Day 7:

After some discussion between us, we decided to go to Redcliffe as our first stop. Seeing as we are a rather large group, we agreed that Sten and the mabari was to stay back at camp to protect most of our belongings, while I, Morrigan, Alistair and Leliana moved to Redcliffe. The more humans the better and with some luck, they won't know exactly who we are. The danger is me and Alistair, being the only surviving Grey Wardens. But really… How obvious can we be?

***

Staring at Redcliffe castle with wide eyes, Theron was completely caught up with the new sight that he almost walked into Alistair. Blinking as he stared at Alistair, he waited for the man to do something before he yelped as he was tugged away from the others. "Woah woah, where the heck are you taking me?"

"I just… Look, can we talk for a moment," Alistair simply said before releasing the smaller male and rubbed his neck nervously. "I need to tell you something, I, ah, should probably have told you earlier."

Theron rubbed his arm a little, giving Alistair a small pout. "Let me guess: You're an idiot?"

Alistair just rolled his eyes before grinning and lifting his hand in a defensive motion. "Yes, that's right! I stopped you to tell you I'm an idiot. Whew!" he sighed while running his hand through his hair, looking relieved. "Thank the Maker you know already! Now I can stop worrying I'll be found out."

Letting out a small chuckle, Theron shook his head before crossing his arms over his chest, looking at Alistair with an amused expression. "It wasn't exactly a secret," he mused before turning more serious, not wanting to insult the man too much. "But what's on your mind? I mean, we're kinda on a tight schedual here and the quicker we can talk to this arl Eamon, the better…"

"It is important," Alistair said quickly before biting his lip. "… I told you before how arl Eamon raised me, right? That my mother was a serving girl at the castle and he took me in?"

Theron nodded while looking Alistair in the eyes, seeing the way they darted from side to side, as if nervous that someone else was listening in on them.

"The reason he did that was because… Well, because my father was King Maric. Which made Cailan my… Well, half brother, I suppose."

Staring at Alistair with a raised eyebrow, Theron tried to process what Alistair had just told him before slowly speaking. "So… You're not just a bastard, but a royal bastard?" he asked, adding a little smile to the sentence. He could tell that this was hard for Alistair and hoped a little bit of humor would help him relax.

"Hah, yes, I guess it does at that," Alistair laughed while grinning. "I should use that line more often." Still chuckling, he stepped a little closer to Theron before lowering his voice again. "I would have told you, but… It never really ment anything to me. I was inconvenient, a possible threat to Cailan's rule and so they kept me secret. I've never talked about it to anyone. Everyone who knew either resented me for it or they coddled me. Even Duncan kept me out of the fighting because of it. I didn't want you to know for as long as possible." Sighing, Alistair added a low "I'm sorry.".

Smiling some, Theron lowered his head in a silent thanks before looking up again. He felt honored that Alistair was sharing some of his past and secret with him, and while the human lords ment nothing to him, it did mean something to him that Alistair was viewing him as someone he could trust. He just hoped he would never have to betray that trust. "It's alright, I think I understand," he murmured softly before smiling up at his friend.

Alistair smiled back, a look of relief crossing his face. "Good, I'm glad. It's not like I got special treatment for it anyhow. At any rate, that's it. That's what I wanted to tell you. I thought you should know about it."

Theron smirked and gave Alistair a playful punch at the shoulder. "Are you sure? You're not hiding anything else?"

Alistair just grinned before wrapping his arm around Theron's shoulders, hugging him close in a brotherly way. "Besides my unholy love for fine cheeses and a minor obsession with my hair, no, that's it. Just the prince thing." Then he looked more fascinated with the length of Theron's own hair, dragging his fingers slightly through it. Then he blushed and pulled his arm away. "Erm, sorry. Just… I have never seen such long hair before and it's in such a good condition."

Waving his hand, Theron dismissed Alistairs apology before grinning. "Nothing to worry about, I do get response from people. I am starting to feel like something on display or something like it."

"Well, it –is- pretty," Alistair pressed, giving Theron a small smirk of his own as they started walking after the others, who'd stopped by the bride to wait.

"I know it is," Theron replied with a wink before adding a quick comeback. "So I should be calling you Prince Alistair?"

Not able to hold his laugher back from the look that crossed Alistair's face, he stopped up to catch his breath before finding a large gloved hand covering his mouth and a second hand tugging him closer to Alistair. "Sssssh, I don't want anyone else to find out! And Maker's breath, no, just hearing that is giving me a heart-attack!"

Ignoring Theron's snickering, Alistair attempted to glare at him. "It's not true anyhow… I'm the son of a commoner. It was always made clear that the throne is not in my future. And that is fine with me." Shaking his head, Alistair looked towards the castle resting on the cliff next to the village. "No, if there's an heir to be found, it's Arl Eamon himself. He's not of royal blood, but he is Cailan's uncle… And more importantly, very popular with the people." Then a shadow crossed over his face as a thought hit him. "Though… If he's really as sick as we've heard… No. I don't wanna think about that. I really don't."

Finally releasing Theron from his grip, Alistair nodded his head towards the girls again. "So there you have it. Now can we get a move on, and I'll just pretend you still think I'm some… Nobody that was too lucky to die with the rest of the Grey Wardens."

Theron just smiled before a devil passed through him and he gave Alistair a light bow. "As you command… My prince."

Alistair rolled his eyes before stalking off towards Leliana and Morrigan. "Oh, lovely. Somehow I just know I'm going to regret this… I just know it…"

***

Day 8 (night):

Well, this just keeps getting better and better.

Once we finally managed to get to Redcliffe, we found that the entire village was overrun by the undead. Horrors came flocking out of the castle, hundres of people were dead. A man named Bann Teagan, apparently the arl of Redcliffe's brother, asked for our aid which we, of course, agreed to give.

Morrigan was most displeased with the fact, but she kept her opinions to herself. Mostly.

After convincing the local blacksmith as well as a dwarf named Dwyn to help defend and give assistance to the city, we managed to drive the undead back. But not without cost… The mayor, a man named Murdock, gave his life in the attempt to protect the chantry from the undead. May the gods have mercy on his soul and let him rest in pride for what he gave.

After talking to Bann Teagan about our current situation, a woman by the name of Isolde came running. I didn't really understand what she was going on about, I doubt any of us was, but she wanted the Bann to come to the castle with her alone. Alistair and myself tried to make her say more, but she wouldn't. In the end the Bann agreed to go with her, but not before telling us of a way to get into the castle.

The castle wasn't in much better condition and we learned the most likely reason as to why the village was such a condition. We found a mage named Jowan, a Maleficar and an apostate, and we were able to ask him for answers. Apparantly the Arl's son, Connor, has shown tendencies of magic and the mage was hired to train him. Instead, by the order of Loghain, he poisoned the Arl. But he pleaded for his cause and he seemed like he was genuinely sorry about everything and wanted for us to give him a chance. So we released him from the cell he was in, much to Alistair's frustrations. I will have to talk to him about it later, seeing as the templar in him still is very much there.

After fighting our way to the main hall, we found that the Arl's son was possessed by a demon and had taken control over everything in the castle. We managed to free the Bann from the spell the demon had put him under and after looking over our options, we found that we had to try and save the boy. Morrigan wasn't very happy about it, thinking it was a waste of time, but killing a boy in cold blood…

To end this briefly, we now have our new course set for us. One mission suddenly got split into three, but thankfully, it all leads to the same place. We're going to the Tower of Magi to speak with the mages there for help, both for Arl Eamon and his son as well as in the Blight.

I am just praying that we'll have little problems with that… With our luck, the Tower will probably toss us out.

***

"Ugh, now I start wishing I could be left at camp. If I am to spent more time with this oaf of a man, then I will be sick!"

"Same, the view would be so much lovelier if you stayed back."

Sighing as Morrigan once again let everyone know how much she loved Alistair's company, Theron opted to try and ignore her. And Alistair for that matter.

They had been travelling north towards the Tower of Magi ever since the happenings in Redcliffe, having promised Bann Teagan and Isolde to ask the mages for help by suggestion from Jowan.

Leliana had stayed in the camp just outside Redcliffe because of a minor injury to her foot, remaining with Sten and the Mabari to help defend the town if needed. Having hoped that the trip would be a fast one, seeing as the tower was only a day's journey away from Redcliffe, Theron had believed that only Alistair and Morrigan would be needed if anything would turn up on the way, but so far the constant bickering between them had become the biggest challenge… He had been tempted no more than six times to turn around and start yelling at them to shut up, and it was only the long hours of meditation with his tribe that helped him resist the urge.

When the mage-tower finally came into view it was such a welcome sight that Theron was tempted to simply fall to his knees and start crying. So when Alistair pointed out how unpractical the tower was while Morrigan remarked on what it looked like, Theron was caught so ungarded that he broke down with laughter.

While Alistair tried to make the elf snap out of it, Morrigan simply rolled her eyes and started walking towards the dock. "Wonderful, now our fearless leader has snapped as well. 'tis just becomes more and more promising by the minute."

"Oh, shut up, Morrigan and help me get him back on his feet!" Ignoring Morrigan's wave of dismissal, Alistair hooked an arm around Theron's waist and gave him a concerned look. "Theron, are you alright?"

Almost gasping for air, Theron just nodded while giggling, waving his hand about as he tried to calm down. "I am so sorry, I just… This trip. And you two. And that phallus of a tower. Just too much!"

"Mind you, it wasn't that funny," Alistair replied dryly as he tried to make Theron stand on his own. "But I think you need some rest. Maybe the mages can offer us a bed or something for the night."

"I certainly hope so, I think I need a good night's rest. The gods know I haven't slept well since Ostagar. I haven't dared to and the dreams aren't really making it much easier either," Theron murmured as he supported himself against Alistair, still letting out small hiccups from laughing, but seemingly calming down. "I just… I am so wind up that I don't know what to do with myself."

Alistair gave him a friendly pat on the back before nodding towards the tower again, smiling. "Well, lets go and take a few hours in the tower then, eh? After all, I am sure the mages will need some time to prepare themselves for helping us in Redcliffe so… We're entitled for a little bit of rest, as I see it."

"But do we have the time for it," Theron reminded Alistair after he finally stopped laughing. "We may be able to stop for a short time, but no more than we can afford. When the mages are ready, so should we be, if we even get them to follow us."

"Treaties," Alistair simply reminded Theron with a small smirk before rolling his eyes as Morrigan bellowed for them to hurry up.

"Come. Lets go pay those mages a visit. The quicker we are done here, the better I will feel."

Theron nodded in agreement as he followed the templar down towards the water's edge. The quicker they were done here, the better.