Prelude to the Naval Battle

Following Skasnik's suggestion, Gude gave the order. Countless openings appeared along the Horde fleet's hulls, and black gun barrels emerged from them. Then came a deafening roar, like thunder heralding the end of the world. The massive Horde warships slid three feet backward, their movement churning the sea into waves.

Though the display was imposing, few of the Horde's cannonballs actually hit the mysterious fleet. Most crashed into the sea, sending towering columns of water skyward. But whenever a cannonball struck an enemy warship, splinters flew everywhere.

The enemy clearly hadn't expected the Horde's cannons to be so powerful, and they were briefly thrown into disarray. But their panic faded when a flag went up aboard one of their ships: a green field bearing a golden anchor, with two twinkling stars on either side and three more beneath it.

"Could this be the Kul Tiras fleet? Why has the Kul Tiras fleet suddenly appeared here? And why have they attacked us?!"

Kael'thas recognized the flag at once, but he couldn't understand why the Kul Tiras fleet would suddenly attack the Horde in the midst of the Scourge's rampage. It clearly ran counter to the greater interests of the moment.

But Kael'thas soon understood why the Kul Tiras fleet had attacked the Horde. With Orgrim's help, he made his way aboard the flagship. The man commanding it was none other than Daelin Proudmoore, the King of Kul Tiras, known as the Grand Admiral.

The weapons trained on Kael'thas faltered the moment he stepped onto the deck. In the dealings between humans and elves, the elegant, beautiful, powerful, long-lived elves were revered almost like gods. Now that a High Elf had come aboard, the Kul Tiras soldiers didn't know what to do. But their uncertainty soon ended when their King recognized the