Chapter 3

Azrael felt a sharp kick in his ribs. He opened his eyes and noticed that he was lying on the ground. He felt a tinge of nausea overcome him followed by sharp pain inside his skull.

'Stand' came a rasping voice. It was surely no louder than a whisper but Azrael felt it resonate inside his head compounding the pain he felt. Even though he felt extremely weak, Azrael felt compelled to get to his feet, his knees shaking throughout. He took in a moment to observe his surroundings. He was in a large room with what appeared to be massive sarcophagus ahead of him. A few feet in front of him stood a robed human, the cowl obscuring his face. A cultist. By his side were two more, dressed in the same way but less ornately. From the shape and the folds in robe he made out one of them was woman. All around them were several more of the same soldiers that Liha and himself had encountered a short while earlier. Flanking them were two Abominations. Each of the four walls held sconces with torches making the room moderately bright. He could see that Liha too was standing right next to him, hands bound and it appeared he too was equally if not more uncomfortable. He seemed to have his hands restrained in a cord that pulsated with energy glowing a faint green. It appeared to be riddled with numerous tiny runes. Azrael was utterly disconnected from his powers with the band restraining him. For now, as long they bound his hands, he was no more than an ordinary half undead human being.

'A Death Knight. How fascinating. From the tales of your great 'exploits', I must say I am disappointed at how little a fight you put up. Why that old Paladin we captured yesterday put up more of a fight than these sorry excuses' said the leader. The woman spoke next

'Indeed. One would begin to wonder why our Master held them in such high esteem'

'I'm beginning to think' continued the leader, 'that our Master did not find it worth his effort retaining them. It might be the only reason that fool Tirion runs around convinced that he 'freed' these worthless sacks of flesh'

The woman gave a short squeal of laughter.

'Yes. He said as much when he was writhing in pain on the ground at Lights Hope Chapel, under the might of Tirion's Ashbringer' said Liha. 'That was right before he got scared and made a run for it' he added.

A moment of silence.

The abomination standing behind Liha moved forward and brought down the massive chain in its hand onto Liha's back with a resounding crack. Liha gave a short grunt and dropped to the floor. The woman moved forward.

'Say one more disrespectful thing about the Lich King, Troll. And I will make you suffer a thousand deaths before I make you slaughter your own family. Oh yes Troll, you will tell me all the secrets buried deep within your filthy mind willingly once Durk'anh has had his way with you'

Liha gave a snort that sounded a little bit like laughter. Azrael hoped Liha wouldn't make this much harder. Bandying words here was a waste of time. Durk'anh. The name wasn't familiar at all to Azrael. The third robed figure spoke for the first time.

'Interesting. A Troll that speaks common'. He moved his hand to stroke a grizzled beard.

'I think that should be enough for now' said the leader. He turned to the woman. 'Take both of them to Durk'anh. He will decide which one to pick. Throw the other one in the dungeons'.

Azrael felt a chain wrapped around him by the abomination flanking him. The hook at the end of the chain dug into his skin as he was led on into a corridor. Liha too was being pulled by the second abomination. A little more roughly, no doubt prodded by the woman cultist, who would still be bristling after Liha's remarks. There were many empty chambers lining the corridors. The crypt was much larger than Azrael had remembered earlier, and he wasn't sure which level he was on. Nevertheless he was being dragged down to another level.

Descending the stairs, Azrael was greeted with a laboratory of sorts. There was a single large room filled with tables containing implements of torture and jars of liquids. At the farthest end of the room were tables with clamps; presumably for holding subjects. Presently, there was one 'subject' camped down to the farthest table and a grotesque figure hunched over the table working very busily indeed. 'It' hadn't even noticed their approach.

'Durk'anh' said the woman.

The creature was too absorbed in its work to respond. The woman appeared visibly afraid of saying anything more. A short while later the hunched figure turned around to display its bloated face. Durk'anh was undead, but like nothing Azrael had ever seen before. Wearing a large and bloodied smock and stooped low, holding a large scalpel in one hand and a large menacing knife in the other, Durk'anh was the very definition of 'menacing'.

'You have more subjects for me dear Lyresa?' came a sickening voice sounding something like a gurgle.

'Yes' replied Lyresa. 'These are Death Knights. The first one's we've captured'

'Marvelous! I had been hoping to get to work on one of these soon. I was never allowed to touch them when they served our Master. And they're annoyingly hard to get hold of in such prime condition'

Azrael had no doubt Durk'anh was excited. He bounded over quickly to them and slowly looked over Liha first.

'Hrmm...this appears to be very very rare indeed! A Gurubashi troll! I haven't laid an eye on one of these in ages. Your type are hardly found so far away from home. It must surely be a very fascinating story of how you became a Death Knight'

Liha shifted uncomfortably in his restraints. Azrael had no idea of how Durk'anh knew Liha was Gurubashi. Azrael himself found out only this morning.

'Your species are more durable than the rabble I get to work with around here, even for trolls. Oh yes, the Mossflayer trolls are interesting but in very poor health lately. Once they've been scourged they lose much of what makes them unique. This very Crypt houses the graves of many mummified trolls. We do get our hands on some live ones, but alas, I fear I have learnt everything there is to know about them'

Zul'mashar to the North was the home of the Mossflayer trolls. The tribe had been completely wiped out by the plague and had become a stronghold of undead trolls. Azrael knew of no trolls alive in this region today.

'And what have we here? Another boring human' he said head hopping over to where Azrael stood. He felt the cold undead hand brush his face and then run down to the side where he bore the scar from his battle against the abomination. Durk'anh ran his hand along the scar and then squeezed, sending a massive jolt of pain through his body. Azrael buckled under the pain and fell to his knees.

'And in very poor condition as well' he added. 'But a Death Knight still! Oh this is very exciting indeed!'

He moved back now shifting his looks between Azrael and Liha.

'Hmmm...which one do I pick?' he said rubbing his deformed chin.

'Might I suggest the Troll' said Lyresa. She seemed to have taken the remarks against the Lich King very seriously indeed thought Azrael.

'The Troll should be fun, but the human doesnt look like he's going to survive very long. Not with that wound on his side. Might as well work on him first'

Lyresa seemed to have been troubled by this notion and made to speak.

'Um...about that' she said moving a small distance away from Durk'anh.

'Yes' said Durk'anh. The voice was drawn out to be very threatening indeed. From what it appeared, Durk'anh was used to having his way, and didn't seem the type of person who would take kindly to being told something in his 'lab'.

'Ilim wished me to tell you that he wanted both the Death Knights converted'

Durk'anh stood still and didn't say anything. He folded his hands and kept staring at her. Lyresa for her part seemed to be scared of how Durk'anh would react. After a short while, Durk'anh threw up his hands and gave a sigh.

'Nobody cares about science anymore. That's the problem with you cultists. Grasping at power where it does not lie. The only true power is knowledge. But very well...Tell Ilim he will have his Death Knights.' he said.

'Take away the Troll. Their increased regeneration that makes some of my more delicate experiments more annoying' Durk'anh was referring to the fact that Trolls had a higher rate of regeneration as opposed to the other species of Azeroth. True, but in this particular situation, a fatal mistake. Durk'anh, while he seemed very knowledgeable about the various species of Azeroth had almost no idea of Death Knights; or at the very least, he did not know that Azrael was a knight of Blood. While a Troll's regenerative powers were remarkable indeed, they were very inferior to those at the disposal of a Blood Death Knight. Being schooled in Unholy himself, Liha would have a harder time under Durk'anh's blade than Azrael. Although if the table was equipped with the same runic restraints that bound his hands, Azrael realised, he would be completely at Durk'anh's mercy.

'Humans are far easier to convert' he stated in the manner of a fact. 'I have had much experience with them and even the most noble of them can be broken in time. Our old friend the Paladin was a perfect example. This one shouldn't take too long from the looks of it'

'Tiaeus is no more. He was destroyed by these two' said Lyresa pointing to Liha and him.

Tiaeus. Azrael had heard that name many times while he was in the Eastern Plaguelands. Often from the mouths of Paladins he patrolled with. As Azrael had concluded, Tiaeus was one of the older Paladins. A survivor of the old order of the Silver Hand. They said he was even a friend of Tirion Fordring. In fact from what Azrael had heard, because of his older age, and some war injuries, Tirion had requested that Tiaeus stay back and guide the younger Paladins. Azrael's blood began to boil. He had never met the man personally, but he could picture an old man sitting on a crate at one of the towers, entertaining the much younger Paladins and Soldiers with tales of the older days. A noble man indeed to have earned the friendship of Tirion Fording. And a hardened one to have survived for so long. All of it for naught. To fall into the hands of these wretched cultists, to be cut up by deranged monster and forced to rise in Undeath. And then to fall under Azrael's blade. For the first time in the last two months, Azrael had to struggle to hold back tears; tears of anger.

'What?' shouted Durk'anh. 'Do you realize that the old fool had taken a whole day to convert? All that effort and you lose him'

Lyresa had nothing to say.

'Ah Well. A testament to the strength of the two excellent specimens I have here. Lock the troll in with the others. And leave one of the abominations with them. These Death Knights are notoriously tricky. I have seen what they can do firsthand in Northrend'

Lyresa motioned for the Abominations to follow her. Liha was dragged along the staircase out of the laboratory. Azrael was left alone with Durk'anh. He looked around quickly to see if there were any makeshift weapons. Durk'anh seemed to have noticed Azrael looking around and let loose a little laugh.

'I know what you are thinking, pitiable human. Everybody who comes into my lab does the same thing at first'

Durk'anh moved close to Azrael and stood directly above him. Even with his back hunched he towered over Azrael.

'Normally I would have let you reach for one of the implements on the table while I pretended not to notice. And then when you made your move, I would have ripped you apart into pieces with my bare hands. But sadly, that little amusement has to be put off for now since I cannot afford to lose you'

Durk'anh landed a fist to the right of Azrael's face knocking him to the ground. He then lifted Azrael with one hand and hurled him clean across the room. Azrael slid across the floor and crashed into the foot of one of the metal tables.

'You see Death Knight. Under the restraints Ilim has specially designed, your powers are completely unusable. So you are no different from that pile of flesh that is currently strapped to my table. While I, retain in my undeath, all the strength that the Lich King has bestowed upon me. I tell you this so that you will not make a foolish mistake Death Knight. I will need to cause you much pain before the day is done, but I would hate for any of it to be needless'

Durk'anh covered the distance between them in a few strides and lifted Azrael off the ground. Azrael felt the powers of blood flowing through him for a short while as Durk'anh removed the restraints. Before he could think of using his powers, he felt them fade away again as he was strapped onto one of the unused tables.

'Hmm...very poor reflexes. Even for a human being. That old wreck of a Paladin managed to at least strike me once before I strapped him onto my table'

Azrael was completely clamped down now.

'The clamps on these tables have the same runes. And very remarkable runes they are. In fact Ilim's restraining runes are the only reason I tolerate those fools. Convert indeed. Ah...now that we have you securely in place, you must excuse me for a while. My latest subject still awaits my attention. I am not completely done with him yet'

Azrael turned his face sideways and saw Durk'anh walk over to the slanted table that he was working on before Azrael and Liha were brought to the lab. Durk'anh bent over and began to work on the body. Azrael heard a few faint noises and realised with horror that the person strapped to the table was still alive.