Katrana Prestor

"Your Highness, His Majesty wishes to see you."

While Arthas was practicing swordsmanship at the Training Grounds, a Royal Attendant came to find him. Arthas lowered his practice sword and wiped the sweat from his face with a coarse cloth. "Understood. I'll be right there."

After washing his face with clean water, Arthas headed for the study where his father worked. He knocked, and his father's rich bass voice came from within.

"Come in."

"Good day, Father." Arthas greeted his father, then noticed the unfamiliar man with reddish-brown hair seated on a nearby sofa. "Who is this?"

"Allow me to introduce Duke Bolvar Fordragon, envoy of the Kingdom of Stormwind."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Arthas." Bolvar smiled and shook Arthas's hand.

Arthas had not expected Stormwind City's duke to come on a diplomatic mission in person. "Likewise, Your Grace."

"Bolvar has brought Varian's greetings. He congratulates you on becoming a Paladin of the Silver Hand and winning such a splendid victory in the Troll Wars." Terenas looked at his son fondly. "The duke and I have nearly finished our business, and he says he has something to tell you."

"Indeed. His Majesty Wrynn's son has been born, and he invites you to Stormwind City to attend the banquet celebrating the little prince's birth." Bolvar took out an invitation and handed it to Arthas. "His Majesty would also very much like to see you."

"I would be delighted to accept, but..." Arthas looked at his father.

Terenas understood at once and smiled. "Go ahead. I'll give you an extended leave for now. Come back after this year's Winter Veil."

"Thank you for your generosity, my dear father." After expressing his thanks, Arthas turned to Bolvar. "When do we leave, then?"

"The Mage Tower in Stormwind City is ready. Once it is linked to the one here in Lordaeron, we can leave whenever we wish."

"I see. Then give me a day. I need to prepare a few gifts for my little nephew."

"As you wish, Your Highness."

After leaving his father's study, Arthas returned to his own quarters on one side of the Royal Palace and entered his study. He had barely sat down when he noticed a letter on his desk.

Arthas picked up the letter, opened it, and began to read.

"Your Highness, our people have successfully landed in Northrend and begun establishing a camp. As you instructed, we have made camp on the southern coast of the tundra and begun sending people to investigate the 'spiders.'"

The letter contained only a few brief sentences. Having confirmed the [Secret Council Bureau]'s situation in Northrend, Arthas gave the far north no further attention. He had sent only a small team, all elite infiltrators, each an exceptional scout.

Their job was simply to report Northrend's situation to him at regular intervals. He had no intention of making a move against the north yet. Otherwise, to obtain what he wanted, he would probably have to lead his people in a bloody assault all the way to the summit of Icecrown Glacier.

That would be far too troublesome, and the cost would be far too high. Arthas had the patience to spend a few years landing this big fish.

For now, he had gifts to choose for his friend and his friend's son.

Early the next morning, Arthas and Bolvar appeared in the tower in Stormwind City's Mage Quarter. Seeing Bolvar's sickly complexion, Arthas laid a hand on his shoulder and slowly released a small stream of holy light.

"Thank you. I feel much better." Some color returned to Bolvar's greenish face. "I simply can't stand the dizziness that comes with teleportation."

"You'll get used to it after a few more trips." Arthas had never expected this duke, who would one day be so renowned, to suffer from teleportation sickness.

"I'd rather never use it again unless I have to." Smiling wryly, Bolvar led Arthas out of the Mage Tower. He would rather spend the time sailing north to Lordaeron than use this newly linked Portal again.

"Let's go to Stormwind Keep first. I imagine His Majesty is already waiting for us there."

The ancestor of the Kingdom of Stormwind's royal family had been a lord under Emperor Thoradin. Taking some of his loyal followers and subjects with him, he had left the north to explore the southern reaches of the continent, hoping to discover a new land where they could settle and thrive.

After countless obstacles and hardships, crossing innumerable mountains and stretches of wilderness, they had finally discovered a vast, habitable forest at the continent's southern end. The Kingdom of Stormwind's first settlers had made their homes in this forest, which they called "Elwynn," and built their capital, Stormwind City.

Yet they had encountered problems along the way. South of the forest lay a vast primeval wilderness much like a tropical rainforest, where large numbers of trolls frequently roamed, even threatening human territory.

Thus, Stormwind City's first king, a military man by background, had built his capital into a fortified city. Stormwind Keep, built against the mountainside, was in fact his Royal Palace.

Unfortunately, Stormwind City had fallen during the First Orc War. Even the strongest fortress could not withstand the orcs' terrifying red tide, and historians recorded its fall as the event marking the end of the First War.

The frenzied orcs had burned the prosperous capital to the ground, reducing it to ruins in revenge for the terrible losses humanity's desperate resistance had inflicted on them.

Now Stormwind City had been rebuilt, on an even grander scale than before, and stood as a jewel of human civilization at the southern end of the continent.

Prince Varian Wrynn, who had fled north with Grand Marshal Anduin Lothar, had become Arthas's close friend in childhood. Time had flown, and the two boys who once sparred with wooden swords at the Lordaeron Royal Palace's Training Grounds now held very different positions.

Arthas had become a Paladin of the Silver Hand and a hero in the war against the trolls, while Varian had returned to Stormwind City, donned the heavy crown, and been crowned its new king.

A few years older than Arthas, Varian had now married and fathered a child. To honor Anduin Lothar, who had preserved Stormwind City's last hope and led humanity to victory over the orcs, he had given his son the same name as the marshal.

-Anduin Wrynn.

Walking through the rebuilt streets of Stormwind City, Arthas kept sensing a hint of decay beneath the prosperous surface. He shook his head. This was not how a newborn city should feel. Stormwind City had been rebuilt, but its hidden cancers had also stirred back to life amid the ashes.

It was not difficult to see. The city was new, the streets were new, and the houses were new, yet most of the people Arthas passed did not look particularly happy. They seemed to live in a constant state of worry and agitation.

Things aren't looking good in Stormwind City either, Arthas thought. Its situation was far worse than Lordaeron's had once been.

Before they reached the main gate of Stormwind Keep, a luxurious carriage drew alongside their party. A slender, fair hand lifted the silk curtain, and a beautiful noblewoman smiled at Bolvar.

"My dear duke, what a coincidence to meet you here."

"Good day, Count Prestor." Bolvar's sour expression, still lingering from the teleportation, suddenly blossomed into a smile.

"Oh! I've told you, there's no need to be so formal. Just call me Katrana." The Countess's alluring voice, touched with languor, could have melted any ordinary man's heart.

Unfortunately, powerful as the duke was, he had not transcended the ranks of ordinary men. He was clearly very fond of Countess Katrana Prestor.

Arthas shook his head almost imperceptibly, though Bolvar could not be blamed entirely. His wife had passed away shortly after giving birth to their daughter, and the grieving Bolvar had then been forced to send his own daughter to the Kingdom of Kul Tiras, far from the mainland, to keep her safe from the Orc War.

Having lost his intact family, it was only natural for Bolvar to long for those once-happy days. This Countess clearly understood what he needed and had seized upon his weakness with ease.

Had the Countess truly been an ordinary human woman, Arthas would not have considered it much of an issue. The problem was that she was not human at all.

He wondered how Bolvar's daughter Taelia would feel if she knew her father had once wanted to find her a dragon stepmother.

Indeed, through Arthas's Soul Sight, the soul within the Countess was not a frail human soul, but a powerful dragon soul! Countess Prestor was none other than Onyxia, daughter of Neltharion, king of the Black Dragonflight and former Earth-Warder.

She had come to Stormwind City for two reasons: to fulfill her mad father's orders to undermine humanity's Alliance, and to indulge her own peculiar, twisted tastes.

Seducing a powerful Paladin clearly interested the Black Dragon Princess greatly. With Bolvar himself yearning for such tenderness, she had not even needed any enchantment magic. Her words and actions alone had captured the duke's heart completely.

Thus, anyone looking at them would merely see Bolvar as a man longing for love and tenderness, without casting any suspicion on "Katrana."

Clever tactics, playing human nobles like puppets. That was Arthas's assessment of Onyxia.

In truth, Arthas was very interested in her as well-not in her beautiful exterior, but in her true nature as a black dragon. She was a genuine dragon, and the offspring of a dragon king at that!

Even setting aside her inherited knowledge, her dragon blood, dragon scales, and dragon tendons alone were precious materials that could only be found through luck! What an excellent dragon to put to work!

Naturally, Onyxia noticed Arthas's burning gaze, and for a moment she felt like laughing. If she remembered correctly, he was the prince of Lordaeron? To think that even he could not ignore her charms. Hah, men!