Yay, more DAO. I hope you guys are enjoying the fic. I know I am. Big thank you to my beta. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Enjoy!
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Damien watched from his perch as the darkspawn circled the ruins. The sounds the monsters made sent chills up and down his spine as they screeched and howled at each other. Damien knew a direct assault would end with him and his comrades in pools of their own blood. They would need some kind of diversion.
"I can't see anything. What're they doing?" Daveth asked from a few limbs down.
"It's like they're on guard duty. There are too many for an all out assault, but I think we can skirt the perimeter if we run a little game on them," Damien said sliding down to the next branch and shimmying down the tree.
"What do you mean run game?" Daveth asked as he landed.
"It's a long shot, but it really is the only way that we all have a chance of making it to the tower alive," Damien stated as all eyes in the group turned to him. Even Alistair appeared to be listening attentively.
"What do you have in mind?" Alyssa asked.
"A shield wall at the front protecting Lyna with her bow behind you and Alistair," Damien said drawing the formation in the dirt with his finger. "Daveth and I will circle around to the right and slip between the defenses and flank them. Once we engage them, there will be a small window where you can engage them in single combat. Jory, you're rear guard on the formation. Lyna, drop as many of those monsters as you can. Move slowly and make sure to keep Lyna protected from their archers."
Damien didn't realize just how much planning a battle was like planning a heist. Arrange the distraction, go for the loot, and get out, only now it was distract, flank, annihilate. He smirked as the thought made its home in his mind. He liked being a warden, and he just might be good at it.
"I like it," Alistair announced, far too excited in Damien's book. As long as he was okay with the plan, Damien didn't care.
Daveth followed close behind him as they sprinted through the trees, stopping right at the edge of the brush waiting for the companions to make their move. Damien tried to keep control of his breath. In the cold, swamp air, his breath could give them away if he wasn't careful.
The shielded group erupted from the trees and plowed straight ahead with the young elf in the middle picking off her targets one by one. Damien took off at a dead sprint, making sure to not use his magic so Daveth could keep up with him.
Sliding down into the mud and gliding to a stop right up next to the darkspawn defenses, Damien wriggled through the pointed pickets and drew his weapons. The rest of the group would be too far inside the darkspawn defenses in only a few seconds. They needed to act fast.
Damien raise his short swords and charged forward without a sound. If he stayed quiet, he might be able to kill several darkspawn before they knew he was there. His right blade found a hurlock's throat while the left cleaved a genlock through the head and nearly into its chest.
"Now!" Damien roared as an Alpha Hurlock spotted him roaring so loudly it rattled Damien's bones.
The shielded team scattered and engaged the darkspawn slicing through the tainted creatures easily as Damien dodged and rolled out of the way of the Alpha's giant battle axe. Damien smirked as he studied the darkspawn's speed. He won.
Launching himself forward, he slashed the back of the creature's legs severing the tendons and sending the beast to the ground. He quickly stood and sliced off the creature's head for good measure.
"Good plan," Lyna stated as she patted him on the shoulder and headed toward the tower.
"It was a great plan," Alyssa added following the elf.
"Well, don't get use to it. Those ideas are few and far between," Damien stated. He had to make sure the recruits didn't look to him for orders. He might have made a good leader, but the last group he led died when he abandon them. Thoughts of Lockey, Heness, and Griggs flooded his mind and he battled against the urge to cry. "Let's just find those treaties."
The group entered the ruins and started searching. Damien found himself looking up at the ruins as they remained erect against the forces of time. He wondered what the tower might have looked like when the Wardens had occupied it.
"Here!" Alyssa called from the far side of the tower. The group gathered around her as she sighed. The chest in front of her had been broken in two. Damien knelt in front of it and examined the seal. It was a Griffon clutching a scroll in his claw. If the Wardens kept any important documents, they would have been in this chest. He could sense a small remainder of magic energy as his hand pressed on the lid of the chest. The treaties must have been sealed with magic to protect them
"Alistair, you're a templar right? Can you sense the seals that were on the treaties?" Damien asked looking back at the senior warden.
"Maybe," the man said stepping closer but stopped suddenly. "How did you know the treaties were sealed with magic.
Damien's eyes widened as he realized what he had done. Andraste's dimpled butt cheeks, how did I do something so stupid? Damien sighed and stood, taking a few steps back. "I was born with a small amount of magic. I've never been schooled by the circle, but I've never even considered blood magic either. I use it when I run. I use it to make me jump higher, run faster, and soften my falls. That's all I swear," Damien confessed with his hand on his blade.
"Relax, Damien. I was trained as a templar, but I'm not one. I was recruited by the Grey Wardens before I ever took my vows. You have nothing to fear from me," Alistair assured him. "Though I can see why you kept it a secret."
Damien let out a sigh of relief as he looked at the other faces in the group. Lyna was smirking as if she had known all along, but Alyssa looked completely and utterly appalled. Jory appeared to be ready to cleave him in half, while Daveth looked deep in thought…well as deep in thought as Daveth could get.
"Well, well, what have we here?" a voice sounded from behind them. Damien drew his blade immediately and turned to face the possible threat. Instead he found a beautiful young woman with ebony hair walking down what was left of the tower's stair case. Damien could feel magic power emanating from her like a tolling bell in his bones. She must have been very powerful.
"Damien, I don't like this," Daveth whispered as the woman descended.
"Are you a vulture I wonder? A scavenger poking amidst a corpse whose bones were long since cleaned? Or merely an intruder coming into these darkspawn filled Wilds of mine in search of easy prey?" the woman asked stepping within two paces of Damien as he sheathed his weapon. Her gaze burrowed into him seeking the truth of his presence, but Damien had met people like her before. She was using fear to try and get what she wanted. She did not intend to attack unless provoked. "What say you? Scavenger or intruder?"
Damien smirked and signaled for everyone to relax. He could feel their eyes on him. He couldn't have them spooking this woman. She might have information on the treaties. He would need to be careful in how he questioned her. "Neither, milady," Damien began with a small bow. "We are Grey Wardens in search of treaties that were foolishly left behind in this tower long ago."
"Milady? That is a formal greeting, even here in the wilds. I have observed your progress for some time. Where do they go, I wondered. Why are they here? Yet, here you are. Disturbing ashes that have long since lost their flame, seeking something that is here no longer,"
"Be careful. She looks chasind," Jory whined.
"You fear barbarians will swoop down upon you," the woman said shaking her head in disgust.
"We don't like swooping, swooping is bad," Alistair responded.
"You say the treaties are here no longer. Do you know who took them?" Damien asked raising a hand to try and quiet his companions. The woman might be their only chance at finding the treaties and completing their assignment.
"T'was my mother, in fact," the woman said.
"Then perhaps you could take us to her," Damien suggested.
"Now there is a sensible request. I like you. Follow me if it pleases you," Morrigan stated turning and leading the group down a trail leading through a hole in the tower wall.
Damien began to follow when Daveth came up alongside him. "She's a witch of the wilds. She's gonna turn us into toads," the man rambled franticly.
"We need to recover those treaties. This woman is the only one who can get them for us. If it is a double cross, we fight our way out," Damien whispered back, keeping his eyes on their guide's bare, and if he was being honest, very lovely back.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Daveth added before falling back in line behind Damien.
"Me too," Damien whispered. He sighed and quickened his step until he was close behind the woman. "I don't believe we ever properly introduced ourselves. My name is Damien. What might I call you?"
"Such civility, I must say, that is unexpected. You may call me Morrigan," the woman responded.
000
The hovel hid itself behind the ruined wall of what might have been a cathedral or maybe a fortress, Damien could not tell which. Trees and swampland surrounded the entire area except for the thin muddy path on which the small troop walked.
An elderly woman stood in front of the home with long snow white hair and a knowing smile on her lips. Damien couldn't help but feel slightly afraid as his senses buzzed with the feeling of such immense magical power, it was almost unbearable. When they stood in speaking range of each other, Damien thought the power might crush him into the mud and dirt.
"Greetings Mother, I bring before you six Grey Wardens who-" Morrigan started but she was cut off by the old woman.
"I see them girl. Much as I expected," the woman said looking over each member of their party.
"She's a witch I tell you, we shouldn't be here," Daveth whimpered.
"Quiet. If she is really a witch, do you want to make her mad?" Jory scolded.
"Witch? Morrigan must have told you that. Witch of the Wilds indeed. Oh how she dances under the moon," the woman jested.
"I don't know who or what you are, but you aren't what you seem," Damien said feeling the pressure closing in around him. They needed to be done with this woman as quickly as possible.
"Oh, you appear to possess a true gift. Yet, there is uncertainty about you. But… do I? Why, it seems I believe," the woman spouted off. Damien shook his head. What was she talking about? What did she mean things were uncertain for him?
"They did not come for your stories or fortune-telling Mother," Morrigan stated.
"Ah yes, they came for their treaties. And before you start barking like rabid dogs, your precious seal wore off long ago. I have protected them," the woman stated opening a chest next to her door and pulling several scrolls from it.
"You…You protected them? Why?" Alistair asked.
"Why not? Take them to your Grey Wardens and tell them this Blight's threat is greater than they know," the woman stated handing the scrolls to Alistair.
"What do you mean by that?" Alyssa piped up.
"Perhaps they think less of the threat or the threat is greater than they think," the woman said constantly spinning her riddles.
"We appreciate you assistance, madam. Thank you," Damien said as his arm covered his stomach. If he didn't get away from this power soon, he might get sick or loose consciousness.
"Such manners! And always in the last place you look…like stockings," the woman stated letting out a laugh of enjoyment… and perhaps a touch of madness.
"Time for you to go," Morrigan stated. Damien nearly shouted his praise for the announcement as he took a step toward the path away from the hut.
"Don't be ridiculous, girl," the woman stated softly. Damien froze. If she asked them to stay he was not sure if he could handle being in the woman's presence for much longer. "These are your guests."
"Oh, very well. I will show you out of the woods. Follow me," Morrigan said taking the lead of the group once more. Damien fell instep behind her and the pressure around him lifted. Once the hut was out of sight, the youth could feel the weight beginning to lift from his shoulders and chest allowing him to breathe a little easier.
"Are you alright? You seemed very quiet back there," Lyna asked from behind him.
"I'm fine. I'm surprised none of you could feel that," Damien stated wiping his brow. Simply trying to stand upright in Morrigan's mother's presence had been exhausting, and now they had at least a five hour hike back to camp. He would be lucky if he was able to stay up right once they got there.
"Feel what?" Alyssa asked a few spots back in the line.
"Nothing… just the magic power that woman has is incredible. Just being in the same vicinity nearly dropped me to my knees," Damien confessed. "Morrigan is no push over either. Granted she 's not on the same level as her mother, but I have never felt stronger magical power except from the circle mages when they are all casting together."
"You are a talented man, Warden. I would not expect someone to be so sensitive to magic whom is not a mage," Morrigan stated without looking back.
"I am a mage. Just not with the circle or ever trained by it," Damien responded rubbing the back of his neck as the group ducked under low branches and over fallen limbs.
"Do you not practice magic?" Morrigan asked as the group stumbled from the trees and into a clearing with a clear cut trail leading northwest toward the camp.
"Only with small things like when I run. I use it to enhance my movements," Damien responded. He extended his hand in thanks, but Morrigan raised an eyebrow before vanishing back into the brush and trees.
"Come on. Let's get everything back to camp. If we hurry, we should make it before nightfall," Damien said pointing up the trail. The group nodded and Damien took the lead, marching up the trail toward the distance smoke rising on the horizon.