Dragon Age: Of Noble Birth
Lothering Outskirts
Day 20
The sun was finally beginning to come up.
Morning's light often brings renewal. A sense of possibility and purpose as a new day starts. Small farming towns like Lothering, dotting the Ferelden countryside in great number, were especially busy at dawn. Fields needed to be tended after all, and crops did not pick themselves.
But not on this morning.
On this morning leathery wings flapped casually, high in the air, as piercing, cold yellow eyes darted across the countryside below. Tiny dots were seen everywhere, running to and fro in frantic, unrecognizable patterns. Most stopped suddenly as other, more numerous dots caught them. Piles of dots would then form in a frenzied manner, huddling together briefly before erupting again outward in many directions.
Drifting along high, the yellow eyes found tall, billowing pyres of smoke rising from what was once a quaint little town.
Turning slightly towards the fires, high enough up in the sky so as not to be seen, Flemeth circled Lothering itself, slowly. There was little left as fire had gutted most of the buildings, save the chantry.
Typical...
Gathered darkspawn, in significant numbers, occupied the central areas, spreading from the chantry out to the large windmill near the roads. Many more of the beasts had spread out into the surrounding countryside, chasing those fools who had decided that fleeing after Ostagar was in fact not needed. Or could be delayed for some reason.
The speed with which the darkspawn had left the Wilds and struck the town would no doubt cause panic throughout Ferelden. Especially once word had spread. Though she knew it was not a horde that moved, only a large incursion, many would still be surprised.
But not her.
She also knew why they had moved so quickly. Darkspawn perished quite often, even when left to themselves. They would need replacing. And walking the Deep Roads, snaking for hundreds and thousands of miles all across Thedas would take a great deal of time. Hordes were slow things to form. Quicker measures would be needed.
The number of dead villagers would be high, as most had apparently dawdled about instead of fleeing. Hoping beyond hope for some miracle, or putting their faith in some uncaring god. It was an old story. Played out exactly the same over countless centuries.
But not many females would be amongst the dead. Not now.
She turned again, gracefully, soaring out over the countryside, south of the town, back towards the Wilds far above the ground.
It was nice to be this free for the moment, though it would not last. It never did.
A tiny flash of anger welled up inside her as she glided a little lower, watching as a large groups of darkspawn caught three wagons and those foolishly trying to protect what was inside. They all perished quickly, save two females. They were dragged away, kicking and screaming.
If it were possible, she would have pitied the women for what awaited them, but she could not. Not now. Not after all of this.
Some things are simply necessary...
Spying a natural abutment overlooking a vast valley to the east, filled with people running from the darkspawn, she gently glided down and landed. She watched them flee, knowing that most would not survive. She stayed in her present form, as her eyes were much stronger, so she could get a clear view of the growing carnage.
Things were moving fast. Too fast perhaps.
Those foolish boys were making incredible progress, already securing the aid of those pathetic mages. In less then two full weeks no less since leaving the Wilds. Though not many mages would remain at this point, she knew. This was a certainty.
It seems I underestimated these Grey Wardens...
And other matters would certainly work there way to the forefront in due time. Sooner than she would have liked, but contingencies could be made for such things, and plans were meant to be altered.
Her eyes darted left as a loud howl sounded.
Ogres...
A rarity in the party that had attacked the town. Only a few of the huge beasts had ventured from the Wilds. In fact, only a few had ventured from the deep roads of yet. One of course had performed rather nicely, murdering the young king on the field of battle at Ostagar.
One wonders what these foolish people would think if they could see their king now...
Snorting in disgust, she took flight again, heading for the sound of the ogre. Flying high she found it, tearing through a contingent of three Templars trying to protect another group of villagers. The other darkspawn finished what the ogre had started, cutting down the Templars and the other villagers, save one female who was not wounded. Another other female was killed as she was already bleeding badly. The hurlocks began to eat her right in front of the survivor.
Flemeth landed near them on another hilltop and watched rather closely this time. A few of the darkspawn looked up at her and backed away in fear.
As you should...
The ogre in the group took off at a run down a narrow path, followed by half of the hurlocks. Two of the hurlocks drug the girl, a pretty young thing with dark hair, screaming wildly in total panic, back the way they had all come, towards the Wilds.
Flemeth took flight again, away from the grisly scene and the girl's screams. She would not be pretty for much longer.
Flying very high again she spied the entirety of what was left of Lothering, and it's remaining people. A fairly large group had made their way to the roads far to the east. Maybe thirty in total. They would escape. More fled southwest towards the hills and the Wilds. They would not.
She flew southwest.
Landing on another hilltop over looking a series of paths dug into the hills, she waited, hearing the loud footfalls of another approaching ogre. She was not as high up as she would have liked so she wrapped her wings in tight around to make herself inconspicuous.
She wanted to see this, and if she were seen, the darkspawn would likely flee instead of taking their natural course.
She spied a small group approaching fast. Two large men cut through a group of darkspawn with ease, assisted by a rather large female helping along a wounded Templar. Of course they had a dog as well, this was Ferelden after all. Two other females were also present, and one was a mage, much to her surprise.
An apostate? So close? How did I not know this?
Her interest piqued, she turned slightly to the left and spied an ogre and dozens upon dozens of hurlocks approaching. An impossible battle no doubt.
Let us see how they handle this?
She watched as the two men stood their ground in a small clearing as the ogre came closer. One broke free in front and foolishly charged the huge beast. The second followed, on pure instinct no doubt. It did not go particularly well.
The huge beast swatted aside the second, bearded man, and grabbed the first in his large hands, slamming him down forcefully over and over. She could hear his skull crack fifty feet away and thirty feet up as it repeatedly smacked into the hard ground. The pathetic boy died at once.
The other however, rising again, approached more cautiously this time. He did not back down. He was soon joined by the female, now bearing a shield, and the apostate mage.
The mage began raining fireballs and arcane bolts at the ogre, causing it to frenzy and charge. The female redirected the charge, barely escaping the ogre's path, and the man took the opportunity to drive his massive sword deep into the ogre, wounding it.
A large swat by the beast sent him flying away, but he rose immediately and continued his attack. Hurlocks appeared in large numbers and complicated things, but the three fought well together, driving them back until the ogre charged again.
The female mage tried enacting a crushing prison on the ogre but it failed. Flemeth stood a little taller at this but still remained unseen.
The girl has talent. It needs practice, guidance, but she could prove useful. The others as well perhaps. I wonder...
The man dove right and swept at the ogre's legs, causing damage with his large sword. A thought ran through her head that a sword so large should be impossible to swing, even for a man as large as the one swinging it, but she dismissed this as ridiculous folly.
The female with the shield barreled into some hurlocks, dispatching them and holding them off, all in turn. The female mage backtracked closer to the others, an older, crying female and the wounded Templar, as more darkspawn appeared behind them, almost magically as if from thin air.
She focused her eyes on the Templar briefly.
He bears the taint...
Turning back, she found the bearded man charging the charging ogre. A truly foolish maneuver.
It ends here it seems...pity...
But the man swung low and skidded, thrusting his heavy sword up into the beast and severing it's left leg in the process. He rose quickly and drove the sword straight though the ogre's skull three times in rapid succession. The huge beast died at once.
Hmm...
The female mage annihilated three more hurlocks, while the other woman drove her sword through two more.
The three stood in the center of a small clearing, thinking they had won. Two of them ran to their fallen comrade in vain, joined by the older woman.
Flemeth looked down the hill and saw hundreds of darkspawn approaching. More than these three, talented as they may be, could handle.
Decisions, decisions...Should I?
Seeing the darkspawn reach the clearing, she reacted immediately. Standing tall and spreading her wings, she let out a terrible roar before taking flight. She scorched numerous darkspawn on the open area below, snatching one as she past.
Climbing high she released the creature, letting him fall to his death.
Circling quickly, she dove for the ground and landed, torching most of the remaining darkspawn in front of her with ease. The ones behind got swiped with her tail, sending them flying to the deaths. One straggler crossed her path so she snapped him up in her talon as she let out a mighty roar.
The other darkspawn approaching all turned and ran.
Standing in front of the five remaining humans, she found them staring at her in awe, too shocked as yet to be frightened. She decided to transform right in front of them.
May as well leave an impression...
Bright lights filled the area as she magically transformed back into her human form. Her previous appearance changed greatly from the last time she had met...unwitting travelers...
One can not seem a helpless old woman in these circumstances after all...
Dragging the now dead darkspawn behind, once held in her talon, and now in her hand, she dropped him as she walked casually towards the group.
Her eyes took them all in, settling on the bearded man and the female mage, ignoring the others.
Yes...yes...this will do quite nicely I think. But where to I wonder?
"Well, well. What have we here?"
The two she had focused on approached her, the mage cautiously, the bearded man more confidently, almost foolishly to be honest.
Thoughts spiraled though her mind at a breakneck pace. Plans were in motion already, but plans can change. In fact, she was already sure, even after merely days, that plans had already changed, or were to change very quickly.
Lovely Morrigan would see to that. Especially given other matters now certainly in play.
Foolish girl...
A knowing smile formed on her lips as she thought of her...daughter. Utterly predictable in her unpredictability. She looked at the man, then to what had to be his sister, given the resemblance, and smiled at them both.
"It used to be we never got visitors to the Wilds...but now it seems they arrive in hordes!"
The man took another step and spoke.
"I don't know what we would have done if you had not arrived."
She smiled as the man spoke and looked at the apostate mage. She was much more wary.
Smart girl...young, naive, but much potential...so much potential...
She turned back to the male, now eyeing her new armored attire. She preferred it over her more...humble wares. She so rarely got to use it. In fact, it had been nearly thirty years...
"I do. You would have perished..." she smirked at the man. "You still may..."
A/N: Couple things. Some answers to some reviews, in no particular order.
This is as close to DA2 (spoiler alert. I guess?) as I will get, but mentions will be made in brevity of certain things to tie it in. And the longer this goes, we'll see some of those characters here since they are in the Origins storyline anyway. Since I LOVE the hilarious Isabela now, we'll definitely see her in some...um...detail, but that's way off, sadly. Post Origins, which seems really, really far off, but I have thought about it, anything is possible. I really liked most of the characters in DA2, but not all of them. Bethany, if she becomes a warden, and she will here, would be the only one that would make any sense in this storyline though, obviously well past Awakenings, but that's so far away it isn't worth mentioning really. I won't write any DA2 stuff I think.
Flemeth being a dragon instead of a bird earlier to save our wardens. Morrigan said she turned into a bird, and I'm not sure if Morrigan was actually there to be honest, but I'm going on the assumption she was not present and only assumed she would be a bird. Morrigan does not know what her momma is yet, neither do I by the way, but with Flemeth being a dragon here in this part of the story above, after Morrigan is gone, it made more sense to me to make her one earlier also. I actually did not know we would see her as a dragon here at the time, it was a lucky guess, but I think it makes more sense now. Besides, how else is she going to get into the tower without ripping the roof off?
I can't say anything about the love story aspect without totally ruining it. But the two girls are my favorite characters as well.
I made mention of the female elf mage origin. Neria's alive and "missing" for now. I also mentioned the female city elf much earlier, easy to miss. She died though, sorry. I can't have them all running around. The others will be mentioned too.
Writing styles. I'm going to be less descriptive here for the most part as we've been to most of these places. Where that is not the case it may change, but it's intentional on my part. Key points, dialogue, reactions and realistic action are my intended focus. It's evolved though, and will again I'm sure. I was much more "in game" early. Now, not so much. I was pretty structured early on also, a set path, set chapter word limits etc... It actually caused me to get bored and quit. I'm pulling this outta my backside now almost completely, and it's much more enjoyable for me as a result. But keep critiquing. I do take it very seriously, and have changed things as a result of them. I'm the unoffendable sort anyway, so don't worry about that.
I'm sure I missed something, sorry if I did but this is too long as it is. Anything specific, PM me, I can get back to you easier that way. Many thanks for the kind reviews, alerts and favs and a serious thank you for all who are reading.