Hello again!
Yeah, i know it´s been a while again. But i can´t get to write a lot at the moment due to exams coming up in february. I still hope you like the new chapter and as always feedback is appreachiated.
Enjoy!
It was snowing. It was always snowing in the Freljord. Freljord lacked in almost all recources except snow. In her cildhood Ashe dispised snow, she had hated the spiky texture of it and that it was cold. But with time she had learned to appreciate it. Snow offered cover where trees could not and Ashe somehow felt at home whenever she was out hunting, sneaking through the white. The self-crowned Queen of the Freljord sat on her throne, planning the next steps after the Winter´s Claw had been annihilated. Although Ashe didn´t plan any of it, it certainly came in handy for her to have Sejuani out of the way. She had never met the furious leader herself, called Sejuani, but the stories discribed her as a brutal and ruthless warrior, not really receptive for diplomacy. But nevertheless Sejuani had agreed to an armstrice and wanted to talk to Ashe herself. In that regard her death was also a loss for Ashe in her battle against Lissandra. Additionally a part of the resident city had also been damaged and many of her soldiers, including Tryndamere her political husband and friend, were still missing.
One of her guards, Keller was his name, opened the door, briefly bowed and spoke to the Queen. "Excuse me your Highness. We brought him, as requested, my Queen." Behind him two additional guards escorted a great ursine before the throne. His skin was riddled with scars and the red blood in his fur indicated that it took her men quite some effort to keep this beast under control. His hand-claws were shackled and an iron collar lay arround his neck. He stood approximately ten meters away form her when one of her guards brought him to his knees forcefully.
"Volibear, leader of the ursine and second in command in the former Winters Claw. You seem to be the only lucky one to have survived this calamity." Ashe announced with a formal voice.
"I don´t seem that lucky if I was captured by your troops afterwards." He replied coldly. "To be rescued by the enemy is as bad as dying in that avalanche." His words were filled with malice and he directed a death stare towards the Avarosan leader.
"I didn´t want for this war to happen, but Sejuani left me no choice. She declined my offer of federation, she burned villages that were under our protection and she murdered soldiers of mine without any reason to." Ashe was already annoyed with her captive. Dealing with people of the Winters Claw was always more trouble than it was worth.
"Don´t be fooled, Sejuani wanted to unite the Freljord as much as you did. But your 'Offer' was a disgrace to our leader. If she had accepted it, she would have addmited that she was not fit to rule her clan herself. It was an insult to all the ideals the Winters Claw pursued. But you, in your little palace thought it was a friendly gesture. You´re really just a child with a an iceborn weapon." Despite his furrious eyes his voice was rather calm and collected.
"Watch your mouth ursine, or my weapon will be your end. Justified or not the Winters Claw is no more. But any trace of your leader is missing." She knew he was only trying to provoke her. But it remained true, that any sign of Sejuani or her mount remained to be found.
"Even if I knew where she was I wouldn´t tell you. I will not bring her to you to have you put her in chains like me."
"And the only reason why you´re in chains is because you resisted my soldiers. Sejuani was gonna negotiate with me anyway, why would I imprision her then."
Volibear let out a chuckle. "We both know that you´re only negotiating with her because she had an army. Without it she is not worth anything to you." He had a point there. Without her men Sejuani was of little use to Ashe, but she still wanted to get her. Maybe it was because she was one of the only people who seriously threated her plan to unite the Freljord. She intended to use Sejuani as a warning for those who also tried to break apart the Freljord.
"She will answer for her crimes, in time, but there are more pressing problems in the Freljord right now. Lissandra poses a serious-"
Suddenly another guard stormed through the gate of the throne room. "My Queen, we found your husband!" His voice crackeled a bit. "He was dead, propably killed by one of the Winters Claw. We also found footprints of a Freljordian Boar near his corpse, we suspect it was Sejuani." He kneeled before Ashe while he said that, afraid to be punshied for his sudden and rude interuption.
Ashe clenched both her fists. 'This can´t be, that little whore, she is gonna pay for that.' She felt her eyes get watery and averted her gaze from the ursine infront of her. Tryndamere had never been her lover, their marriage was purely a political one. Nevertheless he had been one of her closest friends and a good advisor. She felt rage built up inside her. She was also at fault for even considering, that Sejuani was really gonna talk to her. But she managed to compose herself before speaking again.
"Take his corpse to the city, he will receive a proper funeral later." She said to the soldier and turned to Volibear."Well, it seems that she really survived that night. I ask you, will you cooperate with us to find her or not?" She tried to sound as neutral as possible but couldn´t hide all of her emotions.
"We both already know the answer for that question." Volibear just stated.
"And I suppose you´re aware what will happen to you if you do not cooperate." Ashe retorted. "With your interest in mind I give you one week time for consideration. I advise you to make the right choice, for the Freljords sake. The urisine are a vital part of our culture, we don´t want to destroy them." She pointed at one of the guards surrounding the ursine. "Take him to the cells, but do not harm him."
The ursine didn´t resist when he was escorted out of the throne room. Ashe doubted that he would help her catch Sejuani and she certainly wasn´t in the mood to show much mercy right now. But she wanted to stay true to her ideals, which meant, no unnecessary violence.
Braum, who had silently watched the scene suddenly spoke up. "Ashe, we have an approximation of the damage and the people missing. We suspect about 2.000 people were buried underneath the snow and most of them dead. The Digging-Corps are already hard at work but we don´t know how many we can save."
"Braum, send spies to Demacia and Noxus, I want that Boarrider and I want her alive." Ashe´s newly found hate for her rival was audible in her voice. And it felt as if even the air was getting colder by the second.
"My Queen please don´t do this. We have more pressing issues at hand. Our agents have informed us that Lissandra plans to attack us soon. She has the Frostguard and an army of trolls behind her. All of the tribes have united under a single 'Trollking' who swore allegiance to her. We need to prepare and cannot waste any time on Sejuani, she is not a threat anymore."
"Are u defying me Braum?" The atmosphere was overflowing with hostility. "I know very well the extend of the situation we are in, but I will not let her go unpunished for her crimes. She broke her promise as a warchief. Do as I say!" Shocked by her sudden outburst Braum bowed before Ashe. Such a thing had never happened before, the Frost Archer was usually receptive to logical arguments and had never abused her authority to reinforce her argument. Ashe was aware that she was being irrational right now, but her emotions got the better of her.
"Of course, I deeply apologize. We´ll send agents to both countries at once."
"Any news from Demacia?" It had been two days since ambassador Quinn had departed to inform the captial city of Demacia.
"No, but we suspect to soon get a message."
"Good, inform me of any news from there. Tell the clans it is time."
"You sure this is the time?"
"If we face Lissandra we need every warrior, capable or not. The Ice Witch is not to be reasoned with."
The Captain made an ugly grimace. The tip of Sejuani´s sword pressed against his throat.
"Ha, you think threating me will get you what you want? What are you? A bloody Noxian? You know it doesn´t work that way. I will not set sails for the harbor, it would mean certain death for everybody here. Are you that fucking eager to get yourself killed?" Sejuani noticed no fear in his voice. Apparently he did not take her seriously.
"You really think I´ll care for you pretty little life? I suggest-"
"Sejuani stop!" Quinn stepped inbetween both of them."You don´t need to solve everything with violence you know." 'Damit can´t you just shut up for a minute I´m doing this for one of us u know!' But Sejuani knew she couldn´t say that to the Crossbowwoman´s face. Quinn slowly put her hand on the hilt of the Freljordian´s weapon. "Just let us think a minute before we lose our head, okay?"
Sejuani didn´t want to back down. She didn´t want her authority to waver. Stepping down now would be a humilation. But at the same time she couldn´t refuse a request from Quinn. 'There´s something seriously fucking wrong with me.' She thought as she lowered her sword. "Alright, I´ll stay put...for now that is."
As expected, a smirk appeared on the captain´s face. "You should keep her under control a bit better if you ask me." He mocked to Quinn.
"And you should keep your mouth shut in the right moments!" Quinn replied immediatly. Although she always tried to avoid conflict, she seemed to be very protective of people she knew. "You will get us to the shore, I don´t care how and I don´t demand from you to sail to the blockade, but we really need to get ashore."
"And if not? Will you let your little pet off the leash again?" He practically begged for death at this point. The hand arround her sword clenched so much that they almost went pure white. Sejuani knew the only thing he did was cheap mockery but it still pissed her off. But for Quinn´s sake she kept herself under control.
"If you mean her," Quinn pointed with her finger at Sejuani "no she will not kill you. It seems that this would be far too generous. After all you would be dead and could not feel any pain anymore. As for him," Valor landed on her armguard "he can just gouge out your eyes. Let me tell you I´ve seen too many men crying before me to asure you that you´ll be fine afterwards. But Valor has not eaten eyes for a long time, so he´ll be quite eager." A wicked smile acompanied the somewhat maniacal monologue.
The Captain winced. "What...I mean..." The sailsman slowly backed off a few steps. "We can always talk it out right? No need to get so cruel." His voice sounded broken and was more like pleading for his life.
"I see we´re talking. Now, how do you intend to fullfil our request?" Quinn´s attitude had yet again changed back to the usual friendly and cheery one.
"Hmm. We´ll be just landing directly at the beach" The Captain slowly stated, clearly trying to regain his composture. "I do warn you however, that this is extremly risky as well. The siegeing party will obviously scout out the area arround the city and think your Noxians. I don´t want any part of your adventures on land. I bring you to the shore, you leave the ship and I´m gone forever."
"You think you´re in a position to make any demands?" This time Irelia stepped up."Those two are on a roll today." She hinted to Quinn and Sejuani.
He flinched again "Jeez, why are you being so picky? Let´s say I would apreciate it if things went that way."
"We´ll see when we get there, but dont try anything funny, I´m not in a mercyful mood today." Sejuani commanded, taking control of the situation again.
The ship changed it´s course, towards a beach the west of the city. Bel´Zhun itself was still being bombarded by various siege weapons. Sejuani reckoned, that it wouldn´t take long until the garison was ready to surrender. On the other hand, Noxians weren´t really the people who gave up easily, they´d rather threw away their lives in a battle to the death, than save it. While Sejuani admired courage and strength she didn´t think much of the Noxian army, they valued strenght, which was good, but at the same time victory at any cost and in any situation. Surrendering a lost battle was not a sign of weakness, it showed that the commander valued the life of it´s soldiers. But who was she to judge, she tried to challenge Ashe´s army which had been way bigger than her own, maybe she had fought a futile battle for the crown from the start?
In the late afternoon, the ship neared the shore. The Captain had convinced them to wait for the sun to set before leaving the ship. That way they wouldn´t be spotted that easily. Sejuani was stunned by the image before her, golden sand dominated the scenery and made it look like the whole land was made up of the precious metal. Rarely, a tree or a plant disturbed the seemingly prefect landscape. Quinn approached her from behind, ready to leave the ship.
"Seju, what about Bristle? How do we get him to the shore?" She frowned.
Sejuani smirked. "Don´t you worry about that, he can swim." Quinn raised an eyebrow. "I´d even say that he enjoys bathing and swiming. He´ll get to the shore, you´ll see. I worry more about getting him out of the water and into the heat of the sun. Freljordian Boars are not really made for that kind of climate and to be honest, I´m not made for it, too."
Quinn chuckled. "No wonder, when you walk arround in fully fur-lined armor. You should really get some new clothes in the next city. I don´t want to see you get roasted in this heat."
"Yeah, yeah, what ever you say. More importantly, what do we do about the captain?"
"We´ll leave him be, of course." Quinn answered without hesitation.
"Really? After you´re little show of intimation I thought you really wanted him dead. I was really surprised to see you act like that." Sejuani grinned. It had indeed caught her by surprise how Quinn 'persuaded' the captain.
"To be honest, I hated every second of it. I´m just not the kind of person who gets what he wants through that behavior." Quinn´s cheeks flushed a bit. Sejuani chuckled at that statement. Quinn was just demacian to the core.
The three women and their mounts got ready to leave the ship. Bristle made an happy reaction when Sejuani told him the next steps. The were just about to get off when Jax approached her.
"So, you´re leaving already? That´s too bad."
"We wanted to get off here anyways, so it´s not like it´s sudden." Sejuani explained.
"Still, I enjoyed your company. It´s gonna get a bit lonely on board now."
"I had my fair share of fun as well. But as they say, all good things must end." Sejuani smirked. She had grown quite fond of the Icathian warrior herself. The evenings she spent with him were good memories. He was also one of the best fighters Sejuani had ever seen, so she respected him a lot. Jax reached for her hand, but Sejuani just gave him a hug. "Maybe we´ll see each other again in the future."
"I sure hope so. Good luck to you and your fellas."
The water was warmer than Sejuani had expected it to be and it felt weird to walk through it in full armor. The ship halted about 200 meters from the shore so they had to walk to the beach. Bristle just splashed into the water and a huge wave followed. As soon as they had left the ship it began to distance itself from them. They set up a camp not far from the water and managed to get enough wood for a small fire. The sun was already approaching the horizon, when everything was ready. They had taken some food from the ship with them and soon the smell of roasted meat filled the air. Both Irelia and Quinn were pretty silent the whole time and Sejuani was accually quite happy about that. After all three of them had finshed with their meal Irelia spoke up.
"I´m gonna take the frist watch. I´m not really tired at the moment so you two can go to sleep."
"Sounds fine be me." Quinn replied while letting out a loud yawn. "I don´t know why, but this climate makes me real tired."
"Tell me about it. I´m gonna take the second watch then. Wake me up when you get tired Irelia. You should get some more wood before though. The fire won´t last that long anymore." The Ionian noded to Sejuani. The Freljordian checked up on Bristle to find him already asleep, contrary to her belief he didn´t seem to mind the climate that much. But it had also gotten much colder than before. The temprature was hardly compareable to the heat during daylight. Sejuani searched for a suitable spot and found one not far from the fire. Before she went to sleep herself she took one of her furs to give it Quinn.
"Here, it seems it´s getting quite cold at night." Sejuani held out the object to the Demacian.
"Thanks, Seju." After Quinn took it, Sejuani turned to get back to her 'bed'. "Wait..." Quinn looked a bit flustered.
"Hmm, what´s up?"
"Accually, nevermind." Quinn composed herself.
Slightly bewildered Sejuani went to sleep.
Irelia got up to searched for some additional firewood. The only trees growing at the shore were palm trees with only one trunk. So she settled for small bushed and some loose planks which were jetted to the beach by the current. Irelia looked to the besieged city, the light of some fires rose to the sky. The bombardement which had been present at daylight had stopped and it almost seemed like the city was at peace. The real problem would be to get inside they city to get clues on how to continue. The oracle at Mount Targon had been quite vague, but Irelia choose to lie to Sejuani and Quinn in that regard.
She was already on her way back to the camp when she felt cold steel press against her back. Immediatly she wanted to cry out to warn her companions but the only thing she managed to get out was a muffle. Her enemy had already covered her mouth to prevent her alarming the others.
"Shhh, keep quiet girl. We don´t want to disturb the others do we?" A feminie voice wispered into her ear. Irelia knew that these were not mere bandits, they were either part of the garrison or or the besiegers. "Hamet, Razia, take the others and capture the two still at their camp. And be careful of their animals."
Suddenly a bunch figures emerged from the shadows and approached the positon where Quinn and Sejuani sleept. Irelia tried to struggle free or call for her blades, but in vain. She had left her weapon at the camp, she was just too far away to control them. Furthermore her captors grip was way too firm the escape from. She heard a short scream echo through the night, followed by a couple of screeches and squecks. Their enemies had reached the camp and by the looks of it defeated Sejuani and Quinn successful, not that it was difficult to begin with, both of them were asleept.
"Don´t make this more difficult than it needs to be. You practically beg to be found, if you light up a fire in the desert." At this point Irelia knew it was futile to resist or escape, it would only cause more problems for Sejuani and Quinn. The Ionian was forced on her knees and felt an iron chain around her ankle. The sting in her back stopped and a woman stepped infront of her. Was a bit smaller than herself and had black hair, a scarf decorated her neck. Her clothes were mostly brown and goldenish with some small pieces of armor at her arms and thighs. A weapon which looked like a huge Boomerang hung behind her back and in her hand was a short sword. She tied Irelias arms with a rope and took the long end of it.
"I advise you to follow like a good girl, or else this will hurt." Suddenly Irelia was dragged forward, as her captivator followed her companions and pulled at the rope. Because her feet were forced together, keeping up in tempo was harder than expected and the iron chains scoured at her skin. Behind Irelia she thought to recognize two women and an eagle and a big animal which could only be bristle. The whole convoy wasn´t heading towards the city, so the people who attacked them were likely shurimans.
After only five minutes Irelia wasn´t really walking but rather stumbling behind the black haired woman. She didn´t know how long they walked but to her it seemed like an eternity. When she finaly saw the light of an encampment she knew her assumptions where correct. They had been captured by Shurimans. Golden armoured soldiers guarded the entrance and the emblem of the sund disk were visible on most of the flags Irelia saw. The Shuriman woman stopped before a tent with a giant warrior infront of it. The only difference to the others was that, a metal door blocked the entrance.
"We caught them lingering arround at the beach. Might be noxian spies." The woman declared to the guard when he gave her a questioning look.
"We will inform the high command to interogate them together with the one who surrendered earlier." he responded.
The black haired woman looked to Irelia and smirked. "I´m sure we´ll see each other later." She tossed Irelia into the tent with the Demacian and the Freljordian following after her. Outside, the protest of their respective animal companions could be heard. But soon the noise faded. Irelia looked arround her and saw both Quinn and Sejuani unconscious beside her. At the other side of the tent was a man, dressed in blueish grey clothes with black hair. The blue bruise arround his eye looked nasty and the snarls showed that he was sleeping.
'Could have been worse' She thought to herself.