Landsmeet pt4

'Leliana, may I inquire why I couldn't be given some armour that fitted me better?' Aenian asked the Orlesian minstrel as they trudged through the main streets of Denerim, Vaughan trotting faithfully by his owner's side.  The commoners stepped aside hastily as the both of them, clad in the mailed uniform of the arl of Denerim, of which the title was currently held by Rendon Howe, passed through.  Some beheld them both with fearful gazes while others, including a few of the upper classes glared loathingly at them, not for any reason other than the uniform they wore.

Since Arl Urien's death at the Battle of Ostagar, and with no surviving heir, the title for Arl of Denerim fell to Loghain's greatest political ally, Rendon Howe, a man who had earned a reputation of sheer ruthlessness, for his soldiers were very heavy-handed with the peasantry and the city watch never dared challenge them when they overstepped the bounds of the law.  Even the templars had little love for Howe, though they were never disrespected in any way because of the influence the Chantry had with the politics of Ferelden, and Arl Howe and Teyrn Loghain were both pragmatic enough to realise the importance of having a neutral party as a political ally.  He was also known to be cruel to prisoners who were misfortunate enough to be placed within the dungeons of the arl's palace, for there were many stories of how humans and elves endured torture and even dying while in the custody within the palace's dungeons that he was affectionately known by the populace as "The Butcher of Denerim".  Such rumours were bound to spread across the Waking Sea all the way to the Free Marches, and possibly even further to far off places like Nevarra and even Antiva.  There was also the heavy taxation he had imposed, causing no shortage of protest from almost everyone, from farmers to blacksmiths and merchants, and even other nobility.

'You know as well as I that the queen's handmaiden only brought two suits of armour with her when she approached Arl Eamon for help,' Leliana told Aenian.  The armour, standard uniform for Rendon Howe's elite guard that they both had acquired before leaving Eamon's estate, was ill-suited for Aenian, for he was rather short and slim of stature, even by elf standards, and he stood more than half a foot shorter than the Orlesian minstrel.  Certain pieces of armour seemed a little oversized for the smallish elf to be wearing, like the gauntlets and pauldrons, the gauntlets having needed to be strapped tautly so that they wouldn't come off of his smaller hands, and the same was also applied to the pauldrons so that they didn't bounce around as he walked.  The armour he was wearing was actually made to fit a six-foot human more comfortably.  At least he and Leliana wore fully enclosed helms, with the only opening a single eye slit on the helm for them to see where they were going, for it would be awkward to say the least if anyone were to recognise them wearing the uniform of a soldier of Denerim's arling, especially for Aenian, who was a Grey Warden, and the current arl of Denerim was no friend of the Grey Wardens.  But it couldn't be helped.

It had only been less than an hour ago since he and Leliana had left Eamon's estate.  The arl had told him earlier that Queen Anora was being detained against her will by Arl Howe.  The elven woman who was in the arl's study earlier who had asked for their help, the queen's handmaiden Erlina had told the arl what Rendon Howe did and had asked for his help to rescue her, lest Howe murder her and frame Eamon and the Grey Wardens for it.  Realising the political ramifications for the consequences of this possibility and the fate of the Landsmeet hanging in the balance, Aenian volunteered to go to Arl Howe's Denerim estate and rescue the queen from the ruthless arl's clutches.  Having been there before when he and his cousin Soris slaughtered Bann Vaughan Kendell and his entire house guard, he had some familiarity with the layout of the estate.  He did however suggest Alistair remain behind, reasoning that should something go wrong or if it was a set-up arranged by Arl Howe to murder the Grey Wardens, then Aenian could make it appear that he had acted alone, giving the other Grey Warden plausible deniability should any serious breach of the law be made during the queen's rescue should criminal charges be pressed by the regent.  Alistair questioned his fellow Warden's logic, wondering if that would stop Loghain from arresting him anyway.  Aenian had responded that the former templar could claim that he and Arl Eamon knew nothing of him raiding the Arl of Denerim's property and, furthermore, warn the teyrn that any kind of provocation against them, like an attempt to arrest them would be disastrous for everyone involved, including the regent.  Not only that, but Aenian was depending on Alistair to lead their army against the darkspawn should his attempt to rescue Anora meet with failure.

When suggesting who else to take with him to infiltrate the Arl of Denerim's estate in disguise as a newly hired guard, Aenian thought it would be best to take Leliana with him.  She was by far the best fast-talker of his companions, and she was human and wouldn't arouse much suspicion from the guards when he would go to Arl of Denerim's estate and search for Queen Anora, unlike some of his other friends, namely the qunari Sten and the apostate Morrigan, adding that the Orlesian minstrel could pretend that he was her younger brother, thus explaining why he was accompanying her.  Despite the armour being ill-fitting, the elven Warden was grateful at least to Erlina for supplying the disguises he and Leliana needed to waltz inside the arl's palace and find Anora, even if she was only able to supply two uniforms, one for him, and the other for Leliana.  The uniforms were too small for the qunari Sten to wear, who had volunteered to accompany the Grey Warden in his mission to rescue the queen, and the qunari also couldn't fit a helmet over his head, what with the single remaining horn he had on his head getting in the way, the other horn having been cut off by the darkspawn while he had been separated from the Grey Warden in the Deep Roads more than a month back.  Still, the qunari was not disappointed in being left behind and contented himself to keeping a close eye on Alistair.

Behind them, Aenian could sense someone was following them.  He didn't turn about in an attempt to look for them, for he knew that he and Leliana were only being followed by one person.  Leliana realised this as well, and they instinctively speculated it was Zevran, keeping a watchful eye on them as they approached the estate that Howe resided in.  It would matter very little in any case since there were guards all over the place and keenly alert.  It would be nearly impossible for the Antivan Crow to sneak inside the palace while the sun was still up, which meant that if they faced trouble inside, then Aenian, Leliana and Vaughan were on their own.

Vaughan barked as they approached the grounds of the Arl Howe's Denerim estate.  'Yes, I know.  We're here.  And we can see Erlina up ahead,' the Grey Warden said, looking ahead at where Anora's elven handmaiden stood within the grounds of the arl's estate, near several carts full of building equipment, tools and materials like wood and painted roof tiles.  It seemed that the Arl of Denerim was putting tax funds to use in refurbishing the huge manor.  He personally saw it as a waste of the commoner's money that the arl had seized through taxation that was unjustifiably burdening the people, whether they were elven or human.  Further along, standing just outside the front entry of the palace was a congregation of labourers, many of whom were human, though some were elven.  From what Aenian could observe from a distance, he would surmise that the labourers were angry.  He didn't know why they were angry, but he did suspect that the man who hired them, likely Arl Howe, was withholding their wages.  It was hardly new for labourers to have their pay withheld by their employers, for humans often did so to elven labourers.  Aenian grew up hearing of such things occurring to the alienage elves by his father, even witnessing a riot many years ago involving dozens of elven labourers for not being paid their wages by the former arl of Denerim, Urien Kendell.  Some of the labourers had been killed by previous arl's soldiers during the riots, while the vast majority were arrested and imprisoned, several even being subsequently executed afterwards.  Aenian remembered the city watch ransacking his father's house after the riots, along with every elven residence and business in the alienage, looking for more elves to arrest in connection to the riot that disturbed Arl Urien.

The mabari trotted ahead, heeling before Erlina.  The elven handmaiden inched back as the dog approached, a look of fear on her face when met with an unleashed hound.  Aenian sighed, regretting bringing Vaughan with him.  It had seemed a good idea at the time when Leliana had suggested he mabari accompany them, for Arl Howe had a kennel where he kept trained mabari hounds, thus making the sight of a mabari wandering with them look less suspicious.  That didn't stop him from being concerned that Vaughan could get caught up in some mischief that would draw suspicion towards them while they searched the palace for Queen Anora.  Aenian was at least grateful that Erlina had kept her composure to the best of her ability and didn't shriek like many alienage elves would and draw unnecessary attention to them.

Erlina had indignantly scolded Aenian for not keeping the mabari under control, of which the war hound winced in shame, clearly understanding it was in trouble.  The mabari's mood lifted when Aenian rubbed the back of his neck, apologising to the handmaiden for his dog's behaviour, promising to reign in Vaughan's behaviour while they were inside the palace.

'What's the plan?' Aenian asked Erlina.

'You should be able to enter through the front entrance without too much trouble, but I cannot help but have doubts on whether you'd even be able to get inside.  I fear that should you be recognised immediately, then Arl Howe would kill the queen,' Erlina spoke, expressing her concern to the Grey Warden.

'He's a fool to even try it,' Aenian tried to reassure Erlina.

'He's more cunning than he appears, and his silver tongue is venomous indeed.  The queen had certainly expressed as much to me before her forced imprisonment,' Erlina said, not sounding very convinced in Aenian optimism that the arl wouldn't kill the queen but appreciating it all the same.

'Maybe I should do all the talking,' Leliana suggested.  'You are supposed to be pretending to be my younger brother, right?'

Vaughan barked once in agreement with Leliana.  Aenian understood.  'I can't argue with Vaughan on that,' Aenian admitted, earning another appreciative bark from the mabari.

'Then I'll go around and enter through the servant's entrance.  There are a lot of elven servants that I should only attract minimal suspicion at best,' Erlina said.

'You're not worried that someone would suspect you had spoken to Eamon?' Aenian asked the handmaiden.

'I'm certain that I was not followed.  And some of the servants have agreed to assist me in getting Queen Anora out of the arl's palace,' said Erlina.

'OK, Erlina.  We'll meet up inside, just outside the kennels, near the kitchen,' Aenian said.

'You know where the kennels are, right?' Erlina asked Aenian.

'Of course.  I once broke into the palace and slaughtered Bann Vaughan's entire house guard,' Aenian told the handmaiden.

'And killed the bann too,' Erlina added.  'For what he did to your cousin.  I know what he did.  Everyone in the alienage does.'

'What you don't know was that it was Soris who killed Bann Vaughan.  I only said I did so that he wouldn't be thrown in the dungeons,' admitted Aenian.

'That's very noble of you, Grey Warden.  If only we had more fine elven men like you...' Erlina said wishfully.

Aenian blushed under the helm he wore.  'I'm sure we do.  They just need to find their spines.'

The Grey Warden turned to the palace, where in front of him the protesting labourers were becoming increasingly agitated.  The guards that stood before them looked worried, knowing that they would be quickly overwhelmed should the labourers become violent.  Aenian certainly didn't want the labourers to get violent.  His cover would be quickly blown if he did not assist the guards, and he had no desire to do harm to any of them, even if some of the human labourers probably deserved a thrashing by him, but that's just his anti-human bias speaking.  But that might not be much of an issue if the labourers were to become violent they would turn their aggression towards him and Leliana.  Disguised as Arl Howe's house guard, they would be a perfect target for the angry workmen to vent their frustrations at.

With a quick prayer to the Maker, Aenian told Erlina to get moving, telling her once more where they would meet her.

Aenian and Leliana made their way to the front entrance of the palace, Vaughan following closely at Aenian's heel.  As they approached the protesting labourers ahead, Leliana yelled at them, telling them to step aside, brandishing a sword and shield that Erlina had supplied to her, demanding they step aside so they could pass.  Vaughan barked aggressively at the labourers to further encourage the belligerent workers who reluctantly stepped out of their way, creating a path that led directly to the front entrance.  The three of them got through the labourers unmolested.

When they approached the dozen or so guards standing opposite the labourers, the leader of the guards, a moustachioed man not wearing a helmet commended the taller of the two for her iron grit.  The minstrel thanked the moustachioed guard, her voice muffled by the helm she wore just barely enough to mask her Orlesian accent.  Leliana continued, telling the moustachioed guard that they were expected in the kennels.  The guard turned to the mabari, who heeled at Aenian's order.  One of the other guards commented on Aenian's height, of which Leliana explained that he was her younger brother.  The guard who commented on Aenian's height could only utter 'Cute,' sarcastically.  The moustachioed guard permitted Aenian, Leliana and Vaughan through without further question.  Two other guards opened the thick wooden double door for them.

Aenian, Leliana and Vaughan stepped inside.  The guards closed the double door behind them.  Aenian briefly took in the atmosphere once he was inside.  He could remember the last time he passed through this part of the palace, slaughtering Bann Vaughan's guards as he searched for the vile nobleman who had the audacity to kidnap and rape his cousin nearly nine months ago.  He was astonished at how much of the interior had changed.  All the furniture, artwork, vases, tiles and carpets had evidently been replaced due to the gory mess that Aenian had made when he and Soris had massacred their way to Bann Vaughan's bedchambers and confronted him and his noble-born flunkies after they had gang-raped Shianni, slaughtering them mercilessly for their crimes against the elves of the alienage.  He could easily guess how exactly Rendon Howe had been spending the tax money he had been collecting, and it disgusted him.  The elf imagined how much Howe had spent in fixing up the place after he had massacred his way through the palace less than nine months ago and had thought of how displeasing it would be to the corrupt arl for him to spend a king's ransom to clean up and fix the palace again should the elven Warden decide to go on a murderous rampage all throughout the palace a second time.

But that was not why he was there.

He needed to find Queen Anora and bring her to the safety of Eamon's estate.  Slaughtering Howe's guards would only incriminate the Grey Wardens before the Landsmeet and undermine their efforts to rally the Fereldens under one banner and expose Loghain's crimes for abandoning his king, even if some of the nobles that would be attending the Landsmeet would relish the whole scale slaughter of Arl Howe and his guards.

Aenian led Leliana and Vaughan to the kennels where Erlina would be waiting for them.  If the handmaiden had yet to arrive, then they would simply wait for her to show up.