Errands

Rakot looked intently at Saijin.

"Hmm, so you must have been there then the darkspawn invaded Denerim, the day the Archdemon fell. Don't remember seeing you, but that was a chaotic fight, so thats no surprise. The Warden Commander was easy to spot though, she left quite a trail of darkspawn corpses behind her. Me and you are gonna have to have a drink to the good men and women that fell that day. It was a hell of a good fight, and I am never going to forget it."

"That would explain the dossier I have on you. Looks like they gave me info on Nygozy's companions as well. It does leave me wondering who acquired this info, but it may be better to not ask."

Wolfram shuffled the dossiers back into the files and put them back in his pack. He was surprised at how much work went into gathering this info. "The land itself had some problems. There was a large group of darkspawn near Lothering without any apparent leadership. Your father assured me it wasn't a common occurence, and for his sake I hope he's right."

"I was there but she only took a small contingent with her after the Arch Demon no matter what anyone tried to tell her what to do. I was left to watch over the King and make sure he behaved. That sounds like a plan. Drinks for the brave who fought those days." He agreed with Rakot.

"Really? Well, as for who got the information, I'd not be able to guess but depending on when it was received would indicate who it could have been. My father will get himself and his people out soon then. He knows more about Darkspawn then a lot of people so he will be careful." And he kept telling himself that so as not to worry.

"I'm not entirely sure when they were written up. I figure that they wrote them up for me to help integrate into the Ferelden Wardens, but who can be sure. I really only needed them so I can know what they looked like. I'm probably going to file them away and never look at them again."

Wolfram looked over at Rakot started speaking again. "I know I have info on the battle, but it's a second hand source compared to someone who actually fought there. How bad was it?"

"How bad? Bad...really bad, up until the Warden Commander got there. Like I told you before, I spent most of the Blight hunting Darkspawn in the Kokari Wilds there they were most abundant. Then most of the horde moved out towards Denerim I followed, I got to the city just ahead of them, joined the defenders. The army was elsewhere, only the city guard was left....the darkspawn descended upon us, and it seemed there was no end to them. In the Wilds I attacked them and ran, I set up ambushes, but all that, it barely prepared me for what happened in the city. We were overwhelmed, we had no reserves, we had no supplies, we held them at the wall as long as we could, and then just a bit longer, but we were simply too few in number, they broke through. We did our best to evacuate what civilians we could, but it cost us many lives. I've seen men break, strong men, fallen to pieces like children, I could not blame them, they feared for their families and for themselves and their fears were justified."

Rakot looked into the distance, the events of the past flashing before his eyes.

"We killed, and we died, and we pushed, and we withdrew. By the time the Wardens arrived with the combined armies of men, dwarves and elves, me and my unit were one of the few remaining groups still left fighting the Darkspawn in the city. I remember that morning....it was just me, Harold, and Skirin left....Captain Sil was killed in the night...I took command, we were trying to evacuate civilians holed up in the Chantry building in the Market District. We got there too late, the Darkspawn already slaughtered everyone inside and set it on fire. They ambushed us....surrounded us...we were backed into a corner, it was our last stand. We were sleep deprived and exhausted, we haven't eaten in days, and our water supply ran out the evening prior. We stood our ground, we had nothing to loose and we were angry and only had one desire left, to draw the blood of our enemy. Skirin went down first, he caught an arrow through his neck, still managed to take out three Hurlocks before he bled out. Harold got caught up in a fireball blast...that didn't stop him, he continued to fight giving me time to close in and take out the Emissary. We stood back to back, both of us were bleeding and charred, both of us were dead men walking, but we kept on taking them down."

Rakot rubbed his forehead.

"Then suddenly, a horn sounded in the distance, a Ferelden horn...and then....and then the Darkspawn started moving towards the main gate. The pressure was taken off of our position, we took down what was left of them in the market square, then went after the rest. Then I saw it, the Warden Commander and her troops, she has given us hope, and we took it. We continued fighting in the streets until the Archdemon was slain and the Darkspawn began a full retreat. Harold finally succumbed to his wounds...he died with a smile, his right hand holding a blade that was stuck through a Genlock's chest. My rage took over, I chased after the Darkspawn....killed them, as many as I could reach, chased them all the way back to the Kokari Wilds, back to the holes in the ground that they came from. I stared into the void, into the darkness of the deep roads, and the darkness stared back at me...and I knew that my war was over for the moment. I turned around and went north."

"So you were the ones who cleared the square. We were able to keep new Darkspawn out of Denerim from the gates. It was not easy as they kept sending ogres and emissaries to the front. It was a good thing that Nygozy left so many defenders at the gates or we all would have been overrun once more. It was terrifying to see how many more Darkspawn there were. It was like being overrun by a nest of ants."

Sinjan shook his head, "I am glad that Nygozy chose to give you a second chance. I would not like to see one who fought so bravely against that horde to be struck down from a situation which was a trick against yourself and our Jezarine. If Jez can forgive then it is only fair that others do so as well. You do realize that she will not be thrilled to see either of you though?"

"Yeah, we realize that, but this still beats getting exiled from Ferelden."

"Just like Ostef said, we know, but she didn't have us beheaded before, so I doubt that she'll suddenly change her mind now. Otherwise we don't really have anything to fear, I'm sure we can all act in a professional manner, this is a job after all, personal feelings need to be put aside."

"Indeed, we don't have to be best friends with the Commander or her groupies, just need to follow orders. It could be a lot worse."

"Are you actually going to start following orders?"

"Eh...I'll try my best to."

"Well, guess there is a first time for everything."

"Nygozy will not go back on what she has intended and Jezarine would never react against you unless you did something bad. It is not in our healer's makeup to do so. In fact, she was curious enough to speak with the Tamassran so she may even get up the courage to speak with you." He shrugged, "But I would stay away from Ianto if I were you. I do not believe he is ready to let go. The others are likely to accept you once they see that you are not so bad."

Sinjan laughed, "We all have times when we don't fully follow orders and Nygozy is quite good at understanding if the reason is not one of sloth or outright refusal. I've often done things differently because the circumstance required thinking in a different manner than the original plan because it could not include changes that happened after the fact. We are not expected to be tin soldiers."

"Fascinatingly horrific and an appropriately heroic account, Rakot. Your comrades are at the side of the Maker now. At least their sacrifice wasn't in vain. I'm sure they would have been great wardens had they survived."

Wolfram had been intrigued by the previous relationship between Rakot and the Wardens. Maghai couldn't have made up almost killing his brother. Maybe exaggerrated, but considering he was a conscript, perhaps not by much. Listening to the two made him realize just how much he owes the commander. Rakot managed to change the subject to their traveling speed, which was something they needed to adjust.

"I agree with Rakot. We should get moving."

((Time to go here - https://dragonageafter.forumotion.com/t298-readying-for-vigil-s-keep#4687))