by Milton Garby
"Levi, there's not a doubt in my mind that Sophia was a hero and a patriot." Aedan assured. "She and every Warden in this castle was willing to discard their oaths to save this country. If I had to choose being a Warden and saving this country, I would choose Ferelden every time. Instead of focusing on the past, use the strength that Sophia had and make yourself a future."
"For so long I was so focused on answers, but you're right. Maybe it's time we Drydens start looking to the future. Thanks. You've got a whole fortress to yourself know and if I recall correctly you're gathering an army. You can send them here, and me and my family can do what we can to supply them."
"Are you sure you can pull that off?"
"We've got a huge family and we've thrived in the merchant trade for the past hundred years. And it's about time people started lending aid to you Wardens. Send your armies here and my kin and I will make sure they're ready to march when you are."
"Take care of yourself, Levi. It's been a pleasure."
"An honor." Levi said bidding farewell.
"A Keep recovered, a demon invasion thwarted. We do good work." Alistair declared.
"Indeed." Sten added. "The castle is sturdy and defensible, it will do well to house an army. The Arishok would be pleased."
"The tear in the Veil has been repaired. In time the land's scars will heal. 'Tis all well done." Morrigan commented.
Aedan noticed the less than sincere tone in Morrigan's voice and the effort she made in trying to avoid his face. Was she upset with him? Over Avernus, perhaps. Regardless it was a matter for another time. For now Aedan decided to take comfort in this victory. He now had a well-fortified castle to house the army he was going to build and exclusive trading rights with a family of able merchants to make commerce with. But now they had to move on. After all, it was one thing to have a place for an army, it was another to actually get them army itself.
Several days later on the outskirts of Honnleath….
Right this very second Aedan was suffering a most severe case of buyer's remorse. And the bitter irony was he didn't pay a damned thing! Alright so he killed a bucket load of darkspawn and a few demons but that's to be expected when he makes any kind of bargain. Aedan could still hear that damned walking quarry complain about birds and make backhanded comments, even with him/her/it still trailing at the back of the group. All that time in Honnleath Aedan thought he'd be getting his hands on a free golem to use as a walking battering ram and maybe even a coat rack. Instead he got Shale. Too fucking bad.
A few days after leaving Soldier's Peak with fresh supplies, Aedan and his company traveled westward towards the Frostback to seek the aid of the Dwarven kingdom of Orzammar. On their way they met with an unlucky merchant by name of Felix, who willingly parted with a golem control rod, with no golem. Felix gave the rod away for free as there was no way for him to go back to Honnleath and get the golem it belonged to on account of their village being under attacked by darkspawn. Aedan of course accepted the rod and decided to go and get the golem. After all Aedan could think of several uses for his own personal golem. Like have it wade into the darkspawn ranks or maybe use it as a shield when pissed off, crazy mages were throwing fire at him. What could be better?
They arrived at the village and cleared it of darkspawn but found that the control rod and the activation phrase didn't work. They found the remainder of the villagers hiding in some kind of underground laboratory, hiding from the rest of the darkspawn behind some kind of magical barrier. After they saved the villagers they spoke to Mathias. Apparently this lab and that golem belonged to the semi-famous mage, Wilhelm. Wilhelm was an officer in the war against Orlais under Queen Moira and later under Prince Maric; Wilhelm provided healing and used his golem against the Orlesian forces to devastating effect. Aedan's father used to tell him stories about Wilhelm and his golem.
Aedan was shocked to hear that it was Wilhelm's famous golem that killed him. Apparently one morning his wife went outside and found her husband so badly beaten, his bones so broken she barely recognized him. Felix frantically explained that his daughter ran into his father's research lab and something killed the men who went after her. He begged Aedan to save his daughter. And of course Aedan couldn't say no.
As they descended down through the tunnels to find Amalia they discovered that it was demons that killed the men that went after her.
"What are demons doing here?" Aedan asked.
"Wilhelm wrote several books on how to seal demons that couldn't be exorcised." Wynne explained. "Perhaps he used this place to conduct his experiments with being under the scrutiny of the Chantry."
They reached the final room and found Amalia conversing with a "kitty". "Kitty", obviously another demon possessing a freaking cat, was bound in this room by Wilhelm decades ago, and now had Amalia in her thrall. Kitty refused to be left in the room and Aedan refused to let her keep the girl. So they made a bargain.
"I will release the seal on this room." Aedan explained. "In exchange you are going to leave this girl and her family alone."
"But I like this one!" Kitty whined.
"That is my deal, creature. You can choose to leave or you can choose to rot in this place even longer."
"Oh, very well, mortal. I accept your terms. These torches keep me sealed here. Solve the puzzle and I will be free."
Aedan looked at the puzzle. It was a large square grid of small bannisters with arrowheads marked on them, all standing next to each other. On the top left and bottom right corners was a lit torch. He looked at the puzzle intently and realized….
"I have no fucking idea what do here."
"Perhaps I can solve this puzzle." Wynne said. "I read some of Wilhelm's books and how to seal spirits and demons, I think I know how to undo this."
Wynne lit the bannisters and led the flame along the arrowheads until all the flames connected the two torches and unsealed Wilhelm's barrier.
"Ahhh, yes. I had forgotten what it was like to be free. At last I can leave this place." Kitty shivered in delight as she turned her attention towards Amalia and was utterly oblivious to Aedan's axe bearing down on her and was split in half!
"I said I would undo the seal. I didn't say I would let you live." Aedan said as he let Dane lick the cat blood of his axe.
Amalia had fainted as she was released from Kitty's thrall. Aedan caught her and returned her to her daddy. Mathis was so overjoyed to see his daughter alive and told him the control phrase for the Golem.
Aedan with the control rod and the correct control phrase returned to the inactive golem and tried again. He said the password and was shocked when the damned thing started talking!
*Sigh* "I knew one day someone would find the control rod. And not even a mage this time." The golem grumbled in a loud gravelly voice. "Typical."
"Holy shit!" Aedan shouted in shock. "You can talk?"
"So can it." The golem replied. It went on to complain about how long it stood in that one spot and how it was so wretchedly boring it was and then whining about how shitty it was being Wilhelm's little servant and test dummy. For an inanimate object it certainly liked to complain and had a colorful vocabulary.
"It does have the control rod, doesn't it?"
"Right here in my hand." Aedan waved it.
"Strange. I see it, yet I feel…Go on, give it a command."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, go on. It'll be fun." The golem assured.
"O-kay. Do the riverdance and sing us a sea chantey." Aedan ordered rather hopefully
The golem just stood there with that blank look on its face and did nothing. Too bad. Watching that thing dance and sing would have been funny.
"And nothing. I….feel no urge to follow its command. I suppose this mean it's….broken."
"Call me nosy, but shouldn't you be happy about that?"
"I suppose if I can't be commanded, that means I have…free will, yes?" The golem asked confused. "It's simply, I no memory outside this village and that wretched mage. I have no purpo
se…I find myself at a bit of a loss really."
"Perhaps you'd like to come with us then? I could have many purposes for a golem."
"What sort of purposes might those be?" The golem asked forebodingly.
"I'm a mission to stop the darkspawn."
"It refers to the creatures that attacked this village. Hmm. The darkspawn are a menace that need to be destroyed, that's true. But not as much as those damned birds!" The golem suddenly went on alert and looked to the sky as if it were about to attack the golem. When it was sure there was no danger coming from the clouds it looked back to Aedan. "I suppose I have only two options: go with it or go elsewhere. I…don't even know what lies beyond this village."
"You'd be most welcome to come with us. If you're not too picky about the company you keep."
"After decades of being frozen solid, any company is welcome at this point. So long as there aren't any birds."
"Fair enough. I am called Aedan. Do you have a name?"
"I…am called Shale."
"Well, then. Welcome to our little gang of unwanted misfits, Shale."
A look of fascination crept over Shales face. "This should be interesting."
As they left the village Shale slowed them down to take some sweet-ass time to stomp on some damned chickens. After thirty years of inanimate silence and repression the damned thing couldn't keep its mouth shut and made a smart-ass comment about everything it could. His mother was right. Talking with inanimate objects is a surefire sign of insanity. And given the company Aedan kept, it was a sound judgment to question his sanity. Sometimes he wished he just kept dogs like a regular Fereldan.
The Kingdom Of Orzammar
~XoXoXo~
Aedan effortlessly led the way up the Frostback's bitter, snowy paths, barely noticing the deep snow and biting cold, while some of his companions were completely demoralized by the unforgiving frost of these mountains. Especially Sten and Zevran, the two of them were raised in very warm climates, so this much snow was actually a foreign, even alien concept to them. Leliana had lived in Ferelden for a few years now and she was used to winter in Orlais, but even she was unused to this turbulent Ferelden snow. Several times Zevran swore to the Maker that he was going to die in these frigid conditions, and how only a people as barbaric as the Fereldans could survive such extremes. It was true; Aedan, Alistair, Morrigan and even Wynne didn't seem to be very bothered by, in fact they seemed inured to it.
Aedan remembered coming by this path when he first left his homeland for Orlais and when he came back this way with the Avvar. It was in these very mountains Aedan learned what true strength was. He felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him and wished he could use this time to visit the Avvar of Bear-Hold while he was here, but that was not his purpose. He was here to get to the gates of Orzammar and enlist the aid of the dwarves, and hopefully this little bit of diplomacy wouldn't be such a pain. How hard could it be to get the deshyrs and king to combat the Blight?
As they continued up Gherlen's Pass they came across the mighty Paragons of Orzammar that marked their approach to the gates of Orzammar. The powerful stone gates were visible from leagues away, as were the merchants and surface dwarves showing off their wares. As they approached Aedan noticed a well-armed group waiting at the feet of the Paragon Bemot. They looked like they were waiting for them. It was not uncommon for the merchants and businessmen here to hire mercenaries to protect their goods from bandits, Avvar and competitors, but somehow Aedan doubted these guys were on a merchants payroll.
"You waiting for something?" Aedan demanded.
One of them, a heavily armored man carrying a greatsword and closed helm tossed a crumpled piece of paper to Aedan. Aedan unfolded the paper and recognized the only thing that mattered "1000 Sovereign Reward for the capture of any Grey Wardens." Well, shit.
"About time a Warden showed up." The bounty hunter called. "Loghain sends his regards."
Before the mercenary could pull unsheathe his greatsword Zevran threw one of his daggers through the slit of his helm and into his brain. Morrigan and Leliana shot down two more with arrows and lightening, while Shale crushed the mage's head by throwing a giant boulder at her. The last one, a rogue with daggers, lunged at Aedan like a maniac intending to pounce on him. Aedan just reached out with one hand and caught the man in his grip, then crushed his larynx with a flick of his wrist, all the while not taking his eyes of the picture on the poster.
Aedan couldn't believe his eyes, even with the picture in his hands. It was terrible, how could anyone think of doing something like this? "This…is a shitty picture."
The illustration of Aedan on the wanted poster was completely inaccurate and downright insulting. His face was squat, the ears too big, his nose was bulbous and his eyes looked like ones you'd find on an owl. The only thing they got right was the fact Aedan's face was tattooed, but the even got the design wrong. Aedan felt insulted as a person and as an artist. How did those bounty hunters even know who he was? Aedan looked at the bottom of the poster and it read "travels with an entourage of freaks and apostates". Well, that actually narrowed it down. "Would you look at this picture!?" Aedan showed. "How the hell is this supposed to be me!?"
Everyone took a close look and started laughing. "Oh, I don't know. I think it's close match!" Alistair chortled.
"Indeed!" Zavran laughed. "Who else could have a face that could slaughter an ogre!? Ha-haha!"
Aedan shot a mocking scowl at them both.
"Oh, don't worry, my dear Warden." Morrigan soothed sarcastically. "You'll always be handsome to me."
The group walked to the merchant stalls littered around the gates, all the while laughing behind Aedan's back. While here they decided to restock on some of their supplies. Morrigan and Wynne bought more lyrium vials, Sten bought a new whet stone for his sword and immediately set it to work. Alistair, for some odd reason, looked around for miniature golem dolls. Zevran surprised Aedan when came up to him with a small bag of scorpions! "These scorpions are a rare find indeed!" Zevran blustered. "Red-Heart Scorpions, so named for the red heart shape on their backs. In Antiva these scorpions can go for a sovereign per pound!"
"Why the hell would anyone pay so much for a damned insect?"
"Well, for their poison, of course! Antivan wives use the venom for both a cooking flavor and to keep faithless husbands in line. The Crows also have methods to make the poison more potent and use it as a powerful neurotoxin. And scorpions aren't insects, they're arachnids, like spiders."
Aedan backed away from Zevran and his little bag of…arachnids and was drawn to a stall being run by a rather weasel-faced looking merchant. His wares were total crap. Some arms and armor, and trinkets, all under quality and overpriced. How the hell did this guy turn a profit?
The one thing this merchant had that caught Aedan's attention was a strange amulet. It was a round disc with a diamond shaped square in it, with a design of waves crashing against one another. Aedan knew this symbol; it was the House of Tides, the symbol of the Qunari people and their qun.
How could this symbol be here? Aedan looked at the merchants other pieces and recognized bits of armor and a few weapons of obvious qunari design. There was no in hell such things could exist in Ferelden, even by Tal-Vashoth mercenaries. The only way they could was…when Sten and his brethren came to this land. That's when it dawned on Aedan. This merchant was also a grave robber. "Merchant…"
"Please, call me Faryn, ser."
"Whatever. Where did you get this medallion?" Aedan inquired.
"Oh, that? I don't really know where I got, it truth be told. I think my mother-in-law gave it to me."
Aedan wasn't buying it. "This is a sacred qunari amulet. Even if your mother-in-law was a convert, there's no way in hell she'd just give it to you."
"Kyun-what? Look, as I said, I don't know where I got it. If you really want to buy it I'll give you a good deal." Faryn said rather nervously.
This was really pissing Aedan off. He hated being lied to, especially
unscrupulous merchants. The look on Aedan's face screamed his displeasure. "I'll ask again: where…did you get this fucking amulet?" Aedan demanded.
"Look, stranger, I told you already, I don't know. Now, are you gonna buy something or…"
Aedan grabbed the lying merchant by his hair and smashed his head in to the stall. Hard. "Not only are you a grave robber, you're a fucking liar!" Aedan growled into his ear. "And I hate fucking lying grave robbers!"
"Please, ser!" Faryn cried. "I swear to the Maker and Andraste, I don't…!"
Aedan smashed Faryn's head in to table, once, twice then three times. "Do you see the Maker here!?"
"W-what?"
The Warden smashed the merchant's head again. "Do. You. See. The Maker. Here!?"
"No!" Faryn sobbed.
"Then you better swear to me!" Aedan looked over to Zevran who was watching with an amused look on his face. "Zevran! Bring your damned bag over here."
Zevran trotted on over and opened his bag wide enough for Faryn to see all the little scorpion jittering around inside it. Aedan reached inside the bag and grabbed the biggest one he could get by its tail and dangled it over Faryn's teary face. "Now, are you going to answer me honestly, or do you wanna have a little chat with my arachnid friend here?"
"Oh, sweet mother! No-oo!" Faryn sobbed. "Please, I'll tell you! I found the amulet and half my stock on the bodies of some grey-skinned giants I found near Lake Calenhad!"
Aedan was right. "There was a sword. It would have been long and unwieldy."
"I-I s-sold it on the way here." Faryn confessed. "In Redcliffe."
"To who?"
"A dwarf named Dwyn!"
Aedan remembered Dwyn. Why would he want a sword like that? "Are you telling me the truth now, Faryn?"
"Yes! Yes, I swear!"
"You swear to me?"
"Yes! I swear to you! I sold the sword in Redcliffe to Dwyn. He's got it!"
Aedan supposed he got all he could out of him. "If I go all the way back to Redcliffe and don't find that sword, I'm gonna come back here and you're going to have a lengthy conversation with my little friend here and all his little buddies."