Warning: violence and some adult language.
Chapter Five
Dawn broke with thick grey clouds overhead, and a heavy mist in the air. It was cold despite the humidity, and Marian stamped her feet in a bid to get warm amidst the gloom.
Anders peered out from under the blanket, watching her antics and shaking his head. "A woman who is so cold should not leave the warm embrace of an obliging man."
She blew against her icy fingers. "There are times a woman must seek out an obliging bush, unfortunately."
He pushed a stray lock of hair off his forehead and grinned. "Since you've seen to that pressing matter, why don't you come back here and snuggle up with me? I have a lovely morning gift for you under this blanket."
Marian snorted a laugh and shook her head, walking to her pack to pull out two of the apples she was grateful she had the foresight to pack before they left the city. Food was a problem that would have to be remedied, and she already had plans to pass by and obtain some food at a local farm on their way out of the area.
While it had been a joy to fall asleep with Anders holding her, she had experienced a mild attack of panic when she awoke to his hand caressing her breasts under her clothes and the unmistakable feel of his erection pressing into her from behind.
It turned out she wasn't quite as prepared to give herself to him as she had been under the stars the previous night. If there was one thing she knew about excessive flirts, the thrill of the chase was almost more important to them than the catching.
She needed to discover if that was the case with Anders, and the truth was, she just didn't know him well enough yet to make that determination. She had no desire to become just another notch in his belt. Tossing one of the apples at Anders, she bit into her own and chewed and swallowed before answering.
"You'll have to save your gifts for another time. We need to put as much distance between us and Amaranthine as possible today."
He sat up and polished the apple against his tunic. "One of these days, Marian Hawke, I'm going to teach you to live in the moment more, instead of always being so terribly practical and level-headed."
With his particular choice of words, she suddenly found herself thrust back in memory to Kirkwall, late one night when Anders was working late again, and she had tried to cajole him to come home and spend time with her.
"Come on, dearest. There's no one else here who needs healing and you can work on your manifesto another night. Please? Can't you live in the moment just this once? I've scarcely seen you for the past two weeks. Haven't you missed me even a little?"
She tugged playfully on the black feathers of his coat, pouting her lower lip out and fluttering her eyelids dramatically.
He glanced back at the stack of messy papers on his desk, an indecisive look on his face before he caught her expression and chuckled in defeat.
"I see you aren't even going to let me consider saying no, are you? You're right, love. I'm sorry if I've been neglecting you of late, but there's just so much to do." He ran a thumb down the side of her face, his expression musing, with just a hint of mischief sparkling in his brown eyes. "I seem to recall I used to be quite good at living in the moment, if I still remember how…"
What had followed was some of the most breathtaking sex they had ever shared, right on top of his desk and important papers. Justice had been disgruntled that many of them had to be rewritten, but it was one of her more treasured memories.
"Hello? Where have you gone again?" Anders snapped his fingers right in front of her, a frown of concern on his face.
Her eyes flew to his and she drew a deep breath, letting go of the memory with some difficulty. "I'm sorry, did you say something? I'm afraid I was just a bit distracted for a moment."
"Hmm," he said musingly, crossing his arms. "I noticed, and it seems to be something you do habitually. Ever think about having a healer give you a thorough examination?"
Her brows drew together in confusion. "You think mental abstraction is something you can cure?"
"No," he said with a smirk, "but I would still enjoy examining you…thoroughly."
She rolled her eyes and smiled, turning away from him to finish her apple and gather their things to continue on.
~o~
Anders and Marian crouched at the edge of the woods, the noon sun having burned away the cool morning mist and warmed the day to an uncomfortably sticky heat. They were spying out a farm and trying to decide if it was safe to go ask if they could buy some food, or if it would be wiser to wait until after dark and steal some. Each option carried risks.
A young, red-haired, heavily freckled woman walked out of one of the smaller cottages on the holding and went to the well to draw water. Anders grinned as though he had just been given a gift, bumped Marian's arm and leaned close to whisper in her ear.
"I think that's a sign for me to do what I do best. Watch and learn, my lovely."
He stood quickly and swaggered his way across the sun-scorched front lawn and quickly struck up a conversation with the country lass, and had her blushing, laughing and gazing at him starry-eyed within five minutes.
Marian clucked her tongue in annoyance while she continued to observe Anders, more than a little dismayed that she had never realized just what a user Anders had been before she met him. She would never have guessed the serious, single-minded mage she had fallen in love with had anything in common with the unapologetic libertine before her.
She leaned back against the trunk of a tree, closed her eyes and tried to squelch the small pang of disappointment and loss that always seemed determined to ambush her unexpectedly.
She needed to stop looking at this Anders and judging him according to her previous experiences with someone who no longer existed. He wasn't really doing anything wrong, was he? Nothing she hadn't done herself when the occasion called for a particular type of charm or persuasion. He was only trying to be helpful. Wasn't he? Of course he was, and he deserved the benefit of the doubt.
Turning back to check his progress, Marian felt her blood run cold at what she saw coming down the distant hill at the far edge of the farm. How very like her luck, she thought ruefully. A familiar mantle of calm settled over her as she quickly snatched their staves and broke into a light run, heading for Anders.
The girl saw her approaching first and Anders turned in confusion just in time to catch the staff she pitched at him.
Marian grabbed the girl by one arm and spoke firmly and clearly. "There are darkspawn just beyond the rise, they will be here in minutes. Is there anyone else close by that you need to warn? If so, do it quickly. I will try to give you enough time to get away."
When the girl stood there dumbfounded, staring at her with wide eyes, Marian gave her a shove and yelled, "Run, damn you!"
She flicked her eyes toward Anders and jerked her chin toward the west where the foul stench of taint was carried to them on the warm breeze. Striding forward to meet the threat with determination, she wondered how long she could stall the 'spawn in order to allow the farm folk to get clear.
"I certainly hope you have your most powerful spells in readiness, Anders. It looked like a good sized group, and they have an ogre with them, Maker only knows what else."
He frowned as he shortened his longer stride to match hers, coming around the side of the barn so they could see the enemy clearly now. "What are they still doing above ground? I thought with the Archdemon slain, any surviving darkspawn go back down to the deep roads again."
Planting her feet firmly in the dust of the lane leading to the farm, she shook her head, wracking her memories for what she could remember hearing mentioned about the Architect and broodmothers from Anders and Nathaniel Howe, but they never gave any details about the conflict, so she was still pretty much in the dark.
"I don't know why they're here. I suggest we concentrate on survival now and worry about other things when we are out of danger."
Anders cast a glyph on the ground around them and nodded. "Good plan," he muttered, and got down to the business of focusing on fighting.
They were able to catch the first wave of genlocks while they were still at a distance, using a combination of fire and lightning spells between them, and Anders continued to cast haste on them both to enable them to be that much quicker than the wretched filth that came closer by the second.
The ogre pounded its' chest and roared a challenge and Hawke froze him in place with an ice spell. When beginning her next casting she was hit by a wave of dark magic that made her want to vomit.
"Anders," she gasped, leaning over and fighting back bile, "I think there's an Emissary nearby, if you see him, concentrate your spells on him." She raised the bladed end of her staff in time to block the downswing of one of the genlocks who had made it through their line of spells and glyphs.
Grunting, Anders rammed his staff into the unprotected throat of a hurlock, then knocked it against the side of the thing's head, dropping it in a heap at his feet. "I'll add it to my list of things to do," he quipped.
With a blast of telekinetic force, he sent spawn flying away from the two of them, and they both ran closer to the farm to allow more space for their spells to whittle down the numbers of the enemy before they reached them.
"Oh, shit, shit, shit," Marian moaned in a worried litany when the ogre picked up an enormous boulder and hurled it at them. She pushed Anders off to the side and dodged to the opposite side of the path to allow the boulder to roll harmlessly between them.
Jumping to her feet, she snarled and ran forward two paces until she had the giant's full attention. Pulling the small dagger from her belt, she pushed up her sleeve and glared. "Alright, you ugly fuck, you want to fight? Let's see how you like this!"
Slitting quick cuts across both of her forearms, she raised them over her head and chanted loudly. She balled one hand into a fist, and then the other, enormous fiery claws appearing and digging into the meaty shoulders of the ogre, stopping it mid-stride.
Gritting her teeth, she crossed both arms at the wrists, then wrenched them apart with a yell, the ogre ripped in twain by the demonic claws, blood and viscera painting a grotesque spray across the ground.
Staggering with fatigue, a low whistle sounded near her ear and she spun in surprise to see a Hurlock felled with an arrow protruding from the chest. Men and a dwarf came over the rise, cutting a path through the darkspawn from the other side, and trapping them between themselves and the two mages.
Anders rejuvenation spell washed over her and she closed her eyes for half a second to refocus, then chanted a lightning spell, watching in satisfaction as it jumped from spawn to spawn, felling a line of six.
Smirking, she glanced at Anders and caught her breath at the blue-white whirl of power that enveloped him as he slammed his staff into the ground, feeling the familiar jolt of arousal and attraction she always experienced when she saw him casting.
The wind was knocked from her and she found herself looking up at the blue sky, a heavy weight across her chest. A red-headed dwarf peered down at her with a leering laugh.
"You got to keep your eyes open, little magey."
Then he and his enormous axe spun out of her sight again, leaving her to struggle out from under the genlock whose blood was soaking her clothes and beginning to burn her bare skin.
Anders pulled her up and steadied her, and she laughed weakly in relief when she saw there were no more darkspawn standing, but just the unknown fighters who had likely saved their lives. She saw the familiar face of the archer come into view and cursed quietly under her breath. Anders, who had been grinning in relief, raised an enquiring brow at her suddenly ashen face.
"I think they're Grey Wardens. Hopefully, they won't give us any trouble and we can be on our way soon." She picked at her bloody clothing distastefully. "I think I will be forced to wear my only other set of clothes though. These will have to be burned."
He pretended to look upset and gestured to his own clothing spattered with blood. "Such a shame, but I think I will be forced to do the same to these clothes you gave me. It's just as well I saved my other robes and carried them with me…just in case."
Marian smiled and shook her head, walking over to the side of the farm where the well stood. It was only after she had poured the fourth bucket of water over herself that her skin stopped burning from the tainted blood. She drew a final bucket and poured it over her face and hair, dropping the bucket to wipe the wetness from her face.
She opened her eyes to see two dark-haired men regarding her from across the lawn as they conversed quietly together. She knew Nathaniel Howe's face well but pretended not to, while the other man was a stranger. Narrowing her eyes, she wrung out her hair and waited for them to speak first. The unknown man stepped forward.
"You have our thanks, good lady, for your assistance in fighting these darkspawn. The Grey Wardens in Ferelden are few in number, and we have been hard-pressed to meet the many threats surrounding us at present." He ran a hand through his closely-cropped hair then crossed his arms, his green eyes thoughtful.
"I was equally thankful for your help, ser. Truthfully, I do not know how much longer Anders and I would have been able to keep going, so your arrival was very timely." She looked down and squeezed some of the water from her garment, bemused to realize her nipples were fully visible through the drenched cloth. Annoyed, she crossed her arms.
Anders walked up and put a hand to the back of her neck underneath her wet hair, massaging the tense muscles gently. "I must admit I have never been quite so happy to see you, Daylen, as I was just now."
Daylen gave a sharp laugh and walked forward to clap Anders on the shoulder. "It's been a while, Anders. I assume this is your latest jaunt," he flicked his eyes toward Marian and smirked, "and it seems you managed to talk another mage into escaping with you this time, although I don't recognize her from the Circle."
Anders turned to Marian. "Marian Hawke meet Daylen Amell, savior and Hero of Ferelden. You mentioned he was your cousin too, didn't you?"
She looked at Daylen in surprise. She had always wondered what her Ferelden kin looked like. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Daylen, I've heard of your family from my mother, she was a Kirkwall Amell."
Daylen scrutinized her, a teasing smile on his lips. "Cousins, are we? Would that be the kissing or non-kissing kind? I'm certainly open to the former."
Marian laughed when Anders put his arm around her shoulders possessively and pulled her against him. "Keep your distance, Warden, I saw her first, and you wouldn't know her since she wasn't part of the Ferelden Circle either. She was raised as an apostate."
Daylen's eyes flicked past her shoulder and his gaze hardened and his posture grew more tense before he looked between the two mages before him. Drawing a breath, he put a hand on Anders' shoulder and another on Marian's.
"I am formally conscripting the two of you into the Grey Wardens as of right now," he said in a low and serious voice. "You may thank me or damn me later, as you prefer."
Marian looked at Anders in shock and sputtered indignantly at the Warden. "You can't do that! We have no wish to join your Order, just let us be on our way and we'll…"
"Deal with them?" Daylen asked quietly, pointing discreetly behind them.
Turning, Marian felt her stomach sink to her toes at the sight of the large group of Templars following the family who had fled the farm earlier.
"Well, isn't that bloody great," Anders said in a defeated voice. "I think I'd rather kiss a darkspawn."
Marian silently agreed with him.
A/N: That's as much as I can post on this story until I manage to get the rest of chapter 6 finished. Thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts you want to share, please feel free to leave a review. :)
~o~