Chapter 4

Caleb woke up and sat up in the bed. He looked out a nearby window to get a grasp for what time it was. The sun was about half way over the horizon, still early morning. He got out of bed and walked towards the stand he put his armor on. He put the all black armor on and thought about just how natural it felt to have it on, as if it were made for him.

He put his sword on his back just incase he should need it. He put on his cloak to cover up his armor and his weapon to help him blend in to the crowds, but kept the hood down. He grabbed his pack and looked at how much money he had. Just about four sovereigns was what he had, it had been his life savings through his time in the Alienage and thought that it would be gone in a matter of months through their travels.

He walked out of the room and into the hall that had all the rooms. It looked like he was the only one awake. He walked to the entrance to the hall which led outside of the structure, and heard a foot step from behind him. He turned around to see a girl who must have been a couple years younger than he was, about 15 or 16. She stood there looking a little puzzled at the sight of a cloaked man leaving the rooms with a pack over his shoulder, "You must be the Teyrn's daughter, Elizabeth isn't it? I'm Caleb," Caleb smiled friendly.

"Yes, it's nice to meet you, very nice," Caleb recognized a flirty tone in her voice which made him a little uncomfortable. Elizabeth was a very pretty girl. Her brown hair looked curly and was up in a bun. Her brown eyes had a sparkle in them that reminded Caleb of the on in Eleanor's. She walked closer to Caleb, "Where are you off to so early in the morning?"

"Down to the markets for some supplies," Caleb was wondering why she would want to know what he was doing

"Can I go with you?"

"Can I ask why?"

"It gets boring around here, going out might be fun,"

"Sure, why not,"

"Great, I'll be right back," she ran back into her room and a few minutes later dressed in her noble attire.

"Alright than, let's go," Caleb did wonder why someone as high up in society would be so enthusiastic about going on a trip to the market but figure that life in a closed off estate, separate from the rest of the people must be a little repetitive and seeing the same faces day in and day out might get a little boring.

The two walked through the gates and into the city. Just by glancing at Elizabeth, Caleb could tell that she rarely got out of the teyrn's estate much if at all. Few people aside from the merchants were out of their homes yet. They made their way through the streets stopping at a few stores. Caleb got all of the supplies that they would need until they got into Orlais, and a few books to read in the meantime.

He tried to get as many books that would get him some insight into the Orlais culture. It took a couple hours to get all of the supplies and by now it was midmorning. The two were on their way back to the estate. Caleb looked over at Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye. She was looking at him almost as if she was studying him, "Why are you staring at me?"

"I was just wondering, you are traveling with Eleanor correct,"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, are you…you know?"

"Am I what?"

"Courting her," Caleb stopped in his tracks just hearing what she was implying.

"You think I'm courting Eleanor! That's ridiculous,"

"That's funny, because in the letters she has written to me in the last few years she mentioned you quite a lot, it certainly sounded like you were courting her,"

"I'm not, it's flirting at best, if she thinks that it's anything else she's wrong,"

"If you say so,"

"I do say so, just leave it alone, what I do is my business,"

The two walked up to the gate which opened as they approached. Caleb left Elizabeth at the main hall and went back to his guest room. He threw the pack on the end of the bed and put his sword on top of it. He didn't know why but he suddenly felt tired. He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes to a quick nap in. It was only a moment before sleep overtook him.

He looked around him and saw that he was in a forest. He walked forward for a little while until finding a small hut in a clearing. He walked closer to the hut and took in the surrounding environment. There was a fire burning with a pot over it, inside the pot was what looked like some sort of stew. There were stacks of logs on the side of the hut and a stream running behind the hut.

He walked up to the door and felt inclined to open the door and walk inside. He walked through the door way. There were a few bookshelves that were full of strange books that even up close Caleb couldn't read the titles. There was a fire place on the far side of the room that had a table with two chairs sitting across from each other. There was no fire lit, which made the room very dark. Caleb moved through the center of the room and to a small hallway that had two rooms on separate sides. Both were similar bed rooms with beds in the middle of the far wall and a chest at the foot of the bed.

"It's not polite to wonder around another's home," Caleb turned around to face the table next to the now lit fireplace. Sitting in the chair facing him was an aging woman. Her black hair was graying and her face had some wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. Her hair was up in a bun and had some of her bangs dropping down over her face. She was dressed in dark robes and gave Caleb chill through his body.

"How did I get here?"

"This is a vision, a dream, I need to show you what your destiny holds," As she finished her sentence the room melted away. Than Denerim's market square appeared around them. All the buildings were on fire and the only people Caleb saw were a few soldiers with a crest on their shields that he didn't recognize. It was a little blurred but he thought he could see the outline of a dragon on their shield.

"What happened?" Caleb could feel the heat from the buildings and felt himself shaking out of anger and shock.

"This is what you must prevent; it is up to you to avoid this,"

"Who did this?"

"You will learn that in time," Denerim faded away back into the hut's interior.

"Why do I have to stop it? Why not the heroes that stopped the blight?"

"You are connected to this in a way that will be revealed to you,"

"It time, right?" Caleb asked sarcastically.

"Yes, now your time here is over,"

"One more question: who are you?" The old woman was gone and Caleb was alone in the clearing with the hut nowhere in sight. He heard his name being called of in the distance and was growing louder.

"Caleb, wake up," Eleanor's familiar voice rang through his head. Caleb opened his eyes and was back in the room in the estate in Highever. He looked around and saw that it was dark outside. Eleanor was standing in the doorway suited up in her armor on and ready to go.

"How long was I asleep? It's already night,"

"No it's morning, you slept through night, now get up we're leaving for Orlais," Caleb noticed the teasing tone in her voice.

"What do you mean I slept through it?"

"When you got back from you shopping you just fell asleep, you were tossing and turning the whole time, you must have one bad dream," She walked away and called back to him, "Ser Thomas and I will be at the gate when you're ready to join us,"

Caleb rose out of bed and gathered his things. He kept thinking about the dream he had all the way to the gate. He walked through the estate which was still asleep and regretted that he had missed all the events of the day before but kept thinking that the dream had some significance. He just had to find it.

"Look who has decided to rejoin the land of the living," Ser Thomas jokingly greeted Caleb, "I hope those nightmares didn't shake you up too much," They laughed and so did Caleb, but he stopped when the image of Denerim burning to the ground returned to his mind.

"What are we waiting for?" Caleb was eager to get on their way to Orlais as fast as possible.

The trio set off on the road. Caleb was quite still trying to figure out the dream and how he was supposed to prevent it from happening. It wasn't until Thomas finally addressed him that he snapped out of it, "She asked you a question Caleb,"

"Huh?"

"How did you like Highever?"

"Well from what I saw I'm sure it's a great city,"

"Those must have been some bad nightmares to have you move about like you were, anything you want to talk about?"

"No I'm fine, it's nothing you need to worry about," Caleb didn't think that he should tell anyone about until he understood it himself. One thing was certain though, Caleb had every intention of seeing it through that that dream would never be realized.