Dragon Age Origins: A Grey Wardens Tale.
Chapter 20: The Rogue Sister.
A stunned silence hung over the table; all four of The Grey Wardens staring in shock that this sole Chantry Sister had just spoken aloud who they were in a crowded tavern though the noise of people eating, shouting for more beer or the hurried footsteps of bar maidens drowned out the Sister's reveal of their true identities.
Though The Four Wardens felt unanimously concerned at the fact a Chantry Sister had confronted them, all four staring with widened, shocked eyes at the fact this red-haired Chantry Sister strangely armed with a Bow had exposed their true identities.
"I knew this would happen! That woman sold us out!" Kallian snapped aggressively; rising from her seat until Aeden's hand came down on top of her left hand and Neria took hold of Kallian's right hand.
"Kallian, please… let us be calm about this!" Neria spoke calmly; Kallian staring down at her and to Aeden with fury in her eyes but slowly sank back down to her chair so not to draw attention.
"What do you want from us Leliana?" Alistair spoke his question; being the first one to speak rationally amongst the four, making a gesture to the Sister to take a seat.
"I had a vision, a gift from The Maker himself that told me too seek out the remaining Wardens, to follow you so I might aid you in the quest to end this Blight" Leliana spoke carefully so only The Wardens would hear; her hushed tone not hiding her pride in being chosen by The Maker through his granting a vision to her, seating herself in an empty chair.
"You seriously expect me to believe your god gave you a vision to help us?" Kallian snapped again; drawing the attention of the black-robed people at the next table until they turned back to their own food.
"Oh; you're an Elf? I didn't notice since your hair hides your ears quite well" Leliana stated with surprise; giving Kallian a warm and forgiving smile even though Kallian had been so snappy when regarding The Maker, "I am fully aware your gods and mine are vastly different and separate but please, I ask you to at least hear me out".
"I suppose we can afford you that much, as much as your story is as unbelievable as it sounds but we've been through some rather unbelievable events ourselves" Aeden spoke carefully; looking to his fellow Wardens on the notion of unbelievable events when none would believe the fact that they'd been saved by the claws of a Dragon.
Though Kallian remained quiet and stared at Leliana in judgement of another Human joining the group, Neria slid her seat closer to Leliana while Alistair just remained quiet with a shadow hanging over his face.
"May I ask what you were discussing before I arrived?" Leliana posed her own question; having given her reasons for wanting to join them and seating herself at their table, though she secretly had another reason to follow them as they'd eventually travel to Denerim where her true motivation was laying.
"We'd just agreed that we'd move on before we were discovered, moving on to Redcliffe was the best course of action" Neria chimed in; her cheery tone making Leliana smile brightly as she felt a kinship with the girl, a bright expression forming on Leliana's face upon learning their intention to leave Lothering and progress on their quest to defeat The Blight and she'd caught them just before they'd left.
"Redcliffe is a wise choice, leaving right now would give you an advantage by getting ahead of the local bandits but why would you leave without dispatching them first?" Leliana spoke calmly though her eyes gave away how eager she was to learn that information, her nails rattling on the table as she spoke giving away her eagerness even more.
"Yes, we've heard of The Winter Wolves but there's no information on what we can do about them without revealing ourselves and with Royal Knights patrolling the area, we'd just be handing ourselves over on a platter" Alistair spoke for the first time since questioning Leliana; speaking on how reckless challenging an entire bandit and mercenary group with only two swords, an unarmed Elf and a tired Mage with a second nowhere to be found would only result in their deaths or capture leading to execution, though unspoken; Leliana picked up on their reluctance to endanger themselves for the sake of Lothering's people.
Leliana's smile dropped a small margin at the fact The Wardens weren't willing to bring an end to The Winter Wolves in fear of their own safety, "I suppose; with so little weaponry and armour… challenging The Winter Wolves would be foolish given their number and how heavily armed they are".
"I'll give you a piece of free knowledge that you can pass on to your Chantry or those Knights, The Leader of The Winter Wolves as at Ostagar, that should invoke some action from either Royal Knights or Templars" Alistair spoke in hushed tones; though they couldn't take action themselves but could instigate action by The Royal Knights and divert attention from them leaving.
Leliana's eyes lit up as Alistair shared a piece of valuable information that he'd been keeping to himself so much so that his fellow Wardens all turned on their heels and stared at him, almost leaping to her feet from her chair, dropping some coins on the table to pay for the food and any supplies needed and then rushing for the door.
"Was that true?" Neria chimed with a tone of surprise; she only remembered the two men who'd died at their Joining Ceremony but never saw another woman.
"It might be; I'm not entirely sure myself" Alistair admitted; revealing he'd used what little he knew of the bandit leader in order to do something for Lothering while Neria had performed healing, Aeden and Kallian was recovered a keepsake for a child following the death of the mother, but he'd done nothing until now but with a single piece of information would allow them to bypass The Royal Knights entirely.
"And where do you think she ran off to?" Kallian muttered; still wearing suspicious eyes as she'd watched Leliana run away and leave; taking notice that nobody else seemed to have taken notice of them nor the fleeing Chantry Sister.
"Probably those Royal Knights, such information will distract them just long enough for us to leave and make for The Redcliffe Road" Aeden spoke with a smirk; lifting their remaining coins and counting them out before setting the coins on the table for Kallian, Alistair and Neria to see before leaning to Neria herself.
Sliding their few remaining coins to Neria; Aeden whispered only a few words to her before she took the coins and rose up and ran off; almost instantly disappearing into the crowd, with Kallian watched with a keen precision that followed Neria's every move she The Mage moved towards The Innkeeper.
With panting breath; Leliana returned within only a couple of minutes and to The Wardens' surprise she did not come running with Knights in tow to arrest them as Kallian had assumed, "I told The Royal Knights about The Winter Wolves' Leader being at Ostagar, they immediately left to raid the ruins where they'd set up as a base of operations, with them gone then Lothering will be safe from their thieving grip, I'm free to join you on your quest now".
"What did The Revered Mother have to say about you leaving to join us?" Kallian spoke with a tone of suspicion; proving that she'd still suspected that the old woman at The Chantry was still going to turn them in for some gold,
Before Leliana could answer the question about her abandoning The Lothering Chantry; Neria came bursting out from The Inn with several water flasks and bread rolls in her hands, "I got the bread and water! So when are we leaving?".
"As soon as Morrigan arrives; then we'll leave under the cover of night so to attract less attention" Aeden spoke calmly; his tone carried one of hesitation as he felt that they'd should just move on given the fact that Morrigan had just disappeared and hadn't returned at all in the past twenty-four hours.
"Who is Morrigan?" Leliana spoke curiously when as far as she knew there were only four Grey Wardens and nobody else until a flash of black caught her trained eye.
Almost on cue; a small black rodent with yellow eyes came running out from behind the hay bales amongst the stables, Leliana and Neria both catching sight of the peculiar features of the rodent until it lit up with a green flash, The Wardens raising their arms to shield their eyes while Leliana flinched from the flash; only opening her eyes again to see Morrigan standing where the rodent had previously been, still adorned in her black and crimson garments with a black Mage's Staff in one hand.
"What…?" Leliana began to mutter in surprise at the sight of an Apostate before Morrgan cut her off.
"I leave the four of you alone for one day and already taking in anyone offering the slightest bit of assistance? You'll never overcome The Darkspawn by helping Beggers and self-righteous Fools" Morrigan rolled her eyes so hard that Neria imagined her eyes falling out from her head; passing Leliana entirely and staring at Aeden and Kallian closely before mocking them for accepting another person into their group and for helping the people in need, barely showing a hint of concern for those aided given the fact she'd clearly been watching them from various forms of animals.
"How nice of you to join us again, it only took you a full day" Alistair shot back with blunt words and not holding back his sarcastic tone, his follow Wardens all smirking in his direction as some semblance of the Alistair they knew and trusted was returning after how depressed he'd been over the course of the day.
"I assume you saved some food for me?" Morrigan stated bluntly; finally appearing after a full twenty-four-hour absence, staring at the group with an expectant glare though her yellow eyes darted to Leiliana for a brief moment before returning to Aeden and Alistair, Kallian and Neria both opting to avoid her prying gaze.
"Of course; you may not have stayed with us but you're still deserving of food" Alistair remarked; having intended to withhold food from Morrigan given her disappearance but having her return just before they left Lothering and looking famished forced him into bequeathing food to her, with Neria extending one of the bread rolls filled with a simple layer of cheese and ham to her.
"My thanks; and that's all the gratitude you'll get out of my mouth" Morrigan remarked with displeasure; snatching the bread roll from Neria's hand and consuming it without hesitation, Neria standing by her fellow Mage while being the designated carrier of the food.
"May I just ask; where have you been for the past day?" Neria asked with a great deal of curiosity, having not noticed when she'd disappeared but was visibly glad she'd returned and having another Magic-user in the group once again.
Morrigan's inhuman yellow eyes gazed at Neria; perturbed at the notion that Neria of all people was trying to engage her, her lips curling into a sly smile as she parted her crimson lips to speak.
"I was hiding in plain sight; watching, watching you all while you aided those in need; though a pointless course of action that risked exposing yourselves as Grey Wardens and making yourselves vulnerable to capture" Morrigan spoke carefully but her teasing tone remained; speaking on how she'd been watching them from The Chantry to the muddy paths of the village and even during The Royal Knights' search of every table from the form of small, easily-overlooked animals.
"Well It's good of you to rejoin us" Alistair spoke bluntly; taking one of the bread rolls and water flasks and keeping them to himself, then striding past her and moving forward without waiting for any of the others; no sign of his usual self in his demeanour.
"What's wrong with him?" Neria chimed with concern; her green eyes flickering between Alistair walking away from them and over to Morrgan taking small bites out from a second roll, the contents being a thin layer of lettuce, a single tomato slice and Nug meat this time.
"Not sure; I think he may have some degree of history in Redcliffe from before joining The Wardens, so he might be apprehensive about returning there" Aeden spoke carefully; making a guess as to why Alistair was appearing to be anxious over their next destination.
"I think so too; I don't want to see anybody being unhappy" Neria spoke lowly; her chipper tone vanishing and being replaced by a tone of concern for her comrade, her childlike naiveite and ignorance of the wider world showing through in her wish to not see anybody close to her unhappy.
Leliana shifted to stand beside Neria; figuring that having Aeden and Alistair at the front of the group with their Swords while she, Neria and Morrigan at the back with her Bow and their Magic; leaving only Kallian in the middle of the group since she was unarmed, "I feel what you mean Neria; but sometimes unhappiness is inevitable".
"You're just being a child; you have much to learn about the world" Kallian spoke bluntly; striding past Neria to follow behind the men of their group given that she was unarmed.
"For once, I agree with the Elf" Morrigan continued; walking off and leaving Neria and Leliana alone at the rear of their group.
Walking as a group with the road ahead; Aeden glanced over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Kallian, Neria, Morrigan and their newest comrade: Leliana all engaged in conversation though Morrigan was clearly trying to deflect as much talk as possible but Neria kept by her side at all times, turning his attention back to Alistair as the two of them were the only one's armed with weapons and noticed a shadow falling over Alistair's face.
"Alistair; are you ok? You have that worried look again" Aeden spoke with worry for his comrade, given that the two of them were the only protection that the girls in their group had though he hadn't seen how proficient Leliana was with her Bow yet, and Neria along with Morrgan gave them magical weapons but Alistair being a swordsman like himself gave him worry.
Alistair snapped back to where he was upon hearing Aeden speak; staring at his fellow swordsman and glanced back to the group of Kallian trailing behind them, and Leliana walking with Neria and Morrigan all engrossed in conversation though Morrigan was openly ignoring them.
With Lothering at their backs and the road ahead unburdened by the likes of any travellers or bandits; The Four Wardens along with Morrigan stepped forward on the next leg of their journey only for Lelianna to stop and look back to the village; a soft longing in her eyes before she too set forth and ran to catch up with her new comrades on the road to their next destination: Redcliffe.
Author's Note, for those wondering where Sten is in this retelling story and why he'd not been recruited into the party, I have different plans for Sten.