Chapter One

She had been running for quite a while now. Her pursuers had followed her through the streets of Kirkwall, through Hightown's market squares and into the alleys of Lowtown. The smell of stale piss and ale permeated the streets as the young woman fled past the Hanged Man, light green robes "borrowed" from a fallen former Circle mage fluttering behind her in the self-created breeze.

"Hold it right there, apostate!" one of the armor-clad hunters called out, causing her to look back and see the sunlight glinting off of his sword and Templar armor.

Apostate... there's that damned term again... the mage mused to herself, brushing a few fallen strands of curly raven hair out of her deep violet eyes.

Her flying feet soon led her down the flights of stairs which led into the Elven Alienage of Kirkwall- and there, she realized, she was cornered. The City Elves would not dare raise a hand to aid a human, much less a mage, especially now. With nowhere to run, all she could do was fight. The pale-skinned human turned around to find herself face to face with a ten-man battalion of Templars- a Lieutenant with five regular ensigns and four archers.

Oh lovely, they have ranged fighters... This day just keeps getting better and better. the mage thought, smirking wryly as she pulled out her Spirit-based staff.

Before the Lieutenant had a chance to react, the mage felt power pooling around her hands, and channelled it into a crushing prison for the leader of the troops, leaving him immobilized and helpless as his armor was forced inward, breaking ribs and cutting into his lungs with the phantasmal bars. He swiftly fell, but shortly after that, the mage felt no less than three arrows piercing her thigh, stomach, and shoulder. Unwilling to let that stand, she threw her focus into calling upon the Maker's mighty Fist to crush the archers to the ground- which left her exposed to the other Templar ensigns as they cut and slashed into her. A quick burst of telekinetic energy left all of them disoriented for long enough of a moment that she could heal herself, but it would only buy her a moment's reprieve.

I can't keep this up much longer! she thought, only barely managing to erect a Barrier before herself, deflecting a few Templar blades while she was at it. And I'll be damned if I let these bastards take me and make me Tranquil!

There was a swift wooshing sound, and not only did the Templar standing in front of the mage fall, having been pierced through the jugular, but the Archers standing in the distance but in line behind him died as well, which left only one Archer and four other Templars standing. As the girl witnessed this, a grin grew on her face. She had a feeling she knew who it was that was assisting her. The thought of the assistance brightened her mood, and she felt the warm happiness turning into a consuming fire which shot forth from her fingertips, roasting two of the Templars before her. The last remaining Archer was barely standing regardless- one simple shot of Spirit power from her staff, and he dropped like a ton of bricks.

The mage sensed a presence behind her, and turned around to find a Templar about to stab her in the back had himself been backstabbed, a simple dagger being pulled from his armored, severed spine, the assassin flinging aside the blood like so much trash. There were only a few flecks of blood in his silver hair, which almost glowed in the outside light. His mouth was quirked in a smile, light blue eyes alight with humor as he sheathed his dagger in his belt, and teased, "And here I thought you shemlens were the quick children... Can't even outrun a few Templars? You're getting out of practice."

A childish-looking pout and challenging glare crossed onto the mage's young-looking face, and she placed her staff in its usual holding place on her back, proceeding to fold her arms across her chest. "And who was the one who killed most of them? Oh yes, that's right, me. I just needed them distracted for a minute- you distracted them. Problem solved."

The man continued smirking, the stubble-covered jawline set in a sense of mock-superiority. "Yes, I'm sure being dead is enough of a distraction to keep the Templars from pursuing you. You can thank me for completely saving your arse later, five sovereigns should do the trick-"

At that, the raven-haired mage grabbed the silver-haired archer by the point of one of his tapered ears, and dragged him down so that they were on eye level.

"Ow ow ow ow!" the man whined, giving her a pitiful look. "By the Dread Wolf, you've got a strong grip... Oh come on, you know I was just kidding, Andraste!"

"Quiet, you!" the mage hissed, glaring at the taller man, pulling even harder on the earpoint she held in her fingertips. "You know better than to call me that in a public place like this. Please... I only just managed to get those Templars off my back, Torrac."

"Okay, okay, fine." Torrac conceded, grimacing in pain. "Now Andi, will you please let go of my ear?"

Rolling her eyes, Andraste released Torrac's ear. The ranger could be an idiot sometimes, but he had his heart in the right place. Even if he did annoy the hell out of her at the best of times.

As the man tried to recover full circulation in the tip of his ear, he could hear the whispers of his kind surrounding them- jeering voices relating the shemlen and the seth'lin, voices mocking him for his diluted blood, voices mocking her for being a mage. They couldn't stay out in the open for much longer, that much was certain.

"Let's go in to my house, Andi." Torrac invited, taking the mage's hand and leading her inside. "We don't need to be lingering out here..."

Finally aware of all the eyes on her, Andraste began feeling more than slightly self-conscious, and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Let's go. Besides, I think your mother will be very happy to see us both safely in one piece."

**CODEX UPDATE: MAGES IN KIRKWALL**

"Since the beginning of the Mage-Templar war, during which the Champion, Marian Hawke chose to side with Orsino and the Circle of Magi, Mages living within Kirkwall's boundaries have been chased almost constantly by Templars. There are reports that Knight-Commander Cullen and Knight-Captain Ashtoret are working to at least lighten the burden of worry upon the backs of apostate mages, but many Templars are resistant to this change, and thus will hunt known apostates with everything in their being before the law is rewritten to limit their powers."

Author's Note: As there is no room for warnings in the summary, I shall put warnings at the bottom of this page. I rate this fanfiction M not because I intend on going overboard in details with the sex scenes, but because there are many truly disturbing things referred to later on. I will place a warning before the beginning of the appropriate chapters if there is something that could be objectionable. This fanfiction will also feature a main cast that is composed almost entirely of Original Characters. If that is not your cup of tea, I suggest you leave now. If you have constructive criticism about the characters, then feel free to leave it. Do not, however, simply drop off the accusation of Sue/Stu without offering advice as to how to fix it, as a character being that way is often a failure of the writing, not of the character itself. This place is also reserved for translations of any Dalish phrases I feel require translation, as I feel that interrupting the narrative with an author's note to translate completely ruins the flow of the writing, and the literal meanings of some Dalish phrases may not make sense without clarification down here. With all that said, I hope you enjoy. Be honest but fair in your feedback, should you choose to leave it.