The Secret Life of a Royal Bastard
Chapter One
Lying on my back looking up at the full moon surrounded by glistening stars, I ask myself what I seem to have gotten myself into. As I prop myself up onto my elbows and stare into the dancing flames of the campfire, I listen to the crackling of the wood within the fire and to the stumbling around of a familiar voice.
"Find anything, Alistair?" I call back over my shoulder, brushing a lock of my long wavy black hair out of my emerald-green eyes as I do so.
"Some fire wood, some rope, some flint rock, and Oh! A rabbit and some mushrooms." my blonde-haired companion tells me as he shuffles through his pack.
"Rabbit and mushrooms again?" I ask disappointedly.
"It's the best I could do, Arianna." he tells me with a saddened look in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" I ask sitting up to poke at the glowing embers of the campfire.
"Nothing," he says, preparing the rabbit to be cooked, "it's just been a while since I've gotten to do anything that didn't involve being a Grey Warden or fighting against darkspawn. It's nice, just the two of us, under the stars..." he says, looking up at the stars first and then down at me with a sparkle in his beautiful blue eyes.
I grin sheepishly at him and look back down at the fire to poke it back to life again and ask, "Remember when we first me?" I glance up at his face for just a moment to see his reaction to the question. It surprises me to see that he has hardly any emotion in his face, apart from pausing in his efforts to jam the skinned rabbit on a stick to roast atop of our campfire. His face is black and without any expression with hardly any ounce of frustration.
Suddenly a wave of serenity seems to wash over his entire body. Slightly smiling, he turns his head down slightly and resumes tending to the skewered rabbit. He sets the bare rodent in the fired to cook and then leans back onto his elbows. Staring intently at the dancing flames, he cocks his head to one side and closes his eyes deep in thought.
"I was on my way to Denerum, to trade some gems for some food and water. You were just a young elven slave girl running for your life from the Templar's..." he starts his reminiscent story.
*FLASH*BACK*
As I ran for my life from the ever approaching Templars, my bare feet ached and bled as they pounded across the sharp rocks and through the thorn bushes. I held the half eaten loaf of bread that I had stolen closely to my chest. I looked up ahead and saw a clearing, I ran with all my might to get to it before the Templars caught me. As I got closer to the clearing, I saw something moving. I reached the edge of the clearing and jumped forward as far as I could until I hit something hard, I thought I had hit the ground but then came another thud.
"Owww!" said a voice from underneath of me.
"S-sorry..." I stammered out quietly, I opened my eyes slightly to see who I had run into. I had somehow ended up beneath the blonde-haired man, who had now picked himself up and had his hand offered out to me to help me up. I went to grab the strangers hand, when I realized that the loaf of bread I had so desperately protected, was no longer in my possession. I scrambled around in a panic looking for my stolen meal, when I saw it at the edge of the woods. I crawled as fast as I could to reach it in time. I stretched out my arm as far as I could, inches away from being able to grab my prize, when a steel covered foot emerged from the darkness of the woods and landed on my wrist. I screamed in pain and terror as I was snatched up by my hair by the Templar that had been chasing me. A studded-leather glove covered hand struck me across the face, I bit my lip to fight back the scream of agony. Tears swelled in my eyes as another shock wave of pain rushed through my body from a sudden punch to my ribcage. I haucked up all of the bloody saliva that I could and spit it at the exposed face of the Templar. He raised his hand as to strike me again, but stopped suddenly as his hand was blocked by the blonde strangers forearm.
"Don't touch her..." he said threateningly.
"And just who do you think you are?" asked the fuming Templar.
"I'm a Grey Warden. Now let her go." the blonde-haired man demanded.
"This elf is a thief and a runaway slave. She's been on the run from us for several months now." the Templar said angrily as he yanked down on my hair, which made my body fall down onto the ground at the arguing men's feet
"I'll buy her off of you," the blonde stranger offered, "I'll pay you a substantial amount of coin if you say that this young elven slave out ran you before you could catch her."
"How much coin are we talking here?" asked the greedy Templar.
"Well let me see how much I have with me..." the blonde said as he reached into his pack, "...well, how about I get back to you on the payment and just take the girl with me." he said wearily as he backed himself toward me.
"I don't think so." the Templar said angrily.
The next thing I knew I was pushed out of the war by this stranger, who had begun fighting to protect me from the Templar's. It was one against three, but somehow this blonde stranger had defeated all of them with only a few scratches.
I sat on the ground in the torn rags that my previous owners had called clothes, in complete disbelief at what had just happened. Then I remembered the loaf of bread that had started the whole ordeal. I looked around to find it and when I did find it I scarfed it down as fast as I could. When I had finished gorging myself on my stolen meal, I looked up to see a strong hand, gesturing to help me to my feet. I wiped the crumbs off of my face and grabbed the hand of my rescuer and pulled myself up.
"I'm Alistair," said the blonde-haired man, "what's you name?"
"Arianna." I mumbled under my breath as I brushed the crumbs off the torn skirt that hung just above my knees.
"You're bleeding..." he said, as he looked down at my legs and feet.
"Really? I hadn't noticed." I said sarcastically. He gave me a sour look, but it softened as he grabbed my hands, as to inspect them as well. I was surprised to see the my hands were bleeding as well as my legs and feet.
"Let me help you." Alistair said softly.
"Why?" I snapped at him, "So you can hold it over my head and make me your eternal slave?" I screamed at him. 'Why would he want to help me? He's a human. A filthy, greedy human who wants nothing more than to satisfy himself first above all else.' I thought to myself.
"No, actually, I just want to help you." he said softly as he looked me in the eyes. I was reluctant to let him help me with my wounds, but to my surprise, Alistair skillfully wrapped my wounds with clean bandages.
When he finished tending to my wounds, he gave me a flask of water and told me to drink. After I had finished the water we sat and talked until the sun had set.
"So, why are you being to nice to me? I mean, you must want something in return." I asked him as he started to make a fire.
"And why would I? Why do you ask me that? You seem as if you have never known generosity." he said as he gave me a confused look.
"Well nobody has ever just done something for me without wanting something in return, and the fact that you're a human doesn't help any. All of the humans that I've ever encountered have either been those chauvinistic-pigs you call Templar's, or fat-disgusting slave trading men who think they can get away with whatever they want because elves aren't considered important enough." I ranted on about my past experiences with the human race, as Alistair set up a tent.
"Well I can understand how you hate humans, especially with the experiences that you've had. But I assure you, I'm nothing like those other humans that you've met in the past." he said with a sincere look in his eyes.
"Okay then, I believe you, buy I'm going to let you know now, I don't like you, and I plan on it staying that way." I said as I glared at him.
"O-okay." he stammered out looking at the base of the fire.
"I'm going to go to bed now." I said as I rolled over on my mat.
"Alright then. Goodnight." Was the last thing I heard him say before I drifted off into dream world.
*ARIANNA'S*DREAM*
I was running, but I had no idea why. Nothing was chasing me, and the only sounds I heard were my feet hitting the stone beneath me and the sound of my own breathing.
It was strange being in a place so dark and terrifying that was supposed to be a dream. The I realized that it wasn't a dream, nor even a nightmare, but a memory, and a horrible one at that. And I was trying to outrun my past.
I realized what part of my past I was reliving, the worst three months on my entire life. Worse than the elven slave camp. even though that was where I spent a majority of my childhood, before I was sold to a greedy man and his family to be a personal slave for his eldest son.
Thomas was his name, a handsome looking boy, but he had the temperament of a child and his father would have no less than the best for his favorite child. The boy was more spoiled than possibly imaginable, it seemed as if he had never heard the word 'No' before. The time I spent serving Thomas was the worst in my life.
One day, after the sun had set and the moon had risen high into the night sky, as I lie, sleeping in my quarters. I awoke suddenly to a loud shuffling of my sheets. The moon shown through a small window to light up the intruders face.
"Don't scream or I'll kill you." whispered the familiar voice as I felt a knife being pressed against my throat.
'Thomas!'
"What do you want?" I whispered back to him. I asked the question, knowing very well what it was that he wanted.
"You will be mine." he declared as he ripped off my night gown. I gasped at the sudden wave of coldness that washed over my body. My eyes had closed shut at the sudden pressure of my clothes being town away from my body. When I opened them I saw that Thomas wore nothing more than his robes, loosely tide around his waist. The massive bulge at the base of his torso confirmed my suspicions that he wasn't for me to attend some midnight chores.
He grabbed my hair and brought my face to his and shoved his tongue into my mouth. I felt three of his massive fingers being shoved into me harshly. I groaned at the waves of pain that were sent radiating throughout my entire body. Thomas took off his robes and then climbed on top of me...
*DREAM*END*
