Ashe
She tried to open her eyes but shut them again quickly, the onslaught of light blinding her as she coughed up whatever dirt had drifted down her throat. She hurt all over, every bump of the road hitting a sore spot.
Panic threatened to spread through her when she realized what being on the road meant. She tried to move again but felt rope around her wrists. She was tied behind her back. She opened her eyes again, more carefully this time, letting herself become used to the light. She was in a caged wagon of some sort, which was steadily moving forward. She tried to see who was driving it through the bars at the front, but she could only see the back of a hooded figure riding the only horse pulling the wagon.
What in the Fade happened to me?
She couldn't remember a thing. She'd been with Hawke, laughing for once. How had she ended up here? A sickening feeling etched itself into her stomach, the creeping fear so powerful that it made her gasp out loud. Not fear for herself, but for the others. She couldn't even imagine what had happened to Greyer, Cullen and Alistair for her to be captured like this. Angry with her or not, she knew they would all probably lay down their lives for her.
She prayed that nothing as dramatic as that had come to pass, but she had no way of knowing.
She looked at the driver again, contemplating if she should call on his attention or not. But if her captor had wanted her dead, surely she'd be just that by now.
"Hey!" she called at him.
The cloaked figure turned his head to the side but she couldn't see his face. He waved his hand and she only had time to curse to herself before darkness took her again.
When she woke up, she found herself, surprisingly, in a room fit for a queen. She felt hazy but shook her head to clear it. The room was bathed in candlelight, and there were expensive looking tapestries decorating the walls, luxurious furniture, exotic decorations, much more than even her own not so modest quarters in Skyhold held. But Skyhold was free of something that this room was not – there were bars on all the windows.
Ashe barely had time to let it sink in and wonder where she was before a voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Do you like it? It's all for you."
Her head whipped around to the door, where Adrian – no, Anders, stood leaning in against the frame.
How am I supposed to play this?
She didn't know where she was or really even who was standing before her. If he had truly taken her from Denerim, he was nothing like the man she had once loved like a brother.
"It's beautiful," she said, trying to sound calm and collected. "Although I am surprised to find myself here, as I'm sure you understand."
His brow furrowed and he walked up to her and sat next to her on the bed. She tried not to flinch and pull away when he took her hands in his.
"I know, and I am sorry for all of this. It's for your own protection, so that I can keep you safe from the madman who attacked you," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.
Ashe tried her hardest not to let her disbelief show on her face. He sounded like a madman.
"Did... did you hurt anyone? When you took me?" She couldn't look at him so she kept staring at the floor.
"Kitten... They could never protect you like I can. Look what happened to you while in the King's care, or with your Commander watching over you. Did they stop the attacks? No. Only I can keep you safe. I know this foul magic enough to..."
"Did you hurt them, I said?" This time, she couldn't keep her anger out of her voice. If he had touched a hair on any of their heads, she would fucking have his.
He sighed. "No. They're all safe. I just put them to sleep."
Alistair
He cursed himself for being so careless. In a fit of rage, of this immense frustration he felt, he'd dragged Anders out of the dungeons to torture a confession out of him. He'd taken two of his most skilled mages with him to ensure that Anders wouldn't be able to try anything. But after Alistair had knocked him unconscious, the mages had let their guard down. They told him after, that in the instant that Anders had come to, he must have immediately attacked them all and put them to sleep.
When Alistair woke up, Anders was gone. And when they stumbled upon Hawke and Cullen, lying face down, unconscious, on the floor of a corridor in the castle, he knew that Ashe was gone as well. He could feel it.
He'd let that man take her away and he would never forgive himself for it. But most of all, he would never forgive Anders. He'd taken Ashe, killed Mahariel. Alistair would do the opposite of forgiving. He would take pleasure in torturing him before he snuffed the life out of him with his own two hands.
Cullen
"Ashe said the words to me herself. She didn't remember before, but he must have attacked her mind right there when Hawke and I were trying to snap her out of it," Cullen said. Hawke, who was sitting in a chair opposite of him, clutching his hand to a wound on his forehead, nodded in agreement. Alistair was pacing back and forth in front of them.
"She said his name?"
"Yes. I asked her, begged her, to tell me who did this to her. And she whispered it in my ear."
"Anders," Hawke all but spat. Cullen nodded.
"We can't tell anyone about this," Alistair said.
"What?" Cullen couldn't believe him. He should have every one of his soldiers out there looking for Ashe right now, but he wanted to pretend like nothing had happened?
"We can't afford to let the public know," Alistair responded. "What would they think if they knew that Ashe had been snatched from under our very noses? After Mahariel... The scandal, the lack of security – it's unthinkable. Not just for me, for Ferelden, but for your Inquisition as well. That you could not even keep her safe..."
Cullen flew to his feet and pointed his finger at the King. "That's your doing. She was here as a guest, and you allowed a murderer to infiltrate..."
"Shut up, both of you," Hawke interjected. "Alistair is right. It doesn't matter who is to blame, it would look equally bad for both of you if this got out. Lucky for you, I happen to know the man who's taken our girl very well."
Cullen grimaced at his choice of words. Ashe was his girl, not theirs. But he couldn't let that distract him now. "Did you know him after he became a raving lunatic as well?" he asked, bitterness seeping into his voice.
Hawke looked grim. "I'm afraid I did. But this time, I won't let him off the hook. I was emotional and blinded by our friendship back then, when I let him go. But not this time. Not when he's taken Ashe. We need to go, just the three of us. We need to find them, quickly and quietly. I hate to admit it, but the conqueror of the Fifth Blight and the Commander of the Inquisition – who both happen to be madly in love with the woman we're trying to save - I mean, I could probably do worse in finding men likely to do a damned dedicated job finding her."
Cullen glanced at Alistair, who looked not the least bit amused, but he could see it on the other man's face as well as he felt it himself. Hawke was right.
Maker have mercy on his immortal soul, he would have to work with them.
Ashe
Something prickled her senses. She sat up and cocked her head to the side like a cat, straining to hear whatever it was that she felt close. It was too dark to see anything.
Whatever or whoever it was must have sneaked up without a sound, because Ashe was not an easy target to stealth around. But she could hear someone breathe very close to her now, and Ashe found herself feeling both ice-cold and sweating at the same time.
"There, there, little dear. Don't be afraid."
Ashe froze, dread seizing her as if death itself had come for her. And maybe it had. Because despite only having met the woman once, she'd know that voice anywhere. It was not one she'd thought she'd ever hear again – because that woman was dead.