A Struggle

As she moved, he tried to back up, but his horse seemed stuck in place. He felt the chilly air all the more as her fingers took hold of his breastplate and pulled him towards her. He felt petrified as she spoke, but when her words seemed finished, he pushed her away and held up his mace in case she tried to invade the small personal bubble he now managed to maintain. "I highly doubt that, death knight. The soldiers of Valgarde would cut you and burn you like every other form of the scourge they have encountered. You are not unique, save for in the way that you are the only death knight here who is still alive." He didn't understand what she had meant. The Knights of the Ebon Blade had been given a place in the Alliance, but when she said it, he assumed merely that she was speaking of a death knight weapon. "Go, and tell the fallen prince that someday, very soon, I hope to face him, and make him pay for the destruction of my homeland." He watched her, waiting for her to attack, confused that she had not tried to kill him already. Her hesitation, this game she was playing, was all the more terrifying because he had no idea what her end goal was...

"Then why haven't they, Paladin. Does that not say something as to whose side I am on...?" Her words pausing as silent laughter escaped her lips when he brought the mace up between the two of them. Eyes narrowing when he gave her that message to give to the Lich King and replying, "Tell the bastard yourself, Paladin. He holds no sway over me and it is going to stay that way if I have anything to say about it." She wouldn't attack the paladin unless he brought first swing on her. And then she would fight out of self defense. But that was her code, especially for those within the Alliance. No blade would be drawn by her, first, unless another initiated contact of such nature.

Lance stared at her, blinking. He felt the limited amount of knowledge, he held, shatter into a thousand pieces. He didn't know what to think anymore. He lowered his mace. He could still feel his heart trying to leap from his chest and felt his fight or flight instincts tearing him apart. He chanced a glimpse around the vicinity, looking at the guards who seemed to ignore her. He considered that he might be seeing things, that she might be a hallucination. He looked her over, taking her in. He finally settled on a response, and felt his vulnerability, to her, increase exponentially. "I...don't...understand..." He eyed her, watching. None of it made any sense...

"Arthas does not control the death knights anymore, Paladin. He hasn't for some time. We are equal, as any other member of the Alliance. So decreed by the King of Ktormwind." Eyes remaining narrowed as she waited for his response to what had been said by her, her hand never once reaching for that massive axe on her back as she waited for his response to what she had enlightened him to.

He took off his helm to see her better, his face revealed. His greens eyes stared at her as he tried to understand. He narrowed his vision at her. "The King of Stormwind...but, the king has been missing...for...almost twelve seasons..." He looked around. He must have missed a lot in the time he'd been missing. "How long ago...did this take place, exactly? How long have you...have the death knights been members of the Alliance? And...why the Alliance...? I would have imagined that previous agents of the fallen prince would side with the Horde, as the undead did..." His words were more him thinking aloud than actually questioning her. He was trying to put together the fractured pieces of what this new world promised. He'd only just arrive in Northrend not an hour or two ago...but how long had Grayson been sending warriors of the Light into the north...? He looked back at her. "Do you have a name then, Death Knight?" He tried to see past the armor that she was protected in, and he felt his curiosity boiling with what identity might be hidden behind it.

Her hand would remove the plate helm hiding her features from him. Piercing blue eyes meeting his as light colored skin and deep crimson hair braided down her back was revealed. Black, almost tattoo-like markings upon her face made the visage she bore all the more imposing as she would reply. "I am Ri'ilynaer." Her features spoke of her heritage, of being a night elf before becoming one of the death knights. In reply to his question, she would reply to him. "Before his disappearance, such was decreed. For I shall not forget the not so hospitable welcome I received before such was decided by him." Since that time, she had been in and out of Stormwind. But mostly spending her time in northrend, readying herself for a trip to the storm peaks, but working on gathering some cobalt before heading on such a trek.

His jaw dropped when he saw her face. She looked like a night elf...but something about her was very different. She had the touch of the scourge and she seemed as though she had been pulled out of the very depths of hell. "I can only imagine how the people of Stormwind received you...but, how is it you are still alive? And...why would the king accept you into the fold of the Alliance?" He hoped his words were not offessive, but he could help but wonder how they had just...let her in.

"Before the king accepted me into the Alliance, I had to do a few tasks for him in order to prove my worth. After all, I do not think the Horde would welcome someone who once was a night elf with open arms, would they?" Blood elves would never accept one such as her within their ranks, for she was once their arch enemy. She would leave the helm off unless her looks bothered him, then it would be replaced, but she would watch his reactions before making such a decision.

"I..." He had had a question he was going to ask her, but he first had to overcome how baffled he was. He realized how little he truly knew about the death knights. Of course, the fallen prince had enslaved the races...but, it had just never added up to him that races as familiar as the night elves...had been enslaved. "I just never realized that there were night elf death knights, Ri-...Rii" He cleared his throat, and tried to say her name again, but he didn't have the tongue for it. "But, what I mean is...the legions that guard Stormwind, surely would have...tried to kill you, long before you could even go before the king...and, unless I missed something ELSE, when I left Stormwind, its guard was still in tact." He shook his head. What was she not telling him...?