I'd like to apologize for how long this chapter took for me to write. There's really no other excuse I can make other than that I'm a TERRIBLE when it comes to meeting a deadline; I always wait till the last minute to finish something, and since there's really no set deadline for this kind of thing... .
Anyways, I realize this isn't exactly how things went down in Warcraft 3, so don't kill me for inaccuracy. 'Tis for the sake of the story. plzkthxbai
(Apparently the first time I posted this chapter, it was a mess of code... not sure how that happened, I literally just copy and pasted the text. Anyways, it should be better now.)
"Check."
"Aww, already?"
Elsa giggled. "I'm afraid so."
Elsa and Anna, the princesses of Lordaeron, sat on opposite sides of a table in castle's library, enjoying each other's company in a game of chess, an activity they shared regularly. The late afternoon sun shone through the large library window, angling the rays onto Elsa's side of the room. The light reflected off her bright blonde hair, which was fixed into a large braid, as it usually was. Her lavender robes were trimmed at its edges with ice, making those bits refract beautifully as well. Perks of being a very adept frost mage; the ability to make armor with your own conjured ice. Of course, regal as she was, Elsa wanted to use it for vanity purposes for the majority of the time.
Anna scanned the chessboard in front of her, looking for a way to save her King without possibly setting it up for further danger in the next turn. It was always difficult for the girl to remember exactly how all of the pieces could move; the bishops can move diagonally, the knights can move in an "L" shape, the pawns can only move forward a space at a time, but can move two spaces on their first move...
She felt a sudden prod on her forehead. "Ah, hey!"
Elsa lowered her hand from Anna's face, a goofy grin on her face. "The pieces won't move if you stare at them like that. You have to use your hands, remember?"
"Don't start teasing me already Els, you haven't won yet!" Anna retaliated by reaching over to quickly flick Elsa on her forehead, releasing a small yelp of pain from the older sibling. "And I know I have to use my hands smartypants, I'm just trying to think of a good move," Anna added, before resting her chin on her hand, resuming her strategizing.
The two sisters always enjoyed sharing friendly competition. They would often play each other in chess, even if their goals were the same every time: Anna just wanted to get closer to beating Elsa, and Elsa liked to see how long she could toy with her sister to give her false hope of still being involved in a fair game.
Anna extended her hand to grab her king, resting on it for a few moments to ensure her next move would be the one to get her out of trouble. Knowing Elsa, she's probably a step ahead of me, knowing I'll make a wrong move and fall right into her little trap…
She carefully moved her King piece a space to the left, seeing as Elsa's rook was stopping her from moving up or down. Anna would have moved another piece into its path, but Elsa had already thoroughly cleaned out most of the younger sibling's pieces.
Elsa smirked the second Anna set her King down to confirm her move. Damnit, I'm going all according to her plan, aren't I?
The blonde picked up her remaining knight, a smug look on her face. She moved it to put Anna into check again. I can never remember to take into account how those ones move! The rest of the pieces either move forward, backward, left, right, or diagonally! That's easy to remember, not the stupid horse-looking pieces that move in an "L!" Why are they called knights anyways? They're horses, for crying out-
"And I believe that is checkmate, my dear sister."
"Wha-?" Anna's mouth fell open in disbelief. She had thought out the best plan of escape from her clever sister's strategium. She had looked at every possible outcome for every move she could make with the King. Well, I think I looked at them all.
"Wait," the redhead blurted out, "I can still move it here! You don't have anything covering that spot!"
Elsa just shook her head and smirked wider. She placed her index finger on the top of her bishop teetering it back and forth on the marble chessboard in a teasing manner. The bishop was far away from Anna's king on the opposite side of the board, but of course, despite the distance, it was still in the bishop's diagonal path. Elsa had won. When the solemn redhead realized her defeat, she slowly moved her eyes from the board to meet Elsa's gaze, staring right back at Anna in a triumphant grin.
"Auugh," Anna groaned, "I always forget about the bishops, they're always getting me from so far away!" She looked up from the board. "Oh, wipe that smile off your face, Elsa!" Anna lazily flicked her King over onto it's side. It landed with a flat clack, signaling another loss at the hands of her dear older sister.
Princess Elsa giggled at her sibling's expense, at which Anna stuck her bottom lip out and looked away. She held her pout for the duration of Elsa's fit of laughter. She was used to Anna being a sore loser, and couldn't help but laugh at how the redhead coped with being defeated by her sister; it never got old to Elsa.
When Elsa's snickering ended, she brushed a few stray golden hairs away from her face that had fallen down while she was cracked up. She reached across the table and laid a hand on Anna's shoulder. "Good game, Anna. Maybe next time you'll do better."
"Yeah right, you'll just destroy me like every other game of chess we've ever played," the redhead scoffed, turning her head away.
"You won't know until you try."
Anna turned back to Elsa, an eyebrow cocked up into her forehead and a sly smirk on her face. "I think we both know what will happen next time, Els." Anna giggled lightly; she never could be upset at her sister for very long. "And I know you'll find a way to convince me to play you again. You always do," Anna shrugged.
"Indeed I do," Elsa replied while taking a sip of tea from the glass next to her– holding it pinkie out, of course.
Anna couldn't help but laugh at the dauntless regality of her sister; always queenly and royal. "Indubitably!" She responded, in the best high-class accent she could make.
Suddenly, there was the sound of heavy feet running outside the room, approaching the library doors with loud thuds that increased in volume with every step.
The doors burst open. The intruder was Falric, a loyal Captain in the Alliance army, but he is also sworn to protect the princesses at all costs, serving somewhat as the "right hand" of Elsa and Anna. He would do whatever they asked, without question; Falric was heavily devoted to the Crown of Lordaeron.
"I apologize for the intrusion, miladies," the Captain announced, "But there has been an incident at Brill." Falric's short brown hair was clinging to his forehead from sweat, a result from running in the bulky armor he was wearing.
"Is it serious enough to require our immediate attention?" Elsa asked. She quickly eyed him up and down as he stood in the doorway. "And by the Light, Falric, how can you wear that plate armor all the time?"
He chose to ignore that question and answer the more important one. "From the reports, yes. I believe you'll want to deal with the problem personally. It seems there is a necromancer attacking the town. For the moment, we are unsure of his motives."
Elsa stood up. "You're right, I do want to see this necromancer myself. I won't allow him to terrorize my people for his own gain." She made her way to the door. "Come, Anna."
Anna, not usually one to eagerly jump into a potential battle, knew better than to question her sister. If she were in charge, Anna would have sent soldiers to fix the problem; but Elsa was in command in this situation. Having been raised expected to rule the kingdom, Elsa was heavily devoted to Lordaeron and her people. Any act against them would set her off.
Father always said it would make her a great queen someday, Anna thought to herself. I say it would eventually get her killed.
"Anna, what are you waiting for?"
The redhead jumped out of her chair. "Right, right, sorry! Just… Thinking!"
Elsa shook her head as she turned to leave the room, Anna following her out. "Time is of the essence, Anna…"
The trio rode as fast as their steeds could run straight to the town of Brill. Unfortunately, during their trip, the sun had set. Their only source of light became the moon's white glow, until a few street lamps from Brill shone in the distance. When they arrived there, only empty streets greeted them, along with an eerie, unsettling silence.
Elsa dismounted her horse and scanned the area. "What happened to everyone, Falric? Where are the townspeople?"
"Well, from what the surviving guards said, they made their best efforts to tell everyone to stay quiet in their homes, and lock their doors. So, if nobody's on the streets, they're either hiding…" Falric slowly reached down and gripped his sword. "...Or with the necromancer."
"Y-you mean as, like, undead?" Anna asked with concern in her voice.
"Yes, Anna. It's common for necromancers to raise their victims from the dead in order further their efforts. It's their only strategy, really."
Elsa's explanation did nothing good to ease Anna's nerves. She became very unsettled, her frown deepened and her eyes widened in fear.
Elsa noticed her younger sister's dismay. "Anna, don't be scared of them. This necromancer, his kind of magic feeds off of fear. The more fear you show, the more of an upper hand he will have on you." She laid a hand on Anna's shoulder. "I know you can handle yourself well, but if things get hairy, I'll protect you."
Anna looked into her sister's eyes and knew that, with every fiber of her being, Elsa meant what she said. Suddenly, knowing she had her older sister here to have her back, made Anna's fears fade away. She was ready for anything.
This whole situation is still really creepy, though.
The three walked down the road, the whole time ready to react to anything. Falric's hand never left his sword's hilt. Anna held her bow at her side, her right hand twitching to be ready to grab an arrow. Elsa kept her wits about her, ready to use her ice magic in an instant. They looked down every alley, checking for any sign of the necromancer. By the time they reached the town hall, they hadn't found any trace of evidence.
"I don't like this," Anna announced. "Seriously, this is whole situation is screaming bad news."
"Just keep looking, Anna. Be ready for anything. I have a bad feeling about this as well," Elsa answered. "We've almost searched the entire town, he will be somewhere around here."
Anna's uneasy curiosity turned her head to across the road, where Brill's cemetery lied. The funerary grounds were small in area, but nonetheless the tombstones were still numerous.
Some of them are so ancient, there's moss growing on them! I can see from all the way over here how green they are, even in the dark. Especially that one waaaay over– wait, is that...?
Standing on the far side of the graveyard was a dark, robed figure. Anna couldn't discern exactly what patterns were on his robes, but they seemed to be blended with black and dark yellow. She also noticed the large hood covering the top half of his face, leaving only a rather long, white beard to run down his chest.
"Hey!" Anna yelled at the top of her lungs. "You stay right there!" Anna broke out in a sprint for the cemetery. Elsa and Falric only noticed in time to see the swift redhead had already passed the open cemetery gates.
"Princess Anna!" He started running to her aid, but stopped at the gates. The captain knew better than to run straight into what could very obviously be a trap. He didn't expect Princess Elsa to come barreling past him straight into the cemetery, though. With a loud groan, he ran to follow them both.
"ANNA!" Elsa screamed, voice almost cracking from the strain on her vocal chords. Elsa was clever enough to know that the cemetery was a trap as well.
But her dearest sister just ran straight into the center of it.
Anna instantly let muscle memory overtake her, and had an arrow nocked in the blink of an eye. She ran towards the mysterious man, stopping only several yards away from the man and swiftly raising her bow to aim it at him. She had an aim of steel, and without moving the bow even an inch, she yelled to the figure. "What have you done here? What are you trying to do?"
In response to her warning, the man simply brought one hand high above his head, and outstretched his fingers, as if reaching to grab something from the stars.
"Anna! Get away from him!" Elsa screamed. Anna only noticed she had abandoned her group now; she was too caught up in finding the culprit to care about sticking together; She was too focused to heed her sister's warning.
Pitch-black tendrils suddenly exploded out of the necromancer's raised hand, reaching across the entirety of the cemetery, like a fountain of black void. Dozens of the dark coils shot into the ground. Their magic resonated through the ground, making it rumble and shake.
Anna stumbled and lost her balance, almost falling over from the quakes. Gathering her senses, she regained her footing and raised her bow back up to aim at the necromancer. She struggled, but managed, to keep her aim steady. She blocked out all the noise the unholy magic was radiating, and let her arrow loose.
It flew straight for him, but the necromancer raised his other hand to cast a bolt of pitch black shadow at it, consuming it whole. However, it continued it's path.
Straight for Anna.
She never had a chance to process the shadow bolt flying at her. Before Anna could even flinch, a wall of ice barely big enough to cover her body materialized in front of her. The redhead stumbled backwards and fell down from the The shadow bolt slammed into the barrier, dissipating into the air with a long, drawn-out hiss.
Elsa managed to protect her sister at the perfect time. Once she saw she successfully blocked the bolt, she rushed over to Anna, stumbling on the short way there; the man's dark magic was still shaking the earth. "Anna!" Elsa called out reassuringly, "Are you okay? It didn't hit you, did it?"
She was still in shock from the extremely close call. Anna blinked twice before answering. "Yeah… Yeah, I'm okay, thanks for saving me."
Falric followed Elsa, finally catching up to the sisters. "Forgive me for interrupting," he announced, "But none of us have been saved yet."
Elsa grabbed her sister under the arms and hoisted her to her feet. Anna was surprised by the sudden forcefulness of the woman; it was unlike her to be so assertive. She then quickly realized the reasons for Elsa's roughness, and the direness of the situation they were in.
Right. No good in a fight if I'm sitting on my ass.
Once Anna stood on her feet, the trio stood at each other's backs, weapons at the ready.
The necromancer's fountain of unholy magic subsided, and an eerie silence stood on the graveyard for a few moments.
Then, all at the same time, rotting hands of bone and flesh sprang forth from every grave of the cemetery, grasping at the dirt to pull the rest of their decayed bodies from the ground.
"Anna, Falric, be ready."
"As always, your majesty," the Captain sighed as he drew his sword from its sheathe.
"Oh, I was born ready!" Anna announced to her companions. She tried her best to make it sound convincing, because in reality the redhead was scared for her life; she is no stranger to battle, but when it comes to the undead, Anna wasn't sure what to expect.
Within moments the creatures had pulled the rest of themselves out of the ground. The three were surrounded by too many ghouls and skeletons to count.. Their eyes glowed a ghostly blue, fixed on their prey with dangerous hunger.
Anna was the first to react, firing an arrow at the closest ghoul she saw. It landed in its skull, snuffing out the monster's glowing eyes with a sickening crunch.
Both sides sprang into action at once. Despite their physical form of decaying remains, the group of undead moved swiftly. Several of the ghouls attempted to mob Elsa. She responded by shooting her hands outward, quickly invoking several spears of ice and launching them into her addled foes. The lances sliced through them with ease; their soft, rotted skin made disposing of them almost effortless.
Hardly being a stranger to battle, Falric charged into the fray, using his sword to hack and slash through every ghoul that came near him. The undead were no match for his expertise.
Anna's hand moved as fast as she could possibly command it to, rapidly firing arrows into the mob. Each landed, a target, but it wasn't enough. The horde of undead was slowly, but surely, gaining ground on her.
Despite her focus on the undead creatures, Anna caught movement from the corner of her eye; the necromancer was attempting to escape.
"Hey! He's getting away!" Anna called out to anyone who would hear.
Elsa heard her plea, and realized how naïve she had been; the necromancer had risen many undead creatures, but they were weak cannon fodder. With everyone's skills, especially Falric's, actually holding the horde off would be child's play for them.
It was all a distraction; a diversion for the necromancer to make his escape.
"Falric! Make sure he doesn't get away," Elsa yelled, slinging more ice lances at the horde gaining ground on her. "We need him alive!"
"On it!" He broke into a sprint, charging straight through the horde in an attempt to catch up to the fleeing man. he came through the other side of the wall of zombies unscathed, leaving several ghouls flat on the ground. Their target well gone, the remaining undead turned to Anna and Elsa, now standing back to back at the center of a circle of fiends closing in on their prey.
"Got any ideas?" Anna said nervously to her sister, "Because I'm almost out of arrows!"
"I have something in mind! Be ready, it's about to become very cold!"
Elsa's brow furrowed in concentration, as she prepared herself to cast her spell. Anna felt the temperature drop disturbingly fast. A cold wind swept up around her, frost beginning to coalesce on the tombstones and foliage.
She brought her hands into the air, signaling an ominous black cloud to form a ring above them, leaving a hole directly above the pair.
The ghouls shambled closer and closer, only feet away from the sisters. "Elsa, you wanna hurry things up here?!"
The blonde ignored her, still deep in concentration. She silently commanded her storm clouds to begin raining down ice shards upon the horde. The cold made their movements even more sluggish than before, but the large jagged chunks of ice were effective in putting them down.
There was no mercy. Elsa's ice storm decimated the rotted frames of the undead, raining down like frozen hellfire around the sisters. It did a number on the environment as well, leaving the grass impaled with many icicles and reducing tombstones to rubble.
When the storm subsided, what was left of the ghouls was laying on the ruined ground in pieces. It would be a much more gruesome sight if the bodies now scattered around the graveyard had been alive; Anna was glad for that. She was sure her stomach wouldn't have been able to handle it.
Elsa brought her hands down from above her, only to brace herself on her knees to keep from falling over. The complicated and powerful spell took much energy from her; she felt like she had just ran several miles without rest.
Anna laid a comforting hand on her older sister's back."Elsa, you alright?"
"Yes, Anna…" Elsa managed to huff out between breaths. "It's just that… That spell… Was exhausting…"
"Do you need a minute? If you need to rest for a bit, we can-"
"No, we must…" Elsa quickly snapped, only to stop to continue to breathe heavily. "...we must go. Falric has most likely apprehended the necromancer by now. There's no time to waste."
Anna was about to question her sister, wondering if her drained sister really was fit to move right this second. Then she remembered how ardent Elsa is towards defending her kingdom, and always putting its needs before hers.
"Anna, I'm fine. Let's go."
"If you say so,"Anna mumbled, following her sister as they led off into the direction Falric gave chase to earlier.
The sisters luckily managed to catch up to Falric, as he did not let the necromancer get far. They followed a trail of tall grass disturbed by a chase, leading out into a field where they found the captain and his prisoner, already tied up thoroughly to prevent his escape; the tip of Falric's sword at his neck persuaded him to think otherwise of any further attempts at fleeing.
How did he manage to catch up to him wearing all that heavy armor? Anna pondered. The guy acts like hes not even wearing it…
Anna was snapped out of her daydreaming when Elsa brushed past her quickly, eager to talk to the perpetrator.
"Put him there. On the tree." She wasn't in the mood to waste any time.
"As you wish, Princess Elsa." Falric picked the shrouded man up from the ground, throwing him over his shoulder and dropping him rather roughly next to a tree, propping him up against it. He mumbled something about "brainless oaf" and "barbarian."
Falric pulled his sword from its sheathe, presenting it for the man to see. "Now, I don't need to point this into your neck to tell you that trying anything won't end well for you, right?"
The trio heard the man's voice for the first time. "Whatever makes you feel safe, dog," spoke the necromancer in a clear, stern tone. "I've already done my part. I'm the least of your worries at this point."
Elsa walked over to stand over the the necromancer, kneeling down to be at eye level with him. "What is your name?" She asked, clearly and coldly.
"Kel'Thuzad. Pleasure to meet you, your highness."
Elsa, not the least bit impressed by his sarcasm, simply moved on with her interrogation. "Why did you come to Brill? Are you acting on your own, or did someone send you?"
"Why in the world would I tell you any of that?" Kel'Thuzad scoffed.
"Very well, if you prefer the hard way…"
Elsa brought her hand up to the man's forehead, pressing her thumb firmly against it.
Anna saw smoke start to rise from where Elsa pressed her finger, and was greeted with the disturbing smell of burning flesh.
Kel'Thuzad groaned through his teeth in agony, holding back a scream of pain. He writhed and shuffled against the tree. "You bitch," he spat at Elsa through clenched teeth.
Elsa removed her hand, revealing a pitch black spot of seared skin, severely burned from the subzero cold. "Ready to talk now?"
"If you insist on lowering yourself to torturing me, then I suppose it won't do any harm to tell you." The necromancer repositioned himself against the tree, obviously uncomfortable from the ropes binding him.
"You know of the granary here? It delivers grain to cities and settlements all around Lordaeron." Kel'Thuzad chuckled quietly before continuing. "Not very smart to have one supplier of such a crucial resource."
Elsa's impatience only grew. "Get to the point, or you'll have many more burns to worry about."
"So eager," he grunted. "I infected the shipments of grain with our Plague long before my presence here was even known. Many have left already, but I think the one you want to worry about the most is the rather large shipment to Stratholme." Kel'thuzad smiled through his thick beard. "My cultists made sure that the shipments were delivered."
"What do you mean 'our Plague?' Who are you working for?"
"I'd say Mal'Ganis is already at Stratholme right now, ensuring things go according to plan." He laughed smugly to himself. "You three certainly took your time coming here, didn't you?"
"Stop speaking so vaguely, necromancer! What is this Plague you're talking about? Who is Mal'Ganis?"
"You're wasting your time with me, princess. Tick tock, tick tock…"
The furious blonde snatched Kel'Thuzad by the front of his robes, pulling him in closer to glare directly into his eyes. "Answer me!"
Elsa slammed her palm onto the man's forehead, prompting smoke to sizzle away from where she planted her hand. The necromancer only began to cackle, ignoring the pain.
Anna was the one to finally step in. "E-Elsa, I think we should go. I don't think he's going to say anymore."
Elsa turned to her sister, contemplating her words. After a moment, she turned back to Kel'Thuzad and removed her hand. A pitch-black scar covered the man's forehead.
Elsa stood back up and sighed. "You're right, this man has served his purpose."
Anna watched in shock as Elsa promptly conjured a sharp lance of ice and fired it directly through the man's heart. Crimson spattered out of his mouth and the wound in his chest, seeping into his robes and shining bright on the ice in the moonlight.
She yelped at the sudden violence, not sure what to say. She opened her mouth, not sure of what would come out; asking Elsa why she did what she did, or chew her out for making such a rash decision so easily.
After a long moment, closed her mouth, deciding to remain silent. She knew Elsa was wise, and generally made the right decisions after looking at a situation from all angles. It was probably for the best that Kel'Thuzad was dead anyways.
Suddenly, he coughed, spurting out more blood from his mouth, warranting another shriek from Anna.
"My death… means little in the long run... For now, the scourging of this land… begins..."
Kel'Thuzad drew his last breath, exhaled, and ceased to move.
His last words sent a shiver down Anna's spine. This sounds to be much worse than she ever could have imagined.
"There's no time to waste," Elsa announced to the group. "We have to get to Stratholme now. Let's get back to the horses, we have to hurry." Without missing a beat, Elsa began walking back towards the main gates of the town where they left the steeds. Falric followed her. "Right away, milady."
Anna followed her sister, her mind elsewhere. She was still shaken by the necromancer's hallowing words.
'The scourging of this land?' What is that supposed to mean? Can't say I've heard the word 'scourging' before, but it sounds like it doesn't mean anything close to good news.
Left to contemplate the the chilling warning in her thoughts, Anna mounted her horse, following her sister to the large city of Stratholme.
And whatever horrors awaited them.