Chapter One: Roads and Barns
The group marched along the dirt road away from the small village of Rainesfere, the young girl bordered in on all sides by gleaming Silverite. Heavy cuffs had been settled around her wrists, made of solid iron, a chain dangling limply between the manacles. The Templar on her left kept shooting surreptitious glances, only to look away again if she happened to notice and return the looks with her large, purple tinted eyes. The man's own orbs, concealed partially by his helmet kept settling on the side of her face. 'I wonder what he's staring at.' she thought idly, lifting her joined hands with large effort to brush wayward strands of white hair behind her ear, gaining a more obvious, longer lasting inspection from the Templar.
"Here Jenson, this'n is a knife ear" This directed to the man walking in front of the girl, striding a careful pace in front of the group, who stopped abruptly in place, causing the girl to stumble awkwardly over her own feet in an effort to prevent herself from kicking his metal boots. Offering him a baleful glance in return for her temporary loss of grace, she stared resolutely at his greaves while he turned, tilting his head as he took in the finely pointed, delicate ears, mostly obscured by her long hair. "What are you doing away from an alienage, elf?" he asked, directing a blunt stare at the top of her head. Shaking her head obstinately, the girl kept her eyes on the metal boots in front of hear, refusing to lift her gaze.
The lead Templar, Jenson, took her face between the fingers of one hand, careless of the metal digging into the soft skin of her jaw as her head was forced up. "Well then, knife ear?" he prompted again, tone stern and eyes suspicious. Directing what she assumed was an evil look at Jensen, she kept her lips resolutely clamped shut, squinting against the evening light glinting harshly off the man's helmet.
"Maybe she's one of the forest dwellers?"
"Don't look feral enough to be Dalish, don't be a coward man."
"Probably just an escapee from the nearest alienage."
The other men were whispering their suspicions to each other while their leader kept his stare fixed on her, using the brief stop to break formation and stretch stiffening backs from the march. When it became increasingly obvious that she would not answer, Jenson gave a resigned grunt and, with a motion of his free hand, directed the others back into their positions around the young elf, dropping her chin roughly. He then stormed down the road, forcing the rest of the group to pick up the pace in order to stay in step, the Templar behind her shoving her roughly in the spine to encourage her to move more quickly.
They continued at a brutal pace until full dark, following the dirt path deeper into the Bannorn, making towards the Hinterlands in the south. The men made brief conversations about their route and places to set up camp at irregular intervals along the way, allowing the girl to develop a limited picture of their journey, working out that they planned to follow the shore of lake Calenhad until they reached the docks, which were located on the east shore. The entire thing would take about a full Sevenday, she realised, her mood falling further as she followed along behind Jensen, deliberately rattling the chain between her cuffs, taking a small amount of spiteful pleasure in the small twitches of his helmet in front of her.
When the Templars stopped for the night, they halted at a small farmstead, seeking shelter in the barn from the simple, chantry fearing farmers inside, who granted them access with small nods for the men and terrified glances at the girl's manacled hands. Jenson led the group into the slightly dilapidated structure, the group of four men falling into a seemingly well practiced routine as they produced leather packs filled with bedrolls and cooking utensils. Meanwhile, the young elf had wandered over to the far corner of the building, following the sound of whimpering from behind a hay bale she assumed was to feed the horses in the stalls by the wide opening that passed as the entrance to the barn.
While Jenson and the other Templars set up a small but functional camp, she leaned over the bales, resting her hands close together so as to be able to balance despite the manacles, peering down at a small bundle of fur curled into a ball in the hay. With a final glance at the men behind her, the girl clambered awkwardly into the small space between the wall and the bales, landing in an undignified heap beside the small creature. 'Master would be ashamed at this lack of grace' She thought despondently to herself as she half pushed, half lunged upright, curling her legs underneath her to allow her hands free movement.
The whimpering had abruptly stopped at the elf's clumsy entrance into the small animal's hiding space, as two large blue eyes gazed up at her warily from beneath matted brown fur. "Now then Da'len, I'll not hurt you." She murmured, her low melodious voice aimed at soothing the creature while being inaudible to the others in the barn. Slowly extending her joined hands outwards, she waited patiently while the tiny animal finally stretched its nose out to her, sniffing her outstretched fingers cautiously. Offering tiny comforting noises, she coaxed the animal to its feet, revealing a severely underweight mabari puppy. "Andaran atish'an, Da'len I'm Caelis. I don't suppose you have a name, do you, unfortunate thing?" This whispered into the tangled fur as she picked the puppy up carefully and pulled it into her lap.
Caelis spent the next few moments petting the pup, using her fingers to tug at some of the lesser knots in its fur, halting her movements when a muffled curse sounded from the previously industrial near silence of the Templar gathering.
"Where did the blasted elf go?"
"She can't have left the barn, she'll be here somewhere."
The tell-tale clanking of the men standing to begin a search prompted her to clamber to her feet, clutching the puppy to her chest, murmuring soothingly to the skittish pup. Using her knee to push a path through the hay instead of climbing back over it with her hands used to support the small mabari. As she emerged from the hidden space, one of the Templars spotted her, striding over and taking hold of her elbow roughly, jostling the puppy, which began its whimpering again. Letting out a hiss of warning that sounded almost as feral as the men suspected the Dalish to be, she pulled her arm back with a harsh glare, the sound she released shocking the man into loosening his grip enough to make the move possible.
"What've you got there, knife ear?" another of the men asked as he re-joined the small fire from his search by the entrance.
"'S a mabari. Thing needs to be put out of its misery by the looks of it." Stated Jenson as she was escorted over by the newly wary man who had noticed her. Caelis shook her head defiantly, dropping mostly gracefully into a cross legged position on the unoccupied side of the fire, pup held securely in her lap as she returned her attention to the stubborn tangles. The men had been roasting thin strips of salted meat before being interrupted, and Jenson motioned one of the others to present her with some of it. When she was given only two of the slices, while each man took upwards of three or four, Caelis began tearing small pieces from her portion and holding them before the pup, waiting for it to sniff the meat and eat it. After only actually eating about half of one strip of meat, the rest donated to the starving mabari, which she discovered was a male when it rolled over onto its back in her lap, she manoeuvred carefully onto her side, facing away from the fire, the mabari curled to her chest.
After some time, the Templars settled down as well, one making an absent comment about a bedroll for her, which was quickly shot down as she appeared to already be sleeping. The moon had hit its pinnacle when Caelis was suddenly awoken by a muffled growl followed by a squeak. A man, who she decided must have been one of the Templars, knelt over her in only a tunic and breeches, the pup dangling in his hands by the scruff of his neck.
For the first time, Caelis spoke in earshot of the men, a dark threat creeping into her normally peaceable tone, her eyes glowing violet in the near complete darkness. "Put him down…"
A.N: Welcome back to another chapter of Illusions and Inquisitions, I hope you enjoyed this next instalment. As before, reads and reviews are greatly appreciated. Until next time, much love, Rana.