Chapter XI

I wrapped my arms gently around her neck, dropping the book onto the bed as I kissed her back, feeling her strong arms pulling me closer by my waist. The world around us vanished and all I could focus on was the soft touch of her lips against mine. My heart raced wildly and showed no signs of slowing down, even when she pulled away.

For a few moments we just stood there and stared into each other's eyes until she finally spoke.

"I..." her voice came out higher in pitch that she had expected so she paused and cleared her throat quickly, "I... err... I mean..." She sighed as if she gave up on her own words. "I'm sorry." She said as she pulled her arms away.

"Don't be." I said with a smile, causing her to embrace me once more. "There's going to a long day tomorrow. Sleep well."

"You too."

I had fallen asleep in Sejuani's arms, enveloped in her comforting warmth, feeling her every breath as my head rested on her chest. I had found safety in the soft touch of her hands against my back, as if I was as vulnerable as a rabbit. The night seemed to fly past as I was drawn deeper into a world of dreams...

I looked all around me, but saw nothing other than darkness. I walked forward into a never-ending world of nothingness, when a bright light caught my eye. I ran towards it, as if my life depended on it, before being blinded by its brightness...

There was laughter. The laugh of a person I remembered only too well. I tried to focus on his figure on top of the blinding light but failed. His laughter continued, until it started to fade. The happy sound turned into a groan which soon turned into an agonising scream. I waved my arms frantically, I yelled his name, I tried to focus on what was going on, but I couldn't. Then, silence.

The light faded, and contrasting onto the darkness I finally saw him. It was really him. It was Caleb, my brother. He smiled, and turned his head to the right. I followed his gaze and spotted Shyvana walking towards him. Her confident stride was normal, but as she neared us, she seemed to get weaker and weaker, until she resorted to limping to Caleb's side. They stared at me, their far too familiar eyes punctured my soul. I tried to speak to them but a feeble whimper was the most that I could muster.

Slowly, the two of them seemed to be getting further into the darkness. I tried to follow, to run after them, but my legs were stiff and wouldn't move. I yelled after them, I told them not to leave me, but they didn't listen. They faded away and all of my attempts to stop them were in vain. They were gone, and I was left alone in the everlasting darkness with nothing but my own screams to keep me company...

I awoke with a gasp. My eyes scanned my surroundings, but it was Sejuani's soothing scent that brought me back to reality. My breathing was still heavy as she, too, awoke and ran a hand through my hair, brushing aside a few flocks from my face.

"Are you alright?" She asked sleepily.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for waking you up." I replied apologetically.

She smiled. "That's ok. It's nearly time to get up anyway." She looked through the window as the warm colours of dawn fought their way through a layer of thick clouds. "Are you sure you're ok?" She added.

"Yeah, honestly. It was just a bad dream."

"They're a real pain, these dreams. I never listen to any of them. They'd drive me mad otherwise." She sighed. "The amount of times they remind you of something you try so hard to forget is unbearable."

I nodded.

"Well, no point in sitting and doing nothing." She said. "Come on, you can kick the Avarossan out with me."

I chuckled and followed her outside. Valor was still asleep and I decided not to wake him up just yet. I had only just realized how kind he had been to sleep on the floor while leaving me and Sejuani alone... That bird is a kind genius. Sometimes. But how did he anticipate what would happen? Maybe he didn't even do it on purpose.

I seemed to have gotten used to the bitter morning wind of Freljord, but the constant layer of snow that engulfed my boots was driving me crazy. I walked like a newborn duck as we made our way to the healer's hut, to say good morning to Fiora and the healer, while checking on Shyv. When we entered, the sight of the dragon immediately reminded me of my dream. I was suddenly even more afraid of losing her.

"Good morning!" Said the healer in a husky voice.

We returned her greeting, while Fiora simply moaned a reply. She was still wrapped up in the furs and didn't show any other sign of life.

"What's up, Fiora? Have you been drinking too much vodka again?" I asked her.

"Foutu pute, je vais te tuer..." she replied under her breath, making me chuckle.

"Wash your mouth out. And this time, don't use vodka."

Fiora growled as she sat up, but she beared a smile as she did so.

"How's the dragon?" asked Sejuani.

"I think she may be getting worse. My remedy is not working, as I had predicted. I have reached the boundaries of my powers, and I fear that I managed to change little about her faith." replied the healer. "As scary as this may sound, I'm afraid that she is in your hands. It's up to you three to come up with something now, for I have proven quite... useless."

"No, you haven't. Thank you for all your help." I said to her and received a heartening smile in return.

"Well I am not thanking anyone until I see Shyv on her feet again." Said Fiora.

"There's the necklace that we found..." Sejuani's voice was hesitant, "If we're willing to figure it out, of course."

"Should I be made aware of this?" The duelist asked.

I sighed. "I'm not sure if it's of any help though. Sure, it glows, but what does that have to do with anything?" I said, but Fiora's expression just grew more puzzled. "We found it at the back of two books which were labelled 2 and 3 and didn't include a first in their series. They spoke all about diseases but mentioned no such thing as a glowing necklace, so we think it's useless."

"You think it's useless," added Sejuani.

Fiora didn't seem very enlightened at our explanation so I headed over to the table that I left the necklace on and showed it to her. As I grasped it, it seemed to emit a familiar faint glow.

"And when you put it on..."

I slid the necklace over my head, squinting as the glow turned into a blinding light.

"Wow," exclaimed Fiora as I took it off.

"Yeah, yeah, but it's not useful." I said.

"You can't be sure of that. We just don't know what it does and how it does it yet." Sejuani added once more.

I was going to argue again, but suddenly felt as if she was right. I knew Sejuani wasn't stupid, and yet here I was making it seem as if she was. I bit my tongue before I could object, and decided to believe her.

"You're right." I said. "Sorry. We should try to find out what it does."

Sejuani smiled at my response.

I handed the necklace to Fiora so that she could examine it. As she held it, it emitted the same faint light as it had when I had it, and shone brightly when she put it on too.

"So we know it glows on me, you and Sejuani, but not on Shyv." I looked over at the healer. "Would you mind trying it on?"

She took the necklace with shaky hands and slid it over her head. Nothing. The bones around her collarbone rattled as she took it off again and handed it back to us.

"There must be some connection. What do we three have that they don't or vice versa?" Said Sejuani.

We thought for a moment but came up with nothing. Our silence was interrupted by the sudden change in Shyvana's breathing, as if she needed to gasp with every breath. The healer rushed over to her and lifted her by the shoulders so she was sitting up. Shortly, after she returned to normal, she laid her down again.

"This is what I mean when I say she's getting worse." She said. "If there isn't someone here to help her, she would suffocate. Her muscles are getting weaker by the minute. If there is truly any cure to this disease, we need it soon."

Fiora's shoulders had dropped and she bowed her head. I knew her well enough to realize that she was just trying to hide her tears, and made no comment about it.

"Where will we find more information on this necklace? We've already turned the library inside out." I said.

"We'll ask," replied Sejuani. "My people have a taste for legends as well as combat."

I didn't doubt that statement, remembering her vast knowledge of Freljord. We asked Fiora if she wanted to come with us, but she said she'd rather stay with Shyv and we didn't push her. There really was something that I didn't know about, but this wasn't the time to ask.

Outside, we spotted Makechau again. He was brushing the fur of his poro with a twig and moaned something with a smile when he saw us. Then he kissed his poro on the nose.

"That man is really creepy." I said.

"Oh, don't mind him. He's just sober from his lemon beer."

"I still don't understand how he's alive."

Sejuani smiled. "Neither do I. I threw him off a cliff once. Damned man showed up at my doorstep the next day."

I chuckled. "How come he hangs around here?"

"Didn't I tell you? This is where he's supposed to be living, with his sister, but he doesn't want to. Maybe he realizes just how much of a bother he can be and leaves her alone."

"So the healer is his sister? Really?" I sounded more surprised than I actually was.

"Yeah, Olava the healer and her crazy brother Makechau. Sounds legit."

I nodded and we carried on walking. As we made our way through the snow, we spotted Jarvan knocking on Sejuani's door.

"He better be here to tell me they're leaving," muttered Sejuani as we headed over to him.

"Oh, good morning! I was just coming to find you," said Jarvan. "You see... we can't exactly leave yet..."

"You can't? Oh, I'll show you `can't`!" She lifted her fist in the air and thrust it towards him, but missed as I grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back. I put my arm around her shoulders until she calmed down. "Fine. Only because we have bigger problems at the moment." Sejuani added, her tone still irritated.

"Thank you! And if there's anything I can do to help then feel free to ask," he said

"No, you can't..."

"Actually," I interrupted Sej, "you might be able to. We need as much help as we can get. If you've ever heard of anything that might cure a rare half-dragon specific disease then please let us know. Also, we'd also appreciate any information on necklaces that glow when worn by particular people."

His shocked frown told me everything. He didn't know anything. "Why would you need any of this?" He asked.

"It's Shyvana, sir. She's sick." I answered.

He sighed and nodded. "It's always sad when we lose a good Demacian soldier."

"Are you stupid or something? We haven't lost her yet, you useless block head." Sejuani's voice rang and a pile of snow landed on Jarvan from the roof of the hut. I looked up to find Valor perched up there, scraping away at the snow.

"Valor!" I said chuckling, and to my surprise, Sejuani was laughing as well. She surely did have a wonderful laugh.

Jarvan cleared his throat as he brushed away the snow from his head and shoulders.

"You might find it useful to ask Ashe about your troubles. Excuse me." He said as he walked away, clearly offended.

"I hate that man maybe more than I hate Ashe. Good thing not all Demacians are like him."

I nodded, unaware that I was doing so.

"But Quinn I thought you liked him." Said Valor, but I unintentionally ignored him as I turned my attention to Sejuani.

"Come on. We can head down to Alvor's and see if people know anything. Everyone would be gathered there, no doubt." She was saying.

"Alvor's?"

"Yeah, it's a sort of inn. The Winter's Claw version of an inn of course. It doesn't provide any service other than drinks. That's it, no food, no place to sleep. Just a good drink and occasionally some music, if people are up for it." She explained.

Sejuani was right. It really did seem as if everyone living in the tribe was gathered at this inn. Although its walls were cracked and its doors squeaked horribly, it seemed like a lively place, with the strong smell of alcohol filling it. We walked over to the bar and peaked over it to see a short man with a long beard peering from behind the counter.

"Hello, Sejuani. The usual, is it?" he asked as soon as he saw her, an grabbed a bottle of whisky and a tankard, ready to pour some in.

"Not this time, Alvor. We're here to talk to you actually. Have you heard anyone talk about, now this will sound weird, a necklace that... glows?" She replied.

Alvor chuckled and put the bottle down. "Why, that's odd. And you know why that's so odd? Because normally I would call you a complete nutter, but here I am thinking about it because I actually seem to recall something like that being mentioned." He stroked his beard slowly. "While I remember, do tell me why you would need to know?"

"A friend needs our help. We think that this necklace might help her." She replied.

He nodded thoughtfully. "That's right!" He suddenly exclaimed. "It was an Avarossan that said it! Yes, I do remember now, it was earlier today. I had never seen her before which is why I presumed she's Avarossan. She looked like it too, unlike the Demacians, she had blonde hair and blue eyes. Quite a pretty sight actually, or it may have only been the ale working my brain." He said.

Sejuani nodded. "Is she still here?"

Alvor stood on his tiptoes to look around. "D'you know I never saw her leave. And I think I'd notice cuz I quite liked the sight of her so... There! Sitting down yonder." He pointed at a table.

Sitting down on her own was none other than Ashe.

"Oh, no." Sejuani sighed. "We're going to have to ask for her help now. Haven't the tables turned, eh?"

As we approached her, Ashe seemed to stiffen in her chair as soon as she spotted us, as if she was ready to run if need be. She was quite surprised when we sat down opposite her.

Sejuani didn't say anything, so I was the one to speak first. "Ashe, we need to ask you something."

"Go ahead. I trust that Jarvan had already told Sejuani that we can't yet leave."

"Yes, he has, and don't worry, it's not about that. We were wondering if you happen to know anything about a necklace that shines whenever it is put on."

Ashe chuckled and relaxed a little bit. "I know about something along those lines, yes. It only glows when put on by people in certain conditions and would remain normal if those conditions are not met. What do you need to know about it?"

"Holy shit, she does know." I heard Sejuani mutter.