"It really does smell like rotten flesh. You hadn't been joking." I made a face, pretending to gag.
"Why would I joke about a thing like that?" he shook his head as if I was being ridiculous.
"No entry." A man barred us from going in to the building.
"Shut up and stand aside, you idiot." I growled.
He gave me a surprised look, giving me a once-over, and opened the door for us.
"That was really simple." I observed. "You were right."
"What can I say? No one knows who the new children are."
"Why would they, when half will be dead within their first year?"
"Fair point."
I called the shadows to us, and we moved silently to the Master's room.
A man sat behind his desk, gripping about paperwork, while he lounged in a chair in front of it. Sipping a brandy.
I uncloaked us and stepped forward, locking the door behind us.
"Hello, gentlemen."
"Who...?"
"Ah, there's Zevran. I had wondered where you had gone. What are you doing back here? Hoping to win your spot back by offering a new blood?" the Master took a swig of his drink.
"No."
I smiled, trailing my fingertips along the wall as I took the long way toward the men, "If I kill you, will anyone hear you scream, I wonder? Or would you take it like a man, and die with dignity? In silence, preferably. But that's just what I want. However you wish to go is just fine with me."
He laughed, like it was all a big joke, "Children. Where ever did you find this one, Zevran?"
"In Ferelden, actually. You remember the job I volunteered for, no?"
Alarm flashed across the man's face, and he opened his mouth to shout, but I was there. Lightning quick, I was there, a finger pressed against his lips.
"Ah ah ah." My smile turned dark, "Silence is music to my ears. No alerting others, ser. That wouldn't be good for your health."
"How did you get this far?"
"Everyone thought I had come back to take my place again." the elf smirked.
"If only they had known..." I murmured, "Then, they would have sent more than one crew of Crows after us all. Hindsight is 20/20."
"What do you want? I can give you anything."
"I want to be a Master."
"What?!" the men shouted together. I silenced them with a glare.
"You do not want to be on my bad side." I leaned in close, getting in the Master's face, "I'm the Grey Warden that the Dalish united under. I'm the Grey Warden that chose the dwarven monarch. I'm the Grey Warden that united all of Ferelden. I'm the Grey Warden that delivered the death blow to the archdemon. I'm the Hero of Ferelden. I have allies that you couldn't dream of touching, let alone bringing in to the fold. One way or another. Now, I want to be a Master."
"There are rules to follow, things we all have to do, to prepare for such a thing."
"I think I'll take the easy way out." I dragged a fingertip lightly across his neck, "I think I'll just kill you, instead."
"We can work this out, amigo. There is no needy for hasty action."
"Clever and cunning, that's how others describe you. But you're more slimy and sneaky. Like a... slug." A slow smile spread across my face, "Whereas I, on the other hand, am much more like a fox. A Crimson Vixen, if you will."
His eyes narrowed to slits, but he'd started trembling. It ruined the effect he was going for.
"Here's what's going to happen, 'amigo.' I'm going to ascend to the top, because you're going to die. You're going to die, because I'm going to kill you."
The Master pushed me away and stood, trying to knife me. I dodged easily and darted behind him, snapping his neck. The one behind the desk held up his hands, making no move to strike.
I tilted my head, "Who are you loyal to, now that he's dead?"
"You."
That was all I needed to hear, "Things will be changing, from here on out." There was a hard edge to my voice. "Gather everyone who is not in the field. We have some things to discuss. Oh, and Zevran here will be in charge whenever I'm not around. Understood?"
The man's eyes were wide, but he nodded and mumbled that he would do as I said.
"Good. Now, go." I glanced at the old master. "And get someone to dispose of... him."
Once he had run from the room, I went over to the window overlooking Antiva City and sighed softly.
"It has begun."
"It has begun." I repeated.
...
I stared out at the crowd, feeling hundreds of eyes on me, "From now on, you follow me. My rules. My laws. You do what I say. First on today's agenda was simply getting the ball rolling. I want to tell you all what I want to do with the Antivan Crows. No longer will the Antivan Crows force their membership on people. We will still buy slaves, to free them from their binds, but they will have a choice. Stay and join us, or leave and have our help relocating. We will be adding a whole slew of different professions. The Crows won't just be famous for our assassins. No, we will have our fingers in every pot we can find. There is enough demand, enough coin out there to make the changes for us."
Whispers filled the room, people shifted as they looked around at each other.
"My hope is to make the Crows not only as infamous as they once were, but also the first authority on anything we can imagine. And I say 'we,' because, even though I wasn't bought, I'm choosing this. I'm choosing the Antivan Crows to be my family. The only real rule I have is trust your gut. Trust yourself. If you don't want to kill people anymore, say something. It doesn't have to be now, in front of everyone. It can be at anytime. Anywhere. Even in the middle of a job. Even if you volunteered for the job."
The sudden silence was deafening. I forced myself to push through it.
"The only real law I have is my word is final, except when it's not. If you think I'm wrong about something, speak up. Tell me. I have no qualms with criticism. Now, you act like a self-righteous asshole, and I will tear you a new one to stuff your shit right back in to."
More glances were exchanged.
"Do any of you know who I am?"
"No." one teenager, a human boy, responded. Others all through the room looked confused by the question.
"I am Anastasia Snow. I am the Grey Warden that the Dalish united under. I'm the Grey Warden that chose the dwarven monarch. I'm the Grey Warden that united all of Ferelden. I'm the Grey Warden that delivered the death blow to the archdemon. I'm the Hero of Ferelden. And I'm the new leader of the Antivan Crows."
One by one, the members of the organization knelt, bowing their heads. I was surprised but made sure it didn't show on my face.
"Now, of course, I don't want the entirety of Thedas to know I'm your leader. That could be bad for the whole hero image everyone has of me. I tell you this, because trust is something I give freely to you. I'm assuming you all remember Zevran had been sent to kill me."
A great many heads nodded, and I gestured to the side of the room. The assassin came out, smiling like the cat who ate the canary.
"Hello, brothers and sisters."
"As you can see, he's perfectly fine. Alive. I didn't kill him. In fact, I actually jumped in front of the now king of Ferelden's sword. He almost killed me, instead, on accident. Zevran is my right hand man, here. When I'm away, he's who you go to. When I'm busy, he's who you go to. If I'm going to be gone for an extended period of time, he's to be treated as if he was the Master. Now, any questions?"
"How will this affect us?" an older man asked. He looked to be in his thirties.
"There will be a new training regimen. New ways to recruit, along with the old ones. Oh, and no more killing each other to prove you're the strongest or whatever bullshit you've been fed. That ends now."
...
Three months passed, and our little coup turned out to be the smoothest takeover in Crow history. We'd bolstered our ranks and raised back to the position this organization deserved. Number one in assassinations. Number one in apostate magic. Number one in protection, even. Oh, it had been easy enough to tweak the training of people who weren't cut out to be in the business of killing strangers in cold blood. Make them see that defense was a noble trade. Whether bodyguard or mercenary, it took all kinds. No one within the Crows was overlooked or trampled upon. Everyone had a talent, no matter how small or insignificant they thought it to be.
As my second in command, Zevran was constantly being put in charge. Either at the slave market or when I would disappear for days at a time.
At one point, word had reached us that someone had been asking about the Hero of Ferelden. It wasn't anything new, until we discovered it was the king of Ferelden who was doing some discreet digging. Trying to find out where I had gone.
It was soon after that, that Calilian showed up.
"You need to go to Denerim." she ran in to the room, the door hitting the wall loudly. Good thing I'd told people this room was open to everyone who wanted to see me. Sigh.
"I need to go to Denerim." I repeated, swinging my legs like the child I was.
"Yeah. Those weird creature-things are about to show up in Amaranthine, and you should go there. But you can't be there, if you're here. You know what I mean?"
"Where the Grey Wardens have land? That's suicide. For the darkspawn."
"Are you going?" Zevran glanced at me.
I chewed on my thumbnail, "I think I should. Plus, the king is still looking for me. I have to make an appearance, eventually."
"When will you be leaving?"
"The sooner, the better, probably. You don't want the Wardens to be wiped out in Ferelden. Not so soon, anyway, at least." the other girl interjected, checking her weird hand-held machine that I'd seen all of one time before. I had to remember to ask her about that some time.
"The day after tomorrow." I ignored her word vomit, "I want to make sure everything is prepared for you, Zev. I'll probably be gone for months, this time. From the sound of it, I mean."
"All right."
"Whoa." I blinked, counting under my breath.
Cali tilted her head, giving me a strange look. Zev raised an eyebrow and waited patiently for me to voice my thoughts.
"It'll be over four months since the archdemon was slain, when I get to Denerim..."
"Time flies."
"I missed my birthday." I shook my head, "By, like, three months. I think... we were on our way across the ocean, on that day."
They both frowned at me, the elf muttering, "We missed your birthday?"
"Yeah. I'm ten. Weird." Shrugging, I stood and passed them on the way to the hall, "Big day tomorrow, getting things ready. I'll probably be up late tonight, if I go to bed at all. Actually, I can just sleep later. After I see the king. Hopefully, he'll want to see me. I mean, he can't still be angry... Can he?"