The morning air flourished, the sun shown brightly. Birds chirped sweetly in the trees. "Ahh, and here we are. Everything back to normal." Baekhyun hummed and sighed and loudly exclaimed when they emerged from the abandoned temple. Everyone had, except for maybe one exception, slept long and well, cozy in the knowledge that animals wouldn't eat them in the night. The exception being Kris, who could still be heard fretting about dragons, mumbling under his breath as the party lugged on their packs and collected the horse and mule. Baekhyun fed each animal a spare root he'd found growing in the village the night before, and completely shrugged off the qunari's complaints. At this point, life seemed to be going a little too well that he almost welcomed a dragon if it would spice things up. 

And speaking of no one getting poisoned of cursed in almost twelve boring hours, Baekhyun was a little surprised to see their new friend and mage pulling out a rucksack of his own belongings too.

"Uhhh, are you... going somewhere too?" Jongin asked hesitantly, and it made Baekhyun laugh.

"Can't I?" asked Yixing with a charmingly false smile. Baekhyun liked him, if only because he thought the mage more than genuinely pleasant. Apostate mage with questionable loyalties aside. Yixing had a face that promised intrigue though, and intrigue was an exciting thing. He almost questioned the mage himself, but Jongdae interrupted him first. 

"If you're going somewhere, does that mean we can raid your stash?" The assassin smirked hopefully.

"You can try," said Yixing. "If you have several dozen lockpicks to spare, and protection against my spells."

"Don't do it," Luhan muttered. 

Jongdae hummed thoughtfully, even as Yixing shrugged and said, "In any case. I'm not just going anywhere. I thought I'd come with you." 

"What?!" Only Xiumin seemed overly alarmed. It shocked Luhan, shocked even Baekhyun.

"Well it's obvious you all haven't yet reached your destination. Couldn't you do with another mage? Truthfully, I'm rather lonely living here and wouldn't mind an excursion. Plus, I'm a healer and I know some spells which are a whole lot more powerful than probably Xiumin owns. What do you think?" He addressed the question to everyone at large, but his eyes noticeably glanced between Jongin and Luhan, as if sizing up which of them was the real leader here. He conveniently passed up looking at Xiumin, to that mage's quiet fury.

Baekhyun decided to take the bait. "Hey, my shoulder's still a little sore from where I took an arrow. Think you could fix it?"

The result Baekhyun desired was actually quite nice - like he had a brand new arm - and it doubled as proof that Yixing might indeed come along. Jongin approved it when Xiumin did not vocally disagree, although Luhan was seen later whispering to Xiumin while glancing suspiciously at the other mage. Sehun almost refused to take his eyes off the stranger, when they weren't scouring the forest and trees. The rest were unopinionated, just all too happy to be putting Haven finally behind their backs. 

"Hey, Baekhyun, what are you doddling there for?" Chanyeol's voice loomed loudest next to the pack mule he and Suho were loading up, ready to go.

"Huh? Oh. Nothing. Nothing!" he called back with a sly grin, happy to find a nice little nook alongside the temple doorway in which to stash his newly fresh manuscript. It fit there perfectly, sure to be found if anyone just took a glance. Only Jongin caught him in the act, but the elf smiled at the man like he had a million gold pieces, and the warrior quickly averted his head. Jongin was so much fun to mess with sometimes, and Baekhyun loved all things fun.

CODEX UPDATED:

Found in Haven by a rather terrified new visitor, this hand-bound journal looks old but the writing is fresh. 

Dear Fellow Traveler,

This village is barren, scary, not at all a nice place to raise a family. Andraste has frowned on the land, made evident by the fact that what lays within the walls, watching, circling, all around but rarely seen is a…DRAGON.

A scaly, giant, fire breathing magical concoction of muscle and might, a DRAGON. I, a brave and consummate adventurer, am not frightened by such things. Lesser men, dwarves, Quanari, elves, and other such creatures may be. Dragons, my friends, are the least of my worries.

I came here one day, unaware of the peril that may face me within this village.

I happened to join up with a group of travelers that rambled through Haven one fortuitous day. Fortuitous because we happened upon a bunny. Of the hopping kind. All nice and sweet and belonging to a friendly mage, our fears of a dragon increased with the mage’s words, for he vaguely mentioned the unbelievable probably not real form of the DRAGON.

We braced ourselves, my faithful comrades and I, for the potential appearance of the DRAGON. We bathed in the clear blue water of the nearby lake, splashing and laughing and generally not being eye catching bait for the frightful creature that may prowl the skies.

As we finished bathing, our hair and skin glistening in the sun, as though gods descended from above, we spotted the BEAST. Circling overhead, angry, interested, though who could blame him.

As an expert archer I was hardly afraid of what may occur if we faced such a beast. My fears were surrounding the welfare of my less skilled traveling companions, and largely I wanted the bunny to survive. When the DRAGON finally reared his ugly, scaly, filthy rich head I had poised my finest ice arrows, resolute to protect those around me.

I pulled the arrow back in my bow, aiming as those around me fell apart, taken by hysteria. Aiming carefully, I let the arrow fly, watching as it plunged into the DRAGON. The large beast fell from the sky, a loud and horrendous sound crackling around as us it fell.

My traveling companions, still half insane from the fight, recognized my brave deed and cheered for me. I accepted their presents and praise, realizing I, Baekhyun, yet again saved the day. As we departed that forsaken place, we dared look overhead. Only to see another DRAGON. One that most likely, is watching you now. And so I leave this note, urging you - LOOK ABOVE YOU!

Sincerely,

Dragon slayer extraordinaire Baekhyun*

"So, Kris, have you ever encountered a giant? Are they better or worse than dragons? Huh? Huh?"

"Baekhyun, stop teasing the qunari," said Jongdae ambivalently droll. Then the assassin cackled. "You'll give him nightmares for sure."

Between the elf and the qunari and assassin, and even Suho who was much taken lately with trying to curb Jongdae's excessive tongue, the banter continued for hours. Sehun, however, paid them very little attention. His head still pounded, whatever herbs Yixing had given him to ward off the effects of the walking nightmare wore off every few hours, and on the last occasion, Sehun was reluctant to ask for more drugs. Why the party had consented so easily to let the mage come along was beyond his comprehension, but then he had almost given up trying to reason with Jongin, Baekhyun, or even Luhan's idea of a Grand Plan.

By midday, he let himself off the horses's back, partly to give the animal some rest, and partly because on foot, Sehun was not prone to dozing off. Despite his headache, physical activity seemed to quell his wandering mind. He'd slept well the night before, but even then he was visited in his dreams. Shadowy images, bright foliage, the sound of water trickling, swirling, flowing, falling. Nothing that he could make out with any degree of certainty.

And even in the middle of the day, he sometimes thought he could hear it: the sound of bubbling water.

Xiumin would not answer him. Where he'd gone, why he'd left with Kyungsoo, what happened to that mysterious man with the white skin that left gray patterns. Hooded and shadowed like something out of a nightmare, except in Kyungsoo's case, Sehun was certain he had seen him, spoke with him, touched him. And at some point he'd been afraid of him. Perhaps he still was, but curiosity, interest, confusion - all those emotions seemed to take greater affect.

"You alright there," Chanyeol asked him once, when Sehun almost stumbled stepping over a tree root in the path.

"Hmm? What? Yes. I'm fine," he replied curtly.

The taller warrior put out a hand to steady him anyways, and much as he wanted to shrug the man off, Sehun let himself be comforted as he regained his balance, willing his head to clear, and his pulse to quit pounding.

"Maybe you should ride again?" Suho asked next. The dwarf had a tendency to walk in his flank whenever he was not arguing with Jongdae.

"No. I-I like walking, thank you."

"Well that's something new!" yelled Baekhyun from somewhere in his rear.

Sehun ignored him, ignored all of them, although he did crane his head around looking for Xiumin once more, only to catch that mage miles deep in a whispered conversation with the new healer, expression taut like they were arguing. Luhan had walked beside them. He was now, however, conversing with Jongin, also a little put out from being ignored. Only Jongdae it seemed, was strolling along in apparent innocent bliss.

Where was Kyungsoo... that was all Sehun wanted to know. Where was he, what had happened, why had Xiumin disappeared with him. Where had they gone, why was only Xiumin back. Alright, so Sehun had a lot of questions, and added to those was the very nature of their entire excursion. What would they find at his aunt's homestead? Did she know about his existence. Was she prepared for their arrival. Was she nice, did she know his name? Why couldn't they really have gone on to West Hills. Couldn't they just go back and stay in Redcliffe? Or Denerim.

He shook his head, stumbling once again along another root and this time there was no Chanyeol to catch him. Instead, Yixing was suddenly by his side, pulling him from the ground and brushing off his knees before putting a hand to his forehead.

"You're burning up again. I'm so sorry," he whispered, the kindest words Sehun had probably heard in months.

"Give him some more herbs, Yixing," said Xiumin from his other side.

They stopped in the shade of a large tree, Sehun being lowered gently onto the ground as the healer drew some supplies from his bag and under Xiumin's careful administration, herbs were pounded with a few powders which they forced Sehun to swallow.

"We shouldn't dawdle too long," Chanyeol warned lazily.

"I second that, because I still swear there is a dragon that lives close by-"

"Shut up, Kris," Baekhyun cut him off. "We're here because of Sehun, and if he isn't well than we might as well all disperse and go home."

As they bickered some more, Sehun closed his eyes and let the herbs take effect. Within minutes his head felt lighter, less dizzy, more able to focus. But perhaps that wasn't really so because when he tried focusing his eyes into the tree line opposite, he swore he saw Kyungsoo. Or just the tips of his robes. So maybe he was still just imagining things.

They ran into trouble in the early evening. No dragon, no giant, not even bears or bandits, but another particularly vicious pack of wolves.

"Could be worse!" Jongdae howled as they formed instantly into a defensive stance. "Could be werewolves!" 

Luhan cringed all the same because, medium-sized wolves or not, they were still pesky creatures and with half a dozen leaning down on them, there was always the possibility of someone being hurt.

He and Jongin lunged forward with their swords raised, the assassin right in their midsts as both Kris and Chanyeol made up the sides to block Sehun and Suho in the middle. The mages held the back, and this time there were multiple flashes of magic powering between the defenders as Xiumin and Yixing worked in tandem. Alistair snarled in between all of their legs and managed to take out one wolf all on his own.

"Wretched beasts!" Jongin yelled as one of them snuck below his shield, tearing at his ankle. The same animal whimpered a moment later as an arrow caught it right between the eyes.

"Not on my watch, you don't!" cried the elf.

Within seconds though, both Jongin and Luhan shrieked themselves when a bluish light surrounded Jongin's bloodied ankle, and the wound shrunk and healed right before their eyes.

"Alright!" Baekhyun whooped again. "See! Told you having another mage was a great idea!"

Unfortunately, as Chanyeol dispatched the last of the beasts, that was not the end of it. Luhan counted the wolves, only one of which managed to slink off to its hiding spot. Chanyeol was already eyeing their pelts in anticipation. Kris wondered aloud, "Did anyone just hear something?" At this point, almost no one paid him attention. Instead, the rest of the party panted and wiped their sweat, Yixing healing minor wounds left and right, and for the first time all day Xiumin paid Luhan some special attention.

"You're bleeding," he told the templar, to which Luhan almost rolled his eyes. It was just a surface scratch after all. What bruised more was how Chanyeol had accidentally elbowed him hard in the back in the middle of the fight. The oaf was good with a sword, but not always spatially aware.

"Yeah, it's fine. Yixing can fix it-"

And before he could finish his words, Yixing did indeed fix it. He looked up sheepishly, now squatting in the shadow of both mages. Yixing hovered above, Xiumin right by his side. It was a bit awkward, Luhan thought, given how the two mages had met, two of the three of them , and one had been Luhan. He still wasn't over his embarrassment from that. It wasn't really his finest moment in his career as a templar, or indeed as a man.

"You all good there, Luhan?" the healer asked, hint of a smile on his face, although it was probably a smirk. Luhan was getting rather good at distinguishing the difference. Yixing may be an elf, but as an apostate he had some frighteningly similar traits to Xiumin.

"Perfect. Never better." He smiled and held his breath, because the shorter mage was still crouched awfully close to him, hand on Luhan's lower back, face just inches away. And Luhan was starting to grow uncomfortable under their dual scrutiny.

"So it seems," said Yixing with a curious glance between the two of them. Xiumin, probably realizing how this looked, suddenly cleared his throat and stood up.

Jongin was arguing with Chanyeol about pelts, Suho was wandering towards the edge of the trees, unbloodied mace held in his hands as he surveyed the situation cautiously. He was always a little more bold when the fighting part was over. Sehun hadn't even gotten off his horse, although he was doing remarkably better with keeping the animal calm under such conditions. Luhan was proud of him and was about to vocalize them with a second wave of attackers suddenly surprised them, and this time it wasn't just wolves.

It all happened so fast. One minute Suho was hunkered over one of the dead animals, the next there was a dagger under his throat, a burly body holding him back, and a dozen other men - no, dwarves - filing through the trees with their weapons posed.

"Carta!" Kris growled, and Jongin likewise roared, everyone grabbing their weapons which they'd just so recently put away. However, nobody moved. A fierce band of Carta smugglers held their distance, warning, taunting, but not attacking. Until one of them who looked to be their leader suddenly spoke.

"Well, what have we here?" He had rough, long hair, a large face that might have been handsome except for the grimace and the scowl, menacingly fierce.

It was only Suho's precarious situation which kept the party from retaliating. The captive dwarf had frozen completely in fear, dagger trained upon his throat by a second dwarf who looked petite but firm, muscles bulging as he held the blade, pressing in but not yet breaking the skin. That could easily be remedied though, and nobody dared to find out what would happen if they moved. Xiumin held his hand to the back of Alistair's head to calm the beast while everyone just stared, holding their breaths.

"Sehun," Baekhyun whispered across the clearing, "Off your horse now, please."

Despite his aims to remain silent, the Carta leader of course heard him. "Great idea. In fact, we'd like that horse if you don't mind. What a nice sell that'll make."

"What do you want?" Jongin declared fiercely.

The leader of the Carta smiled viciously. "What do we want? Well, other than that horse and this renegade dwarf here... I think we could go our way, no harm done."

"No harm done?!" Jongdae roared. "What claim do you have on that man?"

"What claim?" said the leader facetiously. He smiled, uneven teeth on display. Jongdae's breath caught, almost hissing, and Suho tried to catch their eyes, pleading them not to do anything, although there wasn't much he could do without actually moving and putting him in further danger. "What claim? What other claim do I need other than that he's a renegade brother of ours, sworn to the Carta and yet here we find him. With you. Where's our stuff, Suho, huh? You were supposed to be transporting our goods. Don't you want to tell us where you stashed it?"

The dwarf holding Suho shook him for good measure, while tears began tracking down the poor captive's face. Jongdae shifted menacingly, but halted when the Carta brute hissed threateningly. Luhan's eyes darted between the other dwarves, nine males in total, and two females with beautiful faces but looked anything less than sweet. None of them looked sweet, not in full Carta armor and a whole arsenal of weapons at hand.

"There was no stash," Jongin tried to explain. "We found him almost dead... bandits had already raided whatever was in the cart."

"And the rest of our men?" asked the leader.

"Dead," Jongin replied.

"Well, that's unfortunate."

Everyone stiffened, ready for whatever the dwarves might throw at them in retaliation. However, the leader just continued to smirk, and then he shrugged. "But that's neither here nor there." He whistled, and Sehun's newly vacated horse stalked forward, almost against it's will, but when the Carta dwarf whistled again, he quickly strode from beyond their little circle and into the dwarve's custody.

"We have no argument with you. Just with this one here." They shook Suho again for demonstration, tears now free-falling down his face. "We'll take the horse for our troubles and leave you here."

"Don't you dare-" Jongdae almost lunged forward again. He was stopped though by Yixing, and the fearful cry from Suho as the dagger dug deeper against his skin, with just the tiniest hint of blood seeping across the blade.

"Hold your rogue in place, warrior," said the leader to Jongin. "He may be fast, but I assure you, Minhyuk here is faster. And already in place. Besides, what's this guy to you anyways. More useful where he comes from, I assure you."

He eyed the rest of their party, as if waiting for argument, but when no one had anything to say - because they were worried about Suho - he smiled like he'd just won an argument. Luhan only caught Jongdae's eyes hardening, although the assassin did not move. 

Then Jongin asked the leader uncharacteristically, "Tell us your name at least. So we know who to avoid from here on out."

The leader cocked his head, amused. "You show good sense, warrior. Avoid us, you definitely should. Yonghwa is my name. We'll bid you leave now. Jimin," he addressed one of the females. "Grab the horse and let's get out of here."

The dust across the path and trees cleared surprisingly quick following the retreat of the Carta smugglers. No one spoke until Kris, shockingly, broke the silence. "I told you I heard something coming!" The qunari shouted, scaring everyone else by the roar in his voice.

"Bleeding thorns, Kris," Baekhyun immediately retaliated, "You've been shrieking for days about dragon this and dragon that. How are we supposed to know you meant something more closer to the ground!?" 

"Why are we still even talking about this," Jongdae interrupted. "We should be going aft-"

However, Kris wasn't done. "I tried to warn you, and all I got was shut down. So tell me, what are you going to do if one day we all get fried by dragon fire? Huh?!"

"Dragon fire?!" Baekhyun was livid. "You're missing the point here-"

"Exactly. Now why are we still standing here?" the assassin panted.

"And you!" Now that Baekhyun was fired up, not even Jongdae's simmering rage was a distraction when the elf turned his attention to Jongin himself. "You! You just let them? What was that about, Jongin?!" The warrior only bristled for a moment, as if confused by Baekhyun's attack, his mind still turning by the outburst.

"Uhm, guys..." Chanyeol tried to insert.

"Baekhyun, what exactly was I supposed to do? They had a blade to his throat."

"And now they have our horse," said Chanyeol. Jongdae, however, yelled at him twice as loudly as Baekhyun had at Kris, and the tall warrior immediately cowed under the fury of the smaller assassin. 

It took the edge off the arguments though, while everyone caught there breath. Luhan sheathed his sword with a clashing sound, Jongin and the others followed suit. Sehun, who looked extremely shaken up by the whole thing suddenly dropped to a crouch with his hands holding his knees. Yixing, now that he wasn't holding Jongdae back, attempted to go to him, but Xiumin got there first. 

"Luhan," Jongin said quietly, directly. 

The templar stood to attention. "Yes?"

Jongin took a breath, brain wracking furiously as he shook his head to clear his mind. Then he spoke. "It's less than a day probably until we reach Sehun's aunt's homestead and manor."

"Yes?" Luhan repeated, confused. "Why does that matter-"

"The Carta looked like they were headed due north. Take Xiumin, Yixing, and Jongdae and Alistair. Rescue Suho and meet us there. The rest of us will be fine taking Sehun alone. We'll... I'm sure we'll be able to compensate you all once we're settled there. I'll show you where on the map. In the meantime-"

"That's a fine plan," Jongdae agreed sullenly, less furiously. "We should go now though if we're not to lose them."

"You think we'll be able to follow their trail?" Luhan asked. Without a scout on hand like Baekhyun, traveling directly through the forest coasting the mountain range, it would definitely be harder.

"I know these parts," said Yixing. "I can do it." 

"Then, we have a plan," said Jongin. "Sehun, Baekhyun, Kris, Chanyeol and I will go straight to the manor. We'll... hope to see you in a few days."

"Bring the horse back too," said Chanyeol, awkwardly. 

"What's with your fascination with the horse?" Jongdae hissed.

The warrior dropped his head, teeth gripping his lower lip as he deliberated how to say something. Something which, after a few moments of repeated appeals to just get it out, was actually this: "The ring... In the pouch. I... moved it yesterday from the mule to the horse, under the saddle and... well now..." He flushed, waiting for their reactions.

"Damnation, Chanyeol, really?!" cried Baekhyun.

"I'll leave Alistair with you then, but we need to leave right away," was Xiumin's only reply.

4,000 words

*If you're sitting here trying to imagine Cnblue as dwarves, please blame London_Calling. It was her brilliant idea, and since she was already so obliging to write the drabble of Dragon Slayer Extraordinaire Baekhyun, I could not refuse her in this. ;)

Anyways, plot twists abound. Now we're breaking up the party in 2 again because who is going to abandon Suho to the cruel imprisonment of a criminal gang of dwarves!! Not Jongdae, that's for sure. Plus, I think Xiumin really wants that ring back... for some reason... hint hint nudge nudge. 

For those of you waiting for Sesoo, Kyungsoo rejoins the plot in a big way next chapter. Please look forward to it.

♡ Rosie

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In the meantime, I posted two new oneshots this week from various exchanges/fests: One Day at a Time (Xiuhan) and Will You Learn My Name (Xiusoo).