Dragon Age II: Defiance

By: Shadow Chaser

Author's Notes:

This will be a FemHawke/Anders story with a mage background. Carver was sent to the Grey Wardens and my Origins import had the Hero of Ferelden as a female Circle of Magi/Alistair pairing. Alistair also became the King of Ferelden by marrying Queen Anora. Fenris and Merrill were both rivals and I lost Isabela during the Qunari campaign. Sebastian vowed to find Anders and hunt him down after Hawke convinced him to be a part of the Chantry instead of retaking Starkhaven.

Story:

Chapter 2 – The Warden-Commander

Knight-Captain Hadley was a good man, Rinaran Amell had to admit, but sometimes, he was just a little too pushy for his own good. She had met the man around seven and a half years ago at the Circle of Magi, when she had been investigating rumors about Morrigan's reappearance. Hadley had been polite and kind to her, but otherwise a bit distant, much like most of the Templars save for Cullen and Knight-Commander Gregoir. It had only occurred to her later that the Knight-Captain was polite to her because she was the Warden-Commander of the Ferelden Grey Wardens, otherwise, she probably would have been put in her place because she was still a mage.

She had recently returned from an extended campaign near Orzammar where King Harrowmount had only reluctantly asked for the Grey Wardens assistance in driving back a pocket of darkspawn that had suddenly breached the surface near Gherlen's Pass. A little bit of extra prodding and some gold had told her that it was not Harrowmount who had requested the "surfacers" to come and help, but rather one of his sons who had been long supportive of outsider help and influences.

She had returned to Denerim to find that Hadley had been sent with a group of Templars on orders from the Divine to question all magi living outside the Circle, including Grey Warden magi. She had learned that Alistair had only reluctantly allowed the Templars to question magi after trying to stall them for as long as humanly possible with every single law and decree he and his advisor Bann Teagan could find.

And it was Alistair who had pulled her to the side after she had returned to tell him that he had deferred the questioning of Warden magi to her decision. Which was why a few days later she now found herself in full Warden colors and armor, standing by Alistair's right hand side, a step down from his throne staring at Hadley.

"No?" the Templar looked a bit confused, if not appalled.

"No," she repeated, keeping her voice as mild as possible. She wanted to flat out drag it out as if talking to a simple child, but she knew that would probably make her King behind her attempt to cover his laughter with a coughing fit. She knew that whatever decision she made regarding this, it would be fully supported by Alistair.

However, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Queen Anora frown, her pretty full lips perpetually turned downward for the past several years now. A part of her still felt the swift satisfaction of annoying the Queen of Ferelden, but then again, it was an open secret in the court and perhaps everywhere that Anora was only Queen and wife in name. It was she, Rinaran Amell, whom Alistair called wife and took to bed.

Though she knew and even gave her consent for Alistair to occasionally bed Anora for the purposes of creating an heir, the woman had not even had a child in the years, making the rumors that had circulated during her first husband's rule come alive once more. The ironic thing was that while it was said to be nearly impossible for two Grey Wardens to conceive a child, Rinaran herself had given birth to a son just a few years ago. It had been easy to conceal the pregnancy, being the Warden-Commander and all; she was expected to travel a lot.

However, she and Alistair had never announced it at court, knowing that it would cause a political storm that would damage the fragility of Alistair and Anora's rule so the young boy had been given to Arl Eamon and Arlessa Isolde to raise. The Arlessa had been surprised, but extremely grateful to raise their son since Connor had been given to the Circle for training. She had also made sure that Anora knew nothing about their son, knowing that the woman would either send assassins to kill the boy or use him as a pawn in her never ending schemes to get rid of her.

She and Alistair visited their son several times a year and she made sure that her son knew who he was and his lineage. Teagan had kept them updated on a weekly basis about their son's progress and if he showed any signs of magic to which she had been worried about. However there seemed to be no sign that her son had any magic so she was grateful in that sense. She wanted her son to be as normal as possible and not live the life she had in the Circle.

Though it had been a good life and she had friends, she had always felt like she had been the First Enchanter's star pupil. She did not like the spotlight, preferring to be studying the books on the arcane or even practicing her staff fighting. She also did not like that she was confined to the Circle, not even allowed to wander around Lake Calenhad without Templar presence before she underwent her Harrowing.

At least Cullen occasionally allowed her to wander off on her own during those days, for which she was extremely grateful. She liked exploring and discovering new things. And in each of her explorations, she always made sure to bring a little something back for either her friends or even for Cullen just to say thank you. She knew that she should have realized her thank you presents to Cullen only served to increase his apparent crush on her, but then again, she had been a bit oblivious to the Templar's interest in her.

It was Jowan who had pointed it out not long before he had asked her to raid the phylactery and she had done the only thing she knew what to do, stare at her friend in confusion. Jowan and Lily had only laughed at her perplexed expression before telling her the stories of how Cullen had pined for her. When she had returned to the Circle as a Warden and with the ancient treaties, she had understood how broken the man was in seeing her after being tortured by Uldred. It was for the better that Gregoir had sent him to Kirkwall, away from everything Ferelden.

"But, surely you would understand that without the phylacteries, we cannot find out who is an apostate or even a maleficar-"

"That's why I ordered all phylacteries destroyed when Circle magi joined the Ferelden Wardens," she cut the Templar off; "they are all apostates if you wish to consider it. Phylacteries would only interfere in our duties."

"What if one of them becomes an abomination?" Hadley frowned and Rinaran narrowed her eyes.

The story of Anders' merging with Justice a month after defeating the Mother was well known amongst the Templars and the Wardens in Ferelden. It served as a cautionary tale to both factions of consorting with even the most benign spirits of the Fade. Hadley mentioning it raised her hackles. It had been years since she had last seen the rogue mage and she had no inclination of even searching out for him, a part of her knowing that he had probably fallen under someone's blade if not had gone completely mad by now. She had trusted Anders and thought that same measure of trust was extended when he joined the Wardens, but the mage and her former friend had once again proven her wrong by escaping what he probably thought was the confining life of a Grey Warden.

"The Ferelden Warden magi are under my protection and report to me. We take care of our own should any turn into abominations," she replied a bit testily. "The Circle still has my phylactery should anything be amiss, but you are not to question my Wardens."

She saw Hadley purse his lips and a pinched expression crossed his face as he stared at the other Grey Wardens in the court, some of them permanently assigned as part of the King's royal guard, others who had accompanied her. Some of them were magi and she saw the proud smiles upon their faces at her flat out denial.

In the days following the Archdemon's defeat and Weisshaupt's approval of her promotion to Warden-Commander, she had immediately begun recruiting a few of her friends and other magi from the Circles around Thedas. The condition she imposed in recruitment was that she be allowed access to their phylacteries and subsequently destroyed them when they successfully underwent the Joining. It wasn't an act of rebellion, but knowing about the Joining process, the blood of the magi would serve as too much of a temptation for them to be overwhelmed by the taint within them and resort to extreme blood magic means to accomplish their tasks. However, she knew that no matter her efforts, there would always be those who were in the Wardens to be maleficar.

She also did not want Templars to be able to hunt her magi down should they resort to blood magic to defeat the enemy. In that way it was a bit rebellious on her part, but only from a certain point of view. She left her own phylactery alone as an assurance to the Templars and knowing that the Chantry would never risk angering the Wardens by using her own phylactery against her. In the years since her promotion to Warden-Commander, she had learned more about the fine line of politics that she wielded as a Grey Warden against the other world-wide influences like the Chantry or even the kingdoms of other countries and principalities.

The Wardens were a military and police force unto their own, answerable only to the Commander of the Grey in Weisshaupt. She had learned even the Chantry had little to no power over the Wardens since they were essentially the ones who prevented Blights and using that, were even able to pressure the Chantry into overlooking certain things, including accepting maleficars into their ranks without fear or reprisals. Of course, the Chantry had taken that advantage to insist that the best and the brightest - and some of their most ruthless - Templars be allowed into Grey Warden ranks.

The Divine had said that these Templars would be able to assist them in eradicating the remnant darkspawn. But Rinaran knew better; some of the Templars were there to keep an eye on the maleficar and the magi they considered apostates who did not originally belong to a Circle. That was why when one of the Templars had been accepted overriding her protests to Weisshaupt, she had learned that he had been specifically told by the Chantry to keep an eye on Anders before he decided to merge with Justice. After Anders had fled, she had steadfastly refused the Chantry's request to pursue him as an abomination, citing that they had bigger problems to contend with. In a way, it was her last act of friendship to the mage she thought had finally found a home to stay with.

So now, refusing Hadley request to question the magi under her command was her way of making sure that the Chantry did not exert too much influence over her Wardens.

"We believe that there are those who would conspire to overthrow the Chantry's guiding hand and create another Tevinter Imperium to subjugate those without magic as slaves," Hadley finally spoke up, "the Divine believes that this cannot be allowed to happen."

"And it will not," Rinaran held out a hand in a gesture of peace, "but questioning my own Wardens means to question all Wardens and the trust that each governing and religious body has placed in us. I can assure you that my Wardens are not the cause of such talks of rebellion."

"And can you assure that?" the Templar asked.

"Yes," she replied in a simple tone, "because..." She trailed off as two messengers burst into the throne room, one of the running towards Hadley to whisper furiously in his ear the other bowing slightly to Alistair before handing over a bound scroll with an unmarked seal. The rest of the court broke out in hushed murmurs and she saw Teagan and Anora leaning close to Alistair who was reading the scroll, a heavy frown growing on his face.

She wished she could read over his shoulder like she always did in private, but this was still a public court and she knew her place in such matters. Alistair abruptly rolled the scroll back up and held up a hand for silence in the throne room.

"I've just received some disturbing news from Kirkwall," he said before looking at Hadley and his Templars, "the Chantry has been destroyed and the Right of Annulment enacted within the city."

Rinaran looked at her King in shock. The Right of Annulment? It had been nearly enacted by Gregoir when the Circle had been overrun by Uldred's abominations, shades, and demons, but even then they had gotten things under control. There had been recent whispers over the past year or so that tensions were high between the First Enchanter and Knight-Commander in Kirkwall, but she had thought those whispers did not amount to anything. She had sent Nathaniel and a small group of Wardens to explore the passages of the forgotten thaig near the city, but even he had reported back that tensions were not as high as the rumors thought it to be, partially because of the Champion of Kirkwall's calming influence on both factions.

She had heard stories about the Champion of Kirkwall, about how she had defeated the Arishok that had gotten so fed up with the city's apparent debauchery and went on a rampage. And it was Stroud acting on source that he cared not to mention who said that it was the Champion who had discovered the forgotten ancient thaig. It was only after some private inquiries and the questioning of the recruit Stroud had found in the ancient thaig that she learned that the Champion of Kirkwall was named Marian Hawke and was apparently distantly related to her.

She had immediately ordered Stroud and the recruit, Hawke's younger brother Carver, not to mention a word of this to anyone. She did not know why she had done it so long ago, but something told her that it would not be prudent. But for the mediating peace that she had thought Hawke provided between the two factions... Even the Divine would not enact the Right of Annulment unless there was no hope. What had happened to force the Knight-Commander to take such drastic measures?

And what was this about the Chantry destroyed?

"My report is more...detailed Your Highness," Hadley cleared his throat politely, "It seemed that one of the rogue magi in the city disintegrated the Chantry building as a whole and all those within it. Knight-Commander Meredith enacted the Right of Annulment after the events."

There was an audible gasp in the court and some of the less fortified ladies fainted dead away but Rinaran stood her ground. A sudden swooping feeling of uneasiness filled her as she saw that Hadley was deliberately avoiding her eyes. The other Templars were not so inclined and most glared at her.

"You know who this rogue mage was; do you not Knight-Captain Hadley?" Anora spoke up, her imperious voice carrying across the hushed court.

"Yes," Hadley nodded once, "there is no dispute and it was witnessed by those who had the fortune of escaping the city before the rest of the Order closed the gates, but it was Anders, the former Grey Warden."

Rinaran's unease opened into a pit of horror.

The morning drizzle gave way to cloudy skies as Marian and her companions set out from their camp towards the south. She had told the others that they were ultimately headed to Denerim, but would take a ship to Amaranthine first to avoid any unwanted attention. The reactions of her companions were varied. Aveline looked a bit surprised and a little happy to be going to Denerim, while Donnic just nodded in agreement. She began to talk about the little things that she hoped were still in the city to her husband. Fenris seemed completely indifferent while Merrill had a hopeful look on her face and asked if they were to stop by the Brecilian forest any time soon.

Varric had taken it in stride, the storyteller-merchant saying he had no opinion, just a curiosity to see how this story was going to play out. Anders however, still looked uncomfortable with the prospect, but offered no other protest, instead, falling silent once more. Hawke suspected that he was probably thinking over what to say to his former Warden-Commander when they met.

They made their way south, dressed in the cloaks of pilgrims, though joining with a line of refugees who were making their way to the coast. Most of them were from Kirkwall and from the snippets of conversations they all overheard, it seemed that in the few days following Meredith and Orsino's defeat, Knight-Captain Cullen had taken command of the city and order was slowly being restored. However, it had also seemed that a majority of the magi who had not died in the initial wave of Templar attacks had fled, leaving the Circle all but empty. Most of the citizenry in Hightown and Lowtown had fled, some to other cities, others joining them on the pilgrim road. It seemed that the attack on the Chantry and destruction that followed when Meredith had announced the Right of Annulment it had all but scared the once hardy populace.

There were also whispers about her and stories that said she had died with Orsino, or had even killed Meredith and died trying to seal her in her stone prison. Others said that she had fled with the other magi to incite rebellion in the other Marcher cities. She wanted to throw her cloak off and reveal to them that she was standing there, but after noticing Templars randomly searching the road, decided it would be safer to not reveal who she was.

As they made their way down to the coast, where she hoped they would find passage to Amaranthine or even to Highever with whatever little coin she had left on her, they had managed to avoid most of the patrols. Carver was nearly caught in one, having been randomly pulled aside, but after showing his Grey Warden armor, and identifying himself, he had been let go with a curt apology before being waved along. It had hit her after that incident that she was now a wanted fugitive, an accomplice to Anders' actions. In that one act of siding with the magi, she had renounced her title as the Champion, her status as a noble, and everything she had spent the last nine years working for.

She had considered herself beyond petty, but she could not help but feel a twinge of jealous anger as she glanced at Anders' back. It was his fault for putting this upon her, for destroying her family name once more, like Gamlen had squandered away her mother's fortune. She now understood what her mother had been going through in the two years before she was able to buy their ancestral home back.

Speaking of Gamlen, she now glanced back towards the road that led away from Kirkwall; she hoped that her uncle had made it to safety and was perhaps even with his newly found daughter. She hoped that her dog, Barkspawn, was smart enough to find Gamlen and perhaps stay by his side. Their flight from Kirkwall had been so abrupt that she had left so many of her own mementos, relics, things that belonged to her mother even, at home. She had not even thought about Barkspawn when she had met Orsino in the gallows, only thinking that she was there to be a mediating influence between him and Meredith, not an outright war that Anders had decided was to start that day.

Looters would not hesitate to strip her house of its riches, especially since the stories told by the pilgrims on the road said that Cullen was still having trouble restoring order. She hoped that Bodahn had made it to safety, though Sandal was surprisingly and mysteriously at the inner gallows, and that Orana would have fled too. She hoped that in this time, Orana would have realized that she had only kept her as a "slave" because she knew the girl would have even a harder time traveling back to Tevinter to find the rest of her family without sufficient payment.

"Are you all right sister?" Carver whispered as they continued down the path.

"No," she replied, shaking her head, "I left so many of mother's things…"

"Oh," her brother opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it, realizing that he could not say anything to her. She knew him too well that he would not say platitudes of comfort, not like Bethany would.

"It's stupid, you know," she continued, "feels like I'm so petty to think of materialistic things when…."

"It's not stupid, Hawke," Aveline gently cut in, walking next to her right side, "you had built your life there. It is right for you to mourn the things you have lost, including materialistic ones. You had made a name for yourself and it is not your fault for throwing it away." The implied statement that they had all made their own lives there was unspoken, but Marian also heard the definite jab at Anders who did not react to Aveline's comments.

However, she knew her lover very well, and knew that Aveline's words were cutting into him, reminding him of what he had done to make them all end up like this. Her words also clearly told Anders that the rest of the party, especially her, was following Hawke because they were loyal to her, not to him. She remembered the time when she had been obliviously helping Anders look for the materials that he needed in the Sundermout caves Fenris had pulled Anders over to the side after a particularly vicious battle against a nest of spiders. Heated words had been exchanged, but she had not caught them. It was only after they had escaped into the gallows following Meredith's grace period she had learned what Fenris had spoken to Anders that day.

He had told her that even though the two of them did not see eye to eye, especially with her support of the magi, he still considered her a good friend. He had then asked if her heart had been broken and she had replied that she was too busy trying to survive to even check her own heart. He had taken her answer with a stoic nod before telling her what he had told Anders: that if he had ever broken her heart, he would not hesitate to kill him. She remembered his cautionary warning when she and Anders had started to live together, but had dismissed them easily. Even Fenris to whom she had vitriolic conversations with from time to time, was following her because he was loyal to her.

She stared at Anders' back for a long second before looking sideways at Aveline. "Thank you." She did not have the heart to defend Anders, not even after their brief conversation the night before. She knew that if circumstances were different, she would have reprimanded her friend for such words or would have even dismissed them under some diplomatic solution.

"Andraste's petticoats," Varric suddenly spoke up, having taken point up front and the rest of them halted, as did a few of the pilgrims along the road as they approached a ridge.

"Holy shit," Carver was much blunter and Marian had to agree with her brother's use of words.

"Where are we going to find a ship with this many people?" Aveline breathed out quietly as they surveyed the mass of pilgrims, refugees, soldiers, even Templars who wanted no part of what was happening in Kirkwall. There were more than a few magi she recognized as part of Orsino's Circle.

All crowded around the beaches and rocky cliffs, all of them vying with ship captains at the small docks that were completely overwhelmed with people. There were distant dots and sails in the ocean, and Marian was taken aback at how eerily similar the scene was to when she, Carver, their mother, and Aveline had initially arrived in Gwaren.

"Well, fancy meeting you here," a very familiar lilt spun Marian around as she gripped the handle of her stave tightly.

"Isabela?" she could not keep the shock out of her voice as she stared at the woman who had once called her friend before leaving her to follow the Qunari relic, never to be seen again.

Voluptuous, curved, and still wearing nearly the same skimpy outfit she had been used to seeing on her, Isabela the swashbuckling pirate woman who always had a witty comeback, smiled at them impishly. "Good to see you again, Hawke."

"Anders?" King Alistair Theirin was unable to keep the surprise out of his tone as he stared at Hadley, the Templar Knight-Captain that had been sent from the Circle's Chantry. He risked a quick look at his wife, Rinaran Amell, only to see the blood drain out of her face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that his Queen, Anora Mac Tir, he never considered her his wife, had a very faintly smug look on her face. He would never fully understand the tiff between her and Rinaran, but his main concern was for Rinaran's well-being and the fact that Hadley said it was Anders who destroyed Kirkwall's Chantry had shocked even him.

Though it had been only less than two weeks since he had returned from his unofficial and secretive mission to Kirkwall, he had never told Rinaran who he had met there. He knew that she had considered Anders an old friend, and was even prepared to train him to take over the magi training all newly recruited Wardens had to go through in Vigil's Keep, before he had fled. He knew that she considered Anders a sore subject and so had vowed never to mention him to her if any scrap of information came up.

It also seemed like some of her other fellow Wardens, Nathaniel, and even Stroud had declined to mention their meetings with Anders in Kirkwall to her, only giving him their full reports to keep him appraised of the happenings within and outside his Ferelden. He hoped that by not mentioning Anders, it would protect Rinaran from feeling the pain and hurt to what she had associated with one of her greatest failures. But to hear from Hadley that it was the seemingly mild mage who blew up the Chantry.

What had happened in the week since he had met the Champion? "Knight-Captain Hadley, are you sure about this?" he brought Hadley and the rest of the Templars' gaze upon him. He had to take control of the situation before it got out of hand.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the Templar nodded once before gesturing to the messenger that had told him the news, "this is Kavan, one of the brothers who had survived the Chantry's destruction. He overheard the whole conversation between Knight-Commander Meredith, First Enchanter Orsino, and Anders."

"Will you give me your report, young man?" Alistair asked. He saw the young boy, no older than perhaps fifteen, look to Hadley before the older man nodded once.

"I was on an errand from Grand Cleric Elthina, to give a message to Knight-Commander Meredith. I saw her talking, well, yelling at the First Enchanter. The Champion was there too, Maker, she was like all the stories they tell of her," the young man had a slightly dreamy look on his face before he suddenly realized where he was and cleared his throat roughly. Alistair suppressed his own smile. The Champion was exotically pretty he had to admit, with her black hair, fair skin, and sharp crystal eyes. In fact, she looked a little like his own wife, Rinaran.

"I was glad that the Champion was there because the Grand Cleric wanted me to summon her too, but her servant Orana told me that she had already left. She was usually a good person to mediate between the First Enchanter and the Knight-Commander. Her friends were there too, including the apostate Anders. He was scary," the young man's lips trembled once more, "and cut into their fight. He glowed too, as if possessed! I thought he summoned a spell or something like that. It was like a beautiful, but scary light, as if the Maker itself was calling down from the heavens."

The young apprentice priest took a deep breath before shaking his head, "The earth shook, and we all saw the Chantry disintegrate before our very eyes. The explosion ripped across the city, like stone had been burned by the very fires that molded it." He now stared at nothing in particular, "Screams, so many screams, people in fear, the wounded…the Knight Commander said that this was the work of the Circle, that it was the First Enchanter's fault. Anders said that there would be no compromise, there had to be war.

"I…I don't know what happened, but I heard swords drawn and ran to hide. There were spells, fighting, lots of blood, so much blood. Then…" Hadley stepped forward and placed a gloved hand on the young man's shoulder, silencing him.

Alistair nodded at the young man, "Thank you, Kavan. Are you in need of any aid we can provide?"

"The Chantry will take care of its own, Your Majesty," the Templar quickly said and Alistair frowned.

He was beginning to get really annoyed by the Templar. Ever since he had been stalling and waiting for Rinaran to return from Ozammar, the Templar had been nothing short of annoyingly polite. It almost made him want a reason to kick him out of Denerim, though he had a feeling that it would not go well with Senior Cleric Perpetua and Knight-Commander Tavish. Still stepping on the toes of the Knight-Captain was not wise, he had learned that much over the years of his rule of Ferelden.

"In light of this news, Your Majesty, we formally request that Warden-Commander Rinaran submit herself to questioning regarding ex-Warden Anders' actions," Hadley said and it was only then that Alistair realized the political trap he had led his wife into.

Hadley had known of what had happened in Kirkwall and had only summoned Kavan for his report to coincide with the one he had gotten from Leliana with her unmarked seal. The Templars knew what they were doing when they arrived a few days ago to petition the questioning of Warden magi. They were specially looking for Rinaran and any evidence that she was linked to the apparent uprising in Kirkwall. He had been too oblivious and too untested to see the trap for what it was. Even Anora had warned him during the initial meeting that things were not right, but he had dismissed her claims.

The Templars believed that Rinaran was somehow at the heart of it, but they also realized that she was potentially one of the greatest threats to the Chantry's power in Ferelden, being both the Hero of Ferelden and the Warden-Commander, but most of all, a mage. They wanted to neutralize her as a threat…

That was something he could not allow, both as the King and as her husband.

"You will not-"

"I will submit myself to your questioning," Alistair froze as Rinaran stepped forward, the color back in her face, but her eyes hard as crystals. She did not look back at him, nor at any of her fellow Wardens, but instead stared at Hadley as if he was the only person in the throne room.

The first strike had been made.

Author's Notes:

You can figure out for yourself what my Warden-Commander did in the game itself; I won't reiterate it for you in a paragraph. ^_^ Anyways, the only note I had was that I based the whole "wife vs queen" thing on the political machinations of another awesome sci-fi book series, Dune where the main character Paul Atredies wedded Irulan, the daughter of the previous Emperor only in name to gain the throne. He considered his lover Chani as his real wife. Back to Hawke and Anders in the next chapter.