The Most Unlikely Place
By Deadly Off Topic
Part 1: Elissa
Chapter 1
"Wynne! Leliana!" Elissa calls for her friends, determined to bully her way through the crowd of dark spawn that's erupted all around them, but it's near impossible. Their sheer numbers make a compact wall of disturbing flesh with sharp, pointy weapons that can't be charged through. But Elissa tries. She's swinging her sword with abandon, taking the heads off any who come too close. Considering that most dark spawn don't think when they fight, just simply throw themselves at a target, she uses this against them with devastating results. One could almost feel sorry for the monsters... almost, but not quite. "Damn it! They're everywhere!" Desperation clouds her voice as she scans the wretched beasts that are swarming around her like mosquitos. Aside from losing sight of Wynne and Leliana, where are the others?
The dog is missing. She can no longer hear his frantic barking amidst the din of the charging dark spawn. As to Morrigan, the mage has probably shape-shifted into a bug and gone into hiding. Oh, it's not that the mage won't fight, but Elissa already knows that a retreat is in order and knowing Morrigan like she does, she expects that the cold-calculating witch won't hesitate to get to high ground. But as for Sten and Oghren, she can hear their fierce battle cries wreaking havoc all around them. One for honour and the other more drunk than need be, but she's noticing that their cries are growing weaker and weaker. A pang of concern hits her as she realizes they are being driven further and farther away from her. It's almost as if the dark spawn know that to weaken her party - to weaken her - they need to divide and conquer. Kill them...separately.
The feeling leaves an awful taste in her mouth which sinks down to the roots in her belly, tying it in uncomfortable knots. Elissa doesn't have a lot of friends so losing these guys is NOT an option. She's going to fight with every ounce of her being and take charge of things as she always does. Because if she doesn't do it, there's no one else who will.
Now who else is unaccounted for? That leaves Zevran and Alistair-
"Elissa? Where are you?" He's right on queue. And she notes with inward surprise that his voice has gone rough and reedy. He must have been screaming for her for some time. "Elissa!" He's so focused on getting to her that Elissa swears she can feel each expenditure of energy as he thrusts his blade in her direction. Swing! Swang! Crash!
"Alistair! I'm here!" If only she could get a good look at him, see if he's okay, but the dark spawn's growing numbers make it impossible to even catch a glimpse. There are just too damn many of them.
"Hang on, I'm coming!" The desperation in his voice shocks her, sending her senses into a giddy sort of panic. Out of everyone she's been separated from, he alone has come seeking her. He alone has managed to find her. It overwhelms her suddenly, this over raw and carnal feeling, but every ounce of her being wants - needs - to get to him.
"Alistair! Be careful!" Elissa's frantic now, more than she's ever been, because he
so close and yet so out of reach. She needs to reach him... to protect him. It's almost silly thinking that a grown man trained to kill dark spawn needs her protection, but Elissa's rationale in relation to Alistair is a bit screwy at the moment. And while it's in her nature to take charge and protect others, the real truth is that Alistair's become so central to her core of being that being without him is not an option. She's never wanted anything or anyone with the same fierce desire as she wants him. It's almost unnatural on how fixated she's become on him. If her father was alive, he'd cautioned space and some time away from the man to reassesses her feelings... but then again, Alistair is Maric's bastard. Her father might have an ulterior motive for her to back away from someone like him.
"Damn it, they're everywhere! Are you okay?"
She answers with a gruff affirmative as she lops the limbs off a leering dark spawn. "I don't think I can push myself through! There's too many of them!" Swift and fierce, she kicks at it and sends it caterwauling into more of its fellows. This is followed by an oomph and a crash, but dismally this makes no dent in their sprawling mass. The poor woman has been trained to fight since a child and her movements are graceful and deadly, but even with this back and forth dancing, Elissa can barely keep them from swarming down on her. It's not enough to make any leeway. "We're gonna have to regroup. I think I can push my way behind them, but not ahead!" ...not where her companions are - where Alistair is.
For a frightening moment that twists painfully at her heart, she receives no answer from Alistair. Has a dark spawn taken the man she loves away? In that pre-natural silence, she picks up the guttural screaming of the attacking beasts and the loud, snapping crackles coming from the campfire which seems lopsided and hazy. She can barely see it despite the fact that several darkspawns are now cooking upon it. A fact she knows by the disgusting smell filling the air. Then abruptly, "Love! Are you there!"
Relief touches floods her as she thinks about the Templar's strong body discharging dark spawn left, right and center. "For now, but not for long. I think it's time we ditched this party! You know the place we talked about earlier today?" She calls back sharply as she sends the tip of her blade deep into the gut of a dark spawn behind her. Without a moment's thought, Elissa pulls her sword free and whirlwinds to keep her footing. Alistair. Her Alistair. She knows its foolish to think about how much this man means to her, but that wild, crazy feeling sticks to her like glue. If they're going to survive, they have to split up. "Got it!"
"Yes! Okay! Got it! You better be there!" He doesn't sound happy, but then again can she blame him. She's not happy either. Of all the nights to attack their camp, it's gotta be the one time when he built up enough nerve to approach her tent.
"Me, I better see you there!" But as she says this, the dark spawn surge again and she loses all contact with Alistair.
(Author's Note: I wrote this fic in its entirely during my holidays last May, but I never had the time to edit the entire thing in full as well as matters weren't help much by a friend who promised to beta it, but simply never ended up doing it. Sigh. Anyway. These first two chapters are done in Elissa's view point while the second part is done through Alistair's viewpoint. Sort of a like a Before and After, but instead with two different people. May 24, 2010)