Date: Sun, 3 May 2015 21:21:11 +0000 (UTC)
From: Rainy Day <rainingsparrows@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Becomings of Wardens, part 4

This Fan Fiction is based on the Dragon Age video game series trademarked
by BioWare. I do not claim ownership of the characters or the world of
Dragon Age. I've tried not to mess with the "official" story, so names and
dates should be correct for the time period this story takes place.

This story contains sexual relations between minors and adults, and if this
offends you in any way, please do not read any further. This story also has
some gore and violence! Any comments are welcome at
rainingsparrows@yahoo.com

Please consider donating to Nifty!!!!!!


Previously: Daniel looked at Simon as a friend, something Simon had never
experienced before. As a pickpocket, he'd never made friends, just
accomplices.

"Thank you, Daniel. You're a great friend too." Simon said, feeling a lump
in his throat forming. Not exchanging any more words, both boys laid down
on their bedrolls and looked up at the night sky. One after the other, they
fell asleep, right next to each other.


Part IV Daniel woke up early. He rustled around, stretching in his bedroll
before opening his eyes. It was early dawn, judging by the light dimming
over the treetops. The fire was all but embers now, causing flickering
shadows on the ground. He rolled over to look at the sleeping figure next
to him, Simon. Simon was on his back, with one leg peeking out from under
the blanket, snoring slightly. Daniel had to smile when he saw the drool
coming from the corner of his open mouth.

"You up already?" Daniel heard Saunders Ivo's deep voice say behind
him. Daniel got up and saw the large man sitting on the other side of the
fire, cleaning his sword.

"Yeah, I usually always wake up before anyone else." Daniel said and walked
over and sat down next to Saunders Ivo.

"Me too. I've always liked to watch the sun come up." He said, looking up
at the treetops. Daniel followed his gaze and had to agree, it was
beautiful. In addition, he noticed the birds chippering away, how anyone
could sleep through that, was beyond his understanding.

"You seem to take all of this quite well." Sanders Ivo continued, "Joining
us as a recruit, and then your special circumstances."

"Yeah..." Daniel said staring into the embers, "Still doesn't feel real,
you know?"

"I know." Saunders Ivo said calmly. "Joining the Grey Wardens isn't easy,
even for someone who sought them out to join."

"How did you come to join the Wardens?" Daniel asked. Saunders Ivo finally
stopped cleaning his sword before he too, stared into the embers.  "I was a
mercenary for many years. I had a whole crew of us set up in
Amaranthine. One day a dwarf merchant, Kultak, wanted us to escort him and
a few of his companions back to the Frostback Mountains. I guessed he was a
lyrium merchant," he looked down at Daniel, "I guess you already know about
the lyrium trade, you being a Templar-in-training and all."

Daniel nodded slowly. He knew that Templars used lyrium to boost their
abilities and that the Chantry was very strict on regulating the trade, as
lyrium is highly addictive and dangerous in the wrong hands. Apostates and
Templars alike want more lyrium to feed their addiction. A huge chunk of
the lyrium trade, was illegal. Mostly done by parties like the Carta and
such.

"I'm not surprised. Anyway, we were almost back at Orzammar when Darkspawn
attacked us. A small group, like the one you and Ser Aaron got attacked
by. We weren't prepared for the monsters to attack us. We expected carta or
maybe some thugs, so my men were slaughtered. Out of the ten of us that
traveled from Amaranthine, only three of us survived. When we were back
home again, I started to look for meaning." Saunders Ivo's eyes became
dark, but Daniel thought he saw something else in his eyes. Maybe it was
the embers that tricked his own eyes, but he thought Saunders Ivo's looked
like they were on fire.

"I swore to kill every single one of the Darkspawn I could get my hands on,
so I sought out the Grey Wardens about a year ago. I found Duncan close to
Redcliffe. I joined their ranks two days later." He got on his feet and put
his greatsword into the long sheath that he strapped tightly to his back,
"You should wake Simon and the others up. We should be moving again
soon. We have a lot of ground to cover before the day is over."

And true he was. As soon as their little group had packed up their bedrolls
and tents, they kept on riding. They estimated it would take another seven
days' worth of riding before reaching Montsimmard, where Daniel and Simon
would be dropped off for training with the Orlesian Wardens.

They put the Frostback Mountains behind them and soon entered lands of
green, with gigantic forests surrounding them. Daniel wanted to explore
more of these grounds, someday. They passed through Halamshiral where they
stopped quickly to stock up on supplies. Halamshiral looked different from
the rest of Orlais.

"Halamshiral was built by elves." Tanyl explained to Daniel and Simon as
they walked around the city, waiting for the rest of the group to finish
packing supplies.

"Really?" Simon asked and started to look around at the buildings. The city
was white, made from a peculiar white stone. The buildings were tall and
made almost completely out from this white stone.

"It reminds me a little of... Fort Drakon, to be honest." Simon said, a
little unsure.

"Hmm..." Tanyl mumbled, looking around as well. "You're right,
actually. Halamshiral is an elvish word though, meaning `the end of the
journey', as it was founded after the `Long Walk'. Do you know what that
was, Simon?" Tanyl asked with a glimmer in his eyes. When Simon shook his
head, Tanyl sighed.

"I'm not very surprised. It isn't not one of the most widespread tales by
the Chantry. After the Andraste's uprising won over the Tevinter Imperium,
she promised the elves The Dales as their new home. The elves took on `The
Long Walk', and settled here, founding Halamshiral, the end of the
journey."

"But-" Daniel started, "didn't Halamshiral get burned to the ground, after
the Second Exalted March?"

"Well, someone knows their history!" Tanyl said, impressed. "Yes,
Halamshiral was sacked by the Orlesian forces. The Winter Palace was built
only a few years after the Exalted March," he said tired, "Once the great
capital of the Dales... Now turned into a seasonal holiday spot for the
Imperial Court."

They continued riding west, passing through Lydes and Verchiel without
stopping. They still had half a days worth of riding left to Montsimmard,
when they set up camp. Daniel was to have first watch with Tanyl, sitting
near the edge of the camp.

"The two of you have become close." Tanyl nodded against the sleeping mass
close to the burning fire, snoring lightly.

"I think Simon is as close a friend to me as any I've had during my Templar
training." Daniel said. Not that he'd had that many friends to start
with. Tanyl looked him over, as if he had something on his mind.

"Don't get too attached to him before the both of you have gone through
your Joining." He finally said. Daniel looked up at the sharp profile of
Tanyl's face.

"What do you mean?"

"Just- trust me on this, Daniel." Tanyl said in a tone that clearly said
that the conversation was over, but Daniel wouldn't let that comment slide.

"No. Tell me!" He said a little louder than intended, making a few of the
sleeping bodies around them shuffle around in their sleep. Tanyl gave him a
long and hard look before saying anything more.

"Joining the Grey Wardens isn't like joining the Templar Order or anything
else for that matter. People die becoming a Grey Warden." As soon as he
said these last words, he looked like he regretted them. Daniel didn't want
to ask anything else.

"I-I have to go pee." He said, getting onto his feet. Tanyl looked like was
about to stop him, but said nothing. Daniel walked as silently as he could
to the closest trees, where the light of the flames couldn't reach him. He
let out a soft sigh as he did his business. As the liquid made audible
splashes against the closest tree, he heard sounds of movement from the
shadows. He looked around the tree to see if he could spot anything, but
without any luck. He packed his stuff back in and took a few trying steps
in between the trees. Without the flames from the camp or stars from the
sky to give any light, the forest was pitch black. Daniel squinted his eyes
to see further into the darkness.

There was that sound again. Something was moving out of sight. Daniel
closed his eyes, like he'd learned from Katarina, and listened. Using only
his hearing, he could now hear the sound of muffled footsteps, but from
what... Taking a few steps back, Daniel thought he should call out for
help, when a rough hand closed around his mouth.  "Shhhh..." a voice
whispered into his ear. The cold from a steel blade pushed against the bare
skin of his neck. More movement around him, it had to be more than just the
one! He heard bows being drawn and swords being unsheathed. An ambush!
Daniel did the only thing he could think of, which was locating exactly
where the one holding him stood, and then finding his foot. With all his
strength, he stomped on the tip of the man's toes, making the man shout out
in pain, and loosen his grip around Daniel's mouth. As soon as the man's
grip around his mouth loosened, Daniel knocked his head back, feeling the
back of his head smash into the man's nose. Not bothering to look behind
him, Daniel ran towards the camp.

"Tanyl! Help!" Daniel managed to shout out as he ran out from the trees. He
saw Tanyl look around and begin waking up the others. Daniel heard others
behind him, shouting and swearing. A sharp pain to his left shoulder
suddenly hit him, making him stumble a little, but managing to keep himself
on his feet. Daniel looked over at his shoulder and saw a bleeding gash,
but no arrow. No direct hit then, that was good, so he continued
running. Ahead, he saw that almost the entire camp was on their feet stood
ready to face who ever attacked them. Daniel finally reached the camp and
jumped behind the first real cover he could find, and not a second too
early! Another arrow flew right past the spot where his head would have
been, had he stopped. Who in their right mind attacked Grey Wardens?!  "Get
ready!" he heard Sounders Ivo call out. Daniel looked over to the rest of
the Wardens. Tanyl had his bow ready, taking careful aim. Katarina hid
behind cover, waiting for the attackers to come closer. Duncan had his dual
blades out, stone faced. Saunders Ivo stood first in line of the Wardens,
his greatsword already swinging ready for battle.

"Are you alright?!" Simon said as he ran over to Daniel, carrying Daniel's
shield in one hand and his blade in the other.

"I think so, only a scratch." Daniel replied as he strapped on his shield
to his left arm. Now the battle began. The attacking group turned out to be
highwaymen, looking for any target they could find. They were around twenty
and the Wardens were only twelve, two being untrained recruits. That made
it an unfair fight to say the least.

Daniel got up from behind his cover, holding his shield ready as he faced
the enemy. Simon still crouched behind cover, waiting for the enemy to come
to them. The first of the highwaymen came running into the camp from the
front as archers rained down arrows from the sides.  "Daniel, Simon, take
out those archers!" Duncan shouted as he slashed down his first
highwayman. "Tanyl, cover them." He shouted over to Tanyl, who was already
going through his arrows taking out the highwaymen as they came running.

"Let's go." Daniel said and Simon followed him, taking cover behind
Daniel's shield. A few arrows hit his shield as they went, but thankfully,
none of them hit either Simon or Daniel. There were three archers up on a
slope, flanking the Wardens as they fought. Simon and Daniel, covered by
Tanyl, made their way up the sides behind Daniel's shield. As soon as the
archers started to move away from their position, Simon ran out from the
back of Daniel's shield and sprinted towards the clostest archer. The man
didn't even have time to draw his dagger as Simon planted his own dagger in
the man's neck.

The two other archers dropped their bows and got their own blades ready to
face Daniel and Simon, losing focus on the Wardens down below. That was a
big mistake, as a well-placed arrow from Tanyl, hit one of the highwaymen
in the leg. Simon and Daniel used the man's scream as a distraction and
rushed forward towards the two men. Simon used his momentum to knock the
first of the highwaymen over, planting his dagger in the man's chest, while
Daniel smashed his shield against the crippled archer's incoming blows,
deflecting them to the side as he thrusted his dwarven longsword into the
man's abdomen, taking down the last of the archers flanking the wardens.

A loud bang caught their attention, as flames burst out from the
trees. Daniel and Simon watched in horror as fire ran from the sky over the
fighting crowd below them. Out from the trees came a tall woman, grasping a
long staff. With swift movements of her hand, she conjured bursts of flame
that rained over the fighting Wardens from above. Daniel drew the
conclusion that this was an apostate mage, probably having joined the
highwaymen for easy profit. Not many can do anything against a trained
mage, even with the thickest armor. Either a well trained Templar or
another mage stood a chance against one. Thankfully, they had Katarina.

From their vantage point, Daniel and Simon saw Katarina swing her staff
around in broad circles as strange symbols formed on the ground around
her. A small shimmer covered the Wardens, deflecting the bursts of fire for
a few seconds. Beams of light shot back and forth between the two mages,
making the ground around the shake as their spells collided in the
air. Then something seemed to change and Daniel wasn't sure why at
first. The apostate had stopped her movement and had apparently called for
someone, because out of the trees came a small man, limping slightly as he
ran towards the apostate. In his hand he held a glimmering dagger, that he
presented to the apostate. Daniel didn't really understand what was going
on, so when the apostate grabbed the dagger and slit the man's throat, he
actually shouted out in surprise!

As the man fell to the ground, the apostate's entire posture changed. She
stood still and started chanting words, in what sounded like a different
language and the ground around her started shaking. Then what looked like
shimmering pearls started to rise from the corpse next to the
apostate. Daniel didn't see what they were at first, but when he saw where
they came from, he felt a shiver go down his spine. Pearls of blood floated
into the air around the apostate, from the dead man's neck! They floated
around the apostate for a few seconds, before gathering into one big
cluster of dark blood, floating mid air, in front of the apostate.

 "Blood magic..." Daniel almost whispered. This was even worse than he
imagined. Blood magic was the ability to use blood as fuel for spells. The
practice of blood magic was highly forbidden, as blood magic was connected
to demons. It was said, that the first Darkspawn were Tevinter Magisters
that used blood magic to enter the Golden City, the seat of the maker. Only
that their arrival corrupted the Golden City, and they were cast back as
Darkspawn.

It seemed that Katarina knew that they were in danger. She had also stopped
casting spells and stood still, mumbeling words of her own. Even with the
fighting going on around her, she didn't even flinch.

Then the apostate made her move. With a loud shout, still in the strange
language, the blood floated closer to the apostate, before it hit
her. Without leaving a mark on her long dress, it went into her body. It
was if the air around them was on, and Daniel felt the hairs on his neck
rise. The apostate was almost radiating magic, and even from this distance,
Daniel and Simon could feel it on their bodies. There was no doubt about
it. Whatever that was coming, was going to be big!

And right they were. The apostate opened her eyes and gave out a small
laugh, before a beam of bright red light shot across the battlefield, right
towards Katarina.

"No, Katarina!" Daniel and Simon shouted out in desperation as they saw the
red light engulf Katarina. Sure that she was dead, Daniel fell to his
knees.

"Look!" Simon suddenly shouted and Daniel looked back up. In the middle of
the battlefield, a shining white ball surrounded Katarina, apparently
having shielded her from the red blast! From the shimmering light that the
ball, Daniel could see Katarina's smile.

With new broad swing of her staff, Katarina shot what looked like a bolt
through the air and hit the apostate. The apostate was lifted several
inches into the air, screaming in pain. Duncan ran forward, holding his
dual blades ready. Two highwaymen tried to stop him, but he swept both
weapons in a broad forward arc, hitting both of them in the sides. As he
came closer to the apostate, she fell back down to the ground again and
before she could locate her staff again, Duncan had caught up with
her. Even though Daniel and Simon stood on the other side of the
battlefield, Daniel could almost hear as the Duncan's blade went through
her. As soon as the apostate fell to the ground, the flames stopped raining
from the sky as well.

Daniel and Simon slid down the slope back down to the camp. Stepping over
several bodies, they made their way to the middle of it, where the wardens
had already started to patch each other up.

"How many dead?" Daniel heard Duncan ask Saunders Ivo.

"Only two of us, but we have several injured. Are you alright, Duncan?"

"I'm fine, nothing that a bandage won't fix. Who is dead?"

"Two of the Orlesian Wardens. Hefnar and Eva." Saunders Ivo pointed to a
spot a few feet away. A dwarf man lay on the ground clearly dead. Next to
him lay a woman. All the white fabric on her Warden armor had been colored
red by her own blood. The rest of the Orlesian Wardens stood around the two
bodies. Most had wounds and scratches, but none seemed to care much for
themselves at the moment.

As Daniel and Simon approached, Duncan turned to them with worry across his
face.

"Daniel, you are bleeding. Sit down and let me look."

"I'm fine, it's just a flesh wound." Daniel said as he sat down on a log as
Duncan examined his shoulder.

"Hmm..." Duncan mumbled as he carefully peeled off Daniel's armor around
the wound, "It looks like you're right. I can see bone though. Are you in
any pain?"

"N-no, not really." Daniel said nervously. He knew that his body was too
hyped up from the fighting to let him feel his injury to its full extent
yet.

"What about you Simon? You're... covered in blood!" Duncan said in horror
as he looked over at Simon. Daniel looked over as well, and felt a pit in
his stomach when he saw the wound in Simon's side.

"I'm... bleeding." Simon said, looking shocked as he placed his hand on the
wound and saw the blood covering his hands. Daniel noticed a shift in
Simon's balance and ran towards him as Simon started to fall. Daniel barely
managed to catch his friend before he hit the ground, holding him securely
in his arms.

"Katarina!" Daniel shouted as many more came rushing to them to help,
"Katarina, help!"  First now Daniel noticed how pale Simon was. He must
have been bleeding for a while.  "Simon! Simon, wake up!"