Dragon Age:
Origins
(Book 1 of 7)
Chapter Nine
Maker, how could anyone live with such a weight of stone above their heads? She was terrified that it would come down on her head at any moment, elves were not meant to come down here. She was certain of that but she also knew that she could not show any sort of weakness in front of her new comrades, she would never hear the end of it.
It had taken about a fortnight for them to get from the shores of Lake Calenhad to the passage in the Frostback Mountains, she had been more than a little overwhelmed with it all. The Templars did every now and then actually let mages out of the Tower, just on the little land that the tower was built on to be sure but it was at least something where they could get some air.
But there was that and then there was this, there was so much around her that it threatened to be a little overwhelming at times but she had been able to find her footing after a while and soon enough her balance had been restored and she finally managed to walk without the urge to ask her companions a thousand and one questions.
They had all been very patient with her, well, most of them had been. She had been asking a lot of questions that she imagined to people who had spent their entire lives with the freedom to walk outside without having to worry about a templar shoving a sword into her back would seem like stupid questions to ask but that did not apply to her and she felt the need to ask them.
And alas, while Duncan and Westbrook and Joshua and Anessa had all been willing to humor her for the most part, Ian had not been. Every time that she had asked something, anything in fact, the Grey Warden had ground his teeth that Neria was fairly certain that if he did it any more that his teeth would break in half from the tension of it.
It didn't hurt her feelings, she was naive to the outside world but that didn't mean that she was naive to people and how they were, being raised in the circle was an education in that what with having to dodge chantry priests who seemed determined to make her entire existence there a living hell or templars who were waiting for her to make one slip up so they could haul her off to the cells under the tower or getting trapped in the games and plots of the senior mages who would see her and all the rest of the apprentices and junior mages as nothing more than pawns in their games that could be replaced if they died.
It had been all that she had known ever since she had been stolen away from her Father, and she hated it more than any words could say but she also loved it more than anything else. It had been all that she had known for so long that, well, you could get used to anything if you gave it enough time and she had long ago gotten used to it.
Flames, a part of her had been looking forward to it. To ascend up through the ranks of the circle until one day, she would become the First Enchanter of the Tower and everyone would be playing her games and it had been a comfort to her on many cold nights when she had been unable to sleep, caught up in the massive unfairness of her life.
And now look at her, leaving the Circle and everything that she had ever known behind. She was free, free from the Circle and the Templars at least as now she was confined to a different sort of prison. The Grey Wardens might have given her more freedom than the Circle and the Chantry ever would but that wasn't saying much.
It meant fighting the Darkspawn and that was not something that she was looking forward, she had only heard tales of them but the tales were enough to chill her blood, an endless hoard of monsters dwelling deep beneath the earth and they would rise up and overrun entire nations through their sheer endless numbers.
It was terrifying to think of, she knew that for some of the apprentices in the tower that it was their worst nightmare and while she had never quite the same level of fear of them as some did but she did not relish confronting them. Who would?
And now they were as close to them as they could be, more or less. She had read about the Dwarfs and a little bit of what remained of their empire in the books in the circle library but that had not been all that much, aside from depending on the dwarfs and Orzammar for the lyrium most mages honestly did not care about their inner political workings.
Neria had been one of them, to be honest and right now she had wished that she had been different when it came to it. If only because when you were being hosted by the royal family of one of the last two holdouts of the dwarven empire it would have been nice to be a little forearmed. She didn't want to pick up the wrong fork at some point and somehow have accidently insulted the King's mother or something like that.
Yeah, she had read about something like that happening in Orlais once at one of their fancy parties.
Thankfully, it seemed that she didn't have all that much to worry about as Duncan it seemed had met the King before, in point of fact it seemed like they knew one another well, they called one another friends and Duncan had spoken to him more casually than she would have done to any form of royallty, and she had to admit that she was curious as to how that was and once they were away from this place and back on the road to Ostagar she would ask him.
For now, they had things that they needed to do, finding more recruit for the Wardens for example. Neria knew that she was not a warden yet, but she was going to be one soon enough and to her eyes it was a pity that they would not be able to take the King's daughter on as a Warden, if she had been chosen to lead the forces defending Orzammar then surely she had to know a great deal about fighting Darkspawn, Neria would place coin on her making a great Warden.
Neria liked her a lot, in fact. She had basically just met her when she had decided that, they had been walking through the streets outside of the royal palace towards something called the proving which, from the context, seemed to be some kind of tournament that had been arranged for the Princess to celebrate her appointment as the overall commander of Orzammar's military forces.
While they had been walking through the Diamond Quarter, as the city had called it and she had managed to read about the social stratification that seemed to be at the core of dwarven culture with the elite living in the best of conditions and those who were not deemed fit to live in a caste, as the dwarfs called them, were treated as if they were not really people at all, the subject of why the people of Orzammar did not seem all that concerned
Princess Sereda Aeducan had not taken any prisoners, making it clear that they did not feel the need to help other nations fight the Darkspawn as they had been fighting the tainted monsters for as long as any could remember and they had been doing it alone, the only other dwarfs in all of Thedas were in Kal-Sharok half a continent away, cut off from one another due to the Deep Roads that connected their empire being overrun with darkspawn.
Honestly, Neria got it. It was bad for them if the surface got overran with Darkspawn but everyone down here constantly lived with the threat of them overruning them and bringing them to extinction why would they want to volunteer to fight for the surface?
A loud clang of a mace hitting a shield brought Neria out of her thoughts and she looked down into the arena from the stone viewing are that apprently was used for the royal family when it came to the provings. Two people, she could not tell if they were men or women as they were fully armored from head to toe, were circling one another, armed and armoured and they every now and then struck at one another but none of them gave an inch.
Her companions were watching the match with varying levels of intrest, Sereda despite the games being held in her honor seemed to have more interest in speaking to Duncan about Darkspawn, conditions on the blight at the moment, tactics when it came to killing the darkspawn, basically a lot of it was about the darkspawn and Duncan was listening intently to every word she spoke, a smile on his face but his eyes every now and then would dart to the arena so he could watch the men fight, perhaps he was weigh their worth and if he could convince them to become recruits for the Wardens.
The match was more exciting for others that were watching it, Joshua was watching the even intently and he was cheering as loud as any dwarf in the proving arena and Neria had to wonder if he had perhaps put coin on this match with someone as he always seemed to be more happy if one of the fighters landed a strike on his foe than if the other did.
Sitting next to him was Westbrook who while not as loud as Joshua still let out a cheer every now and then, Aneesa was not making a sound but it was clear that her large dark eyes were not missing a single thing and Ian was the only one who did not seem to have any interest in the match and indeed looked like he'd rather wish to be anywhere else.
The sound of metal clanging against metal and something heavy falling to the floor had brought Neria's attention back to the match and one of the combatants was laying on the ground, their arms out stretched to the sides. The cheer that went up around the stands was almost enough to drown out Joshua's scream of frustration, almost.
The provings master, an elderly male dwarf with a massive white beard which fell almost to his shins, rose from his chair which had been placed in the same royal booth as the rest of them but kept a respectable distance away from their chairs as apprently while the position of provings master was one of high honor it would not do for anyone present to think that he was worthy to sit with a princess of the royal family and her honored guests.
"The ancestors have made their favour known to all of us here and Everd of the House Bera shall proced on to the next, and final, bout." The crowd cheered and the dwarf in the arena inclined his head in the direction of the booth, he had been pretty silent through all of this so far now that Neria had come to think about it. Even at the start of the matches, when the combatants would say a few words to one another as a courtesy, the dwarf had stayed silent.
There had been some mummering by the provings master at that as it apprently it was considered rude to hold your tongue during the moments before a bout was about to begin but it hadn't been enough to stop the match, if it had then it would have been a bit troublesome with one of the combatants who was a member of the order of Silent Sisters who could not speak.
And that was could not, not would not. At least, Neria assumed that was the case. Maybe the woman would not have spoken even if she could. After all, if she was willing enough to cut her tongue out to make sure that she couldn't speak then it wasn't that hard to believe that she also would not speak out of choice as well. And the thought of someone cutting her tongue out sent a shiver up Neria's spine.
Down in the Arena a pair of attendents were dragging the knocked out fighter away and Everd made his own back to where Neira assumed that the fighters would take a break after their matches, there normally seemed to be ten minutes between matchs. Neria turned her attention to the princess. "I'm surprised that you did not wish to partake in the provings, princess."
When the Princess turned her attention to her, she had a bemused look on her face while Gorim, her second which Neria took to meant that he was something between a squire and a bodyguard, was frowning at her but if that was because he did not approve of the question that she had asked or because he did not think that I had any right to speak to his princess then I could not really say.
"Well, I could have I suppose but these provings are held in my honor." Sereda's words were hesitant, almost begrudging as if the words she were about to speak were an irritation to her, an inconvenience that she had to put up with even though she did not wish to. "It would be an insult to do so however, these men and women are fighting in my honor if I was to test their strength myself then it would be as declaring that I find them to be unworthy to fight in my name."
Neria suppoused that made sense, but she got the sense that Sereda would still wish to take up arms for herself and fight in her own name, but then Neria guessed that she would have more than her own fill of fighting soon enough against the Darkspawn. Neria did not envy her, but then she remembered that she would soon be fighting Darkspawn as well.
She had never been more grateful when it was announced that the next, and final, match of the provings was about to begin. The fully armoured figure of Everd stepped into the middle of the arena and moments later he was joined by another male dwarf who was armored in a similar fashion, though his helm left his face bare.
The other dwarf, who the proving master annouced as being Mainar a member of the warrior caste and an officer in the dwarven army, did not look well. His face was pale and he was swaying on his feet and when he and Everd turned to give their oaths to the Princess, well to say the least it might have been better if he had followed Everd's lead and stayed silent.
"Is the fool drunk!?" Gorim said with a snarl, his eyes narrowing at the slurred words of his oath and asking for the favour of his princess and commander, his face flushed red with rage as he turned to look as Sereda. "My lady, allow me to go and chastise the fool for offending you in this manner."
The proving master let out a gasp at that. "We can not end the provings, we have reached the final round and the assemebed lords and ladies will be most insulted if we bring it to an end now."
"The displeasure of a few lords and ladies does not matter to me as much as any offense given to my Lady, the Princess Aeducan and the same it should be to you Master. Or have you no loyalty in you?"
"How dare you?! I-None can be said to be more loyal than I!" The master quivered in rage and when he turned to spoke to Sereda. "My lady, I ."humbly beg your pardons. If you would like the provings to end then you need only say the word."
Sereda tilted her head to the side, considering it for a moment before she shook her head. "I am not so easily offended, master. And Gorim is a most loyal second for thinking of my honor but truly I have no issue with allowing the provings to continue. Mainar's punishment will be the easy defeat that Everd will serve to him in this bout in front of all these lords and ladies."
And then, Neria watched as Sereda Aeducan's grey eyes turned as hard as stone and her voice took a low note. "Not to mention the stripping of his rank in the army when I assume command, I will suffer no drunkards under my command. Not when the safety of Orzammar is at stake, the man can go to the legion of the dead if he has any hopes to regain some small piece of honor."
"The princess is wise and merciful." The provings master with a small tilt of his head and in that moment Neria realised that he wasn't just saying that because he was frightened of what would happen to him if he did not say that, but she didn't doubt that was a part of it, he actually believed it. The master turned back to the arena and gave his permission for the bout to go ahead.
Sereda had not been wrong when she said that it was clear that the victory that Everd took would be an easy one, drunk as he was Mainar was no match for the other man and it was moments after Neria saw that the drunken man had fallen to the ground and Everd was standing over him, ready to take the final strike.
It was at that moment that the doors that that combatants came out of burst open and a male dwarf, naked and pale and gaze unfocused came rushing out into the middle of the arena. Pointing a thick, stubby finger at Everd. "Imposter! My army, my victory, my honor! Mine!"
"What is the meaning of this disgraceful display, how dare you!?" The proving master roared. "Guards, take this fool away, at once!"
"Wait a moment." Gorim stepped forward, a look of confusion on his face as he stared down into the arena at the naked man before his eyes widen and he turned to face them. "That is Everd, I know it is! I know it! Whoever is in that man's armour, it's not the real Everd."
It suddenly made a lot of sense, the fact that whoever it was did not let an inch of their physical features appear to anyone's gaze and the fact that he had kept his silence up to now.
The imposter Everd apprently did not like the accusation that was thrown at him, and he lunged at the real one and shoved his blade through his gut. It jutted out through his back, shinning red and wet and a scream went up around the arena at the same time as the proving master ordered for the guards to intervein while Mainar scrambled away on his hands and knees.
Sereda Aeudcan rose to her feet in that moment, and while she was the shortest of all of those around her, in that moment she seemed a giantess. She strode forward and glared down at the armoured indivdual who was now surrounded by guards and looking like a cornered animal and when she spoke, her voice gave no quarter. "Remove your helm, I am your Princess. I command you."
The imposter stared silently back up at her for a long moment, before he brought his hands up to either side of his helm and pulled the helm off before dropping it to the floor.
As soon as the brand was seen, the roar that went up had to be louder than a Dragon's ever could be.
"A castless." Sereda said with a snarl, like she had seen rather revolting slug crawl over one of her boots.
"A castless, a castless has fought in the-" The provings master looked like he was about to be ill, he looked like he was about to fall to the ground. "These provings must be declared invalid, I am sorry my Lady but I have no choice when it comes to it. Other games can be held, but this taint must be removed from the memories at once.
A loud bitter chuckle rose up from the arena and the man, the castless, glared up at them. "You go right ahead, you strike me from the memories but it doesn't matter because all of you have seen it here today. A castless defeted men and women of the warrior cast, a castless fought in the name and for the honor of you, Princess and a castless is your true and rightful champion!"
The rage in the air was so thick that for a moment, Neria was certain that all of the dwarfs were going to jump out of the stands and tear the castless man limb from limb. "Let me kill him." Gorim growled, ferel.
"Get. In. Line." Sereda growled.
"If I may." Duncan spoke, voice smooth as Antivan velvet. "Like it or no, he does have a point. He did defeat all of your warriors through right of arms, to be sure he did not land the last blow on Mainar but he would have if not for the interruption at the last moment. That to my eyes, does make him your champion if you like it or no!"
"He is castless!" Sereda shouted, as if that explained everything and to her it probably did Neria realised.
"I am aware, and I am aware of what that means. Allow me to take him, I will make him a Grey Warden. We will use him well in service against the blight." Neria looked down at the man in the arena, not entirely sure how she felt about having to serve alongside him.
Sereda did not look happy with this, in fact for a moment Neria was certain that she was going to hit Duncan. After a moment, she laughed but it was not a happy sound. "Discuss that with my Father, if you wish to do so. If he agrees to let you take him, then you can do as you wish. I know you can without of course, but if my Father truly is your friend you will at least do him the honor of consulting him."
"Of course, Princess." Ducan said with a respectful bow of his head.
"In the meanwhile, I will not have that foul creature running free." Sereda glared back down into the arena and gave her command.
"Lock. Him. Up!"
End of Chapter Nine
Welp, I'm back.
Sorry for the wait, but new stories and crazy life has lead to this story falling on the back burner for awhile but we are back at long last and I reallly hope that you liked this chapter will consider giving this story a follow, a favourite and a review if you liked it.
With warm regards,
DiscordantSymphony
