Christie Golden - Arthas - Rise of the Lich King

Kael narrowed his eyes. “Thanks for the advice,” he growled. Arthas tightened up on the reins, preparing to ride down his adversary, but at that instant the snow beneath him glowed bright orange for a moment and then became water. Invincible suddenly dropped two feet and his hooves slipped on the slick ground. Arthas leaped off and sent the beast cantering away, gripping Frostmourne with renewed determination in his right hand. He extended his left. A dark ball of swirling green energy formed in his flattened palm and sped toward Kael like an arrow shot from a bow. The mage moved to counter, but the attack was too swift. His face went a shade paler and he stumbled back, his hand going to his heart. Arthas grinned as some of the mage’s life energy flooded him.

“I took your woman,” he said, continuing to try to anger the mage, although he knew, and probably Kael knew, that Jaina had never belonged to the elf. “I held her in my arms at night. She tasted sweet when I kissed her, Kael. She—”

“Loathes you now,” Kael’thas replied. “You sicken and disgust her, Arthas. Anything she felt for you has since turned to hatred.”

Arthas’s chest contracted oddly. He realized he had not thought about how Jaina regarded him now. He had always done his best to thrust all thoughts of her away when they drifted into his mind. Was it true? Did Jaina really—

An enormous crackling ball of fire exploded against his chest, and Arthas cried out as he was forced backward by the blow. Flame licked at him for precious seconds before he recovered his wits sufficiently to counter the spell. The armor had largely protected him, although its heat against his skin was agonizing, but he was aghast that he had been so taken by surprise. A second ball of fire came, but this time he was ready, meeting the fiery blast with his own deadly ice.

“I destroyed your homeland…fouled your precious Sunwell. And I killed your father. Frostmourne sucked the soul right out of him, Kael. It’s gone forever.”

“You’re good at killing noble elderly men,” sneered Kael’thas. The jab was unexpectedly painful. “At least you faced my father on the battlefield. What of your own, Arthas Menethil? How brave of you to cut down a defenseless parent opening his arms to embrace his—”

Arthas charged, closing the distance between them in a few strides, and brought Frostmourne down. Kael’thas parried with his staff. For a second, the stave held, then it broke beneath Frostmourne’s onslaught. But the delay had bought Kael sufficient time to unsheathe a glittering, gleaming weapon, a runeblade that seemed to glow red in contrast to Frostmourne’s cold, icy blue. The blades clashed. Both men pressed down, straining with effort, each one’s blade holding off the other as the seconds ticked by. Kael’thas grinned as their eyes met.

“You recognize this blade, do you not?”

Arthas did. He knew the sword’s name and its lineage—Flamestrike, Felo’melorn, once wielded by Kael’thas’s ancestor, Dath’Remar Sunstrider, the founder of the dynasty. The sword was almost unspeakably old. It had seen the War of the Ancients, the birth of the Highborne. Arthas returned the smirk. Flamestrike would have another significant event to bear witness to; it would now see the end of the last Sunstrider.

“Oh, I do. I saw it snap in two beneath Frostmourne, an instant before I slew your father.”

Arthas was physically stronger, and the energy of the Lich King surged through him. With a ragged grunt, he shoved Kael’thas backward, thinking to knock him off balance. The mage recovered quickly and almost danced into another position, brandishing Felo’melorn, his eyes never leaving Arthas.

“And so I found it, and I had it reforged.”

“Broken swords are weak where they are mended, elf.” Arthas began to circle, watching for the instant where Kael would be vulnerable.

Kael’thas laughed. “Human swords, perhaps. Not elven. Not when they are reforged with magic, and hatred, and a burning need for revenge. No, Arthas. Felo’melorn is stronger than ever—as am I. As are the sin’dorei. We are the stronger for having been broken—stronger and filled with purpose. And that purpose is to see you fall!”

The attack came suddenly. One moment Kael was standing, ranting, and the next Arthas was fighting for his very life. Frostmourne clanged against Flamestrike, and damned if the elf wasn’t right—the blade held. Arthas darted back, feinted, and then brought Frostmourne across in a mighty sweep. Kael lunged out of its path and whirled to counterattack with a violence and intensity that surprised Arthas. He was forced back, one step, then two, and then suddenly he slipped and fell. Snarling, Kael lunged in, thinking to deal the deathblow. But Arthas remembered training with Muradin, long ago, and the dwarf’s favorite trick suddenly filled his mind. He pulled his legs in tightly and kicked Kael’thas with all his strength. The mage let out a grunt and was hurtled backward into the snow. Gasping, the death knight flipped to his feet, hefted Frostmourne with both hands and plunged it down.

Somehow Flamestrike was there. The blades again strained against each other. Kael’thas’s eyes burned with hatred.

But Arthas was the stronger in armed combat; stronger, with the stronger sword, despite Kael’s gloating about how Felo’melorn was reforged. Slowly, inexorably, as Arthas knew must happen, Frostmourne descended toward Kael’thas’s bare throat.

“…she hates you,” Kael whispered.

Arthas cried out, fury blurring his vision for a moment, and shoved down with all his strength.

Into the snow and frozen earth.

Kael’thas was gone.

“Coward!” Arthas cried, although he knew the prince would not hear him. The bastard had again teleported away at the last second. Fury raged in him, threatening to cloud his judgment, and he pushed it aside. He’d been foolish to let Kael’thas rile him so.

Curse you, Jaina. Even now, you haunt me.

“Invincible, to me!” he cried, and realized his voice was shaking. Kael’thas was not dead, but he was out of the way, and that was all that mattered. He wheeled the head of his skeletal horse around, and charged again toward the fray and the throne chamber of his master.

He moved through the milling crowd of enemies as if they were so many insects. As they fell, he reanimated them and sent them against their fellows. The tide of the undead was unstoppable and implacable. The snow around the base of the spire was churned up and drenched with blood. Arthas looked about him, at the last few knots of fighting going on. Blood elves—but no sign of their master.

Where was Illidan?

A flurry of quick motion caught his eye and he turned. He growled beneath his breath. Another dreadlord. This one’s back was toward him, black wings outstretched, cloven hooves melting into the snow.

Arthas lifted Frostmourne. “I’ve defeated your kind before, dreadlord,” he snarled. “Turn and face me, if you dare, or flee into the Nether like the coward you demons are.”

The figure turned, slowly. Massive horns crowned its head. Its lips curved back in a smile. And over its eyes was a ragged black blindfold. Two green, glowing spots appeared where eyes should have been.

“Hello, Arthas.”

Deep and sinister, the voice had changed, but not as much as the kaldorei’s body. It was still the same pale lavender hue, etched with the same tattoos and scarifications. But the legs, the wings, the horns…Arthas immediately understood what must have happened. So that was why Illidan had become so powerful.

“You look different, Illidan. I guess the Skull of Gul’dan didn’t agree with you.”

Illidan threw back his horned head. Dark, rich laughter rumbled from him. “On the contrary, I have never felt better. In a way, I suppose I should thank you for my present state, Arthas.”