Breakfast was eggs and a thick grainy bread. So far, it was the most food that Nike had ever seen on the Hawkes' table. When she went to ask Adaon where it had come from, where she'd gotten the coin not only for the food but the horses, she'd received only a wink in answer.
Even Leandra didn't question it overmuch, and Nike began to wonder if the young trio of Hawkes weren't thieves. Though, stealing food and mounts from already starving refugees seemed far out of character for any of them.
The Chantry could have provided it, she supposed. Adaon's request may not have much weight with them given the hungry mouths all around, but Leliana was a Chantry Sister.
Is she a thief? Nike wondered, looking at Leliana from the corner of her eye. She said she had not always been part of the Chantry, after all. The seeming miraculous appearance of exactly what they needed had Nike on edge again. She did not for a moment buy that the Maker was actually speaking to Leliana, which meant she could have any number of real motivations as to why she had come, why what they needed suddenly seemed to fall into their laps.
She had told Leliana that Adaon trusted her, and that she owed her for taking care of Tahja, but she could not seem to chew her own food in this regard. Something disquiet in the back of her mind whispered that Leliana had her own agenda, and that she knew exactly how to put on a pretty façade to achieve her ends.
It was the motivation behind the Sister that Nike couldn't see. She couldn't be just after Loghain's bounty- she would just have turned them in or come and killed them. No need for pretense. An agent of Howe's maybe? Again, the same- she would just have killed Nike and been done with it, without the song and dance.
She could just be mad, Nike thought. After all, she thinks the Maker talks to her.
What Nike wanted was the chance to talk to Alistair and Morrigan in private, but that also didn't seem to be in the cards any time soon. Time was sifting away like sand in an hourglass, and every moment lingering over the breakfast table in chatter with the Hawke's she could feel it drawing around her neck, weaving a noose that would not easily be loosened.
"We told the Chantry and the mayor about the darkspawn," Adaon said, as they mopped up the last of their eggs. "I'm not sure how convinced they were. I dropped the news in a few chosen ears around the refugee camp as well. It should spread fast. I would think by noon fully half of them will be packing up and ready to move on."
"No mention of you," Carver added to the wardens. "I told them that the tainted deer charged me while I was hunting, and we dragged it away and burned it."
"I think they will listen," Leliana told them. "The Chantry at least. I cannot imagine they would close deaf ears to such a thing."
"You have more faith than I do in bureaucracy and politics, Sister. And more faith in the mercy of people who would lock someone in a cage and leave them as prey for darkspawn," Adaon said with a snort, then before Leliana could respond, she looked at her mother. "We'll need to get set to go too, Mother."
"We can discuss that this evening," Leandra told her.
"Mrs. Hawke, we're grateful to you for everything you and your children have done for us," Nike said. "However, I would be a poor guest indeed if I did not say that waiting until this evening may not be wise."
"I agree," Alistair said, surprising Nike a little. "Tainted animals, like humans, do not last long. That deer could not have come more than half a day from wherever it was tainted, and that is if it ran at its full speed without deviation. No, whatever tainted it is much closer than that. Scouts, if I had my guess. The sooner everyone leaves here the better."
Nike measured him, wanting to ask if he was feeling them close but uncomfortable asking such a thing in mixed company. She had not yet felt the same fish hook tug in her gut just yet, but that meant little. When she'd felt it for the deer, it had been faint and yet the deer was almost on top of them. True darkspawn she may feel much stronger and from further away, but she didn't want to bet their lives on it.
"We will be departing within the next hour, ourselves," Nike said. "Darkspawn aside you have taken a great risk having us here, and it would be a poor show of our gratitude if we continued to extend that risk unnecessarily."
They finished up breakfast, and set about gathering their things. Nike drew Alistair aside as soon as she had a moment.
"Do you feel them? Are they close?" she asked without preamble. "I only felt that deer when it was nearly on top of us, and even then, it was faint. I'm not sure if that's the usual experience."
He shook his head. "Tainted animals and even people produce only the faintest sensation. It's easy to overlook if you're distracted. The darkspawn themselves- when you feel one of those there's no mistake. As for me, I don't feel much of anything just yet, but that could change at any moment."
"Me neither, but I'm on edge," she said, and looked back toward the woods. "Morrigan said we'd be foolish to linger here beyond morning and I'm inclined to agree. The sooner we're on our way, the better."
"Are we still heading for Arl Eamon?"
She nodded. "I can think of no better place to start, however our way cannot be direct. With this bounty on our heads- "
"I know what you mean. It doesn't seem real, does it? How could Loghain really think that we'd betray the King like that; betray anyone like that? Maker. This was already going to be hard, but with bounty hunters dogging our heels-…I don't know that we can do this, Nike."
"We haven't got much other choice. This makes it harder but changes nothing besides that. We still need to raise an army. We still need to find out how to kill the archdemon. Unless we want to drop everything and just flee for our lives; and I don't think that's an option for either of us, do you?"
"No," he said, raking a hand through his short hair. "No, of course not. I couldn't live with myself."
He looked over her shoulder at Tahja, who was several feet away with Holly, looking over the grullo's saddle. "I suppose this is a question with an obvious answer but, is she coming with us?"
"I don't think we could stop her," Nike said, following his gaze.
"I hate to think of her being hurt, but you're right. I think if we tried to leave her she'd just follow us anyway, and that wouldn't be any safer. At least if she's with us, we can protect her."
"The Sister wishes to come as well," Nike said, and he blinked.
"The-…really? Why would she do that? A Chantry sister-?"
"She claims she wasn't always Chantry, that she can protect herself. She also-" Nike rolled the rest of her words around in her mouth as if they tasted bitter, but decided to speak them anyway. "She also says she was sent to find us, to help us fight the Blight, by the Maker."
"Well, that's a relief, having the Maker on our side," he said with a grin. "Makes me feel loads better."
Nike gave him a dry look and he shrugged. "Not a good moment for a bit of humor? Well. Story of my life. Do you think she's safe?"
"I have no idea, though I can't imagine she wants us dead or just wants Loghain's bounty. She doesn't need to come with us for that, she could have us out right here and now. But I have no idea what her real motive may be. It could be she really does believe the Maker told her, in which case she's a lunatic. Or it could be she's just lying, which- "
"Which makes her a liar," he said. "And we still need to figure out if she's a harmless liar or a dangerous one."
"Should we turn her down?"
"Do you think she might follow us anyway, like Tahja?"
"I don't know," she said honestly. "My father used to say to keep your enemies at a distance so you had room to maneuver. But my mother said to keep them close, to make it the harder for them to plot in the shadows. Difference between enemies of war and enemies of the court, I suppose. But what's the Sister? An enemy of war? An enemy of the court? Is she even an enemy at all?"
"You're making my head spin. I don't know if we should bring her or not. It may be that having even more people in our party will help disguise who we are, if that makes sense? They're looking for two fugitive wardens, not a mixed band of refugees. The additional numbers may serve to hide us better. And gives us a bit more of a chance if someone does try and claim that bounty."
It was a fair point, one that Nike had considered herself, but it still left that further idea: it could also get them hurt, right along with the two wardens.
Eggs one way, an omelet the next, as the cook used to say.
"All right, we'll bring her," she said. "At least for the time being."
Her eyes wandered back over to the trees, and the paths beyond leading deeper into the wood.
"Something wrong?" he asked, and she shook her head slowly.
"No. No, nothing," she said. "I just…let's just get moving, as quickly as we can. I'll feel better when we're on the road again, I think. I'll let the Sister know she can come along for now. At least she has her own horse, so that'll be something."
They quickly finished getting themselves set to go. Besides the grullo there was a stiff-necked chestnut. Nike would ride 'Angry Horse' as Alistair had dubbed him with Tahja- the pair of them were light enough together as to not bog the animal down. Alistair took the chestnut, with several of the packs, and Leliana had a neat-hooved little silver mare already carrying her belongings and a pair of large wicker cages. In these, a few sleepy crows muttered to each other.
Nike smiled to herself a little as she rubbed her knuckles on the grullo's forehead, his happy grunts soon loud and much pleased. Ugly and snappy and mean as he was, she was glad to see him.
Adaon approached, carrying a bedroll and saddlebag in her hands. "Here," she said, passing them to Nike with a sad smile. "As promised. There are a few changes of clothing in here, a warm cloak, some food. There's a little pouch of coin too; it's not much."
"It's too much," Nike told her. "Adaon, your family- "
"We're going to be just fine, don't you worry about us," she said firmly. "You just get where you need to go and put a stop to this Blight before it musses my hair, or else I'm going to have to have a stern word or two when we see each other again."
Nike smiled, but it felt sad as well. Deep down, some part of her sensed that she wasn't going to be seeing Adaon again. Not in this life, anyway. It hit her much harder than she'd expected. Passing the saddlebags and bedroll to Tahja, she looked back at Adaon.
"Remember your promise," she said softly. "You stay safe. I have no doubt the world would be a much poorer place without you in it."
She couldn't be certain, but for a moment she could have sworn that Adaon blushed slightly. As if to hide it, she ducked in close and gave Nike a soft but thoroughly sweet kiss.
"You too, Nike," she whispered. "Go and save the world."
"If that's all I have to do, I'll see you again at tea time," Nike whispered back, and the two chuckled quietly together.
"Go on now. Get out of here before you make me cry. I'm ugly when I cry," Adaon said.
"I don't think that's possible," Nike told her, then turned toward the grullo, pulling herself into the saddle and lowering an arm to help pull Tahja up behind her. "Be well, Adaon Hawke."
Adaon nodded but didn't seem to trust herself to talk again. Instead she stepped back toward the door, where Carver, Bethany, and Leandra had gathered to bid them goodbye. As she turned her horse away from the house, the raven darted down from one of the trees and swooped off ahead of them. Nike kept her eyes fixed on Morrigan, telling herself she wasn't going to look back.
It was only a moment before Tahja leaned forward a little, whispering to her.
"Milady, they'll be ok," she said, and then, "She'll be ok."
"I know, Tahja," she replied gently. "But thank you for saying it."
Her eyes stole toward the woods again, and a brooding silence fell over her.
They rode in that silence for a long while, the village of Lothering and its crowds of refugees slowly falling behind them. It seemed the longer they rode the heavier her mood became. A weight seemed to be settling on her, and more and more she found her eyes stealing toward the woods now unravelling to their left. Her thoughts kept turning to her dream of the night before, and to Morrigan's warning.
Oren burning in the stable.
To stay beyond the morning would be courting foolishness.
Implacable eyes, watching her from inside an iron cage.
This is a proud and powerful creature.
The darkspawn closing in.
If you can see no use for him I would suggest releasing him, for mercy's sake alone.
The darkspawn.
As her eyes stole toward the woods again a pain moved through her stomach. The cramp was mild and low- she'd felt more pressing pains when her month was upon her- but those pains had never had a direction. This one seemed to tug toward the woods.
She slowed the horse abruptly. Though they had not been going more than a trot, the grullo objected to the sudden change with an angry little hop on its feet, his head tossing with annoyance. A moment later, Alistair was there beside her.
"You felt it, didn't you?"
"Yes. That was no tainted animal."
"No, it's the darkspawn," he said. "Scouting party, most likely, just as I suspected."
"I hope the Revered Mother listened," Leliana said, drawing up near as well. "Even a scouting party will wreak havoc on those poor refugees."
Nike's teeth clenched and she felt her jaw ripple. Sensing her mood, the grullo turned in a full circle and tossed his head again.
"Nike?" Alistair only had time to say her name before she hauled the grullo's head around and set her heels to his side.
"Maker take it all anyway!" She cursed furiously under her breath as the horse plunged forward, breaking into a gallop toward the Lothering woods, and that ominous ache in her gut.