"Swiftly do stars burn a path across the sky,
Hast'ning to place one last kiss upon your eye.
Tenderly land enfolds you in slumber,
Softening the rolling thunder.
Dagger now sheathed, bow no longer tense.
During this, your last hour, only silence."

Crimson clouds glistened as the edge of the Arlathan woods burned to embers in front of Fen'Fael's eyes as he stared back at the burning trees before him. He could see nothing between the hazy smoke of the fire and the trees that were red with flames.
He had made a speedy get away as soon as he had noticed the first flames coming upon him; he had not returned to the clan nor his brother from their last check on their surroundings as the fire had just come out of nowhere; or so he had first thought.
He couldn't see his friends or mother anywhere, for all he knew they were dead or captured by the slavers; it was them who had set the fire. A way to 'smoke' them out he had heard one of them say, but he hadn't stuck around to find out. He wanted to warn the others, but it was far too dangerous and much too late. Either they had escaped their captors and the flames or they had not. Either way, things looked bleak and a solitary elf was a dead elf.
He continued to watch as the fire devastate the forest before clenching a fist, magic lightening crackled at his fingertips.
He would pay them back for each loss, for each slave, death and pain that the Tevinter bastards deserved. Even if he did not live, he believed that if he could stop at least one group of slavers then it would be worth it.

A yell from a short distance somewhere to his right caught his attention. He didn't recognize it as a family member, but it was a voice he had heard not too long ago. One of the slavers, their leader, perhaps? He wasn't overly sure, but it was a safe bet to assume his clan was there if they had been captured at all.
He concentrated his mana, closing his eyes while taking his two-handed sword. Energy zipped through his hands until magic poured through his whole body; but also through the sword. This magic was of the old elvish sort, and although the craft was mostly lost and forgotten; a few recalled how to use the arcane warrior abilities.

He stalked closer towards the slavers direction, slowly and carefully as to not alert them to his approach. He slipped through the trees which had yet to catch aflame and made his way into cover so that he could spy on them. He was no rouge however, and a twig snapped under his foot. He cursed in dalish under his breath, and waited to see if they had noticed. It seemed the roaring fire was making too much noise for anyone to notice other than himself.
His heart was pounding in his chest loudly, his head full of the fire crackling behind him, and a loud buzzing sound of the rage he was feeling. It was taking all he had and more to block it out of his mind as he peered past the tree he was hiding behind to get a view ahead of him.
There in the cages were several humans and even more elves, most of which he did not recognize, though there was one of whom he knew. Era'Falon sat in one of the corners, knees raised to her chin as she sobbed into her arms. She was clearly petrified of what might happen to her, Fen'Fael could only guess what she might be thinking.
She had seen horrid things before and now for all she knew it was happening to her again. He was determined not to allow that to happen, she didn't deserve to have this happen to her, or to anyone for that matter.

There was no sign of his other family members, but there may have been other cages, he wouldn't know without searching and Fen'Fael could only assume that the captured humans and elven folk here had been in the cages a while now, for they were out of the way of any cities here in the forest.
He felt he had paused for long enough. It was time to take action and he had never been one for waiting around. After all, the longer he dithered the higher chance he would loose the other clan members as they left the forest.
He took note of the closest slaver and rushed towards them, one hand outstretched, the other still wielding his sword. He mumbled a few words in dalish under his breath, causing a bolt of lightening to come down upon the few closest slavers to him. He had managed to catch them off guard, though they were quick to retaliate against him with swords and shields. The few further away shot at him with arrows.
He managed to dodge a few arrows before the first slaver with his sword attempted to flank him from his left, assuming he wouldn't be able to block his attack. Fen'Fael turned and parried with his own sword. The magic cursing through his hands crackled under the pressure, but he held strong as he pushed the slaver back.
The boss shouted, "stop playing around, and capture the elf already!" From somewhere in front of Fen'Fael. A game? He could certainly make a game of this if they wished too. He smirked, as another slaver came up to him sword at the ready while the previous one circled to flank him once more.

Fen'Fael could feel his pride for his skills swell up inside of him as his smirk grew wider, almost mockingly taunting the two men. His lightening zapped the one man, hitting him head on, while he used his sword to push the other away before dealing a heavy blown to the other.
The man who had been electrocuted had passed out, while the other attempted to push Fen'Fael back. Another, a female had sneaked up behind him, daggers in her hands, she made two swift swipes against his leather armoured back, causing Fen'Fael to loose his balance and wince in pain, though he noticed she had been careful not to damage him badly. Fen'Fael wasn't sure if this was an error on her part or not.
She had managed to gash his back a little, just not enough for him to be effected by such a small wound. There was an odd sensation where his back was wounded however, and it felt strange. It did not hurt, oddly enough, so he chose to ignore the wound for now and turned to face the woman.~

She was covered in leather from head to foot, but he could tell she was female, and an elf. He was irritated by the knowledge of another elf being a slaver, but not surprised for he knew some city elves knew no better than to follow their masters orders. He almost pitied her, but he knew he could not go easy on her, simply for being a slave.
He gave her an apologetic look before saying softly, "Ir abelas, stranger," he raised his sword, aiming to would her enough to keep her from attacking again, however she jumped just out of his reach. Her gaze fixed upon his.
She gave him a bland look before saying, "be sorry all you like, I would be too."
Fen'Fael gave a quizzical look, no city elf knew the old tongue. He opened his mouth to speak, but he soon noticed that his body was starting to stiff and become numb.
The female spared a soft look, for only a moment, "deathroot extract." She said simply, her usual blank expression returned moments after her words.
Fen'Fael knew it was only a matter of time before he would be barely able to move if not worse. His rashness caused him to error in his judgement of how smart slavers would be.

He closed his eyes as he tried to slow his breathing, an attempt to slow his heart so that the toxins would not rush around in his blood. His captures would not allow him a moment however, and were upon him in a flash.
Hands tied, legs bounded and mouth gagged. Their boss had made sure there would be no slip ups, no regaining any advantage or possibility of escape.
Fen'Fael felt more of his body going numb, and he struggled to keep himself awake in the place he had been slumped upon. His vision was blurred and he could hardly hear anything around him. He was aware enough of the presence of someone around him. A man he guessed but his senses were foggy at best.
Fen'Fael felt the person roughly yank his arm in order to stand him up, but his legs gave way underneath him. Fen'Fael cursed at the man in a garbled mess through the ropes in his mouth before he finally passed out from the paralysis of the deathroot.