Audrey slid out of her cot at the foot of her parents' bed, her small bare feet padding across the warped wooden floorboards towards to the door separating the only two rooms in the small thatched cottage. Eyeing her sleeping parents she carefully clicked down the handle and with practiced skill pulled the ageing door open stopping it short before it creaked and silently slipped through the gap. Crossing the larger room to the pail in the kitchen area she pulled off her nightgown and plunged her hands into the cold water reserved for washing and scrubbed her little face and body. Snatching a clean dark green dress from amongst the clothes drying before the wide stone fireplace she pulled it over her tangled dark brown hair and grabbed an equally brown bread roll before unlocking the front door.

The new day outside was already promising to be warm, a blessed change from the past two where rain had kept the restless little girl indoors and underfoot of her heavily pregnant mother. Audrey scampered across the grass passing the vegetable patch and stopped at the hen coop, proud of herself for remembering her chores she threw a handful of corn to the scratching chickens then continued away from her home munching on her breakfast. She propelled herself easily over the low stone wall separating the cottage's yard and the orchard which engulfed the small holding and walked through the rows of apple trees.

It was her father's job to look after the Bann's orchard and pick the apples, pears and plums; he would hire some young boys from Mudgley, the village over the hill, to help and then drive the produce the few miles to the estate of Bann Merton of the Waking Sea. Audrey loved accompanying her father on these excursions, riding high atop the jostling cart, her father retelling stories from the books he read when he was a boy. Her favourite was the story of Lora who, even though she was small like Audrey, stood firm before a pride demon in The Fade, and despite all the tricks the powerful demon tried she never wavered for she was wise and knew not to trust anything he showed or told her, finally exasperated at constantly being thwarted by Lora's resolve he screamed that she was not even worthy of his attentions and fled never to be seen again.

During the colder months of Satinalia her father taught the children from the surrounding farms and any others from the village whose work was interrupted by the short days and snow. This year he had promised Audrey she could join them in Mudgley's small chantry. That her father worked for the Chantry had greatly perplexed the five year old; for the most important rule, instilled in her since the cradle, was that her father's magic was a secret and if anyone, especially the old Mother and the two young men called Templars, ever found out they would take him away. Audrey had asked her father about this, he had laughed calling himself the veritable wolf in sheep's clothing. Seeing the confusion on his daughter's face he crouched before her and explained that sometimes it was safer to keep your enemies close and it was always safer to blend in, not to be noticed for being different "show them what they expect to see Hon and they'll never see the truth."

Audrey caught sight of a brilliant blue butterfly taking flight from a wild flower stretching towards the sun; she giggled and followed its bright hue through the boughs and trunks of the trees, leading her to the edge of the property where the wagon track having passed her home bent over the hill towards the Mudgley. She saw the colours before she anything else, rich purple and gold fabric and shiny silver metal glinting in the sunlight, her game forgotten she froze amongst the tree line like a deer hearing a hunter's step. The horse became visible through the leaves, so did the boy sitting before the Templar, his eyes red and his wrists bound. Audrey had never been afraid for anyone before but now she was frightened for this a mage-boy, then she felt true fear grip her for the first time; what if he was coming for papa? She backed away from the track and the Templar, moving as stealthily as she could; believing her very life and that of her father's depended on it. When she judged herself to be at safe distance that the Templar wouldn't see her if she made a noise she turned and ran as fast as her small legs could carry her. With foresight far beyond her age she flew to the back door of the cottage, rarely used as it led into the bedchamber, and hammered her petite fists on its peeling paint.

"For Andraste's sake Hon use the front door" her mother's annoyed voice came from within.

"Mama there's a Templar coming" Audrey spoke through the door.

The combination of those words sent Leandra reeling "Malcolm" she called into the main room "Audrey says there's a Templar coming she's at the back door!"

A moment later the lock rattled and the door swung out on its rusty hinges, Malcolm Hawke stepped outside his solemn face bent down to his daughters "Where did you see him?"

"On the track, he has a horse and a boy."

"Do you recognise either of them?"

Audrey shook her head "The boy's tied up" her bottom lip started to quiver.

Malcolm turned to his wife sat up in their bed, her hands protectively on her huge belly, "It's not Tredan or Lucan, neither of those boys would ever tie up a child nor would Mother Sibley allow it" he thought for a second "I doubt the lad is local, the Revered Mother would insist on one of them taking him to The Circle, someone who's familiar."

Anxiety was etched all over Leandra's face "A Hunter?"

Malcolm chewed the inside of his cheek mentally recapping the morning and whether he'd used any magic that a Templar Hunter could detect a trace of, he was about to boil some water for tea when Audrey rapped on the door, he shook his head, no there had been nothing "For a boy, unlikely" he looked down to at his fearful daughter's face "Hon go inside look after your mother..."

"But Malcolm" Leandra cut him off her face ashen.

"I've not yet sensed anything in her, I'm going up the back of the orchard to do some work, lock the doors" and with that he was gone.

Tears sprung into Audrey's eyes at the sight of her retreating father "It'll be okay Honey-child" her mother soothed "close and lock the door and come give me cuddle."

She had just nestled into her mother's side when they heard the horses hooves clip clopping on the bare road, neither moved until long after the sound had faded.