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I will make NO money from this fanfiction.
Freedom among slaves: A Mages Beginning.
Chapter One; The Unhappy Guest.
Marian de Launcet let her uncomfortable new shoes drag in the filth that lines Kirkwall's streets. She let the stupid dress trail in the dirt too. She hated functions. She hated having to pretend to like the other nobles. She loathed being shown off, paraded around like some sort of doll, ready to be married off when she came of age.
Her twin, Garrett, carefully picked his way through the detritus. Marian felt a stab of jealousy; Garrett could wear a shirt and trousers rather than a constricting dress. He didn't have to wear his hair pinned up in a ridiculous looking pile on the top of his head. Marian forced the feeling down. It was Garrett, after all who had always prevented other girls from picking out Marian's "flaws" in the middle of one of the very functions the de Launcets were headed to.
Admittedly, he accomplished this by asking them, with that ever charming smile of his, to dance.
If a group of Marian's tormenters cornered her, Garrett would enlist his friend, Sebastian Vael, to ask Marian to dance instead. For some reason, even though she made no secret of her dislike of him and her sheer hopelessness with regards dancing, the young Vael never refused Garrett's request. This both puzzled and worried Marian.
The younger de Launcet twins, Bethany and Carver gambolled on ahead, chattering excitedly about something or other. Guillaume and Leandra de Launcet walked arm in arm, some distance behind.
As the family rounded the corner they met the Harimanns. Flora Harimann, the only girl, gravitated towards Garrett, who offered her his arm with a sarcasm that could be mistaken for politeness. Flora accepted the proffered hand, but not before shooting an icy glare at Marian.
Marian ignored her, rubbing one of her tired eyes with a yawn. The nightmares had gotten worse lately. In her dreams she saw Kirkwall on fire, death, things that gave her goosebumps even during daylight hours. She shivered involuntarily at the memories.
"Feeling chilly, Marian?" a heavy jacket was draped across her shoulders.
Marian twitched, startled and turned her head to see Sebastian falling into step beside her. A few paces behind their mothers walked, speaking animatedly. The wind caught a few snatches of their conversation and delivered them to the two teenagers. The apparent topic of discussion worried Marian. To her horror Sebastian seemed to brighten.
" …Marian would look so beautiful in an Orlesian empire-line wedding gown," Lady Vael mused, "…perhaps with a flower or two braided into her hair?"
Marian shoved Sebastian's jacket back into his hands and hurried to walk beside Bethany. A glance over her shoulder told her that a dejected looking Sebastian was speaking to Garrett. She wished she could hear what was being said and to her surprise the words drifted to her as clearly as they would be had she been standing beside them.
"….don't worry, she'll come around. After all she could do a lot worse."
Garrett dodged an elbow from Sebastian, laughing as his friend cursed. Marian suddenly felt fatigued as if she'd been pacing her room from hours on end. Beside her Bethany showed no reaction to the exchange, seeming not to have heard a word Garrett had spoken.
"Something wrong, sister?" Marian met Bethany's concerned gaze.
"No. Nothing at all," Marian lied.
Marian stood awkwardly to one side, away from the crowd of dancers, hoping not to be noticed. Not to be noticed by him. Marian does not want his attention, and never has. She refuses to let her parents arrange that match, even if she would be close to royalty were it to go ahead. Marian is independent. Always has been, always will be.
Marian chuckled when Garrett meandered by, Bethany balanced on his shoes, Carver trailing behind them uncertainly. Carver spotted Marian and grinned, crossing the floor to her. He held out a hand, sporting the mournful, pleading face that younger siblings have. Marian sighed, but took his hand and let him pull her to the dance floor anyway. They danced awkwardly for about a minute before someone behind Marian coughed.
"Uh…Carver can I cut in?"
Sebastian Vael rubbed one foot against the back of his shin nervously. Marian turned to where Carver had stood moments before. He wasn't there. She scanned the crowd, searching for any trace of him.
Finally, she found him, standing some ways off, wearing a smile that read "No need to thank me!" quite clearly. Garrett, arms crossed, leaning against a pillar next to Carver, waved somewhat sheepishly at Marian. Bethany was beside her brothers, smiling shyly at her sister.
The sneaky…Marian's thoughts were interrupted by Sebastian tapping her shoulder. He smiled warmly at her and politely offered her his hand. Marian noticed to her embarrassment that the crowd had given up any pretence of dancing and had spread out in a circle, watching them closely.
Marian couldn't refuse without further embarrassment, so she forced her outrage at the situation to the side. She hated every second, every step she had to dance with him. Marian kept herself as far away from him as was humanely possible, but then he shyly and anxiously started to ask her for permission to start courting her.
Marian felt nauseated, and could sense a headache coming on. "I feel faint…" she wavered, one hand rose to cradle her head as the ground pitched beneath her.
Sebastian moved to steady her, to tell her that he's sorry if he seemed too forward, that he's admired her for years. He looked at her hopefully, but all Marian wanted as for him to leave her alone and just go away, bother some other girl for once.
Marian stepped back, illness forgotten. Then Sebastian did something utterly unforgiveable and very stupid of him: he tried to kiss her.
As he leaned forward Marian hit him, hard, across his jaw. She only meant to hit him, but some power, some feeling, something forced its way from her centre to her shoulder, down her arm, past her elbow and wrist and out through her hand. Sebastian blinked, wobbling on his feet as if drunk, before falling; sound asleep, to rest on the floor, snoring gently.
Then all hell broke loose. Terrified guests ran this way and that, searching for the elusive exit. The few Templars and guardsmen present attempted to calm the crowd and to reach Marian.
I…I used MAGIC…Marian thought, I'm a m-mage?
Garrett was the first to snap into action, he grabbed the collar of the nearest, most hot-headed youth and punched. Garrett dodged the counter-attack and deftly wove his way through the crowd, throwing insults and punches in every direction. When he reached Marian, a full scale brawl had broken out, further hindering the Templars and guardsmen.
Garrett crouched over Sebastian and hit him lightly across his face to wake him up.
"Wha-"Sebastian abruptly woke and tried to rise to his feet, head-butting Garrett in the process.
"Ow! Hey, that hurt!"Sebastian complained.
"Nevermind that! We need to get my sister out of the Templar infested city before the Templars drag her to the Gallows!"Garrett snapped, hauling Sebastian to his feet. "Are you ok, sis? You look like you're in shock." Garrett switched rapidly from irritation to brotherly concern.
Marian nodded, dazed.
Sneaking out of the building had been tricky, to say the least and had involved "borrowing" a set of boys clothes from an unconscious youth and cutting Marian's hair with a dagger.
Now the three stood on the roof of a tall building near Kirkwall's outer wall. Sebastian stood by a chimneystack, face impassive, tying one end of a rope to an arrows shaft. The other end of the rope was looped around the chimneystack and tied with the tightest knots any of the teenagers knew.
Below, Marian could see people milling about. Her parents would be down there, looking for her or being questioned by the Templars, no doubt. The guardsmen would have closed the city gates by now. Couldn't let the apostate escape now, could they?
"No matter what happens, you're still my sister," Garrett sounded close to tears, "When you get out of Kirkwall, you have to keep moving. Don't stop. Head to Tevinter. Get yourself apprenticed to a Magister. Don't forget; we're all rooting for you, sis"
"I will. You know what to tell everyone?"
"I do."
Marian nodded, double checking the dagger belted to her waist. The two stood awkwardly for a moment before Sebastian walked up to them.
"It's ready. The zip-line will take you through some forest. The arrow's lodged in my family's carriage, though you should probably let go before then; you'd break something at that speed."
Marian hugged her brother. He buried his face in her hair.
"When you get to Tevinter, write to me ok?"
"Yeah," Marian broke away and headed for the makeshift zip-line, readying the sash she'd taken from her dress.
Sebastian halted her with a hand resting lightly on her forearm.
"If you're ever in the area come…come and find me."
Before Marian could reply, Sebastian had stepped back and was smiling wryly with a solemn sadness in his pale blue eyes.
Marian hooked the sash over the taut rope and looped it around her hands several times. Before she could reconsider their reckless escape plan she pushed herself off the roof. She soon found that Sebastian had been correct about the speed, she was soon travelling fast enough to feel as if she were flying. She was soon hidden from sight of the city by a line of trees.
Then her luck ran out.
To her horror, the sash began to fray, then tore completely, sending her plummeting to the ground below. She hit a branch and kept falling, snagging on more and more branches. For what seemed to be an age, Marian felt only pain. Then, at last, she hit the ground. It dealt her a blow that knocked the wind clean out of her lungs.
Marian turned her head to the side and saw two hunters running toward her in alarm. As one of them neared, sinking into a crouch and waving one hand in front of her eyes, yelling back to their partner that she was alive, they needed to get her to the Keeper, Marian noticed with a detached interest that they had pointed ears. Elves. Dalish elves. Then everything went black and Marian knew no more.
