Chapter 5 - Unexpected return
"I don't like this one bit." Lord Kalthuz said once more as he and Dalrus finally exited the Greymane Estate.
"Me neither. I don't know why you dragged me into that boring meeting." Dalrus replied, his hands in his pockets as he looked back over his shoulder.
"If you used those eyes of yours for something besides eavesdropping, you'd notice every noble was there with his heir. Since your brother is indisposed, you have to fit in his shoes." Kalthuz placed his hand on top of his son's head. "You did a good job not complaining, at least. But things are looking very grim for us. And no word of him yet..."
Dalrus went silent for a few moments. The same thing had been going through him and his father's head ever since the news about Arthas had reached them. They hadn't received word about Felrus in weeks... And now, the undead were quickly approaching Gilneas itself.
Hours earlier, King Genn Greymane was hunching over a map of Gilneas. Dalrus could clearly see the entire kingdom there, a fair portion of it cut off by their famous wall.
"They approach from the north." Greymane had said. "Our scouts confirm there are thousands of them. Too many to properly count, and everything they kill in their path only adds to the army."
"What of the villages of Pyrewood and Amberhill?" Lyam had said. "They are isolated, the horde could pass through them!
"The mountains surrounding the villages give them enough protection." Godfrey countered. "Right now we need to worry more about the state of our city. We could be looking at a very long siege..."
Most of the details of that conversation were lost on Dalrus. Something about rations, state of the weaponry, who would be taking which shifts, and some archmage surviving Dalaran wanting to chat with the king.
That particular bit of news was still a bit hard for him to swallow. Dalaran. The capital of magic, the seat of the Kirin Tor - the world's most powerful archmages - was just... Gone. Apparently, after killing his own father, Arthas had been a very busy prince. He had slain Uther the Lightbringer, marched over to the elf capital, killed everything there, and resurrected the necromancer Kel'Thuzad. After that they had launched their attack on the mage city, butchered everyone and everything there, and opened a portal to unleash demons upon Azeroth. Meanwhile, an emissary of some Jaina Proudmoore had come to Gilneas to give them a message - the surviving humans were gathering and preparing to depart to some foreign land to the west known only as 'Kalimdor'. Supposedly there the Alliance was to make its final stand against the Burning Legion of demons infesting their realm.
And then there was that one conversation he had caught wind of on their way out...
Kalthuz had been busy discussing something with a bunch of other nobles while the King and the mage went off through some dark room in the back. Curious, Dalrus decided to follow them.
Stalking a king and an archmage was a lot easier than he had anticipated. Perhaps neither of them even considered the possibility of a teenager versed in manipulating the void following them down the hall to some dimly lit room Dalrus suspected would be the king's study. There was a single table in the center, with a few stools surrounding it. A book shelf could be seen behind it, and torches were providing a modicum of illumination.
"Well, Arugal?" Greymane had said. "You told me you had discovered something that could help us win this war. What is it?"
The archmage was clad in long dark robes, and a long cowl that hid most of his face, giving him an ominous appearance. "Yes, I have finally finished going through Ur's research." The man replied, giving the king a curt nod. "He's made mentions of some strange creatures that he discovered. Creatures that hail from a different, dark dimension. Half man, half wolves, and far more savage and deadlier than both. He's called them the 'Worgen'."
"Tell me more of them. How can we use these creatures?" Genn Greymane had said, leaning back against a wall and crossing his arms.
"There's not much to be said about them." Arugal confessed. "Other than they come from an unknown world that is not our own. Seems everything is far darker, more savage there. They developed in this realm and have unparalleled ferocity and strength."
"Hmmmm... But can we use them?" The king asked impatiently.
"That... Is difficult to determine, my lord." The mage conceded. "They are very brutal. I could summon them from where they lay, but I can't say for sure I would be able to control them..."
"It might be enough that we can set them loose upon our enemies." Greymane countered. "I hope to the Light it won't come to this, but should the worst come to pass, I want you ready to let loose those creatures upon the undead. With any luck they will end up wiping each other out."
"As you will, my lord."
His mind drifting back to reality, the boy sighed, then crossed his hands behind his head as he stretched. "He will be fine... And who knows. Maybe the king will summon an army of beasts from a different dimension and have them kill the undead for us."
His father launched a dubious look at him. "Wouldn't that be something. But life is never that easy, son." Kalthuz sighed. "We need to make our own preparations. I imagine Silvius has his hands full?"
"Like you wouldn't believe..." Dalrus scratched his head distractedly. His master had been absent lately, busy with sabotage missions to try and slow down the undead horde approaching the city walls. The saboteurs had tried everything in their arsenal; trap holes, explosives, rock slides, poison, anything. They reported many falls on the enemy side, but that did literally nothing to stop the army as a whole. They simply ignored their own fallen and continued to urge forward, trampling over their own corpses, led by acolytes in dark robes who worshipped the scourge and its demon lords. "Am I gonna have to fight too?"
"Light forbid, but I wouldn't deny the possibility. You need to be prepared in case something goes wrong." Kalthuz frowned. "I don't like this one bit, boy. I have this terrible feeling deep in my gut... At any rate, we should-"
Whatever they should do was forever unknown to Dalrus as Silvius suddenly popped into existence right before them. Literally, one moment they were walking down the stone road, the next there was a short, wrinkly-faced, hook-nosed man in a dark cloak standing right in front of them. Kalthuz let out a curse word Dalrus had never heard before and almost fell down.
"And I'm glad to see you too." Came the old rogue's dry response. "Sorry for the delay, but I had some important business to take care of. And something I'm sure will make your day better."
"It damn well better be, curse you! You almost gave me a blasted heart attack!" Kalthuz took in a deep breath and scowled at his brother-in-law. "Well?"
"Not here, of course. Come on, back at the manor." And just like that, without uttering another word despite Kalthuz' protests, Silvius turned his back on them and made his way towards the Plaguefang estate.
With his father muttering under his breath almost the whole way, Dalrus walked as quickly as possible, his heart racing in his chest at the possibilities. As they arrived, Kalthuz moved towards the front door, but Silvius said: "In the basement." And made his way around the house. The muttering even louder now, Kalthuz had no choice but to follow the man who simply refused to answer his questions as a curious Dalrus followed them close by.
The large wooden doors towards the basement were unlocked, and it took the trio no time to make their way down. Wax candles affixed to the walls cast an eerie light over the grain bags and the shelves full of quality gilnean wine. Still ignoring Kalthuz' questions, Silvius led them down the hall where cleaning tools were kept. There, just beside the door, he pushed a certain stone tile and revealed the secret passage that led directly below the manor.
His curiosity at its peak, Dalrus eagerly went after his father and uncle into a pitch black corridor. It was only when the door closed behind them and they were surrounded by total darkness that Kalthuz finally spoke: "What's the situation at the front?"
Silvius sighed tiredly. "Not good. There's simply no end to them. You kill one. You kill ten. You set fifty on fire and a hundred more fall in pits full of spikes. Then once the pit is full of corpses to the brim, the rest simply walk over them and keep going. Each man that falls defending his home adds to their numbers. We are really gonna need a miracle to make it through this unscathed."
Kalthuz scoffed. "The king says the wall is impenetrable, our armies too mighty, our will unbreakable. I say the man can't wait to win this and prove everyone who thought it was stupid of him to seceed from the Alliance wrong. He basically intends to have everyone stay behind the wall and make our enemies bash their heads against the wall until they break."
"You don't say?" Silvius did not seem that surprised. "It does sound better than charging head first into a host of walking corpses. Anyway... You'll never guess who I came across along the way."
They finally made it to a room right on the back. Dalrus knew that room. His father had shown him and his brother when they were both much younger; it was a safe, secret room with enough supplies to last a week. Kalthuz had told him that in case of dire emergency, Dalrus was to take his mother there. Now, however, it seemed as if it were already in use. Light could be seen filtering under the large iron door, and a shadow was moving back and forth. Without hesitation, Kalthuz opened it and stepped aside.
WIthin the room, restlessly pacing back and forth, still wearing the very same armor as the day he had left, was Dalrus' brother.
"FELRUS!" The boy screamed as he dashed forward and spear-tackled his brother right in the chest. It felt like rushing into an iron pillar. Taken by surprise, Felrus barely had time to scream as they both fell heavily on the floor. "You bloody bastard, I've been worried sick about you! Where the bloody hell have you been!?"
Kalthuz wasn't much slower than his son in making his way over to Felrus, the man kneeling down on the floor and wrapping his arm around the youth's neck. "Blast it, Silvius... You should have told me! Felrus, my son..." A happy smile stretching the corners of his worried face, Kalthuz leaned back to take a good look at his son. "Thank the Light, no scars to brag about. At least none in the face, that's the worst place, I tell you."
"Father... Brother... I..." Felrus seemed at a loss of words for a moment, then he wrapped his arms around Dalrus and Kalthuz' necks and pulled them in with surprising strength. "I'm so happy... I've missed you both so much..." Dalrus couldn't help but notice there was a certain edge to his brother's voice. No longer he spoke with that mechanical deference of a noble who had been raised and trained in etiquette... Now he spoke with a more... Easened tone. "How are you two? Dalrus, your training? Are you a rogue yet?"
"He's getting there." Silvius said before the boy could reply. He then turned to face Kalthuz. "We found him about to fail where we were trying oh so very hard to succeed the past few days. Apparently, he heard the host was coming back to Gilneas, and decided his place was home. He was trying to make a distraction, lead it away. Fortunately I was just in time to stop him from getting himself killed, just so he could slow them down by about twenty seconds."
Felrus seemed embarrassed. "I... I had to do something. Father... You wouldn't believe the things I've seen. These... Things..." Felrus slowly got up, then slumped over one of the chairs by the circular stone wall. "They are not human. They don't care what or why they kill. They just... Do it. It's their primary instinct. It's not about cruelty, or mercy. It's simply what they do, as bees get pollen and make honey. They are worse than crazed beasts. Gilneas is perfect for them. If they breach the gate, the whole city and its inhabitants will be trapped with nowhere to run."
Kalthuz frowned. "I know that, son. We are doing all we can to prevent that from happening. How did you get in?"
Felrus looked over at Silvius. "He smuggled me in. Had me remove all my armor, then he did... Something... To make me unseeable. We slipped right past the gate, then he told me to wait here. Later he came back with my gear and told me he would get you."
"I'm amazed he was able to smuggle your loud arse in." Dalrus commented. "You're so noisy I could hear you from up there."
Felrus narrowed his eyes. "What, you expect plate to be soundproof?"
"Why exactly did you put that back on? I told you to take it off before we came in specifically because that's about as effective as hitting pans together to draw attention." Silvius commented.
Felrus seemed to shrink a bit. "I was restless, alright? I got used to always wearing it. The people in my company got ambushed three times during the war, so I got used to always wearing the armor, even when I slept!"
"You were in a company?" Kalthuz said, surprised.
"Ah, well... Yes. During the first few weeks, I, ah... I joined a group who was investigating the plague. I helped them uncover some things..." Felrus suddenly looked awfully nervous. "It was... Well..."
"Why are you so nervous? What's wrong?" Kalthuz stood up and crossed his arms. "You better not tell me you joined a group of mercenaries!"
"No, of course not! Nothing like that!" Felrus was quick to say, though he still looked conflicted. It was Dalrus who first realized it.
"Wait... Fel... Were you with Prince Arthas' entourage?" He inquired, crossing his arms in the exact same manner as his father.
His brother's silence was the only answer everyone needed.
"Felrus, tell me what happened. All of it." Kalthuz calmly said as he walked to the chair beside his son - there were four in total along the wall - and sat down, one hand resting upon the youth's shoulder encouragingly.
He took a few moments to gather his thoughts, then looked down and sighed deeply. "It was a couple days after I left GIlneas... I was heading north. That's when I came across them. It was a small band, led by a paladin... I didn't recognize him then. I told them I was from Gilneas, but decided my king was wrong to keep us from the war and I wanted to do my part. Most of them dismissed me, but... The prince, he said he would take any arms willing to defend his kingdom. So he let me join."
Felrus stopped for a moment, then opened his hands and stared down at his plated palms. "We marched for a few days. Apparently, we were supposed to meet the apprentice of a great mage. That was when... We met the first of them. It was a granary. Empty, completely. Or so we thought. We went inside... The smell of carrion... We could smell it miles off. And what we found inside... Piles of contaminated grain. And just as we were about to leave and look for people... That's when the first one appeared."
Dalrus was still standing, cross-armed as he stared at his brother and listened intently to his tale. "It was like a nightmare. His face was in shambles, part of his cheek was missing, and I could see the bone below the rotting flesh. He attacked the prince, who just pummeled his head clean off with his hammer. Then came more. It looked like a woman and a youth about my age... A family. They were all infected, all undead... We began to investigate. We learned the grain was coming from Andorhall... And we headed there." Now, Felrus was clenching his fists. "It was... I can't even describe it. I was so scared... We arrived as fast as we could. The place was just... Almost every single villager, they... People just toppled over around us. Then they rose and dashed straight at us. We fought for our lives. The prince, he sent his mage friend to get help... She teleported off, and he told us we would fight for our lives until the cavalry arrived."
Felrus' eyes looked out of focus as he spoke. Dalrus could see he was staring not at his hands, but somehow through them. "I don't even know... I can't even wrap my mind around how long we stood there, fighting wave after wave of those... Things. The only thing I do remember is... The prince, he... His hammer was glowing. Like a beacon of light. With every swing, he sent scores of those things flying. He was like a bonfire, filling every last one of us with hope and strength. I doubt any of us would have survived if it weren't for his presence. And just as it felt all was lost... A trumpet sounded. We looked over a hill, and there he was. The paladin... Uther the Lightbringer. He was leading a squad of knights. Within moments, the undead were annihilated. We were saved. But... The prince, he..." Felrus closed his eyes. "I'm not sure what happened. He had words with the paladin, and then hurried off. We went after him. It took us a day to get there... Most of us didn't even sleep. We couldn't. We just marched or galloped until we got there..."
"Stratholme." Dalrus said after his brother had been silent for a few moments. In solemn silence, Felrus nodded.
"Arthas... He said... Every person in that city was lost already. The same thing that had happened in Andorhal would happen there. He said... It would be a mercy. That if we were to save the people, we should... We had no choice, but to..."
"Felrus... No..." Kalthuz seemed to realize where his son was getting at. "You didn't..."
The youth looked desperate. "I didn't want to! I... I knew it was wrong. I knew it would haunt me forever. Half of the men abandoned the prince right then and there. I didn't know what to think... Some said... They would rather die still a man than to be turned into those things. Others said there were still people who weren't infected. So I made a decision..." Felrus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I would go in... And I would save anyone I saw that wasn't infected. Father, you need to understand. The prince, he... He was mad with grief. He wasn't thinking straight. I would try and correct his wrong, someone had to!"
Kalthuz seemed to relax somewhat, but still, his gaze did not ease. "Then what happened?"
"We... We went in." Felrus lowered his head and run his fingers through his hair. "I just... I couldn't believe what happened next. There was a guard by the gate. The man smiled at us. He waves us, looked straight at the prince... His exact words were: 'Greetings, my lord.' He was just a guard, performing his duty, watching out for his people. And the prince, he... He did not hesitate. He pulled out his hammer... He smashed the man's chest. I'll never forget it... The look on his face as his prince killed him without mercy. The other men, they pulled out their swords, and went in." Felrus' hands were shaking now. "They just...Slaughtered them. Like animals. Not just the men... But the women, and the children too..."
Dalrus was reminded of the day he and Silvius had spied on Phineas' tale of how he watched the prince butcher his own father. It would seem Arthas was already a few screws loose in the head long before he got his magic sword.
"I tried to save them, I swear, I really did... I saw some men approaching a family who were screaming and barricading their doors. I saw a man wielding a pitch fork, trembling from head to toe, standing outside with tears in his eyes. I stood in front of him, and told them this was madness, there was no way we could just kill everyone... Then the screams changed. I looked back. The windows in the house before us... They were red with blood. Then from inside came the man's family. They were already turned. The man began to scream as well... And right before my eyes, he, too, turned into one of them. I had to fight for my life, and soon, the streets were crawling with the undead. They fell out of windows, ran out of doors, some even fell out of trees... Everywhere, the people began to turn. That's when... That was when we saw it."
"What, something even worse than swarms of undead falling out of trees?" Dalrus said, legitimately amazed.
"It was... A demon. I have no doubt about it." Felrus looked up at Dalrus' eyes. "Enormous... As tall as a small house. Twisted horns, like those of a ram, came out of his head, and enormous bat wings sprouted from his back. His fingers had claws... Long and sharp as swords, each one of them. He wore a green armor, and said his name was Mal'Ganis, and he was responsible for what was going on. He said he was in service of a Lich King... And he would take all those people to join his army. The prince, he... He just went on and on, killing everything that moved while we followed him behind and took care of the stragglers. It was horrible... It was truly hell..."
Kalthuz squeezed his shoulder. "You did what you could, son... I'm just glad you didn't kill any innocents before they turned into those things." Dalrus doubted those words would be much consolation for his brother, though.
"After it was... Done, we... The prince said he sailed for Northrend. That Mal'Ganis had escaped, and was hiding there. There were summons all over the kingdom... Anyone willing to join would be welcome to join the expedition."
Kalthuz was suddenly alarmed. "Tell me you didn't...!" But Felrus shook his head.
"I didn't have the courage... I had already seen enough horrors by the prince's side. I knew he was going down a dark road... I didn't join. That was when he... The paladin, Uther, he said there was a place for me in the Silver Hand if I was still willing to try and make a difference. He said Arthas was lost... That he was consumed by vengeance and hatred. He told me a good cause was pointless if done by the wrong motives. So I joined a garrison around the Tirisfal glades. We were to hold the line against any wandering undead. I spent a whole year there... It was a good place. I made friends there, and I was helping keep the path to Gilneas safe. I couldn't write to you, because I feared someone could intercept the letter... But I did get news from Gilneas every now and then. That was until..."
"Until Prince Arthas came back and Lordaeron fell." Silvius concluded. Felrus nodded.
"Yes... I... Was less shocked than most people around me. But the truly horrifying news was how, afterwards, Arthas tracked down and killed Lord Uther... Then took the urn with his father's ashes. Not late after that the undead attacks got five times worse. We would get ambushed at night, and often we had to hold the lines by the ground. When the host came, our captain gave the order to evacuate... He said Gilneas did nothing for them in this war, and he would not sacrifice his men for it. Before they left, though, he gave me a horse, and told me if I still wanted to fight for my home, he would report me as missing in action and not as a defector. He said I was the one good Gilnean... Everyone said their farewells, then we parted ways. And now... Here I am."
"Bloody hell." Dalrus said, his brows arched high on his head. "So... What's he like? I mean, the crazy prince?"
Everyone in the room turned to face him.
"...What?! I'm curious! The man is responsible for this apocalypse, I wanna know what he is bloody like!"
"If you ignore the stupidity behind his insensitive words, he does have a point." Silvius said as he slapped Dalrus across the back of his head. "Arthas is now one of our enemy commanders. It's not beyond reason to get more information on him."
Felrus hesitated for a moment. "The prince, he... There was something about him that just... Inspired confidence. We looked at him, and we saw... A savior. A man we could rely on. He looked like a natural born leader. Someone who would guide us through a path to save our families. Even in his darkest times, he never doubted himself. He was always sure whatever he did was the best and was willing to go through whatever lengths necessary to get it done."
"Charming fellow. No wonder he got people to help him kill his daddy." Dalrus commented, which awarded him with another slap from Silvius.
"I'm just glad you're back home safely, son. Don't worry. Arthas will be stopped, this I promise you. Now let's take you upstairs, your mother will be overjoyed to see you safe and sound." Kalthuz helped his son get up, and together they began to make their way back through the tunnel.
As Kalthuz and Silvius silently discussed some of the details of Felrus' story, Dalrus wrapped one arm over his brother's shoulder and pulled him in close. "So, you met any ladies while out on your trip?"
Felrus launched Dalrus an incredulous look as if he had just grown elven ears. "What? Are you mad? I was fighting an undead plague!"
"That's no excuse, brother. Come on, you travelled all over the place. Surely you met a skirt or two that made you turn your head. Or could it be you're more interested in tight pants instead? There's no shame in that!"
The warrior snorted. "Sorry, but the constant fear of me and everyone around me being mangled to gory bits kept me distracted from such things."
"Bah, you're no fun. It's at times like these that you need these distractions the most!" Dalrus closed his eyes and nodded as if he had just imparted words of great wisdom.
"What in the world has uncle Silvius been teaching you?" Felrus said, just as they reached the end of the tunnel.
"Don't worry, big brother. You shall soon see what I've learned while you were away." Dalrus shot his brother a cocky grin, then patted him on the back. "It's good to have you back, that's for sure."
"Yeah..." Felrus squinted as the setting sun shone over him as they exited the basement. "It sure feels great to be back. Almost makes me forget we are about to be surrounded by thousands of blood thirsty walking corpses."
"And soon, thousands of blood thirsty worgen!" Dalrus happily said.
"What the bloody hell is a worgen?"