CHAPTER 12

They didn't have to wait long for an answer. After dinner that day, Elissa received a note from Alistair. It read simply, "She has agreed to your proposal." Elissa quickly penned a note stating her plans to collect Anora the next morning, and if there was anything Anora was to bring, she would have to be able to carry it herself.

When they arrived at the palace, Anora was waiting for them. She was wearing some basic splintmail, a heavy-looking longsword and shield, and had a small pack with her. That is a good start; she's trying to be practical. Although if she can actually swing that sword, I'll eat my boot. Standing next to her, attired in light armor with a pair of daggers on her back, was an elven woman with dark hair. Elissa stopped and looked at the woman. "Anora, you're telling me you can carry her to the keep?" Anora and the woman started to speak, but Elissa interrupted. "Never mind. Bad joke. Anora, you do know that Wardens don't have handmaidens, right?"

The elf spoke then. "Lady Elissa, I wish to come with you to join your organization." She had a strong Orlesian accent. She looked at Anora, who nodded. "I am not only Anora's handmaiden, but a … friend. I have skills and I do not wish to be left behind. There is nothing here for me now since Anora is leaving."

Elissa considered her a moment. "I suppose it could work," she thought aloud. "You can use those daggers?" The woman nodded. "And you want to join the Wardens?" The elf nodded again. "Anora, Erlina, you are equals from here on. I want to see no signs of Erlina serving as a handmaiden to anyone. Anora, that means starting today, you will be learning how to do everything – cooking, cleaning, washing your own clothes, you get the idea. Am I crystal clear?" Elissa was using her "I'm in charge" voice. Both the women nodded at this. "All right, Erlina. You can come with us. We'll test those skills of yours at the keep." Elissa nodded to Alistair, who had come with the women. "Your Majesty, it was good to see you again. Hopefully we will be able to communicate again soon."

"And you, Commander." Alistair smiled warmly at her. "I will try to visit the keep when my schedule will allow me." He rolled his eyes then. "It's like they expect me to work!"

Elissa smiled, and bowed to the King. She then turned to the group, "Let's be off. Daylight is burning."

Nathaniel noticed that Anora was subdued for much of the day. She spoke a little to Erlina, their heads tilted together familiarly. I think I see what sort of 'friends' these women are. Beyond that, she mostly watched her feet. When they stopped for lunch, Anora practically collapsed on the spot. Nathaniel brought her a waterskin, which she greedily drank from, and she gratefully accepted the dried fruits and nuts that he gave her. But she didn't complain at all, which Nathaniel found surprising. Instead, when Elissa put her pack back on, she slowly got up and trudged behind the group, a look of intense concentration on her face. She should sleep well tonight – she'll be exhausted. She's determined, good sign. Nathaniel noticed that Elissa would glance back every so often and appraise Anora's progress. When she noticed Nathaniel watching her, she nodded in satisfaction then glanced pointedly at Anora. Good, she's noticed too.

When it came time to stop for dinner, Elissa sent Erlina to collect the firewood then sat next to Anora. Nathaniel caught a quiet murmur of "I'll teach you how, but you need to do this," as he went to hunt down some game for the night. He returned quickly, three rabbits in hand, and put them down in front of Anora.

Elissa showed Anora how to prepare the rabbits to cook over the fire and left her to it. When the food was ready, Nathaniel was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was absolutely delicious. "This is really good," he said between bites. "Have you done this before?"

Anora shook her head. "No, but I've eaten rabbit enough to know when it looks and smells good. I was hoping it would be all right."

Elissa smiled at Anora. "You did great. You know," she added with a sly look at Anora, "Alistair was so incredibly bad at cooking that when we knew we would have to fight the next day, we took him off cooking duty. We were perpetually afraid that he would make us all ill." She laughed as Anora looked inordinately pleased with the compliment.

Anora and Erlina went to bed immediately after dinner while the others stayed up. "We'll leave them off watch while we travel," Elissa said. "They need the sleep and they're going to be sore tomorrow. But it was a good first day."

The rest of their trip was much the same until they were only a couple of hours from the keep. That was when both Nathaniel and Elissa's heads popped up. Darkspawn. Elissa gathered the group around her and quickly and quietly said, "Cauthrien, I want you to go with me. There's a darkspawn nearby off the side of the road, and I want us to check it out. Nathaniel, can you keep the others moving toward the keep?" Nathaniel nodded. "All right. Cauthrien, let's go." She and Cauthrien took off as quickly and quietly as they could.

"All right, we're going forward," Nathaniel started. "Alec, Erlina, stay near Anora. I will scout ahead. I can tell if there are darkspawn nearby, so I'm not too worried about that, but if something else should crop up I want us to be ready. We need to keep Anora safe." The other three nodded, Anora looking scared.

Nathaniel took point and cautiously advanced, listening for signs of trouble. He found it on the crest of the next hill. A small group of soldiers wearing the Cousland crest on their shields was surrounded by a significantly larger group of bandits, and they were not going to hold out long. Nathaniel's eye was caught by the Cousland soldier in front. Maker's mercy, that's Fergus!

Nathaniel shouted, "SURRENDER, AND I WILL BE MERCIFUL!" and took out the two bandits that were closest to Fergus' blind spot with two shots. Good, that took their attention off him and onto me. He then shouted, "FERGUS! INCOMING RAIN!" and started to shoot arrows almost straight up into the air to take out most of the bandits right by the Cousland guard. Fergus nodded in response and put his shield over his head, saying something to his remaining men who pulled in tight to him and used their shields to try to block the ground attacks.

Nathaniel ignored a shooting pain through his left thigh and kept moving automatically, tracking the trajectory of the arrow that pierced his leg and letting an arrow fly that went straight into the eye of the bandit archer who shot it. After the last archer was down, Nathaniel looked over to see Fergus and the last two of his men easily hacking through the remaining bandits, most of whom were lying on the ground with arrows sticking out of their leather armor at crazy angles.

Nathaniel was starting to feel dizzy. He looked down, and saw the shaft of the arrow sticking through his leg, blood flowing freely down into his boot and onto the ground. He stumbled a little as he looked back, ensuring that Alec and Erlina still had Anora safe. Good, they didn't get attacked. He nodded to Alec to say "it's safe now" and limped toward Fergus, only then lowering his bow. Have to make sure he's all right. It would kill Elissa if he was hurt.

He didn't remember how he got to Fergus' side; maybe Fergus ran up to him. "Are you all right?" he asked Fergus breathlessly, the man swimming in and out of his vision. He saw the nod but failed to hear the response, saying only, "Good." before his world went black.