A/N: Please note that this is of course Fan Fiction, therefore the events described would be slightly deviated from the orginal telling.
And nope, I in fact do not own Warcraft or anything else I write about.
Chapter 22
The bulk of the Forsaken army stealthily moved through the mist towards Detheroc's stronghold. The Dark Lady led the formation from the center, her banshee sisters were spread out to her left and right. This kept the army in line and order as they moved over the dense, snowy terrain. The fog was so thick that everyone was nearly blind and could only follow on the heels of the one directly in front of them. Wayne and Nollis kept close to the Dark Lady, the elite Forsaken remained in the center, acting as a spearhead.
Detheroc reinforced the infamous stronghold of Thelceain with two separate army groups. His own force of undead Scourge and minor demons, and an enslaved army of humans that were once part of the resistance. Each army held their post in an equal sized half of the stronghold, and acted as if they were oblivious of each other. Their size and strength were nearly equal, as well as the castle fortifications they controlled.
The final battle plan was one fitting of the Banshee Queen's brilliance. Detheroc's armies dividedness would show to be the greatest weakness to the Dreadlord's force. With her leading the Forsaken, they planned on possessing the human sentries and sneaking into the human sector as they slept. Then cutting through as many as they could before an alarm was raised. Then the combined force of ogres, knolls and murlocs that were 'persuaded' into service for the Dark Lady would attack from the other side of the stronghold. Facing heavy resistance from the undead on the walls.
Such a direct attack against the walls of the undead sector was truly suicidal, and that was the greater plan of the Dark Lady. Having so many of her enemies cut each other down was one of her greatest talents. Though more than just mass death, it was a distraction meant to keep Detheroc's undead from contricting too tightly on the Forsaken. Then the Dark Lady's forces would smash into the Dreadlord's forces from the rear when he is most vulernable.
All units were in position on both sides of the stronghold as the early morning hours wavered past. The burning torches at the castle gate and along the wall did little in the way of improving the defender's line of sight. Heavily armored soldiers patrolled along the roads, carrying torches. Banshees sneaked upon them from behind and silently possessed them. Then continued on their patrol towards the stronghold as more banshees appeared to control the gate guards and opened the heavy steel doorway wide.
The Forsaken that were lying low in wait were now commanded forward, slowly and silently as possible. Many more banshees stalked the fortified walls, taking possession of any that were awake and on watch. The Dark Lady was the first to pass through the gateway as the possessed human soldiers stood and bowed low to her.
Across the grounds of the stronghold were tattered tents, though many humans slept on the ground, in the mud. The visibility was alot clearer once they made it inside. All were clearly informed on the battle plan, the Forsaken spread out across the castle grounds. They progressed like a swarm of locusts in green fields, silently extinguishing all the life that they saw. The few skilled archers walked among the rest, shooting anyone that happened to be awake and moving about. Wayne moved about the encampment slyly, cutting throats with his long dagger.
A suprising amount of success was achieved before the alarm was inevitably raised. The grounds were already soaked in human blood with more than half of them slaughtered in their sleep. With the loud tolling of bells going off, along with shouts for a call to arms. The Forsaken pressed onward with vigor, casting aside the need to be silent. The Dark Lady quickly passed the vision to her banshees on the other side to begin their attack.
The sounds of the humans rushing into the fray was soon eclipsed by the loud roar of battle on the other side of the stronghold. Forsaken Abominations and soldiers went toe to toe with the humans and quickly slashed through their ranks. Wayne and Nollis stood side by side during the mayhem, firing death spells and arrows onto whatever life they saw. They turned to the right and saw Blightcaller leading a squad along the wall. He screamed in ecstasy as he hacked through cavalrymen with a long elegant axe. The Banshee Queen stood squarely in the center of the keep, firing her death enchanted arrows through the heads of the foolish corrupted humans.
Before much longer the vision came for many of the Forsaken to follow their Queen into the undead sector to kill Detheroc. More than half of the Forsaken quickly flocked to the Dark Lady's side as she moved forward. The rest stayed behind to finish off what was left of the humans. Varimathras was also ordered to stay behind and help clean up the mess. The gateways leading to the other side were quickly opened with the help of her banshees, and soon they were walking into a whole new battlefield.
Suprisingly a few murlocs were actually inside the keep, though they laid dead on the ground, how they made it over the walls is a mystery. Now nearly all of Detheroc's undead stood on the walls, firing everything they could onto the Dark Lady's auxiliary armies. To their credit, it seemed as if they were sending back an equal amount of return fire.
The Forsaken spread out in search of Detheroc, once his head was severed then this battle would be won. They easily cut through the undead that wandered around, many were hardily anything more than a zombie. It was a travesty that the Dreadlords believed they could control these lands when they could not even control their lowest groups of soliders.
Many grew agitated in the belief that the Dreadlord had long since fled the battle. But soon he was discovered on the far side of the grounds, frantically summoning demons to aid him. Large groups of felhounds appeared from another dimension and were set upon the Forsaken. The speed and ferocity of the beasts overwhelmed many of the Forsaken as they jumped upon them with full force, rending their dead flesh like a rabid animal. Wayne, Nollis and a few others charged the Dreadlord while the rest were still far away.
Nollis made the first contact as his arrow hit the demon high on his chest. He staggered backwards a step but appeared otherwise uneffected. Detheroc held out his hands and chanted loudly in his deep voice. In each hand a large blunt hammer appeared, easily the size of a man. Then the demon began to mercilessly throw them upon the charging Forsaken. Every hit would decimate the Forsaken soldier to bones, and just as quickly as the hammer was thrown, another would appear in the Dreadlord's hands. The rest of the arrows that Nollis fired did not make it through his raised outer shields.
Wayne was in the midst of casting a powerful spell when a hammer came hurtling directly at him. Nollis moved quickly to pull Wayne out of the way, but was not fast enough. The hammer hit Wayne's right leg slightly above his knee and they both were sent flying backwards. Slamming on the ground hard, Nollis was quick to his feet to help his master up, but Wayne couldn't so easily stand. His leg was too badly mangled for him to walk. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Wayne felt tremendous pain. The Dark Lady and the rest of the Forsaken were now running towards the Dreadlord from the west, ready to finish the task.
"This isn't over," Wayne rasped. "Help prop me up."
Nollis lifted his master into a standing position and held his waist from behind to keep him from falling. Wayne concentrated and held out his left hand towards the Dreadlord. With all of his magical might be brought the demon flying towards him, much the same way as he did that foolhardy Elven mage.
Wayne flexed his left hand to the fullest extent, the demon bellowed in pain as all his bones stretched out in all directions. Then Wayne pulled his fingertips back tightly and the Dreadlord's chest exploded with his ribcage bones pointing outwards. Detheroc had now only a few moments of life left, yet out of cruelty, Wayne took hold of his rib bones in each hand and stabbed them into his still beating heart. His cries of pain were quick as Wayne released him and the Dreadlord's body hit the ground dead.
End of Chapter 22
