Disclaimer: I do not own the Dragon Age series or the characters therein.
Chapter 4
The green mark on Coulton's hand troubled him. Every time the Breached pulsed, so did the mark.
"They are connected," Cassandra explained. "The pulses are coming faster and the mark is killing you."
"Great," he lamented sarcastically.
Cassandra and Coulton traveled up the dangerous path to the ruins of the Temple of Sacred Ashes. They fought wraiths and shades along the way, as well as picking up two for their group. Solas, an elven apostate, and Varric, a surface dwarf. Solas had grabbed Coulton's hand and showed him how to use the mark to close the rifts that were forming.
"Whatever made the Breach appear required an incredible amount of magic," Solas reasoned, "and your prisoner is no mage. I find it hard to believe any mage would hold enough power to create such a thing."
Cassandra nodded her head. "Noted," she stated simply.
The group headed to the forward came as fast as they could. There, they found Leliana waiting for them, as well as a man named Chancellor Roderick. It was abundantly clear that unlike Cassandra and Leliana, the Chancellor had no faith in Coulton and was ready to see him dead for the Divine's death.
"He is the only hope we have," Cassandra aruged. "His mark closed the rifts on our way up here."
Solas stepped forward. "With any luck, it will close the breach," he added.
Roderick barely glanced at the elven mage before he turned his nose up at him. "And if it doesn't? Then what?"
"We will deal with that when the time comes," Cassandra retorted. Looking at a map on the table between them, she pointed ahead of their position. "This path is the quickest route."
Leliana shook her head. "But not the safest," she countered. "The mountain path would take you around the fighting."
Cassandra shook her head. "No good. We lost contact with a group of scouts up that path."
Clearly unable to decide, they turned to Coulton. "You are the one we need to get to the Breach. Which way would you choose?" Cassandra asked.
Coulton looked bewildered for a moment before collecting himself. "I'm likely to die before anything else can be done," he said. "I say we take the mountain path. If we're lucky, we will find your missing scouts."
Kaleigh had pushed her mare too hard. She knew that. The frothing at the mouth was evidence of that. She jumped off of her dear animal as soon as she had stopped, thankfully near a small brook. As the horse drank heartily, she kept shooting worried glances up at the mountain.
~Please be safe, Coulton,~ she desperately thought.
She looked at ther now calm horse and sighed. In her worry for her brother, she had thought to reach the Temple as fast as possible. Now, she could either sit here and wait for her company of men, or she could continue on at a slower pace, still faster than their march, and still arrive at Haven before them.
The choice was painfully obvious, and after a short while, she mounted her mare again and started at a much slower canter.
The first thing Kaleigh noticed on her slow trek up the mountain was the sudden bite to the air. She wasn't unprepared in the slightest, having worn her warmest clothes under her armor as well as a heavy cloak. But the chill on the mountain was substantial.
As she continued the slow climb, she began to notice small campfires, most still smoking as if recently extinguished. An occasional one would have a traveler or two but most were empty. As the day wore on into late afternooon and then early evening, Kaleigh started to doubt whether she'd reach Haven before nightfall.
Then, quite suddenly as the path turnd around a giant boulder, Haven was before her.
End Chapter