Chapter Text
Candles flickered weakly in the dimly-lit room in the tallest tower of the Free Marches Warden Keep. Carver sat squinting in the half-light at his commander: Warden-Commander Jean-Marc Stroud of the Free Marches. Carver had always had great respect for his commander: he’d carried him out of the Deep Roads, seen him through his Joining, encouraged and supported him every step of the way through his career as a Grey Warden. Stroud never demanded too much but never coddled, led by example instead of barking orders. But he was a man with a great many secrets, Carver realised, and most of them he’d take to his grave. Tonight, however, there was one he planned to share and he’d given Carver the honour of being one of the first to hear it.
"Carver," Stroud said with a sigh. "I find myself in the difficult position of asking for your help, and your help alone. You are doubtless the most dedicated of all my Wardens. You and I have fought side by side against darkspawn more times than I can count. This means that I respect you enough to trust with this most deadly, high-risk mission. Believe me when I say that this mission will no doubt change Thedas more than all the major events of the past century combined. And this has without doubt been an eventful hundred years." Carver nodded, quietly glowing with pride as Stroud got up from his chair and walked over to the window.
"You remember Katana, yes? The Tal-Vashoth Senior Warden, who left for her Calling last week? We don’t know if it was deliberate or by accident but when she left she took the most priceless document the Wardens have ever possessed with her. A document, coincidentally, that she herself gave to the Wardens after her Joining. I will be sending you with a squad of Wardens from your homeland, Fereldan, into the Deep Roads to find her. Bring her back, if you can, but whatever happens the document must make it out of the Deep Roads and must not fall into the hands of anyone, even the darkspawn."
"A document?" Carver asked. "What kind of document? We’re warriors, Stroud. Not bureaucrats."
"That’s confidential, Carver. All you need to know is that you and your team must retrieve it. Speaking of your team I believe they’ve just arrived."
Turning his head towards the tall wooden door, Carver heard a creak and saw it swing open. Five Wardens walked in: one human mage, two dwarves (a man and a woman, each toting a large battleaxe), an elf warrior with Dalish vallaslin upon her face and another human, a warrior this time, standing tall and proud and… familiar.
Before the Fereldan Wardens could even utter a word Carver was on his feet, a dagger in his hand slashing towards the neck of the man who stood before him. With a sigh of reluctance, having clearly endured this before, Loghain Mac Tir ducked the dagger with ease and countered with a punch upwards that knocked Carver off of his feet. Carver spat out some tainted blood and pulled himself to his feet.
"Him?" he shouted incredulously at Stroud. "This man betrayed Fereldan. I fought at Ostagar. I saw friends die, slaughtered by the darkspawn because he abandoned us. Because of him the darkspawn overran my home town and my sister died. And you expect me to work with him?"
"Yes, I do," Stroud said sternly. "Senior Warden Loghain has had five years in which to prove his worth to the Wardens and has done so excellently. You should be honoured to work with him."
"That you should, Warden Carver," Loghain said with a chuckle. "I’ll be leading this little expedition so you’d better stay in line. Trust me, my friends here won’t be so kind to you if you slit my throat while I sleep in the middle of a thaig."
Carver sneered at Loghain, the hatred in him almost boiling over.
"Let me introduce my companions here," Loghain said cockily, sauntering over to the other Wardens that stood by the door. "Senior Warden Captain Oghren," he said, pointing to the male dwarf. "Fought beside the Hero of Fereldan, along with myself, against the Blight and The Mother. Now serves as a Warden and commands Amaranthine’s military forces." Oghren started to chuckle before interrupting himself with a belch. Loghain nodded down to the female dwarf. "This is Helga, former member of Orzammar’s warrior caste, one of the many dwarvern warriors sent by King Bhelen to serve with the Wardens in thanks for helping him ascend to the throne." Helga beamed with pride, her smile almost as bright as her well-polished axe. Loghain then stood between the mage and the Dalish, an arm around each of them. "Finn and Ariane, two of our newest recruits."
"Fought beside the Warden-Commander himself, we did!" Finn announced proudly as he leaped forwards and Ariane sighed. "Fought ghosts, darkspawn, even a varterall! Saw him leave through an Eluvian with the witch Morrigan herself, we did! Headed straight to Vigil’s Keep afterwards to report what happened and volunteered as recruits right away!"
"Sit down, Finn," Loghain ordered. "You’ll soil yourself." He looked at Carver, a smug grin on his face. "Well then, willing to join our merry band of adventurers? Of course you are. We’ll be leaving for the Deep Roads in a week, get packed and prepared then meet us at the Deep Roads entrance north of here to join us. Don’t be late." And with that, Loghain strode out of the room, the other Wardens following dutifully.