In the end they had gotten lucky enough to charter some river men to take them across the straits on a ferry, the small party of Highever soldiers claiming their sovereignty on behalf of Teyrn Howe and if they didn't let them use the boats, then they would take the boats and use them anyway. It didn't much long then to convince the men that the better option would be to quietly help the armed soldiers across the river.
Now they stood on the other side, camped a day's march away from Redcliffe, the castle a jut of stone on the opposite shoreline. After the hard going through the chaos of the Bannorn dodging every stray war party, being on the more or less peaceful side of the river was a nice change. They still kept their vigil, however. Fergus made sure that the men didn't slack off just because it was unlikely to see human enemies here. There were still darkspawn, and the elder Cousland's encounter with them had made him especially aware of that threat.
However, that night on the banks of Lake Calenhad the first threat that they received was not from darkspawn, but rather from a large force of Redcliffe's soldiers. They had forewarning of the intrusion from a group of scouts, so when the soldiers came to the edge of their camp the Highever forces were ready if negotiations went south. As Fergus and Aedan came forward to meet with the representatives of whoever was leading the Redcliffe force, they were met with the sight of one of their own men coming forward from the ranks, a runner that had been sent ahead to tell Arl Eamon that they were coming.
"Your Grace, my Lord." The commanding officer of the Redcliffe forces, a man with grey streaks in his beard and leathery tanned skin, came forward nodding to Fergus and Aedan in turn when he addressed them. "Word of your arrival is timely indeed. These are strange and bloody times."
"Indeed." Fergus replied, looking over the force that Redcliffe had sent, taking stock and measure. "Are we welcome then on Arl Eamon's land? I see that you got our messenger." The Highever soldier nodded once, looking a bit proud of himself.
"The Arl sends his greetings and welcomes any ally that would stand against Loghain's heresy. He also sends his personal condolences, as do we all. Teyrn Bryce was a good man." The officer replied, nodding once to Fergus and Aedan in a small show of respect for their loss.
The brothers took it in stride, receiving the condolences without showing too much just how hard they had both suffered for the betrayal of their father. "Thank you. Will you break camp with us then?" Aedan asked, moving away from that particularly sore subject.
Sensing that lingering would be a bad idea, the officer nodded. "We'll escort you to Redcliffe in the morning." Once everything had been sorted, the Redcliffe soldiers moved off and made their own camp a short distance from where the Highever soldiers had put down for the night, the two forces quietly coexisting.
"I take it that everything went well, then?" Solona asked when Aedan returned from the meeting to get something to eat from the mess tent. She had been watching him like a hawk ever since he'd been injured, and though her pact with Fortitude had sped up some of Aedan's healing process, she still couldn't quite manage to fix his broken arm and ribs. He walked with a bit of a limp from the injury to his side and his arm was still tightly bound in a sling. Putting on armor wasn't an option, and though he had been discontent with the arrangement, he had been cast as the strategist and kept well away from the front lines whenever they had to join in combat. It aggravated him, and she knew that he was annoyed with the whole affair, but secretly she was glad. Solona knew that if he got hurt like that again, the opportunity to save his life might slip her grasp.
"For once we had something go bloody right." Aedan mumbled to himself just loud enough that Solona could hear what he'd said. "They'll be escorting us to Redcliffe, so it looks like we'll get our alliance after all. Which is good. I'm glad at least one man in this blasted country knows what loyalty is still."
She couldn't help but to have a silent chuckle at his obvious frustration. Sitting back and playing the armchair general had never been Aedan's style. They got their food and headed back to Aedan's tent, once inside settling down around a small table stacked with papers. Since he was an invalid, he'd made a point of gathering up all the intelligence they had on Howe and Loghain's forces and studied them, devising plans and strategies and planning for any number of "what if" situations. It kept him busy at least instead of pacing around camp like a wild animal trapped in a cage.
While they sat and ate and talked, Aedan would frequently look at the shield he had worn for the better part of the last year, the family heirloom that had saved his arm if not both his and Fergus' life. It had a large rend in the center of it where the sword had struck, the warped metal so broken that it was beyond any smith's ability to hammer back into place. The enameled laurel leaves were still visible on the face of the shield, but it would never be used in a fight again, the edges stained with what was undoubtedly his own blood. Seeing the ragged edges, he understood what Solona had told him about the scar that would no doubt be on his arm forever more after the encounter, and rested his good hand briefly on the cast in remembered pain that turned into a mild itch.
Despite how broken it was he refused to get rid of it. It was at once a reminder of what he was fighting for and of the near death experience that inattentiveness had brought upon him. The heirloom sword was now in Fergus' hands, right where Aedan had always believed it should be anyway, the sword that he had landed with to replace it was a decent blade of standard military issue.
When they were done eating Solona took the plates and left Aedan to his scheming, confident that he wouldn't try to sneak off anywhere. Resting his arm on the table, he got down to absorbing as much information as he possibly could, planning on busying himself until lights out in a desperate attempt to not think about the fact that he was more or less useless. A few minuets later someone entered the tent and Aedan looked up, expecting it to be Solona. "Did you forget somethi-"
It wasn't Solona. In fact, Aedan could have been reasonably certain that he'd never seen the woman in his life. She was small, almost elf-like but her features were distinctly human. She wore light leather armor emblazoned with the Redcliffe emblem on her left arm, a quiver of arrows and a bow stowed on her back with a small dagger attached to her hip. The woman was blonde and wore her hair in a tight tail at the nape of her neck and had doe-ishly large hazel eyes, full red lips and a heart shaped face. In short, she was beautiful.
Lost for words, Aedan had no idea what to say to the sudden intrusion, and the woman seemed to recognize this, lifting her chin slightly and gave him a dazzling smile. "You are Aedan Cousland, correct?" Her voice was sweet and clear, like a spring brook on a blue day.
A few seconds lapsed then he seemed to come back to his senses. "Yes, that's me. Who are you, and why are you here, if I might ask?" There was something… strange about this one, he determined after a moment of staring at her, searching her appearance desperately like he was trying to find something. A flaw, maybe? However, the longer he stared at her, the more aware he became of just how pretty she was.
"Oh, silly me, my manners." The woman cooed and made a short bow. "Leona, proud soldier of Redcliffe, at your service my lord." There was a distinct hint of innuendo in her tone that Aedan simultaneously did not like and was intrigued by. Everything about her was just so… strange, and he couldn't put his finger on it. "I came to get you. They're having a meeting, your brother was looking for you."
He didn't question the summons, grateful for something to do that might prove to be productive and slowly stood from his seat, keeping his eyes on Leona the whole time. She moved forward and touched his cast gently. He should have moved back, but he found himself transfixed with the way she moved and waited almost breathlessly for her touch.
"Poor thing, you've broken your arm." Her voice purred, her large eyes meeting his in a heated stare, her right hand wandering to the space above his cast where his skin was bare. Her touch sent thrills down his spine, and he found himself wanting more, for her to continue her exploration. A slow smile curved Leona's lips and she reached down for something.
"Aedan!" The sudden burst of light from outside and Solona's frantic cry woke him from the stupor, looking up and blinking like an owl at the mage as she burst into the tent.
Leona turned sharply, looking over her shoulder and yanked the dagger from her hip, raising it in a swift movement to plunge the blade straight into Aedan's chest.
Some force like the very hand of the Maker shoved Aedan backwards, his skin tingling from whatever spell washed over him and he staggered to keep his feet. Leona stood with her arm raised, her cheeks suddenly flushing and her whole body trembling, a look of pain working its way onto her beautiful features, and suddenly she didn't look so beautiful anymore.
In the entryway Solona stood, her palm bleeding and the magic working on the would-be assassin, immobilizing her and beating down her willpower until Leona dropped the blade and her body went slack, giving into the pain of the blood magic. Solona held her like that for a few minuets more until the woman's body slumped and released the enthrallment, dropping her to the floor. Looking up finally, she met Aedan's eyes, he looking more than a little confused and she looking a touch aggravated.
He started to ask a question, but Solona held up her hand, stopping him before he could start. "There's another one! Hurry, she's targeting your brother!"
Nothing could have goaded him into action as much as those words, and after grabbing his sword he leapt over the body of the would-be-assassin on the floor, leading the way to Fergus' tent with Solona following in his wake. Soldiers called out, but there was no time to stop and answer them.
Aedan burst through into Fergus' tent without preamble, finding him backed up against a table, staring at a woman dressed in fine noble's clothes with a misty look on his face. The woman was whispering sweet nothings to him, and Aedan realized with a dropping stomach that she was a dead ringer for Oriana. Disturbed by the sudden intrusion, the woman looked up startled at Aedan and Solona, the dagger in her hand pausing. He didn't wait for her to finish that thought, simply rushing forward and thrusting his sword through the woman's chest. She scrabbled at the blade as if trying to pull it out, choking on her own blood, then collapsed on the floor, gasping and heaving for air.
Fergus suddenly seemed to snap out of his stupor as much as Aedan had, shaking his head and looking around like he'd suddenly found himself in a place that he didn't remember going. His gaze snapped to the woman on the floor, and Aedan had to bodily intervene to keep his brother from falling to her side. "It's not her!" He yelled as Fergus struggled against him, forgetting about his wounded arm slung over his body and pressed into it until the pain was nearly blinding. "She's dead Fergus! Dead! You know that!"
After a moment of struggling Fergus seemed to realize that the woman on the floor wasn't his departed wife, and the differences between them became clearer as his mind fought off whatever enchantment the woman had placed on him. He gripped Aedan shoulders; his own slumping forward slightly, and there was an air of defeat about him that Aedan could understand all too well.
"I'm sorry, she just…" He stared at the dead assassin a moment longer, then turned and walked past Solona to the front of the tent, not facing either of them. After a moment of silence, he finally turned to look at the two, resolutely keeping his gaze away from the dead woman on the floor. "Thank you. Another moment longer and I probably would have shared her fate." Aedan wasn't sure if he was referring to the assassin, or Oriana.
"Thank Solona." Aedan replied, nodding to the mage who didn't look at all like she was eager for the credit. "One came for me as well. It seems that somebody wants us dead."
Fergus' gaze became dangerously sharp when he heard that, looking between the two quickly. "A second? Is the one that attacked you alive?"
Aedan looked to Solona for that, and she in turn looked to Fergus. "She's alive, barely, but I can revive her."
"I want to know who's sending assassins after us. We'll interrogate the live one… check through their pockets and see if there's anything useful in them." Fergus looked down at the Oriana double, his hard gaze immediately becoming pained and Aedan stepped forward, putting himself between his elder brother and the woman. "I'll see that it's done."
Nodding in understanding, Fergus patted Aedan on the shoulder then turned and left the tent. Once he was gone Aedan sighed, looking down at the assassin. "Whoever they are, they're cruel. She looks just like my dead sister-in-law."
Solona looked at the body, sadness welling up inside of her. "Fergus' wife…" She understood the implications, the jumble of emotions that Fergus had just expressed. To nearly be killed by the ghost of your dead wife… Shaking her head, Solona stepped forward, unafraid to get her hands bloody in the search for anything of use since her palm was already slick with blood. "What happened? Did either of these women use poison on you?"
Aedan shook his head, walking over and crouching down by Solona's side. "Not that I can recall. It was just… my head got fuzzy. I couldn't think straight, and that woman just was…" He tried to think of a word to express exactly what he'd felt, but couldn't seem to come up with anything.
Solona seemed content with the explanation, and didn't ask further. "If they were carrying orders, then she wasn't the one in charge of holding onto them." Standing, she wiped her hands off on the dead woman's dress, cleaning off her palm and fingers before straightening fully.
"Solona… How did you know?" Now that he wasn't on an adrenalin high, Aedan realized that he couldn't have called out for help, ensnared as he was by the assassin. Neither of them had made any undue noise that should have attracted alarm.
Looking up at him, Solona appeared first hesitant, then sheepish, lowering her gaze to the floor. "Its… something I've been working on." Aedan simply stared, hinting at her to continue and she took a steadying breath. "You always hear that blood mages can read minds, yet I had never been able to. I wondered about that, became curious and just tried to… I guess reach out? It's not easy. At first I could only understand the vaguest of emotions, or when someone was feeling particularly emotional I could sense what they wanted to do on a very basic level. I can't… hear thoughts, exactly, but I can feel them. When I was at the mess tent I suddenly felt this extremely concentrated mind that was completely focused on killing. The intent was overwhelming, and then I saw a flash of your face and I knew that someone was trying to kill you. That's… the best I can explain it."
For a moment Aedan simply gaped openly. Of all the Chantry propaganda against blood mages, this was the one that he had believed the least, especially after spending so much time with a supposed maleficar. Eventually he managed to blink and rubbed his face tiredly. This new ability was unsettling, and he realized that she could probably tell what he was feeling right now.
"I'm not really happy with it either." Solona said in direct response to his line of thought, then smiled gently at the incredulous look he gave her. "But it's useful, and I… well, I can't really feel what others are thinking unless I try. So I promise not to use it on you if you don't want me to."
He chuckled at that, unable to help himself and absently scratched at his left arm over the cast. "That would put my mind at ease. Thank you for telling me."
She tipped her head. "I said I wanted no secrets. I meant it. I'll always be honest with you, at the very least."
With the promise exchanged, Aedan really did feel more relieved with this new revelation. It would take a bit for him to wrap his mind around it, but he trusted Solona not to overly abuse the advantages that reading minds would certainly have. At the moment, however, there was a direct application of her abilities that they could put to use. "Fergus said he wanted to know who sent these two to kill us. Do you think you could help us get the truth out of the one that attacked me?"
Solona nodded. "I could certainly tell you if she's lying or not."
"That will be good enough." They left the tent together and found Fergus a few feet outside of it, talking to some soldiers. Once he saw that Aedan and Solona were out, he directed them to remove the assassin's body. "Are you ready to interrogate the other one?" Aedan asked after his brother was done directing traffic.
Fergus nodded. "I have a feeling that we'll find Howe sitting at the end of this trail, but if it isn't him then it would be good to know where to look for our other enemies. If we're lucky, we can prepare for more of these assassins with what we learn." He looked up to Solona briefly, as if surprised that she was standing there. "Is she coming?"
Aedan looked over his shoulder at the mage briefly, then to Fergus. "She broke whatever enchantment that assassin used on me. If she tries it again, I want Solona there."
Satisfied by that answer, the three of them went to Aedan's tent to find the assassin where they'd left her, dropped in the middle of the tent like a rag doll that had been abandoned. Solona stood to the side, monitoring the assassin while Aedan pulled up a chair and Fergus sat the woman in it, using the strap of her quiver to bind her at the chest to the back of the chair. Her wrists he tied together with the leather strips that tied her gauntlets on and once satisfied that she was as secure as they were going to get her, he looked expectantly at Solona. "Well, it's now or never."
Nodding in understanding, she walked forward and tapped into her healing magic, not bothering to contact Fortitude for this and simply attempted to revive her. After a few minuets of being bathed in the blue glow of healing, Leona stirred, her eyes fluttering and then finally roused, looking around in a daze. Once she saw Fergus and Aedan she frowned and tested her bindings. Apparently deciding that she wasn't going to be getting out anytime soon, she leaned back against the chair and looked distinctly nonplussed. "Naughty boys. This is how you treat a woman? If you wanted to play dirty, you could have just asked. I love being a bit naughty sometimes." Her voice held that purr again, and Aedan felt himself falling forward.
"No tricks." Solona said from where she stood, and Leona whipped her gaze to look at the mage standing off to her side. A spark seemed to zip between them, and the hazy feeling in the room was gone.
The assassin's eyes widened briefly upon seeing her, and she sniffed disdainfully. "So, the Cousland boys have a blood mage, do they? I should have known. Nobody comes back from the dead without a bit of magic at their beck and call."
Fergus looked up at that, his gaze flicking between Solona and the assassin. "Blood mage?"
Leona smiled seductively, finding great pleasure in discovering that at least the elder Cousland appeared to not have known Solona's true power, but Aedan intervened before she could say more on the subject. "Don't try and fool us anymore, we're onto your game. Now, tell us who sent you."
Leona's brows slid up slightly, something clicking in her head. Fergus looked to his younger brother, a bit concerned but was all right with letting the matter drop for now. Noticing the small exchange, the assassin adopted a lofty uncaring attitude. "Nope. I was paid for my digression, and your death. Seeing as I can't quite complete the second part of my contract, I suppose I'll have to be content with the first."
"I see that you're intent on being difficult." Fergus said with a frown, placing his hands on his hips and adopting a more reserved look.
"She's a mage." Solona said suddenly, though kept her relaxed pose off to the side. "Not a very high caliber mage, but that's how she and that other woman snuck in here and entranced the both of you."
"Of course it would take another blood mage to recognize me." Leona said with a sigh in a theatrical display of exasperation. "Did you feel the pull of one of your own kind and come running?"
"Enough with your accusations, assassin." Aedan growled, noticing that Fergus was becoming increasingly wary of Solona, sparing her searching glances more frequently than he would have liked. "If you're a mage, that means that you can be made Tranquil. An assassin apostate will probably put you at the top of the list in the Templar's eyes, so if we can't get you to talk now, then we'll do it after you've lost your emotions. As I understand it, they don't quite remember what loyalty is anymore."
All of Leona's smugness was gone then, her eyes going wide in momentary fear. She looked to Solona briefly as if she would find sympathy there, but there was none to be had from that arena. She had no pity for the assassin trying to rat her out and had nearly killed the most important man in her life. Realizing that she was alone, Leona tried to shore up her confidence again, though the façade was a weak copy in comparison to the arrogance she'd shown earlier. "The Templars would execute me right away. You wouldn't get your information out of my corpse."
"I don't know. We're pretty important people." Aedan replied, arching his brow as if she should know better. "We might be able to convince some Templars that your service as a Tranquil would be beneficial to everyone."
She looked on the verge of breaking, obviously terrified of becoming Tranquil despite her resolve to not tell her secrets. "What happens after I tell you?"
"I suppose that depends on what kind of information you tell us." It was Fergus this time who spoke, adopting the same hard expression that Aedan wore, both brothers equally resolved to have this information out.
Leona bit her lip, looking between the two. "I want a deal. I'll tell you everything that I know, and you let me go. I'll tell the others that you two can't be killed, that your pet mage is too hard to beat. They'll stay away from you, I swear."
Both brothers looked like they were skeptically considering it, and then Solona spoke. "She's lying."
Looking outraged, Leona turned on her. "How could you possibly know that, unless you were a blood mage, huh?" She was grasping at straws, frustrated that nothing was going her way, but if there was a chance to tear apart this trio, then she was going to take it.
Solona narrowed her eyes, restraining the urge to drop a lightning bolt on the sassy woman's head. "It doesn't take a blood mage to spot a bad liar. Assassins don't shy from money just because their target is hard to kill. They'll send someone better than you." Leona looked horrified and was speechless, realizing that Solona had read her intentions completely. There had never been a doubt in her mind the the other mage controlled blood magic, but this confirmed it, and she was frightened. This mage really was dangerous, and obviously powerful. Her own demon-augmented magic couldn't hold a candle to the power that she felt resting below Solona's calm guise. And worse, she seemed to have one of the brothers completely in her grasp, a fully functional blood thrall that questioned nothing she did. The whole situation had just hit a low point for the outmatched assassin.
Unaware of the silent revelation that the assassin was having and taking her horrified expression for Solona's statement having hit things on the head, Fergus ploughed through the lapse in conversation, attracting Leona's attention once more. "No deal. Tell us what you know, and we'll decide what to do with you once we reach Redcliffe."
Biting her lip and trying to find a way out, Leona looked one last time to Solona before dropping her head, conceding defeat. At least if they waited that long, she could try and escape when she was being moved. "Fine, I'll tell you everything."
After an hour of intense questioning, they had everything that they needed out of the assassin, from what guild she worked for to who had paid for their contract. It wasn't Howe, but Fergus knew the man as an agent of his, Leona supplying the fact that he had contacts in the assassin's guild she operated out of. It was a minor guild called the Midnight Tang that couldn't hold a candle to the Crows in reputation but was a fair sight cheaper to hire. Satisfied with that, Solona was left to guard the assassin in the event that she tried to ensnare the rest of the camp with her magic from her place in Aedan's tent while the two brothers left to go find something to secure her better with and discuss what they'd learned.
Settling down on what had previously been Aedan's cot, Solona watched Leona, the silence that stretched between the two mages nearly unbearable until the assassin broke it. "How did you do it?" She asked in a low quiet voice, looking to where she knew that Solona was laying in the dark. "Make the younger brother your thrall like that, I mean. I've never seen a blood slave act so naturally and defend its master so intelligently."
"I didn't do anything." Solona replied in a near monotone, pulling up the blankets to stave off the chill. "He is not my thrall, or slave, or anything else. He is my friend, and I did it by placing my trust in him. I doubt you would know very much about that." Leona was quiet after that, falling silent with her betrayal and Solona's words to think about. Touching on Fortitude's link that she shared with the Spirit, Solona asked for the bird to keep track of the assassin and warn her if the mage tried to make a break for it. Thrilled to participate in an all-night vigil as a test of its endurance, the small spirit flitted off into the depths of the Fade in a search for the strains of Leona's consciousness.
Outside in camp there was a stir as the rumor of the assassination attempt spread around, the soldiers talking amongst one another and occasionally one of the higher-ranked ones would come and ask Aedan or Fergus about the event. They played it off as quietly as they could, making the life-or-death experience seem more like a clumsy attempt by amateurs. There was no need to cause a panic. Once they were alone however, Fergus stopped his younger brother, a serious look on his face that Aedan knew had been coming since Leona first accused Solona of blood magic and had been preparing for it.
"Is it true?" He asked, leveling a serious look at Aedan, his tone indicating a fully no-nonsense mode.
Turning, Aedan stared right back, knowing that he stood at a decisive point. Lie to his brother for the sake of the mage, or tell the truth and risk her life? It was a tough choice, but one that he had made already. "Even if it were, have I changed?" The question threw Fergus off, and he seemed to change his perspective and look at Aedan from a different angle. "I'm not under the thrall of a blood mage, especially not Solona. Those were the words of a desperate woman looking to turn her enemies against one another. If Solona was dangerous, I would deal with it."
Fergus was silent for a moment, studying his brother in the fading light of the evening as the sun sank steadily downward toward the horizon. "You have changed." He said; his tone tinged with sadness. "You're harder now. You're more reserved and you don't trust easily anymore, but I know you trust her. Just be careful, Aedan. She seems like a good woman, and I've seen how dedicated she is, but that doesn't erase the fact that she's a mage."
"I know." Aedan replied grimly, attempting to keep his bitterness out of his voice for Fergus' sake. He'd known all along that Fergus wouldn't very much approve of Solona being allowed to freely act like she wasn't cursed with magic, but he tolerated it, which was all he could ask for now. "I know better than you assume." He could see that Fergus was curious about that statement, but he would have to be content with what he'd said already.
SAY WHAT? THE BROTHERS DISAGREE? OMG! But yeah, threw in some seductive assassins because I could (if Bioware is going to give us blood-mage-whores-with-desire-demons-in-their-pockets I'm going to use them), and to also get some stuff out of the way concerning the Fergus+Aedan&Solona dynamic. Really, Fergie is just looking out for his baby bro and is possibly suspicious about their deep undeclared love for one another. BROTHERLY LOVE AT IT'S FINEST! I hope you all had a happy holiday experienced, and the next time you get an update in your inbox, it'll be in 2012! Yay for the new year!
As an aside about the reading minds thing with blood magic… have any of you ever tried to listen to your own thoughts? I don't know about anyone else (because unfortunately mind-reading doesn't exactly exist) but if I'm just thinking regularly… walking down the hall, or going about menial tasks, my thoughts aren't clearly put out in words. I tend to note that I think in images, whims, occasionally bits of sentences, and by senses. Only when I'm concentrated on an engaging task do I think that my mind moves in a direction that someone else could directly understand, and even then, I think that I have many personal "short-cuts" that others may not comprehend without explanation, and I myself might not ever realize I'm using. Since I'm the only person whose mind I can sample, I'm going to have to go off of what I know and can experience for myself. This is unlike most fantasy novels where mind-reading is involved, in which tapping into minds is portrayed as something that can easily be followed by an outsider, like opening a book. I'm under the impression that this is a simplification of the human mind for the purposes of novels, and that's all right. However, I want to try something different, so if you don't like it or don't agree with me, please tell me how you think (literally).
For those wondering what's up with the Wardens, rest assured that I haven't forgotten about them. They're just hiding in the Deep Roads right now. You know. Dealin' with dwarves, chasing nugs, recruiting drunks, slayin' darkspawn, and being tentacle raped by Broodmothers. Normal things. Completely average week for a Warden, really.