BioWare owns all but what I made up. : )
So, Kai has finally snuck into the dwarven city, and she is now facing someone who may know who she really is. And what exactly is going on in the rotten state of Orzammar? More is revealed in this chapter. I hope you enjoy.
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And I know I have not been posting as regularly as you all, or I wanted. I am so sorry to have made you all wait so long. I am hoping to get into a more regular schedule again. Thank you all for hanging in with me, I know it can't be easy, and I do apologize to you all. Again, thanks for being there for me, and the story. : )
Blessings!
Kai schooled her face carefully while trying to read the female dwarf standing before her. "The 'Hero of Ferelden' is dead, or haven't you heard? He died killing the archdemon." She cocked an eyebrow.
The beautiful woman simply tilted her head back and laughed. "Nicely done. Vartag said you could be clever."
"Oh you meant the other hero, yes she 'died' too. Poisoned I believe, her 'killer' hasn't been brought to justice...yet."
"But you hope to see that happen in the future, no doubt." The dwarf was even more beautiful when she smiled. "Let me get your food and drink."
Kai watched her walk off, and scanning the tavern before turning to Zev, "Well, she threw out Vartag's name. I don't think she did that on a whim."
"Hm, no my dear Kaidana, I don't think she did at that. I too saw our old friend Vartag's face, he recognized you, despite your state of dress. She may be his agent, but I am an ex-Crow. Erring on the side of extreme caution has kept me alive this long. I would like to keep on in this, 'living condition', for a while longer, no?" He leaned in, his fingers rubbing along her thigh while his lips teased her earlobe, "Especially if you continue sharing it with me."
She turned her face towards him, giving him a long and lingering kiss. She could feel his surprise, and his passion. She pulled her lips away, "You are a charmer, and I must say I agree with you, caution is the best policy. Especially now, we have no idea what we are facing. This is..."
"Unsettling? Yes, I agree. The strangers in the market, and in the palace. They are not Fereldans. And the tension..."
Anything else Zev may have been about to say was interrupted by the return of their "barmaid" and their food and drink. She smiled and placed it down in front of them. Kai placed coins on the table for food, drink, and a tip.
The dwarva picked up the coins, running her fingers over them, her eyes suddenly getting wide. One coin she held up and rubbed her fingers over, three crescents shown on the side that faced Kai and Zev. Kai watched the woman's thumb run the surface she couldn't see, but knew to have a griffon with wings unfurled emblazoned on it. And in a flash the "coin" disappeared in an act of slight of hand that Kai found impressive. So, their friend was a thief, probably a rogue like Kai herself.
The young woman grinned at her, "Thank you for the tip, my lady, is most generous." She gave Kai a slight bow, and backed into the shadows of the room. When she appeared again she was dressed in leathers with a sword and daggers strapped on. She was a girl after Kai's own heart after all.
The dwarf sat down next to them, "Please eat, or it might look strange, and we don't want our unwanted guests getting suspicious." She bobbed her dark head towards the front of the bar where two humans had entered. They looked like one of the groups that Kai observed loitering in the market area and the commons. She watched them sit down at a table in an area where they could watch the front and the back of Tapsters.
Kai looked at Zev who gave his usual cocky grin before picking up the black iron utensils and lifting food to those smiling lips. Kai did the same, and was pleasantly surprised that Oghren's Special was a flavorful and delicious dish. What was not surprising was that it obviously had been cooked with ale; and from the taste of it, Oghren's own special ale recipe that he had given to Wynne in the Deep Roads oh so long ago, and later the rest of them.
Kai took a swig of her mead before addressing the dwarf, "So, you are no barmaid, but a rogue. And a rogue who is casteless yet throws out Vartag Gavorn's name as easily as dwarves throw back beer." Kai gave her a grin, "And now you know I work for the Silver Griffon, and the group of shadows working on behalf of Ferelden. I have shown you my cards, now care to show me yours?"
The young woman cocked a delicate eyebrow and gave her a saucy grin while reaching into a leather pouch at her waist.
"When she says 'show her yours', it would be best to do that with the utmost care and caution no?" Kai looked to see Zev slide a very sharp (and she had reason to know) poisoned dagger against their new companion's torso just under her armpit where the wound would not be seen right away giving them time to leave if they needed to.
The rogue only grinned harder and held up the hand not occupied in supplication. She continued to reach into the bag and gently pulled out a delicate, but heavy ring, issuing a husky laugh, "Relax, salroka. I'm not in a hurry to die."
She handed it to Kai. It was obviously meant for a woman. Kai recognized the Aeducan royal seal, a geometric bearded dwarf. Only Aeducans wore it. As this woman was without caste or clan, she would have procured it in only one way...it was given to her. Kai grinned, running a finger over the design before handing it back.
The young woman palmed it, and the ring disappeared into the dark interior of the leather pouch once more. She chuckled again as Zev withdrew his dagger and resumed eating. Her green eyes turned to Kai once more, while she offered her arm in a warrior's grasp, "Salveiga Brosca, sister to Queen Rica Aeducan."
Kai grasped the proffered arm gripping the leather vambrace, "Kaidana Cousland, and as you mentioned before, 'Hero of Ferelden'. Though I really hate that term, Alistair Theirin was the true hero, not I."
"Ah, mi' gra, we may have to argue that when you come to me in the dream Fade next." Alistair's voice sounded in her ear.
"Oh, can we 'argue' so many things and then make up?" Kai gave him a cheeky mental grin.
"Hah! You have been around Zevran way too long, my love." She could feel his smile.
She was interrupted by Salveiga, who released her grip on Kai's arm to raise her hand and motion to a barmaid for a drink. The girl nodded once at the dwarf rogue, and went to the bar. Those beautiful green eyes were turned on Kai once more along with the saucy smirk, "Pleased to meet you. I prefer, Sal, by the by. Salveiga is only when I am in trouble with my mother."
Kai burst out laughing, "I suffer from the same problem. Kaidana was only when I was in trouble..."
She was interrupted when her fellow rogue said in a teasing tone, "Which was often?"
"You sound like someone who is familiar with that state, no?" Kai taunted her back, which caused that lovely husky laughter to burst forth once more.
"Nicely done again! So, what do you prefer to be called?" Sal cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Kai." She returned the raised eyebrow with one of her own, before forking up more of her meal.
"Kai, I like that. Well then who is your handsome and oh so dangerous friend?" Sal shot an appraising eye at Zevran who stopped eating to sip from his wine glass.
Zevran's amber eyes assessed their companion while giving her a charming leer, "Ah, but I hope you will forgive me. How rude of me not to introduce myself. I am Zevran Arainai, ex-Crow, and fantastic lover. My friends call me Zev, and we are going to be friends, are we not?"
Kai rolled her eyes as the elf raised Sal's hand to brush the knuckles with his lips, "Well at least one of those things he said is true...he is an ex-Crow." She wrinkled her nose at him with a cheeky grin.
"Amiga, you wound me! I must endeavor to prove myself when we go to our bed this evening, no?" Zev shot her a saucy grin, "I do love a woman that demands a man impress her." He winked and Kai and Sal chuckled.
"Ah Salroka, you are a smooth talker. Your lips talk charm, but your eyes are for only one, and she would not be me." Sal grinned at Zev, while cocking her head at Kai.
"You my dear, are a very observant woman. Remind me not to play 'Wicked Grace', with you; unless, it was strip 'Wicked Grace'." Zev winked at Kai, who grinned and shook her head.
"I warn you, he is incorrigible." Kai returned the wink.
Sal chuckled and nodded at the barmaid who brought her drink. The dwarf's face became pensive as she sipped from her tankard. "Being observant is a necessity when you're born in my part of town. You keep the dust out of your eyes or you die, the choice is simple."
Zevran chuckled, "Ah, mi amiga, your childhood sounds similar to mine. I too know the value in noticing what others may ignore or take for granted, no?" Zev shot Kai another smile, "Especially traveling with Kai, Trouble knows where she is at all times."
"Then you are in for a double dose of it, my friend. Trouble sticks to me like cave ticks stick to nugs. And Trouble has decided to nest like a pit of Deep Stalkers all throughout Orzammar; the palace, the city, even Dust Town; their packs are everywhere."
"Yes, we noticed your guests, who dress like Fereldans but aren't from Ferelden. And it seems your latest tourists also make everyone very...uneasy, shall we say?" Kai cocked an eyebrow at their companion.
Sal laughed, but she turned serious once more, "Since you are here, Salroka, I can only surmise that Hegnar found you?" She sat forward more, her green eyes more intense. "When our 'guests' arrived nothing seemed amiss, then the palace started issuing strange orders, and these people started hanging out in our market and the palace. There is a curfew now, dwarfs have disappeared taken from their beds, or off the streets themselves. It started off small, and almost before we knew it, any way to get some missive out to let those topside, to find the 'Griffon' or the shadows that are working against Anora, became near impossible."
Kai leaned back, smiling, sipping her mead, making it look as if they were just friends having a friendly conversation, "I know this is a sensitive subject, but act as though you and I are talking nothing more serious than..."
"Having pillow fights in your small clothes?" Zevran asked in a mockingly hopeful voice.
His comment had the proper effect, Sal tilted her head back and issued out a husky and lovely bubble of laughter before clapping the elf hard enough on the shoulder to nearly topple him from his chair. She grabbed her mug and belted it back before signalling the barmaid for another tankard. "That is only a myth you males have invented." She laughed again when Zev's face took on a crestfallen look.
Sal mimicked Kai and leaned back in her chair, adopting a casual pose. She waited until her drink arrived before she began again, "Heg, Hegnar, he volunteered. We knew we needed the help of the 'Griffon'. Heg's mother was engineering caste, his father warrior. His mother's family helped carve out the tunnels, and the air ducts. So Hegnar used the grappling hooks, ropes and pulley system to use the air vents to get out of Orzammar without arousing the suspicions of our less than welcome friends."
"Why did you send him to Gwaren?" Kai queried.
"Well, before the shutdown of our city, we had been receiving word about Anora's doings, and the 'Griffon's' exploits. Gwaren was the last large stronghold we had here in Ferelden with access to the surface, and the Silver Griffon struck a nasty blow against Tevinter and Anora there. Hegnar intended to scout around Gwaren, suss out any information on the new hero working for Ferelden and where he might be. If no information could be found in Gwaren, Hegnar was to travel to Denerim and hit The Gnawed Noble Tavern as Corra thought Cyril had been helping the Griffon and his group." Sal took another deep swig of brew before continuing, "Since you are here, and the amulet you carried bore a rampant griffon..." In another slight of hand the silver medallion appeared, as if from nowhere, in Sal's fingers. Kai watched as she flipped it across knuckles from thumb to pinkie and back again, "I guess he found this burr in Anora's side, and here you are. Vartag recognized you, and told me to mention him. He too is trying to work against what is happening. And I supposed that Heg told you who our guests are and what is going on." Sal made the coin disappear once more and lifted her shoulders, "So, what is your plan to deal with our problem?"
Kai felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, "I hate to say this, but I don't know what the real problem or problems are, other than these foreigners are scaring the Stone out of your people."
Sal's eyebrows shot up, "But you are here, Heg must have told you..."
Kai looked down, while pulling out the ring the blighted dwarf they found in Gwaren wore. She held it up and handed it to Sal, "I found him, in Gwaren, by chance. I happened to be there, looking for some papers Anora would not want to get out. The town was savaged, a pit of dead humans and dead darkspawn. We happened upon a male dwarf, he was so far gone with the corruption of the darkspawn that he was almost a ghoul. He raved about Orzammar, the king, something about demons; but it was all so jumbled, and he was making no sense. I caught that there was trouble, but not what the trouble was. I am so sorry. I..I had to end it for him, I know he was your friend."
Kai kept her eyes on Sal's face. She wasn't sure what the dwarf's reaction would be. Sal's face remained passive as she looked into her tankard, as if the answers to the universe might be in it. She let out a huff of air, and rubbed a hand along her smooth forehead before speaking, "He was my lover actually, but that doesn't matter now. Well, better a quick death than what would've happened. A warrior's death as befits his caste, he deserved that. I am glad you gave it to him. Thanks. "
Kai nodded, "I am just glad that I found who he was, and that those who...cared for him will not wonder what became of him." Kai explained where they had put him in the Deep Roads.
"You buried him with the Stone?" Kai watched Sal swallow hard before knocking back the remains of her tankard, while simultaneously motioning for another. "Thanks again. I will inform his family, and when Orzammar is free again, we can collect his body and put him in his family's burial chambers."
"And may I ask, just what are we freeing Orzammar from?" Kai tilted her towards Sal.
Again, the dwarf waited until the tankard hit the table and the server walked away. She drained the mug of a good portion of its contents before turning a sardonic smile on Kai, "The problem is an infestation of Navarran mages, my friend. Now aren't you glad you came to help?"