@thedasneedsheroes
He looked different now; he stood straighter and seemed wealthier. His hair was still all different lengths but longer and wrapped with a strand of leather. His sword-breaker pauldrons were gone, left behind in Starkhaven; Sebastian had replaced them with better laminar pieces that resembled his gauntlets. He gleamed; the Prince had all the metal parts of his armor resurfaced and enameled black with gold filigree. He bore Starkhaven’s crest on his dark fur-lined cloak and on a placard on his belt.
He had suppression cuffs Sebastian had ordered from Val Royeaux. They were in a separate pouch sewn into his pack; he did not like to touch them. They did the same thing to him they were going to do to Anders; handling them made his tattoos go grey and unresponsive.
Fenris had pursued the mage for three months. Anders was shrewd, and Fenris had nearly lost him when Anders had crossed the Waking Sea, but their game was ending; Fenris was inexorably closing in.
Anders was an impoverished mage, welcome nowhere and fleeing on foot, but Sebastian had made Fenris’ path wide and smooth, given him a small fortune in provisions and his countenance; Fenris had letters of introduction and credit and the power to speak on the Prince’s behalf. He was easily able to get anything he needed; food, lodging, even horses. He guessed he’d gained on the mage steadily, narrowing the distance between them by two days worth of travel in every three, had probably already passed him more than once; he was cutting off the mage’s avenues of escape and beginning to herd and hem him in.
As far as he could tell, Anders had abandoned the North Road and taken to the bush. There was no where else to go. This part of Ferelden was mostly coastal farmland; Fenris had already ruined the two closest villages and every caravan traveling on the road by spreading the word he was searching for a dangerous apostate. That left south and the Ferelden wild. Fenris scanned the foothills and looked up to the mountains beyond, his eyes narrowing.
He’d missed the mage by at least a day, but he was fit, rested and well fed. Anders, he was guessing, was not in near as decent shape. Furthermore, Fenris was going to be able to hunt the mage both night and day, thanks to his elven eyesight.
He started to run, breaking into a long loping stride he could keep up for hours, and disappeared into the forest.











