A/N Here we go, now we're with the Hawkes... lets see how this goes yes?
Read, Review, and Enjoy!
A week passes and Carver joins up with the King's army as they pass through. Leandra is worried but understands. Haw- Garrett (Sod it I always mess that up!) as a mage can't go without risking discovery and he and I have been working around the farm while Bethany and Leandra brew potions. I hoe the dirt, plant the seed, hoe the dirt, plant the seed, hoe the dirt, wipe my sweaty brow, and plant another seed. This goes on for almost seven days straight. Carver left right before the start of the next season.
If I ever get my hands on that boy I'll strangle him!
It's not all bad, my body hurts all the time and I haven't been able to concentrate enough to do spells in a while, but I quickly taught Bethany and Leandra how to make a balm to take the ache out of strained muscles and surprisingly when I tried to get my aching back covered, Bethany volunteered to help out.
She's quite sweet, a bit nervous and timid, but that comes from being an untrained apostate mage. No offense to Malcolm Hawke but his daughter can't cast worth shit. Her only offensive spell she knows is fireball, and even that's lacking. You need fury and passion to cast a proper fireball and she lacks in both departments.
I offered her a chance to learn what I know and only after Leandra of all people convinced her that she needed to protect herself did she agree. "Ok, but It'll be a few weeks before I'm good and ready to cast spells again. This farm work is killing me I swear." She simply giggled in response.
By the end of my second week with the Hawkes we finally had the two fields they owned planted and properly fertilized. The first thing I did when I found out it was over and done was fall to my knees and praise the Maker, Creators, God, Protheans, Athame, the Goddess, the Old Gods, and anyone else I could think of. Seriously, working on a farm is no joke! I got a few strange looks from them when I did that.
"What are you celebrating for? We'll have to do this again in a few months." Garrett states bluntly.
I look up at him and smile, "Where I come from a few months is an awesome vacation." He opens his mouth to clarify and I cut him off, "I know I know, but we aren't going to have to do anything as tedious as planting for a while so I'm happy." He just shrugs and pulls his shirt back on.
I have got to say, I know why Garrett is ripped now, farm work does that to you. That and extensive physical combat, which is why I'm wiry. Hidden strength is the best strength in my opinion. Tis confusing to enemies when a little elf throws a huge man to the ground and knocks him out with ease.
I look down and roll my shoulders to see the strained muscles bulge slightly from repeated use.
I have really got to start training with my sword and daggers again, having to jump into animal form to bash someone properly is becoming a hassle.
I shrug.
I'll figure out a time when I can go hunting and ban myself from using magic while doing so. Maybe I'll see if Fen-Falon is still lurking about in this forest.
I throw on my shirt and walk over to a chest near the fields where I keep my personal items locked away to grab my robes, staff, as well as store my back up daggers in my pack before collecting Bethany and walking out to the clearing I know is just beyond the fields.
"Where are we going?" She asks worriedly.
"Somewhere away from civilization." I respond.
"Oh." She waits for a few more seconds before asking, "What are we doing when we get there?"
"Magic."
I love being blunt. Saves air.
The tree-line opens up to the field where I dropped out of the Fade and entered this universe.
Huh, the corpses are still here.
I walk over and touch the bones of a bear whist remembering the first time I did magic, the terrifying rush of adrenaline blinding me from the fact I took another thing's life.
It doesn't bother me as much as it would have thirty two years ago, but I still hate killing things needlessly.
I turn to Bethany and clap my hands together, "Alright, this is a good spot. Take off your clothes."
Her eyes widen, "What?!"
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose, "If you only know what it feels like to fight with your robes on then we both won't know how powerful your magic is when it stands alone. You can keep your smalls on and I have a dress you can use as a substitute." I hand her the dress I keep in my pack for extra fabric, something basic, one color, nothing special. I turn around and wait for her to change.
Five minutes later she's done and I turn around to grab her robes- "Wow, you are stunning." I breath in shock. The simple white dress hugs her frame perfectly while highlighting her face and making her black hair stand out beautifully by contrast.
She blinks and looks down at herself in confusion. "It's just a simple dress, but thanks."
I shake my head, "Yeah, right."
What was that about? Did I just-
I ignore it and fold up her robes/chainmail to stick them in my pack, "Alright, send your most powerful fireball at me, really suck all the mana out of you with this thing, send it right at me."
She frowns, "Wouldn't that kill you?"
I shake my head and sigh, "I've seen you hurl a fireball, no offense, but a child could do better. I think I'll be fine." She scowls and grabs her staff- "Hold it!" She stops to look at me. I step up and hold out my hand, "Hand it over."
She blinks before giving me her staff and frowning at the loss of basic concentration it gave her. "Wait, how can I fight if I don't have a staff?"
I laugh, "Really? Your father never taught you?" I smirk at her.
She blushes, "Well, no. He did teach Carver some things but-"
I shake my head, "No, I mean using your magic without all the helpful gadgets to help you concentrate."
She blinks, "No he never-"
"Then we are going to have a lot of work to do." I holster the staff in the spare loop on my pack and set everything aside, including my own staff and robes. "Without a staff or robes in particular, mages lose a magnitude of their concentration easily. Tis the only reason they don't give their robes up once they escape from the circle. They simply have no way to harness their magic effectively without them." I signal Bethany to sit down in the grass and she does. I join her. "If you train without them then your mental strength will increase rapidly. Your mind is the one muscle that is the quickest to change if given the right push." I open my palm and a bright flame bursts into existence at my un-augmented will. "If you practice spells then they will become stronger. Learning new spells is difficult at first, but it becomes easier to use them once you do grab hold of a staff or your robes." I push more mana into the flame and it grows, Bethany watches intently. "The most primal of all magic, one born of fury and passion, Fire." I close my fist and the flame ends. I wave my hand to her, "Now try."
She gulps and holds out her bare hands to try and cast her magic. She frowns in deep concentration and barely gets a small spark off without having to let it go and pant at the exertion. I shake my head, "No, you are trying to bring fire into existence, not a butterfly. Reach out and take it by force!" I shout at her, hoping it would make her angry, but it just scares her. I sigh and try another way, "Your father was worthless." I mutter quietly.
"What?" She looks at me in shock.
"Your father was worthless if he taught you this crap! Nothing but a peasant playing at controlling his magic!" I snarl.
She frowns deeply, "No, he was honorable! He did good things! He wasn't worthless!"
I laugh at her, "Honor?! HA! He was an outcast piece of sod who married a whore!"
"Take that back!" She shouts a in rage as she stands, fist clenched in anger.
I jump up, "Not in a million years little girl, your whore of a mother might enjoy fucking me you know that?"
She clenches her teeth in fury. "Take. It. Back." She bites out.
I've got her now.
I smirk, "Your entire family is nothing but a lying, stinking pile of dog cr-" I block a blast of fire with an equal amount of frost as she screams out at me in fury and passion, which fuels her fire. She throws a fireball and I grab it out of the air to redirect it into the pond to explode in a wave of steam. She throws two more fireballs and I dodge them, laughing at how much power she's throwing out.
There we go baby!
I duck under the last one before she falls to her knees and yells out in frustration that her mana was exhausted. "Sod." She grunts as she pants from the terrible strain on her mind.
I walk over and push her onto her back so she can relax, "Calm down Bethany." She glares at me and I laugh whole-heartedly. "Now that was a fight! No restraints! So much fury, so much passion!" She stares at me in shock that I played her. "KABOOM! Maker how did you throw three fireballs AND a cone of flame with one mana burst?!" She blushes as her breathing calms down. "How did it feel?" I ask excitedly.
I help her to a sitting position and she looks at me happily, "Good, like a thousand fires burning in my heart were released."
I laugh, "So poetic, but true. Master apostates such as myself, and my former master before me, were trained to fight with our emotions as a boost to our power. That's one reason why I'm a good actor. Since we have to have a firm grip on our emotions to cast most of our magic, we can lie and get away with it with ease."
Bethany frowns, "So to cast fire magic I need to be angry?"
I shake my head, "No, you need to be furious, or burning with passion to really throw massive forces behind your spells. The downside of this is the sex."
She coughs, "Excuse me?!" her voice jumps an octave.
I smile at her, "Yeah, it gets interesting in bed when you have your magic attuned to your emotions. I can personally say that you definitely don't want want to try it until you have total control of your fire magic. Screaming out in passion might just set your house on fire."
She blushes and looks away, looking really uncomfortable. "No sex, got it." She manages to squeak out.
I help her to her feet, "Ok, now lets do that again." She gawks at me like I'm insane. "Hey, without practice this magic could quite literally turn your life into a living hell." She raises an eyebrow in confusion. "You know, fire, hell... oh right... the Chantry doesn't believe in that... great, I just shot myself in the foot." She laughs and a spark flies out of her hand. She stares at it before I stomp it out in the dirt. "You really need to keep yourself as tranquil as possible while we're training." She nods enthusiastically and the grass in front of her catches fire. I sigh as I put it out.
This is going to take a fort-night I swear.
I have managed to teach Bethany many tricks about using fire magic over the course of these last two weeks. Her confidence in her abilities and attitude towards magic in general is rapidly turning towards the positive side and I think that-
The front door rattles on it's hinges, breaking my concentration and causing a large black scratch across the parchment in front of me. "Hold them back already! I'm almost done packing!" Garrett shouts from the bedrooms while Leandra runs about, frantically grabbing anything of importance or possible value.
I sigh while bursting the parchment on fire and turn around to flash a blast of frost through the shattered window and solidify the crowd of darkspawn outside in a thin layer of ice. "Alright, you've got about..." I count forty of them frozen and another sixty and-
Holy shit is that an Ogre?!
"Yeah we got like two minutes!" I shout back while gripping my staff tighter, staring uncertainly at the future battle in front of us.
Carver arrived just before the horde did, he burst through the front door while everyone was eating and screamed that the darkspawn horde was on his arse. Not a second later came the first wave of darkness that set my passive magical aura aflame with black tainted energy. I naturally freaked out and told everyone to pack while soldier boy here and I kept them off the house. Carver chose the back door, I chose the front.
"How are you doing back there?!" I shout over the incessant noise of the horde that drowned out any chance at talking regularly.
"Ten down, five to-" *CRACK!* "Make that four to go!" I smile at the courage and skill Carver's gained from his last few months in the army.
He's still a bit of a tit, but he's a trained tit so I'll learn to ignore him.
"Done!" I turn and barely catch a heavy pack full of what feels like books. "That one is filled with all your stuff!" Garrett states quickly. I nod and throw it over my shoulder before adjusting the straps so I could fight with it on. He hands one to Bethany and she silently accepts it, her face blank from practiced control of her emotions. "I have all the potions and healing supplies so if I go down you all go down!" He explains quickly. I agree with a simple nod and so does Bethany.
"You'd better lead this one brother, I'll be too occupied to direct traffic!" Carver shouts before beheading another darkspawn.
Garrett ignores him as the front door cracks in half from a battleaxe cutting it apart. "GO!" He shouts.
I quickly freeze the rest in the back of the house and Carver shatters them with a sweep of his blade.
"Lets move!" I catch Leandra by the arm and push her out the door, dragging her along for a bit until she catches her footing and starts running as well. We get to the edge of the forest before Bethany and I turn abruptly to raise our hands into the air and pull a rain of fireballs down upon the horde following us. They all die in a raining field of fire, only a few burning stragglers are still alive when we turn back around to catch up with the group.
Bethany has become my sort of apprentice, she respects me as much as her own mother she said once. I teach her advanced combat magic and she follows my every instruction without hesitation. She was the first to start packing when I shouted it across the dinning room as Carver burst through the door. She hasn't even spoken to him yet and she can thank me for that strong mental discipline. At times like these it pays to be prepared mentally.
We follow Garrett through the forest until it opens up to a barren wasteland, every plant, every tree, every single animal scorched and tainted for miles. I can see the Imperial Highway in the distance, but nothing else is positive. Just small bands of darkspawn skittering about. "By the maker, this place seriously needs some greenery." We all turn to Bethany and stare at her in surprise. "What? Look at it all. It's so black, I'd start a garden if the horde wasn't behind us."
I snicker and Garrett rolls his eyes, "Right, lets move."
We follow the path, the sounds of the horde slowly quieting to the silence. Even their war drums being barely heard in the distance is drowned out to a simple echo, but we keep running. The only sound we can hear is our feet treading through the dead sand and scorched earth, our heartbeats pounding out our need to escape the horde.
Darkness, I've become fond of the concept over my three lifetimes. It's the center of who I am as a person and who I aspire to, but this?
I shake my head as my mind's eye takes in the horde of darkness at our heel.
It's horrific and beyond daunting...
Leandra trips over one of the last surviving roots in the burned forest and falls to the ground. Bethany yells out while waving her hand at the small group of darkspawn behind us. A wall of fire engulfs a few of them while the rest back off, knowing the magical flames would incinerate them on contact.
That's my girl.
I smile at the beautiful display of primal energy as Garrett helps Leandra to her feet.
I'm considered adept at my magic, even on the verge of expert in some areas. Honing enough power and mana to get to this point has been hellish, but tis what you do to get by.
"Mother are you alright?" Garrett asks as Leandra steadies herself.
"Maker save us, we've lost it all. Everything your father and I built..." Leandra starts to tear up.
"I know how much Lothering meant to you, but we have to move." Garrett pushes gently.
"Yes, you're right." She sniffles and wipes a tear away with her sleeve.
"We barely had time to pack, why did we wait so long?" Bethany's hard gaze directs the question to Carver.
"Don't look at me! I've been running since Ostagar!" He retorts in shock that his twin sister was so harsh.
I scoff, "And I'm the queen of Antiva." I mutter quietly. Bethany's lips twitch with a slight smile.
"We have to keep moving, I don't enjoy the idea of being eaten by the darkspawn." Garrett states frightfully, effectively cutting off Bethany and Carver's argument. I nod in agreement.
Carver folds his arms over his Ferelden armor, "Well then, lead on brother."
Garrett nods and steps forward as I snap-freeze a group of darkspawn that tried to sneak up on us from behind. Carver finishes them off with his bastard sword.
"Take this you hopeless bastards." I look behind me and see Bethany casting something. Tendrils of heat shift around her as she tosses three small fireballs into the frontal group, bombarding them with enough elemental force and primal fire to literally rip them apart.
Garrett nods to us in acknowledgment before whistling sharply. Suddenly the family Mabari jumps from the hillside to land onto and crush a darkspawn into the scorched earth. He bites down and snaps it's neck before it even knows what the hell happened.
"Carver!" Garrett shouts.
Carver swings his blade around, cutting down two more darkspawn that managed to sneak up on us. I spot a genlock and throw three frost wisps at it to slow it down enough for Bethany to fireball it into oblivion.
"I think that's all of them." Carver exclaims, blood splattered across his breastplate and gauntlets.
Garrett sighs as the fight ends and we regroup to move on.
So far I've avoided using my fade magic around the Hawkes. I don't think they'll appreciate me using blood, and fade magic in one sitting. It's starting to strain my abilities though. Even with all the power I have using my regular magic, I'm still bad at sending out spells in repetition. It starts getting too taxing and suddenly I'm out of mana and struggling to stay awake.
I jog forwards after collecting a few silvers from a corpse and barely hear the last half of the next conversation. "Away from the darkspawn, where else?" Carver states bluntly.
"We can't just wander aimlessly!" Bethany argues forcefully.
I see Leandra look away for a moment before saying, "We can go to Kirkwall."
Garrett raises an eyebrow, "Kirkwall? Oh great, and I was just starting to miss being hounded by mage-hunters." Bethany and I suppress a laugh.
"There are a lot of templars in Kirkwall mother." Bethany clarifies.
"I know that, but we still have family there, and an estate." She argues.
Bethany and I sigh, obviously my tutelage was making her more impatient than usual.
I guess it comes with being an accomplished apostate mage.
"Then we need to head to Gwaren and take ship." Bethany states with a bit of annoyance in her voice I barely catch.
"If we survive that long, I'll be happy just to get out of here." Carver states frightfully.
I shrug, "As long as we survive it won't-" I quickly toss a fireball to wipe out a group of hurlocks that again were trying to get the jump on us, "-matter where we are." They look at me in slight surprise, but jump into combat mode all the same. I don't wait for their reaction as I dash around the corner, my spare daggers already out to replace my staff.
"Blight take you!" I spot Aveline and... her husband who's name I've forgotten, fighting a group of ten darkspawn alone.
I push ahead and let my old self-defensive instincts trigger where I need to cut, where I need to dodge, and all the such. I jump into the group, stabbing bleeding wounds into as many as I can to distract them from... Wesley! That's his name! Yeah Wesley, as he tries to work the crowd like his fearless wife. I slice the throats of three darkspawn and dodge a few swords as they direct their attention to the shadow dancing around them.
Hahaha! Take that you bastards!
I spin into a small whirlwind, cutting through the soft spots in their armor and allowing Aveline and Wesley to easily take them down without too much trouble. "Uh!" Aveline parries a sword and slices through the hurlock's chest as two more distract her. Then I see the sneaky bastard behind Wesley and let lose a dagger with relative precision. Wesley was facing my direction so he ducks as it flies over his head to embed into the sword arm of the hurlock. It screams out in anger and grabs it's own sword with its other hand to try and take another swing. Wesley at this point has turned around to block the attack with his shield and then bash it against the dark creatures head before beheading it with one quick slice.
Oh by the Creators that is terrible judgment right there.
Naturally it showers him in black tainted blood as he ignores it to stab through the chest of a darkspawn trying to go for Aveline's weak left side.
I hear the distinct sound of a fireball being hurled and nearly shat myself as it explodes in front of my face, my arcane shield taking a massive hit but nothing my mana can't restore. The three darkspawn that were flanking me weren't so lucky as they all fly into the hillside and shatter their burning corpses against the rocks with primal force. I look over and see the Hawkes have joined the fight.
About damn time!
Carver jumps in and takes out two with one swing while Aveline and Wesley retreat to catch their breath.
I reach down and rip my dagger from the dead beheaded hurlock and- "RAARR!" I whip around and cross my daggers in front of me to block the large claws of a shadowed creature.
Oh crap! Shriek!
I quickly parry two more claw attempts and hop back away from a furry of attacks with my superior dexterity only to nearly fall off the edge of the small cliff. "Come here your bastard!" Carver shouts. The Shriek turns and screeches at him. I take the opportunity and stab it with both of my daggers in the back with a double critical hit, causing it to stagger and give Carver the opportunity to chop it in half, ending the fight.
I take a huge breath, "Thanks Carver, that was a close one." He nods and we go back to regroup and greet our fellow survivors.
"Apostates! Keep your distance!" And be immediately threatened by said ungrateful son of a bi- I mean fellow survivor! Wesley points his sword at Garrett and Bethany and I flicker a chilling touch onto his blade as I run my finger lazily across it while Carver and I pass Aveline and him to rejoin the group. "Three apostates, how lucky a day we've been having." He bites out.
"Oh how the Maker has a sense of humor, first darkspawn and now a blighted templar?" Bethany sighs and mutters quietly with a frown, "It's like he's trying to piss us off." She speaks up again, "I thought they all abandoned Lothering." I smile at Bethany's rudeness.
"The spawn are clear in their intent, but a mage is always unknown." He takes a step forwards, still pointing the tip of his longsword at Garrett's neck. "The order dictates-"
Aveline places a hand on his sword arm, "Wesley."
He shakes it off and steps forward menacingly, his blade up against Garrett's throat as he stares back without emotion. "The order dictates-" He's cut off once again.
Aveline speaks in a quiet and loving whisper I can barely hear from behind Bethany. "Dear they saved us, the Maker understands." Her voice is commanding, but gentle and kind as well.
Wesley's face instantly softens and he lowers his sword. "Of course."
I scoff quietly, "You'd think he'd thank me for saving his sorry ass." I mutter just loud enough for the Hawkes to hear. Bethany smirks at that.
I really have corrupted her with my teachings haven't I? All well, she's better off like this I think.
"My name is Aveline Vallen, this is my husband Ser Wesley. We can hate each other when we're safe from the horde." Aveline states kindly.
Garrett frowns at them, "Keep your templar in order, we don't need another incident to add to our misfortune."
I raise an eyebrow at his anger and decide to change the subject as I turn to Wesley to address his stupidity, "I saw you get splashed by darkspawn blood, if you have any open cuts or wounds then you'll definitely be poisoned. We should check quickly before we move on."
I might be cynical and blunt, but I'm not letting anyone else die for me, not again, not after failing to save Aren.
Wesley stares at me, looking horrified and hesitant, "Maker, check him already so we can get moving." Aveline pushes him forward to meet me face to face in-between the two groups. He scowls but nods reluctantly.
I check him over, pulling at his armor and padding to find he wasn't even nicked, miraculously only his armor was covered in blood, not his head. "Looks like he's clean, unless he accidentally swallowed any of it or got it in his eyes then he should be good." Aveline breaths a sigh of relief and smiles at Wesley as he looks at her questioningly.
"Well then, off we go." We all take Garrett's advice and move forwards down the trail.
"So what brings you to Lothering?" I ask Aveline as I find myself in the back of the group with her as Wesley stays near Garrett and Bethany just in case.
She looks over at me, "I was at Ostagar and after the army fell to betrayal we fled. Wesley was en-route to Denerim on an assignment when he turned south at hearing Ostagar was a loss." She looks forwards with a bit of loving scrutiny at her husband, "His bad judgment and my bad luck got us fighting the same crowd of darkspawn just south of Lothering, we were trying to make it past the Horde when you showed up." She looks at me as I nod. "Tell me, you're a mage but you use daggers in close combat like an experienced rogue, why is that?"
I smile up at her curiosity and finger the hilt of one of the silverite daggers I had hand-crafted by the blacksmith in Lothering for a few sovereigns. "I learned the art of dagger and shadow from my childhood and my magic only started manifesting a few years back. I naturally had the skills to dodge suspicious types like your husband and ended up becoming an apprentice to a powerful with in the Kocari Wilds after a few unfortunate events."
Aveline's red eyebrows shoot up, "A witch? In the Kocari Wilds? I am hesitant to ask what her name was."
I smirk but don't get a word in as I spot hurlocks attacking us from all sides. "We'll talk later!" I shout before grabbing my daggers and coating them with arcane flames. I spot a crowd behind us and toss a fireblast at them, setting them aflame with arcane fire that stagger them while melting off their flesh. Aveline jumps in when the fire dies down to finish off the two remaining hurlocks with ease. The fight ends quite quickly as I spot Garrett using some sort of force magic to push the elevated hurlock bolters off their small ledge to be cut down by Wesley and Carver with ease. All in all the ambush takes about ten seconds to end, surprising.
Well we do have an extra sword and myself on the team so it should be easier, or at least I'd hope it'd be easier. Now all I need is to figure out how to keep Bethany from being killed by the Ogre.
I shrug as nothing comes to mind that I'd enjoy, but nothing else matters right now.
Everyone here must live under my watch, tis not a rule, tis law, and I will not forgive myself if one more person dies for me. T'would possibly break my soul.
I shake my head clear and ready my daggers for a difficult battle as we turn a corner and I spot my first darkspawn Emissary.
A/N Yep, the Blight is happening. Don't worry, you'll all get to see Darien meet Flemeth in the next chapter! :D
