Hollie was bringing the fresh milk in when the necropolis appeared over Havenshire. How she managed to hang on to the bucket as she ran for the house she'd never know, but the majority sloshed onto the grass, and then the floor as she ducked inside and bolted the door.
Her sisters and parents came up only minutes later. They broke chairs and nailed them over the windows only leaving the tiniest cracks to peer outside. They could see the small number of laborers forced to keep working while an even smaller number of soldiers gather at the foot of Death's Reach. The Scourge moved its forces into position with unsettling speed and ease. Skeletal archers began raining down black arrows. Each sharp thud of one of them hitting the roof of their small house made Hollie jump.
Her older sister Moira tried to keep her calm, she tried to keep everyone calm. Moira was always the strongest girl, the most level headed. Little Blossom cowered in a corner, shaking and muttering invocations to the Light like mantras. On Death's Reach they could just see the Scourge command tents, and the geists and ghouls making their way down the hill for the first assaults.
At first they thought the Scarlet forces might hold out, they seemed to easily drive back the mindless minions. A piercing scream caught their attention and the family rushed to the window. What Hollie saw truly made her blood run cold. One of the laborers had been reduced to little more than a ragged pile of meat by a draenei woman in black, ice-coated armor. Her breath chilled the warm air and from beneath her hood her eyes glowed with unholy magics.
The Lich King was sending a virtual army of death knights down the Reach, and they easily swept away the forces guarding Havenshire. Other were already beginning to flee towards new Avalon. Hollie's father froze for a few moments as the arrow strikes intensified.
"Girls! Up! Now!"
Moira dragged the still quivering Blossom out of the corner and their father and mother gave them one last hug.
"Run for the town, with all the strength you have, run."
Blossom and Moira protested, Hollie hardly had the will to speak. Their father kicked them out the door and screamed at them, it was only a poisoned saronite arrow landing at their feet that made them fly. Moira and Hollie moved fast, but Blossom fell behind quickly. Moira was just doubling back when they heard Blossom scream.
Ahead of them they saw three death knights corning a dozen villagers. Moira pulled Hollie through a barn. For a moment they ducked behind the hay and got some air back into their burning lungs.
"Halfway there." Moira heaved, "Fly with me Hollie."
They dove out of the barn as the last few villagers were slaughtered, weaving around houses trying to stay hidden. Finally New Avalon came into sight, its white and crimson cloaked guards standing strong by the gates. Moira got ahead of Hollie and bolted down the road towards the town. Just as she passed the last house a blast of wind stopped her cold, literally. She was half frozen as a gleaming blade flashed through the air. Moira fell over, missing almost all of her right side.
Hollie herself froze as an elf in the same, blood soaked, ice-coated black armor stepped out from behind the house. His aura was different, whereas others chilled the air around them, he soaked it in the smell of fear and death. Moira's shattered corpse twitched, and he dove his giant blade into her head. Hollie retched as she watched him pull it back out of her sister's skull.
As he lifted his head she could feel him looking at her even before she saw his glacial eyes appear from beneath his hood. The ground quivered and froze as he took slow, deliberate steps towards her the very path seeming to darken as he got closer. Hollie's chest seized and her legs bucked, she fell to the hard earth and could only watch as he walked up to her and lifted his sword.
Without warning he hesitated. His eyes closed for the briefest moment and he nodded, as if to an unseen command. The look in his eyes changed, she was no longer prey to be toyed with she was simply something in the way of the next task. He lifted his blade again and sliced her. Blood poured forth and she slumped over.
Something thick and hot was passing through her mouth. She heard shuffling around here and could feel small cold breezes passing her by. She could still hear the burning of buildings and bodies and the occasional dying scream. She was dead, perhaps a ghost. Hollie wondered if she would be able to float out of her body, but then she felt a pain in her chest, like the sword was slicing through her yet again.
She wasn't dead yet. The air was choked with ash, the sky had turned red from Havenshire burning, and the giests and ghouls that were assaulting her home had turned on New Avalon. Hollie's eyes cleared and she turned her head to see more ghouls feasting on the remains of her fellow villagers, fighting over scraps of flesh like beasts.
She never thought about escaping, she never planned any part of it; she just pushed herself on. She rolled over and started dragging herself over the ground, behind the wreckage of a house. She leaned against the charred wall and felt a new gush of blood down her chest. She finally dared to look, and bit back a cry. The death had been sloppy in his swing but that didn't make it less horrific.
The cut ran diagonally from left shoulder to the bottom right side of her ribs. The blade had severed one rib, nearly cut a few more along with her sternum, but her she was alive because her organs were largely unscathed. The blood was mostly coming from her right breast; her dress was nearly soaked with blood. Without caring about noise, she tore up her skirt and tried desperately to tie her chest together again.
The fight between the ghouls intensified, there were no more scraps left and they seemed to be turning on each other. Hollie tried to stand but felt like her chest was going to explode. She was forced to crawl on hands and knees. Just ahead she saw a stand of trees and made for those. She thanked the light the arrow barrages had stopped as she crawled past the wicked things; some stuck a foot in the ground other skewering yet more unlucky villagers.
She made it into the long grass just before the trees, pausing just a moment to take in a ragged breath then pushed forward. She got to the center of the stand and leaned against one of the trees. She felt relived, she was still in the middle of Scourge army with death all around her; it would only take one of them following her trail of blood to find her, but she still felt relieved.
For a while she just sat there, then she went to the remains of her skirt and tore of some more strips and tied them around her mauled chest. A fresh assault on New Avalon began thundering past her, lead by death knights mounted on terrifying skeletal Frost dragons. One blast of their icy breaths obliterated entire companies of Scarlet Crusaders, letting the armies charge in unfettered. More smoke filled the air, along with wailing cries as New Avalon fell.
Hollie's strength had abandoned her. She felt fresh trickles of blood winding down her chest and her vision began to blur again. She knew she shouldn't sleep but all she could think about was the relief it would bring. The pain from her wound was only growing and there was no more 'safe place' to try to run too. A great horn sounded from the harbor. It was likely the few ships docked taking away lucky survivors.
Hollie let her eyes close; the pain didn't leave her till she completely blacked out. Whether she ever woke or not she'd ceased to care.
The Lich King was quick to abandon Death's Reach and New Avalon after the Battle for Light's Hope. The death knights who defected had little interest in the conquest, leaving to the Argent Crusade. A small company was sent into the still smoldering ruins to find what little was still useful and to lay the dead to rest. There were a few straggling undead, nothing the company couldn't handle. As they searched they found a few weapon stores that were abandoned, amazingly an apple tree had made it through, and one tiny section of the town hall was largely untouched, within which they found a small store of cured food.
Outside the walls of New Avalon the land had been razed and saturated with taint. There was a small stand of pine trees that had miraculously survived the fires, just outside the wall. Private Ernst was sent to scout it, see if anything or any bodies had ended up there. He found the body of a young girl, her chest slashed open and crudely bound leaning against a tree.
"Poor thing," Ernst murmured, "Must have come in here hoping to be safe."
He gingerly put a hand to her forehead to give her a blessing. Her skin was still warm from the fires.
"Go to the Light in peace sister."
He moved his hand away and as he was getting up, saw her chest move. He was stunned a second, then dropped to his knees and ripped off a glove. He put his hand just over her mouth and after a moment felt a tiny, warm breath come from it. Ernst screamed for the nearest Paladin and put his hands to her chest and summoned all the healing magic he had.
Private Hammond came running up, Ernst told him to find the closest healer and bring them along with some men to help carry her. Hammond barreled back towards the company and Ernst kept channeling the magic into the girl's chest. She took a deeper breath and her eyelids fluttered.
"Please live." Ernst pleaded.
Hollie woke up feeling like she was floating in mid-air. Her eyes felt like they were sealed shut and her chest could barely expand enough for her to take a breath. Slowly she managed to open her eyes and saw a white stone ceiling above her. She could hear people moving about beside and the occasional groans of other wounded. When she tried to take a deeper breath she gasped, her chest felt like it was splitting open again.
A woman knelt down beside her and placed a hand over her, humming an incantation and summoning a healing silver light. With great effort Hollie turned her head to look at the healer. If she'd had the strength she would have done a double take. She was an elf, but like any elf she'd ever seen. No straight tall ears or delicate face, or well-preened hair. This elf had wild purple hair cascading over her shoulders, festooned with silver adornments and green leaves, her eyes glowed like moonlight, her ears were long and feral and her face, she looked younger than Hollie but somehow she seemed; ancient.
"Ishnu dal-dien, little one," she murmured in a motherly tone.
Hollie tried to lift her head and speak, but quickly found she had the energy for only one.
"Where am I?" she squeaked.
"Light's Hope Chapel. Some of the Argent Crusaders found you. You are lucky. A few moments more and you would have been beyond all aide."
"Was there…" Hollie choked. Her throat was bone dry and the pain in her chest was getting worse every second. The healer frowned and cast another spell over her charge. Hollie relaxed as the pain receded some.
"Rest now. You will heal, but give it time."