A/N: Please, remember to review with any comments, question, concerns, or constructive criticism that you might have.
Chapter 3:
Joining a War
Once the supplies were prepared, Wayne, Solas, Varric, and Cassandra headed out with a contingent of Inquisition soldiers, using any horses they could find to speed up their travel.
Reaching the Hinterlands and the Inquisition camp, Wayne was surprised to find the leader of the scouts that Leliana had sent to secure their route in and the area around their camp was, in fact, another dwarf, a girl dwarf to be precise.
"You must the one they call the Herald of Andraste. Gotta say your uniform's as weird as they say," the short girl said.
"I'll try not to take that personally," Wayne joked, "Name's Corporal Wayne Clark. You are?"
"Oh, you can call me Scout Harding," she said, giving a friendly smile.
"Harding, huh? You ever visit Kirkwall's Hightown?" Varric asked with a tone that told he was barely containing his laughter.
"I…can't say I have. Why?" she asked.
"Because you'd be Harding in High…nevermind," he said, realizing the obviousness of his joke.
Cassandra scoffed at his attempted joke.
Wayne just shook his head and spoke to Harding, "So, what's the situation?"
"It's bad, Herald," she said solemnly, "Mother Giselle has been helping the refugees in the crossroads, which has put her and the refugees smack dab in the middle of the fight between the templars and the mages. Not only that, but the horsemaster that we were ordered to secure horses from lives on a farm on the other side of the Hinterlands. To get to him, we've got to get through rebel mages and templars all of which seem to see everyone as an enemy."
"Any good news?" Wayne asked sarcastically.
"I grew up around here and people always said that Dennet's herds were the strongest and fastest this side of the Frostbacks, so if you can get them for us, it'll be a big help for the Inquisition. Plus, it's not raining, so there's that," Harding said smiling.
"Any backup we can count on?" Wayne asked.
"Corporal Vale and our men are doing what they can to help protect the people, but they won't be able to hold out very long, but they'll be able to help if you hurry," she said.
"Guess we better head out then," Wayne said, nodding his thanks to the scout.
The quartet headed down the hill, passing dead bodies with arrows embedded in their bodies.
"Looks like the Harding and the other scouts made the job a bit easier," Wayne said, "Though I'm guessing there'll be plenty more where they came from."
"I'd say that's a good guess, Wayne," Varric said, "My experience is that there's always more."
Reaching the Crossroads, Wayne and his group spotted Templar knights fighting a trio of Inquisition soldiers. Despite being outnumbered, the Inquisition troops were holding their own against the soldiers. Wayne used his rifle to put a hole in one of the archers' head while Cassandra moved between one of the swordsmen and an Inquisition solder to use her shield to bash him away before stabbing him in the neck. Varric used Bianca to take down a couple more swordsmen as they charged while Solas used a fireball to blast those remaining.
"Is that it?" Wayne said, seconds before a fireball flew past his head.
"Mages!" Cassandra shouted, as she moved to charge at them with the Inquisition soldiers. Fighting alongside the mages were soldiers wearing light armor, which surprised Wayne.
"I thought mages didn't use swords!" Wayne said as he shot one of the attacking swordsmen.
"They must be mercenaries that the rebel mages hired!" Varric said, firing at one of the mages.
"Or perhaps villagers that support the mages!" Solas said as he used a barrier to block a fireball.
"Either way, they're-shit!" Wayne shouted as he dove behind a crate to dodge another fireball, "It's official, I hate fighting mages! At least with regular guys, you only gotta worry about swords and arrows! Not freaking fireballs!"
"Gotta agree with you on that one!" Varric shouted as he rolled out of the way of shot of ice before putting a bolt between the eyes of the mage that attacked him.
The mages didn't last much longer after that, but the templars tried to give their attack a second try. Cassandra intercepted one of the templars who was charging with a large shield, but she failed to notice one of the archers taking aim at her back. Wayne noticed, but he couldn't get a clear shot, so he ran and dove in the path of the loosed arrow, taking the shot right in the center of his vest. The arrow barely penetrated his vest, so he ignored it to raise his rifle again to shoot the archer. One of the remaining swordsmen tried to flank Wayne, but the soldier was ready for him. He ducked under the slashing sword, drawing his knife and driving into the space between his helmet and torso, stabbing the swordsman's neck.
Cassandra finished off her opponent and turned to Wayne, an unhappy expression on her face, "You didn't need to protect me. I'm quite capable of taking care of myself."
"You know, back home, when someone takes a shot for you, it's considered polite to say 'thank you,'" Wayne said, ignoring her frustration.
She snorted derisively, "Hmph," before she said, as though she was getting her teeth pulled, "Thank you, even if it was unnecessary." Then, she did something that surprised even Wayne: she kissed him on the cheek, "Maybe now you will stop bothering me about that imaginary deal of yours."
Wayne was stunned for a few seconds before he got his mocking smile back and said, "You know, back home, we didn't count it as a kiss unless it was on the lips."
"Argh!" she growled before stomping off.
"That wasn't true about the kiss thing, was it?" Varric asked, his tone saying he already knew the answer.
"Nope!" Wayne said, with a cheeky smile, making Varric laugh and even Solas gave a quiet laugh, "Now, let's find this Giselle. Hopefully, she really can help us."
"What about the Seeker? Shouldn't we make sure that she doesn't get ambushed?" Solas said, swallowing his laughter.
"Hah! In her mood, I'd be more worried about anyone that tries anything!" Varric laughed.
The trio headed to where they noticed some of the wounded were gathered so they could find the Mother. It turned out they didn't have to look far for her as she was helping as she could with the wounded, providing religious council and giving water to the wounded. As she did, mages that were clearly not among the rebels attacking the refugees were helping to heal as best as their magic could.
One of the wounded soldiers looked at one of the approaching mages in fear, despite his wounds, and resisted his aid. The Mother, seeing the issue, approached the wounded soldier to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave him a calming, motherly smile.
"D-Don't let him touch me, Mother," the man said, shaking in fear, "His magic-"
"Is no more dangerous than your sword," Mother Giselle interrupted, "But, turned to noble purposes, it is a gift from the Maker. Now, please, allow him to ease your suffering."
The soldier looked between the Mother and the mage and back again before looking at the mage again and nodding his agreement.
"Mother Giselle?" Wayne asked, getting her attention.
"Ah, you must be the one they call 'the Herald of Andraste,'" she said, standing to face the soldier and his companions.
"So, I've been told. For the record, it wasn't my decision," Wayne said, feeling a little uncomfortable about his title and its connection to a religion he didn't even follow.
She nodded and gestured for him to follow her, "I am aware of the Chantry's denoucement and I know those that stand against you and the Inquisition. I won't lie, some of them are grandstanding, hoping to improve their chances of becoming the new Divine. Some are simply terrified. So many good people, senselessly taken from us."
"What happened was terrible," Wayne agreed.
"Fear makes us desperate, but hopefully not beyond reason," she said, "Go to them. Convince the remaining clerics you are no demon to be feared. They have heard only frightful tales of you. Give them something else to believe."
"What sort of frightful tales are being told?" Wayne asked, curious.
"The type that perhaps has some measure of truth," she said, "The common connection of the tales say that you are a non-believing barbarian that wields a weapon, which makes even the strongest armor useless, and has a habit of using it, especially to get his way."
"Okay, I see your point," Wayne said, knowing there was a good bit of truth to that.
"You needn't worry overly much," Giselle said, "You needn't convince all of them. You just need to get some of them to doubt. Their power comes from their unified voice. Take that from them and you will have the time you need."
"Oh, is that all?" Wayne said, sarcastically.
She smiled reassuringly, "I have faith that you will succeed. I will send Sister Leliana the list of those in the Chantry who would be amenable to a gathering before going to Haven to see where I can help."
"Thank you for doing this," Wayne said, nodding his thanks.
"I do not know if you have been touched by Fate or sent to help us, but I hope. Hope is what we need now. The people will listen to your rallying call, as they will listen to no other," Giselle said, "You could build the Inquisition into a force that will deliver us…or destroy us."
Wayne just nodded his thanks.
"I will take my leave now. I hope you will help the refugees here while you're here. Corporal Vale up on that hill over there will be able to give you some ideas as to the needs of the people," she said before walking away, heading up the path to the Inquisition camp.
Solas and Varric rejoined him once she was gone.
"I trust all is well?" Solas asked.
"As it can be, Elrond," Wayne said, sighing, "She's gonna help us, but we still need to find this horsemaster and see if we can help the refugees. As things stand, the templars and rebel mages could still come back and cause them problems, not to mention any other problems that'll come up."
"For instance?" Solas asked.
"Well, these people have nowhere else to go, right?" Wayne asked to which Solas nodded, "So, what they carry with them is all they have. You see anything like coats or blankets? Once it gets cold, these people will be in serious trouble."
"I see your point," Solas said, "But what can we do? We don't have the supplies either."
"Maybe that Corporal Vale has some ideas," Wayne said, "Looks like he's sending his troops to secure the area." Wayne pointed to the soldiers moving to the different entrances to the Crossroads refugee camp.
The trio headed up the hill where Vale was speaking with Cassandra.
"Ah, here are your companions, Lady Seeker," Vale said before giving them a salute, "I'm Corporal Vale. I've been placed in charge of these troops."
"I was just having the corporal give an update as to the situation here," Cassandra said, ignoring Wayne's presence.
"So, what's the situation, corporal?" Wayne asked, finding it strange to be technically above someone on the chain of command even though they share the same rank.
"It's not good, Herald," Vale said, "Not only are there rifts throughout the area, not to mention the templars and mages. The templars are not part of the main force and they're taking their 'duty' of hunting rebel magic too far and attacking anyone they believe to be maleficarum or harboring them. The mages attacking the refugees aren't the main force of mages either. These mages were kicked out of Redcliffe where the main force of rebel mages are for being too violent and are now attacking everyone they come across. Not only that, but the refugees have no blankets or coats for when it gets cold and food's running low. Worst of all, we're in desperate need of a doctor. The mages can only do so much with their healing magic. We need someone that is actually trained to help in this regard."
"Any idea how we can deal with these?" Wayne asked.
"Well, with the mages and templars, the only way I can think of is to take them down. In regards to the blankets and supplies, recruit Whittle should be able to help. The hunter across the valley should be able to point you in the right direction of somewhere you can find food. As for the doctor, maybe you can find one in Redcliffe, though the rebel mages have completely sealed the city off," Vale stated.
"Alright, we'll go talk to them. Thanks, corporal," Wayne said.
Vale nodded and the group headed out to talk to the people Vale mentioned. After getting information telling them where some rams could be found to provide meat for the refugees and where to potentially rob the banished rebel mages of their supplies, Wayne and the group headed through a tunnel to reach the center of the Hinterlands and the middle of the battlefield. There were burning houses, large pillars of ice, abandoned wagons, and corpses all over the area. Both mages and templars were out in force and fighting one another.
"Once more unto the breach," Wayne muttered to himself as he raised his rifle to fire at one of the templars that had noticed them.
A/N: And there's chapter 3! Please, favorite, follow, and/or review!