At half light, we reached Ostagar. I was told it used to be a fabulous fort, originally built by the Tevinters, and later owned by the Wardens, now it lay in ruins. The King's army spread throughout the entire grounds, allowing little to no room for a couple more tents.

We walked up to the gates where a man with golden hair and armor to match stood, waiting, I assumed for us, with two guards on either side of him, and another man, hair as black as night, with a scowl that could run the bark off a tree.

Daveth gasped next to me. "That's the King of Ferelden!" he whispered to me; the first thing he's said to me since the incident last night.
The King? The last person I thought to meet us would be a king.

"Duncan!" the king greeted him. Duncan reached out his hand and the King took it and pulled hi into a hug. Obviously they knew each other. "The battles have been going well, so far," he continued. "We'll have this 'blight' defeated in no time!" He said the word 'blight' with his fingers curling as if to make quotes. He doesn't think this is a real blight?

"I admire your confidence, Cailan," Duncan replied.

"Oh, come on, Duncan. With you and your Wardens at my side, we will not fail." The King then looked over to the rest of us. "And these must be the new recruits." He walked over to us and looked each of us over, first at Ser Jory, who bowed to the king, stiff as a plank, then stood as tall as he could. Then he came to Daveth, who, not as stiffly, quickly bowed to the King as well. Then the King's eyes fell upon me. Unlike the other two, I bowed slowly and gracefully.

"I've haven't heard of many elves in the Wardens before. You must feel honored that Duncan recruited you."

"Yes, your Highness, I do," I replied.

"Now, now," Cailan chided to me. "There's no need for formalities. We're all men-in-arms here."

I looked up to see the Kings guards and the other man behind him glare at me. "I beg to differ, Messare. I'm afraid if I don't, your guards would bite my head off."

Cailan burst out laughing, which made the dark-haired man's scowl deepen. "I like this one, Duncan!" The king's hand camped onto my shoulder, almost making me fall over. "I like this one a lot!"

"I'm glad you approve, Cailan," Duncan replied, smiling at me.

"Sire," the man behind him spoke up, placing a hand on the king's shoulder. "We need to be getting our strategies planned for the next assault."

The King gave a great sigh and rolled his eyes. "Yes, Loghain. Oh, Duncan, have you met my Father-in-law, Loghain? He'll be assisting with the charge."

Both of Duncan's eyebrows went up. "Loghain? The man who drove out the Orlesians?"

Loghain stuck out his hand to Duncan. "The very same." They shook hands before he returned his attention to Cailan. "Sire, we NEED to get going."

"Yes, Ser," Cailan said, giving me a wink. "I'll see you all later."

The two of them walked off to one of the largest tents in the center of the camp. Duncan took us to a smaller section off the main area. The only people there wore uniforms, different than the king's men. They were blue and white with griffons as the Coat-of-arms. Wardens. This must be the Warden's camp.

"Darrian." I looked up to see Duncan speaking. "Why don't you come with me and we'll get you measured for some armor? I'm sure you don't want to be in those bloody clothes for much longer."

It was true, I didn't. The blood had caked onto it so much that it was starting to flake off. And some of the blood had soaked through and was stuck to my skin and was very uncomfortable. We didn't even have time to stop and bathe on the way down. I followed him to the Armorer's tent, where I was measured, allowed to bathe, an given extra clothes to change into. I discarded the old stuff and came back out of the tent to find Duncan waiting for me.

"The smith said my armor will should be ready either tonight or in the morning," I said.

"That will be soon, then," Duncan replied. "Did you ask for light armor?"

I nodded. "I can't very well fight if I can't move."

Duncan chuckled. "No, I suppose not." He started walking towards on the the larger tents in the center of the camp, and I followed. "I need to go meet with the King about the upcoming battle. May I ask you to do something for me?"

"What is it?"

"There's a Warden here in camp that you and the other recruits will be working with. He only took his Joining a few months ago, so he's just as much a greenhorn as you. I need you to find him and tell him to meet with me soon."

"Yes, Ser," I bowed my head. "What is he called?"

"Alistair. He's a big, tall man with blonde hair; you'll know him anywhere." He had some sort of twinkle in his eye, but before I could respond, he vanished into the tent.