"Sejuani, stay in the back!" Garen barked.
"I most definitely will NOT stay in the back!" she retorted.
"Shut up and LISTEN to me! Now, Zac, stay in the middle and do your best to keep Sejuani safe from harm. She will not be able to tolerate too many more wounds than she already has. Riven, on me. We lead the charge. We do not want to fight near the tents; we have no idea how long these people have been here preparing. Master Yi, I will need you to jump in between Riven and I, making strikes as you can. Everyone understand?" Every person nodded or replied to indicate that they knew what their role was. Riven smiled to herself lightly; she knew that Garen was in charge of his own military branch inside of Demacia, but she had never seen or experienced it outright. He was jumping straight into the action, despite being in the middle of a frozen wasteland on the opposite side of the continent from his home, and allied with people he had known hardly more than a few weeks to a month.
"CHARGE!" he bellowed as he bowed his head and sprinted towards the small group of soldiers in front of him. They responded by opening up a hail of arrows at him and Riven, who was just a few steps behind. They were fired at a rate that had to either be one skilled archer or two firing one after another, and Garen did his best to avoid getting hit as he ran. A few of them found their way into his armor and lightly into his clothes but nothing landed in his flesh itself. The Demacian man found himself struggling to progress as quickly as he had been. Glancing down at his body, he noticed a frost beginning to seep over him. In response, the man shook himself violently and pursued his charge forward.
Garen soon found himself within striking distance of the archer. He lifted his sword high into the air and slammed down fiercely onto the woman in front of him. Contact was not made with her skull, but with a different sword. The angle in which Garen was being countered from was surprising; the man had to be of an incredible strength in order to hold Garen's sword above the woman's head. Garen took his clashed sword and slid it down the length of the protector's towards the man holding it. The flat end of the blade slammed into the man and knocked him back. Behind Garen, Riven launched herself forth and tried to get her strike to land on the archer, but she was also countered. A man wielding a spear had stepped in front and blocked Riven's assault. A series of grunts, that were strangely familiar to Garen, accompanied the man's movements as he fought against Riven.
Sejuani acted out of her own stubbornness and moved in just behind Garen, but not as quickly as he was capable. Zac stuck with her, just as Garen had told him too, and tried to ensure her safety. As they approached, a flag dropped into the ground from the sky, just between Garen and Sejuani. She turned her head to the sky in an attempt to figure out where the projectile had come from, but did not see what she had expected: a man had latched his lance to the flag and was pulling himself through the air towards her. Just behind the man was what looked to be a woman clad in a dragon's armor, or perhaps a woman that was part dragon herself. Either way, she was clearly a threat. Sejuani took her flail in hand and immediately swung at the incoming attacker. She picked the head of the weapon up from the ground and spun it in one short arc until it found its home in the torso of the lunging man. The blow was a sharp enough rotation of velocity to knock him to the ground. As he began to clamber to his feet, the dragon woman had stepped in front of him to prevent any further attacks from taking place on her ally. Sejuani grinned to herself: she may be wounded, but she still knew how to fight. She took the flail in hand and swung it multiple times over her head and swung to strike the dragon lady. She swiftly dodged the attack and moved to lunge at Sejuani's side. Zac extended his fist to hit the flail back in the opposite direction after it had missed its target. Sejuani took the newly created momentum and spun around with the weapon. It landed with a crack on the dragon's chest armor and she was flung sideways towards her ally. The man had managed to get to his feet at that point and caught the woman before she had collided with the ground.
The lance wielder smiled and launched himself into the air with a leap too tremendous for a normal human. He slammed his lance down just in front of Sejuani and the impact knocked her off of her feet. She saw a shockwave ripple out from around her as the icy earth caved in and left her trapped in a terrain arena with the man. Luckily, Zac was still beside her. He helped her too her feet just to see her take a lance to the side of the head from a hefty swing by the opponent. At the top of the crater, the dragon woman sat perched and jumped down into the arena. She called upon her inner strength and turned into her full dragon form as she landed on the ground. The situation had quickly grown dim for Sejuani and Zac. The two enemies attempted to land another blow on the fallen woman but Zac stopped them with an expanded gelatinous fist. He took blow after blow with hardly a chance to fight back as Sejuani got to her feet and swung her weapon at the duo. Her flail was caught within the dragon's mouth and Sejuani found a lance thrusted into her side. Coughing and sputtering blood, she fell to the ground. Zac decided that continuing to fight was not the best option that he had. He fell down onto the collapsed woman and allowed his body to mold around hers. Acting like a suit of armor, he got to his feet and extended his arms to the top of the ditch. He pulled himself, and Sejuani, out and scanned his surroundings.
As the sword wielding man got to his feet, Garen swung again in an attempt to knock him back down. His sword was countered and Garen took the opportunity to improvise and shot a punch into the man's jaw. The blow landed successfully and the man took a swing with his free hand as well. Garen attempted to withdraw his sword and ready another attack but his opponent kept the weapons interlocked and bore a sinister grin. Garen shot the look back and kicked the man in the arm that was holding the blade. He flinched and dropped the sword but was not hindered for long. He roundhouse-kicked Garen in his sword arm and provoked a similar response. Weaponless, the two stared each other down and resorted the Runterra's most bizarrely created mixed martial arts fight where both men, clearly very large and well suited for such combat, rarely resorted to such fights due to the fact that no opponent had ever managed to stand up to their respective blades.
As Garen fought his opponent, Riven continued to spar with the older looking man holding the spear. His movements were swift and well rehearsed as he commenced in a dance of steel and strength with Riven in the icy wasteland. It persisted for a while until the archer took the distraction to begin adding her contribution to the duel. Outnumbered, Riven was forced onto the defensive as she attempted to keep the man's weapon at bay despite the fact that she still fought with the shattered remnants of hers. She was not sure if she should call for help, or if that would be enough of a distraction to get one of her allies killed. Everyone seemed to have their own problems to deal with and Riven was just going to have to cope for the time being. The repeated dodging and reflecting of attacks continued as she gradually became incapable of avoiding every one of the strikes to the point of being forced to allow a few to land in order to keep the more threatening ones from taking their tolls. Perhaps she could learn from what Master Yi was attempting to tell her previously, in that she needs to embrace her past and use it as a strength, not a weakness.
As she fought, she felt helpless and saw no end in sight. Puffing up her chest and drawing a deep breath, she held her blade to the sky and watched as a magnificent flurry of greens and whites flashed about her and built the sword back up to its full length. Gripping the sword intensely, she swung it straight down onto the older man's head. He blocked it with his spear, but only just in time. Riven continually added pressure and he was forced down to the ground. A few moments more and she would be close enough to withdraw her blade from its competition and land a finishing blow. Just as the end for the man drew close in sight, Riven felt an arrow pierce the side of her stomach. The shot alone was not enough to hold her back, but the crippling chill that began to spread with it, was. She let off the force she had been applying and turned to face the archer. She ran headlong but found her body excruciatingly unwilling to persist. Another arrow found its way into her flesh and she was slowed to what felt like a crawl. The woman shooting Riven took one more arrow in hand and drew back the bowstring until it touched her face. She looked sternly at her opponent and released the shot without taking a second to reconsider. A flash of light blazed through the air and intercepted the arrow just before it collided with Riven. Raising her head from a bowed state, she saw Master Yi standing before her. He was calm, and relaxed. He simply stood in place and allowed arrow after arrow to be shot into him. From Riven's standpoint, the man should be mortally wounded from receiving such a massive quantity of penetrating bolts. But what she could not see from where she kneeled was the fact that not a single arrow had left a permanent wound. The man stood in a meditation of the Wuju style and his injuries were magically lifted from his flesh and healed over almost instantly. The archer noticed the phenomena and seized to fight. As soon as the arrows stopped flying their direction, Master Yi raised his sword and disappeared into the air, just as he had when Riven had fought the assassin the previous day.
Garen seemed to be gaining little to no progress in his fight with the opposing man, and sought for a chance to break free of combat and potentially aid his allies. He simply had no idea how he was going to beat a man of equal strength, in a fist fight, without some externality to give him an upper hand. He racked his brains searching for a potential solution to the problem. He sighed as he realized that he did have one option. Garen blocked a punch that was aimed at his ribs and held the man's fist tightly. Garen then turned his own fist to his opponent and watched himself be countered in the same manner. Holding his grip tightly, Garen kept the man with his arms spread wide and locked in the stance. Garen then brought his knee to the man's groin as sharply as he could. The blow landed and even Garen cringed a little at the sound of his opponent yelping in pain. Their grips were relieved of one another and Garen clambered to grab his sword and help his allies, while that man lay fairly incapacitated.
He sprinted past Riven and Master Yi, who seemed to have a decent handle on the situation, and met up with Zac. He cocked his head as he analyzed the scene when he found something odd about Zac's appearance. Garen noted that Sejuani was nowhere to be found, and upon further examination he realized that she was inside of Zac. He seemed to have taken Garen's word a bit too literally. Smiling briefly too himself, Garen stepped in to aid his allies. He looked down into the crater that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and saw a dragon and a tall, heavily armored man wielding a lance, inside and beginning to climb out the opposite end that Zac had escaped through.
"Stand back!" Garen yelled to Zac, who was clearly trying to determine whether he should continue to fight or flee with Sejuani. The bulky Demacian ran around the circumference of the crater with his targets locked into view. His sword was held to his right side and would have been cutting into the ground as he ran had it not been for the crater that his weapon was hovering over. His opponents were just about completely out of the man-made basin when Garen launched himself at them. Propelled through the air by the strength of his legs alone, he lowered his sword between his thighs and allowed for the full impact of his jump to crash down onto his targets using the sword's tip as the landing point. The crash cracked the icy terrain beneath his weight and the opponent's grips were lost as they fell back to where they had been climbing out of. The fall was far from deep enough to injure them, but the time they would spend stunned was plenty for Garen to make his next move.
Drawing his sword from the ground, he turned to face the two people in the hole. The dragon had reverted to human form, either from shock of the impact or from lack of energy to maintain it, and the man had dropped his lance. Garen slid down the side of the crater and kept his sword beside him. Once he had reached the bottom, he took the momentum from the slide and pressed one foot firmly into the ground on his heel. He rotated his body with the sustained velocity and began to perform his iconic dance of death, keeping his weapon extended as he spun himself around. The two enemies in the pit scrambled to escape him but their efforts were fairly pitiful. The half dragon took many gashes to the torso from his revolving blade but the man with the lance had managed to roll out of the way, suffering only cuts and tearings to his winter coat. He grabbed his weapon in his escaping dive and turned to face Garen. He thrust the weapon outwards to intercept the steel tipped dradle. Garen felt his sword collide with another's weapon and found himself staring into his opponent's eyes. The half dragon laid on the ground, groping her open wounds and staining the white snow beneath in a deep crimson, so Garen determined her to be of a minor threat to him for the time being. The man who stared him down bore a very stern expression. His gear was fur lined and insulated, just as Garen's was, but was also adorned with spikes and horns, as if they had been taken from dragons and slain beasts. It was then that Garen noticed the colors of his armor exposed through the openings in his cold weather clothing that Garen had created with his own sword; they were blue, white and yellow: the colors of Demacia. Garen's eyes widened as he looked into the face an old childhood friend of his.
"Prince Jarvan?" he asked in surprise, as the two stood weapon-locked with one another. There was a pause as the man stared back at him, trying to figure out who the man speaking to him was. The two had hardly seen or spoke to one another since the prince had returned from his voyage to Shurima Desert in the southern part of the continent. Once he had returned, Jarvan spoke to Garen briefly on a conflict that was arising in Kalamanda at the time, but he kept to himself in his castle after that. An occasional match in the League of Legends would pit them alongside one another, but overall, they rarely spoke. Stacked on top of the fact that Garen had been gone on his exile – and the changes to his appearance such as the different of armor, the lack of a scarf, and the beginnings of a beard – it would not have been an instant recognition for either party.
"Crownguard? Garen Crownguard? Is that you my friend?" the Prince asked in astonishment. Immediately the two lowered their weapons to their sides and continued to stare in amazement. It had to be an incredible series of events to place the two into the location that they were in at that point in time. "What in the world are DOING here?" the Prince asked.
"I do believe I could ask you the same. But that is not of utmost importance right now. The fact of the matter stands that this fighting should seize. We must tell our allies."
"Right," Jarvan responded. He turned and picked up his bleeding ally before climbing one-handed out of the crater. Garen followed behind him and nodded at Zac, who had been waiting at the top of the small cliff in case he was needed to jump in and aid his ally. Once out of the ditch, Garen shouted out so that the remaining fighters could here.
"STOP THIS VIOLENCE AT ONCE!" he declared. Riven, who was still lying injured from arrows, turned to face Garen, in a confused but very reluctant manner. Master Yi conjured in front of the archer, just inches from cutting her down where she stood. Clearly, Garen had just incidentally saved her life with the timing of his yell. The archer stood petrified, and very flustered about everything that had just taken place. The strong man Garen had been battling was just getting to his feet to rejoin the fight, but stood still in response and abused the distraction to gain some time to continue to recover from Garen's previous blow. The man with the spear got to his feet, and immediately recognized the voice of the man yelling into the crowd.
"Garen? You fight for these savages?" Xin Zhao asked in response.
"Garen!?" Ashe, the archer, called out in confusion. While she was not a personal acquaintance of Garen, she had heard plenty about the man and his spontaneous leave of absence from the League of Legends.
"We can talk pleasantries later. We MUST get the wounded back to safety. Xin Zhao, Ashe, take the lead en route to the ambushed village. Zac, take Sejuani. Jarvan, Shyvana. Anyone else injured right now?" Garen scanned his surroundings to see if any of his allies were in critical condition. He knew the state of Sejuani, Zac was okay – as per usual, Master Yi seemed to be moments from executing an opponent, and Riven was lying on the ground. At first glance, she appeared all right; but Garen noticed the arrows sticking from her side and instantly shot into a full sprint towards her. He kneeled down and placed a hand on her head as he spoke.
"Riven!" he called out. She was conscious, but did not appear well. He skipped the formal question of "are you okay" in acknowledgement of the answer.
"I… I'm fine…" she said, attempting to convince herself that she could persevere.
"Hardly," Garen responded. His first instinct was to pull the arrows out from her flesh but a frosty coating restricted such actions. He thought to remove the clothing that covered the wound to keep give him a clear view of the injury, but he figured that it would also be coated in ice and removing any insulation would not be beneficial. He picked her up in his arms like a baby and began to walk into the cold expanse of Freljord. Ashe and Xin immediately responded to his orders and took the lead while the rest of the party pursued them from behind. Garen had left his sword in the snow in order to pick up Riven, and the fragmented blade rested in her arms like a child with its doll. Xin wanted to ask how Riven had managed to create a full length sword out of thin air, and where it had gone since he last fought her, but figured that such questions were not of grave importance at the moment.
Garen, Jarvan, and Zac all walked alongside one another carrying their wounded allies, while Tryndamere, the man who had been in a fist fight with Garen, kept pace with Ashe and Xin in the front and Master Yi maintained his distance off to the side of the group. He was clearly a man used to isolation, and with his own problems to worry about, so Garen paid it no mind. The man would have left – or made his move – long ago if he had other plans or intentions.
Garen had made it quite obvious that he did not plan to talk until the injured were to safety, and Jarvan respected his wish as they marched through the snow. Luckily, the storm had let up a little bit, but the journey was made twice as difficult as they worried for their fallen allies. Jarvan eventually broke the silence, although he stuck to idle chatter and nothing of major importance.
"I hardly recognized you without your scarf Garen. This may have been the first time I have seen you without that blue cloth housing the Demacian emblem, wrapped firmly around your neck. And the beard! Where did that come from?!" Garen grinned at the remarked, but did not have the energy to let out the laugh that he wished to provide to his old friend.
"The lack of a razor, honestly. And I actually had a scarf on up until recently… I think I gave it to Sejuani, the woman who Zac is carrying…" He looked over to Zac, who had become a very strange sight. He was walking, in his humanoid form, with a live person housed inside of his gooey mass. It looked like she was walking, although she was unconscious. Zac's mouth acted as an entryway for air to get to her mouth and nose, which made Garen wonder how Zac ever managed to talk in the first place.
Jarvan looked over to the green mass, figuring that he was Zac and the woman he housed was Sejuani. He saw the scarf wound about her neck and smiled. Garen clearly cared for his new found allies quite greatly if he was willing to give up his scarf for one of them. Although it was a different scarf, the article of clothing in general was quite often associated to his character.
"Who is she to you?" Jarvan asked his friend.
"Who? Sejuani?" Garen responded, unsure if he was referring to the woman they had just previously been discussing, or the woman being cradled in his arms.
"The one you gave the scarf to, Sejuani," he replied.
"Oh. I just found her earlier today. I was searching for survivors outside of a town in ruins. Did you happen to pass it on the way in?"
"Yes, yes we saw that. We stayed to help but… well we had to push outwards. King Tryndamere and Queen Ashe came here on a mission to stop the savages from assaulting her villages. So when we found her, or what seemed to be her camp, naturally we attacked." There was a bit of a pause in his sentence, as he waited for Garen to respond, but an answer did not come, so Jarvan continued to talk. "We did find a small patch of bloodied snow and long series of strewn footprints that led us to the camp where we found you. Perhaps that was where you found her?"
"Yes, that sounds like the location."
"What happened to her? Was she assaulted?"
"I haven't a clue," Garen told him. "I just saw a woman in the snow, bleeding, and I brought her back. I have not said much to her since then. But we knew she was not safe in that village so we were on our way out. She is the one who led the assault on its neighbors, and if the residents found out… things would not have ended well. And yet, here we are with no option left but to return her to the village anyway." Jarvan laughed and turned his head to face Garen.
"Funny how such strange stories could end up intertwining. We had missions very, very different from one another. Yet had neither of us been directly involved, that fight would have ended in more than just three wounded people." Garen pondered the idea and returned a smile to Jarvan.
"Yes. Yes you are definitely right." They continued to slog through the snow and ice, feet getting colder with every step, praying that their destination was close. Conversation seemed to smooth out the journey so Jarvan asked another question.
"What of the woman in your arms? Is she a sister of Sejuani and Ashe?" Jarvan asked. Garen shook his head before responding.
"Despite their similar appearance, they are not related as far as I know. This woman is named Riven. She is…" Garen hesitated with his response due to the fact that she was, indeed, Noxian. Jarvan was the prince of Demacia. He was unsure of how he would feel in aiding a member of his rivaling country.
"Yes?" Jarvan asked, perplexed by the sudden pause. "You can talk to me Garen. I trust you."
"Well, she is Noxian. I found her on Ionia before I traveled here…" Garen wanted out of the conversation and nodded in the direction of the now visible town in the distance. "Almost there. Let's pick up the pace. We need assistance." Jarvan left questions for later and hurried to a jog as they closed the final gap to safety.
"Elder!" Garen declared as he entered the home of the Avarosan village's elder. The old man was still awake, despite the late hour, and smiled broadly in response to his visitor.
"Ah, my travelers. What brings you back so quickly? You only just set out…" The man's words trailed off as he saw that Garen was currently cradling his wounded comrade in his hands. The man saw the arrows and beckoned that he, and the others who were beginning to pile into his house, back out. Once he was outside and looking at the group of ten warriors standing about, he spoke quickly.
"Bring the wounded inside. The rest of you, wait out here. I will find shelter for you. We are pretty packed as is… but we will manage. We always do. I will run for the doctor." He looked at the soldiers and noticed Ashe among them. He immediately dropped to his knees and bowed to her before blessing the spirit of Avarosa for her presence.
"Oh, please elder, get to your feet. We have injured that need attention," she said, while blushing lightly and kneeling down to help him to his feet. His face resumed that same large smile that he had just given to Garen as he had entered his home moments ago, and he rushed off to find the doctor of the village. Garen, Jarvan, and Zac all walked into his home one at a time. Garen led them up the stairs and to the guest room where he, Riven, and Zac had slept the night before. They laid the three of them down on the floor after Zac sprawled out across the wood to provide some sort of comfort. Zac also took a small blob from his body and wrapped it around Shyvana's and Sejuani's wounds to keep them from bleeding all over the place. Riven's wound was still frosted, and did not need wrappings for the time being. They stood around in the room for what felt like an eternity before the elder reappeared with the doctor. Jarvan and Garen were asked to leave the room while he examined the patients. At request, Zac remained with them so that he could help move them comfortably if needed. Plus, the doctor did not even know Zac was in the room until they told him that he was the blob on the ground holding the injured women. The Demacians filed downstairs and moved out into the cold night's air. The sun was beginning to rise, but it was not quite all of the way into the sky yet. Hopefully the doctor had gotten enough sleep, given the hecticness of his previous day where he attended to all of the wounded from Sejuani's invasion.
"What do they know?" Ashe questioned her allies as they rejoined the group.
"Nothing yet. They asked us to leave as they examine our friends," Jarvan replied. She nodded and turned to face Garen.
"So? Now that they are in good hands, do you care to explain what all is going on? Why are you here? Why were you protecting Sejuani? Do you know what all she has done to me and my people?" Ashe's tone was somewhat harsh, but that was mostly expected given the situation. Garen shook his head and stared at the ground for a few moments before deciding on how he wanted to pursue the question. He took in a deep breath and let out a long, winded sigh before he motioned for her to follow. Jarvan tagged along with, wanting to hear about his friend. The prince motion for Xin Zhao to remain with Master Yi and Tryndamere. The man looked about and saw Master Yi remaining incredible still as he leaned against the side of the elder's home, and Tryndamere building snowmen before cutting them into miniscule pieces with his giant sword. Xin grumbled at his petty task and moved to stand next to Master Yi against the house, finding it to be a preferable option to spending time with the immature Avarosan king.
The three walked for a little while before Garen finally said anything at all. He could not afford to tell them every event that had led him to where he stood then, but he had no idea how anything would make any sort of sense if he did not. Not providing any information could place him in a more dire situation than letting them know of the events he partook in on that night when he left the Institute of War.
"It has been… quite a journey," he began. "I am not sure where to start, honestly. I can tell you why I was with Sejuani I suppose. I told this much to Jarvan already. I came about this small village on the night that their neighbors were assaulted. I moved in to help, with Zac – the blobby one – and Riven, the woman I was carrying. After initial clean up, we went to search for survivors. I found Sejuani, unbeknownst to me, at the time, that she was the same woman who had assaulted the village. The elder told me of her title and requested that after she was healed, I leave with her to insure her own safety. Flattered by his obscure generosity and dedication to the peaceful demeanor of Avarosa, I obliged. The lightning fast swordsman that you saw, returned with Riven. I still do not know the full story there, it happened just a day ago. He seems capable of handling himself however, and was not a top priority. We first went to a camp that Sejuani was familiar with in order to gain access to weapons. That is when you guys showed up." The two companions took a pause to collect all of the information he had just spouted and how they should react. Jarvan was the first to speak, having already heard the monologue once.
"Well, you have answered most of Ashe's questions if I remember correctly. Did you want to ask more?"
"Um," Ashe started, still gathering her thoughts. "I suppose I could believe it. You tell a mighty tale that seems to consist of a lot of random chance events, but I would truly be sold if I knew why you were in the Freljord to start with. You disappeared from the League an awful long time ago, never make an appearance, never tell anyone where you are, never contact a soul, and we find you in the middle of the coldest, most unforgiving place in the entirety of Valoran. Why?" Garen knew that the question was coming, and still had not prepared an answer. Jarvan seemed to be very interested in knowing as well, but did push any further than he already had.
"I ran," Garen admitted at long last. "I did something that I should not have. I was afraid for the safety of my friends, my family, and my country. I was not willing to allow the consequences of my actions to affect their lives, so I left before they could be upheld. I planned to come back to face reality, but not until I could guarantee that doing so would harm no one other than myself."
"You do not plan to tell us what had happened, do you?" Jarvan inquired. Garen bowed his head and spoke to the snow.
"Not yet, my friend. I cannot, or else my mission was for naught. Someday, trust me. Now, I do have questions for you two. I am to understand that you came to the Freljord in search of Sejuani and to aid your people. Now, what do you plan to do? She has been found, and your people aided." Ashe pondered the question and looked at him skeptically.
"I do not know. I am aware that in coordinance with Sejuani and her barbaric allies, there have been bands of trolls that often times trample through my villages and slaughter my people. While a dire concern, it was deemed lesser due to the fact that trolls are not… intelligent. The only thing to convince me that these are more than just random occurrences is their increase in frequency and the numbers used during the attacks. Some survivors have reported to me that they have been in packs of over twenty. This is… unusually high for trolls. Especially in the Freljord where living conditions alone make it rare for that many trolls to all be alive and anywhere near each other. I had not intended to pursue this any further, but since I am here, and the threat of Sejuani has been eliminated much sooner than I had presumed… I might as well take advantage of this. Prince Jarvan," Ashe continued, turning her head from Garen to the Prince to indicate the change in subject manner, "If you would like to return home, feel free to do so. Tryndamere and I can investigate the situation just fine. It should not prove to be as large of a threat as I had intended Sejuani to be." He nodded in acknowledgement and the group continued their walk back to the elder's residence, where they only had to wait a few moments before the man came out of his house and waved for Garen and Jarvan to enter. Ashe waved them off and they followed the old man into his home.
"Well?" Jarvan asked after they had entered and stood around idly for a few minutes without talk.
"Umm… I uh… I'm not sure what all CAN be done," the doctor began. "I will be totally honest with you. I wrapped and patched the wounds as best I could, but it seemed to have little effect on the half dragon. She is conscious now, if you wish to go talk to her. Honestly, being of the race that she is, I am not very worried about her capability to recover. I imagine she will be up and walking around by morning. The silver haired woman with the gash in her side, managed to not to break any bones and even her large intestine remains fully intact. I pulled out some of the small intestine that was damaged beyond what the body could repair on its own, sewed the track back together, and stitched her side up. It was a bit of a makeshift operation, but I can't imagine her suffering any side effects unless she tears the wound back open or does not receive any sort of antibiotic medication while she heals. As for the last one, the woman with arrows in her torso…" Garen's face drooped as he anticipated the worst. He pushed past the doctor and made his way up the stairs to go see her himself. The doctor never finished his sentence as he walked up behind the large Demacian man.
She laid on Zac right where Garen had left her previously. Unfortunately, the arrows remained in her side and leg as well, along with the frost that encompassed the wounds. Garen saw that the fireplace was ablaze right next to her, but it seemed to have no affect on the chilling effect of the ice.
"I believe, your friend has come into contact with true ice… it is a magically imbued ice whose internal temperature is so low, that no amount of possibly obtainable heat will ever melt it. I… cannot get the arrows out. I am not quite sure that there is much hope for your friend. Perhaps you can talk to someone that knows more about true ice than I do. But as far as I am concerned, there is no way."
Garen moved to scoop Riven up in his hands and stared into her face. With closed eyes, she lifted a hand a placed it on the stubbly beard growing from Garen's cheek.
"Be strong…" she whispered to him. He forced a smile and the edge of his eye began to twitch. He felt the water in his mouth start to evaporate at his throat became sore and scratchy. He gazed at her without the ability to say a word until her hand grew wet from the tears trickling onto them. He grabbed her hand in both of his and squeezed as if it holding onto her hand was enough to keep her from slipping away from the world.
"I will save you… Riven… You have my word." Garen croaked at the Noxian woman before him. She shook her head.
"It's okay Garen… Remember what I told you the other day? About dying for a cause that will leave you remembered? I would… I wouldn't have it any other way…"
"No Riven… Just hold on… for me…" Her face slowly grew a smile and Garen coughed in an attempt to hold back wailing. He had not been so emotionally distraught in all of his life. Perhaps he had never actually cared about someone quite as much as he did for Riven, or perhaps he had just never had to experience the loss of one to whom he did. Either way, the stern, bold face of Demacia was currently in pieces scattered across the floor of the small room of and elder's home in the middle of Freljord.
"I will do my best Garen… I promise…" With those words, her hand limply slid back down onto her Zac-bed and she drifted out of consciousness. Garen pressed two fingers to her neck to be certain that she still carried a pulse. He counted the beats for over a minute before he was convinced that she was alright for the time being.
He walked back down the stairs to see Jarvan and Ashe standing on the lower level. The elder remained upstairs and the doctor had left the house to return to his home and attempt to get some sleep for the next day. The moment that Jarvan saw Garen's face he was immediately concerned. He had never seen the man broken up; over anything. He raised his eyebrows in concern and waited for Garen to tell him the condition of Riven.
"The arrows…" Garen stammered. He sat down at the bottom of the steps and placed his head into his hands. He did not have the strength to do much else at that point in time. Ashe's eyes widened instantly as she realized what he meant.
"The true ice! No! Garen I… !"
"It is not… your fault. I would have done the same… I DID do the same… Shyvana lies up there wounded too…" Ashe hurried to Garen's side and placed a calming hand on the back of his broad shoulders. She rubbed him gently but was without words. She knew that there was not much she could say to comfort him. Her bow was imbued with true ice and the arrows shot consisted of nothing more than the material alone. As far as she knew, nothing other than the powerful magic of the summoners would ever be capable of melting the ice. "Your bow… where did you get it?" Garen asked her. The question seemed a bit random, but she answered out of courtesy.
"I found it, actually. In the middle of the Freljord. I was running from a mob and had nowhere to turn… then this appeared. I believe to this day that it was a gift from Avarosa herself. Why do you ask?"
"Oh… I had hoped it had been forged. Perhaps there is a craftsman who knows how to melt or manipulate the ice," Garen replied.
"Huh… I know that there were master craftsmen who could do such a thing; there are more weapons out there made out of true ice, than just mine. But they were most likely powerful wizards that lived long, long ago. I… I doubt that any of them live today. I am sorry…" Garen got to his feet and walked out of the house. Ashe stared at the entryway for quite some time before she had gathered herself up enough to follow him. Jarvan, having nothing left for him inside of the house, walked outside as well.
Xin Zhao, Tryndamere, and Master Yi were nowhere to be found. The village elder approached the group and pointed towards a house behind him before speaking.
"Your friends are over there. The house has plenty of room in it, so please, feel free to join them and rest awhile. I am sure you are all exhausted. You have done what you can for the wounded. For now, please take care of yourselves and get some sleep." Ashe nodded and gave the man her thanks, before walking towards the home. She rolled her eyes as she stepped over her husband, who was currently asleep among a pile of decapitated snowmen, and made her way to a real bed with the others. Garen found sleep incredibly difficult to acquire. The fact that it was the middle of the day did not do him any good, despite the lack of energy he had left in him. Plus, he could not shake Riven from his mind. He had no idea how long she had left, or what could potentially cure her from the true ice that covered her wounds. It would take an incredible amount of perseverance to endure the pain alone, and the healing was almost impossible so long as the frosty coating to the wounds remained in place. He was at a total loss; he could not bear the thought of losing her, but he saw no realistic solution to the problem.
The rest of the company awoke later that evening when a messenger came into the room and requested that Jarvan and his crew meet him outside. Garen peeked through a window and saw that the sun was starting to set, which meant that he has spent almost his entire day lying in a foreign bed, incapable to getting to sleep, and still had not figured out how to save Riven.
Once outside, the messenger informed Jarvan that he should leave at once. The messenger was, in fact, a summoner and was prepared to bring Jarvan, Xin Zhao, Shyvana, and his two allies from Freljord home. The message confused the prince, and he asked what the meaning was, but the news did not please him; Demacia had been attacked, and he was needed to return home to his country immediately.
"Ashe, seeing as this matter with your people has been resolved, I must leave with this summoner now. Will you be accompanying me? I haven't a clue how you will return without him…"
"No, do not worry about me Prince Jarvan. I have traveled to and fro the Freljord many times on my own. I wish to pursue this matter with the trolls while I am here and have the League's permission to be gone. Tryndamere will stay with me. I will be safe."
"Fair enough," the prince told her before turning to face Garen. "Will you be coming with me? It is still your home, Garen." Garen was not sure how to respond. He wanted nothing more but to aid Demacia in a time of war, but he needed to help Riven out; he had made a promise. As if an answer to his question, a hand was placed on his shoulder just then.
"Go to your home," Master Yi said to him. "Protect your people. I know what it is like to be away during a time of war. I have returned to a village where everyone I loved was no longer there. It is a more unbearable fate that anything you could imagine. I will take care of Riven, you have my sworn word that I will do so."
"You know how to melt the true ice?" Garen questioned.
"There is not a wound in this world that a true practice of the Wuju style cannot cure. She has it in her, and I will teach her. However, this will take time, and dedication. The process will be slow and painful. But rest assured, it can be done."
"I am… not sure that I follow you," Garen replied.
"Not many do. I move really, really fast," Yi responded in a joking tone. Garen was not sure if the man was being serious or not, but his path was clear. Sitting around in the Freljord and pretending to be able to help Riven was not going to do him any good, especially when he knew that Demacia was in trouble.
"Fair enough. I will go with you Jarvan." The Prince smiled and nodded, before turning to the elder's home. Once inside, he found Shyvana to be up and about, just as the doctor had suggested. He waved to her and she smiled before hurrying to side.
"We are leaving, Shyvana. Demacia is in danger. It has been invaded and we must hurry to its aid. A summoner is here to teleport us back home. Are you ready to go?"
"Yes, of course my Prince. Let's go punch things," she said with a grin. Jarvan laughed at the remark and headed towards the door.
"Yes, let's go punch things," he said as he walked out the building. He had just stepped outside when Sejuani walked down the stairs and called out to him.
"Hey! Where is Garen?" she yelled.
"Hmm? Oh, he is outside. We are on our way out. Did you want to speak with him?" Sejuani did not respond to the Prince but she pushed past him and walked out to meet him in the middle of the snow covered street.
"Sejuani?" Garen remarked. "You must rest. Your wounds are grievous. Stop pushing yourself so hard, you have nothing to prove anymore."
"You stop, Garen. I am going with you. I will not heal in the forsaken wasteland, and there is nothing left for me here. I can find proper treatment, and perhaps I can find somewhere that my strength will be helpful." Garen felt that the argument was weak and lacking, but he did not have the energy to combat her wish. It was not a difficult one to fulfill either, seeing as the summoner was never informed what two friends Jarvan was bringing home with him from Freljord.
"Jarvan? Do you mind?" Garen requested of his Prince. He smiled and shook his head.
"Not at all. But let's hurry. Demacia needs us."
"Right," Garen agreed. Garen, Shyvana, Sejuani, Jarvan, and Xin Zhao all stood in a huddle as the summoner prepared his teleportation spell. Hopefully the man had plans to get himself home. A summoner typically did not have the ability to use his or her magic upon his or herself in such a manner; which just helped to emphasize just how crucially important Jarvan's return to help his country was to the League. The group closed their eyes and let the strange, yet familiar, sensation of teleportation flow through their bodies. A few seconds later, they all opened their eyes and found themselves to be right inside the capitol of Demacia; however, they seemed to be the only living Demacians present.
