Rez Amell of the Grey Wardens

A/N: I couldn't come up with a cleverer or catchy title but whatever I will make up better titles for future chapters. So I will warn you this is my first fan fiction story that I every written er typed but I'll try my best not to make too many mistakes in grammar, spelling and all of that fun stuff but then again that's what reviews are for! So without any further ado let's get this story rolling.

The damaged state that Vigil's Keep was in wasn't as bad as Warden Commander Rez Amell feared as she returned from the Mother's lair. Thanks to Oghren, Anders, and Velanna the darkspawn forces that attacked the Keep never made it inside, though they did manage to damage everything on the outside of the Keep. When Rez and her group returned to the fortress they immediately went inside to get some well deserved rest, but Rez started on her report for the First Warden explaining the status of Amaranthine and about the darkspawn that she faced. She also sent him a request to leave Amaranthine so that she could travel with her love, Leliana for at least a little while. Now it has been two whole days since then and she has been waiting impatiently for his response. For the whole night she just sat in her high chair that faced the great doors of the main hall of the Keep, with her head placed on her left palm and her shoulder length brown hair hanging low and loose instead of in the three pig-tails that she always had them in.

"Morning commander." said Varel as he entered the great hall. "Why are you up so early? You couldn't sleep?"

"Good morning Varel and no I couldn't sleep at all so I thought I would just sit in my high chair for a while." Rez replied with a smile as she lifted her head off of her left hand. "So what is the damage?" she asked, wondering how bad the damage to the Keep really was.

"Well let's just say we're going to need a lot of donations in order to fix everything." Varel stated with a smile.

Rez returned the smile. "How many soldiers did we lose in the defense of the Keep?"

"Not as many as we feared thanks to the three wardens that you left here to defend the Keep" he placed his hands behind his back as he usually did "Though Velanna's whereabouts are still unknown, we have been searching for her body to confirm that she fell in battle but to no avail. So my guess is-"

"She left." Rez finished Varel's sentence for him. "So I guess choosing to defend the city of Amaranthine wasn't a bad decision for me to have made." She said as she rested her head on her left fist.

"Whatever you decided to have done would have been the right choice commander."

"Thank you Varel, even if I don't believe it."

"You're welcome commander. Oh and before I forget a message came this morning for you." Varel pulled out a letter from his pack and handed it to Rez.

Rez opened the letter and read its content, which brightened up her mood. It was a confirmation from the First Warden allowing her to travel until she is called upon again. With this in hand she got up from her chair and stretched out some of her aching muscles. "Varel get a wagon ready to leave for the docks and inform Nathaniel that he will be in charge of the Keep in my absence."

"Right away commander." Varel obeyed with a bow and went on his way to inform Nathaniel of his promotion.

With her request approved, Rez headed straight towards her private quarters in the Keep to take a much needed bath because she still reeked of all that darkspawn blood that got on her when she fought and killed The Mother. Along the way she pasted by Oghren and Anders who were fighting again about something, not wishing to get involved she tip toed her way unnoticed. For a mage I'm not that bad as a rouge.Rez thought to herself as she made it to her quarters unnoticed.

~Outside of Vigil's Keep after Rez's shower~

The wagon that would take Rez to Leliana's current location arrived and was ready to leave. Rez was sported with her Legion of the Dead armor that she wore when she first arrived at the Keep about a month ago. She also had Spellweaver, her trusty enchanted longsword, strapped to her back along with her heavy shield. Just in case, she had a pouch of coins for the road. But before she could even hop onto the wagon she heard someone yelling… and it was directed at her.

"Commander! Commander Rez wait!" said the voice which she immediately recognized as Nathaniel's, which is strange that she figured that out since he was always the quiet one in the group.

Damn it.Was all that Rez could mutter as she turned to face her fellow grey warden. "Yes Nathaniel what is it?"

"Where are you going and why did you put me in charge of the Keep while you're gone?" Nathaniel said as he stopped to catch his breath.

"Well I promised someone that I would travel with them for a bit and see what the world has to offer and my request to leave Ferelden was approved by the First Warden himself, so in my absence I'm leaving you in charge."

"But why did you choose me?"

"Nathaniel, you're a good man. You showed that to me with your courage and dedication, you also showed me that you are a reliable and trustworthy." Rez said in a warm voice as she placed a hand on Nathaniel's shoulder. "Plus, do you think I would leave Oghren or Anders in charge?" At that question, they both let out a good laugh. "Don't worry my friend, you'll do fine. I have faith in you." She reassured him as she got onto her wagon.

"I'll do my best commander." Nathaniel said while he crossed his arms across his chest and bowed.

"I know you will Nathaniel. I'll be back before you know it." With that said she signaled the driver of the wagon to make the ox's start to head for their destination.

As they went forward, Vigil's Keep grew smaller and Rez felt a little sad for leaving but she assured herself that she left the Keep in good hands. When the Keep was completely out of view because of the trees that are now blocking her line of sight she finally relaxed and placed all the events and the decisions that she made in the back of her mind and only thought about Leliana and the places that they can visit together. Will, I did save Ferelden twice so I at least deserve a vacation. Rez thought as the wagon made its way down the road.

The sky was clear and the weather was so nice that Rez decided to lie down on the wagon's flat bed and get some shut eye during the trip to the small village which was about a good thirty minutes away, Just enough time for me to be fully rested. She inwardly agreed with herself as her eyes closed and allowed her body to get the rest that it so rightfully deserves.

After twenty minutes of calm on the road the driver of the wagon stopped for there was a fallen tree blocking their path. Then like a pack of wolves descending on a carcass, a band of highwaymen came forth from the bushes on each side of the road and three archers, armed with crossbows, stepped from behind the trees that they were hiding behind and trained their weapons on the wagon. Immediately the driver held his hands up as the leader approached him and motioned him to get down from his position.

"Well what do we have here?" asked the leader as he took a quick glance at the wagon. "What are you transporting old man?"

"Please ser I want no trouble. I'm just transporting a person to a small village not far from here." The elderly driver said as steadily as his shaking body could allow him.

"A person?" With this information he ordered a slender elf from his band to check the wagon.

"Yep, he's not lying ser there's a knight here and she's asleep too." Reported the elf after he took a glance in the back of the wagon.

"Well then wake her up!"

"Right." The elf leaned closer to the sleeping grey warden and gave her a rough slap across her face.

Rez opened her eyes as fast as she felt the impact of the slap to only stare at a strange elf that was hovering over her.

"Morning there beautiful." He said as he pulled out a steel dagger. "Now I suggest you don't move if you know what's good for ya."

Great, I fell asleep only to wake up to being robbed by highwaymen, oh how the Maker sure does love to mess with me.Rez thought to herself as she took in the situation that she woke up in.

"Well now that you so politely joined us, may I please have you get off of the wagon, nice and slowly if you don't mind." Gently ordered the highwayman leader.

Rez obeyed his orders, muttering to herself, and got off and went on the left side of the wagon in full view of the band of bandits. She could see six highwaymen including the leader that were within sword distance along with an archer overlooking from the right side of the road and two other archers overlooking from the left. Once she measured her odds she began to form a plan in her mind.

"My, my they sure aren't a lot of female knights as lovely as yourself." Stated the leader as he examined Rez. "So then, tell us knight where exactly do you hail from?"

"Oh nowhere special really, I'm just from a Keep." Rez stated in a calm voice since she had already formulated an attack strategy.

"Ah so we have a smart one do we. Will then which Keep are you from."

"Boss there's something about her that I quite can't put my finger on." Said one of the bandits that not only was taller than the rest but also wielded a battle axe on his back. "I feel like I saw her from somewhere."

"Yeah now that you mention it she does seem familiar. Especially those lightning bolt tattoos on her face." This time the elf, that rudely awakened her, said with a puzzled look on his face.

"Silence men just because we are robbing her it doesn't mean we should interrupt her when it's her turn to speak." Barked the leader at the two men, but it didn't stop them from searching their minds for where they saw her from.

"Well since you really want to know where I'm from." Rez continued as she channeled most of her magic inward to prepare for battle. "I am from Virgil's Keep."

"Vigil's Keep? Wait a minute if you're from Vigil's Keep then you're…" A chain reaction of shocked looks flashed through each of the men's faces. "A grey warden!"

"Not just any grey warden." Rez corrected as a ball of fire appeared in her hand."I'm Warden Commander Rez Amell."

Before any of the highwaymen made a move for their weapons, she tossed the fireball towards the archers to the left of the road and burned them both before they realized that she was attacking. Since the elf already had his knife out he made an attempt to stab Rez but all he stabbed was the space that she once occupied. With a few moves Rez disarmed the elf and jammed his knife straight into his throat then she slammed him into the wagon which made the knife drive itself even deeper, causing even more blood to pour out of his wound as he fell to the ground. Once she took care of him she readied her sword and her heavy shield and rammed right into another unprepared foe. A war cry turned her attention to the larger man of the group who was about to bring his battle axe right down on top of her. Rez dodged the man's axe and instead blocked the sword of one of his ally's and stuck her sword deep into the man's stomach and pulled it back out, which allowed an enormous amount of blood to pour out of the man's wound.

Two highwaymen came at her; this time they both swung their swords at her but only to be blocked by her heavy shield. Seeing a gap in their attack pattern she slammed her shield into one of her attackers which sent him stumbling back, leaving her with only one to fight. He swung once, twice, but after his second swing Rez severed his weapon hand and finished him off with a deep downward slash that split both his armor and flesh wide open making blood gush out of him like a river. The other opponent that she smacked with her shield now returned with anger and desperation guiding his blade, which only kept him alive for a few seconds before his throat was slashed open, nearly severing his head from his body. Once she dispatched her two foes she once again was about to be struck by the big man's battleaxe. Unlike the other time she didn't make an attempt to dodge but instead she casted her rock armor spell and used her shield to stop the giant axe dead in its tracks. Thanks to her rock armor she was able to absorb the blow from the giant axe without even budging, this confused the bigger man which left him exposed for her attack. Rez struck the long handle of his axe, shoving it off of her shield combined with a spin in which she gathered momentum and sliced towards his leg cleanly severing it from his body.

The bigger man dropped his axe and grabbed the bleed stump where his leg used to be connected to and cried in pain as he fell to the floor. Not granting the man to feel any more pain, she ended his life by plunging her blade into his heart silencing him forever. With all the nearby threats accounted for Rez turned her gaze upon the leader of these men. He had his two daggers drawn but he was trembling in fear like any coward who preys on the helpless does when faced with a prey who can fight back.

"St-stay back warden, I-I mean it!" he threaten with his fear growing with each step that Rez took towards him. Like a desperate animal he swung wildly in her direction but he didn't pose any real danger to her. She stayed a few feet away from him and waited for an opening that she could exploit, there it was he clumsily stepped too far ahead giving Rez the opportunity to disarm him of both of his weapons followed by a strong kick to his chest sending him down to the dirt road. He landed quite hard on his back but it didn't take long for him to start crawling backwards until his back was against the fallen tree on the road.

"Please warden, show mercy." He pleaded as she slowly stepped towards him with her sword that was dripping with the blood of his comrades.

"And why should I when you nev-" Her words were cut off by a bolt that was shot from one of the surviving archers who was watching from the opposite side of the road.

Seeing the bolt hit the grey warden in the head by his comrade gave the highwayman leader a new spark of hope and relief. But this didn't last when he saw a fireball that was thrown at the archer who was now nothing more than ashes. Now all his hope was burned away like his ally and his fate was sealed too.

I was wondering when he would expose himself. Rez said in her head while she lopped off the head of the leader of this band of thieves. Now with all threats eliminated, Rez dropped her spells, sheathed her weapons, and went to her driver's side to see if he was hurt.

"Hey are you okay?" She said with her soft voice.

"Yes, all thanks to you commander." He replied with relief in his voice.

"Why don't you head back to the Vigil's Keep I'll just walked the rest of the way from here."

"As you wish commander just be careful."

"I will." She returned his kind words with her own as she started to walk down the road to the village that wasn't too far. But she felt nothing but happiness with the though of being with her love again after such a long time.

A/N: Well there you go I hoped you enjoyed it and don't forget to leave any comments, tips, and criticism that you might have for me. Again sorry if it's not that good but it will get better I promise.