'That went well?' Finn asked uncertainly. After their encounter with the rebel mage leader, he and Ariane had been ushered to the dining hall and fed some gluey stew (clearly the cooks had departed along with the cleaning staff).
Enalla and Derrin (the male mage who they had met with Nikea) had hovered over them while they ate. The elf girl had attempted to make small talk, but Derrin had just glared. Clearly he was not happy at being placed on guard duty.
They had finally managed to escape after the meal, claiming exhaustion. That much was true. Finn hadn't slept properly in over twenty-four hours and his head ached fiercely. He and Ariane were holed up in what had been the Tower's chapel, the one place he had been certain would be deserted.
Ariane leaned back against the railing surrounding the altar. Finn had found Rytel terrifying. Ariane, however, appeared to have found him infuriating.
She snorted in derision. 'I've seen wolves with more forgiving faces. Trust me, he won't tolerate me here for long.' She turned around and crossed her arms, looking pensive. 'Well. It's not like we were planning on staying.'
'I can't believe they're trading with the Tevinters.'
Ariane shrugged. 'They're desperate. Did you see how thin most of them are?' Finn hadn't noticed, but recalling the baggy clothes most of the mages wore he realized it was true.
He frowned. 'The Imperials are using them. It's so obvious. They want to expand.' Had none of the rebels ever read a history? What did they think the Tevinters had in mind, charity?
'At least he liked you,' offered Ariane in a stab at optimism. 'Maybe if we say we're madly in love he'll keep me alive for your sake.'
'I...' Finn felt himself flushing furiously and gulped. Of all the jokes likely to make him more tense instead of less.
Besides, he hadn't liked Rytel's cold eyes and dismissive tone. The older man had seemed harmless, but so had Mouse and he was a demon. Seeming harmless had its benefits, especially for the particularly dangerous. Mouse had accused him of doing the same thing, he recalled suddenly, and attempted to banish the unpleasant thought. 'I don't think he liked me that much.'
Ariane frowned, looking worried. 'You think he figured out that you...' She left the sentence unfinished and glanced around surreptitiously for eavesdroppers. The last thing they needed was anyone here thinking Finn was a Chantry spy.
'He might have had some idea.' Finn looked around too, but the chapel was empty. He had half-expected it to be desecrated, but the wide room was surprisingly clean in comparison to the rest of the Tower. Still dilapidated, but most of the furniture had been left and someone even appeared to have cleaned the altar recently.
Finn wondered what had become of the Chantry sisters who had run the place. Sister Estella, the plump old sister who had been in charge most of his life there, had always had a particular fondness for him. When he had been bullied as a child she had allowed him to read in the chapel (even though his interests were clearly not religious).
The last time he had seen her had been just before the Templars announced they were leaving for good. Estella had been very concerned about the safety of citizens in the brewing civil war, and had spent much of her time knitting lumpy woolen stockings for the unsuspecting refugees in Denerim.
He remembered spending whole nights there, when he had found something new to study, or his roommate was trying to sneak a girl into their shared room. They left the candles at the altar burning all night, so you could sit in the corner of the room as late as you want without being disturbed.
Someone else had only come in once, when Finn was trying to get through a contraband tome on Tevinter power rituals in an effort to pick up more of the language. He had heard a mumbled version of the Chant of Light and frozen, certain he was going to be in trouble. It had taken him ten minutes of hiding to realize that it was Anders.
Finn shook his head to banish the memories. 'What happened with Nikea?' he asked Ariane, suddenly recalling the animosity he'd seen between the two women.
Ariane buried her head in her hands. 'Oh, gods. I told a couple of the mages to back off, just to get the really staring ones to clear out. Then I was subjected to an hour-long sermon on how,' she said, voice taking on a stern lecturing bark, 'if my presence was going to be tolerated I needed to treat the mages with respect and not treat them like lesser beings.'
She raised her head and rolled her eyes. 'She thinks she knows social ostracism?' Ariane indicated her leather armour and pointed ears with a sweeping important gesture. 'I'm Dalish. No one does outcast and self-righteous like we do.'
'You could offer a seminar,' Finn suggested brightly. 'Maybe they'd trade your book for tips on disparaging head shakes.'
'Amateurs,' Ariane said, grinning. The mention of the book made the smile fall off her face quickly, though. 'Ugh.' She shrugged gloomily. 'Maybe we should just tell them what we want. '
'Hello again, Master Vicious Blood Mage,' chirped Finn, with a beaming smile. 'I know before I said I was a defender of your cause, but the truth is I'm just here for an ancient magical artifact. Hope that doesn't throw a wrench in your world domination plans or anything.'
He was pleased to see Ariane smile again. 'Any luck finding it?' she asked.
He shook his head apologetically. 'Library's been cannibalized.' Not something he wanted to go into detail about. 'And from what I could see there's nothing in my old room.'
All the lying and danger, and he couldn't even find the stupid thing now that he was here. 'It's probably in the basement.'
'Okay,' Ariane said seriously. 'How do we get in there?'
Not possible, Finn thought pessimistically. Ariane's face of concentration stopped him from voicing that thought. He couldn't bear to disappoint her.
'Don't know yet,' he said instead. 'It's locked.'
'Do we need to steal a key?' she asked thoughtfully. She started to pace up and down the aisle, chewing her thumbnail. 'Maybe you can ask that city elf girl who was mooning over you,' she said, sounding slightly accusing.
'What?' said Finn blankly. He felt his face get hot again.
Ariane smiled slightly and removed her hand from her mouth. 'Nothing. So how do we get in?'
'I'm not sure.' Finn frowned as he considered the problem seriously for the first time. 'The door to get into the main part of the basement needs a mage and a Chantry official to open it at the same time. I've seen templars do it enough, but I don't think it will work if I try the password.'
The doors were designed to promote cooperation – no doubt the password was only effective when said by someone who had taken their vows. Finn could think of how such a restriction could be set, but no ideas on how to break it came to mind. 'And there don't seem to be any Chantry members offering to give us a hand.' He ran a hand through his hair absently.
'Can we break it down?' Ariane asked, fingering her sword belt. She had been forced to leave the blades in her room, but they hadn't technically been confiscated.
'Doubt it. It was made to hold off magical attacks.' Finn wracked his brain for a loophole and came up with nothing. Suddenly, a stray thought hit him. 'Wait a minute. What about the Templar in my room?'
'You mean the starving, probably mad prisoner who no doubt hates all mages with a vengeance?' Ariane said dryly.
Finn winced. 'Sorry. That was a bit stupid.' He felt himself flushing yet again and wished fervently he wasn't pale and red-haired. He had enough trouble being dignified as it was without blushing like a tomato.
'No.' Ariane seemed to be pondering something. Her large green eyes took on a slightly manic glow. 'You had a point, actually. He might hate all mages, but I'm not a mage, and if you said you weren't with the rebels...' She put one narrow finger back in her mouth, chewing distractedly on the nail. 'Maybe he'd be willing to bargain for his release.'
Finn frowned at her hand. 'Don't do that. It'll start bleeding and all the corpse-dust left on your skin from this morning will get in.'
'The door to the basement might be magical,' she continued, ignoring him, 'but the one holding him in was just wood and metal. I could probably tear it down fairly quietly.'
'And then you'll get an infection,' Finn said definitely. 'And die.'
Ariane indicated the window, where the docks creaked on the grey water of the lake. 'There were quite a few boats out front.' She closed her eyes to consider the possibilities. 'Maybe we could steal one. Or swim across.'
Finn shot an alarmed look at the steely waves. 'I can't swim.' Not strictly true, but he was certain he would panic in those fish and weed infested waters.
'Boat, then.' Ariane clapped her hands together. The sound echoed against the high stone ceiling. 'We'll start around an hour after midnight. I'll come get you,' she added, before he could ask how he was supposed to know when it was the right time.
Finn sighed. What they planned to do was preposterous, but he was too tired to think anymore.
'Wish the Warden was here.' The words came out before he could stop them. 'They'd just hand it over. Probably gift-wrapped.'
Ariane smiled bitterly as they wandered back into the hall. 'Then again, he could have taken all of them,' she pointed out. 'Sadly not an option for us.'
Thank-you for reading! My attempt to break up a rather long chapter left me with one normal chapter and one weirdly short one, so I thought I'd post them both in one go.
Again, if you have any advice please leave a review or a PM :-) I'm in the process of editing this thing (and cutting a lot of stuff I realized was unnecessary) so I really appreciate any help!
