Kira is such a wonderful beta XD I luff you, dearie! Thanks for helping me with ideas!
We had long chats about how things play out. Burning ship FTW :P
Bioware/EA owns everything.
"I doubt that is what happened," Fenris said with his usual scowl. "Hawke is considered a special guest at the compound, why would they kidnap her?"
"That's what I want to know as well," Sebastian said.
Varric sighed. "We know the truth, but the rumor says otherwise. We need to get her back before things get worse." For the citizens. "If they try so much as approaching the gate of the compound and demand Hawke back from the Qunari, who knows what the giants would do, but it probably wouldn't be smiling prettily and say that they don't have her."
Fenris stood up. "We'll need to let the Arishok know what's going on."
"I'm sure he knows, but does he care?" Aveline wondered aloud.
"He invited her into the compound, and tolerated her interference, and you think he doesn't care?" Fenris snickered as he walked out the door.
"You tell him, I'll see if I can track her down." Isabella said, and then left before anyone could say anything.
"Irresponsible as ever." Aveline shook her head.
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"Is that so?" The Arishok snorted.
That he had allowed them into the compound attested to the fact that he already knew of the rumor. He might not bother to leave the compound unless prodded, but it seemed he had eyes and ears everywhere.
That made Varric more nervous than he already was. With Hawke missing, who was going to stem the tide of horns? Will the Arishok be diplomatic at the people's accusations? So far, he had not shown aggression and the dwarf could only hope it would remain that way. He had too many assets in Kirkwall.
"Please do not harm the people," Aveline asked politely as she could. "Anymore aggression and they might start a riot."
"Leave well enough alone, we have no reason to harm them," the Arishok said. "But if they attack my men, they will die."
"I worried as much." The guard captain sighed. "For now, the guard will keep the citizens out of your way, as much as possible. I only ask you to keep your men inside the compound until Hawke returns."
"She is missing under the name of the Qun." The Arishok fixed his eyes on the elf, knowing he would understand the problem.
"We will find her, Arishok."
"It better be soon, elf, before we take corrective actions."
The warning in his words couldn't be clearer, and Fenris nodded respectfully.
After the Arishok dismissed the group, Aveline did as she had planned - posting guards around the compound, more so for the citizens' protection than the giants.
Varric looked over his shoulder as the guards shooed away curious bystanders, wondering if this would be a good idea or not; it is for their own good, but the people would only become more curious why the guard is involving themselves, and only feed to the gossips.
Hawke had assured him that the Qunari were not likely to start a war when there was no just cause, and even he himself, had seen how patient they can be. But that was because Hawke was there to calm things down. Without her to keep Kirkwall's citizens from inadvertently offending the giants. I just have to hope Broody here knew what not to say.
Varric prided himself on being able to understand people and how to defuse situations, though he was hesitant to use his humorous punchlines with the Qunari, unsure if it would work since they seems to have no understanding of jokes; the lord of the giants just threatened them after all, if Hawke was not returned soon. He shook his head, focusing on the task at hand. Hawke, where in the sodding city are you?
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Hawke sighed, resuming her task of freeing her hands while listening for more information that would tell her why she was tied up; so far, she had gotten the impression this is was personal grudge rather than just because she was 'Hawke.'
They had not mentioned any names, even when they were talking amongst themselves. They chose to address each other as 'Hey, you!'. She would be amused at their tactics, but she needed to get out of here before bad things happened. She tried not to think about what they had done to get her away from her estate, and she had hoped that since it was midnight, no one else in the house was up nor was any the wiser. Her eyes darkened, if they'd hurt anyone in her house, there will be hell to pay.
Alright, let's get out of here.
Releasing her hands from the sloppy ropes was easy, getting out of the sack was a pain in the behind. Having nothing to cut her way out, Hawke had to resort to trying to rip the bag open. When the fabric of the rucksack refused to give, she felt around the sack for the seamline, fingers brushing carefully against the rough fabric; once she found it, Hawke shifted, grunting as she turned herself around, finally managing to press her feet against the seam. Huffing slightly she counted to three and threw her shoulders back, her feet pitted against the seam.
Moments past and for a second Hawke thought nothing would happen. But then - a tear. Then a rip. She grinned and pushed harder until one of her heels fell through the gap. Finally, she managed to get both feet through and with both her hands pushing against the top of the sack she finally was able to pull herself out.
"That was fun." She muttered under her breath, untying the ropes on her feet, then her hands. They did a better job tying up the bag than they did her, probably because she was out cold in the bag when they put her there and was not fighting back.
After she wiggled out of the sack, she took a defensive stance as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Satisfied that she was alone, Hawke began her investigation of the room. The door was locked, and there was nothing in the room - no furniture, no windows, and the walls were bare.
Damn! There's nothing I can use as a weapon.
But she could be resourceful - more than they ever knew. She went back to where the bag lay to retrieve the two long ropes, knowing they might be useful; not for choking, since that would take too long, she could just as easily put the kidnappers down with a snap of the neck, or render them unconscious with a whack to the head. No, the ropes probably had other uses. Rappelling off buildings, maybe? She grinned to herself, imagining trying that for fun.
Hawke tucked the ropes into her belt, surveyed the room and looked for any clue as to her location, and planned an escape strategy only to arrive at the conclusion that the only escape route was that door.
Damn, I probably have to fight my way out; she scratched her head, tucking her hair behind her ears, then winced as her fingers brushed the tender spot on her cheek; she remembered the second time she managed to kill some of them before they blasted her with another sleeping spell. When she fell, she hit her cheek against the bedpost.
At least my cheekbone isn't broken. Ah, well, I don't have time to worry about it now, and it is a minor injury compared to what I did the other guys. Hawke smiled wryly.
Hawke silently approached the door, flattened herself against it, and listened for movements; as quiet as the room was, it was not hard to hear the conversation going on from the other side.
A voice she did not recognize said, "I still think we should kill her." He must be someone who wasn't there when I was captured.
"Oh, we will." Someone else sneered. "Another day, enough time for the sheep to get sufficiently riled up."
'Charming people', Hawke snorted, and continued to listen and wondered why they need to-
"Oh no." Hawke groaned, feeling the rocking of the floor beneath her and the creaking floor boards. It was subtle, but she recognized the motion, having been experienced it once and that was one time too many. I'm on a ship. This day just keep getting better and better.
Hawke didn't know where they intended to take her to, but if she didn't act soon, who knew how far the ship would go. "Forget being quiet," She told herself, hoping that her captors' reason for detaining her would keep them from going too far.
Bracing herself, she kicked at the door, as hard as she could. It resisted, briefly, then swung open. Hawke glided to one side, quickly took in the number of the room's occupants, and she hazarded a guess at their skills.
Her first task was to secure some weapon, preferably daggers. However, a loud boom rocked the ship and blew out half of the wall on the opposite side. She ducked, pressing herself against the man's back, her knees between his shoulder blades to keep him down, her eyes staring at the smoking hole.
The blast caught two men, dismembered them, and knocked the other five off their feet; there was a moment of scrambling and shouting - and screaming. Hawke took that moment to snap the neck of the man under her, and then quickly surged up on her feet, moving toward the next victim as a stronger and louder shriek could be heard through the smoke. A small figure emerged, still screeching, drawing their attention just as Hawke reached for the sword from the belt of the man she had just killed.
"Maker! Sandal?" Recognizing the dwarf, Hawke gasped, even as she quickly ran her sword through another of the men.
The boy kept on yelling, tossing two blueish green runes toward the remaining four kidnappers, and Hawke quickly dived out of the way. The moment the rocks hit one of the men, it started to catch on fire, and spread before the men could move.
"This looks familiar." Hawke blinked, circling around the room to stand beside the boy, as she watched four figures stumble around, trying to put out the fire; however, their attempt did nothing but spread the fire.
I hope that's not how my room ended up, Hawke sighed.
Sandal stared up at Hawke, still making the screeching sound. Hawke took her eyes off the men and frowned at the dwarf, only to see him blinking innocently up at her. She winced from being too close to the source of the sound, and put her hand over Sandal's mouth. That stopped him, and Hawke looked over to see that one of the enemies had fallen, and the other three still moved around expanding the field of the fire. "Come on." She took the boy's hand, pulling him out of the room.
The corridor was empty, and Hawke tugged on Sandal's hand to stop him from running back to watch the burning spectacular; she pulled him toward the stairs, figuring it would lead up to the deck. True enough, she came up to the surface, and came face-to-face with three more men pointing their weapons at her. She recognized the mage who put her under.
Hawke rolled her eyes. "You again? What did I ever do to you?"
"You killed Ginnis, you bitch!"
If looks could kill, Hawke would already be dead; fortunately, it didn't. "You dragged me all this way for that?"
"I will make you pay!"
Hawke wanted to get this overwith so she tried to provoke them and taunted, "Blah blah blah. It's nothing I haven't heard before. You people have way have too much time and far too little creativity." Actually, being dragged off-shore is something new for her. But I'm not going to tell them that. Seasickness is a real pain in the arse.
"Baseborn doglord!" The mage spat, pulling on his mana to hurl a fireball at her.
Taking his cue, the other two men lurched forward, brandishing their weapons with murder in their eyes.
Taking care of the three with swords wouldn't be hard, but mindful of the last time she was hit by a sleeping spell, Hawke had to run in circles to avoid the mage. One they realized she was targeting the magic caster, two of the men harried themselves to stay in her path. With no time to lose, Hawke sprinted forward, dodging the near wild swinging of their swords, and grabbed the closer one, her sword slicing through his shoulder blades. Still keeping an eye on the mage, she pushes the body forward into the other, following the momentum with a precise slash at his neck.
Smiling, Hawke closed in on the mage and he hastily retreated, throwing a few fireballs in her direction in an attempt to slow her down. She dodged, but kept moving forward; another burst of speed, and she have the mage by his collar against the bow of the ship. "Nice try." She said, and finished him with a sword straight through his heart. When she let release her hold, the body fell lifeless into the water.
Once she made sure none of them drew breath, Hawke knelt down and put her head between her knees, taking deep, long breaths to suppress the nauseousness. She had never know what 'seasick' was until the journey to Kirkwall. After the ship arrived in Kirkwall, Hawke had sworn that she would never set foot on board another ship.
'Yet here I am. Oh, the irony,' Hawke thought, trying to distract herself. After the dizziness passed, she stood up slowly. Knowing she couldn't stay here for long, as fire on the ship quickly spread. Either that or put out the fire, and she is in no mood to run around the moving ship.
Hawke stared out to the expanse of blue water, seeing the port and the faint outlines of the dock, wondering how to get back. The ship was not very far out, but the distance is quite a swim. "Oh, for the love of-" She stopped, mindful of the young person next to her.
"Enchantment?" Sandal looked up at her.
"I'm afraid that's not possible." Hawke replied, her eyes still watching the waves. She did not know why Sandal is here, nor how he managed to follow her without anyone noticing him, but right now her main focus is to get off the damn boat and back to shore. Preferably without swimming, or even getting wet. "Dammit!" She can't swim worth a damn, and she refused to wade into the water not knowing her exact location. Damn, damn, damn! "Looks like you and me are going to captain a sinking boat, Sandal." A sinking boat that's on fire.
"Enchantment!" The boy exclaimed happily.
"First things first, you stay here." She then nodded to herself and dashed back below deck. She went into each room of the ship, searching for her weapons. She had not seen them in the room where she had been detained. nor in the room Sandal blew up. She hoped they didn't leave her weapons back on shore. She doesn't remember much after the sleeping spell hit her, but she was sure she had her weapons on her when she went down.
After frantically looking for her daggers, she finally found them inside a chest, in the last room of the ship. "The blasted idiots just had to be thorough." Hawke snarked, as she quickly strapped her girls onto her back and went out the door. She stopped dead in her tracks as the flame licked the floor, spreading further toward her.
"Of course, why would I expect it to be easy?" Hawke rolled her eyes. The whole middle section of the ship was engulfed in flames, impeding her progress. It was rather strange, since the flames covered the floor, but didn't seem to burn the wood, nor was there any smoke. With no time to waste, Hawke covered her head with her arms and dashed through the flames. She was instantly besieged by the feeling that she's boiling alive. "Maker, Sandal!" Hawke gasped, wondering how he does all this with just one rune. Knowing she have to make it through fast, Hawke did not stop until she reached the deck.
"Enchantment?" Sandal watched her progress, clapping at the fire that was clinging onto the edge of her clothes.
She patted them away, mentally thankful that she grew up with a mage. Flame-resistance can prevent singed eyebrows. That was the lesson she painfully had to learn early on, and since then she had made a point of getting familiar with the kinds of fabric and armor that, while not completely fireproof, but could at least help against a fireball or two; or in her case, a hulking great big ship like fireball.
"Sandal, you wouldn't just happen to know which way is home?" She asked as she led him up toward the bridge. Both of them stared at the ship's wheel for a moment before Hawke looked to Sandal for an answer. He just smiled at her. Hawke sighed, "Alright, let's go in the opposite direction and hope we return to Kirkwall."
Isabela would laugh herself silly when she knew Hawke was about to navigate a ship. It lurched as she turned the wheel, seemingly in protest to its use at the hands of an amateur. One of the smaller masts was burnt up, breaking and falling sideways into the water. The flame had burned through the deck, making its way upward, then started to spread out. She ignored the heat, and just keep on slowly turning the wheel, hoping it will not sink until she reached somewhere close to the shore; the ship finally turned, but rather sluggishly, and once the bow was fully turned away from the rising of the sun, she used one of the ropes to tied the wheel in its position, leaving the ship to move forward. Hopefully still on course.
Once again, she crouched and slumped forward as she fought the urge to throw up everything in her stomach. Sandal sat down next to her, and patted her on the head. She looked up, groaning, and he gave her a bright smile, like a child with nothing to worry.
"We'll get home, eventually." She smiled back at him weakly.
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While Varric followed leads from his contact, the Arishok was assigning some of his scouts to do some of their own seeking. He was meditating in the front area of the compound when the shouts of the guardsmen drew his attention. Frowning, he stood up. The Karasaad at the door quietly opened it, giving him a view of the guardsmen rushing away. He briefly glimpsed at the sight of the dwarf that always hung about with Hawke, and the tattooed elf running along side the guards. He moved down the steps. It only took him several long strides to reach the door, just in time to see a flaming ship crash into the harbor. The guards that had been keeping the citizens away from the compound were now pushing the nosy people away from the edge of the harbor as the ship imploded, then started to fall apart, and sank under the water.
The Arishok was taken aback at the sight, but he did not missed seeing a figured jumping from the ship to the ground. Narrowing his eyes, he gestured toward the crowd with his head. A Sten move forward at the silent command, and headed toward the figure, now collapsed on the ground; at the same time the dwarf and the elf broke through the crowd and ran towards the figure.
Hawke stood up unsteadily, letting go of Sandal. She had clutched the boy to her when she made the jump, thankful that her training allowed her to landed on her feet. The boy clung to her leg, startled when he saw the noisy crowd point at them. She looked over to the three people approaching her, and held up a hand. They stopped in their tracks, and she took a deep breath, focusing on the fact that she was now standing on solid ground. After a moment, her gaze re-focused on the three waiting for her, and she smiled, patting Sandal on the head and urged him to stop hiding his face. "Sandal, they're my friends." She told the boy, and he peeked his head out to confirm her words.
Varric approached her as he rubbed his temple, relieved to see Hawke. "Really, Hawke. A sinking ship? I should have see that one coming."
"That was a rather dramatic entrance." Fenris chuckled as he drew near, his eyes examined her from head to toe. She was covered in blood, and ashes; her clothes were scorched in various places but she seemed unharmed, otherwise.
"Do I even want to know what happened?" Varric was less discreet in his inspection - he clucked his tongue at the state she was in as he circled around her.
"Ship." Was all Hawke said, still not moving as she looked at the Qunari.
The Sten watched their interactions, and Hawke could swore she saw an amused glance when he looked at her.
"Let me guess, he wants to see me?"
The Sten nodded before he turned and walked away.
"No injuries?" Varric asked.
"Only to my pride," She sighed. "Come on Sandal."
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"You let yourself be taken by lowly Bas?"
"I did not 'let' anyone take me." She frowned. "I fought from the beginning to end. A mage caught me with a sleeping spell, even so, I was still fighting. These bloodstains are not mine."
She inspected her weapons, and shook her head at the dried blood on the blades. Sorry, sweeties, I'll clean and shine you both as soon as we get home.
As soon as she had stepped into the compound, they had closed it off again. Varric and Fenris took turns to brief her in on what had happened during her….absence, and she had relayed what she found out during her short stay on the ship.
"After I killed their leaders and most of their members, the few surviving Winters banded together and devised a plan for revenge; they had bribed some Tal-Vashoth to make an appearance at my house, then blamed my kidnapping on the Qunari in hopes that it would riled up the city. They had planned to kill me, but woefully underestimated skills, considering I had already killed their leader and most of their gang. They paid ultimate price for being bloody stupid."
The Arishok lifted his chin, and stared down at her with obvious displeasure, but she could tell it wasn't aimed at her. "A Saarebas was involved? Then you're lucky to be alive."
"Saarebas? Is that what you call the mages in your land?"
The Arishok sharply nodded.
"We should probably let the Viscount know that you're back, Hawke" Varric said. "And put these rumors to rest."
"You have a way of making enemies, Hawke." The Arishok said.
"Coming from you, that's rich." She laughed. "I don't have the whole city planning to chase me out."
"Yet." Varric nudged her.
"Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" She frowned down at the dwarf.
"I'm merely stating the truth." He grinned.
"You're actually betting how long it will take for them to do so, aren't you?"
"Don't be paranoid." He said, but winked.
"Finel, but I want in on the bets." She returned his sly grin
The Arishok watched the banter, his curiosity for this woman grew. She was guarded in her thoughts, but her emotions were open for all to see. I have not encountered another like that. For a bas, she has integrity but is that too will turn out to be another contradiction. I can tell what my men are thinking, the Qun makes that possible. She is not bound by the Qun. What is her purpose? Why do I care?
The Arishok let out a long breath. He approached questions with extensive research, and sent his soldiers to look for answers; he couldn't do the latter with this woman, and he had already done the former - reading dozens of books about human's nature, only to have Hawke behave differently than he expected. The only thing he could do now was to study this woman straight from the source: Hawke herself.
"Where did you learn to fight?" He asked, interrupting her chat with her friends.
"From the people I met." She replied. "I've been to a lot of places, and usually there are guards. Had to make acquaintance with the Templars, too, so I can see who was a threat and who wasn't. After a while, they would show me a thing or two about fighting. It adds up over the years."
"I see." He nodded, satisfied. She was skilled, and does have the aptitude for adapting. It's a good trait to be had. So is her lack of complaints. Many would have bewailed their fate, but she simply learned what she needed to in order to survive, and move on.
"I..." Hawke looked at the Arishok's calm face, a searched for the correct words. "I have read that the Qunari accepted their fate, and that they believed in themselves, but.."
"You want to understand how we have such confidence." He interpreted, his tone was quiet, and his eyes probing hers.
Next to her, Varric groaned quietly. He had thought giving her the books would change her mind, but apparently her determination knew no bounds. With Hawke being the freedom-loving person that she was, he couldn't see her being happy in the Qun; he had the wisdom to see that it wouldn't end well, and wanted to spare her the pain, since her life had not been easy. He also knew that she was hardheaded, and when she had decided on something, she would stick to it. He sighed, mentally adding more Qunari topics to his list of things to buy this week.