Chapter 29: The Joining (Theron)
Eleven recruits lined up, waiting for Duncan. Alistair and Theron stood far away from them, talking to each other at a table with a large bowl half-filled with a blood-colored solution.
- Did anyone die during your Joining? - the Dalish asked in a whisper.
- Yeah, we lost one, - Alistair replied quietly. - It was terrible.
- I went through mine alone. So I can't say I've seen it.
- The more I learn about this Joining, the less I like it, - Jory said loudly.
Theron decided to listen to the conversation of the recruits.
- Are you doing this again, ser knight? Daveth asked angrily.
- Well, why these stupid tests? Haven't I already proven myself worthy?
- Maybe it's their custom. Maybe they've deliberately decided to annoy you.
- Calm down, my friend, - Mhairi interrupted the conversation. - Everything we could do, we have already done. Let us leave our fates in the hands of the Maker.
- All I know is that I have a wife in Redcliffe, and she is expecting a child. Had I been warned, I would not have joined! - Jory was outraged.
- You should have thought about your family before, - Aedan told him. - As I understand from your story, Duncan did not want to take you into the order, knowing that you have a family, but you, fool, forced him to take you. He wanted to save you, but you apparently did not listen to him.
- People, which of you would go if you were warned? Raise your hands, - said Daveth.
Of all the recruits, only Neria, Mhairi, Daveth, Sereda and Faren raised their hands.
- Maybe that's why no one is warned. Wardens are just doing their duty, and we should respect that.
- Is it also their duty to sacrifice us? - Jory asked.
- I would sacrifice a lot if I knew it would stop the Blight.
- Well said, - Sereda supported him. - Knight, if you ever went to the Deep Roads, you would change your mind.
- You saw those darkspawn, - continued Daveth. - Would you risk your life to save your dearest wife from them? Maybe you will die. Maybe we'll all die. But if no one takes the risk to stop the Blight, then the darkspawn have already won.
- I have never dealt with an enemy that cannot be cut down with a sword before, - said the knight.
- So, we begin the Joining ritual, - said Duncan, who came to the recruits. - The Order of the Grey Wardens was founded during the First Blight, when the human race was on the brink of destruction. And then the first Warden drank the blood of the darkspawn and was able to tame the Blight.
- We… have to drink the blood of these creatures? - Graham asked with fear in his voice.
Duncan lifted the bowl from the table.
- Just like all the Wardens before and after you. This is the source of our strength and the guarantee of our victory.
- Those who survive the Joining become immune to corruption. We feel it in the darkspawn and use it to defeat the Blight, - added Theron.
- Not all of those who take the Joining survive, but those who survive will be changed forever. That's why Joining is a secret, - Alistair finished.
- Before the Initiation, we utter the cherished words that sound from the very first ritual, - Duncan said. - Alistair?
- Join us brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten. And that one day we shall join you.
- Daveth, step forward, - said the senior Warden.
The thief approached the Warden-Commander, grabbed the cup and took one sip. He yelled in pain and lost consciousness, falling abruptly to the ground. Alistair touched the lying Daveth.
- There is warmth in his body. He is alive, but had he drunk more, we'd have lost him. Do not be afraid if this happens to you, - he said and pulled Daveth aside.
The second recruit to take the ritual was Aedan. He survived, and unlike Daveth, he did not lose consciousness, but he still began to feel sick, and he ran into the bushes.
- Mhairi is next, - Duncan continued.
The lady knight drank the blood without fear, but she was not lucky. She coughed and began to bleed from her mouth and nose. Mhairi tried to grab one of the other recruits, but everyone got scared and moved away from her. Then she staggered and fell, losing her life. Neria and Kallian turned away in fear. Theron and Alistair dragged the girl's dead body away from Duncan.
- Maker's breath! - Jory screamed in fright.
- Come, Jory, - Duncan called to him.
The knight in shock took out his sword, moving away from the Warden.
- My wife is pregnant! Nobody told me!
- There's no going back, - Duncan said.
Jory dropped his sword and ran at breakneck speed into the woods, pushing Elissa out of his way.
- Theron, shoot him! - shouted the Warden-Commander.
The Dalish drew his bow and aimed at the fleeing unarmed knight. He wanted to follow Duncan's order, but hesitated. Jory is too harmless, and he has a family. In the end, Theron didn't shoot.
- I'm sorry, Duncan, - said the archer. - He is too fast.
- Don't blame yourself. Without weapons in the Wilds, only death awaits him. But the ritual is not yet complete.
Kallian nodded and drank the blood next. She lost consciousness, but survived. The dwarves dragged her to Daveth and went through the ritual themselves, surviving it and not even losing consciousness.
- I'll… probably sit down, - Faren said. - This thing is stronger than any ale.
- I'm with you, - Sereda supported him.
The dwarves sat down on the ground in the corner. Only Elissa, Daylen, Neria and Graham remained.
- Come on, mage, go first! - the templar urged Daylen.
The young mage passed the Joining, having lost consciousness. As Alistair and Elissa were dragging him to the rest of the survivors, Graham grabbed Neria, held his sword to her throat, and began to retreat with her towards the exit. Theron instantly drew his bow and aimed at the templar. Alistair, Elissa and Aedan, who approached them, immediately armed themselves.
- I wouldn't do that if I were you, knife-ears! - Graham shouted. - You can miss.
Alistair ran to Neria's aid.
- Back off! One more step and she will die! You are a disgrace to the templar order, Alistair, for being friends with the mages.
- What, templar scum, were you afraid to attack me when Daylen was awake? - Neria asked.
- I would not have defeated two mages, but I will kill one knife-eared apostate!
- So that's why you are with us? To kill mages within the order? - Duncan asked.
- Your lousy order has long been a refuge for apostates. And I don't like it. So I joined you to punish the apostates from the inside. But I didn't know you were all bloodsucking psychopaths here!
- The Grey Wardens are outside the jurisdiction of the templars, Graham. King Cailan has given us permission to recruit mages.
- The king is a fool, and he cannot be more important than the templars!
- The guards are here! With crossbows! - Elissa suddenly shouted, peering into the distance. - Shoot the templar!
Graham pushed Neria away and turned back. It was a bluff, there were no guards, and Alistair ran to the templar and plunged his sword into his back. He then took his sword back and kicked the templar's lifeless body, causing it to roll down the stairs.
- That's what happens to the people who hurt my friends, - Alistair said.
Neria immediately hugged Alistair, while Elissa drank from the cup and survived, passing out in her brother's arms.
- Only you are left. Go. Everything will be fine, - Alistair said to Neria.
Neria took two steps and stopped.
- Alistair! If I don't survive… - she said and then ran up to Alistair and kissed him on the lips.
Aedan was very surprised, and Faren, who was sitting in the far corner, even whistled. Theron, looking at the couple, thought about how it would have been if Duncan had saved both him and Tamlen. They could fight the Blight and still be together for the rest of their lives. But they were separated by a cursed mirror...
Neria went on and took the bowl from Duncan's hand. She took a sip and dropped the bowl, Neria began to shake all over, and soon she fell to the ground. Alistair, greatly frightened, took Neria in his arms.
- She's fine, - he told Duncan. - She will live.
While Alistair was carrying Neria to the rest of the survivors, Duncan began to kindle the fire he had prepared in advance.
- Does this often happen during the Joining? - Theron asked him.
- What are you talking about, my Dalish friend? About death, cowardice, antics of a templar, or a relationship between two Wardens?
- About everything. There was no such chaos at my Joining.
- Alas, with such a large number of recruits, Joinings rarely take place without unnecessary bloodshed. Not everyone is ready to follow the path they have started to the end, and not everyone sincerely shares the ideals of the Grey Wardens. We need to bury the dead. Ser Mhairi bravely went through all the hardships and posthumously became one of us. I can't say the same about Ser Graham, but he, too, should be buried. After that, we'll wait until the others wake up. Daveth drank the blood first, he should awaken in ten minutes.
Theron nodded his head and, together with Alistair, began to drag the bodies of the dead to the funeral pyre.
Author note: I've always felt that Daveth could become a good addition to the party. So he survived the Joining in this story.