Just a little scene that popped into my head while playing da:o. I wrote it during the loading screens (soo long!) Note to anyone who reads my Fable 2 fic Copper, ch 3 is coming!
"Morrigan!"
Morrigan turned to see Istelle bounding towards her, blade drawn.
Morrigan spun back, the guttural cries of darkspawn alerting her to the danger she was in. The witch raised her hands and bolts of lightning streaked from her palms and into the bodies of the darkspawn that had been poised behind her ready to end her life.
"Morrigan get down! Get down!" Istelle was still shouting and Morrigan saw that rest of the group wasn't too far behind her all of them with weapons drawn and battling darkspawn and shrieks.
"Get down!" Istelle was pointing with her free hand at the hill.
Morrigan looked up to the hill's crest and saw at last the threat that Istelle had been trying to warn her against. A Hurlock stood upon the hill, long bow stretched to its fullest and pointed right at her. It released the arrow with a loud twang.
Istelle dropped her sword and ran; she flat out sprinted the last few feet between her and that stupid, blind, blasted witch and then shoved her down to the ground. The arrow hit with a sickening thud and from somewhere behind her, Istelle heard Leliana shriek in Orlesian.
Morrigan pushed herself up quickly, gold eyes scanning the top of the hill for any sign of the Hurlock sniper. She thought she saw the lumpy outline of a corpse with three arrows sticking from it but she didn't spare herself enough time to process completely the Hurlock's fate beyond that it was dead.
"Istelle-"she twisted around on the cold winter ground to look at the young noblewoman who had saved her life.
Istelle looked down slowly at the arrow that protruded from her chest, gasping, a gurgling sound as blood oozed up her throat instead of air from her pierced lung. She coughed, blood splattering Morrigan's face, before she fell.
It was a while before Istelle awakened, sore and drained, to the sight of Morrigan's frowning face. Morrigan moved away silently to allow the young noblewoman room to sit up.
"Careful." Morrigan said in warning.
Istelle nodded and struggled her way into a semblance of a sitting position propped on her elbows. Eyelids fluttered rapidly with a sudden onset of dizziness but Morrigan was there to support her before she went crashing back down onto her sleeping pallet. Istelle leaned gratefully into Morrigan, forgetting for an instant the witch's dislike of physical contact her eyes closed as she breathed in and out.
Morrigan stiffened, her mouth twisting in preparation of some scathing remark, but, for once, she held her tongue.
"Thank you." She whispered instead, fearful of what the words might mean if she spoke them any louder.
Istelle smiled, small and contentedly.
"You are welcome."