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SPOILER WARNING: This story may contain spoilers for Dragon Age games, books and comics.
A/N: This story uses characters from my I Shall Endure universe. It does not follow the plot line or reveal the outcomes of the I Shall Endure series.
FROZEN DRAGONS
Chapter 4: VARRIC
Another Siren's Call === 9:39 Dragon
Our voyage to Ferelden, Higheverport to be exact, took five days. While I was careful not to say it aloud, I still thought of Alistair as Prince. He acted like a prince, albeit a war-band leading one, not a ruling one. I called him Warden, just like the Rivaini and Broody did. Alistair had a point about not riling a sell sword, particularly one as talented as he proved to be. I soon became convinced the Kirkwall drunk had, indeed, become the Ansburg Warden and had been the Fereldan who defeated the Blight.
Every morning, early, Prince was on deck going through his fighting forms and meditating. The bards' tales said he was templar trained before he joined the wardens. I guess meditating was the old templar practices coming through. Once the rest were up, he would spar with one of them. I didn't expect his skill, having only seen the drunk in Low Town. He defeated each of them in turn. Surprised the Void out of Broody. Had to chuckle at that. The Prince was a fighting machine; and quick for a warrior.
Rivaini's crew began taking wagers on who would win by the second day. Most were sure Broody would defeat him. I backed Prince and won. Prince even stayed out of reach of Broody's hands. Apparently, Daffodil had explained Broody's unusual powers.
On the afternoon of the second day out from Ostwick, Prince called us all together in the Rivaini's cabin to plan our - as he calls it - mission. I couldn't help but compare this to Hawke's approach. No plan at all. I can't say I paid close attention. Prince had maps. He sketched out a route from Higheverport to Honnleath, where we would meet General Loghain. He presented a list of supplies, which he asked each of us to review. We would get any missing items in Higheverport, he said.
Beyond Honnleath, however, he had - well, he had no plan. He laughed and said his plan extended to meeting up with General Loghain and the local Arl. He expected the Fereldans to have new information on the dragons and the dragon hunters. Once we learned the situation, we would mark a route into the Frostbacks and develop a plan as we traveled. Oddly, this lack of surety made me more confident in our leader. I liked a leader who assumed plans would change. Planning was perhaps a good thing; plans, useless.
Prince did say he wanted to contact any Avvar settlements we found on our route and see what they knew. He hoped Arl Wulff's scouts could tell us how to locate the Avvar settlement near the Col where the dragons and dragon hunters had been seen. He also worried that we had no mage. Broody, of course, frowned at this and Prince noticed.
"You don't find mages useful in battle?"
"I find mages dangerous to everyone, not just the enemy."
"We couldn't have defeated the Archdemon and darkspawn without mages. If these dragon hunters have a mage, we will need one too. My powers only go so far."
"Powers?" I asked, hoping he would elaborate on the templar thing. Daffodil smirked.
"Templar powers," Prince answered.
"But, you're not a templar," Broody objected.
"I am templar trained, but, you're correct, I never took final vows. They're not necessary to use the skills."
"Templars take lyrium for their skills."
Prince sighed. "No, templars take lyrium to bind them to their Chantry masters. It's addictive. It's very difficult to wean a templar off lyrium, not to mention tremendously painful. It's a way to control the templars. Maybe it helps some with of their skills, but I perform quite well without it."
Isabela had looked at Zevran. We had experience with templars and mages in Kirkwall that probably differed from the Prince's during the Blight. Then, I recalled Cullen's stories of the Fereldan Circle and how the Wardens saved it. Maybe our experiences weren't so different. I returned my attention to the discussion.
"He speaks truly. He smote many emissaries when we fought the darkspawn." Daffodil said.
"Yes and then our mages killed them and healed us. Just because I can smite mages, doesn't mean we shouldn't take a mage from Loghain's army if we can. Fenris, can you agree to that? If not, I will ask you to leave."
Broody had looked up, shocked and then surprised me with his reply. "I agree, reluctantly. I admit you make good points. And you can subdue this mage if necessary."
"I can. I hope I never have to. I'm sure Loghain can provide an experience fighting mage who can also heal. We'll see when we meet with him."
Broodys' easy capitulation stunned me. It seemed Prince had won him over. Perhaps he trusted him so quickly because it was clear he had no interest in Rivaini? Or was the Prince just that persuasive?
The variable winds of springtime extended the voyage to five days. We entered Higheverport harbor on the evening tide. Anchored for the night, Prince and Daffodil went into the city, leaving Rivaini, Broody and I on board. Apparently, Prince had contacts in Higheverport. He and Daffodil arranged supplies and - I was not happy about this - horses. Daffodil told me dwarves ride. I've never known one who did. Needless to say, Rivaini found this all very amusing.
"Do they plan to outfit him on a child's pony?" she giggled. "The stirrup strap will break as soon as he steps into it."
Broody actually smirked.
"I'm glad I'm providing your entertainment for the evening."
"Oh, Varric, this is but the prologue. The main act will begin tomorrow when you try to mount the beast." Isabela actually cackled at this.
Broody had to turn his head to hide a smile!
"Very cute, Rivaini. How well do you ride?" I kicked myself as soon as the words escaped my mouth.
Fenris looked up and said, "Quite expertly in my experience."
Isabela doubled up laughing.
The sea voyage had affected my mental powers if Broody could retort so quickly. "I'm going to gather my belongings and go to sleep." I stalked away with as much dignity as I could muster leaving both Broody and the Rivaini laughing behind me. Tomorrow would be awful. I'll have to record it all and attribute it to some poor sot in a story.
The next day Zevran returned assuring us all was ready. The lighter took us ashore. We stayed in Higheverport, at the House Haris merchant compound for three nights. The main purpose of the extra days in the port city was to give me riding lessons. The Prince found a pony and saddle for me and then insisted I ride in the stable yard. He did do me the favor of banishing the others.
Prince seemed to know his way around a stable, so maybe the rumors of his common upbringing were also true. Or else he had learned since sobering up and living in Ansburg. The warden compound probably had a stable. Or perhaps he learned as part of his templar training. I decided I would have to get him to tell me. We seem to be getting on better in spite of the horse or perhaps because of it. He is a good instructor.
From Higheverport we headed south to a pass through the Coast Range called the Elstan Notch. Once through the Notch we turned west on the North road to head south to Honnleath. Now that was confusing. I do not understand why Fereldans cannot name their roads better. We passed near West Hill, which was the site of a great defeat for Prince's father and the current General of Army, Loghain Mac Tir during the Rebellion. I expected to skirt the northern tip of Lake Calenhad and ride down the Imperial Highway, but it soon became clear that our leader had other ideas. Ideas I very much approved of, since it involved no horses.
We turned south to Lake Calenhad Docks on the northeast tip of the lake. It was now Drakonis, Guardian having passed while we were at sea, and the lake was clear of ice. The boats were running to Redcliffe. After spending the night at a nondescript inn, called The Doleful Duck, we boarded a cog for the sail south. We left the horses to await our return. They would not provide any additional speed on the rough roads in the mountains.
The boat trip did save time. We arrived in Redcliffe after a single night on board. Once we restocked our supplies, we headed south on foot to meet up with the Fereldan army in Honnleath. On the way, I finally got a Blight story out of Prince. Honnleath is the village where the Blight companions discovered their golem, Shale. Interesting tale, but the Bard companion has already told it in her song. Too bad.
We had a surprise when we arrived in Honnleath, however. I knew we would meet the General, Loghain Mac Tir, but it was not he who greeted us. It was the King of Ferelden, Fergus Cousland.