oOo
"And what do we have here?"
Elissa nudged the body of the prone man with her right boot, arms firmly crossed as she scowled. I found myself a little unsure as to how to act. I had rarely seen her so openly display her anger. The look on her face was really quite frightening when you considered how good she usually was at controlling her reactions.
"Somehow I get the feeling that you don't take lightly to assassination attempts...?" I wondered aloud.
She even looked irritable as she glanced towards me. "You think, Alistair?"
The man on the ground started mumbling incoherently, distracting me from trying to form a reply to her words.
"How long until he wakes, Wynne?" I asked instead, planting myself next to Elissa.
The mage had cast the lone survivor with a sleep incantation so that we could truss him up. He was now sitting upright against the wagon, arms bound in three different ways. I'd wanted ten, but Leliana drove a hard bargain.
"About five minutes or so, I think."
"So, who do you think wants to kill us? My sovereigns are on Loghain."
Elissa shrugged. "Yes, most likely it is Loghain, but it could be Howe, or anyone else who's working with them. Maybe they're targeting a specific person, us Wardens, or all of us. But that doesn't matter so much; we know we have enemies. What matters is that they didn't succeed."
Despite her words, I knew that if this man was working for Howe he wouldn't live to see the next sunrise. I couldn't blame her for that, really.
Elissa waited a minute, then nudged our captive again, maybe a little harder than before. The man woke with a start ("I... oh!"), lethargy still evident in the movement of his limbs. He froze a second and then relaxed conspicuously, smiling up at us pleasantly, clearly not trying to wriggle his arms or legs out of his bonds.
"I rather thought I would wake up dead... Or not wake up at all, as the case may be. But I see you haven't killed me yet," he said in an infuriatingly calm voice with an accent. "You're rather an aggressive little minx, aren't you? Lovely, too,' he said all too flippantly to Elissa.
I hated him immediately.
"I have some questions," I said, trying to head off any more flirtatious talk.
"Ah! So I'm to be interrogated!" His smile widened to a grin as he glanced at his restraints. "Let me save you some time, my handsome captor. My name is Zevran. Zev to my friends. I am a member of the Antivan Crows" –figures– "bought here for the sole purpose of slaying any surviving Grey Wardens" –figures– "which I have failed at, sadly."
Figures.
Wait, handsome captor?
Maker help me.
"Who hired you?" Elissa voice was sharp and tense, despite her neutral words and indifferent reaction to his bizarre attitude, but that didn't seem to affect this 'Zev'. He was still smiling.
"A rather taciturn fellow in the Capital. Loghain, I think his name was? Yes, that's it."
"Does that mean you're loyal to Loghain?"
The Antivan tried to shrug. He fell over. He righted himself before speaking. "I have no idea what his issues are with you. The usual, I imagine. You threaten his power, yes?" Elissa didn't reply, stance still rigid. "Beyond that, no, I'm not loyal to him. I was contracted to perform a service."
I realised I had just crossed my arms, most likely unconsciously due to my inherent dislike of assassins. I had a sudden and sickening thought: was this going to be another case of Elissa picking up a follower? I didn't doubt her decision-making, or her judge of character (even Sten had won me over) but I didn't want this assassin around. I would never rest easy with him near.
"And now that you've failed that service?" I asked, cautiously.
Zevran gave a little laugh. "Well that's between Loghain and the Crows. And between the Crows and myself."
I realised I had no idea how the House of Crows system worked, and I was glad.
"And between you and us?"
"Isn't that what we're establishing now?"
Elissa crossed her own arms at that, but by now that was simply indicative of her pensive state. She was considering the situation very carefully.
"When were you to see him next?"
"I wasn't, if I had succeeded I would have returned home and the Crows would have informed your Loghain about the results... if he didn't already know. If I had failed, I would be dead. Or I should be, as far as the Crows are concerned. No need to see Loghain then."
Elissa was quiet again for a few beats as she considered him. She finally asked a very pertinent question.
"Why are you telling us all of this?"
He actually did laugh this time. "And why not? I wasn't paid for silence. Not that I offered it for sale, precisely."
"There's no reason for us to believe anything you say," I informed him.
"Oh, very true." He nodded along. "Thus there's no reason for me not to tell you everything, is there? As it is, if you're done with the interrogation, I've a proposal for you. If you're of a mind."
Oh, no.
"We're listening. Make it quick."
"Well, here's the thing. I failed to kill you, so my life is forfeit." Oh. The system worked horribly then. "That's how it works. If you don't kill me, the Crows will." ...Really horribly. How did the Crows manage to recruit anyone? "Thing is, I like living. And you are obviously the sort to give the crows pause. So let me serve you, instead."
I was doomed. I couldn't see Elissa turning down this offer... She hadn't turned down Wynne's, Leliana's, or Flemeth's. And with Sten, there hadn't even been an offer. Why would she turn away this man? A highly trained assassin could come in handy.
"And what's to stop you from finishing the job later?" I challenged, though there wasn't any real heat behind it.
"To be completely honest, I was never given much of a choice regarding joining the Crows. They bought me on the slave market when I was a child." I tried not to recoil at the words. So that was how the Crows recruited. It made sense. Horrible, horrible sense. "I think I've paid my worth back to them, plus tenfold. The only way out, however, is to sign up with someone they can't touch. Even if I did kill you now, they might kill me just on principle for failing the first time. Honestly, I'd rather take my chances with you."
He had had no choice, his path had been forced upon him and I could sympathise with that. I could see Elissa rocking back on her heels, and I knew she was weighing things up... and that she would want to accept his offer. I resigned myself to sniffing my food for poisons for the rest of the trip.
Elissa sent me a look, seeking my opinion, and I nodded and gestured. Go ahead.
"Alright, but don't think you won't be watched."
I really wanted to say something, but all I could think of was how we needed to present a united front.
Also, that kiss. I found it hard to think of much else than how I wanted to kiss her. On the mouth. And maybe the neck, too. It was hard to question her when all I really wanted to ask was hey, do you think you could kiss me again?
Morrigan's voice broke my thoughts.
"A fine idea, but I would examine your food and drink far more closely from now on, were I you."
I almost started at Morrigan's mirroring of my earlier thoughts. We actually agreed on something, fancy that.
"That's excellent advice for anyone," our captive broke in helpfully.
Elissa met the would-be assassin's gaze and stepped forward, drawing her dagger and cutting away the ropes in one swift move.
"Welcome, Zevran," Leliana said, "having an Antivan Crow sounds like a fine plan."
Zevran homed in on her as he stood and brushed himself off. "Oh, you are another companion to be, then? I wasn't aware such loveliness existed amongst adventurers, surely."
"Or maybe not," Leliana said with uncharacteristic drollness, and I muffled my laughter into my fist.
"I hereby pledge my oath of loyalty to you until such a time as you choose to release me from it. I am your man, without reservation. This, I swear." He bowed, and despite the fact that he was an assassin of all things, the dead seriousness of his face and tone made me actually believe there was something behind such a vow. Elissa and I both gave short bows in return, even if hers was much more fluid and graceful than mine.
We did a final check of the area (disarming any remaining booby traps before I got my leg chewed on again) and then continued on our way to Redcliffe.
The assassin – Zevin or whatever his name was – didn't act the slightest bit perturbed. He engaged with everyone from Dal to Bodahn, apparently taking this all in stride. I took to walking slightly behind Elissa, thinking that if this was some last ditch ploy to gut us, that he might be able to get me but he wouldn't be able to touch her.
I didn't bother to hide my suspicion of him when he approached me, but I did try to avoid being rude. I had been really making an effort to not cause any more strife since the toll the Tower had taken on Elissa, especially after I'd rather accidentally infuriated Leliana by adding deathroot instead of the edible herb she wanted into her stew. She knew, of course, that I would never knowingly ruin food, but she had still been annoyed at having to remake it from scratch. Elissa hadn't been best pleased either, especially with the hunger she had as a new Warden.
I watched as —Zeban?— tried to butter up to Morrigan and hoped fiercely that he provided a good enough new target for her derision. Since I'd asked her to keep her comments to herself, she had toned it down, but not completely. And she never bothered to hide her expressions. This guy seemed like the kind of person to love attention, perhaps he could make himself useful by becoming a focus of Morrigan's. Her barbs were almost amusing when directed at someone else.
She'd never really insulted Elissa though. She might have objected to some choices, but she'd never outright called her a fool. I wondered why, perhaps because she knew that Elissa would give as good as she got, or perhaps she feared Elissa would send her away? Morrigan didn't care much for group cohesion, but she did care about having her personal space respected and being free to wander off and shift into one of her animal forms, which Elissa had always allowed and which I found fascinating, though I had only bothered to say so once before Morrigan made clear that any form of admiration from me was unwelcome.
As I watched Elissa's back, thinking about how well she'd adjusted to the much heavier Warden-Commander armour we took from Sophia Dryden's old trunk, I thought that maybe it was because Elissa was a strong woman. Morrigan cared little for men, but strong women she respected. Even Wynne had earned a grudging respect from her.
Should I approach Elissa about the whole… kiss, thing? I tried to stop chewing my lip. Would she want it brought up or was it a moment of weakness in a very long and trying day that she would rather was forgotten? Or did it mean something?
As we drew close to Redcliffe, I pushed my circling thoughts out of mind and began to relax. There were no more ambushes and the Blight seemed a million miles away, as we travelled confidently on the roads still familiar to me. It had become an almost casual stroll around Lake Calenhad...
And then, naturally, we found out about the undead plague.
"Just once," I said to the world at large as I stared down at the hill at the place I'd grown up, "just once I'd like for everything not to go to the Void and for us to have to clean up the mess."
"You and me both, Alistair, you and me both," Elissa said dryly.
oOo
