Disclaimer: Bioware owns the characters of Dragon Age II; I own Bailey. I wish I had my own Anders...
'Well, this is just great,' Bailey thought as she pushed aside another branch with one hand and hitched up her backpack with the other. It was supposed to have been a fun and relaxing weekend with friends, camping and hiking in northern Georgia, but she had gotten separated from the rest of the group when they went into that cave. Now, on the other side of it, she had gotten turned around. Her compass was acting crazy; the needle kept spinning back and forth and even the trees looked a bit…different. They seemed too green for mid-October, even if it was the south. She pushed away another branch and found herself standing at the edge of what appeared to be a well-used dirt road. She shrugged the straps of her pack off of her shoulders and swung it around to dig for her copy of the map the park guide had given to everyone in her group. 'There aren't any roads shown on this map. What the hell?' she thought as she studied it.
Suddenly, a low menacing growl reached her ears and her heart jumped into her throat. Standing as still as she possibly could, she let her eyes slide to her left to see what was making that noise, expecting a bear or even a mountain lion. What she saw instead was some kind of creature that should have been in a horror movie or a nightmare…and it was moving right toward her with purpose, a weapon in its raised hand. Screaming, she dropped the map and ducked down to curl into a ball, her hands scrambling for a branch or something that she might use to defend herself. She raised her eyes, hearing another human shouting, and saw a man running towards her. Before she could react, the creature backhanded her and she dropped to the ground. The last thing she saw as the world faded away was the man glowing blue and what looked like a ball of fire shooting from his hand. 'How…weird' was the last thought Bailey had as the blackness finally took her.
It only took a couple of quick fireballs to destroy the Hurlock that was threatening the woman. Once it was dispatched, Anders hurried over to examine her. It looked like she had taken a wallop to the head. His fingers gently and quickly moved through her hair, a small bit of magic in them as he made sure her skull wasn't cracked. No blood either; that was good. Meant she wouldn't be subject to the taint. He looked around and saw her strange looking pack and the piece of paper she had been examining. He quickly gathered her things, stopping only briefly to marvel at the feel of such fine parchment, and swung the strap of her pack onto his shoulder before gently picking her up in his arms and heading back down the road to the camp he had set up. No way was he going to leave her out here, apparently on her own.
Upon reaching his camp, he kicked open his bedroll and laid her down on it, then moved to the other side of the fire to sit. As he waited for her to wake, he kept an eye and ear out for more Darkspawn and studied his patient. She was no young girl; she appeared to be closer to his own age or perhaps a few years older even, if the tiny wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were any indication. Her blond hair was pulled back with some sort of clip, exposing her neck. A fine silver chain was barely visible above the neckline of her…shirt. He hesitated to call it that, as it appeared to be as skimpy as an undershirt. It had felt soft against his hands, too. Her legs were covered by trousers made of a finely woven but heavy blue material. They must have been old, as faded as they were. Her feet were encased in a rugged leather shoe, the bottoms of which had some kind of design carved into the thick sole. 'Not very practical. Probably leaves a print that is easy to track,' he thought. But they looked sturdy and broken in. He picked up her pack and ran his hands over the fabric of it. It felt…odd. The style was something he had never seen before, and he had seen plenty in his life. But he could also see immediately that it was a very practical design, with two straps and several small pockets. He set it to the side as he heard her beginning to stir and quickly moved to kneel next to her. As her eyes began to open, he softly asked, "Are you alright? Do you need any healing?"
Sound was the first sense to return to her. She heard the faint crackling of wood as it burned. Smell followed quickly after. Smoke tickled her nose, making her want to sneeze. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and her mind tried to process her surroundings. Hearing a male voice so close to her, though, caused her to sit up suddenly and crawl backwards until her back hit against a rock. Her head pounded from the quick movements and she lifted a hand to press it against her temple. Her eyes were wide as she looked at the man she had seen running toward her…the same one that she was sure she had seen glowing blue. He gave her a small smile and held his hands up, palms toward her, the universal sign language of "I mean no harm" and moved a few feet back from her.
Bailey looked around herself and saw she was in some kind of primitive camp. Her backpack was on the other side of the fire, lying near what was probably his stuff. She looked back at him and her mind quickly took in his appearance. His shoulder length blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and only seemed to accent his high cheekbones. His jaw was scruffy, like he hadn't shaved in a week. His eyes were a clear brown, his nose a bit long, and his mouth was curved in a little smile. His clothing looked like something out of a fantasy movie, his shoulders covered with what looked like feathers, his coat long and hanging open, and a long leather belt wrapped around his waist. "Who the hell are you and where the hell am I?" she spat out nervously. Fear made her native Southern drawl thicker.
Anders blinked at her accent. It was certainly not one he'd ever heard before. He tried to give her a reassuring smile as he answered. "You may call me Anders. As for where we are, I'm not sure where 'Hell' is, but we could be there. Or, we could be somewhere along the coast between Amaranthine and Highever."
Bailey blinked at him. An English accent was the last thing she had expected to hear in this part of the country, so it took her a moment to process his words. "Amaranthine? Highever? There aren't any towns around here with those names. What are you talking about? And what was that thing that attacked me? And did I really see you throw fire at it? I mean, who carries a flame thrower around in the woods anyway? Seems irresponsible to me." She knew she was babbling, but her nerves were on edge and she couldn't seem to make herself stop.
His eyebrows furrowed downward as she talked. This was getting stranger and stranger. "Amaranthine is a city to the east. Formerly the capital of Ferelden. Highever is a smaller town to the west, ruled over by the Cousland family. As for that creature, it was a Hurlock, one of the lesser of the Darkspawn. Surely you've seen one before; there was a Blight in Ferelden this past year. Those damn things were everywhere. And for your final question…" He raised his cupped right hand and called a small bit of flame into it. "You…have seen a mage before, right?" he said, questioningly.
She didn't think her eyes could get any bigger and she was a bit embarrassed by the sound that escaped from her lips upon seeing the fire sitting there in his hand. "Ohmygodohmygod. This is too crazy to be real. That's it. I hit my head in that cave and I'm unconscious in there right now, probably bleeding from a head wound. That must be it. This is all just a hallucination from head trauma."
Anders shook the fire from his hand and pulled up a healing spell. "Are you alright? You did take a nice hit to the head from that Hurlock. Are you still feeling any pain or dizziness? I can help, if you want." He didn't understand much of what she was saying, but it was clear that she had apparently been through some sort of ordeal. 'But her clothing. Her pack. They're unlike anything I've ever seen. And that accent…just where is this woman from?' he wondered to himself.
"No. Don't…don't touch me. I wanna go home. Where is that cave? Just take me back there."
He gazed at her and let the spell go. He gestured over his shoulder and said, "I found you just down the road. It must be around there."
He stood and picked up the long stick that was nearby, did something to strap it to his back and waited patiently for her. She pushed herself to her feet and kept her eyes locked on him as she moved to grab her backpack. He swept his hand across his body to indicate that she should lead. "Uh huh. I don't want you behind me. But I don't want you in front of me, either. Just…walk next to me so I can keep an eye on you."
Anders chuckled a little. "I promise, I will not harm you. But if it makes you more comfortable, I will leave a few feet between us as I walk beside you."
Bailey nodded and moved towards the road she could see just a few feet to her right. Upon reaching it, she glanced at him and he indicated they should turn to her left. She was silent as they walked, trying to keep her attention on him and her surroundings at the same time. He was right though; the area where she had been attacked really wasn't that far down the road. There was a dark smudge where that…thing had been burned. She turned off the road and searched for signs of where her trail had brought her out of the trees. She spotted some trampled down grass and began following it back, pushing branches out of her way, looking for that damn cave. Her stomach fluttered with anxiety as she went further, wishing she could recall how long it had taken her to reach the road from the cave entrance. The strange man walking along behind her did nothing to quell her nerves.
She cried out happily when she finally saw the dark opening between two tree trunks and rushed forward to go into it. Anders followed, calling up a bit of flame to his hand to shed some light in the interior. They were stopped by a solid rock wall only six feet in, however. Bailey stood there, dumbly staring at the wall and muttering, " No…nonono. No! I want to go home!"
She moved forward and began running her hands over the surface, walking back and forth, feeling for an opening, a crack, anything that might show where she had come through earlier. Bailey muttered angrily to herself as she searched. She had just had to go and examine that side tunnel and the faintly glowing lights she had glimpsed. Never mind that the glowing blue worm things had been so beautiful…look at what had happened to her. Her frustration, fear, and anger began to overcome her. She glared up at the rock wall in front of her and kicked it, hard. When that didn't work, she began hammering her fists against the rough stone and screaming, "Let me back through! Open up, you damn rock! I want to go home…I WANT TO GO HOME!"
Anders watched as she frantically ran her hands over the stone. He could hear her muttering something about side tunnels and glow worms. He could see she was getting more and more agitated and he couldn't stop himself from wincing when she kicked the wall. When she began hitting it, he moved towards her to stop her as he could see her hands were beginning to bleed. She suddenly sank down into a ball at the base of the wall and her shoulders shook with heart-wrenching sobs. He gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders and quietly said, "Come on. Come away from here. Let me fix your hands and then you can tell me what happened."
She looked up at him, her eyes overflowing with tears. She forced herself to her feet and numbly walked with him back to his camp. He sat her down on a rock and cupped her hands in his, the blue light of his healing spell feeling like warmth on her skin. Bailey knew she should have been shocked at how her skin knit itself back together under his hands, but she just couldn't pull up the energy to feel anything. He didn't speak or push her to talk; instead, he moved away from her and rummaged in his pack to pull out some food. He handed her some bread, cheese, and some dried jerky and placed a wooden mug full of water near her. "Eat, and then sleep. We'll talk about it in the morning. You're safe…I'm sorry, you still haven't told me your name."
She just stared at the bread in her hand as she spoke, her voice sounding hollow. "Bailey. My name is Bailey Watson."
Anders nodded. "I wish we had met under better circumstances, Bailey Watson. But I promise, you are safe for tonight at least."
She glanced at him as he moved away, then woodenly ate the food he had given her. When it was gone, she moved to lie down on the pad she had woken up on earlier. Pulling the blanket over her head, she let the tears fall over her cheeks until she fell asleep.
Anders watched as she moved to his bed and curled up under the blanket. He leaned back against the rock she had sat on and contemplated the events of the past few hours. As desperate as his own situation was, he simply could not leave her to fend for herself. Whatever had happened to her had left her in no condition to do so. And that scene in the cave…those were the actions of someone desperate to escape. He knew that feeling well. Still, morning couldn't come soon enough for him. It would bring answers to hopefully all of his questions about the woman currently occupying his bedroll. Once that was decided, he settled against the rock more comfortably and spent the night on watch for more Darkspawn stragglers.
Author Note: If anyone found this remotely interesting, then thank you. There is more to come. Speaking of, my beta reader has become loaded down with class work, so I'm looking for someone to take over beta reading. If you're interested, drop me a PM here, and thanks in advance!
