To Adapt or Die

Chapter 3

-Darrian Tabris-

Shooting up with a gasp, Darrian held a hand to his forehead, feeling the caked blood he knew would stand out against his brilliant white shock of hair. "Darrian!" Soris was kneeling at his side, a few feet away a human in armor was helping up a dwarven women, Darrian was able to recall through the throbbing in his skull that they were Grey Warden recruits brought by a human named Duncan who was friends with the Hahren.

"Nesiara!" Darrian forced himself up, eyes wide and angry, "Shianni! Where are the girls?!"

"Vaughn took them." The human Warden recruit scowled as he helped the dwarf to her feet, any blood on her head getting lost in the red of her hair. "Serada threatened to conscript him into the wardens if he didn't lose the attitude and leave. His response was bottling her without any warning."

"I'm going to gut that son of a bitch like a maker damned pig!" Darrian snarled, not caring if anyone heard him anymore.

"Good." The human gave him a dangerous grin, "One of the other elves said they could sneak us over to a servant's entrance into the Arl's estate. I also borrowed some of Duncan's weapons for you to use." They tossed him a bundle containing a quiver, a bow, and a dagger.

"You're…willing to help?" Darrian was confused on why a human would help an elf do anything, let alone help kill a human noble.

"I've always hated that little shit." The human spat in the dirt, "And I'm not feeling too charitable to nobles who abuse their power right now. Serada isn't either if im not mistaken."

"No, this is going to feel good." The dwarf cracked her knuckles.

"Soris," Darrian turned to his cousin "go check on the others. Make sure everyone here is alright and get ready to treat the girls when we get back."

"A-are you sure?" Soris attempted a subtle glance at the two warden recruits, easily showing his trepidation.

"Hahren Valendrian trusts the wardens and I trust him." Darrian easily strung the bow, "Now let's move!" the two others quickly moved with him as they grabbed his fellow alienage resident who guided him the through the back roads that let the elven servants stay out of sight from the nobles who would prefer not to lay eyes on them. "Why are you two so eager to kill a noble?" he asked quietly as they moved through the shadows, wanting to understand the reasons this group had to fight.

"…My godfather was a noble, he betrayed my family to take our places and slaughtered them all. My brother down at Ostagar and I are the only ones left alive of our family line." The human explained, clenching his fist tightly.

"My younger brother framed me for the murder of our elder brother to get political power." Serada the dwarf grunted.

"Your brother? Godfather?" Darrian wondered who these people were in the grand scheme of things.

"My brother is Bhelen Aeducan, now next in line to become King of the Dwarves." Serada explained, glancing at the human who straightened.

"I am Aeden Cousland, son of the Teryn of Highever, betrayed by Arl Rendon Howe." The now named Aeden explained.

"So Vaughn isn't anything new." Darrian scowled at hearing that the local swine was the norm and not the exception to the rule.

"Sadly not." Aeden sighed only for their guide to shush them, the Arl's estate close and so the risk of running into patrols was higher now.

After several tense minutes of walking, their guide opened a gate, "Alright, go left and you'll find a door inside just past the gardens. There should only be one guard inside and he's usually asleep."

"Take this, get back and stay safe." Aeden nodded, pressing a gold sovereign into the stunned elf's palm. Nodding to the warden recruits, and only vaguely noting his neighbor running back to the Alienage, the trio entered the grounds of the Arl's estate. The growling was instant as a trio of Mabari started charging at them, eyes wide and glaring. Before Aeden or Serada could move to attack, Darrian held out his hand, focusing as the creatures slowed to a stop, panting at him happily, their stubby tails wiggling.

"What the?" Serada was gaping in confusion while Aeden was studying him intently.

"That hair…your eyes…you're fade touched, aren't you?" the educated noble looked stunned as Darrian nodded.

"The Hahren explained it to me when I was a child, that it happens on rare occasions. Mine gives me some useful abilities when it comes to animals." Smirking, Darrian held out a finger to prove his point as a bird flew down and chirped once before going back to a tree.

"What's going on here?!" a guard rounded the corner only to go down screaming as the three Mabari attacked him, bringing the man down and ending him.

"Alright, we can't just stand around, let's keep moving." Aeden pointed his axe, "Your friend said the door was that way. Neither Darrian nor Serada argued as they sped up, the dogs hurrying to catch up after ending the guardsman.

The guard at the door wasn't asleep like they were told was likely but was fully awake and smirking, "Lord Vaughn said one of you knife ears might try something. I'm going to enjoy-" the bastard's diatribe was cut off by an arrow through the eye thanks to the bow Darrian had been loaned. And so they continued, cutting down every guard they came across, elven servants helping by knifing their 'masters' in the back at the first opportunity. As they went, the trio looted everything they could. Weapons, armor, coin it didn't matter, so long as they could fit it in their enchanted packs.

Entering into another hall, they found a trio of guards kneeling over the corpse of Nola. "Shame we had to kill her, quite a nice body on this one." One of the guards with bloodied blades grumbles as they look down at her corpse.

"She's still warm, how picky are you?" one of the other ones asks as the three chuckle. Those laughs didn't last long as an arrow went through the jugular of the first one who went down, choking on his own blood. The second one hurried to raise a shield only for the arrow in question to be for his greatsword wielding companion. Darrian felt rage, pure and burning as he stalked towards the vile twisted bastard who had killed his friend.

"Please!" the guard pleaded, tears and snot running as Darrian could smell the man had soiled himself at the sight of his friends killed so easily and the man stuck with three angry and armed strangers, "Mercy!"

"You want Mercy?!" Darian seethed, gripping the bow so tightly he was almost surprised the wood didn't shatter in his grip, "Take your sword and kill yourself if you want mercy!" the man, weak with fear, began to raise his sword but Darrian soon noted that his eyes were wide with horror directed at his own arm, the blade moving away from Darian. A moment later the guard let out a choked gurgle as he stabbed himself with his own blade.

"I thought you could only affect animals." Aeden looked dispassionately at the man on the ground bleeding gout.

"I…I thought so too." Darrian looked stunned as his hands for a moment before the final gurgle from the last guardsman shook him out of it. "Come on, we still need to find the girls."

"They should be this way." Serada points to a hallway "My stone sense isn't as good as it would be in a cave but this whole place is made of rock, it's enough to get by." That was all Darrian needed to hear as the group sped up, wanting to save as many of the girls as he still could. At the end of all the hallways, the trio found Vaughn and his lackies, all laughing over Shianni who lay sobbing on the ground, her wedding clothes ripped and torn.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Vaughn rose and began to turn at the sound of them entering only to freeze eyes wide when he actually took in their appearance.

"Don't worry lord Vaugh, we'll make short work of these three." An overdressed fool with a stupid pencil mustache laughed, his bearded compatriot letting out a dumb chuckle.

"Quiet you idiots! They're covered in enough blood to fill a tub. What do you think that means?" Vaugh was afraid and it showed.

"Not quite a tub." Darrian snarled, the Mabari he had enthralled growling menacingly at their former master "I think yours will be just enough to top it off though."

"All right, all right now! Let's not be too hasty here. Surely we can talk this over," Vaugh was backing up with his hands held out placatingly "I'm sure you three are amenable to a…deal of sorts."

"Please," Shianni interrupted Vaugh sobbing "get me out of here. I want to go home!"

"Think for a minute! Kill me and you'll ruin more lives than just your own. Why by dawn everyone will be wanting to let the streets run red with the blood of the knife ea- I mean 'elves' who murdered their beloved lord. Or we could talk things through. I have a chest in my quarters with plenty of gold. Leave the girls and walk away and you can have it as a reasonable compensation for all your troubles."

"Never!" Darrian snarled, the Mabari barking angrily. At his side, Serada held out her hand as a shock wave actually struck the trio of lords, one of them with a bow still getting off an arrow which Darrian saw hit Aeden. Drawing his knife, Darrian ran over faster than the lazy lords could react, their unprotected throats cut as blood began to pool.

"The others are in here." Serada walked over to a second door that had a grate over it and frowned before with a gesture of her arm, the stone around the door came loose, letting the wooden barrier fall to the ground with a crash. The elven girls ran over to Darrian and Shianni, Nesiara first among them as Darrian let out a sigh of relief at seeing her. Unlike most who elves from the alienages who didn't meet their spouse until the day of the wedding, Darrien had been able to spend the last couple years trading letters with her and they had even grown to care for one another before she came to Denerim.

"Thank you both for your help." Darrien turned to the warden recruits only to notice the dwarf tapping her foot and glaring at a confused human who didn't seem to notice the arrow sticking out of his side. "Sweet Maker man!"

"What?" Aeden looked down, "Oh damn it all, not again." Without even a wince of pain, the Cousland heir ripped out the arrow and pinched the hole shut. What the hell kind of madness had Darian found himself in now?

AN: So yeah, those are the three wardens recruited for the story. I wanted to pick the ones i felt could make some of the biggest changes for Ferelden and beyond without using too many of the PC wardens. Do I love the other ones? Of course I do, Warden Amell is one of my favorites, but I wanted to stick to just three as I have plans for how each affects the future. I also wanted each to have something uniquely awesome about them so their 'mage' is the dwarven mage like we saw in the descent who seem to have force powers along with being able to shape the earth. The rogue is an elf who's fade touched with jedi mind trick style powers to make him the ultimate ranger. And the warrior literally can't feel pain. This is gonna be fun.