There and Back Again Ch. 079-080

Apparently the darkspawn had found it and started digging; there was a large, irregular cavern where there should only have been a narrow tunnel, and it was full of darkspawn. Fortunately, they had started fires, so visibility wasn't a problem; unfortunately, I couldn't see what they were burning, but I had to guess it was a corpse, based on the sickening smell of the haze permeating the air in the tunnel.

We sensed the darkspawn long before entering the larger room, and organised accordingly. Shale ripped a chunk of rock out of the side wall of the tunnel, prepared to throw; the sword-and-shield warriors closed ranks and held up their shields to provide maximum cover, and everyone else readied weapons. We advanced as a group, the mages at the rear, and immediately drew fire from a couple of archers at the back of the room. I couldn't sense any magic that didn't belong to Jowan or Anders, and I told the rest of the group there was no Emissary.

Once the initial volley of arrows had struck and Shale had launched her projectile into a group of hurlocks, the shield wall advanced, and Duncan, Aedan, Zevran, Faren, Sten and I slipped around the edges to enter the fight. I skirted the edge of the cavern, keeping out of the way of stray arrows or magic, as the others flanked the first wave of hurlocks to attack the shielded warriors. My goal was the archers. Not seeing me coming meant I was the best option to cross the room efficiently and take out their long-range capabilities.

And it worked; I paid slight attention to the melee, almost laughing once as an arrow pierced the back of a hurlock's neck by mistake, but the group was faring well. I scrambled over some rubble to walk up behind a genlock, reach around before he knew I was there, and slit his throat from ear to ear. It wasn't easy; no matter how sharp weapons are, it actually takes more pressure than I'd have expected to get deep enough to sever the artery, but I had experience and it worked the first time. The corpse dropped at my feet, thick black blood pooling underneath, and I edged further along to the next one.

By the time I'd taken out the four archers, the group had massacred the rest of the darkspawn. Zevran and Aedan began looting the bodies - laughing at me when I called it that - while everyone else wiped darkspawn blood off their weapons. Alistair came up to me and kissed me fiercely, but said nothing. Smart boy.

I had to admit I didn't enjoy the long, slightly winding, narrow tunnel we had to creep through, but I fared better than Shale or Sten. The Legion had made the tunnel large, by dwarven proportions, which meant it was between five and six feet tall, depending; I fit fine, and Zev had no issues, but all the other humans had to duck at times, and Shale scraped the walls and ceiling as she walked, sometimes striking sparks. Sten crouched as well, a string of curses like "Vashedan", which periodically made me giggle, earning myself a disapproving glare from the giant.

I was grateful enough when we reached a main branch of the Deep Roads to admit that I was claustrophobic. Just a little bit. We extinguished our torches, packing them away, and took a minute while Gorim and Duncan debated markings on the map. Once they picked a direction, we headed off again.

We stopped at a small Legion of the Dead way station that Gorim had identified. It was nice: there were sinks, of a sort, with runes like those in the estate in Orzammar, small alcoves for privacy with a few sleeping cots, and even a stone door that could be closed and barred. We still set a watch rotation, but we felt protected for the first time in two days. We took turns cleaning up, and decided as a group to sleep without armour, for once. Exhausted after a long day of fighting, the Grey Wardens, Faren, and I met at the back of the cavern. Faren had collected his darkspawn blood from one of the hurlocks we'd fought, and Duncan had Anders prepare the Joining potion.

Faren grimaced, upon glimpsing the chalice, but didn't look surprised. I shook my head ruefully when Duncan glanced at me. It's not like the use for the blood is rocket science. What else would you be doing with a potion vial full of blood? Duncan explained that the blood was the source of the Grey Wardens' strength, and then, to my dismay, asked Bel, who'd not spoken the entire day, to recite the words.

The stutter was highly unfortunate, I reflected listening to Bel try to get through the words "Join us, brother," and without discussing it, everyone else began reciting with him. I was surprised to see that once his voice was no longer the loudest, his stutter improved dramatically. Clearly, anxiety makes it worse.

I contemplated that as Faren drank the potion; I was the only one not nervous. I knew any Brosca would survive. Alistair caught the dwarf as he fell back, his eyes rolled up into his head, and laid him gently down on the nearest cot. He was breathing, and everyone took a deep breath of relief.

Jowan offered to pull a cot nearby and stay close, in case he needed anything when he awoke, and the rest of us scattered to our own alcoves to get some rest.

There weren't enough cots for everyone, and seeing as Alistair and I wouldn't have been able to share one anyway, we opted for the floor. We made a little nest of blankets to sleep on; the air was warm, heated by the lava as it was, so we didn't need to keep any blankets out for cover. We had chosen an alcove as far away from the rest as possible, and as Alistair sprawled out beside me in just his thin linen sleeping pants, I was glad all over again.

I happily gave in to his passionate kiss; I didn't think we'd have any opportunity to be together in the Deep Roads, but as long as we were quiet, we could get away with it easily. Alistair's mouth on my neck was insistent as the kissing grew more heated, and I tangled my fingers in his somewhat shaggy sandy-blond hair, trying to stifle a moan of desire. His hands roamed my torso, stopping to torment my breasts periodically, before skipping away, making me squirm. Impatient, I pulled up the thin shift I wore for sleeping and struggled to tug it off, dropping it beside us absently.

I lay, sandwiched between Alistair and the wall of the alcove, and bit my knuckle as he proceeded to shower my breasts with attention. The bruising had mostly disappeared with the healing potion I'd taken before we left, but certain spots still made my skin sing with remembered pleasure and pain when he licked and kissed them. I hissed and dragged his mouth to one aching, diamond-hard nipple by the hair, and he chuckled under his breath even as he engulfed the little pebble with his lips. He switched sides, teasing me, and I writhed silently beneath him.

At my urging, he finally rid himself of his trousers, and gasped as I took his hard length in my hand. It felt good, knowing the arousal was for me; powerful, somehow, and I stroked the shaft a few times in appreciation before Alistair pushed my hands away.

He slid between my thighs and sheathed himself inside me like we'd done it hundreds of times before; he was perfect, his width stretching me deliciously, avoiding bumping my cervix, and I groaned and humped my hips uselessly at him when he just held still deep inside me. When he finally started to move, the relief was palpable; my arousal climbed rapidly, and I covered my mouth to stifle any noise when I came, the pleasure and relief of being with him and knowing all was right in the world almost overwhelming my embarrassed need to remain quiet. Alistair captured my lips with his own to muffle his own grunt of completion, and then we both collapsed, boneless, in our nest.

We kissed and caressed, sweetly, not sexually, and prolonged our post-coital bliss a while longer, but eventually the certainty that someone was going to come around looking - and that someone, more likely than not, being Oghren, knowing my luck - spurred me to sit up and retrieve my shift. Alistair wriggled into his trousers, and then spooned behind me, shielding me from our companions as we fell deeply asleep.

Aedan woke me for my watch with a gentle hand on my arm; I crawled, reluctantly, out of the cocoon of Alistair's protection and trudged over to sit near the stone door, exchanging nods with Shale and Sten. With nothing else to do, I marvelled at the amazing stone architecture of the Deep Roads. Even this insignificant chamber had lava channels near the front, for light and heat, but far enough away that the back alcoves were in deep shadow. If it had a window or a skylight it would have been more comfortable than anywhere we'd stayed to date, except the Pearl and Redcliffe's castle.

Sadly, according to Gorim, the further away from Orzammar we travelled, the more rudimentary the Legion's supply depots were. Near the front they'd have a barracks of sorts, but this was likely to be the last relative safety we would encounter.

I had never learned how to keep track of time without a clock of some variety, and I'd left my phone with Leli, so after a while I was grateful when Bel approached for his watch.

"'Morning," I greeted him, my voice hoarse with disuse.

He nodded, but remained silent. At least he's not wearing his helmet.

"Look, I hope you can just ignore Oghren. He's an ass, at times, but it isn't personal. Don't let him get you down."

He nodded again.

"Are you that embarrassed by the stutter? I promise you, I won't make fun of you. I had a friend in school with a stutter; lucky for her, we had a teacher with some training in speech. She managed to learn how not to stutter. But I'd never tease someone over something they have so little control over."

"It's w-worse when I-I'm nervous," he responded. His voice was deep and pleasant, if you ignored the hesitancy and the stutter.

"Why are you nervous? We seem to be quite safe here." I shifted around, double-checking the cavern and the door for security issues I'd overlooked.

"That's n-not why." He appeared to be blushing, though it could have been a trick of the light.

"Is it me? I promised I wouldn't tease. I'm no bully."

"N-n-no. I do- I do- I d-don't me-meet many wo-wo-women!"

"Oh! I'm sorry, Bel. If it's any consolation, I don't bite."

He chuckled at that, and I smiled.

"Y-you said your fr-friend learned to st-st-stop?"

"Oh! I should have thought of that. Bel, I know how. I was there when she learned. It takes a while, but it's manageable. Would you like me to try to teach you? It would be good experience for getting used to talking to other girls, too." I winked at him, and though he blushed scarlet, he smiled and nodded.

"Alright. The first part...well, it would be easier if Leliana were here, but here goes. Do you know how to sing?"

I spent probably an hour teaching Bel rudimentary scales. His deep baritone was quite lovely when he hummed along to the lesson; he had at least a passable ear. And I'd managed to get him to sing, just once, the words to go along with the notes: do, re, me, fa, so, la, ti, do. To his shock, and my delight, he didn't stutter. Which was the point: it's virtually impossible to stutter while singing.

I left the lesson there; if my experience was anything to go by, I'd have to get him singing entire songs before I could talk him into trying to sing his sentences instead of speaking them. My friend had been totally embarrassed at first, and it took a long time to gain confidence. I hoped that dwarves didn't have any sort of stigma against singing in public, and that I could recruit Leli to help once we got back to Orzammar, but I thought I had a chance at getting him stutter-free before the blight was over.

I went back to bed, snuggling in to a drowsy Alistair with a brief kiss on the forehead, and fell asleep listening to soft, deep humming.