Arthas: Rise of the Lich King (14 page)

“A fool, am I? I suppose I am, to think the son would be wiser than the father.” The bright eyes looked troubled. “Your choice is already made. You will not be swayed by one who sees farther than you.”

“I’ve only your word that you see farther. I know what I see, and what I have seen, and that is that my people need me here!”

The prophet smiled now, sadly. “It is not only with our eyes that we see, Prince Arthas. It is with our wisdom and our hearts. I will leave you one final prediction. Just remember, the harder you strive to slay your enemies, the faster you’ll deliver your people into their hands.”

Arthas opened his mouth for a furious retort, but at that instant the stranger’s shape shifted. The cloak seemed to close about him like a second skin. Wings, jet black and glossy, sprouted from his body even as he shrank to the size of an ordinary raven. With a final harsh caw that sounded frustrated to Arthas, the bird that had been a man leaped into the air, wheeled once, and flew off. He watched it go, vaguely troubled. The man had seemed…so certain….

“I’m sorry for concealing myself, Arthas.” Jaina’s voice coming out of nowhere. Startled, Arthas whipped his head around, trying to find her. She materialized in front of him, looking contrite. “I just wanted to—”

“Don’t say it!”

He saw her start in surprise, saw those blue eyes widen, and instantly regretted snapping at her. But she shouldn’t have sneaked up on him like this, spied on him like this.

“He came to Antonidas, too,” she said after a moment, doggedly continuing with what she had intended to say despite his reprimand. “I—I have to say that I sensed tremendous power about him, Arthas.” She rode closer to him, peering up at him. “This plague of the undead—nothing like this has ever been seen before in the history of the world. It’s not just another battle, or another war—it’s something much bigger and darker than that. And maybe you can’t use the same tactics to win. Maybe he’s right. Maybe he can see things we can’t—maybe he
does
know what will happen.”

He turned away from her, grinding his teeth. “Maybe. Or maybe he’s some ally of this Mal’Ganis. Or maybe he’s just some crazy hermit. Nothing he can say will make me abandon my homeland, Jaina. I don’t care if that madman has seen the future. Let’s go.”

They rode in silence for a moment. Then Jaina said quietly, “Uther will be following. He just needed some extra time to prepare the men.”

Arthas stared straight ahead, still fuming. Jaina tried again.

“Arthas, you shouldn’t—”

“I am sick of people trying to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do!” The words burst from him, startling himself as much as Jaina. “What’s going on here is beyond horrible, Jaina. I can’t even find words to describe it. And I’m doing everything I possibly can. If you’re not going to support my decisions then maybe you don’t belong here.” He eyed her, his expression softening. “You look so tired, Jaina. Maybe…maybe you
should
go back.”

She shook her head, staring straight ahead, not meeting his gaze. “You need me here. I can help.”

The anger bled away from him, and he reached for her hand, closing fingers encased in metal over hers gently. “I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that and I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re here. I’m always glad of your company.” He bent and kissed her hand. Color came to her cheeks and she smiled at him, the furrow in her brow uncreasing.

“Dear Arthas,” she said softly. He squeezed her hand and let it go.

They rode hard the rest of the day, not speaking much, and halted to make camp as the sun was going down. Both of them were too weary to hunt for any fresh meat, so they simply took out some dried meat, apples, and bread. Arthas stared at the loaf in his hand. From the ovens of the palace, baked with grain grown locally—not from Andorhal. It was wholesome fare, nourishing and delicious, smelling yeasty and good and not sickly sweet. A simple, basic food, something that everyone,
anyone,
should be able to eat without fear.

His throat suddenly closed up and he placed the bread down, unable to eat a bite, and he put his head in his hands. For a moment he felt overwhelmed, as if a tidal wave of despair and helplessness washed over him. Then Jaina was there, kneeling beside him, resting her head on his shoulder while he struggled to compose himself. She said nothing; she did not need to, her simple, supportive presence was all he needed. Then with a deep sigh he turned to her and took her in his arms.

She responded, kissing him deeply, needing comfort and reassurance from him as much as he did from her. Arthas ran his hands through her silky golden hair and breathed her scent. And for a few brief hours that night, they permitted themselves to be lost in each other, pushing away thoughts of death and horror and plagued grain and prophets and choices, their world narrow and tender and comprised only of the two of them.

S
till half asleep, Jaina awoke and reached out a hand for Arthas. He was not there. Blinking, she sat up. He was already awake and dressed, cooking some sort of hot cereal for them. He smiled when he saw her, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Jaina tentatively returned the smile and reached for her robe, slipping it on and combing her hair with her fingers.

“There’s something I learned,” Arthas said without preamble. “Last night—I didn’t want to mention it. But you need to know.” His voice was flat and Jaina felt something inside her quail. At least he wasn’t screaming, like he had been yesterday—but somehow this was worse. He ladled up a bowl of steaming grains and brought it over to her. She spooned it automatically into her mouth as he continued to speak.

“This plague—the undead—” He took a deep breath. “We knew that the grain was plagued. We knew that it killed people. But it’s worse than that, Jaina. It doesn’t just kill them.”

The words seemed to catch in his throat. Jaina sat there for a moment, as understanding dawned. She thought she’d throw up the grains she’d just eaten. Her breath seemed to come with difficulty.

“It…turns them, somehow. It makes them into the undead…doesn’t it?”
Please tell me I’m wrong, Arthas.

He didn’t. Instead he nodded his golden head. “That’s why there were so many of them so quickly. The grain reached Hearthglen a short time ago—long enough to be milled into flour and baked into bread.”

Jaina stared at him. The implications of this—she couldn’t even wrap her mind around them.

“That’s why I rushed off yesterday. I knew I couldn’t take Mal’Ganis by myself, but—Jaina, I just couldn’t sit around and—and mend armor and make camp, you know?” She nodded dumbly. She did understand, now. “And that prophet—I don’t care how powerful you think he is. I can’t just leave and let all of Lordaeron turn into this—this—Mal’Ganis, whatever, whomever he is, has got to be stopped. We’ve got to find every last crate of this plagued grain and destroy it.”

The telling of this shocking information seemed to agitate Arthas again, and he got to his feet, pacing. “Where the hell is Uther?” he said. “He had all night to ride here.”

Jaina placed aside the half-eaten cereal, got to her feet, and finished dressing. Her mind was working a thousand miles a minute, trying to comprehend the situation fully and dispassionately, trying to think of some way to combat it. Wordlessly they broke camp and headed for Stratholme.

The ashy grayness of dawn only darkened as the clouds closed off the sun. Rain began to fall, chilly and stinging. Both Arthas and Jaina flipped the hoods of their cloaks up, but that did little to keep Jaina dry, and she was shivering by the time they reached the gates of the great city. Almost as they drew rein, Jaina heard sounds behind her and turned to see Uther and his men coming up the dirt road that was now almost pure mud. By this point, Arthas had worked himself up again, and he turned to Uther with a bitter grin.

“Glad you could make it, Uther,” he snapped.

Uther was a patient man, but he lost his temper now. Arthas and Jaina were not the only ones under strain. “Watch your tone with me, boy! You may be the prince, but I’m still your superior as a paladin!”

“As if I could forget,” Arthas retorted. He moved quickly to the top of a rise, so he could look over the walls and into the city. He didn’t know what he was looking for. Signs of life, of normalcy, perhaps. Signs that they’d gotten here in time. Anything to give him hope that he could still somehow do something. “Listen, Uther, there’s something about the plague you should know. The grain—”

The wind shifted as he spoke, and the scent that reached his nostrils was not an unpleasant one. Nonetheless, Arthas felt as though he’d been punched in the gut. The smell, the strange, unique scent of bread baked with the tainted grain, unmistakable on the air damp with rain.

Light, no. Already milled, already baked, already—

The blood drained from Arthas’s face. His eyes widened, staring starkly in horrified comprehension. “We’re too late. We’re too damned late! The grain—these people—” He tried again. “These people have all been infected.”

“Arthas—” Jaina began in a low voice.

“They may look fine now, but it’s just a matter of time before they turn into the undead!”

“What?” cried Uther. “Lad, have you gone insane?”

“No,” Jaina said. “He’s right. If they’ve eaten the grain, they’re infected—and if they’re infected…they’ll turn.” She was thinking furiously. There had to be something they could do. Antonidas once told her, if a thing is magical in origin, then magic can combat it. If they just had a little time to think, if they could calm down and react from logic and not emotion, perhaps a cure could—

“This entire city must be purged.”

Arthas’s statement was blunt and brutal. Jaina blinked. Surely he hadn’t meant that.

“How can you even consider that?” Uther cried, marching up to his former student. “There’s got to be some other way. This isn’t a blighted apple crop, this is a city full of human beings!”

“Damn it, Uther! We have to do it!” Arthas shoved his face within an inch of Uther’s, and for a dreadful moment Jaina was convinced they’d draw weapons on each other.

“Arthas, no! We can’t do that!” The words left her lips before she could stop them. He whirled on her, his sea-colored eyes now stormy with anger and hurt and despair. She realized immediately that he truly thought this was the only option—the only way to save other, uncorrupted lives was to sacrifice these cursed ones, these that could no longer be salvaged. His face softened slightly as she rushed on, trying to get the words out before he could interrupt her. “Listen to me. We don’t know how many people are infected. Some of them might not have eaten any of the grain at all—others might not have eaten a lethal dose. We don’t even know what a lethal dose
is
yet. We know so little—we can’t just slaughter them like animals out of our own fear!”

It was the wrong thing to say, and she watched as Arthas’s face closed up. “I’m trying to protect the innocent, Jaina. That’s what I swore to do.”

“They
are
innocent—they’re victims! They didn’t ask for this! Arthas, there are children in there. We don’t know if it affects them. There’s too much unknown for such a—a drastic solution.”

“What of those who
are
infected?” he asked with a sudden, frightening quiet. “They’ll kill those children, Jaina. They’ll try to kill us…and spread out from here and keep killing. They’re going to die regardless, and when they rise, they’ll do things that in life they would never, ever have wanted to do. What would you choose, Jaina?”

She hadn’t expected that. She looked from Arthas to Uther, then back again. “I—I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do.” He was right, and despairingly, she knew it. “Wouldn’t you rather die now than die from this plague? Die a clean death as a thinking, living human being rather than be raised as an undead to attack everyone, everything you loved in life?”

Her face crumpled. “I…that would be my personal choice, yes. But we can’t make that choice for them. Don’t you see?”

He shook his head. “No. I don’t see. We need to purge this city before any of them have a chance to escape and spread the contagion. Before any of them turn. It’s a kindness and it’s the only solution to stop this plague right here, right now, dead in its tracks. And that is exactly what I intend to do.”

Tears of anguish burned in Jaina’s eyes.

“Arthas—give me a little time. Just a day or two. I can teleport back to Antonidas and we can call an emergency meeting. Maybe we can figure out some way to—”

“We don’t
have
a day or two!” The words exploded from Arthas. “Jaina, this affects people within hours. Maybe minutes. I—I saw it at Hearthglen. There’s no time for deliberation or discussion. We have to act. Now. Or it will be too late.” He turned to Uther, dismissing Jaina.

“As your future king, I
order
you to purge this city!”

“You’re not my king yet,
boy
! Nor would I obey that command even if you were!”

The silence that fell crackled with tension.

Arthas…beloved, best friend…please don’t do this.

“Then I must consider this an act of treason.” Arthas’s voice was cold, clipped. If he had struck her across the face, Jaina could not have been more shocked.

“Treason?” Uther spluttered. “Have you lost your mind, Arthas?”

“Have I? Lord Uther, by my right of succession and the sovereignty of my crown, I hereby relieve you of your command and suspend your paladins from service.”

“Arthas!” Jaina yelped, her tongue freed in her shock. “You can’t just—”

He whirled on her furiously and spat, “It’s done!”

She stared at him. He turned to look at his men, who had stood by silent and wary as the argument had progressed. “Those of you who have the will to save this land, follow me! The rest of you…get out of my sight!”

Jaina felt sick and dizzy. He was really going to do this. He was going to march into Stratholme and cut down every living man, woman, and child within its walls. She swayed and clutched the reins of her horse. It lowered its head and whickered at her, blowing warm breath from its soft muzzle across her cheek. She was fiercely envious of its ignorance.

She wondered if Uther would attack his former pupil. But he was bound by an oath to serve his prince, even if he had been relieved of command. She saw the tendons on his neck stand out like cords, could almost hear him gritting his teeth. But he did not attack his liege.

Loyalty, however, did not still his tongue. “You’ve just crossed a terrible threshold, Arthas.”

Arthas looked at him a moment longer, then shrugged. He turned to Jaina, his eyes searching hers, and for a moment—just a moment—he looked like himself, earnest, young, a little scared.

“Jaina?”

The single word was so much more. It was both question and plea. Even as she stared at him, frozen like the bird before the snake, he reached out a gauntleted hand to her. She stared at it for a moment, thinking of all the times that hand had clasped hers warmly, had caressed her, had been lain on the wounded and glowed with healing light.

She could not take that hand.

“I’m sorry, Arthas. I can’t watch you do this.”

There was no mask on his face now, no merciful coldness to shutter his pain away from her. Shocked disbelief radiated from him. She couldn’t bear to look at him anymore. Gulping, her eyes filled with tears, Jaina turned away to find Uther regarding her with compassion and approval. He held out his hand to help her mount and she was grateful for his steadiness and composure. Jaina was shaking, badly, and clung to her horse as Uther mounted and, holding her horse’s reins, led them both away from the greatest horror they had yet encountered in this whole dreadful ordeal.

“Jaina?” Arthas’s voice followed her.

She closed her eyes, tears slipping from beneath closed lids. “I’m sorry,” she whispered again. “I’m so sorry.”

“Jaina?…
Jaina!
”

She had turned her back on him.

He couldn’t believe it. For a long moment he simply stared, dumbfounded, at her retreating figure. How could she abandon him like this? She knew him. She knew him better than anyone else in the world had known him, better maybe than he knew himself. She had always understood him. His mind suddenly went back to the night they had become lovers, bathed first in the orange glow of the wicker man’s fire, and later the cool blue of moonlight. He’d held her to him, pleading.

Don’t deny me, Jaina. Don’t ever deny me. Please.

I never would, Arthas. Never.

Oh yes, powerful words, whispered in a powerful moment, but now, now when it really counted, she had done exactly that—denied him and betrayed him. Dammit, she’d even agreed that if it were her, she’d want to be killed outright before the plague came and twisted her into a violation of everything good and true and natural. She’d left him, alone. If she’d stabbed him in the gut, he didn’t think he could hurt worse.

The thought came, brief and bright and sharp: Was she right?

No. No, she couldn’t be. Because if she was right, then he was about to become a mass murderer, and he knew that wasn’t who he was. He knew it.

He shook off the dazed horror, licking lips suddenly gone dry, and took a deep breath. Some of the men had departed with Uther. A lot of them. Too many, truth be told. Could he even take this city with this few?

“Sir, if I may,” Falric said, “I’m…well…I would rather be hacked into a thousand pieces than turn into one of them undead.”

There were murmurs of agreement and Arthas’s heart lifted. He grasped his hammer. “There is no pleasure in what we do here,” he said, “only grim necessity. Only the need to halt the plague, here and now, with the fewest casualties possible. Those within these walls are already dead. We know it, even if they do not, and we must kill them quickly and cleanly before the plague does it for us.” He looked at each of them in turn, these men who had not shirked their duty. “They must be slain, and their homes destroyed, lest the dwellings become shelter for those whom we are too late to save.” The men nodded their understanding, gripping their own weapons. “This is not a great and glorious battle. It is going to be ugly and painful, and I regret its necessity with my whole heart. But it is with my whole heart that I know we must do this.”

He lifted his hammer. “For the Light!” he cried, and in answer his men roared and lifted their weapons. He turned to the gate, took a deep breath, and charged in.

The ones that had risen were easy. They were the enemy; human no longer, but vile caricatures of what they had once been in life, and smashing their skulls or slicing their heads off was no more of a hardship than putting down a rabid beast. The others—

They looked up at the armed men, at their prince, in first confusion and then in terror. At first, most of them didn’t even reach for weapons; they knew the tabards, knew that the men who had come to kill them were supposed to be protecting them. They simply could not grasp why they were dying. Pain clenched Arthas’s heart at the first one he struck down—a youth, barely out of puberty, who gazed up at him with incomprehension in his brown eyes and got out the words, “My lord, why are—” before Arthas cried out, as much in anguish at what he was being forced to do as anything else, and caved the boy’s chest in with a hammer that he absently realized was no longer radiant with the Light. Perhaps the Light, too, grieved the dire necessity of its actions. A sob ripped through him and he bit it back, willed it back, and turned to the boy’s mother.