Here is the next chapter. I hope everyone is still enjoying the story. Please leave a review and let me know how you like it. Hearing from readers makes my day. Enjoy!
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Damien found himself seeking solitude for most of his down time in Redcliffe Castle to continue his experiments with his new ability. He had asked Morrigan about the power as a hypothetical but even she had never heard of an ability like it. He considered questioning Wynne about it, but decided against it. She had a way of seeing through any veil he tried to hide behind and getting straight to the truth. It was certainly unsettling.
Kalli and Zevran hit it off immediately and Kalli was learning as much as she could from the former assassin and adapting her fighting style to incorporate the new skills. Damien made a mental note to train with both of them at least a couple times before they left.
Arl Eamon must have taken Damien's advice because the noble was spending much of his time with Alistair as well as Alyssa. Damien wasn't sure yet, but he was fairly certain that those two had grown close. He hoped so. They both deserved at least a little happiness.
Morrigan was off on her own somewhere, likely in the woods reading the black grimoire they had found, while Daylen, Neria, and Wynne were practicing combat and reinforcement magic.
As expected, Sten and Shale seemed to be getting along… at least as far as anyone could tell. Neither of them spoke, at least not that anyone else heard.
Leli and Lyna practiced archery often and showed definite signs of improvement. True their skills were already fantastic, but the more they trained, the tighter their groupings got on the targets as well as being able to fight while moving unlike most archers who needed to stand still to steady their aim.
Everyone was improving and getting better, but Damien believed that they needed real combat experience against their real enemy, the darkspawn. Since Ostagar, they had only faced the beasts a couple times and most of the group had never fought them at all. With that in mind, Damien wanted to head to Orzammar next where he could spend a few weeks facing darkspawn in the Deep Roads and hopefully get some experienced dwarves to join his ranks. Having the dwarven army at his back would definitely make him feel more at ease when it came time to fight the darkspawn horde.
Finding a small secluded courtyard, Damien closed his eyes and tried to remember the feeling of that power. The way it felt like he had a thousand hands stretching out in every direction. Feeling everything around him as if touching with the tips of his fingers. He released a slow breath and tried to focus solely on the blades hanging from his hips. He imagined the new hands gripping the daggers and drawing them slowly. To his surprise and delight, the blades started to lift from the sheathes, but the moment he stopped focusing on them, they slipped back into the sheathes. He tried over and over again and only ever managed to draw the blades out of the sheathes and hold them in the air for a moment before they fell to the ground.
"Damn, why can't I control it? It's just two weapons, I used a lot more than that back in Honnleath," Damien snarled retrieving his blades and sheathing them once more. "Maybe something smaller would be easier."
He sat down and focused on a single throwing knife from his back stachel. Usually, he only used his magic to nudge the blades when he threw them so they were on target or give them that extra push to pierce armor. This time he wanted to try and throw the knife without using any physical movement at all. Of course, that was a lot easier said than done.
Why was it so difficult? Or perhaps the question needed to be why was it easier against the demon?
He remembered the crack he felt in his mind during the fight and tried to find it among his thoughts. Or perhaps it lay in his memories? He was not quite sure.
He took a breath through his nose and sat down with his legs crossed. His focus turned inward searching for the crack among the memories and thoughts of his in mind. As he did, Damien could hear the distant whispers of the archdemon resonating from the taint in his blood. He tried pushing the whispers from his mind to try and focus on the power but as he did, the crack emerged and the power spread out stretching his mind to every surface. He could feel his weapons, the grass, the trees, and even the walls around him. He felt the leaves in the trees and even the direction of the wind as it gently blew through the castle halls.
"So that's the secret," Damien said softly as he allowed his mind to return to the confines of his body. He had to push his mind outside of the physical bounds of his flesh and bone to feel and touch everything around him. He would need to practice more until it became second nature like wielding his blades had.
He wondered what the crack or break in his mind had been that unlocked the power, or perhaps the crack was what allowed his mind to fan out the way it did. Could it be a risk to his mental or physical health? Nothing seemed different, but it might be unnoticeable from his perspective.
"Damien?" Lyna asked coming into the courtyard.
"Yeah, I'm here," Damien said pushing himself to his feet.
"There is a visitor for you. He said that he had an agreement with Duncan to aid the Wardens," Lyna said motioning to the hall behind her.
"Alright, I'll meet him in the front courtyard in a minute. If I'm meeting as a Grey Warden, I should probably look the part," Damien said pushing himself to his feet and stretching his neck to either side.
000
Damien descended the steps of the castle to the main courtyard in his gleaming, blue and silver armor, displaying the griffon on his chest with his daggers as his sides. His hair and clean shaven face were concealed as per his usual dress, but they were freshly cleaned and mended. This was the cleanest and best groomed he had been in a very long time. Not since he had broken into a noble estate and made off with clothes, boots, and a sack full of food and wine. He had even decided to indulge himself in the Lord's prepared bath with expensive soaps and the softest towels he had ever felt.
The man in the courtyard looked to be some kind of merchant. His clothes were of fine make and he wore simple but expensive rings on two fingers of both hands. He was the kind of mark Damien would have targeted when he was a pickpocket. Now, the man had come to him seeking a meeting rather than avoiding the thief. How times have changed.
"Greetings to you. My name is Levi Dryden. I had heard that the Warden Commander had come to Redcliffe. I was hoping to speak with him," the man said with a courtly bow.
Damien raised an eyebrow as he stepped off the last stair. "You are speaking to him. I'm Warden Commander Damien," the youth said copying the bow but not quite as low.
"Oh… um... I did not expect the new commander to be so young," Levi replied looking Damien over a couple of times.
"There weren't exactly many choices," Damien grumbled before standing up straight and looking the merchant in the eye. "What did you need of me?"
"Actually, I had a deal with Duncan. He said that after the Blight, he would bring the Grey Wardens to reclaim Soldier's Peak," Levi remarked. Damien waited for the man to continue but he did nothing but stare at the young warden.
"I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with Soldier's Peak. I'll need some more details," Damien stated motioning to a stone bench against the wall.
Levi nodded and followed him to the bench as he explained. "We'll, to start, my grandmother was once the Commander of the Gray in Fereldan, before the order was expelled. Soldier's Peak was the headquarters for the wardens. A hidden sanctuary for training and research. I have recently discovered a path to the fortress, but there are too many dangers for me to try and reclaim it alone," the man stated.
Damien pinched his chin as he considered. Having a fortress would help in the war, both against the Blight and Loghain. Who knew what kind of knowledge was still stored in the old bastion.
"I believe that we might want to look into this. Reclaiming a lost fortress would be worth the risk, I think," Damien said looking up at Levi.
The merchant smiled broadly. It must have been weighing heavy on him that most of the wardens had been killed. Damien wondered if the man had an ulterior motive for going to the fortress.
"That being said, my people are tired and several including me were recently wounded. We need time to recover. If you remain in the village, I can let you know when we are ready to head out," Damien stated, rubbing the back of his head. The wound to his head had healed as had most of his injuries, but he still believed he and his team needed rest, especially those who came with him to Honnleath.
"I understand, commander. I will get a room at the inn and see if I can sell some of my wares to help the village rebuild until you are ready to head out," Levi replied. Damien nodded his thanks and shook the man's hand before heading back inside.
As he came through the door, Lyna was waiting for him. She had apparently been listening to the conversation… or perhaps standing guard. He was not sure which.
"So, when do you plan to leave for this Soldier's Peak place?" Lyna asked, falling instep with him as he made his way back to the courtyard he had been using for his practice.
"We'll head out in a week. That should give everyone time to train and get used to our new members. I'll have to make sure to make the rounds and see if I can get us working like a real team," Damien replied as they walked into the courtyard.
"I don't know. I think we make a decent team already," Lyna said.
Damien smirked and sighed. That was true, but only of those that they had fought with so far. Shale, Zevran, both of them would need to acclimate to how the rest operated.
Rolling his head around his shoulders, Damien decided to save the rest of his practice for the evening hours when everyone else was resting after supper. That would keep his power secret until he was ready to reveal and use it in combat.
"I think I'm going to train with Zevran and Kalli. I'll see you at dinner," Damien said, nodding to Lyna.
"Alright."
The answer caused Damien to pause. The tone of Lyna's voice made him think that she wanted him to stay, but since the elf girl was headed toward the archery range, he assumed she understood that they needed all the training they could get.
With that thought, Damien made his way to the yard where Zevran and Kalli walked through different fighting techniques and patterns. Damien joined in and soon they were using staves to duel each other. Zevran seemed to have the upper hand when Damien was not using his magic but Kalli gave the former assassin a run for his sovereigns. Damien focused on his technique rather than his speed.
His fighting style was honed on the streets of Ferelden. The fact that he was able to hold his own against soldiers and darkspawn was surprising, even to him. Training was necessary.
For the next week, the group practiced, trained, and rested. Damien even gathered the group to train together and spar against each other to learn everyone else's moves and styles. The young warden spent several training sessions simply watching the others fight so he could come up with strategies to utilize the members of his team effectively.
Damien felt rested when he woke on the seventh day. He stretched and strapped on the black leather armor Bann Teagan had given him as well as Duncan's daggers across his back. He decided to strap another pair of daggers at his hips while attaching the throwing knives to his back and a few concealable knives up his sleeves and within his boots. Since Zevran had attacked them on the road, Damien wanted to be prepared for the possibility of more assassins and surprise attacks.
Arl Eamon had supplied an additional cart for them to use and paid for Bodan's wagon to be repaired and reinforced. He even contributed six horses for those who could not fit in the carts to ride.
"I will gather as many allies as I can find for you, Warden Commander," Arl Eamon stated. He put out his hand with a smirk. Damien took his hand and nodded his understanding. Damien knew that the promise of troops would be expensive for any of the nobles that supplied their forces.
The army at Ostagar had numbered in the thousands with at least a few hundred Wardens. The new army would only have four wardens and whatever troops Damien could manage to scrape together. Even those troops would be expensive to outfit and arm.
Damien turned and climbed up onto a black gelding at the front of the column. Apparently the horse's name was Ebony Thunder, and the horse seemed to like Damien. The Warden patted the horse on the neck and offered him a piece of a carrot Damien had snuck into his bag from the castle kitchen as a snack. It was not as if he needed to sneak or steal food from castles anymore, but habits were hard to break.
"Move out!" Damien shouted.
The column started moving across the bridge as Leliana and Lyna took up position on either side of him with Alyssa, Alistair, and Daylen on the other three horses taking up the rear. Neria and Wynne drove their original cart while Kalli and Zevran drove the new cart. Sten sat on the back of Bodan's cart while Morrigan huddled in the back of their original cart studying the black grimoire. Shale lumbered along next to the carts eyeing the gulls with what Damien could only assume was murderous intent. Levi joined the march as the group passed through the village and nodded to Damien that he was ready to take the lead.
The convoy moved slower than Damien would have liked and the five day journey to Soldier's Peak took a full week. The night before they would arrive at the fortress Damien found it too uncomfortable to sleep. The wind carried a whisper on the breeze that raised goosebumps and sent shivers up his spine.
"You feel it too?" Daylen asked. The mage stepped to his side and eyed the mountains above them.
"I can't tell what it is, but there is something not right about this," Damien remarked.
"I couldn't agree more," Wynne added, stepping to Damien's other side.
"I think I need to have a chat with Levi about what happened at this fort. I'm a little concerned that this is not going to be as easy as walking in, raising a flag, and calling it ours," Damien said, rubbing the back of his neck before heading back toward the campfire.
The next morning, Damien sat down with Levi and his companions to find out what they were walking into. Levi explained that he did not know much about the fortress except where it was and a little history. Apparently, his ancestor had been the warden commander in charge of the fortress before the order was kicked out of Fereldan.
"So, in basic terms, you have no idea what we are walking into," Damien summed up. He looked around the group as his companions as a few sighed. This was starting to be normal for them. Jumping into a situation that should have been simple only to find horrible consequences and desperate fights.
"We have some of the worst luck I have ever heard of," Alistair said, looking around the group as well.
"I had pretty good luck right up until I met you, pal," Damein jested, lobbing a half eaten crust of toast at his friend.
"And you still give me extra food," Alistair replied as he caught the tossed morsel.
"Alyssa, could you smack him for me please?" Damien asked with a smile. The girl smirked and slapped an open palm lightly against the back of the man's head. "Thank you."