Wow, so many reviews for only six chapters. Thanks very much. They have been extremely useful.
And Connet, calm down. What sort of thing would Ethan buy her? And if you want to beat them up, bring holy water.
Khazinthedark, Mr. Bigglesworth is in the game. I have only seen him once though.
The campfire burned steadily. Ethan had his hands held over the fire, but did not feel it much. Invincible was lying down next to the fire. Sapphire was curled up against the skeletal horse, one of his wings covering her up. She slept peacefully, white hair obscuring her was curled up in her arms, licking her hand. He looked up at Ethan, and barked.
They had both eventually mounted Invincible and the horse had jumped up and flown. They had flown north until they reached Dun Morogh and landed into a snow laden copse of trees. Ethan had set up a fire, but Sapphire had just collapsed and fallen asleep.
The deathknight was exhausted, but he did not want to leave Sapphire unguarded. And the horse was not much of a guard. He wondered how she had survived all of this time all alone. She was so alive. It was such a fragile state of existence. She could eat something wrong, and she could die. Fall off a ledge. Catch a bad cold.
He reached over, and stroked her hair. He had liked her blonde, and pale. Now, her skin had been tanned at some point, and her hair was bleached white. Almost like her skin and hair had switched colors. He thought she looked more living than before.
Ethan watched her chest rise up and down as she breathed deeply. She moaned, and rubbed her head against Invincible's ribs. Her eyes flicked under her eyelids. She was scowling, like she did when she was awake. The boy looked at the horse, and slowly leaned down. He kissed the girl on the lips.
Sapphire unconsciously let herself smile, and tightened her grip on the plaguehound in her arms. Ethan was satisfied with that, and sat up all night. A raven cawed in the darkness of night.
Later, they traveled up north. Invincible flew rather well, gliding smoothly over the swampy marshes of the Wetlands, and high up into the mountains. Sapphire and Ethan rarely spoke to each other.. Sapphire was still acting cruel to the boy, but he would not let that sway him. He acted how he had been taught to treat a woman when he was younger and alive. He did not touch her except when holding with Invincible, asked her questions politely, and did not make her do anything like make a campfire or catch food. Ethan caught small animals to cook for her. She might have not eaten if not for him. She only ate when he put the food in front of her, and did it more as a show of being cooperative.
Rot was quite happy with being with her again. He never went far away from her. The puppy remembered last time she left and did not come back for two years. That was a long time for a dog, Ethan bet.
They flew high over the Hinterlands, a large mountainous and forest region. Sapphire looked down and saw other larger things flying below. Gryphons most likely. The sky grew darker as they came into the western half of the Plaguelands, and Invincible descended to the ground. He landed hard, Sapphire bumped against Ethan's chest, and hurt her head.
The horse let Ethan get off of him, and the deathknight just walked. Invincible did not like the boy yet.
Sapphire tugged her cloak around herself, and looked around the Plaguelands. It did not look that bad, slightly foggy with a gray mist. The trees looked sick around them, pine needles brown instead of green. Some had fleshy tumors growing on them. Sapphire told herself to not touch those things, and shuddered.
"It looks better that how it used to , Paladins, druids, and a lot of other people are trying to heal the Plaguelands." Ethan said.
Sapphire scoffed, "Yeah, like that will happen. I hope they die painful deaths."
The boy gaped at her, and looked like he was going to say something, but thought better of it. He really did not want her to leave him again, this time in anger. She was easily angered nowadays, like...
Like her father. Ethan stared at her white hair.
Later, he promised to himself. He would ask later. The girl would snap at him, and this time if she ran, she would be on horseback, and he would be on foot. The skeletal horse snorted, and looked at him reproachfully, as if to dare him to try to keep up. The animal went into a trot. Forcing Ethan to pick up his pace. The boy scowled angrily.
They traveled east, avoiding roads and undead. Sapphire sat on Invincible, looking around warily. Ethan had only his runeblade, and no armor. He was aware of his slight vulnerability, but would not let that hinder him if Sapphire was threatened.
Rot was hopping up and down on the saddle, and he sniffed the horse's vertebrae. He looked around at the infected forests. He barked, and bushes rustled.
A bear burst out, roaring. It was a thin creature, ribs showing and its hide scarred and covered in oozing pustules Ethan whipped out his sword. He snarled, and was about to attack the bear, with something ran past him.
He stared in shock as a ghoul pounced on the bear, howling. It clawed at the rabid animal, who roared and snapped at the undead. Sapphire and Ethan watched in horror as the ghoul ripped chunks out of the weakened, plagued bear. The undead grappled with it for several minutes, but finally sank its teeth in the bear's throat. The animal gurgled and struggled until it was dead.
The ghoul tore the flesh with its mouth, and chewed. He looked at the deathknight and girl happily, and finished eating.
"Master!" It said, spreading its arms out and approaching Sapphire. Ethan got between the two of them, sword raised.
"Get away, ghoul!" He growled.
The undead blinked, and frowned. It lowered its head submissively.
"Master. Tryg kill. You no happy?"
Sapphire looked at the pitiful excuse of an undead. The ghoul wore rags, and had bandages wrapped around its wrists. The hands were swollen and its fingernails were sharp as claws. Its skin was the color of bruises, purplish blue and black. It's hair was dirty and grey, and its teeth were sharp and cracked.
"Tryg? Ghoul's have names?"
The ghoul nodded, and grunted. "Me Tryg. Name me myself."
Ethan curled his lip. "Clearly."
The girl looked at Ethan, and frowned at his disgusted tone. She got off of Invincible and went over to the ghoul.
"Well, Thank you, Tryg. What are you doing here?"
It looked up happily. "Help Master!"
Sapphire smiled at the dim-witted creature. He was nothing like the other undead Sapphire encountered. Tryg seemed...nice.
"Okay. You want to come with us?"
"Gah!" He hugged her, and she recoiled. He smelled horrendous, and his skin was mottled with oozy scabs that dripped green ichor. Sapphire grimaced, and tried to squirm out of his hug.
"...Uh, You can let go now...Come on. Get off!"
The ghoul let go and smiled. He scratched himself happily.
Ethan glared at the girl suspiciously.
"How can you tell it what to do?" He said, accusingly. "And why does it keep calling you Master?"
Sapphire shrugged, and went over to Invincible. She hopped up onto the saddle, and looked at Ethan. He did not look happy. The ghoul stood next to him, and sniffed the deathknight.
They continued on, Tryg running ahead, and coming back with some kind of present for Sapphire. He gave her a rock, a stick, a bone, and another rock. She took them indulgently, but as soon as he left, she would drop the object.
It grew dark, and the forests became even eerier that it had been in daytime. They came to a lake. Sapphire saw an island in the middle of it, and the far shore was dark and misty red. Sapphire did not like that the look of that.
She watched Ethan find some wood for a fire, and she went over to the waterside. The girl bent down.
The boy came over quickly.
"Don't touch that water. It might be infected."
"With what?" Sapphire asked. Ethan looked at her.
"Plague obviously! Do not even touch it." He gave her a stern look for several seconds, and then went off to get the wood. Sapphire watched him leave. Tryg came over, and sat down next to her. He frowned. Rot was squirming in his arms.
"Master not happy. Tryg help?"
The girl sighed. "I don't thinks so, Tryg. Thanks anyway."
Tryg let go of Rot, who quickly went over to Sapphire. The plaguehound woofed. The girl smiled and looked back at Ethan. She watched him make a fire, too small to attract notice and give off a lot of smoke. He did not want them to be found. He had been so tolerable of her recently. It finally dawned upon her that she was treating him worse than a ghoul. Coming over, she sat down next to the fire, and smiled at the boy.
"Thank you Ethan," She said. The girl moved over to him, and pushed the deathknight to the ground, on top of him. Taken aback, Ethan did nothing and Sapphire kissed him. Curling up, she soon fell asleep on his chest.
The boy laid there, frozen in shock. He did not like this new Sapphire. She was impossible to understand. One minute she was snapping at him, and the next, kissing him.
At one point, Ethan felt something. A chill in the air, but he shrugged it off. Nighttime cooling, that was all.
The night elf looked at the group. A horse, a plaguehound puppy, a ghoul, and the two love birds. Sapphire looked a lot different last time he had seen her. Older, and a lot prettier.
As soon as she saw him, she would try to kill him. Lethumo had not been very kind to her.
It was not her he had come looking for though. The aura of powerful, dark magic made the area hum. When the elf first showed up, he almost thought Sapphire was the parasite.
But that was impossible. From his hiding spot in the woods, he could hear her heartbeat. No, it must be the Dog, Ethan. The elf did remember seeing Ethan run up the Spire after the Lich King had died. How romantic, Ethan stealing the new Lich King's powers, and being infatuated with the old Lich King's spawn. Lethumo wondered if the girl knew.
He left the group alone for the moment, and made a deathgate to Stratholme.
