"I am awful.
I am heartless.
I am scared that those things are actually true." - John Green and David Leviathan
Trigger warning: Canon typical descriptions of battle
The first time they fought Darkspawn, Gwen realized just how unprepared she was for their unnatural strength. The Darkspawn ambushed them on the road, descending on them with a ferocity that she had never before witnessed. They were like a pack of rabid wolves that had found a hutch filled with baby nugs, and the party barely had time to unsheathe their weapons before they were set upon. Darcy and Alistair had sensed the Darkspawn in the area, and had argued about the direction that they were coming from.
"I feel them the most from the North-East, but a little from the South-East too." Darcy frowned, his hands on his hips.
"Your Darkspawn detector must need a tad bit more training then, they are definitely to the North-West, a whole lot of them." Alistair peered that way, the sun's warm rays filtered through the dense canopy of towering trees, casting dappled shadows on the dirt road below. He shielded his eyes with one hand, squinting against the bright light that peeked between the leaves and branches. The scent of pine and earth surrounded them, a welcome respite from the heat of the day. As they walked along the road, the rustle of leaves and chirping of birds in the distance accompanied them.
"Are you sure?" Darcy said, the hair rising on the back of Gwen's neck as she started to get antsy, "I may be much more familiar with a different type of monster, what the Alienage is lacking in Darkspawn it makes up for in brutish humans - no offence - but I am sure I am sensing them from those directions."
"Why would I take offence, I'm not brutish." Alistair furrowed his brow, "Am I brutish? No, wait, that's not important right now. Trust me, I know Darkspawn when I see them and I am positive that they are in that direction."
It made sense to Gwen at that moment why Darcy hadn't put two and two together after seeing her face if he wasn't super familiar with Darkspawn. Her stomach rolled anxiously, if it had been Alistair instead of Darcy who had rescued her from her Fade dream, would he have realized what she was and left her to her fate?
She had no time to consider it any further as they had both been right and wrong, the Darkspawn were coming from every direction. The party had been surrounded and were quickly separated by the sheer number of enemy bodies.
Gwen ducked and bobbed, slashing out with her daggers in a desperate bid to cut their enemies down as they threatened to overwhelm them. Sweat and blood mixed together in a pungent bitter smell that invaded her nostrils and stung her eyes. Her left arm wept blood from where she'd gotten slashed by a rusted sword, her muscles burned with exertion, and her lungs felt like they were two seconds away from collapse. The clashing of swords and the primal shouts of her comrades blended into a frenzied chorus that bled into the forest surrounding them, a haunting and chaotic symphony that both inspired and terrified her. She caught nothing more than glimpses of them between the press of the enemy horde.
"Gwen, catch!" Leliana's voice rang out to her right, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bright red of a health potion tossed toward her, a beckon of hope for her failing strength. Gwen kicked a sinewy Hurlock square in its chest, hearing the crunch of bones snapping and feeling the wet squelch of its rotted organs seep through her old boots. One thing she'd learned about the Darkspawn: their blood was darker and thicker than hers, it smelled of death, and it brought bile rising up her throat to think that she carried even a small portion of it. The putrid stench hung heavy in the air, and she couldn't help but shudder at the sight of the dark, almost unnatural colour of their blood spilled on the earth.
Gwen had meant to kick the Hurlock away from her but she hadn't accounted for its decaying body that crumbled beneath the force. Instead of creating space to grab the potion, her foot became lodged in its chest cavity and she tumbled backwards. The cold fingers of another Hurlock grasped at her ankle, pulling her down with surprising strength. She could feel the sharp edges of broken bones digging into her skin as she struggled to free herself from its grasp. Meanwhile, a second Hurlock took advantage of her moment of weakness and lunged towards her.
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Yet Broken Still You Breathe
Fanfiction- 'I did not like to be touched, but it was a strange dislike. I did not like to be touched because I craved it too much. I wanted to be held very tight so I would not break.' - Mary Hornbacher Gwen had spent so long on her own, distanced from the w...
