Blood, Flowers and Witches
August 22nd – Early Morning
The previous night was one of the scariest Fallon ever lived through. Every shadow was a potential monster and every breath she took could very well be her last. They had eaten their meals without a fire and when they needed to sleep two people were always on watch. Fallon didn't even try to shut her eyes. In those dark hours of terror they didn't see a single darkspawn, not even a dead one.
"How long have you been in the Grey Wardens, Alistair?" Ser Jory asked as they quickly ate a meager breakfast. Fallon's heart had slowed its beating as soon as she saw the sun. There was just something so comforting about its warm glow on her face. Gazing up into the rising light, Fallon noticed a wolf in the distance. It was alone and clearly posed no threat to them. Soris would have cringed at the sight of it, he hated dogs as well, but Fallon always found them majestic. She liked that this one was watching over them.
"I completed my Joining a little less then six months ago."
"Six months! Only six months, how are you going to protect us from the Darkspawn? For all we know we could be headed straight into the horde." Fallon turned her head back at Jory's outburst. He had been saying things like this all night long. It seemed the Knight didn't know what he was getting into when he signed up.
"After you go through the Joining you will understand, but I promise you the Darkspawn won't surprise us."
"You hear that Ser Knight, we may still die, but we'll be warned about it first." Daveth said, giving Fallon a wink as he did. She smiled.
"Yes, let's head out." Alistair commanded as he motioned for them to pack up camp. Fallon turned back to see if the wolf was still there, but it had gone, likely scared away by Jory's bellowing.
"Are you alright? You looked like you were going to be sick last night." A hand quickly tapped her on the shoulder and Fallon turned to see that Alistair was the one speaking. His face looked slightly worn from staying up the majority of the night but it still shined with bright energy. Fallon hadn't recognized it yesterday but the man was probably not much older then she, twenty-one at the most.
"I'm not falling Alistair, there is no need to rescue me." He smiled at the mention of his previous joke and extended a hand to help her to her feet. She graciously accepted.
"I've never been in charge of a group before. How do you think I'm doing?" He asked nervously as Fallon tucked bits of hair that had fallen loose back into the knot on the back of her head.
"Quite well, I wouldn't have guessed."
"Good…good. I'm not really fond of this leadership thing…." He smiled at her, grabbed his pack and led the way. "Alright lets get going…"
Hours past as they slowly made their way to the location Duncan had marked on the map. The Korcari Wilds, however, decided to make things difficult, blocking former paths and causing them to take a roundabout route to the treaties. They had just rounded a hill and were surrounded on all sides by debris, trees and ruins when Alistair faltered in his precise steps. Fallon turned to her side in time to see him tense up, light brown eyes glazed slightly as he looked into the distance at nothing.
"Darkspawn!" was all he got out before the beasts rounded the corner. The first one Fallon saw was short and stocky. Its head was shiny and completely bare of all but its grey ruddy skin. Its ears were pointed and its mouth widened into an unnaturally large grin, exposing sharp, jagged teeth. It was clothed in hodgepodge armor and if Fallon hadn't seen it moving she would have assumed it was something dead and rotting. The second one was far more frightening then the first. It was taller then any man she had ever seen, with mottled grey skin and lidless dark eyes. Its sharp teeth were perpetually exposed in an unfortunate grimace that split the face in half. It had no hair either but its head wasn't quite as domed as the first one's. There were five total, three small and two tall ones. Fallon felt her feet freeze in place, hands uselessly holding the pommel of her still holstered weapons. Alistair's yell woke her from her stupor.
"ATTACK!" He rushed forward, beating one of the tall one's back with his shield while thrusting his sword into the face of a small one. Jory and Daveth, who had also been stuck in shock, rushed forward as they saw Fallon advance.
Fallon considered herself unlucky and this was confirmed for her when the second Tall-One chose her as it's opponent. It grabbed a sword from its back, large, menacing, and jagged, and rushed toward her. Fallon stood her ground, too proud to run away or ask for help and took out her weapons, thinking back to all the practices with her mother. She knew the moves, she knew how to fight… You'll be fine, just breathe…So she did just that and ran to meet the monstrosity before it took her off guard.
She sliced both blades a moment too soon and hit nothing but air. Needing time to recover, Fallon ducked to the side, rolling out of the way of an oncoming thrust. As the darkspawn stabbed at her again, Fallon used her sword to block, digging her dagger into the creature's neck. It howled with pain as it fell, and the elf could hardly believe the battle was so quickly won. Digging a vial from her pouch, she quickly held it up to the gaping wound where a trickle of blood still ran.
"Good… see we survived that. Wasn't too bad now was it, Ser Jory?" Alistair asked as he wiped the darkspawn blood from his sword. "If you all get your blood then we can be on our way. We'll try to get back to Ostagar before nightfall."
"I don't know if I can do this. I have a wife, I have a child." Jory muttered to himself as he fumbled with the glass vial. He dropped it on the ground repeatedly, losing any blood he collected. Fallon stepped up beside him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"You've already done it. The Darkspawn should be the ones scared." She knelt beside him and helped get the blood in the container. The poor Knight's hands were trembling.
Once his vial was full, Fallon returned to the monster she had killed. It was taller then a human man and yet she, a woman elf, had slain it. She wished the ration soldier could see her now, but then his eyes were probably still swollen shut.
"Its called a Hurlock, and the smaller ones are Genlock. These five are just grunts, not properly trained or armored, probably got separated from the horde." Alistair said as he pointed to the darkspawn.
"Are there more kinds then these?"
"Yes, unfortunately. Now I've never ran into any of these myself but I've had to learn a great deal about them. Lets see if I can remember. There are…Alphas, they are the strongest darkspawn, ….then….oh what are those ones called… the Emissaries. Those are the tricky ones, magic Darkspawn, very dangerous. Um, then you've got to watch out for any creatures that have been exposed to Darkspawn too long. Wolves, birds, bears and even people, turn into Tainted versions of themselves and serve these monsters."
"Are we in any danger?"
"Well of course we're in danger Fallon, but not from that. It takes prolonged exposure. You don't turn into a Ghoul overnight. There have got to be lots of Darkspawn and no where for you to hide. I don't think I'm forgetting any… well if I am we'll find out soon enough." He started to walk away and Fallon couldn't help but smile. His voice was always chipper and sweet, as if he had just gotten done laughing from the best joke he ever heard. Her smiling gaze followed him as he walked over to reassure Jory, and caught on a single flower growing on a rotting log. It was the one that man in Ostagar had described, with white petals and a red center. As she walked close to it, the smell from the log overpowered the subtle sweetness of the flower, causing Fallon to turn her head away from the moldy mess as she picked the delicate bloom. Once removed, she wrapped it in a thin bit of cloth and placed it carefully in her pack. It would most likely be crushed from battle but she completed the little ritual anyway. It was an important flower after all. As they started to move on, Fallon turned once more to see a wolf watching. It could not have been the same one from before, they had traveled a great distance, but still there was something familiar about it. There eyes locked for a moment before the animal turned and ran back into the woods. Fallon turned back to her companions as well.
August 22nd – Afternoon
A bolt of blue light hit Fallon in the stomach and she felt like her veins were on fire, magic crept up from the initial injury through her body like roots. She fought the pain as she got to her feet. Physical pain is just in the mind, Fallon. You have the strength to overpower it. Her mother had said these words to her once when she was quite young. A door had closed on her fingers, breaking it in two different places. She thought she would die from the pain, but her mother distracted her, telling jokes and stories until the initial sharpness of it dulled. She stood unsteady on her feet, biting her lip absentmindedly and drawing a bit of blood.
They were standing at the opening of the white marble buildings that once held the treaties. Formally glorious in architecture, the majesty of it had crumbled as nature began consuming it. Vines crawled up the previously pristine walls and the Darkspawn embellishments scared its hilly grounds. They had not been expecting such a high number and Daveth had already fallen at the hands of the Emissary. Alistair was locked in battle with an Alpha Hurlock, a hulking monstrosity with fine armor likely stolen from a human general long ago. Jory had his hands full dispatching the archers that Daveth hadn't gotten to before he was knocked down. Pain spread across her chest and Fallon knew there was only one way to stop it. The Emissary thought he had killed her and had turned his attention on Alistair. Before he finished whatever spell he was conjuring, Fallon lunged forward, blade in hand, and stabbed him in the back. Grabbing up one of the darkspawn's bow and a few greasy arrows, she turned toward the Alpha, whose armor she doubted she could penetrate. Fingertip lightly on the string, bow notched properly and arms straight, she let an arrow fly. The string wacked her hard in the arm as it sent the bow on the wrong course. She had been aiming for the beast's head, but hit it in the knee joint. However, the thing was distracted enough for Alistair to get his finishing blow. The battle was done.
"Hey I thought elves were supposed to be good archers." Daveth said as he got to his feet, whatever spell that had knocked him out dying when the Emissary did.
"Stereotype, as you can see, some Elves are just awful at shooting."
"Know what you mean. Everyone always paints us Chasind as lowlife thieves. Just cause I am doesn't mean we all are."
"Is anyone injured? I have some poultices in my pack if you need…" Alistair asked; sweat welling up into beads on his forehead. He sounded slightly out of breath.
"Nothing we can't stomach,." Jory said as he joined the group near the entrance of the building.
"We should hurry. With the amount of noise we just made I'm sure a few more darkspawn are headed this way." Fallon said as she gestured to the entrance way.
"Ladies first." Alistair said, smiling. Fallon rolled her eyes and headed toward a large broken chest she could see in the back. The other three followed behind her, exchanging stories about the previous battle.
The chest was stone, heavy and thick, and split straight down the center, Fallon didn't need to rifle through it to see that whatever documents they were searching for were no long there. A sultry female voice rang out over the men talking. Fallon turned to see a dark haired woman, beautiful and frightening with hardly any clothing and bright yellow eyes, walking down the steps toward them. The men grew silent.
"Well, well. What have we here? Are you a scavenger, I wonder? Poking amidst a corpse whose bones were long since cleaned? Or merely an intruder, come into these darkspawn-filled Wilds of mine in search of easy prey? What say you, scavenger or intruder?" Her eyes were on Fallon, ignoring the others in the group with a scowl crossing her strikingly beautiful face. The others didn't speak so Fallon did.
"Neither, we are from the Grey Warden's who once owned this tower." The woman's clothes were practically non existent. A dark purple hooded tunic barely covered her shapely body. Thin black sting and a thick gold necklace kept the woman from exposing herself. Her lower half was covered by roughly sewn together leather and boots.
"The Wilds have obviously claimed this desiccated corpse. Now, I have watched your progress for some time. 'Where do they go?' I wondered. 'Why are they here?' And now you disturb ashes none have touched for so long. Why is that?" She crossed her arms casually. Fallon knew she must be some sort of mage, no one else would be so flippant and at ease around four heavily armed soldiers.
"Don't answer her," Alistair loudly whispered to Fallon, "She looks Chasind and that means others could be nearby."
"So you fear barbarians will swoop down upon you?"
"Yes, swooping is bad."
"She's a Witch of the Wilds, she is. She'll turn us into toads." Daveth said, clearly fearful for the first time since they began their excursion.
"Witch of the Wilds? Such idle fancies, those legends? You there, elf, tell me your name and I will tell you mine. We can at least be civilized."
"I am Fallon, and you… you were the wolf that was following us."
"Very good, you are clever I see. You may call me Morrigan."
"A shapeshifter?" Daveth whispered under his breath, all color draining from his face.
"Shall I guess your purpose? You sought something in that chest, something that is hear no longer?"
"Here no longer? You stole them didn't you? You're…some kind of… sneaky… witch thief!"
"How very eloquent. How does one steal from dead men?"
"Quite easily, it seems. Those documents were Grey Warden property and I suggest you return them."
"I will not for 'twas not I who removed them."
"Then who removed them Morrigan?" Fallon asked pleasantly.
" My mother. And if you wish, I can take you too her."
"Those documents are important Alistair, I say we go get them." She said to their commander as the group huddled together to discuss.
"I agree, although I don't like it one bit." He glanced at the fearful Daveth and added a shake of his head.
"Come along Grey Wardens. I don't have all day." Morrigan smiled and walked along leisurely as the Grey Wardens recognized they had no choice but to follow.