Chapter 1

            Elia stepped to the edge of her concealment. Peering around the corner, she had finally come across guards. The pair quietly chatted at the end of the alley, completely unaware of the girl watching them from the shadows. She had sneaked into West Hill relatively easily with no sight of patrolling guards until now. She held her breath for a moment, a silent prayer, and stepped out.

            “And here I thought tonight was going to be boring.” Her voice was calm, even as the guards turned to face her. Elia’s heart pounded in her ears as the guards drew their weapons and began slowly walking towards her. She waited until they had taken a few more steps before she spoke again.

            “Draw your last breath, my friends, cross the Veil and the Fade and all the stars in the sky. Rest at the Maker’s right hand,” The guards came closer as she spoke chuckling at her words, until a cloud of smoke caused their eyes to become heavy and they fell to the ground, “and be forgiven.”

            Elia held her breath and jumped through the cloud. She ran to the edge of the alley and sighed in relief. The cloud would linger only for moments longer so she had to move quickly. She scanned the area for more guards but there were none in her path. The bulk of the guards were closer to Bann Franderel’s castle than the separate dungeon. Elia crossed the main road and hid behind the building’s southern face.

            Gaining some footing on a crate, she lifted herself to a window and peered inside. A lone guard paced inside, clearly uncomfortable, but whether it was because he was alone or what he was guarding Elia couldn’t tell. She lowered herself and checked her surroundings again. The only way in was the front door, it was a huge risk and also presented her with an unpleasant task: she would have to kill the guard.

            She watched him again, counting his steps and taking note of how long it took for him to turn. As he stepped towards the door, Elia leapt into action, she would have precious few seconds to execute this cleanly. Elia turned the corner and opened the door slowly, he had just turned away. She stepped into the building and followed behind the man; he was sweating and seemed on the verge of madness. She closed the gap between them.

            As the guard turned to repeat his stride, Elia’s dagger flashed before him and slit his throat. His brows knotted together, this girl wasn’t here before, surely she was a ghost. Elia frowned and lowered her head as the guard clasped his hands at his throat and fell to the ground. His eyes accusing her until the light finally faded from them. Elia searched him only for the keys to the dungeon below and left, her heart was heavy.

            The door to the dungeon creaked loudly as she pushed it open. The stairs leading down looked worn and close to crumbling. Elia slowly descended into the dungeon and cringed at the scent. It smelt like urine, feces, and a number of other things she didn’t want to figure out. What madness would cause a noble to put something of value into this place? There were a number of cells, yet only one was occupied. Not by an object but by a man.

            Elia looked around confused. He was the only one down here, not including his cell or ragged clothes, Maker be damned if his smallclothes were the target. Bann Esmerelle said it was an object, something beautiful, but nothing in this dungeon even seemed to resemble her description. She must have had terrible information, or someone beat Elia to her prize. The children of the Chantry would have to go without for now.

            Elia stepped in a little further, the man was slouched in the corner of his cell, dead or asleep she couldn’t tell. A jug of water stood just out of arms reach from his prison a sort of cruel torture. She walked over to the jug and slid it just inside his cage. Before she could pull her arm out, the man sprung to life. Elia struggled to suppress a scream as the man gulped the water greedily. She knelt in front of his cell as he looked up at her from the jug. As their eyes met he quickly looked back down, all she noticed was a flash of aquamarine.

            “Thank you.” The man said. His voice was deep but slightly muffled by the jug.

            “What did you do to get stuck in here and with this treatment?” Elia asked as she eyed the steps leading out of the dungeon.

            “I would not exorcise a demon that was not there.”

Elia’s mind was now intrigued. He had to be a mage or possibly of the Chantry. The Templars would kill Bann Franderel if they found out. “What’s your name?”

He drank from the jug. “What’s a name?”

Elia was taken aback. “There’s no way you don’t know what a name is! A name is something people call you. A way for you to know they are talking to you.” She pointed to the metal bars. “These would be called bars and, in your case, your cage.”

“Then my name is Thing.” The man spoke frankly before sitting in the corner again.

Elia didn’t know whether he was joking or being serious. “Fine have it your way. I’m Elia.” She stood up. “If you like, I could spring you from here and you’d be as free as a bird in the wilds.”

“My master would look for me and drag me back.”

“Master?! You’re a slave?” Elia was instantly angered.

“I’m an object to be owned. Only people can be slaves.” He looked up at Elia again. His eyes briefly locked with hers before darting back down. This was something he believed.

“I can’t tell you how wrong you are, buddy.” Elia began testing the keys to the cell. “If I were to leave you here what would the Maker think of me?”

The man tilted his head back and sighed to himself. This woman, something was different about her. She treated him as a person, something must be wrong with her eyes. It was seconds before he heard the cell door creak open and seen her standing in front of it triumphantly. Was she to be his new master? She didn’t look like any of the others that had owned him and seemed angered by the thought of him being owned.

“Now before I get you out of here for good I need some information.” He nodded. “I was sent here to steal something from Ban Franderel, something that was supposed to be the only thing down here. Do you have any idea what that may be?”

He thought for a moment. “Since he bought me, I’ve been the only thing down here, everything was moved out. Nothing is stored here.”

“Did you see what they moved out of here? Maybe it was here before you.”

 The man shook his head. “The only thing they removed from here was corpses.”

 “Damn.” Elia stepped aside. “Looks like I’ll have to request more information or cancel the job.”

He stood up and approached Elia. His was unsure if this was some test or if he was really changing hands. Whoever this woman was, she seemed like she would be a better master than Franderel. There was strength and kindness in her, merciless yet compassionate; he would be at better use with her than any of his other masters. She would have no say in it unless she handed him over to someone else.

“Stay close to me unless I tell you otherwise. Stay low and behind as much cover as possible. We may be swarmed as soon as we leave, be alert.” Elia lead him up the steps hoping he also understood the gravity of the situation. She took the silence between them as an understanding.

Elia gradually opened the dungeon’s door and glanced out. Guards were huddled together, looking around nervously a few steps from their exit. Further down their path was another group of guards, but they were headed back to the castle. This group would be their first obstacle and hardly one at that. Before she would make her move, Elia retrieved a flask from her belt and waited until the second group was back in the castle.

She swung the door open and began speaking as the flask flew towards the guards. “Touch me with fire that I may be cleansed!” The guards turned too late and were set ablaze. Their screams were the only thing that chased Elia and the prisoner as they ran towards the gate.

“How do we get out of the gate?” The man asked as he ran beside Elia.

“My employer was prepared. A guard at the gate is our ticket out -” An arrow whistled in between her and the man cutting her off. She stopped and turned as one guard nocked another arrow and his companion drew his sword.

“Damn.” Elia drew her daggers and was about to charge when the man stepped in front of her and pointed to the guards. Two figures ran passed Elia towards the guards. They were transparent and had an ethereal glow around them. Elia nearly dropped her daggers as the figures attacked the guards.

“They won’t last long.” The man said totally unaffected by the scene playing out before them.

Elia sheathed her daggers and continued to the gates, turning for a moment to see the beings strike down the guards before finally disappearing. She was too confused to say anything, yet this man was acting as if this was normal. Was it his doing or some divine intervention? There was something very off about this man and his detached demeanor, but what it was that stood out Elia couldn’t figure out.

They reached the gate and as promised a lone guard was there. He opened the gates as they neared and stepped out alongside them. “I will be going to Amaranthine. You got what you came for,” he eyed the prisoner with disgust, “don’t keep her waiting long for her prize.”

Elia grew angry. “Tell her the contract is cancelled.” The guard raised his eyebrows and sighed walking towards Amaranthine.

Elia turned and walked away to reunite with her steed, the man was close behind her. She had questions, lots of them, not to mention an anger burning within her. The nobles were toying with a slave, who was most likely brought to Ferelden from Tevinter or some other nation that still allowed people to be bought and sold. She wouldn’t be a pawn in their game for control over a slave.