Warcraft Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodstained Shadows - Chronicles of a Lost Soul ❯ Scarlet Dawn - Chapter 10 ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10:

 

 

The stairs just seem endless. As we reach the upper level, the head of the guards is already waiting for us. He is a tall grown man, probably in his beginning thirties. He has short black hair and a chin-beard. A scar marks his right cheek.

“It's good to see you made it this fast, lieutenant Narval.”, Whitemane greets him.

“And it's good to see you, Sally, even though I would prefer other occasions.”, he smiles at us.

“We need people for a small field trip to Brill immediately! I'm leading it personally. It is of utmost importance.”, her tone is harsh.

“I didn't expect it to be this urgent. Well I will gather some men, give me twenty minutes, Sally.”, his words are strong.

“You have ten, and don't you dare to take any longer.”, her words sound like a threat.

The lieutenant bows and heads off to call some of his soldiers to arms.

Not even two minutes have passed when Whitemane crosses her arms and starts tapping her foot. I feel uncomfortable standing next to her, especially now when she is impatient like that.

A muzzled scream comes from downstairs.

“To hell with that fool, why on earth must he kill the last surviving one too?”, I have never seen her so furious before. She starts walking around in circles. “Sometimes I wonder how somebody like him can be in the leadership of the Crusade? He always overdoes it.”, she mumbles.

I didn't know this side of him, in Hearthglen he was always rather quiet and reserved, but hearing Whitemane talk like this it seems that `this' happens rather often. How couldn't I notice?

Whitemane keeps talking to herself, probably a reaction to the sudden distress.

“Sometimes I hope he'd die because of his recklessness. We don't need such an idiot in one of the top positions. Give me one good reason not to kill him!”, it sounds as if she is talking mad due to fever.

“Now Sally calm down, everything will be fine, we just have to recover that book of the undead. Those bastards won't get a chance to strike at us!”, she actually calms down a bit.

The minutes pass uneasily, but I already see the lieutenant again and I am pretty sure he made it prior to the end of the deadline set by Whitemane. As she sees him, she stops walking around.

"Here we are, Sally. Ten men ready to go out into battle.", he bows slightly.

"Fine, then follow me, men.", she says offering the warriors a strict look.

“Should I join you, Sally?”, Narval asks out of the blue.

“No!”, her answer came immediately, “You stay here and watch over Isillien. His rage took over once more. Go down there and settle him, we can't afford him to kill more of the prisoners...”

“Aye, milady. As you wish.”, he takes the stairs down at once.

“Now, the rest of you, follow and be prepared to have to fight against heavy resistance of the undead.”

She takes the lead as we walk out of the Monastery. “We will go by foot, horses would track too much attention.”, she announces and we walk on in silence for a moment.

Whitemane continues her briefing as we reach the small road that leads down from the hill the monastery is build upon.

“Our main objective will be a book of the Apothecary Society of the so-called Forsaken. It is situated in a rather small house in the middle of the city formerly known as Brill.” As I hear the name of the city, my heart figuratively jumps up to my throat. “Because we captured three of their men yesterday, they will probably be on their guard, so be careful and do not underestimate them!”

Wow,... I'm going to be in Brill again... at home. This is the only thing on my mind at this present moment.

“If the book is recovered, we leave the town immediately, there shall be no unnecessary hostilities.”. We slowly leave the grounds of the Scarlet Crusade and go deeper into the dark forests of Tirisfal.

“I will take care of the protection of the civilian personally, yet if the group should be separated by what means ever, protect him at all cost.”, she seems to be referring to me, “If he should die or be taken captive, I will take care personally that everybody responsible will hang by noon tomorrow!”, her words are cold, she really means what she says.

We reach the end of the forest and now we are standing on a hill overseeing the town of Brill. It looks very much the same as it did before the plague and the Scourge started to wreak havoc in the lands of Lordaeron.

Whitemane raises her hand, so everybody stops, then she signalized so get down. We all crunch, those directly at the edge lie down completely. I see two lights inside the city, both probably coming from torches. I guess those are from guards on their duty. Two guards are not that much compared to ten warriors and Whitemane.

She points out with her hand that we should back off from the edge of the hill. As we reach a short distance, she starts talking again.

“As I have seen, the house is almost in the middle of the town, opposite to the former town hall and next to the stables.”. No, that is not were I lived some time ago. Our house was much nearer to the blacksmith and the inn. “We will try to go around the city as far as possibly. The problem is, when we go around south of the village, we have to pass the watch tower behind Brill and if we go north, we have to go through the whole village most likely, yet we don't endanger ourselves attracting more attention from the ruins of Lordaeron.”

Whitemane thinks for a moment.

“We will take the risk and approach from the north. Head back the way we came, there is a small passage down the hill up north.”

The men do as she says without any further reaction, complete compliance.

“We try to lie low as long as possible and take out guards by surprise. So watch your steps as you walk through the village and be careful when you pass the stables. They keep undead horses there, they are no less skittish than their living counterparts.” We quickly go down the path to the foot of the hill.

Undead horses? I have never seen any of those. I wonder what they may look like.

“Once you can see the cemetery of Brill, nobody talks a word. You don't make a single sound!”, those are the last words from her before reaching the end of the small passage.

We are standing on a wide road to the north, a connection from the City of Lordaeron to the seaside built by fishermen and the farmers living up north. Later that region was infested by murlocs, such dreadful creatures. Like fish on legs. They are pretty dangerous in fact. They have teeth sharp as razors, a good sight and they socialize. So be careful if you attack one of them, probably the whole 'family' will try to ambush you. Some of them are even able to cast simple spells.

In the meantime Whitemane quietly finished the last bit of the briefing for the warriors.

We follow the road to the north for a while, then we turn off left into the forest to the west. The graveyard of Brill is already visible. We want to take the small opening between it and the town hall. Whitemane and probably three or four guards will rush into the house on the other side of the road and get what we are searching for. The rest of us will secure the passageway out of the city.

We walk slower and slower, careful not to make any sounds that could give us away.

Everybody is silent as we reach the backside of the town hall. We sneak to the western side of it. I just hope nothing happens, that we can do this easily without anybody dying.

At the corner of the building Whitemane points at three of the guards, she heads around the corner first, the three chosen following directly after her. The rest of us stays her. We are backup and we have to make sure we can retreat safely.

I take a peek around the corner. Whitemane and the others are already at the street. They hesitate to go on, I wonder what they are seeing.

Suddenly she gives a sign and Whitemane as well as the three guards dash towards the house on the opposite side of the street. As they have made about half of the way to the building, I hear a dull sound very close.

I turn around. One of our men is lying on the ground with a dagger in his back. What on earth? Blood is pouring from the open wound, we all stare at the body in shock.

“An ambush!” Whitemane yells. I take another look around the corner. One of the guards is fighting with an undead, another one is lying on the ground. The creature sitting on top of him is lifting its weapon, ready to plunge it into the back of the warrior. Whitemane casts smite on the creature knocking it off, letting it fly some metres. No need to keep it quiet anymore.

“I will get the book, keep those monsters off of me, then retreat immediately!”, she yells.

Whitemane rushes towards the building, a creature tailing her. The third warrior she took with her tackles the undead, taking it off its course.

Now another of the men standing next to me has a knife in his back, he gargles blood and falls to the ground right next to me. I press myself to the wall in shock.
One of our men in the front of the building screams, it seems another one of the creatures was successful.

The five remaining guards behind the building with me are looking hectically everywhere.

I think I can hear a faint voice utter something. It sounded like 'fools'. I pray to the light that this only was my imagination.

Out of the shadows of the trees another three undead leap. They are far more agile then the ghouls of the Scourge. How can this be? One of them carries two swords and easily holds two of our warriors at bay. A second one even has a shield, and is blocking most of the attacks from the warriors.

Where is the third? Only a moment ago there were three of them!

The guard right in front of me looks to me, checking if everything is alright. Just in this moment the third undead appears behind him. I want to warn him, but it is too late. The creature slits his throat instantly, a spray of blood covering everything in front of him, including parts of my robe. The undead is grinning, foul teeth showing in is lipless mouth. The other two are still keeping back the our warriors with ease.

“What are you doing here, civilian?” , the voice is crooked, it is hard to understand, but he definitely speaks in our language. “You don't look like a healer?” That thing has the same glowing eyes as the one I saw earlier this night in the dungeon of the monastery.

I utter in fear. I've seen three people die right before my eyes and I couldn't do anything!

I slowly crawl sideways until I reach the corner of the building, the undead following me.

My mind is a mess, I can't think a clear thought. What should I do? Why did Whitemane take me here? Why me? Those questions are the only thing that come up to my mind.

I see the weapon of the undead, a short sword in his hand. I want to live! Fear is everything in my heart. I want to live, but I am overwhelmed by doubt.

“Just kill him! You have the intention to! Use your fear!”, a well-known female voice yells behind me.

I have doubt in myself. I utter quietly. “D...d...die, just die.”

“Just do it idiot! If you want to live, it has to die!”

I want to live. She is not close enough to help me. The others are barely standing a chance against the two other undead. The one with the short sword is standing above of me. Raising the sword. Only seconds left.

“DO IT NOW!”, she yells again.

I just don't want to die today.

The creature has to...

I don't want to harm anybody, but... I want to live.

“D...DIE!”, I say it loudly, but I'm not able to scream at the creature.

At first everything feels so warm inside me, then everything turns cold. I scream in pain, my eyes closed. Everything hurts, every little thing of my body.

Am I dying?

Didn't I make it?

From one moment to the next the pain was gone.

I hear metal falling to the ground next to me.

I open my eyes slowly. A short sword is lying in the grass next to me. The creature is still standing over me, but the glow in its eyes is fading slowly. It loses its balance, reels backwards. It falls to the ground, without any further movement.

“Smite!”

The undead with the two swords is plunged away by the cast hitting it off guard.

Whitemane and one surviving warrior of the crusade have just arrived.

“Shadow Word: Pain!”, is the second thing she cries out after arriving here. I get pulled to my feet by one of the warriors. “We have to get out immediately, they will follow us!” The undead with the shield winces in pain.

I'm not injured at all. But where did the pain come from? The seven of us start running into the forest north of Brill. “Stay together! If somebody is lost now, he will probably fall to the undead!”

We reach the road to the north coast fast. Carefully we look around. No one here, so we run to the small passage way. All of us only have minor injuries, in contrast to the ones lost.

We have already reached the forest in front of the hill of the Scarlet Monastery.

“Don't slow down, we are safe once we reach the walls of the monastery! Not a single step earlier!”

I try to keep as much distance to the trees around us as possible after having seen how those undead could hide in the shadows.

I don't know where we take this energy from, but we speed up our pace as we see the monastery on the hill.

As we reach the way up the hill, we are greeted by Scarlet Soldiers. "So Narval put up guards out here. For once he did something useful.", Whitemane mutters to herself.

She slows down as we are past the guards. "Go to your quarters and rest, you all have a day off tomorrow. I will send healers to you as soon as I reach the cathedral." Whitemane shouts.

The warriors stop and salute her. None of them ever spoke a word. Is this blind obedience or were they just drowsy? On the other hand, they fought well. This type of authority is another reason I wouldn't want to join the military.

"You can slow down now, Marc...", Whitemane's tone is a bit mocking. I didn't notice I was still rushing forward like this. "No need to hurry anymore. The monastery is simply a hundred metres away and we are already in an area overseen by guards.", for the first time since we've left to the dungeons earlier this night she calms down a bit. I also slow down, she is right, we are out of danger for now.

"Not everything went fine, but at least I have the book we were seeking.", she takes a heavy breath clutching the book in her arm.

"What...what is it for, if I may ask?"

"It's a recipe book full of alchemical formulas. The undead seem to try to create another plague. By losing this they should suffer a heavy setback. Hopefully long enough so the Ashbringer will be able to clean the areas here before they can attack us.", her words are filled with a certain tone of relief.

I didn't expect this to be something this valuable.

My thoughts are still a bit messed up. I still don't know were the pain came from earlier and how I managed to survive the attack of the undead.

"So you were actually capable of killing that thing?", Whitemane asks me.

"I... I don't know.", I respond to her question.

"Well..., there was no one near you that time and I had enough trouble myself. So, it must have been you.", she runs through her hair with her fingers. "To be honest, I didn't expect you to be able to do this, this was the first spell you performed successfully. Did you feel that tingling sensation when the effect on the target kicks in?", the smile on her face looks awkward, a bit gruesome, but still in a happy way.

"Feel... what?", I just ask straight out.

"Usually you feel something the first time when you perform shadow magic."

A tingling sensation as she calls it? The only thing I felt was pain.

"I... don't know. I was paralyzed for a moment due to the pain I felt.", I answer quietly and carefully.

"Oh...", she raises an eyebrow.

"What? What's about this pain?", she knows something! She always knows more than she would tell somebody.

"Oh, it's nothing, just don't think about it.", her excuse sounds as if she wants me to ask her, question the things she is saying.

"Come on, tell me!", I want to know what's this all about.

"I told you, forget about it! It's nothing, really!", I still don't believe her.

"Tell me! Five men died tonight to recover that book and you told me about it so easily, now you don't want to talk to me about ... THIS?", my words are demanding, how unusual for me.

"No, just forget it, I won't tell you a single word...", she is smiling again. I'm sure she is planning something, I wonder what.

"I'm glad you did not die tonight...", she changes topic instantly not leaving me a chance to go on asking her. "You performed quite a dangerous spell back there. I've never had doubt you couldn't kill that thing, but using Shadow Word: Death is quite remarkable for a rookie like you."

I'm speechless for a moment. Shadow Word: Death? But how...?

“I... I don't know a spell like that! I..., I never knew anymore than you showed me yesterday...”, I stutter.

“I know, idiot... That means, you are a natural!”, hearing this as an answer feels a bit like running right into a brick wall. “Your intention to kill was big enough to finish that thing of, I`m sure if you really wanted to you could perform anything I showed you tonight at ease and with far more efficiency than I did.”, those words are as if she is hitting me straight in the face. That's not me, I never could do such things.

“Stop making that face... you know that you killed the undead back there, you killed the one that murdered three of our men!”, her tone is pressing, “You definitely have to learn to have more faith in yourself.”, she shakes her head.

“I...”, I want to respond, but just don't know what to say. Meanwhile we reach the entrance to the monastery. I feel glad to be back here.

“Now, tomorrow or well... today you have a day off. This evening I want an answer from you, whether you want to have class with Isillien, me as a private tutor or study on your own until the old man returns, that should be in two or three weeks.”

Did she really offer me I could study on my own? She was the one who said a person like me needs a teacher.

“Just keep in mind that neither the mad man Isillien, nor the old man Fairbanks can offer you the things I can show you.”, she winks at me.

She is right on that one, I am sure the High Inquisitor Fairbanks would never try to teach me something as reckless and dangerous as she did.

Her boots give us away as we enter the main hall of the monastery. The echo is tremendous in here.

As we pass the door to the office of the head of the guards she turns to me. “Wait here for a second”

I nod silently. She enters the room.

Did I really kill that thing? I had no help at all? I was able to cast such a strong spell all by myself?

It doesn't take long, I only waited for two minutes or even less.

“Now we can move on.”

My quarters aren't far anymore. Fatigue is catching up with me. I want to sleep. But it still bothers me that she wouldn't tell me what that pain was about. We enter the hallway were my room is in too.

We walk up to my door, she has the same way as I have.

“Rest well, Marc.” I open the door.

“You..., you too.”, I enter. Whitemane wants to walk away. “Wai...wait.”, I utter.

“Yeees, my dearest?” She leans against the frame of the door, offering a seductive look.

“Tell me...”, are the only words I could think of.

“You're always saying the same things, honey. Don't you think that is too monotone?”. she is trying to get out of the situation by mocking me.

“Just do it...”, I plead to her.

“You really want to know... alright, alright.” She looks to the floor for a short moment, probably thinking of what to say. I guess she won't tell me the truth.

“You lost a part of your soul to the shadows today.”, I raise an eyebrow. I'm probably staring at her.

“Some would say you were tainted.”, she makes a short pause. “But this only proves that I was right... you are a natural talent with this type of magic.”, she smiles at me, blows me a kiss, than turns around and walks off.

I couldn't hold her back even if I wanted to. I slowly close the door, walk to my bed and lie down.

I didn't expect such an answer.

Now my head is overwhelmed by thoughts and questions again. Just when I thought I had achieved a bit more clarity, a few things answered, endless new questions arise.

How did it come so far? I wanted to become a priest, skilled in the holy arts, not something like..., like... her!

She told me I could choose what I want to become.

I don't want to be like this...