If any of you are wondering why I have not been updating my Far Cry fanfic, well this is why. I accepted a challenge from Reviwer543 to write a Dragon Age fanfic. The challenge is to make a multi-class warden. You know, rouge, mage, and warrior. I have always wanted to write my own DA fic, but I never had the motivation or even a good idea on how to write it. But this challenge has inspired me and given me many great ideas on how to go about it, so I believe I can do it! And just so everyone knows this is a OC origin. I'm doing and elf-blooded origin!
I'd like to give a shout out to authors Reviewer543 and Powerslammer. Reviewer543, thanks for the support and patience for writing this story. And thank you Powerslammer for providing me guidance and information on the dragon age world and characterization. Thank you both for answering my questions when I needed them. I could not have done this story, without either of your help!
Everyone reading this should go check out these two authors stories. They are amazing writers and a couple of the best authors on this whole site!
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age. That's Bioware.
Now then, on with the show!
In Fereldan, the Brecilian Forest is one of its most mysterious landmarks. For within this dense and seemingly endless forest lays treasures and secrets not seen in ages. People from all over come to search and plunder its treasures, but most are never seen or heard from again. That's because the Brecilian Forest is home to many dangerous creatures, including wolves, bears, and giant spiders, but it is also home to the supernatural. For centuries, spirits, demons, and magic have roamed this forest thanks to the thin veil, causing mischief and spreading fear to trespassers. Who could ever make a home in the middle of this dangerous forest?
The dalish, ever since their defeat and exile from the Dales, have been the wanderers of Thedas. A once mighty people and empire reduced to vagabonds. But the dalish never let that bring them down. For even though they have lost much and their people scattered to the winds, their pride for their culture, traditions, and the close familial connections of their clan have kept them strong.
Being branded as a heathen people by the rest of the world, the human world, the dalish look for places to hide and rest as they travel the world in search of a new home. Since the time of Arlathan the elves have always had a natural connection to nature. So it would be only natural for them to seek out forests as places of refuge.
Right now one of the hundreds of dalish clans, the Sabrae Clan, has set up camp in the deepest parts of the forest.
Two Dalish hunters were hunting for food for the clan. One was named Revion, he had black hair tied in a bun, blue eyes, and the vallaslin of Andruil. The other was Sadron, who had short blonde hair, green eyes, and the vallaslin of Elgar'nan. So far they had not come across anything, which was unusual because the Brecilian forest was always filled with food. They had not even come across a hare or a crow. The two hunters were about to call it quits and hope the other hunters managed to get more food, until one of them noticed something in the distance.
"Hey Revion."
"What Sadron?"
"Look over there." Sadron pointed out through the tree line a thin line of rising smoke.
"Smoke? The clan is in the other direction. Do you think it's humans?"
"Not sure. We should check it out. If it is humans, they could cause trouble for us in the future."
"Think we should kill them or just scare them off?"
"If they are potentially hostile we'll kill them, unless there are more, then we alert the clan and plan an attack. If they're not a threat we'll just scare them off. Either way will be fun."
Revion and Sadron stealthily made their way to the camp. They did not want to alert any humans if there were many of them. When they arrived at the camp, they found it empty, but it looked like they hadn't left that long ago. The camp was small and by the river. The fire was still smoking after being put out not that long ago, fish were freshly strung up by a tree, their scales and heads removed already and out of the reach of animals.
The first thing that Sadron and Revion noticed was that the camp was small. So there could not be too many of them. The second thing they noticed was that there had to be quite a few at least because of the amount of fish that was collected. That amount of fish could feed half the clan.
"We must have just missed them."
Revion noticed something about the ground. "Hey Sadron look at the ground."
"What about it?"
"Notice something that isn't there?"
Sadron scrunched his face in confusion, until he realized what Revion was talking about. "There are no footprints or tracks."
"Exactly. Obviously someone set up this camp, but they knew how to move their feet in order to not leave any tracks."
"I thought we dalish were the only ones to know how to do that." Sadron said amazed.
Suddenly the two heard some bushes rustle behind them. The two hunters quickly spun around, their bows drawn.
"We're not alone."
"Ya think?"
It was quiet for a while until the rustling started again. The two hunters let loose their arrows, but they missed their mark. Whatever was moving was now running.
"After it!" Revion shouted. If it was a human they couldn't let them warn any other humans.
The two dalish elves gave chase. Whatever was running was really fast as it kept dodging their arrows and seemed to get farther from the two elves. Suddenly Revion tripped a wire that was well hidden and was nearly whacked in the head by a pulled branch.
"Whoa! What the hell!?" Revion Shouted as he ducked underneath the branch.
Sadron then got snagged by a rope trap and was dragged up a tree. "Sadron!" Revion shouted. He tossed his dagger at the rope and cut it mid-air. Sadron fell to the ground and kept running with Revion.
"Traps?! How did I not see that!?"
"This shem is making us chase him through a field of traps."
"At least we're more alert to them now." Sadron said. Unfortunately he spoke too soon as Revion fell into a pit fall.
"Ah! Shit!" Revion cursed.
"Are you alright Revion?" Sadron called down in concern.
"Yeah." Revion said as he rubbed his head in pain. The pitfall thankfully had nothing at the bottom of it. It seems it was only meant to incapacitate its captives not kill them. "Can you get me out of here?"
"Yeah, I have a rope hang on." Sadron said as he pulled out a rope from his pack and threw it down the hole after tying it to a tree. "Okay, pull yourself up!" Sadron called, but then his vision went black when something hard hit him in the back of the head.
Revion pulled himself up out of the hole and saw Sadron lying on the ground, not dead, but unconscious, thankfully. He had to get up and help Sadron, but then something hit him in the back of the head and everything went black.
Dalish Camp
Marethari was growing nervous. Almost all of the hunters had returned except for two: Revion and Sadron. They should have been back an hour ago. She would have sent help the moment they didn't arrive after the others, but she figured they were just lost or went too far when tracking some animal, so she decided to give them an hour. Now they still weren't back and she was worrying.
"Hunters prepare a search party. Two of our hunters haven't returned yet and we need to find them." Marethari ordered. The hunters all nodded, but they saw something in the distance and their eyes went wide in shock.
Marethari turned around and saw what shocked her hunters so much. A halla was galloping into camp, it had some vines tied around it, but that wasn't the strangest part. The strangest part was the fact that the vines tied around it were dragging both a screaming Revion and Sadron behind it. The halla stopped in the middle of camp and bit the vines off it and then ran off back into the forest the same way it came in.
"Revion! Sadron!" Marethari yelled worriedly. The others snapped out of their stupor when she yelled and helped up the two sore elves. Their armor and weapons were apparently gone.
Both Revion and Sadron groaned and rubbed their heads in pain.
"What happened?" Marethari asked.
Revion and Sadron explained what had happened. How they found a camp and chased after a single target, only to be ambushed by traps and knocked out.
"When we had woken up we had found ourselves without our armor and weapons and already being dragged by the halla." Sadron said.
Many of the dalish looked skeptical, that a single person could best two well trained dalish hunters, but they just couldn't explain this predicament.
"Are you sure it was a human? That halla knew what it was doing and willingly dragged you two here. The halla have always been considerate of our kind. Halla would never take orders from a human and they would never do something like this."
Revion looked down in shame. "No we don't know if it was a human. We never even got a good look at them."
"Maybe it was another elf, but if it was a dalish they wouldn't have a problem showing themselves, right?" Sadron deduced.
That was true. Another dalish would explain the halla's behavior, but then there would be no need for such actions. It could be a renegade dalish or maybe a ranger. Rangers always were good with animals. Nothing Marethari thought of made any sense.
"Keeper!"
Marethari turned around to see Hahren Paivel rush over to her. In his arms were a bundle of dalish arms and armor.
"What is it Hahren?"
"Keeper. I found these weapons and armor by my aravel. They belong to Revion and Sadron." Paivel answered worriedly.
Marethari's eyes opened in surprise and examined the items. They were indeed Revion and Sadron's armor and weapons. Marethari began to grow worried.
"You said you found these by your aravel, Hahren?" Paivel nodded his head slowly. "Your aravel is in the middle of the camp." She continued. Paivel just nodded again. Revion and Sadron returned to camp without their weapons and armor and their weapons and armor were located in the middle of the camp. That meant only one thing.
"Someone entered our camp without being seen or noticed by anyone. Someone managed to sneak past our defenses and evade the sight of every dalish elf in camp." Marethari said that with calm urgency. But deep inside she was freaking out. Someone, possibly human based on Revion and Sadron's testimonies, bypassed their guard and walked right into their camp without anyone seeing anything. The only reason Marethari wasn't barking at her clan to pack up and move out was because there was a high possibility that whoever was the trespasser, meant them no harm. Revion and Sadron, while bruised and beaten, were not severely injured. Whoever attacked them sent them back to the clan mostly unharmed. Then they snuck into camp and dropped off their gear without anyone seeing them. They could have killed her hunters and kept the gear . . . but they didn't. The more Marethari thought about it, the more it didn't make sense.
The Keeper shook it off for right now. They had more important things to worry about.
"Get Revion and Sadron to my tent and I'll see to their injuries. Hahren Paival take their gear to Craft Master Ilen, to see if it has been tampered with. Someone out there managed to beat two of our hunters and sneak into our camp without anyone noticing. No one is to leave camp without my permission."
. . .
Unbeknownst to the adult elves, three elven children were hiding behind an aravel and listening in on their conversation. There was one boy and two girls. The single boy had blue eyes and short blonde hair. He had this look of excitement on him as he thought about what the elders had discussed. The first girl had a timid atmosphere about her, but also curious. She had short black hair that was tied in two long pigtails and green eyes. The last child and the second little girl was much like the boy, but they were not related. She had blonde hair that she kept tied in a short ponytail, light sky blue eyes, but unlike the other two she was paying attention more to the warnings of the elders. All three of them were the same age of eight and were the closest of friends. The boy was named Tamlen, and the two girls were named Merrill and Lyna.
"Did you here that, Lyna? Something in the woods managed to outsmart two senior hunters." The boy, Tamlen, said.
"What do you think could have done that to take down two hunters?" Merrill asked.
"I say we find out."
Lyna shook her head no. "Come on you guys. You heard the Keeper. No one is to leave the camp. Besides we don't know what attacked them out there. Two hunters were beaten. What hope do we have against something like that?"
"Come on Lyna. We don't have to fight anything. We've all been working on our hiding techniques. We can just sneak around and try to discover what we are dealing with. If it's too much we run back to the clan."
"I agree with Tamlen. We can help the clan by at least discovering what this is." Merrill said. She thought it was worth the risk if it helped the clan.
Lyna sighed. She didn't know why she was arguing with them. They never listened to her and they always did the one thing that they shouldn't. This is why in the clan they were called the Troublesome Trio. Tamlen finds trouble, Merrill gets them into trouble, and Lyna gets them out of trouble.
"Fine, I'll grab my stuff and we'll sneak out of the camp."
"Come on don't look like that. What could go wrong?"
Somewhere in the Brecilian Forest
Apparently a lot went wrong.
"RUN!" Lyna shouted.
The troublesome trio had managed to sneak out of camp without anyone seeing them. The three children had brought their own little bows and knives to protect themselves against beasts and whoever attacked their clansmen. The three children were out for at least an hour, but their search came up with nothing. They were about to call it quits and head back to the clan, unfortunately they had run into a wolf pack.
At first the two parties were just staring at each other, before the wolves started to growl. The three elven children started running, the wolves howled and barked and gave chase. As they ran Lyna fired some arrows at the wolves to slow them down. Unfortunately the wolves quickly dodged the oncoming arrows or the arrows only grazed their hides.
The kids weren't able to get far and they were quickly corned into a large tree by the wolves. The kids backed up and were trapped. There was no way for them to escape. A large wolf came towards the front of the wolf pack. This wolf had grey fur showing off its age and it had scars all over it. It's most notable scar was a slash mark over its left eye. This must have been the alpha wolf.
The alpha wolf barked a few times and a few wolves started to slowly creep forward towards the three elven children. Lyna refused to go down like this and pulled on the string of her bow. She only had one arrow left.
Lyna fired her last arrow, but the shot only grazed the wolf and it also pissed the hound off. The wolf growled at the little elf girl and lunged. "Lyna look out!" Tamlen yelled. Lyna threw her bow down, pulled out her knife in defense and shut her eyes. She prayed to Mythal that something would save her.
The wolf was inches away from her, but mid-lunge something fell from the trees and landed on top of the wolf's back. To the elven children's surprise it was a human boy, probably no older than they were. The boy back flipped off the canine's back and grabbed the beast by the tail and swung it at the nearby wolves, knocking them back. The boy then threw the wolf at the pack, making the wolves back off a bit.
The boy stood defiantly in front of the alpha wolf and glared at him. The alpha growled at the human boy, but the boy did not flinch. The human unsheathed a dagger from his side, Lyna took note that the dagger he had was a dar'misu, but it looked different.
"Get lost Scarbos! Find food somewhere else." The boy ordered the alpha.
Lyna and the others were shocked that the human, no older than they were even, was ordering the alpha wolf like it was his equal. The wolf only continued to growl and so did the rest of the pack, but the human only returned the growl with a glare and a growl of his own. After a few minutes of growling at each other, the elven children were once again shocked when the alpha wolf barked at its pack and they all left, but not before the alpha gave the human one last glare and ran after its pack.
The human kept his eyes on the wolf until it was out of site. When he could no longer see the wolves he put the dagger back to his side and turned to the shocked looking elven children.
He approached the little elves and Lyna was once again on the defense. He may be a boy no older than them, but they've heard and seen what humans could do and how they've treated elves.
"Stay back human!" she barked.
The boy paused for a moment, but then in a speed she did not expect the boy was inches from her face and slapped the knife out of her hands and then grasped her hand with both of his own and shook her hand.
A friendly smile was now on his face. "Hello, name's Adarian what's yours?"
Surprised at how fast he was and how he ignored her threat like it was nothing, all Lyna could do was answer unsurely. "M-my names Lyna."
"Nice to meet you, Lyna! And who are your friends?"
"Tamlen and Merrill." Lyna answered without realizing it.
"Nice to meet you both!"
Merrill nodded in greeting, but Tamlen snapped out of his stupor and glared at the boy. "Hey! Get away from her, shemlen!" Tamlen got up and got between Adarian and Lyna.
Adarian took a step back, but his friendly grin didn't falter. "Is that anyway to thank someone who just helped you?"
"We didn't ask for your help shem." Tamlen seethed. Lyna still just stared at the human child and Merrill seemed to have forgotten her fear and looked curious.
Adarian smirked. "This is wolf pack territory, normally wolves would avoid contact with elves or humans, but they won't say no to eating little elves that are all alone."
The others flinched at that.
"You're lucky I was here. I'm probably the only human the animals of this forest respect or like. That's not to say the animals don't like elves, but elves don't live among the animals."
"How did you get those wolves to go away?" Merrill asked.
Adarian smiled. "I was raised by that pack for a while, so they respect me. Not to mention they know I can kick their tails if I want to."
"You were raised by wolves?" Tamlen said in disbelief.
"That's right. They're technically my family and this forest is my home."
"You live here in the Brecilian Forest?" Lyna said surprised.
"Yeah!"
They didn't really know what to say to that.
Lyna took the moment of silence to look at the human. He looked to be the same age as them, eight years old maybe older by a year. He had long messy brown hair that was just . . . unkempt, was the best word she could describe it. But, he did have bright emerald green eyes that just seemed to shine with wonder and innocence. Lyna didn't know why, but she liked his eyes. He was wearing furs and leathers on his body like clothes. Did he make those himself? She wondered.
"You guys must be from that dalish clan south from here. Andaran atish'an." Adarian said.
The three looked at him with even more surprise. This shemlen spoke elvish? He knew there language?
"H-how do you know those words?" Tamlen asked, getting weirded out by this kid more and more.
"That's because I'm part elf. That makes us half-brothers! Cool huh?"
"You're a seth'lin?" Tamlen said with a bit of annoyance.
"If that means I'm an elf-blooded human, then yes."
Tamlen was about to say something rude to him, but Lyna interrupted him, by asking the half-blood something she noticed he said.
"Wait, how do you know about our clan and where it is?" Lyna asked. It wasn't weird that he knew that a dalish was in the area, but it was odd that he knew it was specifically in the south.
"Because I've been there." He answered honestly and the three children suddenly became more wary. He was there? In the camp? Without anyone noticing? That could only mean one thing, but none of them could believe it.
"W-why were you there?" Lyna asked nervously.
"To return the stuff that belonged to those two hunters. It wasn't mine and I didn't want them to hurt themselves so I snuck in and dropped them off." The half-blood once again answered honestly.
"How did you get their armor and weapons? Did the person that beat them tell you to?" Merrill asked.
"What? No! I beat those two hunters. I removed their stuff in case they woke up while I tied them to the halla." Now the children took a step back in surprise and fear. This boy? This boy, no older than them beat two experienced hunters? They wanted to think he was lying, but there was something about him that just said he wasn't.
"No way you beat two of our hunters! The dalish aren't pushovers! You're lying!"
"No I'm not." Adarian said simply.
"Yes you are!"
"No I'm not." Adarian repeated a bit more teasingly.
"Yes you are!" Tamlen yelled vehemently. He was obviously being baited, but Tamlen didn't notice.
"No I'm not." Adarian chuckled a little at the end of his response.
"Yes you are!" Tamlen yelled finally.
". . . . . . No I'm not."
Tamlen balled his fist and was ready to punch the annoying seth'lin, but Lyna got between the two before anything violent happened. They may not trust the kid in front of them, but the seth'lin did save their lives. No need to try and beat him up. Key word: try, since the half-elf did scare off a pack of hungry wolves.
"Why did you attack our people?!" Lyna yelled, angry that her people got hurt because of this kid.
Adarian rubbed the back of his head, as if he did something embarrassing. "Well, they entered my camp while I was hunting. They discovered me and I had to run. I ran through the traps I set up around my camp and they fell for it. The traps I set up around my camp are only meant to stop my targets, not kill them."
That was one question done. Lyna's eyes fell to the boy's weapon.
"That dagger you have. That's a dar'misu, a dagger crafted by our people." Merrill said.
"Cool, huh?" He unsheathed the dagger and tossed it up in the air a few times. "I found this in some ruins a few miles from here. I call it Snake Bite."
Now that it was out again, Lyna got a better look at the boy's weapon. It was definitely a dar'misu, but its design was a little different from her peoples. It was more curvaceous for one and it was in the image of a snake. The blade was thin and sharp, to look like its tail. The handle was the scaly body and the pommel was the snake's head. Very odd.
Merrill realized that the boy had discovered ruins that could possibly have belonged to their people. She enthusiastically approached the boy and Adarian stepped back in surprise.
"Will you please show us!" Merrill pleaded. "Can you bring us to these ruins that you found?"
Adarian just stared at her for a moment before replying.
"No."
"Why not!?" Tamlen yelled.
"Those ruins are haunted by demons and corpses. You guys couldn't handle a pack of wolves. You'd never survive an hour in that place on your own."
The three elven children looked upset by that, but they knew the half-blood boy was right. As much as they wanted to be useful to their clan, they weren't strong enough yet. However . . .
"Then will you come back to our clan with us?" Lyna asked. "If we can't go, then the adults can. Will you help us?"
Adarian just stared at them again, before answering.
"No."
The children were once again angry.
"Why not!?"
"I've got a feeling that your clan won't like me and I'd prefer to avoid them. After all I did attack a couple of your hunters."
"And what if we don't give you a choice?" Tamlen threatened.
Adarian smirked and chuckled. "I just kicked a wolf's butt. What do you think I could do to you? Someone who couldn't even handle a pack of wolves?"
Tamlen and Lyna both started to sweat nervously as the half-blood was right once again. Even though they didn't want to admit it. This boy was stronger than them just by scaring off the wolf pack. He even managed to toss a full grown wolf over his head and into the other wolves. This boy had every reason not to be intimidated by them.
Before they could stop her, Merrill approached Adarian again. She had her hands clasped together and looked up at Adarian with big watery eyes.
"Oh, please! Please, come back with us. We would be very grateful if you'd help us. We promise to make sure nothing bad happens to you. Keeper Marethari is a very kind woman. If you help us I know she'd treat you generously."
Adarian stepped back from the begging Merrill in fear. He looked at this little girl's eyes. They were so big, cute, and sad! Adarian knew this move. It was a move that wolf pups always used on him when they desired something: The Puppy Dog Eyes!
Adarian tried not to look at her directly and shielded his eyes and face. "NO, I won't be so easily swayed!" He refused vehemently.
Lyna's eyes widened as she realized that Merrill could influence the boy with her Puppy Dog Eyes! No one, not even Keeper Marethari at times, could resist Merrill's Puppy Dog Eyes.
Lyna whispered into Merrill's ears. "Merrill, keep looking at him like that."
Merrill looked confused for a moment. "Huh, why?"
"Just do it."
Merrill didn't bother to question Lyna again and just kept begging. Her eyes somehow got bigger and tears were starting to drop from the sides. Merrill's lip was also starting to tremble a little adding to the effect even more.
Adarian continued to resist, but he was slowly losing the fight. He groaned and shook his head several times until he could no longer take it anymore.
"Mmmmmmm-ARGH! Alright! I'll go to your camp just stop looking at me like that!" Adarian yelled in frustration.
The three elven children smiled and shouted in victory. Tamlen and Lyna ran up to Merrill and gave her a group hug, which made the little black-haired elf blush a little.
Adarian just sat on the ground and pouted and grumbled at being beaten by big green eyes.
Dalish Camp
The three children and their new discovery returned to the Sabrae clan, where they were pretty much scolded by every adult in the camp.
"You three are in big trouble." The Keeper scowled. "Tamlen, how many times have I told you to stay in the camp. Merrill, you are to be the leader of this clan one day, you need to be more responsible than this. And Lyna, you have more sense than these two combined; you need to try harder to stop them from doing something rash." Marethari scolded.
The three children looked down in shame, but spoke up quickly to defend themselves.
"But Keeper, we only went out to help the clan to discover what attacked Sadron and Revion." Tamlen reasoned.
"Yes! And Keeper we found him." Merrill said.
Marethari still scowled at the children, but it lessened when she heard what the little elves said. "Him?"
Lyna decided to speak up this time. "Yes Keeper, at first we ran into some trouble with a pack of wolves, but he suddenly came out of nowhere and scared the wolves off."
"Who is 'him'?" Marethari asked impatiently.
"The human boy behind us of cou-" Lyna turned around to point at Adarian, but he was nowhere to be seen. She could've sworn he was behind them when they arrived. "Where is he!?"
"He was behind us a second ago." Tamlen said as he spun around looking for the half-elf.
Marethari was growing even more impatient. "What are you children going on about?"
Merrill was the one to answer as her friends continued to look around. "We found the one that ambushed Sadron and Revion. It was a single boy about our age."
The Keeper and the other adults listening to the children were scowling once again. They obviously didn't believe the children because it sounded too ridiculous. A child beating two skilled dalish hunters and scaring off a pack of wolves, it sounded too farfetched to be true.
Marethari sighed. "Children, you are already in enough trouble as it is. Don't make it worse by fabricating stories."
"But . . . but we really did find a boy. He really was here with us." Merrill said on the brink of tears.
"Children, this is inexcusable. We were all worried for you. You should not have gone out on your own. You are not making things easier by making-"
Suddenly a scream was heard throughout the camp and made everyone jump in surprise. Everyone turned in the direction the scream came from and saw it was Maren, the apprentice of the clan's halla keeper. She was on the ground and was looking at something in shock. That something was Adarian looking and petting one of the Sabrae clan's hallas.
All the dalish in the camp from the children to adults were looking on in surprise. A human child was in the middle of their camp and no one had noticed him until that very moment. How could they miss a human, child or not, enter their camp and not even be noticed?
Adarian just kept petting the halla's head, which was starting to mew and flap its ears in pleasure from the boy's attention.
"Oohhh, you're such a pretty halla. You're so well taken care of." Adarian reached into his back pocket and pulled out some edible plants. "Here you go. Have some, I've been told it's quite good." The halla easily ate the plants and began to chew. When it was done the halla licked the boy in thanks. "Hehehe your welcome."
The dalish couldn't believe what they were seeing. The halla easily trusted the boy. Halla rarely show trust like that to any human even to children. Halla only ever trust dalish elves like that on the first try, but for some reason the halla wasn't cautious of the child. As if there was nothing to actually be wary of.
The dalish started to surround the boy. Adarian turned around when shadows fell over him and he remembered where he was.
Oops. He got so easily distracted by the halla he forgot he was in another's territory. The dalish while surprised by the boy, still glowered at him.
The forest was all anyone could hear in the camp, until Adarian spoke up.
"Hi!" the boy smiled brightly and waved.
"Where did you come from little shem?"
"You need to return to your home before you bring trouble to our clan."
"How did you even get in here?"
Many questions were fired at Adarian that they were starting to shout over each other. The halla grew annoyed by the dalish's treatment of the kind boy that fed it and moved to the boys side in defense. It mewled and stamped the ground with its hooves, telling the elves to back off.
The dalish were one again shocked. The halla was defending the boy even though it just met the kid.
Marethari approached calmly. Unlike her fellow clansman, she knew that this boy was something special if the halla was willing to trust and defend him.
"Forgive them child. They are just worried about, not only you sneaking in here undetected, but also the possibility of you bringing more humans." Marethari said sagely.
The bright smile never left Adarian's face. "It's okay. They don't need to worry. Humans won't be coming to look for me." Adarian said as he petted the halla.
Marethari raised an eyebrow at this. No one will come for this child? "Does that mean you are out here all by yourself?"
"Yep."
"Where are your parents or the village that you live in?"
"I don't live in a village" then Adarian looked down at the ground in sadness. "and I don't know where my parents are."
"So you're out here all on your own?" Adarian nodded. "How long have you been here?"
Adarian's face scrunched in thought until he held up four fingers. "Four winters have passed since I been in this forest."
"You've lived alone in this forest for four years?" Marethari couldn't believe a child could live out here and survive.
"Mm-hmm. It's been great the animals have taken great care of me, the forest provides a lot of food to eat, and there's always something to do." Adarian scanned the elves that surrounded him. "Man, this is the first time I've actually met elves up close. Well, except for my father."
Many of the clan then started to scowl at the boy.
"Your father? Your father was an elf?" The boy looked very much human, so that could only mean one thing. "You're a half elf?"
"Yeah. My father was a dalish elf. I know because he had markings on his face like you guys and pointed ears. I always wanted face tattoos like yours. They look so cool!"
Marethari shook her head at the boy's scattered-mindedness. It was almost as bad as Merrill's. "Focus child. You said you live here in this forest alone. So what happened to your father and what about your mother?"
The boy's face scrunched as he tried to think. "Ow, ow! I . . . I don't know. I remember my dad was an elf like you guys and my mom was human, but. . . . argh!" Adarian winced in pain like something stung him. "I-I'm sorry. I can't remember. It hurts when I try to. I know what my parents were, but I don't remember who or where they are. I don't even remember where I used to live. All I remember is waking up by a river bank, very hurt and then being taken in by a wolf pack. The rest is history."
Marethari raised an eyebrow at that. 'Amnesia? The boy seems to have retained information about himself, but not about his parents or the life he once lived. From what he's said, it sounds like he experienced a lot of trauma. More than likely his parents are dead. Killed by humans maybe? They definitely don't like it when humans mingle with elves.' Marethari looked behind her at her clan, seeing the disapproved looks on their faces. 'Though I suppose we are no better either.' The Keeper thought sadly.
"Adarian you said that you'd tell them about those ruins you found!" Lyna said eagerly.
Shaken out of her thoughts Marethari returned to the main reason at hand. "Oh yes. The little ones appear to have told the truth about you. I apologize for not believing you children."
"It's okay Keeper." Merrill said. Lyna and Tamlen also forgave her as well.
"Now then, Lyna, Merrill, and Tamlen said that you had discovered some ruins here in the Brecilian Forest?"
Adarian perked up. "Yeah! I know a lot of places here in the forest. I recently found these old ruins not too far from here." Adarian then pulled out Snake Bite and showed it off. "I found this beauty while I was in there."
Craftmaster Paival examined the dagger. "Interesting, it looks like of Tevinter design, but this is definitely a dar'misu, an elven dagger and it's definitely old."
Sadron walked up quickly to Adarian and swiped the dagger from his little hands. "This belongs to the dalish you little seth'lin." Sadron said.
Marethari was about to admonish Sadron for being so disrespectful to the child, however, much to her and everyone's astonishment, Adarian punched Sadron right between the legs and when the elf bent over in pain, Adarian swiped back his dagger and socked Sadron under the chin and sent him back.
Sadron was in such a daze and pain that all he did was groan for a few minutes.
Marethari couldn't believe her eyes. A boy who was only eight managed to down a fully grown man in less than a minute. The Keeper calmed down the rest of her people so that they didn't attack the boy. Sadron was the one in the wrong here for being so rude. The half-blood just reacted first.
Everyone calmed down and Revion tried to tend to his friend. Revion spared a glare at the seth'lin, but the boy glared back with equal aggression. Adarian hugged the dagger close to him like it was his whole world. Marethari looked at his attire. The animal pelts around him and the small satchels were all that he had on him, so Marethari assumed that that dagger was all the boy had as a personal possession. As far as she could tell.
"This dagger is mine. I found it, so it belongs to me!" He yelled out childishly and stomped his foot on the ground. The others looked like they would take the dagger by force, but another look from her made them stop.
Marethari slowly approached the boy and he took one step back, but that was it. She smiled kindly and extended her hand out.
"May I see that dagger young man?" Marethari asked politely. Adarian held the dagger closer to him and looked hesitantly at the Keeper's outstretched hand.
"You promise to give it back?" He asked warily.
Marethari smiled warmly. "I promise." Adarian slowly relented and handed the dagger to the old elf.
Marethari examined the dagger and just as Paival said the dagger was definitely elven in make, but the design was something that was akin to Tevinter. The dagger was slender and curvaceous. The handle looked like it was covered in snake scales and the pommel of the blade had the head of a snake with its fangs bared. The eyes were made of rubies and the fangs were emeralds. The boy had definitely named this blade properly, the Snake Bite. Marethari saw something written under the blade, in elven no less. "May our love poison others and make us stronger." That was interesting, but it didn't offer anything more useful.
Marethari knelt down to the boy and held out the dagger. "Can you show us where you found this dagger, dalen?"
Adarian took the dagger back and smiled kindly at the elder elf. "Sure I can! I know lots of places in this forest, but the place I found Snake Bite in has demons in it." He warned, but still kept that childish smile.
Marethari smiled. "Then I will bring the best with me then."
Adarian nodded and Marethari gathered their best hunters
. . .
Marethari had rounded up a few hunters, including Revion and Sadron, who were still glaring at the child that beat them up so thoroughly. They were following the boy for a while now and some of the hunters were thinking they were falling into some kind of trap. They thought no child could live out here without a grown human to watch them and that the boy was leading them into a shem trap. Marethari had no such paranoid ideas. The boy was all alone out here. He was just an orphan living off the forest and besides, judging from his life style, Adarian had the option of living among humans, but he simply chose not to.
"Keeper, are you sure we should follow this kid. We don't know anything about him."
"I agree with Revion, Keeper." Sadron said. "This kid is unnatural."
"Indeed. But, he is still just a child. As are the rest of you." The hunters flinched at those words. Everyone was a child compared to Marethari. "But you were the one to try and take his dagger Sadron. It is his, let him keep it. He is taking us to the ruins he found the dagger in, so whatever we find in there will be ours. The boy can keep the dagger."
"We're almost there!" Adarian yelled out.
A few more minutes of walking and Adarian had brought them to the entrance of a ruin. The ruins themselves looked like it used to be a small fortress. The gate was in ruins and the walls were crumbling to pieces. Entering the ruins was a small court yard that had nothing in it other than rubble. The boy led them to some stairs leading down to some aging metal doors.
"I'll show you where I found the dagger. I didn't get all the way through because of the undead and demons, but maybe with you guys here we'll find something more." Adarian said.
They entered the ruins. So far nothing had happened. It was eerily quiet, but Marethari could feel how thin the veil was here. A lot of people must have died here years ago.
So far they had not discovered anything unusual. Just rubble and Tevinter architecture. Unknown to one of the hunters, Adarian pulled out his dagger and snuck behind him. By the time the hunter realized the boy was coming at him with his dagger, the boy had already thrusted it at his face. But it missed him by several inches. The hunter had shut his eyes, but he opened them when he realized that he wasn't dead. The boy still had that smile on his face and showed a white and red snake that was stabbed on his dagger. That snake was one of the most poisonous creatures in the forest.
"You need to be more careful." Adarian said not noticing the freaked out elf's mood. "There are more dangers here in this tomb than just demons." The boy pulled off the snake on his dagger and put it in his satchel. "That's my lunch." He said simply and walked off without any care in the world.
The hunter looked at his fellow dalish. None of them expected that to happen. Even Marethari was surprised, but since the half-blood had no ill intent they decided to let it go for now and keep on exploring.
They entered a large room that was littered with corpses. The hunters examined the remains and only found a few items and some coppers and silvers, but nothing of any real value.
Keeper Marethari examined the architecture around her.
"Hmm, this appears to be Tevinter work. From the looks of it this place used to be some kind of outpost. Must be when Tevinter first entered these lands and tried to take it over."
"Some of these corpses are centuries old, but I've spotted a few that have only been rotting for a few months. The older corpses seem to have died from battle and the earlier corpses look like the work of demons." One of the hunters spoke up.
Marethari hummed in thought and turned to Adarian who was poking one of the corpses with a stick. "Is that healthy?" Marethari mumbled quietly. She shook off her thoughts and asked Adarian, "Adarian is this where you found the dagger?"
Adarian dropped the stick and responded. "No, I got it a few chambers from here." He answered.
"I see."
Suddenly the room grew cold and Marethari's eyes widened.
"Everyone prepare for battle!" She yelled out.
Suddenly the shadows on the walls began to move and out of the shadows came shades. The corpses began to rise and hiss at the elves.
The corpse that Adarian had poked moments ago hissed in his face. Adarian just stared at it blankly and then stabbed it in the face with his dagger. The corpse then fell dead once again.
Marethari fought most of the shades while the hunters dealt with the corpses. A couple of hunters used their bows to headshot some corpses, while some hunters pulled out their blades and did battle with the undead.
Some shades tried to attack the hunters as well, but they were nothing that they couldn't handle.
A couple of corpses tried to attack Adarian, but he simply dodged their attacks and cut off their legs with his dagger. When they fell to the floor Adarian stabbed them in the head, killing them instantly. The hunters were quite impressed that the half-blood was holding his own, but they grew worried when a shade tried to attack the child.
The shade swiped at Adarian, but he dodged the demon's attacks. Adarian took some stabs at the demon's body, but he wasn't strong enough to do some big damage. Adarian ran away and the shade gave chase. Adarian got to some high ground by jumping onto some rubble and then he leapt off of the rubble and stabbed the demon in its singular glowing eye. The shade moaned in pain and clutched its face before falling to the ground and turning into dust. The demon died and returned to the fade from once it came.
All the corpses and demons were gone. The dalish put their weapons away and Adarian placed his dagger back in his side.
"Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah we're fine, Keeper." One of the hunters answered.
"It wasn't a challenge. Corpses and shades are not that difficult to take down. Even the seth'lin managed to kill a few." Sadron said cockily.
"Don't get cocky, dalen. Corpses and shades may not be the strongest threat out there, but they are in numbers." Marethari chastised. The Keeper turned to Adarian. "That was quite impressive, Adarian. You handled yourself very well."
Adarian smiled and rubbed his head bashfully. "Ahh, it was nothing."
Marethari shook her head. "No, I mean it. I know some adults who can barely keep their cool around corpses or demons. Such creatures remind them of death, but you don't seem at all effected by them."
"Of course not. Bears and wolves are much more frightening then some shambling corpses or slow demons. Though I won't lie, I can only do so much in a fight. It's why I mostly strike while hidden. I can end a fight before it even starts."
"Hey kid. You said you got that dagger further in. How did you manage to go deeper in without fighting the demons and corpses?"
That was actually a good question. How did the boy manage to get that dagger and not have to fight through this horde of corpses and shades?
"I just snuck around. Made sure I didn't touch anything or disturb anything. That's kinda the reason why I didn't get to the end. When I got far enough, I found this dagger. It was really pretty and shiny, so I picked it up and the demons and corpses started to attacked me."
That made sense. Demons won't usually attack unless a part of their domain was disturbed. Though Marethari couldn't help but laugh at the image of Adarian being so sneaky only to be caught when he saw something shiny. Apparently she wasn't the only one imagining it as the hunters chuckled as well.
Adarian huffed his cheeks and crossed his arms when they laughed at him. "I managed to kill a few corpses and one shade, but there is only so much I could do, so I had to run. But, I still got the dagger." He pulled out his dagger and waved it around to show off.
The dalish shook their heads in amusement and the group moved on. They entered a few more chambers that were filled with corpses and shades, but nothing really new. The hunters and Marethari easily handled them, while Adarian killed a few thanks to his small stature and speed. Adarian led them to some areas he remembered from his first visit. They fought some more corpses and looted some things they could sell: low tier armor, weapons, random junk, and even some currency.
They entered a long hallway and Adarian spoke up.
"This is where I found Snake Bite."
"Here?"
"Yes! Right here in this corner." He answered the Keeper. "It was just lying here and when I picked it up I was surrounded by corpses. I killed a few and made an opening and managed to escape."
Marethari wondered what exactly happened in this place that such a unique weapon would just be left in this hallway. The veil was thin here, so a lot of people must have died, but what kind of battle took place here? Maybe she'd get answers further in. They all walked to the end of the hallway.
They entered a dome-shaped chamber. It was empty for the most part. Bits of the ceiling and walls had come off revealing the outside world. Sunshine rained in and trees were starting to encroach on the area.
"That's why I like nature. No matter how long it takes, it always wins and takes back what was its." Adarian said as he admired the trees and vines growing on the walls and floor.
The dalish couldn't help, but smile at the kids words. He was quite fond of nature, like they were.
On the other side of the dome room was a rectangular door. The dalish and their half-blood guide walked over to it and tried to open it. They discovered that it was locked.
"Great, there's nothing indicating a keyhole or lever, which means it opens from the inside. So how do we get it open?" One of the hunters asked.
Marethari approached the door and used her magic. She first tried to magically unlock the door, but oddly enough nothing happened. Then she went the old fashioned way and tried to blast it open with a fireball and lightning spell, but that did nothing as well, except create a lot of smoke that the dalish choked on.
"*cough cough* Well, that didn't work." Sadron said.
"The door is enchanted." Marethari sighed in frustration. "Magic won't work on it. Odd considering this is Tevinter ruins. I would have thought everything would require magic to use in this place."
The dalish were stumped and were considering going back and returning later when they had a plan.
Adarian looked around to see if there was anything he could do or at least be useful in helping them get into that room. Adarian scanned his surroundings and noticed a hole that led straight into the next room. It was too small for the adults to fit through, but Adarian was a perfect fit.
Adarian approached the debating elves and tugged on Marethari's skirt to get her attention. Marethari turned to the half-blood in curiousness. He told them about the hole in the wall and that he might be able to open the door on the other side by crawling through it. Marethari looked a little apprehensive about letting a child take such a risk. She didn't know what was on the other side of the door. For all she knew there were more demons on the other side. But, she looked at the boy and saw the fearlessness in his eyes when he said that he could do it, and she remembered who she was talking to. He may be a child, but he held his ground against the demons and corpses they had come across already. Not to mention he beat two experienced dalish hunters before this.
"Alright you can go through the hole and see if you can open the door. However, if you see trouble you come back as quickly as possible, understand?" She agreed sternly, like a mother figure.
Adarian smiled and nodded his head. "Mmhmm, I won't let you down." He gave her a salute and hoped through the hole.
Marethari chuckled a little at the boy and so did some of the hunters. The kid's enthusiasm and innocence was starting to grow on them.
Adarian crawled through the hole. One of the hunters watched him until they saw him finally get to the end.
A few seconds had passed and while they waited, a hunter noticed something that was leaning in the shadows. He took a closer look and saw something that made his blood run cold.
"Keeper you might want to see this." The hunter called his leader over.
Marethari moved over to where the hunter was and he showed her what he found. Marethari gasped. There were corpses here. Fresh well-armed corpses. She examined the bodies and saw that they were stabbed, cut up, or pummeled to death. Marethari began to examine the room once more and noticed the tell-tale signs of battle. Recent battle. Slash marks, blood stains, and now she was sensing a dark aura enter this place.
The enchanted door suddenly unlocked and opened. On the other side was Adarian with a big grin on his face and his hands on his hips. He tried to look like a hero that accomplished a great feat.
"Ta-da!" He said for dramatic effect, but then his triumphant visage dropped and he saw something really dangerous.
Suddenly the veil became really thin and the air became heavy and dark. Everyone turned around and saw a Revenant appear out of thin air. Its rotting body was adorned in heavy armor, it carried a huge sword and a targes shield in both its hands, and its red eyes glared at the intruders.
"Hunters! Prepare for battle!" Marethari yelled as she launched a fireball at the powerful corpse. It brought its large shield up and swat the fireball away, sending it back at the elves. The dalish got out of the way before they got burned to a cinder. They fired arrows at the creature, but its big shield once again became an obstacle.
"Screw this!" Revion shouted and drew his sword. Sadron joined his fellow hunter and they both charged with their swords raised. Marethari fired a winters grasp at the Revenant, slowing it down a bit, but it summoned two shades so it could smash its sword against the ice that ensnared it. Revion and Sadron fought the shades while the archers and Marethari attacked from a distance. The Revenant took some damage from the arrows and magic attacks, but managed to free itself from the ice. Revion and Sadron defeated the shades with ease and turned their attention to the Revenant. Sadron struck the corpse, but its shield managed to block the blow, while it deflected Revion's sword strikes with its massive greatsword.
The two elves continued to press the corpse, distracting both its sword and shield so the archers and the Keeper could hit it from afar. They even managed to get in a few hits themselves when the Revenant got distracted by an arrow to the chest or a spirit bolt to the face. But, they were starting to feel oddly tired. They felt they still had enough stamina in them to keep fighting, but they were feeling sluggish and heavy. Almost like gravity was pressing down on them, making each swing and step harder than it should be. Suddenly the Revenant was starting to push them back. Its swings were harder and faster now. Both Revion and Sadron tried to push back again, but for some reason they didn't have the energy to. They were even having a hard time defending now. What was going on?
"Sadron! Revion! Get away from the creature! It is using an Aura of Weakness. The longer you are near it the weaker you become." Marethari informed them.
The two elves grew worried now. The Revenant took a horizontal swing at them and nearly cut them both in half at the same time. They were now trying to get away from the tall corpse, but the second they tried to, the Revenant attacked them and they had to go on the defense again. Sadron defended against a strike to the head and Revion blocked a shield bash and held the Revenant where it was while it fought Sadron one on one. Sadron was getting weaker and weaker by the second just being near the thing. It was even becoming harder to breath with this Aura of Weakness around them, draining their strength. Sadron avoided another swing to his head and saw an opening. He managed to get a lucky shot at the Revenant and stab deeply in its chest. No doubt it caused a lot of damage, but unfortunately it didn't kill the Revenant.
The Revenant retracted its shield from the struggling Revion and quickly shield bashed Revion with enough strength and sent him flying into the wall. The Revenant then knocked the weapon out of Sadron's hand. The Revenant then kicked him hard to the ground and brought its sword up to finish the elf off, but it was knocked back by several spirit bolts from Marethari.
"Ar tu na'din!" Marethari threatened as she began to conjure another spell.
Smoking scorch marks from the spirit bolts now decorated the creature's ancient armor. The Revenant growled in irritation at the mage and stabbed its sword in to the ground. It reached its hand out and grasped the air and pulled towards itself. Marethari was suddenly launched forward towards the Revenant and in mid-flight she was bashed across the room by its round shield. Marethari was out cold.
"Keeper!" The hunters yelled out and attacked with ferocious vigor. Their archery skills weren't doing much against the monster so a few of them unsheathed their melee weapons and joined the fray. However, the Revenant was too strong for them and they were slowly losing. None of them were dead yet, but it was only a matter of time.
Adarian watched on from afar. He grew excited watching the battle at first, but then he saw the nice Keeper lady get hit hard and sent across the room and got worried for her wellbeing. He walked over to her and gave her some crushed elfroot. That should take away some of the pain, but she was not going to wake up anytime soon. Adarian turned his attention to the hunters and saw they were slowly losing. They needed help, but what could he do? Sure he could take on a few shades and corpses, but he's never even seen anything like this "Revenant" as they called it. They needed an advantage or back up or both.
Adarian suddenly got an idea and walked over to another hole that led to the outside. He cupped his hands into a circle, put it to his mouth and roared out into the wilderness. The roar echoed out and something responded back.
The dalish were trying hard to kill the Revenant, but it kept using its pull ability to send them flying or used its huge weapons to overwhelm them. The Revenant swatted them away with its sword and then smashed Revion into the ground with its shield. Sadron got behind the Revenant and struck, but the Revenant brought its sword behind its back and blocked his attack. The Revenant then swung around and bashed Sadron to the ground. Sadron quickly ignored the pain and got up, but the Revenant was faster and stabbed him through the gut.
Revion quickly got to his friend's side and held him. He was bleeding a lot, but he could be saved. But the Revenant didn't give them a chance to. The Revenant raised its sword high and Revion brought his sword up to defend them, but none expected what came next.
Something large roared and smashed into the Revenant. The Revenant was pushed into a wall and made eye contact with the creature that dared to interfere. It was a Great Bear!
The great bear roared in the tall corpse's face. The bear bore many scars and was easily larger than the Revenant. The dalish couldn't believe their eyes. Where did this bear come from? Why was it here? Adarian, the seth'lin then jumped onto the bears back. The dalish thought the boy was crazy for doing something so dangerous, but the great bear didn't seem to mind. In fact it looked at the boy thoughtfully; like Adarian was an old friend.
"Okay Bosco, we need to take care of this guy, you ready?" Adarian said, as he held onto the beast's fur and unsheathed Snake Bite. Apparently the bear was a friend. The bear nodded and turned its attention back to the walking corpse.
The Revenant twirled the sword in it hand, charged at the bear, and swung its sword. The bear swiped its claws at the creature's sword. The Revenant brought its shield up to defend against the bears sharp claws. Both the Revenant and the great bear continued to deflect and block each other's attacks. The Revenant got in a few cuts and the great bear managed to cut off the possessed corpse's armor and break a piece off its helmet. The Revenant swung its sword again and the great bear caught the sword in its strong jaws.
That was when Adarian jumped off the beast's back and stabbed the corpse in the face and neck. The Revenant let out a raspy scream and dropped its shield to pull the boy off. That was a mistake, as Adarian then cut off the creatures hand and jumped back onto the bears back.
"We got him now, Bosco! Finish this!" The bear roared in agreement and stood up on its hind legs. It towered over the Revenant and brought it paws up. The great bear called Bosco, roared and brought its paws down fast and severed the Revenant's arms. Now that the warrior corpse was disarmed, the bear smashed the Revenant into the wall again. With its armor destroyed most of its body was easily crushed, but it wasn't dead yet. The bear opened its jaws wide and bit down on the Revenant's helmeted head. The helmet started to creak under the pressure and its skull started to make cracking sounds. Finally, the great bear's jaws closed all the way and the helmet and head were crushed. The great bear tossed the head away and started eating the Revenant's body.
Adarian got off the bear and patted the majestic creature's body. Adarian had a friendly smile on his face and the bear looked at him with a friendly gleam in its eyes.
"Thank you for your help, Bosco. We couldn't have done it without you." The great bear licked him before it grabbed the headless Revenant and dragged the corpse back to its cave to eat.
Adarian turned to the stunned elves who could only watch in disbelief at the feat the boy just did. He fought alongside a great bear and managed to defeat a Revenant. They knew this boy was amazing after seeing him fight, but now they were completely baffled by what the kid did.
The hunters went over to the unconscious Marethari. The elder elf groaned as she slowly came to.
"Keeper, are you okay, say something."
The Keeper slowly sat up and rubbed her head in pain. "I am fine, dalen. But, my head will be aching for a while. What happened?"
The hunters explained what happened after Marethari was knocked out. They didn't leave out the part about how Adarian and his bear friend saved them.
Marethari looked at the boy that apparently saved them from the Revenant. She knelt down and rubbed the child's head, which Adarian blushed at in embarrassment.
"Thank you, Adarian. You not only saved my life, but the lives of my people as well. I am grateful. You truly are an extraordinary child." And she meant that. The fact he summoned a great bear and fought alongside it, spoke volumes of the potential he had and could very well obtain in the future. This boy was special, Marethari thought, and she knew he would do something great in his life.
"Aw, shucks." Adarian kicked the ground bashfully.
Sadron gave Marethari a health potion so she'd recover faster. The Keeper than used her magic to heal her hunters wounds. When everyone collected their bearings they all entered the last room.
Inside the last chamber showed that it was a bedroom and study. The personal quarters of whoever owned this outpost. And it was likely the room and the outpost belonged to the two skeletons that were sitting against the wall holding each other. One skeleton was male and the other was female, indicating the two were close in some way. Their clothes were in tatters, but it was still easy to tell what they were. The male skeleton was wearing Tevinter mage clothes, while the female was wearing faded leather armor. The female skeleton had its head resting on the male skeleton's shoulder, while the male skeleton's head rested on the female skeleton's skull. Both of them were holding each other's hands in a loving and comforting embrace.
The scene was both sad and beautiful at the same time. Marethari approached the skeletons and saw an old and worn journal that was lying by their feet. She read it out loud so that everyone could hear.
"It has been months since Nethelle and I left the Empire. To think we would be able to get away from all political nonsense and unwanted military kaffas. It was lucky that we were able to get a small outpost out in the forest. I admit, this backwater country is not for me, but Nethelle seems to like it here. Especially in the forest. She says she feels close to her ancestors here. As long as she is happy I am happy."
"To think that an Imperial Noble would fall in love with a slave. Not unheard of, but greatly frowned upon. I've been in love with her since the day we met, when she was assigned to be my new bodyguard. She couldn't have been older then fifteen and I was eleven at the time. I admit, at first I didn't see her as anything other than another slave. But on the day she was assigned to me, she protected me when my life was in danger. I saw her move on the battlefield with her daggers and it was like watching a beautiful dance. When all were dead she came to my aid with great concern. More likely because she would be greatly punished if I were harmed, but I would not allow that. I made sure she was always by my side then, not out of concern for my own life, but because I wanted to be by her side. Over the years I still had my crush and she didn't know. I trained as well so that she didn't always have to defend me and so that I could fight beside her. She even gave me some tips. I made sure she had a comfortable life in my home, but I never revealed my feelings to her for two reasons. It would be impossible for us to be together and I didn't want her to think badly of me. That she would have no choice, but to be my lover. If I want to be with her, I want her to reciprocate my feelings, not pretend to."
"One day we were sent to the front lines to battle some small rebellion. Fasta vass, that was not small! It took a lot to put down that revolt with the little forces we had. Some soparati bastard tried to take a stab at Nethelle. She was tired and her guard was off, but I saw him coming. I got in the way and was stabbed in the chest. I blacked out after that, with the last sight being Nethelle killing the soparati and holding me. I woke up in the infirmary and saw Nethelle at my side. I was apparently out for a couple of days and Nethelle looked terrible from lack of sleep, but still very beautiful. She chastised me for a while and demanded why I tried to protect her when it was she that was supposed to protect me. I told a convincing lie and she saw right through it and demanded the truth. I begrudgingly came clean and revealed my feelings to her. She just listened and stared at me and at the moment, I'd have preferred a court hearing instead of this. But when I was done, Nethelle looked at me with such disbelievement on her face and I wondered what she would do. She said that she had developed feelings for me as well . . . and then I blacked out again. Thankfully I was only out for a few minutes instead of a few days! She said that she hated being a slave, but was thankful that she got such a kind, caring, and cute master. Over time she fell in love with me, but knew nothing could ever come of it. At that moment I grabbed her hand and pulled her to me and kissed her. No magic in the world could ever compare to the feelings I felt that moment. I told her I wished to be with her and that I was willing to do whatever it took to try. And for years we grew closer and for years we were happier than we ever were. It was easy to hide our relationship. We were rarely, if never seen apart and most people knew that we fought as a pair. I even gifted her a specially made dagger, in the design of her people's work, but in the image of Tevinter so as not to draw attention. The dagger is enchanted, when a poison is added to the blade it becomes ten times more potent than it was. That dagger is a symbol of our love: a poison for those who oppose us, but an antidote that strengthens us when others try to weaken us. But as I got older I got more and more marriage proposals and every month my parents continued to annoy me about finding a girl to marry. But I never would because no woman could ever compare to Nethelle! Her graceful beauty, her elegant, but strong voice, and on the battlefield when she moves . . . my heart stops just thinking about it. Oh, I wish I could take her as my bride, but she will never be accepted. Coming to this country . . . to this forest is the closest we can come to having a life together. There are days that I think we should just disappear into the night and start over somewhere. I don't know where, but as long as I am with Nethelle I am content. I must go right now, there seems to be some fuss going on this country. Something about some barbarian woman named Andraste. Kaffas name.
"Apparently this Andraste is now the new problem the Imperium faces and I can see why. Her forces are great and they definitely have some great divine power aiding them. I've never seen power like that before, the power she wields is unlike anything I've ever seen even by mage standards. Most of my forces are holding her army off outside, but they will defeat us. We can't beat this on our own. I got gravely injured and was forced to retreat to my quarters they will never . . ."
"Nethelle has been mortally wounded, she lost the dagger I gave her, but that doesn't matter . . . Nethelle is going to die . . . I healed up her wounds, but she lost too much blood . . . she's going to die . . . I . . . I can't save her." (there appears to be tear drop stains on the page)
"To sate my anger I summoned some demons to tear that rebel army apart, while Nethelle slept. When that was done I came back to my quarters and shut the door. No one can get in. The door can only be opened from the inside. Whatever comes next I will be by Nethelle's side. I have a vial of poison that I keep on hand for Nethelle . . . who knew that I would be the one to use it instead. When Nethelle dies I will be right behind her. In this world the love between a magister and an elven slave is impossible . . . perhaps in the next world it won't be."
"Signed Magister Thaddeus Minthopolous"
"Mythal, she was an elf. An elf and a magister, falling in love and trying to escape from their life from the Imperium." Marethari looked behind her to see Adarian eyeing the two skeletons in fascination. Not in a morbid way, but in a reminder way. These two must have reminded him of his parents. A relationship that would never be accepted by anyone. The Keeper looked at the dagger the boy kept on his hip. Adarian noticed her gaze and unsheathed the dagger and read the inscription on it.
"May our love poison others and make us stronger."
"The letters say that she was bought young as a slave and raised to be a bodyguard and assassin, for her young master. Over the years they grew together and fell in love with each other. Their relationship, however, was frowned upon in their society. So they joined the army and took a position far from the norms of society. Perhaps when Andraste and her army kicked the Imperium out of Fereldan they attacked this outpost. The two of them must have hid in this room and died days later. Poor souls, at least they died in in each other's arms."
Adarian walked over to the corpses and recited a prayer in elvish. "Hamin elvyr mala a lath ju tel dina." (Rest easy now, your love will never die) The dalish were quite surprised that the half-elf knew their language, but surprising them was what they expected from the boy by now. After properly reciting funeral rights. The group looked around the room and discovered many treasures. Including several elven swords or dar'misaans as the dalish called them, dar'misus, several pieces of armor that could fetch a good price or be melted down into better armor for the clan, and even an ancient staff. Marethari picked up the staff and examined it. The staff was made up of an ancient root that belonged to a dahl'amythal or "tree of Mythal" as the dalish called them, that was tied to a polearm with an old dragon-like blade for an attachment. As soon as the Keeper touched the weapon the staff's head lit on fire, giving the room a little more light. Marethari decided to name the staff "Torch of Falon'din."
With their mission being a complete success, the dalish and their young guide returned to the clan. The hunters and Keeper shared their spoils with the rest of the clan, many of the hunters were gifted with the new and ancient blades. Craft Master Ilen was especially thrilled when he was given the armor and asked to do something with it. The Craft Master was also asked to take the rest of the stuff they found and either find a use for it or sell it.
As the Clan rejoiced in the success of their quest, Lyna was looking around for the half-elf, Adarian. He arrived with the Keeper and hunters, but he seemed to be out of sight right now. After some looking Lyna discovered the boy sitting under a tree, with the halla he met earlier in the day lying next to him.
Lyna approached the half-blood boy and smiled down on him, as he stroked the halla's head.
"Hey." He simply said.
"Thank you very much." Lyna thanked.
"What for?" Adarian questioned in confusion.
"Look around you. My clan doesn't have much. The dalish are not the most fortunate of people. We have so little," Lyna turned to her clan, who were smiling brightly at the treasure they discovered and were sharing laughs and jokes with each other. "but you've given us something to be happy about." Lyna turned back to Adarian and gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you. So much!"
"Ahh, it was nothing." Suddenly Lyna got up close and kissed Adarian on the cheek. Adarian paused for a moment before his face lit up like a fire.
"Hehehe. You're cute when you blush." She teased.
Adarian jolted from her words and started rubbing his cheek and spitting. "Ugh! Gross! What was that for? Why did you do that!?" Adarian kept exaggeratingly spitting as if he just ate something awful, but deep down, in a part he didn't want to acknowledge, he kinda liked it.
That was when Marethari walked up to the two.
"Adarian. Thank you for your guidance and help on this quest. It has been some time since our clan has had something to celebrate." The Keeper said gratefully.
"No problem." Adarian gave her a thumbs up. "So now that you got what you wanted. Are you going to leave?"
Marethari chuckled. "No, no Adarian. We didn't come here just for some ruins and treasure and we just recently set up camp here. We won't be moving on for a long while, if we can help it."
Adarian perked up at hearing that the Sabrae clan will be staying in the Brecilian for a bit longer.
Marethari saw the child's enthusiasm and knew what he wanted. "You helped us Adarian and shown that you are a friend of the clan. You may come and visit any time you wish.
Adarian couldn't hold it in any longer. He jumped to his feet and raised his fists in the air, with a wide smile on his face.
"YES!"
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