The world was fuzzy. Her body ached all over and she could feel warm sticky blood dripping down through her hair as she lay on her back on a cold dirty stone floor. Her head pounded and her ribs stabbed at her as if someone had repeatedly kicked at her before they tossed her in the dark hole she was currently imprisoned in. Of all her pains, nothing hurt worse than the palm of her left hand. Both of her hands were held captured in a wooden stock but she doubted that was why the hand in question felt as if it were being torn apart from the inside out, or why white hot pain travelled periodically from it up her arm accompanied by a green spark.
Fortunately, or rather unfortunately she couldn't quite be sure, the pain in her hand eclipsed everything else. She could feel the rest of the aches, knew her position on the floor should have been uncomfortable but as the pain in her hand ebbed and waned her mind focused mostly on it. It was perhaps her bad luck that the few moments of reprieve was interrupted by the heavy grated door swinging open.
Light spilled out of the door way and illuminated the air around her. Laying on her back as she was, with her hands restrained in the wood in front of her, she couldn't maneuver herself up to take in her jailor. She supposed it was just as well because she wasn't sure she could have gotten up even if she wasn't restrained.
It didn't take long for her to become aware, however, that her captors didn't care about her discomfort or injuries. She heard their heavy boot falls as they approached her but it was still surprising when she felt two sets of hands gruffly grab her under the shoulders and hoist her onto her knees. She inhaled sharply and fought against the dark spots that crept into her vision and threatened to send her back into oblivion.
The sound of swords being unsheathed filled the air and she held herself rigidly still as both tips were pressed into her back just bellow her shoulder blades. For a second she closed her eyes and waited for the killing blow, but it never came. Instead a voice hissed at her angrily from behind her. "Do not make any movements." The man's words were accepted by a sharp jab of his sword, not enough to do her too much harm but she felt it slice through the cloth of her outfit and into her already damaged flesh. She barely restrained her outcry, she had been injured worse she wasn't going to give the men the satisfaction of knowing she was afraid and hurting.
She was sure they stayed that way for ages. Her shoulders and back burned, both from her cuts and from the rigid way she held herself erect against their swords. From time to time her hand shot out the green glow she had witnessed and every time she had to grit her teeth against the agonizing pain.
It was the in the middle of a particularly sharp pain when the doors were once again flung open. She barely had time to glance up before her shirt was seized at the chest and she was half lifted to the face of a very pissed off woman. "You!" She could feel the warrior's hot breath on her face and in strange clarity she wondered at the fresh minty smell. In all the chaos and pain it was a trivial pleasantry, especially since the woman looked like she would love to murder her for whatever she was accused of doing. "What have you done?" The words were hissed, nearly spit at her in their anger. Her mind was blank, surely she had made a lot of mistakes in her life but none of them warranted the treatment she was currently receiving. It wasn't as if she were responsible for the Mage and Templar war after all.
Her confusion led to her silence and apparently it displeased the woman greatly. She was shook harshly, her ribs protested the treatment and her head spun but she refused to make any sound. She had always been taught not to show weakness in the face of enemies and she was positive these people considered her an enemy.
"Cassandra." The soft tone was even and firm, she assumed it was the warrior's name and she wasn't sure if it was supposed to calm her rage or incite her to more violence. She tried to glance around and see who had spoken, hoping to find perhaps an ally or at least a more level headed captor. She wasn't sure if it was her dimming vision or just the fact the woman hid in the shadows but she couldn't make out her face and therefore couldn't tell if she was being offered any sympathy. Still she let out a sigh when the woman spoke again, this time pleading for her companion to regain her control. "This will get us no answers."
Abruptly she was released and collapsed back to her knees on the cold ground. She couldn't help the sharp intake of breath as her ribs protested her treatment. Her dark silver eyes glared up at the warrior but she found dark eyes completely void of sympathy.
It was quickly becoming apparent silence wasn't going to save her. She felt the swords back at her back but it didn't matter. She was leaning on her hands as best she could and she didn't have the energy to straighten her body back up. Instead she lifted her head and felt the warm blood trail from whatever gash was bleeding under her hairline. "What the bloody hell is going on?" She was distinctly aware her voice came out less authoritative than she would have liked. She sounded hoarse and out of breath, which was very accurate considering she was having a hard time breathing in deeply. Still she forced through the pain and stared the dark haired woman down. "Why am I shackled, what was my crime? And what the hell is this?" Her palm sparked again at her words.
The dark eyes holding hers narrowed but it was the other woman that advanced on her now. She darted out of the shadows and jerked her left hand up between them as she bent to eye level. She was surprised at the barely leashed anger she saw behind the most brilliant green eyes she had ever seen. Unfortunately the barely constrained rage let her know quickly that this woman was far more dangerous than the confrontational warrior. The woman before her looked as if she could murder someone and hide the body before anyone noticed….or perhaps leave the body where it fell as a warning.
"You mean to say you don't know, don't know of the events that led here?" Despite her rage her voice was soft, melodic, she recognized the Orlesian accent now that her head was clearer and unfortunately it only enforced her weariness. Orlesian's were well known for their courtly games, games that led, most of the time, to devious murders all done under the pretense of a wide smile and laughing eyes.
"I-I," She cursed herself for the stutter but the woman was intimidating, more so than the warrior standing tense behind her. "I remember the temple. I….I don't know what happened. I walked in the doors and then…things were chasing me….a woman…." She trailed off in confusion. Her memories were muddled. There was a lot she couldn't seem to recall and it didn't sit well with her, perhaps made her as uncomfortable as her injuries.
"A woman…." Suddenly a knife was at her throat. Her hand was held tight in a viselike grip and the knife was held calmly, professionally, against her jugular.
"Leli-"
"What woman?! The entire conclave has been murdered, the temple destroyed the Devine is dead! You exited through a hole in the fade with the shape of a woman behind you." Blue eyes held green and she gulped, she couldn't make sense of it. Because it didn't make sense, but she couldn't see a lie anywhere in the Orlesian's eyes. Only pain…..and rage…
"I don't know." She breathed, the blade nicked her as she spoke and the blood that trailed from the wound drew the woman's eyes. She scoffed and tossed her onto her side before waving the two men that had been stationed behind her away. They sheathed their swords and filled out as she attempted to catch her breath.
"All….is there no other survivors…."
Both women's eyes fell on her as she struggled to right herself. The warrior seemed to take pity, her earlier anger seemingly cooled slightly, she helped her back onto her knees before stepping back toward her companion. "None." She answered morosely.
A choked sound escaped her as she bowed her head less they see the tears. Her sister….she had attending the conclave. They had arrived together at her behest. And if what they were saying was true she was now gone. Along with the Devine. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't….. "I want to see." She didn't look back up to them. Grief controlled her pain now. She could endure it enough to stand, enough to see what had happened that left hundreds of people dead and her a suspect.
The two women looked at each other and the warrior nodded. "It will be easier to show her. You head to the forward camp. I imagine we will travel at a….slower pace." Dark eyes glanced over the bent form of their captive and took in her multitude of injuries. Whatever her guilt she hadn't exactly escaped the disaster unscathed. Her companion hesitated and she grasped her shoulder and turned her toward the door, their captive chose that moment to glance up and surreptitiously wipe the tears from her eyes. "Go Leliana. I am in no danger from her, I suspect she is in no position to attack me and win." The woman kneeling on the didn't bother to defend herself, she wouldn't have attacked them anyway, at least not without reason though she had to admit they had given her plenty of those since their acquaintance.
With a glance back toward her the redheaded woman left, for a moment she was afraid the warrior was going to use their newfound privacy to attack her once again but instead the woman reached down and though forcefully, it was gentler than the last time, she pulled her to her feet.
"Come, as I said it will be easier to show you than explain." She led her out the cell door and up a flight of stairs. At the door she turned and stared hard at her. "What is your name?" She couldn't help but wonder why she was asking her now but she didn't see the problem with answering, she didn't think her name was going to get her out of anything anyways. No matter how noble it was considered.
"Flight Trevelyan." If her name was recognized it wasn't shown. The woman nodded instead and pushed through the door and into a well lit cathedral room. "A….we're in a chantry." She said breathlessly. She wondered what kind of chantry had jail cells bellow their worship areas but kept it to herself. She had heard stories of the cult at Haven after the Hero of Ferelden had abolished them. She imagined it was that kind of chantry, at least she hoped the others didn't have such dark mysteries beneath them. She struggled with belief enough as it was without questioning a religions morals.
"Yes…." The response was slow….calculated. Flight had a feeling she was supposed to have known where they were and she breathed out irritably. She had already told them she couldn't remember what had happened….obviously they hadn't believed her. She wondered why she was surprised. "Stop." She nearly slammed into the armor clad woman as she stopped in front of her. Cassandra turned around and took the wood stock off her wrists, the reprieve didn't last long as she immediately bound her wrists with course rope. "Follow me." Flight shook her head in exasperation as she once again trailed behind the commanding woman.
The chantry doors were swung open wide by several soldiers and she covered her eyes as best she could as the light burned her pupils. When she had time to adjust her gaze was drawn up toward were the temple had once stood in shock. There was nothing there. Nothing but a large green rip in the sky that occasionally shot out other green streaks toward the ground in rampant displays of random violence.
"What is that?" Her hand suddenly flared green and she dropped to her knees at the sudden renewal of pain.
Hands tugged at her shoulder and brought her back to her feet as it eased into a more acceptable level. She breathed deeply and glanced around at the people milling about. There was no pity in any of their gaze, no care for her wellbeing. Even a healer tending to another shot her a glare and nothing else as he went back about his business. It was disconcerting.
"They have already decided your guilt. They need it." Cassandra told her as she held tight to the bindings and pulled her along with her toward a narrow path. "They mourn our most holy, the best of us, Devine Justinia." The accented voice held her own sorrow at the loss but Flight wisely stayed quiet. They were going to make her a scape goat and staring at the impossible sky she couldn't blame them, without someone to blame she could only imagine the chaos that would ensue. Cassandra turned back to her as a stone bridge and gate fell into sight. "There will be a fair trial. I can promise no more."
It was a far cry from the angry warrior who had first harassed her in the dark dungeon but it didn't exactly make her feel any better. "What…where are we going?"
Cassandra shouted for the gate to be opened and led her through it onto the snow beaten path. Flight could seen soldiers behind makeshift defenses but she couldn't clearly see any enemies. Only the sky seemed to be attacking them, its blasts emanating from the angry scar high above them.
"They are still fighting, it is possible you will be able to close the breaches that have appeared from the fade."
"Breaches?" She barely dodged a green blast as it hit the snow next to them, her body protested the movement and it took a lot of will power for her to climb back to her feet. "You…you mean that?"
Cassandra once again helped her up and nodded. She pulled a knife out and cut the binds she had only recently wrapped around her. "It is not the only such breach, but it is the largest. It has been theorized that the mark on your hand might close it." Her eyes narrowed and darkened. "As it has also been theorized it opened it.
Flight grimaced. She couldn't imagine why anyone would think she willingly caused herself such pain. "You still think I did this, to myself?"
She saw only a slither of doubt worm it's way into the unyielding warriors face. "Perhaps not intentionally." It wasn't the acquisition Flight had been hoping for. "Obviously something went wrong."
Anger fueled her forward as she pulled away. "Lead the way." She wanted to rage, ask what in Thedas could have made her murder so many, murder her own sister? But her anger stilled her voice, or perhaps it was self preservation.
She wanted to ask questions, about the breach, the destruction….what had happened. Despite what she was being told, what she could see with her own eyes, it just didn't seem possible. Perhaps the most unbelievable of it all….."How did I survive?" She mused, not actually expecting the taciturn woman to answer.
"They say….they say you came through a rift. That there was a woman behind you. No one knows exactly…" She didn't finish the sentence.
Flight remember a golden figure…..was it a woman…she couldn't be sure. She didn't mention it again. Not that she had a choice in the matter however, as the bridge they were walking over was hit by a blast of green and fell apart underneath them.
They tumbled through the air and over the rumble until they hit the cold ice beneath. She groaned and lifted herself with one hand braced on the ground. Maker it hurt….everywhere.
Cassandra was quicker to her feet, strangely Flight was pleased to see she was uninjured. She was slightly confused when the woman drew her sword and shield and yelled at her to stay behind. At least until she saw another demon clawing it's way from beneath the ice only feet from her. She nearly called out for help, one glance at Cassandra let her know her hands were full. If Flight expected to survive and arrive in one, relatively intact, piece she was going to have to defend herself.
She glanced around and her desperate eyes landed on the body of a fallen soldier. He had a bow and arrows in his grasp and she quickly armed herself. She notched an arrow but never had time to loose it. The demon had quickly found it's target and it was all she could do to stiffly avoid its flailing attack. She dodged it's spell and hit it with the end of the bow before managing to shoot it in what passed as it's head. It fell instantly and just in time for her to see Cassandra putting two more of her own down.
Panic settled in her stomach as she noticed another, perhaps unseen, demon making it's way behind the woman. She nearly called out a warning but decided it would be too late. She notched another arrow in seconds and launched it only inches by the warrior's startled face. It struck true…the demon fell and she was ultimately grateful the woman turned to see it fall before sending advanced on her charge with her sword slightly raised.
"Drop your weapon!" Flight tensed….nearly argued but nodded instead. She just didn't feel like fighting with her anymore. If the woman was willing to let demons kill her unarmed charge….well damnit that was going to be on her. "Wait…No…" the long sword was sheathed and Cassandra bent to pick up the arrows. She handed them back cautiously. "I can't expect you to be unarmed. And you did just save me some pain, if not my life."
Flight nodded without a word and shouldered the quivered into place at her back. It was uncomfortable. She wasn't used to it, she didn't say anything to Cassandra less the woman realize she wasn't as good with a bow as she seemed. In fact Flight could count how often she shot one on one hand, she was pleased her aim was true even if she had been incredibly surprised.
"Come, the fighting is near. If you can seal the Breaches we need to hurry, they won't last much longer."
They fought their way through demons until they finally saw the others. Flight had been expecting more uniformly dressed soldiers, what she saw was an elf and a dwarf battling demons bellow a green scar in the sky that seemed to perpetually shoot demons at them.
She followed Cassandra's lead and engaged the fray. She ignored her screaming body and helped take down demon after demon until finally there was a lull. The elf quickly grasped her hand and held it, palm toward the breach. "Quickly!" He yelled to her as if she knew what she was doing. "Before more come through." To her surprise it was easy. All she did was hold her palm up toward the hole and think about how she wished it wasn't there anymore. It seemed to collapse in on itself and disappear.
The man released her hand and she turned it up towards her face and stared down at it in fascination. The pain had dwindled slightly with the closing and she glanced up at the elf in surprise. "How did you do that?"
He milled around and twirled his staff until it was tucked back slightly behind him. "I did nothing. Only theorize that the mark on your hand could close the rifts."
"I did that?" She stared up where the rift had been and frowned. She wondered if that meant she was actually responsible for the larger one looming threateningly above them.
"No….Seeker," The elf turned to address her captor. "Your prisoner is no mage and yet I have surmised no mere mage could have brought so much magic as to rip a hole in the fade." Cassandra grimaced at the revelation. She hadn't believed the woman to be a mage in any case but she had still hoped there would be some evidence of her guilt. It would have made things simpler if nothing else. The seeker's stomach rolled in guilt of her thoughts. She wanted someone to be held accountable for the death of so many, for the death of her friend and mentor, but she wanted to have the blame placed on the one who deserved it. The longer she spend in Flight Trevelyan's company the less she believed her to be the guilty party.
"You know what this is then?" Flight held her palm up toward the elf in question. He shook his head and she seemed to deflate slightly.
"I studied it while you slept, healed you as it spread and managed to contain it to only your hand." She stared at him in confusion.
"He means," came a voice from slightly to the left of her. She glanced down and met the handsome face of the dwarf as he fiddled with the mechanism of his rather impressive crossbow. "That he kept the mark from killing you as you slept." He finished.
Her blue eyes turned toward the taller man and she nodded slightly. "Thank you, then." For whatever it was worth. She had a feeling his efforts were going to be wasted after she closed the large tear in the sky. If….she could close it.
"We should go. No telling how much longer they can hold out against the demons."
"Varric I told you that you were free to leave. Your…expertise is no longer needed." Her dark haired companion hissed irritably.
The blonde dwarf grinned roguishly and tapped his weapon. "I think my expertise is exactly what you need, Seeker. With the amount of demons coming out of those rifts I'd say you could use all the help you could get."
Cassandra huffed but she didn't offer a rebuttal. "Come then." She turned without another word and led them over ruble and deeper up the mountain paths.
It was hard trek, made even harder by the demons they faced and the pain that radiated from Flight with every step. She held fast to her will and refused to complain. Refused to ask for any reprieve. If there were people fighting, as she was sure their was, she needed to hurry. If she could help close those rifts and save any…..well the amount of pain she felt was tolerable if it saved lives.
Still, it was unavoidable that she was nearly dead on her feet when they arrived to the forward camp. Much to her shock it turned out not to be too much of a camp and more of a make shift hospital. There were so many injured clutching themselves in pain as others ran around to try and help in any way they could. It was all so crowded considering they were standing on another stone bridge. Flight couldn't help but glance up at the breach and back down at the ground beneath her feet. She sorely hoped it didn't drop out from under her life the last one.
"Clasp that woman in chains this instant!" She didn't care for the entitled tone and she was surprised no one acted on the order, even more so when Cassandra stepped forward between her and the man issuing it.
"You do not command here," She told the man harshly. "You are only a glorified clerk." Even Flight grimaced at the scorn inflected in the tone. Her blue eyes moved to glance behind him and she recognized the woman to his left. The woman from the dungeons, her green eyes had not cooled their ire and she gulped involuntarily.
The man glared at Cassandra and herself and waved a finger at the warrior. "And you are a glorified thug, but one that supposedly serves the chantry." Flight glanced back at the woman her expression didn't change, obviously she didn't think very high of the man. "This woman must be taken to Orlais for trial."
"Trail by whom. Right now the chantry is in ruins and she maybe the only one capable of closing the breach in the sky." The red head spoke, moving forward and leaning next to the clerk on the table separating Flight and Cassandra from them. "She may very well be our only chance." Green eyes glanced toward Cassandra and the warrior nodded almost imperceptibly.
"I have seen her close rifts with my own eyes."
Flight stayed silent. She took the time to watch the redhead as she conversed with the annoyed cleric. She was dangerously intriguing and Flight seemed to be drawn to her despite the fact she knew the woman would rather have her blood than look at her.
She turned her gaze up to the breach and sighed heavily. Her sister had always said she had the worst taste in women. She knew it wasn't exactly the time to be thinking about it but if she thought about anything happening around her she was afraid she might collapse and it was apparent she still had much left to do.
"We need to get to that breach."
"We don't have the man power. Please Seeker, let us call a retreat." The cleric sounded exhausted, defeated, he looked it as well she nearly felt sorry for him before she remembered he wanted her head.
"If we retreat now all of Thedas may fall. If that breach isn't closed this place may be too overwhelmed with demons to try again." Cassandra sounded just as exhausted.
"We should charge in with the soldiers we have left."
Cassandra shook her head at her friends calculated call. "We could take the path around, through the mines. It would be safer, Leliana."
The redhead didn't seem to agree. She stared up at the pass and shook her head. "I lost contact with a platoon that way." Flight followed her gaze. It disturbed her that she had given up her people as dead without investigating. She didn't feel it was her place to judge though, considering the stress everyone had already been under.
"You should decide." Cassandra said to her, drawing both green and blue eyes in shock.
"You want my opinion?" Flight asked in surprise. She wondered how this woman went from trying to shake her to death to asking her opinion on their siege plans.
"You are the one we must keep alive." The elf made his way back over to them followed closely by the dwarf, Varric she recalled. It seemed they were determined to accompany them to the rift also. She wondered if the knowledge should have made her feel as relieved as it did.
Her eyes gazed up at the treacherous mountain path. She wondered if she chose that way if they would believe it was because she wished to avoid enemies. Still….the thought of missing people being up there…their situation unknown…perhaps in need…
"The mountain pass." Cassandra grimaced, obviously despite her earlier words she hadn't wanted to take the pass. She didn't complain about it though, and her subtle huffing stopped when they exited the ruins and spotted the bodies of the scouts.
"This can't be all of them." She said quietly.
"Then perhaps they are up ahead." Flight offered hopefully.
"Along with whatever has delayed them." Flight glanced back at the elf called Solas. She narrowed her eyes at him and he barely lifted a shoulder in response as they made their way towards the trail.
It didn't take long for them to hear the sounds of fighting. It also didn't take more than a glance for Flight to realize how exhausted the remaining scouts were. They seemed to rally at the sight of them though.
"Lady Seeker!"
Flight leaned over with her hands braced on her knees after sealing the rift. She noticed the pain lessened again in her palm and wondered if it was perhaps a coincidence or if there was some kind of correlation.
"Thank Andraste you arrived when you did." The scout told Cassandra gratefully.
Surprisingly the warrior glanced toward Flight. "You should thank our prisoner. She insisted we come this way."
Flight straightened at the unexpected comment and bowed slightly at the scout. "It was worth saving you. If we could." She was sure the scout was blushing under her hood but she couldn't see enough of her face to tell for sure. She bet it was because she hadn't expected the manners and had nothing to do with her looks. She knew she didn't look her best at the moment, all covered in dirt and blood that mixed in with her own and the demons. She probably looked like a right mess. No one would be blushing from her attentions at the moment.
"We should go. We are close." Solas started toward a ladder and the rest followed close behind. Cassandra hung back only a second to instruct the scouts to follow after only after they had cleared the area. They had done enough to earn a rest.
Her palm pulsed the closer she got to the breach. It wasn't as painful as it had been when she first woke in the dungeon but it was still painful enough for someone else to notice.
"Its killing you." The elf told her quietly, out of ear shot of the other two. "I have done all I can to stabilize it but….alas my magic can only do so much." She wondered why he sounded so guilty. It wasn't his fault her life had gotten flipped upside down….at least she didn't think it was.
"How long do you suppose I have?" She asked, eyeing the others to make sure they were unaware of the conversation.
"I could not say. Years perhaps, less if the breach is not sealed."
Flight took the information in easily. After all everyone died at some point, she honestly didn't think she was going to be found innocent no matter what she did now so she wasn't too worried about that far into the future. "I suppose I better get to sealing then." She shot him a slight smile he didn't repay. She huffed her dark hair out of her eyes and grimaced as another bout of pain wracked her body, it had nothing to do with the mark on her hand.
She glanced up and dropped down into the remains of what had once been the resting place of the most holy woman to ever exist. It was breathtaking, the amount of destruction she saw.
Bodies frozen in agonizing poses, almost like they had been flash burned. It made her stomach roll and she stumbled. Cassandra caught her in surprise and steadied her, watching her intently. Flight didn't notice. She was too horrified by what she saw before her. Her sister was among them, somewhere...
She shook her head harshly, almost grateful for the pain that echoed there. It was a distraction from the pain in her heart.
"All those people." Her breath caught at the pain. Unimaginable sorrow and pain greater than anything her body could throw at her.
"We must move on. So that others do not join them." Cassandra said carefully. She would not say it then but Trevelyan's reaction had cemented a nagging thought in her mind, a thought that had been screaming the woman's innocence since she chose the mountain path to save the scouts.
Trevelyan's eyes gazed up to the green tint in the sky and she nodded determinedly. Cassandra released her and lead the way. "Leliana will meet us-"
"Ah you're here." The accent came from around the corner and the red head quickly followed it flanked by several scouts. "Come. Everyone else is in place." Her eyes met Flight's blue ones but they were just as cold as they had been. She tried not to let it bother her.
Solas pushed at her shoulder gently when she didn't move to follow the others. She gave him an appreciative glance before she got her first up close and personal look at the rift in the sky.
"How….I don't know if I can even get to that." She admitted nervously.
"We will help. It is closed, it will have to be opened." Solas turned his attention from the sky and to Cassandra. Varric cursed beside them and unslung his crossbow, which Flight was sure she had heard him refer to lovingly as Bianca several times in battle.
"That means demons." He complained. "Ass deep in demons. Not how I wanted to spend my day." His attempt at levity seemed lost on the others, it didn't seem to daunt him at all.
"Head bellow." Leliana instructed them. "We will be ready."
Cassandra nodded and motioned for them to take a path down to the ground underneath the rip. Flight grimaced, it did not look like an easy trek.
Suddenly she heard voices from the rift, spoken vaguely familiar from the fade. She assumed for a moment she was the only one who could hear them, began wondering about her sanity, but then Cassandra asked Solas what they were hearing.
"Likely the voice of who caused all this. Memories from the fade." He answered calm as he turned back to help Flight over a felled column.
They reached the bottom, Flight ignored the echoing voices as best she could, they made her head ache. She couldn't ignore her own voice though, or the fact that the Devine had called out a warning to her.
"That was your voice," Cassandra cried. She spun around and fixed Flight with a bewildered glare. "The Devine called out to you, what happened? Why did you not help her?" She accused.
Flight ground her teeth before answering. "I don't remember what happened." She said again. Emphasizing that she couldn't remember, for all the good it would do.
Cassandra let it drop. "You need to reopen the breach." Flight gave him a bewildered look and he sighed. "Just think about what you want it to do. Much of magic is about instilling your will on what is around you."
She had no idea about the workings of magic…she wondered if it was so simple as a thought, like he claimed. She put her hand up and stared at the breach in tensed silence. She imagined it opening, she tried not to imagine a giant demon coming out of the opening….just in case it happened…..but she wasn't exactly successful and….well that's exactly what happened.
She barely dodged some kind of whip and quickly aimed her bow. The demon laughed deeply, creepily, as her arrow hit him square in the chest and bounced off some kind of rock hard shield.
"I hate demons! And this one is just plain creepy." Varric complained amidst the accompaniment of Bianca twanging out bolt after bolt at the demons form.
Flight felt a blush creep up to her cheeks and she knew it had nothing to do with all the flips and twists she was having to perform to keep out of that whips way. She dared not tell them she might have thought the demon right out of the rift. She knew it couldn't, couldn't, really work that way but….well she was already in enough trouble as it was.
"We need to lower it's defenses!" Solas yelled over the noise of the ensuing battle. He pointed his staff toward the breach and nodded towards her. She had already figured out that she couldn't seal the breaches without first killing the demons. She didn't know why, didn't really care why that's just the way it had turned out. But she wondered….if perhaps she could cause some kind of disturbance and perhaps weaken the demonic thing.
She dodged a few more lashes and ducked out of sight the second it became distracted. It wasn't a good angle she could barely extend her arm high enough to reach for the rift, barely felt the increasingly familiar sting of the marks magic as it reached out to do as she bid. Luckily it was enough, it at least caused enough of a distraction for her comrades to get the upper hand. Still….it would recover, she knew it.
She stared up at the rift and barely managed to avoid another demon. A quick glance around let her know she needed to hurry, her comrades wouldn't last much longer against the beasts might and they had already trekked the long way through the mountains to get there.
She glanced up at the remains of the pillar she was hiding behind. If she could get higher, perhaps she could give them a better shot…a longer stun for the demons quickly surrounding them.
She holstered her bow as best she could and made her way up. It was difficult. The pillar wasn't steady and she couldn't afford it falling and possibly injuring the men and women fighting bellow. It felt like an eternity before she reached the top. She extended her arm, holding on as tight as she could to the pillar with her right and leaned her body out towards the breach.
It was still above her but she could feel the mark's strange magic humming stronger in her hand at the closer proximity. She focused all her thought on getting that things defenses down, and keeping them down.
A blinding pain spread up her arm and she gasped, nearly lost her grip and toppled bellow.
She gritted her teeth in determination and pushed out farther toward the breach. She was holding onto the pillar by the tips of her fingers and what she could grasp with her legs but she was sure, absolutely sure, if she could just get right under it she could take the things defenses down for good.
Suddenly the fade rift pulsed and opened as it did when it released new hoards of demons. She jerked her gaze down to see where they would spawn but found the ground devoid of the telling green lights. Instead the demon was on it's knees, breathing hard and heavy…. She had done it.
All arrows let loose on it, Cassandra moved in valiantly with her sword and shield and she could hear Solas's spells hitting their mark and Varric's cheers bellow her. She watched in awe as Cassandra stabbed it, slashed at it's legs and finally lobbed the head clean off.
Solas looked up at her, his shoulder and chest heaving as he attempted to catch his breath. "Now! Seal it now!"
She could practically feel the demons beyond the right rushing toward their world. They wouldn't survive another fight with a demon such as that. She held her hand out and focused on closing the breach. She could feel the magic at work but she worried it wasn't fast enough. Worried she wasn't close enough.
She let her bow slide off her shoulder and managed to maneuver herself even higher with her hand still extended and the green jet of magic connected still to the rift. Her footing wasn't as sure this high and there was nothing for her right hand to hold to but she could feel the mark speeding up as it sealed the huge rift.
She wasn't ready for the explosion as it closed, she should have expected it to be larger than the smaller ones.
The rush of air knocked her free of the pillar, her precarious hold was no match for it's force. She flailed for anything to grasp as she fell into the empty air. She barely had time to curse her bad luck before her back hit the ground harshly, snapping her head back with a thunk onto the hard stone floor and knocking her into the dark embrace of oblivion.
A/N; This was so much fun to write. And I already have the chapter for the time travel done. If it gets good feedback at the end I may make an alternative for the Templars, idk yet I rarely pick them. I decided to do this because I thought it was too easy for the inner circle to just believe her innocent. So….if you keep reading maybe be prepared for some angst, especially from Leliana. Sorry for any mistakes but this was a beast to finish, hopefully other chapters will be just as long.