Chapter 7: The Exile (Sereda)
The two exiled dwarves came out of the gates of Orzammar, accompanied by Lord Harrowmont. It was quite cold, but Faren wasn't given any clothes other than trousers. Sereda thought that she was lucky that she also had at least some top.
Lord Harrowmont stopped in front of the exiles and turned to Sereda.
- The Assembly has accused you of fratricide and sentenced you to exile and death. Your name will be erased from all records. From now on, you are no longer one of us and will not remain in our memory. You are banished to the Deep Roads, where you will redeem yourself by fighting the enemies of the dwarven people until death. Do you have anything to say before you start?
- And this is what you call justice and a fair trial? I am disappointed.
- I understand you. You should have been given the right to defend yourself at an Assembly meeting. I'm sorry this happened. Look me in the eye, and for your father's sake, tell me you didn't kill Trian.
- I didn't kill Trian.
- I believe you. And I swear I will do everything possible to prevent Bhelen from becoming king.
Harrowmont gave Sereda a shield and a sword.
- Your father asked me to give you some weapons from the finest smiths in Orzammar. Here they are.
- Will I have some kind of weapon? Well, at least a dagger. Or a stick - Faren intervened.
The old dwarf didn't even look at him.
- May the Stone accept you, - he said to Sereda and went towards the gate.
- I will fight the darkspawn just like she did! I need a weapon! - Faren shouted.
Harrowmont continued walking, ignoring the pleas of the casteless.
- Sod it! Get out of here, you old noble jerk! Stupid entitled bastard!
The city gates closed behind Harrowmont. Mentally, Sereda agreed with Faren. Whatever friendly speeches the old lord gave to the former princess, he set her up badly by not arming the one who would fight alongside her.
- What's our plan? - Faren asked.
- I know it sounds cynical, but we're very lucky to have Blight on the surface right now, - Sereda replied. - Most of the darkspawn are out there now, not here. We will search the corpses and go through the caves, checking each tunnel. The Grey Wardens are close, we can find them. If we're lucky, we won't run into a single darkspawn. And if we fail to find them, we'll go futher down the Deep Roads and find the Legion of the Dead. As long as you don't have a weapon, stay behind me and don't run ahead.
They got into a cave and in the first passage they came across three genlocks. Sereda instantly killed the first of them, who held a large sword. Faren lifted the sword from the corpse of the genlock and immediately cut through the other two. Both of them now have weapons.
In the next branch, they found the corpse of a dwarven guard. Sereda put on his armor. Compared to the royal red steel armor she wore from her coming of age until her exile, Sereda was not impressed with this iron armor, but she had no choice.
Then they encountered two giant spiders, but despite the latter's impressive size, the spiders fell easily from the dwarven swords. In the web, Sereda and Faren found a stinking headless corpse in leather armor. Faren immediately began to strip the body from the armor.
- That's where he gor, - Sereda said. - Looks like the spiders dragged him here.
- Did you know him? - Faren asked.
- It's Ogg. An archer from my squad. As it turned out, he sold out to Bhelen.
- So it's your work?
- Yes. Too bad they took my sword away from me. I would not have stopped at just Ogg.
After Faren got dressed in the leather armor, they moved on. At the exit of the cave, they were surrounded by several deepstalkers - small lizard-like predators.
- Watch out, Faren! They can…
Suddenly, Faren let out a deafening roar, slightly frightening even Sereda. All the deepstalkers fled in fear into their burrows.
- I know those deepstalkers. They sometimes appear in Dust Town. You just have to shout at them and they will disappear.
Coming out of the cave, Sereda and Faren found the Grey Wardens resting in the tunnel.
- Look, it's the dwarves! - shouted old Quintus.
Sereda noticed that he looked worse since the feast, his pupils almost disappeared, and some dark spots appeared on his face.
- Lady Aeducan! Faren! - Duncan called.
The dwarves approached the Grey Wardens.
- What are you two doing here?
- I am no longer Lady Aeducan. Now I'm just Sereda.
- So you've been exiled after all.
- Were you exiled? For what? - Franco asked.
- I don't think it concerns us. Sereda, you don't have to answer.
- Thank you. I will only say that I became a victim of a betrayal.
- We understand. I must confess that it was not Lord Harrowmont who told Gorim of our presence here, but I. I also told him to offer to send Faren with you.
- But why? - Faren asked.
- We came to Orzammar for a reason. The Blight is on the surface, and we need more Grey Wardens. Both of you have shown courage and skill at the Proving and in the Deep Roads. This is what I expected from the son and daughter of Orzammar. Since my Right of Conscription was ignored, I had to use a trick with exile to the Deep Roads. I formally invite you both into the ranks of the Grey Wardens.
- I agree, - Faren said.
- It will be an honor for me, - Sereda supported him.
- Then welcome to our order, - Duncan said. - Quintus will not come with us. We will say goodbye to him and go to the surface.
- Why won't he come with us? - Faren asked.
- Let's just say his time has come. I will explain more later.
The three Grey Wardens approached the entrance to another cave.
- In war, victory, - Duncan said.
- In peace, vigilance, - Franco continued.
- In death, sacrifice! - Quintus finished decisively, took out his staff and ran into the cave without looking back.
As everyone else was making their way to the surface, Sereda spoke to Faren.
- Faren, I have one request for you.
- Yeah, what is it?
- When we get to the surface, please don't tell anyone that I am the king's daughter. Well, was the king's daughter. Now I'm a Grey Warden and I don't want to be treated any differently.
- Okay, I won't tell anyone.
A couple of hours later they made it to the surface. Coming out of the cave into the mountainous area, Sereda immediately grabbed the ground, afraid to fall into the sky, and looked around. She had never seen so much blue and green before. She had spent her whole life in stone halls underground and did not expect to see the sky and grass.
Faren laughed.
- Do you really believe that on the surface dwarves can fall into the sky?
- Well, you know, it was unusual for me, so I grabbed it. Duncan, where do we need to go next?
- We need mages if we want to succeed. We'll go to the Circle of Magi, it's not that far from here, - Duncan replied.
The dwarves and Franco followed him.