Judy: as always thanks. Guest I am glad you liked it
"Spilled milk analogy?"
I shrug. "More or less but not quite as callous, your Majesty. It's really just a reminder you can always improve on something wrong."
"Your dream. Do you think the Archdemon knows where to find you?" Cailan changing the subject.
"I don't know. Honestly, Sire all I know about being a Grey Warden is… Stop the blight. Kill the archedemon.
Alistair one of the Grey Wardens told me that much. He said Grey Wardens know when darkspawn are near. So maybe he would know if I was close. I am assuming if Duncan had lived, he would've explain. But all I have left of him is that dagger I let you borrow."
Cailan pulled the dagger from the belt behind his back. Flipped it blade over pommel and handed it back to me hilt first. "I had wondered where a Mage would get an obsidian blade with almost perfect balance. He must have felt you were a worthy enough warrior to give it to you."
I frowned I didn't want to disillusion the king. He had enough guilt from Ostagar hanging over his head to think that the revered Grey Wardens would accept a criminal like Daveth or me. "Actually, I think he only loaned … I came from the tower with only the clothes on my back. Which isn't a big deal since mages don't have many personal items and definitely no weapons. But thank you and I'm starving so can we eat."
Cailan could tell that there was a story there but chose not to push for the moment as he was starving too. At the table, two bowls looked frequently used. He grabbed them both and ladled the thick liquid. Handing me the bowl he said, "So it takes an archdemon to get a mage to swear like a proper Ferelden."
"What do you mean?" I asked concerned.
"You woke up crying out to the Maker," Cailan said taking a bite.
"Well I guess there is another reason for Knight Rutherford to be disappointed in me."
"Oh," Cailan said sitting down on the cot next to his savior. He had a feeling this was the story he'd sensed earlier. "What was the first reason?"
As we sat there eating the rabbit stew his Majesty made I found myself telling the story of how I became conscripted to the Grey Wardens despite my desire to keep it from Cailan. He turned out to be more persuasive than I realized.
I was surprised that he had nothing to say about Jowan or my helping of a blood mage. He didn't even seem shocked at the conscription instead of tranquility. Maybe because he didn't understand what it meant to be made tranquil?
I stood to get a second bowl of stew. Normally for me one serving would be enough. But I chalked it up to not eating in the last several days. I dropped the ladle completely in the pot started by the flapping of giant wings and Teyrns furiously barking.
Cailan and I exchanged glances. We were trying to figure out if the dragon who'd just landed was real or imagined. "Is that your archdemon?"
"How is that big, ugly, and purple?"
"So, not the archdemon?"
"No. He is actually beautiful, for a dragon.
"Did you hurt your head at Ostagar and need a few healing potions? A beautiful dragon!? Only a Mage would say that."
"Obviously not when they're swooping and spewing fire, but he's not."
"No swooping is bad."
I looked at him curiously. For a moment, it was de ja vu. Alistair's warning about Morrigan. "Agreed swooping is bad. But he's not swooping. He landed. Get behind me, your Majesty."
"Do you think he is the reason we haven't been bothered by darkspwan?"
"No those are her wards. But wards that powerful should also deter rouge dragons."
"Could it be her pet?"
"Possibly," I said shrugging. "I saw a red dragon as it flew across the battlefield just before Duncan died. It could be the same one. I've never heard of it, but I am just a Circle Mage.
Who would have thought a Chasined version of a mabari? I must admit; it would be spectacular and wonder how I could get one."
"What about Teyrn… wait a minute what sensible human wants …" Cailan was silenced by the roar of the mighty red dragon.
The blast wave from the giant maw knocked us backward into the lake. As his majesty had refused to get behind me when I told him to, I was submerged under the weight of his body. I pushed him off me and broke the surface just as a golden spirit form encircles a woman in red armor walking towards us.
"Is she a dragon or a person?" Cailan hissed.
Hearing him, she threw back her head and cackled, "I am both and neither. Bodies are so limiting, don't you think."
The voice was definitely the old woman I met earlier as Morrigan's mother. But this. I had a feeling this was the warrior all the legends were told about. I allowed Cailan to help me out of the water while I decided what to say.
My intuition said, keep it simple and polite. "You said you were nothing if not hospitable. I … we thank you for the use of the wards and the respite from the darkspawn."