Across Worlds

Ch 17 - Wolves

They arrived in Sahrnia the following day as dusk was falling. It was bitterly cold and a thick blanket of snow covered the ground. The river to the east of the town was frozen solid. Even though they were still in the mountains, this was apparently unseasonably cold for the area and had come on quickly. Between that and the civil war that had been affecting Orlais these past few weeks, the town was in disarray. It was mostly women, children and the elderly, and the houses were clearly in need of repair after the harsh weather they had seen.

Evan conferred with one of Leliana's scouts who told him that with the larger numbers of Red Templars moving in the hills west of the town they hadn't been able to make any headway toward their outpost or the quarry that lay beyond it. He set the watch and they settled in for the night.

As always, she found herself awake around two or three in the morning. She found Evan's form silhouetted against the darkness, keeping watch. Despite her body protesting leaving the warmth of her bedroll and the fire to join him, she pulled on her boots and did.

His hand found hers and slid into it comfortably, familiarly.

"I had forgotten how much I missed this," he said squeezing her fingers gently in his.

She squeezed back and glanced from his face to the object he held in his other hand. It was the carving of the soldier and his horse that he had started on their journey from Crestwood to Skyhold. It appeared to be finished, lacking only a paint job.

"You finished it!" she said brightly.

He nodded, but his smile held a hint of sadness. "What's wrong?" she asked, worried that something had happened to Cecily's baby.

"I just worry that Thedas won't be a safe place for Cecily's child. I'm doing everything I can to make it so, but it never seems like enough," he lamented.

"It will be, Evan. Everything you're doing, it's enough," she tried to reassure him. He turned a weary smile toward her and for the first time she was able to see the bone deep tiredness in his eyes. "You do know you're not responsible for the whole of Thedas?" she asked him.

His smile turned rueful. "This mark I bear says otherwise," he replied, glancing at his left hand with something akin to annoyance.

She was about to reply when she caught the firelight glint off something in the bushes ahead of them. Eyes, she thought. "Evan," she whispered, pointing to it. Two other pairs joined the first and a low growl issued from them.

"Wolves," he said, quickly drawing his daggers and readying himself.

"Is it normal for them to come this close to a settlement?"

"No, but with all the demon activity from rifts a lot of wildlife has been being driven mad by it." He issued a low trilling whistle and Seamus appeared from the shadows beside him, issuing his own growl with his ears laid back against his head.

Wren cursed herself for leaving her sword back by her bedroll, but picked up what appeared to be the broken leg of a table off a nearby pile of debris, holding it in a ready position in front of her as if it was her sword.

Three lanky wolves as large as Seamus with thick black fur emerged from the tree line, baring their teeth. Their eyes had an unnatural greenish glow to them.

"Dammit," Evan grumbled, "most wolves think twice before messing with a Mabari war hound, so these are definitely demon ridden."

Without warning, one of the wolves leapt at Evan, but Seamus was there to intercept it in midair. A chorus of growls and barks ensued as they bit at each other and grappled. The second wolf went for Evan while the third tried to help its packmate against Seamus. Wren stepped in, pulling the one wolf away from Seamus by the tail and swinging the table leg into its side just behind the ribs. It yelped in pain and spun, trying to bite her. She was able to get the table leg around such that it bit that instead of her and then brought her foot around kicking it in the gut.

It fell back and circled her warily before lunging again. She brought her weapon down, aiming for the muzzle, but the forward momentum of the massive beast was enough that it was too fast and the table leg came down on the back of its neck, leaving its jaws free to wrap around her calf. The wolf pulled back, ripping her leg out from under her and tearing its teeth deeper into her flesh. She cried out in pain as she fell backward. The wolf released her leg and went to leap for her throat. She brought the table leg up again, keeping its mouth away from her. The weight of the beast was suddenly gone from on top of her as Seamus barreled into it, wrapping his jaws around the wolf's throat. Wren saw the blood spray across the snow as Seamus clamped down and shook his massively muscled neck violently from side to side until the wolf stopped moving.

Evan's face appeared above hers, the blood smeared across it thankfully not his. "Are you all right?"

She pushed herself into a sitting position to assess the damage to her leg. Seamus appeared at her side, whining and nudging her elbow until she put a reassuring hand on his massive head. "I'm all right. Thank you for saving me, Seamus," she said, rubbing affectionately behind his ear as he leaned into her hand, panting happily before giving her a slobbery kiss.

Evan smiled at the exchange and helped her to feet, supporting her weight as they hobbled back to the campsite, where the commotion had woken most of the camp, but the fight had been so brief that none had been able to gather their boots and weapons fast enough to help. They found Solas for him to heal her leg, and despite the rude awakening he responded in the usual calm and collected manner she had come to expect from the elven mage.

Once she was back in her bedroll, Evan kissed her goodnight and returned to his watch. She tried not to be nervous that he may be out there alone if more wolves, or worse, attacked again.