Anders opened his eyes slowly. His head felt like the templars had been kicking him there while he slept but, aside from the fact that that would probably have woken him up, he was nearly positive that he hadn’t so much as seen a templar in over a week. What had happened?
Anders sat up even more slowly – which did nothing for his mutinying head – and looked around to try and figure out what had happened. The last thing he could remember was…well, he couldn’t actually remember what the last thing he could remember was and that was probably not a good sign, particularly as he’d been left in charge with the actual Warden-Commander, Angélique Amell, was off in Antiva doing…well, he wasn’t quite sure what. Something about some birds having stolen her sword? At least she took Shale with her. That golem really didn’t get have enough joy in her life.
“Alright, that does it,” Angélique had declared angrily, her long golden hair swishing from side to side alluringly as she paced. “Ignacio promised me that there would be no more contracts on me and that they would leave me alone but those stupid birds keep coming after me! It was bad enough when the banns managed to talk them into trying to assassinate me again but to steal my sword, too?”
“What did it expect?” Shale had asked rhetorically. “Birds are evil.”
“And they must be crushed,” Angélique agreed with a sudden, decisive nod. “Hey, Zevran. You were talking about going after them at some point, right? How about right now?”
“Well, it was just an idea I was tossing around,” Zevran corrected. “Sooner or later they’ll discover I’m alive but there’s really no hurry. On the other hand, you’re incredibly beautiful and almost disturbing good at killing things so why not?”
“Commander, you can’t just leave!” Nathaniel protested.
“And why not?” Angélique had demanded, putting her hands on her hips. “I’m the Warden-Commanding Arlessa who just happens to also be the Hero of Ferelden. I can do whatever I sodding want to.”
“But Antiva is so far away and this endeavor of your will surely either end in your death or at least be quite time-consuming,” Nathaniel pointed out. “You need to leave somebody in charge of the Vigil.” Clearly, the Howe expected that that would be him and as he was the only vaguely responsible Warden around, that made a great deal of sense. Maker knew he already ended up doing most of Angélique’s job for her on a regular basis.
“Good point,” Angélique conceded reluctantly. “Hm…I know! How about Anders take charge?”
“I…do not think that that’s the wisest decision, Commander,” Nathaniel said, sounding strained. Anders could see what was upsetting him. If he was going to be the second-in-command who did all the work then it was only fair that he be treated as the second-in-command and be put in charge when Angélique wasn’t there.
“Why me?” Anders asked curiously.
Angélique shrugged. “Oh, you know. I’m a mage, you’re a mage. We’re both human, gorgeous, and blonde…really, it’ll be like I never left!”
After taking a moment to mentally shudder at the thought that he and Angélique had that much in common (although they did share the things she had mentioned, naturally), Anders decided to just accept it. How could one really argue with that kind of logic anyway?
Anders started choking when he realized that he was lying beside that infamous killjoy Garavel. Fortunately, a quick glance under the covers revealed that they were both wearing pants. Still, best remove himself from the situation before someone came by and got the wrong idea.
He was a bit unsteady on his feet as a great wave of nausea came over him but he managed to force it back down. Anders was beginning to suspect that he’d had a great deal of alcohol last night. In fact, he was even beginning to wonder if he had – dare he say it – partaken in some of Oghren’s special brew. Sober, he knew that that had never and wouldn’t ever end well but after a few drinks his judgment was notoriously impaired. That was what had persuaded him to strip in front of Aeife and accuse her of being in love with him that last time she had come to take him back to the Tower. It had been incredibly amusing, of course, and the memory of the look on her face still made him smile but it had also caused her to refuse to have anything more to do with him. As her replacement had been Rylock, that ranked up there with some of his less brilliant decisions.
As he wandered the halls looking for someone awake and sober enough to tell him what had happened, he saw telltale signs of magic everywhere he looked. A scorched wall here, a frozen bookcase there…the only two mages at the Keep presently were himself and Velanna and, as he knew for a fact he couldn’t make trees grow on the staircase overnight, they both had to have been involved with…whatever.
He finally found Nathaniel staring blankly at his mother’s portrait (which was, fortunately, unharmed or Anders wouldn’t have even made it through the night in one piece). Typical, he was always staring at that picture despite the fact that he freely admitted that his mother was no looker. Anders’ own mother had been quite beautiful and Anders had strongly resembled her. He wondered vaguely what had ever happened to…ugh. That was the problem with hangovers. They caused him to go down paths that he knew were best left alone.
“So you’re awake at last,” Nathaniel said impassively, not bothering to turn around to face him.
“Please tell me that you have some idea what went on last night,” Anders practically pleaded (but still sounding surprisingly manly and suave).
“Oghren mentioned that the Commander could drink him under the table and you insisted that you could do the same thing,” Nathaniel explained crisply. “As did Velanna, Sigrun, Garavel...basically everyone that happened to be here at the time.”
“Except you,” Anders surmised.
Nathaniel finally deigned to turn around and face him. “One of us had to be the responsible one. What if something had happened?”
“It’s funny. I see your mouth moving but all I hear is ‘I don’t know how to have fun’,” Ander mused.
Nathaniel rolled his eyes. “Exactly like she’d never left…”
Retour en haut
