A few hours passed and Amryn could already tell this was going to be a long journey, all just to visit her family, yet again. Although, she had to admit that she was a little curious as to what was so important for her family to spend all of that gold to be allowed another visit so soon. The cuffs on her wrists were already starting to rub her skin raw, due to them being clasped tight, more so than their usual trips.

Amryn listened to the two Templars who took their positions behind her. They were talking about something she had never heard of before.

"Some crazed up mage destroyed the Chantry over in Kirkwall." One Templar said, his accent pointed to the fact that he was a native Free Marcher, as Amryn was.

"I heard he was under influence of a demon." The second Templar replied to the first. His voice sounded like he was from Orlais, although the accent was faint.

The first Templar scoffed at the mention of a demon before making a retort.

"Fucking Mages. They are dangerous, every last one of them." His attention flicked over to Amryn, which she could feel their eyes stabbing into her back harder than sharpened daggers.

Amryn turned her head slightly, looking at the two armored men behind her.

"Be careful back there. Mages are known to shoot fireballs out of our arses." Her voice filled with witty sarcasm and she grinned at the look on their faces through the gaps in their helmets.

"Quiet back there." A voice from the front sounded.

"Yes, Knight Captain." Amryn answered, amusement still present in her voice as she faced forward.

Amryn could tell, Knight Captain Ian was smiling. If not physically then he was laughing in his mind. The two had always gotten along, have always been on good terms. Ian was the kind of man every Templar should aspire to be. Strong, willful, passionate, kind, but fierce. Amryn was glad when Ian was transferred to the Circle in Ostwick, otherwise it would be Conrad giving them orders. Under the Knight Commander, of course.

Soon everything fell silent. Nothing could be heard except the sound of their footsteps on the dirt trail that they followed, not even wind or the sounds of birds chirping. It was an eerie feeling, that was certain.

Amryn was too focused on the silence that she didn't realize the two men in front of her had stopped, which caused her to bump into them.

This didn't bode well with the one on the left.

"Watch it, you filthy mage, or I'll see your hands cut off." Conrad said, utterly disgusted with the fact that she touched him.

"If you have such a problem with being touched by a mage, perhaps you shouldn't have become a Templar." Amryn stated, causeing the Templar to growl in return.

"Both of you, be quiet. We are surrounded." The Knight Captain whispered to them. He watched his surroundings, releasing his portion of the chain, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. The two Templars in the back did the same, leaving Conrad the only one holding the chain.

The Knight Captain nodded at Conrad, issuing an order to watch over Amryn before him and the other two drew their swords and shields. As if on cue, bandits started dashing towards them, coming out of the cover that they took in bushes and behind trees. There were easily a dozen of them, against four Templars and one mage bound in enchanted chains that prevented her from using her magic.

The three men ran into the group, cutting down their enemies and using their special abilities learned in their Templar training to take down the enemies. Amryn and Conrad stood away from the battle, watching the three templars being overrun.

"We have to help them!" Amryn shouted at Conrad. "Please! At least let me aid them! I can use a spell that'll knock..." Amryn's exclamation was knocked short due to a fist slamming into her face with such force that it knocked her back, causing her to momentarily lose her vision. She laid on her back, regaining her vision, she could see a figure standing above her. It was Conrad. She stared at him with bewilderment as he held a sword at her throat, ignoring the fact that his companions were being cut down a few feet away.

"Let me go, Conrad!" She scowled at him, venom laced her words. Maker, she knew this man was no good. She watched as Conrad's blade swung down at her, to which she attempted to dodge. Standing as quickly as she could, she stumbled and leaned against a nearby tree, her face and head throbbing from the man punching her. Her blue eyes were large as she watched the man come at her again, blade at the ready. She couldn't do anything to defend herself, if she ran, she would be killed by the other. If they lived through the attack, that is.

Curiosity got to her and she looked up briefly to see how the other three were faring. It seemed they were holding off well enough, they might make it. Her attention switched back to Conrad, who had the sword raised once more, ready to strike her down. All she could do was close her eyes and hope he made it quick. She waited, but it never came. Was she already dead?

Amryn opened her eyes slowly, but all she saw was something silver in front of her. Opening her eyes the rest of the way and standing straight, she saw it was the Knight Captain. He held his sword in his left hand, ven though he was right handed. Amryn noted that his shield was gone, and he was holding his left side with his right hand. Looking closer, she realized that blood was gushing out of an open gap in his armor. In a moment, Knight Captain Ian managed to disarm Conrad and knock him unconscious with the pommel of his sword.

"Knight Captain!" Amryn said, surprised that he saved her. "Please, Get these cuffs off me. I can help!" Amryn's deep blue eyes stared pleadingly into Ian's dark green ones. Relief washed over her when he gave in, unlockin the chains from her wrists.

"Do not make me regret this." He stated firmly before charging back to the aid of the other two Templars. The bandits seemed like they were in an endless supply behind the brush, they kept coming, one after the other. Amryn ran up closer to where she could hit them. Although she didn't have a staff, it didn't prevent her from casting some powerful spells using her bare hands. Given it was a bit more of a challenge than using a staff, it definitely wasn't impossible.

Focusing her mana, she quickly put up temporary barriers around each of her Templar companions before delving deeper into her mana pool. She drew from her mana using sheer willpower to cast a large ice wall in front of the three templars, taking out the enemies in front of them, freezing the ones nearby, and slowing the ones farther back. This allowed the three men to eliminate the forces with ease. Amryn, herself, used a few more spells, throwing some fire balls, or shocking the enemies with electricity, careful to avoid hitting her temporary battle companions.

Eventually the swarm came to a stop, allowing them all to stop and catch their breath. The Free Marcher and the Orlesian hurried over o Amryn, holding their swords up to her, as if she were the threat. She didn't move because if she did, they wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

Amryn exhaled when the Knight Captain walked up, ordering the two to sheath their weapons.

"Amryn is no danger to us. She could have easily let them take us as she fled, but she didn't. I trust her." Ian made sure the two men understood what he was saying before he continued, issuing another order.

"Check the bodies. An attack like this had to have been planned." The to nodded and walked away, following their captain's order. The captain himself, on the other hand, remained at the mage's side. He looked at Conrad's unconscious body before turning his attention back to Amryn. He studied her face closely, earning him an odd look from the woman. He stepped towards her, closing the gap between the two of them, his eyes not leaving her face. Slowly, he reached his hand up and touched her left cheek gently.

"He did this to you..." His voice was barely audible, his eyebrows furrowed and his nose scrunched in disgust. "I will see him punished. We must get this cleaned." He turned, heading too where they had left their bags.

"What do you mean cleaned? It's just a bruise." Amryn laughed a little bit at the captain but stopped when he looked at her and she saw the serious loo on his face.

"You have a giant gash on your face. It will likely leave a scar." He turned back to rummaging through the sack, grabbing for a poultice and some gauze.

"A gash?" Lifting her hand to her face, she ignored the stinging pain as she felt where had been cut. Sure enough, she discovered that she had been slashed from her eyebrow down to her mid cheek. Moving her hand, she looked at her fingers which were now soaked with shining, crimson blood. Her blood. Breathing out, she put her hand to her side and looked at the Knight Captain who was once again moving towards her, this time with some gauze and the poultice. Assuming he was going to clean it, she made her way to a nearby fallen tree to sit down, for ease of access to her face.

Knight Captain Ian crouched in front of her, readying the cotton pad with the poultice.

"This is going to sting a bit." A certain gentleness resided in his words that Amryn placed as him caring. He truly was a kind soul.

Her eyes rested on his face as he brought the medicine to her face, dabbing at the wound, attempting to be as careful as he could.

A few moments of silence passed and she spoke up.

"Knight Captain-" She began, but was cut short.

"Please, Just call me Ian, My Lady." He suggested, not taking his eyes off of what he was doing.

"Ian..." Amryn continued. "You're injured as well. I would like to offer you my assistance in tending to it." She spoke properly, carefully choosing her words so they might not be taken the wrong way.

This caused Ian to briefly stop what he was doing and look at her, before continuing, clearly ignoring what she had said.

"We have to go back to the circle. We are injured and Conrad has clearly lost it. The Knight Commander will want a full report on this. He will not be happy about refunding the old paid for this visit though. Your parents paid a great deal to see you this time." The brown haired man rambled on, still carefully dabbing and wiping away at Amryn's facial wound.

Before long another voice spoke up, it was the Orlesian Templar.

"Knight Captain Ian. I think you will want to read this."

The Knight Captain stood from his spot and outstretched his arm, grabbing the piece of parchment that had words carelessly scribbled on it. Reading it thoroughly, he realized it was orders that had been given to the bandits, with the Trevelyan noble seal. Quickly, he folded it and tucked it inside a pocket of his bag.

"What was it?" Amryn stood up and walked over to them, curiosity getting the better of her.

"It was nothing My Lady. Just orders given to the bandits. I figured the Knight Commander would want to see it." Ian explained to her.

"Really?" She questioned, "Who gave the order?"

Ian looked at the blonde mage, contemplating whether or not he should tell her the truth. He put his hands behind his back, taking up the typical Templar stance before informing her.

"It didn't say, My Lady."

Amryn looked at him and then at the other two Templars who were stying out of it. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided not to second guess the Knight Captain. Instead she made a simple remark and how odd it was that a bunch of bandits would attack out of the blue.

They all gathered up the bags, readying to head out.

"What about Conrad, Sir?" The Free Marcher inquired.

"Put the chains on him."

The Orlesian seemed baffled by his response.

"What about the mage?" He responded, feeling the need to remind the captain that they had a 'dangerous' mage accompanying them.

"I trust her more than I trust Conrad." He looked at his men, then to Amryn before turning around and putting the cuffs on the still unconscious Templar.

"When he wakes, we move out."

"Yes Sir!" The two underlings saluted in unison before turning away to tend to their own affairs.

Amryn walked up to the Knight Captain, speaking quietly.

"Captain..."

"Ian."

"Ian..." She corrected herself. "Your wound. It needs to be tended to."

Ian sighed, turning to face the blond woman.

"Fine. Since you insist." He disrobed as far as he was required to in order for her to clean the sizeable flesh wound on his left side.