"Fenris..? Fenris are you here?" Varric stuck his head in the door and stepped inside after me.
"Hawke is that you? I'm up here." Fenris called from his usual room upstairs. We headed up the stairs and found Fenris lounging in an armchair by the fire. "What do I owe the pleasure of this visit Hawke, Varric?"
"Well, we have a small job to do and we were hoping you would be willing to come along. I figured you might want to come." I caught myself staring, and lowered my head blushing. I hadn't known Fenris long, but I was still struck by his apperance and he could reduce me to a blushing schoolgirl with just a glance. And we wont even go into what one of those smirks did, like the one he was giving me now. Those smirks should be illegal, that was it, I was convinced. I burned scarlet all over again, and saw Varric trying to stifle a chuckle. So I elbowed him and he umphed glaring at me.
"Let me get my things and we can be on our way then. I assume you will fill me in on our way?" I caught myself staring again, and for the third time in a matter of minutes turned redder than a tomato. I though Varric was about to explode at this point. I realized that he had asked a question and snapped out of it quickly..
"Uhm, yea about that. Were meeting her here in Hightown so do you mind if I tell you whats going on while you get ready?" He appraised me for a second and then motioned for us to follow him. We filled him in on Isabella's request while he pulled his armor on and strapped on his greatsword.
"So let me make sure I have this right. We are going to back up an ex-pirate in case her duel goes wrong?" And here he raised his eyebrow at me.
"Uhm, basically yea. Thats what were doing. She may be an ex-pirate in a duel with someone, probably for doing something illegal, but you know me. I can't not help."
"Why do I have the feeling that life is never going to be dull with you around Hawke?" He chuckled lightly, letting me know he was teasing.
"What is it with people telling me that lately! I know I'm a magnet for strange, but have a little faith in me here boys. But we need to get going, Isabella will be waiting for us." I turned on my heels and headed for the door, hoping it would make them think I was miffed at their lack of faith in me; but instead all I managed to do was trip on my own feet and have to catch myself on a decorative suit of armor, causing both of them to erupt in laughter and me to storm out the front door. They followed me in a matter of seconds looking apologetic and we headed off in the direction of the meeting place. I spotted Isabella leaning against a tree and headed over to her.
"There you are, I was wondering if you would even show up. I've been waiting here for hours and Hayder hasn't made an appearance yet. For that matter no one has shown up, which I don't like one bit." She had been pacing anxiously while she was talking and was stopped cold in her tracks by a woman running up the stairs on her right. I saw her draw her daggers, and we all reached for our weapons.
"Thats the wench were looking for! Rip her apart boys!" And with that they attacked. The battle was short lived, we took care of them quickly and without much injury. Isabella's speed and precision aiding our already deadly combos, I had been right to think that she was not one to mess with. Once the last man fell and we had sheathed our weapons I could hear Isabella speak up.
"We need to search the bodies, there may be something there to help us find out where Hayder is hiding." We set to work looting the bodies and searching for a sign of his wherebouts, I heard Varric shout out. He had found a piece of paper indicating that he was waiting at the Chantry for proof that Isabella had been taken care of. Isabella scoffed.
"Trust a coward like Hayder to hide in the Chantry and send goonies to finish me off for him. Lets get to the Chantry, I cannot wait to get my hands on the little bastard. I wont let him get away with this." And with that she took off running for the Chantry. We ran through Hightown, Isabella obviously bent on her mission. We mounted the steps to the Chantry and Isabella paused just before opening the doors.
"Alright, Hayder should be waiting inside, so be ready. Don't let your guard down." With that she pushed open the door. The Chantry was quiet, but I could see Isabella out of the corner of my eye scanning the shadows for any sign of life. As we neared the center of the room a man stepped out of the shadows.
"Isabella, I should have known you would have found your way here." Isabella lauged darkly.
"Next time Hayder make sure your hired idiots know how to burn the letters after reading them."
"You know, Castillon was absolutely horrified and heartbroken when he heard about you and your poor ship. You should have let him know you didn't drown."
"Ooh dear, did I forget to send him an "Oh look I wrecked my ship but I survived" card. Must have slipped my mind." Hayder chuckled coldly.
"Ooh Isabella, you haven't changed a bit. Now tell me, where is the relic?"
"I seemed to have misplaced it. Maybe it went down with my ship, you never know. We could send Castillon down to the ship to check, I'm sure he wouldn't mind."
"So you lost it did you, just like you lost that ship load of valuable cargo. It just slipped through your grasp?"
"They were not cargo Hayder! That was a ship full of people that Castillon would have gladly sold into slavery for his own personal gain!"
"Those slaves were worth 100 soverigns a head, and dear, sweet, softhearted woman that you are you let them run free in the wilds! And now you've lost the relic too, Castillon will be overjoyed. Now Isabella, what are we going to do about this little problem." Here I stepped in, I was confused as to what was going on, but willing to help Isabella.
"Hayder, you don't have to tell Castillon where Isabella is. I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement."
"Are you mad woman. If he finds out that I doublecrossed him he would skin me alive, and my life is worth more than hers by a long shot." Isabella let out a huff, obviously frustrated.
"There is only one way to settle this." And with that she whipped out one of her daggers and threw it, it landed perfectly in the chest of Hayders right hand guard. Chaos broke loose, guards drawing their swords and all of us fighting for our lives. Isabella was cutting through guards with ease, Varric was hailing down bolts on the fray, careful to avoid any of us, and Fenris and I were back to back cutting wide arcs in the oncoming men with our greatswords. I heard a grunt and a scream and looked over to see that Isabella had found her way to Hayder and was locked in combat with had just sliced his arm from shoulder to wrist causing him to drop his greatsword, and she was advancing on him slowly a look of pure hatred and disgust marring her beautiful face.
"Its over Hayder." Her voice was pure venom as she purred in his ear, running her dagger through the mans heart. He slumped to the floor, and we picked of the remainder of the guards that hadn't managed to flee in time. It seems that we were all in pretty good shape, Varric had a few cuts but nothing too major. Isabella had a gash in her arm where an arrow had grazed it, Fenris was bleeding from a leg wound, and I had an arrow in my calf, but other than that it wasn't something that an elfroot potion couldn't take care of. I was going to have Beth take a look at mine just in case, but everyone else was ok. We cleaned up and looted the bodies when I looked over at Isabella.
"You know I was trying to talk him down, end this peacefully." I could hear her sigh.
"I know you were, but believe me when I say sweet thing, it is better that things ended up this way. Hayder wont be able to tell Castillon about me himself anymore, but he will find me eventually. You can bank on that. I'll just have to find the relic and give it to him, thats the only option I have anymore I guess." My curiosity was piqued at this.
"Now what is this relic that everyone seems to be so interested in?"
"To be honest with you, I'm not really sure what it is. All I know is that its really old and worth a boatload of gold. Castillon has been trying to get it from me to pay for the boatload of slaves I set free. But if I was completely honest I would say he just wants me dead, and that would be the lowest form of punishment."
"You shouldn't have to worry about punishment for doing the right thing. If finding this relic keeps Castillon from hurting you I will help you find it if you want." She smiled at this.
"I'm still not sure where to find it, but you will be the first one to hear when I do. Anyway thank you for helping me with Hayder. I think I'm going to hang around with you and your friends for awhile. I could use a little excitement and you look like the excitement magnet kind of crowd. I also have a room at the Hanged Man if you're looking for a different kind of excitement later sweet thing." And with that she winked and sauntered out of the Chantry without so much as a glance back. For the the third time today I found myself absolutely beet red, and being laughed at by my supposed friends. I shot them the dirtiest glare I could muster and muttered something about needing a strong drink and stalked off out the door. We all ended up at the Hanged Man afterword, each of us with a drink in our hands enjoying each others company, sharing stories and getting to know each other better. Isabella and Varric seemed to be cut from the same mold and I could tell she was going to be an exciting and excellent addition to our growing band of misfits. She had so many stories from her travels and times as a ship capitan that I thought Varric was going to explode. He kept asking questions and the two of them swapped stories well into the night, and all of us were more than a little tipsy at this point. I don't know how long we stayed there laughing and talking, but eventually I found myself being supported home by a barely sober Varric, and a wobbly Fenris. We must have been a sight wobbling toward Gamlen's, most likely being far too loud for that time of evening/morning whatever it may have been, and for the second time in less than a week I found myself tripping through the door of my home and almost falling face first into the writing desk I wobbled my way to my bed, and a long night of sleeping it off.