They had reached the Wounded Coast by midday. There were dark clouds coming in from the west but it was still sunny. The rocky cliffs and scrub helped to shade the sunlight reflecting off the sands. Aveline took the lead from there, headed for where the ambush was supposed to occur. Anders found himself enjoying the sunshine and the cool breeze. It had been a while since he'd been out of Kirkwall. It was nice.
He caught Kattrin watching him. She smiled. "You seem happy."
"It's nice to get some fresh air. Kirkwall starts to stink after a bit."
Aveline turned to look at Kattrin. "There might be some stragglers before the main group. Nothing we can't handle."
Kattrin nodded and removed her staff from its holder on her back. Anders did the same. Varric loaded Bianca and ran up to Aveline in the lead. "Your bandits have probably set up a few surprises for us. Let me help you to keep an eye out before more than just the sand ruins my boots."
Aveline nodded and stayed close to the dwarf while Anders and Kattrin followed at a distance. They hadn't walked very far before they were attacked by four men.
He cast lightning at the closest one and saw Kattrin do the same. He smiled. It appeared they both enjoyed shooting lightning at fools. Aveline then bashed the highwayman with her shield. The first outlaw went down and Varric shot a bolt into the heart of the second one. Two down, two to go.
Suddenly, Kattrin screamed and fell to her knees. Standing behind her was a bandit assassin, and Kattrin's blood was bright on his twin daggers. Fear gripped Anders and he hurriedly cast a heal spell. A bolt went flying past him to catch the assassin in the shoulder. Varric cursed. The assassin vanished in a puff of smoke before Aveline could close in.
Kattrin looked at him with wide eyes. She gave a shaky laugh as got to her feet. She quickly got back into the fight, throwing ice at one bandit before he could re-engage Aveline from behind. Varric caught the last other with a bolt to the throat. They were all on their guard, waiting for the assassin to show again. Anders reached out with his senses, trying to locate the assassin. He hoped that he wouldn't be the next target. Kattrin said that she could heal but he didn't know how well and he didn't want to tempt fate.
There! He and Varric spun, both of them scattering the sand around them. Varric fired apparently at nothing at all before he could cast anything. There was a wet gurgling sound and the assassin appeared before falling over with a bolt to the throat.
"It's okay, Bianca. I know you only missed to avoid hitting Kattrin. All is forgiven."
Is the dwarf speaking to his crossbow?Anders heard Kattrin chuckle. Aveline only shook her head. Anders shrugged his shoulders. If everyone else took the dwarf talking to his crossbow in stride then he would, too.
Anders made his way around the fallen thugs to Kattrin and ran his hands across her back, delving with his magic to make sure she didn't have any poison in her system. When he finished checking her, he made rounds to Varric and Aveline. No one else appeared to be injured so they continued toward the ambush site with Varric and Aveline leading and Anders and Kattrin in the back.
They all stopped in front of a narrow pass between two rock faces. They looked at one another and after a silent agreement, they continued into the thin passageway guardedly.
"I don't like this," Anders said.
"You and me both, Blondie," replied Varric.
Blondie. He smiled at the nickname. He guessed it was better than Sparkle-fingers.
"Will you both shut—"
Before Aveline could finish, they heard, "Looks like we got visitors." Three men came around a bend in the path to stand before them. Before any of them could react, another voice spoke.
"Oy, we don't like people stickin' their noses where they don't belong." That came from behind them. Anders turned his head to see four men coming up from behind them.
Aveline bellowed, "Face me! I stand for all of us!" The three in front of Aveline yelled and charged her as one. Anders made a mental note to check on her.
That left the other four to Kattrin, Varric, and him. Varric chose the target furthest on the left and fired. Kattrin hurled a fireball hitting three of the four bandits, including the one Varric shot. The men screamed, running around in panicked, flaming circles. The uninjured brigand on the right advanced on Kattrin. Growling, Anders shot ice at him, freezing him in place. One of the other highwaymen got just a little too close to his blazing friends and the residual ice quenched the fire; before he could advance again, one of Varric's bolts when through his eye. Kattrin moved in on the iced bandit to hit him with her staff. He shattered in a spray of glittering, red chunks.
With the odds in their favor, Anders turned to see Aveline was still holding out against two, one of the bandits lay at her feet, but she was bleeding in several places. He cast a healing spell, enveloping Aveline in a blue light. Unfortunately, he drew the attention of one of her attackers. Calling on more mana, he cast another ice spell as quickly as he could. Aveline hit the frozen bandit, shattering him, and turned to her last opponent. Anders turned to shoot lightning at the bandit at the rear at the same time that Varric turned and shot the last bandit in front of Aveline.
"Well, we won," Anders said, smiling.
Varric just laughed and Kattrin smiled back at him. Aveline just nodded as she wiped her sword clean on a dead bandit's shirt before re-sheathing it.
"Does anyone need healing?"
Aveline said, "Not anymore, thank you." Varric just shook his head.
"I do," Kattrin said. She grimaced. "I think I tore open the new skin where I was stabbed."
Anders moved toward her. "Your stab wounds were deep. Let me take a look."
Kattrin had new blood on the back of her tunic. He drew on the Fade, sending his healing into her as he passed his hands along her shoulders.
"You might need more healing if you keep using your staff. You should focus on using more spells and only use your staff if you need to."
Kattrin turned her head to look at him over her shoulder and nodded.
They continued up the path, following it as it curved to the right, watching both back and front this time.
Varric held up his hand for a halt. He pulled what looked like a narrow leather tube from inside his coat. He unrolled it to reveal a series of shining silver instruments, some brushes and a few finely crafted vials filled with mysterious liquids. Removing a brush, he knelt and began to sweep away the sand in a meticulous manner. Fascinated, Anders moved closer to watch. Under Varric's care, sharp and rusted points started to emerge from the sand. He started to remove the sand from the middle of the points, revealing a flat, round piece of metal. Varric then put his brush down and reached for a small silver spoon. He began use both the spoon and the brush alternately to remove sand from around the bottom of the flat piece of metal, exposing a trigger. Switching tools again, Varric deftly disarmed the trigger and heaved a sigh of relief. Rolling up his implements and replacing them within his jacket, he stood and grinned broadly.
"Piece of cake."
It was Anders' turn to shake his head. He'd seen the Warden-Commander disarm traps, but she had long and delicate fingers not stubs like the dwarf. Sigrun boasted that she could do the same but he never saw it. He was impressed by such a show of dexterity.
They continued down the curving path diligently. As they came upon a wide expanse of sand, Kattrin stopped him with her right hand on his chest. His heart began to pound at her touch. She then pointed to something with her left.
"Hold up a minute," he called. Aveline and Varric turned. Aveline had her brows drawn down and was frowning. Varric was looking around, puzzled. Anders moved up the slope of the rock face to gather the healing herb.
"Sorry, with all the fighting we do, I just can't pass up a healing herb," Kattrin said to Aveline and Varric. Aveline caught Kattrin's eye and nodded. Anders wondered how long Kattrin had known this member of the guard.
Turning right at the end of the narrow path, they found they had gone in a circle around a large rocky outcropping. Backtracking, they went right from the narrow path. They came to a circular area with a rock pillar at the center. There were barrels on both sides of the pillar and a group of men just beyond it.
"There's our targets! For the Kirkwall guard!" Aveline yelled, pulling her sword as she ran at the group.
There were only four of them before one vanished in a puff of smoke. One of the bandits yelled, "We're under attack!" Suddenly, there were seven more bandits to contend with.
Anders threw a fireball at the newcomers as Kattrin did the same. He had a brief moment to consider how in sync they were before he heard Aveline scream. Instinctually, he threw a healing spell at her before launching a bout of ice just behind her three assailants. He managed to catch the bandits without hitting Aveline but it cost him the full freezing effect and Aveline's blows did not lead to shattering outlaws.
"To Aveline!" Kattrin shouted. Anders was about to let her know that Aveline was healed when he felt her pull a tremendous amount of mana from the Fade. She had her eyes closed in concentration and didn't see the lone highwayman advancing at her. Varric was assisting Aveline and they both had their backs to the mages. Running toward Kattrin, he hit the moving bandit square in the chest with a lightning bolt, dropping him. He watched as one of Kattrin's hands caught fire. She flung her hands down, catching the other on fire. Then she proceeded to pull upward with her fists, to her waist, and finally threw her fiery fists above her head. Large fireballs began raining from the sky onto the group of seven bandits. He couldn't stop his mouth from falling open and blatantly staring at her. Justice reminded him that the middle of a battle was not the time to lose focus.
Getting back into the fray, he saw that Varric and Aveline were down to just one thug. Varric sighted and fired, hitting the ruffian in the eye. Both of them turned to see fireballs raining onto the charred remains of the seven who tried to join their companions. In unison Aveline and Varric turned to him, but he just shook his head and motioned to Kattrin. When both of their mouths fell open, he didn't feel so foolish.
Pulling them back, he asked, "The assassin?"
Varric was the first to tear his gaze away from Kattrin's raining fire. "Dead."
Aveline knelt to flip over one of the dead bandits at her feet. Anders could see that they had better arms and armor than your typical bandit could afford.
Aveline echoed his thoughts while examining the dead man's leather armor. "Well-equipped for bandits, but dead is dead and the road is clear." She stood. "Captain Jeven needs to know of this. Back to the barracks for your just reward."