Hello, there! This is going to be my first attempt at anything even remotely romance, so bear with me here. (Lets be honest, I'm probably going to have much more realistic romantic relationships in this story than that of BioWare. Silly BioWare and their ridiculous pillow-talk.)
This isn't going to be all romance, however. There's gonna be action, there's gonna be quite a few differences, and there's gonna be... erm... action. Possibly. Probably not.
Whatever. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this first chapter, and I really hope that you like it enough to give me some feedback... or hate it enough to give me some feedback. Feedback is appreciated, is the point.
Take a gander.
~Husky
Tired. Sweating. Hungry. Blood everywhere. The lingering want of a short rest was strong. What the only living child of the Cousland bloodline wouldn't give to break from the hellish combat for just a moment, and return to fight without worry of failure. The demanding force of the Darkspawn threat, and that of the Archdemon, would never allow such a foolish notion, however.
William Cooper Cousland sank his blade of veridium into the neck of a nearby Hurlock, took a step forward and cut down a Genlock. He blocked a heavy strike with his bulwark of a shield and countered, stabbing his blade deep into the attackers chest. He ripped it out from the side and drew on his flank, very narrowly dodging a deadly strike from a Hurlock General.
Four penetrating arrows sprouted in place between the chinks in the General's heavy plate armor, and it stumbled to its knees. William saw his chance to strike and brought his sharp blade down neatly in the center of the Darkspawn scum's helmet, the harder veridium slicing through the iron like warmed butter. Blood dripped from the Cousland's sword as he drew back in a sawing motion and span full circle, beheading the foul beast. As it fell, he looked to the source of the arrows.
He knew where they had come from, but such a fair sight was one that he could not pass up viewing. Leliana sent a warm smile in return of his gaze, the blood spattered on her magnificent features and her ginger hair, adding only to her voluptuous beauty in a way which William could not describe.
Ever since he had first laid eyes upon the bard, he had known that she was the one for him. It was not known by him until later, of course, that Leliana held the same feelings, for she had developed such a respect for the Grey Warden that it evolved into love. Through thick and thin, in Redcliffe, Orzammar, the Circle and the Brecillian Forest, they talked, fought side by side with Alistair and Morrigan, and shared secrets. Neither knew that the other was deeply in love with them.
William turned to his blind side to see a sharp blade cutting down two Darkspawn at once, the last in the vicinity. Their bodies dropped to the stone brick flooring, and Alistair drew his sword back, ready to continue fighting.
He breathed a heavy sigh and looked around. Realizing that the bridge was clear, he lowered the blade to his side and sheathed it.
Alistair was a lion hearted warrior, but his cynicism veiled his strong spirit. His personality differed so greatly from others that William often found himself flustered when he spoke to him. They were similar in the fact that they were heirs to faded bloodlines, Alistair being the last living son of King Maric. Cailan was killed at Ostagar. Alistair supported his late brother's wife, Queen Anora, more than himself for the throne, as did his Warden friend. William looked at Alistair and did not see a king; he saw a warrior, and the warrior saw the same.
William had always thought Alistair to be a bit childish, perhaps a tad unorthodox when it came to certain situations, but he trusted his fellow Grey Warden with his life.
They had to, of course. As Grey Wardens, their fates were sealed. During initiation, each Grey Warden drank the blood of Darkspawn, and doing so made their bodies perfect vessels for the Archdemon. When the people of Thedas felled the first four Archdemons, each time one was slain a Grey Warden always was to be present, so that the spirit of the Archdemon could enter the Warden's body, killing the spirit. Unfortunately, this meant the death of the Warden as well. William knew well that either he or Alistair was to die if Ferelden, and the rest of Thedas, was to be saved from the Fifth Blight.
William had only discovered this about two hours before, words uttered from the lips of the now deceased Grey Warden Riordan. He was willing to die for the rest of the people in his life to live. Still, he was not looking forward to death. He could not stare it in the face as some could.
Thinking about it put a grim look upon his face.
We can't stop now, Will." Alistair said, a light look on his face. "Perk up, eh?"
"How can you be so relaxed in a situation like this?" Will responded, heading forward. "You know that our fates are already decided, but you almost look at peace."
Alistair grimaced, pawing at a deep cut in his arm. He winced. "I'm not. I just have... a feeling. A good one."
His cut glowed a fantastic green, and the flesh on his arm knit together vigorously. William looked up. Morrigan held a pleasant aura around her, healing everyone of their wounds.
Morrigan was... it was not a simple task to describe Morrigan. As an apostate Mage, she resided in the Korcari Wilds when Ostagar was attacked, and had since played a crucial role in the war against the Darkspawn. She was deadly, an icy and frozen island in the middle of a molten world.
"We have little time to idly sit and chat about fate." She said. "I don't want for any more to die."
"That was... rather strange of you to say, Morrigan." Alistair replied.
"...Of course, if I truly have to, I could transform you into a horse, Alistair, and we would spare no time reaching the top of the Fort." She chuckled. "It would make for a fair bit of entertainment."
"...There's the witch I know. I was wondering when you would come to your senses." He finished with a sigh. He bent down to the Darkspawn in front of him, searching it's corpse for supplies.
William turned his head to the right. Leliana was checking her bowstring, making sure that it was properly taut and not breaking. She looked up for a moment and met eyes with William. After only a moment, they could both feel themselves blushing, and Leliana looked back down to her bow. She was only pretending to fiddle with it, now.
"Thanks. That one had me on the ropes." William said.
She gave him a crooked smile. "I told you that you should wear a helmet. Its axe near cleaved your head."
"Eh."
After a few steps, looking at her feet for that time, she spoke up again. "How are you always so... relaxed?"
Deja vu. He had just asked Alistair the same question. "I'm not." William responded.
"But how is it that you just shrug a near miss like that off?" She asked. "Every time I dodge an attack like that, I... I think of how close it came."
"Of all people, I wouldn't take you as fearful." He said with a grin.
In honesty she had never thought of such a thing. Once, when she was still in Orlais, an arrow flew past her neck and through her hair and she hadn't thought twice. She was fretting about Wiliam. After all, she did care about him.
When she heard this, however, she was offended. "I am not-"
Instinctively, William raised his shield in front of her, and a pair of arrows smashed into it with great force. "Snipers!" William yelled. He looked to Leliana. "We can talk later, get behind me!"
Arrows soared from across the bridge, in the higher towers. Leliana hid behind William, whose shield was still raised like an enormous wall. Morrigan cast a protective spell on Alistair and dove for cover.
Darkspawn emitted blood-clurdling roars and battle cries from all around. Several Darkspawn advanced towards the four from the front. Leliana notched a particularly powerful looking arrow into her bow and drew back with all of her strength. She let go of the string, and the arrow flew straight like a missile, hitting one of the archers dead in the chest. Morrigan fired a blast of magic from her staff and lit the archer aflame. As she and William advanced, she notched another and killed the second one. Seeing that the archers were downed, William lowered his bulwark and charged with Alistair.
William brought his sword down on the first Darkspawn he reached with enough vigor to slice through solid steel.
"Up ahead. This is where the Archdemon landed." William said. The only thing separating them was a high flight of stairs and a metal gate. How simple it would be to fail. One wrong move meant death. Not just of them, but all of Thedas. Both Ferelden and Orlais' futures hung in the balance.
William audibly swallowed. He took the first step up the stairs, his ankles and knees suddenly feeling incredibly weak. No turning back, now. It wasn't like he wanted to, however. He knew what was at stake. Including himself.
"Darkspawn don't stand a chance." Alistair muttered. He sounded as though he was convincing himself more than anyone else, but the uplifting sentence stuck in William's mind. He took his first step up.
When he reached the top and pulled the lever to open up the gate, he could see it. The Archdemon was, with wounded wing, attempting to circle the tower. It knew that the Grey Wardens were there. It was ready to resume its slaughter.
As he looked upon the new battlefield, upon the dead Fereldan soldiers and their scattered weapons, something within William ignited. It was an enormous mix of feelings, ranging from anger at the murderous beast for all of the deaths to fear of death by its tooth and claw. All of them boiled down to one powerful emotion.
Hate.
The cursed dragon roared a mighty and gut-wrenching roar, increasing into a pitch so loud that William could feel his eardrums shake. Alistair and Leliana flinched at the roar, and Morrigan cast a protective spell upon the rest of them, preparing for the coming fight.
William drew his veridium blade. He inhaled the air around him, then exhaled heavily.
The air smelled of copper, like blood.
"Andraste, protect us." William muttered.
The Archdemon landed, shaking the stone beneath it. Fire shot from its open maw, and the four scattered to either side. Morrigan rolled and jumped to her feet, casting a spell of ice onto their weapons as she ran. William and Alistair charged forward, Leliana's ice enchanted arrows zipping past their ears and into the Archdemon's scales.
The freezing slashes of their swords, along with the combined damage of Leliana's arrows and Morrigan's powerful magic, slowly chiseled away at the dragon. The beast was not simply letting them attack, lax like a tomcat, but swinging both tail and leg in the attempt to smash them to death. William leapt over the Archdemon's swinging tail and slashed the beast's Achilles tendon. It roared in fury and pain, spinning to face him. It's tail swung and connected with Leliana, sending her flying across the tower. She hit the ground and slid on the rain-slicked stone, scraping the exposed skin of her hands.
"Leliana!" William shouted.
The Archdemon slammed its claw into his chest knocking him to the ground. An enormous blast of frost magic slammed into the dragon, and it staggered, nearly collapsing. William pushed himself up and ran to Leliana, who was trying to stand. He reached her and brought her to her feet, trying to be as gentle as possible.
"Are you okay?" William asked. She grabbed his hand and tenderly pushed it from her shoulder.
"I'm fine!" She shouted, the now pouring rain and the beat of the Archdemon's wings filling the air. "Go!"
William hesitated, but when he saw the urgent look in her eyes, he found himself nodding. She drew an arrow and fired it past him, the incredibly accurate shot hitting the Archdemon in its eye. An incredible roar shook the entire tower, and the beat of wings shot back. William spun, setting it barely keeping in the air, and watched it land out on the tower across from them. He ran forward, keeping an eye on the dragon whilst he formulated a battle plan. Alistair was digging through his hip pouch, looking for something. On his face was a deep claw cut from his right temple to his top lip. It was bleeding heavily, and it looked as if the wound would scar. He pulled out of his pocket a leaf of Elfroot and stuck it in his mouth, chewing on it to numb the pain.
"We need a better plan than this!" William shouted. "We'll all be dead within the hour if we keep going like this!"
"I've got an idea!" Alistair replied. "There!"
He pointed with one hand to a pair of ballistae mounted against the tower wall. The wooden war machines were aimed perfectly towards the opposite tower, but they would need to be readjusted to hit the Archdemon. Morrigan blasted spell after spell at the dragon, but they didn't seem to be highly fazing the beast.
William mounted one of the two ballistae and drew back the crank, loading a shot onto the weapon as the rain soaked the wood. The Archdemon roared once more, this time much more high pitched...
No. The Archdemon's maw was closed. The sound wasn't that of a roar, but screeching. William turned as Darkspawn Shrieks and Hurlocks funneled through the gate. Leliana turned to the monsters, fired several times at the monsters and began to flee towards the rest of the group. There was a distinct limp in her run. She likely was hurt from when she skid across the tower.
"Alistair, cover Leliana!" William shouted. Alistair looked to him and nodded, then ran to her. She had pulled out a pair of sharp and deadly looking knives and was fatally wounding every Darkspawn that got close.
William adjusted the ballista to aim at the Archdemon, which was rising triumphantly over the heavy rain and the screeching of the Shrieks. He couldn't wait for the genocidal monster to be slain.
He reached out to release the crank and fire the fifty pound arrow into the Archdemon's chest, but his arm halted in place. Suddenly, he was yanked back by an invisible force, thrown to the ground. A Shriek materialized in front of him and let out a blood-curdling screech, making his eardrums hurt with piercing pain. It raised its arms, blades made of bone sprouting out of its forearms, and drove them down. He rolled to the side and stood, drawing his sword as he got to his feet. He span, bringing a furious slash down upon the Shriek's ugly head. It collapsed, its tainted blood staining the cracked stone bricks underfoot. The Archdemon was flapping its wings, getting ready to take off again.
"Morrigan! Keep the Archdemon from getting into the air!" William shouted. She was dancing with her staff, shooting blasts of arcane magic towards closeby Darkspawn with every moment passed. She aimed the staff squarely in the middle of a trio that was charging at her and blasted a large wave from the staff, knocking them flat. She spun towards the Archdemon and aimed her staff with a dark look in her eyes. A bright veil of magic fell over the dragon as it lifted from the ground, and the Archdemon slammed to the ground with great force. A heavy snapping echoed through the humid air as scales shattered and skin cracked. William ran to the ballista and aimed it directly at the Archdemon's head as it roared in pain, then pulled the crank.
The enormous arrow zipped through the air, but the dragon moved its head slightly. The heavy missile pierced the Archdemon's neck, causing dragon blood to spill across the stone. It tried to roar, but instead a grotesque crackling of blood and phlegm split through the air, similar to the sound of splitting wood. The crushing prison of magic faded, and the highly injured dragon began to take off, this time much slower than before.
He turned to Morrigan to thank her, but she was on her knees, fending off Darkspawn with a bloody nose.
He ran to her side and helped her up as she casted a frost spell, freezing and shattering the Darkspawn she had knocked to the ground.
"I'm fine." She said. "I'll... I'll be fine."
As she finished her sentence, the crackling, bloody roar of the Archdemon shot through the air. It was weak, and William knew it. All it would take was a dozen or so more well placed vital hits, and maybe, just maybe...
The remaining Hurlocks and Shrieks cowered in response to Leliana and Alistair's strikes. They were cut down in an instant, and at precisely the moment when the last Hurlock hit the ground, the Archdemon slammed down as well, shaking the tower with its epic weight. From nearly twenty feet away, Leliana could hear it breathing as its blood leaked out onto the water damaged wooden shaft of the ballista round. It turned its attention towards her, fury in its eyes. Although the round pierced its throat, it revved itself to exhale a blast of flame in her direction. Alistair realized this, and he pushed Leliana out of the way.
The flames shot out from in between the possessed dragon's enormous fangs, and the flames shot towards Alistair. He raised his shield, attempting to block the flames, but the hard maple shield ignited, and, upon his realization of this, he slipped on the wet stone. His body was engulfed under the flames, and he was put out of William's view by the Archdemon's body.
"Alistair!" William screamed.
"No!" Leliana shouted.
Leliana scrambled to her feet and fired her last arrow into the Archdemon's maw. The dragon choked on the arrow, and the flames stopped, the cries of pain from the dragon instead being shot from its grisly throat.
Alistair lay there, motionless. The raindrops sizzled against his metal armor.
As the Archdemon struggled to dislodge the arrow from its gullet, William and Morrigan sped across the tower, disregarding the dragon.
Leliana had rolled Alistair over. Her fingers were against his neck. She was shaking him, trying to rouse him.
He didn't move.
Morrigan readied a powerful healing spell, her strongest revitalization magic, and she cast it on him. William reached his side as she cast it.
"No, no no no... wake up, please." William muttered. "Alistair! Wake up, dammit! Come on!"
Half of his face was severely burned, his hair singed and darkened by the fire. The color had drained from his face.
"Is he breathing?" Morrigan asked. Her healing spells weren't doing anything.
"No." Leliana said. "I don't... I don't think that he's..."
William shut his eyes. He blocked out her words. He knew that if he heard them, that she believed his friend to be dead, then it would surely be true.
For him, everything was silent. No sound, not even the heavy pitter-pattering of the rain against the stone pierced his little world. There was so much that he could have done. To stop it, to... to...
His silence was shattered by a tremendous roar. As the foul crackling filled the air, all other sounds returned. He opened his eyes.
"Morrigan, Leliana, make sure that the both of you are here when he wakes up."
Leliana looked up. "...What are you-"
"Have my ashes scattered in the wind atop the Temple of Sacred Ashes." He said. "When I reach the Golden City, I plan to give the Maker a piece of my mind."
"Wh... no!" Leliana said, standing up with him. He turned his back to them. "You cannot do this!"
"I have to!"
"No!" She shouted.
"I have no other choice!" He replied.
"No, you-"
William grabbed Leliana by her shoulders and brought her forward in a kiss, pressing his lips to hers and passionately holding her. He drew his lips away, and her stunned expression when he pulled away left a warmth in his heart.
"Leliana, I love you."
She felt as though she could not breathe, a weight on her shoulders lifted. Before she could respond in any way, however, William clutched his sheathed sword, turned and ran at the dragon.
"William!" She shouted.
"Let him go, Leliana!" Morrigan said.
The Archdemon locked its eyes upon the charging Grey Warden. The hate of one another was a prominent sensation in the air. The footfalls of William's heavy leather boots smacked the wet stone as he sprinted, and his heavy breathing rung in his own ears.
The Archdemon roared, louder than ever before.
"For Ferelden!" William shouted over its roars.
With a powerful jump, he sailed five feet into the air and dug his sword into the dragon's scales, landing his veridium sword in the beast's neck hilt deep.
The Archdemon screeched in immense pain, it's front legs collapsing as it whipped its neck to the side. William let go of the sword and dropped to the ground, rolling as he landed. The dragon was practically helpless, injured in such a multitude of places that it could barely move. It swiped its claw at William pathetically, but he jumped out of the way. A nearby dead soldier lay against a wall, a greatsword clutched in her hands. William said a silent prayer for the soldier as he removed the sword from her grip and grabbed it, hand over hand.
"Die!" William shouted as he charged.
The Archdemon's head lay on the ground. It was struggling to stand, and it couldn't move its neck. He brought the greatsword up above his head. He leapt, ready to bring the sword down upon its neck. In the middle of the air, he accepted his fate.
He was going to die, but... He wasn't afraid.
The blade slammed through the wall of scales and sliced skin, then bone. The last of the Archdemon's cries were muffled by the slashing of metal to stone. The blade cut through.
He backed up. He dropped the sword on the ground. The Archdemon's neck and body slammed against the ground, the brick shaking. There was no sound but the pouring rain.
A glimmer of light flashed from the dragon's neck. William looked into it. He saw a brilliant flash of light, and a force slammed into him, knocking him off of his feet.
The last thing that he heard was Leliana screaming.
He never felt himself hit the ground.