Chapter 7: The Mission
Another month would pass before the Commander finally decided to send his wardens out again.
Carver and Arika made the best of this time; slowly the young couple began to rebuild what they had lost in the last few months. Carver was still in mourning; his duties had not allowed him to attend his Mother's funeral. Arika stood by him, she was there if he needed anything, support, talk, or even a shoulder to cry on. She did not see this as weakness on her beloved's part; it was simply a time of grieving and healing. She was there for him, she needed to be there. They even started to be intimate with each other again, neither would admit it, but they both had missed each other's company.
It would take time, but they were finally on the road back.
Then came the day that Cesare called the senior wardens together, they all gathered quickly, hoping for good news.
He had a mission for them.
Word had reached Ansburg of a possible darkspawn incursion in a small village along the road between Starkhaven and Kirkwall. Ghouls had been sighted, and there were reports of the Blight sickness in the outlying farms. The new Commander knew that their time had now come.
Cesare had decided that the time had come to release his grey wardens on the world again.
In Ansburg, this final month of peace would eventually come to be known as the calm before the storm.
This mission would come to be known as the first step, the darkness before the dawn.
The dawn of the Avatar of Fen'Harel, the coming of something the world had never seen before!
IOI
Locien gathered his followers, it was time! The stars were coming into alignment. Through Kelly and Solen he sent word to the rest of the Children of Fen'Harel, the rest of his order. They were to assemble near Sundermount, and they were to bring the vessel. For months now, the Children had been preparing it. The body that the magic of the Avatar would be poured into, it was just clay now, clay anointed with sacred oils, but Fen'Harel would change that, his magic would make it flesh and blood, the summoning ritual would bring the vessel true animation, it would bring their master' magic into this world.
Then…Locien would do his part, he would use the items that he had gathered to pull a soul from the beyond. This soul would then be bonded with the Avatar, giving it true mortal life.
The Avatar would then be whole, ready to lead their people to their destiny!
He had thought long and hard on what soul he would summon. He decided to summon one of the elvhen priests of the Children of Fen'Harel, from the days of Arlathan. One of his ancient ancestors, such an elf would embrace the power of the Avatar whole heartedly, and would take the reins and lead their people back to glory, and where the Avatar went, Locien would not be far behind.
So close now…soon they would be ready!
The elven mage was pleased, his servants had done well. It was his followers that had alerted the Commander of this darkspawn threat, a threat that they had caused. It was necessary, life was needed for the ritual, sacrifices were needed!
The wardens would unwittingly deliver those for him, the next item needed for the summoning into his hands.
Only two items remained, in this village they would find the next. Then it was only a matter of retrieving the last item from the graveyard atop of Sundermount.
They were close now…so close to achieving their goal. The quest of millennia was about to end.
The Avatar would finally rise!
Locien smiled.
The wardens had been useful pawns. They had given Locien everything he had needed to save his people. Perhaps when this was done, he would advise the Avatar to be merciful towards them. They would still be needed should an Archdemon rise again after all.
He would give it some thought.
Such things should not be rushed into after all.
IOI
Four full scouting groups marched out of Ansburg. The Commander and his personal guard rode at their head. Cesare intended to leave nothing to chance.
He intended to show his men the strength and will of his Grey Wardens.
Stroud and the other senior wardens did not understand his coming along. This force that the Commander had with him was almost a full battle group, not necessary for a simple investigation. If the spawn had infected people in this village, it would be necessary to deal with those who could not be saved, and evacuate any survivors.
Such a show of force seemed unnecessary.
Arin stuck close to Carver and Arika, he found himself growing curious about his sister's mate. Carver was strong, he recognized that, and he seemed to be pulling his sister out of whatever darkness had ensnared her soul.
Arin was grateful for that.
He still hoped to find his end somewhere along this mission. A warrior's death, saving the lives of others, they may have been lowlanders, but he had to work with what he had on hand.
IOI
Lin glanced back at Loki; the Dalish mage seemed very pleased with himself.
She was not sure that she liked that.
She tried to stay positive, it was good that Loki would not be pouring anymore hate into Solen's ear. Hopefully with his new master gone, the boy would start to snap out of whatever spell the mage had cast. Hopefully we would find his way back to the shy and good boy she remembered.
She could only hope, and pray to the Maker that this would be so.
The Commander had spoken with her this morning, with all the archers actually. He wanted fire arrows prepared, though he would not say why.
The request made Lin uneasy; Stroud was the type of leader who outlined the plan in great detail before the mission began.
She was uncomfortable with all this secrecy.
She stayed quiet though, for now, her family had to live in Ansburg after all.
It would be unwise to openly question the Commander…
…Very unwise indeed.
IOI
Alistair felt nervous, he did not like where this was going, the Commander was acting like he had something to prove, and, whatever it was, was likely not good for the order.
Most of the others took this mission in stride, they were simply grateful to finally be out of the keep again. After months of inactivity, they were ready to be wardens once again.
They were eager to do their duty.
IOI
The group made its way towards the village of Blainswood, as far as settlements went it was fairly small, only about a hundred inhabitants, traders and metal workers mostly. Though, it had been rumored that the town elders allowed raiders to operate in the area, in exchange for a cut of their profits.
Perhaps, this is what had brought the Blight down upon them; perhaps they had raided the wrong people.
There were several outlying farms along the road to Blainswood, the wardens stopped at each one. Two of them had contained ghouls, already so infected with the taint that they were wild animals in the service of the darkspawn.
The wardens ended these quickly, and burned down the farms to prevent the spread of further infection.
Carver shifted uncomfortably, he hated ghouls. One of her first missions in the order had been to aid a family that had been exposed to the taint, by the time the wardens arrived, they had been too late. The entire family had become ghouls.
The wardens had been forced to kill them all.
The only survivor, a boy about Carver's age had not understood. He called the wardens murderers, he was enraged that they had not been able to help his family.
He had come at Carver was with a sword, the young warden had no choice. He had to slay they boy.
That death still haunted him, he had sworn to do better, but some guilt remained.
He had no desire to add to it, if this village had become infected…
This would get really bad real quick.
The Commander called the m to a halt just within striking range of the village.
He had decided to send in an advance group, they needed to know the extent of the infection before they proceeded.
Lin and several other scouts broke away; they were to return in one hour.
Cesare took the time to speak with the men. Most were eager to do their duty. He needed to know who he could count on, and who were going to turn squeamish in the face of doing their duty.
He needed to know who was with him, and who might be against him.
The scouting groups mostly kept to themselves. Stroud's and Nug's mixed fairly easily, all the training they had undergone made it easier for these warriors to mix. Siobhan had been assigned to serve as healer, while Loki was tasked with damaging.
The Dalish smiled, for what he needed, that task suited him just fine.
The hour passed, and Lin and the rest of the scouts returned.
The archer seemed pleased. She marched right up to the Commander and saluted.
"Report," he said.
"The Maker is with us, ser," she said smiling, "The villagers have managed to isolate the sick. I think they caught it before it could spread to the village as a whole."
The Commander nodded.
"Did you sense the degree of the infection?"
"Most are still in the early stages," Lin continued, "Their loved ones are being kept back as a precaution. I think we got lucky, ser. We should be able to evacuate the survivors safely, before we…before we do what we must."
Cesare nodded grimly, it was clear that the elf did not like what they were about to do, but she would obey.
That was good.
He turned to the other scouts.
"Do you concur with the girl's report?
The other wardens nodded in affirmative.
Cesare smiled, he knew what he had to do.
He turned to the others.
"Prepare yourselves; he called out, "We move in one hour, we purge the entire village."
Lin's eyes widened.
WHAT!
"Ser," she stammered, "I said we were…"
"I heard you," he said giving her a fatherly smile, "I have decided to err on the side of caution. You said this infection is in the early stages, yes? We cannot afford a single ghoul to slip through. No, we shall purge the village to be safe."
Stroud stepped forward, he was not one to shirk his duty, but even he…he looked a little pale at what the commander was asking them to do.
"But we do not know what caused this," Lin said frantically, "should we not investigate first?"
"Investigation is unnecessary," the Commander said, "Death will stop the spread of this evil at the source."
Stroud shook his head, this did not sound like duty, this sounded like madness,
"Commander is…is this wise? The other cities might…"
"The other cities will not hear of this," Cesare said, "We shall leave no survivors, if anyone asks, we responded to a darkspawn raid, and arrived too late, nothing more could be done."
"So, we are to be liars then?" Nug said, it was clear that the dwarf did not agree with this choice either.
Cesare sighed.
"An example needs to be made master dwarf," he said patiently, "These people have invited the blight into their homes. We must show all of the Free Marches that will not be tolerated. There will be no evidence linking us to this attack, but the rumor, the possibility will keep the other settlements in line."
The former crow prince smiled.
"Fear…will do the rest."
"THIS IS WRONG!"
Alistair sprang from where he had been listening. Maker, the man…he could not be serious.
"Commander, please, for the love of the Maker, please, do not make us do this!"
Cesare's eyes turned cold, his glare silenced Alistair.
"I respect what you have done for Thedas, my friend," he said coldly, "But this is not Ferelden, and I am not your elven wife. I lead the order, and my decision stands! If you wish to be relieved from duty, I will grant that, and have you returned to Ansburg in irons."
He leaned in closer to the younger man.
"Do I make myself clear, Warden Alistair," he said grimly.
Alistair held his gaze, the young warden did not back down, but at the same time, he did not give the Commander an excuse to arrest him.
He stepped back into line.
"Marvelous," Cesare declared, "Everyone ready themselves, we strike after sunset." The Commander left with his personal guard in tow.
The other wardens stared after him in horror, most of them did anyway, some had come from very dark lives before the order.
These welcomed the coming violence.
Stroud looked at his companions, they all looked ill; it was one thing to do their duty.
But this…this was going to be a massacre…a blood bath!
None of them wanted to be a part of this; Stroud could see that, even the reavers looked ill.
This was going to be bad.
IOI
Loki kept his face Impassive, but inside, he was leaping for joy.
The stupid shem had done exactly as he had suspected he would!
He drew a small item from his robes; it was simply medallion bearing a symbol of a crystal goblet.
It was Tevinter in origin, seized by the dalish after they were freed, later stolen by the Children of Fen'Harel, for use in their ritual.
It was called the Hunger demon's chalice, its purpose was to absorb the lives of the slain, their very souls.
Loki grinned hungrily.
The avatar needed life for the ritual, this little item would gather it in the next hour.
This village would die, so that the Avatar could be born.
Everything was proceeding as it was supposed to.
Fen'Harel was being kind.
