Denerim Docks

It was a mad race to the docks, but there was still plenty of time to stop this sinister plot. The women held in the Arls dungeon said that many, many others were herded by some of the Arls men and a few strange looking men, wearing foreign clothes. When the clothes were finally described to them, Elissa put it all together.

There had been rumors of some port cities losing their elves within a single day. Some whispered it was the Tevinter Imperium, looking for slaves. It all made sense. Why would the Monarchs of Thedas care if a few of their 'lesser races' dissapeared? It disgusted her to no end. She knew plenty of elves in Highever, and they were all worthy, good hearted, and kind.

Immediately, they could see it all. Most of the dock workers and guards had made themselves scarce. If the Arl was in on this, then Elissa suspected a few orders, a few bribes, and no one would be the wiser.

The rest were soldiers, either the Arls guards, or what appeared to be mercenaries escorting a mass line of elves, all of their hands bound.

"How many do you figure?" Elissa asked Alistair.

A few seconds pause, and he answered "At least thirty of them."

There were also three mages, from what Alistair could see. There was a bald one, relaxing on a crate and speaking with Arl Urien.

"There HAS to be a way we can stop those, those bastards!" Kallian gritted her teeth.

"Well, the mages won't be a problem." Alistair pointed his finger "Plus, look how its all situated. If we fight in that aisleway, they have to come at us only two at a time. If Elissa and I fight them one at a time, we can chew away at them while you two-"

Dagonet nudged his arm and whined.

"-Sorry. The three of us can hold our ground while you two sneak around and ambush them."

Leliana pointed to the ship "We also need to disable the ship! They might just decide to flee."

Elissa shook her head "That will help, but it won't be-"

Kallian raised a hand to silence her. Elissas eyes followed hers, and they went very wide at the revelation inscribed on some of the crates.


Caladrius looked at the pair of young warriors with surprise, and mirth.

"Well, I see that we have guests!"

Arl Urien stood up and shouted "WHAT?! GUARDS!"

As expected, the soldiers and mercenaries filed up, readying their swords for battle. The two mages raised their staffs.

"ARL URIEN KENDELLS!"

Uriens mouth parted a little. That voice was familiar.

"I am Elissa Cousland, daughter of the Teyrn of Highever! By order of the Crown, you will cease your illegal activities here and now!"

"Lady Cousland?" Urien shook his head in disbelief.

"Don't be a fool, Urien! Loghain will have your head for this! If you release the captives you have now, leniency may be granted! If not, all of you will lose your lives!"

Caladrius tilted his head back and laughed "Such bravado! What makes you think you are in a position to make threats? You're quite outnumbered, if you have not noticed."

Urien shook his hand frantically "Wait! Don't do this, Miss Cousland! If you turn around and forget you saw anything, I promise you won't go unrewarded!"

Kallian shot a glance at Elissa from behind a stack of crates, who merely crossed her arms, and grimly shook her head "No. This is your last chance, my Arl. Surrender, or face justice at my hands!"

"I...I can't afford to let you live, then." Urien barked an order "Guards! Kill them!"

As expected, the mages held back. She was relying on their overconfidence. Also expected, it took a while for the soldiers to file into the narrow aisleway.

As the soldiers drew close enough, Elissa merely snapped her fingers...

Several metal objects rolled on the ground, tripping some of the soldiers. One of the men looked at one closely, and saw the words 'COMBUSTIO-'

The grenades chain exploded in a flash of fiery orange. Elissa and Alistair ducked behind a large stack of crates for cover.

The air was filled with burning wood, fire, metal, flesh, smoke, light, and noise of all kinds. Many of it was the sound of cataclysmic explosions, the rest was the anguished cries of surprised soldiers, issuing their death cries.

Kallian leapt down and started to finish them off, slitting their throats or stabbing them in the hearts. Fucking SHEMS! They get it lucky today. Dagonet also joined in the hunt, tearing out the throats of the curs before him.

Caladrius, the Arl, and the two mages were completely taken by surprise. Three soldiers had stayed with them in defense.

Elissa and Alistair, rushing up to the last perpetrators, called forth their collective training:

"HOLY SMITE!"

The bright light of both attacks crashed down. The mages clutched their smoking heads, screaming in agony. Caladrius stared at the pair of warriors with newfound respect.

"I am impressed! But the game ends here, children!"

Caladrius raised his staff and siphoned the blood from his failed apprentices. The staff immediately surged with power, power that transformed into the biggest Fireball Elissa had ever seen.

Kallian dashed to the three guards. As the leader was about to draw his sword, an arrow portruded into his skull. Leliana was standing on the ship, whose sails were now completely undone.

This was not lost on Urien Kendells, who realized that his options were shrinking with every second.

"BEHOLD MY POWER!" Caladrius expended all of his available mana to shoot off a giant sphere of inferno.

Alistair dashed in front of Elissa, his sword and shield at the ready

"There are several tools available to my style of Templar training." Malcolm explained. "The first is dispelling magic. Secondly is smiting, which affects mages, magical constructs, and creatures from the Fade. The third, and most important, is resistance. It involves you channeling your mind into an aura of defense. As long as your will is strong, and your body can handle it, you can shrug off most forms of elemental attack or mind control."

"In the end, your will is what will save you."

The Fireball crashed into Alistair, and before Elissa could even think to protest, she was thrown several feet away onto her back.

The sheer force of the blast stunned her. A constant ringing was all she could hear.

"Alistair? ALISTAIR!"

She stumbled into a cloud of smoke. First, her hands felt nothing but the ground. In a moment of sheer horror, she clutched a small pile of ashes.

"No..."

"N-no...what?"

Elissa immediately scrambled her hands again. This time, they felt a face covered in wood and soot. Alistair coughed out the smoke.

"Elissa...That jerk over there nearly blew me up. Could you do the part where you kick his ass?"

The noble warrior stood very slowly, drawing Starfang from her back. Kallian finished slitting the throat of the last defender. Her eyes were filled with bitter, angry tears. The elf grasped the Arl brutally, and held a dagger close to his throat. Without looking at her allies, she said

"You can have that baldy. This one is mine."

Elissa turned back to Caladrius, who was on all fours, having expended his powers. He immediately raised a hand in protest

"ENOUGH! It seems you are far more formiddable than I anticipated. I...I surrender."

Starfang forced Caladrius to stare Elissa in the eyes. "Far too late for that, slaver. You picked the wrong time, and the wrong country to find your free labor. Our late King may have been a fool, but even he would not have tolerated this!"

"What!?" Urien cried "Cailan is dead?!"

"YES!" Elissa snapped "Our throne is empty now! And we needed YOU, my Arl! We needed you to restore order to the city, and to track down the bastards responsible! But instead, we have to waste precious time, cleaning up a mess that you and your son started!"

She turned back to Caladrius "And as for you, you won't enslave others to do your evil bidding again."

"W-wait!"

A gauntlet grasped Caladrius' throat, draining any magic he had left. Urien could hear the mage choking violently before another flash of light crashed into him. The very powerful Holy Smite caused Caladrius to spasm in Elissas grip. Finally, a single plunge of her greatsword into the mans head, and the mage was no more.

Elissa released him from her grip, and walked back to Alistair. The Arls fate was of no concern to her at this moment.

Leliana, seeing that all was well, went down to the lower departments and started to free the slaves on board.

Kallian relished the painful death of that bastard, before turning to the Arl, with furious tears in her eyes "Do you see? You can't oppress us anymore! You can't treat us like shit and expect to get away with it! Selling us into slavery? So you can hit us, beat us, order us, and FUCK us whenever you want!?" her hand strained on her weapon "Never! It's OVER!"

"No! D-don't!"

The dagger plunged deeply into the Arls heart, and Kallian twisted it for good measure. As the life ebbed away from the Arls eyes, Kallian swore she could hear clapping.

"Well done, I must say!"

Zevran stood amongst three of the victorious warriors. "You know, this is usually the part where I celebrate with wine, a bowl of clam chowder, cheese, and an extended trip to the brothel!"

"Mmm..." Alistair hummed "Cheese."

"You killed that bastard in the Keep." Kallian stepped forward. "Why are you here?"

Zevran shrugged "Well, it would seem that the Arl and his son have become the targets of someone. Perhaps it is due to their less than savory activities here, no?"

"Are you an assassin? I hope you weren't hired by the Empress." Elissa drew closer to Alistair, her sword drawn.

Zevran looked amused "The Empress? Oh no. We have Crows who deal with the Empress of course."

The Antivan Crows. Elissa racked her mind to figure out who would want...well, actually, Urien wasn't very popular. Vaughan, well, there really wasn't a need to explain that. But still. Who? Maybe Oriana could find some answers...

"I have questions. Who hired you?"

Zevran offered a sad smile "I am sorry, but I cannot say. Infact, I may have already said too much. Normally I would have to kill all of you, but seeing your prowess, and seeing the unique manner of this situation, I am content to leave everything as is. Farewell!"

And with that, the assassin dissapeared back into the city. None of them were in any shape to catch up with him.

Elissa breathed out a sigh. This was without doubt a day that she would revisit for the rest of her life, and still not have all the answers.

"Let's, just go get everyone out of the ship. We can catch up with Loghain later."

A letter would have to be sent to the Queen. The Arl couldn't be relied on. His soldiers? Well, she rather doubted they were in on the conspiracy, but its possible. Order to the city might have to come from another nobles standing forces.

Father. He could raise an army and bring them to Denerim.

"What a shit day..." She sighed.

As they freed some of the very, very thankful but confused prisoners, Kallian stood before Elissa and Alistair.

"I'm not the best when it comes to gratitude. Especially...for shems. But thank you. I couldn't have done this on my own."

"We're not gonna tell anyone what happened between you and the Arl." Elissa looked at the number of elves that could have been sent to a cruel fate in the Imperium.

"Maybe they'll believe he tripped and fell on his own sword." Alistair shrugged.

Both women looked at him incredulously.

"What? It could happen."


The college work is intensifying, so you might not see an update for a while. Have to say though, I'm enjoying writing this! And thank you for the reviews! Deeply appreciated!