Chapter 15
Beep... beep... beep...
Emma reached for the phone and found she couldn't move. Maybe it was the alarm and she was still half asleep, wrapped up in her duvet. She turned towards the sound but again found herself unable to move. All around her was darkness and a feeling of panic began to well up, tightening her chest.
"Did you..." The voice faded out.
"Should we..." A different voice this time, although just as unfamiliar as the first one. Another wave of panic crashed through her as she struggled to pull air into her lungs, desperate to move. Aedan's face appeared in front of her and he reached out to touch her. The anxiety floated away as a feeling of familiarity washed over her. This was where she belonged, not in that scary void with disjointed voices.
Aedan's face was abruptly replaced with a vision of the Archdemon. The massive dragon-like creature roared out its orders to a horde of darkspawn marching below. The ear-splitting noise reverberated through her skull and catapulted her back into the waking world. Holy shit! She needed a volume control for that sound.
She was sitting on the ground, her fingers clutching at a tuft of grass, her head bent forward as she gasped through a tight throat. A warm hand rested on the back of her neck. "Just breathe." She felt some of the fear disperse and gave a nod as she sucked in a mouthful of much-needed oxygen. "Let me guess? You saw the Archdemon."
Emma lifted her head and saw that Aedan was looking tired and drawn after experiencing the nightmare. "Yeah, you too?"
He brushed a kiss to her forehead. "Afraid so. Alistair was just explaining that this sort of thing will happen now that we're Grey Wardens."
Alistair smiled. "That's what I'm here for. To deliver unpleasant news and witty one-liners. Anyhow we're all up now, right? Let's pull up camp and get a move on."
They ate a hearty breakfast, a far cry from the cereal bar or pot of yoghurt Emma used to eat in the morning. As they ate, they plied Alistair with questions about the Grey Wardens, stopping only when his thoughts inevitably turned to Duncan. Emma rubbed a comforting hand over his arm. "I'm sorry for your loss, he was a good man." His hands clenched tightly as he fought hard to push back the painful emotions. Aedan moved to the other side and placed a hand on Alistair's shoulder.
Alistair cleared his throat. "Thanks, I'm okay now." With a quick squeeze of his hand, she went back to her food. She didn't think she'd be able to manage half of what was on her plate, but to her surprise, she soon found it empty. "Ah, crap." She remembered the dialogue about having an increased appetite. "I'm going to put on so much weight."
Aedan's warm breath whispered across her ear. "I'm sure I can find some way to help you to work it off." She felt her cheeks heat at the memories of last night, and she squirmed a little as a throbbing began between her legs. She needed a change of subject before she gave in to her rising desire and took him down to the ground.
"How did we end up sleeping out under the stars?"
He grinned knowingly at her discomfort as he answered. "You fell asleep before we had a chance to get to the tent, and you looked so comfortable that I decided it was best not to move you."
"Sorry, I guess I was exhausted." She ignored the glint of pride in his eyes, then discovered that there was something missing from the camp. "Where's my tent?"
He looked a bit sheepish as he said, "I took it back to Bodahn for a refund." She raised a questioning eyebrow, so he continued. "Alistair said it seemed pointless having two tents, and as yours seemed a bit unstable, I figured that should be the one to go back."
She frowned. "But you got it up last night and it was just fine."
She heard a bark of laughter from Alistair, and a muffled giggle from Leliana, while Aedan was blatantly struggling to hold back his amusement.
What the hell was wrong with them? She went back over the conversation they'd been having and it suddenly dawned on her. She rubbed a hand over her face, her cheeks burning. "It's not that funny," she said unsteadily as she felt a bubble of laughter threaten to erupt.
Leliana gave a little cough. "No, of course, it isn't. Just for the record though, I think your description is a bit lacking. It sounded more than just fine, judging by the screams coming from the lake."
Aedan lost his battle and gave in to the laughter. Seeing his sparkling eyes and hearing that deep melodic sound, she let go and joined in the merriment.
Once everything was packed away, they set off in the direction of the Circle Tower, leaving Morrigan and Sten at the camp. It wasn't long before they reached the spot where she knew they would meet Zevran. A woman ran towards them, telling her story before turning and running back the way she'd come.
"Why does this feel like a trap?" Aedan looked to Alistair, who gave a nod. "My thoughts exactly." The variation from the game was less of a surprise to Emma this time. She wasn't sure whether it was her arrival in Thedas that was changing the world, or whether she was just seeing moments that hadn't been visible in the game; she was leaning towards the latter.
By the time she'd more or less resolved the matter in her mind, they had reached the clearing. She got her first look at Zevran; blonde hair to the shoulders, the studded leather armour fitting his lean, tanned muscled body perfectly. Oh, and let's not forget the wicked blades which he held in confident hands. A sharp reminder, pardon the pun, that this wasn't the time to stop and stare at the eye candy on offer.
She got Leliana's attention and nodded to the left. "You take those down; I'll deal with the ones on the opposite side." Leliana gave a short nod, her eyes alert as she nocked an arrow and drew the bowstring taut. Zevran motioned with his hand and the rest of the bandits came into view. Emma felt her mana rush to the surface; the tree trunk fell, there was a loud battle cry and the fight was on. She opened with Tempest, wanting the ranged fighters taken down as quickly as possible.
Emma soon found herself in a one on one fight with another mage. All right, she could do this! She was a bad-ass mage and... bloody hell, that was cold. She felt her skin turn hard with ice and prayed that no one would slam into her with a shield. Fortunately for Emma, an ear piercing howl ripped through the air causing the opposing mage to stagger back a step and lose his focus. She was going to get Revek the biggest bone she could find as a thank you.
As soon as the ice started to melt, she got her head back in the game and set her first hex. The vulnerability hex weakened her opponent's resistance to pretty much everything, including fire. Hence the rather large fireball flying swiftly towards the enemy mage. Emma allowed herself a smile at how easy it was to get the fireball moving - a far cry from her first attempt back in Ostagar. With the mage down, she looked around for the next target and found that the fight was over.
She joined Aedan and the others who were now standing around Zevrans' unconscious body. With a groan, he tentatively sat up. "I rather thought I would wake up dead, or not wake up at all, as the case may be. But I see you haven't killed me yet."
After some intense questioning and a pledge of loyalty, the sexy assassin joined up with the party, completely ignorant of the glares from both Alistair and Leliana. Emma chuckled, happy to have Zev on board; he certainly had a way of livening things up.
