It seemed to Varel then that things began to move quite fast, but perhaps that was due to his time in the mine, where one day was much like any other day. Lowan had already left with Ser Cauthrien to gather all available forces in Amaranthine, leaving his second, Rullens, in charge of a skeleton force to guard the Vigil.
The city guards would have only a fraction of its numbers to keep order, a state of affairs no one was happy with, least of all the bann, who tended to spread her ill temper around with a shovel when she was displeased. Varel suspected Bann Esmerelle was more put out by the fact that someone dared to command her than over the conscription of her watchmen. The nobles, who had been stripped of much of their household troops, were outraged by Cauthrien's demands, but none of them had been inclined to protest overmuch, especially when her small troop had shown up on their doorsteps bolstered by Lowan's much larger company.
Varel had not accompanied them; he had his hands full dealing with the logistics of supplying the levies, and worked with feverish haste through that and the mountain of tasks running the Vigil and the arling entailed. Despite being up before dawn and not seeing his bed until long past dusk, he did all he was asked with a glad and willing heart, secure in the knowledge that Arl Howe could no longer harm him or anyone else ever again.
It was almost a shock when Varel stood on the battlements and saw the levies finally drawn up in front of the Vigil a fortnight later. To him they had only been numbers on parchment, measured in terms of so many supplies sent here or there - supplies he had to force reluctant nobles to disgorge, more often than not. Rullens had not been happy at being left behind, but having Crown authority to confiscate the needed rations, weapons, feed and the pack animals to haul them had been a pleasant consolation, restoring much of the soldier's good spirits.
"I didn't really believe the captain when he said you could do it," Rullens said as he, too, looked out at the neat rows of tents that covered the ground below the Vigil. He turned to examine the picket lines, which were just as well organized as the rest of the camp. "Maker, I didn't even know Amaranthine had that many mules and horses."
A brisk sea breeze brought them the scent of cooking food and woodsmoke, and set the colorful pennants to snapping, the arms of every noble in the arling a sharp contrast against the darker shades of the woods. His spyglass had picked out some nobles who wore fancier armor, but the smarter of the lords and ladies preferred to pass themselves off as one of their common troops. It was a deception that had fooled Orlesian chevaliers, but he did not think it would do them any good against darkspawn.
"I don't know how you did it. I really don't," the soldier said, now gazing towards the temporary kennels placed at the other end of the vast field, set as far from the picket lines as possible.
"All you truly need is a thorough understanding of human nature." Varel's tone was dust dry.
"Well, however you did it, you and Captain Lowan worked miracles, ser, and that's a fact." The other man looked out at the levies spread out below and said, "I wish I were going with them."
Rullens held up a hand, shooting Varel an irritated look when he opened his mouth. "I know. I know! Someone has to stay behind, because Maker knows you can't do it all yourself. But I don't have to like it."
Varel stayed quiet, because Rullens did not want to hear it; the man already knew Lowan would not leave him in charge if he thought his second could not be relied upon.
"I suppose it would be nice to fight an unambiguous enemy for a change," Varel said, thinking of the times the arl had sent soldiers to frighten some poor farmer into line.
The other man snorted. "Indeed. You can't get much more 'unambiguous' than monsters out of legend." He straightened suddenly when something on the road caught his eye. "Say, is that the captain returning?"
Varel raised the spyglass to look, then lowered it and put it into his pouch. "Yes, I believe that is him leading the last column. Come, we should go and greet him."
Rullens followed him through the narrow door back into the fortress, moving up to Varel's side as they began the long descent down to the courtyard. On the way, Varel caught the eye of a servant and murmured a request for a hot meal to be sent to his office.
"When the captain told me that not only had he freed you, but that he was bringing you back here to the Vigil, I have to admit I had second thoughts about the wisdom of setting a - I beg your pardon, ser - a traitor in charge." The younger man paused, then said in a more bitter tone, "Or at least I did, before it turned out our own liege lord was the traitor all along."
"To be fair, I was as shocked as anyone else. I did not know the full extent of his crimes." Varel sighed. "All I could do was try to save those who found themselves in the arl's way as best I could."
Rullens might have said more, but they had reached the outer courtyard by then, where Lowan was just arriving. Varel let the younger man precede him in greeting the captain, while he took the time to catch his breath. A month was not enough time for him to regain his physical condition, and his pride did not allow him to admit it to anyone, much less to the captain's second; he did not think he could bear it if the conscientious Rullens offered to assist him.
The grooms were ready with mounting stools, but Lowan eschewed them, sliding out of the saddle without their assistance. Varel could only watch in envy as the captain handed off the reins of his horse and strode towards him with little sign of fatigue. Rullens was given the task of seeing to the captain's escort.
"Seneschal! So, you're still here," Lowan said with a wintry smile as he clasped Varel's hand. "Good, you haven't run away, even if that's what any sane man would do in your position."
Varel chuckled as he led the way to his office. "The thought has crossed my mind once or twice, I must admit, but I suppose I'm too stubborn to run. I expected Ser Cauthrien to accompany you - will she be arriving later?"
"She left once she was certain the last of the levies was raised," Lowan said. "She's too professional to show it, but I could tell she was anxious the entire time she was with me. She's worried, and jittery with it - not that I can blame her. If I have to guess, she's probably somewhere on the road to Redcliffe by now."
"That's a pity; I had arranged accommodations for her and her escort. Well, food, or a wash first?" Varel said when the other man brushed in vain at the road dust clinging to his armor and cloak. "I assume you will want to discuss the state of the levies with me. There is a meal waiting for you in my office when you are ready."
Gratitude flickered across Lowan's face. "Varel, you're a treasure - your talents were wasted in that mine." His features settled back into lines of grimness once more. Heaving a deep sigh, he said, "Food and talk first. Then... then I would like to spend time with my family."
"Of course."
By the time Varel locked the door, Lowan had hung up his cloak and was already sitting at the table, stuffing an entire slice of meat into his mouth. He was surprised to see a second tray placed on his desk; he had asked the servant for only one meal, not two.
The captain swallowed a huge mouthful, pointed his belt knife at the other plate, and grinned. "I did warn you about the housekeeper. Best be aware of her intentions."
Varel turned a dry look on the other man, but decided he might as well join him, and moved the tray to the table. "So, you are determined to march the troops out tomorrow?"
"Yes," Lowan said, picking up a loaf of bread and using it to point at the wall, and the levies that lay beyond it. "They won't do anyone any good just sitting around out there, eating through the food supplies. Speaking of which, where are the soldiers from the city? I thought they'd be here by now, but I didn't see the bann's colors when I arrived."
"Ah, they already left for Denerim."
The captain nearly choked on his ale. "What! That's impossible. I only just pried them out of Bann Esmerelle's claws - er, I mean hands - the day before yesterday!"
Varel frowned. "Is she not leading them herself?"
Lowan vented a disgusted snort. "No, of course not - when I asked, as any self-respecting freeman would, she said she needs to personally maintain order in an important port such as Amaranthine in this time of war and chaos." It sounded like a direct quote, and one oft-repeated at that.
"How in the name of the Maker did she explain that to her freeholders and crafters?"
"The same way she explained it to me," Lowan said with a helpless shrug. "She's the bann of the city, and it's not like the crafters can just pick up their businesses and move them somewhere else. The freeholders, who can, are looking for any port in the storm now that we're facing a Blight for certain. And she might just have a point this time, much as I hate to admit it."
"Oh? Have you heard something new?"
"There are rumors that Gwaren has fallen to the darkspawn, and Teyrn Loghain was not there to prevent it. His people only managed to survive by escaping on ships."
Varel sat back, lips pursed. "That hardly seems fair - he might not have been able to prevent it even if he had been present."
"You know very well 'fair' or 'unfair' doesn't enter into this," the captain said. "He was supposed to protect them, and he failed in his duty. He wasn't even there."
"Instead, he was off in Denerim, where he seized power from his own daughter in the name of necessity, and declared himself regent - without the approval of the Bannorn," Varel said, shaking his head at the teyrn's political foolishness. "This news, coupled with the rumors of him abandoning the field at Ostagar, betraying King Cailan in the process, may well result in the teyrnir of Gwaren being stripped from him."
He wondered if Queen Anora was ruthless enough to do that to her own father, but then she might not have much of a choice if enough of the other nobles called for it. The teyrn was not without enemies - and there were more of them now than before.
"If that happens, he deserves it," Lowan said. "He broke his oath."
"I agree, but... it is a sad day." Varel felt only sorrow when he remembered how the Hero of River Dane had helped King Maric end the Orlesian occupation. He wondered what had become of Teyrna Celia, Loghain's wife, before he recalled she had died some years back. At least she had not lived long enough to see her husband's disgrace.
"Oh, yes, I forgot you fought in the rebellion - this is more of a blow to you than it is to me."
Neither of them spoke for a while as they ate, until Lowan shook himself and said, "Well, whatever happens to Teyrn Loghain is nothing to do with us - at least for the immediate future. As Ser Cauthrien said, if the darkspawn aren't stopped, they might well invade the Coastlands if they continue to sweep north. Say what you will of the bann, she's an able enough administrator that she can evacuate the folk in the city onto ships if she had to."
Varel made an unhappy sound at the thought of having to evacuate that many people. From the bleak look in Lowan's eyes, he was also aware of how much smaller the population of Gwaren was compared to Amaranthine.
Lowan shook off the gloom and said, "Well, let us hope the Grey Wardens can keep that from coming to pass. You were about to tell me what miracle you performed to get the city's troops to Denerim so fast."
Varel thought he could be forgiven if he was a trifle smug. "It hardly takes a miracle for them to leave by ship."
"Ship! How did you manage to get your hands on enough ships? Aren't they all too busy making gold hand over fist, ferrying refugees to Kirkwall?"
"Not all ships are capable of crossing the fickle waters of the Amaranthine Ocean in this season." Varel was too tactful to add landsman at the end.
Lowan barked a cynical laugh. "I'm surprised they're not trying anyway, despite the dangers of capsizing."
"Oh, there are always fools greedy enough to try, and people desperate enough to believe they can outsmart the sea." The black humor drained out of Varel. "The fishermen have already had to rescue the survivors from one such unfortunate venture, and there have been others that went down with all hands. You might be able to press your luck once, or even twice, but sooner or later the Amaranthine Ocean takes her tithe."
"So, the city's troops are already in Denerim? If you managed to send them that way, I'm guessing you transported the supplies that way, too."
Varel shook his head. "No, only half have gone by ship, in case the sea is feeling particularly nasty; the rest of the supplies have gone by land. I would have liked to put the rest of the levies on boats, as well, but there are not enough to go around. Doing so with the few available craft would take so long that they might as well be going on foot."
"That's just what we'll have to do, then. The Pilgrim's Path is a well-maintained road, so at least we won't get stuck in mudholes if it rains. How in the Void did you manage to get your hands on boats, anyway?"
"As I was telling Rullens while we watched you ride in, all you truly need is a thorough understanding of human nature." Varel smiled at the impatient look Lowan gave him. "There were already people smarting at seeing profit slipping through their fingers because their boats are little more than barges, and not seaworthy enough to take out onto the open sea even on a good day."
"And as you're so fond of telling me, the Amaranthine Ocean doesn't have good days."
Varel snorted. "Indeed. So it was not as hard as you might think to acquire enough boats for transportation, especially when I hinted - subtlely - that the Crown would approve my seizing them entirely, since we are in a time of war."
"I take it you weren't alone when you went to, ah, negotiate with the boatmen? Given you aren't sporting any gaping holes in your anatomy."
"Rullens might have mentioned in my hearing that the soldiers you left behind to guard the Vigil were feeling restless. And I might have suggested that it was a fine time of year to take in the fresh sea air down at the city's docks, and that I wouldn't mind some company - a large, heavily armed company - since I had some trifling errands to run."
"You are an evil, evil man, Varel," Lowan said, giving him an admiring look.
"It saved argument, you must admit."
"And Bann Esmerelle didn't get her pointy nose in a snit when you invaded her domain with that many soldiers?"
"She's never liked the boatmen; they're rude and crude and much too independent, so her token protests were somewhat tepid," Varel said. "But then the fact that there are people who do not submit tamely to her control always did irritate her."
Lowan laughed at that and shook his head. "I could listen to you skewer the harpy all night, but I want to know how you got the boatmen on your side, because surely that threat alone couldn't have convinced them. Not even the arl was crazy enough to tangle with them - not directly, anyway."
Varel suspected the lack of interference was due more to the fact that the boatmen were beneath the arl's notice rather than any actual forbearance. Still, if they had ever come to Arl Howe's attention, even he might be given pause when confronted by burly men who got that way from lifting heavy shipments day after day, and who could use their cargo-hauling hooks as easily as Lowan could his sword.
"Well, no," Varel said. "I paid them what they usually charge for passage, along with a small bonus - I'm not so stupid as to try to cheat them. And I had to promise Vigil's Keep would shelter their families if the darkspawn horde threatened the city."
At Lowan's raised brows he said, "They know, of course. Ships from Denerim and Gwaren continue to dock in Amaranthine, and they bring news as well as goods and refugees. The boatmen, unlike some of our arling's nobles, do not doubt it truly is as bad as Ser Cauthrien said."
The captain thought about it, then shrugged. "It's a neat solution; certainly I won't complain. Our own redoubtable housekeeper comes from a boatman family, doesn't she? If their wives and daughters are half as capable as she is, I feel sorry for any darkspawn foolish enough to lay siege to the Vigil. But..." He scrutinized Varel. "Something else is bothering you, isn't there?"
"Nothing to do with the preparations," Varel assured the other man. "I just feel something strange is going on, and I do not mean the darkspawn. I was in the harbormaster's office, and by chance I saw an open ledger the man was hasty to close. Very hasty."
"Not hasty enough to escape your eagle eye, I assume?"
"It is not so much what I saw as what he did," Varel said as he tried to explain his own nebulous doubts. "There are always several ledgers open at all times in the harbormaster's office, a fact that is about as remarkable as dung in a stable. The port is always busy, given that it is one of the largest in all of Ferelden; there are others, of course, but none that can handle nearly as much capacity. Which makes his actions look very odd. He knew it looked suspicious the moment he did it, I think, but I had enough presence of mind to look out the window and pretend I took no notice."
"Contraband, do you think?" Lowan's face screwed up as he tried to think what cargo Bann Esmerelle could possibly consider illegal enough to refuse, and failed to come up with an answer. "Smuggling? Everyone tries to evade the tax collectors, it's practically a game - one as entertaining as poaching - so it can't be that."
"No, or not entirely. It is just a feeling right now. I will have to dig deeper, talk to certain people, to see what I can turn up."
"You be careful, Varel," Lowan said. "If this turns out to be more than a feeling, there's a blasted good chance Bann Esmerelle's in it up to her beady eyeballs. She won't hesitate to put one nosy man snooping about in his place, and that place might very well be your grave, especially since I won't be here to watch your back."
"Oh, I think I know better than you what pitfalls await me if I were foolish enough to be less than cautious." Varel mopped up the last of the gravy with a piece of bread and finished it before he said, "That is all the news I have to impart. You?"
Lowan drained his tankard of ale before he spoke. "Nothing has changed - the plan is still to march the levies to Denerim and coordinate with the portion of the army Queen Anora left behind."
"I hope nothing comes of the Queen's caution, and that you will march right back when she releases you."
The captain stared into the bottom of his tankard as if it held all the secrets of the Fade. "You can still say that after everything that's happened? What I had to do to you?"
"Yes," Varel said, and Lowan looked up at his tone. "I was in no mood or position to appreciate it at the time, but you were right. Arl Howe would have taken immense pleasure in personally flogging me to death, though he might have taken equal pleasure in crippling me. You not only did what you could to minimize the damage, somehow you persuaded the herbalist to heal me. I am certain I would have died if not for her - and you."
Lowan grimaced, perhaps from looking at the same memories that plagued Varel. "It was that or having my ears ripped off. The wife was displeased. Very displeased. In the end, she was the one who convinced the herbalist, not me. Well, perhaps 'browbeat' is more accurate."
"I could well believe that." Varel smiled as he remembered that redoubtable woman telling him About time you're back to work when she met him on his return. "Your formidable wife aside, you also freed me from the mine the moment you knew Arl Howe was dead."
The captain hesitated, then admitted, "Er, not quite. It took at least a sennight for me to work up the courage."
"I think you mean to say it took that long for people you trust to confirm your sister-in-law's story."
"Blast it, Varel, stop reading my mind!" Lowan's rueful words had more than a trace of a chuckle in it. "I swear, I ought to turn you in to the templars!"
They sat in companionable silence for a few moments. Lowan poured himself more ale from the pitcher left on the table, then said, "However grateful you are now, I doubt you've forgiven me."
Varel saw the pain in the other man's eyes, and opened his mouth. Then he closed it, because he owed the captain the truth, even if granting him forgiveness might be of some small comfort to Lowan before he departed on campaign. A campaign from which he might not return.
"I cannot honestly say I forgive you, or even that I can. I know you risked everything to salvage what you could from the situation. I know it, here." Varel tapped his forehead. Then he touched his chest. "But I still feel you betrayed all the years of our friendship in the doing of it."
Lowan bowed his head, and Varel heard him take a deep breath. With an effort Varel could only guess at, the other man met his eyes and said, "Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but then you've never stinted the truth when you thought I needed it."
Varel opened his hand, accepting the dubious compliment. "Have we cleared the air sufficiently?"
The captain regained enough of his humor to muster a small smile. "I think we have, yes."
"Good. Now, I believe your wife and children are waiting for you, and you should go see them before your wife breaks down my door."
