Everything was going smoothly. The few gargoyles under Arthas's command had finally returned with news. Not a single ghoul or skeleton had been seen from the Howling Fjord all the way to Icecrown. No sentries to be found at the Wrath Gate, nor even to the north around the Ironwall Dam. The gargoyles could not make their way into the glacier due to fierce winds, but Arthas did not need them to yet.
The usurper's forces would be sequestered on the glacier and in the Citadel itself, to his folly. He should have already been sending out his forces to harass Arthas's, yet he had not done so. Unless Bolvar was planning something Arthas could not anticipate or he had not yet noticed Arthas's presence. As none of his forces had discovered any signs of a scout, Arthas could rejoice. The fool was still struggling to learn control. He must have pulled back his forces to reserve his own powers and his own control over whatever little undead there were left.
Arthas walked through Gjalerbron with Invincible by his side, surveying his growing numbers. Cemeteries had cropped up in Northrend to get rid of the many losses that plagued both the Horde and the Alliance. With the disappearance of the Scourge and apparent death of the Lich King, they buried the bodies instead of burning them. Why did they need to if the Scourge was no longer a problem?
As he looked around, Arthas noticed Kiefer coming toward him with a vicious smile on his face. Then Arthas saw the large lumbering thing behind the cultist.
Stitched together from multiple corpses, the abomination grumbled as it followed the cultist. Organs hung out slightly from the open abdomen. Its mismatched limbs all wielded huge knives, hooks and chains. Arthas was impressed. Kiefer, though mediocre when it came to the intricacies of necromancy, seemed to be better at fleshworking. There was very little rot on it. Thick green fluid dripped from the abomination's gaping mouth.
"This book you found has been most illuminating. I hope my work is acceptable!" Kiefer said proudly.
"Better than acceptable," Arthas complimented, still admiring the lumbering creature. He then turned to look at Kiefer directly.
"Now make three dozen of those."
Despite his already pallid complexion, Kiefer paled. "Yes...I will put all my efforts into it!"
He looked like he wanted to say more, but did not do so. Arthas raised his eyebrows.
"What?"
Kiefer just forced out a smile. "Nothing. I am just glad you seem to have stopped thinking of...You know. Them."
His good mood suddenly darkened and poor Kiefer started to stutter.
"I mean the girl and that elf! They...They were only holding you back. It's better to forget about them!"
Arthas gestured to a cultist to take Invincible's reins from him.
"I am going to go for a walk. Alone."
None of the cultists could not tell him not to, especially not Kiefer. The weaselly man just watched in dismay as Arthas left.
Kiefer had done the opposite of what he meant to do. For the most part, Arthas did neglect thinking of Sapphire and Lethumo. It was easier to just pretend they never existed. Unfortunately they were at the back of his mind at all the time and it would only take the barest of reminders to bring them to the forefront.
Arthas strode through the pines of the Howling Fjord, thinking of how similar they were to the pines of Lordaeron had been. As he walked, his boots crushed old pine needles underneath and released their fragrance into the air, causing him to think more of past things. There was a sudden desire in him to set fire to the whole forest. He cursed everything and everyone.
Though Arthas entered the forest to be alone, he soon found out he was anything but alone.
A dark figure, whose face was hidden by thick hood, leaned casually against one of the many pine trees that made up the forest. Northrend was such a vast continent that it was rare to come across lone travelers. Even without the threat of the Scourge, there were many threats from native wildlife, unnatural forces, and even other travelers.
"Good Afternoon," Arthas said amicably, before continuing, "What brings you to this dismal place?"
The figure lifted their head and acknowledged Arthas's presence. He probably should be suspicious of the stranger. This was someone who seemed unfazed by the sudden appearance of a deathknight, especially someone as tall and imposing as Arthas. He no longer had the heavy plate armor that he preferred but he did have a mismatched collection of armor. He also was armed to the teeth, yet this man did not obviously react to his threatening appearance.
"Clearly I am here for the wonderful climate," The stranger replied with just as a friendly a tone as Arthas's.
They then lifted the hood from their face. Arthas then smirked.
"Well, you certainly look like shit," He commented.
Adalger's face, sliced from nose to ear by Arthas's own hand, had healed poorly. Instead of a thin scar it was heavily knotted and showed signs of a previous infection. It looked incredibly painful.
The Huntsman pointed at Arthas's own scar on his face.
"You are not faring much better. How'd you get that?" Adalger asked. The two of them spoke as if old friends.
"Sapphire," Arthas replied. The younger man raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised by that answer.
"The girl did that to you? Fuck," He sounded sympathetic, but Arthas knew he did not want to be there. Adalger only had approached Arthas because he needed something from him. So Arthas let an awkward moment of silence to pass between them before the man would finally say what he wanted to say.
"She is here in Northrend. I saw her riding one of those skeletal dragons north. From what I can gather, you are headed that way. Seeing as the two of you have gone their separate ways, I imagine you aren't on speaking terms."
Sapphire was not only in Northrend, but she had gotten on a frostwyrm. Had headed north. Arthas folded his arms. "So you think I would just let you take her back to your tree hugging master to eat?"
Adalger let out an amused snort. "She's way too old now to eat now. No, Gorak Tul wants her alive now. Besides, why do you care?"
He should not care anymore. Sapphire had shown her true colors by slashing him. Even worse, Arthas could only think of one explanation as to the frostwyrm. At some point, Sapphire decided to rejoin the Scourge with that burnt husk of a usurper.
That stung Arthas deeply, yet it should not have! He should not care anymore!
Adalger casually left the tree he leaned against and circled Arthas arrogantly.
"I've seen your forces. Impressive, yet still small in number. What if I could help bolster those numbers?" He asked.
"And in return?" Arthas hissed. He did not like making deals with anyone, but he needed as much help as he could get.
"The girl of course. She's not of any real use to you. You will be getting so much and giving nothing useful in return!" Adalger pitched with a huge smile on his face, distorting the knotted scar.
As if sensing some hesitancy on Arthas's part, Kiefer added some more.
"It's not like we are gonna kill her! No, like I said she's too old to be eaten. Gorak Tul just need her to perform a little magic."
His words rang true and mirrored Kiefer's own words. Sapphire held him back. She was just an irritating child. Worse, a child intent on betraying Arthas whenever she could. It would be better for him to just...never think of her again. Adalger said he did not intend to kill Sapphire, though Arthas did not entirely trust Adalger could be true to his word. But again, why would he care? Why should he care? He never used to care. The scars on Sapphire's body was physical proof of how little he cared.
Getting so much and giving nothing useful in return. Something screamed deep in Arthas's chest to refuse Adalger's help. He mentally smothered the screaming and held out one hand.
"Sounds like an alliance then," Arthas said.
The man's eyes widened in surprise. With a laugh, Adalger came forward and clasped Arthas's hand.
"Great!" With that, he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly.
The forest became alive as creatures came out from behind trees and crawled out from mounds of forest floor detritus and snow. Creatures of bone and wood dragged themselves to the two men. Some were two legged and stood taller than Arthas while others crept along on all fours like beasts.
Bolvar might expect abominations, ghouls and frostwyrms, but he would not expect these creatures.