The Dalish Commander (The Daughters of Thedas Book 2)

9: Amaranthine

"What happened?"

"It's quite a ways out of town. We were tracking a buck off in that direction." He waved his hand west. "You see... Before all this Darkspawn mess. We'd been on his tail for about a week at that point. I'd wager he thought it was great fun, leading us on a merry chase like he did." The chase was the fun part. And one of the reasons why I missed being a Hunter. "That buck was a sly one, he was. He had big feet and a --"

Micah cleared his throat.

"Oh, the chasm! Yes, er... we saw it coming over a rise. It really was something to behold, a huge cleft, as though the Maker Himself had cracked the earth in two like... like an egg."

"I like eggs," Micah said.

I was reminded of Sandal, a simple Dwarf who could weave the most complicated enchantments into weapons and armor. We'd saved him and his father, a merchant named Bohden, outside of Lothering. The two followed us from place to place. After the Blight, Bohden had decided to go north to the Free Marshes, instead of taking up my offer to set up shop at Vigil's Keep. I kinda missed Sandal's constant "Enchantment!"

"It looked like someone had tried to build over it but it must have been abandoned a long time ago. No one in town knew about it."

"Who tried to build over it?"

"People, I suppose? Maybe even Darkspawn. Well, of course, we had to investigate! That was when Micah fell in. A shriek like you wouldn't believe and he was gone."

"Earth crumbled. Not stable."

"Right. And as Micah lay there yelling about his knee or head or what have you, the Darkspawn appeared."

"How many?" This was sounding like a tall tale. And I had heard some good ones in my time as a Hunter.

"More than a brood and less than a horde. They seemed... occupied, like they had someplace really important they had to be. Didn't notice us at all. Thank the Maker."

"The Darkspawn were so occupied as to overlook two screaming, injured men?" Anders asked. "Boggles the mind."

Colbert pulled a map out of his pack. "I marked the chasm on my map so we could avoid it but it sounds like you want to know where it is." He handed me the map. "So... are we getting anything for our trouble?"

I handed him a couple of sovereigns.

Colbert's face lit up. "If there's a reason to fall into a Darkspawn pit, here it is. Maker bless you."

"Well, try not to fall into any more."

As we were heading towards the city gate, one of the guards approached us. "My pardon, Warden Commander," she said. "I was asked to give this letter to you." At first, I thought that it might be the missives Tamra said she would get to me. "I told him, I did, there are easier ways of getting a message to the Commander of the Grey." Not Tamra then.

"Who gave you this?" I asked.

"Some visiting knight. Didn't catch his face. Full helm, you know. He said he was Ser Wolf of Rivain." So the Dark Wolf was seeking me out? Varel was the only one who knew I was going for that option. Unless Tamra found him and told him to seek me out.

"Thanks." The guard left and we continued into the city as I read the letter.

"You know someone from Rivain?" Nathaniel asked.