blind dinosaur's dog

As Lady Jaina outmaneuvers her undead pursuer and his thralls, Death Knight Falric reveals just how relentless the Scourge can be…

CHAPTER 24: DEATH'S CALLING

When she was an initiate, Jaina called the Catacombs a needless labyrinth. With countless intersecting corridors, she’d sworn if she met the architect responsible for the maze she’d give him a piece of her mind. She recalled then, she’d been fraught with worry about being late for class, or she’d somehow walk into the wrong room and die of embarrassment.

         Running for her life now, she wasn’t certain either herself or her pursuers were benefiting from the layout. She knew it was an eventuality she would meet with the death knight again, but she was doing her best to avoid that calamity. She slid around a corner and pressed herself flat against the wall as an undead soldier tried to grapple her, making her heart thunder in her ears. It snarled as it missed, falling to the ground with a thud.

         Jaina dashed away. She couldn’t waste any more time; she needed to escape. She ran down the corridor and went to turn left—

         The corridor was full of undead monsters.

         She pivoted on her heel, grace abandoned for speed as she instead went right. There was a small door at the end of the hall, and as the dead snapped at her robes, she pointed her staff and conjured a short blast of fire.

         The door exploded off its hinge, scattered pieces of wood on the spiralling staircase. Jaina hurried, tearing herself free as skeletal hands grabbed hold of her cloak. The stairwell seemed to go on forever, the walls pressing in as sharp pain burned into her ankle and back. Then the door to the ground floor came into view.

         Jaina forced her legs to carry her faster and threw her whole body into the door. It was a blessing from the Light the old latch gave, the door flew open and she tumbled out onto the soft violet carpet of the grand hall. She scrambled forward, letting out an angry, desperate shriek as one of her pursuers grabbed her ankle and yanked her back. She stared wide-eyed at their dead gazes and rotting facades as a hand reached for her face—