Chapter 6
Phage had never been very strong, even when he was human. But he didn't have to be. He was a Lich.
The wall of frost hit Mir'noj traveling faster than anything Phage had ever cast. The acolyte was knocked several feet backwards, pinned to the ground by rapidly melting ice.
One of the two abominations lumbered around the edge of the camp toward Phage, completing its patrol. Of course. They know they can't fight a dragon, so they just kept on walking. They're not too stupid, for abominations.
"Don't let him go anywhere," Phage snapped, pointing toward Mir'noj as he swooped toward Felwyn. "But don't kill him yet."
"Okaaay," the abomination growled, and turned to bear down on the fallen man. The surviving ghouls began to pour out of buildings all over the camp, converging on the area of action.
Phage noted from the corner of one eye that the smaller dragon was already a smoking pile of bones. Ner'zirhud, unsurprisingly late, was on his way out of the Graveyard with skeletons in tow.
"See if you can do anything with the carcass," Phage said. "If you can't, feed it to the footsoldiers."
"Yes, My Lord!" Ner'zirhud said, but Phage was already turning back to Felwyn.
The acolyte struggled up to a sitting position, but did not seem able to go further. Phage winced in sympathy at the state of her skin. Her robe was almost no protection, and now most of it was gone. The tunic and leggings underneath were equally tattered. She had been badly burned by dragon fire in more than one place, and the right half of her face was a blistered mess. Her eye is gone. It must have been a direct hit.
Observing his scrutiny, Felwyn renewed her efforts to get to her feet.
"M – My Lord - "
"Don't get up, Acolyte," Phage said heavily. "You've done very well today. It's probable that your intervention saved both our food supply and our defensive capability."
He sank down further, so that the panels of his kilt spread over the ground beside her. It was a position in which a Lich should never be seen. Phage did not care.
"Do you know why Mir'noj wanted to kill you, Felwyn?" he asked.
Part of the girl's tongue was probably burned also. Her speech was badly slurred. "He s-said I was a t-traitor for… Trying to s-save the towers… He s-said you shouldn't… Talk to th-the Elves…" One brown eye stared up at him, still wide and uncomprehending. Felwyn was probably in shock, not yet able to feel.
"I see," Phage said. "Rest assured I will deal with him according to his dealings with us."
"H-he was right," Felwyn said, working hard to enunciate the t. "Wasss – n't he?"
"Probably," Phage said. "I'm afraid I haven't heard from Icecrown since we arrived here, Felwyn."
"W-would have… Done it… An-y-way…." Felwyn said.
"Any of us would," said a voice from behind Phage. "But we were not as brave as Felwyn." He turned to see the four other acolytes clustered behind him. Both their training and the camp conditions made them look very much like each other, but he knew that two were women.
"You've never been harsh with us," Jory Lightstep said. Phage recognized his deep voice. "You've never killed us because you were angry, even though we always sent Felwyn with the bad news."
"You haven't made us work at night," Variel Slowburn said, pushing a lock of blond hair off her forehead.
"You gave us our share of the food, even though we couldn't fight for you," said Varen Longtoes from the back.
"It has been our honor to serve," Serwyn Stickbreaker concluded fiercely.
"I am not a very good Lich," Phage said.
"But you're a good Master," Jory said. "What will we do for Felwyn, Lord?"
Phage turned back to look down at her.
She is badly hurt. And I have no obsidian statues with which to heal her. I should put her out of her misery now, before she feels the pain.
But I have no way to raise her again, except as a skeleton, and that wouldn't be for long. Ner'zirhud cannot make a banshee of a human girl.
There was someone who could heal her, of course. But if he went that road, the Scourge would never take him back. I doubt seriously whether they will in any case. I was a fluke, a distempered freak of the Lich King's temper. No doubt he has already forgotten me, or wishes he could.
All those he commanded would be cut off as well, if he took a single one of them with him.
He could take Gray and the dragon. There was no place for them in Northrend, anyway.
"Call Gray," he said. "Try and rig a litter that can go on the dragon's back. I'll take her myself."