Chapter Seven: Ostagar

Part One: Meeting Daveth

Aonghas got directions to the different parts of camp but when he went to the King's tent he was told that Cailan was in the main camp. Aonghas next headed towards the camp merchant and caught sight of a man with his back to him chatting up a female soldier and as the woman walked away and the man watched her go Aonghas moved in close and reached for the man's belt pouch only to find his hand slapped lightly in a warning. "Nice try." Aonghas took a step back as the dark haired man turned to face him. The man had a rough almost aged look to his face as if he had weathered much in his short life and Aonghas estimated him to be in his mid twenties, but as Aonghas stared the man's bottom lip poked out in a pout softening his features, making him appear younger than Aonghas had first thought; maybe even as young as twenty. "I'm a little hurt you thought I wouldn't notice." The man looked him up and down, appearing to take his measure, before speaking again. "So you're the one we spent all that time waiting for, hmm?"

"And who are you?"

"The name's Daveth. It's about bloody time you came along. I was beginning to think they cooked this ritual up just for our benefit."

"Isn't that a little paranoid?"

"Ha! That depends on what kind of life you've led. Me, I'm perfectly willing to accept that this Joining is some kind of punishment." Aonghas couldn't help but chuckle at Daveth's paranoid thoughts. "I happened to be sneaking around camp last night, see, and I heard a couple of Grey Wardens talking. So I listen in for a bit." Aonghas was just about to ask Daveth how he got in when the man gave him a warning look before continuing. "I'm thinking they plan to send us into the Wilds."

"The Wilds?" It wasn't the question Aonghas wanted to ask but he too had noticed the two guards approaching.

"We're right on the northern edge of the Korcari Wilds here. Miles and miles of savage country. My home village isn't far, and I grew up on tales about the Wilds. Even been in there a few times... scary place."

"I doubt they will send us into pointless danger," Aonghas scoffed.

"Then why do the Grey Wardens only recruit folks who can fight? Or are you their first basket weaver?" Aonghas felt heat rise in his cheeks at Daveth's pointed words. "I guess we'll have to wait and see. Like we have a choice."

"I wouldn't be here if I did."

"You take what you get, right?"

Aonghas watched as the soldier guards moved away before asking, "So how did the Grey Wardens find you?"

"I found them. I cut Duncan's purse while he was standing in a crowd. He grabs my wrist, but I squirm out and bolt. The old bugger can run, but the garrison caught me first. I'm a wanted man in Denerim, you see, so they were going to string me up right there. Duncan stopped them. Invoked the Right of Conscription. I gave the garrison the finger while I was walking away." Aonghas smiled at the image. "Don't know why Duncan wants someone like me. But he says finesse is important, and that I'm fast with a blade. You bet your boots I am. Besides, it beats getting strung up."

"Where are you from, Daveth?"

"I grew up in a village 'bout a day's trip to the east. Little blot you wouldn't even find on a map. Haven't been back in years. I struck out for the city as soon as I could outrun my pa. I've been in Denerim for, what... six years now? Never liked it much, but there's more purses there than anywhere else. Anyway, I expect it's time to get back to Duncan. That's where I'll be, if you need me for anything."

Aonghas watched Daveth walk away without a backwards glance and went to speak to the merchant about having somebody alter his father's armor to fit him.

Part Two: Trying to leave Ostagar

Aonghas approached the gate leading to the main army camp and tried to walk in, but the guard there stopped him. "Sorry, the main army camp is off limits to you right now."

Aonghas backed away and glared at the man blocking his path. "Do you know who I am?"

"You are Duncan's newest of three recruits and Duncan has left word that grey warden recruits are not allowed in the main camp at this time."

"I am Lord Aonghas Cousland to you and I am looking for King Cailan. Let me pass."

"I'm sorry, my Lord, but Duncan's orders stand for you as well."

"Well send somebody to King Cailan to tell him I am looking for him."

"You can leave a message with his guard at his tent on the southeast side of camp, my Lord."

"No, you will send somebody to deliver my message to him directly."

"I'm sorry, my Lord, but my duty is to keep anybody out of the camp that is not allowed in. I do not have the authority to order a messenger be sent to the King. You will have to speak to the guard at King Cailan's tent."

Aonghas turned from the guard and marched back around to the mentioned guard and made his request. "Please send a messenger to King Cailan that Aonghas Cousland wants to speak with him."

"I'm sorry, my Lord, but King Cailan said you might approach me to speak to him and I was to tell you that he will speak to you again after you become a grey warden."

"What? That is not acceptable, send a messenger."

"I'm sorry, my Lord, I was told not to."

"Aonghas." Aonghas spun around and glared at Daveth as the older recruit continued to speak. "Duncan requests that you leave King Cailan's guard alone."

"Fine." Aonghas pushed by Daveth in anger and stormed off, but he went back around to the entrance of camp near the mages encampment and whistled for his hound. Three whistles later and still no Majestic had Aonghas worried and just as he was about to go and find out why his hound wasn't answering he spotted Daveth approaching. He glared at the thief and spoke in annoyance, "What now?"

"Duncan asks that you stop upsetting your hound."

Aonghas sneered at his fellow recruit, "Well, aren't you a good little messenger boy." Aonghas fought a grin as he watched Daveth face redden and he continued to taunt the man. "Duncan says this; Duncan says that."

"That's enough, Aonghas." Aonghas didn't like the tone of Daveth's voice but he couldn't help but smile in triumph at making the man raise his voice in anger. "Your hound has been whining in stress since I got back to the fire, if you care anything for the poor beast stop trying to escape."

Aonghas narrowed his eyes in anger and nearly shouted, "I'm not trying to escape."

"No," asked Daveth in a skeptical tone? "Then leave your hound to rest comfortably."

Aonghas turned his back on Daveth before he could set the man on fire in his rage. Daveth didn't say anything to him and Aonghas stormed off back toward the main camp entrance where he hid from the sight of the guard at the gate while waiting for an opportunity to slip through unnoticed. As chance would have it a large group of soldiers were returning to the main camp and Aonghas slipped in among them making sure to keep a few of them between him and the gate guard. "Hold!" The whole group paused and Aonghas felt his anger return as the guard pushed his way through the group to him. The guard waved the group on ahead and when Aonghas moved to follow the guard blocked him. "You may not enter the camp, my Lord."

Aonghas shoved the guard away from him and the man staggered back with a look of shock on his face. Aonghas moved quickly and tried to enter the camp while the guard recovered but the man's mabari had risen and was slowly stalking towards Aonghas with a low growl. Aonghas made a small unnoticeable gesture and the hound froze and appeared to be sleeping standing up. Aonghas stepped forward after dealing with the hound and nearly crashed into the guard as he blocked him again. "Get out of my way or I will flay you alive!"

The guard stood his ground despite Aonghas threat, "You may not enter."

Aonghas shoved the man hard but this time the man shoved back and Aonghas felt himself fall back against somebody but he didn't bother looking who it was before lunging at the guard, but whoever was behind him grabbed him around the shoulders and waist and hauled him out of reach of the guard. Aonghas grasped the arm around his shoulders and turned and twisted before leaning over to yank on the arm and throw the interferer hard to the ground. Aonghas gave Daveth a warning look as the man stared at him from where he had been thrown before stepping forward to take on the guard again.

Aonghas had barely finished stepping around Daveth when he found himself grabbed from behind again, but this time the interferer was smarter and wrapped one arm around Aonghas' chest under his arms and the other around his waist. Aonghas still tried to throw the man but his efforts were thwarted when his capturer tightened his hold and lifted Aonghas so that his feet were no longer touching the ground. Aonghas still struggled to escape but a look into the camp to see a group of four unknown obviously angry men marching determinedly towards the gate gave him pause and he went limp. Whoever held him set him back on his feet and released him before backing away.

Daveth stepped in front of Aonghas and spoke urgently. "You have to stop acting like this. You are making Duncan and the other wardens look bad. If I am not mistaken those men are some of the other grey wardens." Aonghas watched the gate guard turn and go to the men when one of them called out to him.

There seemed to be a heated debate before one of the men stalked up to Aonghas and Daveth. The man looked briefly at Daveth before staring straight at Aonghas with a disapproving frown, "King Cailan does not have time to deal with spoiled children." The man shook his head in disbelief when Aonghas stepped towards him as if to confront him. "You need a keeper." Aonghas flushed red and clenched his fists wanting to strike out at the man, but the man turned to look at Daveth. "Take him to Alistair." Aonghas watched as Daveth nodded in agreement and then started in surprise when the man stepped close to Aonghas, invading his space, and gave him a fierce glare, "Don't cause any more trouble, Aonghas." The man didn't wait for a response before turning on his heel and rejoining the guard and the other wardens.

Aonghas turned on his heel and marched away from the main camp entrance with Daveth hurrying along beside him. "Where are you going?" Aonghas didn't answer as they passed the quartermaster and took a left towards the war council area, but they took a sharp right and they both could see a dark haired mage and a blond haired man in armor talking. "Right, the blond is Alistair." Aonghas nodded and began walking towards the men as Daveth turned to head back to Duncan's camp.

Part Three: Meeting Alistair

Aonghas walked towards Alistair and the dark-haired mage and felt the hairs on his body rise up as if exposed to the electrical charge of a lightening spell. Aonghas couldn't tell if it was Alistair, the mage, or something else in the area that caused it, but something was obviously setting off Aonghas' instinctual warning signals.

The dark haired mage had a look of displeasure on his face as he questioned the blond haired warrior. "What is it now? Haven't Grey Wardens asked more than enough of the Circle?"

The blond haired man, Alistair, seemed to be enjoying himself. "I simply came to deliver a message from the revered mother, ser mage. She desires your presence."

"What her Reverence "desires" is of no concern to me! I am busy helping the Grey Wardens-by the king's orders, I might add!"

"Should I have asked her to write a note?" Aonghas eyes widened as he heard the glib tone of the warrior; not many people talked to mages like that.

"Tell her I will not be harassed in this manner!" Aonghas wasn't sure what he was walking into but the mage seemed agitated by more than the man standing in front of him.

"Yes, I was harassing you by delivering a message." Aonghas almost laughed out loud as he moved closer and stopped five strides from Alistair.

"Your glibness does you no credit."

"Here I thought we were getting along so well. I was even going to name one of my children after you... the grumpy one."

"Enough! I will speak to the woman if I must! Get out of my way, fool!" Aonghas stepped aside as the mage nearly knocked him over in his irritation and then he stepped back and fixed his attention on Alistair.

The warrior looked into the distance for a moment and then rubbed a hand over his short brush cut hair before turning and moving to stand before Aonghas. Even two strides away it was clear to Aonghas that Alistair was close to half a foot taller than him. "You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together."

"What are you going on about?" Aonghas asked in irritation.

"Oh, nothing. Just trying to find a bright side to all this. Wait, we haven't met, have we? I don't suppose you happen to be another mage?"

"Would me being a mage make your day worse?"

"Hardly. I just like to know my chances of being turned into a toad at any given moment. Wait, I do know who you are. You're Duncan's new recruit, from Highever. I should have recognized you right away. I apologize."

"How would you be able to recognize me?" The fact that Alistair referred to him as the recruit from Highever more than likely meant that the Alistair didn't know he was a mage.

"Duncan sent word. He spoke quite highly of you. Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Alistair, the new Grey Warden, though I guess you knew that."

"My name is Aonghas Cousland, Alistair."

"Right. That was the name." Aonghas felt a surge of anger at Alistair's tone of arrogant dismissive-ness. "So, I'm curious: Have you ever actually encountered darkspawn before?"

Aonghas shook his head in the negative and asked glibly, "Have you?"

"When I fought my first one, I wasn't prepared for how monstrous it was. I can't say I'm looking forward to encountering another."

Aonghas snorted, "Monstrous?" Aonghas met Alistair's look of disdain with a smirk.

"Anyhow, whenever you're ready let's head back to Duncan. I imagine he's eager to get things started."

The two men stood staring at each other for a moment seizing each other up. After a few moments Aonghas turned away and walked over to a chest he had spotted in the area and squatted down while pulling out his tools. "That argument I saw... what was it about?" Aonghas began working on the lock as Alistair answered him.

"With the mage? The Circle is here at the king's request and the Chantry doesn't like that one bit. They just love letting mages know how unwelcome they are. Which puts me in a bit of an awkward position. I was once a templar."

"That would be awkward." Aonghas grinned at the clicking sound as the lock opened.

"I'm sure the revered mother meant it as an insult-sending me as her messenger-and the mage picked right up on that. I never would have agreed to deliver it, but Duncan says we're all to cooperate and get along. Apparently, they didn't get the same speech."

"Do you normally run errands for the revered mother?" Aonghas opened the chest and began rummaging around in it searching for anything of use or value.

"What are you doing? That chest does not belong to you." Aonghas slipped a few gems and the coin into his own belt pouch as Alistair looked around nervously for witnesses.

"You're right but I can't resist the challenge of a lock. Haven't you ever stolen anything, Alistair?" Aonghas stood and turned to face Alistair and the look and slight blush on the other man's face was enough to answer his question. "Well, I like to keep my fingers nimble. If it bothers you then don't accompany me."

Aonghas moved to walk by Alistair, but when he looked up at the man as he drew nearer he found himself pinned by the blue-eyed glare. Stopped dead in his tracks Aonghas' felt his eyes widen and his breath hitch as the glare soften and was replace by a sparkle of mischief-ness as the man spoke in that same arrogant tone of voice that made Aonghas wonder if Alistair was the child of a nobleman. "Don't worry; "I'll" try not to embarrass you." Alistair's sarcasm wasn't lost on Aonghas and Aonghas turned and walked by as he felt the heat rise up in his own face.

Part Four: This is an odd place to run into you, cousin.

Aonghas walked backwards while laughing at the look of exasperation on Alistair's face. Aonghas had been systematically going through the area talking to people and helping those who wanted help and helping his own self in the process. The two had made three trips to the quartermaster already to exchange stolen goods for coin and this last trip had been the most profitable. A widening of Alistair's eyes as he looked behind Aonghas made the younger man hesitate. Aonghas halted and turn around quickly and blushed as he realized he had almost backed into two soldiers. Both men stood with their arms crossed and appeared to be giving him identical looks of reproach. The two men had hair that matched the color of Aonghas' mother's hair; dark auburn. The dappled rays of sunlight that danced across the men's hair in filtered patches made Aonghas freeze, as the memory of his mother standing in the bright sunlight with her hair turned nearly bright red by sun's rays filled his mind. Aonghas shook his head to dislodge the memory before inspecting the men further. The younger man with the shorter hair had been one of Aonghas' earlier victims and it was he that gave Aonghas a glare of indignation. The elder of the two narrowed his eyes as Aonghas met his gaze and after flicking his head back to force his hair from his face, in a gesture that nearly mirrored one of Aonghas' own, he spoke.

"This is an odd place to run into you, cousin. We weren't expecting to run into family here."

Aonghas glanced back and forth between the two men searching his memory for which cousins the two could possibly be. He had none on his father's side but on his mother's side there were many. "Cousins," he questioned as he continued to search for the memory of two male cousins?

"I'm Seireadan Hawke and this is my younger brother, Carver. Do you remember us? The last time we saw you would have been about seven or eight years ago."

Aonghas shook his head as the memory failed to come to mind, but just then Carver spoke up, "I have a twin named Bethany." Aonghas eyes widened as his mind flashed back to playing games with his twin cousins. They had come to celebrate another of Fergus' elaborate birthday bashes and the three young cousins had bonded in the days leading up to the event. He barely remembered the elder Hawke, but he did remember seeing him spend some time wrestling with Roland Gilmore. Aonghas figured it had to be when he was ten because it was the birthday after he had gotten in trouble with Fergus.

"Do you remember now, Aonghas," questioned the elder of the brothers?

Aonghas grinned, "I remember you and Rory getting yelled at by your mother and mine for breaking one of the benches in the atrium. I believe you were trying to teach him how to throw an opponent."

The elder Hawke brother threw his head back as he laughed heartily before settling and speaking with a smirk and a sarcastic tone. "I had nearly forgotten about that. Thank you so much for reminding me."

Aonghas and Carver both looked at each other and Carver nodded at his brother and made a motion that said his brother was crazy, which made Aonghas laugh. "This is indeed an odd place to run into you two. You're with?"

"The King's Army," answered Carver.

"Interesting, I don't suppose you could get me in camp." Aonghas had nearly forgotten about Alistair at that point but the clearing of Alistair's throat reminded him, but before Alistair could speak Seireadan Hawke stepped forward and looked down to fix a stern gaze on Aonghas.

"You are not allowed in the King's Camp, at present. Stop causing problems."

"How do you know that?" Aonghas was surprised at this cousin's knowledge but he was shocked at the tone of command in his elder cousin's voice.

The older man's features softened into a wry grin and his tone once more became sarcastic, while still managing to appear chastising. "Because I am the one who grabbed you from behind, to keep you from getting yourself in all manner of trouble, after you threw your fellow recruit to the ground. Nice throw by the way."

Aonghas could feel his face grow hot, but he felt confused by it; was he embarrassed because of the flattery or because he was ashamed of his actions, or both. Aonghas had never come across anybody who could speak in a manner that embodied the combined tones of scorn, chastisement, complement, and humor. Aonghas couldn't help but give Carver a sympathetic look as he felt relief in knowing that he hadn't had to grow up with the elder Hawke as a brother.

Carver returned Aonghas' look with one of impatience. "Look, we need to get back to camp. Are you going to demand the coin from him, Dan? Or shall I?"

"Ah, straight to the point then, Carver?" Seireadan once more gave Aonghas a harsh look. "How about replacing the coin Carver had to spend to get his items back that you stole from him?"

Aonghas wasn't really surprised that it was brought up but he wasn't sure how to answer it, so he hesitated a moment too long and Alistair spoke up before him. "You might as well do it. I remember you stealing from him." Aonghas turned and gave Alistair the dirtiest look of his repertoire but Alistair didn't even notice because he was looking towards Duncan's camp fire. "Make it quick. Duncan looks to be getting impatient."

Aonghas sighed as Carver moved in closer and grabbed Aonghas' left arm and held out his free hand for the coin but when Aonghas reached for his belt pouch he found it missing; a moment later he heard the snick of coins and he looked back at Seireadan to find the man browsing through his belt pouch. Aonghas clenched his teeth in rage wanting to lash out but instead he stood silently as his cousin drew out the coins and handed them to Carver. "Relax, Aonghas," spoke Seireadan softly as he held out Aonghas' belt pouch to him. Carver released his grip on Aonghas' arm and Aonghas snatched the pouch from his other cousin's grip. "I hope we see you again soon, Aonghas." This time the elder Hawke's voice seemed to embody affection with none of the sarcasm of earlier.

Aonghas glared as the two brothers turned and walked away and he couldn't resist muttering so only Alistair could hear. "You're only my second cousins and I hope we don't run into each other again."