Illidan by William King Read Free Book Online

gracious homes.”
    “I did not come here to purchase a dwelling. I came here seeking an ally.”
    Akama looked up at her. “You are not the first of your kind to tell me that.”
    “Illidan is not of my kind. He forfeited any claim to be a night elf long ago, when he first made his pact with the Burning Legion.”
    “And yet once he was a great hero of your people, to hear him tell it.”
    “To hear him tell it. I could tell you differently.”
    They passed the boundary posts of the village and arrived at the edge of a vast, calm-looking lake. Small islands dotted the water. Massive buzzing insects flitted over the surface. Akama came to a halt beside a small, motionless pool. The water was clearer here. Still, a faint freckling of spores floated on the surface. Shadowy shapes moved in the depths.
    “And I would most probably believe you,” Akama said. He gestured toward a chipped stone bench that overlooked the lake. “Please be seated.”
    Maiev remained standing. Pointedly she placed her hand on the hilt of her weapon.
    Akama’s grimace might have been intended to be a smile, but it showed his menacing fangs. “No one intends you harm here, but as you wish. Let us talk about the Betrayer.”
    Maiev had been waiting for this opening. “He is a being of great and cosmic evil. Long ago, more than ten thousand years as we measure time on Azeroth, he betrayed us to the Burning Legion. For ten thousand years, I stood watch over him to make him pay for his crimes. In the end, through the murderous treachery of one who should have known better, he escaped my vigilance and fled my wrath to this place. He is a terrible sorcerer, steeped in wickedness you cannot—”
    Akama raised one hand, palm outward. “I know all this. I have talked with him, fought alongside him…”
    Maiev glanced around, half expecting at any moment to see naga emerge from the water or blood elves erupt from the undergrowth. There was nothing.
    Akama tilted his head to one side and watched her as if her behavior was curious. If she had not known better, she would have thought he was amused.
    “Why do you serve the Betrayer?” Maiev asked. She could not keep the anger out of her voice. The sight of her wrath had made demons tremble, but Akama merely shrugged.
    “Because he offered to help my people free the Temple of Karabor. He was the enemy of my enemy.”
    Maiev glared into his alien eyes. Akama looked down at his interlocked fingers and let out a long sigh.
    “And that is no longer the case?” Maiev said.
    “He has made no move to return the temple to my people, and we took it more than a month ago. I have my doubts as to whether he ever will. I fear we have removed our former conqueror, Magtheridon, only to put something worse in the pit lord’s place. Illidan has made a new pact with the demon lord Kil’jaeden. He has agreed to destroy the Frozen Throne for him. It seems the Burning Legion still holds our sacred site. It just has a new leader.”
    “And you feel I may be the enemy of your enemy.”
    Akama nodded. “You imprisoned him. He hates you and, unless I miss my guess, he fears you. You have great power. I can sense that myself.”
    Maiev’s smile flickered, thin and cold as a waning crescent moon. “He is right to fear me. I will see him bound once more, or dead.”
    “I thought such might prove to be the case.” The Broken turned his head and studied the waters as if he expected them to reveal some great truth. His voice was flat and emotionless.
    “And would such a turn of events be acceptable to you, too?” Maiev asked. She already knew the answer. This Broken might pose as a holy sage, but he was treacherous. The fact that he had served the Betrayer and yet was here now proved that. She could find a use for him. To use his words, he was the enemy of her enemy.
    “If there is no other way of regaining the sacred ground…” Akama took a wheezing breath, unclasped his hands, and looked back at her. “I spent my