Chapter 38 Leliana

Her footsteps were silent and calculated as she stepped closer to the tavern in the light of the low hanging sun. Auburn light filtered through the dirty air of the ruins, only interrupted by wooden beams as black as pitch and a few stones that were left of the foundation.

The figure she had seen just moments ago had pulled back into the maze of destruction, breaking beams and bones alike as it passed through them. Leliana followed, but hesitated as she approached what used to be the porch. This was not a good idea. The heavy footsteps and sheer size of the shadow would deter anyone from following the creature, but her curiosity -and hope- got the better of her, so she carefully navigated through the remains of the tavern she once frequented.

The shadow moved slowly and lazily, and frequently stopped. When it did, so did she, listening to the crunching sounds and laboured breathing of the creature, hoping, praying, begging that it would prove to be Morrigan.

It was not.

It was a bear, easily twice the size of the regular Fereldan ones, which were already of an impressing size to begin with. But maybe... Maybe it was Morrigan. The witch had often turned into bears of all kinds, who was to say that she would shy away from becoming a giant such as this one?

There was only one way to be sure.

Leliana knew that the chances of finding the witch were low, if not non-existent. But despite knowing so, and regardless of her own doubts, she knocked on a nearby log.

The reaction was instantaneous. The giant head turned towards her and red eyes locked with hers. The old bone the bear had been gnawing on seemed forgotten already. A low rumble erupted from its lungs as the creature advanced on her, stumbling over rocks and smashing whatever was in its way.

There was no way that she could outrun this hungry animal on open ground. Her only escape was to crawl into a space the bear wouldn't fit in, or to find a tree or something to climb, hoping that the beast would lose interest.

She tried to think of a place to go, to come up with a crawl space, but even as her mind scrambled to remember, she could feel herself getting desperate. Her movements had become erratic, and she was hitting things left and right, bruising and chafing her skin as she tried to get away from the giant creature on her heels.

This was most definitely not how she usually handled encounters such as this, but at this moment she could not help but feel panicked. As her eyes had met red ones, the disappointment of it not being Morrigan had crushed her to her core. After weeks of her hope building whenever she had heard of a dragon or had seen proof of its existence, it had become a sort of anchor and source of energy for her. Now however it felt like a newly opened wound that needed nursing. What little strength she had had left was gone. Her body felt sluggish and slow, stumbling and crawling as if it had a mind of its own. It wasn't until she felt claws rip open her calf that she realized where she was going. There was no space she could crawl into and be safe, so her legs had carried her to the only place where she could at least try to get away from the creature.

The Chantry.

Or what was left of it. Most of it was gone, but some wall segments still reached high into the darkening sky. They looked sturdy enough, and Leliana hoped that they would prove to be so, because in the half light of the late evening she couldn't tell for sure.

She stumbled up the small hill to the building, pressed through a hole in the wooden fence surrounding it and started climbing the Chantry wall that was closest to her.

It was an easy climb at first; the corner she was aiming for declined towards the front of the Chantry, where she had started her ascend. Her injured leg slowed her down somewhat, straining under the pressure to keep her weight up. She was glad for the broken stones and rugged surfaces that helped her find her footing in the beginning, but the higher she went the more loose stones she encountered. Finding a safe grip was proving harder and harder in the dimming light.

Looking back proved to be a mistake. The giant figure of the beast had been stopped by the fence for a moment, but she could see it bursting through, and catching up to her with unexpected speed. Its sheer size was almost enough to get her with its claws. Leliana pulled her legs up and scrambled higher up the shattered building, hearing the bear's claws scraping over the stones. She exhaled slowly, trying to focus her mind on getting up the steeper part of the ruined wall.

Even though she was out of reach now, the bear did not give up. Scaling the straight wall would surely be impossible for it, but what if it figured out how to balance on the slim Chantry wall to come after her? She shook her head, physically driving those kinds of thoughts from her mind.

The beast had already drawn blood before, and she was determined to not let that happen again. She stopped for a moment when she felt like she was in a good spot, positioning herself so she wouldn't fall. By the way her leg throbbed she could tell that it was bleeding profusely now. Leliana quickly examined her leg in the half-light, keeping an eye on the grunting bear that still tried to somehow scale the walls vertically. She would get a moment's rest at least, so she could look at her wound.

She grimaced when she felt the gaps in her skin, the wet hot flesh screaming when she inspected it with her bare hands. Cold, trembling fingers followed the wound's pattern, trying to discern how bad it actually was. Judging by the amount of blood, the strike had been strong and deep, her leather pants had ripped and were soaked with blood, as was the fur of her boot.
Bandaging her leg was out of the question in this position, she would have to climb just a little higher so she could sit on the flat surface of the wall, where once the roof had been.
It would put enough distance between her and the bear so she would feel safe, and maybe even to make the beast forget about her.

Her face twisted in agony when she started climbing again; she forced herself to keep moving despite the pain, scaling the remainder of the wall bit by bit, straining to distribute her weight on her arms and one good leg.
It was slow going, and to Leliana it felt like she had been up on this wall forever. But judging by the moon, she had not been up here for long. And surely not long enough for the beast to give up on getting her off this wall.

When she got to the highest point, she was exhausted. She let her body drop onto the flat surface, just to rest for a second. Her face was touching the cold stone walls, and it calmed her down somewhat. The smell of moss and wet stone made her think of old ruins hidden away further south, in the Korcari Wilds. Places she had never been to, but had always been intrigued by. Just like Morrigan. Someone she could never quite figure out, but would always be interested in trying to understand. She let out a deep sigh. Morrigan was always on her mind these days.
She closed her eyes and conjured up the image of the woman she had thought so much about in the last few months. Pitch black hair, iridescent golden eyes, a frown to contradict the knowing smile on her lips… Her heart skipped a beat when she thought of the way those lips had felt on hers. The warmth spreading through her helped her relax, and so did the smell of the area. The moss she rested on smelled like Morrigan. Strong and musky and like nature itself. This was a good place to rest.

She was tired. Exhausted. Staying here on this wall sounded like a good idea. Forgotten was the bear and the danger she had been in. Forgotten was the wound and the blood loss. Forgotten was her quest to find the woman she loved. Morrigan was here. She was everywhere. Her smell, her presence, her everything. Lying here for a few moments more couldn't hurt.

Her breaths became deeper, her mind wandered off…

Morrigan…

Just… let me lie here for a while…

TO BE CONTINUED.

A/N: Not betad... Wrote this at work last week, deleted most of it and rewrote it today. At work. Shame on me. Hope you don't find too many mistakes. Enjoy.

The bears of the Hinterlands. We all love to take them on with a four-headed team of skilled warriors, rogues and mages. More often than not I see the lone bear kill companions and Inquisitor alike. Only Cass seems to be immune. Or at least mine is. I've seen so many constellations of parties fail, it's ridiculous.