Tabris I -Ostagar
Ostagar's spired towers were impressive. They were old, but they still held high, the Tevinter buildings having been built to withstand Chasind invasion. How fitting that they would face the darkspawn here. There were walls higher than those in Denerim, and thicker, from the look of it, but somewhat crumbled from age. There were columns of smoke rising from inside, likely from the campfires lit by soldiers.
Their party was worn out. Losing the Cousland castle as a resting point really wore on them, especially Elizabeth. She looked exhausted, blue eyes bloodshot, with bags under them. Her hair, dishevelled and dirtied was wildly blowing in the soft breeze. Her robes were tattered, the colour barely distinguishable.
Taeron was trying to mask his pain behind a solemn façade, but it was obvious he was suffering from Blight sickness. He and the Dale tried to get along for the sake of Duncan and Elizabeth, but behind their backs insults were traded and threats were made. The cause of their conflict was definitely the Dalish elf, his terrible attitude towards the city elves.
Even Lord James was showing signs of exhaustion. The knight also hid behind a façade. It was understandable. Even Rhydian had not lost the entirety of his family. Both the Lord and the Dale maintained a distance from the party, and each other, for they too showed signs if negativity towards each other. The Lord's hound – Ami, spent hours at a time searching for other animals, or so it seemed because, there were no animals. It was one of the signs that Darkspawn had a presence here, apparently.
"Ho there Duncan!" A tall man in golden plate armour approached them at the entrance, flanked by at least a dozen well-armoured knights.
Duncan looked more surprised than Rhydian had seen him in their two weeks of travel. "King Cailan! I wasn't expecting a-"
"A royal welcome?" The King asked, smile on his face. It was strange. He sounded so happy, so excited, like a child waiting for a sweet, "I was beginning to think you'd miss all the fun!" He continued.
"Not if I can help it, Your Majesty" Duncan replied. The King seemed to be fascinated by Duncan, like he was some sort of hero.
"And these are your new recruits?" The King turned to Elizabeth, "Tell me, who are you?"
"Elizabeth Amell, of The Circle of Magi, Your Majesty" Elizabeth said politely bowing.
"Amell is nobility, is it not? In Kirkwall?" The King asked, lightheartedly. Elizabeth's face lost a bit of colour.
"It's not important, Your Majesty" Elizabeth replied. The King smiled and turned to the city elf.
"Rhydian Tabris, of the Alienage of Denerim, Your Majesty" Rhydian said, respectfully.
"Tell me, how is the Alienage. My advisors don't let me visit them." The King asked. What a stupid question, Rhydian thought. It was pretty well-known, especially amongst the nobility, that the alienage was not a pretty place.
"Your majesty, the alienage is not like anything you know. It isn't a good, our life. We live barely able to feed ourselves, fearing everyday that some noble can come and kill us, take our women, everything we work so hard for." The city elf said. The king listened carefully.
"I will make sure that elves live equal to all humans, after this is over." King Cailan promised. Rhydian seriously doubted it.
"And what of you?" Taeron was next. The Dale frowned.
"Taeron Mahariel. Sabrae clan" The elf introduced himself in an uncaring and tired voice.
"I have heard stories of your people. Not all true, I suppose" The King said before moving on.
"Saving best for last Cai?" Lord James asked jokingly, taking off his helmet. Ami barked happily, wagging her tail.
"James Cousland!" The King's excitement grew as he hugged his friend, "What are you doing here? I thought Bryce left you in Highever"
James' smile disappeared. "He's dead. Mother is dead. Oren and Orianna are dead." The King's eyes widened and his look was one of shock.
"I'm so sorry. How?" King Cailan asked, putting a hand on James' shoulder.
"Rendon Howe" Lord James spat the name.
"He will pay. Once we beat the darkspawn, Howe will be punished by the might of Ferelden." The King swore.
"Be careful Cai, Howe is a snake. You and I both know he wouldn't act without being sure there wouldn't be negative consequences." Lord James warned.
"Well then, with introductions out of the way" The King turned to leave.
"Your uncle sends word from Redcliffe that their forces will be here by the end of the week." Duncan stated.
"Ha! Eamon just wants in on the glory!" King Cailan said, "We've won three victories already. Tomorrow shall be no different"
"Blights have been known to last decades, Your Majesty." Elizabeth spoke up.
"I'm not even sure this is a true Blight! There's been plenty of Darkspawn, but alas, no Archdemon" He replied. Rhydian cast a look to Duncan, who gave a brief nod.
"Well then, my apologies for cutting this short, but I need to get back to Loghain. James, I'm sure he'd be delighted to see you."
"Oh yeah, because breaking into the man's kennels and letting out his hounds is bound to make him excited." Lord James joked.
"When you're finished, meet me by the Warden's tents." Duncan said as the King, Lord James and the dozen guards left.
"We should proceed with The Joining as soon as possible. We'll need all of our abilities for this coming fight." Duncan said.
"What happens in The Joining?" Rhydian asked.
"You'll have to see for yourself. Our Order's secrets are that – secrets" Duncan replied. That made Rhydian uneasy.
"Can we rest first?" Elizabeth asked.
"Of course. Take the time you need to prepare. Once you're ready, find the Grey Warden Alistair and come by the Warden's tents. There are two other recruits you can meet as well." Duncan said, leaving.
The army camp was very busy. There were troops running by, conducting exercises. There were those in formations, being lectured about the Darkspawn, cavalrymen riding by, others tending to their horses. There were dozens of archers on elevated points, patrolling. Others sat around, or chatted about with their comrades. And this was only on this side of the bridge.
The view off the bridge was impressive. They were high above the valley, the view stretching for miles both North and South. Below them were hundreds of tents in the colours of Ferelden, troops moving around like thousands of ants. On the bridge itself there were ballistas, aimed towards the wilds.
The other side of the bridge was more expansive and diverse in its inhabitants. There were elves running errands for Arls and Banns, smiths sharpening and improving weapons and armour, mabari being painted in different designs and colours. There was a presence from the Circle as well, with dozens of Templars guarding specific tents and corners of Ostagar, presumably the ones with the mages. There were Chantry sisters giving out blessings in the name of the Maker and even Elven militias being trained for the fight.
"I'm going to explore for a bit. This place is magnificent, all the history, the power here.
"Meet us by the quartermaster then, alright?" Rhydian asked, pointing to where he saw store boxes and a burly man handing gear to some soldier, then checking something off the list.
"Yes, alright" Elizabeth replied before trailing off.
"So...where to, flat-ear?" Taeron asked.
"Well, da'len" He said mockingly, much to Taeron's distaste, "I was going to check with the quartermaster for some gear."
"Right then. Let's go get gear, seth'lin" Taeron said. Seth'lin? It sounded like another insult. 'I'll remember that one' Rhydian thought.
"Oi knife-ear, have you delivered the sword I gave you to Bann Waron?" Oh no. Did he think him a servant? "Why are you wearing armour?"
"I am not your slave, you hear?" Rhydian snapped, drawing one of his daggers.
"I...I meant no offence sir. I'm just a simple quartermaster." The human apologised, realising his mistake. Rhydian sheathed his dagger.
"I want a discount. For your insult" Rhydian demanded. He wasn't that offended, after all, he'd lived his life taking insults. But money was a problem. All he had was what he took off the Denerim guards and a bit he took off one of the soldiers at the inn. It amounted to a total of two sovereigns, thirty seven silvers and forty one coppers.
"I'll give you half-price" The quartermaster offered.
"I'll take it" Rhydian said. He asked for some light armour, with chainmail accents, and matching boots. He also asked for two new shortswords. They were steel, well made and sharpened and a welcome change to the daggers.
Taeron got himself a steel dagger and a few more arrows. Rhydian was looking at a man trying to get some pretty soldier to sleep with him. He failed and strode over to them.
He was Daveth, another of the recruits. He told Taeron about how he came to be a recruit and about the other recruit, some knight from Redcliffe.
Elizabeth found them a minute or two later, now clean. Her hair was that perfect snow white again, very surprisingly. Her robes were discarded, changed for a clean cotton shirt.
"You should get some armour" Rhydian recommended. She nodded and chose a steel breastplate. She also got fingerless leather gloves.
"Did you find Alistair yet?" She asked. Rhydian shook his head.
"No, but we did meet another of the recruits." The elf replied.
"Oh. Let's go find Alistair then" Elizabeth said.
They wandered around Ostagar for minutes, asking around for an Alistair. Most didn't know him, some only knew him by description, but the general opinion was that he was in the East Tower.
On the platform there were two men: a mage, at the sight of whom Elizabeth sighed and another knight, blonde. Alistair, Rhydian presumed.
"Out of my way, fools!" The mage stormed off, angry.
"Wonderful to see how the Blight can bring people together" Alistair said.
"Are you Alistair?" Elizabeth asked.
"I am. And you must be the new recruits..." Alistair replied, obviously not knowing their names.
"I'm Rhydian. These are Taeron and Elizabeth" Rhydian introduced.
"Strange...There aren't many women or elves in The Grey Wardens. I wonder why that is" Alistair wondered. He was ingnored, Elizabeth asking questions instead.
"Why would you anger the Enchanter?" She asked.
"The Revered mother made me an errand boy for the mages. She's got a wicked sense of humour, that woman. You see, I used to be a Templar." Alistair explained.
"Bleeding Andraste" Elizabeth swore under her breath, "You were a Templar?"
"I WAS a Templar, until six months ago" Alistair clarified hastily.
"Let's just go find Duncan" Taeron said, changing the subject of the conversation.
"Yes, let's" Lord James came up to them.
"Alistair, this is James. James, Alistair" Elizabeth introduced. The men shook hands.
"Ah, I see you've found Alistair" Duncan said, "These are the other two recruits" He gestured to Daveth and some other man, another knight (there seemed to be a lot of those around), with a short trim and sickly palish skin, a greatsword on his back, "This is Daveth, of Denerim and Ser Jory, of Highever." Jory kissed Elizabeth's hand, something that seemed to make her a bit uneasy.
"You are being sent to The Wilds to collect darkspawn blood and find ancient Warden documents. This is somewhat of a test, to see how you can work as a group, as well as your individual strengths. Each of you will get a vial to fill." Duncan said.
"And what are these documents for?" Lord James asked.
"They are ancient treaties of the Wardens. The Order could use them to call upon all races and kingdoms to combat the Blight. You will find them in an abandoned Warden outpost once you're in the wilds. Alistair will come with you for this task." Duncan finished explaining.
"Can we spend time to prepare?" Rhydian asked.
"Of course. Sleep, eat. You need rest for tomorrow. You will be going first thing in the morning."
Thank you for reading! Special thanks to BusyMonkey and Leonah Z for reviewing.
Next Chapter – The Wilds
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