Author's Note - This was written for the Dragon Age kink meme and based on the old English folk song "House Carpenter".

Knight Commander

Dorus the Walrus

There was a sharp knock on the door. With a sigh, the Knight Captain set his parchment aside and stood up. The candle burned low, and the moon was high. He wondered at who might be visiting at such a late hour as he opened the door.

"Well met, well met," said his own true love. The flickering candlelight cast shadows across her pale skin and delicate features. She stood before him in the uniform of a Grey Warden, her eyes searching out for his from beneath her hood.

Cullen felt the air leave his lungs. "Well met, well met," cried he.

Her lips curved into that sweet, coy smile he remembered from so long ago. "May I come in and rest? I've just returned from Vigil's Keep."

"No," he said, the word leaving his mouth before he realized. This was wrong. Why was it wrong? Her eyes were such a dark grey, like a storm on the sea. He couldn't remember.

She pouted up at him. "I could have married King Alistair, and he would have married me. But I have forsaken his crown of gold... and it is all for the love of you."

He wrenched his eyes away from her bewitching gaze. "I am a Templar! I have pledged my life to the order! The Knight Commander... she is a good woman." he looked through his window, where he could see the light from her office. "Please, Commander, save me from these demons."

He felt her palm rest against his cheek, cold and dry. "Will you forsake your commander and go along with me? I'll take you to where the grass grows green on the banks of the salt sea. I will give you my six ships, all out on the sea, and seven more on dry land. And I will give you one hundred and ten brave Warden men, they will be at your command. But above all else, I will give you me."

He left Ser Keran a note and all it said was, "Protect our Commander and keep her safe." And then he put on his rich attire, so glorious to behold, and as he trod along his way he shone like glittering gold. He clutched that cold little hand, allowed her to pull him along, and glancing up he saw nothing but smoke and shadow. He thought he heard laughter - it sounded like Uldred - as he fled from the Gallows, his one true love by his side.

He stared out from the bow of the ship, but the fog that had settled over the sea was so thick he could not see more than a few feet. It was such a soft, dark gray... like her eyes. Where were they going? And how long had they been traveling? He couldn't remember.

"What are you thinking of?" She asked, stepping beside him to whisper in his ear. She caressed his face, her hand cold and blue. "Do you think of your commander? Or do you think of your one true love, whom you shall see no more?"

He remembered then. He remembered Surana, the elf mage who had so impressed Duncan. He remembered his love staring up at him in a puddle of her own blood, her eyes grey and clouded from death. Sometimes, he dreamed what would have happened if Duncan had chosen Solona instead of that elf.

As his mind cleared, he could see shapes rising out of the fog. Mountains, glorious and shining, like a beacon of hope.

"What hills are those?" he asked. "That rise so fair and high?"

"Those are the hills of heaven, my love," the demon purred. "But they are not for you and I."

"And what valleys are those? Those valleys so dark and low?"

"Those are the valleys of hell, my love, where you and I must go."

One time spun our gallant ship. Two times around spun she. Three times around spun our gallant ship and sank to the bottom of the sea.