Here is a teaser/prologue to my story Dragon Age: Origin Of A Warden. It's hero is Aedan Cousland, a Human Noble Warrior, and most of it is written from his POV. In addition, some chapters and scenes (such as the one with Loghain on a previous blog post) will be written from another character's POV. Enjoy!
Racing up the stairs of the ruined watchtower, I spun and hacked through the darkspawn soldiers. I led the charge up, cleaving my way up to the top of the steps. Alistair followed, bashing the foul hurlocks away, stabbing and slashing in short, effective thrusts. Conn, my mabari battle-hound, was last up the stairs, leaping on one of the last hurlocks and ripping its torso open with its rending claws and teeth.
I began to relax slightly, confident that there were no more threats around, but Alistair wasn’t so sure. He dived and tackled me to the floor just as a chunk of stone was thrown in our direction. Rolling away, I drew my sword and dagger, hoping I could face down this threat without using my broken shield. An ogre stepped from the shadows, roaring as it charged at Alistair. My fellow Warden threw himself to one side, but the ogre still caught him with its huge, twisted horns. I saw no other option, and Alistair looked doomed, so I charged into action. I sped forward, rolling to avoid the ogre’s outstretched hand, and hacked upwards. My sword embedded itself in the beast’s arm, and I struggled to pull it free. As I did so, the ogre’s other hand grabbed my legs, lifting me in front of it. I swore and threw my dagger, the blade rotating once before it hit, stabbing through the monster’s left eye. It roared in pain, throwing me across the hall. With no helmet, my head smashed against the wall hard and I struggled to remain conscious. My leg had been squeezed tightly by the ogre, and felt like the knee was at least dislocated, if not broken.
Alistair was back on his feet, charging again at the ogre despite having dropped his shield. Conn leapt at the massive darkspawn first, biting deeply into its leg, and Alistair leapt into the air as the ogre fell to one knee. Catching hold of one of the ogre’s horns, Alistair stabbed the beast in the face, ramming his blade into its skull so deeply, it impaled the brain. The ogre fell back, and Alistair pushed himself away, landing uneasily on his feet as I forced myself back onto mine. He ran to the window, while I limped over to the ogre’s corpse, pulling my sword and dagger free, wiping them down and sheathing them.
“We’ve missed the signal, Aedan!” Alistair’s cry reminded me what we were doing there, and I made my way over to the beacon, wobbling and cursing at the pain. Soaking the wood in the oil provided, I lit the beacon with the tinderbox in my pack, before hobbling to the window next to Alistair. Before I made it halfway, a faint whistling sound was heard, and I fell to the floor as though I’d been punched in the chest. Looking down, I saw an arrow sticking out of me, before my eyes rolled back and I collapsed unconscious. My unconscious mind scrambled, and I found myself reliving the memories that led up to my becoming one of the mighty Grey Wardens.
PS. This is a re-write of the original, which was widely agreed to be crud. Now it's a lot better, I think.