For those of you who are fans of Kylae and Roaran, I think you'll like this chapter as if focuses mainly on them. Enjoy!
Endrin and Sten moved slowly through the market. Sten, in all his practicality had browsed through the various weapon and armor stands, although Endrin doubted that Sten actually had any intention of buying anything. Several times when a merchant was able to overcome their fear of the big qunari and would offer one of their wares, Sten would only snort in disgust, or would make a growling noise like the sound of distant thunder, and the merchant would retreat as far away as possible.
"Sten." Endrin finally asked. "If you hate all this stuff so much then why do you even bother to look?"
Sten picked up a helmet from a table loaded with armor and rapped it a few times with a knuckle. "This armor, if it can even be called that, is vashedan! I had wanted to compare the skill of human craft to that of the qun. I am appalled."
"I know how you feel." Endrin said as she slowly moved to another merchant's wares, this one a weapon merchant. Endrin began sorting through the selection of arrows. "My people craft far better equipment themselves. I suppose that most humans prefer quantity to quality… but I suppose that it makes sense, as they are a very populated race." Endrin picked up an arrow and brushed a thumb over the edge, then she made a disgusted grunting noise and dropped it back to the table. "Do you think it would be possible to craft arrowheads from drake or dragon scales?"
"I suppose it would be possible, Kadan." Sten answered. "And the quantity of armor is only as useful as the quality."
Endrin laughed. "Sten, you have to be the single most practical person I've ever met!" Endrin picked up another arrow and began analyzing it.
"I am only a simple man with simple interests." Sten answered. Endrin held the arrow she'd be inspecting out for Sten to do the same, the qunari accepted the missile and conducted his own inspection. "Silverite arrowhead, heavier than iron or steel, requires a heavier shaft to create a good balance. Less range than the arrows that you have been using recently, but greater power and armor penetration capabilities." Sten smelled the wood that made up the shaft. "Elm." He announced. "Very heavy and sturdy, but not flexible at all." Then he looked at the fletching and brushed one of the feathers with a finger. "Goose fletching." He said in his quiet voice. "Very good choice as they're waterproof and won't be affected by weather."
Endrin was doing her best not to laugh, there wasn't anything funny about what Sten had said, but she was finding it hard no to laugh from his very detailed analysis of something as simple as an arrow. "So…" She had to bite her lip to keep from chuckling. "What do you think about it as whole?"
Sten handed the arrow back to her. "Good choice for closer ranges and if you're fighting someone with heavier armor, or something very large like an ogre. But for long range shots, like the kind you seem to excel at making, it would be a poor choice."
Fighting back another burst of chuckling, Endrin said, "I have a feeling we'll be fighting ogres in the not too distant future." She looked to the merchant and said, "I'll take twenty of these."
The weapon merchant quickly counted out twenty arrows and tied them together, handing them to Endrin and not even attempting to haggle when she offered five silver coins as payment. When he was looking at Endrin, he couldn't keep from staring at the tattoo that covered her face, and when he wasn't looking at the tattoo, he was looking with barely concealed fear at Sten.
Endrin put the bundle of arrows in her pack then started to make her way back to the alienage when the name of store caught her eye. "The Wonders of Thedas." She said out loud, then more to herself than to Sten, "Why does that name sound familiar?"
Sten made another snorting noise. "The Wonders of Thedas?" He repeated, "Do they sell geography questions there?"
Endrin slowly turned to look at Sten, her mischievous smile turning into a wide grin. "Sten…" She said slowly, "Did you just tell a joke?" The big qunari didn't answer, but Endrin saw the tell-tale small smile across his face. "You did!" Endrin exclaimed, "Sten you told a joke! This is proud moment for us all!" Endrin started walking towards the store again, laughing as did so. Sten followed three steps behind, faithful as ever, a quiet chuckle escaped his own lips.
Kylae leaned back against the wall of her house, her eyes instinctively scanning back and forth across the alienage looking for darkspawn, raiders, or anyone else with less than benign intentions. She stopped halfway through her third visual sweep of the area when she realized what she'd been doing, and when she did she had to laugh at herself. A year of travel and fighting for her life had changed her, and she found that she couldn't just be still and enjoy the day for what it was anymore, not only was she constantly looking for danger, but she was expecting it as well. Kylae had to chuckle again, 'So this is what it means to be a warrior.' Kylae thought to herself. 'Ever'body always said I was born with the warrior's spirit. Now I know they were right… And now I know why Eebon is always staring off into the distance.'
Kylae pushed herself away from the wall and began slowly moving through the alienage. Very little about the alienage itself had changed, the real change had been to the people. It had always been illegal for elves to carry weapons, it was a law that Adaia, and now Kylae constantly broke. In previous times however, having an elf with weapons tended to make the other elves nervous that the shem guards would come down on them all, but now seeing herself and Endrin, armed and armored to the teeth seemed to give her fellow elves a certain measure of comfort. And before Kylae had embarked on her journey as a Warden, the majority of the elves regarded her as a trouble maker and a nuisance, now they looked to her as something of a savior, or even a hero. Kylae would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy the hero worship she'd been receiving, but with Hahren Valendrian gone, taken by the slavers, the alienage was without a leader and many of the elves had taken to bringing their problems to her! Kylae had no experience being a Hahren, or any other sort of leader. All the same however, she still did her best to assist them in whatever problem they were having, but on more than one occasion she lost her permanently short patience and ordered them to leave her alone.
She ran her hand across the gnarled bark of the Vhenadahl, the Tree of the People, and looked up into the branches of the massive tree. Valendrian had told them all that the Vhenadahl was meant to serve as a reminder of Arlathan, who they were, and where they had come from. But since the first alienages had been built, the memory of who elves truly were, and Arlathan had begun to fade away. When Endrin had come to stay with Kylae in the alienage, she'd asked about the tree, and why the elves seemed to revere it, Kylae shared her limited knowledge of it, and Endrin had immediately began to explain what she knew of the elves culture and history before the fall of the Dales. Kylae didn't know why, but for the first time in her life she suddenly became very interested in history, and although Endrin put on a show of being annoyed at teaching history lessons, Kylae could tell that Endrin enjoyed it.
Leaning up against the trunk of the Vhenadhal, Kylae looked towards the raised platform. Normally it was used for whenever the Hahren needed to address the people, but it was also used for a number of other purposes. Mostly it served as the centerpiece for various festivities and celebrations. Kylae could remember bobbing for apples with her friends during autumn celebration on the platform, and also beating both Shianni and Soris at drinking contests. But she could also remember her failed wedding taking place on top of the roughly hewn wooden boards.
And then she remembered the first time she'd seen him, Eebon had been standing exactly where she was now, and just like the rest of the events that had happened that day, it was something she would never forget.
He was noticeably larger than almost every other shem she had ever met. He stood coolly with one shoulder braced against the Vhenadhal, arms crossed over his chest, which just like the rest of his body were under a layer of scaled armor, the hilt of large greatsword rising over his right shoulder. 'Not a soldier or city guard,' Kylae thought to herself. 'And he doesn't look like one of Vaughan's suck-up's.'
Next to her, Soris seemed to voice his own thoughts. "Another damn shem!" He said. "Come-on, let's get rid of him before there's any more problems."
Kylae nodded, "Sounds good to me… An'thing to put of this wedding a bit longer."
As the two elves came closer to the human, he surprised both of them by stepping away from the tree and bowing politely. "Good morning." He said as he straightened up again. "I'm guessing that you must be Kylae and Soris."
The two cousins shared a confused look at each other. Kylae spoke first, "How do y'know that shem?"
One corner of the human's mouth pointed up in an odd half-smile as he answered. "The entire alienage is talking about the two of you right now."
"Yeah, whatever…" Kylae said as she waved her hand dismissively. "Look, you jus' need to get out of here b'fore there's more pain to go 'round."
The human nodded respectfully. "Given what I just saw from the arl's son, I can understand your feelings. But I'm not here to cause trouble, I'm here on a mission of my own, and I can't leave Denerim until it's completed."
"An' jus' what is that 'mission', shem?" Kylae demanded, trying to sound threatening, although the way this human was acting and the respect that he was showing both her and Soris was off-putting, and she was finding it difficult to be angry with him."
"I am a Grey Warden." He answered. "And I have been instructed by my commander to come to Denerim for a new recruit."
"A Grey Warden?" Kylae said, and she could feel the surprise that spread over her face. "Then it's really happening isn't it? The darkspawn are attacking?!"
The human nodded in response. "So you know about us?" He said, "Interesting."
"Yeah, my mother was-" Kylae stopped when she felt Soris tugging at her arm. "What?" She demanded.
"Enough stalling." Soris answered. "Come-on, we both gotta get married."
Kylae groaned and started to walk away from the Vhenadahl and back towards the rough wooden platform where everyone except for herself and Soris had already assembled. After taking a few steps however, she stopped and turned back towards the human. "Hey, you gonna be here awhile?"
The human nodded in response. "Until I find at least one recruit." He answered back.
"Good. I wanna know 'bout the Grey Wardens an' the war… Hey, what's your name?"
"Eebon." He informed her, once again bowing politely as he said, "And it was a pleasure to meet you Kylae. And tell your friend that was a very nice work with the bottle!" Eebon laughed with amusement.
Kylae shook herself out of her memory just in time to see Eebon himself coming down the dirt street towards her, he'd left the Blood Dragon Armor behind in favor of his old double-thick chainmail suit, the hilt of Yusaris rose above his right shoulder. "Kylae." He said as he as came closer, "How've you been?"
"Happy to be home." Kylae answered. "What 'bout you? Ya healing alright?"
Eebon nodded as he said, "My shoulder's a bit stiff, but other than that I'm alright."
Kylae didn't know why but she suddenly wanted to see what his shoulder looked like, she imagined a two inch scar, probably crooked because she knew he hadn't stitched it up. "Whatcha doin' here?"
"We need you to come back to the estate." Eebon said, and he saw Kylae's expression immediately change to disgust and anger, before she had a chance to object, he said, "There's a… a pretty big situation going on right now. Eamon wants us to handle it, and for once, I agree."
"No!" Kylae fumed. "No, I'm done dealing with that shem bastard! An' I thought you spelled it out for him that we don't work for him!"
"I did." Eebon agreed. "Believe me, I don't like him any more than you do."
Kylae sent him a withering glare.
"Actually, you probably hate him more than I do, but like I said, we probably should at the very least hear him out on this one."
Kylae fingered her weapons for a few seconds before throwing up her hands in surrender. "If that sodding shem says one word 'bout my people… or any elves for that matter, I'm gonna gut 'im like a fish!"
Eebon chuckled in response and began to lead the way back to the estate.
When Eebon and Kylae arrived in Eamon's study, they found all of their companions had arrived already. Alistair bracing himself against a wall in one corner of the room, already in his armor. In the opposite corner of the room was Endrin, looking quite impressive in her new armor and backed by the giant Sten. Roaran lounged in a heavily cushioned couch with a bowl of candied grapes, from the look of his eyes he'd been drinking recently, but then he hadn't really stopped drinking since they'd arrived in Denerim. Eebon, as always, took his place at Endrin's side and crossed his impressive arms over his chest. Kylae began roughly prodding Roaran until he sat up, whereupon she took a seat next to him and reached for the candied grapes, Roaran slapped her hand away but Kylae only reached for the bowl again, pulling out a large handful of the sweets.
There was also a black haired she-elf wearing a servants clothes and standing next to Eamon. Kylae eyed the new elf with suspicion, as she never seen her before, and Kylae knew almost every elf in Denerim, or was at least familiar with them.
"Alright." Endrin said, "We're all here now, so what exactly is this all about?"
Eamon motioned to the elf at his side. "This is Queen Anora's handmaiden-"
"My name is Erlina!" The elf said suddenly, her Orlesian accent was so thick that it made Leliana's seem vague. "My lady has been taken… kidnapped by that beast of a man Teryn Howe!"
"What?" Eebon said, his voice already having turned to ice once more. He uncrossed his arms to clench his hands into fists at his side as he slowly began moving towards the servant. "He is not a teryn! And to call him that is an insult to my father and the name of Cousland!" He came to stop an arm's length away from Erlina, and the she-elf swallowed hard as she looked up into steel-blue eyes, now as cold and as hard as steel. Eebon flexed his fingers, knuckles popping as he did so. "Now… tell us what happened."
Erlina swallowed hard and took a step back from the big man with murder in his eyes. "My lady, ever since her father has come back from Ostagar, and the stories of how he left Cailan to die began to circulate… she has begun to question what really happened there. But every time she asks her father, he becomes very… how do you say… tight lipped?
"So, she goes to Teryn-" Erlina glanced back up at Eebon to see a building rage behind his eyes and quickly corrected herself. "To Howe and asks him what happened, because he is not so tight lipped, yes? But when she gets there, Howe calls her all sorts of cruel things, he says that she has betrayed her father and her kingdom, and he locks her away."
Endrin saw where this was going, and she quietly cleared her throat. "And now you want us to get her back don't you?"
"Oui!" Erlina nodded vigorously. "Before I left Howe's castle, my lady told me to come and find the Wardens! She said that as enemies of both her father and Howe, that you would see reason and help her!"
Dharr covered his eyes with his hand and slowly shook his head. His years as a military commander and his natural intuition were screaming at him to do something. "Commander." He said quietly. "This could easily be a trap. In fact at this point I'm expecting it to be one. It's been a full year since Ostagar, and the queen only now wants to find out the truth of the battle… conveniently while we happened to be in the city?"
Erlina started at Dharr's implication. "Non, ce n'est pas vrai! Sa vie est en danger!"
Leliana immediately translated, "She said, that's not true, and that the queen's life is in danger."
"Thank you Leliana." Endrin nodded, then looked back to Erlina and said, "How do you know that her life is in danger?"
"As I was running out of the castle I heard Howe say that my lady might be a greater asset to the cause dead than alive! Especially if her death could be laid at the feet of the Wardens."
Dharr couldn't take it anymore. "Enough!" He said, louder and more angry than they were used to hearing him. "Be silent elf!" When Dharr turned to Endrin and spoke he was back in his normal, placid voice. "Commander… Endrin, please tell me that you don't believe this! How could any of this possibly be more convenient? This is a trap if I've ever seen one!"
"Ce n'est pas un piège!" Erlina protested.
"She said-" Leliana started but Dharr didn't let her finish, and now he was shouting.
"I said be silent!" He roared. "Endrin, the queen is 'kidnapped' just days before the Landsmeet is to take place, and is taken by Howe, one of our greatest enemies in the most unsubtle fashion imaginable, but he overlooks the handmaiden who is allowed to escape after hearing how Howe's plans to kill the queen and frame us for her death?" He stopped long enough to glare at the servant before continuing, "For all we know, this so called 'kidnapping' was organized by Anora herself! As long as we, and Alistair, are alive then we are a threat to her and Loghain, but if we were suddenly removed then she would have removed the greatest threat to her reign. And not only that, but how exactly could we be blamed for the queen's death? We've never even seen her! How are we supposed to believe any of this?"
One corner of Endrin's mouth turned up in a half-smile. At times like this she was very happy Dharr was on her side, despite whatever differences they'd had. "I hear you, Dharr." She said, then she looked to the handmaid. "He makes several good points." Endrin admitted, "What proof can you give aside from your spoken word? And am I really supposed to believe that the queen went alone, with you as her only escort? Where are her guards? Why did you come to us and not to them? Why didn't you go to Loghain himself? Surely he wouldn't let his own daughter be taken and murdered!"
"He let Cailan die!" Erlina quickly said, "And he loved Cailan like a son, Loghain practically raised him! Do you think he would not do the same to my lady if he felt threatened by her? We went to Howe alone because my lady believed it best to act in secrecy. If her father found out… que dieu nous aide tous!"
Endrin glanced at Leliana who translated, "God help us all."
Endrin looked at Eebon, who was fighting hard to keep the rage in check. "Eebon, what do you think?"
"It sounds like trap to me as well." He growled, "But on the other hand, if it's true then we could have the queen on our side. And if she's on our side, then the Landsmeet might not even be necessary. I'm not sure we can even pass up this opportunity… Let me go and find out, if it's true then I'll get her out of there and I will kill Howe!"
"No!" Endrin said instantly. "Control yourself, Eebon! You won't do anyone any good by throwing your life away like that… But you're right, if this is true then we cannot pass up the opportunity. But I won't make the call unless we know for sure."
Roaran finally seemed to take an interest in the conversation from where he sat on the couch and passed the bowl of candied grapes to Kylae, then jumped to his feet. "I know how we can find out!" He yelled in his excitement, and all eyes flew to the red-haired dwarf. "Me and Elf-Lady have a contact here. He'd definitely know about something like this! Give us until sundown and we can get you a definite answer on if this human queen is really in danger, or if we'd be walking into a trap."
The look of relief that came over Endrin's face was plain as day. "Do it." She said.
"Come-on Elf-Lady!" Roaran said, "I'll need a hand getting my armor on." Roaran bolted out of the study towards his own room, Kylae close behind, still holding the bowl full of sweets.
"No!" Erlina said, "My lady does not have enough time for you investigate what I have already told you! You must act now!"
"Be silent!" Endrin said, repeating Dharr's previous words. "I would rather put her life at risk than risk the lives of my clan walking into what might be a trap… Dharr, keep an eye on our new guest. If she tries to run off… do something drastic!"
Dharr slapped a closed fist to his chest in salute. "As you command!"
"And Dharr…" Endrin smiled, "Thank you."
"Roaran…" Kylae said as the two of them walked quickly through the market again. "Y'know ya never stop surprisin' me?"
The dwarf chuckled before saying, "Told'ya I'm full'o surprises! But out of curiosity what did I do this time?"
"All this time you been sayin' how ya don't care nothin' 'bout the Wardens or our quest or nothin' like that. But now you're all excited 'bout this… jus' wonderin' what changed ya."
"Nothing changed." Roaran shrugged, "I was just getting bored sitting around in the life of luxury and I needed to get a change of pace."
"Bronto-shit!" Kylae declared, borrowing a dwarven cuss. "When you get bored ya start stealing stuff, or you pull a prank on Eebon and then spend the next hour hiding from 'im!" Kylae studied her friend for a moment. "Roaran…." She said the name slowly. "We're finally starting to break through that thick casteless skull of yours, aren't we?"
"No." Roaran answered, but he couldn't hide his own grin.
Kylae gave him a friendly shove. "Oh come-on Duster! Admit it! You love us, don't ya?"
"Nope, sure don't!" Roaran said, still grinning widely. "I mean… you sure, you've always been a good friend to me, but the others… not so much."
"Then why did'ya come up with nicknames for 'em?"
"Boredom?"
"Liar!"
Roaran pointed at the merchant stand they'd been looking for. "Oh look, there he is."
Kylae smiled and shook her head in defeat. "Ignacio!" She called loudly.
The Antivan Crow master looked up from his wares and smiled at the elf and dwarf approaching. "Ah, my Warden friends." He said happily. "What can I do for you on this fine day?"
"We need to talk." Roaran said in his gruff voice. "Somewhere private."
Ignacio nodded and handed a key to the dwarf. "That will open the door from our previous meeting place. Make yourselves comfortable and I will be there shortly." Ignacio turned to another Antivan man next to him. There was a definite family resemblance, although the second man was much younger, and with dark hair rather than the salt and pepper hair that Ignacio owned. Ignacio said, "Ceasar, would you mind the shop for a few hours? It seems we have another business transaction to deal with."
Roaran and Kylae had only been waiting for a few minutes in the rented room when Ignacio appeared. Roaran was already helping himself to a bottle of some various liquor and Kylae had a bowl of exotic fruits that didn't even grow in Ferelden. Ignacio sighed and shook his head as he said, "I see the two of you have a taste for the finer things. What else have you put on my tab already?"
"Nothin' yet." Kylae shrugged, "An' hey… we get it when and where we can."
Roaran chuckled in response to his friend's statement and guzzled down the last of the booze. "And you did say to make ourselves comfortable."
"So no I am here." The guild master said, "What is this issue you needed to speak of."
Kylae swallowed the last bite of a papaya and said. "We already know that the shem queen is being held by Howe. But what we don't know is who arranged it? Did the queen herself arrange this little performance, or was it Howe?"
Roaran leaned forward in his chair as he said, "And does Loghain know anything about it? Is he in on it himself?"
"Those are a lot of questions." Ignacio said calmly. "And you expect me, merely a simple man, to know them all?"
"Yes!" Kylae said without a trace of humor. "A guy like you should know everything that happens in the city you're in."
Roaran chimed in, "I imagine you've already paid off a lot of servants and guards all over the city to stay informed. And something as big as this doesn't go down without a master assassin knowing about it."
"You are very direct, my dear Wardens." Ignacio said. "I might have heard something about this land's queen being taken."
Roaran and Kylae looked at each other with a measure of annoyance before saying at the same time, "I'll bet." Then Kylae said, "What did ya hear?"
"Only that she had been taken." Ignacio answered. "I paid it no mind as it had nothing to do with me and my business here. But now that you have taken an interest in the matter, I will take an interest as well."
Roaran chuckled and selected a bottle of ale from a nearby cabinet, working the cork off in seconds and taken a long draught. "I sense a 'but' coming." He said between swallows.
"I suppose there is." Ignacio said, "I have one remaining task in Ferelden, and after that I will be free to return to Antiva and clear myself of the path of the blight. If you do this task for me, that will give enough time to reach my contacts and find out the details of the queen's capture, and we will have mutually helped each other. Is that agreeable to you?"
Kylae nodded. "Keep talkin'" She said.
Ignacio clasped his hands behind his back in the manner of school teacher beginning a lecture. "After Arl Urien was killed at Ostagar and Arl Howe sized control here in Denerim, he was opposed by a cousin of Urien's named Lambert. As Howe had no true claim to the Arling of Denerim, his only recourse was to silence Lambert, and so he sent his captain of the guard, a cruel man named Chase, to take Lambert's son. The son is being held under guard in an abandoned house near the docks. If you kill Captain Chase and his men, and bring the boy back alive, then I will tell you all you want to know." Ignacio stopped speaking long enough to meet Kylae's eyes and ask, "Are we agreed?"
"Yep." Kylae said, skipping all formalities. "We don't have much choice, but we'll do it. Give us directions to the place."
Kylae and Roaran left the Gnawed Noble Tavern at a dead run. With Kylae's knowledge of Denerim, she knew several shortcuts, much to Roaran's irritation as most of the shortcuts involved back alleyways barely wide enough to fit his dwarven frame though, more than one refuse pile, and swimming across the Drakon River at one point. With Kylae's ironbark armor, the swimming was hardly difficult, but considering Roaran was wearing a suit of heavy silverite scale, he sank below the surface more than once, and when he made it to other side was sputtering like a drowning man, which he almost was.
"Alright!" Roaran said as he wrung the water out of his beard. "Elf-Lady, you know I love ya… but one more shortcut like that and I'm going to kill you! I'll feel bad about it, but I'll kill you!"
Kylae laughed. "You jus' need to lay off the second helpings there, Duster." She chuckled again before saying, "Now come-on! We're almost there!" Kylae led her dwarven friend though more narrow back alleyways before finally stopping in one of the alleys.
"Alright, this is it." She said, "The house is right around this corner… gimme a second." Kylae stuck one eye out from behind the corner of the wall, then pulled herself back in. "Yep, this is definitely the right place… there's a guard outside the door to the place… an' I don't think that no guard ever comes to this part of the city."
"So what's the plan?" Roaran asked.
Kylae sighed, "What I'd give to have Endrin and her bow handy… not sure I can get close 'nough to the shem before he raises an alarm, an' he's too well armored for me to throw a dagger an' kill 'im!"
"I have an idea." Roaran said, and Kylae turned her head to look at him. "You're always talking about how humans don't pay elves any mind unless they want something from you, and how that worked as an advantage to your mother when she was on a mission… We do the same thing now!"
Kylae felt her eyes widen as she realized the simple brilliance of Roaran's plan.
The dwarf continued. "Take off your armor and leave it here. Then you just walk past him all subtle-like… not like yourself, and when you get close enough, you stab the bastard!"
The young assassin replied by pulling off her armored gloves, then loosening the rest of her armor. "I think maybe some of Dharr is starting to rub off on you." She said.
Roaran grunted under his breath as he helped to pull off her chestpiece. "You take that back, Elf-Lady!" He muttered.
"Nope!" Kylae flashed a grin, then the grin disappeared and she said, "My eyes are up here... I said they're up here!"
Roaran finally tore his eyes away from what the breastplate had been concealing and looked up at Kylae's eyes. He smiled innocently.
Kylae groaned as she worked her way out of her leggings and undid the ponytail that she kept her hair pulled back in then ruffled her hair to give it a more disheveled appearance and rubbed some mud onto her face and hands. "'Kay!" She said excitedly, "Now I'm ready!"
The guard was on the right side of the street so as Kylae stepped out of the alleyway she held a dagger in her left hand, the flat of the blade pressed tight against her forearm and the hilt concealed as much as she could manage in her hand. Kylae kept her eyes to the ground and hunched her back to give the impression of thoroughly cowed and submissive elf, just to add to the effect she glanced up at the soldier, then crossed to the other side of the street. As she'd hoped the soldier didn't pay any attention after a brief, cursory glance. She could already feel the familiar rush of energy flooding through her body, and she had to fight the urge to speed up.
As she came close enough so that she was directly across the street from the soldier, she flipped her dagger around into an overhand grip and lunged towards the human. Kylae clapped her right hand over his mouth, the soldier tried to push her away, but was too slow as Kylae drove her dar'misu up under his chin, through the roof of his mouth, and into his brain. The soldier tried once to make some kind of noise as his eyes bulged open wider than Kylae would have thought possible, and then his eyes rolled backwards as blood poured out of his nose, his mouth, and the wound. Kylae caught him under the arms as he fell and lowered his already lifeless body to the muddy street. Roaran was already running through the street towards her as she did so, and handed her the opposite dagger.
"Hey, where's my armor?" Kylae whispered sarcastically.
Roaran snorted, "I ain't a bronto… if you want it you can get your own damn armor… Hey, Elf-Lady, you want me set up the dead body like we're playing dice together while you go and put it on?"
Kylae allowed herself a barely audible chuckle at the thought as she twirled both her daggers through the air. "Naw" She answered. "I need backup on this one, an' with how much the blighter is bleeding I don't think an'one would think he's still alive… So do we go in quiet an' subtle as sin, or loud an' crazy?"
"Your call." Roaran shrugged, "Ya got us this far."
Kylae thought about the next course of action for a moment, then said, "Get off to the side of the door, if someone opens it, jump in an' kill 'im, I'll be right behind ya." Roaran did as she requested, and Kylae pounded on the door with a fist.
"What is it?" A muffled voice called from inside. "You still got another two hours on your shift!" Kylae looked at Roaran and shrugged, then pounded on the door again. "Alright, alright…" The voice said, "Just hold your horses and-" The door opened and Roaran swung Faith's Edge through the narrow opening, cutting off the right hand of the soldier who'd been open the door, then the dwarf barged inside, pushing the soldier backwards with the top of his axe so he could have more room to maneuver. Roaran inhaled as he brought his axe back behind his head then exhaled quickly as he swung it down into the Howe soldier's own head.
"Get upstairs!" Roaran bellowed as Kylae jumped through the door. "There's no one else down here!"
Kylae didn't need to be told twice and sprinted up the creaking stairs. She stopped as she came to the top and snarled at the soldier on the opposite side of the room. He was covered in steel chainmail, but had no helmet, one hand held the hostage boy's hair in a vice-grip, the other hand held a long knife to the boy's throat. Kylae could tell from the look in Captain Chase's eyes that he was already afraid, terrified even. "Damn coward!" Kylae hissed, "You hidin' behind a kid?! Let the boy go an' we'll finish this!"
Chase wasn't so inclined to settle the dispute the honorable way however. "You take one step closer knife-ear, and I'll cut his throat!"
Kylae didn't answer right away. She wasn't in Denerim anymore, she was back in Haven, looking at a little girl with a dagger protruding from her chest. Now she was on another assassination mission and there was another child involved, about the same age as the first one. 'But this time, whatever else might happen, this boy is going to make it out alive!' Kylae thought. "You kill him," She snarled, "And there's not gonna be anything between us an' you! Whatever else happens after that isn't going to make much difference to you, now is it?""
"I'd listen to her." Roaran said in a casual sounding voice at Kylae's side. "Do you have any idea who we are?"
The Captain of the Guard blinked, thinking about the question, and who the odd pair in front of him actually were, and with the thought came a moment of hesitation, and Kylae took full advantage of that brief moment. She moved so fast that all the soldier saw was a blur as the she-elf brought her dagger back and threw it. The small white blade spun through the air seemingly in slow motion and buried itself in his throat! Kylae dropped her remaining blade and dove forward, grabbing the boy who was still too scared to move and pulling him away, holding his head against her body so that he couldn't see what happened next.
"Kill him!" Kylae screamed at Roaran, but the dwarven Warden as already moving towards the dying human. Roaran's first swing took the soldier in the legs and he fell heavily to the floor, his left leg shattered from the crushing blow. Roaran lifted his axe above his head again, this timing screaming his battlecry as he brought the axe down into the man's chest. Roaran felt the sharp edge of the axe hit the floorboards beneath the dead captain.
"Y'know…" Roaran said as he pulled his axe out of the corpse and began looking around for something to wipe the blood away with. "I really can't think of how we could have done that any better!"
There was no response from his companion.
"Elf-Lady?" Roaran said as he turned towards Kylae, wiping the blood off his axe with a shirt as he did so.
Kylae wasn't paying any attention to him. She was still holding the boy, who was now clinging to her for all he was worth. "It's alright." Kylae said softly, in a voice that she rarely if ever used. "It's alright now… My name's Kylae. We work for your dad… we're gonna take you back to him now." The kid finally lifted his head up to look at her, and Kylae found herself smiling. "It's alright." She said again.
When Kylae and Roaran arrived back at Ignacio's tavern room, the boy still clinging to Kylae, there was another man present as well. There wasn't nothing really notable about the man. He was of average height with short black hair and the under-muscled look that many career nobles Kylae had seen all seemed to share. Kylae and Roaran could both tell from the first glance at him that he'd never held a blade his entire life.
"Lukas!" The noble said, and he knelt and held his arms open towards the boy.
"Dad!" The boy replied as he quickly released Kylae and ran into his father's arms.
"Well done my friends." Ignacio said, unmoved by the father-son reunion. "You Wardens never do disappoint. It is no surprise that Zevran failed to kill your friend on the road. Did you also succeed in killing Captain Chase?"
"Damn straight we did!" Roaran said proudly. "Him and those two worthless soldiers he had with him."
"Good." Ignacio responded. "Then the job is completed. And I will uphold my end of our bargain." He turned toward the noble father and his son. "Would you excuse the three of us? We have business of a private nature to discuss." The noble nodded and left the room. As soon as the door was closed behind him, Ignacio said, "To go directly to your question, the queens abduction was not by order of Loghain, nor was it by her own design. In fact at this very moment, Teryn Loghain does not even know of her absence, although that is likely to soon change."
Kylae nodded, not sure what she should feel at hearing the news. It definitely would have made things easier for them all if it had been a trap concocted by Anora. But Eebon and Endrin were right, having Ferelden's queen on their side would be a definite boost to the Warden's support. "Thanks." Kylae said.
"Wardens." Ignacio said as he saw the two of them turn to leave. "When the blight is over… or when you tire of this life, I hope that the two of you will come to Antiva City. You have put one of our greatest assassins to shame, and completed several tasks for me that I would have thought impossible for only two people to accomplish. With your obvious skills, you could accomplish much and live quite… comfortably."
Roaran and Kylae looked at each other. Roaran grinned and chuckled before shrugging and saying, "A professional assassin is one thing I never saw myself doing, and I think I'd find it a bit more satisfying than the life of Warden… what 'bout you Elf-Lady."
Kylae couldn't keep herself from grinning. The rush she felt when she was on an assassination mission was addictive, and Kylae would only be lying to herself if she said that she didn't enjoy the kill… especially if it was a human. And her mother had been an assassin, first she'd worked for an exiled government, and when the war was over she was an assassin for her people, and Adaia had loved it as well. "I dunno." Kylae answered as she shrugged herself. "Sounds like a tempting offer. But at the same time, this place is home for me. Not sure if I wanna leave."
Ignacio nodded. "Very well. I will keep the invitation open should you decide it is what you want. All you need do is come to Antiva City, and I will find you from there." The Crow master turned and opened a small chest, Kylae and Roaran both tensed, but quickly relaxed when the man turned around again with a coin purse in each hand. "For the time being however," He said, "Let the color of coin convey my appreciation."
Roaran loosened the drawstrings on his new coin purse and let out an exclamation so loud that Kylae flinched. "With a payday like this I'm even more tempted to come to Antiva!"
When he was done chuckling, Ignacio said, "I have an added bonus for you as well. Because of the help that you have given my guild, I will see to it that no more contracts are passed on you or any other Ferelden Warden."
"Thanks." Kylae said again, then she looked down at Roaran. "Alright, c'mon Duster… we need to be getting back with the news.
Roaran was counting his newly acquired gold sovereigns for the third time as he wordlessly turned and followed Kylae. They'd only taken two steps out into the hallway before they were confronted by Lambert and his son Lukas.
"Thank you… thank you so much! Both of you!" The noble father said, tears of joy and relief in his eyes. "I had feared that I would never see Lukas again, but the two of you have given him back. If there is anything I can do for you, all you have to do is ask!"
Kylae had to resist the urge to sneer. Instead, she answered, "I have a feeling Howe ain't gonna be alive much longer. If you become the next Arl, jus' r'member that an elf saved your son." Kylae brushed past Lambert before he had the chance to say anything else.
"And a dwarf!" Roaran said, laughing to himself a she moved to catch up with Kylae.
As Kylae reached the door that would take her back into the market district she stopped, and looked back at Roaran. The shorter dwarf also came to a stop behind her and glanced up at her. "You forget something Elf-Lady?"
The elf didn't answer, and instead took a seat at a vacant table closest to the door. Roaran sat across from her, his normally mirthful expression turned concerned as he looked at his friend. It was another of those rare times that Kylae didn't look brimming with self-confidence. She looked hurt, weak even. Roaran could count on one hand the number of times that she had that look about her, the last time was after she'd returned from her solo mission in Haven and revealed that she'd killed a child.
"Elf-Lady…" Roaran said, "You okay?"
Kylae sighed deeply and looked down at her hands which were clasped together on the table. "Do you think that doin' somethin' good erases somethin' bad that you've done?" Kylae's hand shook as she wiped her eyes. "I killed that little girl in Haven… and I'll never be able to wash that outta my mind. But now I've saved a little boy, and now I'm thinkin' that it washes the blood of my hands." Kylae looked down at her hands as if they really were bloodied, then she looked back up at her friend. "You think I earned it don't ya? You think I… that I… umm," Kylae stopped and searched for the right word. "Erased what I did b'fore… right?"
"Absolutely!" Roaran announced.
"Really?" Kylae said with pleading eyes. "You ain't jus' sayin' that are ya?"
"Elf-Lady, you and me are a different type than the rest of our friends. Killing people doesn't bother us. And we don't have honor like Lordship does to slow us down. We don't have some misguided sense of morality like the red-headed singer or Tattoo. We kill… But then when you were Haven you suddenly found your limit, and you made a mistake and someone died because of it. But now you saved a life, you did that… well actually it was mostly me, but I still couldn't have done it without you. I don't think there's anyone out there who'd say that you haven't made up for it. I know I'd say you have."
Kylae lost some of the pleading in her eyes. "Really?" She asked.
"Absolutely!" Roaran said again. "In fact, whaddaya say we get a drink of their most expensive stuff to celebrate?"
Kylae's face broke into a grin. "You jus' want 'nother opportunity to drink don't ya?"
Roaran laughed as he motioned for the barmaid. "What kinda dwarf would I be if I turned down an opportunity!"
After Roaran placed the order and barmaid moved back towards the storeroom, Kylae lost her grin and took on a serious face. "Hey Duster… thanks. Y'know you're a lot smarter than people take you for."
"I am not!" Roaran flared in mock anger. "You take that back Elf-Lady… Take it back!"
Kylae grinned again and laughed happily, "Not a chance!"
The others were all still sitting in the arl's study when Kylae and Roaran returned, although now there was an almost palpable tension hanging in the air, and everyone was armored or otherwise prepared to depart in anticipation.
"What did you find?" Endrin asked as soon as her two friends entered the room and before they even had a chance to say anything. "Is it a trap? Or was she really taken by Howe?"
Kylae made a strange exhaling noise somewhere between a snort and a chuckle and said, "Slow down, Endrin… Give us a chance to tell ya."
Roaran however beat Kylae to it. "Our… contact told us that it was not arranged by Loghain or Anora herself."
"Good!" Eebon said, his voice bordering between berserker rage and control. "Today Howe pays for the lives he took a year ago!"
Erlina was on the verge of panic as she said, "Sil vous plait, do not do anything that would put my lady's life in danger! It has already been too long, what if Howe has decided to kill her?!"
"Shut-up!" Endrin ordered, clearly irritated. "We're going to help you… but it wouldn't do us any good to go rushing in blindly!" Endrin shook her head in annoyance before looking at Dharr. "What's our plan?"
"I already have a plan!" Erlina said before Dharr could even open his mouth. "I have some spare guard uniforms. Not enough for all of you, but some of you could simply walk in with no trouble at all. Howe has had to hire so many new guards since he became the Arl of Denerim that no one will question a few new faces."
Eebon snorted and shook his head. "They will if the new faces aren't human." Everyone looked at the berserker, Eebon shrugged in response. "Well it's true. All the dwarves up here on the surface are merchants and traders, Sten is probably the only qunari in Ferelden, and elves would never be allowed to become a soldier." Eebon looked and Endrin and uncrossed his arms. "Endrin, you promised me that I would kill Howe before we left Denerim… that time has come. And you have wanted me to lead, let me lead now. I will take our friends on this mission, we will come back victorious once more, I will kill Howe, and I will bring them all back."
Endrin didn't have to think long about what her friend had said before she said, "Do it."
I figured it was about time that Kylae and Roaran had another good chapter together. Not to mention I always thought it was kind of hoaky that Wardens who charge in after Anora without any evidence at all. On the note of Kylae, you've probably noticed that she's the only one who's origin story I never covered other than a brief recap by Eebon at the very beginning. The reason for that is that I couldn't come up with a decent way to tell that story without following the in-game events word for word... and I HATE that! So I just decided to do the flashback scene describing Kylae and Eebon's first meeting.
