Author's disclaimer: I don't own a thing belonging to "Dragon Age2" or "Dragon Age Inquisition."
Author's notes: Guilt, past enemies, all that coming back to roost in the blood of the Hawke :P Credits to CharlieBarrow for helping with the opening scene.
CharlieBarrow: Thanks for your words.
Guest: I know, I always have a tossup between Isabela and Merrill every time I play the game. Currently it's Isabela again :P
"Catching the wind"
Chapter thirty-four "Old Battles"
"Which one do you want?"
Hawke scrubbed the back of her neck with one fist. Isabela was showing heavily, and while she appreciated her rounder breasts and doted on her belly, her mate was far more tired lately. Hawke was content to abstain herself from rougher intimacy, but Isabela had given her a cheeky suggestion. Hawke had only gaped at her and refused.
Yet next time in port, Isabela had insisted on dragging her to a high-scale brothel to have a "fun afternoon," as she called it. Hawke had gone along, mainly to placate her. Her strong Isabela wouldn't have listened and really, Hawke found if she went along with her, they always had a lot of fun. They had done it before, before the Arishok, before the three years she'd gone….
There was a gaggle of "available" girls artfully posed against the backdrop of the brothel entrance. It was very high-scale and while the girl's outfits were abit more risqué, they still covered everything while they were outside. A pretty girl with red curls was taken aside by Isabela and the girl blushed as her pregnant mate gave her comments on her voluptuous curves.
Hawke blinked as Isabela leaned to whisper into the girl's ear and the girl blushed bright red. Her eyes settled between her legs and Hawke gave a nervous look.
Merrill, sweet Merrill, wouldn't have gone along with this. Well, for love of her, she would have, but Hawke knew her sweet mate deserved a gentler approach to their union. And Maker help her, she'd always tried to give that to her.
Isabela merely reveled in lust with her and lust could be shared. And she so wanted to please her in her delicate state.
Hawke was starting to feel an itch in her crotch when her mate beckoned her closer. The other girls waiting in front of the brothel eyed her none too subtly. Hawke lit up at Isabela's smile, her dark eyes gleaming with mischief for her. Hawke took her hand. When she leaned in to kiss her cheek, Isabela twined her fingers through her hair and giggled.
"Sweet thing, this is Ardith. She's eager for an inspection of your goods."
"What have you been telling her?"
Hawke gallantly held a hand to the whore who took it, blushing.
Ardith gave a grin. "That your sword needs a tight sheath to grip every inch of you. Your lady didn't say how thick a sword it is, though…"
Hawke coughed. Isabela trailed her fingers along her bare forearm.
"You're cute, girl, but I'm no lady."
Hawke's eyes went soft as she regarded her mate. "You are to me….."
"Oh you, sweet thing," Isabela purred.
She led them to a private room. Hawke had shifted by the walk upstairs, her cock straining against her clothing. Isabela leaned up to kiss her, one hand going low along her waist. Hawke smiled into the embrace. Then new hands were on her, going under her tunic and caressing her skin. Hawke's stomach concaved. She made to say to keep her tunic closed, but the girl was attuned to the situation and read her mood clearly. She touched her under the fabric but didn't try to part the clasps. Hawke sighed as her trousers were opened and pushed down. Isabela sank into a comfortable chair and watched with bright shining eyes. She licked her lip at her mate.
Hawke gave her a rueful grin as the girl got to her knees to sample what she was offering. Hawke had to sigh at the attention. Soon she was hard, and throbbing and she had to decide whether to urge the girl up and out of her clothes and onto the bed when Ardith bobbed down near her base and kept her there, sucking. Hawke groaned as she crested an orgasm, hips thrusting forward.
Isabela grinned as she rubbed her belly, leaning back to get comfortable. "Tastes good, doesn't she?"
Ardith pulled back, lapping around Hawke's sensitive head, one hand gently stroking her base. "Now I see why you call her sweet….. so good…."
Hawke helped her to her feet and the girl tugged at a few clasps and her dress began to fall around her waist. Hawke grinned and helped strip her. Her shift was hard again, and she stepped out of her trousers, closed tunic falling around her naked waist. Hawke had to admit she needed a hard ride and the girl was luckily sopping wet when her fingers stroked between her thighs. Ardith widened her legs and murmured encouragement. Hawke barely gave her breasts a squeeze before she was sliding between her thighs, pushing in.
The girl welcomed her in and moaned as she pulsed around her shaft. Hawke wondered if the girls in this brothel were given aphrodisiacs, for she seemed really into it. There was no faking her bodily reactions. Hawke found her hips pounding faster and faster and she gave her Isabela a roguish grin. Isabela gave her a sultry wink and her gaze dipped down to where she was joined to Ardith, her cock's base thick where she split the girl's cave open. The bed rocked steadily from her thrusts.
A loud cry rent the air and Hawke's attention was brought back down to the girl gripping her so tightly. She knelt up, holding the girl's thighs open, and her hips churned faster and faster. When she came, lights flashed behind her eyelids and Hawke grunted deeply. The girl mewled beneath her so Hawke helped her by rubbing her thumb over her prominent clit. The girl shuddered around her, milking her cock.
Hawke gave a few more languid thrusts and withdrew. Her cock bobbed between her legs, not quite ready to shift down. The hungry look Isabela was giving her urged her flesh to thicken and stand upright. She walked closer to the stuffed chair Isabela was in and leaned to kiss her. Isabela giggled when Hawke fell to her knees to kiss and nip along her inner thighs. Hawke's hands pushed her loose tunic up.
"No smallclothes?" Hawke teased.
"Oh you, I'm ready for you," Isabela purred. Hawke couldn't pass up tonguing her a few times, lapping up Isabela's juices eagerly. She stood between her soft thighs, pressing in carefully.
Ardith watched on the bed as the alpha half stood, half leaned between her pregnant mate's thighs, fucking her slowly. No, not fucking. Their sighs of pleasure indicated they were enjoying the motions, but the way they held each other's eyes spoke of more than fucking. They were loving each other, and Ardith swallowed. She didn't think it was real but seeing the way the alpha made love to her mate told her it was very real.
When they were done, Hawke withdrew carefully and helped clean her mate up. She pressed kisses to Isabela's flushed cheek, helping her up once her legs stopped shaking.
"Sorry, did we run over any time?" Hawke asked Ardith. The girl had cleaned up and was wearing a light shift. She waved a hand.
"It's fine! That was good to watch too…." She blushed. Hawke gave her a grin and let Isabela take her arm and lean against her. Her hand descended on Isabela's belly, rubbing the babe inside.
"Are you okay?" she whispered. Isabela nodded as they left and took the stairs to the first floor of the brothel.
"More than okay," she giggled. "I'm glad my sweet thing had some sweetness left over for me…."
Hawke blushed, recalling how the prostitute had called her seed sweet. She turned bright red. "Oh, Bela…."
"Come on, let's go get our daughter from Merrill. Kitten has all three pups, and she needs a break," Isabela suggested. Hawke brightened looking forward to seeing her second mate.
"She loves them so much," she protested. Isabela leaned her head against Hawke's strong shoulder.
"I know she does. Come on, let's go."
Hawke led her mate back to the market square.
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Back on the ship, the twins told their parents of the goods they saw with Merrill. She had needed a few magical items, and they were happy to carry the bag for her. Merrill held Magpie up on one shoulder, bouncing her. Their beloved daughter was hers in so many ways and gave a high giggle once when her mamae kissed her round cheek. Merrill lit up at the sight of her mate and Isabela.
"Did you have fun?" she chirped. Hawke coughed loudly and Isabela laughed.
"In so many ways, kitten," Isabela teased. When she made her way up the gangplank, she noticed Hawke gazing at her round belly with wonder and walking up behind her. She blushed.
"Papa? Are we going home?" Falcon asked. Hawke blinked. She smiled down at her son.
"Of course, son. We'll drill on the way."
After Falcon and Lark got their weapons, Hawke grunted. She had Falcon hold his wooden long sword out with one hand. She measured him with her eyes and then felt the length of his thin arm. He and Lark were gaining small muscles as they got bigger, she was pleased to notice. She also noticed her son's wooden weapons were smaller compared to their size.
"You both got bigger. I'll need to have new weapons made for you," Hawke said out loud. Falcon flashed his brother a surprised look and they both giggled aloud.
"Truly, Papa? Great!"
Hawke ruffled her eldest's hair. "Let's do some sit ups then."
As the Stormy Lover left the port, the boys tried to keep up with the Champion as they did their exercises on the open deck of the ship. Isabela watched from the wheel deck, adjusting her wide hat to keep the sun out of her eyes. Hawke's belly was still flat, thanks to their exercises, and her eyes traced every line of her wiry biceps. Merrill kept hold of their daughter and seagulls cawed overhead as they sailed out to sea.
Falcon yelled happily as he and Lark beat Hawke in their counts up to fifty. The three had their feet tucked under a hard pile of rope coiled on deck to keep momentum. Mel took a light hop over the rope on her way past, smiling.
Isabela inhaled the salt air happily, eyes drifting from the horizon to her family on the deck. Yes, this was the life.
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"You don't need anything in particular, do you?" Merrill chirped beside her. Hawke shrugged, bouncing Magpie to her shoulder. The vendors cried out beside them as they pushed through the market. This port was abit busier and hoping to blend in with the crowd, Hawke had opted to shop with Merrill and their toddler.
"Not that I can think of. Well, maybe we can check on the twin's weapons," Hawke suggested. She hadn't the carving tools to make new practice weapons, so they'd come back to this port to check on their order with a woodsmith. Merrill clutched the crook of her arm.
"Isabela wasn't feeling well…."
Hawke sighed. Isabela stayed on the ship, citing nausea. Her belly was positively huge now and the twins had stayed on deck with Craven to guard the ship. Hawke had promised Isabela they'd be fast, and after a kiss, she took her second mate by hand, and carried their baby in her free arm. Feeling good with half her family, Hawke doted on Merrill, making jokes, buying her few trinkets she didn't ask for. But now….
She leaned, ducking out of her rogue's hood to capture the elf's lips in a deep kiss. Magpie gave a sudden giggle beside them, tugging on Merrill's longer locks of hair suddenly. Merrill gasped when their lips parted and looked up into Hawke's face, blushing.
"What was that for?" Merrill beamed.
"I don't need a reason to kiss my beloved," Hawke murmured. Merrill smiled, stroking the toddler's cheek with one finger. Magpie grabbed hold and held tight.
"Oh, Hawke," Merrill smiled, and the world seemed brighter. Hawke beamed and tucked Merrill's hand back in the crook of her arm.
They walked through the bustling crowd, listening to the vendors calling out around them. Hawke noticed a line of soldiers, their matching armor gleaming under the sun. She angled Merrill out of the way and only when her mate was safely tucked under her arm did Hawke see the sigil engraved on the breastplates. That same gleaming eye, ringed with lines of fire. It seemed to see through Hawke, and she ducked further into her hood.
The Inquisition. They wanted her….. to punish her for the conflict they'd fled from. She couldn't leave her family, she couldn't…. But Kirkwall's conflicts could be laid squarely at her door. The sudden guilt that roiled up in her throat tasted of bile.
"Oh look, Hawke, roasted walnuts," Merrill said. Hawke gave her a gentle push, laying Magpie into her arms.
"Go ahead and get a few bags for us. I'll be right there."
Hawke kept her gaze on Merrill as she moved along. Then she ducked back toward a makeshift bar (a strip of wood balanced on two barrels made do) set outside one of the local taverns. A mustachioed man was pouring tankards of ale from a small barrel hoisted on one shoulder. A young girl at his side collected silver pieces deftly.
"Ale?" he grunted toward Hawke. She flipped a silver to the girl and nodded deep in the confines of her hood.
"Aye," Hawke said. She took the offered tankard and took a sip. The ale was surprisingly cool; the barrel must have just been collected from a cool basement. She leaned out of the way as a retinue of the Inquisition's forces broke away to complete shopping or buy a drink. Hawke tried not to tense as they surrounded her at the slab of wood making a workspace for the tavern worker.
"Seeker has us seeking. Damn this strange force. Any rumor or evidence of foreign magic. Ha! We're no mages!"
"Didn't you hear? The Lady Morrigan is asking for the foreign magics. Inquisitor's going up against some ancient evil."
"Ancient evil being any lord with a stick up his arse."
"No, seriously! It's no one of proper flesh and blood. Some ancient magister risen from a tomb held by blood magic….
"Aye, his seal was laid by some mage named Hawke…."
The hairs along Hawke's arms rose. Blinking, she could see the dim crumbling passages of the ruins Grey Warden Larius had led her party through. Down, down into the earth they had gone, following strange passages of light laid behind by a mage thirty some years ago….. a mage whose voice was familiar. Her father….
"That's not who's important right now! That damned devil that came out….. Corypheus…."
That name triggered a sliver of fear along Hawke's spine as if she were struck by lightning. But….he was dead! Corypheus was dead. She should know, she'd delivered the killing blow herself! Again and again her sword had gone into his torso, and one final strike into his skull let the emaciated body-corpse fall emotionless at her boots.
Hawke sputtered and forced herself to swallow the ale in her mouth. The liquid went down hard.
"Well he ain't dead no more. Blasted mages and their dark magic…."
Hawke set her tankard on the wood strip, nodding a thanks to the sweating tavern worker. He nodded and went to serve a line of dwarven scouts wearing the Inquisition sigil. Hawke shouldered her way as confidently through the soldiers as she could, but she hunched into her hood as she did.
She blindly groped through the crowd until she felt safe enough to pull the hood back from her eyes to search for her mate. Sudden worry for Merrill and their daughter made her stomach cramp. Hawke found Merrill at the next store, trying to reign in her harsh breathing.
"Hawke! What is it?" Merrill giggled as Hawke grabbed her close. Magpie grinned at her.
"Nothing! Come, let's get back to the ship."
Hawke was suddenly glad that the twins had stayed behind with Isabela. Less family to secure. As she led Merrill up the gangplank, Hawke located them guarding the top of the stairs. Falcon jogged up to greet her, reporting that their mother had thrown up and was laying down.
"I'll go check on her," Hawke murmured. She ruffled Falcon's hair. "Stay on guard."
"Yes, Papa."
The ship was cool and dark as Hawke made her way down the steps. She parted down the hallway and made her way to the end of the passage. Pushing into the captain's quarters, Hawke smiled to note Isabela was resting in the large bed. The covers were askew, and she was resting against the pillows. One hand was splayed across her belly and a soft smile was on her lips.
"How was the market?" Isabela asked. Hawke padded closer and sat on the edge of the bed. She leaned to kiss Isabela, one hand rubbing her belly. She banished the memory of the cool stones, the creepy crawly attackers in the dark, the crumbling walls, the archways extending over seemingly bottomless pits. They were here, they were safe. And she'd killed Corypheus. She was sure of it.
"Just fine, Bela. How's the pup? And you?" she was quick to add. Isabela sighed, rubbing her mate's hand.
"Restless. Making me ill. Your damned seed is potent," Isabela half cursed. But a fond smile was on her lips. Hawke leaned to kiss her.
No, she couldn't focus on old evils. They were laid to rest deep beneath the earth in a crumbling fortress. Nothing could harm her family now…. Nothing. Hawke would make sure of it.
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Isabela was in her last trimester with her fourth pup and Hawke was happy to stay on the island, making their community work. A few new sailors and their families had been allowed ashore and had built their own small homes. One was a tailor, so new clothing was purchased or bartered for from the middle-aged woman. Another was a blacksmith. Getting his small forge onto the beach and to the area around Isabela's distillery had been a bitch and a half.
But he'd gotten to work sharpening blades, making weapons and helping with any building. Craven was often seen with the burly man, carrying anything that needed carrying.
Hawke stood on the small deck connecting the captain's home to the wooden walkways connecting to the other houses. The shade of the trees high above kept the setting sun's rays from her eyes. Merrill had opened a bottle of her stashed wine in the storage room. What was one more gift opened and enjoyed? Merrill had gone back inside to check on the stove and the stew cooking. Falcon had clambered after and Lark was playing with Magpie on a blanket on the wooden floor of the great room.
Outside, Hawke swatted at a mosquito. She should light the night torches. They were made with sweet grass and kept most of the insect life at bay. But the sun was moving so slowly, light fading. As night and darkness descended, Hawke found herself thinking. It was a new thing in her life to be living on an island, but she couldn't see her family living anywhere else now. Their small island was secure and all that lived with them were trusted. Her children were well looked after and had their own private beaches to drill and play on.
"I wish I could have some of that."
Hawke turned, beaming. Isabela was coming out of the front door, round with their child. She set her glass of wine on a railing and put her arms around her mate carefully. Isabela chuckled as she pressed kisses along her neck and shoulder.
"That was my last glass," Hawke offered. Isabela nodded against her shoulder.
"You always find other ways to tempt me, sweet thing."
Isabela sounded so relaxed and happy that Hawke wanted to ease into the moment. Their fourth pup would be born at home, home, and wasn't that a fine thing to think of? Magpie was almost five and had been born at sea. Their fourth's first memories would be on this island. Kirkwall's fall was so far behind them, but once in awhile it came nipping hard at their heels.
But not tonight. Hawke grinned into her mate's face and leaned to kiss her. Isabela accepted it and twined her arms around Hawke's neck.
"Aye, I do, do I? Pray tell, what temptations do I carry for you," Hawke teased. Isabela's eyes sparkled.
"What's below the belt, and in that pretty head of yours. And oh, those honeyed words from that silver tongue of yours," Isabela purred.
Hawke nodded, pretending to think. She kissed Isabela's cheek softly. "Any aches or pains?" Her hand fell on Isabela's belly and rubbed. Isabela laid her hand over hers and squeezed. The light from the setting sun seemed to shine in her eyes.
"None more than usual," Isabela purred. Hawke picked up her glass, draining it as she went back inside with her mate. The lanterns were lit in the kitchen and Hawke carefully helped her mate into her chair at the table. Bowls and spoons were laid out and Hawke noted Lark bouncing Magpie on his lap.
"You can put her in her chair, son," Hawke suggested. Lark picked the baby up and set her in the highchair that had been carved for her. Magpie patted her hands carefully on the slab of wood pressed up against her belly. Falcon turned from the wood oven, helping Merrill carry the large pot of stew. The elf ladled a healthy serving into everyone's bowls.
Hawke smiled as her family sat down, passing out utensils and pouring water from an earthenware jug. "Go ahead, loves."
Isabela winked at her.
End for now
End notes: Like it, drop a review. Stay strong, my lovelies. And Ardith apparently means "one fighting the good fight" (snicker).
Pen 6/11/2019