Fourteen.
The steady drum of untiring hoofbeats caused the paladin to jerk awake and for a moment, in the, she had not a clue where she was. She squirmed and the iron grip about her only tightened, and for a moment she panicked. "Bloody hell woman, stop your wriggling!" Necrucian's deep, ethereal voice growl was commanding and his voice made her stop. They also made her want to put her fist through his face. She remained silent and looked up at the sky and got a flock of fat snowflakes in the face for her troubles. It was bitterly cold and the sky was overcast and dark, though she judged it to be still early in the morning, sometime between sunrise and mid-day.
"Tala?" Thomas's voice was so tiny within he sling that she almost didn't hear him over the Acharon's drumming hooves. He shivered with cold and she did the only thing she could think of. Unbuttoning the first two thirds of her loose tunic, she manoeuvred the sling inside and buttoned it up again so that only the boy's face peeked out of the top. There would be no stopping and there would be no fires. All she had left was the warmth of her own body. "Can we eat? I's hungry…" his voice was sad rather than petulant and it made her want to sob. She reached around the deathknight, her hand slipping into the left saddlebag and fishing about for a ration bar. Softening a piece with her teeth, she offered it to the boy who set upon it like a starving wolf. By contrast, she had no appetite, but forced herself to eat anyway.
Necrucian looked over his shoulder and was thoroughly dismayed. Far from leaving their pursuers behind, they were now actually gaining, and quickly. Where only the day before they had been two leagues behind, they were now less than a mile, following in a silent, inexorable wedge upon horses that did not tire. Undead though he was, Acharon was not capable of greater speed. They were a day away from Southshore, and the deathknight was beginning to think they would not reach their destination. They would have to make a stand in the ruins of Tarren Mill, but as it grew into a discernable collection of shapes to his right, something was terribly wrong. Taliah had described the town as a burned out shell, but he saw intact buildings with dim lights in the windows.
"By the Lich's black bones.." The river on the left hemmed them in and dense forest and rock that not even Archaron could negotiate corralled them to the right. There was nowhere else to go but forward. As Tarren Mill became more distinct, the riders behind him began to close, whooping and waving all manner of weapons. Two had bows, their arrows spiking the ground behind the fleet destrier. His grip about the paladin tightened and she tossed her head, the cowl of the cloak flipping back. She cried out in warning as cloaked figures burst from behind high piles of fieldstone beside them. Acharon ignored them, trampling one beneath his hooves with a satisfying thud.
"By all that's Holy…" She saw the furtive shapes moving among the reclaimed buildings of Tarren Mill and her guts turned to water. A three-foot stonewall backed by a hedge lay before them, barely discernable in the inch of white that lay upon the ground until they were almost on it. The destrier gathered himself and sailed over the obstacle, and it was only then the two soldiers saw the six by twelve foot pit directly behind it. Necrucian curse and dropped the reins, throwing Taliah forward as hard as he could as the pit swallowed the deathknight and the destier.
The paladin saw the ground coming up to meet her and curled into as much of a ball as she was able, trying desperately to protect the child. The roll was successful, more or less, the litter of dead leaves and loose dirt cushioning her fall. It still hurt. A lot. As though someone had kicked over a rotten log, the Forsaken seemed to come from everywhere and Taliah rolled gracelessly to her feet. The riders that had harried them arrived, only adding to the chaos. The paladin threw back her cloak with a shrug of her shoulder and drew Peacemaker as the Forsaken closed in around her.
He smiled with yellowed teeth and he stepped from the picket of weapons hemming her in. The woman in the center glowered at him balefully as though without fear, but he could smell it on her. "Well.. what do we have here.." he drawled softly as he stood just outside of her reach. His head, concealed by the deep hood of his cloak, tilted slightly as though in curiosity. The woman's tunic was open a third of the way down her chest and a blanket fashioned into some sort of sling protruded from within, reaching over her right shoulder and pulling up the tunic on the left side were it crossed under her arm. The man once known as Cyris Kormak had not a clue what it contained until the woman threw back her cloak and he saw the boy's face. His chuckle was low and dark as he looked back at the woman. "What is a pretty little thing like you doing in a place like this?"
"We are on a mission from the Argent Dawn. You will let us pass or you will answer for it." She stood as tall as her five and a half foot stature and deep bruising from the fall would allow. It took every ounce of strength she had left to call on the Light. She felt it answer and fill her with warmth, but Taliah held it in tight control. She could feel Thomas trembling against her and her eyes swept the scene around her. Two dozen cloaked Forsaken milled around like hungry jackals. Behind her, she heard Acharon's snorts and ethereal shrills of anger, but she did not hear Necrucian.
"You are on our land, human." He said the last word as though it were something foul on his tongue "And as such, we demand a payment for your trespass." Kormak's bony hands slipped into his cloak and Taliah brought Peacemaker up into an aggressive ready position in reply.
"There is coin in the destrier's right saddle bag." She replied and around her the Forsaken laughed and milled restlessly around her. "Take it and let us be on our way."
"You're hardly in a position to be giving orders, sweetling." Kormak tsked her. "Your coin doesn't interest us much…" One bony hand, the flesh scrapped from the knuckles to reveal bone and tendons, slid from his cloak and a finger pointed to the shivering lump in her tunic. "But that does. Give us the pup, and you can be on your way…"
Taliah saw the sickly yellow grin from beneath the undead's cowl and she shifted her weight to the balls of her feet. "You can have the boy when you pry him from my cold, dead arms." The Forsaken that addressed her made a sound of mocking dismay.
"Oh sweetling, you tempt me so." The hand slid back into Kormak's cloak "But you're much too valuable to just fill full of arrows." He looked her up and down in a way that made the woman's skin crawl and her eyes turned from threatening to angry. The living were so amusing sometimes. "There are more than a few who would pay a tidy fortune for you."
"I though you had no use for coin." She walked a counter-circle as the one who spoke moved around her. From the corner of her eye, she caught movement by the pit and she hazarded half a glance. Four Forsaken were hauling the limp deathknight from the hole in the ground while a half dozen more threw ropes over Acharon's head. The destrier snarled and thrashed in indignation as he was dragged from the fissure by a team of undead horses.
"No, sweetling…" Kormak drawled "I merely said we didn't want –your- coin." When the woman's eyes shifted just slightly to the happenings in the trap, he dove at her like a striking snake. His twin daggers cleared the sheaths that rode low on his thin hips, one slashing at her sword-arm, the other at her thigh. The woman twisted away in a swirl of cloak that parted at the touch of his blade as though it were silk. She turned and bared her teeth at him as white fire suddenly ignited from her eyes and along her blade. The heatless flame slithered up her arms and over her until she glowed like a beacon. "Paladin.." his lips twisted in disgust and he spat the word like an invective.
As the undead's cloak pushed back over his shoulders to free up his arms, his greyish flesh contrasted with the fine leather armour he wore. It was plain and its black and forest green finish was made for camouflage. The brass buckles and fittings bore a grainy texture so as not to glint in the light. Taliah refused to be put on the defensive as she fortified her aching body with the Light. She and her opponent were nearly the same height, though the Forsaken was an inch taller and a few stone heavier. If she let him in close, she would be hard-pressed to keep him from sticking her with his blades and she could smell the rank poison upon them. She had learned to rely on fleet feet and agility, but the boy bundled to her torso beneath her tunic was going to make for an unwelcome burden.
The paladin's flaming sword swept upwards with a deceptively powerful flick that would have opened his belly had Kormak not caught the blade in the quillon of his dagger. Her choice of weapon interested him on a professional level, as most of the self-righteous prigs tended to favour a stout warhammer. He moved to parried the next strike, a sweeping slash at his belly, figuring to play with the woman a bit like a cat with a mouse, but her attack was only a feint. Mid-swing, her left hand shot up to take the weapon in a two-handed grip and she thrust forward, forcing him to twist away. The blade burned like cold fire as it parted the leather and scored a shallow line across the dead flesh of his upper back. Around them, the circle of Forsaken hooted and cheered him on. The two twisted and moved in an intimate, deadly dance of steel and mithril and his dagger cut across her shoulder blades when she skidded on the slick, muddy ground. The shield of Light that protected her shimmered and smoked off in a golden mist and would not save her if he managed to get inside her circle of control again. The woman was tired and pale but she refused to go on the defensive when he pressed her hard from the left.
Taliah dug in her heels and blocked a slash to her face with the ornate, winged crossguard of her sword, but had to throw her head back to avoid the tip of the Forsaken's weapon. The blade was coated in something black and foul and the stink of it made her eyes water. Thomas squirmed in terror against her, unbalancing the paladin and Kormak came at her again. He feinted and crouched, spinning on his left foot while striking with his right and swept the woman's legs from under her. She landed on her back with a grunt and the impact dislodged the boy from the sling, spilling him onto the snowy, muddy ground. He looked up at the gathered figures. His eyes grew impossibly wide and the shriek that clawed from his dry throat was beyond ear-splitting. Taliah threw her legs upwards in a sharp arc, using the momentum to get back to her feet as one of the Forsaken ringing them darted in to seize the boy. With an animal snarl, Taliah struck in a sweeping curve and Peacemaker cut through the undead female's chest as though slicing through a loaf of bread. Kormak saw his chance, deft fingers slipping into his cloak to produce a slim, four-inch blade and with a flick of his wrist, sent the flechette at the paladin as she spun to meet him once more.
Something bit into the meat of her right thigh, but it was little more than a sting and she ignored it as she reached down and scooped up the screaming child. She held him in her left arm, her sword in the right as Thomas buried his face into her neck and wailed. The Forsaken that hounded her backed off with a smirk and she spared a glance down at her leg as something warm and wet slid down her knee and shin. In the pale light of what remained of the day, Taliah saw the tiny dagger protruding from her flesh and the blood that leaked into her boot in a slow trail down her leg. Kormak kept circling and she was forced to keep moving so as not to let him get behind her. As the poison quickly spread, she could feel her blood burning in her veins.
"Just put the sword down, paladin. There's no reason to make this any more traumatic or bloody than it really needs to be." His voice was a mocking and admonishing all at once and Karmak grinned and the woman shook her head as though to clear it. The poison was one of his favourites – quick acting and potent. Only the tip of the flechette had been dipped in it and already she was suffering from the effect. He circled her almost casually, confidant that she would not attack now that the boy was completely exposed. "Lay down your arms and I assure you we will not hurt the boy." She did not reply, only glaring at him with intense, grey eyes that were slowly becoming less focused. The paladin staggered, fought to keep her feet and failed, falling to a knee as Peacemaker slipped from her hand.
"I'm …sorry.. Thomas.." it was hard to focus and the edges of her vision was growing dark. The adrenalin-fuelled hammering of her heart began to slow, the pounding of blood in her ears easing. Taliah didn't even realize she was laying on the ground until she tasted dead leaves and mud. Kormak stood over her, naked steel in his hands as the boy cried.
"Tala! Don't go 'way!" he begged through tears, hiccups and sobs. "Pease Tala! Don't go 'way!" She tried to draw on the Light, tried to rally, but the presence of the Light had gone quiet and still in her mind. The paladin gave a soft, shuddering breath as she grew still, and the last thing she heard was Thomas' shrill scream as Kormak plucked him off the ground.
Fifteen.
She felt drained and numb, her thoughts an incoherent jumble. For a long moment she could barely conjure an articulate thought until the high tea-kettle shriek of a child finally pierced though the veil clouding her consciousness. Opening her eyes, Taliah thought for a moment that she was blind and it took her a pair of heartbeats of suppressed panic to realize that she was tightly blindfolded. Sick and weakened by the poison, the paladin lay still for a few more moments as she forcibly calmed herself. Reaching out with her other senses, she took stock of her situation. She lay on a mound of something crisp and prickly and the paladin inhaled. The smell of old, stale straw slowly registered. Taliah's shoulders ached and her hands and fingers were numb. They were bound tightly behind her back with hemp rope and she began to wiggle her fingers to get the circulation flowing again. Silently, the paladin steeled herself and rolled to her knees.
Despite the blindfold the darkened world around her spun wildly and she lost all sense of up and down. Her stomach heaved and empty as it was, she wretched only bile onto the floor before falling on her side again.
"How are you feeling this fine morning, sweetling?" she knew the voice and her head turned heavily in its direction. Her lips pulled back from her teeth in a show of defiance "Ah, she remembers my voice, even after two days of sleep."
"Where are the boy and the deathknight." Her voice was hoarse and the paladin's throat burned from the bile but still she spoke as though the Forsaken, and not she, were the prisoner. Her fighting spirit amused him and Kormak grinned.
"The boy is alive, and no longer your concern, paladin." He drawled and leaned against the wall. "Necrucian seems to be enjoying himself among those who understand his condition." The paladin's eyes narrowed and the undead rogue grinned "If I were you, I'd be more concerned with the fate that awaited me than some wayward deathknight and a puling brat that isn't even yours." Kormak's grin disappeared and his bloodless lips sneered in disgust "Paladins.. you're all alike. Self righteous purveyors of what they think is truth. So easily trapped by their own honour and burning need to help the innocent." he mocked, his words turning into the low, dark laugh of a predator.
"You.." The metaphorical light came on and her voice dipped into a growl "You destroyed the steading… murdered the innocent…"
Kormak grinned, looking please with himself "Well, at least I know you're not entirely stupid, sweetling. We've been tracking you and the deathknight since you crossed the Thondroril. You keep strange company for a paladin." He gestured absently "Really, the steading was just for fun. I didn't think you'd actually investigate… though now that I know what you are, I'll just say it was part of my brilliant plan to lure you into this cunning trap." The paladin rolled to her knees and staggered to her feet as the sound of a child's muffled shriek made the paladin jerk. Her shoulders flared in white-hot agony as she flexed her arms, straining at the rope that bound her.
"If the boy is harmed, I will end you, and everyone else in this shit hole." Her voice was calm and menacing, though inside she was in a near panic over what may or may not be happening to Thomas. Fury roiled inside her like boiling tar, thick and dark and cloying. It was all the paladin could do not to just futilely charge the undead that goaded her. She called on the Light, but it came as a strangled trickle instead of a torrent.
"Yes, and I see how you're in a position to carry that out, girl. I must admit though, for a paladin, your vocabulary is refreshingly profane." His voice was closer but she had not heard him approach and the punch to the gut came as a complete surprise. Taliah doubled over and staggered from the force of the blow as bile burned up her throat once more. Stubbornly she kept her feet, swaying drunkenly as she gasped for air. "Ah, such spirit." Kormak sighed almost happily "Putress will love you." As the paladin's head turned towards the sound of his voice, Kormak cocked his fist back and let fly. It connected with Taliah's jaw and the woman dropped like a stone.
Necrucian's head ached fiercely but not nearly as badly as the rest of him. The deathknight had regained consciousness and found himself hanging like a side of beef in a damp, cold basement. The short chain of the iron shackles about his wrists was slung over a rusty meathook that kept his feet dangling a good hands-breadth from the floor. He had no concept of the passage of time, but he was sure at least a few days had passed. Things could have been worse, he supposed. The last thing he remembered was throwing Taliah and the boy free as he and Acharon had been swallowed by the pit, and the deathcharger falling awkwardly and landing on him. Had it not been for the paladin's earlier blood sacrifice still allowing him to heal, Necrucian doubted he would have survived. She had saved his life twice now, and he still wasn't sure if she was alive. He was certain Thomas was still among the living, but considering the amount of intermittent screaming he was hearing, all of Hillsbrad probably knew he was still alive. The very real possibility that the boy was being tortured caused an upswell of deep, bitter anger.
The tread of boots upon creaky stairs filled the small basement. Built of stone and mortar, it had probably once served as a storage cellar in the winter months, but now it served as something much more sinister. The dark, dried splashes on the walls and floor left little doubt of what happened down here.
"You'll be relieved to know that all of those sealed missives you were entrusted with are at this very moment on their way to the proper hands." Kormak's smug, rotting face was barely visible in the darkness, even to the deathknight.
"You disgust me." Necrucian stated flatly and closed his eyes. He was tired of the frequent visits from the irritating Forsaken male. Even more tired of the Forsaken propaganda that seemed to slither into every other sentence the obnoxious bastard drawled.
"That's no way to speak to a brother-in-arms, Necrucian." The undead tsked. "I'm not your enemy. We were both once minions of the Lich King, but now we are freed… free to exact the retribution we deserve from those who failed and betrayed us." Kormak's words became hard and just a bit bitter. "The living.. the humans.. they will never accept you… but the Forsaken would embrace you like a brother. We are one and the same."
"I am nothing like you." Necrucian spat back, his lip curled in disgust. "I don't kill civilians… not anymore."
Kormak shrugged as though they were talking about vermin "Lordaeron is ours and they are trespassing. Do we not deserve a place to call our own after all we have suffered?"
"No." was all the deathknight replied. "Where are the paladin and the boy that were with me." He demanded the same thing every day, and Kormak sighed as though speaking to a child.
"I'd love to tell you the little squealing rat is dead, but it would be hard to explain all that damn screaming." The deathknight glowered from beneath his brows at the undead who took on an expression of exasperation "As for the paladin.." he shrugged again "Her injuries were too great. She died last night."
The deathknight blinked in shocked silence and the undead rogue patted him on the shoulder as he circled the suspended man leisurely. "It was awful, really. All that blood, all that screaming. Such a waste. She was somewhat pleasant to look at, for a human."
For half a second, Necrucian almost believed him until Kormak laughed. "Your care for the paladin and the boy is interesting, deathknight. Surely you don't believe there's any kind of redemption waiting for you."
"If any harm comes to her, or the boy, I will…"
"You'll what?" Kormak cut him off "Do you think she cares what happens to you? She hasn't once mentioned you, only goes on and on about that shrieking little piglet." The Forsaken stepped back and looked the deathknight up and down "You care for the girl…"
"No." the deathknight stated flatly "She saved my life. I owe her a debt, nothing more."
"Your debt is paid. Had you not thrown her clear, she and the boy would have been trampled and crushed by your destrier. And as for your fate, worry not. You won't hang in this cozy cellar much longer." Kormak snorted a laugh and walked away "You'll leave for our fine capital tomorrow evening."
"And the others?" Necrucian didn't like the dead man's tone.
"Oh, they'll be going with you." Kormak sneered as he walked up the wooden stair "The Dark Lady is eager to hear how you were freed from the Lich King's thrall, and the Apothecary Society is eager for their new test subjects."