Author's Note: Sorry for any mistakes you find. I've been sick for a bit now, but really wanted to get this out!
The journey to the Wilds was uneventful. There were no darkspawn about, and if there were bandits, they wisely chose to steer clear of the well-armed group of fighters. Even so, Kila found just being on the road again was welcoming…much more freeing than pulling together the Warden's estate. She often caught herself thinking back to the travels during the Blight, and there were times where she fiercely missed her former companions. With all the bustle of getting her new life in order, she didn't realize how much she missed the little things. She longed to hear a witty quip from Morrigan, a drunken rant by Oghren, or even a sobering lecture from Sten.
She had to shake these thoughts from her mind and focus on the men before her. They pressed on tirelessly during the day and cautiously unwound in the evenings. It did not take long for her to recognize the solid group they created – not only did their various battle skills compliment one another, but their personalities did as well.
"The stew is almost ready," Garon announced, giving the pot one more stir. He was a large man with short hair and big ears that complimented his child-like manner. It was rare to see him without his smile, and Kila could easily picture him beating down a darkspawn with nothing but a shield and gleeful grin.
"Rabbit meat in boiled water hardly qualifies as stew," Jace joked. His chiseled jaw, feathered brown hair, and perfect smile sent most of the women on Kila's staff swooning. Even Shianni let her know how jealous she was that Kila was going alone with the men. Between his attractive looks and charismatic charms, it was hard to say no to Jace – man or woman. It would be no challenge for him to lead a team of Allies.
"Hey!" Garon griped, "I don't see you making anything to eat!"
Jace laughed heartily, "Well, that's because I can't cook! At least I admit it." He winked at Kila as he continued to push Garon's buttons. She just shook her head and laughed quietly to herself.
Mikel was slightly removed from the group, making sure the tents were ready while there was still light to see by. Most of the women were interested in Jace, but Kila found Mikel very remarkable in his own way. His raven black hair and narrow features gave him a graceful, animalistic look. He wasn't as social as the others, but he was the first to make sure the group was set and organized in anything they were doing. No darkspawn would stand a chance against any set of traps this man set.
"Alright, save it for the darkspawn boys," Kila finally stepped in, not mentioning that she agreed with Jace's good hearted ribbing and mostly stuck to bread herself.
"When do we get to fight a darkspawn anyhow?" Garon asked.
"So eager are you?" Kila asked with a sudden sombreness. "Well, you won't have to wait much longer. We're only a couple days from the Kocari Wilds where they broke through the surface with the highest numbers. I'm sure we'll find some leftovers easily enough."
Kila was right. Within a day of travel, they came across a small group of them in the outlying boarders of Lothering before even reaching the heart of the Wilds.
In the lead, Kila suddenly she froze, forcing the men to stop short. She raised her hand, signalling for silence as she scanned the trees along the path. The familiar sensation coursed through her body as she recognized the nearby taint. Finally, in a hushed voice she ordered, "Be ready…they're here."
Quickly, Mikel seemed to melt away into the trees that led up to the ridge above the path as Garon and Jace readied their weapons.
The familiarity of impending battle elated her sorely ignored inner warrior. A cocky smirk spread across her face as Kila sauntered on. Around the bend in the path, the group of darkspawn came into view; there were six that she could see. Pulling her bow from her back, she aimed her arrow. "Did you miss me boys?" she taunted loudly and they all turned towards her.
Suddenly, a flask flew down into the middle of the creatures from the trees above. Shattering when it hit, the air-exposed chemicals loudly exploded and a thick, green cloud of poison rose up. The darkspawn immediately began gasping for breath and scattered away in confusion.
"Well I missed you!" she cried as she shot her arrow into the chest of a scrambling genlock – its flimsy armour easily pierced. As she quickly fired follow-up shots, Garon and Jace ran past on either side of her, eager to meet the threat head on.
Garon bellowed loudly and swung his shield upward, smashing into a hurlock's face as it blindly ran. Blood spurted from its broken nose as he followed up with a shoulder slam, knocking the dazed darkspawn to the ground. "This is easy!" Garon howled with laughter.
Jace's target was ready for him, having moved out of the cloud before it became too affected. The first swing of his sword was met by the metal of the darkspawn's weapon with a sharp clang. Jace quickly shook off his surprise and ducked behind his shield as the hurlock thrust its sword forward. That blow easily glanced off his shield, but as Jace moved to strike with his sword, the hurlock howled and turned from Jace to claw at its foot. Jace glanced down and saw an arrow that pierced its foot and was pinning it into the ground. Not missing the opportunity, he swung his sword powerfully down into the shoulder of the hurlock's weapon arm, firmly lodging the blade into its collarbone. It wailed in pain, swinging its good arm wildly. Jace bashed his shield into the hurlock's face, using that to brace against the darkspawn and pull his sword back out. With one final bash of his shield, the hulock fell as blood gurgled out from the deep gash in its shoulder.
Jace stabbed his sword down through the darkspawn's forehead, cracking through the skull. It stopped struggling.
Kila quickly surveyed the battle, and she couldn't help but smile. Garon was busy pummelling a hapless genlock, Jace had taken down his first darkspawn, and Mikel was in the trees, likely causing more damage than they would ever come to know. They all seemed to fall into place just how she imagined they would. Letting an arrow fly, she pinned a genlock that was scrambling into position with its own bow. "Oh no you don't," she muttered under her breath.
Suddenly, the wind was knocked out of Kila's lungs as a powerful force violently knocked her off balance. She flew back and landed hard on the dirt path. Her world went black.
It was Jace who heard her cry out and he turned in time to see her crashing into the ground, smashing her head as she landed. "Kila!" he shouted as he moved to rush to her side.
A grunt forced him to spin back as a hurlock bore down on him. With an angry shout, he readied his shield…but the hurlock suddenly stopped advancing. It stumbled one more step and gave a long groan as it fell face-first to the ground. Behind where it stood, Jace saw Mikel nod towards him before disappearing back into the trees. A dagger stood proudly from the back of the hurlock's neck – its spinal cord had been severed.
It was the adrenaline still coursing through her veins that quickly woke Kila. Shaking the cobwebs from her head, she pulled herself back on her feet and steadied herself with her bow. Looking the direction the force came from, she spotted something emerging from the bushes. There were crude spikes jutting up from its headpiece in a decorative manner. She was stunned to realize it was a hurlock emissary – something she never expected to see outside of a Blight.
There wasn't time to question. It stared at her from across the battlefield and she narrowed her eyes in return. Its magic would easily beat her arrows. Readying her bow, she nonetheless sent arrows flying as she confidently advanced across the cramped battlefield. Most of them were easily deflected by the emissary, but at that least kept it busy. Suddenly, the emissary shrieked and grabbed at its thigh, where a dagger was firmly sunk into its flesh. Angrily, it turned its attention towards the tree line and with a forceful gesture sent a ball of electricity sailing towards the ridge. She sent a silent plea for Mikel to move.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Kila dropped her bow and pulled out her short sword and dagger. As she made her last few strides, she twirled the blades, getting used to their weight. By the time the emissary turned its attention back to her, she was upon it. Her blades seemed to dance as they found small chinks in the armour to dig in. The emissary flinched and howled, but was not able to concentrate long enough to cast another spell. Her former cockiness had turned into a hardened determination as she quickly wore the emissary down.
Suddenly, another dagger sliced into the emissary from an unseen source – Mikel was fine. Spurred on by her recruit's safety, her movements picked up speed as a primal scream escaped her lips. Finally, in a fluid motion, she skewered its chest with one blade and violently slashed the other before her. The emissary's head fell from its body and rolled to a stop a few feet away. Quickly she pulled out her blade as the sudden deadweight threatened to pull her off balance.
Spinning around to attack another foe, Kila let out a war cry. Unfortunately for her, the only things left standing were her recruits. Mikel smoothly joined them as they stared at her, stunned by her display. Her breathing was heavy as she paced and she took a moment to calm herself. Finally looking back at her recruits and frowning at their stares, she tossed her small pouch of vials on the ground before them. "Get to filling these," she barked. The recruits quickly did as they were told, carefully filling each vial with the darkspawn blood before piling and burning the bodies.
They had cleaned themselves up before reaching Lothering. The town had almost been fully restored, but if the remaining town folk remembered Kila, they said nothing. Nonetheless they were greeted with politeness.
A messenger was at the tavern to greet the group, and briefly pulled Kila away from her recruits. After handing the bag of vials to the man, she came back to the table the recruits sat at. "Well boys, lucky thing we ran into those creatures today – it seems my associate is here much earlier than planned. In his eagerness I think he forgot that a week's head start on foot isn't a match for a traveling on horseback…" She chuckled as she mentally noted that Alistair deserved a good ribbing for that.
Garon interrupted, "You mean the King right?" he asked. It was well known he was the only other Ferelden Grey Warden.
Her lips drew into a tight line, "My associate," she repeated, refusing to confirm it was Alistair. "So tomorrow, we can proceed with the Joining. Which no, Garon, I'm not going into detail on," she stopped him before he could interrupt again. He closed his mouth. "But for now, I want you boys to relax and enjoy yourselves…there are plenty of ladies about. You have definitely earned it."
After a round of drinks together, the group disbursed. Garon found himself at the bar gaining quite a lot of attention for the copious amounts he was able to drink. Being such a heavy drinker was a badge of honour and a quick way to earn respect at a tavern. Fellow heavy drinkers settled in beside him, as did a few lady admirers. Together, they created most of the laughter that rang through the tavern, as even with the alcohol, Garon remained his loveable self.
Taking his usual spot away from the crowd, Mikel settled into a table in the far corner. Nursing his drinks, he was content with watching the people. Jace, however, had other plans in mind for him. Naturally, several young ladies vying for his attention surrounded Jace. He tried to indulge each lady with a moment or two of personal attention but finally, leaned over and whispered with one lovely woman, much to the dismay of the others. Soon, however, that woman left Jace's company and sought out Mikel. Shooting Jace a confused look, Mikel decided not to wave the woman away. Soon they were cozy in conversation together.
Silently, Kila watched each of her recruits find their niche at the tavern. It looked like each of them might even end up with company for the night. She sincerely hoped that would be the case, after all it could be the last night for some of them…
Lost in thought, Kila didn't notice Jace until he casually flopped himself into the chair next to Kila, flashing his usual smile. "And what are we drinking?" he asked.
He had caught her off guard, but trying not to show it, she raised a sceptical eyebrow at him, "More importantly, what are you doing here? There are plenty of pretty, young wenches who would very much like to spend time with you." Glancing past his shoulder, Kila could see the table of ladies that he walked away from. They were all glaring at her and whispering to each other.
"But I would very much like to spend my time here," he declared.
Maintaining her sceptical look, she shook her head, "I am betrothed you know."
"To a man I deeply respect," he agreed. "I have had enough womanly affection to last a lifetime. I'm more interested in learning about you. After all, it's not often one gets to spend time with the great Hero of Ferelden. Seeing you in battle today…" For once he paused at a loss for words. Clearing his throat, he carried on, "I've never seen anything quite like it. If you would indulge me, I would really love to hear some of your adventures. I'll buy the rounds even!"
When she was first getting to know Zevran, she had asked to hear of his adventures. It struck her as odd to now be asked the same. Never before had she adventures to tell, but that was to be her evening with Jace. They exchanged stories and kept watch on their fellow companions, until Garon and Mikel eventually retired to rooms upstairs with their new lady friends.
AN: To be continued....