A/N: I don't own Dragon age.
A/N: I've changed it so Theron originated from Zathrian's clan to fit the story.
8.
Kallian Tabris' POV:
With the body of the Dalish propped against my side I loped through the forest as rain beat against my skin and the bark. His chest rose and fell shallowly against my side, leanly muscled arm draped across my shoulders, feet sketching twin lines in the dirt and the scent of pine and Sap blood from the trees clinging to his lightly tanned flesh. The sky had truly opened up in the last half an hour, spilling ice cold rain from the heavens as a fisherman spills his catch back into the ocean. That and the weight of the unconscious elf made progress towards the camp difficult. I followed the map that I had memorized in my head but felt very much a trespasser in this world of canopies and greens.
I heard the soft release of an arrow, so familiar now after years of training with Darrian, and hit the floor, spattering myself with mud as I did so.
"That wasn't a very pleasant greeting," I called out into the forest.
"What are you doing here city elf," came the reply.
"I am a Grey Warden; I recued a member of your clan from the nearby ruins. He needs medical attention," I said.
The invisible sentry paused.
"Stand, I swear I will not shoot," she finally instructed.
Moving smoothly from the floor, I pulled the unconscious Theron into view as reassurance that I meant them no harm.
"Theron," the sentry stepped free of the curtain of branches and leaves that had separated us. She too was fair haired and lightly tanned. I began to wonder if all Dalish had the same complexion. She slung her bow over her back and ran towards him, fixing his other arm around her shoulder.
"We need to get him back to camp; Keeper Zathrian must be told of this," she stopped to look me over warily, "I'm unsure whether I should be taking a stranger into our camp."
"I'm sure you can make an exception, it's only me and I did pull him all the way from the ruins," I unleashed my most dazzling smile on the Dalish sentry.
"I suppose so," she caved, "and you must be hungry and tired after travelling. Surely if you meant us ill you would have killed Theron when you happened upon him."
"Exactly," I smiled.
Daylen Cousland's POV:
We marched in silence. Well I marched, Morrigan trotted in dog form at my side lest she draw more attention to us. Not that there was much other than corpses left to travel the roads. The area around Ostagar had become eerily empty. I found it preferable.
"We will rest in Lothering," I informed the black pelted, hawk eyed hound at my side.
It only nodded its head. The lack of conversation stretched the welcome and hollow silence. Untainted with Elissa's prattle, with Aedan's gossip and the sound of steel beating against steel; just clean, reverberating silence, the kind that hungrily swallowed down thoughts and feelings. I closed my tired eyes for a moment, savouring the way it washed over my body. I had forgotten I wasn't alone.
I felt eyes on my face, something I'd learnt to detect as the skill was invaluable to the second son of a Teryn. Opening my eyelids, I slid my eyes towards the wolf like hound at my side only to meet two golden eyes. Human eyes. The witch's eyes.
"Is something wrong?" I asked curtly, mildly vexed that my temporary serenity had been disrupted. The dog barked snappishly in reply. I frowned.
It loped a few paces in front of me along the dead road before turning back to bark again. I narrowed my eyes.
"If there is something you need to say, speak. I haven't the time for these games."
It only barked once again and moved onward.
I just continued my pace, if it was so urgent she could speak to me in person.
Morrigan, in dog form, finally gave up on whatever it was and moved into the undergrowth. Two minutes later a flood of cold rain was brought down onto my head. She had been motioning for me to hurry lest we'd be caught in the storm. A thin smile crossed my lips as the dog watched me from the darkness of the trees.
I only lifted my head and let the water soak over me.
Lothering was pitiful. A shamble of Frankenstein houses (if they could even be dubbed that) shaped from odd pieces of wood and stone. They leaned against one another like wounded soldiers, filth smeared at their feet and wooden skin dropping free with damp. The only two buildings of course that weren't mired in dirt and on the edge of collapse was the Chantry and the Inn.
"As to be expected," I said to Morrigan, now in human form, "Superstitious drunkards seem to account for most of the population."
"The common population?" she asked.
"No, the noble borns tend to be the main culprits."
We trudged forward in the dark, the noise of inebriated farmers ringing out from the Inn and the occasional cry of some night time creature filling most of the night. I entered the Inn, repulsed slightly by the smell of alcohol and piss.
"We need rooms," I said directly moving through the great oak tables to address a timid looking bartender.
"How many rooms will you be wanting Ser?" he seemed to shrink under my shadow.
"Two."
"You and your wife won't want to share a room?"
"She is my younger sister and that is none of your concern," I said coldly when the bartender began to squint as if searching for some family resemblance.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't one of the Grey Wardens," a hand pressed itself against my armoured back.
"Didn't we ask around town and on the roads for someone of this description and everybody said they hadn't seen anyone," came a second voice.
"It looks as though the Warden found himself a little friend too. If she's friendly with scum like him, she'll probably be friendly with us too."
"You are fools to threaten us and will be taught a lesson," Morrigan stated factually.
"Gentlemen," a third voice cut in, this one female, "can we not resolve this peacefully."
I still had my back to them; the bartender began to back away as I produced the payment for the rooms and slid it towards him.
I didn't bother with a threat as Morrigan I had; I only turned unsheathing the long sword at my back as I did so and cut him down. The second speaker yelped moving backwards but was only frozen by Morrigan before I removed his head from his shoulders. It shattered on the nearby wall. I ran the next through to the hilt. Straightening up in the dim flickering light of the candles I fixed my eyes on the three remaining soldiers that were already backing away towards the door.
"No, let them..." the woman spoke up, stepping before me.
I pushed her aside, "they threatened my life," I answered coldly, "they've become a threat."
Their bodies, now broken, slid down the Inn's ratty walls.
"You, you killed them," the woman stammered. I noticed the Chantry robes and immediately decided to seek my room.
Turning back to the counter I addressed the bartender.
"Keys."
Theron Mahariel's POV:
The last thing I remember.
The last thing I remember?
Tamlen's face wilting disturbed beneath the surface of water then rupturing into thousands of reflective butterfly wings. A light that burnt like fire as it crawled through me, liquefying bones, organs and flesh before finally pouring from my mouth and eyes like a waterfall.
No.
The last thing I remember was a face. A smirk in the dark. The elf woman, how could I forget?
"Theron? You're finally awake," the smooth tones of Lanaya drifted down towards my throbbing ears. I nodded once. I'd given up on struggling with my body; fighting to vocalize thoughts and feelings when I couldn't.
-Tamlen- I mouthed.
Lanaya grew silent. I could almost feel her pull inside herself. Tamlen had been the only one in the clan who could really stomach the transparent silence, the only one in the clan to call me Lethallin and really mean it. Of course I wasn't snubbed or rejected; they didn't hate me, beat me down and leave me out. But there'd always be that resentment hidden that when they spoke, when they questioned I stared them in the face and remained soundless. It was maddening for them to be caught out in the open with no conversation to hide behind, as if they'd been pushed naked out into the rain. My frustration grew with theirs, my inability to reach out only swelled with theirs.
-Tamlen- I mouthed again.
"We couldn't find his body. Keeper Zathrian has declared the ruins off limits," she sighed heavily, "why did you go there? Tamlen, Creators keep him, was always rash and eager but you..."
I turned away from her, unable to meet the eyes that had already layered themselves in a film of water. She'd always tried to steer Tamlen from trouble, scolding him gently when his pride got the better of him.
-I'm sorry- I mouthed.
She didn't catch it.
-I'm so sorry- I mouthed again but this wasn't directed towards Lanaya but the floor as it rebounded off the dirt and grass to hit me straight in the chest and pull through.
"We could have lost you both," Lanaya continued, "The Warden only just pulled you out and back to camp in time. She gave us the potion to remedy the damage the mirror did. She...she saved your life."
-Warden- I mouthed, leaning my head towards my shoulder a little so Lanaya could understand that this was a question.
"Yes, a Grey Warden stumbled into camp with you. She's raiding our armoury as we speak," Lanaya smiled weakly in an attempt to lightening the mood suffocating us.
I pointed to my hair and mouthed –red-.
"Yes, blood red."
The smirk in the dark.
"Zathrian told her to leave you in peace until you'd recovered..." I rose, "Theron, where are you going? You need rest."
I smiled lightly at her and mouthed –Warden-.
She was curled up on a pile of supplies with an apple raised to her coffee coloured lips. Her amour was Dalish revealing a taut slender stomach and leanly muscled arms. Her lips curled up in amusement as she watched me approach through two sharp, thin and delicate eyes both a striking bright green.
"Good day little mute," it was easy to believe that she'd managed to charm her way into the camp. Each word was like a caress.
Suddenly I was unsure why I'd even approached her.
-Tamlen- I mouthed.
"Who?"
-Tam...- I reached for one of the strips of paper I kept in my belt and a thin piece of lead.
'The elf with me. Why did you not save him?'
I handed it to her. The note only seemed to increase her fun.
"You were the closest," she her willowy shoulders.
'You could have grabbed him as well. You had plenty of time.'
"If you can recall, the Mirror broke minutes after I entered the room," she raised the apple to her smiling lips again and scraped her teeth across it, a challenge in her eyes.
'I knew you were following why didn't you act sooner?'
Her eyes didn't even register surprise as she took the note from me.
"Ah," she smiled.
Then asked, "would you have preferred it if I had saved your friend instead of you? Would you rather have been swallowed by that Mirror?"
I choked.
Would I? Yes. Tamlen was more important than me, so much more to life. But how could I honestly say I'd trade the breath in my lungs now to allow that reflective coffin consume me? It was a yes but a yes I could only mediate now instead of in that frantic relief of discovering life when she'd pulled me free from the horror.
'I would die for my Lethallin.'
She took the note. Her fine, crimson eyebrows knitted.
"Leth, Leth-a-lin?"
-Friend- I mouthed and she nodded.
"That's reassuring," she flung the apple core over her shoulder, "because absolute loyalty is a trait I'll need."
She leaned towards me, still perched on the mountain of supplies, her face mere inches from mine, skin hinted with ivy and a halo of unruly blood coloured hair.
"You owe me, little Dalish," she purred, "I saved your life so now it belongs to me."
I couldn't argue. I'd been sucked into this woman's path by duty and there was no foreseeable way to get out.
Elissa Cousland's POV:
"So I was just wondering if either of you knew what we're doing next," Alistair asked.
We paused just on the edge of the Imperial highway, the noise and grime of Lothering laid out underneath us. We had just beaten off a group of con-men. I was incredulous that such scum existed; the people inhabiting this town were all poor and desperate how could they pray on fellow human beings in that state?
"I was under the impression that we would follow through with the plan as discussed," I said. Honestly why was he even questioning this? I had believed it was pretty clear when he had suggested Arl Eamon and Daylen had thrust the treaties towards us.
Alistair rolled his eyes, "I meant are we really doing this?"
"We are Grey Wardens now are we not?" I answered, "I thought it'd be best if we visited the Circle first."
"Right," Aedan added, "it doesn't sound too bad. We just visit these people, pop out the treaty ask for help and boom we've got an army."
I had a feeling that it wouldn't be that simple.
A/N:
Okay so another chapter done. I hoped you enjoyed it. I have to say at first I wasn't sure about Theron but he's really growing on me. The Elissa, Aedan and Alistair part in this is really small but next chapter it'll be more centred on them so I didn't want to put too much in this one.
THANKS FOR READING! :D