Freedom Among Slaves: A Mage's beginning
Chapter 8: What They've Done
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age, Bioware or EA.
Author's note: Hawke and Anders will discuss the Templar's abuses in this chapter. Not in too much detail, but it's there. VOTE ON THE POLL! Seriously, please vote!
"Give it up, sweetheart; it's not going to work. Believe me, I've tried," Anders lounged on his cot, arms crossed behind his head.
Hawke ignored him. She shook the bars of the cell door, screeching at the Templars to let her out.
After hours of being stuck in the cell, she could swear she wanted to start talking to herself.
Frustrated by the lack of a response, she turned and punched the wall without thinking, bloodying her knuckles.
She stepped back, cradling her injured hand.
Anders stood, stretching out his stiff limbs, then approached Hawke with the air of someone trying to calm a wounded animal. He stopped a few feet away and held out a hand.
"Here, let me see," His voice was quiet and gentle.
"The Templars warded the cell against-"
"Shush," Anders examined her hand, "I can get some disinfectant for it later, but I should bandage it for you now. You're lucky that it doesn't require stitches."
Anders tore a long, thin strip of cloth from his blanket and gently bound Hawke's knuckles with it.
Anders resumed his lounging. Hawke sat across from him on her own cot.
"How did you learn how to deal with injuries without magic?"
"Oh, you know, I ran off, got myself injured and then the Templars caught me and then BAM! No magic!"
"You're joking."
"Yes I am, dear lady! How'd you tell?"
"Your face goes completely expressionless."
"Darn! And there I was trying to look serious!"
They sat in silence for several minutes. Somewhere a bell tolled.
The clop-clang of heavy steel boots striking stone reached them. The sound rose and fell, multiplied and distorted by the echo in the dungeons.
A Templar approached their cell, a tray laden with food and a pitcher of water balanced in his hands.
"Hey, Cullen, my friend here hurt herself a while ago and no one noticed, could you get a message to Karl or Jowan for me?" Anders reached through a gap in the bars of the cell and relieved the Templar of his burden.
Hawke held her hand up somewhat sheepishly.
The Templar blushed at her and muttered something to Anders. Anders nodded and sat beside Hawke, placing the tray of food between them.
"He thinks you're cute, be careful, be very, very careful Hawke," Anders voice was low and urgent. "I've never met a Templar who was nice to a mage they liked the look of. Ever."
"I'll bear that in mind."
"Do," Anders turned his attention to the food, tearing a loaf of bread in half and handing a piece to Hawke, weighing a piece of fruit in one hand before biting into it.
Hawke also busied herself with the food, trying to avoid thinking about the implications of what Anders had just told her.
"…It's frightening," Hawke whispered.
"It is allowed to happen. The Chantry doesn't care about mages at all. It goes against no woed of the maker for mages to live as free as other people. It is true that Andraste said that "Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him", but I've never met a mage who wanted to rule anything!" Anders spoke with vehemence.
"Forcing mages into servitude is not the way to prevent the rise of another Imperium."
"That's…not usually the response I get. Perhaps we will get along better than I thought."
Hawke silently agreed.
Hawke woke with a start. She immediately stuffed her fingers into her ears.
Anders was locked in the throes of a nightmare. Blood curdling screams erupted out of him.
He thrashed, falling off of his cot. He struck the ground with a heavy thud.
"Anders! Wake up!" Hawke got up and knelt beside Anders, gripping his arms so he wouldn't hurt himself, "ANDERS!"
Anders' eyes shot open, pupils dilated with fear. His breathing slowed when he realised he was awake, safe from the demons. Hawke let go of his arms.
Hawke started when she saw Anders was sobbing silently. Unsure of what to do, she settled for gently wiping the wet trails from his face and hugging him.
"A word of advice, sweetheart," Anders voice was rough and bitter. "Don't become attached to anything in the circle. Mages can never love anything, because if they do, the Templars will rip that away from them." Anders pushed Hawke away and went back to his cot.
"For mages, love and friendship are just games. Just games." Anders lay down facing the wall.
"Who did they take from you?"
"What they've taken from every mage in Thedas; my parents, siblings I can't even remember, aunts, uncles…"
"Your family."
"And they'd take a lot more if they could."
Due to the Templars wards, Hawke couldn't contact Justice in her sleep, she hadn't been able to on the journey to Kinloch hold either. He'd freak out when he found out she was in the circle, if he wasn't already worried by her absence. She wondered what he'd make of Anders. For some reason the two didn't sit well together in her thoughts and she had a strange sense of foreboding.