Salanar grabbed Sapphire's uninjured shoulder. She winced briefly when the metal of his gauntlet dug into her flesh. She could feel his glowing green eyes gaze down at her. The two stood before a pair of double doors in one of the wings of the necropolis. Behind the doors, voices could be heard. At least one sounded angry.
"Why are you helping me?" She asked suddenly.
It confused her that Salanar would be doing so much for her, whilst risking the anger of the other deathknights. She could only see the glow of his eyes from his helm so could not discern what he was thinking.
A few seconds passed while he thought of his answer. "Because your predicament is interesting."
He refused to say anymore, even when Sapphire asked. Sapphire took a deep breath, and pushed the doors open. Once, the place had been a small throne room. In the back of her mind, Sapphire assumed this was where her father had taken residence when he was campaigning against the Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn. Now it seemed like it was a general meeting room for the Ebon Blade members. A table sat in the middle of the room, with chairs surrounding it. Only four members of the Ebon occupied the room as they entered. Lord Thorval, a lich, and a blood elf woman sat around Highlord Mograine.
Salanar inclined his head respectfully. "Highlord Mograine, I brought her like I asked."
Darion Mograine glanced at Sapphire silently. Of all the others, Sapphire could see their faces at least. Darion Mograine kept that helm on at all times it seemed. Salanar had mentioned it earlier, but grew evasive when she asked him why.
"You are Arthas Menethil's daughter," Highlord Mograine stated. His voice was not as scary as Sapphire expected. It kept the same echoing nature that all deathknights had, but it was not deep like Salanar's or Lord Thorval's.
"Yes, I am."
The blood elf gave Thorval a condescending look and gestured to Sapphire.
"She admits it at least. Now what to do with the viper's spawn?"
Salanar sidestepped around the girl and planted himself firmly between the others and Sapphire. His behavior concerned Sapphire greatly. The Horseman did not even know her. Here was his allies. They all rebelled against her father. If her father was still the Lich King, he would have slaughtered Salanar for merely looking at Sapphire. Yet the Horseman defended her from his traitorous allies.
The Horseman and Highlord Mograine seemed to have some kind of silent communication. He then spoke to the elf, not taking his eyes off of Salanar.
"As much as I would like to agree with you, Lady Alistra, we do not murder children or condemn them on the sins of their fathers."
The blood elf curled her lip up in disdain. Next to her the lich spoke up.
"Yes, but her mere existence is a potential disaster. What if the Horde or Alliance were to learn of her?"
Now that he pointed it out, Sapphire did wonder how mortals would feel if they knew who she was. This Lady Alistra seethed at her mere prescence, even though Sapphire had never met her before. Mortals were crueler. Would they want to hurt her? No one outside of the Scourge knew of her, except Lethumo. Not even Cerelial knew she was Sapphire Menethil. He thought her only as the daughter of a sullen deathknight named Andrew.
Highlord Mograine turned back to his companions now.
"That does not concern us because it will not happen. No one knows who she is except for us."
Again, some kind of silent communication passed between the deathknights. Salanar stirred. "So you intend to keep her here?"
A prisoner. That was what they were intending. She would have preferred death. Sapphire suddenly stepped out from behind Salanar. The deathknight glanced at her in surprise, but did not stop her.
"Should I not be allowed to speak for myself?" She demanded, straightening her back and attempting to look fearless.
While Lady Alistra gave her a dark glare, Lord Thorval smiled. The facial expression of liches were hard to figure out most of the time, but Sapphire could tell he seemed amused. Highlord Mograine stared at her through the eye slits of his helm.
"What do you wish to say?"
Sapphire suddenly regretted her outburst, but she was not about to back down.
"Before Sir Salanar found me, I had been training to be a druid in Moonglade under a member of the Cenarion Circle. I'm not some deathknight you can order around and I won't just sit quietly in a barred cell!"
Silence momentarily followed her declaration. Then dark laughter erupted from behind her. She snapped her head back toward Salanar. The deathknight was laughing uproariously. Then Lord Thorval and the lich both started laughing. Sapphire scowled at all of them. Even Lady Alistra turned her lips up in a cruel smile.
Lord Thorval finally spoke up. "Did you hear that, Highlord? You can't tell the little princess what to do!"
When Salanar patted Sapphire on the head, she felt even worse. They were treating her like a baby. Lady Alistra sighed and got up from the table. She did not even bother looking at Sapphire as she walked out of the room.
"We will not lock you up into a cell, child," The lich responded coolly.
Highlord Mograine finally spoke up. Of all of them, he had been the only one who had not laughed or sneered at her after her insolent statements.
"Call it imprisonment, but you will have free reign of Acherus. You cannot leave the necropolis, not until we can trust you. Salanar convinced me to give you the same treatment we gave to those who surrendered during Arthas's defeat."
Again, she regretted her impulsive behavior. Before she could even think of something to say in way of an apology, the Highlord stood up finally. Lord Thorval and the lich followed suit. The three started to exit the room. As he passed, Lord Thorval reached over and patted Sapphire on the head like Salanar had done.
She stared in disbelief.
Salanar watched them leave calmly, before turning to the girl.
"My, my. That went better than expected."
Sapphire opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but Salanar started to walk off languidly. The girl quickly ran after him.
"Wait! So I'm just supposed to stay here?" She demanded.
Salanar nodded. "It is safer for you to stay."
The two of them walked into the main areas of the necropolis. A few ghouls shambled past, eyeing Sapphire hungrily. She had to practically trot to keep close to Salanar. The deathknight took her to the balcony of Acherus.
Instead of a blue sky, everything was tinged red. The distant smell of smoke carried on the air. Sapphire looked down at the low mountains that Acherus loomed over. She could see the rounded tops of gigantic mushrooms that grew amongst the trees. It looked like how she imagined the Plaguelands looked, though she had never visited the place. In the far distance, snowcapped mountains peaked through the haze.
"Darion Mograine could be considered harsh, but he is not unreasonable. He does not trust you. For good reason. Look what your father did."
Sapphire lowered her gaze down to her feet. Most of the Plaguelands was dead. What little wildlife there was left would be riddled with disease. Their lives cut short and painful. The trees that she could see were scraggly and barely clinging to life. The only things that would actually thrive in the plaguelands would be the giant noxious mushrooms and insects that enjoyed decay. She could not see them, but she knew there were undead still wandering around the forest.
"Do you see why some might be concerned about you?" Salanar asked.
"Yes. Is that why you brought me here?" Sapphire asked softly.
The deathknight did not answer for a moment and instead looked out at the grim landscape. He then whipped around, surprisngly quick in heavy plate. His eyes blazed fiercely. Sapphire jumped back in surprise.
"Better here than with him."
He knew. Arthas was not dead as everyone thought, yet somehow Salanar both knew that he was still around and not only that, but that Sapphire had until recently been with him. Sapphire did not even knew what to say. She could not very well deny it.
Salanar got close to her. "For now, I recommend we keep this between ourselves. For your own sake."
That part was true. If the rest of the Ebon Blade did not trust her now, they definitely would not trust her if she started telling them about Arthas. If they even believed her in the first place. For whatever reason, Salanar thought it should remain a secret. Which confused Sapphire even more. She thought he was a traitor to the Scourge along with the rest of the denizens of Acherus. Could he have been pretending the entire time? Was he some kind of spy for her father?
Before she could ask, Salanar's attention was taken away from her. He looked past her, which caused her to look back. A ghoul stood some yards away. When he saw Sapphire looking, he waved shyly. It was the one that Thorval had been harsh with. Tryg.
"Already find a friend? Keep working on that and there may be hope for you yet," Salanar observed.
"Ethan Calwood!"
The young paladin came bursting into the room. A grey blur rushed past him and ran immediately into one of the pews. Stub remained unfazed by the collision. He clambered over the fallen pew and stumbled into the main walkway. The few members who were in the church at the time snickered as Ethan desperately tried to coral his hyena friend. At the raised podium, High Cleric Alphus just watched the boy with exasperation.
Ethan had become so preoccupied with his studies that he had neglected to give Stub enough exercise and playtime. So the hyena got bored and decided to entertain himself. Which meant running around and knocking over anything he came across.
Stub cackled as he clambered up to the altar to where the High Cleric stood. He then snatched one of the holy books from the podium.
Ethan grabbed the book and tried to pull it out of the hyena's mouth. Stub merely wagged his tail and yanked the book backwards.
"Stub! Release!" Ethan growled.
The hyena's tail slowed slightly. He whined. The boy gave the animal a stern look. In response, Stub stopped fighting and let go of the book. Sheepishly, Ethan dried off the book as best as he could and held the book out to High Cleric Alphus. The gnome looked disgusted at the drool glistening on the bookcover.
"I am so sorry," Ethan apologized.
"It is fine, my son. Personally, I would get a leash for that...pet of yours."
Ethan attempted to grab Stub but the hyena had other ideas. He ran out of the room. The boy just groaned and started to chase after him. The hyena cackled as he jumped outside.
There, a formidable tall figure stood. Stud kicked up dirt as he skidded to a stop before the man. Ethan stared in increasing dismay as he recognized Highlord Tirion Fordring. As old as the man was, he stood as straight as a man half his age might. The Highlord planted both hands on his hips. Stub's tail slowly stopped wagging and proceeded to lower his head.
"Highlord Fordring! I-" Ethan stuttered.
"So this is the cause of all the ruckus?"
Ethan nodded unhappily. "Yes, I'm so sorry. I have been so busy and Stub got bored and..."
He trailed off nervously.
Tirion Fordring turned his attention to Stub. To the boy's surprise, the Highloord knelt down and pet the hyena. Stub's tail resumed its wagging and he eagerly licked the paladin's hand.
"You should take better care of your friend here, young man."
Unable to reply, the boy just nodded silently. The paladin was much smaller than Ethan's father, but somehow more intimidating. Stub flopped onto the ground and rolled over on his belly, to which the Highlord obliged and gently rubbed the hyena's belly.
Ethan cleared his throat. "I should probably take him back and apologize again to High Cleric Alphus."
Tirion Fordring merely waved dismissively. "I can deal with Alphus. Still, trainees are not allowed pets. Some kind of disciplinary action is required."
He knew it. Not only would Ethan have to do his own studies and work but he would also have to perform some kind of punishment. Forcing trainees to work in the kitchen was a favorite of his teachers.
Tirion stood up, wincing as he did so. For all that tough façade, he was old. It probably hurt to bend his knees like that. Ethan bit his lip to prevent himself from saying something stupid. The Highlord put his hand on Ethan's shoulder and pointed to a farmhouse located next to the keep.
"See that house? At daybreak tomorrow, you can start your punishment by helping out the owner. I recommend you bring your friend with you as well."
Ethan nodded. Stub started to look at a farmer who was just bringing in goats. Tasty, appetizing looking goats. The young paladin immediately grabbed the hyena by the scruff of his neck. The hyena cried as the boy dragged him away.