Flight

Part One

Dodging Genlock and Hurlock alike, they just keep coming. Amalyr sighed in relief when she spotted commander Walduk. If anyone would know what is going on, he would. She could hear the commander swearing a blue streak as she drew near.

Walduk viciously took off the head of the nearest darkspawn spinning to disembowel the next, leaving his back exposed, "Commander look out!" She shouted ducking beneath his swinging blade to take out the darkspawn behind him.

The commander finished dispatching another genlock; turning to Amalyr he nodded appreciatively, "Thanks, Hawke."

Catching her breath Amalyr saluted fist over her heart. "Commander, what happened? Where is the rest of the army? Where's Carver?"

Stabbing a finger toward the tower of Ishal, a glowing beacon of betrayal. "The Teyrn quit the field. Hero of fucking River Dane my ass! The coward has left us to die!" Scowling he looked around at the swarming masses of darkspawn.

Blanching, I have to find Carver; she grabbed hold of his arm. "Commander where's my brother?"

Eying her with regret. "Sorry Hawke, he's most likely dead. I sent him with a message for the King when the tower beacon had been lit. Before all of Ostagar was sucked into the Void. Go home to the rest of your family. I know I intend to, I'm sick of death. I just want to see my wife and son safe."

Shaking her head fiercely, she darted off to search.

"Don't throw your life away!" The commander bellowed after her.

I'm not leaving without him!

Heart racing, Amalyr scanned the battlefield below and saw Carver, who was very much alive. Thank the Maker, now all I have to do is get to him. She was a blur of steel leaving a wake of dead behind her. Is there no end to these creatures? She desperately fought to reach her brothers side shouting over the din, "Carver!"

Not taking his attention from the Emissary in front of him, he shouted back, "Fight first, talk later." Suiting actions to words, Carver let loose a battle cry and charged his opponent, Amalyr falling into an easy rhythm with her brother.

As tends to happen even in battle the siblings found themselves in a temporary calm area atop of what had once been a grassy knoll. Amalyr cleaned the gunk off her blades then grinning from ear-to-ear at seeing Carver alive and whole, she punched him playfully in the shoulder. "Do I always have to save your, backside?"

Offended he pointed at the dead around them. "Hey, I counted fifteen dead at my hands, and another five after you got here. I'd wager I'll have more darkspawn kills by the end of the night then you."

She smirked up at her brother. "Done, we can tally our kills after we fight our way out of Ostagar. Loser does the others chores for two weeks."

"Wait what? No we are not leaving, we can still win this!" Carvers temper starting to boil.

Walking off a short distance she gestured to the teaming masses of darkspawn. "Carver use your head and look around you. How do you" Startled, Amalyr took up defensive stance as the ground began to quake.

Events seemed to slow to a crawl as Carver watched his sister turn toward the charging ogre, his face draining of color. Maker's blood I'm not close enough.

A golden blur crashed into Amalyr knocking the wind from her as they tumbled out of the ogre's path. Rolling to a stop, her eyes went wide as she took in the blue eyes, blonde hair, and golden armor of the man on top of her. Oh my, he is big, almost as big as Carver. Some idle portion of her mind registered.

Staring down at her, a boyish grin lit the blonde man's face. "I've always wanted to rescue a beautiful damsel. I guess this is my day." Standing he helped Amalyr to her feet where he placed a quick kiss on her cheek. "Ah see and there's my reward." He turned his attention back to the ogre who was preparing for another charge, he lost his grin as he drew his broadsword and advanced on the ogre shouting over his shoulder. "Get to safety." Keeping its attention focused on him, he dodged the creatures clumsy attacks easily wounding it.

Amalyr's movements caught his attention as she drew her bow to assist. "Makers sake!" catching site of her brother "Will you get her out of here!" The distraction proved fatal as the ogre grabbed hold of the King shaking him like a rag doll as it crushed the life from him and tossing him aside, forgotten.

He saved me and died, tears in her eyes, he died because of me. Amalyr shook her head stubbornly, while sizing up the creature. I am not running, it's incredibly slow and its big enough it wont be able to change direction quickly once it starts charging. I can take that thing. "You are done killing!" Preparing to enter the fray, Amalyr threw a miasmic flask at the ogre's feet stunning the creature.

"You heard the man, your getting out of here if I have to drape you over my shoulder and carry you." Carver pulled his sister after him as one of the Grey Wardens charged the ogre, quickly taking the creature down. After a fleeting glance at the fallen King Amalyr followed her brother without comment.

They have been gone for a while now. Bewildered, Amalyr looked around the empty Dalish camp. They should be here; it's the wrong time of year for them to have moved on. "Fenarel where are you, where did you and your clan go?" She closed her eyes, seeing the worry in his pale blue eyes as he bade her to come back to him.

Carver kicked at the cold ashes grumbling under his breath. "I knew it was a mistake coming here. We should have gone to Lothering first, your friends can take care of themselves without help from you."

Standing where Fenarel's aravel would have been, Amalyr turned her back to her brother and spoke in a hushed tone, "It would have taken time we don't have to backtrack here." Her posture revealing the frustration and worry she felt. "Carver, the Sabre were on the way, I had to warn them, just like at home they are in the horde's path."

Relenting, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Sister, I know that elf meant a lot to you, but he's gone now, they all are. Mother and Bethany are what's important now, we need to get home and see if we can't set up some sort of defense before trouble arrives." Giving her a quick squeeze. "No more delay's OK?"

She nodded, He's right, I don't know where else to look, and there is no indication where they could have gone. We must get back; our home will not be safe much longer. Amalyr scanned the area once more, taking the lead she headed toward Lothering and home.

Carver burst through the door, and threw his pack in the corner before scooping Bethany into a tight embrace. "Phew Carver couldn't you have bathed first?" She wrinkled her nose at him.

Amalyr snickered as she entered. "I think we both need a wash. Where's Mother?"

Smiling Bethany rushed to embrace her twin. "She's gone to the market and should be back soon. Oh she'll be so relieved and happy you're back, we were both so worried about the two of you." Maker I need to stop babbling. "Would you like me to go get her?"

Carver chuckled. "No Bethy, I think we can wash while we wait. I wouldn't want to offend mother's delicate nose with our rank stench."

"Come on Lyr let's get you cleaned up and out of that armor before mother gets home." She laced her arm through her sisters guiding her to the back. "Carver when were done I'll bring you some fresh water so you can do the same."

Smiling, Carver waved her on. It's so good to be home.

Bethany helped her sister out of her armor wrinkling her nose at the blood, muck and whatever else was covering most of it. It must have been really bad if she didn't even bother to stop and clean her gear. Passing the wash cloth and soap to her sister, hoping to elicit some information on why they had both come home looking and smelling like they had been dragged through the nether bowels of the Black city, she launched into the questions she had been itching to ask . "What was it like? Were there any ruggedly handsome men? Did we win, is that why your home? Tell me everything," she asked, playfully.

Amalyr's smile fled and her hands faltered, Carver called from the living area interjecting before she could reply. "Bethy a lot has happened we need to wait until Mother arrives before we go into anything. As far as I know, we are the first to make it back from Ostagar and there are some decisions that will need to be made."

Bethany took a closer look at the dark circles under her sister's eyes, the grime in her hair and under her nails. "Here let me." She smiled. "It's the least I can do while we wait for mother." She took the cloth from her sister and began to carefully wash the dried blood and dirt from her.

By the time Leandra returned, Carver and Amalyr had managed to get themselves clean and make a small snack. Once finished with the teary-eyed welcomes they launched into what had happened in Ostagar, the betrayal of Teyrn Loghain, the death of the King and Wardens, and the consequent rout.

Carver laid out his plan for rallying what forces remained behind to defend Lothering.

Bethany interrupted "Carver, every able bodied fighter went to Ostagar with the Bann. There is no one else. Well there are a couple of Templars left, they might help if you told them what's going on."

Amalyr who had been leaning against the doorframe spoke up, "No, absolutely not. The Templars cannot be trusted. As soon as you used your magic, for any reason, they would take you away. We would be lucky if you were only locked-up in that forsaken tower." Frowning, she looked at Carver daring him to argue with what she was about to suggest, "We must leave Lothering."

Carver closed the distance separating them, shouting in indignation, "No, we are not leaving! There are enough people here we can protect Lothering; they just need a little direction."

Amalyr waited for him to finish then spoke calmly, her gaze unwavering. "Men too old to fight, young children, women who wouldn't know the pointy end of a dagger from its pommel, and a handful of Templars are all that's left in the village. That is not enough to fight off what we faced in Ostagar. If it were just you and I, we could stay and face them, but it's not. I will not risk losing anyone to those things, not mother, not Bethany," jabbing him in the chest, "and not you. We must leave and soon, that horde wasn't far behind us."

Bethany and Leandra watched as the two stared each other down in a battle of wills. Carver broke eye contact first, looking at Bethany then their mother. She's right, I hate that she's right. "Fine! We must leave Lothering, you warn the Revered Mother and anyone else you think might listen, then you, Mother, and Bethany pack what you can carry."

Wailing, Leandra looked to her children, "So we lose it all, everything your father and I built, all gone and for what?"

Amalyr quickly embraced her speaking softly, "I'm sorry mother, at least we will be alive and we can rebuild what we will lose here."

Carver yanked the door open. "It's decided, we leave in one hour."

"Wait!" Bethany cried, "Hold on, do we even know where are we going? We can't just leave can we?" Her gaze shifted from Carver to Amalyr and back.

Carver snapped at her, "Well our sister has made it quite plain we can't stay here."

Bethany bristled. "We can't wonder aimlessly."

Forestalling another argument, Leandra spoke up, "We can go to Kirkwall."

Amalyr's jaw dropped in surprise. "Kirkwall? Why would we want to go to Kirkwall?"

"There are a lot of Templars in Kirkwall mother," Bethany nervously reminded her.

Liking the idea of returning to her childhood home, Leandra smiled reassuringly to her daughter. "I know that, but we have family in Kirkwall, your uncle Gamlen lives in the Amell estate, we can go to him."

Decision made, Carver nodded outlining their next step. "Then we will head through the Brecilian Passage toward Gwaren avoiding the bulk of the horde and book passage from there."

A/N: At long last I have managed to complete another chapter. There was alot of ground i wanted to cover in this chapter, so I decided to break it in 2. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Much thanks to my Beta Kira and Bioware who owns all.