…In the dark reaches of Shadowfang Keep, a black knight with a bone-chilling claymore with skulls across the handle and an eerie blue light emitting from the blade gets up from his throne.

"You say what lich!" The black knight yells.

"According to our scouts, there are multiple enemy movements on various routes. The Forsaken are diverting some of its forces to Silvermoon, while the Orcs and Trolls from Ogrammar are replacing the lost soldiers from the Undercity. On top of that, Stormwind is currently working on repairing and fortifying the Arathian wall. We must take action."

"Silence! While the Horde is a formable opponent, this Alliance expeditionary force you speak of, how long will it take them to complete the repairs and fortifications?"

"Our scouts estimate two to three weeks before the wall is fully operational," the lich spoke in its eerie voice.

"Then tell the necromancers to start amassing the troops. The Lich King has seen what we've been discussing and approves the operation. I, Grandor will lead the attack and destroy that petty wall. Hahah…guuh…"

"Do not underestimate them Death Lord! I will give you as special task during the assault. Wait two full weeks before starting the attack, understand?"

"Aaah, haaaah, haaah, yes O' Lich King, I shall obey your commands." Catching his breath, he looks at his servant again. "Cromra, tell the necromancers to make a special brew of fighters. We will commence the attack in two weeks."

"Yes, Death Lord."

The lich departs from the throne room. Grandor sits back down onto his throne, pondering on what the Lich King has further told him just now…

…Two weeks has passed since then. The Arathian Wall is already repaired, and the front and rear walls are erected but the offensive capabilities are still on the to-do list.

Outside on the ground underneath the arch of the original wall, all four brigades are in assembly. Gregory announces in front of his army upon the top of the front wall.

"Great work all. We've completed our objective of repairing and reinforcing the wall one week sooner than expected. I wish we could relax, but recent reports of Undead have been spotted in the Hillsbrad area. Until we get reinforcements from Stormwind, and now Ironforge, we must finish the fortification and hold this place until then. After that, each of you will get a few months in vacation time."

Some of the soldiers sort of cheer about the extra bonus with the danger update, but others weren't happy about the idea if they were to be attacked before reinforcements would arrive.

"Alright everybody, back to positions. Captains, please see me after your troops are in position. Dismissed," said Gregory.

Everybody breaks from the assembly. A half-hour passes by, and everybody is in position. All the captains assemble with the General on top of the Arathian Wall. Instead of an open sky and a somewhat broken portable table and chairs, there is a war room with a fine oak table, leather chairs, and stained glass windows.

Sitting down for the meeting, the General gets up and walks over to a painting of the late Prince Arthas.

"As you four know, there has been increased activity among the Scourge and Horde forces in the past couple of days. I don't like it."

"When will the troops from Ironforge arrive? My men have been edgy for the last few days, and my officers tell me that some of the men have seen figures from the tops of the nearby mountain ridges," Boltimoore stated.

"From the last message sent by King Bronzebeard, the troops have already been sent and will arrive here by tomorrow afternoon."

"General, my men's pets have been showing signs of fear," said the night elf, Lady Tyche, in her green and brown leather armor, wearing a full length pant robe, and a bow hanging on the chair.

"Yes, and my lieutenants and I have been sensing the undead lately too," said Lucian.

"Not to mention my mages and I have noticed higher concentrations of evil activity in this vicinity. Something's going to happen soon…," Lady Waters adds with emphasis.

"I understand that everybody is unease about the recent developments…"

"(Yeah, a development where some party of gargoyles almost killed Devin while on patrol last week!)" Lucian thought to himself.

"…that's why I asked King Bronzebeard to send us any of his best troops six days ago. On another matter, there's been a wailing sound at midnight, every night in the Anti-chamber, correct Lady Waters?"

"Yes General, I've investigated it for the last few days and last night at midnight, but I can't find the source of the wailings."

"Did you have one of Windchester's men perform an exorcism?"

Lady Waters looks down. "No…"

"Then it's settled. We'll have increased security tonight. Light the braziers extra bright so the soldiers can feel a bit safer. Windchester, I want you to investigate the wailing tonight at midnight. See what's going on and stop that inferno racket from spooking our men."

"Sure thing Gregory."

"Boltimoore's men will be frontline, manning the front wall, this evening and all the way into the morning. Lady Tyche's men will be on lookout on the mountain ridges and man the rear wall. Lady Water's men will provide support from the top of the Arathian wall and front wall. Finally, Windchester's men will also be at the front wall and the main gate underneath the Arathian wall. Any objections?"

The captains remained silent.

"Good, tell your men to relax while the sun is still shining bright. Who knows when the Scourge or even the Horde will show up next. Dismissed."

Each captain get up from their comfortable chairs and made their way out to the top lookout section of the Arathian wall.

On the way down, Boltimoore slams Lucian against the wall. With a quick stride, Boltimoore holds him by his shirt collar that's sticking out of his golden chestplate.

"What the hell!" Lucian shouted.

Lady Tyche and Waters look behind to see what's going on.

"Listen you fool. I may dislike you for your carefree attitude towards your superiors, but what irritates me even more is that same attitude of yours in our current situation!"

"Boltimoore, stop this at once!" Lady Waters shouts.

Boltimoore lets him go.

He points at Lucian and says, "Just don't screw this up, you got me Windchester?" Or the lives of every soldier here will be on your hands."

Boltimoore leaves and both ladies come up to Lucian.

"Are you hurt?" Waters ask.

"Yeah, the smacking of my head against the wall hurts like hell, but I'll be fine. I guess the stress and anxiety of his men got him all spooked."

"Didn't one of your lieutenants almost got killed last week?" Lady Tyche asked.

"Yeah, Devin's doing fine now and I've been keeping my men busy with more training exercises and competitive dueling to ease off the extra stress."

"I see."

Lady Tyche continued to walk towards the exit of the wall.

"Listen, don't take revenge on Boltimoore. He doesn't act that way normally, ok?"

Lucian waves his hand to get her a bit further way from him.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about that. Now if you will excuse me Lady, I got one hell of a headache coming on."

With that, Lucian walks back to his camp. Returning to his personal tent on top of a small hill overlooking his immediate camp site, Abigail stands by his portable desk and chair.

"Ugh, Abigail, now's not the time for another discussion. My head hurts like hell," Lucian whined as he grabs a cold, linen ice packet from the bucket by the door and collapses onto his cot.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Need anything?"

"Just don't let some idiot yell in the camp site, ok?"

"Sure thing," Abigail smiles.

She leaves his tent. Mustering the strength, he places the ice packet on his head and closes his eyes. Like his normal dosage of headaches from managing peasants and drunken soldiers wasn't enough, the smack against the wall takes the cake.

Whining as the pain fluctuates, he soon falls asleep. Dropped into a realm of oblivion, Lucian could feel something of a smooth floor. There is no light to find, rendering him aimless as he walks around. Tripping on what appears to be steps, he staggers as he gets up from his mounting fatigue. Feeling a wisp of air brush by his face, fear takes a toll on his senses.

"Death…Death…Death approaches young paladin…"

"Where are you!? Show yourself!" Lucian shouted.

"T'wit I you shouldn't be afraid of, but rather thy Death Lord that is seeking ye out paladin."

"Death Lord? Who are you?!"

"Come, come seek me out. Come…come to thy chamber on the eve of midnight. There only ye can know T'hat ye T'ants…"

A loud bang and soon after multiple shouts of cussing vibrates across the camp site. Awakening with a nastier headache, Lucian gets up and walks on down there. Arriving in front of the mess hall, two warriors are locked blade-to-blade with Bruno and another paladin. Despite Abigail's orders to stand down, the warriors refused to stop.

"What is going on here?!" Lucian yells.

"Sire, these warriors tossed a table on Bruno and I and drew us to fight with their naked blades," Abigail explains.

"For Light's sake, has the whole place gone insane? You, warrior," Lucian called out.

The warrior in grey scale chain-mail looks at him.

"Why are you and your buddy there attacking my men."

The warrior spits.

"Answer me!!"

The other warrior in red plate-mail armor looks over at Lucian and says, "Captain Boltimoore said so. He talks about how you're not doing a good enough job in protecting his men and all…"

"What on Azeroth are you talking about! I've had my men on the lookout since we got here, and more so after one of my own lieutenants was attacked by that party of gargoyles last week."

"The Captain said you say as much. He also said that if that was the case, then to stop the internal bickering would require you to duel him in front of both brigades."

With quick reflexes, Lucian unsheathes his sword and holds the tip of his blade near the Adam's apple of the grey scaled warrior. Startled, the warrior drops his sword and becomes intensely frightened as his own throat muscle could mean life or death.

"Tell your captain to forget it. I will not duel him, and nor shall you attack my men. Be gone!"

The red plated warrior also stops his fighting and sheaths his weapon. The two warriors take several steps backwards and headed back to their camp.

"Stupid fools," Bruno comments.

"Don't blame you. Now that Boltimoore has shown his true colors, I really want those troops from Ironforge to get here…" said Lucian as he places his hand over his aching forehead.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful as each man and woman took what rest they could get. Some of the soldiers felt like the meal that they're eating are their last. As the sun dips below the horizon, night encroaches over the fortified outpost. The braziers are being lit, and all take their positions. Without the aid of the moon, as it is covered by thick black clouds, every living soul at the fort is silent, hoping that their fear was all for nothing.

Half past eight, Lucian has his lieutenants meet him in the mess hall. While each of them takes a seat, Lucian paces around the room.

"Sire?" said Elizabeth in her shining white plate-mail armor.

"I know, I know, we need to settle the issue about who's where in the battle formations."

"Captain, with all due respect, the Horde could be using some undead scouting parties to scare us and wear us down and then attack us. I doubt the Forsaken would allow the Scourge to get this far into the mainland," said Devin. He cuts a deck and draws a seven of Elunes.

"I too agree," Roland concurs. The Night elf draws a card, and won with a wild Murloc, much to Devin's dismay. "The Scourge's Plaguelands are in between us and the Horde, they wouldn't risk sending in a good size army to attack us and leave themselves open for the Horde to wipe them out."

"Even so, haven't you all been having the feeling like a…like a shadow has fallen upon us?"

Each of the lieutenants looked at him strangely.

"Never mind what I've just said. The General nevertheless wants tighter security tonight, so just play along with it tonight."

They each put their trust in him, and raised no further objections.

"Ok then," said Lucian as he finally stopped pacing around the mess hall. "In case there's an Undead assault, I want both Devin and Elizabeth's teams to be at the front wall. Roland's team will be manning the gate underneath the Arathian Wall, and Abigail's team will man the rear wall. I will place Abigail as second-in-command if I'm not around when the fighting starts."

No one objects to the decision.

"Before you all leave, make sure to motivate the men. They've been helping out with the construction process just like everybody else here these past couple weeks, and are restless. If you see any of them fall asleep, get one of the mages to cast some water on them."

Devin and Elizabeth chuckle a bit.

"Alright, stay sharp. Dismissed."

Everybody left the mess hall. Each team gets to their assigned places, as teams from the other brigades assemble in place as well. Every soldier there is awake and ready for combat, but…will the enemy really show?

Lucian walks along the wall, towards the main gate. A portal appears right in front of him. He freaks and fell backwards as Pike steps out of the portal.

"Quit it Pike! I told you to stop that."

"Hehe, sorry about that Lucian, but my Lady wants you to come to the Anti-chamber to meet her for a bit."

"Agh, now? Fine, fine, transport me to her then Pike."

"Right this way through the portal."

Abigail walks by Lucian and Pike. She stopped to ask, "Lucian? Where are you going at a time like this?"

"Sorry Abigail, I got some small business to take care of. I'll be back shortly. You go ahead and keep the brigade in check until I get back."

"Of course. You can leave it to me," she smiles confidently.

"Thanks. Let's go Pike."

As the two enter into the portal, Abigail was about to say something, but only kept it to herself. The portal soon closes, and she holds her hand over her chest, regretting not to tell him.

Exiting from the cold, dimensional space, Lucian found Lady Waters next to the book on the altar. Two braziers by the base of the steps are lit brightly.

"You called Lady?" said Lucian as he walks up to her.

"Thank you for coming at such bad circumstances. I just wanted help again with the translation of the second of the three passages."

"It better be another paragraph Lady, I'm in no mood for research."

"I heard about what happened earlier this afternoon. I'm quite pleased you didn't go down to Boltimoore's level. But to the point, the passage is but one paragraph."

"Good," he said as he looks at the opened book. "Let's see here, 'Death's dancers' by Rufus Menethil. What a minute it, he mentioned that phrase in the last passage."

"It could be a reference to the Undead, or more specifically, the horrific Death Knights, but please continue," said Lady Waters.

"Yeah, yeah…'T'hile thy lowly undead can be defeated with physical, mystical, and holy powers, thy Death's dancers, or Death Knights as some call thy as of late, are harder foes to defeat. Thy unholy powers allow thy'th to move swift as the wind in battle. One should avoid thy if thy T'ants to live.' And the rest is illegible."

"Not helpful, now is it?"

"For the moment I guess, but I wonder…. Well thank you again for your assistance. I'll have Pike here take you back again."

Walking through the portal and finding himself back where he was, Lucian continues to head down to the main gate. Arriving there, Lieutenant Roland greeted his captain and updates him. With nothing new to report, Lucian decides to head over to the rear wall and find Abigail.

Not walking very far from the main gate, Lucian soon found Abigail talking with one of the female Night elf officers from the Hunter Brigade. Walking up to her, Abigail notices him and tells her comrade good bye.

"Status."

"Nothing new over here."

"No news is good news, they say."

Abigail chuckles a little.

"True, but you think sending Devin and Elizabeth to the front wall was a good idea?"

Placing his hand over her shoulder, Lucian replies, "Devin is a Retribution expert, while Elizabeth is a Holy expert. With offense and healing mixed, that's just another form of defense. You and I are Protection experts, and we can't react as quickly as they can. It's just best to wait to back them up when they're worn out."

"I see…"

Taking his hand off of her shoulder, he smiles and turned his back to leave.

"Wait, Lucian..." He stops after taking two steps. "...Please be careful. If the attack is to come soon, I…I don't want to lose anybody…"

Facing her again, Lucian comes up to her and embraces her. Shocked, Abigail hears Lucian whisper, "I don't plan on dying anytime soon and nor should you. The others won't die so easily either, so please, don't you worry."

He lets her go from his hugging embrace and walks away. Abigail places her hand over her chest and dares not forget his words for a moment.

Time passes and nothing out of the ordinary has happened. Close to midnight, Lucian heads down to the Anti-Chamber to investigate the mysterious wailings that's been scaring the hell out of everybody.

"Man, I should've asked Pike to teleport me down there," Lucian muttered to himself, as he finds himself lost in the basement.

Several minutes to midnight, he finally makes it to the chamber. He is the only one down there. The two braziers are still burning, providing much bright light. Walking up to the altar, Lucian glances at the book.

"Did ye learn anything from it paladin?"

A ghost appears and begins to wail. Falling down the stairs backwards from the ghost's appearance, he gets back up with little pain. Thank goodness for shields!

"Stop wailing! Who are you? And may I remind you that I can exorcise you if you frustrate me long enough."

"I'm all too aware of ye power paladin." The ghost said as he stops wailing and drifts above the book. "My name is Rufus Menethil, I've come to warn ye of great danger!"

"Danger?"

"Yes…the undead is approaching. Ye can't win without the Amateria…"

"What? Augh…" Lucian cursed underneath his breath as he pulls his red walkie-talkie out. He contacts his troops to get ready, and soon after tells Lady Waters the reason for the warning.

"Rufus, where is the…what the?"

The chamber began to shake. One of the walls bursts and out comes Nerubis spiders and zombies.

"Great, just what I need," said Lucian. He pulls out his walkie-talkie again and reports, "Chamber is breached. All hands be on guard for immediate attack."

"This is Tyche. Large scale Undead force is coming our way."

"This is the General, all units on the walls hold positions. All lookout units, return back to outpost. Prepare for battle."