Chapter Twelve
"What do you think?" Two sets of shrewd eyes peer through foliage down into a clearing. The mass of Darkspawn they watch are ignorant of the two women in the bushes. They aren't too many, fifteen at most and the majority are grunts. Not a magic user among them.
"I don't like it, especially not without mana." Solona flexes her fingers at her side, praying to feel that spark of energy. None springs forth and she frowns yet continues to observe the group.
Marian mutters under her breath, something about damned Darkspawn and being hungry. Solona can feel her stomach tighten at the mention of food. They've been walking for three straight days with nothing more substantial than berries.
"Well, we can always go around them. It'll take a day or two to detour, however. I'm actually sort of familiar with this part of the Hinterlands; there's a small hamlet my family lived in for a while a few years back. Fughett. If we can make it past these creatures we're only a few hours out. We can resupply before the last leg to Lothering." The rogue seems to be reasoning her way through this logical puzzle and Solona doesn't bother to interject. Other than her ability to notice just about everything she's useless without magic.
"No point though. We can't make it through. There's no way the two of us, well really just you, can fight. You're still recovering and I-"
"I know, Solona. Let me think for a moment."
She waits, patiently, for Marian to consider all of their options. When the other woman sighs heavily and moves the branch she's holding back into its place, Solona knows they'll have to detour.
Mage and rogue both back away from the clearing and are turning to retreat when a war cry breaks through the trees on the opposite side of the Darkspawn. They both whirl back and watch as the raiding party is systematically attacked from two sides by men painted with a white substance that Solona doesn't recognize.
"Who the hell are they!" Marian's voice is no longer concerned with stealth and the two walk closer to the fighting. The group is small, only a handful, but fierce. Loud shouts ring through the woods. A few of the Darkspawn flee away from the men, towards Solona and Marian, only to be cut down by the rogue without mercy. From the far side of the camp, the tallest of the fighter watches the pair pick their way through the dead bodies.
When they arrive in front of the men, Marian's eyes widen. "You're Chasind! What are you doing so far into the Hinterlands?" Solona's eyes go wide as well as she takes in the fierce expressions on the fighters faces. She's heard of the Chasind in passing only when reading up on the history of Ferelden. The men standing in front of them shift and move closer. One of them still crackles with the energy of his magic, his shoulders covered in the pelt of a woodland creature.
The men do not respond, however. The mage, Solona is positive that's what the man with the fur is, looks them both up and down and turns to go. "Wait! Do you have any food?" Marian is starting to sound desperate now. The group confers with one another in a language Solona can't decipher before a bag is thrown at the women's feet. She tries not to fall on the sack but she hasn't really eaten in so long.
They find bread and a type of cheese that is unfamiliar to both. Solona eats and eats, dismissing Marian's warnings to go slowly and allow her stomach to adjust to the food. The rogue just shakes her head and starts to dig through the Darkspawn's gear. Solona watches, cheeks puffed and a song humming softly from the back of her throat.
A flash of blue draws her attention, arching through the air, and her hand rises to catch the vial Marian throws at her. "There. Now you can start a fire." Lyrium. Solona finishes her food and uncorks the potion. She smells it; can't be too careful when dealing with Darkspawn. The label on the bottle is written in the steady script of a diligent potions maker. She drains the contents and takes a deep breath in preparation for the mana that it'll provide.
She waits. And waits some more. Marian is still digging through the Darkspawn gear littering the area. She finds a locket, which she sticks in her bag. A few coins join the jewelry accompanied by muttering about monsters carrying currency. Solona can feel nothing.
There's no warming in the pit of her stomach like she's used to and certainly no feeling of renewal that also follows a lyrium potion. Her hand opens and she wills flame to jump from her fingers.
She must look distraught. Marian pauses in her task to throw her a questioning look. Solona shrugs and sighs. Perhaps the potion was corrupted after all. There's no sign of harm from ingestion. It's possible, she thinks, that it was just an old batch of lyrium potion. She's heard and read about such a thing happening.
"No luck?" Solona shakes her head at Marian. The other woman straightens. "Well, let's get moving then. If we're lucky we can make it to Fughett before the sun goes down." The two pack what remains of their gifted rations and disappear into the tree line once more.
-!-
Fughett was surely a beautiful little town. Mostly wooden buildings and charming paddocks for the cows kept there. Solona shakes her head in remorse as they approach the smoking remains of Marian's former home town. The rogue's knuckles are white; her grip shakes slightly at the image of the town razed. "Darkspawn." It is a curse upon their tongues they use freely, daily, now.
There are corpses freely littering the ground; human and monster alike. The pair enter from the south, covering their faces and mouths against the dirt in the air and the smell of death. As they near the square in the center of the town, a keen wail is heard and they both see the shadows in the husks of the buildings. Marian's hand on her arm draws Solona behind the other woman. The rogue brings both daggers up and falls into a defensive stance naturally.
They are braced for the worst Darkspawn to come pouring down on them. Rather, motley crews of women and children, their faces smudged with black and red, filter out into the open courtyard. A child cries, its mother allowing it this sound, now. Now that the two newcomers do not pose a serious risk. Old men, hobbled and looking broken, follow last and soon the inhabitants of Fughett, those that still live, stand clustered around Marian and Solona.
Solona can't help the tears that spring to her eyes at the sight of the townsfolk. They look devastated and without a hope in the world. The small child cries out once more and its mother tuts as she holds the squirming infant closer to her chest. She notes that there isn't one man left in the group between the ages of sixteen and forty.
An old woman, holding herself up with a gnarled cane, steps forward. "We have nothing to offer you, travelers. As you can see, we have nothing to offer ourselves."
Marian is striding across the cobblestones, her blades going back to the scabbards on her back. When she reaches the old woman there's a long stretch of silence in which the two size each other up. Without warning the crone's arms jump forward and pull Marian into a tight hug. Solona almost jumps at how quick the motion is but she relaxes when she realizes that Marian is hugging back. And . . . crying?
She approaches the two; the townspeople start to come closer as well. When she's within ear shot, Solona can hear the two embracing whispering between each other. She can't really discern what they're saying. She notes that the old woman seems to be scolding her friend and that Marian is just smiling sheepishly and nodding, demurring to her elder.
Marian introduces Solona to the group. The rogue knows just about everyone and as the polite greetings are made the faces seem a little brighter, a little less run down. The old woman, greeting Solona with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, says her name is Beloix. The name sounds Orlesian.
Few structures still stand in the town, but Beloix leads the pair to the biggest; the Chantry. It survived the worst of the burning; the pile of bodies set off to the side shows that it was saved through massive bloodshed. Solona commits the town, and its inhabitants, to memory. She'd like to save this place in her mind for when she gets back to the Tower and back to her notes. If the notes survived Ostagar, of course.
"A big passel of creatures came through and just wiped us out; husbands and fathers and sons. All gone, now. We've been holed up for about a day or so." Her words are pained, but Beloix has a clarity that Solona thinks she would have lacked in a similar situation. The old woman has been through wars before, this much is obvious. "What fighters we did retain went after the remaining monsters. Haven't heard from them."
Marian looks around the Chantry with its tumbling ceiling and the desolate humans that huddle together, more for support than for warmth. Her mouth is tight and her brow is furrowed. Solona knows that this is Marian's worrying face; the rogue is deep in her thoughts and they aren't pleasant. When she turns back to Beloix she's blinking away tears. "Why are you still here? Why not go to Lothering, or even up to Denerim. Surely this won't be the last Darkspawn raid. The King's army was defeated; there's nothing holding them back now."
Beloix nods sadly. "Aye. We're aware. You two aren't the first of Ferelden's troops to come slinking up from the Wilds. Not two days ago we helped along a trio, and before that a husband and wife. They didn't look too worse for the ware but the two of you . . . Maker, child. When was the last time you slept?"
A hand is raised to her head as Marian fixes her hair, rather self consciously. "Leave off Bel. Poor Solona is out of magic and I'm still recovering from a nasty wound. I got stabbed, right here." She points to her shoulder and Beloix tuts at her. The banter makes Solona smiles and reminds her of some of the older mages at the Tower. Live with someone long enough and anything is possible in conversation.
"That's neither here nor there. Let's get you two something to eat and a place to sleep. Maybe a bath, too. We should be safe for a while yet; like I said we haven't heard back from our men out the in the woods. They'd have let us know if we had more trouble coming." Beloix doesn't mention leaving Fughett and Marian doesn't push. Solona trails after them both as they head to get food.
-!-
Solona sinks into the warm depths of the tub with a very contented sigh. She submerges herself entirely, allowing the water to wash over her head and she stays down as long as her lungs will allow. She feels weightless and free; the horrors of war are forgotten as the red staining her skin slowly lifts and dissolves.
She needed this, she thinks. Relaxation. She can feel something, her energy, poking around at the base of her neck. She doesn't have the ability to produce yet, but it'll return. Tomorrow she might very well awaken to her bed on fire, once more. She kind of hopes she does; she misses her magic. Desperately. Without it she is empty on the inside, despair filling the holes that her ability has filled for the majority of her life.
The door to the washroom bangs open and she jumps, water sloshing over the edge of the wood. She relaxes at the sight of Marian's smile and she leans back again. "Leave some warm water for me too!"
And just like that, Solona's relaxing soak is ruined and over and damn the rogue. She can't hold onto the irritation for more than a moment though because Marian is brimming with a giddy joy; back among people she knows the hardness that Solona has seen in her eyes has lessened. She looks like a girl of only sixteen; flushed with the excitement of youth.
Solona lets her chatter and finishes washing the blood from her hair. It's good to be clean again. As she steps from the tub, Marian is there to hand her a towel and they switch places. Solona can't think of a whole lot to say, much of the rogue's experiences are far from her scope of knowledge. She listens, instead, and allows the gaps in Marian's history to fill with the memories of happier times.
That night the two women are treated to real bedding and their first good sleep since they left Ostagar behind them. In the morning they awake to find the people of Fughett packing. Blinking, they enter the sunny courtyard and both watch as Beloix directs the flow of movement with an authority born from years of teaching. The old woman waves them both over when they're noticed and they join the fray.
"We talked about your suggestion, about going to Lothering. You're right about there being more Darkspawn coming. We don't want to be here when they arrive." And just like that, Marian and Solona find themselves leading the column of battered people back into the Hinterlands and towards Lothering.
The pace is slow but the companionship is good, Solona initially thinks. She finds a pair of old men talking about, of all things, the contact they've had with dwarves and she jumps into the conversation whole heartedly. It doesn't take the men long to start joking around with her; mage that she is. Her knowing about dwarves is an oddity to be sure. They're the ones that let it slip that the Hawke family left Fughett under suspicious circumstances ten years prior. An incident with the father, they say, out in the woods with the two youngest children. The men aren't all that clear on what actually happened but it sounds to Solona like one of the kids led to the father's accidental demise and the family fled afterward.
Magic, they said. Magic killed the old man and set the family to flight. Their story hits a little too close to home for Solona. She catches sight of Marian, walking at the head of the group, and wonders if the tale is true. She had mentioned two younger siblings but had never talked about her father. Solona files the information away in her head for a later time and moves away from the men. She doesn't like their insinuations about mages and being troublesome.
Towards mid-day the convoy stops to eat and this is where the group finds out about the severity of the Darkspawn invasion in the wilderness of Ferelden. The coming Blight swoops down on the people with a vengeance, pushing from the tree line with a fury that matches her experiences at Ostagar. Without magic, she keeps close to a wagon, and the terrified ox that pulls it. She holds tight to her staff. Marian is shouting orders, trying to spur those willing into battle. Women and children hold shaking swords to the hulking monsters and a few of them are successful.
Most of them are not.
Solona uses her staff as a weapon, not with magic but with the might of terror and the will to survive. She takes down a few Darkspawn with wide arching swings and she's lucky. So very lucky. Without her magic, she is not a clear threat. Marian is, though. The rogue seems to have regained much of her stamina during their brief stay in Fughett and she slaughters the majority of the enemy by herself.
When the attack ends, there are only a handful of dazed survivors, Solona among them. Carts burn and women weep. There are no crying children to silence anymore; the two that have made it are too scared to make a sound. Solona finds them and pulls them from behind the rock they've used for cover.
There's no sense in dawdling.
Marian gathers those left and calls out for Beloix. The few left standing search for a few minutes, finding the twisted body of the old woman covering the infant that had announced Marian and Solona's arrival in Fughett just the day before.
Marian spits on the ground next to her old teacher and curses. Solona feels like she must do something, anything, to help. She kneels next to Beloix and closes the woman's eyes. Head bowed and voice hushed, she recites the Maker's blessing, asking that the woman be accepted into the Golden City. The caravan is quiet around her.
When she rises, Marian appears at her elbow. "Come on. We can make Lothering by nightfall, if we hurry."
No one needs additional incentive. Lothering will be safe, they think. Lothering will protect them and allow them to properly mourn the family and friends they have lost.
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Thank you, everyone, for the wonderful reviews! They really help me keep with the story! I know some are missing Cullen; just a few more chapters and the two lovebirds will be reunited. :)