A/N: I missed this story! Sorry its been so long. On my way to move back home from Florida some pretty sucky things happened. The worst of which being I was in a car accident. I'm okay! But basically writing has been the last thought on my mind. There is more info on my profile if you're interested. Anyway, on to the chapter.
Once upon a time there was a princess, who was promised to a young nobleman. She and the nobleman's families had been friends for many generations, and so the match had been made before she was even born. But the princess longed for the freedom to live her own life and make her own choices, and so she often snuck away from the palace in the dead of night.
On one such night she made her way out of the city, to see the full moon in the fields, where the sight could not be inhibited. She was surprised however, to see a man there, who had come for the very same view. He was kind however, and glad to share the sight with her. They enjoyed the beauty of the night together, and began to come back every night to meet. And they fell in love.
The nobleman had many secrets of his own. While he was seen on the surface as the perfect example of leadership and integrity, he had his hands in much of the underground smuggling groups, and as such had many spies around the city, to ensure he was never caught.
His biggest secret, however, was that he was a mage. A blood mage.
So when one night one of his spies spotted his betrothed sneaking away and meeting another man, he was furious. And he plotted his revenge.
The nobleman used his magic to summon a demon, and with its help, he cursed the two lovers. By night, the man took the form of a great black wolf, and by day, the woman became a hawk. With gleeful malice, the man proclaimed that the only thing that could break his curse was true love's kiss.
For now, the two could never touch.
The woman's treachery was made known the next day by the nobleman's spies, and her father disinherited her. Broken hearted and afraid, the two fled the city, eventually finding another small town far away where the princess would not be recognized.
They lived this way for many years, caring for the other when they took their animal form in the day or night. They began leaving letters in the other's pockets so that they might still connect with each other, longing to hold each other once more. For they only took the same form for a single moment as the sun rose or set. Barely long enough to see each other's faces; not even long enough to touch.
As the years passed, the man grew spiteful and desired revenge. He became consumed with thoughts of killing the mage who had cursed them. So one day, while his love slept in the form of a hawk, he visited a sister who had become their friend over the years, to tell her of his plan and ask for her help.
While she was one of the faithful, the sister was also a study of magic, and was dismayed at his plan. She was certain that killing the mage would make the curse unbreakable, and that he and the woman would be apart forever. Resignedly, he told her the second part of his plan – when the nobleman was dead, he planned to take his own life, and begged the sister to kill the woman while she was a hawk. He could not put her through this any longer, and told the sister that he could never bring himself to kill her, even as an animal.
The sister pleaded with him not to go through with his plan, and told him that she believed a time would come soon when he could break the curse. From studying ancient tomes kept in the monastery, about the moon and sun, she was certain there would be a day when they shared the sky at once. Where day would be as night, and they would both be human.
The man scoffed at the ridiculous notion, and asked once more that the sister come with him. She agreed to do so, only with the hope that she might convince him to change his mind.
The man left a letter for his love, explaining that they were heading back to the city so that he could see his sister once more, telling her that he had received word that she was very ill. The woman believed him and traveled with him as a wolf during the night until he needed rest.
They finally arrived in the city early one morning, and the man knew the nobleman would be at the chantry, as most were on mornings such as this. The sister begged him once more not to go through with it, and he denied her again. He left with his instructions to kill the hawk when the bells of the chantry rang, and only asked that she make it quick. With a heavy heart, he left for the chantry.
When the man arrived, he found that the nobleman had changed his path over the years, and become a brother. He was delivering a sermon on the evils of magic – no doubt to hide his own secrets.
The nobleman was shocked to see his old enemy stride in, bloodthirsty and fuming. He challenged the nobleman to a duel, who could not resist the chance to kill the man who had cost him the throne. The man however, had practiced with his sword for years, and was fueled by anger and his broken heart. His strength overpowered the brother, and the nobleman fell to his knees. In an act of desperation, he threw a magical ball of fire at the man, who sidestepped it easily. The chantry goers who had stayed to witness the duel were dismayed and outrage, realizing that the nobleman had been tricking them for years.
The man, pleased that the nobleman's reputation would be ruined just before his demise, raised his sword to deliver the final blow – but paused when the light inside of the chantry grew suddenly dim. Confused, he and the rest of the patrons all looked outside the window, to see a shocking sight.
The moon was rising, and steadily blocking out the light of the sun. Day had become night.
Shaking, the man dropped his sword. The sister had been right. Could it be? Were he and his love human at the same moment?
He nearly turned to run and find her, longing to see her face once again, but paused when he heard the bells of the chantry ring. Dread washed over him as he remembered the orders he had given the sister. He was too late. He closed his eyes and whispered a prayer to the Maker that her death was quick and painless. He would be joining her soon.
Caught in his grief, the man did not notice the nobleman approaching from behind, his own sword raised to swing now.
But as the man before, he was stopped by the sight of something incredible.
The doors to the chantry burst open, and the woman he had been betrothed to so many years ago strode slowly up through the pews, staring the brother down. The man fell back once again in awe. How could his curse have not worked? He tried to say something to the princess, but she spat in his face, and told him she would hear nothing he had to say.
Finally, she turned to see the man, who was gazing at her with tears in his eyes. They approached one another cautiously, both afraid that the other wasn't real. When their hands finally touched they smiled and embraced, and after years of being cursed, shared true love's kiss, breaking the spell forever.
When the man asked his love if she wished the nobleman dead, she told him no – this life was behind her. She wished to begin anew with him somewhere far away, where they could be free.
The sister was overjoyed to see her friends alive and together, and joined them as man and wife under the maker's gaze before they ran once more to build a life together, free and happy.
As the years passed, and the story was told and told again, many of the details were lost. No one knows quite what became of the nobleman or the sister, and the names of all were lost to time. The legend has persisted however, and the woman came to be known throughout the ages, as Ladyhawke.
Hawke sat back as Varric finished his tale, eyes wide. She'd never heard such a story.
"Varric that was…incredible."
"I get that from women often," he said with a wink. Hawke laughed in spite of herself.
"I can't believe I never heard – oh Maker, is that the sun?!" she exclaimed when she glanced out the window. The horizon was indeed lightening as morning quickly arrived.
"So it is. We've been talking all night," Varric said with a yawn, punctuating his point.
"Wow," Hawke breathed. "I'd better go home and get some rest. We've still got a lot to do if we wan to raise all that gold for the expedition."
"Sounds good to me. See ya later, Ladyhawke."
Hawke chuckled and waved as she left Varric's room, exiting the bar with a little shake of her head. What a story!
She made her way quickly back to Gamlen's hovel, whistling a happy tune as she did so, and when she arrived she was happy to see that the sun hadn't quite peeked over the horizon yet. Grinning, she scaled the hovel until she reached the roof, and began climbing over the rooftops of various buildings until she felt she was high enough.
It was common knowledge that Hawke was a mage – at least, common to those wouldn't arrest her for it – but she still had a couple of secrets. One of them being that she was practiced in a very old and rare form of magic. Shapeshifting.
Hawke turned her back to the edge of the rooftop, and just as the sun began to rise into her sight, she allowed herself to fall back into space. As she fell, she cast her spell, and shifted into her favorite form – a hawk. She let out a cry as she pumped her wings and took to the air, free in the sky.
Ladyhawke, indeed.
Fenris woke to the feeling of clothes being tossed on him.
"C'mon wolf, we're here."
The elf sighed at the nickname, but pulled on his clothes. He glanced at the horizon to see the sun had just barely risen. Strange, his transformations usually woke him.
He glanced around the captain's quarters with absolutely no remorse. While he was happy to have had a place to hide at night on the ship – the man owed him a very large favor – he was all to happy to be out in the open again, and on dry land. There wasn't much space on the ship, and it was hard to make excuses to go to the cabin before sunset to the few crewmembers he spoke to.
Disembarking quickly, he stepped out onto the docks with a sigh of relief. Danarius would find him, he was sure, but at least he now had time to prepare. He could now finally fight back. He would need help though. Perhaps he could hire someone through one of his contacts.
Nevertheless, for a brief moment, he was free. There were no slavers on his heels, and after being chased for so long, that was enough to make him want to collapse right where he was. He took a deep breath of the sea air and looked up into the sky as he heard the cry of a hawk. He watched the bird sail through the ever-lightening sky for a long moment. Somehow he had the feeling he would find what he was looking for here.
A/N: Whoo, this one took a while. I'm enjoying it though! There should be more Fenris in the next chapter.
Special thanks to Glyphron for your review! You rock!
Happy reading! :)