Chapter 2
A week passed since the caravan incident and Andrus was finally feeling nearly as well as he did before the meeting with the being. They were just outside Redcliffe, in a small burlesque house called The Lilac Silk at the urging of Gordon. There, inside, they all waited for the Redcliffe guards to meet them for a debriefing of what was next since the creature escaped.
"You never thought to warn us about the dangers you felt from that…creature?" Odette asked with a glare.
Andrus didn't answer immediately; he frowned, took a sip of his mead then sighed from the light burn. "…"
"Well?" Odette chided.
"If I told either you or Gordon, the results would have been the same." He answered in plain tone.
"And how do you know that as truth?"
"It nearly killed me and it escaped without being seen."
Rolling her eyes, Odette said, "Grey Wardens die just like the rest of us; be it abominations, Darkspawn, humans, dragons…a forest creature, they kill us all the same."
"I didn't say what I did in a means to belittle."
"Then what were the means?"
"To simply tell the truth. I've never felt that sort of power before." He lounged back in his chair with eyes staring at his hand on the table; his fingers were still numb and tingling at the tips. "The emotion in the magic was…strange."
"Thus, as I said, you put us in danger because you felt the oddity of it wasn't worth telling us from the beginning?" Odette let out a frustrated sigh. "Andrus, if I am to work with you, there must be transparency between all of us."
He chuckled at the rogue then leaned forward and clasped his pint tightly in his hands. "Transparency…"
"Yes, it is only fair."
Grinning again, Andrus lifted the mead to his lips and began downing the half full pint. It dripped down his cheek and into his goatee; when he finished, he slammed the pint to the table.
They stared at each other for a moment. She glared and he grinned at the anger since it was too ironic.
Leaning back again, Andrus spoke, "Very well, there will be transparency. This new 'rule' brings me to ask you a question."
"What?" Odette folded one leg over.
"Why were you so eager to join me? You are a young Orlesian and you said you felt as if this was an opportunity you couldn't dare pass but, why?"
"What does my youth have anything to do with this? You too are fairly young Andrus." She said.
"Answer my question first."
"Perhaps you are bothered with my kind because of the assassin and former spy you had in your party during The Blight. Is that it?"
"That is not an answer, Odette. However, I will tell you that I am asking because I like to know who I am working with." Andrus grinned.
Her eyes moved away from the Warden to stare down and she shifted her legs while folding her arms across her chest. Her mouth opened for a brief second before closing as if she couldn't put the words together to reply. Andrus found this to be intriguing and he chuckled, "I realize, after The Blight and after months of being…'free' from the Circle, that perhaps I wasn't ready to become a Warden. I'm still not ready."
"Why do you say that?" She watched Andrus again.
"Imagine living how I lived for the majority of my life. I was in a tower, secluded and ultimately alone. It was like living in a prison that taught you how to not kill everyone in sight like I almost did at six."
"It seems pitiful."
"Yes and no. It was a good thing for me since I was a child who couldn't control his powers but when you get older, change is needed. Thus, when the opportunity came to leave, I jumped at it and I didn't desire to look back." Andrus shrugged and continued, "The social aspects of living outside of the Circle with people who aren't Templars and mages…tis interesting. It isn't much better, especially with my duties of a Warden. Conversations have been good at times but I find myself constantly fighting and arguing and debating on decisions that hold so many lives at stake. A king was made with my influence…if that isn't power I don't know what else is."
"While you ascended to such a grand status, I only found myself falling." Odette went silent; her eyes shifted to look at Gordon who was surrounded by three human women. The corner of her lip turned up at the sight in disgust before she returned to look at Andrus.
"Whorehouses don't suit you well." Andrus noted.
"They are the bane of my existence." Odette replied.
"I take the reason stems far deeper than sexual promiscuity."
"Have you ever been in love, Andrus?" As Odette linked her eyes to his with the question, Andrus immediately looked down.
He laughed and stood from the table holding his empty pint, "Would you like a drink?"
"No."
"I'll get you a good pint of mead." Walking away, he went to the bar where the tender frowned upon him approaching. He'd been giving Andrus a concerned look all of the time they were in the bar it seemed. Placing the pint on the bar, he raised a finger and said, "Would like another pint of mead for my friend at the table…make mine strong ale."
The tender nodded to Andrus, but he didn't keep his eyes on the Warden for too long. Working to make the drinks, the tender made sure to quickly have the two on the bar only moments later.
Placing two gold coins on the counter, Andrus commented, "I'm tipping you well just to see a smile slip on your face, friend."
The tender took the coin and finally spoke, "We are a small establishment, sir and from my time here, I've noticed that your kind only bring trouble."
Andrus sucked teeth and glanced around the bar to see if anything strange was indeed watching. After a moment of seeing the typical bar drunks and whore guards, he looked back at the tender and disregarded his concerns, "You will be fine friend and you better get use to trouble in a place like this."
Returning to their table, Odette still kept her closed posture and only stared at the mead as he placed it in front of her. Andrus sat and sipped his ale, this time the burn was stronger and he sighed loudly with another chuckle.
"You seem to find a lot humorous." Odette said reaching for her mead and sipping it.
"I just enjoy life, all is worth smiling about." Andrus took another sip.
"I assume this comes killing so many?"
He simply shrugged and took another sip of his ale.
Odette sipped her mead and rested her other arm limply on the table, her eyes watched his own as she drank; Andrus rose a brow at the stare.
"That one mage…" She said as she set the mead down and continued, "The one that disappeared after The Blight was over…it's her isn't it?"
"If it was her, why would she disappear?" Andrus tried to smartly reply.
"I heard she was a maleficar. I feel that is reason enough."
Andrus thought over the term maleficar. He thought about how that word immediately put so many generalization into one's mind about who an individual was and he remembered everyone's warnings in the past. Finally, after another sip of ale, he replied, "Not all are evil."
"None can be trusted."
Nodding at the answer though he disagreed, he sipped his ale again then looked toward the door as two armed men entered. "Finally here."
He stood and greeted the two men with a hand shake.
They were Redcliffe guards; Arl Eamon's coat of arms was proudly engraved into their armor. With Redcliffe only a short walk away, there was no surprise that they came instead of the Templars.
"Good to see that you are well. We received your report on the prison escort and we are very sorry that the circumstances turned rather grim." The guard turned and motioned toward the exit. "Would you come with us Warden, there is a package for you and also Sire Roland is waiting to debrief you."
Following the guards, Odette and Andrus went along with them outside—Gordon was in the back now doing whatever with the women from earlier. Once outside, Andrus noticed the Templar Roland shaking his head at the barely dressed women who sat on the Lilac Silk's porch. The Templar turned to the two other Templar and said, "Is there not a law against such a public display of this sort of behavior?"
Raising a brow, Andrus could only imagine what this Templar must have thought of him. Coming out of a whorehouse to deal with official matters wouldn't look at all decent—not to mention he is a mage. "Good day, Sir Roland I'm assuming?"
The Templar slowly turned his head to watch Andrus with glaring eyes. Facing the mage now, Roland simply nodded. "Warden, the situation you left in the south is a very dangerous one. Now, though I feel that it is somewhat unfortunate that we are leaving this matter in the hands of someone with your pass record, you are truly the only one who can do this."
Andrus gritted his teeth; he knew the Templar was speaking about his encounters with Jowan but that was the pass. "Have there been any updates?"
Roland pointed toward a wagon behind him, "You've received a package from an anonymous donor…this arrived at Redcliffe three weeks ago just when you were setting off from Orzammar."
Andrus only briefly glanced at the large box in the wagon before looking back at the Templar, "Yes, but what of the situation? Have we any idea of what that thing was?"
Roland sighed and motioned Andrus to follow him, "Come with me, Warden."
Looking back to Odette, Andrus asked her to wait there before he went along with the Templar.
They slowly paced along the perimeter of the whorehouse and Roland spoke, "We believe that the woman you saw in the wagon was the living sister of a group of Maleficar we've been searching for; the Sated Sisters. In the northern region of Ferelden from Amaranthine to the Frostback Mountains, there have been reports of men, women, and children being sucked dry til they were nothing more than skin and bone."
Andrus folded his arms across his chest and watched the ground as they walked, "Why is there only one living?"
Roland shook his head, "We killed the eldest; before the blight, we sent a team of men there to search for these women; one of the men returned with her head."
"How did we seemingly capture the other sister in the prison escort?"
"We didn't…but the head of the sister was traveling to Garridon's Keep to have displayed for all the criminals to witness the power of the Templar and common law enforcement."
"There was no head in the wagon…" Andrus remembered as he stroked his chin thinking over the encounter.
"I have a theory." Roland stopped walking and faced Andrus. "As you said in the report, the being, she was emaciated…sickly looking correct?"
Andrus nodded, "To the best of what I could see, yes."
"In all of the documentation we've held, the sisters always appeared to be in good health; one just looked a bit older than the other. One was blond, the other brunette. The blond had eyes black as the middle of the night while the brunette had eyes white as milk but the brunette use to have black eyes as well when the third sister was living."
"There was a third…"
"Yes. The third is certainly dead because, unlike the other two, she didn't have magic. I think when the eldest sister is dying or dead, the next in line loses their health. The two magical sisters were trying to prolong the life of their eldest sister for they could continue living in a fairly youthful state. They killed youthful civilians to take away their life energy, made a potion for their normal sister."
"Since that sister is now dead, why are they still killing?"
"That is what confuses me; perhaps it's become so much of their nature they have to continue on with it."
"Where do we begin?" Andrus asked.
"In the past week, a family of three in the farming district south of here was found dead…all of them nothing more than skin and bones." Roland swallowed. "We believe that sister is still here."
"What happened to the soldier that brought the head of the sister to the Templars? I would think revenge could be in store…"
"That man is my brother."
Dropping his arms to his side, Andrus looked away from Roland and toward the forest to their left. "Where is he?"
"His farm was only a five miles away from where the incident happened…he found the family. Now, he is in Redcliffe under constant watch."
"Good, my crew and I will stay in Redcliffe for the week just in case an attack happens." Andrus nodded at the idea, "Hopefully, this sister is as vengeful as we think."
With that, the meeting was over and now was time to find out what was waiting for in the package. As soon as he came around the corner to the front of the whorehouse, Odette ran up to him to walk by his side.
"Well?" She asked.
"Human eating maleficar…sisters…want to stay youthful forever and we have reason to believe that the living one is a vengeful soul. We'll be here in Redcliffe for a week or two unless something happens sooner than later." Andrus quickly explained as he reached the wagon. Grabbing the iron latches on the wooden frame, he popped the box open. Hay and cotton flew into the air from the force of the pop and in between the cushioning Andrus was surprised to see a light mail set of armor.
Odette looked at him, "Smells like Orlesian leather is in it too."
Reaching down into the box, he grabbed a note that been left inside. It read:
Dear Andrus,
It has been sometime since we last saw each other from the Blight and even though we've been apart, I've heard much about you. People in Orlais are highly pleased to see that the Grey Wardens are finally gaining the respect they deserve in Ferelden. Because of both you and Alistair, we are starting to think that perhaps the people of Ferelden will become more accepting of all the various individuals that live in Thedas.
Morrigan came to me a month ago, she asked me to have friends of mine make a set of armor for you. She handed me enchanted furs and gems to smelt into the bits dragon bone she'd somehow collected. While she never explained to me why you would need this, I can only imagine you will be facing dangers in the future. I wish you good luck, and I ask of you to always remember my song though I hope to see you again soon my good friend. This armor is a testament of my friendship just as much as it is a testament to whatever feelings you and Morrigan share.
With great appreciation,
-Lelianna
The night had come after a lengthy day of strategizing about how to approach the creature when it did appear. Andrus had not spent any more time lounging as he did in the bar for the rest of the day; all of his time was spent marching to and through Redcliffe to give orders of preparation. As a result, Andrus welcomed sleep. He lay in the Inn bed without the weight armor on his shoulders and without the weight of every person's expectation blaring into his ears. The great Grey Warden loved the calm, and enjoyed the new suit given to him by his friend and his former lover; though, he wasn't quite ready to wear it. It was too good to be true since the person pushing for him to wear the mail was indeed Morrigan; maybe it was just a stronger tool to track him by. Regardless, Andrus closed his eyes and began to slip into a welcome slumber.
An hour passed and his fingers began to tingle and numb again. His room was swept by a fierce cold that reminded him of the many treks made through the Frostback Mountain Pass. The smell was of death, decaying flesh and blood. His eyes opened and above him he could see with the help of the moonlight pale blond hair hanging from the shape of a woman adorned with feathers.
"Warden of the doomed, Warden of treason, Warden of lies…I am no different than you. I kill to survive as you do and yet I do not sacrifice my duties for love. You, you have no right to judge me or my sisters, you have no right to stand and try to take my life." The voice was sounded of silk worn by a woman recently hung and it echoed every phrase with that of a fainter older voice.
Andrus didn't move from his place, he simply stared fearing nothing as it watched him in bed. After a moment, he sat up but just as he blinked, the woman was gone. Screams shouted from the streets, and through his window and into the room.
"They have died! Died! Maker have mercy!" They called.
The beast had struck.
Ch 3: What is a battle if the enemy has already won? This creature calls for vengeance since they do not understand its livelihood. It lives on human flesh and it ask for life just as quickly as it will take it away. Forbidden arts used to keep life, to survive. Is it a beast or being? It is simply a maleficar.
A/N: Ch 2 is up fairly quickly. I'll probably work on Ch 3 this week and it might be out soon as well; since its summer I have a lot of time on my hands. Hope you guys enjoy it!
