by Milton Garby
"Retaking my family's lands can wait until after the Blight." Aedan said. "For now I need your support in the Landsmeet against Teryn Loghain and for the rightful king, Alistair."
Alfstanna gave him a confirmed nod. "And you shall have it. I swear to the Maker I will support Alistair for kingship and see to it that Teryn Loghain faces justice."
"You have my support as well." Arl Bryland added in. "Loghain has gone too far."
With that Alfstanna pounded down her drink, stood up, and marched out of the tavern with a grave but determined look on her face.
This was more than what Aedan could have hoped for. Not only did he get the support of several powerful lords for the Landsmeet he also got to defame Loghain further. Now with their business here out of the way it was time to leave and find out what Loghain and Howe have been doing in the Alienage.
Back at the Arl of Denerim's Estate….
XoXoXo
After Cauthrien had woken up from being knocked out by the Warden, she and her men searched the manor for any survivors. Sweet Maker, this place was like a horror story come to life! Every man at arms who served Howe looked like he had been mauled by a bear! Dead bodies, blood and guts were littered everywhere. When they ventured down in the dungeon it was even worse. Not just from the bodies the Warden left in his wake, but the sight of all the vile, devious torture implements Howe used on his victims. Cauthrien abhorred the use of torture, it was dishonorable and evil, but the teryn assured her of its necessity. And such a repulsive task was best left to a repulsive man like Howe.
After what they had seen in the manor and in the dungeon, Cauthrien thought she'd be prepared for when she found Howe. She didn't realize how wrong she was. The carnage was so awful that some of her most seasoned men vomited and gagged at the sight of it. Even Cauthrien had to fight back the urge to puke at the sight of Howe's slaughtered remains. He had been split from naval to sternum with his guts hanging out of his body like red vines. But what was most disturbing was the fact that half of his face had been torn off with what looked like teeth marks, and his heart had been ripped out of his body and partially eaten. But it wasn't done by the jaws of an animal, no. It looked like human teeth had done this act of murder. When the sight became too much to bare they all made their way back to the main floor of the manor.
"Ser Cauthrien, what happened here?" One of the men asked with his face pale.
"The Wardens happened." Cauthrien answered full of anger. "They came here, murdered Teryn Howe and kidnapped the queen! They will have much to answer for."
Cauthrien stomped towards the exit and let her hand glide along her swords handle. The Wardens came in here and slaughtered Loghain's top advisor and all his men like they were cattle. And yet, she was still alive. Cauthrien couldn't shake that odd feeling. Why didn't he finish her off? As much as she hated to admit it, the Warden had her completely at his mercy, if not with that axe than his mabari could have easily ripped her throat out. He had already murdered Howe in cold blood, yet he saw fit to spare Loghain's top lieutenant. It didn't make sense. As the knight contemplated her still being alive, a large entourage of men approached the massive hole that used to be the front door. They were led by Bann Alfstanna. And she looked pissed. "Bann Alfstanna, what are you doing here?"
"I am here for my brother, Cauthrien. Who was unjustly thrown into Howe's dungeon, no doubt by Loghain's orders." The enraged bann answered spitefully. "Stand aside."
Cauthrien stepped forward to meet Alfstanna "I cannot let you do that. Even if what you say is true, any prisoner held here is here under the authority of Teryn Loghain. If he is being held then it is for…."
Alfstanna snapped her fingers and all her men knocked their arrows on to their bowstring, aiming them at Cauthrien and her men. "I don't care if the Maker himself ordered him to be locked here! I am taking my brother back! Loghain has no authority over the Templars!" Alfstanna looked to her men. "If they try to stop me, shoot them."
Cauthrien wasn't fool enough to test her luck or risk her men against the bowmen of the Waking Sea. The Eremon family's bowmen were the envy of all Ferelden. And Bann Alfstanna was the best of all their archers. And Cauthrien wasn't willing to add another name to Loghain's list of enemies. Alfstanna emerged from Howe's dungeon helping her brother, Irminric, walk out of the building. "If I were you, Cauthrien…." Alfstanna warned. "I'd go back to Loghain as quickly as possible. Before my better judgment takes over, or, Maker forbid, Bann Sighard finds you."
"Bann Sighard?" Cauthrien questioned.
"Yes. Apparently, he took his son's kidnapping rather harshly, and is on the warpath." Alfstanna answered. "I would hate to be someone who serves Loghain right now."
Alfstanna and her men left with her brother, leaving Cauthrien behind. This was not good. Even with Iriminric suffering from lyrium withdrawal just the fact that he was being held by Howe seriously implicated Loghain. This shamed her to no end, but she had no choice but to go to Logain and inform him of what has happened. All Cauthrien could do was pray that the Maker was with them.
The Denerim Alienage….
XoXoXo
Aedan had never been to the Denerim Alienage, but he had heard the stories. And from what he saw here did those stories great justice. It was crowded, poorly kept and the stench was like a mix of the docks and the sewers. The building were poorly made, leaning lopsided against one another and looked like they would collapse at the drop of a hat. There was even the smell and sight of dead animals pouring out of the gutters and filling the streets. Aedan remembered the Highever Alienage, or at least what passed off as an alienage. It was just a neighborhood in the village where the elves happened to live alongside the humans. The elves were so secure about their place in Highever they didn't even feel the need to have a Vhenadal tree in their square; they chopped it down and used it for firewood during one harsh winter.
That wasn't to say that there probably wasn't any good to be found in the Denerim Alienage. The magnificent Tree of the People was almost able to overshadow all the negative element that sprouted up from this slum. Sweet Iona came from this place, and surely she couldn't have been the elf with a good heart. And at least these elves had a set of solid brass! These knife-ears weren't afraid to make a stand and fight back, unlike the elves he saw back in Orlais who were content to live as lavished servants and pets for the nobility.
There was a large crowd of elves massing outside one of the sturdier buildings. At the front of the crowd was a group of heavily armed foreigners with strange, saw-like swords, and they were being led by other foreigners wearing strange robes. The crowd was pushing and shoving each other in hopes of making the line move faster, all demanding to be let into the building. All save for one, a red-headed elf with many tied locks in her hair. "Please! Didn't the wedding teach you nothing?" She called to her fellow elves. "These foreigners aren't here to help us! We must rely on ourselves!" But the crowd ignored her. They were too desperate to care. The redhead shook her head in dire frustration and noticed the strange group entering the Alienage square. "What's the matter, shem?" She asked suspiciously. "Couldn't find any elves suffering in the city that you had to come see 'em here?" Under most circumstances Aedan would have been insulted, but he couldn't fault her anger. "W-wait. I know you. Soris said that a human with tattoos saved him from the arl's dungeon. He described you in great detail."
"My name is Aedan." The Warden introduced. "Are you and Soris kin?"
"I'm called Shianni. Soris is my cousin." The elf answered. "Are…are you here to help us?"
"I heard there was trouble going on in the Alienage and thought I could help. Can you tell me what's going on?"
"After Arl Howe led a purge here a plague broke out, many elves got sick." Shianni explained. "Then these foreigners showed up and started taking people into that hospice, and they haven't returned them."
"That's not true, Shianni!" An elven woman in line interrupted. "My daughter was cured and so was my brother."
"Where i
s your niece then? And my uncle Cyrion and Hahren Sarel?" Shianni demanded. "If this 'spell' of theirs worked then why is it so many of our kin aren't returning?"
"Spell? These men are mages?" Aedan hadn't heard of the Circle sending anyone to the Alienage.
"There is no spell that I know of that can just magically cure an ailment such as a plague." Wynne informed. "Nor is there any such spell amongst the Cirlces in Ferelden."
Sten stared at the strangely robed men infront of the hospice intensely. There was a dangerous and worried look in his eye. "Kadan, be wary. These men are not what they claim to be." Sten warned.
"What do you mean by that, Sten?"
Sten lowered himself down to Aedan's ear level. "Those men are Tevinter mages." The qunari whispered into Aedan's ear.
The Warden felt his face twitch and his nostrils flare in anger at the very mention of that word. Aedan despised Tevinter about as much as he hated the Qun. "Are you certain, Sten?" Aedan asked dangerously.
"Without a doubt, Warden." The foreign giant confirmed. "There isn't a Qunari alive that wouldn't recognize the face of our enemy."
That was all the reason Aedan needed. "I think I'm going to go over there and ruin somebody's day."
"Well, be careful." Shianni urged. "Those men are mages."
Aedan pushed his way through the crowd, not caring who hated him for it, it was for their own good, and stepped right up to the Tevinter mages. "Please, step back!" one of the mages ordered. "This place is for plague victims only."
My friend here has a serious malady of the mind." Aedan pleaded genuinely. "Please, I was hoping you could help him with it."
The mage quirked an eyebrow. "What kind of malady does your friend have?"
"Homicide!" Sten sword instantly came down cleaved the mage's skull in half! Alistair beheaded the other mage while Aedan and Zevran killed their bodyguards. At the sight of such violence all of the ailing elves fled the murder scene and went back to their homes.
With the front door mages dead Aedan kicked the door down with one great stomp and the activities he saw in the hospice weren't medicinal. What they found in this place was more armed men were dragonesque emblems on their armor with serrated sword and towards the far left of the building was another mage sitting at a desk while counting an obscenely large pile of gold. "What is this!?" the mage exclaimed. "Qunari!" one of the guards shouted and with that this supposed house of healing became a butcher's shop.
"Atash Qunari!" Sten shouted as charged at the Tevinter mage, pinning him against the wall with Asala like a stuck pig.
Whoever these Tevinters were they were well armed and well trained but they seemed to rely heavily on a mage commanding them. They were used to fighting opponents already weakened by spells and with their mage dead they didn't put up much of a fight against the Grey Wardens and their allies. After they killed the Tevene occupants they heard something from behind a door. "Hello? Is there someone there? Please Help!"
Aedan went over to the locked door and once again knocked it down and what they found in there caught everyone off guard; Elves! All of them locked in cages, some were even battered and bruised. "You're…you're not one of them, are you?" An elf with a black eye observed. "Oh, please, for the love of all that's good, please let us out of here!"
The company set to work in breaking all of the cages open and most of the elves scurried out of this damned place in a hurry. "Oh, thank you, thank you so much!" The same bruised elf gratified.
"Tell me quickly, were have all the other elves gone?" Aedan questioned.
"I-I don't know." The bruised elf answered. "All I know is that they took some of the others out of here already, some of us are actually from Highever."
"What!?" Aedan fumed. "How the hell did you end up here?"
"The murderous, new, swine of a teryn. Howe's men just came into our homes and threw us on ships." The bruised elf explained. "We only just arrived here, in Denerim this morning."
Aedan took the time to think for a moment and realized what was happening. "Get out of here quickly."
"You don't have to tell me twice!" The elf cried as he and his fellows prisoners scurried out. Aedan inspected the contents of the mages desk. The coins piling on top of a large chest were stamped with one large winged serpent entangling a smaller one. This was the heraldry and currency of the Tevinter Imperium. There was a list written in Tevene, which Aedan fortunately could read. It detailing about certain elves, how many men, women, what age and what traits. Aedan's suspicions were confirmed.
They all walked out of the hospice and Shianni ran right up to them with a panicked look on her face. "What was that all about!? Most of those people I don't even recognize!"
"Those Tevinters are capturing elves and selling them into slavery." Aedan stated grimly.
"What?" Shianni gasped horrified. "How…how can you know that?"
"The Imperium relies heavily on slavery and elves have gone missing here in the Alienage. Not to mention this list." Before Aedan had a chance to fully explain Shianni took the list from him and tried to look at it. Her frustration increased when she couldn't read it.
"What does this even mean? Never mind that I have do something!"
"Shianni, don't panic." Aedan requested firmly. "Which is the quickest way to the docks from here?"
"Through the rundown apartment complex, over there." Shianni pointed at the alley.
"Alright, now I need to know, who has gone missing recently?"
"My uncle, Cyrion and our Hahren, Valendrian."
"Don't worry." Aedan reassured. "I'm going to go rescue them."
The company went through the back ways of the Alienage with the exception of Wynne who stayed behind to try and heal the wounded and sick elves. As they went around, a haggard elf informed them that for months, now, elves have been marched, even dragged around to the docks, even the children crying as they were forced into chains. Aedan's since freedom was deeply offended and his anger flared through the roof, but he had to keep his calm if was to find the missing elves. As they found their way to a large building towards the entrance to the docks they ran into more Tevinters.
"Eh? What's this?" a filthy guard asked stupidly. "We weren't expecting another batch today." He obviously noticed Zevran and thought he was another potential slave for sale.
"Who are you?" Another guard barked. "You're not one of our men."
"I'm your worst nightmare come true." Aedan threatened. "I am the Grey Warden, Aedan."
"Oh no! I've heard of you! AHHHHHH!" The same filthy guard cried out in horror before he ran away screaming while the rest of the Tevene swine tried to kill the Wardens only to fail miserably and end being eviscerated. Aedan was always brutal to those who offended his Fereldan sense of freedom but now Zevran was dishing out the pain rather than doing his usual quick-kill methods. Apparently he also felt for his fellow elves being sold into slavery when they were promised healing. The angry Crow assassin plunged his daggers into their stomachs, lungs and livers making them bleed to death in slow agonizing pain. As soon as this group of guards was disposed of, Aedan kicked down the final door. Behind it were even more Tevinter slavers. How many of these Northern rats were there?
"What is the meaning of this!?" An elven woman with messy brown hair demanded. She wore the same armor as the slavers and carried two saw-swords. "We were told there would be no interference from the authorities!"
Aedan was shocked, yet not very surprised to see an elf amongst the slavers. After all, humans enslave other humans, and elves were just as fallible. "Bitch, do I look like one of the 'authorities'?!"
"No. You look like a human with more courage than sense." The elf snorted. "What do you think you're doing here, dog-lord?"
"What's it look like I'm doing, knife ear?" Aedan snarled. "I am came here to find the missing citizens of this city."
"And so you came here?" The elf practically laughed. "You will regret this, you know? We have special dispensation by the Teryn to operate here."
"You cannot just take people from their homes! It's despicable!" Leliana cried.
"How can you do this!?" Zevran demanded. "You are an elf!"
"And so you think that makes me what? Kin? To these sheep?" The elven slaver dismissed. "Don't be naïve. I'm a servant to the Minrathous Circle and an elf second." A look of extreme disgust washed over Zevran's face at her answer. "But enough. I am here to halt your slaughter. Nothing more."
That aura of intimidation emitted from Aedan once again, and the others knew these slaver scum were in deep trouble. "Take me to the one who leads you shit-lickers."
"What, you wish to parley now?" The slaver scoffed. "Even if I allowed it after all that you've done, what could you possibly want besides retribution?"
"That's exactly what I want." I stated with his eyes glowing red. "I just slaughtered every mage, soldier and Tevinter pissant to get to where I stand now. Take me to the one behind this, or I'll bite your throat out."
That arrogant look on the elf's face was replaced by one of intimidation. She knew she had no chance against this angry dog-lord. "Very well. I will take you to Caladrius, and then you will see what happens when you foolishly walk into a dragon's den." The elf waved her hand and her men withdrew sheathed their weapons. "I suggest you show respect, if you know what's good for you."
The elf led them deep into the warehouse just over the docks, it was deeply entrenched with these slavers. Fighting through them would have been difficult, but thanks to Aedan's power of…persuasion, they didn't have to. Never underestimate the power of words, especially when they come from the mouth of a pissed off dog-lord.
They arrived in the final storehouse and Aedan disgusted and enraged by what he saw. Not just the foreign filth that were standing here, but the elves that were chained and caged like livestock in pens. Down on the floor below them he noticed the richly robed, bald man with a triangular beard carrying a gilded staff giving orders. Aedan guessed that this man was the one leading this sickening operation. "Is there a reason behind this…intrusion, Devera?" The mage sighed.