Chapter 36 Unrest in the Alienage

Alienage

Darrian POV

Guard: "Hey! Knife ears! You can't go in the-"

The shem guard didn't even finish his sentence before I cut open his throat. The second guard immediately puts his hand on his sword but I cut him down before the sword was even drawn. A plague? And quarantine? I need to see my family now!

The first thing I saw when I entered the Alienage was a crowd of people gathering at the north side of the square in front of a house, with humans in front of it.

Female elf: "Oh, you're "helping" us, are you, shem? Like Valendrian and my uncle Cyrion, you helped them, didn't you? Helped them never to be seen again!"

Shianni! She's alive! I knew that thing I saw in the temple was a fake created by that "guardian" to take a stab at my guilt just so he can feel wise, but for a moment I thought I was really looking at her spirit. And ever since then even though Morrigan assured me that was just an illusion, I still had an uneasy feeling that something really bad did happen to Shianni.

"What's going on?" I walk up to her and asked, and Shianni turns to me with surprise.

Shianni: "Maker's breath! They said all the Grey Wardens died with the king. Everyone thought…"

"I am sorry, Shianni. But right now I need to know, what's happening here?"

Shianni: "They took them!"

"Who took who?"

Shianni: "The Tevinters! They took your father, Valendrian and others!"

I look over to the humans in front of the house. Tevinters? Here? And carrying staffs. Mages.

"What? Why?"

Shianni: "The Tevinters claim that they have the plague, but they were as healthy as war hounds. And now they're quarantined and we're not allowed to see them!"

"They're educated men, Shianni; they'd know if he had the plague." Said an elf.

Human? Caring for elves? Are you drunk?

"I'll take care of this." I said to Shianni as I walk up to the Tevinters.

"Hey!" I call out to the Tevinters.

One of the Tevinter "Healers" turn and look at me with wide eyes and said in a fake concerned tone of voice. "Hessrian's mercy! How long have you been ill, young man? You should have come here days ago!"

"What are you talking about?"

Tevinter Healer?: "You may not feel it, but anyone can tell from looking at you and see that you have been infected by the Blight."

"I'm a Grey Warden, I'm immune."

The Tevinters begin to look at each other.

Tevinter Healer?: "A Grey Warden? There's a hefty reward for your head."

Before he even reach for his staff, I bury my sword up his chin.

Baldwin POV

Five dead,

"They are Tevinters alright. Two of them are even mages." Said Zevran.

"So these are the infamous Tevinters. They look like normal humans. From what I hear about them, I was expecting them to be bigger or have horns or something."

Zevran: "That's the Qunari, Sir Baldwin."

Aedan: "They are anything but normal. Tevinters are heretics and apostates. I may not agree with the treatment of mages here, but letting them run the country is going too far."

"Why is that?"

"Yes, why is that?" Morrigan also repeated.

Aedan turns to her. "Let's not talk about it here,

Alistair: "Who killed them?"

"Why not just ask the residents here? You!" Said Aedan to a random red haired female elf.

"What do you want shem?" Said the Female elf with an annoyed tone.

Aedan narrows his eyes at her. "That's "m'lord" to you, elf."

I took a step closer to take a better look at her. "Wait. I've seen you before…"

The female elf took a step back and cross her arms. "Are you sure? Because we "knife-ears" all look the same to you shem."

Alistair: "No, I've seen her before too… But where?"

Morrigan: "The temple, I remember now."

Ah yes, the illusion.

Female elf: "What temple? I've never been to any temple. Go sober up in your castle shem."

Aedan: "You think annoying me makes you appear strong? You are lucky the one you are rude to is me. You have no idea how powerful and how cruel humans can be."

The female elf narrows her eyes at him. "I know more than you think, Shem. And I do not fear you."

If you know, then act like it. It's about being smart, not fear.

Alistair: "What did Darrian call her again?"

"Darrian?" Asked the female elf.

After a brief explanation…

"So Darrian killed them?"

Shianni: "What? You think a knife-ears can't be good fighters?"

Aedan: "Stop auguring with us about everything! We already have Mithra! And Sten."

Mithra: "Glad to see not all flat-ears are spineless."

You are not helping. I do admire bravery, but courage without wisdom and power is useless.

"You need to stop. If we offended you I apologize. But you need to stop antagonizing humans."

Shianni: "I don't take orders from-"

"I am not trying to order you, I'm trying to… forget it. Darrian is inside, yes?"

Tevinter Hospice

Darrian POV

Elves… in cages… these people… these Tevinters are…

"Your father was taken away last night. I don't know where, please! The key…" Said one of the elves.

After I threw them the key, I return to the main hall and look for survivors. Unfortunately I was too thorough in killing them. Then I heard someone on the other side of the back door. When I open the door, I found a full armor elf.

"Where did you come from?" Asks the surprised elf.

"You… Who are you?"

Elf: "Look, just leave, I won't tell anyone, come on, don't make it hard for the both of us. I'm just trying to make a living here."

...

When I regain consciousness, I was holding one of my swords, the armored elf is siting on the ground with his back against the wall, my other sword is bury almost all the way through his left thigh.

"Please… spare me… I'll do anything…" Pleaded the elf.

"Who are you people?"

Back alley

Baldwin POV

The body in the back alley of the "hospice" is… the best I can describe it is destroyed.

Zevran: "He's an elf. Fortunately he's not Darrian."

The Elf's ears were sliced off and the face has a boot shaped hole in it. I almost couldn't tell if he was an elf or a human.

"So did Darrian also do this?"

Zevran: "Maybe…"

"What are you saying?! Darrian would never-" Said Shianni.

"Leave!" Commanded Aedan.

Shianni: "You can't order me around!" Headstrong, good quality to have, just not now.

"Cough… cough…" Coughed the elf with his head down, sitting on the ground, with his back against the wall. Darrian kicks his head so hard that there's even a crack on the wall. And he's still breathing.

Morrigan: "He fights more and more like a berserker everyday."

"Hey! We berserkers don't do this!" Said Oghren, angrily.

Some of the fingers were cut off, hands crushed and knees shattered.

"He could have at least finished the job." Zevran takes a sigh as he slits the elf's throat.

"What…" Said Shianni with her hand covering her mouth. "Why did you do that? Why didn't you help him?"

Zevran: "I did help him. I've given him more mercy than he ever deserved."

Alistair: "Did he really need to crush his face? Both his knees are already smashed."

Morrigan: "The thought of an elf slaver enslaving other elves… I can see why he's angry."

He must felt betrayed.

There were elves in cages in the hospice. After Darrian let them out, some of the elves stayed behind to look for their belonging(and maybe more), and they told us everything. Add to the fact that Tevinter still practices slavery, we could guess what was going on.

Morrigan: "The dragon blood is affecting his mind. I even heard Reaver can gain strength from other people's pain."

"What a weird ability. And cruel. If it's true, then Reavers might go out of their way to inflict suffering on others."

I'm no healer, but even I could tell there's already something wrong with Darrian. And now his violent rage can make him stronger.

"Dragon blood?" asked Shianni.

"Why is she still here? Zevran! Get her out of here." Said Aedan with his hand on his head.

Zevran nods and grabs Shianni's right forearm. "This way miss."

"What?! This is my home! I can go wherever I want!" Despite her resistance, Shianni was dragged away.

Aedan: "Now that she's gone, are you sure about the blood? He has done this before."

I thought you told me not to speak of that incident with that dwarven crime boss.

Morrigan: "And the blood made it worse."

"Should we be worried about Sten?"

Sten: "Unlike the elf, I have a strong mind."

"Except when you lost it and slaughtered children."

Alistair: "Hey, come on, stop bringing that up."

"I am not asking to take a jab at him. I'm bringing it up because like Darrian, he was already unstable before he drank the dragon blood." Another reason is that I can't let them forget how dangerous he is. I don't want people redeeming him just because they thought he's just some kind of silent honorable warrior who like to speaks using metaphors.

Sten: "I've already spoken on that matter, I will speak no more of it."

"Enough! We are moving on." Said Aedan, pointing to the trail of blood.

Tevinter Warehouse

Darrian POV

Female elf slaver: "What is the meaning of this? We were told that there would be no interference from the authorities!"

I found the warehouse that the Tevinters were keeping the people, and when I open the door, I saw Another Elf! WHY?! Does it not hurt your conscience seeing your fellow elves suffer? My head… I feel a little faint.

"Where are the elves you kidnapped?" I asked while putting my hand on my forehead, and do a quick scan. Twelve of them. Ten of them have bows and crossbows. And four of them are ELVES!

"You will regret this. We have been given dispensation to do our business here." Said the female elf, not even answering my question.

Loghian! He'll suffer ten times more than Howe ever will! And this elf… She's more angry at me than the humans who want to enslave us!

"You are an elf, how can you be a part of this?" I said as I looking straight into her eyes. It took almost all of my will not to attack her immediately.

Female elf slaver: "So this makes us kin? Don't be a fool. I am Tevinter first and-"

"I'm going to destroy you."

Baldwin POV

When we open the door to the warehouse, Darrian is taking cover behind a pillar and outnumbered ten to one. There's already one body on the flood and he uses another as a meat shield, but he also has an arrow on his shoulder. Archers were shooting at him in front of the room and on the far right side of the room.

"More nuisance?" Said the female elf as she grabs a person beside her. "Tell Caladrius we need reinforcement!"

Too many archers and not enough cover for all of us.

"Take cover outside!" Orders Aedan.

We can't get in, there's only one entrance and archers will fire at us if they see so much as a hair. Darrian is also running out of time too, the fighters are closing in on him with archers covering them.

"You!" Aedam said to me. "The walls are made of wood. Go behind the building. The six archers on the right side of the room behind the tables, the wall behind them, create another entrance there!"

I nodded and move behind the building. Zevran, Sten, Oghren and Dog came with me. The moment I reach my destination, I immediately open a hole in the wall with a fire storm, and an archer, who is unlucky enough to be in front of my fire storm, got burned in the back, falls to the ground and starts rolling around. Zevran, Sten, Oghren and Dog immediate rush into the room and start cutting down the remaining archers. The archers in front of the room saw us and turn their arrows towards us, but Morrigan finishes her spell and cast a wide range lightning spell in the whole room! Although the lightning spell wasn't too powerful, it did stun them for a moment, and that moment was all we needed. Aedan and the others rush into the room as Alistair removes the lightning spell and begin slashing. The three remaining archers at my side shoots at us, but suddenly, one of the archer turns and shoots the person on his side. I turn and saw Jowen with his wrist cut.

"What are you doin- A blood mage!" Screamed the female elf archer as she turns her arrow at the mind controlled archer and shoot him right in the head.

"Now, there's only one." Said Darrian having recovered from Morrigan's lightning spell, rushes towards the female elf.

"Wait! I surrender!" Said the elf when she saw Darrian coming at her.

But he didn't stop. Darrian swing his long sword and cut her bow in half and then swing his second long sword and cut off some of the fingers on her right hand.

"AHHH!" The elf screams in pain, holding her right hand as she falls down.

I look around, surprisingly, a lot of them are still alive. Well, at least breathing.

"Enough, you won, just make it quick." Said the female elf, sitting on the ground.

Why do villains always think they deserve some honorable death or mercy?

"Make it quick?" Darrian repeated. "Hah, HAhahaha!" Darrian laughs psychotically as he lifts his feet and steps on one of the human archers' leg and breaks it.

"AHHH!" Screamed the human archer.

Darrian: "No. You will pay for what you've done. After the Archdemon is dead, you will help me free all the elves in Tevvinter."

Aedan: "What? The Grey Warden's duty doesn't end with the Archdemon death!"

Darrian ignored him and casually pokes another human archer in the eye with his sword, the archer immediately pulls back and screams.

"You're insane! AHHH!" Said the elf slaver, but Darrian stepped on her leg and broke it too.

"The only thing I need from you is information. I don't need you limbs, or eyes. So be mindful of you next word, traitor." Said Darrian with his foot still on her broken leg.

The elf turns her gaze at the rest of us. If she's thinking one of us will came to her rescue, she's dreaming. I may still be ignorant in the way of Thedas, but I do not have any sympathy for slave traders anywhere, in any era.

"Hey! We don't have time for your little psychotic torture spree. We need to catch whoever is behind this first." Said Aedan.

"Fine." Answered Darrian as he kicks another archer in the face, I can even hear bones breaking, and the archer rolls on the ground with his hands covering his face.

"Find something to tie them up. Jowen and Oghren, stay and watch them." Ordered Aedan.

As we looked for rope, I heard Alistair and Darrian talking.

Alistair: "Why did you cut off her fingers? You already disarmed her."

"If I didn't cripple her, Aedan might recruit that damn slave trader." Darrian replied with a cold voice.

To be continued