The Youth of the Dalish: A Dragon Age Fan-Fiction Story

A Way Out

"Can everyone stop dwelling into where the darkspawn went and figure out how to get out of this bloody pit?" Eva barked.

She was right. What mattered was that, somehow, the darkspawn were gone. For a moment there was something that Juli thought he had missed. The darkspawn were gone, just like that? Something, not his bow, but rather his gut told him that a horde of darkspawn would not disappear just like that. The witch, or his aunt, wanted to kill them all so she was not the one who set the darkspawn ablaze with blue fire. He thought hard and carefully. He glanced around the room, probing if there was something amiss. He got nothing.

"Cathy."

Mother was startled by Omar as she made a sudden flinch at hearing his voice. Juli noticed how Mother too glanced about the room. Like an animal placed on a new habitat, her eyes darted around the room with fascination.

How long had she been down there? A couple of days? Juli surmised that for her that must had felt like weeks. It was hard to tell time when one didn't see the sun.

"I don't know how you were brought here. But, by any chance, did you see this room when they brought you here?"

Mother frowned. She was deep in thought as her whole face contorted into a mild grimace. "I think...I remember falling down."

Theresa threw one of her daggers to the air. When the blade reached the roof, it went through solid. "It's the same way we came here...sort of."

"How in the bloody hell do we get up there?" Eva thought out loud as she craned her head.

The sound of ripped clothes made all of their eyes look at Mother. She was naked from feet to thigh. She held a green and long piece of fabric on her hands.

"Will this work?" She lifted what resembled a green rope.

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It took them a few attempts at getting the rope to attach to something from the other side. Erick attached the piece of green cloth Mother had offered to one of his arrows. He shot many times before he could get the black arrow to hold on to something. Eventually, after an excruciating amount of tries, something held the arrow tight.

Even with the piece of fabric through, it was not easy task to climb up to the roof. Anything too heavy could just rip the rope since it wasn't a a traditional one, it was a piece of cloth. They decided that Juli was the best candidate to go through first. In reality Theodore would had been the best candidate to go through first, however, the lithe boy was still unconscious. At first Mother bucked at the idea of Juli going through. Omar, somehow, convinced her that there were no dangers beyond the roof. And he was right. When Juli got through, there was nothing but the night sky filled with stars.

Gyles was right about the arrow losing its grip had they sent someone even a pound heavier than Juli. The jagged tip of the arrow had gone through the canopy of a tent. It was barely held by the rope that held the tent down. Anyone who was the slightest heavier than Juli would just force the sharp edges of the arrow's head to rip through the rope.

Juli had decided to use the rope of that tent, as opposed to the haphazard rope made by Mother, this one was firm and strong. He tied the brown rope to the shaft of the arrow. Then pried the arrow on the dirt. Without much effort, Juli pulled each one of them out.

What surprised all of them even more, aside from the absence of Templars waiting for them, was that the horses were still here as well.