Chapter X
Blood rushed through my veins as the soldiers of Freljord charged behind Sejuani, joined by a single Demacian soul accompanied with an eagle. I realized just how much I stood out against a background of brutal warriors, covered in thick furs and impenetrable armour, carrying weapons the size of their own bodies, with a weight greater than theirs.
The fleeing men and women had seen us and parted into two groups, allowing us to charge through the middle, while they joined through the sides. They were exhausted, but served well as back ups for the Winter's Claw, whose soldiers dashed forward as if battling mere rabbits.
In the midst of the chaos, I managed to spot Fiora joining the fight, and rushed over to help her.
"I've got your back!" I said to her, shooting frantically at the beasts and leading Valor forward to blind them.
My arrows seemed to do as much damage as splinters, but at least it distracted them as Valor and Fiora pounced on one of the creatures, somehow knocking it to the ground. The duelist drove her blade straight through its head, causing it to let out a petrifying shriek as it froze and slowly faded like scattered ashes in the wind.
There was no time for any form of victorious feeling as more beasts headed towards us. The soldiers all around us were doing a great job, now that we all fought united, but I wasn't stupid enough to ignore several human corpses amongst the dark ashes.
The air thickened as yells and screams surrounded us. The number of monsters seemed to go down quickly, but that gave us nothing other than false hope. As I had killed another, my head rose to the sight of several trees being knocked down. There was no time to even shout a warning as something more immense and horrifying burst out of the forest and into the clearing.
It was higher than ten men put together, and revealed a wide set of fangs as it roared, grabbing everyone's attention. It was as dark as the others, but twice as wide and fierce.
"Focus on the big one!" I heard Fiora yell, her voice weakened, but filled with determination. Almost at once, the warriors charged towards it and tried to injure it in whatever way they could, but failed.
However, I noticed something. Sejuani was not leading them like I knew she would. I looked around and saw her, crouched down at Bristle's side and ran towards them, faster than I ever thought myself capable of.
"What's happened?" I asked her and immediately felt scared of the answer.
"Bristle's injured. He can't get up. Damned beasts!" She looked towards the beasts, which were now focused on all the other warriors. "I can't leave him."
"Don't worry, I'll stay with him, you go! They need you more than they need me!"
"But... I can't just fight from the ground like this..." She looked across and spotted Makechau's mega poro. Her lips formed a smirk. "You useless fluff ball..." She buried her face in Bristle's fur and muttered something softly to him before mounting the poro. "Thank you, Quinn! I'll never forget this!" She smiled before heading off, riding the mega poro.
As she joined the others, she led them forward like no other leader could ever manage. I kneeled down next to Bristle and Valor, admiring the strength of the Winter's Wrath.
"Too bad Demacia's leader isn't as great, eh, Valor?" I asked him jokingly.
"Don't talk like that about your crush!" He shrieked, but somehow he didn't seem to mean what he said.
I paused. "You're right." I chuckled.
He let out a sigh.
"Charge!" I heard Sejuani yell, followed by a loud thud as the monster came crashing down onto the ground. They rushed onto it, but it was Sejuani that delivered the final a blow.
The creature screamed under the impact of the leader's weapon, but unlike the others before it, it spoke.
"Darkness does not fade... it merely relocates. Light does not reach all corners..." It let out another shrieked and turned towards Sejuani. "I have encountered you before. I do not forget. You're all scarred with my deeds. I took your family, the same way I took Caleb." And with that, it seemed to chuckle before fading away, taking all other remaining creatures with it.
My heart shattered at the sound of his name.
"You never told me he was killed by them." Said Fiora as I was patching up Bristle's leg.
I was on the verge of tears, but held onto them. "I never knew. I don't remember what happened..."
"Right... Where's Shyv?"
I sighed. "She's..." I stopped when Sejuani knelt down besides me and handed me the herbs I asked for her to bring. I smelled them. "These aren't the right ones."
"Why not? You told me they smell sweet."
"I said sweet and spicy. These are just sweet."
"Oh." She said.
"It doesn't matter, I'll go fetch them." Fiora and Sejuani both stood up to follow me to the healer's hut.
"So how is she?" Asked Fiora again.
"She's in here actually." I replied.
We entered quietly, but Fiora's loud gasp broke the silence. She walked over to Shyvana and knelt down beside her bed, as her knees trembled violently and she feared she might fall.
"Has she... woken ever since...?" She whispered.
"No... But she will. We're trying to find a way... She'll get better. Right, Sejuani?" I turned towards the tribe leader.
Sej picked up a handful of herbs and handed them to me. "Are these the ones?"
I sighed. Fiora had burrowed her face in her arms as she leant onto the bed and shook her head when I approached her.
"We'll meet you outside when you're ready." I said warmly and gave her a pat on her shaking shoulder.
Once outside, we got back to Bristle and I finished bandaging his leg, adding bits of the herbs to help heal the wound as I had read in one of the books in the library. He couldn't walk properly, but at least he managed to limp short distances.
"Leader of the Winter's Claw," Ashe's voice was suddenly heard, "please hear my request."
We turned to see Ashe and Jarvan.
"Our people are tired and cannot endure the journey back. All we ask for is shelter for the night and very little supplies just to keep us going a while longer." Her voice was different, as if she was intimidated by Sejuani.
"We would be willing to make it up to you, of course, once everyone is back on their feet." Jarvan added.
"You're asking for my help?" Sejuani chuckled coldly. "Hell, even if I wished to help you I wouldn't. There's nowhere for your men to sleep, and the little food we have would rather go to my people. Plus, you're the Avarossan. You already have everything."
"You don't understand. We were attacked, we fled. We're miles away from our tribe and we'd surely starve or freeze if we tried to make it back in our current state. Not to mention how far the Demacian army is from home." Ashe replied, her voice calm, but shaky.
"See? You don't know what it means to have nothing. You don't know how it feels like to stand at death's door. Maybe it's time for you to learn."
"Stand at death's door? If you haven't noticed death has already invited us inside and had tea with us!" Ashe's outburst took us all by surprise. She cleared her throat. "I don't understand why we're rivals, Sejuani. All I want is a Freljord that is united, not one that's riven and torn." She added apologetically.
Sejuani sighed. "As I said, you have nowhere to sleep and we have little food. I suspect it was those creatures' fault that animals were wiped out in such a way and hunting won't return to normal for a while now." She paused. "We have plenty of furs though, they make nice sleeping bags. My people will be cynical and hesitate in accommodating you, but I will instruct them to. We'll have as many soldiers as the floor can bear inside. The rest sleep outside. But food... They'll go to sleep with an empty stomach, I'm sure."
Ashe smiled. "Thank you, Sejuani. I am forever in your debt."
Jarvan nodded. "Thanks."
As they walked away, we focused back on Bristle and led him to Sejuani's hut. He leant on the both of us as he limped, and all I can say is that he was the heaviest thing I had ever seen. We let him rest and headed back to the healer's hut, where we saw Fiora waiting outside, trying to wipe her tears faster than they came.
"Go back inside." Said Sejuani. "Trust me, you don't want your eyelids to freeze together."
Fiora chuckled and headed back in, but something told me that the leader didn't mean it as a joke.
We sat around Shyvana and talked idly. For some reason, I didn't expect Fiora to be so hurt at the sight of the poor dragon, which made me question whether there was something I didn't know.
"So you were here all this time, safe and everything, while I was worried sick?" She asked.
"You know I couldn't have come back and leave Shyv behind. And Sejuani was very kind to offer us her help." I replied.
"Of course, of course. I didn't mean it like that..." She paused. "Which reminds me, would there be any spare place for me to sleep for the night?"
"We've already made arrangements with Ashe and Jarvan. Your people are welcome to stay for the night wherever we manage to fit them. If you want, you can sleep in here. The healer would be happy to have you." Said Sejuani, suddenly much happier with the deal.
Fiora nodded. "Alright, thanks."
The healer came in some time later, holding a bunch of herbs which I suspected she had just finished picking. She gave us a wonky smile and handed Fiora a couple of fur blankets for her to sleep on, as if she knew her place of rest without even being told.
We wished the two of them goodnight and headed over to Sejuani's home. There were no soldiers accommodated in her hut, maybe because they were either too scared of her, or simply because she wouldn't have any more strangers.
The tribe leader opened the door and stood by it. After a brief second, I realized that she was holding it open for me to go in first, so I rushed inside and muttered an awkward thanks. Valor had made himself comfortable in the furs on the floor as soon as we had entered, but Sejuani shook her head.
"I've... had a thought." She said slowly, as if choosing her words carefully. "Both of you are freezing. I wouldn't mind giving up the bed for the two of you."
"Oh no, don't worry, honestly." I replied, somewhat flattered by her offer. "We'll do ok, no problem."
"No, no." She nodded towards my purple fingers. "You know it only gets worse if you're not careful, right? Today your fingers, tomorrow your whole arms." She smiled. "I'm alright on the floor, I'm used to the cold."
I sighed. One look at the bed told me that there was a chance for all of us to fit in... "There's no need. We can all fit in and none of us would be cold."
She nodded, seemingly happy with the idea, but Valor shrieked in disapproval. "Actually, I'm gonna sleep in those furs."
I looked at him, surprised. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah." He said with a grin on his beak.
As he crept under the furs, Sejuani and I made ourselves comfortable in the bed. I made sure to stay as close to the edge as I could, as I didn't want to disturb her, but as some time passed, none of us were asleep.
"Umm..." said Sejuani, "do you mind if we carry on with the reading lesson? You know, as neither of us can sleep yet..."
"That'd be great. But we don't have a book."
She stood up. The bed turned cold without her heat within a few seconds, as she headed towards the table and picked up a book which I never noticed before. She returned, and handed it to me as she sat back down. Legends of Freljord.
"Is this the same book from the library?" I asked her.
"Yes, I... borrowed it."
I stared at her for a few moments.
"What?" She said. "I'll put it back when we're done. Isn't that what you're supposed to do with library books anyway?"
I chuckled and opened it to the first page. "Who's reading?"
"You." She smiled.
"Alright."
The book was filled with various legends revolving around Freljord, each one set in a different time period. As I read them aloud, Sejuani would sometimes shake her head and correct the minor mistakes that the author had made in the descriptions, or in the order things happened. I was astonished by her vast knowledge of these isolated and bitter lands as her explanations were incredibly detailed.
As we made our way through the pages, she leaned against me, and eventually rested her head onto my shoulder. I could feel her hot breath on my neck, and tried hard to hold back the shiver that crawled its way up my spine. The new warmth that enveloped me wasn't necessarily from her body, but from another source which only seemed to grow as we inched closer.
I noticed that she had stopped correcting the text for quite some time, so I turned my head slightly to look at her, making sure she wasn't asleep. However, instead of looking down at the page, she was staring back at me, her icy blue eyes penetrating my thoughts as they always did.
I could have stood there like that forever, but our eyes parted when she leaned forward just a few more inches, pressing her lips onto mine.