A big thank you to everyone that's read so far!
No ownage on my behalf.
"Don't you worry girl, Alistair will be recovered and on his way to you by the week's end," Wynne reassures me the next morning as I kiss my sleeping husband's forehead, "He's more resilient than we all give him credit for. My guess is that he will be more upset that he wasn't there to help you than about being injured."
"I know Nonna. I wish I could stay and wait for him, but the Orlesian Wardens should have arrived at the Vigil last night, and I have recruits ready to undergo the Joining, but all of the materials were sent up there last week," I admit, then press the scarred side of my face to Alistair's once more before straightening to hug the elder mage, "Promise me that you will look after him. I'd have Gabrielle stay to send me regular updates, but she left for the Peak yesterday with a new batch of hopefuls."
She clasps my shoulders with her thin hands and levels her eyes with mine, "I swear to you that I will take care of Alistair Lex. Now go do your duty Commander, before they forget who is in charge."
I give her another hug and pat her shoulder after forcing myself to relinquish my hold on her, "When he wakes up, be sure to tell him that I love him and that I will anxiously await his arrival at the keep."
She reiterates her vow and I don't look back at my husband as I walk out, knowing that I would never be able to leave his side if I did.
"It is nearly an eight days ride to Vigil's Keep from here in Denerim," I announce to the group of men and women standing around me as we prepare to mount our horses, "We will make the trip in four. If you are not up to the task, bow out now. The king and queen will be more than welcome to accept any of you into the ranks of their army as proof that no ill will is to be borne towards you should you choose not to become a Grey Warden."
"How do we know if we can accomplish what you are asking of us?" a middle aged elven warrior—Jayden I think his name is-asks as he gets situated in his saddle.
"You make it to the keep alive," I reply and nudge my palomino warhorse into motion.
I wait until we clear the city gates to swivel around and see what kind of an effect my words have had on our numbers. Darrel, gone. Lynna, gone. Damn, they would have been excellent additions. The elven twins, vanished. No big loss, they were only here for the glory. Braxis is also absent. I really can't blame her though, she's only been married a month.
"Five of ten still here, not as bad as I thought it would be. Last time we did something like this with so many, we only ended up with two and neither of them survived," I murmur so that only Mischa and Gavin can hear.
"Maybe they were here for the wrong reasons then," Gavin suggests, eyeballing the gray smoke floating up from his long wooden pipe.
"I can't agree with that, not if I'm being honest. Jowan survived his Joining after we saved those jerks from making him Tranquil, and I only joined to avenge my family," I frown at the empty space my husband should be in, remembering those first days, then shake my head, "No, I think reason has little to do with who lives and who dies my friend."
"I don't mean to interrupt, but Lieutenant Zevran once told me that the key to longevity is your willingness to fight for your survival," Becca, a younger warrior from Gawren, chimes in.
I exchange an incredulous look with my fellow Wardens, then pointedly ignore the girl's statement because, in truth? None of them truly know anything of the ritual they will have to endure. Hell, most of them believe that they are going to have to single handedly win a one on one fight with a darkspawn in order to become a full fledged Warden. A tad on the crazy side, yes, but I was so proud of Alistair when he began circulating that fun little rumor.
We lose three more on the road. One to bandits and two others to their own fears. Jayden and Becca are the only ones who remain when Vigil's Keep finally comes into view.
"Commander, the castle in under attack!" Mhairi-who had been sent ahead of our group to alert the others of our arrival-comes screaming out of the morning fog.
"Mischa, Gavin, I want you to stay with the recruits-and all of you get your bows ready," I command after rolling off of my mount and drawing my blades, "Mhairi and I will go in first. Wait for our signal to enter."
What we end up finding inside the wall of the fortress can only be summed up as absolute devastation. According to one survivor we find, the darkspawn somehow found their way up from the dungeons and had poured onto the grounds while all but a few night guards were sleeping.
I scan the area and make a quick count of the dead darkspawn. Dozens of bodies are scattered on the grassy terrain. The ten Orlesian Wardens, who had come to help us rebuild the order, had been Wardens for a lesser time than either Alistair or myself-and didn't have even half our experience.
They hadn't stood a chance against such vast numbers.
Farther into the structure, we stumble into a room strewn with dead Templars and charred darkspawn...and a man with dark blonde hair and mages robes standing in the middle of them.
"Oh hells bells, what else can go wrong today?" he mutters to himself, then raises his hands in surrender as he turns to face us, "Erm, I didn't do it?"
"You killed all of these by yourself?" I inquire as I kick open a foot locker in search of a poultice for Mhairi's shoulder.
"The darkspawn I did," he confesses, looking more than a little confused, "I tried to save those Chantry boobs that brought me here, but Biff and Templar Bob over there hit me with a smite right before a genlock turned Bob into mincemeat, then Biff made the funniest gurgle when he went down a second later."
"I'm Lex, this is Mhairi, we're Grey Wardens," I press what I assume to be his gear into his hands and point to the door we'd just entered through, "There are four other Wardens waiting outside the keep's main gate. Make sure to announce yourself when you find them, and they will keep you safe."
"Right, well thanks," he nods and touches the other woman's shoulder to heal it before disappearing out the door.
"How do we know he wasn't a maleficar?" the young knight with me questions after testing the strength of her mended limb and we resume our search for survivors, "The Templars wouldn't have locked him up for no reason."
"We don't," I glance at her for a moment before unlocking the next door and silently easing it open, "But it's not our place to judge someone for how they choose to live their life. It's our job to make sure they have the chance to choose to begin with."
Sufficiently chastised, the young warrior takes her place on my left flank as we slink down the blood splattered corridor.
"Commander, Mhairi, you finally made it," a thickly accented voice mumbles a few minutes-and a handful of darkspawn-later.
"Roland!" Mhairi wails and rushes to the man who is propped up against the wall, seated in a pool of his own blood.
Distant memories of my father try to manifest, but I wrestle them back as I kneel next to him and smile, "Lying around on the job again Ro? I thought we'd already had a talk about that."
"Blame it on this damn hangover I've got," he chuckles softly, then pats his young lover's head as she weeps against his shoulder, "They took the other Wardens Lex. Didn't kill them outright like they normally do. I don't know what's going on but I think I know why I was left behind."
I silently nod my agreement when he weakly waves a hand at the horrific wound splitting his abdomen, "How much longer Roland?"
"Minutes, I'd wager. If that."
I straighten out of my crouch after kissing his cheek, "It has been an honor and a privilege Ser Warden. I will leave you two to say your good byes."
"I love you Alexa Rose, and have since the day we met," he confesses what I'd been well aware of for over a year as I walk away, "Alistair is a lucky man to have earned your affections."
"Thank you," I whisper and move around the corner in order to give the lover's the semblance of privacy.
While I'm waiting, the eerie stillness is broken by a man's voice on the other side of the door I'm stand across from. "Oh no, don't come over here, the big bad darkspawn are going to eat me!"
I throw the door wide in time to see a laughing dwarven man on the far side of the chamber toss something over the railing, then am blown off my feet when that something explodes.
"What did you just blow up?" Mhairi runs up, her face streaked with tears but still has her sword and shield at the ready.
"I didn't, some crazy dwarf did," I admit, my ears still ringing from the blast. I clamor to my feet and look for the dwarf, but he is nowhere to be found, then point out a barricaded stairwell leading down, "From what I can tell, that's our only way to get across unless we jump the rail."
She pokes her head through the splintered remnants of a door, then points a finger upward, "There's a set of stairs here, I think they lead to the battlements. Maybe we could skirt over them to get to the other side of the castle?"
I weigh my options for a moment, then wave her on, "The battlements will be faster, I think."
The two of us make our way to the defensive wall at the top of the fortress and find ourselves in the pouring rain. "At least we don't have to worry about fire," I snicker to myself, then laugh aloud when the young woman looks at me like I've lost what little mind I had left.
It takes some time, but we eventually stomp our way to the far side of the Vigil and descend back into the building. And into yet another group of darkspawn. By the time we dispose of the latest batch and I pause to catch my bearings, Starfang and Duncan's sword are once again blackened with toxic ichor.
"There you are!" a gruff voice booms, making Mhairi jump in surprise, "I told these sodding bronto humpers that they'd get piled up faster than all get out when the Commander of the Grey showed herself, and here you are, just like I said! Hey, where's the little pike twirler of yours hidin' at? Aren't his lips usually firmly stuck to one of your arsecheeks?"
"He's still in Denerim, you scabby twat. That mage he talked to in Weisshaupt finally showed up with his new eye," I explain, collapsing onto the steps at his feet before stealing the flask tied to his belt and taking a long pull, "Why are you here Oggie?"
"He was here two weeks ago, when I brought a message here from Soldier's Peak," Mhairi grimaces at her ruined helm, then tosses it over her shoulder before continuing, "I can't believe Roland let him stay."
"Eh, I remember you, yer the recruit with the nice rack! Lookin' at those perky things makes me wanna get some milk right from the source," the ornery dwarf chortles as I hand his flask back, "I thought I'd come and visit the only rogue berserker known in Ferelden...and maybe stick around to see what's so sodding special about all this Warden stuff."
"Felsi would kill me if I put you through the Joining!" I yell, then tilt my head back to glower at my old friend, "Felsi threw you out again, didn't she? What did you do to piss her off this time?"
"Nothing! She just said that she thought bein' a Grey Warden would be sexy, so here I am," he defends and reaches a hand out to help me back to my feet, "Where's the giant cup you got fer this? I'll gargle and spit right now."
"You're not allowed to spit it out," I vainly try to stifle a laugh at Mhairi's horrified expression, "And it will have to wait until after we clean out the darkspawn."
"I guess we can't afford to turn anyone away in these hard times," the young knight behind me comments to herself as we get back to work.
If she only knew how right she was...
Ah Oghren, always good for a laugh...and molesting the nearby females when Zev is busy lol