Chapter 23

I certainly hope our Commander is enjoying his little break, Nathaniel thought, as he sent another arrow whistling through the air and into a chink in hurlock's armor, while nearby Anders froze three Genlocks solid so that Velana and Sigrun could smash them into pieces. It had been like this ever since they had started out; what was supposed to be a quick trip to ransom a minor noble's daughter, lasting a few days at most, had turned into a week-long slog as darkspawn, bandits, packs of wolves, and even, at one point, a group of dragons had all come out against them. It was driving Nathaniel to the limit of his command ability, and driving everyone to the limits of their patience.

Taking his mind away from these complaints, the unofficial second in command of Fereldan Grey Wardens turned his attention to the Hurlock Alpha coming down towards the group. As it saw Nathaniel take aim, it lifted its heavy shield to cover its head and torso… so Nathaniel simply lowered his aim, and loosed the arrow into beast's thigh. Hissing in pain, the Alpha's shield moved out of alignment, and Nathaniel quickly released three more arrows into it its chest. With all the enemies he could see dead, Nathaniel turned just in time to see Anders torch a Shriek, Velanna smash the rim of her shield into a Genlock's skull, and Sigrun drive her dagger into the last Hurlock's gut, then split its skull in two with her ax.

Immediately, the itch in his mind, the Grey Warden's ability to sense the presence of darkspawn, went away. He had not felt it at first, immediately after his Joining, but recently it had appeared, and grew stronger with every passing day. He knew that Oghren, who had taken the Joining with him, was undergoing the same change. Sigrun had only just gone through her joining, and Velanna not much earlier, so they had not yet felt the change. Nathaniel knew they would, though, and soon.

Walking up to the other members of his group, he began giving out orders. "Anders and Velanna, burn the corpses. Sigrun, riffle through their pockets, see if they have anything of value." After that, he went off to collect his arrows. He knew he was being rude, but after the trying time they had all had, his patience was at its limits. Coming up to the first darkspawn he had shot, he bent down and began ripping them out of the corpse, cleaning the blood off of them with a rag before placing them back in his quiver.

"You are hurt."

Turning around, he saw, to his surprise, that it was Velanna who had spoken, and that she actually appeared genuinely concerned, if only slightly.

"What?" Nathaniel asked.

Now Velanna's usually sneer began to return. "You are hurt. What is so difficult to understand about that? Did a darkspawn arrow graze your head as well as your arm?" she spat, pointing to Nathaniel's right arm. Looking to where she was pointing, he saw that he, indeed, had been scrapped across the arm, leaving a bloody groove.

Turning back to his search for his arrows, Nathaniel tried to ignore the elf; after everything that they had all been going through, he did not have the patience for this. "It's fine," he muttered.

"I should still have a look at it," she said, her sneer faltering slightly. "The archer could have poisoned the arrowhead, and it could still become infected even if it was not."

Pausing as he reached for more of his arrows, Nathaniel considered snapping at her to keep quite. But something kept him quite. He was the leader on this mission. He should be behaving better than this, no matter how frustrated he was. Standing back up, he stretched his arm out, and said, "Alright, then." Carefully moving the cloth, leather, and mail aside, Velanna began a simple spell that would sanitize and seal the wound. Behind them, Nathaniel could hear Ander's begin to set the darkspawn corpses alight, the whoosh of flames repeating half a dozen times, pausing only to make sure that Sigrun was well clear.

Finally finished with her spell, Velanna stepped away. "There", she said, with a slightly curt edge.

"Thank you, Velanna," Nathaniel said, flexing his arm to test her handiwork. As the elven mage turned back, though, he made a move to stop her.

"Velanna," he called, getting her to stop. "I… I owe you an apology, for my behavior just now. This mission has been frustrating, but that is no excuse." He paused, then blushed slightly and added, "Also, I'm sorry for saying that your ears were clownish."

Velanna seemed taken aback at first, than stammered out, "I… I accept your apology." She also paused, then said, "I… I suppose that I owe you an apology as well. For what I said about how human nobles were all oppressors."

Nathaniel was more than a little surprised at this. "Really?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes", Velanna said, now growing more aloof. "I am certain that there are at least a few decent humans in power in the world. Somewhere."

Rolling his eyes, Nathaniel went back to collecting his arrows, as Velanna turned to help Anders burn the darkspawn dead. She really isn't all that bad, he thought. You just need to get past her shell. Her very, very, VERY thick shell.

oo-00-oo

Several hours after that ambush was fought off, the group finally arrived at their destination; an old, ruined chantry, that had been destroyed by a hurricane in the last age. This was where the kidnappers had said they would meet with them, and the father of the girl they had taken, Lord Edgar Bensley, had set up in the nearby copse of trees, with a few of his retainers accompanying him. It was plain that they had been there for some time already, a few days at least. Needless to say, Lord Bensley was not pleased with how long it had taken the four of them to arrive, though his protests abated once Nathaniel had managed to explain the difficulties the group of Grey Wardens had encountered. He also took a moment to explain the plan Commander Matthew had devised for dealing with the kidnappers. The Lord had objected at first, claiming the plan placed his daughter in unnecessary danger, but relented once Nathaniel explained that his daughter's safety was first priority, and that if he could not execute the plan without compromising that safety then he would not attempt it.

Not willing to wait another moment with his daughter in danger, Bensley chose three of his retainers, and marched out onto the bridge leading to the ruined building, which was built on an outcrop of rock overlooking the sea. Nathaniel had to wonder why the bandits had chosen such a poor location to try and make an exchange; the bridge was the only way for them to escape, and Nathaniel's group controlled it. These bandits were either very brave or very foolish to make such a grave mistake.

I suppose it doesn't matter, Nathaniel thought, given what the Commander told me to do with them.

Once all eight members of the group had crossed the wooden bridge leading to the ruined chantry, they formed up behind Bensley and Nathaniel, and began marching toward the building. Before they could come within fifteen feet of the ruined wall, however, three men wearing leather and light ring mail and armed with daggers and axes marched out, blocking their way forward.

"That's close enough," the man in the center, whom Nathaniel assumed was the leader of this treasonous enterprise, said, hand resting on his ax haft.

"Where is she," Edgar snarled, hand immediately reaching for his blade, though one of his knights quickly grabbed his arm to keep him from drawing it. "Where is my daughter!"

The ringleader's only response was to hold out his hand expectantly. "The money first."

Nathaniel crossed his arms, and replied, "You are not seeing one copper until we know Bensley's daughter is alive and unharmed."

The thug's eye's narrowed, but he turned his head, and said, "Hawk, bring the girl out."

A fourth bandit stepped out from the ruins, dragging the hostage with him. The girl, who looked to be no more than 17 years old, was bound at the wrists, gagged, and with a blindfold around her eyes. The man named Hawk was also holding a knife to her throat.

"There," the ringleader said, his voice growing harder. "The girl's alright, as promised. Now, if you don't mind, I'll take the money."

Nathanial pulled a bulging sack from his pack, holding it out before him, and said, "First you send the girl over."

The bandit leader's eyes narrowed, but he turned to his lackey and snapped, "Hawk, send her over." The man holding the girl looked confused for a moment, but then began moving toward the Grey Warden's guiding his hostage along. At the same time, one of Bensley's knights moved toward the two, and, once they had met halfway, relieved the outlaw of the girl. Both began a hasty retreat to their respective groups, the knight removing the girl's blindfold as he did so.

"The money," the bandit leader snarled. "NOW."

Nathaniel looked at the sack, then back at the bandits, and tossed it nonchalantly into the no-man's-land between the two groups.

The bandit leader gave Nathaniel a glare that could have heated up a stone cold furnace. "Hawk, go get the Wardens' coin."

"Why me?" the man named Hawk demanded. "Why am I always the one doing all the bitch work?"

"Hawk," the leader's reply came, his voice now deathly quiet. "Get. The money. Now."

Throwing his hands up in disgust, Hawk stepped forward to grab the sack… only to stop as Nathaniel brought up his bow, arrow knocked and aimed directly at his chest.

"Stay right where you are," he whispered, just loudly enough for the bandits to hear.

At this, both groups pulled their weapons, or in Anders and Velanna's case, readied their spells. Bensley and his men quickly stepped in front of the lord's daughter to shield her.

The stalemate was held for only a few seconds, but it felt like an entire age passed before Nathaniel gave his next order. "Everyone. Get back across the bridge. Now." The entire time, he kept his bow aimed directly at the bandit leader.

Sigrun, Anders, Velanna, and Bensley all looked at him, utterly confused, but eventually did as he said, slowly backing out across the wooden plank bridge. The Wardens soon followed, Nathaniel bringing up the rear, never letting his aim wander. The bandit leader, for his part, stayed put, although he kept his gaze level with Nathaniel the entire time. This staring contest lasted until their entire group reentered the copse of trees, and out of sight.

"Well, at least this foolish quest is done," he heard Velanna gripe, as she walked up to look him full in the face.

"Why did we even give them the coin, anyway?" she demanded. "My clan would never give anyone who captured a member of the clan such a reward unless there was no chance of rescuing them, which we could have done when the imbeciles gave her to us before you gave them the ransom money! Why would you give them what they wanted?"

"I didn't," he said, pulling out a second sack and giving it a shake, the gold coins inside jingling together.

"Wait a moment," Sigrun interrupted, coming up behind the other two Wardens. "If you have the ransom money here, then what did you give the bandits?"

Barely a moment after the dwarf had spoken, an enormous explosion rang out, so strong that Nathaniel felt the shock wave in his chest. Through the gaps in the trees, he saw a not-unsubstantial purplish-blue fireball, as well as pieces of debris from the now completely destroyed former Chantry. Nathaniel could hear small pieces ran down in the trees near them, though they fortunately did not reach their group.

"A rune of fire, a burlap sack our Circle Ambassador enchanted to be airtight, and at least three pounds of lyrium-based explosive powder developed by Dworkin Glavonak that Warden Commander Cousland bid me test on the kidnappers," Nathaniel sighed. "The Commander believed that infighting such as this would interfere with our attempts to fight the darkspawn bands. So, he told me to rescue Bensley's daughter, test Dworkin's explosives, and make an example of Bensley's daughter's kidnappers, explicitly in that order."

"Was…that really necessary?" Sigrun asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Seems reasonable to me," Anders said with a shrug. "'If you kidnap our lords' daughters, then we will make you explode.'"

Nathaniel groaned, reaching down into his pack, and retrieved a small stack of vellum, quills, and ink bottles. "Take these," he said, handing some of each to the three other wardens. "Matthew said he wanted detailed notes on the results, including any potential for lyrium poisoning; Velanna, Anders, you two deal with the last part. Sigrun, you and I will report on the physical effects of the blast."

After hearing three affirmative answers from his companions, Nathaniel turned and, no longer hearing the sound of falling rubble, lead the way back to bandits' former meeting place, groaning as he did so.

A curse on all bloody deranged Couslands! he thought.

oo-00-oo

"Are you sure you can't stay longer, Fergus," the Teyrn of Highever heard his brother say, standing on the steps before the entrance to the keep. Beside him was Morrigan, holding his newborn nephew. They were flanked by several of Amaranthine's knights and the dwarven warrior Oghren. His sister-in-law's midwife was also present, glaring at her from behind.

"I would love to, Matthew," Fergus said, turning back from the carriage he had arrived in. "But I have already been away from Highever for too long; I need to get back and make sure everything is still in order; people are practically rioting over the revelation that the Chantry supported Howe's coup."

His younger brother frowned for a moment before giving a slight smirk; Fergus had to wonder at that.

"Yes, I suppose that's true. Not that I would mind having that horrid place pulled down."

Fergus laughed. "Oh, come now little brother," he said. "Was pulling out one of the bushes not enough for you?"

"That only happened once!" Matthew nearly shouted in exasperation.

"That reminds me of something I have been meaning to ask you, my dear," Morrigan said, turning to her husband. "Why did your parents not discipline you for doing such a thing? From what you have told me of them, I doubt they would have allowed such poor behavior from their children."

"Who says they didn't" Matthew groaned. "I got ten good lashes on the back for that little stunt. And after that, I had to spend a fortnight memorizing as much as the Chant of Light as I could."

"That came back to haunt them, as I recall," Fergus added. "It wasn't long after that that little brother began asking the sisters and mothers awkward questions, like why elves are ostracized when they helped Andraste overthrow the Imperium, or if mages who worship the Maker are called our 'brothers and sisters', then why are thrown into towers and not allowed to leave."

"That was around the time I stopped thinking of the Chantry as a boring waste of time and starting thinking of it as a hypocritical, loathsome institution that needs to be cast down and cast out," Matthew muttered.

"I find it rather difficult to disagree at the moment, brother," Fergus said, caution coloring his voice. "But please, be careful about this. Wrong or no, the Chantry is still incredibly powerful. Not to mention that you still have the remnants of the Blight to deal with at the same time. You had best tread lightly with this."

"Don't worry brother. I will be careful with the vile, disgusting, bloated, all-consuming monstrosities. And the darkspawn, too."

Snorting, Fergus stepped forward and embraced his brother, who returned the gesture. Whispering another warning he was fairly certain would not be heeded. Pulling away, he turned to his sister-in-law, saying, "My lady, I assume that you will be able to rein my brother in when he begins to get in over his head?"

"Oh, indeed I shall," Morrigan said, smiling evilly. "In fact, if he oversteps himself, I dear say that he would rather I was not there to save him by the time I am through with him." Out of the corner of his eye, Fergus saw Matthew shift uncomfortably and cough into the back of his hand.

"I'm sure," The Teyrn of Highever laughed. Looking down to the babe, he hesitated, then lifted his arms slightly. "May I?" he asked, indicating to his nephew. Morrigan looked down at her son, clearly quite reluctant to let him go, but after a look of encouragement from Matthew, she handed him carefully to Fergus.

Cradling the few-days old infant, who was currently asleep, carefully, Fergus stroked Bryce's fine hair, whispering, "Goodbye, Bryce. I will see you whenever I can visit." The newest member of the Cousland family twitched in his sleep, but otherwise did not move.

Handing the bundle back to his brother's wife, he turned back to his brother, gave him one last handshake goodbye, and entered his carriage. With one last smile and wave goodbye, the driver and the knights that had followed him headed out.

It was only just as he and his retainers had passed out of sight of the keep that Fergus realized something; in the past few days that he had been at Vigil's Keep, he had not ever asked about Nathaniel Howe, which was the entire purpose of his coming here.

Before he could decide whether to have his men turn around and return to the keep, however, he heard the sound of horse screaming in pain. And instant latter, he found himself thrown forward as the carriage came to a sudden stop.

"BANDITS" a cry went out from one the Teryn's retainers, followed by twangs of bowstrings, sickening wet crunches and screams of pain.

Shaking his head to try and regain his sense of direction, Fergus reached up to the carriage's seat for his sword. Pulling the blade from his sheath, Fergus came up to his knees and moved toward the door. Just as he reached it, however, a man in mail covered in rust and a leather cap, armed with a crossbow appeared in the window and aimed it at the Teryn.

Rushing forward, Fergus grabbed the crossbow's stock and shoved it to the side as it launched its bolt, sending the missile into the side of the carriage. At the same time, he drove his sword forward and into the bandit's eye and out the back of his skull. Pulling the blade out of the twitching corpse, Fergus grabbed his kite shield, emblazoned with the laurel wreath of his House, kicked open the carriage door, and stepped out.

Immediately, he saw his three retainers on this side of the carriage were dead, their bodies riddled with crossbow bolts. Standing over them were at least five bandits, and judging by sounds coming from the other side of the carriage, there were more coming up behind him.

Two of the bandits still held crossbows, though only one was loaded. The one with the loaded bow immediately loosed its bolt at Fergus, who ducked behind his shield. The bolt managed to punch through the shield, but stopped far short of hurting him. Charging forward, Fergus caught the two men who held the crossbow, both of whom had made the mistake of reloading their weapons instead of dropping them for a close combat weapon. The first he decapitated, and the second lost a leg and a hand.

Turning to the sound of footsteps coming up behind him, Fergus raised his oaken shield, blocking an axe blow, and stabbed its owner in the stomach, who went down, howling in agony. Turning to the remaining two bandits, he saw four more come around the carriage, brandishing their own weapons.

Holding his shield before him and raising his sword over his head, Fergus roared, and charged his remaining attackers.

A.N. I am embarrassed to say that I had plans to have this entire story finished before Inquisition came out. Look how well that went.

As for Inquisition itself, I really, really like it (although I STILL have not finished it yet, so no spoilers please). The only real flaws I have found a handful of glitches, the pointlessness of most of the side quests, and the fact I there is so much stuff to bloody do in the game that at times it feels like swimming through mud.

Also, Vivienne and Sera.

FUCK Vivienne and Sera. Fuck them with a rusty, jagged-edged halberd.

Other than that, I love the game, and look forward to not having any more college classes so I can actually play it.