A/N: I started this story before 8.1 and the Darkshore warfront released. If any of this conflicts with cannon, I'm sorry.
Chapter 1 – Darkshore
Teldrassil, the world tree and ancient home of the Night Elves, was burning. Erie fire light illuminated the blood-soaked shores and reflected in the broken armament that adorned corpses of every race. Sylvanas had brought Death to the Night Elven lands. White beaches were dyed brown with the blood of the elves. War machines had torn trees to splinters and left a train of destruction. Ashes streaked through the air and Sylvanas forces Captain Delaryn Summermoon to watch as her home burned and her people died.
Raelith crouched in shrub that dotted the line between forest and beach. The forest was always trying to push out to the water, but the beaches remained in defiance. The rain pattered around her on the bush leaves and trees. Her cloak kept the worst of it off, but she knew her clothes would be soaked before long. The rain did nothing to stop the world tree from burning, but it did cause a slight mist that reflected that light. Everything on the beaches carried an amber hue except the dead eyes of the elves that died for their home. The elves didn't stay dead for long. Sylvanas was not happy with just killing the elves and destroying their home. She needed to re-enforce her army and she had begun to raise the elves into undeath for that purpose. Captain Summermoon had been one of the first to be raised.
Captain Summermoon had fair, pinkish skin and smoky blue hair in life and it had carried over into undeath. The Captain wears dark chain mail over supple leather that encases her body like a second skin. Her waist length hair is gathered up and hidden under a hood. At her sides she carries two unadorned scimitars. Captain Summermoon has been charged with leading the newly raised night elven dark rangers into battle against the Alliance forces.
Raelith was here for Delaryn. Raelith fell into memories of a happier time as she stalked that Captain. It was so many years ago, before the orcs invaded.
Raelith was forging a sword that would become the first attempt at her masterpiece. Raelith had finally been allowed to produce armor and weapons without supervision after several years of apprenticing with the master smith. Just before Raelith could begin cutting the design she wanted into the steel, a bell rang from the front of the store. Raelith groans and set her work down. As Raelith enters the front room, she brushes her hair behind her ear and sees an elf that has been in a few times before. Raelith doesn't remember his name, but knows he's a lieutenant in the Sentinels.
"Hello lieutenant," Raelith smiles at the taller elf. As Raelith takes in the smaller elf, her mind goes blank and she begins to stare. 'She's so pretty. Her hair looks so smooth and that uniform really fits her.' Raelith begins to blush, but before things can get awkward the lieutenant speaks up.
"Hello Raelith, I have a new recruit and she needs armor." He pulls a piece of paper out of his uniform and goes down the list of names. "Summermoon, Delaryn. She will be part of the rangers. Please fit her for chainmail and get her a sword."
Raelith tears her eyes away from Delaryn reluctantly and nods to the lieutenant. "I can take her measurements today, but the armor will take a few days to craft. We also don't have any swords finished right now. I'll have the sword ready when the armor is."
The lieutenant nods along as Raelith talks. "That's fine. We're not due to start training yet."
Raelith forces herself not to look at Delaryn again. 'Delaryn Summermoon, I'll have to remember that name.' Raelith thinks, but she says. "Follow me, please." Raelith snags a measuring tape off a shelf and leads Delaryn back to a fitting room.
Raelith takes some calming breaths as they walk and lets Delaryn into fitting room before closing the door. Delaryn looks around at the spacious room and begins to remove her uniform. Raelith turns to see Delaryn with her top halfway off and lets out a small squeak. Delaryn looks over at Raelith and raises one eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"
Raelith shakes her head slowly, images of Delaryn undressing completely filling her mind. She quietly says, "N-no." Raelith gulps and forces the images away before saying more firmly. "You don't need to undress for this."
Raelith is blushing when the memory fades. As she watches Captain Summermoon, she notices that the captain has sent all, but her guard, away on missions. This is the moment and Raelith breaks her invisibility and rises from the brush as she draws her twin swords, Icebringer and Frostreaper. Shadowy tendrils fly from her hand and drag the first guard to Raelith. She cuts down the guard with two devastating blows. Each one frosting over the wound as it cuts furrows into the guard's armor and body. The second guard has time to shoot two arrows at Raelith before being cut down in the same way. Captain Summermoon is able to put three arrows into Raelith during the fight, but Raelith chants in the language of Death and soon Captain Summermoon can't control her own body.
'This dirty death knight will pay for controlling me! I'll ruin her so badly she'll never be raised again!' Raelith flinches at the hatred she feels from the captain's thoughts, but turns and begins to walk away.
'Follow me and be quiet.' Raelith sends the message to the captain through their link. The captain follows, unable to do anything else, but mentally curses the knight and promises many vile things. Raelith is forced to silence the link, but can still feel bitter hatred flowing through.
Raelith clenches her teeth and grabs an arrow shaft still sticking out from her chest as she walks. She pulls the arrow out with a grunt and lets the arrow fall to the ground. Her wound oozes out blood that's darker than it should be and Raelith uses a simple necromantic spell to seal the wound. 'My poor Delaryn. What have they done to you?' Raelith frowns as the current state of the captain is so different that the Delaryn she met so long ago.
Raelith leads them to a cave. It isn't large or deep and they couldn't stay here for long, but it's out of the rain. Raelith turns to Captain Summermoon and takes her weapons and then ties her hands together. Raelith thrusts her sword into the hard dirt and ties the captain's hands to the hilt of her weapon.
"I'm going to release you from the control spell. I need you to remain calm and not kill me. I'm going to help you." Raelith hopes that she can pull this off. She hasn't done anything like this without the Lich King's advice before now. Raelith lets the control spell go and immediately Captain Summermoon lets out a yell and lunges at Raelith.
"I don't need your help, death knight. I serve my Queen now and I'll see your arms ripped from your body. I'll rip your skin off and pluck your eyeballs out before choking you to death with my own hands!" Captain Summermoon is livid. Every fiber of her body is pulling against the ropes that bind her and her eyes are glowing red. The sword holds against her struggle and has even turned part of the ground into solid ice.
Raelith begins to chant in Death again. This chant is much more sophisticated and Raelith has to draw power from the blade she still carries. As she chants, the temperature in the cave drops and mist begins to form. As the mist settles, it turns to little ice crystals. Captain Summermoon slows as the cold flows into her body. She gasps as the hatred and fury are drained out of her body and the cold infuses her core. She closes her eyes and groans as the cold slides into her brain.
When she was raised, her mind was saturated in hatred. She hated Sylvanas for coming to her land and killing her people. She hated Elune for forsaking them on the beach. She hated the Alliance for failing to aid their defense. Most of all, she hated herself for being too weak to stop it all.
As the cold suffuses her mind, the hatred is driven away. When she opens her eyes they now glow with an icy white color. Her skin has paled to snow white and her hair darkens to a deep blue that almost looks black. As the transformation finishes, Delaryn is left gasping for air and Raelith falls over with exhaustion.
"Delaryn, please tell me that worked." Raelith is breathing hard and laying on her back. She looks over at Delaryn and winces a little at the new skin and hair tones. 'I'm sorry I had to change you. I hope you can forgive me.'
Delaryn looks around in confusion. She remembers dying, but everything after that is a blur. Delaryn looks down at her hands and sees their bound. She pulls at the rope, but it's attached to a beautifully crafted sword. Delaryn takes hold of the sword and pulls it from the frozen ground easily. As she looks at her hands and the sword she remembers. She remembers being raised and the hate. Lastly, she looks over at the death knight and remembers the chill that now resides inside her body. "I think it worked." Delaryn tosses the blade to Raelith and holds her hands out. "Will you release me now?"
Raelith gets up on shaky legs and bites her lip. 'Should I trust her?' Raelith sighs. "Do you promise not to kill me?"
Delaryn frowns. "I doubt I could, but I promise." Raelith cuts the ropes and the spark of hope is fanned into a small ember. 'Maybe I can save Delaryn. Maybe this wasn't a horrible idea."
Delaryn looks Raelith up and down, taking stock of the death knight. Raelith's armor is dark and embossed with skulls. It is covered in sharp edges and hard lines. Even the metal of the armor appears to radiate a sort of power. "What now? I don't think I can go back to that war."
Raelith shakes her head. "You can't go back. You're a traitor to the elves and Sylvanas." Raelith pulls out a map and points to a desert area near the bottom. "You will come with me to Silithus.
AN: Woo. First story off the ground. I want to thank Rasiaa for beta reading. She has already been invaluable. I also want to thank my co-workers for encouraging me to write. Lastly, I want to give a shout out to Lunarelle and her Evermore series for inspiring to write my own undead romance.