Bare-foot and half-naked the king ran out of the keep, blightblood gripped firmly in his left hand.
"I demand to know what is going on here."
"Stay back Sire, this man is a vile dangerous beast." The woman said sending her own talents toward the mage kneeling at her feet. The man yelled out in pain and toppled over gasping for air.
"Release him, now." He said stepping toward the bitter old Templar "He has been conscripted by the Grey wardens, you have no more business here or with him."
"no! I will not allow it, he will hang for what he has done!" The mage groaned painfully as the Templar sent out another mana drain against him.
Darrek grabbed the woman by the top of her breastplate and pulled her violently toward him. "You DARE question me?" He growled not an inch from her face. The smell of her made him want to shove her back, to both hate and pity her. She smelled of shit and lyrium, the scent of an old Templar not long for this world.
"I...n..no Sire, forgive me." She said through clinched teeth She was thrown back unexpectedly and stumbled, causing her to trip over her skirts and fall heavily to the ground.
He rose his arm pointing the tip of his sword down at the Templar "Get out of my keep, and if I see you here again I will not be so generous."
The templars collected their leader and quickly retreated toward the gates as the warrior knelt beside the mage.
"A Grey warden, that could work." The mage chuckled painfully as he was helped into a sitting position. "Thank you."
"I didn't do it for you Anders, I happen to find myself in desperate need of Grey Wardens. You are a mage as well as a healer, saving your life is just coincidence." He said as he helped the mage to his feet.
"Well, that put me in my place didn't it. ... Sire." He grumbled adding the last word with more then a little sarcasm.
Darrek just chuckled as he helped Anders back into the keep. This was already turning out to be a very long day, and it had only just begun.
"Sire." The guard bowed deeply as Darrek entered the small room. "Here he is, the thief safe and sound, and mostly unhurt." The guard smirked as he looked at the dark haired man sitting against the back wall of his cell.
"Leave us." Darrek demanded as he stared through the bars knowingly.
"I shall go fetch the Seneschal." The guard bowed again and left.
"And here I thought you would be to cowardly to come yourself Cousland, or is it King Cousland now."
"Nice to see you too Nate." Darrek's voice was dark and icy as he continuously reminded himself those dark orbs staring back at him were not Rendon, no matter how much they resembled him.
"So you do remember me." The man grunted in pain as he slowly gained his feet and limped over to the cell door.
"Why have you come here Nathaniel?" Darrek asked as he looked over the man's injuries, bruises, a few cuts, by the limp a sprain or two. He could not say he was sad to see the condition of the man before him, he was after all, a Howe.
"To kill you, to claim my families possessions. But mostly to kill you, you who murdered my father and cast down my family name. If I had been here..." His eyes bore holes into Darrek as he spoke.
"If you had been here you would have died right along side your father. He destroyed my family, my home, slaughtered every man woman and child in the castle. He got what he deserved." The warrior snarled.
"My father was a good man, he fought with the hero of river dane, fought against the Orlesians, along side the king. He was loyal to this country!" He yelled as his hand shot through the bars grabbing Darrek's thin Grey tunic and pulling him forward. "And you killed him for that, you who's family were traitors."
Though Darrek was on the verge of losing his patience he calmly removed Nate's fingers from his shirt and sighed, he was not in the mood for a moral debate with the man. He walked over to the lone desk in the room and pulled a key from the center drawer which he used to unlock the cell. "Take your things and get out of here. I don't want to see you again."
"You...are letting me go? What is to stop me from coming back and killing you?"
"Nothing." Darrek's jaw clenched and unclenched as he tried to control his anger toward the Howe.
Nathaniel glared at the warrior but said nothing more as he gathered his belongings and left silently out the door.
Darrek sighed as he sat down and waited for the Seneschal thinking to himself once again, this was going to be a very long day.
Two days, two sleepless days and nights, and Darrek was still hunched over the desk in his private room working by candle light. Repairs to the keep and armor outfitting had finally gotten underway at no small expense to his own private wealth, and he had lost seven out of the nine warden recruits. The Weisshaupt treasurer was constantly badgering him about the coffers, the Seneschal wanted a gathering of the nobles, his scouts had reported in with reports of Darkspawn...
A soft knock as his door swung open pulled his concentration from the missives. He looked up only to see Anora walk through the door . Her normal hard look melted into one of pure relief as her eyes fell upon the man sitting behind the desk.
"I feared the worst when I heard about the attack on the keep." She said as she all but ran across the room and fell against the man.
"I am fine, I cannot say the same for the Orlesian wardens however." He said gathering the woman in his arms and pulling her into his lap covering her face with soft touches and kisses.
Her hands explored his upper body as if she was unsure of the man's existence. "If I had known, I would never have asked you to come. You can't keep getting into these situations."
"If not me Anora, then who?" He said as his fingers rested under her chin and forced her head up to meet his eye. "This is my sworn duty, I am a warden."
"You are King now, and your duty is to the throne. Losing you would have a grave impact on the country." They both knew her words rang hollow.
Darrek chuckled as he stroked the woman's cheek. "One in the same, to protect my country I must fight this darkspawn intrusion." He placed a finger over her mouth to silence words he sensed coming. "We have spoken time and again about this Anora, and my answers never change."
"Just be careful, I do not want to lose you, Ferelden needs you."
"Come now Anora this is not like you, you ran this country in the shadows of a lesser king, you will run it when I am long dead. Do not pretend to be weaker then you are, that is not the woman I married and it will not be the woman I would have you become."
"You know me too well, you are right I fear losing you for my own selfishness. Before I met you I had no idea what I was missing. Knowing you see only me and not my father or my throne, knowing the love I give is returned, and that I won't find you in a servant girl's bed..." Her words cut off with a soft moan as Darrek's hand slid under her skirts.
Darrek chuckled as she fell limply against him "You know you are the only woman for me."
The phrasing of his words the only woman had not been lost on her, but soon melted along with the rest of her thoughts in heated passion.