The Awakening of The Elf Mage

Red Mage's Tale (Part 30)

It had begun. The knights of Oken marched off their ships and were immediately engaged in battle with Themos knights as they tried to drive the Okens back onto their ship, however that was not so. The Okens pushed forward, taking the battle to the street of Themos where civilians ran about screaming and crying for mercy from the Maker. It was unlike any other, the beautiful morning had now turned into a sun burnt nightmare. Many dying, houses being burnt, people trying their best to flee without recognition by any of the fighting parties. Only a lucky few were able to escape through the gates of Themos before they closed, others stole boats and took to the sea. Anything was better than staying only to be greeted by the end of a Knight's blades.

Sad as it was, it was the perfect cover for Hawke and the others to begin their assault. Farina was glued to the wall were there was a small crack which she used to watched the horror outside. The building they were in already looked like a dump, so no one paid attention to it. Varenia sat in a crooked chair near a crooked table, her head hung as she clenched her hands tightly into a fist each time she heard someone cry out in pain. She understood that in the end they would have saved more people than those who lived in Themos, but this was still her home, where she grew up, these people were her family. Unable to take it anymore, she used her hands to cover her ears and hung her head even more as tears started to flow from her eyes. Farina looked away from the crack for awhile to see Varenia's state. She glanced over at Hawke and saw that he was still busy so she moved to kneel before Varenia.

"Hey, you ok?"Farina watched as Varenia moved her hands from her ears and looked at the Dwarven woman.

"Would you be if the city you grew up in suddenly became the pit of hell?"

"If you're having second thoughts then you should just go. You should have known that it was going to happen like this." Farina scolded as she rose to her feet. All the time, the women kept a low tone so as not to alert anyone of their presence.

"I'm doing this for the redemption of my city. I'm aiding Hawke to complete his task, not you. However it is never easy to see the place you were raised go up in flames. You have no idea how I feel."

Farina looked at her, knowing that she spoke the truth. It would have been hard for anyone to see such things happen to their home. She was only five years of age when Groodivillie came under attack by another Dwaren village. It had gotten really bad so much that her parents had to flee the village with her, thus the reason why they ended up in Yalevindale. Looking away, her eyes began to become cloudy with the memories of long ago. Varenia looked at her as she noticed Farina's strong external walls break. Hence what happened next was also a surprise to the female mage.

"You're wrong, I know exactly what it's like to lose your home to battles such as this." As if realizing what she had said, she walked away from Varenia and went back to the wall where she continued to watch, hoping Varenia will ask her nothing of her past. Varenia then got up and walked over to Farina and placed a hand on her shoulder as she joined in watching the war just outside.

Hawke sat in the darkest corner of the room, his sword stood between his legs it's handle resting on his shoulder, his eyes closed as he drowned out all the cries of fear and pain in attempts to locate the Prince. It was faint but he could still hear his heartbeat which told him that they had moved the Prince to the temple. Just as he was about to open his eyes, a thought came across his mind and thus he decided to use his ability to find the Archer as well, but something was wrong. As soon as he tried to focus on the Ahriman, his head started to hurt, something or someone was trying to prevent him from seeing the Archer. 'Could he have been caught? No, no matter if it's on purpose, he isn't that foolish. Something is wrong, but what.' Hawke thought to himself as he then slowly opened his eyes to see Farina and Varenia looking horrified at the massacre that was taking place just feet away from where they were. He cleared his throat and got up which was an alert to the women that it was time to make their move. Varenia looked at Hawke as if asking him if he had located the Prince while Farina moved to take up her axe that was bigger than her.