Chapter 7: The Battle
Natalia was silent for almost the entire trip back towards the encampment, smiling only once or twice for Kallian's benefit. The elf had been staring her best friend down since Morrigan had escorted them back to a recognizable area of the Wilds and parted ways with the group, trying to determine what it was going on inside the human's head.
Whatever it was, it didn't seem that she was all that intent on sharing.
"So are you going to let me in on what that was back there?" The elf broached, drawing her friend even further ahead of the others that traipsed behind them.
"Which 'that' are we talking about? You know how slow I am Kal. You'll have to make it simpler for me." The brunette grinned, but it was as fake as the cheerful tone that carried her words. Kallian wondered when the deceit had started, just when this woman she thought she'd known so well found it so easy to lie right to her face. Had her smiles always been so false?
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Don't be evasive. It's annoying."
"And annoying is what I'm best at." The brunette shot another grin at her elven friend that didn't reach her eyes, eyes that looked like wave after wave of emotion was crashing against the solid brick wall she'd built up and decorated with a smile, all while Kallian watched the storm rage.
"Well you've got that right."
Natalia didn't bother to reply and instead turned back to stare off into the Wilds with an unreadable expression on her face. Kallian scoffed.
"You know this is just like that time you got in trouble with Irving after spending an hour with the tranquil and you wouldn't tell me what happened."
"Oh, yeah," she replied with a far-away look. "That was fun."
Kallian sighed, her shoulders feeling intensely heavy with the weight of worry. "You're impossible," she muttered, barely hearing Alistair's awkward interruption from behind them.
"Uhm, hate to cut in and everything but there's-"
"Not right now Alistair," the elf chastised, not looking away from Natalia for even for a second. The whole situation was only made more annoying by the fact that her friend absolutely refused to meet her eyes.
"No really-"
Kallian swung around, arms flung out in annoyance. "I said not now!" It was only as she looked past him and towards the thumb he was pointing to the group's rear that she noticed the party of lumbering horrors heading towards them in bulk.
"Darkspawn." The Grey Warden explained dryly, making Kallian cringe at her harshness.
"Well why didn't you say so?" It was a flippant remark, but the silent apology in her eyes was enough to appease the warrior, who just smiled understandingly before turning to face the oncoming threat.
The whole time she was fighting, slinging spell after spell into the crowd of enemies that had quickly engulfed their group, she was cursing her foolish friend, who had gone wading into the thick of battle, using her staff more than she did her magic. It was almost as if she wished to be even more frustrating than she already was, even more distracting. As if Kallian didn't already have enough on her mind without having to worry that Natalia was going to get herself killed.
Even worse, she was already worrying about the armour she'd gotten her friend. Close combat hadn't exactly been what she'd had in mind when buying it, thinking simply that the brunette would appreciate the aesthetics over her robes as she fought at range. Like any sane mage!
It was like she'd almost forgotten. Natalia was anything but sane.
Swinging her staff in the direction of an oncoming Hurlock, she watched as it was engulfed by fire, all the while making a mental note to get some light chainmail added to Natalia's amour, at least around her abdomen, which seemed all too exposed to a well-placed blade.
The final Darkspawn fell to the ground with an unceremonious thud, and the party relaxed into a relieved silence, only broken at the muted wince that escaped Natalia's lips. A small gash had opened up above her right hip and she was poking at it carelessly with a grimace on her face.
'Well that's what you get when you go wading into battle like some warrior', Kallian wanted to say, but realised it wasn't worth the effort. If her best friend didn't want to speak to her then she wouldn't, it was as simple as that.
The heavy silence that descended once again was maintained the short way back to the encampment, only broken by Alistair once they had returned to Duncan. It only seemed to hang heavier over them once they were left to await the joining ritual.
"Well…" Daveth began. "This is awkward…"
Staring, the rest of the group's silence only seemed to support his sentiment, until Jory heaved a sigh. "And stupid! We could all die horribly in some magic ritual soon and we're just sitting here."
"Well what else do you propose we do? Hold hands? Sing campfire songs?" Kallian retorted.
"It would be better than this! I just.. I have a bad feeling about all this. All this magic business makes me… uneasy."
"Gee, thanks."
He looked horrified. "No! No that's not what I – I only meant that, I've never faced a foe I could not engage with my blade."
They all seemed to sober at that, as Duncan approached from behind them.
"At last we come to the joining."
The whole time he was talking, Natalia just stared at the sky, picking at the dirt under her nails. Her whole blasé attitude was so frustrating that Kallian barely heard Alistair speak before them all, some old Grey Warden chant from what she'd picked up. She was doubly surprised when Natalia suddenly stood with a bored expression.
"Let's just get this over with shall we?" She took the joining goblet in her hands, not even pausing to stare down its gruesome contents before drinking deeply from it.
Everything seemed to stop, all of them waiting for the inevitable, despite not being quite sure what just what the inevitable was. Then she crumpled. A gasp of pain escaped her lips, before her head snapped up, eyes wide and white, before finally they closed.
Kallian darted forward as the brunette fell back noiselessly, catching her before she could hit her head on the ground. Panic engulfed her as she looked to Duncan for some kind of assurance that she would be okay. He simply smiled and nodded, before offering the goblet to Daveth.
Focusing on her friend, Kallian barely saw what happened next. Just as she was laying Natalia's head to rest gently against the ground, their fellow recruit was suddenly cringing beside them, grasping at his throat in agony. The elf jumped back, gasping in horror.
That could have been her, she thought, that could have been Natalia.
With a final shuddering choke, Daveth collapsed into the gravel with a mortifying finality, and just like that he was gone. For a few moments, there was silence. Jory looked just as aghast as Kallian, backing away in horror at the scene that had unfolded before them both.
He started muttering, confounded and fearful, Duncan closing in before him. Kallian could do nought but stare as they drew their weapons, and watch as Jory followed Daveth into death's embrace.
Kallian stared, unable to quite comprehend what she had seen; just watching as the blood seeped into the ground from Jory's wound; watching his glassy eyes gaze lifelessly to the sky; watching as Duncan approached her next, chalice raised in offering. It even felt like she was simply watching herself take it, with no control over her actions.
She took a last look at Natalia, lying prone and unconscious against the stone floor, before raising the chalice to her lips. The liquid in it was thick, viscous and all too much as it slid down her throat, her need to gag instantly making itself known. She swallowed the need, and it went down with the blood.
The last thing she remembered was the burning, like acid searing her insides, and looking into the void itself; the plague, the dragon, its innumerable army. Worse still; the void looked back.
XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIX
Natalia had been observing her friend as she had awoken - no doubt with the same headache that had been wracking her own head – and wondered when to break the silence. She had been scrutinising her as they met the King and Teyrn Loghain, planning the upcoming battle, still wondering the same thing. She'd even just watched as Duncan announced they would be separated for the upcoming battle, the guilt that had been swirling in her stomach since their meeting with the woods witch having lodged itself in her throat, tighter and tighter until words became impossible.
"One of the mages that was supposed to be performing a protection spell over the King has taken ill. It has been suggested that one of you stay behind to participate while the other goes with Alistair to light the beacon."
Natalia had been able to feel Kallian's eyes upon her as attempted to maintain a neutral face. To the battle then, she thought, but never got the chance to utter the words aloud.
"I'll do it. I'll stay behind."
It was Natalia who had stared then, watching the elf's set jaw and knowing no matter how much she begged there would be no reconsideration. Kallian spared the barest of glances at her, as if to say goodbye, before returning her eyes to the fire.
And that was all the goodbye they had said.
"She'll be fine. She was tough enough to survive the Joining, she'll be tough enough to survive the battle. You'll see." Alistair nodded at her, as if hoping to believe his own words, as clearly mollifying as they were meant to be. Natalia simply nodded back.
Staring out over the bridge, she watched as the fighting raged on below. She could hear the screams and clashing of metal even from there, in the distance. People are dying down there. The whisper clouded her mind. Kallian could be dying down there.
She didn't have time to dwell on it, urging Alistair into a run when they were nearly knocked off their feet by incoming catapult fire.
Kallian will be fine. It was the mantra she repeated to herself as they came upon the Tower of Ishal, overrun by Darkspawn that most assuredly were not supposed to be there. Kallian will be fine and we're both going to make it out of here.
She felt the burning in her skin, searing around the markings at her palms and coursing down her arms to run across the back of her neck and down her spine. It felt like something was clawing at her from the inside, a beast raring to be unleashed. Natalia's face however, remained neutral, the pain was nothing new.
Joined by two soldiers, she set their weapons aflame and paralysed as many of their foes as she was able, allowing them to be cut down by her allies one by one. As a force, they were brilliant, Alistair flanking their archers while Natalia immobilised the monsters with spells, all the while their two allies took the battle to the monsters directly.
They made quick work of carving through the rest of the Darkspawn on the grounds outside the Tower, pushing on through its great doors with speed. The thought that they would still not be quite fast enough hounded Natalia enough to want to keep up such a breakneck pace.
"There's a trap there," she said, putting her arm out to halt their run before anyone could blunder straight through the taut wire mechanism before them. They all stared at her expectantly as she stared right back at them, clueless.
"What? I noticed the trap; I didn't say I could disarm it."
The other soldier rolled his eyes as he knelt before the wire. "I know a little about traps." He whispered as he fiddled with the tie at its base. "Enough at least." The wire loosened, dropping to the floor. They waited for a moment, almost expecting an explosion to signify that they had gone drastically wrong.
Nothing happened.
With a relieved sigh, they picked up their pace once more, forced back into action by the multitude of attacking grotesques that populated the first floor.
Natalia shot a stone fist at an approaching Genlock, knocking it back hard, before swinging her staff round at whatever creature had grabbed at her from behind. The blade end sliced deep through its neck, thick fluid pouring from its opened throat. For a moment, Natalia felt sick, remembering the taste of it filling her mouth.
She shook herself, moving on with the others through the now cleared chamber.
It was only as they were climbing the staircase that Natalia really started to notice the pain. Where before the sharp stinging across her lyrium markings lay had subtly burned as they always did when spellcasting, it had soon grown into a tearing agony. She could almost hear the lyrium calling to her, to be used, begging to be released.
She coughed to hide the grimace that escaped her as she reached the last step, her body sagging in defeat at the sight of the bodies strewn across the ground. Each floor seemed the same. By the time they were climbing the third set of stairs, Natalia could focus on naught else but the searing of her skin; her body was on fire, she was certain of it.
"Are you okay?"
She felt a hand touch lightly against her arm, but it was enough to send fresh waves of agony through the limb. She could feel the concern in his gaze at her gasp and removed his hand instantly.
"I'm fine. Let's just keep moving."
"Really? Because it looks like you're about to fall back down the stairs we just came up."
She simply grunted in response, narrowing her eyes at the blond. "Just. Keep. Moving."
Alistair looked dubious. "Okay, but if I have to run back and catch you I'm allowed to say I told you so."
Rolling her eyes, Natalia wondered if the mixture of irritation and amusement was how Kallian felt around her and the thought brought a smile to her face. Kallian will be fine and we're both going to make it out of here. With that thought in mind, she pressed forward, sighing with relief when she finally climbed the last step.
Before the feeling had chance to properly take root, Alistair swung open the heavy wooden door that barred their way to the beacon, and quite suddenly her relief was replaced with defeat. A deafening roar shook the room.
Alistair shook his head, drawing his sword once more. "And here I thought this task was going to be difficult."
The lumbering ogre in the centre of the room turned to face them, throwing the broken body in its grasp against the wall. Blood painted the stone in a haphazard fashion, deep red stark against the mournful grey.
"You worry too much, Alistair."
The words had barely left Natalia's lips before the ogre began its charge, each of them diving from its path before spring into action.
Lightening arced from Natalia's staff, striking the monster in the back as it swung a gargantuan fist at one of the soldiers. She struck it again as it began to turn, huffing with the energy it took simply to hold her staff. The raging pain tearing against her skin from the inside seemed only to be growing by the second.
The beast seemed to run straight through the fireball she sent its way, stumbling back only momentarily when a stone fist connected with its chest. For a moment, Natalia thought the oncoming onslaught had been stalled; so much so that she barely had time to roll away from the block of stone that only missed her head by inches. She could only watch through her fatigue as the ogre took another fistful of stone from around the hole it had punched into the wall.
Rolling away once more, she cringed as the projectile smashed against the floor beside her, fragmented rock rebounding in all directions. Natalia never felt the tiny slivers of stone that tore across her skin. The only indication to her injury came when she saw the blood drip from her brow, distracting her long enough that she failed to see the ogre's charge until it was almost upon her.
A roar of effort sounded Alistair's arrival as he leapt at the creature, driving his sword deep into its shoulder and halting its advance.
Gripping her staff tightly, Natalia dragged herself to her feet, only to be nearly knocked back down by the thunderous shudder that reverberated through the floor as the ogre fell back. With a grunt, Alistair ripped his sword from its skin, rapidly replacing it through the beasts head and with a final guttural groan, it moved no more.
The two of them stared at each other wordlessly, and Alistair nodded with a tired smile as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, acknowledging Natalia's silent gratitude. The two men they had traversed the tower with lay broken upon the floor, one staring lifelessly at the ceiling where the other cried out in anguish, holding his ribs as he rested against the wall.
"You should check on him. I'll light the beacon." The mage gestured to the wounded soldier.
"Let's just hope it isn't too late."
The fear that simple comment elicited in Natalia's chest hurried her into action, using the last of her energy to shoot a wave of flame towards the opening in the wall, watching as the kindling at its base caught alight. The fire drew her in, her eyes tracing ever flicker of light.
It's not too late. She thought to herself, the worry in her heart offsetting the devastating pain beneath her skin. Kallian will be fine. We're not too late.
Her attention was so caught that Natalia barely heard the wooden door crash open behind her. Only Alistair's gasp of pain was enough to make her turn, catching an arrow in the shoulder for her trouble. As she crashed to the floor, another arrow having embedded itself just above her chest she could only repeat her new mantra. Kallian will be fine. But perhaps we won't both make it out of here.
XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIX
"The King! Where is the King?"
Kallian's voice could barely be heard beneath the thunderous din of the battlefield as she tried to gain sight of the golden armour she had so watchfully guarded since the fighting began. Her fellow mages had fallen one by one, until alone, she was left lost and bloodied, separated from her objective.
The human monarch was a mad man, charging through the thick of battle alone. Most of his guard had already fallen, with only two men remaining to shield him from harm. And that was when last she had seen him, being stopped in her tracks by a Hurlock that had bundled her over, falling away from her only when she placed an icy palm against its face.
From her back she saw the Tower of Ishal in the distance and nearly cried with relief when flames erupted from its top. The beacon was lit; the flanking army would be coming.
It was enough to galvanise her into getting to her feet once more, eyes searching for the golden fool amidst the death and fire surrounding her. When at last she saw him he was on the other edge of the battlefield, his armour glinting in the firelight.
She set off towards him, casting a repulsion field around herself as she raced in his direction. Barrelling across the field, Darkspawn went flying backwards in her wake, the occasional archer picked off from range by a vicious bolt of flame.
When at last she was in range of Cailan, she set her protective shield around him, focusing her energy on holding it against the incoming threats that surrounded him. The last of his guards fell, cleaved in two right beside the King. Her shield deflected the arrows that were flying towards him, but she could only trust in his combative ability as he avenged his fallen comrade face to face.
Things certainly hadn't been going to plan. There had been three mages assigned to watch over the King. Three protective spells were certainly better than one. But protecting someone else made it a great deal harder to protect oneself, and those she had been working with had found that out quite quickly.
As if to prove the point, she failed to notice the incoming threat until she was flung back into the air, a heavy blow propelling her with what felt like enough force to have broken every bone in her body. Dazed, she watched through blurred vision as a towering creature made its way towards the King. An ogre, as large as any living thing she'd ever seen.
Hurriedly, Kallian cast a lifeward, desperate as Cailan turned to face the oncoming threat.
Run, she thought. Run you idiot.
Raising her hands, she readied an earthquake, one large enough she hoped to stop the ogre in its tracks, but a viscous slash against arm caused her to stumble. Disfigured hands grasped at her staff, pulling her towards their owner with urgency.
The stench of her foe was palpable, so much so she nearly gagged as one hand reached towards her and gripped around her throat.
With the life being slowly choked from her, she pressed a searing hand against the Darkspawn's cheek, watching as its wheezed laughter turned slowly to pain. The searing hand print on its face hissed furiously, and she had no time to run once it had dropped her before the explosion of its body sent her reeling.
Coughing, Kallian raised an unsteady hand to her neck, looking through the tears in her eyes to spot golden armour once more. The glinting caught her eye just ahead of her, and the breath left her once more as she saw Duncan, kneeling over the King's mangled corpse.
He looked about the battlefield and she couldn't help but do the same. So much death.
Loghain's army was nowhere to be seen, and for the briefest second, she felt the cold hard sting of betrayal in her heart. Pulling herself from the ground however, it quickly disappeared as she met Duncan's eyes, and sorrow took hold of her instead.
Run, he said, despite his lips never once moving. She nearly laughed hysterically at her own brains addendum; run, you idiot. Or you'll end up another golden fool.
Though as the Darkspawn closed in behind the Grey Warden Commander, she couldn't help but step towards him. She had never been the type to run, and she briefly wondered if she was feeling the same stubbornness that Cailan had felt as he faced the ogre; the same stubbornness that had gotten him killed.
Duncan shook his head, the Darkspawn almost upon him.
In thirty or so seconds, he would be swallowed by the horde. In thirty or so more, she would be swallowed along with him.
Kallian swallowed fearfully.
Run, she thought once more, backing away as fast as her feet would carry her. Run and don't look back.
In the end, she never saw the Warden leader in his final moments, or the sword swing that took his head. Only the ground beneath her feet filled her vision, and treeline she aimed for in the distance. She never saw how fast the horde approached, cutting through those that fled behind her.
She never looked back once.
If she looked back, she was dead.
