Ragged Breath
"Don't let them find me. What if they find me? What'll I do? Please don't let them hear me. Oh, Maker, I think they heard me. I need to stop breathing so loudly. Make it stop. Make them go away―"
Twigs snapping awoke the woman whose curly brown hair stuck to the side of her face near the small campfire she had built to warm herself for the night. Her delicate fingers brushed away the hair stuck to her full lips as she quietly whispered a small incantation as fire filled the palm of her hand. In one swift movement she was on her feet and ready to fire at the intruder. Once her cold blue eyes met the frightened green ones of a small child, the fire quickly subsided. The boy hid half of his lanky body behind a small birch tree as the woman slowly made her way in his direction causing him to flinch. Stopping in her tracks, she crouched down to reach the boy's height as she held her hands up in a non-threatening manner.
"Do not fret child, I do not intend to bring harm to you or your companion," smiling she nodded her head to the mabari pup that had it's tail between its legs behind the boy. In a friendly tone she continued, "My name is Riley. I've got a campfire, and some rabbit if you're hungry. It's not much but you'll have some food in your belly and a warm place to sleep."
Unease filled the boy's eyes as his hand let go of the treebark as he cautiously reached towards the strange woman. His hand was gingerly taken hold of as he was slowly led to the campfire. His grip tightened as he followed the stranger towards the small campfire she had dug into the ground that wouldn't be as visible from a distance. His hand was lightly squeezed back as she sent a smile of reassurance down to him. Letting go of his hand she squatted down next to the fire as she picked up a rabbit on a stick passing it to the little boy. Hunger filled his eyes as he desperately reached for the rabbit. He let gravity take it's way and plopped down on the ground as his mowed through the tiny rabbit. A smile reached her face as she heard a small wince come from below her.
"I didn't forget you." She laughed as she grabbed another rabbit and set it down in front of the Mabari. He responded with a happy 'yip' before chowing down on the overcooked meat. "Do you have a name, little one?"
The boy stopped mid bite before a lost look made its way into his features. "My mother used to call me Thomas, but that was after―" Tears welled up in the boy's eyes before his grip on the stick holding the rabbit loosened to the point of it almost falling to the ground. He rubbed his eyes roughly not wanting the tears to spill over before he ran a hand through his ragged brown locks that ran down to his shoulders. Half of it up in a mess of a bun tied at the back of his head.
Something caught Riley's eyes as she watched him move his hair around uncovering his ear, but she figured she shouldn't mention it. People who have pointed ears don't like when anyone points out their pointy ears.
"Eat up. I'm sure you're starving, I know your little friend here is." Nodding in the direction of the mabari who had finished his meal and was now curled up in a little ball right up against Riley's leg.
The boy quietly continued eating while she poked around the fire with a stick to focus her mind. The events from the past few days were still fresh, almost as if they had happened yesterday. She sighed causing Thomas to look up from his rabbit and over the the pained look she was wearing on her face.
Curiosity getting the better of him he absently blurted out, "is something the matter with you?"
"No. I―I was just lost in thought. It's not that important anyways. I am sorry if I had worried you, Thomas."
"My real name actually isn't Thomas." Setting the rabbit on his pant leg he drew in a deep breath before mustering up the courage to speak again. "My real name is actually Jaegan. I am also an elf, and I know how humans feel about elves so I was afraid―"
"Afraid that I would kill you without a second thought?" She finished earning a nod from Jaegan. "I am a mage, and have known about my powers since I was only two years of age. I was instantly sent to the mage tower in Ferelden where I was raised by humans and elves alike. Being raised in that environment let me see things from a… different perspective, I guess. So to answer your question, no, I wouldn't have killed you for being an elf."
"Thank you. It was kind of you to let me into your camp willingly without hope for anything profitable in the end."
"You sure know a lot of big words for a little child now don't you."
"I guess you could say my mother was a very, strict teacher. A good one, but very strict."
"I understand how you feel, little one. I know all too well about strict teachers," she sighed letting her head fall back to look up at the clear night sky.
"Did you have a tutor? Are you a noble? What's it like? I've only ever known the forest. What is city life like? What does it feel like to use magic? What is…"
"You sure ask a lot of questions there," she chuckled smiling over at the boy who kind of hid behind his rabbit out of realization of the number of questions he was asking, "but to answer your questions, I am of noble birth. I've actually only experienced city life for a few years. That was when I was young, before my magic decided to pay me a visit in the middle of my sleep one night. My entire room was frozen solid. They had to break my door down to get inside. I had started a fire because I was freezing to death in the confines of my room. My mother was relieved to see me, however, my father, he looked frightened when he saw the excitement I had on my face when I showed him the fire I was able to conjure with just a flick of my wrist. In that moment I had realized that my entire life was about to change."
"So, you're a mage? What happened after your father found out?"
Looking deep into the embers of the fire she sighed, "he sent me away. I was ripped from my mother's arms by him, and he swore to me that I would never see mother again if it was the last thing that he'd do. My mother was broken, as was I. I would've thought that he would've shown me more love. Once he knew I had magic it was so easy for him to throw me out of his life."
"I never knew my father. Mom says that he died when he was patrolling the forest. He was actually a human believe it or not. Mother was the one to stumble across him. She didn't go into detail, but she said what she saw could only have been done by an ogre," Jaegan looked sadly down at the rabbit that he was almost done eating.
"Do you have no memories of him?"
"Just one," he looked even more sad than he had before, "the one where he walked out the door to takeover his friends shift and never came back."
"Oh, Jaegan," she held her arms out and he fell into her. Though she had only known the boy for a short time she had felt like she had been caring for him for years. She held onto him as the tears streamed down his cheeks. She lifted a barrier that would muffle the sounds of his cries to prevent unwanted company from checking in on them. She cooed him and brushed his hair out of his face. His mabari pup had his head rested on his front paws with a look of concern written across them.
The two of them sat there for what seemed like hours. She held onto him until his last sniffle has signaled his falling asleep. She sighed as she let down the barrier unleashing the sounds of the forest that was let loose unto her ears. She laid back and rested her head on the hood that was attached to her cloak. Staring up at the night sky she wondered what life would've been like for her if her father had left her when she was a child. If he hadn't been a coward, and hid away from the fighting, then maybe, maybe he would've been a more forgiving man and wouldn't have cut her off so abruptly.
She pondered that thought along with many other possibilities that could've happened until sleep overcame her. The little mabari pup curled up against her side opposite of Jaegan, and fell right asleep. She was able to remember where she had set her trap to wake her if someone tried to get too close, and she hooked it up with a flick of her finger and sleep finally took her.
—
The two awoke the next morning to the snapping of a twig. Riley jumped to her feet in an instant only to be met with the eyes of the mabari pup who had tried walking off without making a noise to do it's business. She sighed collapsing to the ground in a seated position. She looked to Jaegan and smiled at his tousled hair as he tiredly rubbed one of his eyes. She made her way over to the embers of the fire she had burning the night before and cast a small spell with her breath that cooled the embers burning light. She opened the ground underneath where the fire was with a wave of her hand and reached into the hole to grab her things that she stored in there.
"That was amazing! You just, you just cooled the fire with your breath and you had your stuff hidden underneath the fire. Oh man, I really wish that I had magic. That'd be so cool," Jaegan jumped to his feet leaving whatever tiredness he had in himself before in the dust.
"Everyone has magic, just not all know how to use it," Riley smiled at the boy as she lifted her staff out of the hole, "it is something that awakens in a person who has the power to do great things with their magic, I believe. Otherwise I've just been telling myself the wrong thing for a long time now."
"Oh, I know that you'll do great things. I'm sure you will. Your magic is far superior than that of any mage I've ever seen. It's even better than the keeper at the camp that mother and I stayed in for a while after father left," pain passed his face for an instant but was wiped away with a smile, "where are we going after this? I'm sure since you grabbed your things that we're not sticking around for very long."
"My plan was to find a village and see if there is any business that I can get into. I was able to destroy my phylactery before escaping my tower so we don't have to worry about templars chasing us, but I just have to remember not to use my magic in public like I could while I was in the tower."
"That shouldn't be too hard for you, should it?"
"I'll have to see. I've never know what life is like with magic outside of the tower. One slip of magic and I will probably get sent back to the tower become tranquil, or they won't even bother with that and just kill me on the spot."
"Don't say that."
"I'm just trying to scare myself into refraining from using my magic in front of others. You and I are fairly similar, hence why I can trust you, but one wrong move, and I'm dust."
"You'll be okay," Jaegan smiled as he took hold of her cloak that was in tatters, "I'll stop you if I notice that you're acting up, okay?"
Looking down at his smile he couldn't help but return the favor by smiling back at him and taking hold of his hand, "thank you, Jaegan."
The two began the journey to the closest town that they could think of. It was going to be a while before they were to reach their destination. There were mountains to climb, and leftover darkspawn from the blight to face. Riley knew that she would do anything to protect the boy and his mabari pup, and she would be willing to give up anything to ensure that he is able to find his happiness wherever it is that the two will end up in the end. She will ensure that her magic stayed quiet to protect herself, and mostly protect Jaegan.
The closest city in relation to the forest that they were in was the city of Haven.
—
Upon arrival to the village Riley noticed that everyone seemed to be on edge. There were templars all around them. Riley was frightened of the fact that she recognized one of the templars to be one of her caretakers in the circle tower she resided in for majority of her life. She was frozen and unsure of what to do. Jaegan tugged at her wrist snapping her out of the fixation she had on the templar.
"Can we get something to eat? I'm starving," Jaegan cried as he didn't seem to be phased by the unusual number of templars surrounding them.
"Yeah, kid. Just give me a second," she whispered to herself as she stuck her hand out and swiped the coinpurse of a templar that passed by them. She looked around to ensure that no one noticed what she had done. The coast was clear.
"That was pretty cool," Jaegan whispered as they began making their way to the tavern for a bite to eat.
"I know it was," she grinned down to the boy who was nothing but smiles.
Once inside the tavern they were greeted by a young scrawny boy who was excited to see people who weren't mage or templar, "oh! Welcome, welcome, please pick any open seat you'd like. I'll be with you in just a moment."
The two made their way to a booth along the wall and took their seat. The boy made his way over to the table with haste, nervousness hidden in his voice, "what can I get for you guys? We've got roasted chicken, deer, duck, you name it and we'll make it!"
"We'll take a roasted chicken to share," she smiled at the boy as he went to walk away but she stopped him before he could leave, "what's going on here? What's with all of the templars?"
"I hear that a mage is on the loose and that they believe them to be a strong one, I tell ya!" the boy whispered over the counter to them, "I also hear that a couple of coins could help me tell you more information."
Riley rolled her eyes and dropped two silvers in the boy's hand, "keep talking."
A grin spread across the boy's face as he shoved the coins in his pant pocket and got closer to the two of them before shouting, "IT'S THEM! IT'S THE LADY MAGE YOU TOLD ME TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR!"
Riley cursed to herself as she jumped to her feet shoving Raegan behind her with. She held up one of her hands and conjured up a fireball as she glared at the templars that surrounded her. Eyeing everyone that was around her she wasn't surprised at all when a familiar face popped through the crowd.
"Irving, what are you doing out of the tower? I thought you had a prison to run," she snickered looking at his expressionless face.
"Riley," Irving croaked, "your father sent for you to return to the tower."