Title: Mystery Is The Basic Appeal
Author: miss_m_cricket
Fandom: Dragon Age 2
Pairing: Fenris/Anders (Fenders), Bethany Hawke/Sebastian Vael, Carver Hawke/Nathaniel Howe, Cullen/Merrill
Comm: dragonage_kink
Rating: M
Prompt: AU where Templars are more numerous and the Chantry rules the land with an iron fist. But the Templars, as powerful as they are, cannot tell whether a man is a mage or not by simply looking at him. Enter Fenris, a man whose tattoos are so sensitive to magic that he can sense mages even if they never cast anything. He is sent to hunt and capture the dangerous and incredibly elusive apostate Anders, leader or the Mage Rebellion.
Mystery Is The Basic Appeal
Entering the Lowtown Bazaar had been a shock to Fenris.
He had been so used to the quiet of the road, the stillness of the snow covered roads. He had never much liked crowds of people, having spent the first portion of his remembered life scurrying around Minrathous and Seheron at the behest of his Mage owner, and now, here in Kirkwall he felt annoyance skitter down his spine as he followed Cullen and Sebastian into the crush.
Smells fought for dominance in his nostrils; the scent of chicken being char roasted and strung up, wafts of bodily odour, perfume and the underlying scent of stone and decaying civilisation. Amongst the crowd the noises assailed his sensitive ears; loud voices, shouts, screaming infants, laughing children, calling tradesfolk. It was chaos.
He saw Sebastian and Cullen stop at a stall that specialised in weapons and flicking them some hand gestures to tell them he would be right back, he ducked away down a side alley.
The lessening of the heat from the crush of people and the cessation of the cacophony about his ears made him sigh with relief and tug his black fur cloak tighter about his shoulders. He had wanted to keep his hood up, hide away from curious stares, but Cullen and Sebastian had cautioned him against such actions.
He had to appear comfortable, and harmless. Being shrouded would only add to their problems.
Moving up some side steps Fenris caught the smell of freshly baked bread, and he instantly turned towards it, moving over to the stall which was being run by a plump woman with a kindly face and large doughy hands. She was just handing over a small pie to a slender elf with black hair and large green eyes, and the scroll work of Dalish tattoos over her skin.
He stepped up to the stall mouth opening to ask for a baked roll when suddenly his Lyrium fizzed against his skin.
Mage.
Instantly his gaze snapped back to the Dalish elf, who thanked the store keeper with a lilting voice and walked away, heading over to a female dwarf who materialised out of the shadows to fall into step behind her.
"What can I get you love?"
He turned back to the store keeper who was giving him a warm smile.
"A fresh baked roll...if you please." Fenris' voice was stilted, his markings now fizzing with anticipation. Now that he was paying attention, really focused on his gifts, he could sense quite a few Mages around. Some of them felt like tiny whispers against the Lyrium, their power not enough to really interest him. But others...
He could feel their powers, their cursed magic like an itch in his mind. But with concentration he narrowed his attention down to the two most powerful.
One he was sure was the Dalish mage from the stall, the other...she was heading towards them, and its magic practically glowed in Fenris' mind.
He didn't know why the Lyrium allowed him to sense Mages. Why he was able to sense their power before they could even cast. It made him invaluable to the Chantry and it provided him with ample opportunity to wreak revenge on Mages for what had been done to him.
In a daze he paid the woman and slipped back down the stairs, hurrying back to where he had left Cullen and Sebastian.
The two men were still there, although Sebastian was paying some coins into the purveyors hand and Cullen was holding a longsword like it was a cherished child.
"Fenris! There you are," Cullen grinned as he caught sight of their elven friend, "Look at the craftsmanship on this...Fenris?"
Sebastian turned away from the stall, having paid, and moved over to join the two as they all came together in a huddle, "You sensed one, didn't you." The Prince murmured, his eyes fixed on his friend's face.
"Two...powerful ones."
"Powerful?" Cullen's eyes lit up, "Do you think it's Anders?"
"Whispers would have spread by now..." Sebastian considered, fingers idly tracing the protective signs that were etched into his ring, "Perhaps he is curious?"
"It might not be him." Fenris reminded them, "But they are powerful and..." another scan and he nodded, "Close together. They know one another."
"Could be part of the rebellion." Cullen nodded, "Right, let's check it out. Where are they Fenris?"
"The higher tier of the Market." Fenris informed them softly, "One of them is a Dalish elf, black hair green eyes."
The two men nodded and moved off through the crowd, continuing to pretend to browse, Fenris following silently in their wake.
It took them a while but slowly, slowly they made it up and the crowd cleared enough for Fenris to see the Dalish elf standing near the stairs up into Hightown, the female dwarf beside her.
And as one, Sebastian and Cullen focused on her.
She didn't notice at first but then her head came up as they advanced and fear flashed across her face.
"You must come with us miss..." Cullen called, "By order of the Knight Commander..."
He cleansed their little sphere of all magic, and Fenris saw her sway, at the same time he felt the typical tug on his markings, responding to the ability.
They were closing in when suddenly fire blazed before them and Sebastian leapt back.
"You shall not have her!"
And lifting his head Fenris saw a man, a man with honey brown eyes, fair hair and lightning glittering in his palms.
"Anders..." Cullen hissed.
"Are we all ready? Where's Merrill?"
To say that Anders was nervous when he turned up at the rendezvous point would have been an understatement. But he was even more nervous when he realised Merrill, who was staging the big risk, was not even there.
Craning his neck he peered around and deduced finally that the little Dalish elf was indeed not there.
"She went to get something to eat," Nathaniel said calmly, "Sigrun went with her," he added when Anders opened his mouth, "No harm will come to her."
"Mistress Hammersley is selling her goods down by the lower markets." Lady Elegant informed him as he slipped by her to crouch with the others behind the silks of her stall, "Merrill saw them on her way up from the Alienage."
"What was she doing down in the Alienage?" Karl enquired, frowning slightly, "It's far too dangerous..."
"Mistress Hammersley? Really?" Anders turned towards Nathaniel, ignoring Karl's disapproving frown, "Nathaniel..."
"No."
"But...she has..."
"No."
"You are so mean to me." Anders pouted, "How can I function when all I can think about are her spicy meat turnovers! Answer me that!"
"And you say he's the leader of this rebellion?" Elegant arched an eyebrow at Nathaniel who shrugged helplessly, "I'm defecting after this, just so you know."
"And then who will go on those herb hunting expeditions for you?" Nathaniel returned, smirking faintly when she inclined her head, acknowledging his point, "And as for you..." he turned back to Anders, who was trying to look pitiful, "Stop that, you had breakfast not an hour ago, you walking bottomless pit."
"Cheek!" Anders blustered, "Like you can talk! I saw you with all that bacon this morning Nathaniel."
"I'm not the one whining about not having a spicy meat turnover you big baby." The archer then turned to Karl, leaving Anders to sulk, "She was in the Alienage following up a young mage report."
"That is...reasonable." Karl allowed, nodding slowly.
"Did it come to anything?" Anders asked, lifting himself slightly to peer over the stall counter and getting a sharp smack from Nathaniel for his troubles, "Ow! Nate..."
"Be serious. You know the Templars got a good look at your face last time you participated in Resistance activity, no need for you to put us in extra danger or take further risks."
"Nathaniel is correct Anders." Karl murmured, blue flickering along the rim of the Tranquil brand, "You know he is."
"Justice always takes your side," Anders grumbled at Nathaniel, but hurried on before the other man could open his mouth, "Nevertheless you make a point."
"As for the young Mage..." Nathaniel continued, wisely not gloating about his victory and continuing the discussion, "He was gifted. But...he's showing the signs very young."
"How young?"
"..He is around five years old."
Anders closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath.
"Do the Templars know of his existence?" Karl asked the question, the blue lines flickering brighter around his mark, "Or were we able to retrieve him first?"
"Feynriel went with Merrill, and got him out of the city."
Sighs of relief went up from both the spirit, Karl and Anders. None of them liked to hear of young children either taken from their families to the Circle, or the more frequent stories of young mages slaughtered before they could get to them.
Templars weren't above striking down a child refusing to leave its mother.
Not when their orders came from the Knight Commander.
Anders shook his head, dislodging the dark thoughts, just in time for Nathaniel to gently nudge him with his elbow.
"Up the stairs, Merrill's coming,"
Karl, Nathaniel and Anders ducked under the silks at the back of Lady Elegant's store and up the small carved steps that led upwards towards the roof of the house behind. It was one of the small, low roofed houses, with only a calf high stone wall. But it was enough for the three men to hide upon and watch what unfolded below.
Merrill came into view, Sigrun shadowing her, and paused to speak with Elegant. She had a small pie in her hand, and Anders, enviously, could see the warm heat drifting from it in the cold air.
Nathaniel elbowed him again.
"Stop oogling the pie Anders."
"You know me too well. I need a new best friend."
The rogue didn't reply, but Anders could see his lips curling up slightly in a small half smirk half smile.
"There they are,"
Karl's voice drew Anders gaze away from Nathaniel and the pie and down into the crowded square, taking in the wandering shapes of the Templar and the Prince.
He didn't even notice the black cloaked elf behind them, but Nathaniel did, grey eyes resting on the heavy weight of the greatsword on his back.
"Makers...balls!" Anders hissed a moment later as the men suddenly paused in their steps, fair head and dark auburn turning as one towards Merrill standing near Elegant.
"They /can/ sense Mages..." Nathaniel whispered, shocked and rather displeased by the revelation.
"Get her out of there." Anders ducked away from the wall, pushing Karl and Nathaniel towards the staircase, "I'll distract them. Get her back to the Sanctuary."
For once neither man argued, although Nathaniel gripped his arm tightly, briefly before disappearing, leaving Anders alone.
"You must come with us miss..." A male voice called, "By order of the Knight Commander..."
Anders head popped over the wall again.
The Templar was the one who had spoken, a man whose face was very familiar, and the Prince was circling around towards Merrill. Merrill who looked a little...wrung out.
Magicka cleanse.
Anders didn't think, he just acted.
The fireball landed with precision, close enough to send the Prince leaping back like a scalded cat, but not near enough to burn or damage anything. Anders stood, summoning lightning into his hands and called down to the two men.
"You shall not have her!"
The Templar, Prince and the strange looking elf beside them all looked up at him and Anders blinked as he recognised the Templar as one of the ones from the Fereldan Circle.
"Anders..." Cullen hissed.
"I wish I could say it was good to see you again..." he smirked, tossing the ball of lightning up and catching it once again, "But that would be lying. And it's far too early in the day for such things is it not Cullen."
The elf and the Prince looked at their friend incredulously and the Templar shifted uncomfortably.
"You're under arrest Anders."
"That's nice..." Anders drawled back, drawing a lightning shape in the air, "Except for the fact that, oh yeah you have to actually catch me first."
He cast the lightning down.
And ran.
He heard shouting from behind him but he didn't dare look, too busy leaping through a window and haring though a dingy living area to really give the chaos he had wrought, much of a glance.
Ducking down another flight of stairs he leapt, landing on the sandy street and took off once more, grateful that he had chosen to wear breeches and a tunic that day. The cloak was slowing him though so he unclasped it, dropping it as he leapt up, grabbing a window ledge and hauling himself through.
He was halfway through the new room when the door splintered and the strange looking elf from before came barrelling through, hot on his heels.
"Andraste's flaming, fungus filled breasts!" Anders yelped dashing through yet another door and slamming it shut,
He jammed it with some wood and took off running again, sprinting upwards, ever upwards into the middle districts.
So concerned was he with the sounds of pursuit from behind, that he didn't realise until he came to a skidding halt, that he had charged down a wrong way, and had ended up in a courtyard with no quick exits.
He turned, hoping to run back the other way before the elf could catch up, but gulped as he came face to face with a white haired, green eyed elf, dressed in armour and unsheathing a greatsword.
"Ah..." Anders said, reaching for his magic once more, "Well now..."
The elf smirked faintly, stepping forward.
"You were saying?" he growled in a deep voice before leaping into the attack.