Chapter 25: Jump
Hawke and her magic were content to let the next series of events just happen. Fenris pulled his fist out of Cassian's chest and both of them were sprayed with fresh blood from the gaping hole. He tossed the body aside as if it was an empty sack and it landed in a heaped mess on the ground beside them. Hawke felt herself be lifted up and into the air. She felt Fenris's arms wrap protectively around her, his fingers squeezing more tightly than necessary. He hoisted her up against him so that her head was above his and he buried his blood spattered face in her neck. His breath was harsh and uneven against her skin and she was reminded of the first time they made love when he seemed to want every part of him to be in physical contact with her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let her fingers feel the lines of lyrium there. They felt burning hot at first but they seemed to cool under her touch and thin ever so slightly. If her magic could have spoken words it would have thanked her as his very presence seemed to breathe life back into her injured powers.
Fenris lowered her to her feet, but wouldn't release his hold around her. She slid down his body until she touched the ground again. He looked down at her face and into her eyes and he seemed to be searching her for the right words to say.
"Marian..." Her name came off his lips in a parched and hungry croak.
Hawke was still dizzy from almost being knocked unconscious but she didn't feel nearly as pained as he looked. She smiled at him in reassurance and decided she would help him sum things up. They didn't quite have time at the moment to indulge in the myriad of feelings he was probably both unfamiliar with and didn't understand.
"Fenris. You found me, just like I said you would. I am fine. You, in no particular order, are angry, scared, concerned, relieved, a little crazed and possibly a bit aroused."
"You're hurt..." It seemed he decided to go with a combination of angry and concerned first.
"I'm better now, I swear." She pushed away and looked him up and down. "You're covered in blood..."
"None of it's his Hawke, believe me." Varric stepped into the room answering her unvoiced question. "You know, Elf, fighting next to you is a little too much like fighting next to Hawke, which is to say that 'next to you' actually means running behind you trying not to get hit with flying body parts." He nodded to Hawke. "You okay?"
Varric and Hawke had been through enough together that those two words of concern were all that was needed between them and meant more than any long speech ever could. "I'm fine, Varric, thanks, but we really have to go and go now. Danarius isn't here. I'll explain later. I heard there are Qunari trying to get into this place."
"They are already inside. We ran into several on our way through the passages." Fenris found his voice and looked just slightly more comfortable in his skin again.
"He means he killed several on our way through the passages. And, there are two dreadnoughts full of them bearing down on Rivaini as we speak, so let's go before she gets twitchy and starts to think leaving without us is a good idea." Varric looked both ways down the corridor before he chose a direction, expecting them to follow.
Fenris held his hand out to her even as he pulled his sword off of his back and made it ready with his other hand.
Hawke bent down to the mutilated body of Danarius's associate. She pulled his signet ring off one swollen finger and pocketed it. Turning back to Fenris, she took his outstretched hand. He looked at her questioningly.
"It's a gift for Orana."
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Fenris held onto Marian's hand so tightly he thought he might be cutting off the blood circulating through it. He didn't care. She'd have to live with it. He wasn't letting go for anything this time. They followed Varric back through the stone passages passing the dead bodies he had made on their way in. He barely remembered killing so many. As soon as they entered this place he could feel Marian again and all he had to do was follow the feeling. That these people had gotten in his way and met a gruesome end by his hand was inconsequential to him.
Varric paused to look around a corner and they halted. Marian gestured to a severed head lying near its body. "This man was with Cassian, he was ordered to gather some mages so they could escape. They were going to use that translocation spell again, but they needed lyrium."
Varric waved them on and they continued winding through. Up ahead, Fenris could hear shouting and his markings burned a little deeper at the feeling of magic being cast.
"Dwarf." He got Varric's attention and nodded his head backwards instructing him to get behind them. Varric understood and moved position. Fenris pulled Marian back and stepped ahead of her, but he didn't let go of her hand. He led with his greatsword as he rounded the bend.
They walked in on a fight taking place in a large intersection. A Saarebas and his Arvaarad were engaged with three Tevinter mages, one in magister robes, the other two likely apprentices. A small group of elves were hugging the walls in the opposite corridor.
Fenris looked down at Marian, unsure of how to proceed. She shrugged her shoulders and spoke, also somewhat uncertain. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend...?"
Varric answered. "Ummm...which one is which in this situation?"
Fenris saw no need to make this complicated. "I see only enemies. Whoever isn't killed by the other will be killed by me."
As if on cue, the magister managed to gain the upper hand and the charred bodies of the Qunari fell to the ground. Fenris was about to make good on his word to kill the victors when the sound of an explosion reverberated in the cavern. Everyone flinched and ducked waiting for falling rock but they appeared to be far enough away from the blast.
The magister shouted out in frustration. "Those barbarians are blowing up the lyrium stores!"
"Why would they do that?" Varric said, "They're going to collapse the caves!" He looked around nervously apparently realizing if the explosions caused a cave-in there would be no exit. Fenris noted that, for a dwarf, he seemed to have no love for the stone.
Marian supplied his answer. "Varric, do you think the Qunari want the magisters to have lyrium? And if they're buried alive, 'all the better' they're thinking, I'm sure."
The magister then noticed the three of them standing there and she addressed them, desperation obvious in her voice. "You! You're the Hawke woman! Did you plan this? We don't have the lyrium we need for the translocation spell that brought you here; we couldn't get to it before the ox-men overran the place. Do you have another way out? Surely we can come to an agreement under the circumstances?"
Fenris lifted up his sword as he snarled. "Here's your way out..." and he started advancing on them, pulling Marian behind him.
"Fenris, wait. They're rather quick to change their loyalties aren't they?" He stopped. Marian questioned the magister. "These people," she gestured to the elves, "are these your slaves?"
The magister replied eagerly. "Yes, take them, leave them, they're yours if you want them, just help us get out of here!"
Marian walked over to the woman, now pulling Fenris behind her. She appeared to consider the offer. Fenris knew better, and she proved him right when she spoke. "Bring the slaves," she declared, and her mouth twisted into a satisfied grin, "leave the magisters."
"What?! How dare you..." The magister never finished her sentence. Without pause, Fenris shoved his sword through the woman's chest.
He pulled it free and Marian spoke to the apprentices who looked on wide eyed. "Anyone else care to object?" The two took off running down one of the passages.
Varric rubbed his forehead. "I'm not certain you two are entirely healthy for one another."
Fenris couldn't imagine what he meant. He felt perfectly healthy at the moment. Marian brought them back to the task at hand. She extended her hand towards the slaves left behind by the mages and bowed a little to Fenris deferring to him. At least she had come to accept he was more effective at these interactions than she was. He shouted a command over to them as he led Marian down one of the connecting passages. "You will come with us if you want to live." The slaves abruptly fell into step behind them.
They hadn't gone a dozen steps before another explosion shook the walls. This time closer and louder and the party stopped. The aftershocks continued to rumble and shift the rocks around them and things started to fall. Everyone was ducking and side stepping small rocks as they tumbled down but just as the stone settled, a second blast sounded. The ceiling above shattered like glass. Without thinking, Fenris dropped his sword, grabbed Marian up and dove into a side passage away from the falling stone. At the same time, he felt her push out with the force of her magic towards Varric and the slaves, sending them backwards out of the way.
Fenris landed on his back with Marian on top of him. The shaking stopped and the loose rocks settled. When the dust dissipated he saw that he and Marian were on the wrong side of the cave-in. Marian pushed off of his chest, coughing and sputtering. She stepped over to the wall of fallen rocks and felt up and down and looked in and around the boulders blocking them off from the passage that led out to the cove and back to their ship.
"Varric!" She shouted at the rocks. "Varric, are you alright? Is everyone safe?"
Fenris got up and moved to stand next to her. He grabbed hold of her hand again and she squeezed him tightly, her sweaty palm betraying her concern.
Muffled words came from the other side. "Hawke! Can you hear me? We're all fine." Marian's hand relaxed a little inside his.
"Varric, Fenris and I can't get back to you. Get those people back to the ship; we'll have to find another way out."
"You'd better, Hawke!" He shouted to them, and then he and Marian were alone.
Her dark eyes looked up at him and she was the picture of calm. He wondered at their situation. They were now lost in a cave under siege by Qunari. It was just like Danarius to set up his illicit operations in such a dangerous location, his vainglory surpassing any sense. Or perhaps he thought being right under a sleeping dragon's nose would offer him some kind of perverse protection. Either way it was now Fenris who was suffering the consequences of his former master's actions, like always. Even if he and Marian made it out to daylight there was no guarantee they would make it back to the ship. Yet somehow, he saw in her eyes that she thought everything would be just fine, and he found himself trusting in her. She pulled him forward, their hands still joined, and he knew right then that he would allow himself to be led into the void if it was by her hand.
xxxx
Hawke and Fenris ran round blindly through passages and had to backtrack several times when they came onto dead ends. Twice more there was the rumble of a distant explosion and Fenris would stop them to pull her close until he felt the danger had passed.
Soon they heard movement and Qunari voices ahead and they slowed their pace. Fenris stopped and he tilted his head, listening. Hawke held her breath and waited.
Fenris whispered to her, relaying what he was hearing. "They've destroyed all of the lyrium stockpiles and have captured several of Cassian's men. They're going to search the rest of the passages. We're close to the inland exit. They're leaving two men behind to guard the way out."
"Only two?" Hawke's luck must be improving. Then she realized Fenris had actually understood the Qunari. "Wait, you can understand them? How many languages do you speak anyway?"
"Five." He said it as if every former slave was multilingual.
"Five? You couldn't read, but you speak five languages?"
He gave her hand what felt like a frustrated squeeze and he whispered to her with annoyance clear in his voice, "Are you really asking me these questions right now?"
"Right, sorry. We can take two of them. Let's go." And she tried to pull him forward.
He pulled her back. "Two of them to get out of the caves. At which point, we find ourselves deep in Qunari territory, with only your magic and my lyrium and no way back to the ship. And do I have to remind you that you killed their Arishok? Do you think they'll just let us wander on back to Minrathous?"
He was looking at her like she was insane and like he was surprised at his own insanity for following her. Which she knew he would, and he knew it too. She smiled at him. She couldn't help it. She'd never had so much fun in her life. "Well, why not?"
xxxx
Marian dragged him along, one of her hands was joined with his, and the other wielded her magic. She brushed her fingertips along the stone of the wall as they ran forward and he felt a rumble start to form and then grow. He wasn't sure if it was the stone around him or his heart inside him that was vibrating with her touch. They came to the end of the passage and into the open air of the cavern's other entrance. The two Qunari poised with spears at the cave opening were turned away from them towards the daylight outside. Marian stopped and he stopped behind her.
Of course she wouldn't bother with trying to attack them using the element of surprise. She stomped one foot and the rumbling he felt reached a quick crescendo as rocks actually broke loose and lifted up from the ground on either side of them and just hung there. The Qunari turned and readied their spears. Marian lifted her free hand and made a simple sweeping motion as if to brush off a bit of dust and the rocks launched forward knocking down both warriors. With another little twist of her fingers, great claws of stone rose up underneath the now supine figures and closed around their struggling bodies, pulling them under the ground.
Marian giggled. She actually giggled and bolted towards the light outside pulling Fenris with her. He squinted, waiting for his eyes to accommodate the brightness. Marian shielded her eyes too with the hand still holding onto his. He felt the sweat on her heated brow. He looked around to get his bearings. They were on higher elevation, and the cave emptied out onto winding rocky paths carved into the cliffs lining the coast. He could see the water from where they stood, and not so far off, more importantly, he could just see the tops of Isabela's black sails in the distance.
Marian took in the surroundings as well. "This reminds me of the wounded coast near Kirkwall...only ten times fucking hotter! Maker, I've had enough of this heat!" She wiggled her hand out of his grasp. He was about to grab it back, when she pulled her tunic over her head and threw it angrily down on the ground. "Uhhhh. A little better I suppose." Then she grabbed his hand back herself.
She stood there wearing only her tight leather trousers and her breastband, staring at him and holding his hand.
It took a mighty effort to keep his face still and his mouth silent. Unbelievably, his first instinct had been to laugh, but he would not give her that satisfaction.
"Do you do this on purpose? So that the dwarf will have interesting stories to tell?" He opted for irritated sarcasm. "I would prefer not to be part of a story where we fight through hostile territory naked."
"How about a story where we run for our lives naked?" Marian's head turned to the cave and then back again to look down the cliffside paths. From both directions came the sounds of swords and inevitability.
xxxx
In the time it took for Hawke to blink, Fenris transformed from her lover back into a weapon. The Qunari emerging from the caves were on them almost immediately. Fenris released her hand for a fraction of a second. His whole body flared brightly and then he seemed to...vanish. She was transfixed. She still felt his presence, but all she saw was a ghost of an image were he should have been. She felt the ghost rush forward to meet the first warrior coming out into the daylight. She saw a spatter of blood and then the Qunari was on the ground. Before she could even move, Fenris was next to her again and her hand was back in his. In his other hand he held the sword of the felled warrior. She was pulled forward a little as he cut down the two Qunari that followed with a one handed sweep of the stolen blade. Before the next group was on them, he pivoted and she almost felt her feet leave the ground as he turned and ran with her down one of the paths leading away from the caves.
They flew headlong away from their pursuers. Hawke used whatever magic came to her fingertips without even thinking first. She covered them with protective enchantments, threw out force magic against any who got close enough to them and each time Fenris had to strike out at an enemy, she tried to pass a little of her magic into him through their joined hands.
They descended down the cliff paths and then up again, trying to keep to a general southerly direction along the coast; not that they thought they could run the whole way back to Imperium controlled territory. Neither of them had any idea where they were trying to run to, but they both knew it was better to run for it and live to fight another day together than surrender to the Qun. The attacks kept coming in fits and starts. There seemed an endless regenerating number of warriors to fight, all with spears and swords and angry foreign shouts and here and there bits of magic from the pathetic creatures that were the Saarebas. If she could have, Hawke would have stopped each time they encountered one of the Qunari mages just to put them out of their misery, but the Maker had other plans for her this day.
Fenris skidded to a halt and climbed up onto an outcropping of rock that connected to a different path above them. He reached down to help Hawke up, and then reclaimed her hand. This is almost getting funny, she thought, like a children's game or a drunken dare, 'how long can we keep holding hands?'
"Look." Fenris pointed, drawing her attention to the sea. "The dreadnoughts are fast approaching. Isabela is on the move."
Hawke saw the Dauntless moving south, skirting along the rocky shoreline. "She wouldn't leave us." Fenris gave her a subtle but dubious sideways glance. "She wouldn't, Fenris. Even if you don't trust her, trust me. She's trying to find a position further down the shore where we might be able to get back to her. I need to let her know we see her. Then maybe we can try to at least make our way down off these cliffs to a beach or something and they can send one of the ship's boats to pick us up."
"How are you going to..." Fenris started, but she was already doing it. Hawke called fire to her free hand and as it sat on her palm it turned and twisted and formed itself into the shape of a hawk. Fenris watched her as she threw up her hand and the bird flew off, red wings of flame flapping against a blue sky. Hawke's hawk circled the ship twice before diving down into the sea extinguishing itself and leaving behind a great billow of steam where it contacted the water.
Fenris just stared at her and she shrugged. Then without warning, he pulled her close grabbing the back of her neck with his other hand and he kissed her. It was hard and dire and delighted and she felt him smiling against her lips as he did it and just as abruptly as he started it, he ended it and dragged her back into a run.
xxxx
The further they went, the more resistance they encountered and Isabela threatened to pass them. The paths were narrowing and the cliffs were climbing and he couldn't let the ship get too far ahead.
Fenris led his half-naked Hawke down a thin ledge of rock evading another group of Qunari, and then climbing back up to the previous path thinking it would be clear. He froze and Marian ran into his back. They had come to a large encampment at the edge of the cliffs. He saw more than a dozen scattered soldiers and beyond them there was nothing but air. Almost immediately someone shouted the presence of interlopers and they were back to fighting.
The two of them moved in a graceful give-and-take, neither willing to disrupt the physical joining of their hands. Fenris sliced through a Sten that lunged at them from the side as Marian countered the attacks of a Saarebas. He couldn't see any way out of killing the entire unit that was set up here. They were surrounded, they couldn't backtrack down the path they came from and the only path ahead was straight down into the sea. All the while he stole glances at the black sails in the distance rapidly approaching their location.
A spear flew at Marian, and Fenris whipped her around out of the way. Fire shot out from her hand in a wide arc, but it was met by ice from one of the Qunari mages. Fenris saw Marian's face and her lips were curled up into sneer. He now knew the look well and it meant she would not be outdone. He felt her magic surge and fire rose up around them in a great wave. He felt the heat as her eyes targeted the Saarebas standing across the camp away from the edge of the cliff. The Qunari mage crouched, trying to draw out more magic. Fenris suddenly focused in on the scene before him, but he noticed it too late.
Far too late, he saw the black barrels sitting innocently enough behind Marian's target. He was too late to stop Marian's attack and everyone there was too late to find cover. Marian's fire enveloped the enemy mage and with him the blackpowder barrels. Fenris spun Marian into his arms, mageflame still licking at her hand. For the briefest moment the world around them was deafeningly silent and Fenris ran faster than he ever thought he was capable of. He clutched Marian as tightly as he could and the silence broke with an almighty boom that assaulted his ears. Just as the shockwave pushed against his back he reached the edge of the cliff and jumped.
They fell through the air down from an impossible height. Falling alongside them were burning bits of the Qun.
This time, when Fenris hit the water, it was with Marian in his arms. The shock of the sea made his muscles clench and his nose sting. He heard the muffled roar of the waves in his ears and the currents pushed up like a wedge between them. Their bodies were forced apart, but he used every bit of the power in his lyrium to hold desperately onto her hand.
He opened his eyes and saw her float for a moment beside him. Suspended in the water, a faint aura of magic still surrounding her, she was delicate and powerful all at once. She was a nymph and she was a leviathan in one body and when she opened her eyes and looked back at him, bubbles escaping from her smile, he thought he couldn't possibly love her more.