Chapter 4:
The horseman finally dealt with for good I can now approach the strange elf again even if to tell him that I have done what he had asked of me. As I come closer he is still talking with another of the many death knight initiates giving him almost exactly the same instructions as I had.
Bloodprince Valanar - that is the name the initiate used for him.
And just I had hoped there wasn't too much talking involved in the end. I am sent away basically the same moment I reached him. The elf briefly tells me something about one of the High Necromancers of the Lich King, how this man is here to graces us with his divine presence.
"Gothik the Harvester is accompanying us during these most grim hours for any of our foes to share his gifts with the whole of the Scarlet Crusade. You should consider talking to him, he is... anxious to meet you." The elf smirks as his words trail off into the open sky.
I bow slightly and respond with a short "I will." before I back off again.
Gothik is actually a rather old man as I am to find only few moments later, very thin and frail. He has a long white beard and is rather tall, wearing a dark blue robe. He also seems still pretty much alive to me. A higher ranked minion of the Scourge who still in possession of a beating heart...?
How awkward - yet still impressive
You just have to wonder how strong he might become if he was to turn into a lich one day. I will keep my eyes on him, should he be able to harness such power.
"So you are the one... The master has told me about you and I'm rather sure that you will be capable of aiding me, not like most of the mindless fools around us. Yet it seems strange that someone like you isn't even able to raise his own ghoul by now. But well, I might show you how if you do as well as I expect. Even a prodigy sometimes needs a head start..."
The Harvester turns around to his altar for a second and takes something off it before handing it over to me. "This little device contains a highly concentrated version of the plague we use to find and recruit new followers. They will only have to take a sniff or two and their bodies will readily go into submission and fall apart. Be careful not to breathe in too much of it of your own, as it could also affect you at a certain dosage." The dark eyes of the High Necromancer stare at me, faintly glistening with excitement. "Your task is pretty simple. Go to the mine close by and let the miners deep inside take a nose full of our present and bring it back to me. Once enough of them are converted, the rest will flee in panic leaving their backs open for our on-going attacks. That is all that there is to it."
Gothik clears his throat. "Those pitiful fools, they will all fight it. Their sight is too limited to see this is actually a gift, a gift that just keeps on giving!" The Harvester then takes a drawn out look over the lands of Havenshire that have been mostly drenched in blood by now. "Now, my privileged friend, I came here from the frozen heart of Naxxramas itself, so don't dare to disappoint me."
I was about to reply just before I could hold myself back in the last moment. Words wouldn't do anything for me right now. It would be actions that that are to underline my fate.
The mine is to the east of our camp. It is heavily guarded by the enemy most of the time, as it is closest to us and of some importance for their resource management. Yet by now most of the soldiers were called off to Havenshire after our first strike at the village had shattered their ill assigned defenses with ease.
On my way over to the objective several initiates come rushing past me, all yelling things like "By the might of Mograine!" or if they are a bit simpler, usually orcs or dwarves, they just call out "Destruction!" or "Annihilation!", although I do have to say the last one is already a bit more difficult. Surprising to say the least what fools come crawling from the gutters of this world and find a place at the side of my king. A quick execution would be in order, but quite frankly I did not have the time to sort out own ranks just now and well, even a fool can do his part for our advance.
There are still a few guards outside the mine as I reach it, but all of them are locked in combat with initiates of us, so I'm quick to make up my mind and don't bother about them at all. I just enter at my own will.
'Kill them! Revive them! Frostmourne hungers for their souls! Let it feast! Let the armies grow!'
The voice in my head sounds more demanding than usual though not as aggressive.
I take the strange device I had been given and go around the first few corners in search for the miners. I spot corpses in some smaller alcoves, I guess those weren't worthy of becoming part of the Scourge or maybe they just rejected this most generous gift of all.
Thought the sound of pickaxes hitting stone still fills the cave, the monotony of it is only disrupted by short and sudden screams coming from different areas of the mine letting the miners stop for a second or two each time they occur.
All in all I have to say the mine is fairly well lit to my surprise, the dead bodies, now growing in number as I venture deeper into the shafts and the blood curdling on the stone like ruby hidden in a vein clearly visible for the open eye.
As I get to an intersection of three different larger hallways, each of them sporting many different smaller shafts I see a green mist creeping out of one of many to my right. I don't hesitate to take a closer look and find an orcish death knight initiate lying in the middle of it next to a device similar to the one Gothik had given to me. He is still heavily coughing, spitting up black blood as his already rotten flesh dissolves into a formless goo. That idiot... He probably has taken a deep breath of the gas against all the warnings or for whatever reason. Maybe the machine just went off on him, just like that.
'Mercy is for the weak!' The voice in my head speaks up to me the moment I see the dying initiate. He soon will be standing among us again, as a ghoul, I remind myself. And surely this should be a fate more suitable for someone of the likes of him.
As I go deeper into the mine I finally find some of the miners I seek, working in a kind of pit with only a single one way up. There are three of them down there, a great opportunity for me to test this little gadget without endangering myself too much.
Upon having a closer look I find a kind of trigger on its side, so I just push the button and throw the can down into the pit. The green mist is set loose immediately it leaves my grip. It spreads fast and almost fills the cavity up to an amount that the fog pours out of it at my feet.
The screams of the miners soon turn into coughing and not much later silence. And only a couple more moments later I hear moaning. Slowly three ghouls come ascending up the way once leading down into the pit now filled with gas and death. Their skin looks as if it was partially burned directly off their bodies, chunks of bare flesh hanging down loosely. Seems there is a little bit more to the mist than I had expected. But for me it's just another reason to be careful around it.
Of course this also only opens up another problem for me... I wonder how I could get the thing back out of the pit, but then again I guess I already have a better idea.
I take a quick look into each of the adjacent corridors and just pull the miners out of them one by one. I don't care about how much they struggle, if they break an arm or even if I have to cut off a limb so they'd stop flailing around... it won't matter that much once they are ghouls.
One after the other I throw them into my little deathtrap. Full of delight I listen in on their transformation. I hear bones break as they hit the ground head first, but still it only takes up a few minutes and a ghoul with a disfigured skull comes crawling up again. A truly wondrous magic we have to offer, isn't that so?
But not all of the minions emerge again. I don't know why but some of the ghouls stay down there in the pit idly clattering about with their loosened jaws, but again I don't care much about this either to be honest.
After a good ten ghouls have gathered around me I start to make my way out of the mine, hoping to reach the outside still during the daytime. It's really easy to lose your sense of orientation and time down here... Yet as we pass the corpse of the dumb orc from before I at least know I am on the right track. Unfortunately this discovery also forces me to take a moment and stop because three of the ghouls start eating away on remainders of the dead body. I order them to stop and just continue following me till we get to the outside, but only one of them listens to me. I hope it will be easier and quicker if I just allow all of them to feed. They should be done pretty quickly... I hope.
My judgment seems to be right... It really doesn't take too long for them to eat up. After about five minutes or so there is nothing left except a disfigured orcish skeleton. So I guess he won't be becoming a ghoul after all. Either way not too much of a loss I'd say.
I then hurry my pace to leave the mine. And as I finally manage to find the exit there are no guards left close by, they are all retreating to the beach down below as I venture forth with the group of ghouls at my side.
It doesn't take up too much time to return to the Harvester.
He gives me and the ten ghouls that follow my each step a careful look and then speaks up.
"Well... actually you were supposed to leave them in the mine." I raise an eyebrow. "... but fine nonetheless. You surely have presented my gift to a lot of them... and survived for yourself. Do you have the device? Have you brought it back with you?"
I shack my head in response ready to take any sudden punishment that would head my way. To my surprise he stays perfectly calm.
"Yes, I expected as much. Well, this is only a trivial loss. Where one was there are many and the master had told me that you would be rather reckless."
A grim smile comes to his thin lips.
"It was to be expected, maybe even hoped?" He takes hold of my shoulder with his long and bony fingers. "How would you like to take one of the ghouls as your own? A death knight of your power should be in possession of an own undead minion. Or would you rather want to revive a dead body on your own, nameless child?"
I have no idea what I should choose. A minion of my own – surely a good thing; but on the other hand... The ghouls from the mine hardly listened to my commands at all.
"Ah yes. That should not be a problem once you grow stronger and can handle your power with more efficiency, bending it according to the desired effect."
How could he know what I'm thinking about, I boldly question his words?
"The master had told me, you may still appear a bit foolish and overly used to your former life. But I'm sure you will leave this behind you soon enough... It would be better for you and all of us." He turns to the ghouls. "Well then... off you go. Into the pit or I shall end your existence on the spot!" He yells at the undead ones as he waves them away. Quickly they obey his command and scurry into the pit with the dead bodies next us and start digging themselves into the soft and turned over earth. I for my part can only look at the scene in bewilderment, not fully understanding to its full extent.
"There they will rest, serve as a backup for our legions. Once you are strong enough you will be able to call forth one or maybe even more of them yourself depending on how far you shall grow. Usually they are just dispensable and replaceable minions, but some death knights I tell you are even able to raise the same ghoul every time. They raise the tormented spirit, ripped from its old body rather than the corpse itself. But before you can do or even just think about something like this - you still have to go a long way." Gothik turns to his altar. "You ought to talk to the worthless, snobby elf again... He sent for you some time ago."
Without much of a farewell I do as he says and make my way through the growing number of tents over to Valanar immediately. He was again talking to another initiate.
"Bring me their flesh ... still bloody would be fine." The troll nods in response and heads off towards the village taking it as an order. "I was told you did fine, death knight." The bloodprince comes towards me, ignoring every other one that comes rushing for him just now. With a gesture towards the other death knights pointing out that they should get out of his way they are all dismissed without further notice.
"Let me tell you... The master is proud of you." He proclaims upon reaching me. He then puts one hand on my right shoulder and forces me to turn around. "Care for a short walk?" It was intended as a real question. And he wouldn't give me a chance to answer it. "Few of your brethren have survived the first attacks. So be proud of yourself, you are strong. The path you are following might still be long, but the most important steps you have already travelled..."
Yes. Yes, I am strong! Strong enough to survive as a member of the Scourge!
"Go on like this and your future will be blessed. You might even be allowed to be part of the guard of Kel'Thuzad, or any other higher officer inside the black citadel in the frozen lands of Icecrown. Or perhaps... even more."
We slowly walk towards the edge of the steep hillside our camp is set up next to. From here we can overlook the whole of Havenshire, the white walls and towers of the city of New Avalon clearly visible in the distance when put against the dark brownish veil of the sky.
"Havenshire is basically ours. The fields are flooded with the blood of the crusaders, many a death thanks to you my friend. Yet, for the moment our attention is focused mainly on the beach." Valanar points to the east. You can barely see what lies beyond the cliffs, though I can make out a red sail being thrown from left to right by the winds.
"Do you hear it? Do you smell it? They want to flee. Pathetic worms as they are, fear governs every move. As we speak the first wave of our attackers strike. Their ships filled with Thorium and Mithril, they will sink easily, pulled down to the depths of the ocean's floor. But not enough: Except for that, the crusaders are getting reinforcements. They believe us daft, imbecile like the ghouls of our armies. They think they can fool us. Instead of attacking from New Avalon or Tyr's Hand, they board ships, sail around the cliff and attack from below. Worthless efforts..."
Screams fill the air again out of nowhere, followed by a set of explosions going off. I see how the red sail is lit up in flames.
"The fire will devour all what they have struggled for, all their dreams, wishes and last hopes." The elf let lose a short laughter. "Idealistic fools they are... And about you... the master wants to see you in Acherus. You deserve a reward for what you have achieved today."
Prince Valanar turns around again and heads off for his tent without another word for me, mindless ghouls and a handful of initiates already awaiting him there.
I, on the other hand directly go to the skeletal gryphons and their caretakers. To get to Acherus as quickly as possible, that is the current objective.
On my quick way up I have the opportunity to have at least a short look at the beach below. The water at the shore is already completely red, the blood being washed ashore wave by wave. In the background I watch as two more ships of the crusade are set on fire, ready to burn down and leave nothing behind to be salvaged except for the corpses of its once so lively crew.
'Come to me, my unholy knight.'
The calamity unfolding, the screams of those dying are a most certain envoy of death.