Thanks to the swift intervention from the mage-king of Alterac, the Alliance reinforcements that eventually made it to Dalaran had little option but to deal with the cleanup. Bodies were cremated and the land trampled by the corrupted invaders were purified, while garrison duties and heavy patrols were assigned to ensure that the worst of the Gilnean threat was over.
With Genn Greymane and his demons vanquished, whatever remained of the Gilnean invasion melted away into feral packs and mobs. Most wandered their way back to their tainted homeland, while a few haunted the woods and mountains, promising to be a persistent headache for Lordaeron and Dalaran in the future.
Yet it was only a minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things. Missives from Kul Tiras’ reprisal fleet noted that the shores of Gilneas were quiet, with whole port towns and fishing villages left abandoned. As the Kul Tiran marines made their way inland, they’d only encountered Fel-tainted forests and wildlife, with not a single Gilnean soul making an appearance.
The scrying of Dalaran magi corroborated the report. With the demons banished, the wards shrouding the fallen kingdom were dispelled as well, and it took little effort to determine that the capital city and the countryside settlements were devoid of any human activity, corrupted or otherwise.
It took a week before patrols found any Gilneans, but not in the kingdom itself. Lord Darius Crowley was found leading a large band of refugees out from the depths of Silverpine Forest, all of them seemingly untainted. More surprisingly, the last of the Greymanes were also with him; both Mia and Tess Greymane - wife and daughter of the late corrupted king - were under his protection.
According to the bedraggled lord, he’d harbored suspicions of his king’s growing eccentricities but couldn’t verify any of it. It was not until the queen fled into his lands with her daughter, hounded by robed figures that were twisted parodies of harvest-witches, did the terrible realization hit him. With little time and now knowing of the extent of the corruption, Lord Darius hastily ordered his people to flee.
Many would not make it before the dark figures swept over the lands. Many others fell into a warping sickness as the tainted food and waters they’d consumed all this time finally took effect. Supposedly, Darius’ quick thinking saved the rest of the band, getting Bishop Morrick to bless barrels of water that dispelled the worst of the disease. Though free from horrible mutation, the refugees were still afflicted with debilitating illness. Supposedly, Mia Greymane would have perished if not for her faith as well as her protective love for her daughter.
Despite the weakness, Darius and his house guard managed to shepherd the refugees out of their lands before the shadows came for them. They fled into the dark forests bordering Lordaeron, where they hid and recuperated until the crippling disease suddenly lifted.
The lord’s tale, as with those of his people, was recorded while the Gilneans were held in a tent city at the edge of Silverpine Forest. Priests and magi were hastily sent to ascertain the Fel taint in them, while reinforcements from Lordaeron were diverted from Dalaran to guard the refugees.
In the meantime, with no further activity coming from the west, the leadership of the Alliance felt secure enough to muster their current forces in Dalaran for a march into Gilneas. The legions of Lordaeron and Stormwind would march alongside Ironforge shield wardens, while Gnomeregan combat engineers led warmachines with explosives and raw mechanical strength to bolster the more arcane firepower of Dalaran magi. Even elven rangers and spell breakers were involved, thanks to the last of the chaos in Quel’Thalas being stamped out.
They would all head into Gilneas to meet up with the Kul Tirans to scour the dread kingdom for clues and resistance. Cities and towns would be thoroughly investigated, and if required, razed to the ground. Already, depots were being constructed and convoys were being organized to provide fresh food and water to the Alliance advance at all times.
Only the forces of Alterac were absent from the great march west. None dared deny King Kyle Daelam’s request to withdraw his forces, accepting his reasoning of his forces requiring rest and rearmament after such hard fighting.
In another life, any king or their generals at the table would have called out the request as cowardice or laziness. However, with so many witnesses of the mage-king’s sudden and terrifying might in both defenses of Kul Tiras and Dalaran, no protest arose in the Kirin Tor’s inner sanctum. The wide-eyed tales from Muradin and Brann Bronzebeard, backed up by King Varian Wrynn’s own more resigned retelling, and Lord Admiral Daelin Proudmoore’s testimony, along with the recorded scryings from several archmagi, infected the minds of the kings, councilors and commanders present with imaginings of their homeland’s skies turning gold as an angry mage-king unleashed his wrath.
And, objectively speaking, King Kyle did partake in two critical defenses already. His intervention had arguably saved two realms and countless lives from an unholy fate. After such a showing, granting him his request was more than reasonable.
Several minders from each Alliance state kept an ear out and were ready to act if anyone thought otherwise.
It was also that same dread wariness that made the assembly of kings, magisters and generals refrain from commenting when the young king brought up a ludicrous policy.
“Due to their conduct thus far, and their selfless bravery shown in the aid of Lord Admiral Daelin, the kingdom of Alterac will hereby begin the process of admitting murlocs into its citizenry. I hope that my neighbors would be mindful of any murloc wearing the badge of Alterac.”
Kyle gestured to the murloc standing just behind him at uncanny attention, its maw uncharacteristically sealed shut and bulbous eyes locked onto the mage-king for instruction. To further add to the strange sense, the fishman wore a set of plain leather tunic and leggings, with the Alteraci heraldry sewn onto the sleeves.
At a gesture from Kyle, the murloc gave a passable bow and gurgled something. Beside the mage-king, his recently announced fiance fought to hide her embarrassment.
“The…chief of Clearscale Village…offers his greetings…” Jaina looked to Kyle to confirm her interpretation, though she wisely left out the exact wording. Nobody here would appreciate savoring cats or having strong nets, and she didn’t want to explain the shallow intricacies of that sentiment anyway.
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Thankfully, most of the people around the table weren’t utterly gobsmacked. “Didn’t actually think all that noise meant anything,” King Magni muttered, somewhat amused. “You’re only taking in those in your lands, aye?”
Kyle nodded as he made another gesture with his hand, and the murloc chief was teleported back to his village. “It takes a bit of effort to convince the murlocs of the advantages of nurturing peaceful and cooperative relations. I only ask for those murlocs wearing their allegiance to Alterac to be given some consideration. How other murloc tribes are dealt with within your lands is not within my rights.”
“That’s reasonable enough,” the dwarven king said with a satisfied nod, and then tossed a glance at Daelin. “They helped a lot?”
The lord admiral didn’t mask his resignation as he answered. “With the right equipment, they proved…instrumental in destroying several Gilnean battleships. Their affinity to water naturally makes them useful in certain situations.”
“Thanks to the improved relations, fishing in Lake Darrowmere has seen a marked increase in catches,” Kyle cheerily added. “With the murlocs and fishermen no longer competing with one another and instead started cooperating, the recent hauls have been significant enough that the price of lake-caught seafood in my kingdom has dropped quite a bit.”
Not everyone was fully impressed, King Anasterian and his advisors especially, but enough curiosity was sown that King Varian asked for a meeting with Kyle at a later date to discuss the murloc matter, which then incited the gnome councillors to do the same.
The admiralty of Kul Tiras already brokered an agreement with Alterac to explore civilizing murlocs on its islands before this.
“That tangent aside,” Anasterian said with steely reservation, steepling his fingers before him. “What will happen to Gilneas once our armies have cleared it out?”
King Terenas sighed forlornly. “Simply returning it to Mia Greymane - assuming that group is truly not compromised - would be foolhardy. We do not know yet the extent of the Fel corruption within the lands, for all we know the soil and water there would be tainted for generations.”
“I’m confident it would not come to that,” Archmage Antonidas said. “There’s reports of red dragons aiding us against the Gilneans.”
Magni and his brothers gave the archmage a puzzled look. “And?”
“I know their history with the Alliance has been far from friendly, but their time as shackled hounds for the Horde is over. While our records on them have been fragmentary, red dragons are noted to be protectors of life on this world.”
Antonidas paused to glance at Anasterian, who nodded slowly to confirm the claim.
“That is true, Quel’Thalas has its own history with dragons, and from what we know - what we’re allowed to know, the red dragonflight is charged with overseeing life on Azeroth. Such corruption would be affront to them…though I admit I’m unsure of how soon they would act.”
“Huh. So we’ll just leave it to the dragons then?” Magni asked with heavy skepticism.
Antonidas shook his head. “Not entirely, the Kirin Tor will be sending out a…delegation to seek out the red dragons for aid.”
It wasn’t only the dwarves that looked at the archmage with disbelief of simply feeding magi to dragons, but before an exasperated Anasterian could allay their fears, further support came in the voice of Kyle.
“It’s not like there are other options, and I’m sure that the reports from Grim Batol can be relied upon.” Reminding them of the brave party that freed the mythical dragonqueen from the chains of the Dragonmaw orcs, Kyle glanced first to Anasterian - whose subject, the ranger Vereesa Windrunner, was involved in the daring raid - and then to High Thane Falstad Wildhammer, who was personally part of the adventure and who was happily the main source of the whole tale.
Falstad nodded sternly and then cast a mild glare about the table, daring anyone to protest and, by extension, doubt his claims.
“The dragons might not be fully on the Alliance’s side, but I’m sure they can be reasoned with to some degree.” Kyle smirked, causing Jaina and Varian to already sigh before he spoke. “After all, if murlocs can be brought to reason, what more dragons, right?”
“Don’t let them hear you say that,” Varian muttered not quite under his breath, a sentiment that was shared by a few wiser heads. After all, a murloc and a fire breathing, spellcasting dragon were at completely opposite ends on the scale of things, and if they truly could be reasoned with, then insulting the dragons in such a way might not be the best way to go about it.
“I suppose at the worst, we’ll have to quarantine Gilneas,” King Terenas suggested.
“Will you throw your orcs in there as well, to save costs?” Anasterian needled, though it was ignored.
“It’ll take a lot to keep an eye on the place,” Daelin mused. “It’s not just the land borders, Gilneas has a vast coastline to cover. If they have any demonic things that can swim…“
“My magisters might be able to provide some assistance in that matter,” the elven king replied, his moment of spite quickly gone and surprising many with his offer. “We’ve begun erecting new wardstones on our northern coasts to warn us of any…unwanted trespassers. If the Alliance can provide the materials, then Quel’Thalas would provide the knowledge necessary for the magi of Dalaran to create a similar defense.”
The general surprise was mollified by the elven king returning more to character by palming off most of the work and involvement to others. Still, it was a reasonable offer, so no jeering was raised by the dwarves.
Terenas exchanged a look with Daelin, who quietly shook his head. Then the king of Lordaeron gave an unsubtle cough. “On the subject of shared knowledge… If I might ask, King Kyle, about you-”
“No.” The air in the room became tense as the mage-king cut off his counterpart’s question.
“But-”
“It’s impolite to ask for the entirety of Lordaeron’s military and defensive assets, it’s the same for whatever Alterac has.”
“I’m sure King Terenas only sought to seek clarity about your weapons’ potency,” Antonidas carefully joined in. “While we’re grateful for your aid, the power displayed has been quite potent indeed. I hope you could understand as a mage, King Kyle, the concerns for such weapons’ stability?”
Kyle frowned at the archmage for a second, before turning to Jaina who shared a silent stare with her fiance amidst the tense atmosphere. Then his gaze went to Varian, who was friendly enough to dare offer a shrug.
“You wield powerful things, Kyle,” the young king of Stormwind bluntly stated to his younger counterpart. “It’s hard not to worry about having death rain down all of the sudden.”
At that, Kyle let out an exasperated sigh and slumped into his seat. “Look, I can assu- I swear that the…golden legion of Alterac will only be used in the defense of the kingdom, or in the aid of the Alliance.”
“What if someone subverts it from you?” Daelin asked carefully, beating Varian to the question and earning an offended look from Kyle.
“They can’t. It’s my brand of…magic, as Archmage Antonidas can attest to,” he answered with heavy exasperation, nodding to the archmage. “Yes, I can summon them if I need them, but it’s only me. Unless I say so, no one’s making use of them.”
Kyle suddenly smirked. “And trust me, I barely like being king of Alterac, and I find simply going around on a violent rampage to be a stupid waste of time. Besides…” He glanced at Jaina, who immediately knew what was coming and blushed as she fought to keep herself from burying her face in her hands from the coming embarrassment. “I’m about to be a married man, and I’m not going to be an inattentive husband like my predecessor was.”
Polite coughs broke out around the table at the suggestive remark before Kyle went on to kill the mood with a cheeky grin.
“The only other way you’ll see more of the golden warmachines is because there’s someone else who has the same abilities I do, and if that’s the case, I’m not going to be the problem there.”
New fears were set alight in the minds of the rulers and commanders who heard Kyle’s plain statement. The thought of another mage of his abilities sent chills down many spines, though at the same time new orders would be put out soon to keep an eye out for such individuals. At the same time, the politically minded rulers like Terenas, Magni and Anasterian also considered the possibility that such powers might be inherited by Kyle’s offspring, and new plans would be drawn for the future.