L O S T C O N V I C T I O N S
A C T O N E
The Qunari huntress shielded her eyes as she squinted west. The sun, veiled by a thin sheet of clouds, still shined brightly amid its’ slow descent over the distant Sundermount. The craggy hills and cliffs of the Wounded Coast casted shadows down upon the white sands of the beach, and the scattered cries of seabirds nesting for the coming night could be heard all around. There was perhaps two hours of daylight left and the huntress decided it best to set camp for the night. She could perhaps make her way back to Kirkwall, but it had been a long hard day and even as fit as she was the woman knew she would not make it back to the city before night fell. The coasts and the surrounding wilds were dangerous after sunset and while not a coward the Qunari woman had no interest in trying her abilities against a band of highwaymen or slavers skulking about the roads after dark.
She hopped down from the perch she had made atop a small outcropping of rock, her heavy form thudding against the soft ground. She extended both legs in short stretches and with a twist of her head gave her neck a satisfying crack before surveying the surrounding area. There were no groves or thickets to hide her camp in and even then the traces of moisture and salt on the surrounding rock faces made it clear this spot was too close to the waterline. With a short exhale through her nose the Qunari woman departed the area. As she ascended a nearby dune she remembered a small cave that she had explored that afternoon, little more than a nook really but uninhabited and it even had a small freshwater spring within as she recalled. It was not far - just through a nearby overgrown field it could be found at the foot of a small cliff. She could camp there for the night and then return to Kirkwall the following morning. As she plodded on and mentally backtracked the Qunari woman found her mind swirling.
Today had proven a fruitless day much to the aggravation of the huntress. Since first leaving from Kirkwall that morning she had taken to the wilderness to track her quarry with no relent, stopping only once to eat. At days end she had nothing to show for her effort as her prey had evaded her tailing. A whole wasted day alone was enough to annoy her but the elusiveness of her prey was what truly needled deep, especially given the nature of what she was hunting - or who rather. One never expected mages of all things to be so cunning in the wilderness, not when mages were little more than academics and shut-ins - just ones that threw fire and could summon storms. She imagined their desperation to escape from the likes of Kirkwall had made them more efficient in their efforts but even then no amount of willpower could turn a bookworm into a woodsman. Of course not all “credit” could be bestowed upon the mages. The areas outside of Kirkwall were rife with dwellers and vagabonds and one could easily cross trails or lose their pursuit at an intersecting road or bridge. While the huntress had encountered no one else throughout the day she had more than once “lost scent” of the group of mages she was hunting, and even now she found herself wandering how much time she had spent following signs that were not even left by the mages she hunted. She did not look forward to returning to Kirkwall with failure on her lips but it was folly to go chasing escaped mages across the breadth of the surrounding territories. Odds were they would be accosted by road patrols or slaughtered by a band of Templar Knights searching for their like.
For now all she needed to do was reach the cave and throw camp for the night. She would worry about what to do - and say - tomorrow when the sun came and she arrived back in Kirkwall.
She hopped down from the perch she had made atop a small outcropping of rock, her heavy form thudding against the soft ground. She extended both legs in short stretches and with a twist of her head gave her neck a satisfying crack before surveying the surrounding area. There were no groves or thickets to hide her camp in and even then the traces of moisture and salt on the surrounding rock faces made it clear this spot was too close to the waterline. With a short exhale through her nose the Qunari woman departed the area. As she ascended a nearby dune she remembered a small cave that she had explored that afternoon, little more than a nook really but uninhabited and it even had a small freshwater spring within as she recalled. It was not far - just through a nearby overgrown field it could be found at the foot of a small cliff. She could camp there for the night and then return to Kirkwall the following morning. As she plodded on and mentally backtracked the Qunari woman found her mind swirling.
Today had proven a fruitless day much to the aggravation of the huntress. Since first leaving from Kirkwall that morning she had taken to the wilderness to track her quarry with no relent, stopping only once to eat. At days end she had nothing to show for her effort as her prey had evaded her tailing. A whole wasted day alone was enough to annoy her but the elusiveness of her prey was what truly needled deep, especially given the nature of what she was hunting - or who rather. One never expected mages of all things to be so cunning in the wilderness, not when mages were little more than academics and shut-ins - just ones that threw fire and could summon storms. She imagined their desperation to escape from the likes of Kirkwall had made them more efficient in their efforts but even then no amount of willpower could turn a bookworm into a woodsman. Of course not all “credit” could be bestowed upon the mages. The areas outside of Kirkwall were rife with dwellers and vagabonds and one could easily cross trails or lose their pursuit at an intersecting road or bridge. While the huntress had encountered no one else throughout the day she had more than once “lost scent” of the group of mages she was hunting, and even now she found herself wandering how much time she had spent following signs that were not even left by the mages she hunted. She did not look forward to returning to Kirkwall with failure on her lips but it was folly to go chasing escaped mages across the breadth of the surrounding territories. Odds were they would be accosted by road patrols or slaughtered by a band of Templar Knights searching for their like.
For now all she needed to do was reach the cave and throw camp for the night. She would worry about what to do - and say - tomorrow when the sun came and she arrived back in Kirkwall.
