A/N: And here is Chapter 2! I threw in a little hinting I hope you all can grasp on. Once again I hope I did okay and I greatly appreciate comments and reviews! Thanks!
Chapter 2: The Road To Ostagar
It had only been a day since the left Denerim, but all the while as they continued their journey Kyra hadn't said a single word. She just seemed to have an almost blank expression, as if she was looking into the fade itself. Duncan had noticed this but had decided it was best not to bring it up until Kyra herself did.
"I'm sorry Duncan..." Kyra finally broke the silence, "You didn't really see the Alienage at it's best there. I never intended for anything like this to happen."
Duncan just walked alongside her with a small considerate smile on his face. "Youdid absolutley no wrong there my dear. In fact, many in your shoes would probably have done nothing at all. You are very brave Kyra, you wouldn't be here, getting ready to become a Grey Warden if you weren't."
Kyra just sorta looked at him - and then she stopped. "I've always wanted to leave the Alienage... but not like this." Duncan could see the sadness in her eyes, but her face remained expressionless. "I've hated humans for a very long time. They killed my mother because she refused to comply to their demands. She's the one who taught me to wield a weapon." Kyra's face started to look a little tense, but as she spoke the tone of her voice did not change. It didn't get any sharper or colder, and her expression remained looking a bit blank, but Duncan could see that her thoughts were very conflicting right now. "And after what that scum did to my cousin I just lost all sense-"
"You don't have to explain anything to me my dear." Duncan said, rather abruptly but sincerely. "Not all humans are like that. There is no need to dwell on the past. We have a much brighter future to look ahead to, that is, when this Darkspawn threat subsides."
In that moment, Kyra started to feel a small amount of respect for the shem who stood before her. She finally grew less tense and almost started to relax.
Duncan outstretched his hand, "Now, we must continue on to Ostagar my dear, we will be setting camp in the next clearing we find and we should reach Ostagar by morning."
And so they continued...
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It grew gradually colder as the night grew closer. The camp had been set up completely just before the last bit of light had gone and the embrace of night settled in. Kyra wasn't exactly use to the cold as it was still a little warmer in the alienage than it was on the edges of forests and on trails. She sat in the camp with a fluffy blanket that Duncan had loaned her, since she only had one outfit and it wasn't really suited for traveling. As the two travelers sat next to the fire, Kyra had decided she wanted to know a little more about the Wardens, seeing as she was going to become one in a day or so. "Can you tell me more about the Grey Wardens, Duncan?" she asked.
"What do you wish to know?" asked Duncan.
"Well for starters how does one become a Grey Warden?" asked Kyra.
Duncan looked stone for a moment. "That question and many others will be answered tomorow night when we prepare the joining ritual. There are many things about a Grey Warden that are kept secret for good reason. Get some rest Kyra, we will be in Ostagar by morning."
Kyra kinda looked a bit annoyed that her question wasn't answered but she didn't think much about it. Duncan bid her a good night and climbed into his tent as Kyra got ready to do the same. She put the fire out and headed to her tent which she kept at a distance from Duncan's for personal reasons, but that was when she heard rustling in the bushes near the edge of camp. Her instincts took over and she immediatly sprung to the trees to seek cover and try to get a vantage point of the intruders. That was when she saw them, 3 men...Bandits. They were making their way around the campsite trying to scope out who was there. Very clumsy fellows as they made a lot of noise. It was then that Kyra thought she should warn Duncan, but failed to realize one of the Bandits was directly beneath the tree she was under. At that moment just before Kyra was about to jump to another tree, the branch she was on snapped.
*Slam!* Kyra hit the ground, hard.
"Well look what we have here boys." said one of the bandits. A little elven whore seems to have fallen from the sky right into our laps. Hahaha!"
Kyra tried to get up but the bandit she failed to notice earlier quickly grabbed her, and at that moment she realized she left her weapons in her tent. She was trapped, and she knew what was about to happen. She only hoped Duncan was aware of what was going on.
"So, shall we have our way with her boys?" asked the tallest bandit, the leader Kyra thought. " I'd say this knife-eared bitch needs to learn some manners here. It's rude to eavsdro-"
Immediatley the bandit leader flew back and hit a tree, a knife in his throat. "What the hell!" the bandit that was holding Kyra shouted. "She must have frie-"
Kyra jabbed him in the stomach when his guard was lowered and escaped his grasp picking up the fallen leader's sword just in time to see a shadow cut down the bandit that had been holding her. "W-wait!" shouted the remaining bandit. " This w-was all a m-misunderstanding hehe, I'm sure we can work something out..."
Kyra walked over to him, her sword at his throat, a cold look in her eyes. "I'm sure it was..." she said, "and this was an accident." She plunged the blade into his chest and dropped him, the ghost of his cowardice still upon his face. She didn't have a single hint of remorse on her face when she killed him. In fact, she almost looked as if she enjoyed it. As she regained her composure she turned to see Duncan leaning against a tree cleaning his blades. "Duncan, I'm sorry, I should have been prepared, I didn't mean to-"
"It's okay my dear." Duncan reassured, "I'm only glad I got them in time, I didn't want you hurt. Now get some rest, I will stand watch over camp tonight, just in case."
With that he sent Kyra to her tent, and she stole one last glance at him sitting by a new fire, and for the first time respected a human. She realized that he actually cared what happened to her, not like every other human she knew. As she undressed to her smallclothes and made sure her tent was secure she sat down on her bedroll and relaxed. She thought about either writing in or just reading through her journal but decided to just try and get some rest. As she layed on her bedroll she tried to remember if there had ever been another human like Duncan who cared for her even though she was an elf. It was then that she remembered something...something from 2 years ago...
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...She had been walking through the market in Denerim one evening looking for weary travelers to pickpocket. She was alone this time as the rest of her gang had decided to stay in the alienage. She had learned to stay in the alleys and on the roofs for vantage points to not only find a feeble target but also to keep watch for guards. As she walked through an alleyway she noticed a thick vine growing up to a roof, which would be perfect as a vantage point. As she got to the roof she noticed it started to rain a little, " Crap, now I've gotta be extra carefull..." she thought. She had just jumped to another roof when she overheard something. She climbed to the side of the roof and lay flat upon it so that she could see and listen without being seen. It was a guard berating an old fellow, "probably for something stupid..." she thought. She waited for the guard to walk away and for the old man to let his guard down when she leapt down from the roof she was on and silently stalked up to her target. As she cut his coin purse from him without his noticing she had thought she did it. But as she turned to run back to the alley she stepped on a stick she had failed to notice ealier. "Shi-" she thought.
"Guards! Guards! Theif! A knife ear just stole from me! Theif!" the old man shouted.
She bolted from there as fast as she could, but even so she could hear at least 2 guards and a mabari were hot on her trail. She ducked back into the alley and climbed up to the roof as quick as she could and jumped from rooftop to rooftop trying to get back to the alienage. As she jumped in the air she saw the gates to the alienage were still a ways away and she startedto get fearful, but what happened to her next was much worse than what she was thinking. She tripped...
"Woah!" she screamed as she flew from the roof and onto some old crates in another small back alley. She crashed through them and landed on her stomach. She tried to regain herself as quick as she could and looked for some kind of exit, for she heard the mabari closing in on her. She turned to run and ended up almost headbutting a stone wall. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" she yelled." I'm screwed"
She fell to her knees and looked around for something to hid in but she knew it was useless... they would be on her in a matter of seconds and the outlook didn't look good.
Just as she thought her fate was sealed something happened. Someone had jumped down from the roof adjacent to the one Kyra had fallen from and almost as fast as lightning had scooped Kyra into their arms and they were aflight. Kyra wasn't sure what was going on for the figure had a cloak on. The only thing Kyra could make out was that whoever had just rescued her, was a woman.
Before Kyra knew it she was safely inside the alienage gates and the hooded figure had set her down.
"Your safe here, be careful out there, it's dangerous." the figure said in a whisper, but Kyra could make out that her voice sounded foriegn. As the cloaked person stood up and left Kyra sitting there, the latter noticed short but bright red hair had peeked out from the hood. Ske could only make out the person's lips, but Kyra had noticed that the lips she saw were beautiful. Kyra started blushing at the thought of wanting to kiss them. And in that moment the figure was gone.
Kyra woke up immediatly a little startled by her dream. She knew it was a memory and so she decided to record it in her journal. She didn't know why, but she felt like she wanted to remember it again. And as soon as she had finished writing in her journal she fell back to sleep. She dreamt of a memory again, but this time it wasn't a good one...