Author's Note:
All Dragon Age 2 characters are copyright (c) BioWare – many thanks to them for creating a complex and engaging fantasy world and allowing me to play in it's sandbox.
Currently rated T for violence and occasional suggestive themes. Upcoming chapters may be rated M for adult content.
Hawke
I have to close the distance.
I can hear his footsteps approaching. They are slow and deliberate, a predator tracking its prey. Leaves crack and the occasional twig softly snaps underfoot. I have only a vague idea of where he is, but my instinct reaches for it as though through a foggy veil. I try to slow the rapid pounding in my chest. Clutching the rough bark of the tree behind me, I hold my breath.
Then silence.
"Found you,"
My heart skips a beat. I curse to myself. It's now or never, Hawke. Move!
I lunge to the side and hurl a dagger in the direction of the voice just as the bolt zaps past me, mere inches from my head. I scramble behind another tree. Just ahead, I see the tree that was almost me. The still-sizzling spark of electricity and smoke waft up from where his lightning struck. It has cleaved a deep split into the trunk, cracked edges charred black and white.
"Not too shabby, rogue."
I take a chance to quickly peek out. Anders is standing ten paces away, leaning on his staff. He is grinning at my knife, which has lodged itself at eye level in the tree just next to him.
"You almost had me that time. Is that the best you can do?"
"Oh, you ain't seen nothin' yet," I step out from behind my tree to face him.
He shakes his head. "Never mess with a mage,"
"I swear, if you say that one more time..." I throw a miasmic flask at his feet and dash away as the explosion conceals my escape up a nearby tree.
Anders leaps back, coughing. Below me, I can see him sweep his staff in an arc around him, clearing away the smoke. He assumes a wide, defensive stance and looks about.
"How long are we to play this game, Hawke? Isn't it time we started getting serious about this?" He calls out into the forest. I chuckle quietly. He has no clue where I am. Poor sod.
"Not long, now," I whisper, getting ready.
My last dagger in hand, I shove off the tree and dive downwards, aimed straight for his head. In an instant, there is a flash of blue light as I see his staff pointed up at me. Before I can react, the blazing fireball strikes me square on. I am thrown back who knows how far before I can feel some branches break my fall. Then I am lying on the forest floor, the leaves and sky blurring above. The faces of my companions fill my vision.
"How on Thedas did we get here?" I ask myself before my eyes cloud over into darkness.