Editing Arkhan the Black (section)

===Imprisonment in Lahmia===

After his defeat, Arkhan and one of the Nagash's nine books were smuggled to Lahmia. There, Arkhan was restored to unlife and kept as a prisoner of Lamashizzar and his cabal buddies (including Ushoran, W'soran and Abhorash - the latter wasn't interested in immortality and is only there to protect his king) to teach them Nagash's magic. Lahmashizzar was not smart, and while W'soran was a capable student, he kept what he learnt to himself. Lacking magical ability, Lamashizzar brought in his sister [[Queen Neferata|Neferata]] to aid in the lessons (because she is a priestess of the moon goddess and they have knowledge on potion making). 

Neferata, caught between this and trying to prevent their [[Cathay|Cathayan]] trade partners from screwing Lahmia over, visited Arkhan to seek out his dark knowledge. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. To their mutual surprise, Neferata sympathized with the imprisoned lich and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew into something more. Arkhan gladly taught her magic, and when Neferata offered a reward, Arkhan only asked for the chance to ride a horse with silver bells on its harness through the desert at night; Arkhan despaired of captivity and greatly appreciated any freedom he got. Eventually Arkhan's tutelage (and knowledge he gave Neferata about her brother's cabal members) led to Neferata overthrowing Lamashizzar, reducing him to a figurehead under her thumb, and taking the throne for herself. Neferata kept her word to Arkhan and granted his request right down to the silver bells.

This turned out to be a grave error however when the king, still with many supporters, tried to have Neferata assassinated with a deadly magical poison. At the time Arkhan had come back from a nighttime excursion on the outskirts, and only learned about this after two of the least intelligent members of the cabal tried to assassinate him. Although Arkhan manage to slay them, he realized they'd gone after Neferata too, and by the time he reached Neferata it was already too late.

Arkhan tried to save Neferata, roping a random servant girl named Aiyah into helping him with the ritual, but his methods reacted with Neferata's blood and she appeared to die. Furious and determined to have revenge, Arkhan snuck into the royal palace and assassinated Lamashizzar with the king's own Cathayan gun (the state he was in caused Arkhan to overlook Aiyah, who fled to Lybaras and spilled the beans to Khalida). The king’s bodyguard Abhorash, though too slow to save his king, beheaded Arkhan in personal combat for his crime. Unbeknown to Arkhan, his magic had in fact saved Neferata and turned her into the first vampire. With her brother dead, Neferata took over the throne and then had Arkhan's corpse discretely but respectfully buried in the Lahmian necropolis, despite Abhorash recommending that she cremate Arkhan.