124. Ambush!
Meila was scouting ahead, as usual, as the party made their way along the northern edge of the Brecilian Forest, where the terrain was peppered with ridges and dips alongside the path. That was when Fang growled softly, and she paused and took the time to study her surroundings, taking in every out of place shadow and mislaid blade of grass. Someone was nearby... multiple someones, hidden among the trees and in the dips and rises of the land.
She could hear the others behind her, bantering amongst themselves, and she debated going back to warn them... but such an action would reveal her position to the beings lurking in the trees. Whoever these people were, they were certainly already aware of the other Wardens.
She noted the broken branches of a few trees where the newcomers were lying in wait, and it led her eyes up to a few figures hidden (but not very well) among the foliage, all watched her companions raptly as the Wardens approached. It was to be an ambush, then. Meila was almost amused by the attempt; shemlen had no idea how to lay a proper forest ambush.
She decided not to speak to her fellow Wardens just yet, especially as the other Wardens moved closer to the trap, completely oblivious to the danger.
Instead, she warned them in the best way she knew how... she climbed silently onto a ridge above the prospective ambush site, drew her bow, and shot one of the ambushers right out of the tree above the Wardens. The body landed with a thump right in front of Alistair.
The reaction among the Wardens was immediate: banter ceased, weapons sprang out, and a shielding aura surrounded the foursome, all while the attempted ambushers were still figuring out what had just happened. Too late, they sprang out of their cover and attacked, only to be met with lightning and steel.
However, this was no simple bandit attack, easily dispatched. That became quickly apparent as multiple armored Qunari rose from the bushes around her companions. Meila took aim from her position on the ridge, but before she could fire, Fang let out a growl at something behind her.
The Dalish elf turned her attention around to see a pair of subtler attackers rising out of the foliage to meet her, both bearing twin blades. Her bowstring sang, piercing the chest armor of one, then the other. Unfortunately, their equipment was made of good, reinforced leather, so her arrows did not pierce as deeply as she was used to, and the attacks kept coming. She was forced to slide back along the ridge, skirting close to a ten foot drop that would have her at the mercy of the ambushers below. As she circled around the pair to keep them at her front, she drew her bow to fire a third arrow, but one kicked out and hooked a foot through her bowstring. The bow went spinning out of her hands, clattering into a tree behind the attackers.
Meila jumped back as the other attacker attempted to take advantage of her sudden disarmed status. Fang sprang upon him, bearing him through a shrub and out of Meila's immediate vicinity.
Meila drew her hunting knife to face the other attacker. Her opponent carried a pair of shortswords, which he put to use in a flurry of blades. Meila jumped back again, one foot kicking a scree of pebbles down the ridge. Meila attempted to dive in low for an attack, only to miss and feel the bite of steel in the back of her shoulder.
"Surrender, strangers, and you won't be harmed!" yelled an unfamiliar voice somewhere above the fight. "We just want to kill the little redhead girl!"
Kazar could be heard scoffing, even as he shook the ground under an archer on a ridge above the Wardens. "Which one?"
Meila dodged back to escape another flurry of swords, and one foot slipped off the ridge. She snapped a hand out as she dropped, catching a root on the edge to arrest her fall. Her opponent stepped up the to edge of the ridge above her, smirking down at her. Then, Fang emerged out of the bushes to launch himself at the back of her attacker's knees, tearing through the tendons and sending them both off the ridge. The human slid down with a shriek, and landed hard on the ground below her.
Meila left the man to the white wolf and pulled herself back up onto the ridge to retrieve her bow from where it had fallen. She did a quick check to ensure that it was unharmed, then peeked out of the foliage to get a look at how the others were doing.
The last of the Qunari was menacing he companions with a greatsword, but then fell to a well-placed lightning bolt. With a bit more searching the area, she spotted the man who had spoken: he was standing up on a ridge opposite the ambush site from hers, seperated from the Wardens by a short, but steep, cliff face. Beside him was a spellcaster, though she kept stumbling, unable to get a spell off under Alistair's barrage of smites.
Meila nocked an arrow, but didn't even have time to draw it back before a different arrow appeared in the leader's chest. So, instead, Meila turned her bow to the witch and loosed, her arrow piercing the enemy spellcaster's throat.
The leader was still alive, but weakened by the arrow sticking out of his chestplate, judging by the way he stumbled back to brace himself against a tree. The man made to turn and disappear into the forest, but Kazar blasted the ground under the enemy with his staff, and a tangle of vines sprang up from the forest floor. The mage made a pulling motion, and the newly entangled man yelped as he was yanked right off the cliff and moved to dangle three feet in the air in front of the Wardens, held in place by a net of vines.
"You didn't answer his question, you know," Alistair said, wiping off his sword. "That's just rude."
Meila hopped off the ridge to join her companions.
"Did you mean me?" Leliana asked. "You're after me?"
"Why?" Meila added, pointedly not removing her arrow from its string.
The man eyed them all. He may have been looking down at him, but it was obvious who had the advantage here, especially as Kazar pointedly juggled lightning between his hands. "Don't rightly know," he said slowly. "I just got my orders. 'Kill thed little redhead girl; the rest are up to you.' Don't think he knew more than that either."
"Against Leliana?" Alistair asked, sounding shocked. "Why would anyone want to kill a sweet girl like her?"
"Um..." Leliana said, looking nervous.
Meila remembered speaking with Leliana about this... about the guilt the bard carried with her everywhere. Meila refused to let this ghost of the past dog the human, and so raised her bow and trained her aim on the mercendary. The man's eyes widened in fear.
"Wait, don't," Leliana said, and Meila held her aim steady, but did not fire.
"He is a mercenary sent to kill you, satusulahn."
"I know. But I need to know something first." The bard took a breath and stepped forward to stand in front of the man. "Who sent you?"
His eyes flicked to Meila, and he swallowed. "Don't know. Wasn't given a name."
Meila drew her bowstring back an an inch.
"...but! I do have an address. Where I was supposed to receive the rest of my payment. Will that be enough?"
Leliana nodded, and the man rattled off an address in Denerim.
"Thank you," Leliana said. "You can let him go now."
Kazar snorted. "The last assassin we let go ended up getting stuck to us." Even so, he waved his staff, and the vines dropped the mercenary with a thud.
Meila kept her bow trained on him, even though her arm ached with holding it back as the man picked himself up and cast one last nervous look around. Then, he scurried out of sight. Only then did she relax her arm.
Felicity was the one who broke the silence, with a concerned, "Leliana? Are you all right?"
The bard nodded, but Meila saw a tightness to her jaw that she did not like at all. Leliana was not supposed to be hardened. This was unacceptable, and would need to be rectified immediately. "Yes. But there is something I must tell you all."
"Tell us on the way, then," Alistair said. "Because we've got a door to knock down in Denerim."
Leliana's grateful smile helped ease Meila's anxiety over this entire situation. It did not, however, make her want to shoot that mercenary any less.