Chapter Seven

Pretty As a Painting

Lothering was yet another assault to Cadens senses, somewhat dulled now by the sight of war. Morrigan, true to her mother's word, had led the way safely through the wilds and had brought them to the first town on route to the Imperial Highway. Alistair had shown her the location on a map and she had been truly shocked to discover just how far from Denerim she was, in spite of having travelled to Ostagar with Duncan in the first place.

Duncan...

His name and presence lingered in a ghostly fashion around their camp, especially during the very brief, stilted conversations Caden had with Alistair. He had been eager enough to get underway after their planning session with Flemeth, but no sooner had they set off had he withdrawn into himself. He spoke only when spoken to, which was rarely by Caden and never by Morrigan. His one moment of brightness had come only once they emerged from the swamps onto the road. Both Wardens had felt that anxious tingling feeling of knowing there were darkspawn nearby and had hastily quietened their approach. Suddenly coming bounding towards them was a bloodied mabari, who had skidded to a halt before Caden, barked happily, then to stand between her and the small pocket of darkspawn that faced them. With his ferocity and Morrigans magic skills they had been quick to dispatch the fiends and that was when Alistair had come to life a little bit, explaining that the dog had likely imprinted on Caden and would follow her into battle and beyond. Caden had been secretly touched that the dog remembered her and her efforts to help heal him, but outwardly she had sighed and said she "supposed the hound could tag along".

Things had been relatively uneventful from then onwards. They had faced down one or two small groups of bandits, but no more dark creatures and finally they were in Lothering. A place where, it would seem, the desolate and abandoned went to await their deaths. It turned out that the Bann had been one of Loghains men and had led his troops north and left the town to fend for itself...which it was doing badly. The only form of leadership and protection came from the few Chantry men and women and the few Templar's. Naturally given the unprotected state of the place the vultures had swooped in and set up camp amidst the refugees, taking advantage where they could. Here Caden learned of the vast difference between Alistair and Morrigan; while he was morally appalled by the way the refugees were being treated, she believed they were being pragmatic and sensible. It was then that Caden realised that the task of uniting Ferelden under one banner would be nothing compared to trying to force Alistair and Morrigan to get along.

After one very bitter slanging match, in which Alistair had accused Morrigan of not knowing how to be friendly and she had quickly responded with what had become her go-to attack and remarked on how stupid she thought he was, Caden whirled on them.

"E-nough!" she shouted, loud enough to momentarily lull the conversations around them and cause her as yet unnamed mabari to cower. She took a deep breath as both of her travelling companions stared at her, jerked out of their fight by the sheer surprise of her tone. "That's enough from both of you. All I can hear is you two bicker and it's going to drive me mad. If either one of you starts another fight I will feed you to the nearest darkspawn!" She felt very presumptuous talking down to them in such a way and as soon as she had begun she wished she hadn't. As she ran her hands through her matted hair she noticed the swinging sign hanging above a nearby tavern. "Thank Andraste," she muttered heading forward. "I need a drink."

The inn was packed to the rafters with punters and soldiers alike. Caden even spotted a few Chantry sisters by the fireplace. She took in the surroundings and located the bar. She headed straight for it, her mabari at her heels.

"Well, well, well," a breastplate bearing Loghains crest stepped before her. She looked up into the face of the taller human man. "A Grey Warden? Didn't we spend all morning asking about an elf by this exact description?"

As Caden looked around, several more knights circled her. Their leader, he seemed to be, crossed his arms in front of his chest and sneered down at her. She sighed then decided to try to feign ignorance.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," she bluffed. "I am just a lone straggler from a garrison that was felled in Ostagar." As she spoke one of the sisters peeled off from her small group and wandered over.

"Really?" the leader scoffed. "I don't believe that for one second. You are a Grey Warden and thus a traitor to the king."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Caden asked, too shocked to continue the pretence.

"The Grey Wardens abandoned the king and left him to die." He went on, his voice rising. "You're a threat to Ferelden!" The mabari growled low and threatening.

"Loghain abandoned the king, not the Wardens!" Caden shouted. "And now he assumes the throne of his barely cold son-in-law like the callous bastard he is!"

"Liar!" The leader slapped her across the cheek. Before Caden could react the sister stepped bravely between them.

"Gentlemen please," she said in an accented voice. "Now is not the time for fighting."

"Step aside sister," the knight spat. "I will not see this elf walk out of this tavern alive and I will cut down anyone who chooses to stand in my way. Chantry or not."

"Looks like we will have to give them what they want," the sister murmured so only Caden could hear. "Are you ready?"

Caden was too surprised to argue and just nodded. At that moment the door opened and out of the corner of her eye Caden saw the forms of her companions entering. Using this as a distraction the knights unsheathed their weapons and advanced. Caden and the sister were ready however and both nimbly sidestepped, while the mabari barked and jumped at the leader, shredding at him with his claws. Caden saw a blade heading for her and parried without thinking. She heard Alistair cry her name, but couldn't look to see what he was doing—watching her back she hoped. She ducked under the arms of her assailant and as she spun around behind him, she thrust outwards with her blade, piercing his armour and nicking his side. He howled in pain and she twisted her blade until he dropped his. Then she kicked him off balance so that he fell face first to the ground. Now she could see the fighting—the bar patrons hurriedly heading up the stairs behind the bar and out of the way. Caden could see the sister whirling with two blades and spattering the blood of the foes who were foolish enough to assume a Chantry sister knew nothing of fighting. In spite of herself, Caden was awed by the sisters clear skill with her blades, not least because although she spilled her assailants blood, she merely dealt deep enough flesh wounds to stun them, rather than going in for the kill. The sheer beauty of her fighting form paled in comparison to that exact control she exuded over her blades. It was not something Caden had been taught, or rather not a part of her lessons she had cared to learn. Nor something she had much practise in so far.

Morrigan blasted the leader of the pack of knights with a jolt of lighting which shook him so that he stumbled and the mabari pounced, clamping his strong jaws around the knights sword arm causing him to drop his weapon.

"Please, no more," he yelped in pain. "I yield!"

The sister was the first to sheath her weapons. "Good, now that's over and we can all stop fighting."

"I'm not so sure I can accept his surrender, sister," Caden said darkly as she walked over. Alistair threw a look her way but she ignored him. "That was an unprovoked attack and if he lives he will run right back to Loghain to tell him we still live."

"No I wont!"the knight said quickly at the same time as the sister spoke again.

"Please, he has surrendered." She said beseechingly, her light blue eyes boring into Cadens with a compelling intensity on her face. "Shed no more blood this day."

Caden opened her mouth, but something in the sisters face halted her words. Perhaps she could learn a lesson from her about when to stay her blade.

"Very well," she said drawing herself up to address the knight. "You have this sister to thank for your life. I expect you to remember this the next time to decide to, what was it? 'Cut down anyone who stands in your way'."

"Yes, yes of course," he sputtered, unable to look at the sister. "Please, tell your hound to release me."

"Well, the thing is," Caden said. "I've only just met this dog, really, and I don't know his name and he might not want to let go."

"Please try," he pleaded. Caden couldn't help the thrill that ran through her at the sound of a shem begging her. She did stop the smile that played on her lips at least.

"Hound, if it pleases you release this shem." She said calmly. The mabari growled and ground its teeth along the man's arm, seeming to get some final gratification out of the knights howl of pain, the let go and went to stand before Caden. "Good boy."

The knight stood up shakily cradling his arm, his supporters rallying behind him. Caden took a deep breath. "Now I want you to run back to Loghain and deliver a message for me. Can you manage that?" He nodded. "Tell him...tell him the Wardens will be more difficult to eradicate than he thinks and he'll have to try much better than this. Tell him we know what really happened at Ostagar. Tell him to watch his back, do you hear me?" The knight nodded then swept out of the pub followed closely by his supporters.

Caden turned to Alistair. "That snake Loghain is apparently blaming the massacre at Ostagar on the Wardens. He is claiming we abandoned the king, instead of him."

Alistairs face drained of colour and then the blood rushed back to his skin as rage took over. "What? That bastard!"

Caden nodded. "I guess we'll have to take that into consideration when we plan our next move."

"Yes, it's likely we'll run into more of his supporters who believe those lies." Alistair mused out loud. "I can't believe he would do that—the Grey Wardens have only been allowed back into Ferelden for the past thirty years. We've re-built our reputation, but who knows who will believe us over him: the hero of the River Dane." Alistair looked mad enough to spit.

"Fortunately not everyone will believe him," the sister said stepping up to join the conversation that she had been obviously listening to.

"Yes, thank you for your intervention sister." Caden said. "You were a great help."

"I could not stand idly by." She said. "My name is Leliana, by the way."

"Caden," Caden smiled. "This is Alistair and Morrigan and...um, our dog."

"And you are Grey Wardens?"

Morrigan snorted. "I'm not."

"But you two are?" Leliana asked, ignoring Morrigans interruption. Caden decided it would be rather foolish to deny this fact when Leliana had heard Caden affirm this in her message to Loghain.

"Yes, Alistair and I are Grey Wardens." She said. "In fact we are the only two left since Ostagar."

"I knew it the moment I saw you," Leliana said, excitement creeping into her voice. "I saw you and realised you must be the woman who's description had been passed around Lothering of late. I knew you would come."

Caden frowned, puzzled, and shared a quizzical look with Alistair. He looked just as blank as she felt. "Did you?" she said not knowing what else to say.

"Yes, the Maker foretold it." Leliana said with conviction. "And he told me to accompany you."

There seemed to be a collective moment of realisation from Caden, Alistair and Morrigan and they all took in Lelianas earnest face with a variation of disbelief. Morrigan snorted again, while Caden tried to settle her features into something resembling politeness.

"Did he really?"

To her credit Leliana seemed to understand how bizarre it sounded and she sighed lightly. "i realise it sounds crazy. They tell us the Maker has left us after all, but I believe I had a vision from Him which was that a great darkness was coming and that He wanted me to help fight it. I'd really like to accompany you and help in any way I can. You've seen my skills in battle, so judge me on that. I am also adept at mixing poultices and tinctures, as well as fixing traps and lures. I am an excellent cook, if I do say so myself, and I have yet to discover a lock that I can't pick."

Caden couldn't help but smile at her eagerness. There was something so open and sunny about Leliana. Caden wanted to turn her down gently, but couldn't seem to find the words. Leliana had stepped in right when she was needed and helped best those men, and she had done it with great ease. She thought back to the fight—she had wondered if she could learn something from the woman after all. What better way to learn than by taking her along? Besides they were on an ally gathering mission...what was stopping her from starting with Leliana? And if she turned out to be the manically-laughing, princess stabbity-stab kind of odd they could deal with that later. "I am not going to refuse help when it is offered to me," Caden said finally. "Welcome along."

"I think your scull was cracked worse than I thought..." Morrigan muttered behind her as Alistair hurriedly turned a cry of bewilderment into a fake-cough. Joy flooded Lelianas face and Caden was momentarily stunned by how her face was instantly transformed by it. She was positively radiant with glee.

"Thank you so much." She said. "I promise I won't let you down."