A/N: It's been ages since I last wrote an action scene, so trying to remember how to. Action-packed first part, back to narrative in the second. Raw and unedited, so mind the typo-bombs.
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Motivation
In which a completely unexpected encounter leads to perfectly expected conclusion..
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The farmstead was in chaos. Redheaded dwarf charged at the Darkspawn coming in from the left, cutting their path; a blonde mage got tackled from behind and crying out. A growling missile of fangs and muscle leaped over the fence and knocked one of the attackers off the mage's back. Further up by the barn, a shape too quick to make out clearly whirled in a circle, striking high and kicking low as the Darkspawn jumped at it from all sides.
Young girl screamed again as she kept running towards the incline, clutching the hand of a small boy as she dragged him along. The dwarf slammed into the nearest Darkspawn just as it was about to cut both children down. Nathaniel rushed down the slope and let fly, three arrows in rapid success burying themselves into a Darkspawn chest and stopping it dead in its tracks.
The boy stumbled and fell with a cry, almost dragging the girl down with him. Another Darkspawn broke from the group and leapt at them, short, ugly and set on a kill. His own momentum carrying him down too fast, Nathaniel planted a swift arrow at nearly a point blank range, dropped into a roll and barreled into the monster's legs.
The dwarf let out a mighty battlecry and swung his axe in a wide arc around him. Nathaniel came up from the roll on one knee and drove a knife into the back of the fallen Darkspwn's skull. He caught the girl's terrifed eyes as she tried to get the little one to get up and keep running.
"Go!"
Hiccuping with tears, she somehow managed to pull the boy up to his feet again and made for the top of the incline. Nathaniel was already running in the opposite direction. The mage let out a burst of ice from both hands, a shimmering aura glowing softly around his whole body. The blast froze several Darkspawn closest to him, the tips of the dwarf's braided beard and nearly Nathaniel's entire arm, armour creeking softly as a sheen of frost formed over it.
"Hey!" the dwarf yelled out as his axe shattered the first frozen Darkspawn into pieces. "Watch it with that thing!" Nathaniel hissed sharply, echoing the dwarf's sentiment and dashed past and behind the mage. The mabari had already bound back across the fence, rushing at the furthest group of Darkspawn from behind. An explosion sounded from that direction not a moment later and a small shape darted out of the thick smoke just as the mabari jumped in.
Sharp howling came from behind the barn on the opposite side of the field, closer to the house. The next moment three vaguely canine shapes jumped out and shot across the field. Behind them another group of Darkspawn came into view, three with drawn weapons and one doing something dangerously resembling magic.
It would have been so easy to just let it happen Nathaniel tought later: the elf bolting full speed across the field towards the group and into head-on collision with the three monstrous wolves that raced to intercept. But instead of yielding to temptaion, Nathaniel broke into run firing arrow after arrow, aiming high.
The blight wolves stumbled and went down hard as a rain of arrows suddenly fell over them and the space between them and the three Darkspawn guarding the fourth behind. The elf rushed past them without missing a beat and dove between the guarding Darkspawn's feet.
Nathaniel skidded to a stop and then down on one knee as the ground beneath him suddenly rocked as a powerful tremor ran through it, cracks opening in the earth all around him. A "Rargh!" sounded from somewhere to his left, a crackle of lightning like a whip in the air. A Darkspawn scream from behind, cut short in a snap of jaws. A whirlwind of blades up front as the elf slashed through the caster and the surrounding 'Spawns. The tremor stopping as abruptly as it had begun and with the final Darkspawn corpse hitting the ground with a thud, it was done.
XXX
For a second or two, complete silence reigned over the farm as Nathaniel stood up, a bit more shakily than he would have liked. And then slowly, the sounds started pouring back in.
The dwarf's heavy boots splashed through the mud as he grunted his way towards the barn, the mage not far behind and complaining. The elf extracted herself rom the Darkspawn heap and staggered a few steps forth, breathing heavily. The mabari bounced past Nathaniel and rushed to her side. "Woof!" he stated happily as he planted himself in front of her, tail wagging hard.
The elf placed a hand on the dog's wide head and gave him a small grin. "Good boy, Bandit," she patted the beast before looking up. "Anders!" She staggered another step forward, clutching the mabari for support. "A little help here?"
The mage picked up the pace and passed by Nathaniel with only a passing, though slightly curious glance in his direction. The dwarf, however, stopped when he reached him, gave him a once over and a grin. "Nice shootin' "
Nathaniel nodded absently and moved the hair out his eyes, still looking at the elf ahead.
"Why did you name your dog 'Bandit' again?" the mage - Anders - asked even as he begun casting a spell, much to the dwarf's amusement if a grin spreading on his face was any indication.
"Biscuit didn't suit him," the elf shrugged and winced, "Dark Fang the Mighty Destroyer of Darkspawn was a mouthfull and- Aaaahhhh…" a wave of healing magic washed over her in a rejuvenating wave, "…and Fen'Harel was just too bloody pretentious."
"And also," the elf flashed the mage a grin, "because whenever I cry "Bandit!" half the people I'm with jump and ask "Where?!" And then she caught sight of a surprise extra in their midst.
There was a snort from the mage and a "He… hehe.. hehehe" from the dwarf as the elf made her way towards him, her hand still on the mabari's head but her gaze fixed firmly on Nathaniel.
"You know," she addressed him, stopping few paces away and next to the blight wolf corpse, "If this was another attempt, it was piss poor." She toed the corpse with the tip of her boot with a 'huh'. A single arrow portruded from the beast's neck, several others scattered around, some in the ground but most buried in the remaining wolves. The elf arched her eyebrows: "I'm not complaining, mind."
Nathaniel shifted weight from heeels to toes as the dwarf gave him a slightly less friendly glance at this. The mage threw both him and the elf a curious one as he stepped beside her. "You two know each other?"
"Mhm," she nodded absently, still looking down at the wolf but in reality at Nathaniel's subtle change of stance. "He's the guy from the prison. Howe."
"Oh." the mage blanched slightly a took a step back. He hadn't paid that much attention to that particular story but he did remember the part where it took four Grey Wardens to wrestle that one down.
"Wait, you're Rendon Howe's little blighter?" the dwarf said at the same time, the axe in his hands suddenly looking rather more menacing than a moment before.
Several toughts colided in Nathaniel's head as they all scrambled for immediate attention at once. Resentment at hearing his father's name said in that particular tone of voice - the only tone in which anyone ever spoke of him nowdays. The fact that the huge mabari was giving him a very careful glance from not two feet away. The mage flexing his hand on impulse, soft sheen of a spell yet unfromed curling around his fingers. The elf, deceptively quick and way fiercer in battle than he had originally assumed. Suddenly running up that incline and then diving straight into the frey didn't seem like such a good idea any more.
Except that it was and he knew he'd have done the same even if he had known what to expect. Not that there was a split second in which to think to begin with - only barely enough time in which to act.
It took only a moment to take it all in but apperantly enough time for the elf to lose interest in Nathaniel and his sudden apperance. Bot the dwarf and the mage, and yes, the mabari too, were still looking at him, but she was already looking away, surveying the carnage they just left in their wake.
Nathaniel followed suit even as the dwarf growled out a question, and caught sight of two small, trembling figures huddling by the bush patch at the top of the incline at the same time the elf did.
"Soooo… What are you doing here, then?" The dwarf finegred the handle of his axe, adjusting the grip. The elf tugged lightly at the mabari's ear and started walking away from the group. Realizing there is suddenly no more elf or mabari in between him and the newcomer, the mage moved to follow.
Nathaniel looked at the dwarf and then back at the surrounding wreckage of the farm.
"I…"
He took in the sight as his mind raced furiously. The farm was in ruins. Darkspawn everywhere. Monstrous beasts prowled the surrounding forests. And a mad dwarf, a reluctant mage and a wound-up elf with a dog all that stood between them and the two frightened children up ahead.
And this was just one farm…
"I want to help."
The dwarves' eyebrows furrowed up in a knot but the mage beat him to the punchline.
"Yes? And here I tought you just wanted to kill the Commander. How, exactly, did you imagine that to be helpful again?"
Nathaniel narrowed his eyes in irritation. The mage was right. And he did want to kill her, but…
"This is more important."
Neither man expected what came next: the dwarf 's eyes went wide and then he dropped the business end of his axe down and burst out laughing.
"Commander! You're a natural!" he called after the elf. "Gonna start a whole collection?"
The elf shrugged without pausing or looking back. "Everyone needs a hobby." The dwarf just laughed harder and moved to follow.
The mage shrugged and tilted his head. "True enough, I guess." His smile met Nathaniel's frown. "Mine's escaping from the Circle Tower. What's yours?"
Before Nathaniel could say anything, and doubtful he knew what to say to that, the elf stopped in her tracks and turned around.
"This land's fucked." There was just a pinch more concerned than snarl in her voice.
The dwarf stopped and looked around. "Aye. We'll pile up, you go," he added after the elf failed to move. She nodded once and then started towards the incline again as the dwarf doubled back and gave Nathaniel and the mage a yell.
"Well? What are you two waiting for? A kiss? These blighters ain't gonna haul themselves!" He grabbed the nearest Darkspawn by the leg and begun dragging.
The mage glanced at the corpse at his feet with a "eew" look on his face. He then glanced at the dwarf and made an even bigger "eeew" at the notion of that kiss, sighed at his cruel faith and reached for the blight wolf's tail. The dwarf tossed the one he was dragging on top of another one nearby and went looking for a third. Nathaniel bent down, got hold of another corpse and moved to add to the pile.
The dwarf fell in line beside him, dragging his haul. "Me and the Commander, we go a way back, you know," he said conversationally. "She says it's fine, that's good enough for me- Nugnuts!" he cursed as his Darkspawn got caught on a rock. He pulled it off with a grunt and continued. "Now, the Commander, she's got a temper all right, but you do fine by her and she'll have your back in a pitch." He gave Nathaniel a sideways look, joviality slipping to reveal something much darker beneath. "But you do something dumb, and you'll find my axe in it."
Nathaniel didn't stop nor flinch, merely gave it a nod without looking the dwarf's way. "Understood."
"Hehe. I see we'll get along marvelously."
XXX
Dusk was sneaking over the horizon by the time they set the last pile of Darkspawn to flames. Not only do they stink like nugfart the dwarf, Oghren, had explained as they kept dragging their corpses to the pyres, they spread the blight, alive and dead. Leave them to rot, and it'll seep into the land, blighting it for years to come, often to never recover at all. It made Nathaniel edgy just thinking about it: Amaranthine soil was fertile, easily feeding the entire Arling with enough left for both store and trade. The possibility of it going blighted, having people survive the Darkspawn blades only to be doomed to starvation afterwards, tied a knot of apprehension in his gut. Pariah or not, this was still his home.
And it was that tought that, in the end, won out the day. His father may be dead and his killer currently sitting not three paces away, poking the campfire idly, but the urge to drive the dagger through her neck got pushed aside not by the presence of a watchful mabari or a protective dwarf (already dozing mage did not currently figure into the equasion though Nathaniel suspected he should probably count him in, too) but by the notion that these four, such as they were, were the only force currently around with any chance of truly standing up to this Darkspawn incursion that shouldn't have been happening in the first place. For the sake of his home and all the people in it, he couldn't reduce the already pathetic number down to just three.
Nor could he stand idly by and let the imposter and her troupe fight to protect his home in his stead. And so he put his grudge aside, for the time being at least, and remained even after the pyres burned down and he was free to go. His vengeance could wait or, if it comes to that, even go unfulfilled if need be, if it meant his home would be made safe again. He reflected back on his words earlier in the day and found they rang true:
This was more important.
And they needed him. He snorted with disdain as he recalled another exchange that came later in the day, after Anders returned with the litle one's father and older brother who were working the far field at the time of the attack and were thus, mercifully, spared in the attack. The kids still lost their mother, grandmother and - he couldn't help but cringe again - a kid sister, still in the cradle - to the Darkspawn.
It was the elf who found the corpses, he recalled, and she spent good long while just… staring, with an unreadable expression on her face. Was it one of sorrow, brewing anger or merely aloof, Nathaniel couldn't tell. It was easiest to think it was the last one, but even as he examined the idea he knew it wasn't true.
Regardless, she kept the children busy and away from the sight as he and Oghren, and yes, the mabari too, kept building piles while Anders went to fetch their father under the pretext of a pair of peasents probably not likely to react too well to a sudden apperance of a blood-covered elf. Which was true, and the fact that he had also neatly avoided the task of hauling Darkspawn around was just a welcome bonus.
It was around that time that Oghren brought up the subject of their next destination. Some swamp or something, he had said. It turned out to be the Blackmarsh and - Nathaniel's anger reared its head again - these four didn't even have an idea where it was. Which, apperantly, didn't stop them from heading there anyway. How they were plannign to acomplish that was anyone's guess and in the brief time he had spent with them Nathaniel came to a fast conclusion that "planning" was not something that figured much into the… Commander's way of doing things. Such careless incompetence irritated him on the best day, but in people, especially one, who were the best protection his home had right now, who, for points and purposes now - his jaw clenched at the notion - actually owned it… It was enough to instantly drive him near-livid.
And also enough for him to definitely stay, whether they wanted him to or not. There was, it turned out, an Orlesian Grey Warden who was not at Vigil at the time of the attack. His wife came from Amaranthine and told them he left for Blackmarsh about a week prior to investigate a possible Darkspawn gathering in there. Blackmarsh was a haunted place as it was, Nathaniel recalled with a slight shiver and adding Darkspawn to the mix only made it an even less desirable destination than it always was.
Still, the elf seemed very keen on the possibility of finding another Warden aside from herself. An experianced one, that is. Both Oghren and Anders were also of the Order - a fact that had both confused him and made his already low opinion of the Order fall even worse. But it seemed that the elf truly wanted to find another one, if only because she wanted "someone to take this trice-damned mess off my fucking hands!" Despite himself, Nathaniel found himself in full agreement with her wishes: anyone, even anotehr Warden, even an Orlesian one, would still definitelly be better than her in charge.
And so Blackmarsh it is, he tought as he laid back and closed his eyes, fragments of tales he had heard about it as a child filtering back into his mind. HE pushed back hard against the wave of nervousness that crept up on him.
Really - How bad could it be?