BioWare owns all except for etc., etc., etc., which is too long a list now. LOL! : )
Well, Kai has been a busy girl. Zev seems to be warming more, but we still have a ways to go, a little more bridge building is in order. On the upside, Kai has yet more soldiers signing on for the cause. Anora really is just begging for a smack down, still things must be taken care of first. And it isn't just the smack down, but the opportunity or timing needs to be right as well, no? I hope you stay with me and our fearless Kai.
Oh and a shout out to Night Hunter MGS again. This chapter was the chapter I intended to write for exactly the reason you wrote in your review. Sometimes people, are just nasty no matter what you do for them, and sometimes, things really can go South, and betrayal can cause people to get hurt and die unpleasantly. So in a sense, this chapter is dedicated to you. : ) So the bronto poo poo really hits the proverbial multi-bladed spinning thingy in this one. I hope you enjoy.
Thanks again for the lovely reviews! They do help keep me on the path and keep it real, as you can see with the shout outs, you all really do help make the story so much better. So much love to you all. And thanks for the praise, it certainly makes the author feel good, but it helps me to stay in the bounds of reality. : )
Blessings!
The rain made soft ticking sounds on the roof of the large Dalish tent as it fell from a sky laden with lead colored clouds. Occasionally, loud popping sounds would interrupt the gentle ticking as a leaf encumbered with the weight of too much water released its burden only to start collecting it all over again.
The tent was large, round and very spacious, it made Kai wish they had them when they were walking all over Thedas during the Blight. They would have been a lot more comfortable than the tents they'd had. It wasn't just the fact that you could have furniture in them, but that one could actually stand and get dressed, or stand at all without bumping one's head onto the canvas. The tent that clan keeper Lanaya had given them was furnished with a bed, table, chairs, and soft rugs covered the entire floor over a round mat woven of soft reeds. Big floor pillows were arranged in it as well. All of which Alariel had shown Kai folded up or could be packed up tight to fit in the aravel, or landship, and took up little or no room, it was extremely clever, lamps hung from the poles on special hooks and made the tent light up like daylight and cast away the gloom. Special braziers made cooking on rainy days, like this one, possible and also provided warmth to keep out the Spring chill.
All in all, it was a very cozy little nest, and Kai actually preferred it to the farm hold. It was mobile, and she doubted very much that Anora would ever be able to find them, even if she had a mind to, which she still didn't. Of course, Anora had no clue Kai lived. Add to that, packing everything and moving it all in aravels drawn by hallas had its advantages. They were able to move away from Gwaren deeper into the Brecilian Forest after they unloaded the one Tevinter ship that held lumber on it. They sent packing what few Tevinters were alive back to the Imperium with their tails between their legs, after they had scuttled the other two ships, sinking them in the harbor. Being able to move quickly after that had been a bonus, but the tent also reminded her of some of her happiest moments when it was just the group of her friends and Alistair in camp. Camp had always been filled with laughter, food, stories, music and, with Oghren along, alcohol, and it was where she'd fallen in love.
"I also remember the cold, hard ground, having rocks poking me in the back, and the lovely night that the Archdemon sent his darkspawn 'tax collectors' to attack the camp," Alistair's voice teased her in her ear. "Not to mention having to take watches, second watch being the worst, oh, and then there was taking turns cooking, or even worse, eating the cooking, especially after the dwarf and I took our turn. Oghren and I being the worst of the lot in the cooking department, I am surprised no one died from it." Alistair laughed into her ear.
"Aw, I thought your blackened rabbit stew was a culinary masterpiece" Kai teased him. "And there were nights when you didn't notice the rocks poking you in the back." She could almost see him blushing at that last statement.
"More like a culinary disaster," she could hear the smile in his voice. "And you are a cheeky monkey," Kai laughed. "You even make me blush in the Fade. And now your mother is going to want to know why, thank you so much!" Kai gave him a mental grin and a giggle.
She was standing and dressing Zev's wounds while he sat on a chair. Or rather they were taking turns dressing each other's' wounds. Neither one of them came out of the fight with anything really bad this time, not even any broken bones. And she counted it as a miracle that neither one of them were comatose, especially herself. Since a couple of her Scath, a few of the villagers and one Dalish were in worse shape, Wynne and the Dalish healers were with them. Everyone else was left to tend to themselves with potions, salves and bandages. Fiona was on reserve, conserving her mana as they were low on lyrium for mana potions at the moment. She needed to send someone to the mage tower to buy some, and she made a mental note for later.
Argus lay on the floor, legs in the air, twitching in doggy dreams. Fiona sat on the bed with the twins, taking turns holding them up standing and in between lifting them up like flying birds and then pressing her lips to their tummies and vibrating them. Their giggles, laughs, and little chirps filled the tent along with the soft sound of the rain. It was all so normal, well, except for dressing the deep gouge across Zev's chest. But other than that, it was a day where Kai could imagine she wasn't trying to save Ferelden, where she could just be. There were so few of those, she intended to make the most of it. Playing with Fi and Duncan, and reading to them, maybe napping with them for once. Kai went through a mental list of things she could do where she was just "Kai," not "The Scathach," not "The Hero of Ferelden," not one part of "The Silver Griffon."
Maybe she could even try her hand at making a special meal. Alistair's talk of cooking in camp had brought it to mind. Nan had taught her how to cook, the joy and challenge of it. Despite the domesticity that cooking implied, Kai really enjoyed it. Not that while they were fighting the Bight, she had had access to good ingredients when it was her turn to cook. Supplies had often been limited, to say the least, money too. But when she did have access to really good ingredients, it gave her great satisfaction to make something others would delight in.
Nan had always likened it to alchemy and art, putting together ingredients to create something that would be a thing of delectation took talent and time. Kai had seen some fresh and wonderful ingredients at some of the market stands here in the Dalish camp including Kai's favorite ingredient, mushrooms. She was already planning a nice, succulent set of rabbits in a mushroom and garlic gravy for dinner. She would split the meat with a knife and tuck cloves of garlic in the slits as well. Then, she would let them bake in a little cast iron oven that was meant to dangle over the brazier. Just imagining the smells that would infuse the tent had her mouth watering in anticipation, maybe some potatoes and carrots to roast with the rabbits? She figured when she was done doing first aid, she had best go shopping, and then play with Fi and Duncan, that way she could just set the rabbits to roast slowly. Just the fact that she could consider cooking instead of some strategy to save the world gave her another satisfied little glow.
"You look awfully pleased with yourself, my dear Grey Warden, what could that devious mind be thinking of now?" Zev gave her a slight smile. Kai was very glad that after seeing her bloody shirt and after her pushing Keiron away by his face, Zev was slowly making his way towards warmer relations. He still didn't touch her much, but his conversations were more like they had been at the beginning when she had first invited him to join them. She didn't care how long it took, as long as they were making progress. The way she figured starting at the beginning again was better than having him shut her out as he'd been doing.
"My devious mind, as you put it, was contemplating roasting rabbits in a garlic and brown mushroom gravy along with potatoes and carrots" Kai grinned at him, "That and playing with the twins and reading, maybe a nap."
"Ah, very calculated and underhanded plans" He grinned at her, "I also saw some lovely greens that in Antiva we call espinaca, I have no idea what the Dalish call it. They are really tasty with a vinegar and oil sauce, I could make that. We can make a feast of it. Shall we invite our usual miscreants from the old camping days? They may be more inclined to come since we are doing the cooking rather than, say, the dwarf?" When she nodded in agreement he continued, "I will even see if I can find a nice wine to go with it."
"I was just thinking about that, this reminds me of old times" Kai laughed. "Oh si, but for the fact we don't have to sit or sleep on the ground, I find this arrangement much more to my liking." He smiled as he put on a shirt, "Then I shall go and invite the rest for dinner tonight, and I will even do the shopping." He gave a little salute to her and Fiona, put on his oil skin rain coat, and slipped out of the door to the tent.
"He seems to be warming up a bit." Fiona's words echoed Kai's thoughts. She smiled and walked over to the bed. Picking up Duncan and making him "fly" by spinning him around while he giggled.
"I know, I need to regain his trust, prove myself. It's the least that I can do, and what I should do, and what he deserves." Kai turned Duncan over and blew her lips on his belly as Fiona had been doing, causing his little face to light up as he giggled. She looked at Fiona, "My father always said that anything worth having is worth working hard for, and nothing free ever holds its value." Fi, being held by her grandmother, started to make her own burbling and chirping talk as if she agreed, Duncan started putting his own burbles in as well. Kai laughed at them and got on the bed so she could kiss Fi's little chubby cheek, "I guess they agree," Fiona laughed with her.
"You know, he forgot to take a bag with him." Fiona nodded toward a leather pouch on the table, "He'll need help carrying it all." And she winked at Kai and looked towards the door. Kai grinned and put Duncan down with his sister and grandmother, "We will be waiting for you to get back.I think these two need a bath and a change anyway."
"Thank you for taking care of them, by the way," Kai stroked the woman's cheek, "I don't know what I would do without you."
Fiona smiled at her and grabbed her hand and kissed it, "I get to be with my grandchildren as I never got to be with Alistair, it is I who should thank you. But I appreciate the gratitude, especially when I am changing diapers." Fiona laughed at her, "Now go before Zevran has to carry everything back in his rain coat so that he winds up wet and miserable." Kai laughed and grabbed the leather bag off the table and slipped out the tent door herself.
Kai stood for a moment enjoying the light misting rain and the sense of twilight during noonday that always made her feel relaxed and cozy. Kai always loved this kind of weather, and she didn't mind getting wet. Poor Zev, he really hated the rain. Kai started walking towards the open area that the Dalish had set up as a market square. Some of the aravels made up the storefronts, and some of the booths rested against a huge boulder that had been carved in spirals by, she guessed, the elvenan long ago. It had ferns and moss growing on top and in some of the spirals. In this overcast light, the green of it and the grass she walked on almost glowed against the gray sky and the even darker gray stone slicked with moisture. Every sound seemed muted in this weather. Even the elves calling to each other against the soft hissing of the falling rain were softer. Kai noticed little white wildflowers growing in the grass at her feet. She let out a contented sigh as she continued forwards to meet up with Zev.
And then the world shattered with a large and horrendous BOOM! The ground shuddered beneath her feet, Kai turned to see what had caused it. Her first thought was maybe the blacksmith had been working something that had exploded? But the Dalish worked with wood, not metal or ore that might have some impurity which could do that. Another explosion along with screaming rocked the silence of the once quiet day, again the ground shuddered. That explosion was followed by another and then another. Kai watched in horror as tents and, Maker, people were tossed into the air with dirt and debris.
The already gray sky was becoming darker as dirt filled the air and yet another explosion, closer this time, made the ground shake again. It was then she saw armored men spilling from the woods around them. One came running for her, and she had just enough time to register that he had the heraldry of Bann Loren on his armor. She was unarmed, but her Qun training took over. As the man swung his sword upward behind him in a double-handed swing, Kai used the heel of her hand to push the bones of his nose into his brain, he went down twitching.
"Kai" Alistair's voice sounded with alarm in her ear, "The twins!" Kai didn't bother to answer. She was already running for all she was worth back the way she had come. She was just in sight of the tent when another loud boom sounded and she watched as the tent was blown into the air in a shower of ripped canvas, broken furniture, and dirt. Kai was flying backwards just as she had on top of Fort Drakon. And just like Fort Drakon, she was screaming, "NO!" She landed with a thud on the soft wet ground, which gave under her when she landed. She didn't register the fall, she just kept screaming "no" into her own head, her babies! She ran forward again to see a smoking crater. Another explosion and more screams, along with the alarmed yelling of those in the Dalish camp and a clashing of metal as the armored men met resistance.
Kai didn't care, overwhelming despair engulfed her. The world could burn, her children were dead. She started trying to get to her feet. She would find the nearest fight and let them kill her.
"Kai, they aren't here!" Alistair's voice sounded relieved in her ear. Kai barely registered that he was speaking. "Beloved, they aren't here. They aren't in the Fade, them or my mother. She must have taken them to safety, KAI!" She shook herself.
"Are you sure," Kai could barely let herself hope.
"Yes, my love, you showed up instantly, they would have too, they aren't here. You need to fight and find them" his worry broke through her fog.
Yes, fight, find them, protect them, and find out who led Bann Loren's men here. Kai turned and started back towards the fighting. One man saw her and came forward. She didn't even blink but went down on one hand and spun in a leg swipe and knocked the heavily armored man on his back where he sank into the soft ground, and crushed his windpipe with her foot. She took his one-handed sword and kept going toward the market area where the majority of the fighting seemed to be going on.
Kai thought she heard someone calling to her, but everything sounded muted due to the proximity of the explosion at the tent. She felt as if her ears were stuffed with wool. She felt a hand grab her arm, and she swung around ready with the sword and an upraised fist.
"Scathach!" Naseel jerked back before Kai could swing.
Kai grabbed her by her leathers, "Find Fiona, Argus, and the twins, find them and get them back to the safe house with Arl Eamon! Look to the woods near the tent, give Argus the command 'cosain,' it means 'protect,' he will obey as only I use that word. Find them for me Naseel, do it now!" Kai released the girl's leathers.
Naseel nodded and saluted, "It will be done Scathach."
"And Naseel, if I don't make it, you are the Scathach, do you understand?" Kai pulled off her ring with the garnet in the middle of the open space in the knot, "Now go!" She watched the elf disappear into the shadow of the woods. Kai spun on her heel and kept going. She came upon pockets of fighting – the Dalish, the villagers from Gwaren, Swiftrunner's pack, Scath, all fighting armored men with Bann Loren's sigil. She saw Morrigan making a blizzard which caused a large group of the men to start to freeze in their own metal armor. Leliana was picking off them with her bow from atop an aravel while they squinted and yelled in the storm the witch had conjured. Sten had blood all over him as he cut swaths of men down with his Asala, Kai only hoped it was mostly other soldiers' blood, and not his own.
Kai couldn't see Oghren, Shale, Zev or Keiron, it gave her a momentary hint of panic before she buckled down and shoved it aside to focus. Soon enough she had her own little fights to occupy her mind, including saving a group of villagers. Kai found herself a little away from the crowd fighting two of Loren's men at once when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Leave her to me." Kai spun to find Erys, one of her Scath, standing there with a smirk on her face. The men nodded, saluted, and left to go find another fight. "Hello, Scathach," the young woman smiled again. "I had hoped to get you with my little surprise while you were in your tent, I hoped to kill, what, three birds with one bomb?" Erys laughed,
Kai growled and launched herself at her with a clanging of blades. They traded blows until Erys caught her on the jaw with the pommel of her dagger, sending Kai slipping backwards on the wet grass, her jaw throbbing and her ears ringing. Her lip was split and dripped blood down her chin, blood filled her mouth where the inside of her cheek had been cut by her teeth. Kai just grunted with the impact.
"What, you won't ask me why, Scathach?" Erys walked towards Kai who looked to see where her blade was. It was lying a little ways away, Kai flipped over and dove for it rolling over and putting it up just in time to parry Erys' next blow. Their blades clanked together, and Kai kicked the woman in the stomach hard, knocking her backwards and away so that Kai could get to her feet. Maker, she was tired. She could feel her muscles vibrating with the strain, Erys apparently had not been fighting all this time. "Fresh as a daisy" as her old nan used to say, the detached part of her mind giggled.
Erys recovered quickly and came at Kai again, giving her a nice slice on the forearm when she was a little slow in raising her arm to block it. The cut was followed by another kick which caught her in the ribs, knocking the breath out of her. Erys just walked in a circle around her, she was playing with her, but Kai was not in the mood. Erys was just dying for her to ask about her reasons for the betrayal. Kai figured the bitch would have a long time waiting to get that satisfaction from her. If Erys wanted her know, she was just going to have to spill it on her own, or, they could just keep on trying to kill each other.
Erys allowed Kai to recover before pivoting and swiping her across the back, adding another cut to go with the one from the battle in Gwaren. She could feel the blood trickling down and wetting the leather shirt she wore. She gave Erys a cut across the woman's thigh as she passed her, but Erys was in full Scath leather armor. The cut was shallow and barely caused a reaction, so Erys spun back again and put her elbow into Kai's already wounded back and knocked her down on the ground.
Kai again felt her breath go out in a whoosh, and she grunted when she hit the ground with her chest. The pain became excruciating as Erys put a boot into her back, grinding it into her wounds and pushing her into the muddy ground. Dark mud became gray sky as the boot kicked Kai squarely in the ribs of her right side, and she felt some of them give as pain lanced through her torso, the force lifted her up and over onto her back as the bones cracked. The boot was pushed into her chest this time, her wounded back and her ribs were screaming at her. Her sword was too far away to reach even if she wasn't pinned down.
"Ask me, oh great Scathach," Erys pressed harder, but Kai only grunted, grinding her teeth together to keep from screaming. "No? Well then, I suppose I shall just take your head. I had promised to hand it to those nice men down there, I promised Bann Loren he could have the head of 'The Silver Griffon' in exchange for providing the men to crush part of the rebellion. I didn't tell him that I planned to take the credit for it all, leaving him with nothing. Bann Loren is such mewling little fool. I didn't tell him that you were also the Scathach and the 'Hero of Ferelden.' I wanted to see how much larger a reward there would be when I actually presented your head to Anora myself, before I headed back to Antiva, of course, and became the master of the cell of Crows belonging to the noble house of Ines Aldonza." Erys laughed, "Say something Fereldan whore!" Erys took her boot off Kai's chest and kicked her in the undamaged ribs of her left side, again, there was an unpleasant snapping adding another layer of pain.
"You really should have brushed up on your Antivan politics. You see, Lady Aldonza is the mother of Adulfo Cresconio." Erys crouched down to look Kai in the eyes. "It was a political marriage, and she kept her own name and her own house. It ended tragically when Osoro Cresconio was assassinated by, well, some Crows of course. Think of it as an Antivan divorce." Again Erys laughed at her own joke, "Lady Aldonza adored her son, the one you killed by that failure Arainai. She loved him madly and beyond reason she loved him, and he could do no wrong. He is her only child too."
Erys smiled and brushed dirt off of Kai's shirt, "She was convinced it was all Vimaro's fault that her son was delving into unsavory habits and sexual practices. She wanted Vimaro watched, so, she hired me to watch him, to look for an opportunity to rid her son of his bad influence. I was to take over Vimaro's house, but some Fereldan bitch just couldn't leave well enough alone. The Lady Aldonza bid me stay to exact revenge upon you for her son, for myself too." Erys reached out and pulled Kai's head up by the hair and slapped her while putting her knee into her chest. Kai's ribs and wounded back flared with pain, and her vision went white before coming back into focus again, she hardly felt the slap.
"Any last words, Scathach" Erys smiled down at her as she rose up to pull a long sword from its sheath, the edge of the metal making a hissing sound as it passed across the leather. Laughter bubbled up from Kai's lips. Erys slapped her again, "What's so funny, whore?"
"Little girls who play with blades should always watch for poison." Kai grinned back through her bloody lips, "You may have gotten me, but I got you too."
Kai watched as Erys' face took on a puzzled look before she touched a hand to her nose, which had started to bleed. Erys just growled and raised the sword to aim at Kai's neck when the coughing started, causing the woman to drop her sword to try and breathe. The trickle of blood from the woman's nose started flowing in long ropey lines, getting thicker, and it was followed by more wet coughing and blood began to fountain out of her mouth.
Erys just looked at Kai with disbelief, bloody tears falling from the corners of her eyes, as she fell to her knees and gasped for breath in liquid gurgling tones. Kai watched Erys collapse onto her stomach and shudder before Kai slowly got onto her hands and knees and crawled to the long sword laying in the grass next to Erys. She used it to get herself up on her feet, leaning on it like an old woman does a cane. She limped over to the body, which had stopped breathing and pushed it over with her foot. The woman's empty eyes stared up at her while blood leaked from the corners, slowly mixing with the rain still misting from the sky so it looked as though Erys was crying.
"That was close, my beloved, a good thing you learned poisons from Zevran." Alistair's voice held fear tinged with relief, "Apparently Erys missed that lesson."
Kai was so busy putting one foot in front of the other she almost didn't answer, she just gave him a mental smile, or at least a grimace and stopped for a moment, she needed the rest anyway. "Or the woman thought that she would kill me easily without it, as I was already tired from fighting. I put it on the blade to give me an advantage. She thought she already had one." Kai continued moving again.
"Her mistake," Alistair's voice sounded fierce.
Kai kept walking slowly, using the sword as a cane, to get back to the area of the market place. In her beaten state, she was lucky she didn't put the point in her foot. Somehow, she managed not to, she passed by craters in the ground surrounded by debris and, in some cases, body parts. Kai wanted to empty her stomach, but the thought of heaving with broken ribs made her buckle it down. Though the nausea was horrible, she kept swallowing. She could still hear some fighting, but it didn't seem to be much.
Kai was so intent on walking she almost didn't hear the whispered voice calling her. Kai stopped and looked around, there were bodies everywhere. Men in plate, elves, humans, Maker, even the body of a child. Kai's stomach didn't allow her to stop this time, cracked ribs or no, and she thought she might pass out right there.
But, the voice called again, "Scathach." Kai looked for the source, she saw Lelyth – sweet faced Lelyth who had ridden from the castle to join them in the forest to save Gwaren. Lelyth who had joined the Scath to save her little brother and sisters from starvation when they lost their parents all due to Anora's petty madness, Lelyth who had wanted to take Ferelden back, Lelyth, betrayed by one of her own and the leader who didn't see it coming.
Kai lowered herself down next to the girl. Lelyth's side was one big mangled mass of blood and burns. It looked as if an explosion caught her when she was close to it. She was like a broken doll. Kai tried to put her hands on the wound to stanch the bleeding, but it was like sinking her hands into the girl's ribs. "No, Scathach, I cannot feel anything, I am...," her eyes fluttered and her breath got light, "I am broken on the inside. Please, make sure my brother and sisters are taken care of...tell them...tell them what I did what was right, for them, for Ferelden, for us all."
Kai felt the tears running down her face, "You will be okay, you can tell them all about your adventures yourself."
Lelyth smiled a peaceful smile, "It has been an honor to serve Ferelden and the Theirin line. But most of all, it has been an honor to learn and work under someone like you, Scathach, Kai, my lady, you will save it all."
"And you will save it with me, do you hear? With me, with me," and Kai gave her a small shake, but those big blue eyes were vacant. When the last of Loren's men had finally been brought down, they found her cradling her Scath in her arms whispering, "With me."