Snow!
Sapphire immediately ran to the blindingly white substance and jumped into it. She rolled around and flung bits of the cold everywhere. Only a small layer of snow blanketed the Tundra as it was summer in Northrend but Sapphire did not care. This was snow!
She sat up in the snow and looked over at her companions.
"Come on Bolfr! Tryg! Come make snow val'kyr with me!" She said, giggling. Before they responded, She flung herself onto her back and started moving her arms back and forth through the snow. She got back up just as her friends came over.
"You lay down in the snow and move your arms in a way to make an impression that looks like wings!" She explained.
Tryg flopped in the snow and flailed about before getting up and examining his work. It didn't look as good as Sapphire's but Tryg made a bunch of happy noises. Rot rolled around the snow until he turned from grey to white. Tanomoan meanwhile, gingerly put one foot on the snow, then happily jumped into it.
"I'm content with...not doing that. Don't let me stop your fun. I think this is the first time I've seen you smile," Bolfr commented.
It was true. Sapphire had not smiled in a while. The realization caused the current one to fade, but a quick jump back into the snow brought it back.
"Of course I'm smiling! I've missed snow so much."
It had taken them a few months to leave the Eastern Kingdoms and find a ship heading to Northrend but a few days prior they had made landfall in the Borean Tundra. Sapphire had been to it once before but she tried not to think about it. All she could remember was being hungry and scared.
She never wanted to feel that way again. This was a happy time. Sapphire was free to run around in the snow. In fact, that gave her an idea. Sapphire started to pull off her fur boots and sprinted off into the snow barefoot. How good it felt to feel snow on her feet again!
Sapphire knelt down and grabbed a handful of snow, carefully forming it into a ball. She then sized up Bolfr and threw it with all her might. The Drust was taken by surprise and the snowball hit him squarely in the face. The Drust made a noise of indignation. The skulled construct turned its gaze to Sapphire and she briefly wondered if she had gone too far.
But the Drust immediately bent down and grabbed some snow. Sapphire squealed when she saw the size of the snowball he was making.
They played for what seemed like hours. Bolfr practically buried Sapphire underneath his assaults of giant snow boulders, though Sapphire got in a few more shots of her own. By the end of it all, everyone was cold and wet. Even Sapphire shivered as the snow melted against her warm body.
They made their way to the border between the Borean Tundra and Dragonblight, where a sparse forest began. Bolfr found enough wood to make a fire and warm up his fragile companions. Sapphire turned into an owl and started hunting. She caught a rabbit as well as two ptarmigans, fat little birds that only inhabited Northrend. Tanomoan managed to gather up some berries and edible leaves in the forest.
Soon, Sapphire had roasted up her catch and both she and Tanomoan ate the simple meal.
Bolfr looked out across the tundra, taking in the views. He then nodded his head toward something.
"Perhaps that would be a good home?"
Sapphire looked up from a rabbit leg to see what he was talking about. Poking out over the trees was the familiar sight of a ziggurat. Sapphire tilted her head.
"Oh! That looks like it was used by the Scourge. We might could use it. It will have large enough hallways for you at least!"
Tanomoan squeaked in agreement. Sapphire glanced over at Tryg.
"Hey, Tryg, you think you could go scout over there? Just to see if its empty?"
The ghoul thought about her request for a minute, then nodded happily. He walked off without a word toward the ziggurat. Bolfr watched him.
"So this Scourge just reanimates rotting bodies? Why not use sturdier material, like wood and bone? I feel that flesh thing would be destroyed easily."
Sapphire stopped gnawing on her rabbit bone to answer. "It's really easy to make ghouls and stuff. Even if you destroy one ghoul, a hundred more will take its place. At its peak, I think the Scourge had over a million undead in Icecrown alone."
Bolfr opened his jaws a bit. "A million! I cannot even fathom such a number! I suppose that makes sense. The Drust have never been so numerous. If we had that many bodies to deal with, we might have come up with the same idea."
Still hungry, Tanomoan eyed the rabbit leg in Sapphire's hand. The girl held it out and the faerie dragon snatched it up. They didn't even tear the flesh off and shoved the leg into their mouth and forced it down her throat. Afterwards, Tanomoan smacked her mouth and licked her lips.
Sapphire got the second ptarmigan from the fire and started to tear the breast meat off. "Since you've been teaching me how to read the book better, maybe we can make another wickerman? Are there not any other Drusts in Thros that aren't friends with Gorak Tul?"
"Very few that I know of and none of them that would accept you, a half breed."
Sapphire frowned, but didn't say anything. Sensing her bad mood, Bolfr poked her with a claw.
"Why don't we have another snowball war? I will bury you in it," He said viciously.
Sapphire scowled and got to her feet. "No you won't!"
She then ran off to form some ammo for herself.
A map of Northrend lay spread out on the table. Several key landmarks had been marked with X's and a knife had been stabbed into both map and wood where Icecrown Citadel was located.
Kiefer put down smaller maps next to the larger one and addressed the dark figure that brooded in the corner.
"I found these more detailed maps, my master. The other necromancers and I have come up with the plans to recover each Scourge stronghold following in the footsteps of the Horde and Alliance. Our forces will split off and take the Howling Fjord and the Borean Tundra."
Arthas heard the plans that the man set out but he was not paying much attention to them. None if it needed his own involvement. Kiefer seemed to handle the entire operation without much input from Arthas, though the man was constantly seeking it. For the past several months, Arthas had barely spoken and on the short voyage to Northrend, he rarely even left his cabin. The few times he did he only made his way into the hold to be with Invincible.
"As for you my lord, I suggest you go to the Howling Fjord. There is more of a hostile prescence there in the form of the Alliance's Valgarde and the Horde's Vengeance Landing. There also might be some vrykul that need to be persuaded to join us?"
Kiefer was sounding enthusiastic and was hinting for a response from Arthas. He thought about what the necromancer said. There were no deathknights amongst his number and in the Howling Fjord there would be plenty of opportunities to collect some bodies. Arthas could probably kill an entire town by himself.
"No," He finally said. Kiefer's eyes widened and he took a step back when Arthas stood up.
Arthas looked out of the window in his cabin. They were near the waters of the Fjord, but Arthas knew of somewhere closer he wanted to go.
"Make landfall in Venture Bay and ready Invincible. I'll be going to Naxxramas."
Kiefer stared at him. "But master, I thought we agreed that Naxxramas would be-"
Arthas turned his eyes onto the necromancer who immediately choked back the rest of his response. He then nodded.
"Yes sir. I will go do that now."
The necromancer left, somewhat shaken.
Arthas prepared for the journey, putting on the mismatched mail and plate that he had managed to accumulate. Because he had no Frostmourne, or even a runeblade that a lowly initiate deathknight would have, Arthas had gotten the best he could of normal weapons. He had gotten himself a claymore as well as a simple but reliable longsword. Along with them, he had gotten himself a nice double edged Dwarven dirk, custom made for Arthas's above average height.
Arthas had also taken Sapphire's Drust sacrificial dagger before going off in search of her and had since kept it for his own use. The jagged edges made it an efficient parrying blade and it was made to slice flesh. Of all the weapons, he felt most comfortable with it by his side. He assumed it had some kind of magic of its own, but he had not been able to discern what kind and none of his necromancers could tell either.
After he finished checking everything, Arthas whipped on a dark cloak with thick black fur along the collar and left for the main deck of the ship.
By the time he got there, Invincible had already been brought up and saddled. The ship was docking itself at the wooden docks in Venture Bay. Arthas did not wait for it to finish docking before he mounted Invincible.
Kiefer approached.
"Are you sure you wish to go alone?" Kiefer asked worriedly.
"Yes. I know Naxxramas better than anyone dead or alive. Any undead or cultist here would only slow me down."
This logic was sound and Kiefer couldn't refute it, so he merely nodded and backed away. Several ghouls moved to the side of the ship to lower the gangplank, but it was unnessary.
Invincible needed no verbal or physical command. He lunged toward the open space where the gangplank would have been put. The ghouls jumped back in alarm as Invincible merely leapt off the ship. He landed heavily on the wooden planks of the dock.
Venture Bay was occupied by its namesake, the Venture Company. A few goblin bruisers came rushing out to the dock at the sight of the deathknight, but the well dressed dockmaster held a hand up. He eyed Arthas darkly, but the deathknight knew how to handle him.
"Sorry about your dock," Arthas said as he pulled out a heavy pouch filled with gold. He tossed it to the dockmaster, who eyed the money suspiciously. When he saw that the gold was real, the goblin had a few harsh words with the bruisers and then gave Arthas a sharp toothed grin.
"Don't worry about that friend. I see you don't need to pay the docking fee," He said, gesturing to the now already leaving ship. None of the goblins had probably seen the undead on the ship given their lackluster reaction.
Arthas returned the smile. "No."
The dockmaster took his hat off and bowed his head respectfully. "Welcome to Northrend."
Arthas nodded an acknowledgement, then urged Invincible onward. The horse happily trotted through the harbor town, oblivious to the fearful looks toward him and his dark rider. He kept himself at a reasonable pace to allow people to get out of his way, but he did not stop. At the edge of the harbor, Invincible picked up the pace and went into a full on canter. Arthas guided the horse to the Dragonspine tributary which separated Dragonblight from the Grizzly Hills. Tributary was a misnomer. This a was the largest river in Northrend, but Arthas knew of several shallower areas in the river that would make safe crossing points.
Invincible had no fear of water. He jumped right into the rushing waters and headed straight to the other bank without hesitation. Arthas looked to the sky instinctively, but he bitterly remembered that Naxxramas had been grounded. Both Horde and Alliance had taken it down once they defeated its forces. He had secretly hoped that perhaps Kel'thuzad might have been working on it all this time. Unless he had moved it somewhere else, the empty sky dashed Arthas's hopes.
Arthas moved forward as he planned and urged Invincible onward. He would try to find the guiding crystals and see what shape the runes were in. If Naxxramas was salvageable, he would raise it again. If not, he'd take whatever was useful. Even a few hardy descendants of Maexxna or some plague spores would be useful to him.
The sun started to set just as he got to what remained of Westgarde Village. Many of the fields and small homes were obliterated by the looming ruins of a fallen Naxxramas. Arthas surveyed the necropolis in the dying light. It looked mostly intact, with the bottom sustaining some damage, but if it could be risen up again that could be fixed. He saw no movement in or around it.
Arthas dismounted Invincible and patted the horse affectionately.
"Stay here. I might have to just camp in the necropolis until daylight and I can find my way around. Will you manage here?"
The horse whipped his head back and snorted in acknowledgement. With that, Arthas started down toward the abandoned village and the ruins of Naxxramas.