For What Binds Us
Chapter Two: An Old Friend

"...Unfortunately, Jacob never could get his arrows to fly straight. So, naturally, Loghain just plucked the bow from his shaking hands, and told him calmly, 'Perhaps you should try another weapon, before you impale your new Commander.' Jacob took him up on the suggestion, and his regimen of sword and shield training has suited him well," Evelyn recounted gaily to the young woman seated behind her, giggling at the memory. "Of course, the number of arrow-related injuries also immediately went down after that."

"His nerves were his undoing," Loghain commented thoughtfully. "When he is on his own, with neither of us to monitor him, his skill with the bow is fine. When he had an audience he sought to impress, however..."

Alistair feigned shock. "You mean to say he was intimidated by you?" He paused, then added suspiciously, "Wait, how can you tell how he shot when you weren't around to see it?"

Without even turning to look at Alistair properly, Loghain replied, "He would sneak out at night to practice, when he thought we were all asleep. I could hear the strikes against the practice targets we had set up, and from what I saw, he was hitting every one nearly dead-center. But if he can't reproduce his talent when he is nervous, he is no good as a bowman."

"So that's why you saddled me with him." Alistair kept his grumbling to a minimum, but his disappointment was evident nonetheless. "And here I was worried you were sending me all the recruits you didn't want to deal with. No, you were just sending me the ones you were disappointed in."

"I like to keep my disappointment in one spot; much easier to maintain that way."

"Hey, I do something similar!" Alistair grinned. "I keep all of my disappointment in one person. That way, I can just avoid you, and save myself the trouble!"

"Are they... always like this?" While she'd been politely enthusiastic on meeting the three Grey Wardens, the young recruit turned to Evelyn in confusion now.

"Like what, dear girl?" Glad that her passenger couldn't read the grin on her face, Evelyn gleefully chose the deliberately obtuse response.

Uncomfortable at the thought that her Commander might in fact be oblivious to the blatant animosity between her immediate subordinates, the girl shifted in the saddle. "I am uncertain as to whether such... heated discussions are conducive to accord within the ranks. I mean no disrespect, of course, Ma'am," she added quickly.

"No disrespect taken, Mhairi," Evelyn chuckled, turning her head slightly to give her a sidelong look. "But believe me, if you feel that this is heated, I would assure you that this is possibly the most affectionate the two have ever been with one another."

Behind her helm, the girl's eyes widened to plates. "I... hadn't realized... I'd heard from other recruits rumors of a spectacle the two participated in..."

That brought a burst of laughter out in Evelyn that tossed her head back, interrupting the two men in their debate. Mhairi's reply sparked the memory of the event that started those rumors. While Evelyn had been busier than usual, Alistair had fallen into a foul mood and taken to criticizing everything about Loghain's methods of training the recruits. Having had enough of the whelp's barking, the general had taken Alistair to task, engaging in a sparring match, challenging him to "show what he could teach better." While Alistair had held his ground fairly well, Loghain's superior tactics and skill had Alistair admitting defeat in minutes. Evidently, the conflict had left an impression.

"She's laughing at us again," Alistair stated matter-of-factly to Loghain. "I can't believe she's so mean. She used to be such a nice girl. I suspect your influence."

Momentarily surprised at the somewhat conspiratory tone in which Alistair addressed him, Loghain let it show only through a raised eyebrow. "It would seem you really do plan on blaming me for everything."

"Between the rainy weather last week and the piss-poor return on your hunting trips the last couple of nights, yes, I can see blaming you for everything going wrong for a long while," Alistair quipped lightly; they'd already dealt (mostly) with Alistair's lingering resentment about the events already a year and a half in the past.

"How can you blame him for the weather?" Mhairi asked, bewildered. "He has no control over-"

"Apparently, I am the avatar of misfortune in his life," Loghain answered more bitterly than he intended. "This includes when such misfortune affects me, as well, it seems."

"You know, this is a nice change of pace," Alistair continued where Loghain left off, "It'll be nice to not be the last one to get the joke, for once."

Mhairi frowned in embarrassment- she'd blundered into their social circle, and just had to show her ass, didn't she? She glanced to the Commander, expecting a mocking mirth in her gaze. Instead, she was greeted with... well, amusement, yes, but a warmth in the commander's expression that she hadn't expected. Mhairi flushed, still humiliated, but a bit more assuaged of her fears.

"Hold." Loghain's command pierced the good humor of their travels, as he stopped his horse and peered into the darkness around them. Night had long since fallen, but moonlight still dusted the landscape in faint silver.

"Do you see something, Loghain?" Immediately, the hard edge was back in Evelyn's voice. She followed the steely gaze of her elder, halting.

"No." Loghain's eyes narrowed. "And that's exactly the problem. By now, we should at least be seeing the torchlight from the keep, if not those stationed to welcome us. Instead..." He shook his head. "...Silence."

The change in Evelyn was radical, indeed. She swept off her horse in a smooth movement, her eyes on the road ahead. A deft tug and twirl freed her staff from where she had it strapped to her back, and Mhairi's eyes widened to catch the finely-crafted blade integrated in the design of the staff. Her steps were quiet, light and barely disturbing the dirt beneath them as she edged forward, joined shortly by both Loghain and Alistair. A hardened look of concentration turned Evelyn's face to stone, her eyes glittering with suspicion.

"You're right. There's something wrong. I feel the Veil thinning up ahead. A different sort of darkness..." Evelyn's breath caught, and she continued in tremulous determination, "I can sense them."

"As can I," Loghain agreed. Alistair nodded, immediately at Evelyn's side, his shield raised protectively around both of them. Mhairi slid down too, drawing her sword and frowning. Already, she felt out of place among these seasoned fighters.

"Help!" Barreling down the path, his legs failing as he fled from his pursuers, a man cried out in terror. Hot on his trail, several genlocks gibbered furiously. Spotting the travelers- the well-armed travelers- the man darted past them. Any barrier between himself and the darkspawn was welcome!

Evelyn's eyes narrowed, and just as the genlocks caught up to them, her bladed staff flashed in the moonlight, and a dual metallic clank met two genlock heads. Even before they could collapse at her feet, Evelyn turned the blade on one, a slick slice nearly severing one genlock from their head forever- nearly. Starfang, guided by Alistair's hand, struck down the other, gleaming in the swing. A third's attack was deflected by Loghain's shield, before a calculated thrust cut the genlock down.

Mhairi stared at the three combatants in shock. Not once had she needed to lift her sword. In seconds, three darkspawn had charged up and met their fate. Satisfied that the immediate threat was gone, Evelyn immediately turned to the poor man who'd fled from the keep, collapsed now on the ground in his relief.

"Are you alright?" She asked, reaching out her hand to help him back to his feet. Whatever kindness was in her voice was sharpened by her intense stare. "What has happened here? Where did the darkspawn come from?"

The man stared, eyes wide, before accepting her hand. "It's you! The Hero of Ferelden! Oh, thank the Maker you've arrived!" He gestured towards the darkened keep, where fires were slowly rising from beyond the walls. "I don't know what happened! All I saw were monsters, coming out of nowhere, and the screams and people dying, I couldn't- I ran, and...they followed...!"

Loghain approached the man, scowling. "What about the Wardens? Did you see any of the Wardens in your escape?"

The man regarded the tall general cautiously, before stammering, "N-no, I didn't- well, maybe, I think I saw... there was a mage. Might've been a Warden, I don't know."

Evelyn frowned thoughtfully. "A mage? But we didn't send any mage recruits to Vigil's keep..."

"Like I said, Ma'am, I don't know," the man replied quickly, eyes shifting to the path behind them. "I'm going to see if I can't find some help- there must be a patrol nearby."

"Take my horse," Alistair offered, quickly stripping two bags from the burden his steed had born and strapping them to his own back."You'll move faster that way."

"Thank you kindly, Ser!" The man smiled, profusely grateful for the chance to escape the immediate danger. He quickly mounted the horse, riding off without further word.

"Why would there be a mage at Vigil's Keep?" Evelyn wondered, her brow furrowed in concern.

"I would be more concerned about the darkspawn being at the keep, myself," Alistair pointed out. "And speaking of which, the faster we get there, the likelier we are to find survivors."

"For once, I am in agreement with Alistair," Loghain said with some measure of surprise in his own words, "Let us make haste."

"Right!" Evelyn agreed vehemently. She took one moment to lay one hand on the forehead of her lovely gelding, the other guiding his nose to her face. She planted a kiss on the velvety soft tip, smiling warmly. "I need you to stay here for me, okay? I'll come back for you later. But if something bad comes, you hide, okay?"

The gelding snorted worriedly, nuzzling her. She gave him another quick pat, and turned back towards the keep. As she advanced, readying her staff again, a cold, starlit glimmer came to her gaze. "Come, Sers; we have some Darkspawn to be rid of."

-xxx-

Mhairi stared at the Commander and her men in awe. Upon arriving at the keep, they'd found the place to be utterly swarmed with darkspawn. To Mhairi's despair, many of the recruits she'd gotten to know over the course of her stay at the keep were strewn across the grounds, broken and still. After her initial devastation to see the men and women under her charge defeated, the Commander set about systematically destroying each darkspawn she found. Her Second-in-Command and her general were only a pace behind her, and no less brutal in obliterating the invasion.

Leaving a trail of blackened blood in their wake, Evelyn's party had cleared the immediate grounds of the darkspawn threat- and what had earned Mhairi's most profound respect was the woman's determination in finding survivors. The faintest of calls for help had been answered, and she'd even taken the time to heal the men most in danger of dying. As Evelyn had traded off the medical supplies to the man who'd pleaded for them, she didn't even mention the numerous darkspawn that had stood between them and the supplies.

"Where are they coming from!" Approaching the doors that lead into the main fortress, Evelyn cast her gaze around the grounds urgently. "They weren't charging inwards, there was no army waiting outside the keep! How did they get in?" She paused, frowning. "...Even more worrisome, why didn't they sense the darkspawn coming?"

Loghain's eyes narrowed, but he remained silent for the moment. Alistair shuddered; from his experience, anyway, when Loghain stopped talking about potential tactics, it meant the seasoned warrior was unnerved by something. When that happened, it meant bad things were afoot.

Without an answer from Loghain, Evelyn steeled herself again, her hands clenching around her staff. "...Right. Let's press on."

Advancing to the interior, Mhairi nearly gagged at the sight; there might have been carnage outside, but here... here, the bodies were stacked unceremoniously, kicked to the side and left to bleed out. "By the Maker, this is... awful!"

"Awful isn't the half of it," Alistair agreed. "So many of them completely unarmed... The darkspawn took them totally by surprise. There was no warning."

"We have company." Loghain glared into the dark, torchless hall, gripping his sword and shield.

The familiar singing in their veins alerted the other wardens to the presence of darkspawn, even though they were nowhere to be seen. Shrill cries of anger pierced the silence, and the wardens tensed; Shrieks. Her eyes narrowing sharply, Evelyn spun her staff, then stabbed the blade behind her in a quick thrust. With a sudden yelp of pain, a shriek shimmered into existence, impaled on Evelyn's blade, its black blood sliding along the edge. With a yank and deliberately-placed kick to the shriek's midsection, Evelyn freed her staff again, her face a mask of angry contempt.

Two more appeared, the illusion broken, and they charged at the team, claws out. Mhairi couldn't avoid a short bark of terror as she swung her sword at the oncoming shriek, grateful to feel resistance as the tip bit into the flesh of the monster. Unfortunately, she'd moved too slowly; even though she'd nicked the creature, it'd barely taken any damage, evading the blade with a deft sway. Just as her foot slid back in instinct, Mhairi was surprised when Alistair lunged forward to intervene, his shield bashing the shriek away from her. The darkspawn clattered to the floor, claws spread in a scramble to regain control over its momentum, but Mhairi refused to give it another chance at her. Taking the advantage Alistair gave her, she hacked the head off of the fallen darkspawn, even going so far as to kick it away from the monster- just in case it got any funny ideas about reattaching it and standing upright again, like in that one nightmare she had.

Alistair nodded briefly to her, and Mhairi grinned in a mix of relief and terror. The third shriek had tried to tangle with Loghain, and learned very quickly why engaging with the man was not the wisest plan. He made short work of the creature, a single swipe of his blade separating the top half of the darkspawn from the bottom. Just in case he'd miscalculated, however, Loghain slammed his shield against the shriek, which confirmed the separation as it fell to pieces- literally.

"I sense more, straight ahead," Evelyn commented, knowing well enough that the other full wardens were already aware, but wanting to keep Mhairi on the same page. She ran to the gate blocking their way forward into the keep, wrapping her fingers around the grating and shaking it lightly. Sadly, the metal didn't give even slightly. "Damn! I don't suppose one of you big, strong men can miraculously break this down, can you?"

"I'm afraid, dearest, that might be a bit beyond my ability," Alistair replied, sighing in an exaggerated measure of exasperation. "And I doubt Mr. Legendary over there can do much better."

"The whelp is correct; I see no points of weakness in this gate. We'll need another path through," Loghain confirmed.

"I do not understand, Commander," Mhairi frowned, confused. "You are a mage, are you not? Why not simply... magic it away? Or blow it down with fire?"

"I imagine that, as powerful as our Commander is, even she lacks interest in wasting what power she has in an overt display of destruction if there is another option," Loghain suggested, raising an eyebrow. Evelyn smiled and nodded in agreement.

"I see." Mhairi felt a blush growing in her embarrassment, and fought it down again. "If I recall correctly, that door over there would take us around to where we need to go." She pointed to the door in question, up the stairs and to the right of where they stood.

"See? This is why we have someone who has actually toured the keep with us!" Alistair quipped as the others immediately began following Mhairi's direction. "Cuts down on our aimless wandering considerably!"

Charging up the stairs, more fleet than her heavily-armored companions, Evelyn frowned. An all-too-familiar tingle crawled over her skin. "Magic? ...And not darkspawn magic, either..."

Alistair joined her in frowning. "I'll be ready to douse it with my templar skills if need be."

Evelyn gave a faint nod over her shoulder, not breaking her stride for a second, and threw open the door, charging in. Only a few steps in, she faltered and stopped, staring wide-eyed at the sight in front of her. The others followed suit, falling into place beside their Commander. In front of them stood a robed man, his blonde hair and feathered pauldrons highlighted in a golden glow from the fire streaming from his hands. Just beyond him, two darkspawn gurgled in pain of death, the flames having already cooked them beyond the point of healing, and collapsed.

Oblivious to his new audience, the man finally dropped his spell, backing away from the blackened corpses and shaking his hands to cool them. He turned to leave the scene, and flashed a glance at the folks standing in the doorway, doing a double take to realize he was no longer alone.

He flinched and rapidly informed them, "Err, I didn't do it."

"Didn't do what, kill darkspawn?" Alistair replied, raising his eyebrow. "Yes, I can absolutely see why you'd want to cover that up-"

"Anders?" With all pretense of confidence gone, Evelyn spoke tremulously, taking one hesitant step forward.

For a moment, the man stared blankly, trying to register who this tiny woman was and where she might know him. But she was awfully familiar, he felt, and his brow wrinkled as he peered at her. Recognition flooded his features, and he replied in shock and dawning joy, "...Lynnie!"

Her expression blossomed in happiness, tears filling her eyes and rosiness flushing over her. "Anders!"

"Lynnie!" He exclaimed gleefully, closing the distance between them in half a second to close her in a tight embrace.

Witness to the display of affection between the love of his life and this strange man, Alistair frowned. His sword may have lowered, but he gripped the hilt. Loghain's displeasure in the momentary pause in their mission manifested in an arched eyebrow and his icy glare getting icier.

"I can't believe it- you're alive!" Evelyn gushed, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as she pressed her cheek to his chest. "After so long, I was certain that if they hadn't recaptured you, they must've..."

"Oh, you're one to talk!" Anders proclaimed incredulously, grinning all the while. "I heard about what happened to the tower, with Uldred finally losing his last straw of sanity and whatnot. I'd thought you'd been caught up in that!"

"No, I-"

"Eh, sorry to interrupt this touching reunion, Evelyn," Alistair rather purposefully interrupted, indeed, "But weren't we kind of in the middle of, you know, purging this place of darkspawn and searching for survivors?"

Startled, Evelyn released her old friend, the memories of the past clashing horribly with the realization of the situation they were in. "Oh! Yes- yes, we were!" She looked to Anders apologetically. "We have much to catch up on, but definitely not now."

Confused at the jarring disconnect, Anders twisted his mouth uncertainly. "Right, the darkspawn. I can see where that might be a more immediate concern." He turned partially back to face the darkspawn- and the two fallen soldiers just past them. "Hey! Seeing as I'm no longer locked up in that dingy cell, what say you to my joining you in your heroic escapades?"

Evelyn followed his gaze, and swallowed a gasp. "Those men... they're templars...?"

Catching her implication, Anders faced her with a sharp look, though it quickly softened in good humor. "Like I said, I didn't do it- those darkspawn got to them first. I mean, I can't say that I'm all that broken up over their death- Biff there made the funniest gurgle when he went down. But I promise you, despite the rumors, I've yet to be involved in any templar-slaying."

"Templar-slaying?" Alistair balked.

The hardened edge Evelyn had cultivated over the last year fell back over her cheer, and she purposefully met Anders' gaze. "Have you kept up with your healing?"

"Among other things, but yes," he answered with a shrug.

"Then come with us. If we find survivors, you make sure they can make it out without an injury slowing them down. That way, I can focus on fighting," she ordered, stalking past him and the corpses lining what Evelyn slowly realized had been a jailing area.

Anders stared after her, surprised. Slowly, a much more sincere smile spread over his features, and he followed after her. "I can do that!"

Alistair scurried to move back to Evelyn's side, blocking Anders from taking what was rightfully his spot- who was this mage-guy, anyway, to get Evelyn to lose focus like that? The questions would have to come later, but he certainly wasn't going to give the mage much chance to display his fondness for Evelyn anytime soon, no ser.

Sighing out his own exasperation, Loghain followed suit. Fantastic; just when he thought one emotional drama was concluded, another was springing up in front of him. He blamed everything on the fact that he was spending too much time with these kids- and now they were multiplying.