Chapter 7: Journey to Black Marsh

Nathaniel Howe had returned home to kill a monster.

At least that is what he had told himself as he had taken ship from the Free Marches. He had returned to kill an evil witch who had murdered his father and stole his family's lands. The fact that the woman had saved the world did nothing to diminish her evil in the young nobleman's eyes.

Through her actions the Howe family had fallen, his Mother was gone, he did not know where. Delilah was possibly dead, Thomas was definitely dead. Everyone he had ever loved was now gone.

Nathaniel grimaced; his plans had not worked out.

Not only had he failed to the witch, but now he found himself bound to her service. He had survived her joining ritual and now he was a Grey Warden, fighting at her side.

He would not deny that he had thoughts of betraying her, putting an arrow in her back when she was engaging an enemy; mistakes happened in battle after all, it was likely that no one would blame him….

He would not do that, he could not do that, he still had his honor, the witch had taken everything else, but he was still a noble…

He was still a Howe.

They rode now to the Blackmarsh, to find one of their missing fellow wardens.

The Blackmarsh…

Nathaniel shuddered at the thought; so many dark tales had been told about the place. So many had ventured there and never returned.

And the woman was leading them straight for it.

Nathaniel shook his head, she was either very brave or extremely crazy…perhaps a bit of both.

As it grew dark on the second day of their journey, they came to a small farmstead. The Farmer came out to greet them; Solona asked if they might rest for the night on his farm, she was more than happy to pay.

The man would not take her coin, he knew who she was, what other warden mage was in Ferelden right now.

Anders snorted at that, what other mage indeed.

Nathaniel was not entirely sure what to make of his companions. The apostate was fairly good ally, his magic kept them strong, and at the same time brought swift death to their enemies. Oghren was a drunk, but Nathaniel could not doubt the dwarf's fighting skills. HE had heard the tales of the Gates of Denerim, how the dwarf had almost single handedly held back the horde, how he had stopped any darkspawn reinforcements from breaching the city.

In his own way, Oghren was a legend, but his tale was nothing compared to Solona.

Nathaniel did not underestimate the warden commander, she was clearly as cunning as the bards told, but there was more to her as well, and that confused the former nobleman.

Everything he had seen up to this point hinted at a woman of not only skill, but of honor. He had been shocked at how well she had handled the nobles. Then…she had surprised him again in how she had dealt with that Templar woman, she had given the Templar every chance to back down, but in the end she had been forced to slay her and her fellows,

She had been willing to risk the chantry's wrath for the sake of one man.

Was this truly the woman who had murdered his father in cold blood?

The more that he had been around her these last few days the less and less she seemed like a monster. She could be ruthless, but that depended more on the situation, she had treated the people in the Crown and Lion with the utmost respect. Her popularity was clear where ever they had gone…

It was also clear how much hatred the people of Amaranthine had for his Father.

It had shocked him truth be told, he had known that his Father was…ambitious. That he was always looking for ways to advance their family in the eyes of the crown, but the things he was hearing now. Not to mention what he had heard Father had done to the Couslands.

What he had done to Elissa…

Nathaniel's heart lurched painfully, in his youth he had watched the Teyrn's daughter, had wondered what it would take to court such a girl. His Father had disapproved, in his eyes Thomas would have been the better choice, not that the girl would have taken Thomas, his younger brother thought along the same lines as Father had, Elissa was a prize, she would lead to greater prestige and power.

When Nathaniel had approached his Father with his plans to go to Teyrn Cousland and ask if he could court his daughter, his Father had been unimpressed, in fact the next day he had arranged for Nathaniel to be sent to the Free Marches.

Why had his Father done that? Did he not think that his eldest was worthy of courting the Teyrn's daughter?

Or perhaps he did not want a Cousland in the family, perhaps jealousy had already taken root in his Father's heart, perhaps he had already begun to make plans against the rulers of Highever.

Perhaps he did not want to risk his own son siding against him.

No…Nathaniel could not think like that, his Father was no longer here to defend himself against such slander…

And it was all because of Solona Amell.

He found himself watching her as they all bedded down for the night in the farmer's barn. A cold sleeting rain had begun to fall, and despite the typical barn smells, this would be a much better place than sleeping outside in their tents.

"Is there a problem Mister Howe?" Solona asked.

He cursed himself; she had caught him staring at her.

"No Commander," he said gruffly, "just…distracted is all. We shall be in the Black Marsh tomorrow, just…thinking about all the stories my Father used to tell me about the place."

The Commander gave him a surprised look. Nathaniel's eyes narrowed.

"There was a time Commander, when my Father did have young children you know, and he did tell us stories from time to time."

"I meant no offense," Solona replied diplomatically, "I was simply curious what he might have told you. I know nothing of this place; it would be nice to know what we will be facing there."

Nathaniel sighed; it did no harm to tell her what he knew.

"The Blackmarsh was abandoned almost a hundred years ago, during the early years of the Orlesian occupation. The village there was given to a young noble woman from Orlais, a Baroness. One day…the town was just found abandoned, its people just gone. No one knew why, over the years people have come to say it is a cursed place."

Solona nodded, it was an interesting tale, Leliana would have been intrigued by it.

A small smile crept onto Nathaniel's face.

"You know…as a boy," he admitted shyly, "I used to dream of travelling to the Blackmarsh, facing the evil there, and putting the wrong things rights," the man chuckled shaking his head, "little boy dreams."

"We are going to that place to save our warden brother," Solona reminded him, "but…if there is some way to right what is wrong in such a place. I see no problem in that."

"You don't fear the ghosts of such a place," Nathaniel asked, "the demons that people have claimed wander there?"

"I'm a mage Nathaniel," she reminded him, "I have faced demons before, they can be killed, but as I said we are here to save Kristoff, I would not risk the four of us needlessly."

Again there it was, Nathaniel thought, that concern for others.

How could such a woman have murdered his Father in cold blood?

"It seems that I may have a chance to live my little boy dreams after all," Nathaniel chuckled, "ah the life of a Grey Warden, battling demon and darkspawn both."

Solona laughed lightly, "And that is only on eternal evil Tuesdays."

Despite his misgivings about the woman, Nathaniel could not help but laugh.

Solona was truly not what he had expected.

She was truly a confusing woman.

IOI

The Blackmarsh was everything Nathaniel had said it would be, a dark accursed swamp with the ruins of a long abandoned village at its heart. It was warmer here, with its bogs filled with swamp gas, and rotting trees, but that did little to ease the wardens.

Solona shuddered, the veil was very thin here, she could practically feel the magics of the fade the deeper they moved into this place. She could sense darkspawn as well, but it…it felt off somehow. She reached out trying to sense Kristoff, but got nothing, either the man was no longer here or…

Solona chose not to think about the or part.

She glanced back at the others, they all looked a little green around the gills, not surprising, they were all new Grey Wardens, they were probably just now beginning to sense the darkspawn, it was a feeling Solona remembered well, the feeling like someone had poured cold sewage down your spine.

She shook her head, she pushed back all those dark thoughts, they still needed to find Kristoff, or at least what had become of him.

Solona transformed, she had become a wolf and began searching for any scent that seemed out of place, they moved closer and closer to the old village. Nathaniel drew his bow, and watched for any sign of ambush, the crumbling buildings here would be perfect for such an attack. Oghren stayed close to her, his ax had a wider arc, it would keep any enemies away and give the mage the chance to transform back into human form, she was dangerous as a wolf, but her attacks were limited.

Her wolfish hearing picked up Anders chuckling.

"She could be executed for simply knowing how to do that," Anders informed Nathaniel, "The chantry frowns on shape shifting, it is considered a forbidden magic."

Solona sighed, she was aware of that, but had chosen to pursue such powers anyway; shape shifting had saved her life many times during the Blight.

She made no excuses for the powers she now wielded; the world was a safer place because of them.

They came across several darkspawn corpses, but they had been dead for weeks. The bodies showed signs of being struck by a heavy mace, which according to the records the Orlesians left was the favored weapon of Kristoff. They pushed further out of the ruined village, Solona could feel the power in this place, dark magic had been used here once, it had weakened the veil to such a degree that the warden mage was surprised that they had not encountered any demons yet.

Nathaniel managed to locate Kristoff's campsite, but it was long abandoned as well, the fire had not been built for weeks, and any foodstuff the warden had brought with him had long since gone bad.

Solona began to think that they would not find Kristoff, not alive anyway…

The attack came from out of nowhere.

The thing whatever it was leapt on top of Oghren, Solona spun shooting a jet of flame at the creature, it squealed in pain and rose up on its legs.

Its long spindly spider legs…

Solona shuddered, she had always been afraid of spiders, she did not suffer from the nerve shredding terror that she once had, but it was still there…

Though the thing they faced was clearly no spider.

It looked…well like a grub, a grub with a human face, long spider legs extended from its body, its lower jaw opened, forming a nasty set of mandibles. She could sense it through the taint, which meant that it was a darkspawn, but she had never seen one like it before.

Nathaniel put an arrow in its throat, yet still the creature did not fall, finally, Oghren recovered from the attack sprang up, he hacked the creature to death with his ax. The creature lay dead on the ground, its body still twitching, still trying to rise.

Nathaniel put an arrow in its eye. Finally, the think lay still.

"What…what was that," the nobleman asked.

Solona shook her head, she had never heard of such a darkspawn before…she…

"Commander," Anders shout brought the three of them running.

He had found Kristoff.

IOI

The Orlesian warden lay dead along the village path; he was surrounded by what looked like tainted cocoons, the source of the spidery…grub things perhaps.

Nathaniel shook his head; they had made this journey for nothing.

He sensed them before he saw them, that cold sick feeling in the pit of his gut was unmistakable.

The darkspawn had found them.

From all around them hurlocks, genlocks and shrieks emerged, not more of those spider-freak creatures as well. Oghren looked ready to wade into them, but Solona stopped him with a raised hand.

They were surrounded; they had walked into a trap.

A large hurlock alpha, wearing a great sword stepped up to face them. The creature leered at the four of them.

"The Mother is sending her regards Warden," the creature purred.

Nathaniel gasped, the others had told him about the talking darkspawn in the Vigil, but he never thought he would meet one face to face…

He had been wrong.

"And who do I have the pleasure of addressing," Solona asked, "I would like to know the name of the one who killed this man, so that I can file it properly after I slay you."

"You are being addressing the First," the darkspawn responded with a chuckle, "You are being a brave one Grey Warden, the Mother knew that you would come if this one was slain here," the creature said pointing to Kristoff's body.

"Did she tell you that you would all die here as well," Solona growled.

"The Mother is no Prophet," The First replied, "but she is clever…I was being sent here to deliver a message."

The creature raised its hand; it began to speak in the old Tevinter tongue.

The air around the wardens began to shimmer with golden light.

Nathaniel tried to shoot the creature but he had been too late.

The light claimed them all…wardens and darkspawn both.

IOI

Solona opened her eyes, the light had faded, but…where ever she was…it was not the Blackmarsh anymore.

Healthy trees grew around her; the grass was soft to the touch. The village that had been a crumbling ruin stood proud and true, its buildings whole and painted.

The warden mage shook her head, she felt…wrong.

She looked around for her companions but found no one. As she searched for any sign of what had happened, she finally noticed something…something far off in the sky.

A great city floated there, floated on an island connected to nothing…a black city….The Black City.

Solona sighed heavily she knew where she was now.

The darkspawn had sent them into the fade.

She moved quickly, she needed to find her companions, before something else did; demons were always on the lookout for prey.

Unfortunately, one found her first.

It was a desire demon, one of the most powerful demons in the hierarchy. Solona readied her staff, she could already feel the demon worming its way into her thoughts, looking for something to use against her, to make her its thrall.

It never got the chance to finish.

A large shadowy form fell upon the demon, Solona backed up, it…it was as big as a pride demon, at least ten or twelve feet tall, but wore the robes of the circle of magi.

Solona felt the power coming off the creature…she…she had felt such a presence before.

The demon tried to defend itself, but it was no use, the moment it connected with its attacker it was doomed.

The darks figure drained the demon's magic, all that it was. The flames on the creatures head went out; its body shriveled and turned to dust.

Demonic energy danced around the large being before it was absorbed completely.

Solona shuddered; such a thing should not have been possible.

The robed being turned to face her, its face was demonic, but possessed human characteristics, its red eyes were baleful and intelligent, its mouth though wide and full of razor teeth was twisted into a pleased sneer…a sneer that turned into a smile when it looked upon her.

The creature gestured, a massive throne appeared behind it, it sat down and reached out its hand it welcome.

Only then did it choose to speak.

"Hello Warden," the Witch King said with an amused smirk, "Welcome to the fade."