Chapter 6

'You want to what?' exclaimed Inara. William was visibly worried. Liha did not blame him for he knew William was not a coward. As far as Liha was concerned, not everyone could shoot bolts of ice from their hands or call Unholy magic. Hack, the rogue, was awake too. In stark contrast to William, Hack seemed hardly to care about their predicament. Either he was very brave, or he had long since accepted his fate. Liha knew rogues were very tricky characters. He had known enough in life and undeath to know they had many means of escape.

'Even if you did get the Abomination to come over here, and in the unlikely event that you killed it, how are we going to escape from here. We're chained in place and the door is locked' said Inara.

'You can leave the door to me' said Hack. 'I could have opened that lock when I was stripling young pickpocket working my trade on the streets of Stormwind. My only problem is this damn chain'. Inara's face showed her disgust.

'Firstly' said Liha. 'These aren't the chains one would use in a dungeon. A proper dungeon would have had manacles to the wall leaving us with no room to move about. These are chains more akin to the ones you would use in tying up an animal. We do have enough room to maneuver around our big friend when he gets here.'

'Secondly, these chains are made of cast iron' he continued. 'Which when frozen beyond a point begins to weaken and crack. A chain made of metal like saronite would never weaken. Our captors would have found these chains already in the crypt or from the wagons and houses nearby'

'And how are you going to freeze the chains?'

Liha smiled. This was the crucial part of the plan. Straining and testing his magic against the restraints, he found that they functioned much like a valve would in regulating water. He couldn't release a flood of energy without feeling a backlash from their magic injuring them. But he could release a weak but steady flow of energy that the bindings wouldn't stop. The energy was no where enough to collect into a burst and hit the abomination. But it was enough to lower the temperature of the room to his desired point. He began releasing the energy of his icy touch. It was working on his chains. Inara seemed to have noticed this and was looking intently. The iron was shrinking but it wasn't breaking entirely. He gave a few short tugs on the chain. Nothing happened. He pulled harder.

'YOU LEAVE CHAIN ALONE' came a rough voice from the other end of the room.

The abomination was peering at them stupidly. Liha stood up and gave a sharp tug on the chain. The abomination hurled the chained scourge hook it held towards him. He sidestepped its path and it banged into the wall with a resounding clank. Quickly Liha moved to entangle the hook into his own chain. The abomination tried retracting its hook, but it was stuck between Liha's own chains. With a roar the abomination bounded towards him brandishing the giant meat cleaver in its other hand. Liha avoided a slash by leaping into the air. He needed to be quick. He would get only one chance. Even with his armor he wouldn't have survived a single blow from the cleaver. Frustrated, the abomination lifted its cleaver to deliver an over handed chop. Liha was quick to bring up his hands. In a single slice the saronite cleaver ripped through the chains. Liha felt a burst of energy as the cuffs restraining him fell to the ground. He released a burst of ice into the abomination at close range. He then proceeded to apply the other diseases that an unholy death knight used. Abomination was swinging wildly now. Avoiding its swings Liha grabbed the hook that was now lying on the floor. It wasn't as good as his rune weapon, but it was as large as a curved short sword in his hands. Liha leapt into the air burying the hook into the side of the abominations neck and dragged it down opening a gash. He rolled on the floor moving to get behind the abomination. The abomination twisted around trying to find its target. Its legs were now stuck in the chains as well. Liha pulled hard on the chain and released a Death Coil. The shadowy energy struck the abomination in the face causing it to lose balance and it fell crashing into the wall. Liha leapt onto it and began hacking away with abandon. In a few minutes the abomination lay on the ground motionless.

'Not exactly what I had in mind' said Liha standing up.

'Quick. We don't have any time to lose' he said turning to the other three prisoners who were staring open mouthed at what had just happened.

'The chains' said Inara.

Liha grabbed the giant cleaver. It was certainly heavier than any axe that he had handled. He leapt into the air and brought it down with full force on Inara's chains cutting them in half. Suddenly he felt the room fill with a faint and warm glow. Paladins always had that effect. She quickly put her hands over him. Healing. In a few seconds Liha felt all exhaustion fade away, and all the minor wounds on his body healed as well. He took a moment to free the other two prisoners. He was hoping that Lyresa, the arrogant apprentice, was arrogant enough to not keep a close watch on them. The dungeon he remembered was a small way off from the room where he was first awoken. Still there was a good chance that the ruckus hadn't been heard.

The three remaining prisoners were on their feet now. While the other two were ready for combat, Hack uncharacteristically stretched his body as one would after waking up. He walked to door and set to work on it almost lazily. Just when Liha thought he would suggest trying to force the door open with his cleaver, he heard a faint click, and the creak of the door as it opened.

'Piece of cake' said Hack turning to them and smiling

'William, show us to the storage where our weapons are being kept' said Liha

As silently as possible, the four of them made their way across the corridor. William had already told them that they were on the second level of the crypt. The first level was the simplest chamber, a room with four walls filled with Scourge. The second level however was the heart of the crypt and was expansive. Most of the scourge were contained in chambers or patrolling the corridors. His first goal was to get his rune blade. While the cleaver was deadly enough, he could not wield with proficiency. A death Knight's rune blade served as a conduit for the power he contained. To their right was the corridor that led to the cultists' chambers. William silently pointed towards the other end. Liha strained his ears to check for any sounds. He could near numerous clicks coming from the direction William was pointing to. Were these ordinary scourge, Liha could have made do with the cleaver, but enhanced as they were with Ilim's runes, Liha doubted if he could handle them alone. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder. Inara. She was a trained Paladin. Liha knew enough about paladins to know that they were deadly against undead beings- even unarmed. After what seemed a very long time, the clicks began to recede. The four of them moved together slowly and stopped by the adjacent chamber. William nodded his head. This was the storage. And it wasn't locked. They quickly armed themselves. Liha found his own armor and weapons stacked at the top of the pile along with Azrael's. Inara had the preferred weapon of Paladins, a hammer and her silver plate armor. William his standard issue Stormwind armor and shield. Hack...where was Hack? Liha turned around and saw that there were only three of them now.

'Where's the rogue?' he asked.

'The sneaky rat! he abandoned us! I knew we should have left him chained to the wall' said Inara

Liha wouldn't have abandoned anyone to the scourge, but he too felt disgusted at the human's actions. A rogue's 'magic' if you could call it that had more to do with their physical abilities, and a study of the art of sinking into shadows and melding with them. If Hack was even half a rogue, Liha knew he could easily make his way out. Right now they didn't have time to worry about him.

'So how are we getting out?' asked William.

Liha looked at Azrael's rune blade.

'A brother of my order is being held in the chamber below. I need to get to him first'

Inara nodded. William had a look that said he wouldn't enjoy going deeper into the crypt. But he too sighed and nodded. Liha began to lead them towards the staircase that would take them below when he came face to face with a robed cultist. Lyresa. She was flanked by two armored skeletons.

They stood looking at each other for a second. She gave a shriek and brought her hands together to cast a spell. The two skeletons flanking her rushed forward to meet him. He quickly leapt back and launched his most readily available spell at Lyresa. A skull of shadow bolted towards her and hit her in the chest. Her concentration was broken and the spell fizzled. Her face was frozen in shock and horror. An accomplished spell caster would have been able to continue his spell through the disturbance. A smile ran across Liha's lips. Arrogant novice after all. He quickly brought up his blade to meet one of the skeletons. Inara and William had engaged the other one. Lyresa let out a scream and turned to run. Damn her, thought Liha struggling to try and move past the skeleton blocking his way. She would alert the entire complex. Liha applied the magical diseases to the skeleton and began hacking away at it furiously. After it slowed down he launched a volley of Death Coils finishing it. Inara and William had held their own. Their skeleton was in pieces at the floor. Liha quickly looked around for Lyresa. She had no doubt reached the cultists chamber and alerted Ilim by now.

'We have more company' said Inara. Liha turned his head around and saw four rotting ghouls come into the corridor. He had no time to lose. The battle had begun.