"I shouldn't worry, she'll be back soon." She thought.
As the day dragged into night Ashe still hadn't returned. Selina waited at the edge of the village with worry. Now she definitely knew that something was wrong, Ashe should've been back by now, she never returned this late and she always returned, no matter what village she was visiting.
"Where are you?" Selina wondered. She also knew that she wasn't the only one who was worried. She glanced back and saw a group of villagers huddled in a group murmuring with looks of concern.
"Where is Ashe? She should've been back by now!" they said. That only raised their fear more and Selina saw that they were beginning to lose it.
"Calm down!" she heard someone bark. She turned to see the captain of the guard coming towards the group.
"Warmother Ashe has not returned, now we will not panic she wouldn't want us to do that. We must remain calm," he said. Selina watched as other guards came forward.
"What will we do? What if she has been captured? A lady cried.
"What if she has been injured?"
"What if she is lost?" The group continued to cry out until the captain raised his voice to be heard.
"Calm yourselves! She is fine, we will send out a party to the other villages to make sure that she is ok," he said.
"A blizzard is coming captain, will we make it through?" one of the guards asked. He hesitated and Selina could tell that he didn't believe the words that he responded with.
"We will make it through, no matter what we will find her, FOR THE FRELJORD!" he shouted holding his sword up high in the air.
"FOR THE FRELJORD!" the villagers and guards shouted. As they dispersed and the guards got into groups for the search Selina looked towards the mountain with a grim look.
"They won't make it." she realized. She could tell that the blizzard was only an hour away from happening. Even if they did get to the village, they wouldn't be able to return home much less with Ashe.
"She couldn't be in the village, she must've tried to get home but something happened. She wouldn't just stay out in this weather much less in a blizzard." Selina thought. She took a deep breath and shook herself. She couldn't just do nothing, she knew that they didn't know her, or they couldn't care less about her, but all she cared about was keeping them safe until they won this war. Ashe was the only hope for the land, and she couldn't just stand here and lose that hope.
"I don't care if anyone thinks of me as an outsider because I am. But the only reason I would give my life for this tribe because Ashe is their only hope of having a life at all. So no matter what, I will bring her back, even if I die myself."
She was almost regretting her thought as soon as she stepped out of the village. First, it was freezing and dark as could be. She could hardly see anything even with her night vision, the snow showing no reflection from the moon. Then her wound had started hurting again which only slowed her down even more. She hissed as she stepped into the snow only to fall into it face first. She growled and shook herself. Why was she doing this? She could care less about the tribe! But the thought of the frostguard stabbing into her snapped her back into reality.
"If I don't do this, then the whole land will be dead, maybe all of Runeterra." she shivered. She had to keep going, no matter what. She just didn't know where the archer could be.
"If I were an archer where would I go?" she thought. If she were heading back...she would probably take the most simple route, which was the path Selina had taken to get here in the first place. But if she knew that a blizzard was going to hit, hen she might've taken-
"A shortcut." she thought. She knew where one was, it was a cut through the forest, a small yet hidden path where there weren't any hills, yet extremely hidden by the snow.
"She would've gone through there to avoid the blizzard and get home early, so she must've been stopped by something on the way." Selina thought. She quickly headed in the direction of the forest, cutting through the trees until finally, she reached a snow-covered plain, the moon shining in the sky.
"I don't have much time before the blizzard hits, I need to find her now." Selina looked around narrowing her eyes as she spotted footprints in the snow, boot prints yet not big enough to be warriors. Ashe, it had to be her. Selina followed them only to find that they veered away from the forest and down into a ravine close by.
"Why would she go this way?" Selina frowned and kept going, following the footsteps until she suddenly saw something gleaming in the snow. Blood. Panic started to rise in her, but she followed the trail shaking as she realized that it went deeper and deeper in the ravine. As she followed it she realized also on the small trees there were bloody handprints and even a broken tree as if someone had fallen and grabbed the tree to stop their momentum.
"Ashe, what in the world happened?" she thought. She followed the trail until she came to a small cliff where it seemingly ended. She gulped and slowly went to the edge and looked over, only to see a body lying there in the snow, the snow stained red around it.
"Oh my gosh!" She thought quickly, running half sliding down until she reached the person.
"Ashe, oh my God!" Selina thought in terror. Her cloak was laid around her stained with blood. There were cuts all over her from the branches and her once white hair was stained with blood and plastered to her face.
"Ashe, what happened to you?" Selina whispered. That was when she noticed an arrow sticking out from her back, it was bleeding and she hesitated, not sure what to do.
"Should I pull it out? That doesn't sound like the best idea right now, especially since I don't have anything to stop the bleeding." Selina took a deep breath then gently shook her.
"Ashe, please wake up!" she said. Ashe barely responded, only moaning with pain. Selina hissed in frustration.
"Come on you have to get up! We can't stay here for long, not with a blizzard coming!" Ashe shifted and slowly opened her eyes, flashing with surprise.
"Selina...what are you doing here?" she murmured. Selina shook her head.
"Not now, we have to get out of here, can you stand?" Ashe blinked.
"I don't know if I can," she said, her voice shaking.
"You have to try, come on." Selina held out her arm wincing as Ashe grabbed it and Selina tried her best to help her up, wincing as a bolt of pain shot through her hip. As they stood there Selina looked around and knew that they couldn't climb up like this.
"We have to find shelter, do you know any places we could go?" Selina asked. Ashe shook her head.
"The only places I know are too far from here. We won't make it there in time before the blizzard," she said her voice shaking with exhaustion.
"We have to try." Selina started walking, making sure that Ashe was close by her as they made their way through the ravine. Selina looked around hoping that there was some sort of small hill they could try to climb, but there were none. As they walked she could tell that Ashe was in serious pain. Her breaths were ragged and she walked even slower than Selina was which wasn't good at all, considering that there was a blizzard coming.
"We have to walk faster, come on," Selina said. She felt Ashe shake.
"I don't know if I can, it hurts," she whispered.
"Come on you have to try!" That's when the blizzard hit. It came without warning, a hurricane of snow and ice. Pain shot through her as Selina was knocked off her feet, landing in the snow with a cry of shock. The blizzard raged like nothing she had seen before. It howled and she could've sworn that she heard the screech of a bird overhead. She looked around squinting her eyes to see through the white until she saw Ashe laying there a few feet away. She crawled over to her, protecting her face as she crouched next to her shivering. Ashe looked at her and for the first time, she saw fear.
"I'm sorry Selina, but you have to go without me. Warn the tribe that the Frostguard are coming!" she said desperately. Selina shook her head.
"I'm not leaving without you!" Ashe glared at her.
"You have too, otherwise the tribes will be overrun!" Selina hissed.
"Did you think that I came out here with the intention of leaving you? Well I didn't and I'm not leaving you, so come on!" She held out a hand. "You can warn them yourself!" Ashe glanced at her then at the hand, then she took it and they managed to once again stand as the winds buffed them. Where could they go? There was nothing around them but mountain and snow- Selina paused as an idea suddenly formed in her head. It was a long shot, but if it was still there...
"I know somewhere we can hide, we just have to make it there," Selina shouted over the roaring wind. They began walking again, fighting against the force as Selina led them to the one place where she had hidden from the frostguard. No one was supposed to know about it, it was her only hiding spot and an only safe haven from her enemies and yet she was about to lead a strange woman into it. A small part of her shouted at her to abandon Ashe and save herself, but she shoved it away. There was no way she could do that, Ashe was the only hope of a peaceful land and she wasn't about to give up on that now. She peered through the white snow and finally spotted it. A small cave, hidden by icicles hanging over the entrance, making it look like part of the mountain.
"Come on we're almost there!" She said. She felt Ashe shaking and knew that wouldn't last much longer, so she practically dragged her over to the entrance hearing a small shout of pain as she grabbed the woman and pushed her inside. She quickly went in after her and immediately fell down gasping for breath on the snow-covered floor.
"We made it!" she thought, closing her eyes in relief. She let out a cry of happiness and glanced around at the place with a smile. She was home, after months away she was finally home. She was content with just laying there and falling asleep right then and there, but a soft moan snapped her back. Ashe. She quickly looked over and saw the archer glance at her with a smile.
"We did it," she murmured. Selina smiled.
"Yeah, we did." Ashe let out a soft laugh and closed her eyes with a sigh.
Yeah, and I think that I'm going to take a long nap." she said softly. Selina shook her head.
"Not yet, come one, there's a better place for that." Ashe gave her a look but took her hand once again as Selina led her to her room that only had a bed and a small table beside it.
"Here." Selina helped her into it and Ashe gazed at her in shock.
"But it's yours." Selina shook her head.
"It's yours, you need it more than me, but before you sleep I'm sorry but I have to treat that wound, I don't want it to get infected." Ashe glanced at her warily.
"Can you? I mean you don't have-" she began.
"Medical training? I know. But I guess that staying in bed all day at a healer's place taught me a few things." Selina smiled. Ashe chuckled.
"I can't believe that you're that stubborn!" she exclaimed. Selina shrugged.
"I've been told that now don't move, this will hurt." Ashe nodded, her gaze wary. Selina climbed into the bed behind her looking at the wound with grimace. The arrow was lodged just below her shoulder next to the spine. "Goodness, whoever did this really wanted her dead." she thought with a shiver. She grasped the arrow firmly and taking a deep breath suddenly pulled it out with all her might, wincing as she heard Ashe let out an agonized cry. She inspected it then gently placed it down on the table and grabbing the bandage under her bed wrapped it around the wound tightly to stop the bleeding.
"Selina, how long have you been living here?" Ashe asked softly. Selina didn't answer, memories came, screaming and terror, and the cold bite of winds as she arrived, running from the only person who could cause her harm. Why did it matter how long she had lived here? This was her home now, and she was quite happy with it, yet a feeling was inside of her, a feeling of loneliness.
"The wound should stop bleeding in a few minutes, I'll get a fresh bandage tomorrow, and hopefully the blizzard will stop so we can get back to Jerald. Rest now," she said curtly, turning to go before she felt a cold hand on her wrist stopping her.
"Selina please...tell me," Ashe whispered. Selina paused for a moment before answering. "Five years." She then went out of the room leaving her parting words with the woman. She went over to the spare pile of furs across the bedroom and lay down, letting her tears soak into the warmth.
"It doesn't matter, all I need is to get her back to her tribe then I'm on my own." Selina thought. Her father's words came back into her head. "An assassin does not make bonds with strangers, you could end up killing them. Friendships and love make you weak. Remember that." If she thinks that we can be friends then she is sorely mistaken, all I need to know is that she is the true queen of this land and nothing more." Selina sighed, trying to ignore the feeling that was rising in her. "I'll help her, but I will not talk to her, as soon as she is better, she is on her own."
