The World Shakes

Five

When you first walk across the bridge and into the entrance of Ostagar it is almost hard to decide what to focus on. So many different things and sounds collide together creating a mess of different things. Instantly you can hear the sound of dogs barking. After that, it’s Chantry sisters yelling the words of the Maker. Then you hear the crying of the wounded soldier begging the Maker to just make the pain go away. Behind this is the smaller things. The murmur of a conversation by the soldiers, the faint buzz of magic coming from the small circle of mages,  and the clanking of swords from the training grounds. 

    After so long of being on my own the sudden overwhelming noise put me on edge. My back tense and my hair standing on end. The thought that I would soon have to face Darkspawn again twisted my insides. The thought of their dark gnarled faces, the smell of rotten flesh that follows them around, and the evil aura that circles them and everything they touch makes me feel like I could throw up any moment. 

    I made my way slowly around Ostagar observing everything and drawing very little attention to myself. It wasn’t hard, during a war new people are recruited all the time; whether they are soldiers or workers new faces are always appearing in the camp. No one paid attention to a random girl walking around. As I walked through the camp I fumed over Duncan’s last words to me.

“Walk around all you want, but don’t leave the camp until I tell you that you can. We don’t need you wandering off and getting ambushed.” He tells me in an authoritative tone. I feel my eyes squint hatefully towards him. My arms cross tightly around my chest like armor. 

“What? Do you think now I can’t take care of myself? I’m not stupid enough to get myself ambushed.” I snap at him. He analyses me and takes a deep breath before continuing. 

“I will be in the Grey Warden camp next to the soldiers camp if you need anything. When you are ready to continue with the plans for the Joining meet up with Alistair, he will be somewhere on the east side of the camp. You won’t be able to miss him.” He turns to walk down the bridge following Cailan. “Oh, just so you don’t get any ideas I’ll keep Ollie with me.” My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 

“No,” I called after him as Ollie barks in disagreement. Duncan turns back to both of us; a disapproving look in his eyes. Without saying a thing he digs into his bag and pulls out what appears to be a bone and holds it out to Ollie. He takes a second, looking between me and the bone before barking and following Duncan. 

“Traitor,” I yelled after Ollie. As they walk away I can hear Duncan laughing. 

“Oh and Lu,” He calls to me over his shoulder. “Play nice.”

“Play nice? I’ll show him ‘play nice’.” I muttered to myself cracking my knuckles violently. “How dare he treat me like a child. I am twenty-one years old.” 

“Well, you look angry.” A voice laughed out pulling me from my own world and making me realize I had been talking to myself rather loudly. Maker I had to get used to being around people again. 

Looking over I saw an older woman leaning against a tree and smiling at me. Her grey/white hair was pulled away from her face. Her eyes were a pale blue. Her skin was pale and wrinkled; her smile was soft and genuine. All my anger slowly faded away as I looked at her. 

“Tell me, child, what has you so upset.” I rolled my eyes slightly. One for her calling me “child” and two for her acting like some grandmother who could fix all my problems. I appreciate the sentiment, but there was no one all this earth that could fix half of my problems, let alone all of them. Still just walking away seemed rude and I am not trying to make enemies with other people in the camp. Besides she had seen me talking to myself I had to say something to cover my ass and not look insane.