954 réponses à ce sujet

[bloodtallow]

Great writing, Sisimka! You had my heart in my throat the whole time, hoping Al was going to be okay! Excellent!

[MireliA]

I honestly didn't see Eamon's death coming at all.

[Masticetobbacco]

Eamon is dead?



awww crap he was my 2nd fav character

[Kulkodar]

wow...that was intense. I was headed off to bed, but just *had* to check in... well done Sis! Definitely some very gifted writers on this board. My heart was in my throat, waiting to see if Alistair would make it or not. You've done well, keeping in line with the original story. Love this!



btw, the drawing of Oghren is really good!

[bl00dsh0t]

Epic couple of chapters i missed here, you got great balls to start killing off DaO cast I like balls ^^

But still evil cliffhanger marathon you got here, mooaaarrrrrrrrr

[Sisimka]

 
Chapter Four

It was a night without end.

The task of organizing for Eamon’s...body…to be taken care of fell to him. He still could not quite believe the man had passed and no one had noticed. The thought frightened and saddened Aedan beyond belief. He hoped and prayed that Eamon hadn’t suffered, but of course he must have. The sight of Alistair, all that blood, the pitch of Brenna’s screams…

The task of organizing the guards fell to Aedan also. After he’d summoned some servants to take care of Eamon and Isolde, he called for the captain and asked for a report. The grounds had been scoured to no avail. This news did not surprise Aedan as they now knew the attack had taken place from one of the rooms on the other side of the castle – the guest wing. Aedan had completely forgotten that the guest quarters were in use this evening, occupied by Orlesians.

The task of informing their foreign guests of current developments did not fall to Aedan. After glancing down at himself, Aedan was sickened by what he saw. He was dressed only in a pair of pants and his bare arms and chest were covered in blood. It had dried and was flaking off in places and smeared in others. It looked like he’d been slaughtering pigs. He summoned the palace steward and asked him to check on their guests. 

The task of summoning Oghren did fall to Aedan. How could he have forgotten such an important detail? The palace guard had their own captain, the reasonably competent man Aedan had been using as an errand boy. But Aedan knew Oghren. Besides trusting and respecting the dwarf, he was a friend and he felt the need to summon friends right now. And Oghren would want to be here, that he knew.

The task of watching over Alistair was one Aedan would rather have kept for himself. He was loathe to leave the side of his Brother, his dearest friend. One glance at the mage clearly ruled the man out as an option. He was having trouble standing on his own. Aedan thanked the Maker the Grey Wardens were fortunate enough to have recruited a mage like Taren. Not only was he a spirit healer, but he was combat seasoned. Alistair’s injuries were probably the worst this young mage had ever seen. Aedan dismissed him and summoned yet more servants and guards, stationing them around the room and outside the door with instructions to come for him if the King so much as blinked. Then he went to wash and change.

As Aedan entered his own apartment the events of the night began to take on an unreal quality. The rooms were darkened and quiet. He noted that only an hour had passed since they’d awakened. One hour, that was all it took for one man to be saved and for another man to die. He sat in the darkness for a moment, without lighting any lanterns, just listening to the quiet night sounds that filtered through the open windows and the occasional soft snore from one of his sons, his boys. Aedan rose and went into Riordan’s room. The toddler was sprawled upon his back, arms spread wide, his face flushed with health and vitality even in sleep. Aedan ached to hold him, but did not dare disturb him. He turned to find Luke and smiled as he discovered the fifteen year old boy mimicked the posture of Riordan, arms also flung wide across the sides of the chair he was slumbering in. He stroked back a lock of Luke’s hair, leaving his hand upon the warm head a moment before quietly retreating to his own bedroom.

When he slipped into Alistair’s room a short while later, it was as dark and peaceful as his own had been. Brenna was asleep and Leliana was awake.  His wife was sitting by the window, elbows resting on the sill as she gazed out into the night. He stepped beside her and she looked up and smiled softly at him. Aedan sank to his knees beside her chair and wrapped his arms about her waist, resting his head in her lap for a moment, simply seeking comfort. She stroked his head gently, soothingly.

He sat back on his heels and looked up at her, wondering how to tell her the news. There was just no easy way, he said, “Eamon is dead, Leli.”

She gasped quietly, covering her mouth, tears gathering in her eyes as she asked, “How?”

“It was the shock, I think. His heart…” Aedan could say no more, it was all speculation, and no one had seen Eamon take his last breath. To die alone in a room full of people, it was too awful to contemplate.

“Alistair…?” she asked, her breath catching at the end of his name.

“He is sleeping, he lost so much blood, we don’t know…” Aedan paused, he’d nearly said ‘if’ but forced his mouth to say, “when he will wake. You are Alistair’s chancellor, Leliana, where do we go from here? What else should I be doing?”

 “Send word to Amaranthine, Aedan, and ask Zevran to come,” Leliana replied.

Aedan nodded. Of course, he should have thought of that, Zevran would be an invaluable asset at a time like this. He crossed to Alistair’s desk and penned a quick note. 

Leliana had moved over to the desk with him and they quickly listed what had been done and what needed to be done. Aedan marveled at how calm and collected his wife was, but one glance at her eyes, her sad face, and he knew that she was feeling very much the same as he, somewhat lost and adrift.

She caught him looking at her and she stepped forward and he took her into his arms and held her close. Sometimes he felt Leliana was the source of all his strength, but right now he knew she needed him just as much and he simply held her for as long as she needed to be held.

Dropping a quick kiss to her forehead, he stepped back and said, “I want to check on Alistair…do you need anything?”

Leliana shook her head and he released her, saying softly, “Get some sleep if you can, my love, I have a feeling you’re going to need it…”

Aedan heard Oghren before he saw him. The commander of Ferelden’s armies was just inside the door to Brenna’s room demanding a report from the captain of the palace guard. Aedan didn’t get to see Oghren in an official capacity very often and he was suitably impressed. The dwarf looked up at his approach and they simply regarded one another with grave expressions before Oghren greeted him with a soft and low, “Warden.”

Aedan wasn’t sure he’d ever heard Oghren call him by name and in a moment of absurdity he wondered if Oghren actually knew what he was called. He felt the corner of his mouth pull upwards at the thought and dropped his head, rubbing at his temples. Maker he was tired…and he and Oghren…

“We’re supposed to be leaving for Orzammar in a few hours,” Aedan remembered suddenly.

Oghren nodded and said, “Aye, I think we’re going to be late for that proving…Bhelen will just have to hold on to his knickers until his guests of honor arrive, eh?”

Aedan would have chuckled, but it seemed entirely inappropriate, so he merely nodded and clapped Oghren on the shoulder fondly. The gruff dwarf nodded back at him, thumping him in the centre of the back and they went in to check on Alistair.

The king was sleeping peacefully, there were no signs yet of fever or infection. He and Oghren finished wiping away the last of the blood, Aedan working more carefully, more calmly. They ordered clean linens and finally settled Alistair back into the freshened bed. He’d not woken once.

Aedan sat on one side of the bed and Oghren sat on the other and they talked softly over the sleeping man. Aedan said, “Thank you for coming, Oghren, I was starting to feel a bit lost over here all by myself…”

Oghren waved a dismissive hand, “Ah, I’d have been sodding upset if you hadn’t called me.” He shook his head sadly, “I can’t believe Eamon’s passed, Alistair is going to take that hard, let me tell you. For every complaint he made about that old griper, he still looked up to the man.”

Aedan nodded, “I know. We will get to the bottom of this. I’ve sent a fast courier to Amaranthine. Zevran should be with us by…” Aedan glanced outside, it was still night, “tomorrow night, tonight?”

They shrugged at one another and resumed looking at Alistair in silence.

There was a knock at the door and a guard opened it, admitting the captain. The man nodded from Aedan to Oghren, saying, “Commander, Commander,” and then cleared this throat before adding, “We found a man…I’ve had him taken to Fort Drakon.”

Aedan and Oghren both shot to their feet, glanced and at one another and ran for the door. As he reached the door, Aedan glanced back at Alistair a moment and then followed the guards out.

The night air was cooling as they walked the streets to the fort. Aedan couldn’t help but shudder as he passed through the great doors. Though he came here by day to practice his swordsmanship, at night he could not help but remember the terrible battle that had taken place on the rooftop just two years before.

More memories surfaced as he followed Oghren into the dungeons. The last time he’d been down here, he’d been in a cell, imprisoned for killing Howe. He had lain on the floor of their cell insensible for nearly two days before Alistair had brought him back to some semblance of reason, only to slaughter innumerable guards, men and women, in grief and fury during their escape.

Aedan shook his head and focused on the man being held in the cell before him. He was a very ordinary looking man, Aedan wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, anyone could kill a king, right? One didn’t need to be seven feet tall or gifted with magic.  A very plain man, perhaps a little on the thin side could do it just as well.

As he studied those non-descript features, brown hair, brown eyes, ruddy skin, the worn leather armour, the calloused fingers, the ill cared for boots, Aedan felt the familiar stirrings of his old companions fury and rage begin to stir in his gut. This man, this plain and unremarkable man had tried to kill his Brother! Never mind that Alistair was also a King. This man had caused the death of Eamon. 

Aedan snarled but the man did not flinch. The prisoner merely regarded him with and indecipherable expression, his eyes seeming never to blink. Through clenched teeth Aedan said, “Who are you?”

The man said nothing. The guard said, “He hasn’t spoken a word since we brought him here.”

Aedan turned at a tap on his shoulder and Oghren was there, beckoning him away from the cell. He followed the dwarf reluctantly a short distance away, a glance over his shoulder confirming those dark brown eyes were following him. He growled.

“He’ll not be spilling his secrets the easy way, Warden, I’ve seen his type before…” Oghren said.

Aedan spread his hands and said, “What are you saying?”

A shadow passed over them and Aedan looked up. A giant was standing before him. A behemoth of a man, seven feet tall, dressed in dark, stiff leather. His expression was nothing short of terrifying. Aedan swallowed and turned to Oghren and the dwarf shrugged and said, “He certainly looks the part, don’t he?”

Aedan blinked and nodded. Oghren continued, “Ah… you might not want to stay for this, Warden…”

He did…and he didn’t want to stay. This was not a situation Aedan had encountered before. They didn’t question the darkspawn, they didn’t torture or interrogate them. They didn’t stop to ask why they were bent on killing everything in their path. It was an accepted fact. They killed you or you killed them. Problem solved. Killing this man would solve nothing. They needed answers.

Aedan squared his shoulders and clenched his fists as he followed Oghren and the torturer back to the cell. He followed as the guards took the would-be assassin by the arms and let him down the stairs. The plain little man didn’t whimper, he didn’t struggle, but merely allowed himself to be taken away and lifted onto the rack. 


                                                                                       --=0=--

Alistair could hear screaming. It just didn’t stop, it echoed in his ears, in his head and he wanted to raise his hands to block the sound. He had been trying to lift his hands for what seemed like hours and was surprised when this time they moved. Then the screaming stopped. Just like that, and all it had taken was the slightest twitch of his hands. He opened his eyes.

He was not in his own bed. The canopy above this one looked like his, but it was a different colour, softer, more feminine. Was he in Brenna’s bed? Holy Maker…he gasped and turned his head and there was someone in the bed with him, but it wasn’t Brenna. It was Aedan and his friend wasn’t in the bed, but only half on the bed, slumped forward from a chair, his head turned sideways toward him, eyes closed, mouth open, asleep. Alistair studied the warrior’s face a moment, thinking Aedan looked absolutely spent, before he wondered exactly why Aedan was slumped across a bed that belonged to neither of them.

“Aedan,” he croaked. He tried to sit up, but found he felt stiff all over, as if he’d been asleep for a week.

Aedan’s eyes flew open and the sight of them frightened him. Besides the fact they were so red and the skin beneath so dark, his expression was so terribly sad, no, more than simply sad. Aedan looked haunted. He sat up and scrubbed at his face with both hands, opening and closing his red-rimmed eyes and working his jaw. Aedan finally yawned and blinked and then looked back down at him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder and saying, “How do you feel?”

Alistair started to say, “I’m fine,” but his voice still croaked and he was starting to realize that in fact he did not feel fine at all. He felt like he’d been kicked in the chest. He looked down and saw the puckered scars and his brows drew down sharply. He drew in a deep breath, felt a slight internal pull and let it out again. He looked back up at Aedan and said, “What happened.”

Aedan simply looked at him for a moment before answering, and when he finally started to speak his voice was as haunted as his eyes, “Someone tried to kill you, Alistair.”

Alistair glanced back down at the scars on his chest and Aedan nodded, confirming the wounds. Alistair said, “How? Why?” He thought, Who? And then he thought, oh Maker, oh no… he was afraid to ask, “Brenna?”

Aedan’s face cleared immediately and if he could have slumped with relief, Alistair would have. Brenna must be safe. 

“Brenna was with you, but she is well, Alistair, she’s still resting. Leliana is with her.” Aedan said. 

To his surprise, tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. Alistair didn’t know if it was because he might have lost her, or because he still had her. The rush of emotion he felt was too intense for him to decipher. This is what love is like, he realized. He had thought himself in love with Brenna, and no doubt he had been, but this depth, this soul stirring profundity took him utterly by surprise. He was momentarily breathless and Aedan’s brow had creased with concern. 

“Should I summon the healer, is it difficult to breathe?” Aedan asked.

Alistair wanted to say, yes, but not for the reasons you think. He’d not really discussed his feelings for Brenna with his friend. He had with Leliana. The bard had been a constant source of comfort to him when he’d first started to court Brenna. With reluctance he tore his thoughts away from his raven-haired betrothed and answered, “No, I’m fine, just a little…overwhelmed.”

Aedan nodded and patted his shoulder. He then briefly outlined the events of the previous night. He paused after describing the potion he’d been administered, turning to indicate the row of small bottles lined up along the nightstand. “You should take one now,” he added.

Aedan’s eyes dropped then and he appeared to be studying the pattern embroidered into the linens. Alistair knew his friend, knew him well. Aedan wasn’t telling him something. Something awful…

“Aedan, what aren’t you telling me?” Alistair asked, holding his breath as he waited for the warrior to reply.

When Aedan looked up, his eyes were filled with tears and he said, “Alistair, I’m so sorry… but… Eamon is dead.”

Alistair dropped the bottle he’d been holding, his fingers suddenly numbed. The shock of Aedan’s words was incomprehensible. How had this happened? Though they’d had their differences, he’d loved Eamon in his own way, he’d held a long abiding fondness for the man that might have been his father, the man that had sheltered him and then propelled him toward the throne. His anger was slower to rise, but as it began to build he became breathless with it, the sharp pain in his recently healed lung pulling as he panted for breath.

“Who did this, Aedan? Who is responsible for this terrible thing?”

Modifié par Sisimka, 12 mars 2010 - 09:40 .

[Freckles04]

Ack...you post this NOW? When I can't read it? ...I'll be back!

[Sisimka]

LOL! I was wondering about your quick post! Okay, it'll still be here when you get back!

[Sandtigress]

Hmm, I want to know more about this plain little man. And perhaps we shall see Alistair go a little berserker himself? Ready for more please! :-)

[Sisimka]

Sandtigress wrote...

Hmm, I want to know more about this plain little man. And perhaps we shall see Alistair go a little berserker himself? Ready for more please! :-)

I can't tell you how tickled I am that you are referring to him as the 'plain little man'.  So awesome...

[Sisimka]

Oh, and I wanted to thank everyone yesterday for their comments! Kulkodar and Bloodshot, nice to see you again!

[bl00dsh0t]

God damn your posting speed is bloody redicolous xD Another great chapter, now wondering how effectively that lil man's getting tortured

[Sisimka]

*rubs hands together* Oh, quite effectively. Zevran gets a turn at him next...

[Freckles04]

I'm back! Nice chapter. Poor Aedan. Poor Alistair. When you titled this "The Wedding Gift", I wasn't expecting the gift to be sodding two arrows to the chest!



...You're evil. Yes, you are.

[Sandtigress]

Freckles04 wrote...

 When you titled this "The Wedding Gift", I wasn't expecting the gift to be sodding two arrows to the chest!

...You're evil. Yes, you are.

No kidding!  AND another dead surrogate father!

[Maximus741000]

Sandtigress wrote...

Freckles04 wrote...

 When you titled this "The Wedding Gift", I wasn't expecting the gift to be sodding two arrows to the chest!

...You're evil. Yes, you are.

No kidding!  AND another dead surrogate father!

I think all writers must have a touch of evil in them, in order to produce such effective scenes of death, evil and despair. But it's a tribute to her abilities, let's not forget

[Sandtigress]

She knows we're just teasing her because we love her work so much. ;-) Still....If I ever find a guy crazy enough to actualy marry me, I'd be afraid to invite Sisi to the wedding!

[Miliat]

No heart attack today! Thank goodness! Love it though, I'm curious to see what information they get out of the man.

[Sisimka]

So I came back from yoga to find you all talking behind my back, tsk!



Thanks for all the great comments and I promise, there will be more ...appropriate... wedding gifts at the end of the story. I did choose 'gifts' rather than 'present' for the title though, as its sort of a sub theme, different gifts from different people, etc, eh, something that's supposed to be intelligent...

[Sandtigress]

Sisimka wrote...

So I came back from yoga to find you all talking behind my back, tsk!

.....................................................You know we love you. 

Thanks for all the great comments and I promise, there will be more ...appropriate... wedding gifts at the end of the story.

Does someone give him cheese?  Because he'd like that.  Mmmmm, cheese.  Ha, I had cheese for lunch!

[bloodtallow]

Another outstanding chapter, Sisimka! All I can say is I'm glad Aedan and Al have such friends to help them out!



Great characterization of Oghren, by the way! Fun to see him in his "official role" as opposed to his friendly one.

[Masticetobbacco]

yes good more oghren

[TheShadowWolf911]

DalishRanger wrote...

Probably with mods; there's several that add more skin and eye colors. Looks like you have a console version though, so you're out of luck if that's the case.

so unfair

[Kulkodar]

Thanks m'dear. Work has been brutal and I've been exhausted.. too tired to come here. Fortunately, it's calmed down somewhat. I'm really loving this story! That horrid little man... I can think of ways to torture his sorry ass ;p I am on tenterhooks, waiting to find out if he talks and who hired him. Patience is not one of my virtues, either lol If everything was all sweetness and light, how boring would that get? I love a little evil, wickedness.

[Sandtigress]

*peeks about hopefully* :-P