Disclaimer: I own none of the recognized characters. I am merely borrowing them to satisfy my muse
Chapter 16
Skeletons. The dead raising. And walking. And attacking. A village plagued by the corpses of past residents. This brought unpleasant memories to CJ's mind. Memories of a village being attacked, of watching people she had grown up knowing, dying one night and then coming back the next night. Of hiding, crouched in the chantry, trying to keep the younger children from crying out. From calling attention to the building. CJ dreamt of a different town. Of a different lake.
Waves lapping at the shore. The village was silent except her footsteps. She should be in the chantry, safe. Instead, she was scouring the shoreline, trying to fine Annie's blasted toy bear she had dropped. Annie wouldn't be quiet without it. Where was that stupid bear?!
There! Up on a rock! She rushed towards it, grabbing it. A crunch sounded behind her, and CJ whipped around . . . .
"NO!" She came awake with a yell, for a moment still caught in her nightmare, hand grasping for her weapon. Ready to fight off the corpse behind her. But there was nothing but a sleeping Sera. No corpse.
She swore softly, sheathing her weapon. "Just a nightmare. That's all."
Knowing she wouldn't get anymore sleep, she carefully got up, doing her best not to disturb her companions.
"You all right?" She wasn't surprised to hear Iron Bull's voice.
"Nightmares." She answered shortly. "Don't mind me. I don't want to keep you from your watch."
"I was just about to take a circuit around. Come with me?" He had slung his arm around her shoulders before she had even had the chance to respond. They walked in silence for a few minutes. "What was your nightmare about? Your capture?"
"Those nightmares are becoming less and less, actually." She answered. "No, this was one from my childhood."
"Your childhood?"
"I was born the unwanted child of an upper servant in an arl's house, and a village girl. My father refused to have anything to do with me, and my mother wanted me even less. By the time I was three, I was a fledgling of the chantry. I was sent from chantry to chantry as I grew older. I was thirteen when the blight happened, living in the chantry in Redcliffe. Arl Eamon's son was a mage, his mother hid it. Brought in a mage who was to train him. Something went wrong. The boy, Connor, ended up being possessed. He released an army of undead on the castle and the village. For three weeks, we'd hide in the chantry at night, praying the doors would hold, keep the monsters out." CJ shivered unconsciously at the memory. "Then during the day, we'd open the door, gather and burn the dead, and try to rebuild the barricades that had been destroyed in the night. One day, one of the younger children dropped their toy outside. It wasn't discovered until it was almost nightfall. The child, Annie, she was three years old. That bear was the last thing she had of her mother, and she wouldn't be quiet without it. I was supposed to have been looking after them that day. It was my fault the toy had been left behind. So I slipped out before the doors were barred for the night. The bear was down by the lake. The sun hadn't completely gone yet, I thought I still had plenty of time."
She took a deep breath, realizing she had begun talking faster and faster.
"That night, the undead started walking earlier. A huge one climbed out of the lake right behind me. I'd never been so scared before in my life. I took off, running back towards the chantry, screaming. Luckily some men heard me, and were able to fight off the monster, but if I had hesitated even a second longer, it would have run me through by the lakeside." She shook her head. "I wasn't able to go by a lake unless it was broad daylight for years after that."
"The corpses here brought back those old fears." Iron Bull said. "As they come stumbling out of the lake."
CJ nodded. "But I'm not a child any longer. I will not run from them like I did then."
"At thirteen, with no weapons, of course you ran." Iron Bull scoffed. "You'd have been a fool not to."
She didn't answer.
"So you lived through the blight, huh?" He asked after another minute of silence. "How'd you survive that?"
"A lot of luck." She exclaimed. "I actually met the Hero of Ferelden, when he and his group came and rescued Redcliffe from the undead, Leliana included. He was a Dalish elf. I'd never seen one before. But he was so kind. He did everything he could to help the villagers, even though he had no responsibility to them. I saw him fight. I'd climbed up to one of the upper windows the night he and the other grey warden and their group helped defend the village. He danced around his enemies, knives flashing in quick succession. In that moment, that's when I knew. I knew that I wanted to be like him. A protector of the weak. And I knew I wouldn't be able to do that if I stayed in the chantry. The next morning, I packed a bag, obtained some weapons, and headed out."
"You went off on your own, in the middle of a blight, untrained, and yet you still survived?" Iron Bull exclaimed.
"Like I said, a lot of luck. I knew the basics of fighting, and got better as I got more experience."
"You are very lucky. Or very brave and very stupid." She smiled, recalling when he last said those words to her, a month and a half before.
"At that age, it was definitely more stupidity than bravery." She answered. "I was an idiot to think I could get by on my own."
"You made it, obviously."
"By the skin on my teeth, sometimes."
"Have you told Red you knew her? Before joining the inquisition, I mean?"
CJ shook her head. "No. It is not important."
"You should tell her." Iron Bull said. They had finished one circuit around the campsite now, and Iron Bull stopped walking. CJ moved to step away from his hold, but he tightened his arm slightly. Just for a second, but CJ understood that meant he wanted her to stay where she was. "She hears so much bad shit a day, I think seeing someone she saved so long ago alive and well would do her some good."
"I'll keep that in mind." She replied. "But I've disturbed you long enough. Thank you for listening, Bull." She stepped away from him. "I'm going to try to get more sleep. Night Bull."
CJ was surprised when her arm was caught, and he turned her around gently. "You didn't disturb me, fighter." He bent his head down and placed a kiss on her forehead, pressing his lips there for six heartbeats. At least six of CJ's heartbeats. She counted as they pounded loudly in her ears. He pulled back. Conflicted, but feeling very bold for a very short time, CJ raised up on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on Iron Bull's cheek.
"Sleep well, fighter." He said as she fled.
Sleep did not come quick for CJ after that. She laid awake for quite some time, the feeling of his lips on her forehead still lingering when sleep finally did come.
