Leap: Chapter 5

Nothing else to do, they waited. Ostagar was what the gossip told them. Looking south, Malina shuddered at the thought of her brother lost among thousands on the edge of the wilds. Her mind swarmed with stories of the Chasind barbarians, the crumbling fortress, and the darkspawn.

Especially the Darkspawn.

But fear for her brother's safety wasn't the only thing Malina felt.

"This will sound crazy," she confided to Bethany one night, whispering across the distance between their matching narrow beds, "but I'm kind of jealous."

"Why am I not surprised?" came the reply. The dog stirred between them. Since their father had died the old mabari had apparently decided Malina would be his new owner.

"Down, Ser Barks," Malina said. "Sleep."

"I will never understand why you named him that," Bethany said.

"How about… because I was six?" she said. "And why aren't you surprised?"

"You always did love a good adventure," she pointed out. "I think that's half the reason you hate being a mage. It keeps you away from all the excitement."

Malina made a face in the dark. "I don't hate being a mage."

"Everyone hates being a mage."

"I hate hiding because I'm a mage," Malina countered.

"No real difference," Bethany replied. Malina didn't have a suitable argument.

News began to trickle in from the south. Not all of it made sense. From one neighbor Malina heard of a Grey Warden plot against the king. From another she was told the entire order of warriors had all been slaughtered by their ancient enemy during the battle. One even said the order, known for their singleminded dedication to fighting the darkspawn, actually worshiped the archdemons, of all things. Malina suspected that one was little more than a drunken bit of delusion.

Someone even claimed to have seen a pair of Wardens in the village: a tall man with fair hair and a red-headed dwarven woman. Malina had also spotted the pair, but nothing about either of them particularly screamed "legendary warrior" to her. He had looked shocked and broken, eyes puffy enough to indicate he had cried a great deal in the not too distant past. She kept looking up towards the sky, horror on her face, all while clutching a blanket around herself.

Only one thing was certain. The king was dead, and most of the army with him.

People began to flee Lothering. First a trickle, then, as word of the massive failures at Ostagar was confirmed, a deluge. Even the ever-present Templars eventually left, leaving the three alone in an empty village.

"Do you think…" Leandra spoke quietly one night over dinner, leaving the unspoken question hanging over the table.

"No," Bethany said, voice firm. "No. I would…" she struggled for words. "I would just know."

"Then we wait," Malina said, her tone making it clear her mind was set.

If anything, Leandra looked relieved.

A week later they could smell smoke. A week after that they could see it in the distance. Eventually, despite this, their patience was rewarded.

"Carver!" Bethany screamed, seeing her twin cutting through the fields. He was bruised and bloody, but standing on his own two feet. When she embraced him Malina could hear his cry of pain.

Rushing over, she helped Bethany guide him into the house. Once the two were at his side, both of their arms holding him up, their brother seemed to sag. "It was awful…" he muttered, words slurred with exhaustion. Guiding him in the house and to his bed, Bethany only paused long enough to call for their mother. Both she and Malina began casting a torrent of healing spells, working until there wasn't so much as a papercut on their brother.

Able to sit up again now that his broken ribs were healed, Carver offered a weak smile. "Never been so happy to be the brother of mages," he said. Leandra rushed in a moment later, a tray of steaming food. That earned an even larger smile. "I was dreaming of your cooking the whole time I was there," he said, digging in.

He slept that night, and the next day. Seeing how injured he was, and how exhausted, Malina marveled that he had made it all the way home at all. "Imagine if we hadn't been outside," Bethany said quietly. "He could have collapsed… we would have found him after…"

"He didn't, though," she pointed out. "Don't worry over what might have happened. We have enough to worry about as it is."

On the third day since her brother returned home, Malina went out to check on the animals, as she did every day. The smell of copper hit her before she could open the barn door. After a brief internal debate, she kicked the door open and jumped back, hoping anything inside would run past where she could attack it.

"Dear Maker," she shouted. Her plan had worked, but it wasn't a wolf that had gotten in overnight. It was now very clear Carver hadn't been the sole survivor of Ostagar: the Darkspawn had arrived.

Bethany and Malina were frantic. When no one could find the long-forgotten key, Malina blew the door off their father's closet with a spell, grabbing the two most powerful staves within, and every potion they could find. Carver put on what remained of his armor from Ostagar. He had taken off the sleeves somewhere in the walk home, but the leather doublet would be better than nothing. The girls attached sheets of chainmail to their clothes, sewing Malcolm's old leather pants into leggings small enough to fit them as quickly as they could.

"I'm ready," Leandra called, rushing down the stairs. She was wearing every piece of jewelry in the house.

"For what?" Malina asked. "A ball?" She had known her mother was born a noblewoman, but she had never been frivolous.

"It's easier to wear it than carry," she said. "We can sell it once we get to safety. Use it to… start over." She looked ready to cry at those words.

Relaxing, Malina nodded. "Good plan," she said.

They emerged into an unfamiliar landscape. Flames were licking at the tower of the Chantry, acrid smoke hanging over everything. 'Which way?" Carver shouted over the sounds of darkspawn.

"North!" Malina said. "They're coming from the south, so we need to get North… quickly!"

Fighting through small bands of darkspawn, the family tried to make their way across what remained of Lothering. Malina couldn't help being grateful Malcolm had taught both her and Bethany how to fight with a staff, even though neither actually owned one. She never expected the skill to come in useful, and, as they wiped darkspawn blood from their skin, wished it never had.

"Keep your mouths closed," she warned. "You don't want any of the blood splashing in there." Bethany had been grazed by an arrow, and Carver cut by one of the darkspawn blades. Malina healed her brother, telling Bethany to do the same for herself. "We need to keep ourselves healed." Stopping to check the family dog, she sighed, hoping he could tolerate swallowing a bit of blood. "Blood in a wound could be just as bad."

Leandra glanced back when they managed to stop for a moment, catching their breath. "Gone," she sighed. "Everything your father and I built…"

"Well, at least we're alive?" Malina offered. "That's something, right?" She wasn't quite sure what else to say.

Bethany must have been able to tell how uncomfortable she was. "We need to keep running," she said.

"Don't look at me," Carver snapped. "I've been running for more than a week, ever since Ostagar."

"Stumbling, you mean," Malina corrected. "And while I do love seeing people who aren't me argue, I don't think the darkspawn will wait for you two to finish." After a vocal agreement from their mother, Carver told her to lead on.

Glancing back at him, Malina suppressed the shock on her face. For once, he wasn't griping about her being in charge.

"Where are we going?" Bethany asked not long after another group had attacked them and been summarily dispatched.

"The void in a handbasket?" Malina supplied. Bethany rolled her eyes. "I thought we decided on North," she said with a sigh. "You know, away from the monsters that have been trying to kill us."

"Then what?" she said. "We wander aimlessly for the rest of our lives?"

"Wander aimlessly away from the darkspawn? I can live with that." No one laughed. Malina couldn't pretend that surprised her. What did surprise her was their mother's suggestion.

"Kirkwall?" she said, horrified. "Not… my first choice. Or second. Actually, it wasn't even on my list."

"There's a lot of templars in Kirkwall," Bethany said.

Their mother pressed her argument, pointing out they had family and an estate. Malina held her tongue, wondering just why the Amell family, who disowned their eldest child for running off with a mage, would suddenly greet the same woman with open arms. Especially when she arrived said mage's children, two of whom had the same powers as their father, at her back.

But, it was better than their other plans… mostly since they had no other plans. Not realistic ones, at any rate.

"Fine," she said, shrugging. Having an actual goal made her feel better, though. Malina was almost optimistic as they turned the next corner. Only to have her mood crash down immediately. "Please tell me I've hit my head and this is the Fade," she muttered.

"The Maker has a sense of humor," Bethany said, eyeing the couple not far ahead of him. A woman tackled one of the darkspawn to the ground, pummeling it with bare fists before slicing the monster's head off. That done, she returned her attention to the injured man at her side.

The injured man in full templar armor.

"A bad one," Malina concluded.

"You would be the expert on that," Carver said, clearly unconcerned. "One of him, three of us. Four if you count the dog."

"Did you miss the part where his friend punched a Hurlock to death?" Malina asked. "I want to stay on her good side, at any rate."

Before the argument could continue another band of darkspawn were on them. Without thinking, both Malina and Bethany began throwing off spells, concern for keeping the darkspawn back from their mother overriding worry about the templar.

"Apostates!" he said, glaring at them once the fight was over.

The woman manage to talk him down from attacking. Probably good for him, too, since standing seemed to be taxing his abilities at the moment. Malina raised an eyebrow as he promised to leave his "duty" for another day. Even that had mostly been at the pressing of his wife, who helpfully pointed out that the two apostates saved their lives.

"Oh," she said, waving her hand. "So, we can help save you today, and as a prize we won't get a sword in the gut until tomorrow? Fantastic. Perfectly acceptable."

Pressing her not to argue, Bethany seemed perfectly happy with the compromise. "Fine," Malina finally said. Raising a hand in his direction, she summoned a spell.

"Hey!" he said, hand on his sword.

"Calm down," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I promise we're allies and set you on fire ten seconds later? Give me some credit. I'd at least wait until your back is turned." When he didn't calm she sighed. "It's a healing spell. You're injured."

He at least had the decency to look shamed. "Then… I thank you for your kindness."

Malina never could leave well enough alone. "Don't thank me. Another sword in the fight means we're all more likely to come through with our heads attached." She gave a dry laugh. "Until we reach safety and our truce ends, of course, and you forcibly remove both my sister's and mine." The only reply was Bethany groaning.

As the expanded group worked its way through Lothering her feeling of optimism began to return. The templar wasn't terrible, although Carver was better. His wife, however, was awe-inspiring. She managed to keep the darkspawn clear of the mages and Leandra, drawing their attention to herself, and cut through wave after wave barely breaking a sweat. On the rare occasions she looked overwhelmed out flashed her shield, pushing a handful of her tormenters to the ground, so she could kill them at her own convenience.

"Hey!" Bethany called out to her, jogging over between waves. Raising her hands, she quickly summoned blue waves of magic to a cut on the woman's arm. "You don't want to get any of the darkspawn blood in there."

"Thank you," she said, smiling kindly. "Ostarar would have been much easier with more healers."

"I think my unit lost as many to the disease as we did to their blades," Carver interjected.

She looked at him closely. "I remember you. You were under Captain Varel, weren't you?" Carver nodded. The woman, who Malina had learned was named Aveline, nodded. "It wasn't the darkspawn who defeated us in the end. It was betrayal. I never would have expected it of Loghain Mac Tir, but there you have it." Carver gave a grunt of agreement. "Where are you headed?" she asked.

"North," Malina supplied. "And from there… Kirkwall." She couldn't resist groaning as the word passed her lips.

"North is cut off," the templar interjected. "I just came from there."

"Wesley is right," his wife agreed.

"Well we can't go south," Carver said. "That's where the horde is coming from, we'd be running right into them!"

"The horde's already passed," Aveline said. "South is the only way."

Malina and Bethany exchanged a glance. "I don't know about you," Malina said, "but if the choices are south or death, I'll go with the one that isn't death."

Bethany made a face at all of them. "I don't know about you, but every compass I've seen has more than two directions on it. Why not, oh, I don't know… east? It would probably be easier to get a ship to Kirkwall from Gwaren's ports than the middle of the wilds."

"She… has a point," the templar admitted with some hesitation.

"That's why we call her the smart one," Malina said with a grin at her sister.

"You do not," Bethany replied.

"Well, not to your face we don't."

Feeling better, Malina looked up, checking the sun and adjusting their direction.

Around the next turn in the road everything seemed to halt, . Moving too slowly, Malina saw the ogre heading for her mother. Moving too slowly, she saw Bethany jump between them, praying aloud for strength.

And if Malina had anything resembling faith it would have been shattered when the ogre responded to her little sister's words to the Maker by grabbing her in one giant fist, slamming Bethany's thin body to the ground like it was little more than rags.

Leandra's scream cut through the air, drowning out the howls of the darkspawn.

Malina stared at her sister's body in horror, rooted to the ground. It wasn't until a stomp of the ogre's massive foot sent her flying, knocked down as the ground quaked below her, that she remembered the current danger wasn't over yet. Climbing back to her feet, she raised her staff, casting spells. A wave of energy cleared the darkspawn away from her. Another sent them into the air, slamming back against the ground.

Running to Carver's side, she raised a hand, already casting spells on him as she moved. His face was covered in blood, splashing with each swing of his blade, twin lines of dampness clearing the blood on each of his cheeks.

Moving easier now that she had taken care of his injuries, Carver gave a shout, drawing the darkspawn's attention away from his sister. Seeing her chance, Malina began throwing off bolts of lightning. Ducking, she barely missed the sword of a hurlock, feeling the breeze in her hair as it passed overhead. One hand reached out, freezing him. Before he could begin moving again she struck out with her staff, the sturdy wood shattering the corrupted beast.

As they came closer she had to rely on the staff more, whipping out with the bladed end, alternating slashes with spells. Swinging it in a wide arc, Malina desperately tried to buy herself enough time to cast a larger spell. "Carver!" she shouted.

"Little busy now, sis," he replied.

Before she could reply, becoming rapidly overwhelmed, there was a flash of red hair. Aveline was goading the darkspawn, clearing them away from Malina.

"Stay close," she shouted.

"Are you hurt?" came the reply.

"No," Malina said. "You'll see." Raising both hands, she focused. Heat. Flame. The templar, Wesley, shouted from not far away. Ignore him. Focus. Tongues of fire began to lick at her fingers, slowly engulfing her hands. Finally, Malina raised her arms, head thrown back as she roared the final words of the spell.

Only Carver and Leandra seemed unfazed by what happened next for as much as they even noticed. Both were so focused on the ongoing battle and their own grief that she could have set herself on fire and not drawn a blink. While Malina had hoped to buy safety for her and Bethany by casting a nice non-threatening healing spell on the templar, the flames roaring around her engulfing darkspawn, seemed to negate that. Stumbling, the armored man looked at her in horror from across the field.

As though that matters now, she thought bitterly. We probably won't make it from Lothering alive.

In a break between the seemingly-endless waves of darkspawn Malina stumbled over to Bethany's body. Numbly, she stared at her sister, unable to form words. Her mother was sobbing, issuing demands for her to wake up.

Struggling for words, Malina muttered something she hoped was comforting. It clearly wasn't. "And where were you?" her mother hissed. "How could you let her do that? Why didn't you protect her?"

"I…" Tears ran down her face as she struggled for a response. Carver glanced from his sister to his mother, avoiding letting his eyes pass over the body of his twin on the ground. Muttering something in a cracking voice about how she wouldn't want them to die arguing, he stalked away.

"Carver!" Malina shouted chasing after him. The templar, who would have been more than happy to turn Bethany over for Chantry justice, was praying over the body. She didn't want to hear it. If the Maker didn't answer Bethany's prayer moments earlier, what did it matter if he answered anything the templar said now?

"I don't want to talk about it," he said. "I'm… fine."

"I'm not," she replied. Managing to look put out even while covered in blood, Carver put an arm around her. Crying into his chest, Malina realized with shock that she couldn't remember hugging her brother since they were the same height. He was now more than half a foot taller.

Aveline's cry of warning that the darkspawn were getting closer parted them. Carver turned quickly, trying to hide the hand that went up to wipe his eye.

"There's too many," he shouted as they fought on. Malina, downing another potion, was too exhausted to reply. Her voice scratched and faltered on the words of a spell and she stumbled, catching herself with the staff. Managing to squeak out a rejuvenation spell, she was able to stand up straight, flinging off more magic.

Just as she had reconciled herself with dying, the darkspawn began to scatter. While that normally would have been a welcome thing, Malina didn't feel particularly reassured. Looking up, pushing back hair that was being blown around by the sudden wind, she couldn't help but wonder if death by dragon was any kind of improvement over death by darkspawn.