Chapter Text
Terys had spent the day wandering around the camp with her friends, laughing and climbing trees. It was summer, and there was little work for the three to do, except kneading dough for bread and filling wooden bowls with stew for the younger ones to eat.
Singing filled the camp as the voice of a hahren weaving a basket was joined in by hunters preparing the meat and skin of the day's hunt.
Her aunt had snuck her some berries, while the scent of jam being made filled the camp. Her mothers had hugged her and her sister during supper and told them stories afterward.
She had gone to bed early and dreamt of warriors donned in emerald, dragons, and wolves, and cities built on the branches of trees wider than her camp, with leaves that reached the clouds.
_
Now she was running, gripping her younger sister's wrist, her chest and throat hurt like she was breathing in shards of glass, as she tasted ash on her tongue. The moon shone bright, offering her little advantage against the attackers. She could hear her people screaming; children and the elderly crying; those who could fight yelling battle cries and commands for the others to flee. Her eyes burned, her vision threatening to blur from tears.
The human's swords clashed against the blades of the Dalish, and fire and ice exploded from the hands of the clan's mages. The hunters protecting those fleeing shot their arrows, tearing skin and flesh.
Her legs threatened to give out as she ran towards the forest, but her eyes zeroed in on an intact aravel, away from the rest and hopefully easy to miss. She pulled her sister along, sprinting towards the hiding spot. They stopped by its side, gasping for air, legs shaking from exertion. Terys pushed her sister underneath it with a reassuring nod, fighting to remain calm for her sake. As quickly as she could, she bent down, crawling underneath the aravel.
With every inch she moved, a new spiderweb got stuck on her hair and skin, in her lashes and lips, between her fingers. Fennas looked at her with terrified eyes, covering her mouth with her trembling hands, so no noise could come out.
She wanted to reassure her. The hunters were well trained and the humans didn't have mages, unlike the clan. They were going to survive this. As she opened her lips, a cry came out. Nails dug into her legs, pulling her forcefully away. Gesturing for her sister to remain quiet was all she could do before coming face to face with the human.
A spider crawled on her cheek, and she could feel another on her scalp. The human had a sickly smile, and behind them stood another two. They spoke, but the girl couldn't understand a word. The group had a different armor from most other humans, with a flaming sword engraved on their chest plates. The one who grabbed her legs stood up, making space for the other, who had unsheathed their sword.
She could understand they weren't angry. No, they seemed gleeful with a sickly hatred. As the sword came level with her chest she bit her cheek. Terys wouldn't give them the satisfaction of showing her pain or fear.
The human dropped. Keeping the sword in place, they gripped her hair, yanking it so she would meet their eyes. They spoke a question with a gnarly voice, and against her better judgment, she spit in their face.
The third human cackled, but the face of the one in front of her twisted, their sword digging into her chest. Her eyes slowly looked down as the noises from the camp faded away. The blade was cutting through her skin, blood slowly dripping from it, dying the white of her shirt bright red. She trembled, her body catching up with her vision and pain rushing in.
Behind her, underneath the aravel, she could feel her sister crawling toward her. True fear froze her spine, all her senses overloading as she ground her teeth, praying to the Creators, even to the Forgotten Ones and Fen'harel to keep Fennas hidden. But her sister’s small hand appeared from behind her, dipping its fingers in her blood.
The humans and Terys froze in confusion as the liquid evaporated to ashes in her tiny fingers. Terys looked up. The first to fall was the one kneeling in front of her, her hair finally released. Before their spasms could stop, the one who had pulled her by the legs out from under the aravel fell, too. The third tried to run, but as all the blood that poured out of her chest burned away, they were pulled toward the sisters as if by an invisible force, falling while gurgling blood.
Before processing what had happened, the oldest took her sister by the hand, running towards the forest. She could only hear her heartbeat and her vision only registered any obstacles in front of her. She couldn't feel her feet hitting the ground or whatever pain exertion, and the wound caused her.
Finally, she reached a group of elves. Her mother was rocking a babe in her arms, calming its crying. As her mother's eyes fell on her, she quickly gave the baby to the parent, running and enveloping Terys in a bone-crushing hug.
But only her. Panic filled her whole body. She tried looking backward as ice ran down her spine, but her sister was nowhere in sight. As she looked back at her mom their fear mirrored the others.
Her mom hugged her tighter, and Terys hid her face in the crook of her neck. Try as they might, they couldn't hide their shaking bodies from each other.
As the clan waited for their fighters, time seemed foreign to Terys, her eyes were stuck on a tree in front of her, it had a nest dug into it. The images of flames spreading through her home overlapped with it. The raid still didn’t feel real. Nothing felt truly real anymore. As if her mind had shut down, and everything she saw was just a dream. At some point, a healer cleaned Terys' wound, applying chewed elfroot on it.
The mages and hunters appeared from the trees. In front of the group was the Keeper, Terys’ mother. As she walked toward them, an utter emptiness covered Deshanna's face.
The Second Keeper took over. They still had to flee, reinforcements were coming. Some hunters ran back into the trees to search for survivors, or at least their corpses to bury. She could hear wolves howling deep in the forest, and she shivered.
The clan quickly organized itself and packed up their remaining belongings. The wounded were healed, but people were still missing. A boy, Ven'adahlen, sat on the mossy ground, eyes empty and brows furrowed, his parents nowhere to be found. Terys looked at her cousin, sobbing against his father's chest. Her aunt had fallen.
Someone gave her their waterskin, rubbing soothing circles into her back. Her mothers were talking to an hahren. She couldn't see their faces, but she knew they were crying.
The adults told her it wasn't her fault, but still, she wondered when and where she had let Fennas' hand go. What would have happened if Terys had run behind her? If she were stronger, she could have carried her. Her little sister had saved her, and she couldn't do the same.
Before she could duel in her thoughts much longer, screams rang out. Deep in the forest, in the opposite direction of their camp. As the barks started, the clan fell into a panic once more. Hunters came running, positioning themselves as a shield. Mages cast barriers while the clan mounted children and the elderly on halla to prepare to run.
Terys protested, she wanted to fight, but her mothers eventually calmed her enough to let her see reason. The screams and barking continued, now surrounding the whole clan. The hunters and mages exchanged puzzled looks between each other. Even the Keeper looked unsure.
Finally, the screams stopped, and so did the barking. Padded footsteps now came in the clan's direction, calm and purposeful. The clan bundled up together, frightened expressions on every face. Mages cast calming spells on the halla, who had begun to panic.
Silence covered the forest, except the soft pat-pat of a hundred feet. A hunter gasped, at first hushed, but soon more elves joined in.
From between the trees came a wolf, white as snow, with fur marred by blood. A dozen other wolves joined in, equally bloodied. The pack looked at the lead wolf with some kind of curiosity, and as the leader of the pack lied down, the others sat.
It was then that Terys saw Fennas, mounted on the white wolf with her eyes closed and her bloodied hands gripping its fur.
Every protective instinct was overridden, as she leaped off her halla to meet her sister. Her clanmates tried to stop her, but she was small and slight. Despite the initial alarm, the wolves remained seated.
The white wolf looked deep into her green eyes, bowing its head. The small girl on its back stirred, and before she could fully open her eyes she was crushed by her sister's hug.
_
Whatever reinforcements the humans had gathered had been ripped apart by the strange pack, who quickly found their place by the hunters' side. The white wolf, however, remained by Fennas's side, who was equally reluctant to be separated from the wolf.
Fennas, now missing two fingers, said the wolf was called Arla. She had guided Fennas and the pack home.
Clan Lavellan gathered itself, mending their aravels and supplies as best and quickly as possible, and burying their dead underneath saplings. Before dawn had come, they had already set off with orange sails flying proudly over the canopy of leaves and a dead silence underneath them.