Chapter 28) Under the Rain
Cleon POV
I heard Ashalle calling for me, but I stayed where I was. It had taken a lot of work to find the perfect tree to hide in, and I wasn't going to move. This spot shielded me from the rain, and unwanted eyes. Eyes filled with pity as they realized I just overheard what they'd spent years hiding.
She left. Mamae left Lyna and me. Gave birth and left. It shouldn't matter. I had no memories of her. Ashalle was my mamae. But she just… left. Didn't look back. And, as I hid tears behind my hands, and my face in my knees, I had to admit, at least to myself, that it hurt. A lot. A lot, a lot.
So what if she had reasons? So what if it was the 'right choice'? It didn't magically make the pain go away.
The rain pounded us as we ran. As we slipped and slid in the mud and scrambled over rocks in an effort to get away faster, I kept thinking of the battle. Of Shem-king Cailan, who died because he'd chosen to help soldiers. Of Duncan, who'd chosen to hold the line instead of saving himself. Of the soldiers who chose to buy time for their fellows to get away. These weren't actions I associated with shemlen. Shemlen were supposed to be stupid, greedy, selfish. Why weren't they acting like they were supposed to?! Why were they acting like Dalish? Nothing in the world made sense.
"Cleon!" Aiden called at some point. I stopped and slowly turned to face him. Both he and Elspeth were struggling up the rocks. We'd left the main road a while back. I'd automatically gone for the paths less traveled, and they just followed. "We need a breather." I almost demanded why, but I noticed his ashen complexion. Elspeth showed no signs of exhaustion, but she did hold on tightly to Aiden's arm as he helped her get to more level ground. "We need a destination."
"We're running for our lives," I growled. The soaking mess the rain made of all of us, though, seeped away any heat. "Why do we need one?"
"To make sure we don't run into worse." What was worse? "Not to mention it being folly to keep running in this storm. We can barely see our feet hit the ground, and the ground is just getting more treacherous." For someone who looked like he was about to pass out, Aiden sure spoke a lot of logical things.
"We wouldn't need to do this if that general of theirs did what he was supposed to." The words fell bitterly into the air. "But he just abandoned us."
"Tactically speaking, it probably saved a lot of soldier's lives," Elspeth noted absently. I felt like someone had just knocked the breath out of me. "There were far too many darkspawn for the charge to have had any real effect, aside from adding to the deaths."
"Are you sticking up for him?!" I snapped, livid. All those deaths… Those weren't justified!
"I'm so sorry that the world isn't black and white like you seem to want it, Cleon!" I stared in shock as she snapped back, trying to think if I'd ever heard her even raise her voice in our brief acquaintanceship. Coming up with nothing, I glanced to Aiden, only to find him also staring in blank shock. Well then. "You don't have good and evil all laid out for you! We're not children!"
And there went my temper. "Well, what abut Howe?! You have a justification for him?!"
"Do I? No! Is there one? Perhaps there is!" And she fired back with just as much heat. Wonderful. "Just because I don't know it doesn't mean it doesn't exist!"
"He's a monster and Loghain is a traitor to you all!"
"Loghain isn't a traitor if his action actually saves Fereldan!" I only vaguely noted Aiden trying to catch out attention. "But Howe's human! Don't twist him into something he's not! He's a human and a product of society!"
"So your society creates monsters?"
"Does yours create egotistical, overbearing children who pretend to be adults?" I was going to punch her! "You're quite the example if-!"
"SHUT UP!" Aiden roared, snatching both of us by the shoulder and pushing us down, curling us into his chest protectively. I almost demanded what was going on when I saw the arrow thud right where his shoulder met his neck. I reached over to the stupid sword Elspeth had at her waist and popped it out of its sheathe to see it glowing. Darkspawn. "Run!" He shoved us away and turned, catching an axe deep into his side.
"Aiden!" I yelled, surging forward to strike the darkspawn. I rip through its chest with ease and hunted around for the archer who'd shot first. Just when I caught sight of it, though, I saw an arrow fly through the rain and wind to strike it in the head. Blinking, I turned and saw Elspeth with her bow out, another arrow in hand, just in case. "Oh. You know how to use it." I'd thought she'd just been carrying it around for the intimidation factor.
"The lady of the household is expected to defend her home castle," she answered cooly. The arrow went back into her quiver. The bow, to her back. "Aiden, can you hear me?" Right, Aiden!
I knelt beside him, shaking his shoulder. He groaned and managed a wan smile, but he was pale from pain and going into shock. "We've got to get to shelter."
"I'll carry him." She did, too, easily getting his arm around her shoulder and half-carrying, half-dragging him after me as I loped ahead, looking for a good place to rest.
"Lady Elspeth, did you get shorter?" I heard Aiden mumble. I glanced back to check how dazed he was. "You're supposed to be taller than me, my lady."
"Aiden, I'm only taller than you when I'm wearing heels, like I did when we were on the run." Heels? What were those? "They aren't practical for mud and battles, so I'm in boots."
"I see, my lady." I was just… going to let them have their strange talk while I hunted. That was probably what was best for my sanity.
I was thankful my pack had made the trip successfully with me. It made starting a fire so much easier. As I urged it into life, I glanced around the cave I found, just to make sure it was a safe place to rest. Satisfied, I twisted and saw Elspeth almost had all of Aiden's dented armor off, revealing a sweat and blood stained shirt and pants. Aiden himself had passed out from exhaustion, pain, and blood loss shortly before I found the place. We really didn't have a lot of time to save him.
I checked him over silently, grimacing at the bite wound on his neck just a fingernail's distance from the arrow wound. Where did he get that? Shaking my head, I continued hunting for wounds. Bite wound, arrow, and where the ax had cleaved into him. The rest could wait.
"Do you have needle and thread?" I asked, glancing at Elspeth. Even though I was still angry at her, this wasn't the time.
"I do, but it's for simple cloth," she answered, carefully rummaging through her pack to produce a small case.
"That's fine." I popped it open and tried to thread one of the needles. My hands shook from tiredness, though, making it difficult. "It'll work."
"It will?"
"Yes." My annoyance was getting through. "Don't you learn basic first aid?"
"Oh, yes, I did, in between learning finances, logistics, history, languages, cultures, proper distribution of labor, plants and their uses, legislation and the justice system of all major powers of Thedas, how to take care of children, religious studies, and basic weapons work." Her dry voice bled sarcasm. "No, I didn't learn how to sew up a bloody wound! That's not our basic first aid, for starters, and I never expected to be close enough to a battle to have to use it. Fergus and Nuada took on the battle aspects, and I focused on keeping our lands running smoothly and diplomacy." She glared. "I'm so sorry that I'm only twenty and don't know everything yet!"
Ugh, this woman…! "Fen'harel's teeth, I think I preferred you quiet."
"Yeah, so does everyone else." I froze at the bitter yet resigned tone, and glanced to see deep hurt hiding behind fiery anger in her eyes. "Give me that." She snatched the needle from me, and threaded it easily. "So, tell me, oh great fountain of knowledge and wisdom, how do I stitch this wound? Whip stitch?"
"Yeah." Shaking my head, I waited until she started before examining Aiden's arrow wound a bit more closely. Noticing the abnormally large entry wound, I reached up to pull out the arrow.
"Don't do that." I glanced down and saw her staring at me. "Darkspawn weapons aren't known for their quality," she explained softly. "Rip it out, and there's a good chance you'll leave the head inside." I couldn't tell if that was a brilliant tactic or a stupid one. "Besides, these aren't hunting arrows. You'll do more damage ripping it out even if the head came with it. That's why they're barbed."
"So, I need to either push it through or cut it out." I debated and decided to go with cutting it out. There was a good possibility of it hitting bone, and there was no way I could break a bone to remove an arrow. "I thought you didn't know everything yet."
"I'm an archer. I wasn't allowed to touch the bow until I learned the history of its use." Well, splendid. "The Dalish try to hide their presence, right?"
"Most of the time." Groping for my small knife in my pack, I flipped it out and made an incision next to the wound before slowly digging into it to try and find the arrowhead. Thankfully, it was remarkably shallow. Still… "I'll need at least two more needles threaded."
"Why do you need two?"
"He has a bite wound."
"Disinfect the wounds first." I nearly snapped at her about how we didn't have any time to make up a concoction for that, but then saw she had some already out. "…I'm good with herbs."
"I honestly don't know whether to thank or punch you," I told her honestly. It got me a wry smile. "You'll want to go back around on that wound to make it more secure. How much do you have in bandages?"
"I have a lot." She nudged her pack closer to me. "Give me two seconds on those needles."
"It's going to take longer than that to get this out, I think." I couldn't get a good grip on the arrowhead and had to wiggle the shaft around to widen the wound more. Aiden made some minor, wordless protest to it, but it was ridiculously weak. "He's probably going to have a fever from all of this."
"I'll take your word for that." She calmly passed me one threaded needle as I finally extracted the damn arrow. Annoying little…! "Pay close attention to the wounds. Arrow injuries are notorious for infection."
As were bite wounds. "Yeah, I know what to do."
Silence fell as we continued to work, only interrupted with Aiden's weak moans of pain. He was completely out, and that didn't make me feel any better about the situation. Mythal, please protect him. He really deserves better.
Sometime while I was stitching the wounds, Elspeth finished and moved to the entrance of the cave to be sick. I decided acknowledging would be worse, so I kept quiet as she returned, sipping rainwater from her hands to get out the taste. I only said something when I felt something drop on my head. "What the-?"
"Use it to dry off," she whispered. Tying off the bite wound's stitches, I set down the two needles I used and grabbed the cloth clinging to my head. I hesitated, but did use the thing to towel off. She abstained from using one herself, choosing to instead tend to Aiden. "How bad are your injuries?"
"Fiiiiii…" I began, but then the adrenaline and worry started to fade and I felt everything burn and ache. I hated when that happened. "Never mind. Give me a moment. Everything hurts."
"Is it normal for that to happen?" I nearly gave a sarcastic retort, but saw her jaw clench in pain and just nodded. "I see."
"You don't get in a lot of fights, do you?"
"All the fights I've been in have been for self-defense, typically against would-be assassins." Ah… "Let me know if you need help."
I studied her a moment before sighing, grabbing her ankle, and roughly tugging her to the ground. She loosed a squeaky yelp as her butt hit the floor. "I think you need it first," I noted, roughly tugging off her boot to reveal bruises, long scrapes, and a couple of blistered burn patches. "You were running on this leg?"
"…Uncle Duncan once warned me that if darkspawn were around, and I couldn't fight them off, I needed to run or commit suicide," she whispered, awkwardly looking at the stone walls as I tended to her leg. "I didn't fancy dying, so I ran."
"Aggravating some wounds in the process." Granted, none of us could probably talk, but I didn't think Aiden had any wounds on his legs. I was certain I didn't. I relied on my legs too much in a fight to keep going on anything but a minor wound.
"Your back is bothering you, though." I glanced up and she shrugged. "You wince every time you twist, and your armor shows a pretty big gash."
"I think it's just bruised."
"Let me check anyway." I almost protested, but just sighed instead. She had the same stubborn look Lyna did, and I knew better than to fight that off.
Silence reigned again as we worked on removing our armor and bandaging each other up. For someone who'd only been on the field a few short moments, Elspeth had picked up a lot of wounds. I couldn't say I was much better, when you factored in bruises, but I'd been fighting. We ended up forgoing bandages for all but the worst wounds. Aiden would need them more, and we had a very limited supply.
"Why did you grab the portraits?" I asked once we were done with bandaging. I rummaged through my pack for a fresh shirt and pulled it on, leaving my armor off to enjoy the blessed sense of weightlessness. My old shirt I added as fuel to the fire. There was no way to clean those stains out.
"I…" She hesitated in answering, though I did notice she had little qualms changing her own shirt in front of me. Then again, she had a twin brother. It probably wasn't as big of a deal to her. "I'm afraid of forgetting what everyone looked like." …Ah… "I also didn't want the darkspawn to destroy Cailan's drawings, so I just… I just grabbed them without thinking."
"No, I can understand that." I reached into my pack and pulled out the portrait of my parents. "See?"
She slid a little closer, and a small smile cracked onto her face. "These your parents?"
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"Well, the man looks almost exactly like you." Huh? "At least, he does when you don't have the scowl on your face."
"Haha, very funny." Resisting the urge to scowl and prove her point, I returned the portrait back to my pack and headed to the entrance of the cave, to make sure nothing else was trying to take refuge in the cave. I leaned against the wall as I stared out in the distance, absently fiddling with my necklace and bracelet, remembering the Clan and taking comfort from the memories. My thoughts slowly trailed into remembering the songs we'd sing around the campfire, and one song in particular waved through my head. Achingly beautiful, warming my spirit, though I struggled to remember where, in fact, I'd heard it. It was ancient and nostalgic and…
And my cheek exploded in pain as something slammed into it. Staggering to get my footing back, I looked up to see Elspeth at my side, one hand curled into a fist. "You wouldn't answer my calls," she explained. This did not explain how I had blood in my mouth! "When you started swaying close to the edge, I decided more extreme measures were necessary." I was bleeding! How hard did she hit me?! "Though I must admit, it felt rather nice to punch you. I've been wanting for a while." I glared at her, but she was looking at something over my head. "Well, I never expected to witness two dragon fights." Oh, wait, what?
I turned to see what she was talking about and froze as I caught sight of one dragon. "I… I don't think that's a dragon fight, Elspeth?"
"Is that so? I admit only one looks like a High Dragon, but…"
"The other burns with Taint." I glanced back in time to see her pale. Yeah. Yeah. "That's the Archdemon." We were supposed to kill that?! Wardens were insane!
"Then what is the other dragon?" I had no idea, so I just shrugged and settled my feet. I spat out the blood pooled in my mouth as the two dragons fought. Clawing and screeching. Raining fire and splitting the sky with violet magic. They tore into each other, blood flying and wings tearing. Eventually, the Archdemon's side exploded in a mess of blood and fire as the other dragon tore into it with its teeth, breathing fire to char the inside. The Archdemon roared in pain and it echoed painfully in my head, through my body. It took to the skies, hiding in the clouds. The other dragon watched and waited for a short while before turning for the wilds.
When the dragon was enveloped in a golden light and became nothing but a dot in the distance, I gaped. "Asha'bellanar," I breathed, recognizing her signature shapeshifting abilities. "Why would she fight the Archdemon?"
"Well, she'd probably die in the Blight too," Elspeth answered with a small shrug. On the surface, she seemed unimpressed by what we just witnessed, but that was probably just her defaulting to stone again. "Even if she didn't, all her potential victims would." True. "Besides, Fereldan is her home. Maybe she's just sentimental about it."
"May… wait, hold on, how do you know if we're talking about the same person?"
"Asha'bellanar is the Dalish word for Flemeth, the Witch of the Wilds, right?" I nodded and she shrugged. "I read, and the legend is an important one in Highever. It explains how the Couslands received rule of Highever when it was merely a Bannorn."
Ri… wait, what? No. No, wasn't going to ask about that. "So, what did you mean by 'two' dragon fights?"
"There was an attack at the Ten-Year-Gathering eight years ago." Like I had a clue what that was. "It was a big scandal for the Chantry. One of their highest ranked mothers and the Knight-Commander himself collaborated with a group of blood mage apostates to assassinate the Divine." As I gaped at that colorful sentence, Elspeth went back inside to check on Aiden. He was sleeping fitfully, sadly. Was it the archdemon's song? "It was foiled by the Hero of Orlais, a girl named Cassandra Pentaghast, with help from the mage Regaylan and others of the Circle." Ah. "It was supposed to be the last social function my family attended before finally returning home to Highever, but we ended up staying a bit longer for the ceremony acknowledging their efforts."
"I see." I sighed and stooped by the fire to make sure it was still going. "So, where do we go from here?" There was only silence. "I don't know shemlen cities."
"Well, there is Lothering." I glanced at her, but she continued tending to Aiden without noticing. "It's on a crossroads. We can go to Eamon in Redcliffe or Uncle Leonas in the South Reaches from there."
"All right." It was, at least, a destination for now. We'd just take this one step at a time. "Go to sleep. I'll take first watch."
"All right. May it be uneventful."
"Pleasant dreams."
Author's Note: I have entirely too much fun confusing and breaking Cleon sometimes. I really do. Reason why Elspeth isn't a POV character, so that I can have fun with her switching from stoicism and her surprisingly vicious temper. Not as much fun if you're in her head. The 10-year gathering mentioned is actually the setting for Dawn of the Seeker. (If you want a sort of strength chart for the current party: Aiden (when he's not holding back) Nuada Alistair Elspeth Cleon Layla)
This will probably be the last chapter before Inquisition comes out (though hey, I might surprise myself!)
Next Chapter – Interlude, Alistair
