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II

“Bann Caius,” said Cailan as he entered a much smaller and less grandiose tent containing a hunched nobleman in simple grey chain armour and golden clothing. “The Grey Wardens have informed me of the disaster in the Wilds. You have my sympathies.” The young bann looked up from his seat slowly. It took him a long while to respond.

“My liege,” was all he managed. The banns were the lords of relatively small areas of land within the Bannorn in the centre of Ferelden. Each of them only had a hundred or fewer men to raise when the levies were called. Bann Caius had lost nearly half of his bannorn in the wilds. It was his impetuous decision to send his entire levy out at once which resulted in this, but the king decided against addressing this. Now was a time for mourning. However, far more than fifty men may be lost in the upcoming battle, and so Cailan was inclined to be brief.

“Though it may not bring much consolation, Bann Caius, the Grey Wardens are venturing into the wilds tonight to harry the Darkspawn that killed your men. It will not bring your people back, but the Wardens will make them suffer.” said Cailan. Caius gave him a brief nod of approval, but said nothing. The king had not yet given the order for the Wardens to skirmish with the Darkspawn in the wilds, but he said so nonetheless. Would Loghain allow him he would go with the Wardens to the heart of the Blight and slay the archdemon himself. He had said so to Garviel, who had only smiled humourlessly in return. Cailan was unaware of the cost of slaying an archdemon. Many things were kept secret from those outside the order, for good reason. Cailan exchanged a few phrases of condolences with Bann Caius and then took his leave of the tent, returning to his own forthwith, followed by two heavily armoured guards. On his way back to the golden palace that was his royal tent he passed a group of Grey Wardens near a towering burning pyre. A lithe, golden-haired elf in violet robes was running a white linen cloth along the blade of his curved sword. The cloth turned black as it absorbed the tainted blood clinging to the steel. Cailan moved to join the warden at the pyre when others began to congregate around the elf. He decided to leave the wardens to their business and return to his tent for the time being. He imagined that he would not need to command them into the wilds. If Bann Caius' patrol had been killed so close to Ostagar, Garviel and the wardens would already know it was necessary to scout the wilds themselves. Garviel silently returned his sword to its sheath as he was approached.

“Good evening, Morven,” he said with a faint smile as a fellow elf warden appeared near the bonfire. “I suspect the others will not be long.” He refrained from offering too much information at this point. He intended to wait until the others arrived at the designated place. The wait would not take long, as the other wardens arrived with impeccable timing, displaying their professionalism as wardens. “Paxton, Lynare, Adale,” he said softly in greeting to each warden as they appeared. “Normally I would offer more notice before assembling you, but I'm afraid we have a grave matter to attend to. Bann Caius' men have been massacred in the Korcari Wilds not two miles from Ostagar. Fifty armoured men, butchered and gnawed upon in a matter that can only be attributed to the Darkspawn. I travelled alone this morning and discovered their remains. During my return I was harried by the Darkspawn. If their scouts are less than two miles from Ostagar that may mean that the Blight is much closer than we anticipated. I had intended to delay this mission until King Cailan could provide us with a cohort of knights. However, they may not be arriving for another week. We cannot afford to wait that long. Tonight, under cover of dusk, this small number of us will be venturing into the wilds to recover a number of treaties which bind the people of Ferelden to assist the Wardens during a Blight. If we are successful in recovering these, we may have enough time to send messengers to the magi, the Dalish and to the dwarves, that they assemble their people and prepare for battle. However, if the Blight is as close as we now believe, Ostagar stands alone. There will be no time for them to assist us. We have the forces here to resist a large number of Darkspawn, and there will remain a dozen Wardens in the valley below to do what they must in the event that the archdemon shows itself in our absence. I suggest you four gather what you need and be prepared for a difficult journey.

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