Chapter 11

A fierce battle cry brought her back to the present, and looking around, she noticed that everyone was in the middle of a fight with the pesky bandits. She sprinted the short distance and threw out a few spells, enjoying the surge of adrenaline and the powerful rush of mana that raced through her blood. With one group down, they sought out the remaining bandits before returning to the Chanter's board. After collecting their money and picking up a few more quests, they were once more in a fight, this time with wolves.

Although Emma had been expecting the corpse of the red-haired woman, she couldn't help but feel a moment of empathy with the poor boy who had lost his mother, or rather his whole family. She watched Aedan take the keepsake off her body and tuck it safely in a pocket. They killed the bears with ease, and then with a feeling of dread, Emma realised they were moving towards where the large spiders made their nest. "Are you sure Barlin needs those toxin samples?"
Morrigan raised a haughty brow. "I believe you were the one who directed us to help all these people. Why the sudden change of heart?"

Emma wiped away a few drops of sweat, trying to think of a good reason not to fight the spiders. Unfortunately, her brain had decided to take a vacation, or it was sitting in a corner somewhere shivering with fear. Her hands trembled; yeah, that last one seemed a more likely explanation.
"Is there something we need to know, Emma?"
She smiled at Aedan, well, truth be told, it was more of a grimace. "Um... well, yes." He gave an encouraging nod as the silence stretched out. She darted a glance around at everyone before finally blurting out, "I have a really big fear of spiders."

A moment of stunned silence ensued.

"That's it?" This from Morrigan, who was clearly smirking. Emma glanced at the rest of them, and found that they were all trying to hold back a smile, and... was that a twitch on Sten's upper lip? Damn it, even the dog seemed to be grinning.
"Look this isn't a laughing matter. Those spiders are the size of houses!"
Alistair choked back a snigger, trying unsuccessfully to turn it into a cough. "That's a bit of an exaggeration, they're more like horses. Granted, very large horses... with eight legs, but still, not quite a house."

Emma threw her hands in the air. "Fine, fine, let's just get this over with." She glared at them as she stormed off, taking a fortifying breath to steady herself. Maybe Alistair had the right idea, she would just picture them as horses. "Maker's breath, what I wouldn't give for a mod right now." She thought wistfully of the one that changed spiders into mabari or deepstalkers.

As she crested the hill, her blood froze and her legs weakened. Oh, crap! She tried to imagine them as horses, but that just wasn't cutting it for her. The large bulbous bodies sat atop thick, hairy legs, eyes staring around menacingly. Okay, she may have added in the menacing bit, but her point was that these things did not look like horses. Move, damn it, move! She tried to talk her body into doing something - anything - but it remained stubbornly motionless. Then she spotted a spider approaching Alistair, its fangs dripping with venom. Squeezing her eyes shut she let loose a lightning spell.

"Whoa, watch where you're throwing those things!" Alistair's indignant voice cut through the sound of fighting. She opened one eye and saw a thin wisp of smoke rising from the spider, then it twitched and pulled itself back up to its full height.
"You might have more luck if you kept your eyes open."
Emma threw a nasty glare towards Morrigan. "No shit, Sherlock."
"I have no idea what that means, but I suggest you focus on the fight at hand."

Emma gritted her teeth, and cast an ice spell, following up with Crushing Prison. The spider splintered apart with a grotesque cracking sound and Emma nearly lost her breakfast as pieces of its body flew everywhere. She nearly burst into tears when more spiders emerged from their holes. Desperation to see the fight swiftly end caused a plausible idea to emerge from among her scattered and somewhat traumatised brain cells. "Stand back!"

Emma waited until everyone had retreated, then covered the ground with grease. Morrigan's lips turned up in a small smile. "Oh, I do like the way you think." Her eyes reflected the ball of fire now growing in her hand. The flame shot through the air and landed a direct hit on the flammable substance just as the spiders were skittering across it. The air shimmered with incredible heat as the conflagration consumed everything within its area of attack. Squealing sounds rent the air, causing a shudder to work down Emma's spine. Oh, Maker, that was a vile noise, and was sure to give her nightmares; personally, she would prefer the appearance of the Archdemon in her dreams than that noise.

Aedan approached, a warm smile lighting his face. "See, that wasn't too bad was it?" She could only stare dumbfounded as he walked past.
"Men, they have so little sensitivity sometimes." Leliana's expressive blue eyes held a gleam of annoyance as she watched the men walk off. She turned back to Emma. "You did very well." Unused to receiving compliments, Emma felt a burst of pride at the simple words and ducked her head to hide the flush on her cheeks.

One more trip to the Chanter's board, a quick visit to Barlin, and then they were finally ready to leave Lothering. Except for a group of villagers, intent on handing in the Grey Wardens for a nice juicy reward, had other ideas. With no chance to talk them down, the wardens and companions quickly found themselves swarmed by desperate, but thankfully, unskilled men. Their ungainly attempts to hit the seasoned fighters were met with fast and decisive strikes, which ended the brawl (for it could hardly be called a battle) within minutes. There could be no feeling of triumph at such a hollow victory only a sense of bitterness that honest men had been driven to make money by such desperate means.

They moved towards the ramp that led out of Lothering but as they drew closer to the Imperial highway, Emma felt a strange sensation in her skull. She reached up and rubbed the back of her head, then noticed Aedan doing the same thing. "You feel that too?"
Aedan nodded, a frown between his brows. Alistair turned towards them, a grim smile twisting his lips. "What you're both sensing is the proximity of darkspawn."
Emma's eyes widened. Oh bugger, she'd forgotten about Bodahn and Sandal!