A note: Co-written with Gaspode5. Yeah, we're on a roll (nah, these chapters were almost completed earlier). Fuzzy kisses to Fenzev, shakespira, Kaedwen and Jaden (Bona fide author these days! :)

Disclaimer: Nah, sue me if you think I make money out of this.


The fall

It wasn't the oncoming Darkspawn that caused her fall; it was the bear that came rampaging out of the bushes. Her panicked horse jerked sideways, crashing into another. Alyse tried to kick her feet free of the stirrups when the ground suddenly went from beneath the hoofs of her bolting mount and after a frantic struggle to regain footing, the beast tumbled backwards into the ravine taking her with it.

There was a terrifying heartbeat of weightlessness before the water knocked the air from her lungs and closed, cold and choking over her head. Thrashing against the pull of her leather armour she felt a moment of panic and then nothing until someone shouted in her ear and boxed her head. "Stop clinging, you'll pull us both down!" Desperately she tried to hold on, only to be shoved under the water by a fist in her hair until she almost blacked out again. "Are you listening?" the voice snarled.

They both sank beneath the surface. Invisible currents tore at her and she was sure she would drown this time when she was once more wrenched up by the same painful grip. "THIS is where you hold, nowhere else!" Her hand was forcefully clamped around a broad leather strap. She was too tired to fight anymore so she just let herself be dragged along, taking gulping breaths of air. The cold made her entire body ache and she could no longer feel her hands, she had to look to verify that she was still holding on to the strap. After a few moments she realized that the floating was easier and that her head was above water most of the time. Perhaps she would make it after all.

After what seemed like an eternity there was a tug in another direction, she went under again, panic swamped her and she began to thrash until she felt stones cut painfully into her knees. Trying to crawl into more shallow water she realised there was something horribly wrong with her left arm which refused to obey her. Her unknown saviour grabbed her and she scrambled as well as she could until she felt dry land beneath her. She vomited an ocean of water and everything went black. Persistent shaking woke her. "Stop that you beast!" She glared up into a blurry pale oval that became a face, Riordan.

"Good! Listen. I'll try to get to the horse, we need the packs. If I don't return, use your taint. If it's clear, light a fire, you should be found ... eventually."

"What do you mean, eventually?" As Alyse sat up, pain shot through her shoulder making her groan.

"It's just dislocated, won't kill you. I got to go now before the carcass floats free."

She stared wild-eyed as her colleague entered the rapids once more and disappeared around a boulder. Sitting in stunned silence shivering, she tried to comprehend she was not going to die, at least not right now. The silence seemed to last forever.

Her heart jumped with hope when she heard splashing and laboured breathing. Riordan reappeared half wading, half crawling through the shallows. Stumbling to her feet Alyse hurried to meet him. "Here, grab this; I'll wring your neck if you lose them." the man wheezed. Alyse used her good arm as well as her legs to drag the heavy wet saddlebags to safety while he got out of the water. He sank to the ground.

"Thank the Maker!" she whispered.

"Yeah, thank HIM by all means." Riordan groaned. After a while he slowly sat up taking in the surroundings. They were in a small cove carved out by the rapids; there was hard packed sand on the ground but no vegetation, no doubt the place was submerged during floods. The cliff above rose sharply, Alyse could see no way out except down the rapids and darkness was falling. "It's going to get cold. I hope you packed your tinder well." Riordan muttered as he carefully began emptying her bags.

Luck was with them. The currents had thrown up a large pile of driftwood at the far end of the cove. Alyse tried to help gathering some of it but had to give up since the pain in her shoulder spiked every time she moved. Instead she hugged her knees to her chest trying to stop her teeth from clattering. Riordan spent some time in deep concentration before starting the fire. Searching for Spawn she guessed, she wasn't very good at it herself. Once the fire was well under way she quickly moved closer. Kneeling before her Riordan said, "We have some unpleasant business to deal with before we can try to get a rest." Without preamble he began to unbuckle her armour.

"You seem quite good at this." Alyse stuttered through clenched teeth.

"You could say I've had some practice." was the wry answer. As she was carefully relieved of her wet tunic she felt she should have been more uncomfortable sitting alone with a man with nothing but the wrap across her upper body, but his quiet competence made her calm; until he ordered her to lie back.

"Why? She suddenly felt wary and vulnerable.

"Maker! I'm too tired for this. I will relocate your shoulder, or you may of course choose to keep it the way it is, it's up to you."

"Oh, very well." Embarrassed Alyse gingerly tried to relax and remain calm as Riordan sat back and put his foot against her armpit. Holding her arm firmly by the wrist he straightened it and slowly pulled, twisting it slightly. The throbbing pain spiked through her body and sweat broke out on her skin. She whimpered despite herself.

"Don't tense so much, it will be more painful." he said in a surprisingly soothing voice. "Now relax and count to five" Alyse relaxed.

"One, t ... Blight you LIAR!"

"Hah, be glad that was your first time!" Holding her arm tight to her body and bent at the elbow, Riordan helped her to sit up. She noted there was almost no pain. "Keep it that way else it might pop out again." He used her drenched shirt to strap the arm in place. Alyse was almost giddy with relief.

"What now?" she wondered.

"Now we rest. If we're lucky the fire will lead the other's to us, if we're not... well we'll see. There's nothing we can do now anyway. I give you the choice between the soaked blanket and my stinking but comparatively dry tunic for a pillow."

"Hm, the tunic I think."

"Clever, unexpected but clever!" He smiled at her for the first time but she found no particular warmth in it.

They settled down closer to the fire. Despite its heat, Alyse's back was clammy and she couldn't stop shivering. It was as if all the tension of the day's events stampeded out of her leaving her trembling in its wake, weak and sick. "I'm cold." It sounded so pathetic she almost winced. Without a word Riordan got up and lay down at her back, leaving her with the fire at her front and the heat from his body behind. She'd heard ... things about him, or rather Beatris had supplied her with them, but so far he'd surprised her by being nothing but calm and practical. Alyse had never thought sleep would be possible but the absence of pain and the warmth of the fire and the other Warden made her drowsy. "Riordan?"

"What?" The man had clearly been on the edge of sleep, now he was annoyed. Alyse braced herself. "Thanks for saving me?"

"You crowded me off the cliff. I'm no fucking hero, now shut up."

-ooo-

A bright sun woke Alyse. It filled the small cove with golden light and warmth, transforming the place. She squinted at her brother-in-distress to find him sound asleep on his stomach, his cheek pressed into the sand. Waiting for him to wake, she might as well try to make herself useful.

Testing the shoulder she found there was no pain just a slight tenderness, still, she would follow Riordan's instructions and leave it in place. She rummaged through her pack. Riordan had taken out the dried meat and hardtack yesterday; it didn't look good but at least edible. Thoughtfully she chewed a strip of meat and turned over the clothes and armour to dry in the sun. After that she examined her bow; it was ruined for now, perhaps forever. The thought made her sad; it was all she had left of her father. A movement made her turn.

"I had hoped this was a bad dream." Riordan sat up. Sand clung to the side of his face and he looked as bedraggled as she felt.

"It is. Have some meat."

He gave the sodden strip a glance. "Not until I've checked if there's something left of that horse. You're not the sensitive kind I hope."

"No, I can eat hor...se." She realised her mistake as the man began to strip and she turned away blushing furiously. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him slipping into the water. "I've seen naked men before moron!" she called after him in embarrassment and anger. She had recovered her poise when he returned, pulling a shirt trailing blood. As she took the meat she was careful not to look at him, no doubt he noted that, the bastard!" To her relief Riordan wasted no time in getting into his trousers, it WAS a small cove.

"So," he examined the extent of their belongings. "we have three daggers although those two really won't be much use. Riordan put two small, wide bladed daggers aside and continued, "a useless bow, a blanket," he paused, "and three pairs of women's underwear. That will come in handy no doubt." With her face practically aflame Alyse snatched them out of his hand and retreated.

"What's wrong with those?" She indicated the two daggers. Riordan picked one up and flipped it in his hand in a way that suggested he'd done it many times before.

"Throwing knives are useless in a melee unless you can get up close and personal without being seen."

Why would a man fighting Darkspawn carry such weapons? Again Alyse found herself wondering about the things people said about Riordan. "How bad a situation are we in?"

"Unless you know a way to make a flying carpet out of those," Riordan nodded towards the underwear Alyse held balled up against her chest, "I'd say it's pretty bad. If you had two working arms and a rope we could probably scale that cliff although with the overhang it could be tricky.

"So?"

"We could try to wait it out here, but for how long would depend on if anyone else survived. Could take two maybe three weeks otherwise and that horse won't last long."

"Are you really sure someone will search for us?" Grey Wardens were valuable to a certain point. Alyse wasn't entirely convinced they would waste weeks searching if they thought everybody lost.

Riordan nodded. "Yes, Duncan will."

"That's a lot of trust to place in one man."

The Warden just shook his head with a private smile. "You don't know him."

"So what do we do now?"

"The rapids downstream look nasty. Alone I could probably make it."

"What do you mean 'alone'?" Alyse bristled, "I'm not going to sit here like some damsel in distress waiting to be rescued. I CAN swim. Once I've rested..."

"Shut up for one moment and let me finish! To get the gear down relatively dry and you with that arm we need a raft. Except for the dagger, that bow is the only half-decent weapon we have since mine are at the bottom of the river. I suggest we leave tomorrow. The longer we linger the more likely Spawn will notice us. If you have a suggestion or objection say so but do it now, otherwise it's my call. This isn't a bloody Dwarven Assembly."

The pair spent a frustrating day building and re-building a raft. Alyse couldn't do much more than assist. In the end what they had looked mostly like flotsam from a highly organised river. After some discussion they decided to sacrifice half the blanket for the chance of getting their gear and her bow to dry land without another soaking.

"I've noticed you're quite good with that thing." Riordan offered once they had wolfed down the last of the horse meat. Alyse had been turning the bow over in her hands, again praying that it would prove serviceable. She squinted at him across the fire.

"You've been watching me?"

"Don't flatter yourself! There aren't a lot of women around the compound and you're quite striking. Of course I've watched, everyone has. Don't worry; I'm not trying to get you to spread your legs."

Alyse wondered how the man managed to say something quite flattering and still make it sound like an insult. Curious despite her best intentions she asked "Why? Do you have a wife?" This was rewarded with an amused bark of laughter.

"Now why did you make that sound so incredible? No, I don't have a wife, but lookersmake rotten bed partners, so you have nothing to fear from me." She couldn't decide whether to laugh or hit him, she opted for the former,

"Are you telling me I'm a lousy lay, without even KNOWING me?"

"Easy now," Riordan raised his hands in a placating gesture, "there could be one or two exceptions I'm sure. I'm just talking from experience."

"Meanwhile you're the Maker's gift to women right?" Alyse shot back.

He rolled his eyes. "Right, that's why I have failed to catch a wife. Get some sleep, or at least let me get some." The man lay down turning his back at her.

"How can you dismiss somebody out of hand like that?" Alyse wasn't ready to close the argument just yet.

"Why did I open my mouth?"