I was surprised how much attention the prologue got from everyone, so thank you very much for that. Your interest constantly inspires me. This chapter as well as the next one are pretty hard to write just because there's so much going on and there's so many characters, so if you can offer up any helpful suggestions, I welcome them. Enjoy!

Rhine was a small village on the southern border of the Arling of Amaranthine. There was nothing truly noteworthy about it, there were thousands of other towns and villages just like it, small communities that made a living off of farming and fishing. It was far enough north, and out of the way enough that it had been relatively untouched by the recent blight, although many of its sons and daughters had taken up arms to defend Ferelden against the darkspawn and some had never returned. Now, Rhine, along with the rest of the Arling was under the direct control of the Grey Wardens, given to the Wardens for their tremendous efforts and sacrifices during the blight.

At present, there was one Grey Warden in Rhine, or rather, a Grey Warden recruit. His name was Rowland, and he sat in the small tavern that the town provided, slowly sipping on a tankard of watered down ale and waiting for the arrival of Endrin Mahariel, the former Commander of the Grey, and rumored to be the one who struck the deathblow against the Archdemon and ended the blight. After offering his service to the Wardens at the conclusion of the battle, Rowland had briefly become acquainted with the Dalish Warden before she had returned to her people, although she had seemed to try and distance herself from the rest of them and had vanished almost as soon as the situation at Soldier's Peak had been resolved, saying she would return in six months. That had been six months ago to the day.

Rowland returned to his ale, tilting his head back as he drained the last of its contents, as he swallowed the last of it he heard the door behind him open, and he twisted around to see who had entered. His eyes were first drawn to the massive figure who was so tall that he had to duck to pass through the doorway, the odd violet hued eyes, ashen grey skin, and towering height of seven feet marked his as a qunari. To the best of Rowland's knowledge there was only one qunari in Ferelden, and that qunari's name was Sten, who had accompanied Endrin and her Wardens almost from the beginning of their quest, and had afterwards chosen to stay with Endrin rather than return home. If Sten was in Rhine now, then that meant that Endrin was certainly close by.

Rowland mentally kicked himself for not seeing her sooner, Endrin had actually entered the small tavern before Sten, but her much smaller size made her easily overlooked with the giant behind her. Most of her form was concealed under a dark green, hooded cloak. Only the bottom half of her face was visible, but even from where Rowland sat he could see the tattoo, the vallaslin as she called it that marked her face. Her body was protected by the now famous set of green dragon scale armor that Sten had gifted her with. Rowland could see the longbow and large quiver of arrows over one of her shoulders. He couldn't remember exactly what she had called the bow, only that it was named for one of her gods.

Although Endrin's eyes were invisible from beneath the hood, Rowland could tell that they had locked onto him and Endrin pushed the hood back, a friendly smile now marking her face.

"To the Hero of Ferelden!" One of the tavern's patrons called as he lifted his mug in her direction. "The savior of us all!"

The reaction in the tavern was instantaneous, as was Endrin's own reaction. Every eye was turned to her, and ever cup raised in a toast, several voices cheered her arrival. Endrin's smile changed from friendly to embarrassed. She gave a small bow in acknowledgment and waved at the crowd. "Ma serannas!" She called once the noise had died down, "Thank you all for your welcome." Then she moved around the room, exchanging pleasantries and making small talk with the various people before coming to Rowland.

"It's Rowland, isn't it?" She asked.

"It is mam."

Endrin blinked once before replying, "Just call me Endrin, not mam, or ser, and for the love of the Creators not 'my lady'."

Now it was Rowland who smiled in an embarrassed way. "As you wish, Endrin. Are you ready for me to take you to Vigil's Keep?"

Endrin nodded and turned, walking back towards the door, past the towering Sten and back outside into the dying light of evening. She waited for Rowland to take the lead on the unfamiliar roads, then walked by his side. Her emerald green eyes already scanning for both suitable animals to hunt, and for darkspawn or anything else that might mean them harm.

"How was your time among your people?" Rowland asked, hoping to draw the hero into conversation.

"Rejuvenating." Endrin answered happily. "Frustrating too, but in a good way I suppose."

"How is that?"

"The Elvhen have not had a homeland of their own for centuries. Now we finally do! But it's unfamiliar to us, and the nomadic lifestyle is hard to change. It's difficult to turn from hunting to farming, to go from living in our aravels to houses, and we have been trying to relearn the ways of combat and soldiery." She glanced back and Sten and nodded. "Sten has proven invaluable as far as that goes. We have to learn how to govern ourselves as a nation again, rather than as clans." Endrin frowned and her pace slowed marginally as she said, "And I am trying to teach my people to look to the future rather than live in the past." Her frown deepened. "It seems that the Elvhen are as stubborn as humans."

"I see." Rowland answered, although he didn't. Like most humans, Rowland know absolutely nothing about the Dalish beyond the rumors and stories that circulated the kingdom.

"How have things been at Vigil's Keep?" Endrin asked.

"Well enough I suppose." He answered, his upper lip curled back slightly as he said, "About a dozen Orlesian Wardens arrived several months ago to bolster our forces. Until recently, Roaran was the other Grey Warden, although he's made himself scarce around the keep, usually he's in Amaranthine drinking, stealing, and whoring."

Endrin threw back her head and laughed loudly, behind her, Sten allowed himself a quiet laugh as well. "He'll never change!" Endrin laughed again. "Not that I'd want him to… And Tylis? Is he as the keep as well?"

"Oh yes, he arrived a few days ago. He's having a bit of a hard time adjusting to his new position as the resident commander, but we're all happy to have him… even if he is still a boy."

"He's no boy!" Endrin glared sharply at Rowland, and the soldier shrank back from her sudden anger. "He's done more than most men do in their entire lives! He saved all of us during the battle with the Archdemon, and we never could have killed it without him!"

"I'm sorry." Rowland said, holding up his hands in peace. "I didn't mean to disrespect or belittle him… he still just so young."

Endrin hummed and walked in silence for a few minutes before asking, "Aside from you, Mhairi, and Kensha, are there any other new recruits?"

Rowland nodded. "Yes, several. And Commander Eebon has sent word that are at least a dozen more at Soldier's Peak. He and Kylae are bringing them to Vigil's Keep for the Joining, they should arrive roughly the same time we do."

Endrin smiled at the thought of seeing her surrogate brother again, and her lethallan, Kylae. If only Dharr could be there was well. Then she frowned at the thought of Joining and what came with it. "Creators help them." She quietly whispered.

Tylis Amell sat at his desk, field reports from all over the eastern half of Ferelden spread out in front of him, most were scouting reports that detailed darkspawn activity, while others were requests for the Grey Wardens aid. Tylis frowned at the latter, a good number of them were from honest citizens just trying to make their way in the world and reaching out for help, but the Grey Wardens were not a charity organization, they were the bane of the darkspawn, nothing more. He didn't look forward to writing replies and telling them such. The report he was missing however was from one of the Orlesian Wardens, the second highest ranking, and son of a former Warden Commander of Orlais, Kristoff.

Kristoff it seemed was a bit of rogue, preferring to work on his own, and largely keeping to himself. When the darkspawn did not retreat to the Deep Roads as was expected of them, but stayed on the surface to cause panic, death, and chaos, Kristoff took it on himself to find out why and set out alone. According the lead Orlesian, a Senior Warden by the name of Andre, Kristoff had been sending reports of progress every week like clockwork, but two weeks ago, the reports had stopped. Tylis frowned again as he thought about what might have befallen Kristoff. The next time he saw Roaran, he would have him start asking around with his numerous contacts in the city of Amaranthine.

Hearing footsteps outside the door of his personal office Tylis looked up from his work and waited for a few seconds before the door was opened, allowing Sergeant Maverlies to enter. Having only recently arrived at Vigil's Keep himself, Tylis wasn't very familiar with Samantha Maverlies, really the only thing he knew about her was that she was one of the few soldiers from Rendon Howe's reign who was allowed to stay on, and so far she hadn't given him any reason to doubt her allegiance.

"Warden Commander," Maverlies said, "Two templars have arrived at the Vigil with an apostate mage in tow."

Tylis lifted his eyebrows in curiosity. "Templars?" He repeated. "And what are they doing here? This isn't Kinloch Hold, neither is it any other arm of the chantry."

"Yes Commander, I told them as much, but they claim they only seek shelter for the night. I thought it would be best if I bring the matter to you."

Tylis sighed as he stood up. "Fine." He said quietly. "Let me go and see them." He glanced at the ancient set of elven armor that rested in a corner of his office, then decided against it, taking only Revas with him, more for the sake of ceremony than anything else. Revas itself being a one of a kind weapon designed by Tylis during his quest to stop the blight. It consisted of a heartwood shaft, lined on two sides with lyrium runes to enhance his spellcasting abilities, and a sword-like blade on the top to deal with enemies should a more martial approach be called for.

'Well this is a position I never thought I'd find myself in.' Tylis thought to himself as he followed the sergeant down the stairs and towards the throne room. Tylis himself didn't harbor any particularly hostile feelings towards templars, although being a former Circle Mage himself, he usually tended to side with the mages when there was a conflict. Unless this mage who was now inside his keep was a confirmed maleficar, Tylis would much rather take the mage into his own 'custody' and send them templars packing. But he didn't have the luxury of acting on his own personal wants and desires anymore. He was the second highest ranking Warden in all of Ferelden, and he had to think about his actions would affect the order and how the kingdom would view them all, so as much as it might pain him, he knew had to make nice with the chantry.

A few steps ahead of Tylis, Sergeant Maverlies opened the door to the throne room and stood to one side, letting her commander be the first to enter. Tylis made his way into the large room, looked up, and came to an abrupt stop, totally dumbfounded. "Anders?" He said the name in surprise.

"Tylis?" The captured mage returned. "I'd heard that one of the Heroes of Ferelden was a Circle Mage… but imagine my surprise! Don't suppose you could help an apostate out?"

"Silence apostate!" One of the templars growled from beneath his helmet.

Tylis frowned again, both at Anders and the templar, then he took a few moments to analyze his old acquaintance. The last time Tylis had seen him was almost three years ago, when they'd both been apprentices at Kinloch Hold. If memory served, the last Tylis had seen him he was being dragged down to the cells where the kept troublesome mages by two templars after his escape by swimming across the lake… an impressive feat to be sure. Anders was several years older than Tylis, and their blond hair was almost the same shade, but Anders' was longer and pulled back in a short ponytail, a single gold earring hung from his right earlobe, and several days worth of stubble covered his face. He still wore robes of the Circle, which he'd modified to closely resemble the robes worn by Tevinter archons. Anders always had been meticulous about his appearance.

Behind Tylis, Maverlies cleared her throat and Tylis blinked several times before addressing the templars. "Sorry about that… I am High Warden Tylis Amell. Commander of Vigil's Keep. How can I be of service?"

One of the templars muttered, "Another mage… wonderful! And who let the boy have free reign of an entire arling?"

The templar might of thought that he was being quiet, but Tylis still heard him and as he glanced back at Sergeant Maverlies, he saw that she did as well. Tylis nodded at her and the soldier stepped forward. "Is it customary in Ferelden for guests to insult their host now?!"

"I apologize—" The templar started, but Maverlies cut him off.

"Silence!" She growled, then she looked to the second templar and said in a less hostile voice, "The Commander has asked you a question, you had best answer him."

The second templar shook his head at his compatriot before removing his helm. "We recovered this runaway mage in Denerim and are currently in the process of returning him to the Circle of Magi. We respectfully ask for permission to stay here for the night, and a hot meal. You have our word that we will depart in the morning."

Tylis glared hatefully at the first templar before answering the second. "Your request is granted. But only on the condition that Anders is not kept in the dungeon."

Anders head jerked up in surprise, and before either templar could object, Tylis continued. "I will keep Anders with me, and should he somehow manage to escape then I will take full responsibility. You either accept to my terms or you can travel to Amaranthine and pay for room and board… and that's a long walk." Tylis smirked at the last comment.

"We accept." The second templar agreed.

"Good." Tylis smiled. So far he was liking his newfound authority. "Then follow me to the dining room. I'm hungry enough as it is. Care to join us Sergeant?"

"Regretfully no, Commander." Maverlies answered. "I have other duties I need to attend to. I'll let the seneschal know about what transpired here."

"Damn shame!" Anders said as he happily fell in beside Tylis and the two mages started towards the dining room, the templars behind them. "Some female company would have been nice before I'm shipped back to the Tower… and she's not a bad looking one herself."

Tylis rolled his eyes and chuckled quietly. "So how many escape attempts is this for you?"

"Seven." Anders stated with pride.

Tylis chuckled again. "Impressive." Then he abruptly stopped as he felt a familiar and altogether unwelcome prickling sensation in his forehead, there were darkspawn nearby, and a lot of them. Tylis raised his weapon and as he brought it down the lines of runes flared to life with a brilliant blue glow. Anders jumped back in surprise and the two templars both drew their swords in defense of what they feared was a surprise attack.

"Not me you fools!" Tylis yelled, "There are darkspawn here! To arms! Everyone to arms! We're under attack!"

Rowland had been talking for the last several miles about the various people who Endrin would meet at the Vigil as he called it. He'd started out talking about some of the soldiers and servants he'd come to know, as well as the other Warden recruits, namely Mhairi and Kensha. It sounded like he and Mhairi had become friends, but he tended to avoid Kensha whenever possible. Endrin herself still didn't understand what was so bad about blood mages and why they were so feared. Most Dalish, herself included, had only a rudimentary knowledge of magic and how it worked, and while her understanding had grown during her time with Tylis, the subject of blood magic had never really come up, and Endrin barely knew Kensha.

Gradually, the primarily one-sided conversation turned to the subject of the Orlesian Wardens, and that was when Endrin started to fade out. She gathered that Rowland carried a heavy distrust, or even hatred of the Orlesians, but most of his reasoning seemed to stem from the Orlesian occupation, which Endrin knew he was too young to even be alive for. Endrin found herself looking forward to meeting the foreigners, if only so that she could finally make her own assessment of them.

"Endrin." Sten's voice quietly rumbled from behind her and Rowland, snapping her out of her own mental deliberations, and finally quieting Rowland. "I believe that is Vigil's Keep in front of us." He pointed to a tower that extended above the trees on either side of the road. "Where is the escort to greet us? There have been no patrols on the road… The human, Rowland, said they were expecting us. Something is wrong."

Endrin's hunter instincts began to take hold, and she reached out with her Warden sense, it didn't take long before she began to sense her old enemies. Beside her, Rowland unsheathed his sword and adjusted his shield on his arm just as she took Falon'Din's Reach off her back and notched an arrow, behind her Sten took up Asala.

"Darkspawn are here…" Endrin confirmed Sten's suspicion, "And they're in our fort!"

"But how?" Rowland questioned.

"Let's go find out." Endrin growled as she quickened her pace, moving off the road and into the woods to the side of it. Rowland and Sten following her lead.

They hadn't gone far before a screaming soldier ran down the road, pursued by the stunted forms of three genlocks. Without another word Endrin swung her bow towards the darkspawn and unleashed her first arrow, without even waiting to see where she'd hit it she drew another arrow, aimed, and fired, then again with a third. It had taken less than five seconds for her to fire three arrows and kill three genlocks. As she and her two companions came back onto the road the soldier began beating an already dead darkspawn with his mace. Endrin waited until he'd stopped, and like Dharr had done before, she moved to the other two corpses and kicked each of them, making sure they were in fact dead.

"You're here!" The out of breath soldier gasped. "Thank the… Maker…" He took several more gasps before he saying, "You have to… help them! Darkspawn are… everywhere!

"Is anyone else in there still alive?!" Endrin demanded.

"I think so." The exhausted soldier nodded, "I know that… Commander Tylis was still… alive, he won't… won't leave the others!"

Endrin smiled grimly. That sounded like Tylis. "And what are you doing?"

That question caught the soldier off-guard. "I… I was going to get help… There's bound to be a patrol or something on the road."

Endrin nodded, "Then go." She said, and without waiting for him or her two followers to say anything else she started moving towards the Vigil again. 'I just got back… I'm not losing Tylis and Roaran like this!'

Ahead of her she saw a towering ogre charging towards her, a wooden beam of some sort clenched in its massive hands. Endrin pulled the arrow that was already notched to her cheek and fired into its face, she'd aimed for its eye but the arrow hit the towering monster just below the intended mark. Still it staggered backwards, roaring in pain.

"Sten go to the right!" Endrin ordered, "I'll draw its attention and move left. Rowland, watch my back, I can sense more darkspawn coming!" As soon as she was done giving orders Endrin started circling the ogre to the left, Sten to the right. The ogre started to follow Sten, but stopped and moved after Endrin when she put another arrow in its face, it swung at her with the beam and Endrin leapt five feet straight into the air, tucking her knees against her chest as the crude weapon passed under her, she fired again as soon as she landed, and this time her missile found the monster's eye.

Sten spun around in a full circle as he approached the ogre, building his momentum before hacking into the back of a knee with Asala, and the darkspawn howled in answer and fell to its now injured knee. Sten didn't waste a moment and he moved back a few steps, then charged forward again, ramming Asala up through it's back and towards it heart, black blood gushed out of the wound, down the blade and onto his hands. Sten savagely ripped the greatsword out, and as the ogre fell closer to the ground he swung into its neck, his second strike severed it's spine.

Rowland was facing two hurlocks and a shriek, he was hard pressed and had no choice but to fight defensively. He blocked the clawed swipe of the shriek on his shield and jumped to the left, keeping the shriek between him and at least one of the hurlocks so that he didn't have to face all of them at once. As the shriek swung at him again he shifted his body so that the claws hit his heavily armored shoulder, then bashed his heavy square shield into its face, slashing it across the throat before it could recover. Rowland braced himself behind his shield as one of the hurlocks charged him. The darkspawn used its superior size and weight to throw him off balance as it crashed into the shield. Rowland was barely able to block its sword before it connected with his face, but the hurlock kicked him in the ribs, and he felt it even through his armor. He ignored the pain and blocked the next strike as well. The second hurlock circled around and came in from the other side, Rowland rolled towards it to avoid having his throat decimated by an axe and rolled as hard as he could into its legs, when it stumbled he drove his own sword up through its chest. The last surviving hurlock stood over him and raised its sword, but stopped and made a strangling noise, black blood pouring from its mouth. Rowland looked closer and saw a triangular arrowhead dripping with black gore protruding from its throat. Behind the hurlock, Endrin shot it a second time, this time in the back of its skull to ensure it was dead.

"Are you alright?" Endrin called from where she stood, just as the hurlock fell forward on top of him.

Rowland grunted as he pushed the dead darkspawn off of him. "I'm still alive!" He answered as he pushed himself to his feet.

Endrin only nodded as she notched another arrow and continued towards the castle itself, Sten already at her side again "Come-on then! I'm not letting the darkspawn kill my friends!" And just like that, a certain coldness returned to Endrin, like when she'd flared at him on the road for calling Tylis a boy.

Roaran was happy he hadn't bothered to take off the silverite scale armor after having arrived at the Vigil. During his quest to stop the blight, that same suit of armor had saved his life several times over, and now it was saving his life again. He'd left his cozy home in Amaranthine to make the several hour long trip back to the keep just to welcome Endrin back to the family as it were, he'd only been inside the walls of the castle for a few minutes when he'd heard Mage-Boy several rooms away shouting about darkspawn. At first Roaran had thought that Tylis had lost his mind, but then his own Warden sense kicked in, and he'd almost immediately been attacked by two hurlocks… by his count that was fifteen darkspawn ago.

A short distance away from the fiery haired dwarven Warden, Kensha yelled a spell and thrust her staff towards a darkspawn, trapping it in a spell of telekinesis. The genlock hurtled backwards with bone crushing force and crashed into a wall. Kensha could tell from the pained howl that the genlock was still alive, and she angled her staff up, then down, the genlock responded by crashing into the roof and then floor where it lay unmoving.

As Kensha was still in the middle of telekinetically bashing the genlock to death, Roaran saw a hurlock coming towards her back with axe raised. It was too far away and moving too fast for Roaran to get to it in time to save Kensha, so instead he brought his battleaxe, Faith's Edge, behind his head and threw it with all his power, the dragonbone weapon spun through the air and then embedded itself in the head of the hurlock with such force that its head practically disintegrated into a splatter of bone and gore. Kensha looked at the dead hurlock in surprise, then back at Roaran, the dwarf saw her eyes bulge open in fear and she held an open hand in Roaran's direction. Behind him Roaran heard a terrified scream then a wet sounding explosion and he was suddenly showered with another layer of black blood, pieces of bone, and even chucks of entrails. When he looked back at the source of the explosion all he saw were a pair of dismembered darkspawn legs.

It only took Roaran a second to shake off his surprise and for his old nature to return. "Y'know I was just gonna say that you owed me a pint. But now it looks like we both owe each other one."

Kensha looked around at the carnage they'd wrought together. There were more than thirty darkspawn corpses that littered the floor, and one that was impaled on a wall, pinned there by a spear she'd magically thrown. But there were casualties on their side as well. At the start of the fight it had been herself and Roaran, two Orlesian Wardens, and five of the Vigil's soldiers, only herself and Roaran had survived. As she looked around the room turned slaughterhouse however she only counted five dead humans.

Ignoring Roaran's attempt at humor, Kensha asked, "Where are the Orlesians?"

"Dead." Roaran stated obviously.

"I know…" She rolled her eyes. "I meant where are their bodies. Either they got better and walked away or the darkspawn dragged them off while we were busy dealing with the ambush."

Roaran shrugged. "Maybe they did get better."

Kensha stared at Roaran in surprise. "How can you make jokes at a time like this?" She asked.

Another shrug, Roaran gave his trademark grin but didn't answer otherwise. "I miss Kylae…" He muttered under his breath. 'She would have found that funny.' Then he touched his forehead with two fingers. "Company coming." He said loud enough to be heard.

Kensha's shoulders sagged and her entire body seemed to deflate. "More darkspawn?" She whined. "I only had one lyrium potion on me to start with… and I already used it. I don't have much left in me!" She didn't want to say how she could always rely on blood magic, using either her own blood or someone else's.

As the source of tingling sensation drew closer, Roaran lost the grim expression and broke into a relieved smile. "It ain't darkspawn!" He said happily.

Only another moment passed before Endrin, Sten, and Rowland entered the room.

"Tattoo!" Roaran shouted, "Good to see you again! It hasn't been the same without you in the lead! Any chance you brought Big Man and Elf-Lady with you? We could have the whole troop back together!" Before Endrin could even answer Roaran was already talking again. "And you even managed to bring along the Sten, and Rollo… this day just keeps getting better!"

Endrin hadn't realized how much she'd missed Roaran and his odd sense of humor until she saw him again. Before she could take in the full measure of the situation she was laughing. "Roaran…" She had to stop and laugh again. "Roaran, where's Tylis?"

"What? No small talk? Come-on Tattoo… you haven't seen me for six months! How about a—"

"Roaran!" Endrin yelled, and she had to do her best not to start laughing again.

"Alright, fine… fine." Roaran relented. "I haven't seen Mage-Boy yet. I just got here a few minutes before the attack started, that's when me and Kensha found each other and we've been fighting ever since. We got our first breather just a few seconds ago."

Endrin noted that Roaran hadn't used a nickname for the blood mage, meaning either that he didn't like her or he just hadn't thought of a suitable name yet. Before she could say ask anything else, Rowland was talking.

"Oh great…" He said, glaring hatefully at Kensha, "You would have survive wouldn't you?"

"Go jump in the river Rowland!" Kensha spat.

"Enough!" Endrin shouted before Roaran could crack another joke or the recruits could insult each other again. "We need to find Tylis and any other survivors that we can! And we're going to do it together!" She pointed towards a door on the opposite side of the room. "Roaran, Sten, you two take the lead. Kensha, Rowland, take the rear. I'll stay in the middle and keep us covered with my bow. Now let's go!"

Roaran grinned as he took the lead, Sten soon coming up alongside him. 'Just like the old days!' He thought to himself. 'Outnumbered by darkspawn and the chances are against us! Endrin is even in the lead again! This is fun!' He pushed his way past Sten and through the door first and quickly realized that they had just entered a long hallway, he relaxed a bit, knowing that any darkspawn would have to come from directly in front of him.

The tingling, prickling sensation in Roaran and Endrin's foreheads soon started again and they both stopped, crouching lower and readying their weapons, the other three followed their example. A few seconds passed before two genlocks and a hurlock ran across the hallway with weapons drawn, apparently there was an intersecting hallway. It wasn't long after that before a human sounding voice shout a warning and there was an explosion.

"I can feel magic and spells being cast!" Kensha announced.

"That must be where Tylis is!" Endrin said quickly. "Go!"

Roaran and Sten led the way, following the darkspawn as fast as they could. Sten with his longer legs and stride rounded the corner and found the darkspawn first, or rather what was left of the darkspawn.

There was indeed a blonde mage in the room, but it wasn't Tylis. This mage was a little taller than Tylis, and with several days of beard growth. As Sten and Roaran entered the room they saw him with both hands outstretched, a stream of white hot fire pouring from his fingertips, quickly reducing the last hurlock to an ash covered skeleton.

As the badly charred hurlock dropped to a smoking heap on the floor, the mage started shaking his hands as if to cool them off, then looked up, seeing the newcomers for the first time. The mage glanced around at the darkspawn corpses before looking back up at the group and shrugging his shoulders. "Uhh…" He said as if unsure what to say, he managed to find his words a few seconds later. "I didn't do it."

Roaran relaxed his grip on Faith's Edge and walked deeper into the room chuckling as he kicked or hacked at the darkspawn to ensure they were really dead. "You didn't kill all these darkspawn?" He asked.

The mage smirked as he looked around at the numerous corpses. "Oh no, not them, I killed them… most of them at least. He helped." Anders motioned with his head towards the body of a dead templar, fully armored, still clenching his longsword. "Imagine… a mage and templar working together for once! But what I meant to say was that I didn't kill him."

Rowland scowled at the new mage as he moved over to the dead templar and quickly analyzed him. "Liar!" He said turning back towards the mage with sword pointed at him. "There's not a mark on him! He only could have been killed with magic!"

"Look on his back!" The mage insisted. "The poor bastard was standing close to the door and was yelling at me for something or another when those last three darkspawn came running in! One of them stabbed him in the back! I promise I'm not a murderer… apostate yes, but murderer no!"

Rowland rolled the dead templar over to see that his back was indeed stained in blood. He couldn't see a wound due to the heavy plate armor, and looking back at his companions he shrugged.

"Look," The mage said, "There are darkspawn to be killed, and I'm in a position to help you. I'm more of a healer, but as you can see, I can put up a good fight when I need to. So how about you let me come along, and then we talk about what happens later… later?"

Endrin pushed her way past Roaran and Sten, she tilted her head as she studied the mage, then arched an eyebrow. "I knew a templar once…" She said, and for a moment or two it was all she could do to hold back a tide of tears, but then she regained control of herself and continued, "I take it that you're an apostate and the templar was bringing you to the Circle?"

The blonde mage nodded in agreement, but at the same time couldn't keep himself from grinning. "Very nice tattoo!" He said off-handedly. "I take it that you're Endrin, the Grey Warden who killed the Archdemon?"

Endrin arched a single eyebrow and flashed her mischievous smile. "That's what they tell me."

"In that case you can call me Anders." The mage replied. "So do we have an understanding?"

Endrin nodded. "We do."

Anders nodded. "Pretty and sensible… such a rare combination."

Endrin's smile disappeared. "Let's go." She said blankly, and motioned for Roaran and Sten to take the lead again. This mage, Anders, already reminded her more than a little of Alistair… and that wasn't altogether a good thing.

Sten kicked the door to the roof open and Roaran was the first one out, followed closely by Sten and the others. Instead of finding darkspawn waiting for them however they found Tylis, Mhairi, and the second templar. At seeing her fellow Warden and friend it was all Endrin could do to keep from shouting his name and hugging him, and from the look of excitement and relief on his face, Tylis felt the same way.

"Endrin." Tylis said, being sure to keep his voice quiet. "I am so happy to see you here!" He glanced at the giant behind her. "You too Sten, and you even managed to find the Duster. It's almost like the good old days!"

Endrin swallowed hard, 'the good old days' could hardly be considered good. "It's good to see you too." Endrin managed to say. "What's going on here?"

"You got me, Endrin." Tylis shrugged. "The darkspawn just appeared out of nowhere and attacked. The three of us have been tracking one that I believe is their leader. I'm just hoping that our old strategy works again… you know, kill the leader and plunge the rest into chaos?"

"Sounds good to me." Endrin nodded.

Tylis waited for Endrin to take charge and start giving orders, but instead she only looked at him expectantly. It took a moment for Tylis to remember that he was the one in charge and he smiled in an embarrassed sort of way before saying, "Templar, what's your name?"

"Alsace… at your service Ser."

Tylis nodded, "Thank you Alsace, I want you and Sten to go first, you two are the largest and have the heaviest armor. Anders, stay behind and defend them with your spells as best you can, if you see an opening in the darkspawn's own defenses then take it. Endrin, stay with him, do what you do best. Roaran, Rowland, Kensha, stay back and watch out rear at least until we find the darkspawn leader. Mhairi, you're with me. Everyone ready… let's do this!"

After turning the first corner, the group was confronted by a cluster of genlocks and hurlocks. The templar, unused to fighting or even looking at darkspawn held back in fear. Sten on the other hand did not hesitate in the least and flung himself into them, knocking two of them over in his initial charge, then moving back and forth with the fluidity of a dance and lethality of steel whirlwind. He grabbed a genlock by the throat, lifting off the ground with one hand, parrying a hurlock's longsword at the same time, then throwing the genlock into the larger spawn. A second hurlock came at him, clumsily swinging and Sten easily ducked under it, sweeping out and around with one of his legs as he did so, knocking the darkspawn to the ground.

By that time the templar had returned to his senses and charged in, Roaran at his side. The templar, Alsace, lunged forward, driving his longsword through the chest of genlock while at the same time Sten raised his sword and dropped it through the first hurlock and the genlock that he'd thrown at it, killing them both.

Roaran used the flat top of the axe like a battering ram and pushed a genlock off balance, then he spun around, bringing Faith's Edge in a wide arc and cutting cleanly through its neck.

The last hurlock tried to retreat away from them but was too slow, and Sten roared as he stabbed Asala through its chest with such brutal force that he lifted it off the ground and over the edge of the wall, then he jerked his sword free, letting the darkspawn fall, screeching, to its death far below.

Endrin smiled grimly from where she stood. The battle had happened so fast that she hadn't fired a single arrow.

With Sten once more in the lead, the group of Wardens and soldiers continued to fight their way across the rooftop of Vigil's Keep, following the darkspawn they sensed to be the leader. As they turned the last corner they all stopped in surprise at what they saw, or rather what they heard. There were roughly a dozen hurlocks, led by one wearing a chainmail coif around its head and a violet cloak over its shoulders, its body was covered in armor that was plainly of better quality than darkspawn were normally afforded. What was unnerving about the lead darkspawn was that it was talking to several captured humans who had been forced to their knees. Tylis only recognized two of them, an older man, Seneschal Varel, and Sergeant Maverlies.

"No good!" The darkspawn was saying, although it was unclear who it was talking to. "No good! No Grey… only more worthless humans! But what is this… this feeling? Can sense more… He needs more!" It spoke in a husky voice, and as if the words of the common language were unfamiliar to it, which they probably were.

The three Grey Wardens and Sten had all heard darkspawn speak before. Some of the emissaries they'd fought and killed had possessed powers of speech, but this darkspawn seemed capable of so much more. It seemed to be debating and reasoning with itself, or with the other darkspawn, it was impossible to tell.

"Kill them." It hissed. "They are no good to him! Kill them all!"

Without a word, Endrin quickly aimed and released her arrow, and the missile found its mark between the lead darkspawn's shoulders, as its back had been turned to them. How far the arrow penetrated the armor couldn't be told.

The darkspawn made a pained grunting sound and whirled to face the offender, drawing a long, drastically curved sword as it did so. A heavy shield with jagged pieces of metal protruding all along its sides already on its arm. "More of the Grey!" It said excitedly as another hurlock pulled the arrow from its back. "Kill the prisoners quickly! Then be killing the Grey, much use they will serve!"

"No!" Tylis screamed as he saw darkspawn swords fall into the bodies of the soldiers who'd been placed under his command. They were his responsibility, and now they'd been killed like dogs in the very keep where he was commander, where they should have been safe. Most of the captives were killed with the first strike. Varel however was able to twist his body so that the blow that was meant for his head cut into his shoulder, and Maverlies dove forward, landing hard on her front as her hands were tied, but she still managed to roll out of the way.

Bringing Revas back over his shoulder, Tylis threw it like it was a spear into the chest of nearest hurlock, then reaching out with his magic he took hold of the lyrium that was imbued into the weapon and pulled it back into his hand. Two more hurlocks ran towards him, putting themselves between Tylis and the strange, talking darkspawn. "Heads up!" Tylis said, conjuring a spell in his head with no need to vocalize the spell. A conjured slab of stone appeared over both the hurlocks instantly falling and crushing their bodies to pulp, then vanishing into thin air. Tylis glared at the darkspawn leader. "You're mine now!" He shouted.

The talking hurlock came running towards Tylis, jumping into the air as it neared and bring its sword down, Tylis blocked it on the blade of Revas, and although he was forced to his knees he still brought of the butt of the weapon around to it the surprised darkspawn in the face, then he stabbed at its chest with the blade again. The darkspawn brought its shield around and blocked the blade, then lunged toward pushing Tylis backwards.

Rather than fight against the superior strength of the darkspawn, Tylis went with it and jumped backwards, a plan already forming in his head. The darkspawn fell for it and came towards Tylis again, shield to one side and sword back, ready to strike. Tylis slid his grip further down the shaft of Revas so he was holding near the bottom, the he used the superior range of the weapon and swung it around at his enemy. His plan worked, the pointed, razor sharp tip of Revas hit the darkspawn over the throat, but the chainmail coif protected its life… if only for a few more seconds.

The talking hurlock stumbled backwards, doubling over and choking. Tylis took full advantage of situation and brought Revas back again, stabbing forward into its stomach, the blade easily punching through the darkspawn's armor and into tainted flesh underneath. "Ignis!" Tylis yelled, and primal magic flowed through him and his weapon, setting the darkspawn's body aflame. It howled one last time as it died, then crumpled to a heap at Tylis' feet.

The young mage and commander looked around the rooftop, just as Mhairi killed the last darkspawn. He was somewhat relieved to see that both Varel and Maverlies had both survived. Varel was in dire need of a healer, and Anders was already seeing to him, Maverlies looked a little banged up, but none the worse for it. Tylis was also happy to see that everyone who'd fought with him was still alive as well, even the templar Alsace. But it was the bodies of the dead soldiers both on top of the roof and inside the fort that weighed heavily on his heart.

All the voices and other sounds around Tylis seemed to grow quieter and blend together in a dull blur of noise. As he turned around he could see Roaran, already cleaning the gore of his battleaxe and laughing about something, but he could not understand the words. Endrin was moving around the darkspawn corpses, retrieving her arrows. She looked over at Tylis and her face seemed to echo the same sadness that he felt. The others all showed a wide range of emotions, some seemed happy, others relieved, Mhairi in particular just looked angry.

Endrin pulled the last arrow from a darkspawn corpse, then broke off the arrowhead and tossed the rest away, the shaft had been fractured on impact, making it useless. Overhead she heard an avian screech, and turned her eyes skyward to see a hawk circling the keep. The hawk screeched again and flew off, above the road that Endrin had arrived on. Endrin moved to the edge of the roof, her sharp elven eyes looking out over the road. "Someone's coming." She announced, pointing to a cloud of dust that rose from the road, barely visible in the distance. "And I don't think that it's more darkspawn unless they've learned how to ride horses." She allowed herself a small smile, feeling that she knew who it was.

Let me just say something about Anders… In DA2 he was hands down my least favorite character and every time I played it I would practically be giggling to myself when I killed him. In Awakening however he's one of my favorites, I really like his humor and snarky come-backs, so I'll do my best to stay true the Anders that I know and love.

Thanks again for reading. Hopefully I'll have next chapter up in a week or so.