Prologue: The Great Escape
Anders sat in his room, his head cast down, and his eyes glassy. How many tears had he cried that night? Not enough. How could he have let this happen, how could he have not seen this coming.
The sound of the door to upstairs opened, the screeching of the rusted metal echoing in the dungeon.
"You have a visitor...brother," the brother was a clear sneer thrown at him. The man glared into his eyes with an icy hate, he must have been one of the Templar's recruited in. Standing off to the side behind him, Nathaniel kept an pathetic expression. The young man cased the same glare at Nate, "You get ten minutes."
The rogue nodded and the other man caster one last spiteful look at the imprisoned mage before stomping out of the room, slamming the metal door shut yet again.
Nathaniel walked up right in front of the cell, staring down at his friend. "How are you doing?"
Anders let out a laugh, not his usual one full of mirth and mocking, but a broken strangled laugh. "Oh fine, besides being you know, locked up." He looked up at the other man. "They going to throw away the key?"
"The revered mother called the Templars," Nathaniel said almost apologetically. "She even has an official order from the divine for you to be put into custody." Nathaniel always tried to maintain his composure, but he couldn't keep the slight sadness from his voice this time.
"Oh Maker, they're going to kill me," Anders actually shook. This was a man not ready to die. Nathaniel kneeled down to eye level with the mage.
"No, they're not," he said determined. Anders looked at the other confused when they heard shouting from upstairs. He snapped his head towards the door before looking back at Nathaniel.
"It seems Oghren's causing another scene...it'll likely take up a good bit of those guards time to catch him and calm him down." After finishing his implication he pulled out a set of keys. "Shocking my family wanted me to train as a warrior." He unlocked the cell and opened the door for his friend. "We have to hurry, there's a tunnel system not many know about under the keep, there's an entrance in this room I believe."
Anders slowly stood up, looking at Nathaniel doubtfully, "Nate, the commander..."
"Came up with the entire plan," said Nathaniel matter-of-factly. "She didnt appreciate being bullied into handing you over." Anders had to hold back a laugh, leave it to their Commander to do something so elaborate to spite the Chantry. "Naturally it has to look like she wasn't involved."
Anders understood, warden neutrality was a pain in the ass sometimes. He nodded at him and stepped out of the cell. "Lead the way." Nathaniel took him towards the back of the dungeons, where the interrogation (torture) area once was. The commander hadn't been to fond of it, and had the equipment from it removed. Nathaniel walked over to a back wall, and began pressing around on the bricks.
"When we were moving the 'items' from the area," said Nathaniel, "We found the entrance to the tunnels in this area. My family must have had it put in generations ago." Finally his hand pressed into a brick that sunk into the wall, the section of wall next to his hand sliding open like a door. The tunnel was cramoed, and had no light shining through it. Anders inwardly cringed, it just had to be a cramped and dark space.
A thought struck the mage. "Wait, what about you? You don't think they'll have a hard time believing I somehow got away with you in the room?" The look in his friends eyes gave him a sinking feeling in the pit of his gut. "Nate, no...you can't."
"Dont," Nathaniel gave him a stern glare. "The choice is made, I'm coming with you. This was my fault, I should have noticed something was wrong." There was no way Anders could convince the man otherwise, and he knew it. All the mage could do was hope Nathaniel realized it himself, and make aure he didn't stop them from getting the blighted black city out of there. Anders gave the other a small, at a loss of words for once.
Nathaniel lead the way into the tunnels, ushering Anders inside. Once they were securely inside, he pulled down a candle holder from within the tunnel. The secret lever screeched as he pulled it, and the echoing of the stone door scraping against the ground filled the tunnel as it was closed off. It was dark, and hard to make anything out, but anders could see an outline of Nate, and him rummaging through his pack, he though. The sound of glass clinking before a small, cool vial was put into his hand.
"Drink this, we need to light the torches so we can see," the rogue intructed the other. Anders could guess what it was. He downed the lyrium like a man who just found water in the desert. He'd spent so long cut off from his mana from smites and mage bane, to feel even a bit of the mystic energy at his fingertips again was nearly euphoric.
He searched around the room, spotting a torch in the darkness, he palmed it, placing his hand at the top before releasing warmth from his palm that evolved into a small flame. He grabbed the lit torch. "I think this is all I can manage for now, the bastards did a number on me, I'll need a few days before my mana can fully recharge again." The truth wasw he never felt more exhuasted in his life, but he wasn't a stranger to escaping on tired limbs.
"Then we'll have to hurry before it goes out," said Nathaniel, he took the torch form Anders' hands and walked ahead a few steps. "The closest exit is near Black Marsh. We can make before daybreak if we're lucky."
"Then what?" asked Anders following behind him. It was a grim thought that they'd escape only to have nowhere to go next. That was a good way to get caught.
"Then we got to Amaranthine," the rogue said, and someting in his voice made the other think Nathaniel wasn't so sure of things himself. "A ships been bribed to take us..."
"Take us where?" he didn't like the way this sounded.
"The commander knows the captain of the ship, she didnt want to trust anyone who might cross us," Nathaniel said dismissively. "This was the only ship we could get."
"Nathaniel," Anders said, his voice serious. He glowered at the rogue. "Take us where..."
Nathaniel paused before glancing back at the other man. "Kirkwall."