Salanar watched Sapphire feed Tryg and the other undead.
"You know...when I mean make friends I should have clarified. Friends that can speak in complete sentences."
Acherus felt more like home than Moonglade, Stormwind, or even Ratchet. While they were traitors, everyone in Acherus had once been Scourge. Most seemed hostile to Sapphire, but she felt a lot safer in the necropolis than on the streets of Stormwind.
Lord Thorval and Salanar were the only deathknights who behaved amicably with her. Sapphire had better success with the lesser undead. Tryg the ghoul followed her around everywhere. He introduced her to the other ghouls as well as geists and zombies around the necropolis. Even in Icecrown, Sapphire could befriend any lesser undead. No high ranking undead would notice her despite her status as the Lich King's daughter. She was still mortal and pretty useless.
At least with ghouls and zombies, Sapphire could win them over with a bone or scrap of meat. The undead of Acherus were just as easy to befriend. During the day Sapphire spent her time either with the ghouls, Lord Thorval, or Salanar.
So Sapphire was feeding her undead friends some questionable meat the quartermaster reluctantly gave her. She and her friends all sat in a rarely used storage room. Old swords and armor collected dust.
As she fed her friends, she perused the grimoire she found in Thros. One of her teachers in Icecrown had taught her some vrykul runes and the Drust language seemed similar enough, but she did not know enough. Bolfr wanted her to make him a body. The strange construction required fresh wood along with animal body parts. While the construction was simple, she needed to understand more before she could attempt to bring the nice Drust back to life.
Someone else could potentially read more. Sapphire thought of Amal'thazad but while she trusted Thorval and Salanar, she did not believe the lich would help her with such a matter. So she kept silent about her promise. Bolfr could wait for a while.
She sat reading for what seemed like hours until suddenly the undead around her grew uneasy. Sapphire looked up to see a small group of deathknights enter the room. At first Sapphire did not think they had any malicious goals. Until one closed the door and locked it from the inside. A cold feeling clutched at Sapphire's heart and she turned toward Salanar in concern.
The Horseman had vanished into thin air. Sapphire now panicked.
There were three deathknights, led by a blood elf man with dark hair and an equally dark scowl on his face. He stepped forward. All of the geists and ghouls immediately circled defensively around Sapphire. Such devotion was a shock to Sapphire. All she had done was be nice to them and feed them scraps. Next to her, Tryg growled.
The lead deathknight curled up his lip.
"I was not sure before but now there cannot be a doubt. You are the scion of the Dark Lord, the butcher king. I remember you when I was still apart of the Scourge before that vile bastard fell."
Terror gripped Sapphire so hard she could not even deny it or speak at all. These deathknights were not orginally Acherus knights. They must have been freed at her father's defeat and given amnesty by the Knights of the Ebon Blade. They knew her even if she did not know them. She never harmed any of them but that did not matter.
Tryg snatched her hand and pulled her back, away from the danger. A dwarf woman sneered.
"A few corpses canna protect ye, little princess."
Now the deathknights attacked the undead. It was a slaughter. Sapphire turned away, panicked over the situation. She could not kill three deatkhnights even with the help of the undead. What could she do? Turn into a bear?
A stabbing pain exploded from her chest and she gasped out in pain, clutching the affected area.
Suddenly there was a savage cry and Sapphire lunged away without looking back. The dwarf woman had attempted to cleave her in half with a wicked two handed axe. Sapphire scrabbled behind an old weapons rack and shoved it against the deathknight. Old weapons fell to the ground clanging.
Kill them for their insolence.
"No!" Sapphire said to the disembodied voice which sounded uncomfortably familiar. She turned into a bear and swung one paw at the dwarf. Her plate armor obviously protected her from Sapphire's razor sharp claws but the deathknight did fall back against the force of the blow. Sapphire roared angrily.
Let their blood flow.
Wherever the voice was coming from, Sapphire did not know but she refused to listen to them. All she could think of was that old cultist whose arm she tore off and swallowed. The taste of blood and flesh came back and Sapphire felt bile rise in her throat. She had only been defending herself hadn't she? What was so different now?
The dwarven deathknight attacked again and Sapphire backed up in alarm, one paw raised defensively. She batted away the axe and went for the dwarf's throat. The other deathknight, an orc grabbed her by her neck fur and slammed Sapphire to the floor. She struggled against the orc but even as a bear she could not match the deathknight's strength and he kept her forced to the floor.
She saw the blood elf approach, with his bloodied sword shining in the dark. The fear she felt hurt more than whatever stabbing pain was radiating from her chest.
"We could not have our revenge against your father, but we are willing to settle for you."
The blood elf raised his sword with both hands.
Kill them!
Outraged at their misguided hatred, Sapphire suddenly got a burst of strength and managed to throw off the orc. She roared as loud as she could. The dwarf and elf went toward her but Sapphire lunged at the elf. The sword did not discourage her. She grabbed it in her mouth, not caring if it cut her tongue or anything else and yanked it from the deathknight. She then hit him hard with her head and heard a crack as he fell backwards.
She whipped around toward the dwarf. The floor itself turned dark as the deathknight did some kind of magic but Sapphire did not notice any pain or difference. She came forward, unrelenting, and with one paw ripped off the dwarf's helm. The woman cried out in surprise but Sapphire ended that as she clamped her jaws around the knight's face and shook her like Rot might shake a rat.
Sapphire dropped the dwarf, who fell limply to the ground. The orc had recovered and now summoned up a blizzard of ice and snow to disorient Sapphire. It worked, for the orc managed to surprise her from the side and hit her with his mace. The bones in her arm, still recovering from the Huntsman's arrow, cracked from the impact.
Sapphire let out an agonized roar and started to see black. Rage filled her and the voice came into her head once more. She listened to it this time. The blizzard suddenly dissipated, which left both of the standing knights confused.
"Why stop it?" The elf demanded.
The orc shook his head. "I didn't!"
Sapphire stood up on her hind legs now. At full height, her bear form reached over seven feet tall. She bared her gleaming teeth into a vicious snarl.
"I did."
With that declaration Sapphire switched back into her own form, small and seemingly fragile. Despite her now broken arm, Sapphire did not hesitate now. All of the ghouls and geists and zombies, all killed off by the deathknights, now started to rise again. Some of their limbs had been hacked off but that did not stop them from surrounding the two. Dark magic mists swirled around the knights arms and legs, forcing them both into kneeling positions.
"I did nothing to either of you! Yet you attack me?" Sapphire snapped.
"Your existence is blight on this world," The blood elf retorted angrily.
Sapphire strode over to the elf and grabbed his throat with her unhurt hand. She could almost taste his blood, but just like that all the rage seemed to flow out of her. It felt like she had not slept in a week and she collapsed from the sudden fatigue. Tryg caught her as she fell.
"Kill...kill them all," Sapphire gasped out at the other undead. They did as asked, leaping onto the immobilized knights with relish and tore them to pieces. Sapphire dimly heard banging on the locked door.
Suddenly the sound of metal boots on the hard floor appeared behind her and Tryg. Sapphire flinched at the sound but it was not a hidden enemy. Salanar appeared out of thin air and surveyed the destruction before him.
"My, my. Usually it is a poor feeling indeed to be proven wrong, but I am glad to admit this mistake. I did not think you had it in you. Nice job, kid."
"I...I don't know what you mean?" Sapphire said, completely bewildered by Salanar's behavior and words. He left her to be attacked and then praised her for what? Killing three deathknights? Were they not his own brothers and sister in arms?
The door to the storage room broke as two random deathknights came in to investigate all the noise. One looked at the eviserated deathknights.
"What happened?" She demanded, looking accusatorily at both Salanar and the group of undead. She did not even glance at Sapphire, who still lay crumpled in Tryg's arms.
Salanar proceeded waved casually at the destruction. "This? Oh, it seemed these idiots were...annoyed with the sight of my young friend here. I guess despite defeating the Lich King though their wills were their own, they couldn't control their own bloodlust. A shame I had to kill them but what else but put down rabid dogs?"
The other deathknight gave Sapphire a cursory look but again the focus seemed to be on Salanar.
"We should inform the Highlord of this," He said worriedly. Salanar nodded sagely.
"Indeed, you should. For now, I think I should take my little friend to Lord Thorval. Mortals are so fragile and one of those bastards broke her arm."
Sapphire winced when the deathknight turned to pick her up, jarring her broken arm painfully.
Lord Thorval scowled when Salanar came in bearing Sapphire with Tryg trailing behind. The blood deathknight's tables were all full of bodies, but that did not stop Salanar. He lifted one leg and kicked a body, half cut open, off the table and to the floor.
"Oh look, Lord Thorval has space for you now." Salanar said casually as Thorval grunted in annoyance and left to get his tools.
Sapphire winced as she was placed onto the table. While Salanar had moved the body, he did not clean up the blood which quickly soaked into her shirt.
"Salanar...Why did you lie? What did you mean you didn't think I had it in me? Have what in me?"
The deathknight's expression was unreadable.
"Why, the power of Frostmourne from that shard in your heart. Did you just assume a young mortal woman could just kill three deathknights so easily?"
Sapphire stared at him blankly. Suddenly that dark voice made sense and she realized whose voice it had been. And the scar on her chest? The one that she did not remember ever receiving. All of her other scars, she could remember where they came from.
"I...have a piece of Frostmourne...inside me?" She whispered.
Had she truly been so stupid to not see it? Why else did Arthas seem to start caring for her only after he was defeated? The scar had not been there before. Though she feigned amnesia before with Volugg, it was clear there actually was a gap in her memory. Was this when her father had stabbed her with a piece of Frostmourne? That was the only reason he had followed her after Northrend. Why he protected her.
The pain of her broken arm did not cause any tears but this realization did.
Salanar reached down and retrieved a scrap of cloth from the body on the floor. He handed it to her.
"I did not realize you didn't know. Apologies."
Sapphire did not use the cloth to wipe away her tears. She let them flow freely and let out a small choking sound. What a fool she was. He never gave a damn about her. She was just a weapon it seemed. Salanar had known. Kiefer probably knew as well.
When she heard someone coming, she expected it to be Thorval, but it was Highlord Mograine instead. Atleast...she assumed it was. For when the deathknight entered, she recognized the armor but without the intimidating helm. And it was not some grizzled, heavily scarred man like she imagined Darion Mograine looked.
He was barely older than her. Sapphire stared at the sun kissed hair that grew unkempt on the young man's head. She'd never seen a deathknight with such hair before. Nor such a youthful, almost soft face. Sapphire felt her own face start to warm as she looked at Darion.
The Highlord spoke briefly with Salanar before meeting Sapphire's gaze. She seemed to warm even more and it felt like her stomach was full of winged insects fluttering about.
"I was told what happened. As leader of the entire order of Ebon Blade Knights...I would like to apologize for this incident. This is not what we are," He said, raising his voice in anger with each word.
Sapphire just bit her lip. She did not know what to say, but Darion did not seem to want a response.
"It seems you cannot be safe here. After some thought...I believe there is a safer place for you but I must speak with an old friend first."
Atleast she would be leaving the place soon. Those deathknights had spoiled Acherus for her. Though she would miss being amongst undead. Suddenly Sapphire sat up, causing pain to shoot up her arm.
"Wait. What about Tryg?" Sapphire demanded.
Darion raised an eyebrow. Salanar gestured to the ghoul who suddenly cowered behind Sapphire worriedly.
Sapphire grew defensive. "He's my friend. Can he come with me?"
The Highlord seemed thoughtful, but did not give her a straight answer.
"Again, I need to speak to my friend. I promise nothing. In the meantime, do you feel safe enough here in Thorval's lab?"
Sapphire nodded. Lord Thorval never gave her any reason to fear him any more than Salanar did. Darion turned back to Salanar now.
"I'll be putting guards around the lab. Do not let her out for her own safety."
Now Sapphire saw a different side of the Horseman. He seemed almost...angry.
"I need to speak to you alone," Salanar now hissed. This did not seem to sway Mograine, despite him being shorter than Salanar and much much younger.
Thorval entered just as the two of them left. He put down a tray of implements. One of which was a syringe.
"As good as you are with pain, I am going to need to fix that bone. You will scream. I prefer working in silence so...Will you consent to a sedative or am I going to enjoy strapping you down and just plug my ears with wax?"
Sapphire was too exhausted and confused to argue. Everything hurt. All she felt was pain and betrayal. Sapphire wearily held out her uninjured arm and did not even wince when Thorval stuck the needle into a vein.
