Warcraft: Official Movie Novelization

And that was the most frightening thing of all.

“Guardian!” Khadgar shouted, his voice climbing.

The cry seemed to knock Medivh out of whatever trance he was in. He began to chant, light following the motions of his weaving fingers like ink from a pen until a sigil hung in the air.

The beast lowered his hand, his too-intelligent eyes going at once to Medivh, watching closely—curiously.

There were several sudden blazes of sickly green light. Khadgar gasped and the beast leaped back, both sets of eyes focused on the clearing.

Khadgar had noticed that some of the beasts had undertones of green in their skin—the color of fel magic. He had not had time to discuss—well, anything with Medivh upon their arrival, but he was certain the Guardian had noticed it as well. Now, as he stared, all the beasts who had that peculiar coloring dropped their weapons and started to convulse, screaming. Jagged, spindly fingers of green lightning leaped from the stricken creatures, arcing directly back to Medivh, who stood with his hands outstretched, palms up. Before Khadgar’s eyes, the beasts’ skins paled, their muscles atrophied, and one by one, they fell, crumbling, like pieces of hard earth in the hands of a child.

A spontaneous cheer of relief went up from the knights as they saw their chance. “They’re all dying!” someone shouted.

“Only the green ones!” another cried. They fell on the spasming beasts, impaling them with swords and then turning on their shocked brethren. “Kill that beast bastard!” an officer shouted, pointing toward the leader. The beast with the ruined hand looked around in obvious confusion. Khadgar flinched as another boom from Lothar’s weapon resounded. A hole appeared in the massive chest of one of the monsters. He stared down at it for an instant, then tumbled, stone dead.

The beast who had been standing outside the protective circle whirled, catching his companion. He cradled the monstrous form, grief plain on his ugly face. Khadgar blinked. Somehow, this surprised him. But the creature’s expression shifted from concerned and caring to coldly furious as he looked at the man who had slain his friend.

“Let’s put some steel through these bastards!” Lothar’s voice rang out.

The beast rose, simultaneously releasing the corpse with gentleness and preparing himself to attack Lothar. Before Khadgar could even form the words of a warning, though, the beast’s comrades seized him and hauled him off. With a final, furious glare, the beast leaped onto Medivh’s horse, yanked on the reins, and galloped into the woods. The others followed, most on their wolves, but many with stolen horses, and in a heartbeat the clearing was as empty as it had been when the knights had arrived… save for the grim scattering of corpses.

Behind Khadgar, Medivh gave a low, soft moan. Khadgar turned to see the Guardian of Azeroth down on one knee, pale and exhausted, the heels of his hands pressing into his temples.

“Guardian!” Khadgar stammered. He started to move toward Medivh, but the other waved him off as he got unsteadily to his feet. “What—did you do?”

Medivh ignored him utterly, focusing his attention on swiftly drawing another circle in the dirt. Frustrated, Khadgar persisted.

“The fel. I was right, wasn’t I? It’s here.” Again, he thought of the green tint to the skin of some of the beasts, and the lightning that leapt from them to Medivh as they flailed and grew weak.

Then, abruptly, he recognized the sigils the Guardian was sketching into the soil. Another teleportation! “What are you doing? Where are you going?”

Now, Medivh did look at him, his green-blue eyes piercing, it seemed, straight into Khadgar’s soul. “Get these soldiers safely back to Stormwind.” He stepped into the circle. “I must return to Karazhan.” He paused. “You did well today.”

There was a pulse of white light. Khadgar was left, blinking from the brightness, staring at exactly nothing.

“Where’s he gone?” Lothar’s shout was both worried and angry as he cantered up to Khadgar.

Khadgar realized his mouth was dry. He clenched his fists to stop his hands from trembling. He knew it wasn’t the fight that had stunned and spooked him so badly.

“Karazhan,” he told Lothar, quietly.

Lothar swore, pressed his lips together, then shook his head. “We need a prisoner. Where’s your horse?”

“They took my horse!”

“Really?” Lothar’s look of contempt could have withered an entire forest. “Just… stay there.” Lothar galloped off with a pair of knights. Khadgar fought back the urge to knock him off with a spell, looked at the empty space where the Guardian of Azeroth ought to have been, and, sighing, turned his attention to examining the body of one of the beasts.