My first fanfiction! Please rate and review, and please be gentle! lol
Chapter One: Dalish
The arrow whistled as Lyna sent it slicing through the air to pierce the throat of another of the strange creatures that had begun to attack them as they made their way through the thick undergrowth of the forest.
"By the Creators! What are those things?" Fenarel asked as the last one fell to another arrow.
"I don't know." Lyna walked over and knelled down to pull the arrow from the creature's neck, she grimaced as black blood spurted from the wound. She looked down at the thing she had just killed, it was a horrifying creature, its skin was pulled over its skull like face, its mouth was a gaping hole that seemed to have been sliced through its grey flesh, it's eye's where hollow and white void of any iris of pupil.
"They must be darkspawn, the Keeper said the warden where here because they thought there were nearby," Merrill walked up to join them keeping her staff ready.
"It doesn't matter what they are, they die, that's all I need to know." Lyna turned towards the trees the darkspawn had just come through, "The caves through there, we better be careful there could be more of them."
Lyna glanced cautiously through the trees, straining her ears for any noise. The forest was eerily quiet with only the soft rustling of leaves that had fallen early, showing the beginning of autumn, breaking the thick silence.
Lyna stopped suddenly, "There's three more up ahead close to the entrance of the cave, don't sound too big."
The other nodded, Merrill clutching her staff, Fenarel readied his sword and shield, Lyna notched another arrow. Taking a deep breath Lyna shrugged off a bout of nausea, she could feel something scratching the edge of her mind and a crawling sensation rippled over the surface of her skin, she rolled her shoulders to throw the creeping feeling away.
"Are you alright Lyna?" she turned to look at Merrill; she was watching her with furrowed brows.
"I'm fine, these things just stink, come on we have to find Tamlen." She turned and continued to walk in the direction of the cave ignoring the scratching.
Lyna fired the arrow at the first darkspawn before they had noticed them, it pierced through its mismatched armour; it screeched and pulled its sword free, seemingly not bothered by the wood and metal. It ran towards them, its voice cutting through Lyna ears. Two more ran out of the cave at the sound of the screaming they were larger than the one that had attacked them earlier. Lyna quickly fired another two arrows in quick succession at the first darkspawn, Fenarel charged at the second knocking off balance before slashing his sword, the darkspawn recovered quickly swiping it's sword at him, Fenarel threw his shield up in time to block the attack shoving his sword underarm to ram it through its gut. Merrill threw an ice spell at one that had tried to sneak up behind Fenarel; he turned when he felt the cold sweep over his back, crashing his shield in to the hunk of ice shattering the remains.
The last darkspawn ran for Lyna as she fired arrows at it, dogging the first the second hitting it on the left shoulder. She curse as the darkspawn kept running she pulled her Dar'Misu from her belt, spinning to avoid it's dagger, using her bow to strike it across the face, the strong iron bark knocking it off balance before ramming her dagger in to its throat. It made a gurgled scream as blood filled his mouth, she pulled her dagger out and the darkspawn fell to the ground.
"That's the cave," Lyna walked over the dead darkspawn and made her way through the cave, more darkspawn corpse littered the cave.
"Looks like the shem'len here already." Fenarel said as he looked around the cave.
"TAMLEN!" Lyna shouted as she ran in to the cave, "Quick we have to find him."
They ran from room to room searching every corner for Tamlen and killing any darkspawn they came across. As they went deeper in to the ruins the scratching in Lyna mind grew strong, she had begun to hear the whispers of a strange song, at first she thought she was imagining it, when she tried to listen to it, it stopped. The crawling sensation rippled over her skin in waves over and over again, causing her to tremble slightly as her stomach clenched and her head swam.
Clenching her teeth she pushed on towards the last room, Tamlen must be in there, she thought as she came to the large wooden doors. The mirror still stood, untouched in the middle of the room, several bodies of darkspawn surround the small platform it stood upon. A Shem'len and another elf turned when they heard them enter.
The shem'len, Duncan she guessed, he was tall and probably in his early fifties, it was hard to tell with Shem'len. He was wearing white and silver armour, embodied with the symbol of a griffon, his long black hair was pulled back away from his face with small strands hanging close to brown eye; his face was littered with hard lines and a beard. The elven woman was smaller than Lyna, and despite her looking younger than herself, she had bright white hair that curled down to her collar bone. She looked Lyna over carefully with golden amber eyes. Her purple robes skimmed the ground; long sleeves cover her arms to the wrist. A mage Lyna guessed, there was a black wooden staff on a strap on her back, a large purple stone sat at the top. "Duncan it's the elf we found outside the cave a few days ago." She walked and stood beside Duncan as they meet them.
"It is good to see you are well, my name is Duncan and this is Neria." The smaller elf smiled and nodded in greeting, Lyna ignored the gesture not breaking eye contact with the shem'len warden. "I hope your Keeper did not send you to find us?"
"No shem'len we are here to find our brother," she scoffed before walking past them towards the rear of the room, but there was no sign of him. She cursed loudly in elvish clutching her head as the pain seared through skull. She felt someone steady her as she begun to sway, she looked up to find the other elven woman Neria holding her arm.
"Are you okay?" there was an expression of sincere concern on her face.
"I'm fine! I just have to find Tamlen." Lyna pulled her arm free and begun to walk towards the door again. She was angry at herself, angry she had failed to stop Tamlen, angry that he had been left sick in this ruin, angry that she still couldn't find him.
"What happened to your friend?" she looked up to see the shem'len looking at her.
"He was with me in the cave, and he touched it." She motioned he head towards the mirror behind Duncan.
"That is... Unfortunate." Duncan's face fell "The Grey Warden have seen mirror like this before, they're Tevinter in origin, used for communication. Over time they break and become filled with the same taint as the darkspawn. Tamlen must have released it when he touched it, it's what has made you sick and presumably Tamlen as well."
"I know! That's why we have to find him, if he's not in these ruins he must have made his way out, he must be in the forest somewhere." She turned to Merrill and Fenarel, "come on we have to get him back to Keeper Marathari so she can cure him."
"The Keeper cannot cure this sickness, she has used her magic to weaken it you recovery is only temporary, the sickness will eventually worsen." she turned back and shot the warden a furious glare.
"We will find him! I will not abandon him in this place."
"There's nothing we can do for him now, he has been tainted for two days now unaided. It is only through your Keeper magic and your own willpower you did not died. But Tamlen has no chance. Trust me when I say he is gone."
"He can't be! Why is there no body!?" the edges of her vision began to blur but she shook her head, she would not show weakness to a shem'len!
"They would have taken it, they are evil and it is best to leave it at that. I am sorry." He looked back to the elven woman that had been quietly observing the exchange with a sombre expression. "Neria destroy the mirror."
She nodded before pulling a staff from a strap on her back wordlessly sending a bright bolt of energy at the mirror shattering it. A pulse passed through the room as it shattered, no one else seemed to be effected by it, but it shot through Lyna body, her stomach heaved as the crawling sensation rolled through her body. She fell to her knees as she coughed, black bile rose in the throat, down her chin, and across the floor in front of her. She managed a small scream of pain before the world turned black.