Elyse stood with Wynne several paces away from the fight. Loghain and Alistair had been battling for several minutes, at first silently, and then the shouting began to carry across the wind between the echoes of clashing steel. Each time Elyse stepped forward to intervene, Wynne placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"They need to work this out, should you wish anything to be resolved," Wynne told her. "That was your goal in bringing them both here, wasn't it?"
"Yes," Elyse nodded. "To work things out, not to kill each other. Wynne, we can't let this continue. One of them is going to get hurt, or both of them. This is ridiculous."
Wynne smiled. "Yes dear, it is. But they are not like us. We can sit, talk, work out our problems with some words, patience, and understanding. Men have always been ox-headed and stubborn. It's better this way, here with us to protect them and make sure it doesn't go too far."
"It's already gone too far," Elyse said. "This is stupid, bordering on immature and insane."
"But it is working," Wynne whispered. "Listen to them, their words. They are getting off their chest all of the frustration they feel for each other. The burdens that have been weighing heavily on their minds and hearts. I wasn't so sure about how this would turn out, but I have a feeling you may have been right in bringing them together like this."
Elyse sighed. "When you're drained of mana healing their wounds, I will remind you that you said that."
.*~*~*.
"Admit that this is your doing," Alistair said to Loghain as he swung his sword toward him. "Accept the consequences of your actions the day you left us all here to die!"
"You think I don't know what I left behind?" Loghain said, raising his shield to block another strike. Clang. "Your king and brother was my best friend's son, Rowan's son, my daughter's husband... Do not tell me I haven't a care about these things." Another swing toward Alistair, another parry. Clink. "I have seen hate and contempt in Anora's eyes. For me, her own father."
"Then why?" Alistair asked, dodging to his left to avoid being stricken by his father's sword. "'For the good of Ferelden' just doesn't cut it Loghain." He was getting tired, his arm feeling strained under the weight of his weapon, but Alistair would not back down. He refused to appear weak in front of his enemy. "Hundreds died here while you fled, ran away with your army! Their blood still stains the ground we fight on!" Clank.
"Their blood stains the ground of all of Ferelden," Loghain snarled as he dodged another swing. Clink. "My father, his army, and those that sacrificed themselves for Maric. War is a part of ruling, you best get used to it."
Alistair shook his head. "And what honor did you bring their memory by fleeing from Cailan's side?"
Loghain's jaw clenched, and the full on assault that followed told Alistair he had gone too far. With each swing of the sword, every statement was punctuated by the clanging of weapons meeting midair. "You know nothing," Loghain spat. "Of war. Of sacrifice. Of honor." Clang, clank, clang. "Duncan protected you." Clink. "Eamon shielded you." Clank. "Cailan saved you." Clang, clank.
With both engaged in heated battle, they were stunned when the air suddenly crackled with electricity, and a bright light reflected off the fallen snow, nearly blinding them. Both warriors stopped mid-fight as a bolt of lightning came toward them from somewhere in the distance, and the intensity of the taint they had thought mere adrenaline consumed them. They leapt back, barely escaping the bolt, which hit the ground and scorched the earth. "Emissary!" Elyse yelled, as she swiftly moved in the direction of the darkspawn.
"What are you doing?" Alistair yelled, quickly following behind. One of these days she was going to get herself killed with the way she lept into battle, he thought. Wynne was not far away, shielding the Warden's to protect against the magic attacks from the creature. Luckily the darkspawn was alone, and with the three of them quickly upon it, he went down within seconds.
"How foolish can you be, charging off without backup?" Loghain said, echoing Alistair's thoughts.
Elyse looked at the both of them. "About as foolish as two grown men, fighting over a past that can not be changed, in the middle of a darkspawn infested area. Are you two just about done? I'd like to get out of here."
Alistair and Loghain looked at one another. Neither would agree, but both silently stowed their weapons.
"Good," Elyse said. "Let's move on. We have the tower to clear out, and we should be good to go from there."
"Wardens," Wynne whispered behind them, and all three turned to look at her, and then followed her gaze to the middle of the bridge.
Slowly the group walked toward the large erected structure that held the body of their beloved king. His head hung low, armor and shirt stripped from his long dead corpse. It appeared he was hanging on some long strips of metal, and there were several arrows still embedded in his chest.
"I remember the hangings in the wilds," Elyse said, recalling the day of her Joining. "When we first set out together, the darkspawn had displayed the dead as a warning, or maybe as proof of victory. It looks like Cailan was the grand prize with the amount of effort it must have taken to get him up there."
"Are you alright Alistair?" Wynne asked the warrior.
Alistair shook his head. "I can't believe they'd do this," he said. "They left him here to rot. We need to do something, find a way to get him down from there."
"The boy is right," Loghain stated. "He may have been a fool, but he doesn't deserve to be strung up like this."
"I can hardly believe I am hearing you both agree on something," Elyse said, staring upward at Cailan. "I wish I had a chance to know him more than I had. He seemed so sure of himself, so certain that we would win."
"We will," Loghain said. "Only not as he planned. Let us finish the task at hand. Once the darkspawn have been eradicated from the area, we will give him what little honor we can afford to grant him."
