Chapter 4

Fenris sat idly in the only well-furnished room in the fortress. It was Taia's room. He had been summoned by her to discuss Templar matters. At the last battle of Kirkwall, he had sided with the Templars and had planned to stay with them until the whole mage verses Templar problem blew over. But it had not, and he found himself working for Meredith's daughter. Fenris didn't like Taia- there was something about her cruelty that reminded him of the Magisters. And her Templars' use of the whip gave him second thoughts. After the staff, the whip was the Tevinter Magisters' favourite weapon. On top of that, he had no idea that Taia had caught Hawke until earlier that day. Fenris held bitter feelings against Hawke after their battle, yet it still pained him to see Hawke weakened as he was. He wouldn't have minded a few decent punches at Hawke, but to beat him senseless and then use the whip against him…he thought it too much. But there was nothing he could do. He began to drum his fingers on the table anxiously. Taia was late. Fenris was about to leave when Taia came into the room. He noticed her hands were stained with blood.

"Sorry I'm late," she said as she sat down opposite him at the table, "I had to deal with Hawke."

The last Fenris had seen of Hawke, he was being dragged away. Fenris assumed he was being returned to his cell.

"Oh."

"Tea?" Taia offered, "Or something a bit stronger?"

Usually Fenris gladly accepted offerings of alcohol, but the sight of Hawke had put off his appetite.

"No, thank you."

"I suppose we should get to business then," she said, laying out some papers in front of her. It was a map of Thedas with various markings.

"These marks show where we believe the mage rebels are hiding. We are in the process of confirming them."

"I see."

Fenris hated to think what she meant by 'confirming them'.

"There are many around the border of Tevinter here which suggests…"

Taia was broken off by the sound of muffled pained screaming a few floors below them. Fenris looked at her inquisitively.

"Oh don't mind that. It shouldn't be long."

"What's happening?"

Taia smiled,

"We're confirming these locations."

Fenris shifted uncomfortably. Despite being muffled, the screams sounded like Hawke's voice.

"Now, we were wondering if you would be willing to take some Templars to investigate these nearby locations," she said, indicating a few of the markings on the map. Fenris nodded, but was still offset by the painful cries. If that was Hawke, whatever they were doing to him was more than a beating.

The meeting continued for ten more minutes or so when suddenly the pained cries stopped. Taia looked up,

"Ah, be back in a moment."

She stood up a disappeared for a few minutes. She came back with a new piece of paper. She laid it out on the table and Fenris saw it was another map of Thedas. There were one or two markings, but they had been drawn by a shaking hand. There was also a vivid red splash of blood on the paper.

"Our friend has generously confirmed a couple of mage hideouts, but we still believe he is withholding information, so I'll have to get back to you on that."

Fenris felt a little sick thinking about what they must have done to Hawke to get him to reveal that information.

"How much more are you going to get out of him?" Fenris asked softly.

"We have something very special lined up for him."

"I see," Fenris said grimly. Since their last meeting, Fenris harboured a great deal of anger towards Hawke, and he hadn't let that anger go. But he didn't hate him. He never had. Taia noticed his hesitation.

"Before, when we were getting information out of Hawke, he said your name. Have you two met before?"

Fenris looked up, surprised. He thought his connection to Hawke was known by everyone. For a while, half of Kirkwall had been gossiping about how Hawke had an elven lover. But that didn't last, and neither did their relationship. But it had been long enough to make everyone in Kirkwall associate Fenris and Hawke together. It seemed Taia was unaware of their past.

"I…we…were friends back in Kirkwall."

"You? Friends with a mage?" Taia laughed. If she knew one thing, she knew Fenris hated mages.

"I thought he might have been different. But I was wrong," Fenris sighed.

"What made you change your mind?"

"He tried to kill me," Fenris explained, "Because I had sided with the Templars."

Fenris didn't mentioned that it was he who attacked Hawke in the first place. Technically, Hawke had retaliated in self-defence.

"He seemed surprised to see you before," Taia questioned.

"Because he thinks I'm dead."

Taia smiled. Her smile was a little too sweet for Fenris' liking. She put a gauntleted hand on Fenris' own.

"You don't have to worry about him anymore. You're a Templar now."

Fenris didn't know how to reply. So he said nothing, and left.