She flew down the tunnel way, past curves and through forks in the passages. The smell of the Orcs was constantly behind her and fear beat in her heart. She got lost and had to retrace her steps and the Orcs were getting closer and closer to her body.
She should have left an anchor! If only she hadn’t been so foolish! Aegwyn hurried and searched through the maze of the tunnels, but everywhere she went she only got further and further away. Somehow it seemed that the Orcs knew the exact way that they had come as well as the way to go.
Aegwyn would never be able to find her body at this rate. She continued to hurry and fly through the tunnels and search through the blackness for her still form, but she never found it. Behind her a great flood of fear and pain washed over her, almost knocking her to the ground. The battle had already begun. She could hear the clanging of dwarven mithril swords and the crash of Orcish axe hewing down brave dwarven lords and magistrates. Oh why did this have to happen? Why?!
The Orcs had slowed down to a jog and every time she passed them they seemed more and more reluctant to continue on this venture. Every time she whisked by they would stop and look around as if they had seen something. She wondered if they did indeed sense her presence, since no dwarf could unless she really concentrated.
Evil swept her off her feet and caused her to sink to the ground. Horror and the cries of the damned struck and beat at her exposed senses in the worst assault that she had ever felt. She cried out and placed her hands on her head, trying to shield herself from the darkness that invaded her every thought. Dying people. Babies screaming in starvation. Fields burning and the cry of slaughtered animals. Pain, pain, pain! Drying blood splattered over walls and roadways. Bones piled high and the sound of flies buzzing about rotting piles of flesh. The song of the damned echoed through her mind, rattling her brain and skull. An evil hiss was all that she heard and the hiss grew louder and louder. Aegwyn reeled back in shock and threw herself against the wall, trying to get away. It was so intense, too intense. It overwhelmed her.
Then, she saw it. The death knight was standing before her. The emerald at the end of its staff started to grow eerily and the hiss intensified in her ears. She screamed and staggered backwards as the evil scent of the damned and dead filled her and tore at her flesh and bones. She struggled to get away but the blackness pervaded her every waking thought. She couldn’t move, paralyzed. Barren wastelands, dying civilizations, broken spirits and the heads of men and women on the tips of spears. The sound of thunder and lighting as the world rumbled in its dying throes, the laughter of madmen and the wail of frightened children.
It stopped. Aegwyn found herself shaking and gasping as she opened her eyes slowly. The death knight had its hand extended. It was glowing a soft green color. “Be ssstill, Aegwyn,” it hissed at her. The death knight looked over its shoulder and then at her.
“From the assshesss,” it muttered softly. “From the assshesss a fire will ssspring.”
Aegwyn furrowed her brows. Those words sounded familiar. But where had she heard it! She struggled and searched through her mind, picking at her memories and all the past events that she had cherished and feared. The words echoed through her like a call in a cave; but she couldn’t remember where she had heard it.
“Follow me!” it said towards her. The death knight turned and fled.
“Wait!”
She followed its phantasmal form, twisting and turning through the forks and passageways. The cloak fluttered madly as it flew with the wings of eagles and the speed of the greatest horses of all of Azeroth. She struggled to catch up but it seemed just out of reach as it continued to run away from her.
“Please! Wait for me!”
A sudden curl of darkness and the whimper of a damned soul was all she heard. And then, the death knight disappeared.
“Where did you go!” she cried out. Her voice rang empty in the hallway.
She felt a presence was here. She looked left and right and behind her but she couldn’t make out what it was. It felt familiar and warm at the same time. She saw something nearby, on the floor.
Aegwyn gasped. It was her body!
She slowly floated towards it and gently put her hands on the woman’s still form. Her hand sunk into the skin and she closed her eyes as she felt herself fade.
She fell forward and groaned as she felt the cold rock against her skin. The stale air of the tunnel filled her lungs. Aegwyn could feel the blood running through her veins and the ache of her once tense muscles.
“Nahk ughakh ghashnag.”
Aegwyn froze.
“Shamorz shurklug lazgub burzol.”
Aegwyn slowly lifted her eyes to find two shadowed creature standing in front of her. One of them held a torch burning brightly and in its other hand a beaten axe gleamed.
“Urush burag lumuk agdul snarkul.”
Aegwyn scrambled up and pressed her back against the walls of the tunnel. She barely dared to breathe and her eyes were as wide as saucers.
“Urush burag lumuk agdul snarkul!” the Orc growled at her and stepped forward. It pulled out a twisted dagger and pointed it towards her. The Orc’s mouth was curled in a sneer.
Aegwyn sprang up and started to run down the tunnel.
“Magra urzol lumuk shak namuk!” one of the Orcs cried. She heard the sound of feet pounding against the stone behind her.
Her muscles ached and begged her to stop but fear kept her going. Her heart was racing wildly and she stumbled forward, clearly exhausted. Her feet started to send shocks of pain up her legs every footfall.
Aegwyn looked behind her to see that the Orcs were closing in on her. She stretched her legs farther and tried to run faster. They were going to catch her, and there was nothing she could do about it.
The tunnel turned off into five different ways. She quickly chose one heading north-east from her location. The darkness filled in on her but the faint light from the torch was always behind. She could hear the snarling and heavy panting from her pursuers behind her, always seeming to get closer.
“Oluk shumol oglar!” she heard from behind. She pumped her arms and firmed her jaws and tried running faster.
The faint light from the torch behind her flickered and danced, illuminating just a few feet in front of her. She saw the ground suddenly go black and she stopped. Just at the edge of an enormous cavern.
A great gust of wind grabbed at her cloak and dress and blew her hair across her face and shoulders. She looked behind her to see that the Orcs had slowed.
Aegwyn looked to her left and then to her right. She found that the crack was only a few feet wide. She should be able to make the jump.
One of the Orcs started chuckling beneath its breath. Its laughter didn’t sound comforting.
Aegwyn took a deep breath. The howl of the wind in the cavern blew across her face and struck her skin with its icy bite. She crouched down and took a leap. Into the hands of fate!
Shocks of pain streamed up her legs as he feet hit the rock. She groaned and staggered, nearly losing her balance. She looked behind her to see that the orcs were looking back at her with confident smiles. Aegwyn started to run.
Her feet suddenly were kicked out from under her. Her head and body hit the ground, knocking the wind from her. Aegwyn looked up to see that one of the Orcs had already jumped the chasm and was looking down at her with a sinister grin. The other Orc jumped and landed nearby.
One of them grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and lifted her up. The gleam in its eyes was hideous in the firelight. The Orc licked its lips and grinned at her, showing rows of yellow spiked teeth.
Aegwyn screamed and began to struggle. She was so tired, she couldn’t even budge him.
The Orc laughed wickedly at her and ran its hand down the side of her body. Aegwyn tried to put on a brave face but it always seemed to melt away.
She heard the faint twang of a bowstring, and the sound of a body dropping to the ground. The light of the torch went out.
The Orc let go of her and she fell to the rock floor. She felt something warm soak into her dress and press against her back. Aegwyn flung her hands out and felt her way around. She felt something warm and hard press against her fingertips.
There was another twang and she heard a stabbing sound. Rock crunched against rock and she heard no more.
“Lady Aegwyn! Are you all right?”
She knew that voice. “I’m fine,” she said, trying to shout. Her voice came out above a whisper.
“Lady Aegwyn!”
A gust of wind blew fiercely across her body, causing her cloak to swirl and flutter about her and making her hair dance back and forth.
“Bring that torch over here!”
Faint light started to come into her vision. She saw several dwarfs holding torches in their hands. Their clothes were blood soaked and there were makeshift bandages made from handkerchiefs and shirts. Each dwarf lord carried a brilliantly jeweled and beautifully ornate sword or axe, stained with black blood.
She saw Galion Elvelad standing near the chasm with his bow in hand and his green cloak fluttering in the wind of the cavern. Aegwyn looked beside her to see one of the Orcs, clutching the axe tightly in its hand. An arrow was jutting out of its eye and dark blood had trickled down its face and pooled on the floor
.
She looked to her other side to see a trail of blood stopping at the edge of the fissure.
She heard a soft thump from the bottom of the crevice.
“Lady Aegwyn! Are you all right?”
Galion quickly jumped the chasm and landed lightly on his feet beside her. He looked at her with worried eyes and even his fair skin seemed a bit of a gloomier color than usual. “Are you hurt?”
Aegwyn felt a shiver run up and down her body as the howl of the wind echoed through the area. With the help of the torch she found that the crack in the floor spanned far up past the ceiling and down deep into the floor as well as wide along the sides of the walls. Even though the torches were near, she couldn’t see where it ended.
“No,” Aegwyn said, shaking her head. “I’m fine. Just tired.”
Galion looked at her and then gently took her hand in his. “Do you think you can make it across the chasm without me?”
She looked at the wide crack in the ground. She felt her heart begin to despair. “No.”
Galion nodded and gently set his bow down. He lifted her up in his arms. “Hold onto me now.”
Aegwyn threw her arms around his neck and clung to him. She was suddenly frightened. What if they fell?
Galion took a great leap across the chasm and landed so lightly that it was as if he had never jumped at all. He set her down on the ground and then leapt over again to retrieve his bow.
“Be ye alright milady?”
Aegwyn looked up to see King Tarin standing nearby. In his hands was a mighty dwarf Warhammer. His fine silken clothes were ragged and torn and he had several slashes across his chest, arms, and legs. “Praise the light that she survived Nuruzad’s Crack. It has been getting wider and wider every time we mine deeper into the mountains.”
Galion landed gently beside Aegwyn. He offered her a hand to help her get to her feet. Aegwyn strained, but with his help, she was able to stand, although unsteadily.
All the dwarf lords and magistrates started to head back down the tunnel way. King Tarin and
Galion stayed behind. The dwarf king was staring intensely into the fissure, as if he were trying to find something in the black darkness beyond the reach of the torchlight.
“Khaz Modan has been getting angrier as of late,” he muttered beneath his breath.
