I'm back! Sorry it took so long but work and real life just stole every last minute of writing time from me. Hope everyone can forgive me. I am going to try get back to posting every week but we'll see how work and life treats me. Anyway, hope all of you enjoy. I really do appreciate hearing what everyone thinks of the story. It always brightens my day. Thanks to my beta and my wife for all your help and to everyone else, please enjoy!
0000000000000000000
Damien felt sick to his stomach as the boat rocked back and forth. The lake felt rougher on the return trip than the first crossing and his injury was not making it any easier to take. Leliana sat next to him and kept eyeing him as he tried not to lose his lunch.
"You may lay down if that would help," she said patting her lap.
"I'm fine. Just having some trouble with the waves," Damien said. He wondered just what the girl was trying to pull. He knew she was still keeping secrets, but then again, so was he. All of them had their own secrets and things they didn't talk about with everyone else.
Damien shook his head and closed his eyes trying to keep his stomach level and the ribs from robbing him of his breath. He didn't have time to think about that kind of stuff right now. Besides, Leliana had more than proven herself in the Tower. Any doubts about her loyalty to the group were laid to rest but he still had doubts about her past. Could any secrets harm them in the long run? What if his past came back to haunt him, or maybe someone else's past could cause the group problems while they were on the road?
Trying to force his mind to clear, Damien dipped his hand over the side of the boat and scooped up some of the cold water, rubbing his face down with it. He wondered how Kallian was healing up or if Morrigan had killed her out of annoyance. Hopefully Alyssa would have kept that from happening. Of course, if anything had gone wrong, they always had Brax. Although the more he thought about it, the more worried he became about the status of his comrades.
The boat pulled up to the dock gently and Alistair helped Damien out of his seat followed closely by the others. They were exhausted to say the least.
"I don't know about you, but a hot bath sound pretty damned good to me," Damien said heading for the tavern.
"Knowing you, you'd soak 'til it got cold," Alistair shouted.
"Knowing you, you'd piss in it to warm it up again," Damien retorted. Alistair gave him a small shove as the group laughed.
The group made their way up the embankment and toward the tavern where Damien spotted the big mabari sitting next to Alyssa outside the door.
"It's good to see you. I'm glad you made it back," Alyssa said waving to greet them.
"We are too," Damien said patting Brax on the head. The dog sniffed at him for a moment before nuzzling at his side with his nose and licking at his injury. "I'm alright Brax. Just need some rest and a hot bath."
"What happened?" Alyssa asked looking over at the other Wardens.
"Turns out the tower was in the middle of a rebellion of sorts. Damien volunteered to help clear the tower of demons and abominations in return for the mages and Templars' help against the Blight. Mages agreed and sent three of their people with us. The Templars said that since the mages are still around, their duty comes first," Lyna explained quickly.
"And what happened to him?" Alyssa asked pointing to Damien's side.
"I used my ribs as a hammer to kill a mage who had turned into a pride demon," Damien responded. Alyssa looked over at the others with a confused and downright puzzled look as the entire group nodded assuring her that he was telling the truth.
"Did you think that was a good idea?" Alyssa asked as Damien pushed open the door to the tavern.
"At the time… no. But that was all I could do to end the fight," Damien confessed heading inside.
The tavern was emptier than when they had left. He wondered if his arrival might have had something to do with that. But now was not the time to think about the movement of the Fereldan people. He needed rest so his ribs would finish healing, not to mention he was covered in dried blood from head to toe and smelled like death on a campfire.
"My friend," Damien announced loudly leaning on the bar and looking across at the barkeep. "I need a room with a hot bath. Hot being the key word."
"Sure thing, that will cost you two silvers for the night. Thirty coppers for the bath," the man said grabbing a key from the shelf.
"How about a sovereign for two nights, a hot bath, and five full meals for me and my friends," Damien said pulling the gold coin out of his pouch.
"Deal," the barkeep said accepting the coin.
"Make yourselves comfortable people. We're gonna be here for a couple days until our wounded are back on their feet. Wynne, I want you to go a see a wounded member that was not with us on the mission. Her name is Kallian Tabris. Do what you can for her. Alyssa, show her the way," Damien said turning back to his group. "Daylen keep an eye on that ankle and take my spot in the rounds for look out. Lyna explain the rotation to him. Neria and Alistair, once I'm finished bathing, I want to talk to the pair of you. Sten and Leliana, grab fresh clothes for everyone from the cart and make sure the horse is alright. We'll need to be ready to travel the day after tomorrow."
The team moved with their assignments as Damien hobbled up the stairs to his room. It was much larger than he would have expected and was right next door to what he believed was Kallian's room. He decided it would be good to check on her before tending to himself.
"Kallian, are you decent?" Damien asked.
"Um… yes…" Kallian responded. Damien opened the door to find Kallian laying on her bed as Morrigan rubbed a poultice on her shoulder.
"How are you feeling?" Damien asked glancing over to the other side of the room where Wynne and Alyssa were standing.
"Very lucky to have a new caretaker," Kallian responded causing Damien to smirk as Morrigan scoffed.
"Glad to hear that," Damien responded glancing over at Morrigan. She did not seem to be too upset by being replaced by Wynne as the caregiver.
"Actually, your friend has done a fine job of healing Miss Tabris' wounds. She shouldn't need any more than a few more days of rest to be back at fighting strength," Wynne stated stepping to Kallian's side and examining the elf's body.
"Excellent. In that case, take it easy for a bit longer and once we're both back to full strength, I want a sparring match," Damien said turning to leave.
"You're on!" Kallian shouted after him as he headed over to his door and quickly ducked inside.
The pain in his side was starting to ache even more as he stripped his armor and clothing. The bruising had certainly lightened and the minor cuts had all but healed leaving only reddened skin behind.
"I might have overdone it," Damien said laying down on his bed in nothing but his small clothes. It might have been a wooden bench with some straw and a sheet, but it might as well have been a cloud after everything they had been through.
Closing his eyes, Damien started running through maps in his head trying to figure out where they needed to head next. He would love to find a tribe of Dalish elves to recruit next but he had no idea where to go to find them. Maybe the dwarves at Orzammar, but he had heard that the politics of the dwarves was involved and complicated to say the least. So then, Redcliffe? But they heard from the knight in Lothering that the arl was sick. Maybe he should head there with Wynne and Neria to see if they could heal him.
"Excuse me, sir," a voice called from outside startling him out of his thoughts.
"Yes, what is it?" Damien asked sitting up suddenly but falling back down on the bed as his side released a shockwave of pain though his entire torso in response to his movement.
"We've brought the water for your bath, sir," the voice announced.
"Oh right, come in," Damien responded as he sat up slowly and slipped his tunic on once more. The door opened and a basin was rolled in with several buckets of steaming water.
Damien waited for the tub to be filled and for the innkeeper and his help to leave. He closed the door and locked it behind them before stripping and lowering himself into the tub. The hot water felt good on his skin as he acclimatized to the temperature. He made sure to scrub out his hair and wash the blood that had been stuck there for most of the day. He sighed as he leaned back and relaxed in the water.
Redcliffe, Orzammar, or trying to find the Dalish? He would need to decide soon but where? There was no way to know for sure what they needed to do. How was he supposed to figure out what path to take?
If they went to Redcliffe, they might be able to cure Arl Eamon of his illness and gain an ally against both Loghain and the Blight. But, if Arl Eamon did join them, could his forces hold out against Loghain until the Blight was deated?
Orzammar, from what he had heard during his travels, would never get involved with a civil war in Fereldan. They had too many domestic issues of their own. That being said, for training to fight darkspawn, there really wasn't a better place to go. The dwarves were constantly fighting the darkspawn in the Deep Roads. Surely, they could learn different techniques and strategies for dealing with darkspawn from them.
To be perfectly honest with himself, he had no idea of how to even find the Dalish to begin with. Lyna said her clan had moved north so they were most likely out of their reach by now, but maybe she would know where another clan was, or at least a general location. But would they even agree to meet with him since he was a human?
"Damian? Can I come in?" Alistair asked.
"You can try but the door's locked," Damien responded standing and grabbing a towel.
"You said you wanted to talk to Neria and I, right?" Alistair asked.
"After I'm done bathing, you dolt," Damien exclaimed as he dried off.
"Well, how was I supposed to know you weren't done bathing yet?" Alistair shouted back.
"Oh, shut up and give me a second," Damien said wrapping the towel around his waist and unlocking the door.
"Aren't you a little cold?" Alistair asked as Neria lowered her head and covered her eyes. Damien chuckled as he looked down at himself. His chest bore several scars from fights and falls in the past. His back was covered with stripes from his time imprisoned in Fort Drakkon.
"A little but my clothes need to be washed so the towel will do until I can get some more. Now, Neria, I know that the only reason you came with us was because Daylen asked you to, but I was very impressed with your healing ability in the tower. I'll be counting on you during the coming engagements," Damien said placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you, sir," she responded meekly.
"Drop the 'sir' okay. We're all friends here. Just call me Damien," the warden replied. "Now, if you could double check on everyone in the group and make sure they are alright or at least on the mend, that would really help me out."
Neria nodded quickly before making her way back down the stairs. Damien motioned for Alistair to come inside as he took a small wash bowl and started to wash his small clothes and tunic.
"Was that all you wanted to talk to her about?" Alistair asked.
Damien smirked as he continued to work. "Actually, I wanted to give her confidence a boost. She's a little timid for our kind of work and her reaction to that Templar's remarks make me worry about her in battle, but I think we can condition her to be a solid healer while in battle," Damien confessed smiling over at his friend.
"You always have something up your sleeve, don't you? Remind me never to play Wicked Grace with you," Alistair stated.
Damien finished up washing his laundry and hung them by the small stove so they could dry before sitting down on the bed. As much as everyone looked to him for leadership, he still wanted to talk about their possible courses of action with someone. Alistair being the Senior Warden was a decent choice, but he had said that he was no good at making decisions. Maybe he should call Lyna and Alyssa in as well and get their thoughts as well.
"Alright, once everyone has finished settling in, I want Alyssa, Lyna, and you to come up here so we can discuss the next move," Damien ordered.
"Sure thing, but why discuss it? You're our commander, you should decide," Alistair stated.
"Because I've got reasons to head to all three locations next as well as some drawbacks. I need my fellow Wardens to help me iron out the details and think of anything I might not have considered yet," Damien said wringing out his tunic and hanging it next to his small clothes.
"Fine, but you might want to put on something more than a towel before we come in. I'll go grab some clothes for you from the cart," Alistair said heading back out the door.
"Thanks Alistair," Damien called after him as he closed the door. He wanted to start cleaning his armor too but that would take a lot longer. It would be best to clean that in the morning after a good night's sleep, as long as that damned archdemon left him alone.
Damien placed his hand over his ribs and sat down on his bed. Alistair wasn't gone for more than a minute when he tossed the clothes in to Damien and headed off to find their comrades.
Dressing quickly Damien took a seat on the floor with his back against the wall. Having something to lean back against helped relax him more for some reason.
"Are you ready for us?" Alistair asked.
"Yeah, come on in," Damien answered.
The others came in and settled themselves around the room. It was obvious that they were tired, but he really needed to figure out their next move. Without their opinions, he was not sure he could make the right decision.
"So, what's going on?" Alyssa asked.
"Actually, I wanted to get everyone's opinion. I've been trying to decide where to head to next, but I'm unsure. We've got three options and I want everyone honest opinion on all three," Damien answered.
"Before we get into that, I think we need to talk about something else," Lyna stated crossing her arms.
"And what might that be?" Damien replied cocking his head to the side. He wondered just what the girl was thinking. Maybe she wanted to scold him for getting hurt in the tower, or maybe she had an issue with one of his decisions in combat.
"Alistair stopped me from introducing myself as a Warden to the Knight-Commander and the First Enchanter. I can only assume that was because you told him to," Lyna stated accusingly.
Damien sighed and glanced over at Alistair. He could only assume that the former Templar was not subtle in his way of stopping her which drew her attention. There was no way that Lyna and Alyssa would be alright with him taking on all the danger of assassination and specific targeting, but he had to keep them safe.
"True, I told him to keep your association secret. Please understand, we're not just fighting darkspawn here. We're in a tricky situation. The kingdom that we are supposed to be fighting alongside to defeat the Blight has turned against us. But even though that is the case, we can't fight back because we don't have an army. And even once we do gather loyal forces, we have to use them against the Blight, not Fereldan. I assumed that Loghain might continue to target any surviving Grey Wardens from Ostagar so I have been telling everyone that I was the lone survivor," Damien explained.
"To keep Loghain from targeting us, right?" Alyssa asked.
"That's right. To protect the very existence of the Wardens, we need to make sure that our true numbers remain hidden at all costs," Damien explained. "If I were to be killed, we have to make sure that there would still be someone to continue the fight."
"Who would take command after you? None of us could," Alistair exclaimed.
"You, Senior Warden. I know you have the potential to be a leader and when you are ready, I'm planning on handing you this particular monkey on my back," Damien said smirking.
"Very funny. I guess we could just make sure no assassins get close enough to attack you," Alistair remarked.
"Sounds like a plan. So from now on, make sure that if anyone asks, I'm the only survivor of the Grey Wardens from Ostagar," Damien said looking around the room at each of his comrades.
"If that is your order," Lyna said reluctantly.
"Just promise us you're not going to be too reckless," Alyssa added.
"This is me we're talking about," Damien said grinning.
"Exactly what I mean," Alyssa retorted.
Damien laughed and nodded his agreement before resettling against the wall. He knew they still did not like that he was taking this kind of risk with his own life, but he would never intentionally put them directly in harm's way without a very good and compelling reason.
"Now that we've settled that, how about we get back to what I actually called you here for," Damien said looking between his three comrades once more. They smiled and nodded their approval.
"Where to go next right?" Lyna asked.
"We've got three options. One, we try to find a Dalish clan that has a large network of connections. Two, we head to Redcliffe and see about curing Arl Eamon with Neria and Wynne's magic. Three, we head to Orzammar. I've got my reasons for each, but I want to hear your thoughts before I tell you mine," Damien said crossing his arms.
"I suggest Redcliffe first. Arl Eamon would be invaluable to us not only against the Blight but against Loghain too," Alistair said.
"True, and we know exactly where he is," Alyssa added.
"But so does Loghain. We already saw the lengths that he was willing to go to at the Circle Tower. Don't you think he might have a plan to deal with Arl Eamon if he did recover," Lyna stated pinching her lip as she thought.
"But if we don't act fast enough, we could lose Arl Eamon completely," Alistair said in a near panic.
"We don't even know how sick he is yet," Lyna argued.
"If it was nothing too terrible, then magic would have solved it, but I keep hearing stories from merchants and refugees saying that they have run into Redcliffe knights searching for the Urn of Sacred Ashes," Alyssa reported.
"That sounds ominous," Lyna remarked looking thoroughly confused.
"The Urn of Sacred Ashes is said to hold the ashes of Andraste herself. Legend says that the ashes can heal any wound or ailment," Alistair said softly.
"Then, they are looking for a miracle because most likely nothing else is working," Lyna said looking around. All of them slowly turned to Damien.
"It sounds to me that we are deciding on whether or not to go to Redcliffe at all. If Arl Eamon is sick enough that the knights are looking for a lost miracle cure, then healing magic is going to do less than nothing. However, consider the current events. The Circle Tower was in no way able to send help to Redcliffe even if asked. Maybe they are looking for a miracle because magic was unavailable," Damien suggested.
"It sounds like we should head to Redcliffe and investigate to be on the safe side," Alyssa suggested.
"I'm on the verge of being convinced, but I want everyone to give me a definite yes or no in regards to going," Damien responded. "So, all those in favor of heading for Redcliffe day after tomorrow, raise your hand."
Alistair hand immediately shot up. Alyssa nodded and raised her hand as well. Lyna sat quietly for a moment before sighing and raising her hand. Damien nodded and stood slowly.
"Alright then, Redcliffe it is. Once we get there, we'll investigate the situation discreetly then decide what to do from there," Damien ordered. "Now go get some rest and keep an eye on our new friends. I think they are alright, but I'm worried the fight in the tower might have them in a fragile state."
"You got it, commander," Alyssa said as the trio filed out of the room.
"Good night Damien," Lyna said as she closed the door behind her.
"Good night." He hoped it would be. Maker only knew how much actual rest he would get with that damned dragon roaring in his ear all night. Although at the moment, he was a little more concerned about Alistair. He seemed so eager to go to Redcliffe. He wondered if the former templar might have a connection to the village or maybe even the Arl.
He shook his head and sat down on the bed grabbing a pen and parchment from his bag. He wanted to write to Bethany and let her know he was okay. He hoped the Hawkes were alright. He had heard a while back that crossing the Waking Sea was treacherous and should only be attempted out of pure desperation.
Putting the pen to paper, he told Bethany how they had rallied more supporters and had the support of the mages now but how he was afraid of making a mistake. Maker he wanted to talk to her face to face. Just thinking about her made him relax a bit and the thought of her reading the letter in the future made him smile. He continued saying that he missed her and hoped she was doing well. He made a point to ask about Lillian and Carver too, plus Leandra. He ended the letter by telling her to send any reply to the Spoiled Princess before sealing it and addressing it. He had a feeling that the Spoiled Princess might be the best place since it was along the way to most of their locations. After all, it was only five days from Redcliffe on foot, two by boat without wind. Not to mention only 4 days from the entrance to Orzammar depending on weather. It wouldn't be too far off to say that the tavern as as good of a place as any to set up some kind of rally point of him and his comrades. He'd make sure to bring that up with them in the morning.
Damien set the letter next to his bed and blew out the candle before pulling a blanket over himself and dozing off into his darkspawn-filled dreams.