Chapter 37: Twilight of the Gods, part 5
Torgall raised his axe defiantly, ready to meet the skeleton head-on - it charged him, shield raised and blade drawn back for a quick thrust. Anticipating the strike, he weaved to the side as the barbed blade jabbed towards him, missing his shoulder by inches. As he turned, however, the bone arm rotated in its joint in a way a living creature's could not, lashing out and slicing his upper arm; he gave a bellow of pain and anger as the blade cut through his armour and bit into his flesh. He whirled about snarling, raising the axe to retaliate.
Again, the skeleton came at him with its shield raised - Torgall rushed forward, swinging the axe, but was brought up short as his opponent rammed the shield into his chest, knocking the breath clean from his lungs and causing him to stagger, his charge faltering. The blade came up a second time, ready to inflict another debilitating wound, but Torgall still had enough momentum to clumsily roll to the side, avoiding the attack by a hair's width.
As he leapt to his feet, baring his teeth and growling in the back of his throat, he realized that this was not a simple-minded undead individual - it was a cunning and powerful warrior, likely controlled by powerful magic. He would not be able to defeat it through sheer brute force alone, but would need to outsmart it, lest it gain the upper hand. The red eyes continued to survey him passively, weapon and shield raised, waiting for him to strike back.
Fully aware that his allies were still battling undead pressing them from all sides and that they would be unable to assist him if his own fight took a turn for the worse, Torgall made up his mind quickly. He charged fowards a second time, intending for the skeleton to repeat the same shield maneuver as before - sure enough, the shield came up and thrust out as he neared, but this time he braced himself for the impact: as he was barely a foot away from contact, he gave a last-moment burst of speed, hoping to break his opponent's guard. He felt a twinge of satisfaction as he felt the shield arm give slightly - only to cry out in surprise and fury as the skeleton shoved the shield out with tremendous force, sending him staggering back several paces.
He quickly caught himself, straightening up and staring at his opponent with a mixture of shock and apprehension - it was clear that this was a very powerful individual, with strength easily rivalling that of the bone golem he had had to contend with minutes ago. The skeleton warrior was on the offensive now, approaching him with a calm level of surety and confidence. Torgall's eyes flickered up and down, scanning his opponent for any weaknesses, any openings that he could exploit, but found nothing. In the end his gaze settled on the shield - he would need to remove it to have any chance of success.
As the skeleton neared, he raised his axe, ready for its attack - as the blade fell towards him, he gave a powerful two-handed swing, knocking it far to the side. With that threat tempoarily disposed of, he lunged foward, grabbing the shield in one hand and holding his axe up with the other, acting as a tempoary guard. The skeleton gave an angry hiss, the first sign of any real emotion from the undead, and tugged the shield back forcefully. Torgall refused to release it, however, and was pulled forward - his momentum carried him into his opponent, knocking them both to the ground.
Torgall rolled as he hit the ground, breaking his fall to a degree, while the skeleton scrambled about to maintain its hold on the sword and shield. During that moment of respite, Torgall risked a glance at the others. Greshka, Torgus and Valnok were still fighting without impediment - Greshka was mostly covered in foul ichor, which obscured any wounds she might have had; Torgus had a number of bruises but appeared not to notice them; and Valnok had sustained a number of scratches and gashes, however he continued to battle with fierce abandon, refusing to allow any undead near Bristlefur.
What caught Torgall's attention was Yulgash, Belpep and Lucethious. He had convinced himself that they were battle-worthy to handle themselves - he had seen their magic in use before, after all, to great effect - but with a closer look, he could see that the first two looked rather ragged and exhausted, while the third still hadn't moved. He made a move towards them, briefly forgetting about his fight with the skeleton, but with an angry hiss, his opponent reached and wrapped its fingers around his ankle, biting into the armour. He let out a cry of pain and kicked out, trying to throw it off.
The skeleton's strength, however, was tremendous - still clutching his leg with one hand, it used its other to push itself to its feet, upending the orc in the process. Torgall struck the ground hard, belatedly realizing that his leg had been released as he stared up at the skeleton, dazed and slightly surprised by what he was seeing. Whereas earlier it had been fighting with a cold and calm demeanour, it was now hissing and snarling, the red eyes glowing bright.
He shook his head, clearing the stars clouding his vision and leapt to his feet, the skeleton's blade cutting the air where his neck had been moments ago. He chanced a glance over his shoulder, and his eyes briefly met Yulgash's. The mage frowned, reading his gaze, and nodded. It happened in the space of a heartbeat - already, Torgall was forced on the defensive as the skeleton warrior, still hissing and spitting furiously, continued to press its attack.
Torgall gritted his teeth as he awkwardly parried a strike; he dodged backwards as a bony leg kicked out; ducked quickly as the shield swung out at his chest. This undead had unbridled strength and swiftness, and had now added ferocity to the mix.
Abruptly, the skeleton hissed angrily as it was lifted several feet off the ground and thrown backwards, crashing into a tree and getting wedged in the trunk. Torgall looked around wildly and saw Yulgash had his arms out and was panting, but the magical attack had done the trick - his opponent was briefly incapacitated. Seizing the opportunity, he hurried over to the human.
"What's wrong?" he barked, noting the sweat on his brow.
"Powerful... magic," Yulgash panted, "Was already tired, but... that skeleton is worryingly strong..."
"You don't say," Torgall growled, watching warily as the skeleton struggled to free itself from the splintered wood, "what's wrong with him?" he added, pointing at Lucethious.
"He's been magically incapacitated," Yulgash said in a hurry, "we need to find someone to remove a great deal of magic- look out!" he cried.
Torgall whirled about, then grabbed Yulgash and pushed him to the ground. The skeleton had managed to extricate itself from the tree, in the process snapping off a thick branch and throwing it at the pair with incredible force; Torgall felt a rush of wind as it passed over them. He rose, bellowing in defiance, despite the strength of his opponent. Yulgash scrambled to his feet as well, stumbling slightly as his feet tangled with his robes.
"Come!" the skeleton hissed, raising the blade tauntingly.
Torgall ran forwards, noticing Yulgash's hands flare in the corner of his eye. The skeleton lunged at him, aiming to skewer his shoulder, but a rope of flame sparked into life around its gauntleted hand; it gave an angry clatter, but the distraction was all Torgall needed. Putting extra force behind his strike, he aimed for the shoulder of the shield-bearing arm - it was protected by a heavy pauldron, but he knew that if he struck it with enough force he could hopefully dislodge the arm entirely, breaking his opponent's defence.
Unfortunately, despite the skeleton's brief moment of inattentivity, it still managed to bring its shield up in a clumsy defense. The axe's movement was slowed slighty, and it clanged loudly off the shoulder armour. It did, however, manage to partially achieve Torgall's desired effect - the arm shifted slightly out of the socket, and went limp. The skeleton hissed angrily and reached for it, but had to lift its blade to parry Torgall's next attack - now that he had an advantage, he was not about to lose it.
He rushed forward, striking blow after blow at the undead, hoping to open up another chink in the defenses. The skeleton managed to block and parry with both incredible speed and force, swatting aside his axe with the barbed sword - Torgall was beginning to think it was magically empowered, given it hadn't shattered yet - but it had no real opportunities to counter-strike. Yulgash supplemented his attacks, causing the ground around it to shudder and shake, or great gusts of wind to help throw it off-balance.
The skeleton still fought with ferocity, but Torgall could sense that it was weakening. Without its shield to block his attacks and being forced to parry with a sword, he had reach - the skeleton's ability to rotate its joints with impunity, however, gave it flexibility that he could not match; but with the threat diminished, he was able to be more aware of his surroundings, most notably of his allies, and Lucethious, who was still lying unconcious on the ground.
He was just proceeding with a powerful downward strike when a heavy, dark shadow passed over them all, coupled with an enormous blast of wind that kicked up dust and leaves, shook the trees and sent them all stumbling. They all looked up in surprise, but the undead seemed reinvigorated by the strange suddenness of whatever had caused such an anomaly; indeed, the skeleton warrior began giving off a hissing cackle, its teeth clattering maliciously.
Torgall immediately capitalized on its brief lapse in action, rushing forwards and bringing his axe down. The skeleton raised its blade too late, only deflecting his weapon very slightly, but enough to stop it from cleaving into its breastplate; instead, the axe sunk into the shield that still hung uselessly by its side. With an annoyed grunt, Torgall yanked the axe backwards, and with a resounding crack, the shield came flying off, arm and all. He watched, eyebrows raised, as it hurtled off the axehead, crashing into a ghoul attacking Greshka.
He rounded on the skeleton, grinning at what he had just wrought - and his smile faltered to see that it was laughing harder than before. He bared his teeth, preparing to finish off the damaged undead, but a second gust of wind kicked up, stronger than before, and Valnok's voice suddenly cut across the sounds of battle.
"Everyone, break apart!" he bellowed, "Now!"
Torgall glanced up, and dropped to the ground a heartbeat later, scrambling for the edge of the clearing. Above them in all its menacing fury was a frostwyrm.
Yulgash gaped in shock and horror, drinking in the terrifying sight before him. A massive dragon was flying high above them, blanketing them in shade and sending down crushing blasts of wind with each flap of its wings. Frigid winds drifted through its maw, capable of freezing them in the blink of an eye. Sharp claws no doubt able to tear effortlessly through stone and steel alike stretched and coiled threateningly, and razor-sharp teeth - far too many razor-sharp teeth - lined its jaws.
But what struck fear into his heart was that this dragon was completely skeletal.
Atop it, perched halfway up the spine near the base of the neck was a lich, though one not as large as Rage Winterchill, nor as magically powerful as far as he could sense. Interestingly, as the dragon's head swivelled about, surveying the scene below it, he caught sight of a large crack that ran along the top of the skull - one that must have been caused by a fairly large weapon, and a great deal of strength to penetrate the thick bone.
"I recognize that frostwyrm," growled a voice behind him, and he turned to see Torgus gazing up at the dragon - or frostwyrm, as he had called it - with a mix of horror and anger. "This cannot be...!"
"What is-?" Yulgash started to ask, but a loud voice, magically amplified, cut him off, echoing around the glade.
"I was not only right to investigate such a magical anomoly - I was lucky!" it boomed, with an icy edge that made Yulgash's blood run cold, "At first I thought simply sending my undead minions would be enough to take care of whatever isolated resistance was hiding out in the wilderness..."
As he continued to rant, Torgall sidled up to them. Yulgash noticed the skeleton warrior he had been fighting now lay in several pieces; evidently he had utilized its distraction to dispose of it.
"That damned thing talks to much," he growled, gesturing at the lich, "what is it, anyway?"
"It is a lich; a powerful spellcaster raised into undeath," Yulgash replied quickly.
"...and you even managed to slay my strongest champion!" the lich proclaimed, pointing at the skeletal warrior Torgall had defeated, "I put my strongest magical efforts into creating the finest undead warrior alive, if you'll excuse the pun-" The lich gave off a cackling hiss, "-cunning, swift, stronger than any orc... and you defeated it! But I suppose if you managed to slay me..."
Torgall frowned, eyeing the lich closely, before shouting up at the spellcaster, "I've slain many undead! What makes you so different?"
"You foiled my plans, orc," the lich hissed, "you and your cow-friends, and the elf... though I think most of the blame lies with those infernal furbolgs!"
At that, Torgus gasped, his mixed expression of horror and anger deepening to fear and loathing, and a look of dawning comprehension crossed Torgall's features.
"But I can see potential here, yes... You see, I took my rituals a step further! I did not use the life essences for my own, but instead imbued them within my undead champion! A number of powerful orcs and elves went into that one, but I see now... Absorbing all your strengths would provide even a more worthy warrior!"
"Nonnak," whispered Torgus, paling slightly. Yulgash raised his eyebrow at that - he'd seen the grizzled warrior crash through battle like a force of nature, yet here he was, clearly feared by this lich.
"I won't let that happen, Nonnak!" Torgall bellowed, "I'll die before I let it happen!"
"Yes, that's entirely the point," Nonnak replied sardonically; and with that, he struck.
The attack was so sudden Yulgash did not immediately react, but managed to summon up a magical barrier at the last moment - Nonnak's bolt of darkness exploded into a shower of dark purple sparks, raining down upon them.
"Get Lucethious out of the way!" he cried, waving his arms wildly. Torgall hesitated, clearly wishing to try and attack Nonnak, but reality quickly set in - the frostwyrm was still airborne, and he had no chance of retaliating. He nodded and scooped up the elf's seemingly lifeless form with surprising gentleness, depositing him safely in a cluster of trees at the glade's edge.
With his friend safely out of harms way, Yulgash could focus on combating Nonnak's spells. He still felt slightly drained from his encounters with Rage Winterchill and Anetheron, and then having to teleport himself, Belpep and Lucethious back to Azeroth, but his imp looked up at him determinedly, ready to assist. Bolstered by this knowledge, he focused his energies on the bone where the wing met the spine; a small explosion rocked the frostwyrm, and while the skeletal dragon itself was mostly unharmed, the lich riding it was nearly unseated; Nonnak gave a shout of surprise as the force destabilized him.
The lich's gaze focused upon the human, and at a command that could not be heard over the gusts of wind caused by the flapping of the wings, the frostwyrm dove. At the same time, the remaining undead resumed their assault on the group of orcs. Yulgash sprinted to the side as the frostwyrm swooped down towards him, the huge claws missing him by only a few feet; it crashed through the trees, causing a defeaning cacaphony of crunching and splintering wood.
As the frostwyrm banked, coming around for another pass, and Yulgash sensed Nonnak summoning another bolt of energy, this one aimed at him. Making up his mind quickly, he decided to utilize a technique Ansirem Runeweaver once taught them on basic magical duels - by relaxing the body and tempoarily closing off one's magical power, they would no longer conduct magic, allowing a magical attack to dissipate harmlessly off them.
At the same time, he was unsure if it would work on more powerful spells, but he had already made up his mind. Exhaling as the bolt of magic crackled towards him, he closed his eyes and let his limbs go limp, and slumped forward slightly. He heard Nonnak give a shrill cackle of delight, evidently convinced that the mage had simply given up - and felt as though a cool breeze was passing him. Opening his eyes slightly, he saw the wave of magic washing over him without any negative impacts whatsoever.
Over the roaring of the magic coursing past him, he could hear Nonnak give a scream of anger. Straightening up, he frowned, watching as the lich soared past him, instead lobbing explosive blasts of shadowy energy at the others. It struck him as odd that this lich had been unable to vanquish any of them yet; he was under the impression that they were the more powerful spellcasters in the Scourge's arsenal.
Unfortunately, Nonnak seemed to realize this as well. Gesturing at the frostwyrm, he gave another order swallowed by the sounds of battle, and they both descended, landing on the ground with a tremendous crash. The frostwyrm immediately took a swipe at Greshka, who was nearest; the orc dived to the side with a cry of surprise, while the zombies and ghouls that were advancing on her were sent flying.
Yulgash began running sideways - Nonnak was blocked by one of the frostwyrm's wings, and he needed a clear shot to dispose of lich. He was almost there when something more worrying caught his attention: Torgall had fallen to the ground, though apparently not from battling the Scourge - he was clutching his chest, and from between his fingers Yulgash could see a bright blue glow.
Changing direction, he ran for the fallen orc instead. Torgall was growling in pain, and gasping heavily as well. Yulgash could see a fine golden chain around his neck which disappeared under a leather tunic; it seemed that some kind of amulet was crippling the orc. Instinctively he reached for it, but as his fingers drew closer, a sharp, icy pain shot through his hand and he pulled it back. Torgall's eyes opened slightly, saw the human and shook his head before closing them once more.
It was Nonnak, back from the dead. Torgall could tell that much. Whatever he had done to raise himself or get himself raised, he couldn't care less - all he knew was that they needed to figure out a way to dispatch him before he had a chance to slay them all.
A blast of shadow energy flew towards them, but Yulgash countered it with a magical shield. Before Torgall had a chance to move, however, the human turned to him and cried, "Get Lucethious out of the way!"
He paused, wanting to attack the lich, but realized quickly that as long as he was airborne, that wasn't about to happen. Carefully, he picked up the prone, unconcious elf and ran to the edge of the glade, depositing him gently in what he hoped to be a protective cluster of trees. As he did so, Yulgash magically attacked Nonnak, and he could see that the human almost succeeded in unseating the lich. In retaliation, Nonnak commanded the frostwyrm to swoop down at the human, crashing through the trees; Torgall ducked as branches and splintered wood soared past him.
While Yulgash and Nonnak attempted to slay one another, the undead began attacking once more. Torgall glanced at the skeletal warrior - without its shield, and distracted by its master's arrival, he had been able to finally destroy it once and for all with a well-placed blow to the neck. The magic holding the bones had dissipated, but for good measure he kicked them apart, not wishing to risk it re-assembling itself.
Fortunately, the pieces were still lying harmlessly still, allowing him to focus on the rest of the undead. He weaved through the battle, cutting a ghoul down, bisecting a zombie, sinking his axe into a gargoyle attempting to ambush Valnok... all the while glancing at Nonnak warily. At one point the lich dropped a number of explosive blasts of energy upon them, but Torgall noticed that they seemed considerably weaker than other magic he had encountered - even Yulgash, a young mage, had produced far more powerful results.
Nonnak, too, seemed to arrive at this conclusion, and to Torgall's dismay, he ordered the frostwyrm to descend. They had their hands full with the undead as it was, but now to deal with the skeletal behemoth? He could see no way to victory now. Even if Yulgash succeeded in defeating the lich in magical combat, he doubted their combined might would be able to bring down the frostwyrm.
No sooner had this thought occured to him then a searing, freezing pain shot through his chest. He gasped, clutching at his armour, realizing that it was emanating from the amulet Sapph had given him! He stared in horror as a bright blue glow shone through his armour and hands, causing him to shut his eyes at the sight. He fell to his knees, then on to all fours, the agony crippling him utterly. Gasping and groaning in pain, he looked up and saw Yulgash had approached him, shocked and fearful at his sudden plight. Torgall shook his head - as he had no idea how to save himself as it was, he saw no sense in endangering the human.
He could hear Nonnak laughing shrilly, no doubt gleeful at the debilitating pain. Perhaps the lich was the cause of this? Perhaps he had sensed the amulet and was cursing it, causing Torgall to be crippled by unendurable cold... He could not tell. The blue glow was starting to cloud his vision now... he could see a strange, slender blue figure amidst it as well. Yulgash's form rotated slightly, though he could barely make out the human's features anymore beyond a vaguely humanoid shape. They both watched as the figure sprinted through the clearing, towards the... frostwyrm?
Nonnak had stopped laughing now. Indeed, his tone had gone from arrogant and confident to fearful and desparate. Through the haze of pain, something registered in Torgall's mind. He forced himself to look past the blue glow and saw the blue figure hacking apart the last of the undead as it ran towards Nonnak. The frostwyrm swiped at it, but the figure simply gracefully dodged the claw and leapt onto the back... Now it was running up the spine, ignoring Nonnak entirely, raising a long, glowing claymore.
Abruptly, the pain was gone. Torgall blinked, reeling slightly from the sudden change. He could see clearly now.
Sapph stood atop the frostwyrm, he runed claymore glowing blindingly bright. Nonnak was desparately shouting something at her, but she ignored him, instead plunging her weapon into the frostwyrm's skull, into the crack Torgus had inflicted far earlier. The skeletal dragon gave a short-lived roar before the skull exploded in a blue shockwave, sending piercing shards of bone everywhere. Nonnak gave a scream as his own skeletal form was riddled with bone fragments, and he fell to the ground. Yulgash, for his part, erected magical shields around all of them - the bone shrapnel, rather than piercing them painfully, instead turning to dust as they passed the shimmering barriers.
Nonnak was struggling to raise himself from the ground, but the many bone shards that had torn through him clearly weakened the lich too greatly. An ominous creaking made him look up, as did all of them. The frostwyrm was teetering slightly, swaying on its four claws.
Nonnak gave a brief shriek as tonnes upon tonnes of bone cascaded upon him with a ground-shaking, thunderous crash.
As the dust cleared, Torgall looked about wildly, wondering where Sapph, their unexpected saviour, had gone to. Was she caught in the skull's explosion? Had she been crushed by the falling dragon? But no, from the thick cloud of dirt that had risen from the frostwyrm's fall, a slender, elven figure clutching a claymore emerged. Dust streaked her brilliant blue hair, but she had a wide grin on her face. They all stared at her, too shocked to speak, so it was she who broke the silence.
"When this is over," she said simply, "you all owe me a drink."