Sorry this chapter took so long, but here's the next chapter and it's a little longer to make up for the wait. The language used is Latin and I typed that into Google translator. If anything's wrong, I'm sorry about that. Read, review, and enjoy!
Chapter 8
After talking myself in circles, I decided to strap my gauntlets back on to prevent any mage from detecting my mana. It put me at a severe disadvantage if I was backed into a corner by blood mages with only my meager sword skills to protect me, but it was too risky otherwise. If even one stray word reached any ears in Kirkwall the Templars would be all over me quicker than coin spent in a brothel. I couldn't afford to be locked up in the Gallows. Of course, if Fenris found out I wouldn't have to worry about being arrested. The swordsman would probably kill me first.
That wasn't a very happy thought.
I sighed to dispel any more discouraging notions and concentrated on the twisting passageway before me. I didn't know how long I'd been walking, but it couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes before I heard my first sign of life in the old magma tunnels. What I thought for a moment to be the beating of my heart was actually harried footsteps becoming louder and louder. They were heading in my direction and they were coming on quick.
In silence I unsheathed my sword and held it defensively in front of me, edge pointed outward to the source of the noise. The torchlight illuminated the tunnels clearly so it was only a few minutes of not-so-patient waiting until I got a clear image of what was sprinting towards me. Fair of hair and skin, an elvhen male ran with bellowing lungs in clothes I wouldn't have let a dog lie on let alone make a person wear them. Dark streaks of dirt striped thin arms that were more from lack of nourishment rather than the elf's natural petite physique. Cheeks were sunken and I couldn't tell his eye color from the dilation of his pupils. This elf was scared, no, terrified of something. This was no enemy. He was a slave.
What was also clear was that although I could obviously see him, the slave could not see me. I barely had enough time to sheathe my sword and hold my hands in front of me before the blonde elf barreled at full speed into me. Even with my arms out to act as brakes I still felt all the air depress from my lungs as I managed to elbow myself in the gut. I groaned. That hurt.
Wide, black eyes stared up at me and tiny fingers gripped onto the leather of my chest armor that overlaid a thick tunic of chainmail. Maybe the elf wasn't malnourished. He might be very young; probably in his early-teens. He was shaking. My heart tightened in sympathy.
"Adiuva me," the elvhen boy whispered up at me.
What language was that? As if speaking to a spooked horse, I spoke softly. "Calm down. Calm down, you're safe."
"Adiuva me," he repeated. "Adiuva me!"
"Please, I can't understand what you're saying," I said calmly.
The boy's eyes pinched together in frustration at my lack of knowledge of his language and he pulled at my clothes. He didn't move out of arms reach though. He still shook so I wrapped an arm around his impossibly thin waist to hold him up.
"Lorem. Ego egestas." The last part was so soft that I barely heard it.
Slowly, I loosened my grip and grasped his bony shoulders gently. I bent down until I was at his height and spoke just as softly as before. "I know you're scared, but I'll help you. Are you running away? Are you running from Hadriana?"
He stared blankly at me until my last word. That certainly provoked a reaction from him. The petite elf jumped slightly and tensed tightly enough that I was afraid he'd break something. He definitely knew Hadriana. It quickly cemented assurance in my mind once the dam broke and the boy began to babble in his own language and I could only stare dumbly at him as his words washed over me.
"Quod est domina! Non quasi ea. Cursus sit amet terrere. Nullam et Orana nocuerunt mihi, sed nescio quid. Dicit lupus est eam. Proin egestas est."
I only caught one word out of everything the slave said and that was the word lupus which was Latin for wolf. Thank you Harry Potter. I knew that was what Danarius, Fenris's master, called him: his "little wolf". Mischievous glee rose up within me. Hadriana knew that Fenris was coming for her and she did something to scare the elvhen boy enough for him to run away. Perhaps Hadriana was scared also? I was counting on it. I rubbed my suddenly itching neck in thought. A tug on my arm that was still lightly gripping the boy's shoulder brought my attention back. The slave pulled at me and pointed down the passageway from whence he came running. I looked. There was nobody there. I cocked an eyebrow in confusion.
The boy sighed and pointed to my sheathed sword whose pommel peeked out from my right shoulder. "An lupus?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm not the wolf, but he certainly is coming."
Still he tugged, harder this time. "Lorem. Adiuva me."
There was that phrase again. I was beginning to think it meant "help". The elf jabbed incessantly at the air in front of him then pointed at my sword again.
"Veni mecum! Festina! Gimel reddet damnum meus amicus."
This was a bad idea. A very, very bad idea to fight Hadriana alone, but how could I not help him? Dammit, I was a sucker for blondes.
I stepped forward and unsheathed my blade once he released me from his surprisingly strong grip. "Then let's go. Lead me to her."
He didn't need to understand my language to know that I would help him. He grabbed my free hand and pulled me further into the labyrinth at one hell of an impressive sprint that I had trouble keeping up with.
Another problem presented itself as the boy guided me through twists and turns deep underneath the earth. If indeed Hadriana lied at the end of this long tunnel, then how would I defeat her? I wasn't foolish enough to believe that I would survive facing an experienced blood mage with my paltry swordsmanship. I was probably more of a danger to myself than her. More than half a second of thought needed to go into my plans, I decided.
I gripped the smooth hilt of my sword tighter as did the slave's grip on my hand. Slowly, we came to a stop. The boy started shaking and carefully pointed further down the corridor that curved sharply to the right. Hadriana must be close; probably just around the corner. I jerked my sword forwards and raised an eyebrow in question. He nodded and placed a pale finger against his lips in the universal sign for silence. I nodded back.
Gently I squeezed the boy's hand to get his attention and when his, now blue eyes I saw, focused on me I carefully started to untangle our hands. For a second he refused to unclench his shaking fingers, but reluctantly released me after a second's thought.
Drawing the boy close to me, I whispered into his pointed ear as quietly as I could. "Stay here. Stay safe. I will come back," I promised although I knew the elvhan slave couldn't understand me.
I backed up and motioned with my hand to stay and not move from his spot. The boy squirmed, but did not follow me as I stalked further down the tunnel. My palms were sweaty, my stomach tied itself into knots worthy of a sailor, and I fully regretted letting Fenris talk me into going after his master's apprentice without any backup. Going in there alone -armed with a weapon I knew partly how to use and first-hand experience what blood magic can do to a person's insides- seemed like suicide.
I stepped around the corner anyway.
It was a room carved deeply into the earth. Large and open, pillars stretched toward a ceiling that disappeared into an inky blackness. Iron cages lined the left side: small, dingy, and thankfully empty. Ancient symbols drafted in an ink eerily the shade of fresh blood coated the dark walls.
A shiver, which had nothing to do with temperature, travelled up my arms as the powerful feeling of blood magic swept over me. As silently as I could, I inched around a thick stone column that partially blocked my view, but a woman's melodic murmurs forced me to retreat behind it. My back cemented itself to the cold pillar, but it seemed Lady Luck still left me her favor this afternoon as there were no cries of alarm raised. I breathed a deep sigh of relief and strained my hearing to listen to the frantic humming that quickly transformed into words.
"He is coming. He's picked up my trail like the mangy wolf he is! He won't let me leave alive! Blood. I need more blood!"
That must be Hadriana panicking. She feared for her life. Good.
"Mistress, please. If you need power you can gladly take it from me. I live to serve you, my mistress," a male voice said in a low voice.
There was a light shuffling that sounded like heavy cloth rubbing together before Hadriana spoke again. "You are a loyal servant. Stupid, but loyal. Why risk a promising pupil when there are willing slaves that will gladly slit their own throats?" A slap echoed in the room. I flinched at the loud crack. "Don't be too quick to sacrifice yourself in order to acquire favor, foolish boy. Get me a slave and be sure not to let this one escape like the last," the woman harshly ordered.
"Yes, mistress," the boy squeaked.
His footsteps thudded dully and rusty hinges squeaked. I heard struggling.
"Papa! No, don't take Papa! Why are you doing this? We'll be good! We'll be good, I promise just don't take Papa!"
"Do not speak out of turn, slave!" Crack!
I could feel my heart break as the girl's heartfelt pleas turned into sobbing. Metal slammed against metal and I heard the clicking of a lock snap into place. More footsteps…then silence.
"Good," Hadriana cooed. "Strap his head tightly to the table. I need his throat."
"Yes, mistress."
Cloth rasped, but I heard no struggling. Would the slave not even fight to save the life of his daughter who was surely going to be used in the blood mage's sick ritual? Dammit, I had to do something!
Muscles tensed in preparation to leap out of my hiding place, sword swinging, but I was forced back into my corner once again by an unforeseen interruption.
"Subsisto!" A young voice cried near where I was standing in the shadows. Why hadn't the boy done as I told him? Even dogs knew the hand motion to "if you move from this spot there will be dire consequences of the no treat kind" and I sighed my frustration as loudly as I dared to. Today had been filled with just one disappointment after another.
"Subsisto!" He commanded again, but it seemed much closer.
I looked over my left shoulder. Pale hand held outwards, fingers spread; the enslaved boy swallowed heavily at his bravery but did not waver. Stray flaxen strands stuck to the gathering sweat on his forehead. He couldn't have presented his nervousness any clearer than having his knees shaking, which thankfully wasn't the case. The elvhan boy was scared, but he did not flee. That, more than anything, showed his courage.
"You, slave? You dare speak to your mistress with such disrespect?"
The nameless boy took a step forward with his arm still outstretched. "Non amplius tibi nocere nobis. Occisus es mater mea non sit in aliquot vestrum ritus et occidas Orana vel patris sui," he rattled off quickly in his language.
Hadriana's apprentice cackled in glee. "Do you hear that, mistress? The slave thinks he can threaten the power of two of his betters let alone experienced blood mages."
A frown settled on the boy's lips and spoke. "No. I learn. More than slave to clean. I watch. Learn."
I barely had to time to pick up my jaw from the floor in my surprise that the boy actually understood English to sheathe my sword and grab onto the stone pillar before a wave of pure mana swept across the room in an impressive arc. That was a Mindblast. A very powerful mind spell that could fling objects across the room depending on the strength of the mage casting it and from seeing how I practically had to hug the column to stay grounded –which didn't work as well as I hoped- I guessed that the elf could do more than levitate a matchstick. Arcane magic: deadly stuff that was. I must have been too distracted to realize what the tickling on the back of my neck meant which I felt pretty clearly now. He was a mage.
My acquaintance with the air was short lived before the fast-travelling spell raced past me to hit the two blood mages. I grunted when I hit the ground, but I wasn't injured which was more than I could say for the rest of the room as I heard loud thumps and a sharp cracking noise that never meant anything good. I glanced over at the boy who performed admirably well for his first attempt at spellwork and saw him slump to the ground with only his shaking arms preventing him from kissing it.
There wasn't a second's thought before I rushed, perhaps foolishly, from cover to kneel by the blonde-haired elf's side. Gently I pressed a gauntleted hand on his shoulder.
"Are you alright? Do you feel any pulling in your chest or a stuttering in your heart?" The first spells were always the hardest and the most dangerous. "Didn't I tell you stay put? And don't try to pretend you don't understand me. You kinda already gave that one up."
His might have been laughing if his body wasn't trying to hack up a lung. "No. No, I fine," the boy rasped. He cleared his throat and his breath came a bit easier. "Just…tired."
I chuckled and shook my head. "As you should be, kid. You just knocked out two mages in one hit."
"Don't be so quick to dole out worthless praise."
My head jerked backwards at the source of the snarled comment. With the help of her wooden staff, the wounded sorceress stood as gracefully as she could from the ground. Next to her –not moving- was the body of her apprentice, his head turned at an unnatural angle. Only a foot away, the willing sacrifice crawled out from underneath the overturned table bearing a slightly bleeding gash along his collarbone. Hadriana's cold eyes focused on the grey-haired elf. She sneered at his struggles to stand. A hand with perfectly manicured claws reached out towards the older elf and moved back slowly in a pulling motion. I felt the blood magic before I saw it.
It began slowly, droplets of blood appeared around the exposed wound on the slave's chest and shoulder then I had to clench my fist to stop myself from shivering as Hadriana infused more mana into her spell. A red ribbon curled upwards from the gash, swaying underneath the snake charmer's enchantment into her awaiting palm where the slave's blood collected into a forming ball. Her other hand raised the staff to twirl the tip in a tight circle. The crimson trail followed. As a leech sucks blood to feed, so does a blood mage to heal.
A macabre scene played out before my eyes that I had only read about in tomes along with so called eyewitness accounts I glanced over from bounty sheets the leader of the mercenary group I was a part of for a couple years or so gave me. Running across her cheek was a jagged cut she probably received from scraping her face against the cave wall. The stolen blood veiled across her cheek in an uneven sprawl and slowly seeped in. Every speck vanished along with the mage's wound. With the self-satisfied smirk of a conspiring mistress who knew she had the cheating husband wrapped around her finger, Hadriana stroked her flawless skin.
"Hmm," she hummed in pleasure. "Much better. It's too bad about Parvul," the sorceress sighed mockingly as she used the butt of her staff to prod the deceased apprentice. "He wasn't much use alive and now he carries that same trait in death; couldn't even die in a way that would benefit me." Ah. Blood mages could only pull blood once it was exposed to the air as in a cut. Her student was killed by a broken neck. No blood there.
The elvhan boy trembled underneath my hand I still kept on his shoulder. Neither of us had moved an inch, paralyzed by the work of her brand of magic; Hadriana still drew from the gasping slave whose blood gathered in a hovering cloud above his head. Her victim began to pale dramatically in the torchlight and his breath became harsh and irregular. He collapsed, unconscious from blood loss.
"Stop! You'll kill him!" I shouted.
Hadriana narrowed her eyes in my direction. "I don't know who you are, but do not presume to give me orders. I am a magister! You take orders from me!"
She flung her arm out towards the boy and me and the blood cloud followed, but it was a hell of a lot more substantial than water vapor. I flung my body over the boy and I felt my back being buffeted by what felt like an anvil colliding into my spine. The force pushed all the air from my lungs, but I did not move and clenched the terrified slave tighter to my chest. Another wave hit me hard enough to surely crack a couple ribs. I was pinned down, and she knew it. Alright, this getting hurt every time I left the house thing was completely ridiculous. Shifting my arm closer to my mouth I clamped my teeth onto the leather edge of my gauntlet ready to yank it off to show her some real magic but something stopped me. It was like a…ringing? No, that wasn't it.
Hadriana heard it too because she stopped trying to strip the skin from my back. Her head cocked to the side waiting for the sound to come again. This time it was clearer. It was a shout.
"Hadriana!" That kind of sounded like Fenris's voice. "Hadriana, don't think you can hide from me!" The swordsman must have been roaring for his echo to come in clearly through the labyrinth of magma tunnels underneath the earth. "I will find you, Hadriana! You hear me!" His promise reverberated off the cavern walls and made Hadriana visibly tremble in its black intensity. She knew that the former slave would never let her leave alive.
Her concentration broken, the stolen blood that hovered around her body dropped to the ground to puddle at her feet. Her hand shook as she brought it to her lips.
"He's going to kill me," she whispered. "I-I don't have enough power. Not enough blood."
Her eyes shifted rapidly back and forth as if searching out an answer in the air. Hadriana's gaze finally settled on me. She smirked. Cautiously I released my grip on the blonde elf I protected from her blood magic and slowly stood with my hand reaching behind me to grasp the hilt of my sword.
"Well, well," she murmured and sauntered closer. "There's a solution to one of my problems."
In a smooth move I learned from the guardsmen of Kirkwall, I unsheathed my blade and took a wide defensive stance in one smooth movement with the edge of my weapon settled diagonally across my chest to protect vital organs. Aveline had to demonstrate the technique more than once for me and I was glad that she had the patience to teach a man who supposedly was a master of the blade. I made the flimsy excuse that I didn't know many defensive maneuvers and relied on offensive swordplay. I was no wizard of weaving tales as Varric was, but nonetheless the red-haired knight looked over my tiny lie in favor of chewing out a new recruit who managed to splinter another wooden training sword.
"Take one more step and I'll run you through," I growled in warning.
Damn Fenris and his revenge. If the witch even swayed over the imaginary line I drew in the dirt I would take care of her myself. Rule number one with blood mages, or perhaps number four since I could never remember what my mercenary leader told me, was to never let them get close. They only needed one cut to drain a body dry.
Hadriana stopped with a scowl that only lasted a second before her face transformed into one usually reserved for the bedroom where a lover waited. "There's no need for your 'sword' just yet, my dear. I want you to listen to a…little proposition of mine first. I am a powerful magister. What do you think about riches beyond your wildest imaginings?"
I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth from her attempt at seduction. Did she think that I would conveniently forget her trying to kill me by flashing a bit of cleavage? …Alright that only worked one time and the crazy chick tried to blow up my –stolen- car which I wasn't even in so technically that was defacing private property not attempted murder. The blonde –it was always the blondes that got me into trouble- later claimed she won three wet t-shirt contests. I believed her. Things escalated from there.
However at the moment we were not discussing cup sizes. "I've played this game before, multiple times in fact, and I've got to say you're no master at it so I'm going to tell how the rest of this situation is going to play out." I paused for a little dramatic flair and purred into her scowling face. "I know all about you, Hadriana." She balked. "Oh, yes. Fenris has told me many rather unflattering things."
"Fenris?" The mage whispered in fear of the name, but quickly recovered her misstep in our bluffing game. "So you're claiming to be that mangy wolf's new master? How quickly he barks for freedom then whimpers back at the show of a strong hand. Careful now, wild animals tend to bite the hand that feeds them."
In a slow motion, I waved the sword from side to side in an admonishing gesture. "I wouldn't necessarily say I'm his master; more like part of a pack. That's how wolves hunt, isn't it?" I looked upwards in a mock-expression of thought but did not let my sword waver from her form. "You've seen wolves hunt before, right? They break off from the pack to surround prey they've tracked miles off. From all sides they stealthily close their trap on the unaware animal until one hunter deliberately reveals itself to startle the prey. And what does a cornered animal do? They either fight or flee."
My eyes focused completely back on her now trembling form, but my voice did not lose its purring quality no matter how my anger bubbled underneath the current of my words. "So what will you do, Hadriana? Will you fight? Or will you flee?"
For a moment the magister was frozen in place as my words settled between us. A heartbeat later her foot twitched and stepped back. Another beat, another step until she turned fully around to flee directly towards where Fenris had howled his revenge upon her. She was too flustered to remember that little detail, as I hope she would be when I made my –self-admittedly- clever analogy.
I stood watching the tunnels where Hadriana disappeared into for a few breaths before I groaned pitifully and dropped my sword. With a sharp clang it hit the hard rock, but I didn't care as I wrapped an arm around my middle and swore violently under my breath. Damn it, I really couldn't step out of my fancy mansion without getting hurt. I used to go for weeks even four months –a personal best- without limping to the free clinic a few blocks from my old apartment. Judging from the beating bongo drums emanating from my chest Hadriana managed to crack a few ribs from her bulldozing blood spells. Any longer standing, taunting the magister, my bluff would definitely have been called and I would be holding a pair of twos to her full house in our game. I didn't stand a chance on my own against a trained blood mage with no magic to back me up, so I had to rely on pure intimidation.
"Is…bad feel?"
I jumped in surprise and the motion jarred my aching ribs which set off another bought of swearing. I turned to look at the wide-eyed elf who flinched at my black expression. Abruptly, I bit my tongue to stop scaring the kid.
"'m fine," I grunted. I jerked my head towards the cage that still held the crying girl. "Go get her out of there. The apprentice should have a key."
He nodded and went to follow my orders. At least that was one elf that didn't growl and snap back when I was just trying to help. I grumbled under my breath and bent to pick up my sword. I sheathed it without giving myself any more injuries and hobbled over to the older slave that was so ready to give up his life for his mistress.
I sighed under my breath, but gritted my teeth at the pulling in my chest as I squatted down to check for a pulse in the grey-haired elf's neck. I felt nothing.
"Papa?"
The soft cry caught my attention and I turned my head to the warily approaching young female elf with the boy clinging to her skirt. She was petite, as all elves were, and had her blonde hair pulled messily into a bun. Her wide green eyes did not move from her father's still form. Pink lips trembled.
"Papa?" She called again. He did not move. "Papa!" Downtrodden, I shook my head.
The slave collapsed onto the hard ground. She buried her face into her hands; my heart began to break at the sobs that broke through the flimsy barrier of her fingers.
Hesitantly, I reached out a hand to try to comfort her, but the nameless elvhan boy graciously took that duty from me. Even though shorter and younger, the kid drew the crying girl to him in a half-hug and whispered Arcanum words of comfort into her pointed ear. The girl would have none of it.
"Why would she do something like this? She loved Papa's soup and we tried so hard to be good. We did everything she said. I-I don't understand!"
"Orana, neque erunt omnia."
"Orel, I'm scared that you can't make everything better," she whimpered. "She's killed so many of us. Papa and I were the last."
Gently, I spoke. "Here, take this. Pretty eyes like yours shouldn't be hidden behind tears."
The blonde girl peered through her fingers to see a hovering handkerchief that was meant for oiling my sword but was clean enough to dry her eyes. Shakily she took it and dabbed her wet cheeks.
"There that's much better. Tell me, what's your name?"
"Orana," she sniffed.
"A beautiful name. You can call me Hawke." Orana smiled delicately at the compliment.
"Thank you, Master Hawke. This is Orel. I've known him since he was but a babe in the scullery maid's arms." The boy looked up from his comforting of his friend and nodded politely in my direction.
I smirked. "We've met."
Orel cocked his head and stared at me questioningly before he suddenly turned to Orana and whispered something fervently into her ear.
Orana nodded. "Orel is asking if you are our new master now."
"W-what?" I stuttered, startled at the absurd notion. Slavery in my day and age? "Of course not!"
"But I can cook! I can clean! Orel can fetch things very quickly. He is a very fast runner and never gets lost!"
I held my hands in front of me to stave off anymore of her and the boy's qualifications. "I'm sure the both of you are-," I began.
"I help! Magic help Master," Orel interrupted.
"That was you, Orel?" Orana gasped. "You could have told the magister you had magic and she would've made you her apprentice. You could be a magister!"
Orel shook his head and bit his lip. "No. Mistress magic…bad. No…," he struggled to find the word he was looking for in a language I understood but finally gave up and spat. "Ut venenatis est et foeda nigro. Me tremere facit."
There was enough emotion behind the words he got out through his gritted teeth to get his point across. He really didn't like the feel of blood magic.
"You probably wouldn't be much protection for me if that's what you're thinking. One spell had you nearly knocked out."
"I learn. I fast," he said determinately.
I sighed. "I'm sure you are, kid, but people in Kirkwall don't take kindly to magic. One mistake and you'll either be locked up or killed."
"I learn."
"Damn it, kid! If the Templars catch you they'll drag me into questioning too and small cramped places have never been my best friends; especially ones complete with iron bars.
"I learn," he repeated with his jaw set stubbornly.
"You didn't even understand a word I just said."
Orel grunted neither confirming nor denying. We glared at each other unwilling to back down, but I finally threw my hands up in the air in defeat when I realized that arguing wasn't getting me anywhere. I needed to go after Hadriana and if taking in a couple of Tevinter elves allowed me to leave the room with a clear conscience then so be it.
"Beaten by a frickin' child," I grumbled. "Fine. You two can come with me."
"Oh thank you, Master! I promise that you will not regret-!"
I held up my hand to stop Orana's gushing appreciation. "There will be a few conditions though. Number one," I pointed with my finger, "I am not your master, but your employer. You are servants, not slaves, and as such I will pay you both for your work. Number two," here I focused my gaze on Orel who stared blankly at me, "there will be no magic outside of my home and absolutely none around my mother. I will teach you everything I know about magic, but in return you will only practice under my supervision. These two conditions are absolute and are completely non-negotiable as long as you both are in my employment. Do I make myself clear? Orana, please explain everything I just said to Orel."
She nodded and bent to whisper an Arcanum translation. I shifted impatiently in my kneeling position but I would not leave until I was sure they both understood what it meant to work for me. Especially Orel. If I was going to help him then I wouldn't take any chances. As soon as Orana finished, Orel whispered something back to her.
"Orel asks how you're going to teach. He says he's heard of the Circle here and doesn't want to go there."
"I will personally teach him."
The boy narrowed his eyes and pointed at my chest. "No magic."
"Ah. Right, I nearly forgot."
Was I really going to reveal the secret that kept my head firmly on my shoulders and not on a Templar's pike that I've kept from everyone for six-and-a-half months to a complete stranger? I hesitated for a moment before unclipping the buckle that strapped my gauntlet to my inner arm. Yes, I was because the elvhan boy impossible reminded me of myself all those years ago. Desperate to learn everything I could about the gift I was born with, I clung to any knowledge without a care to its origin. Perhaps that was why I carved my first rune into my flesh. I knew the consequences. I knew that it would be seen as blood magic although it wasn't the same. I just wanted…I wanted…I actually didn't know what I wanted. Just…something more.
When I removed both gauntlets I could tell the exact moment the boy sensed my magic when his eyes widened to a point I was half-afraid they would pop out from his head. With a magician's flair I summoned a fireball that hovered above my right palm. I bounced it a couple times as if tossing a baseball into the air before I curled my fingers into a fist to extinguish it.
"I have plenty of magic."
Orel's mouth dropped open in astonishment. "How?"
I picked up one of my gauntlets and rolled back the leather until he could see the faintly glowing containment glyphs that were grouped in a triangle.
"These have the ability to mask my mana. They don't completely cut me off from the Fade, but it weakens my connection enough to prevent me from using any spells or letting another mage sense me while these are touching my skin. In fact," I muttered then trailed off as I activated my earth rune.
A small piece of the floor no bigger than my thumb floated upwards and settled gently into my awaiting hand. I tossed it to my left. My fire rune activated as my earth one dimmed and a tiny flame sprung from my index fingers. I concentrated on the burning ember until it glowed blue and lengthened. It was quick and messy, but I managed to melt a similar symbol from my glove into the rock I held. The flame extinguished when a cold veil of ice covered the stone to cool it. Ice was never my strongest element. I could summon a shield of it in emergencies, but those never lasted too long. My ice spells stood up for a few seconds before melting away, so I used it mostly for cooling hot food or in this case hot rocks.
"Here," I said while holding out my amateurish looking enchanted object. Sandal really had the monopoly on that enchanting stuff. "I want you to hold onto this. Make sure that you don't let go of it until we're safe inside the manor. Templars can sense magic as well as any mage. I've also got a friend who's a mage and I'd rather not let him know that I'm harboring an apostate. He'd never shut up about his manifesto then."
Orel looked at me uncomprehendingly but took my little gift anyway. He gasped once his bare fingers came into contact with the glyph and marveled silently at it. I made sure that I couldn't sense even a drop of his mana before I slipped my gauntlets back on and stood up. Orel hurriedly did the same while helping Orana.
"I have to go help my friends now, but I will be back to help you both. I promise."
Orana hesitated, but nodded. "We will wait here."
"I'll be back," I repeated. "Stay here. I mean it this time," I specifically told Orel. He nodded sheepishly.
With a final look at the two blonde ex-slaves I sucked in a deep breath ignoring my creaking ribs and sprinted in the direction that Hadriana had disappeared though about ten minutes ago. For a moment the only thing I could hear were my pounding footsteps and my grumbled curses as each step jarred my upset injuries, but as I ran further there was no mistaking the sounds of battle. I didn't bother to use my ears to their location. My senses were familiar with the feel of Anders's mana and I automatically locked onto his strong signature which meant a lot of spellwork in a small amount of time. I drew my blade once I got close enough. My boots slid as I rounded a corner quickly and came into full sight of the makeshift battleground.
Hadriana was the bitch that laid the trap with the undead!
Encased in a magical barrier, Hadriana safely sunk her foul magic that stimulated from a bleeding wound on her arm into the earth where rotted skeletons clawed their way out of unmarked graves. Fenris, a murderous scowl on his face, swung his giant sword in a semicircle around his body that cleaved multiple opponents into pieces. Every time he tried to move forward to where Hadriana taunted him, more corpses surrounded the tiring elf and forced him to destroy them instead of their master.
He was too far away for me to help, but Anders wasn't. My abused body, tired from fighting, falling into traps, and acting as a target for a battering ram protested my movements. I ignored it in favor of sprinting off to the side where Anders stood with his back to the wall and his staff aimed at grotesquely smiling skeletons. He waited for a breath as I effectively crippled an undead with my blade by taking off both of its legs. It wasn't dead…well more dead…whatever, but it definitely slowed it down enough to where it wouldn't be a threat for a little while.
Once the lumbering skeletons were close enough, I assumed, Anders unleashed the built up mana he stored in the tip of his wooden staff. Erupting from the tip was a cone of pure ice energy that engulfed two corpses completely, turning them into undead popsicles. Anders nodded to me when I reached his side.
"Very cool," I smirked.
Anders rolled his eyes. "That was horrible."
"Hey, it was short notice. Chill, man.
"Stop it, you're hurting me."
I laughed at his disgruntled expression. Anders shook his head in exasperation and twirled his staff impressively before jabbing the end into the frozen corpse's neck, collapsing any support for the head which rolled off to the side. He did the same for the twin. I whistled lowly in appreciation. My ice spells had nothing on his. To make it cold enough to freeze flesh and bone where it's brittle enough to shatter? I hadn't the skill for that.
"Come on, let's get closer to Fenris. Give him a clear shot to Hadriana."
He grunted in agreement, more in exhaustion than anything else. Anders began to follow behind me as I began to make my way to the fighting swordsman, but he suddenly stopped and gripped my shoulder.
"You aren't going to do anything stupid, are you?" He asked and gave a pointed look at my wrapped forearm where I had the brilliant idea to draw enemy attention by injuring myself.
"No crazy stunts," I promised. "Maybe," I added under my breath.
Fenris suddenly roared and the passive white markings on his body were flooded with a blue energy that spoke of him invoking the power of lyrium. His body glowed brightly enough for a moment to blind me temporarily and I had to stop and blink the dots from my eyes. Like a beast, Fenris savagely tore into his enemies with his clawed gauntlets. He snapped spinal columns with his hands and tore limbs from the decomposing corpses. A veil of rage covered his eyes. Fenris forced a path to Hadriana too quickly for the blood mage to summon more to defend her. Still, the magister did not move although she must have seen her death in his eyes.
The furious swordsman finally reached his prey. His great sword raised high in the air; the elf brought it down with considerable strength to split Hadriana in half. Unfortunately, it bounced innocently off the white, bubble-like arcane shield she encased herself in. The woman cackled at the runaway slave's thunderous expression. Fenris swung his sword again at the shield in hopes of cracking it out of sheer force. Again he struck. Again. Again. There wasn't even a dent when he finally backed off with an irritated growl.
"Fight me, Hadriana! Are you too much of a coward to face me properly?" Fenris snarled wolfishly.
Lean muscles bunched as he heaved his sword again at the indestructible shield. It skittered harmlessly off.
Hadriana cackled at the elf's attempts. "You can't hope to beat me, Fenris!"
"And you cannot stay protected forever!"
Fenris was right. She couldn't. Made of pure mana, her shield couldn't be broken through by physical or magical means. The downside was that it had a time limit. Sooner or later, Hadriana would run out of the magic needed to fuel the high-powered barrier.
"I don't need forever, fool! Just enough time to do this!"
I really didn't like the sound of that. Neither did Anders who wildly looked around for something I couldn't see.
"What is it, Anders?" I whispered to him.
Brown eyes peered distantly off to the side. "I…I can sense the Veil weakening." I cocked my head to the side. I didn't feel anything. He was silent for a moment until he gasped. "She's tearing into the Fade! She's trying to summon demons to help her!"
Oh that was not good. "Fenris!"
The swordsman must have already heard Anders warning before I called out to him as he began pounding away at Hadriana's shield with even greater determination if that was possible. Was the woman completely crazy? Summoning demons? Demons were just as likely to eat their masters as they would their prey. I already dealt with one in the Fade when I first arrived in this time and I had no desire to face one again. Demons gave me the willies.
"Justice can feel the scar growing bigger. We don't have much time before Shades feel it and slip through."
An idea suddenly hit me. I sheathed my blade. "Anders, where's that knife?"
I didn't wait for him to answer. I began to pat the pockets of his coat in search of my knife that Anders borrowed –stole- from me when he saw the Containment Glyph engraved on its blade. Usually used on mages, I wondered if the ability to null magic would work on something else, like, say, a magical shield. A dull clang met my tapping fingers and I reached for the lip of an inside pocket.
"H-hey! Not there! Get your hand out of there! It's in my right pocket! No, stop! I'll get it for you," Anders scolded me and slapped my hand away.
I pouted. "Here," he said. Anders gave me the dagger hilt first. "What do you need it for?"
Flipping the knife idly in my hand, I told him. "You know when I promised that I wouldn't do anything stupid?" Anders narrowed his eyes. "I crossed my fingers."
"Hawke!"
Anders's yell did nothing to stop me as I ran through the now empty battlefield, thanks to Fenris, and up to the milky barrier that prevented any harm to Hadriana. Well, we would see about that.
"Get back, Fenris!"
"Wait, what are you doing!" Hadriana shrieked.
I didn't know if Fenris took my warning to heart before I stabbed the shield. Nothing happened. I pushed harder. Sparks danced across the pulsing service and I felt my arm tingle then go numb a second later. Sweat broke out in droplets on my forehead; I twisted the knife trying to break through and I almost gave up until I felt the very tip find purchase in the mana barrier. It sunk in. One hand gripping the hilt, I palmed the pommel with my other and threw my entire body weight into pushing through. Slowly, as if traveling through mud, the knife's blade inched towards Hadriana's terrified face. I smirked once the white, round barricade curiously stroked the emblazoned glyph.
The two magics instantly recoiled at each other's touch. Bubbling, the shield retreated from the glowing glyph and the knife in my hand became white hot to the touch. I jerked back once the heat ate through my glove and dropped the dagger. As if I was its anchor holding the magic back, the knife exploded with energy that sent me careening backwards into the air. Thankfully I landed on something soft. Or someone, I noticed when I heard my pillow groan. Arms rose from either side of me to wrap around my middle. I moaned pitifully as they unintentionally jarred my protesting ribs. In response, cold air enveloped my lower chest and I sighed in relief at the wonderful feeling of healing magic. Once I had been wary of this certain branch of magic, but now I had to wonder why I hated the immense satisfaction of all my bruises and aches fade away.
"Is that better?"
I practically melted into a pile of goo. "Anders, I love you."
There was a heavy pause and then I felt a cool hand touch my forehead. "Do you still have that concussion?"
My sarcastic response was cut off. When the backlash of the magic threw me across the room Hadriana's shield crumbled into dust around her feet along with my knife. Damn, I only had one of those things. Now I would have to make another just in case a situation like this one arose again. God, I hoped not. Shakily, the woman dropped to her knees and her staff fell from limp fingers. Fenris kicked the mage's weapon away; his sword, nearly as long as his body, was raised to the side in preparation to run the blood mage through. Desperately, the magister flung her hands in front of her and cried.
"Stop! You do not want me dead!" It worked to stop Fenris for a moment, but he did not drop his sword.
"There is only one person I want dead more," his gravelly voice ground out. He inched his blade closer to her chest.
"Wait! Wait, please! I have information, elf, and I will trade it in return for my life."
"Ha," Fenris spat. "What do you have that I could possibly want?"
In a rush she confessed. "You have a sister."
That was the only thing that could have stayed the swordsman's hand. It threw Fenris off balance enough for his blade to waver. I could only see his back from where I was collapsed but I was sure his eyes were wide in confusion.
"Explain."
"I will only tell you if you let me go. Do I have your word? Will you let me leave?"
I held onto my breath as Fenris mulled over the deal that Hadriana presented him with. I would not interfere. This was entirely his call. He slipped his blade into the harness on his back.
Leaning down until his face was inches from his master's apprentice, Fenris growled. "Yes," he bit out. "You have my word."
Hadriana seemed calmer now that she had the illusion of control.
"Her name is Varania. She is in Qurinus serving a magister by the name of Ahriman."
Fenris caught the distinction just as quickly as I did. "A servant. Not a slave."
"She's not a slave."
Silence. "I believe you."
Hadriana's sigh of relief turned into a silent scream as a hand reached inside her chest to grasp a terrified beating heart. Fenris's glowing arm pushed into solid flesh and I could see his muscles work as he clenched his hand into a fist. There was no explosion of blood to follow the sickening sound of Hadriana's heart being squeezed into pulp. Watching from feet away I saw her ice blue eyes widen in pain and then close a second later. She slumped to her side and was still.
I shifted uncomfortably, but I didn't move much. I looked down and realized the hands that helped heal me still hadn't let go of my body. I followed the arms to their source to see Anders not even looking at me, but instead followed Fenris who slowly pulled his arm out of Hadriana's chest without a drop of blood on it. Softly, I cleared my throat to catch his attention. Anders absently looked at me and raised an eyebrow in question to what I wanted. I glanced from him to his arms wrapped tightly around me and then back again.
To give him credit, it only took Anders a second to understand what I wanted. He leapt backwards and scurried away on his hands with a bright flush on his cheeks that stained the tip of his ears and neck red. Comically, I winked and blew him a kiss as I stood up stretching my limbs that still felt cool due to Anders' magic that loosened my muscles and quieted my complaining rib cage. That knot in my neck that bothered me for a few days was even gone. Damn, Anders really had a knack for healing magic. I felt brand new. Anders also got back on his feet, but made it a point to not look at me. He bent to pick up his staff he must have dropped in order to catch my flying body when the backlash of my brilliant idea sent me soaring.
"We are done here."
I left my game of staring at Anders until he looked at me again to see if he would do that funny blush thing again to glance at Fenris who stalked quietly by me to a set of tunnels I hadn't noticed were there. My hand snatched onto Fenris's arm before he got out of reach. His lyrium burns reacted violently to my touch and Fenris growled. I hurriedly retracted my arm as if he had snapped at it. Okay…someone was in a bitchy mood.
Anders could bring someone back from the brink of death, right? So I risked a question. "Are you all right?"
Fenris stopped walking. "All right? Am I all right? Of course I'm not!" Fenris whipped around and pointed an accusing claw at my face. "This could be a trap! Danarius could have sent Hadriana here to tell me about this 'sister'. Even if he didn't, trying to find her would still be suicide! Danarius has to know about her and has to know that Hadriana knows."
Wait…so he knows that she knows we know that he knows? No, that wasn't ri-never mind, I don't care.
Fenris's hand turned from accusing to anger and curled it into a fist. "None of that matters though. I finally got to crush that bitch's heart. May she rot and all the other mages with her."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Ah, good. I'm glad you're all right," I drawled while rolling my eyes.
"And here I thought you were unreasonable," Anders muttered under his breath although he knew that Fenris could hear him anyway.
Fenris uttered unflattering things about Anders's mother in Arcanum, I assumed from the unknown curses from the elf's mouth. He could have been talking about roses and puppies, but I sincerely doubted it.
I decided to play the unrewarding role of peacemaker. "C'mon, Fenris. That doesn't mean we shouldn't look for her. I'm sure Varric knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a pigeon carrier." Damn it, now he's got me doing it. "We can probably hunt down your sister pretty quickly."
"I don't want your help," Fenris sneered. "Even if I found my sister, who knows what the magisters have done to her. What has magic touched that it doesn't spoil?"
Alright, now he was really pissing me off. It took my temper a long while for it to flare up enough to do some damage, but when my fuse was ignited it became very dangerous and Fenris was managing to hit all the right buttons.
"And what do you mean by that?" I quietly asked with frost on my lips.
The swordsman did not back down, instead he drew even closer. "What else should it mean? Mages whimper and cry about their oppression and how they are like any other man and deserve their freedom. It is a noble idea but this is what mages do with freedom!" He made a wide sweeping gesture that included the pile of bones and Hadriana's lifeless body. "They will always try and justify their need for power."
I glared harshly at him. "You know nothing about mages."
"Ha!" He laughed loudly. "You think you know more about the atrocities of mages better than I? I have lived among them unwillingly my whole life. I have seen Danarius sacrifice a small boy in a blood ritual in order to impress Senators."
"And I've seen people so scared of the idea of magic that they slaughtered a woman and her child in their own home. Yes, that woman possessed magic but she could do no more than boil water. Her little girl had none. Tell me that makes more sense than Danarius killing that boy you saw."
"Are you suggesting that I fear magic?"
I shook my head in denial at his hissed words. Already my anger was fading. "I'm just saying you need to wake up or you'll become just like those murderers."
Fenris flashed blue right before he seized the front of my light armor and pulled me down to his height to look me straight in the eyes. "Hadriana deserved a harsher death. I granted her mercy."
"You're right. I'm glad she's dead. Now, let me go and go take a walk, Fenris. Get some air to clear your head before we both do something at least I'll regret."
The wolf's hackles raised a bit more before settling down. "You've changed, Hawke, and I'm not sure it is for the better." Fenris released my front and turned smartly on his heel towards the exit without another word.
Groaning, I closed my eyes and rubbed at my temples to soothe away the headache that was surely forming when I felt a presence in front of me. It didn't seem like they were going to kill me so I assumed it was Anders. I opened my eyes slowly to see him gazing curiously at me.
"What?" I grumbled and dropped my hand to my side.
A smug smile plucked at his lips and I made a motion with my hand for him to close his mouth. "Shut up, Anders."
If it was even possible, his self-satisfied grin grew even haughtier. "What? I wasn't going to say anything."
"Of course you weren't. You're just smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary for no reason," I said sarcastically.
Without bothering to hear the Healer's response I went into the opposite direction of Fenris and back where I first entered the room.
"Wait, where are you going? The exit is that way."
"Yeah, I know. I've just got to make a quick stop to pick up a couple of elven slaves I rescued and took into my employ." A choking sound of disbelief almost made me laugh out-loud. "What? It's not as if Fenris can get any madder at me."
"…True," he admitted.
"Hey, Anders, wanna hear some more riddles?"
"Maker help me."