BioWare owns all except for all the characters and things made up by me. : )
Well, we have our newest toy in the arsenal to go with our newest member, again a shout out to "Kill Bill' and the character Gogo, also a shout out to Wild Wild West, the original TV show, not the horrid movie version. SPOILERS: of course we all know the Blight is over, but why are the darkspawn not retreating, those of you who are playing Awakening and have read Mr. Gaider's fine works know why of course. Kai and her group get another chance to dance the Remigold and not in pretty dresses, in a 'funny thing happened on the way to Highever' if I were to give this chapter a title. Maybe I should have like so many do, but alas, I did not think of clever names.
And I know it bothered you, Aileen, but I am going to leave the age of consent in Ferelden as 16. This may be a world based on Medieval England and Scotland but it isn't Medieval England or Scotland, it is a fantasy world based on that type of world. I am not comfortable making the age of consent any younger than that. I do appreciate the feedback. I hope that it does not put you off the story entirely.
Author shout outs go to BloodandDiamonds' 'Masquerade,' and one of my favorite shorts for the Cousland noble/Rendon Howe story arc 'Bryce's Little Spit Fire.' And phoenixandashes' 'A New Kind of Bravery,' which is a Cousland loses Ali to the Archdemon and what comes after story and it is so good. SPOILER story for those who haven't played Awakening yet. Igrayne01 has written a wonderful Nathaniel Howe and Cousland romance titled 'Uncommon Ground.' Fractured Luna has a romance Cousland Fem/ Ser Gilmore, for all of you whose hearts went pitty pat for the handsome shy redhead in the noble origin, titled 'From One Knight to Another.' Miri1984 has a wonderful story titled 'Consequences,' a unique plot where Alistair and the fem Cousland leave their son Duncan to rule, and I won't spoil what happens, it has twists, go read it.
All of these authors have many, many wonderful stories besides these mentioned here. I wish I had time to read them all, but if I did, I would never get my own written, the same for you all no doubt, LOL! And yes I know I may make you take time away from reading this one and reviewing, but still, I want to give back good energy and love to others. : )
Thank you all so much for reviews, for emails of ideas, for lurking, for adding my story to favs and alerts, and for the traffic. I am not sure if I am reading all the stats, but they look good to me, and I get a tickle out of the bar graphs, you all keep driving the little bars way up, and this has only been up since January. It is all because of you guys, I never forget that, every day, I thank my lucky stars. So you all rock my socks off. I want to name all of you again here, but there are so many of you all now, I hope that doesn't sound like bragging, because it is all you guys, I cannot take the credit. You all take the time out of your busy days, that you could be spending doing something else, that you spend even a little of your precious time reading my fic is amazing to me, I am humbled.
And a lot of love to Phoenix Fire Lady, and Night Hunter MGS aka Chainsaw and Lisette57, Lis, your recent review made my heart go all a flutter and made me blush, thank you, I am so glad I can paint a picture for you! NH and PFL you both crack me up, your reviews are wonderful, and the personal emails you send just give me giggles of delight and great ideas too. Oh and PFL, it tickled me pink when you suggested sending me cookies (like Sten, I like cookies, the cake is a lie) to help keep me writing, sans the occasional nap. I love writing for you all, as well as for me. : )
Oh, I just have to say, rogues do it from behind, ROFL!
Blessings!
It was not long after the practice session with the new weapons that Wynne returned, the good news was that Drysi was the only victim. There had been others he had chatted up, but he had not had the time to force himself on them, for which Kai was extremely grateful, as were Irving, Greagoir, and Wynne herself. More victims would have made things even more complicated, not to mention having to confront the additional emotional anguish.
Kai paid the innkeeper and pulled up the hood of her cloak and put the veil across her face. It was one thing to have her face exposed here, but on the road was another thing altogether. The others saddled the Ceffyls while Wynne packed and gathered what little she brought with her in her run from Highever to get to Kai's side. Luckily, Gnat had no problem riding though she would have to ride in front of Jarren until they could get her a Ceffyl of her own. Kai lost the coin toss between her and Zev on who would have Oghren sitting in front of them, he gave her a sly smile and a wink. She narrowed her eyes at him. She suspected him of cheating somehow. He only gave her a low chuckle and a kiss. After a very public and somewhat disturbing display of affection between Oghren and Felsi, Zev and Jarren got Oghren settled up in front of her. Kai took a tentative sniff. He actually didn't smell as bad as he usually did. "Felsi made you take a bath, didn't she," Kai giggled.
"Bah, Felsi and I did the aquatic Rhumba, Warden. You should try it in the bathtub some time."
"I still say she tricked you into taking a bath" Kai teased him, "I think the sex was her way of getting you in the tub."
"Sodding women, you're all tricky wenches," Oghren growled at her.
Kai laughed at him, "I think I should send her a present. I am just glad you and Felsi got to be together, Oghren," She patted his shoulder consolingly. Kai turned Luna towards the road once the others were all mounted and ready to go. Kai said goodbye to Felsi and the barkeep, before she rode off through the town, waving back at the villagers who were waving to them.
Timothy motioned for them to stop before they had gotten to the edge of town. "My lady, I can't thank you enough for what you did. Your man Jarren came with the news this morning, I think it did Drysi a lot of good. That Templar can no longer hurt her, and Nila said that the girl fell asleep without bad dreams for the first time. The poor thing has been exhausted with fear. Nila made these for you," Timothy handed Kai a bag which, when she opened it, she discovered it contained food wrapped up for their trip, including a whole pile of cookies. Sten would be so disappointed if they ate them all, she made a note to save some of the cookies for him. She had reason to know that Nila made some of the best in all of Ferelden.
She smiled at him, "Give Nila our thanks, The Silver Griffon will be back." He took the bag and put it in her saddlebag for her before giving her hand a squeeze.
"Goodbye, my lady," Timothy waved and smiled as they left to take the North Road to Highever.
They stuck to the North road as the terrain was rocky and too hard for the Ceffyls to try to pick their way across land. The sunshine sparkled, and a slight breeze kept the sun from making them too warm, a lovely day for a ride, if this were any ordinary day, in an ordinary world where there weren't bad things going on. She should have known it wouldn't last.
They were almost on top of them before they realized it. It was the green bolt of magic cast by the emissary that hit Luna, causing the mare to stumble to her knees with a screeching, a high-pitched whinny that startled Kai out of her inner musings. The hissing and low grumbling laughter made it clear that there was a large group of darkspawn in the middle of the road. Kai and Oghren both went pitching over the mare's head, tumbling to the ground. Kai tucked in her shoulders and rolled with it coming to her feet while drawing her daggers in one fluid motion. Oghren may have been less graceful but he too rolled and was up and running to Luna, who had gotten back on her feet, to grab his battle axe which was strapped to the saddle.
Kai instantly started to do an assessment of the battleground and how many they had to deal with. Adrenaline flooded her system, making time slow down and everything come into sharp focus. Since she could no longer sense them, it was harder to do a complete count of what they were up against. Besides the hurlock emissary, she counted two genlock alphas along with a large number of assorted genlock and hurlock warriors and a couple of archers. The group didn't include any Shrieks, the darkspawn rogues that could hide until they sprang on their victim in surprise with the shrill wail that was their namesake.
Kai felt her heart beating with more than adrenaline, Maker, so many and in broad daylight too, and with not just one alpha or emissary capable of human speech and with enough brain power to lead, but three? The alphas and emissaries were common only during a Blight. What, by Andraste's flaming knickers, was going on here? Alistair killed the Archdemon, she watched him do it, he was in the Fade as proof that it had been done. By all the information, and granted neither Duncan nor Ali nor Riordan had been able to tell her much Warden lore, but by all accounts the darkspawn should have retreated to the Deep Roads, leaving only a few stragglers.
"I don't know, my love, they shouldn't be doing this." Alistair's voice sounded with fear and worry in her ear.
"Well, I think someone failed to tell them about what they are supposed to be doing." Kai mused back at him trying to use humor to bite back the almost overwhelming fear she was feeling, the whole situation was sending alarm bells off inside her head. Suddenly, time sped up again and she was too busy to worry it over further.
Kai felt rather than saw Zev ride past her to her left on Rhia to rush one of the alphas. Kai heard Rhia scream in a Ceffyl battle cry, and she heard a sickening thump and a squall of pain as a hoof heavily shod with dwarven steel connected with the genlock alpha. From the hollow meaty sound, Kai figured the blow was to the creature's head. Ceffyls like Rhia were battle trained, they knew to hit vulnerable points on an enemy. Kai was once again grateful for the Ceffyls, and not just because they kept her from having to walk everywhere.
Gnat had jumped down from in front of Jarren and taken out her newest weapon, giving it a quick little jerk on the chain and spinning it in a blur over her head, the blades making a high whirring sound. Jarren followed Zev's path and took his Ceffyl to the archers who found themselves on the front and back end of a battle-trained Ceffyl who used strong backwards kicks with heavily muscled legs and sharp strong Ceffyl teeth from the front. The high pitched, hissing screams told Kai they were sorry indeed to come across such a foe. Bran, Wynne's Ceffyl, stayed alert and ready to keep the mage safe while she cast healing spells on the group. Argus already carried himself into the fray against a couple of hurlocks, Zev and Jarren jumped off their Ceffyls and drawn their blades. Rhia and even the wounded Luna were like Argus, capable of killing on their own, and they went to it, that left Kai and Oghren to fight against the emissary.
It was Oghren with his natural dwarven resistance to magic who took the hurlock head on, swinging his heavy, two-handed battle axe in wide arcs, any spells that landed on him seemed to tickle, if his giggling was anything to go by. Kai's memories harkened back to the old days in the Deep Roads when they had fought side by side looking for Branka, his late wife. Kai, using her rogue skills, took the emissary from behind, she managed to stun the emissary for a short period, giving Oghren time to slice the creature as it stumbled around dazed. Kai's poisoned blades cut into the leathery, mummified muscles from behind, finally enough of venom worked its way through the hurlock's system that Oghren was able to swing his axe and send its head flying in a spray of dark blood.
Oghren turned and went to fight with Zev and Jarren, who were fighting a group of hurlocks. Kai turned and looked for Gnat to see the bard twirling the weapon and facing off against a hurlock who looked huge in comparison to the diminutive elf. She calmly continued to spin the ball, and as the hurlock rushed her, she let it fly so the chain wrapped itself around the darkspawn's neck and the ball hit the tree behind it, lodging itself in the bark. Gnat wrapped the chain around her elbow, snapping it tighter. Kai could hear crunching noises as the chain crushed the hurlock's throat, its screaming hiss cut off as Gnat wrapped the chain around her bent arms and tightened it even more. Once she got close, Gnat suddenly tapped the toe of one boot sharply on the heel of the other and a large, sharp blade slid out. She plunged the blade into the hurlock's eye before slicing it across the throat above the chain deeply enough to almost sever its head. Blood sprayed and the body went limp, held up only by the tension of the chain.
It was then Kai heard the sharp, painful cries of a mortally wounded dog, sod it, Argus! Kai and Gnat turned to find Argus set upon by two shrieks, one of which used a long claw to impale the Mabari while Argus was occupied with the other shriek. Kai watched in horror as the Shriek ripped its claw down Argus's side causing blood to spray and the dog to scream in high pitched yelps, as Gnat unwound her chain and gave a sharp tug causing the blades to retract so she could release it from the tree. Kai was already running toward the shrieks, yelling to get their attention. They turned toward her, but Argus was lying on his side not moving. She took them both on heedless of the danger in such an action.
"Kai, duck," Gnat's voice yelled over the shrieks' wails, she had just a second to duck before Gnat's weapon sliced both shrieks across their throats, the bladed ball making a whirring sound as it sailed past her. One tried to hide, but Gnat's weapon was already spinning to wrap itself around the shriek's neck while the bladed ball embedding itself in the creature's throat, the high pitched keening turning to gurgles. That left Kai with the one in front of her, she executed a double-handed swipe to its torso, then took a step back and spun to deliver a back-handed sweep, taking its head off.
Kai didn't watch as it sailed off, she was already putting her hands over Argus's gaping wound, hot blood pouring out between her fingers, he whined a little, "Wynne!" Kai practically screamed for the mage who spurred Bran over to them, she jumped off and quickly raised the Mabari's head to tip a health potion into his mouth. When that was finished, her hands glowed with power as she put them on the deepest wound. Kai took held the wound with one hand and poured a healing potion from her pouch into Argus' mouth. Kai could feel the blood flow slowing with the healing draught, and magic. As Wynne's hands moved the length of the gash she could feel the skin and muscles slowly knitting back together under her fingers.
"There, we can't let him walk back to Highever, and he is going to need to rest for a week or so, but I think he will be all right, child. I would like it better if we can get him back to the castle and keep him still." Wynne smiled and put a hand out to pet Argus's head, he responded by licking the mage's hand in thanks and whining again weakly. Jarren stood next to Gnat and Oghren who managed to finish off the hurlocks. It was Zev who bent down and put an arm around her shoulders while patting Argus gently.
"It would no doubt be best if we get on the move, I think we can lay Argus across Bran's shoulders in front of Wynne, no?" Zev looked at the mage who nodded, "Luna got hit by the Emissary's spell, Wynne, so we need you to see to her." Wynne nodded and got back up to look at the Ceffyl, she soon indicated that the mare was fit to travel. Gnat and Jarren looked over the bodies of the darkspawn and looted anything off of them that could be useful or could be sold. When everything that could be packed away was, Wynne mounted Bran who had readily agreed to carry Argus. Kai, Oghren, Zev and Jarren gently lifted the Mabari and draped his big body over the shoulders of the stallion and used rope to secure him, gently as they could, in place. They passed around a health potion, sharing it amongst them as none had any severe injuries, then they burned all the darkspawn bodies, making sure they stayed down wind while watching the road for any unwary travelers. Then they were back on the road and on their way. Kai was happy to put the corpses and the fetid smell of their blood as far behind her as she could, she was grateful that there was no ogre this time.
Kai always loved Highever, and she felt a great sense of relief when she saw it in the distance and even more cheer when they neared the front gates. They rode into the courtyard, where they were greeted by servants, as Kai bid some of the guards grab a blanket to make a stretcher for Argus. She ordered him cleansed of darkspawn blood and taken to her room. Bran watched carefully as Argus was placed on the stretcher, when he was satisfied Argus would be properly cared for, he turned to a stable hand and allowed himself to be led away. She patted Luna, thanking her for her help, the Ceffyl snuffled her before she let the stable hand take her and get her settled.
She, of course, found herself surrounded by concerned friends and had to explain that the blood on all of them was from a recent attack, not the one from a couple of days past. She found she was just exhausted, and after reassuring them she begged to be allowed to go and take a bath. Her brother Fergus gave her a quick hug, Kai noticed a strange look passing between Morrigan and Fergus while they hugged, she was frankly too tired to try and figure out. She hobbled off to her room only to find that Morrigan shadowing her. Kai figured the witch, who was inordinately fond of Argus-not that she would ever admit to it-was worried about the big Mabari. Morrigan always denied ever sneaking him treats or throwing sticks for him when they were fighting the Blight, but Kai knew better. Kai pointedly never mentioned the time she found the witch coming out of the butchers at Denerim with a bag full of bones for a spell, she told Kai. The spell turned out to be the spell woven by one sad-eyed dog who turned up with said bones on multiple nights around camp later on, Kai snorted at the memory.
When they got to her room, she walked in and Morrigan followed, shutting the door with an audible snap. Kai raised an eyebrow as she went to the tub and turned on the taps to fill it, "Argus is getting a bath, it will be some time before they bring him up here, sister. If you are worried about him, I think you can safely sneak down to the stables and check on him without the others seeing. Your secret love of the 'flea ridden mongrel,' will still be our little secret." Kai grinned as Morrigan knew full well everyone else knew her love of the hound, but pretended they didn't.
The witch didn't smile back, "I am worried about the dog, but 'tis not why I followed you up here" Morrigan began to pace.
Kai had never seen her so agitated before, "Oh-kay, would you like to tell me what it is that seems to have put a bee in your bonnet?" Kai watched Morrigan run her fingers through her bangs and blow out a gust of air.
"'Tis your brother," Morrigan wheeled around her golden eyes wide.
"Okay, I'll bite, what did the sodding idiot do now," Kai grinned at her.
"'Tis a certainty that he is insane" Morrigan's hands jerked into fists at her side.
"Well, that certainly has never come up, he's usually as dependable as the sunrise." Kai was really confused now, "What's made you think he is a few marbles shy of a full bag?"
"The fool has declared his love for me!" Morrigan looked completely horrified. Her eyes were wide and her face paler than usual.
Kai couldn't help it. She burst out laughing so hard that she fell off her bed and rolled on the floor.