Trial of Blood

The next day, Vincent was back in the Palace with Anora and Maric while Alistair was with Eamon and Leliana.

"Where is the person that should be tested to be sure that he is your family?" asks Vincent as he wanted to sail today towards Amaranthine to meet Aedan.

She should be coming any moment," says Alistair as a woman entered the room she had blonde hair but it didn't really resemble the hair Maric nor Alistair had.

"This is my half-sister Goldanna. I want you to test her on me to make sure your Ritual of Blood is really working," says Alistair as Vincent nods.

"Alright but first we will test Maric with Eamon since they are closer than you and him," says Vincent as Alistair nods having nothing against it.

Vincent takes a drop of blood from Maric and Eamon when he feels something from Maric's blood before he performed the ritual and both drop of blood fused.

Suddenly light begins to dance in the room showing that Maric and Eamon were related as Vincent says, "Both are related by blood."

"Then now it's my turn with Goldanna," says Alistair as Goldanna and he were quite sure they would achieve the same result.

Vincent takes a drop of blood from each other and he was feeling something in Alistair's blood as he felt from Maric's as both drops of blood fused when suddenly the room turned dark and both drops of blood separated from each other.

"What does this mean?" asks Alistair as Vincent now looked serious at Alistair.

"You dare to use someone that isn't even your blood as a witness. I should have known that Ferelden didn't have trustworthy people except for the Couslands," says Vincent angry as he took steps to leave the room feeling angry that Alistair wanted to trick him by shaming the Trial of Blood.

Vincent was almost at the door when Eamon caught up to him and says, "Ambassador, please wait let us explain to you."

"There is nothing to explain. Using a false witness is breaking the agreement. It's really a shame but Ferelden might have to survive on its own from now on," says Vincent as he didn't stop he went through the door leaving everyone behind except for Eamon that was following him.

"It's really a shame that Maric was born in Ferelden if he would have to be born in Skyrim something great might have become out of him," says Vincent as the feeling he got from the blood was the same when he was near a Dragon making it clear that both Alistair and Maric had Dragonblood in their veins.

This made it even a bigger insult to Vincent since he is the Dragonking. By trying to fool him Alistair now got Vincent's full ire as he left the Palace while Eamon followed.

In the Palace, Alistair wasn't believing what just happened as the Trial said that Goldanna wasn't his real half-sister. This broke something in Alistair as he fell to the ground holding his head.

Goldanna didn't know what was going on while Leliana helped Alistair up while Anora says, "If what we for now know is true than Alistair is most likely an imposter that took the throne."

Now Goldanna was shocked as she looked at Alistair and them at Anora and Anora says, "If you are the daughter of the maid that give birth to the Bastard of Maric then Alistair and you needed to be related but you aren't making Alistair either an imposter or you."

Now Goldanna realized what was going on as she became nervous while saying, "But my mother really worked here and died while giving birth to a child."

"Then that child isn't Alistair," says Anora as she was holding Maric.

"Can we discuss this later," says Leliana as Alistair was quite hurt from what was revealed by that test.

She takes Alistair away while Goldanna didn't know what to do and Anora went to her former room in the Palace with her elven maid.

In the meantime outside, Eamon was trying to calm Vincent down while saying, "We still don't know if Maric is Alistair's nephew. We still need to confirm it to make sure a Theirin is sitting on a throne."

"I have to confirm nothing since both share Dragonblood making it quite obvious that they are family," says Vincent angry when he suddenly stopped.

Eamon sighs in relief seeing Vincent stop when Eamon asks, "Are you calm again, Ambassador?"

"Yes," says Vincent as he turned around with a smile on his face that gave Eamon shivers.

"Let's return to the Palace and complete the Trial of Blood," says Vincent as he returned with Eamon to the Palace with that grin on his face.

Once back he sees nobody there and says, "Bring them all immediately. I really don't want to waste more time."

Eaman leaves to gather everyone back in the throne room. First, he gets Anora since he hoped she could calm Vincent's ire then he went for Alistair was laying in a bed.

"What happened?" asks Eamon nervous from seeing Alistair.

"He is under shock. Right now he believes that he is an imposter and that hit him hard," says Leliana as she was caring for Alistair.

"But he isn't an imposter. Vincent already confirmed that Alistair and Maric share blood," says Eamon as Alistair stood up holding his head.

"Is that true?" asks Alistair not sure of who he was any longer.

"Yes, he wants to finish the Trial of Blood and I'm sure he wants something from you as recompensation for insulting him earlier," says Eamon as he now really wanted to find out who Alistair's mother really was.

Alistair returned to the throne room with Leliana and Eamon but Goldanna was nowhere to be found right now while Anora was on one side holding Maric while Vincent was sitting on a chair thinking how he will pull his plan into reality.

"Alright, we are all here," says Eamon as Vincent stood up and took again one drop of blood from Maric and Alistair and performed the Ritual as both drops of blood fused together and the light was radiating brighter than with Eamon before.

"It's confirmed that you two are related. With this Maric is confirmed to be Cailan son. You will take care of him while Anora will return to Gwaren as Teyrnar," says Vincent when Alistair nods.

"Yes, she can take Gwaren back since she was loyal to Cailan," says Alistair as Vincent smiles.

"But we want recompensation for the insult for what happened before," says Vincent as he looked at Alistair who seemed lost.

"What do you want?" asks Eamon as Leliana was feeling shivers all of a sudden.

"I want the firstborn son of King Alistair. He shall be raised in Tamriel to become a Dragonborn as it should be for a person that has Dragonblood in his veins," says Vincent as Alistair and Leliana were horrified by this request.

"What do you mean with Dragonblood and Dragonborn?" asks Eamon confused.

"Alistair, as well as Maric, have Dragonblood in their veins. This gives them a natural gift of standing over normal beings. But they will never achieve their full potential on Thedas. That's why I want the future son of Alistair to be raised in Tamriel so at least one will be able to reach his full potential," says Vincent explaining why he wanted Alistair's firstborn.

The room was shocked to hear that Dragonblood was running through the veins of Alistair and Maric. Anora now seems to regret her decision of not allowing Vincent to train Maric.

"How do I know that you won't hold him as a hostage against us?" asks Alistair angry.

"Because he will become a Highwind like Oren Cousland, Elissa Cousland, and Amethyne Cousland. They are already under my wings being trained to become powerhouses," says Vincent as this shocked even Eamon.

"They allowed you to adopt them," says Eamon not believing it as Vincent nods.

"Yes, they only returned to say goodbye to their parents before returning with me," says Vincent as he was looking quite serious at Alistair.

"And how will you know that I will have a child?" asks Alistair as Vincent only smiled.

"I will know and the child will never know that you and your lover are his parents," says Vincent as he walked towards Alistair.

"I know that you think killing a Dragon and stopping the Blight might give you enough credit against other countries in Thedas but we in Tamriel could laugh about a crisis this insignificant," says Vincent as he stood in front of Alistair.

"If you want to clean your name then you will hand the child over once it is born. You can give it something so it can think about you while I raise it like the other children that were adopted into the Empire," says Vincent as he turns around to leave again when he stops at the door and says, "Maybe he might return to your side but as a Warrior that no one in Thedas will be able to stop."

Then he leaves the room and Anora now really regret not letting Maric be adopted by Vincent as she looked at Alistair with a fake smile while saying, "It seems, I have to congratulate you."

"What do you mean?" asks Alistair as he was angry that he would lose his first child maybe even his only child because of the taint inside of him.

"Vincent Highwind might look and act sometimes as an Ambassador but he-" says Anora as a dagger appears on her neck.

"One more word and I will kill you even if the wives of the Ambassador will punish me later on," says Vlad as he appeared behind Anora.

She knew what Vlad was and turned pale as Vlad turned to Alistair and says, "You should forget what Anora said. You only have to know one thing. The Empire wouldn't be standing today if the Ambassador wasn't around."

Then Vlad disappears in the shadow of Anora as Leliana was quite pale from seeing how easily Vlad could infiltrate and exfiltrate of the Palace without altering anyone. Anora left the room while Eamon followed her.

"*sighs* I'm sorry Leliana," says Alistair as he felt powerless against Vincent.

"Don't worry maybe Anora is right and it is a good thing that he is trained in Tamriel. Anora might have smiled but it was a fake smile she must regret something," says Leliana as Alistair only sighs when Vlad appears again.

"Now that we are alone," says Vlad as he takes a piece of paper out.

He hands it over to Alistair who reads it out loud so Leliana could hear it, "In the name of Vincent Highwind, Ambassador of the Empire and First Emperor, this contract will become valid once the first prince of Alistair Theirin, King of Ferelden, and Leliana Cecilie, Prince's Consort, is born."

"He will be taken away and study under the First Emperor. He will learn to wield a weapon and use Magic under his instructions and will return to Ferelden once he finished his training he will be allowed to meet his parents again and even live with them for the rest of his life."

Alistair looked at Leliana surprised that they were talking to a Legend that was supposedly dead years ago when Leliana asks, "How long is the training?"

"It will take at least 15-20 years once he is 5 the training begins with light training like adapting to magic and how to use it wisely. With 8 he will chose his own weapon and once a teen he will kill his first prey while hunting. I can't tell you more since even I saw the full training regime of my former Emperor," says Vlad as both nod.

Alistair wanted to sign the contract when he asks, "Why has he giving up his throne?"

"Because he hates to be tied to it. When he was still on it he would disappear for a month leaving the Empire struggle on its own while he was adventuring incognito the lands," says Vlad as Alistair sighs.

"I know why he did that," says Alistair as he sighs and handed the contract over as Vlad took it and disappeared again making Alistair say, "I really hope we did the right thing."