CHAPTER 17: Would You Like a Job?

"When do you think she'll return?" Lysette was pacing the length of the small room she and Sera were sharing at the inn. Lysette had insisted the Herald have her own room. She even had a note handwritten by Josephine advising the Herald to do such, along with the additional funds such a luxury would cost. Cassandra had backed Lysette up deaf to Yasmin's initial protests, so that was that.

"She'll be back when she bloody gets back now won't she?" Sera replied as she casually brandished the arrow that she was checking the fletching of. "Look, she said she had Seeker business or some shite, right? So, she'll smash some heads or whatever and come back. Besides, we've got all her stuff here, she wouldn't leave her fancy armour if she didn't mean to come back for it. Or us. I get the feeling she wouldn't just drop us like a rotten pie. Trust me, not much is worse than biting into one of them yeah?" Lysette seemed to calm slightly at the elf's wisdom, as crass as it was.

There was a disturbance downstairs as a lone man crashed through the entrance in his haste. "Skinner, Grimm!"

"We need to save Dalish, there were half a dozen Templars, and they made me leave! They're just down the road, and they're gonna kill her!" A man's voice boomed loudly

Immediately the Inquisitor's two companions heard several sets of feet getting off their stools and charging out the door. "Cassandra, Sir Bariss, Varric, and Solas are still on an errand for Josephine. Should we get them first?" Lysette asked. She needn't have, since Sera was already re-stringing her bow and shoving a handful of arrows into the satchel around her waist. Apparently not.

"Well, I'm bored, and her Heraldy'ness will just have to forgive us for saving the day later yeah? Lady Seeker well have a fit if there was a fight that went down and the Herald didn't have a calvary. Not that we've got horses, that'd be bloody brilliant actually, I'll ask about that later." Sera smirked as Lysette picked up the Inquisitor's sword, looking at it critically. "You could probably use her shite, she's got your armour and whatnot on right now anyway."

Lysette nodded, and within three minutes they were out on the street following the mercenary company at a slight distance as they barged into a shite-looking tavern. Before Lysette could ram open the door after the mercenaries, Sera grabbed her arm.

"Wait a moment. I don't hear anything. We should circle 'round back, right? Just to be sure we don't get in some trap." Sera asserted.

Lysette cocked her head and nodded, "You know, you're smarter than you generally act with all your mischief." They quickly made their way to the alley around the back of the tavern.

"Got to be. Mischief isn't for idiots. It's an art." Sera replied a little testily.

"Didn't mean any offense…okay, maybe a little bit. But I'm glad you're more than meets the eye. And here I thought you'd just live for driving Seeker Cassandra out of her head."

"Oh, I'm still gonna do that. Are you having me on? I can't wait for that shite." Sera giggled manically as they came around the tavern and saw what laid in the alley. "Holy fucking shite," the elf breathed; mirth gone.

There was blood everywhere. It was seeping into the soil, it was all over the alley walls, and some of it was even on the tavern's backdoor. Templars in full armour, dead. Strewn around the ground like broken toys. "We need to get in there now," Lysette said.

They opened the back door and were greeted by a peculiar sight. First of all, everything was quite calm. Facing their backs, Lysette and Sera saw Andraste's Herald was sitting at the bar next to a blonde woman who was clearly an elf. Facing them from across the bar was a trio of equally confused mercenaries. "Thanks for coming back for me," the blonde elf said bashfully as her friends stood still with their swords drawn. "This woman saved me. It's alright Skinner, you can put those away." she added a little more quietly, talking directly to the severe-looking elf who was glaring at Yasmin. While Dalish was certainly happy to be alive, the not-Templar lady ripped the blood out of those Templars and that was something she'd probably see in her nightmares. Also, she needed to find out exactly how in Mythal's name that happened.

"Oi, Herald! What's this about the corpses out back?" Sera called out, announcing their presence. "There's blood everywhere." The mercenaries all had wide eyes as Sera outed Yasmin as the Herald of Andraste. Oops.

Yasmin spun around with a raised eyebrow, "Sera? Oh, it's you two." Yasmin flicks the hair out of her uncovered eye's line of sight before looking back between each group of new arrivals. "Same inn?"

"You-You're the Herald of Andraste?" a soft voice spoke up, and everyone looked at the bartender, Cynthia.

Luckily, Yasmin thought, hers and the Templars earlier brutish behaviour made everyone else leave the tavern. Yasmin let out an annoyed sigh. Sera had the decency to look down embarrassed at her gaffe. "Yes. That is what people are calling me. I posed as a Templar because Knight-Captain Jacques White was somebody I'd gotten intelligence on since arriving in Val Royeaux. I didn't account for the whole business with Dalish here. I'm sorry about my part in that preamble to what happened in the alley." Yasmin looked ashamed, something that didn't escape anyone's notice.

"You certainly played your part well," Stitches said with a little bit of an edge.

"And if she hadn't, this room would be watered in blood it would seem," Lysette spoke up. She shifted slightly, the Herald's armour was a little loose on her accounting for Yasmin's slightly superior height.

"Why is she so pale then, if they didn't touch her?" Skinner spoke up in a heavy regional accent marking her as an elf hailing Orlais, possibly even Val Royeaux. The Inquisition trio also noted how defensive the Orlesian elf sounded.

"Holy smite," Yasmin replied. The mercenaries flinched. Yasmin looked around and decided to see if she couldn't speed things along. "There isn't a company of mercenaries working out of Orlais more diverse than Iron Bull's Chargers. I'm guessing that's you?"

"How the fuck did you know that?" Stitches asked cautiously.

"Because basically every other mercenary company is human. Well, except the Valo-Kas, but they're all Tal-Vashoth." Yasmin finished her drink and rose to her feet. "How would you like a new gig?"

"Are you sure about this, Herald?" Lysette asks.

Yasmin turned sharply to her resident former-Templar and cows her with a stern look before turning back to Dalish expectantly. "It's funny you mention that. Our Lieutenant is enroute to Haven as we speak to ask about exactly that."

Yasmin chuckles. "Well, as the Herald of Andraste, I'm officially offering you a job. Josephine Montilyet will handle the actual wording of the contract and pay.

"You don't want to see us fight first?" Skinner asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Do most of your clients get a preview before they hire you?" Sera asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, no," Dalish said, "But you're not exactly a normal client. Our client would be 'The Inquisition,' not just you, sorry," Dalish admitted with a sheepish look.

"No offense taken, Dalish. Though I was given leave to basically recruit who I wanted. I don't see why hiring a mercenary company with the reputation yours commands as anything other than daylight robbery. I would very much like to hire you. Is your Boss here? Perhaps I could speak with him to iron out terms before they're finalized by our Chief Diplomat," Yasmin spoke as she took several swallows of ale, pausing between sentences and ignorant of the tentative amused looks she received from the Chargers.

"He's due back in a day or two. He's with the rest of our company finishing a job for some Comptess who's personal estate is outside the city," Stitches said. Yasmin's eye was drawn to the tall blonde human male who hadn't spoken a word so far. She didn't say anything to him though. If he didn't want to talk, that was fine with her.

Yasmin seemed to mull over her options before shrugging, "I suppose we can be counting on your arrival in haven with the fortnight?"

The four mercenaries looked between each other before Dalish spoke up and said, "I believe so, Herald," Dalish grinned at Yasmin's obvious discomfort with the title.

"Alright then! Au revoir mes amis," Yasmin's smile split her face. "Sorry for all the trouble, Cynthia. You've been remarkably patient with me despite the earlier unpleasantness," Yasmin said as she laid a coin purse on the bar that made a solid 'thunk' belying the small size of the purse. "Oh, also this," Yasmin dug into one of her pockets for a silver coin with a particular insignia. "The guard of Val Royeaux know the Seekers' mark. They won't ask you uncomfortable questions about the dead Templars out back when you show them this. They know not to interfere in Seeker business. Lord Seeker Van Reeves made sure of that," Yasmin added the last part with a quiet sort of venom.

Before Cynthia could protest the kind gesture, Yasmin had already turned on her heel and led her people out the back door. When Yasmin, Sera, and Lysette were alone in the alley with the dead Templars. Yasmin picked up one of their fallen swords and proceeded to desecrate the corpses by maiming them post-mortem. Lysette was understandably perturbed. "Herald! What are you–,"

"Evidence innit? They didn't die natural-like, so you're making it seem like you just hacked them up instead of that spooky seeker shite you told us you could do," Sera interrupted with her theory.

"Exactly right Sera," Yasmin grunted as she stood over the final corpse, Jacques the leader, before plunging her sword through his throat, mangling his spine, and into the ground below him. "There. Let's go round up Cassie and the others and return to Haven. I've missed that frozen hellhole."