The Warden's head snapped up at the mention of her name, but the distraction only lasted a moment. Taking an annoyed deep breath before the plunge of her sword, she paused only when Alistair stammered out Kalya's name and took a step towards her, arm raised, as she peered out of the caravan.
"Out," the bard ordered, lifting the flap of canvas with the tip of her arrow, still taut in its bowstring. She peered carefully into the sideways caravan, looking for weapons or others hiding away.
Leaning only on her right arm, Kalya lifted herself out of the vehicle. Her left hung painfully at her side, the thick, sharp bolt ripping new muscles apart with every movement.
As she staggered towards the Wardens, the bard shouted in a warning tone, "Your knives!"
Kalya lifted the weapons from her boots one at a time and dropped them in the dust, her good arm raised defensively. She called out again, "Warden Cousland, please!"
With a sneer, Elissa spat in her direction, never lowering her sword. "I don't take orders from assassins or dead men. Leliana?"
"Wait!"
"Elissa, stop." Alistair turned towards her. "I-I know this woman."
There was something strange on the edge of his words that Kalya couldn't place. Distant and… hesitant. He didn't meet her gaze as she approached them, struggling to catch her breath. Was he was expecting a trap? "Warden Cousland," she said, nearly doubled over, "the men who want to kill you…"
"You?" Elissa asked, eyebrow raised. She lowered the heavy broadsword to her side, if only to give her arms a rest.
"The men who hired us," Kalya huffed, nodding towards Zevran, "only he knows who they are." The sight of his broken body unconscious on the ground twisted her stomach in knots. "They never told us. If you kill us, that information dies with him."
"I think I have a pretty good idea who it was." The Warden looked ready to bring the sword up again, but Kalya shot her arm out.
"We'll kill them then. Let us live, and we'll hunt them down. No more contracts on your life."
"Right." The woman blinked slowly. "You won't just tail us and attack when our guards are down. Smarter people than you have tried to kill me before, elf." She spat the word like it was a curse.
"Mmf," Zevran groaned, his eyes suddenly fluttering open. "She's smarter than she lets on. A better fighter, too. As am I."
Elissa raised her sword over him, cocking her head to one side. "You sure about that?"
He rubbed a hand on his sensitive temple where Alistair's pommel had connected. "I am. I was counting on you noticing the darkspawn just beyond that ridge before you could deal the killing blow."
Elissa frowned. "There aren't –" She closed her eyes in concentration.
Alistair did the same, but his eyes popped back open almost immediately. "Elissa…"
"Shit." She looked around the valley, scanning the shadows for some hint of a trap. Only dead bodies littered the ground around the two assassins. "Sten, Oghren, tie these two up. Alistair, Leliana, Morrigan, with me."
While the group of four ran south then east around the rocky bend, the qunari – Sten – dug into a pack, procuring two lengths of rope and tossing one to the dwarf. Kalya held her hands out in front of her, but Sten wrenched them behind her back. She yelped in pain, fire alight in her left shoulder. With a harsh shove, he forced her to the ground, next to where the dwarf was finishing the knot behind Zevran's back.
Satisfied with the restraints, their captors wandered a few meters away to keep watch for the Wardens' return. Kalya jerked towards Zevran the moment their backs were turned, her eyes blazing with anger.
"What the fuck, Zevran?!"
He lifted his face to meet hers, holding her gaze only for a moment. Guilty.
"What the fuck was that?" she continued. "I saw you take a dive!"
"Hey!" The qunari shouted. "No talking."
Zevran spoke quietly. "I told you why I did that."
"Bullshit," she hissed. "You were seconds away from being skewered. You wanted her to deal that killing bl… Fuck, is that what this was all about? Not eating, not sleeping." Her jaw dropped. Everything suddenly made perfect, awful sense. "Shit, you said it yourself – Crows don't kill themselves. They just take on contracts above their skill. You fucking coward!"
Kalya reared up one leg and kicked savagely into Zevran's stomach. He didn't move to block her. She would have continued the beating, but the towering qunari was at her side with staggering quickness, striking her hard in the nose with the back of his fist.
"No talking." Without another word, he returned to his spot by the dwarf, keeping watch.
Blood gushed down her face in warm rivulets. She turned to wipe it on one shoulder, but the moment it made contact, agony lanced through her skull and she winced away. Broken.
"Put your head back," Zevran whispered.
She wanted to ignore him just on principle, but when she tilted her head back slightly, the deluge of blood did seem to slow. Kalya remained in that position, sulking at the sky, until the Wardens and their companions returned, speckled with blood themselves.
"What in Andraste's name…" Alistair broke into a jog when he got close enough to see the prisoners. He still couldn't seem to look her in the eyes, although the fresh blood staining the front of her leathers must have been quite a spectacle even from a distance. A smug smile broke across Elissa's face, a few steps behind him.
"Prisoners shouldn't talk," Sten said, by way of explanation.
Slowing as he neared them, Alistair rifled through his pack and lifted out a potion before Elissa stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"Those are too precious to waste on them."
"We're not barbarians."
Elissa rolled her eyes but conceded to her fellow Warden. Presumably until she could kill them both outright. "Morrigan, if you have any mana left, could you… deal with her?"
The dark-haired apostate let out a sigh, but took a step towards Kalya anyway. Expecting the cool balm of magical healing, Kalya jumped when an explosion of pain in her left shoulder rocked her backwards in the dirt. The mage lifted the bloody bolt she'd extracted with a raised eyebrow and conjured an orb of blue light within her fist.
Torment in her shoulder wicked away as quickly as it had come. The bones in Kalya's nose righted themselves with odd precision, and she scrunched up her face painlessly to test it.
"Thank you," she said softly, more to Morrigan than to Elissa. She shot Sten an audacious glare. "Can I thank her?"
The qunari grunted.
"Talk, if you're going to," Elissa said, eyeing the sun's position in the sky.
"Our lives are forfeit." Zevran flashed a flirtatious smile at the Warden. "After our spectacular failure of not killing you, we can neither return to the Crows, nor can we escape their wrath on the run. My friend here and I quite enjoy being alive, and killing us would be a terrible waste of talent. And good looks. We wish to join you."
Elissa rolled her eyes, but Alistair's lit up. His refusal to meet Kalya's gaze hurt more than the blow to her face, but at least the prospect of their joining the group seemed to please him. That was a start.
She ached to take him in her arms, to talk with him for hours about how he had cheated death, how she'd grown as a fighter, how hard she'd trained in his memory. Finding him alive was a blessing she couldn't have hoped for, but here he was. We may even meet again, he'd said, their last morning together, Maker willing. For nearly a year, she'd heard his smooth voice in her head, echoing his last words to her: Until we meet again, my love. As a tavern elf, she'd been beneath him then, less worthy then. What could possibly have changed that would avert his eyes now?
No, she was being ridiculous. There was something deeper keeping his gaze from hers, something that had nothing to do with her. Duncan's death, the failure of his great battle at Ostagar, the fate of Thedas on two Wardens' shoulders. Any number of horrors that she couldn't begin to guess. Just like her, he would have gone through more than she could possibly know in the past long months. They had the rest of their lives to heal the pain together that they'd gone through while apart.
"Leaving you alive doesn't benefit us in any way, skilled or not," Elissa said. "In fact, it puts us in more danger, if your Crows hunt you down."
Zevran's expression remained all confidence and smiles. "Let us be cannon fodder."
"What?" Kalya jerked her head towards him.
"Put us on your front lines," he continued. "We will show you our value on the battlefield." He turned to the bard, clearly the huntress among them. "Does your group eat well?"
The companions exchanged silent glances.
"My friend and I are excellent hunters. We can snare and cook enough for everyone to have seconds at every meal. We can teach you to make poisons and traps. And, when you trust us one day, you'll all sleep longer through the night with two extra guards to keep watch."
In the quiet of consideration, he added, "I also give amazing massages."
Alistair was the first to speak. "Elissa, we learned to trust Sten."
The bard – Leliana – looked toward their leader sheepishly. "I do need help catching our food. Four warriors tromping through the forest is not the best hunting strategy."
With closed eyes, Elissa blew out a long sigh then glared at the two prisoners. "Since we're losing daylight, I will grant this temporary stay of your execution."
"You won't regret it," Zevran said, bowing his head to his new leader.
"Well, you might. Leliana, search them both and take any weapons you find. Check that the ropes are tight, and then we head out. We need to make up for this distraction. We move until dusk."
Elissa turned on her heel and headed deeper into the valley, stopping at the corpses of the fallen Crows to loot the bodies of anything they were carrying.
Kalya was incredulous as Leliana patted her down, then Zevran, pocketing every hidden dagger. "How are we supposed to defend ourselves if we get attacked?"
The bard shrugged. "Stay behind us, I guess. Or don't. Our lives won't change much either way."
:::
Elissa made the prisoners walk up front on the hike, with Sten and Oghren, saying she distrusted enemies at her back. Leliana brought up the rear while their fearless leader and the mage stayed safe in the middle. The qunari set a brutal pace – each of his steps equating about three of Kalya's – and she learned it was surprisingly easy to lose balance with your arms tied behind your back.
Kalya dared not talk with Zevran, lest the qunari backhand her again, but Zev seemed in good spirits whenever she scowled his way. She spent the majority of the day's hike scanning the terrain for enemies and peering back to try and catch Alistair's attention. It felt sublimely wrong to be so close to him and not talk to him, not touch him, but he kept his eyes mostly on the ground.
He was alive, she repeated to herself, and they had found each other again. When they got a moment alone, they probably wouldn't even need words at first. Seeing his relieved, shy smile would make up for all their time apart.
Her heart lifted when the thought occurred to her that Alistair was just playing a part, a show of respect to his leader. She had never asked Zevran what the attack plan was all those days on the road, though she knew he would have told her. She hadn't wanted the others to think he favored her. Alistair was doing the same with his companions – waiting until the time was right, and when Elissa trusted them, he would open back up and everything would be like it was the night they met.
Only it would be better, because they now fought side by side, as almost-equals. Well, more equals than before. She would never be as strong as Elissa Cousland – the Warden she was supposed to be. Kalya's mood soured, and she kicked over a pile of rocks as they dipped into a lush valley.
The group was attacked right before dusk. A pack of wolves descended as they passed through a wooded area with already low visibility in the waning daylight. The warriors were off the moment low growls gave the predators' position away. Zevran and Kalya were left alone, with more of the pack circling from the shadows.
"Put your back to mine," Zevran commanded. Kalya was on him in an instant.
Leliana and Morrigan supported their comrades with long-range attacks, but it wasn't enough for a full sphere or protection. Two wolves broke through the warriors' attacks and fell on the two elves.
Savage kicks were all they could dole out. Zevran grabbed Kalya's hands, locking them behind their backs, for both of their stability. Kicks to the snout only phased the animals for an instant before they were back on them, learning their moves and rearing back in at a different angle. A third wolf approached Kalya with a menacing snarl, and Zevran barked out a command to rotate.
As they spun, he leaned into her for leverage and landed roundhouse blows to the new wolf's side, as Kalya's heel came down hard on another's head. But the third wolf was quick. It lunged viciously at Zevran, taking hold of his ankle firmly within its sharp maw and shaking it back and forth like a rag doll.
Kalya held on to Zevran, keeping him upright, so at least the other two couldn't descend on him while he was weakened. His yelps of pain brought the others' attention their way. Her own fight done, Morrigan's bolts of lightning now pierced the air around the two elves, crippling the wolves along their spines until they whimpered into stillness.
Zevran straightened his back, wounded leg hanging limp as he willed the pain away. Brave-faced as he was, no amount of meditation would allow him to continue the hike. Veins bulged painfully along the sides of his head to keep his mask in place. Kalya kept his hand clasped in hers to be strong. He squeezed back.
Elissa tromped through the forest brush with the rest of the group, stopping at the elves' side. She took in the sight of them, hunched and bleeding. Smug satisfaction spread again across her face. It was becoming her default expression.
"This is as good a place as any to make camp for the night." She raised a gauntleted hand toward Zevran with a dismissive wave. "Morrigan, would you mind?"
The witch angrily gestured to the forest floor around them. "This place is teeming with elfroot!"
"The perfect time, then, to stock up our reserves."
With a roll of her eyes, Morrigan knelt before Zevran. She rummaged in her pack for a vial of blue liquid, downed it like a shot, and summoned that same ball of azure light in her fist, lowering it to his ankle. Deep red blood was already seeping through his thick leather boots as the magic took hold.
"That's a handy trick," Zevran said, his jaw slowly unclenching.
Morrigan searched his eyes for a furtive moment before returning to her work, muttering, "Yes, 'tis grand being a mage. It only costs the hatred and fear of everyone around you."
"Not anyone here. Watching you command the elements is like being in the presence of a goddess. It's good to be feared."
The mage pressed her lips closed as she finished, but as she turned to make camp, Kalya thought she saw the hint of a smile.
Oghren stumbled off, presumably to create a perimeter while the group began unrolling canvas tents on bare spots of the forest floor.
Kalya and Zevran shifted uncomfortably in the group's center with all the bustle around them. She kept trained on Alistair, her chest unbearably heavy. Finally, with a strong hand smoothing the outside of his finished tent, he flashed her a small, grateful smile that filled her heart with lightness before he turned to gather some elfroot dotting the forest floor. Still… Was it shyness that kept him from coming up to her, while everyone else worked? Pain? Was it Zevran?
A rumbling behind the prisoners made them jump. Oghren reappeared with small, wheeled cart and… two more dwarves ambling towards them.
"Bodahn?" Kalya said, blinking to make him out in the dusk of the setting sun.
"Kalya?" The dwarf started towards her with a wide smile, then slowed when he saw her arms bound behind her back. His smile faded.
"Kalya!" Sandal wasn't so reserved, barreling towards the elves, nearly knocking her off her feet in a great bear hug.
"Sandal, boy… Maybe we should leave the Wardens to setting up camp." It seemed Bodahn's over-caution hadn't been quelled even while travelling with Grey Wardens.
"Kalya's here!" Sandal informed Elissa.
"Yes, she is," Elissa said, in a tone usually reserved for young children, "and perhaps Leliana should take Kalya and her friend out for a hunt."
A bloom of hope lifted weight from Kalya's chest. Hunting meant weapons, right? It meant freedom, a chance to earn their keep and the group's trust.
Leliana crinkled her nose, looking around the grove. "Ten wolves should be enough to feed us all."
Elissa shook her head. "They attacked us in the middle of the day on the route those darkspawn would have traveled We can't risk that they might have been tainted."
If that was true, did the taint travel through bites? Kalya shot Zevran an urgent look, but he just rolled his eyes with an almost imperceptible shake of his head. Neither would turn down a chance to hunt.
Leliana made her way towards the two elves, unsheathing a short knife, when Elissa interrupted.
"Don't untie them, don't give them weapons." The Warden turned with a smiling glare at Kalya. "You expert hunters find the game, and Leliana will take care of them."