"Hawke!" A voice shouted her name through the darkness that surrounded her. "Wake up!" She could feel her body being shaken rather roughly, but the darkness was refusing to let go of her. Hawke could feel warm breath brush lightly against her ear as a man's voice whispered something in a language that she couldn't quite understand. Yet within seconds, her mind began to clear and the darkness soon faded.
"Oh thank the Maker, you're finally awake!" Anders breathed a sigh of relief.
"Anders?" Hawke whispered a groggy reply. Looking up at him, she tried to blink away the blurred vision. What happened? Where were they?
"I'm so sorry I'm late Hawke..." Anders began, "A woman was rushed to my clinic the moment I was about to leave. She was in labor, I had to help her."
'Be here...? Be here for what?' Hawke wondered, not quite understanding what the mage was babbling about.
"Argh, my bloody head..." Groaned Varric as he tried to climb to his feet. Apparently the dwarf had fallen out of his chair when he lost consciousness.
Sebastien sat with the back his head leaning over the edge of the chair with eyes closed, his mouth a gap and legs spread with arms dangling at his sides. At first Hawke thought he was dead, but he soon began to join in with Varric's groaning.
Anders looked down at the mugs on the table. Arching a brow, he reached down and picked up the mug in front of Hawke. Raising it to his nose he inhaled the liquid's scent and narrowed his eyes. "Poison." After tossing the mug into the fire, he turned his attention back to her. "What happened here Hawke? Where's Fenris?"
'Fenris...' Instantly her clouded mind was filled with the memory of what had happened. Flashes of images of Fenris's pleading eyes staring into hers as she betrayed him, images of his belongings being torn from his body and tossed to the floor. The memory of Danarius's grin filling her mind while Fenris was lead from the tavern. Everything that had happened struck her all at once, knocking the air from her lungs. Gasping for breath, Hawke rose to her feet so suddenly that Anders stumbled back and hit the wall behind him.
Panic instantly filled Hawke's being, her legs began to feel so weak that they began to tremble, threatening to give out from under her.
"Whoa! Easy!" Anders yelled in alarm, he rushed to her side as she began to fall. His arms wrapped around her waist to help steady her. "Hawke, it's alright. Just rela-"
"No its not alright!" She shouted, her voice filled with panic, closing her eyes she fell against him. It was hard so hard to breathe...
"He's gone isn't he?" Anders replied, he watched as she slowly nodded.
"There was nothing I could do..." Hawke gasped, tears began to form in her eyes. "We have to go, now! We have to get to the docks!"
"Hawke..." Anders pressed, though before he could say anything more, they were interrupted by an angry shout, followed by a man being tossed down the stairs.
"Bloody bastard!" Isabela shouted, sounding completely pissed off. Both Anders and Hawke watched as the former ship captain kicked a man down the flight of stairs. His body went flying through the air and landed on the dirt covered floor with a loud thud.
The man coughed and gagged in pain as he rolled onto his back, seeing his face, Hawke instantly recognized him as one of the tavern's regulars. The man was always asking for more coin to buy him another drink.
"You...no good bloody piece of...!" Isabela trailed on a long line of obscene curse words while storming over towards the man.
"I told you, I'm sorry!" He managed to say through gasps of pain,"Isabela! What are you doing?" Anders shouted.
Isabela looked over her shoulder at them, "What does it look like I'm bloody doing? I'm about to kick the shit out of this bastard's back stabbing ass for poisoning me! He drugged me, tied me up and stuffed my ass in a closet upstairs. I would still be there if I hadn't finally came around and kept shouting for help. Damn it all... I was there for hours. It was one the damn wenches that found me. No thanks to any of you people!" She kicked the man in the ribs and he yelped in pain.
"Why would he do that?" Anders asked.
Isabela rolled her dark eyes at him, "Are you that daft? That Danny guy, Daria..Dar-anus whatever his bloody damn name was! He paid this bastard a large amount of coin to get rid of any distractions for when he came to recapture the broody gloworm. I knew something was up, he was acting strange all evening."
"Bitch of a whore!" The man shouted, real stupid thing to call Isabela. She returned with her own reply by kicking him hard in the groin.
Moving away from Anders, Hawke removed a blade from the sheath on her back and stormed over to the man's side. Within a blink of an eye, the edge of her sword was pressed against the man's throat. "This is for Fenris..." Without a moment's hesitation, she sank the blade into the man's throat. She damn near sliced his head off, he gasped and choked on his own blood as it poured from his mouth, nose and eyes, as well as the gaping hole in his neck. As she watched the life drain from his greedy eyes, all Hawke could think of was how much she wished this bastard had been Danarius instead.
The others just stood starring at her, shocked at her actions. It was Isabela who broke the silence, "Holy shit Hawke..." The woman gasped, "Damn, I wanted to torture him first."
"No time." Sheathing the blade, Hawke turned her back on Isabela. Then something red out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Fenris's sash. Feeling her heart skip a beat, she ran over and picked it up. It was covered in dirt, what was once a bright crimson red, was now dark and filthy. She held it against her chest, there was no time for this, they had to leave now.
"Come on, we need to head to the docks!" The others nodded and they headed for the door. When they first arrived at the tavern it had been a little after noon, she wasn't sure just how long they were unconscious, hopefully it hadn't been more than an hour or two. Since Hawke recalled Danarius saying his ship left for Minrathous within the hour.
Yet Hawke got her answer the second she stepped outside the Hanged Man. Her heart fell when she was cruelly welcomed by the dark night sky. 'Oh Maker...'
Hours. They had been unconscious for too damn long. The bastard's ship had left the docks ages ago. Hawke felt her knees give and she fell to the ground. No, it wasn't too late... She had to get up and move.
"What's going on?" A sweet dalish voice asked. "I heard there was something strange happening at the Hanged Man."
Hawke turned to her right to see Merrill looking down at her, a worried expression upon her fair face. "Fenris...has been taken." She managed to say.
"Taken? Taken by whom?" She looked to the others, hoping someone would explain what was going on. That was right, Hawke hadn't explained the meeting to her the night before. But she couldn't explain it now.
"I don't have time for this!" Climbing to her feet, Hawke took off running. She ignored the shouts of her friends as she sprinted towards the docks.
She could of sworn she heard Aveline's voice call after her, but she couldn't be sure. Too much time had passed, she had to find a boat and had to find one now. The world seem to slow down around her as she ran down steps and around corners, gasping for breath as she tried to force her body to run faster.
Leaping over obstacles in her path, all she could think about was reaching Fernis in time. The tie in her hair had loosened and fell to the ground while she ran. The hair that had once been so boyishly short, had grown long past her shoulders over the past six years. Now a long mane and as black as a raven's wing flowed behind her sprinting form. It felt like it took ages to reach the docks, but once she was there, she leaned against a crate. Gasping for air, she tried to calm herself.
There was no one in sight, only a couple of ships were docked for the night. Wrapping her arms around herself, Hawke sat down on one of the stacked crates, feeling completely lost. She was on the verge of tears, but no, she would not cry. There was no time for tears now, crying would not bring Fenris back to her. She had to stay calm, collect. Panicking would not help the situation.
"Ah! There you are Champion!" Sounded a voice from behind. The accent was thick and very antivan. She had heard it once before, glancing over her left shoulder, she instantly recognized the elven man's face.
"Zevran?" Hawke asked, she couldn't believe it was him.
"Aye, tis I..." Zevran Arainai replied with a low bow, he was a former member of the band of great antivan assassins called the Crows. It wasn't too long ago that she had been hired to hunt him down and hand him over to a fake antivan officer who turned out to be a member of the Crows as well. He strolled over to her, "I have been looking everywhere for you!"
"Why?" Hawke asked breathlessly, arching a brow at him. "I thought you left weeks ago..."
Zevran merely smiled, "Oh, I did leave. But alas, certain matters brought me back to Kirkwall. I had to deal with them, don't worry...the problem has been dealt with." His grin grew wide for a moment before he turned serious. "I noticed that broody friend of yours, you know the one with the white markings on his skin, yes? Well, I saw him being lead onto a large ship. His hands were bound behind his back and immediately I recall how protective he was of you when we first met." Which was true, when Zevran tried to flirt with her and Fenris chased him off. Well not literally with his sword held high of course... just with his angry glare and sharp tone. "I knew that he wouldn't willingly leave such a fierce beauty like yourself behind. So, I came looking for you." Zevran looked her in the eyes. "There was nothing I could do...I am sorry."
"I couldn't stop them either..." She said sadly.
"So you knew of this? Good, well then. Shall we go after them?" Zevran flashed her a mischievous grin.
"How? We don't have a ship."
Zevran's devilish grin only widened, "Oh, that won't be a problem my dear Champion."The sounds of rushed footsteps drawing near caught their attention.
Isabela panted loudly, skidding to a stop she rested her hands upon her knees and leaned over, "Oh damn you Hawke...! Next time...I order your ass to wait...you-" Seeing her old 'friend' Zevran she sighed. "Ah, see? What did I tell you Anders? I thought I smelled antivan leather."
"Yes...we all know you have quite the nose on you." Anders panted in return.
"And what do you mean by that?" She snapped angrily, Zevran tilted his head back and laughed.
"Wait up...you damned...nug humpers!" Shouted Varric, he stumbled towards them, clearly exhausted. "Dwarfs...were not made...to sprint..."
"The Maker had something else in mind when-" Sebastien started but Varric soon interrupted him.
"Oh, shut up Princey." He took in a deep breath of air and exhaled, making a loud wheeeew sound.
"Are you alright, Varric?" Asked Merrill, she seemed to be the only one that was not out of breathe.
"No worries Daisy, I'm good." Varric replied, still panting heavy. "Just...give me a moment...or two."
Aveline appeared behind the others, just as out of breathe as the rest. The heavy armor she wore didn't help with the running. "Next pay day...I'm buying a horse."
"Oh ho! And she makes a funny!" Varric laughed, he gave Aveline a slap on the back.
"Well, now what?" Asked Isabela, she ran the back of an arm across her forehead, wiping the sweat from her brow.
"We take ship and go after Danarius." Hawke answered, her piercing blue eyes peering off into night.
"Well good plan... But where's our ship?" Isabella asked, she placed her hands upon her hips.
"Ah, my dear Isabela." Zevran replied, he walked over and placed an arm around her neck. The woman arched a brow at the suave elf. "Don't you see the lovely ships that are docked?"
"Oh, goody! We get to steal one. That makes this even more fun." A grin formed upon her lips as she wrapped an arm around Zevran's waist.
"Aye, just like old times, yes?" Zevran chuckled.
For the first time that day, Hawke smiled. They were all there. They had followed after her, she couldn't believe it. Even Zevran had appeared out of nowhere and offered his help. Thank the Maker, she had the best of friends.
Moments later, the others followed Hawke as she climbed on board a cargo ship that had recently been emptied and was awaiting to be restocked the next day. There were only a few men on board, most of them asleep.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" A man stuttered as he stormed over to them.
"I need to borrow your ship." Hawke replied bluntly.
The man just blinked at her.
With a sigh she continued, "Look, it's a matter of life and death. I am the Champion of Kirkwall and I swear, I'll return this ship to you in one piece. I'll even pay you for your trou-"
"I could give a rat's ass who you are bitch!" The man snapped, interrupting her. "You are not taking this ship!"
Hawke narrowed her eyes in anger, there was no time for this bullshit. She took a step towards the man, "You should take a break sailor, you're working too hard." Then before the man could react, she lashed out her arms, grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him over the edge of the ship. His scream was cut short as he struck the surface of the water.
Zevran burst out laughing, "Ahahaha...nice one!"
"Oh my...I do hope he knows how to swim." Merrill said as she peered over the edge.
"Fan out, get those remaining off the ship. But do not harm anyone, just...give them an excuse to go for a late night swim." Hawke instructed, the others nodded then went to work on clearing out the ship. She then turned to Isabela. "Ready to play Captain?"
Isabela just grinned, "Always." She headed up onto the deck to take over the wheel.
Within minutes, the ship was cleared of any remaining workers, whom now all splashed angrily in the harbor's water. Hawke requested help from Anders by asking him to give the ship's sails a constant boost of wind. It didn't take long for the ship to leave the dock and soon they were off towards Minrathous.
It would take a miracle for them to reach Danarius's ship before it docked at Minrathous. The bastard had already gotten a good distance ahead of them, Hawke prayed that Fenris was still alive and that they would reach him in time. Surely Danarius would wait before he...
'Stay positive.' Hawke ordered herself, she had to stay focused. To dwell on what might be happening to Fenris right now, would not help. She had to remain calm, if not, she would surely loose it.
It seemed like they had sailed for days, even though it had been merely a few hours. The anxiety level was overwhelming and the fear growing inside of Hawke was starting to make her feel sick to her stomach. Each hour that passed, the more her fear for Fenris's life was starting to get the best of her.
Sitting on a crate at the front of the ship, Hawke kept her eyes focused on the darkness ahead of them. Lightening could be seen flashing across the sky, hopefully the bastard's ship would be slowed down by the storm.
"It will be alright Hawke." Came Ander's voice from behind her.
A nervous sigh escaped her lips, "I hope you're right." Her hands nervously pulled and twisted a piece of rope she had found laying around. She kept praying in her mind, praying to the Maker that no harm would come to Fenris, that he was still alive.
He took a seat beside her, "I know you won't listen to me but...you should really try and get some rest."
She snorted and shook her head, "Anders, I can barely sit still. Sleep isn't going to happen. Besides, I slept plenty thanks to Danarius's drugged pint he made me drink."
A moment of silence passed between them before he spoke again. "It's not your fault-"
"Of course it's my fault!" Hawke snapped angrily, interrupting him. Instantly she was on her feet and began pacing before him. "I knew the meeting was a trap! I had a bad feeling about it, but I ignored that damn feeling and went along with him. And now Fenris is gone and could possibly be dead all because I-"
Ander's arms was suddenly around her, holding her close. Damn it! She didn't deserve to be comforted. Not right now...If anything she needed a good scolding for being so stupid.
"I'm going to say this again and you better listen to me...It is not your fault. Fenris had his mind set. If you didn't go with him, he would of gone alone." Anders said more sternly, his hold on her tightening. "If anything, blame me. I was not there. I swore to you I would be there to help, but I broke that promise."
Closing her eyes, Hawke sighed and shook her head against his chest, "No I can't blame you...You were delivering a child into the world."
Gently, Anders lifted her chin so that he could look into her blue eyes. "Still, I would rather have you blame me than yourself. I can't stand to see you like this...Let alone always constantly blaming yourself when things go wrong. If you keep doing that, you'll make yourself sick."
Anders was always telling her how much he didn't deserve her friendship, but this time, it was Hawke that believed that she was the one who didn't deserve his. He was too good of a man to be trying to comfort her, especially after she broke his heart. "Anders..." Before she could say anything more, a voice from behind them spoke.
"Hey...is that a ship I see?" Varric came walking up, his hand pointing out ahead of them.
At first, Hawke couldn't see anything. It was so dark, even though the moon was full and had cast an eerie reflection among the ocean's surface. But after a few minutes, Hawke's eyes adjusted to the darkness and sure enough, she could make out the ship.
"Zevran." Hawke glanced over her shoulder at the antivan elf. "Is that the ship you saw Fenris board?"
He jogged over to them, his eyes narrowed as he focused his gaze on the ship. "Yes, that's the one alright."
"Oh thank the Maker...!" Hawke breathed a sigh of relief, She placed a hand over her heart and felt her body start to relax a little.
Aveline placed a comforting hand upon her shoulder, "It will be alright Hawke, we'll kill every bastard on board."
"Oh this is so exciting!" Merrill's forest green eyes sparkled, "I've always wanted to be part of a raid!"
Varric arched a brow at her, "Really Daisy? You don't seem like the raiding type..."
Merrill shrugged lightly, "Maybe not, but I always wanted to do something so bold and dashing like this. Though this is going to be quite tricky with all those armed men on board. They out number us greatly, do we have a plan?"
"Sneak on board, kill as many bastards as fast as possible and save Mr. Broody pants." Isabela joined in, "Easy enough."
"That's basically the idea, yes." Hawke replied, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Though Danarius is extremely powerful, we learned that the hard way. But this time we have two powerful mages of our own, as well as a ridiculously awesome assassin, the fierce Captain of the Guard, two archers with amazing aim and our own talented ship Captain. I think our odds are looking up."
"Talented in many, many ways..." Zevran teased Isabela.
"You got that right." Isabela replied with a wink.
Hawke rolled her eyes playfully. Then looked to Anders, flashing him a smile, "Anders, would you kindly give us some cover?" She held out her hand and pointed to the water,
He returned the smile and nodded, "Thick misty fog, coming right up."
Minutes later, their ship was hidden by the thick mist that Anders had created. No one on Danarius's ship would be able to spot them. They dropped the ship's anker and boarded one of the small life boats. The plan was to sneak along side Danarius's ship and climb on board. Then take out as many of his men as possible without being discovered. Merrill had been right, this was going to be tricky as hell. But everyone was willing to risk their lives to get Fenris back, no matter what it took.
Hope you're enjoying the story! Don't worry, there's more to come :D
Also again, I apologize for any erros I missed. If you'd like, please feel free to leave a review ^.^