Chapter 10
The forest itself was pretty thick as we made our way into it, heading for the ruins where Keeper Zathrian had said the oldest Werewolf was. The supposed source of the curse. A white wolf named Witherfang.
My group kept mostly together, with Zevran just a little ahead of us.
As I watched him start across a fallen log bridge, I moved to follow in his steps.
When we came to an attack from a group of Werewolves who spoke, I tried to stop the fighting.
One still wound up dead before I could prevent it.
They issued a warning and then took off.
I was confused.
This was my least favorite little adventure since joining the Grey Wardens.
But at least I got the amusement of listening to Zevran and Alistair snark at each other instead of Alistair and Morrigan.
Though they were less hostile about it since talking last night.
Maybe because Alistair now realized Zevran was just who he was.
Would he try to kill us? Who knows. I had to believe he'd at least warn me first.
I was thinking instead of paying attention as we walked across a wet stone and cried out as I started slipping.
Instantly, I had two people grabbing at me.
Alistair had put a hard grip on my upper arm to keep me upright without falling himself and Zevran moved to pull me up against him.
"You need to keep your footing here amor. Getting soaked here could make you sick."
I nodded as he pulled me to the solid ground again. "Sorry." I mumbled.
I pushed away from him and collected myself.
These boots were not made for slippery surfaces.
We slowly continued on until I heard ragged breathing.
I pushed past the bushes to see a wounded man attempting to crawl.
I hurried forward.
"Please...help." He begged as he looked up at me.
I watched as his eyes rolled back and reached to catch him as he fell unconscious.
"These wounds are bad." I said as my group surrounded him.
"Werewolves most likely. Or regular wolves." Leliana said as she knelt beside him.
I looked up at Morrigan. "Can you heal him?"
"A bit." She said.
"Try. We'll take him back to the camp." I said.
"What if he's infected with the curse?" Zevran asked.
"It won't take effect for a few days." Alistair shook his head. "We should have the issue resolved before then. And even then, it is up to them to kill him or not at this point."
"But if we killed him here, they wouldn't even know it." Zevran said.
I frowned up at him.
"Are you playing devils advocate or something?"
"More or less. Just pointing out that the longer we take to finish this, the worse off these people become." He shrugged.
I shook my head. "I don't care. I can't just leave a man to die like this."
I started to pull him upright and Alistair took his other side.
Luckily we didn't have to go the whole way back as we ran into Mithra again.
Her patrol took one look at him between Alistair and I and moved to take him.
"Thank you." She said to me.
"Just get him healed. He might be alright." I said.
She nodded and I turned back to go back to where we were.
As we passed where we'd found him, I saw a small carved figure on the ground where he'd been crawling.
I knelt to pick it up and brushed it off with my fingers. It was pretty. I tucked it into my sash and caught up with my group.
XX
We had another run in with a Werewolf who spoke, and she asked us to kill her.
I denied and explained that we were working on finding a cure.
She said she wasn't going to last that long and forced a scarf into my hands.
"Give that to my husband and tell him what happened to me." She said.
"I won't kill you." I said again. "I don't care if you attack me. Just try to hold on a little bit longer, alright?"
"Please, take it just in case." She said.
I nodded and motioned for them to hurry away from her before she could attack one of us.
XX
By the time we made it to the ruins, after dealing with a barrier, a talking tree, and a madman, I was exhausted and it was well into the afternoon.
"Anyone got snacks?" I asked as I leaned against the wall of the ruins.
"Yes." Leliana pulled a wrapped bundle from her small bag tied at her waist.
She passed out leftover rolls and I think I ate it in about three bites.
I watched her give a roll to my dog and laughed as he didn't even seem to chew it, he just swallowed it.
"Are you sure of this path?" I heard Sten ask and looked up at him.
"Meaning...am I taking roundabout ways and wasting time? I'm just trying to get forces on the side of the Wardens. And if this is what will get the Dalish on our side, then that's what I will have to do."
"Very well." He sighed.
"Look, I know this whole thing seems a bit stupid, but I don't know a better way. Yes, I could force their hand by using the exact terms of the Treaty, but...King Cailan once said to me, he'd rather set up a positive relationship than extend a negative one. He and his father reached out to the Wardens after decades of their exile because of that mindset. My family came close to being exiled too, so I know it wasn't easy for them to return. And now we need strong relations again." I said.
"I see." Sten said.
"Alistair could become King, which would mean good things for the Wardens. I'm not exactly sitting at the bottom of the barrel myself, which also lends some political power to them. But having noble connections isn't worth shit if it's literally just the two of us against an entire fucking Blight, now is it?" I frowned. "So for the love of the Maker, will you please just trust that I'm not insane? I'm young, not stupid."
He sighed again. "Yes. I just feel the need to remind you of promises made."
"I have not forgotten your sword Sten. As soon as we find a lead, I'll take it, but the best place for that is likely markets and collectors. A Qunari sword like yours would be worth something even to us, so when we get to Denerim, we will look around, alright?"
He nodded.
XX
Inside the ruins, we ran into a couple more Werewolves and locked doors.
They weren't going to make it easy on us.
I ended up having to take my group in a kind of overly long roundabout way.
As we came deeper into the ruins, I had that usual fear of the giant spiders.
I really hated spiders.
And some places in here were a bit cramped for my tastes.
We wandered the ruins and I started hearing something big in the ruins with us.
Something not Werewolf sounding.
"Are we there yet?" I heard Alistair mumble.
"This place is very interesting." Zevran said. "Lots of little passages and paths to take."
"Oh good, go wander off down one and let us know if it's useful." Morrigan said.
Zev laughed.
I finally came out into a huge room with a beautiful mosaic on the floor. I wasn't sure if this was the right way, but I figured it had to lead somewhere.
I started across the room, seeing an exit on the other side. I just wanted this deal over with.
No more underground or tight spaces.
This room was large, but I wasn't a big fan of ruins. Too many spiders, too many webs, I was a city girl. That was the basics of it. I liked being a soldier at the castle because I'd had all the amenities of home and the few times I hadn't, it was only for a short time.
As my foot hit the mosaic, I heard a loud rush of wings in flight and was bodily slammed to the floor as I looked up and saw a dragon mere inches from myself and the body pinning mine to the floor.
I lost my breath as Zevran pushed to his feet quickly and drew both swords.
"Maker's breath, I thought dragons were extinct." Alistair shouted as he caught a swipe of claws on his shield.
I was too stunned to move as I watched Zevran rush the thing from behind while the rest of my companions distracted it.
I watched as he used its leg for leverage and got onto its back.
It started to turn its head towards him to snap at him or breathe fire or whatever the hell dragons did to people trying to kill them, but it didn't move quite fast enough and despite the fact that it got its fangs around his calf, he put both swords through it's neck at the base of its head, severing the spine.
I felt it as Leliana came to kneel beside me as the thing fell.
"Grace of Andraste." Alistair's awe was evident as Zevran extracted his leg from the monster and hopped a couple steps as he brushed the saliva off with his gloves.
"Well, they aren't." Zevran said harshly. "Back home in Antiva, we have nearly been wiped out in the countrysides thanks to beasts like this one. My people are barely handling them and the Wardens and Crows back home are 'teaming' up to get them back under control. There is a damn good reason the Nevarrans hunted them for centuries. I've even requested my Master to write for real Nevarran Dragon Hunters."
Zevran walked towards me as Morrigan knelt to study the dragon.
"Also, that isn't even a fully grown one." He said to Alistair as he knelt in front of me. "Elissa, are you alright?"
I looked up at him, finally realizing just how close to death I was.
I'd been on guard for Werewolves and giant spiders, not monsters as big as a war wagon who had claws that would rip me to shreds.
I couldn't even speak as I felt the tears starting to fall.
"Elissa?" Alistair hurried over to me as he saw me crying.
I reached out and fisted my hands against Zevran's chest-plate.
Leliana reached up and brushed her hand over my hair.
I finally took a shaky breath.
"A lesson learned." Sten said.
I leaned forward as I felt Alistair touch my shoulder.
"Elissa?" His worry was evident.
"I..." I started.
"It's just shock." Morrigan said.
I could tell Alistair was frowning at her.
"Asala-taar." I heard Sten say.
"What?" Alistair sounded confused.
Even Zevran looked up at him from where he was attempting to help me regain my wits.
"Soul sickness." Sten translated. "When a soldier has been..." He sounded like he was searching for a word.
"Traumatized." Zevran put out.
"Lets just give her a moment. She nearly died just now, let her take it in." Leliana said carefully.
"We don't have time for that." Morrigan said.
I leaned forward a little bit more and put my head against Zevran's shoulder.
As I took in a breath, I could smell whatever it was he put on after cleaning himself up this morning. It was nice. Kind of reminded me of the sweet scent of Elfroot, with some kind of spicier mix.
No, what it reminded me of was that Antivan wine I'd gotten a sip of all those years ago. I liked it.
I pushed back and started to get to my feet.
"I'm alright." I said shakily. I looked down at Zevran. "Thank you." I said as he stood up.
"I told you I'd give you my life. And that means keeping you alive." He said with a smile.
"You sure you're okay?" Alistair asked.
I nodded. "I'm fine. Zevran made sure of that."
I held back the unsteady feeling as I turned to go for the exit.
XX
We didn't face anything as scary again, but I was going to add dragons to my list of terrifying creatures I never wanted to face again.
I was too young to die.
I'd trained against humans. Maybe this whole thing was too much for me.
I wasn't cut out to fight things like that. How the hell was I going to fight the Archdemon? If just a normal beast like that had me paralyzed with fear, I couldn't hope to face off against something as scary as a tainted Old God like Warden Duncan had described to me.
The Ogre back in the Tower of Ishal had been the limit to me. It was only because I was high on adrenaline and anger back then that I'd been so cocky.
Now things were really settling in. I wasn't dreaming, I wasn't hallucinating. My family was dead, I'd been drafted into the equivalent of an ancient cult that protected the world, and I really was one of the only two alive right now who could potentially stop this Blight before it really got started.
I couldn't afford to be wrapped up in thought like this anymore.
When we finally came to the lair of the Werewolves, I sighed.
I needed to find some spin on this to make sure everything came out well.
The guardian blocked the path and I looked up at him. Her? Him? I couldn't tell with Werewolves.
"Please allow me to speak with your Lady." I said.
It glared at me before motioning for me to follow. As the rest of my group started to move, it stopped.
"One." It held up a single claw.
I looked at them. "It'll be fine."
"Two." Zevran held up his hand.
The Werewolf looked down at him with narrowed eyes, but Zevran didn't look like he was going to back down.
"If there is two allowed, it should be me." Alistair said.
I shook my head as the Werewolf spoke again. "Very well, two. None of your weapons." It said.
I started to untie my sash as Zevran removed his swords. None of his knives, but no one had to know he had them. I caught the look Leliana gave him as he handed her his swords.
He winked at her as I handed Alistair my sash.
"If anything happens, you need to be alive to continue." I said to Alistair.
"I'll keep her safe." Zevran said to assure him.
"You sure you trust him?" Alistair asked me quietly.
"He's already saved my life Alistair. Whatever goes on from here, Zevran has proven he'll protect me until the time comes that he wants to kill me himself."
"Exactly Warden, I won't let anyone else finish my job." Zevran grinned as he stood behind me.
I looked up at Zevran as I turned to follow the Werewolf. "Like you're really going to finish it." I scoffed.
He just raised a brow at me. "But I could." He teased as he walked beside me.
I shook my head as I followed the Werewolf into the adjoined room.
I was surprised to see a woman instead of another Werewolf.
"I present you to our Lady." The Werewolf said as the doors closed behind us.
I made a half bow to the Lady.
"I've come from the Dalish clan, having heard their story, and I would like to hear yours."
"You don't immediately believe Zathrian?" She asked.
"I would like to hear the whole story before I attempt to provide any kind of solution." I said carefully.
"And who are you to offer solutions to our problem?" She asked.
"I am Grey Warden Elissa Cousland." I said.
"I see. A Grey Warden. And your companions are Wardens as well?"
I shook my head. "Only one other. The others are merely those who are helping us."
Helping, of a sort. Morrigan was just about forced to by her mother, Leliana believed her faith was guiding her to do this, Sten was somewhat blackmailed into it, and Zevran tried to kill me. Still could.
"And what have you heard of the story?"
"I've merely heard that the Werewolf curse stems from a single wolf named Witherfang and is spreading through contact with Werewolves to the Dalish here. I'd come to ask them to join in the fight against the Blight that is rising."
She made a sound of thought. "So Zathrian has lied to you as well." She said.
"I had assumed he was hiding something." I said. Well, Zevran had. I'd just had a niggle of doubt.
"Very much so. I believe the curse can be lifted. And I would like that. But it will require Zathrian to see me again. I will tell you that the source of the curse is not just myself alone. It is both of us. Please, bring him to me."
"Why not just kill the stupid Dalish?" One of the Werewolves around the room asked harshly.
I caught the slight twitch of annoyance from Zevran beside me.
For an assassin, he didn't usually go for killing innocents. According to his stories, he rather disliked it.
The Lady shushed the Werewolf. "Is it our place to blame the innocent for the mistakes of the old?"
"I will talk to him my Lady." I said. "But may I ask why he wishes you dead?"
"Destroying my heart would end the curse as well as kill all Werewolves." She said. "My desire is to see that these poor souls return to the way they should be." She motioned at the other Werewolves.
I nodded. I started to turn to leave the room and Zevran moved with me.
As the doors were opened by Werewolves, we passed through to meet the rest of the group again.
"So?" Alistair asked.
"She wishes to speak with Keeper Zathrian. Between them both, I think we'll get the real story of what is going on here and hopefully we can come to this peacefully." I said.
He nodded and I started to lead them back out of the ruins.
XX
We made it back to the Dalish camp as night was falling and all I wanted was to climb into my tent and sleep.
Dinner was a quiet affair as I spent most of it dreading talking to the Keeper in the morning.
I barely looked up as I ate the roast Bodahn had been cooking half the day.
I didn't even move as I felt someone sit beside me until I realized it was Alistair.
"Elissa..." He started. "How are you doing?"
"I..." I sighed. "I guess I was just running on anger until now and it's catching up to me."
"I'm sorry I have been putting all this on you alone." He said.
I shook my head. "You guys voted for me to lead." I said. "I should have known how much responsibility that entailed. Besides, I was raised to do this, I shouldn't be having problems."
"You're not." He sighed. "It's us." I looked at him. "Morrigan and me and Sten and Leliana...we're the ones who're putting the pressure on you. Morrigan and I voted you in as our leader in this fight and yet at every turn, we're fighting you instead. Leliana has been trying to support you and keep your spirits up and she finally made me aware of what I was doing."
"You were right about me needing to be careful of Zevran though." I cracked a smile.
"But in the wrong way." He snorted. "He doesn't want to go back to the Crows and we know it. He knows he'll be killed back there and so he's just using us to extend his life. That's what he means when he said he'd give you his life."
I grinned. "So, you're saying he's using the Wardens to protect himself from retribution."
"He's right, he could have killed us all that day, and were Morrigan less fond of you, she probably could have killed him easy enough. Sten could have too had you not grabbed at his hand that day. He was prepared to kill the assassin sent after you." Alistair said. "We've all been judging you for your choices, but you've just been trying to pull together an army. And I'm sorry."
I frowned. "I overlooked Leliana as a Bard because she's Orlesian and I don't like them. I also don't like Qunari much either and so I'd have left Sten in that cage to die without even taking into consideration either of their skills to add to this fight. We both know Morrigan would have been kicked out a long time ago and I'd be failing at every turn. Which is why I wanted you to lead." Alistair said. "I wanted you to lead because you're more open minded than me and I've just been getting more irritated when you don't do things the way I would because I don't like them."
"But you like Leliana now." I said.
"I wouldn't have though, had you not let her join." He said. "What I'm getting at Elissa, is that I'll work on being more open to things and I'll try to show more faith that you're doing things right. Even if they're wrong." He cracked a smile at the end.
"I do try." I said.
"I know. And I do trust that, I've just been having some difficulty showing it." He sighed.
I nodded.
I was startled when he reached to pull me in for a hug.
"No more questioning you. Alright?"
"Sounds good." I said.
XX
I felt like shit when I woke up and struggled to get out of my tent.
It felt like I was on fire.
I had to actually check that I wasn't.
The sun was just rising, so it wasn't as if I'd slept in.
As I got up, I stumbled heading towards where Leliana was making breakfast.
My vision was blurry, but I could tell it was her from her hair color and the humming.
She had a surprisingly good singing voice.
"Elissa?" I heard her tone of worry.
I felt the ground coming up at me as I watched her come towards me.
She reached out, but couldn't quite catch me. However I didn't hit the ground very hard thanks to her.
"Alistair, Zevran!" She called out.
I reached up to wipe at my eyes and ended up hitting my cheek first.
"What?" Alistair sounded tired.
I heard the boots on the ground as I tried to push myself to sit back up and brush her off.
"I'm fine." I slurred.
I felt the hands grab at my shoulders as Alistair held me upright.
"Elissa, what is the matter?"
I squinted up at him. It was the only way I was seeing clearly.
Why was everything so foggy?
"Let me look at her Warden." I heard Zevran's voice from beside me.
Was I fine? My head hurt, I felt like I was burning up, and I couldn't even walk straight. Who was I kidding? I wasn't fine in the least.
"She's got a fever." Zevran said as he brushed his hand over my forehead and stroked the back of his hand over my cheek. "Eyes are unfocused." He said as he looked at me. "It looks like she's under the effects of some kind of drug."
"Well, I wonder who has any?" I heard the dry tone of Alistair.
Zevran brushed it off. "If I'd done it, she'd be dead no?"
"No fighting until Elissa is alright." Leliana said sharply.
"She will be. I've dealt with this before. It's just a simple mix. She likely got in contact with one of the plants in the forest." Zevran sounded so sure of it.
"Wouldn't we all be like this then?" Alistair asked.
"No. It was probably something she touched alone." Zevran said. I heard him moving before I felt Alistair's hands tense on my shoulders.
"Promised." I mumbled at him.
"Right." He sighed.
"What?" Leliana asked.
"Nothing. Just something we talked about last night." Alistair said. "What is that?" I opened my eyes to see Zevran holding up a vial.
"Fever reducer. Normally one might go to a healer here, but Crows don't always have that option. I've been trained in poisons and antidotes, so I carry...interesting things." Zevran said.
"And that'll help her?" Alistair asked.
"Si, it should." Zevran reached out to touch the vial to my lips.
I couldn't even open my mouth to take it.
"Why isn't she moving?" Leliana asked.
"It's the fever. She's probably hallucinating now." Zevran said.
Not hallucinating, but I couldn't move my body anymore.
Alistair was literally the only thing keeping me upright now.
"Then how will we get her to drink that?" Alistair asked.
"The old fashioned way of course."
I could feel it as Zevran made me open my mouth and he got some of the liquid in my mouth. It tasted horrible.
And I couldn't do anything as he used my body's natural reactions to force me into swallowing it.
"There." He said almost cheerfully. "Once that is processed, she'll be alright."
"You're sure?"
"Si. It is not my first time dealing with this kind of fever." Zevran said.
I felt it as he reached out for me and I could tell it was him picking me up as Alistair's hold was less gentle.
"What are you doing?" Alistair asked.
"Putting her back to bed. She'll have to sleep it off." Zevran said.
"I'd rather it not be you doing that." Alistair must have stopped him.
"You'd rather do it?" Zevran sounded like he was laughing at Alistair.
"That's not what I mean and you know it. I just don't want you taking advantage of her." Alistair grumbled.
"Very well." Zevran made a dramatic sigh. He didn't act like carrying me was a burden at all. I missed his hold as he let Alistair take me from him. "Sorry amor, I must let another touch you."
"Oh shut up." Alistair scowled at him.
I wanted to both laugh and tell Zevran to stop calling me that.
But I really didn't mind it so much to be honest.
I drifted back to sleep as Alistair put me back in my tent and under the blanket.