Chapter Text
9 :30 – Korcari Wilds
“Wolves. Four or five maybe. “The elf stood up and prepared her bow.
“We could try to avoid them, we’re not here to face wolves “. Said Daveth.
“Personally, I prefer to be ready “said Jory by drawing his sword.
“Generally, I would have agreed with you, Daveth, but I ran into wolves recently on a land similar to this one. They don’t behave normally.(1) “
“She is right “, said Alistair. “The taint of the darkspawns corrupts everything: men, earth, beasts. Tainted animals can even turn monstrous. Let’s be careful.”
These lands were dangerous. Ymlaïs was used to be in the wilderness, but this place didn’t seem right to her. Even in normal circumstances, the place must have been inhospitable. The ambient humidity emitted an unpleasant smell, mosquitoes were flying everywhere, the soil was treacherous, the trees were twisted and bare. How could anyone live here? Her people would never settle in such a place.
On top of that, she felt the “taint” that the Grey warden was talking about and that Duncan had already mentioned. Something in this landscape was not normal, like a decay at work. She held her hand to her necklace and felt the pulsation in the stone. Conjuring the wolf(2) would be a valuable help and a reassuring presence at her side. What if she tried again?
“Ma Hal’…” -She hesitated, remembering the presence of the three shemlens.
“Uh, gentlemen… It may surprise you.” She backed up and focused on the pulsation. “Ma Halani.”
In a magical flash, the grey wolf materialized before her. It had worked!
The three humans leaped back in a single bound. Alistair stood guard, Daveth fell backwards, and Jory intended to attack. The elf intervened: "Stop, he is with me!". Still on the ground, Daveth pointed at the animal with a frightened grin. “What is this … Thing?
“That’s… My friend”. The elf replied.
“But where did he come from?” Jory asked with a frightened look, the sword still high.
“The Necklace, I think.(2)”
The wolf joined the elf who knelt down to caress him.
“He is… Real?” Alistair asked, intrigued.
“Yes.”
“Is it magical?”
“This is…obvious.”
“How does it work?”
“No idea. Ancient elven magic. I summon it with the stone, it just works.” She shrugged.
“Did it ever occurred to you that you might be summoning a demon?” replied the grey warden reproachfully.
“I don’t know”. Answered the elf sharply as she got up. “If the demons come to your hepl at your request, fight alongside you and then leave wisely after a while : then it is one. A very useful demon.”
“A demon is always useful to the one who invokes its power. Before it turns it against his so-called master. By using a magic you can’t control, you’re putting us all at risk of…”
At that moment the wolf grumbled and leaped forward. Jory resumed his guard and again pretended to attack but the wolf only pass by him quickly.
"The wolves!"
Alistair looked back and saw the pack rushing at them. An arrow hissed in his ear and touched the nearest wolf, breaking his momentum. "Attack!" The war cry of the Grey Warden brought the attention of all to the imminent danger. Quickly recovering, Daveth seized his bow and Jory advanced towards the wolves by waving his long sword to keep the animals at bay. The elf’s wolf threw himself into the melee and uttered a powerful howl. The other wolves stopped for a moment as if subjugated. The two warriors took the opportunity to immediately attack while a new volley of arrows weakened the ranks of the animals.
Alistair blocked the attack of a wolf with his shield and in the same movement, threw him to the ground and planted his sword in the body of the animal before returning to his defensive position. Wolves were no match for well-trained and armored warriors, but they were numerous and struck in groups. As it happens, two of them had undertaken to attack the warrior on each flank.
Alistair immediately directed his shield toward the wolf to his left without turning his back to the other wolf to whom he pointed his sword, time to step back a few steps. The two beasts jumped at the same time but one of them was seized by the throat by the animal invoked by the elf. The latter tackled its opponent to the ground and slit its throat while Alistair resumed his previous tactic with the second wolf. Soon the ground was littered with the corpses of the animals.
As he was cleaning his weapon, Alistair heard a voice behind his back.
“He protected you, shemlen.”
Turning around he saw the elf staring at him with her big almond-shaped eyes, her frowns wrinkling the patterns that adorned her forehead.
“Shemlen ? “
“ “Those who go fast.” That’s how my people call yours.” She said, picking up her arrows. “You should be called “the suspicious”, for you are quick to judge and be frightened by what you do not understand.”
“Otherwise we have names too, mine is Alistair, remember?”
"And his is Halani," said the elf, pointing to the wolf. “And you should remember that, because if the Grey Wardens want to count me in, they’re going to have to accept him too.”
Passing by him without another look, the dalish approached the body of a dying wolf and whispered words to it in an unknown language before finishing it with a stab. Then she gently caressed its fur, whispering what sounded like… A prayer? She was joined by the grey wolf who came to rub his head against her hand. She lightly scratched him behind ears, as one would have done for any pet.
“So, this is what you do, you dalish people? You make friends with magical animals and you talk to wild beasts?”
“ No…” The elf answered after a while. “Just me.”
Turning to the rest of the group she advised: “We should continue.”
Duncan had always had a… Peculiar sense of casting…. Alistair knew it well. But he had to admit that this time, he overcame any expectations.
(1) See chapter 6 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/26697385
(2) See chapter 7 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/26919028/chapters/65692480