Chapter VII

There she was. A stranger in my tribe, welcomed with open arms. For what? Her sick friend? I didn't want to tell her, but I doubt she will ever get better. I don't want her to die, of course, but the Demacian's hopes are too high. Demacian... that's what I call her? Why wouldn't I call her Quinn? Because she's a stranger. And that leads me back to square one.

My tribe should have been no place for them. What was I thinking? Bringing the two of them over here, as if I cared whether they lived or died. They were helping the damned Avarossan, they deserve to die just for that. But she doesn't... I mean, they don't. But why would the Avarossan even need Demacia's help? Attacked? By creatures that Quinn couldn't identify? History repeating itself, like the time when I was a child?

Many believe that my siblings died of hunger. I know better.

I told them to stay close to the tribe, I know I did. But they didn't listen. They headed out into the woods anyway, just to breathe their last breaths in the wilderness and I was the only one to see it happen. When I told my parents, they rushed into the forest, as if they thought they would be able to find them alive, but I know that they found nothing more than corpses. And the creatures were waiting for them when they did.

They were monsters, like nothing I had ever seen, a pure mass of darkness enveloping anyone who opposed them. After the death of my family, I knew that one day they would come after me. There's something about them, as if they never forget. They never forget who escaped their wrath.

I escaped, and if we're on about the same creatures, so did Quinn and the dragon. That leads to only one conclusion. They're heading towards the Winter's Claw.

I need to wake up, to warn my people and Quinn, but my muscles don't budge. I have no choice but to rest until I'm ready, partly blaming the reading "lesson" for tiring me out.

I start feeling guilty as soon as I've thought that, because I know that I've always wanted to read. I've always wanted to be able to roam through our so-called library and be able to emerge into a world of faded words but I never could. My parents never taught me how to read and write, and I doubt they were very good at it themselves. And anyway, they never got that chance...

When I listened to Quinn read... I felt something. I stared at her in awe, but I don't think she realized. She was doing what I always dreamed of, and it was so easy for her... it seemed almost... unfair. Normally, I would hate her for that, but I didn't. I carried on listening as she brought each word to life in a way that I imagined only she could. At the end, I didn't want her to stop, as if her voice breathed life into me as well as the words.

Maybe saving them wasn't a bad idea. I know it was uncommon for me to do so, but they were different, and somehow, I realized that as soon as Valor had grabbed my attention. That bird... he sure does know how to annoy you. And he sure does know how to use that sharp beak of his. He was lucky that I didn't kill him straight away after he'd scared off that hare I was after. I swear that it's his fault we have no dinner, as hunting has gotten terrible over the last few days.

There's literally nothing left. Which rises more suspicion. Just how close are these creatures? The monsters...

I tried to wake up again and found that I was able to move my arm. Exhaustion gone, I sat up.

I woke up at the sound of the hut's squeaky floor, followed by a gentle tug of my arm. I opened my eyes to find Sejuani looking down at me.

"Wake up." She said. "I think the creatures will come after us."

I sat up, my head suddenly feeling lighter than it really was. Valor gave a shriek of disapproval as he attempted to get back under the blanket.

"What?" I asked, feeling too dizzy to be able to process information.

"Listen, I'm not sure if they'll get to us, but there's a damned chance that they will. I will warn my soldiers shortly while you go and find the other books we needed. I will meet you there." She said as she quickly fitted her armour on and went outside, not even flinching at the freezing wind.

"Right Val." I said. "Come on, don't waste time."

I tried to stand up, but my bones were stiff from the cold and wouldn't move without several loud clicks. As I looked at my hands and feet I realized that they had gone a weird shade of purple, which triggered a few amused whistles from Valor.

"It's not funny." I said to him. "If they drop off it will be your fault for hogging the blanket."

Back in the library, I resumed my search for the other books. In theory, there should have been at least two others, but I couldn't find any. As my frustration grew, I was interrupted by the sound of footsteps walking towards me.

"I can't find them, Sejuani." I said to her.

"What are you looking for?" Said a raspy voice, which I recognised as the old healer. Surprised, I spun round to face her, embarrassed for calling her Sejuani. "Don't be startled by me." She chuckled. "You are here to help the dragon, right?"

I nodded. "How is she doing?"

She sighed. "Not well, I'm afraid. I have given her the medicine that I had but it didn't have an effect. I have gone to the boundaries of my knowledge, and she's still asleep."

My heart sank.

The healer's eyes (or more like eye) looked over at the table Sejuani and I sat at yesterday and spotted the book we had read.

"Ahh." She said. "I remember that book."

"Do you know where I can find the others?"

The healer nodded slowly. "Of course. We have both of them."

"Both?"

"Yes. What you have here is only one of the two." She picked it up with her shaking hands and turned to the inside of the back cover. There was a small pocket sewn to it neatly, thing which I hadn't noticed before. She opened it and removed a long piece of thread. "This, is one of the two items needed to make the final artefact. Logically, they're located in each book."

"So what do they make? And how does that help Shyvana? And why are there only two if the book says it's volume three?" I asked her.

"We know that they make a type of necklace. We are unsure as to what the necklace does." She paused. "But we know for a fact that there's only ever been two books, labelled volume two and three, and there was never a first."

"What? That can't be."

"What if I told you it can?"

I thought about it for a moment. "A trick. Maybe to make you think there's three so you'd spend all your time searching for the first and never actually unleashing their secret?"

The healer smiled. "They all think like that." She chuckled. "No. The reason they're labelled the way they are is to indicate that there's something else that must be used in harmony with the artefact. Something which the author deemed more important and therefore made it come first."

I nodded. "Where's the second book?"

She pointed to a chest under an old desk in the corner. I went over to it and opened it, realizing that it was heavier than it looked. Once opened, I was harassed by several big spiders that dashed to safety away from the sudden light, but my attention was focused on the pile of books inside. I took them out, one by one, until I found volume II. At the back, just like in the other one, was a pocket. As I opened it, I found a bright red ruby with a small hole at the top, so that it could be put through the thread. However, unlike other rubies, this one seemed to... glow.

The healer handed me the thread she was holding and I hung the ruby onto it, making it glow even more as it came in contact with the thread.

"Right." I said. "Now it's time to find out what it does." I hesitated before I put it on, but nothing happened. I sighed and took it off.

"Where's the leader?" she asked suddenly.

"She's warning the soldiers. She thinks the monsters are coming."

"The ones that attacked the Avarossan? The ones that you fled before the dragon fell into this state of sleep?"

I stared at her for a few moments. "How do you know?"

She laughed. "I may only see the world out of one eye, but that doesn't mean the other is useless. It just shows me other things. Things which people may call useless. Things which I learnt to bend in my favour."

I looked at her still eye, noticing how it looked as if it was covered in a thick fog.

"Now tell me, what made you think Sejuani could learn to read?" She asked me.

I was taken aback again, but got some words together to form an answer. "I thought she might want to."

She shook her head. "She's always wanted to, but she can't. What she doesn't remember is that she was actually taught when she was younger, but the reason the lessons didn't persist was because she simply couldn't. She looked at the letters and said they merged together and she couldn't make out what they were. Don't waste your time. She won't learn."

"It's because they didn't know how to teach me." Her voice rang and echoed throughout the entire room, and I think a few of the shelves trembled. "I think you have a dragon to attend to."

The healer smiled as she turned to go, receiving a cold look from Sejuani as she went.

The tribe leader then turned to face me. She sighed, probably in an attempt to make her anger reside. "What did you find?" she asked calmly.

I hesitated, not sure if I should comfort her about the reading thing or just let it pass. Either way, I was still determined to keep my side of the bargain. She cleared her throat, signalling she was impatient for my answer.

"This." I lifted the necklace up so that she could see, suddenly realizing that it was glowing brighter than before.

Sejuani approached me further, trying to get a better look, and as she did so, the light the ruby emitted intensified even more.

"Wow." I said.

"What does it do?" She asked, just as curious as I was.

"I don't know. I put it on earlier and nothing happened... Then as soon as you came in..." I paused and looked up and Sejuani. "Maybe it's you that made this happen."

"I really doubt that..."

I didn't even let her finish as I slid it over her head. The light had become so strong that I had to squint in order to look at it.

"Feel anything?" I asked her.

She didn't answer as she looked down, her hand reaching up to her chest and placed flat just below her collarbone. She held her breath for a few moments before letting out a sigh. Shortly, her eyes were lifted off the ground and locked into mine.

"Yes." She removed the necklace and handed it back to me. "It's like a warm feeling. It starts where the ruby touches and slowly spreads." She shook her head. "I don't see how this helps. You try it."

I looked down at the necklace, noticing that it was still incredibly bright. I put it on and felt the same thing.

"I don't get it. It wasn't working before."

Sejuani shrugged. "Still, how does this help your dragon?"

I removed the ruby from the thread, causing the light to diminish completely. "We never know. It might have an effect on her. She's the sick one, not us."

"Then why are we here? Let's go try it."

We headed outside, where Bristle and Valor were waiting.

"You done smooching or what?" Said Valor boldly.

I turned towards him quickly, giving him a staggered look. "What?" I said, but received only laughter from his behalf. "What on earth, Val..." I quickly disregarded his comment as I followed Sejuani into the healer's hut only a few steps away.

She knocked on the door and when we heard no reply we simply entered. The room was empty, except for Shyv still lying on the bed, looking the same as she always had.

I placed the ruby back onto the thread, making it light up again. Sejuani lifted Shyv's head gently as I put the necklace around her neck, surprised to find that the light had vanished as soon as I had done so. So there it was, a useless "artefact".

I let out one of many sighs of frustration. "What have we done wrong?"

"Maybe we need something else." The tribe leader suggested.

"But it worked before..." I paused to think about it. "The healer said there's only two books because the first isn't a book at all... So what is it?"

"Wait, there's only two?"

I nodded. "There's something else that needs to be used in harmony with the artefact."

A short silence followed.

"What other people did Shyvana know?" Sejuani asked suddenly.

"Why would that matter?"

"Maybe there's a correlation between the necklace and the people present?"

"I doubt that's it..." I answered.

"I'm not stupid." Her voice hardened.

"I didn't mean..."

"You did. Perhaps you didn't realize it, but that's what you meant. It's just reading and writing I can't do, so don't think otherwise!" She turned away from me and fixed her gaze onto the floor.

"Sejuani..."

"It's always been like that. I was always the leader of these people and they always saw me and referred to me as that. But they also thought I didn't have the brain to do things. They thought that's why I declined Ashe's peace treaty. They thought all my decisions were wrong, not because they were, but because I was the one that made them." Her voice changed by the end of her sentence, as if it was breaking.

I walked around her so I could face her, and when she tried to turn away I grabbed onto her arms to stop her. I looked straight into her eyes, noticing that tears were threatening to escape as her lower lip trembled slightly. I could have never imagined someone like her be on the verge of crying, and yet here she was, a taciturn warrior vulnerable under my grip.

I didn't know what to do, so I simply pulled her closer and enveloped her into my embrace and to my surprise, she didn't resist against it. There was one small, solitary sob as she rested her head on my shoulder, but soon there was nothing other than golden silence and the comfortable feel of the hug.