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Chapter VII

The Traitor's Destruction

Finally the decayed and rotting soil of the Plaguelands came to an end – the crew was now above the Ghostlands. The dark and creepy Ghostlands…

'We're almost there.' – Zhora said.

The bats landed right in the middle of the outpost. After letting the crew off, they swiftly returned back to Undercity. Everyone looked around.

Tranquillen looked worse than ever. The ruined elven buildings were just as bad as Zhora and Rico remembered them, but the atmosphere was far more horrible. Most of the blood elf and Forsaken soldiers were bandaged, some were lying on the ground motionless, some dead. The others couldn't even burry them. Seemed they had far more important things to worry about.

'This place looks very intimidating…' – Sluon noted.

'Don't tell me you're scared of some undead?' – the orc smirked.

'This brings back memories, huh?' – Rico said to Zhora.

'Yeah. Anyway, let's go find someone who can give us some info on the situation here.' – the mage said.

The group asked the nearest soldier. Turns out the Scourge of Deatholmehad almost completely overrun the Ghostlands, wiping out the few night-elven spy camps and even making the Amani troll settlements lock themselves in the ancient city of Zul'Aman. The only resistance left in the region was Tranquillen, but it couldn't keep up for long. The number of attacks has been increasing lately, the soldiers were tired, some haven't slept for the past few days, more than half was dead or unable to fight.

'Ok, we'll go slaughter them for you. Be back in an hour.' – Blant said. – 'Let's go, guys.'

'The six of you? Hah! Don't make me laugh…' – the soldier said.

'We know what we're doing.' – Zhora smiled.

'Zhora? Rico? It can't be!' – a voice said coming from the inn.

'Master Vandril! Long time no see.' – Zhora greeted him.

The blond blood elf dressed in robes of yellowish-green and purple was Arcanist Vandril. He was the one who continued training the recruit magic users here in the Ghostlands. The two elves were surprised he remembered their names.

'I can't believe it! How did you two manage to survive? We thought the whole platoon was annihilated!' – the arcanist continued.

'Well, it was. Only the two of us are left.' – Rico answered.

'That is indeed a miracle. But what brings you back here?' – he asked. – 'You should flee here. The Scourge has…'

'Yeah yeah, we know. That's basically why we're here!' – the mage grinned.

'What do you mean?' – Vandril asked.

'Exactly what he said. We're here to deal with Deatholme.' – Rico explained.

'Are you insane? You of all people should now what the Scourge is capable of! You stand no chance!' – the arcanist said.

'The two of us probably wouldn't, but we brought back up.' – Rico smiled pointing at the others.

'We have all means to believe that we stand a chance.' – Sluon said bowing down his head as a greeting.

'I guess there's no point in stopping you…' – he sighed. – 'Can't you at least wait till morning? It's getting dark already.' – Vandrilwas continuing to insist.

'You know you're starting to get on my nerves.' – Blant said angrily.

'But he be right, mon. Not good to fight in da dark.' – Aidid agreed.

'It gets pitch black in the Ghostlands. The only times we'll be able to see the enemies is when Zhora uses his fire spells.' – Rico added.

'Exactly. The battle for Tarren Mill was during the night and it wasn't easy. Right, Haru?' – Zhora asked.

'I never really noticed the difference…' – Haru said modestly.

'See? She agrees with me! We should go now!' – Blant insisted eagerly.

'I'm not agreeing with you. If I don't mind the darkness, that doesn't count for the others.' – Haru said.

'Look, as much as I want to blast those two abomination brothers to hell, I have to agree with everybody. Let's attack at dawn.' – Rico proposed.

'"Blast them to hell"? That's what I would've said.' – Zhora thought.

'Hmph… Cowards… Alright, alright! We spend the night here. But we'll be standing in front of their damn base at 6:00 AM sharp!' – Blant finally agreed.

'Thank you for listening. The inn maybe old and in ruins, but the rooms are still usable.' – Vandril said.

'Then I suggest we go to sleep now. We have to be at our full strength if we intend to take on a whole army.' – Sluon said.

'Good idea! The faster I go to sleep, the faster morning comes!' – Blant nodded running off into the inn.

'Boy, he's really pumped up, huh?' – Rico laughed.

'This be his first chance to fight strong opponents, mon.' – Aidid said.

'And I guess he wants to test his new strength too.' – Zhora added.

Everyone followed the orc. The local inn was rather spacious, although pretty run down. Three rooms were made available for the group. The girls occupied the first, the second was taken by Blant and Aidid, Zhora and Sluon took the last one. Just as the shaman suggested – everybody went to bed early.

The next morning began with a bang. Literally.

'Get up, damn it!' – the orc shouted banging on Zhora's and Sluon's room. The mage opened up.

'It's not 6:00 AM yet…' – he yawned.

'I said that at 6:00 AM we'll be at their doorstep! We still need to have breakfast and walk all the way to Deatholme!' – the orc explained.

'Ah, man…' – the elf yawned again. – 'Try to wake Sluon up. Looks like the tauren are heavy sleepers if he can still snooze through your yelling.'

'Wake up, you lazy bull!' – Blant roared and charged into the room. Zhora exited it without any interest in what the orc was going to do. The others were standing in the hallway, leaning to the wall.

'I see he got to you already…' – he said ironically. Haru and Rico nodded.

'Me have da worst luck, mon… Me be in da same room with him…' – the troll sighed. The whole group looked like they had just risen from the dead and drained of energy.

'He sure is taking a while.' – Zhora said looking at the door of his room.

'You mess with the bull, you get the horns!' – Sluon's voice roared from inside the room. The next moment the door sprung open and Blant came flying out hitting the opposite wall.

'Hey! Save your wind spells for the Scourge, you bum!' – Blant shouted. Sluon walked out of the room.

'You could have woken me up in a more… normal way, imbecile!' – the shaman growled angrily and walked down the stairs. The others seemed to have jollied up a little after this amusing scene.

'What did you do to him?' – Haru asked.

'Nevermind. I woke him up, didn't I? Now let's go have some breakfast!' – the orc said. The others looked at each other and decided not to ask any questions.

After breakfast the group heard another loud voice coming from outside. As they went out to take a look they saw a blood elf mage in dark-red robes who was standing in the middle of the outpost.

'This is all the work of the traitor Dar'Khan Drathir! He has allied himself with the Scourge and wants to eliminate us completely!' – said magister Kaendris who had retreated here from the Sanctum of the Sun, further south in the Ghostlands. – 'He needs to be dealt with!'

'That's our cue.' – Haru smiled.

'So, that Drakh'ham's the main target?' – Blant asked approaching the magister.

'I believe he said Dar'Khan.' – Sluon corrected him.

'Whatever! Main thing is we know who to smash!' – the orc grinned.

'What? You lot? You will deal with the traitor?' – Kaendris asked.

'That be da idea, mon.' – Aidid said.

'Excellent! Finally someone with confidence! Everything we've done in the Ghostlands has been done with the goal of taking back what is rightfully ours. The Scourge have maintained their chokehold on the region for far too long. The time has come for payback! He who sought to steal the power of the Sunwell must die. Go to Deatholme, the Scourge stronghold south of the Dead Scar. Bring me Dar'Khan's head and your deeds will go down in history!' – the magister said.

'GREAT!' – the orc roared and charged to the north.

'South is the other way!' – Zhora shouted as Blant was already barely visible.

'I knew that!' – the warrior answered from afar and came rushing back. – 'Don't just stand there, let's go!'

The group moved south along the Dead Scar killing every undead in sight. This was "morning exercise" as Blant called it to "get the blood flowing". After about half an hour they were standing in front of huge locked gates had three enormous skulls on them: two on the sides and one direct above them. The entrance was closed and guarded on the inside by some black shadow-like spirits know as the Eyes of Dar'Khan.

'See? The sun is rising! We're right on time!' – Blant said happily. – 'You all ready?'

The group nodded. This was the test of their new abilities. The shaman made a few steps towards the gate and examined them closely.

'Ok, before we go in, give me a minute.' – Rico said. The party watched closely to what was about to happen. The priest spread her hands and began chanting. A glowing purple circle formed around her on the ground and a small orb above her head. As if she was draining the energy from the earth with her feet and channeling it through her hands into the sphere. After about ten seconds, the orb fell on the ground and created something resembling a hole. A small horned grey imp crawled out it.

'Everyone, meet Naluri!' – Rico smiled.

'Who're these morons?' – the imp asked.

'What? Hey, squirt! Keep your… squirt under control!' – Blant said angrily.

'Ha! He called you a squirt! Just like… hey, wait a minute!' – the imp shouted. – 'It's always the little guys, huh?'

'Oh, boy… This is going to be… noisy…' – Zhora sighed.

'Hey, calm down, you two. Naluri, you ready for a battle?' – Rico asked.

'What's in it for me?' – the imp grinned greedily.

'Hey, I summoned you! That means I control you!' – the half-elf said.

'Ah, I hate this "master" and "minion" relationship…' – Naluri sighed.

'We can't battle if we can't get in, you know?' – Haru noted.

'Zhora, come here for a second.' – Sluon whispered still looking at the gates.

'What is it?' – the mage asked. The tauren smiled. – 'Looks like you have an idea of how to get it, am I right?' – the blood elf smiled back.

'Yes you are. A fire and wind combination would be perfect to blow this gate away, but I do not think I alone can create a powerful enough blast. I shall concentrate on the wind and leave the fire to you.'

'That sounds interesting. Let's see if it'll work.' – Zhora said.

Both of them began casting their spells: Zhora's fireball was being enhanced by the tauren's channeled wind. It became bigger and looked more unstable than usual. The spell hurled at the gates blasting them away and smashing the guardians inside.

'Whoah!' – the mage said staring at the result of their combined attack.

'I did not expect the result to be so devastating!' – Sluon said.

'Awesome!' – Blant shouted. – 'You guys totally gotta come up with a name for that spell!'

'Let's save it for another time. We've got a job to do now.' – the elf said. – 'Don't let your guard down, guys. The scourge is going to attack.'

Indeed the "residents" of Deatholme were gathering to "greet" the intruders. The ghouls and skeletons were coming out of every corner, nerubians – undead arachnoids – were crawling out of every ziggurat within the walls of Deatholme. Some banshees were arising from the pond of green ooze in the middle.

'Wrong! We are the ones who're attacking! So let's kick some zombie butt! – Blant roared. The others nodded with serious expressions on their faces.

The orc charged the undead head on. To the Scourge it seemed like he was attacking alone. Little did they know that Haru was already behind them, waiting for the right moment to strike. The rest of the group was already scattered all over the place. Rico together with Naluri and Zhora were flanking the incoming Scourge from the right while Sluon and Aidid flanked from the left. This formation was perfect for this battle – with the warrior and rogue drawing the attention of the undead towards themselves, the hunter and spellcasters were killing them off.

Haru had the most trouble though. She tried to stab her enemies in different places, but it's impossible to stab someone who doesn't have any flesh or whose rotten body doesn't feel pain.

'Having a hard time?' – Blant asked knocking another enemy into pieces. – 'Just smash them! They break easily!'

'Oh, shut up…' – Haru answered sounding a little annoyed. But the orc did have a point. Her fighting style was clearly not suited for fighting skeletons, so she decided to go against some nerubians instead.

Meanwhile Blant noticed a skeleton that was a little bigger than the others. The orc attacked him instantly, hoping that this opponent will be a bigger challenge than the rest. He swung his axe at the torso breaking every rib on the left side of the skeleton's body. Another swing – an arm was broken, then the other one. It was like a game for the orc with the undead as his toy. Another attack broke off both legs. The skeleton collapsed and was still trying to move, but that was the end for him. Blant finished him off by kicking his head off his shoulders. The skull flew through the citadel and hit Sluon who wasn't fighting anyone at the moment.

'Watch it!' – the shaman shouted.

'Just making sure you're not asleep back there!' – Blant laughed.

'It is not my fault that no one can come within my range!' – Sluon said looking at Aidid.

'Sorry, mon. Me guess me save some arrows for later and fight with swords.' – the troll grinned.

Now that Aidid had stopped shooting, the Scourge could come close enough for Sluon's spells. Finally able to enjoy some action he used an earth and water combination to create something like a swamp puddle in front of himself. The group of incoming undead all sunk knee deep in it with no chance to break free. To finish them off the tauren placed a fire totem in the middle which was burning the enemies into ashes.

'Satisfied now?' – Sluon shouted.

'Did you do something? I wasn't looking.' – Blant said sitting on a nerubian's back.

'Never mind…' – the shaman growled angrily.

'Stop whining! Just do it again and I'll look this time.' – Blant laughed strangling the spider with his axe's grip.

In the meantime the elves and the imp were fighting off the rest of the enemies with their magic. Zhora turned his head for a second to see how the others are doing. When he looked back he saw Rico's imp fighting alone against three nerubians.

'No offense, but it seems he won't beat them.' – the mage said.

'So help him…' – Rico answered.

'He's your imp.' – Zhora said.

'I hate… spiders…' – she replied modestly.

'Oh, come on! It's just three nerubians!' – he said. Rico was looking really frightened. – 'Fine…' – Zhora sighed conjuring a pillar of flame – the Flamestrike spell – beneath them. All three dropped dead still burning.

'Ha! Take that!' – Naluri rejoiced. Another nerubian was getting close. – 'Three were too many, but I can handle one of you!'

The imp launched a fireball right in the fiend's face, but the spell was weaker than Zhora's and was not enough to take the enemy down. The arachnoid took a step back after the impact and threw a spider web net on the imp.

'Hey, hey! I'm not some fly! Get me out of here!' – the demon shouted.

Zhora ran off to take care of the nerubian and some more incoming attackers while Rico was left to help her minion. Trying to get him free from the sticky net she failed to notice that she herself was slowly getting tied up in it. Zhora turned around and burst into laughter seeing the two all wrapped up.

'Great rescue…' – the imp said.

'Shut up…' – Rico muttered. – 'You know, a little help would be appreciated…' – she told to Zhora.

'What? You don't want me to burn the net, do you?' – the mage laughed. Suddenly a stream of water came pouring down from the sky, washing the web away.

'You are welcome.' – Sluon said. – 'I understand you were in a sticky situation.' – he laughed.

'Would you two comedians stop that? We have a battle to fight!' – Rico was irritated.

'Hey! What gives?' – the orc shouted.

Zhora turned his head. The skeletons and nerubians were now getting help from the female banshees. Being incorporeal they were practically immune to Blant's axe. On the other hand they were perfect enemies for the group's spellcasters.

'Hey, Rico. Time for us to shine.' – the mage smiled.

'Ok, I'll let my imp handle the spiders while we fight them.' – the half-elf said.

'Fighting more nerubians alone? This was not in my contract!' – the imp shouted, but he had no choice but to obey.

Zhora was already targeting one of the banshees closest to Blant, but just as the mage was about to blast it with a fireball, it screamed in pain after being struck by lightning.

'Oh, I am sorry. Were you about to kill it?' – Sluon shouted from the other side.

The mage hmphed and targeted another one. Again the shaman beat him to it.

'You are casting too slow, friend!' – Sluon laughed.

'So that's how it's gonna be, huh?' – the elf thought. His eyes began to burn, hands were surrounded by flames. Instantly four mighty pyroblasts – huge flaming boulders – burned a group of banshees in a split second.

'Heh. Not so tough now, are we, Sluon?' – the mage grinned turning back to normal.

'Be careful not to waste all of your mana.' – the shaman smiled. Now to the rest… huh?'

Rico jumped into the middle of the group of banshees. Instantly letting out a psychic scream she made all the enemies cower and run away in different directions. Quickly she cast two shadowbolts from both hands killing off two enemies. Without a pause she cursed three of her opponents with a curse of agony – a spell that painfully damages the target over time. The effect was also increasing with every second, making the banshees suffer and die. The remaining two spirits got over the effect of the psychic scream and were now ready to counterattack, but the shadow priest was ready for them. One mighty mind blast spell eliminated both attackers in an instant. Rico was now standing in the middle of piles of glowing dust – the remains of her opponents.

'You boys should learn to talk less. You were right, Zhora. It was MY time to shine.' – she laughed. – 'Naluri, you can rest now.'

'Finally!' – the imp sighed and vanished.

Suddenly a familiar evil laughter came echoing from the center. The abomination brothers had appeared at last. They were very happy that stronger opponents came to face them.

'Huh? Do all abominations laugh before dying?' – Blant asked with a serious look. The others laughed.

'You do realize we're in for a serious battle, do you? – Haru asked catching her breath.

'What? I asked a serious question, and you just started laughing!' – Blant said.

'Just pick ya target, mon.' – Aidid said examining the opponents.

'Pick one? I thought I could just slaughter everyone… Alright, the left side's mine! – Blant shouted.

'Careful. That one's Luzran. He has monstrous strength. The blast wave from his attack can literally blow you away. If you're not careful, you'll have problems!' – Zhora warned him.

'We'll back him up!' – Aidid and Haru said.

'So I guess the spellcasters take the other side?' – Sluon grinned.

'Payback time!' – Rico shouted looking at the brothers.

Blant moved forward. He was now standing right in front of Luzran. They were looking each other in the eyes.

'Monstrous strength, huh? Now you have to prove it to me!' – he shouted.

The abomination grinned and smashed his enormous butcher axe into the ground right in front of the orc. Blant quickly blocked the incoming wave with his axe. It was indeed powerful, but it managed to push the warrior back for only about one meter.

'Is that the best you can do?' – Blant laughed charging his opponent.

Swiftly Aidid shot three arrows in Luzran's head. The attack had little effect due to the thick layer of flesh on the abomination's face. Blant attacked the highest spot he could reach – the guts that could be seen through the hole in Luzran's stomach. The troll jumped on the brother grabbing his hook and trying to strangle him with it. Luzran roared, threw Aidid of himself and was raising his weapon to finish the hunter. Suddenly Haru appeared on his head. Quickly she stabbed him in his eye and jumped off. In the meantime Blant was already climbing the abomination's back. The orc swung his axe in an attempt to chop off Luzran's head. The axe hit, but got stuck halfway through. The monster shook Blant off roaring in pain. As the orc was falling down, Aidid jumped up and pushed himself of Blant in mid-air to get higher. The orc crashed into the ground as the troll reached Blant's axe and pushed it deeper – Luzran's head fell off. Blant stood up and smiled realizing what happened. He took his axe back and took a look at the other side of the battlefield. Zhora was burning the already dead and blackened corpse of Knucklerot, while Rico was kicking his head. Sluon was just standing aside a little freaked out. The elves were satisfied they could finally let out their anger at the two monsters that nearly made them become what they had just fought.

Now it was time to face the leader – Dar'Khan Drathir. The crew made their way to the biggest ziggurat in the middle of Deatholme. Inside they found who they were looking for. The undead blood elf with white hair and black robes similar to Rico's was standing right in the center. The party quickly surrounded him to be able to attack from all sides. Dar'Khan took his black staff and was ready to face off the attackers.

Haru decided not to give the necromancer a chance to attack and quickly rushed at him. Yet Dar'Khan was faster than she had expected – instantly he cast a fear spell on the rogue. Haru began running away from him screaming before bumping into Sluon. Blant hadn't realized yet what was going on. Suddenly he was hit by the undead elf's shadow bolt right in the chest. The orc fell on one knee. Never before did he experience such devastating and destructive dark power. Rico tried to heal him, but she could not have foreseen that Drathir's spell filled Blant with darkness. And since she was a shadow priest, her holy magic was also inoculated with shadow magic. She did heal the orc's injuries, but when the darkness of the two spells combined they made him go berserk: he didn't recognize anyone; all he saw were enemies. Blant grabbed his axe and swung it at Rico. Aidid jumped in front of her and blocked the attack with his sword.

'Sluon! Small lightning shock! Hurry!' – the troll shouted while Blant was pushing his axe harder and harder against him.

The tauren did it as quickly as he could. The spell damaged Blant slightly but also made him come to his senses. He stopped attacking the troll at once and threw his axe straight at Dar'Khan.

'Die!' – the orc roared.

Dar'Khan evaded the axe but was stabbed in the back by Haru. The fear spell had worn off. With an evil and angry look the undead elf turned around and swung his staff at the rogue. Haru tried to escape by turning invisible, but the attack still hit her in the face, knocking her to the ground. Zhora had just finished casting his pyroblast and hurled it at the enemy. Dar'Khan still managed to deflect the spell besides being wounded, but it was the opening everyone needed. The mage blinked himself near Drathir and froze his feet with his frost nova. Aidid and Sluon came in from both sides and grabbed his arms to prevent him from blocking or casting spells. Using this opportunity Rico used a corruption spell on him that was slowly devouring the enemy's flesh from within. Blant decided not to wait and punched Dar'Khan in the ribs. Drathir dropped to his knees, but was still alive and tried to resist. Just as his eyes turned black Sluon felt that something dangerous was about to be cast.

'Everyone get away from him!' – the shaman shouted.

The crew jumped back and the tauren shocked the enemy with a powerful lightning bolt. Drathir was lying on the ground trembling like a fish without water due to the electrical shock.

'INSOLENCE!' – he shouted with his last ounce of strength. After a few seconds he died.

Dar'Khan's corpse was lying in the middle of the room surrounded by the group. Everybody was exhausted after such a long series of battles.

'Did we… do it?' – Zhora asked.

'We did, mon…' – Aidid answered.

'It was not as easy as I had anticipated, though…' – Sluon said.

'It was a little tough I guess…' – Haru agreed.

'You kidding? It was easy! We could beat another two or three armies like this!' – Blant laughed.

'Stop acting so strong, moron. You were playing around with the enemies rather than fighting them.' – Rico said.

'Same thing!' – the orc grinned.

Everyone laughed. Aidid used his sword to cut of Dar'Khan's head as proof of his death. After everyone had rested, the group walked out of this ziggurat to the surface of Deatholme.

'Hey, look!' – Sluon noticed a trail of thin ice coming from the gates of the city and leading into one of the towers in the other end.

'Did you do that?' – Rico asked Zhora.

'Can't be. I used a frost nova only once while we were fighting the necromancer inside.' – the mage answered.

'So this be fresh track.' – the troll commented.

'Whatever left it is in that tower over there.' – Sluon said pointing at a structure in the far end of the city.

'Then what are we doing standing around? Let's go check it out!' – Blant said excitedly.

'I have a bad feeling about this.' – Sluon sighed. – 'The aura coming from this track is something I never felt before.'

'Come on! We just beat this whole city to a pulp! We can handle one more opponent!' – the orc insisted.

'He be right, mon! One more, one less. Don't make no difference.' – Aidid agreed. The others nodded and followed the icy track to the tower.

'It's leading into the basement. Let me check it out first.' – Haru proposed. Becoming invisible she went down. The others waited outside. One minute has passed, then two minutes. Finally five minutes past since Haru went scouting.

'I don't like this. Something's wrong.' – Zhora said.

'I agree. Someone else should go to see what is going on down there.' – Sluon nodded. Suddenly Haru's scream came echoing from the basement.

'Damn it!' – Blant shouted rushing down. The others followed just as fast. They soon came to a small room that was the basement. The icy track was leading right into a wall.

'What the…' – Zhora said.

'Over here!' – Rico shouted from the corner of the room. One of Haru's throwing knives was lying on the ground, pointing at a bookshelf nearby. Another throwing knife was stabbed into a shelf board, as if showing in the direction of the book on the shelf beneath. Rico picked out the book and started looking inside it. One of the pages had the corner bent. That page contained only one phrase in an unknown language.

'Great! Now what?' – the orc asked.

'It's gutterspeak – the language of the Forsaken. I can read this.' – Rico said.

'You can?' – Zhora was surprised.

'I was training in Undercity, what do you expect? Ok now give me a moment.' – she said looking at the phrase. – 'Vohl Ealdor!' – she pronounced in a few moments.

The wall moved, revealing a secret passageway. The icy trail was leading down it. Without wasting any more time the crew dashed through, descending deeper underground. The corridor seemed endless, but after a short while of running it ended. The first thing everyone saw was a huge hall filled with darkness. The only light came from a torch on the floor near the entrance illuminating only a small fraction of this room. Beside the torch was Haru frozen up to her neck in a block of ice.

'Sluon, give me a hand!' – Zhora said enclosing his hands in fire to melt the ice. The shaman was casting a thin stream of flames from the other side of the block.

'Haru, are you alright?' – Rico asked sounding worried.

'What the hell happened down here?' – Blant asked.

'Run…' – Haru whispered. – 'Run away quickly…'

'We not leaving ya here!' – Aidid said.

'So who the hell did this to you?' – Blant continued.

The next instance the entrance was covered in a wall of thick ice. The group felt an intensive chill running down their spines, as if death itself had just touched them. This aura was coming from the darkness. Someone was there.

'Ok, crap-face! Show yourself!' – the orc roared. – 'You're gonna end just like that weakling Dar'Khan!'

'Dar'Khan?' – the voice asked. – 'A weakling indeed. I should be ashamed to have had such a pathetic servant. No surprise he was defeated by you worms…'

'Look who's talking! Die!' – Blant charged off into the darkness filled with rage. He wouldn't forgive an insult of his own strength.

'Blant!' – the crew shouted as the orc disappeared in the darkness.

'Fool…' – the evil voice said and Blant flew back hitting the wall with a terrible racket. His axe landed next to him.

'Son of a…' – the orc muttered coughing up some blood. – 'Sluon, this was tougher than your slam this morning…'

'Hold still, I'll heal you!' – Rico said running over to Blant. Suddenly two icicles came flying from the shadows piercing both of Rico's hands and nailing her to the wall. The half elf let out a short scream of pain.

'Rico!' – Haru shouted.

'This be going too far, mon!' – Aidid said and shot a few arrows in the direction of where the icicles came from. Only the sound of them being deflected and the laughter were heard.

'Sluon, continue to melt the block!' – Zhora said and cast a fireball into the darkness. It had no effect. As if the shadows had simply consumed it.

'If you are so eager to see me, I shall grant you your wish…'

All the torches in the hall started burning. There was so much light that it seemed as if they were outside during broad day light. Everyone took a close look. The enemy was a lich the size of the abomination brothers dressed in purple robes and a golden mantle with chains surrounding his body. His glowing blue eyes were staring at the group.

'Kel'Thuzad…' – Zhora whispered. His voice was trembling. The others were literally paralyzed after hearing this name.

'I am flattered you mistake me for the great Kel'Thuzad.' – the lich said. – 'I must disappoint you, my name is Balzaphon. But do not take me lightly just because of that.'

'What is a high ranking servant of the Lich King doing in a place like this?' – the tauren asked.

'Nothing that you must know.' – the lich answered. – 'My work here is done. I have what I came for.' – he continued showing an amulet dangling from his bony hand. – 'With this the Lich King will become unstoppable! Now I must leave. Do not worry. This place will become your icy grave. You bugs will have a slow and painful death.'

'How's this for bugs?' – the orc shouted jumping to his feet, grabbing his axe and charging the support beam in front of the lich. The beam broke and the whole room started to shake. At the same moment Sluon finished melting the ice block and instantly cast a small lightning spark, blinding the lich. That second Aidid shot an arrow that cut the chain of the amulet. Haru now being free dashed in the direction of Balzaphon, grabbed the falling amulet and sprinted away from him. Zhora ran over to Rico to melt her free. Blant smashed the second beam and ran to the exit. The ceiling started to fall piece by piece. Using his last bit of mana Zhora blasted the frozen exit with a huge fire blast and passed out. Sluon picked him up from the ground, threw him on his back and ran through the exit. The rest followed. The whole structure was collapsing. Running up the narrow corridor they exited the building just as it crashed behind them, but they continued to run. They were sure that that wasn't enough to kill a powerful lich. The crew kept running until they finally reached the river near the Sanctum of the Moon, far north in the region. The same river Zhora had fallen into before.