[Completed] remember what we're fighting for

The disgusting stench of darkspawn clawed at Lana's nose as she patrolled her land. While she'd dispatched soldiers all over Ferelden, it was Amaranthine that she stayed within the borders of. Not until they could draw out the archdemon would she consider leaving her family for any more than her daily patrols.

But there were darkspawn in her lands now. Not only did their smell give them away, but she could sense them - as she knew they could sense her. It wasn't long before arrows were glancing off the hide of her dragon form. Swooping down upon the first ones she saw, she cut a swath with relative ease. That was until she saw a small group of clear civilians attempting their best efforts to keep a large group at bay from a homestead.

Or, they had been attempting it. Anger, fueled further by her demon, coursed through her body. Lana had prided herself on protecting her lands and the fact that this large of a group slipped through and caused this much devastation so quickly? She'd ben doubling up patrols. Maybe recall some from the southern reaches of the country back toward her own borders.

There'd be time for that later, however. Her focus, for now, remained on the fighting at hand. Biting, clawing, and swinging her tail round at any fell creature dare get close enough. The spilling blood fueled her power, kept her in her dragon shape longer. Black fire spilling out of her mouth at a group of genlocks surging at her.

All the while, Lana did her best to keep a sharp eye out for any sign of survivors she could aid.

Rotten luck, that’s what this was.  

So far, Grainne had managed to avoid more than the briefest encounters with darkspawn, but now if felt like they were making up for lost time, all crawling out at one.  And this time it wasn’t only her own ass she had to save, but also the civilians who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, every one of time looking as though they had never held a weapon before.  At first, she regretted making the choice to stop over in this village a rest a while, but if she hadn’t then who would be the one to be the big damn hero?

 All that and to top it off, she wasn’t having the best day with her health.  Her head throbbed and her body felt awkward and disconnected, but she kept swinging her sword, fueled by adrenaline and spite.  After everything she had already survived, she had no intention of going down easily, but even her fierce determination had its limit.  Her body ached from exhaustion, the world swirled around her, there seemed to be no end to the darkspawn, and…

…holy fuck was that a dragon?!

The glint of steel caught Lana's eyes. Swinging her head around, she spied what appeared to be fighting. Good - survivors. With a bone-shattered screech, she took back into the air. It was really nothing but a short hop to where she'd seen the survivors fighting. Though up close now it was clear only one of them actually knew what they were doing with a weapon. More of them seemed to be clutching for dear life with eyes closed, probably praying.

Scooping up a couple genlocks in her claws, Lana took back up to the air and dropped them from an immeasurable height. Thick, inky blood coated her claws and continued to fuel her power. Black eyes flashed in and out as Voracity attempted to wrestle Lana for control to enjoy the spree of darkspawn killings.

No!!! Lana finally stamped down her demon with an alien-like shout, her own voice reverbing through the form of the large dragon body. The demon finally conceded the victory to its host as Lana resumed helping clear darkspawn.

Only once the group had been cleared did she shift back to her normal form. Sweat from the effort now slicking her elven body as tainted blood coated her mouth and hands from biting and clawing at the spawn.

Looking around to assess the damage, she realized that not much was left. The only person seemed to be left standing was the warrior she'd spotted. Her eyes flicked up and down the fighter. You look like shit, she remarked, approaching. She didn't even know this person, but the air of battle seemed to crush her care for formalities. How bad? she asked.

Grainne had been so narrowly focused on what was right in front of her that she hadn’t noticed at first that the high dragon vanished or that a woman she hadn’t seen before appeared.  Once she was sure the final darkspawn was dead she finally tried to catch her breath: doubled over, gasping for air.  When she finally got a better look at the mysterious elf, the first thing she saw was the blood, as if she had turn through the darkspawn with her own hands and teeth.  Did that mean…? No, that was stupid.  People couldn’t turn into dragons, only simple animals like cats or wolves.

“You look like shit too.”  Grainne indulged in a little laugh, but it left her more out of breath. “Honestly I feel like shit, but I always feel like shit, so I don’t think it’s anything rest won’t solve.”

Lana pursed her lips slightly at the return remark, looking down at herself to realize just how covered in darkspawn blood she was. After a moment, she looked back up and shrugged. Though a frown twitched at her lips slightly as she watched the woman. She didn't exactly look okay. But then again, Lana was no healer either.

After a moment, she replied: Here is no good place to rest. She glanced about, no one else appeared to be moving. Are there others that you know of? I did not see survivors at the other homestead. Lana gestured in the direction she'd come from.

Grainne’s heart sank.  She had focused more on plowing down as many darkspawn as she could and hadn’t kept such a close eye on the people around her.  She glanced around, suddenly feeling a wave of nausea on top of her dizziness, aches, and shortness of breath.  Her heart sank.

“I….don’t know.”

Her brow furrowed at the response. That wasn't good. Shit, she muttered to herself. Stepping away from the stranger, she began poking through debris and poking her head into any hiding spots where someone might have survived.

I'm Lanariel, by the way, she offered, casually.

No luck so far.

“Grainne,” she answered in a gruff tone.  She had to take a few slow, deep breaths to steady herself, and reminded herself that no matter how awful she felt now, this was temporary.  She could push through a little while longer and then be able to rest.  Eventually.

She, too, began to search for survivors.  “There was a child…” A moment from earlier in the battle came back to her.  “I saw them running…to the east I think.”

Lana's heart immediately sank. A child? She needed to find them, immediately.

Mustering what magical strength lingered, she shifted into a form that mirrored her husband's mabari. It was one of her least favorite forms, but she acknowledged the advantages of a dog such as Andi. The tracking ability surpassed that of most the other options in her arsenal of shifts.

Determining which way was east, she headed in that direction with nose to the ground. And - shudder - a sharp bark to alert Grainne she'd found something. It was, unfortunately, faster than shifting back and shouting. She hadn't found the child yet, but was certain they were close.

Grainne fought to stay alert and keep moving as Lanariel changed form and went on ahead.  She followed behind, trying to keep her eyes and ears open for any signs, but feeling rather useless.  Hearing the bark, though, was enough of a jolt to clear her head, she rushed over as fast as her aching legs would carry her.

I’m coming!  What is it?. Grainne didn’t realize the folly in asking a question to so,done still in the form of a dog.

Lana paused when Grainne arrived to her location. She'd not yet mastered the ability of Morrigan's sister, to speak while in animal forms. Except her raven form. But it was easier to lean on the bird's natural ability to speak to make that happen. Otherwise, though, no. Speech was not possible as a dog. Even one so intelligent as a mabari.

She might have rolled her eyes if not for the situation they were in. Hopefully the blank stare did enough to serve answer to the question. And Lana went back to nose to the ground, sniffing so rapidly she might have made herself pass out if she weren't in this shift.

Despite the singular focus to find the child, Lana did begin to notice she could smell the Blight nearby. While she'd been assuming that they were just at risk of continued attack, she began to think maybe something was wrong with the survivor she'd found.

But, child first. Grainne could be saved in due time.

Finally the heightened senses of the dog lead Lana to where she suspected the child was hiding. Dog or elf, she'd be too big to wiggle into the spaces she could see. Shit. No time to shift to cut herself for more power, she lifted a paw and bit down hard on her leg. A yelp was muffled into her mouth as blood seeped in and she was able to change shapes into a cat - with a bleeding leg.

Wiggling into the space otherwise inaccessible, she began to poke around until she found the goal. It was a little boy, maybe 5 or 6 to her eye. Jumping into the child's lap, Lana began to shift and move around trying to see if she'd get a response. Stepping all over him, purring, anything to see if the boy would wake.

And, hopefully, Grainne would be able to clear some rubble to get to them. Ideally she didn't want to shift again to her dragon form, that might be too much destruction for what they needed to accomplish. And she didn't want to accidentally hurt any other potential survivors.

Curse her two legs for being so much slower than four!  Her chest burned with each breath, even once they reached the hiding spot and they were able to slow down.

Grainne hadn’t seen just how Lana changed her form, but she did feel an anxious wave hit her as Lana vanished from sight  If only a cat could get in, how was a child supposed to get out?

She got right to work in clearing away a larger opening, working carefully and all the while terrified on wring move would collapse everything,

The child wasn't waking and Lana was getting more and more impatient. Her mind raced with the myriad of ideas to get him out of this situation. Something must have collapsed and blocked off whatever small entrance the child had slipped through initially to hide. And while that had kept him safe from the darkspawn, it was now making her and Grainne's job harder to free him.

Blood still flowed down her leg and Lana, in her cat form, took in a breath before the shape of the cat grew. Fur grew lighter, too, matching the appearance of her beloved tiger, Shrike. Keeping her body positioned over the child, to hopefully prevent anything from falling on him, she hoped the larger frame would help push the debris out of the way.

She could feel it shift on her back, arching it a bit more to help push more out of the way. She also alternated pushing different paws out and around to try that way to shift things away. But always careful to keep the child guarded. The rest, now, would be on her companion. Who'd hopefully pull enough clear to get the child out. Lana, herself, wasn't worried about how she'd get free. She had free flowing blood and options.

Oh fuck, no.

Her heart raced as she heard the sound of shifting debris, and she worked faster, hoping she wouldn’t end up making a clumsy mistake that would lead to everyone getting crushed.

Are you alright? damn…she was still talking to an animal.  Make some kind of sound if everything seems alright….twice if not.

Things weren't moving fast enough for Lana, but she found quickly that there was little else she could do. Not without hurting anyone around. And so she had to wait, listening out for her companion.

The question came and she pondered. Things weren't exactly perfect, but they weren't crumbling down around her yet. And the child was still out cold, which helped prevent him from panicking, at least. Decision made, she let out a chuffle. Hopefully Grainne would hear and she'd not need to make a louder noise that might wake the boy unconscious under her.