Lost Youth

Dampness hung in the air like gossamer threads streaming down from foliage in waves, sending chills throughout the early atmosphere within the closed city. It was earlier than most would even consider getting from their beds, let alone going out into the damp chilliness of the streets. There was dew reflecting in the early moonlight and not even the roosters had risen from their straw beds. Some beings within the area did stir. These were those without homes, guardsmen tired and cold wanting their own beds and those who had very early considerations to meet who were up; however, it was still dead within the streets.

There was blood upon the walk but not a normal amount for one to see easily and not nearly enough for the one who lay dead would have shed in that one particular spot, meaning that the body had been moved.

A rough hand brushed a stubbled chin in contemplation while the man knelt beside the cold form, looking it over with a meticulous care.

The cold body was a male human who looked to be in his early teens. He wore leather armor of minimal quality and there was a tattoo of an X with a dot on top upon it's side located on the teen's left cheek. Skin was torn from his body from animal and weapon alike which made the lackluster spilling of blood even more at odds with the death. His throat had been slashed ear to ear but little blood had come from that wound in this location. Which meant that this youth had not died here but was dragged by the feral dogs to this location.

With the rain which had drenched the landscape within the night and now the clammy wetness of a cold morning it was near impossible to follow the trail. Even the best mabari was not likely to find out where this lad came from.

"Did you follow me or is this your normal time to be about?" Drake questioned the person who had just arrived behind him in a dry tone.

Brutal, bloody murder of children? Marcus was fuming. His beast within demanding to be let out and destroy the bastards who would kill children. He saw the flayed body, barely more than a boy. It turned his stomach to see this done to an innocent. Forcing his temper down for the moment, keeping it bottled for usage later, Marcus had shown himself to Drake who detected the big elf's presence. "I smelled blood. I had to investigate." He said quietly, his gray eyes scanning the body. "Who could have done this?" He asked with barely-contained anger in his voice.

It was weird, seeing Denerim almost completely barren. It was a time in the day he was not accustomed to seeing. It was odd seeing two people leave the comfort of the home to go out into this. Weirder if they came out of the same place at different times. Robert dressed quickly and followed, intrigued by their actions. It wasn't hard to follow, but it was hard to keep from being seen. He did not want to interrupt them prematurely.

Robert took the roofs and followed silently from above. He determined that the first of the two was Drake. The other seemed to be Durbans...or Marcus. He heard either name being said in reference to him. The former seemed as if he was on a mission or something. The later looked as if he was just following the former.

Drake seemed to have found dead body. Robert could tell that he didn't look that old, maybe a few years younger than him. Who could do that? Robert's heart skipped a beat when he heard Drake's voice, but it wasn't hard to figure out that he knew that Durbans/Marcus was behind him. Why did he think Drake noticed that Robert had been following them from the roof tops? He didn't hear what the reply was, but he knew he couldn't just follow them, not with this.

He slid down the side of the roof to get a bit closer, a task made complicated by the dampness of it. He jumped down landing between the two men. "I've been following you two around for a while now. I was thinking on heading back until you found this."

"Are you part mabari?" Drake asked Marcus as he took note of the wounds on the shoulders then pulled the dead youth's sleeves up to see the same tattos as on his cheek on both upper arms, "This blood trail was faint but I am amazed that the body was brought so close to the palace. Ferals don't come this far normally which means they were afraid of being caught with this prize."

He stood and gazed towards where the dogs had run off but did not react when Robert showed and spoke, "So you have, Robert." The man said without turning to even see the young fighter, indicating that he had known the fellow had been following, "This is a problem. I heard of another body being found by the shoreline with the same tattoos."

Drake shook his head, "These are not clan or basic tattoos. They look like brands. See how they look burned on the edges?"

Marcus knelt by the body next to Drake to inspect the brand. "Yeah... well, when you're a berserker, you learn how to smell blood. It sometimes gets us going into a rage. I'm barely containing it right now." He said and examined the brand. "Non consensual branding. Its raw around the edges. Branded just before he died? He tried to struggle to get away from it." He mused, scratching his chin. His elven ears heard Robert coming and he looked over at the boy soldier. "Hope you don't have a weak stomach, kid. This is messy."

Well, both didn't seem surprised at his appearance. Note to self, learn to be stealthier. Drake and Durbans seemed to have discovered the presences of brands on the kids body. What could they mean?

Durbans little comment made him laugh a little on the inside. It was kinda hard to have a weak stomach surrounded by a bunch of drunks all day. And as for seeing a dead body, it's okay with him. As long as it doesn't stand up and try to attack them, he's fine. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

It was too early for the market to be open, but it was the perfect hour to buy the best fresh things. After some complainings from the cooks of the Warden's kitchens, Calliara had decided to take personal care about those matters, even if she didn't enjoy shopping at all or didn't really wanted to go to the market, but there she was, with Fenrir.

The puppy was being trained to be obedient, and so he stayed sitting by Calliara's side when she stopped here and there, studying the goods and talking with some merchants. Most of them respected the Warden crest of her armor and the Dalish had no problems at all, but others were not that polite.

Then, the Wolf had made an amazing discovery: stabbing a knife on the table when a shopkeeper was being unpolite worked like charm to make them behave properly. So she happily bought enormous amounts of food and ordered the packages to be sent to the Warden's quarters.

She had smelled known scents long ago, but she thought that the men were bonding or whatever men did at those hours in the early morning and didn't want to interrupt. But she was curious though

"It looks like you get to be on your first official warden mission, Robert." Drake turned to the younger man, "You might as well start learning since you are an initiate. The details have been laid out except for the fact that this young man had been dragged here by feral dogs. The problem with this is tracking as the blood trail is gone, except for what is here. As for the brand..."

Drake knelt down and touched the one on the teen's cheek, "He may have struggled, Marcus, but the difference between a tattoo and a brand is that a tattoo is inked into the skin with a form of coloured substance whereas a brand is burned or partially burned into the flesh then the healed flesh makes the pattern. There is burn scarring here, see around the ink? It was branded then tattoo'd. So it is either some form of sect or ownership, just like one would do with a cow or horse. This was not just done. It takes time for scarring like this."

He pulled the leather shirt down to show all the scars, "He has a lot of scarring and the cut to the neck is from a sharp weapon. I'm guessing ritual or something. Now ... Robert, what would our next step be? Any concepts of what this might be?"

Robert was a bit happy to finally be on a mission, unfortunately, the situation kinda lessened the joy. Judging from what he had heard, there was a man found by the shoreline like this one, and this man was dragged here by dogs. Drake surprised him by asking for his analysis of the situation.

Let's see...dragged here by dogs, another body like this found by the shore. Evidence of branding, which had tattoo's placed over it. A sharp weapon was used to kill the boy. The body could have been dragged here from the shoreline...but any evidence of that was washed away with the rain. It could be some sort of cult that sacrificed members or prisoners to the sea to appease whatever they worshiped. "You said there was another body like this found by the shoreline, right? Do you see anything that could suggest that he was dragged here from there?"

Marcus folded his arms over his chest, sighing. "So we may have a serial killer on our hands who loves to leave a mark." He said. "And a thing for killing innocents." He concluded his observation and shifted Durbans on his back a bit, adjusting its position to something more comfortable. This was troubling indeed. If they didn't catch this person or people before they left Denerim it would be too late.

"A regular serial killer doesn't usually keep their victims for long unless there is something else going on but it could be you are right that it seems to be a person with a thing for innocents." He stood up with a scowl at the damage, "That's a good question, Robert. Since the ferals were dragging him this way ..." He turned and looked in the direction the animals would have come from and pointed down the road for the other two to see the water, "Maybe so. What would be next then?"

Both men came up with good questions but it was noticeable that neither one had dealt with a lot of mysterious situations. Hopefully this would teach them more and save others from the same fate as this youngster.

So he was correct in one guess. But who could it be if it wasn't a normal serial killer. That brought up one of his previous ideas. "Well, it could be some kind of organization. A cult maybe. They could be sacrificing kidnapped people to whatever deity their cult worships. Maybe the perform the ceremony on the shoreline."

He paused for a bit before thinking of an alternate idea. "Or maybe it's some covert slavery operation that has been executing some of the more volatile slaves. Perhaps they used the shoreline as a dumping point hoping that the body would be washed away."

Marcus took a purging breath. Getting angry about this was not going to help them any. Not yet. "All valid points. We need to find this culprit or culprits and mete out justice." He growled a bit and rolled his shoulders to work out the kink he had in them. He suddenly found himself wondering what Guremi was doing. Strange. No matter. I'll talk to her later. he thought to himself and then hoisted his massive axe off his shoulder and tested its weight in his hands. His shoulder was still a little sore from the injury he had sustained on their way from Lake Calenhad. He wondered if it would hinder his fighting ability at all, but probably not once he was in his berserker rage.

But can I fight lucidly?

"You just might make a good detective, Robert. Now ... let's go see what we can find by the docks then." He said as he started out, "Where do you think we should look besides the actual docks?"

Keep the young man's mind working and give both men the chance to come up with ideas. Brainstorming with each other would be the best thing to do as they could come up with more that way and he wanted both men to realize that through experience.

As they got closer to the docks they could smell the scents of a normal fishing area and it made Drake breathe out gloomily. This would not be easy to work with but it had to be done. They went further and further down the shore to areas very few ever went.

As he walked he took note of the sounds of gulls and dogs alike, "It seems that there are quite a few ferals down here." He said as a large pack of feral dogs moved towards them, slathering and looking for food, "And they just might have been feeding on people." He added as he pointed to a single hand upon the ground. Some of these dogs had the taint and Drake shook his head due to that. Of course there would be some but usually they did not stick around other dogs which were not tainted. Interesting.

((Toss in how many you think there should be and at whatever toughness you wish.))

Marcus was deep in thought as they made their way to the docks. There was something sinister afoot. He needed to let off some steam, and the anxiety he felt as his Joining would be soon. Upon seeing a pack of hungry Mabari heading towards them, Marcus hefted Durbans in his hands and then unleashed his berserker rage he had been keeping bottled up. Eight Mabari there were, and the giant elf threw himself forward, howling madly like the hounds he attacked.

One cleave of his axe severed two of the dogs in half He kept swinging madly, ignoring his injured shoulder as well as the bites from iron jaws he felt on his legs as the Mabari tried to take him down. Pain was secondary only to the fighting. He hungered fro blood. In a rage he prised open the jaws of one Mabari on his thigh, going into such lengths that it unhinged the jaw with a sickening crunch and tear sound that the Mabari was flung backwards, bleeding on the ground.

(Sorry, had some inspiration problems the past few days, but I planned to get a post in today.)

Robert tried his hardest to think of just where they can be located, but with his little knowledge of Denerim, he didn't exactly know much about the area. As he continued to try to think of it, they came upon the docks. The welcome wagon was less than pleasant. Here were the feral dogs dragged the corpse and they seemed hungry.

Before Robert could grab his longsword and dar'misu, Marcus went berserker on them. He cleaved two in half and pretty much ruined another one. Good thing he was able to hold it until there was something to fight.

A mabari had lunged at Robert, distracted as he was, and knocked him to the ground. He managed to hold the mabari off with his longsword, using it to shield his face from the mabari's jaws. With his left hand he managed to stab into the the torso with his dar'misu. As he continued to struggle, he felt more and more of the mabari blood pouring onto him until he finally managed to knock the dying creature off of him.

He rolled over in time to avoid another mabari that was tried to take advantage of his predicament. He back to his feet and back flipped away to distance himself from his opponent. He let the mabari charge at him and dodged in the last second. With the mabari's back turned towards him, Robert jumped on it's back and stabbed through the top of it's head, ending it's life.

A tiny bark came from somewhere upper of them, and then a rain of arrows fell down on two wild dogs that were approaching Robert from his back, growling.

Standing on the edge of a roof, a very busy-looking Dalish was shooting her arrows while holding the little Fenrir inside a bag hanging from her belt. The puppy had his head out of the bag and was barking excitedly, calling for his friends and trying to growl at the mean dogs attacking them.

The Wolf just payed attention to her friends to check if they were alright or badly injured, and then prepared another two arrows in her bow.

The other two were in action quickly and seemingly cold as ice Drake walked through the destruction. One sword sliced into the dog's neck that had been damaged badly by Marcus then he twisted to the side and took out Robert's last opponent with a double slash downwards. He nodded a good job towards Robert as the last two dogs fell to Calliara's shots.

He nodded at Marcus then stood, "Come on down, emma fen lath (my wolf love). You may join the hunt if you wish. You all did very well. Nygozy would be proud." The man stood, not looking up at the woman he loved but at the destroyed bodies at their feet. His eyes took note of all the animals then followed the tracks, the sun coming out over the horizon.

Drake hardly looked like he was moving but he did move at a fair pace until he came around a broken down building. There were a few small buildings, like shacks in the area and he wrinkled his nose up at the scent, "They were guard dogs."

There were five buildings in all, looking like they had at most 3 rooms to each.

((Choose as you will with these on what is in them and what happens. There could be dogs. More bodies the same as the other young man ...))

Marcus soon came out of his rage after the rest of the dogs were felled and immediately regretted it. The pain rocked his leg, causing him to collapse onto a knee. "Sweet Andraste's knickers!" He wheezed and looked at the wounds on his leg and arm. Nasty bites from sickly dogs which means they'd get infected if not treated soon. He took out some poultices from his pack and applied them to the wounds to at least stem the bleeding, wrapping bandages around the ointment-caked injuries.

He nodded curtly to Calliara. "Nice shooting, Wolf. Glad to have you along." He said as he limped towards the others, using Durbans as a sort of crutch. "Right... time for some investigating. I'll take this house over here." He said, pointing to the one nearest to him.

The sounds of the fight had not gone unnoticed. Two large, well armed men emerged from the largest of the buildings that was located furthest from the fighting. Both men wore leather armor and drew their longswords and unslung their shields when they saw the combatants.

"Oy, What's going on 'ere?" Shouted the larger of the two men when he saw the mess of dog bodies. "Yous all better git outta 'ere right now. This 'eres a private function!" He shouted as the men continued to advance on the group.

Hearing the sounds of two dogs dying right behind him, Robert turned and saw the two arrows that killed them. He followed the angle up to where Calliara was. Looks like she also liked the idea of using the roof tops. Had he had his bow with him, he probably could have done the same.

Drake congratulated them, said something that sounded like a different language, and said Calliara could join them. Oh yeah, and that the seemingly feral dogs were guard dogs. Then Durbans, who was out of his rage, began to feel all the pain that was inflicted on him. It must be harder to go from being numb to it then feeling it all at once, rather just deal with the pain as it comes. Then Durbans called Calliara, presumably, Wolf. In fact, several people have been referring to her as such. Why is that? "Hey, Drake, please forgive my ignorance, but why do people call Calliara Wolf?"

Before he could be answered, however, two men approached them, not only looking like they are ready for a fight, but pretty suspicious for them to be awake at this time. "What kind of 'private functions' do people have this early in the morning? I can't think of any that aren't up to no good."

[Sorry. I wasn't feeling like doing anything. Whatever]

''It seems I can't go shopping without you all getting in trouble''. Calli sighed, bow still ready.

She almost chuckled when she heard Robert's question. She was trying to listen to Drake's answer when two suspicious thugs appeared and addressed them, saying something about a 'private function'.

Calliara still didn't know about the dead boy, she just followed them when she recognized the signs that they were 'hunting' something. In fact, she had been following Drake, worried because she almost could feel his rage.

She said nothing, in case the men hadn't noticed her in the roofs, and prepared two arrows

Drake looked at the buildings as if they would turn into some form of creature, the scents of the sea was messing him up but he knew there was death here. He then glanced at Marcus, "I have a drink that should help you with that, Marcus. I thought that Jezarine would have taught you this potion by now. You seem to be good friends." He said ash he walked towards the man, taking out a vial from his pouch.

"Are you coming down, Wolf or are you a bird today?"

''It seems I can't go shopping without you all getting in trouble''

"Of course not. We are men and therefore we get into trouble all the time without asking directions." Drake teased with a straight face, sounding as if he was being as serious as a Qunari.

"Hey, Drake, please forgive my ignorance, but why do people call Calliara Wolf?"

Before Robert could be answered two men came out of a building looking rather upset, "Oy, What's going on 'ere? Yous all better git outta 'ere right now. This 'eres a private function!"

"What kind of 'private functions' do people have this early in the morning? I can't think of any that aren't up to no good."

Drake has a minuscule smirk at the edge of his lips as Robert spoke. He would have to tell Nygozy more about this youth. He was really getting to like his attitude more and more with each passing day and minute. Now Marcus, he liked him too, especially that rambling off crazy that he did.

"Marcus, would you like to inform these pleasant men what we are doing here?

''I'll stay here''. She growled, tense. Like hell was she going down and putting Fenrir in danger.

The puppy barked happily when he saw Drake, and tried to get out the bag he was stuck in, with no success. Calliara moved slowly to a better spot, keeping her eyes on the thugs.

The wounded Elf smiled weakly at Drake's scolding him for not being prepared for being injured. Marcus didn't expect to be attacked by Mabari warhounds. He shrugged. "I was in a hurry. I find my finicky mind fraught with fears and frights." he said dryly and looked up at the pair on the roof.

"Oy, What's going on 'ere? Yous all better git outta 'ere right now. This 'eres a private function!"

Marcus sighed. Dumb guards.

"Marcus, would you like to inform these pleasant men what we are doing here?" Drake said and Marcus nodded. He hobbled up to them. "Listen, boys... you see the pretty white haired girl there? She'll put an arrow between both of your heads faster'n you can blink. The human next to her is equally apt at ripping you to shreds. The boy, ah, the boy. Nothing needs to be said about what horrors he has inflicted on those who are counted among his victims. There was that one smart mouthed bandit, just like you men, who was trying to block his path... I shudder at the memory. Kept me awake for days." He said with his usual eloquence and flamboyant movements, despite injuries.