Chapter 3: On our way to Loathering

Again disclaimer I don't own Dragon age Bioware does etc.

This chapter may be short but I still hope you enjoy.

It was the scent that got my attention but I'd say it was the growling of my stomach that caused me to wake. I felt conciseness return to me and immediately I wish it would leave me again as I became aware of the throbbing pain in my head.

I realized I was in an uncomfortable position with my hand behind my back. Odd way to fall asleep, wait no they are tied together. I could feel the blood circulation being cut off from my wrists to my fingers. Mother-

My eyes began to flutter open but I then squeezed them shut agin when light hit my eyes.

It was night that much I knew with that short glimpse of the world. It was a fire that had produced that light causing me to retreat into the darkness behind my eyelids.

I could hear the crackle of the open flame and the soft yet sharp ringing of metal. Was someone sharpening something?

What had happened anyways? I wondered to myself. I tried to move out of the uncomfortable position I was in but It just made it worse. I braced myself for another attempt at opening my eyes this time trying to avoid looking right into the flame.

I managed a small squint giving me a small little sliver of vision to help me assess the situation.

Okay first where was I. I'm in the Dragon Age. Wow I'm really glad I didn't say that out loud, I would have sounded like an idiot. Okay second who am I, I am Connor Leawood. Okay so far nothing seems damaged so I don't think I have a concussion.

My eyes slowly began to adapt to the dim light and I made another attempt at moving myself to a better resting spot.

I managed to sit up without use of my bound hands and stretching my neck. An audible popping came from my neck as I moved it around.

"He's awake" a woman's voice said.

I turned weakly towards the fire where I heard the voice over the constant sound of the burning fire. For the first time I saw Aveline's face without the helmet. I must say she wasn't half bad in fact take that armor off and put her in some modern clothes and she would be pretty.

Her short red hair along with those freckles almost made me forget my discomfort. Almost.

"What's going on?" I asked weakly realizing my throat was dry.

"Silence Apostate!" I heard Weasly's voice strike the air like a whip.

My eyes shot to where he was. Less than about 2 feet from her left.

Apostate? Wait a second before I felt something and then...

I close my eyes and replayed the events from the previous day in my head. Richard was unaware of his surrounding and the Darkspawn was behind him. I-I shot the monster with... Something but that's not possible nothing was in my hand and it just fell over. After that it gets fuzzy but I think I was knocked out?

My eyes snapped open with fear and dread. Wait I shot him, with nothing, but it was something. Electricity. I remember feeling like volts of electricity surged out and just attacked him. Does that mean I'm-

My thoughts were interrupted by the clanking of armor and the Appearance of Richard. "It's been clear so far. It's Weasly's watch next." He said. I could tell he was avoiding me with his eyes.

Weasly got up and took the sword he had been sharpening and stood. As he walked I followed him with my eyes but I stopped as he passed by the fire.

Over the fire was a pot which smelled like it had stew in it.

I waited till Weasly was out of the fire's light before I spoke. "Um I know you've got me tied up and everything but Uh. Could I maybe have some of that stew?" I let the question hang there as Richard seemed to get uncomfortable when I spoke. He began squirming and scratching his neck.

Neither of them made any eye contact with me. "Um Richard?" I asked.

He looked at me. He seemed to be angry but also confused and perhaps even a bit sad. He then looked at Aveline a little bit unsure.

She must have noticed his eyes on her because she looked up from the fire to look at me instead. "He's going to need some food. Weasly may not like it but if we are going to continue traveling at this pace he will need to keep his energy up." Her response lifted my spirits a little.

Richard nodded in understanding and took a bowl and scooped a bit of the stew into it. He brought it over a knelled so he could begin to feed me. It felt a bit awkward but with my hands bound in the way they were and given how hungry I was, I didn't complain.

The spoon entered my mouth and immediately the flavor and the warmth began to take hold of me. I felt heat travel through my body as the food traveled to my stomach. It also helped to get rid of the dryness in my mouth and some of the pains in my joints started to lessen.

After a few more spoonfuls he stopped. "Look I'm sorry about this. You're not a bad guy. If you weren't a Mage we could be friends you know?" His words sounded uncertain and nervous. "I mean you could have let that Darkspawn kill me and kept your identity a secret but you gave up your chance at freedom to save me. So I guess I'm trying to say, thank you."

I listened to him talk with a solemn face. Truth was I didn't even know I was a Mage but if I told him that he'd think I was lying. There is no way I was this old and able to use magic without realizing it. At least not by Dragon Age standards.

I let out a weak forced laugh. "Your welcome Ser Richard. I would have liked being your friend." I said.

This brought a smile to his face. He continued to feed me till the bowl was empty and I was full. He placed the bowl back where he got it and I went back to laying down. This time I was sure to pick a more comfortable position.

This is gunna be a long night. After a while I felt my eyelids begin to give into the sleep.

...

"Hey wake up, time to move." I opened my eyes and blinked a few times. My head didn't hurt near as much as it did last night but my joints were just as stiff.

They had already packed up and doused the fire. I yawned and sat up. I would have rubbed my eyes if it hadn't been for my arms being tied behind my back.

I looked around studying my surroundings. It wasn't to far from where we fought the Darkspawn but the campsite must be upwind as I cannot smell their foul stench. I stood a little awkwardly as I had to do it without use of my hands.

Weasly approached me with a rope. "If you plan tie up my legs too does that mean you'll be carrying me?" I asked, I tried to sound as annoyed as I could without giving him cause to try hitting me or taking my suggestion to heart.

"This isn't for your legs Mage." He said grabbing one of my wrists and tying the rope around to make it so it was like a makeshift leash.

I watched him with annoyance "Really dude?" I asked. "You think I'm going to run away from you, into the wilderness, with my hands tied?"

"I don't know what to expect from you. You are an unknown." He said. "I don't like the unknown."

I just shook my head and tried my best to try and deal with this arrangement.

...

It was about 30 minutes into our hike when I was heard the familiar sound of a zipper being slid open. I took a look back at Richard who had taken up the rear. The other two were in front of me by a few feet.

Richard had been the one to pick up my pack and was now going through it as we walked over the mostly flat landscape. I honestly couldn't blame him for trying to occupy himself with something beside looking around at nothing.

He had chosen to take the roll of duct tape from my pack and was looking at it's silver/gray surface. "That's duct tape, it an adhesive that can be used to fix pretty much anything for a limited time." I said with my head turned and my arms held in front of me awkwardly.

Weasly had decided that it would be dumb to keep my hands behind my back while he led me by the rope. So he had taken my bindings off for just a few minutes to get the blood flow back but retired them in front of me which I couldn't really complain about.

Richard eyed the item with renewed interest. "How does it work, it's like no adhesive I've ever seen. It's a solid roll of leather." He observed.

"The adhesive is on the bottom of the 'leather'. You rip off a strip of it and then apply it to something." I tried to explain the tape as best I could. This sparked further conversation, like what the zipper was called on my pack, and how the bottles of water were like 'soft glass'. It gave us something to do while we walked.

By the time we had grown silent I began to feel my stomach growl. Unfortunately I doubt the big armored sheriff is going to let us stop for lunch. There was another growl which made me try my best to seem unaffected by the hunger. 'Just ignore it and it'll go away.' I thought to myself. Of course it didn't work though.

I had to suffer through my stomachs begging and my own unwillingness to oblige it by asking for food. I knew that if I asked I'd be denied and if anyone were to offer they would probably reconsider and not. Well I don't know about Richard but I didn't want him to get in trouble with Weasly.

"There it is." The statement was made by Aveline. I looked up and saw that just as we broke the top of the hill we had been going up I could see little under a mile away from us was a town. It was unable to judge the size from here but I'd say it was bigger than that Renaissance festival I had left 2 days ago when I began this cursed journey.

I felt excitement run through me. I wonder what food there was for me to eat, what kind of buildings were there? Etc. However reality caught up to me as we all stood there looking at the busy town. I was a prisoner so the answer was easy to predict. Porage for lunch and stone for architecture.

Well this is going to be a great experience...

By the way, I know that both Weasly and Aveline are characters from DAII but I feel like their apearence fits the situation. Also I've always wondered what they were doing there. Just wanted to clarify, this is Dragon Age Origins.