Halo: Enter the Vale Ch 10
Merrill sat alone on the edge of the dock, one hand on the post the other lying gently on the deck itself while her feet dangled mere feet from the water. She was humming a tune about the Gods to herself as she sat and thought. They had been in the city for about three month now, Hawke was trying to fund money for her expedition and her and Will had been left to themselves, Hawke had yet to visit.
Varric had been taking care of her though, he had even given her a ball of twine to help her through the city when she got lost, she still drove the merchants crazy when she went out.
As if hearing her thoughts Varric called her, "Hey Daisy what are you doing here?" he asked taking a seat next to her.
She grinned slightly, "Hello Varric, I was just looking at the horizon is all, I have never seen water so dirty before though," she said looking at the greenish brown water.
He laughed, "Well at least they filter it before it gets to a well," he said and stood up, awkwardly so do to his stunted legs. "I'll be seeing you Daisy take care of yourself…and the Giant too," he added with a wink before walking off to the Hanged Man.
She watched him till he rounded the corner, she looked back at the murky water and felt home-sick. She had missed the clan on several other occasions, but here it was so fascinating and wonderful, thought provoking one could say, why, she saw a mugging right outside her door the other day.
She was at least glad the Will had stayed with her, she wondered how she would have felt otherwise. Her lips tightened together and she frowned, her head slowly drifting down as she felt alone again. She stood and turned around to head back to the Alienage, even there she felt so out of place.
Will often stayed with her since there was not much to do, but Hawke had him come with her a lot despite never inviting Merrill along. She had barely even ventured around Kirkwall other than the Alienage, though several times she wandered into Darktown when she got lost or needed something, even sometimes going to Hightown to look at all their wonderful gardens.
Hawke lived close by but when she went to go see her she was always greeted by Hawke's grumpy uncle Gamlen, usually telling her to bugger off, whatever that meant, but he often closed the door in her dace afterwards. She thought more about it and felt a tear well up in her eye, she wiped it away and kept walking.
Even here she was so alone, so mistreated, so…unwanted, "Merrill," a voice said and she turned, Will was walking up behind her, alone this time. She tried to look as normal and happy as possible but she knew better than to try and fool him, she let her figure show her emotion and he understood.
"Come on lets go to the Hanged Man, maybe we can talk a while," he said, neither of them drank so she wondered why he suggested it. But before she could finish thinking he turned and walked down the street a bit, stopping and looking over his shoulder and Merrill ran up to him.
"Isabelle was gonna teach me something called body-shots?" she said not knowing what that was and she looked up at him, she could tell he was frowning, she didn't know how, but she knew. "Is that bad, did I say something dirty?" she said quickly and Will shook his head.
"No, just, try not to take too many," he said and they kept walking eventually reaching the Hanged Man and walking inside.
"You know I was supposed to be the king of Ferelden once, bit nooo, that stupid Warden made my cousin the queen and who knows where he is now," Alistair whined from his spot at his table as they walked in.
Merrill was interested for a moment, the hero of Ferelden, her Rradal? "Quiet you drunk fool, you don't know the difference between the blunt end and the sharp end of a sword anymore," someone said from the bar.
But Merrill was more interested than she had thought, walking to the drunk man who had his back to her, "You knew Rradal?" she asked out of curiosity.
He turned and squinted his red eyes, he was quite drunk by the looks of it, he didn't even seem like he could sit straight. "Yeah what's it to you elf girl, you look Dalish, I doubt that has anything to do with it," he said his words slurred together.
"He was a good friend of mine in my clan," she said, he was one of her only friends when she was first given to the clan, she wondered if he still even remembered her.
"Yeah well now he's off doing Andraste knows what and I'm stuck here," he said.
"Why don't you go back?" she asked, Will grabbed her shoulder gently and brought himself close to her ear.
"Merrill, come on," he said so quietly she had barely heard him over the noise of the tavern.
"Because," he said turning back around and swirling his tankard, "I'm going to be beheaded if I go back, at least he didn't let her kill me," he said moping.
That definitely sounded like the Rradal she knew, always caring to the end, "Great now you gone and bummed him, now he's gonna be like that for a whole week," someone said.
They walked over to where Isabelle sat ordering a drink, Will set his elbows against the counter and waited patiently for something, that was at least what Merrill guessed.
"What's the big man waiting for?" Isabelle asked gesturing to Will, she shrugged, "Well I wonder if he'll be here till dark, never seen such a big man in bed before," she said.
"Isabella!" Merrill said, she knew she talked like that a lot but never about Will.
"What honey, I just said I've never seen a man that strong in bed before," she said using her silver tongue to her advantage.
"You know I can hear your entire conversation," Will said looking over, "You've never even seen my face before, for all you know I'm a Qunari," he said.
"Never seen one of those in bed either," she commented and took a sip from her tankard and set it back down. "Besides you and Hawke seem to have a thing going anyways," she added and Merrill tensed and looked at Will who shook his head and looked back at the door.
She felt a bit hotter and more nauseas than she normally did in here, she pardoned herself and walked outside, it felt a bit better, at least the air wasn't as dirty out here. She decided just to head back to the Alienage, it had already gotten dark anyway, was she really in there that long?
She walked down the street and noticed someone following her, no they were probably just going the same way as her. She rounded a corner and looked behind her, the person had two other people with him, a bigger one and one about the same size, she started to worry a little, she turned and saw two other figures walking down the street.
She rounded a corner and quickened her pace, the people following her, she should almost be home, she rounded the corner, and realized she had gone the wrong way.
She turned and the figures ran into the alley she had walked into, she reached behind her back and remembered she didn't carry her staff in public, she was defenseless. They circled around her, she backed up until she felt the cold stone wall behind her, and then one lunged forward, making a grab for her.
She ducked and turned running, only to be caught in the arm and pulled back, "No!" she yelled and tried to fight back but the other men joined in and held her down.
She heard a clicking sound, "Step away from her now!" a voice demanded, she looked up and saw Will standing there with his pistol in hand. She hadn't seen him take it out for months, she saw a strange hilt in his hands, that he hadn't for an even longer period of time.
The men just looked at him, "I said NOW!" he demanded and the men drew swords and axes, "Fine, have it your way," he said, snapping his blade and firing two shots as he dashed forward. He did and uppercut and split a man from toe to head as the men holding her arms dropped to the ground with holes in their heads.
A man swung his axe and Will swung a parry and split the blade in half, finishing the move by swinging it around and impaling the man, his skin searing and smoking from the blade. Will pulled out the blade and knocked the last man down with his other hand as he tried to sneak up on him, kicking the dagger away and pointing the barrel to the mans face, a second later he fired.
She sat shaking on the ground, she grabbed her arms and sat silently as she stared forward, she had seen the way they had smiled, they were awful smiles. Will looked around for a second before snapping the blade off the blade and holstering both it and the pistol, walking over and crouching down next to her.
He grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently and snapped his fingers in front of her face, "Merrill, you there? Come on speak to me now," he said and she looked at him and fell forward into him, hugging him tightly.
"What were you thinking going out on your own again?" he said as he hugged her back.
"I just wanted to back, I saw the men behind me and then in front of me and I made a wrong turn," she said pulling away.
"Please, just, don't do it again, for your own sake, I won't always be here for you," he said and she straightened in fear. "I mean I won't always be by you when you might get into trouble," he said.
"I'm sorry," she said turning away in shame.
"Don't be," he said grabbing her chin and turning her back to him, she smiled, "Come on, lets go home and get some sleep," he said and he pulled her too her feet.
They walked back and Merrill walked to the bed and laid down, pulling the sheets over herself, Will sitting on the chair. She closed her eyes, not realizing how tired she was until she had laid down, suddenly she heard a bang and shot up, Will sat with his pistol in hand, a smoking dead rat on the ground.
"Sorry, those things are just starting to piss me off," he said holstering it and leaning back in the chair and sighing, Merrill nodded drowsily and fell back onto the pillow, sleep coming quickly.
Merrill opened her eyes and looked at the wooden rafters on the high ceiling, she sat up and looked at Will as he slept and blushed slightly. She had had a dream with Will, she hadn't realized that she had felt that way about him, she had a crush on him certainly, but she didn't know it was that deep.
She pulled the covers off and swung out of bed, she stood and walked to the other room, walking over to the counter and checking for any rations that weren't spoiled or eaten by the rats.
She grabbed a loaf of bread that wasn't yet stale and cut off two slices, taking the same amount of cheese slices and making a sandwich of sorts. She sat down at the table and ate and she jumped when she saw Will out of the corner of her eye, he had his helmet off.
He raised and eyebrow, "Did I scare you?" he said grabbing the stale loaf and easily cutting it, taking a bit with his powerful jaws, it being like a normal piece of bread to him though he knew it wasn't.
"A little," she said as she took a bite from the sandwich and he swallowed.
"So you dream about anything?" he asked after a minute or two of silence and she tensed a little.
"No," she lied and he raised an eyebrow.
"You're gonna have to do better than that, was it really that bad?" he asked. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want too, I was just wondering, been a while since I dreamt myself," he added.
"Thank you," she said and they sat in silence for a minute longer, Will finishing a moment before her. He stood and walked over into the other room and returned with his helmet on, she stood and hugged him, he seemed surprised at the gesture a bit.
"Thank you for helping me and staying and everything else," she said and he took a moment before he returned the gesture.
"Merrill I promised you I wouldn't leave, I plan on keeping that promise," he said and she felt like crying, no one had ever been so good to her for so long.
She let go, "Are you going with Hawke somewhere?" she asked as he grabbed his sword and pistol.
"Yes, she had gotten the amount of money she needed for the expedition into the Deep Roads, you should come," he said, and so when they were both ready they both set out.
"I'm sorry Bethany but if something happens in the Deep Roads someone needs to be here for mother," Hawke told Bethany as Will and Merrill arrived. She turned to them, "Ah Spartan, I was wondering when you would show, it was going to be you, Merrill, Varric, and I going into the Deep Roads if you are fine with that," she said. Merrill looked at Will, he hadn't told her his name either, maybe it was special he had told her. They both nodded and they set off into the Deep Roads not long after.
After they had set up camp after learning the passage was blocked Hawke walked over to Bartrand with Varric. After a quick conversation they walked over to where Will was leaning against a pillar and Merrill sat next to him.
"Alright we're going to clear the path and find one that gets passed this cave-in," she said and Will nodded and Merrill stood. They had barely rounded several corners when they were attacked by Darkspawn, Merrill and Varric stayed back while Will and Hawke charged into the fray.
When they were done Will's hands were covered in dark red blood just as Hawke's sword was, he had used his bare fists and beat the living tar out of them. She still found it amazing how he could move so fluently in such heavy armor, Hawke having not even the speed to match his.
After a minute they walked down some stone steps, a small dwarf was standing there with a lot of dead Darkspawn around him, he turned with a huge smile on his face.
"Well I'll be a nugs uncle, isn't that Bodan's boy?" Varric asked aloud.
"I don't believe it, are you really responsible for all this" Hawke asked and the boy held out a small stone.
"Boom," he said.
Hawke turned, "And how did you do that?" she asked looking at the frozen charging Ogre.
"Not enchantment," he said with a smile and walked away.
"Smart boy," Varric said, "Come on, we still need to find a path for the expedition."
And so they kept fighting their way through, until they reached a large open chamber, Will stopped, Merrill looked at him, Hawke and Varric continuing forward.
"What is it?" she asked looking around.
He grabbed his sword from his hip, "Something's not right," he said, Hawke and Varric about halfway into the chamber. Suddenly a large dragon landed and roared at them.
"Dragon!" Hawke yelled and Merrill stiffened for a moment, Will charged forward as the dragon swatted Hawke and Varric away. He ducked under a slash, rolled under a large fireball that Merrill banish away with a stone fist, and sidestepped a bite, turning and bringing his sword down. The blade cut through flesh and bone and not even the dragons hard scales could save it as it fell to the ground without a head on its long neck.
Hawke stood and her eyes were wide, she hadn't even seen it, Merrill and the rest of them quickly finished the baby dragonlings that came at them with ease, climbing the great stone steps.
"Well I think we found our path," Varric said as they looked down the large corridor, "Better go back and tell Bartrand," he finished and within the next couple days they reached the Thaige.