"We're here." Cantis declared, holding his hand up, and the two women in the backseat gathered up their weapons as Josephine flicked a switch under the console. First she turned the main engine off, leaving only the secondary one to carry the weight, and it was near whisper silent compared to the deafening grind of the primary. Then she flicked that one off too, and the War Rig came to a slow shuttering stop, even the whisper of the second engine slowly fading, and they clambered out.
"Thanks for the lift." Mara held out her hand for Cantis when they climbed out, who took it and shook it with a smile.
"Sorry we can't do more for you two." He said as he shook her hand. "But I'm afraid we've a lot of ground to cover."
She nodded, pulling her hand back. "Where are you two headed?" She asked, curious. Not that it mattered much, considering they would likely never see one another again.
He shrugged. "First, we're going to stop here and pick up some supplies. After that, we're off north, out of the Tevinter reach. Maybe up and West to Zion National, or straight North to whatever's left of Idaho."
"Are you ladies sure you'll be alright down here?" Josephine asked as she rounded the Truck's cabin, meeting them with a smile.
Mara nodded. "The Wardens sent me down here to meet with the local sheriff, who told us he has some information on the area that we might find useful. I'm sure he'll help us out."
"Alright." Josephine smiled, and gave an almost dainty wave. "Be safe." And with that, the two of them walked off.
Leliana turned to Mara, who smiled at her wife. "So, you ready?" Mara asked.
"Are you worried?" Leliana murmured warmly, clasping both her hands in Mara's. "That bounty on your head..."
Mara shook her head. "We'll be fine, sweetie. Duncan said that the man here will help us and, so long as we don't go around telling people, no one will know who we are."
Just then a man with sunglasses on approached them, breaking up their little bubble. "Excuse me," He interrupted, and they turned to face him. "Are you Marilina and Leliana?" They nodded. "I work for Sheriff Johnson, and he's been having me look for you all day."
"Oh, thank you!" Mara smiled at him, making the man give a genuine, if weary smile, back. "I'm terribly sorry you had to wait for us, it's scorching out here."
He shrugged. "This is a job that has me hunting criminals and taking part in shootouts. This is a walk in the park." He turned to face down the street, where they could just barely make out a sign that was coated in dust, above an old, rundown building that read Sheriff's Office. "Come with me."
He led them down the street, clambering up and over the old, long-dried fountain that sat right in the middle of the town, and into the only building that looked durable in any way, built of brick and two floors tall. It was the only one that hadn't been utterly destroyed and vandalized. Whatever supplies Cantis and Josephine needed from this place, she had no idea. The whole place was a hell-hole, and it looked like it had been even before the world died.
"What happened here?" Mara asked as she looked around the desolate town, shadows skulking in doorways and windows, away from the strangers. "Did you lose a war or something?"
Their guide shook his head. "Do try not to judge us to harshly." He spoke nonchalantly, but there was something on the edge of his voice that she couldn't quite place. "This place was a ghost town before the world went to hell. The people who resettled it were castaways from society, either too crazy or too sick to be of any use." He turned a little, stepping over the twisted concrete of the old fountain. "We've had problems with raiders and bandits for years and years now but, just recently, those Tevinter folks tried to take over. That's what did most of the damage here."
"I'm sorry."
They walked the rest of the street in silence, and he stopped at the stairs to the office. "He'll be right in here." He motioned, turning around, and she smiled at him. "He should just be expecting you." There was still an edge to his voice, the tiniest tremble and Mara shifted her weight a little back trying to place it. Most people wouldn't have thought anything of it, but Wardens were taught from day one to notice every little detail, anything that could go wrong.
"Are you alright?" She asked, shifting uncomfortably. "You sound... hurt."
His hand automatically flew to his throat, feeling it. "I hadn't noticed." He said, his voice turning back to normal. "I've been standing in the sun all afternoon, waiting for you."
"Oh, I'm so sorry." She apologized when she realized that he was right. She would sound far worse if she had to sit in the under the scorching Nevada skies all morning for people she didn't even know. "Well, thank you very much." She smiled, and inclined her head a little in a small nod.
He smiled, and walked away, leaving the two of them to enter.
Inside the office was a woman sitting at a desk with smouldering ashen hair, dressed in a surprisingly fine black suit, and two dozen other men were on the room, six on either side of them. All of them were holding HK417 assault rifles, except the woman who was seemingly unarmed.
And immediately she knew that something was wrong.
"A-are you S-sheriff Johnson?" Mara asked suspiciously. Their contact was supposed to be a man, and something felt off. She could feel movement just behind her, and she knew that Leliana's hand had slipped to the handle of her autorevolver.
The strange woman shook her head, standing up, and Mara could see the pistol around her hip. "I'm afraid not."
Very, very wrong.
That was enough for Leliana. She stepped forward and whipped out her Mateba, pointing it directly at the woman's head in a threatening gesture. Feeling the movement of her wife, Mara fumbled with her own rifle, unlatching it from the sling, filled with fear as she saw the men all lower their rifles towards them.
"Easy," The woman held her hands up for peace, moving smoothly, with grace and a laid back attitude. "I'm not here to hurt you. Only to talk."
Leliana shook her head, suddenly very, very angry. They were pointing guns at her and, more importantly, her angel. "This is how we talk."
The woman made a non-committal gesture. "Alright then." She stepped in front of her desk, sitting on the top of it. "I'm afraid that Tevinter got a hold of the letter from your superiors to the late-Sheriff Johnson." Mara took a sharp intake of breath, and she could feel Leliana tense up heavily. "We wish you no harm, and I have only been sent to bring you to my own superiors, so you may talk freely."
Mara gritted her teeth. "Drop the act." She growled. "We've already been beset by you people once already. I know that there's a price on the Wardens out here. You want me dead."
She shrugged. "Unfortunate business, that. I'm afraid I don't know the details, but I'm certain you can ask Alexius yourself when you meet him."
"Alexius?" Leliana asked, keeping her gun focused on the woman. Was that the name of the person hunting her beloved?
"Ah," The woman said, nodding. "Where are my manners? Yes, the Tribe leader of the Tevinters, Gereon Alexius. He's the one that insisted we meet." She relaxed, very nonchalant given the tense atmosphere. "I know that you're thinking, you know."
"That now we have a name?"
The woman chuckled. "Oh, you couldn't kill Alexius. You'd be dead before you could even reach the state he's in." She shook her head. "No, you're thinking that you can get away. Even with twelve guns pointed at you, you can kill me, and these men, and escape."
Mara nodded. "The thought had occurred to me, yes."
She smiled. "I don't think you could, but even if you managed it, I'm afraid there's not use in it." She gestured to the wall, outside on the street. "You see, they were worried about that. I have an entire battle group, one hundred and forty-four men with me. You wouldn't make it a footstep out this door."
Several tense moments passed, and Mara knew she was telling the truth. If they tried to run...
"Shite." She summed up.
The women pushed herself off of the desk, and took a step forward, towards them, making Mara and Leliana take a step back.
"Don't make this end badly." She insisted, very much noting the rifles in her own men's hands. "I will kill you, if I have to, but I would rather not."
Leliana shook her head. "You're in no position to threaten us." The woman quirked an eyebrow, and amused smile dancing across her face. "It doesn't matter how many people you have with you. One more step and I'll send you to hell myself.
The woman smile a wicked smile. "You think that scares me?" Her grin was feral, inhuman, and Mara swallowed hard at the calm collective façade fading into insanity. "We are Tevinter. I follow our cause from here and onto death. You may kill me now, but we will crush you, and all those behind you, to bring civilization, savage as it is, back to the world." She smirked and continued her maddened tirade. "You? You will be dust that my feet tread upon. No matter how many of us you kill, we will be lead to the gates of Valhalla itself!"
Mara glanced at Leliana. This woman was insane, and she was heavily armed, with an army behind her, leaving the wives with no way out. Maybe if those Cantis and Josephine people intervened with their truck..
But the thought was futile. Their deal was over, and they were busy fulfilling their business here. There was no way for them to shout for the pair, and they had no idea that they were in trouble. For all Mara knew, they could have already left the settlement.
No help was coming.
The woman took another step forward and motioned with her hand. "Now, if you wo-"
Very suddenly, a small egg-like object dropped from above, bounced once on the ground, and exploded.
With the explosion, the whole world went white and hot, completely blinding Mara, and a loud bang rang in her ears, deafening and knocking her off balance. A moment later, massive pain erupted in her chest as though she had been hit by a battering ram through the stomach, and felt the world begin to run up for a few moments before she hit the wooden ground below.