Christie Golden - Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects (World of WarCraft, #9)

THRALL TWILIGHT OF THE ASPECTS

Dont Miss These Other Tales in the
WORLD OF WARCRAFT

THE SHATTERING: PRELUDE TO CATACLYSM

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by Richard A. Knaak

ARTHAS: RISE OF THE LICH KING

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NIGHT OF THE DRAGON

by Richard A. Knaak

EYOND THE DARK PORTAL

by Aaron Rosenberg & Christie Golden

TIDES OF DARKNESS

by Aaron Rosenberg

RISE OF THE HORDE

by Christie Golden

CYCLE OF HATRED

by Keith R. A. DeCandido

WAR OF THE ANCIENTS: BOOK ONETHE WELL OF ETERNITY

by Richard A. Knaak

WAR OF THE ANCIENTS: BOOK TWOTHE DEMON SOUL

by Richard A. Knaak

WAR OF THE ANCIENTS: BOOK THREETHE SUNDERING

by Richard A. Knaak

DAY OF THE DRAGON

by Richard A. Knaak

LORD OF THE CLANS

by Christie Golden

THE LAST GUARDIAN

by Jeff Grubb

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2011 by Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Warcraft, World of Warcraft, and Blizzard Entertainment are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Gallery Books hardcover edition July 2011

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Interior art by James Ryman.

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-4165-5088-4

ISBN 978-1-4391-7143-1 (ebook)

Since this is a book about healing a wounded world,
I would like to dedicate it to some of the teachers and healers
who have given of themselves to help heal this one.

Jeffrey Elliott

Greg Gerritsen

Kim Harris

Peggy Jeens

Anne Ledyard

Mary Martin

Anastacia Nutt

Katharine Roske

Richard Suddath

David Tresemer

Lila Sophia Tresemer

Monty Wilburn

THRALL TWILIGHT OF THE ASPECTS

T hrall, former warchief of the great and mighty Horde, now a shaman no greater than any of those with whom he currently stood, squeezed his eyes shut and struggled to stay on his feet. Beneath them, the earth bucked, a pathetically small piece of land jutting upward from an ocean roiling furiously around it, shaking and shivering in its pain.

Not long ago, an insane Dragon Aspect had torn his way into Azeroth, rending the world profoundly. The mad Deathwing was once again loose upon this world, and the violence of his return had left Azeroth with a gaping wound. To those whose minds were not beyond hope, Azeroth was not beyond healing, but it would never be what it once was.

In the heart of the world, a place called the Maelstrom, longburied earth had been shoved violently to the surface. And it was here that those who were trying desperately to mend the broken lands had assembled.

They were shaman, each one powerful, members of the Earthen Ring who had left behind other serious duties and responsibilities to gather here. One alone could do little. Many, especially as highly trained and as wise as each one was, could do more.

There were dozens of them, standing alone, or in pairs or small groups on the slippery skerries, trying to stay on their feet on the bucking, shuddering earth. Their arms were lifted in gestures of both command and pleading. Though not linked physically, they were joined on a spiritual level, eyes shut, deep in the working of a healing spell.

The shaman were attempting to soothe the elements of the earth, as well as encouraging them to help heal themselves. True, it was the elements who were harmed, and the shaman who were not, but the elements had more power than the shaman. If the earth could be calmed long enough to remember this, it would be able to draw upon its own vast power. But the earth, the stones and the soil and the very bones of Azeroth, also wrestled with another wound: betrayal. For the black Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, once known as Neltharion, had been the Earth-Warder. He had been charged with protecting it and keeping its secrets. Now he cared nothing for the earth, casually and insanely ripping it to pieces, heedless of the havoc he wrought and the pain he caused it.

The earth mourned, and heaved violently.

Stand straight and true! cried a voice, somehow audible in Thralls ears even over the rumbling of the earth as it quivered beneath them and the crashing of angry waves that sought to dislodge them from their precarious perches. The voice belonged to Nobundo, the first among his kind, the Broken, to become a shaman. This time it was his turn to lead the ritual, and so far he had done it masterfully.

Open to your brothers and sisters! Sense them, feel them, see the Spirit of Life gleaming brightly inside them like a glorious flame!

Standing with Thrall on one of the larger of the newly formed skerries was Aggra, a Maghar and descendant of the Frostwolf clan Thrall had met in Nagrand and grown to love. Brown-skinned, her reddish-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail from an otherwise shaved head, she had strength in her hand as it grasped Thralls own tightly. This was no gentle, subtle working they were doing now: this was triage.

They stood, daringly, close to the edge of sheer cliffs. Wind whipped up the ocean below them, sending the waves crashing to boom hollowly against jagged stone. All needed to calm before the healing could begin, but it was a risky choice.