Chapter five
Fenris will be here soon! I promise you!
Thank you once again to my Beta Enchantm3nt! Without you helping me I don't think I'd have even written this far! :D You're amaaaaazing!
Isabela part two
Isabela waited at the hanged man for the woman; in fact she hadn't moved much from the tavern all day. She was too worried that she would run into trouble without the woman's aid. She felt more comfortable in taverns, they were familiar to her. The scent of piss and ale soothed her when she was worried.
She played with her mug of ale, her fingers loosely skimming the rim of the top of the mug. She wouldn't blame the woman if she did not come to help her. If the tables were turned then Isabela wouldn't even dream of helping someone without the promise of gold or sex.
Whilst she waited she listened to the patrons talk.
"Fucking Qunari, self-righteous horned bastards, on top of everything in this shit hole!" one of the patrons exclaimed, banging his hand on the table.
"Blame the Viscount for that fuck up. He could have told 'em to take a long walk off of a short cliff, but no, the coward gave them a sodding plot of land for them to settle in. The last thing this city needs is more fucking people in it after all the sodding refugees flocked here. And we definitely don't need no more religious nutters either, they can take their Blighted Qun and shove it up their arses," the other replied angrily, ending his rant with a belch.
"Balls," she muttered under her breath, they'd followed her here.
Castillion she could she could handle…she just needed to find his relic and return it, no biggie. But the Qunari…she wouldn't be able to reason with them, they'd kill her or worse use her. They didn't like to waste things.
Isabela downed the rest of her drink at the thought of more trouble, just as she did the door swung open and the woman she spoke to earlier came in accompanied by a dwarf, the warrior she had met before and a red haired giant of a woman donning guards armour and a Templar shield.
"I thought you'd forgotten about me, sweet thing!" she purred, making the woman's brother blush.
"Me! Forget a damsel in distress? You have already met me and my brother. The handsome dwarf with the forest of chest hair is Varric, my business partner. And this lady here is Aveline, soon to become captain Aveline after today's events!" Hawke said to her, a playful yet proud tinge in her voice.
"A pleasure to meet you!" she said
"Well now the formalities are done with, let's get down to business," Hawke said, looking around at the drunken patrons in the pub. Isabela could tell that Hawke enjoyed a drink just by the way she watched the drunken patrons with envy.
"I don't think we'll have time for drinks tonight sister, after all we have to meet Anso after this," Carver said to the elder Hawke in a stern voice.
Isabela smiled at the younger Hawke sibling, he was good looking and young. Exactly how she liked her men.
Hawke rolled her eyes and grunted with agreement and annoyance.
"Oooh your brother is the bossy type, I like bossy," Isabela purred again, looking straight at Carver.
Carver glanced at her, then her breasts and then back to her. After that he must have decided that he wouldn't look at her again as he kept his gaze to the floor.
"Her I like!" The dwarf that had been introduced Varric said, looking at her in amusement.
They had set off towards Hightown, Isabela had immediately hit it off with the dwarf and the younger brother, but the guardswoman didn't seem like the kind of woman she would normally get along with. She was different from her, instead of joining in with the sexual innuendos and jokes she merely tutted. Maker what a prude, thought Isabela.
Hawke had taken to walking in front of them all, almost as if she thought she could sense danger before it came to them. Isabela looked at her and frowned. The fellow rogue obviously didn't know how sensual the sway of her hips was. She walked almost like a feline poised and ready to attack.
This woman was so different to herself. What you saw was what you got with Isabela…everything was always on display and she liked it that way, she wanted her body as free as her mind. But Hawke…she kept her assets carefully hidden and gave nothing away. Isabela was almost envious of her, Isabela had to flaunt what she had to get people to look at her but the other rogue didn't and somehow still commanded the attention of the whole room or street.
They walked towards the courtyard, which seemed to be completely empty. Hawke, however, stood in the middle of it, her eyes scanning every inch while they lingered in the shadows.
"We are not alone!" she shouted to Isabela and the others, just as an army of rogues and warriors alike shot out of the shadows like confetti out of a party popper.
Hawke unsheathed her daggers, spinning them in a complex motion before dropping into a defensive stance as the attackers drew near. Isabela ran to her side, the warriors not far behind. Little Hawke and the carrotop guard were the first to attack, drawing most of the enemies toward them. Isabela slipped in between targets, her blades flowing effortlessly from slitting the throat of one to stabbing another. She kept stealing glances at Hawke who remained at her back, mirroring her moves and slicing with catlike grace and agility. It was the grin on Hawke's face though that really caught Isabela's eye. With every enemy Hawke felled her grin grew larger until she was almost laughing with glee. Isabela hadn't seen such obvious blood lust for a long time, she couldn't help but wish Hawke had been with her on her ship, perhaps then she wouldn't have had to sacrifice everything in the storm.
The last enemy fell, their heads lopped off by the younger Hawke's impressive sword. Yes, she rather liked the way his muscles rippled when he swung the impressive weapon, she couldn't help but wonder what other impressive weapons he had on him.
Isabela smiled at Hawke as she wiped the gore from her daggers, Hawke did the same, returning her smile, her face covered in blood and filth, not that the rogue seemed to care. Yes, Isabela definitely wished she had met Hawke sooner.
"Start checking the bodies, see if we can get the advantage on Hayder," Isabela barked, as her mind started to wander to images of her and Hawke hijacking pirate ships out on the open ocean, the sea breeze in their hair and grins on their faces. Perhaps they could roll naked in the gold they looted together…
She watched Hawke bend over and a smile spread up her lips once again, oh yes, she could definitely get behind that.
The dwarf with the delicious chest hair was sighing in annoyance as he bent over checking the corpses for loot. Isabela couldn't help but admire his broad chest and the way his chest hair glistened in the evening Sun. She liked chest hair.
"Not much gold to split up here, Hawke. Might pay for a round back at the Hanged Man, that's it," he said with another sigh.
"Well, at least we can have get a drink when it's over," Hawke said, smiling at the dwarf.
"It'll take more than one drink for you to get your hands on my chest hair, Hawke!" Varric exclaimed jokingly, waggling his eyebrows.
Isabela watched Hawke curiously, she didn't know the rogue very well, but it was obvious she was fun to be around… she might even be someone Isabela would stick around for, at least until she found the relic. Once she had that she was getting the hell out of the city and away from the Qunari before they recognised her.
"I doubt it; I've seen you eyeing me up, Varric. You know you'd love it," Hawke laughed, making her brother and the guardswoman laugh too. Maker, she even made the manly guardswoman laugh and Isabela had been trying to do that the whole way here.
"Well, I doubt these people were the ones you were looking for, right?" Hawke said to Isabela
"Don't be silly. I wouldn't have asked for your help if this is all I had to deal with. Although…watching you and your sibling might have been reason enough. I can't quite pick who I'd have first…" she purred. "Perhaps at the same time?" she added, more to herself than them. She smiled when the brother blushed furiously. How adorable.
To her bitter disappointment Hawke didn't smile or blush, he only cocked an eyebrow and kept her mouth tight. Isabela nearly sighed, what would it take to make her blush? It was as if she had a wall up, Isabela could almost see her flirting bouncing off of the damn thing. She had thought that the guardswoman was the prude, but apparently that wasn't the case, Hawke was the one with an invisible chastity belt on.
I like a challenge though.
"There is a message here…" the dwarf muttered, eyeing a scrap of parchment. "Shit. Rivaini, these people that are out to get you are well…shit," he sighed.
"Well? Care to elaborate?"Carver groaned. The boy obviously just wanted to go home.
"If you would just hold on a sodding minute, junior, I was getting to that part! It says bring the bitch to the Chantry, alive. Castillion wants to deal with her himself." The dwarf looked up at her. "What did you do to make that man so angry with you? I can feel a story here!"
She tried to hide her discomfort, this was not something she wanted to discuss.
"Castillion is mad with me because I let some of his precious cargo go. Five hundred slaves to be exact," she sighed. "To make up for the loss I had to get him something else but I lost it…it's a relic of sorts and he wants it back." Not a total lie. Not the whole truth either though.
Hawke was watching her, staring at her with those intense green eyes of hers, scrutinizing her. She felt like Hawke's eyes would pull the truth right out of her and she held her breath, waiting for Hawke's unbearable gaze to end, hoping Hawke wouldn't suddenly abandon her now.
"Right, enough of this lets go," Hawke ordered and they began to move to the Chantry.
They entered the Chantry, only a few candles lit the interior of the grand building, but she didn't need bright lights to see the man pacing in the centre of the room. Hayder. He turned to face them as soon as they walked through the doors, not hiding like the brutes outside had done. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail, dark hair matching his dark eyes. She gasped a little as she realised just how tired he looked. Perhaps he hadn't slept at all while he searched for her? If so, he was an idiot, everyone knew to look for her at the taverns and brothels before anywhere else.
"Isabela," Hayder said her name with a crinkle of his nose. "I should have known you'd find me here." He sneered at her, his gold teeth flashing in the moonlight filtering in through the high windows.
"Tell your men to burn the letters next time," she replied coolly. She felt much more confident with Hawke and her companions watching her back.
"Castillion was heartbroken when he heard about your ship wreck, you should have let him know that you were alive," Hayder countered, a sickly smile on his face.
"Well that must have slipped my mind," Isabela replied her voice coloured with humour as she shrugged.
"Where's the relic?" Hayder asked, his tone demanding.
"I lost it, Castillion is just going to have to do without," she stated, her voice taking a more serious note.
Hayder and the rest of his men were becoming more jumpy. She knew these ticks well, she saw them on sailors who were about to start a fight.
"You lost it? Like you lost a ship full of valuable cargo?" Hayder laughed, but his voice had begun to get louder. Isabela knew from previous dealings with Hayder that the little patience that he had was wearing thin.
"They weren't cargo, they were people!" she retorted back, anxious to just kill him and have done with it. He could be stalling, waiting for reinforcements and Isabela wanted to get him off her back and find the damned relic and then finally continue her life as it was before: full of blissful love making and decent ale.
"Castillion won't be happy to hear this, Isabela," he threatened with a grin that was getting slowly bigger with smugness.
"You know you don't have to tell Castillion about Isabela," Hawke cut in, interrupting their jolly reunion.
Hayder looked at Hawke, examining her for a moment with greedy eyes.
"Castillion doesn't like to be double crossed. And my life is worth more than hers," Hayder spat with disgust that Hawke had even considered that he would let her go.
Isabela was quite done talking, it was far too boring. And if there was one thing she hated it was boring.
"There is only one way to settle this," she said, her voiced sounding as bored as she felt.
She grabbed the small dagger on her hip, the one perfect for throwing and tossed the lithe blade at one of the raiders next to Hayder. The woman gurgled as she fell to the ground, dead. In seconds the fight began in earnest but her eyes were set on Hayder.
She could see Hawke weaving in and out of their attackers, seeking out her next target before the previous had even hit the ground dead. The warriors were doing their usual, drawing the stupid attackers to them in droves and she could hear the dwarf calling out in the distance, mocking their attackers, "Really, Hawke! I could do this in my sleep!" She smiled at that as she danced in closer to Hayder again. The cowardly bastard was trying to get away it made her lip curl to think that this man called himself a pirate but he had as much bravado as a mouse hiding in the Chantry as he had been.
She followed him to a dead end corridor in the hope that she had backed him into a corner but she gasped when Hayder ran up the wall and launched a smoke bomb, rendering her stunned for a moment. She mentally slapped herself for being so foolish as to forget she taught Hayder that trick years ago.
Hayder fled back towards the battleground and stopped in shock.
His men were all dead, and he had his back turned to Isabela as he stood looking at Hawke in shock.
"Good night, sweet dreams," Hawke purred menacingly, as she threw one of her daggers and it hit Hayder square between the eyes.
He crumpled to the ground without a sound.
But before Isabela could say any more, the younger Hawke looked around, noticing the sconces coming to life with flame around them and the noise from the upper levels as people awoke from their sleep. His eyebrows knitted together in worry as he took a fleeting glance at the dead bodies on the ground before looking back to the torches now burning and the long shadows being cast on the walls as they drew closer to them all…
"Sister we need to leave!" he called over at Hawke, her faced mirrored her
"Indeed we do brother, we're late." She gave a throaty laugh, turning to exit the Chantry.
Hawke bolted from the Chantry, throwing the doors open in a rush and her companions were quick on her tail. Isabela frowned as she chased after them wondering what on earth the hurry was. If the Templars and sisters had asked what was going on they could have said that they were stopping thieves or bandits. Isabela replayed Hawke's laugh over and over in her head as she jogged down the steps, it was a panicked laugh. Why would Hawke be panicked? The only people who feared Templars were apostates…She started to smile. One of the Hawke's was an apostate, there was no way the dwarf was or the guardswoman, the question was… which sibling? Not that it mattered much, it might be fun to try to figure out though while she was stuck in this damned city looking for the relic and avoiding Qunari.
They ran all the way to Lowtown before finally stopping, by which point Isabela was bent over panting. "Hey!" she gasped out. "I never got to say thank you!"
"It was a pleasure Isabela," Hawke said, her voice preparing to say farewell.
"Well it could be a pleasure over and over again, if you require my help," Isabela drawled, her hand on her hip leaning it to one side so her ass stuck out that bit more just to make her brother blush.
This was definitely the most fun she'd had since coming to this city.
Hawke scanned her for a moment; Isabela could tell she was debating with herself whether to allow her into her group. Maker, she felt like she was auditioning to be a part of some exclusive guild. It irked her that Hawke had to debate with herself; normally Isabela got whatever she wanted in an instant.
"I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship," Hawke chuckled, her laugh sound like a wind chime.
"Or the start of something just as much fun," Isabela countered, her eyes lingering on Hawke and her brother. She liked to collect the sets if she could.
"Good. Since you've made a new friend, Hawke, she can take my place whilst you do illegal dealings with this dwarf," Aveline said as she waved a hand in Varric's direction. "Now that I'm captain, I don't think it's going to look good if I was caught helping you with such things," she finished, stifling a yawn.
"Indeed, come Isabela! Join our small band of misfits!" Hawke said dramatically, her arms wide and welcoming.
Isabela smiled, she knew life had just taken a drastic turn for the better.