BioWare owns all except for what I made up. : )
So, Kai put the thumb screws to one of the Thedas's most feared groups of special forces, the way they govern their country. Not bad for a girl who started off being threatened by Anora and almost poisoned to death. While she waits for The Crow's answer to her deal, they are still nursing a certain Antivan heart breaker back to health and one of Anora's crazy plans comes to their attention that needs addressing.
Another shout out to Night Hunter MGS, using yet another review quote, because it was so funny and fits here (not the personal email idea you sent yet, that is soon). So, thank you! : )
Thank you all for your reviews and favorites and author alerts. I never get tired of saying it, so I hope you don't get tired of reading it. You are all so wonderful! And I love putting the things you have given me in reviews, into the story too. Adding them help make the story richer. You all rock my world. : )
Blessings!
Kai sat by Zev's bedside reading out loud to him from the book about The Black Fox she had given him on Solstice. He was still unconscious, but at least the fever was gone. Kai felt edgy. Zev was still down and out, and she had to wait for word back from the Crows. When she had voiced her worry about how long Zev was staying unconscious to Wynne, the mage pointed out that Kai had taken six days and had endured considerably less trauma to her body and different trauma to her psyche. Zev was only on day five. "It isn't all bing, magic did it, and it's done, dear. I can fix the major things, but the rest just needs time."
So here she sat, reading aloud to him during the day when the others weren't forcing her to play chess, cards, weapons practice and training, or to go outside and get some air, or, when she wasn't training Naseel in the martial art of the Qun. Well, Naseel and those of her former Crows turned Scath. She snuggled next to him at night hoping he would, on some level, sense her presence and know she wasn't going anywhere, to know that he was safe.
She supposed they had all felt the same way about her when she went through this. Granted, they hadn't been waiting on word from one of Thedas's deadliest run governments. Kai kept using the procul globe to check with Zaeed. So far, the other houses and their Crows were taking her at her word; that she would, if they did anything, bring all of Antiva down in one bloody, firey mess. This belief was very, very good. Kai wasn't so sure the abyss in her wouldn't take over and do it. Every time she helped change Zev's bandages; every time she looked at the bruises, which were finally changing color, lessening in intensity, her fingers would stoke the outside of the velvet bag holding the globe. Antiva had better be grateful when this was all over. She only hoped Master Ignacio and Lady Serracino brought that point eloquently and clearly home.
She knew it would take time for Master Ignacio to physically travel back to Antiva. After all, it had only been three days since she spoke to him. She knew even if he had the fastest ship at his disposal, it could take at least two days, maybe three, to cross the Waking Sea to the Free Marches' seaside city of Ostwick, provided the currents were in his favor and the weather as well. This was Spring, so the weather was iffy. From Ostwick, Ignacio had a choice, travel inland to Antiva, which he would only do if he really wanted fire and brimstone to rain down on his home city. His best option would be to stay on or secure another fast ship following the coast past several ports, which included Wycome and Rialto, into Rialto Bay and lovely Antiva City. Kai also figured Ignacio had spread the word via his own procul globe about what was going on.
She did not envy Ignacio. She only hoped the man didn't have ulcers before he got home. She liked Ignacio on one level. He was not Vimaro, but he was one of the Masters who had looked the other way when Vimaro, the walking abyss, had a free hand with his cruelty even, and especially, against his own Crows like Zevran and Rinna. As far as Kai was concerned, the Crows and their nobles had sown the seeds of their own destruction by playing along to get along. It was one thing to tap the abyss for what you had to do, it was another thing entirely to let someone who had not only let the abyss swallow him whole but probably actively sought to do so run a business where murder was the product. Such monsters needed to be fed constantly, and they only grew, drawing attention to themselves and their 'establishment.' The Crows were business people at the heart of it, brokers of a service, even if that service was death. They should have done a cost/benefit analysis of the likes of Vimaro.
Kai set the book down in frustration. "It is not nice to stop reading in the middle of a sentence, my dear Warden," Zev's voice sounded hoarse and raspy, and his eyes were still closed while he spoke. "Also, you should change the voices so you make the characters come alive, no?" She saw a slight smile form on his lips.
"People who are comatose have no reason to complain." Kai wanted to hug him, but she refrained as he was still a mass of healing injuries. She opted, instead, to stroke his cheek and forehead. He opened his pale amber eyes to look at her. The swelling of his injured eye had finally gone down enough so that he could open it to a wide slit. She grinned at him, but she couldn't help the tears in her eyes either. "I was about to start describing sexual positions in your ear just to see if that would wake you up."
"That you may still do, my dear Warden, we can make a game of it, has Zevran done that position? There is a certain book that I recommend you use, 'The Rose of Orlais.' I am sure you would run out of positions, my dear Grey Warden, before I stopped answering yes." Kai laughed and kissed him.
"Do you think you can sit up?" Kai stroked his cheek, "Maybe eat something? It is about feeding time for you anyway."
"You make it sound as if I am one of your babies," Zev smiled at her.
"Well, you have been cradled in several bosoms while we poured broth down your throat." Kai teased him. His amber eyes opened wider and his grin got cockier.
"Even the delectable Wynne's?" his voice pitched higher in hope.
"She will kill me if she finds out I told you, but yes, your head has even been cradled on her bosom." Kai laughed.
"I should pretend to still be unconscious, no?" Zev chuckled as he looked at the doorway.
"No, you should not, young man!" Wynne's voice came from the doorway as she carried in a tray with a bowl and cup on it. She grinned at Kai and Zev as she came forward.
"But my dear, beautiful Wynne, I could still die, I feel so poorly. Would you want me to pass into the Fade without having first-hand knowledge of that magnificent bosom of yours?"
"I am afraid, young man. It will just have to remain a mystery for you. That and the fact you missed out on being bathed by three women." Wynne put the tray on the nightstand and went to help Kai prop him up against the pillows.
"Now you are just being cruel, lovely Wynne, typical of women." Kai laughed at him as she grasped him gently under his arms and lifted him to a sitting position on the pillows Wynne arranged.
"Besides, I believe you had a much more enticing and more suitable offer from Kai in the chapel." Wynne winked. "I am going to get some bread to go with that broth. Maker, this is so familiar, and I will tell the others that you are awake. They keep asking for status reports when they aren't in here." With that, Wynne turned on her heel and left the room shutting the door.
Kai felt her face flaming and looked down. Her eyes settled on the tray, and she grabbed it like a shield and put it on Zevran's lap. She grabbed the napkin and laid it on his chest, but she didn't look at his face. She was blushing so hard her ears were burning uncomfortably. Kai found herself as awkward as she had been with the adolescent stable boy, Joss, with whom she'd lost her virginity.
She mentally cursed herself a fool and went over to the table to gather the items she had taken off Vimaro's body and to give herself time to calm down. She strode back over to the bed and sat herself in the chair again, but still couldn't look Zev in the eye. She found herself looking at his neck or the napkin or his chin.
"So, I took these things off of Vimaro. I thought you might like to have this in particular." Kai held up the heavy square ring. "It really belongs to you, as do the Crows in his employ. I mean, I didn't kill him, you did, but the Crows think I did it, and I had to let them because you were comatose..."
"My dear Grey Warden," Zev laughed, "Did you offer to make love to me because you thought you wouldn't have to make good on it?" She bit her lip and blushed more, but she shook her head.
"No, I couldn't think of anything else. I was watching my best friend die. I couldn't stand it, it was like Fort Drakon all over again. I just blurted it out." Kai felt the tears running down her cheeks again, "I really didn't know what else to do. You always make sexual innuendo, so I made an offer I thought you couldn't refuse." Kai tried to joke, "It was either that or offer you Wynne's bosom for a month as a pillow." Kai still found she couldn't quite look at him.
"Look at me, my friend." She looked up to see him smiling gently at her. "I will admit, the idea is enticing, but at the moment, I assure you I am in no shape to do anything more strenuous than eat broth, though I would appreciate it if you did not let that get around, as I have a reputation to maintain." He winked his good eye at her and grinned harder, making her blush deeper. He took up the spoon and started to sip broth. "But what I believe you said was that Alistair wanted us to make love together. Did he tell you this before he died?" Kai cursed herself as a barrel full of fools, she had said that, hadn't she? And dammit Zev, even dying, was an observant rogue.
So Kai explained to Zev about hearing Alistair's voice and how Alistair had helped her at the funeral and what had happened in the Fade when she was technically dead. She told him how Morrigan had saved her from using his dagger after all because Alistair had known her plans and fetched the witch. And then she told him the hardest part, about Alistair saying that she and Zev should get together. She couldn't even say "make love" this time, she was afraid if she did her head would explode with all the blood rushing to it yet again. He didn't say anything for the longest time, so Kai ventured a look. Zev had gone completely still, and his face was unreadable. Then, he cocked an eyebrow at her.
"So, I am your best friend, am I, Warden, but you tell me that you hear your dead lover's voice only now? And then you tell me that he would like me to peddle my services to you, as an Antivan whore perhaps? Because I appreciate the art of love, I can be used to pleasure you and then kill for you too? I told you once, Warden, that I only removed my clothes on an amateur basis." His voice was flat.
Kai felt her face go pale, "Oh Zev, I didn't mean it that way at all! I didn't tell you about hearing him, because I..."
"Because you didn't trust me" Zev's amber eyes were cold, "It is that simple, is it not?" He continued to stare at her pointedly. Kai felt as if he had slapped her, and she felt ashamed because he was right. She hadn't trusted him or the others with this, she was no better than all the others in his past. She had betrayed him too, even in this small way. The others would probably forgive her, but for Zev, she was just one more betrayal on a long list starting with his very birth. She didn't blame him, she was entirely to blame. She didn't think she could even forgive herself. What have I done, stupid, stupid, stupid! She got up from the chair so fast that she tipped it over. Her hands were shaking, she felt sick to her stomach, and her vision was getting blurry from unshed tears. She turned and almost ran into Wynne who had come back with bread.
"Sorry, Wynne, I have to go get Naseel; it is time for her lesson." Then, she practically ran out of the room and down the back stairs, hoping she wouldn't run into anyone else. She managed to get outside to the back of the house, where she decided she would saddle Luna and let her run, to go so fast that her tears would dry before they fell. She marched towards the stables. Argus came bounding up from the field where he had been doing who knows what. She patted him absently, "Want to go for a run with me and Luna?" Kai tried to smile at him, and he gave her a concerned whine, then an affirmative bark.
"Scathach" the voice of one of her Crows-made-Scath came from the shadow of the stables. Erys was her name, if Kai remembered correctly. She was still learning them all. So, her luck at not meeting anyone else was not to hold after all, "I was just about to come to the house. Important news, Anora is hiring a band of mercenaries from the Free Marches. They are due to arrive at the docks in the dead of night three days from now. We got an intercept from some of our Crows in Ostwick. Vimaro had them posted in Ostwick on another assignment. The ship of mercs leaves there tonight. Now that we work for you, our brethren all over Thedas are keeping their eyes and ears open for anything to do with Anora." The young woman's black hair glistened in the sun against her black Scath leathers, dusty from the road. Kai nodded at her, and they went back in the front door of the house.
Kai immediately grabbed a servant and asked them to gather everyone but Wynne, since she was tending Zev. She would tell Wynne when she went to get her armor. Sod it. It was in the room with Zev.
Kai had Erys debrief everyone. It looked like they would be going to the docks of Denerim to try to thwart Anora's newest attempt at raising an army and hopefully stop it literally before it got onto dry land. They would need all hands on deck, Kai wanted to giggle at her own pun, for this one, minus one recovering assassin of course, one assassin who would probably never speak to her again. These mercs were not going to go down easy, nor did she think they would join her.
Kai sent everyone off to get equipped and ready to go. Sten was going to have to ride in the back of a hay wagon and Shale would have to run if they were going to make it. Kai thanked the Maker that they hadn't moved on to Highever yet.
She and Argus made their way back upstairs to her room. She opened the door and steeled herself, putting her face and her voice in a neutral, "Sorry to bother you, but I need to get my armor, and I need you, Wynne." Wynne looked as if she had been having an uncomfortable conversation with Zevran.
Kai huffed to herself mentally. I just make everyone's lives so much fun, don't I? Zevran just regarded her coolly with his mask in place. Kai gulped, "We have news that Anora has hired mercs from The Free Marches, they leave Ostwick by ship tonight. They will be here in roughly three days. I want to get to the docks and give them a proper welcome." Kai wanted to shuffle her feet, she refrained...barely. "Wynne, I need you to be there with your healing skills, and I recruited Fiona as well. This group isn't likely to be, well, to be as agreeable as some of the others we have run across." Kai gave Wynne a small smile.
"Of course, I will make sure a servant takes care of Zevran." Wynne's voice dripped disapproval at his name, which made Kai flush and look away. The disapproval should be for her, not him. She turned to cross the room to the chest containing her black Scath armor. She slipped off the leather shirt she was wearing to slip on the cotton one she usually wore under her leathers.
"Before you put that on, I want to re-bandage that shoulder, young lady. It was already infected once." Wynne grabbed her bandages and poultices. Kai felt self-conscious standing there in her small clothes while waiting for Wynne to gather what she needed, and she deliberately didn't look in Zev's direction. Wynne removed the bandage and studied the long red gash running down along the rounded part of her shoulder. It was slightly puckered and still inflamed.
Wynne stepped aside to put a poultice in a clean bandage, and Zevran must have seen it. "When did she get that?" Kai started to answer but Wynne broke in.
"She got that, young man, while raiding Master Vimaro's hideout trying to rescue you. She was fighting three Crows."
Two Crows, Kai thought. Only two, Argus got the other. But she didn't say it aloud. "It's nothing, really. It got infected only because the bandage moved and my leathers rubbed it." Kai felt Wynne putting the cool poultice covered bandage back on her wound. "The damn thing itches like the blazes, but otherwise it's fine." Kai was mentally squirming. She wished Wynne would hurry up so she could take her armor to Leli's room and have her help her buckle up. There was no way she was going to stay here and let Wynne do it while Zev stared at her with a cold mask on his face.
"You should take better care should you not, Warden?" Zev's voice had a cold bite to it, as if he were saying it just let her know he really didn't care despite the words. Kai flinched.
"For your information, she didn't tend to it because she was too busy carrying your sorry carcass on horseback in the dead of night to get you safely out of Denerim. She wouldn't stop until she got here, even though it was painful and I asked her to stop and take care of it. Furthermore, she insisted on taking care of your wounds first once she did get here." Wynne's voice cracked like a whip. Kai flushed and looked at the ground, and finally, the bandage was in place.
"I am going to get Leli to help me in my armor" Kai started to walk to the door.
"I am going with you," Zev's cold voice told her as she walked by, she looked at him in disbelief.
"Like hell you are, you just woke up after a five day nap. Argus, guard Zev don't let him leave the bed unless it is to use the chamber pot. Lay on him if you have to, he does not leave this room." Argus jumped on the bed and laid on Zevran, looking him in the eye.
Kai turned and walked out the door. In for a penny, in for a pound, Zev was already mad at her, he would be furious now. She went to get ready for her ride back to Denerim.