This story is not dead either, I've just been very busy with how I'd like to conclude A Dangerous Thing. So this chapter is kind of another slow and boring one, but I promise it'll pick-up in the next one, I just needed to get this one finished and out of the way. So next chapter Leliana and Sten making their appearance, and just a heads-up, Zevran will make an earlier appearance than what is usual in the game. Planning out a story about the Grey Wardens right now, it will sort of be about the everyday lives of the Wardens, and then the main plot for the story. But as of now, it is in the planning stages. Anyhow, enjoy and let me know what you guys think :)

IMPERIAL HIGHWAY

They'd spent hours in the Korcari Wilds now, moving north under the guidance of their apostate damsel, whose impatience for the wounded Wardens often lead to witchy glares from over her feathered shoulder. While Alistair usually returned a look of distaste, the novice Warden was trying her best to regulate her hardening breathing and ignore the sharp pains shooting up her sides. It was apparent she had broken some ribs and Morrigan's mother mended them back to the best of her ability, but that didn't save her from the excruciating pain of unnatural healing. She tried to hide her pain with a smile whenever her fellow travelers looked back to check on her, and they seemed to buy the friendly curl of her dry lips. However, as soon as Vesper could see the back of their heads again, her face contorted into that of suffering, and it was only Dog who was not mislead. So it was only a matter of time when the Mabari war hound's whining reached the perked ears of Morrigan, who finally stopped along the trail and turned to her followers.

"Warden, if you do not silence your mangy hound's whining," her hand sprung up with a purple fiery orb floating above her palm, and her lip curled into an annoyed smirk, "I will have to silence him myself." Despite the witch's threat, Dog continued to whine and lick at his master, who failed to put up a front when the two of her companions were now looking at her.

Alistair glowered at Morrigan and turned to Dog adoringly, "He's not mangy!" Then he noticed the erratic behavior of the hound as he jumped and ran in circles around Vesper, whom had stopped and was now clutching her side as she bent over. "Vesper- Are you alright?" he stepped to her just as she stumbled, and he held her up by the shoulders as Dog barked protectively at him. Alistair did a once over, and saw as she moved her hand, that her tunic was stained red, "Her wounds must have re-opened from when we were sneaking past that party of darkspawn." He turned to Morrigan, who was leaning on her staff again and was giving him a maddening glare, but the Warden ignored her, "We need to address her wounds now while we're free of trouble-"

Morrigan waved her hand to hush him and sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Very well, let us get off the road. There should be a small clearing through those trees." The dark dame pointed with a long nail at a wall of woods that grew east of their path and moved to maneuver the way, looking up and down the road for anyone who might see them. After having to hide from a few scouting parties of darkspawn, the group had to depend on Morrigan to be more privy to their surroundings, and so far she had done well. Alistair helped Vesper through the brush after the apostate, who held back a branch as they stepped into a very small clearing, but a glade none the less. He took his fellow Warden to a conveniently fallen log and sat her down beside him, as Dog rested his worried head on top of her knees. "Should of known Mother wasn't going to entirely heal the wound," Morrigan sighed as she knelt down to dig through her pack, "Lucky for you that she did leave me bandages to redress the wound. However, I must go in search of ingredients to make you a salve, give me a moment."

With that said, the raven-haired dame disappeared back into the Wilds after tossing Alistair the clean dressings, and left the Wardens together in the dewy glade. Vesper's face glistened from the agony and her hand never left her side as she tried to catch her breath, now that they were sitting down. "How long has it been bothering you?" the former junior Warden asked worriedly, setting both their swords against a rotting stump so that he could be more helpful. The young Warden smirked at him and her gaze wondered to Dog, who she reassuringly began to pat in the head.

"I'd say an hour after we left Morrigan's hut."

Alistair was surprised by how amused she was at her own confession, scratching Dog on the ear and inhaling cautiously. "All this time you've been in pain…Why didn't you say something?" he was bemused by her unmindful attention of her wounds and that she was merely laughing at her own stupidity. "What if we hadn't noticed in time to stop the bleeding-"

"Alistair," Vesper's voice was soft and compassionate as she said his name, smiling still. "I appreciate your concern, but I couldn't tell you," she answered, drawing her hand away to see the slight smudges of blood across her palm. Lady Cousland eased onto her feet and used Alistair's shoulder to balance herself before unlacing the front of her vest. Once that was removed, she touched the hem of her blouse and carefully pulled it over her head. Again she was in nothing but her breast-band and trousers in the presence of Alistair, who was strategically keeping his eyes on the bandages falling apart around her waist. She pulled at the wrappings, moved by the apparent puncture wounds in her side, and when she reached her neck, she felt the same cut pattern. The wounds were glazed in fresh blood from the stretching of her wounds, which was a result of their hasty walking to the village of Lothering.

"And why couldn't you tell me…" the Warden mumbled, taking in her slim and toned physique, now scared and bruised from their battles. Regardless, there were older scars amongst the new, risen and almost shiny from where her tanned skin had healed over time. Alistair wondered what she could have possibly done to have those scars. For one he didn't know much about her past before she stumbled into Ostagar behind Duncan, and she could very well have been some sort of barbaric war maiden up in the north. Or maybe she stole a bone from Dog and he wasn't all too happy about it. But then Alistair's eyes lingered at the scars that curved along her hips and the hip bone, pointing beyond the waist of her trousers. The Warden blushed, surely those weren't marks from a…lover?

He looked up and realized he'd been caught staring. "Well," she chuckled, "if I can't so much as go a few hours with a simple wound, how am I to endure wound after unattended wound in our battles against the Blight?" Vesper was using the old bandages to clean the wounds to the best of her ability, spitting on the bloody cloth to try and rinse some of the blood. Alistair was still staring, realizing the truth in what she said. "If I cannot be strong now," she continued, "and if you cannot depend on me now, how will you be able to trust me when the time comes? I have to learn to lick my wounds no matter how terrible the pain." And as if she was reliving some nightmarish moment, her face hardened and her lip twitched, "I have to be stronger." Something about the way she had said that told Alistair she was no longer talking about the Blight, and being one of the last Wardens of Ferelden. But before he could say anything, a blur of black darted from between two trees.

"Out of the way." Morrigan came baring a broad leaf, an almost slimy substance on its surface. She nearly shoved Alistair onto his back and proceeded to drag Vesper back down onto the fallen tree, using the tip of her fingers to smear the sludge across her wounds, "This should help until we get to Lothering, although I'm not sure you will find anything better." The salve was hot against her skin, but only began to burn when Morrigan used a fire spell to bake the balm onto her skin. She did the same to her neck and as Alistair reached to help with the bandages, the picky witch slapped away his hand and continued to do it herself. Vesper gave him a heartening grin and mouthed her thanks as Morrigan quickly finished with the task. "Well, now that we've managed to waste precious time," she huffed, narrowing her yellow eyes at the young Cousland, "It is most fortuitous that Lothering is but just up the road further along the Imperial Highway."

Vesper was already pulling her clothes back on when Morrigan announced they were close, and she sighed with relief as she felt the pain in her side was ceasing to throb. Before they returned to the road, she removed a leather flask from her pack and tipped it over Dog's lapping tongue. "Thank you Morrigan, I'm sorry to have caused an interruption," she looked up to see the illegal mage was still unwilling to accept her thanks and was eying her with suspicion.

"'Tis was nothing," Morrigan amused and flapped her hand at the Warden, "Now if we could please be on our way, it will be dark soon."

The trio found their way back to the road, Alistair now cautiously keeping pace with her as they followed their guide. He still wondered about her scars, which ones were older and how she had attained them; especially those curiously at her hips. He'd been meaning to ask her of the scar on her lip, still red, but had been healing for a few days now; and the one at her brow, which had separated her left brow at her arch. So he wondered if he might somehow slip in asking about the other marks about her figure. Nevertheless, it would have to wait, for Alistair suddenly felt the unnerving sensation of being watched. The Warden tried to slyly look at his fellow Warden, but her deep blue eyes were already baring into him with a smile, "Something bothering you Alistair?"

"W-what? No," he stammered, realizing she had been watching him for a while now. "I mean..." he sighed, yes something was bothering him, "We reached the beacon and we lit it." Alistair shook his head in disbelief, still trying to wrap his mind around the loss at Ostagar. "Maker, you nearly died ensuring the beacon was lit, and..." the junior Warden paused, "he just abandoned the king."

Vesper related to Alistair's feelings more than he knew, "Sometimes your most trusted ally may be your worst enemy Alistair."

He shook his head, "If Arl Eamon knew what he did, he would never stand for it!" It pained the junior Warden to relive the tragedy of Ostagar in his head, they had come so close. Alistair continued to fume to his fellow Warden, "the Landsmeet would never stand for it! There would- there would be civil war!" Vesper agreed, her father would certainly not stand for it either, but he was dead with everyone else she cared for in Highever. Twice betrayed now, the young Cousland was more uncertain than ever on how Fereldan was going to pull together to face this Blight.

"Arl Eamon," she replied upon recognizing the name, "the arl of Redcliffe?" Vesper had been to Redcliffe on various occasions, mostly when her mother would bring her to the Arlessa's Spring Salons, or when they were passing through during long trips. She had met the Arl personally on one of these occasions, but it has since been years since that introduction. "I didn't see Arl Eamon, or any of his men at Ostagar," she added, getting a surprise response from her companion.

"You're right," he exclaimed, "the Arl probably still has all his men." Alistair fell into deep thought for a few moments before his face brightened up and he turned back to Vesper, "Of course! We could go to Redcliffe and appeal to him for help!"

Vesper remained doubtful of entrusting another powerful man and expressed her concern to Alistair, "How can you be sure he too won't turn on us?"

For the first time the junior Warden glared at her, and then his features softened in apology. "I know him," he answered in a murmur that was just loud enough for her to hear. "He's a good man," he went on to say with more pride, "and he's respected in the Landsmeet." Vesper could tell that this Arl Eamon was more than just a 'good man' to Alistair, but decided it would be a topic she could pry at later. So instead she smiled at him and nodded, accepting and trusting his word. "I know we have other allies we will need to contact, but would it be alright if we went to Redcliffe first?" the Warden requested, looking very hopeful as he stared back at her.

As the former noble opened her mouth to speak, there was a sigh from their guide and she stopped to wave at the obstruction before them. "Ah Lothering, how dreadful," she groaned before moving along.

And as the clever witch had said, Lothering was just beyond the ruins of the Imperial Highway. It was after some time before the village of Lothering came into view, and the group could breath a sigh of relief that they had finally reached civilization. However it was before their turn off of the Highway, did they finally run into trouble. A couple of caravans had been overturned and torn apart, there were chests and crates pried open, and Vesper could even make out the hazy lump of a dead body. As they came closer, they saw the scatter of items across the road and rummaging through them was a band of shabby men. Surely bandits from how they checked ever crook and cranny of the caravan, and began to dig through the pockets of the dead. It was evident they wouldn't be able to avoid them, so as they drew nearer, the closest of the bandits took notice and called out to his fellow men. "Wake up, gentlemen!" he bellowed, "More travelers to attend to." Vesper who had been leading them now, stopped and sneered at the man as he looked her up and down. "I'd guess the pretty one is the leader."

All the bandits stood and gathered around their obvious leader. As they moved closer, a dumb sounding bandit exchanged words with the leader before he waved off what he said and greeted the travelers. "Greetings, travelers!" he feigned hospitality, as the bandits in the back continued to rummage through the broken caravans.

"Highwaymen," Alistair hissed behind her, followed by an irritated growl from Dog at her heels.

"Fools," Morrigan sneered and shook her head, "I say we teach them a lesson."

The bandit leader shook his head and tsked, "Is that anyway to greet a person? Ten silver and your free to pass travelers, that's the toll in these parts." As if signaled, each of the bandits gathered closer, purposely flashing their drawn weapons at the Wardens and their companions.

Vesper scoffed, "We're no fool refugees," she smirked, "and we're not paying any fees." The head bandit shrugged and reached for his belt, ready to challenge the Warden, but the young Cousland was a step ahead. She kicked him in the chest before he could pull free his blade, sending him flying back into his men. The dumb one went to swing at her with his mace, but Vesper skillfully ducked to dodge it and spun around to elbow him across the face. Another one tried to jump her, but she punched him in the nose and stole from his hand his sword just as the bandit leader was back on his feet.

Vesper poked the sharp tip against his adam's apple, smiling smugly as the leader dropped his sword and waved at his men to stand down. "Now, you're going to give me everything you stole," the bandit made to argue, but the new Warden pushed the point harder against his throat and watched him whimper as a drop of blood was shed. "Hand over everything you stole, or I will kill all your men and let my Mabari chew your most precious equipment off." As she threatened him, Vesper pulled the sword down to his groin and watched him wriggle even more. The bandit nodded feverishly at her demands and the men began to drop their coin purses. "Now, if you would be so kind, what news have you heard?"

"W- well," the bandit stuttered, eying the tip of her sword dangerously close to neither regions, "Loghain as regent has put a bounty on Grey Wardens."

"What?" Alistair exclaimed in disgust, "A bounty, why would there be a bounty on us?"

Lady Cousland turned back to the bandit and prodded him a little harder to answer Alistair's question. "Uh- Everyone's saying the Grey Wardens betrayed the King in Ostagar- and that's all I know! Please don't hurt me." Vesper shook her head at the pathetic man and withdrew her sword as the bandit breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to discuss the revelation to Alistair, privy to the small dagger the bandit had pulled from his boot. "A Warden's head is more than these refugees!" he hollered as he charged at her with his small blade raised, but the Warden was ready. She side-stepped his attack and ran him through with her sword. He gawked at the sword passing through his stomach and dropped the dagger. His men gasped and immediately began to scurry in escape as Vesper let go of the sword and let the dead bandit slump at their feet.

"Well, well, well," Morrigan praised, "you surprise me Warden." The witched passed her to retrieve one of the handful of coin purses left behind, tossing it up a few times before smirking at the Wardens, "We'll have enough to buy a meal, perhaps some supplies before we hit the road again."

Vesper watched as the raven haired dame went on to gather the coin purses, before turning to Alistair whom was still rather awe struck by what had just occurred. "I wasn't aware you were so...skilled," he finally said, "Do most most daughters of noble men know how to fight like that?"

"I don't think so," she answered, smiling as the junior Warden beamed at her. For once she didn't feel judged for her very un-lady like swordsmanship and was glad for the approval from both her companions.

The three of them collected what they could from what the bandits had left behind and moved towards the exit into Lothering. Vesper paused with the others to give it a nice once over. "Ah Lothering, pretty as a painting."