Chapter two

"No!" a female's voice screamed "Leave her alone! I won't let you take her".

"Where is she? I will not ask again, Sabrina Harris." A male voice threatened.

"No Arthas. You cannot have her." A second male voice intervened. "Why do you want her? Why would you kill her? We were your friends Arthas! Where is your humanity?"

A cold humourless laugh echoed around the house, chilling the air as it reverberated off the walls.

"Humanity?" Arthas questioned "Humanity is a weakness." And with that, a piecing scream sounded followed by a grunt. "Humanity." Arthas repeated angrily as he looked at man and wife crumpled on the floor. He spat on the man's corpse and stormed from the building. A while later a door slowly opened into the room and the sounds of small feet appeared as a child padded towards the two bodies lying on the floor

"Mamma? Pappa? The bad man has gone, you can get up now" She bent down to shake her mother when she did not respond "Mamma? Mamma wake up!" The child shook her mother as hard as she could but still no response, then it dawned on the little girl. Mamma was never waking up.

Shouts were heard as guards poured into the room but the child did not move. She did not struggle when a younger Varian Wrynn picked her up and took her way from her home. She did not speak for weeks until one day she approached Varian with the sentence

"Teach me how to fight".

Libitina sat bolt right up in her bed, swinging out her dagger and sweating from fear. As she looked around her room for signs of danger she realised it had only been a dream. The fire had long died out and the first rays of morning where seeping through the window but the air was cold. "So much for my good mood" she said aloud, sighing and swinging her legs out from underneath the covers to get ready for the day's journey. She decided the previous night that she would get a gryphon to Star's Rest in Dragonblight then head to the Wyrmrest Temple, if she was here then she may as well do some sightseeing 'because' she justified to herself 'how often do you get a chance to see the place where the dragon aspects live?'

Within hours of her departure she touched ground at Star's Rest. She scrambled off the Gryphon as fast her body would let her, earning startled glares from the gryphon master.

"What?" Libitina challenged "The thing was trying to bloody kill me"

"I assure you ma'am the gryphon was not 'trying to bloody kill you', as you most delicately put it, it was merely doing its job" the gryphon master responded angrily leading the creature off to be fed. Grumbling Libitina brushed herself down and headed out of the camp, down the road towards Wyrmrest before she slaughtered the poor animal, she was not a fan of flying. Along the road however she noticed some ruins around a lake to the side of the road, from which came the same growl that she had heard back in the Howling Fjord. Curiosity getting the better of her she edged her way towards the lake and, ever weary of foes, she took a good look around. The sight was beautiful. The ruins spoke of a sad past, but the trees glistened with frost and the ice on the lake sparkled like diamonds. She made her way to a small island in the center of the lake just as snow started to fall. She reached out and touched the cold hard stone, wishing that it could speak and share its story. She marveled over the sight for a few more minutes, completely forgetting why she came into the clearing at all, soaking the added beauty of the snow, when suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Instantly she stealthy crept behind a corner and drew her daggers, scanning the area for possible danger then she spotted them. Two blue Dragonkin were patrolling the area. Libitina assessed the two targets; one was a caster of some sort, made obvious by the staff it was carrying and the cloth armour. The other was a warrior who wielded a long two handed blade. Libitina smiled. her first true fight in Northrend. She snuck around behind the warrior, took a deep breath, and attacked with great speed. Within seconds it was dead and Libitina had snuck back into the shadows before its companion even noticed anything had happened. The caster let out a cry of alarm realising that it was under attack and dropped into a defensive stance, wheeling around in all directions searching for its attacker. Libitina crept around towards its side but a loud crack sounded as she stepped on a twig. The caster wasted no time in sending a fireball straight in her direction. She dived out of the way only getting grazed on the arm by the flames and instantly rounded on her attacker. 'Well at least now I know it's a mage' she thought to herself as she ran at the caster, the mage panicked at the sight of this small but fierce human wielding very sharp daggers and ran out onto the lake with Libitina close behind.

Suddenly the ice gave a loud crack which caused both the Dragonkin and Libitina to immediately stop. Both were silent for what seemed like an age, neither daring to move. Another almighty crack sounded and the ice gave way underneath the weight of the Dragonkin and it plummeted into the icy depths of the lake, crying out as it hit the icy cold water.
"Well, that saves me doing it" she thought aloud edging her way to the newly open hole. Happy that she could see no sign of the mage, she turned to walk away.

Her heart froze when the ice sounded another crack. She stood perfectly still. It gave another, then another. She ran. The sound the ice made was piercing through the silent air that had suddenly seemed to surround the lake as she ran as fast as she could. She thought of nothing but getting away from the giant crack which was gaining ever closer, closer, and closer. The ice gave way and she plunged into the dark frigid water. It was like knives being dug into her skin. Her lungs burned with the need for air. She kicked frantically to get to the surface but her heavy armour weighed her down. Her vision started to blur and her strength started to fade as she sank to the bottom of the lake. But just as she faded from consciousness she saw an image of a man and had the feeling of being pulled. Then everything was black.