Naruto Uzumaki slumped against the boulder and looked at Sereda. The female dwarf was in obvious pain, yet neither could stop. They'd managed to escape Ostagar, but neither had made it unscathed. Naruto was covered with cuts, none deep, but he was exhausted as they'd run throughout the night and had several more skirmishes with bands of darkspawn.
"We can stop and rest." Naruto said and the female dwarf growled at him. "We keep moving." She said. Her axe and shield strapped to her back and the numerous bandages Naruto had applied stained with her blood. "We don't know how far behind us the horde is and neither of us would stand another huge battle."
They shambled along, Naruto looking back every so often. The both stopped when they heard something running through the woods.
Sereda groaned as she pulled her axe and shield off her back. Naruto held up a Ash Warrior axe he'd found during their escape and one of his numerous daggers. They tensed hearing the sound getting closer and were ready to strike when a pale nearly white Maibari exploded from the deep grass.
"Stupid dog." Sereda said.
Naruto went to a knee. "Hey there." He put his dagger away. "It was at the battle." He said seeing the war paint and the gash on its side.
The Maibari looked at Naruto and gave a bark.
"Are you hurt bad?" he asked and the Maibari approached and after several sniffs sat in front of Naruto allowing him to inspect its wounds.
"I don't have any salves or potions left, but I have a shirt I can tear into more bandages." He told the Maibari. Sereda used the time to sit on a fallen log and took several shallow breaths as Naruto bandaged the war hound.
"Its the first thing we've seen since Ostagar that's not a darkspawn." She said watching as the blond wrapped the wounds as best he could.
"Hopefully we can find some supplies at Lothering." He said.
"What do you know about this village?" Sereda asked.
Naruto shook his head. "Not much. I'm not from Ferelden and Duncan only gave me basic geography. I think he was planning on more after the Blight was over. I do know as long as we follow the road we should reach it sometime after sunset if we keep walking."
The dwarf looked up at the sky and quickly pulled her gaze to the ground. "I don't like all this emptiness overhead. Give me stone and I can pretty much tell ya where I am and what's around me. Here…trees, grass, that all make weird noises. Underground, the creatures only make noise before they attack. Here they chirp and squawk, bark loudly and for no reason."
Naruto chuckled and looked up when the war hound growled and followed its gaze. "Sereda-chan, prepare for battle." He said reaching for his remaining daggers.
The dwarf followed his line of sight, "Isn't that the bastard that killed Duncan?" she asked softly pulling her axe and shield from her back slowly. "Aye, the big one in the fancy armor."
The former heiress of the Aeducan's ran a total. "First one to reach him wins. Loser buys the first round when we get to a tavern."
Naruto was about to agree when the mabari barked as if in agreement. "You want in on this too?" another bark. The whisker marked blond shrugged. "Alright, but where are you going to get money?"
The darkspawn charged and the trio fought them off, when they got to the commander it was the mabari who dodged the wicked looking saw like sword and got its jaws around the darkspawns throat as it tackled it to the ground.
Sereda bent over trying to catch her breath, she watched as the dog savaged the monsters throat.
Naruto chuckled. "Well it was a three way tie until that."
The dwarf looked at him as he began to loot the bodies. "You're telling me that the dog wins?"
Naruto shrugged. "Seems that way." He was surprised finding not only coins, a couple of gems and health poultices. He found scraps of rotted meat as well as a dead half eaten cat.
Naruto salvaged several daggers and rolled them and the rest of the gear up and while Sereda was distracted he tried a simple sealing, smiling as everything vanished into the quickly made storage seal. Naruto gave a smile. While it had hurt he was happy that he somehow got his chakra back. He knew that once he was secure he would take the time to explore.
It raises a million questions and with Duncan dead I'm not sure where to find the answers. The blond thought. He had chakra but it hurt to use it and it made him wonder if the bigger the jutsu the more the pain.
A bark drew his attention and he watched the mabari who lifted its leg and peed on the darkspawn corpse. It was then that Naruto realized he hadn't checked the corpse yet and gave the war hound a flat look, which got him a dog equivalent of a laugh.
XX
Elsewere…Neria Surana sat up gasping for air while looking around wildly.
Wynn touched her arm, "Its okay, you're safe." The elder mage said.
"Where am I? Where are the other Wardens?" the elf mage asked.
"The Templars told me the Wardens fell. We haven't seen other survivors, but we're heading north back to the Circle." Wynn said in her soothing voice.
Neria looked around and saw two others with her and Wynn and six Templars, two badly wounded rode with the mages, another drove the wagon and the remaining three walked alongside the wagon.
"I need to go." Neria said after a moment looking around and then checking herself for any wounds.
"Your returning to the circle." The Templar driving snapped.
"I'm a Grey Warden, I need to find the others." She said.
"You're a mage…"
Neria rolled her eyes at the stubbornness of the Templars. "Regardless, I am a Grey Warden. I am out of your sphere of control." Since her conscription Duncan and the others had told her that the Templar Kinghts and the Circle of Magi had no control over her. The Wardens in the camp had been nice and she found her time with them and the other new recruits had brought her a bit out of her shell and she wasn't going to let them bully her back into it.
Standing up she grabbed her staff and jumped out of the wagon.
"Hey, get back here!" the nearest Templar demanded.
"My dear, is this wise?" Wynn called after her.
"I have duties that I need to do and playing with Templars who want to pick fights with mages isn't one of them.
Looking around she sighed then looked at Wynn even as the four healthy Templars prepared to face off with her. "Which way is Lothering?"
Wynn pointed back the way they'd come. "We passed thru there before the sun rose." The elder mage said. She sighed. "Commander Cody, we really need to be going. And she is a Warden."
The lead Templar growled. "If we see you again…" he said leaving the threat unfinished. Neria wasted no time as she turned to head back to find the others.
Wynn watched her go and prayed for her safety. She adjusted the robes she wore so not to press on her wound that was already healing. She wasn't about to let the knights with her know that sometime during the night she had nearly died and yet as the sun rose so too had she. She wanted to speak with the First Enchanter and do some research before she did anything else.
XX
LotheringKallian Tabris and Lyna Mahariel stood over the dead highwaymen, both elves disgusted at the men who first tried to rob them, then discussed using them for pleasure and selling them to slavers.
The city elf had buried her dagger in the speakers throat a heartbeat before the Dalish elf's arrow took down the other two. The rest were disorganized without their leaders and fell quickly.
"I hate scum like them." Kallian said retrieving her blades as Lyna retrieved her arrows.
"Shem like them just prove why their kind should be killed." Lyna said.
"Not all humans are like them. Look at Naruto for example." Kallian said as they walked down the stone steps.
"He…is different." Lyna admitted.
"So, should we wait here? And if so how long?" the city elf asked her wilder kin.
"Two days. We'll stay here to keep an eye on the road." Lyna said.
"Then lets fix this barricade. The darkspawn can't be far behind." Kallian said.
The pair worked setting up the barricade, letting people through with a warning not to linger. Both elves kept looking for their fellow Wardens and wondering how long they should linger.
XX
Between Lothering & Ostagar"Get a move on Alistair." Elissa called back. She along with Alistair and her faithful hound had woken in the hut of the swamp witch and her daughter. Flemeth had rescued them from the tower and had healed their wounds. Alistair had been wallowing about the deaths of the other Wardens. "All of them might not be lost." She said to him as he moped in the swamp about Duncan's death.
Elissa looked at Morrigan who Flemeth had insisted that she go with them. And the former Cousland had a feeling that Morrigan's magic would be used greatly in the coming battles.
She looked at the wild witch who went out of her way to insult and belittle Alistair since they left the Wilds and were on the road. Granted Alistair's initial meeting before the battle had not endeared him to mother or the daughter, but the elder witch was better at ignoring slights.
That and if she really got annoyed I doubt Alistair would never had left the swamp. Elissa thought. The small group had yet to see Darkspawn, well living ones and it gave Elissa hope that some of the others were heading for the meeting.
She was about to yell at Alistair again when the sound of someone crashing thru the woods drew her attention. Pulling her family sword and shield she prepared for battle.
Rox growled and stood ready to charge into battle, but his growl changed to a bark and he dashed into the foliage.
"ROX!" Elissa was worried, she didn't want to lose her faithful hound on top of her other losses.
Instead of battle she heard giggling. Parting the brush with her sword she smiled.
"Neria." She said with a smile as her mabari licked the pinned elven mage with his body and happily licked the mages face who was laughing and strugglingt o escape.
Elissa watched for a moment then went to aid her fellow Warden, pulling the dog off and laughing as she helped the elf to stand.
"By Andraste its so good to see you alive." Elissa said pulling the mage into a hug. "Have you seen any of the others?"
Neria shook her head and explained how she woke up on a wagon bound for the Circle. "I got lost and I think Lothering is….that way?" she gestured to which Elissa shook her head. "That way is Ostagar. Your on the Imperial Highway now and we can follow it to Lothering."
Neria wilted. "Its not fair. I spent my whole life in the tower and now I'm supposed to find my way in the world I've only read in books."
Elissa sheathed her sword and kept an arm around the other woman's shoulders. "Well you're with me and Alistair now." But was interrupted by Rox barking and the Cousland rolled her eyes, "And of course Rox. We picked up a traveling companion, another mage."
Elissa led her back to the road where Alistair was moping but seemed to brighten seeing another Warden, but saddened to hear she didn't know about any of the others.
"Well its one more Grey Warden than you started with." Morrigan said.
"Maybe Duncan made it." Alistair said, ignoring what Flemeth had told him of her account of the final moments of the battle.
"Mother told you he and the king fell within moments of one another. Building up a false hope is foolish." The wild witch said unkindly.
"Well she was wrong about there being other Wardens." Alistair said.
"If mother was wrong, then it is because the others weren't in a position to be seen. Honestly you need to face facts and move ahead."
The group fell into silence as they continued on their way.
Neria tried to talk with Morrigan but the witch from the wilds either ignored her or made snide comments that the elf ignored as she'd lived around Templars for years. Alistair followed in silence twitching whenever Morrigan made a snide comment at the elf mage.
The group rounded the bend surprised by what they encountered.
XX
AN: Its been a while I know. Real life and health issues are in the way. I've tried to get back to posting at least something once a week. In theory.
Here was a review from nameless guest:
(What a load of bullshit. Didn't take ya for an Uchiha cocksucker, I mean
seriously you pretty much turned Naruto into a civilian... well whoppie
fucking doo for Sasuke now right.? Grey Warden or not how does a slight
powered up person stand up against the broke as fuck sharingan abilities? Add
in unatural speed and jutsu and ya pretty much screwed him over. I can see how
that fight is gonna end, Naruto dead and Sasuke laughing his crazy emo ass
off. Lovely.)
How does someone reach this conclusion? Seriously I try something different and I get this and no name to respond. Anyway beyond that thank you all for patience and time. I'll try to keep going. Check out my newer story Serenity Effect. TTFN-ESM