Sylvanas Windrunner had once been the Ranger-General of the High Elves. When Arthas led his undead army through the gates of Quel'Thalas, her ranger forces were defeated. After subjecting them to humiliation, Arthas tore their souls from their bodies and transformed them into Banshees, a kind of ghostly undead. She became the Banshee Queen and followed the Scourge on its campaigns.
Later, Illidan's magical bombardment of Northrend caused cracks to appear in the Frozen Throne, and the Lich King Ner'zhul grew weaker and weaker. Sylvanas seized the chance to break free of the Lich King's mental control and led the Banshees in reclaiming their bodies. For some reason, their corpses had not become food for Ghouls or parts of Abominations, but had been preserved by Arthas instead (a special hobby of His Highness the prince?).
After reclaiming their bodies, they were called Dark Rangers, though they were still Banshees in essence. Sylvanas had also gathered a group of undead who had gained free will. In the subsequent war in Tirisfal Glades, she first allied with the human marshal Garithos, then subdued Varimathras, one of the three Dreadlord leaders, and killed the other two. She then turned on Garithos and killed him, securing the final victory.
Now she and the undead under her command called themselves the Forsaken. They occupied the Undercity beneath the ruins of Lordaeron and controlled most of southwestern Tirisfal Glades.
The voice that had suddenly sounded beside Tyrosus's ear claimed to be the Dark Lady and said she could help him. Tyrosus did not respond immediately. Garithos's fate was still a recent warning, and most of the rumors about the Banshee Queen involved plots, cunning, deception, and cruelty. Helping others for the pleasure of it had nothing to do with her.
"Not saying anything? I'll take that as a yes." The teasing words, spoken in that distinctive voice, did nothing to put him at ease.
"Whether you're Lady Windrunner or not, why would you help me?" Tyrosus lowered his voice, as though muttering to himself. "What do you want?"
"Do I need a reason to wipe out the remnants of the Burning Legion?" the woman's voice asked in return. Then she changed tack. "But I do have one little request."
"What request?"
"This lake is quite pretty. I want it." Her tone brooked no argument and sounded nothing like a request.
Tyrosus was puzzled. As far as he knew, Lordamere Lake was not a place of strategic importance, nor were there any important resources produced nearby. What did the Forsaken want with it? To catch fish to eat? For the scenery? Sylvanas would never take action for reasons like those.
Before he could come up with an answer, the Banshee Queen made her move. The air rippled like the surface of a lake, and an ethereal song seemed to rise from every direction. The sound waves took tangible form, warping the light around them. The Dreadlord suddenly found his body trembling beyond his control, and his flying speed suffered greatly.
Tyrosus knew Sylvanas was creating an opening for him to attack. He had no time to think further; they would join forces and kill the Dreadlord first.
Fine, closely spaced sound waves struck in an endless barrage. Bessarius's entire body went numb from the vibrations, and he could barely stay aloft. The sudden, ethereal song surrounded him, grating on his mind, and the eighteen black vortices he had been dividing his attention to maintain showed signs of breaking apart.
He was very familiar with this method of attack. The Scourge had once been a subordinate force of the Burning Legion, and not long ago, he and the Banshees had been allies. Trying to drown out the irritating song, he burst into loud laughter. "Arthas's bitches dare come and join the fun?"
"We no longer belong to Arthas. Now we belong only to ourselves..." The song rang out in unison in his mind, a chorus of many ethereal voices joined together. At that moment, the Dreadlord judged that at least ten Banshees were attacking him.
"Detheroc and Balnazzar, two of your own kind, both died at the Banshee Queen's hands. Die, Bessarius. You cannot escape death either..." The Banshees' wailing chorus continued to disturb his mind.
But Dreadlords had a high resistance to mental attacks. No matter how the Banshees sang, they could not do him any fundamental harm. The truly deadly threat was Tyrosus, who was flying toward him at high speed.
Bessarius had no time to search for the Banshees. He hurriedly summoned several more self-destructing gargoyles, but to his surprise, they turned back as soon as they took flight. The Dreadlord discovered in horror that he had lost control of his summons.
Boom, boom, boom! The gargoyles flew back to the demon and immediately exploded. Bessarius tried to teleport away, but the Banshees' song disrupted him, and he took the full force of the damage.
The blast wave threw him off balance. A sudden, stabbing pain spread through his body, and all he could see was pure white.
Tyrosus, surrounded by dazzling Holy Light, had finally arrived!
Tyrosus drove the Holy Power within him to its limit. His golden sword edge broke through the Fel shield in front of Bessarius, and the Arcanite Reaper pierced the Dreadlord's body once more.
With a bang, the demon used the same trick again, exploding into a cloud of red mist. Tyrosus beat his wings of light and quickly escaped its range, then furiously sliced the bat double impaled on his sword in two.
For an instant, Bessarius thought he had escaped the Banshees' harassment. His substitute-death technique could completely conceal his true body's presence, and with the invisibility spell he had used at the same time, he was confident he could evade any pursuit.
But in the next moment, the relentless song rang in his ears again. "Varimathras, another of your kind, submitted at Her Majesty's feet. Submit, Bessarius, and Her Majesty will spare you..."
"Those aren't the right lyrics!" A sharp shout suddenly cut in. It sounded like a reprimand to the Banshee chorus, but it was actually aimed straight at the demon. The sudden mental shock caught Bessarius off guard, and his invisibility spell immediately failed. His massive body swayed into view below and to the left of the red mist.
It felt as though several spikes had been driven into his brain. Bessarius clutched his throbbing head as the voice continued, "I can't spare him. One Varimathras is enough. There's no room for a second demon under my command."
"Yes, Your Majesty, you cannot spare him. You no longer need a second demon under your command..." The Banshees sang, repeating the queen's words.
Bessarius could no longer spare the attention to maintain the infernal portals. The eighteen black vortices in the sky began to dissipate. He concentrated, shutting the Banshees' voices out of his mind, and steadied himself.
Powerful Fel still remained concentrated within him. He still had hope of turning the tables.
Remaining in the air now would only let the Banshees toy with him until he died. He fled downward toward the small hill from which he had taken flight, where a large number of Felguards remained.
But at that moment, two figures shot up from the ground to intercept him. Pulhart and Korfax had been keeping part of their attention on the situation high above. Though they could not sustain flight at such a height, they were still capable of launching a flying strike.
With enemies blocking his path and a pursuer behind him, Bessarius tried no more tricks to escape. Instead, he charged straight at the two men intercepting him.
"Watch out! Fall back!" Seeing this, Tyrosus, who was pursuing him from behind, immediately shouted a warning.
Pulhart stopped abruptly and hurled the triangular shield in his hand with all his strength, then obediently retreated toward the ground. Korfax, however, seemed not to have heard his superior's order and continued charging at the Dreadlord at the same speed.
"Die!" Bessarius extended a giant claw, and a black ray shot from his fingertip. It split in two in midair, one ray heading for the triangular shield and the other shooting toward Korfax.
The triangular shield was instantly reduced to fragments. Seeing this, Korfax immediately activated Divine Shield. The black ray and the shield shimmering with silver light vanished the moment they touched, canceling each other out.
But as Bessarius cast the spell, he was also left rigid for an instant, and the Banshees caught him again.