Castle Redcliffe stood as a dark silhouette against the morning sky, pricks of firelight showing through the blackness from torches or candlelight within the castle and on the ramparts. Keran kept a watchful eye over the campsite while the two fugitives slept, though Aedan was stirring with the early dawn.
It took him a moment to remember who was curled up next to the near dead fire, the Solona woman wrapped so tightly in her cloak that she looked more like a cocoon than a real person. She had offered to take the first watch last night despite the dark bags under her eyes from being weary and sleepless, but when Aedan had assured her that Keran would do a fine job of it by himself she had gone to sleep without protest. For a little while she had tried to stay awake, watching Aedan like a mouse watches a cat, but her own weariness finally overcame her. She'd dropped off to sleep and hadn't so much as twitched for the rest of the night.
It would have been so easy to turn her over to the Templars at this point. The musing came and went, and Aedan started digging through his travel pack for breakfast, tossing Keran a strip of meat and thanking the war dog for his vigilance. Keran simply huffed and dug into his food, needing no thanks for protecting his master.
The two ate in silence for a while, the sun finally peaking up over the horizon before he decided that it was high time to wake the mage woman up. It took a bit of shaking to finally get her to open her eyes, and the moment that Solona got a look at his face she went into a panic. In a flurry of movement she had unwrapped herself from her cloak and grabbed her staff, working some spell or another with fear in her eyes.
"Woa! Calm down!" Aedan held up his hands to show that he was weaponless, backing off a few steps.
She stared at him for a bit before realizing what just happened, all the magic seeming to simply slide off of her. With a heavy sigh she dropped her head into her palm and let her staff rest on the ground again. "Sorry, you startled me. I forgot that I had an ally."
Aedan shrugged, going back to his things and started packing up. "No harm done, but we should probably get moving. We've Templars to avoid." Solona ate in silence and helped him bank the fire before the two set off, Aedan leading the way toward the Imperial Highway.
They traveled in silence for a long time, the woods disappearing in favor of a broad road that cut through the southern half of Ferelden. It was a wide dirt road big enough to fit a few carriages riding abreast of one another. This early in the morning only a few foot travelers were out and about traversing the Imperial Highway, but there was quite a few more traders with their carts and mules already about.
Solona was content with the silence for a while, glad to be putting distance between herself and her last little scuffle with the Templars. However, she didn't stay content for long, twisting the signet ring on her finger bearing the mark of the Circle of mages, a last gift from First Enchanter Irving after her succeeded Harrowing. "So, what is it that you're so desperate to do that you'd help an apostate flee from Templars?" She pinned his back with a curious glare. Aedan didn't even have to look over his shoulder to guess the sort of look that she was giving him.
He breathed a sigh, wondering how best to explain the situation without telling her who he was exactly. "Just how good are you with your magic?"
"Good enough I suppose. I passed my Harrowing with little trouble. But you're not answering my question." Astute, this one.
"Well, I've got something of an assassination to do, I suppose." Aedan waited for Solona to recoil in horror, and wasn't disappointed when she gasped, quickening her steps so that she could look directly at him instead of at his back.
"You're what?" She hissed with her eyes narrowed dangerously, staff clutched to her chest.
"Look, it's not like I'm doing this for giggles or to get paid." Aedan replied with something like exasperation in his voice. "There's an Arl, he… Well, he's getting what's coming to him. He had his men kill my family. I managed to escape, but only just barely. I don't know if you can understand the sort of treachery that happened that night…" His voice was shaking with barely controlled rage, his fists clenched until the knuckles turned white. Aedan felt a hand on his forearm and looked down to see Solona looking up at him with sad eyes.
"If it's to help you avenge your family, then I'll help." She mumbled and let her hand drop, content to walk at his side for a little longer in a shared silence. "Besides, murdering an Arl is probably on the same scale of illegality as what I would have you do as a return favor." Her statement was met with a curiously raised eyebrow, and after taking a deep breath, Solona continued. "I need to find and destroy my phylactery."
Aedan didn't immediately react, continuing to look down at the small mage woman with a look of curiosity in his gaze. "Your what?"
An aggravated sigh escaped her at the question and she raised a hand to her head, pressing her palm against her temple. "I forgot that not everyone knows about the phylacteries…" Solona let her head drop back, looking up at the cerulean skies that stretched endlessly overhead, gathering her thoughts. "Okay… So, any mage brought into the circle has their blood drawn and stored in a magical vial. Not a whole lot of course, but just enough to make use of. The vials are enchanted so that the blood never ages or dries and remains pure forever, or so long as the bottles are kept sealed. These are the phylacteries, a small piece of the mage that they were taken from, and the way in which a Templar finds someone who defects from the circle. Ironically enough, it's a bit of blood magic that the Templars do to use the phylacteries. They take the vials of the escaped mage and by using the blood, they can find out where the mage has gone. Blood calls to blood, and by following the pull, they track down who they're looking for. It's not an exact method, but it works well enough that mages who escape the Circle don't stay free for very long.
"All apprentice phylacteries are kept in a secret room in the Circle's basement cellars. However, after you've gone through the Harrowing and become a full mage, they send your Phylactery to somewhere in Denerim. The Chantry I'd presume, but who knows? The Templars may have constructed an anti-mage hide out for all I know and stored it there." Solona sighed, as if for the first time realizing just how difficult it would be to find her phylactery. Hopefully, the Templars would bring it out of whatever storage shed they had it in to try and track her down with it and she wouldn't have to find where it was stored… but that might be hoping too much. They seemed to have had an easy enough time finding her so far. "Do you understand now? You'd be helping me shrug off all of the Circle's chains. The Templars wouldn't be able to hunt me down at will. If the Chantry ever found out, they would probably execute you."
Aedan snorted, a grin creeping onto his haggard face. "And you think that they wouldn't execute me for planning to murder an Arl?" He asked, a dangerous look in his grey eyes. It was the kind of look that soldiers got sometimes when they were on the frontlines, knowing that death was in front of them and retreat had never been an option. "Adding another sentence to that is really just icing on the cake."
Tense silence stretched between them for a moment, then Solona finally nodded, drawing a breath to speak. "Then we have a deal. I'll help you kill your Arl, and you'll help me destroy my phylactery."
"Aye. We've a deal."
-0-0-0-
That night they put down a little ways from the Highway, taking shelter under some trees that protected from prying eyes and weather. They weren't the only travelers who had decided to bed down for the night, the sound of a large caravan could be heard some distance away through the trees. Once they had gotten away from Redcliffe, they had begun to see less and less in the way of Templars, a relief to both Aedan and Solona. It seemed that whoever was in possession of her phylactery at the moment wasn't in the immediate vicinity, for they hadn't had any more unfortunate meetings.
Solona had started up a cheery little fire with a wave of her hand, leaving it up to Aedan to collect wood to keep it going, Keran patrolling the ring of light until he was content that there was no outstanding danger. The big dog settled down next to the fire, his intelligent eyes on the forest around them, ears perking up every so often when he heard something of interest.
They had just finished eating when a thought occurred to Aedan, and he couldn't pass up the chance to ask it. "How much do you know about combat?"
Solona looked up from her corner of bread, swallowed, and contemplated for a moment. "I know some about fighting other mages, more about resisting the temptation of demons."
"And against blades?"
Solona shrugged, glancing at her staff. "We're not really taught how to defend from a direct attack from somebody not using magic or mental suggestion." She replied easily, though Aedan noted with some interest that it wasn't without a tinge of bitterness. "I suppose that the Templars don't want us knowing how to fend them off if they decide they don't like us one day."
"Or become apostate." Aedan added, to which the mage only shrugged and continued eating, apparently unbothered with facts that she couldn't change. "I should probably teach you, then."
She stopped eating then, looking up at him with an intense curiosity with a healthy dose of incredulity. "And just how do you plan on doing that?"
"Well, you've got a staff. I'll grab a hearty looking stick and take some whacks at you." Aedan couldn't help but to smile at the thought of sparring with a mage. It was an interesting situation, to say the least. Solona was looking at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was. Grief had the tendency to drive even the sanest of men a little mad in their weaker moments. "What if some Templars get the jump on you? Cancel out your magic. Then what? You plan on rolling over and dying?"
"No." She replied quickly, not even having to think about her choice. "I'd run, or else fight to the bitter end."
Aedan nodded, expecting as much of an answer from her. "Then I suppose you'd better learn how to fight to the bitter end, huh?" He got to his feet, patting off grass and dirt as he did so and gestured for Solona to rise. "Up now. Grab your staff and pretend that I'm a Templar that wants you dead and just took away all of your magic."
Solona studied him for a bit, probably expecting him to suddenly sprout a second head or something. When he didn't reveal that it was part of an elaborate joke, she got to her feet as well and stood a few feet in front of Aedan, her staff resting with the butt on the ground to her side.
Sighing, Aedan looked around for a stick, found one perhaps a little shorter than the sword that he normally used, Solona watching his every move. He turned, walked to the side that she wasn't holding the staff on and whapped her in the shoulder with the stick.
The mage squeaked out a cry of surprise and pain, and took a step back. "What was that for?"
"If that were a real sword, you wouldn't have an arm anymore." Aedan replied calmly, tapping the stick against his thigh with a bored expression on his face. "Now come on, is this how you face down Templars? Show me your battle face. And remember, no magic or I'll have Keran tackle you for it. Fair?" Hearing his name, the Mabari perked up and barked once, wagging his stubby tail in agreement.
"Not fair, but I don't see how I can stop you." Solona mumbled, gripping her staff with both hands, a deeply set frown on her face now. She was probably standing in whatever pose the mages had taught her to take when casting. Feet set narrowly apart, slightly hunched over and only really holding the staff with one hand.
If Aedan wanted to, he could probably push her over no problem with his shield. Taking it off his back, he did just that, taking a few running steps forward and shoved his shield against Solona's staff. She recoiled, nearly loosing her staff and her balance and suddenly found Aedan's stick planted firmly against her neck. "And now you're missing an arm and your head. You're doing very poorly, Solona."
Color stained her pale cheeks, her anger immediately surfacing and energy crackled around her. "It's not like I know what I'm doing!" She shouted, irritation carved into every muscle. "You wouldn't be so cocky if I threw a lightning bolt at you."
"And you wouldn't be so sure that I'd care that you threw a lightning bolt at me if I were a real Templar." He replied quickly, taking a step back incase she did decide to make good on the threat, though remained outwardly calm. He heaved a sigh, replacing his shield on his back and tossed the stick aside. "Looks like we're going to have to take this from step one."
Solona watched with suspicious eyes as he walked closer, coming around behind her. She tried to turn and face him, but found his arms around on either side of her, hands on her staff. "What are you doing?" She went to elbow him in the ribs, forgetting that he was still wearing his armor and came away with a bruised elbow for the effort.
"Showing you how to use this thing." Aedan replied calmly. "Grab your blasted stick if you want to learn."
"Yes, but why do you have to be so close?" She hissed, grabbing onto her staff like he asked but had gone rigid, every muscle tense. He smelled like dirt and dogs and leather. "Can't you train me without invading my personal space?"
"It's just easier this way." He replied with a hint of annoyance starting to creep in. "Now quiet and pay attention." Unhappily, Solona complied, looking straight ahead with a steely gaze as Aeden guided her through a few movements, explaining each step along the way.
It brought him back years, back when he was too little to properly hold a sword. His father would stand behind him just like this, tell Aedan to put his hand on the hilt and pay attention. At the time he hadn't thought much of it, but looking back now he cherished the memory fondly and it brought a pain to his heart to recall the nostalgia. What would Ser Gilmore do if he had lived through the raid? Would he approve of Aedan's quest for blood? Or would he implore that Aedan do the political thing and try to plead his case to the Landsmeet? Trying to call a gathering of the Banns seemed akin to suicide at this point, however. He assumed that Howe thought he was dead, caught up in the bloodbath in Highever. Any attempt to claim his right as the sole surviving Cousland heir would probably end with a knife to the back. If not by Howe's doing, then by anyone that supported the man's actions.
He cut off his musings abruptly, helping Solona through the moves until she took the lead then detached himself, standing back. "Continue doing that. I… I will get more firewood."
Solona watched him go with a concerned frown, her blue eyes flicking to the pile of firewood that he'd already gathered for the night. Keran stood, following his master into the dark, and the two quickly disappeared from view. After a few minuets of silence she resumed her staff work, her mind working faster than her hands as she moved the staff from side to side in broad sweeping arcs. 'Aedan… what demons haunt you?'
AN: I've been playing through DA: Origins again as my m!Amell, and just completed the Broken Circle quest (again). I was looking through my notes that I'd randomly picked up on the quest and found one called "Extracurricular Studies" (if you're really curious about it, then go to the DragonAge wiki), a conversation between First Enchanter Sinclair and Enchanter Bergin. In it, Bergin was complaining over the fact that though the mages at his Circle (I don't know if Sinclair was First Enchanter before Irving was or from a different Circle) were great at magic, one of his apprentices was probably killed by an ordinary thug/bandit because they didn't know how to defend themselves from regular weapons. In the next notice from Sinclair, it seems that Bergin was able to hold classes on weapons training for a short time before the Templars moved into the tower permanently, and Bergin's class was indefinitely cancelled. So, at the very least, my theory that the Templars didn't want mages learning how to defend themselves from regular swords appears to be cannon for whatever Circle Sinclair and Bergin are from, though you have to read between the lines a bit.