The eluvian's sudden dormancy had rattled the Inquisitor's party of Iron Bull, Dorian, and Sera. She had gone through to find Solas, and when the others tried to follow, they found it to be no more than a glass mirror. Dorian tried every spell he had that wouldn't break the mirror, but no dice; the eluvian refused to open.
Sera whined anxiously. "Dorian, do something! Open it! I don't care what you have to do!"
Bull grimaced. "Kadan-"
"Amatus, I'm trying!" Dorian strained as he pushed his magic on the eluvian, breathing sharply as his magic waned and he pulled back, trying to regain his mana. Sera nervously paced, red-faced and beginning to tear up. She bit back her tears.
"You can't stop! You can't! What if Solas hurts her?"
Bull pulled out a lyrium potion from Dorian's pouch and popped it in his lover's mouth, who was too tired to protest. Three pairs of desperate eyes stared at the mirror, even Dorian as he ingested the potion to regain his magic. "Kadan, there's gotta be something we can do." Bull pressed.
"I don't know what to do," Dorian moaned, frowning, helplessly staring at the eluvian, "I'm afraid to do anything else to it or break it. Then we'd never see her again. This has to be Solas's doing; whatever they're doing, he didn't want us to interfere."
Sera growled. "Fucking piss-faced rotten-egg-headed elfy bag of dickbutts!"
Bull snorted. "What she said."
"I'll shoot ten arrows up his arse if he doesn't open this stupid elfy mirror right now!" The eluvian opened with the sound of twinkling, and Sera grinned. "That's right, you bloody agent of Fenny! Let's go-"
The Inquisitor stumbled out of the Eluvian, clutching the top half of her left arm. The lower half was completely limp, pale, almost bluish in tone. She breathed heavily, looking down at it mournfully. The three rushed to her aid as she fell to her knees, staring at her .
"I can't feel it anymore. Solas said he was taking it away..." she whimpered. Dorian moved quickly, inspecting the arm. He winced at touching it, his fingers meeting the sensation of unfeeling, frigid skin. Sera pinched it hard, recoiling at the cold flesh. Dawn gave no reaction even as Iron Bull slapped it to test for a reaction; that part of her arm was completely unable to feel any sensation.
"Shiiit," Sera whistled, "your arm's dead. Feels like it."
"The arm's going to have to go," Dorian murmured, "it will get gangrenous, and then it could still kill you, even with the mark gone." He held up the hand for emphasis; the palm was completely black where the mark was. "Perhaps the mark did more damage to it than we thought; it seems it was the only thing keeping it intact. I don't think there's anything we can do for it."
"I want it gone now. I want to get it over with." the Inquisitor said bluntly. Bull grimaced.
"I could lop it off right now, if you want. Dorian can cauterize it with his magic. It's going to hurt like a bitch to the part of your arm you can feel, though."
Dawn nodded her head slowly in assent. "I just want to get this over with. I want to end this."
Her companions shared a look, all frowning. Sera pulled the armor off of the Inquisitor's bad arm, tossing aside her pauldron, ripping off the fabric with a knife. Bull quietly found a flat piece of metal from armor off of a qunari they fought, instructing the Inquisitor to put her arm down on it. She obeyed quietly, and Dorian stayed to the side of her, top of his staff burning red hot with fire magic. Sera knelt down and grasped her friend's good hand tightly.
"You can squeeze as hard as you want." she mumbled. "Won't hurt me compared to what's about to happen."
Dawn gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Sera. It helps to know you're here for me."
Sera chuckled weakly. "Anytime, yeah? You're a Friend of Red Jenny now." she said, smile betraying her eyes full of worry.
"Hold still, Boss. Don't move an inch." Bull pulled back his weapon over his head and struck it down hard and fast. The strike hit live nerves in the good part of her arm, and Dawn let out a bloodcurdling howl, squeezing Sera's hand in a vice grip. The Inquisitor choked out fast, hard breaths, but did not move away from the armor plate. Sera winced but did not budge, and she didn't breathe for a moment as the lower half fell off. Bull sadly watched her try not to squirm in pain. "I'm sorry, Dawn. Breathe." the qunari apologized.
Dorian's grimace was marred with guilt as he readied the staff. "I'm sorry for this, my friend." He pushed the red hot staff top onto her arm, and the second scream rattled the birds in the trees nearby, fleeing from the shriek. Dawn bit her lip hard enough to draw blood upon ceasing her scream. Dorian pulled back quickly, inspecting his work. The wound was cauterized, bleeding stopped, and the Inquisitor gave heavy breaths of agony as she tried to compose herself. The herald stared down at the remaining half of an arm she had, hunching over it. Sera pulled her in for a hug, patting her back as Trevelyan fought back tears; she lost the fight, and tears freely fell down her face while she bawled.
"You can cry all you want," Sera reassured, "I know you don't like to cry or act like you're ever hurt in front of anyone, but we don't care. You're going to live." she whispered gently, the softest she had ever sounded to Dawn. "Good riddance to your mark. Who needs a ruddy old mark that keeps hurting you anyways? At least that agent of Fenny is good for something, after all he did."
Dawn pulled back, continuing to try to pull herself together in spite of her pain. She miserably looking down at the remains of her arm. "I'm sorry..."
Dorian put a hand on her shoulder. "Maker's Balls, you just endured an impromptu amputation with no pain relief potions." The magister shook his head ruefully. "Don't apologize at all for reacting normally to pain." Dawn didn't look up as he spoke. Finally, she looked back up to her friends, sucking back tears.
"There's...something you have to know about Solas. He just revealed everything to me. He's lied to us all about who he really is."
Bull shrugged. "Well, no shit, Boss, he never told us about this agent crap."
"He's not just an agent of Fen'Harel." she breathed, wide-eyed as she looked back up to them. "He's no one's agent but his own. He is Fen'Harel."
The others went dead silent, staring at her with eyes wider than dinner plates.
"Holy shit." Bull uttered, blinking rapidly. "You're serious? Solas is an ancient elf of Arlathan. A supposed elven god." He ran a hand over his head. "What the fuck. How did I never even notice or investigate harder?" He groaned, pacing, "I was Ben-Hassrath. I should have been able to piece it together from all those notes you found in the Fade on this weird-ass adventure. The notes we found in the eluvians, the paintings, everything..." He stopped and turned back to the Inquisitor, eye still wide. "So, Solas...Fen'Harel...fucked us all over sideways."
Sera sputtered, hands on the sides of her head, shaking. "He...no, he can't be...oh, shitballs! We were in cahoots with Fenny all along!" She stood up, beginning to walk back and forth, breathing heavily. "He lied to us even more! He...he...he's a wolf! The wolf! The Dread Wolf!" Sera choked, pulling her hair with her hands, eyes popping out. "Maker's tits...too heavy, this is too deep!"
Dorian breathed hoarsely, trying to compose himself. "He...is. I see...Maker's breath, I shouldn't be so shocked." He held a hand against his cheek, shaking. "We've travelled with an actual person called an elven god, the god of trickery." He went silent for a few seconds before exhaling sharply. "It...makes sense, in a convoluted way. All that knowledge, all that foreshadowing, and we never detected a bit of it. Solas is Fen'Harel. Fen'Harel is Solas." He looked to the eluvian and then back to his friend. "You spoke with him? What did he have to say?"
She grimaced. "His agents led Corypheus to the orb, because he was too weak after thousands of years of slumber to use it himself, thinking it would kill Corypheus. He was going to use it to sunder the Veil."
Bull growled. "This just gets worse. If I ever see that little fucker ever again, I'm going to put an end to the Dread Wolf, permanently."
Dawn shook her head. "You can't. He's too powerful. He killed the qunari without even looking at them. Froze them to death, like statues. His power is back, and he intends to use it to end this world to restore the elven one. To destroy the Veil will bring back all the other elven 'gods'. To restore the old days..."
"He's going to kill everyone that isn't an elf or doesn't join him to restore an old dream." Dorian snapped. "He's mad!"
Sera had gone redder in the face, growling. "That motherfucking wolf! Fuck him, fuck his elfy dreams! He can't destroy the Veil; he made it! Didn't the other pissbags enslave their own people? Why would he do this?"
"He said he'd find a way to deal with them. I don't know how." Dawn scowled. "I'll find a way to stop him. I'll save him from himself."
"I don't know if you can," Dorian bemoaned, "he may be too far gone. We may just have to find a way to kill him before he does this."
The Inquisitor hung her head down. "He is...was, my friend. If I can find a way to stop him, convince him he's wrong, without killing him, I will. I don't want to have to kill him if I don't have to, but I have to stop him, and if it comes to that..."
Bull sighed. "Let's go back and see the alchemists and Vivienne about pain-relief. You have to still be in a lot of pain."
"Don't worry about me." She reassured, though she was still wincing in pain. Bull rolled his eye and grabbed her, moving her into a bridal-style position of holding her in his arms. Trevelyan found herself too tired to object.
"You said that you five times when your mark was flaring up," Dorian pointed out, "you never admit when you're in pain or sick. We...Sera, what are you looking at?"
They followed her gaze as she pulled an arrow from her quiver, readying it, staring at an enormous black wolf in the distance with red eyes, watching them silently. "I think it's him." She aimed at him, shooting the arrow. The wolf disappeared, and she huffed angrily. "I wanted that arrow to go right up his furry arse. Stupid wolf."
"Was that really him?" Dorian asked aloud. "Was he listening? Watching? From that distance? He looked a bit like those statues of wolves in the temple."
Dawn sighed. "Let's go back. Can't wait to tell the others who Solas is and what he's planning."
"Cassandra's gonna shit her pants." Bull stated as they walked for the other eluvian, going back to the Winter Palace. "Also, pretty much everyone else. This shit's too heavy."
