"Sapphire...Wake up. I have breakfast."
The girl moaned, and pulled a pillow over her head. She curled up, and felt the warmth of the blankets. Ethan ripped them off of her.
"Ah! Ethan!"
She glared at him from underneath the pillow. He wore his armor once more, and held a tray in one hand. He tilted his head. The deathknight then took the pillow away from her, and handed her the tray. Sapphire took it reluctantly.
Several slices of bacon, toast, and some cheese.
Sapphire ate the cheese on the toast.
"Rot's dead. Isn't he?" She asked Ethan. His face was expressionless.
"I'm sure he's fine."
She figured he was just trying to reassure her.
The bacon was hot, and greasy. The girl burnt her fingers as she touched it. Quickly, she put it into her mouth, and chewed. She spat it out. The meat tasted horrible. Burnt, like ashes. Nothing like fresh meat. Sapphire closed her eyes. Warm, thrashing, living flesh. With blood gushing out when you bite down...
She screamed, and shoved the tray away from her. Ethan whipped around, and his hand went to his sword. The girl buried her face into her hands. She flinched when Ethan hugged her, but then wrapped her arms around him.
"I'm a monster..."
"You are not. What happened?" The boy said firmly.
"I...I wanted to eat...something still living. And moving."
Ethan sat there, silent. He hugged her tighter, and kissed the girl on the cheek. Then he let go of her. She frowned.
"Are you scared of me?" She said, panic creeping into her voice.
He shook his head, but would not look her in the eye.
"We'll get that collar off of you."
He'll betray you...
Sapphire flinched, then gritted her teeth. She tried to ignore the voice, but it continued. Urging her to kill Ethan. The boy did not notice, and he bent down to clean up the spilled tray. Sapphire clutched the the necklace. The voice faded away.
The girl pulled onto her boots. Ethan looked up.
"I need to go outside. For some fresh air, okay?"
He scowled. "Don't go far."
Sapphire climbed up the stairs. A soldier watched her come up. He did not protest, so she assumed it was okay. The girl stood at the top of Wintergarde's wall. Wind blew around her. Mountains rose up to the sky behind her. Naxxramas loomed over Wintergarde Village, now a ruin full of corpses and members of the Scourge. Frostwyrms flew around the necropolis.
The girl had never seen Naxxramas from the outside. And seeing it on the inside was not that pleasant. The first and last time she had went, her father had brought her home in tears, terrified.
Undead filled the fields of the village. They walked, shambled, and crawled by the hundreds. Looking for something living to eat. Sapphire looked at the soldier nearby. She wondered how he tasted...
No!
The girl bit her lip. She remembered the taste of bacon, but was instantly disgusted. Cooked meat. Who cooks meat?
A shadow passed over Sapphire. She did not notice.
"Sapphire! No!"
The girl looked back down to the ground, and had just enough time to see Ethan before a roar exploded behind her. She looked back at a frostwyrm. A bony, taloned paw grabbed her. Sapphire screamed.
She panicked. Her arms were free. She thought up a spell.
It was forbidden. Her father had beaten her when she tried it. It was not necromancy. Sapphire did not think about it for a second.
Sapphire created a fireball, and the frostwyrm screeched when the ball hit it straight in the face. The undead dragon dropped the girl. Not onto the safety of the wall or behind the wall. She fell outside of the Keep.
Sapphire hit the ground, landing on her arm with a crack. She cried out in pain. The frostwyrm's own cries faded in the distance.
"Ooh...Pretty."
The girl looked up, and screamed. A ghoul grinned at her. She scrambled back, and held her arm.
"Get away from me!" She said threateningly.
The ghoul tilted his head. He scratched himself, and his claws opened some of the boils on his skin. Green ooze spilled out. The ghoul looked at the liquid on his fingers. He licked the green stuff off of them.
He picked up a rock, and held it out to her.
"Pretty..."
Sapphire curled her lip in disgust. A revolting ghoul that thought she was pretty. That was what she was afraid of. She laughed at herself.
The ghoul smiled.
"Pretty?" He waved the rock at her, then bent down. He placed the rock in her lap. The girl tilted her head, and looked back at the ghoul. He clasped both hands together, and watched her with hopeful, dead eyes.
"Uh...Thanks."
"Gah!" He grunted excitedly. He took her uninjured arm and pulled her up. She saw the wall above her. More frostwyrms were attacking Wintergarde Keep, but they paid no attention to her or the ghoul.
The ghoul jumped up and down. The gates were completely barred. The girl would not be getting back into the Keep easily.
"Pretty!" The ghoul had found another rock, and had it held out for her. Sapphire looked at the ghoul, and sighed. She took the second rock. Shyly, the ghoul shuffled his feet.
"Uh, Ghoul? You wouldn't know a safe place for me to go, would you?"
"Pretty...Come! Way this!"
He grabbed her hand, and took her away, toward the ruined village below Naxxramas.
Ethan sprinted up the steps to the wall. He looked down, and saw, in the distance, Sapphire being taken away by a ghoul. She was heading straight to the Carrion fields.
The boy did not hesitate. He whistled for Ni'kua, and jumped down. Wind blew off his hood, and he landed on the ground with both feet. He took out his runeblade. It glinted dangerously. Ethan felt an urge to kill. To kill anything that would harm Sapphire.
With a growl, he ran off. He saw bodies of dogs, and with a wave of his hand and the use of his runic power, the bodies came back to life. The dogs sat up and shook themselves. One barked, and chased its tail.
"Here!" Ethan commanded. The animals obeyed him instantly, and circled around him. Ethan counted nine. Their tails wagged happily.
The deathknight mentally showed them what Sapphire looked like. Then, he ordered them to find her.
The animals were of lower intelligence than Ni'kua, but they understood. Four went one way, and the other five went opposite.
Ni'kua came up. Ethan snarled.
"Took you long enough."
The plaguehound sniffed, and bared his teeth. Ethan and the dog went straight toward the Carrion Fields.
The ghoul pointed at a corpse, and ran off. He jumped onto the body and bit down on it. Sapphire looked away. She heard screams nearby. Obviously some of the villagers weren't dead yet.
She left the ghoul. The girl wasn't bothered by any other undead. Sapphire saw plaguewagons, and steered clear of them. Being the Lich King's daughter did not make her immune to the plague. And, that was where the deathknights would be. She did not want to get anywhere near a smart Scourge member.
She caught sight of a burnt building, and fled to it. She slammed the door shut behind her, and turned around.
Corpses greeted her. Bloated, stinking, and covered in flies. Bodies that were hacked to pieces. Organs lay on the ground, squished into unidentifiable masses. The faces were black. Tongues protruded from mouths, swollen twice the normal size.
Sapphire cornered herself against the wall. Bile rose in her mouth. Turning aside, Sapphire bent over. Heaving, she vomited, throwing up the small amount of food in her stomach. She breathed laboriously. Her chest felt constricted.
She saw a short sword on the straw ground. She picked it up. The hilt was sticky with blood, but the feel of it was reassuring. Sapphire slowly got to her feet.
Sapphire looked at the corpses.
"...I'm sorry," She whispered to them. The necklace around her neck was glowing faintly. With her injurd hand, Sapphire took it off. Her wrist throbbed. The voices started, whispering.
The bodies needed it more than she did. It had stopped protecting her.
Sapphire left the building, and froze in horror.
Dozens of undead circled around her. Ghouls, geists, and abominations leered at her hungrily. A blood elf stood in the front. He wore pale blue robes, adorned with glowing crystals. The collar was high, and spiked. He had grey skin, and white hair like most undead. A fanged mask covered the lower part of his face.
The San'layn held out a clawed hand.
"Lady Menethil, how fortunate that I found you. Your father will be relieved."