Dragon Age: Origins - Kyrie's Adventure

Chapter Four - The Joining

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“Why does it have to be the Wilds?” Daveth whined for the fifth time.

The moment Duncan announced we would be venturing into the Korcari Wilds to retrieve a set of documents, both Daveth and Jory had begun protesting. They claimed that it was far too dangerous to send us into a territory that was supposedly teeming with darkspawn. Duncan silenced them with a particularly harsh look. I should have known that once we were outside Ostagar’s gates they would resume their complaining.

“We shouldn’t be out here for very long,” Alistair said, coming to a standstill a few feet in front of me. He looked around the vicinity before leading us over to a partially broken sign. He faced us with a knowing smile on his face. “This is as far as I lead you.”

“What?” Jory cried, his face going pale. “Y-You’re going to abandon us?”

“Shut up, will you?” I asked. Both he and Daveth turned to me. “He said he wouldn’t be leading us any longer. Duncan wanted us to retrieve the documents. He,” I jabbed my thumb at Alistair, “is only here for supervision.”

“And why would we need supervision?” Daveth challenged. As his eyes darted to the bushes nearby, his hand fell to one of his blades. “The darkspawn’re out there, aren’t they?”

“Of course they are,” I scoffed. “The horde is practically on Ostagar’s doorstep, is it not? Plus, we have to collect a few vials of their blood. Wonder what for...”

Daveth and Jory gave me terrified looks as I turned and grinned maliciously at them. They then turned to Alistair, protesting loudly about our mission.

“We won’t run into the horde,” Alistair assured them. “I can sense the darkspawn so we’ll be aware of their presence when we run into any.”

“Oh that’s great,” Jory moaned. “We’ll die, but at least we’ll know about it beforehand.”

“Are all shems this cowardly?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“Well I know I’m counting on you to protect me,” Alistair cooed sarcastically, earning a flat look from me. He grinned before turning a more serious look on the other men. “So long as we stick together, I guarantee we’ll be just fine.”

“That sounds like a pretty—” Daveth began.

I cut him off by slapping a hand over his mouth.

“What are you doing?” Jory asked, taking a step towards me.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I immediately shoved Daveth forward. He tripped over his own two feet, falling to the ground face first with a groan. Just as Jory was about to help the dark-haired man to his feet, a loud snarl rang out behind me. I spun in place to find a wolf racing towards me from the brush. The men cried out in alarm, but I had been ready for it. I yanked my blades from their hilts, meeting its attack with one of my own. With a single strike and a pained yelp, the beast lay dead at my feet.

“How did you—?” Daveth breathed. He looked up into my eyes, astonished. “Th-Thank you.”

“Don’t expect me to do it again,” I said, wiping my blade across the wolf’s pelt. I then jerked my head towards them. “Besides. This one was only the distraction.”

All three men turned around, drawing their weapons as they did. A pack of no less than ten wolves was bounding towards us. The three of them rushed forward, challenging the snarls of the beasts with a battle cry of their own. I sheathed my twin blades, removing my bow from my back. The three of them would be swinging their blades around. My best chance at avoiding an injury was to stay behind them and loose a few volleys.