The Wolf and the Halla

Run

Had things gone as planned, Adani and her group would be safe and sound in camp by now. Of course things never went as planned, Therence had returned with those wishing to leave, just as he said he would. They were waiting on the young elf that all this trouble had been caused for. The Keeper brought her, as expected. What wasn't expected was when the First charged in backed by an army of Dalish elves.

Adani swallowed hard and her heart dropped to her feet. She stole a glance at Blackwall, nodding for him to sound the alarm for the soldiers to come. He reached for his trumpet. As he sounded it she stole a glance at Solas, he nodded to her. She ripped her staff free with her sweaty hands.

She looked to an elven lady holding a child, "You. Take the children. Run." The woman nodded before yelling for the children to follow, she grabbed the hand of the First's daughter and dragged her along as well. Adani watched only a moment as they ran out the other entrance to the arena, and across the plains.

The First spoke, "You cannot have her!" His eyes flared.

"Don't do this." Adani said carefully "you will all die." She looked at the crowd of angry elves, hoping to bring some sense to them. "My army is on the way, there are spies watching. As soon as you attack, they will kill all who stand against us."

They seemed to consider this a moment. She heard a few murmurs in the group. The First spoke for them however "No. We will not bow to you."

He shot his staff forward sending a shard of ice at her, she dodged it quickly and shot fireball after fireball his way. The rest of the group on her side, Therence and his group included, began fighting as well. She and the First moved closer and closer together. Swords clang, lightening and fire wizzed by her, arrows flew overhead. She saw people around her falling from unseen shooters, the spies must be shooting down opponents as well, she noticed one on top of the wall surrounding the arena.

She and the First were mere feet apart now, he threw energy at her and she easily dodged it. He had let anger guide him, he was sloppy with his movements. She threw her staff wide and whacked him on his burned shoulder. He yelped, but did not stop his pursuit. She gritted her teeth. "It doesn't have to end this way." She said to him.

He scowled before swinging his staff at her, she pulled her staff up to block, but was too late. The First's staff hit her on the right arm and slung her staff from her hand. He sneered and moved in for the opportunity. He should have known that Adani could still use magic, and as he moved closer she waited.

When he was close enough he raised his staff to hit her with it again, as it came down she ducked under it and then pressed her anchored hand into his stomach and threw him onto the ground, his staff clamoring away. A few emotions crossed his eyes all in a moment, surprise, confusion, understanding, and then acceptance. She looked away from his face as she let the anchor flare into his chest, he screeched in agony, and she closed her eyes against his writhing body. As quickly as it had started, though, it was over.

She got up quickly and grabbed her staff from where it lay a couple of yards away. She entered back into the battle. Dodging swords and daggers, dodging out of the way of arrows. An elf with a square face and long nose caught her off guard and grabbed her from behind. In her shock she lost grip on her weapon.

She felt the bloody steel of his blade at her throat, she heard him snickering into her hair. Her heart hammered as he whispered into her ear, things of a nasty nature, things he planned on doing with her. It made her blood run cold for a moment before she calmed. She was a mage. She could handle this.

She waited for her chance while he dragged her back around a small wall, everyone oblivious to the act, because they were locked in battle. He pulled her hands behind her back, that's where he messed up. She shot flames from her finger tips that caught him in the groin. He screamed in pain and surprise as he released her and grabbed to his privates.

She took this chance to scramble away, but the man recovered quickly and ran after her. She stopped to send a ball of fire at him, he didn't slow his pace, dodged her energy and tackled her to the ground. Now on top of her he put his hands around her throat, choking her. His smiling face wasn't the only thing she noticed, but even more disgusting the man was aroused by this.

She was disgusted and afraid. She let fire burn through her hands as she pushed them to his arms, the only thing she could reach. He gritted his teeth and groaned but didn't release his grip. Her vision has getting fuzzy with the loss of oxygen. Her mind scrambled. She reached for his face and he kept turning his head away, she shot fire from her fingertips anyways, it caught him on the cheek and up to his eye. He yelped and reached for his face, momentarily distracted by pain.

Adani sputtered and gasped, trying to fill the loss of oxygen, and ease the burning in her chest. She tried to move away, but her vision was still blurry and he recovered quickly. He grabbed her by her braid of red hair and flipped her over, this time there was no smile, but a look so filled with hate it stopped her heart. Then the man took out his dagger and tried to stab her. She squirmed past the first swing and it hit the dirt beside her left arm. The man groaned in frustration before trying again, and again. Missing time and again until finally his blade connected with the flesh of her lower left abdomen. She yelped with pain. She shot flames from her fingers, but they shot off into the distance, he had her hands pinned under his knees.

Blood bloomed from the wound and she fought to get loose of him. His sinister smile had returned and he was coming in for another stab when an arrow hit him right in the temple, coming out through his forehead. The blade fell from his hand and landed blade down into the bloody dirt at her side. Blood splattered over Adani's face as she tried to push his body off of her. She yelled in frustration.

Revansa rushed to her side and slid the body from her. He was about to ask how she was when he saw the wound, blood pulsing out to the beat of her flailing heart. He was saying something now that she didnt understand, blood loss had made her brain foggy. He put his hand over it and pressed down hard, attempting to quell the bleeding. He held his hand there as he called for help.

"Help! Someone it's the Inquisitor." He yelled out to no one in particular. At this time the fighting around them had all but stopped.

The Inquisition soldiers had arrived in force now, and the Dalish, seeing they were outnumbered, dropped their weapons and surrendered. The soldiers quickly surrounded them and removed the weapons from reach.

Solas ran quickly over to where Adani lay, bleeding in Revansa's arms. "No." He said it more to himself than to Revansa or Adani. He pulled out a potion from his bag and forced her to drink it. She didn't understand what he was asking, but when he pressed the lip of the bottle to her lips she opened them and the smooth liquid slid down her throat. She sighed as it eased her pain.

Solas worked quickly, putting his hands over the wound he concentrated on stitching her tissue back together. He felt the magic leaving his finger tips, as he thought of how he wanted it to work.

Everyone was on edge, Cassandra and Blackwall looked on, terrified of losing the Inquisitor. Revansa sat in the dirt beside her watching as Solas tried to heal the wound. It was not a quick process. Magic like this took a little time.

Solas imagined the tissues that were torn reconnecting, pulling together and fusing back again. He scrunched his nose and furrowed his brow as he concentrated, healing magic took a lot out of him. He wasn't sure how long it had been when he opened his eyes and removed his hand to see a faint red line, no longer bleeding though covered in blood. And he released a long breath before sitting back on his heels. She was still breathing. She was alive. She was real.