I decided to post up the second chapter with the first... dunno why, just felt like it, I guess.
Um, I hope you enjoy, there is blood in the chapter, so, yeah.
Invictus
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
-William Ernest Henley
Cailan had left, after he helped her with her armor, Nal hadn't asked to where. The leathers were near impossible to put on by oneself with the latches and straps concentrated on the back. But he'd be back for the meeting, endearingly overconfident.
Now, Nal stood atop the ruined walls of the temple, walking back and forth. Below her, a wooden table, the war meeting was meant to start soon and Nali felt somewhat restless, as a distant humming stirred within her. She wasn't sure if it was due to the gathering darkspawn or the knowledge that the Joining was also about to take place, perhaps both. The woman sighed, stopping her pacing and running a finger along her eye patch, where it met skin – a nervous habit she had formed as a child.
A sensation pulled in her gut. Nal turned away from the sunset and looked towards the entrance. Duncan walked in, chalice in hand; he spared a quick glance for Naliana, as he moved to the warden recruits, partitioned off by a few pillars making them difficult to see. Nal sighed and shook her head; once more rubbing at the place where leather met skin.
She never liked the Joining, the concept sent chills down her spine and Nal was glad that Duncan had argued that point to the Wardens of Weisshaupt. After all, being born with the taint, made the Joining somewhat redundant. The only thing it would have done was cut her life short, if it affected her at all.
Nal closed her eyes and listened. Standing there in the quiet, she could hear the muffled din of camp and if she listened hard enough she thought she could almost hear the words being spoken on the other end of the temple. Though perhaps it was only her mind that spoke the words she knew were being said.
"Join us brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that can not be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten. And that one day we shall join you."
She breathed in deep, holding the breath as long as she could before releasing the air in a rush. At the ring of metal, her eyes shot open and she turned her head to where the Joining was taking place. Someone had resisted, had refused, and had been killed; she raised her head, looking to the sky, focusing on a constellation not yet out.
"May he be carried into the heavens upon your back, great Lusacan," she uttered the short prayer in reverence. Though, she supposed after the prayer, whoever had been killed probably wouldn't have appreciated it since it was not to the Maker. Nal gave a short shrug; one of the other Wardens had probably taken care of that anyway.
There were a few minutes of silence before the sound of footsteps came to Nal's ears. Entering the temple was Cailan, he hailed her briefly with a raised hand before Loghain marched in, drawing the king towards the meeting table. Following shortly after came a mage and then the Reverend Mother. They began to converse, when another sound came to Nal's ears.
Coming from the other end of the temple was Duncan, Alistair, and the newest Warden, Mattan. Nal nodded her conformation; she knew he would survive the Joining, though he did look a little worse for wear. The blond Warden broke off from the other two, leaving the temple. As two men passed, Mattan looked up and met her eye. He watched her for a couple of seconds, staring like he wasn't quite sure what to make of Nal, before he passed with Duncan, and joined the council.
She made her way down the ruined wall, growing closer to the council so she could listen.
"I must repeat my protest to your fool notion that we need the Orlesians to defend ourselves," Loghain looked furious as he growled his words.
"It is not a 'fool notion," Cailan defended. "Our arguments with the Orlesians are a thing of the past… and you will remember who is king."
Loghain turned away, rubbing his head as if it ached. "How fortunate Maric did not live to see his son ready to hand Ferelden over to those who enslaved us for a century!"
"Then our current forces will have to suffice won't they?" Cailan said before turning to the Senior Warden. "Duncan, are you're men ready for battle?"
"They are, your Majesty," Duncan nodded.
"And this is the recruit I met earlier on the road?" Cailan faced Mattan. "I understand congratulations are in order."
Mattan bowed slightly. "Thank you, your Majesty."
"Every Grey Warden is needed now. You should be honored to join their ranks."
Nal sighed as Loghain's became stormy. "Your fascination with glory and legends will be your undoing Cailan. We must attend to reality."
"Fine," the king shrugged. "Speak your strategy. The Grey Wardens and I draw the darkspawn into charging our lines and then…?"
Loghain and Cailan both leaned over then map pinned to the table. "You will alert the tower to light the beacon," the older man spoke, "signaling my men to charge from cover."
"To flank the darkspawn," Cailan became excited, over speaking the end of Loghain's sentence, "I remember. This is the Tower of Ishal in the ruins, yes? Who shall light the beacon?"
"I have a few men stationed there." Loghain straightened. 'It's not a dangerous task, but it is vital."
"Then we should send our best. Send Alistair and the new Grey Warden to make sure it is done."
"I'll do my best, your Majesty," Mattan gave another bow.
"You rely on these Grey Wardens too much." Loghain growled angrily. "Is that truly wise?"
"Enough of your conspiracy theories, Loghain," Cailan dismissed the man's words. "Grey Wardens battle the Blight, no matter where they're from."
"Your Majesty," Duncan spoke, "you should consider the possibility of the archdemon appearing."
"There have been no signs of any dragons in the Wilds," Loghain reported.
"Isn't that what your men are here for, Duncan?" Cailan asked.
"I… yes, your Majesty," Duncan agreed.
The mage moved forward. "Your Majesty, the tower and its beacon are unnecessary. The Circle of Magi–"
"We will not trust any lives to your spells mage!" The Reverend Mother cut him off. "Save your spells for the darkspawn!" Nal felt dislike rise up inside her. She hated Chantry biddies, every last one.
"Enough!" Loghain snapped, stopping the two bickering. "This plan will suffice. The Grey Wardens will light the beacon."
Cailan became ecstatic once more. "Thank you, Loghain. I cannot wait for that glorious moment! The Grey Wardens battle beside the king of Ferelden to stem the tide of evil!"
Loghain moved away, raising his voice to be heard. "Yes, Cailan. A glorious moment for us all." Loghain left with no other words, followed quickly by the Reverend Mother and then the mage, trailing at least a good ten feet behind.
"Don't you think this is a grand plan," the king turned, looking up to his friend, armored in white leather.
Nal dropped off the side, landing inside the temple, bending her knees to absorb the impact. "Sure, as good as any plan before battle."
"Always the pessimist," Cailan chided.
"Someone has to be," she shrugged. "I'll wait for Duncan."
"No, go ahead with the king," the Warden said. "I wish to speak with Mattan and Alistair before they head to the tower."
Nal bowed her head to her mentor, accepting his decision. "Lead the way," she gestured forward, stepping into position beside Cailan. The two drastically different people moved one their way, heading for the battlefield. His guards fell into step around them.
"I cannot wait for the battle to arrive. It's occurred to me that I've never seen you truly fight with your glaive. I've only seen you practice," the king spoke excitedly. "I look forward to seeing your battle prowess."
"My abilities are meant for killing. That is nothing to be excited about," Nal reminded the man beside her.
"Come now, you are to kill darkspawn, do not be so depressing, Nali."
The woman let out a sigh of long suffering. "Very well, but do not expect me to skip down to the battlefield with you. I have to draw the line somewhere, darkspawn or no."
"I would expect nothing less from you," Cailan thumped her back, causing her to jerk forward and release another sigh.
"Keep it up; you'll break my back, and then we'll see how you fair on the battlefield without me to save your hide." Her blonde friend only laughed as they walked down to the field.
Duncan joined the two just before they joined the men on the front line. Together the three, made their way down a raised section of earth a wall of Ostagar on their right, elevating them above most of the army. Half way down, lightning flashed and rain poured down causing the Mabari to begin barking.
"The plan will work, you Majesty," Duncan reassured, not that Cailan needed such assurances.
"Of course it will." Cailan said in a determined voice. "The Blight ends here."
"Well, something will definitely end here," Nal injected, causing Cailan to scoff as her pessimism.
The small group stopped a few feet from the dirt ramp that led down into the main field. There, they waited. It was only minutes before movement could be spotted in the trees across the clearing. Emerging from between the trees was a horde of darkspawn, hundreds, it not nearing a thousand, fog swirling around their feet. Grunting and growling could be heard form the group, light from the many torches reflecting off drawn weapons. All the darkspawn stopped, except one, which moved forward, before the army and walked onto an exposed rock. The Alpha looked side-to-side as the horde roared, crashing their blades against armor, creating terrible sounds.
Nal scoffed at their attempt of intimidation, though it seemed to be working on the humans below her. She unhooked her glaive from her back, swinging it in front of her. She pulled the tassel knot, which had been redone from Daveth's – may his soul rest in peace – shoddy tie, and peeled off the black sack that protected the blade. From there she rested the butt of the wood on the ground.
It stood at least six feet tall, towering by nearly a foot over the small woman that wielded the weapon. The shaft was made of dark wood and at its tip a large wavering blade protruded from dragon-shaped guard, wings spread wide. She lifted the weapon and spun it above her head before bringing it down once more and slamming the base of the wooden pole onto the ground. "Breath my dragon!" Nal called loudly. The blade glowed bright orange seconds before a flame erupted upwards into the sky, billowing out in imitation of dragon's fire.
The fire raced skyward, the sides stretching away from the main body of flames, revealing a triangular head. When the fire was twenty feet above their heads, the dragon-imitation arched its neck, facing its eyes down, and opened its mouth. Red hot flames drifting out and up. A few soldiers, most likely Grey Wardens – for they had seen her do that move before – shouted and cheered at her return fire. Pun intended. It slowly faded out of existence as the rain punched holes through its body of fire.
"Show off," Cailan muttered. Nal turned back to look at him and laughed.
"Jealous that you don't have a flaming sword?" Nal got out between her peals of laughter. "I can light it on fire should you like."
"I'll pass," he moved up to stand beside his friend. "Knowing you, you'll light my personal effects ablaze as well."
"Too late," Nal choked out from her loud laughter. Cailan smiled and shook his head. Nal calmed and nudged his leg with the wooden end of her weapon.
They looked back in time to see the Alpha lift his sword and jerk it forward. The horde roared and charged. "So it begins," she heard Cailan murmur as he watched the rushing darkspawn. When the horde had gone a forth of the field Cailan began to give orders to the army.
"Archers!" he called loudly over the rain. Movement rippled through the army as the archers lifted their bows, strung the arrows, and drew back, holding that position as they waited for their captain to give the order to fire. When the signal was given, the archers fired in near unison. The flaming arrows soared through the sky, arching across the field, before they sailed down piercing through darkspawn armor. The monsters scream as blood spurted from the wounds and fell to the ground.
"Hounds!" The king cried. Barking filled the air as the Mabari were released to charge the coming horde. The painted dogs ran down the field meeting the darkspawn with howls, barks, growls, and a few whines from the ones that received injuries.
"For Ferelden!" Cailan shouted, giving the signal for the army to rush forward. The humans did so with shouts and screams. Arrows from the archers filled the sky once more, and the darkspawn returned fire, with arrows of their own, along with flaming rocks, launched high overhead, crashing into the stone of Ostagar, taking down parts of the walls and towers. The sound of battle filled the air and the feel of the darkspawn taint reverberated through her body.
It only took a few minutes for the first of the darkspawn to get through the human ranks and into the narrow neck leading to Ostagar.
"Now its my turn!" Nal shouted.
"Nal! Wait!" Cailan called, making a grab for her.
With a whoop, she ran to the edge of the raise launched herself off. She whirled her glaive around, point the blade down and aiming for the Hurlock below her. The silver blade slammed into its head with a sick crack. Brains and blood squirted everywhere, splattering her pristine armor with red and grey. The Hurlock crumpled to the ground, Nal on top of the creature. She rolled with the impact, using the momentum to pull out the glaive buried deep in its thick skull, the sound of metal shearing against bone marked her success.
Getting to her feet, Nal swung her weapon, catching a second darkspawn in the throat, opening a gapping hole that release blood down the Genlock's front. Its scream was gurgled as it fell to the ground in a heap. The second Genlock paused looking at the glaive wielding woman for a moment before it charged. The monster received a blade through its chest for its troubles and stumbled forward before dropping as Nal jerked her weapon back.
Nal had no clue how long it took, or how it happened, but she soon found herself fighting near Cailan and Duncan. The King making wide, arcing swings, hitting multiple darkspawn at the same time, while Duncan, made smaller slashing blows with his sword. The woman had a wide birth around her, keeping distance between her and the darkspawn, for should Nal lose the space, she would no longer be able to properly move her long weapon, and be quickly overwhelmed.
Though, Nal was finding herself making sharp, bone-cracking blows behind herself with the butt of her glaive, in between fast, darting attacks with the blade before her, in order to keep darkspawn approaching from behind away.
A cheer suddenly went up, and Nal glanced to the Tower of Ishal, blocking a darkspawn's sword on the hard wood of her weapon. The beacon at the top of the tower had been lit and was burning brightly. The flames licking at the sky. The cheer went up a second time. Reinforcements were coming. The battle would be over soon.
She planted her feet and swung her glaive as hard as she could. The flat of the blade caught a Genlock in the side of the head sending it stumbling into a second, ending in them booth on the ground, where she neatly finished to two off. After the attack Nal found herself with a slight reprieve.
Looking around, she spotted Cailan and Duncan both heavily surrounded, however, the Warden was making quicker work of the darkspawn, so she made her move to Cailan. Delivering a quick blow to a Hurlock that stood in her way, she darted across the field. The king swung his sword in a large arc, creating an opening at his back. A Hurlock, moved in to attack. Nal let her legs go out from under her, sliding on the slick mud to get under Cailan's swing. She forced the stop with her feet and her glaive snaked forward and up, punching into the soft spot between the lower jaw. Blood, ran down her blade, dripping off the dragon's wings.
"Maker! Don't do that!" Cailan shouted over the sounds of battle, glancing behind at Nal. The wooden butt shot out, flaying just past his face. There was a nauseating crunch as the pole broke the Hurlock's skull in to pieces. It fell to the ground, face crushed, blood oozing from its mouth, and dead.
In the slight lull in battle now around the pair, Nal puckered her lips and blew Cailan a kiss, before winking and darting off into another group of gathering darkspawn. Her glaive snaked out, catching one in the chest, when a feeling similar to a whispering in her ear came from behind. Nal flipped her glaive and struck hard. The silver blade sheared through the darkspawn's armor and pierced its flesh, burying its sharp point into the creature's heart, before being removed in a spray of red.
A Genlock came at her from the front and once more she flipped her glaive, swinging it down and then up in a continuous arc from behind, the red tip scraping across the wet earth. The blade caught the Genlock in the jaw and with a snap passed though the bone and split its face nearly in half. Red and grey once again splattered on her skin and armor.
Nal paused, all the darkspawn around her dead, she took a couple of deep breaths, becoming exhausted from the fighting. She glanced down the narrow neck of the battlefield she was on, looking into the dark and deeper into the battleground. Where were Loghain's reinforcements? Why had they not arrived, they should have slaughtered the darkspawn from behind. Then it dawned on her, the only reason why they weren't here. Loghain had abandoned them. He had abandoned everyone here. They'd been condemned them to death.
Rage boiled within Nal, but was quickly snuffed as a nauseated feeling came over her. It felt like snakes were inside her, coiling, twisting, and worming in a big giant knot within her stomach. Nal tasted bile in the back of her throat.
"Move in from behind. Kill him. Kill them. KILL THEM ALL!" The whisper she picked up sent chills through her body. It was coming from behind, yet the order was not aimed at her, it was more like Nal was listening in on a conversation. A towering shadow flashed before her eyes, a brief vision of the one that received the command. The woman gasped and whirled around.
Nal had turned just in time to see Duncan hit out of the way by an ogre. The Warden vanished in the sea of swarming bodies. Nal felt as if all of her internal organs had just dropped and the nauseous feeling was passed up for sudden fear.
"Cailan, behind you!" Nal screamed loudly over battle. His eyes met her own seconds before he whirled around and made a desperate swing at the approaching ogre. It missed and the monster swept the young king up in its crushing, iron-hard grip.
Dread and desperation overcame everything in Nal, and her eyes were for the king only. She took off running, she had to get to Cailan, this couldn't happen. The first darkspawn that came across her path received a rib-breaking impact of her glaive being shoved to the guard into its chest. It went to the ground, glaive still buried deep; when a quick pull didn't get her the blade out Nal abandoned the weapon. The ogre's roar echoed over the field.
Nal was able to make it a few more feet before a second darkspawn got in her way. The Genlock growled raising its weapon to swing. Nali dodged around the blade and punched the Genlock in the face. She hardly felt the pain shooting through her hand as he fingers and knuckles broke on its hard face, but when it stumbled back, Nal was able to get past it. She looked back up to the ogre.
Apparently unimpressed with the human king, the ogre's face twisted and its hand tightened. She didn't hear the crushing of armor or the breaking of bone, but Nal was able to see the blood the oozed between the grooves of the metal armor. With one more grunt, the ogre flung its arm to the side, sending Cailan through the air.
Dropping to the ground got her out of the way of the king's flying body. She turned quick enough to see Cailan take out two soldiers, knocking them off their feet. Nal got back to her feet and was intending to take care of the ogre, but spotted Duncan charging at it, his two blades drawn, so she changed priorities.
"Cailan," she scrambled over, dropping to her knees next to him. Nal was surprised that he was still breathing, if raggedly. "Cailan."
His eyes slowly opened and met hers. His breath hitched as he coughed and choked on blood. At the feel of cold metal and a soft squeeze Nal looked down to see Cailan's gauntleted hand gently gripping hers.
"I'm sorry… Nali…" the words came out as a sigh, his eyes slid shut, and his breathing stopped. Nal didn't need to feel for a pulse, she could see the king was dead.
She didn't even notice someone dropping down next to her, but that person grabbed onto her armor, forcing her to turn, to take her eyes away from Cailan. She found herself face-to-face with Duncan. Blood covered his face, and he looked haggard, run-down, and suddenly so much older than she remembered.
"Naliana," Duncan spoke in a strong tone. "You need to get out of here. The battle is lost." The words, while she heard them, didn't register, and she turned to look bad to her blood-covered friend. Duncan jerked her back into place, and once again she was looking at her mentor. "You need to get out of here, do you understand?" When she didn't immediately respond Nal received another shake. "Do you understand?" Nal met Duncan's eyes, there was so much emotion held within them, alongside something else. Acceptance.
"Yes," Nal managed a small nod. "Yes, I understand." Duncan gave a hard shove, releasing her leathers; Nal caught herself on her elbows.
"Go," he commanded in his strong voice. "Go!"
Nal scrambled around, getting back up onto her feet and ran, stumbled a couple times. She nearly fell as she yanked her glaive out of the darkspawn she killed. Spinning it around, she hooked it back into place on her leathers and continued to run. As Nal neared the dead ogre, she slipped on the wet earth and hit the ground. As Nal raised herself back up, she caught sight of something gold and instinctively reached out, grabbing it, taking it along with her as she stood and began running again.
Reaching the other side of the field, Nal made her way up the dirt and rock rise, slipping and scraping her hands as she went. Her broken hand throbbed, though Nal still didn't know the bones had been shattered. When she reached the top, she had a straight shot for the white wall; Nal ran and leaped, just managing to hold on.
Adrenaline surged through her veins and she hauled herself up the wall, grabbing stone purchases and anything else she could gain a hold on. Nal didn't know how long it took, but her fingers where numb by the time she reached the top of the wall. She was a good deal higher now and when she turned to look below her, the army, both darkspawn and human, were nothing more than specks.
Not allowing herself to become overwhelmed, she turned back, dropping a few feet onto a small foot bridge that led to a section of Ostagar that would take her to an exit and safety. Nal took off running again, unhindered by darkspawn, for they had not reached this far into the fortress.
Still running, Nal hardly noticed she had left Ostagar and had entered the woods, but still she didn't slow. If she stopped to close the darkspawn would find her, she had to keep going, her life, quite literally, depended on continuing forward, though Nal had no idea where she would go. That would be dealt with later.
As some point the adrenaline faded and Nal's pace slowed. She wasn't sure exactly where she was, but heading north seemed the wisest choice. It was the only choice really, so north she went. Then the sun rose to the east and day was in full bloom when she stumbled onto a road and a town came into view.
"Lothering," the name came to her, memories of maps and geography lessons flashed through her mind.
Nal trudged her way up into the stone entrance. As she walked down, aiming for the way into Lothering, a few dirty, leather-clad men stepped in front of her, blocking the way. She looked up, meeting the front-man's eyes, after a few seconds he looked away, but did not back down.
"If you value your lives," Nal growled, putting great force into her words, "get out of my way!" They exchanged looks and cleared the way, allow the woman to pass.
"You see all the blood on her and that sword," one of them said behind her. "I don't want to fight her, boss."
Once away, she nearly tripped down the ramp leading to the entrance of Lothering, a sudden weight dragging down her left arm. Exhaustion took over, and her legs wobbling beneath her with every step.
"Just a bit more," she murmured to herself. "I'll find a bed, or at least some place to rest for an hour before I continue." Nal passed through the wooden gates only to pause as a Templar walked up to her, her vision blurred creating another, and then a third, to join the first.
"Hello there traveler," the Templar spoke, his voice wavering to Nal's ears. "I'm afraid if you're looking for shelter…" his words grew faint, turning into a distant buzz. The world suddenly spun and Nal felt the ground rush up to meet her. A loud sound echoed in her ears as the world faded to black.