Twenty-Eight.

Just the bone-numbing chill of the water was like a physical blow and Taliah flailed in instinctive, primal panic. Her head broke the surface and she tried to hack the water from her lungs. When the next wave pushed her under, she lost all sense of up and down until her thrashing brought her to the surface again. The paladin tried to call for help but could only try and cough the water from her nose and mouth. She could see the Arcareena looming above her, a dark shape against a dark sea and sky, and vaguely heard the cry of "Man overboard!" over the howling fury of the wind.

Taliah floundered as she tried to keep her head above water. Already her hands and feet were numbed to the point of uselessness and her arms and legs were following along apace. The multiple layers of wool began to drag her down and Taliah clawed for the surface with every ounce of strength she had.

All around him, men recovered and ran to the rails, searching for the paladin in the dark waters below and he scanned the waves. One foot on the rail and one hand gripping the quarterdeck shroud, he stared at the water as though his desperation alone would make her appear. Captain Jarvas was beside him, the old man's knuckles white on the rail, a coil of rope under his arm. "There!" Necrucian's finger stabbed at a patch of churning water near the stern and both men heard a frantic, terrified cry for help that ended far too abruptly. Without hesitating, Necrucian snatched the coil of rope from the Captain and dove off the rail.

Taliah slipped below the surface, her arms and legs refusing to function. Her muscles had begun to cramp agonizingly from the cold, but still she fought as she slipped below the surface for the last time. Her body cried out for oxygen and she unconsciously took another breath of seawater. She wanted to cry, rage and to scream at the unfairness of it all. She had survived Anderhal, the battle for the Sunwell and the bloody fight for Light's Hope, only to die to a rogue wave at sea? It just didn't seem right. Taliah could hear her heartbeat slow and felt her lungs strain painfully in her chest. It was almost a relief when the darkness took her and she felt no more.

Necrucian saw her, limp and lifeless in the black, sinking into the abyssal embrace of the sea. He caught her roughly about he waist and half-hoped she would punch him in the face, but while her grey eyes were half-opened, she did not move. As the deathknight broke the surface, he gave a howl of despair and held the limp woman to him as he tied off the rope about them. He heard the Captain give the order to haul and the crew pulled with all of their combined might. The pair ploughed through the water and as they reached the stern of the ship, they were hoisted into the air and over the rail. He landed roughly on the deck, Taliah atop him and someone cut the rope that bound them together. The deathknight rolled the paladin onto her back as the ship's signal light washed across her white face. The woman's head lolled as the ship pitched, and her eyes were open and staring. When the roll of the ship caused her head to turn to the side, water left her nose and mouth in a rush. In desperation, he gathered her in his arms and pinching her nose shut, clamped his mouth over hers and forced a deep breath of air into her drown lungs.

The crew had gone back to manning their stations and the Captain clamped a hand on the deathknight's shoulder. "She's gone, lad." he yelled over the wind. Necrucian ignored him and pushed another deep breath into Taliah's lungs. He felt her chest expand, but still she did not move.

Ah Taliah… he mourned silent Not like this.. He held her as the world continued to go to hell around them and gave the paladin the kiss of life one finally time. The limp body in his arms suddenly stiffened and she flailed in panic, her grey eyes wide and terrified. The Captain just stared for a moment.

"Get her to me cabin, lad!" his voice was barely audible in the wind "Get her warmed up 'fore she dies o the hypothermia!"

Necrucian scooped up the coughing, gagging paladin and rushed her belowdecks. Taliah clung to him as though he was the only thing keeping her alive and her body trembled violently with cold and shock. The paladin's breathing was ragged and chocked and came out in high-pitched wheezes every time she gasped for air. Shoving past the galley on his way aft, he bellowed to the cook to put coals in the only bedwarmer on the ship and bring it to the Captain's cabin.

The deathknight practically kicked in the door and set Taliah in a chair. She looked like a drowned cat- wet, miserable and shaking uncontrollably. He began to strip the woman out of her soaked woollen garments and she stared blankly, her face still deathly pale but the paladin did not fight or resist. She looked confused and disoriented and her lips were turning blue while dark circles formed around her eyes. Wrapping her in a the quilt that rested on the back of the chair, Necrucian carried her to the bed and piled blankets upon her as the ship's cook, a pot-bellied, hairy man whom everyone just called 'Cookie', brought in the cast-iron bed warmer. Resembling a lidded frying pan with an inordinately long handle and containing coals from the ship's stove, it steamed in the cold air. Cookie glanced over the shivering woman and gave the deathknight a look that did not seem very hopeful and withdrew quietly, closing the door behind him. Necrucian ignore him and shoved the bed warmer under the thin mattress beneath the paladin's back. The deathknight pulled off his gauntlets and lit the braziers in the cabin with a taper. The cabin slowly began to warm, but the woman did not stop shivering.

Taliah could never remember feeling so cold and she could barely recall where she was. Her vision swam in and out of focus as she teetered on the edge of unconsciousness. "Taliah." The voice was firm and familiar and she focused on the blurry grey face that hovered above her. "Stay with me, Taliah." She reached up with a trembling hand to touch the familiar face with its stubble-covered jaw and glowing blue eyes. The faded chestnut hair was pasted to his face and skull and water dripped off his chin. Try as she might, she could not put a name to the visage. Wavering fingertips traced the dark, bruise-like markings that ran like scars over his eyes, from forehead to cheeks. While they marked the man as one of the first to be raised as a deathknight by the Lich King, at the moment she had no idea what they were.

Necrucian took her hand gently. He put it back beneath the heavy blankets and listened to the air whistle in her lungs as she breathed. Cookie returned with a bowl of hot broth, managing not to spill any as the ship heaved and sank as she road out the storm. He offered the bowl to the deathknight with a shake of his head and left the room as silently as he'd entered. Necrucian pulled the dazed paladin into a seated position, his arm supporting her shoulders as he put the bowl of steaming liquid to her lips. "Drink." It was not a request, and the paladin did as she was bid, taking a slow sip of the hot liquid. It burned like fire on the way down her throat, and simmered in her cold belly, making her squirm in discomfort.

After several hours, Taliah began to become more lucid, and her expression less confused. Once glassy eyes began to clear and the paladin became aware of her surroundings. "I'm naked… why am I naked again?" she croaked softly in confusion.

"You went for a swim." The deathknight replied as she sat up slowly, holding the blanket to her with one hand. "I don't think you enjoyed it much, though. The water's mighty cold." The woman's dark brows drew together as she looked around slowly.

"I remember… the wave… going over the rail…" she ran a hand through her damp, tangled hair and took a deep breath. It whistled horribly in her throat and she coughed violently for a moment. "Ah, Light that hurts…" Again she took a breath, though not so deep this time "I don't think I've ever been that afraid… everything went black…"

"You'll feel like hell for a few days, but you should be alright." Necrucian told her. He was still soaked to the skin and water still dripped from his armour onto the floor. Taliah blinked and lay back down, staring at the ceiling for a moment.

"Why do I have this feeling…" She coughed again, not so harshly this time but her voice was hoarse as though she'd been strangled. "…that I owe you my life?"

"You spared my life at Light's Hope and made a sacrifice of blood to save me later, when I was close to the Final Death." The deathknight shrugged "As I see it, we are now even." Taliah closed her eyes for a long moment and shivered, her body temperature not yet normalized. Necrucian got up from the chair and brought the braziers closer before tucking the blankets around her form.

"You're just going to have to let me die next time… you save my ass again, and then I'll owe you." She laughed softly and coughed "This keeps up, we may never be rid of each other."

Necrucian grinned, but there was no malice in it "Don't tempt me, paladin." He jested "You're about the most difficult person I've ever had the misfortune of meeting."

Tahlia grinned and snuggled into the bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin "Aye, and you can't even throttle me until after I get you into Stormwind. You poor bastard."

"Are you still sickened by my actions during the battle with the Naga?" he asked earnestly. Necrucian wondered why he even cared. He may have raised the Naga dead, but it had won the day and spared the Arcareena – did he really have anything to apologize for?

Taliah closed her eyes once more, the humour draining from her expression "I'm… not happy, if that's what you mean." She took a slow, deep breath, stopping when she felt the cough coming on "But do I want to gut you for what you did? Not anymore. I know why you did it, and your intentions were good enough. Still.." she stifled a cough "the ends can never justify the means, Nec."

The deathknight knew that was as much of an 'I forgive you' as he was going to get from the paladin, yet still he felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "Sleep." He reached out and tucked a stray, lank lock of ebony hair behind her ear.

"…stay?" she croaked. Taliah remembered the feel of being utterly alone as she had thrashed in the black, frigid water and the though that she might be left alone in the room near terrified her.

"I'm not going anywhere, paladin." The deathknight replied softly.