AUTHOR'S NOTE: Oooooh man! This is a good one! I spent so much time thinking about this. And THEN I got really busy with my career (end of quarter is killing me). I also had to beat Red Dead 2 (which I did... Oh, Arthur). I am very very very very very very sorry I didn't get this uploaded sooner. Christmas Break is starting for me ON SATURDAY! WHOOOOOOP WHOOOOOP! So I will be able to write more often. Thank goodness! Anyway, enough of this gibbering and on with the show!
Chapter 5
The journey south to the Fallow Mire carried on in much the same way as it had the first day. They rode a bit harder to speed things up, but otherwise, it was uneventful and rather pleasant to be traveling with a group of like-minded individuals. Everyone was excited to be going on a mission from the Herald himself. It wasn't often he delegated tasks to people other than his closest circle personally. No one, Elena was surprised to learn, really thought of her as part of Erik's circle of advisors and party members for all she was his blood relative. She rather liked the news. It made her feel free from his shadow. She really was standing on her own two feet and being useful. Everyone seemed pleased with her efforts around camp. She never shirked chores and frequently helped others with theirs. If nothing else, that was enough to earn their respect.
When she gave an order, which was rare, she was obeyed immediately. Nobody complained at her when she asked them to take their turn with hunting or digging latrine trenches or gathering wood. This was unlike when Corporal Smythe asked the same chores be done. He had the most astonishing ability to always get the same jobs, the easy ones. Elena didn't approve of this, but he was her senior officer and she didn't really see a way of convincing him to take other responsibilities. She would have a word with Cullen when she got back and let him handle it.
Presently, they had arrived at the Fallow Mire. It was raining, as was usual for that part of Thedas. There was an ever-present gloom and stink. Elena was decidedly not-charmed. The only word she could think of to describe this place was dismal. Even that was somehow not fitting. She didn't think she could accurately describe this place in reports. Words couldn't quiet convey the absolute feeling of silent, diseased oppression hanging in the air. As she stood in the constant, steady rain, feeling water drip down her entire being, she understood what everyone had meant when they had said "That miserable bog." Misery, despair, and death were all that awaited any person here. She shivered, rubbing her arms to ward off a chill that would not disappear.
"This can't be good." Reeves muttered as she came back from poking around an abandoned house. She handed Elena a sheaf of wet parchment. The ink on it had run some, but was largely still legible.
Elena scanned the note quickly, "Assuredly not." She turned to face the small group of soldiers, "This note details a list of herbs needed to treat a plague of some kind. Be on the lookout for corpses and keep clear of them! I don't want anyone getting sick on my watch."
"All right, men, we'll be travelling in two small groups. We can cover more ground that way. Reeves, Porteur, Marston, Trevelyan, and Dorlen you head up the road here. Everyone else stick with me. We're going to explore the land a little bit more thoroughly. We'll all meet at Hargrave Keep one hour past dark. Keep your wits about you. There's undead here and Avaar as well. Don't want to be surprised by either one." Smythe stepped in quickly and decisively.
"Corporal Smythe," Elena began carefully, "Do you really think it is a good idea to split us up if it's so dangerous here?"
The corporal looked at her blankly, "No. It's the fastest way to scout this place out and then get out. Nobody wants to be here any longer than we need to. The Herald trusts us to look for resources as well as places to set up camps to hold the region. Trust me. I've been on missions like this before. I know what works and what doesn't." He looked away from her and into the gloom, "You've got to understand that in places like this being fast is being safe. Another thing, with Avaar lurking around, we're less likely to run into trouble in smaller groups. They won't notice us or won't think we're worth their time."
Elena nodded, still feeling unsure, "If you say so, Corporal. You have the most experience."
He nodded, "That's right. Stick to the road like I told you. It leads straight to Hargrave Keep. You should make it there well-before dark if you keep your pace quick."
Elena shook her head, unable to let it go, "I hear you. I just don't think that it's a good idea to split up our groups, corporal. We'll be safer in larger numbers on the road." Corporal Smythe gave her a dismissive gesture and stomped away. The troops he had assigned to himself gathered and followed after him, casting apologetic glances back at the remaining group. Elena looked around at her men; they looked uncertain and a little bit queasy. Her own stomach was sitting poorly with the constant stink and the splitting of their party. She pulled her sword from its sheath, the weight of the metal and the feel of the leather-wrapped hilt in her hand was comforting, "Weapons out, men. We'll go as fast as we can. We'll travel as a square. Reeves, Porteur, Marston, and I will take the corners. Dorlen, as our mage, you'll take the center. We move as one." Everyone rearranged themselves around the road, "All set?" They muttered their assent, "Let's move out."
As one, the party stepped forward; setting their feet onto a road that Elena felt was surely to lead them to their doom in this wretched place. Where had her brother sent them? Surely, Elena mused, he would not have sent them if he had been fully aware of all she had come to be aware of in such a short amount of time. Marston grumbled from behind her about getting mud in his boots. Reeves hissed at him to be quiet and pulled her bowstring back, taking aim at something Elena could hardly make out. Twang! The bow released and sailed into something with a solid sounding thump. There was a splash as whatever it had been fell into the water.
"Undead." Reeves whispered over her shoulder, "Won't trouble us now."
"I'm glad we have an Elf at the front of our column." Porteur mumbled, squelching through a soft spot on the road, "Blech! The worst thing I'll have to see is this muck on my shoes."
"Shut it, Porteur." Marston snapped at him, "This is no time for jokes."
"Both of you be silent." Elena interrupted, "Let's pick up the pace a bit."
The group gave their quiet assent and continued on at a little faster pace. Their feet on the wet road made almost comfortingly normal slapping sounds. Every now and then someone splashed through a shallow puddle. Reeves saw nothing out of the ordinary in the deepening gloom. After sometime walking they came upon a strange sight on the top of a small hill. In the center of the mound stood a large pillar capped by an eerie blue-green light. Spread around it were sacks, when they were investigated further they were found to hold provisions and materials for crafting. Marston and Dorlen put the provisions into their packs. Reeves and Porteur had set up a small patrol around the crest of the hill. Elena had become transfixed with the pillar. She moved slowly around it, examining it in the watery light. It was roughly hewn. On one side it had a plaque set into it with a glimmering rune set onto its black surface. The side opposite the plaque had an empty brazier set.
"Veilfire brazier." Dorlen told her calmly, startling her, "Sorry. Best let me energize that. You won't be able to."
Elena shook her head, "No. We need to keep moving. This pillar," She rubbed her hands over her arms as she stepped away from it, "makes my skin crawl." She gathered everyone back to their starting positions and they moved on. As they traveled further with no incidents, she could feel her party relax. They started whispering to each other periodically. She would silence them as soon as they began, but they would start back up after a few minutes. Elena began to feel uneasy and unsure of herself. The more her fellow soldiers spoke, the more she felt the hairs on her body stand on end. They reached a second pillar hill; this one was shrouded in the same blue-green watery light.
"Halt." She ordered, when everyone was still she addressed them, "Listen. We are in dangerous territory. You heard Coproral Smythe. Sure, the undead don't care if we are loud, but the Avaar will use it against us. Stop speaking or we may all end up in very real and great danger."
Marston repositioned himself into a more defiant stance, "Lighten up, Trevelyan. There's only five of us, you heard Smythe as well. Avaar aren't going to worry with a party as small as ours. They have better things to do." Dorlen chuckled along with Marston. Elena caught Porteur's and Reeves' eye. They nodded, knowing what she was about before she even made a move.
Porteur slapped the larger man on the back of the head, "Shut up you bumbling oaf. Just because you have a two-handed weapon doesn't make you invincible." Marston rubbed his head and glared at Porteur, "I, for one, agree with our leader. We can't be careless. The further we go the more careful we should be."
Reeves pulled Dorlen's ear, "And you, mage," she tugged harder, pulling him down so she could speak directly into his ear "If you cause us any trouble I will gladly put an arrow through your eye socket." She let him go with a shove to his face, "Trevelyan is in charge, though. You had better hope she finds you valuable." She let go, shoving the mage away from her.
"Move out. Silently." Elena hissed at her troops. They spread back out into their previous formation and moved away from the pillar's ghostly light in silence. They passed a total of four pillars with no further incidents. Wisps floated above the murky bog, undead sloshed through the water in the distance, but it seemed that Marston and Smythe were correct in assuming their party was too small to bother with. Elena felt herself relax a little bit, she viewed the scenery with a more casual eye and was able to even find some beauty in the shiny blood lotuses that bloomed with abundance by the water's edge. Strange creatures waddled in and out of the water, grunting at each other in a friendly way. An old hut was hunkered down in the marshy ground like a cranky grandmother.
She couldn't quite place it, but something about the seeming tranquility of the swamp around her was unnerving. Perhaps it was the fact that they had begun their trek through it in such haste and with fear squelched down in their bellies, that now that that fear and haste were gone there was nothing left. It hadn't been an abrupt change, but complacency in enemy territory of any kind was never a good idea. Perhaps it was her fighting instincts and training telling her to remain on alert. Perhaps she just disliked being comfortable in such a dismal place as this. Elena, musing upon all of this, found herself growing anxious. She saw enemies in the reeds and murky water. She could hear them moving through the sparse growth of grass just behind dilapidated buildings. She felt like she could feel the Avaar's eyes watching her and her company's movements. She shuddered and was once again aware of just how soaked through she was as the icy rain trickled between her shoulders and down her back. She looked ahead on the road longingly for any sign of Hargrave Keep. Surely, they had to be getting close by now.
Instead of seeing a stone walled Keep, Elena saw the ghostly glow of a fourth pillar. This was a only slightly welcome change from the now-threatening landscape around her. She sighed and shifted her shield on her left arm as she gathered her company around her, "Listen carefully. I feel anxious. I don't know why. Something is going to happen and it's going to happen soon."
Marston nodded, "Agreed. There's something weird about how normal everything is. Especially after what the Herald and everyone else was telling us…" He grunted out, spinning the haft of his great axe in his hands.
Reeves didn't take her eyes off of the horizon, constantly scanning it, "I can't see anything, but that doesn't mean there's nothing out there."
Porteur drew his sword and gave it a casual pass through the air, "I wouldn't mind a bit of action, actually. It sure beats trudging through mud just waiting."
Dorlen grumbled, "I disagree. Action would be a bad thing. We don't want action. Wasn't that the whole point of splitting up like we did? To avoid fighting and get our job done quickly so we could return home?"
Elena nodded, "It was, but I fear… I fear there is something lurking just beyond our senses." She paused, listening, was that a splash followed by a low hiss? "We must be prepared."
"How do you want us to be prepared?" Reeves whispered, her eyes still darting around. Something about her tense hand on the bow string told Elena she had not been hearing things.
Elena took a breath, considering her options. In a fight, numbers and position would matter. No idiot would attack the company on this high ground. For the moment, they were as safe as they possibly could be. She only had five fighters. Fierce as she knew her comrades to be, she couldn't imagine them beating back more than two or three Avaar without casualties. She looked at their faces, noticing that even though they were also growing more anxious, they looked trusting. "If we encounter a fight with anything, defend only. Do not provoke. Do not try for unnecessary kills. The goal is to survive. If it becomes needful, we will either retreat or surrender, though it pains me to say it."
They all shared a look and a nod with each other. "Agreed."
"Let's move out. We'll pick up the pace. Reeves, keep an eye out. You've got the best vision of any of us. Everyone else, keep your eyes out as well, you may spot something she misses. Anyone hears anything suspicious let us know immediately." Elena waited for nods, "Go." As one they grouped up together and moved at a steady jog.
The swamp land gave way to solid marshy ground soon after. The water wasn't pressing as close. They traveled into a decrepit village. The buildings were caving in all around them. The road was lined with broken stone walls. Their jagged edges sticking from the grassy mud like broken teeth. Elena cast her eyes about… There! Was that a leg disappearing from view between two walls? Suddenly she heard a snap to her right. Reeves whistled an alarm signal and an arrow came whizzing into their midst. Dorlen gave a shout of pain and sent a spell in the direction of the arrow.
Then, they were locked in the throes of battle. Marston roared like a bear and swung his axe blindly into the middle of a charging Avaar warrior, where it lodged in the man's gut. Unable to pull it free easily, Marston swore and pulled out his long knife to continue fighting. Porteur was locked in a contest of strength with another Avaar, who had his axe buried deep into Porteur's shield. Reeves had leaped out of the center of the fight and rained arrows down on their enemies. Dorlen cast spells as quickly as he can, never missing a target.
Elena took all this in as she parried and thrust with her attacker, a sword-wielding giant. The giant had no shield but didn't seem to need one as he nimbly dodged her attacks. He did something funny with his sword, she was too slow raising her shield, and he cut her on the left shoulder. She cursed under her breath and resettled herself into a better position. Her shield felt heavier as the weakened muscle worked to keep it lifted. Her attacked circled her, looking for another opening, she kept her eyes on him. Finally, he made his move, charging her with his sword raised high above his head. When he was but a good step away from her, she powered herself towards him in one great lunge. She raised her shield above her head and sent her sword straight out from her like an arrow. The metal slid into his unprotected stomach with such ease she felt herself grow giddy from nausea. The giant's sword crashed down onto her shield, splintering it in two and sliding off the back of her breast plate and helmet. Her body and head rang with the collision but all she could see was her sword, hilt deep in the giant's stomach. It had to come out. She stood and kicked out her leg, shoving him off the sword. He stepped backwards, clutching his stomach as his life blood gushed forth. Elena felt hot drops hit her cheeks as she spun to go back into the fray.
She noticed an Avaar archer standing a little ways from her, lining up a shot at Marston, who was largely unprotected on the edge of the battle doing his best to fend off a great-sword wielding Avaar with just his long knife. Without thinking she started towards the arched, shouting. The archer whipped around to face her and loosed his arrow. She felt it punch through her right thigh and stumbled for a split second. As she straightened, she threw her sword at the archer as if it were a spear. It sailed through the air and stopped with either half of the blade sticking through the archer's throat. She spun and reassessed the situation. It was bad. Reeves had run out of arrows and fought a man with daggers with just her bow. Porteur had managed to kill his foe, but was obviously injured as he struggled with his own weapons in defense against yet another attacker. Marston had managed to evade his great-sword wielding foe, but for how long Elena could not say. Dorlen lay on the ground with several arrows sprouting from his chest like grotesque flowers.
"WE SURRENDER!" The words tore themselves from her mouth in a cry loud enough to catch everyone's attention. "Drop your weapons you idiots. We are beaten." She hissed stalking between her companions as they made their way closer to her. The Avaar stood in stony silence, breathing hard. She couldn't believe that with two words she had stopped the battle. From what she had heard and read of Avaar it should have taken much more than that. Reeves, Marston, and Porteur formed a ring around her.
A larger-than-normal Avaar stepped forward. He had giant rams horns attached to a cloth helmet, wore no shirt, and very tight leather pants. His huge feet were clad in fur boots and the largest axe Elena had ever seen was slung by innumerable harnesses across his back. He gave a hearty laugh, "T'were a good fight, but you are right, lowlander, you are beaten."
She straightened herself up as much as she could with the arrow sticking out of her thigh, "Indeed it was. Your warriors are far more than we ever expected."
The Avaar laughed again, "Of course they were. The Hand of Korth," he pounded himself on the chest proudly, "would not have brought lowland weaklings to fight like the Inquisition did."
Elena bristled, but felt it better to hold her tongue, "What do you want of the Inquisition?"
"I want to meet your Herald. Seems he's the only lowlander worth fighting!" The Hand of Korth laughed with his men, slapping his knees.
"Then, I suggest you keep my men and I alive."
"Oh aye? Why would I do that?"
"Because, oh great Hand of Korth, I am the Herald's own blood. To harm me or my company would be to bring the wrath of the Inquisition down with him." She was beginning to feel a bit light-headed, though she felt she did a good job hiding it in her voice. Her comrades stepped closer to her.
"We were going to keep you alive anyway. Now it seems we will have our meeting sooner." The Hand of Korth motioned to his men, "We like you better than that other lowlander anyway." The Avaar men circled around them and began to shepherd them down the road.
Reeves and Porteur went first, and then it was her turn. She glanced down at the arrow protruding from her thigh and grimaced. It had been sending waves of throbbing pain to her while she stood and conversed with the Hand of Korth. She had pointedly ignored it, but now it was almost impossible to think about moving her leg, much less putting her weight on it.
"Elena?" Marston whispered, moving up beside her. She looked at him, panicked. What was she going to do? She couldn't walk with this kind of injury!
"Get a move on then!" A pair of Avaar reached out and pushed them both forward. As she stumbled and her weight landed on that leg, the world went black. The last thing she heard was Marston cry out her name, but it didn't sound like him. It sounded like a memory of parting words that took longer and meant more than they should have….
AUTHOR'S NOTE: OK! Sooooo not really a cliff hanger because we've all played the game and what-not and KNOW that the Herald comes to the rescue, blah, blah, blah... BUT! You don't know what happens to them while they're waiting or AFTER they get rescued, which is what I'll be writing about. That part shouldn't take FOREVER to read because it's pretty much laid out there for us already. However, chapter 6 will also have them return to Haven. And then... then... well I'll let you think of your own ideas from here. Peace and Blessings.