Chapter 2 - A Knight's Tale
She hadn't gone ten paces out of the hall before she heard the distinct clanking of heavy armor heading her way. A moment later, a tall red-haired knight appeared before her. "My lady, there you are! I have been looking everywhere for you."
That's it; she thought dejectedly, everyone in the entire castle is going to ask something of me before I can clean off my face. It was just going to be one of those days, apparently. She rolled her eyes before turning to the knight. "Hello, Ser Gilmore. How are you?"
"Very well, thank you. I apologize for my abruptness, my lady. Your mother told me the teyrn had summoned you, so I didn't want to interrupt." He gestured over his shoulder. "But, I fear your hound has the kitchens in an uproar once again." Serena could already hear a few barks coming from the direction he indicated. "Nan is threatening to leave."
"Did Peanut get into the larder again?" Serena asked. "And I wouldn't worry about Nan, she won't leave. I rather think she likes it when he gets in a mess, then she can let off a bit of steam for awhile." For a war hound, he sure loved to make a mess in the kitchen. He was always sniffing around, searching for scraps. Serena had named him Peanut after his fondness for them, she always kept a peanut or two in her pocket as treats- he would obey any command for one. Unfortunately, it still drove Nan crazy. Granted there weren't a lot of things in this world that didn't drive the old woman up the wall.
"I know, my lady, but your mother disagrees. She insists you collect the dog, and quickly. You know these mabari hounds. He'll listen to his mistress, but anyone else risks having an arm bitten off."
"Oh, nonsense. He's a gentle giant," Serena replied with a laugh. "I don't suppose you'd like to accompany me? I have some news for you." She started to head in the direction of the kitchens, and saw the knight fall into step right beside her.
"You know, you're quite lucky to have your own mabari war hound. Smart enough not to talk, my father used to say." The knight laughed, a low rumble that started in his chest. Serena tried to not notice how his eyes lit up when he laughed.
Maker, what is wrong with me today? First I go and kiss a knight and now this... I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, Mother said this was bound to happen. "You can't work around these handsome men for months like you do without something stirring up, dearest," she'd said. "How do you think I met your father?" Serena shook her head, annoyed at herself, and tried refocusing on what Ser Gilmore was saying.
"Of course, that means he's easily bored," the knight was saying. "Nan swears he confounds her just to amuse himself."
"I wouldn't be surprised if that were true, honestly," she said. "I should have brought him out to train with me this morning, I don't know why I didn't think of it." As the pair turned the corner and headed down a staircase, the barking intensified. "Maker's breath, I hope Mother can't hear this racket..."
"You were training again this morning, my lady? I wish you had gotten me, I could have used a good practice session." Ser Gilmore rested his hand on the blade at his side. "The teyrn told me there was someone here to see me."
Serena clapped, remembering Duncan. "Yes, of course. My apologies, Ser Gilmore, that was the news I had! A Grey Warden is here to see you as a potential recruit for the order!" She beamed at the knight. "Isn't that exciting?"
"Indeed, my lady! The Grey Wardens are a very old and noble order. I would be..." the knight paused, his face flushing slightly. "I would be honored to be counted among them."
"I think you would make a fine Grey Warden, Ser Gilmore. And who knows? Maybe sometime I could join you- that man, Duncan, saw me training this morning with Ser Samuell and said I would be a good recruit."
"Absolutely. The Grey Wardens would be fools to overlook you. You are easily the equal of any man, on or off the field. That I can attest to myself," he finished with a grin. Serena could feel herself
"Apparently they need as many as they can get, what with this darkspawn uprising," Serena said with a wistful sigh. "Who knows?"
The knight nodded thoughtfully at her words. "Yes, the order isn't as strong in Ferelden as other nations in Thedas. It was King Maric, actually, who allowed them to return. They had been previously exiled because of an attempted political coup centuries ago against the King." Serena hadn't heard this before, so she motioned at the knight to continue.
"As my father told me, over two centuries ago, there were two rivals for the throne- Arland, who eventually became King, and another, Arlessa Sophia Dryden, who lost the throne to him and was forced to become a Grey Warden as her punishment."
"As punishment? Why would becoming a warrior in an order like the Grey Wardens be a punishment?" Serena asked.
"I have heard the tests to become one of the Grey are very trying, and some do not survive. But Sophia flourished in the Wardens, much to Arland's chagrin I'm sure, and eventually became Warden-Commander of Ferelden. While more and more nobles around Ferelden began to see King Arland as a tyrant, they reached out to Commander Dryden for help, including your ancestor, the teyrn, my lady." Serena nodded at this. She was aware from her tutor, Aldous, that a few of her ancestors had rebelled against the throne in the past.
"Sophia used the Grey Wardens as her own personal army, and planned to completely overthrow the throne! However, King Arland's men ended up victorious after sieging the Grey Warden's fortress at Soldier's Peak for months. He had the order banished from Ferelden after that, and many Couslands and other nobles were executed for allying themselves with the Grey Wardens against him."
"It was only until King Maric allowed them back a few years ago that the order has been in Ferelden. Although I have heard King Cailan, Maric's son, is quite fond of the order, and is marching the King's army with them in the south to fight the darkspawn."
"Yes, that's what Father said," Serena replied. "The King's request came just a few days ago. So I suppose you're headed south regardless, hmm?"
"Actually, I am to stay behind here with the compliment of guards at the castle, although I would certainly like to join the Wardens, if possible. Can you imagine? Me? A Grey Warden! It would be everything I've dreaming of!" The knight cleared his throat, looking sheepish. His red hair fell into his eyes and he brushed it aside. "Of course, I shouldn't get ahead of myself. Pardon my outburst."
"It's quite alright, Ser Gilmore. Were I in your shoes, I wouldn't be able to contain my excitement, either."
The knight opened the door to the kitchens for Serena and she followed him inside. She could barely hear herself think over the din. Nan was shouting at two elven kitchen servants, as if the dog was somehow their fault, and Peanut could be heard barking sporadically from inside the larder. Had Nan barred the dog inside? Serena rolled her eyes. That dog...
"Get that bloody mutt out of the larder!" Nan shouted at the pair, furious.
"But, mistress! It won't let us near!" The female elf, Adney said, her head downcast. The male elf at her side, Cath, nodded, his eyes darting from the furious matron to the wooden larder door and back again. "I heard some strange scratching in there this morning, mistress," he added.
"If I can't get into that larder, I'll skin both of you useless elves, I swear it!" Nan puffed up again, but Ser Gilmore put out a hand to her.
"Err, calm down, good woman. We've come to help..." He looked to Serena for help, but before she could add anything Nan started to shout again.
"You! And you! Your bloody mongrel keeps getting into my larder! That damned beast should be put down!" She stomped her foot in agitation as Adney and Cath backed further away. Serena wished they wouldn't act so meek around Nan, it only encouraged her rage, as she had learned at a young age. Before she had grown, Nan had taken charge of Serena as her nanny.
"Sorry, Nan. I'll grab him," Serena said, her face blushing slightly. "But you know, he isn't a mutt. He's a pure blood mabari war-"
"A blight wolf is what he is!" Nan interrupted, her wrinkled face livid. "How am I supposed to work like this?" She turned to the two elves. "You two! Stop standing there like idiots! Those vegetables aren't going to garnish itself, now is it? I have a castle full of hungry soldiers and they aren't going to cook for themselves!"
"No, mistress. Of course not, mistress." The elves scrambled back to the hearth, Nan following them threateningly. She turned to Serena. "You just get that mutt out of here, girl!"
Serena rolled her eyes again at the old woman's back and beckoned Ser Gilmore to follow her into the larder. "Come on, or else he'll probably eat his way out of there..."
Opening the door, she found her hound stalking across the room, his nose pressed to the floor. Loud snuffling sounds filled the room as the hound paused by a large pile of sacks. "Better than the barking, at least," Serena mumbled.
She went to grab the dog's collar to pull him out the door, but Peanut promptly sat on his rear and refused to move. It was much like trying to push an oak tree over when the hound didn't want to move. "What is it, boy? Is there some treat in there you're fixing to steal? You know Nan wouldn't like that one bit, especially after I have it on good authority that Adney slipped you some pork bits just this morning." She turned to the knight. "He's a greedy thing, isn't he?"
Ser Gilmore surveyed the room with a sigh. "Look at this mess. How did he even get in here?" There were open crates and sacks all over the stone floor. The knight didn't envy whoever ended up cleaning it all up, but it certainly wouldn't be him.
Serena gave Peanut another shove towards the door before the dog let out a low growl. "Peanut! I am your mistress, and you will obey me!" Serena moved to grab the hound again before he pounced on one of the grain sacks. "That is for bread, you dozy dog! There aren't any treats inside!" She pulled a peanut from her belt purse and held it out, trying to entice the dog away. "See? Here." The dog ignored the peanut, however and continued eyeing the pile of sacks.
"Alright, alright," Serena said, relenting. "Get whatever it is you want from there and let's go. Nan will have a fit as it is when she sees the state of this room-" but before Serena could finish, an enormous black rat burst from the pile of sacks and ran at her, squeaking madly. "Ack!" she shouted, dancing back away from it. "Is this what you were on about, dog?"
With a low growl, Peanut bared his teeth at the rat, ready to pounce on it. Serena drew the daggers from her belt.
"Did you hear that?" the knight asked, his hand already pulling his sword from its sheath.
As if on cue, more rats scuttled into the larder, each as large as a cat and black as soot. They came from all sides, scooting out from under wine barrels and cabinets. Huge yellowed teeth bared, they sat up on their hind legs, as if to launch themselves at the three of them.
"Stand back to back," Serena instructed the knight as he moved into position, sword drawn. Peanut launched himself at a group of three, thrashing one about in his maul at his tossed it against the wall with a wet smack. A bloody smear marked the wall where the rat fell.
Serena swooped forward with her blade, cutting another rat in two, while her left hand skewered a third. Ser Gilmore ran another straight through, kicking it off with his boot before he slicing another in half.
"These damn things are huge!" he shouted over the squeaking, flailing rats. "How did they even get in here?" He chopped at two more, their bodies squirting blood all over his armor. "Oh, that one nearly got into my boot!"
Serena grabbed a nearby rat by its long leathery tail and swung it over her head and into the wall, smashing its skull. "They're so big, I bet if we shaved them, we could make a lovely coat!" she quipped, jamming her dagger into another rat's body as it lunged at her knees.
"Not a coat I'd ever want to wear, my lady," Gilmore replied, crushing another enormous rat under his boot. The rats innards squirted out both ends of its crushed body, as Serena looked away, gagging. "This is like the start of every bad adventure tale my grandfather use to tell!"
"Tell me about it," Serena said darkly. She stabbed at the last rat that popped through a hole at the base of the wall and turned to face the knight. "I think that's all of them, right?"
Ser Gilmore searched the area, kicking rat bodies out of the way with the toe of his boot. "Yes, my lady. Your hound must have chased them in through their holes." He turned to bang on the door, obviously hoping Nan could hear. "Looks like he wasn't raiding the larder after all!"
"Those rats were huge... I've never seen any like that around here." Serena wiped the blood off her daggers onto her already dirty tunic with a grimace. What's a bit more, she thought. Blood, guts, sawdust, dirt. I'm just a mess today.
The red haired knight crouched down, poking at another one of the bodies. "These are from the Korcari Wilds, I'll bet. You rarely ever see them this far north." He looked up at Serena. "Best not to tell Nan, she's upset enough as it is," he whispered. "But seeing as you've got your mabari well in hand, I'll be on my way. I'm to prepare for the arrival of more of the arl's men this evening."
"Thank you for the help, Ser Gilmore," Serena said as the knight nodded and left. Serena now turned on her hound. "Now, you..." The dog had a silly grin on his face, as if killing the rats had been a right fun game, and when could they play another? Serena rolled her eyes.
"Since you were such a good boy today, here's a peanut," she said with a toss of the nut to the hound. "Now, could you help me with all these bodies? Nan will have a fit if she had to clean rat bits off the floor, and I won't have her scaring the servants into doing it." Peanut woofed loudly in response, and began nosing the rat parts into a pile. "Good boy!"
"Are you about done in there yet?" came Nan's voice from the kitchen. Serena marched back out, Peanut on her heels.
"Ah, there he is, just as brazen as you please! Licking his chops after having helped himself to the drying meat, no doubt!" Nan crossed her arms, her eyes narrowed on the large mabari. "Bet it was tasty, wasn't it, mutt?"
"Actually, he was helping me clean up, Nan. There were a bunch of rats in the larder." She gave Peanut's head a quick pat. "Big ones, weren't they, boy?" The dog gave a happy bark.
"I bet that dog led those rats into there to begin with," Nan replied with a huff. "How else would they have gotten in?" She picked up a kitchen rag and tossed it at Peanut. "That's it, off with you. And don't you even start with the sad eyes! I'm immune to your so-called charms!" However at the dog's piteous whining, Nan slipped some bits of meat to him as Serena and Peanut made their way out.
"Maker, please, give me five minutes to take a bath before someone else comes at me with some request," Serena sighed, and gave Peanut another pat. "You, too, stinky. You could use a good scrub." The dog whined but followed Serena up to her room, its tiny tail tucked between its legs.