A/N: The next couple chapters are flow very quickly from one to the next, only hours elapsing between them. I'm not giving you dates or locations until they matter again… and they will. Hope everyone is still enjoying this!
Duty's Choice: The Bastards of Ferelden - Chapter 35
Into the Woods
Alistair rode as hard as he could, due south. Zevran kept up, but many of the soldiers fell behind. As the sun got low, he tried to convince the king it was time to stop, but Alistair kept pushing. It was Cailin nearly falling off his horse that convinced Alistair to call a halt.
They stopped for the night on the edge of a forest, the last of the rocky wilds before the flat of the Bannorn. They set up a rough camp to rest for the night. But Alistair couldn't sleep and the food tasted of ashes.
They had to be getting close. The road had seen a wagon and men marching recently, or at least that's what the scouts said. Elinora could be less that a mile away, or twenty, he didn't know. Why did horses need rest?
He paced the camp, and then he paced southward, and didn't pace back.
He had to find her.
Morrigan awoke with the first rays of the sun. She rose, looked around her, and worried.
No one moved, though everyone lived.
Elinora was missing.
So was Ashling.
Panic clawed at her, material instinct demanding the immediate reappearance of her daughter. Morrigan searched the camp, called out, but nothing.
And then she noticed what she had missed in her panic; the cave had collapsed.
Once it had been a passage into the Deep Roads, lost in time and vegetation. The Wardens had been very useful in excavating it. Somewhere, deep below, an Old One rested. But now it was, again, lost.
And Ashling could be on the other side.
Morrigan ordered herself to relax and focus, drawing on lessons that Flemeth had taught her long ago. Her heart stopped pounding and she was able to think. The child was not visible and couldn't be heard, but maybe smell was the answer.
The witch chided herself for not thinking of it sooner. With a raise of her arms and surge of power, she transformed into a black-furred wolf.
Once the disorientation of transformation wore off, she sniffed around. Only a vague hint of Ashling was around the cave, but the scent was much stronger going north, into the woods.
Morrigan set off on her daughter's trail.
Rainer cracked his eyes to the bright mid-morning sun, Petra sprawled out on top of him. He gently lifted her off of him and laid her down on the ground. With a spinning head, he assessed the situation.
Three Wardens and two Templars were awake, both shooting unfocused dirty looks at each other. Everyone else was still on the ground. Everyone but Ashling and Morrigan. He looked to the cave he'd noticed last night, but found only a pile of rubble.
Elinora was gone.
But she hadn't hidden her tracks.
Rainer started to follow them when he heard the distinct sound of a sword being pulled from its sheath. The First Warden looked over to find the Knight-Commander drawing steel and ready to fight.
"Hold." Rainer said steadily. "Commander, let's not."
"We have our orders," he growled.
Rainer kept his hands out and empty. "Are your orders to kill my men?"
The Templar's eyes narrowed. "No. They are to take Elinora Cousland into custody. After what we saw, we're taking the witch and her get too."
Morrigan. What have you done, woman?
"Listen," Rainer continued evenly, "They're all gone, and I don't know where. So, why don't we put up our weapons and worry about our men, and then deal with the missing women and children."
The Commander considered a minute, then nodded curtly. "Never liked this assignment anyway." His sword went back into its sheath.
Rainer returned his nod and held out a hand. "First Warden Rainer of Weisshaupt."
With a measured look, the Commander took it, "Templar Knight-Commander Hegarty, usually assigned to Denerim."
"Good," Rainer smiled his most charming smile and started checking his men. Barth was setting Petra in a tent as he completed his rounds. "Do you know what happened?" he demanded of the massive warrior.
"No, and I'm not sure I want to. What in the Maker's name are we doing here, boss?"
Rainer shook his head. "I have no idea. I remember we were traveling to Amaranthine, but this isn't it, and I'm pretty sure we're nowhere near it." He gave the terrain a puzzled look, and then refocused on the route north. "There is one set of very unsteady tracks leading north into the woods. I'm going to follow her. Barth, you're in charge. Make sure the Wardens and Templars don't kill each other. Have Petra follow me as soon as she's able; Elinora may need her. Send out search parties if you want to for Morrigan and the girl, but I have a feeling they're long gone."
Barth nodded, "Right, boss."
Rainer supplied up with injury kits, poultices and water, then set off on Elinora's trail.
Around mid-afternoon, Petra woke up. Her first thought was one of puzzlement as to why she should be in a tent and not in her warm bed in the Tower. And then she remembered.
She remembered everything.
Out of the tent and into the dazzling daylight, Petra slammed into Barth, who had been guarding her while directing Wardens and Templars into search parties and medic teams. Some had not recovered so neatly from the incident the night before. Several Templars were busily throwing up in the trees.
"Where is she?" Petra demanded.
Barth, unused to dealing with aggressive women, or women at all, stammered, "She went that way," he pointed off to the north. "Rainer followed her a few hours ago."
Petra was digging in her belt pouch even before Barth had finished talking. She pulled out a small chunk of crystal with a brown smudge on it. "I need a party of men, your best for trekking through the wilds. And a stretcher." She marched over to the Knight-Commander of the Templars, ready to fight him tooth and nail if needed. "Hegraty, I need you to send men back to the Tower and bring us some healers."
He blinked at her. "Healer Petra, I haven't seen you in…" he shook his grizzled head. "Never mind, I'll lead them myself. The Tower's only a day off if we push." He turned and called for men ready to travel. About half the Templars headed out in within five minutes, eager to be away from this place.
Petra turned away from the departing Templars and turned her attention to the crystal. She thought it glowed a little, but it could be a trick of the sunlight. Either way, she wasn't wasting time.
"I need injury kits and poultices!" she called to scurrying Wardens.
Barth shrugged at her. "Rainer took at least half…" The massive Warden's words dried up as the thunder of hooves echoed down the road.
Petra did not need any more surprises or distractions. Elinora was out there somewhere and far too close to her delivery to be tromping about the woods. Petra needed to get her somewhere civilized, clean. More soldiers were not what she needed.
"Petra!"
Even before the horse had stopped, its rider had slid off and was running toward her. Cailin slammed into her, wrapping his arms around her waist in a fierce hug. "Where's mother?"
Petra looked northward, into the woods. "Out there somewhere."
Zevran jogged to catch up to Cailin. "What happened?" the elf asked simply.
Petra's lips thinned. "A simple life drain spell on a mass scale. She got every single one of us, except Elinora."
Zevran's brow furrowed. "She?"
"Morrigan and Ashling." Barth stepped to them.
Zevran motioned to the disoriented and still unconscious warriors. "Morrigan did this?"
"No," Barth rumbled. "Ashling. Ashling's been doing it all." Within a few moments, Barth and Petra had filled them in on the events of the previous evening and a few details from previous months.
Cailin tugged on Petra's hand. "We need to find her!"
Petra looked to the crystal again. "We have time, I think."
Zevran frowned. "Alistair is out there somewhere, searching for her, but Morrigan and her child could be as well."
"And Rainer," added Barth.
Zevran's frown deepened. "Catch up when you are supplied and ready. Come, Cailin."
Petra opened her mouth to protest, but the elf and child were already running into the woods.