What the words cannot say

(WARNING! This one is very graphical and includes depiction of rape and torture.
Also it comes directly after Shadows...lazy me for not reposting)


"It happened after the crash" , she said, softly. Speaking about such things wasn't easy, Eireannan thought. Finding the right words. Facing your nightmares.

Laandra quivered a little in his arms, trying to focus.

"But I think the story starts before that. Back there, on Draenor."

"It was a beautiful world. Not like today. I was little, but I can still remember, the green, lush fields, where I used to walk with my mother. Then the Legion found us." Her voice broke. "The orcs were corrupted by the demonic blood. For some of my people it was Argus all over again...Kil'jaeden and our Prophet Velen used to be friends, you know? But when Sargeras the Destroyer came to the Eredar and lured them with his promises, Velen saw behind his treacherous words. He gathered those of our people that refused to side with the demons and fled until they found safe haven on Draenor." Laandra sighed deeply, before resuming. "Draenor means "Exile's refuge" in the tongue of our ancestors."

"The orcs ravaged the planet. They burnt down our cities and slain our people. We had lived in peace with them for so long that we were totally unprepared. We fought desperately, but in the end we were defeated."

"Shattrah"..." The City of Light. I...I lived in Shattrah, with my parents, and their siblings and their children... You see, in our culture we didn't have this concept of..."family" as you and ...and the humans have... The community itself was a large family. We would protect and support each other.

"The siege on Shattrah lasted for days. I was too young to fight...yet I remember exactly what followed when the city fell. The orcs rushed in and slaughtered everyone in their way. Men, women, even little children. I...We..." Laandra broke again, tears now gleaming in her eyes; Eireannan couldn't see her face, but the the slight trembling of her body betrayed her emotion.

"Velen knew Kil'jaeden won't stop until he killed all our people, to the last man....He led a part of our people to safety, while the rest stayed back to cover their escape. And died. We all knew what it meant...to remain in Shattrah. To sacrifice."

Eireannan instinctively tightened his grip on her shoulders.

The parallel was crushing.

He could imagine easily the outlines of a glorious city, one like Silvermoon used to be...trampled down by wave after wave of blood thirsty orcs, so much like the ones that had made it to the very borders of Quel'Thalas in the Second War.

And so much like the Scourge that carved its way into Silvermoon itself...

"So we fled. And hid into Zangarmarsh. Mourned our dead. Then the Naaru came. And the strangers. Your kin."

"Velen said we could try to make our escape using the Naaru ship. But when we got there, it had already been taken over by the Sin'dorei. We barely managed to wrestle control of the Exodar...but then the core was sabotaged and we crashed here, on Azeroth."

A pause,while Laandra fought the overwhelming emotions that now stormed over her. She swallowed hard, and Eireannan felt her tense, trying to continue but unable to utter the words.

"Take it easy, Laan", he whispered in her hair.

"I'm fine..."

"The Exodar scattered into pieces all across the islands...together with us all, draenei and Sin'dorei saboteurs...I was near the Cryo-core, when it happened. Helping out, as much as I could. After the crash, we...me and a handful of others, found ourselves prisoners to the blood elves that had survived."

" And then...I remember clearly what they did." She drew in a sharp breath, clasping her hands together. " Vindicator Saruan was with us. He was one of the Triumvirate...our leaders...what was left of them. They had us all bound...and tortured him...it seemed like hours...they beat him savagely and used all sorts of foul magic to defile his body...I couldn't watch any longer...I closed my eyes but I could still hear the sounds...I could still feel the pain...his pain...They tortured and eventually killed most of their prisoners...They were angry for the crash, desperate to return to the Outland..."

"Eventually they got tired of killing. They had set up a sort of camp in the wreckage...They took me in. I was bound, like the others. That man...the one we...you...killed...he seemed to be in charge, after the one they called Matis. There were three more others...and they stood there, and watched...as he ripped off my already torn clothes..."

A sob. Yet her eyes were dried and she gazed hard at the wall in front of her.

" He took out his dagger and pushed me across the table...by that time even the fear had worn off...I had seen so many horrible beatings that I didn't actually cared...what was happening to me anymore."

"He started cutting. Not very deep...so that the blood loss won't weaken me too much...so that I could still feel the pain."

Laandra stopped again, this time shuddering profoundly.

The pain. She could nearly re-live it, surging through her torn body, as he had played with the knife for what seemed like hours, cutting and slashing intricate patterns in her flesh, enjoying the sight of her blood, dripping in rivulets across her naked back and chest.

After a while her senses seemed to numb and she thought that she would faint. It would have been a mercy, compared to what followed. Sensing that she was drifting away, the man torturing her had shoved her against the table, her ribs cracking with the pressure. She yelped and he just pushed the dagger somewhere in her shoulder, making her scream for good at the even sharper pain.

Then he raped her.

Shivering, she remembered the awful feeling as he knocked her again, this time against the wall, forced her thighs apart and entered her in one single move, pushing himself into her unwelcoming body.

She had cried out and tried to wrestle free, squirming in her bonds, as he tore through her sensitive tissues. For that, he slammed her head into the wall; it hit it with a sickening noise, blood immediately bursting from the wound and trickling down her face. Dizziness took over her, and she went limp in his merciless grip, while he continued to thrust into her, grunting in pleasure.

It was like through a red daze that she remembered how the other three followed, the horrid pain dulled by the blow in the head. Eventually they had laid her back on the table, sprawled, face against the rough surface of stone, and used her inert body over and over again until they grew tired of it.

The first man cut her bonds and she fell into a bundle on the floor. He came near, bending over her, then hit her hard in the chest with his boot; for the second time she heard her ribs crack, as the blow knocked the air out of her. She had struggled to breathe, agonizingly.

Then they had one of the lower rank man remove her from the improvised barracks.

She remembered being dragged out of the room.

The last blood elf wanted some fun as well. He lay her half naked, bleeding body on a pile of debris and started pulling off his clothes.

She struggled to rise, the feeling of anger and despair that had boiled in her all over the abominable torture supplying her with strength, now, that her bonds had been untied.

He tried to touch her. Slapped her roughly in the face when she pulled away.

Then it got all fuzzy in her mind. Only the horrid smell of charred flesh and bones, as she fought to stand and ran to the shelter of the forest. All power fading, she reached the nearest cliff...then exhaustion and agony overwhelmed her and she slipped, rolling down, on the other side, sharp stones tearing even more gushes into her already devastated body. A stabbing flash of pain as her head hit against a boulder of rock.

And it all went black.

Pulling herself out of the terrible memory, Laandra was shocked to hear herself speaking. Had she done it the whole time? she wondered, her heart nearly jumping a beat.

Apparently she did.

Eireannan had released her shoulders, realizing that he would have hurt her, as his fingers tensed, with crushing strength.

Laandra blushed, feeling his utter dismay as, his breathing short and hard, Eireannan leaned back, against the wall, crossing his arms.

"Eriean", she whispered. Light, she should have tried at least to soften the story. But she had just dipped into the memories and the memories were staring back at her and the words poured...

"Eriean"...

She turned towards him, trying to guess his expression in the darkness. She couldn't.
Extending her hand, Laandra brushed through his hair, as she had done it that night, in the Alterac Mountains, when they had first met.

Eireannan reached out to touch her hand. His fingers were cold and slightly trembling.

She nestled herself back into his arms and this time he didn't withdrew, he just locked her again in an embrace as they stood, her back pressed into his chest.

None of them spoke for a very long time.