Dragon Age 2 Theme, Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, Room of Angels
Hello, and welcome to Part 3 of the Warden Guerrin series! If you're new, then check out Apprentice Guerrin and Disgrace of Redcliffe on my profile as it will definitely be easier to figure out a lot of the references and characters if you've read those first.
Echoes is a departure from its predecessors in that it follows my Warden Soren Surana and an Original Character/Tranquil Elf named Jylan Ansera. Most of the characters will be OCs either introduced in this story or previously in other installments. Warden Guerrin himself, as explained in Disgrace's epilogue, is far far far away right now, but may show up at some point if I feel like it.
That's enough from me though, enjoy the prologue!
Echoes of Arlathan
Prologue: The Grand Cleric
The Hero of Ferelden was getting married.
Soren Surana, Warden Commander of Ferelden and Archmage of Cumberland's College of Enchanters, had ruled the Arling of Amaranthine for fourteen years. Under his tenure, Amaranthine had weathered and survived the Darkspawn Thaw, rebuilt the fortress of Vigil's Keep, founded the Silver Order of Amaranthine for its own protection, and retained its great wealth through the arming of her merchant fleet. They had cut down on raider attacks and secured the lucrative lines of trade from Ferelden's quarries and textile houses to the wealthy merchants and spice traders of Antiva and the Free Marches.
He continuously forged trade agreements with vice-like control over the tithes and taxes levied against foreign ships, heedless of Denerim's own interests. The Arl was never one to make his intentions known to the capital before acting on them, poaching from the north's wealthy and powerful and filling his own Arling's coffers to the brim.
Arl Surana had opened his keep and then his city to the presence of the lost Tranquil abandoned by the broken Circles of Magi. In Amaranthine City he had founded a guild hall and granted them autonomy under his banner, establishing what was now, six years later, one of the wealthiest brotherhoods in the country.
It never had and never would be the authority of a Grey Warden or mere Archmage to supersede the Chantry's role in caring for its most vulnerable persons. That had he drawn the Tranquil to Amaranthine throughout the Mage-Templar war and offered sanctuary to a people who had never been under threat from the violence was neither laudable nor just: it was a corruption of purpose and the overstepping of boundaries.
He had refused, rejected, and soundly dismissed repeated petitions to have the Formari Guildsmen moved from Amaranthine City to the bosom of the Chantry in Val Royeaux, or even to the beating heart of his own Magi College in Cumberland. He was obstinate, stubborn, and far too convinced of his own importance to heed the derision of his betters.
Regardless of where one went within the Arling, nay, the country! The Warden Commander's insufferable personage was well known. Arrogant, proud, deceitful creature. A tongue as forked as his pointed ears, hissing in His Majesty King Alistair's noble ear.
Not a year gone now, Amaranthine had amassed an army in secret and marched without reservation into the heartland of Ferelden, her Hinterland forests, and Surana had razed Castle Redcliffe in an act of inconceivable arrogance. He had weakened and wounded their nation's defenses for his own gain! He had taken the politics and manipulation of House Guerrin, an expectation and outright reality for the nobility of every other civilized nation, and answered it with naked steel and foul magic. He had torn apart one of the oldest and most respected houses in Ferelden brick by brick and taken their young heir and daughter hostage back with him to Amaranthine.
Now no Arling in Ferelden would stand against him. Arl Bryland of South Reach had tied a lead from his own neck to Surana's magic-scarred hand. Edge Hall and South Hills were reverent in Amaranthine's wake, Redcliffe and Denerim had been shattered from their very foundations by his wrath twice now. It was unbearable, unthinkable, that any mage had been granted such intolerable freedom and permitted to wreak brazen havoc across their nation without even a whisper of reprisal! The Teryn of Highever was misled so far as to carry on in friendly and confident terms with one who walked with the misbegotten pride of magic as his mantle. Even Her Majesty, Queen Anora, was quiet and would never speak a word against his dishonourable person.
It was enough to make her sick with rage.
Hero of Ferelden, so they called him. Slayer of Urthemiel, so it was claimed despite his obvious good health after a battle which ought to have claimed his life in the moment of its end. Three Grey Wardens had stood at the Battle of Denerim and only one had died. Why was it Surana the Hero, not Riordan?
The wealthiest Arling in the nation handed to the thin-fingered clutches of an elf of all the Maker's People- the very sort that never knew coin except to spend it frivolously on drink and dice! A mage who spent every hour of every day taunted by demons given unsupervised control of so many lives and livelihoods. A proud-nosed, insufferable example of what had dragged Shartan's people away from the Maker's guidance and caused their second nation to burn under the boots of the Exalted March.
And now the proud, vile-blooded creature demanded this of her: this aberration.
The Hero of Ferelden was getting married, and she, Grand Cleric Brona of Amaranthine, was being asked to preside over the ceremony. The sanctity of Our Lady Redeemer, the holy centre of Amaranthine Arling, was being petitioned to host a gathering of the Ferelden Grey Wardens, Amaranthine Banns, the Teryn of Highever, the five other Arls of Ferelden, and presence of His and Her Majesties King Alistair and Queen Anora of Ferelden for a mockery of their Lady's teachings.
The elven, magic-corrupted Hero of Ferelden was getting married and not even to a woman of his own kind, but to a human. A Chasind woman not even of Andraste's Blessed following!
It would not be tolerated.
Amaranthine's Grand Cleric would not allow it.
Next chapter is already up because this was less than 1000 words and you guys deserve more. Leave a comment below so I know how you feel about this new start!