Calm Before the Storm Ch8

The next morning Ramick awoke and made his way down to the tavern to grab some breakfast. He decided to let Valk sleep a bit longer, as he could hear her having a fitful night and decided she could use the extra rest.
'That poor girl...' Ramick thought to himself, 'She denies it, but she really does care about Kal as more than simply her teacher...She seems like a really good girl, and Kal deserves no less. Assuming we can rescue him...'
Ramick made it downstairs, flagging a passing barmaid on her way back to the kitchen.
"G'mornin'...I'll have two pints of ale, a ham, and a lamb shank for starters..."

Valk woke with a start, her hair clinging to her damp face. She couldn't remember exactly what the nightmare had been about but she could remember the suffocating darkness. She put a steadying hand on her beating heart, trying to catch her breath.
Shaking off the foreboding feeling she laced on her armor pulling the white cowl over her head. Hopefully they would be getting out of this alliance town soon. It was probably the reason she was having this weird dreams.

She had to pause, eye twitching, as she saw the dwarf's table covered in the bones from breakfast.
"Uhh....was I asleep through lunch too?"

Ramick looked at the girl and let loose a guttural laugh. "No, lass. This is' just a wee bit o' a snack for breakfast before we get headed out. Best ye be gettin' herself something to eat too! I plan te be at th' foot o' th' Glacier by nightfall!"
He took one last bite from the lamb shank and a swig of ale before getting up.
"I'm gunnae check out th' stores, see if I cant find us some supplies."
On his way out, he looked up to the girl and noticed she looked a bit...unsettled.
"Ye ok, Lass? Ye sleep alright?"

"I'm fine." she said quickly, brushing past her tinier companion. "I just prefer to get out of this town quickly."
Swiping a loaf of bread and water skin off the counter she dropped a few silver in the innkeeper's hands.
"I'll eat on the road. Right now Fyurie is more important."
The paladin couldn't get out of the smokey darkness of the inn fast enough. Usually her claustrophobia was manageable for inns but after that dream she needed fresh air. She could hear her charger pawing in the stable.

"I know boy. I'm coming." Knowing him he was tired of Rocky gnawing on his tail all night but in alliance territory it was too risky to sneak the ghoul in.
"Breakfast!" She called throwing half the loaf into the hay pile. A claw groped around before finding the snack, quickly snarfing it inside.
"Let's get ready to go."

"Alright, Lass..." Ramick tossed his bags onto the side of his charger and mounted the oversized ram.
"We need to ride fast if we plan to make it to the Glacier by nightfall..." With a kick to his ram the duo started off at a gallop..  

Their chargers picked their way carefully threw the path of ice. Pieces of the glacier had fallen away leaving haphazard piles of debris and ice. Once on the actual glacier itself it would become increasingly more dangerous. Crevasses could open up entombing them in the ice forever.

The sky had darkened considerably, even by Northrend standards. It loomed above them like an ominous wraith.
"This doesn't look good. I've never seen the sky turn this shade before.... Is there anywhere we can seek shelter?" Valk yelled over the howling wind as she squinted into the fog and snow blown up in the gale. If this kept up they would be trapped on top of the ice in a white out without any bearing.  

"Lass! Can ye hear me?" Ramick shouted at the fog. "This fog ain't natural!"  
He guided his ram cautiously through the thick fog but even the surefooted creature’s hooves sank into the snow drift.
"Lass...light ya lantern so we can find each other!" The dwarf was cut short by a screech. ...and he could swear he heard the sound of wings....

Realizing it a moment too late the gargoyle swooped down, sinking its dagger like claws into the male’s shoulders. With a few strong beats of its decaying leathery wings it yanked Ramick into the air.
"YE NOT BE TAKIN' ME ALIVE YE BEAST!" Ramick shouted at his attacker.
"VALKYRAE! TH' BLASTED BEAST IS TAKING ME....KEEP GOING! I'LL BE OK....." Ramick’s voice trailed off....

"RAMICK! Hold on!" Valk could just barely make out the smudge of the dwarf's form in the mist and it was fading fast.
"Let's go Fyurie!" She spurred the black charger after the cursing dwarf's shape, despite the heavier snow that had started to fall.

What started out as a flurry soon turned into a blizzard causing the red-head to lose the shade.
"Damn. I can't see anything in this..." Fyurie slowed as the heavy beast's hooves kept falling through the ice. As much as she hated it they would have to find shelter. Even the furs lined leathers under her armor offered little protection from the biting wind.

"Just a bit farther boy, we'll try to find a cave or something." Her ears twitched. Did she hear something? Glowing eyes strained in the dimness. Light barely discernable to the human eye could be picked up by the elven. Was that Ramick's lantern? Wheeling Fyurie toward the glow she urged him toward the hope.

"Shit!" In the gloom she didn't see them until she was nearly on top of them. The company of Alliance sat huddle around their fire. They had managed to find an outcropping of rock that protected them from the worst of the wind.
One of them cried out in their tongue, the others fanned out.
'This is not good....'
--------------------------
"Let me go ye blasted overgrown bat!" Ramick yelled at his scourge captor.
He was somewhere over the Icecrown glacier....the dwarf knew where this thing was taking him and he did not want to go there.
Struggling he managed to free one arm from the creatures grasp long enough to hit it in the gut with an Exorcism from point blank...while they were still a few hundred feet in the air. Admittedly not his brightest moment.

Both Gargoyle and Dwarf plummeted to the ground.
"I...really didn't think tha' one through..." Ramick muttered into the dirt he face planted in. Pealing himself from the crater, he wiped the rocks from his beard. The  soft glow from his Divine Shield still cloaked him. "At least I was able to get me shield up in time...."

Looking around the dwarf tried to study his surroundings to discern where he had fallen.
"OK Ramick, think a moment. You’re in the middle of Icecrown, which is still Undead central. There not be a friend in sight, and you don't exactly know which way is which..." He took a small flask out from his belt and took a swig from it, then shrugged.

"Guess I'll go THIS way..." he pointed, to no one in particular, and started walking...
"Ach..It's been too long since I've been here. I cannae remember which way te the citadel..." Ramick muttered to himself, holding up his map. There were walls, gateways, traps, all designed to keep people out. You could walk for days at the base and still be far from the citadel steps.

"Welcome, Dwarf...." came an icy voice, startling the gruff dwarf from his inspection.  
"My master has been expecting you. Though he is quite displeased that you had to destroy his favorite gargoyle." The voice continued.

"Where are ye!?" Ramick yelled twisting to find the source in the fog.
"By the light..." Ramick muttered. The shambling shape started as a smudge in the gloom slowly becoming more distinct. When it finally showed its grotesque body it took the dwarf aback completely. He didn’t know what exactly he was looking at. The creature was a constrict of no less then four different races all grafted in odd angles.  

"Master Kaliek has decreed that your life is not important to his plans. So he is letting me have some fun with you." the scourge grinned showing the sharp tusks of what probably had been an Orc set to the bottom of a goblin’s skull.

Ramick laughed at the hodgepodge thing...."Ye think ye can take me down? You just be the scrap pile, I’ve taken on the strongest da scourge can throw, da Death Knights, and I kick dere ass plenty!"

The creature narrowed its eyes pilling itself up to its full height. The Draenei body torso was forced to stoop to carry the weight of the Tauren arms, or was that just the skin pulled over? With a roar it swung those massive appendages far to fast for a creature of its size. The dwarf taken unaware took the hit full in the face sending him tumbling end over end. This thing meant business.
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Drip, drip, drip...
The red blood blossomed on the virgin snow but was soon covered by the more of the fluffy flakes. The paladin stumbled as she took faltering steps in the knee high snow. Her mount fared no better as it was led by the red head. Both were smeared with blood, some their own dripping from fresh wounds, the rest of the alliance.

The stallion screeched before falling. The black beast tried to rise on shaking legs but failed, the cold, the blood loss, it was too weak.
"Fyurie..." The paladin panted sinking to her knees beside the creature. The warhorse had done its duty protecting its mistress best it could, but they both suffered much. Valk's silver tabard was stained red, blood still flowing from her side. The horse laid its head in the snow, with every breath it stained the snow red. Something must have caused the loyal creature internal bleeding.
'There's nothing I can do....We are both too far and this cold...'

Her strength was nearly gone after that fight, the cold left her numb, she was just so tired.
'No, just need to rest a minute...have to keep going have to save...'
She didn't realize she had fallen back into the snow, a thin blanket starting to cover her. Her long red hair mixed with the blood causing an eerie pattern.

"Fallen, I have heard tales of your wandering. A servant of the light forever searching for the damned. Is this where your story ends?"
She turned her head toward the voice, eye's widening as the white ethereal form floated nearby.
"Val...kyr.." The blood glowed, shimmering to gold as Valk used it to consecrate the area.

"Clever using your own life essence. It has been so long since one worthy of my gift traveled the wastes. I have a proposition for you. I will save your life, and help you defeat the one who dares to wake the dead king. Isn't that what you want daughter of the Bloodmoon, to save the man you love?"
Valk gasped in surprise, she may not trust this scourge as far as she could throw it at the moment, but the creature was right.
"Why?....What do you get..from this...?"

The creature’s lips pulled into an amused grin. "We have always been choosers of the slain, even before we pledged our souls to the king. I choose you sister, you shall be my champion and through you I will once again feel the sun on my face, taste wine...we will be bonded giving you the strength you need. But be warned, when your body fails your soul will be remade as a sister yourself."

Valk could remember the look on Kal's face, the anguish.
'I didn't choose to be a monster...'
Something had a hold of the Death Knight turning him into the very thing he hated. A fate worse then death...
She would do anything to free him, even make a deal with the devil. Even condemn her soul to walking Azeroth as the very thing she fought against.
'I'm sorry Kal.'

"I'll do it." She croaked. "Just save Kal..."
Her vision started to fade, the last thing she saw was the creature's grin widening as it leaned over her prone form.

"As you wish dear sister..."

The ghoul cocked its head surveying the white landscape, taking a few steps one way before heading off in another, seeming lost in its search for something. It mournfully whined as it dug around before finally seeming to give up in its quest.
Suddenly a hand burst from the snow, startling the creature.
Screeching it ran toward the struggling arm and began to pull. The snow heaved, birthing slender ears, then a mass of red hair. Rocky began to dig once Valk took her first gasp of air.

"You had to let me get buried alive?! I have claustrophobia you crazy bitch!" She cried at no one in particular in between her panted breaths. The ghoul tilted its head trying to decide if it was being addressed.
"No, not you Rocky..just..talking to myself."

She looked over the landscape as her companion dug the snow from her legs. Everything had been covered by the blizzard, even....
"Fyurie.." she could feel the tears sting her eyes. The charger must have been entombed in the snow as well. Another loved one lost to the scourge and this wretched place.
'All is not lost sister..'

A snort caught her attention before the cold nose nuzzled her cheek.
"Fyurie!?" What once was a beautiful creature black as night now was a frightful sight. The fur was now a deep blue as if it had frozen through, the hooves were cracked displaying the glowing ice within, but the oddest addition was the ethereal white wings sprouting from its back. The same wings of....the Val’kyr.

She grabbed his bridle letting the charger pull her free of the remaining snow. The paladin looked frightful herself, her silver armor and skin stained red. She really did look like a newly risen scourge.
She caught her breath before rising to drag herself onto the icy charger's back.
"I bet whatever took Ramick went where Kal is heading. All roads lead to Icecrown..." She could see the looming outline of the Citadel on the horizon.
"We shouldn't keep them waiting."