Chapter Twenty-Six - Conflicts
Alon's men cried out and ran towards Arthas who lifted his hammer and squashed the head of the first forsaken with a forceful swing. The second forsaken raised his war axe, aiming for Arthas' head but he was dead before the axe's blade came even close to Arthas' handsome face. Two forsaken fell - Both of them were killed by precise arrows from Vereesa and Shandris.
Alon snarled when he recognized that almost half of his followers were dead and Arthas was still unharmed.
"I knew that something is fishy about you but I would have never believed that Sylvanas had managed to smuggle one of her agents in the ranks of the Scourge" I said and pointed Frostmourne's tip at his head.
The hand which held my wand began to glow slightly bluish. A large frostbolt appeared out of nowhere and flew towards Alon. He dodged the spell with ease, landing a few feet away from Arthas. The corner of his lips formed a small smile as he regarded us for a short moment. She sprinted forward, reaching Arthas within two seconds. Arthas blocked his first punch, the spiked fist rebounded off the war hammer's massive head.
Holy light flowed through Arthas when he prepared his counterattack. He smashed the head of his hammer in the ground, consecrating the floor beneath our feet. I jumped on the large table when I noticed that the blessed ground was also hurting me. Somehow, Arthas was immune to the burning light but the forsaken weren't. Alon jumped out of the radius and prevented that consecrated ground hurt him more.
The remaining five forsaken - four of them were mages and the last one was a warlock - cried out in pain. They started casting spells but the holy light beneath their feet weakened them so that they needed longer and their spells turned out to be a lot less effective than they should be.
I managed to protect us with a barrier which absorbed all four spells while Vereesa shot one of her stronger arrows at the warlock. The arrow pierced through his head, killing him immediately. One of the mages was killed by Shandris, the second mage died when a small ray of light pierced through his chest. The third was hit by one of my fire techniques and burned until nothing but ashes was left of him. The last mage ran away but his head was crushed before he reached the door.
None of us had killed the last mage. Alon was the one who had ended his life because he was very upset about his companion's attempt to escape.
"It seems that everything has to be done by myself" muttered Alon, speaking more to himself than to us.
"Come on and try it, rotten corpse" provoked Arthas. He was a bit too self-confident about his skills. He may have gotten no problem defeating Sylvanas' foot soldiers but Alon seemed to be on an entirely different level. The worst mistake we could do was to underestimate any of Sylvanas servants.
Fortunately, Arthas was not alone because I will do everything to protect him, no matter what it will cost
"I will smack you until nothing but mush is left of your ugly head" Alon cried out and aimed another punch at Arthas' head. Arthas made a sidestep but didn't avoid the hit. The spiked-gauntlet hit him on the left shoulder instead of the head. The impact of Alon's fist on Arthas paladin armour caused the creation of a powerful shockwave which flung Arthas against the nearest wall.
He groaned loudly when he fell on the ground. He was able to stand up but he was swaying a little when he moved. There was a lacerated wound on his forehead out of which blood was flowing out but it didn't bother him. Arthas' eyes were widened in surprise and he was showing that he was not afraid.
He picked his hammer up and asked for the help of the light. The light response was a golden barrier which appeared around Arthas' body and blocked the next punch from Alon.
The forsaken death knight was not happy about that, especially because this barrier blocked three more hits. Alon was making a grim face and dodged a small hail of arrows which would have hit him if his movements and reactions wouldn't be so fast. At least, he was too busy to dodge the arrows so that he was not able to avoid my large arcane blast.
The spell flung him away and caused that he crashed through the wall on the other side of the room. He managed to stand up very quickly but was hit two arrows. One hit him in the left shoulder, the other pierced through his left upper thigh.
The forsaken roared out loudly then he created an anti-magic shell around his body. This shell blocked my spells but it didn't prevent that more arrows hit him in the chest.
Arthas' war hammer surpassed the shell as well, causing that Alon staggered backwards when he got hit by the heavy weapon. Alon's eyes were widened when he looked down at himself, noticing the yawning wound in his torso.
"This is impossible... The Banshee Queen promised me that I'm invincible" Alon shouted out, making a few steps backwards to get some distance between him and us. His eyes told me that he was afraid. He was afraid of us and what we could do to him.
I had never seen signs of fear in the eyes of an undead creature. Seeing Alon in this condition proved that the forsaken knew the feeling of fear. This meant that the forsaken were no different than the mortals, at least if it comes to feeling negative emotions like fear, grief or anxiety.
Sylvanas had always thought that her forsaken were special but the truth was that they were not. They were just walking corpses who didn't need to eat or sleep and had a lot more stamina than the living. They can bleed, they can feel fear and they can die like every other creature. Alon was nothing but one of Sylvanas' pawns who will experience what will happen to anyone who dares to attack my Arthas.
I lifted my wand, creating a blue flame in front of my chest. I was about to ignite Alon and watch him burn when I felt Arthas' strong hand on my shoulder. I looked at him, noticing his tense expression. He tilted his head a little, signalizing me to not burn this death knight to ashes. I gave him a confused look, receiving a gentle and comforting smile in return.
I relaxed as I regarded his face for a short moment then I loosened the grip on my staff. I looked at Alon for a short moment before I extinguished the blue flames.
"It seems that the word of your queen means nothing" said Arthas calmly, regarding Alon closely.
"STOP UNDERRESTING ME, BASTARD" Alon cried out and charged forward, ready to crush Arthas' head with his gauntlets. Arthas snorted with laughter, the corner of his lips formed a provocative but also confident smirk. He sidestepped Alon's swings and buried his hammer in the man's chest.
Alon cried out in pain, another smash hit him and caused that he landed on the ground. He laid there, the wound in his chest was large, black blood flowed out of it. He was defeated but not dead - not really dead in this case. Arthas stepped next to him, looking down at him. He didn't even try to stop grinning mischievously at him.
"Don't worry, we won't kill you but we will take you with us to Stormwind City. We will need some answers from you" said Arthas, keeping eye contact with the beaten death knight.
"I will tell you NOTHING, BASTARD" Alon cried out, trying to stand up but the wound in his chest was too big and he had lost a lot of his power during the fight, meaning that he was unable to focus enough strength to get up. He just laid there and moved a little, each of his attempts to get up failed.
"We will see" Arthas replied simply, still looking at Alon with a provocative smile on his lips. I got closer to Alon, lifting my left arm to cast a spell. Arcane shackles came out of the floor and embraced the forsaken commander, tying him up so that he was unable to move.
A river of insults flowed out of his mouth but I silenced him by putting a magic gag in his mouth. I did this because I didn't want to hear his insults which were meant for the man I love.
"I can't believe that Sylvanas has sent her minions after us" spoke Arthas, regarding Alon for a short moment before he turned his gaze on us.
Vereesa was making a worried face. "I cannot believe that Sylvanas wanted to kill us all. Except for Arthas of course. She wants to torture him and make him pay for what he has done in her opinion. She doesn't care that the Lich King forced Arthas to invade Quel'Thalas and kill her. She only cares about her vengeance and would sacrifice everything and everyone to get it. It hurts me that she wants to see me dead too. I am her sister. I'm the only remaining member of our family and I have even promised her that I would support her no matter what will happen. But after finding out that my death would be acceptable as long as she gets Arthas, I'm not sure if I still want to be in contact with her. To be honest, I'm a bit afraid of what she would do to me, now that she knows that I'm working with you"
I approached her and rested my hands on her shoulders, giving her an assuring and comforting look. She stared into my eyes. The worried look vanished out of her face after a few moments. She stopped frowning. The corner of her lips formed a weak smile.
"Don't worry, Vereesa. We will make sure that no one will harm you in any way. We will protect you and find a way to deal with your sister" I said quietly, resting her head on my shoulder. I whispered a few comforting words in her ear while running my fingers through her silver hair.
"It's so difficult to get along with her. Suddenly, she is super friendly to me, shows sympathy and promises me that she will avenge Rhonin. And the next day she wants to kill me - her own sister - the only remaining member of our once glorious family. I can't comprehend what is going on in her mind nor do I want to understand her motives and her trains of thoughts. I just don't know what I should do in this situation" she responded quietly. A few tears ran down her cheeks.
I wiped them away and didn't stop to play with her hair. She was making a sad face and sobbed quietly. "I'm pretty sure that she thinks that I have betrayed her. First of all, because I haven't brought you back to her and because I'm working with you and Arthas instead of helping Sylvanas to capture Arthas. On the other hand, helping her would be wrong... You are my best friend but she is my sister and relies on me..." whispered Vereesa, making a short pause before she spoke further, "I wish I could go to her and help her to let go of the anger forever but I'm too afraid. I don't want to lose my life. I have two children who are needing me. I can't go to her. She is so unpredictable, who knows what she is capable of"
"You might be right in the point that she thinks that you have betrayed her. Out of her point of view, it makes sense but in total, working with us against the Scourge is the best for Azeroth and its inhabitants. Tens of thousands of lives could be spared if we manage to get the Scourge under control. We just have to make sure that the plan works out and that Sylvanas doesn't sabotage us. I think seeking her out would not help you at all. I don't want you to risk your life. You should maintain distance to her and wait until she realizes that we are not her enemy" I spoke, giving Vereesa another comforting hug.
"That's probably never going to happen. I don't see a scenario where Sylvanas would forgive Arthas. She will never accept that Arthas had little to do with her death and the fall of Quel'Thalas. He was the Lich King's vessel. Nothing more. He has been used by him. He was just a tool. But Sylvanas will never accept that. She has changed so much... I'm afraid there's only a small part of my lost sister left in her. She has changed so much. It's really hard to recognize her... I'm also afraid that she will turn into a merciless banshee, who walks over corpses to achieve her goals. I want her to be the sister I used to know. I know it would be selfish to demand this and it is almost impossible that this would happen but... I... I don't know" Vereesa paused for a short moment, reordering her thoughts. A tear ran down her cheek when she continued to speak. "I don't want to lose her but I don't think that I will be able to stop her from following the path of vengeance which could lead to her demise"
"We will find a solution for her, but for now we have to get the Scourge under control" said Arthas and gave us a weak smile. I gave him a nod, then I stared into Vereesa's beautiful blue high elf eyes for a few seconds to comfort her once again. She gave me a small smile, finally stepping backwards. "I'm sorry for bothering you"
"It's alright, Vereesa. I know that family can be really challenging sometimes. Anyways, let's bring our new prisoner to Stormwind before we go to the furbolgs. A lot of work is waiting for us" I responded, taking her hand and dragging her towards the room's exit.
Arthas dismounted from the skeletal horse he had been sitting on the past three days and walked to my skeletal horse. He took my hand and helped me to mount down - like a real gentleman. I smiled at him, kissing his cheek when I was standing on steady ground. He returned the smile and stared into my eyes. I didn't know how much time had passed when I averted my gaze and studied the tall creation in front of me.
It was the massive foot of a tree-trunk, which was hollowed out. The rest of the tree-trunk laid next to it, surrounded by a huge, dense forest. A wide spiral staircase had been built around the tree's bark. It was not even guarded, allowing anyone to reach the top of this odd habitat. I spotted a small entrance at the trunk's foot, at least it was guarded meaning that the furbolgs were still living there.
We tied the horses to a thin tree, Arthas took his hammer from his horses' saddle and put it on his back. He knew that he wouldn't need it because the furbolgs of the Frostpaw tribe wouldn't attack us but he preferred to be prepared instead of being unarmed. I was almost expecting an ambush from Sylvanas' men so I was glad that Arthas was careful as well.
We reached the entrance. The guards didn't even ask us about our request. They bowed to us, stepped aside and allowed us to pass. I looked at Vereesa, Shandris and Arthas, receiving quick nods from them. We walked through the gate and followed the inner spiral staircase to the highest level of the construct.
We saw more of these bear-man-like-creatures who were much taller than us. They had snow-white almost silver fur and behaved like intelligent creatures. Most of them regarded us curiously, only a few individuals were too busy, with doing something, to have noticed us. Those who had noticed us greeted us friendly. A small group of experienced guards came to us and escorted us to the hut of their leader.
I observed the huts inside as soon as we had entered it. The hut was made out of very firm brown wood, the floor was covered by furs of wolves and goats, carpets made out of spider-silk and thin blankets. We walked through the little entrance hall and a nicely furnished room which seemed to be the hut's living room.
We came to a much larger room in which middle a large table with seven chairs was standing. An older furbolg, I recognized as Brenow Snowclaw, was sitting on one of these chairs, his walking stick leaned against the side of his chair. Next to him sat another furbolg who was a lot younger and looked a lot healthier and burlier than Brenow. I didn't need to look twice to realize that the young one was Brenow's son.
The elder's lips formed a small smile when he noticed us. He put his left hand on his walking stick and stood up slowly. His back was bent, making him appear a lot smaller than the other members of his tribe. He lowered his head a little and signalized us to take a seat. I nodded and didn't hesitate to sit down. The others did the same and took a seat next to me.
I scrutinized the elder furbolg before I spoke "It has been a while since we last met, Brenow Snowclaw"
"Indeed, it has, Lady Proudmoore. I'm curious why you are visiting us this time. Do you need our warriors for another campaign? Or are you here because of another reason? Not all of your companions seem to belong to the Scourge. These two women are living creatures and not undead members of the Scourge. I'm curious why they are accompanying you" he responded and sat down, regarding Vereesa and Shandris with curiosity.
It surprised me that he hadn't heard that Arthas and I had broken free from the Scourge. Almost every creature on Azeroth had heard about it. Every creature except Brenow and the members of his clan. I didn't want to explain to him what happened but I knew I had to.
"One question after the other. No, we are not here because we need your warriors. Also, we aren't visiting you as ambassadors of the Scourge. Arthas and I don't belong to the Scourge anymore. We are cooperating with the Alliance and we want to talk to you because we are currently trying to reduce the Scourge's influence. We want to make sure the Scourge is no longer a threat for the creatures on Azeroth. We want to achieve control over the Scourge and gather all their forces in Icecrown. We want to make sure that these undead creatures won't ever leave Icecrown and stop harming or killing innocent creatures. Basically, we are here because we want to ask you to stop working with the Scourge" I leaned against the back of my chair as soon as I was done with explaining. He regarded us, his facial expression was unreadable.
"My clan and I owe the Scourge a lot. We may not agree with their goals and their methods but they have saved us from the extermination by the Redfang tribe. They enabled us to live in this beautiful city so that we don't have to hide anymore and move from one place to another. Without them, our tribe would have been wiped out by the Redfangs sooner or later" he explained.
My response followed quickly. "I know what they have done for you because I was there and have represented the Scourge during the negotiations. But you are forgetting one thing. The Scourge didn't do this to help you in the first place. The Scourge exterminated the Redfang tribe because their leader refused to work with them. The Scourge would have burned Grizzlemaw if you wouldn't have shown up and played into their hands. It was pure coincidence that they managed to establish a pact with you. You cannot trust the Scourge. They may have promised you that they will spare you, but one day they will come and kill every single person of your tribe. They will raise your people as their mindless pawns and will use them as cannon fodder. I'm pretty sure that you don't want that this would happen. Am I right?"
Brenow gulped, looking at his son for a short moment before he looked back at me. It was obviously written in his face that the truth of my words was troubling him. His' and his son's faces were speaking volumes. They were afraid of what could happen to their tribe and they were also afraid of what could happen to themselves. They didn't want to serve the Scourge forever in death. They wanted to rest in peace one day. They didn't want to live as haunted creatures who would do everything their superiors want from them.
They stared at us for a while, not saying anything at all. We didn't say anything either. I was looking at Arthas who was regarding the happening with a worried expression on his face. He gave me a small smile, but his gaze rested on the two furbolgs. The silence lasted for a few minutes but was finally broken my Brenow who seemed to have returned out of his thoughts.
"Well, to be honest, I don't trust the Scourge at all. I always knew that there was the chance that they will kill us one day but I have ignored it most of the time. The reason for that is that I would have taken almost every risk to guarantee that my tribe can live in peace. This means that I have kept my promise and proved my loyalty to the Scourge. I was hoping that they would never harm us but the truth is that they will kill us one day.
I know that my warriors have been sent to numerous campaigns and that they have fought in a lot of battles in the Scourge's name over the past year but besides that, most members of the Frostpaw tribe were able to live in peace without needing to fear that someone would attack us" he responded, making a short pause. "The question, I'm asking myself is: How long will we be able to live in peace or in this case, how long will we be able to live at all. I'm afraid that we will become mindless pawns of the Scourge one day"
"We are here because we want to give you an alternative. We want to suggest that you turn your back to the Scourge and join the Alliance. We will make sure that the Scourge will be no longer a threat for Azeroth and every creature which lives on it. We want to weaken the Scourge until we will be able to control them. But if we want to achieve our goal, we need your support. You have to do nothing at all, you only have to make sure that your warriors won't support them" I told.
I explained quickly how Frostmourne worked and how our plan looked like. "We can control the undead but we cannot control the living creatures which are still supporting the Scourge. Your tribe and the tribe of the Drakkari trolls are the Scourge's mightiest living allies. We need your support if we want to weaken the Scourge."
"Your words make sense" he statemented and regarded me with a thoughtful face. "Can you guarantee that no servant of the Scourge will ever harm us?" he asked, a hopeful look appeared on his face.
"We can send soldiers of the Alliance to Grizzlemaw. They will stay here and protect you as long as we need to gain full control over the Scourge" responded Vereesa.
"Hopefully, they are enough. I have heard that the Scourge has a really large army which is larger than any other army which had ever existed on Azeroth. I don't want to think about what would happen if their leaders find out that we are not working with them anymore" he said with a voice which sounded very weak and quiet.
"Don't worry, we will deal with the Scourge before they even notice that your tribe is no longer supporting them" I said promisingly and put my hand on his forearm. I gave him an assuring smile and received a small smile in return. He nodded weakly, looking at his son who gave him a small nod.
"Alright, I will tell my tribe that we stop cooperating with the Scourge. We will stop to send them resources like wood or iron and we stop sharing information with them" he responded. He took a sip of his tea and started to cough suddenly. His cough was not fake. It was real and I noticed by the way his chest was moving that he was having a serious health problem.
"Is everything okay?" I asked, giving him a worried look.
"Not really, but I have no other choice than hoping that my health will get better"
"Have you tried looking for a priest or a healer in general who could help you?"
Brenow started to cough again, this time it was a lot louder and heavier than the first time. His son answered for him, trying to help his father somehow. "We went to the shaman of our village but he has no clue what is wrong with my father. He has examined him more than three times but he still hasn't found the reason for this illness"
He put his arm around his father's shoulder, supporting him to prevent that he would fall from his chair. Suddenly, Brenow coughed blood. His son's eyes widened, his face reflected pure panic and worry.
"This doesn't look good, we should bring him to one of the best healers of the Alliance" suggested Shandris, looking at me. She didn't need to say anything to make me understand that I should create a portal to Stormwind City. I was not sure if traveling through portals would make Brenow's status worse but I didn't contradict Shandris and began to create a portal. I was done after almost five minutes, looking at Brenow whose chin was covered by his own blood.
"We will bring him to a healer, I would guess that you go to Drak'Tharon Keep and visit the queen of the Drakkari trolls. Hopefully, you will be able to convince her joining us too" announced Vereesa, carrying Brenow to the portal with the help of Shandris and Brenow's son. Vereesa glanced at me for a short moment before she disappeared with the others through the portal.
I turned around, looking at Arthas who was having a worried look on his face. "I have a bad feeling about this" he muttered and folded his arms in front of his chest.
"Me too. I'm hoping that the healers find a cure for his illness"
"Hopefully" he said quietly as he put his arm around my waist.
"We should visit the Drakkari trolls. I think that it will be a lot harder to convince them, considering that they don't like the Alliance or the Horde" I spoke. I closed the portal with one hand, then I opened another one by using the power which was saved in Frostmourne. We stepped through the portal, coming out in front of the enormous Drak'Tharon Keep.
My eyes widened, a suppressed sound came out of the back of my throat when I recognized the surroundings. What we were seeing looked more like a battlefield on which a massacre had happened than the beautiful area around the keep I remembered.
Hundreds of burned corpses of frost trolls laid on the ground which was covered by dark red blood. The staircase to the main entrance was destroyed. The keep was heavily damaged as if it had been under heavy siege for days. There were huge holes in the walls through which we were able to see the inside of the keep. More burned corpses laid on the ground but not all corpses were troll corpses. I also recognized dead bodies which belonged to the forsaken.
I stepped closer to the main entrance, noticing that remains of ashes from burnt bodies stuck on the walls and on the floor. I saw a few necromancers of the Scourge which were impaled on large wooden spikes which belonged to the keep's defence facility. I also saw a few necromancers which belonged to Sylvanas. They were dead as well. Their wounds told us that they had been killed by trolls.
"This doesn't look good" I hissed as I reached the destroyed staircase. I lifted my wand, tightening my grip on Frostmourne as I began to mutter a spell. A diagonal wall of ice was created which connected the blood-soaked ground with the floor of the first level.
We reached the main gate within a minute, spotting the corpse of a very tall and muscular troll. A familiar arrow stuck in his left eye and came out of the back of his head. I bent down, observing the arrow.
"Velonara" I muttered and pulled the arrow out of the troll's eye, destroying it with my bare hand.
"So, this is the proof that Sylvanas did this" statemented Arthas.
"It is. This arrow is definitely not a fake. It's almost impossible to recreate Velonara's or Sylvanas' arrows because they carve barely recognizable symbols in the wood of their arrows. I have seen their original arrows a lot of times over the past years that I can be sure that this arrow is not a fake" I explained. I got up and turned to Arthas who was holding his hammer with both hands.
"When did this happen and why?" he asked and checked our surroundings once again.
The blood is fresh. It was spilled maybe a few hours ago. The chance is pretty high that the attackers are still in the keep. I'm pretty sure that Sylvanas has ordered to attack the keep because she wants to weaken the Scourge as well but her purpose and methods are different than ours"
"We have to help the trolls and save their queen if she is still alive" shouted Arthas as he rushed through the entrance towards the massive slanted bridge which was covered by a lot of blood and dozens of corpses. He was in such a hurry that he didn't recognize the forsaken assassins who were standing on top of half destroyed columns.
They jumped down, landing on the ground without making a sound. Arthas didn't notice them so he continued to run towards the bridge.
"Arthas, behind you" I cried out warningly and cast a quick spell. A very large and thick ice-lance flew towards the undead, piercing through the chests of two of them.
Arthas turned around and smashed the head of the nearest assassin with his hammer. The second assassin managed to hit him but his armour was too firm for the blade, causing that it was shattered in the process. The assassin stared at Arthas in disbelief. This gave Arthas enough time to crush the assassin's chest with a quick hammer swing.
The last remaining assassin cried out and aimed for Arthas' head but he was dead before his blade came even close to its target. I had set him on fire and watched him burn with a satisfied smile on my lips.
Arthas gave me an impressed look, then his lips formed a small smile. I returned the smile, burning the corpses of the assassins before any necromancer could raise them.
"Shouldn't we storm this keep with reinforcements? I'm not sure if it's wise to go in alone against an unknown number of undead creatures" spoke Arthas, looking at me while I was getting closer to him.
"We don't have time for that. We have to make sure that the queen is safe before Velonara can do something to her" I responded and lifted Frostmourne and my wand
I brought them together and knocked their ends to the floor. I went on one knee and pressed my forehead against both weapons, muttering a few phrases. I completed my spell faster than I had expected, smiling at the result.
Five very large frost elementals appeared between me and Arthas. They were larger by a lot than my ordinary water elementals and looked a lot stronger. I gave Arthas a small nod, signalizing him that I was ready for battle.
He returned the nod and turned around, starting to climb the stairs as fast as possible. We reached the second level without getting interrupted by any backstabbing assassins.
The floor of the second level was covered with a lot more remains of corpses than the floor of the first level. We spotted a bunch of troll corpses which were piled up in front of the throne room's entrance. A few necromancers stood behind the pile and were casting a spell to raise these slain trolls.
This was another sign that the attack on this keep hadn't happened too long ago. Otherwise, the necromancers would have already finished raising the corpses.
One of the necromancers noticed us and shouted something in an unknown language. Suddenly, eight of Sylvanas' dark rangers stepped out of the shadows. They didn't hesitate long, after they had revealed their forms, and shot arrows at us.
I reacted quickly, shielding us with an arcane barrier. Two forsaken mages appeared out of nowhere and began to cast spells whose purpose was to destroy my barrier. I strengthened the barrier so that it would hold out longer while my frost elementals shot a bunch of shark ice spikes at the forsaken. The two mages died immediately because three of these ice spikes had pierced their brains -
Two of the dark rangers were set on fire by me, one was hit by an ice-spike while the body of another was crushed by Arthas' hammer.
Arthas had taken advantage that the ranged fighters had been busy dealing with my barrier - and had sprinted towards the pile of corpses. Arthas hit another dark ranger with a quick swing but he survived the attack somehow. That surprised Arthas, me and even the ranger himself.
Arthas killed him with the second strike but was hit by one of the other remaining archers. The arrow had pierced through his armour and hit him in the left side of his hip. Arthas ignored the arrow and the amount of blood which floated out of the wound. The pain he was feeling was reflected by his face but he wasn't crying out or making any other sound.
He gritted his teeth and created a barely recognizable weak barrier. The barrier dissolved immediately after having blocked the arrow, making him defenceless against other arrows. I didn't know why Arthas' attempt to shield himself hadn't worked. I only knew that it was my task to protect Arthas by every means.
I cast a frost barrier around him which was strong enough to hold out against a few arrows. This barrier will also slow down any melee fighters who dared to approach him.
With the help of my frost elementals, Arthas and I were able to kill the dark rangers and even the necromancers before they were able to complete their spell.
I burned the corpses before we entered the throne room. My eyes widened, a shocked cry escaped my lips when I saw the scene in front of us.
The floor was covered with hundreds of corpses of trolls and forsaken. A lot of these corpses were so incredibly mutilated that it was hard for us to recognize that they had once been humanoid creatures. The remains of the corpses were swimming in a small ocean of blood. The smell would have been unbearable for any living creature but it didn't bother me and Arthas because we are both dead as well.
In the middle of the room stood Dark Ranger Velonara who was surrounded by five abominations. She was holding a knife in her hand which was pressed against the throat of Alrei. The frost troll queen had been forced to stand on her knees. Her priest robe was left in pieces, revealing lots of pale blue skin. Her body was covered by bruises and wounds, one of her eyes was swollen and blood flowed out of her broken nose.
Alrei's good eye rested on me, her lips were formed to a thin line - All in all, she was signalizing me that she was not afraid of Velonara and not afraid of dying.
"You don't need to do this, Velonara" I shouted, positioning the frost elementals in front of Arthas and me so that they would serve as a protective wall against any arrow.
"Tell me why I should spare her, Proudmoore" she shouted and pressed the sharp edge of the knife harder against queen's throat, causing that a little amount of blood flowed out, eventually dropping into the ocean of blood.
"She has done nothing wrong. She didn't hurt you or Sylvanas" I shouted and looked at Arthas who gritted his teeth and pointed his hammer in Velonara's direction.
"She has allied herself with the Scourge which makes her to our enemy. Everyone who is working with the Scourge is the enemy of the Forsaken. That includes you and your bastard of a lover" she hissed aggressively, glancing at Arthas contemptuously.
"I would have negotiated with the Drakkari trolls. I would have tried to convince them to stop working for the Scourge. But now it is too late because you slaughtered almost the entire tribe" I shouted back and gave her an angry look.
I wish I could do something to save the queen but, in this situation, talking with this crazy bitch was the only option I had. She would slit the queen's throat if I would do any move. I could only try to talk to her. I assumed that she wouldn't listen to me but I had to try it. I had to.
Velonara's response followed quickly. "The Drakkari trolls would never ally themselves with the living. The chance that Arthas and I would become lovers would be higher than the chances that this troll would work with the Alliance or the Horde.
"You couldn't have known that for sure" shouted Arthas, making a few steps forward.
Velonara ignored Arthas and looked at me when she formulated a response. "Well as you have said, it is too late. We will never know if she ever would have worked with any of us".
She gave me a wide and provocative smirk before she cut Alrei's throat without a warning.