Moonpriestess30: If it is Crewe, mwhahahahaaaa
Chapter 193 - Impulsive
Makatza walked out the hall with Fenris at her side and Varric trailing behind. She wiped the blood off her hands with a handkerchief as she walked through the Keep. Her wolves weren't far behind and growled at anyone who came near. A guard risked it and ran up to Makatza, 'my Lady! What... are you harmed?' He asks.
Makatza pauses and hands him the bloodied cloth. 'No,' she says simply.
'The assassins?' He adds as he looks back, being able to see the open doors and bodies on the floor.
'There were, unfortunately, no survivors,' Makatza states simply. The young man stared at her and she can tell by his eyes that he at least has some elven blood. Her facial features took on a kinder expression and she smiles gently at him. 'I am well, thank you. There is no more need for concern, report to your lieutenant,' Makatza says softly. She turns to Fenris and Varric, 'I do not want my father hearing about this. Varric I need you to confirm her story, use whatever means you have to,' she instructs. Varric nods and vanishes. Makatza looks at Fenris, the anger is clear in his eyes and she places her hand on his arm bringing him back to the present. 'Fenris, it's okay.'
He gives her a look of fury, 'how is this...? Makatza, you were almost assassinated,' he hisses as he grabs her arm. She takes it in good graces and nods simply and calmly.
'And the other month I was almost eaten by a dragon,' she said with a light tone. 'These things happen. I need you to restrain yourself,' Makatza asks. 'I know you are angry and you have every right to be, but I need to do this the right way.'
Fenris thumps the wall next to them, hard, making the wolves flinch. Makatza on the other hand had been expecting an outburst and didn't move. 'What …. would you consider to be the right way?' He mutters. He knew what he wanted to do, he wanted to go to this lord's house and whittle away the early hours making the man feel agony he didn't know was possible.
'I have been preaching on about equality and due process so that's what I have to do. Aveline will arrest his household, they will be detained until the evidence comes to light and we have the full story. For all we know someone could be setting Crewe up,' Makatza says simply.
'Now you are protecting him?' Fenris snaps.
'No. I am being logical, something you can't do at this moment you impulsive bastard,' she lightly teases making him grind his teeth with how easily she was able to twist his emotions. 'Promise me, you won't hurt anyone. Anyone,' Makatza says giving him a look. Reluctantly he nods. Makatza leans forward and kisses him, catching his lip in her teeth making a flush of heat rush through him. 'Thank you,' she said with a smile. Now that she had settled him down they continued to walk to the throne room where everyone had been herded. Aveline ran up to her as soon as she entered the room and Makatza whispered a few instructions to her.
'Viscountess, what is going on?' A guild leader asked, Makatza tilts her head, she recognised the elven woman.
With a smile Makatza acknowledges her question and addresses the crowd, 'thankfully due to the diligence of our Guards and the skills they possess, an assassination attempt was thwarted. I am perfectly well, safe and sound,' she says smiling. Apart from the increasingly worsening headache and tiredness I've been feeling all evening. Adrenaline has really perked me up, she thinks with a private smile. 'I am sorry but I will be calling the meeting to a close, I feel it would be in bad taste to continue while there are bodies that need to be cleaned up.'
'Who sent them?' Another guild member asked.
Makatza shrugs her shoulders, 'I honestly can't say,' she wasn't lying, she just thought it was too neat to be Crewe. 'That information wasn't given I'm afraid. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the hired men and women have all died.' The crowd went quiet, there was something about the way that she said it, her eyes spoke the real truth and the way her bodyguard was holding himself. 'I can have you each escorted home for your safety but if you will excuse me, I have some other matters to attend to,' she says simply. Nodding at the guards they start to pair up with the civilians and work out travel arrangements while Makatza and Fenris walked to her Office. 'Is anyone around?' She asks him.
Fenris glances around and shakes his head, it was only him and the wolves. 'No,' he says simply, Makatza nods and then her legs give out, he catches her with a curse and she pants.
'I'm sorry, I'm... just so tired,' she says clinging to him. Fenris quickly takes her to her office and lies her down on her chaise lounge, she was breathing heavily and her skin was paler than usual. He takes off his sword and after checking all the locks on the windows and doors comes back to her. She had closed her eyes and breathed slowly, 'Fenris...' she smiles.
'What is going on?' He asks concerned.
'I'm just overwhelmed,' Makatza says turning onto her side so that she can see him better. 'Used a fair bit of mana and I wasn't feeling great anyway,' she admits. Fenris strokes a hand down her cheek and exhales heavily. 'Are you feeling better? No more pain?' She asks. After the fight she had healed the arrow wound he had received, not taking no for an answer.
He shakes his head and looks at her carefully, 'my Katza, I know about the reaction,' he says quietly making her breath hitch. She had been trying so hard to hide it from him.
'I didn't want you to worry,' she explains.
'I know,' he replies. 'We should stay here tonight, or the Hawke Estate,' Fenris says as he looks around the room. 'Have you seen the quarters for the Viscountess?'
Makatza smiles weakly, 'yeah, they're pretty nice,' she admits. 'I just didn't want to live where I worked. That's a bad road to go down,' Katza jokes.
'I sleep next to my work,' Fenris says in an attempt to relax and make her feel better. Makatza snorts in laughter and gives him both a look and a playful shove. 'Come, let us go to the proper quarters, I can run you a bath and they are high enough in the Keep that it will dissuade any more attempts.'
Makatza froze in his attempts to get her to sit up. 'Fenris! They said a woman and an elf! Not lyrium warrior! What about my father?!' She says in a panic. Fenris' face paled a little and he nods.
'Stay here,' he says grabbing his sword. 'Keep Elgon and Ciere near you. I will go myself. Just... stay here,' Fenris says simply as he does up his buckle. Makatza nods and feels her mouth go dry as he runs out the room. With an aching body she gets to her feet and walks over to the door and locks it behind him. Leaning against the wood she breathes out heavily and feels the tears run down her cheeks as she slides to the floor.
Elgon and Ciere walk over to her and lie either side of her as they whine and try to provide comfort. Makatza buries her hands into their fur and cries silently. 'Am I that bad of a Viscountess people want to kill me?' She asks as she shakes her head, the reality of the evening settling in. No, that's not it. I'm just changing things for the wrong people and like spoilt children they trying to throw their toys out the pram. 'I swear if anything has happened to papa, I will burn this city down to the ground to find the culprit,' she says feeling her anger grow. Using Elgon as support she stood up and walked back over to the chaise lounge, falling heavily onto it. 'Will one of you keep an ear out? I just... need to sleep,' she says softly. Ciere licks her face and climbs onto the seat lying under Makatza so that she can be used as a pillow. Elgon huffs and rubs his body down her hanging hand before sitting in front of the door, waiting.
When Katza woke up, she wasn't in her office. She was in her private quarters at the Keep. Placed in the bed and stripped to her underclothes, even her hair had been taken out the complicated braid it had been in. Ciere and Elgon were asleep on the bed around her and didn't even lift their heads as she sat up. Groggily she could see the start of dawn out the window and she stretched feeling a lot better than she had been. Swinging her legs over her wolf and with a little jump she got out of bed without squishing anyone. 'Clothes...' she said to herself as she looked around and spotted a wardrobe. It was still the early hours of the morning and so she grabbed a nightgown and thin dressing gown. It was of the highest quality and fit well, she tied it loosely around her waist and walked through the apartment. 'Hello?' She called sleepily as she found the dining room and began to walk through another door.
'Katza?' Fenris asks as he spots her wandering around. 'What are you doing up?'
'I could ask you the same thing, you don't look like you've slept at all,' she says worried. 'My fath-'
'He is safe and sound, I even escorted him to the Alienage where is staying with a friend for the next two nights. Hawke has asked Merrill to have Orana for a couple of days and Bohdan and Sandal are on a trip to Starkhaven to get some new tools,' he says softly. 'Everyone is taken care of.' She sighs in relief and falls into his arms, he had gotten changed into more civilian type clothing and felt secure enough to let his guard down for a moment. He lead her into the drawing room and sat her down.
'Why haven't you slept?' Makatza asks as she looks at his eyes, she could see the tiredness in his skin and the way he held himself.
'I have been helping Aveline and Varric,' he says softly. 'Hawke isn't happy and has made his opinion well known, apparently the assassins were from an old mercenary group that he used to work with.'
Makatza gives him a look, 'so everyone has been up all night while I've been sleeping? That's not-'
'Katza,' Fenris says interrupting her. 'You had a serious reaction, you were then almost assassinated. Nobody expects anything from you. You give enough as it is,' he says simply. She sighs and nods as he takes her head in his hands and pulls her closer for a gentle hug.
'You should still have slept,' she mutters making him chuckle. He was just happy that she seemed to be almost her normal self. He had helped Aveline arrest Crewe and his family, the Lord accidentality got a broken finger from somewhere, it was the little things that were satisfactory. He had refused to say anything so far but Fenris was sure that Aveline would get to the bottom of this. 'Will you come back to bed with me for a couple of hours?' She asks softly as she looks up at him. He shouldn't. He should make sure that Aveline doesn't need help and that the surrounding areas were safe. 'Surely the easiest way to keep me safe would to just be next to me?' Makatza points out making him wear a half smile.
'Logical is it?' He asks making her grin.
'Go on, tell me I'm wrong,' she teases as she stands up taking his hands in hers as she does so.
Fenris rolls his shoulders and shakes his head, 'I would not dare,' he admits as he allows himself to be lead to the bedroom. Makatza shoos the wolves from the top of the bedspread to the foot of the bed and climbs in. She watches as her lover closes the door behind them, locks it and then checks the windows before getting into the bed. She lies down and pulls his arm over her waist and around her front where she can hold his hand in hers.
'I love you,' she whispers feeling a wave of tiredness sweep over her as she settles down.
Fenris nods, placing a soft kiss on her bare shoulder, 'and I love you,' he admits as he lies his head behind hers. He felt too tense to sleep but too late he felt her mana enveloping him and simply encouraging his sleep. 'Katza... no...' he murmurs.
'I don't know what you're talking about,' she says innocently as she giggles ever so lightly. He mumbles something but it's lost in her hair as he begins to drop off. Satisfied that he's going to get at least a few hours rest she allows herself to fall back to sleep.
-x-
The office door was slammed open and Makatza didn't even bother looking up. 'Good morning, Knight Commander Meredith,' she says dryly as she continues to write. Fenris stood behind her and simply glared at the woman.
'What is this? I heard you threatened one of the Lords? Now you have him in custody? For no other reason that pointing the fact that you're a mage, living outside the Gallows?' Meredith hisses. Ser Cullen had also entered the room and looked at Fenris apologetically.
Makatza sighs and puts down her quill, 'once again you are horribly misinformed. Does that not get tiring? It must be embarrassing,' Makatza says simply as she looks up at the furious woman. 'Please, take a seat Knight Commander.'
'I will do no such thing, I demand he be released of these false charges,' Meredith says grabbing the back of a chair in her anger. Makatza raises a brow and tilts her head at the way she was acting.
'I would love to release him, but those are not the charges he's being retained for,' Katza says simply. 'Fenris, what was Aveline's conclusion?' She looks for the slip of paper but she knew that he would know from the top of his head.
'First and foremost, treason. Then it would be attempted murder, murder and conspiracy against the city's well being,' he explains. 'We have eight assassins in the morgue from last night, Knight Commander Meredith. I do not know whom if giving you information but I would reconsider taking anything they say as gospel,' he said bluntly. This woman was a thorn in his side and he found that lately she had become more unbearable.
