16. We Named the Dog Indiana
Tasha didn't quite register the whisper in her mind coming across her empathy until Alistair paused, frowning, head tilted to the side. Then she recognized it and her magic coiled to the surface. Medb's sharp eyes narrowed as she looked between the other two Wardens, understanding dawning, and she slid her bow off her shoulder and nocked an arrow.
"Darkspawn," the elf murmured to Morrigan.
"My thanks."
Everyone waited, muscles tensed.
Then Tasha's head snapped up, eyes widening as her empathy picked up something she wasn't expecting. "Wait!"
Incredulous faces turned to her but she barely noticed. Instead, she took a couple of steps forward. "You can come out."
A bark sounded and her jaw dropped as a swamp covered mabari rounded the bend in the road at a dead sprint. He skidded to a halt in front of her and barked excitedly, turning in circles more appropriate for a much smaller dog.
"You're- I didn't actually think..."
The dog actually shook his head at her as though to say Not now. Tasha's mouth snapped shut. Twisting his powerful body around, he looked back the way he'd come and began growling interspersed with terse barks.
When the first darkspawn rounded the bend, they understood. "Early alarm system, huh?" Medb said, drawing the arrow back and aiming. Scarcely a breath later, the arrow flew. Her lips twitched as the darkspawn dropped, an arrow in its eye.
Not to be outdone, Tasha lifted a hand and froze one. Alistair charged out, shield braced in front of him. Chaos seemed to erupt around them and Tasha felt a part of her that she had tried for years to bury wake back up.
Snarls and growls from the mabari as it tore into any of the darkspawn that got near her proved to be an auditory counterpoint to the other, more typical sounds of combat. The darkspawn battered against the shields she had raised around each person with her and soon Tasha was forced to take a slightly more defensive role, unused to trying to handle defense and offence at the same time and unable to do both. Anger spiked but she eased it away, recognizing she didn't want any of them chopped in half.
When it was over, Medb wiped one of her daggers off on the grass, a little fascinated by the black blood that congealed quickly. "And we drank that." Her tone was flat but there was a faint amusement in her eyes.
"It's a way to weed out the smart ones," Tasha quipped back, feeling the pangs of discomfort echoed by her own.
"What does that make us?" Medb's lip quirked upwards even as she glanced at Alistair, a flicker of nerves darting through her. The senior Warden didn't even blink.
"Incredibly unlucky." Tasha nodded at the blades as Medb sheathed them. "I didn't know you knew how to use them."
Medb gave a snort. "Yes, because Dalish can only use bows." She shook her head. "How in Thedas do you think we defend ourselves against shems?"
Tasha blinked then spluttered, verbally backpedaling. Medb watched her, one red eyebrow lifting, until she started laughing, the amusement breaking free and able to be sensed by the mage. "Why are you…?"
"Relax, Tasha. What are we going to do about the dog?"
Tasha finally looked at it and the darkspawn blood spattering its fur. Their eyes met. "Hang on. I think this is the mabari I helped back at Ostagar. And I think he's been looking for me," she added, brow furrowed and head tipping to the side. As if in answer, the mabari barked.
Morrigan approached, nose wrinkling in distaste. "Mangy, flea-ridden hound." The mabari whined, cocking its head and the expression looked so much like Tasha that Medb blinked, startled.
"Why is it doing that?" Medb asked slowly. "It's not as though the dog can understand us."
"Who knows? The mabari is said to be smart enough to know how to talk and wise enough to know not to. Besides-" Tasha cut herself off, freezing. Her eyes went wide as she stared at the dog. "No."
"What?" Medb looked between the mage and the dog. This had to be some sort of shem thing.
Tasha knelt down beside the dog. "You know I helped save your life, didn't you?" The mabari grunted and the noise could have been a yes or a no. "Did you imprint on me?" The dog barked once.
"I need an explanation, please. What is going on?"
"Mabaris choose their owner, they tightly bond with them. It's called imprinting," she tried to explain, a glance at Alistair. He stood looking down at his metal boots. She reached out for him, feeling his grief choke her. No help there. Tasha turned her attention back to Medb. "The bond usually goes one owner per mabari. He lost his owner and was sick from the darkspawn blood. The kennelmaster thought he might be able to be imprinted on me after the battle. How did he find me?" she asked, glanced back down at the happily panting dog. "I could have been dead for all he knew."
The dog grunted, this time clearly a no. "We don't have time to take care of some dog." Medb said.
"Then he'll just have to make himself useful then," she countered.
"And yet, we still have Alistair," Morrigan commented dryly.
"Hey!" Alistair protested, rousing out of his self-imposed emotional exile.
"What? The mutt has already proven itself to be a more capable protector than you."
He glowered at her.
"We're not doing this right now, you two," Tasha groaned, stepping between the two of them. "I would like to get to Lothering without one or both of you bleeding out. I might be able to heal but I'm not that good at it."
"'Tis acceptable." Morrigan turned her head, sniffing lightly.
Tasha waited until Alistair turned his attention back to his armor boots, choosing to take his silence as agreement, before she turned her attention back to the mabari. "You're going to need a name because I'm not just going to call you 'Dog'. What do you think about Chance?"
The dog cocked his head to the side.
"I think it fits. You got a second chance at life and we can use all the chances we get."
The mabari seemed to think about it and for a moment, Tasha wanted to laugh. The whole thing looked ridiculous. She was talking to a dog like it could understand her. Then, it barked, head tossing back, tongue lolling out, and nothing could have been more of an agreement if it had actually spoken.
A few hours later, they found themselves on the outskirts of Lothering, if a town of that size could have outskirts.
"We will have to be careful," Medb murmured. Tasha glanced at her, reading the worry in the elf's eyes. "These people will be frightened and we are neither familiar nor do we look like refugees," she explained, studying the town, then her gaze slid with a pointed glance at Tasha's revealing robes, if they could be called that. Tasha flushed.
"They're not my fault. Morrigan offered me these since my own robes were pretty much destroyed."
"I know. The fact remains that frightened humans often react badly. Not that my own people are better," she added, muscles in her jaw tightened. Her vision went slightly unfocused and whatever she was thinking about sent anger and grief prickling through her. "But we are an odd group. You must realize this. I may pull more attention simply because I am Dalish," at this she touched her vallaslin, "but the only one who won't draw attention is Alistair."
"Which is surprising enough," Morrigan interjected, eyeing him.
"We'll just have to be extra careful then. Have we decided- Hold on." Tasha cut herself off as glee caught her attention, head swinging in the direction it was coming from. A shiver wracked her body as she felt the glee slide down her spine. "What the-"
Chance began growling as a man swaggered into view. For once, Tasha really wished she didn't have empathy cursed to her. His thoughts were easily read on his face and his emotions, strong and sharp enough to cut through the extra shielding she'd acquired with the Joining, were making her ill, lust and greed starting to overpower the glee. She held her ground despite the memories assailing her. He would have been attractive if every fiber of her being wasn't warning her to flee. Flee or throw up, she wasn't sure.
"Well, well, well, what have we got here, lads?" The man gave a sharp whistle and more of them sprang out of their hidey holes. Their emotions were barely a whisper against her shields, especially compared to the leader.
Anger and such sharp hatred flared from Medb that it was a wonder how Tasha was still on her feet.
"We are in charge of repair. For that bridge up ahead, you see." He jabbed his thumb behind him and even Tasha could see the dilapidated bridge. "Ten silvers and you'll be free to go."
"Uh, Reg? They don't look much like refugees to me," one of the man's companions said. Medb stiffened, every muscle bowstring ready. Tasha laid a restraining hand on her arm.
"You're repairing the bridge?" she asked, fighting to keep her voice calm.
The man nodded, eyes only straying from her form once and that was to glance at Alistair. The bigger man had shifted closer to Tasha, hand going to the hilt of his sword. He was still grieving, still upset, but something in the situation had yanked him out of it a little. Tasha forced herself to focus against the emotions plucking at her. None of it was pleasant, particularly the strength of Medb's hatred threatening to pull her under. "And we require aid from humble travelers such as yourselves." The man, though bandit was almost certainly the better word for him, took two steps closer and licked his lips.
Tasha stared him in the eyes. Her heart thumped fiercely in her chest as she continued to fight the urge to flee. Then she shook her head. "We don't have that kind of money."
"Such a shame," the bandit leader said.
"Right. We get to ransack your corpse then. Those are the rules," the one who'd spoken up before said cheerfully.
"Oh, do shut up. Even a genlock would have understood that." The glance the leader gave him could have been construed as lazy but as he'd said, even a genlock would have seen the threat beneath it. Tasha tensed up, her right foot sliding back a little.
Before he could turn back around, Medb had leaped, unsheathing both daggers as she did. He turned in time for her to nimbly land on him, using her own weight to force him to the ground. A thin line of red appeared from where she carefully pressed one of the daggers into his throat, the other angled at a weak point in his armor at his side.
"Medb!" Tasha's jaw dropped in shock.
Without looking at Tasha, the Dalish elf snarled. "Bandits like him slaughter hundreds of my people! We are not letting these shems go!" Her rage pressed against Tasha's shielding, hot and choking. The mage took a moment to thicken her defenses but her mind raced.
If she couldn't figure out how to get her friend to back off, they'd have a blood bath on their hands and even if they were bandits, she didn't really feel comfortable killing people. Then an idea sprang to mind. "But what if we had them help?" she blurted out.
Medb paused, eyes still fixed on the bandit's. "What do you mean?" The words were forced through bared teeth.
Tasha addressed the bandits next, though she kept one eye on the very angry elf perched atop the leader and poised to kill. "We're armed and most bandits prefer easier targets, I thought. I don't blame you. Even though you might not get the biggest rewards, it's safer that way. That's why you've been preying on the refugees from the south." The other bandits glanced warily at each other. "What about this: we let you all live and you work for us."
"Why should we do that?" the leader asked. She held back the eye roll and pursed her lips to keep the smile off her face. He was trying so hard to sound tough but a blind mouse could have seen the fear. It was only more obvious when Medb's attention snapped back to him fully and his face paled beneath the dirt and tan.
Alistair was trying to decide if he should interject, even though he was pretty sure that anything he'd say would just make things worse. But he couldn't imagine that Tasha was any better at easing conflicts than he was, being stuck in the Circle like she'd been. Until she smiled and his blood ran cold.
"Because we're Grey Wardens and two of us are mages." She lifted a hand, palm up, fingers relaxed. A small ball of ice formed above her hand, slowly rotating. She cocked her head to the side, turning winter cold eyes on the bandits. "We will kill you. And then we will step over your dead corpses and let the darkspawn eat your flesh." She tipped her hand, letting the ball fall. It shattered upon hitting the stone road. Every bandit flinched at the sound. "Or would you rather help protect the refugees and get to live longer. It's your choice. Choose wisely." One of Medb's ears twitched.
There was silence, such a deep silence that not even the birds were chirping nor did the insects buzz. Tasha waited, steadily watching the bandit leader and feeling her heart beating so hard she worried that it would fly out of her chest and go running down the road.
"We will help," the leader finally said, nose wrinkling as though he'd just tasted something foul.
Tasha smiled, the ice leaving her eyes. "Wise decision. Medb, let him up."
Her lip curled but she did as instructed. One hand twitched, the dagger it held jerking toward the bandit but she refrained. As the bandit stood, he rubbed a hand against his throat. "And keep your pet bitch on a leash."
Tasha's jaw dropped open. "Excuse-" That was all she got out because Medb's rage built, hit the edge of her control, and exploded. The mage stumbled back, senses screaming. Her vision darkened briefly. Cold metal met her outstretched hand and kept her upright. She forced her shields to thicken against the assault. Medb spun around, graceful as a dancer, daggers gliding across his throat. Three fingers dropped to the ground, severed at the second knuckle. Blood sprayed her face.
"I am not a dog," she hissed, enunciating each word. She watched as he dropped to his knees, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. "I'm a person." The soft sounds of gurgling and gasping reached everyone's ears. Medb stood there and waited. Only when he was dead did her eyes lift and the rest of the bandits took an unconscious step back. "Who was second in command?" One of them hesitantly raised his hand, slowly stepping forward. His entire body was braced. "You're now the leader. Make better decisions than he did. What is your name?"
"Uh, Riley?" He swallowed, attempted to control the quaver in his voice.
Tasha was tempted to ask him if he was unsure what his name was but restrained herself, instead watching Medb. The elf stood in front of the new bandit leader and had she been taller, she would have been nose to nose with him. A pool of fluid formed at his feet, darkening the stone. Medb waited long enough that the man's panic began to eat through to Tasha before speaking. "I suggest you make better decisions than your predecessor because I would hate to be interrupted from my rather important mission to stop the darkspawn and come back here to deal with your band." Her eyes narrowed and Riley visibly had to fight the urge to cower. "I will not be so kind next time."
Riley watched her for just a moment, waiting to see if she was going to do anything else. When she turned her back, his fingers twitched in the direction of his sword. Tasha tensed, magic jumping to the surface. "Let's go, men."
"You're going to let the elf order us around?" One of the other bandits asked incredulously. Riley stared at him then shot a cautious look at Medb.
"If you want to tell her no, be my guest." He walked away, tensing when he exposed his back. Medb was the only one who did not watch the bandits leave but she must have known when they were a fair distance away because her muscles relaxed a little and she shook her head as if to clear it.
"I didn't kill them," she murmured distantly. Tasha winced at the sharp pang of guilt and toughened her shields again.
"Would you have?" Morrigan asked. "Because that was an interesting threat, one I would not have expected from you." She turned her tawny eyes on Tasha as she spoke.
"I should have," Medb said, eyes flashing. "I should have just killed them. They never show us mercy and-" She closed her eyes and made a noise akin to a growl that edged into a high-pitched whine. She shook her head, frustration winning out.
Tasha chewed on her lower lip, thinking, eyes on the elf. "I think so," she finally said, hating what she was saying but having the sinking suspicion that she wasn't wrong. "But Medb is right. We have a mission and we have to do whatever we need to defeat the darkspawn."
Morrigan's eyes were unreadable but she stepped back and let Tasha take the lead once more. When the former Circle mage looked back to make sure that Alistair was coming, the hesitation and wariness clear in his eyes made it hard to breathe suddenly. She flinched, ducking her head. She hoped it was more to do with her threat of violence than her display of magic, the reminder to the Templar he almost was of what kind of danger she was just by existing. Still, for just a moment, she wished she was back in the Tower.
AN: Sorry for the delay, guys. Lost the notebook that has this written out and then my cousins came and life was chaos.
Hopefully y'all like this. I like this chapter. Let me know, please and thank you. Le do thoil?
Also, I'm posting this on Thursday because I have more family coming into town tomorrow and we all know that I will 100% forget to update.