Chapter 22: Side-tracked

In the morning was another early sendoff, all of us meeting Teagan and Isolde in the main hall for breakfast before we left. I'd have preferred it if Isolde had not joined us – she still pissed me off. Despite wearing armour and carrying two daggers - one of them given to me by Wayne right before breakfast, who then disappeared before I could thank him - Teagan insisted on treating me like a noblewoman, kissing my hand when I entered, holding my chair and offering his hand to help me up after. He offered me food off his own plate, and when I gave him a strange look, he merely gave me a smug smile and continued on. As we left, he kissed me softly on the cheek, whispered for me to take care, and then smirked again before turning to go back inside. That was when I noticed Theron, standing along in the shadows, glowering at us. I rolled my eyes and walked away. I swear, all men are brain-damaged.

I met Solona only briefly, and while I was curious about her, and she was clearly wondering who I was, we didn't really get a chance to chat.

We went to collect Bodahn and Sandal first, and Bodahn almost jumped to see me in armour. He offered me a seat on his wagon, which I declined, although we did all gratefully stow our gear on it. As we headed east, I turned for one last look at Redcliffe before it was out of sight. I noticed Alistair doing the same, and we traded slightly embarrassed smiles.

As we walked we discussed what was coming up. It seemed likely that we had at least two weeks of travel to reach Haven, and we were debating going to Honnleath first, assuming we ran into the merchant with the broken control rod. I voiced the opinion that more help when facing insane cultists and a dragon was better than less, and everyone finally agreed. We decided that if we found the merchant before the Honnleath turnoff, we would go there first.

We also talked about the likelihood that Zevran would attack us before we made it to Haven. I described the scene - a woman alone begging help against the bandits - and the fight, with the tree being knocked over, the archers on the hill, the woman being a mage. I had Aedan sort-of convinced to spare Zevran, and although Alistair seemed reluctant he agreed to at least question the Crow before executing him.

Our first day was uneventful, and we made good time. The road leading out of Redcliffe was raised, paved with stones, and quite well maintained, so even the wagon had no difficulty. We camped in a small clearing Morrigan found for us just off the road and protected by trees. We ate, mostly fresh food from the castle, and set up our tents. Leliana volunteered to share with me before I had any chance to worry about the sleeping arrangements, and I shot her a grateful look. Once settled, I sat down near Alistair and asked him if he'd be willing to train me.

"Me train you? You're the super-templar, aren't you? You don't need me to train you."

"Okay, it's possible I have some weird inexplicable skills, but Alistair, I don't know how to use them. I have no control when they happen, for all I know I could accidentally blast Wynne or Morrigan because I don't know how they work. And I may have some of the 'advanced lessons' or whatever, but I can't even do the basics. Please? I'm afraid I'll get myself into trouble, or worse - hurt some of you. Please teach me?" I looked up at him, and saw his face, which had looked somewhat irritated, soften.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll try to train you in what I know. But when you learn some control over your skills, it will be your turn to train me. Agreed?"

"You didn't have to barter for that, Alistair. If I could, I'd teach you everything I know now. I'd truly rather that the competent fighter have the skills, not the untrained clumsy girl with a pointy stick she'll probably end up impaling herself with at some point."

Alistair laughed, and it seemed like some hurt had been mended - his smile was brighter, and he sat taller. He agreed to train me, and started me off with some exercises to clear my mind. It was sort of like meditation, and at first I was terrible at it. I fidgeted, got distracted by Leliana tuning her lute, got sucked into listening to a conversation where Aedan was trying to convince Sten to tell him about the Qun. Every time my attention wandered, Alistair talked me back, and by the time I crawled into the tent I was sharing with Leliana, I had managed to keep my mind clear for about half an hour. He told me that it was 'pretty good for my first try'.

Oh, good. I love being patronised. I had to concede that was probably just my insecurity speaking.

We had set our usual watch rotation, waking one or the other of the Grey Wardens every couple of hours, and the night passed peacefully. In the morning, I had finally managed to get comfortable in my bedroll on the hard ground, and cursed loudly at Sten as he tromped through the camp waking everyone before it was even fully light out. Leliana had already gone out to start breakfast, and I was seriously considering going back to sleep when the tent collapsed on me. I shouted, and heard Aedan snicker and then rapid footsteps as he ran off.

"I'll get you back, you bastard!"

"My parents were married!" was his only reply, and against my will I found myself laughing, and alert. I'd never have been able to fall back asleep even if I wasn't being suffocated by a tent.

I crawled out of my bedroll, scooting out of the tent and raising the tent pole again so I could don my armour and pack my gear. That done, I packed Leliana's as well, then folded the tent up and started towards Bodahn's wagon with both packs and the tent. I only made it a few paces before Alistair rushed over to help me. It occurred to me that I had never thanked him for all the times he'd helped me when I wasn't strong enough to carry my own things or keep up. I smiled up at him, brilliantly, as he put everything on Bodahn's wagon, then grabbed his shoulder, going up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. He blushed, as did I, and I ruthlessly suppressed my libido as it perked up on contact. That meditation just might come in handy for more than templar abilities.

We got underway, heading further east, moving briskly but not so much as to leave us out of breath or sore the next day. My armour came with boots, but they were neither comfortable nor well-fitting, so I stuck with my own leather hiking boots. We'd been walking maybe two hours when I noticed both Alistair and Aedan start looking uncomfortable. Aedan's eyes began darting around, and Alistair actually unslung his shield from his back. The rest of us picked up on their obvious agitation, and began loosening weapons ourselves.

"Darkspawn?" I finally asked.

Aedan nodded. "Following us, I think."

Morrigan must have noticed us faltering, or perhaps she saw the darkspawn themselves. The black bird circled around us twice, then turned off the road, and we assumed she meant for us to follow her. We did, climbing down off the road and into some heavy brush. We pushed through, hurrying, until we found Morrigan the woman standing in a clearing, partially surrounded by high boulders. We quickly boosted Leliana and Wynne up to stand on one of the tall rocks, and then I followed them, scrambling up as Alistair heaved me up by my rear end. There was no time to be embarrassed at the accidental intimacy, as Aedan was hissing at us to hurry, and he, Sten, and Alistair stood shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the rocks we perched on with Prince growling at their feet. I couldn't see Morrigan, until I noticed one unnatural branch sticking out from between the trees, and realised she was in spider form, hiding.

I sat, huddled into a ball, daggers still in sheaths in case I needed to climb down. Leliana knocked an arrow, and Wynne muttered something; at the same time that I could feel that crackling magical aura, I suddenly could sort of see a vague shimmering wall in front of the three of us. We waited just a few moments, and then the first of the darkspawn approached through the trees. Leliana's bow twanged, and the beast went down, an arrow protruding from its eye. Our elation was short lived, however, as a large group of the creatures stepped up into the space where he had been standing, and one of them returned fire. The arrow bounced off the invisible wall, landing harmlessly below us, but if the wall hadn't been there, it would have skewered Leliana neatly. We both flinched involuntarily, but as Leliana recovered, the rest of the group were in the fray. The rocks kept those on the ground from being surrounded, and it was almost hypnotic to watch Sten swing, Alistair bash, and Aedan slash at the attacking horde.

Just as the main group of darkspawn engaged, Morrigan-spider inched out from between the trees, locking massive fangs onto the nearest darkspawn and ripping its head from its shoulders. Prince erupted from between two of the creatures, biting into the axe-wielding arm of a hurlock, preventing a lethal swing at Aedan, instead driving the axe into the flank of the genlock beside it. Leliana focused on picking off the archers, and Wynne was constantly chanting, sparks of magical energy flowing into those in the scrum, and every now and then freezing one of the beasts to be shattered by Alistair or Sten. It looked like a well-oiled killing machine, and I was impressed at the same time that I wanted to cry.

With no major injuries, my companions quickly finished off the last of the group. Sudden silence descended, and I realised I'd somehow blocked out the shouting, screaming, grunting, and clashing during the battle. Leliana lithely sprang down from the rocks, and Sten assisted Wynne gratefully as she healed a small wound under his arm. Alistair offered to catch me, but I declined, not wanting to repeat my brief humiliation from the climb up. Alistair's hand on my ass isn't going to improve my mental state at all. He shrugged and wandered away, as I turned and slithered down the rock, bracing myself between it and its neighbour. I landed upright, possibly even gracefully, and took half a dozen steps across the clearing when I heard rustling behind me, and then a shriek as a hurlock rose from the battlefield, apparently not quite dead. I had spun as soon as I heard the rustling, drawing my daggers almost reflexively. I might turn into a fighter yet - my first instinct isn't to scream and swoon, yay me! I was face to face with an enormous, pale, terrifying creature with blood running down its face, which smelled worse than a landfill.

I waited for a mere moment, and the hurlock lumbered forward. I vaguely heard shouting from my friends behind me, but I couldn't spare the time to actually listen to what they said. I crouched slightly, expecting the disarmed darkspawn to throw itself on me, and was completely unprepared as it angled slightly past me instead, aiming for the rest of the group. I turned with it as it passed, and slashed out with the dagger in my left hand, accidentally burying it in the hurlock's back. It staggered and went down again, yanking the dagger from my hand, and then I saw a sword slash down, and looked up to see Alistair with a grim frown decapitate it. He reached down to remove my dagger, wiping it off on a scrap of cloth worn by the recently dead hurlock, and then handed it to me pommel first. I took it, stunned, and sheathed both of my weapons automatically.

"You okay?"

"I ... yeah, I guess." My vision swam for a moment, and my legs didn't want to move - Aedan rushed up, wrapping his arm around my waist, dragging me off a ways from the pile of corpses. When we were all far enough away that we could no longer smell them, he let me sink to the ground and then sat beside me, holding my hand.

The group all looked somewhat grim, but most of them only showed concern for me. I guessed they'd all been in combat enough times that it wasn't anything big for them, but it still shook me up every time. While Sten and Alistair piled corpses, Morrigan burned them, and Wynne insisted on checking me out, though it seemed that, again, I was the only one not at risk. We talked about that again - no one had ever heard of a darkspawn ignoring the closest target like that. We discussed the weirdness for a few minutes until an impatient Morrigan cut in.

"Since no one has any useful information to add to this subject, perhaps we'd best be moving on? Or are we hoping to test it again by waiting for another group of darkspawn to come by?"

We had to concede the point, and I picked myself up, giving myself a mental pep talk to get myself moving again. No one wanted to be anywhere near those corpses come nightfall, so we pushed ourselves hard for the remainder of the day, finally arriving at a campsite Bodahn knew of just after nightfall. We set up as usual, then I spent some time working with Alistair on my meditation. I did less well than I had the day before - images of darkspawn kept breaking my concentration. Finally frustrated, I gave up, promising to try again the next day.

I slept poorly, waking from bad dreams several times. I finally crawled out to the fire to let Leliana get some better rest, but found both Aedan and Alistair there before me. Both looked haggard and somewhat glum, and I took an educated guess at what was wrong.

"Grey Warden nightmares?" They both nodded. "I'm glad I don't get those. I have enough trouble sleeping. Who's on watch?"

"Sten, technically, though I sent him to bed. If we are going to be up anyway, no point in him missing out on some sleep."

"Tell you what. I can be groggy tomorrow, since I'm not the one fighting. You guys can't. Why don't you both bring blankets out here and curl up by the fire, see if you can sleep again." It took a bit more cajoling, but I finally managed to mother them both into lying down, one on either side of me. I kept the fire at a slow burn, and as I expected, soon saw both chests rising and falling regularly in the rhythm of sleep. Amazing how knowing someone is watching over you makes sleep possible even in the worst circumstances. I found myself humming songs from home, softly, under my breath.

Aedan looked younger, asleep. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but there were almost imperceptible lines of pain on his face that smoothed out when he slept. I fought the urge to ruffle his hair. I had a different urge with Alistair – the former templar's lips curled up in a smile that looked positively lascivious, and I wondered what he was dreaming now. He was almost painfully good looking, and I wanted him to look at me with that smile. I forced myself to turn away; I was going to get myself in trouble if I continued staring.