Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age or any of its characters.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
Elissa stirred. What was that low groaning sound? Or was it growling? She opened her eyes. Ser Gilmore still had his arms wrapped around her. She eyed around the room. Something felt odd.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
It was louder this time.
Bark. Bark.
Ser Gilmore jolted awake.
His eyes found Elissa's. A look of concern crossed his face.
They heard faint banging.
Bark. Bark.
Was that screaming they heard?
"What's going on?" Ser Gilmore asked, groggily?
"I don't know," Elissa faintly whispered. "Siren was growling, it woke me up. Now he won't stop barking."
Ser Gilmore released her and sat up. Elissa followed suit.
"Shhhhh, what is it Siren?" she asked her mabari. He got up and ran toward the door and began to scratch.
"What's going on out there?" Ser Gilmore asked.
Siren growled.
"Something must be wrong," Ser Gilmore noted.
Elissa's face harden. She moved quickly to her wardrobe.
"Here, wear your chainmail," she said as she tossed it onto the bed. "I have spare weapons in my trunk-" she stopped, and gave a meaningful glance to Ser Gilmore. "Just in case," she finished.
He nodded and rummaged through her things, withdrawing two daggers and a sword and shield.
After tightening the last buckles on her armor, Elissa equipped her daggers and watched as Ser Gilmore pulled his chainmail on. He sheathed his sword and equipped his shield.
"I suppose we should see what's going on out there," he said, quietly.
Elissa nodded and hugged him.
Suddenly, they heard someone shouting orders right outside the door.
"What the-" Elissa started, and then there were sounds of clanging metal and screams.
Ser Gilmore flung the door open and was luckily just out of reach of an arrow that shot passed him and thudded against the stone wall behind them.
"Elissa, grab your mother and the others and get out of here." He looked back outside of the door. "Those are Howe's men. He's attacking the castle while it's nearly defenseless."
"But why?" Elissa breathed. She was at a loss for words.
Ser Gilmore kissed her. "I don't know, my love. But I must go to help the guards defend the gates. Please, grab your mother and whoever else you can and get out of here."
Elissa nodded. She pulled out her daggers and watched Ser Gilmore as he left, blocking two arrows as they shot toward him. Siren ran after him, mauling a soldier that was about to stab Ser Gilmore in the back.
"Good boy," Ser Gilmore praised. Siren growled appreciatively.
Two archers stood by the door to exit. Ser Gilmore bashed one of them and brought the sword down on his back. He twisted and got the other archer in the face with his shield, causing him to stagger, and stabbed him right through his stomach. With a last worried glance back at Elissa, he left the bed chambers. Siren whimpered but stayed behind to help Elissa.
Elissa made her way toward her parent's chambers. She needn't gone far, as her mother came rushing toward her, armor on and bow slung over her shoulder.
"Those are Howe's men!" she screamed.
"I know," Elissa said.
"Where is your father?"
"If he's not with you…" Elissa couldn't finish that sentence. "We must check on the others. Oriana and Oren, Landra, Iona, and Dairren. Then we'll find father."
Eleanor's face was crestfallen. She rushed to Fergus' bedroom door and burst through, Elissa right behind her. A sad sight met them. Oriana's body lay splayed out on the floor, blood coating her abdomen and pooling beneath her. Her eyes were widened in shock and arms outstretched as if pleading for mercy. Oren wasn't in immediate sight, but as Elissa turned to look away from Oriana's body, her eyes met her nephew's. He was dead, his mouth lolled open, blood dribbled from out of it. There was an arrow protruding from his neck. When Eleanor discovered her grandson's body, she collapsed and brought him into her arms.
"Oh, Oren," she cried. Tears were streaming down her face, landing on Oren's.
Elissa looked away, closed her eyes, and swallowed hard. Now was not the time to cry.
"Come on," she said. "There's nothing we can do for them now."
Eleanor carefully laid Oren's body down and turned away to follow.
Elissa couldn't believe it. Why would Howe do something like this? That traitorous bastard! Oriana and Oren! They were innocents. Why would they slay them? Maybe that meant… They were here to kill them all. This realization haunted Elissa.
"Quickly, in here," Eleanor said, as they reached the guest chambers.
They entered and were again met with a devastating scene. Landra lay curled up on her bed, her throat slit while she slept.
"Oh Landra!" Eleanor cried. "If only you hadn't been here!" Tears rolled down her face.
"Come, Mother. We must find father."
"You're right," she sniffed, as she tried to regain composure.
They left the chamber area and winded their way around toward the great hall. There was clashing and yelling, pillars were set on fire, and rubble lay in their midst.
As Elissa took in the scene, a flare of anger erupted inside her.
"I need to find Howe! I need to make him pay for what he has done here," Elissa told her mom.
"No. We must stay together. We need to find your father and go! We can use the servant's exit in the larder to escape."
"We can't just leave everyone to die! Howe will slaughter everyone! I can't just leave to save my own skin," Elissa retorted angrily.
There were loud shouts nearby and more clanging of metal hitting metal.
"We'll fight through until we find your father, but I must insist we leave when we do," the Teyrna said.
Elissa grudgingly nodded. Daggers still firmly in hand, she proceeded forward.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" A man came running through the passageway. "They're after me! Run for your lives!"
"Stand your ground- help us fight!" mustered Elissa.
The man looked around nervously. "You're right. I should help!" he replied. He pulled out a dagger from under his shirt and charged at the nearest soldier.
Elissa ran after him. She should have told him to go. She'd get him killed- he wasn't wearing any armor and only had one dagger. She was surprised to find, however, that he stood over the corpse of a recently deceased soldier, pulling his blade from the man's abdomen, and taking the shield for his own.
"Great job!" Elissa called. He smiled toothily and moved to the next, helping defend the guards. Two archers weren't far away, and each of their arrows narrowly missed their mark.
Elissa jolted toward them, pulling her daggers into attack position and leaped onto the first archer. She dug both her blades into the archer's shoulders and ripped them out, causing blood to gush from the open wounds as the man collapsed. Elissa landed on his chest. As she turned to get the other archer, he kicked her in the side. She staggered, but caught herself. He was just about to notch an arrow when another arrow struck him in the throat. He spluttered and walked forward, attempting to grab Elissa, but she moved back. Blood poured from his mouth. He spat it at Elissa and it coated her face as she flinched in disgust. Then, he collapsed on top of his fellow, dead. Elissa looked for the source of the arrow and saw her mother not too far away, notching another arrow and launching it toward a group of soldiers rushing through.
Spinning on the spot, Elissa swung her daggers up just in time to sink into the chest of the soldier who was about to attack her. She withdrew it quickly, performing a series of roundhouse kick maneuvers and elegantly twisting her arms so that her daggers slashed down every soldier that surrounded her. Drenched in gore, she rushed toward her mother who was about to be stabbed in the back by a silent rogue solider.
A strangled cry escaped her lips as she jumped into the air, crisscrossing her arms, and bringing her blades across the man's throat. He sputtered in surprise and then collapsed.
"Thanks," Eleanor said, eying the dead soldier.
Elissa quickly smiled but pressed on. The corridor was quiet now, but she followed the barks eliciting from Siren.
They reached the doors to the great hall. Elissa was hoping beyond hope that she'd find Ser Gilmore inside.
