Fenris laid in the dark on the thin cot that was his bed in his master's quarters and listened to Danarius' snores. It was late and exhaustion thrummed through his body, but sleep refused to come. Not even thinking about Anna helped calm him down tonight. He turned on his back, adjusting the pillow, and closed his eyes, thinking back to the last time he had been with her in reality, not just in dreams. Thirty long days had passed since the night she had won her first challenge, and tomorrow she would face the second one. She would do battle, that much he knew, but it would also be a requirement for her to show her intelligence and cunning. That was all he knew, it would have been suspicious of he had asked more questions and therefore he had instead done his best to listen in to conversations revolving around the arena, Anna or both. Unfortunately, Danarius was fully aware that his favourite toy was desperate to hear more and made sure that he didn't. Fenris sighed, and tried to force his mind to let go of the worry for tomorrow. There was nothing he could do, anyways. His exhausted brain refused to listen, though, so instead he sought out the connection to Anna. It wasn't very strong, but it was there: he could sense that she was sleeping peacefully in the way that only someone with complete faith in their abilities can. It would do her great injustice to doubt when she herself was so confident, he thought, and instead attempted to fill his mind with the scent of her hair, the color of her eyes, the shape of her smile. The image of Anna came to him easily, as clear and bright as if she stood before him. He imagined her smiling, as she had been the first time he truly saw her: in only her smalls, hair loose and wild, lust shining bright in blue eyes.

He slid his hand down his body, taking care to stroke the places she had shown him were pleasurable, wondering at the hunger he felt. She had awoken his hunger: he had never before taken himself in hand, not that he could remember. But he could feel his body ache at the memory of her, of what she had done to him and what he had done to her. He remembered how he had lain under her, moaning with pleasure, as her tongue traced each scar on his skin. She had run her tongue over his thighs, back, arms, chest, legs and feet, kissed his hands and trailed wet heat down his back. He wrapped his hand around his hardness and groaned low in his throat as he remembered how it had felt, how she had been both gentle and passionate at the same time. It was almost as if he could feel her mouth on him, and he imagined he felt it where he wanted it the most. He snapped his hips up, stroking faster, and simultaneously pressed his fist to his mouth to keep quiet as he gave in to the demands of his body. He closed his eyes and saw Anna, her hair falling around her head like a golden curtain, lush lips stretched around his cock. The image was enough to send him spiralling over the edge, a cry of her name muffled by his hand. After, he fell back to the bed, exhausted and briefly satisfied, quaking with the force of his release. Suddenly he was exhausted, and he used a piece of the thin blanket to wipe himself off before he fell back on the bed, asleep before his head hit the pillow.

In the darkness, Danarius opened his eyes and smiled.

Listening in on private conversations was usually not the best way to ensure continued health and survival in Magister Danarius' household, but sometimes you have to do dangerous things in order to help someone else. This was why Fenris was currently squeezed into a dark corner of the grand library and trying to ignore the fact that the majority of his body was cramping, stretching his hearing to the limit in order to hear the conversation held between his master and his guest. The other magister, Lord Harkon, was a tall, gaunt man with cropped grey hair and deep-set eyes that always seemed to burn with some infernal fire. He was a highly talented alchemist, and one of the few people that could almost be called friends by his master, not that a man such as him truly had friends. They were talking about a new invention that Harkon had just created; a potion that would rob the drinker of one or more of their senses for a certain amount of time. Harkon was complaining about the potion's ineffectiveness, since it was impossible to predetermine which senses, or how many, the victim would lose. Luckily, the effects only lasted a few hours, but it was still frustrating.

"Have you tried using sea salt as a binding agent?" Danarius asked, and they launched into an intense discussion about various methods and ingredients which mostly sounded as complete gibberish to Fenris. He tried to shift as quietly as possible, without drawing attention to himself or lose sight of the small glass vial set on the table next to the men. It held the potion that Harkon had come over to brag about, and Fenris was hoping against hope that it would be left there or in some other place he could swipe it.

The reason he wanted to swipe it was that he several days previous had eavesdropped on Hadriana, the master's beautiful apprentice whose favourite pastime was making him miserable. She and two of her air-headed friends had been talking about the Dog Lord in the Arena, and how the second part of the three-fold challenge was coming up.

"Father said he is going to challenge her senses" Hadriana had said, sounding smug. "I think he will give her the keys, it is traditional after all."

"Yes" one of his friends, whose name Fenris never could remember but had yellow hair the color and quality of straw, had giggled. "What other challenges will there be?"

"Well, there is the Statue's Challenge, of course. You can't have a Challenge of Cunning without the statue." The other girls twittered their agreement, sounding like demented canaries.

"And the third will be a gorgon. I picked that!" Hadriana had crowed in triumph as she helped herself to more wine.

Really, it was the gorgon that had cinched it for Fenris. He had to find a way to help Anna fight the gorgon. It was a monster of myth and legend, rarely seen these days, but the arena kept a pair for breeding and several more for battle. They were huge half-snake half-man creatures, hideous to see with scales instead of skin and fangs dripping with venom. But the main danger of the gorgon was its gaze. If you for just an instant met the gorgon's gaze your body would be paralyzed, rendering you helpless to move or defend itself as it fed on you. It would then bite you with its razor sharp fangs, pumping its venom into your body. And then it would feed while the poison turned the organs in your body to liquid, feasting away until there was nothing left of you but an empty husk. And they were setting one of those hideous beasts on his Anna.

He had been worrying for nearly a week, half-frantic with his desperation to find a way to help Anna. He knew full well that she would not be told what she would be facing until she stood in the arena, and what guarantee did he have that she had ever even heard of the gorgon? She most likely had not, due to their rarity and the fact that they did not exist in Ferelden anymore, and therefore she would have no chance against it. It would devour her in minutes, and he would be helpless to save her. So, when Harkon had come over and Danarius had demanded he leave them in peace, he had not been able to resist listening in on their conversation in the vague, desperate hope that he would overhear something useful.

So, there he was, squatting in a dark corner with legs screaming in protest at the uncomfortable position and an increasing need to sneeze, but being too afraid of discovery to do so. The conversation between Magisters Harkon and Danarius seemed never ending, and honestly it seemed to become duller as time went on. Finally, after what must have been an eternity the way Fenris' muscles were screaming at him, Harkon said something about how late it was and bade his "dear friend" good night.

"Don't forget your potion" Danarius said and Fenris bit his tongue to keep from calling a protest. If that bottle left the household, he would have no chance whatsoever getting his hands on it.

"Oh, you can keep it. I have plenty." Harkon said dismissively. It wasn't the first time he gave Danarius a potion that he was in the process of inventing. With a bit of luck, it would not be Fenris that was required to test it this time. Danarius thanked the other Magister and pocketed the small vial, before walking him to the door. Fenris waited for a full minute after the door had closed behind the two men before standing up slowly on legs screaming in pain. He hobbled out of the room through the servant's entrance, already plotting how to steal the potion. He had to get his hands on it or Anna would die. And that was unacceptable.

"So" Magister Harkon said as he put on his cloak and hat, "How was my performance?"

"Excellent, old friend. I give him two hours before he attempts to steal it." Danarius laughed. It wasn't a very pleasant sound.

"Two hours? You think he will wait that long?"

"Oh yes, he wants to make sure I'm feeling safe, and hopefully will have forgotten all about it. You made it to my specifications?"

"Of course. But consider this to be payment in full for that little… favour you did me."

"Naturally. I would expect nothing less."

"Very well then, good night Danarius. I trust that no one will know about this. If it gets out that there was cheating…"

"Do not be stupid, Harkon. Of course no one will know… as long as you keep your mouth shut." He chose not to mention the fact that he had laced Harkon's goblet with poison to ensure that he would not be able to tell anyone. Dead men don't talk, not even in Tevinter.