The jangling of chain mail, clanking of plate mail, and the shambling clunking of metal boots combined with the moaning and grumbling of undead were all too familiar sounds to Sapphire. Hordes of undead shuffled around her. A regular mortal would have been terrified by such a display.
Sapphire's nerves were tense, but not because of her surroundings. More like the situation as a whole. Icecrown Citadel at her back, the Court of Bones and Corp'rethar in front of her. The undead were all on high alert. Every part of Icecrown swarmed with undead of nearly all kinds. Bolvar was waking up as many undead as he could. Arthas would be making his way to Icecrown with his own undead.
The girl felt conflicted about everything. She'd fled from Arthas because she thought he'd been manipulating her and using her, but now she wasn't so sure about it. Still, she did not want him to be Lich King again. Her past haunted her too much for her to just sit back and let that happen.
He could not let things go. Sapphire didn't understand it. Could this entire thing have been her fault? She slashed him, accused him of lying to her, and abandoned him. Now, she stood in the courtyard of Icecrown Citadel, waiting for him to come.
A ghoul came shambling over to the girl, a bone in its mouth. Unlike the rest of the undead, this one didn't seem too concerned about any approaching army. They opened its mouth, and let the bone clatter onto the ice. They nudged it with one foot. Sapphire smiled. She leaned down and picked up the still slimy bone. She pulled her arm back as far as she could, and threw it hard. The bone soared through the blistering wind before landing in the crunchy snow. The ghoul made a happy hooting noise when they reached it and snatched it up in their mouth. Sapphire smiled at their joy. Her own happiness was brief.
Falric came striding up to her.
"Bastard has disappeared from the Howling Fjord, along with his host. He's possibly got himself a lich or something else that's capable of either hiding the host or confusing our scouts."
Sapphire looked up at the deathknight with concern. "Are all of the entry points in Icecrown being guarded?"
Falric nodded, folding his arms. "Everywhere but the Breach. No longer breached anyway."
Everything seemed fine to Sapphire at least. Arthas might come up with a plan that she couldn't anticipate. But If she couldn't outthink Arthas, Falric potentially could think of something she didn't. He had sent guards into the deep tunnels, sent them across the mountains and patrolled the walls.
The idea of conflict didn't scare Sapphire. It was the waiting that stressed her out more than anything. She kicked a clump of ice, watching it skate across the ground. A death knight astride a death charger passed by her. It reminded her of Salanar. For some reason, the girl trusted Salanar. He helped her without question and had been kind to her. She wished he was here to help, but she had no idea how to contact him. She'd left the horn he'd given her back in Hearthglen when she ran off.
Wind started to pick up in force. Falric didn't react. Sapphire's hair started to whip around her face. Sapphire futilely tried to keep it out of her face, but the wind was persistent. Someone cleared their throat behind her. Falric turned, and his face immediately softened.
Marwyn stood there with a defensive stance. He hunched in the wind, arms folded over his chest. He looked at Sapphire with an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry about…before. You don't deserve any of this."
Sapphire rushed forward and embraced Marwyn into a hug. She buried her face into his armor. He unfolded his arms and reciprocated. He brushed her hair from her forehead and kissed it.
"Why don't I braid your hair back? Keep it out of your hair."
Sapphire smiled.
Marwyn took his gloves off and started to comb her hair with his fingers. The wind fought him, but one look from Marwyn to Falric and the other man came over to stand over Sapphire. His large stature acted as a windbreak which let Marwyn do his work a lot easier.
Falric grunted a bit. "Those little friends of yours? The 'faerie dragon' thing with the giant scarecrow? Scouts found them. Should be here in a day or two."
Finally some good news. Sapphire smiled at Falric, then winced when Marwyn tugged her hair a bit too much.
"Sorry, don't have combs or even a tie with me, but I know how to braid without one."
He detangled her hair as much as he could.. It was just like how he used to when she was younger. He pulled her hair into one mass and started to section it. Unlike Falric, Marwyn was gentle. He braided her hair into one long tail and used her hair as a temporary hair tie. The wind no longer bothered Sapphire.
There was a loud cacophony up at the top of Corp'rethar. Falric snapped his head back toward the gate. Without saying anything, he rushed off as fast as he could in his full plate armor. Marwyn instinctively put himself between the wall and Sapphire.
"What is it?" Sapphire asked, reaching out to grab Marwyn's cloak. Unlike Sapphire, the death knight was connected to the Lich King and other undead. He could see or hear things that Sapphire could not. He turned slowly, and put his hands on Sapphire's shoulders.
"Go inside the Citadel. Do you understand me?"
Sapphire tilted her head, uncomprehending. She then winced when Marwyn's grip tightened.
"He's here. Go in. Now!"
An argument could have been made for her to fight. As a druid, she could tear apart undead with her bear form. She nodded, quickly turning around and walking toward the stairs. Panic threatened to overwhelm her, but she managed to get up the stairs. At the top step, she collapsed. Tears came to her eyes easily.
Undead came rushing from the Citadel's entrance, passing by Sapphire. Most of them ignored her, but one undead stopped. A semi intact wight grunted at her. Sapphire wiped her tears away and looked up at them. The wight shambled over to her, and placed one swollen, clawed hand on her head. They patted her sympathetically.
"There, there," The wight gurgled.
This simple act bolstered Sapphire. She pulled herself together. The last time she was in Icecrown Citadel, she hid from enemies. Hiding was cowardly. Sapphire would not hide this time, but Marwyn wasn't going to just let her fight. He would knock her out and drag her somewhere safe.
Sapphire looked up, craning her head to look at the top of Icecrown Citadel. Then, she glanced back at the undead organizing themselves. Marwyn was too busy starting to coordinate the Scourge. Just barely, Sapphire could see the glacier past the gate. She couldn't see any opposing army or Arthas, but that did not reassure her at all. Again, the top of Icecrown Citadel called to her.
Sapphire hurried inside.
Finally, Arthas was home. Icecrown sat amongst the glittering ice and snow, dark and metallic. A few spires had fallen into disrepair. One had completely fallen, a large hole exposed in the Citadel's side. Ice crusted over everything without undead to keep it maintained. The Citadel had been neglected for too long and finally Arthas had come home.
Roves of undead roared uproariously on either side. Wicker beasts snarled angrily. From ghouls to abominations, Arthas's new Scourge was prepared for destruction, their own or their enemies.
At his right side, Invincible snorted in anticipation. He knew a fight was coming and was eager to crush bone under his hooves. To his left, Adalger picked at the dirt under his fingernails, completely bored at the entire situation. Arthas got the intuition that Adalger did not like fighting. Given his entire role for Gorak Tul was to hunt down children, this made sense. Adalger preferred his prey to be substantially weaker than him.
The prey Adalger was truly interested in was being dragged forward by two shambling undead. He did not use the Light or even struggle. The little squire still foolishly expected Arthas had no intention of causing him harm. Behind him, Chompers struggled through the snow with Stub watching over her protectively. The hyena cackled nervously around all the undead. His tail was tucked in as far as it could go.
Ethan looked up at Arthas with those soft, naive green eyes. Something at the back of Arthas's mind felt familiar about him. Adalger went forward and clasped Ethan as if they were friends.
"Hey there little wolf boy. I've been waiting for years to do this."
He then punched Ethan in his gut. The boy bowled over with a loud gasp before he fell to the ground. Chompers let out a dismayed noise. She tried to go over to him, but Adalger kicked her aside. Ethan forced himself up with one arm.
"Leave her alone!" He snarled, finally showing some anger about the situation. He glanced over at Arthas, with a pleading look in his eyes.
He'd seen that look before, from similar green eyes. More than once, his sister Calia went to him, begging for him to argue with their father on her behalf. Terenas would never listen to his daughter, but he would listen if his son said the same things. She always had a desperate look in her eyes that broke Arthas's heart. They might have hated each other even on the best of days, but Arthas tried to defend her when he could.
Now he saw the other similarities. Ethan might have light bronze skin, but that nose, those cheekbones, even his ears. The lullaby that he'd sung to Chompers, Calia had always loved that song. She would make their mother sing it for her even well into her teenage years.
Ethan told him that the Light had led him to that ratty old tabard with the Menethil crest. Arthas could see the cruelty of it all. The Light chose to help the one Menethil that was stupid enough to follow it.
Adalger snatched up Chompers by the scruff of her neck.
"I don't think Gorak Tul would eat this rat, but she might make a nice pair of gloves."
Arthas intervened, snatching Adalger's wrist. The man turned, taken aback.
"I gave you the boy, she stays."
The two men had a staring contest. Arthas won, for Adalger smiled and dropped Chompers. She fell into the snow with a little grunt. She ran over to Ethan, who embraced her.
"Hey, look at me Chompy. I'm gonna go away for a while. You stay here with Arthas. Okay?"
The little gnoll glanced over at Arthas with obvious disgust. "No! Me stay with Ethan."
Ethan gave Arthas that look again. "Take good care of Chompers."
Adalger grabbed the boy and yanked him to his feet, nearly dislocating his shoulder. Chompers cried out and tried to attack the Huntsman. Arthas snatched her up and held her against his chest. She snarled and tried to bite him, but he held her in a way to keep her jaws away from his flesh.
"Lemme go!" She snarled.
Ethan gave Arthas a hard look. "I know you won't disappoint me."
With that, Adalger dragged Ethan away. The portal to Thros was close by, but Adalger stopped briefly to look back at Arthas.
"This is just an advance payment. I still want Kalma."
Arthas said nothing, but Adalger did not need an answer. He shoved Ethan forward. Stubs looked back and forth between Arthas, unsure of what to do. He looked like he wanted to attack Adalger, but Arthas snapped his fingers at the animal.
"Come here." He commanded. Stub whined and trudged over to him unhappily.
Chompers struggled in Arthas's hands. She tried to bite him, but he wisely held her in a way to keep her teeth away from his fingers.
"Lemme go! Want Ethan. No stinky man!"
Arthas bared his teeth at the gnoll, who blinked in surprise.
"I saved your life, you cretin. Keep quiet and I might not kill you."
Chompers growled and snapped at empty air. "I kill you!"
A random cultist stood off to the side. Arthas gestured toward them and they eagerly rushed forward. He shoved Chompers into their arms.
"Take care of this until this is over. Be warned she bites," He warned. The cultist looked dismayed, but did not argue. They held Chompers at an arm's distance as if she were diseased.
"You did the right thing. I wish you had gotten rid of that one too," A voice said from behind. Arthas did not look back at Kiefer, lest his facial expression give away his feelings about the entire situation. He needed to kill these emotions via suffocation. Total annihilation of Bolvar's Scourge and Bolvar's crumpled body at his feet would be an acceptable distraction from his feelings.
