Every favorite and follow helps my morale, but I especially like hearing from my readers!
A shout out to dekicobee for your kind words on the last chapters! :) I hope Evelyn continues to entertain! :)
There was slight rustling during the night, but nothing out of the ordinary. Evelyn rolled over, dreaming.
Blackwall was talking to her, she couldn't understand him, but he was reaching towards her, and suddenly she was drowning. No- being dragged down. Hands were gripping her heels, tears were streaming down her face, he went to the ledge and their fingers touched, the hands were gripping her calves now. She was able to wiggle out of the hands of her assailants just a little bit and Blackwall had gripped her hand.
He only nodded and pulled.
She jolted awake, she felt her face, tears had in fact went down her face at one point.
She shook off the terror from her dream and noticed that it was early morning. She dug through her pack in an effort to make her nearly forget her dream. She found the last of her packed food; more jerky, an apple and more cheese. She shrugged and ate it nearly whole. She didn't think she was that hungry. If she was on her last packed meal, then no doubt the others were as well. Perhaps it was time to hunt.
She would bathe after they had taken the mercenary fortress. She preferred spring water to the water at Skyhold anyways.
Maybe she could get a head start? Hunting for lunch could prove more fruitful if they have a victory under their belt already.
She put the plan in motion by taking off her tunic and bandages, rubbing more salve on it. Now that the wound had sometime to heal, it was mostly sore, and could open if moved too quickly or too much. She slowly rotated her shoulder and massaged the muscles.
She sighed, that was as good as it was going to get. She rubbed more salve on it and re-bandaged it. Then put the clean tunic on and began to slowly buckle her leather armor back on. She saw that it was nice and secure before putting on her boots and her small armory.
With the thought of picking off others from a distance she grabbed a longbow and a quiver. She did tell the Inquisition scouts that were doing their rounds to make sure that they tell her party where she was headed.
She headed up a small hill and saw her first target: a Venatori mage. If she could take him out before he got in the battle, it would already tip the scales in her favor.
So she loaded the bow, she had seen them, but they had not seen her. And she had a plan when they did. She knocked the arrow on the bow and pulled back.
She grit her teeth as she didn't think the muscle would burn this badly. She had to aim quickly and fire before her arm would give out entirely.
She managed to hit the mage square in the heart.
"What the-!?"
Another arrow made sure the mage was dead.
"Archers!" They shouted, trying to fortify their position. Evelyn could only smile, even as pain shot through her arm as she knocked another arrow and aimed at their assassin's feet. It was important to take him out of the the game next. Even if she could just pin him.
Which is exactly what she did.
Her arm couldn't take it anymore. She drank another potion like it was water. She was relieved when she felt numbness in her arm and felt she could last the day. She pulled out her new blade and one of her reliable blades.
The assassin had found her quickly once he had pulled the arrow from his boot. She would've almost not seen him, if he had moved only just slightly faster. She rolled just barely before his blades connected with the rock.
If she didn't deal with this assassin soon, she was going to be overwhelmed. Perhaps this wasn't a good idea in the first place.
They locked blades and for a moment she thought her arm was going to give out. Just when it was about to completely give up, she kicked the assassin off her and spun around, blades facing out. It had connected to something, as the assassin went down.
She heard the Warriors cry out for their companion and before he could say anything, she quickly kneed him in the jaw, and stabbed him in the chest.
The assassin was dead, but as of course would happen, the lack of reply from their companion made them bear their shields and come bounding around the corner. She had to retreat. Maybe she could pick one or two off?
She threw down an invisibility grenade at her feet and began to tactfully retreat. She didn't realize how much of a toll that wound was costing her. But just as it wore off she saw her three companions.
She smiled, "hey. I was wondering when you'd get to the party."
"Oh you know us, fashionably late." Dorian joked.
Cassandra shook her head with a small smile, but Blackwall remained frowning.
Can't please everybody, I suppose.
"I've got a couple of shield users, and one big guy, but the mage and the assassin of the group are taken care of." She informed them.
"Ah!" Dorian chimed, "then you've made it easy for us!"
"I try." Evelyn chuckled before putting down her bow and quiver next to a rock an wiping the sweat off her forehead. It's not that it was hot, but she could tell she had over exerted herself too soon.
But there was no turning back now. She would fight through the pain. Was her only option.
She got out her daggers again, and Dorian summoned a barrier. Mages had slowly made her feel protected. She wasn't invincible she knew that, but it helped.
She threw another invisibility grenade down and spotted her next target as he raised his sword and charged carelessly.
She ran up behind him and jumped, digging both daggers into the exposed part of his neck, while Cassandra shield bashed him and while he was dizzy and bleeding out, she gave him a quick death.
She nodded at Cassandra and they pulled their weapons out at the same time and the man fell to the ground.
Steel on steel rang through the air. She looked over and Blackwall was parrying another sword user. That could wait. However, the big man was charging straight for Dorian and Blackwall.
Evelyn gave a hand signal to Cassandra and she shouted at the man, just after Dorian's well timed fear spell. The man came charging after Cassandra and Evelyn ran like lighting to get around him without being seen.
Armor was covering this man head to toe. To find a weak spot Cassandra would have to distract him. Evelyn knew she wouldn't be able to do that forever.
Cassandra realized her plan and put her shield up, right when the brute's massive hammer came down with controlled force. Not enough to stun or break her arm, but enough to be a clear test. Cassandra knew his next swing would not be so gentle.
But when he raised his hammer, that's when Evelyn saw it. A weak spot. She threw down a stun grenade and he went dizzy. She had to act fast, and that she did.
She ran behind him and stabbed him in the under parts of his arm. The only place where armor didn't cover him, she yanked out her blades just in time to be thrown off of him.
She landed on her back and rolled to get back up on her feet. He wasn't going to fall for that again.
Dorian and Blackwall were done fighting the guys with swords and shields, they then turned their attention to the girls fighting the big one.
Dorian conjured a small fire spell underneath the brute's feet. Once the spell went off, a flash of fire reached up and quickly attached itself to anything that wasn't metal.
Cassandra waited for the right moment, as did Blackwall. When the fire was beginning to go out, Blackwall blew his war horn.
Evelyn couldn't help but grin as he used the horn that she gave him. Her spirits picked up and she attacked with fervor.
Cassandra give him another shield bash and stunned him. Evelyn took this moment to rip off the man's helmet. They needed all of the advantages the could get.
That's when she heard the war cry. The Alpha Hurlock flashed in her mind and as she threw the helmet to the ground she scrambled to get away.
Her move however was too bold. She realized she had been too slow to get away and she grabbed her daggers to face the hammer.
Just as she turned around she was tackled to the ground. She heard Cassandra's shouts and Dorian's spell casting. Then she looked up.
"What did you think you were doing?" Blackwall asked, the worried anger taking over his face, "are you suicidal?"
"No more than you." She joked, but Blackwall was hearing none of it.
"You don't have a luxury of having a shield, Evelyn."
She raised her eyebrows. She had made the man very mad. She could tell. He usually never addressed her by her name otherwise.
He helped her up.
"At least I got it off Cassandra and Dorian for that moment." Evelyn motioned to the fight. It looked like he was almost done with what Evelyn called a tantrum. He swung his bloody hammer over and over into the ground in different directions.
When he was done, Dorian summoned bolts of lighting and Evelyn made her entrance back into the fight by turning her blades out and turning herself into a deadly spinning top.
Blackwall held up his shield, as did Cassandra, but he couldn't help but stare at the rogue. He watched her hair twirl with her as she spun. He wondered if she enjoyed making him worry. She would've been killed if the hammer had hit her. As the Hurlock almost did.
He was thankful that he saved her in time. Even if he did hold onto her a bit tighter and for a bit longer than was actually necessary.
After they had hacked away at his guard, Blackwall let his anger out and he gave the brute a shield bash, and another, and another before slashing his head clean off.
The body fell to the ground and Evelyn sat down on a rock, sweat dripping down her face. But she looked satisfied.
"That was bracing!" Dorian sounded satisfied as well, "if all your parties are like that, invite me to all of them!"
Evelyn laughed, "you'd be the first to know, Dorian."
"Perhaps we should take the next few fights more carefully?" Cassandra sheathed her sword with a chuckle, "at least none of us came out with injuries."
Evelyn chuckled, "none that weren't already there anyways." It was a joke, but it earned a small scowl from the two warriors and a slight head shake from the mage.
"Do try not to get yourself killed." Dorian slightly chuckled.
"Famous last words, right?" She remembered him saying those words to Felix, the magister's son. He didn't die to anything that he could prevent. The taint ended up over taking him. But not before giving Tevinter a piece of his mind, and letting them know that the Inquisition was changing the world for the better. She wish she knew the man more.
After a moment of drinking the water in the small pouch, she felt a bit better and not nearly as sweaty, she went to stand however, and her legs almost gave out before she sat back down again. The others didn't really look like they were ready to continue anyways.
"Bear, fox, ram or bird?" She asked out of the blue.
"If I have to eat another piece of bear jerky I'm going to strangle someone." Blackwall grumbled, taking some water from the pond and splashing his face.
"Her bear jerky isn't that bad." Dorian defended Evelyn, "however a change of pace would be nice."
"A nice ram stew then this evening?" Evelyn asked with a slight smile. She had chosen bear because it was quite a lot of meat and she had been right.
"Sounds wonderful." Cassandra sighed with a smile.
"Now... To just take the fortress." Evelyn said looking across the bridge.
