It was pitch black outside and I couldn't help looking out the window. Hoping for a sign Carver would be alive. Mother would not leave Lothering without him, I knew. I also knew that we had to act fast if we wanted to get out alive. I shook my head. Something had to be done. If Carver would not come home by early tomorrow morning I would drag Mother out. While making my plan in my mind I drifted off to the fade. Noises made me stirr around and slowly realization drifted in. It sounded like a man. It sounded like... Carver. Carver? My eyes shot open and I carefully listened to confirm my thoughts.
Yes it was him! I quickly dressed myself and ran to the living room where he was. Mother was already, or still, awake and Bethany was hugging Carver. When he saw me there was little happiness on his face. He had been running. His face was covered in sweat and his clothes were covered in blood. I shot him a small smile and nodded. It was good to have him back, but now it was time to run for our lives. Carver did not hesitate to share the news that Darkspawn had indeed won the battle. The Grey Wardens were telling the truth! Everyone had died out there, including King Cailen!
I looked out the window. There was no sign of Darkspawn yet. The sun was rising so we could leave now. We had to leave now. I faced Mother and my siblings and told them to collect only what would be necessary. Bethany immediately ran to the bedroom and Mother nodded in agreement. Carver walked up next to me. He looked so defeated. I put my hand on his arm.
"How are you holding up, Brother?" Carver sighed. His head fell and his eyes dropped to the floor. A second later he looked at me.
"It was a horrible sight, Sister. Now we have to get out of here, save Mother and Bethany, before we can think about anything else." I agreed with Carver. Softly I told him to gather the things he would need himself. While my family was busy, I kept an eye on our surroundings. The idea Darkspawn could stand on our doorstep was strange and made me feel slightly uncomfortable. My whole life we had to run from Templars. My whole life I had to pretend like I was a regular young lady with no magic at all. I was used to the running, but not from these discusting things. A kind I had never seen in my life before. I shuddered at the thought and focussed on my family instead.
Everybody seemed to be ready now and after Bethany and I took our staves, we moved out of the house. I leaded the way, but every time I looked back to see if they were catching up all right I noticed Mother looking back towards our house. The surroundings had been infected by the blight already and I couldn't believe everything would be consumed so fast. It would be a matter of time before our house was also consumed by the blight. I took pity on the people who decided to stay and try to defend themselves. Lost in thoughts and busy with leading the way away from Lothering, I didn't notice we were followed. I stood still and Carver pushed me to continue. When I yelled to Carver to stop I noticed black spots in the distance. It came closer and it moved our way. I slowly backed up, not trusting what came towards us, and soon I noticed it was Darkspawn. My eyes widened and I felt the adrenaline flowing through my veins. I pushed my family to run faster and faster. Mother did the best she could, but she was not able to keep up with Bethany and Carver. I made sure nothing could get Mother from behind so I ran behind her. Just to see she would be as safe as possible.
The Darkspawn were now so close they could touch us. Suddenly Bethany stood still and casted a firebolt to the Darkspawn. It hit them and a few fell. The rest was caught behind a barrier of fire, caused by the fireball. One Darkspawn managed to get through in time, which met its end at the tip of my staff. The top of my staff was equiped with a small gem while the rest consisted of strong wood. The bottom had a sharp blade of a dagger attached to it so I could also fight my enemies in melee range. When the dead blighted body dropped in front of my feet, Carver took my arm to take me to Mother and Bethany. They were waiting for us and Mother looked tired from all the running. When we arrived Bethany looked mad while Mother looked desperate.
"I can't believe it. Everything your Father and I built... is gone." Mother said this more to herself than to us. Bethany shook her head.
"Why didn't we run sooner!" She said while she casted her look to Carver. She was mad that they were in this danger now.
"Why are you looking at me! I've been running since Ostagar!" Carver fiercely responded back. This was going nowhere. How could they argue while there was still Darkspawn behind us, waiting to slaughter every single one of us.
"This is not the time! We have to move out of here!" I said while I stared into the distance. There was only one way we could go and that was forward. Mother and Bethany stayed silent while Carver told me to lead the way. So we moved further. It seemed like Darkspawn had taken everything here in a matter of minutes. We were surrounded and could only fight our way through. Bethany her wall of fire stopped while in front of us a small group ran our way. Their swords were raised and looked determined. I steeled myself for battle. It was now or never. I had to get everyone out of here safely. While Carver had already rushed towards the small pack of Darkspawn in front of us, Bethany made sure those behind us wouldn't touch mother. I casted a firebolt to the group behind us and quickly moved to help out Carver. He handled the group well on his own and with the occasional Wintersgrasp they were dead fast.
When we continued running forward Bethany called out to stop. I felt myself getting annoyed. The Darkspawn weren't going to wait for us to finally get going. They were too eager to kill all on sight. I stopped and turned around with a frown. Bethany caught my look and quickly looked down for a second.
"Where are we going?" she said as he looked back to us again. "We can't just wander, aimlessly." I lifted up my shoulders.
"We can try and see how far we can get with that." I said with a grin. This only deserved a nasty glare back. Suddenly Mothers head shot up. I could tell by the way she looked that she had an idea.
"We could go to Kirkwall!" she said, proud of finally having a place to go.
"Kirkwall?" I whispered. "Are you sure?" I said while I lifted a brow, partly in disbelief Mother would send her mage daughters to Kirkwall of all places. Bethany seemed to be on the same page on this one.
"There are a lot of Templars in Kirkwall, Mother."
"I know that, but we still have family and an estate there!" I wasn't too happy about the idea, but it seemed like we had no other choice. After we decided it was Gwaren we needed to go to first I turned around and started killing more Darkspawn who had found us. Not far ahead I could hear fighting as well. When we ran around the corner I could see a warrior woman and a templar defending themselves against Darkspawn. The templar got hit in the side hard and fell on the ground. Without thinking we ran and started helping them killing the smelling beasts. When the last one fell, the templar stood up and fiercely walked towards me and Bethany.
"Apostate!" he stated. He started murmuring something and Bethany started to giggle.
"A Templar. Here, in the midst of Lothering overrun by the blight." The woman next to the templar tried to calm him down. Instead he looked at the woman.
"The order dictates…" The woman shook her head.
"They saved us, dear. The Maker understands." He looked at Bethany and me once more and lowered his head. I could see a small nod before his head went back up again.
"My name is Aveline Vallen, and this is my husband Wesley. We can hate each other, but I suggest we work together for now." I agreed on this, but I had to make sure this templar knew what I was prepared to do for my family.
"As long as you know I stand with Bethany, Templar." I said while pointing to him.
"I'm sure we will both keep an eye on each other." He simply replied. We discussed which direction we should go and I quickly decided we could only go one way. There was more Darkspawn on our path and we soon reached an open area. I held everyone back as it was completely empty. There were three points to go to. Right, middle and left. Slowly we moved further into the open area when the ground started shaking lightly. The sound was as if something really heavy was running towards us. I looked around and didn't see anyone near. Carver was standing next to me while mother and Bethany stayed behind for us to declare it safe. Aveline and Wesley were not far from Carver and me, ready to go into battle when needed.
Suddenly I saw a large ogre coming from the far left side. I realized they were too close to mother and Bethany. My sister tried to shield mother from anything the ogre would do. I heard her whispers and I didn't know what she said. When this processed into my mind, she started to run. I quickly knew she was preparing herself to attack the ogre. I tried to run to her, but the ogre had already taken her in his large hands. She screamed and I tried to cast a wintersgrasp as soon as possible, hoping it would freeze the ogre completely so Bethany could escape.
Everything turned out the other way around. My wintersgrasp barely hurt the ogre and he smashed Bethany against the ground. Carver, Aveline and Wesley were already on their way to kill the ogre and while he still had my sister in his hands I could tell by her lifeless form that she was gone. Tears started building up in my eyes, but I pushed them aside. This ogre would die no matter what. I casted out more spells and with everyone fighting the ogre it died. More Darkspawn swarmed around us, but they were no match.
Mother was already sitting at Bethany's side, trying to wake her with words. Her tears fell freely and I couldn't stop the guilt washing over me. I sat down across mother so Bethany was in between us. Carver stood near mother and I looked at my sister. I closed my eyes and silently started praying. Why couldn't I save my own sister from a bloody ogre? Aveline and Wesley walked towards us as well and the strong warrior woman told my mother that Bethany was dead.
Mother did not want to hear that at first, but when it finally sunk in I was her target. She blamed me. I looked up at my own mother and saw her eyes. Why would she say that? Doesn't she know I blame myself already? The last thing I needed was hearing that from my mother. I whispered father would have company now and stood up. Wesley was praying for Bethany's soul to join the Maker while I stood up. It gave me a mixed feeling knowing he is a templar and Bethany the apostate he would hunt till death.
Aveline's shouting brought me out of my thoughts again and soon we found ourselves with more Darkspawn. She rushed in with Wesley and Carver followed them straight away. He took out his anger on the Darkspawn. The place started to overrun with the filthy beasts and I started to wonder if we would ever make it out alive. Out of nowhere we heard a loud deafening roar which caused everyone, including the Darkspawn, to stop and look where it came from.
Behind us on the rocks was a giant dragon. My eyes widened as soon as I saw it and I kept following it as it started to fly towards us. Sparks of fire were coming out of its mouth and it spew flames on the Darkspawn in front of us. It was so near I could feel the heat as I saw the Darkspawn drop dead after running around with a coat of flames. With its large paws it lifted a few Darkspawn only to let them fall. This went on a couple of times before the dragon landed in front of us. It softly roared as if it was a little out of breath and turned itself around to face us. I held my staff even tighter as I took a step towards it. I had to defend my family, especially after I let Bethany run off to that ogre.
I frowned as it took a few steps towards me and was blinded by the light that came from the dragon. It fully consumed it and I had to squeeze my eyes for them not to hurt too much. Soon I could see a dark human form in the light.