Minutes… hours… days…

Kaisea wasn't sure how much time had passed since the pealing of the bells had been replaced with screaming, and the perfume of rose petals with the stench of death. One minute she was listening to the jubilant cheering of an entire city, then screaming… and then her world exploded into chaos. Emelinah had burst into the shop, half-dragging a terrified woman with her, who was clutching an infant at her chest.

Now Emelinah was concentrating on maintaining a shimmering portal in the center of her father's room. They had turned the bed up against the wall to make room for her. Her father was slumped, half-conscious in a chair against the wall. The elixir that they had given him earlier that day was meant to make him sleep for longer than he had, and he was very groggy. Kaisea had demanded an explanation about what was happening outside, but Emelinah would say little, and Sara could do nothing more than weep, and murmur faintly to her baby between the tears.

Kaisea was staring at the portal, considering it. Her sister was still a student, and had shared enough with Kaisea for her to know that this particular spell was pushing the bounds of her current abilities. She could barely make out the wavering image of a forest in the center of the gateway. Kaisea had never traveled by way of a portal, and if she'd had any choice in the matter, she never would. She trusted her sister, but magic had always unsettled her. Emelinah had told her once that it was her lack of understanding that scared her, but Kaisea wasn't so sure.

"It is our worst nightmares in the flesh," the young mother said, suddenly. Kaisea pulled her eyes from the portal and looked to Sara. She pulled her baby close to her chest as she huddled in a corner of the small room. "I was standing in the crowd with Maris and Liza, and we were there when Arthas and his men crossed the bridge into the main courtyard. Only a few minutes after Arthas, Falric and Mar-," she paused, looking pointedly at Emelinah. "After they went into the throne room… We could hear them. They started pouring into the city… awful, ghastly beasts…"

Her voice trailed off, and the look of horror on her face said that she was slipping into her own personal nightmare – filled with recent memories that were all too real. "Someone said that they killed the king, Kaisea… That…" She hesitated, seemingly unable to say the words. "They say that Prince Arthas stabbed his father through the heart… That Falric and Marwyn are-"

"Enough!" Emelinah snapped, and the other two women looked at her. "None of us know what exactly is happening out there – who is out there. What I do know is that we need to get out of here, now." The young mage considered the portal for a moment, and then looked to her father.

Kaisea suddenly remembered something. "My pack – I have to get it." She started towards the door, but Emelinah hurried to her and caught her arm. Before her sister could object, Kaisea spoke again. "I will be quick, I promise. I need my pack though. It has father's vials and…" She left her own voice trail off, not wanting to tell her sister that the reason that the other reason that she wanted it was for the twin daggers that she had carefully wrapped and placed inside her bag. Arick had given them to her only days before, and she had little experience with them…but a persistent, niggling voice in the back of her mind told her she did not want to leave them behind.

"Hurry, Kaisea. We don't have much time…" Kaisea nodded at her sister's pleading, and started down the staircase that led through the second level of the building, and down into her father's shop. As she raced down the stairs, she could no longer hear the sound of the people upstairs, and was grateful that their voices were muted enough that whatever was outside in the streets could not hear them either. She prayed they could not.

Downstairs, her father's shop was dark. Kaisea had barred the door and pulled the shutters closed. Kaisea heard a sound, and realized she was laughing. The plank of wood that barred the door was hollow succor if whatever was out there decided it wanted in. She stood at the bottom of the steps for a few seconds, letting her eyes adjust to the darkened room. She moved across the small room but did not see her pack on the counter where she was sure that she had left it. Cursing to herself, she moved around to the back of the counter. She spotted it on the floor and hurried over to it.

Just as she had bent down, something struck at the door from the outside. The force was so great that the door broke free of its hinges, and exploded into the room in a spray of splintered wood. Sunlight spilled into the room, and then just as quickly, the room was plunged back into darkness as a massive figure stepped into the threshold. She sunk down behind the counter, clutching the bag to her chest. Whoever or whatever had just burst into the room would not be able to her – but she could not see what was happening either. It was dangerously quiet.

She sucked in her breath and turned, rising up enough that she could peer over the edge of the counter. She wished she hadn't. A hulking, hooded figure stood just inside the doorway. The light from behind made it difficult to make out much more than that. She could see the outline of a cloak wafting gently behind him, and a hood pulled low over his head. In one hand, the figure held a massive axe unlike anything Kaisea had ever seen.

The unwieldy stature and heavy armor of the dark figure belied his true speed and agility. He suddenly lunged for her, but she wasn't there. She was scrambling across the floor, until her back hit the stone wall behind her. Meaty fingers grabbed at her head, tangling themselves in her loose hair. Then he was yanking her up, and she scrambled to get to her feet. She feared that her hair was going up with his hand, with our without the rest of her.

The shock of the encounter had silenced her up until that point, and just as she nearly found her voice, his other hand shot out and icy fingers wrapped around her throat. He lifted her body up off the ground as if she were nothing more than one a sack of grain, choking the breath out of her body. She clawed and slapped at his arm, as he continued to raise her up, until her head was higher than his. In one easy motion, he turned and slammed her up against the wall beside the counter.

"Where is she?" The man's low voice was chillingly calm. Something lurked beneath the words that made Kaisea's skin crawl, even in the panic of her current predicament. One second her feet her kicking wildly in an attempt to find solid ground – the next, she was lying in a crumpled heap at his feet. Breathe… You have to breathe… She gasped, desperate to pull oxygen into her tortured lungs. She pressed her palms flat against the floor, and lifted the upper half of her body. She twisted herself, looking up at her assailant. He towered over her, casting his great shadow over her slumped body. Her eyes were wet, her vision blurry. She blinked away the tears and struggled to focus her sight on his face.

"Marwyn…?" She could see the man's face now. She stared up at the man's pale countenance… features that were so familiar yet…weren't. It was Marwyn. It was the man who her sister had been so eager to welcome home… No wonder her sister had denied the story that Sara had begun to tell. How could she possibly believe that the man that she loved had anything to do with the madness that had fallen on the city?

"Kaisea!" It was her sister's voice. Kaisea tried to react; her mouth trying to form a warning – anything. Before she could, Marwyn pressed a boot to her back and shoved her down flat against the floor. Her body wracked with pain from the pressure with which he was forcing her to the floor, but still she struggled. She could not see her sister from her place on the floor.

"Let her go!" Emelinah's breathless voice was closer now. Marwyn did not relent, but instead pressed down harder on Kaisea's back. She could not manage even the smallest breath, and black dots were starting to swim into her vision. There was a burst of bright light, and then Marwyn was no longer forcing her to the ground. She summoned the strength to raise enough to see that Marwyn had taken a few steps back, looking down at his own body as white-hot flames licked at his dark armor. He did not seem hurt, or even concerned. His lips curled up into a gruesome mockery of the smile that she remembered.

"Kaisea, get upstairs!" She could hear her sister still could not see her. She sucked in a deep breath and started to scramble away, as Marwyn's focus seemed to be on Emelinah for the moment. She'd not moved an inch before Marwyn's heavy plate boot slammed into her side. There was an explosion of pain, and she dropped her face to the wooden planks beneath her.

Her body succumbed, and her world went black.