So a lot of this is straight from game dialogue, which I clearly do not own. That's all Bioware. I'm posting a new chapter pretty soon, though, to make up for the lack of original content here and in the next one.
So I've got 1000 readers now between this and my other story. Go me! I do a little dance of joy every time I see someone has added me to their watch list, though. Really, I do. But no one ever reviews. That gives me a sad.
I managed to smile and wave my way through all of Denerim without falling off my horse, which was a minor miracle in itself. At the gates all of the nobles in residence were lined up to see the Hero of Ferelden off and promise their support to the Wardens. I stumbled hopping down, but no one seemed to notice or react. The newest Bann, an elf named Shianni representing the Denerim alienage, was being given the cold shoulder by the human nobles, so I made a point to spend more time speaking with her than the others. We had met when I busted Loghain's slave traders in the alienage, and again the day of the siege, so I figured a hug wouldn't be out of order. If elves and mages were constantly topping the 'most hated in Ferelden' list I figured we should stick together. Judging by her smug expression and the jealous glares of the humans I did a decent job.
Just before I headed off from the procession on my way, when we were outside the city walls, Alistair called "please, don't conscript every apostate you meet. I'm going to have a hard enough time dealing with the Chantry."
"I make no promises!" I shouted back to him, as he retreated towards the palace. His laughter echoed against the walls.
After double and triple checking the map Alistair had marked for me I set off for Amaranthine, confident I could reach it in three days. Neither of us could read a map in the past, though, and looks like he hadn't taken lessons since our traveling days. Thanks to the convoluted route it ended up being almost nightfall on the fourth day when I caught up with the Denerim recruit I was supposed to meet. She was on foot. "I am so sorry," I apologized. "Someone gave me terrible directions. What a horrible first impression I'll make."
The girl, whose name was Mhairi, seemed unconcerned. "You're the Hero of Ferelden, no one will mind if you're a little late." She was practically giddy at the thought of being a Warden. Every time the word "honor" passed her lips I was reminded of Ser Jory, who died at my joining. It was tough to resist the urge to jump from my horse and shake her. I had to practically beg just to get her to stop calling me "my lady," settling for "Commander" instead.
Finally Vigil's Keep broke over the horizon. I stared at it, trying to absorb every detail, conscious that it would be my home from now on. "Why are there no Wardens to greet us?" Mhairi asked. I shrugged.
"Maybe Alistair sent word that I hate a fuss?"
She gave me a confused look. I had to remember most people didn't think of him as Alistair the Grey Warden anymore. Before she could ask me who I was talking about a man in cheap chainmail, covered in blood, ran up to us. "Darkspawn!" he shouted.
I clambered off my horse. "Where are the other Wardens?" I had been promised a dozen from Orlais until I could get the Ferelden numbers up. I wanted more but apparently whatever Loghain said to turn them away at the blight had the Empress in a tizzy. He had no answers so I told him to get to safety and, if possible, send for help. Yanking my cowl down I readied my staff and cast a shield. A couple Genlocks bounded towards us and I froze them quickly before moving on, shouting "smash the frozen ones," over my shoulder. Working together we cleared the outer courtyard quickly, even when facing an Ogre. The recruit stopped in her tracks when it rounded a corner, but started moving when I froze the thing and hacked at it with my own sword.
She was nearing a panic when we finally reached the inner Keep. Asking me how this could have happened and why the Wardens didn't sense it I shrugged. "It doesn't matter right now. We'll defeat them." That seemed to satisfy her, which was good, since the other answers I came up with of 'I haven't the faintest idea' and 'Maybe the Empress sent us her dud Wardens, since I can sense them just fine' struck me as far less reassuring.
I climbed the stairs, my senses guiding me to a room just off the second floor balcony. I held up four fingers to Mhairi and pointed to the door before I opened it. I ran in and managed to skid myself to a halt before colliding with blonde man halfway through casting a fire spell. The last of the darkspawn dropped and he spun around, shaking the flames from his hands.
"Uh… I didn't do it," he began. I raised an eyebrow. Taking a closer look at me he followed that up with "hey, I recognize you from the Circle!" before I could respond. He did? How could I not remember him? He was certainly the type I'd remember. After being involved with an elf for over a year I'd forgotten just how… tall human men could be. "I know what they've been saying about me," he went on. "But this? Not my doing."
I crossed my arms, watching him since he seemed perfectly content to keep speaking, as cheerful as anyone in a room with darkspawn corpses could be. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not broken up about them dying, to be perfectly honest. Biff there made the funniest gurgle when he went down." I looked at 'Biff' and realized there were templar corpses mixed in with the darkspawn. Everything clicked into place.
"So you killed all these darkspawn yourself?" I asked, forcing myself not to cheer as Alistair's departing words echoing in my mind.
"Of course," he shrugged. "Well, they helped. A little. Before they tragically died." I snickered. "You may call me Anders, my dear lady. Mage and, sadly, a wanted apostate." He then bowed.
Before I could introduce myself Mhairi spoke up, shocked. "an apostate, at Vigil's Keep?" He responded by flirting with her. I was reminded of when we met Zevran. After helping him up he proceeded to flirt with Leliana, barely casting a glance my way. I was, apparently, still Ferelden's favorite runner up.
I looked over at the pile of bodies, and without thinking blurted out "So they were templars?" Because, of course, I wasn't a mage who grew up surrounded by them in the tower or anything like that.
"So they kept saying-," he replied. "Although come to think of it, there's no real way to know for sure, is there?" I paused, remembering that at one point even I owned a full suit of Templar armor, a few creepy ideas popping into my head. "The templars had captured me and were taking me back. And then, you know, darkspawn attacked. Could be a sign, yes?"
"A very convenient sign," I replied with complete honesty.
"Isn't it, though? The maker moves in mysterious ways. Well, tell you what. I'll help you, and we can discuss what comes later… later, once all these bastards are properly put down. Yes?"
"Welcome aboard, Anders," I said before leading us into the next room.
Back on the balcony I saw the gate lever. Darkspawn were on the opposite side, pounding at it. "Everyone stay up here!" I called. "I'm going to cast a storm spell, someone open the gate when I'm almost done so they run right into it." Anders hit the lever and just before I finished my incantation we were nearly knocked over by a fireball the size of a small house consuming the darkspawn entirely. A dwarf laughed madly from the opposite balcony, shouting threats at the darkspawn before running inside.
"What in the Maker's name was that?" I asked.
"Some kind of fire bomb?" Anders supplied. "Not a spell, that's for sure."
"I can make a fire bomb, that was NOT a fire bomb. That was… I have no idea what that was."
"Where did a mage learn to make a fire bomb?" Anders asked me.
I shrugged. "I used to… spend a lot of time with an assassin. He taught me how to make poisons and bombs." My heart clenched briefly, remembering the nights in camp where Zevran taught me how to mix the ingredients, his breath on my neck as he explained each recipe.
He blinked. "Who makes friends with assassins?"
"Me." Without waiting for a response I headed us to the next area.
Most of the rooms in the Keep presented the same scene: a single soldier, barely holding out against the darkspawn, who we would send to safety as soon as we cleared the area. Passing the eighth or ninth room with plain wooden beams, gaudy orange banners, and minimal furniture, I groaned. "I need to have this place redecorated."
"I don't know," Anders said. "After someone went through the trouble of getting you darkspawn for a housewarming gift that may be rude."
We eventually came to a room that smelled strangely of ale. I saw a large mass of darkspawn on the far end, with a short, red, howling blur in the middle of them. Blood was flying hard enough to splatter on the ceiling.
The blur slowed to a stop, lowered a monstrous battleaxe and cast me a surprisingly jaunty wave before resuming his attack. I cheered and leapt into the battle, lightning dancing from my fingers as I ran across the room. The last of the darkspawn fell and a familiar voice called out. "A-ha, there you are! When these darkspawn showed up, I thought 'just you wait until the new commander gets here and you'll all be spitting teeth out of your arses!'" He laughed. "Followed the screaming and sure enough, here you are. Good on ya!"
"Oghren! You're here!" I embraced him, and then fell back staggering from the smell of ale. He laughed.
"Came here thinking I might try my hand at being a bona fide Grey Warden."
"Does Felsi know?" I asked.
"She said it would be hot."
Not wanting to go into that discussion any deeper I held up a hand. Mhairi spoke up from behind me. Of course. "He was here when I left. I can't believe the Wardens didn't kick him out."
"Hey, the recruit with the great rack!" Oghren said in reply.
"I'd be very surprised if the Wardens kicked out one of the three people alive who faced down an archdemon and lived to tell of it." I said to her with a grin, enjoying the look of shock on her face.
"That was a hell of a fight, wasn't it?" Oghren mused. "Hey, speaking of, where's the elf? Shouldn't he be prancing around you trying to get into your robes?"
"Back in Antiva," I sighed. "He left a few months back. I suspect he's head of the Crows by now."
"Bah," Oghren grunted. "Forget the blighter. Never could figure what you saw in him anyways. Sodding perverse Antivans." He looked up again. "Who's the mage? New boyfriend? Should I leave you two alone?" I blushed slightly and rolled my eyes at him. He chuckled.
"Wow, a dwarf that smells like a brewery," Anders observed. "You never see that anywhere!"
"Huh, a mage comedian," Oghren said in reply. "Thought those normally died young." I cleared my throat and Oghren mercifully took the hint, suggesting we move on.