There and Back Again Ch. 037-038

"Can you fix it?"

Zevran shook his head. "There's no way to get what I need, here. But it sounds like they've got some of the antidote, and probably the supplies I'd need to make it, back at their camp. He says this was all the men with them, that the camp is deserted. I'll go check it out, and if it's not a trap, I'll get the antidote."

"Can you trust that it's the right one?"

"I'll know it by smell. It's quite distinctive. If it's wrong, I'll make some myself with their herbs."

Aedan's voice rang out. "Take Morrigan with you. She can scout by air, and if you get in trouble, come get us."

I heard the cawing of a crow overhead, and knew she was one step ahead. Zevran handed me my blade and took off after her at a run. I walked away from the hapless mage with a disgusted snort and headed back over to where Wynne was hovering over a grey, sweaty Leliana. With nothing else to offer, I sat beside her and held her hand. I briefly wished I was religious – any faith would do – so that I could at least pray and believe it might help. Wynne spared me a sympathetic look and continued to fuss over Leli, checking and rechecking on her condition. Alistair had dressed, and came to sit behind me, his enormous plate armour giving me something to lean against, and held my other hand in his.

Aedan joined us, and I realised he'd left the mage alone and unbound. Well, alone except for Prince, who obviously shared my dislike and stared at the young man with an almost disturbing intensity. Shale and Sten were piling corpses for burning off in the woods. I shot Aedan an incredulous look, and he shrugged.

"How long can you keep him from casting?"

"No idea, actually. Though if I lose it, Alistair can take over. Why isn't he at least tied up?"

"There's extenuating circumstances, Sierra."

"Of course there are. And so we're going to do what with him? Let him go? Ask him to join us?"

Aedan spoke defensively. "It's what you had us do with Zevran, I'll remind you. Sten too, for that matter."

"Because I knew what would happen! I don't know this kid. He wasn't in the performance. He could turn around and slaughter us in our sleep. Or turn us in to Loghain or Howe for the bounty. Best case scenario he's an extra apostate to deal with, and one who can't turn into a bird and disappear when the templars show up. I'd never have taken Zevran or Sten either, if I didn't know the future. You're really shocked I don't trust him?"

"Are you even going to hear his story?"

I sighed. "Of course I will. I'm probably the softest touch of all of us. Just don't expect me to like it."

Alistair squeezed my hand and Aedan grinned. By unspoken agreement, we would wait until Zevran returned and Leliana was safe before discussing anything further. Sten and Shale returned, Sten favouring the young mage with glares that rivalled Prince's. The apostate stayed put, curled in on himself, shaking every time he looked our way. I steeled myself against his pathetic sadness and stayed with Leliana, resting against Alistair's armoured chest.

As we sat I could feel the mana in the mage regenerating, and I gradually drew more of it in as it did. If he was uncomfortable, he wisely kept it to himself. I don't know how long we sat, waiting for Zevran to return, but it felt like hours. It felt like a death vigil. Everyone was jumpy, startling at every noise, and I had to restrain myself from heading off after Zev half a dozen times. If he's fine, you'll just slow him down; if he's not, you're not the one who can help him. Steady girl. We sat, and Leliana got paler, her breathing more laboured. The sun peeked out over the horizon as dawn arrived.

After an eternity, I could hear rustling, and then the caw of a crow, and Zevran burst out from the trees. He was sweaty and panting, obviously nearly exhausted, but he carried a pack full of herbs on his shoulder and a small vial triumphantly in his fist. Morrigan transformed right in front of us and plucked the vial from the wasted elf's hands, and proceeded to rattle off instructions to Wynne that she'd obviously been given by Zevran. The former assassin made it to the fire and then collapsed, spent. Aedan found a blanket and covered him, curling up behind him for good measure. Morrigan sat beside me and I favoured her with a grateful smile.

"Any trouble?"

"None. Though the camp was a little further than he said. 'Twas abandoned and the supplies were right where they were supposed to be. There was nothing there worth scavenging besides the herbs and the antidote. Even the food..." Her disgusted look gave me all the explanation I needed. She paused. "I admit to being impressed; the elf can run."

I felt a flash of warmth at the thought of our companions working together to save Leliana; I'd never really seen them come together like this before, though I supposed they had when I'd been burned. But Zevran had run himself into the ground to get the antidote, and Morrigan didn't even try to hide the concern she felt. I contemplated teasing her, and decided to pass. I couldn't do it after everything she'd done. I reached over and squeezed her hand, once, then settled back against Alistair to watch Wynne work.

She'd apparently administered the antidote already, and I saw the empty vial roll away from her in the dirt. Leliana was still pale and sweaty, and I felt Wynne's magic flare again as she tried another healing spell. It felt weaker than normal, and Wynne herself started to look a bit peaked. She reached into a nearby pack, and I saw her pull out a Lyrium potion. Worried about my favourite grandmotherly mage, I stirred to object, but Morrigan cut me off.

"Allow me to try. It can't hurt."

Wynne nodded, and Morrigan shuffled to her knees, reaching out to place her hand over the wound. I felt her magic flare, but again nothing changed. Leliana looked the same, and Morrigan, sniffing, tried again. And again, each time weaker than the time before. I squeezed Alistair's hand in a death grip, and he squeezed back. I met Morrigan's eyes, and she shook her head.

Both of our mages were tapped, and Leliana still looked like death.

Finally beyond guilt, I got up and approached the apostate. "You lied."

His face was white as a sheet, looking up at me. He practically squeaked as he spoke, and I wondered just how old he was. "I didn't. I swear! It should have worked. I've used that antidote before."

"You'd better come up with a better answer than that. You know what I am, don't you? I don't think you want to be on my bad side." I felt bad using the templar card. Almost.

"I...look, I'm a healer. If I had any mana, I could maybe come up with something. Like this, I'm less than useless to you."

I looked over at Wynne, who met my concerned gaze with a similar expression. Morrigan broke in.

"Let him try. If he attempts to attack, or escape, we will end him. 'Tis simple; even were he a blood mage, we have him greatly outmatched."

Wynne nodded reluctantly, as did Alistair. I glanced at Aedan, but he was busy with Zev, who must have been in even worse shape than I thought, to have my brother so absorbed. I closed my eyes and released the mana I was holding.

Hesitantly the apostate climbed to his feet, taking a few steps then kneeling by Leliana's unresponsive form. I felt his magic flare, and a blue light seemed to pass from his outstretched hands into Leliana's wound. Wynne and Morrigan both watched, apparently fascinated, as time stretched. After another eternity – which was probably only a minute or two – he nodded.

"May I see the arrow you removed?"

Eyebrows drawn in puzzlement, Wynne handed the arrow she'd fished out of Leliana's leg to the elf. He stared at it for only a couple of moments, before holding it out to her again. "There's a piece broken off. I'm guessing it's still in there." He gestured to the wound.

Wynne accepted the arrow skeptically, squinting in the dim light. "Good eyes. If you're right, we need to get that piece out." She looked around, grimacing. "This isn't going to be fun."

We shifted Leliana to lie back on the ground, and I went over to lie beside her, one arm holding her shoulders at Wynne's direction. Alistair shifted his own weight to hold down her legs. We recruited Sten to boil a pot of water, and then, in the fire, heat a slender piece of metal Wynne produced from her pack. Morrigan, Wynne and the apostate hovered over the ugly, blackening wound, Morrigan providing a magic light to supplement the sunrise, holding strips of cloth we'd torn up to make bandages in the other hand. Wynne took the cooling piece of metal and began probing into the wound gently. The elf held the edges back, and blood oozed out of the wound. I looked away and tried not to vomit.

Wynne almost jumped when the probe clunked softly against something hard, and we all shared a look of mixed relief and concern. Relief that we knew what the problem was; concern, because we had no good way of removing it. What I wouldn't give for a scalpel and a pair of tweezers. Wynne muttered a warning to Alistair and I, closed her eyes briefly in what I assumed was some sort of prayer, and then carefully slid one finger into the hole the arrow had left.

I'd vaguely expected it, at some point, but Leliana's scream still caught me completely off guard. Alistair, fortunately, was not as surprised as I and managed to continue to hold her down as she thrashed. I pressed harder on her shoulders, murmuring soothing endearments that I doubted Leliana could even have heard, never mind understood. Wynne just grimaced and kept digging, more and more of her finger disappearing into the small hole. She finally must have bumped into something, because she grunted and shifted her hand, removing the probe.

Now came the hard part – getting the rest out without letting it fragment into pieces. It felt like forever, as Wynne gently wiggled and teased the fragment of arrow out of Leliana's inflamed flesh. Periodically Leli would half wake up, screaming and trying to thrash, but then pass out again for a while. With a triumphant gasp, Wynne finally lifted a hunk of black, nasty looking stone out of the wound. Nodding to the elf, she whispered.

"Could you check?"

He closed his eyes and the blue light resumed. In a few moments, I gasped as the wound edges drew together and sealed. The blackness around the entry was gone, and the skin came together like, well, magic.

The wound in Leli's thigh was closed. The skin was puckered awkwardly, and I felt sad about the unfortunate scar it would leave, but the bleeding had stopped and the skin had sealed completely. Shifting my glance to Leli's face, I noted she wasn't shivering quite as much, and the sweat on her brow was drying. With a sigh, Wynne ran her hands across the scar, and I felt her magic flare once more. It lasted only a few seconds, but the smile I saw on her face was the most beautiful thing I could imagine.

"She will recover."