Mal'Ganis's plan

"We'll wait until dawn to make our move. That's when the camp changes patrol shifts, and there are the fewest guards on duty."

Thassarian leaned by the window, watching the moon as he gauged the time. Mait stayed beside his daughter, his heart full of anxiety and unease.

Seeming to notice Mait's nervousness, Thassarian said, "You don't have to worry so much. Once we sneak out of the camp and get into the woods, they'll have a hard time catching us."

"I know, but I just..." Mait trailed off.

"It looks like you don't have much faith in me." Thassarian didn't mind. Though he was a capable fighter, he was still a recruit who had only joined the army a few days ago. Mait certainly wouldn't have turned to him if he had any other choice.

"Actually, it's more that I don't have much faith in myself." Mait sighed. He had fought with the Alliance in the Orc War and lived through quite a few major battles, but none had been as dangerous as this.

When the Alliance fought the orcs, at least the disparity in numbers hadn't been too great, and both sides had been able to trade blows strategically. But now, there were only him and Thassarian, with his daughter in tow. Mait truly didn't know where he could find any confidence.

It wasn't that he doubted Thassarian's character. The fact that Thassarian had come back for him after discovering something was wrong with the camp already proved that he lived up to his words-a kind and courageous soldier of Lordaeron.

Mait said no more. He and Thassarian took turns keeping watch, and the room remained silent until the sky began to pale. Thassarian checked his gear once more and nodded to Mait.

The two climbed out through the window. Holding his still-sleeping daughter, Mait followed close behind Thassarian.

"Wait."

Before leaving the cover of the house, Thassarian signaled for Mait to stop, then cautiously poked his head out to survey their surroundings.

To Thassarian's surprise, there wasn't a single person in the camp. The patrols and sentries had vanished, leaving the entire camp steeped in an eerie, deathly silence.

The sight did nothing to put Thassarian at ease. Instead, his instincts as a warrior told him the camp had become even more dangerous.

But they had neither the time nor the opportunity to check on anyone else. Thassarian hurriedly told Mait, "Go, quickly!"

Mait and Thassarian swiftly crossed the most dangerous stretch of their route. But just as they reached the camp's side gate and were about to leave, Mait's expression suddenly filled with terror.

"This..."

Thassarian froze as well, his mind reeling from an indescribable shock. His comrades stood outside the camp in their armor, but their slumped postures and the livid patches on their skin made it clear that they were no longer alive.

Upon seeing Thassarian and Mait, the undead let out terrifying howls and raised their weapons, converging on the gate-there had never been a way out. Every opening in the camp was a gateway to hell!

"This is necromancy!" The experienced Mait recognized it at once. They were almost exactly like the reanimated corpses of knights he had seen during the Orc War.

Though they had been dead for some time, the undead soldiers were no slower than living warriors. In the brief moment the two stood stunned, a sharp blade was already slashing toward Thassarian.

The young warrior reacted swiftly, raising his greatsword to block the attack as he shouted to Mait, "Run! I'll hold them off!"

But Mait didn't move. Run? Where could we run? There are a hundred times as many undead as there are of us. They've completely blocked every way out of the camp!

"Hehehehe!"

A grating laugh sounded behind Mait. He felt as though he were standing beneath an enormous shadow. Stubbornly shielding his daughter, the physician turned to look behind him.

"Did you really think you could leave this place? The game has only just begun. Hurry and bring this adorable little girl in to join us..."

In his last conscious moments, Mait saw a towering monster fully clad in Runes armor. His tone was flippant, as though he had just done something utterly delightful.

Mait collapsed with Sally in his arms, his fate unknown. Even then, the father held his daughter tightly, keeping her from suffering the slightest harm. Sally, too, seemed unable to hear anything, lying quietly in her father's embrace.

"You damned monster! What have you done to them?"

With fury surging through him, Thassarian unleashed swift, deadly sword strikes, driving several undead soldiers back. Breaking free, he had just started toward Mait when he suddenly lost his balance and fell to the ground.

He looked back and saw that one of the undead he had just cut in half at the waist, now reduced to its upper body, had locked its cold right hand around his ankle.

The other undead seized the chance and swarmed him, pinning Thassarian to the ground. Though the young man struggled with all his strength, he couldn't overcome the weight of dozens of undead. He could only watch helplessly as the towering monster picked up Mait and Sally.

"Aaaaargh!"

Thassarian roared in fury, but darkness was all that remained in his vision.

In a daze, Thassarian seemed to hear someone speaking beside him.

"Your Highness, he's unconscious, and he's badly wounded!"

"Soldier! Wake up, soldier!"

"Damn it, his body temperature is dropping-Jaina, use your magic to start a fire!"

Your... Highness? Before losing consciousness again, Thassarian felt warmth, as comforting as the sunshine on a clear day in Tirisfal.

After drifting in darkness for an unknown length of time, Thassarian finally opened his eyes. He saw a knight in black armor tending to him.

When the knight of the Secret Council Knights noticed that Thassarian had regained consciousness, he hurried to report to Arthas.

"I... was rescued?" Thassarian leaned against the makeshift stone backrest they had built for him, hardly able to believe he was still alive.

Arthas came to Thassarian's side. After checking his condition, he asked, "I am Prince Arthas. Soldier, what happened? Why were you lying unconscious by the roadside?"

"Your Highness... I'm Thassarian, a recruit from the First Regiment's South Camp. Our camp... was attacked by strange magic. Everyone... everyone turned into undead." Enduring the pain, Thassarian struggled to explain what had happened.

Thassarian? I didn't expect to meet him here.

Arthas looked with some surprise at the young man, who was probably only in his early twenties. When the party found him, he had been lying by the roadside, covered in wounds and steeped in necromantic energy, as though he had crawled out of a pile of corpses.

The truth wasn't far from what Arthas imagined. Thassarian really had emerged from a pile of "corpses."

But Thassarian hadn't crawled out on his own. That "monster" had thrown him out of the camp. He had passed out after the undead struck him down, but for some reason, they hadn't killed him. Instead, they had dumped him several kilometers away from South Camp.

As luck would have it, Arthas's men had arrived and found the unconscious Thassarian by the roadside, discovering the insignia of Lordaeron's First Regiment on him. That stroke of luck had saved Thassarian's life. Even if the undead hadn't killed him, his wounds alone would have been enough to do so.

"South Camp has fallen completely... The three hundred soldiers there, along with their commander, Wesley, have all become puppets of necromancy..." Thassarian sounded despondent. He regretted not believing Mait sooner. If he had, perhaps-perhaps Mait and Sally could have survived.

Why had that monster and those undead spared only me?

"I failed Doctor Mait and little Sally..."

"Doctor Mait? Little Sally?" Jaina took note of the two names Thassarian had singled out. "Were they companions who were escaping with you?"

Thassarian nodded. "Doctor Mait was the first to discover that something was wrong with the camp. He was also the one who warned me... But... he and his daughter Sally didn't make it out. I don't know why they spared only me."

Captain Falric found this highly suspicious. "Your Highness, this sounds strange. The situation at South Camp may be far more complicated than we imagined."

Jaina agreed with Falric. "Based on this brave man's account, that demon named Mal'Ganis most likely released him deliberately, intending to lure us..."

Halfway through, Jaina suddenly felt that something didn't add up. If South Camp was a trap meant to lure Arthas and his troops, why release Thassarian?

"It is a trap, yes, but its purpose isn't to wipe us out." Arthas had already guessed what Mal'Ganis intended. "He's forcing me to go there-Doctor Mait and little Sally may still be alive. Thassarian was merely sent to deliver that message to me."

It was easy for Arthas to reach that conclusion because he knew Mal'Ganis's ultimate goal. Working backward from that explained why Thassarian had been allowed to survive and why Mait and his daughter had remained free of his control from the start.

There was no way Mal'Ganis couldn't hypnotize and transform a physician who knew only rudimentary spellcasting. That could only mean Mal'Ganis had done it deliberately, to force Arthas to go to South Camp and step into his trap.

It seemed this great demon had already devised his plan. He intended to use the blood of an innocent father and daughter, along with an entire camp of soldiers, to lure Arthas onto the path he and the Lich King had envisioned.