Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2015 15:49:22 +0000 (UTC)
From: Rainy Day <rainingsparrows@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Becomings of Wardens: Part 1

Hi you guys! This is an older project of mine that I recently started to
look at again. It's a Dragon Age fanfiction, based decades before the
events of Dragon Age Origins. I love that game to bits and I hope there are
fans of the game here as well as I'd really really like some input on it!
This story is going to be... rather dark. Just so you're warned! And it's
not the "porn" kind of story I'm afraid. At least not yet.

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. Any comments are
welcome at rainingsparrows@yahoo.com

Please consider donating to Nifty!!!!!!

Introduction

The year is 9:12 Dragon, and the Grey Wardens have only two years before
been allowed into Ferelden again by King Maric after Sofia Dryden's
rebellion 200 years earlier. The Grey Wardens still don't have an outpost
in Ferelden yet, as the organization is still slowly building itself up,
starting in Denerim. This is where our story begins. The story of the
becoming of not one, but two Grey Wardens and their adventure.

Part I

A tiny pickpocket roamed the streets of Denerim looking for a decent
mark. The young boy, brown haired and slim, quickly found one. A sturdy
looking man with shiny steel armor held in place by leather straps that
covered his upper body and arms stood at an armor shop talking to the
merchant. Under the plate he had a chain mail with blue fabric woven in and
a blue leather armor. On his back he had two swords in black sheaths. On
his hips the boy noticed he had a small pouch which bounced a bit with each
movement the man made. He closed his eyes to listen in. There it was, a
jiggle of what sounded like coins. The boy crouched down and sneaked
closer, trying not to drag any attention from the merchants or other people
around. He grabbed for his small knife and cut the pouch from the man's
belt, then he ran as fast as he could away from the yelling man.

"Stop that boy!" the man shouted and the yelling spread around from the
merchants. Some tried to block the boy but he just slid between the open
legs and continued running. Looking back to see if anyone were following,
an arrow flew past two inches from his face. Really? It was only a pouch!
Not wanting to get hit by an arrow, he slid into a side alley to take a
shortcut to his hideout. This alley were so narrow that the boy, small as
he was could barely squeeze through. On the other side he laughed from the
angry yells from the grown men who were too big to fit through and had to
run around the entire block to get to him. The boy chuckled and simply
walked into the crowd and disappeared from view using skills he's learned
over the years on the streets as a pickpocket. Safe at his hideout the boy
looked through his loot from the day. Two pouched containing 4 golden
pieces and 50 silver ones. This was a great catch indeed! Two golden
necklaces and a jeweled ring too. Finally it was the last leather pouch
from the tall armored man. The boy were very disappointed when he saw the
copper pieces and a steel signet ring. Who wore steel rings?! He looked
closer on the signet and noticed the Griffin. The boy knew that he should
know what that was the symbol of, but nothing came to mind. He put it on
his thumb as it was the only finger large enough for it to fit. Smiling for
himself the boy crawled out from his hideout at the docks, under the large
crates that no one ever used and walked into the city again wanting to
spend some of his golden coins. Well into the market district he walked
straight to the baker and got himself something to eat before he went to
the jeweler to sell the necklaces and ring which he got another 3
sovereigns for. In one day he's earned 7 golden sovereigns! A new record
for him. Then he tried to sell the signet ring. The jeweler took his time
to study the ring before he curiously asked

"Where have you gotten this, boy? This is clearly NOT yours!"

"Of course it's mine! I found it in the street ove-"

"GUARD!" the jeweler shouted and within a second, the boy felt a strong
hand around his arm.

"You found another thief for me?" the guard asked with an evil grin on his
face. "Well, I guess I'll just take him with me to the dungeon for the
night, huh boy?"

"Let. Me. GO!" the boy said, kicking the guard between every word.

"Ha ha ha! Let's go boy, tomorrow you're losing your hands!" he said, still
with the evil grin and grabbed the collar shirt with his hand then he
whispered into the boys ear "But before that we have to have some fun,
won't we?" then he grabbed the boys behind and gave it a hard squeeze with
his hand.

With the guard changing his grip, the boy lifted his arms and slid right
out from his large shirt, grabbed the ring from the jeweler and ran as fast
as he could, with the cursing guard right behind him. Not far away from the
side alley, he tried changing course over there, but now another guard
blocked his path and grabbed his naked arm and pushed it painfully behind
the boys back. Panting behind him came the first guard still cursing.

"Fucking little rat! I'll make you pay for making me look like a fool like
that!" he looked around and pointed to another alley, "Let's take him over
there for a lesson shall we?" he finished winking to the guard who nodded
and pushed the boy in the direction of the dark alley.

Away from view of the street the guard started beating down on the boy,
striking him with their chain gloves over his naked back. The boy yelled
out in pain but one of the guards came behind him and put his hand over his
mouth, silencing him. The other guard landed a hard blow to the boy's
stomach, knocking out all the air from his lungs. The boy fell to his knees
and what felt like a wooden stick slashed over his back so the boy landed
face down on the ground. Unable to breathe the boy couldn't make a sound as
he felt his body being brutally beaten down by the guards. Then it
stopped. No more pain. The boy thought it was finally over, when he heard
the sound of the guards laughing and a belt being loosened. Thinking the
worst, he opened his eyes just in time to see an armored boot swinging at
his face, knocking him unconscious.

When the boy woke up hours later he was alone in a cell, naked and
cold. Around him were cold stone walls and an iron bared door, leading out
to a hall. The boy closed his eyes as the pain hit him all over. The wounds
on his back were bleeding slightly. He also felt a deep pain in his behind
as well. He cursed to himself as he figured out that they had indeed done
it. He curled up and lay there sobbing when he heard a door open out in the
hall. Then a pair of deep male voices.  "We found it on him. He tried to
sell it to one of our informants."

"As long as I have the ring again, my superiors will be happy. But I want
to see the boy as well. Is it over there?"

"Yes. Why do you want to see him? He is just a pickpocket!"

"That's none of your concern. May I talk to him alone?"

"As you wish Lord Commander."

Then the sound of footsteps followed for almost an entire minute before
they stopped. The boy who were still curled up in the corner of his cell
looked up at the door where a familiar figure stood. The plated warrior
that he'd stolen the pouch from stood there looking down on him. The light
outside the cell made the warrior's face hidden to the boy who only noticed
the black hair tied up in a ponytail.

"Hello again." the warrior said, "Do you know who I am?"

The boy looked down, not bothering to answer. He had nothing to lose by not
answering this armored fool.

"Open the door." the man said and the sound of another pair of footsteps,
followed by the sound of the lock being turned were heard before the boy
looked up again. The warrior opened the door and came into the cell,
crouched down and looked over the boy's body, glancing over the bleeding
wounds on the back and bruised body. Now the boy could see that the face of
the warrior. He had a tanned skin and deep brown eyes, much like
himself. The man looked around thirty years old to the boy, with hair
receding at the temples. Now the boy also noticed that the man had a beard
and an ear ring. What a strange man, the boy thought.

"Sit up, please." The man said with a concerned look on his face. The boy
did as he was told and sat up, leaning against the cold stone wall.

"What's your name?"

"Simon."

"Simon... My name is Duncan, I'm a Grey Warden."

Now the ring made sense to Simon. The Griffin was the emblem for the Grey
Wardens of Thedas, sworn to defend the world against the Darkspawn
Blights. He'd heard stories about them when roaming the streets of Denerim
listening in on conversations. Sometimes information were even more
valuable than gems.

"W-what do you want? I see you already have your ring back, so I don't have
anything." he said and noticed the Griffin ring Duncan wore on his little
finger.

"Yes, it was given back to me just before I came to see you, which brings
me back to your question... I'm looking for recruits. You're too young
right now to be initiated into our ranks, but from what I could see while
chasing you, you possess agile skills and you're quick-witted. I would like
to get you trained to one day become a Grey Warden."

"The boy is set for punishment tomorrow Lord Commander. He's just another
pickpocket, there is plenty more around in the other cells for you to-" the
guard outside started but were cut off by Duncan,

"I didn't ask you. Many have tried to steal from me before, but none have
ever been successful, other than this boy here." Duncan said looking with
anger at the guard. "I would advise you to be quiet from here on or I will
silence you." then Duncan looked at Simon again and all anger was gone from
his face.

"This is a one-time offer I'm afraid. I'm leaving Denerim as soon as I'm
done here, and I would like you to join me Simon. Do you accept?"

"What if I don't?" the boy asked, not sure he liked the sound of being a
Grey Warden. From the little he knew about them, they lived short lives!

"Then this guard here will escort me out, leaving you here in the darkness
until your hearing tomorrow. Then you will most likely lose either one or
both of your hands. Hands that would have been much more useful swinging a
blade or a dagger. What do you say?" Duncan said, standing up and looking
down on the naked boy, deep in thought.

"I accept. I like my hands quite a lot!" he said smiling faintly before
painfully standing up.

"Excellent. You," Duncan turned to the guard, "I claim this boy by the
right of Conscription for the Grey Wardens. Bring me his clothing and
personal effects." Duncan said and the guard nodded and left the cell in a
hurry.

"Right of Conscription?" Simon asked Duncan.

"The Right of Conscription is a means for our organization to get
sufficient recruits. We can then demand anyone, king or criminal, to join
our ranks. This is used especially when their fate is sealed in some other
way. The Chantry isn't very fond of this, as we may use it on Apostates,
rouge mages." he added when he noticed the confused look on Simon's face,
"And as the Chantry has the say in their fate, they aren't very fond of
them being set lose on the world. As you might know, the Chant of Light
states that 'magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him' but the
Chantry fails to see that there are worse things in this world than
Apostates. It takes decades for the world to recover from a Blight, and the
power from mages are an important part of stopping them." A minute later
the guard came running back, holding Simon's clothing, dagger and his coin
pouch. He quickly dressed, fastened his dagger on his waist then he left
the cell with Duncan.

Simon followed Duncan in silence out from the dungeons and out a pair of
huge wooden doors and out to daylight. It took a second for Simon to get
used to the bright light, but as soon as he did, he could see the whole of
Denerim. They were up at Fort Drakon, the tallest structure in Denerim. The
fort itself was more like a tower, resting on top of the highest hill in
Denerim.

"Do you have anyone you need to say goodbye to?" Duncan asked as they
started walking again.

"I don't have anyone. I grew up alone." Simon said and shrugged his
shoulders as they walked down the hill from Fort Drakon.

"Then we'll group up with my fellow Wardens and we're off to Montsimmard to
join the Orlesian Wardens." Duncan finished and soon after they reached the
main gates of Denerim. Three people waited for them. The first was a rather
huge looking man, with a long two-handed greatsword on his back and wore
the same thick armor as Duncan. The second was also a man and had scaled
armor with leather along the joints. He also had a long wooden bow and
looked Dalish, but Simon thought he might be a city elf as he didn't have
any facial tattoos. The third one was a woman in a long colorful robe with
a long white staff on her back held by straps.

"I see you found him." The Dalish said and looked suspiciously at Simon.

"I did. He'll stay with us till Orlais. At least as far as Jader, possibly
Montsimmard if it comes to that." Duncan said before he turned to Simon
again.

"Simon, this is Saunders Ivo, Tanyl and Katarina, my fellow Ferelden
Wardens." First the human with the great-sword bowed, then the Dalish
archer nodded and finally the woman with the staff gave a little wink to
Simon which made him blush. Soon after the five of them walked out of the
city gates, but outside Duncan had a surprise for him.

"This... Is Kramer, your new horse." Duncan said and brought a beautiful
black horse over to Simon. "So far he has pretty much only been carrying
equipment, but we'll spread the equipment over on the other horses as well
so he can carry you as well. He's strong and very kind. You can touch him
if you want to." he added when he saw the slightly frightened look on
Simon's face. Very slowly, Simon reached out and put his hand on Kramer's
head. The deep and dark eyes of the horse calmed Simon down slightly... He
didn't seem so bad, he though. And with that they headed west on The
Imperial Highway along the Coastlands.

A after almost three days riding, Simon's inner thighs hurt so bad that
when they finally set camp at Lake Calenhad, Simon walked bow legged.

"You'll get used to it." Saunders Ivo said as he set up a small tent. "We
have five or six more days of riding, and by the end of it you'll feel
better, or worse." he said with a laugh.

"That doesn't help now!" Simon said and stroked his sore muscles before
helping setting up the camp. During the ride here Simon hadn't said much,
but had listened in to what the others were talking about very
closely. He'd learned that they were going to Orlais to meet up with the
Orlesian Warden Commander. Duncan and the other Commanders of Grey had been
summoned to Weisshaupt Fortress in the Anderfels by the First Warden for
some unknown reason. They set up the remaining of the tents and made a fire
for the night. Simon didn't have a tent of his own, so he slept next to the
fire. He'd never been this far from Denerim before. The sound from the huge
lake calmed Simon and made him fall asleep much quicker than he'd normally
would. He had very pleasant dreams. Dreams of wearing a fantastic plate
armor and swinging a huge sword at a dragon. He was just about to deal the
killing blow when he was shook awake and he heard a whisper,

"Wake up! Simon wake up!" it was Tanyl and by the tone of his voice, it was
serious.

"Be on your guard... There is more than one out there." he heard Duncan
say.

Simon sat up. It was still dark and the fire was burning very low. He
looked around at the others and saw that all of them had their armor
on. Tanyl had his bow up and scouted into the darkness while Katarina stood
still with her eyes closed and listened.

"They're here." Duncan said and drew his dual swords just as something came
out from the dark. Simon screamed when he saw it. It had dark green skin,
no hair, a face that looked like it had hit a wall and a mouth full of
razor sharp teeth. Its armor seemed unusually spiky and it wielded a
powerful greataxe, but it was not alone. Around eleven or twelve others
came out from the darkness and ran with their swords and axes raised. Simon
got up and tried to run away, but he fell to the ground. The first creature
caught up with him and jumped to the air and swung it's greataxe with both
hands. Simon could only close his eyes and wait for the blow to hit. He
heard a scream from the creature and it was thrown ten feet back, now
burning. Its axe landed inches from Simon's head with a deep 'thug' as it
hit the ground. It was Katarina that had saved him, slinging a fireball at
the creature and now conjured ice to cover up another one, stopping it dead
in its tracks. Duncan was already busy slashing away at two creatures at
once while Tanyl loosened arrow after arrow to help out. Saunders Ivo stood
in the middle of a ring of the creatures, maybe four or five and slashed at
them with wide swings of his greatsword.

Then Simon hear a noise from behind, different than the screams and clings
of swords; muffled footsteps. Simon looked to where the sound came from,
but didn't see anything. Just as he grabbed for his dagger, a creature
appeared almost out of thin air. This one was different than the others,
more animal like. It had no steel armor or weapons, but instead had claws
as long as daggers on each hand. It growled as it ran towards him, raising
its claws and slashed at him. Simon managed to dodge the first one, but
miss-stepped and fell on his back, again! The creature jumped on him and
aimed his hands in for his throat. With all the strength he could master,
Simon plunged his dagger as hard as he could up and into the creature's
chest. A scream, louder than anything else around filled Simon's ears then
dark, warm blood flooded down his hands from the wound in the
creature. This didn't kill it however and now it looked down on Simon,
growled and aimed his sharp teeth for his neck. An arrow came out from
no-where and hit the creature through its head and it fell down over Simon.

"Simon?! Are you alright?" Duncan shouted as he ran over and pushed the
smelly creature away from Simon.

"I-I'm fine. It's not mine." Simon said when Duncan examined the blood that
covered his arms and chest.

"Not bad kid." Tanyl said as he walked over, putting an arrow back in the
quiver again. "Hadn't you stuck your blade in that Shriek, I wouldn't have
noticed it in time to save you." he said with a smile.

"Shriek? Is that what this- thing is?" Simon asked and looked over at the
creature.

"It's one of the Darkspawn." Duncan said as he helped Simon sit up
again. "All of these are. The other ones were Hurlock Darkspawn. Seems you
killed the scariest one of them."

"Just a small raid party." Saunders Ivo said as he too came over, drying
off his blade. The spot he had been fighting the Darkspawn looked like a
massacre. Mangled body parts laying all over the ground, and now and then a
burning body after Katarina's fireballs.

"Is he alright?" Katarina said as she too walked over.

"He's fine. Not many would have been able to do what he did. Shrieks can
sneak up on pretty much anybody, but you managed to notice it before it had
its jaw around your head." Tanyl said laughingly at Simon.

"A Shriek?!" Katarina said in shock, "And you survived? Well done! Seems
like you picked a good recruit this time Duncan." she added and looked at
Duncan who nodded and smiled down at Simon.

"I don't sense any others nearby right now, but we should stay on
guard. Tanyl, you take first watch, then Katarina. By then it should be
morning. Simon, come here. We need to get you changed out from those bloody
clothes."

Duncan put his arm around the shivering Simon and led him down to the lake
to get him cleaned up. Simon pulled off his garments and walked into the
lake and dipped his body in the cold water. As he felt the dark blood being
washed away, Simon felt a sense of pride that he'd never felt
before. Everyone knew about the Darkspawn, but they were mostly a Dwarven
problem in the Deep Roads. Simon had always wanted to see the Deep
Roads. It was said they lead to all sorts of different Thaigs underground
and that in many of those lost Thaigs, there were treasure beyond
imagination. Almost all the great Dwarf cities had been lost to the
Darkspawn over the years and now only two of the great cities were still
standing: Orzammar and Kal-Sharok. The Dwarfs in these great Thaigs faced
Darkspawn daily, but they always managed to push them back but this didn't
stop the Dwarfs from having heavy losses against the Darkspawn. And knowing
that he, Simon, a cut purse and pickpocket had slain a beast that killed
the mighty Dwarven warriors on a daily basis was so...

"Get out from there or you'll freeze to death!"

The sound of Duncan's voice snapped Simon back to reality. He took one last
dip in the water washing out the blood from his hair and walked back to
shore where Duncan stood waiting with dry clothes.

"You should get some rest. We leave early tomorrow morning. The rest of us
will clean up here and move the bodies." he said and turned his back as
Simon got dressed again.  "Move them where?"

"We will move them to a place where we can burn them. Leaving Darkspawn
corpses could corrupt flesh eating animals and taint them and turn them
into something just as evil as Darkspawn." Duncan said as he turned around
to walk Simon back to the camp. Simon looked at his hands and where the
blood from the Shriek had flowed down his arm.

"Don't worry. As long as the blood doesn't come in contact with yours, or
you ingest it, you're safe." Duncan said reassuringly.  The next day Simon
woke up to the sound of Tanyl that tried to pack his stuffed pack with more
stuff as he cursed in some unknown tongue. When he saw that Simon was awake
he gave him a warm smile.

"Good morning. Sleep well?" he said as he gave his pack one last push
before he gave up and started packing in another bag.

"Y-Yeah. As good as anyone could expect after..."

Tanyl looked up and noticed Simon's thoughtful face.  "You did better than
any of us, maybe except from Duncan expected. You should take pride in that
fact. Hurry and pack up your things, we're leaving soon." and with that
Simon started packing the few things he had brought with; his dagger and
his spare clothes.

During the light of day, Simon could clearly see the Circle Tower in the
middle of lake Calenhad. The place where all of Ferelden's mages were
brought to learn to control their magic powers under the strict rule of the
templars of the Chantry. They had only been riding for 20 minutes when they
saw the smoke in the distance. Black and thick smoke rising in several
pillars.

"Looks like..." Duncan mumbled before he suddenly forced his horse into
gallop towards the smoke. The four others quickly followed Duncan through
the forest. Before long they reached the outskirts of a small village. It
might have been a thriving village at some time, but now the small houses
were almost completely burned down. A few still stood though, but none of
them were untouched. Doors were kicked in and all over the grounds lay
bodies. Men, women and children.

"So this is where the Darkspawn came from." Tanyl said with disgust in his
voice.

"Spread out and look for sign of where the Darkspawn came from and
survivors." Duncan said and dismounted his horse, the others did the same.
Simon almost threw up from the smell. Most bodies had slashing wounds, but
a lot of them also had huge chunks of flesh torn from their bodies. He
forced himself to look away from the mangled bodies and started to walk
towards one of the few still standing houses, smaller than the other ones
it could have been a shed for farming equipment. The door were half open
and creaked when Simon slowly pushed it open. Inside there were more
bodies, but not human. Three Darkspawn bodies lay spread on the dirt floor.

"What the-" was all Simon were able to say before someone jumped him from
behind the door. He was pushed face down into the dirt and felt someone sit
on his back and then he felt a cold blade push against his throat.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" a boyish voice almost
whispered. "Answer me!"  Simon used his reflexes to quickly roll onto his
back, forcing the one on top of him to fall on the ground. He quickly stood
up and pulled his small dagger to face the one threatening him. It was a
boy, maybe 14 years old with short blond hair and piercing blue eyes. He
wore a thin leather armor and wielded a dagger much like his own. He too
had gotten off the ground and now faced him with anger in his face.

"I'll ask one more time. Who are you?!" The boy shouted at Simon, but Simon
knew better than to answer. He changed his grip on his dagger making it
easier to deflect any incoming blows.

"Daniel... Stop." a weak voice said from behind a large stack of crates.
"I don't think-"

"he doesn't sound like one of those creatures Daniel. Lower your weapon."
the voice said again.

The boy lowered his dagger just as the four others came running into the
small shed. All of them had their weapons at the ready, but lowered them as
soon as they saw the young boy.  "You... you are-" the boy stammered as he
looked at the emblem on Duncan's chest.

"Grey Wardens." Duncan said calmly as he put his swords back into the
sheath on his back. "And who are you may I ask?"

"He is Daniel, my squire." the voice said again, weaker than last
time. Daniel quickly ran to the back of the crates and the others followed.
Behind the crates lay a man, a knight by the looks of him, wearing thick
plated mail. On the chest it had a familiar symbol, a burning sword. Even
though the armor was thick, he was bleeding from several deep cuts in his
once shiny armor.

"Hold on Ser Aron. Please." Daniel said as he grabbed the knights hand.
"Are you a-" Katarina asked but was cut off by Sir Aron.

"-a templar of the Chantry, yes." Sir Aron said and closed his eyes from
the pain. "I came here looking for an apostate that have been seen walking
around here. We were just about to leave when they came out from the dark."

"The Darkspawn." Duncan said shaking his head. "How many people were in
this village?"

"Only about 20 or so. None had any military training at all and were
slaughtered by the creatures. Didn't really help running from them either
as they are small, but fast." Sir Aron finished and tried to sit up with
the help from Daniel.

"And you and the boy, how did you end up in here?" Saunders Ivo asked as he
looked on the Darkspawn corpses on the ground.

"I knew that we wouldn't be able to outrun them or fight that many of them
by myself. My squire might be brave, but having a dozen of the creatures on
him at once would surely kill him. So we retreated in here." he said
looking around the room. "It almost worked, but one of the other villagers
ran for the door here and dragged five of them with her. Two of them
grabbed her and carried her off while the three last ones came in here."
Sir Aron managed to say before he began coughing up blood. By the looks of
it, he had already lost a lot of blood. His face was almost as pale as on
the bodies outside.

"I managed to kill one of them off as soon as it entered the door," Sir
Aron continued "but the two others hacked at me before I could raise my
blade at them. That's when Daniel stepped in." He said and looked warmly at
his squire. "He thrust his blade deep into first one and before the other
last one could turn around, he had all but cut off it's head."

"Ser Aron?!" Daniel shouted and looked in horror as his master couched up
more blood.  "Katarina...?" Duncan said and turned to the mage.

Katarina stepped forward and crouched down next to the wounded templar. She
put one of her hands on the largest of his wounds and closer her eyes.
"It's... Too late." she finally said and opened her eyes. "You have lost
too much blood. None of my healing can help as you have traces of the taint
in your blood as well."

"I've accepted my fate long ago. I'm part happy that it weren't an
appostate that took me down." Sir Aron said. "May I ask something from you
Grey Warden?" He looked up at Duncan. "That you take Daniel with you. He is
a very good squire and would have made a fine templar someday. May I ask he
become a Grey Warden?"

"Joining our order isn't something to be considered lightly as many
recruits die before they even get to join our ranks. I will not let him
join, especially since he is so young." Duncan said and looked at the
templar with a serious look.

"But you let me join you..?" Simon said a little hurt since this squire
seemed older than him.

"You managed to sneak up on me, something not many people have and you were
going to get your hands cut off Simon." Duncan said simply. "Young Daniel
here have his whole future ahead of him, none of it sealed in any way like
yours was."

"He's gotten military training with sword and shield." Sir Aron managed to
say in between coughs.

"He is as good as any templar recruit. The only thing he hasn't been
through yet is his exposure to lyrium to strengthen his powers."

"What's lyr-" Simon started but Katarina answered the question before he
got to finish it.

"It's what mages draw their powers from. Pure magica. Templars use it to
boost their mage hunting skills and resistance to it." she said without
looking at the templar in front of her.

"Correct." Sir Aron said with a sly smile. "Which also means that Daniel
isn't addicted to lyrium either, like I am. That should make him more
valuable to you, Duncan."  Duncan turned his eyes to Daniel, still looking
on his master coughing up more and more blood.

"What say you Daniel? The life of a Grey Warden is a short, cruel life full
of struggle. It's no salvation, not for anyone."  "Ser Aron... I can't
leave you." Daniel sobbed as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"This is your chance Daniel. You were always too good to become a
templar. I wish of you to do great things in this world, and the Grey
Wardens are one of the very few ones that can do great good in this
world. I'm not going to last long anyway and I would go much easier to see
the Maker if I know you're safe." Sir Aron said and reached out to his
squires cheeks and dried his tears. Daniel nodded and finally tore his eyes
away from his master and looked up at Duncan.

"If you'll have me, I want to join the Grey Wardens."

Duncan sighed and accepted the young boy's request. Finally he looked at
the wounded templar on the ground.  "Do you wish for us to end your pain
Sir Aron? It won't be long till the taint claims your life, but I can spare
you the pain of it if you'd like." Duncan asked and crouched down next to
the templar. This brought a smile to the templars mouth.

"No need commander. I don't feel any pain anymore. Please take Daniel and
go. If you can, will you let the Chantry of Denerim know of my death?"
Duncan nodded and shook the templar's hand.

"May the Maker ease your journey." Saunders Ivo said and did a small bow
towards the templar before he left the small shed. Tanyl, Katarina, Duncan
and Simon soon followed leaving Daniel to say goodbye to his master. After
a few minutes Daniel came out red eyed and Duncan quickly put an arm around
the young boy's shoulders. They gathered up the rest of the bodies and lay
them in a big pile before setting fire to them. They didn't have the time
to bury 20 people. Besides, they had to burn the Darkspawn bodies anyway.
The only exception they did was for Ser Aron. Katarina had been right, it
didn't take long before the taint and blood loss took his life. They buried
him in the middle of the village, leaving his sword to mark his grave.

"Do you have a horse?" Duncan asked Daniel. The boy was still pretty shaken
up after they put his master in the ground. He dried his eyes quickly
before he looked away from the hurried grave.  "Y-yes. Both Ser Aron and I
do... did.They should be right over there." He said and pointed over at the
edge of the village. The group moved over there to look for the horses,
only to find them dead.

"Well, looks like we'll have to reorganize our equipment again." Tanyl said
as he sighed and walked over to their own horses on the other side of the
village. After a quick redistribution of weight, Daniel was seated with
Simon on Kramer. Soon they started riding again, leaving the still burning
village behind them and moving away from Lake Calenhad and up towards the
Frostback Mountains.



That's part one of my story. I have more, but I'd like to hear what you
guys think of what I have so far? The relationship between the boys are
going to evolve a lot more, especially in the nest couple of parts, but I
had to introduce what kind of story this is going to be. The Dragon Age
games, at least the first and third one, have a lot of deep and dark
twists, something I'd like to use in this story as well. So let me know
what you like and what you don't and if you have any ideas for the story,
email me at rainingsparrows@yahoo.com