Chapter Twenty-One –Taelus
Eastern Plaguelands: Plaguewood
There was a purple Glow, as if this was another world. Taelus crossed the threshold; an old Arathi Arch that heralded a different, more understandable time. The place stank of the plague, which was commonplace in the plaguelands but really concentrated-as if the Scourge wanted the land evil forever.
It was the sight of the buildings in fallen disarray that really hurt Taelus; much like his precious Northdale, the area known as Plaguewood was a different story when he grew up, and the villagers often saw him and Lilly run between the houses in a game of tag or some other adventure. However, in his dejected state, Taelus didn't bat an eye to the dark cruel that was Plaguewood. He passed a house that was still intact and was grabbed. Before he could try to escape, the assailant spoke.
"Are you stupid, Human?" it was female, and it echoed…and was the Black Knight from earlier. She had on a weird helmet that covered her face.
"You ask that here" he replied, shoving her off in indifference.
"I will not allow your further entry" she said, her echoed voice made it difficult to argue.
"Your voice echoes" he said. She sighed.
"You are not fit to survive Stratholme" she continued.
"And you expect me to do what?" he replied, sitting down on the rotting floor.
"You will get some much needed sleep; that should clear your head" She leaned on the doorpost, crossing her arms and blocking the exit.
"And if I don't" he asked in defiance.
"I will knock you out, and you will wake up next to the girl in the chapel"
"I cannot go back and watch her die" he shivered, showing emotion at last.
"She will be fine, dolt-she just had a Knick or two" her echoed voice was somewhat muffled by the helmet.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked at last.
"Curiosity, I suppose-or perhaps I am a long lost relative looking for some closure" she sounded sarcastic.
"Fine, don't tell me" he laid on the floor, grabbing his mages robes for comfort. She threw a cloak at him.
"We'll discuss Stratholme in the morning" she turned and walked out.
Taelus bundled in the cloak, and smelled a sweet perfume that was so familiar, it broke his composure.
Lilly…
It smelled like her.
He cried softly in the night, covering his head in the material to muffle his noise, knowing full well that knight could not possibly be her. And then the nightmares returned.
"So your consciousness has caught up to you, hasn't it?" A figure walked unhindered through the Plaguelands, surrounded by the dead.
"Lilly!" he screamed.
"She cannot save you, mage-even more than you cannot save yourself" it was the knight from earlier.
"Lilly, please my Lilly"
"Your Lilly?" her echoed laugh was musical and condescending "She stopped being your Lilly when you left her to die"
"I didn't mean to" he wailed "I didn't want to"
The figure moved out of the way, and there she was…crying her eyes out.
"Tael" she sobbed in the night "Tael! Please come back! I'm sorry-please"
"You've got to let him go" Gimlii grabbed her arm to pull her back, even as the Black Knight laughed and laughed.
"NO! I love him, I-I can't-Tael!" her anguish only increased "No…auggah"
"That is what you left, mage-and that cruelty is what the Scourge wants in a man" she removed the helmet and it was Mavare-hair matted, twisted and evil, but her nonetheless…
"Join us, and all you want will be yours" Mavare said seductively, removing her top and tossing it aside.
"Are you really going to let the Scourge win?" Gimlii said, standing right next to him "You would really throw yourself to the very people who made yer mom and dad vicious, mindless, monsters?"
Mavare cupped her breasts imploringly, extending one hand to Taelus…
"I thought you had more guts, boy" he shook his head.
Tael…
And the vision crinkled; Mavare looked distantly in disgust. Amyntastrasza walked past Taelus, her fists up and ready.
Tael, you must wake now-there is an evil assaulting your dreams…she said, preparing to charge.
"I forgot that blasted dragon" Mavare took her sword out, ready to play.
No that wasn't Mavare…it only looked like her.
Tael…Amyna turned to look at him, her face stern but lovingly so. You must awaken, or we'll become servants to the Scourge, to the Lich King.
She's alive.
Taelus woke, sneaking a peek out the door. It still looked the same, as if the sun didn't exist.
"You're awake, then" the black knight said, her echoed voice audibly different than in his dreams.
"Here" he gave her the cloak reluctantly…he wanted to keep it. She put it on like nothing happened with it.
"It's not apparent, but it's actually morning" she walked up to him "we need to talk about your plans for Stratholme"
"You're not stopping me" he said firmly.
"I wasn't going to, that would be a waste of breath" she looked in the dead city's direction.
"You should know this is a rescue mission" he said.
"There was a person with that cursed stone, then?" she asked.
"Yes and her name is Mavare. I am unsure if she's still alive, but I have to try-I must know" he said.
"Plaguewood is infested with all kinds of terrors, and if you get past that…" she looked at him "Entering the City is one thing; leaving is quite another story. Our chances of success are very slim"
"You sound like you know what you're doing" he sighed, resigned to take her with him.
"I am a Death Knight after all" she turned and unsheathed her runeblade "We'll cross the terror, so stay right behind me, and make noise if you get snagged by the Scourge"
And with that she walked the most dangerous road in the Plaguelands, as if she did it every day. She slew the dead, as they passed them by, and ignored the desiccated houses and various Scourge buildings that dotted the plagued grounds. And the very ground was spongy, as if it was a giant mushroom; the trees were mushrooms, giant mushrooms in fact.
Taelus decided that she had to have been an elf; and she reminded him a little of Lilly, but she was a Paladin, not a Death Knight…whatever that was.
On and on this went, until they entered a fork of sorts.
"Stratholme is this way" she said, turning to him "Prepare yourself, human"
She walked down the path to the right, and Taelus quickly followed.
The outside of Stratholme was a shadow of its former self-the arches were crumbling and Taelus could smell smoke.
"This place burns for eternity" she said "As a result of Arthas' battle with the Dreadlord that commanded the Scourge, and his slaughtering of the people of Stratholme.
"Hey, you two!" a woman walked up to them, flanked by two skeletons "This is sovereign property of the Scourge. Turn back and I won't kill you"
"But you were the ones who told me to come here" Taelus moved past the Death Knight-inciting her to put her armored hand up to stop him.
"Then you are Taelus the Mage?" she looked at him "Yes you are…I recognize that handsome face anywhere-ahem, you and your companion are free to enter" they stepped aside.
Taelus was irked by that comment, and the woman winked at him. The Death Knight pointed her blade at the woman.
"Okay, sheesh-just go" and they crossed the bridge.
"What was that all about" Taelus asked, perplexed.
"She's lonely out here, and believes you'll be joining the Scourge as a Cult member" the Death Knight looked at him "I suppose that's the only invitation people receive to come here, it being a dead infested cesspool. You're not here to join the Scourge-
"No I'm not-but that's how I found out about Mavare being captured here. They told me to come here at Alterac" Taelus huffed, ready to proceed.
"You do realize this is probably a trap, then?" she asked him.
"I'm sure this is a trap" Taelus answered her "But I won't leave her to die like I did Lillia"
That incited a gasp out of the Death Knight, but Taelus didn't care what she's irked at. He proceeded to enter the city, for the first time since before the fall of Lordaeron.
"It's nice to just walk like this" Lilly held his hand, as they walked to Aaren's Flowers. Of course he didn't tell her where they were going.
"Tael?" she asked as they entered the shop.
"I know it's corny, but I wanted to get you these" he paid for a few Stratholme Lillies.
"Forget Corny, it's pretty bold" she teased.
"You say that after what happened in Elder Square" he teased her back "Besides, they remind me of you-because you are a Lilly" he fingered her pointed ear as he put one in her blonde hair.
"You know our ears are sensitive, right?" she wrinkled a little.
"I think about it as you tickle my ribs with your magic fingers" he replied, chuckling.
Taelus
Eastern Plaguelands: Stratholme
It was as she said…burning. Taelus walked down the canal to the King's Square and gasped. Undead of every variety were aimlessly walking the streets; the doors and windows were boarded up, and shrieks could be heard in the distance.
"There are people still alive in here?" he asked aghast.
"Banshees" his Death Knight companion looked with him, although there didn't appear to be a change of emotion in her voice.
"They sound so real" he whispered "Like they relive their torment everyday"
"That is a probable statement" she agreed.
"Any one of them could be Lilly" he said. She didn't answer that.
They prepared for battle, but there was no need; the undead parted as they walked.
"The gates just closed" Taelus said.
"That is to be expected" she said, sheathing her blade "This is a trap after all"
"Yes a trap" Taelus repeated, walking with her.
"Festival Lane or Market Row?" he asked.
"Market Row leads to Crusader Square-and the blasted Onslaught doesn't know friend from foe" she said "So the more logical choice would be Festival Lane"
"How would we even find her?" Taelus asked "All the buildings are boarded up"
"There are Scourge buildings in the City, built long after it became Scourge property" the Death Knight reached the gate to Festival Lane, which opened for her.
"So we search every building?" he asked.
"We're guests here, human. The very dead do not attack-which means they want us alive" she waved at the denizens, who appeared to neither know or care about them.
"Then I suppose we get started" Taelus sighed.