The sun had arisen already, judging by the ready visibility in the tent. Elissa didn't hear anyone stirring in the camp so she figured it must still be early morning. Nathaniel was still curled up behind her, his hand splayed possessively across her stomach even in his sleep. She could feel the steady rise and fall of his chest against her back and quiet breathing sounded in her ear. She was sure that if she tried to move her head, she would find that he had her hair pinned beneath him. I'd cut it shorter if I didn't think he would thoroughly object.
As she took in the early morning calm, she became aware that her right hand hurt. She turned it to see the back of her hand and noted the bruises on her knuckles. That's right. I never asked Anders to heal my hand yesterday. She flexed her fingers, testing to see how much damage she had done to herself, and decided that her hand was only bruised. She grimaced thinking of the day before. Fergus shouldn't have said what he did, but I shouldn't have punched him either. I'm certain Mother and Father would not have approved of us fighting. She frowned at her hand, then decided she would let the knuckles heal on their own. She would be fine if she needed to use her weapon and it was a reminder of her own stupidity and lack of control.
"I'm glad I wasn't on the other end of that fist," Nathaniel murmured quietly in her ear. "I'm also glad you weren't angry with me." Elissa stopped her examination and covered his hand with hers. She sighed.
"I shouldn't have hit him," she admitted. "I did none of us any favors."
"You were provoked." She could feel Nathaniel shrug. "I'm just glad he's your brother or we would be visiting you in the castle's dungeons this morning."
Elissa groaned. "Don't remind me." She sighed again. "It's never a good idea to anger the second most powerful man in Ferelden, brother or not. I'm half surprised he didn't send guards after us yesterday." She hesitated. "Should I have told him about the attack? I really thought I was doing the right thing, but maybe I should have said something right after the blight."
He was silent for a good minute. "It was a tough call to make." He sounded thoughtful. "I think no matter what you did, he was going to be upset, and understandably so. I don't know how I would react if something like that happened to you." His hand tightened on her stomach, drawing her closer. "If you had told him earlier, finding out about us might have gone better, but I'm not convinced that it would have helped all that much if he had already known." His voice softened. "I never thanked you, by the way."
"For what?" Elissa had no idea what Nathaniel should be thankful for.
"I was worried that you," Nathaniel took a deep breath, "that you might be ashamed of me. Of us. It's one thing to have made me a Warden and another entirely to let it be known that we're … together." He gave her a gentle squeeze. "I wouldn't have blamed you if you had wanted to keep our relationship a secret. You know it will be hard for us outside of the Wardens."
Elissa nodded. "I know it will be hard. But it's worth it. You're worth it to me." She laced her fingers with his and ignored the twinge of her knuckles. "I will not hide you like you're a dirty little secret. I respect you and you deserve better than that. Besides," and she smiled a little as she continued, "if Eamon could marry an Orlesian woman just after the occupation ended and manage to survive politically, we should be fine when neither of us is overly concerned about political power." She shrugged. "It will get better. I have no doubt of that. And I am more than willing to deal with the idiocy in the meantime. I will have to make up with Fergus though, eventually."
"Eventually," Nathaniel agreed. He moved, stroking her hip and kissing her neck before she felt his warmth leave the bedroll. "I'll go hunt us some breakfast."
They made good time on the road that day, and again the following day, until the shadows started to lengthen as the sun made its way toward the horizon. That's when the woman ran toward them and asked breathlessly for help with the bandit attack.
She was perhaps around Elissa's age, dressed in dirty, torn peasant clothing. Her hair looked like it had originally been in a ponytail, the auburn strands having mostly come free. Her face and hands were filthy, as if mud had been rubbed all over them, and sapphire eyes looked at her in exhaustion and desperation. "Please, they've been attacked! They need help! Come quickly!"
Zevran was suddenly by her side. "Be careful, my dear Warden. This could be a trap."
Elissa tried not to laugh. She barely managed to smother her snicker into an amused snort as she glanced to her companion. "She's doing a much better job than when you tried, if that's the case. Besides, what are the odds?"
Zevran did allow himself the amused chuckle. "This is true. Irony aside, do be careful." He looked ahead calculatingly. "At least there are no large trees close to the road here."
The woman in front of her seemed to be genuinely upset. "Please! I don't think they can hold out much longer!"
Elissa nodded. "All right, Miss. You stay with us since you're unarmed. Zev, Erlina, try to sneak around. Nathaniel and I will cover Oghren and try to pick off any ranged attackers. Anders, do your thing." She started forward.
Zevran and Erlina ran off either side of the road and seemed to disappear. Oghren grunted and started to take off right down the center of the road. Anders asked nobody in particular, "Did I miss something?" as the rest of them took off right behind Oghren.
It was a short distance to the crest of the hill. Oghren got to it first, then just … stopped. Elissa caught up to him just as he asked, "Where do we start?" She looked ahead and gasped. The scene before them was utter chaos.
She saw a minimum of four different groups of people, all fighting. There were several men in templar armor, some men wearing Bann Loren's coat of arms, and a whole lot of people wearing light armor with no insignia at all. Then her eyes widened; Fergus had men here. "Start with whoever is attacking Highever's men!" she called out and lifted her bow.
She watched the battle as much as she could while firing off snipers who were aiming for those wearing the Cousland crest. It seemed that the unarmed men and Bann Loren's men were together, fighting against the Templar and Highever forces. This did not reassure her. Of course Fergus' men are outnumbered. When is it ever a battle in our favor? She snorted to herself.
Nathaniel was picking off the enemy's bowmen with ruthless efficiency. She focused on those men in plain armor who were trying to sneak up on Fergus' forces. Oghren was in full berserker mode, so Anders was keeping him healed. After a few minutes, she spotted Zevran and Erlina. They had caught the gist of the battle and had taken out some of Bann Loren's bowmen and were working their way into the fight.
Wait. I know that fighting style. She realized with a start that one of the unmarked men moved just like Zevran. She took special care in firing at that man. Incapacitate; don't kill. Apparently Zev had seen him too; just as she pinned the man's foot to the ground with a well-placed shot, the elven assassin came up behind the man and knocked him out with the pommel of his dagger. He looked up at Elissa and she nodded. Good work. We'll see what this Crow is up to. She then returned her focus to the battle.
Things did not look good. With the Wardens' arrival, the Highever and Templar forces were bolstered, but the battle had clearly taken too long and they were still greatly outnumbered. Suddenly, the entire battlefield froze in place.
Anders doesn't know how to do that, does he?
Elissa risked a look behind her. Anders shrugged. "It wasn't me. I don't know any paralysis spells." He looked as confused as Elissa felt.
"Then how …?"
"It was me." The dirty peasant, who until now had been largely forgotten, spoke, her eyes downcast. "I don't have much energy left but I was able to muster up enough for that."
"All right then." Elissa turned back to the battlefield. "Let's press our advantage." She started taking out more of the lightly-armored assassins. "Anders, do you have any lyrium potions handy?" She heard a light clink of glass as she and Nathaniel picked off their opponents one by one. "Be ready to do that again if we need it," she told the woman.
"Yes, Ser."
It took a long time for the paralysis spell to weaken. She must have a fair amount of power. When it did, all of Bann Loren's remaining men turned tail and ran, as did most of the unarmed men. A few remained, all of whom were men that Elissa had noted used the Crow style of fighting. They picked off who they could, but a couple of men were particularly difficult. Fortunately, Zev and Erlina were right there at that point, and between them and Oghren they were able to finish off the opposition.
The battlefield was a mess. All of the templars were downed and many of Highever's forces were gone. Elissa told a few of Highever's survivors to go find help, and asked the rest to help guard the injured. They agreed readily. "Quick, look for survivors and heal who you can." Elissa unslung her pack and pulled out a large number of health poultices and then a rope that she tossed to Zevran when he ran up to her. "You've got our guest, Zev?"
"I am on it, my friend." He ran back to the prisoner and started tying him up as the rest of them went through and assessed who was dead versus who was merely wounded. Elissa turned to the newly-discovered mage. "Apostate?" The woman, who still had her head down, nodded. "What's your name?"
The woman raised her head and looked at Elissa. "I … it's Eleanor, Ser. After the late Teyrna."
Of course it is. Doesn't that just figure.