Author's Note: This part is set between the Mage Tower and Honnleath, on the way to Orzammar. In this part, Sten and Edward have a short discussion about swords and such, then a spar with staves. Leliana discovers how the Warden is curious about her. We also learn how Zevran was recruited to the group. Morrigan gets her book.
Part 7.
Edward knelt by the fire and looked across the camp at the companions who had joined him. Alistair and Nereid were cleaning their armour quietly, while Huolir was relaxing against Nereid's legs. Morrigan and Leliana were cleaning some herbs together, Leliana chatting about Val Royeaux while Morrigan occasionally snickered at something the redhead had said. Wynne was reading opposite the fire. Even the trader Bodahn and his son Sandal were busy, pulling nails from old crates for some reason. That left the Sten, sitting quietly on a log, sharpening his sword. Edward poured a bowl of hot water and rummaged around in the camp food supplies, finding his box of tea. He added a couple of spoonfuls and stirred them into the hot water before setting the bowl down to brew. Putting back the box of tea, he fetched a couple of mugs and when the brew had finished, he poured two cups. He walked over to the qunari, who looked up, his lavender eyes appraising the Warden cooly.
"Here, Sten. I thought you might like this" he said, passing a cup of tea to the qunari.
Sten closed his eyes an inhaled the steam from the tea. "My thanks, Warden. I didn't know you had any tea" he said.
"How's that sword? I thought it was a very nice blade, great balance." asked Edward.
"It is a good blade. It doesn't take as much of an edge as my old sword though" said Sten.
"What was your old sword made of, Sten?"
"Blue Steel."
Edward whistled. "That stuff is very hard to get. Even Silverite is more common. Hmm... but Blue Steel is brittle, so was the sword laminated?"
"Yes, Warden" said Sten, brightening up visibly. Sten liked swords, and of the three Wardens, Edward was the only one who knew more about them than which end was the dangerous end.
"I duelled against a man with a blue steel scimitar once. He lost before we'd even crossed blades though."
"How did you know?" asked Sten.
"He'd thrown away his scabbard. That means he didn't care if he lost, he didn't expect to use his scabbard again."
"That is an interesting way of looking at things, Warden."
Edward swirled his tea around, thinking. "We will be near Orzammar in a week or ten days, and we will be able to find this Faryn character. If he still has your sword when we see him, you'll let me know, won't you?"
"Indeed. You will know if I put it through this Faryn's head."
"We have to talk to him first though. He might have sold it or stashed it somewhere."
"I understand" said Sten, taking a sip of his tea.
"Tomorrow, I want to talk to you and Alistair about our progress. I don't like this aimless wandering and want to make sure that we don't make unnecessary side trips."
"I agree Warden. As long as we focus on the Archdemon then little else matters."
"To a point. In order to get to it, we need armies to pin it in place. We only have the Mages so far, and the dwarves soon. We can't afford to be short sighted and deny ourselves numbers in the final show."
"I... suppose so".
"If we can get this golem, that should boost our strength quite a bit, don't you think?"
"I will be curious to see such a... thing. We have no such golems in Seheron."
Edward drained his tea with a satisfied smack of his lips.
"Sten, have you finished your tea?" he asked.
Sten drained his cup and nodded.
"Would you like to spar for a little bit? We can just use staves if you like, I don't want you to have to re-sharpen your sword."
"Certainly, Warden. Shall we go to five strikes or three?"
"Three should be alright. We can continue if its' close, how does that sound?"
"As you wish" said Sten, standing up and beginning to remove his tunic. Edward went over to Bodahn's cart to collect the practice staves he and Sten had taken to using. They were each about six feet long, with a central wooden core about as thick as a broom handle. Tightly wrapped around each staff was a thin coil of rope, giving the staff a threaded appearance. Edward walked over to where Leliana and Morrigan were finishing up their herb cleaning. "Good afternoon, ladies" said Edward with a grin.
"Sparring with Sten again, Warden?" said Morrigan, with a smile. "Good thing we made some more poultices."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Morrigan. Leliana, did you want to keep score again?"
"Of course, Edward" said the red headed bard. Leliana and Morrigan enjoyed these bouts, Morrigan loving the visceral close combat, Leliana loved the motion of the fighters. One fighter in particular. She blushed a little. Edward noticed and gave her a wink, saying "don't get too distracted, alright". He smiled and watched Leliana's blush deepen. I should be the one worrying about distractions, he thought.
Edward walked back to where Sten was waiting, followed by Leliana and Morrigan. The women sat down on logs, and Nereid, noticing the movement, got up and sat beside Morrigan. Alistair grinned and continued cleaning his chest piece, watching Edward and Sten.
"What are they doing, Leliana?" asked Wynne.
Leliana realised that Wynne would not have seen this style of sparring before, so explained the rules to her. It was full contact with staves. Strikes with staff to any point between neck and knee were valid. If you managed to trip or drop your opponent, that counted as half a point as long as their chest or back made contact with the ground. If you hit your opponent in the head, that was a foul and you lost a point. Only hits with the staff counted as full points. First to three or five points was the winner.
Once Wynne understood that it was a simple match, and not some blood vendetta, she calmed down. "What do they win?" she asked Leliana.
"Oh, nothing really" said Leliana.
"Bragging rights" added Morrigan.
"Sten is the best at it" said Nereid, adding "but Edward is very fast and last time he only lost by half a point to Sten."
"That's true. Alistair sometimes spars, and even Nereid tried once but she tapped out after one hit" said Leliana.
"Tapped out?" asked Wynne.
"Umm.. surrendered? Yielded, yes that's the word. You can yield which ends the fight immediately, but you automatically lose even if you were further ahead on points" said Leliana.
"Nereid was lucky she got hit where she did. Edward and Sten take the sparring very seriously and don't pull their blows. Edward hit her on the hip and she nearly flipped over. If she had have been hit in the arm she would have broken a bone for sure" said Alistair.
"Oh you poor girl! What did Edward do?" said Wynne.
Nereid snickered and said "he was beside himself. It was really sore and for the next day I was limping. But I told him to kiss it better. And he did!"
"He ... what?" said Leliana.
"He came over to the tent later on, and asked what he could do to make it feel better. So I said he could kiss it better. I had been drinking wine to dull the pain, you see. Quite a bit of wine, actually. I didn't think he would take it seriously, but I flashed my hip at him and he kissed me there." said Nereid.
Leliana was silent for a minute, before asking quietly "what was it like?"
"It was nice. His beard tickles though."
Morrigan looked from Nereid to Leliana before bursting out with laughter. Leliana glowered and poked the witch in the ribs. "It's not funny" she said.
Nereid scratched her head, looking at the human women. She had guessed that Leliana liked Edward, you would have to be wilfully blind to miss it. But Edward was like a big brother to her now. "Oh no", she thought. "Leliana must think there's something going on between Edward and I. I'll have to talk to her later on."
Edward had stripped off his shirt and passed it to Leliana. The late afternoon sun flicked across his strong torso and arms. Sten faced him and they gave a brief bow to each other, before stepping back a pace. Sten held his staff in both hands, Edward had a looser grip in just his left hand. They circled each other warily. Sensing a chance to get an early point, Edward flicked out at the dirt on the ground, sending up a puff of dust. Spinning around, he aimed a staff end at Sten's mid section, but Sten had blocked with his staff at a perpendicular angle. Using the momentum he had gained, Sten pushed the Warden back and attempted to follow through with a sweeping stroke, but it was parried successfully by Edward, who used the reverse end of his staff to land his first point into Sten's armpit.
Sten began again, raising his staff straight up with both hands, parallel to the ground. Dropping the right side, he span out of Edwards' counter, and looped the staff around to catch Edward on the upswing. The blow did not have much force but it made a noisy smack as it hit the bottom of Edward's ribcage.
Edward jumped back half a step and then rolled to the right, trying to get to Sten's weaker off hand side. Sten pivoted, but didn't notice that Edward had slung his staff between his legs. Siezing the advantage, Edward pushed his staff and brought the qunari down on his back. With a grin, he extended his hand out to help Sten up, who picked up his staff and went back to where they had started.
"Why did he help him up?" asked Wynne.
"Rules. If you drop someone you have to help them up and you start over. It's to encourage standing and fighting, because you lose your momentum if you put someone on the ground" said Alistair.
Edward pressed forwards with a new attack, leading with his left this time, and using the end of the staff like a spear point. Sten parried repeatedly, the sound of the staves making a rhythmic crack, crack, crack as both men manoeuvred for an advantage. Sten saw an opening where Edward had dropped his shoulder, and rammed forwards with his weight, causing Edward to stumble back a step. Sten followed up with a quick flick of his staff, catching Edward on the top of a thigh.
Sten immediately reversed his blow to get his final point, but Edward was nimble enough to bend back out of the radius of the swing. With Sten on the back swing, Edward landed his staff with a splat on Sten's shoulder. He didn't hit it hard, just enough to make noise.
Edward swivelled on the ball of his foot, trying to counter Sten's incoming overhead blow. By flipping his staff across his back, Sten's blow connected but hit the staff instead of Edwards' back. Surprised by this move, Sten backed up and span his staff, reverting it to a preferred two handed grip. Edward looped his staff down, holding it at one end with both hands, giving him a length of staff in front. He aimed blows at Sten's feet, knowing they were invalid targets, but making the qunari step backwards rapidly. Planting his staff in the ground, he dropped low and dodged Sten's incoming strike, which deflected off his staff. Following the motion of the qunari, Edward rammed the bigger man with his shoulder, pulling his staff free with the opposite hand. Sten stumbled and Edward landed a strike across his shoulder blade.
"That's it, Edward - you win!" cried Leliana.
Sten straightened up and looked Edward in the eye. "Well fought, Warden".
Edward shook the qunari's hand with a smile, saying "thanks, Sten. It was a good bout."
Nereid grinned and held out Sten's tunic for him. The qunari took it from the blonde elf with a nod of the head. Leliana held out Edward's tunic for him, beckoning him over. She could feel the heat radiating from him as he gently caressed her fingers, sliding the tunic over his head. Edward caught the bard by the small of her back, bringing her in for a hug. A surprised Leliana savoured the moment, feeling more heat radiating from Edward through his shirt. Alistair clapped Edward on the back, handing him some water. Edward took the flask and drank one handed, keeping a firm grip on Leliana, who clung on, smiling at the Warden.
"Are you sore anywhere, Edward?" asked Leliana.
"Not really, Leliana" he replied.
"Oh. Shame, I thought you may have wanted me to kiss it better."
Edward looked over at Nereid and then down at Leliana. "Heard about that, did you?" he asked, passing the water flask back to Alistair and putting his arms back around Leliana. Alistair went to scrounge for some cheese in his packs and Morrigan grinned at the pair before going back to her campfire, leaving Edward and Leliana alone somewhat. Leliana looked over at Nereid, who was now helping Sten chop up some firewood. "What is there between you two?" asked Leliana.
"Nereid? She's like a ... sister to me, I suppose. Why?" asked Edward. Realisation struck him, and he added "there's nothing going on, if you're asking. I was more interested in you, Leliana" he whispered to the bard, following up with a gentle kiss near her ear. He watched with pleasure as her cheeks went nearly scarlet.
"Let's continue this discussion after supper" said Edward, letting Leliana go.
"I ... er, of course, Edward" stammered Leliana.
-ooOOOOoo-
Later that evening, just after sunset, Leliana and Edward were sitting against a log a short distance from the fire. They were facing away from the camp, enjoying the last glow from the setting sun. The evening was not cold yet, but chilly weather came fast in these southern lands and the clear sky heralded a cool night. Leliana was leaning against Edward, plucking at her lute nonchalantly, and Edward was using a stone to get a burr out of one of Nereid's daggers.
"Leliana, I've been meaning to ask you something" said Edward.
"Ask away, Edward" said Leliana.
"I was wondering if you could tell me some more about how you came to Lothering" said Edward.
Leliana paused in her lute plucking.
"Only if you want to, you don't have to" he said.
Leliana swivelled around so she was sitting beside Edward against the log. "No, you should know. I don't know if this will effect us or not."
Edward wiped off Nereid's dagger and checked it with his finger. Nearly there. He resumed work with the whet stone, giving Leliana time to gather her thoughts.
"I came to Ferelden because I was being hunted in Orlais."
"Hunted! I thought you were the empress' daughter in hiding or something!"
Leliana giggled at the image before regaining her compusure and continuing her story. "Nothing so grand. I was framed, betrayed by someone I thought I could trust."
"Who was that?"
"My mentor in the bardic arts, Marjolaine. She taught me how to use words and song to enchant, to blend in as a servant or a high-born lady. I used to serve her, because I loved her and I enjoyed the life."
"So she was a bard as well?"
"Yes. She said she'd retired. She had married well and her husband left her rich. I thought I knew her, but I was blinded by the parts of her that were less than noble."
Edward checked the knife again. Satisfied, he put it and the whet stone down beside him, before using a clean rag to wipe his hands. "What did she do to betray you, Leliana?" he asked.
Leliana put her lute down beside her and put both hands in her lap, knitting her fingers together. "You could say it was my fault. Marjolaine gave me a description of a man to kill, and I was to bring her everything he carried. I found the man and afterwards, I found sealed documents on his body."
"Ah. You opened them?" asked Edward.
"I did. My curiosity got the better of me. It turned out that Marjolaine had been selling all kinds of secrets about Orlias to Nevarra, Antiva and other places."
"Treason?" said Edward. He whistled quietly. "Traitors don't get treated kindly."
"I found that out. I re-sealed the documents, but I told Marjolaine that I feared for her life. She just laughed off my concern. She said it was all in the past, and I believed her. She told me that she was destroying the documents to cover that part of her life."
"But if she destroyed them, how did... oh. She didn't destroy them, did she?" asked Edward.
Leliana shook her head. "She held them out when the Orlesian guards came for me. They'd been altered by her to make me look like the traitor. The guards did terrible things to me... tortured me for names of people who I didn't even know. When they finished, I was to be executed."
"How did you get away?"
"Well the bard skills I'd learned were good enough to get me out of the prison. I went cross country to the coast, then boarded a boat and came to Ferelden. I stopped running at Lothering."
Edward put an arm around Leliana, offering her warmth and support. "You'll be safe with me, Leliana."
Leliana sighed and leaned into the Warden. "Thanks, Edward. Thank you for listening. You have no idea how it feels to talk to someone about it after so long" said Leliana.
"Talk about what?" said Nereid, jumping over the log. "Did you fix my knife, Edward?"
Edward passed the knife to Nereid, who looked at it carefully. "I don't know how you do it, Edward. Alright, I owe you two night watches now."
Seeing the two humans in a quiet mood, Nereid smiled and said "hmm. Looks like it will be cool tonight, Leliana. Did you know Grey Wardens have warmer skin than other people? Just saying, that's all..." Nereid shot the pair a smile and took her knife back to the main camp to show Sten.
"Is that true?" asked Leliana.
"I'm sure you can find out somehow" said Edward, as Leliana straddled on top of him, before leaning forwards and wrapping Edward in a strong hug.
"Mmmm, she's right" mumbled Leliana.
-ooOOOOoo-
The next day, just before lunch, the group of friends were trudging along a track towards Honnleath. They would make it to the town early the next day if they kept going at this pace. Darkspawn had attacked them twice recently, so everone was a little more alert than usual. They heard a commotion ahead, and a scruffy looking woman ran towards them. Stopping in front of Edward, she gasped "please, please come quick. They've attacked the wagons!" before turning around and running back in the direction she had originally come from.
"Did you smell her?" said Edward to Nereid, who was up front on Edward's left.
"I did. Lyrium" said Nereid.
Edward and Nereid had noticed that the Mages had this odd odour of Lyrium, which smelled a little like copper or blood mixed with mace. It was a peculiar smell, and of the others, only Sten and of course Huolir seemed to be able to pick it up. Alistair had had exposure to Lyrium while he was training as a templar, and both mages gave it little thought, as they were so used to it.
"Ready arms, everyone. This is a trap we're going to spring" said Edward.
"We should find out who they are" said Nereid.
Edward nodded. "If there's a leader, try to knock them out, we can question them later."
Leliana and Nereid fanned out, readying their bows. Alistair came along side Edward, unslinging his shield and sword, while Sten readied his two hander. Wynne and Morrigan unslung their staves and fell back behind Sten, getting good views of the party. Huolir's hackles were raised and he growled in anticipation.
Approaching the cart the strange woman had spoken about, Edward quickly cast his eye over the scene. There looked like trip wires across two paths running along side and above the road, like a washout. The cart was broken, but the boxes were all stacked upright, not haphazardly like they would have been if they'd fallen out. Edward whispered to Sten "get the mages to focus on the hills on either side of us. There's traps at the bottom of the paths." Alistair heard this as well, and tightened his grip on his sword while Sten passed the message to the mages.
"Nereid, Leliana - kill that mage, then help Morrigan and Wynne with the sides. We'll break their centre" said Edward to Nereid and Leliana. Both women nodded, nocking their arrows.
Steadily moving forwards, the group noticed an elf up front with a couple of hook-like tattoos on his cheek. Narrowing his eyes, he let out a cry of "the Grey Warden dies here!" before pulling out a pair of swords, dripping with viscous green goo.
Immediately, a group of archers emerged on each side of the road, forming lines above the cart. The mage woman turned and began to cast something, but she immediately stopped as Nereid's arrow found a nice new home in her throat. Leliana put a second arrow into the mage's gut, before swinging around and calmly picking off the archers on her side of the road. Nereid followed suit, her arrows causing the archers to keep their heads down. Morrigan cast a small localised lightning storm over one side of the road, electrocuting several archers. While she was casting, Wynne had thrown a stone fist at the archers on her side, and began to cast an earthquake spell to follow up. Edward and Alistair charged, with Sten and Huolir following in their wake. Edward smashed his shield into a soldier, following up with a blow from his axe that very nearly severed the man's head. Alistair used his shield to block a mid level blow, using the momentum to spin the soldier around and slice open his back. Alistair kicked the dying man in the arse, and the soldier fell in a crumpled heap on the ground. Sten bellowed a huge war cry and raised his two hander high over a soldier. The man, seeing a giant rearing over him, panicked, dropping his sword and running. He ran full force into the cart and knocked himself out. Edward wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he saw Sten smile as the soldier fell, shortly before Sten buried his sword into the clumsy soldier's inert form. Huolir had jumped onto a soldier and while he frantically tried to throw the dog off, he collapsed under the weight. He gurgled and screamed as Huolir ripped out his throat and then went to work on his face.
Edward reached the mage and saw that she was still alive. Muttering "stupid bitch" to her, he calmly flipped his axe around and buried the maul side in the mage's heart. Alistair used his shield to blunt the attack of the elf with the hook tattoos, but he was a nimble fighter, and seemed to be able to dodge out of the way of Alistair's attacks. As the pair fought, Morrigan and Wynne had moved up and were now closer to Edward and Sten. Edward caught Morrigan's eye, and signalled the word 'paralyse' to her. She smiled and cast, freezing the elf in place. Alistair, happy at his friends' support, punched the elf in the face with the pommel of his sword, knocking him out. "Thanks, Morrigan" he said, while gulping in lungfuls of air.
"You are welcome, Alistair" replied the witch.
"All clear? Anyone hit?" asked Edward.
"Clear back here" said Leliana, rifling through the closest archer's pockets. Nereid was already doing the same on the other side of the road.
"Let's clean this lot out, then have a talk to this elf here" said Edward.
"I'll watch him, Warden" volunteered Morrigan.
"You and Huolir both, it seems" said Edward. The Mabari was also keeping an eye on the elf, occasionally giving a low, throaty growl.
"Hey Nereid, come and have a look at this one we left alive. Are they Dalish marks?" asked Edward, signalling for his blonde friend to come over. Nereid knelt down beside Edward, looking curiously at the elf's face.
"Not Dalish, no..." she mumbled.
Leliana had also joined the others, leaning partially on Edward to get a close look at the elf. "I have seen markings like this before, but I didn't know what they meant" she said.
"We better wake him up, let's get this over with" said Edward.
Alistair grunted, and taking a mouthful of water from his waterskin, he spat it into the face of the elf. His eyes flickered open and he stared up at his captors.
"What's your name?" asked Edward.
"My name is Zevran. I'm a member of the Antivan Crows, and I was brought here to slay any remaining Grey Wardens."
Edward murmurred to Leliana "do you know anything about these Crows? I remember something but it was ages ago when I was in the Free Marches."
"They're an order of assassins out of Antiva. Known for getting the job done, and expensive to hire" said Leliana.
"Who hired you to do this?" asked Nereid.
Zevran eyed Nereid up and down before answering "a fellow in Denerim called Loghain put out the contract."
"Damn, he's not pulling any punches. I don't know whether to feel flattered or frightened" said Edward. He looked down at the elf, thinking.
Zevran looked over at Edward and said "I have a suggestion, Wardens, if you are willing to listen."
Edward nodded "go ahead."
"Well here's the thing. I was contracted to kill you and as you can see it hasn't exactly gone to plan. With all my hirelings dead and all my marks alive, even if you let me go, as soon as I got to Antiva, I'd be slow roasted as a failure to the Crows. So here's my suggestion. What if you were to take me on and let me serve you instead?"
"But won't the Crows come looking for you?" said Edward.
"Well that may happen, but yours is the kind of group that would give the Crows a reason to hold back their blades" said Zevran.
"Let's talk loyalty then. What's to stop you just picking up where you left off in a weeks' time?" asked Edward.
"I'm extremely loyal. To a point. The point being where I am expected to die for failing."
"Give us a minute" said Edward.
Tapping Nereid on the shoulder and pulling Alistair into a group, Edward spoke in a quiet voice "Alistair, Nereid - I think we should take this elf with us. He's got skills that would help us, he's willing, and we can kill him if we need to."
Alistair thought for a minute, while Nereid said "fine by me. I don't think he'll try anything, not with so many of us now. What do you think, Alistair?"
"Desparate times call for desparate measures. But if he kills me, Edward, I'm coming back to haunt you, I'm letting you know right now" said Alistair.
Turning back to Zevran, Edward extended his hand. Surprised, Zevran grasped it, and Edward hauled him to his feet. Edward looked at the elf carefully, then said "alright, Zevran. Welcome."
Zevran gave a short bow, and said "I hereby pledge my oath of loyalty to you, until such a time as you choose to release me from it. I am your man, without reservation... this I swear."
-ooOOOOoo-
Edward rummaged through his packs, finally bringing out the black tome. "Here it is, Morrigan. I'm sorry I didn't give it to you straight away." Edward extended his arms and passed the book to Morrigan.
Morrigan's eyes widened and she spoke "but you found it! No matter that you carried it for a few days, Edward. I am grateful indeed." She pawed at the book like a child with a favourite toy.
"What do you think is in there?" asked Edward.
"I'm not sure, Edward. But this book represents the one time that a secret was able to get away from my Mother. I'm not about to let this opportunity for study slip by."
"So I take it you're not going to return it to her" chuckled Edward.
"What? And lose the chance to learn the contents!" said Morrigan, before looking up at Edward and seeing the grin on his face. Morrigan laughed as well "no, Edward. I will think of it as a going away present that I have had to collect myself."
"Well, Morrigan. I hope you find something useful in there. Goodnight!" said Edward.
Morrigan was thinking and didn't reply immediately. Looking up at the retreating form of Edward, she said "Edward! Thank you. This means a lot to me."
Edward waved and went back to the main camp.
