A hollow wind blew past Ashe and Sejuani as they glared through the settling dust that had once been the millennia-old door. Beyond that doorway, the pungent aroma of death and decay hung heavily in the air, yet it was far from overpowering. No, this was the scent of beating death, not succumbing to it. Their noses wrinkled in distaste as the smell wafted upwards in an attempt to drag them into its cloying depths. But without hesitation, they stepped forward. There was no turning back. There was nothing but the end, now.
Ashe's silvery-blue eyes scanned the grand hall they had entered. All around them, vast pillars stretched up into the unseen rafters, the deep blackness that engulfed dripping down in the cracks and veins etched in the stone. Dust hung heavily here as well, and in the dying rays of sunshine that radiated from the pass behind them, they could see a flurry of specks floating before them, gusting away with every breath. Their breath crystallized before them as well, causing a surge of icy wisps to escape their forms as they tried to get their bearings. There was only one obvious way to go - forward. And neither seemed too keen on being the first to do so.
"Are you ready?" Ashe breathed, her voice snatched from her by the sheer awe she felt gazing over the icy domain before her.
Sejuani shook her head violently to clear the cobwebs and then snorted. "We'll kill this bitch."
The Queen of the Freljord gripped her bow tighter and nodded sharply. "We will. And then, we figure out what your new stick is capable of." And without another word, the pair began their march into the depths of madness.
Though ancient, the hall itself was still relatively intact. All around them, Ashe could make out centuries-old chairs pushed into long tables, some even set with cutlery and plates. Piles of what she could only assume was desiccated food even found its way onto more than a few plates, though that only unsettled the Queen's stomach. At the far end of the hall, she could barely make out another gargantuan door, this time made of wood. It was a long walk to the other side, so she glanced towards Sejuani, who was confidently spinning her newfound toy.
"Where did you find that, anyway?" Ashe's gaze fell onto the spear, which Sejuani clutched instinctively.
The Winter's Wrath glanced at Ashe and frowned. "An old tomb, a short distance east of Lokfar. Buried under some type of cairn. I would've never noticed it, but Biina picked up on what was left of the cairn and in we went." Though it was not entirely a lie, Sejuani had little desire to tell Ashe the full truth, either. They were working together, yes, but that level of trust had to be earned.
Ashe's brow knit as Sejuani spoke, then she nodded slightly. "What do you know about it?"
The Princess rolled her eyes and glanced at Ashe. "Shouldn't we be focused on fighting, not some stick?" But Ashe's insistent gaze finally broke Sejuani's feigned wall. With a heavy sigh, she spoke. "What I've found isn't a whole lot. Biina's been scrying since we got it and she says that the best she can make out is that it belonged to one of the shamans. Probably over a thousand years ago."
A simple nod from Ashe to acknowledge she was still listening. It helped explain why she felt power radiating from the weapon, but it only scratched the surface. She needed to know more. "Anything else?"
"It absorbs the souls of whatever it kills. At first I figured it was just doing it for kicks, but now... it feels stronger." Sejuani twirled the spear to prove her point, and sure enough, both blades seemed to glow slightly. "It also really doesn't like being touched by certain people. I picked it up fine, so can you, and Biina didn't seem affected by it. Well, sort of."
"What do you mean?" Ashe was curious.
Sejuani's cheeks coloured slightly and she waved Ashe's question off as unimportant. "Damn." The pair had reached the vast wooden doors, and both paused as they tried to find some way to pry them open. "Any ideas, my Queen?" Though Sejuani's tone was supposed to be sneeringly insulting, she had lost much of her bite. Her voice may have been loaded with contempt but she was actually looking to Ashe for an intelligent solution for a problem that could not be solved with brute force.
When Ashe opened her mouth to speak, a different voice filled the entire hall, echoing from the icy abyss above. It held a phrasing and cadence that was both ancient and powerful, with a lilting accent that set both of their teeth on edge. The voice of a viper. "Well, you could always try kneeling... it works for my pets. Of course, that would mean accepting your true Queen as a Queen... and you my subjects. Slaves? No, that sounds much too harsh."
Weapons were drawn immediately as the voice began and both Ashe and Sejuani twirled to face the room. Before them, some of the chairs were being shoved back and empty forms were forcing themselves to their feet. Dreygur; but not just any kind of Dreygur. These were the Iceborn remains of the Frostguard, corrupted beyond life. The shock, however, rocked both Ashe and Sejuani - the Frostguard were a noble and powerful tribe, but their armour was unmistakable.
"Speaking of slaves..." the voice continued, though it was interrupted by a laugh. "Mmmn, I'll make you a deal, little ones. If you manage to defeat my guards, I'll let you into the next room. If not, well, then I guess I will be Queen. Only a bit faster than I planned... Oh, and Ashe... please, try not to shoot Sejuani in the back when she charges in. Not only is it poor form, but it'd be embarrassing for the 'Winter's Wrath' to die like that..."
Sejunai's eyes narrowed slightly in Ashe's direction, but she spun the spear and turned to face the horde approaching. Was Ashe planning on murdering her in here? It would make sense... if Lissandra could corrupt the Frostguard, what was stopping her from corrupting Ashe? And this close to Lissandra's lair... With a start, Sejuani shook her head to clear those niggling thoughts away. There was no time for that.
Meanwhile, Ashe found her mouth dry. She had, in fact, considered taking Sejuani out - but only in passing. She had realized after the events of the past few days that Freljord needed Sejuani just as much as the Freljord needed Ashe. Peace was impossible without the two of them, even if they did not see eye to eye. But if Lissandra was in her head, that would mean that Lissandra was acutely aware of everything else that was going on between the pair.
The horde of Dreygur ambled forward with little rhyme or reason to their movements, which allowed Ashe and Sejuani to simply pick them off one at a time. If one managed to get ahead of the rest, it was simply cut down to size by an arcing cleave or a rapid arrow. And yet they found no reprieve from Lissandra's voice, still echoing from above.
"Now, as for that little stick you picked up... let me tell you a story." She paused then, as though catching herself before admitting something. "You know? I just realized... you probably see my master plan now, don't you. Hrm. Well, this is a bother." A sigh escaped the space above the pair as Ashe fired another volley into the Dreygur, dropping a pair in their tracks. With their anticipation torn between the monsters before them and the voice of the monster above them, both Ashe and Sejuani found their concentration sorely lacking. More than once, Ashe almost clipped Sejuani with a stray arrow, while Sejuani found herself missing a few very simple blocks. However, the horde of Dreygur was barely a threat to the two seasoned fighters, and it was not long before they had managed to hack through the bulk of Lissandra's forces. Or what they hoped was the bulk of them.
"Mmn." Lissandra's voice appeared once more. "I suppose I should explain. You see, if you go back far enough, there were three sisters. Avarosa, mommy's little girl, Serylda, the bitch, and myself. I deserved the crown, but mommy decided that Avarosa deserved it the most... as you can imagine, neither myself nor Serylda agreed with this decision. But that's all history that you should know - Avarosa won, Serylda bowed and accepted her as the Queen, and myself... well, here I am."
Sejuani glanced at Ashe and rolled her eyes. "I wish she'd shut up." Ashe made a face and nodded before returning to filling the Frostguard with arrows. Another cleave from the Winter's Wrath's blade severed a pair of Dreygur heads, which rolled away, grunting with displeasure. Sejuani had to pause to knock the bodies over and severed their knees to make sure that they stayed down. Undead were her least favourite monstrosity to fight, by far.
"I'm talking, dearest." Lissandra's voice added another layer of ice, but she continued as though she were uninterrupted. "The past, oh, twelve hundred years have been spent plotting to return and take what is rightfully mine. Of course, you can't make a glorious rise to power without breaking a few tribes over your knee, and the Frostguard were all too keen to help... once I murdered their leader, took her form, and began corrupting them from the inside. The whole name change thing was hard at first, but naming each of my daughters Lissandra was an easy tradition to instill. Birthing them all... ugh, do you have any idea how many teenage rebellions I've had to put down in my time? No, of course you don't, be-oh, you've done it! I do suppose I have a promise to fulfill, then."
When Sejuani's blade pierced the final Dreygur's brain case and splattered their strange, icy-blue blood on the floor, Lissandra clapped for the pair. Behind them, the enormous wooden door swung open to allow the pair entrance. Beyond was a long hallway that branched out into the mountain in several different directions, each somehow darker than the one before.
"Care to guess?" Lissandra mocked, then sighed. "No, I suppose not. I'll show you the way, then." One of the halls came to life as icy crystals lit up along the walls and the roof like lanterns. Ashe and Sejuani shared a glance between them , not believing the Ice Witch in the least. However, Lissandra's voice once again filled their minds. "Think I'm lying to you? Well, I could be! Which would make sense, I suppose, but it's nowhere near as fun to simply lead you in circles until you starve to death. No, what makes the most sense for me right now is to get you to my throne room, murder you both, take Ashe's form, then return to Rakelstake and take what is rightfully mine. Your troops wouldn't attack their Queen, now would they? But they may come in and try to find you if you take too long. Which, I mean, I'd just murder them as well... but wouldn't that raise a lot of questions?"
Neither Princess nor Queen seemed impressed with Lissandra's jeering explanation, but it was all that they had to go on. Though their steps hesitated at first, they followed Lissandra's directions. Every step was a test of both willpower and awareness, as Ashe insisted on checking for traps. The painstakingly slow pace was driving Sejuani up the wall, but she had little choice but to move forward at Ashe's pace. She knew that the Queen was right.
Every step of the way, Sejuani could feel the claustrophobia of being in such a small space pressing on her. She was a Queen of the open spaces; riding free with her Companions was second nature to her. Something like this, something so enclosed and entrenched deep in the earth, set her teeth on edge. It was not a pleasant experience in the least. At the very least, Lissandra seemed to have shut up.
At the end of the hallway, the pair paused to stare at another enormous door. This one had frosted over, with large icicles stretching down from far above. It felt eerier than the door previously behind them, and somehow colder still. Though the cold did not bother either of the warriors, the bitter chill in the air did. Something was waiting just beyond this door. Something evil.
Sejuani glanced backwards at Ashe and then towards the door. Instead of trying to brute force it open as she had in the past, the Princess gave the door a solid shove. Ancient oak cracked, groaned, and complained mightily, but it yielded beneath her touch. As the doors swung open, the ancient evil that they had felt was revealed to them.
"Oh." Was all that Ashe was able to muster, her breath catching in her throat. Who knew how long this guardian had been waiting for them.
"Well." Sejuani's gaze fell across the ice encrusted beast before her. It looked somewhat similar to a mammoth. It stood almost four meters tall at the shoulder and long, razor-sharp tusks sprouted from its upper jaw. However, that was not what gave both warriors pause. It was the corruption that seemed to pour out of every pore on the behemoth's body. Gigantic ice shards had sprouted from its shoulders and hips, forming a veritable wall of corrupted defenses. Even in the frosty air mist rolled off its patchy fur like a wave, coating the floor in an icy embrace. Its four beady eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of the two humans before it and it gave a small snort and stomped a padded foot in preparation for the battle ahead. Sejuani and Ashe knew that this monster meant business; the real question was how they intended on felling it. Without Bristle available to go toe-to-toe with it, neither of them was in a position to tackle it head on.
After a few moments of gazing upon the behemoth, both Ashe and Sejuani started. Chains hung around its sides and a large howdah had been mounted to its back, lost in the nest of ice crystals. In it sat a pair of Frostguard, their bodies so twisted and fractured from the corruption that Lissandra had poured into them for the past millennia that they barely seemed human anymore. These two must have been her pet project. But between them is what made the pair's mouths dry up. A large ballista gleamed slightly as they turned it to face Ashe, the frost-encrusted bolt slowly being drawn by a pair of hand cranks. Ashe had only a few seconds to dive to one side before the bolt fired in her direction and punched clear through the stony pillar she stood before. An ominous rumbling echoed from above; the roof did not appreciate losing its support.
Sejunai twirled her spear and grit her teeth. "Is this what you wanted, Queen? A fight to the end for both of us?"
"Is this what you wanted!?" Ashe spat back as she shoved herself up off the stone floor. "When you drew us into a pointless conflict over a patch of land no one cares about?"
A glare fired between them as they drew their weapons once again. There was no use arguing at this point, but they were going to either way. The Iceborn on top the howdah readied another bolt while Sejuani tried to rush forward and spear the mammoth. Fortunately for her, she managed to duck under the monster's swinging trunk and bury the point of her spear into its thick hide; unfortunately, it did little but annoy the mammoth, and its trunk caught her around the middle on the way back. With a triumphant roar, it flung her to the side, leaving the princess in a crumpled heap in the snow. Lights dancing in front of her eyes, Sejuani tried to force herself back to her feet. She could not fail now; there was just no way.
"Sej!" Ashe cried out when she saw her partner tossed like a ragdoll. The two of them barely had a chance; alone, the battle was already over. Noticing the mammoth turning to trundle over towards her fallen comrade, Ashe drew her bow and took aim. A well-placed arrow caught one of the mammoth's eyes and it reared back in furious agony. Whirling with speed that no monstrosity its size should possess, the mammoth rounded on Ashe and charged. Her back against another pillar, Ashe grit her teeth and waited. At the last possible moment, she flung herself around the pillar and lay flat. The crunch of bone meeting stone set her skin crawling, and the moment of silence that followed lead her to believe that the impact had killed the monster.
However, the grating of bone against granite proved her wrong. Dazed, but definitely not down, the mammoth stood once again. It shook itself, staggered backwards, and howled defiantly while the riders merely clung to the howdah for dear life. It was in that moment that Ashe managed to formulate a plan. A regular mammoth was known to be one of the most intelligent animals in the Freljord - strong, sturdy, and difficult to anger. However, in its corrupted state, the mammoth was much simpler; its mind had been twisted and broken, and it was used much more like a missile than an animal: pointed at its target, let loose, and damn everything in its path. Here, in this enclosed environment, Ashe could lure it around with her body as bait. All she had to do was pick off the archers on its back to take away any vestige of control anyone had over it. Ashe snorted and blew her bangs from her face. Easy, right?
"Get up you lazy..." Ashe muttered under her breath, watching Sejuani struggle to stand. She popped out of her hiding place just long enough to catch the mammoth's eye once more, which drove it back into a blood-thirsty rage instead of allowing the riders to steer it back towards the fallen princess. It stepped around the pillar just long enough to catch another arrow to the face, Ashe's shot missing its mark for the first time in an incredibly long time. Unimpressed, both Ashe and mammoth stared at each other for a heartbeat before the mammoth's trunk rose and it lunged. She barely had time to clear the pillar and sprint off towards Sejuani before the mammoth furiously smashed the remains of the pillar and charged after them.
"Up!" she commanded and dragged Sejuani to her feet. Regaining her senses, Sejunai managed to stagger along behind Ashe until they got behind another pillar. The smash of skull meeting stone once again caused their skin to crawl. "Listen. Either stay put and hide or help. I need to take out the archers on its back and then we can get this thing to kill itself. Understood?"
Sejunai's blank face didn't seem to register the plan quite as well as Ashe would've hoped, but her nod was all that the Queen could go on now. "Got it." And before Ashe could say another word, Sejuani whirled out from behind her hiding place and drove the tip of her spear into the mammoth's knee. It roared in agony before rounding on her, but this time, she anticipated the blow. A rush of air filled the air as its trunk whiffed by mere centimeters, but it was all the opening Ashe needed. The mammoth began trundling off after Sejuani, limping slightly from the newly inflicted blow, and Ashe took this moment to line a shot up.
Her bowstring snapped taut and the arrow sang through the air, barely ducking between two shards of corruption before impaling one of the riders through the shoulders. She heard a pained gurgle and the archer slumped; his partner began tugging on the chains that were supposed to control the mammoth. To no avail, as it were, as the monster had become solely focused on the target before it.
Ashe drew a second arrow only to notice that her angle was now blocked by the ice shards that she had threaded through moments before. This was not going to work. With a frustrated sigh, she rose her voice. "Hey! Over here!" She ran forward, arms flailing in the air as she tried to draw attention. Sejuani quickly realized what Ashe was doing and charged forward, raising her spear to stab into the underside of the mammoth's trunk as she sped past. The combination of noise and pain drove it further into a frenzy and it turned to try to stomp Sejuani flat; however, it put all of its weight onto its injured leg and the leg gave out, causing it to stumble. The sudden jolt dislodged the rider enough for Ashe to get a shot in. Though her arrow barely arced wide, the rider's duck was enough to unbalance him completely and he tumbled out of the howdah. Once the mammoth regained its footing and turned to charge, it was too late for the hapless Iceborn.
The mammoth's foot came down on the rider's torso as it turned and he popped from both ends like an over-filled balloon; blue slime spurted from both ends and his torment was ended in short order. The Freljord nobility cringed at the sight, but such was war.
"Not a nice way to go." Sejuani observed, more than a little grossed out.
"Better him than me..." Ashe mused, but quickly put her mind back to the task at hand. They still had a rampaging mammoth to put down. Though slowed by its injury, the mammoth charged forward with little regard for the entrails that had become glued to its foot. Both queen and princess ducked behind the pillar once again, expecting the mammoth to once again charge heedlessly into the stone. When the crash did not come, they both flinched noticeably. "It got smart."
"Yup." Sejuani poked her head out and caught sight of the mammoth pacing around in an attempt to figure out how to get around the stone before it, instead of simply trying to smash through it. Not quite as dumb as Ashe would have hoped. "Your orders, Queen?" Sejuani attempted to put a sneer in her words, but it did not quite work as well as she would have hoped. Instead, she came across as finally looking to Ashe for help.
The archer took a deep breath and glanced upwards. She had heard the roof groaning before, perhaps there was a way that she could use that to her advantage. Far above, she could see a dim glow illuminating the cracks and stones. It had to be a chandelier, or something similar - it looked massive. "Sej... I need you to lure it to the center of the room. I have an idea."
"Does it involve me getting killed?" the boar rider deadpanned in reply, but she immediately pulled herself to her feet and moved to dodge past the mammoth. Before Ashe could protest, Sejuani was charging towards the center of the room, the mammoth furiously rotating to get back onto her tail. Ashe's eyes flicked back to the chandelier and she took a deep breath. There was only once chance for her to do this.
Her fingers locked around her bow string and she focused all of her energy into the arrow she began to draw. Within moments, the arrow was glowing and shimmering in her hands. When her draw locked and she held her breath, the arrow had begun to vent excess magic into the air. And when her fingers finally released, the recoil knocked her onto her rump. She watched the spiraling projectile scream skyward and only barely managed to shout a warning to Sejuani.
Eyes flicking upwards, Sejuani saw something falling from the ceiling. It was definitely not a chandelier, but it was definitely large, heavy, and about to make a mess of the giant before her. An ignoble death for a noble beast; she would have pondered on it if it was not her life that was also flashing before her eyes. She threw herself backwards as violently as she could and then sprawled flat, hoping that she had cleared the blast radius. She felt the impact resound through the ground, and then silence. When she opened her eyes, there was nothing but ice crystals littering the floor. The mammoth had been so thoroughly corrupted that even its entrails had become solid. A small dribble of blood trailed down her cheek, but she ignored it. Prices must be paid for survival.
Once the mammoth had been shattered, Ashe rose and wandered over to inspect what, exactly, she had dropped onto the beast. It was not a chandelier as she had originally guessed, but a giant stalactite with a pair of soft lights glowing in it. Sejuani recognized one of them immediately. "This. This is what I saw when I found the spear." She bent down and collected the shard that was glowing. Here, in the low light and with a less-worn carving, she realized what it was. "It's a cat, of some sort. If you look, I'm sure that there are other animals here too. But only this one glows."
Ashe lifted one of the other shards, this one not glowing at all. "So strange. Any idea why?"
"None." Sejuani conceded as she glanced over the heap of rubble. However, a voice from above did have answers.
"Hrm. I see you've destroyed my gate keeper... how rude." Lissandra sighed. "The reason that those shards are not glowing is simple: they represent the Spirits of the Wild. Such weak little constructs... praying to a ghost of a little forest creature. When the Watchers came, they showed us that we did not need the Spirits - so they left."
Turning an inscribed piece over in her hands, Ashe tried to make out the carving; it looked like a fish. "And what about the ones that are still glowing?"
Lissandra seemed to contemplate how to reply for a moment. "Those are the Spirits that, foolishly, stayed and fought the Watchers. They were killed. Those who believed that they were strong enough to fight the Watchers prayed to them, and they were all wiped out. Now, only that memorial remains."
The pair exchanged a disbelieving glance. How could anyone - even something as strong as the Watchers apparently were - kill a Spirit of the Wild? And if the Spirits were gone, how could they still have a presence on the realm of man? Nothing Lissandra said had made any sense, but this was not the time to mull over semantics and details. They had a Witch to kill.
Almost reading their minds, Lissandra forced another door to open. "Come forth, my pets. Let me see you in person."
Uneasily, they trudged forward. This had to be a trap, so they kept their wits about them. When they passed through into the icy throne room, a chill crossed their spines. In concert, they shuddered.
"You can still stop this, Lissandra." Ashe growled. "You've become twisted by your own foolish desires, but we can forgive. We can forget."
Sejuani rolled her eyes as she followed Ashe up the stairs to the throne far above. Every step they took echoed off the black granite stairs, and several times Sejuani heard the crunch of frost shattering beneath her boots. Everything felt off. She could feel magic radiating in the air, but she could also sense something else. Something ancient. There was an oppressive force hanging in the air, one that had stagnated for hundreds of years. Maybe even thousands. It was not just Lissandra's presence, something she had felt before. No. This was something else.
Tearing her eyes from the stones, Sejuani began to cast her eyes around. There was not a single light anywhere in the corridor, yet it glowed with an eerie blue-white colour that reminded her of the glaciers in Icewrack. Frost covered absolutely every inch of the stairwell, though it seemed to avoid the stairs for some unknown reason. The stairs were worn from a thousand years of use, and Sejuani could feel the slope from where thousands of feet had dug in on their way to the top.
When the pair finally stepped out onto the landing, the princess had to bite down on her tongue to avoid speaking. Before them, on a gigantic throne made of ice, bones, and granite, sat the Ice Witch herself. From the hem of her simple dress sprouted large, black crystals that shifted as she shifted her legs. They looked as solid as steel, yet they had a strange consistency and motion that made them seem like a fluid under Lissandra's corrupted touch.
Around them, the throne room sprawled in all directions. Huge pillars spanned the gap between the floor and the ceiling, and large ice stalactites cracked and creaked menacingly. Between them, Sejuani could see the shadows of trolls. Though they seemed to be watching every move the pair made, they stayed back, clearly on orders to stay in place. Or perhaps, something else was happening. Across their backs, Sejuani could make out small crystals beginning to form. Her stomach clenched tightly; they were being corrupted. By force or by will, Lissandra had begun the process of converting the brutes into an army. Trundle, the king of the trolls, had been rumored to have allied himself with the Ice Witch; could it be true?
Sejuani's gaze tore from the disgusting sight to her sides and fell back upon Lissandra, who merely smiled widely at her disgust. "Oh, my poor Sejuani... do not fear, they are not ready yet. It will be many years before these monstrosities find their way to the battlefield. And by that time, I promise you will either be dead, or ruling at my side. I could use a dumb little general to order around... mmn, now there's an idea." Lissandra's voice was no longer a booming threat from above. It was a vicious, soft, silky smooth purr that radiated power and chilled to the bone. The voice of even the most terrifying monster could not break Sejuani's will; but that tone alone caused her to quake in her armour. She longed for Bristle's comfortable mass between her thighs. Instead, she clutched the one thing she could still trust. The spear had stopped its pulsing and seemed to be storing energy.
Lissandra herself was a strange combination of grotesque and elegant. A large helm covered her head and her eyes, open in the front for her face and in the back so her long white braid could swing freely. Two large prongs jutted out on either side of the helm, surprisingly wide and heavy looking; it made her look somewhat like a hammer-headed shark, the mental image of which caused Sejuani to snort and smirk in the face of death. Large shoulder pads covered her upper body, their abyssal black colour perfectly matching the feeling of the room itself. A long, curving spike jutted up from either pad, adding to Lissandra's terrifying aura. The rest of her dress was surprisingly simple. Pleated metal and cloth hung off her waist, and her bust was fully covered as well. It looked as though she were wearing a priest's garments as opposed to that of the supposed queen of the Frostguard. Her hands and forearms glowed a deathly blue and radiated power just as much as the spear in Sejuani's fist did; however, this power was much more precise and poised. Lissandra knew what she was doing, and would have murdered them both where they stood if it was her choice.
When the pair finally arrived before Lissandra, the Ice Witch stood and glided over. There was absolutely no movement from her lower half, save the swish of her dress as she glided over, though the ice crystals parted and reformed like a wave to push her around. "Mm... I see you have a few things that I desire." her hand opened up. "The spear, if you would be so kind."
Sejuani narrowed her eyes and pulled back. "You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead corpse."
"That can be arranged." Lissandra replied cheerfully, then turned to return to her throne. "Oh, before I finish you both... Kneel." The princess gave a confused look to the Witch, but a thud from her side caused her to whirl. Ashe was down on one knee. Confusion rapidly found itself replaced with horror. "You see," Lissandra continued. "I've been playing you this whole time, Sejuani. Biina... Ashe... this whole battle... it was my idea. My plan. For you to deliver that spear to me. My rightful weapon... and once I have it, I will brush you all aside as easily as the Watchers brushed aside your ancestors. Now. Hand it over, and I will make your death swift and painless."
After a moment of thought, Sejuani shook her head. She had no words, but there was no way she would let this relic weapon fall into the Witch's hands. Lissandra sighed heavily and waved her hand dismissively. Sejuani barely had time to register what was happening before Ashe whirled to face Sejuani and pulled a dagger from her boot.
"Ash-!" Sejuani tried to parry the blow, but Ashe was much too fast. Icy-blue energy had filled the Queen's eyes and the blank orbs stared vacantly into Sejuani's eyes. It was all that the princess could do to fend off the vicious attack. Blow for blow, she could match Ashe, but the long spear was definitely not suited to dealing with someone up close and personal.
Time and again, Ashe lunged forward with her glowing blue blade. Time and again, Sejuani was forced to use her body to deflect the blows. Ashe was being controlled, she reasoned, so she could not kill the Queen. Under no circumstances could she, because the men outside would not believe her. If Ashe fell, her own life was forfeit immediately. Sejuani knew it, and she knew that Lissandra knew it as well.
"Stop! Please!" Sejuani begged as she rammed her shoulder into Ashe's collarbone in an attempt to push her back long enough to knock Lissandra's influence loose. To no avail, as Ashe lunged forward once more. With horror, Sejuani realized that she could not even threaten Ashe to stop; the Queen would fall on the tip of the spear before halting her assault. The situation was getting rapidly beyond Sejuani's control.
And yet, the assault never stopped. The little magical dagger sliced through Sejuani's breastplate and cut into her arm, drawing a cry of pain and a trickle of blood from the princess. Slice after slice was finding its way home, and Sejuani found her vision beginning to blur from pain and exhaustion. Her parries began falling, her guard slipped. She found herself taking more blows than she blocked, and her body was starting to give out. When Ashe finally ducked under her guard and sliced across her midsection, Sejuani finally surrendered. She fell forward, making one last desperate swing in Ashe's direction. Luckily, the blow caught the Queen across her thighs; unfortunately, Sejuani had little time to celebrate as Ashe fell backwards into a pile of ice crystals. Darkness ate the edges of her vision, and Sejuani finally collapsed.
When Ashe heard the word 'kneel', her mind went blank. Everything that she had been planning and plotting up to that point disappeared. She lost all control and she fell. Her body stopped obeying every command she tried to throw at it and her mind gave up. When everything finally came back to her, she could feel a throbbing pain in her legs and she found her dagger pulsing in her fingers. Horror filled her mind as she glanced from her blade to Sejuani's fallen corpse. Blood stained the blade; there was only one conclusion she could draw from that.
"No..." she breathed and tried to stand, but her leg gave out and she slumped back to her position on the floor. It was her blade, she could not deny it. No, she was not in the right mind, but that hardly mattered. At all. Tears sprang to her eyes and she turned to glare death at Lissandra. "You..." She had no words. Rage filled her veins and adrenaline began twisting her mind. "I'll kill you."
Lissandra glided over, even performing a little twirl for Ashe's pleasure. "Oh, don't be so frigid, Ashe. I promise I'll take good care of your nation. Admittedly, it'll be a bit... cooler... once I get done with it." The Ice Witch knelt down before Ashe and grinned from ear to ear. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment. Two birds with one stone... I will rule the Freljord, and soon, all of Runeterra. Everyone will bow, just as you did."
Rage contorted her face and Ashe did the only thing she could - she spit into Lissandra's face. "I did not bow. You forced me, just as you will force everyone. The League will stop you. Someone will."
Lissandra recoiled as she was spit on, her long-contained rage finally boiling to the surface. A thousand years ago, Avarosa had done the exact same. A thousand years of brooding burst through her icy shell and Lissandra wrapped a hand around Ashe's throat, hauling her off the ground with strength her spindly limbs should not have possessed. "Listen to me, you spoiled little bitch. I will succeed. The one person who could have stopped me is long since dead. He is so far underground not even a rat could find him. And you... ooh how I will love watching you die. Avarosa made a fool of me, and Serylda destroyed every hope I had of the Watchers returning swiftly. A thousand years I have waited for this moment. A thousand years I have waited for this day." A cruel smile twisted her lips as Ashe coughed and sputtered in a vain attempt to get air through her crushed trachea. "You knelt because your body knew, even if your feeble mind could not grasp it. I am the queen. I am the ruler. And I will prevail."
Even as she spoke, Lissandra's features began to shift. Ashe could see her own face slowly being reflected back to her. Even Lissandra's armour took on the blood-stained and battle-torn garments that were draped over Ashe's fit frame. Lissandra's bust filled out, her hips widened slightly. Her hair shortened and fell from the braid, slowly turning into Ashe's wild locks. And even as she saw herself reflected, her vision began to disappear. Though she clawed her way back to consciousness, Ashe could not keep her hold on the world. This was the end; she would never see the Freljord united, and she was to blame. Her own stupidity, not having seen through Lissandra's plan from the very beginning.
And then, just as quickly as consciousness had started to leave her, it all came rushing back. A solid jolt rocked her body and she coughed, her hand flying to her bruising throat. Tender and sore, but open. With stars dancing in her eyes, Ashe tried to focus on Lissandra. Herself? She saw herself... and growing from her chest, a bulge. The bulge suddenly pushed forward with a sickening crunch, and Ashe saw what had caused the sudden shift. A blade. A long, icy, sickly curved blade that caused Lissandra's icy blood to freeze around it. And on the back side of that spear was something Ashe had never expected to see.
It was Sejuani. It had to be. There was no one else that it could be, as there was simply no one else. But she had changed. Her hair, short and hidden under her helmet, had fallen free and was now down to the middle of her back. Her arms had bulged and looked much larger than they had just a few minutes ago, and were covered in a glowing white light. All over her body, the light had covered her skin. Two long prongs jutted from her mouth like sabre fangs, and fur seemed to shift as she shoved the spear home. Snow Leopard had come to their aid.
Lissandra gave a choked gurgle and coughed blood once before her body shattered like a pane of glass. Icy fragments of the Witch rained down on Ashe's stunned body, which caused Sejuani to lose her balance and fall forward. She landed atop Ashe and fell still. A small hiss escaped her frame as the white energy disappeared and returned to the spear, leaving Ashe and Sejuani alone once more.
"Sej? Sej... oh by the gods, please wake up..." Ashe struggled to push her friend over onto her back and pressed an ear to her chest. Sejuani's heart was beating, however weakly, and shallow breaths ensured that she was not quite gone yet. Ignoring her own injuries, Ashe began trying to stem the bleeding in as many places as she could. After a few moments of frantic flailing and battlefield dressings, Sejuani's eyelids fluttered and she gave a weak cough.
"D-did w-we win?" Her first words did not surprise Ashe, but hearing them did. Instead of replying, Ashe simply threw her arms around Sejuani and she kissed the boar rider's cheek with all of her might. Too weak to fight, Sejuani simply endured the embrace, though she did murmur something about hating Ashe in the middle of it.
Minutes passed and their strength slowly came back to them, enough for the pair to separate and push themselves into a seated position. Sejuani picked up a shard of Lissandra's corpse, a finger, and snapped it in half. She could hear a cry of pain from off in the ether and knew that though Lissandra was defeated, she was not dead.
Ashe, silent for a long time, finally spoke up. "Why? Why did you save me... you could've let her kill me and you would've been the Queen of Freljord... just like you wished."
The boar rider did not look up, knowing her eyes would betray her true emotions. "The enemy of my enemy..." she trailed off and let Ashe finish the ancient saying.
"Is my friend."
- FIN -