A Rose by any Other
Disclaimer: Once again I do not own Dragon Age or any of their magnificent lands characters or other creations. I am simply a witter and slave to my muse. Enjoy this free work I have begun to create.
Scroll Two: A Road with Winding Curves
Elissa had tried to evade Zevran the entire way out of the palace. She had kept her eyes peeled for her fellow rogue and felt confident she had eluded him and would be able to avoid him for a while. Until Anora had told him where she was headed. This was not to be as the fair haired beautiful elven male stood leaning against the gates, a satisfied smirk spread over his tattooed face.
"You really thought the queen would have not told me in advance where she was sending you, dear beauty?" He teased as she scowled at him.
"I had hoped she would have allowed me a little quiet while traveling to the Keep." She grumbled as a woman made her way over to the pair.
She was young and perky with brunette hair and eyes like dark chocolates. She was clad in blood red armor, and seemed to wearing it well and with practiced ease. She was a trained warrior Elissa noticed as she observed the girl. She stood silent as the girl smiled brightly at her.
"Warden Commander. I am Mhairi, I shall be your guide to the Keep." She exclaimed in an excited tone.
Elissa nodded her head and replied simply. "Pleasure, this is Zevran, he shall be accompanying me."
Zevran eyed the girl and found her satisfactory as his stance changed to one he often used while flirting with an attractive woman. "It is a pleasure to be guided by such a rare beauty. It seems there are many thing to look forward to in Amaranthine." He purred with his thick accent.
Mhairi hid a blush and nodded. She began leading the way through Denerim and attempted many times to make small talk with the woman of such renown. Unfortunately it seemed she was tighter than a clam as the elf answered almost all her questions and kept up the conversation. This became routine as the trio traveled along the road to Amaranthine. The only time the woman spoke was after an attack of darkspawn, close to the Keep.
A villager was running and exclaimed that the darkspawn had struck the keep and soon they were attacked. She watched in awe as the woman wielded a sword and dagger with ease as she chopped the head off a Gerlock with her sword, and a smile spread over her lips as she embedded the dagger into the heart of a Hurlock. Her motions were smooth and fluid as her blades seemed to find every weak spot on their bodies.
The elf Zevran fought in much the same style, slicing of heads or stabs in weak places which proved lethal and effective. The elf and the Warden Commander seemed to move in sync as they eliminated the small group easily. Zevran had thrown a dagger at the face of a Hurlock coming in to attack the open side of his Commander.
Mhairi had cleaved two Gerlock in half as they charged at her attempting to eliminate the supposed weaker target. She wielded her sword with ease and used strength she had honed through long agonizing hours of practice. She groaned at the blood that splatted over her face.
The woman spoke the first words she during their travel to the Keep after they had left the palace gates. "Just wonderful, darkspawn launching an attack, and unable to be detected."
Mhairi was confused. "I did not think they were able to do such without the Archdemon."
The Warden Commander sighed in annoyance. "The better thought is why I could not sense their presence until they were practically on us."
Zevran chuckled. "Yes that was one advantage you used quite often in our battles." He smirked as he watched the woman clean her blades, she looked to Mhairi and smirked.
"I take it guide is not the only duty you were to perform." She commented knowingly.
Mhairi blushed as the group picked up their pace to the Keep that was now within sight. "I was a guard before, and am a recruit to the Grey Wardens." She had admitted quietly.
"Welcome to the group, considered the up coming bloody battle your initiation. If you survive the coming trials I will be glad to have you by my side." Elissa admitted truthfully.
Mhairi blushed again at the praise. The Warden Commander came alive in battle it seemed. The fire passion so many had spoken about was beginning to show through. They group then traveled in silence and cursed at the sight before them.
Zevran smirked as her turned to Elissa. "It seems only you have the unlucky streak that would be a coordinated attack of darkspawn after the Archdemon lay dead for months."
Elissa scowled at the elf and shrugged her shoulders. "The Maker certainly does not favor me." She lamented as the group charged forward and began the long task of attempting to slay every darkspawn in sight and save every innocent they could find. After what seemed like hours they had made it inside the Keep.
The winding corridors and rooms filled with darkspawn was wearing thin on the once noble's patience. She threw open a door only to witness a fireball encase a Hurlock in flames. It screamed in pain as it fell to the ground dead before the feet of a mage.
His golden hair was kept up in a small ponytail atop his head. She eyes a golden earring in his right ear as she approached him. He turned around and she stopped dead in her tracks. The resemblance to Alistair was uncanny, for a moment she had thought her lover had been hiding in the Keep all this time. When the man held up his hands in innocence and spoke, she realized she was being absurd.
"I didn't do it!" The handsome mage cried out quickly.
Elissa almost felt Zevran tense up at her side. She surveyed the carnage around the mage and noticed only two of the fallen templars had burns on their bodies. She nodded her head. A smile spread across his lips that almost took her breath away. It was similar to Alistair's, but it held a bit more confidence and power than her love's boyish smirks.
"Though Biff here," He gestured with his head at one of the templars "made the funniest gurgle when he went down. I'm not too broken about it, he liked to kick me awake."
Elissa's lips ghosted into a smile as Mhairi moved forward. "I do not know this man, he was not here before I left for Denerim."
Elissa did not acknowledge she had heard the young recruit. "What is your name Ser Mage?" She asked quietly.
"Anders my beautiful lady." He replied smoothly and seemed to pay no mind to Zevran's huff or Mhairi's grumble. "Sadly I'm an apostate and we only stopped here to rest. The darkspawn swarmed us and I was on my way back to the Tower for the seventh time."
Zevran's ears had perked at that and Elissa smirked. "Escaped their control did you?" She made the comment more to herself. "I don't really care who you are."
"Pretty and Pragmatic, a striking combination." He commented while allowing some charm to flow into his stance. "Look I could help you with these darkspawn. The Tower will send more templars soon. They always do, I have a nasty habit of escaping." He chuckled and looked over the other traveling with the red haired beauty.
The other female, who was adorable he noted looked to be hostile and proved as such when a venomous voice spit out, "We can't trust him Commander. He is an apostate."
Elissa sighed and shook her head and her eyes grew dark at the reminder of Morrigan and Connor. Zevran stepped in and placed a hand on her shoulder, he turned to Mhairi. "This woman let a qunari that slaughtered a family, a member of the Antivan Crows who had attempted to assissinate her, and an apostate daughter of the Witch of the Wilds travel with her in her quest to end the blight. One rogue apostate mage is not too much for her to handle."
Elissa smirked and nodded her head. "I could use your help, Anders was it?"
Anders was blown away at the information his mind was quickly attempting to process. This was the 'Hero of Ferelden' and Warden Commander before him. A living legend and she was requesting his help. "But of course." He replied quickly, his voice concealing his surprise well.
Mhairi looked about to object, but the Warden Commander spoke before she could reply. "We must move and search for more survivors, and there are more darkspawn waiting to meet their end at my blades." She commanded in an authoritative voice that left no room for argument.
In the next room there was a red bearded dwarf finishing off some darkspawn. He laughed merrily at the sight of Elissa. "Ha, I knew you would come. I told these sodding darkspawn just wait till the real Wardens showed up. They would be spitting teeth out of their asses. Then I killed them."
Elissa had seemed surprised to see her old traveling companion in the Keep. "Ohgren?"
The dwarf laughed and smirked. "It took you long enough to enter the battle Warden." He joked. "I've killed half these weak fools. Its good to seem something pretty among the blood."
Elissa rolled her eyes. "I assume you're intent on joining the Wardens then." She supposed as the moved over towards her old traveling companion.
"Of course, I can't let you sodding pretty people get all the glory." He declared as he let out a loud belch.
"Oh look a drunk dwarf, another victim of the stereotype." Anders drawled.
"I see your still here." Mhairi spat out venomously once more.
Elissa sighed. "Ah the Warden recruit with the great rack, and the comedian mage must be the boyfriend." Ohgren guess terrible.
Elissa rubbed her forehead. "Ohgren, why don't we just kick the ass of whomever is in charge before we waste any more time on useless chatter."
Ohgren seemed to like the idea as they moved forward and he made a joke at Zevran's expense. "Still attempting to get a piece of the noble Warden I see."
Elissa knocked him over the back of the head with the hilt of her sword. "As if, the man is determined to make sure I don't do anything 'stupid.'" She grumbled. "Lets move.
Anders had wondered about the noble comment but brushed it off as the smelly dwarf just laughed and the grouped continued forward. After a quick run through the Keep searching for survivors, they found someone that Mhairi did recognize. "Rowland!" She had cried out.
The man was on the brink of death, the taint was taking hold of him quickly. Elissa moved closer and inspected the wounds, she turned her head to Anders a silent question asked with her eyes. He replied without hesitation. "He is beyond healing magic at this point."
Mhairi yelled in outrage as Elissa moved close to speak with the man. "What happened here?"
The man was delirious but she was able to garner some information. "They came out of nowhere, no one sensed them. All dead, or missing. The seneschal , taken by the talking one." He cried out in rambling.
Elissa shook her head. "The talking one? Who was talking?" She pressed noting that the man was fading fast.
"The darkspawn Commander. He spoke and took the seneschal Veral up to the roof. You shall save us all." With those words the man passed on in a state of relief that all would be fine.
"Talking darkspawn eh? That's the dumbest thing in the world." Ohgren replied annoyed.
Elissa nodded her head and sighed. "It might just make this whole mess make sense."
Elissa felt the tightening of knots in her back. She knew she was to have yet another burden placed upon her back. She took the load willingly and looked to her silent followers. Without a word she moved to the open door. She had a duty to fulfill and the path was set before her. The road ahead had many a winding curves. She could not see where the path would lead, but she knew that it would at least distract her long enough she may be able to heal.
AN: Now due to spoilers from Bioware this story is AU because for what I have planned Anders will not be traveling to Kirkwall to meet Hawke. This said I know my chapters are unusually short for my normal writing, but I promise that I will be making sure they are nice and long in the future, it may take a few chapters to get there. Also I will probably post on a weekly basis. Key word being probably as I have no idea how long I will spend playing Dragon Age II when it comes out, you can expect and update then as will have the chapter for that week finished early, but beyond that I will hopefully post two chapters the following week. I am also a fan of taking romances slow, but giving them an early kick in the but, so be forewarned this story will take a long time before it is finished. In addition, reviews are always welcome and appreciated, it is nice to know when readers enjoy the story as ff . net does not give us anything more than hits to the story. I welcome criticism and any ways that I can improve my work is always taken under advisement so long as it is delivered constructively. I do not take flames seriously and I usually laugh at them and share the 'usually' poorly written complaints about my work. So I thank you for your time and hope you all enjoy reading this story as I will have as much fun writing it.