“So, uhm, what do you guys actually do?” the steward, Heechul asked.

Jongdae rolled his eyes. He had been cursing himself for a fool for the last two hours, and if he had a mind, he could technically go back to the last few days. Since the first moment when he became distracted from his task. Although perhaps it went back even further than that.

“We wander. Just like you now,” he answered ahead of Luhan, who had opened his mouth to reply. Neither of the two mages, nor Suho, had bothered to even look up.

“Wander? But, I’m only doing this now because my house—so to speak—has been destroyed and I should really find my mistress to inform her of such."

That left them in silence for a moment, while everybody pondered.

“So, who is your mistress?” Luhan asked finally.

Daybreak was two hours ago, and Jongdae, as well as Luhan, Minseok, Yixing, Suho, and now Heechul, were traveling north. North to where the other end of the tunnel from underneath the manor was supposed to lead out. A cursory check had shown that this end of the secret passageway in the basement was thoroughly blocked. Also, that no trace was to be found of the other half of their party, except for one or two lost arrows, some blood, and Alistair’s firm inclination that they’d definitely been here. No one argued anymore with the hound. He seemed to know its business, of that Jongdae agreed, whether or not it drooled an awful lot. Whether or not he had a grudge on the animal for chewing on one of his dirty socks this morning. 

“You guys really aren’t from around here?” Heechul took his time answering. He was cautious. Jongdae could appreciate that. It just didn’t help them much right now. Not when they had a half-assed answer to why they’d even been here, and the steward, now that his life wasn’t on the line, wasn’t so inclined anymore to share his every secret. He'd just resolutely packed a few things from the one corner of the barn that hadn’t burned down and endeavored to come along for the ride. 

The ‘ride’ consisted of everyone on foot, since their horse was lost somewhere in the commotion. After everything they’d gone through to getting it back, it seemed almost a waste, except that they had the dwarf, and that brought Jongdae back to his point.

He was cursing himself for a fool, getting distracted by a valiant rescue mission. Suho was alive and well, but the others had gotten away. Jongin, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Sehun. That other qunari mercenary and some moody creature nobody would properly explain whose name apparently was Kyungsoo. It was worrisome. It pulled at his guts in the worst possible way. He was furious with himself for growing so complacent, thinking nothing about a side-quest that would diverge from his main mission. A quick jaunt, and then they’d be back with the rest where he could continue on with his duty.

It was no wonder he hadn’t quite made the cut for the Antivan assassins. He’d been so close, so ambitious, so eager to join the ranks. But then his mentors disagreed, casting him out for having one flaw of nature. It wasn’t even a good one, in Jongdae’s opinion. Not like the others who had betrayed themselves by having too much compassion, or who had not developed the necessary skills and talents. He’d made his mark, hit his marks on the final mission, and he knew he was damned good at what he did. 

Curiosity. That was his flaw. Too curious in things, the world, in humans, in other races… too interested in other beings, that his curiosity might be piqued and thus make him distracted. 

And now he’d gone and proven his mentors true.

“We should cut the talk, and quicken our pace,” he barked out at last, after mulling over his thoughts.

Heechul looked taken aback. Suho frowned and Minseok glanced up. Even Luhan blinked at him, confused.

“Are we in that much of a hurry, really?” Yixing asked, eyes twinkling mischievously. He used his staff like a walking stick, now that the terrain had grown rockier, the trees closer together. It gave him an aura of confidence, as if being in nature came so easily to him, which it obviously did. It also lent him a stuck-up attitude that Jongdae was not used to dealing with in persons other than himself. 

“If we want to catch up, we should be hurrying,” Jongdae answered.

“I’m sorry, but I took you for a curious bystander in the affairs of the party,” Yixing continued to taunt him. “Now all of a sudden, you want to catch up?”

Luhan coughed. “Our friends may be in danger. We ought to reach and rejoin them as soon as possible.”

Yixing smirked, huffing, even as he walked. “Your friends. Minseok, dear, tell us again how long you’ve all been such bosom buddies?” He smiled awfully, though it didn't produce the reaction he was potentially hoping for.

Minseok gritted his jaw, cheeks puffed up in a toothless smile, bored. “A matter of weeks, Yixing. Not that that changes anything. Luhan and Jongdae are right though, for whatever reason they want to be right. We should find the others and see what happens from there. Don’t like it, leave. No one asked you to come along.”

Jongdae paused long enough to see the smaller mage glance scathingly at the ‘healer’ and almost pondered what may be wrong. If he’d understood it correctly, the two had a history which he’d assumed was friendly. Somewhere between the dragon attacking and now, it felt like they were falling apart. And that was already considering the dynamic Luhan added to the mix, now that they’d discovered Minseok had been lying about some things. Namely, his very identity. 

It was all very interesting. Very curious. And exactly what Jongdae didn’t need cluttering up his life. 

“Half of you might have died horrifically without my help,” Yixing supplied, bitingly. 

It didn't phase Minseok, who very stiffly thanked the mage for his help, and then staunchly ignored him.

“I can’t help feeling like I’m missing something here,” Luhan spoke quietly. Minseok hushed him, and Jongdae privately thanked him for not trying to further this conversation. It was already more than he could afford to think about.

At least there was Suho to keep him on track. The dwarf scurried along extra fast until he was side by side with Jongdae, his large, two-handed mace slung across his back and so long that it almost touched the stones beneath their feet.

“Don’t worry. We’ll catch up,” he said reassuringly, and smiled.

Jongdae smiled back in return. He always seemed to be doing that when it was Suho with whom he could share it. 

Baekhyun hated being underground. Any place where there was no daylight was definitely not okay with him. And this tunnel, wherever it lead, was giving him a headache. 

“We’ve been marching all night!” he complained loudly. Then he winced, as did everyone else, for his voice echoed in the narrow space. Sehun positively stopped and had to clutch his ears. 

“Like the dragon shrieks weren’t enough, now you have to go and shout?” said Kyungsoo wryly from up front.

“Hush, everybody,” said Jongin.

Baekhyun gave it ten more seconds before whispering this time. “We’ve been marching all night!” 

“I thought your priority was to get out of here quick.” Of course Chanyeol would have to mention that. Baekhyun sighed. Yes, he wanted to find a fresh source of air and sun again. Yes, he wanted very much to get out of here. But he couldn’t deny that somewhere in the scuffle of running for their lives, surviving a fire and fleeing a dragon, he’d hurt his leg. He doubted anybody had actually noticed it. He was pretty good at faking it, and in the darkness with only one lit torch between them, nobody saw his occasional limp. 

Where was a mage when you really needed one, he thought to himself.

“At least you can walk upright,” Kris snorted from the back of the line. 

Oh yeah, at least Baekhyun didn’t have to stoop part of the time. He laughed, getting enough enjoyment from the qunari’s pains that it temporarily alleviated his own. 

“Maybe, we should stop for a bit?” Sehun inquired weakly. 

By the time Jongin agreed—another hour later—practically everyone was rejoicing. All except for Kyungsoo who had an uncanny ability to see better in the dark than they did, and seemed pretty comfortable below grounds.

Darkspawn? Baekhyun wondered again. Now that he considered it though, it didn’t quite make sense. Nothing did. He missed Xiumin. At least the mage had always been on the same page as himself, clever and knowledgable, although when it came to Kyungsoo, Baekhyun had his doubts. 

And now they had a doubtful human being-potential tainted creature in their midst with way more of an advantage than they did, and the thing was currently wielding a crossbow. Baekhyun wanted to protest it, but after all Kyungsoo had picked it up at the manor before all hell broke loose and turned it on their attackers. He’d participated in their battle and hadn’t killed one of them yet. Given his silent, stalker-ish history too, this wasn’t the first time.

“Should we… keep an eye on him?” Baekhyun whispered to Jongin while Kris struggled to mount the torch somewhere upright so they could get some sleep. He noticed that Sehun was keeping his distance from just about everyone. The aftermath of a whole night’s worth of adrenaline. The boy’s eyes though were particularly curious about Kyungsoo. Even without speaking aloud, Baekhyun knew Sehun was… intrigued.

“What do you think?” Jongin turned the question around, a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder to keep their talk close and confidential. Baekhyun held in a shiver from the proximity, feigning a cool and collected air as he attempted to shrug. The motion nudged Jongin’s hand a fraction closer to his neck above the seem of his shirt. 

“I don’t think he’ll harm us? But that doesn't mean I trust him yet.”

“Me neither,” Jongin agreed. “Someone should always be on watch alongside him, if it comes to that. At this point, once we get aboveground, or should these tunnels prove to channel out, we don’t have enough men to not accept his help.”

Baekhyun nodded.

“Now though,” the other warrior continued, “if only we could figure out his motives?”

Kyungsoo’s motives for the night, however, turned out only to be informing both Chanyeol and Kris that they were about to sleep too close by. The two warriors flinched and nudged their pallets away, and when Sehun tried to offer Kyungsoo something of his, Baekhyun almost stepped in to intervene. It proved pointless when a second later Kyungsoo refused any dose of comfort. He opted to sit up against the curving rock wall, one knee perched up in he air, and he pulled his hood over most of his face before reclining back. He cast an eery shadow, one that made Baekhyun almost shiver again. Until he realized Jongin was drawing him down to sleep. 

Nothing else haunted them that night, or morning. They had no way of knowing really, without aid from the sun. A rest was a rest though, and Baekhyun welcomed the chance not only to relieve some of his headache but also the pain in his sorely twisted knee, all with Jongin snoring softly by his side.

Curiously, the other entrance to the tunnel wasn’t too far from the King’s Highway, according to Heechul. The steward would not elaborate too much, but Minseok guessed it had to be an old—or not so old—smuggler’s passageway. They were more than halfway to Orzammar by the time the road met up with the highway, but still nowhere near the entrance.

“Are you sure he’s not leading us a merry dance?” Luhan suggested once, covertly when Heechul seemed occupied harassing Jongdae about the names of the assassin’s daggers. 

“There’s always that chance, but what choice do we have?” Minseok sighed. 

He wished he didn’t have to think about such things. He wished his head would stop spinning, period. The last day. The last two days. All of that was more than he could take in. Realistically, Minseok knew he’d had a very close call with the falling tree and the dragon fire, but though Yixing had healed his body, he hadn’t healed his mind. It still tingled mercilessly. His confession about who he was, about his brother, and the trust he’d thus placed in Luhan’s hands. A templar whose motives Minseok really didn’t know, other than that Luhan liked him, somehow, in some way. 

Was it enough though?

Was a tentative kiss and rushed, whispered words enough? 

He refused to think about it, absolutely refused to talk about it. He still blushed furiously red whenever he caught Luhan looking at him, the templar’s eyes blinking bashfully and glancing quickly away. 

Yixing was furious at him, but then Minseok wasn’t too happy with him either. In fact, he wished the elf ‘healer’ had never joined them. Maybe it was for Minseok’s own good, as Yixing liked to pretend, but then Yixing was rarely so selfless. Everything he knew about the mage spoke volumes to him having other interests and while he doubted it was for harm, that didn’t necessitate that everything Yixing did would technically help them either. Yixing didn’t like Xiumin, Minseok’s brother. But that was more… personal, if Minseok dared say it. Either way, it all made for a very awkward dynamic. Two mages, one templar, one assassin and a poor dwarf caught in the middle. Minseok almost liked Suho best right now. He was the only one there with truly no set agenda, at least none that Minseok could see. Even Luhan had an agenda. Had an agenda. Whether he still did, who knew, but Minseok hoped he didn’t anymore. 

“It’s about a half day’s walk from here, I think?” Heechul interrupted his musings. 

Now that they were back on the King’s Highway, there were a lot more travelers going south either from Orzammar or Gherlen’s pass from Orlais. Merchants, mostly, some shadier than others. A few genuine or perhaps not-so-genuine civilians journeying for some reason or another. 

One such group was a family whose wagon had fallen into mud and gotten . Suho begged that they stop and help, and the two groups traded careful stories while they worked: Luhan explaining that they'd "heard" a dragon (a little white lie because of the children, two little boys tagging along behind their father). The family in turn shared a tale that they'd heard from some other people who had heard from other people that there were werewolves about. Yixing scoffed; Suho started shaking again. 

"No need to fret," said Jongdae when they were back on their way again. "Werewolves are just a myth, and an overdone one as well. I've traveled the world much in the last few years and I'm certain there are no humans who turn into wolves at the full moon." He threw one of his daggers (Isabella) up into the air in a showy motion, a winking glint in his eye that did nothing to calm down the dwarf.

"Well, I might agree with you there," said Yixing. 

"You... do?" Luhan asked cautiously. 

"Of course! No humans that I've ever heard about could turn into wolves. Elves, on the other hand... well, with a bit of magic, stranger things have happened."

Suho stared at Yixing like he might transform any second. Minseok caught him around the shoulders to ward him off, chuckling a bit. Luhan frowned, either at Yixing's word's or at Minseok, he didn't care to ask to confirm.

"Interesting," said Heechul, who hummed. "Anyways, please spare me the details. Almost dying in a burning barn was bad enough. I don't need to add werewolves to my list of things to nightmare over." 

Perhaps he should not have spoken too soon. Only an hour afterwards, Luhan halted. Minseok, who was walking behind him, almost stumbled right over him. 

"What? What is it?" said Jongdae, recognizing immediately Luhan's defensive stand. Yixing too had startled, and a chill ran down Minseok's spine. He pulled his staff at the same time as he other mage. Heechul ducked down, cowering next to Suho, for in the next second they all seemed to feel it. The chill in the air, the quiet of the forest. The odd lack of anything else around them. There were no birds, no insects, no small animals. Alistair started to growl, and Minseok gently nudged him into silence.

"Something... something is wrong here," he answered instead of Luhan.

Of course though the templar had felt it, the stink of magic, very powerful, lingering magic. Grey and vaporous perhaps if it could be seen, and yet it was invisible. The fragrance hung in the air, and in another few seconds they all saw why. Alistair actually sunk to his haunches and whimpered when through the trees on their left a giant beast appeared. Taller than a normal man by double the size, walked a great, ferocious wolf. It stood like a man, back legs bowed to support its torso, front paws hanging down. Two more just like it appeared at its side, all of them with the same dark brown fur. 

Luhan's shield went up without another pause. "Halt right there!" he shouted. Beside him, Minseok held his staff aloft, waiting to either strike or defend. And then three more wolves crept in from behind the first. 

He'd been right. Something was indeed wrong here. But the wolves, the werewolves, were not attacking.

"Humans! Elves!" said the darkest, largest wolf. It was a husky, human-ish voice, heavily accented and vaguely feral sounding. 

Another one sniffed the air hopefully, opening its jaw. A long tongue dripped past his fangs, dark and marred from use, drool splattering in its mouth. "And, a dwarf," he huffed.

"What do you want?" Luhan demanded. The templar shuffled bravely a half step towards the beasts, thereby covering the two most defenseless members of their group, Heechul and Suho, with his shield. 

"Which one is the mage?" said a third, pretending like Luhan never spoke.

Minseok froze, everyone staring at either him or Yixing. Luhan's defensive stance shifted once again, this time encompassing as much of Minseok as he could cover. Only Yixing did not tense up. He slowly lowered his staff and took a step away from the group, not towards the werewolves but more to separate himself.

"I am," he said, a small grin appearing on his lips, eyes slanted in curiosity. "You are looking for... me?"

All six wolves' postures adjusted to face him, and once again a chill ran down Minseok's neck. The beasts mumbled between themselves, as if sizing up Yixing. Meanwhile, the elf mage stood silently, letting them look, completely unhindered by the situation. 

"Is he the one?" one of the wolves whispered huskily to each other.

"I don't know? Junhyung, is he?"

"Is he the one we..."

"Got to be!"

"Are you sure? But, look at his ears-"

"Shhh, Dongwoon. Hush."

"What? I don't think it was an elf though."

"Does it have to be an elf? Doojoon, what do you think?"

"I don't know?"

"Won't any mage though do?"

"I don't think that's how it works..."

"But-"

"Yoseob, are you sure you heard right? That it was a mage who cured-"

"Well it was definitely a mage but-"

The longer the wolves talked, the more confused everyone became. Both of Jongdae's daggers went back into his belt, his head tittering to the side, jaw open. Heechul boldly stood up again and hovered behind Suho. Luhan's shield moved a tiny bit downwards and Minseok practically snickered when one of the smallest wolves, Kikwang, was smacked on the snout by his fellow for suggesting they just turn around and go home. By the time Yixing purposefully drew their attention back to him, even Alistair was yawning into his paws. 

"Excuse me, but are you looking for some kind of... help?" Yixing offered casually, now the six giant werewolves had turned more into six squabbling children.

"Help?" said the one they'd gleaned was called Junhyung and who seemed to be their de facto leader.

"Help," echoed another one. "Yeah, yeah. Help would be good!"

"We want to be cured!" 

"We want to be human again!"

"We heard a mage could help us, but... we don't know which mage did it."

It took another few minutes to determine that the wolves had been human once, sometime in the indeterminate past. 

"We were cursed! Long time ago!" Dongwoon cried.

"Yeah, and we thought we'd be like this always but then, but then..." Yoseob's voice trailed off, and Doojoon picked up where he stopped.

"But then, we heard of another wolf, and he... was turned back. We just don't know the whole story and..."

"Please, can you help us?"

Yixing took over all the negotiation after that, plying them for information, especially for the wolf that had been turned back to human, the only person who had met the mage who ended up helping him. The wolf/now human hadn't even been part of their pack. A lone wolf, he'd been, only coming into contact with this pack of beasts sporadically over decades.

"But then we found him, and he was... a boy once again. And he wouldn't say exactly what had happened but he..." Kikwang looked at them sadly, raising his front paws as if wishing they would turn back into hands already. When they didn't, and when Yixing didn't have an immediate answer, or in fact, a cure, he grew even sadder.

"Can you tell us where you saw him last?" Minseok said. "This, boy? Do you know his name at least?"

Junhyung nodded eagerly. "We can! If, you'll promise to help us somehow? He was heading north to Orzammar. Tao, was his name."

3,686 words

Hi, guys. I'm back! This chapter is long overdo, I'm so sorry for the wait. >_<

On a brighter side, hey... our last major character makes his appearance! Or at least, his name does! Okay, now that this chapter is done, I'm going to slink back into bed and sleep for another 12 hours. Rough life. Rough life.