Jessir gasped as her naked back hit the cool surface of the smooth wooden door, but any further sound was swallowed as Harry's mouth assaulted her own in an aggressive kiss, plundering her mouth with his tongue and sliding curiously over the point of her larger-than-human canines.
"We…shouldn't…be…doing…this." She managed to get out in between kisses. Despite her words and her hands on his chest, it was clear that she was exploring the planes of his muscles rather than pushing him away.
His response was to press forward, squishing her against the door. His shaft was throbbing against her stomach and making her insides clench with anticipation. "Then tell me to stop."
Yes, she would do exactly that…as soon as he stopped ravishing that sweet spot on her neck that was giving her a full body tingle.
Then again, she'd had a full body tingle ever since those four orgasms in the hot tub. Footgasms, Luna had called them. It was an appropriate name.
Arko was in a similar predicament with Luna, knowing intellectually that things were moving far, far too fast for a night elf's sensibilities, but procrastinating on actually putting her foot down because it felt so good.
As for Harry and Luna…they knew exactly what they were doing. Night elven longevity and desire to distance themselves from the hedonistic ways of the Highborne might make them take their relationships glacially slow, but like any sexually dimorphic species, they had a libido and libido didn't give a shit about anything except getting you laid. Stimulate it enough and that instinct would gradually push all other considerations into the background.
Manipulative? Perhaps, but Arko and Jessir had all the time in the world to object if they truly cared to. That they made only token protests without ever saying 'stop' was telling in and of itself.
A quick fumble with the door had the foursome spilling into the room, the same mass of kissing, groping, stroking and fondling that they had been ever since getting out of the hot tub.
"That's a big bed!" Arko gasped out. Somehow she had ended up with the two humans nibbling on her ears while her old friend stood behind Harry and used both hands to guide one of hers to stroking his member.
It really was a big bed, easily wide enough for a dozen people to sleep side by side and still have plenty of space to themselves, and more than twice as long as a night elf was tall.
"It has to be." Harry rumbled into her left ear.
"We want all our lovers to be comfortable." Luna whispered hotly into her right.
All our lovers. Arko and Jessir weren't so far gone as to not grasp the meaning of that sentence. There would be other women, perhaps a lot of other women.
Had they been thinking clearly, they would have been put off. Their culture favored monogamous relationships and that was already being stretched a great deal by the fact that they were being seduced by a married couple.
But they were extremely aroused, and the thought of a tangle of naked flesh, bodies sliding against each other in a great mass of sexual ecstasy, come across as a very appealing mental image right now.
The foursome fell onto the bed and Harry immediately attacked the expanse of purple skin under him with his mouth, aggressively kissing and biting his way upwards until he made it to a nipple.
Arko sat on her knees on the bed and watched her friend writhe under the wizard's attention, biting her lip and unconsciously reaching up to fondle and pinch her own breasts to simulate the sensations Jessir was feeling.
Then Luna's hands crept around her body and took over. The tip of a tongue slid down the curve of her ear until she was pressed flush up against her back, soft lips ghosting over the entrance to the ear canal.
"I love to watch." Her voice was just a faint whisper, but it seemed to roar in Arko's head like a waterfall, while the ghostly touch and tiny gust of breath made her shiver. "Do you want to watch with me?"
Watch her friend mate with the human they had met less than two months ago, when night elves usually considered it rushed to mate after a decade of getting to know each other?
Why did it sound so appealing?
"Yes..." Arko shuddered, already imagining it.
"Then let's have them really give us a show." Luna was happy to nurture the hint of voyeuristic tendencies she had noticed in the night elven warrior. "Harry, Arko and I are going to watch."
The wizard let up on his assault on the huntress for a moment to look at them and grin. "Oh? Found a kindred spirit, have you? I'll be sure to put forth my best effort."
Jessir was laid out on the bed, silver hair splayed around her head and body practically thrumming with arousal, but her eyes went wide with surprise once she processed the fact that he intended to make a spectacle of their mating for Arko and Luna's viewing pleasure.
Arko herself was flustered at suddenly being put on the spot, especially with her old friend staring at her like that, but a kiss from Harry quickly cut through that mess of emotions.
"Enjoy." Was the only thing he said before returning to Jessir, though the smug little smirk that came along with that single word said so much more.
But Arko somehow couldn't find it in herself to be annoyed by the smugness. Maybe it was because Luna's feverishly hot body was still pressed up against her back, maybe it was the ache in her breasts or the throbbing between her legs, or maybe it was the way Luna's fingers trailed up her thigh, mirroring the path of Harry's lips and hands on Jessir.
Either way, all she could do was pant with arousal, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight in a way that had little to do with the fact that Luna had her wrapped in an embrace from behind.
Jessir was procrastinating and she knew it. Bathing together was common for night elves so she hadn't given it any thought. Massages were considered a 'friends only' activity, but Harry and Luna had saved Arko, so they were unquestionably friends. Orgasms were definitely crossing some lines, but did it count if it was from a foot rub that was just that good? Besides, there had been that incident in her house in Darnassus and it would be a bit silly to protest to a foot rub now, even if it was giving them orgasms.
The huntress had told herself that she would put an end to it if things got any more heated, but found herself enjoying it too much when the foot rub turned into a calf massage, so she delayed again. Before she knew it, those heavenly hands had gone further up her body and there was another tongue in her mouth.
She had expected that Arko would raise a protest at that point, but her friend seemed content to let things happen. Jessir reasoned to herself that it she shouldn't spoil her friend's fun, but knew she was just making excuses for her own sake. It had been over two centuries since she'd been with a man and while she hadn't exactly felt lonely during that time, it was turning out to be hard to turn him away now that there was a very attractive man making her feel good.
So she kept on procrastinating as they got out of the hot tub and a spell was used to dry them off, as they stumbled through the halls to the bedroom and ended up on the bed.
She almost managed to work up the will to put an end to what was happening when Luna announced that she and Arko were going to watch her mate with Harry, but the arousal in her friend's eyes froze her in place. Arko was looking…really into it. Should she really stop it now?
Then Harry gave Arko a kiss and returned his attention to her, and the moment was gone. His big, strong hands squeezed her ankles just tight enough to hint at the power in them without actually causing pain, then slid upwards, followed by a series of kisses.
Jessir really should have said something when that gleaming emerald gaze looked at her with such self-assured satisfaction from between her legs, but the memory of how good it felt the last time he'd been down there had her too busy quivering with anticipation to really think about how fast they were moving.
Then his tongue ran over her sensitive nether lips and any thoughts about stopping him were pushed aside. After he brought her to climax, then she would tell him to stop. It wouldn't be fair to just leave him hanging or put it on Luna to take over, so she would use her hands and mouth to bring him to release, but she wouldn't let him mate with her. That would be fair, right?
Resolution made, Jessir settled in to enjoy herself, putting one hand on his head and using the other to stimulate a breast. Her gaze slid sideways to Arko and Luna, almost balking at their heated, lustful stares.
Her friend had really gotten into watching, so much so that the intensity of it was almost embarrassing. Luna clearly had a hand in it, with how she was stroking Arko between the legs in a mirror of what Harry was doing to her and whatever she was whispering into the warrior's ear, but that couldn't have come from nothing.
Had Arko always been like this? Jessir did remember that her friend had spent a lot of time staring back in Darnassus when Harry had been licking her for the first time.
Whatever the case, it started feeling irrelevant as tension coiled tighter and tighter in her core from Harry's skilled application of tongue. Her fingers dug into his skull and her breaths quickened as climax approached.
And then he stopped, the abrupt cessation of pleasure having an effect akin to a bucket of cold water.
"Why did you stop?" She demanded, trying to push his head back into place. "I was almost there!"
Harry smirked and rose up, taking her hands by the wrists and repositioning himself so that he was lying on top of her. She could smell herself on his breath.
"I know." He purred and kissed her, making her taste herself. His member slid against her entrance and the touch of it felt divine.
Jessir remembered her resolution to not let him mate with her, but she needed release damn it! It was fine, if he wasn't going to give it to her with his mouth, then she would just get it from rubbing herself against his shaft.
That plan didn't survive long either, as he lifted his hips and rubbed the head of it against her glistening wet lips. The feeling made her eyes flutter shut in pleasure.
Just the tip was fine. Her climax was so close that she could easily reach it with just his tip rubbing against her a few more times.
But of course he didn't do that, instead pushing forward ever so slowly and penetrating her. Jessir's breath shuddered and she clung to him, not even recalling when he had let go of her hands.
This is fine, as long as he doesn't release inside me then it doesn't count. The huntress amended her rationalization again. She was distantly aware of the fact that she was playing a dangerous game and that Harry most likely had no intention of pulling out, but that whisper of reason was drowned out by the roar of lust.
His member pushed deeper and deeper inside, spreading apart muscles that hadn't been used in centuries. He was long and thick, larger than any male she'd been with before. No doubt a deliberate feature of his handcrafted body. Jessir had never felt so full.
Harry hooked his hands under her knees and raised up her legs. That let him push in even deeper and she was able to feel him poking at the entrance to her womb. Although her hands were halfheartedly pushing at his abs, her legs hooked around his waist, wanting more of the sensation.
Jessir gasped out almost silently when he pulled back, only to thrust back in, sending a shock of pleasure through her whole body. She clawed at his back in search of more and he obliged, setting a steady rhythm of hard thrusts that quickly had her climbing back towards climax.
Her head fell sideways, a mess of silver hair over her eyes, but she was still able to see Arko and Luna. The priestess of Elune was now using her fingers to thrust into the warrior in time with Harry's thrusts into her. Arko was clearly enjoying herself if the deep flush on her body and the half-lidded stare was any indication.
We got ourselves into another mess, didn't we? Jessir thought dazedly, a moment of unusual insight allowing her lust-soaked mind to realize just how badly they had gotten played by the two humans.
The thought was soon forgotten, though, as Harry's breathing deepened with every thrust, eventually turning into groans of pleasure. He was close, she realized instinctively. Good, because so was she.
Wait, that wasn't good. She was supposed to tell him to pull out!
Another plan that died stillborn, because as soon as she turned her head towards him, not even knowing if she wanted to tell him to pull out or go harder, his mouth crashed against hers and cut her off.
Jessir screamed into the kiss when his thrusts got more urgent, automatically thrusting her own hips back at him so that they met halfway, and then a rush of heat flooded her insides. Her body shook and her legs clamped around his waist with bone-breaking force as orgasm after orgasm ripped through her.
Jessir didn't even realize she had blacked out for a moment until she felt him pulling out, leaving behind a pool of warmth.
So much for not going all the way.
The thought was laden with a tired, wry resignation. She was feeling too good to really be upset right now. At least it wasn't very likely that she would get pregnant from this. Night elven menstrual cycles were extremely long and she was nowhere near the fertile stage of hers.
Off to the side, Luna and Arko had watched everything and both were extremely aroused, but only one of them had any experience functioning in that state. Plus, Luna had spent the whole time stimulating the warrior and kept her close to the edge of orgasm.
"It's your turn now." Luna whispered into Arko's ear, pushing her forward until she was on her hands and knees. "Harry will be right with you."
The promise made her clench with anticipation and she stared at the wizard with wide eyes. His member was slick with both Jessir's juices and his own release and had flagged only momentarily before returning to being fully erect. Her eyes flicked over to Luna, who leaned over to say something to Jessir, gave her a brief kiss and then reverse straddled her face.
He moved behind her without a word and put his hands on her hips. Arko was too aroused to even consider stopping him, her core throbbing with need after Luna had kept her on the edge of climax while they were watching him plow Jessir.
Harry positioned himself at Arko's entrance and noted with a great deal of amusement that the night elf warrior's gaze remained fixed on Jessir and Luna. His wife really had found a fellow voyeur. Hardly the first time it had happened, but for some reason he hadn't been expecting it from a night elf.
Heh, it was always the quiet ones. Jessir came across as the bolder of the two, but Arko was clearly kinkier. Unlike her friend and in spite of her seeming shyness, she hadn't shown any sign of having second thoughts. Time to find out just how kinky she really was.
He rubbed his tip across her glistening labia, grinning at the whole body shiver it elicited.
"Did you enjoy the show I put on for you, Arko?" He asked.
She didn't reply, but another shiver wracked her body. Harry gave her a light slap across the left butt cheek, making the night elf yelp and turn her head around towards him with wide eyes, blue hair flying everywhere from the violent motion.
"I asked you a question." He said, pressing his tip into her entrance a bit harder, just at the edge of actually penetrating. "Did you enjoy the show?"
"Y-yes." She managed to get out. Awkward and clearly embarrassed, but also turned on.
"I'm glad." Harry replied, pressing further until just the head of his member slid into her. "Luna and I do take pride in satisfying our lovers' desires, especially those even they don't know about."
Arko focused on her breathing as she was slowly filled up, her eyes still fixed on the scene in front of her. Luna was clearly being pleasured by Jessir, but when the priestess noticed her looking, she grabbed the huntress' legs and turned her around so that Arko had a view right up her friend's crotch.
A trickle of thick white semen was leaking from her entrance.
Harry grabbed her by the armpits and hauled her up so that she was pressed flush against his chest. This also resulted in his member being forced all the way into her, drawing a surprised shout of pleasure from the warrior.
"Do you want a taste?" He purred into her ear, nodding towards the other two women.
Luna leaned forward and used two fingers to spread Jessir's lips apart, allowing for a larger stream of semen to flow out. Then she scooped some of it up and licked it off her finger.
"Tastes like vanilla, and it's still warm." The kinky priestess said invitingly.
Arko shuddered against Harry, feeling very confused. Why did that suggestion sound so appealing right now?
Harry pushed her forward back on all fours and then used insistent thrusting to make her move forward until she was in between Jessir's legs. "Go ahead, lick her clean."
Arko shuddered again and panted for breath, but found herself leaning forward as if compelled, tongue sticking out of her mouth. She had licked Jessir before and this wouldn't be much different, she told herself. A warm gooey vanilla taste exploding across her tongue and the wizard's hard shaft filling her up from behind had the warrior drifting off in a lusty daze.
Even as he was fucking the night elf, Harry was analyzing her personality and coming to some conclusions that he very much liked.
Arko wasn't a natural pervert like some women he'd had in his bed, but her choice of combat style showed that she was a very physical person. Her shy demeanor, always looking to her friend to make the first move would normally imply hesitation and uncertainty, yet her lack of protest to the escalating sexuality today indicated a higher than average libido that hadn't been properly satisfied. Add in a culture that was simultaneously liberal about nudity and conservative about sex and it was little wonder that she'd developed a penchant for 'appreciating the view'.
Harry would bet she had a masturbation 'problem' that she was embarrassed about. It was too early to tell if she was genuinely bisexual, just going along with it, making exceptions for Luna and Jessir or simply too horny at having her buttons pushed to protest, but at the very least she wasn't repulsed by the idea.
Either way, he could definitely work with this. Given the state of night elf culture they would likely want something more than a 'friends with benefits' arrangement. Seducing the first pair of night elves they'd properly met had not been the plan, but sometimes life throws you a curveball.
And sometimes wife throws you a curveball, because Luna clearly had been intending to seduce the first pair of night elves they'd properly met. She was impulsive like that.
At least he would have plenty of time to nurture a perverted streak in Arko, find out her real preferences and build up her confidence to pursue them. He was going to make the sex dungeon her favorite room in the tower.
The thought excited him and he upped both the speed and force of his thrusts, beginning to grunt with each one as he rapidly approached his second climax. Arko also started moaning loudly into Jessir's snatch at the increased intensity, then she started shaking and Harry felt her clench tightly around him.
"Cumming without me?" He asked rhetorically, smacking her across the ass, just hard enough to sting. "That's rude."
Arko yelped, but her recent orgasm had left her limbs too shaky to push herself up, so he was able to give her another smack with impunity. "Be more considerate next time."
Another, smaller yelp, and this time she was able to muster enough strength to lift her head, but Harry reached out to tangle his hand in her blue hair and push her back down. "Finish what you started!"
His eyebrows shot up when she made a discontent noise and resisted harder. Definitely not a sub, then.
Luna, who had up until now been happily grinding her crotch on Jessir's face and watching him fuck Arko, suddenly gained a much more focused expression as their eyes met above the two night elves.
It was said that two people who had known each other for a long time could have entire conversations in the space of a single look. That was especially true when both were masters of the Mind Arts.
You think she's a dom?
Too early to tell, but I'm definitely going to try steering her in that direction.
I'll sub for her!
Don't get too excited, she might not be into it.
Aww…
Despite cautioning his wife against getting too excited, Harry couldn't say that the thought of training up a night elf dominatrix wasn't pushing a few buttons of his own, especially if he would be able to dom her in turn.
Of course, it could be that Arko just didn't like being submissive, rather than having any inclination in the other direction. It could even be residual trauma from her capture and brief imprisonment rearing its ugly head.
Either way, her resistance to his command came a bit too late. After having her orgasm on him and now being spurred on by his own naughty thoughts, he was too close to the edge to stop, so he decided to just go all in by tightening his hold on her hair and holding her down while he gave a few final thrusts and let go. The enchanted nature of his sperm instantly set Arko off again and she ceased struggling in favor of having another set of orgasms.
The appearance of submission only served to further Harry's arousal, even if he knew that it was just her body giving out on her. Arko was going to be loads of fun, he could already tell.
A brief thought about the dangers of getting either of the two night elves pregnant went through his mind. While he no longer had the divine attribute of virility, the remnant of it still remained and would at least tilt the odds a little.
Eh, whatever. If it happened, then it happened. After the number of children he'd sired, the thought of a few more didn't intimidate him in the least and he did still think that Arko and Jessir would be better served making babies than fighting monsters.
Harry pulled out of the night elf warrior and smiled in satisfaction at the sight of her upturned butt and drooling hole. There was always a primal sense of pride for a man to see that he'd properly fucked a woman.
"Can you handle them by yourself for a while?" He asked Luna.
"You bet!" She chirped and got off Jessir. The huntress looked more than a bit dazed and had Luna's honey-flavored juices smeared over half her face.
"Where are you going?" Arko asked, lifting herself up on her elbows with panting breaths and staring at him inscrutably.
Harry got the feeling that she wasn't entirely pleased by the conclusion of their coupling. Understandable, he had been more forceful than she was comfortable with, after all.
"I've got armor to forge, remember?" He said. "Don't worry, I'll be back in a few minutes."
A few minutes for them. It would be a week for him. Alas, long sessions of fucking followed by even longer sessions of cuddling and napping weren't conducive to getting things done. Fortunately, temporal dilation solved the issue for the most part and let him come back fresh instead of completely exhausting his stamina in one session.
Optimal time management, ho!
"Do you want to sit on my face?" Luna asked, distracting Arko.
The warrior looked at the now recovering Jessir and had a mental image of seeing her eating out Luna while she straddled the priestess' and had her lick up the 'present' Harry had left in her.
Arko bit her lip and nodded, shyly but eagerly.
Harry spotted this as he was leaving the room and grinned. Even if she wasn't naturally dominant, there was definitely potential there. Fun times ahead.
XXXXX
The morning after was often a time of confusion and regret, where many people looked at the world with post-coital clarity and wondered what they hell they had been thinking. Had they been thinking at all?
It was a new experience for one Jessir Moonbow, night elf huntress. Although she wasn't an inexperienced virgin, the few males she'd been with before had been relationships that simply hadn't worked out, rather than lust-fueled adventures with a pair of humans that she'd only recently met.
And lust-fueled was definitely the right description. After Harry had come back from his 'break' they had gone for several more rounds until all four of them were completely wiped out. The last thing she remembered was suckling chocolate-flavored breast milk from one of Luna's teats while Arko took the other, both of them lying half on top of the priestess.
Jessir groaned and buried her face in the pillow. Her father had always warned her to look before she leaped, yet here she was, in the middle of what could probably pass as the aftermath of a Highborne orgy.
A masculine chuckle came from behind her as Harry rolled his heated body on top of her. "What are you groaning about?"
"My life choices." Jessir grumbled. "Arko and I used to be respectable night elves. You and Luna are a bad influence."
"Respectable is boring." He growled, reaching down to squeeze her rear.
In spite of herself, Jessir enjoyed it. He really was a bad influence.
"I hope you intend to take responsibility for this?" She retorted. Because even if 'this' had started out as a lust-fueled adventure it could still be salvaged as long as they at least tried to see if they could become life mates. Unlike the younger races, night elves understood that love wasn't something you found, it was something you built.
It would be a little strange considering there would be four of them and Harry and Luna were already married, but certainly better than getting that kind of reputation.
"Oh, you want me to take responsibility?" He asked in that dangerously attractive rumble that had been at least a fifth of the reason she was in this situation to begin with. "Sure thing. You can look after the tower and our three dozen children while I go out to slay dragons and demons and faeries."
This wizard had no shame at all. Jessir buried her face in the pillow, feeling her ears burning all the way to the tips. She had only been trying to hint at what she wanted and he was already talking about children. She wasn't even two thousand years old!
"Ooh, half-elf babies!" Luna squeed out of nowhere. "They would be so cute!"
"What's this about half-elf babies?" Arko asked blearily, clearly having just woken up.
"Jessir wants to be a housewife while I take care of her." Harry answered.
"That is not what I said!" The huntress protested.
"You said that you wanted me to take responsibility, which means you won't be responsible for yourself, in which case keeping you barefoot and pregnant at home is really the only thing I can do." The bastard archmage completely misrepresented the situation. "It would be irresponsible to let you go out and do dangerous things."
"I meant that I didn't want me and Arko to be just some quick lay for you two!"
"Awww, of course not!" Luna cooed, rolling over to cuddle Jessir from the front, leaving her trapped between the two swelteringly hot humans. "We'd be happy to have you join our family. We'll go on adventures together and have lots of sex and seduce more women and have lots of babies!"
"More women?!" Arko spoke up in disbelief.
"We already have an eye on Jaina Proudmoore, she's adorable. You're going to love her."
"Gods, you two are worse than Queen Azshara." Jessir groaned, for entirely different reasons this time. "What makes you think all these women you're planning to seduce are going to just go along with it?!"
"Well maybe if Azshara had someone to fuck her she wouldn't have tried to summon Sargeras to do it." Harry opined with a shrug, pointedly ignoring her question.
"You can't be serious." Arkor stated with flat incredulity. "You really think Queen Azshara, the most powerful, vain and evil sorceress to have ever lived, summoned the Burning Legion because she was sexually frustrated?"
"I've seen women do all sorts of dumb shit for attention when they weren't getting railed properly. Trust me, the secret to keeping women from going evil is regular hard fucking." Harry said sagely. "If I was there ten thousand years ago, I would have bent her over a table and you night elves would still be ruling the world today."
"Elune preserve us, we slept with a madman." Arko lamented.
"No, he's probably right." Luna rebuffed. "That really does seem to work most of the time. And if Azshara was as vain as you said, then she might have thought that someone like Sargeras was the only one worthy of her."
Jessir could feel everything she thought she knew about the world crumbling away, because that made a twisted sort of sense. "I will never be able to unhear what you just said, I hope you realize that."
"The truth strikes deep and without mercy." Harry maintained his sage tone, just before slapping her across the butt. "Come on, let's go eat something, then you can try out the armor I made you."
XXXXX
The suits of armor, looking almost identical to Luna's, were well received, being both lighter and stronger than what Arko and Jessir had worn before.
The similarity in appearance didn't go unnoticed, but the night elves didn't comment on how they all wore matching armor now, preferring to take it as a quiet acknowledgement that they were a team now.
Harry had done that intentionally at this point. When Jessir had first asked if she and Arko could join up with him and Luna as an adventuring party, he had turned her down because he hadn't wanted to babysit people so much weaker than him, no matter how exotically hot they were.
The plan had been to create a bit of distance from Arko's rescue so that the gratitude they were feeling had time to fade, allowing them to interact without that emotional charge. In theory, that would have made the two night elves less eager to throw in with them.
But it hadn't gone that way. They still wanted to form an adventuring party together and more to the point, Luna wanted to take them along as well. His wife had said nothing when they parted ways before because she also didn't want any decisions being made immediately after a traumatic experience, but there was nothing holding her back now.
As usual, Harry found it almost impossible to refuse her since she asked for so little and was always so tolerant and accommodating of his own quirks, so he had instead done a one-eighty and gone all in in the other direction by seducing them and now making them as badass as possible, as quickly as possible. They wouldn't be the first women he'd trained up to be dangerous, after all.
Plus, they really were super hot.
"Are those dragon eggs?!" Arko blurted out when she saw the distinctively spiky, scaly objects sitting in the moonwell.
"Oh, right, I never got to that part of the story." Luna realized. "Yes, those are dragon eggs, Onyxia's."
"But…they're not black." Jessir said hesitantly, staring at the odd silvery scales.
"I prayed for them to be purged of corruption and Elune helped." Luna explained. "I was thinking of calling them the Moonlight Dragonflight. What do you think?"
"I think Deathwing is going to be furious when he hears about this." Arko said with some trepidation. As much as she was awed by what Luna had achieved, the Aspect of Death was notorious for holding grudges over the smallest of offences.
This…was not a small offense. Even if he cared nothing for his daughter's death or the lives of the unborn whelps, it would burn his pride to have black dragons turned into something else.
"A problem for another time." Harry dismissed. The evil super dragon was a concerning issue to be sure, but not an immediate one. "For now, it's time to forge your weapons."
"Out here?" Jessir asked, puzzled. It would explain why there was a forge next to the moonwell, but it didn't explain why it had to be done here when she knew that he had a forge inside the tower already.
"Out here, under the light of the moon." Harry nodded, glancing at his wife. "I have something special planned for you."
"We're asking Elune to help out!" Luna provided, bouncing on her toes. She was excited after successfully getting metal straight from the moon, somewhat unimaginably dubbed moonsteel.
Speaking of, it was utter bullshit. Logically, any metal on the moon should be similar if not identical to what you can find on its patron planet, but nope, the stuff they got from the White Lady was so warped by Elune's divine power that it was only a metal in the most technical sense of the word.
Harry couldn't wait to work with it.
"Now, there are some ground rules." He warned the two night elves seriously. "I'll be temporarily bonding my soul to the forge, so do not, under any circumstances, interrupt me or I am going to die. Understand?"
Wide-eyed and sufficiently cowed, the two night elves nodded and took a few steps back just to be sure.
Normally, Harry wouldn't have even let them be present, but this had to be done under the light of the moon and it was better to have them here the whole time than wandering by later.
"Alright, let's do this. You ready?" He asked of Luna.
"Ready." She nodded firmly, blessing the fire of the forge and infusing it with Elune's power.
Immediately, the red-orange flames turned a blue-ish silver.
Harry placed closed his eyes and reached out with his soul, entangling it with the spirit of the forge. He could feel Elune's presence in it, but ignored it, choosing instead to focus on his breathing. The flames leaped up with every breath, as if a bellows had been blown into them, becoming hotter.
Lightforge was placed inside and began to glow from the heat, eventually melting down into molten metal.
XXXXX
Elune watched, able to take a deeper peek into the wizard's soul now that he had exposed it to her power so directly. He had no fear that she would strike at him, even though he had left himself so open.
A valid assumption, but still, few would have been so bold. The Moon Goddess knew it was not because he had faith in her own better nature, but because he believed absolutely that his wife would not allow such a thing to happen.
Again, a valid assumption. Luna would indeed not allow it, nor ever forgive if it was attempted.
While Elune was still not entirely comfortable with Harry, her initial wariness had been tempered both by Luna's love for him and his genuine efforts to help Azeroth. His methods were ruthless, even cruel, but as long as he inflicted them only on the likes of the demons and their ilk, she supposed it was alright. Luna had kept him from becoming a monster for centuries already and their relationship, unorthodox as it was, appeared to work for them.
And right now, she could sense the remains of a divine spark smoldering in his soul with every strike of the hammer. Unlike with Luna, she had been unable to sense which divine domain he had once held authority over, but now she knew. At least one of them had been of craftmanship.
Even with her continued slight discomfort with Harry, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. He was working to arm good-hearted warriors with potent weapons to strike against evil and that was something she could unequivocally approve of.
So she reached down to the fire of the forge that Luna had imbued with her power and gently added herself to the process. Harry sensed her and made room for her with the same impressive mastery of his own soul that Luna had demonstrated.
Elune didn't try to guide his hand – goddess she may be, but she knew nothing of blacksmithing – and instead focused on keeping him invigorated and fanning the spark of the divine he still held inside him.
XXXXX
Hours after the work had begun, Harry quenched the blade one final time in the waters of the moonwell and exhaled gustily, disentangling his soul from the forge. That had been a decidedly odd experience, but not an unpleasant one. Elune was just so earnestly well-intentioned and plain nice that she reminded him of Luna at every turn. No wonder they got along so well.
"Arko, it's done." He called out to the warrior, holding out the blade.
It was both longer and much thicker than Lightforge had been. A simple design, but the pale teal glow of the blade made sure it could never be called plain.
"It's beautiful." She said, reaching out for it.
"The Holy Moonlight Greatsword, forged from the blade of a noble paladin and metal gifted by Elune." Harry kept the amused grin off his face, not matter how funny he found the reference. Elune had also thought it was funny, as he had been able to feel her amusement while they were working on it.
"This…I can't really believe this is for me." Arko murmured, giving the sword a few test swings. "It's so light, like it weighs nothing at all, but I can tell it's going to hit hard."
"Trey would be proud." Jessir commented.
"Would he?" Arko asked pensively, still staring at her new weapon. "This sword feels like it belongs to a paladin, the same as Lightforge did. I'm just a warrior."
"Nothing is stopping you from becoming a paladin." Harry shrugged, unable to pass up such a perfect opportunity. "You could be the first paladin of Elune."
Yes, a holy knight on the battlefield and a leather-clad dominatrix in the bedroom. The gap moe would be delicious.
"I…don't know how." Arko admitted sheepishly. "I was never any good at all this spiritual stuff."
"I could teach you, and King Varian Wrynn is letting us build a temple to Elune in Stormwind, so I'm sure there are paladins there we could ask. Bolvar Fordragon probably wouldn't mind either." Luna offered.
"Wait, hold up a second. What's this about a temple to Elune in Stormwind?!" Jessir burst out. "Is this another thing you forgot to mention, like the dragon eggs?"
"I guess?" Luna shrugged, not seeing the issue, much to the huntress' consternation.
"I'll think about it." Arko replied to the offer, looking pensive. It was blatantly obvious that the idea had a certain appeal to her, if only as a way to honor the friend whose death she still felt responsible for.
Either way, Harry was satisfied to have planted a seed that could be nurtured later.
"Umm, not to sound greedy, but do I get something like that, too?" Jessir asked, smiling awkwardly.
"Sure, but you have to do one thing for me first." Harry said seriously.
"What?" She asked with trepidation, possibly wondering if he was going to ask for some depraved sexual favor.
"Ask me that exact question again, but this time poke your index fingers together." He said seriously.
"Umm?" Jessir blinked in bewilderment. "Like this? Umm, not to sound greedy, but do I get something like that, too?"
Luna squealed at the cuteness of seeing a night elf poke her fingers together like some anime character, which had been the point of Harry's request.
"Alright, you've made my wife happy, so I'm going to make you a Holy Moonlight Greatbow and a pair of Holy Moonlight Shortswords…as soon as I've had a small rest."
XXXXX
"They seem happy." Luna said contently, watching Jessir and Arko walk off to practice with their new weapons.
"They better be." Harry said drily. "Those are easily some of the most powerful weapons in Azeroth right now."
If not the most powerful, given the divine-tier materials, craftsmanship, enchantments and blessings invested into them. It was his finest work.
"Do you want to get some rest?" Luna asked, peering at him with slight concern. "You've been working for most of the night."
"Not yet, there's still enough moonlight for one more item." He shook his head.
"Oh, but who is it going to be for?"
"You, obviously." Harry snorted. "We can't use our bone staves without causing a scene and I'm not terribly comfortable going around without a magical catalyst in a world as dangerous as this. With you being a priestess of Elune now, I can use this moonsteel to make you a new staff."
"What about you?" Luna asked.
"Nothing we've seen so far has really spoken to me, but I'm sure something will eventually. Until then I'll just have to deal."
A few hours later – past the break of dawn really, but in defiance of all common sense, the night in the area remained dark and the moon continued shining until the work was done – the staff was complete. It was a fairly simple thing, just a straight shaft of moonsteel with a horizontal crescent moon as the headpiece – Luna's personal symbol that she also had on her forehead instead of the crooked crescent moon of Elune. That would allow it to act as a bident in a pinch, not that Harry expected his wife would ever be able to bring herself to stab someone with her new staff.
XXXXX
"Your warriors are in high spirits." Harry commented to Raene Wolfrunner, seeing that the woman had to tell her subordinates to calm down again.
The Sentinel commander of Ashenvale nodded. "Of course they are. After years of skirmishing with the orcs we've finally been able to fulfill our mandate and cleanse these woods. I can't say I don't understand why discipline is being strained."
"What are you going to do after this battle?" He asked curiously.
"With the orcs right on our doorstep we'll still have to maintain a garrison and it's going to take years to purge Demon Fall Canyon of fel corruption. More demons are sure to be attracted to it even if we get them all this time." She answered with a frown.
"It won't take as long as you think." Harry smiled mysteriously. "I have a little something that should do the trick."
"Jessir and Arko did mention that you were a crafty sort of mage." Raene said shrewdly, glancing backwards where the two night elves in question were being engaged in conversation by some friends they'd made over the past month of demon hunting. "Those weapons and armor you and Priestess Luna made them are incredible. Do you take commissions?"
"I won't make holy moonlight weapons for just anyone, but I would be amenable to it otherwise." He nodded, figuring that arming the right people with superior gear would only serve to advance his broader goals. To say nothing of the favors he would collect in lieu of material payment.
"That's fair." She agreed, clearly pleased to have secured the services of a skilled blacksmith.
It was only about an hour after that conversation that they made it to Demon Fall Canyon and Raene Wolfrunner gathered together her lieutenants and other figures of leadership.
Harry flew towards them in his raven form and transformed back after scouting out their enemy.
"What a peculiar ability." Keeper Ordanus commented, looking both fascinated and baffled. "How are you transforming into an animal form without connecting to the raven spirit?"
"Our homeworld's life energy was a fraction of Azeroth's, far too little for wild gods to form." Harry shrugged, leaving out that the universe as a whole had been much more low energy all across the board. "The spiritual composition of nature was different, as was our connection to it."
"You can talk about it later." Commander Wolfrunner interjected, although not unkindly. "How does it look out there?"
"No real change from what I told you a month ago. Hundreds of felguards and felhounds just miling about aimlessly, occasionally getting into fights with each other. They have neither scouts nor a real perimeter. There is a group of succubi sticking close to the area where Mannoroth died and one of them seems to be a warlock that's summoning in more demons from the Twisting Nether, but she obviously has no real control over them. Unless a more powerful warlock or higher demon shows up to take charge, they're not likely to ever become a serious threat to the surrounding area at this rate." Harry reported.
"It's only a matter of time before that happens, so wiping them out makes strategic sense even if they weren't filthy demons." She replied, but her mind was clearly elsewhere. "If they have no real leader, then this is going to be just like all the other extermination missions we've done over the past month, different only in scale. They'll come at us in a disorganized, frenzied horde."
"You have too many bows and moonglaives, and not enough shields or spears, to form a proper defensive line." Harry noted.
"Defensive lines are a human method of fighting, we prefer to stay mobile." She countered. "Although it is true that the canyon is more open and narrow than I would like."
Yes, he imagined that guerilla tactics would be hard in this kind of battlefield. Another reason that the night elves had been having so much trouble with the orcs – asymmetric warfare was an implicit acknowledgement that you can't afford to face your enemy head on.
"I and the druids you brought with you will be able to constrict some of them, but likely not all." Ordanus offered.
"I could blind them with a beam of moonlight, but I don't think it'll work on the felhounds." Luna added, leaning on her new staff. "You know, since they don't have eyes."
"Then we will focus on those while you impede the felguards."
"And I can blow apart any big groups." Harry finished, although he was still not in favor of their small army's composition. Too much focus on long range and too little defense for them. If their enemy wasn't just a bloodthirsty mob and had something to counter him and Luna, this battle would be inadvisable.
"That should thin them out enough that the melee fighters can clear out any stragglers that make it past the archers." Raene nodded firmly. "That leaves only the succubi as a potential problem. Can I trust your dryad sisters to take care of them, Keeper Ordanus?"
"Of course. Their foul magics will find no purchase." The keeper of the grove assured.
"Good, then we move in half an hour."
XXXXX
Jessir grinned slightly as she gripped her bow, still awed when a beam of pure moonlight materialized in place of the string.
Her old bow had been a reliable weapon, but ultimately nothing special. This Holy Moonlight Greatbow felt like something that should be in the hands of someone like Tyrande Whisperwind. Harry had already told her and Arko that he expected them to get to that level if they wanted to stay with him and Luna, and 'threatened' to make sure of it.
Jessir had never thought such a thing was possible for her, but the wizard seemed quite certain of himself. That was both exciting and scary…and a little arousing.
He really was a bad influence.
Nocking an arrow on such a bow was still a strange experience. There was no sense of resistance to her draw or tension in the bowstring, but Jessir simply knew that once she let go, the arrow would fly out with tremendous force.
And it did, slamming into the felguard's neck and lodging itself in all the way to the fletching. The demon keeled over with a choked gurgle, stone dead.
The Sentinels at her side gave her respectful nods – and a few envious looks at her weapon – before moving forward to continue taking out what stragglers they could before the battle proper started.
XXXXX
Arko was at the front lines with the other melee fighters, gripping her Holy Moonlight Greatsword tightly as the screaming horde of demons advanced.
Arrows flew over and around her and she didn't budge, trusting in the accuracy of her allies.
Despite the volume of fire coming at them, some of the demons eventually got through and Arko's hands got clammy inside their gauntlets, just as they had done in every single battle over the past month. The memory of her capture was still fresh.
Before, Lightforge had been both a reminder of what her weakness had cost and a reassurance. The Holy Moonlight Greatsword still had an echo of Trey's spirit within it, but now Arko could also feel the soothing presence of Elune from her weapon.
Harry's suggestion of becoming the first paladin of Elune had more appeal every time she thought about it. It would be a way to honor both her deceased friend and the goddess who had always been there for her, and who had sent Harry and Luna to Jessir so that they could come save her. Perhaps she would see if it was possible after this.
The first felguard to make it through the storm of arrows to her roared and swung its battleaxe in a wide arc. Arko stepped into the swing and interposed her own weapon to parry it. Just as she had noted while training with the Holy Moonlight Greatsword, much of the power in her enemy's attack failed to reach her arms, allowing her to recover almost instantly.
Before the demon could bring its more unwieldy weapon around for another swing, Arko sliced it across its torso. The blessed blade carved through the tainted flesh with ease, sending the demon to the ground with a mortal wound.
Behind it came a felhound, leaping at her with its slavery maw, no doubt eager to consume both her flesh and every drop of magic within it. Arko brought her massive, but feather-light sword around in a lightning fast swing, catching the felhound right across the mouth, carving it clean in half as the canine demon's own momentum carried it across the edge of the blessed blade.
More demons came and she cut them down just as easily as the first two and with every kill it felt like she could breathe just a little bit easier.
She would never be so weak that she had to see a friend die again, so Harry's 'threat' to make her powerful was just about the sweetest promise he could have made. She didn't even mind his and Luna's obvious perversions or their intention of seducing even more women, as long as she would be strong enough to protect them.
XXXXX
Luna was enjoying herself.
Although not a combative person by nature, she loved supporting people and these demons were unambiguously cruel monsters that had no place in the world. There was no sadness in seeing them die and no lament for the choices and circumstances that brought them into conflict like there had been in pretty much every other battle she had been part of.
For the first time in her life, the squeals of pain she was hearing from the enemy were an objectively good sound, rather than just being the least bad sound. She felt guiltier than this when pulling up weeds from her garden.
Luna started humming to herself happily, tapping her staff on the ground and letting out a pulse of holy power. The corruption in the ground lessened significantly, her friends and allies fought with renewed vigor and the charging demons faltered as the wave of purity sizzled against their tainted flesh.
Spotting the main wave of the enemies approaching, Luna raised her staff towards the moon above.
"Let's dazzle them, Big Sis." She said, calling on Elune's light and focusing it through her staff's headpiece.
Although it wasn't a focusing crystal, the moonsteel was a material deeply saturated with the Moon Goddess' power and aligned with her. It channeled the moonlight beautifully and projected it outwards at the demon horde in a blinding beam.
The felguards screeched in pain as their eyes were seared by the holy light. It wasn't even that bright, but the spiritual component utterly rejected their existence and left them easy prey for the Sentinels.
XXXXX
Harry was the only one with a bird's eye view of the battle, standing as he was atop the Nimbus Cloud, and saw that things were going extraordinarily well. If he didn't know that the Burning Legion got exponentially more dangerous once they had an actual commander leading them, he would wonder how these incompetent buffoons managed to ever threaten anyone.
Despite being outnumbered at least 4-1, the force of Sentinels was winning rather easily. All else being equal, the average felguard was probably a superior combatant to the average Azerothian warrior, but that didn't count for much in this situation. A mob of angry berserkers and their dogs was always going to come up short against a disciplined and prepared military force.
With Luna buffing the Sentinels and blinding the enemy, and with the druids summoning up roots to tangle the felhounds, the demons were being torn to shreds by the night elves.
He was particularly pleased by Arko and Jessir. While they would still need a lot of work before they would be at an acceptable level of strength, they had adapted to their new weapons well and were easily the high scorers in this battle.
Well, the high scorers among the night elves.
Harry brought his hands together as if holding a ball and a sphere of red-orange flame immediately began forming in between them. In less than two second, the Forbidden Sun was ready from zero to 100%, a feat that had hitherto been impossible. Azeroth just made is so easy to gather the power and string the spell together.
He resisted the urge to cackle like some kind of supervillain as he lobbed the heinously destructive spell at a group of felguards, scattering those that didn't die immediately.
Apparently, buried deep down beneath centuries of jaded cynicism, there was still a gleeful child that just wanted to throw huge area of effect spells at his enemies. For so long he had needed to be 'restrained' and 'responsible' with his power, because flinging around unnecessarily powerful spells was even dumber than carelessly waving around a loaded gun or playing with a live grenade, and Harry refused to be an idiot.
But right now? Right now, acts of excessively destructive violence with no concern for mercy or collateral damage was not only acceptable, but encouraged. The more demons he killed, the better.
His spell choices got progressively more esoteric as the battle wore on, moving from straightforward destruction to more abstract effects. The fiery death of the Forbidden Sun made way for the debilitating agony of the Electrosphere, then the crippling dehydration of Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting and then the crushing attractive force of Black Hole.
Despite the wide variety of horrible death befalling the demons, most were too simple-minded to even consider retreat. Like he had noted during his interrogation of that one succubus, they had basically no impulse control and were thus effectively mindless.
The only one showing even a sliver of intelligence was the one succubus warlock he had noticed during his earlier flyover. Her wings had a green-ish tinge to them, clearly demonstrating advanced fel infusion – possibly one of the demons that had gotten a taste of Mannoroth's blood when it was still fresh – and she was hanging back instead of attacking like everyone else. Whereas even her fellow succubi had been lured in by their numbers advantage and rushed to the battle in the hopes of scoring a kill or securing a prisoner to play with later, she had noticed that the dryads among the Sentinel force were cancelling out any hostile magic.
The fact that she was still there instead of running away as soon as she noticed how lopsided the battle was meant that she was still letting her lusts get the better of her, but she wasn't a completely slaved to her instincts. She would eventually decide to make a run for it.
Harry decided to pre-empt her.
An orb of purple-edged darkness took shape between his hands as he prepared to cast one of the cruelest spells in his arsenal. Its creation had been more of a pet project than a need and he had only cast it a handful of times in his life…especially after it had gotten classed as a war crime back in the 2030s.
Not that he cared what a bunch of bureaucrats thought about his spells, but there really was very little call for using it.
"The Purple Sun of Xereus." He intoned with a grin and lobbed it at the very back of the canyon, well beyond the range at which it might affect his allies.
As much as the thought of the Warhammer universe being real – either fantasy or 40,000 – made him break out into a nervous sweat, just stealing spell ideas should be fine.
Probably.
Hopefully.
The spell arced across the air almost serenely, stopping at the rear lines of the demon army. Harry noticed that the succubus warlock was staring at it.
Abruptly, the basketball-sized orb of darkness expanded, becoming the size of a modest house. From the darkness, a purple skull face leered, emanating a cursed radiance. It was a difficult spell to cast, power intensive and complex to weave together.
But this was Azeroth. Power was easy to come by and the world didn't constantly try to undo his work.
The demonic advance screeched to a halt as the felguards stared at the spell. Meanwhile, the closest ones began convulsing in place.
Harry had to raise an eyebrow at their resistance, as the effect of the Purple Sun of Xereus should have been immediate. But it didn't take much longer. Crystalized blood burst out of their skin in more and more places, rapidly turning the demons bathed in the spells' cursed not-light into abstract art.
Even this didn't seem to put the fear of death into the demon horde, because they simply continued their reckless assault on the night elves after seeing that the army-killing spell wasn't something they could affect.
Only the succubus warlock seemed in any way unnerved and sent a few of her minions to try to get around the Purple Sun. Alas for them, the canyon was too narrow and they died in agony via blood crystallization.
Harry chuckled and made a beckoning gesture with his hand, pulling the Purple Sun closer. It was like a wave of death moving through the demon ranks as its area of influence reached them. At first, they only looked uncomfortable, but the closer the Purple Sun came, the more powerful its effect became, until their magic resistance could no longer keep up with its curse and their blood crystallized, ripping apart their bodies.
He hadn't had this much fun in ages.
A furious female yell caught his attention and he saw the succubus warlock flying towards him.
Harry could only raise an eyebrow at the clearly desperate move. It was pure luck that she hadn't been shot down by the Sentinels, as they tended to prioritize flyers, and she was squinting against the glare of the moonlight beam Luna was still projecting.
He halted the progression of the Purple Sun – very bad idea to not give something like that your full focus – and waited for the succubus to come level with him. He cast a defensive spell around himself and also prepared an offensive one just in case, but he actually wanted to hear what the sluttiest of demons considered to be trash talk.
A curiosity that would remain unsatisfied, because instead of saying a word, she threw a spell, a curse, at him.
It was a rather familiar one, even if he'd never seen this form of it. The malice and sadism comprising it, as well as the way it went right through his defenses were all the hallmarks of the Cruciatus.
Harry grunted as every nerve in his body started sending pain signals to his brain and lashed out with a whip of white-hot fire, wrapping it around her neck until it burned right through. Unfortunately, the pain curse she put on him didn't dissipate. It was, in fact, getting steadily worse.
He was never going to hear the end of it for getting cocky again.
XXXXX
"For someone so serious about safety, you sure are reckless." Jessir teased.
"Arrogant." Harry corrected, full aware of his persistent personality issue. "I was arrogant, not reckless."
Fortunately, one the dryads had been able to get rid of the curse with the same ease they got rid of any other bit of magic. She had even been able to identify it for him, calling it the Curse of Agony, a favorite among warlocks apparently, although she was surprised by how badly it affected him.
Yes, go figure that having a low natural magic resistance compared to the locals meant curses had greater effects. Harry was not happy to confirm that he and Luna were glass cannons. It would be a load off his mind when the next generation bodies would be ready.
"Is this something we're going to have to watch out for?" Arko asked Luna, nodding towards him.
Harry's face twitched with irritation.
"Nah. He's a fast learner, even if this is a lesson that he has to keep learning over and over." Luna shook her head with a smile. "It should be at least a decade without any serious challenges before he starts forgetting that he's not invincible again."
Son of a bitch, she's right. It has become a pattern. Harry swore in his head upon reviewing his life. On the grand scale of things, getting nailed by a pain curse was actually a cheap price to pay for a little humility. He'd usually paid a much steeper toll in the past, even if one of those times had seen them get started on the dimension travelling.
Any further discussion on the matter was put on hold when Raene Wolfrunner walked up to them, baring her teeth in a viciously pleased grin.
"This was a great victory, and we suffered no worse than minor injuries thanks to your contribution." The Sentinel commander said, her smile dimming slightly when she turned to Harry. "That being said, I must ask what that last spell was. It looked…evil."
Harry wasn't surprised to be asked this. The night elves were already predisposed to dislike magi and a giant skull-faced spell that killed people en masse in a brutal fashion would put off anyone.
"It's an army-killer spell, you can hardly expect it to look nice." Harry shrugged. "I'm not likely to use it against anyone but demons if it makes you feel better."
She was obviously still perturbed and glanced towards Luna as if seeking reassurance. Luna just looked at her guilelessly and smiled, which was apparently enough to get the commander to nod, albeit hesitantly. "Very well. You said you may have something to help with the corruption of this place? Keeper Ordanus and the druids are already discussing the best way to go about cleansing this place. You should speak with them."
"Will do, but first you should stop your Sentinels from knocking over that monument to Grom Hellscream." Harry nodded towards the spot where a good dozen Sentinels were unsuccessfully trying to dislodge said monument.
He could feel the earth itself resisting their efforts and figured that Thrall must have used some powerful shamanism to protect it.
"Hellscream willingly drank Mannoroth's blood and murdered Cenarius!" Wolfrunner snapped. "That the Horde continues to honor him is an unforgivable insult!"
"Hey, I don't disagree with you, the man was a complete idiot, but tearing down a monument to what is perhaps the only admirable thing ever he did in his life isn't going to help anyone."
Harry didn't wait for her response and went over to the druids. Whether she stopped her subordinates or let them continue was largely irrelevant to him. He would prefer they not poke the orcs in their overinflated and sometimes hypocritical sense of honor, but he wasn't going to stop them either.
Luna gave the woman a comforting squeeze on the shoulder and followed him, leaving only Arko and Jessir to talk to her.
Ordanus and the druids attached to the Sentinel force were clustered close to the spot where Mannoroth's broken weapon floated in the air. A great thing happened here, a powerful pact of enslavement was destroyed, he could feel it.
"Keeper Ordanus." Harry greeted the half-stag man. "Did you find the source of the corruption?"
"Archmage Harry, Priestess Luna." The keeper of the grove returned. "We have. Here is where Mannoroth fell and his blood spilled into the earth."
There was an indent in the ground where the dirt was stained green. At some point, it had likely held a puddle of the powerful demon's blood. Nasty stuff, he could feel the taint radiating from it even now. How the orcs could have brought themselves to drink it escaped his understanding.
"Alright, you're going to want to step back for this." Harry warned. "And try not to react too rashly."
"What are you intending to do?" Ordanus asked warily.
He didn't reply to the keeper of the grove, because there really was no good way to explain. Instead, he just took a large acorn out of a pouch at his hip, about half the size of his fist. More importantly, it was an ominous black color with fel-tainted green cracks running across its surface.
"What is that?" Ordanus demanded more urgently.
"Fel acorn." Harry answered shortly, jamming the thing into the ground. Then before, the keeper could protest, he pulled a flask of distilled liquid fel from another pouch and poured it over the spot where he'd planted the acorn.
"What are you doing?!" Ordanus demanded angrily. His fellow druids were also getting upset and drawing attention from the Sentinels.
"You told me a month ago that the biggest problem cleansing nature of fel taint is how dispersed it is, right?" Harry asked rhetorically. "Well this ugly bastard I just planted will suck the fel out of the ground and feed on it."
"This is an abominable use of druidism." Ordanus shook his head, clearly still displeased. He stared at the ground sadly as the fel tree began to grow, twisted and malign, with black bark and baleful green 'veins' crawling over the trunk and branches.
"Indeed it is." Harry agreed. "That's why we're going to destroy it as soon as its job is done. The fruit this thing will produce isn't something I want getting into demon hands…or any hands except mine for that matter."
"And what will you do with it?"
"I'm an alchemist, I have ways of safely disposing of dangerous things once I have them materialized."
XXXXX
"This is your idea of disposal?" Jessir asked disbelievingly.
Harry turned to face her and raised an amused eyebrow. "Problem?"
"You're fermenting the fel fruit and trying to turn it into alcohol!"
"Not trying, doing. I want to see if I can get demons addicted to alcohol. They already have impulse control problems so I imagine that they also have addictive personalities. Just imagine how useless the Burning Legion would be if their commanders were all constantly drunk out of their gourd."
"You can't seriously expect that to work?" Arko was just as disbelieving as her friend.
"Admittedly, the probability of success is low. Still worth attempting, however."
"But you promised Keeper Ordanus and Commander Wolfrunner that you would get rid of those things." Jessir protested. "And we promised that we would make sure of it."
"And I can assure you that not a single one of these fruits will remain once I'm done with them." Harry replied, dumping the rest of the demonic products of magical bioengineering into a giant, manually operated blender. "I will also ignore the fact that you agreed to spy on me for other people since this relationship of ours is so new, but I'll be expecting a bit more trust in the future."
"Can you blame them, or us for that matter, for being concerned?" Arko defended. "Those fruits are dangerous and evil."
Looking at them, they really did look evil, kind of like misshapen black tumors with sickly green veins growing all over them.
"Do you really think Luna would just go along with it if I was actually planning something nefarious?" He asked pointedly.
Said priestess was not indeed present, busy cooing at the dragon eggs or tending to her garden or something.
That brought them up short and they started looking a bit chastised. It was unthinkable to them that a priestess of Elune would tolerate anything nefarious, so the obvious answer was that nothing nefarious was going on.
Harry stepped in between the two night elves and put his arms around their shoulders. "I warned you that I'm not a nice man, and that I'll end up doing things you won't approve of, but you didn't listen and here we are. Are you having a change of heart?"
"No." Arko was quick to assert.
"It's just that, well…" Jessir paused awkwardly.
"I'm exactly the kind of magic user your elders warned you about?" Harry offered with a grin.
"Yes." The two night elves deadpanned.
"That's fine, but do try to give me the benefit of the doubt in the future." His hands slid down their backs and gripped their butts. "Or else I'll have to spank you."
"You're such a pervert." Jessir mumbled, cheeks turning a darker purple.
"And I shall teach you my ways. That you made it to nearly two thousand years old without becoming perverts yourself is, quite frankly, a tragedy."
"Night elves age differently than humans." Arko protested, but notably didn't seem too upset about being groped.
"You still had a veritable eternity to explore your kinks and failed to do so. Now the burden falls to me." He squeezed a few more times.
"Don't try to make it sound noble!" Jessir tried to sound indignant, but couldn't help giving an amused snort. "And don't try to distract us either. I still want to know what you're planning to do with these fel fruits, especially since you aren't a warlock."
Whether Harry was going to start dabbling in warlockery or not was still up for debate, but that wasn't a conversation he wanted to have right now.
"I am an alchemist, though, and a good alchemist can find uses for just about anything."
He didn't particularly mind bringing them in on some of his secrets. Mental conditioning would be needed for the more sensitive ones, but if they were going to make this relationship work then a little trust would go a long way. He was a bit rusty about treating any woman other than Luna as an equal partner, but the feeling wasn't unpleasant.