We'll Bleed For This Cause

Chapter 2: Torn Jugular

Having a Mabari hound as a companion for a number of years had left Elissa somewhat ignorant of just how terrifying a dog of that size and musculature could be. The un-creatively named 'Dog' was friendly and loyal to a fault, and no matter how many times she'd told people he wouldn't hurt a fly (unless she instructed him to) they would still shy away from the hulking beast. Elissa had never understood it.

Until now.

With deft skill her daggers sliced through the chest of the bandit in front of her before she brought up her foot and sent a powerful kick into his stomach. The bandit fell to the ground, weapons abandoned as he sluggishly tried to stem the bleeding from multiple deep wounds. With him bleeding out quickly and no longer posing a threat, Elissa turned to her next opponent and came face to face with a charging Mabari.

It was in this split second moment that she realized yes, Mabari were actually quite terrifying when they weren't yours. She felt bad for letting Dog wreak havoc around the Highever castle now.

Also, where in the Maker's name did these bandits get a Mabari!?

The hound barreled into her at speed and, with nearly a hundred pounds of weight behind it, Elissa went down hard. With the huge hound standing on her chest it made maneuvering difficult and, to put the icing on her cake of disaster, the bloody thing had managed to knock both of her daggers away.

Thinking quickly, she scrambled to pull an arrow from the quiver on her back with one hand while simultaneously using the other to punch the hound in its ugly, meaty face. She knew what a Mabari hound could do with those powerful jaws and there was no way she was going to let those teeth get anywhere near her if she could help it.

"A little help here!" Elissa yelled.

Her fingers finally brushed the feathered fletching of her arrows. With a triumphant cry she pulled one from the quiver, turned it in her hand, and then drove it arrowhead first into the neck of the Mabari hound on top of her.

Only it wasn't nearly as effective as she'd hoped it would be.

Had she been grappling with a man the arrowhead would have struck home, tearing through fragile skin and very probably slicing through some important blood vessels along the way. Instead it seemed like her own important blood vessels were the one's in danger.

There was a reason the Mabari were known as war hounds, and all that bulging muscle wasn't just for show. So while the arrowhead was almost completely buried in the hound's thick neck, it hadn't come anywhere near causing an injury serious enough to prevent it from mauling Elissa to death. To do that she probably would have needed another nine arrows and she didn't even have time to grab one more.

The Mabari reared back before lunging forward with its full weight. Spittle flew from its open mouth as it went straight for her throat. Again it was quick reflexes that saved her, both hands flying up to keep that menacing maw away. Even then she was only half successful.

One hand missed the hound's lower jaw, ending up under its chin and pushing into its throat. Elissa only hoped that she might be inconveniencing it a little by cutting off its air supply. The other hand ended up on its nose and half in its mouth, but a chewed up hand was better than being dead any day.

Still, Elissa was at a disadvantage and the Mabari was able to get close enough to half clamp it's mouth around her throat. Then it was all teeth in important blood vessels and teeth in the palm of her hand and mostly just a lot of pain and yelling. And blood, there was quite bit of blood too.

In the end it was Sten who came to her rescue. A mighty double handed swing of his sword and he all but took the hound's head clean off (and to this day Elissa still didin't know how he managed that without also slicing her to pieces). The resulting blood spray across most of her upper body and face would have disgusted her and she not been busy trying to put pressure on her own profusely bleeding neck wound.

From her periphery she could see Alistair rushing over, his face going alarmingly pale when he finally got a good look at her. The poor man probably thought all of blood was hers. He shouted for Wynne.

Elissa thought she might have blacked out for a bit then because the next thing she remembered was Wynne kneeling over her, one hand on her cheek and the other putting pressure on her neck wound. Sten kicked the heavy Mabari corpse off her chest, allowing her to finally draw in proper breath again.

Then she really did black out.

When she woke up in camp it was a disorienting experience. Elissa couldn't remember how she had gotten there, why it was dark when she distinctly remembered it being day, and also what had happened to her. That was, until she tried to turn her head.

"Oww..."

It was Alistair who answered her. "Sleep well, princess?"

"You're a princess," she slurred back. Alistair's resulting expression was hilariously comical.

"Uh, so not quite on the ball just yet then. How are you feeling?"

"Weird." She sighed. "What happened to my neck?"

"That would have been the Mabari."

"Oh. Yes, I remember that now." Elissa cringed.

"Nearly tore clean through your jugular, thought you might have been a goner for a moment there. Everyone was very upset, Morrigan even cried," Alistair said, sounding much too happy for someone delivering news of that magnitude. Considering she was apparently alive and well however, Elissa figured she could forgive him.

"No she didn't"

"You're right, she didn't." Alistair chuckled. "She did offer to make dinner though."

"Yeah?" Elissa lifted her head enough to see the campfire. Sure enough Morrigan was stirring a pot over the flames, resolutely ignoring cooking suggestions from a hovering Wynne. Elissa let her head drop back onto the rolled up blanket serving as a pillow. "So, why are you my babysitter?"

"I volunteered. Crazy, I know," Alistair replied.

"You were worried about me," Elissa said with a lazy smile.

"Of course I was! If you weren't around they," he gestured to their companions around the camp, "would be looking at me to lead them, and we all know that would be a disaster."

"Stop deflecting."

"Oh, that's not deflecting, little miss Cousland, that's the truth."

"I saw your face go five shades whiter in the space of a couple of seconds."

"You were obviously delirious from blood loss because a strong manly man like myself can handle a little bit of blood."

"There was a lot of blood, wasn't there?" Elissa mused. "Some of it belonged to the Mabari."

"Yes, well, that was all Sten's fault now, wasn't it?"

"Speaking of all that blood, where did it go?" she asked looking down at herself and noticing a distinct lack of post-battle gore.

"We thought it would be better to clean you up a little before you woke up so you weren't lying around in gross bloody clothes."

"Err…"

"That is we, as in not me, but Wynne and Leliana," Alistair amended quickly, "because otherwise it would have been very inappropriate and I don't think Wynne really trusted anyone else to help her anyway, and now I just sound like a right fool, don't I?" Even in the dull light of the campfire the blush rising on his cheeks was obvious.

Elissa couldn't help but laugh, loud enough to draw the attention of some of their closer companions. Realizing she was awake, Wynne politely excused herself for Morrigan's company and began to make her way towards the pair.

"Looks like Wynne wants to check up on me," Elissa said.

"Such skills of deduction you have. Though I will take my leave for the moment. Might see about getting myself some, hopefully un-poisoned, dinner." Alistair reached over to tap her nose with his index finger. "Glad to see you well again, Elissa."