Chapter Text
“You know, this would probably go a lot quicker if you weren’t dragging me by my arm. I CAN walk on my own.”
The woman Cassandra glared at me from the corner of her eye and huffed like a stroppy cat as she hauled me up a small flight of stairs and through a heavy wooden door into what appeared to be a large hall. Cassandra didn’t give me time to take in my new surroundings as she marched us to the right and out of the building.
Surprisingly it was daytime, I had assumed, probably from being kept in the dark, that it would be as dark outside as it had been inside. I blinked my eyes in irritation as I adjusted to the sudden change and took a moment to breath in the crisp, fresh air. The chill of the wind making me shiver. As we came to a stop just outside the building I froze, and Cassandra stopped before me and pointed to the sky.
“You see that? “she gestured emphatically at the huge, churning hole in the sky. A thrill of panic shot down my spine as I realized that it was the exact same colour as the thing on my hand.
“That is what we are calling the Breach. It appeared after the explosion at the Conclave. Since then smaller rifts have been appearing elsewhere allowing demons to enter our world. Many people have died, are STILL dying.”
Suddenly the burning in my palm flared into agony and I fell to my knees, desperately clasping my left wrist as though it would stop the spreading fire up my arm. Despite the pain I didn’t fail to notice the flare of light from the Breach that co-incised with my new pain.
“The mark on your hand is connected to all this somehow,” Cassandra said quietly, kneeling in front of me.
Gone was the rage that had been ever present on her face since I awoke, in its place was a weary, hunted look.
“But I don’t know what THIS is,” I ground out through the pain, shifting uncomfortably on the snowy ground.
“Neither do we. But there is an apostate who has expertise that he says may help get us answers and stop all this,” Cassandra replied, full lips pinched.
“You don’t seem very convinced,” I said with a pained smirk as she helped me back to my feet with a much gentler hand than before.
“At this point it does not matter what I think. We are running out of time and as that Breach expands so does the mark. And it IS killing you.”
Cassandra began leading my forward, though this time without dragging me along.
“I gathered as much,” I replied swallowing the panic.
I wasn’t given long to mull over my impending doom as we began walking through a small settlement of wooden buildings. Worryingly no one was running around in a panic as I expected. Instead they stood outside their buildings, huddle together against the cold. From the looks on their faces it seemed they had all but given up and were just waiting for the inevitable. I could feel the hate burning into my back as we passed, Cassandra was aware of the attention also it seemed as she moved in closer, though not close enough to touch.
Thankfully we were soon out of the small village and headed towards a stone bridge, Cassandra setting a brutal pace that had me almost jogging to keep up on my shorter legs. As we set foot on the bridge, she abruptly turned to me, a small dagger in her right hand.
“If we survive, I can promise you a fair trial. This would go a lot easier if you came willingly,” Cassandra said quietly, not moving.
“I want to help.” I replied bluntly.
“You do?” she replied with an almost childlike surprise.
“What else am I going to do? If I’m going to die anyway, I may as well help as best I can,” I said not bothering to hide the humour I found at her surprised expression.
“Besides, I want answers. Never could pass up on a mystery,” I said with a wink and a smirk I didn’t feel, offering my bound wrists to my stunned captor.
To her credit, Cassandra returned a strained, if not outright awkward smile and sliced through the ropes. I got the impression that smiling didn’t come naturally to her, which was a shame, it lit up her face prettily.
When the second bridge we came to minutes later blew out from under us I wondered for a moment if the mark on my hand would get a chance to kill me because it seemed that the environment was out for my blood as well. By some miracle both Cassandra and I survived to fall, a little worse for wear but mostly unharmed though I now had a gash on my forehead that was trickling blood into my left eye. Cassandra was on her feet before me but just as she held out a hand to help me to my feet there was a resounding BOOM from behind. Cassandra whirled in a blink, sword and shield at the ready, feet spread for balance. With Cassandra planted in front of me I couldn’t see what was ahead. However, I could hear it. Whatever it was let out a sound I had never heard before and I watched numbly as Cassandra charged forward like a pissed off Druffalo. With her out of my line of sight I could finally see the hissing creature, my stomach dropping as I laid eyes on it.
It was shadow given form, black and slithery. It had no feet that I could see, instead it oozed over the ground like a slug. Although it was slow its sinewy arms ended in hooked talons that lashed out with surprising speed. I took this in within seconds and was on my feet and digging through the rubble for a weapon as a second creature landed and made its way toward me. I roughly scraped the blood and hair from my eyes with the sleeve of my jacket as I scrabbled with my other hand. I could hear the monsters leathery hide dragging across the ice as it approached, the clang of Cassandras sword and shield in the background telling me that she wouldn’t be swooping in to save me anytime soon. It seemed that someone benevolent had taken pity on me finally after such a shitty day as I spotted a bow that had somehow escaped being crushed, a few arrows were strewn on the ice a little further to my right.
A borderline hysterical laugh escaped me as I grabbed the bow and dove across the ice toward the arrows, narrowly missing the claws that whistled over my head. In one fluid movement I snatched up a single arrow, notching it as I swivelled, aimed and fired. Having never fought one of the creatures before I had decided to aim at what I assumed was its head and luckily I guessed correctly as the arrow hit with a ‘thunk’, the creature disintegrating into green light that floated away on the wind. Heart thundering in my chest I looked over to see Cassandra had also dispatched her attacker and was stomping toward me, sword and shield still out. I scrambled to my feet, bow still in hand as she stopped abruptly before me, sword pointed at my chest, eyes burning.
“Drop your weapon, now,” she ground out, the muscles in her strong jaw flexing.
“Are you joking?! That THING just came at me and I had nothing to defend myself with! What was I supposed to do, shake its hand!” I hissed, throwing my arms up.
There was a tense silence as Cassandra stared at me assessing, a war clearly taking place in her mind at what to do with me.
Slowly she put away her weapons and nodded, resigned.
“Your right. Let us find what we can in the way of supplies from the rubble and…. bodies then we can be on our way,” she said briskly walked over to the ruined bridge without looking at me.
“What are those things,” I asked after some time walking in silence.
By this point we had fought our way through a variety of creatures I had never laid eyes on before, all of them falling from the sky in a ball of green fire.
“The first ones we encountered were Shades. But as you have seen the demons take many forms and present different dangers. If we get through this, I’m sure the apostate will answer any of your questions, he has a rather bizarre fascination with them,” Cassandra replied flatly.
Before I could respond the sound of fighting met my ears.
“That must be the others, we need to hurry!”
Without a backward glance Cassandra began running up the steps leading to whatever lay above. The exertion from my multiple injuries and the ever-increasing pain in my hand was beginning to take its toll and all I could manage was a jog as I followed. It seemed I had gained some small amount of trust from our brief time together as when I reached the top Cassandra was already in the thick of the fighting ahead, not even bothering to check if I had followed. I was surrounded by the ruins of a stone building; the only parts of the structure left were a few walls and the small short set of steps I was stood at the top of. Below in what appeared to be epicentre of an explosion, a battle was raging. A few soldiers, a dwarf wielding a crossbow and a tall mage were fighting an alarming quantity of Shades. Hanging in the air just above everyone’s heads was a glowing green tear, almost the mirror to the one on my palm.
Deciding that now was not the time to be admiring the view I began to snipe from my elevated position, quickly helping to dispatching the demons. Though unfortunately not fast enough to save the two soldiers. With the battle finally over I slowly made my way down the steps, noting that my feet were beginning to drag slightly. The quality of the pain in my left hand was increasing the closer I got to the rift, but for once I barely noticed it, eyes glued to the glowing green fractures in the air.I could have sworn I heard whispers coming from it, though I couldn’t make out what was being said.
“Quickly! Before more come through!” someone shouted in my ear.
My left had was grabbed roughly from where I had been hugging it close to my chest, startling me from my trance. The Rift flared becoming so bright I couldn’t see to whom the voice belonged. I watched through the haze of green as a bolt of energy snapped down to connect with the mark and hooking into my flesh. I bit back a scream as whoever held my wrist began to pull my arm back, drawing the rope of energy taught. Just as I thought I couldn’t take anymore there was a snap from above and my arm was flung back at the loss of connection, leaving me to stumble.
Immediately I hugged my throbbing arm to my chest protectively and turned to glare at the person who had just man handled me. HE was bent over double, hands placed above his knees, breathing heavily as thought HE had done all the hard work. The man raised is head, probably feeling the daggers I was sending into the top of his bald head. Eyes the colour of a lightning storm locked with mine, I saw no apology in them.
“You were right, the mark does work,” Cassandra said dumbly.
He finally looked to Cassandra, freeing me from the intense stare he was giving me and straightened to his full height. His considerable height. Though his long, pointed ears clearly marked him as one of my own, I had never seen an elf of his height and stature. Though long limbed and slender, he was also broad and solid. Realizing I was staring I looked down at my hand in embarrassment, suddenly feeling awkward.
“Yes, it seems I was correct.”
I looked back up with a raised eyebrow to see a slightly smug glint in his eye, though I could detect nothing from his voice or expression.
“I apologize for grabbing you without warning,” he said turning back to me, clasping his hands behind his back.
I nodded in acceptance of the apology though I was still pissed.
“It felt like I was an anchor,” I blurted to no one in particular, fingers massaging the mark.
“What do you mean?” Cassandra asked from beside me.
“The energy was like a rope or chain. I felt it hook into the mark and all I had to do was pull. It was like tugging a door closed,” I replied meeting her openly curious eyes.
“Crudely put but essentially correct,” the man dipped his head with what I gathered was meant to be praise but just came across as patronising.
“So, the mark COULD close the Breach,” Cassandra breathed with relief, the ghost of a smile on her lips.
“Possibly, although I doubt it will be so simple,” he replied seriously, face a blank mask.
“Finally, some good news! And here I thought we’d be ass deep in demons forever.”
With everything that had happened with the rift and meeting the strange elven man I had completely forgotten about the dwarf. The man in question came swaggering over from the other side of the small battlefield, swinging the crossbow he had been wielding to sit over his shoulder. He was dressed in well worn clothing made up of mostly browns and reds. Gold adorned his neck and piercings in his ears. His face was handsome in a scruffy, roguish way and he had a friendly warmth behind his eyes that instantly set me at ease.
“Varric Tethras, rogue, storie- “
“Your joking,” I blurted, cutting him off.
Surprise left him fumbling with the arrow he had been twirling between his fingers, mouth open and brown eyes blinking.
“Varric Tethras the writer?” I asked, barely getting the words out around my huge smile.
Recovering quickly Varric smirked, resuming his arrow twirling and coming to a stop beside Cassandra, who looked less than happy at his arrival.
“So, you’ve heard of me.” It was a statement more than a question, his eyes flicking to Cassandra cockily.
Cassandra scoffed and crossed her arms tightly over her breath plate, scowl firmly back in place.
“Heard of you! I’ve read every book you’ve published!” I replied, barely keeping myself still with the excitement bubbling inside me.
“How does a Dalish elf possibly get their hands on a novel by Varric,” Cassandra huffed, though I could tell the dig was directed at Varric and not myself.
“I’m Dalish Cassandra, not a hermit,” I rolled my eyes with a smirk.
Cassandra had a slightly admonished look on her face after that, which only seemed to entertain the dwarf further though he made no comment.
“Nice to meet a fan,” Varric said with a wink and a playful nudge.
“My name is Solas if there are to be introductions,” the elven man finally cut in with a small bow, “I am please to see you still live.”
“Solas was the one taking care of you when you were first found. Kept the mark from spreading while you slept,” Varric chipped in.
That was when I noticed the small, deep cut just off the centre of Solas’s forehead.
Memories of a dark room, panic and a well-placed boot heel came flooding back.
“I am SO sorry! I thought you were torturing me!” I said slightly horrified and trying smother the amusement I felt at the same time.
“Geez, she thought you were torturing her?! You need to work on your bedside manner Chuckles,” Varric gwarfed.
True to the nickname a delightfully gentle laugh fell from Solas’s lips and I couldn’t help but laugh a little myself.
“No apology necessary. I will survive. However, I think it would be prudent to move on Cassandra, time is running short”, he said with a small smile and nodded to Cassandra.
“Agreed, let us hurry.”
And with that we all fell into step behind her all humour forgotten.