As Danthor and Jonas journey to the frontlines . . . Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own (World of) Warcraft. If I did, I would be busy making the next expansion instead of writing Fanfictions
36: The Lich King's Death Knights
They left their horses with Romvoy, mostly because they forgot they had them.
Travelling on foot, Danthor and Jonas walked north from the base towards Death's Breach, where there was sure to be Scourge attacks. To their surprise, though, they didn't come across a single undead as they stopped to rest at the Havenshire stables.
"This is . . . unexpected," Jonas said, resting his back against the stable fence and looking up at the orange-colored sky. "There's no action to be found here—the frontlines of the enemy."
Danthor glanced back to the stables to see a large amount of healthy-looking horses stabled and running around in the gated, circular range. Now he knew where they got their horses from. "Yeah, I don't like it. It's like they're pulling back all their forces for a major attack."
"Probably are." He heard the sound of a horse right behind him and instinctively moved away from the post. He turned around to see a dark-skinned man with long brown hair, a beard, and red leather armor riding a chestnut-colored horse with white spots.
He eyed the two suspiciously. "People don't usually hang around here. The only ones who come around here either want horses, or to steal them!"
"Well we want neither," Danthor replied. "Don't worry, we won't be here long."
"Think they can pull a fast one on Kitrik, they do," the stable master, evidently named Kitrik, muttered before moving away.
Sighing, Danthor asked, "You think Abbendis was just messing with us by sending us out here?"
"Doubt it," Jonas said flatly. "She probably hoped we'd get killed out here."
The two looked at each other before bursting out laughing.
"Keep that racket down, will ya?" Kitrik roared from the other side of the free range. This only caused the two to laugh even more.
The sound of laughter was cut short by the even louder sound of a barbaric war cry. The two looked over to see about seven death knights, all wearing the similar armor of black, stylized, sleeveless robes with a small skull at the center of the chest and belt, small iron epaulets of the same color, and a matching hood that shrouded the upper-half of their face, hiding all save for their glowing blue eyes. Each gripped a two-handed runeblade that glowed blue with an enchantment.
Danthor and Jonas immediately drew their weapons, while Kitrik let out a massive shrieking sound before leaping over the fence and drawing his polearm. "Aieeeeeeeee!"
The death knights were of varying races (it seem the Lich King didn't discriminate there): an orc, two humans (one male, one female), a Forsaken undead, a night elf, a tauren, and a dwarf.
The orc, who seemed to be leading the charge, pointed at the three humans and yelled, "No mercy! For the glory of the Lich King!"
"Looks like you got what you wanted," Jonas said behind his scarlet-colored helmet. He gripped his mace tightly. "For the Light!"
Danthor roared as he, Jonas, and Kitrik rushed forward—three on seven. They clashed near the stables, the orc striking Danthor first with his runeblade. The attack was powerful, but bounced off his shield emblazed with the red flame of the Crusade. Danthor struck up a defensive stance and shifted his body weight, swinging his sword in a counter attack. The orc dodged and laughed, swinging horizontally, which Danthor ducked to avoid.
Jonas found himself going against the male human and dwarf. They both struck in tandem, which Jonas managed to parry with his two-handed mace. Using his superior strength, he pushed their weapons away and swung his mace, hitting the human in his unprotected side. He recoiled in pain, but it was the paladin-champion who was surprised.
It may look like cloth, but their armor is made out of some resilient metal, he thought as the dwarf rushed towards him.
Jonas thought fast and channeled the Light through his free hand and unleashed its power across the dwarf's face. He cried out in pain as his hood was sliced open, revealing his gray-colored skin, now bleeding from the new wound he received. He looked at Jonas indignantly before swinging his runeblade towards him again. Jonas nimbly leapt away, narrowly avoiding getting slashed. Reacting quickly, he swung his hammer and hit the dwarf in the side of his head. He heard a cracking sound before the dwarf's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell onto his back, his weapon falling form his lifeless hands.
They're still just as vulnerable underneath, though, he thought to himself before he felt a powerful blast of dark magic strike him.
He gripped his chest and buckled slightly, looking to see that it was from the male human, who had recovered. He held his hand out, indicating he was the one who used the unholy attack upon him. Jonas quickly channeled the Holy Light through his hand to fix the dark wound, dispelling all unholy magic from it. While he was doing this, the human moved towards him, blade at the ready.
Jonas rushed forward, meeting him in the middle. The struck at the same time, creating a deadlock as neither gave up. Despite the hood covering his face, Jonas could tell the human had a stoic expression on his face. Behind Jonas's helmet, a strained grin appeared as he said to himself, "Can't hurt to try . . ."
Without warning, he brought his armored head crashing down against the human's, butting him square in his forehead. His stoic expression was replaced with shock as his hood flew back, revealing his black, matted hair. Jonas didn't stop there, taking a step forward and judging his opponent with the Holy Light, slashing him across his chest.
The human death knight recoiled a bit more, just enough to see Jonas's hammer flying towards his chest. It struck his unarmored arm, breaking it instantly. The death knight gave a howl of pain as he dropped his runeblade. Jonas didn't let up as he swung his mace with all his might, colliding against the human's neck. He gave a surprised expression before crumpling to the ground, leaving Jonas standing victoriously.
He looked at the hood lying on the ground. "Guess not everything is armored as strong as your robes. Lucky for me, unlucky for you . . ."
Danthor managed to gain the upper hand against the orc, dodging his blow and cutting his exposed, green arm. He cried out in pain as Danthor used this momentum to kick him away, sending him to the ground. It was around this point that the male night elf joined the fray, sneaking up from behind and swinging his sword at the knight.
Danthor's senses had been honed by several battles at this point, though, and he was able to shift his body position just in time, raising his shield to block the attack. He immediately stepped forward and went into a counterattack, swinging his sword skillfully as the night elf either parried or dodged the attack, taking a step back each time he did either.
"Come on, I thought you were the Lich King's finest fighting force," Danthor taunted, sending the night elf on the offensive.
He swung his blade repeatedly, trying to force Danthor back. Luckily, he was able to block or parry each blow and not give any ground. Feeling frustrated, Danthor could see the red runes in the elf's runeblade light up, creating a blood-colored aura around the blade. As he struck again against Danthor's blade, he could feel the extra power within the attack. Danthor's muscles tensed as he felt the night elf's power forcing him back.
"No . . . you . . . don't!" he yelled, summoning all of his strength to push the sword back, catching the elf off-balance and forcing him to take a step back.
Acting quickly, Danthor charged forward with his sword pointed at his opponent. With a roar, he shoved his sword through the night elf's chest, piercing his armor. The surprised death knight only looked at him before falling to the ground.
That's when he noticed the female Forsaken death knight running past him and into the stable.
The Forsaken picked the closest horse, a strong, black-colored beast, and leapt onto its back, kicking at its sides and leaping over the fence with it. She sped past Kitrik (who had surprisingly killed the tauren), who immediately saw her and cried out, giving chase. Not wanting the clearly mad crusader to go chasing after her alone, he called to Jonas.
"She's going to Death's Breach!" he yelled. "We gotta stop her!"
"On it!" Jonas yelled, taking off after her.
Danthor was about to move before he felt a powerful force bring him backwards several feet, landing hard on his back. He quickly got up to see the orc standing next to him, seething.
"That damned girl," he said, "taking off without us. Oh well, I'll just have to kill you before stealing my own horse."
In the corner of his eye, Danthor noticed the human female death knight coming towards him. He sighed as he saw Jonas's form getting further away from him. He wouldn't be catching up to him anytime soon.
— — —
Jonas was wishing he brought his horse now.
He had no chance catching up to either the Forsaken or Kitrik, both of whom were on horses. "Wait . . . the hell up," he panted, as the two forms got farther away.
He saw the death knight disappear into Death's Breach. Jonas expected that, and knew she had gotten away. He still had sight of Stable Master Kitrik, though, who wasn't impossibly far away. He didn't want to leave the clearly unstable man alone. Light knows what he would do.
He was about to call out Kitrik's name to tell him to come back when he suddenly saw a horseman . . . materialize out of nowhere. He showed up at the stable master's side, and immediately caught his attention as he rushed towards him on a fiery, undead warhorse.
"Aieee! Keep the change, ya filthy animal!" Kitrik yelled, setting his sights on the mysterious horseman.
The two met and clashed once, charging past each other and rounding themselves back for a second strike. Kitrik aimed high and the rider aimed low, the two clashing again in the middle. As Kitrik trotted away, he slumped down and fell to the ground, his horse riding away in fear.
"By the Light . . ." Jonas said, making a silent prayer for him.
This single uttering seemed to have caught this dark rider's attention, because he immediately turned towards Jonas and pointed his two-handed axe at him. He then rushed towards him, galloping at full speed.
"Oh, for the love of . . ." Jonas muttered, striking up a fighting stance. Now he really wished he had a horse with him.
When the dark rider was close enough for Jonas to see his yellow eyes behind his bucket-shaped helmet (he bore a striking resemblance to Salanar the Horseman), the paladin leapt out of the way, summoning the power of the Light to strike the horse's back legs. The animal gave a pained whinny and bucked the dark rider off, sending him to the ground with a pained grunt. Then, Jonas saw the animal disappear into the air completely, just as easily as it had appeared to attack Kitrik.
The dark rider stood up and looked at Jonas, saying, "You won't be able to send me back to the Realm of Shadows so easily."
"Oh, is that where you're from?" Jonas asked. "Wanna tell me more about it?"
"You'll rue the day you crossed weapons with the Dark Riders of Acherus!"
He charged towards Jonas, axe raised. Gripping his own mace, Jonas met his charge and the two locked weapons. Clearly strained, Jonas called upon the powers of the Holy Light again. This time, it answered his call by consecrating the ground beneath the two, damaging the dark rider, but providing a soothing relief for the paladin.
The dark rider disengaged and moved away from the holy ground. When he looked back up, he saw Jonas channeling a ball of light in his hand. "I'm not in the mood for this right now! Time for you to disappear!"
He threw the ball of pure light towards the dark rider with amazing speeds. It seems like the dark rider didn't expect this, cause he didn't move quickly enough, with the attack clipping his shoulder. Still, a mere clip was enough to send the power of the Light through him, burning up his entire body. He cried out in pain as Jonas leapt forward, swinging his hammer towards his head.
It hit and dented the helmet. The dark rider faltered, but never fell. He regained his ground and swung his axe at Jonas, lightly cutting his chest. Using up the last of his holy power, he judged the dark rider, with the holy slash going across his neck. The dark rider gripped his throat before stumbling backwards and falling down. His body disappeared at once.
"Realm of Shadows, huh?" pondered the paladin when he saw him go.
"Jonas!"
He turned around to see Lethella walking towards him. She had just come from the mines, and looked like she fared no better than he had. "Lethella?" he asked. "What happened?"
"I can ask you the same thing," she retorted.
Jonas motioned back towards the stables, saying, "Danthor's still fighting back there. Tell me about what happened as we go back to help him."
Lethella smiled a bit. "Deal."
— — —
Danthor took care of the human rather easily. She, like the night elf, wasn't particularly skilled in the art of combat (probably due to her past life), and it showed when they fought. It was the orc that was the problem. He must've been a fierce warrior when he was alive, because he fought with true skill that kept the knight on his toes.
His strikes had power behind them. The kind of power that caused Danthor's entire arms to tingle when he blocked or parried. Danthor had received a few injuries on his torso by being careless. He tried not to make that mistake again.
Surrounded by the corpses of five death knights, the two fighters stared at each other, breathing heavily. The fight had been going on for a while now. Letting out a roar, the orc rushed towards Danthor, swinging his sword downward. Danthor sidestepped the attack, swinging his sword at the orc's unprotected side. It didn't work, as he was able to narrowly avoid the strike, swinging his meaty arm into Danthor's face, bloodying it and forcing him to take a step back.
Translucent blue frost appeared in the orc's hand. With a laugh, he thrust his hand at Danthor, causing the spell to hit him right in his chest. It was cold, but that was to be expected. His entire chest felt numb from the orc's Icy Touch. Trying to shake it off, Danthor charged his opponent, swinging relentlessly.
The orc laughed and parried and dodged. He was skilled, all right. Feeling angered, Danthor switched his stance up and threw his entire body behind his shield. His slam hit the unsuspecting orc in his chest, causing him to cough up some blood and recoil in pain. He wiped his mouth and stared at Danthor angrily.
The knight smiled. "What's wrong? Getting hurt wounds your delicate sensibilities?"
"I'll crush you, worm!" He summoned up a blast of unholy energy in his hand, throwing it at Danthor, yelling, "Death Coil!"
He didn't have time to dodge, so he raised his shield up in defense, but was knocked onto his back. The orc laughed raucously and summoned up a few chains of ice to pin Danthor down. He was stuck! The orc moved towards him slowly, runeblade in hand.
"Now you die," he said, raising his sword. "You'll see what happens when you cross me!"
Danthor expected the blade to come down and easily pierce his chest—for it to all be over. What happened instead was that a blade pierced the orc's chest. A blade with a fiery-red enchantment on it. The orc looked at Danthor in disbelief and dropped his runeblade.
"Get away from him, scum!" Lethella said, wrenching her sword away. The orc fell over, dead.
The warmage used her fire magic to melt away the ice and helped him up. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Thanks for saving me. I owe you one."
"Don't mention it," Lethella said.
"You should be really thankful," Jonas interjected. "If it was me, I would've let him kill you first before I attacked. Would've made my life a lot easier."
"Shut up." He sheathed his weapons and inspected his wounds. Not bad. He'd certainly received a lot worse. "I've had enough for one day. How 'bout you guys?"
Jonas and Lethella nodded and the three of them made their way back to the base.
Mission successful?
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