What had she meant by that? Why would she say something so foreboding?
I sighed.
"I understand." I didn't but it was best for us to leave this bath, in any case.
"Then we need to be off to the alienage as soon as possible. I saw the guard leave his post and the entry is no longer barred. I can only assume they were sent to do something more 'important', and it could well mean that they have eyes inside. Shemlen ones."
At least she appeared to be better rested than before.
"After you, my Warden, as always." We met with the others and only received a few curious glances from certain party members.
"The alienage?" Was all Leliana said and Wren nodded as she continued on, not taking any chances with how long the guard would be away.
I was not at all surprised with how much of a mess the place was but I saw Wren's shoulder tense as she glared around the slum of a town. We were told to look for the angriest elf and we could certainly hear her. She saw us and did a double-take on Wren before she appeared to assume she was a city elf. Then she approached us much more easily than I had first thought and explained what she'd observed of the situation. People going missing, a plague, and Tevinter mages.
"They ignore humans and only let elves who they claim to be ill in." Shianni finished. That was all Wren needed to hear as she unstrapped her crossbow from her back and handed it to Leliana.
"What are you doing?"
"Going in. Zevran too. Leave your obvious weapons here. Once we get in, it's hidden weapons and ones we get from them. Can you do that?" Her eyes didn't leave the building the Tevinter surrounded, but I knew I had her ear.
"You could send me in alone."
"Funny. The rest of you stay here and slowly evacuate the villagers until you see an opening and go for the Tevinter. With them mostly or completely gone from the area, there will be less of a chance of them getting caught in the crossfire once the fighting starts. Shianni, I'm trusting you to lead the evacuation as these people know you. Let's go." The tingles hit again as she led me by my wrist as though I were unwilling.
The mage cooing over our supposed illness was none the wiser and when the door opened, Wren's grip on my wrist tightened ever so slightly.
She collapsed almost as soon as the door closed behind us, coughing up a storm. I went to comfort her, already knowing the plan here. There were a handful of guards and mages inside who went to lead us to where we needed to go, and Wren threw her knife at one, running after the trajectory of the blade and using her momentum to tackle another. Stealing his sword from his belt and slicing his throat before leaping to the one with her knife in his chest. I had a bit more upper body strength than her but still enjoyed using the moment of surprise to grab a couple of substitute blades to dispatch a couple of guards furthest from her. Mages almost always hid a dagger on their person, especially Maleficarum. Usually tucked within arms reach while standing.
"Your aim has improved, my dear." She offered me the tiniest glimpse of a smile at my compliment before we headed for the most obvious place one could hide people. Of course, they caged the sick elves. Wren started to unlock the cage for them immediately.
"Wait here for about five more minutes while we wait to make sure the front exit is clear, and then follow us." She ordered as she checked them.
"Shianni was right. Tevinter is using this quarantine blight bullshit to cover up slave trafficking." She marched to the front door and I knew she was hoping there would be at least one more guard to kill. There wasn't but we got our original weapons back, which was a small comfort.
True to our elven warden's thoughts, it was suggested that we check the apartments for more activity and information. Unfortunately, once we got there, it looked like we had just missed them. There were signs of a full-on swift retreat from somewhere and Wren walked up to an elf and asked what happened. When he proved to be difficult, her stance shifted ever so slightly as she started again.
"Do I look like I'm in the mood to barter? I really want to kill some more of those Vints but I don't mind starting with you if you don't give me answers."
He scuttled away after sputtering something about a warehouse.
"Great. Hopefully, we aren't too late with that too."
Thankfully, we weren't. The warehouse had the bigger cages and the ringleaders, Devera and Caladrius. He promptly recognized the Wardens and offered her a way of bribing him for what she ultimately wanted, the letter as proof. She appeared interested as she walked towards him until she started picking up speed. Instead of grabbing her crossbow, she jabbed him in the shoulder with one of her arrows. It was slightly familiar to the men at Haven and their Andraste dragon.
"You're going to leave everything here because you're going to die here." She ducked down after, using his slowly decaying body as a shield for the archers that let loose their arrows. That was all the cue we needed to join the action, Morrigan's flame turning those same archers to ash the next possible moment. By the end of it, the worst damage we had taken was a long gash in Wren's outer thigh. Wynne was working on it while Alistair freed the elves and I picked the letter from Caladrius's corpse along with his gold, of which he had a hefty bag.
"Let's get you all back to the Alienage, Shianni will be relieved to see you're unharmed." Wren stood, testing her leg. I came to her side, just in case.
We met no opposition on our way back and Alarith even allowed us to trade with him.
"That was incredibly reckless of you, Wren. How did you know for certain that Caladrius wasn't going to hit you with a hex of some sort?" Wynne chided on our trip to the Estate.
"He was too money-hungry to think about me disagreeing, even with me being an elf myself. You could see it in his eyes. Plus, he is Tevinter through and through. Almighty and blah blah. His authority and majesty wouldn't be questioned by a mere knife-ear. I was fine." She did lean on me during the last half of the trip. I caught her when I felt her stop moving.
"Whoa, Warden. Wren?" She passed out just feet from the door and I carried her in, cradled to my chest.
"She must have lost quite a bit of blood before I could get to her wound. I bet she was running on adrenaline as she does." Wynne said, checking her for fever." She just needs some rest and probably to eat something when she wakes." With that, I took her to her bed, and she stirred when I was working to remove her boots.
"Zev? What happened?" One of her hands, I saw now to be paler than usual, covered her face to ease a possible headache.
"We won but you lost a lot of blood. Stay down, please. Wynne's orders." I smirked when she tried to sit up.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself." Wren quipped but listened and stayed on the bed. I proceeded to remove her other boot, pleased she was well enough to speak in her usual way.
"How could I not? First I have you naked in a bath and now I have you in a bed. This time, you are allowing me to help you to be more comfortable."
"Did you carry me here?"
"I did. You fell right into my arms. Imagine my elation."
Wren let out something like a laugh before a loud growling emitted from her stomach, true to Wynne's words.
"Can I trust you to stay put while I go and bring you some food or do I have to tie you down?"
"I'll stay, you incorrigible man." Covered face or not, I could see her roll her eyes. It was too much fun to pick on her.
"I'll see if they have any venison."
"Thank you." This was weaker but I think she was finally trying to rest up some.
I took my time but she was still awake when I came back with water, bread, and meat.
"Do you not trust the forces in the Arl's estate to protect you?" I sat with her to make sure she ate well.
"The Arl was poisoned by a secret Maleficarum his own wife hid from him because of their child showing magic, leading to said child becoming possessed because he wanted his dad to get better." She snarked as she sat herself up and took some gulps of water.
"Is everyone else okay? Morrigan hasn't set anything on fire because of servants asking her if she is cold? Wynne is resting? She looked haggard in our last fight. I know it wasn't just me."
"Everyone is eating and resting, as you are now."
"Have you eaten?" I nodded.
"This plate had more on it and I found this as well." I smiled, lifting the bottle of Antivan spirits for her to see.
"See? They had no idea you snuck that up here. How can we trust their security? Oh, they had venison." A sound like a purr escaped her, catching my attention in an instant as she froze. With that, I pretended to be none the wiser as I opened the bottle I brought with me.
"You know, alcohol is the last thing I should be drinking after being injured?"
"This is why I will only give you some once you start looking better and get your color back." I chuckled.
"When is the Landsmeet? Tomorrow?"
"I believe so, yes."
"Shit...if we do this right...we can win it. But it could be close."
"Eamon says we need a strong argument and everything we have on Logaine. Having his daughter on our side would help as well. She probably counts for more than a Bann here." I offered.
"Then we would just need two nobles to be on our side. Bann Alfstanna should be on our side then...we might even have the Grand Cleric Elemena on our side. As for Anora, we would have to leave out our feeling that Logaine must be held accountable for his crimes. We might have to lead her to think we will support her on her own…" She began giggling out of the blue and met my eyes.
"If we end up having to fight, you want to duel Logaine?"
"That would be very ironic." I grinned into my drink, knowing it was the reason she said it.
"Exactly and you love to work in front of an audience." She followed it up with a wink. More color was in her face now and I offered to take her empty cup to fill it with some of the Antivan brandy.
"Now you are ready. And right, of course."
"Would you fight Logaine if I asked you to?" The inquiry was simple and innocent enough.
"You know Alistair is itching to kill him."
"That isn't what I asked you." She hummed as she took a sip. I locked eyes with her, for a moment.
"For you? Without question, Wren."