By the time Raelna reached the Frostguard Citadel, it was morning. After dismounting from her frost wolf and handing the mount over to a tall Frostguard soldier nearby, she continued on foot toward the great bridge.
The Frostguard Citadel was absolutely one of the grand wonders of the Freljord.
Even though Raelna had come to the Frostguard Citadel when she was still very young, it still left her awestruck. She had not been born there, but in a place called Orphan Village.
Near the vast central keep of the Frostguard Citadel was a refuge the Frostguard had built for children who had lost their families to the cold. Because of that, no matter how much criticism she heard from the outside world about Lissandra after she grew up, Raelna always dismissed it with contempt.
Because this life of hers had been given to her by Lissandra.
Some people might say then… could it be that Orphan Village was something Lissandra created with her own hands? Could it be that she had ordered the Frostguard to persecute nearby tribes, then seize their children to expand the Frostguard's strength?
It really wasn't like that.
Because no matter what else could be said about her, Lissandra still stood on humanity's side.
The Three Sisters had once been the leaders of humankind. It was true that Lissandra had betrayed Avarosa and Serylda. It was true that she had been deceived by the Void. It was true that she had done terrible things.
But she also knew that what she had done was wrong, and for these thousands of years, she had been trying to make up for those mistakes.
Because of that, Orphan Village truly did take in children who could not survive on their own in the brutal environment of the Freljord.
Passing beneath the archway, Raelna entered a place where eternal black ice defined everything. The Frostguard Citadel had been built between two icy chasms, which made the whole fortress look slightly tilted. The colossal central keep leaned to one side, and from this angle, it looked almost like the curled ribs of some dying beast. Purple magic coursed through every black ice brick in the fortress like poisoned blood frozen inside veins.
The battlements were lined with Frostguard soldiers in black armor. The gazes they cast toward Raelna from beneath their helms glowed with frost-blue light. These people were all Frostguard warriors, all bearing diluted Iceborn blood.
Raelna raised a hand and waved at them, but they ignored her completely. Their eyes slid past her and fixed on a distant patch of white ahead, staring straight ahead without so much as a blink.
She was already used to that sort of treatment. With a quiet snort, she continued forward, passing through several more archways before finally arriving at the entrance to the main keep's great hall.
Looking down from there, she could see another great bridge belonging to the Frostguard Citadel. That bridge was marked by the weight of history itself. It was the Lost Bridge Ornn had forged, used to reinforce the seal over the powerful beings imprisoned by Lissandra.
And across that bridge, vast stretches of gray-white vine growth clung to the cliffs and stonework, inching upward year by year, crawling ever closer to the main keep.
Raelna's gaze then shifted beneath the bridge, staring down into the abyss itself.
There, deep below, a strange violet glow shimmered. It was as if an immense sheet of transparent ice lay far beneath the chasm, and if one looked closely enough, massive black shapes could be seen curled beneath the floating ice.
Countless thick chains of true ice bound those shadows in place. At times, the abyss seemed to shudder, and when it did, the earth trembled with it. In those moments, the Lost Bridge would let out a painful groan, while the gray-white vines shook violently and released clouds of ash that drifted down in sheets before vanishing into the depth below.
Raelna withdrew her gaze.
She had a rough idea now of what Logan had meant when he said he would agree to help Lady Lissandra.
It was probably related to whatever was sealed beneath that bridge.
As commander of the Frostguard, Raelna had only reached her current position because she had crossed the Lost Bridge and entered the Hall of the Nine before. She had been there once, but even then, she still had no idea what exactly was being sealed beneath it. What she did know—what she remembered very clearly—was just how dangerous the thing below truly was.
And because of that, she seriously doubted one thing.
Could Logan really help Lady Lissandra solve that problem?
He was powerful, yes. He had cut down even the new king of the trolls in a single stroke.
But down there was something even the legendary Ornn had been unable to destroy completely, something he had only managed to suppress more firmly by forging that bridge.
Shaking her head, Raelna cast aside the distracting thoughts, passed the massive Frostguard ice statues, and entered the fortress.
The main hall of the fortress was immense, but all of those spaces were for the Frostguard to use. The place where Lady Lissandra resided was farther in, a place no Frostguard was permitted to enter unless the Eye of Lissandra issued word.
Raelna walked for nearly twenty minutes before she finally arrived at Lady Lissandra's chamber within the main keep.
When she looked up, she saw an enormous black gate.
It was a pair of doors, each around fifteen meters high and four meters wide, and on either side stood a Frostguard priest.
Black threads ran across their bodies, but on closer inspection, they were not threads at all. They were strands of black ice wrapped around their backs and burrowed into their flesh.
"Raelna, what have you come for?"
The voice was hoarse. It came from the priest on the left.
He stood over two meters tall, broad and powerfully built, with a goatlike beard, and he regarded Raelna with a gentle expression.
"I report to you, Lord Rod, that I have an important matter to relay to Lady Lissandra," Raelna said respectfully.
When Lady Lissandra herself did not appear, it was the priests who maintained the Frostguard, and these two were the highest-ranked priests in the entire tribe.
The towering, bear-like man on the left was named Rod Blackice.
Beside him stood a woman who appeared relatively young and rather attractive, though the left side of her face, stretching up toward part of her forehead, was marked by crimson scars.
The mark looked almost like an old burn, or perhaps like blood had stained her skin forever.
She looked only thirty or forty at most, but in truth, she was already more than four hundred years old. With Lady Lissandra's aid, both of these priests had gained extremely long lives.
Her name was Fura Brokenmark.
She had been the mightiest warrior of the Freljord two hundred and forty years ago. She slew ice-worms, charged mammoths head-on, and felled black bears. She was known as one of the legendary warriors of the Frostguard.
She was also the person responsible for every descent across the Lost Bridge.
"You want to see Lady Lissandra?" Fura's standing was clearly higher than Rod's. The moment she spoke, Rod fell silent.
Then again, the Frostguard was a matriarchal tribe. Women simply held far greater status than men.
In the Freljord, there was no real gap in strength between men and women. Iceborn blood and magic compensated for what nature lacked, and women possessed one thing men did not—the ability to bear children.
"Yes, Lady Fura." Raelna's expression grew even more respectful.
Sejuani was powerful. Raelna knew she wasn't Sejuani's match. If they fought, maybe she would have a three-in-ten chance at best.
But Sejuani was no match for Lady Fura either.
The difference between Fura and Sejuani was much like the difference between Raelna and Sejuani.
That was nothing strange.
How many years had the Frostguard existed?
At the very least, seven thousand.
How could seven thousand years of accumulated power possibly be something Sejuani and Ashe could make up for? If Lissandra had not changed her way of thinking, Sejuani the conqueror and Ashe the idealist would have been little more than a joke before Lissandra's absolute power.
Not even Udyr could stop Lissandra.
Rolling her shoulders, Fura shed a layer of black ice from behind her. Raelna glanced down at those shards and found herself confirming a strange thought she'd had. The black ice really did resemble the straws Logan had brought—each one had a tiny opening, from which magical liquid seemed to spurt.
"Come. I'll take you to Lady Lissandra," Fura said to Raelna.
Then she turned to Rod and said sternly, "Guard the gate."
"Yes, Lady Fura." Rod nodded firmly.
He looked much older than Fura, but he was indeed her junior.
At that, Fura turned around and raised one arm. Her wool coat slipped from her shoulders, revealing her strong body beneath. She lifted one solid arm toward the black ice doors, and in an instant, a layer of frost spread over her form.
Her eyes turned fully into a blend of white and blue, and her long white hair rose and fluttered behind her. A wave of deathly cold spread from beneath her feet, making Raelna's teeth chatter beside her.
Aside from the two high priests and a few others of similar rank, no one was allowed to touch this gate at all. A commander like Raelna didn't even qualify.
This black true ice…
It was something Lady Lissandra had created from true ice itself, a new form of ice that belonged to her alone.
It was bitterly cold, and devastatingly destructive.
"Open!"
With a shout, Fura pushed the doors apart with all her strength.
Light spilled through the widening gap, and she barked, "Inside!"
Raelna hurried through at once.
Fura followed right behind her.
Inside was an enormous white space.
Thousands of ice mirrors reflected light back and forth, refracting it endlessly until they seemed to create countless pathways.
But Raelna knew that among those thousands of mirrors, only a handful were real. Only the two priests could find the true path that led to Lady Lissandra herself.
Raelna waited nearby as Fura reached down and touched the ground, closing her eyes as though sensing something.
A moment later, she lifted her head and said coldly, "Let's go. Stay close."
"If you get lost in here, no one but Lady Lissandra herself can get you out."
"I understand," Raelna said with a nod.
Ten minutes later, after passing through the great mirrored hall, Raelna arrived at an empty chamber.
A throne stood atop a true ice dais, its back carved with countless patterns, and beside it stood an enormous upright ice coffin.
"Lady Lissandra, Raelna has come with a report."
Fura dropped to one knee and lowered her head.
Raelna immediately followed suit, falling to both knees, reverence filling her eyes.
"Did Logan send you…?"
An ethereal voice rang out, and Raelna felt a chill race down her spine.
Instinctively, she turned while still kneeling, and what she saw in front of her was a version of Lissandra she had never seen before.
She was no longer wrapped in blue ice. She wore no strange crown. Black true ice no longer flowed beneath her feet. Instead, she stood there barefoot in a white dress, her white hair pinned up behind her head, revealing a sweet and delicate face.
On that lovely, clean-featured face, Lady Lissandra's white eyes were unfocused, yet they were directed straight at Raelna.
Even Fura looked surprised to see Lissandra like this, though she said nothing.
"Logan said he needs your help, my lady. He has already gathered Ashe and Sejuani. The Winter's Claw and the Avarosans are ready to form an alliance. Now only the Frostguard remains."
"I never agreed to that," Lissandra said, sounding rather puzzled.
When she had spoken with Logan, she was fairly certain she had never explicitly said she would have the Frostguard join the alliance.
What she had agreed to, as she remembered it, was that neither she nor the Frostguard would attack the Winter's Claw or the Avarosans again. The Frostguard would return to silence and wait for Logan's word.
But now…
Was Logan trying to drag her out into the open?
Heh. That little thing really did have nerve.
Lissandra found it amusing.
Because of Logan's existence—because of this man who understood the Void even more deeply than she did herself, and who was tied to multiple demigods—Lissandra had, for the first time in a very long while, felt something close to relief.
She had no secrets left in front of Logan.
He knew the past buried beneath the ice. He knew the Void. He knew Shurima. He knew Icathia.
And because of that, Lissandra had laid down many of the burdens she had been carrying. She had finally set aside that crushing weight, if only for a time.
That was also why she had been resting rather well recently. Lying in the ice coffin, she had actually fallen asleep twice, instead of being driven into sleeplessness and slipping into other people's dreams.
Thinking of that, Lissandra truly couldn't bring herself to resent Logan's little scheme.
Raelna, however, hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth and saying, "My lady, Logan said that the sooner you come, the sooner the matter you asked him to deal with can be completed."
At the side, Fura shot Raelna a worried look.
There was a hint of threat in those words.
Was Raelna trying to get herself killed?
She was actually daring to help an outsider threaten Lady Lissandra?
As one of Lissandra's personal guards, Fura knew exactly what kind of person her mistress was.
Cold. Ruthless. Rarely smiling. Cruel. Cunning.
That was Lissandra.
As for the last person who had threatened Lissandra—
No, Fura truly didn't know whether such a person had ever existed. But if one had, they were certainly dead.
Unless that person had been a demigod.
After all, according to legend, even Lady Lissandra had once been threatened by Volibear.
And Volibear's power needed no explanation.
But what Fura did not expect was the clear, delicate sound of laughter.
She looked up and saw a faint smile appear on Lissandra's face. Lissandra nodded and said, "I understand."
"Fura, prepare yourself. You're coming with me."
"Yes!" Fura responded at once.
Then Lissandra looked toward Raelna, considered for a moment, and said, "You come too."
"Yes, my lady!" Raelna hurriedly answered.
If possible, Raelna really did not want to leave the Winter's Claw. She could eat hot lamb hotpot there every single day until she was full. Even as commander of the Frostguard, that was not the sort of treatment she normally got.
"Remember to brush your teeth. Your mouth reeks of lamb."
Right before leaving, Lissandra casually tossed out that bizarre remark.
Raelna and Fura both froze in place.
A moment later, Raelna looked at Fura uncertainly and whispered, "Lady Fura… was that really Lady Lissandra just now?"
Fura's expression was equally strange. She nodded, then shook her head, then nodded again before whispering back, "Who would dare impersonate Lady Lissandra?"
"But something is definitely off. Lady Lissandra actually smiled. She even joked with you. She seems… more human somehow."
Raelna nodded hard.
That was exactly what she had been trying to say.
It was one thing for Lady Lissandra's appearance to change, but why…
why had her personality changed too?
The last time Raelna had seen Lissandra was two years ago. Then, her clothing had been made of flowing ice, her figure had seemed enormous, her voice had been rough and unreadable, and she had worn a crown that obscured her face.
This time, Raelna had gone to meet Logan under orders from the Eye of Lissandra, so she genuinely didn't know the reason behind any of this.
Could it be that something good had happened in the Freljord in the last two years?
But… was it possible…
that this had actually been Lissandra's true personality all along?
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