So, because I'm bad at describing character's appearances indirectly/in story, I'll do it right here. Irileth, the speaker and sister to Helena, has a diamond shaped face and pale green eyes like Helena. Her hair is black and is mostly kept under the hood of her cloak, only a few strands of hair are visible. Irileth is dangerously underweight at 100 pounds and is very pale. Her height is 5'6". (And you might have noticed she is the cover image/my avatar. Credit to Fernanda Suarez, fdsuarez on deviantart). Helena has brown unkempt hair, long and overlapping her black robes that are similar to Irileth's cloak. She is 6' tall and 120 pounds, is and also pale. The reasons for their dangerous weight can be inferred in the story, which I hope you enjoy! (Also, this was originally written in my school journal for reading class, so if it seems choppy, that's why.)
My sister Helena was going higher and higher up the path to Dust Town. We needed to food back to our Father in the Deep Roads. The only way to do that was to take it from the people of Orzammar, the place of traditional dwarves in Ferelden. Orzammar was deep under the Frostback Mountains, and we lived where the monstrous darkspawn and out-of-control golems congregate: the Deep Roads. Trust me, it's a brilliant place to sleep.
"Come on Irileth, we need to do this quickly." Helena groaned my way, condescendingly.
"Truly? I didn't realize. I was hoping to get some fresh air." I shot back at Helena. In case you couldn't tell, I said it sarcastically. She gave a fake laugh.
"You won't be getting 'fresh' air anytime soon. We should-"
"You should stop. We know who you are. Your disturbance ends here!" A dwarven voice interrupted Helena, a group of three appearing in front of us. I drew my daggers and Helena conjured a fireball, but dwarves had come from behind to incapacitate us. "Take them to Behrat," one ordered, his orange beard matted in every direction like his tangled hair. "Let's see how he deals with cast-out humans who try to out-thieve him."
The dwarves knocked out Helena, most likely for her fear of magic, but kept me awake. Much to their dismay, I used that as an opportunity to speak.
"You want to take us to Behrat? To punish us? Why not use us?" I made sure to speak "humanly" to irritate the dwarves. They tightened their grip on my wrists.
"We'll do what makes us money, said the dwarf with the ugly hair, who seemed to be leading the group. The dwarves restraining me smelled of beer and nug shit. The leader continued, "Humans would raise the most suspicion and the least intimidation."
"A human with no place on the surface with no place of citizenship on the surface that can't leave Orzammar raises no suspicion? I can't leave. Your king would have to send me to the surface for my crimes since I am not a native, not to him or anyone else here. The nations on the surface would either dispute over who should sit in judgement or ignore the case completely because it's just petty crime in Orzammar- more petty crime in Orzammar. I'll die under these mountains, whether it's by you, old age, or the damned blight, I will die here." I said the last sentence slowly yet menacingly through my teeth. Moments passed, loud with silence. I couldn't take it anymore. I did something I've only done once when I was lost with Helena in the Deep Roads.
I gathered my pain, sorrow, loss, depression, and fear into a scream. The noise paralyzed the dwarves, and I frantically grabbed my daggers. I was shocked that it worked. The dwarves staggered around, cupping their ears. After grabbing my daggers, I made a stupid decision to go straight to Helena. She was unconscious, but I talked to her anyway. My excuse is that I am awful at thinking when I'm caught off guard.
"Helena. We need to go. Come on, WAKE UP!" Obviously she gave no response. So, I lifted her over my shoulder. Now the dwarves had regained just enough focus to start killing me. Running wasn't really an option, considering I was carrying 120 pounds. They yelled after me, and three were running at me. Out of any good ideas, I threw my dagger at one of them. The hilt gently bounced off his chest. This meant I had to put my entire life of training to use.
I put Helena down and used my other dagger to fight. The first dwarf was equipped with a sword and shield, and a quick block and parry finished him off. I picked up his shield to fight the next dwarf who was equipped with a greatsword. He attempted to use one large swing to strike me down, but that had left him wide open. A shield bash to the head and a quick backstab sent him down. As I dropped the shield and went for his greatsword, an arrow flew into my leg. I collapsed.
Having an arrow lodged in your knee doesn't help you when you're trying to escape. Apparently the dwarves knocked Helena into the next age, and the pain from the arrow after exerting a lot of energy into a scream was enough to make me pass out. I awoke in a cell with Helena, still out. I did check, she was alive. I guessed she was having fun with demons in the Fade.
They had guards watching us. I couldn't see well enough to put any names to faces or any faces to faces. My hands began to sting with invisible needles from being numb. Then I realized the dwarves hadn't tied my hands, but they had for Helena. Hesitantly, I approached the bars.
"Why not bind me but bind her?"
"She has magic. You don't." One dwarf said, as if it was completely obvious.
"We both have hands." I mimicked his tone.
"You can't touch her hands or you'll burn."
I sighed. There's no explaining magic to the carta dwarves. They are dumb with fear, even though they are resistant to magic. I had nothing to do but to wait for Helena to wake up. It felt like years, but she did wake up. I promise. We argued and everything when she did. When she began to stir, I went to her.
"It's about time."
"Trouble in the Fade," she said, waving the question away with an eye roll. It was like she was hiding something in her dreams, which was weird, since being near darkspawn messes with "your end" of the Fade, giving us similar dreams. I chose to ignore it for now.
"Can you walk?" I asked, genuinely concerned.
"I think so," she began to move, but realized her hands were tied and glared at me. "You didn't untie me because...?"
"I thought you needed to hear the story." I said, and told her how the dwarves thought I would burn if I touched her. Helena rolled her eyes once more and burned the rope away. "Shall we?" I asked, nodding to the oblivious dwarves. She stood, ready. Using entropy magic, she put the dwarves to sleep while I used chipped wood from a rubble pile to pick the lock. We got our stuff from the chest, Helena healed my ankle, and we set out to clear the carta.