A Heavy Heart to Carry - PSL with apostasy

[pinprick]

I was a heavy heart to carry
my beloved was weighed down
my arms around his neck
my fingers laced to crown
I was a heavy heart to carry
but he never let me down
when he held me in his arms
my feet never touched the ground

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[apostasy]

Anders accepts the hit and moves his jaw a bit once the pain of the slap lingers in his face. He doesn't respond to her, because he's more concerned with trying to figure out a way to escape. Usually, he'd rely on Justice but the spirit's lack of presence is very notable now. At least Nathaniel got away... At least he hopes that's the case.

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The other captors fall in behind the woman as they walk along the beach. It's going to be a few miles to Amaranthine, walking along the coast. The boat is left behind.

"We're making good time," she tells her comrades. "We'll sleep aboard the ship tonight. Now you," she says pointedly to Anders, "have no point trying to escape. We'll find you as easily as we did the last time. Won't even have to be quick about it."

They do make good time. They reach Amaranthine before it even gets dark. As his captors converse, Anders gets the impression that these aren't hired thugs, but actual Vael family retainers. The woman, Eliza, was definitely something else before being hired on by the Vaels. What she was becomes fairly clear in little ways--how she seems to herd Anders like a sheepdog, for example. But it become especially obvious the first time she stops and drains Anders of the little mana he has regained, just outside the city.

"Come along," she says crisply afterward, shoving him along the road into town.

[apostasy]

Once he finds out she used to be templar, Anders stops playing along. He refuses to walk now, pretty much sitting where he had been left after he anti-magic had worked over him. He felt very cold, but the righteous anger that would usually have settled over him before when Justice was a part of him wasn't there.

"Ah. It makes sense now. Just how many mages have you abused in your life, hm?"

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"Drag him," Eliza directs the others, who grab Anders by the upper arms and proceed to do just that.

"I don't hurt the innocent. You are not innocent. You'd better be glad I didn't lose anyone when you murdered everyone in that Chantry, or I'd be less restrained. Kick him."

The captor who isn't dragging Anders turns around and lashes out with a boot, landing a kick right in his solar plexus.

[apostasy]

Anders doubled over as the pain of the kick moved through him. He grunted and then spat as he regained control of his body. "And the mages you imprisoned? The ones you kept from freedom? The children you kept from their parents? What about them?" he wasn't making things easy for them, even if they did abuse him, he did what he could to make his body hard to move.

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"What about the children you blew up along with their parents?" Eliza growls. "But keep rambling like that. Show all the passers by how crazy you've become and why you need to be put down."

They are close enough to the city gates now that a few guards are walking toward them. One has taken his helmet off to speak with the templars.

"Ser. Who do you have here?"

"A dangerous criminal," Eliza answers. "We're taking him to Starkhaven to face trial and execution."

"Is he a citizen of Starkhaven?"

"No, but--"

"Was the crime committed in Starkhaven?"

"That doesn't matter."

"Can I see your papers for him?"

Eliza stares at the guard like he grew a second head. "Do you have any idea who this man is?"

The guard looks grim. "This man was a Grey Warden who personally saved many Amaranthine lives, including mine and my family's. And you expect to take him to our ports without paperwork, without addressing a single extradition law of Ferelden, in fact kidnapping him from his own home and grievously wounding his housemate, whose family has been respected in these parts for generations. I don't think you've completely thought this through."

A silence falls dead between them. Eliza glares. The guard glares back.

[apostasy]

That speech from the guard makes Anders pause and consider the man more carefully. His eyes narrow a bit as he isn't sure how this man would have recognized him. Then he mentions the bit about his 'housemate' and he realizes that Nathaniel might be around here. He's quiet for now, though, because he wants to see how this plays out.

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"I'll take him into custody until your extradition paperwork goes through," the local guard says. "Feel free to stay in the city until then."

Eliza takes a deep breath, as if calming herself. There's a faint nod before she looks at the guard. "Acceptable. So long as you swear not to let him go."

"I swear I will not release him until your paperwork comes through."

Eliza nods. The men holding Anders shove him hard toward the Amaranthine guard, who catches him before he can collapse on the ground.

"With me, Ser," he says politely, starting to walk him away from the gate, into the city. Once they are outside of earshot, he resumes. "Captain Aidan, at your service. Do you need medical attention?"

[apostasy]

Anders doesn't relax just yet. He's wary, expecting this to be a trap of some kind. He shakes his head. "Once my magic comes back I can tend to my own needs." He really hates what templars can do to him, the way they can strip him of his Maker-given talent. His voice is a little testy but it's not directed at the guard so much as the situation.

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Aidan turns Anders down a new street. "You'll need to get out of town before the lady learns her Fereldan extradition laws a little better."

[apostasy]

Anders smiles a bit at that. He's still wary, but he feels reassured if they're bad mouthing templars. "Her kind could learn a lot about many things."

[pinprick]

"You haven't asked about Ser Howe." Aidan sounds slightly judgmental there.

[apostasy]

Anders brow narrows a bit. "I understand you might be trying to help, but I'm afraid that I don't know you. I assume if he's here, you'll take me to him, but I'm not about to volunteer any information about my lover to a stranger."

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"You don't remember me." Well, it was more than a decade ago. "It's all right. I remember."

He stops in front of a small house and nods toward the door.

"He's in there."

A shutter opens. A black-haired boy of about ten years peers out, then seems to be hastily pulled away and the shutters closed.

[apostasy]

Anders pauses for a moment and considers the man. He nods a bit. He'll have to remember to thank this man properly if this isn't a trap but he's still a little too wary to relax fully. "Thank you," he does manage to say, though, before pulling away to see about getting into the house.

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The door opens at his touch. Delilah Howe ushers him inside quickly and closes the door.

"Sorry we had to meet this way," she says quietly. "I'm Delilah. I'm Nathaniel's sister."

[apostasy]

"I remember. You asked Hawke to help find Nathaniel when he was in the Deep Roads," Anders replied. He's looking around for Nathaniel. He also assumes that if Delilah doesn't remember him it's because of Hawke. Not that Hawke meant to overshadow him, but because Hawke's presence was so overpowering it tended to be all you could remember. "It is good to see you, though we should have been welcoming you to our new home. Not like this. Where is Nate?"

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Delilah nods toward the next room and leads him inside. Nathaniel is lying on a bed, drawn and pale, his left arm bandaged tightly, his eyes closed.

"Nate?" Delilah sits at the edge of the bed and pats his ankle. "Anders is here."

Nathaniel stirs, eyes opening and searching for Anders.

[apostasy]

Anders goes to his side and kneels by the bed. He reaches out and puts a hand on the side of Nathaniel's face. "Hello love," he says. All of the tension he had been holding his body is released and tears come to his eyes.

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Nathaniel reaches up with his right hand to cup the back of Anders' neck and pull him down for a kiss, trembling noticeably.

Delilah smiles and steps out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Aidan found you," he whispers between kisses. "I feared the worst."

[apostasy]

Anders strokes the side of Nathaniel's face and pulls up from the kisses to examine him. "Yes. I'm afraid I was rather rude to him. I'll have to make it up to him somehow."

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"Later." Nathaniel settles back, writhing a little against the bed. "Had to coach Delilah on removing the arrow. I'm in pain, but I can travel. I have passage for us aboard a ship. We'll leave at nightfall."

[apostasy]

Anders nods. "Once my magic has recovered, I'll heal you," he promises. For now, he strokes his hand through Nathaniel's hair. "I'm so pleased you're alive. I was worried I had lost you."

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"Magebane?" Nathaniel blinks slowly, frowning in thought.

[apostasy]

"Sebastian hired an ex-templar," Anders explains. "Just when I thought he couldn't get any less charming."