Chapter 48: A Very Dangerous Game Of Hide And Seek

"Keep your shoulders back!"

"I am!"

"You're not! I can see you stooping from here!"

I was not STOOPING. The damn horse just spooks too easily.

After three days of riding at full gallop with a Haste speed boost, I had no choice but to get the hang of it, or else keep falling. All my defences plus Combat Tactics had saved my sorry behind more than once. As I already kinda knew how to ride, taking away my squishiness and fear of dying made me a decent Haste rider in record time. And just when I thought it'd be smooth sailing all the way to the Dalish camp, we hit the Brecilian Forest, and it was back to square one.

Freaking forest had too many freaking trees. And rocks. I hate rocks. Rocks suck.

It wasn't long before I took a break from the Haste. Alistair announced we should be seeing signs of the Dalish anytime now, and I unconsciously picked up the pace.

Flemeth had been right; using Haste too much proved to be dangerous, as we corroborated on the second day of our trip, when I passed out on top of the horse after I attempted to cast one spell too many. The silver lining was that I now knew my limits, and so I became much more adept at pacing myself.

Oh, and all that Haste spamming and my practice sessions with Dessie in the Fade hadn't been for naught, by the by. Cause I also levelled up.

Finally, huh?

My stats now looked like this:

HP: 148 MP: 270

Attributes (-)

Strength 12

Dexterity 10

Willpower 30

Magic 31

Cunning 18

Constitution 16

Level 13, and looking fine~

I had to invest on Willpower. Had to. At the rate I was stacking up sustainables, I didn't have much leftover to work with. It was the reason why I'd decided not to pursue Spell Shield, as it fizzled out as soon as I ran out of mana, which theoretically, would happen fast. I considered getting Death Syphon. But if I did, I'd have to give up one of my other spells, as I simply wouldn't have enough mana to go around. Even then, it would leave me with so little mp I would have trouble conjuring any type of activated spell.

So, I went for Arcane Shield instead.

It was a cheaper spell. It buffed my defences. And, it opened the way for two passive spells from the same branch. I reeeally wanted Fireball, and I could use an offensive spell in my arsenal but spending 60mp each time I wanted to use it was too much. Plus, I'd already acquired Haste as a means to contribute to party damage, if indirectly so. Haste was a hell of a spell in most situations, so I'm sure it would be helpful.

My spells looked like this:

Spells (-)

Arcane

Arcane Bolt. Arcane Shield.

Primal

Flame Blast. Flaming Weapons.

Rock Armor.

Creation

Heal (20)

. . . Haste.

Spell Wisp. Grease.

Glyph of Paralysis. Glyph of Warding. Glyph of Repulsion.

Spirit

Walking Bomb.

Mind Blast. Force Field.

Entropy

.

Arcane Warrior

Combat Magic. Aura of Might.

Mmm. I am satisfied. For now.

I shared my decision and the reasoning behind it with Al, who always seemed interested in my gaming system. He didn't have much to add after listening, though, as he agreed my choice made sense and that was that.

He did have some things to say in other areas, however.

My mind took me back to our second night together in the tent. Things hadn't heated up again -get your mind out of the gutter, seriously-, as we were both -alright, fine, I was- exhausted after an entire day of riding, but I'd enjoyed having him there, in my arms. It made me feel safe and it made me feel like I could keep him safe. And then, he'd brought up the dreaded yet inevitable subject I'd been very pointedly ignoring.

What would I do after saving Sylvan?

I do want to take a moment to point out he said that as if he was telling me the sun was hot. Us saving Sylvan was a fact, and he treated it as such and moved on and at that moment I loved him for it.

Er, I mean, not love but… well, whatever, you know what I mean.

It wasn't like I hadn't given it some thought. I'd been agonizing about it, as a matter of fact, and still couldn't come up with a better answer than,

"I will ask him if he'd like to come with me, I guess"

…Yes, I am a professional psychologist. Mind your own business.

Al simply nodded, as if he'd expected that.

"Do you think he…" I couldn't bring myself to finish the question.

Al got it anyway "Of course. That kid adores you"

A sharp needle sunk itself into my heart. Ouch.

I hid my face in Al's chest, working up the courage to say what had been on my mind since I saw him walk away towards the Dalish camp.

"I abandoned him" When he didn't say anything, I continued "I knew he wanted to stay with us. With me. And I left him there anyway, telling myself he would be safer with the Dalish"

"He will be safer there"

"Well, clearly not" I waved a hand, encompassing our current predicament "And even if they weren't planning on attacking the Dalish, we could've found a way. We could've left him with Bodahn and Sandal while we went on the more dangerous quests. He would've been fine"

Al rubbed my arm comfortingly "So why didn't you? I know you've already figured it out"

I realized with a start that Alistair hadn't brought up the subject randomly. Indeed, I'd been overthinking it way more than I needed to.

"I'm afraid of raising a child" There, I said it. I could somehow see Sylvan coming out of the shitshow that was the fifth Blight with nary a scratch, but God help us if we could make him live through my first attempt at motherhood.

A low rumble softly shook Alistair, and I looked up to discover he was chuckling.

I gaped and slapped him on the chest "Hey! This is really serious. How can you laugh at me?"

Al laughed harder "I'm sorry. It's just that you've been taking care of him for months now, and the kid looked happier than any child right smack in the middle of a war should be, and you're worried you won't be able to raise him properly?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it. Opened it again. Closed.

"It takes more to raise a child than to make him happy"

Al gave me a look "Yeah?"

"Uh huh" I counted with my fingers "You need to teach him the necessary skills to survive in the context where he'll live. You gotta keep him safe and healthy. You need him to learn to get frustrated and solve problems. And then there's adoles – humph!"

Alistair's mouth was suddenly on mine, stealing my breath away in a very real sense.

I gasped as we broke apart after several seconds.

"Dude, why?" I mean, that was a hell of a kiss, but we were kind of in the middle of something there.

"I just thought how great it would've been if I'd met someone like you when I was Sylvan's age" he sounded wistful "I needed a remainder of how much I like having met you now"

…

Nngh.

"You don't need to teach him everything on your own, you know?" he went on, oblivious or ignoring my reaction to his previous words "You said you'd studied for over fifteen years in your home world. I bet if you show him what you know it'll still be more than he would usually learn as a commoner or a Dalish. And whatever you don't know, I'll teach him instead. Like how I'm teaching him swordplay right now"

A warm feeling settled in my chest.

"And if you become king?"

"Then I'll have enough money to hire him a battalion of instructors and you and I can take a vacation while they take care of him"

I had to laugh at that. I didn't know if he was serious or not, but I understood he meant to tell me he'd be there for us even if he decided to go the king route.

The future didn't seem so daunting when I imagined Al cracking jokes by my side.

I reached over and kissed him in the cheek.

"Thank you"

He gave me a warm smile.

"We should totally go on vacation when this is over with"

"Absolutely. I remember a really nice beach in the Hinterlands from the third game. We should go catch some rays and swim. Ferelden is too cloudy"

"I've never swam in the ocean before"

"I think you'll like it" I tried to form a mental image of us hanging at the beach "Mm… Back home, we use special clothing to make swimsuits. But I guess we can just go in in our birthday suits"

He looked down at me with a frown before the implication downed on him.

Ah, there's that cute blush I liked so much.

"I mean, sure, there was a high dragon hanging around but…"

"Details"

I grinned "Exactly"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just… we should've met the sentinels by now"

I took a precious second to process what Alistair was saying. If the Dalish guards that greeted us the first time came weren't in their posts…

Two things happened simultaneously. Scout let out a nightmarish sound that made my horse skitter. I followed his line of sight and saw specks of red littering the forest floor and trees.

And a wave of hostile humans appeared on my radar, mixed in with the elves.

"They're here!"

Scout and I took off at the same time, trusting Al to be right behind us.

I sunk my heels onto my horse, willing him to hurry, pulling on my magic to cast another Haste–

And stopped myself. I knew I'd reached my limit for the day. If I cast it again, I may collapse and far from helping, I'd be a liability and Al would have to take care of me.

I gritted my teeth, keeping the urge to use magic in check, and spur my horse to run faster.

I made it to the camp and found pandemonium.

Dalish and dark cloaked figures fought everywhere, clashing magic with melee and ranged weapons. I passed by a scuffle between a mage and a rogue and impulsively brained him with my staff on my way by, giving the Dalish rogue the opening she needed to drive her daggers into the mage.

I looked around, trying to find Sylvan both with my eyes and with Survival. But the battlefield was too chaotic. How would I be able to find a single little boy in this mess?

I considered using Paralysis Explosion, but discarded the thought. It was an AOE spell, and I couldn't risk incapacitating the Dalish as well.

Alistair and Scout made it into my peripheric view. They went right in and were already engaged with their own foes. We were staying close to each other, as if by design, but even if they drifted away. it wouldn't be hard to keep track of them with the Change Party mechani–

…holy crap.

Change Party!

A golden diamond composed of four circles appeared before me. Three of them were already occupied by Alistair, Scout and myself. The fourth one was black.

I gulped, praying this would work.

Sylvan.

The fourth circle shifted. The image of a young elven boy with big brown eyes and honey coloured hair blinked into existence. In my radar, a new party member emerged.

Emotion overcame me, and I managed a 'Found him!' to Al and Scout before heading to where the dot that represented my boy led to.

I tried to help as much as I could as I rode past the gentle hills that composed the Dalish camp site, flinging spells and hitting black-robbed people as if I were playing a sick game of polo. Of course, I got hit as well. But between my defensive spells and straight up desperation, I ignored most of the damage and kept going.

Unfortunately, that wasn't true for my horse.

One moment we were racing through the battlefield unencumbered, the next a curtain of fire blocked our path, scorching the reins and making my horse buckle so violently I was sent flying. I caught sight of him galloping away in panic, likely burned.

I cursed, standing up with a silent apology. I promised myself to let him indulge in whatever fruit stroke his fancy if I found him again.

Tossing a quick reassurance for Al's and Scout's benefit over my shoulder, I kept going.

I was so close.

There!

I finally got close enough to see him. He was hiding. Curled under a wagon alongside two other children.

The relief at finding them never came.

They were hiding, but the reason why I managed to spot them even from afar was because someone else had found them first. Two black-robed figures holding a staff and a mace each stood over them, having flipped the wagon over to reveal its small occupants. Two boys and a girl. And among them…

Sylvan stood up, a dagger in his hands, and faced the men. I could just make out the tears as they tore a path down his dirt-stained face.

The mage of the duo saw this and lifted a hand, magic gathering at his fingertips.

"NO!"

Force Field!

Whatever spell he'd been planning to cast must've been slower than the shield. Before anything came out of it, translucent walls shot up all around him, trapping him inside the protective barrier.

Before the other hooded man had time to react, I casted Glyph of Paralysis. A bright blue sigil blinked into existence beneath his feat, freezing him on the spot.

"SYLVAN!"

The boy's eyes met mine, and a precious second went by before he managed to process what just happened.

We didn't have a second to lose.

"RUN!"

Sylvan snapped into action, pulling the smaller elves with him, urging them to move their small legs as fast as they would let them towards me.

Behind them, the glyph vanished. The warrior, seeing this, wasted no time before giving chase to the kids. Fear burst in the pit of my stomach, making adrenaline surge through my body and giving my legs the extra oomph I so badly needed.

I threw myself at the three of them, gathering them in my arms and turning away just as the mace came down.

THWACK!

It hit me square in the back, causing me to go down on one knee with a sonorous thud, knocking the children back and away form my arms. My whole body exploded in pain. I gasped for air as my lungs refused to do their job anymore. I heard high pitched yelling in front of me before the mace slammed into me a second time. The pain doubled and convulsions violently racked my abused body. I opened my mouth in a vain attempt to breath again and spat out blood instead. Raising my head a fraction of the way up was all I could manage at the moment. My eyes took in the children and a small, deeply buried part of me registered relief.

Then everything stopped.

I realized what I'd thought were tears and dirt on Sylvan's face was instead blood and dark, swollen bruises.

I heard something inside me snap.

In that moment, my magic came alive, and I felt everything around me with startling clarity through it. I felt the mace go up a third time in slow motion. I felt it reach its peak. My head turned sideways until my assailant came into view. I both saw and felt him freeze for half a second as his eyes met mine, shining with the full force of my fury fuelled mana. My magic pulsed through every vein and radiated through every pore in my body in a violet haze.

Then, it attacked.

A blast of pure magic, similar to Arcane Bolt but a dozen times stronger, smashed into him, catapulting him backwards with his mace still raised above his head. He went so far back, he crashed into a thick tree the Dalish had fashioned into a statue. The elven woman it depicted had long robes, dragon wings and a pointed head piece that made me think of a crown. The warrior landed on the upper side of it, impaling himself.

I saw him flail and scream, then he stopped moving for good.

Still abuzz with magic, my eye found the mage that'd been trapped under Force Field. The spell had ended, and in its place, Scout had taken it upon himself to Overwhelm him instead.

Finding nothing amiss in the immediate surroundings, my magic receded. The world became fuzzy once more, and the pain came back with vengeance.

I remained exactly where I was, daring to move nothing but my eyes. Fortunately, it was enough to get a good look at the children.

The younger boy and girl looked scared out of their minds, grabbing onto each other and Sylvan like their lives depended on it. Other than that, and a few scratches here and there, they seemed fine. Sylvan had the worst of it. He was battered black and blue, and a small cut above his eyebrow dripped blood along the side of his face, dripping at the jawline.

Who the fuck did this to him? If I ever found out…

Rage and sorrow came over me like a tidal wave. With a mental shake, I tampered them down, deliberately overregulating my emotions. This was no time to drown; I had to keep my head above water.

"Maya!"

Alistair's voice made its way to me, alert but not alarmed. I didn't -couldn't- turn to look, but having him there gave me the reassurance I needed to let go of a couple spells to make space for a bit of mana to make its way back to me. Carefully, keeping an eye on my mana reserves, I reached out with my magic and began healing Syl.

Sylvan's eyes went wide when he realized what I was doing. He shook his head, tears -real tears, this time- cutting a path through the blood and grime caked on his face. I did my best to grin at him, not stopping despite his silent protest.

Once done, I turned to healing myself. I had very little magic left, so the process was going to be very, very slow.

Ah, but Sylvan is safe, now.

Through all my physical and emotional suffering, vivid, unbridled joy shot through me.

I did it. We did it.

"You're okay. My precious boy, you're okay"

My voice came out weak and raspy, but there was no mistaking the genuine happiness in it.

I beamed.

Sylvan's face fell, and he threw his arms around my neck, bawling.

Ouch.

A sigh had me glancing sideways at Alistair.

"Battle's over. Are you, okay?"

Define 'okay'.

"I can't move"

"I'll carry you"

"No. I can't move. That guy did a number on my back. It hurts when I breathe and I'm not sure I can properly heal it myself"

He bent over, hands hovering over my back, unsure.

"Then what do I do? Do you need potions?"

I resisted the urge to shrug.

"Sure. Also, see if Lanaya is around. Let's hope she can Heal"

I'm sorry about the wait. Half of it was rl being crazy and half was me procrastinating. I'll try to do better.

So, I had a question for you all. If I were to give Maya a second specialization, what do you think that should be?
Edit: Keep in mind she could potentially get the DLC specializations.

Thanks for reading! And for all the comments and follows and faves. They make me happy enough to giggle like an idiot :)