Dragon Age:

Origins

(Book 1 of 7)

Chapter Six.

Neria sighed as she watched the tower get further and further away as the small boat made it's way across the large, dark expanse of Lake Calenhad. She had never seen the tower from this far away before, she had never been outside the tower more than a half a dozen times in all of her life. Sometimes, if it weren't for the fact that there were so many stairs she could forget that she actually was in a tower.

It felt strange to be this far away from it, not really bad as she had never loved the tower to start with but it was an odd change, it had been a part of her life, the people there had shaped her life. The tower had made her who she was whether she liked it or not, she didn't remember who she really was before, she remembered some things of course. Her father, their village, how his stew used to taste but that was really all that she could remember.

She felt adrift without the tower, she had dreamed of freedom, she wanted freedom. She still wanted freedom more than anything but she hadn't to gain her freedom like this, she had wanted to strive for it with the others. To one day be able to walk in and out of the tower whenever she wanted to not be forced to leave to protect herself. She hated this.

The boat she and Duncan were taking back to the mainland was currently being rowed by a stern-faced older man with green eyes and grey hair, he was a Templar but Neria did not know his name as she did not see him much around the tower, older Templars often were assigned less combat oriented but still vital duties, like rowing the boats back and across.

Neria had thankfully still been inside when Jowan had made his escape to the outside, when she had seen the scene of carnage at the docks it had seemed unreal. It didn't seem possible that Jowan, her Jowan, blood mage or no could be responsible for what had greeted her when they had approached. Serveral Templars were laying on the ground, still and broken, like a marionette whose strings had been caught.

Some of the still living Templars, were dragging the bodies of their brothers and sisters out of the lake and remains of most of the boats lay shattered against the rocky island shore, only two looked as if they were still able to cross the water. Jowan had stolen a boat and she could see it bobbing along, reaching the shore as the waves seemed to be carrying it across.

Lake Calenhad was a still lake, Jowan had been making those waves. She mourned the loss of her friend and his potential, blood magic could affect the elements themselves but it could amplify all other forms of magic but it meant that Jowan had to be skilful in that act of magic first, if he hadn't succumbed to the lure of blood magic than everything could be different right now.

The Templar boatman was glaring at her and Neria realised that what she feared was coming true already, Jowan escaping and hurting the Templars were already starting to affect the rest of them. Neria held his glare for moments until the Templar turned away, he probably thought that she was trying to control his mind.

"Are you alright?" Duncan's voice brought her out of her thoughts and she turned her gaze to him, his eyes were full of sympathy, understanding.

She suddenly really wanted to punch him in the eye.

"I'm fine." She lied before she brought up her hands to brush her fingers through her hair, she felt tired. All she wanted to do was sleep for a week. "Are we going to Ostagar?"

"In time." Duncan said with a nod. "We will be staying in the inn near the shore tonight, that is where my fellow Grey Wardens are and from there, in the morning we shall make our way to Orzammar."

"That's the dwarven city, under the frostback mountains, right?" She had read about the great stone city in books but she didn't think she would ever be going, apparently it was one of the last two dwarven cities n the world as the rest of them had fallen to the Darkspawn when they had appeared. "Why are we going there?"

"The Grey Wardens need as many recruits as possible if we are to fight the blight as well as to deal with any future problems. We shall be making several stops before we go to Ostagar." Duncan explained.

"We're arriving." The Templar said, his voice cutting through the silent. He steered the boat over to the small wooden dock and Duncan stepped out on to it, he reached down with his hand and when Neria took it he helped her out on to the dock.

They stepped out on the to the rocky ground that surrounded in the dock and in the dark Neria could just make out lights, going by the loud singing and cheering she was going to assume that it was the inn. She began to step toward it but she stopped when she felt a hand clasp roughly around her shoulder.

She turned around and she shivered when she saw the cold green eyes of the Templar stare into her. "You're going to be a Grey Warden then, are you knife ear?"

Neria bit her tongue and resisted the urge to throw a fireball into his face, it would just make things worse for her. "Yes, I am."

"Good, do us all a favour and do not come back." The Templar said with a sneer and the temptation to throw a fireball into his face was getting stronger and stronger. "We have enough problems without dealing with a out dealing with Knife Eared blood mage fucker."

Just as Neria was about to do something that would feel really, really good, Duncan stepped in between them and placed his hand on the Templars shoulder. "Thank you good Templar, I think that is more than enough." And then he squeezed and Neria was more than sure that she heard a crack.

The Templar cried out in pain and he stumbled backward. "You broke my shoulder!" He shouted in pain.

"Don't be silly, I simply sprained it." Duncan said he wiped his hands together. "It will heal with a few weeks of rest, try not to move it too much. Now, you aplogise to this young woman or this time I will break it.""

The Templar breathed heavily through his nose for a few moments, glaring at both of them before he shut his eyes and sighed heavily. "I...am sorry mage."

"For?" Duncan prompted

"For calling you a...a Knife Ear." The Templar admitted grudgingly.

"Very good, now get rowing back across the lake before the Knight-Commander wonders where you are." Duncan commanded and the Templar turned on his feet and walked back to the boat, grumbling all the way about something that Neria was going to assume was something she did not want to hear.

"Well, now that unpleasantness is out of the way, let us go to the inn. You look like you could do with something to eat." Duncan said as though nothing had happened and he began to walk over to the inn. Neria let out a breath of disbelief and followed Duncan.

The lights grew larger and the singing and cheering louder, she could begin to make out the outline of a building, it looked like a fairly large building but she didn't have much to use for comparison. There was the tower and the building wasn't as big as that, if she had to guess then she would say that the tower was twenty of the building stacked on top of one another.

As they got closer Neria could just about make out a sign, the was a carving of a crown on the sign and underneath it written in a fancy script was the Spoiled Princess. An...interesting name, to say the least.

Duncan pushed the door to the inn open and they were suddenly bathed in a warm light as soon as they walked in, the warmth of the building making her feel slightly better. Duncan shut the door and lead her over to a table, where a large man with a bald head and a bushy red beard with grey streaks in it and wearing armour that might have been similar to Duncan's but looked a lot heavily and unlike Duncan's which was well polished his was covered in various scratches, was sitting. His eyes brightened when he saw Duncan he got out of his chair and pulled him into a massive hug. "There you are man! Took you bloodily long enough."

"I am sorry Joshua for taking so long, there were some...difficulties." Duncan said with a small shrug as the man let go of him. "Thankfully, it was not an entirely wasted trip." Duncan gestured his hand towards Neria who stepped forward. "This is Neria Surana, a mage of the circle and soon to be a future Grey Warden."

Joshua stepped forward and Neria thought for a heart stopping moment that he was going to hug her as well, not that had a problem with being hugged it was just that the man was utterly massive and he could probably crush her if he wanted to but to her relief he simply reached out and gently took her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. "A pleasure. I am Joshua Lavey miss Surana. A pleasure to have you with us."

"I'm glad to be here." Neria said shyly, she didn't want to be rude whatever she actually felt, if not for the Grey Wardens taking her in then she would've been killed or made tranquil or been sent to Aeonar like Lilly, it would take time for her to get used to this but it was far better than any other alternative.

"Tell me we didn't come all this way for just one Mage." A husky voice said and Neria turned to look as a dusky skinned woman dressed in similar armour to Duncan with a long sword strapped to her back and her black hair tied back into a bun. "I told you it would be a waste of time Duncan."

"There were some difficulties, but you know better than most that even one mage is powerful enough to be a great help Aneesa." Duncan pointed out as he sat down at the table with Joshua.

"Maybe. A pleasure to meet you my dear." Aneesa said and held out her hand and Neria took it, her grip was so firm that for a moment she thought that she heard her bones crack. As soon as the other woman let go of her hand Neria shook it to try and ease the ache inside of it.

The woman chuckled and sat down at the table next to her fellow Grey Wardens, Neria sat down as well and as soon as she did Joshua raised his hand and bellowed. "Oi! Who do I have to stab to get some drinks and something to eat?"

Not long after he bellowed a female dwarf with rust coloured hair messily pulled back into a pony tail with a large platter with four mugs of ale resting atop it. She set the platter down on the table and when the mugs had been removed from it she picked the platter up and made her way back to the bar. "I will be back with your food in a bit." She called over her shoulder.

Joshua raised his mug to his lips and tilted his head back as he poured the golden liquid down his throat, Duncan chuckled at his fellow Grey Warden as he nursed his drink, Anessa doing much the same.

Neria glanced down into her mug, there was officially speaking no alcohol allowed in the tower but that hadn't stopped some of the senior mages from sneaking some in, she knew that Wynne, for example, always had a bottle of wine or two stashed in her room somewhere. Neria herself had never drunk any wine or anything alcoholic in her entire life but she supposed there was first time for everything, she was finally out of the tower after all.

Time to live a little.

She raised the mug to her own lips and tilted it back, as soon as the liqud touch her tongue she spluttered and coughed as she dropped the mug. Maker, it tasted foul! How could people drink this swill? She was vaguely aware that Joshua and Aneesa were laughing at her while Duncan was patting her gently on the back to try and clear her throat, all through she could hear him chuckling as well.

"Maker, how can anyone drink this?" Neria asked after she finally managed to stop coughing, her voice a little raspy from coughing so much.

"It does take a while to get used too." Joshua said with a chuckle as he slammed his empty mug down on to the table so hard that Neria was fairly sure she heard the wood split. "Mind you, this ale is shit. I've pissed better than this!"

The dwarven serving girl came back with an annoyed look on her face, on her platter with four steaming blows of stew on top of it. She placed the platter on the table once again and as soon as they had all taken the bowls off the platter she picked it up once again. Before she could head back to the bar once again however Neria spoke up. "Excuse me."

The serving girl sighed and turned to face her. "Yes?"

"Could I ask your name?" Neria asked gently, she didn't want to be rude to the person who was serving her food and she didn't know how a complete stranger would react to that, in the circle a lot of new people were not okay with being asked their name right away as they were often still upset about being torn away from their families and it often took them days to disclose even that much.

"It's Felsi." The girl said as she adjusted the platter in her hands, it was a large platter but it looked even larger in her hands.

"Nice to meet you Felsi, I don't suppose I could have some bread could I?" She asked sheepishly, she didn't want to make any extra work for the woman but she had been unconscious for days and she hadn't actually eaten at all yet and while the stew looked very nice she did not think that it would fill her.

Felsi was silent for a moment before she nodded and walked back to the bar, in a few moments returned with a small place which held not only half a small loaf of bread but also a small wedge of cheese and some small little cakes as well as a knife to cut through the loaf. "You look like you were really hungry, don't let anyone know or they are all going to start asking for it." And with that she was gone.

"She must like you, in my experience serving girls always try to do as little work as possible." Joshua said as he dug into his stew with his spoon and shovelled it into his mouth.

"And I am sure it has nothing to do with your personal charms or table manners." Anessa muttered with a smirk, Joshua stopped eating for a moment and held up his middle finger to her before he went back to eating.

Neria cut into the loaf and came away with a large slice of bread and looked down into the bowl, it seemed to be a fine stew with chunks of lamb, carrots and onions. She dipped the bread into the blow and when the bread had absorbed a good deal of the gravy she brought it up to her lips and bit into it, she had to stifle a moan at the taste.

She finished the rest of that slice of bread in three bites and then cut into the loaf again, she didn't give a crap if she looked like a greedy pig she was hungry and she had every right to be. She finished the rest of the loaf and eat the stew as well. She didn't bother to eat the cheese and instead simply went on to the small baked cakes, she bit into one and her mouth was filled with the taste of lemon.

The diet of the circle was fairly strict, in the morning they would have thick, bland porridge, in the afternoon they would have soup with a few slices of bread and for evening supper and they rarely, if ever got any sweet things. She ate two more of the cakes and looked up at the others. "Would you like some of these?" She said as she offered the rest of the cakes, there were at least five left.

"Thank you Neria." Duncan said as he picked up a cake from the platter and bite into it, Joshua and Anessa took one each as well. Neria picked her mug back up and tried again to drink some of it, if she took small sips then the ale wasn't that bad, she wouldn't choose to drink it as a first option but it was certainly a lot better than having nothing to drink.

The door of the inn opened again and Neria could just make out the sounds of a pair of footsteps approaching the table, Neria looked over her shoulder and saw two dressed in the familiar armour approaching, one was a tall man though not as tall as Joshua and he had a pair of sage green framed in a stern face with a narrow nose and thin lips, he had long black hair and a small amount of black stubble on his chin and his cheeks.

The other man was shorter but more sturdily built than his fellow warden, he had short rust coloured hair and a fine dusting of red stubble on his face. He had blue eyes, a similar colour to a pair of marbles that Neria once had and his face held a little bit of flab, he was not fat by any means and it was clear that most what laid beneath his armour was muscle.

"Where in the Maker's balls have you two been?" Joshua asked as he popped his cake into his mouth and swallowed it without chewing, the dark haired man sighed and sat down next Anessa and across from Duncan.

"I was trying to teach this fool how to hunt, needless to say it's a good thing that we are staying in an inn and not out in the woods because if we were then we would be going hungry tonight."

The other man pouted as he sat down next to Duncan. "I told that I never trained with a bow before."

The dark haired man grunted and shrugged his shoulders, his eyes narrowed as they strayed to Neria. "This our only recruit then, we came all this way for one mage?"

"We came here for recruits and we got one, it lot better than we could've hoped for considering how many mages have been sent to Ostagar to serve the king." Duncan said as she stared firmly at the other man, he turned his glance to Neria and gave her a reassuring smile. "This is Ian." He nodded towards the dark haired man.

"And this is Westbrook." Duncan nodded to the other man who held up his hand and smiled at Neria. "Ian. Westbrook, This is miss Neria Surana. A mage of the circle and soon to be our sister in the grey, be nice."

"I am always nice." Ian muttered and Joshua and Anessa both snorted as one. He glared at them and stood from him his chair. "I'm going to go and get something to eat." And with that he walked off.

"Don't mind Ian, he's always an arse to new recruits." Westbrook said with a comforting smile and Neria returned the smile. She got the feeling that she would like Westbrook, he seemed like a nice man. "He thinks that he has to be because if he doesn't then they won't respect him."

Neria nodded in understanding and looked up when Ian returned, an angry look on his face. "There not serving food anymore!" He turned to glare at Westbrook. "If you could aim for crap then we could have some rabbits to eat."

"If we hadn't gone out practicing like you wanted us to then we would've been here for food and been able to get some, this is your fault!" Westbrook shouted back, his pale skin turning red with anger.

"Um, there are two of these cakes left." Neria said as she stood up and offered the plate. "Oh, and there is this wedge of cheese as well."

Ian glanced down at the plate with disdain for a moment before he sighed and clearly decided that it was better than nothing, he reached out and took one of the cakes and the wedge of cheese and used the bread knife to cut it in half and slid one of the halves over to Westbrook who took his wedge happily and began to bite into it.

Neria suddenly yawned into her hand. "Would it be alright if I headed to bed?" She asked Duncan who looked up to her as she had yawned, he stood out of his chair and smiled.

"Of course, I will show you to your room. You're actually in a bit of luck, we didn't know how many recruits we would be coming back with so we only rented the one room and there was only the one bed. You've got it all to yourself and you can avoid arguments as to who would be sleeping on the floor." Duncan said as he lead over to a staircase at the back of the inn.

They walked down corridor at the top of the staircase and they stopped at the second door down, Duncan took a bronze key tied to the end of a ribbon out of a small pouch on his belt and passed it over to Neria. "I shall leave you know, I would recommend getting a good night's rest, we shall be leaving early in the morning." And with that Duncan was gone, heading back towards the staircase.

Neria unlocked the door and stepped into the room, it wasn't a large one. There was a dresser in the corner of the room made of dark wood and a trunk at the foot of the bed. She took her staff of her back and placed it inside of the trunk and laid down on the bed, she did not have any night clothes she could change into. It suddenly occurred to her that she didn't really have anything other than her staff and her robes.

She had left so suddenly, she didn't have anything to remember the tower or any of the people she had grown to care about, and whether she liked to admit it or not she had grown close to so many of them, she had been locked in a tower with them for almost her entire life, that forced you to get closer to someone whether you wanted too or not.

She did not want to think about this anymore, Neria rested her head on the pillow and closed her eyes and for the first time in nearly seventeen years she tried to sleep in a different bed than the one she had always known.

She did not sleep well that night.

End of Chapter Six


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