After watching Lasher frighten the guard into submission, Aragorn of course looked to the keys dangling in front of him. With an reached out arm, he grasped onto them; wrapping a hand around to bring the silver and brass keys to his side. The words of the guard caused Aragorn to slow his pace and glance to him curiously as he spoke of the one they were looking for was an elf. What did he do anyways to get put in here? He wanted to ask. But he had little time to deal with such matters. And he figured, and hoped Fenris would let them know of the story.
After going to cell to cell; Aragorn eventually came to Fenris'. After shuffling through the right keys and unlocking it, he swung the Iron Gate wide open. He took a moment to narrow his hues to the elf, unsure of what he saw. Was he still naked? Shaking his head some at the thought, he began to stand aside the gate to allow the elf to come out. "Fenris… Whatever did you do to get locked up in here? I thought you were a good little elf, not a bad boy. Did you miss the chains?"
"You are a woman. A distraction and nothing more." Justice mumbled for the moment before at last closing his eyes to sleep.
At least now some things were starting to make sense. He was at that moment in time when it didn't matter who was in charge of Anders's body; whether himself or the actual host. This was because he was still a bit drunk. At least for now, he could drift off for sleep.
When they reached Fenris's cell, they could see he wasn't wearing his armor, but instead a rough brown tunic that looked like it was made from a potato sack. He resembled much like the poorest of the poor slaves in Tevinter, which only ignited the brightest grin from the redhead on the other side of the cage. His brown eyes looked at the markings on the elf's skin and the sight seemed to have brought back old memories for him. Then upon hearing Aragorn's joke, he couldn't help but to have snickered.
"It's not funny…" Fenris warned from the cot he sat on and looked at them through the bars. "I left the bath house in a hurry and forgot my clothes."
"Oh, a bloody Dailish one, aye?" He questioned and reached up to tap his chin in thought. "That; you didn't mention, Grey Warden."
"It's because I'm not Dailish." Fenris scoffed and hopped down from the cot. He started to walk towards them, expecting to have been released soon.
"Then that's not vallaslin?" Lasher asked in a bit of surprise and then started to laugh with a shake of his head. "I get it… You tried to be Dailish and then learned the snobby sods wouldn't have anything to do with you. Same cliché knife-ear drama over and over again."
Fenris narrowed his eyes a bit at him. "No, they were burned into my flesh…! You have something against elves?"
"As a matter of fact I do." Lasher answered, revealing quite a toothed smile.
Within that instant, Fenris scowled and attempted to sail a punch directly at Lasher, but the warrior opened his hand in the retaliation and caught his attack. Lasher squeezed Fenris's fist and watched the steady glare in the elf's eyes soon turn to surprise when he suddenly turned his arm and wrist at an angle that ended up twisting Fenris's arm a little.
Fenris grinded his teeth but reframed from giving any yelp in response. He tried to lean away as he saw the redheaded male pulling Fenris's arm up towards his nose soon. Fenris was, well a bit shocked, to have been pulled in such manner and soon looked upon like something being picked from the market.
"Oh, you are just a treat!" Lasher grinned and finally released his arm—satisfied with himself for being able to find who they were looking for.
"…Did you just smell me?" Fenris cradled his arm against his chest, still staring at the man in disbelief.
Lasher sighed some and rubbed the back of his neck. He started to laugh a little to himself afterwards. "This is going to be a little more difficult that I thought… but I have given my word."
Fenris inched back a little and looked towards Aragorn. For the moment, being inside that cell didn't seem to bad in comparison. He paused slightly and then finally lowered his hand. "Can I get an explanation? Who is this?"
"Oh come on Fenny!" Aragorn pleaded in a taunt. "I see the jail life hasn't brightened your views on my jokes then; a real shame."
Aragorn reached out the moment he saw Fenris lunge towards Lasher in a attack. The least the Warden needed was all three of them in a cell next for a brawl. So when Lasher happened to grasp onto his fist, a relief was thrown over him… Almost. At least until he began twisting… What was he, in a room full of children!?
"Lasher…" He growled under his breath with a shake of his head as he brought his eyes to a close. "We need to get along children."
After he opened his eyes he saw Lasher smelling the elf; which brought Aragorn to take a sudden step back, in surprise. Not often did you see men, sniffing men. "What are you doing?" He asked curiously in a whisper unsure if his questions would be answered. As he heard Fenris ask who this man was. That it brought the commander to glance to the elf in his response.
"This is Lasher. He kind of saved our asses or more so Anders while we helped him. Then he tried to attack Leliana, but it's all good now." He replied with a nod of his head in a carefree manner while waving a hand over towards the male beside him. "But none of that's to worry about, as he will be traveling with us from now on."
"He's what?" Fenris asked in shock and pointed back at Lasher as if the other man was some kind of devious Satanist. "You can't be sersious. The man looks like he wants to devour my flesh…! …Off my bones!"
"Oh tighten your lady's under-pants. Not everything is about you." Lasher scoffed and folded his arms. Turning slightly away as to guide them out of there before any other guards might try to put all of them in cells, he glanced back towards Aragorn briefly. "If you're really that curious of me, I'll explain my resume when we're not around certain opposition."
Fenris glared towards him, finding that he was at least faced with this man's back for now. In a since, it felt more comforting than having him actually near him. He clicked his tongue against his teeth and started to follow after them. "Right…"
After reuniting and waiting until Anders had finally had his rest, all of them had packed up and headed directly South once more. Hopefully, there wouldn't be any more troubles along the way. That was the last thought, at least until Anders had woken up again. The blonde mage looked down at his templar uniform and started to sit up in the carriage.
"Wha- What is this?" Anders questioned and started to freak out loudly from within the carriage. "What in Andraste's name am I wearing?"
Of course Lasher's cackles was heard from behind the carriage, since he initially knew the cause of distress. It was the best prank to pull on any mage—despite what level of 'pure intentions' he had to keep the mage hidden in plain sight, from before.
From the driver's seat in the front, Fenris was certainly snickering too. Just about anything that caused Anders a bit of distress would have gained his approval anyway. He could glance from the corner of his eyes and watched as the templar armor Anders was previously wearing, was suddenly being removed and thrown out the window.
"Get it off! Get it off-get-it-off-get-it-offa-me!" Anders demanded in his disgust until he had at last limped back down into his seat, wearing his original Robes of Rebellion, thankfully.
"What is all that ruckest!" Aragorn mumbled, as he tried to lean around and about to look into the carriage. From Fenris' snickering and Lashers as well it brought curiosity to the Wardens mind. That he eventually poked a head almost through the window, while holding onto the side of the carriage with his legs. "Oh…" He responded briefly, as he shifted back into his seat, now knowing Anders had awoken. Finally, and was being a typical mage about his clothing. Though it was humorous, he still didn't chuckle along with the others and instead shook his head in disbelief.
As for Leliana, she was somewhat resting in the corner of the carriage; the opposite end of Anders. As she peaked through an eye she couldn't help but smile at the sight of him peeling off the armor. "And here I was getting use to you wearing that."
She couldn't help but pout at the last flying piece of Templar armor out the window. A part of her wanted to halt the carriage and gather it back up for 'next time' but she knew by Anders reaction that he would have never been caught dead in such attire again.
"Darn, a girls dream never comes true." She teased as she stood up for a moment and wobbly made her way over to sit next to him. "I was hoping ya would role play a bit for me in that. Justice wouldn't because he's a big spoil sport."
"Me? Roleplay in that? Never." Anders winced some at the idea and crossed his arms. "How did I even end up in something like-"
Then the memories started to return to him. He hung his head for the moment and frowned. "Okay… that's the last time I ever drink whiskey."
Though the minute he had finished speaking, an arrow shot through the first door and remained stuck in the swinging handle. The tip of the arrowhead was bright and still carried a brick of mud and flame attached to it. Of course seeing it initially strike through did cause Anders to jump and quickly reach towards Leliana in order to have shielded her—despite how for or close the arrow would have ended up.
He stared back at in the event of being startled and mumbled a little. "…On second thought, the choice between that and just a person's small clothes—might make a difference in my choice."
Anders moved towards the window and bravely stuck his head out to see what was happening. From the east an approaching horde of darkspawn were charging towards them. Though that wasn't the main alarm; the more important thing was the arrows coming towards the carriage.
"Get down, you idiot!" Lasher scowled towards him just moments before reaching back for his sword and his shield. He hadn't given much of an order, nor information, before charging off towards the battle.
Anders had ended up ducking just in time as the arrows whizzed past his head, while the remaining few ended up sticking into the sides of the carriage. He flinched some and cautiously attempted to peer out the window for a second time.
"Who's that…?" He started to question; though at the moment there really wasn't much time for more conversation.
Fenris regretfully had slowed down the carriage and reached for his blade against his back. "Should we fight? We can leave him, you know…"
"How can you say that with him staring at those things in the face?" Anders snapped up at him and then pointed towards the darkspawn hoard.
"Quite easily, it seems." Fenris retorted, though still prepared to have fled just as quickly to fight. "I just know I wouldn't fight too close to him."
"Shucks!" Leliana pouted in an disappointed tone of voice; which was all acted of course with a stomp of her foot. She was about to explain his night, er… Moring with Aragorn but she had noticed he recalled it; making it easy on her, for now. "Yes no more whiskey, you flirt." She replied with a wag of her finger which had possibly only lasted about a few seconds if that until she was interrupted by a sudden arrow flying right past her. But the body shield of which Anders provided shocked her possibly even more as she was taken down. "Anders!" She called out with a hand pressing against his chest and another around his torso. "Please be careful, I don't need you to be impaled with any arrows."
Leliana was about to follow Anders lead in going to one of the windows, which thankfully she didn't as the arrows which flew through the windows, pinged through the wooden base nearly next to her. That it brought a nervous chuckle to pass out her lips. "Looks like we got a lot of company."
Aragorn from outside had already begun to stand to his feet and reached back un-sheathing his sword to draw it out. "We're not leaving him." He demanded. "If you want to leave fine, but I won't turn my back on someone to be torn to pieces by some vile darkspawn like in Ostagar." He stated, as he jumped down from the platform of the carriage and down to the ground making a solid connection before rushing into battle, swinging his sword left to right.
"Well I guess that answers that." Leliana muttered as she rushed to the door, and before leaving she grabbed onto her bow and bundle of arrows that she swung onto her back as she rushed to the battlefield to aid in the fight again the darkspawn.
"I—" Fenris sighed quickly after watching as the two had charged directly off. He looked down below him, seeing that Anders and Leliana had already headed to at least a safe distance in order to continue fighting. Unsheathing his sword completely, he leaped down from the carriage next. "Vanhedas."
From farther up ahead, Lasher was carving his way though the frontlines of the horde. He had a suicide method of fighting; almost as if he enjoyed the attacks that tore into him. It challenged him, fueling his rage more and adding more power for his berserk-technique. When one of the first darkspawns that charged towards him had struck downwards, Lasher leaned to the opposite side and trapped his opponent's arm by chipping it with the edge of his shield.
Upon coming up, he swung with his sword at the creature's neckline. This action sliced open the darkspawn's vital organ and began a raining shower of black vile blood. If another would normally come up from behind him, Lasher was able to tilt his shield backwards and use it's edge for an offensive strike against his next opponent's neck before swinging around lastly to finish the enemy off. He used both his shield and sword as weapons throughout most of his fighting, quickly slimming down the opposition.
"Is this all you sods got? Go home to your mothers!" He taunted to the creatures after pushing through the first six that started to surround him.
Lasher felt something solid strike his knee suddenly, and though he did momentarily stumble, he was still laughing. His hand touched the ground, and in response to the rock magic that was thrown at him, Lasher leveled the playing field by cleansing the area around him of all magic for at least a short while. He hoped it would have been long enough to deal with the ones that dealt out magic against him.
After hearing some of the battle cries Lasher was shouting to the enemy, Anders couldn't help but feel even a bit more lost to the situation. Though he was focused on channeling his magic out on the Emissaries, he still was a bit side-tracked. Anders shrugged his shoulders some, mumbling a little to himself. "…I guess he hasn't faced a darkspawn before…"
Fenris had hurled into the fray with his large sword swing down at least two at a time. His body glowed in the reaction of his emotions for battle, pulsing the lyrium heavily in his veins. His attacks were able to knock back the first ones that came in pairs, and normally amputate the second ones. All the while, Fenris was having to keep his distance at least in battle; knowing not to get too close to the new 'recruit' when fighting. He just seemed like the type of person that would attack anything that carried a weapon.
After Lasher had eventually gotten thrown backwards and felt his onyx armor being dented in from the swings, he laughed and reached outward with his blade to stab the next oncoming attack in the next darkspawn's skull. "That's it! Rip me apart! Summon a demon or something!"
"Stop giving them ideas!" Fenris started to shout at him and then looked past the horde, watching as two large ogres came charging towards them.
The second Leliana rushed out she halted to a skidding stop upon seeing the Hurlocks, Emissarys, and Genlocks. Even how cute the little tiny Genlocks may have been… Right? She drew an arrow back as quickly as she could seeing a single one rushing to her in a waddling motion with an sword swinging in the air. Her arrow struck through the cavity of his chest. Throwing the darkspawn back a few yards until he collided towards the ground.
As for Aragorn he went to the horde, yet again throwing himself out into the playing field. Using his sword in his right hand to slash away to any close by darkspawn. While his other arm held by his forearm was his shield. Using it either for its main purpose or to whack the decomposing humanoids away which drew too close to his little set area.
Leliana shook her head in disbelief to Lashers words as they filled her ears. That she couldn't help but chuckle next to Fenris reply. Doing this had caused a blood invested sword to be swung, almost causing her to be beheaded on the spot. A shout of fright escaped her lips, all which was cut was her rising red locks by a few centimeters as she dropped down in a twirl and with her arrow which she held in her hand, she used to strike it forward into the abdomen of the Hurlock that had almost put her to her demise. The darkspawn staggered a few steps back, wrapping his ghoulish hand around the base of the arrow, pulling it out.
With Lelianas hand still wrapped around the end, she was pulled towards the darkspawn in a hold she couldn't escape. At first she squirmed then she yelped seeing as how the darkspawn drew closer and closer with every inch. It seemed he was going to eat her alive! And with widening eyes she attempted to reach for something but halted upon hearing words call out from ahead.
"Duck!" Aragorn shouted as he was running towards the rouge and darkspawn.
"Duck?" Leliana repeated questioningly, but after Aragorn had begun to reach the two the command he shouted processed in her head and she ducked as well as she could in that moment.
Aragorn picked up his pace nearing the two, as he lunged towards them in almost a pounce while he swung his sword to the Hurlocks neck; decapitating him on the spot. That his arms released Leliana in their firm hold as the headless body rolled to the ground.
Panting for a moment, Aragorn trailed over to Leliana knelling beside her collapsed body which knelt to the ground as well. A heavy hand rested on her shoulder as he parted his lips to ask. "You ok—"
But this wouldn't be answered as the ground underneath them began to tremble. Causing the duo to look up. Seeing not one, but two Ogres… "Really?" They whispered in almost a unison manner, as Aragorn stood to his feet and held out a hand to Leliana as if to help her up as well. Which the rouge took, unsure if her adrenaline rushed legs would allow her to stand on her own.
"You know what to do." Aragorn spoke towards Leliana as he regrasped on his sword and with it, tucked it to his side and ran back into battle to hopefully at least take one Ogre out. As Leliana in the background had kept an eye on not just his back, but everyone else's from the oncoming if not never ending darkspawn.
Anders was caught in a locked battle against an stubborn Emissary who was trying to keep Fenris frozen in a petrified spell. He was hitting the creature with wave after wave of smaller attacks in order to break his concentration and give Fenris enough time to have reached him. Though from the corner of his eyes, he was seeing Leliana getting attacked, and from each second he saw pass by before his eyes, he was wanting to retreat more to her side.
When the Hurlocks had started to make their moves towards Leliana next, Anders had practically lost nearly off of his concentration of the stubborn Emissary. Luckily by that time, Fenris had caught up to that particular darkspawn though and was able to continue in his battle with ease. Anders could see that Aragorn was quick to handling the situation, but that still hadn't stopped the mage from turning towards them and focus at the very least a Haste spell on Aragorn to cause his movements to be faster.
With his back turned, and after casting the actual spell, he felt a blunt object strike the back of his neck. Anders flinched as his eyes started to glow. He turned back around and released a fire-blast at the Hurlock that had approached him too close. The mage was lucky that it wasn't a blade this time…
Feeling the ground shake, Fenris had tensed in his moment to brace himself against the charging ogres. He turned his blade sideways for a blocking maneuver as the beasts both came head onward. He wasn't given enough time to have jumped out of the way and so he only prayed for the best when the orgre to the left had crashed against him. He knocked him to the ground, pinning him down and raised his giant arms up high to smash him flat as a pancake.
From that moment, Lasher had switched his shield, placing it more onto his back and took his sword in both hands. He finished clearing his main field of darkspawn and looked towards the orger that was coming close to actually either seriously injuring Fenris or killing him. He ran towards a nearby tree and leaped to its lowest limb. He couldn't spin; of course due to the heavy armor, but he did climb just barely quick enough to leap onto his largely selected prey.
He locked his legs around the giant's neck and started a stabbing frenzy against the back of his head. It was mostly done to grasp his attention. The ogre roared, showering Fenris with it's spent blood and saliva, and reached up, trying to grasp or punch his attacker. Lasher only grunted from each wailing blow and clamped his legs tighter around the monster's neck in order to hang on. When he finally did gain a victory, Lasher slammed his sword down into the ogre's brain and quickly twisted the blade at an angle for more damage.
Fenris barely had enough time to even curse as he saw the orgre starting to fall. He rolled away along the ground just as the giant tumbled down to its knees in a gushing fountain of sickened blood. His eyes widened at the bloodlust Lasher seemed to have held in his eyes. The man was laughing even when his armor was punched, dented inwards, and even cut. He was learning of this man's Revear and Berserker tendencies; that clearly didn't have much of an off-switch.
"That's enough of this!" Anders's tone growled after reserving quite a bit of mana for himself.
He raised his arms high into the air and summoned a blizzard spell, that froze the rest of the two remaining darkspawn and the last ogre solid. Which would leave the others clearly enough time to finish off the creature, if his spells couldn't get to it first…
Though when all the fighting was done, the mage was left to rub the sore spot his neck. He closed his eyes to try and calm his anger before Justice had a chance to rekindle himself. He looked towards Leliana and opened his eyes once more, the minute his hues had calmed.
"Leliana!" He called and started to run to her first. He reached out, embracing her tightly once the danger had been over.
For Lasher, the fun hadn't seemed to ever be over. His eyes remained fixed with the crazed look of bloodlust. He needed to find something to kill; something to keep his adrenaline high and it wouldn't have mattered what it was as long as it would put up a decent fight. He looked towards Fenris who was starting to stand back up. He charged towards him with his sword preparing to swing downward.
Fenris rolled more on the alert to dodge the attack. He held up his blade back in its defensive and started to shout at him. "You bloody idiot! That does it!"
The mage glanced up, looking back from over his shoulder towards Lasher attacking Fenris once the entire battle had been over and done with. He arched an eyebrow at this behavior and held out his arm towards Lasher for a freezing spell. The minute that Lasher had been frozen all the way up to his neck, Fenris pulled himself back up to his feet and sheathed his sword. The elf seemed to have known more of what was going on—or so Anders had hoped.
"Stupid! Wake up!" Fenris started to scowl, while trying to calm his own fear down. He raised his fist and punched Lasher right dead in the forehead.
The strike knocked Lasher's head back briefly, but he held it there and laughed a crazed cackle before straightening his neck and looking back at him once more. "You hit like my bloody sister!"
Fenris grinded his teeth and punched him again. Seeing that this was not really helping the matter, Anders shook his head and lowered his arms from Leliana.
"That's not going to help." The mage started to say.
"Venhalla fishah!" Fenris cursed and turned away, spitting at the ground before glaring back towards Lasher's demonic grin. How he wanted to just slap that smirk off his face so much; but he knew Anders had a point. The more pain he gave to him, it just seemed to fuel the man's excitement. "It certainly helps me relieve of something!"
"That man's a Reaver, Fenris…" Anders stated in order to explain more. He turned slightly, and walked towards them once he was certain that the area was safe. The creeping curious smile pulled at his lips for the moment, since he really hadn't seen a Reaver in quite some time. "…And a Berserker, I think… A very dangerous combination to be near."
"You think I don't know that? That's what I was saying!" Fenris shot Anders a slight glare before looking towards Aragorn last. "The man clearly doesn't have a 'shut-off' valve in his sanity department, Aragorn."
"Didn't he just save you a few minutes ago?" Anders started to question.
"And then tried to kill me!" Fenris quickly scowled back again.
"You got too close." Lasher scoffed and closed his eyes, and for once his demonic smile had seemed to fade a little. "Yes, my unorthodox training might be an endurance most are not use to… I need communication in order to … 'keep my wits about me' …as you seem to say. Otherwise, it's best to just point me in the right direction and stay out of my damn way."
"You walked to me." Fenris growled.
Lasher's eyebrows lifted and he opened his eyes back to him once more. "I need a good twenty-foot radius clear of me, and at least ten bloody minutes to myself in order to calm down."
Leliana's arrows impaled through and through any darkspawn that dared to get in her sights. After that was cleared and put aside for the time being she put her attention finally to one of the ogres, and as she saw Fenris practically being owned by one she began to work on that one. Releasing arrows to any opening which was an easy target and nowhere near the two of her comrades. But then she glanced to Aragorn, seeing he happened to be rushing quite quickly over to the frozen ogre and through the last darkspawn. Before she followed his lead she quickly made due to the last two darkspawn. Aligning her sights to their sockets and releasing the arrow to each of them. As her attention was taken to Anders seeing the Hurlock which neared him. And as he was hit, she even winched as this almost caused the rouge to sprint towards him. Though she saw, thankfully he wasn't hit with a weapon and she took another arrow, shooting it towards the Hurlock as he was put ablaze.
Aragorn dropped his shield for the time being and instead reached back for his other sword, though he was a warrior he still sometimes used two swords on special occasions. With the haste spell still in effect he rushed to the ogre sliding behind the beast and with the tips of his swords he slashed away at its achilles heels.
With the rouge nearing in closer for a better shot, she drew back two enchanted arrows, in a single shot. This caused the final blow of breaking the frozen spell around the Orge. And thus making it swing an arm towards Aragorn which he happened to duck just in time. As the Orge now faced him in a staggering motion and fixating his stance to the Warden, Aragorn coaxed the beast on with a wave of his hand; which brought the beast to lunge forward. Aragorn didn't retreat; instead he stood his ground and thrusted forward with one of his longer swords into the ogre's belly. That he slide up once he felt the warmth of the crimson blood wash over him.
"Aragorn watch out!" Leliana shouted out as she watched the scene before her, the ogre was of course stumbling forward. And with Aragorn in front and practically almost underneath, or would be soon. He would be crushed.
Before such a thing occurred though and as the roaring of the beast filled the males ears he quickly slipped the blade from the ogres belly and just as he was about to roll out, the ogre happened to take a step back, tripping over his own feet with its hands covered over its wound before it fell bleeding out to its demise.
After the area was finally clean of attacking darkspawn, Leliana managed to sigh a sigh of relief as she quickly clasped her bow back to her back; and just as she was about to turn her attention to Fenris and Lasher. Anders called out to her, as this brought her to remember how close she was to deaths doorstep. Her body collided against his in almost a weak manner as the excitement from the battle had worn her down a few pegs. "Sorry." She whispered against his chest, while attempt to catch her breath. "The darn thing caught me by surprise." Leaning back she took a moment to glance up to him. "Then again you got hit too. Are you okay?"
Aragorn panted upon stalking back over to the group. But before reaching the rest he was sure to grab his shield that he tossed to the ground. He couldn't help but look to Fenris and Lasher though seeing as how 'close' the two were. That it even brought him to suddenly rush back over to the group. But seeing as how Anders happened to take things in his own hands he slowed his pace to more of a normal stalk towards the duo. He couldn't help but let a chuckle spew out his lips before speaking towards the elf after seeing him hit Lasher repeatedly. "Haven't you ever heard two wrongs don't make a right?" Though he felt Fenris' eyes beaming on him, he didn't say a word and instead walked near Fenris' side to lay a hand upon the elfs shoulder, giving a small pat.
"Come on Fenris, you just gotta remember. Stay. Away. It's simple really." He added with a shrug of his shoulders, before glancing over to Leliana and the mage. "See just look at them there being just peachy fine with him."
"Yeah cause I had to learn the hard way." Leliana muttered back, as she turned to face Aragorn, Fenris and Lasher as she sat down at least for a moment which was clear of fallen darkspawn to recollect herself.
"I just got a little bump on my neck…" Anders chuckled a little to Leliana's question and idly reached up to rub it a bit. "Not sure what that darkspawn was thinking."
The mage then looked towards Aragorn trying to calm down Fenris, who happened to have been growling like an angered wolf back at the redheaded male. He shook his head some at the sight. In Anders opinion, Fenris and Lasher both were wild animals at short tempers with each other. One resembled a beast known loyalty and the other clearly a twisted capricious reptile. A Wolf and a Snake. He wasn't certain if it would have ever been safe for Aragorn to continue with attempting at keeping peace between them, but he had to give the Commander credit for trying. Aragorn always seemed to at least attempt that much.
He sighed some and started to glance back towards Leliana after she had moved down to the ground. "…Is anyone hurt? I still have mana left for healing if it's needed."
"I'd like to not be a Maker-damn-ice-burg anymore, if you don't mind." Lasher piped up quickly and tore his locked taunting glare away from Fenris for the moment.
Anders tapped his chin some and started to smirk once more. "I don't know… Can you behave if I thaw you out?"
"Aye." Lasher responded in a slight tired sigh—whether boredom, or possibly irritation at the mage for the brief moment—"The knife ear is safe from me, now."
"Must you use that awful term? It's highly prejudice." Fenris grumbled with a sneer, but he eventually turned away—heading more towards Aragorn's side since he wanted so show that he could remain just as calm if needed.
"Must you deny who and what you blighted are? It's highly blasphemous." Lasher retorted with a roll of his eyes.
"Must you get the last say in everything? You're not getting a damn prize." Fenris growled back in a growing annoyed retort.
"Makers' Breath…! Go off and get married somewhere." Anders sighed and walked towards him. He opened his hand and used a warming fire spell in order to carefully thaw Lasher out.
"Shut your mouth, mage!" Fenris snapped at Anders upon the minute he heard him.
Aye. I don't appreciate that tone either." Lasher added with a slight look of disgust.
Anders couldn't' help but smile big at this after Lasher was free. He soon lowered his arm; still a bit proud of himself, and then braced his arms back against his hips. "Finally. A bit of progress… Now, what was your name again, Red?"
"Lasher…" He responded back with a slight stunned moment towards the mage. Then he started to remember, that of course Anders wouldn't have remembered him, since he introduced himself to Anders's possessed half, rather. So, he moved to sheath his sword lastly and spoke again. "I am… somewhat in service to you and on borrowed time until I find the bloodmage named Tempest, and a Pirate named Isabela."
"You mean, like a bodyguard?" Anders asked and rose a slight eyebrow in his question.
Lasher shrugged some and then gestured with his hand to one side as he continued in his repeated explanation from before. "You are Tevinter's Icon; a symbol for Mage Freedom, which is something the Black Divine is currently at war with against Orlais and Starkhaven. If you sodding die, or so much as get taken captive by outside interference, while I'm nearby- I won't be able to return home. So, …no… I don't have a true assigned obligation to you, but at same time I don't need rumors of me possibly being a deserter of my homeland."
"I get it, I get it… You need the excuse to be outside of the Black Divine's laws, for something else." Anders waved his hands up and shook them a little as to signal him to stop explaining. He then reached up to his toes for the moment and pressed his fingers together as he spoke again. "Well. Lasher. Ser Aragorn, here, is somewhat my excuse as well. He's actually in a higher rank than me—"
"Aye, I figured that." Lasher nodded quickly, which had caused Anders's shoulder to chip slightly from the truthful-yet mocking-interruption.
"Anyway… On this borrowed time then, you are to follow his orders just as if you were to follow my own." The mage continued and closed his eyes briefly. "As for Leliana, and Fenris, you are to respect them just as highly as if you were to respect me."
"Yeah, yeah…" Lasher scoffed but continued his attention away from them; soon to start rummaging through darkspawn bodies.
"Well I'm glad the darkspawn wasn't thinking." Leliana added with an arch of her brow as she wiggled around some to get in a more comfortable sitting as she tucked her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her kneecaps.
Aragorn shook his head some at the ongoing argumentative males. It was never ending, and a never ending headache for him. It seemed if it wasn't Fenris and Anders going at each others throats, then it was Lasher and Fenris, or all three of them; like it was now. Obviously the Warden needed to think of something to get these two along, at least until they reached Kirkwall and then hopefully they could, possibly go on different paths for the time being until they had to leave.
"I think I agree with Anders." Aragorn announced finally as he looked to the mage. "Fenris would quite well in while don't you think Leliana?" He asked curiously in a joking tone of voice to hear her opinion on the matter since she was so enthralled with fashion.
Leliana had her head skunked down for the moment, which had risen when she heard her name slip from the Wardens lips. "Hm?" She hummed lightly as her emerald hues glued to the male. At first she was in a blanked out state until his words had finally processed through. "I'm not getting in the middle of this." She responded as she planted her palm against the soil underneath and pushed herself up; winching some in the process from her body being spent from the battle.
"Well I see how it is." Aragorn muttered as he finally after wiping his sword against some form of fabric on his armor that he sheathed it back into its casing. "We should be off. Don't want to dabble and wait for more darkspawn to come now do we?" Aragorn questioned curiously as he trailed over towards the carriage, as he climbed back to the seat he was before with Fenris waiting for the rest of the crew to join him.
Anders nodded and turned, soon to follow after Leliana. However, he paused in his mid turn and looked back from the corner of his eyes; seeing that the crimson-haired warrior was still rummaging through the bodies. He appeared to be looking for something, but he couldn't seem to find it. The mage finally turned back around and gestured to Leliana to go ahead back to the carriage. By then, he turned back around to face the man who seemed lost in his own world for the moment.
"What is he doing now?" Anders started to question and walk next to Fenris.
The elf folded his arms and tilted his head, since he wasn't quite sure either. Lasher remained hunched over two Hurlocks and was searching through their pockets. He had started to grumble and curse when he couldn't find what he was looking for and suddenly grabbed one of the dead creatures by the arm and opened his mouth.
"Oh, wait a minute—" Fenris started to mumble under his breath and then raised his voice so that Lasher could have heard him. "Hey! I wouldn't do that if I were you!"
"What in Maker's—" Anders cringed quickly, seeing Lasher dive forward towards the limb, as if the redhead was going to actually feast on something that rotten and vile.
Lasher flinched suddenly before he could get the chance to sink his sharpened teeth into his prey. He paused and then looked back over his shoulder with a slight grown sneer. "Would you rather I eat out your damn heart instead?"
Fenris glared at him and folded his arms once more. "You know what? On second thought, go right ahead—ow-"
Anders elbowed the elf but quickly turned his attention back to him. "Lasher, don't you know anything about darkspawn? Their blood is poisonous! You'll die if you consume it, and trust me, you won't look pretty."
The redheaded male's nose twitched at the wrist in his hand and he threw down the arm in disappointment. "Well that's just sodding great! I'm going to be having the shakes for the rest of the trip."
"The shakes?" Anders questioned and raised an eyebrow slightly.
Fenris glanced towards him and shook his head. "He serves under the Templar Order, which means he's addicted to lyrium."
"I am not!" Lasher quickly scowled and pulled himself back up to his feet.
"Oh, please… Your mouth waters when you look at me. I know all about your kind." Fenris scoffed and turned away to head towards the carriage.
The mage couldn't help but snicker some at Fenris's choice of words when he turned and watched him head away. "You're coming on there a bit strong, Fenris. I figured you'd at least wait until after the wedding for that kind of talk."
"Shut up!" Fenris flinched and scowled from over his shoulder. His cheeks turned a slight color of pink, but he wouldn't dare give Anders the satisfaction of seeing it. "You're at as much risk as I am with a lunatic like him around, you know. You're chalk-full of mana, so don't think you're any safer from being eaten."
"Yeah. Well now. Thanks for that." Anders beamed in his sarcastic tone and then sighed before looking back to Fenris and pointed towards the carriage. "Come on, now. The Commander's waiting. I've bound to have something that will help you in my pack. Alright?"
Lasher hadn't said anything as he stood up and followed after them. He was too busy hugging his left arm against his side and cursing the Divines underneath his breath.
Leliana hesitated into going into the carriage the moment Anders had halted. That she looked to Lasher as well, at least for a moment to see what he was doing. She noticed though that she really didn't care, and that Anders gesture of her returning to the carriage seemed so much more inviting that she took it and went in, leaving the door open for whomever that wished to come in as well after her as she sat down in the corner in a relaxed state, practically melting into the seat.
For Aragorn he happened to glance towards the warrior, then to Anders and Fenris; hearing their words slightly. Though they were still far away from him that he could all but make out a few mumbles. "Eh?" He questioned as he scooted to the edge of his seat to hopefully get a better ears range of hearing what they were speaking of. But this failed, and instead the Warden looked to Lasher.
What he could see was the male still hunched over, rummaging through the fallen darkspawn. Aragorn attempted to narrow his oceanic orbs to the male in a curious manner at least this was until he brought up a torn limb, which ceased that curious nature and brought a sudden fear to replace it. He was about to lunge off the carriage in fright to stop the male, but it was if his hearing was heightened and he heard of what Anders told him of the blood being tainted. That it suddenly brought a sigh of relief to fall over the commander. "Thank the Maker." He whispered under his breath as he slumped down into his seat.
"Are you two at it again…?" Aragorn questioned in an aspirated tone of voice as he shifted his cranium over towards the mage and elf. "Seriously haven't you two ever thought I possibly brought Lasher along to get rid of both of you if you two happened not to get along, and so you'll just both just… Shut… Up!" He exclaimed. "I swear to Andraste herself if you don't get on this carriage now I will leave you two alone with him so he will finish you off. And then I will come back for Lasher."
Anders's eyes widened from Aragorn's threat of leaving them behind. The thought of being torn limb from limb and soon devoured really caused his legs to move a little faster to the carriage. Though from the saddened and frightened look in his eyes; it almost had still seemed like a joke to him.
"You would not dare!" The mage pleaded.
Fenris had glanced behind him towards Lasher who seemed to have been all-for the idea, if only it was true. His glare had soon turned to Aragorn next when he climbed up to the driver seat. "That's a real bad joke, Aragorn."
"I warned the Commander that traveling with you would bring out the worst in me." Anders sighed and jumped to the foot of the carriage. He reached into his knapsack, pulling out a small bottle of a blue liquid and handed it to Lasher. "To think we were even worse six years ago…"
Lasher looked at the bottle in his hands and questioned it. He really, really did not want to take lyrium directly as a drink. He was going to have to think of something, for his own sanity to accept—if he was going to drink this stuff. He waited till Anders had gotten inside before closing the door and soon returned back to the rear of the carriage in order to continue following. He didn't need to ride; in fact—he was hoping that if he continued walking it would have kept his cravings mostly at bay.
Though his eyes kept going back to the small bottle in his hands. Lasher finally couldn't take his cravings for the substance anymore and removed his left gauntlet. When the carriage had started to move, there was the sound of something being tossed to the rear side of the carriage.
"Now, what-?" Anders started to ask and looked out the back window to see Lasher sink the back part of his exposed arm into his mouth.
He chewed down hard, and hardly without a building wince as the blood poured down from around his arm. Anders cringed and tried to fight down the sudden sickness he felt. The blonde mage's eyes were wide and his head was a bit woozy as he soon opened the door to the carriage and jumped back out.
"Are you crazy?" He started to shout and quickly raised his hands up to use healing magic on the warrior's arm once he was finished.
"I didn't have a damn choice—and I'm not drinking this stuff straight. That's what makes people addicts." Lasher started to grumble and switched between his current 'meal' and the lyrium in order to finish his cravings.
"I hate to break it to you, but if you start having a physical need for any substance, then you're pretty much addicted to it." Anders retorted a little nervously and soon paused; hearing Fenris raising the reigns and crack them lightly against the horses.
He grabbed the lyrium vile back and used it to guide Lasher into running faster and jumping into the carriage. After instructing the redheaded male to sit down across from them, Anders had finally sat down and was able to at last just relax for a little while and focus his magic on the lunatic.
Aragorn couldn't help but smirk at the sudden fear that could be seen in Anders eyes of him mentioning to leave them. Possibly he should do this more often as it seemed it got those damn bones of theirs to move quicker. And it was really getting tiring of all this stop and go nonsense as he knew his ass would be chewed out by Alistair if had reached him sometime this year.
"I would and I could." Aragorn replied as he grabbed the reins as a form of a threat. But this ceased the moment he saw Fenris climbing up, that he happened to hand the reins over to the elf and the Warden couldn't help but chuckle at the elf's words of his joke not being as funny. "It's because it was directed at you. I thought it was pretty funny. I don't know how the Champion dealt with you two, I would have killed you both, or better yet locked you together in a room till you got along or one of you killed the other."
As the traveling resumed Aragorn somewhat rested, relived they were on the road again. Hoping they would at least get to Kirkwall as soon as possible. If they could travel even at night, taking turns directing the carriage then they should have been there very quickly.
He wasn't expecting another interruption, as he felt no incoming darkspawn nor saw any thugs on the roads. So when he heard the thud emit from the back of the carriage it brought the Warden to flip around in a curious manner as he scanned the area. His concentration was then put on the mage as he left the carriage; a low aggregated growl escaped his lips as he shouted out the mages name. "Anders! Get back here!"
Leliana poked her head out to see what was going on; her emerald hues locking onto the mage and warrior as they spoke and eventually came trailing back to the carriage that she had spoken towards the Warden. "Have some patience Aragorn."
Sadly though, this caused the Warden to heave out a heavy sigh as he sat back down on the bench like seat next to Fenris as he waited patiently for the mage to climb back into the carriage.
Once the two had entered the carriage Leliana quickly closed the door behind them so the two could sit right away. As she made her way to her seat she reached up knocking on the wooden frame above their heads to give the 'go ahead' for Fenris to continue their driving. "And here I was going to seduce you Anders, and you had to ruin it all for me." She teased with a nudge of her ribs with her elbow.
"Oh, I don't know… The thought of love-bites is pretty kinky." Anders beamed with the joke, trying to keep the atmosphere light, despite Lasher's quiet and strange feeding habits.
When they had arrived to Kirkwall, the first two major sights that were normally taken in were the Gallows and the Viscount building. This was because they were coming in from the north and still were heading south. The tortured statues that remained high in place near the Gallows and the Order, were hardly something Lasher had concerned himself with.
He didn't care for the religious factions anymore than his concern over his Lordship's current underwear. His mind was trying to figure out why Tempest and Isabela's trail would have been lead all the way into this city. What sort of connection was brought here, if there was any to begin with at all? Of course there was the fall of the Chantry in this city, which would have been a large piece to a puzzle—but Lasher didn't see how it connected to a pirate who stole Tevinter slaves, and a Tevinter Ex-Slaver who suddenly chose to desert his homeland. Lasher was still missing something; he just didn't know what.
Anders had only felt his hand slightly tighten around Leliana's in return. He stared at the buildings and the statues that tormented him. All of the familiar feelings he had about this city were coming back to him in waves of bitterness, regret and even hate. It was so distraught that he could practically hear Justice in his conscious mind, scowling at him for making this foolish decision. Someone was going to die in this city; he just knew it…and once it happens, just like before, the death would not stop.
"I can't believe I'm doing this…" The mage started to say in a trembling voice. "This is crazy. This is nuts. This is ludicrous—"
"Are the Circles here truly that different from the Imperium?" Lasher questioned after raising a slight eyebrow towards Anders's odd behavior.
"It is very different. Here, the mages are slaves to the templars." Anders answered, though chose to keep his voice low, since he didn't want Fenris to hear him. Such a statement would immediately start up another bickering, and Anders just wasn't in the mood for it. The argument would eventually escalate into something personal all over again.
"Don't they have slaves already?" Lasher asked and then leaned back in his seat.
"Amazingly, slavery isn't really looked on as highly down here than it is in the Imperium." Anders answered with a nervous grin.
"That's because there aren't that many bloodmages attempting to market human and elven souls for their blood rituals." Fenris piped up from the driver seat, only hearing the last bit of Anders's statement.
"Ah, damn it." Anders grumbled and hung his head; trying so hard to have been quiet. He paused for the moment, and then lifted his head once more in order to speak to Fenris from the window. "You know, no matter how you look at it, the slavery of mages and the slavery of those without magic are still just based upon the same issues of slavery. Neither one of them is correct."
"I'm not arguing that." Fenris answered firmly, but kept his gaze staring onward. "However, which do you think is more likely to turn another person into a slave first? A mage who is susceptible to the whispers of demons or a human who only has the sound of coin to listen to?"
"They're both vices, but they're still completely different. That's like apples and oranges!" Anders frowned at the statement.
"I'd say it's both." Lasher said upon closing his eyes. "Because the bloodmage I seek was a slaver, and a Commander of his Lordship's army. Just like me."
For the moment, that last statement had cleared the air with even more foul thoughts. Though it had been Fenris, who spoke up, once they had reached the opening gates. "…The sooner we meet with Naomi, the better."
Upon entering Kirkwall Leliana tried to keep her eyes steady and ahead of her. But it had been so, so long since she had last came to this place that the last time she did see it was when it was in havoc after Anders aftermath. Though for the most part, it seemed as if they were rebuilding… Her emerald hues shot to the statutes of gold plated on and around the walls sighing some at the sights before finally turning her attention to her grasped hand which was squeezed by Anders.
An uneasy smile had tugged at the corner of her lips as her hues traveled over to the mage, and in return she gave a firm hold to his hand in a reassurance. She tried to just concentrate on her pace, taking one step at a time. Which all seemed to echo through her ears in a thudding emitting sound. Or was that her heart rate rising? Whichever it was, obviously this place was not only getting to Anders.
Neither Aragorn nor Leliana took thought to the three male's conversation of the slaves, as Aragorn seemed to be gawking at the sights. And Leliana hues shot to the Warden then further ahead past him to hopefully keep an watchful eye out for any Templars, or better yet ones that knew her. It was only a matter of time until someone possibly walked up and confronted her or Anders.
"You two arguing already?" Aragorn began to question finally, as he managed to hear the last bits of the conversation. "Can't you three ever speak nicely to one another?" Aragorn shook his head knowing this was useless as his gaze was then put to the large steel gates. He straighten his appearance as he turned his full upmost attention to them before speaking out. "Looks like we made it." Aragorn stated as he halted before coming any closer to the gates. Wondering where they should part paths, here or possibly later? And how they would manage to get Anders past all those bloody Templars… "So where is the Champion at?" He began to question in attempt to block his mind from further thoughts as he folded his arms over his chest. "The quicker we get this done the sooner we can leave of this place." Aragorn paused momentarily as he looked back to the group as he spoke in a joking tone of voice next "Though I would love to see the sights."