We'll Bleed For This Cause
A/N: I see all you people following this fic. I smile every time I get an e-mail saying one of you put it on your alert list :) Remember to review if you have the time too! I'd love to hear what you guys think, especially since this is my first time writing Dragon Age and the first fic I've written in quite a while.
Chapter 5: Wrenched Limb
Elissa's eyes were narrowed as she searched the forest around her for movement. Her bow was in her hands, an arrow loosely nocked. Her steps were careful and she made sure to make as little noise as possible.
Snap.
A stick on the ground broke behind her. Elissa let out and exasperated sigh as she rolled her eyes.
"Sorry," Alistair said, not sounding sorry at all.
"I know you're doing that deliberately."
Alistair gasped. "What? Me? Never!"
"Do you want to eat dinner tonight or not?" Elissa asked. She poked him in the side with the point of her arrow when he got close enough. "There is no way I can suffer through that poor excuse for a soup for one more night. It tastes both horrible and like nothing at the same time. How is that even possible?"
"I actually enjoy it."
"No you don't."
"Calling my bluff? Well, you're right, I don't enjoy it any more than you do." Alistair chuckled.
"We're really bad at provisions planning. I thought we'd have enough decent food to get us to the next major town at least."
"And what counts as decent food?"
"Anything that's not an ingredient in that awful soup." Elissa shuddered at the thought. "But shhh! You're distracting me." She turned her attention back to the forest and resumed her slow trek. Alistair followed quietly for the most part.
"So why is it always me you're dragging along with you?" he asked.
"Shhh!"
Alistair shook his head, a small smile on his lips, and lowered his voice to an exaggerated whisper. "Are you going to tell me?"
Elissa shot him a look that was somewhere between amused and annoyed. It was an expression she found herself wearing a lot when it came to Alistair. "I don't know," she said, her own voice hushed. "I guess it's because you're a Grey Warden."
"Well that doesn't explain much of anything," Alistair said.
"I mean, you've been a Grey Warden longer than I have."
"Yes…"
"And I'm really new to all… this."
"Also true."
Elissa sighed. "I like having you by my side-"
"Oh do you now?"
"-because you technically know more about all this Warden business than I do so you're around to make sure I'm actually doing a decent job." Elissa couldn't help the satisfied smirk on her face at Alistair's thoughtful expression. "What, not what you were expecting?"
"I was hoping for something along the lines of 'you like having me by your side for my witty sense of humor' or because I'm 'devastatingly handsome and you can't keep your eyes off me'," Alistair said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
"You forgot graciously modest."
"Oh, look at that, I-" Half way through his sentence Elissa suddenly pulled the bowstring taught and let loose and arrow into the underbrush. The short wounded squeak of an animal let the pair know she had hit her target. "-did. Wow. You're getting good at that. Scary good."
Elissa barely acknowledged the complement, more concerned with other matters. "Yes! Thank the Maker. No gross, tasteless soup tonight!"
"One rabbit is hardly going to feed everyone," Alistair said, but he was smiling. Elissa's enthusiasm was infectious.
She turned around to face him, tapping the underside of his chin with her bow. "Ah, but if there's one there's bound to be others." She grinned and jogged towards where the little creature had been, Alistair following at a more sedate pace.
Being reasonably deep into the forest that bordered their campsite meant there were no paths or walking trails the pair could follow. Instead the ground was uneven and overgrown, with a reasonable layer of leaf litter to boot. While this hardly posed a problem it did prevent them from noticing other, more serious, hindrances.
Elissa heard the soft click a second too late as her left foot landed in the middle of a leg trap. The metal device snapped closed around her lower calf and, unable to stop her forward momentum on time, she was sent tumbling forward. She clenched her teeth in pain when she felt her knee of her trapped leg wrench as she fell face down in the dirt and leaves.
She could hear Alistair's hurried footfalls as he raced to her side and she hastily pushed herself up onto her forearms. She was brushing dirt off her face when he dropped to his knees by her side.
"Whoa, are you alright?" he asked, hands hovering over her awkwardly like he couldn't decide whether to touch her or not.
"Great," she deadpanned, "so long as I stay right here and don't move my leg." Elissa looked over her shoulder at the ugly trap still tight on her lower leg. "I hate these things," she said. "I'm starting to feel sorry for all the bears and wolves who these traps are meant for."
"People do seem to have a habit of putting them out and then forgetting all about them. Left out for some poor explorer to walk into," Alistair said. He shuffled over to her trapped leg. "This one looks old. A bit rusty too. You might want to put something on these cuts when we get back. Could get infected otherwise, and then we might end up with a fever crazed lunatic for our leader."
"That's… nice. Can you just get it off, please? I'm kind of stuck here until you do."
"Right away, Milady," he said and began fiddling with trap. It was only moments later when he spoke up again. "Uh, I think the release might be broken."
"Of course it is. Do you think you can pry it open so I can pull my leg out?"
Alistair wrapped his hands around either side of the trap and gave it a slight test pull. "Yes, I can do that. Are you sure though?"
"Positive. Just make sure you don't get your fingers stuck in it when it snaps closed again."
He laughed. "Do you think I'm some kind of amateur?"
Elissa just made a non-committal noise.
"Ouch. That hurt, Elissa. Right in my manly feelings." He laced his fingers in-between the teeth on each side of the trap and gripped it tightly. "On three?"
"On three."
Alistair shifted his footing and made sure he had a good grip on the trap. Elissa took a deep breath and braced herself for the pain she knew would accompany any movement of her leg.
"One. Two. Three!"
Alistair pulled the trap open and the moment it was wide enough Elissa pulled her leg from it's hold. She rolled onto her back with a pained gasp, her wrenched knee making itself very known.
"I'm sorry, was that my fault?" Alistair asked, his question followed by the sharp snap of the trap closing again. Hopefully not on his fingers, Elissa thought.
"No. Nope," she gasped out. "My knee. When I fell." She made a vague wavy hand motion like that would explain things better than her words.
"Right… Mind if I have a look?"
"Have at it," she said.
She didn't bother lifting her head off the ground to watch him, quite content to just lay back and stare at the tree canopy above them. It was quite a surprise then when she felt Alistair's hand on the back of her calf and she couldn't quite suppress a flinch.
"Bit jumpy, are we? Don't worry, I'm not about to get all handsy with you. I am a gentleman, after all."
"A gentleman wouldn't leave his dirty socks all around camp."
"That was one time!" He placed his other hand on the back of her thigh, just above her knee. "It's not like it was in your bedroll anyway."
"Thank the Maker for that." She finally propped herself up on her elbows when she felt him lift her bent leg slightly off the ground. "What exactly are you doing?"
He shot her a reassuring smile. "Just going to see if you can straighten you leg out."
He barely moved it before a sharp stab of pain kicked in. She sat up quickly, which didn't really help the pain all that much, and slapped his hands away. "Ow, ow, be careful!"
"Well, that's no good."
"You think? Maker, that hurts more than where those bloody teeth from the trap sunk in." Her hands fluttered over her knee, wanting to hold it but knowing it would probably just end up hurting more.
"You know, this means I'm going to have to carry you back to camp. Again."
Elissa buried her face in her hands. "I know," she said, voice muffled. "This is so embarrassing."
"How about I just carry you most of the way, and then put you down so you can hobble back into camp like the stubborn heroine you are?"
She couldn't help a short snort of laugher, separating her fingers so she could peer through them at Alistair. "Aww, you would do that for me?"
Alistair gave her a mocking bow from where he knelt. "Anything for you, Lady Cousland." He got back to his feet and crouched down to pick her up.
"Wait!" she shouted.
Alistair's face fell. "What now?"
"My bow. And we forgot dinner." She pointed over to the almost forgotten rabbit still lying on the ground a few meters from them.
"You're kidding, right?"
Elissa frowned. "No. I'm still hungry, and I didn't do this," she gestured to her knee, "for nothing."
"Alright," he said, unconvinced, "but you're going to have to carry it because I'm going to be busy carrying you." Alistair stood again and retrieved the rabbit, also picking up Elissa's dropped bow and putting it over his back. "Good now?"
"Yes," she said, taking the rabbit from him with only the slightest of grimaces.
Alistair crouched down by her side again and allowed Elissa to loop her right arm around the back of his neck. He then slipped an arm behind her lower back and, more carefully, another one under her knees. Her hurt knee protested when he lifted her and she was left biting down hard on her lip until he had her mostly settled in his arms.
"All good?" Alistair said as he began walking. His steps were careful, making sure not to jostle her more than necessary.
"Just make sure you don't step in a trap, because then we'll be really done for."
Alistair's resulting laugh made her smile.
"Oh, wouldn't that be tragic."