Hope everyone is enjoying the read, because I am loving the writing side. Big, big thank you to my beta for putting up with me sending them these chapters at 2 and 3 in the morning. You're awesome. Also, big shout out to my wife/best friend for being my muse and my constant encouragement through every project I have taken on. Please leave a review and let me know what you think of the fic. Enjoy!
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Rows upon rows of tents covered the hill sides. Winding his way through the soldiers, Damien smirked at the men drinking and laughing. They were enjoying life. He didn't blame them. He should have probably gone with Alyssa to find Alistair like Duncan had asked, but he had a promise to keep.
"Soldier, I'm looking for the Lothering militia, do you know where they're camped?" Damien asked. The men he spoke to sprung to their feet upon seeing him in his Warden armor. It was strange getting respect from soldiers rather than being stepped on or kicked as they passed.
"They're camped three rows down, Warden. Look for the large orange tent," one of the men answered.
"Thank you gentlemen," Damien responded nodding and meandered through the ocean of cloth and blades.
He found the large tent and started looking around for anyone that looked like Bethany. He assumed they would be similar in appearance given that they were family.
"Can I help you, Warden?" a young man asked.
"I'm looking for Lillian and Carver Hawke. Any chance you know where they are?" Damien asked.
"You're in luck. Their my tent mates. This way," the man said leading Damien to one of the tents. He threw back the flap revealing two dark haired soldiers. The woman sat on her cot sharpening her daggers while the young man repaired some damage to his armor.
"You two look like you've seen some action," Damien said. The pair looked up at him and stood quickly.
"What can we do for you Warden?" the girl responded.
"You're Lillian and Carver Hawke, right?" Damien asked.
"That's us," Lillian answered.
"I have a message from your sister back in Lothering." The siblings eyes widened as fear gripped their hearts. Damien quickly raised his hands. "Nothing bad I assure you. She just wanted me to tell you that she is thinking of you and praying for you."
Lillian let out a sigh of relief. They must have thought Bethany had been discovered as a mage. Their concern for their sister made Damien smile.
"Thank you for telling us," Carver said bowing his head respectfully.
"Yes, it's good to hear she's safe," Lillian added.
"My pleasure," Damien replied before turning and making his way back toward the warden camp. It felt good to do something small to give a family some piece in these dark times.
A senior warden pointed him to his tent when he arrived and he slipped inside. He found Alyssa asleep on a cot with Daveth on the opposite side, out cold as well. Damien laid down between them pulled a blanket and his cloak over himself to chase away the cold nipping at his fingers and nose.
As he started to drift off, he heard the small sound of hushed sobbing from the cot next to him. He sighed sitting up and glancing over at Alyssa. She was still asleep, but tears rolled down her face. He couldn't blame her. He could not say he didn't want to do that same thing; weep for everything he had lost during Howe's attack. His fingers found the wooden pendant under his scarf and he clenched it tight in his fist.
"Heness, Lockey, Griggs." The names echoed in his mind as he spoke softly so as not to arouse his bunkmates. They were his family for the past few years and now they were gone. He needed revenge, just as much as Alyssa craved vengeance for her family. When the battle was over, he'd march with the king's army to face Howe, and he would kill him himself.
000
Damien looked around the bonfire at the recruits as the morning sun peaked over the horizon. He honestly could not have come up with a stranger looking group is he tried. They had the noble, Alyssa, a knight from Redcliffe, Jory, a Dalish elf, Lyna, then two thieves, Daveth and himself. Damien couldn't help but chuckle at their mismatched set of recruits. Though if no one had known their origins, he assumed they all would have looked like equals clad in their gleaming new, blue and silver Warden armor. Damien touched the griffon on his chest and flexed his hands inside the leather, half finger gloves. For the first time in his life, he had a tunic that chased away the cold, warm socks inside tough leather boots that fit perfectly, and weapons of good quality on his back. He flipped his hood up to keep the cold breeze off his ears and tightened his scarf around his neck.
Duncan was explaining that they needed to collect a vial of darkspawn blood for each of the recruits as well as collect some ancient scrolls, treaties with other races and such.
"Those documents sound important. Why leave them behind in the first place?" Alyssa asked.
"The tower was abandon when the order was kicked out of Fereldan. They should not have been left behind at all because of their importance but they were. I don't know how it happened but it did. Usually, we would not need the treaties but the people of Fereldan seem to have forgotten their word. We'll need them if we need reinforcements," Duncan stated.
"Blood and treaties. Do we have a map of the area?" Damien asked.
"Alistair has the map and will be going with you," Duncan explained before turning to Alistair. "Take care of your charges and be back before nightfall."
"Understood," Alistair answered. The man looked like a warrior but the way he held himself told Damien there was something comical about him. Alyssa had been the one to talk to him and gather them all up, so Damien had not had the chance to speak to everyone. Damien's suddenly caught a slight gleam of gold on the man's hand where a runic ring sat on his index finger. The ring bore the symbol of the templars. Damien's blood cooled in his veins until he wasn't sure if his heart still beat.
As Alistair led the group toward the gate, Damien held back trying to put as many bodies and as much distance as he could between himself and the templar. The elf must have noticed because she slowed up as well coming along side him.
"You look pale, shemlen," she stated smirking. His discomfort must have brought her some kind a twisted pleasure. Maybe it was because she was dalish, or she just didn't like him… who knew.
"I just don't like templars," Damien responded nodding toward Alistair's back.
"Templars? What are they?" the elf asked. Damien raised an eyebrow.
"I guess you wouldn't know who they are, being dalish and all. Short and sweet, they're mage hunters," Damien explained.
"You don't wield magic. Why would you fear Templars?" Lyna inquired.
Damien pondered on his answer for a moment. Now that he had been recruited by the wardens, there wasn't anything anyone could do to him…right? Grey Wardens were almost untouchable. What could be the harm in revealing his secret? Then again, he had kept the secret for so long, it felt like something he should hold on to. He didn't know if he could trust his fellow wardens yet. Until he did, maybe he should keep to himself as much as possible. That being said, he need a lie to explain his dislike of the armor-wearing hunters.
"They're an authority in human society. Mage or not, they catch you stealing or breaking in anywhere, they punish you," Damien fibbed. The statement was true enough. Lockey had been caught by a templar once and the knight had beat him until he bled.
"Why would that bother you?" Lyna asked.
"Because I used to be a beggar and a thief. Satisfied?" Damien snapped.
Lyna smirked again and nodded. "I assume you are considered of low stature among your fellow shemlen?"
"Lower than servants. At least they have a job, a home, and food that is theirs. Me, if I didn't steal, I didn't eat. Plain and simple," Damien said adjusting the dueling blades on his back.
"Keep up you two. It's easy to get lost in the Wilds," Alistair called back.
Damien glanced over at Lyna and nodded before jogging with her to catch up to the rest of the group. He may not like that Alistair was a templar, but he was a warden too. He could give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
000
The Wilds swallowed the small contingent of Wardens in its frigid jaws surrounding them in putrid, swamp air. Wolves howled in the distance sending shivers cascading up Damien's spin. He dealt with wolves before on the road and in Highever, one of the dangers to sleeping outside without a tent. His eyes darted from reeds to the bushes and all around them constantly watching for threats and ambushes.
"Nothing like a relaxing stroll through the garden," Alistair joked studying the map for a moment before continuing down a thin path through the muck and shallow water.
"I'd hate to smell what you think is a swamp," Daveth responded.
"I'm pretty sure the sewer tunnels in Dragon's Peak could give this a run for its silver," Damien stated kneeling and checking a pair of paw prints stamped into the mud. The edges still held their crisp shape, no less than two hours old. A wolf loomed close by, likely watching them and waiting for a chance to strike.
"Oh yeah," Daveth reminisced nodding in agreement.
"Why were you two in a sewer?" Alyssa asked using her shield to push some reeds out of her way.
"Same reason I was in Highever Castle when we met. I was hungry," Damien answered.
"Quiet, you'll give away our position," Jory hissed in a hushed tone.
Damien knew that tone. He had heard it in his friends and his own voice before. That was fear hiding behind a façade of honor. He crossed his arms and stopped looking over at the knight.
"Considering we need to find a few darkspawn so we can get some blood, I'd say we could attract some attention. If they come to us, all the easier to kill them," Damien remarked making sure to make his voice louder than necessary.
"I think I'm with Damien on this one, sir knight," Daveth added.
"I agree with the shemlen thief," Lyna piped up.
"Damien does have a good point. This whole exercise was to test us, right? We slay darkspawn, collect their blood, find the treaties, and return to camp. We are wardens. We have to face the darkspawn," Alyssa stated.
As she spoke, the group came upon a small clearing hosting a slew of corpses including several horses, an ox and cart, along with nearly thirty soldiers. There were a few darkspawn bodies scattered around but the human casualties vastly outnumbered them.
"We should look for survivors," Damien said kneeling to check a body.
"He's right. They may have information that could help us," Alyssa agreed.
The group spread out among the bodies. After a few minutes, Alistair called out from the other side of a wagon. As Damien rounded the side of the cart, he found Alistair standing over a soldier wrapping a bandage and a splint around his leg.
"What happened here?" Damien asked kneeling on the other side of the man to help Alistair with the bandaging.
"The darkspawn attacked… ambushed us. They came out of the ground. I've never seen anything like it. They caught us completely by surprise," the soldier explained weakly.
"Can you make it back to the camp on your own?" Alistair asked. Damien looked up at the man with a puzzled look on his face.
"Are you kidding me? The Wilds are crawling with Darkspawn and you want to send a wounded man back to camp alone with no protection at all?" Damien exclaimed.
"He can't stay with us," Alistair argued. "I'm not the babysitting type."
"He needs to hide out here until we return. The darkspawn don't come back to ambush points they already used right?" Damien stated.
"True… let's finish bandaging him up and we'll hide him until we return from the old tower," Alistair said nodding. Damien realized quickly that he had spoken a bit out of line and to an older warden. He hoped it was not the wrong thing to do.
They pair finished bandaging the man up and hid him under the over turned cart with a full canteen of water, a poultice to help his pain, and a few bits of food just in case. They returned to the group as Jory started to ramble on.
"You heard that right? A group of seasoned men wiped out by the darkspawn," Jory stammered.
"Calm down Sir Jory. We'll be fine if we are careful," Alistair said. Damien rolled his eyes.
"Those soldiers were careful and it didn't help them. Look, I'm not a coward, but this is foolish and reckless. We should go back," Jory stated looking around the group.
"That sound like a coward's plan to me," Damien snapped crossing his arms. "I'm in no hurry to die either, but these challenges are part of our test to become a Grey Warden. So, buck up sissy pants. Let's get this done."
"Know this, all Wardens can sense darkspawn. We will not be ambushed. That is why I'm here," Alistair informed him.
"You see, sir knight. We might die, but we'll be warned about it first," Daveth added jokingly.
Damien chuckled pushed past the knight taking the lead. He could see white columns ahead, but there was something moving behind them. Possibly darkspawn.
"Hey Alistair, you said you could sense darkspawn. Can you tell my if that's a group of them up there about 100 yards down the trail?" Damien asked.
"I can definitely sense something over there," Alistair admitted.
"Good. Lyna, want to go meet the neighbors?" Damien asked drawing his blades.
"Sounds like fun Shem," the elf answered knocking an arrow to her bow string. Damien nodded and slipped into the brush.
He knew Lyna would know how to remain silent among nature. She was like him in that sense. A hunter. If the prey figured out they were there, they could go hungry. Though this time, they feared for their lives if they were prematurely discovered.
"I see them," Lyna said raising her bow. Damien held up his hand. "Why are you stopping me?"
"There's three archers up on the hill there. Let me get around the columns and flank the archers. Once I'm in position, you can take the hurlocks," Damien said pointing to the two patrolling darkspawn.
"Fine. We'll do it your way," Lyna hissed.
Damien nodded and slipped through the brush and mud as quietly as he could. He managed to get to the far side of the hill without the darkspawn seeing him. He raised his hand so Lyna could see him and waited.
His breath pulled in on his chest as his heart pounded like a war drum. He was sure the tainted creatures could hear its call to arms as his fingers tightened around the grips of his blades. He had never faced a monster like this before. Could his style of fighting work against gunlocks? They were short and stocky. He knew it would work on humans and hurlocks because they were of the same build physically, but he had never fought any dwarves or gunlocks before.
Courage, Damien. Duncan recruited you after seeing you fight. He would not have done that if he didn't think you could handle it, Damien assured himself.
Arrows burst from the brush below the hill burying themselves deep in the Darkspawn's chests as Damien sprang forward and slashed the throats of two of the archers. He turned and hurled the blade in his right hand at the last. The blade connected with beast skewering the creatures shoulder. Damien closed the distance quickly, using a small amount of magic to increase his speed, and with a single fluid motion ripped the blade out of the genlock's shoulder and separated the head from its body with his other weapon.
"I think you've gotten better," Daveth shouted stepping through the brush with the rest of the recruits and Alistair.
"How did you move that fast? I've never seen someone move like that," Lyna asked. Damien smirked at her tone. She was impressed and maybe a little jealous.
"It's just the way I fight," Damien lied cleaning his blades and slipping them back into their sheathes. "Let's collect that blood and get to the tower."
The group moved as if ordered. He hadn't meant it that way. He just wanted to get to the tower, find the treaties, and get back to camp. He wasn't trying to take over or command his fellow wardens. If anyone needed to give out orders it was Alistair as the senior Warden.
The youth shook his head and knelt next to one of the darkspawn and collected a vial of blood. The creature smelled worse than the swamp around them. The skin covering its twisted face looked to be rotting away before his eyes. The stench and sight sent shivers up his spin as he corked the vial and stood.
"Which way?" Alyssa asked.
"Um… North," Alistair said looking at the map.
Damien turned his gaze north to try and find any sign of the tower. The trees although they were spread out did not help in his search, but he quickly found what he was looking for. Sticking up just above the canopy of the Wilds were remains of a stone tower. Perhaps time or siege had reduced it to ruin, but either way, they had their assignment and a destination.