Chapter one- Ode to the aggressor
Author's Note: Hey so this is one of my first stories and Anyway, I hope you readers enjoy!
Dragon Age: Origins and all its content and characters belong to Bioware, I own only my character (Marian felspa).
"The wind that stirs
their shallow graves
carries their song
across the sands
heed our words
hear our cry
the grey are sworn
in peace, we lie
heed our words
hear our cry
our names recalled
we cannot die
when darkness comes
and swallows light
heed our words
and we shall rise."
- From the Ballad of Ayesleigh
The snow had been non-stop for the past few days, people bundled in different articles of wool and cloth only their eyes visible as they shuffled past in clusters some of them were mothers with their children, some soldiers, some workers. Marian looked out at them as they stopped to shop, talk, and barter with merchants.
She looked away from the people and down to her fingerless gloves she noticed they were red from the cold and tried to warm them up with her warm breath feeling them come back to life then quickly return back to their previous state. Marian sighed and stuck her hand into her small patchy leather bag and pulled out the last of her money. She counted each piece, she had 12 coppers "Shit." She whispered to herself well at least I can get a decent piece of bread, she thought.
Marian stood up throwing her bag over her shoulder and made sure her daggers were secure and started to walk across the marketplace over to one of the food vendors.
The man looked at Marian and grunted "what do you want?" his lumbering body putting different food items out, she looked at him and replied
"A loaf of bread." Her voice trailed out at the end as the wind brushed across her face leaving her breathless. Marian placed the last of her money on the table as the man slid the loaf towards her. Stuffing the loaf into her bag and told the man thanks and hurried off she didn't want to be caught in the dark.
She turned down the dirty back alley that she usually walked through to get to her apartment it usually wasn't bad but, night had fallen so she pulled one of her daggers out from its sheath and held it tightly. Half way down the alley Marian heard a noise from behind her, spinning around looking towards the sound a hand clamped down onto her mouth. Then she heard the men's voices booming over her muffled screams. One of them went to grab her hand that was holding her dagger, she was quick to notice and swung her hand towards the man avoiding his hand and piercing into his stomach. He let out gurgle and feel to the stones the other men let go of her getting in defensive stances holding maces and swords.
Once she was able to regain her balance she tore her other dagger out of the sheath on her back breaking it. Marian held her blades tightly sizing the men up, there were about 5 of them, one of them was already wounded and bleeding heavily. One of the men had a sword, she decided to take him on first since he was the only one with a sword, She faked him out lunging toward and past him. He lunged forward as she stuck her dagger into his back piercing his spinal cord killing him instantly. Marian knew specific points she had to make to get a clean kill, and she would make sure she hit them. After taking the first guy out, Marian made her way over to the second man who was holding an old rusty ax and the third one was holding a mace. She turned herself around quickly sliding one of her daggers across the throat of the man with the ax's neck, then pierced the man with the mace directly through his heart.
Only two of the 5 men remained, one was standing holding a bow aimed at her and the other was already dead, as she was looking at the deceased man instantly she felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder. Screaming out she realized that the prick with the bow shot one at her "fuck" she muttered to herself, Marian grabbed tight to her dagger's hilt and hastily made her way to the last man thrusting it upward thought his skull killing him instantly. Marian pulled out the knife and wiped both of her daggers off on her black worn out pants that were covered with light pieces of mismatch armor.
She grabbed the shaft of the arrow that stuck out of her shoulder, holding her breath she began to deliberately pull the arrow out. Marian's wails echoed out in the dark, dirty back alley, tears streamed down her reddened cheeks when she finally pulled the sharp metal tip out of her flesh, her body collapsed from exhaustion but quickly sitting back up she placed her hand over her wound as blood slowly pulsed out of it. Marian stood up shakily grabbing her leather bag and moved to each man checking their pockets for money or anything. As she searched the last guy, she heard a rustling over near a pile of rubbish and saw a tall, tan, and dark haired man with armor that was a cream color and had robes that hung underneath some high-quality ivory plate armor. Marian felt her heart hitch as she realized he was there during the whole fight, Marian stood rapidly from the man she was looting but, felt a surge of pain from her shoulder as she did so and grasped it tightly as more blood seeped out of it. She looked over into the man's features noticing a groomed beard and a ponytail, he was odd.
The man looked at her approvingly, Marian looked at the man confused and turned quickly. "I need to get out of here I can't get caught, I can't, "Marian said to herself and began to run down the alley as quick as she could not stopping when the man's yelling from behind her could be heard.
Marian turned right onto her dirty, dank street and hurried into the front porch of the apartment building stopping to see if the man had followed her. She scanned her eyes over the dead end street at first seeing only the usual homeless sleeping out under ravaged make-shift leather tents. Once she looked over towards the entrance of the street, his white ivory armor stuck out like a sore thumb against all the grime.
She stared at him her icy gray, and turquoise eyes looked at his dark chocolate orbs that had an essence of honor, her delicate features kept a straight face not showing anything about herself to him. She stood in a straight posture but, the pain in her shoulder caused her body to shake she moved a hand to her shoulder trying to stop the blood, but she needed to patch it soon. On that, Marian gave the man last glance and quickly went into the apartment building sprinting as quick as she could to her room. Marian pulled the key from her bag holding it in front of the lock missing the hole a few times then finally unlocking it and flinging herself inside, sliding slowly down the back of the door.
Marian tried to keep herself awake, but her head kept nodding as she fought the impending slumber, before she was out cold she spotted a piece of cloth that was laying on the floor it was a little far but she needed to get it on her shoulder. She crawled over to the cloth and quickly put it on her wound and gasped a little at the pain but soon passed out from exhaustion and blood loss.
—
Marian's eyes opened groggily to the site of her cracked and pale ceiling she sighed and felt a cold ache reverberate through her body, a shudder ran through her as she sat up. Only a sharp pain pushed her back onto the floor, she almost forgot about her shoulder looking down at the bloody rag that covered the wound. She sighed "it's probably infected." she said aloud pulling the cloth off of her injury. She looked over at her iron chest that sat over in the corner of her one room apartment and pushed herself up to her good side and stood with a constant ache, then she walked over to the chest unlocking it and pulled out some of her weak healing poultices. She knew it wouldn't heal the wound completely, but it would at least stop it from getting more worse. Then she pulled out a roll of cloth, a roll of string, and a curved needle Marian sighed as she looked at the items and pulled out from the bottom of the chest a small cheap bottle of Ferelden whiskey, it was gross, but she needed something to dull her senses.
She uncapped the bottle and drank a fourth before setting it down. Marian took off her shoulder & chest armor pieces and pulled off the stained and holey undershirt. The wound looked foul, she grabbed the bottle of brandy and poured a small bit on her injury, she bit her lip her wound screamed in pain. As it simmered down, she grunted and let out a breath then set the bottle down, grabbing the health poultice and gulped it down gagging at the taste but it helped dull the throbbing pain. Marian then reached her hand out for the needle and thread, anguish spread through her body as she fully took in what she had to do. She threaded the needle then rolled out a good length of thread and bit the end off with her teeth then tied a secure knot at the end of the string.
Marian took a deep breath then put a small piece of wood in her mouth to keep from being too loud and from biting her own tongue off. The beating of her heart resonated through her body she slowed her breathing. Marian held the needle up and started at the top of the wound she punctured her flesh, a small dribble of blood rolled down her arm. Marian quickly pulled the string thought and then did the other side pulling it tight. Her screams died down as she got to the end of her wound and did one final stitch and then pulled it all together. She spit out the wood piece, took a few deep breaths and then tied a final knot in the string she poured more brandy on it before she grabbed the roll of linen wrap and carefully wrapped her shoulder. Marian's body shook with a deep chill as she put new shirt and armor back on along with her scarf. She put the medical supplies away along with the brandy but left out the needle and string as to stitch her shirt back up and looked over at her soot covered fireplace and decided she needed a fire.
Walking over to the few pieces of wood that sat in the other corner of her apartment opposite to that of her chest, grabbed 3 or 4 pieces of wood and threw them in. Marian searched through her chest again looking for her flint "found it ." she yelled as she moved over to her fireplace and grabbed a piece of scrap cloth crumbled it up, stuck her flint into the bundle and struck her knife against it. The fabric caught flame instantly burning her hand a little. Marian hissed and threw the small ball of fire into the fireplace it trickled over the pieces of wood and finally caught fire to one of the wood chunks. Marian smiled, The action almost felt foreign to her lips, she began to feel the radiating heat wash over her cold aching body, she let out a long sigh as Marian stared into the fire she moved her hands to one of her long black braids and began to unravel it. Feeling the obsidian black hair start to slack as it had been tightly braided. Marian had finished unbraiding her hair, She began to play with small pieces of hair slowly in between her slim fingers running each piece through each finger then to the next she watched the reflection of the hair change as she moved it. Marian rested her head on her knees as her eyes followed the hair. Her breath began to slow down as each eyelid became sluggish, Marian tried to re-open them but failed, her body relaxed, she fell asleep.
—
The floors of the Orphanage always scared Marian, she looked at them from off her rotten wooden bed that was lined up with about 19 more of the same types. The floorboards squeaked when she put her foot on them so Marian had figured was to get around the squeaks she made a game out of it.
Marian smiled as she put herself in place for the game, and had a pattern set out in mind that would be a sure plan. She usually played by herself but no one ever really wanted to play because if you mess up, Mother Falson would give them a thrashing, but Marian liked the danger and thrill that went along with the game. Marian placed a foot then another trying to move with grace, as she came back around to the last spot on the pattern Marian was grinning ear to ear but as she placed her next foot she heard a loud squawk escape from the floor boards. Marian's breath quickened as her hands began to shake she heard Mother Falson stomping up the stairs. Marian's eyes began to water, a few hot tears fell down her bright red cheeks. Mother Falson barged into the stagnate room eyes on fire her boney, and skinny body clenched with rage as she briskly walked over to Marian who's head was down glued to the floor. Marian could feel her whole body shaking with fear as Mother Falson spoke "I have told you many times Marian I do not like when you play that game." her voice dripped with hate. Marian shakily nodded and looked up slowly at Mother Falson who brought her hand back and across her face with an unyielding force, Marian crashed to the floor.
—
Marian woke up with a gasp and choke as she looked around and noticed it was just a nightmare, she moved one of her hands to her cheek and felt the wetness and realized she had been crying too. Marian dried her face with her sleeve and sat in a criss-cross position and felt her stomach grumble. Marian realized she hadn't eaten in a day or two. Marian reached over to her bag and felt an ache in her shoulder and remember she had stitched it up the night before. Marian got the bag opened it and pulled out the small loaf of bread, it was a little stale, but it didn't matter. Marian tore off a piece of the bread and put it in her mouth as she began to chew it Marian smiled as she felt her stomach calm down. Marian was about halfway through the bread when a loud knock and bang sounded on her door, she waited then heard it again she hopped up and looked out the keyhole and saw to armed guard and her landlord at her door. Marian moved away from the door and tried to think of a way she could escape, there were no windows in her apartment, she knew she couldn't kill the three men. While Marian thought she heard a loud crash from behind her as she saw the two guards rush in with their swords held up along with shields their glances at her looked unforgiving.
Marian backed up and met the wall feeling like a cornered animal, She thought maybe she could grab her daggers in time, but she would have to try since there was no other option. Marian lunged for her closest blade, but an agonizing pain shot through her arms stopping her, one of the guards swung his sword at her outreaching arm.
Marian pulled her arm back to her wrapping her other hand around the wound, she let out a painful wail as blood pulsed out of the wound. Quickly Marian stood up every movement was full of pain as she tried to find an area she could escape but when she tried to make a run for it the guards grabbed her by her forearms, one even had a grasp on her wounded forearm Marian screamed out as he grasped it. She tried to pull her arms away from the men or kick at them but one of them was tired of her thrashing, He lifted his arm and balled his fist punching Marian in the face knocking her out cold.
—-
Guard's P.O.V
They had been sent out to apprehend a female summer who had killed about 5 men as seen by an older man who lived down the street who came and told them that morning. He loved jobs like this when they get to break into people's homes and just pluck them out of there without them even expecting it. After they had gone through the ordeal of arresting the woman and knocking her out, he had thrown her over his shoulder, Him, and his buddy was walking back to the jail cells when his partner spoke:"So, what did she do again?" He questioned, he looked over at him and thought for a moment " She killed 5 men single handily with only daggers, I heard from the old guy that brought it in said that it was kind of astonishing, but murder is murder." He smirked, his partner nodded.
The guards had finally arrived at the jail, they noticed the Grey Warden all the guards had been talking about was there. As they entered the warden turned to them and saw the woman he had been caring. Recognition spread over his face, but the guard dismissed it and threw the women into one of the open cells before she came to, he bound her hands in front of her.
—
Marian's POV
Marian's eyes opened slowly as she sat up off the cold stone ground of a jail cell. Marian's eyes searched around and notice the people on the outside of the cell, it all came back to her now the break-in, the cut on her arm, and the blasted punch. Marian's hand moved up to touch her tender eye as she remembered it, she looked down at her forearm to inspect the wound it was still bleeding, but she just let it flow her clothes were already stained with blood, and they would probably hang her soon anyway.
Marian scooted back into the corner of the cell pulling her knees into her and cradled her bound arms in-between her stomach and knees. Marian saw the man from the night before standing talking to the Guard Captain like he was trying to persuade him of something then the man in white pulled out a scroll and the captain huffed in anger at the man then nodded and walked off. The man walked over to her cell, the guards let him in Marian looked up curiously she was not scared of him, but he was strange. He knelt down to her and smiled, he spoke softly "Hello, my name is Duncan, and I am a commander of the Grey Wardens seeking help against the blight. I have come to Denerim in search of skilled fighters to recruit into the order, and I may have just saved your life but might I ask your name?" Marian looked at him she was so confused, she had heard of The Grey Wardens before but only legends she looked up at him " Duncan is it, I am Marian, what do you mean? You got me out of being executed? How?" She said wearily, he laughed and reached out slowly cutting the wrist bindings. She smiled and rubbed them gingerly and saw that Duncan offered his hand, she took it slowly trying to not provoke her wounds any more than she had. Still, she hissed at the gash on her arm and the stitches in her shoulder. Marian felt guilty that she leaned so heavily onto Duncan but she was immensely weak and tired, as they walked out of the jailhouse and into the bitter weather Marian turned her head to Duncan "Sorry." she whispered as she held onto him more.
They had walked over to a bench that was only a few feet away and took a seat. Marian let out a breath as they sat down and let go of Duncan who now turned his head towards her
"Well, to answer you question Marian yes, I did stop your execution not only because I knew you were not guilty, but I saw you fight those men last night you have exceptional skill and accuracy that only a skilled rogue could have…" he trailed off and looked off into the snow for a few moments then looked back at her and said "… but the only way for me to stop the hanging was to conscript you into the Grey Wardens." guilt ran over his face, but then quickly returned back to stern face. Marian took in what Duncan had told her and looked down for a moment thinking about what her options were, she could refuse and possibly go back to jail and be killed or even if she got away she would be homeless and left with nothing. Going with The Wardens was her best option she could start new there may be. Looking back up at Duncan her face was straight "Duncan.. thank you, it is all a bit unexpected, but what other option do I have. Besides, if the rest of the wardens are as humble as you, I don't think I will have a problem coming along. So you are my best choice in this matter." she said then faded out as the wind blew across her face. Duncan gave her a small smiled and nodded "well I am glad, we could really use someone like you in the Gray Wardens." he said high heartedly then he returned back to a serious face "But, I must stress us leaving today the Chief was very apparent that we depart swiftly, we should get to Ostagar before the week's end." he told her Marian understood and gave him a small nod before they both stood up. She didn't really cherish anything in the apartment anyway just stuff she had picked up along the way nothing valuable. Duncan and Marian made their way to the front gates of Denerim before setting out for Ostagar.
Thank you to you all that have read the first chapter I am writing the second one as we speak, and hopefully, it will be up soon. Again thank you and if there is anything you think I should fix so far feel free to message me or tell me in the review thank you again !:)
-whinesss