This is the first chapter of my second full-game DA:O fanfic. It has absolutely nothing to do with my first fanfic, Vhenan'ara. Instead of having one of the origin characters, this story will feature two OCs based off of me and a friend of mine as the Wardens. This fanfic is rated M for future lemons, so don't read if you don't like that.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.
Blades clash, metal rings, sweat falls from his brow. His sword is hammered by continuous blows from his opponent's twin blades. His foe is a familiar and bitter one. A face once trusted, now a symbol of betrayal. His blood boils, his heart aches, and his jaw clenches. He sees his chance, and he plunges his sword into the heart of a friend, a comrade…
A lover.
Leon's eyes flew open as he took in a deep, sharp breath. His eyes stared straight up into the early morning sky, only now beginning to brighten as the sun prepared to rise. Leon rose to a sitting position as he placed a hand on his forehead.
"Had that dream again?" Leon turned his gaze to the source of the voice, Drake. He was sitting against a tree in a position that would've suggested he had been asleep. His hood, which was sewn into his tunic, was pulled up over his eyes to add to the illusion that he was asleep, to fool any who would try to rob or kill them in their sleep. The words were in Antarian, their native language.
"Aye, I did," Leon responded in kind. Since coming to Thedas, they had learned to speak the Common tongue as fluently as anyone, as well as the languages of the nations they had passed through, but whenever they were alone, they spoke the language of their home.
"It's been coming more frequently again," Drake said matter-of-factly, though Leon could sense the touch of concern in his friend's words. He was right, of course; this made ten times in the last month.
"I'll be fine," Leon said, though Drake didn't seem convinced. If Leon was being honest with himself, neither was he; it had been two years, and the dreams kept coming. Drake reached for something on his belt, and tossed his water skin to Leon.
"Go ahead and fill the skins," Drake said, pulling himself to his feet. "I'll go see what I can catch in the woods."
"I'll see if I can scrounge up a fish," Leon said, standing up as he hooked Drake's water skin to his belt, next to his own. "First one back lights the fire."
"Right," Drake turned and headed away from their small campsite into the direction of a small stream they had found nearby the day before. Leon walked in absolute silence, subconsciously watching where he stepped so as not to step on any twigs or leaves, which would give away his position to anyone who might be in the forest. The forest they were in, which they had learned was known as the Korcari Wilds, was said to be home to witches, which was something Leon wanted to avoid if possible. Leon felt his cheeks stinging in the cold early-morning air, and pulled up his hood, which was sewn into his tunic like Drake's, to shield himself from the cold air.
After a few minutes of walking, Leon came across the stream. He approached it slowly so as not to disturbed any fish that might be at the banks. Leon peered into the water for any sign of fish. He caught sight of a few decent-sized fish and drew his sword from his back. The blade was narrow and designed for thrusting, which, Leon found, made it good for fishing as well, so long as the fisher was patient and had good aim.
Leon extended his hand down towards the water and rested the tip of his sword within the V of his thumb and fore-finger. He ignored the fish swimming around and focused all of his attention on a single spot in the water, the spot where his sword would thrust, and he waited. Waited for a decent sized fish to swim past that spot.
A shadow passed from underneath the surface of the water, and Leon's blade shot forward. Water splashed everywhere from the fish's thrashing, and Leon lifted the fish from the water and tossed it off his sword and onto dry land. The one fish was hardly sufficient to feed the two of them, but there was still whatever forest animal Drake managed to bag, which he never failed to do. Leon took the two water skins from his belt and filled them in the stream, taking the time to examine his reflection.
Leon was only nineteen years of age. It had been four years since he first picked up a sword, and his countenance showed that he had been fighting ever since. He could see the tiredness in his turquoise eyes, which held dark circles underneath them. His dark brown hair was beginning to fall beneath his ears, which meant it was due to be cut.
He wore a long-sleeved, dark green tunic with a black leather chest-piece over it. His hood, which was still up, was the same color as his tunic. He bore leather gauntlets on both arms with his sleeves tucked into them, but the left gauntlet had a steel plate on it, which Leon used for deflecting blows. He wore black trousers tucked into a pair of boots. His clothes were covered in stitches where they had been mended over the years.
Feeling that he had wasted enough time, Leon left the stream with the water skins and the fish and returned to the campsite. When he returned, he found that Drake had already returned, and that he was currently cooking some sort of animal over a small fire. Leon let out a low, two-note whistle, which could be confused for a bird call, to let Drake know he'd returned.
Drake was twenty-six years old. He was tall and built like an ox. He had dark brown hair that fell just below his ears and parted down the middle, and his eyes were a deep honey brown. A single scar ran from above his right eyebrow, down across his nose, and ending right beneath his left cheekbone. His tunic was black and sleeveless, and he wore a set of leather archer's armor that he had customized to protect the right side of his torso instead of the left, including a single leather pauldron on his right shoulder. Drake was left-handed, which meant that when he was shooting his bow, his right side was the one out in front, and therefore the side that was most vulnerable and in most need of protection. He wore a pair of black pants tucked into a pair of fade brown leather boots, and wore black, fingerless, leather gloves.
"Took you long enough," Drake said jokingly. "What'd you catch?"
"Trout, I think," Leon replied. The only fish he could really identify were catfish and salmon, and he was pretty sure what he had was neither. "How about you?"
"Badger," Drake said with a grin. "There was a burrow not thirty yards from here. Can you imagine if it had walked into our camp last night?"
"Better a badger than a hog," Leon said. While traveling through the Southron Hills, they'd unknowingly wandered too close to a hog's den. Thankfully it had been a loner, and Drake had made short work of it with his bow once they were safely in a tree. "Of course, a hog would've tasted better." Drake made a skeptical face.
"Depends on how you cook it," He said. "Nanny had a recipe for badger stew. She didn't get to use it much, but it was good."
"Does it include fish?" Leon asked. Drake wouldn't have mentioned his grandmother having a recipe for something unless he planned on using it.
"Not really, but it never hurts to try something new," Drake said. Drake had taught Leon long ago don't knock it 'til you try it, a lesson he himself had learned from his grandmother. From the things Drake had said about his grandmother, Leon figured she must've been one hell of a woman. She had passed away when Drake was twenty-one, years before Leon had met him.
"Well then, I'll get to de-scaling this fish," Leon said, taking a seat next to his pack and rummaging for the flat blade they used for removing scales.
"I'll do that," Drake said, handing an iron kettle to Leon. "You go get the water for the stew." Leon gave his friend an annoyed scowl.
"You could've asked me to do that before I left to get the fish," he said. Drake just flashed him a shit-eating grin.
"Didn't know I was making stew then," he said, becoming the sneaky, conniving smartass Leon had grown accustomed to. "Now go get the water, or I'll smack you with the spoon again!"
"Fuck you," Leon said, taking the kettle and heading back to the stream. In truth, he only did as Drake said because he knew that he would indeed use their wooden cooking spoon on him if he didn't do it, another skill he had no doubt learned from his grandmother. Drake followed Leon's lead while traveling, but when it was time to cook, Drake was the boss.
By the time Leon filled the kettle and returned to the camp, Drake had already begun cooking the fish. Leon handed Drake the kettle and sat back as the older man worked his magic. The sun had fully risen by the time the stew was complete and the two of them had eaten. Leon preferred to pack up camp earlier than that if he could help it, but the hearty meal was worth the delay. Once everything was packed up and the scraps left out for the wild animals to dispose of, they began making their way through the Wilds.
The two of them had been roaming Thedas since they arrived two years prior. They roamed from town to town, and from nation to nation. Few places were welcoming to them whenever it became clear that they were from beyond the Waking Seas. So they roamed from as far as the Free Marches to Antiva. The people of Rivain had been hospitable enough, until Leon had made the mistake of turning down an offer for sex. It was one of the few times he'd ever cursed his sense of chivalry and courtesy.
Drake would've been content to have become a mercenary, selling his skills to the highest bidder, but Leon wanted no part of that life. The only reason Drake hung around was to keep Leon safe. Drake had all but adopted Leon as a little brother, and would go out of his way to make sure Leon didn't get himself killed in one of his frequent acts of chivalry. Leon had a very unhealthy habit of jumping to the aid of anyone who needed it, be it a traveler being harassed by bandits, or just some widow, young or old, struggling with daily chores. Drake would often complain that Leon had a 'hero complex', which Leon would often counter by saying that Drake had a 'jackass complex'.
The two of them walked for several hours, staying silent so as not to alert any person or animal that might be nearby. Leon took point, as he usually did, while Drake followed several feet behind. This was so that, in the event that they got in a fight, Drake would be able to take cover and fire his arrows while Leon charged head-long into the enemy. It was a strategy that played to their respective strengths, and had worked for all of the years that they'd been fighting together.
It was sometime around noon when Leon thought he heard something on the wind. He came to a stop and raised a hand to signal Drake to do the same. He strained his ears to see if he could hear anything, and could just barely make out the sound of shouting in the distance. He motioned for Drake to follow and started heading in the direction the shouting was coming from. After a minute he came to the edge of a clearing. Crouching down behind some bushes, Leon parted the branches. What he saw was a battle.
With one glance Leon could tell who was on which side. One side was a small group of soldiers, including one man who was wearing a set of golden armor. They were fighting a rather large group of monsters that Leon and Drake had come to learn were called darkspawn. When they first encountered the vile creatures, Leon had mistaken them for a strange breed of orc, though they soon learned otherwise. Leon could make out dozens of corpses scattered across the battlefield. A good number of them were darkspawn, but there were also several human corpses. At this rate, the monsters might win.
"Looks like the rumors were right," Drake said as he came up from behind. The two of them had heard rumors that darkspawn were gathering in the south, but hadn't thought much of it. The darkspawn they had encountered while in the Free Marches hadn't seemed capable of being organized.
"What do you think we should do?" Leon asked. He usually sought the council of his friend before making decisions. Oftentimes Drake proved to be the voice of reason to balance Leon's impulsive need to be a hero. Drake turned his gaze to the battle as he considered their options.
"We owe these people nothing," he finally said. "The best thing for us to do would be to leave and head north once we're a good distance away from here." Leon looked out onto the battle as he considered Drake's words. It was true, the smart thing to do would be to leave the soldiers to their fate and save their own skins. Still…
"You're going to help them anyway, aren't you?" Leon stood up and dropped his pack as he drew his sword. Drake gave a groan from beside him, and he knew he was nocking an arrow to his bow. "I swear, that hero complex of yours is going to get you killed one of these days."
Leon turned to his friend with a smug grin. "That's what you're here for," he said. He then drew his hood up over his eyes, as he was accustomed to doing before entering a fight. "Stay within the tree line and pick your targets. Try to save as many of them as you can." Drake nodded as he drew up his own hood. He then extended his fist towards Leon.
"Through wind and rain," he said. Leon smirked as he bumped fists with Drake.
"Through the fire and flames."
Leon darted out from the bushes and approached the battle at a brisk jog. Before he even made it halfway to the darkspawn, several of Drake's black arrows had flown from the tree line and hit their targets. Three of the larger darkspawn noticed his approach and broke away from the group to intercept him. The first one that reached him tried to hit him with an overhead swing from a wicked looking curved sword. Leon gave a small jump to the left while cutting his sword across the creature's jugular, causing a fountain of black blood to erupt from the wound. The second darkspawn swung a crude hand axe at him, which Leon caught by the handle. Ducking under the darkspawn's arm, Leon kicked it's feet out from under it, taking the axe from the monster's hand as it fell to the ground. He then turned and hurled the axe into the back of the darkspawn's head.
He turned back around to find the third darkspawn right in front of him, sword raised and ready to end his life. But before the blade could even begin its descent, an arrow seemingly materialized in the center of the darkspawn's forehead. The arrow carried so much force that it knocked the darkspawn off its feet. Not pausing in his charge, Leon merely jumped onto the darkspawn's body as it fell and catapulted himself into the fight, plunging his sword into the shoulder of one the smaller darkspawn as he landed. Immediately rolling to his left, Leon came up and struck a larger darkspawn in the gut with the pommel of his sword, causing the creature to double over. Without missing a beat, Leon stepped around to it's side and stabbed it in the back.
Another darkspawn attempted an overhead swing at his left. Leon raised his steel plated gauntlet to block the strike, while simultaneously stabbing the creature in the gut. Leon then kicked the darkspawn off his blade, causing it to stumble back. Raising his sword, Leon struck at the darkspawn's shoulder, putting his entire body into the swing. With his entire weight behind it, his sword was able to cleave through the darkspawn. Another darkspawn came at him from the left, and rather than try and pull his sword out of the one he just killed, Leon left it there and turned to his latest attacker unarmed. Blocking the overhead swing with his gauntlet, Leon slammed his right fist into the lower part of its sternum. Grabbing its sword arm by the wrist with his left hand, Leon pulled the darkspawn to the left while slamming his right elbow into its face. He then hooked his arm around its neck and slammed his knee into its gut, causing the darkspawn to double over. Ripping its sword out of its hand, Leon stabbed the darkspawn with its own weapon, before turning and lopping the head off another darkspawn.
The fight continued for several minutes, with Leon having to use the darkspawn weapon, as he was unable to find a moment to retrieve his own sword. The few times Leon found himself unable to defend himself from a darkspawn, one of Drake's arrows would find its way into either its head or heart. After a relatively short battle, only one darkspawn remained. It growled menacingly at Leon, who stabbed the darkspawn sword into the ground and gave the 'bring it on' sign with his hands. The darkspawn ran towards Leon, intent on exploiting the opening its prey was offering, before an arrow punched halfway through its skull. Leon casually stepped to the side as the darkspawn collapsed where he had been standing. With the final darkspawn dead, Leon had time to retrieve his sword from the corpse he left it in, wiping the black blood off on his gauntlet before sheathing it.
"Ho there, friend!" Leon turned to see the man in golden armor approaching him, a great sword on his back and the other soldiers close behind him. Now that he was closer, Leon could see that he had a bright, open face, with long blonde hair and facial stubble. Leon figured he'd be about thirty years old.
"King Cailan!" A somewhat older man in his late fifties and silver armor caught up to the man in gold and caught him by the arm. He had long black hair and a hardened face that spoke of bloody battles, and carried a sword and shield on his back. "We don't know who this boy is. He could be very well be a threat."
"If I may, Teyrn Loghain," Another man approached. He seemed to be somewhere in between the other two in age, and had long black hair tied into a ponytail, a short black beard, and swarthy skin. His armor was different from the other soldiers, and he carried a sword and a dagger on his back. "If this young man truly wished us harm, he could've left us to die at the hands of the darkspawn. Or his companion could've shot us while we were fighting."
"Indeed, you should be more grateful to the people who just saved your life," the man named Cailan said. He then turned to Leon with a trusting smile. "Go ahead and call your friend over, I would like to express my gratitude to him as well. More than one of his arrows kept me alive just now."
Leon took a moment to consider his options. If he heard the older man, Loghain, correctly, then he and Drake had just saved Ferelden's king. This could very well play out badly for them, considering their last encounter with royalty. Leon eyed Loghain and the man on Cailan's other side. The rest of the soldiers would prove easy to beat if things came to a fight, but these two were cut from a different cloth than the others. They would undoubtedly prove a substantial threat. Hesitantly, Leon raised his left hand and signaled for Drake to move from cover. Many of the soldiers began to murmur as Drake made his way over to them, and Loghain kept his eyes glued to the archer, no doubt considering him the greater threat. Leon had a moment to feel insulted; he was just as dangerous in close quarters as Drake was at a distance. Leon waited until Drake was a few yards away before raising his hand and signaling him to stop.
"If it comes to a fight, take out the two next to the King," Leon said. Several of the soldiers jumped at the sound of the foreign language. A few even drew their weapons. A superstitious bunch, no doubt.
"I believe I don't recognize that particular dialect," the man standing next to the King said. "May I ask where the two of you are from?" Leon turned to Drake once again, and even with Drake's hood raised, Leon could tell he was giving an annoyed look, one that said 'You got us into this, now you get us out.' Leon took a brief moment to consider his course of action. Lying was never his specialty, and since Drake was leaving him out to dry with this, that left him nothing but the truth.
Leon pulled back his hood to reveal his face before speaking. "We came from Antares, a place beyond Thedas. My name is Leon, and my friend here is Drake." Cailan's interest seemed to be peaked by this.
"A place beyond Thedas, truly?" he said, seeming awe-struck. "How is it that you've come to Ferelden, then?" Leon glanced back at Drake, hoping for a sign as to whether he should lie or tell the truth. Drake simply averted his gaze. He could care less about what Leon chose to say, only how they'd survive if things turned sour. Leon learned a long time ago that if Drake wasn't concerned about something, it was because he knew he could handle it.
"We were exiled," Leon said as he turned his gaze back to Cailan, "for the murder of our king." Immediately all of the soldiers, including Loghain, drew their weapons and leveled them at Leon and Drake. The only ones who didn't draw their weapons were Cailan and the other man. The former had a look shock on his face. The latter moved to stop Loghain from attacking, though he stepped in front of Cailan as he did so.
"Perhaps there was simply a misunderstanding," he offered, though he didn't seem to believe it himself.
"There is no misunderstanding." Leon turned to Drake as he uttered these words. "King Alucard was tyrant who deserved his fate."
"Well I can assure you that I'm no tyrant!" Cailan said hastily, as if only just realizing that the two strangers in front of him were sincere in their confession.
"As I said before, if these young men truly wished us harm, they would've attempted such by now," the unnamed man said. At least one of them was trying to avoid a confrontation. The man then gestured to himself and gave a small bow of respect. "I am Duncan. I lead the Grey Wardens here in Ferelden."
"Never heard of them," Leon said.
"You claim to be from beyond Thedas, so this is no surprise," Duncan said. "The Grey Wardens are an order of warriors dedicated to fighting darkspawn, such as the ones you just helped us defeat."
"The Wardens are working alongside me and my army to prevent a Blight," Cailan said enthusiastically, like some child who was getting the gift he'd always wanted.
"And what exactly is a Blight?" Leon asked. He heard Drake give a subtle, warning grunt, to which Leon responded by subtly flexing his middle finger up at him from behind his back.
"A Blight is what happens when an Archdemon awakens," Duncan explained. "It leads a horde of darkspawn across the land, tainting the very earth itself until it can no longer support life. Once an area has been tainted, it never recovers."
"You know, with your skills, the two of you would make excellent Grey Wardens," Cailan said enthusiastically.
"We've no intention of staying," Leon said quickly, more out of habit than fear of any darkspawn. "We're just passing through."
"I see," Cailan said disappointedly. "I suppose I can't very well ask you to fight for a country that isn't yours. A shame, though. You're skills would've been much appreciated."
"If I might be so bold," Duncan said. "These two did save our lives today. I believe it wouldn't be out of the question if we brought them back to Ostagar and re-supply."
"It's completely out of the question!" Loghain said, leveling a icy glare at Duncan before turning to Cailan. "Your Highness, we've barely enough food for our own men."
"Oh, come off it, Loghain!" Cailan said good-naturedly. "We've more than enough to spare for these two!" He then turned to Leon and Drake with a smile. "The two of you are more than welcome to come re-supply at our camp, if you wish."
Leon, as usual, checked to see what Drake's opinion was. "What do you think? It might be our last chance to re-supply until we leave the Wilds." Drake cast a suspicious glance at Duncan.
"It's a trap," he said. "As soon as we reach this Ostagar place, he's going to try and convince us to join his order, assuming he doesn't try to persuade us along the way."
"Doesn't mean we have to join," Leon reasoned. His decision made, Leon turned to Cailan. "Allow us to collect our things."
And there you go. I'll be writing this fanfic alongside Vhenan'ara, but I can assure you that they are two very different stories. Different choices will be made, and different paths will be taken. Hopefully you won't get bored trying to keep up with two different fanfics by the same author about the same game.
If you haven't read Vhenan'ara yet(or as much of it as I've written), then feel free to do so. Also, check out Hikari86's work. She's the one who encouraged me to start writting fanfiction, including this fanfic.