Authors Note: Big thanks to everyone who's followed/favourited, and special thanks to animexchick and InuGuardian1984 for reviewing! Commenting and reviewing helps me update quicker and it's also nice :) Enjoy!
Next chapter we get to Skyhold, and there I will be starting to introduce more of the other companions I promise. Enjoy!
The dragon was about to kill Max, he shut his eyes and prepared for the pain that he knew would follow. But then there was no pain, Max opened his eyes and saw a magical barrier that surrounded himself and the trebuchet, but it also cut him off from helping Evie, who was now alone to face Corypheus and that dragon.
Max couldn't hear what was being said between Corypheus and his sister, but when Corypheus lifted his hand, and Evie started screaming, Max felt sick. His baby sister was being tortured by his enemy. It should be him.
That was about the moment when Max realized that the strange markings were growing again, and Max realized that Corypheus had been torturing her in Redcliffe, and his anger boiled over when he realized that it would have taken hours to make the markings that large.
Max glanced out towards where the signal should be coming from, and he wondered how much longer Evie could hold this, because the moment she couldn't, they were both as good as dead, and so was everyone else.
Evie stopped screaming, and she hunched over, gasping for breath. Max once again got that feeling of nausea as Corypheus lifted up Evelyn, and Max saw the dagger before Evelyn did and he started to shout. "No! NO! Evelyn, Evie!"
But then Max saw the signal, the flaming arrow, and he felt hot tears run down his cheeks as he pulled the leaver, he was then going to run towards Evelyn, because if they were going to die, then they would do it together. But then he watched as the dragon took Evelyn in one of its huge arms an threw her limp body into one of the buildings that were nearby.
Max turned to face the snow and he couldn't help himself, he needed to run, even though he knew it would not save him, and he was quickly swept off his feet by the snow, but he somehow fell into some sort of tunnel. When he landed, his world went momentarily dark, when his eyes opened again, he was dazed, his whole body felt numb, and there were no thoughts in his head other than 'I need to get out of here'.
So he pushed through the tunnel, fighting demons along the way, until he finally found the exit. Now, he was no geography expert, but he could have sworn that this was close to where the others were going to camp for the night before continuing onwards, away from Haven.
So Max pushed on into the cold, hoping to find them, in his mind he imagined that Evie had never come after him, that she was still there waiting for him to return. He had to get there, had to get back to her.
After it had felt like Max had walked forever, he saw lights. It was the camp, he came up on the edge of the hill and as he heard someone yell something, and saw someone come towards him, he finally let himself slip away.
Cullen walked away from the camp, Evelyn's necklace in hand. He found a quiet spot by a tree and he just stood there in shock. He pulled out his sword and started hitting the tree with it, taking big chunks of wood out of it, he felt himself crying. He dropped his sword in the snow and he fell to his knees, his shoulders were shaking, her name was on his lips but he could not bring himself to speak it.
Eve. Memories came flooding back, waking up with her pressed against his chest, her laughing at a terrible joke he told her, holding her while she sobbed.
Cullen's chest clenched, trying not to sob, "Eve." He whispered her name.
"Cullen?" a female voice from behind him asked, and for a cruel moment he imagined it was her, he quickly wiped his face free of his tears and turned around to see Cassandra.
"What is it?" Cullen asked, his voice sounded weak, Cassandra looked at him strangely, "I'm fine, what's happening?"
"Maxwell, he's here, alive." She said, her voice still filled with concern
"What?" Cullen asked in shock.
"The scouts fund him just on the edge of our camp, he seems to be relatively unharmed." Cassandra continued, while still giving him the side eye.
Cullen stood quickly, "Was Evelyn with him?"
"His sister? No, isn't she at camp?" Cassandra replied, confused.
Cullen's mind was racing, if he survived, she could have too, "Was Maxwell awake?"
"No," Cassandra looked at him very strangely, Cullen picked up his sword, and tucked the necklace into his breast pocket, "Cullen, what's going on?"
He didn't answer, and instead walked like a man on a mission towards the healers tent, where he found Dorian gathering potions and herbs.
"Ah, commander, what are you doing here?" Dorian asked.
"I could ask you the same thing." Cullen responded, but after Dorian gave him a look, Cullen said, "I'm going after Eve."
"Excellent, so am I." Dorian said, "I've got all the health potions and poultices she could need. And that strange boy is coming with us too, Cole I think it is."
"Good. Where is he?"
"I'm right here." Cole said, appearing right beside Dorian, Cullen jumped slightly, and Dorian let out a surprised scream, which drew the attention of some of the healers, "Sorry." Cole added.
Together the three of them headed towards the edge of the camp when they were confronted by Cassandra.
"What are you three doing?" She asked, and crossed her arms.
"We're going after someone left behind." Cullen said, "You're in command until I return."
Cassandra looked at them as if they were insane, "I cannot allow this, Cullen, you have responsibilities here."
"No Cassandra, my responsibility was to evacuate the people of Haven, and we left someone behind." Cullen spoke, and he started to walk forward, towards what used to be Haven.
"M'lady." Dorian said to Cassandra as he and Cole walked past her.
Cassandra stared at them incredulously as they walked by, and she went to go tell Leliana and Josephine what the idiot men were up to.
Max woke up to the arguing of Cassandra, Josephine and Leliana. He watched them for a few moments before looking over beside him and seeing Mother Giselle.
"Shh, you need to rest." She told him.
"If they're arguing about what to do next I need to be there." Max said.
"Another heated voice won't help, not even yours, perhaps especially yours." Mother Giselle paused, "Our leaders struggle because of what us survivors witnessed, we saw our defender stand, and fall. And now we have seen him return. The more the enemy is beyond us, the more miraculous your actions appear, the more our trials seem ordained. That is hard to accept, no?"
"Corypheus said he looked upon the throne of the gods and it was empty." Max said, trying to grasp what had actually transpired.
"If he entered that place, it changed without and within. The living are not meant to make that journey. Perhaps these are lies he must tell himself, rather than accept he earned the scorn of the maker."
"I know in my heart that I was meant for this, but that didn't help at Haven." Max said. He was a faithful man, but these have been trying times. "The Maker didn't save me, Evie did, she saved us all."
"Do you not see the Maker's hand in this? Has there ever been a mage in your family lineage?"
"No..."
"The enemy seemed to think that she is very powerful, strong magic runs in blood does it not?"
Max nodded slowly, realizing the truth in Mother Giselle's words, "Thank you, Mother." Max said and stood. He saw Josephine hunched over, crying silently. Saw Leliana trying to comfort her. He saw Cassandra staring at a map-covered table.
"Shadows fall
And hope has fled
Steel your heart
The dawn will come
The night is long
And the path is dark
Look to the sky
For one day soon
The dawn will come"
Mother Giselle began, then Leliana joined.
"The shepherd's lost
And his home is far
Keep to the stars
The dawn will come
The night is long
And the path is dark
Look to the sky
For one day soon
The dawn will come"
More and more people joined in, and soon everyone was singing along.
"Bare your blade
And raise it high
Stand your ground
The dawn will come
The night is long
And the path is dark
Look to the sky
For one day soon
The dawn will come"
Max smiled at Mother Giselle and walked over to his advisers, minus Cullen.
"Where is Cullen?" Max asked.
Cassandra and Leliana shared concerned glances, "He, Dorian and Cole went to find Evelyn."
Max looked down at the mention of his sisters name.
"Will they find anything?" Leliana asked.
Max shook his head, "She protected me and the trebuchet, and he, he killed her to remove the spell. She saved us, she saved us all, but I was the one who was supposed to save her. I was supposed to protect her." Max's eyes swelled, he was desperately trying not to cry, but when Josephine stood and embraced him. He rested his forehead in her ruffled shoulder and began to cry silently. She ran a cool hand through his hair, hoping to comfort her hurting friend.
Cullen was forging the path towards Haven, and Dorian and Cole were following a little behind when Cole started speaking.
"Hurting, longing. He wishes he had held her a little tighter, wishes he had told her he loves her more. Wishes he had been her protector, her guardian. Hates himself for losing her, blames himself for what happened. He sees it differently in his nightmares, sees himself bringing his sword down on her, not real but close, too close. If she's dead then a part of me is too, the best part of me." Cole said.
Dorian stared at him strangely, "What?"
"It's what the commander is thinking." Cole replied.
Dorian looked forwards at the commander in surprise, but made no comment.
By now the sun had set and the temperature dropped, Cullen stopped ahead and Dorian and Cole looked to see why.
It was Haven, or what was left of it, there were a few stone houses left standing, and the Chantry building was still relatively alright.
"Alright, stick together. Cole, how close would you have to be to sense her?" Cullen asked.
"Ten meters, give or take." Cole replied.
Cullen lead them into the village, past each house, up towards the Chantry, and then down towards where the catapult used to be.
"She's dreaming of you. Sunlight, warmth, close." Cole said and Cullen's eyes widened.
He turned to a stone house that was only partially collapsed, he stepped over the stone, watching where he stepped carefully. But then he saw her, right next to the stone wall. Her skin was so pale, contrasting against the blood-soaked snow she was lying in. Her lips were nearly blue, and there was dried blood on her face from where Corypheus had hurt her.
"Maker, Evelyn." Dorian said from behind Cullen.
Cullen turned to Dorian, "What do we do?"
"We need to get her out of this house, out of the snow, then I can asses the wounds." Dorian said, "Pick her up very carefully, we don't know how she's been injured."
"He stabbed her because she shielded the trebuchet and her brother, he tortured her then his dragon threw her away." Cole said, "She was flying, then falling."
Cullen positioned his arms under her and carefully lifted her, she moaned in pain, even in unconsciousness. Cullen cradled her to his body and he carefully walked out of the ruins of the house and he laid her down on the flat snow.
Dorian started to untie her silver breastplate, and then all that she was wearing on her torso was the bright blue tunic that she always wore under her armor. Dorian gently lifted it up so that her stomach was bare, then they could see the stab wound, "Maker's breath." Dorian muttered as he rummaged through the bag he had brought, he put a poultice on the wound and wrapped it tightly.
Then Dorian looked at the marks that the dragon had given, they weren't too bad, so he wrapped them and hoped it was enough. Cullen took out her necklace from his pocket and put it on her.
"She's cold, too cold." Cole said.
Cullen quickly took off his fur cloak (Leliana calls it his shoulder carpet) and he wrapped it around Evelyn.
"Can you carry her back?" Dorian asked.
Cullen nodded firmly and picked her up carefully, and off they marched, back to the camp.
Max was sitting on the side of his makeshift bed thinking about Evelyn, he had barely slept, and it was now almost sunrise. He also had to worry about what to do about commander Cullen, Dorian and Cole, who had gone after his sister who was dead. They could not stay here for much longer, their position was not good, and they needed a place to re-settle, to heal. But could he lose any more people?
He was disrupted from his thoughts when Cassandra burst into his tent, "Herald, come quickly!"
Max followed her quick pace towards the healers tent, they entered and saw Dorian, Solas and Cullen all huddled around one bed.
Dorian noticed him first, "Herald." He said simply, and the others turned to him, giving him a view of who was on the bed.
"Evelyn." He gasped, his feet suddenly frozen.
"Let's give Maxwell some space, yes?" Dorian spoke. He and Solas quickly cleared out, and when Cullen was about to leave Max stopped him.
"Thank you Cullen, you saved my sister and words could never convey how thankful I am."
Cullen didn't verbally respond, but nodded and smiled slightly.
Max walked over to his sister who was covered in blankets, he knelt by her bedside and said a quick prayer to Andraste.
"She's still dreaming of him." Cole spoke, appearing from thin air across from Max, who looked up in surprise.
"Dreaming of who?" Max asked.
"His hair is the sun, his eyes are the sea. He's warm and as long as he's holding her nothing is wrong, nothing can be. No pain, no duty or suffering, just serenity, just him." Cole said then paused, "But there's something darker underneath, something she doesn't want to remember but can't forget. He was there, it was him, he hurt her, hurt her friends. It's not the same, can never be the same, fear, pain... him." Cole said.
But before Max could question Cole on what he had just said, Evelyn started to move and she managed to gasp, "Max?"
"I'm right here Evie, I'm right here. You can rest now, we're safe. Rest." Max told her.
He watched as she took a few more pained breaths before slipping back to sleep, and when Max turned to Cole for answers, Cole had disappeared. Max sighed and looked at his little sister, she was alive. He had doubts about himself being chosen by Andraste, but now he had little doubt about his sister. Maybe she was meant to be the chosen one...
