MAL'GANIS

Mal'Ganis had maintained a relatively sedate pace trailing the action before the elf suddenly accelerated, entering into an open meadow. It had bought him a little distance from the dark rider, and the acrobatic humanoid didn't waste it. Using the hard-gained time to nimbly scramble atop a large boulder before the rider's blade chopped into the rock face, short-lived sparks and small rock fragments shooting off just shy of the courier's feet before they disappeared over the rock's lip.

Mal'Ganis confirmed his invisibility was still holding and then settled upon the tallest tree overlooking the clearing. It seemed that the climax was near at hand. Even the heavens seemed to agree, as drifting clouds cleared and the whole scene was brightly illuminated in moonlight.

The Night Elf had scrambled to his feet in case the dark rider decided to climb up after him, but the undead was instead circling the boulder. But before the elf could enjoy a breather, the rider threw his blade, forcing the elf to duck.

And watching the end result of that attack, the dreadlord judged the elf was in for a bad time.

VALORN

Valorn raised his head after dodging the hasty projectile to reassess the undead spectre. The rider was circling the boulder, but it didn't look like his pursuer was keen on following him up. Luckily he had his spear to discourage any attempts on that front if the rider changed it's mind.

Or maybe, the opportune moment to escape?

However, as he looked out farther towards the outer edges of the clearing, Valorn sucked in air through his teeth. Standing out there was a great mass of worgen, several layers deep.

Valorn tried to remain calm as he realized he was now penned in with a tireless minion. An armored nightmare which wouldn't allow him any rest. Who he now noticed had come to a stop and seemed to be staring up at him through its armored visor.

The night elf peered down to consider his eerily frozen opponent and then flinched as something chopped heavily into the back of his head, nearly bowling him over.

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Or would have struck heavily into his head had it not been for the parcel he was transporting absorbing the blow.

But he had no time to thank Elune for her saving grace. Valorn spun in a cold sweat just in time to block a repeated attack.

MAL'GANIS

The dreadlord was properly savoring the stage before him. And why shouldn't he? It was quite a treat after being focused the past few months.

The hurled sword hadn't simply flown off into the distance. No, it had been animated and returned to heavily strike at the back of the distracted quarry. A brilliant trick, and Mal'Ganis was rather disappointed the cunning sneak attack was foiled by the courier's sheer luck.

Though it was a sight to behold seeing hundreds of worgen react to the scent of the night elf's fear. It had them licking their chops with their noses in the air, accompanied with low growls.

While the suddenly panicked elf was busy fending off the bespelled weapon with great sweeps of his spear, the rider hadn't remained standing still. No, the undead has backed up for a running start.

And with a resounding crash the boulder shuddered from the full speed collision from the relentless hunter, staggering the defending elf.

The undead being of spectral origin was now more apparent to Mal'Ganis, unmistakable light blue wisps of unholy energy leaking though cracked plate armor.

VALORN

Valorn dropped to one knee due to the sudden shaking, before quickly surging back up and chopping at the animated weapon with a mighty overhead blow. The heavy strike strong enough to knockdown the blade momentarily, time enough for the agile elf to pin it underfoot.

The blade trembled violently before Valorn dropped down to trapped it more fully with his spear and body-weight. Only to nearly get bucked off when the boulder shuddering once more, but the elf managed to stay on top of things.

Wiping sweat out of his eyes and taking in heaving gasps of air he survived another massive tremor, then another.

The elf gritted his teeth as he started to accept he would have to use his last resort. His free hand started creeping over to the strap buckle across his chest as he offered a short prayer to Elune.

MAL'GANIS

It was amusing really.

The rattled elf was struggling to keep the animated blade under control his footing getting repeatedly disrupted while the undead was bashing itself to literal bits in efforts to reach its target.

Not only that, the weakness in both combatants was apparent to the surrounding super pack as well.

The worgen encirclement was inching in steadily, having exited the treeline a short while back. But Mal'Ganis marveled, because the behavior was contrary to everything his experiments had revealed.

But he had to divert more attention to the elf who no longer reeked of fear, but rather of determination. And then the courier shrugged off the hide-wrapped parcel to the side.

And as the elf began awkwardly cutting it open with a small blade in his free hand, the dreadlord focused.

It looked like one of his questions would be answered shortly.