Leliana couldn't see or hear anything, but she felt the movement her wife fall beside her, adrenaline running through her ears, feeling the blood rushing behind her eyes and ears.
"Bonheur!" She shrieked, and her blood ran cold when she couldn't even hear her own voice behind the Bang in her ears. She blindly pulled the trigger on her Mateba where the men had been, the only sensory input she had being her touch, desperately praying.
Seconds later, her vision unblured, refocusing back into coherence, even as her hearing continued to be deafened. Somehow, by some divine intervention, the men and woman were dead, but Mara was laying on her back beside Leliana, a gashed bullet wound seeping blood from her chest.
Leliana scrambled, tossing her Mateba aside, grasping at the injury, and it felt like the weight of the world was lifted off of her shoulders when she felt her angel breathing, just barely.
"Mara!" She shrieked, but her love didn't answer, eyes fluttered closed peacefully. She wasn't conscious any longer.
A thud came from behind her, followed by another, although not quite so loud. She whipped around, her whole body tensing like a cat. She had dropped her gun, and she knew that if something attacked, her only chance would be to dive for it.
"Easy, easy!" There were two women there, looking like they had landed from the rafters above them, and the taller one had her hands up in a signal of peace. She had short butch-cut hair and a tall, proud stature, wearing a heavy leather duster that was buttoned around her breast. The other was shorter, and had raven-black hair al done up in braids, with long, intricate tattoos dancing across her cheekbones. "We're not going to hurt you."
"That's what that woman said." Leliana almost hissed, resisting the urge to dive for her gun. She didn't trust these people who had come out of nowhere, but she couldn't protect herself and Mara at the same time. If these people wouldn't hurt them, she couldn't risk making another enemy.
The taller woman chuckled and gave a shrug. "Well, you've got me there." She smiled. "But I just saved your arse from those men."
Leliana raised an eyebrow. "That was you?" The woman nodded.
"Sure was. Wasted a good flashbang doing it too."
"Well..." She trailed off. "Thank you, I suppose." But then she whirled back around to face her fallen love. If these people weren't going to hurt them, she had to tend to Mara. "Listen," Her voice was frantic as she put pressure on the wound. "She's been hurt."
The woman nodded, kneeling beside Leliana. "I know, I saw. That woman had a .44 on her. Got your friend here pretty good before I gunned her down."
Leliana took a sharp intake of breath. A .44 magnum right to the chest, especially without her lover having any sort of sturdy armour...
"Please," She whispered desperately to the woman. "Can you help her?" She couldn't do anything for Mara, not without any sort of supplies, and no one else could help. Please, please help her.
"I can try." She nodded, and Leliana breathed a sigh of relief. "I have a first aid kit in m-"
She was abruptly cut off by loud yelling outside, and she looked up. "By the order of Magister Alexius," A loud, shrill voice yelled through the closed door and brick walls. "And the authority of the Elder One, you are hereby ordered to surrender!"
The short-haired woman chuckled. "Not bloody likely." She murmured, turning to Leliana. "Look, I think we can patch your girl up, but I can't do it while I'm getting shot up. We have to get out of here first."
Leliana nodded emphatically. It was no good trying to protect Mara if they all got slaughtered in here. "Do you have a way out of here?"
She shook her head. "My plan was to throw a stick of dynamite in here, blow them all to hell, and escape through the rafters. My car is over the hills, and there's no way we can get to it with all these people here."
"Damn it." Leliana thrust her head down in frustration. "Our truck broke down ten miles out."
"It will be alright." The soft Welsh accent came from behind her, along with a gentle hand on her back. It was that tattooed woman, who had silently been watching up until now. "We'll take care of her."
"You have ten seconds to come out unarmed!" The voice returned, and they all turned to the door.
The short-haired woman stripped off her leather duster, revealing a ballistic vest and sturdy leather cargo pants underneath, as well as a rifle in a sling around her waist, a pistol holster and a pistol-crossbow in a leather sheath. She tossed the duster to Leliana, and nodded at her. "Tie this around her wound, and get ready to carry her." She instructed, unhooking her FAL from it's sling. "I'll take care of these lot."
As Leliana fulfilled her instructions, the woman ran to the door, placing the rifle's barrel against the wooden surface, and fired blindly. Screams of pain could be heard from outside as the bullets ripped the door to shreds, cutting down the men who had surrounded the front of the building.
"Now!" She screamed, and kicked open the rest of the door. The tattooed woman was right behind her, holding an MP5 submachine gun, and Leliana followed suit, slinging her wife over her shoulder and lofting her revolver back up and into her hand.
"Hang on, my angel." She whispered as she sprinted after the two women. Bullets whizzed around their ears as they dashed into the street, slamming into the dirt under their feet and around their heads. Men were shouting, and more people could be heard.
"Into the fountain!" Hawke shrieked, and vaulted over the concrete barrier before crouching down, pressing her whole body against it for cover, leaving Leliana and that tattooed woman to follow suit.
Bullets were slamming into the concrete fountain, and Leliana's heart was racing as she could hear the surface so close to her head, leaning Mara against it as well.
"We won't make it across the street." The woman's voice was desperate, slamming a new clip of ammo into her rifle. "We'll be ripped to shreds."
"So what?" Leliana cried indignantly, unwilling to just sit still and wait for death to claim them. "We're just going to lay down and let them kill us?"
The woman didn't answer, raising her gun over her head and blindly spraying bullets across the square, obviously hitting some of the bandits judging by the screams of pain. "Like hell we're not." Her voice was hardened and determined. "But this is some damn good cover. If we play our cards right, we might be able to push them back."
Leliana took a deep, shuttering breath. She didn't like the odds, but she didn't have a choice.
Minutes Earlier...
"Sweetheart," Josephine murmured warmly, taking the box of supplies from Cantis' hands, handing it up to her position on the fuel taken, from the ground where he stood. "Is this is the last one?"
He nodded, passing it up to her. "Yeah, this is it." She laid it down beside the rest, and slid down the ladder beside him. "Sorry you have to carry so much."
She giggled. "Amore, you had to carry it all the way across the street. The least I could do was carry it up the ladder."
Cantis smiled, and kissed her sweetly. "Thank you." His smile was warm, and he gave her a tight hug. "Come on, we should get going if we want to be out of here today."
"Alright." She smiled, hugging him back. "Let's ge-"
They were cut off by gunfire in the distance, across the street. Josephine jumped back, and he pushed her away, back towards The War Rig, instinctively pulling his pistol from his belt, pointing it in the direction where it had come from, and a second hand flew to the grip of his rifle, ready to pull that too if need be.
"What was that?" She whispered, and he shook his head just a little as it died down.
"I don't know." He took a step back, towards her, not taking his eyes off the other end of the street. He hadn't lasted this long in the wastes without strong instincts. "I don't know." He motioned with the Glock. "Let's go bef-"
He stopped dead in his tracks. Raiders dressed in leathers wielding weapons, rifles and shotguns, surrounded the sheriff's office where those nice women, Mara and Leliana, had gone off too. That was the origin of the gunfire.
"It's those women we picked up." He breathed, tightening his grip on his pistol. "You think they're in trouble?"
Josephine's mouth went dry. "Those are Tevinter men." He nodded very slowly, not daring to so much as blink away from the scene. "Should we help them?"
"I don't know." The words came slowly, dripping like molasses. "I don't know. We can go now, or we coul-"
Just then, gunfire erupted from the office door, shredding the wood and slaughtering the men that had surrounded the building, and three women surged out, running forward and firing guns at the remaining Tevinter tribesmen, before diving for cover behind the concrete fountain, the only defensive position in the town. One of them was one of the women, Leliana, and she had someone slung over her shoulder.
His blood chilled when he realized it was her wife.
They desperately fired over their cover, barely hitting any of the tribesmen. That fountain was saving them, but it was also binding them: They couldn't fight worth a damn without vision. Much longer of this, and he could see the dozens of men approaching taking them down.
Cantis knew that he should just leave now. He had a life to live, a family to care for. He knew he had to be a hardened survivor to keep what mattered to him. But somewhere deep inside of him, the bells of conscience rang.
"Love?" Josephine asked quietly, touching his shoulder, and he very suddenly made a decision. Holstering his pistol, he pulled his AK-12 off his belt and pulled back the bolt, loading it.
"Get The War Rig started." He ordered, turning to face her. "This goes bad, you drive north and you don't stop." And with that, he turned back and sprinted for the fountain.
Reaching the edge of the barrier, he paused. They were looking for him, and Tevinter tribe warriors were typically too focused and had such limited mental faculties that, even though he was standing right there, he may as well have been invisible to them.
He took a deep breath and breathed out slowly, pulling the trigger. He fired thirty bullets, until the gun clicked empty, and killed twenty-four. They jumped back in surprise at the new combatant, and he took the opportunity to dive for the fountain actual, taking cover. The fountain was much taller than the concrete wall the others were hiding behind, and he could actually stand up unlike them, forced to crouch.
"Cantis!" Leliana cried in joy at having someone, anyone to help them more. "What are you doing here?"
"Saw you were in trouble." He said shortly as he slammed a new clip into his rifle, knowing that at-length explanations would led to them all getting killed. "Listen to me:" He lowered his voice, hopefully so that the warriors couldn't hear them, although he figured they weren't smart enough to be paying attention to what they said. "If we stay here, this fountain's gonna be our grave." With that, he ducked out of cover and fired at the warriors staring them down, jumping back behind the metal cover moments before a bullet whizzed by where he had been.
"Tell me something I don't know!" The short-haired woman shouted, raising her rifle above her head and firing blindly at the line of soldiers, the tattooed woman following in suit with her MP5.
"Alright," He smiled before leaping out again, this time taking down six soldiers before being forced back to cover. "How's this for you: I have a truck that can get us all out of here alive."
The short haired woman looked at him, ducking further behind the chest-high wall. "And how do I know I can trust you?"
He gave an involuntary shrug. "Because you have no choice."
"I trust him." Leliana spoke up, taking a hand off of Mara's chest, releasing the pressure on the wound and hefting her autorevovler. "Cantis, please." She begged, looking him over and meeting his eyes. "We need help. Please."
Cantis nodded. "Don't worry. I've already come down here, I'm not just going to back out now." He jumped out and fired, but was forced back into cover sooner than he would have preferred. They were getting wise to him.
"Ma Vhenan." The tattooed woman said in a Welsh accent, touching a hand onto the short-haired woman's shoulder. "It's the only chance we have."
She took a shaky breath, and nodded. "Alright, alright." She gave a sarcastic smile, although it was tremulous. "I've already trusted strangers once today."
"Listen to me:" He shouted, before jumping out the other side and taking down several of them. They were down to a level he was comfortable with. "You two," He pointed at the tattooed and short-haired women. "Shoot out of cover."
They complied, firing their FAL and MP5's over their heads, cutting down the line even further. Perfect. Meanwhile, he reached into his duster and pulled out the special 60 bullet casket clip he kept there for emergencies. He was going to need it.
"When I yell 'now', you run like hell to your left, and you don't stop till you hit the truck." He shouted, steadying himself for what was coming. Of everyone, he was in the most danger of anyone during this plan.
"Which truck?" The short-haired one asked, firing over her head with the tattooed woman and Leliana.
"The big one!" He shouted.
Leliana turned to the other woman as she grabbed Mara, slinging her over her shoulder. "You'll know it when you see it."
For a moment, the world held it's breath, utterly silent.
And then...
"NOW!"
The women ran as fast as they could, sprinting for the end of the street behind them, and he left out to the right, firing with the massive magazine loaded, suppressing the warriors. All but the most foolhardy hit the dirt, and those who remained were cut down like blades of grass, and the rest were left unable to move or shoot, lest they be killed.
After almost thirty seconds of a non-stop bullet storm, the casket magazine clicked empty. Then he turned and sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him, but it wasn't enough. The warriors began to stand up in recover, and shot at him, a bullet slammed into his shoulder blade, flaring in pain even as he ran. If he stopped, he was dead.
When they reached the end of the road, finding very clearly what truck he was talking about, the short-haired woman turned and aimed down the scope of her FAL, firing to trying and cover him in turn, and Leliana tossed Mara's limb body into the backseat before unhooking her own rifle, firing in to the warriors that began to stand back up and shoot at the group, covering him until he reached the War Rig with them.
"Get in!" He shrieked, motioning to the truck wildly. "Get in!" They needed no further instructions. The women clambered in the back seat, and he jumped in the passenger, turning to Josephine. "DRIVE! DRIVE!"
She slammed her foot into the gas, both engines roaring in power, tires whirling for a moment, and then they shot forward, speeding off from the settlement.
The Tevinter warriors shouted and shot at them, but their small arms couldn't stop something as powerful as the War Rig, and soon they were away. It would take them some time to get vehicles of their own to chase them down and, for now, they were safe.
All of them except Josephine gave a sigh of relief, relaxing in their chairs as their bodies winded down, letting them realize how utterly exhausted they all were.
"Come here," The short-haired woman said, taking Mara's head and setting it on her lap, turning the woman on her back. "Let's get your friend here patched up." She motioned and the tattooed woman handed her a messenger bag she had slung over her shoulder, and pulled a first aid kit out of it.
She pulled the duster off of the Warden, revealing the wound that had stopped bleeding, and pulled up a pair of tweezers. "She's so lucky she's not away." She muttered, and dove it in.
"Thank you for you help." Leliana said to her, knowing that she and Mara would almost certainly be dead by now if these people hadn't intervened. "I owe you so much."
The woman smiled, pulling out the magnum bullet from Mara's chest, and tossing it aside, pulling some canister out of the kit. "Don't mention it." Her voice was very nonchalant even as she performed what amounted to surgery in the back of a truck, and began spraying a thick and foamy liquid of a putrid grey from the canister into her chest wound. "It's what I do."
"What are you putting in there?" Leliana raised an eyebrow. It wasn't that she didn't trust this woman, not after that display earlier, but whatever it was did not look healthy.
She didn't look up. "It's called biofoam. It'll stop infections and it'll help her body heal faster. She should be back on her feet and ready to go when she wakes up."
"Your friend is very lucky she's not away." The tattooed woman chimed in. "That stuff hurts. It feels like tiny ants, crawling on your skin and into your wounds." Leliana grimaced. She was right: Mara was lucky. And she was lucky that they had people who knew what they were doing.
"Thank you." She smiled at the woman, who bandaged Mara up and set her back upright.
"You said that already." There was mirth in her voice, and Leliana smiled just a little wider. It was good to know that the Maker had been watching, having sent these people to protect her and her love.
They rode for several minutes in silence, Cantis glancing out the window occasionally to see if they were being followed, but there was nothing behind them. The warriors had either given up or needed more time to get their vehicles to chase, and he eventually slumped over in his seat, exhausted. He had slept maybe ten hours in the last seventy-five, and he was ready to collapse.
"Amore," Josephine murmured after a moment, reaching a free hand over the console and touching Cantis' hand gently. "You're a good man."
He smiled an exhausted smile, chuckling a little under his breath. "T... thanks Josie." And with that, he turned around a little in his seat to see his passengers, not yet ready to pass out for the night. Leliana had Mara's head buried in her lap, and was gently combing the Warden's hair, while the other two women were sorting equipment. "So," He said, and they looked up. "I believe introductions are in order."
"Ah, yes." The short-haired woman smiled at him. "My name is Hawke. Adrianne Hawke."
The tattooed woman smiled. "And my name is Merrill. I suppose it's Merrill Hawke now, isn't it? I'm still not used to that, since I wasn't always a Hawke, and I-" She cut herself off, and blushed, embarrassed. "Am rambling. Sorry, I do that."
He smiled. "I'm Cantis," He introduced, motioning to Josephine. "And this is Josephine."
Leliana offered a hand to Hawke, who shook it. "I'm Leliana, and this is Mara, my wife."
"Wife?" Hawke smiled bemusedly. "I would have pegged you for sisters." Leliana raised a wary brow at her, cautious of this conversation, considering the opposition they had found to the idea of two women being married, and Hawke chuckled. "Oh, don't worry." She grabbed Merrill's hand, and met the gigantic emerald green eyes. "I don't have any objection to two women being together." Everyone smiled at that.
"So," Leliana said after a moment. "What exactly were you doing in the rafters of the sheriff's office?"
Hawke chuckled. "Well, when you put it that way, I should really weird, don't I?"
Merrill put her hand in Hawke's lap, over her chest. "You're not weird, Ma Vhenan."
"You're sweet as sugar." She smiled, and met Merrill's lips. "But, to answer your question." She chuckled, turning back to Leliana. "I was there to kill those Tevinter people."
"Wait, really?" Cantis raised an eyebrow. That was most certainly convenient. "That's damn good timing."
Hawke chuckled. "Coincidence has always been a friend to me." Her smile faded, just a little. "The two of us don't really have a home anymore, so we just drift, trying to make the world a better place as we go."
They nodded. "That's admirable." He said, turning back to face the road, eyes fluttering shut in exhaustion.
She shrugged. "It just seemed... natural, I guess. One of my friends lived down there, and told me about how those Tevinter bastards took over and started bleeding the town dry. So, we headed down there, when I stumbled into these two." She motioned to Mara and Leliana. "So, what about you lot?"
Cantis shrugged. "We're drifters." He said shortly, and that was the end of it, his tone not leaving any room for questions.
Leliana tried for a more verbose answer after how uncomfortable that felt, feeling like he dodged the question. "We're Wardens." She explained. "Well, I'm not. She is, and I follow her wherever she goes." Hawke nodded. "And recently, every last Warden who goes into this area doesn't report back. We got sent down here to investigate." She sighed. "Looks like we found out. We weren't the first sent to investigate, but it looks like we're the only survivors."
Merrill grimaced. "Like flies sent to the web, they just kept looking for the new Wardens." Leliana shivered at the chilling comparison. "So what are you going to do now that you know? Are you going to go back to the Wardens, tell them what happened?"
Leliana shrugged. "That depends on what she wants." She said simply as she straightened her lover's long black hair. "But I think we should stay."
"Oh?"
She nodded. "If we go, they will just hunt us down when we're not expecting it. If these people are trying to kill my angel, then I say we face them now, while we know what's coming."
"I say we kill this Alexius."