"Trade must flow, Commander, or Vigil's Keep – and Amaranthine – are finished." That had been Mistress Woolsey's last words on the matter, and toward the end of improving trade, Risa and Anders had ridden off to check the state of the Pilgrim's Path – the main road between Amaranthine and Denerim.
The first sign back at the Keep that something had gone awry was when Anders' placid brown mare and Milady had come trotting back up to the keep, thoroughly lathered and without their riders.
"Risa!"
Anders had half slid, half fallen down the slope Risa had tumbled down when the ground had literally opened under her feet.
The dwarf was up on one foot, her skin paler even than normal, and her forehead wet with sweat. She was leaning heavily against a column, her bow drawn as she looked into the darkness sharply. One look at her left leg left Anders groaning – it was very clearly broken, and in more than one place.
"What the –" He looked around. "A corridor?"
"Sinkhole opened up into the Deep Roads," Risa said as he came to her side. "This is NOT GOOD."
"Neither is this leg." He ran a hand over it while she winced and bit her lip, and shook his head. "I can't even heal this right now – it needs to be set, and I can't get it back in place alone."
Risa looked around dubiously. "We need to get out of here." She blanched when she tried to put her other foot down.
"Dwarven and Warden stamina aside, you cannot walk out of here on that!"
Risa looked up at him. "Well, we have three choices then. I stay here, you go for help, and maybe the darkspawn won't have found me by the time you return. We both stay here and get killed when the darkspawn arrive. Or you and I get out of here together."
Anders looked at her, and winced as he felt the darkspawn beginning to move in on them. He tried to get an arm under her shoulder, but the height difference was too great.
Risa read the look on his face and dropped one of her swords. "Ancestors, Anders, I'm heavier than I look…."
"Maker, Risa, I'm stronger than I look," he shot back mockingly. "Besides, all I have to do is to get you up out of here… with luck we can grab one of those miserable hay-munchers and get you back to the Keep."
Risa forced herself to stay still when he lifted her into his arms, and clamped her teeth down on a scream of pain. By the time he'd gotten her back to the slope, her skin was grey and clammy, and he could see that she was fighting to stay conscious.
He looked up the slope, then blanched as he felt some darkspawn coming up on them. There was no way he could carry her up the slope.
"Risa…."
She nodded, looking up the steep hill. "Put me down," she said.
"No can do," he said calmly.
"Anders… there is no reason we both need to die," she said softly. She looked up at him, and he could see the resignation in her eyes… and for once… regret.
"Nope," he said cheerfully, setting her down, "not leaving you." He gripped her wrist tightly, and said, "You hang onto me too, Commander… I'm going to pull you up."
Risa's eyes widened, and she gripped his wrist tightly. "Ouch," she said softly.
Anders dug in and began climbing the slope, trying to pull her along as smoothly as possible. For her part, he heard muffled grunts and felt her fingers dig into his wrist, HARD, when he jolted her. The darkspawn were hooting, and some began to chase after them.
"Anders…" she said quietly, as he yanked her up faster.
"Almost there…."
"Anders."
"I can see the top!" He heard her sob for air.
He turned to look over his shoulder and saw a shriek bending forward with its vicious claws. With a yell, Anders turned, firing a blast of flame right into the thing's face as he put himself between it and Risa. There was an answering roar behind him, and Anders dropped prone, next to Risa, out of sheer instinct.
There was a deafening clang, and Anders saw the shriek rebound off a large kite shield, and suddenly Oghren and Sigrun were there, too, getting just downslope of him and hefting their weapons. "Get 'er out!" Oghren yelled.
Anders scrambled to his feet, dragging Risa up past Loghain. "The cavalry HAS arrived!" he whooped, but Risa didn't hear him anymore.
"This is going to be ugly," Anders said quietly.
Nathaniel nodded, getting a good grip on Risa's upper thigh, while Loghain gripped her ankle tightly. When Anders nodded, Loghain leaned back and pulled, slowly and evenly.
Risa woke screaming as Anders manipulated the bones back into place, and didn't stop until Anders had healed her completely, gulping down a few lyrium potions to keep healing her.
Risa fell back onto the bed, and closed her eyes. "Think I'll just sleep here…. A week or two."
Anders dipped a cloth into some cool water, rung it out, and wiped her face, getting rid of the sweat, blood and dirt there. "At least a few days, Commander."
