A/N: I apologize for the long wait between this chapter and the last. Due to life circumstances, and a healthy dose of writer's block, I had some difficulty completing this chapter in a timely manner. Hopefully, I will be able to keep this story updated on a biweekly schedule from this point on. Thank you to my beta brightspot149 for hanging in their with me as I slowly churned this chapter out. Enjoy chapter 5!
Chapter 5
The bark of the tree bit into Rebekah's palm as she leaned forward, her stomach emptying itself. The light breakfast she had eaten earlier that morning splashed onto the dead grass at the base of the tree. Even once her stomach was empty, Rebekah continued to dry heave in between wet coughs.
Her lungs were on fire from the mixture of running and inhaling the crisp air, her legs screamed at her from the amount of strain being placed on them. Cullen had warned her that he wouldn't take it easy on her, and she was finally realizing he had not been jesting.
"Are you alright?" Cullen asked tentatively behind her, perhaps regretting having pushed her so hard.
Rebekah didn't speak, she merely raised one hand and waved him off, wishing that she had a bit of privacy.
Her eyes watered as she gulped in the cold air.
After a few uninterrupted breaths, Rebekah was sure that she would not be sick again. She grabbed the small leather satchel of water from her hip and took a swig, swishing it in her mouth before spitting it onto the dirt.
"How much farther?" She rasped out, turning to look at Cullen over her shoulder, wisps of her brown hair escaping from her ponytail.
"The path back to the village is just down the hill," he replied.
Rebekah nodded and gulped down the lump in her throat.
Rebekah couldn't understand how he was standing there, unfazed by the amount of running he had just forced her to endure. He didn't even seem out-of-breath. If the council wanted her to be fit enough to be on equal footing with the likes of Cullen and Cassandra, Rebekah was sure that she would disappoint them.
She had been breathing heavily minutes into their run through the mountainous hills surrounding Haven. She had requested to stop multiple times due to a stitch in her side. About half way through, she had tripped on a tree branch jutting out of the grown and had earned angry scratches on both of her hands and a rip at the knee of her breeches.
Cullen had not stopped at any of those moments, pushing forward and calling back for her to continue on. He had not stopped until she had leaned against that tree to be sick.
"If this is just the first stage of my training regiment, how am I supposed to make it through the rest of the day?" Rebekah thought to herself, groaning inwardly at the thought of more training.
True to his word, Cullen had come to her hut the night before and had provided a basic schedule for what her training would look like. Every morning she would stretch and run, the length increasing as her stamina grew.
After the run, she would be allowed time to stretch again and rest her muscles before meeting with Solas to continue training with her magic. She would be permitted a brief break for lunch before heading back over to the soldier's encampment to train in combat. They would train her to defend herself against any type of opponent, which included warriors who utilized sword and shield, and those who used two-handed weapons, as well as rogues who favored daggers or archery. They would rotate the type of combatant until she was sufficiently prepared for any potential threat.
And this was just day one.
"Are you ready to keep going?" Cullen asked, his tone soft, where before it had been hard and authoritative. She saw him reach a hand towards her out of the corner of her eye, before rethinking the gesture and replacing his hand at his side.
Rebekah took one last deep breath and nodded, the nausea finally subsiding. "Let's go."
"How well-versed are you in the use of magic in combat?" Solas asked Rebekah, his staff resting gently between the cage of his long fingers.
"I was trained to use my primal magic offensively..." Rebekah began, but her words slowed as Solas began to shake his head.
"That is simply the type of magic you can use in combat. Have you ever been instructed on how to actually engage in combat?" Solas stared at her intently, his grey eyes taking her in as she processed the question.
"I don't believe so?" Rebekah replied, entirely baffled by Solas's question.
"Let me make a few observations clear in hopes of illuminating the type of training I speak of," Solas began, lifting his staff off of the ground in one fluid motion. "In times when I have been able to observe you in combat, I notice that you stay rooted to your position, your staff acting as a focus on where to direct your magical energy. You fire off one spell and pause to observe the field, then run through your arsenal of spells before picking the best option and selecting a target."
"Ok," Rebekah muttered as her mind drifted to the few skirmishes they had been in while on the road.
"This process takes up entirely too much time, and makes you a prime target. When your root is broken," he began, reaching out and pushing lightly on Rebekah's shoulder and knocking her off balance. "You become unable to cast, making you extremely vulnerable."
"But...how else am I supposed to use my magic?" Rebekah asked, confusion, embarrassment, and intrigue heightening her concentration on what Solas was saying.
"In your training with me, you will learn to be more flexible on the battlefield. By learning to keep moving and to adapt while casting spells, you will be less vulnerable to attack. You will also learn to see your staff as an extension of yourself and your magic, rather than a simple focus point for your spells to manifest." As he spoke, Solas whipped his staff around him, balls of energy shooting from the tip of his staff with each swirl and striking the dummy that stood yards away from them.
He didn't even seem to lock his eyes on the target. It was as if he had mentally locked on to the dummy's position and simply willed the magic to that spot.
Rebekah's eyes widened. She had seen mages move like that, but had never been adept at doing so herself. Her strength lay in the pure power of her spells.
Primal magic was a strong magic and required a strong focus to cast. She had always been taught to keep herself grounded and intent on her target. Being flexible and fluid in her movements while casting wasn't something that her instructors had ever taught her.
"Are you ready to begin?" Solas asked her, a small smile gracing his face as he observed the awe and wonder in her eyes.
"Yes," Rebekah replied as she pulled her staff from the holder across her back, her fingers itching at the opportunity to improve her spell casting.
"Excellent," Solas said with a wide grin. "Demonstrate what you know and we'll work from there."
"Adjust your stance!" Solas called out to her from the rock he was perched upon.
Rebekah fought the urge to look over at Solas for direction, her gaze leveled solely on Cullen.
At the beginning of their sparring, she had made the mistake of taking her eyes off of Cullen and was rewarded with a sharp thwack! as his practice sword made contact with her leg.
She widened her stance, bent her knees generously and repositioned her hands further apart on her staff as she had been instructed during her lesson with Solas. This stance was meant to improve her flexibility and adaptability on the battlefield. It would make her less concerned with maintaining her position and more concerned with hitting her target and keeping out of reach of more nimble opponents.
Suddenly, Cullen rushed forward, his shield up and ready to deflect, his sword held fast by his side.
Rebekah summoned her mana, the magic concentrating in a mass in the air in front of her. A blue circle of energy came into existence before her eyes, her magic swirling and taking form before releasing into a dozen balls of pure energy.
The magical barrage soared through the air, coming up behind Cullen and negating his shield. Each little ball made contact one after another. The only hint that her attack had been successful was the quiet grunt that Cullen elicited, but he did not stop charging.
"Keep attacking!" Solas shouted to her.
Rebekah nodded to herself and called on the new knowledge from her earlier lesson with Solas.
"Keep moving, never stop attacking. Don't focus solely on the spells that you can cast, rely on the inherent magical properties of your staff." She rattled off to herself as she began to swing her staff around her.
Similar balls of blue energy shot forth, expending only a small amount of mana for each attack. They weren't as strong as a spell, but they still caused damage and allowed her to keep her spells for when they would truly count.
Some made contact with Cullen's shield, pinging off harmlessly and disappearing. Others shot past the protection of his shield, making contact with his armor. Cullen made no adjustments to his oncoming attack and his expression of intense concentration never changed.
"If I don't move, he's going to barrel right into me," Rebekah thought to herself, trying to quickly decide what course of action to take.
All too soon, Cullen was upon her. Silently, he moved his shield to the side and raised his sword.
Rebekah fought the impulse to run, quickly raising her staff above her head, catching the downward swing of his sword before it made a fatal blow.
Rebekah winced as the sword made impact, the vibration traveling through her staff and up her arms.
Cullen pulled back, moving to make an upward swing to land a blow in her gut.
Rebekah pulled on her magic, a familiar blistering cold settled over her and she became coated in a blue glow. She took a step to the side and allowed her magic to wrap around her. She stepped through the fade and flew away Cullen's oncoming attack. Between one breath and the next, she found herself hidden among the nearby trees.
Cullen straightened, looking around him in an effort to find her.
"Attack or use the trees to escape?" Rebekah thought to herself as Cullen continued to search for her.
Before she could decide, Cullen turned in her direction and began rushing for her again.
Just as he entered the copse of trees, Rebekah called on the same energy and shot across the battlefield once again.
Cullen stopped mid-stride and turned to where she now stood and began stalking towards her once again.
The sparring session continued for what felt like hours. Soon the sun was setting behind the mountain that shielded Haven from the rest of Ferelden and Rebekah and Cullen stood panting across from each other in the clearing.
Rebekah gulped the frigid air down greedily, her eyes fixated on Cullen's raised templar shield. She could feel the sweat as it traced along the planes of her face, the liquid cool against her heated skin. Her mana was almost completely depleted, her entire body ached from the physical training that she'd had earlier in the day, and her arms twinged from the unfamiliar movement of swinging her staff.
Solas now stood a few yards away, watching intently.
As Cullen rose from behind the protection of his shield, Rebekah gathered what little mana she had left and summoned the cruel gasp of winter. A layer of frost began to accumulate on Cullen's armor and shield as the air around him dropped drastically in temperature. She could see that his movements were slightly slowed by the ice as it began to cover him.
Then, with a sudden crack, the ice splintered and blew away from him, his templar abilities nullifying her magic.
"I think that's enough for today," Cullen told her, sheathing his sword and lowering his shield.
Rebekah sagged with relief, her limbs protesting as she let her arms settle at her sides, her staff tilted down towards the ground. "Thank the Maker," she muttered to herself.
"You did well," Solas said as he walked over to stand beside her. He looked at her with an approving smile and she felt a small swell of pride. "But there's still much more experience to be gained."
"Andraste preserve me," Rebekah groaned at the thought of how much training was ahead of her.
Cullen chuckled and Rebekah adjusted her gaze to view him as he walked towards her.
Just like during their run in the morning, Cullen looked completely unfazed. The only signs of their sparring match were the few marks on his cloth wrapping from her lightning attacks and his mussed hair.
"It'll become easier the longer you train," he assured her with a small smile and Rebekah rolled her eyes.
"Easy for you to say, you've been training like this for most of your life," Rebekah replied and Solas tsked.
"Doubt will not help with your training. Trust that you can do it, put all of your effort into it and you will suceed," Solas reasoned with her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I agree," Cullen said with a curt nod. "You may feel like it's a daunting task, but give it time. It's only the first day."
The words of encouragement settled over Rebekah and she bobbed her head in acquiescence. It felt good to receive praise, especially after the conversation in the War room about the recruitment of the rogue Templars and mages. She felt like she was finally moving in the right direction.
Off in the distance Rebekah could hear the ringing of a bell and Cullen lifted his head and looked across the frozen lake towards the soldier encampment.
"Just in time for the dinner bell," he said, and as if on cue Rebekah's stomach rumbled loud enough for both men to hear. They both laughed and Rebekah could feel a blush creeping over her cheeks.
The group walked through the clearing and back to the cleared dirt path that led back to the village. They walked in silence, the only sounds being the crunch of their shoes on the path and the wind whistling through the pine trees.
As they drew nearer to the encampment, the noise of the soldiers began to filter through the trees. The soft glow of torch light took shape ahead of them and soon they were breaching the tree line and stood before row upon row of erected tents. One tent was much longer than the other, and Rebekah assumed that it was the soldiers' dining tent.
The silence hung awkwardly for a moment as they prepared to separate. Cullen's body turned towards the dining tent, his muscles tensing.
"Would...would either of you like to join me for dinner?" He asked hesitantly, looking back at her and Solas.
"I appreciate the gesture, Commander, but I prefer to cook my own meals. I wouldn't want to take food meant for the soldiers. I know the supplies have been scarce," Solas replied congenially.
"Herald?" Cullen asked, and again a blush began to grace her cold cheeks.
"Um..." Rebekah trailed off, unsure whether she should accept or not. She knew that the soldiers had their own supplies for food, which had begun to run low because they had begun to share with the refugees. She hadn't needed to worry about Haven's supplies because she had mostly been on the road and they hunted for their own food. She wasn't sure how it would look if she joined the soldiers for their meal.
"Please, don't feel obligated...," Cullen trailed off, running his gloved hand over the short hairs at the nape of his neck.
"I appreciate the offer, but I wouldn't want to intrude," Rebekah replied, her fidgeting fingers hidden behind her back.
"Herald?" Solas interrupted, Rebekah turned her eyes to meet his and he inclined his head in a farewell. "I will see you tomorrow afternoon to continue your training."
"Yes, of course," Rebekah replied weakly. She brought her hands out from behind her back and clasped them tightly.
"Commander," Solas said with another incline of his head before walking towards the village gates.
"Well?" Cullen asked Rebekah.
"Um... Yes, thank you," she replied, finally reaching a decision. Immediately the knots that had formed in her stomach tightened at the thought of eating amongst so many soldiers.
"You'll be fine," Cullen told her unexpectedly, and she turned to see him glancing at her wringing hands. "We don't bite."
Rebekah couldn't find it in her to laugh at the joke, but a nervous smile began to form as they made their way to the swaying opening of the tent.