Disclaimer: Bioware owns all, except what I most humbly create. While, at times, I will take verbatim from the game, I mostly use the events of the Dragon Age games, expansions and universe as a loose structure around which to construct my re-imagined tale. If you are looking for a strict canon piece, I have no desire to offend, and so I warn you upfront!
When reading this tale, I hope you can easily imagine it being told by the very best of storytellers in Varric (from DA:2). In my version of events, Varric meets "The Hero" (my Elissa Cousland) in Kirkwall during the time period of DA:2. I mention this only so that readers can understand his connection along the way, and so I don't have to mention and rehash it again and again as I make my way through the tale.
A/N: Wow, longer delay than normal for me there. Apologies! The holidays and life reared their ugly heads. Combine that with the pain in my behind that is the Wending Wood and you get the amount of time it took me to make this work. The chapter is a transitional piece, but I think it works because the dialogue is entertaining. I hope that you all agree because I edited the thing into oblivion trying to get everything set up I needed to without boring you to tears!
"Antivan" Translations:
1. the illustrious ass griffons
2. the tiny filth factory
3. Lady Death
4. Butcher's Son
Thanks to my readers, followers and reviewers! I love hearing from you guys :) Fingers crossed the next chapter goes more smoothly so I can get it up soon. In the meantime...
Happy Reading!
-Frayed One
Chapter Eighteen: Bring On the Woods-Witch
"So how did you manage to end up avoiding…" I gestured toward The Assassin's back end with a smirk as we made our way back from Lowtown with the items The Hero had requested for her current project. "I mean, I can only assume it was you who did the deed."
"Ah, il griffons di asino illustre?" the elf chuckled, sighing as he thought back on it. "Oh yes, I will claim them. I very much enjoyed placing the first two. I had seen that much of my Warden before, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, does it not? And her morose archer... as it happened, he was not so bad himself…" He tossed me a cheeky wink before continuing. "But I digress... I avoided the griffon only because her punishment for me was not a tattoo. Not one for me anyway… rather one I had to give."
"Oh, come now. Sure, Blondie is a bit of a whiny, self-important dick, but he's easy enough on the eyes." I laughed, listening to the responding snort from his direction. "At least most of the women I meet seem to think so."
"The pretty mage, he was fine, as was that lovely morsel Sigrun." Zevran replied, tapping at his chin thoughtfully for a moment before a grimace overtook his face. "No, I was referring to la piccola fabbrica di sporcizia – Oghren. Ech… it required much disinfectant and… shaving…" he cringed at the thought. "I doubt you can even see the thing now, if you'd dare to try. They say the hair grows back thicker…"
"I think I'd have preferred a flogging…" I said, cringing as I thought on The Hero's version of just rewards and reminding myself once again never to test the limits of her patience.
"As would I, my friend." The elf smirked, waggling his eyebrows in a way that insinuated far more about him than I'd ever wanted to know.
Anders sat with Sigrun, Oghren and Nathaniel in the common room, packed and waiting for Elissa and Zevran to join them. The pair had been in Amaranthine with Justice for several days, following up on several leads about the local darkspawn population as well as the price on Elissa's head. They'd also attempted to speak with the late Kristoff's wife in an effort to soothe the increasingly distraught Fade Spirit. Elissa had sent a messenger just ahead of their return instructing them to be packed and ready for at least a week of travel.
The entire trip into the city had been a point of contention with Nathaniel, as he'd insisted on going both as further protection for her and to spend some time with his sister – both of which Elissa had steadfastly denied. He was no less irritable when she returned than he had been when she left, seething at her as she paced around the room divvying out the various parcels she'd acquired on her journey and ending with a thick letter which she flopped to the table in front of him unceremoniously.
"What's this then?" Nathaniel asked, barely glancing at it in his irritation.
"Post from your sister." Elissa responded, flopping her journal down on the table and flipping to the notes she intended to go over before getting them on the road. She was frustrated that his childish behavior continued even after she'd given him ample time to cool down, though she forced herself to offer no outward signs of her rising temper.
"You went to see Delilah?" Nathaniel snipped, eyes narrowed and voice laced with his barely manageable fury. "I asked you to allow me to accompany you to see her and you said no, only to go and see her yourself?"
"I never said I wasn't going to see her." Elissa sighed, worrying with the bridge of her nose in frustration but not looking up to acknowledge him. "It was a short trip with very specific goals that had to be accomplished. I did not need more of you traipsing along to run amok in the city and create more problems, and so I asked you to stay here. When I spoke with Delilah, she asked for me to deliver you a letter as I was headed back this way, and I foolishly agreed to do so. Next time I shall be certain to tell her to stick with couriers."
"You left me here because you're still set on punishing me for having feelings towards you and managing to muster the courage to acknowledge and act on them!" Nathaniel hissed, half smiling when her eyes finally did flicker up to him as her temper flared near her capacity to subdue it.
"I did no such thing. I am your commanding officer. You come and go as you are needed and I simply did not have need of you." Elissa replied, sticking as close to the bounds of her chilly Warden-Commander facade as she could manage with her anger rising. "Now, are we done with this exceptionally childish discussion, or do I need to confine you to your quarters while the rest of us do our jobs?"
"No, Commander. That won't be necessary." Nathaniel spat, folding his arms and letting the topic go for the moment. He knew Elissa well enough to understand that she would absolutely live up to her threat if he pressed her any further.
"Right then. Amaranthine was… essentially a bust." Elissa sighed, glaring at Nathaniel one last time before turning her attention back to the group. "None of our sources have turned up any further information on either this new breed of darkspawn or the recent attempts on my life."
"Attempts? Does that mean there's been another one?" Anders asked, sitting up straighter when the look that passed between Elissa and Zevran answered his question.
"I told you that you needed extra protection!" Nathaniel yelled, banging the table with his fist to turn Elissa's eyes in his direction. "And now your stubborn refusal to move beyond this need to punish me could have easily gotten you killed."
"Things would have gone no differently had you or any of the others come along." Elissa responded, both her stare and her voice neutral though Nathaniel could sense her poorly masked irritation. "They slipped something into my food before it was delivered to my room at the Crown and Lion. Luckily, Zevran was staying with me in anticipation of another attempt and we were able to supply an antidote before any irreparable damage was done."
Nathaniel started to speak again, even more irritated knowing that the handsy assassin was now sharing her bedchamber, but Elissa interrupted him before he could get a word out of his mouth.
"Look. I am being as careful as I can be, alright? I am Warden-Commander of Ferelden. I cannot hide away here in The Keep and play it safe waiting for whatever is going to happen to happen. End of discussion." Elissa sniffed, rubbing the tip of her nose in twitchy fingers as she snapped her journal shut. "Now, head out to the stables and prepare for departure. I'd like to make it at least half way to the Wending Wood before we camp for the night."
"The Wending Wood? That's just merchant paths and old ruins. Why are we needed there?" Nathaniel asked, shouldering his pack and bow as he stood.
"I met with a representative from the Merchant's Guild while I was in the city. I was hoping to improve trade relations and perhaps bring in another couple of suppliers for The Keep." Elissa replied, shuffling the dwarves and Anders ahead of them. "Unfortunately, there is no working with the obstinate men until I figure out who or what is attacking the caravans that pass through the wood… so, hooray! Field trip!"
She sighed in frustration and rubbed her forehead before moving off to leave Justice with instructions as he would be staying behind to help Varel at The Keep.
Elissa pushed them hard, right up until the very last light of day was fading from the sky, before she finally agreed to stop and set camp for the night. As tents were raised and dinner preparation was begun, she divvied out the watch rotation for the evening. Nathaniel was unsurprised to find himself not being paired with Elissa. She had taken first watch with Zevran as had become her routine since The Assassin's return from Antiva.
Shortly after finishing her meal, Elissa headed for the tree line and Nathaniel stood intending to follow before being waylaid by Sigrun.
"Ooh no you don't!" Sigrun sighed, holding fast to his arm though he tugged her along a little bit before she planted her feet to stop him.
"What? I just want to talk to her…" Nathaniel replied, watching Anders slip off into the shadows behind her and frowning as he flopped back down on the ground next to the dwarf.
"Yes, well your version of talking tends to get a bit hands on – and while I certainly wouldn't mind a little slap and tickle, it's obvious that the Commander doesn't care for it." Sigrun answered, listening to the frustrated puff of air as he threaded his fingers up into his dark hair. "Besides, I found something under my bed at The Keep I've been meaning to return. Something tells me it miiiiiight be yours." She dug into her pack for a few moments before pulling a time ravaged little doll out and shoving it in his direction.
"Miss Maggie! I remember her." Nathaniel laughed, taking the dusty old thing into his hands with a smile. "She's not mine though. She belonged to my little sister, Delilah. Miss Maggie was her favorite doll."
"Would you like to tell me why Miss Maggie appears to be missing her arms and legs?" Sigrun asked, raising an accusatory eyebrow at him. "I find it hard to believe that if your sister so cherished it, she'd rip the limbs off and hide them were even I can't find them."
"Delilah and I had a fight. I was angry and I ripped off Maggie's arms and legs and hid them in places where Delilah would find them later." Nathaniel sighed, shaking his head at the memory. "I guess she never did."
"What a sweetheart you were…" Sigrun muttered, the tone of her voice pulling his eyes back over to her semi-chastising glare.
"I have a… temper… Sigrun. If you want me to say I'm sorry, fine, I am… but I cannot change it." Nathaniel replied, laying the doll down beside him and rubbing his hands over his face.
"I like you with a temper. It's part of your charm." Sigrun winked, forcing Nathaniel to clear his throat. "However, you need to find a way to control it before you go pressing on The Commander's buttons again."
"I've tried, but it's not that simple." Nathaniel answered, sincerely frustrated as he thought about how right the dwarf was. "This thing we did in The Fade, this conduit we opened… it makes me more sensitive to her moods and it affects my ability to control my emotions properly. I never had an easy time of that to begin with, especially when it comes to Elissa."
"Then you'd better start learning how to meditate, or finding some sort of release valve for all the pent up stuff you've got going on in there. Preferably one that doesn't involve constantly instigating fights with your long lost love." Sigrun insisted, leaning in to make sure she caught his eye to press her point. "I'm serious, Nate. If you don't change this course you've set, the next time she says it's over – she's likely to mean it."
"What makes you think she didn't mean it this time?" Nathaniel sighed, flopping back against the log behind him in frustration and remembering all the hateful things she said to him, and the venom filled stream of emotions she'd allowed for him to feel as she left the barracks days before.
"Well, for starters, you're still here. If she was really done with you, she'd probably have shipped you off to Weisshaupt by now. At the moment, you aren't doing anything the rest of us couldn't be trained to do if necessary." Sigrun answered, drawing a grimace in response as Nathaniel once again acknowledged she was right. "Also, she brought that letter back from your sister, and she didn't have to. You know better than anyone how hesitant she was to even speak with her again. Did you think she went there for her own well being?"
"You think she went to see Delilah on my behalf?" Nathaniel asked, confused.
"You do know why they went into Amaranthine?" Sigrun asked, watching his eyes flick to hers in question.
"I thought they were checking for any new information on our current concerns… and Elissa said something about meeting with the Merchant's Guild…" Nathaniel replied, certain he'd once again missed something in his temper that everyone else had been privy to.
"That was part of it, maybe. But she went there for Justice… to speak with Kristoff's wife again. He asked her for privacy so she only took Zevran along, with his approval, for protection." Sigrun explained, watching his face fall and his eyes press shut as he realized how bad he'd managed to mangle things once again. "If I had to guess, I'd say she went to see your sister because she couldn't let you, and she felt guilty for that."
"I am an idiot…" Nathaniel groaned, shaking his head and wishing he could move away from this place where every step he took seemed to take him further in the wrong direction.
"Yes, you are." Sigrun replied, shrugging at him when he looked up at her through narrowed eyes. "Hey, you're still my sexy rexy but when you screw the pooch… you screw it."
Silence. Blissful, peaceful, silence. It was the one thing Elissa wanted, and the one thing she could never seem to find. If it wasn't the actual voices of people talking at her, then it was the chatter of the darkspawn in her head or the pulsing transmission of whatever emotion happened to be coursing through Nathaniel at the moment. She was never truly alone, even within the confines of her own mind.
It was for that reason she'd asked Zevran to put her in touch with one of his more questionable contacts in Amaranthine. The kind of man who can find things that aren't meant to be found. Things like the little rust colored vial she now held in her hand. It seemed such a small thing to be such a big taboo.
Elissa could easily remember a time when she'd sat in her secluded little bubble in Highever and lectured Fergus on the evils of overindulgence in alcohol after finding him passed out over an empty barrel in the larder one morning. Now, she was likely drink him right under the table. It seemed that the boundaries of what was acceptable and what remained off limits for her became fuzzier and harder to define with each passing day.
She'd indulged in recreational drugs in the past, but never with regularity and never anything like what she now held pinched gingerly between her thumb and forefinger. No, that paper rolled herb she'd shared with Zevran out on the ramparts of Soldier's Peak was a horse of an entirely different color. That had made her giggly and given her a strange craving for peanut butter treats. This, if it worked, would give her the silence she so desperately desired – and, if she was exceptionally lucky, shut down the conduit between herself and Nathaniel entirely, unless she made an active decision to use it.
"Of course, with my luck, he'll probably just feel that it's working and come to lecture me... again…" Elissa muttered to the night sky as she plopped back in the soft grass intent on giving her new acquisition a try.
"You know, they say talking to yourself out loud is the first sign of true madness." Anders smirked, moving into the clearing and watching her tuck something inside her sleeve before sitting up to frown at him.
"I've told you I was mad from the beginning, Anders." Elissa snorted, flopping back on the grass with a sigh when it became apparent he wasn't going to go away. "If it's taken you this long to believe me, then you haven't been paying attention. Now, what do you want?"
"I was hoping we could talk…" he replied, sounding as sheepish as he looked and even more uncomfortable in the face of a temper that rarely flared in his direction.
"If you want to talk, that's fine, but I'm not getting up." she retorted, folding her fingers together across her stomach. "I've got thirty minutes 'til I'm to meet Zevran for watch, and I intend to spend every second of it lazing about in the grass and gazing up at the stars."
He lay down in the grass beside her, allowing himself to simply see what she was seeing for a moment and thinking that it really was beautiful. She was beautiful, as was this new life she had given him… for the most part, and he had very nearly managed to muck that all up to play a silly joke in retaliation for what had mostly been The Archer's snide commentary.
"I just wanted to say again, how sorry I am about… the whole barracks incident." Anders muttered, fumbling with his sleeves as he tried to calm his nerves.
No one knew exactly what had happened in the room, but when they'd emerged both Elissa and Nathaniel had been enraged and Zevran had revealed to himself and Sigrun later that they'd both smelled distinctly of sex. If you added that to the noises Anders overheard when he'd gone by the room to ensure they weren't murdering one another, certain assumptions could be made. Though, Anders had never known anyone to walk away from a good tumble angrier than they'd gone in.
"So you've said." Elissa replied, a quick sigh letting him know she'd really rather not be discussing this again. "And now you have a griffon tattooed on your ass to remind you just how sorry you are."
"Indeed I do… though I'm not sure if that was more punishment for me or for Zevran." he chuckled, watching her lips curve up in a smile in spite of her efforts to suppress it.
"Oh, I'd imagine tattooing your ass was no punishment for Zevran, my pretty little mage." she smirked, tossing him a little wink.
"Always with the flirting…" Anders huffed, swatting her lightly on the arm though he was in no way offended. "Honestly though, Elissa. We only thought you'd be forced to talk. Work some things out, maybe. The constant bickering between you two had set us all on edge. We didn't know you'd end up… well, whatever it is you ended up doing that had Nathaniel smashing any furniture he could lift after you'd left."
"If you were so concerned, couldn't you just talk to me? I thought we were friends, at least… I thought this bond we've developed meant something to you." Elissa sighed, pushing up on her elbows to look at him. "Besides, you can't fix things between Nathaniel and I, not by locking us in a room or any other bright ideas you lot might have up your sleeves. I'm not even certain we can fix it anymore… And I'm tired, Anders. So, so tired of going through this alone and having no one to come to who will talk me back down from the ledge when I'm ready to jump."
"Your friendship means more to me than I can say, Elissa." Anders insisted, pushing himself up and taking her hand in his own – threading their fingers together and squeezing. "More than it should in all likelihood… but that's... I am always here for you, whenever and however you need me. I apologize for making you feel otherwise."
"Thank you." she said, smiling as she flopped back down though she didn't let go of his hand. "I can't tell you how much I needed to hear that. You were the only think keeping me sane here. I'd probably still be locked in my room stinky-mad and drunk without you."
Anders squeezed her hand, starting to say more before they were interrupted by someone else moving through the underbrush into their clearing.
"Am I interrupting something?" Nathaniel asked, eyes holding on their intertwined fingers for a moment before he leveled a half-concealed glare in the mage's direction.
"Other than my peace of mind? No." Elissa sighed, covering her face with her hands and considering downing the entire vial of liquid in her sleeve for a moment, regardless of the consequences.
"Then may we speak for a moment?" Nathaniel continued, holding her eyes briefly before looking pointedly at Anders. "Privately."
"Go on." Elissa said, patting Anders' hand when he hesitated. "Neither of us are properly armed, so if we try to kill each other I suspect you'll hear it before any real damage is done."
Anders nodded, squeezing her hand before he stood and shared a lengthy glare with Nathaniel on his way back to the camp. Elissa made no move to acknowledge that Nathaniel still stood there after Anders had gone, forcing him to come and lie in the grass next to her, leaning up on an elbow and pulling up several blades of grass to quiet his nerves.
"I am… sorry for yelling at you about Delilah's letter." Nathaniel began, listening to her chuckle dryly beside him though the laughter did not touch her eyes. "I was unaware that you had gone into the city at Justice's request. I believed you had excluded me because of what happened in…"
"Have you noticed how you always seem willing to believe the worst of me, Nathaniel. Ever since you turned up in that damn cell it's just been one thing after another." Elissa said, leaning up on her elbows to look at him. "If I'm so awful. If I'm all these things you're constantly accusing me of being, then how is it that you can still be so in love with me?"
"Love sees beyond flaws, Elissa." he sighed, scratching at the tiny patch of hair beneath his lip with his thumb thoughtfully. "I do not love you in spite of your flaws, I love you because of them… Because every little idiosyncrasy makes you who you are. You drive me absolutely insane at times, but I adore you nonetheless. Even if you do hate me as a result of it."
"I don't hate you. Not that I haven't tried… a lot…" she admitted, holding his eyes for a moment before the usual intensity his naked gaze made her look away. "I don't like you very much these days, and that makes me exceptionally sad because I do miss you. I miss the friendship we once had, the one you showed me a glimpse of that night in my study before you decided to have a go at me in front of Alistair."
"I miss it too, and I promise that I'll…" Nathaniel said, reaching over to grasp her hand.
"Try harder… yes, I know. You say that every time… and then we end up back here all over again." Elissa responded, sitting up and threading her other hand into her hair. "I want to believe this time will be different… I want to… Maker, I care for you, Nathaniel…" she looked up at him then, and he could read the conflicting emotions filtering across her green eyes like storm clouds. "I don't understand why… Why can't that be enough for you?"
"Let me try again, Elissa… please." he said, reaching up to take her face in his hand but making no move to otherwise invade her space when he saw her flinch against the contact. "We owe it to one another, to what we once had – to really try again. You said that you could have loved me again if I hadn't pushed you… Then let me try to lead us back there. Maybe we don't find it. Maybe we find something new... but let me try."
"How is it that I can I never say no to you?" Elissa whispered, something lingering there in her eyes that made his heart pause for a moment. "Even when we were children you'd snap your fingers and I'd just... Maker, this is madness... you are madness."
"Is that a yes?" Nathaniel asked, watching as she slowly turned her face and pressed a kiss into his palm before extracting herself and standing.
"Yes." she replied, holding his eyes steadily. "I only ask that you respect my boundaries. We are friends, Nathaniel – and I am engaged to Alistair."
"The next time the boundaries of our friendship are crossed, it will be because you cross them or you ask for me to." he said, smiling innocently at her as any number of scenarios started to play out in the more devious parts of his mind.
She inspected him for a moment longer, ultimately satisfied with the genuineness of what she saw, before heading off to find The Assassin.
I haven't lost yet, Your Majesty. Nathaniel thought, dusting himself off and feeling the best he'd felt in a long time.
Elissa had Nathaniel aid her in tethering the horses off before they entered the heart of the wood, knowing that if they had any hope of catching whomever was responsible for the attacks red-handed that they would need a great deal more stealth than the clatter of horse hooves would provide.
She sent Zevran ahead to scout, moving the rest of them through the landscape as silently as possible some distance behind.
"There is a large group of bandits just round the bend." Zevran explained when he materialized from the shadows a short time later. "I could make out several overturned merchant carts as well, but the men seemed too wary to be troubled with looting them at the moment."
"What sort of bandit is too worried to loot?" Anders asked, snorting in laughter.
"The sort that've seen something they probably weren't meant to…" Elissa replied, loosing her blades and creeping closer to the bend to take a look of her own.
Just as Zevran had said, the men appeared to be milling about watching the tree line and surrounding hills rather than taking what they could from the carts and moving off to claim their next unlucky victim.
The merchants themselves were long dead. Elissa could make out their bloody charred corpses among the ruined remains of their supply carts just ahead.
"I'm no master thief, but it seems counterproductive to burn what you intend to steal, don't you think?" Sigrun quipped, watching as several of the bandits tried unsuccessfully to pull several bolts of silk out of the fire.
"Perhaps they are just very stupid thieves." Anders shrugged, eliciting a roll of the eyes from Elissa.
"Or perhaps something else is going on here…" Elissa replied, setting the group into motion. "Either way we aren't going to figure anything out lurking in the bush and muttering about it."
As soon as they caught sight of the Wardens, several of the bandits took off running, disappearing into the distance before they could be stopped. The remainder of the men launched the best defense against them they could manage coming off the disadvantage of surprise. It didn't take long to thin them out until only one remained, and he refused to talk, deciding instead to spit on Elissa's boots and earn himself a quick nick from Zevran's poisoned blade.
"Ugh… I do so hate being spat on." Elissa grumbled, rubbing the toe of her boot in the dirt and kicking the dying bandit in the stomach before moving over to inspect the cart.
"I've found no sign of explosives here." Nathaniel said, kicking through the dirt at the far edge one more time just in case he'd missed something and trying not to let his bother him that Elissa had just allowed her temper to motivate her to kick a dying man. "There is far too much damage to the actual carts for it to have been a simple fire that did this."
"What about elemental grenades or lyrium incendiaries like the nonsense Dworkin the Mad comes up with?" Elissa asked, turning her gaze to Zevran who was well versed in such things and had spent some time speaking with the dwarf since his arrival.
"Such compositions could certainly cause such damage, but they would leave remnants of themselves behind in the process." Zevran said, shaking his head and agreeing with Nathaniel's assessment. "Whatever did this was not man-made, my Warden."
"Anders? Anything in your arsenal that could wreak this sort of havoc?" Elissa questioned, consulting the only other source she had available at the moment.
"A giant fireball would do it, as would properly applied electrical jolts." Anders explained, leaning a bit closer to the wreckage and gleaning what he could from the lingering magic. "I'd put my coin on a mage being responsible for this, an elementalist most likely."
"By the Stone, there was ale in here!" Oghren grumbled, staring angrily at the remnants of a large keg. "Skirt wearin' freaks lightin' up perfectly good alcohol…"
"There, there, Oggie. I'm sure it was over so fast the keg didn't feel a thing." Elissa cooed, patting his shoulder with a smile. "It is quite odd a mage would attack merchant caravans… bandits don't typically truck with mages. Mercenaries tend to be idiots with blades in my experience."
"If you add what Zevran observed to what we saw of their behavior, I'd say these bandits aren't with the mage at all." Nathaniel said, and Elissa watched the elf's subtle nod support his assessment. "This may have started out as simple smash and grab – but whatever is happening now is entirely different. I think we should consider the possibility that you've been lured here."
"You think this is to do with the price on my head?" Elissa asked, raising an eyebrow and tapping at her chin as she considered the idea. "Perhaps… interrupting trade in the Arling would be sure to get my attention, however, I've never seen a mage assassin. Have you?"
"No, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Like you said, they're taking on anyone who will accept the bounty. That leaves us with a virtually limitless pool on who could be coming after you." Nathaniel replied, pacing over to her shoulder and eying the tree line again – watching as Zevran did the same.
"I suppose it's possible… but I think it's unlikely." Elissa shrugged, moving further down the one path opened to them now that the main road had been blocked by flaming cart debris.
"What's so unlikely about a mage as an assassin?" Anders grumbled, falling in beside her. "I'd wager I know quite a few tricks you'd be defenseless in the face of."
"Somebody's got their knickers in a twist…" Elissa smirked, reaching over to squeeze his cheeks affectionately. "But really, I wasn't questioning the skill set – it's more the lack of stealth. You lot are hardly subtle." She looked over to him long enough to see him nod in agreement before continuing. "Also, I found a half burned parchment over there that appeared to have been orders deploying a small garrison of soldiers to clear the Dalish from this area."
"You think the Dalish did this?" Nathaniel asked, continuing to eye the surrounding area suspiciously.
"If a group of soldiers came here attempting to oust one of the Dalish camps, then it wouldn't have gone well I can tell you that. Alistair and I have made some progress since The Blight with the larger groups, but there are smaller segments of the Dalish population that remain very resistant to change, even if it promises to be change for the better." Elissa sighed, continuing along the path through what remained of the soldier's encampment. "The Dalish Keepers are phenomenally powerful apostates who would easily be capable of destroying merchant carts in that fashion, this I can tell you from quite a bit of firsthand experience." she explained, stopping to inspect a body that had been pinned to the ground with a large bloody spike. "However, this is not the work of the Dalish… though I have seen it before."
"Where?" Anders asked, cringing slightly as he inspected the man and noted he had likely been alive when pinned there.
"Ostagar, Denerim… most recently Vigil's Keep." Elissa explained, standing up and searching the boundaries of her perception for any trace of them. "This little demonstration is the work of darkspawn."
"I can't sense anything." Nathaniel said, drawing a small smile out of her that sent a tingle up his spine.
"It's distant, but it's there." Elissa replied, patting his arm in approval. "Keep trying though. These new ones are hard to pin down, but you'll get it eventually."
"What could darkspawn hope to accomplish by attacking merchant caravans?" Anders asked, brow furrowing in confusion. "Are they low on supplies and confused about the process of haggling?"
"I doubt it… I doubt they even attacked the caravans unless it was incidental damage." Elissa replied, chuckling softly at his joke and earning a smile in reply. "Most likely what we're witnessing is simply the result of a perfect storm."
"Meaning the soldiers attacked the Dalish, the Dalish retaliated by attacking the caravans and the darkspawn, what, took advantage of the situation?" Nathaniel asked, falling in beside her as she moved them further along the path.
"And the bandits, being the opportunistic bastards that they are, decided to see what was loot-able in the aftermath." Elissa nodded, winding carefully along the debris littered trail. "Of course, it could be any number of combinations that resulted in what we're seeing. It's odd to think on it, but I suppose the darkspawn could have attacked one of the factions to start this."
"You think the darkspawn could be responsible?" Anders inquired, even more unsettled by that thought than he had been any of the previous suggestions.
"There was a time not too long ago when I would have considered that a ridiculous notion… however, these spawn are smart." Elissa noted, beginning to slow her strides as she recognized some tracks leading off the path into the grassy hillside beyond. "Whether it is being bred into them somehow or they are receiving instruction from something other than an Archdemon, I still couldn't say. But they plan and they plot and they react in ways that are outside of my experience. That much is certain."
"Ah, you have seen them too, my Warden." Zevran smirked, tossing Elissa a wink as he sidled up beside her and watched her motion the others to a stop behind them.
"What? What are we seeing?" Anders whispered, looking in the direction they'd been staring but seeing nothing aside from dirt and patchy grasses.
"The tracks are hardly noticeable, unless you've seen them before." Elissa said, trying to be encouraging when Nathaniel seemed concerned that his own tracking skills had not picked up whatever they were seeing. "Fortunately for you lot, Zev and I have seen these before… though I have to say I thought never to see them again outside of the Brecillian Forest."
"Not more werewolves!" Anders complained, slinking back behind Oghren and his giant axe as he remembered how they'd found him to be particularly interesting back in the Blackmarsh.
"Not this time, no…" Elissa said, reaching for his arm and nodding at him encouragingly before she drew him forward just far enough to make out where she pointed right at the crest of the hill.
"I see a smoldering tree. Is there something in it?" Anders huffed, annoyed to have some of his more lacking qualities put on display to the group once again.
"It is the tree. They're called Sylvans. You tend to find them in very old forest groves, like the Brecillian and apparently the Wending Wood." Elissa explained, feeling the others who had not experienced the creatures before moving in for a closer look. "From what Lanaya led me to believe, some of the more powerful Keepers can both summon and control them – to a certain extent."
"Are they dangerous?" Sigrun asked, straining up on her toes to see better. "I mean, they're rooted into the ground… how scary can they be?"
"They can quite dangerous, yes. Though I spoke, once, with one of the Elders who was…" Elissa began, before Zevran interrupted.
"Left to ache, and break and mourn – while we searched for his acorn?" Zevran rattled off, sending Elissa and Oghren into peals of laughter.
"Ugh… that was horrible…" Anders noted, sharing a distinctly confused look with Nathaniel and Sigrun.
"The tree it… it spoke in… Oh, never mind. You had to be there." Elissa explained, wiping at her eyes as the moment passed and refocusing them to their task. "As these Sylvans seem to have been set afire at some point, I'm going to assume them to be hostile or at the very least distinctly pissed off. It's unfortunate. These creatures are rare and very old, but we'll need to kill them as there's no other way around."
"And how does one go about killing a tree? I mean short of depriving it of water… which, would take a very long time." Anders quipped, raising an eyebrow at her.
"In the Brecillian Forest we mostly had Morrigan light them up while the rest of us hacked away until they lacked the capacity to continue. However, as these are already burning and don't seem to be much worse for the wear…" Elissa remembered, sharing a look with Zevran and Oghren in search of alternatives. "Oh! I've got an idea. What about that lovely freezy trick you did with the Hurlocks back when we first met?"
"You remember our first date, dear lady… I am all a tingle!" Anders winked, garnering a quick swat that refocused him.
"Oghren, a lot of this is going to fall on us as we've the heaviest blades." Elissa explained, pulling her swords loose again. "We've got a few minutes once they're frozen. If it works, we should be able to smash them to bits with a properly placed strike."
She waited for Anders to signal he was ready, charging up the hill and drawing the two Sylvans down on them in a cluster so that it would be easier for the mage to freeze them in one go. Once they were iced, Oghren shattered one of them easily with his massive axe leaving Elissa to finish off the other with her blades.
"You learn something new every day." Nathaniel shrugged, shouldering his bow for the moment and giving a respectful nod to Anders who popped off up the hill in his excitement.
"There are more carts ahead. They've blocked off all the paths but one and it leads off over that bridge ahead." Anders noted when the rest of the company moved in behind him.
"How convenient we must enter a choke point in order to move forward." Nathaniel groused, eying the high cliff walls surrounding the narrow swath of road that was their way forward. "I do not like this, Elissa. I do not like it at all."
"I find it difficult to argue with his assessment, my Warden." Zevran added, his eyes cautiously studying the landscape around them for alternative options. "Were I plotting to do you harm, I would find that position a particularly delightful one from which to launch my assault."
"If you were plotting to do me harm you'd send some skanky blonde waif out to beg for my assistance then try to drop a tree on me." Elissa chuckled, ignoring his muttered Antivan curses and sticking out her tongue at him as he walked away. "Besides, regardless what either of you think, that bridge is the only way forward – and forward we must go."
Elissa darted ahead after that, forcing the others to follow along whether they agreed with her decision or not, but she stopped half way across the bridge as a harried looking man came tearing down the path in their direction.
"Out of my way!" he yelled, attempting to muscle his way by Elissa before Nathaniel waylaid him with a quick flex of his arm. The man struggled against his grip for a moment before realizing he'd never get out. "I need to get out of here. You need to get out of here!"
"No… what you need to do is start talking." Elissa insisted, smiling sweetly at him as she leaned closer. "Why have you been attacking my caravans?"
"Your caravans? And who are you supposed to be?" the man retorted, sniffing arrogantly at her though he was still twitchy and constantly looking over his shoulder up the path from whence he came.
"I am the Commander of the Grey, and sadly, by default, also Arlessa of Amaranthine." Elissa replied, reaching up to tap his cheek with a short sharp smack. "Now, if you want me to have my friend here release you so that you can continue to run from whatever it is you've managed to piss off back there, I'd suggest you get to talking."
"Commander of the bloody Grey… of all the…" the man muttered, eyes even more fearful than they'd already been. "Look. We heard about the caravan attacks but it wasn't us, I swear! We just thought there'd be valuables left behind, but then…"
Elissa heard a rumbling and then a spray of falling rock from the cliff above, flicking her eyes up to catch the figure of an elf emerging from a pod of root clusters similar to the cages that the Sylvans would sometimes throw out in their defense.
"Andraste have mercy… it's her…" the man whimpered, bucking against Nathaniel's grip harder until Elissa signaled his release, then tearing off away from them.
"You are too well armed to be more scavengers come to prey on the misfortune of others…" the blonde noted, glaring down at them through narrowed eyes. "I'll assume you've come for me then."
"I'm afraid I've no idea who you are." Elissa said, bringing a hand up to shield her eyes so she could get a better look at the woman. "Though, based on what you're… wearing… I'm half tempted to ask if you know my friend Morrigan."
"Do you think that you are funny, shem?" the elf retorted, anger renewed as she felt insulted by Elissa's assessment of her attire. "We shall see how long your laughter continues if you do not turn back now. I have not allowed your soldiers to drive me out of this forest, nor the darkspawn. You will fare no better."
"The soldiers that tracked you were not mine, at least they were no one sent on my orders." Elissa explained, attempting to soothe the damage her thoughtless quip had done – she'd forgotten just how testy the Dalish could be. "We are Grey Wardens."
"You are here to battle the darkspawn then?" the elf replied, posture easing slightly. "Very well then. Go deal with them and stay out of my way. Consider this your warning."
"Wait!" Elissa called out, dashing forward slightly when she saw the woman beginning to cast what she could only assume to be that root spell she used to travel. "Have you been attacking the caravans?"
"What interest do Grey Wardens have in traveling merchants?" the elf said, sauntering closer to the edge and renewing her suspicious glare.
"The supplies these caravans carry were en route to my Arling, thus, they are my responsibility." Elissa explained, watching the woman's face shift back into anger.
"Then you should consider it to also be your responsibility to relay to your caravans that the attacks will continue until they've returned my sister!" the elf hissed, her eyes venomous and spiteful.
"Your sister?" Elissa asked, genuinely confused.
"I'm done talking, shem." The elf retorted, starting to cast again. "I hold no ill will toward the Wardens, but I will not hesitate to kill you should you interfere with my quest to reclaim my blood." Then, just as quickly as she'd appeared, she was gone.
"Well, she was… unpleasant… though appealing in her nakedness." Anders noted, garnering a frustrated look from Elissa as she passed an annoyed glare across all of the sheepish looking men in her party.
"And suddenly I wish I traveled with more women…" Elissa muttered, worrying with her forehead as she tried to process this newest bit of information.
"Ah, but my lovely Warden, then who would come to your rescue when you are in need of aid?" Zevran smirked, lounging against her side in an attempt to diffuse her.
"At the moment, Sigrun." Elissa retorted, shaking him off and sharing an appreciative nod with the perky dwarf. "You lot were too distracted by boobies."
"Heh… boobies…" Oghren muttered, stroking his beard appreciatively and drawing a chuckle out of Anders until Elissa glared him into silence.
"You need to get laid…" Elissa said, moving away from them and up the path in her frustration with an equally un-amused Sigrun beside her. "All of you."
"Is that an offer, dear heart?" Zevran quipped, chuckling when she flipped an exceptionally rude gesture back in his direction. "Grr... you know I love it when you play hard to get…"
He jogged off after her setting the remaining three in motion behind him.
"I don't know why she's mad." Anders quipped, keeping his voice a low whisper so that only Oghren and Nathaniel could hear. "Even all covered up, her breasts are much nicer."
Oghren readily shared in the laughter, and even Nathaniel chuckled, tossing an appreciative glance in Elissa's direction.
"Like teh see yeh tell 'er that!" Oghren snorted, taking a pull from his flask.
"I fancy all my bits attached, thank you very much." Anders replied, listening to Nathaniel's actual laughter erupt beside him, and sharing one of the few companionable smiles the pair would ever share.
They pressed on for some time, fighting off occasional pockets of Sylvans or bandits as they moved deeper into the forest. Around them, ancient ruins started to dot the landscape much the same as Elissa had seen in the Korcari Wilds and then again in the Brecillian Forest. Some time after that, the strange sculptural pieces that Anders had dubbed "darkspawn décor" back in the Knotwood Hills started to weave in around the path ways.
"I think I can sense them." Anders said, stifling a gag as they rounded a corner in the long gorge they'd entered a few miles back.
"Give the nausea a moment to pass, then focus." Elissa said, signaling the others to give them some room. Sigrun was already well on her way to tracking them properly after working with Nathaniel, and she doubted Oghren would ever be focused enough to even try, so Anders was her last pupil for the moment. "Just breathe and take your time. You can do this."
"There are eight… no, ten maybe?" Anders started, closing his eyes and breathing slowly – trying to will himself not to be sick and focus in on the warmth of Elissa's hand through her glove where it sat on his arm and the comfort that it gave him. "It's hard to be sure. Some of them are stronger."
"One is an Alpha and one is an Emissary." Elissa explained, smiling at him when he opened his eyes and watching his own face mimic her expression. "The Emissaries should be particularly easy for you to pick out as you can sense their magic. But you're learning… it will come easier in time. And… you didn't puke."
Anders had been right with his count, and with Elissa's added information about the presence of the stronger darkspawn among the small swarm, it was not hard for the company to make quick work of them.
"This is an outpost of some sort." Nathaniel said, looking over the well worn ground as he retrieved any salvageable arrows. "There is far too much foot traffic here for us to have simply stumbled upon a hunting party."
"I agree." Elissa replied, pressing forward out of the ravine and up a nearby hill. "Though I've yet to see a reason for them to establish any sort of presence here."
"Didn't you say they originally surfaced in the Korcari Wilds during The Blight?" Nathaniel continued, moving in beside her and watching her search her periphery for more darkspawn presence.
"They did, but that was a rupture in the Deep Roads to allow The Horde access to the surface. I've seen no evidence of that here… which makes their presence even more unusual." Elissa replied, brow furrowed in concentration as she began to sense something. "Shrieks!"
With her cry, everyone shielded their ears long enough to miss the stunning shout of the creatures' initial appearance and shifted into a defensive formation as best they could on the narrow incline.
The half-dozen spawn circled with a purpose, lashing out at the others but treating Elissa as though they had some intention of taking her without doing more harm than necessary. Elissa seemed not to notice, simply taking advantage of their lackadaisical attitude and using it to kill them more efficiently.
When the last had fallen, Nathaniel lagged back to catch the attention of The Assassin – the one man he was certain had witnessed the same subtle aspects of their behavior.
"They are culling her." Nathaniel muttered, pitching his voice low enough that only the elf's ears would hear him.
"I knew that you would see it as well, my friend." Zevran replied, his usual good humor only half evident in light of the discussion. "The previous group seemed hesitant to do her true harm as well, but I wanted to watch a bit longer to be certain before I mentioned anything."
"I saw something in the tunnels beneath Vigil's Keep before you joined us. Elissa was… acting irrationally and attempted to taunt an ogre into killing her." Nathaniel began, knowing this man was not yet his friend but willing to risk his trust to protect a woman for whom he knew they both cared. "When I found them the ogre was just standing there staring at her. I swear if I hadn't walked up… it looked like it was reaching out to touch her face with… affection."
"Now is not the time…" Zevran warned, catching the curious flicker of Elissa's eyes across their conversation. "But there are… things that you and I must speak of in light of this new information. I warn you, Doamna Mortii will not thank me for sharing her secrets so make no mention to her that I am whispering in your ear."
"If she would be upset, then why betray her confidence to me?" Nathaniel inquired, more curious about why the elf would choose to trust him now than concerned on Elissa's behalf.
"I do not trust you, Hentes Fia… not yet, and to betray the trust of the one person who has always been true to me is not an easy thing. I ask that you not make light of it." Zevran replied, his eyes glittering dangerously. "What I trust in is your feelings toward her. Whatever they are, whatever she thinks of them, that is none of my concern. I simply know that they will push you to do what is necessary to keep her from harm, and that is all I need to know for the moment."
Nathaniel nodded to the elf, watching him stride gracefully through their companions and back to his place at Elissa's side.
"Ugh… oh, that's awful." Elissa said, covering her nose and mouth with the cloth from her cowl to block out the stench from the pit of rotting corpses they'd found and attempting to inspect them closer. "They've been here for awhile… at least a week, though with the temperatures dropping so low at night now it could be closer to two."
She stopped to check on Anders after making her way back to the group, making sure he'd settled his stomach somewhat after losing his breakfast in the bushes. No one made fun of him this time. The stench had kept most of them from straying close enough to look into it at all.
"Most of the bodies are those of the soldiers your missive described." Zevran noted, freeing the lower half of his own face now that they'd moved up wind of the pit. "There were several bandits and merchants among them, but I saw none I recognized as Dalish. It is possible they were among the more charred bits, but my guess is their dead have been taken elsewhere."
"There's a trail here." Nathaniel called, drawing both Elissa and Zevran up beside him to investigate.
"This blood is fairly fresh." Elissa said, rubbing the tacky crimson fluid between her fingers and standing to follow Nathaniel's eyes to where further spatters dotted the landscape ahead amongst scattered footprints and drag marks. "Whomever crawled out of that pit, may still be alive… though not for long."
"That's not a lot of blood." Anders noted, falling in behind them. "I doubt they'll bleed out before I get there, and I can patch them up when I do."
"She means it's tainted." Nathaniel explained, having been able to sense the darkspawn's poison within it himself – though whether his skills were improving or Elissa's knowledge was somehow filtering into his mind he couldn't say.
"I'm sorry, Anders… I know you frown upon my decisions concerning those infected by the taint." Elissa replied, hesitantly meeting the mage's eyes as she had no desire for another lecture. "But you should prepare yourself for what's to come. Whoever this is will have to be put down, if they aren't already too far gone to care."
Almost as though her statement had summoned him into being, the Wardens found themselves in a shoddy makeshift camp deep in some nearby underbrush – and there in the middle of it lay a man who was very obviously blighted.
"D-Don't look…" the soldier groaned, attempting to cover his rot marked face as Elissa knelt at his side. "Don't look at me, my lady."
"Oh, come now." Elissa said, her voice much kinder than it had been moments before when she reached over to draw the man's hand down into her own. "I've seen worse, and I'm hardly a lady." The man laughed slightly, before devolving into pained moans that quickly had Elissa waving Anders down beside her and asking him to cast something for the pain. "I assume you are one of the local militia men sent here to deal with the Dalish?"
"Yes, my lady. I... we came for the woods-witch… but we were ripped apart." He was shaking as he spoke, and grasping harder at Elissa's arms as though she could anchor him to reality. "Biting claws and teeth from the darkness… And then I woke… flesh and bone and gristle under me… around me…" he grimaced, skittering closer against her as though he felt himself lying back among the dead. "Everyone is dead now… Dead soft meat melting into the ground. Only me… but I will go soon. I couldn't stand to see it… I crawled away… I came here…"
Elissa could see that the man's quick devolution at the hands of the very same taint that all Wardens carried was taking its toll on soft-hearted Anders, and leveled a gaze at him that made it clear he could step away if he needed to. She would deal with this alone just as she always had. But he shook his head, steeling his nerve and kneeling resolutely beside her.
"Shh… shh…" Elissa cooed, stroking his hair in an effort to calm and refocus him so she could glean any further information before doing what needed to be done. "I need to know what happened with the Dalish. Were the soldiers responsible for the casualties among their clan?"
"No… darkspawn came first. Slaughtered us, took our steel and our bows and planted them where the woods-witch would see." The man explained, missing the quick gaze shared between Elissa and Nathaniel, "She thinks we are to blame… Hunts all who come in her rage while they watch from the shadows…"
"All these people… all the ones she killed… they've died over a misunderstanding?" Anders hissed, his own fury peaked that a mage could be so careless – it was these sorts of things that kept his kind locked away in towers simply for being born with a gift. "We have to stop her! We have to tell her she's wrong!"
"I doubt it will be that easy, Anders. The Dalish are notoriously prickly to humans even when they haven't been goaded." Elissa replied, sighing when his brow furrowed in frustration. "I do intend to try to speak with her before resorting to violence. I'm simply saying you shouldn't get your hopes up. Some people cannot be saved from their need for vengeance until they have seen it through to the bitter end."
Anders shivered at bit at her words, seeing behind the glinting green of her eyes a heavy shadow of where she had been and where she could easily go again should she wane in her vigil to keep her temper in check.
"What about her sister? The elf's sister?" Nathaniel interjected, seeing that they were moving quickly past the time where the man in front of them was going to remain sane enough to speak with them.
"Elf-sister?" the man questioned, turning his cloudy dead eyes to Nathaniel's gray, "No… we did not take her. Probably dead or… or eaten."
"Or worse…" Oghren muttered, stumbling away at the thought of having to deal with another Broodmother and drinking heavily from his flask.
"The dark ones are curious about you…" the man said, settling his gaze back on Elissa. "They watch you from the shadows… waiting."
"The darkspawn are always curious about Wardens… at least in the sense that they want to find and kill us." Elissa replied, not really giving it more than a passing consideration.
"No. They do not watch the Wardens. It is only the Grey Lady. It is only you." The man repeated, dissolving into a pained groan as an unsettled glance was shared among the group.
"The taint… it is killing you. It will not be long now." Elissa explained, holding the dying man's eyes long enough to ask her final question. "I can ease your suffering if you wish me to do so."
"Am already dead. Am already gone." The man groaned, squeezing her hand. "Make an end… please."
Elissa nodded, unsheathing the dagger on her thigh and leaning forward to do what was necessary. Anders noted that she cradled the man as the life bled out of him, offering what comfort she could in much the same way that she had all of those he'd watched her take in this fashion. When he was gone, she cleaned the blade on his armor and re-sheathed it as she stood, turning to stare off into the distance as she attempted to process all they had gleaned.
"What does this mean?" Elissa muttered, more to herself than to anyone else. "What do they want with me?"
There were no answers from the shadows, save the unsettling ticking Elissa had learned to associate with Genlock rogues back in the Korcari Wilds so very long ago.
She barely had enough time to recover her senses before the group was upon them – manifesting out of the brush and tree line before any of them had time to detect their presence. There were two Alphas among the group of eight, an Emissary being one of them, and Elissa found herself caught in a paralysis spell before she even managed to get one of her swords loose.
She thought she heard Nathaniel yell something about not allowing the darkspawn to take her but it was difficult to make anything out between the sounds of battle and the blood rushing in her ears as her body was wrenched painfully in the throes of the powerful spell.
When she crumpled to the ground some time later, she felt as though she'd spent an hour on one of the racks back in Fort Drakon… or perhaps Rendon's basement torture palace.
"It's times like this when I miss Alistair most…" Elissa muttered, willing her muscles to cease the spasms that still held them painfully in check. "Oghren, you're training with The King when next we see him, if for no other reason than to toss a smite at those bloody bastards before they can put me in another paralysis spell."
Anders checked her over for permanent damage, helping her to her feet where she stood still wincing while everyone eyed her cautiously.
"I've found a trinket you might want to see." Zevran noted, breaking the silence as he moved forward and handed a filth encrusted necklace he'd confiscated from the body of the Alpha Hurlock.
"It's definitely Dalish… though it could have belonged to anyone." Elissa noted, tucking it into her pack and moving off with the intention of ignoring everything they'd just witnessed. "I saw the swells of what appeared to be aravels at the pinnacle of the ruins ahead. If we're to find the elven mage anywhere, I'd wager it's there."
"They are culling you, Elissa." Nathaniel hissed as he strode up to her side, his voice as calm as he could manage in light of the picture that was beginning to play out in front of them.
"I do not wish to discuss this any further." Elissa responded, continuing at the same pace and not even bothering to meet his eyes.
"I find myself unconcerned with what you wish to discuss at the moment." Nathaniel growled, yanking her to a stop. "These creatures are actively attempting to capture you. If we add that to the disturbing list of evolution we've already seen within these particular darkspawn, it creates a distinctly unpleasant precedent. One we need to address before we walk any further into what is now clearly a trap."
"I know they're looking for me, Nathaniel. I've known for awhile!" Elissa snapped, realizing what she'd admitted when his eyes went wide for the briefest second in surprise, before immediately settling back into the narrowed angry glare he'd worn seconds before. "I see them… I see things in my dreams."
"So, that one with The Mother that I was lucky enough to witness…" Nathaniel asked, voice dangerously low. "That was not the only one?"
"No. I have them almost every night. I've been having them since…" Elissa started, watching the concerned looks filter from face to face around her, reminding her why she hadn't said something in the first place.
"How long?" Nathaniel asked, calm at first, then more angrily when she hesitated to respond. "How long, Elissa?"
"Since Fort Drakon. Since I killed the Archdemon." Elissa yelled, covering her face with her hands when Nathaniel released her arms in frustration and stalked away. "Since I died."
"You've been dreaming of these things, of this Mother for months now and you didn't think it was worth mentioning?" Nathaniel hissed, pacing as his temper peaked.
"To what end? What would it have accomplished? I know nothing more than you do… and it would not have changed what's to be done. We are Grey Wardens. We hunt them. That they now hunt us in return does not change that directive." Elissa replied, stalking up the hill toward the Dalish camp in her frustration. "All this accomplished was to make the lot of you more concerned for my sanity, and I've enough pity aimed in my direction to last a lifetime already, so just let it go."
Nathaniel started to march after her, intent on pushing his own agenda this time. To be so reckless with her life on not one but two fronts was beyond irresponsible. It was suicidal, and it had to stop.
"Leave it." Zevran insisted, holding the much larger man back by sheer force of will. "This is why I do not trust you, my friend. You may have her best interests at heart, but you do not listen. I asked you to wait for this discussion, and I asked you to share it with me. You have your own reasons for ignoring my requests I am sure, but you will not deny this one lest you wish to test our skills with poisons here in the Wending Wood where I assure you, there are few cures for the toxins I carry to be found."
The look that the elf leveled in his direction left nothing to the imagination. It was venomous and hateful, and sent Nathaniel backing away and quelling his temper knowing that if he pushed any further at the moment he would indeed find himself falling victim to the tip of the assassin's poisoned blade.
By the time he caught up to Elissa and the others, she was working her way warily through the battered Dalish camp toward a line of recent cairns that dotted the hillside. In front of the intricately piled stones stood the she-elf they had been tracking.
"You…" she hissed, wiping tears away from her eyes in anger when Oghren revealed their presence with a less than stealthy face plant after tripping on one of the many pieces of planted human weaponry. "You will not take me alive!"
She instantly began drawing magic into her hands, the pulsing green crackle spinning in circles at her finger tips. Anders made a move to immobilize her, and Nathaniel nocked an arrow into his bow but Elissa waved them both down.
"I have no intentions of killing you." Elissa explained, holding up her empty hands and moving closer. "I only wish to talk."
"Talk." The elf sneered, folding her arms over her ample chest and forcing Elissa to stifle the sudden urge she felt to roll her eyes. Morrigan had employed similar tactics often, the motion drew most eyes in a direction that meant they would be unprepared for attack. Most male eyes at any rate. "I will not go with you to some… shemlen… magistrate. I will not bow to your rules!"
"Being that the shemlen magistrate hearing that case would, in fact, be me… this is as close to going anywhere as you're likely to get." Elissa sighed, thinking back on the horrible guards-woman from the Brecillian forest with a fondness in light of the distinctly more unpleasant woman in front of her. "As I said, I only want to talk. I am interested in justice against you only so far as it serves my current purposes."
"You are the magistrate?" the blonde growled, magic crackling at her fingers again. "I thought you were a Grey Warden? More lies? I should have known. You shems are all the same!"
"I am a Grey Warden, Commander of the Ferelden forces if you want to get technical. Through no choice of my own, I am also Arlessa of Amaranthine which would make me…" Elissa trailed off, realizing she was going around in circles trying to explain something that the pissed off elf clearly wasn't attentive enough to grasp at the moment. "Ugh… look, the point is I really just want to talk. To try and understand what happened here so that I can clean this mess up and get back to my room and have a proper bath and several large bottles of grain alcohol."
"It seems to me that you have already done an awful lot of talking." The elf snorted, rolling her eyes. "Though I've yet to decipher anything worth hearing."
"Look, Nymphette…" Elissa sneered, taking a step forward in frustration and then forcing herself to relax again when she saw the elf bristle in response. "I'm sorry… that was... impolite of me. Perhaps this would go better if I had a name with which to address you."
"Why do you need my name?" the elf said, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
"I suppose I don't really need it. I can keep calling you what pops into my head – although, I will warn you, those will likely get distinctly more insulting than Nymphette if I continue…" Elissa warned, raising an eyebrow in irritation and folding her own arms. "However, my name is Elissa – so… if I were to have yours it would make this discussion a bit more civilized, in my opinion."
"Velanna." The woman said, offering nothing more.
"Alright, then… Velanna…" Elissa started, offering a subtly polite tip of her head which the woman reluctantly responded to. "I have spent the last few hours traipsing through this forest and, with the help of my company, piecing together what happened to the best of our ability. From what we've learned, it appears that it was not the humans who slaughtered your people, rather it was the darkspawn. They have been playing you against one another from the beginning."
"What? It is not possible!" Velanna snorted, rolling her eyes again and, thankfully, not noting the quick rude gesture Elissa tossed when she turned her head. "The darkspawn are mindless creatures."
"The darkspawn were mindless creatures." Elissa corrected, holding the woman's eyes to press home her point. "Trust me when I say I am in an intimate position to be able to assure you that these darkspawn are not the same as the ones you may have known in the past. These creatures are sentient. They are planning something, and I fear that you and your people have become an unfortunate casualty of a much larger plot."
"So this has all been a ruse?" Velanna asked, relaxing her posture slightly and pacing closer to Elissa as she inspected the chaos in the camp around them.
"So far as we've been able to discover, yes." Elissa explained, walking at her side through the camp. "Even these weapons were left intentionally to give you the impression that it was the human soldiers or bandits who were assailing you."
"Though many shems are quite stupid, I have to admit… it did not make sense to me that they would simply discard perfectly acceptable weaponry in our camp in such a manner." Velanna said, speaking slowly to ensure that the humans around her did not miss her insult.
"Wouldn't what you just admitted make you stupid for believing it and slaughtering innocent people as a result?" Anders quipped, earning a quick glare from Velanna and a disapproving frown that just barely managed to hide a giggle from Elissa.
"Your people do not take orders well." Velanna noted, looking back to Elissa with a substantial amount of disgust.
"You don't know the half of it…" Elissa sighed, laughing a little until she realized the chilly elf was still un-amused.
"If the darkspawn orchestrated all of this, then they must have taken my sister as well." Velanna said, turning to Elissa with as much of a smile as she could muster as though it suddenly occurred to her they might be the only people who could help.
"I would assume so." Elissa said, worrying at her lip as she retrieved the necklace from her pack. Explaining the possibility that her sister would be beyond saving, or worse – need to be eliminated, was not a bridge she looked forward to crossing with the openly hostile elf. "My friend Zevran there found this on one of their corpses. Does it mean anything to you?"
"How nice, you travel with a Dalish… pet…" Velanna sneered, taking the trinket into her hand and beginning to inspect it before Zevran's reply drew her attention.
"I am not Dalish, though I would gladly be her pet would she only allow it." Zevran smirked, tossing the appalled woman a wink as he kissed Elissa's hand and sauntered away.
"You'll have to excuse him. He's Antivan." Elissa sighed, shrugging at the ruffled woman then turning her eyes back to the necklace. "So?"
"It is Seranni's. And she would never part with it… at least not willingly. Our mother gave it to her before she died." Velanna noted, a shadow of sadness passing over her features before they settled back into their usual mask of disdain. "Why would the darkspawn do this? Kidnap my sister?"
"I can think of several reasons, and none of them are good." Elissa replied, rubbing at the bridge of her nose with a sigh. "It's really best not to postulate until we've at least looked for her." She turned her eyes back down the hill, running them across the expanse of the forest. "We found what appeared to be an outpost nearby, but there's got to be a hive somewhere. Most likely underground. They like tunnels and old ruins in my experience."
"There is an abandoned silverite mine some ways to the north from here." Velanna noted, moving to her side and drawing Elissa's eyes along her long tan arm to a tiny speck at the tip of her finger. "The tunnels beneath it run far beneath the earth."
"We have no reason to trust one another. I am just as hesitant here as you, seeing that you slaughtered a large amount of people who have since turned out to be innocent and threatened to attack me and my companions on several occasions." Elissa said, holding up a hand to halt her words when the elf immediately started to bristle at the accusations. "However, I am not above forgiveness in light of the extenuating circumstances and, in my personal experience, having a powerful sorceress around is quite handy in tight places."
"Are you suggesting an alliance?" Velanna asked, inspecting the other woman through narrowed eyes.
"If you can play nice, I can." Elissa replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Either way, we're headed into those mines, and if your sister is to be found - I'd wager it's inside them."
The blonde stared at her for several long moments before finally coming to a decision, reaching over to hold out her hand though she stared resolutely ahead.
"Deal." Velanna said, squeezing lightly at Elissa's hand when she felt it slide into her own.
"Deal." Elissa replied, dropping it quickly and moving off down the hill with the other woman at her side.
"I've three sovereigns that says that devolves into one hell of a cat fight in less than an hour." Anders whispered, leaning low enough so that both the dwarves could hear him.
"Aye, I'll take that action an' tack on another three the Commander starts callin' 'er somethin' like Nipples or Bubbles in two." Oghren snorted, setting Sigrun and Anders into belly rolls they barely managed to stifle before drawing the two women's attention.
"I'm in, but I think they won't even make it inside the tunnels before the Commander slips up and says something insulting about her lack of clothing." Sigrun laughed, drawing a smirk out of Nathaniel with the foresight in that one.
"If we could only acquire a large tub of mud or perhaps oil somewhere within which to stage this cat fight…" Zevran muttered, drawing appreciative grins out of two of the three other men in the group. "That would certainly make the fall out more pleasurable, no?"
"You know she's likely to kill you if she hears you saying that?" Nathaniel said, quirking an eyebrow at the elf who simply smirked in response. "Actually, now that I think about it – they're both likely to kill you if they hear you saying that."
"Ah, but I would die a very happy man…" Zevran leered, tossing him a wink before he bounded off down the hill to join the women in question.
"What about you, Howe? You want in?" Anders asked, fully expecting the man to say no but not wanting to deny himself the chance he might earn some more coin when he won the wager against the arrogant archer.
"Ten sovereigns she does all of the above, mud or oil wrestling aside, and conscripts the bloody elf anyway." Nathaniel said, tossing a small coin purse over to the mage for safe keeping and smirking at him as he made his own way down the hill.
"The man's an ass, but he knows the Commander." Anders chuckled, slapping Oghren on the back as they moved off to catch the others.