Warcraft: Official Movie Novelization

He brought his charger forward toward a savage orc female who was locked in combat with one of his men. Llane bore down on the enemy with three feet of steel, slicing a long, bloody slash through the leather armor she wore. She threw him a furious glance. Her teeth snapped ferally and she launched herself at him, hands extended, and grabbed his leg to pull him off his mount. Then her head toppled from her shoulders, and Llane met the eyes of the man who had saved him. He nodded, then turned to find another opponent.

Sucking in air, Llane looked again at the gate, and his eyes widened.

There was no more sign of the Horde gathered on the other side, shouldering for which one would pass through first to Azeroth. There was only a view of the Black Morass. Then, even as he felt gratitude bubbling up inside him, the center of the portal began to move. Except this time, the light limning it was not sickly green, but a fresh, clean blue, and Llane was not looking at Draenor.

He was looking at Stormwind.

A shout of laughter, genuine and joyful, burst from him. His old friend had not forsaken them! “Thank you, Guardian!”

Llane looked around and spied Karos, his armor spattered with dark brown blood. “Karos!” he shouted, and when the soldier acknowledged him, Llane looked for Varis, crying out his name as well.

Varis had lost his helm at some point in the battle. His brown face brightened as he turned and saw the glimmering image of the Stormwind Cathedral which had replaced the grim ugliness of Draenor.

“Forward!” he shouted, and his troops rushed to obey, revitalized by the sight.

Llane looked around for Garona. She had just dragged a broadsword through the thick green torso of an orc. He had lost track of how many he had watched her kill. “Garona!” he shouted. “Ride with me!”

Without hesitating, she raced toward him and sprang up behind him on the horse. They set off at a mad gallop for the portal, now a symbol of hope rather than despair. They fought their way through, but it was easier than they had expected. The orcs had been shocked when the portal had been redirected, and the soldiers had rallied. Llane and Garona passed dozens of cages, some of which were already being hacked open.

“Varis! Set the men in a perimeter. Garona, Karos, take as many as we can spare to free the prisoners. Send them through! We will hold the line as long as we can!”

Khadgar’s eyes widened. He stumbled over to where the Guardian lay, his body trapped and partially crushed beneath the massive weight of his clay man. His eyes glowed blue, the color of mage’s magic, not warlock’s. And as Khadgar watched, a radiant, sky-blue tear trickled down Medivh’s face.

When Khadgar spoke, his own voice was thick. “You’re redirecting the portal to Stormwind!” Medivh blinked. The blank eyes refocused, retrained themselves on Khadgar’s face. He reached up a hand feebly to Khadgar, then let it fall.

“It’s the loneliness that makes us weak, Khadgar,” he said in a voice tinged with regret. As Alodi had told Khadgar, the boy recalled. Something so simple, so human, had destroyed a Guardian, and nearly the whole world along with him. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I wanted to save us all. I always did.”

His eyes unfocused, and he was still.

22

The ocean of orcs was closing in, but Llane still felt confident. While he could have wished that the Guardian had redirected the portal sooner, he was nonetheless profoundly grateful. He and the remnants of the three legions had fought their way to the gate. While Llane, Garona, Varis and a line of Stormwind’s finest knights continued to stave off the waves of the enemy as best they could, Karos and others had freed the human prisoners and were protecting them as they fled through the gates to safety.

But the orcs kept coming. Sweet Light, Llane thought, still almost dizzy with relief at the turn of the tide, we would have had no chance at all had Gul’dan brought in the rest of the Horde. Humanity might not have survived.

“My lord, we must retreat!” The cry came from Varis. The man was as brave as they came, but he was right. The orcs were starting to win this fight here, at the base of the portal. More and more of his soldiers were falling; more and more huge brown and green-skinned orcs were shouldering each other aside, eager to fill the void.

“We should leave,” Garona agreed.

“Shortly,” Llane said. “There are only a few more cages left. We’ll save as many of our people as we can first.”

“My lord,” Varis said again, “I do not think—”

From behind Llane, a cry of horror and fear arose. He turned in his saddle, and felt the blood drain from his face.