Ninja Elves

Zevran and his four Crows pulled up before they got to the Commander's house. It was surrounded by trees, good cover for anyone waiting and watching.

He motioned for his Crows. They dismounted and hid themselves. He sneaked off towards the trees to try to figure out if there were any nasty surprises waiting. He watched patiently, hidden in the darkness until he caught sight of movement. There were indeed Crows. But how many? He continued to watch patiently, occasionally being rewarded with telltale movement. It looked like there were a lot of Crows, they probably outnumbered him severely.

He would have to wait until the other contingent caught up with them. He slipped back carefully to his hidden comrades.

"Too many," he whispered, "we have to wait."

He collected his people and they went back down the road to intercept his reinforcements. There he paced and waited. It would take awhile for them to arrive.

*****

Lorenzo came back to find Wisteria sitting up in bed, her legs curled up beside her. She looked so delicious in that form fitting armor it seemed to accentuate every curve. She looked at him with those intense deep blue eyes. She had undone her braid and her black hair floated about her face. Pity she has to die. His heart actually ached a little. She would have been a fine prize for a man like him. He imagined her in a beautiful gown, clinging to his arm at the opera, looking adoringly at him. He would have been envied by everyone.

"This should help, amore mio." He had a flask and a pitcher of water. He poured her a glass from the pitcher and she drank thirstily.

"And this should help calm your nerves," he gave her the flask. "Just drink a tiny sip." He uncorked the flask and handed it to her.

She pretended to take a sip, but she used her tongue to block the contents. It tasted sickly sweet. She hoped she didn't ingest enough to dull her senses. She drank more water to wash away the taste.

"Now, dolcezza, take off your armor slowly", Lorenzo ordered her.

Wisteria gulped. This will be the slowest anyone has ever undressed in history. She smiled seductively and began to very, very slowly undo the clasps on her armor and teasingly, slowly revealing her skin.

*****

Zevran's Crows arrived and they had fifteen now. Hopefully enough. He divided them into two groups, one to lead off the fight, the other would flank the response. He would be in the lead group. They crept forward until Zevran found an enemy in a tree, he signaled an archer and an arrow struck the Crow in the throat, he fell out of the tree with fair amount of noise. There was a shouted warning and suddenly the trees came alive with Crows jumping down and arrows flying.

Zevran could tell they were outnumbered, he just had to hope they were the better fighters. He fought fiercely as did his Crows and they were making some ground towards the house when he found himself face to face with Piero. They eyed one another, weapons drawn.

"Master Arianai," Piero said, he gave a little respectful bow. "This is unseemly. Surely we can come to terms, no?"

"Piero, I don't want this either but you have something of mine that I want back."

"Ah yes, well, that's impossible I'm afraid. The Count dotes upon his nephew and it seems Lorenzo wants your friend. Orders, you see?" Piero shrugged. "Perhaps we can come to some other arrangement?"

"There can be no other arrangement," Zevran replied.

Piero shrugged, "Alas, then. It seems we must fight." He began to circle Zevran and lunged.

"So it would seem," Zevran replied as he parried.

*****

Inside the house Scarlatti heard the noise from the fighting outside. He pounded on the door to Lorenzo's room just as Wisteria was pulling off the last of her armor. Lorenzo swore and flung open the door. Scarlatti couldn't help but stare at Wisteria standing only in her small clothes but Lorenzo's angry, "What it is?" brought him back into focus.

"Commander, there's something going on outside," Scarlatti reported.

Lorenzo cursed again. He swung back to Wisteria, his tenderness for her suddenly replaced with fury. "Your Crow, I presume?"

"Captain, " Lorenzo ordered, "take your men out and help make sure no one gets in. I need to take care of matters here."

Scarlatti turned and left, but not before raking his eyes over Wisteria one last time.

Lorenzo glared at Wisteria coldly. She tried to put a little more space between them but he closed the gap quickly and his hands reached for her neck.

Time to play my last card.

"There's something you should know before you try to kill me, Lorenzo." She dropped all her seductiveness and got a steely look in her eye. Not easy to do when you're nearly naked.

He stopped, his eyebrow quirking. "Oh? Do tell."

"Thanks to you making me afraid the Weisshaupt Wardens wanted to silence me, I planned for this eventuality," Wisteria smiled sweetly.

"There are half a dozen copies of a testimonial written by me about the Architect and the darkspawn threat being over. They all bear my signature and the Cousland seal. If anything happens to me, they will be distributed to the heads of all the nations of Thedas." Her eyes glowed with her fury. "I should imagine that the ruler in Antiva will get his copy tomorrow or the day after, if you harm me."

Lorenzo looked like she had punched him. "We'll just make sure your Zevran doesn't escape to make good on that threat."

Wisteria chuckled. "It won't matter. There are other parties holding those copies and if anything happens to him, they will make their deliveries. You can't get their names from me, because I don't know who they are."

He pulled back his hand and slapped her viciously. It simply worked to awaken her fury even further.

"I think you're bluffing," he said but she could see the doubt in his eyes.

Wisteria shrugged. "I could be, pig, or you could be the one responsible for shutting down the Wardens. I never wanted to hurt the Grey Wardens, you imbecile. I don't want this information to be released either, but it is out of my hands now."

Lorenzo hesitated to think. If she was telling the truth then killing her would accomplish the very thing he was trying to avoid. However, how could he let her go free? It would just be best to kill her.

"It doesn't matter now," Lorenzo said, "I can't let you go free either way." He put his hands around her throat and began to squeeze.

Fool! Wisteria thought. She threw up her arms and twisted, it broke his grip on her throat. She danced away from him getting closer to the door. He lunged at her from across the bed and got her arm. She easily broke his grip again, knowing the weakness of the human hand, and opened the door, turning to run.

I wish I weren't so naked, she thought. But she knew nakedness was a state of mind. Her armor was her ability to avoid being hit and you couldn't remove that even if you took her armor away. She fled towards the front door. As she passed through the dining room she saw her weapons, she paused a moment to grab them, hearing Lorenzo's feet thundering behind her. He was armed now too.

"So at last we get that rematch I've been looking forward to," Wisteria snarled.

Lorenzo sneered at her. "And you'll lose this one again as well," he taunted her.

Wisteria sized up the room. A table, chairs. On a buffet, bottles, glassware and silverware all of it potentially useful. She tried to think like Ustad had told her.

Lorenzo lunged at her and she parried, she followed with a riposte which he parried with his off-hand weapon. They spaced themselves apart. She was getting closer to the corner, not a good place to be. She lashed out with a series of attacks meant to drive him back and it worked. It was enough distance she could get closer to the buffet. He started to come for her again, but she tipped over the buffet and all the silverware and glassware rolled off making an obstacle course for him. His footing would be tricky. He paused to shuffle his way through the mess and shoved the buffet blocking his way, but still he was between her and the way out.

She leapt onto the dining room table and angled out of the room running again for the front door. His footsteps not far behind her. She charged out the door and turned to meet him in front of the house.

*****

Zevran's Crows were holding their own against Piero's but both sides were taking heavy causalities. Zevran was holding his own with Piero. Piero had been a Crow Master a long time, he was out of practice. Finally Piero made a mistake and Zevran sunk a blade into his belly. Piero slumped forward and Zevran hissed, "Sorry Piero, business is business." He pushed Piero away and engaged another Crow. He saw men running from the house towards the trees. Oh lovely, Grey Wardens.

*****

Beriel had roused his Ustad and told the story about Wisteria. Ustad Salvestro nodded and they went together to the Alienage to gather his best students. They borrowed a few horses and rode off to Commander Becchi's house. Beriel hoped they wouldn't be too late.

When they arrived the fighting had begun. Beriel didn't know how they would tell one bunch of Crows from the other but he caught sight of Zevran just as he was pulling a blade out of Piero.

"Zevran, I brought help." He shouted.

Zevran looked up, relief plainly showing on his face. Zevran pointed to the Grey Wardens and shouted back, "Wisteria is in the house. Get to her if you can!"

Beriel nodded. He sent the five of their group against the Grey Wardens charging their way and he and Ustad bent low, running to the house. They found a side window and climbed in. Beriel found Wisteria's armor in that room. "That's her armor, Ustad." He looked at his teacher with worry in his eyes. Ustad clasped his arm, "We will find her, don't worry." They picked up her armor and left the room.

*****

The Grey Wardens Lorenzo sent outside didn't know what to think. Five elves clad in loose cotton uniforms came at them. Some of them were unarmed, some held sticks or other strange weapons. It was laughable, until they attacked. The Wardens were stunned by the tricks these elves used. They found themselves kicked, pummeled and disarmed, bones broken, joints dislocated. Three Wardens were lying unconscious and the remaining two were looking extremely worried. All five elves stood, in a line together, they gave a horrifying yell and charged. The remaining two Wardens turned and fled.

The elves turned back and helped Zevran, he pointed out Crows they should attack. They were a fearsome force and Zevran was making some progress. He could at last make his way to the house now. He ran low trying to stay under cover in case there were any archers and he got to the back door.

*****

Beriel and Ustad crept silently through the house on bare feet. They came to the dining room and saw the mess. Then they heard the sounds of battle ahead. They charged through the door and saw Wisteria and Lorenzo. She was fighting him in her small clothes, she had a nasty cut on her arm but looked unharmed otherwise. Just as they drew near she lashed out with an elbow that struck him in the side of his head and he reeled backwards. She flicked her dagger out and his throat was neatly cut. He staggered then dropped to his knees, looking up in disbelief.

"Defeated by a naked woman, no less." She spat at him. "I only wish your men were here to see how fierce their Lorenzo, the Lion, really is."

Then she noticed Beriel and Ustad looking at her in amazement.

"Very impressive, Wisteria," Ustad said calmly. "Although we really must work on your form. You left a terrible opening when you attacked with your elbow."

"Commander," Beriel held out her armor and looked away.

Zevran charged out the door and took in the situation. His eyes shut as a wave of relief passed through him. "I can't wait to hear how your friend here met his end", he chuckled. He lead Wisteria inside and helped her dress.

Just as she finished lacing up her boots she heard a lot of horses approaching.

"It looks like the infantry has arrived", Zevran told her.

Wisteria felt panicked. What would they think? She had killed Lorenzo, the place was full of Crows and elves. "You all had better get out of here. Zev, get your Crows to safety. Beriel, you and Ustad should go. I'll surrender and hopefully they will listen to what I have to say."

Zevran shook his head. "No, my dear Grey Warden, I'm not leaving you this time, however I will tell my Crows to scatter." He kissed her quickly on the forehead and disappeared.

Ustad shook his head too, "I will serve as a witness."

"I am staying, Commander," Beriel told her. "If I had spoken up about my doubts about Commander Becchi sooner, none of this would have happened. I am sorry."

Zevran's Crows scattered and Piero's Crows, those still living, ran too, as soon as the Grey Wardens were spotted. The elves also left.

Wisteria took a deep breath and went out to meet the Grey Wardens. Ustad Salvestro, Beriel and Zevran behind her. They held their hands up to show they were surrendering.