Unexpected Cavalry || Nathaniel & Keita
There was a mage.
How did the Creator-damned darkspawn have a mage? They were infected! Animalistic! Idiotic! Sick! And yet they did bloody magic! Keita dodged another curse and spat a few choice insults towards the direction it had come from. Most of her little missions were magic free and simple violence. A few stabs, occasionally some hand to hand, maybe throw in an explosive or two... simple. But not with mages. No, mages had to damned difficult to get anywhere near within range to kill properly, especially when surrounded by more active fighters.It was times like that where Keita understood why Duncan was so incessant in his asking that she joined a proper patrol or brought backup.
Technically speaking, she had brought at least one with her for reinforcements- Elgar'mi was on standby, waiting for her signal. But they both understood the Taint of the meat, the infection that Elgar'mi would likely ingest if he attempted to help. So he was extreme backup- and if you asked Keita herself, she considered him to be her messenger. If she died, he was supposed to find Duncan and Elissa. They were the most likely to understand what his presence signified. Their preferred option, however, was for Elgar'mi to simply try and drag her away from the combat. Dangerous for him, yes, but it was the primary plan and hope. Neither wolf nor elvhen mentioned how likely that particular possibility would be.
But, for the moment, Keita remained able to move without restriction and deemed herself not in danger of dying yet. Though she hadn't quite examined herself to the extent of knowing just how much blood was hers. That could wait, considering that if she stopped moving, she'd probably get hit with one of the curses flying around.
Forced back a step by the genlock she was currently facing, Keita's foot slid out from under her with the patch of ice, causing a whole new flurry of Dalish swear words. "Ice, yes, very original! Ar tu na'din, you ass!" Landing on her ass during a fight wasn't the most graceful of things Keita had done lately, but at least it allowed her to hamstring the current bastard while she was down there.
Which, of course, because her luck was just blessed by the Dread Wolf that day, caused the thing to land on her legs. Making the impending attack of the hurlock nearby much, much more threatening than it had looked only a moment ago.
Well. It seemed that Elgar'mi would have to go into Kirkwall after all. "Andruil help me." She needed a plan. A good plan. A better plan than waiting until the hurlock came close enough to stab a dagger into his foot.
Keita sighed and tried to look helpless, annoyed at having to wait.