For someone half her size Oghren was heavy, Elissa thought as she half supported him out the inn door late that evening. All four of the men had probably had a few drinks too many but Oghren was well and truly drunk. Luckily they didn't have too far to go. There was a field a little way out of the village that they could spend the night in. There wasn't as much tree cover as Elissa would have liked but there was a wall between the field and the village at least so no one should spot the camp fire. It was slow going with Oghren being held up by herself and Anders but they got there eventually. Elissa dumped Oghren unceremoniously on the ground where he rolled straight over and started snoring. Wonderful.
She sent Anders and Alistair off to gather some fire wood and went to work with Nathaniel setting up the tents. He wasn't much help, he was better off than Oghren but not by much. She was surprised, she hadn't seen Nathaniel relax this much in a long time and so she couldn't find it in her heart to be cross with him. They'd all been through a lot over the last few months, they deserved a night off every now and then. Who knew when they'd get another chance.
Anders and Alistair were back to help before long and as soon as the fire was going and the camp set up Nathaniel and Anders bid her good night and disappeared into their respective tents. Hopefully they'll sleep it off, she thought. Elissa sat herself close to the fire and dragged her map out of her pack to try and figure out where this mine was that they were supposed to tackle the next day. It was a few minutes before she realised that Alisatir was still there. He seemed to be having trouble with the jar of salve he used on his shoulder. Once he'd finally gotten it open she watched with amusement as he tried to rub it in. He wasn't getting it anywhere near where he needed it. After a few moments she took pity on him, approaching him she said quietly,
"Here, let me,"
"No," he slurred slightly, "I can do it."
"I know you can but Alistair you're wasting it and I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be on your shoulder, not your neck. Pass it here." This time he slapped the jar into her outstretched hand and sat before her on the grass. Kneeling behind him she got her first proper look at the scars that spanned his back and left shoulder blade. She'd seen them at a distance before but not this close. In fact, she realised, this was the closest they'd been since he'd come back. With slightly shaking fingers she scooped some of the salve out of the jar and gently began working it into the muscles, feeling the knots loosen under her hands. Letting out a sigh he murmured,
"That feels good," she was pretty sure he hadn't meant to say that out loud so swallowing hard she chose to ignore it for now.
"What happened Alistair?" She asked softly, not even completely sure she wanted to hear it.
"I went looking for you." He said, "After...well, after..."
"The Landsmeet?" She asked,
"Yes, after that I went looking for you but you'd already left for Redcliffe. I was about to go after you when the darkspawn attacked. I couldn't leave after that and I wanted to make sure my sister was safe. People had gathered near the chantry so I stayed to help protect them. Word had been sent to Redcliffe so we knew we just had to hold out until you arrived but the darkspawn army was overwhelming. There were so many of them Lissa. They poured through the gates, the guard didn't stand a chance." Her fingers stilled on his back. She'd had no idea he'd still been in the city, "A few of us managed to gather some of the towns people together and we were going to try and get them out when we got cornered. I stayed back to give them time to escape but by then some of the buildings had caught fire and the house I was standing next to collapsed, a beam fell on me. I was told that a chantry sister spotted me and a few of the guard that were left managed to drag me out but as you can see I didn't get away lightly. I was unconscious for a few days and by the time I came to it was over. The blight had ended...and you were gone."
Elissa blinked back the tears that had suddenly filled her eyes, immeasurably grateful that he still had his back to her and couldn't see them.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't. How could you have known? It was worth it though. I got word from one the men at the Chantry, those that were gathered there, my sister included, had made it out."
Elissa realised then that he hand was still on his back, pulling it away as though burned she jumped to her feet.
"Well busy day tomorrow so I'm gonna turn in," she hardly recognised the fake cheery voice that came out of her mouth. Alistair turned, surprised by her sudden movement as she quickly made for her tent,
"Lissa," he said quietly, "We still need to talk about-"
"We will," she interrupted, just as quietly, "We will, I promise but not tonight OK?" without waiting for an answer she pulled the flap of her tent up and disappeared inside.
It took a long time for her to fall asleep that night.
She was waiting with a bottle of Anders' potion for each of them the next morning. Anders and Nathaniel looked rather sheepish as though expecting her to start shouting at them any moment. Oghren, of course, didn't care. Elissa had always wondered if he just didn't get real hangovers any more or whether he was constantly in a state of either drunkenness or hangover and therefore that he just didn't notice. Either way once he'd polished off his potion and mead he was as ready as ever to be on the road and to get to work.
The mine they planned to investigate wasn't far out of the village, just a few miles and since people had been told to keep away from it they didn't see a soul the whole way there. Approaching the entrance to the mine Elissa met each of their eyes and they gave a small nod each to indicate they were ready and she led the way inside.
Luckily darkspawn didn't see any better in the dark than they did so torches lined the path. Elissa had always thought this odd since surely they lived in the dark underground when there was no blight on? This wasn't the time for idle conversation though so she kept the thought to herself and kept walking. As the minutes dragged on she started to get nervous, they should have seen something by now shouldn't they? Were the darkspawn laying a trap for them? Unsheathing her weapons just in case she carried on walking, listening as carefully as she could for any sound that might give them away.
A few minutes later they reached an opening in the tunnel where the miners must have dug at some point. The path forked out into three different directions but before Elissa could decide which way to go darkspawn spilled from all three tunnels and headed straight toward them. Without looking behind her Elissa yelled,
"Anders, Nate back up! Take out the ones at the back. Oghren kill anything that gets past us!" glancing quickly to her side and seeing Alistair was ready beside her she let out a roar, taunting the darkspawn toward them and away from the others. Growling in response the darkspawn swarmed over each other to get at them, swinging swords and bows in the air. Focusing on the ones closest to her she swung her swords around in a sweep, injuring two and killing one, arrows and spells flew over her head as Nathaniel and Anders fired on the ones further away. She could hear the clanging of metal on metal as Alistair pushed the ones closest to him back to give himself room to bring his heavy sword around and the she saw two more Hurlocks fall at his feet.
"Alistair!" she shouted and knowing exactly what she had in mind he turned slightly and pressed his back to hers. Back to back they fought the mass of creatures, forming a circle of practised harmony, his brute strength coupled with her faster speed and grace. Dropping low she swung, taking the legs out from under several enemies before using the momentum to spin herself around Alistair's body to repeat the move on the other side. Alisatir anticipating her action, lifted his shield to allow her to pass underneath, he turned, plunging his sword in to fallen Genlocks. The tide of darkspawn wasn't letting up though as another wave of them came through one of the tunnels. Anders quickly summoned a glyph onto the floor at one entrance, cutting them off. Alistair brought his sword up over his head, Elissa dropped to her knees just in time for him to bring it in a full circle, taking out several darkspawn that were crowded around them.
"Rain of arrows!" Nathaniel warned behind them, Alistair grabbed her to him and lifted his shield over both their heads as projectiles fell from the air, she glanced behind his back to see Anders had conjured an arcane shield over Oghren's head, protecting him from the arrows. As soon as the it was clear Alistair released her, slashing his shield down as he did so, clearing the way for her stop block the attack of a Henlock that had somehow survived the onslaught of Nathaniel's attack and take it's head of with one more brutal swing of a long sword. Slashing to her left while he went right they turned back to back once more forming their circle. The tide of darkspawn was finally slowing,
"Almost there!" She shouted over her shoulder at Alistair.
"Already?" He quipped back in a winey tone, "they're just not putting the effort in!" he finished, bringing his sword down to hit the last Genlock in the face with the pommel. She let out a wild laugh and met his eyes, hers glittering and for one, brief shining moment it was if the last years had never happened and everything was as it it should be between them.
Elissa saw Alistair's eyes shift and saw his expression change but before she could react he'd pushed her aside with his shield leaving himself open for one last Hurlock that had been lurking in the shadows. Elissa watched in horror as it's sword went through his chest, his warm blood splashed her face,
"Alistair!" she screamed helplessly, the Hurlock seemed to roar in triumph just before Oghren tackled it to the ground. Dropping to her knees beside him she put pressure on the wound, trying to stop the blood that was running through her fingers.
"Anders!" she called. He was beside her in moments pushing her hands aside so he could see, "Anders, get him out of here, you can heal him."
Anders looked up at her solemnly "Elissa..." he started gently. The ground started to shake beneath her feet,
"It's not over!" Oghren declared, getting back into a fighting stance.
"Please Anders," Elissa practically begged. Anders searched her eyes, asking her to see reason. Alistair had little chance of making it and he didn't want to leave her here without him. Seeing the expression on her face he knew her mind was made up. Anders and Nathaniel quickly grabbed an arm each and lifted Alistair, moving as fast as they could they made for the surface.
The shaking intensified as Elissa stepped next to Oghren just as an Ogre burst it's way through the centre tunnel. Oghren saw Elissa close her eyes for a fraction of a second before using the Berserker technique he'd shown her. He'd only seen her do this a few times and was ashamed to admit that it had scared the piss out of him every time. A duel wielding warrior was rare enough but a duel wielding berserker was practically unheard of. He could barely keep up as she poured all the grief she was feeling into herself and turned it to pure rage and charged the Ogre, throwing all her weight and strength behind every swing. Oghren joined her and between them they whittled the Ogres strength down until it dropped to one knee. Elissa leapt, bringing her sword down firmly into the monsters skull, killing it.
Oghren bent over, hands on knees breathing hard.
"They must have mined into an old deep road tunnel," he said between gasps, "that's the only way so many damn darkspawn were here. We need to seal it off. I saw some boulders and pulleys back the way we came, we can use them to seal it on our way out" Elissa stood silent and immobile while Oghren quickly grabbed a few things from the fallen darkspawn which now littered the floor of then mine the followed him back through the tunnels until they reached the spot he'd noticed. Swinging his axe he cut the rope that held the boulders and rocks in a net on the ceiling. They fell, closing the mine off.
"It'll do for now." he muttered. Elissa silently lead the way back out.
