Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age: Origins, or anything else associated with the Dragon Age franchise. BioWare owns it, more or less. And I am in no way affiliated with BioWare. So please don't sue me; trust me, you wouldn't get any real money out of it.
Also, a note of reference: The following interlude is from the POV of Markl, the Mage that Duncan recruited when he gave Alistair a letter from his father.
Interlude: One Mage's Plight
Markl had to admit, the Grey Wardens of Fereldan weren't quite what he...expected, to say the least.
True, he had been excited to join the Wardens; it had been the happiest day of his life, when Warden-Commander Duncan had chosen him, out of all the other candidates at the Circle of Magi, to be his Recruit. Markl had been at the Circle since he was six years old, after he accidentally set his father's barn on fire. So it had been a great relief to him when he was finally able to leave the gilded prison he'd spent most of his formative years at, and would have spent the rest of his entire life at, if not for Duncan.
Being able to see the sun for the first time in sixteen years, and being outside in general, had been quite the delight, Markl had to admit. However, the subsequent stay at the underground Dwarven city of Orzammar, to take his Joining, had been less enjoyable. He couldn't understand how the Dwarves could live without sunlight, or be able to smell the grass, or see the sky.
Still, being at Orzammar had been a unique experience, at least. Markl had been an avid reader during his years at the Circle, and he'd read much about the former Dwarven Empire. It had been fascinating, from a scholarly standpoint, to look upon the remnants of the Dwarves. And the architecture there had an interesting quality to it, one that sketches in a history book could never match.
Oh, and being around that much unrefined Lyrium had been...quite a lifetime experience, Markl mused. Definitely gave him a reason to go to Orzammar again, one day, despite its lack of sunlight and all encompassing walls. Perhaps he could make some contacts there, in the future, and cut out the middle-man in getting Lyrium...
Overall, despite its faults, Orzammar had been an interesting place to visit, and a breath of fresh air, compared to the Circle. And then, had come the Deep Roads...
Markl still had nightmares about the Deep Roads. The horrid appearance of the Darkspawn, their ghoulish faces sneering at his own...it was a sight that he wished he could forget. Still, at least the Darkspawn fell easily to his magic. It was one of the few moments that Markl was thankful to be a Mage.
After the Deep Roads, had finally come his Joining. Drinking the blood of Darkspawn had not been pleasant, either, to say the least. It had been horrible, in fact. But, if that was the price to pay to have a life free from Chantry control, then Markl knew he had no other choice but to drink the blood. And even now, he didn't regret it for an instant. Becoming a Grey Warden had given him more freedom than Markl could have ever dreamed of.
Still...Markl had had certain expectations of the Grey Wardens. It was childish to have such thoughts, he had known, but that hadn't stopped him from thinking such things.
He had expected their base to be a towering castle, filled with hundreds of Wardens, ready and able to wage war on the Darkspawn the moment a Blight began. The reality of what he met, however, paled in comparison: instead of a castle, they only had a mere compound, and instead of hundreds of able warriors, the Wardens of Fereldan numbered around fifteen men, tops. And that was counting Duncan and Markl himself.
And that was another thing that bothered him; they were all men. Every single last one of them. All men. No women at all in the Wardens, aside from some maids and cooks that served in the compound. And they hardly counted.
Oh, sure, there was a nice mixture of Elves, Dwarves, and Humans in the group—eleven humans, three Elves, and one Dwarf, respectively—but there were no women whatsoever. Which rather disappointed and mystified Markl; the books he read about the Wardens clearly mentioned that plenty of women also were recruited, too. Maybe Duncan just hadn't come across good female soldiers to add to his ranks? Or maybe women had even worse survival rates when they Joined? That was something he might research, later.
But, in the end that was only a small problem in the grand scheme of things; no, what really got under his skin was the fact that there were just fifteen Grey Wardens in the entirety of Fereldan. That boggled his mind. Only fifteen? Not even a full twenty?
Markl knew it wasn't his place to criticize the Grey Wardens; after all, he'd been in the group less than six months. And there was no telling if Commander Duncan faced any opposition to him recruiting any more than a small band of warriors. Still...
It was insane! Absolutely insane! Orlais had hundreds of Grey Wardens at their disposal. The Anderfels had over a thousand! And Fereldan? Fereldan had less than twenty Grey Wardens?! It seemed absurd, at best! What happened if a Blight were to erupt in Fereldan? Fifteen Wardens seemed hardly enough to withstand the might of an entire Darkspawn Hoard.
True, the chances of a new Blight happening in his lifetime, much less in Fereldan of all places, seemed unlikely. However, that hardly excused the pitiful number of Wardens that the Commander had at his disposal. The Grey Wardens had been back in Fereldan for a good number of years now; the Commander should have recruited a good deal more than he had before!
And yet, his concerns had been brushed aside. He'd brought it up to some of his new fellow Wardens, but they hadn't really cared. One boisterous man, a constantly drunk duel axe wielder whose name Markl never really caught, had even laughed in his face, when he'd brought up his concerns.
"Ha! Like we really need a few hundred Wardens. We'd be more than enough to take on the Archdemon and its Hoard if a Blight happened here! Heck, I have fought with less in much more dangerous circumstances! Besides, the Darkspawn are a minor threat, compared to some of the things I've seen back East."
Markl had even gathered the courage to bring his concerns to Commander Duncan himself. And, to his disappoint, he too had dismissed his words.
"I admit, there could be more Grey Wardens in Fereldan. However, I do not see the need to recruit dozens and dozens of people into the Order. There is no Blight, and it is unlikely that one will occur within our lifetime. I will recruit promising candidates now and again, such as yourself, Markl, but I'm satisfied with our current roster. Still, thank you for bringing your concerns to me."
And that had been the end of that. Shut out by even Duncan himself, Markl had been forced to stop his rumblings. The grievous lack of Wardens still bothered him, but over time Markl had simply driven the concern away. He focused on bonding more with his new teammates, and on raiding the Wonders of Thedas shop whenever he was paid his stipend. Over the next six months, Markl managed to forget entirely his previous worries. And no doubt that would have continued, if fate hadn't dropped a golden opportunity into his hands.
"Commander Duncan?" Markl knocked lightly on the door to the Warden-Commander's office, before entering. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but this is urgent."
Duncan looked over a letter he was reading at his desk, and gave his subordinate a questioning look. "Yes, Markl?"
The Mage stepped into Duncan's office, followed by a young man dressed in a simple tunic.
"This is Levi Dryden, Sir." Markl gestured to the man in question, and smiled widely at his superior. "And I believe he has an opportunity for us that the Grey Wardens simply cannot pass up."
"Oh? Do tell." Duncan put down his letter and gave his undivided attention to the visitor. Levi Dryden cleared his throat, and gave the Warden the best smile he could muster.
"Hello, Warden-Commander! Thank you for your time. Now, by chance, have you ever heard of a place called Soldier's Peak...?"
...Next chapter will conclude the min-arc of Alistair finding out about the down sides of being a Mage. This, I swear. Also, I apologize for how short this chapter is. But, I felt I this was an appropriate enough stopping place. Also, I'm sorry for the late posting of this chapter, but my writing muse did not want to cooperate with me. But, it's out now, and that's good enough for me.
Now, some of you may ask, why did I do a POV chapter with a relatively minor OC I just made up last chapter? Well...by the chapter's end, I'm sure you figured it out. ;)
Butterflies are wonderful things, aren't they? So many changes can be wrought with just a flap of those wings...
Oh, and Duncan is a seriously negligent Warden-Commander. Less than two dozen people by the time the Fifth Blight starts? And he NEVER bothered to go over to Soldier's Peak to reclaim it? Yeah...what was he thinking?
Also, I have good news! Remember how I said I'd update this fanfic every other week? Yeah, not doing that anymore. Working on two fanfics at once was too strenuous, so I decided to put Daughter of the Dai Li on a temporary hiatus while I work on Alistair the Mage some more. I'll probably pick up that fanfic again once I've gotten past Alistair's Harrowing. Anyway, long story
And that's it for now. Don't forget to review! I appreciate the thoughts of all my readers.