So, sorry for not updating in a long while, but its Christmas, and hey I just had to update.


Chapter 2
Bad Day

Five men in nasty armor greeted Katie and her group as soon as Lothering came into view. The men demanding they pay the toll for the bridge…that was clearly broken and had not been in use in centuries.

In fact you had to make your way through the sad grey town in order to continue on said stone bridge. The men glared as Katie clearly gave them a gesture of what she thought of said toll, not that the men were sure what the gesture actually meant. But they figured it wasn't a 'yes, I'll pay the toll.'

So they drew their swords growling in annoyance and threateningly waved them about as if they knew how to use them. Moragin, in her skinny revealing robes, light her hands on fire, showing off her use of magic.

Alister raised his shield and drew his sword ready to charge in and protect his fellow warden. The dog that Katie had helped save back down at the kennels before the major fight and which she silently named Caramel had found them ways back down the road. Caramel lowered it brown body growling and showing off its K-nine's threateningly.

The fight was quickly started, much too quickly for Katie to pull out her own blades to protect herself. She stepped back in time not to be cleaved in half by a long sword. Alister's scared faced shield quickly made its way in front of Katie blocking another attack. Alister ushered her to his right side and then behind him grunting at another blow at his shield.

The fight from there was quickly over, leaving both Alister and Caramel splattered and blood and Morogin drinking a mana potion. Katie quickly started signing that she didn't realize that those men would attack her, and she panicked and didn't know what to do when they did. Halfway through Alister gripped her hands with his blood soaked ones to stop her, not understood gesturing and lead her to sit down on a sturdy create. He quickly knelt and removed his pack and pulled out a small cloth before ripping a peace off.

"You're bleeding." He stated as he dabbed gently. "Its not bad." He reassured her as he saw her panicked looked. "Just need some practice in getting ready to fight quickly." He soothed, not wanting her to feel bad.

"How about she starts in actually learning which part of the blade to avoid," Moragin stated helpfully in her sneering way. Alister turned his head and glared at her muttering about her getting hit by her own spell one day. He returned to dabbing Katie's wound soon after ignoring the mage's muttering.

Katie took up the cloth pressing to the small wound, that apparently came from the tip of the sword slicing too close to her brow. She pulsed her hand in front of chin in her thanks. Alister gave her a smile, still unsure what it meant. He stood once more collecting his shield and clipping it on. Slowly they made their way off the bridge after looting the men.

Lothering was depressing. Grey on grey and look...more grey! The buildings were all mashed poorly together, falling apart here and there. The road itself was littered with foot prints, mostly muddy ones, though no one seemed to mind. Katie grimced, she was used to paved streets, the march here had done nothing for Katie's sore feet.

People wept or scurried frantically around trying to pack what little they had. Many mothers ushered their children out of homes, so they could pack in peace and quickly. Children played with sticks or chased each other around in small groups of tag. It was a sad sight.

The blight was coming and many didn't want to greet it, not that the soldiers in the south were alive to keep it at bay. No thanks to the deserting general. Alidster sighed to Katie's left, feeling even more depressed than he felt at the condition of Lothering and its people.

The walk was slow into the town as Alister and Moragin bickered like old friends behind Katie. AThey finally reached the chantry doors where Katie paused. She was no believer of the maker...she probably feel weird going into a place of worship. Alister took her hand dragging her in, leaving Moragin to fend for herself outside. She had refused to go into the place.

"We should probably talk to the Revran mother." Alister shifted his focus to a side place of the Chantey where the the holy mother sat on a chair speaking to several other people. Her words where filled with determination and hope but Katie could easily see the hopelessness of the situation the town had been put in, in the mothers face. A knight in reddish armor turned when they passed and called after Alister.

They exchanged a few words and an explanation as to why the knight was here, some sort of Urn of Ashes. Presuming it held the ashes of Andrastate, which was going to be used to cure the Url of Red Cliff. He was sick with something no healer could heal, though many tried to only preserve his life for a little while longer.

Alister turned to Katie. "We have to see the Url, he practically raised me." he gave her the puppy eyed look. Katie gave pat to his shoulder then pointed and then left to greet the Revren mother. The mother was old, wrinkles came from every crease in her face. But she looked haggard and tired.

"Welcome child. May you give a donation, for the needy here?" Katie made a question mark with her hand before pulling some paper out of her bag and a pen. Scribbling down that she sadly had only 30 silver to spare. The mother read it before giving a smile. "That would be except able child." Alister came in half way through the exchange.

"Anything we could do to help mother?" he asked politely.

"Any jobs you will find on the chanters board, but there is nothing else you could possibly do to help these poor people." with a quick blessing she wave over a Templar to speak to him about evacuation.

"Chanters board would be a good idea, we need coin in order to get supplies."Alister commented as he looked at the only posting on the board. Bandits, like the idiots Katie hacked down at the entrance of Lothering. They needed to getting rid of.

"Only job, but let's do it." he ripped the page off and stuffed the folded piece of paper in his armor. With a nod and beckon to Morigan, the trio set off to find said bandits in the fields of wheat. Katie pulled her dagger and short sword out getting ready for an ambush, not that she wasn't any help. She was still learning the mechanics of offence and defense in battle, let alone fighting.

Out of nowhere several mismatched armored glad men charged at the three of them. All bellowing battle cries, swords raised and running like their lives depended on them. They attacked with little skill and form, just hacking and slashing wildly to bring down their adversary. Katie danced out of the way of their swinging but unable to attack back. A shot of ice had them frozen place giving Katie the chance she needed to attack. The pieces landed on the ground as Katie panted from her one way battle.

"That's the last of them." Morigan said as she dusted herself off and picked up her staff where she had thrown it to use her ice spell. Alister rolled his shoulder that held the shield, nursing it after bashing his shield into a bandit's face.

The guy at the Chanters board paid them while reciting part of the chant in thanks. Katie just nodded unsure how to even respond to the chant. Silently she checked the Chanters board again, and found three more assignments. One was finding the lost mother of the child she had met on the bridge towards the inn. The poor boy looked lost and alone, even though he insisted to wait for a mother who defiantly wouldn't be returning.

The second one had to do something with giant spiders, Katie shivered, she hated spiders…But how huge where the giant ones were anyway. She didn't want to find out. Alister plucked the papers from Katie looking them over before she even had the chance to look over the third.

"Think we should do these? We could make a lot of money out of this. Plus what I picked off the bandits, and whatever we could sell." Alister handed the crumpled papers back to Katie. "They all have to be done in the fields anyway. Let's see what we could get done today and pick up what we can tomorrow before we leave." He suggested steering them both back out into the fields.

The mother's body wasn't too hard to find…all you had to do is fallow the sound of revenues wolves ripping at a carcass. When finally defeating the wolves, Katie was made aware of the nasty smell a dead body could make, making her gag and choke as she slowly pried away a necklace from the half eaten body. Quickly she backed away only to land in a spider's web.

A web that covered a large tree and slung to another tree. In her struggle to get free Katie heard hissing, not like a cat but the distinct sound of something huge getting angry. Glancing up and bam, giant spider. It was hairy, spitting venom and had two pincher like teeth open showing off the small pointy, wet mouth behind it.

Katie struggled harshly, jiggling the web enough to get the spider to fall off and onto its back. It wiggled around trying to get back on its belly, its legs doing some weird dancing in the air before Alister's sword ran into its thorax. Spider guts and blood poured out of its body covering the grass bellow.

Mordin was close by lighting another one on fire, which hissed and curled into itself trying to protect itself from the flames before exploding, spraying its guts all over Katie. Who promptly flailed around trying get the sticky goo off, spitting out what had managed to get into her mouth, then promptly threw up. She shivered dry heaving, feeling her body heat up from her exertion.

Morgan was on her quickly with a red colored liquid, tilting Katie's head up and force opening her jaw and pouring it down. Katie drank what she could before coughing and pulling away from Morgan and her tight grip.

"She's been poisoned." Morgan said putting the half drunk potion away. "There's a in not too far in the town, she need to be healed properly." Alister hoisted Katie up and quickly made his way back into town.

The inn, was small but the room was big enough for the three of them. Alister stands back as Morgan does her thing with dry ingredients and some oils. Katie wheezed in the bed laying on her side shivering as the poison made its way thought her body. This is another reason why she hated spiders, they were at times poisonous, not that they had poison control here to help. Morigan turned her head again shoving more liquid down her throat. It was green and tasted just as bad as it smelled. Katie didn't want to know what was in the concoction, but it was working, she could feel the poison no longer ravaging her body.

"What possessed you to swallow spider?" Morgian sneered. "Its common knowledge not to do so. Lived under a rock all your life?" Katie only glared her then quickly turned over the bed to throw up again, all over Morgian's feet, making Alister burst into laughter. Morgian scowled and stopped away leaving Alister to pull a bucket by the bed.

"That was perfect." He chuckled sitting on the edge of the bed. "You be ok, by yourself?" He asked unsure if he wanted to leave his fellow warden alone. She seemed to be having a bad day already. Between getting attacked by bandits, dealing with a dead body, and now a poisoning.

Katie shrugged, she didn't really have a choice. She didn't feel good enough to move, let alone actually move her limbs. "Alright, we are going to finish that last job and het payed. Then we'll make a list of what we need." He said standing up and pulling his weapons on, with a nod he left. Katie drifted off to sleep slowly after his departure, having nothing else to occupy her mind anymore.

The door creaked open slowly hours later. It was dark out, so dark one would think the blight was there already. A bearded man poked his head in; he glanced around the room and then slowly grinned when he found only one person in the room, the target. The door opened further, and crept in slowly. Two other men fallowed him in, daggers out and ready to cut down anyone in their way. Gently the man turned the sleeping female over to double check to make sure this was who they were looking for, and with a nod he scooped her up and quickly made his way out.


Yes, I cliff hanger. Review Please