((This is my first "published" story on . As you can tell, i'm no professional writer. This story follows the adventures of my Death Knight, Steiner, from the Battle of Light's Hope Chapel onwards. I'm sure some lore inaccuracies will pop up here and there, so feel free to correct me, so I can edit the story accordingly. Also, I haven't proof-read this story either, so please excuse any errors. Other than that, enjoy! And give me constructive criticism if you want as well.))

The Saga of Steiner von Pestis

Chapter one: Seasonal Colds

"Three days I've been confined to this bedroll, inside a tent, in the middle of a frozen tundra. It's quiet, save for the howling winds outside. Perhaps it was something I ate, or drank? I don't know for sure. No one in the party knows for sure what I've come down with. During the day I feel like a living torch, and at night I feel like an ice cube. My sleep, as rare as it's been, is filled with horrible visions of death and never ending cold. A voice whispers in my ear from time to time. It's deep and resonant, and shakes my bones with every word. Yet it's cruel and as razor cold as the shredding winds outside my tent.

Leofric, our one priest, has denied anyone entrance into my tent, for fear that the rest of the group will catch whatever disease plagues me. He's the only one I've seen for days now. As skilled as he is, he's been able to do nothing except dull the pain a little. From time to time I reach for my sword, and I can barely lift it. Three days ago it felt like a feather in my hands.

Curse this place! Curse this frozen tundra!

'Go to Northrend,' they said 'Many riches and powerful artifacts to be found.' Bah! Lies! If I ever get out of this place, if I ever regain my strength, I will find those lying bastards and hang them with their own entrails!

Even writing this weakens me. I doubt I have much longer to live. It's a pity I won't be able to say farewell to my comrades. I wish them the best of luck, and I hope they make it off this blasted continent alive. Should someone find th—

Seems I may have a visitor. Poor Leofric is facing a wrath far more terrifying than the ice storm. The girl is here."

- Excerpt from a frost covered book

"Let. Me. In."

Leofric yelped and fell through the tent door, almost pulling the structure down with him. Rubbing his backside, he got back to his feet, and made to protest once more.

"He can't be disturbed! He's sick, and most likely contagious! I know you mean well, but you can't be here! Please lea—" A thin hand grasped Leofric's robes, and with a strength those small hands didn't seem to possess, he was thrown back outside the tent. The priest's startled cry was lost to the wind.

The girl walked further into the tent, a triumphant look on her pale face. She was small for her race, lithe, with fierce green eyes and silver hair pinned into a bun on the back of her head. Like most of her people, she was naturally beautiful, with flawless skin and healthy attributes. She was swaddled in a heavy cloak, but a black leather body suit was hidden beneath. Her look of triumph disappeared the moment she laid eyes on the prone figure at the other side of the tent.

"Kael'Therin…"

"Hello girl." Kael'therin replied, setting aside his quill and journal. "That was a little unnecessary, wasn't it? Leofric meant well." He was about to say more, when he doubled over in a fit of coughing.

The girl made a move to help, but stopped short when Kael'therin waved her back. "That'll do you no good, girl." He said.

"I have a name you know." She said back, a small frown creasing her near perfect face, but her words lacked the fire they usually held.

"I know, girl." Kael'therin replied, the ghost of a smile passing across his lips. She did have a name, and Kael'therin knew it, but he had always referred to her as 'The girl'. In truth, she wasn't much younger than him by the standards of their people, but that didn't stop him from using the nickname. She hated it, but it was a term of endearment, whether she knew it or not. "Now why are you here? This tent is a dangerous place to be."

"Well…" She paused. Was she blushing? "I had to come see you. The rest of the group is wondering about you. I—" she shook her head furiously. "—We, were worried about you. All of us."

Kael'therin tried to smile. But as sunken and pale as his face was, it looked absurd. "I'm fine. Just resting. A cold, nothing more."

"You're lying." She said matter-of-factly.

A weak laugh turned into a horrible fit of coughing. "Of course I am. Bad for morale and all that. Or maybe I'm not. I'll be fine. I've dealt with much worse than thi—"

"Stop it!" The girl cut in, a hurt look on her face. Generally, she was a strong character, fierce and unphased by the horrors she faced on a near daily basis. But seeing Kael'therin so feeble and sick was chipping away at her hardened façade. "You're not fine, and this isn't just some seasonal cold."

Kael'therin protested weakly as she knelt beside him and used the edge of her cloak to dab away the cold sweat on his brow. "It kills me to see you like this, Kael'therin…" she whispered in an unsteady voice. Were Kael'therin not sick, he'd have quirked his brow at her tone. As it was, he felt too sick and tired to look anything other than grim and resigned. Even more than that, she never used his name when speaking to him, a clear sign she was as worried as she said she was.

"You want me to be honest, girl? Fine. I don't think I'll last any more than a day, probably less. That's fine. I'm more worried about how the rest of you are going to get out of here. It's my fault we're here. It's my fault Seredin was killed, and it's my fault I'm lying here. I need to figure out how to get the rest of you out of here." He replied, coughing after each sentence. The voice, the one he'd been hearing since he'd been sick, was clawing at his ears now. It was almost impossible to ignore it.

"Shut up. It's not your fault. You didn't know, and you wouldn't have put us at such risk if you had any idea of how horrible this place is. You've brought us so much success, so many good memories…" The girl's voice trailed away, and Kael'therin thought he saw a tear streak down her face. "You saved my life more times than I can remember. You've always been there for us." She finally continued, swallowing hard as she forced herself to speak. "I know none of them—" The girl gestured towards the tent flap, towards the rest of the party sitting in the cold. "—could bear to lose you. And I know I can't."

Kael'therin closed his eyes for a long moment, suddenly feeling a thousand years older, and more weary than he'd ever felt before. The girl gasped, thinking Kael'therin had died, but he opened his eyes again, and stared for a long moment at the tent ceiling. "I'm tired, girl. Can the rest of your retrace our steps?"

The girl thought for a moment, and glanced towards the tent flap. "I think so. But it'll be tough getting through all those…creatures. They're what stands between the boat and us. And that's if we don't get killed by this storm."

Kael'therin almost didn't hear her. The voice was booming in his ears, and he ground his teeth in frustration.

Let go, it said. You will join us, my death knight, whether you like it or not. You will serve.

"Death knight…" Kael'therin murmured to himself. He saw the girl give him a quizzical look.

"Wha—"

"Get out of here. Now. Pack up the gear, and fight to the boat." Kael'therin said fiercely, a bit of his old strength returning to him in his urgency to usher his party away.

The girl stared him for a moment as he sat up, brightened momentarily seeing his surge of strength. Kael'therin stared at her impatiently, and she finally shook her head and spoke. "Very well. We'll get moving at once. I'll have Leofric and Bren fix a stretcher. We can pro—" She stopped, seeing the look in his eyes. Kael'therin shook his head slowly.

"Not this time, Savira." He said, using her name for the first time in longer than he could remember. "I'm tired. I think I'll take a nap." He said mildly.

"No! No! No! We're not leaving you! I'm not leaving you!" The girl said, shaking her head furiously in protest. Her cheeks glistened, and Kael'therin felt a momentary stab of pain in his heart. He finally understood.

"Get moving, now." He said calmly. "I will be fine on my own. But you and the rest of the group need to leave, now." He said, hoping he didn't sound desperate. Something deep down inside him felt something approaching, and it wasn't something him or his companions could fight.

The girl, Savira, looked hurt beyond measure. But the look passed almost as quickly as it had manifested. Standing up, she turned on her heel and walked out of the tent. Over the howling of the wind, he could just make out her voice, giving orders to the rest of the party.

Kael'therin smiled grimly to himself, and his now bony hand crept along the frozen ground to find the hilt of his weapon. At least he wouldn't die unarmed. The voice in his ears became deafeningly loud, and he almost screamed. Something stick ran from his ears to pool in the sunken hollows of his collar bone. It was blood. The voice was taunting him, tormenting him, and commanding him to give up and die.

The girl walked back into the tent as Kael'therin was slowly getting to his feet. His movements seemed to take a titanic amount of effort, and he could barely keep on his feet. He gaped at Savira for a moment.

"What the hell are you doing! I told you to leave!" He almost screamed, before doubling over in a fit of coughing.

Savira had thrown her cloak to the floor, and had her weapons in her hand, black leather glinting in the candlelight. "I told you, I am not leaving you. The others didn't want to leave either, but I told them you'd be along soon. But I won't leave you alone. I can't." She said fiercely. Kael'therin thought for a moment that she planned to stab him to death if he refused her.

But refuse her he would. Kael'therin had already gotten one of his companions killed, and he would not have any more blood on his hands when sickness—or more likely whatever was coming for him to claim his life—killed him. "Stupid girl!" He snarled weakly. Kael'therin made a move to grab her shoulder, but stopped, unwilling to risk infecting the girl with whatever disease he had. "Leave now, girl! There's something coming. Something neither you or I can fight! I won't have your death on my hands!"

The sound of flesh on flesh erupted in the silence of the tent. Kael'therin was almost knocked down by the blow. The girl glared at him, rubbing her hand. "How dare you! After all of this…after everything, you're just going to shoo me away?! I told you, I am not leaving! If you die, I'll follow you into death!" She screamed. Kael'therin was stunned.

You will serve… the voice reminded him, it's cruelty like a physical blow. His mind pounded. …and they will serve as well. But their fate will be worse than yours ever will be.

"No…no more." He gasped, his hands clawing at his head. The girl stopped mid-tirade to stare at him. Kael'therin refused to get anyone killed, especially the girl. But it was obvious she wouldn't leave him. He thought briefly of the route they had taken to get where they had camped. Perhaps he could…

"Are you alright Kael—" The girl was cut short as Kael'therin backhanded her. The blow wasn't particularly strong, but he knew how much force to apply, and where to apply it to. Dropping to the floor like a sack of grain, Kael'therin knelt next to her, and began wrapping her in her cloak, and his own black and red-trimmed one. Using all the effort he could conjure, he dragged her out of the tent. At the edge of the camp was a steep decline. Not nearly so much to make it a cliff, but enough for it to require a decent amount of effort to ascend. It was flat, Kael'therin noted, devoid of any jagged rocks. If he remembered correctly, a massive snowdrift lay at the bottom of the slope. A groan reached his ears over the screaming wind.

"W-what the hell…" The girl muttered, slowly at first, and then quickly as she realized she was bound. Struggling in the roll of cloaks, she looked up at Kael'therin. Anger thundered in her eyes at first, and then sadness. "Don't make me go…" she pleaded, looking up at the almost skeletal face of Kael'therin. "I need to stay…I belong here!"

Kael'therin's face took on a sad look, and he went down on one knee, gasping. The effort of dragging the girl all this way had drained him almost completely, and he felt like his heart wouldn't hold out for much longer with the strain he placed on it. He was about to reply when the girl cried out, her eyes fixed on something over Kael'therin's shoulder. He followed her gaze, and swore softly. Dark shadows were looking towards the camp, their identities hidden by the white wall of snow. One of the shadows was far taller than the rest, and an eerie blue glow pierced the wintery veil where it's eyes would have been.

Gasping, Kael'therin reached inside his being to summon up one last ounce of strength. Gasping, he turned to look back at the girl. She wouldn't say anything, but her eyes said it all. Don't leave me… they pleaded.

"I'm sorry about hitting you girl." He said softly. "Take care of the others."

She tried struggling again, but it was pointless. The shadows in the distance were nearly there. Kael'therin didn't wait for her to reply. Instead, he cried out in pain as he made one last effort, one final push that sent the girl rolling down the slope. Kael'therin hoped she would make it out alive. A pity he thought, it would have been interesting.

They can run all they want… The voice boomed. Kael'therin turned. "…but it will do them no good. They will be mindless drones. But you, you will be much more, elf."

Kael'therin felt his heart explode, his lungs collapse, and his ears bleed as he fell to his knees. He had used the last bit of strength getting Savira to safety. Now, so close to the towering figure in front of him, he felt the life being sapped from his body. It only took Kael'therin seconds to die, but it felt like it took hours. It all went in slow motion as he crumpled to the ground. All he could see of the giant in front of him was black plate and those cold, cold blue eyes. Please let them all make it out alive… was Kael'therin's last living thought.

"Your journey does not end here, elf. Welcome to undeath…"