Act II: …and Switch

Danarius had just gone down a trap door in his chambers, saying he needed to get the book on his study of lyrium markings that Neria wanted to see. Neria glanced around, assessing the area while pretending to sip the Aggregio Pavali he had just given her. Does he take me for a fool? Neria wondered, sniffing the wine yet again, its fruity scent with a faint hint of deathroot filling her nostrils.

Neria was hardly alone in the chambers; there were two Tevinter soldiers near the door, and Danarius had left his precious bodyguard with her as well. She got up, leaving the wine glass on the table, and walked toward the door. She felt the guards and the bodyguard's eyes on her as she approached, and knew they would probably stop her if she tried to leave.

Neria glanced at the guard's faceguards, and did a double take upon catching a glimpse of their eyes. They were glazed over, like they were in a trance. Mindless thralls, she thought. That made things much easier for all of them; if all of Danarius' guards and mages were simply thralls with no minds of their own, then killing their puppet master would probably send them all in a panic or render them useless in a fight.

"So, Fenris," she said, returning to her seat . "Are you allowed to speak with me?"

Fenris stiffened, his brows moving down into a frown. "I have not been explicitly forbidden to do so," he said after a long pause.

Neria looked the slave over once more. Quite pleasing to the eye, this one, she thought. His deep-set eyes were particularly attractive, and the markings on his skin seemed to enhance his delicate musculature. Neria wondered if Danarius had chosen him for the strength of his will and his tolerance of pain, or perhaps simply because he found the elf to be pretty. The latter thought disgusted her.

She crossed the cabin until she was right in front of the elf. "How long have you been serving your master?"

"I have always served him." He was avoiding her gaze, and there was something about his tone made Neria question the truthfulness of his answer.

She knew there was something else wrong with him – his eyes were not glazed over like the guards', but his controlled manner of speech gave it away. She turned her back to him, pulled a tiny vial of red liquid concealed behind her cloth belt, and crushed it in her gauntleted left hand.

"Tell me Fenris," she said, feeling the pulse of energy from the blood that spilled from the vial's crushed remains. "Have you ever wished to be free?"

Fenris said nothing. The blood in Neria's hand began to evaporate, slowly, as she used it to heighten her senses to the presence of blood magic.

"So?" She pressed, turning back to face him. "Is freedom something you desire?"

Fenris still gave no response. As Neria gazed at him, she detected blood magic – strong blood magic – at work within his mind. He seemed devoid of memories and emotions other than the desire to obey his master, but anger and hate pulsed faintly from somewhere deep within him. Neria's suspicions were confirmed; Danarius had done something to tamper with Fenris' thoughts and feelings to make him completely obedient.

And Fenris hated him for it.

Neria figured she could break whatever bindings the magister's blood magic placed on Fenris' mind, but it would take more time… and more fuel. The blood on Neria's gauntlet, having served its purpose, had dissipated completely.

Neria had just turned her back to Fenris when the trap door swung open, and Danarius entered…with no book in his hands. He looked mildly surprised at the Warden, probably because he had expected her to be knocked out by the wine. He smiled, however, as he approached her. "I'm afraid, my dear, I have forgotten the tome back at Minrathous. If you would prefer, we can travel there together. I can show you around, and I'm quite certain many of my colleagues would love to meet you."

"It would be my pleasure, Danarius." The magister's smile widened, and he placed a wrinkled hand on her shoulder. Neria steeled herself and did not give in to her desire to shrug his hand off in disgust. "Would you permit me to return to my ship and gather some of my belongings? There is a tome I've written that I believe you would be interested in seeing. It contains my findings about the ancient magic I use."

Danarius eyes brightened with such eagerness that reminded Neria of the glint in a child's eyes after being offered a new toy. "Yes, of course. If you would permit my men and I to escort you outside…?"

I'm counting on it. Neria nodded, smiling as Danarius led her out of the cabin.


Uno. Dos. Tres.

Danarius didn't even know what hit him upon taking his third step out of the cabin. Or he did, but barely had time to react. Zevran's needle-sharp dagger sank deep into his back, with precision that ensured its point pierced the old magister's heart.

The magister fell to the deck, and Neria stared at the assassin in shock. She opened her mouth to yell at him for not following the plan, but the sight of Fenris with his lyrium tattoos glowing and the sharp talons of his gauntlets reaching for them made her decide to save it for later.

It had been a while since she cast her protective armor of spells, but she remembered them all in a flash. The strength of magic and the protection of stone. Neria snarled, and knocked Fenris aside with force that stunned even herself and Zevran. The resilience of the Fade. An arrow zipped toward her, only to phase through her now translucent form. With Fenris off their backs, Zevran managed to rush ahead and slit a couple of Tevinter soldiers' throats, spilling a tremendous amount of blood on deck.

Neria caught the scent of blood, and smirked. The power of blood and death. She felt the magic swirling around her, strengthening her, sapping the life force of the dying soldiers.

Fenris drew his blade, and brought it down on her. Neria dodged the blow fairly easily and slammed a fist into the elf's abdomen, causing him to crumple against her. Cradling the back of his head with her hand, she forced a spell onto him. "Sleep, now," she whispered. His limpness told her that her spell had gotten past his mental defenses, and that it was time for the rest of the plan to play out.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE YOU LAZY SODS, GET YOUR ASSES OVER THERE AND HELP!" Neria heard Isabela cry from their ship. Danarius was nowhere to be seen as Isabela's crew vaulted across to engage the Tevinter soldiers.

It was an absolute mess. Neria cursed as she held on to Fenris with one hand and yanked a sword from one of the dead soldiers with another. A circle of soldiers was closing in on her. She stabbed the blade into the ground, and in an instant all of them were frozen around her.

All of the soldiers were still fighting, and that told her Danarius wasn't dead yet. As Neria started looking around for any sign of the magister, a force spell suddenly knocked her down onto the deck. Pain shot through her side, and she knew the spell had probably dented her armor and broken a few of her ribs. She felt blood streaking down the side of her face from a cut on her temple. But still, she stood up with little effort, a wicked smile on her face.

The blood mage that assaulted her seemed stunned, and began casting yet another spell. Neria sneered at him. The mage flung a fireball toward her, but the layers of defensive spells covering Neria shielded her from the blast. The flames danced around the wooden panels beneath her feet.

Another force spell struck her down, but again, she stood up laughing. "I've slain templars, abominations, high dragons…and the Archdemon. What makes you think you can possibly defeat me?" She pointed her sword in his direction, and dispelled his barrier. The mage balked, suddenly stepping backward in panic.

The mage frantically moved to cast another spell, but Neria slammed her fist across his jaw, sending him sprawling on the deck. "Please," he gasped, "Don't kill me… I'll do anything you want…please…"

"I always admired the Tevinter mages for their freedom," Neria said, placing a heavily-armored foot onto the mage's heaving chest. "And at some point, I did want to go to Tevinter and become a magister myself."

"Our master…our master can make that happen," the mage stammered. "I'll talk to him…and he'll make you a magister…a senator if you want. Just please…"

Neria smirked, placing more of her weight onto the mage's chest, ignoring his desperate pleas. "Now I know better than to admire the likes of you, slaver. I'm stronger than any other mage on the face of Thedas. And I did that with no help from your damned Imperium." And she brought the point of her sword down onto the mage's throat.


As Neria sated her bloodlust, the chaos around her raged on. The ship was ablaze now, thanks to the spells Danarius' pet mages were casting frantically. She heard the moaning of demons and abominations, and knew they had to escape the burning ship posthaste before Isabela and her crew were slaughtered.

In the haze of fire and smoke, she spotted Fenris' unconscious form sprawled nearby. Neria pulled him upright and swung one of his arms around her shoulders, and started dragging him toward the gangplank.

The Tevinter troops and mages were too preoccupied defending themselves against Isabela's crew to notice the Warden dragging Fenris along. Neria had to fend off a soldier or two, but she easily dispatched them with her borrowed sword.

Isabela was in the middle of the gangplank, knocking a soldier into the water below when Neria approached. "Come on!" Isabela yelled at Neria. "We have to go, now! One of my men spotted an al-"

An explosion from below the Tevinter ship's decks interrupted Isabela, and rocked both ships violently. Isabela and Neria had managed to leap onto their own ship with Fenris in tow, narrowly avoiding being knocked straight into the water.

Foul smoke erupted from the Tevinter ship was wafted over to Isabela's, causing everyone on board to hack and cough. "Alchemy… lab…" Isabela wheezed. "Below… decks…"

Neria squinted in an attempt to see through the smoke. Many of Isabela's men were fumbling with ropes to swing across the water and back into their ship. Isabela barked orders to her helmsman, letting him know they were pulling away from the burning Tevinter ship as soon as most of the men were across.

Neria watched the men through blurred eyes, knowing not all of them would make it. The smoke was clearing up a bit as their ship began to move, and most of Isabela's surviving crew made it back safely. But there was one man Neria could not account for.

Zevran.

Neria glanced around wildly, the smoke stinging her dilated eyes, searching for the assassin. She couldn't see him. She looked back to the Tevinter ship, trying to spot him. She tried to call out for him, but the fumes entered her lungs and turned what would have been a loud bellow into a wheezing whimper.

Neria felt her heart start to pound with panic. Throwing logic and caution to the winds, she began hauling herself up over the railing, preparing to leap across the gap, but another explosion shook both ships, sending her flying backwards onto the deck of Siren's Call II. She scrambled to her feet once more, ran back to the railing, and braced herself for a long jump…

…only to feel someone's arms grab at her from behind and prevent her from doing so.

"Are you insane?!" Isabela shrieked over the chaos. "There's no way you can—OOF!"

Neria slammed an elbow into Isabela's abdomen, and resumed clambering over the railing. She barely got one leg over, however, when pain suddenly shot through her entire struggled to stay on her feet, using the railing for support as her knees began to buckle.

Shit. Not now. Not now! Zevran!

Hot tears were filling her eyes as she grit her teeth and forced herself to at least look back up at the sinking Tevinter vessel. The entire thing was aflame now. Panic and raged surged within her… and the voice, that voice, speaking in her mind.

Let me out, pretty one. I can save your beloved for you. All you need to do is let me out.

No! Neria fell to her knees, hugging herself as her muscles began to spasm. No, I will never let you out! Never! I refuse to become an abomination! I promised him… Zevran… Zevran!

The voice laughed. Look at you, you poor dear. You've pushed yourself too hard again. Your body can't take much more, you know. You're dying. You've been dying ever since you drank that foul darkspawn blood. I can help you with that, too. Just let me out.

The pain in her body and her heart were too much for her now. Despite the demon's coaxing and constant interruptions, all she could think of was Zevran. Her mouth hung open in a silent scream as she felt the darkness overtake her.


This chapter was the most difficult to write so far, but I definitely had a lot of fun with it. :) My friend and I had looong discussions about how this part was going to play out, and she constantly had to remind me about Neria's personality and the spells she actually uses in-game. :p

If any of you are curious which spells Neria actually cast in this chapter, they're as follows: "The strength of magic and the protection of stone": Combat Magic, Rock Armor; "The resilience of the Fade": Fade Shroud (passive skill triggered when Combat Magic is active); "The power of blood and death": Blood Magic, Death Magic, Draining Aura. She also casts Dispel Magic, Hand of Winter, and Sleep, but those were probably more obvious!