys soaring, as his organs began to exit through the gaping wound. The pirate had to hold them in place, using his free hand to chug a rather potent healing potion. Thankfully, Garona and the Shadowblade kept Eliza’s attention.

  It turned out that when Tethys was motivated, he moved like the wind…but his nature held him back. The Dread Admiral had no such weakness. It was clear she’d learned from Tethys, and her swords were quite powerful…however, the assassin’s daggers were also Artifact tier, and had been fed more magic more recently.

  By the time Tethys was back in the fight, the two Shadows had her cornered. Eliza spun her Dreadblades in an arc, dark magic trailing them, only for everyone to flinch as a resounding gunshot echoed through the ancient temple. Tethys had drawn a pistol and simply shot her, before her final stand.

  With a dark chuckle, he blew off the smoke from the barrel, sheathed his sidearm, and retrieved the still-ominously glowing Dreadblades. “An’ with these…we finally be ready fer Khadgar’s big plan. Back to base, first rounds on me!”

  The Shadowblade and Garona shared a look, sighed, and followed the jovial pirate.