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Disclaimer: I do not own (World of) Warcraft. If I did, I would be busy making the next expansion instead of writing Fanfictions
50: Death Knight Debacle
Three months later . . .
"Come on, you dogs! Just a few more weeks at this pace and the wall will be complete! Come on, can'tcha see the Forsaken base just across the road from us? How is it the undead are building faster than us?"
Foreman Kaleiki kept pacing back and forth, looking at the Onslaught laborers, his club well in hand. It's because of his backbreaking pace that the wall was coming up as fast as it was. In fact, it was nearly finished. Still, Kaleiki felt the need to push the restless workers harder, most likely in an attempt to please Abbendis.
"I said keep going; I don't wanna see any slouching!" He moved towards a laborer who was on one knee, regaining his breath. He was on him like a hawk. "What's this? You feeling a little tired?"
"I banged my knee moving some of the masonry," the laborer said, averting his gaze. "I just wanted to see how it looks."
Kaleiki laughed. "Hear that, men? He's banged up his poor little knee, and feels the need to slow down the entire building process by stopping. You know what we do with workers who don't do their jobs, don't you?" He raised his club up, the laborer recoiled.
Kaleiki was about to bring his arm down when he caught the sight of Danthor, Jonas, and Lethella walking towards him from the stables. Danthor clearly saw the foreman and what he was doing and glared at him, slowly shaking his head. Kaleiki let out a small whimper and lowered his club.
He looked down at his feet and said to the laborer, "Just get back to work."
"Yes, sir." The laborer scurried back to his spot.
Kaleiki looked up to see Danthor laughing. The foreman scowled.
"Anyways," Danthor said to his two fellow captains as they walked past the construction, "all I'm saying is that those little rat-people—"
"They're called kobolds," Lethella said.
"Whatever," Danthor said. "All I'm saying is that they're way worse back in Lordaeron."
"There's kobolds in Lordaeron?" Jonas asked.
Danthor nodded. "You'd be surprised just how many there are in Tirisfal. Constantly mining in the mountains or near the coast—I've even heard that some have made an alliance with the murlocs."
"Don't be stupid," Lethella said. "These kobolds in Northrend are much worse than anything I've seen in the Eastern Kingdoms. They're tougher, more intelligent, and they serve the giant horse-men—"
"They're called the magnataur," Jonas said.
"Whatever," Lethella said. "And they serve the magnataur, which makes them a much more credible threat."
Jonas shook his head. "I disagree with you both. I grew up in the Elwynn Forest, and I can tell you that the kobolds are the worst race around. They're actually organized, with full-on mining ventures. I mean construction and everything!"
"You're both idiots," Danthor said. "Northern kingdom kobolds are certainly more vicious than southern kingdom kobolds"—he looked at Jonas—"and they're certainly more annoying than Northrend kobolds." He looked at Lethella.
The three had spent half of the day riding out from New Hearthglen to explore the territory around them (not including Venomspite or the Emerald Dragonshine Jonas and Danthor discovered a few months ago). They decided to ride west, avoiding the dragonshine and riding in the general direction of the looming tower they could see in the distance.
As they got closer to the tower, they saw that it was beautifully designed. What was worse was that they also saw dragons and drakes (red this time) constantly flying around near the top of it. Using their better judgment, they avoided the tower as well.
That's when they ran into the kobolds.
The snobolds (as the Northrend kobolds are apt to call themselves) were a minor annoyance at first, hanging around a snow-capped boulder jutting from the ground. Upon seeing the three armored horsemen, they started moving cautiously closer, hoping they had something of value to steal.
"We don't have any fucking candles," Danthor yelled as they got closer, reigning his horse in. It didn't stop them.
Lethella shrugged and drew her sword. "If they're so insistent, let's just kill them."
"Let 'em be," Jonas said. "They're harmless."
Danthor drew his sword, though, causing the snobolds to recoil in fear. "I hate these rat-people. Let's send their tribe a message not to mess with the Onslaught."
Lethella and Danthor were about to dismount when they heard thundering footsteps. This caused the snobolds to cheer in glee, and off in the distance they could see a creature with the body of a giant and the legs of a mammoth (like a bigger centaur) with a large pike in its hand rushing towards them.
Needless to say, they rode out of there fast back to New Hearthglen, where the argument ensued.
"Just let me ask you this," Lethella said as they neared the Crimson Hold. "Have either of you ever run away from a pack of kobolds?"
"No," Jonas said.
"Never," said Danthor.
"Then that settles it," Lethella said. "The Northrend kobolds made you run away, so that makes them the most dangerous of the bunch."
"Only because of those half-giant things," Danthor said.
"Magnataur," reminded Jonas.
"Whatever," the knight said. "Look, you can't count the magnataur in factoring in how dangerous kobolds themselves are. That's like saying a tribe of orcs are dangerous because they befriended some giants to fight with them."
"But that's exactly the point!" Lethella said. "It's because they're friends with the magnataur that they're the most dangerous. We're talking about the kobold tribes as a whole, not just on their individual stature."
Danthor shook his head. "You're missing the fundamental point of the argument here. What I'm saying is—" He stopped and looked at who was coming towards them. "Gods, not them . . ."
Three raven priests were going in the other direction. Their group had grown in the past three months, with about half of the Onslaught priests converted to the shadow discipline. They dressed the same, but they were given away by the unending veil of shadow that covered their entire bodies, and the two spectral ravens that flew around them at all time.
The three waved at the captains. "Hello there, brothers and sister. Beautiful day, don'tcha think?"
"Not particularly," Danthor mumbled.
The raven priests just smiled and walked past. Jonas let out a shaky breath. Every time he saw them, he had to focus all his willpower to contain his anger. "Relax," Lethella instructed him. "I know it's angering, but there's nothing we can do about it. Just let it go and ignore them."
"It's hard to when they're using shadow magic right in front of us," Jonas said. "Though I suppose you're right. I still don't know what Landgren and Street were thinking, though."
Danthor shrugged. "They're zealots. They'll believe in anything the Light supposedly told them."
"Yet it was Westwind who passed the message on," Jonas said.
Danthor opened his mouth to respond, but heard a few voices coming from the front gate followed by the galloping of hooves. His head immediately snapped over to the scene to see three heavily armored (in plate, no less) humans with two-handed swords on their back talking to Commander Jordan near the front of New Hearthglen.
"New recruits?" chanced Lethella.
"Maybe," Jonas said. "From the looks of it, they're—"
He stopped. Danthor theorized it was because he saw what he himself just noticed. Taking a quick glance at Lethella, he saw her eyes fixed on the same thing as well, her mouth agape. Running a hand through his hair, Danthor looked back to make sure the three warriors were riding what he thought they were riding. It was—there was no mistaking it.
The three men were riding deathchargers.
On instinct, Lethella was the first to draw her staff, rushing straight for the death knights. A split second later, Danthor and Jonas were on the move, both reaching for their own weapons. How did they get in? Danthor wondered, unsheathing his sword. And what the hell is Jordan doing, talking to them? Did they cast a spell on him?
"Commander Jordan, out of the way!" Lethella yelled, skidding to a halt when she was in range. Before Jordan could even turn around, she had a fireball conjured in her free hand and she let it loose.
"No, don't!" Jordan cried.
Too late. The fireball flew on course towards the closest death knight. Before it hit, however, the death knight conjured up an anti-magic field around himself and his three companions. The fireball hit the semi-circular shield and was absorbed immediately. Danthor and Jonas caught up to the warmage at this point, and they all sprinted towards them, intent to do battle.
Commander Jordan came between them, however. "Wait!" he yelled with his arms outstretched. "It's not what you think! Just hold on a moment!"
The three captains skidded to a halt. "What the hell's going on?" demanded Danthor, pointing his sword at the three mounted undead. "Those are death knights you're talking to. Why haven't we attacked them yet?"
"Orders from the top," was what Jordan replied with. "These three men were hired to fight for the Onslaught."
It took a second for all three of them to register this. "What?" cried Lethella. She was so aghast she gripped Jordan by his tabard and said, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I'd suggest you put the commander down," one of the death knights (the one whom Lethella aimed for) said. He sounded just like them, his voice echoing as he reached for the runeblade strapped to his back. "If you don't, I'll be forced to start fulfilling my contract right now."
Lethella pointed at the death knight and yelled, "Shut the fuck up!" She turned back to Jordan. "What do they mean contract?"
The death knights drew their blades.
"Put me down and I'll tell you," Jordan said. Lethella complied. The commander turned to the death knights and said, "Sheath your weapons; it's all right now."
"Whatever you say, commander," the death knight said, speaking through their saronite-plated helmet adorned with a blue gem right above the head and two tusks protruding from the mouth.
"Please tell us what's happening," Jonas said.
Jordan straightened out his tabard. "Like I said, these men are to be hired to fight for the Onslaught. Orders from the top."
"But they work for the Scourge," Danthor said, as if it was obvious.
"Used to work for the Scourge," the lead death knight said. "That is, until the Lich King saw fit to betray a number of us back in the Eastern Plaguelands. The new organization that formed to get revenge against the Lich King just didn't happen to agree with our ideas. My name's Mattheus, by the way."
Lethella looked at Jordan. "Is what they're saying true?"
Jordan nodded. "The group called the Knights of the Ebon Blade formed some time ago back in Lordaeron. Some stragglers made it to Northrend without them, however, so I guess Abbendis decided to make use of them."
"But they're who we're fighting against," Danthor said. "By the Light, they're undead!"
"And pretty damned good with a blade, too," one of death knights behind Mattheus said. His voice was deeper—more gruff, yet still retained that otherworldly quality. "Would you like a demonstration? I'll be more than happy to chop your head off."
"Not if I can do it first, you murdering son of a bitch!" Danthor said, drawing his blade and moving towards him.
The death knight's horse whinnied as he got closer, but Jordan and Mattheus came between them. "Hey, hey!" the commander yelled. "You're not gonna fight them. They're our allies now!"
"Allying with the enemy now, huh?" Lethella added with a scoff. "The Onslaught has fallen to a new low."
"Say that again, little lady, and I'll—" the death knight said, but Mattheus was in front of him and held his arms out to stop him.
"Hey, Brommen, stop it!" Mattheus ordered. "This is not making a great first impression, ya know."
The third death knight laughed. It was a female voice.
Danthor looked at the three with disgust before sheathing his sword and turning around, briskly walking away. "Where are you going?" Jordan asked.
"I'm going to see Abbendis about this!" he yelled back.
Lethella and Jonas quickly followed. Jonas grimaced at the three before turning around, while Lethella spat on the ground in front of them. Jordan turned around to face the three death knights again. He gave them an easy smile.
"Well, I'd say this is the perfect time to get you acquainted with those at the top."
What's the reason behind this?
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