This is a retelling of the human noble story in the video game Dragon Age: Origins. All of which is property of Bioware and David Gaider. I'm simply putting it into words and taking a few liberties here and there. No copyright infringement intended. I do not claim to own any of the characters, direct quotes or the bulk of the story.

This chapter is dedicated to the wonderful WildLazyBones. Thank you for your lovely review.


Chapter 4: Zap! Frog time.

There had been more darkspawn to kill as they continued their journey further into the Wilds. Samantha was attempting to hide her limp, keeping to the back of the group as often as she could. It became more difficult during combat but she managed not to get herself killed. The dull ache had changed to a burning itch that was radiating further up her leg the longer they walked. She did her best not to slow them down but she had begun to lag behind.

"These are the ruins Duncan wanted us to find." Alistair stopped and pointed, unknowingly giving her time to catch up. "Let's search for those treaties."

The old Warden outpost was just ahead of them up a slope in the grassy clearing. 'Ruin' was definitely the right word to describe it. Only parts of the walls and pillars remained and there was a large, stone staircase though it did not lead anywhere. It seemed likely that the rest of the upper building had crumbled to the ground long ago. Samantha worried that they might not find the treaties among all the rubble and debris.

They began to search what was left of the building. The air was thick with dust and decay and Samantha coughed as it settled in her lungs. She tried to focus on the task at hand but the pain in her leg was distracting and all she could think about was how much she was dreading the walk back to Ostagar.

"It's empty."

Samantha turned to see Alistair crouched down over a broken chest. They gathered behind him and watched as he moved the shattered top and pressed the sides of the strongbox; searching for some hidden compartment where the treaties might be sealed. From his frustrated sigh, however, Samantha guessed that there truly was nothing there.

"Well, well. What have we here?"

The voice was lilting and unfamiliar, and Samantha spun around, her eyes coming to rest on a beautiful, dark haired woman. She was descending the stone staircase, seemingly coming from nowhere considering the upper level was almost completely missing. The group watched her in surprised silence.

"Are you a vulture, I wonder?" she continued when nobody spoke right away. "A scavenger poking amidst a corpse whose bones were long since cleaned. Or merely an intruder, come into these darkspawn-filled Wilds of mine in search of easy prey?" Samantha could see that she was a mage from the staff she held in her hand and not because of the robes she wore. They were unlike any she had ever seen, and revealed rather a lot of her womanly figure.

"I have watched your progress for some time. 'Where do they go?' I wondered. 'Why are they here?' And now you disturb ashes none have touched for so long. Why is that?"

"Don't answer her," Alistair warned the group, quietly. "She looks Chasind and that means others may be nearby."

"Ooh, you fear barbarians will swoop down upon you?" The strange woman mocked, wiggling her fingers at Alistair as glided around him. He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

"Yes. Swooping is bad." He drew out the word, evoking a quiet snicker from Samantha.

"She's a Witch of the Wilds, she is." Daveth whispered, looking anxious. Samantha was surprised considering he had been seemingly fascinated by the stories he recounted to her just earlier that day. "She'll turn us into toads!"

"Witch of the Wilds?" The woman chuckled, turning to face them. She set down her staff and rested her weight against it. "Such idle fancies, those legends. Have you no minds of your own?" Her exotically golden eyes moved past the three men and rested on Samantha. She shifted her weight, unsure why she had drawn attention when she had yet to speak.

"You there, women do not frighten like little boys. Tell me your name and I shall tell you mine," she reasoned, arching a dark eyebrow. "Let us be civilized."

Samantha hesitated for a fraction of a second. Her gaze shifted to Alistair briefly but he seemed to be waiting to see what she would do. The young woman turned her attention back to the stranger and decided that it couldn't hurt to offer her name.

"You may call me Samantha."

One corner of the woman's mouth tugged upwards a little and she straightened. "And you may call me, Morrigan, if it pleases you." Her strange, yellow eyes flickered to the broken chest by Alistair's feet and she spoke once more. "Shall I guess your purpose? You sought something in that chest? Something that is here, no longer?"

"Here no longer?" Alistair repeated, taking a step towards her. "You stole them, didn't you?" he accused, his forehead creasing in a frown. "You're… some kind of sneaky… witch-thief!"

"How very eloquent," Morrigan scoffed."How does one steal from dead men?"

"Quite easily, it seems," Alistair replied, dryly. "Those documents are Grey Warden property and I suggest you return them." Morrigan made a noise of distaste, tilting her head back slightly and angling her nose upwards.

"I will not, for 'twas not I who removed them." She narrowed her eyes at Alistair. "Invoke a name that means nothing here any longer if you wish; I am not threatened."

The tension in the air was palpable and Samantha stepped forward, her breath catching in her throat as her leg objected to the movement. She did her best to ignore it.

"But you know who it was?" she asked. The sooner they got an answer, the sooner they could journey back to Ostagar. She was feeling drained and nauseous now and all she wanted to do was rest and take off her boots for a little while. Morrigan considered the other woman for a moment before answering.

"'Twas my mother, in fact."

"Your mother?" Samantha repeated, her eyebrows lifting in surprise. Morrigan frowned in response, shifting her weight to one leg and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes, my mother. Did you assume I spawned from a log?"

"Ah, no. I didn't mean..." Samantha began, attempting to smooth over what had sounded like an insult. It didn't help that beside her, Alistair snorted in amusement.

"A thieving, weird-talking log, perhaps," he muttered quietly but Morrigan shot him a dark look, clearly having heard.

"Not all in the Wilds are monsters," Morrigan said firmly, her scowl still in place. "Flowers grow as well as toads."

"Well, could you take us to her?" Samantha asked, hoping to guide the conversation into safer and more productive territory. "To retrieve the treaties?"

"There is a sensible request," Morrigan approved after a second more of looking towards Alistair in distaste. She smirked again as her eyes met Samantha's. "I like you."

"I'd be careful," Alistair warned in her ear. "First it's 'I like you' but then ZAP! Frog time." Samantha giggled childishly and Morrigan's smirk dissolved into another frown.

"We should get those treaties but..," Alistair sighed, his voice low. He ran a hand through his already distractingly messy hair. "I dislike this; Morrigan's sudden appearance. It's too convenient."

Daveth and Jory shared a look, seemingly unsure about this themselves. Samantha was a little surprised that they all seemed so nervous of this woman, despite Daveth's stories of the Witches of the Wilds.

"We've come all this way," Samantha reminded them. It had not been an entirely painless journey, either, and she did not want it to have gone to waste. "Besides, she can't be any worse than the darkspawn."

"She'll put us all in a pot, she will," Daveth muttered unhappily, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just you watch."

"If the pot's warmer than this forest, it'll be a nice change." Ser Jory mused, glancing at Alistair for his decision. He sighed once more and nodded, and the four of them returned their attention to Morrigan.

"Follow me then, if it pleases you."


Samantha wasn't sure what she had been expecting when Morrigan had offered to bring them to her mother but it certainly hadn't been a solitary little hut-like building in the middle of the Wilds. She supposed she had imagined that she might have led them to a Chasind encampment or something of the sort. It seemed so bizarre to her that they lived here alone.

The hut was situated next to a murky lake and standing next to the water's edge was an elderly woman with wild, wiry, grey hair in a faded brown dress. She settled her hands on her hips as she watched the group approach.

"Greetings, Mother. I bring before you four Grey Wardens who-"

"I see them girl," the elderly woman interrupted. "Hmm, much as I expected," she mused, studying each of them in turn. There was something in her eyes as they came to rest on Samantha that made her nervous. Maybe she really did want to put them in a pot!

"Are we supposed to believe you were expecting us?" Alistair asked, his eyes practically rolling out of his head. Morrigan's mother did not seem very amused by his attitude.

"You are required to do nothing, least of all believe. Shut one's eyes tight or open ones arms wide… either way, ones a fool," she scoffed. It went on like this for a little while. Morrigan's mother continued to speak in cryptic riddles and teased Morrigan about entertaining the idea of them being Witches of the Wilds. Daveth maintained that they were and continued to mumble that they should leave before something irreversible happened. The old woman took that moment to announce that she had the scrolls and had been protecting them. She handed them to Alistair, exchanging a few more cryptic words, before encouraging Morrigan to lead the group back to Ostagar.


It was a relief to see the gates of Ostagar once more. Morrigan had somehow known how to avoid the path of the darkspawn and they returned quicker than they had expected. Samantha had not been able to keep up towards the end of their journey. Morrigan had been the one to notice, despite the fact that she had been leading the group.

"One of your recruits is injured," she had said to Alistair, flicking her wrist over her shoulder in her general direction. The three men had turned to look at her, much to her dismay, and she struggled to keep the limp from her step as she tried to keep pace. She felt winded and her skin was clammy and damp but the hot pain travelling up her leg was by far the worst thing.

"I knew you were hurt," Alistair sighed, looking guilty as he pulled his shield from his back and passed it to Jory. When he reached her side, he pulled her arm over his shoulder, bending his knees to keep himself more at her height as he helped her walk. His own arm settled around her waist and he supported her weight as they continued forward once more.

"Have you been in pain all this time? Why didn't you say anything?" he asked her quietly, his eyes cast down. She could see that he was blaming himself for not noticing and she patted the hand at her waist, reassuringly.

"And prove Ser Jory right when he said I shouldn't be here? No. Besides, it's not so bad," she lied. It was a little easier to walk with Alistair helping her but the pain didn't lessen any.

"Who cares what the others think. They don't know you."

"And you do?"

"No..," he allowed, sighing once more. "But I know Duncan, and he wouldn't have recruited you if he wasn't sure you were capable of this."

Samantha wasn't certain she agreed but it was a relief to hear him say it all the same. She didn't want to be the helpless woman who needed a man to fight for her. She wanted to be strong and capable. She wanted the respect of her brothers in arms.

"Thank you," she said finally. He offered her one of those warm smiles of his and she couldn't help but return it, despite the discomfort in her body.

"This is where I will leave you," Morrigan announced, coming to a stop. Daveth let out what appeared to be a sigh of relief, and her golden eyes narrowed at him.

"Thank you for your aid, Morrigan." Samantha lifted her hand for the other woman to shake but Morrigan simply moved past her and towards the archway of trees that lead back into the depths of the Wilds.

"I wish you luck against the darkspawn, Wardens," she called over her shoulder before disappearing into the darkness.

Duncan greeted them as they returned to camp. He looked relieved to see them all intact but his eyes lingered on how Alistair helped Samantha sit down in front of the campfire. Hunter bounded over, pushing his oversized head into his mistresses' arms and pressed his wet nose against her neck. She laughed though it was a little strained and he whined as he noticed her distress.

"I missed you," she cooed, scratching behind his ears as he plonked himself down next to her, stumpy tail thudding enthusiastically against the ground. He licked her hands and then rested his head on her thigh.

"So you return from the Wilds," Duncan spoke, drawing her attention to him once more. "Have you been successful?"

"Yes. We managed to get the treaties," Alistair informed him as he stood up once more. "They were being 'protected' by a woman and her mother. They were both very... odd."

Daveth shuddered at the mention of Morrigan and her mother and shifted closer to the fire, lifting his hands to warm them in the heat of the flames.

"Were they Wilder folk?" Duncan asked and Alistair shook his head, his eyebrows coming together.

"I don't think so. They may be apostates."

"I know you were once a Templar, Alistair," Duncan began, surprising Samantha. "But Chantry business is not ours."

"You were?" she asked, unable to quell her curiosity. He looked towards her and rubbed the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly.

"Well, almost," he answered, his eyes flickering back to his fellow Grey Warden. "Duncan recruited me before I could take my vows."

Samantha would have liked to ask him more about his time as a templar recruit but Duncan was eager to continue with the ritual, it seemed, and pressed on before they could get distracted.

"Hold on to the scrolls for now, Alistair," he insisted as he took the three vials of blood from him. "I've had the circle mages preparing in your absence. Once we've incorporated the blood you've collected, we can begin the joining. For now, rest." His eyes moved to each of the recruits in turn, lingering on Samantha where she sat. She nodded. "I will send for you once we are ready."

"There's likely some stew left over from dinner," Alistair told Jory and Daveth. "Go fetch some for us and we'll eat it here while we wait for Duncan to return. It's best that we remain where he can easily find us." He turned back to Samantha, crouching down next to her as she struggled to remove her boot. His large, warm hands pushed her own shaking hands away and he pulled the laces loose easily.

"Should I look for a healer?" he offered, his forehead creased as he carefully loosened her boot from her ankle. He gently pulled it free from her foot and she winced as the movement caused her some pain. He gave her an apologetic look and started to roll up her soft leggings.

"Maker's breath, what's happened to me?" Samantha gasped, her eyes widening in fright as she looked at her leg. There were three lacerations around her ankle and from them her veins ran too obvious and navy blue up her leg. The rest of her skin was pale except for around the three small wounds where it was dark and mottled.

Alistair hadn't spoken and he lifted her boot to inspect it, his expression unreadable as his fingers brushed against the small slices in the fabric at the ankle. "Darkspawn corruption. You've contracted the Blight."

"No." Panic seized her and she began to hyperventilate, her vision swimming dangerously. Faintly she could hear Hunter growling and Alistair's voice as he tried to calm her. She felt warm hands on her shoulders, gently shaking her.

"Samantha. Calm down. It's going to be alright."

"Alright? I'm going to die!" she wailed, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Listen to me," Alistair insisted firmly, his hands tightening on her shoulders. She forced herself to look at him and was quiet apart from her ragged breathing. His face was pale and grim but he kept his eyes on hers.

"The Joining Ritual will heal you," he said quietly, his eyes leaving hers to move across the people around them. She blinked at him, some tears falling free and slipping down her cheeks. She lifted shaking hands to brush them away quickly before he could see. His hands released her shoulders and he moved to sit beside her.

"What?" Her mind was racing as she began to calm down and despite her overly hot skin, she shivered. Hunter pressed against her, whining in concern. She pulled him close, her arms wrapping around his thick neck. "Heal me, you say. Something isn't right about this ritual. That's why it's such a secret, isn't it? What is it, some kind of blood magic?"

"No," Alistair objected at once, but he didn't look so sure. Perhaps it was the templar recruit in him that didn't want to see it for what it was. Or perhaps he was telling the truth and his mind was on other things. "You'll find out soon enough. You know I can't say more."

Samantha felt increasingly more nervous about the Joining but if it did heal her, it couldn't be all bad. Grey Wardens were instrumental to ending the Blights, after all. She thought of the blood they had collected and a wave of nausea washed over her.

"It will really heal me?"

"Yes," Alistair replied. He sounded tired and she glanced sideways at him. His eyes were on the roaring fire in front of them and his expression was unreadable once more. She took some comfort from that. She didn't think he would lie to her about something so serious. Leaning forward, she rolled her legging back down, covering her unnatural looking skin. She cringed at the pain and sat back again, closing her eyes. Exhaustion hit her very suddenly and her eyelids felt too heavy to open again. She felt completely miserable and she was smeared with blood and sweat but the warmth from the fire was making her sleepy and she didn't want to have to move. She shifted so that she was resting her head on Hunter's side, letting out a heavy breath. She listened to the strong, steady thud of his heartbeat and tried to clear her mind from the mess she was living, letting the reassuring beat lull her into unconsciousness.


A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I hadn't actually planned on giving Samantha the Corruption, it just kind of happened, but I felt like this would be good for her character. She needed that push to keep her from running off to find Fergus and actually go through with the Joining. The next chapter will deal with the Joining Ritual.

Hello and thank you to the two new followers. Thank you for reading and please review. I love hearing what people think and if there's things I should tweak or change. Love you all!