The Joys of Magic
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or Dragon Age.
"Wake up!"
England groaned and turned his head away from the shouting. England was tired and he had a major headache going on. That stupid spell that he tried to use on America's TV didn't go right at all, and it took a lot out of him. Granted his memories of the whole event were a little fuzzy, but he definitely remembered the spell not working. The guy who was shouting at him didn't sound like America though, but England was so tired that he couldn't bring himself to care. He didn't know who it was that was shouting at him, but he wished they would shut up.
"Come on brother wake up!" A man called out.
'Brother?' England thought.
England slowly opened his eyes only to see that their where a bunch of people standing around him. However, he didn't recognize any of them. The first person that he saw was a boy with brown hair and blue eyes. He had a slightly concerned look on his face, and since he was the only guy here it was safe to assume that he was the one who had been yelling at him earlier.
The person next to him was a girl who was probably around the same age as the boy. She had dark brown hair, honey brown eyes, and a large relived smile plastered onto her face. England also noticed that she was holding onto a large wooden staff with a round metal head, and something told England it wasn't a regular staff. The last person there was an older woman with gray hair that was pulled back into a pony tail.
Standing next to the woman was a huge beast of a dog that had short brown hair and large brown eyes. The dog whimpered and took a few steps toward England before he started to lick England's face. England gently pushed the dog away before he sat up.
"Thank the Maker that you're alright." The gray haired woman said.
"What…?" England said.
The poor nation was very confused, and these strange people were not making the situation any better.
"A darkspawn tried to shot me with an arrow." The woman started to say. "You shoved me out of the way, but when we fell to the ground you hit your head against the rocks."
England just stared at her in confusion before he asked "What in the hell is a darkspawn?"
The man looked absolutely livid upon hearing England say that.
"Now is not the time to be joking!" The man yelled.
"I'm not joking I honestly don't know what a darkspawn is!" England snapped back.
The boy looked ready to yell at him again, but the girl beat him to the punch and started talking.
"Amnesia!" The girl yelled out. "I think brother has amnesia!"
She looked at England and asked "Do you remember me?"
England just looked at her and said "I don't know you."
He looked at the gray haired woman and then at the boy before he said "I don't know any of you."
The woman looked absolutely heartbroken upon hearing this, and while England felt slightly bad about that but there wasn't much that he could do about it.
The boy threw his arms up into the air and shouted out "Great, this is just great! You just had to lose your memory now didn't you?"
This guy was really starting to tick England off. The nation just glared at the boy and scowled. "Well, sorry I decided to save your mother's life!"
The woman flinched a little at being called the boy's mother and not something like 'our mother, but England couldn't bring himself to care. He had just been ripped away from his normal life and tossed into this strange world were a bunch of people were trying to convince him that they were related to him. He really wasn't in a good mood right now, and the short tempered boy that he was arguing with really wasn't helping. Also, no matter which way you cut it this woman was not his mother and the nation wasn't going to pretend that she was. The brown haired girl frowned upon hearing this as well, but she didn't say anything about it.
Instead she looked over at her brunet brother and said "We really should keep moving if we want to escape from the darkspawn."
England just sighed before he stood up. As he got up he noticed a simple wooden staff lying on the ground.
'I guess that's mine.' England thought as he picked the staff up.
Once he was standing the short tempered boy turned around and started to continue down the trail that they were travelling on. The gray haired woman quickly followed after him, and with nothing else to do the nation just followed the two of them. The dog walked along right behind England, and the girl walked along beside the nation.
The whole time they were walking the girl tried to help the nation figure out what was going on. She quickly explained that her name was Bethany, the boy's name was Carver, and the woman's name was Leandra. Darkspawn are evil creatures that usually stayed in some place called the Deep Roads, but they were running around now because something called a Blight was happening. They were escaping from the darkspawn because their hometown had just been attacked.
Considering the fact that he could hear yelling in the distance, bodies that occasionally dotted the path, and it looked like they were stumbling around in the middle of a battlefield England was inclined to believe everything that she was telling him. The fog in his mind had cleared a bit, and the nation could remember how he got here now. He was dragged into the TV and right into America's game.
Hell if England knew how he did it or how to get out of here he just knew he was stuck in a video game of all things. Logically England knew that if there was a way into the game there was also a way to get out. Spells can be reversed and almost all spells that existed had another spell that could either counter it or do the opposite of the first spell. If the spell that got him here was a traveling spell or teleportation spell of some kind it could be used to get him back home. Unfortunately, England wasn't completely sure how his spell even got him here in the first place so trying to use it again would be worthless and England didn't know any spells that could teleport a person into different dimensions or worlds.
The nation felt like screaming in frustration, but before he could even open his mouth to start yelling Carver started talking.
"Darkspawn are coming." He said.
Sure enough a bunch of creatures were stumbling down the path right toward them. They were strange creatures in badly made armor that looked like were made by a really bad blacksmith the the medieval ages. The monsters themselves looked sort of like old decaying corpses and none of them had any lips to speak of so England got a wonderful view of their bloody teeth. The boy drew out his sword and the girl brought out her staff while the dog started to growl. England brought his staff out as well, but he honestly had no clue on what he was supposed to do with it. He had no idea if it worked like his star wand or if it worked in an entirely different way.
Once the creatures were close Carver started hacking away at them. The dog launched himself at a darkspawn that tried to stab Carver in the back. Bethany stood beside and started launching frozen balls of pure magic at the monsters with her staff. England watched her for a moment before he channeled some of his magic into his staff and aimed it at a darkspawn. Sure enough a large ball of fire shot out of the staff and slammed into a darkspawn. The darkspawn was sent flying into a rocky wall, and judging by the looks that Carver, Bethany, and Leandra was giving him he could probably safely say that they hadn't expected his attack to be so powerful.
England wasn't even given a chance to wonder if he should hold back on how much magic he charged into the staff because another wave of darkspawn was coming toward them. Luckily, with the three of them working together and the dog keeping any darkspawn from stabbing anyone in the back they were able to bring the enemy down. Once the threat was gone they continued to stumble down the path, but after some time had passed Bethany started to slow down a little.
"Just where are we going anyway?" She asked from behind England.
"Away from those darkspawn things I imagine." England deadpanned.
The 'no duh' look that graced Bethany's face upon hearing that amused the nation slightly, but he couldn't quite bring himself to smile.
Bethany shook her head and said "We can't keep running forever."
"Well, where do you think we should run to then?" Carver asked grumpily.
Bethany was about to answer, but before she could even say a word Leandra beat her to it.
"We could go to Kirkwall."
England didn't know what Kirkwall was like, but judging by the expressions on the siblings' faces it wasn't exactly a good place.
"There are a lot of Templars in Kirkwall mother." Bethany said slowly.
"Templars?" England said in confusion.
Something told England that they weren't quite like the Knight Templars that used to exist in his world.
"Templars are knights that hunt down apostate mages to either kill or take to the Circle." Bethany explained. "The Circle is where mages like us are supposed to go."
"I take it that the Circle isn't all sunshine and rainbows?" England asked.
"It's essentially a prison for mages. They help mages learn to control their magic, but you lose a lot of your freedom."
"Well, that's lovely." England said sarcastically.
England looked over at Leandra and asked "So why do we want to go there?"
"We have family there and an estate." She answered.
England almost felt like correcting her and telling her that they had family there and he didn't, but the blond haired nation wisely kept his mouth shut. The two siblings didn't look too enthusiastic about going to Kirkwall, but eventually Bethany just sighed and shook her head.
"Kirkwall it is then."
For some reason England felt like they all just signed their death warrant upon agreeing to go to Kirkwall. Estate or not the whole city full of mage hunting Templars did not seem like a good place to be. However, it's not like the nation knew of anywhere else to go. Hell, the nation didn't even know how to get out of this place. Almost as if sensing England's unease the dog walked closer to him and licked his hand. The green eyed nation glanced down at doe eyed creature and gave him a tiny smile before he scratched the dog behind the ear.
The dog let out a happy bark and while this situation still sucked England could at least say that the dog could make him smile. They continued down the lone path taking out the occasional darkspawn that stumbled into their path, but when they reached a bend in the road they could hear what sounded like people yelling.
"Did you hear that?" Carver asked. "That sounded like regular people."
"Do you think they could be more survivors like us?" Leandra asked.
"Only one way to find out." England said as he turned around the corner.
Sure enough there were two people fighting darkspawn, and England appeared just in time to see a darkspawn stab a man wearing knight armor. The darkspawn's sword sliced through the metal like it was butter and the man yelled out as he was stabbed in the chest.
"No!" The man's companion yelled out.
The man's companion was a woman with bright orange hair and eyes as green as the leaves on a tree. She was a pretty woman and she was muscular. She was also fast because within the blink of an eye she was by the man's side and slashing the darkspawn into pieces.
"They will not have you!" The woman shouted out as the darkspawn fell to the ground while letting out a death rattle.
She wrapped her free arm around the man and said yet again more softly "They will not have you."
'She's a brave woman.' England thought. 'She's strong too.'
It really was easy to tell that the woman was a warrior. The way the woman moved and handled a sword toward the nation that she was quite an experienced warrior. However, skilled or not the horde of darkspawn that surrounded her would give her trouble, and having to protect her companion while also defending herself was not going to make things any easier for her.
A small ball of fire appeared in the nation's hand as he thought of his next move. Up until this point the nation had only been using his staff to attack, but if he wanted to help the woman and her companion then he was going to need something that could hit more than one target. Unfortunately, England didn't exactly know a lot of attack spells off the top of his head. Most of the spells that he knew were for more mundane things like making flowers stay in bloom all year round or how to create balls of magical light to light up an area.
He had a few spell books filled with magical spells meant for fighting, but England didn't remember any of the chants that came from the musty old tomes. He didn't really need to remember the spells because he had no use for them in the day and age that he lived in. If nothing else normally he would assume that he could always just grab the books if he ever needed the battle magic, but there was no way he could get his books here. Luckily, he did know one spell that could use to attack the creatures. He knew how to create fire with his magic, and he was pretty sure that if he charged the spell up with his magic he could create a fireball that could roast most of the darkspawn surrounding the warrior. Granted he had only ever used the spell to light candles and start fires in a fireplace, but he was sure that he could create and control the fire well enough that he would only make the darkspawn extra crispy.
At least England hoped he would only make the darkspawn extra crispy and not the woman and man. The nation took a deep breath and started to charge up the fireball. Bethany glanced over at England and watched him for a moment before she too started charging up her magic into her staff. The girl's simple wooden staff started to become coated in a thin layer of ice and as the girl spun her staff around in her hand England could the icy mist start to drift out of the round metal head of the wooden staff. England didn't keep his eyes on her for long and once the fireball was big enough England tossed it at the darkspawn and offered up a quick prayer that it would hit its mark.
Luckily, the nation's prayers were answered because the fireball hit its mark and exploded is such a way that it torched the darkspawn and not the survivors. The now burning darkspawn let out a bunch of loud unearthly screams and the survives quickly whipped their heads around and glanced over at England just to see Bethany step forward and release a wave of ice over the darkspawn that had managed to avoid the fire. The darkspawn froze on the spot and Carver steeped forward and smashed the frozen creatures with some well-placed strikes with his sword.
They worked so well together just then that to anyone else it would have looked like they had been fighting together for years. Once all of the darkspawn were dead England and the two siblings approached the survivors. The man that had been stabbed gently pushed himself away from his companion and stumbled toward them on unsteady legs. The man was wearing some rather bulky armor that had a sword covered in flame imprinted on the breastplate, but England didn't know what the symbol was supposed to symbolize if it symbolized anything at all.
"Apostates!" The man called out.
"Oh joy a Templar. First darkspawn and now a Templar." Carver muttered from his spot beside England.
"The Maker does seem to have a twisted sense of humor right now." Bethany said upon hearing her brother's words.
"The order dictates..." The man started to say, but he fell silent when the dog parked himself in-between England and the man.
The man glanced down at the dog before he looked up at England almost as if he expected him to do something about the dog. England just gave him a bored look before he promptly shrugged his shoulders. The dog did what he wanted, and to be honest the nation wasn't going to stop the dog from attacking if Templar boy decided that he needed to kill some free mages. Although, to be honest with how injured the guy looked it was pretty obvious that he wouldn't be taking anyone down today.
Still, the man was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid because he just stared right into England's eyes and said in his most threatening tone "The order dictates…"
Again the man was cut off, but this time he was cut off by his companion.
The orange haired woman gently placed her hand on the Templar's arm and said "Dear, they saved us. The Maker understands."
The man glanced over at her before he relaxed his stance ever so slightly and nodded to her. The woman smiled a little at him before she looked over at England. "I am Aveline Vallen, and this is my husband Ser Wesley." Aveline said. "We can hate each other after we get away from the hoard."
"Sounds good to me." England said.
Honestly, this really wasn't a good place to be fighting and the nation wasn't in the mood to deal with this.
Aveline nodded a little before she said "For now we move with you. The north is cut off we barely escaped the main body of the hoard."
"Then we are trapped! The Wilds are to the south and that's no way out." Carver yelled out.
"If our choices are between being eaten by darkspawn or stumbling around in the Wilds I think I'll go with the second option." England responded.
Carver looked like he wanted to argue with England, but he kept his mouth shut.
England glanced over at Wesley and asked "Do you need any healing? I know a few healing spells that I could use if you need it."
"I'll be fine." Wesley quickly said. Aveline frowned a bit upon hearing that and England was just barely able to keep himself from rolling his eyes.
Wesley looked like he wasn't fine, but the idea of a bunch of apostate mages using magic on him obviously bother him more than the possibility of bleeding to death. Judging from the look that his wife was shooting him it was obvious that she didn't like his refusal of the offer. Honestly, England was pretty much just done with everything right now so he didn't care to argue with the guy. If Wesley wanted to bleed to death that was his choice.
Instead of arguing he just continued down the little path that they were walking down without saying another word. The dog quickly fell in step beside him and everyone else just followed after him. Obviously not comfortable with walking in silence Bethany quickly decided to finish introductions.
"So I'm Bethany Hawke." She said before she pointed at her mother. "That's my mother Leandra, and walking beside her is my brother Carver."
"And what's the name of the leader of our little group?" Aveline asked.
England wasn't sure how to respond to that question. Did he answer with his human name? His nation name which was his true name? Or did his 'family' know him by a different name? Bethany hadn't said what his name was, but to be fair she was trying to explain things to a supposed amnesiac while running for her life at the same time so it was to be expected that her explanations about everything was sort of a jumbled mess.
Luckily, Bethany decided to answer the name question for him.
"My elder brother's name is Arthur."
England almost stopped walking upon hearing that. That was his human name. What were the chances that this Hawke character had his name? England knew nothing about the Dragon Age game so there was a very real chance that Arthur really was the character's name, but that was one hell of a coincidence. Still, it was a good thing that he was called Arthur and not Garrett or something like that. He was used to his human name and having people call him by some other name. Although, he would probably have to get used to people possibly referring to him as Hawke, but England really hoped that he would be back home long before he would have to get used to that name.
England briefly wondered if they were going to bring the amnesia thing up, but Carver ended up answering the question when he said "And our wonderful brother happens to have amnesia."
The word wonderful was positively dripping with sarcasm, but England officially decided he didn't care. England never had a very stable relationship with his real siblings so it figures his relationship with his fake brother was just as strained. Still, the way Carver acted made England wonder what the hell Hawke did to him to make Carver dislike him so much.
England was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Wesley say "You lost your memory?"
"Evidently I smashed my head against a rock when I saved Leandra from darkspawn." England answered dryly as he tossed a fire ball at the lone darkspawn that was stumbling down the road toward them.
The darkspawn crashed to the ground with a loud scream and Aveline automatically stabbed her sword trough it just to make sure that it was dead. Wesley watched as his wife yanked her sword out of the now burning corpse before he glanced over at England.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
England's mouth twitched a bit before he said "You make it sound like I just lost a family member."
"You might not have physically lost someone, but it hurts the people forgotten just the same."
Well, the man had him on that one.
"Also, I believe that memories help to make up a person. You might not have died, but you lost a part of yourself just the same."
"You might be right." England muttered.
Normally, England would agree with that thought, but right now he wasn't suffering from memory loss. Right now England was far away from home and he had no idea how to get back. Whoever Arthur Hawke was or is didn't matter anymore.
Hell, England didn't even know what happened to the original Arthur. Although, now that England thought about it he couldn't help but wonder what happened to him. Did he switch places with England? Did he cease to exist? Was he just some blank slate waiting for someone to take his place? There was a very real possibility that Arthur Hawke wasn't real from the start. From what little that England knew about video games he knew that sometimes the character that you played as was essentially a blank slate.
The player was the one who decided what to ask, what to say, and how to act. Arthur Hawke could have very well been just a blank slate having just enough personality or saying just enough that he could seem like a real person when he was really just an avatar waiting for someone to take control. Or take his place in this case. Honestly, England didn't know what the deal was with Arthur Hawke and this wasn't really a great place to be thinking about it. Then again it's not like he had much else to think about other then 'get out of danger' and 'God, why did I cast that spell on the TV?'.
A somewhat awkward silence had fallen upon the oddball group of survivors. Both Carver and Aveline looked serious and on guard while Leandra just looked exhausted. Wesley had a grim expression on his face and he was looking very pale too. Bethany kept shooting the guy confused looks like she didn't know what to make of him. Not that England could blame her. One second he's yelling about apostates and the next second he's offering apologies and words of wisdom. He was a strange guy, but his thoughts on Wesley faded away when the tiny path lead to a large rocky clearing. A small cliff toward over the clearing and multiple dirt paths lead from the clearing off into various directions.
'It looks like a great place to get jumped by darkspawn.' England thought.
As if they had heard his thoughts the loud grumbled yells of darkspawn coming from the multiple paths, and they all sounded like they were coming toward them.
"There is no chance that we can just turn back and try to find some other path is there?" England deadpanned.
"Considering the fact that I can hear darkspawn yelling from somewhere behind us I'm going to say no." Aveline answered.
"Then it's time to fight." England said as he twirled his staff.
Aveline and Carver quickly got out their swords while Bethany quickly made her way over to her mother so that she could keep her safe. Wesley was in no position to fight due to his injury so he just stood close to Leandra. The darkspawn were on them in a matter of seconds and everyone was fighting for their lives. Bethany was using fire spells to repel the darkspawn and keep them away from Leandra and Wesley.
Carver was carving a path through the ocean of darkspawn while Aveline was cutting down the beasts while smashing a few of them in the face with her shield. England was tossing fire at anything that got near him while using his staff to push darkspawn away from him. Not it's intended purpose, but flinging fireballs by hand was a lot faster than channeling magic through the wooden stick of a staff. It wasn't something made for harsh combat and England really wished he had a sword or a staff with a blade attached to it. Anything would be better than the thing that he had now. Somehow by some miracle England and his little ragtag group of companions were able to defeat wave of darkspawn.
Once the last darkspawn fell to the ground dead the winners of the fight stared to smile. Carver was grinning, Bethany was smiling in relief, and the tiniest of smiles was making its way onto Aveline's face. However, everyone stopped smiling when they heard the deep loud roar of some sort of large beast. The ground started to shake and England had just enough time to turn to see a large horned ogre beast come charging toward them. There was no time to charge up a magical attack, and by the time Aveline and Carver got ready to even attempt to swing their swords they would be knocked away.
The only thing they could do was dive out of the way of the charging beast. They were able to get out of the way, but the second England hit the ground he heard Leandra let out a blood-curdling scream. England scrambled up to his feet just in time to see the ogre grab Bethany and smash her into the ground over and over again like she was some sort of hammer and he was trying to smash down some invisible nail. Upon seeing that England couldn't help but get angry and snap. So far Bethany had been kind to him, and seeing her smashed into the ground like that was upsetting.
Heck, seeing any decent person being smashed like that was upsetting.
"Let her go." England said out loud.
He was loud enough to be heard, but his tone calm enough. It was tranquil fury at its best and it was a sign to any sane smart man that they should run away as fast as they possibly could. However, the ogre was anything but smart. The ugly creature casually tossed Bethany to the ground like she was a broken doll. Leandra quickly gathered the girl into her arms and stumbled as far away from the giant creature as she could.
Bethany looked absolutely horrible. Her left arm was twisted into an unnatural position, her right leg was bent into an awkward angle, and she was covered in blood. The parts of her that were not covered in blood were covered in ugly bruises. England could tell that Bethany was dead and that angered the nation to no end. The ogre had to die before he killed anyone else, and luckily England knew just the spell that could do the job.
It was a fire spell and while he knew the words that needed to be chanted he knew it would take a lot out of him. The spell was extremely powerful, but using it always left him feeling exhausted and he would have to rest for the rest of the day. It was probably not the best idea to use it when he was standing in the middle of a battlefield where more enemies could jump him, but the nation wasn't even thinking about that.
The nation just started to chant the spell under his breath just loudly enough that the spell would take hold, but he said it quietly enough that he couldn't he heard. The spark of fire started to dance on his fingertips and once the nation was ready he just aimed his hand at the ogre and snapped his fingers. The result was almost instant. Once second the ogre was just standing there and the next second a large pillar of flame had engulfed the creature and set it aflame. The creature's loud roars of pain were almost defining, but the green eyed man ignored it. He just watched as the creature burned. Even once the creature fell silent England allowed the ogre to continue to burn.
"Brother!" Carver called out once the ogre fell silent.
England didn't even react to Carver calling out to him he just continued to watch.
"Arthur!" England was finally snapped out of his haze when he felt someone wrap their arms around him.
"The ogre is dead, brother. It can't hurt anyone anymore." Carver said slowly to the nation in his arms.
With those words said England allowed his arm to drop down to his side as he slumped against the boy. The fire went out as fast as it appeared and the charred burnt corpse of the ogre fell to the ground with a loud thud. The corpse was so badly charred that it was almost unrecognizable. England was exhausted and if Carver wasn't there to hold him up then he would be lying on the ground now. His was so tired that he felt like he could sleep for a week, but he couldn't do that here.
"How did you even do that?" Carver asked.
"Magic." England answered dully, unable and unwilling to summon the will to make himself sound sarcastic.
At any other time England was pretty sure Carver would answer with annoyance to that or at least he would have rolled his eyes. Instead, the boy more or less dragged England over to Leandra's side and knelt down so that he could get a better look at his sister. Bethany had looked horrible from far away, but up close he looked even worse. She was dead and everyone knew it.
"Bethany." Leandra said softly. "Bethany, you can't leave me not like this."
"I'm sorry…" England said, but what he was sorry about he didn't know.
I'm sorry you lost a daughter? I'm sorry that you're stuck in this situation? I'm sorry that I can't bring her back? I'm sorry that I couldn't rescue her? Honestly, it was probably a combination of things. However, regardless of what he was sorry for Leandra didn't want to hear any of it. Upon hearing the nation apologize her eyes snapped up to him as a look of anger crossed her face.
"I don't want an apology I want my little girl!" She yelled out. "You're her big brother you're supposed to protect her!"
England didn't flinch at being yelled at, but he quietly noted the blame that was in her voice. The words 'this is your entire fault' were left unsaid, but they didn't need to be said England knew that the thought crossed her mind. She was a grieving mother lashing out at, and England could understand that. Still, a small part of him was angry that he was being blamed for this entire situation. England could feel Carver tighten his hold ever so slightly on England, but the man didn't say a word to him.
"I'm sorry about your loss." Aveline said as she softly.
Wesley looked at the grieving mother in sympathy before he said "I can commend your daughter's soul to the Maker if you wish."
Upon seeing Leandra nod the man offered up a quick prayer, but England didn't really hear much of it. He was starting to drift to sleep and it was only when Carver shook him did he snap himself back awake.
"Now is not the time to fall asleep brother." Carver said softly.
"I don't think I can help it. That spell took a lot out of me." England answered.
England almost drifted off again, but he snapped his eyes open when he heard what sounded like more darkspawn coming.
"More darkspawn are approaching." Aveline said.
"Is there a chance that you could do that spell again?" Wesley asked.
"That spell took so much out of me that I can barely stand on my own. I don't think I can do that again today." England said.
"I figured I might as well ask." The Templar said.
"It doesn't hurt at any rate." The nation replied.
They were going to have a battle on their hands, but before anyone could prepare for a fight something started to roar in the distance. It didn't sound like an ogre or darkspawn, but it sounded familiar to England.
'That sounds like a dragon.' England thought almost absentmindedly.
Sure enough swooping down from the skies was a dragon and it wasted no time in destroying the darkspawn with fire. It even grabbed a darkspawn and crushed it with its one clawed hand. Strangely the dragon was going out of its way to not hurt England or his companions. The nation was personally hoping that this meant that he could communicate with it. If he was lucky maybe he could convince it to give them a lift out of here. Most dragons that he interacted with before in the past were willing to lend a hand if you were respectful enough to them or if you offered them something to add to their treasure collection.
However, before England could even come up with a way to try and communicate with the beast the winged creature landed right in front of his group and with a flash of light the dragon turned into a human woman. The woman was an elderly woman who seemed to be somewhere in her sixties or seventies. The woman had yellow eyes and pure white hair, and some of her hair was styled in a way that it looked like the horns of a dragon. The woman glanced over at England before she flicked her gaze over to the charred corpse of the ogre.
A smile appeared on her face as she back looked over at England.
"What have we here?"
England just stared at her, but he quickly snapped his eyes over to Wesley when he heard the Templar let out a harsh cough. Aveline quickly wrapped her arms around her husband and helped him sit down. The dragon woman didn't even seemed fazed by the sudden coughing.
She just continued to smile as she said "We used to never get visitors in the Wilds, but now they appear in droves."
England just glanced at her before he asked "So where did you learn to turn into a dragon? That's powerful magic."
"Perhaps I am a dragon. If so count yourself lucky that the smell of roasting darkspawn does nothing for the appetite." The woman tilted her head ever so slightly to the left before she said "If you are wishing to flee the darkspawn then you should know that you are heading in the wrong direction."
The woman then proceeded to walk away, but she stopped when Carver called out to her.
"So you are just going to leave us here?"
"Why not?" She asked.
The woman turned and started to walk toward England and Carver. The nation could feel Carver stiffen slightly, but the nation just stared right into the woman's eyes.
The woman stared right back at him as she said "I saw the most extraordinary sight. An ogre vanquished with a single spell. Who could perform such a task I wondered. I now have my answer and my curiosity has been satisfied. Is that not enough?"
"You could show me how to become a dragon. If you won't roast the darkspawn for us I will." England said calmly.
The woman laughed at what he said before she said "I don't think you could be a dragon."
England decided right then and there that he was going to take that as a personal challenge and prove her wrong if he ever got out of here.
"Still, you are a clever child. Tell me clever child how do you plan to escape the blight?"
"We are going to Kirkwall." Carver answered for him.
"Kirkwall? You will be going so far just to escape the darkspawn."
"Well, we could go to this Deep Roads place. I hear it's vacant now that the darkspawn have left it." England said as his patience with this woman quickly reached its end.
If she wasn't going to help them then the green eyed man was in no mood to play twenty questions with her.
The woman just laughed at England's answer before she said "Oh, I like you."
'The feeling isn't mutual.' England thought with some annoyance.
The woman smiled before she said "Hurtled into the chaos you fight and the world will shape before you."
'Oh, yay.' England thought. 'Now she's getting cryptic on me.'
The woman placed her hand on her chin and asked out loud "Is it fate or chance? I can never decide."
If she was talking about meeting him England could tell her it was all due to stupidity. He never should have casted that stupid spell. Her meeting the main character at all was most like just a scripted event in the main game. Although, telling her that meeting her at all was probably just a scripted event for the game probably wouldn't go over well.
The woman snapped herself out of her thoughts before she said "It appears fortune smiles on us both. I may be able to help you yet."
"And the catch would be…?" England asked slowly.
The woman laughed loudly before she said "There is always a catch life is a catch! I suggest you catch it while you can."
It took all of the nation's willpower to not roll his eyes upon hearing that.
"Should we even trust her? We don't even know what she is." Carver hissed out.
'Points to Carver for being cautious of the crazy dragon lady...' England thought.
"I know what she is." Aveline said from her spot beside her husband. "She's the Witch of the Wilds."
"Some call me that. Also, I get called Flemeth or Asha'bellanar." The now named Flemeth said. "I also get called a woman who talks too much."
"Personally, I was mentally calling you dragon woman until now." England said.
The woman chuckled before she said "That name works too."
The woman shook her head before she said "I offer you safe passage through the horde in exchange for a simple delivery to a place not far out of your way. Would you do this for a Witch of the Wilds?"
They really didn't have much of a choice, but the nation still ended up asking "What do you guys think?"
"Wesley is injured. We will never escape the darkspawn otherwise." Aveline said.
Wesley coughed before he said "If you need to leave me behind..."
"No, I said I would drag you out if I have to and I intend to keep that promise." Aveline quickly said before he could finish his sentence.
"Brother, you are exhausted and we have nowhere else to go. As much as I hate to say this I don't think we have much of a choice." Carver said.
"I know, but I figured I might as well ask." England said.
The nation turned his gaze from Carver and looked at Flemeth. "We accept the deal."
"Excellent, there is a clan of Dalish elves outside the city of Kirkwall. Deliver this amulet to their Keeper Marethari and all debts will be paid."
England wasn't sure what the Dalish were, but he didn't bother asking. He just held his hand out and accepted to amulet without saying a word. Once he was holding the amulet Flemeth turned her gaze over to Wesley.
"There is another matter to attend to."
Aveline immediately got what the witch was hinting at because she said "No, leave him alone."
To Flemeth's credit she actually gives Aveline a slightly sympathetic look before she says "What has been done to your man is within his blood already."
England glanced over at Wesley and he had to admit he looked pretty bad. He was ghostly pale and his eyes had taken on a misty gray sort of color. Also, while the nation hadn't noticed it before he was now noticing the black veins that seemed to be crawling up his skin.
"She's right Aveline I can feel the corruption." Wesley said softly.
"What corruption?" England asked.
"From the darkspawn it's in their blood. I knew when it happened." Wesley answered for him.
"How long does he have?"
"Not long now if I'm right." Flemeth answered.
"I take it we can't just heal this with healing magic?" England asked.
England knew quite a few healing spells, but he was so drained that he didn't think he had the energy to cast any of them. "The only cure I know of is to become a Gray Warden." The witch said. England had no flipping clue on what a Gray Warden was, and as much as he wanted to ask the nation wisely decided to save the question for latter.
"They all died at Ostagar." Aveline said sadly.
"Not all, but the last are far beyond your reach." The elderly woman said calmly.
Wesley coughed again before he said "Aveline listen to me."
"You can't ask me of this." His wife quickly said.
"The corruption is a slow death. I can't…." Wesley started to say before he grew quiet.
The words 'suffer through this' were not said, but they were still heard all the same. Aveline said nothing to this she just looked away from Flemeth and down at her husband before she flicked her gaze up at England. The nation wasn't sure what she expected him to say so he said the only thing that he could think of.
"He's your husband I can't decide his fate."
Aveline looked at him for a few seconds before she slowly nodded and looked down at her husband.
"Be strong my love…." Wesley said as he slowly pulled out the dagger that he had and held it above his chest.
Aveline slowly wrapped her hands around her husband's hands and together they trusted the dagger down into his chest. Wesley let out a choked gasp before he finally closed his eyes and died.
Aveline slowly stood up while Flemeth just said "Without an end there can be no beginning…."
Upon hearing that England just sighed and figured out two things that he knew to be fact. Thing number one was the fact that Flemeth sucked at giving comfort. Thing number two was the fact that he officially hated this place and he couldn't wait until they were far away from this blighted land…..
So that's the end of chapter 2. I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible so please review and don't flame.