The Road to Lothering, 9:30 Dragon
They were halfway to Lothering before Marian realized she hadn't asked the stranger his name. When she did so that night, he simply replied with "I'm the Doctor." Marian knew better than to press him further.
"What's your name?" the Doctor asked.
"Hawke." The Doctor's eyes widened suddenly.
"That's why the darkspawn sounded so familiar..." Marian cocked her head, wondering what in Thedas the Doctor was talking about.
"What's the year?" he asked.
"What?"
"The year. What year is it?"
"9:30 Dragon."
The Doctor thought for a moment. The Forbidden Planet. Not Trenzalore - that was forbidden only to him. No, this world was forbidden to all travelers.
Still, without the TARDIS he couldn't exactly go anywhere else, so he would just have to survive the Fifth Blight as best he could.
Hawke Residence, Lothering, 9:30 Dragon
Marian opened the door, to be greeted immediately by Bethany pulling her into a hug.
"What happened?" she asked. Marian recounted the whole story as Carver, then the Doctor followed her inside.
"...so then, next thing you know, BOOM!" Marian continued, embellishing the tale with hand movements. "Everyone looked up and saw this blue box flying through the air - I kid you not, flying - and then it crashed into the ground right in front of me and Carver! The darkspawn around us were incinerated, but that enchantment of yours saved us - thanks for that, by the way." Marian finished telling Bethany about the battle while the Doctor paced the room impatiently.
"We lost the battle in the end, but Carver, the Doctor and I managed to get away from the darkspawn. Bethany, they're heading for Lothering!
"Then we have to go."
The Road from Lothering, 9:30 Dragon
They ran along the narrow path, the Doctor grinning while the others panted, their faces filled with fear. Marian's mother stumbled and fell, and the others stopped to help her. Bethany shot a fireball at the darkspawn, temporarily blocking their path Marian and Carver dealt with the two that got past.
As they helped their mother to her feet, the Doctor decided to find a weapon. The sonic was good, but it was no weapon - and, unfortunately, this was the forbidden planet, the one planet where a weapon is virtually a necessity. He could worry about the ethics of whatever he would do later, once he had the TARDIS back and was safely far away from this world.
He scavenged a bow and some arrows from a corpse and turned to fire at the creatures behind the wall of flames. He tested the draw weight, found it to be weak, and took out the sonic. Marian watched, intrigued, as the Doctor ran a strange, glowing metal stick along the length of the bow, tested it again, and nocked an arrow. Her curiosity was driven from her mind, however, when the darkspawn broke through the wall of flames.
A hand grabbed her arm.
"Run," the Doctor said.
Marian heard a familiar sound.
thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.
An ogre ran full pelt up the rise, stopping in the middle of the arena-like space. It roared defiantly at the air before making its way toward Carver and Leandra.
"You soulless bastard!" Carver shouted defiantly, charging at the ogre. Before he could land a single hit, the creature grabbed him. The Doctor drew his new bow, aiming for the creature's leg. As he loosed the arrow, the ogre slammed Carver down to the ground with enough force to kill him.
"Carver!" Leandra cried. The Doctor's arrow finally struck, hamstringing the creature's leg. Unbalanced, the ogre toppled, allowing Marian the chance to strike. She leapt into the air, shouting incomprehensibly, and drove her daggers into the creature's chest with the force of her own weight. The Doctor rushed in to help, nocking three arrows at once and sending them all hurtling into the ogre's neck. Only Bethany and Aveline, the templar's wife whom they had met on the way out of Lothering, didn't attack the creature.
The darkspawn flooded onto the peak, backing them against the cliff face. The Doctor was doing all he could to keep them away, but even he couldn't hold off a darkspawn horde with a few arrows.
"There's no end to them!" Bethany wailed, prompting Marian to lay her hand on her younger sister's arm. A loud roar suddenly filled the air. They all turned to see a red shape unfurl its mighty wings and soar down from the top of the cliff, fire pouring from its maw. They ducked as it passed overhead, but it seemed uninterested in them, contenting itself with incinerating the darkspawn. It landed in the middle of the burning area it had created, golden lights circling it as it changed to a more human form.
"Amazing," the Doctor commented "A draconic haemovarioform - here!" The woman the dragon had become heard his words, smiling ever so slightly.
"Well, well, what have we here?" The woman asked. The question was clearly rhetorical, but the Doctor answered her anyway.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor. This is Marian, Bethany, Leandra and Aveline. The injured one is her husband, Wesley, and the dead one is Marian and Bethany's brother, Leandra's son Carver." The woman almost broke out into a real grin before she caught herself.
"My, my, such an honest young man," she commented.
"Hey! I'll have you know, I'm nine hundred and six years old! Don't go calling me young!" The woman blinked, before turning to Marian.
"I spotted a strange sight, a mighty ogre, slain. 'Who might be able to achieve such a feat?' I asked myself. But now my curiosity is sated, and you are safe."
"You can't just leave without telling us who you are!" Marian exclaimed.
"I know who she is," Aveline chipped in as she tended her husband, "The Witch of the Wilds."
"Some call me that," the woman admitted, "also, Flemeth. Asha'bellanar. An old hag who talks too much." She chuckled as she related the last name.
"We need some help," the Doctor interjected. "We're trying to get to Kirkwall."
"Kirkwall? My, my, that is a long way from home, is it not?"
"We could use some more fire," the Doctor reccomended.
"Sadly, my charity is at an end. Here," she said, handing a locket to Marian. "Take this to Keeper Marethari at Sundermount when you arrive in Kirkwall. I shall ensure you get there." Marian nodded mutely as Flemeth turned to Wesley.
"The taint is within you," she told him. "The only freedom from it is death." The Doctor walked over to them, holding a knife he had scavenged from a corpse nearby.
"I can't make the decision for you, Aveline. He's your husband." He handed her the knife.
Wesley looked Aveline square in the eyes.
"The witch is right," he told her, "I can feel it in my veins."
"There must be a way to cure it!" Aveline exclaimed.
"The only cure I know of," Flemeth announced, "is to become a Grey Warden."
"Too bad they all died at Ostagar," Marian retorted angrily.
"Not all," Flemeth replied, her golden eyes holding Marian's brilliant blue ones without flinching, "but the last ones are beyond your reach."
The Doctor stole a chance to scan Wesley with the sonic while no-one was watching. He glanced at the crystal, realising what the "taint" was.
"It's some kind of... parasite, living in his blood!" he exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at him as he hurriedly stashed the sonic away.
"If only I had the TARDIS..."
Flemeth turned to Marian.
"Has the man hit his head?" Marian shook her head.
"He's been like this since he fell out of a flying blue box at Ostagar. Although, I can't argue with his archery skills." The Doctor looked up at the mention of a flying blue box.
"Blue box? That's the TARDIS!"
"TARDIS?"
"Time And Relative Dimension In Space! It's a dimensionally transcendental, high-tech, space-time travel machine from the planet Gallifrey, and it's my transport."
Bethany spoke up.
"Can you repeat that... in English?"
"Basically it's a blue box that's bigger on the inside and can go anywhere and anywhen." Bethany nodded. She had understood that time.
Flemeth turned to face them all.
"The road will get no easier in the days to come..."
"So you're telling me the Doctor has a blue box which is bigger on the inside and can take him anywhere in the world, and any time that has happened or ever will happen?"
"Yes."
"Bullshit."
"Hey, I told you it was crazier than my lies."
"Point taken. Continue."
