Alistair followed silently behind Isla. The only sound was the crunching of their feet in the snow. Farda circled over head and Sampson trotted silently beside Isla. Alistair had tried unsuccessfully to strike up a conversation with Isla. He finally gave up and decided she needed some time. He knew it was hard leaving your home behind. He watched her and wondered about her armor as she moved with relative ease through the thick snow.
She had on black leather pants tucked into knee high black leather boots. A leather sleeveless corset was worn over a black long sleeve top. The neck of the top was scooped low with a black ruffle that laid over the top of the corset. The long sleeves also ended with a ruffle at the bottom. Over this she was wearing a leather lined deep green wool jacket. It had three gold leaf clasp that went across her chest. The neck was a high stand up neck. The skirt of the jacket flared out as she walked reaching to her ankles. It reminded Alistair of a dress. Her hair was mainly down. The sides were pulled back in braids and clasped together in the back by a gold leaf that matched the clasp on the jacket.
"Is, what sort of armor is that?" He finally asked as they stopped for the night. She glanced at him as she dumped wood next to the fire he had built.
"It was a gift from a pirate after I helped them fight off an attack of darkspawn." She said moving to sit across from Alistair. "She also taught me to duel. She was an interesting woman."
"Was her name Isabela?" Alistair asked wondering if it could be the same woman they had met in their travels.
"Yes." Isla said surprised. "You know her?"
"We met briefly. She is an old friend of Zevran's." Alistair replied, glad that Isla was finally speaking to him.
"Have you decided where you want to go, your Majesty? I assume from the direction your caravan was going, you were headed to Highever. Do you wish to go there?" She asked dashing all his hopes of friendly conversation. The Majesty wasn't a slip of the tongue this time.
"No. I mean I was headed there, but I need to go to Denerim. You don't mind going that far do you?" He asked watching her. How was he supposed to convince her to stay with him, if she would barely even look at him?
"I have no where I need to be. Denerim seems as fine of a place to go as anywhere else. Alaric says I'm not to come back." She said quietly and looked down at the fire sadly. Alistair moved and took her hand in his.
"I'm sorry, Is." He said rubbing her hand. She squeezed his and then moved to her pack. She pulled out a hunk of dried meat and handed it to him.
"Sorry about the rations tonight. I'll try and hunt tomorrow. I'm going to go to bed now, unless you need something else, sire." She said watching him.
"No, thank you, Is. I'll take first watch." He offered.
"There is no need for that. I have summoned wolves. They will watch us tonight. Farda is out hunting as is Sampson. He will join us in the tent when he gets back, so if you want your own bedroll, I suggest you get in there before him." She turned then and disappeared into the tent.
Alistair finished the meat, giving her some time to settle and then joined her. He hadn't given her enough time it seemed as she was pulling off the corset when he entered. His eyes roamed over her as the shirt and pants clung tightly to her curves. She watched him as she laid the corset aside. He gulped and turned away from her. He decided he would sleep in his armor like he had when they had been worrying about the Blight. He laid down and shifted around trying to find a comfortable position in the armor and on the cold hard ground. He hadn't thought being king had made him soft, but it seemed he was wrong. He sighed noisily and tossed again.
Isla sat up and angrily moved to him. "I told you we were safe. There is no need for the armor." She hissed at him as she unbuckled his breastplate and tossed it aside. "If you keep thrashing around you are going to bring the tent down on us." He sheepishly sat up and pulled the rest of the chain off, leaving on his shirt and pants and found a position that was more comfortable and lay down watching Isla. She was curled with her back to him.
"Night, Is." He said yawning.
"Goodnight, your Majesty." She answered quietly. She shifted over a bit as Sampson wormed his way in. She wrapped her arms around the dog and buried her face in his fur. Alistair could tell she wasn't sleeping, but she didn't want to talk so he turned over and fell asleep.
He woke up to a grey sort of morning. He shivered and curled closer to the warmth that was in his back. He turned over thinking it was Isla, but he was surprised to find Sampson. Isla's bedroll was empty. Sampson raised his head and looked at him. "Where is Isla?" Alistair asked. Sampson yawned that ended in a bark. "Hunting?" Alistair asked. Sampson gave him a bark of confirmation. "Do you think she is alright out there alone? Right, stupid question." Alistair sighed as the dog glared at him. Alistair crawled out of his bedroll and began packing up camp. He would have it all broke down when she got back. He felt the need to prove to her that he could be helpful.
Suddenly Farda appeared screaming and flew straight at Alistair. She latched onto his upraised hand and flapped at him. Sampson gave an angry bark and then took off after Farda. Alistair grabbed his sword and shield and ran. Something was wrong.
He ran dodging rocks and trees trying to keep up with the bird and mabari. He burst out of the woods and slid to a halt looking at the carnage in front of him. Darkspawn were attacking a farmstead. Alistair watched Isla in amazement for a moment.
She stabbed a Hurlock in the chest and sliced her other sword back and took off his head, spinning as he fell, pulled out her dagger, and slashed a grenlock that had tried to flank her. She kicked him as he fell and spun her sword around, stabbing another, steadily making her way towards the emissary who was working on a spell. Alistair reacted and summoned his templar to the front and smited the emissary, knocking him to the ground. He charged in then and shield bashed a hurlock out of the way. He swung his sword and took the head off of the emissary and turned to take out the hurlock, but saw Isla's sword buried in it. Isla pulled it out and let his body crumple to the ground. She was breathing hard, her hair was falling down around her, and she was splattered in blood and mud.
Alistair dropped his sword and shield and grabbed her, hugging her. "Are you alright?" He asked.
"I'm fine. How about you? Did the ritual work?" She asked brushing her hair back.
"Yes, I couldn't sense them. You need to be mindful of the blood." Alistair warned her. She grinned at him then.
"This isn't my first time fighting darkspawn." She turned and looked at Sampson. "You will have to eat the flower when we get back to camp." Sampson whined, but a look from her cut it off.
"My lady! You came!" Shouted the farmer as he rushed to them. "We knew you would save us!" He gushed shaking Isla's hand. She looked embarrassed and moved back giving him a small smile.
"I'm glad I could make it in time, sir. Are the Teryn's men not patrolling the area yet?" She asked.
"They are, my lady, but the weather has been so bad, we feared we would be killed." He patted her on the back. "Come and get cleaned up. Irma will fix you something to eat." He offered.
"No, thank you. We must be moving on." She said shaking her head. "But I do need something so I can burn the bodies. We don't want the taint spreading."
"Of course, my lady." The man said and rushed back to the house. He returned a short time later with his wife and son. They pressed a bag of food into Isla's hands, insisting she take it. She thanked them and gave it to Alistair as she took the burning wood he had brought and lit the darkspawn on fire. She covered her nose with her arm as the smell overwhelmed them. They said goodbye to the farm family and headed out. Alistair watched her as they made their way back to camp. She had washed off the blood in a creek along the way.
She looked relieved to see camp packed up and smiled at Alistair before she handed Sampson a flower. "Eat it." She ordered. Sampson made gagging noises as he did. She laughed and patted him. "It is better than becoming a ghoul." She assured him.
"So about that back there?" Alistair asked. She pulled her pack on and frowned at him.
"A farmstead was being attacked and we saved them." She said dodging his question.
"Yes, but they said they knew you would save them, implying that you do this sort of thing often." Alistair pressed.
"Would you have passed them by if you had seen darkspawn attacking?" She asked.
"What?" Alistair asked incensed. "Of course not!"
"Neither would I." Was the only answer he was going to get it seemed as she started off. "If we press hard we should be able to make it to where your caravan was attacked and stay on the road. Or we can stick to the fields and forest and cut across the countryside."
"Which is easier?" Alistair asked.
"For you? Probably the road." Isla teased as he tripped over a rock.
"I am not some sissy king. I was a Warden, you know." He sniffed.
"Have I offended you, my king?" She teased smiling up at him.
"My manliness is threatened. So which would be better?" He asked laughing with her. He was glad to see she was going to stop giving him the silent treatment.
"Well, we will have bandits on the road. And there will be creatures in the country. So the real question is which do you prefer?"
"Are bandits that bad still? I had hoped that restoring the Cousland's would have helped." He reached out and steadied Isla as she stumbled.
"I…they have, your Majesty, but the lands here have been neglected for a long time. The bandits are rather rampant here."
"Well, then I will have to send some men out here to help settle the problem." Alistair said nodding to her. She stopped and looked up at him surprised.
"You would do that?" She asked.
"They are my people as much as the ones in Denerim." Alistair said feeling uneasy with the way she was acting now.
"Forgive me, sire. I meant no offense. It's just been so long since they have had any one care about them." She said with a sigh and started back.
"Let's cut across the countryside for now. We can meet the road later." Alistair said changing the subject. It was hard on him seeing how bad the lands were. All the nobles at court were concerned about was rebuilding their homes and treasury. No one was helping rid the land of the ones who were preying on it in the aftermath of the Blight. He had to find some way to help his people.
"As you command, my king." She said, but smiled at him when she did so he didn't find it nearly as offensive. They spent the rest of the next couple of days walking through the woods and hills.