There and Back Again Ch. 001

The stink of blood was in my nose, the metallic taste in my mouth; I decided that the least these people deserved was to be buried with some respect. And perhaps I would burn the darkspawn corpses as well, before they tainted anything else. I went into the house, searching until I found some blankets, some water, and something I assumed was kerosene, and dragged my finds outside. Back inside for a moment, I found a chamber pot and did my business. Outside, I drank some water, and carefully dripped some into the baby's mouth as well; he giggled as it ran down his chin. I pulled his mother's body out from amidst the darkspawn, crossing her arms on her chest and closing her eyes before I covered her with a blanket.

Setting off into the field, I found the rest of the bodies, and slowly, laboriously, pulled them all to lie beside her, before covering them as well. The bodies of the children left me sobbing, again, tiny bodies laid between the larger ones of their family. The task was gruesome. Finally, surrounded by four children and five adults, I found a shovel and began to dig. I knew I wouldn't manage to make graves as deep as I wished, but something was better than nothing. I dug, and dug, eventually realising that I would be exhausted long before I had enough individual resting places. I decided that the family would probably forgive me for one communal grave. The baby was remarkably well behaved during this, though I had to scrounge through the family's kitchen to find something to feed him a couple of times. I dug through the evening and into the night, finally sitting down, planning to rest for a few minutes before continuing. I leaned back against the wall, briefly holding the sleeping baby, and fell fast asleep. I woke when the full rays of the sun were beating down on me, a tiny fist pulling on my hair. Startled, I realised that falling asleep in the open in an area that darkspawn frequented was horrendously stupid, but somehow we had survived, the tiny baby and I, despite that.

I fed him again, and found some cloth diapers to change him into. I'd have given anything for some safety pins - or some huggies. Disposable diapers were definitely a luxury I'd have paid for right then. Tucking him back into the basket of laundry, for want of a better option, I finished the hole I had been digging and gently placed the first body in it. As I was reaching for the second, I heard noise in the distance. Pausing just briefly to listen, I realised what I was hearing was horses. Lots of horses. And they were coming fast. I was quite sure that darkspawn didn't ride horses, and had no desire to try to explain to whoever was coming who I was. I tucked the baby, who was sleeping again, under the laundry, back into the space his mother had shoved him before the attack. Not knowing what else to do, I crept out into the field, finding a spot devoid of blood, that had yet to be harvested, and lay down, hoping the high grass would hide me.

In a couple of minutes, the cavalry finally arrived. I saw the young woman from the day before, and she was being escorted by a contingent of heavily armoured, armed men. She was crying as they came around the house, seeing as no one had answered her calls as they rode up. The armed men quickly cleared the house and farmyard, determining no darkspawn were about, and no family members still lived. And then the baby squalled, and the young woman dashed over to grab him out of the basket, hugging him desperately to her breast and sobbing. One of the men kindly took her aside so she would not have to stare at the bodies of her slain family, and she shuffled away.

I was close enough to hear snippets of the conversation, and determined that the man in the golden, shiny armour was indeed King Cailan. He was as good looking as advertised. That thought made me smile, just a little. He and a couple of his men looked around, trying to determine what had happened.

"There must have been someone else here. Look. All the bodies laid out neatly, and covered..."

"...and someone has changed that baby's nappy, or I'm Andraste's husband."

"But how could someone have survived? Maker, look at the number of them."

"...an Emissary. Have you ever seen simple farm folk survive an Emissary?"

"...seen an Emissary killed by a pitchfork?"

"Could a darkspawn have done it and run?"

"... eat the dead. They don't bury'em."

"Why in Andraste's name would anyone bury them?"

"...an elf? One of the Dalish?"

"...get a pyre going, and burn those darkspawn too."

I scrubbed a hand across my face, eyes gritty. Stupid, stupid. People in Ferelden don't bury their dead. How could I forget?

"...even oil, here, just waiting."

"..whoever did it. Strange they'd leave - the reward..."

"...maybe an Apostate? That might..."

Finally, they finished building a pyre and burned the dead. I watched as the flames burned into the night, as the men finally gathered up the young woman and her brother and headed out. As the last of the men rode off into the night, I stood, bowing my head by the pyre, tears streaking down my face.