A:N-
Hey guys, I'll be taking some time to explain some things people have had questions about at the end of the chapter, check out the AN there.

The remaining trip to Redcliffe took just shy of three days to finish. Three days of a whole lot of nothing.

Not a single band of roving bandits, Darkspawn or wolves so much as sneezed in their direction letting them make great time.

What there was instead was a whole lot of awkwardness and not a lot of talking all told. Sure there was the regular banter but there was no real integration between the Warden Party and their tagalong Azerothians.

The two groups kept themselves mainly to themselves, with Lanaura dancing back and forth between the two. Thus the peace was kept.

There were some interesting notes to be found however. Alistair and Kallian were nearly silent the whole trip, something everyone noticed but no-one wanted to ask why.

Gnags was hardly ever seen by the ground-pounding party. He spent every waking moment he could in the air with his griffon, who he had apparently named Gayle. Real original job there Gnags. When Elsa had quietly asked Nami why that was, the response she received was a shrug.

"Wildhammers. It's their thing."

It was a testament to how far they'd come with dealing in Azerothian brand crazy when the fact that Nami rode a large tiger and Trixie a large bear as mounts didn't even phase the rest of the group.

Zevran on an interesting note was in the fortunate, or unfortunate, position of being in neither one of the two squads proper. Not yet a trusted member of the Wardens and absolutely not a member of the Azerothians, he kept himself to himself most of the time. When he wasn't hitting on anyone and everyone of course. And getting slaughtered by Lanaura in combat training, something most of the Warden party could commiserate with.

They made great time moving through the Hinterlands, a beautiful and wild territory just south of Lake Calenhad. Come nightfall of the final day they were only a few hours away. Instead of pushing through by magelight they decided to make camp where they were and move on in the morning.

Or at least that was the plan. They even got as far as starting to set up their tents before Gnags returned, swooping into the middle of the camp.

"Everyone!" He shouted for those who might have missed the loudly screeching griffon landing heavily in the middle of the camp. "I've bad news." He announced, a dire cast to his voice as the two groups gathered in the centre of camp.

"What's the problem?" Nami asked, all business.

"I scouted out the place we were going. Redcliffe yea? Well, something is very wrong there."

"Details Gnags." Nami admonished. "We've talked about this."

"Right. Sorry. I only got brief flyover, but the whole town was packing into a big church looking building. They'd set up a wall of pretty shoddy barricades around the front door. They're expecting an attack."

"But... Why would they barricade the Chantry? It doesn't make any sense." Alistair cut in, moving forward. "It's the strongest building in town and easiest to defend sure, but if they were under attack, they'd just fall back into the castle. That's the sensible thing to do. Redcliffe's one of the strongest castles in Ferelden! That's what both Arl Eamon and Bann Tegan would have done. It just doesn't make any sense!"

"I think I've an idea about that." Gnags said gravely. "I also circled the castle a couple times and i'm very concerned. There was no one on watch. At all. I should have been spotted at least, but I wasn't. No signs of life at all. And most concerning, there are even more barricades leading from the castle to the village. Something in that castle has the villagers terrified."

There was a brief silence as the group digested that.

"Well. This is gonna suck." Lanaura neatly summed up, dropping her head into her hands.

"Hey think of it this way." Trixie replied, glancing towards the warrior. "At least there'll be a decent fight."

Lanaura, true to form, immediately brightened, a wide smile on her face. "Oh yea! Nice."

"How can you be so sure?" Leliana asked.

The entire group turned to her, shooting her flat stares.

Blushing, Leliana looked at the ground with an adorable shuffle of her feet. "Silly question. Right."

"Moving on... Good thinking Gnagas." Nami said, bringing the conversation back to the point with the air of one who had done so many times before. (Which knowing those involved, probably had) "I think it's pretty obvious we need to be there. Yesterday."

"Agreed." Kallian spoke, finally joining the conversation. "Sorry everyone, we're pulling up camp. Get ready to ride, we move out in ten minutes."

Everyone broke apart, moving to break what little camp they had made for themselves. As they did, Kallian turned to Nami. "I think it's would be best if we all stuck together. I don't want us understrength if we are surprised on the road."

Nami nodded. "Agreed. Gnags, don't fly far. Close escort only, understand?"

"Yes ma'am. I'll keep as best an eye as I can." Gnags replied, before patting Gayle's feathered neck. "To the sky lass!"

The Griffion screeched in response, taking two massive strides before leaping into the air and away.

"I'd have preferred him with us on the ground to be honest." Kallian commented, grabbing at her mount's summoning stone.

Nami shrugged. "Keeping a Wildhammer grounded if you don't have to is like trying to pin down smoke. He'll keep to our speed." She explained, grabbing her own summon stone.

"Or he better if he knows what's good for him..." She muttered to herself under her breath.

Soon, a chorus of bestial cries filled the air as the two parties mounted up and departed, Mage light guiding their way in the growing darkness.

They were still a couple hours hard ride away from Redcliffe. And in the back of many minds was one question.

What were they about to ride into.

It took four long hours to reach the village. Four hours of nothing but the sound of pounding hooves and the occasional griffon cry from above. They didn't know what was to come, all they knew was it would probably be very bad.

When they finally reached Redcliffe... it was worse than they'd feared.

They all pulled to a stop at the top of the titular red cliffs of Redcliffe village. Stretched out before them was the massive Lake Calehnad in all its watery glory.

Away to their east, set upon a large rock reachable only by bridge was Redcliffe Castle. Large, imposing and strangely unsettling, lit by the full moon above.

Below them, built into the cliffs and down to the lake shore, was Redcliffe Village. The Village was quite large, being as it was the hub of merchant goods from Orzamarr to Orlais.

At that moment it was also very much on fire.

Everyone swore in whatever language they proffered, violently and with passion. It was worse than they'd thought possible.

Redcliffe was under siege by the Undead.

And worst of all, the Undead were attacking from Redcliffe castle.

"What the hell is going on!" Alistair shouted, already readying his weapons.

"I don't know." Kallian said, daggers in hand. "But I'm going to find out. Let's move everyone! We have to get down there!" She turned to rush down the slope, only to have her wrist grabbed in a surprisingly tight vice-grip by Nami.

"Hold a moment Kallian!" Nami commanded. "We need a plan of attack."

"We don't have time!" Kallian shouts back, visibly pissed off at being disagreed with.

"Yes, we do." Nami said. She moved to the cliff-side. "Look. From what I can see the living set up two main defensive positions."

She pointed out both, one closer to them by the town's windmill, the other in front of the Chantry at the bottom of the cliff. "My team and I will relieve the living in the town square, yours can push towards the men by the windmill. Hold them back as best you can. We'll link back up with you when we're able. Understood?"

Kallian nodded, still looking thunderous. "Done. We'll speak about this later. My team! On me, let's move!"

A chorus of acknowledgement greeted her. As one the Warden party turned and started down the slope at a run.

Meanwhile Lanaura (who had quite noticeably not followed along with the rest of the wardens) shot Nami a sidelong glance.

"Since when did we plan things?" She asked slyly.

"Oh shut up. I do the planning for all of us. Well, Telona and I. How do you think I always know where I'm going?"

"Blind luck." All three of her subordinates said simply at the exact same time.

"I hate you all. Remind me to dock your pay when we get back."

"We get paid?" All three said simultaneously.

"Just get on your damn mounts."

Not bothering to suppress their chuckles the group did so. Trixie took the chance to raise a special something to her lips.

The Horn of Winter pierced the night air, it's deep, majestic call echoing around the cliffs, joined by three massive roars and one piercing screech as three dragons and a particularly majestic griffon launched themselves from the cliffs.

Well, two of the dragons did. Lan held back for a moment, a confused look on her face.

"But seriously, we get paid?" Lanaura asked herself, before realizing she'd been left behind. "Wait for me!" She yelled, diving after them.

The Undead never knew what hit them. At the Windmill battlefield the Knights of Redcliffe were starting to tire. Four days of little sleep and constant combat had worn them down far too much. But just as Ser Perth had begun to give up hope, deliverance arrived.

A flare of magical light burst into existence in the sky above, at the exact moment a chilling, fortifying horn call thundered from the clifftop. The beleaguered knights were surprised enough to finally notice the group of fresh warriors charging down the road towards them.

With simultaneous battle cries Alistair, Sten and Tia plunged headlong into the flank of the undead advance, severing the group already attacking the knights from their reinforcements by carving a messy swath with massive swings of their weapons. Starshatter in particular sliced through the scattered pieces of armour and flesh like a hot knife through butter as the diminutive warrior diced them to pieces.

The three rogues were hot on the warrior's heels and quick to pounce on the back ranks of the cut off group, twin sets of daggers flashing in the scattered torch light.

The three mages in the group took vastly different approaches. Morrigan decided she didn't have the area clearing spells necessary to make a dent in the undead. So instead she rippled, her form shifting as she dropped onto four now massive paws. Morri-bear roared a challenge, charging to the knight's assistance, laying into the undead with wide, powerful blows.

Elsa, on the other hand, did have the area spells for the job. Hesitant to reveal the true breadth of her abilities to people she didn't trust and quite sure the rest of the party was able to handle themselves, she did not tap the natural wellspring of cryokenetic energy rippling beneath her skin.

Instead, she pulled on her regular fade-based magic, aiming for the back ranks of the main undead horde.

An intense blizzard sprung into life, over two dozen meters across and just as deep. Spears of ice suddenly rained down on the advancing horde, lancing cleanly through the hapless forms caught in its radius.

But still the horde pressed on, bodies piling on top of themselves as Elsa's magic tore them to shreds.

Still, there was enough either side of her spell to advance, pressing on to the three warriors holding the main force off.

Wynne meanwhile, rushed in behind Morrigan's advance, the woman-bear getting her close enough to break through the zombie lines into the group of flagging knights.

Ignoring them, she cast her arms wide and with it, a font of healing energy.

Wynne's magic rushed to the knights, bolstering both their energy and their resolve, giving them enough to rally.

Ser Perth turned to her, running an undead through while he did so. "Thank the Maker! You have no idea how good it is to see you!"

"I can guess." Wynne said with the ghost of a smile. "But we have a battle to win do we not?"

"Ha!" Ser perth laughed, the first in days. "That we do! And with you lot, we might just do that. Knights of Redcliffe! Let's show them we mean business! For the Maker!"

"FOR THE MAKER!" The knights bellowed in reply, crashing back into the fray.

Murdock had never been the most pious of men. Sure he believed in the Maker, but he attended Chantry sessions more out of habit than anything else. He was content to live his life and let the Maker deal with far more important things than him.

But even a man like himself could spot a Maker-sent miracle when it dropped out of the sky right in front of him.

Three massive dragons of all things and a bloody griffon suddenly plunged from the sky in the wake of that eerie yet welcome horn call, squashing a bunch of undead each as they landed.

Then, just as soon as they came, they just… up and disappeared, as if they'd never been there!

The villagers hardly even registered the figures left behind in the dragon's wake. How could they? They were still trying to pick their jaws up off the floor.

That changed. Rapidly.

The instant their boots (or hooves in one particular case) hit the ground, the Frozen Heart went to work. After all, they were exactly where they wanted to be. Right in the thick of things.

Trixie cut down the shambling corpses nearest to her with contemptuous ease, only bothering to use one of her two swords. Lightning fast slices finished the creatures beneath her, still squashed into the ground by her proto-drake. She thrust a hand forward, mentally tapping the runes embedded into her weapons.

A large area of shifting, seething red energy splashed onto the ground nearby. All of the corpses within screamed in seeming agony, withering away to ash as Trixie's Death and Decay spell took hold. She immediately shifted her attention, slashing once, twice, blasts of frost magic following her strikes, frigid, sharp and dark. The corpses in the way of the magic burst apart in a grizzly shower of gore, but Trixie had already moved on, uncaring eyes only looking to the next engagement.

Gnags was a study in opposites. He laughed heartily as he burst into action, cracking skulls and rotted bones with his massive hammer. "That's right you unholy monsters!" He shouted, bringing his hammer around in a brutal arc that caught a creature in the chest, pulping it and sending the rest of the body flying backwards through a group of its fellows. "You will all fall before the fury of the Light!"

He bellowed the last word, simultaneously slammed his hammer down on the head of a downed Undead. The moment the face of his hammer impacted the ground lines of bright, holy Light erupted from the ground in a large area around him.

The undead did not scream, they did not feel any pain. Instead, all who crossed into Gnag's Consecrated ground simply shuddered and collapsed, the dark magic holding the creatures up burned away by the Holy Light.

With a big grin behind his helm, Gnags leapt forward and back into the fray, as keen as ever to deliver the Light's judgement on all who deserved it.

Lanaura took a simpler route. She simply roared, her Battle Cry nearly shaking the buildings around her, before charging shield-first into the closest group of undead. She bowled over the first one she hit, crushing its skull with a contemptuous stomp before lashing out with her sabre, brutally efficient swings dicing the undead apart. One tried to swing at her with a rusty sword in its hand. Lanaura blocked the shoddy attack with her shield, running the beast through its eye socket.

She wrenched her blade out with a squelch, the same motion severing the arm of another attacking undead. A mighty swing of her shield took the thing's head clean off in a shower of gore.

Without stopping for even a breath she bellowed another battle cry before Leaping forward, again towards the thickest concentration of undead, the Warrior's deep battle lust already taking over.

The undead as a whole turned towards the new, unexpected and most assuredly deadly threat, leaving the weary villagers entirely alone. Those undead already too caught up to notice were quickly dealt with by the strangely refreshed villagers, the unexpected reinforcements and strange bolstering energy that had washed over them with the earlier horn call giving them all they needed to continue.

It took a couple of seconds for the villagers to realize their unexpected reprieve, and when they did they almost couldn't believe it.

But it didn't take long to grasp and the massive, heartfelt cheer that rose from the surviving men was nearly deafening.

So caught up, they didn't notice the small figure in ornate robes wander into their group until she spoke.

"Excuse me, who is in charge here?"

Every eye in the group turned towards Nami as she stood in their middle, unconcerned by the gratuitous violence happening only a few metres away from them. She didn't even flinch when a severed arm landed next to her.

(Something that could not be said about some of the men looking at her)

"What… What the hell are you doing out here lass!" Murdock gasped. "Get back inside with the rest!"

"I beg your pardon I- Oh. It's going to be like that is it." She sighed, realizing half way through what was going on. "Let me just get this out of the way, I am a Gnome, not a child and I will not be treated like one." Nami instructed.

But the men didn't see that. They saw a child in an active battlefield and didn't listen. One immediately tried to pick her up so as to hustle her into the Chantry.

Tried being the keyword. A quick whap to the knee with a staff discouraged that handily, sending him sprawling. "I said, I'm not a child!"

"Yea right. Get back inside, right now!" Murdock commanded.

Nami sighed. This was going nowhere. Drastic measures would have to be taken.

She simply lifted a hand and pointed it at a group of undead currently trying (and failing) to rip Lanaura to shreds.

From her outstretched palm burst a fireball the size of a beach ball, which rocketed past the stunned or diving for cover villagers and burst apart on impact, vaporising the undead it hit from the waist up.

Lanaura, utterly unprepared for this, still managed to get her shield between the fire and herself letting it splash harmlessly across the enchanted metal.

That didn't mean she let it slide. A hoof slammed into the ground, knocking the undead in front of her off their feet, giving her the room to turn back and point her sword angrily at her tiny leader.

"Edos-! Nami! Te kanno ecto'edos!" She spat.

"Ah, thuma. Efta ochtethi!" Nami shouted back. "You're fine!"

"It's the principle of the thing!" Lanaura began, before having to take a moment to deal with the few remaining undead around her. "Heat is bad for my hair Nami! My hair! Some people actually care about theirs!"

"Oh shut up!" Nami shouted back, fortunate that the hood of her robes hid the slight colouring of her cheeks. "And get back to work!"

"Just for the record, I'm doing this because I want to. Not because you told me to!" Lanaura decreed, before merrily turning back to slaughtering everything in front of her.

"Yea you do that… Stupid space goat why do I even keep you around…" Nami muttered to herself, before turning back to the now thoroughly confused and not frightened at all thank you very much villagers.

"Right. As I was saying, who's in charge here?"

There were many things an exhausted Bann Teagan was expecting out of that night. Not living through it? That was unfortunately the most likely one.

Being saved by an outside group of generous warriors? That had been what Teagan had been hoping for the most, unlikely as he had thought it to be.

Being saved by an outside group of warriors from another planet? Hadn't past Teagan's mind funnily enough.

When Murdock had pounded on the door and shouted to be let in, Teagan had expected the worst. It was the worst case scenario. The surviving men would fall back into the Chantry and make their last stand there.

So imagine his surprise when the door was inched open to a courtyard clear of undead, and Murdock simply poking his head through the gap. He looked shaken, more than the last few days. Almost like he'd seen a ghost.

"Mi'lord? We… We need you out here. You're not going to believe this." He informed him shakily, before retreating back outside.

Incredibly confused and a little frightened, he informed the two women on the door to shut it behind him and followed the man outdoors.

Into what he first though was a strange delusion brought on by several days of not sleeping properly, if at all.

The poorly armed and armored men of the village were doing… nothing. They were just milling about around the door looking lost.

But more important was what he did not see. That being any moving undead at all.

Oh corpses were there of course, lots of them. Littering the ground of the square willy-nilly like a tornado had come through and somehow managed to burn, decapitate, slash and destroy them all at the same time.

An apt description for the Winter Guard if there ever was one.

The sounds of combat still echoed from further past the buildings and out of sight, in the direction of the lake's edge. Unnatural and heartening all at the same time.

"By the Maker… What happened?" He whispered.

"You got lucky."

Teagan nearly leapt a metre in the air as a voice from beside him suddenly spoke up. Trying desperately to still his rapidly beating heart, he turned his head to find…

A thrown back hood, a pair of bright purple eyes, blue hair in a tight braid and a polite smile looking up at him, all attached to a… small woman? Whatever they were, the most assuredly weren't a human child.

"Greetings and Salutations. My name is Nami Brightsproket, Alliance ambassador and Gnome. You are the local lord, correct?"

"For the moment." Teagan replied, too shocked and confused to question what was going on. "My name is Teagan Guerrin, Bann of Rainesfere."

"Rainesfere? I thought this was Redcliffe?" Nami commented.

"It is. But the Arl is… indisposed. If he is even still alive. I was here visiting him when all… this started. I've just been doing my best to keep these men and women safe."

"A noble sentiment, at least. But not to the extent of actually using that sword on your back?" Nami commented dryly.

"I'll not have you disrespecting the Bann." Murdock interrupted from where he'd been shamelessly eavesdropping on the conversation. "We didn't let him fight. He's too important to risk."

"Thank you Murdock, but you don't need to defend me." Teagan said. "Go inside, have a drink of water. You've earned it. Tell a couple of the older lads to bring the barrel out here for the rest as well."

Murdock was clearly conflicted, but acquiesced after a brief moment. "Aye m'lord. As you wish." He said reluctantly, before hurrying off.

"Now, my lady… Brightsproket was it? I assume you, and the lack of corpses trying to eat me are the reason I'm out here?"

"That's correct. My companions and I are here with a larger group of travellers. You got lucky in that we happened to arrive when we did. I doubt you would have survived the night."

Teagan nodded. He'd honestly thought the same. "And for that you have my deepest gratitude. But I don't see any companions, where are they?"

Nami laughed. "They're down by the lakeside by now. Didn't take long for them to rout the creatures. Our handiwork speaks for itself I think." She said, gesturing to the massive amount of corpses littering the square.

"That it does. I can hardly believe it. But you asked for me for a reason I take it?" Teagan asked.

"That's correct. If my companions and I are going to fix your problem, I'm going to know what exactly happened here."

Teagan sighed, suddenly feeling the weight of the past few days all at once. "Of course. I'd say all this began some time ago now, when the Arl fell ill…"

By the time Lanaura and Trixie wandered back into town square Nami was wrapping up her conversation with Teagan.

"Boss! We're done."

Both Teagan and Nami turned to the unexpected hail as the two Azerothians reached them. Teagan actually flinched, taking a very noticeable step backwards from not the massive seven-foot space goat but from the far smaller woman next to her. Something about her set his teeth on edge.

"No need to worry." Nami said soothingly. "These are my companions. My second Lanaura the Astral Walker and Trixie of the Ashen Verdict." She said, gesturing to both in turn. "But what did you mean by done?" She asked, turning to the two.

"We're done." Trixie said with a shrug, ignoring Teagan flinching again. "Thinned out the ones on the beach. More are popping up but…"

A booming laugh followed by an especially loud thud echoed up from the water's edge.

"We left Gnags to deal with it. He's having fun." She finished.

"Excellent work. Lanaura, go grab Kallian and Alistair. They'll need to hear what I've got in mind. We might be able to finish this charade on our terms."

Lanaura nodded, turning away and starting her run up the Cliffside paths.

"You have a plan Captain?" Trixie asked.

The smaller woman nodded, before sighing heavily. "And I'm pretty sure Lan and Gnags are going to love it, unfortunately."

By the time Lan reached the windmill battlefield the tide had turned dramatically in the favour of our heroes. The flow of undead had slowed to a trickle, which were more than handled by the still fresh Warden party. The Knights were resting back by the windmill as she approached, taking a much deserved drink of water and being attended to by the party's resident healer.

Wynne spotted Lan as she trotted up the path, waving her over when she did.

"Lanaura, good to see you. This is Ser Perth and his men. Local knights." She introduced the man she was working on, a rather deep cut in his shoulder. "Ser Perth, this is Lanaura, one of our companions."

"In that case, hail friend. I have to say, we were pretty glad to see you." Perth said with a wry grin.

"Hah, yea I bet. Really pulled your butts out the fire huh?" Lan said.

"Couldn't be more true. But tell me please, what's going on in the town?" He asked.

"Right now, not a lot." Lan summed up. "My friends and I cleared out the undead easy as pie. I've just been sent to fetch a couple people and head back down. I recon we're gonna be deciding on what to do next."

"Do? What do you mean? Aside from hold the line what can we do?" Perth asked.

Lanaura laughed, suddenly and loudly. "You'd be surprised!" She said. "But I gotta go for now. Arkan evolgos'Sha edos, polemi'eros." She said with a wave, before trotting off towards where the fighting was going on.

Perth looked in askance at the woman tending to his wounds. "I'm sorry, but do you know what she just said?"

Wynne sighed. "I have no idea."

Lanaura's sudden arrival on the battlefield didn't go unnoticed for long. It's pretty hard to miss seven feet of charging Draenai when it suddenly slams into the thing next to you.

"Evening everybody!" She said lively as she bull-rushed an Undead trying to take Tia's head off. "Are we having fun? I am!"

"Lan? When did you get here?" Alistair asked as he fended off a grabbing arm with his shield.

"Just now, not here for long. Just here to grab you and Kali for a bit. Boss needs to see ya."

The incredulous look on Alistair's face answered for him, not that that stopped him opening his mouth. "We're a little busy at the moment if you hadn't figured that out!" He said sarcastically, giving a particularly rough shove to his assailant before shoving his fancy sword in its gut.

"The rest can handle this mob easy enough, especially when those lazy buggers get back on their feet." She jerked a thumb at the Redcliffe men. "But seriously, boss has a plan to stop this early."

Alistair looked uneasy, glancing at Kallian. Both shared a look before Kallian nodded. "Fine. Let's see what she has to say."

As Lanaura, now flanked on either side by Grey Wardens, trotted back into the town square Nami and Trixie were off to one side quietly talking and Bann Teagan was overseeing the town militiamen piling bodies off to one side. An impressive amount of bodies, a fact that did not escape the notice of Kallian and Alistair.

As the mound of generally dismembered bodies came into view Alistair whistled lowly. "Was that you?" He asked.

"Not just me but yea, pretty much." Lan replied with a shrug. "They went down pretty easy."

Alistair just shook his head. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me…"

Lan ignored him, instead choosing to wave at Nami. "Boss! We're back!"

Nami and Trixie immediately broke off their conversation and moved to meet them. Bann Teagan did the same.

He did manage to find a place to stand as far away from Trixie as possible however.

"Good. What's the situation on the cliffs?" Nami asked of Kallian.

"Holding on." Kallian replied, face grim. "The Knights were about to fold when we arrived, but they're fine. The remaining men are having Wynne look over them right now. We broke the back of the major attack when we arrived, it's just dealing with clean-up right now and steady smaller streams of reinforcements."

"There will be more. They always send a much larger force later on, near dawn." Teagan cut in.

"Well, we'll have to make sure that doesn't happen then." Nami said decisively. Ignoring sudden shocked and questioning glances she continued on. "Bann Teagan, these are two more of our companions."

"We've met before actually, Bann Teagan." Alistair cut in with a smile. "Except I was a lot younger then and covered in mud."

"Covered in mud? Wait, Alistair? Is that you?" Teagan asked, examining Alistair again. "Maker, it is! You sure picked a fine time to come home didn't you?" He asked with a sad smile.

"You can say that again. I'm glad we arrived when we did, but I'm afraid there's a pretty good reason I came back." He said grimly.

"You needed the Arl's help for the Grey Wardens." Teagan summed up.

Completely thrown off, Alistair blinked in surprise. "Uh, yea. Pretty much actually. And here I was trying to be all dramatic." He said.

"Alistair." Kallian muttered warningly, shooting a glare at the much larger man.

"Sorry, sorry!" Alistair said, hands raised. "All joking aside, yes that's right. I assume you were told that I joined the Wardens?"

Teagan nodded. "Yes, Eamon mentioned it to me the last time we spoke."

"Good. Well in that case let me introduce my fellow Grey Wardens, Kallian Tabris and Lanaura. He said, indicating the two in turn. Kallian nodded coolly and Lan simply waved. "One more, Elsa Amell, is still fighting at the windmill."

It was at this point that Gnags wandered back into the torchlight, hammer resting on one shoulder, stomping angrily and shaking his head. He started over to them when he caught sight of the large group, pulling his helm off as he reached them.

"Bloody things stopped coming." He summed up, directly to the smallest member of the huddled group.

"Well that's a relief. A battle on only one front is better than two I suppose." Teagan sighed. "Hail dwarf, I we haven't been introduced. I'm Bann Teagan." He said amicably.

"Don't care." Gnags dismissed gruffly after looking the man over, ignoring Teagan and Alistair's shocked faces. "I'm gonna go join the fighting up top. Can't stand being so close to these things without killing 'em" He said to Nami with disgust.

"No, you're not I need you here." Nami commanded making it very clear that there was to be no argument.

"But Commander…" Gnags tried regardless.

"I said no." Nami reinforced. "You'll have your chance to butcher undead later. Besides, I've got a plan you're just gonna love." She said, a dark grin spreading across her face.

Gnags clearly did not like what he'd just been told to do, but with a conflicted groan he resigned himself to the fact he wasn't going anywhere soon. He let his hammer drop to the ground and used it as a post to lean on. "Fine. What ya got in mind." He asked.

"Hold on, you can't treat the Bann like that!" Alistair cut in, scandalized.

"I'll do what I want lad." Gnags dismissed just as easily, before turning his attention on Teagan. "What are you still doing here? Bugger off. The fighters are trying to do their jobs."

"Gnags!" Nami shouted. "He's here because I say he is, now if you don't want to be helping shift dead bodies the rest of the night you'll shut your face and listen! Am I clear?!"

Thoroughly chastised, Gnags bowed his head before the tiny woman's fury. "Yes Commander." He grunted.

"Good! In fact, I changed my mind! Go help the men move those corpses until we call for you." Nami ordered.

Gnags wisely chose not to argue with his leader, he chose life thankyouverymuch. "Yes Commander." He said again, before shuffling off to do as instructed.

As he did so, Nami turned to Teagan. "Bann, my apologies for my companion. He will be reprimanded later." She said, her tone carrying a dark promise that had the Azerothians wincing.

"I… Can't say I'm used to that." Teagan replied, looking shell-shocked.

"Once again, the Winter Guard extends its deepest apologies." Namim apologized. "But we need to carry on."

"Yes… of course." Teagan said, before shaking off the last of his surprise. "So, what is this plan of yours?" He asked.

"Yes I'd rather like to know as well." Kallian agreed.

Nami nodded. "It's quite simple really. My working theory is that there is a rather powerful Necromancer or something of the like controlling the undead we've faced so far. The plan? Kill it. Tonight."

The silence around them was palpable for a few seconds as the Thaedasians tried to work out if Nami had indeed said what they thought she just said. When they all came to the conclusion that she in fact had, they all opened their mouths to start shouting.

"Hear me out!" Nami cut them off, their protests dying undignified in their throats. "This whole nightly assault is quite clearly nothing more than a game to the thing controlling these monsters. It's why it doesn't send its whole force out at once. After all, crushing a few knights and badly equipped militiamen should have been easy. But it's decided to draw this whole affair out, sending sporadic attacks. Why? Because it isn't trying."

The assembled men and women couldn't find any way to argue with that. It made far too much sense.

"That being said, why must we fight this on its terms? Why should we play by its rules?" Nami suddenly grinned savagely. "My plan, do what the Frozen Heart do best."

"Break into the bad guy's house…" Lanaura suddenly cut in.

"Kill every son of a bitch in the building…" Trixie followed on, a sardonic smile spreading across her face.

"Then make off with all the good silverware." Lan finished with a savage grin of her own. "Light yes. Let's do it!"

"I would put it more along the lines of 'assault strategic strongholds, assassinate the enemy leadership and confiscate any dangerous magical artifacts', but that's pretty much it." Nami said.

"But we can't just… break in to the castle! It's a castle! And one of the best made castles in Fereldan! We can't take it with just the people we have!" Alistair tried to argue, waving his arms frantically around. Surely they would understand the sheer ridiculousness of what they were planning!

Lan clapped a hand on his shoulder and gave him a look. "Ali, you know we can fly right?"

Alistair suddenly froze, turning slowly to look at Lanaura, hands comically raised in front of him. Eventually he slumped. "Right. Of course…" He muttered.

"That was part of my plan actually." Nami said. "But there's more to it. The Bann here has informed me of a small escape tunnel which leads directly into the castle. I say we send two small teams in, from above and below."

"That leaves the town dangerously undefended however, if we commit enough of our people to this attack, which we would have to. Maker knows what's in that castle." Kallian mused. "The thing in charge might just send all its remaining creatures at the town. If we're not there to man the defenses…"

"You bring up a good point." Nami allowed. "But we wouldn't be committing our entire force. Lan?"

Lanaura jumped slightly, not expecting to be addressed. "Yes boss?"

"Pick a member of the other team."

"Snowflake." She said without hesitation.

"Great choice. You two are on defense."

"Ah, crud. Alright, will do boss." Lan said, resigned.

"Hold on a moment!" Teagan cut in, recovering enough to finally catch up with the conversation. "You are telling me that is your plan? This is insane!"

Kallian just shrugged. "You get used to it." She said coldly, ignoring Nami's questioning look.

"And I can guarantee it will work." Nami added. "The Frozen Heart doesn't fail. Ever."

Teagan looked around the group, searching for something and finding only calm determination. Eventually he sagged slightly. "Very well. But Alistair?"

The man in question blinked. "Yes?"

"Please don't die. We're going to need you alive." He said seriously.

"Wait, what does that mean? Kallian asked.

"Yes I'd rather like to know myself." Nami added.

Teagan flinched slightly. "Well… I suppose you wouldn't know. After King Cailan died at Ostagar, Teyrn Logahin has essentially taken over as King. But with you here, alive? This changes everything."

"Wait a moment…" Nami said. "Are you trying to say that Alistair is heir to the throne?"

Teagan blinked owlishly. "Yes."

Every single eye suddenly turned to a very surprised Alistair, all in various shades of shock. "Oh Maker. Thank you very much Teagan, you've been such a help, truly." He muttered.

"Is it true?"

The sudden and pointed question came from Kallian's lips, who was suddenly right in front of her much taller companion. "Is. It. True." She spat, as if the words themselves were poisonous.

Alistair reeled back from his leader's sudden intensity, waving his arms defensively in front of him. "I mean, well its- you know, I…"

Eventually he sagged with a massive sigh, before standing back up straight and looking sheepishly at the assembled group.

"About that…"

Author's Note:

Translations:
Edos-! Nami! Te kanno ecto'edos! - You-! Nami! I'll kill you!
Thuma. Efta ochtethi - Quiet, It's nothing.
Arkan evolgos'Sha edos, polemi'eros - May the Light bless you, warrior.

Hey everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of Dragons, Wardens and Warriors. I hope it is up to standard. We're actually making plot progress! Amazing.

So the cat is out of the bag. Alistair's heritage is revealed! But how will our brave Kallian take the sudden twist? Not entirely well I imagine. Oh boy.

Right. So i've had some people arguing the relative power levels and OPness (heh) of the WoW characters compared to the DA characters and I think I should weigh in on some context in that regard.

Lanaura and her friends are essentially Mythic/Heroic tier raiders. Her raid team, the Frozen Heart, are basically the best the Alliance has to offer. Bar none. Are they OP? Yes. Very much so. But that was always the plan. This fic is and always will be pretty rompy and laughs will generally come before seriousness. Sorry if that dissapoints anybody. The Frozen Heart and the Winter Guard, the guild the team belongs to, will be expanded upon in future chapters, so stay tuned to that if it's gotten confusing.

I will say this for the DA characters, yes. They are incredibly deadly by the end of DA:O. Some of the best in the world. They're well on their way to that. That's not in doubt. But where they are right now, they have a long way to go until they become the unstoppable bad-asses they become. That will of course be helped on the way, now that they're getting training from such ungodly powerful fighters.

With maybe some... unexpected side effects of certain characters being exposed to Azerothian ideas and ideologies... The Church of the Light for example... Heheh.

And I need to point out, that this chapter is the very first we've seen most of the cast actually fight properly. Aside from chapter 1, they haven't needed to. I hope this chapter helps alleviate the idea that they're weak, because they most certainly are not.

Sorry to cockblock you all once again with the Trixie reveal, but I needed to cut this chapter off somewhere and this was the most reasonable point going forward. I swear it's gonna happen guys! Promise!

Next chapter: Internal conflict, the Battle of Redcliffe Castle, a sad reunion, uncomfortable revelations and some highly unwelcome news.

Please, Read and Review! Make a girl happy, please?

Love you all,

Fractal.