Turalyon did not have to ask what she and her rangers had done with the discovered orcs. He wondered if she’d started taking trophies. He’d seen her once crouching over a body, a savage grin on her face, and had been stunned by the glee she took in killing.
“Alleria,” he said quietly, “I’ve been writing you and you’ve never answered. You owe me nothing. I understand that. But if . . . what happened between us means you can no longer work with me, I need to know that now. I’m your commander. I--the Alliance--can’t afford to find out on the battlefield that you’re not listening, or not obeying.” He waited until she looked at him. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“There is no problem,” the blond elf answered sharply. “The Alliance wants every orc dead. So do I. We can work together on that.”
“That’s all we are to you now--a means to an end. A way to kill more orcs more quickly.”
“What else is there?” she answered. “Khadgar only found me because my band and I were hunting orc renegades in Alterac. I agreed to meet with him at Nethergarde because his messenger said it involved orcs, and I agreed to bring his summons to you for the same reason.” She frowned. “And the sooner we reach Lordaeron, the sooner I can seek out more of those green-skinned abominations and cleanse this land of their filth!” Her voice rose with passion and her eyes flashed. Some heads turned in their direction. “I will see them dead, every last one of them. Even if it takes me a hundred years!”
Turalyon felt a shiver run down his spine. “Alleria,” he began, pitching his voice low, “you’re talking genocide.”
The smile that curved her lips was a cruel one. “It is only genocide when those being slain are people. This is nothing more than exterminating vermin.”
He realized with a shock that she honestly believed her words. She really didn’t see the orcs as sentient people. She saw them as abominations, as monsters, as . . . rats. Turalyon knew he had slain his fair share of them--had done so at times with great anger in his heart at what they had done to his people.
But this . . . Alleria didn’t want justice. She didn’t want the orcs to pay for the crimes they had committed, she wanted to hurt them. To exterminate an entire race, if she could.