Warnings: Cursing and violence.

Rating (for this chapter): Teen

Review responses:

A kid: Ah Sten. The ever stoic character who always questions my actions in the game. Let's just say he'll definitely question the relationship of Hadrian and Alistair. Leliana, the ever sexy Bard, will be more open-minded than her chantry sisters as she did start out as an assassin in Orlais first and foremost. Also, it is up to Hadrian to turn Alistair into a pervert in the most delicious ways! I'm not yet sure on how to do the romance but keep a lookout! * grins *

YoshisSupport: Woops! I misunderstood. Sorry about that. :D Yes, what the boy quoted in Alistair's dream originated from Doctor Who, the British TV Show. Dr. River Song, how I love thee and your mysterious ways with the Doctor.

Thank you for reading and reviewing!

A Grumpy Witch and Three Prakos

The two Wardens, after learning of the older witch's name with a shudder going through their spines, finally acquiesced to taking up Flemeth's offer of her daughter's help. Alistair didn't like the younger witch at all, as apparent by their unfriendly banter and bickering. At first, Hadrian found it amusing.

However, Morrigan had hit a sharp nerve one evening. She was incredibly upset when her mother forced her to go with the two men. It showed in her caustic comments about Alistair's continual moping on his loss and in her cooking as well. Hadrian had went off that evening to catch some dinner with while Alistair stayed behind to clean their armor and weapons.

"Why must you always hum when you're cleaning, Alistair? Silence is golden, especially with you around." She had already prepared a small cauldron with some broth cooking in it. There was a horrible smell coming from it, as if the witch neglected to put some aromatic herbs in the soup such as rosemary and thyme. Or perhaps she had placed a week's old corpse in it. It would explain for that Maker awful smell Alistair was experiencing. It was bad enough to make him gag but that would mean he would have to start his polishing over again.

"It helps, if you want to know." Alistair replied in a quiet voice. He absentmindedly rubbed a stubborn streak from the flat side of sword, the one given to him by Duncan himself. It was a plain Warden's sword, long and ending at almost 2 feet at the tip. The blade was of medium quality, being wrought from double carbon folded steel, but lyrium patterns woved around the sword and it caused the sword to emit a light yellow glow. 'This sword, although not as good as its peers in terms of quality, will be suitable for you as it does extra damage against Darkspawn. Should you ever need to, use it without hesitation.' Duncan's voice echoed in his mind and he could almost see his mentor's face reflecting in the blade. Startled, he dropped the sword and it clanged upon landing, causing the witch to stare at him with those haunting topaz orbs.

"With you making such loud noises around the area, it would be a wonder that the Darkspawn don't swoop down upon us! The way you're handling yourself, it's no wonder the Wardens died so quickly in battle!"

Alistair couldn't say anything, not without his voice breaking and his eyes welling in tears as grief drove over him in endless waves. Instead, he merely gathered what items he needed to finish his polish and, picking up the sword along the way, silently went back into his tent.

Hadrian came back to an almost empty campsite, with a witch standing watch over her cauldron and someone that was missing from his view. He had a deer slung over his right shoulder and he deposited it next to Morrigan, earning him the usual cold glare. Unlike Alistair, however, he was not put off by it. Rather, it irked him and he returned it with one of his own.

"Where is Alistair, Morrigan?"

The witch's nose wrinkled in disgust as she watched the young Warden commenced in skinning the deer and cutting the meat with his small dirk. She turned her attention to the boiling soup and stirred it with a wooden spatula.

"He's in that rudimentary contraption of his."

"Really?" Hadrian was surprised to hear that his fellow Warden had retreated back into the small tent that they both shared. Alistair loved the outdoors and if he was cleaning their equipment, then the smell would be twice as bad in such a small enclosure. Then again, there was another bad smell and his stomach did odd turns when he realized where the smell was coming from.

"Yes, he was outside until I made a remark about his clumsiness. I suppose that a Grey Warden doesn't make you less clumsy." Her tone was not particularly malicious, but the seeming carelessness in the way she said it pissed Hadrian off. No wonder Alistair went into his tent. Hadrian had put up with their bickering for a whole day and he was getting more and more impatient with the witch rather than Alistair. Morrigan had never lost anything. She couldn't understand what both of them had gone through; however, it didn't call for her rude comments. He had to nip this in the butt. He placed the cut pieces of venison in the small cauldron and then stood in front of the witch, her retort stopped at the fierce scowl on the man's face.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asked, her arms held in a tight grip by Hadrian's arms.

"Exactly my point," Hadrian growled back at her. "He lost his family out there and you treat it as if it was nothing. Don't mock him or the Wardens, you got that?"

'This man dares threaten me? I can turn him into ash with but a word? 'Remember, child, your true mission. Or your nightmares will be the least of your worries.'

The grip tightened at her lack of response and she let out a gasp, something she tried to withheld. She glared back at Hadrian and found a wolf staring back at her, prompting a further delay in her comeback. Her eyes blinked again and the visage of the wolf disappeared, leaving behind only a very angry looking warrior whose patience was growing thin.

"Let go of me now, or I will turn you into a toad." She almost made good on her threat but to her surprise, Hadrian let her forearms go. Red welts had almost immediately appeared and she winced at the throbbing pain from them.

"Turn me into a toad then; but I bet your mother won't be pleased."

What? How did he know about that? Hadrian mistook her silence for fear of him.

"Your mother ordered you to go with us. I'm sure she won't be too happy if she found out that you turned both of us into toads." The human warrior's face was smug and seeing that he made his point, he walked away from her and headed into the tent, very aware of golden eyes digging into his back.

-o0o-

Alistair's eyebrows were raised upwards, almost into his hairline, at a speechless Morrigan when the next morning came. For a whole day she had yet to say something derogatory towards the Wardens, more specifically towards him. Even when cooking, which would be the prime time for her to say something, her sharp tongue stayed.

The noise of someone walking towards him caught his attention and he saw that Hadrian had approached him, sliding his dagger into a small sheathe at his hip. He wasn't wearing his usual heavy armor but had opted for the light type that allowed more movement.

"I'm going to hunt for some more food. You want to stay or come with?"

Alistair considered his options. If he stayed, then he would have no choice but to put up with Morrigan and her negativity. The Witch was powerful in her own right. In one of their minor skirmishes with a lot of tainted wolves and other predators that roamed the woods, they saw how easily she destroyed over half of them with just a fire spell. Unfortunately, since it was an area of effect spell, it almost swallowed the two Wardens as well, much to their chagrin. Alistair had to smile at how Hadrian huffed and puffed at Morrigan, his hair still aflame before Morrigan pointed it out and used a water spell to douse it out. Actually, it rather poured onto him, drenching him in water until even his smallclothes were soaking wet.

"Alistair, what are you smiling at?" Hadrian's question caused him to return to the present and he found a wry smile on his friend's face.

"Nothing in particular. Just thinking of how you were on fire and then Morrigan literally put a bucket of water over you."

Hadrian tried to stifle a laugh but it came out unbidden and both Wardens burst out laughing, prompting a stoney glance from their chief who was strongly considering in putting some blood lotus in their soup. It wasn't harmful if congested, except maybe cause some minor vomiting. However, any delay in their getting out of the Wilds would only result in the Blight overtaking them that much sooner. She disliked the idea of having to travel with her two current companions, but she absolutely loathed the Darkspawn and found the idea of facing her mother's wrath terrifying. Thus, she withheld her idea of temporarily poisoning her companions. For now at least.

"Come on, Alistair," Hadrian persuaded his friend gently, "Morrigan can take care of herself."

"Yeah, I don't think I want to stick around now," Alistair laughed as he got up.

A few minutes later, the two men were roaming around the area that was further up ahead of their camp. One of them was trying to be quiet while the other one clearly had no experience in tracking animals as evidenced by a couple of frustrated sounds of 'ow!' and 'Andraste's knickers!' Hadrian sighed heavily. He was never going to get anywhere with his friend lumbering heavily after him. Deciding that he should probably leave him behind, he circled back and placed a hand on Alistair's shoulder.

The templar whirled around and Hadrian just barely blocked a thrust with his hand that lashed out to stop the offending hand. In the dark, he could see Alistair's eyes widened out of fear that he almost killed his only Warden friend.

"Hadrian! I'm s-s-sorry! I didn't know it was you!"

"You've never had any training in tracking, have you?" The question was asked in an exasperated tone. Alistair shrugged helplessly and Hadrian's eyes rolled in annoyance. "Just stay here. I'll come back."

"Hey! It's really dark out there!" Alistair shouted after him as he plunged deeper into the forest. The poor man waited for a reply but got none. He stayed where he was at and it was as if the forest itself was holding its breath until Hadrian left his premises. As soon as he no longer saw Hadrian, the forest came alive with strange, ominous sounds like owls hooting quietly while the trees rustled in a light breeze. There seemed to be heavy footsteps going around and Alistair bated his breath, waiting for some huge animal to come through. After a while of nothing though, the templar discovered that the thumping sounds of footsteps were the sounds of his heart beating rapidly. He wasn't scared. Nope, he faced darkspawn. He wasn't scared of some animal that could be prowling around in the darkness, waiting for its prey to relax its guard before pouncing for the attack. Nope, not scared at all. Hadrian, you better get your arse back here!

-o0o-

Hadrian's senses sharpened in the night and he could feel the presence of the tainted wolves prowling around their campsite. Their thoughts slid against his, like mud drifting over hard rocks. He found it repulsive and wished that Zarieth had not given him this gift, this curse. He discovered that his perception would be sharper than his peers, especially around a full moon and amongst other things. Whoever shall look upon you in the star's light will not live to tell the tale. His eyes closed at the thoughts of two incidents in which he had been seen in his alternate form. Both witnesses had died and he cursed at himself for it being his fault. Cailan and Duncan were good men. Why did they have to die? 'Because you would be imprisoned and studied, just like an animal. You must be kept secret. For the world's sake. For your sake.'

That stupid voice was speaking to him. Again. It was like having another person talking to you, except it was in his mind.

Suddenly, movement occurred in his peripheral vision and he ducked down, trying to be downwind from whatever was moving out there. He couldn't sense any taint emanating from the creature. Thus, it was safe to eat, if he could catch it before it escaped him. The creature came out into whatever light the night could afford and it was huge, easily towering at five feet tall and that was from afar. On second thought, maybe he shouldn't have left his friend back there.

As if sensing it was being spied on, the creature's head lifted and let out a shrill whistle, a sound he never would have thought it being capable of producing. At first, nothing else moved. However, it got very quiet as if the forest was waiting for something or just abiding its time to attack him.

Hadrian figured it was the latter option. A sound of thunder clapped ahead but despite the presence of clouds hovering above him, they were light in texture and shape. Also, the thunder seemed to increase by every bit of a candlelight and clouds of dust appeared several feet away from him. Within those clouds were those monstrous shapes again and Hadrian let out a curse. He only wore light armor, something that was ill suited for a long-drawn battle with any monstrosity found in the Wilds, including the Darkspawn. Now, he was very happy that he left Alistair in a safe place, where it was closer to camp. Should Alistair come across any dangers, Morrigan should be able to hear the calls of distress and come to their aide. Of course, the key word was 'should.' Hadrian grimaced at the thought that maybe Morrigan would just stay on the sidelines and heal them afterwards.

The creatures of the Wild didn't afford Hadrian time to imagine a possible scenario where the two warriors were wishing that the old woman was with them instead of Morrigan, whose healing abilities weren't exactly painless.

They loomed over him, their stature easily ending at seven feet in height with some room to spare. Hadrian could see that they were Prakos, creatures similar to bears except their exterior was hardened bone itself, an adaptation to the severe weather conditions of the south. The cold storms were merciless to the inhabitants of the Kacori Wilds and south of the forest. Any animals not adapted to them suffered extinction.

Fortunately, Prakos steered clear of humanity and they were usually herbivores, a characteristic one couldn't tell by their sharp tusks and the ferocity of their attacks. Unfortunately, one Prakos was dangerous enough by itself. Hadrian was surrounded with three of them and he figured that he might have stumbled unto a brooding nest of some sort. Only one was female in appearance for it was smaller than the others by two feet. That didn't mean she was any less of a danger though, which Hadrian was beginning to discover.

He just barely managed to dodge a charge from the female one when he almost managed to impale himself on a pair of tusks from another Prakos, one that looked like the Alpha of the Pack by his immense size and commanding air. Maker's arse, maybe I should have brought Alistair with me!

Seeing as how there was no way he could defeat them all by himself, at least not without getting killed in the process, he made a decision to head straight for his friends. Morrigan better not be bitching about lack of meat now! He ran as fast as he could and when he came finally stumbled upon the campsite, Morrigan wasn't there like she should be. He heard a loud roar behind him and something charging at him. The warrior barely managed to dodge another charge but he landed in the path of another. Before he could do anything, it charged at him and threw him in the air. I am not going to die in some Maker forsaken forest! He twisted his body to where he could land on the ground in a roll, an action that earned him a broken ankle and dislocated shoulder.

The same Prakos that charged at him swung back and it pawed the ground in front of him, a clear sign of its intentions in finishing him off. The others, sensing that the intruder was down, circled him, their tusks targeting him. There was no way he would be able to dodge them all with a broken ankle. With that thought in mind, all three of them charged at the same time and Hadrian was ready to face death.

-o0o-

"What is taking those two so long? My cauldron is almost half-empty!" Morrigan muttered and she was very tempted to just go on her own to retrieve dinner. However, if she did that, then no one else would be able to watch over the camp. No one except a mangy dog of Hadrian's. Her back was turned to the dog, whose head suddenly reared up from it was lying on its paws. The ears were laid flat and there was a growling sound, which brought Morrigan's attention to him.

"What is it, mongrel? Something scary out there?" She clutched at her staff, which was lying right next to her in case of an emergency. The dog continued to growl but the female Mage couldn't hear anything except for the fires crackling behind her and the usual sounds of the forest like owls hooting and creatures thundering about. Wait, creatures should not be thundering around at this time of night!

Oh Maker's arse! The witch cursed inwardly for the sounds were coming straight towards the campsite, to her. She was itching for a fight but she was starving first and foremost. The trees facing the back of their tents were falling back, as if a great gust of wind just simply billowed them over. The witch knew better though, especially when she heard the telltale roars of the Prakos.

She had lived in the Wilds for far too long to not know the other inhabitants of the Kacori Wilds. Someone must have pissed them off for the animals to go running around amok late at night. If she were to place a bet on the cause of the whole chaos, it would be Alistair without a doubt. His movements could wake the dead if that was possible.

The dog, whose name she never really cared to learn, ran away at the sounds and Morrigan figured that now she had two cowards to deal with. When the noise was coming closer though, she realized that the dog must have known something and the witch followed the dog, not wanting to be left behind with huge monsters.

Not too long after the pair edged deeper into the forest but still in view of the campsite, three Prakos came charging in, running over the tents and the fire. One of them screeched as its legs caught on fire but it was strong enough to keep running through it. The force of the charge allowed the simmering flames to dissipate into the cold night and it circled back towards the centre, where Morrigan could see a human figure limping on one leg with a dagger hovering protectively before his face.

It wouldn't' do to have her strongest warrior die in this stupid forest. So, while the Prakos charged at the figure in the middle, she muttered a few words and the three were caught in a mass paralysis spell. Hadrian tried to run his way out only to fall flat on his face. The paralysis spell could only hold her enemies for so long and she wished that for once, Alistair would come back.

One of their enemies was straining against the spell and Morrigan focused on keeping her will on it. It was enough though for Alistair ran in and grabbed Hadrian. He slung him over his shoulder and jumped out of the paralysis circle, allowing Morrigan to cast an interno spell, one that decimated the creatures within a few seconds.

The mabari barked excitedly at seeing its Master again and then it whimpered when Hadrian was set down against a tree, with Alistair hovering over him. Morrigan didn't want to go over where the others were just yet. She had to ensure that the Prakos were dead. There were shrieks of agony coming from the lumps caught in the flames and then there was silence. Morrigan cast another spell, one that she learned from a grimoire her mother let her borrow at one time. A strong gust of wind blew through the site, leaving behind perfectly well-done sacks of meat.

Satisfied that the enemies were finished off, she took her time in reaching the two men and the canine. As she got closer, she could hear pained gasps and the Templar chiding his friend for not coming his way soon enough.

" Andraste's knickers, Hadrian," Alistair cursed. He undid the buckles of his friend's left greave and gingerly felt around the swollen limb. "Your ankle is broken. So is your left shoulder."

"No shit, genius," Hadrian hissed at him but he was immediately apologetic for it when he saw the hurt look on Alistair's face. "Sorry, it just hurts like hell right now."

The apology seemed sincere enough to Alistair for he bestowed a gentle smile at his injured friend. The smile disappeared though when he caught sight of the witch who was strolling towards them, taking her sweet time in reaching the pair.

"Well, looks like Alistair isn't the only clumsy fool around here," Morrigan said. Regus growled at her venomous tone and he snarled when her hands drew nearer to Hadrian's body. "Stupid mongrel. I mean no threat to your master or Alistair."

"Down, boy." Hadrian commanded and Regus stopped growling. However, his eyes were fixed on hers and Morrigan had a feeling that Regus would instinctively protect his human charge were she to do any harm to them.

No further words were said and Hadrian's body glowed for a bit. The man sighed in relief as the pain went away and his broken bones were set in place. Morrigan sat back on her knees and Hadrian stretched his shoulder, smiling at a soft pop that emitted from his old injury..

"You know, shoulders aren't supposed to be making popping sounds," Morrigan interjected in a pedantic way.

"I know," was the simple reply. "well, our campsite's really trashed this time and we have plenty of food to eat."

Morrigan's eyes flickered back to the three unmoving lumps. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the smell. However, her stomach growled and she had a hunch that this may be the last time they could feast in a while.

Two days later, the witch was right and she hated herself for it. After walking for 20 leagues, she finally saw a bridge appear only a few yards away. She heard relieved sighs from her companions around her and even the damned dog was yipping happily at the first sight of civilization.

"Lothering," Hadrian said breathlessly. "We're almost there. Let's hope we don't run into any more trouble."

The pace picked up as all three humans were eager to finally have a chance to sleep on warm beds for once and not have to worry about predators lurking about them. Unfortunately, trouble seemed to find them as they were to discover at the bridge half a candlelight later.

-TBC-

A/N: Remember to review! If there are more reviews attached to the story, then that means more people will read it and possibly review as well, which will make me very, very happy. :D

I like when reviews are given. It's like receiving Christmas presents. :)

Next chapter is Lothering and our trio will bump into the Hawkes, which will change everything, and other not so pleasant things!