7. Slain
Dimuerta awoke much later than she had planned; it seemed to be mid-morning already and she had wanted to get to the mountain top and back before the day was out. Not having remembered straight away what had happened the night before, she got a slight shock when she looked around to see Alistair grinning at her holding two bowls of food.
"Good morning, my love!" he said excitedly, still grinning. "I brought you some breakfast, Wynne cooked it so you know it's good!" he held out a bowl of cooked eggs for her.
"Ah, thank you, Alistair." she replied awkwardly. "Why did no one wake me? We should have been on our way by now."
"Well I would have, but you just looked so peaceful." Alistair answered, blushing somewhat. "Don't worry though, I made sure everyone got ready to leave on your command."
"Oh, well, thank you again, then." she was a little speechless; she liked to be first awake, it felt like she was shirking her duties as the leader otherwise.
"Don't mention it. So, have I told you already that I love you?" he was uncharacteristically happy this morning.
"Did you hit your head?" Dimuerta thought he was going a little overboard. She knew it was his first time, but she felt he was treating her more like his new wife or a Queen than as an intimate partner.
"No, don't be silly! I just... well... last night was amazing. Thank you for saying yes. I hope it won't be the last time we share a bed roll." he blushed deeper still, and sat down at the end of the bed to eat his eggs.
Not wanting to give any kind of response to that, Dimuerta quickly swallowed down the last of her eggs and got up. Realising she was unclothed she hurriedly picked up her robes from the floor and dressed. She saw Alistair still blushing from the corner of her eye, but he did not turn his gaze elsewhere; as he would have done any other time. Grabbing her staff, she strode quickly to the door, telling Alistair "We must be moving on now, we will most likely have to make camp on the mountain top as it is." Turning to Zeus she said "Come, Zeus. Time to go." The war hound obediently followed her out.
Dimuerta strangely felt badly for Zevran. She was sure he would not be upset, but she needed to be absolutely sure.
He was expertly applying poison to his dagger and sword as Dimuerta approached. "Zevran." she said apprehensively.
Zevran turned to face her, sheathing his weapons. "You have awoken, my Warden."
"I just need to make sure I haven't hurt you, by spending the night with Alistair. He gave me a very emotional speech about how he wanted to ensure he had had that particular experience before he is felled by the Archdemon." she rolled her eyes as though it wasn't something serious.
Chuckling, Zevran replied, "Ha! Good line. Perhaps I shall make a note of it, and use it to earn a place beside you tonight?" he had that sparkle in his eye that Dimuerta was so fond of, and he winked at her. So he wasn't upset, she concluded.
"Perhaps, but I should let you know that he also brought a bottle of rum, to make it harder for me to refuse." she joked, though now she thought of it, it was likely true.
"You have not truly been intoxicated until you have taken a draught of Antivan brandy, my dear lady." he said matter-of-factly. "Also, I am willing to bet my own life that Alistair could not woo a lady in dance, or in poetry, as I surely can." The Rogue took her hand then, and twirled her around before putting his other hand on the small of her back and leaning her backwards, then allowing her to stand upright again, all in one fluid motion.
"I see. And when is it that you are intending to unleash the prose on me?" she teased.
"When you need wooing, my Warden. As it stands, you are already sufficiently wooed, as it were." he gave her a wickedly handsome smile and kissed the hand he still held before releasing it.
Blushing as she did so often now, she turned to ready her mount for a ride through the Ruined Temple to the top of the mountain.
Other than a few rogue Drakes, nothing slowed their hasty ascent to the mountain top. Dimuerta had decided to bring along all of her able companions to face the High Dragon; she was sure this would be their toughest opponent yet. With Dimuerta at the head of the riders, and Zeus running along with her horse, Zevran rode along on her left, matching her pace, and Alistair on her right, trying his best to also match her pace as he frequently turned his head toward Zevran to give him his best glare. Coming up on the rear was Morrigan, who hadn't been out with the usual party in a month or so and now looked positively eager; Sten, who was riding with Oghren at his back, who was presently cussing away at his lack of a good Dwarf-reared pony; Wynne, who looked quite disgusted by the Dwarf's bad language; and Shale lastly, who was easily able to keep up with the horses, pounding her heavy stone feet into the ground as she went.
As quickly as they had rode, it was late afternoon by the time they reached the summit. The sun hung lazily in the washed out sky, and the air was oddly still and heavy, and felt glacial in Dimuerta's lungs.
She signalled for everyone to hitch their mounts just inside the last room of the Temple so that they would be a safe distance from the Dragon, and, seeing that this was done, she moved to the golden gong that stood glowing in the dim sunlight to the right of the path that led to the Gauntlet, where Dimuerta had previously found the holy Andraste's Ashes that had saved Arl Eamon's life.
Standing now directly in front of the gong, Dimuerta looked back over her shoulder at her companions and called, "Is everyone ready?"
A moments' silence passed, and then there was a rough hand on her shoulder, "We are ready, my Warden. Let us see the beast. I have a bet on with Oghren that I will deal the deadly strike." Zevran winked at her, his topaz eyes sparkling as she would swear they had been since their night together.
"That so?"
"Aye, and he'll not be winnin' y'hear" Oghren grunted. "Takes more than stealth to slay a Dragon. Gotta' have brute force. That'll be me winnin' the gold, Zev ol' fella."
"We shall see, my bearded friend. We shall see." Zevran teased the Dwarf, his hand still on Dimuerta's shoulder.
"OK. I will summon the Dragon then." Dimuerta announced to her eight companions, and then quickly, placing a hand over Zevran's on her shoulder and squeezing it, she added "Be careful, all of you. Please." she emphasized, looking right into Zevran's eyes, pleading.
As Zevran stepped back, Dimuerta wielded her staff, and, in a defensive stance, banged the gong with it.
It took around a minute. The group stood waiting, all holding a defensive position, straining to see a movement in the sky, to hear a noise on the breeze. Zevran had stayed close to Dimuerta, his back to hers, sword and dagger at the ready. Alistair too, had moved noticeably closer to Dimuerta, keeping his shield raised. She didn't really need protecting, but they both seemed unaware that this was what they were doing; it was instinctive. Presently, there was a deafening shriek, and the High Dragon appeared in front of them, its expansive wings heaving to keep its massive body hovering above the ground.
The warriors moved forwards while the mages fell back, Wynne further back than the other two to stay out of the Dragon's line of fire and keep her focus on healing. Dimuerta cast a protective Heroic Defence spell over Wynne to keep her safe. Alistair stayed on the side of the Dragon closest to Dimuerta, but pushed forward to join the other warriors. Zevran remained by Dimuerta's side, studying the Dragon's movements.
At once the monstrous Dragon dropped to the ground where it had been hovering, making the whole mountain shudder and momentarily putting Oghren off balance as he swung his axe over his head. The beast's beady eyes shone a crimson red as they scanned its new foes. It straightened its scaly back, swinging the tip of its tail to and fro like an angry cat, and let out another blood curdling cry as it began its attack.
Immediately Dimuerta cast her Curse of Mortality and then her Hand of Blood spell in a flurry. As there were so many warriors at the Dragon's feet, she could cast a lot of spells without attracting the beast's attention. To her right, Morrigan did the same, concentration evident on her face. To Dimuerta's left, Zevran stealthed, disappearing from view and reappearing moments later at the Dragon's side, thrusting his dagger in above its knee. Another deafening shriek ripped from the creature's bared teeth and it swung it's tail out and around in front of it, knocking all but the dexterous Zevran and Zeus off of their feet. Before the warriors could get to their feet Wynne was casting her Cleansing Aura spell to heal everyone around her.
With renewed energy Dimuerta dodged an angry flame attack and sent a Shock spell hurtling towards the Dragon, making it cease its attack for half a second. This gave the warriors a small window of opportunity, and, lead by Alistair, they all landed one heavy blow on the Dragon at exactly the same time, which knocked it off balance, and it crashed to the ground. Now shrieking in pain and shock, the Dragon writhed on its back as it tried to right itself. Turning to Morrigan, Dimuerta nodded a wordless command and Morrigan activated a powerful Paralyze spell over the Dragon. It would not hold for long, but it would be long enough. Zevran nimbly leapt to the Dragon's great belly, and in one fluid motion, sunk both his sword and dagger into the beast's throat and ran them across until they broke free of the scaly flesh above its shoulder. The shrieking was rapidly replaced by gargling in this split second, and after a minute or two, the writhing stopped, and so did the gargling.
"The beast is slain." Zevran announced with a smirk as he jumped agilely to the ground.
