Alright, four drafts later here it is: A fight between Hawke and the Arishok. Along with the ensuing skirmish between Riley and Fenris. I actually made this pretty angsty the first time around, but that was over a month ago and their characters have evolved since then so I had to scrap that one. I'm pretty happy with this, but I feel like I need to work on action scenes. That's going to be the goal of the new story I've started. Yes, I've started another one, but that's because this one I feel is coming to an end. I'm thinking there are going to be two more installations to this one - a cute Fenris chapter about his early attraction to Riley and a closing chapter told by our friend Varric, but I could be persuaded to write more if people want to see anything in particular.
For anyone that's interested the new story will be called "Scarlet" and I've seen a couple of authors play with a similar idea, but I think the whole thing should be pretty original and different. I've already finished the prologue, but I'm going to edit it a bit first. I've had horrible success in chapter fics in the past, so I've already set up an outline with key points for this new one. I'm determined to finish a chapter story.
Anyways, on with this story. Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer - Bioware owns all.
Part 7 of ? - Honor
Riley stared at the Arishok from across the room. This was stupid, it was crazy, it was beyond insane, but she was not going to back down. She had lost everything in the last few years – her brother, her sister and her mother – she was not going to lose a friend.
He had proposed a duel and she had accepted it on impulse – something that got her into trouble often. Even if there belief systems were completely different, his offer of a one-to-one duel was a honor and she realized it as such. A fight to the death between two equals, except a glance between them showed that they were far from equal.
The Arishok slowly stripped off his armor. A fight between a Qunari and a Basalit-an – foreigners respected by the Qunari – would follow the rules of a traditional Qunari duel. It would be a fight of pure skill with nothing separating them or protecting them. Blood was the only outcome.
In her gut Riley had known that it was going to come to this eventually. From the first moment she had met the man, she had a feeling that they were going to meet on the battlefield.
Riley didn't take her eyes off her enemy as she began to strip herself of her own armor. She didn't want to appear weak and she hoped he didn't notice her hands shaking as she undid her buckles.
"Just tell me you're worth it." Riley whispered over her shoulder at the rogue standing behind her.
"Excuse me?" Isabela said, blinking.
Riley turned her head to look at the woman, "I'm about to fight a man that could crush my skull with one hand. Tell me that you're worth this."
"Well," Isabela said, trying to be playful, but failing miserably, "I did steal their stupid book."
"I know." Riley deadpanned.
"And I left you to fight them all by yourself."
"I noticed."
"But," Isabela said, leaning against the wall, "I did come back."
"That you did." Riley smirked. This mess could have been a lot worse. If only the Qunari had just left with their blighted relic.
"You really have a bad influence on me you know." Isabela sighed softly.
"I try." Riley turned to face Isabela, placing her hands on the woman's shoulders, "Just don't do something like this again."
"Yes mother," Isabela sighed. Rolling her eyes slightly.
Riley was finally stripped down to her breast bindings and leather pants. She couldn't remember the last time she had entered a fight so naked. The prospect didn't bode well with her.
"Are you sure about this Hawke," Varric said handing her twin daggers to her. The blades shown in the dimly light hall and their weight in her hands felt final, like she couldn't back out of this even if she wanted to.
"It's the simplest solution, and the least amount bloodshed."
"Only if you win. What happens if you don't?" The dwarf asked. Riley swallowed. She didn't want to think of that prospect.
"Meridith and the others should be here by then. So stand and fight or leave it to them. I won't have much say in the matter."
"Such poetic words from our heroine." Varric sighed, "Just don't die then. Blood stains are so hard to get out of my jacket."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Riley glanced at Fenris, but the elf only nodded, but she could see his jaw clench. He was nervous, but still he didn't move or speak. Didn't that stupid elf have anything to say? No parting words incase she died? Of course he doesn't, she thought bitterly to herself, He never has anything to say.
Riley twirled the dagger in her right hand as she approached the Qunari leader. To everyone she was the air of confidence, that is, as long as they didn't notice her knees shaking.
The first blow came upon her without warning. The look at the Arishok's face, at least in Riley's eyes, seemed cocky and smug. Blighted bastard.
The two began to dance, Riley dodging more than he did, mostly because she was more agile and lighter on her feet, but also because she had seen what he could do with that giant broad sword, and she liked being in one piece.
As the minutes wore on, Riley knew she was tiring. Her fatigue was visible, but she was still dodging the Arishok's strikes, dealing her own and surviving his onslaught - barely. Each swing of his massive sword was getting closer and closer to her delicate skin.
The Qunari leader easily had 100 lbs on Riley, but she had greater speed, and any hit he landed on her was costly. The large leader had already landed a few kicks, launching the small rogue across the room, and in the wake of the attacks she could only absorb his follow-up attacks. Things were getting bad – quickly.
This could not go on.
It was a desperate move, but Riley threw herself on to the ground to dodge a huge swing of the sword. However the compromising position left her open to a violent kick that sent her sliding towards the stairs. The Arishok stood over her.
"You have fought well Hawke, however the Qun dictates that you must die, Asit tal-eb. Ataash varin kata." The Arishok's voice rang out over the crowd. Riley could see the Qunari to her right stand a little straighter. They were proud of their leader, of the resilience of their people and philosophy.
Riley coughed, the blood visible on her lips, "The Qun dictates that you try, but I'm not ready to die yet." She was defiant until the end.
The next moments happened in slow motion. The large blade barely missed her, clanging loudly on the stairs. Riley had pushed off the steps, launching herself between legs of the looming male as the blade had swung down. She slid out behind him and threw two small knives she had hidden in her boots into his back – not exactly allowed in their little honor duel, but she could care less for the rules right now.
The Qunari grunted and turned charging at her once again. She rolled out of the way and ran towards the pillars with him in pursuit. Jumping, she pushed off the column and launched herself back towards the Qunari as his sword rose. His blade struck her leg and hers buried themselves in him: One in his neck, the other in his eye. They fell in a heap on the floor. The room was silent. Riley Hawke had beaten the Arishok, but at what price?
Isabela rushed forwards, soon followed by the others. She helped Riley up, who gave them a shaky smile.
"You crazy bitch," Isabela laughed, "You really had us worried for a moment there."
Riley tried to force out a laugh, but quickly held her side in pain. There were at least a couple of broken ribs. She stood as tall as possible while favoring her less injured leg and stepped out past her friends. She retrieved her dagger from the Arishok's neck and held the dripping blade towards the other Qunari.
"Anyone else want to try to take her?"
The Qunari stood silently.
"Good," Riley smirked, her face growing paler by the moment, "Now take your book and leave my city."
The room erupted in applause from the noblemen of Kirkwall, even as Riley collapse at their feet. They only cared of their own safety and freedom. Her friends rushed over and Fenris hulled her upright, his arms being the only thing keeping her from falling.
The nobles swarmed her, trying to shake the rogue's hand, but she waved them off. Out of the corner of her eye she spied Meredith entering with the mages. The Knight Commander was fuming, but Riley didn't care. She was exhausted and had no energy to deal with egos or politics. Fenris seemed to understand her exhaustion and ushered her towards the door.
Outside the group walked past over the destruction wrought by the Qunari. Riley moved slowly and they matched her pace. There was no rush anyways as there really wasn't anywhere to go. Besides, this was the closest she had been to Fenris in months and she wasn't going to let it pass by.
"I can't believe you did that." Varric laughed as he stepped over a Qunari corpse.
"Me either." Isabela said, "I wouldn't have done that for me."
"Most of us would have let them take you." Fenris snarled. Isabela glared, kicking an abandoned helmet.
"Well Rivaini, I'm still angry with you, but since we all got our of this with our heads still attached to our shoulders, I guess I can find it in myself to forgive you." Varric smirked. Isabela smiled back. She had never really had friends before, but she didn't know how she had gotten so far without them before.
"I second that," Riley croaked, smiling crookedly, "Remind me to punch you later when I get my arms working again. Then we'll be even."
Riley felt Fenris' growl in his chest, but he said nothing. His arms tightened about her and she knew he would probably never forgive the pirate for this. Lying was something that he did not forgive easily.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel this disserves a pint – or twelve," Varric hummed, "Everyone's going to want to hear the tale about Hawke, the Champion of Kirkwall."
"While I love your stories Varric, I would much rather have my bed now and some elfroot poultices." Riley winced as she tripped slightly over the rubble on the streets.
"Rivaini?" He asked looking over at the other woman.
"Do I ever say no to drinks?" Isabela asked laughing loudly. Varric shrugged and the two turned to leave for the Hanged Man.
Isabela paused and looked back at Riley and Fenris, "Thanks again Hawke."
Riley nodded. Isabela was a good woman. She just needed a good hard shove in the right direction from time to time.
The second those two were out of sight, Riley wanted to collapse. She was beyond exhausted, everything in her body hurt, and the fairly deep wound she had in her thigh had to be treated properly. All in all she was in bad shape. A bed sounded very good to her right now.
She tried to get her feet to work, but they had seemed to stop functioning the somewhere between Chantry and the Main Square. Thankfully Fenris had not left with them, if he had, she probably wouldn't have gotten farther than a few steps.
The silence that hovered in the night was oppressive. They hadn't been alone together in over a year. She didn't know what to say, and clearly he didn't either.
They stumbled along together before Fenris finally sighed, and swept Riley into his arms. To say she was shocked was an understatement, but with him carrying her they did make excellent time back to her estate.
When they arrived at the door, Riley thought he would just dump her and leave but he kicked the door with his foot and waited for Bohdan to answer.
"Mistress Hawke!" He said as the small dwarf peeked out past a crack in the door, "What happened to you."
"Later," Fenris snapped and pushed past the dwarf to carry her upstairs.
It was clear to Riley that the anger was building in the elf, and she tried to pretend that she didn't care, but she could feel herself getting more and more agitated with him as the seconds wore on.
Fenris deposited her on the bed and set out to assemble the healing potions. The only words spoken between the two were Riley's directions on bandage and herb locations.
With a final trip to the basin, Fenris had collected all he needed and he roughly slammed them down on the nightstand. He set out to cleaning her wounds, and he was gentle enough, but his grip was tight and sometimes the bandages were too tight.
"What?" She finally asked. She could take no more of the looks, the firm hands and the angry set to his jaw.
"You could have died because of her." Fenris growled tying off the bandage.
"But I didn't"
"It was not your fight."
"He wanted to take one of my friends, what would have had me do?"
"She asked to fight, demanded to. You should have let her."
"Isabela had no chance of winning. To let her fight him would have been suicide."
"It almost was for you as well."
"Yet I am still standing."
"Barely!" Fenris bit out, his hands hit the mattress on either side of her hard and his face inches from hers, "Were you prepared to die, for her?"
"Why not? I have lost so much in my life because of my failures: My father, my siblings and my mother. All I have left are my friends," She spat the last word, "And I will defend them with my life if I have to!"
Her words had the desired effect. Fenris withdrew, standing up, but he didn't move to the fire as she expected him. He stood there watching her, and it made her uncomfortable. Riley turned her head and stared at the wall.
How had things come to this?
It seemed their relationship was akin to Kirkwall and the Qunari in the last few months. Tensions had been rising with everyday. Fenris would dodge her, ignore her and apparently detest the sight of her as he would not even look at her on the best of days, and Riley had grown tired of it. Her words had grown sharp to anyone who knew what to listen to, and as it happened, the only one who knew was the one they were directed at.
They had grown continuously apart in the last few months and it was driving her insane. Two years ago - Maker's Breath, had it been that long already? – he had given her hope that they could work through it, that perhaps with time they could be together. But time had dulled that hope and embittered her. Before she had needed him, almost as if he were the very air that they breathed, but a year ago she had decided to move on.
At first Riley had believed that she could lure him back to her. She would flaunt herself in front of him, flirt with men at the Hanged Man and joke with Isabela about indecent things. Fenris didn't even bat an eyelash, so in her anger she started to bed the men. Desperate times, called for desperate measures, and she didn't care who it was as long as she could forget him for a time.
It had only made things worse though. Fenris, who had been there for her before as a friend and a comfort, pulled back even further from her, and Riley found herself longing for him even more. Things turned ugly then and they barely spoke anymore. It was becoming obvious to the group, but neither of them would speak of the reasons behind their arguments.
Her body shook and she would not look at him even as she felt his eyes turn to her. Let him think it was due to anger instead of fear and loneliness. She had the courage to fight an entire army of Qunari, but not to bring up that night two years ago. Why couldn't that damned bastard just hold her right now? Her life had flashed before her eyes in another battle and now she was fighting again when all she wanted was to lose herself in an embrace to reassure herself that Riley Hawke was still in existence.
Riley laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The space could only grow from here. More bitter words and fights and he would leave.
Maker's breath, this is not what she wanted right now. She didn't need this yelling. Yes, she was lucky to be alive, but if there was truly any luck left in her bones she would have been in Fenris' Mansion lounging on his floor, curled up in one of his battered shirts and downing some good brandy. This blighted chasm between them would be gone, not growing by the day.
She waited to hear the door slam behind the elf, but she was surprised to feel his hands on the hem of her pants. Riley propped herself up on her elbows and stared at the elf. Fenris didn't look at her, but knelt before her working on the buttons of her pants. If her thigh didn't throb the way it did, she might have been confused at his actions.
The anger that had so consumed Fenris seemed to have lessened. His firm grip had lessened, his jerky movements had smoothed and the small twitch he got in his jaw had stopped. He was gentle as he removed her pants, but she stilled hissed as the leather scratched over the open wound.
With the pants off, Riley laid back, not wanting Fenris to see how the situation was affecting her. She covered her eyes with her arm, trying to hide the blush that formed as he went to work cleaning the wound with a towel. Her being in only her smalls, and him being so attentive did wicked things to her.
He applied the elfroot poultice to the clean wound and she pursed her lips to suppress the small moan that his fingers elicited. Fighting a man three times her size was easier than being this close to a man she couldn't have.
Facing he Arishok had put less strain on her than this. She couldn't take the silence anymore. Peaking out from between her fingers she saw that he didn't look anywhere besides her leg. He was keeping things professional, and she didn't know whether to be angry or happy.
"If he wanted me, what would you have done?" Riley whispered looking over his head. She had to know what was going on in his head – this limbo was driving her crazy. She felt Fenris' hands stop bandaging her leg and she bit her lip softly as his hands ran over her red skin.
Fenris glanced up at her, "What do you want me to say?"
"Anything," She sighed, "Everything. Would you have let him take me?" His hands were cool on her burning skin and even in her weakened state they were all she could think about.
"Never." Fenris growled, glaring up at her. If she had asked him that two years ago, or even a few months ago, she would have never asked that question, but now…
"So you understand why I did it then."
"No."
"But you said – "
Fenris cut her off, "I would have done it for you, not for her."
Riley was silent as she looked up at him. He tied that bandage on her thigh tightly and went to pull away from her. He hadn't looked at her since the comment, but she had to see. It had been months since she had allowed her self a sliver of hope. It had been weeks since she half expected every morning to wake up to find a small red scarf next to her bedside. Where once there had been so much understanding, now there was only confusion.
Riley did not know where she stood with him, and she wanted answers. This needed to be resolved tonight. If she could take on a Qunari warrior than she could handle a broody elf.
As Fenris went to stand, she grabbed his hand, "Am I more than a friend?" She pressed.
He would not answer her as he turned away, but he did not remove her hand and he made no other intentions to move.
She pulled on his hand as she tried to stand – she would not back down until he talked- but the weakness in her leg caused her to stumble. She felt herself falling, but Fenris was there to catch her and he held her loosely to his chest, but his arms were steel allowing her no movement beyond the small space he allowed there.
"Fenris," She whispered, grasping his biceps tightly, allowing her fingers to flex over the taunt muscle there. Riley was unsure of where to go from here…
"If you had die, I would have killed him and everyone involved in leading up to that moment – even Isabela." His voice was rough with emotion.
Riley wasn't prepared for that, "There were moments when I thought I was a goner. Why didn't you step in then?"
"I tried, but you kept getting back up." She glanced up to see his small smirk. She was glad he was holding her up, because it made her knees weak.
"Sorry for spoiling your heroic efforts," She smiled, "I'm not very good at playing the damsel in distress."
"Yet I still got to sweep you off your feet like the knights of old."
"Still playing my knight?" She hummed.
"Whenever you let me."
"I'll let you the rest of the night." She said letting her hand wander up to his neck.
"Hawke," He murmured stopping her hand. She could see the conflict in his eyes, but she pressed on.
Riley cringed and planted her feet to solidify her position as she reached up, determined to get him to break. She needed him, and he needed her. End of story.
His eyes gently closed as she reached up, and Riley was ready to finally feel something good today when her door burst open. Shocked, Riley fell back onto her bed as Fenris let his arms falls away.
There in all his drunken glory stood Varric, swaying slightly, "Hawke," He said, "Isabela had the greatest idea! Didn't you!" He called. Isabela poked her head in the door and nodded.
Riley sat there wide eyed as Varric trailed off about some random quest that they should do, but she wasn't paying attention. Her eyes were on Fenris as he slinked out of the room.
Damn dwarf.
I can't really imagine Varric drunk, and I'm sure that the last bit was really out of character, but so it made me laugh, so I didn't change it.
Also if anyone is interested in what the Arishok said "Asit tal-eb" means "it is to be" and "Ataash varin kata" means "In the end lies glory."
That's if for now. As always, please review!
Til next time,
-Galexz
