The rounded room was dark and cold. Lit only by a few torches tucked into crevices where water dripped down the walls. The air was stagnant and would smell horrid to most anyone, but the inhabitants here did not mind. Most of them had not been able to smell anything for years while some decades. The only sounds in the chamber were dripping water forming little pools on the stone floor and a steady clicking against stone. The sound of this agitated clicking came from a tall chair in the shadows. Here Lady Sylvanas was resting her head in one hand and massaging her temples while the other clicked her nails from her pinky to her thumb over and over again. Her white hair fell into her closed eyes giving contrast to the color of her sickening blue green skin.
The guards slumped a little against their pikes at the constant rhythm and having to stand for so long though they were careful not to make a sound. The beautiful banshee had a temper and they did not want to disturb it again. Too many guards to the Banshee Queen's chambers had died at her agitation with them making too much noise around her. Some received a merciful death, by merciful meaning quicker than the last. Others died in a long drawn out manner that would send chills down a normal person's spine. However, these were soldiers of the Forsaken. They would die and then perhaps made to come back again to rejoin the ranks.
As Sylvanas kept her steady clicking tempo going, her acquaintance, as she would call him, came through the hall to the decrepit chamber. She tried to ignore the Dreadlord as he came up the stairs trying to be as quiet as he could, though his monstrous size often prevented that from happening. She gave a long sigh but gave no other sign that she was paying attention to him as he knelt in front of her.
"What do you want?" she said annoyed clicking her nails harder against the stone throne.
"My honored Lady Sylvanas" Varimathras said keeping his head low.
"Get on with it" she said dropping the hand from her temples onto the arm of the chair. She turned her head slightly to see the face of the Dreadlord who so feared her.
"My Lady" he said hesitating
"Speak and stay to tell me news of my troops or leave my sight now" she ordered looking down on him with a hard stare. Her red eyes seem to burn into him.
"Your troops in the north have been….." he said hesitating
"What? They have been what?" she said almost too calmly as she leaned forward some.
"Lost my Lady. To the scourge, all of them" Varimathras said cringing and wishing he was not the one who had to tell her.
"WHAT!" the Banshee queen yelled making the whole room flinch and stand at perfect attention. The steady clicking of her nails had ceased, now both her hands gripped the arms of the chair hard. The stone shuddered under her grip.
"HOW!" she screamed lifting one had and twisting it in a very unnatural way.
A purple and black swirling collar formed around the Dreadlord's neck and tightened with the flick of Sylvanas' finger. He felt the pressure increase and he quickly began to speak not wanting the collar any tighter.
"Arthas knew of the plans somehow! He ambushed them on their way through Wintergarde!" he said spitting his words out quick.
Sylvanas waved her hang again and the collar dissolved away. The Dreadlord grabbed his neck to be sure it was gone. She couldn't kill him, but she could hurt him and he would rather not deal with that right now.
"Find. The. Traitor." Sylvanas said as her words swam with venom. She locked her eyes on the entrance to the hall. She was not going to say another word. This one was an order and it was not to be questioned nor did it need to be explained.
"Yes my Queen" Varimathras said getting up slowly. He quickly left the chamber keeping his eyes away from Sylvanas and the spot where she stared angrily in the distance.
She heard his muttering as he went down the long hall from her chamber. Something about how was he ever going to find the one person who gave Arthas all of the information? She didn't care. She just wanted the little traitorous wretch that was causing all of her brilliant military strategies go to shambles to be brought before her. She wanted him dead or alive. Alive would be more fun for her and would leave more time for torturing. However if he was brought dead she could have fun with him as well. She had a few good Death Knights at her service who would easily raise the pest again as a ghoul so she could have her entertainment and revenge. Death was a formality and something that could easily be changed, she herself was proof of that. She started to dream of all the ways to torture and kill the scum that was ruining her. Then she thought of raising the mongrel again and repeating the process in new and exciting ways. She could enjoy doing this even now, all it would take is a prisoner from the cells downstairs. It could even release some stress. But no, she wanted to save her fun for the real trouble maker.
"My beautiful Queen" said a squeaky voice at her feet. A little undead man was bowing so low at her feet she almost could not even see him if she sat back in the chair more.
She had been so engrossed in her little torturing fantasy that she had not seen the little servant come in. This time his hair was slicked back and he wore the remnants of a tux. The little cook loved her and would do anything for her. He was a pest at times and at others he was useful when she wanted silly errands run. Last week she needed a new bow string after breaking the first. The servant who she called Krik quickly went out and got her a new one eager to please her.
Normally she would put up with the annoying servant to her kitchens but she was not in the mood at the moment.
"What do you want?" she snapped putting her hands back to their rhythmus work of clicking and massaging just as she was before.
"My Lady, I come bearing a small gift" he said holding out a lidded plate to her.
"It is nothing much but only a snack until morning meals are ready" he said bowing deeper. His nose almost touched her but she knew he would never have the audacity to do so. Sylvanas grabbed the plate from him and opened the lid slightly. What raw meat lied beneath the silver lid could not be described to those who have weak stomachs without them fainting. Sylvanas smiled a little inside and placed the plate on the arm of the chair.
"Go" she said pointedly
"Yes your Greatness" Krik said eagerly knowing he had somewhat lessened her rage, though she showed no sign of it. He stopped at the doorway to the hall out and hesitated.
"Magnificent one?" he asked cautiously turning back to look at the Banshee Queen.
"Shut the part of you that is making obnoxious noises, meaning your mouth and get out of my face" she said getting angry. The guards around the room all flinched, ready to expel the thing that would set off the Lady's rage.
"Yes My Queen" he said scurrying out.
Sylvanas took the tray with one hand and the lid off with the other. She gave a sharp whistle and a few dogs that looked like they had a plague slinked close to her. She threw the plate to them as she stood up. The hounds instantly devoured the meat and began to fight over the last pieces. Sylvanas quietly went to a wall across the room and ran her hand across it making a hidden door open in the stone. She stalked through and went to her private chambers for the rest of the night.