This was absolutely ridiculous. Preposterous, Insulting, unreasonable, irrelevant and just plain bloody good old fashion 'Let's get rid of the third.' Of course they would jump at this opportunity, Arlathvhen wasn't for another four years and by that time, who knows, I could have spontaneously sprouted horns as some sort of monstrous abomination.
"Think of your clan, dhalen. We cannot risk too many mages that we cannot control." Deshanna had said oh so calmly and serenely. We were definitely not on speaking terms after that, I mean, she basically kicked me out! Its not as if I'd be hard to control, I can barely light a candle on command. The only time I show any semblance of magic is when I loose my temper and things just start going up in flames, that's how I discovered my magic anyway... Alright so perhaps I understand the bit about control, but kicking me out? Would it not be better to train my magic? No! Of course not, don't be foolish, its much wiser just to let them wander the wilderness on their own for the rest of their lives. Sometimes I really don't understand my people. Number one rule of being dalish is to "preserve what was lost". Yet only the keepers are privy to such knowledge? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that just a tad elitist? Then there's the mage thing! Magic was a part of Elvhenan, as much a breathing, or so I read, so why is it feared? Why do we, the dalish hold magic in the same esteem as the Shems? If I'm being completely and heretically honest, I'd much prefer the dalish without the keepers' pretentious bullshit. Living the life of the wild is wonderful! I mean hunting and living off the land, being one with nature, bowing to no master and just being alive... That's what being dalish means to me. Not the looking back on how great we used to be. But enough of that bitterness. I had been set on a task and I was running late, as usual. Well not that I'd ever had anywhere to be on time, but I assumed my lack of practice at punctuality would make my tardiness a recurring theme.
I'd been hiking up the long ago beaten paths through the Frost Backs for nearly two days and I was thoroughly sick of them- the freezing cold, the biting wind, the unrelenting snow... No, I was not built for this. I'm more of a balmy breeze through a forest kind of elf or a cool smelling wind from the sea. Not snow, never snow. Finally however, as the sun was beginning to set in the east, just stroke of orange paint behind the mountains, I came to a weather battered sign that pointed further up the mountain.
"Andruil's tits." I cursed loudly over the howling wind at the prospect of yet further climbing. But with a frustrated sigh, I fixed my bow and pack and continued on at my steady pace. Or at least I would have had I not been thrown off my feet and nearly deafened by a merciless boom that crackled over the mountains. I shrieked and tumbled back a few feet, gripping the freezing snow for some sort of support, waiting in terror as I heard silence descend upon the world as if it knew exactly what was about to happen. Then there was a crack, a shift in the world, a whoosh and a howl like wind but too monstrous to be anything of this world and then a green flash all around the sky. Something in my soul was tugged quite painfully, that spark in my soul that flared when I lost my temper. My magic. I gripped the snow harder for fear the world might physically turn on its head and if it didn't do that it had most certainly done it metaphorically. It was then I looked up and saw the sickening green vortex that now marred the once blue sky. My chest constricted in panic and fear and I suddenly realised how painfully alone I was. A single dot on a mountain side, clanless, unwanted and most likely about to die like that. No, I would not die cowering on some freezing mountain, if only to spite fate.
I clambered up onto my feet trying to slow my breathing and steady my rabbit's heartbeat, but I could not look away from that massive tear in the sky. Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, the thing started firing out green balls of flame! Or at least they looked like flame, they reminding me of the flame you would see in the fade... Unless, it was the flame you saw in the fade? That sickly green colour was very fade-ish too... It couldn't actually be the fade in reality, could it? Surely that would mean the end of the world! I swallowed down the lump of fear that had lodged itself in my throat and tried to stumble up the mountain. I had to find someone, anyone, I would certainly die if I stayed on my own. I followed the sign, cantered over the deep snow as best I could, trying to ignore the tear in the sky and the rippling permanent rumble of it. Jogging up a mountain was no mean feet and by the time I reached the top my lungs burned painfully from the cold air. I bent over on my knees to catch my breath but was horrified by what my eyes found down in the valley below me. Utter and complete, merciless and unbiased destruction. The ruins of a building lay crumbling in flames, great red shards of rock pierced up from the ground like broken bones and bodies... So many charred and burning corpses littered the space, frozen in their final moments of pain. I covered my mouth and swallowed the bile that suddenly lurched up my throat. What in Mythal's name had happened here? Was this the conclave? Was this what I had been sent to spy on? I thought it was a broker of peace... Not this... Not death. I steadied my breathing again and averted my eyes, saying a silent prayer to the all mother, the one who marked my face as I continued on the faintly cobbled path towards the small town of Haven. Hopefully there would be people there, people who would know what to do.
As much as I tried to ignore the valley, I couldn't ignore the growling and hissing and roaring of the creatures that now swamped over it, pouring from the tear in the sky like puss from a wound. I couldn't ignore the distant screams either. So, with a firm and practised movement, I drew my bow and fixed an arrow to its string. I had to be ready for a fight, these demons (at least they looked like everything a demon should be) were not to be taken lightly. I jogged silently along the path, keeping to the tree line and keeping an eye fixed to my surroundings. I heard shouts nearby, not screams, they were almost like commands. Perhaps there was someone here to take charge, someone who could help. I followed the calls and came to a bridge. There I saw a large force of humans taking up half the bridge and fanning out on the other side. At the head was a woman, she ordered the troops to search for survivors, her accent thick, almost Orlesian. She was tall and broad with cropped short black hair and from a distance, I almost mistook her for a man. She looked to be the only one in charge however and so I made my way towards them.
"Halt! Don't move!" Cried one of the soldiers when I was noticed. He hastily drew an arrow, fired and it bounced off the stone at my feet. These men were barely trained and yet they were being sent into a demon infested valley? They must really be desperate.
"Hold your fire!" The woman called to her men before turning to me and marching forward, drawing her sword dangerously close to my neck. Instincts kicked in and I had an arrow poised to fire between her eyes.
"Lower your weapon." She said menacingly and, dread wolf take me, I nearly did because this woman was frightening. There was a wrath in her stormy blue eyes, a wrath and a vengeance and... Grief. Such emotions with one so armed as her were quite the deadly combination. But still I kept my bow taught, Dalish Pride and all that.
"Come quietly and you will be brought for questioning-"
"Will I indeed." I interrupted her sharply. Her glare deepened.
"If not, we shall find you guilty and I will execute you where you stand." She growled, the cold steel of her blade almost touching my skin. I held her glare, not doubting her threat in the slightest.
"You believe I'm responsible for this?" I hissed. She withdrew her sword an inch and the wrath in her eyes filtered, but only slightly.
"I believe you are remarkably unharmed from where you appeared, that makes you highly suspect." She said caustically.
"I was on the other side of the mountains when I heard the explosion." I defended.
"And what is a lone dalish doing in the frost backs, the day of the conclave?" Her glare darkened again, her blade moving that bit closer.
I contemplated my options. There was little use in with holding the truth, she seemed as though she wanted to help, and I could appreciate her suspicion. I lowered my bow and put away my arrow, meeting her with a more calm gaze.
"My name is Nevalla Lavellan, I was sent to spy by my clan on the outcome of your conclave and report back to my keeper. The mage templar war effects us all and my clan did not wish to be kept in the dark."
For a moment she studied me, her dark eyes flickering over my face before she finally sighed and withdrew her sword.
"I cannot tell you my suspicion has been lessened, but I have more pressing things to deal with. Head to Haven, I will have you escorted there." She said, signalling to two of her soldiers who came at once. "Take her to Haven, leave her with the dwarf." She said and two rough hands grabbed my arms and began to hall me away. I shouted indignant protests and struggled against their grip but they held fast, dragging me across the bridge, up an ancient flight of steps, around a frozen lake and finally through the gates of Haven.
"Fenedhis, let go of me now or I'll-"
"You'll do what, knife ears? Eh? Blow up another temple?" One soldier,the one on the left hissed in my ear. My temper flared angrily in their vice like grip
"I already told you, I didn't do this!" I yelled in a rage, kicking out my legs in a desperate attempt to be free. But I was an elf, small even for my people and they were human, naturally they were stronger. I let out a feral growl of frustration and before I could help myself, fire sprung from my palms. The two guards cried out and released their grip sending me tumbling onto the snowy steps in front of me.
"Its a mage! She's a bloody mage!" One cried, causing shrieks of panic throughout the town. I tried to scramble up the steps, away from their oncoming swords, only to find more soldiers coming from behind me and... From all directions in fact. In one last ditch attempt to stay alive a rescued my bow, aimed and-
"Stand down! All of you!" Cried a voice over the blood thirsty shouts. I immediately whirled to see a tall broad and handsome shemlen man stride towards us from the large building at the end of the town. His hair was a mess of thick blond curls and he had a scar cutting his lip. His armour was bold, all feathers and symbols. He was important and thankfully, all the soldiers listened to him.
"She will be taken to the prison, as Lady Pentachast instructed. Now!" He raised his voice but he did not shout and the men seemed to respect him as they carried out his commands immediately, but to the void if they thought I was going to any sort of prison. Again my bow was taught and I fired a warning shot at the nearest soldier, giving them pause.
"Won't you come quietly!" The blond man called down to me, his raised hand obviously what gave the men pause, not my warning. That aggravated me.
"I never come quietly, Shemlen." I retorted back sharply, firing an arrow straight passed his head and taking immense pleasure from his flinch from its path.
Suddenly though, I heard and felt someone behind me but I was too late to turn around because I felt a brutish hand cover my mouth with a cloth. It smelt foul and burned my nostrils. Something told me not to breath it in, but I was panicked and not in control of my breathing and soon, the world ebbed away into darkness. The quaint little buildings of Haven warped away into nothing along with the bitter and frightful faces if the soldiers. The last thing I saw was the great twisting tear in the sky and I hoped that when I woke up, this would all be a dream.