Hello again people! Thanks for tuning in! Just a friendly reminder, Hawke isn't joining this story's small cast just yet, HOWEVER...give it a few chapters and our fav broody elf shall definitely have a certain someone on his mind!

I am posting chapters for this story as I write them so I'm not ahead of you all in the slightest, lemme know what we wanna see!

Bioware owns Fenris and Dragon Age stuff, but the Retreat and Shadow are mine...so in my mind I own like half of this story, yay for twisted thinking!


Tales From the Retreat

Chapter 2 A New Game

Fenris found himself smirking wickedly while he looted the bodies of the most recent wave of hunters. He and Shadow had only been in the area now for a week and already it had proven to be an excellent hunting ground. Between the mountains, the forest, and the Highway, none of his pursuers stood a chance.

It had been almost too easy for Fenris to set up an ambush of his own for once, lying in wait on a cliff overlooking the Highway. The hunters had no clue what hit them until it was too late. Fenris had quickly discovered the easiest way down this particular mountain, and seeing as how it was night, it made the ambush even easier.

Fenris straightened himself, all in all, the hunters had few valuables on them. Not that Fenris had any real need for anything, but coin never hurt.

A sudden whimper from further along the path made Fenris tense. Anticipating more hunters, Fenris employed his extremely keen senses to see who else was in the area. He was just able to make out a small shape crouching near a cart a few hundred yards away. Fenris smelled the night air, curious to see if this shape was Shadow.

He quickly pushed the thought out of his mind, Shadow was back at the base. Unable to navigate the steep cliffs or keep up with Fenris at night, Fenris had elected to leave the young wolf behind for these ambushes. Though he always made sure Shadow had some form of entertainment.

Before he had left the area around the base to make the long run to the Highway, Fenris had managed to capture a small wild boar, and he had taken it back to the base alive so that Shadow might have some hunting practice, he was after all, a growing wolf.

The shape along the path straightened and Fenris saw that it was a person; a dwarf. He could hear the dwarf cursing in his native tongue, words that Fenris could not understand. Unsure of what a dwarf would be doing out here, on the Highway, in the middle of the night, Fenris approached him at normal speed.


It took Fenris a few moments to close the few hundred yards between himself and the dwarf, and in that time the dwarf didn't notice him. When he was only standing a few feet away Fenris cleared his throat.

The dwarf heard the sound and jumped into the air, turning as he did so. "Sweet mother of Partha! Please don't kill me!"

Fenris looked at the dwarf with emotionless eyes. While he had been approaching the tiny man, he had noticed the unmistakable scent of lyrium coming from the man's cart. Fenris knew all too well; where there was lyrium there were mages.

Fenris continued to stare at the dwarf with empty eyes as he spoke "And just what would you be doing with a cart full of lyrium out here at this time of night?"

The dwarven man shivered "Lyrium? What lyrium?"

Fenris felt the urge to roll his eyes, even when he had been mortal he had been able to smell lyrium, though he had to be much closer to do so. "I can smell it clearly, though I can reassure you, I have no interest in your goods."

The dwarf seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and Fenris continued speaking "Shouldn't you have sought shelter at one of the taverns along the Highway by now? Most merchants do not dare walk the Highway at night, especially not with cargo such as yours."

The dwarf shivered again "I don't want to be out here, my cousin couldn't make the trip this time so I had to do it. I hate the sodding surface."

Fenris tilted his head in confusion, as the dwarf kept talking, rambling more like. "I'm only supposed to be up here for a few months and so far everything has gone wrong! First the mules run away, then my guards get killed, and now my cart has broken and I'm being interrogated by some creepy elf!"

Fenris scowled at the man, growing weary of his ramblings already. He crouched down and quickly caught the dwarf's eyes. The tiny man instantly relaxed. Fenris resisted the urge to smirk. "Tell me, what's your name?"

The dwarf answered immediately and emotionlessly "Anso."

Fenris kept his gaze on Anso, silently thanking Arkus once more for this handy gift, although he doubted he would ever be as proficient with it as Arkus had. "Where are you bound with so much lyrium Anso?"

Anso continued to stare at him with his clouded gaze "Minrathous, in Tevinter, my cousin told me that's where I'll get the best prices for it. Some of the costumers there don't enjoy using the lyrium from Kal Sharok, they are willing to pay top gold for Orzammar's finest."

Fenris shook his head "Why does that not surprise me?"

He didn't mean for Anso to answer his question but the dwarf was still under his control, and so he did. "I am honestly not certain."

Fenris thought for a moment, a plan formulating in his head. Anso was going to Minrathous, Danarius was certainly there, and this was Fenris' opportunity to find out what Danarius had in store for him, or at the very least, learn about his movements. Any information about his former master at all would be useful.


Fenris gazed at Anso once more, clearing his thoughts from his mind, except the ones he would implant in the dwarf, just as Arkus had taught him. He spoke clearly and firmly "You will go to Minrathous, as you originally intended, you will sell your wares, but while you are there you will see what information you can gather about a magister called Danarius, and you will not allow anyone to know about it."

Fenris paused, allowing his words to sink in before continuing "When your business in the city is done, you will come back here with the information, and tell only myself what you have learned."

He thought for a moment before quickly adding "And you will not write any of the information down." Fenris cringed internally, it wouldn't have worked out well if this plan had worked and the dwarf wrote down all the information he gathered and handed it to Fenris, seeing as how he couldn't read, or worse have the information stolen from him and Danarius be alerted that someone had been spying on him.

Fenris looked at Anso seriously once more "Now tell me what you are going to do when you get to Minrathous?"

Anso spoke emotionlessly, clearly still under the influence of Fenris' charm. "I'm going to sell my wares, and discretely gather information about the magister Danarius. Then I will come back here to tell you what I have learned."

Fenris nodded his head "A few more things, you will forget that I am doing this now. Instead you will simply feel compelled to gather the information, repaying the kindness I have shown you tonight. And in keeping with repaying this debt you will simply feel compelled to not share the information with another other than myself, and that is why you will come back here to share the information with me. If you should not see me when you arrive, you will feel compelled to simply wait for me, something inside you will tell you that I shall come, and you will want to see the kind stranger once more, to share the news of your success in Minrathous."

Anso smiled slightly "You have been most kind stranger."

Fenris rolled his eyes "Of course I have, now be a good little man and go to sleep for the next hour while I see about fixing your cart so you can continue on."

Anso instantly collapsed and Fenris straightened himself. He allowed himself a small smile, pleased with his work. He turned his attention to the cart and his smile turn into a scowl.


One of the wheels had fallen off the cart. He noticed that the oxen that the dwarf had pulling the cart had both fallen asleep while standing, unable to pull their burden any further.

Fenris spied the wheel and quickly walked over to it, snatching it up from the ground. He ghosted back over to the cart and using the excessive strength granted to him by the night, he lifted up the back end of the cart that was laying in the dirt.

He easily slipped the wheel back into place, easing the cart back onto the ground as he did so. Fenris noticed that some of the dwarf's other wares had fallen from the cart, presumably when the wheel had fallen off. Fenris ghosted himself around, picking up the fallen items and placing them back on the cart, a bit more securely this time.

Once more pleased with his work, Fenris walked slowly to the front of the cart. He gently prodded the oxen awake, not wanting to startle them and the animals end running off only for him to have to go catch them.

He managed to coax the animals to take a few steps, wanting to make sure everything on the cart was secure. He didn't expect the wheel to fall off again; but it did.

Fenris groaned as he reached for the back axel of the cart once more, sliding the wheel into place. Once the wheel was in place, Fenris stepped back to look at the wheel in front. He noticed it had a metal cap to keep the wheel from falling off. Fenris looked around on the ground to see if he could spot the metal cap this wheel was missing.

He found it lying in four pieces on the ground. Fenris groaned once more, there was no way he would be able to fix this. He cast his eyes around the road, looking for inspiration, and he found it.

Fenris ghosted himself over to the corpses of the hunters he had killed and surveyed them, looking for something in particular. His eyes zoomed in on the gauntlets one was wearing. He set about removing them quickly. Fenris studied the gauntlet "This might work."

He ghosted back over to Anso's cart with the gauntlet. He studied the metal cap that was in place on the cart and began bending the metal of the gauntlet to match. Fenris quickly ripped off the fingers off the gauntlet as it became clear to him that they were not needed. Once the main hand part of the gauntlet was roughly the right shape and size, Fenris paused for a moment and studied how the other one was locked in place on the cart.

He moved over the wheel he had been struggling with and slipped the newly formed cap on, trying to gently bend the metal to secure it into place. Once it was on he gave the wheel a few weak tugs, a then a slighter stronger one, he knew if he used all his strength, he would easily break the wheel and then he would be completely at a loss.

Satisfied that the makeshift cap would hold, Fenris moved to the front of the cart again and made the oxen move once more, this time checking to make sure that damned wheel stayed on.


Pleased when the wheel did in fact stay on, Fenris allowed himself a half smirk. He heard Anso stirring behind him. Fenris inhaled slowly, hoping that his influence over Anso was still in effect and that the dwarf would have no memory of what Fenris had done to him.

Fenris turned to look at Anso, forcing his features to soften as the dwarf stood "Did you rest well?"

Anso seemed momentarily confused and scratched his head. "Uh, why yes actually, thank you."

Fenris waved his arm in the air, forcing himself to play the role of the kind stranger. "You're welcome. And while you were resting I managed to repair your cart, the damage wasn't as bad as you told me it was."

Anso scratched his black beard now "Thank the Ancestors for that. And thank you stranger. I wish there was a way for me to repay your kindness."

Fenris started to walk away "You should probably continue on your way, the roads aren't safe at night."

Anso nodded quickly and climbed aboard his cart, looking at Fenris' retreating form as he spoke "Thank you again for your help! I have a feeling we'll see each other again!"

Fenris smirked as he heard Anso get the oxen moving, he spoke under his breath "Oh something tells me we will definitely be seeing each other again."

Fenris walked around a turn in the road, not wanting to ghost while Anso was still nearby. He felt strangely excited. Up until recently his life had been all about merely staying one step ahead of his hunters, an easy enough task most of the time. But this new location had provided him with an opportunity to change the game, to become the hunter once more.

He felt slightly ashamed for a moment, it was true, he had been hunted, and had Arkus still been alive, he probably would have been ashamed of Fenris as well. Arkus had given him so much, and all Fenris did was run. Constantly afraid of falling back into Danarius' hands and giving his former master an even more powerful weapon, one who simply could not ignore a direct order.

Fenris shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts before they took him down a path he didn't enjoy traveling. Arkus would be proud of him now, using his skills to hunt those that would hunt him and to turn the tables on the one who was behind all of it. Fenris started ghosting himself back up the cliff so he could return to the base to see what kinds of trouble Shadow had gotten into. As he ghosted himself deeper into the forest, he smiled, truly this place had changed many things for him.


A friendly reminder to all; this story is exclusively the retreat (currently known as 'the base' but the name will change). I am however entertaining the idea of Fenris reminiscing about some of his times in Kirkwall when he visits the retreat, maybe even some flashbacks of Arkus? Anybody interested in seeing something like that? Lemme know!