Dragon Age Origins: I Am Cousland

Chapter 8: The Arl of Redcliffe. Part 2

Chapter 8: The Arl of Redcliffe. Part 2

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I woke up with rays of sun coming through a small window, I squinted my eyes and winced at my aching joints. My eyes flickered around the room, I was lying on a bed roll in a room cut off from the rest of the area and Assan was sitting beside me tilting his head at me. I smiled and patted his head. I was in the Chantry, I tried to remember what had happened. I could remember the attack and I could remember Alistair telling me to check the village... But I couldn't remember what had happened to me and how I got to the Chantry; a sharp pain woke me from my thoughts and I looked down at my leg. It was tightly bandaged and the bandages were bloodstained, then I remembered. I grumbled as I studied the wound.

"Great." I said to myself. We had other things to do and I had to go and get an arrow in my leg, I sat up and pressed my fingers on my nose.

"I'm glad you're awake." I heard Alistair's warm voice say to me, Alistair had stitches across his cheek but that was all I noticed.

"I'm not so glad." I groaned turning myself to face him, Alistair arched his eyebrows. "What do you think I'm groaning about?" I said sarcastically, Alistair chuckled and sat down beside me and rubbed Assan.

"I brought food." Alistair handed me some bread, I smiled and quickly gulped down the food. I looked back at Alistair who was staring at my dog like they were having a conversasion, Assan was was tilting his head at him and looking over at my now empty with sad eyes. "I brought you something too!" Alistair joked and handed Assan a bone, Assan barked happily and took his bone to the corner of the room. I laughed at the dog and looked over at Alistair, he was staring at me.

"What?" I said, arching my eyebrows at him.

"I didn't know if you would be okay." Alistair said as he started playing with my bedroll.

"It takes more than an arrow to stop me." I said as I smiled proudly at Alistair.

"You lost a lot of blood, when I found you..." Alistair trailed off and started messing with his armor, I put my finger against his lips, he jerked his head back up to look at me.

"So, did the nurse say I could get up?' I changed the subject quickly.

"The nurse said you would be in a lot pain, but yes, you can walk." Alistair's eyes were still full of worry,

"Good. I don't want to lay here all day, we've got important things to do." I smiled at Alistair, and tried to push myself up onto my feet. Alistair chuckled and stood up and offered me a hand. I rolled my eyes but gladly grabbed it. I didn't let go of his hand after I stood up, he was offering much needed balance. Alistair smiled and arched his eyebrows, I blushed.

"I just.. I don't want to fall over!" I said quickly, releasing his hand. Alistair smiled at the corner of his mouth and grabbed my hand again. "What happened last night? Did we win?" I asked, Alistair nodded.

"We've driven them back." He said shortly, "We need to go up to the castle soon." Alistair said, turning to face me. "Will you be up to it?" Alistair said, worry filled his voice, I scoffed.

"Of course." I said, smiling at Alistair, trying to seem strong when I was definitely feeling that pain the nurse was warning me about.

We walked out of the Chantry, the town seemed happier. Even though the evil had not been truly defeated, we had given them hope.

"It's good to see you awake." Leliana said as she bounded over to Alistair and I.

"I'm just jumping for joy." Morrigan's sarcastic tone butted in. Alistair glared at her, Morrigan shrugged.