Queen Gianna Proudmore stood on the hill of Razor Ridge, overlooking the ground beneath her feet. On this land, she forged the most unlikely alliance in the world.

Although Razor Ridge is the territory of the orcs, both Gianna and Thrall think that it is best to meet here, as Thrall spends most of her time here, and Gianna's magic allows her to appear anywhere she wants in an instant.

Every time she was summoned by Thrall, Gianna felt relieved. Ever since she became sensible, she has been fighting in crisis after crisis. She fought against demons, against orcs, against warlords, and more than once held the fate of the world in the palm of her hand.

She was once Alsace's lover. Back then, he was a noble warrior, but now he's degenerated into the undead Lich King—ruling a world as brutal and bloody as he is. One day, she knew they would meet each other on the battlefield. and the mage Medivan, who was cursed by Sargeras. He was responsible for the rampant existence of demons and orcs, and he himself became Gianna's most loyal ally. It was he who made Gianna and Thrall determined to form an alliance to fight the Burning Legion with the Night Elves.

Since then, humans have established a new home in Kalimdor. And Gianna thought it was all over. She didn't expect that the queen also had a lot to do in peacetime. Attending to Theramore's affairs day in and day out made her miss the days of battle.

But only a little. She didn't have much to regret - but she took a chance to rest, like a traveler in the desert grabbing a glass of water.

Gianna stood on the edge of the hill and looked at the orc village at the foot of the mountain. Tightly wrapped huts dot the brownish-yellow undulating ground. Even in peacetime, the orcs kept the house tightly guarded for fear of being robbed by others. A few orcs walked up and down the room, some greeting each other, others stunned and not knowing what to say. Looking at their innocent appearance, Gianna couldn't help but laugh dumbly.

At that moment, there was a rumbling in her ears as Thrall's ship arrived. Gianna turned her head and saw a large ship slowly approaching. On the base of the ship stood only Sal alone. The sails of the ship are painted with symbols that belong to an ancient orc hieroglyph. One of them symbolizes the family where Thrall was born, the Frostwolf Clan. These symbols distinguish orc ships from human ships - there is another ship that Thrall has rented from goblins, and the ship is indescribably strange. Gianna wondered if it was even more undesirable for the orcs to have inanimate ships with a variety of personalities, just like their owners.

We met in the mountains in the past. Sal always took one or two guards with him. But this time he came alone, and Gianna thought it was something unusual.

Sal pulled down a few joysticks, and the ship slowed down and began to circle around the hill. He pulls down the last lever and lowers the rope ladder. Climbed down. Like most orcs, Thrall had green skin and black hair, and his hair was braided and hung over his shoulders. He wears black metal armor with some bronze plates on it. This armor originally belonged to Orgrim's Hammer. He was Tsar's teacher, and the capital of Durontal, Orgrimmar, was named after him, and behind him was Orgrim's weapon, the Hammer of Destruction, from which Orgrim's surname derived. The Hammer of Destruction is a two-handed weapon, and Gianna often sees Thrall using it in battle, stained with demonic blood.

Thrall's most distinctive feature is his blue eyes, a color that is extremely rare among orcs. They hint at his extraordinary wisdom and boldness.

Three years ago. When Theramore and Durotar were just starting to build, Gianna gave Thrall a magic talisman: a stone engraved with the spell of Tiris. Gianna herself has an exact one. As long as Sal holds the stone in his hand and recites Gianna's name, Gianna's stone will sparkle, and Sal's will shine as well. So as long as they want to meet in secret, discuss state affairs, and don't want to alarm the others—or maybe just to chat like old friends—they just need to use the magic charm to contact each other. Gianna would immediately teleport to the hill of Razor Ridge, and Thrall would have arrived in a spaceship, as there would have been no other way up the hill.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my old friend. Gianna smiled enthusiastically. That's what she thought. In her life, she never felt that anyone was more reliable and trustworthy than an orc. She used to count her father and Arthas among them. However, Admiral Prodmore insisted on killing all the orcs living in Kalimdor despite her dissuasion. And she insists that both orcs and humans are victims of the Burning Legion, and that orcs have no ill will towards humans. However, Admiral Prodmore did not trust his daughter at all. Like most people Gianna knew, he couldn't accept a different world. He is willing to do whatever it takes to change the world back to what it was. Nature. He couldn't accept orcs either. Gianna had to make a choice. In order to put an end to the bloody massacre, she betrayed her father.

And Alsace. He is now one of the most terrible demons in the world. Gianna felt that the orcs were more credible than her father and former lover.

Thrall kept his promise when he killed Admiral Proudmore—and he remembered the pained look on Gianna's face when he told him how he had hit his father's vital point. In Sal's eyes, the world is never static. When I was a baby. He was captured by a human named Edras Blackmore. In order to raise him to be the best slave possible, Blackmore even gave him a human name. But in the end, Thrall broke the shackles and united all the orcs towards freedom and towards a past deprived by demons.

Now, Gianna sees something unusual in Sal's blue eyes: her friend Sal is furious.

"We didn't sign an agreement, neither you nor I," Sal said angrily without greeting Gianna, "I didn't think either of us would betray anyone, that's why we didn't sign an agreement." ”

"I didn't betray you, Sal. Gianna said anxiously. But years of experience have already taught her to control her feelings. She had always dismissed unsubstantiated accusations – all the more since Sal should have known that alliances were built on mutual trust. When she was still an apprentice mage, her teacher told her that in order to be a good mage, she must first learn to control her feelings. Gianna gripped the wand tightly in her hand—a relic of her teacher, Antonidas.

"I don't believe you'd do that. Thrall's anger lingered, he didn't usually speak as recklessly as orcs, perhaps something to do with the fact that he was raised by humans, "But, it doesn't seem like your men care about our alliance as much as you do." ”

Gianna said sternly, "Sal, what do you mean by that?"

"One of our merchant ships. The Ogat, which was attacked by pirates. ”

Gianna frowned. Despite their efforts, piracy is still rampant. "We've added cruisers, but—"

"If the cruiser just looks around. Then it doesn't do much to add it. The Ogatt saw that one of your cruisers was nearby, and quite close. But they didn't come to Captain Bolick's aid and his crew. Bolick also blows the fog trumpet, and your men ignore it. ”

Gianna was surprisingly calm: "You said your crew saw our cruiser. But that doesn't mean they see you. ”

Sal was speechless.

Gianna went on to say, "Humans don't have as much eyesight as orcs. They probably took the fog horn as a signal to them to give way. ”

"But they are so close to the Ogat, if they can't see, they should be able to hear! But again, we're not sneaking into wars. I am in no way convinced, your cruiser did not hear the sound of fighting. ”

"Thrall—"

The orc turned around and threw a punch into the air. "I thought you were different! I thought your people would treat us as their own! I should have thought that if humans were to help the orcs and raise their arms against their fellow citizens, they would abandon us. ”

Gianna was a little uncontrollable: "How can you say that, since we talked about it, then you should always give me the right to question, right?"

"The truth is—"

"What are the facts? Have you asked anyone else besides Bolick and his crew?"

Sal answered Gianna's question in silence.

"I'll find out. Where's the Ogat?"

"One mile from Ratchet City (1 mile: equivalent to 1.5 nautical miles), about an hour's flight. ”

Gianna nodded: "I'll send someone to investigate." The cruisers in that area were sent by the North Outpost. ”

Sal tensed his nerves.

"What?"

The orc turned to look at Gianna, "For me, there will be a lot of pressure to forcibly retake the North Outpost. ”

"For me. The pressure on the North Outpost was no less. ”

They forced their eyes on each other. Gianna saw something strange in Sal's blue eyes again: not anger, but confusion.

"How?" Sal asked calmly, as if the belligerent affection had been sucked out of his body, "How can we fight over such a stupid thing?"

Gianna couldn't help but laugh: "We are the leaders, Sal. ”

"Does a leader have to involve his people in a bloody war?"

"It's like that in wartime," Gianna said, "it's not like in peacetime." War requires a great deal of energy. Not only do we have to fight, but we also have to take care of our daily affairs. But when the war is over, only the daily affairs remain. She walked up to her old friend and put her little hand on his arm: "I will find out the truth." If my soldiers really don't do their duty as agreed. I assure you that you will be severely punished. ”

Sal nodded, "Thank you, Gianna." I apologize to you for your recklessness just now, my people have suffered too much, and I have tasted it. So I don't want to see them treated unfairly again. ”

"I don't want either. Gianna said quietly, "Perhaps—" She hesitated.

"What?"

"Maybe we should sign a formal agreement. You're right - we can trust each other, but not all humans and orcs can do it. If we're gone, things are harder to say. ”

Thrall nodded: "Sometimes it's hard for orcs to remember...... They are no longer slaves of humanity, so even in times of peace, they always want to rebel. Sometimes even I am infected by their enthusiasm. After all, I have been enslaved by a human as evil as the Burning Legion. I always think of things as bad, and so do they. I think it's better to do as you say. ”

"But we need to settle the crisis at hand," Gianna smiled at Sal, "before we can free up our hands to sign the agreement." ”

"Okay. Sal shook his head and giggled. (To be continued.) )