Chapter 4- The Final Alternative...?

Less than an hour had passed since young Anders was taken away from the Hawke farm by the knight-templar's and first enchanter Irving. Throughout that time, Hawke was upstairs in her room, stuffing a backpack full of supplies. She was determined to get to Anders before he was locked back up in the circle tower. She was nearly finished packing when there was a knock on the door. Hawke quickly tucked her backpack behind her pillow and threw the covers overtop and smoothed it out.

"Come in…" Hawke said softly as she sat on top of her bed and folded her hands in her lap.

It was Bethany, and she was alone. Slowly, or rather 'cautiously' she approached. Hawke took immediate notice to this, stood up and turned her back to Bethany.

"It's alright, little sister… I won't use magic against you or Carver anymore…" Hawke said ashamedly.

Bethany shook her head, "That's not why I'm here," she said calmly, "I come on Fathers behalf, Marian."

Ignoring the first half of her Bethany's sentence, Hawke shook her head, "I keep telling you, Bethany, call me 'Hawke'!"

"Sorry," Bethany apologized, "Father wants you to know that he's very sorry for what he did."

Hawke sniffed loudly and rubbed her eyes as tears began to flow down her cheeks, "Well he should be!" she replied with her back still turned to Bethany.

"Hawke, please don't be mad at dad," Bethany begged.

Hawke turned to Bethany and glared with teary red eyes, "What about you!" she asked aggressively. "Do you think what he did is forgivable? It's not the fact that he tricked Anders into a false sense of security by pretending to let him think that he could stay here… It's because he tricked me as well!"

"Mar- I mean, Hawke, I-"

"And I could be just as angry with you, little sister! You knew about the plan and yet you let Anders be taken! You heard about the horrible existence that he'd be forced to live with when he got back to the tower, and yet you still helped in his capture!" Hawke yelled. She then turned her head and looked away while grunting angrily, "I still don't know how father ever managed to find out about Anders. If I knew that they knew… I'd have told Anders to run for it and continue on… then at least, he'd have a chance or maybe even still be on the run right now!"

Bethany nodded and rubbed her toe into the floorboards, "Listen, sister… I… I know what you're planning to do," Bethany said hesitantly. But before she could continue, Hawke stopped her with a raised hand.

"Stop! Bethany… as a mage… how can you stand by and let Anders, our friend, go back to that sad, dreary life back at the tower?"

"But, sis, even if you free him, you're just going to bring him back here-"

"No!" Hawke interrupted, "All I plan to do is free him from the templar's, and let him continue on his path to freedom."

"Hawke… if father ever believed that he could do that, then he'd have done it by now…" Bethany continued sadly.

Hawke looked slightly hesitant as she rubbed her chin and thought hard. She then turned to Bethany and flipped open the nearby window shutters. She turned back to Bethany and instructed, "Just watch, please…"

Hawke then clapped her hands and disappeared in cloud of black smoke. A moment later, she reappeared on the grassy ground just below her bedroom window. One more clap of her hands sent her back up to her bedroom, just across from Bethany.

The shock of it all made Bethany back up and hit the wall just behind her, "Hawke… what have you-"

"I've been reading Fathers Grimoire on my own, and I've nearly mastered his teleportation spell, Bethany!" Hawke said excitedly. Suddenly, she held a hand to her forehead and sway back and forth on her feet, unsteadily. She then fell to her knees, clutched her stomach and actually vomited, right then and there, on the bedroom floor.

Bethany ran up to Hawke and held her by the shoulder and arm, helping her back up to her feet first, then guided her to sit on top of her soft bed cushions. Hawke then struggled to catch her breath, a sweat forming on her forehead and cheeks. Bethany then bent down and wipe up the accident with a nearby rag, while she was doing this she looked back up at Hawke.

"Sis… There's no way that you can safely use that spell!" Bethany replied in concern, "You're too young and it's far too powerful for you!"

Hawke struggled to catch her breath and attempt to regain her composure. she stood up shakily and then replied, "I… only… need to use it… twice… just like I did here. I can get Anders out and away from the templar's in that many moves… I know I can…"

"Sis…"

"Bethany, if you truly care about me, then you'll keep quite… Please, little sister, do this for me."

Bethany continued to wipe up the mess while on her hands and knees, then dropped her head, sighed and replied, "…Ok…".

But the second part of Malcolm's plan had gone unnoticed. He had spent the entire conversation right next to her slightly ajar door and listened into every word that his eldest daughter, Marian, and his second youngest, Bethany had spoken to each other. This way, Bethany wouldn't have to break her promise. Though he didn't confront Hawke, plans were already set into motion for what Malcolm would do to put a stop to this.

It was later into the night, and Hawke was already upstairs in her bed, pretending to sleep. Strangely enough, Bethany and Carver hadn't come back up all evening. Again, Hawke assumed that it was because she had used magic against them, therefore, they were too scared to come and sleep in the same room as her. No matter, if this was the case then it made it that much better for Hawke. Slowly, she crept out of bed, fully clothed, no less. She then reached under her bed, retrieved her backpack and flung it over her shoulder.

As she crept towards the bedroom window, she looked over her shoulder towards the bedroom door leading into the hallway and said, "I'm sorry… Mother… Father… I have to try tonight…"

As both of her small hands grasped the shutter handles, she breathed deeply, then sighed slowly through her nose, "Here goes…" she said softly and tried to push open the shutters. She gasped loudly when they wouldn't open, not even an inch. She tried again and again, but they wouldn't open in the slightest.

Hawke then tried to run to her bedroom door and push it open, but even it would not move even an inch. Were they locked shut? Or worse, nailed shut? Was she trapped inside?

Hawke began to gasp loudly and then ran back to her window shutters and attempted to push them open, again, they wouldn't open at all. It was then that Hawke realized it… she was trapped, in her own room, no less. Her home had become her prison.

She placed her hands against the shutters and fell to her knees while dragging her forehead against the wooden boards. Then she began to sob, loudly, both in defeat and anger. She was not getting out tonight.

Down in the living room, Leandra had Bethany sitting on top of her knee and was holding her forehead against the back of Bethany's head as Leandra began to weep softly. Bethany was crying as well. Carver was in the middle of the living room, pacing back and forth with his hands in his pockets. Malcolm was at the kitchen table, elbows on the tabletop, hands folded together with his lips pressing against them as he listened to his daughters sobs up above with closed eyes.

Then came a 'Bang!' so loud that it made Leandra, Bethany and even Carver shudder suddenly and look towards the floorboards overhead. Then another, and another, and another. Malcolm remained unmoved the whole time. Leandra knew right away what Hawke was doing upstairs. She moved Bethany aside, ran up to Malcolm and grabbed him by the arm, shaking him, while she shouted, "Stop her, Malcolm! She's trying to break out!"

Again, Malcolm remained calm, removed Leandras grip from his arm and said, "Don't worry… she'll tire herself out soon enough."

Leandra began to cry harder, "You have to stop her! She'll hurt herself!" she screeched. But then seeing that her words were having no affect on her husband, she shook her head in frustration, then started towards the staircase, "If you won't stop her, then I will!" she exclaimed.

Before she got even two steps, she felt someone grab her wrist and stop her. She looked back with wide teary eyes and saw that it was Malcolm, looking calm as ever, "Don't worry, Leandra…" he stated, "Even if she breaks through the door or shutters… she won't make it outside tonight…"

Leandra only looked back at Malcolm for a second or two more before she collapsed to her knees and held her forehead against the ground and wept loudly. Bethany ran up to Carver, wrapped her arms around him and cried loudly against his shoulder. Carver stroked the back of her head soothingly, and remained strong as he could, despite one or two tears eventually escaping his own eyes. Malcolm continued to look straight ahead with dry eyes, still listening to his daughter pound against wooden door or window frame loudly.

Up above, Hawke continued to repeatedly ram her shoulder into the wooden shutters to her room. She didn't care who heard her now, she had to get out. When her shoulder got too sore, she began to throw her elbow backwards against the wooden shutters again, and again, and again. When she should take no more of that, she began to punch the wood with the bare knuckles of her own two fists, leaving large indents in the wood. After a while, the wood began to splinter and give way in the middle. She then began to dig her fingers into the center hole and dig the wood out, not caring about how many splinters she was currently getting in each finger.

She gasped loudly when she came upon a terrible discovery. Just outside the window, was a glowing white magical energy barrier. That was what was keeping the shutters from being opened. She pried more and more wood out of the way, only to discover that the magical field extended further out. Hawke sank to her knees in defeat when she realized that the whole entire window must have contained the same magical field, probably the door as well. She cried harder as soon as she came to the sad conclusion that even if she broke the door or shutters down, she could never get past the magical fields. She wasn't strong enough in the magical arts to dispel them.

A short time had passed as Malcolm cautiously entered Hawke's room after lowering the magical fields. Hawke was unconscious on the floor. He crept towards her and scooped her up off the floor and began to carry her back towards her bed. As he did so, he noticed that her hands, knuckles, elbows and even her forehead were now cut and bloodied up. Presumably from how many times she slammed each against the shutter, combined with how many times she slammed forehead into her floorboards in utter defeat afterwards.

He turned towards the doorway and whispered, "Bethany! Bring bandages!" Bethany nodded from the hallway and retreated from the doorway.

Malcolm laid Hawke in her bed and pulled the covers up to her waist. He then sat on the side of her bed, slowly held one of her injured hands in both palms and began to raise them up. He could heal these wounds up in a heartbeat with his strong magical abilities.

Suddenly, "Don't heal them, Father…" Hawke warned with her eyes still closed. She only opened them up just enough to let more tears fall free from her blood shot eyes as she looked up at her father, "I want to feel the pain…"

Malcolm sighed loudly just as Bethany re-entered the room, "Alright…" he said soft enough so that Bethany wouldn't hear. She then passed him the bandages and he kissed her on the cheek, then waved her away. She bowed her obediently and quickly left the room.

"At the very least… let me wrap them for you, Marian…" Malcolm asked.

Hawke looked away, then nodded her head. Malcolm then began to wrap the soft cloth bandages around, and around Hawke's badly bruised and cut knuckles, some around her raw, bleeding elbows. Last, but not least, he cleaned Hawke's forehead and wrapped a long cotton bandage around her forehead a few times and secured it behind her head like a long bandana.

After she was attended to, Malcolm began to back out of the room, all while looking at Marian. She simply rolled over and continued to cry. Malcolm closed his eyes, shook his head, then closed the door her bedroom.

An hour or so later, Leandra was waking up from her slumber. She had slept in the same bed with Bethany all night long, though Carver chose to sleep on the floor with a wool blanket and a pillow nearby. Leandra had been holding Bethany around the waist all night long to help comfort her through this tough and sad night. Though this was her and Malcolm's bed, he hadn't returned and slept next to her as usual, even though there was more than enough room. This worried her.

Leandra slowly removed her arm from beneath Bethany's head, being very careful not to wake her. She then snuck out of the room and tiptoed towards Hawke's bedroom. The barrier was up again, but Leandra could hear Hawke moaning and breathing heavily.

"No! Anders! No!" she cried, followed by a lot more moaning and other sounds her emotional pain as her nightmare continued. "Don't! Don't take him away!" Hawke actually yelped a few times now.

Worried about her daughter, Leandra quickly left the door to Hawke's bedroom and ran to find Malcolm.

Meanwhile, in Hawke's room, her nightmare continued. She was running in her dream, Anders was a few steps ahead, being dragged away by giant templar's. It seemed that no matter how much Hawke ran, she wasn't getting anywhere, and slowly, step by step, Anders was getting further and further away. An enormous tower then came into view, one that reached high into the sky and even penetrated the clouds overhead. Anders screamed harder and harder as he got closer to his prison. One of his small hands was reached out towards Hawke, as if begging for her to come help him.

Soon, Leandra found Malcolm sitting in the downstairs dining room, sipping on a cup of steaming hot tea. She approached him, "Malcolm! Even in sleep, our daughter is still tormented about that boy and what became of him! Lower the field, let me go to her!" Leandra begged, "She's still suffering!"

Malcolm simply waved her over, and she came. She then sat down across from him and shivered in the cold night air, the shutter had been left open all night. Marcus was looking down at a laid out scroll on the table top. It looked to be more of a 'rubbing' than a proper scroll.

"Leandra… the day that Marcus came to our farm, he left us with something to help Marian forget about that young boy. A spell that was already used on young Anders."

"What did they do to him?" Leandra asked, though she was terrified to hear the answer.

"The first enchanter erased Anders mind, not long after he left our farm. Marcus tells us that it's a guarantee… that even if young Anders ever manages to escape from the circle tower later on… He won't think, or rather, remember to come back here again. He won't remember Hawke, he won't remember this as being a safe place.

Marcus then advised us… that we should perform the same spell on Marian, to help her forget about Anders and carry on with her life. We all saw how taken she was with him, and he was with her."

Leandra cupped her hands over her mouth in horror, "No! Malcolm! You promised that you would never use magic against our children!"

Malcolm nodded then took Leandras hands, "I know what I said… But if Marian doesn't calm down and get over this soon… then we may have no choice."

Leandra pulled her hand away, "No! I refuse to let this happen! She doesn't need her memory erased by such terrible magic. Surely there must be some other way."

Malcolm lowered his head and shook it back and forth, "And what if she doesn't get over it? What if she does something drastic that provokes the templar's and brings them back here?" Malcolm asked, "Marian and Bethany will be taken to the circle to live there for the rest of their lives. More than likely, I'll be taken to Aeonar, the mages prison, for my part in hiding our daughters for this long."

Leandra held her hands against her ears, shut her eyes and shook her head, "No! Please, don't say any more!"

Malcolm removed Leandra's hands away from her ears and held them tightly in his hands, and continued, only this time with a more slightly raised voice, "You'll be thrown in jail as well, away from Bethany, Marian and I. Worse yet, Carver will have no one left to stay with in the family and being that he's too young to look after himself, he'll have to live in an orphanage all alone. Is that what you really want, Leandra!"

"…No…" Leandra replied sadly, "But I also don't want you to peform such a wicked spell on our little Marian. That young boy meant a lot to her, how can you even think to take that away from her?"

"It won't matter… if she won't even remember meeting him or the time they spent together. It'll be like it never happened at all."

"But we'll remember… and be forced to live a lie."

Leandra began to cry hard once again, while Malcolm reached over and pulled her close, "Whatever happens, much of this is my burden to bare… even more so, if I'm forced to use this spell on our young Marian."

Nearby, on the stairwell, Carver had been listening. He was always a light sleeper, awake at the slightest noise in case it was templar's or other threats to the family so that he had time to warn them. He gulped loudly after hearing what his father had to say. Also, he saw how much it hurt him to have his eldest daughter angry at him for what he did. Carver knew that the blame wasn't all his to share, so he decided that tomorrow, he would help lessen the burden that his father was carrying on his shoulders. He would tell Hawke that all of this happened, because he himself decided to tell father about Anders. That way, most of the blame would fall on him, not Malcolm, their father.