Warcraft Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodstained Shadows - Chronicles of a Lost Soul ❯ The Kiss of Nightfall - Chapter 9 ( Chapter 39 )

Chapter 9:

 

 

Returning to Thassarian proved to be not too difficult.

I somehow expected it but I hardly met any Crusaders on my way through New Avalon. Yet something is strange about the situation. I can't really name it but it keeps bothering me. The Crusade may have suffered severe losses but then again some of their warriors are still fighting our troops near the city walls. So they didn't fully retreat yet.

I hand over the head of the High Inquisitor to Thassarian.

"I'll feed this bastard's head to the ghouls!", his eyes narrow as he looks at it. After holding it for a moment he turns around and throws it into the room behind us.

"Now it's time for payback.", a grim smile comes to his face.

"Commander Plaguefist, a recently promoted deathknight and a unit of initiates were sent to the Chapel of the Crimson Flame on the hill to the west. If Koltira was right then Plaguefist should have gotten all of them out of there.”, he pauses for a short moment. “You can still catch up to them. If you get going now.” I nod in response.

But before I leave I turn to Bloodbane and give him the book with the schedules. A few drops of blood from the severed head now decorate the outside of the folio. The expression on his face lightens up. This is the first time I ever see a reaction like this from him.

“I'll go through this... meanwhile do whatever Thassarian told you. Just get going...”, the way he talks to me is also a bit different than usual. But well, I don't care about it too much.

I take the stairs to the lower floor and leave the inn. This apple plant looks so peaceful. Still the dead bodies and the blood underneath the trees bear remembrance of the fights that occurred only hours ago. I already start to wonder why that strange elves aren't around here at the moment. They would have loved it, the scent of freshly spilled blood everywhere.

The chapel is located directly to the west of the inn on a small hill. A rather long wooden building can be seen to its right.

I can already see how the deathknights under the command of Plaguefist try to grasp the real meaning of the name of the chapel - `of the Crimson Flame'. The whole building is on fire as I reach them. The initiates are cheering while they throw more torches at the chapel.

The bodies of dead priests litter the ground all around the path.

I have no idea what this Plaguefist-guy had achieved for the Scourge in the past day, but he had already received a full set of armour as a gift, as well as a special weapon. The skull on his chest has two large ember coloured eyes. What an impressive sight.

His corpus also seems to have been preserved well until he was reanimated. In life he was a human with short black hair and a muscular body. Still I am sure he would be no match for me if it came to a fight.

“So you are Malevolence... You don't look as strong as everybody says?”, why is that guy provoking me? I feel anger rising in me.

“Well... the Crusaders here at the Chapel were no match for us..., only made of flesh and bones.”, a short laughter is heard from an initiate close by. All of them must feel great for tearing this church apart. Pathetic..., such weaklings.

I take the time to tell Plaguefist about what I got to know from Koltira.

“We didn't find any of our brothers, but we did stumble on something interesting.”, he smiles at me.

“After we had torn the church apart we headed for the prison house over there.”, he points at the long building. Cages are standing in front of it, as well as two gallows. A group of six pillories flank their side.

“Seems the Crusade's been real busy. The whole building is full of Argent Dawn prisoners. Although most of them were already dead, some are still breathing.”, he takes a short look over his shoulders to the initiates still throwing burning torches at the chapel. I guess they won't ever get tired of doing this. Plaguefist shakes his head with a sigh and turns back to me.

“Actually I was about to go back in there and execute the rest of them, but now that you are here, I think you should have the honour of doing so. In particular... there is one prisoner in there that should be lots of fun for you. A real feisty human woman. She's a member of the Kirin Tor according to the robes she is wearing. She hasn't been here for long before we arrived.”

I turn away from Plaguefist and slowly approach the building.

My hand already reaches for the hilt of my sword. I will do this quickly, there are more important things we have to address to. I open the light wooden door to enter. I can see up to eight or nine people in there. All of them sitting or kneeling on the floor. Some of them injured, others just shivering due to fear of what might happen to them.

All of them already know that they would never leave this building alive again. Still it is astonishing that none of them lies in chains. Their will to escape must have been taken from them completely. All of them are broken.

A human sitting directly in the corner opposing the entrance of the building is raising his head to see my face. His eyes are without any light, almost lifeless already.

It's a shame that I would do most of them a favour by killing them. The black tabard with the white sun of the Argent Dawn won't be too much of a protection from my sword.

I let the tip of my sword scratch along the floor as I come closer to the man. With a swift movement I pull my weapon up over my head slicing open his body from the waist to the right shoulder.

A shallow agonized scream comes from him before he falls over. It shouldn't take long for him to die.

`Show no mercy.', my master whispers to me.

The timber floor creaks under my feet with every step I take. The armour I'm wearing seems to be a lot heavier than I had expected.

A female nightelf to my right bursts into tears as she sees what I did to that man. Maybe they knew each other for a long time.

“Don't worry, you'll be reunited soon.”, I say in a low voice as I raise my sword over my head standing in front of her. I hear a whir as the sword cuts through the air and cracking as it reaches the body of the elf. Blood spatters are going everywhere. Some prisoners are hit by them. One bloodelf even collapsed in fear.

“Only the strong will survive.” I whisper to myself. “But none of you is strong...”

With two swift strikes I end the life of another two, a dwarf and another human. By then another person has fainted, those bloodelves are not made to be fighters, it appears to me. I don't care about them. There's nothing to gain for me from killing people that are unconscious.

Seconds later I stand before a member of the Forsaken. He has no glow in his eyes. I wonder what he is thinking. If he is regretting his decision to fight against the Lich King. Or maybe he had already accepted his demise. Who knows... I'm not going to ask him.

Now his head is rolling at his feet. I guess I will never find out what went on in his mind.

There is also one orc in the room. What a strange sight. He is sitting in the corner that is furthest from the entrance, shivering, almost crying. That can't be an orc... maybe he's just a bulky human that painted himself green. Although I can't imagine why someone would do such a thing.

As I approach him, I hear her for the first time.

A human with a dark tan, short black hair and green eyes. The robe of the Kirin Tor she's wearing is fitting her slim body perfectly. So she's the one that is supposed to be feisty? She only looks scared. She crouches down next to one of the beds. You can't even see her when entering the room.

She's mumbling the whole time, I guess she is panicking big time.

I turn to the orc to finish him off before her. But I already made up my mind that she would be the next one.

With a strong thrust the blade pierces the body of the orc as well as the wooden wall behind him, letting his blood run down on the in- as well as the outside of the building. I turns out difficult to get the jagged blade out of the wooden wall. Wood loudly breaks as I try to free the blade leaving splinters falling into the corner with the dead orc.

Then I return to the woman. I raise my sword over my head. She looks at me once. Only for a second her emerald eyes meet mine.

I..., I don't know why, but I can't hit her. I slowly lower my sword again.

All I could see in her eyes was despair, but this had never affected me before. So why did it matter this time? Suddenly my head starts aching. What is happening here?

“Why me... why?”, she starts mumbling again. There isn't anything else I could do except for listening to it. “Where are you?”, I still have no idea what she is talking about. “All I wanted was to find you.”, tears are coming to her eyes. I feel sad for her. I'm touched by seeing her. What is this all about?

“Corren, Marc..., where are you?”, I hear the names and I drop my sword. It hits the ground making a loud metallic noise. I'm unable to move. I still don't fully understand what is happening to me.

“What's going on in there?”, Plaguefist yells from the outside, his voice giving away that he is alarmed.

“Why did I ever leave you, Corren...”, the young woman just keeps on talking to herself.

I hear the sound of his armour as he approaches the building with a fast pace. I want to pick up my weapon again, but the sight of her just makes me unable to do so. “Why did we ever part?”

Plaguefist enters the room. His eyes wander from dead body to dead body. “What's the matter?”, he asks the moment he sees me and my weapon as it lies on the ground. The young woman and two other prisoners are still alive, a human and a male troll.

“Don't tell me you started having regrets...?”, his voice is annoyed. “So I guess you're not any better than the normal initiates. Worthless...” He takes his sword and comes closer to me.

“Where are you... Cor...”, Plaguefist stabs the young woman without a single moment of hesitation.

“See? It's as easy as this.”, he pulls the sword out of her and the body drops lifeless to the floor.

I'm staring at the dead body unable of saying a single word.

Plaguefist looks at me, raises an eyebrow and walks off to kill the other two prisoners as well.

“Weakling...”, he says as he leaves the building.

I look at her lying there on the floor in her robe that slowly is soaking full of blood.

I drop to my knees letting out a short scream.

I actually want to cry.

I know her name...

“K..., K..., Keira...”, I stutter while looking at her.

What have I done?

Why didn't I do anything? Why did this happen? Why did you foolish girl search for Corren and me.

Everything she said seems clear to me for a short moment.

I want to curse this world, annihilate the Crusade for taking her as a prisoner and kill Plaguefist for doing this to her.

As Plaguefist walks away. I hear how he yells new orders to the initiate deathknights outside. Only a few moments later something hits the roof of the building.

I still don't really care for my surrounding.

I reach out with my hand for her dead body. I want to cry... but I can't...

I just can't.

Flames slowly eat their way through the ceiling and the outer walls.

As I look at her I see that she is wearing a signet ring of the Kirin Tor. I slide it off her finger. I also notice a small bag tied to her belt. I hurry to untie it and take it with me.

I take my sword and get to my feet. I'm still staggering so much that I have to use the sword as a support.

On the outside of the building I open the small bag and drop the ring inside it. I can feel how three things are in there, two of them pointy and crooked and the third thing is thin and smooth. I can't say why but I don't want to look into it, at least not for now.

The flames devour the building as well as the bodies inside it within minutes.

Plaguefist and his little group of followers had already left the area again..., luckily for them.

I stare at the flames for a while as the eat their way through the building.

Why did I remember that woman? How could I know the names she said to herself?

All these memories are like ghosts haunting me from my past.

I fasten the little bag to my own belt.

Who am I?