Are Allies Not Meant to Be Sold Out?

The hatred among the three great dwarven clans—the Bronzebeards, Wildhammers, and Dark Iron Dwarves—had endured ever since the War of the Three Hammers. Even before the Dark Portal opened, Ironforge had repeatedly invited Stormwind to join them in wiping out the Dark Iron Dwarves.

Ironforge's previous requests had all been turned down by Stormwind, which had no desire to serve as Ironforge's weapon. This time, however, Ironforge took advantage of Zul'ra's campaign to purge the World-Destroying Army and once again asked to borrow a blade to kill people. After all, the World-Destroying Army included fire elemental lords, while the Dark Iron Dwarves happened to be followers of Ragnaros the Firelord, though they had been forced into it.

Should he lend the Dark Iron Dwarves his blade? Zul'ra considered it. The last time Thrall had campaigned against the corrupted Orcs of Blackrock Mountain, he had wanted to take the initiative in befriending Ironforge. Under the pretext of rescuing Princess Moira Bronzebeard, he ended up killing Dagran Thaurissan. Yet who could have expected that Moira, who had been taken hostage, would actually end up with her kidnappers—and even had a child with one of them.

With Thrall's awkward blunder as a precedent—offending Ironforge's princess while also becoming mortal enemies with the Dark Iron Dwarves—Zul'ra did not dare lend out his blade rashly. He feared the Alliance would reap the benefits. Although the dwarves had always been part of the Alliance, he felt he might be able to use this chance to stir up some trouble, perhaps even split the dwarf clans apart. But it could not be done too obviously.

After much deliberation, Zul'ra personally wrote a letter to Varian in Stormwind. Without that idiot Garrosh stirring things up, and with Jaina acting as an intermediary, the turmoil of The Cataclysm had