Chapter Text
Eva heard them long before she saw them. These were her woods; she had spent the last five years running through these trees and she knew every fallen log, badger hole, and clearing in the area. She was perched in the crook of a huge oak and knew that she was nearly impossible to spot from the ground.
There were three of them, she guessed. Two of them were big, loud, and clumsy. The third… Eva suspected she was comfortable moving through nature, although didn’t know these particular woods. But the surefootedness of one couldn’t make up for the bumbling of the others – she guessed one was actually wearing armor . Not full plate at least, but heavy enough that every footstep and every swing of the arms announced to the forest that they were here and they didn’t belong.
They were walking right into an ambush. Because they weren’t the only unwelcome visitors to Eva’s woods.
Darkspawn.
Eva had seen the first signs two fortnight’s ago. The bodies of small creatures – not eaten, just torn to bloody shreds. A foul smell that wouldn’t go away. Discarded weapons and armor, all twisted and rusted and covered in a black ichor.
Eva had actually seen her first darkspawn ten days ago. From a distance, luckily, but she would never forget it. Its mouth was too wide and filled with too many pointed teeth. Its skin was a rotten shade of green. It was wearing armor, but she couldn’t imagine how it got it on. The creature radiated hate and violence; how could it stand quiet and still long enough to buckle on bracers and a cuirass?
So far, none of the twisted, monstrous creatures had discovered the village. That was, in large part, thanks to Eva. She had discovered that arrows and knives on their own did very little damage to the darkspawn. One had to coat the blades and arrowheads in a mixture of elfroot oil and crystal grace. Then those bastards would scream. It was funny that the mixture was also what Mama Roo used as the base for her healing potions. But maybe not funny, Eva mused. Of course these twisted creatures would be hurt by the things that helped everyone else.
Eva knew that a nest of darkspawn stayed by the river. She couldn’t call it a camp – it was too foul and disgusting to be anything like a home. All the animals in the area had long fled and the villagers soon discovered that water from that river was tainted beyond filtering.
Eva heard the strangers crashing through the forest, heading right toward that nest, unaware of the death waiting for them.
She had a decision to make: Help or hide.
Eva knew she had a soft nature. How many baby squirrels had she raised by hand, when their mothers pushed them out of the nest for being the runts of the litter? How many times had she cried after a raid on a carriage or trading caravan, even when no one had been hurt? That fuzziness in the center of her heart always demanded that she help the weak and innocent. And she knew that no one deserved to face the horrors of what an encounter with the darkspawn would bring. Death was the best of all options.
But Eva was also keenly aware of her responsibilities. She had been lucky so far, picking off a darkspawn or two when she could and then fading into the woods and running back to the village. She owed everything to the village and she couldn’t risk endangering a single person there. She couldn’t let them be discovered. She also had her own secrets to keep, one that she could never, ever let anyone find out.
She would hide and watch, she decided. She would stay quiet and she wouldn’t get involved. The lives of these three strangers, out where they ought not be, were no real concern of hers. And definitely not worth the lives of everyone in the village. But she would watch and she would shed a tear for them and she would honor them with a burial. She would regret their tragic fate, but she would leave them to it.
And then Eva finally saw them. She was right, there were three of them. A young woman, with hair so black it seemed to eat up the sunlight. An old woman, wearing a Circle Mage’s robes. Eva gasped to see the familiar symbols, it had been years since she had seen them.
And a man. He was wearing armor, worn leather and chainmail with an emblem on the chest. Of a griffin.
He was a Grey Warden.
Mama Roo loved to tell the children in the village tales of the Grey Wardens. And although Eva was many summers past being a child herself, she loved to hear the stories too. Of their bravery, their strength and selflessness, and of the terrible burden they carried to keep all of Thedas safe.
“Grey Wardens come from many countries, many races, many backgrounds,” Mama Roo would say. “But the one thing that all the Grey Wardens have in common is that they are the very best of us.”
A Grey Warden. Here. In her woods. If there were darkspawn
and
a Grey Warden that meant trouble for everyone. Her, her village, and possibly all of Thedas. A blight.
She couldn’t wait and watch. She couldn’t stay quiet. She had to do something. She had to save him.
At that moment, she saw the first darkspawn step out from behind a tree, a twisted spear in his hand. Eva knew there were different types of darkspawn, but she didn’t know what they were called. This one was huge, eight feet easily, with a disfigured face like melting candle wax. His yellow eyes were locked on the Grey Warden’s back, spear raised to throw.
Eva didn’t yell out a warning or try to get the Grey Warden’s attention. Without thinking, Eva notched one of her special arrows into her bow, pulled, and released. Despite taking up archery far later than the others in the village, Eva was still the best shot of all of them. Her arrow flew true, exactly where she intended. Right into that ugly bastard’s eye.
It cried out once and collapsed. The Grey Warden whipped his head around in time to see the darkspawn fall and in time to see the other six monsters erupt from the trees.
All hells broke loose. The Grey Warden shouted to his companions and drew his sword, rushing into battle without a second’s hesitation. Arrows zinged through the air. Bursts of green light and balls of flame exploded left and right, striking down one darkspawn and then another.
An arrow hit the branch Eva was crouched on near her foot and then another near her head. She saw the slime, a darkspawn poison, coating each shaft.
The Warden spun his sword, slicing the heads off of two darkspawn at once with one mighty swing.
And then it was over. The forest quiet again, aside from the deep panting breath of the Grey Warden. Eva smiled. She would have quite the story to tell Mama Roo around the campfire tonight; how she had single handedly saved a Grey Warden. Her! She was lucky; lucky to have been in the right place at the right time, lucky to have heard the stories, lucky to be able to shoot so straight and true–
And then Eva was falling. Perhaps she wasn’t as lucky as she thought.
The girl’s body hit the ground at Alistair’s feet, a black darkspawn arrow sticking out of the center of her chest.
She had saved them, this unknown stranger. If she hadn’t made that miraculous shot, alerting him to the ambush, they might all well be dead.
Alistair dropped to his knees beside her, desperately tugging at the arrow. There was so much blood. “Wynn! Wynn!” he shouted.
The girl’s eyes fluttered open and met Alistair’s. She smiled.
“You’re alive,” the girl whispered.
“You saved us,” he whispered back.
“I had to. The darkspawn, the blight. We need all the Grey Wardens. You’re the best of us…” The girl’s voice trailed off and her eyes closed again.
“Move aside and don’t you dare touch that arrow,” Wynn said, kneeling beside the girl. Alistair allowed Wynn to shove him away as she began her work. Her hands glowed with a warm, healing light.
“Of course you would find an admirer, hiding in the middle of a forest,” Morrigan said grumpily. She was rubbing at a spot of ichor on her arm.
Wynn called out, “I can stabilize her, but we’ll need to take her with us. We can’t stay in this part of the forest – where there’s six darkspawn, there’s a hundred more. We have to go. Now.”
Alistair gently picked the girl up. She was close to his age, perhaps a bit younger. She had the pointed ears and the slight build that was common to all elves. Her red hair had fallen loose from its braid, a wild mass of curls around her face.
He knew that she must have a home nearby, that her clan would be missing her soon, but also knew that without Wynn she would certainly die. He was essentially kidnapping her, but didn’t know what else to do. This was the only way to save her. He owed her his life. He hoped she would wake up, open her eyes again, so he could properly thank her.