A/N: A big shout out to ShadRen4ever on deviantart for being so patient when it came to my muse and helping me to edit these two chapters. Also, a big thank you to her for uploading these monsters while I didn't have a computer and putting up with my nit picking when it came to writing. Thanks a bunches my friend!
This story is AU or Alternate Universe, and it wouldn't leave my brain at the time.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age or any other game affiliated with Dragon Age or Bioware.
Reviews are awesome. :)
Highever. He hadn't planned on coming here but Lelianna had convinced him that they should go. After he had thought about it he realized that, if anything, it would be a good idea to go and resupply, even though it was out of the way that he had initially wanted to go. Plus, he hoped to get Teyrn Cousland on his side, since he had been close to the King. Ostagar had been a week ago and the deaths of his friends and comrades was still fresh in his mind. Loghain would pay, he would make sure of it even if he had to go through every soldier from here to Denerim, he would pay.
It was dark when he and his small party reached Highever, the moon giving them just enough light to see the path ahead of them. He could see the outline of the home that the Cousland family lived, though home was a modest word since the place was a castle in every sense of the word. Something was wrong though. The closer that they moved towards the estate the more uneasy he felt.
It was only when he was close did he notice the soldiers in front of the main doors, attempting to barge their way into the estate.
"Dear Maker…" He heard Lelianna gasp behind him.
He motioned to the party to stay low and quiet, the three of them skirting just out of the way of the men attempting to get into the castle. They reached an alleyway next to the estate, an alleyway that would have led into it, had it not been a dead end.
"What is going on here? Why are the Couslands being attacked?" Lelianna gasped, her eyes darting to and fro.
"Tis obvious of what it is," Morrigan answered sourly, "Tis obviously a revolt against them."
Lelianna frowned, "I have heard nothing but good things about Teyrn Cousland!"
"How do you know they were not lies or fools notions? Men always-"
"Enough!" He hissed, it had been a long day and he was tired of hearing them bicker.
The two women grew silent and he could feel Morrigan's glare burning a hole into his back. She hated being interrupted; in fact she hated him in general now that he thought of it. He simply ignored her; she was just going to have to deal with it for now.
"Those men are not from Highever, their shields, from what I could tell, bore the heraldry of Arl Howe of Amaranthine." He said, looking at the wall connecting the alley to the castle.
"But why would the Arl attack the Teyrn's estate?" Lelianna questioned, watching as he placed his hand against the brick wall, sliding his fingers against it.
"I don't know, it doesn't make much sense, but we need to-" He was cut off suddenly by a section of the bricks being pushed out from the wall.
Alistair moved to face the tunnel that was being opened up in front of him and put his hand on the pommel of his sword, prepared to unsheathe his sword and strike down whoever came through should they prove hostile. In mid action he stopped, coming face to face with a woman.
Her face was bloody, and he could see that she was dripping in sweat. The armor that she wore had been put on hastily, a strap put on wrong here and a buckle undone there, and from the disheveled, messy black hair it was obvious that she no doubt had been caught by surprise.
He looked into her eyes, golden amber orbs that held anger and fear. She raised the blade in her hand immediately; the longsword's tip nearly meeting his neck.
"Stay back! Try anything and I swear I'll slit every one of your throats!"
Alistair's hand left the pommel of his sword, leaving it sheathed on his back. He recognized her, having met her on more than one occasion.
"I promise you Arrazi, we will not hurt you…"
"Like hell you won't!" She hissed, slowly going around him, obviously attempting to escape.
"What are you? Mercenaries? Has Howe stooped so low?" She was trying to distract him he knew, trying to make it so that she could run without having to waste too much precious time by fighting him.
"Arrazi! By the Maker don't you recognize me?"
She stared at him and he could see the faintest trace of her sword shaking in her hand. He sighed in relief when he saw recognition light up her face, her sword lowering.
"Alistair?"
He heard shouts coming from the exit of the ally and watched her as her body stiffened, almost instantly reaching for the dagger on her back. Several men, Howe's men, Alistair observed, were now at the end of the alley and he could hear others coming down the passage that she had just come through.
He pulled out his sword and shield and saw Morrigan smirk and Lelianna take out her bow. He saw the panicked look on the woman's face and knew what she must be thinking; that it was over, that she was going to die. He wasn't about to let that happen and he stepped just behind her, catching her eyes to see the fierce determination that matched the fiery color. She wasn't about to go down without a fight.
Howe's men attacked as soon as they saw her and she lunged, yelling in rage as her blade connected with the neck of an unexpected soldier, successfully slitting his throat. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Morrigan casting a spell, freezing one man in ice before he could move and Lelianna was taking care of the archers, her own arrows whizzing past and landing in their chests with a heavy thunk.
Alistair gripped his sword and shield and moved so that he was back to back with the noble woman, bashing his shield in the face of one of the men, hearing a sickening crunch and seeing a long spray of blood flying into his face. He swung his longsword, connecting with the shorter blade of another soldier that lunged at him and after parrying with him for a few blows he darted off to the side and slashed at his stomach before thrusting his longsword into his belly.
Alistair turned to find the woman they encountered successfully decapitate one of Howe's men, adding to the body count that was around them. He glanced around to see if there were any remaining soldiers left alive, which there seemed to be none of. He reached over to her and touched her arm, gaining a flinch and a glare.
"Come on. I'll explain everything when we get to camp, but right now we need to get you out of here."
He watched her glance around at the bodies that he and his party had felled and nodded, although rather reluctantly, and followed them out of the alley.
Her head was pounding and her heart was racing. She had been out of Highever for nearly three hours, though it seemed like the events had only happened a few minutes ago. The silence from the people that had shown up and helped her was a blessing, and it wasn't until they arrived at their camp did Alistair told her that he was a Grey Warden.
Alistair…thank the Maker for his good timing.
She had been numb, and simply nodded in response though she truly wished to be able to convey her gratitude. In the battle, if that was what you would call the massacre of her family and household, she had known what to do. It was a kill or be killed situation and the rogue in her had fought tooth and nail to survive.
She had been numb through the whole thing, and everything seemed almost completely surreal, like a dream. Or a nightmare. Arrazi glanced up towards the fire that one of the Grey Warden's companions had started, watching the flames dance.
The numbness was fading and was being replaced by such a searing and sharp pain that it almost made her want to jump into that merciful fire before her. But that would defeat whatever purpose she had in living then wouldn't it? Then what would her mother think?
Her mother…
She lowered her head to stare intently at the ground, not wanting her new companions to see the tears that threatened to spill past her eyes. She and her mother had held off Howe's men from getting to her father for as long as they could and her mother, taking matters into her own hands, had practically shoved her through the servants passage, barricading it on her end to buy her daughter time to get away.
She could still hear her mother's screams as she was slain, could hear the sound of it going through the air, heard the body hit the ground, knowing that she was dead. It was when she heard the soldiers moving the things in front of the passage that had made something inside her snap, becoming unfrozen from the spot and making her run to the other end of the passage, scrambling to get out.
She glanced up again to see that Alistair had gotten up and was heading towards her. She watched him as he sat down next to her, reaching over to poke the fire with a stick.
"Thank you," she said, suppressing a flinch when she heard how low and hoarse her voice sounded, "For helping me back there I mean…"
He looked over at her and gave her a small smile, the firelight dancing in his eyes. "You don't need to thank me. I just wish that we could have gotten there sooner. If we had then maybe…" He trailed off, looking away so that he wouldn't have to meet her gaze.
Arrazi simply nodded and looked away as well, staring into the fire. They sat there in silence for a moment that felt like an eternity, and she nearly flinched when she heard his voice again.
"If you want to talk about it, I'm here." He said quietly, getting up from the place on the ground next to her.
"We'll be leaving in the morning for Redcliff. You're welcome to join us if you want."
The tone of his voice surprised her, and yet it didn't. He was being nice because of what happened and because he knew her, she knew that, but the way he said it…
She could tell that he was genuine in his sympathies and his offer, and the way he said it spoke of someone who knew what she was going through.
"I…thank you. I might take you up on that offer." She said, managing a small smile.
He gave her a warm smile in return and left her side, leaving her to her thoughts. She stared at the fire again. She could just leave in the morning, she didn't have to go anywhere with the Warden and his little group, he had made that detail abundantly clear. He would be fighting the Blight, fighting the darkspawn; he wouldn't have time to baby sit a noble woman no matter how well he knew her.
She squinted her eyes and sighed. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to go though and no doubt that Howe had a backup plan in case anyone had managed to escape. She groaned and lay down on the ground, facing the sky. Perhaps she would stay. At least then she could keep somewhat of a low profile.
Staring up at the stars she closed her eyes, deciding that she would make her final decision in the morning.
When the morning came, Alistair woke to find the woman they saved the night before was gone. He wasn't surprised really that she had left, though he wished she stayed since he knew they were going to need all the help they could get. He also knew from personal experience that she would have been a very valuable ally. He sighed and got up, preparing to help Lelianna, Morrigan, and Sten pack up the camp.
Halfway through packing up the camp he heard a rustling in the brush. He stopped what he was doing and reached up to the sword on his back. He didn't sense any darkspawn in the area, and he was almost certain that whatever it was wasn't any human.
He glanced at the three companions behind him. Sten looked tense, well, more tense than normal anyway and Lelianna looked like she was ready to spring at the next thing that moved. Morrigan though looked unnervingly amused, and not at all as nervous as anyone else.
As he turned towards where the sound was coming from he was attacked by a giant tan…something.
"Odin!" He heard a voice yell out from the brush.
The giant dog was above him, having successfully tackled him to the ground and was promptly licking his face, as though intent on making sure that no part of his face was dry.
"Odin you big oaf! Get off me!" He grunted.
Lovely, he thought, trying to push the dog off of him, Mabari slobber is just what I needed to start the day out right…
"Odin!" There was that voice again, but much more stern than before, more commanding. The same commanding voice he had heard multiple times, causing him to grin to himself. The Mabari leapt off of him and bounded towards his mistress, barking happily.
Alistair sat up and wiped some of the dog drool off his face, looking up to see the woman the dog so readily obeyed. She smiled over at him, and he was suddenly struck by how different she looked, not tired and covered in blood like she had been the night before.
"Sorry about that," She said, patting the Mabari hound's huge head, "He has a tendency to get excited when he sees people he remembers."
Now that he was seeing her in full light he could see her sharp features and unwavering amber eyes. The blood and grime washed from her face, he could see the faint gray tattoo of a bird in flight covering her face like a mask. He smirked to himself and fondly remembered the day she got it, proudly showing the men at the castle the tattoo. Rebellious woman.
"You came back?" He asked or rather, blurted, out and mentally smacked himself. Smooth move there Alistair, very smooth.
She kept the smile on her face, but he could see her warm eyes grow just a little bit colder, harder.
"Yes. I…I don't exactly have anywhere else to go, and it would probably be best that I kept a low profile but…I want to help in any way that I can."
Alistair nodded and locked eyes with her, a silent understanding of her need to vent her grief productively passing between the two of them. He gave her a cheeky grin, extending his hands towards her.
"Welcome aboard then! Just make sure your dog doesn't think I'm a chew toy and we should be able to get along."
Odin barked and crouched to the ground, wagging his stump of a tail as his mistress locked eyes with him giving Alistair a silent thank you.