Apostate in Plain Sight

Exodus

Marian's hair clung to her forehead with sweat and blood. Her heart raced as she ran, fear driving her forward. She was never one to let her fear get the best of her, but her family was on the line. The staff she carried, compacted by magic to resemble a mace banged painfully against her thigh every other step. Why had she ever let her father teach her that damned spell? Bethany wore her staff proudly, hitched to her back, although Marian had never seen her sister wield it before this morning. When a shout rose behind her, Marian dug in her heels and spun to see her mother had dropped to her knees, panting. A group of Darkspawn were right on her heels. Bethany gave a grunt of effort and a wall of fire blazed up from the ground, blocking the Darkspawn from getting to them. A few brazenly walked through the flames, snarling as her mother backed away on her rear like a crab. Marian's staff was in her hands, sliding to full length as she poured mana into it. She used the butt end to smack one of the flaming Darkspawn back to the other side of the wall and her brother Carver jumped into the fray, literally, bringing his two handed broadsword down and slicing clear through the second Darkspawn. Marian ran to her mother, helping her back to her feet.

"I think that's all of them," Carver said, his chest heaving. He was sweating as much as Marian. They all were.

"For the moment," Bethany agreed in her soft voice, her brown eyes darting back and forth in fear. The only sibling of the three of them that hadn't gotten father's striking blue eyes. She still shared their jet black hair, though she wore it in a much more feminine style than Marian herself who kept her hair short off her neck with a splash of unruly bangs that stuck down in her face.

She pushed those bangs back out of her eyes as her mother lamented and the family Mabari moved to lick the sweat from her palms and whimper. "Maker save us, we've lost it all. Everything your father and I built..." She was near tears.

Marian shrugged, feeling the overwhelming need to be the backbone of the family. She was the eldest. When father had died three years ago, he had made her promise to watch out for the others. "At least we're alive. That's no small feat."

"Yes. You're right," her mother agreed, her head still hung in despair.

"We should have run sooner! Why did we wait so long?" Bethany asked, her eyes falling accusingly on her twin.

"Why are you looking at me?" Carver yelled in his own defense. "I've been running since Ostagar!" Her brother had been at the battle when the king fell. He'd seen the destruction first hand. He had gotten out before the Darkspawn had gotten to him.

"Not to interrupt," Marian said, doing just that as she glanced at the dwindling fire wall. "but the Blight's not going to wait while we stand here pointing fingers."

"Please! Listen to your sister," her mother urged, making a shooing gesture at the twins.

Marian shrunk her staff and hitched it to her belt. There was going to be a bruise there later. If she survived to worry about such things. "Then let's go," Carver said, glaring at Marian. "Lead on."

She sighed and began to jog forward, slowing the pace a bit so her mother could keep up. They hadn't made it twenty yards when the Darkspawn swarmed on them again. Marian called her magic, ignoring her staff and channeling through her palms. The lightning came easily, as it always did. Father had chuckled at her when she was a child saying that with her fiery personality she should have been a red head. She could cast spells from many of the schools of magic, but the easiest for her was fire and lightning. Destruction was one of her strong suits. As the bolts arched all around, Carver swung his giant blade in a circle, raising the dirt around him to shower her as she cast. "Watch how close you swing that thing, brother. You might lob off something I need later."