Note: The link to the illustrated version of this story-all chapters posted-is on my profile page.
Lis looked different when she focused her will. Alistair could always tell when she was doing that and not just thinking about something. There was a kind of stillness to her that wasn't there the most of the time, or was hidden—a quiet strength. It was probably that strength that allowed her to survive unaided for almost two days after Avernus had drained her with his magic. Someone should make a statue of Andraste that looked the way Lis did now, self-possessed and resolute in the moonlight, noble, in the greater sense of the word.
She was working hard at the templar skills that Alistair had taught her. She'd made clear progress over the last week since leaving Highever, although is would be quite a while before she could use those skills in battle.
Alistair smiled. No one would mistake her for an image of Andraste at other times. Lis was very lively—quick to laugh and to anger, dynamic and opinionated. She wielded no 'sword of mercy' like Andraste. Hers was a sword of 'because I said so.'
He turned away from Lis and looked at Oghren. "How much longer, do you think?"
"She's barely had time to reach the tavern, let alone have a drink and flash her wares to the locals."
"I don't like the idea of Leliana being alone in Amaranthine."
"There's no bounty on her head, duster. She knows what she's doing."
"I know she does, I just—"
"Give her some time."
Alistair stood and paced the small clearing where they'd stopped to wait.
He didn't like this at all. Leliana had been insistent, saying this was the best way to get information, that the people most likely to have information about Avernus, or Kallian, were the ones least likely to stand up publicly and volunteer it. She'd have to get to them. She told him not to even mention Kallian when they got to the tavern.
They were only to walk in and offer a reward for information on Avernus. That, and their presence, would get people talking and give Leliana a way to dig for information without bringing it up herself. They were to stay for a couple of drinks, just in case the reward was enough to get some results, then leave. She'd do the real work.
When Alistair suggested that she take one of them with her, she'd laughed and told him he'd be a terrible spy, and that Oghren or Lis would be even worse. So she was alone. In Kallian's demesne.
He stopped pacing. "We've waited long enough. Let's go." Alistair put on his helm and pushed up the visor so that he could see better. It might be a strange thing to wear in a tavern, but going in wearing a cloak, with its hood pulled up over his face, would look just as peculiar, and impede his movement besides. He'd chosen to wear his old veridium splintmail, as the wondrous armor that Fergus had given him would surely cause comment, but he'd retained the helm with its closeable visor.
"Alistair." Lis stood. "When we get there, I should do the talking."
"Think I'll mess it up?" He smiled to show her that the idea didn't offend him.
"Not at all. We just don't want to give them more reason to pay attention to you than we must—and your helmet fairly screams 'look at this fellow.'"
He nodded. "Fair enough. Lead on, then,"
They made their way through the gates and to the tavern where Leliana waited.
It was shocking to see how much of the city had been destroyed. Most of it had been burnt to the ground, and the buildings that remained, such as the tavern, were almost completely rebuilt or heavily damaged. Almost a year later, soot still clung to walls and the acrid smell of smoke lingered in the air.
There were new buildings, too, but those were hastily built shacks, by and large. This new Amaranthine had more in common with Lothering than the Amaranthine of old.
Alistair wondered if any of the inhabitants had survived, or if the few businesses he saw were those of entrepreneurs moving in to take advantage of demand from the port and the Keep.
Once inside the tavern, Lis stepped forward, surveying the room commandingly. "We seek a dangerous blood mage who may have passed through Amaranthine. He is a bald man, very old, with prominent ears. We offer a reward of three sovereigns to any with useful information."
Raising a hand, she indicated a table as though ordering Alistair and Oghren to be seated, then looked at the barkeep. "Two ales, if you please." She pulled out a chair and took a seat beside them.
Alistair scanned the room, catching a glimpse of Leliana on the upstairs balcony. He had to admit she's been right. No one was rushing forward to claim the reward. In fact, the tavern's occupants seemed to be going out of their way to avoid looking at their table.
Most here were sailors and dockworkers. There were also a few soldiers here from the Vigil, not Wardens, as well as city guards. Their uniforms made that plain.
If none had information, either for reward or the possibility Leliana's favors, it might mean that Kallian hadn't brought Avernus here at all, but had taken him elsewhere. Inconvenient as that might be, it would relieve Alistair's mind. He hated the idea that the Wardens would welcome Avernus.
Not a soul approached them as they drank that first round. Well, as Lis and Oghren did—the helm covered too much of Alistair's face for him to drink without creating a spectacle.
They were midway through their second round before they were approached by a sailor who was very much worse for drink.
"I seen that mage you're looking for. At the docks, boarding a ship for Denerim." The man swayed on his feet, and stuck out a hand for payment.
Alistair looked at Lis and Oghren, his mouth twitching. Oh, this way a reliable source!
Lifting a hand, Lis shook her head. "Not so fast. Describe this mage. Was he alone?"
"He was just as you said. Old and kind of frail like. There was another mage with him. A woman—not much to look at. An average sort with brown hair."
Lis looked at Alistair, her eyebrows raised.
He shrugged. It didn't seem likely, but how were they supposed to know? Leliana had been right. They were terrible spies.
Taking his reward from the pouch she carried, Lis handed it to the man. "My thanks."
As the sailor staggered away from the table, Lis leaned toward Alistair and spoke quietly. "I think we're making ourselves look like fools, giving gold for nothing."
"Probably, but refusing to reward the only person who's offered us anything wouldn't be much of an incentive to others. Besides, we're just here to create gossip, and throwing gold around will certainly do that."
Leliana's voice caught his attention and he looked up to the balcony. She was laughing and trying to extricate herself from the grasp of a soldier from the Keep. Alistair frowned and made a move to rise, but Lis grabbed his arm.
"No. Let her handle it."
"But—"
"Alistair, no. Tonight, you're a spy, not an honorable knight."
"I hate being a spy."
"As do I. Too murky by half, but this is where we find ourselves."
Leliana managed to push the soldier away, bidding him goodnight, and left the tavern.
When the soldier followed, moments later, Alistair rose. "That's it. We're done here."
He left the tavern quickly and looked around for Leliana. Hearing a noise behind the building, he drew his sword and ran toward it, followed by Lis and Oghren.
Leliana was standing over the prone form of the soldier. She looked at his drawn sword and laughed. "Really, Alistair, did you think me incapable of dealing with one amorous soldier? I should be insulted, yes? But instead I shall be charmed by your chivalry, however unnecessary."
"Uh, thanks, I guess. It's not that I didn't think you could deal with him, I just didn't think you should have to." Alistair sheathed his sword. "Is he dead?"
"No, he will wake with a headache and a lesson learned. I would hate to have killed him, for he was useful. He caught a glimpse of Avernus in the hills outside the Keep, with Kallian and some rough looking mercenaries."
"What were they doing, did he know?"
"He didn't hear much. He wasn't close, and wished to get no closer. He did hear something about an underground ruin.
"Hmmm." Alistair frowned. "That doesn't tell us much—we've found a few of those. It's something, though, and it tells us we're in the right place. Let's get back to camp."
They made it through the derelict city and out the gates without problem, and were heading toward the clearing where they'd left their gear when figures appeared out of the darkness to block their path.
"Halt." The foremost figure, a large man in gleaming plate, pointed his sword at Alistair. "We only have business with you. If you care for your friends, send them on their way."
Lis drew her sword. "Like we'd listen."
As he pulled his sword from the sheath on his back once more, Alistair looked around, counting their foes and taking note of their positions. Seven of them, all in plate, so…not pickings from the dock, this time. More like professional bounty seekers.
He gathered his will, much easier now than when he'd first tried after letting his skills go unused for so long, and flung out his arms as he loosed the power he held tight. The night lit brighter than day and a bolt of light knocked the leader to the ground, sending chunks of dirt flying into the air.
Blast. He was still only taking down one at a time, even when not holding back as he had at Highever. Lis wasn't the only one who needed to practice. Just making the rest of the group soil their drawers wasn't what he was going for at all.
Lis rushed past him to bring her sword down on the fallen leader. She swung around to knock her shield into the man beside him, her sword crashing down on the joint in his armor where pauldron met breastplate. She brought her shield up again to knock him to the ground. Pivoting, she swung the pommel of her sword into the face of the leader as he tried to regain his feet, sending him reeling.
Alistair was riveted.
"Wake up, duster! Or are you just going to watch?" Oghren's axe bit into the armor of the duel wielding warrior who'd been sneaking up behind Alistair.
"Sorry. I was just—" Alistair's face burned as he smashed his shield into a fighter who rushed to join the warrior. He was too slow—the man brought his own shield up in time and blocked the blow. Their swords met, the sound of metal on metal ringing out.
"Heh, don't have to explain to me!" Oghren swept his weapon into the back of the warrior's legs, knocking him to his knees. "I was starting to think they gelded you in Orlais." He brought the axe down on the man's neck and turned on a tall man in dragonbone who wielded a two-handed sword.
Driving his sword into the fighter's armor where the crease between breastplate and fauld indicated a weak point, Alistair really hoped Lis couldn't hear them. Especially Oghren. As he wrenched his sword from the man's body, he turned in time to see Oghren's foot slip in blood on the ground.
Oghren stumbled, and the warrior drew back his greatsword in a mighty swing.
Alistair leapt forward, bringing his shield up to block the blow. It came down with enough force to make him stagger, but Oghren was at his side, driving the man back.
Between the two of them, they brought him down, and Alistair looked around to see who of their foes remained.
There were none. Leliana was well on the way to finishing off the last of the attackers when Lis joined her. It was over in seconds.
Lis grinned at Alistair, and then bent forward to wipe her blade on the grass.
Maker, he was still staring at her! Alistair turned away hurriedly to find himself face to face with Oghren—who was grinning.
"Heh heh…."
"Don't say it, Oghren."
"Say what?"
"Whatever disgusting thing you were about to say."
"Just glad you're still with us, boy."
"So…. Ruins. Off the top of my head I can think of a couple of places. The elven ruin in the Brecilian forest…and the temple in the mountain near Haven, but that one would get Chantry attention." Alistair leaned back on the tree behind him.
Leliana put a log on their small fire. There wasn't enough room in this clearing for anything larger, but the night was warm enough that they'd mostly lit it for the light and comfort. "Kallian knows that Brother Genitivi informed the Chantry of the location of the Urn, although she may not know that an expedition has already been sent. She wouldn't take Avernus there."
"Okay. That's out, then. Where else? There's Ostagar. We found an underground area there, but…." Alistair shook his head, his mouth tightening. "I can't imagine anyone wanting to go there unless they had to. Even someone who can bring themselves to do the kind of things that Kallian doesn't seem to have a problem doing."
"That's only the places you know, though." Lis frowned into the fire. "Kallian could have been talking about somewhere in Amaranthine. I heard they discovered an entrance to the Deep Roads. Wouldn't she want to keep Avernus at a convenient distance?"
Oghren snorted. "I know where that's supposed to be, but what's the point? If the blood mage is in the Deep Roads, we won't have to worry about him for long. The Architect said he could keep most of the darkspawn away from the surface, not make them disappear—and that's if he wasn't lying through his teeth."
"Or she might want him far enough away that she could deny involvement if he was caught by the Chantry." Rubbing his forehead, Alistair let out a sigh. "We can only search the places we know." He dropped his hand. "We'll check out the entrance to the Deep Roads here in Amaranthine, and then our very questionable lead in Denerim. If we don't find anything, we'll go to the elven ruins in the Brecilian forest.
"If he's not in any of those places, we can come back here and try something riskier, like going to the Keep and questioning people who were actually with Kallian during the invasion. But I'd really like to know more about the situation at the Vigil before we do that."
"So we just wander around the country looking for the mage with nothing to go on but gossip?" Oghren shook his head. "How long do you plan on this taking?"
"You have a better idea?"
"Yeah. I say we stop playing around and take this to Kallian."
"We'd be walking right into Kallian's stronghold, surrounded by Wardens she's hand picked for reasons I bet I wouldn't like. And then there are the mercenaries…."
Leliana nodded. "That is true. My informant said Kallian's most recent choices of Wardens have caused Varel, the seneschal, great unease, and they follow her orders without question."
"Well, I think you lost your spine when you started leading, nughumper. We walked into a temple full of dragon worshippers three years ago. You didn't think twice then, but now you've gone all cautious? Or are you just afraid of Kallian?"
"That wasn't my responsibility. This is." Alistair stood, taking a breath before continuing. "Yes, I am afraid of Kallian, and you should be, too. Have you forgotten how she can persuade people to act against their better judgment, the respect she commands? Have you forgotten her abilities? She still has all those, a ruthlessness I'd never imagined, and a private army. I'm not ashamed to acknowledge how dangerous she is, and I'm not going to risk your lives stupidly.
"I'm leaving for the Deep Roads in the morning. Then I'm going to Denerim. Come with me, or don't." Alistair stalked over to his bedroll, lay down on his back and stared up at the sky, trying to rein in his anger.
He hadn't asked to lead, but if he was going to do it, he'd make the choices he thought best, even if Oghren thought that made him a gutless coward. Leliana seemed to understand…. Maker! Did Lis think him craven now? Alistair lifted his head and looked to where she sat across the fire.
Lis gave him a wink and smiled.
Alistair let his head drop back onto his bedroll, reassured that she didn't think less of him. Holy Maker, being a leader was every bit as much fun as he thought it would be.
"We're wasting our sodding time!" Oghren stomped down the wooden stairs that led to the entrance to the Deep Roads.
"You said a couple of hunters discovered this, Oghren? And no one knew anything about it before that?" Alistair stopped to look at the staircase, and examine a rail. "This has been here for a long while—sturdily built, but starting to decay with age. It's odd, isn't it? I mean, who built it, darkspawn carpenters? That seems a stretch, but if they can make armor for ogres…."
"You're just not getting over the armored ogres, are you, nughumper?"
"No. No, I'm not."
"Perhaps treasure hunters found it." Leliana continued down the stairs. "They might have built the stairs, keeping their find secret, and then been killed by darkspawn. No one would ever know."
Alistair nodded. "Well, for whatever reason this rift was unknown, it's known now, and still unguarded. What's Kallian thinking?"
"Eh, who knows?" Oghren reached the bottom of the stairs, and glanced back at Alistair. "Maybe that her Architect buddy is keeping the darkspawn underground…and she maybe she doesn't give a sodding nug dropping about idiots who might wander down there."
They passed through the long chasm and onto a section of the Deep Roads, its ceiling collapsed and open to the sky. To the right, the road continued with wide stone stairs, dropping deep into the ground, to the left, it narrowed to a dead end.
At the bottom of the stairs, a dwarven city spread out before them. Or rather, some kind of outskirts. On the far side of a vast cavern rose an imposing edifice, likely the city proper, or its entrance, while the structures around then were very small, with triangular doors.
Leliana peered inside of one. "What are these, Oghren? There was nothing like this in Orzammar."
"How should I know? Like you said—this is nothing like Orzammar. If I was to guess, though…. Graves or food storage. Pretty much the same deal."
Her face screwed up with distaste, Leliana looked at him over her shoulder. "Ugh. Very nice, Oghren."
"What? Little air-tight buildings that critters can't get into—what's the difference?"
Lis gave a laugh. "Perception, Oghren. The mental leap from one to another is disquieting."
"Eh, we're just meat. You're kidding yourself if you think any different."
She smiled and glanced at Alistair, shaking her head. "As I said. Disquieting."
He smiled back at her, then lifted his chin, frowning and scanning the area. "There are darkspawn close by."
There was a sound ahead of them like loose stone being dislodged. A creature stepped out from behind one of the small buildings.
It was nothing Alistair had seen before, with features that resembled a decayed human—a fleshless, skeletal nose, eyes set into reddened, corrupt flesh. He could sense the taint more strongly now. It was a darkspawn, but—"
"Why do you come here, Grey Warden?" The words grated from the creature's throat, as though even its voice was as corrupt and tainted as the rest of it.
Alistair stared at the thing. It was one thing to know that such things were said to exist, another to actually hear one speak. What had this Architect done to achieve this? More than just give it Grey Warden blood, that was certain. Just what had Kallian allowed to continue?
The darkspawn spoke again, rasping out the words. "My master and yours have an arrangement. We keep the horde from the surface—you leave us alone."
"She's no master of mine." Maker's breath! He couldn't believe he was talking to a darkspawn. "I'm not bound by her agreements, nor do I believe that she agreed to let you do anything you want."
"Then I have no reason not to kill you." The darkspawn gave a guttural cry and raised an arm. More darkspawn—normal looking ones, both hurlocks and genlocks—rushed from the small buildings behind it, toward them. Others stayed at a distance, raising bows.
Alistair lifted his shield, drew his sword, and started for the talking darkspawn, Lis running beside him.
The ground shook. Alistair heard a savage roar. An ogre. He looked toward the sound. It was running through its smaller brethren to reach them. Maker's blood, it was wearing armor—a helmet through which he could only see its huge jaws, plates of metal covering its chest and limbs, blade-like attachments protruding from the armor on it's arms.
Fire and blight! How was he to fight such a thing?
He and Lis looked at each other at the same moment. Alistair was sure that his eyes were as wide as hers. They changed course to intercept the ogre, shields raised.
The sounds of battle raged around him as Oghren and Leliana fought the talking darkspawn and his lesser minions, but for Alistair, the fight shrunk to this one foe. All his attention was on seeking out weakness that might exist in its armor, and fortunately, there were some.
The armor hadn't been forged for it, fitted to its body, but was cobbled together in a haphazard way, repurposed and reshaped.
Lis tried a smite. It lacked power, but she did it, and in battle, too. Alistair didn't think that would have worked, even if he'd been the one to try. Ogres were resistant to many things that would fell another creature, and this was like no ogre he'd seen before. It wasn't just armored, it was faster, and he'd be willing to bet it was stronger in every way.
She circled around behind the ogre, bringing her sword down repeatedly on some chink she'd found.
The ogre started to turn, raising its massive arm toward her.
Oh, Maker! She was too close! She wouldn't know how they grabbed you, or how much damage that did.
"Oh, no you don't!" Alistair smashed his shield into an armored knee, trying to distract it. If he could keep its attention on him, if Lis could wound it…. "A bit more dying, please!"
Faster than Alistair would have though possible, it kicked Lis away and grabbed him, lifting him into the air, pulling back a huge fist to strike.
Oh, good. Just what he hoped for.
When the blow landed, it was like being dropped off a building. It hit again and his vision dimmed. The sounds of the battle stilled.
Then he really did drop, hitting the ground hard. It took a few moments for him to gather his senses before scrambling away from the ogre's feet. He still couldn't hear. He put a hand to one ear and it came away with blood on it.
Twisting its body, the ogre bent forward. It turned, and Alistair could see that it was trying to get Lis's sword out of its back.
Maybe it pulled away before she could withdraw the blade, or maybe the sword had become lodged in bone, but she was now left trying to retrieve her weapon.
Blast it! She kept getting too close…not that he was in any position to be judgmental, but still…. He really didn't want to see that armored monstrosity crushing her bones, or smashing her in the head.
The ogre's mouth opened wide in a roar that Alistair couldn't hear.
He dropped his shield, grasped the pommel of his sword with both hands and leapt forward, driving the blade between its jaws.
As it fell backward, the ogre took Alistair with it, and he was able to raise his weapon again, sending the point into the ogre's brain.
Climbing off the corpse, gasping for breath, Alistair looked up to see Lis limping toward him. She was all right—well, mostly. He felt a surge of relief. And she had her sword. Good thing, there'd be no turning the ogre over to recover it if she hadn't gotten it in time. He bent to pick up his shield, replacing it on his arm, then looked at Lis again.
Her lips were moving, but he couldn't hear the words. She raised a hand and pointed behind them.
Blast it! Leliana and Oghren! He couldn't hear the sounds of battle, but that didn't mean there weren't any.
He spun, fear knotting his stomach. The armored ogre had taken too long to fight and while he and Lis had been doing that…. Maker only knew what a talking darkspawn could do, and how normal, or not normal, the rest of these might be.
His vision blurred and Alistair blinked, shaking his head. It did nothing to clear his eyes. He'd have to live with it—he could still see enough.
The talking darkspawn lay on the ground in a pool of blood. Many of the other darkspawn were dead, too, but some fought on.
Lis ran to aid Leliana, while Alistair went to Oghren.
As he ran, Alistair assessed their enemies, deciding which to go after first, no easy task since he wasn't just seeing fuzzily, he was seeing in double vision. He closed one eye and looked again.
Oghren fought two hurlocks, one of which had a heavy maul, and the other a two handed sword, while Leliana fought a genlock archer, who had dropped his bow in favor of daggers. A hurlock attacked her from behind, armed with a sword and a small shield. She had an arrow lodged in her thigh.
Raising her sword, Lis went after the darkspawn with the sword and shield.
Another genlock stood off to the side, firing arrows indiscriminately. Alistair's vision wasn't good enough to really see where they were going.
Alistair went after the darkspawn with the maul, first stunning it with a smite, and then knocking it to the ground. He got in two blows while the creature was on its back, but then it was up and swinging the maul.
Blocking with his shield, Alistair staggered back. He was lucky that didn't break his arm.
As the darkspawn drew the maul back to swing again, Alistair swung his blade into its neck, decapitating it.
The darkspawn with the two handed sword was already falling as Alistair turned toward it, Oghren's axe embedded in its head, so Alistair went for the archer, instead.
Lis got there before him.
As the archer drew back the bow string to shoot into Alistair's face—from entirely too close a distance, she yelled something he couldn't hear and rammed into it, shield to the fore, knocking it to the ground. She brought her blade down on its neck, cutting through the leather armor. She swung again, this time cutting its throat.
Alistair grinned at her, nodded a 'thank you,' and then looked for Leliana and Oghren, only to find them watching Lis polish off the last of the darkspawn.
Leliana had broken off part of the arrow so that it wouldn't impede her movement, but left the rest in her leg. There was blood was running from the wound, but it was only a trickle, blocked by the arrow itself.
Oghren had a cut over one eye that probably looked worse than it was, but he was holding onto one arm in a way that made Alistair think that might be pretty bad.
He watched Lis walk over to them and saw that her limp had not abated. Something was wrong there, and it probably had to do with being kicked into a stone building by an ogre.
As for himself, he couldn't hear, his vision was still blurred and double—which made him want to throw up—and he had a truly awful headache. Oh, and there were bruises. Lots of bruises.
They wouldn't make it through another fight. They had to get out fast.
But Leliana couldn't travel with an arrow in her leg.
Opening his pack, Alistair took out elfroot potions for everyone. They weren't the strong kind, but they'd help. Then he took out a poultice for Leliana's leg, motioning her to sit down.
She said something, shaking her head.
Alistair thought that she was probably worried about taking the time, not knowing when they might be attacked again, but he was just as worried that walking with the arrow still in her leg might make things a lot worse. Especially a darkspawn arrow. He just pointed to an ear, shrugged, and motioned again for her to sit.
This time she did. He looked at her as his hands reached for the arrow, his eyebrows rising.
Leliana nodded, her eyes already tight with pain, and Alistair took a breath, steeling himself—he really hated it when he had to do things like this.
Grasping the broken shaft of the arrow, he pulled it out of her leg at the same angle it had gone in. Blood started to flow freely and Alistair pressed the poultice to the wound, grimacing when he saw her draw a sharp breath. He wrapped a bandage around the poultice, tying it off before getting to his feet and reaching down to help her to hers.
After they'd each had one of the potions he'd taken from his pack, Alistair collected the flasks, and put them back inside.
Everyone looked a bit better, and his double vision went away. Things were a little less fuzzy, too. That was good, because he wanted to be well away from this place before they made camp, and they'd need to move quickly.
Raising an arm, he waved toward the staircase to the surface, bringing up the rear on their way out. He was a lot more worried about what was behind them than ahead. He wouldn't hear anything coming, but if someone was going to get jumped by a darkspawn as they left, it was going to be him.
They didn't talk much when they made camp that night. Well, the others talked a little. Alistair could see their lips moving.
Leliana seemed to be asking people what was wrong with them, and doling out potions and poultices accordingly. She couldn't ask Alistair anything, so she handed him a strong potion to drink, cut a poultice in half, and all but stuffed the pieces in his ears before tying a bandage around his head to hold them in place.
It felt ridiculous, and Alistair knew it looked ridiculous from the broad grin on Lis's face. He was fairly sure that if he could hear, there'd be snickering. He gave her a withering look, but relented and grinned back when the smile dropped from her face.
Even with the potions and poultices, everyone moved like they were sore, and they set up a very minimal camp—a small fire with bedrolls laid out around it. They went to sleep as soon as they'd eaten, with Alistair taking the first watch.
Tomorrow, they'd go to Denerim, if they were recovered enough.
That night, Alistair dreamed of Denerim and it wasn't a nightmare. He dreamed of the dinner he'd shared with Eamon, Riordan, and his companions before the Landsmeet. He had the same trepidation he'd had then, but also the confidence he'd felt, the hope that he might do good things, and he was warmed by the belief that Kallian and Eamon had in him. When he woke, that feeling was washed away by the knowledge of how deluded he'd been, leaving him feeling empty, his hope as cold as the dawn.
Dreams were worse than nightmares, every time.
Alistair's headache had become a dull throbbing, rather than constant pounding. That was a step in the right direction. He was also starting to get his hearing back, or so he discovered once he'd removed the poultices. He could hear what people were saying if they spoke loudly and enunciated well.
Leliana was all for tying poultices to his head again, but that cut out what little hearing he had, so he convinced her to let him try mixing the material from the poultice with water and putting it in his ears. It would be uncomfortable, and he'd have to do it often, but it would let him hear what was being said, or an enemy's approach.
More importantly, he needed to find out how everyone else was doing. Drawing Leliana aside, he asked, "How is everyone? And how's your leg?" It occurred to him that trying to be discreet was probably pointless, since he was likely speaking more loudly than he knew, and Leliana had to practically yell for him to hear her.
"Lis has almost recovered. Her hip was badly bruised, and she wrenched a knee, but she'll be ready to travel by tomorrow."
Leliana's forehead creased with concern. "I'm not certain about Oghren. It's difficult to get a straight answer from him. If I was to take him at his word, I'd tell you that he was ready to fight and travel now, but I don't believe that is the case. There was no obvious break in his arm, so there was no need to set the bones, but…. I'm not sure.
"The wound in my leg heals, but while darkspawn weapons don't spread the taint, they do leave wounds that seem more unclean than those left by others. It will take longer to heal than the same wound from another weapon.
"Also, head injuries such as yours are not to be taken lightly. The effects can linger if they are ignored, and would become worse if you were to be struck again before it is fully healed.
"I think we should wait two or three days before traveling. We are in a remote location and relatively safe—we should be ready to fight before we leave it."
Alistair nodded. "Okay. We'll see how we stand in two days. If we need a third, so be it."
In truth, Alistair wasn't averse to delaying the trip to Denerim. He wasn't looking forward to returning to Eamon's estate even briefly. Denerim alone brought back bad memories, and Eamon's home would be even worse. The contrast between what he'd believed his place in the world to be while there and what it became after the Landsmeet was too marked.
He really wasn't sure that he could forgive Eamon for not speaking up when he was taken away for execution in the way he'd found that he could forgive his friends. Eamon had the respect of the nobility, unlike Alistair's companions. He could have made a difference, and the whole thing was Eamon's idea in the first place.
It made Alistair angry in a way he was having trouble putting aside. In the unlikely event that Eamon was in residence, seeing him would be unpleasant and horribly awkward. Just thinking about it….
No, he was fine with staying here for another two or three days. In fact, they couldn't stay long enough.
When he and Leliana got back to the fire, he looked at Oghren and Lis. "We'll be staying here for a few days, until everyone has recovered."
Lis just nodded, but Oghren gave a snort and said, "So, this wasn't only a waste of time, but it keeps wasting more time. Good plan."
Closing his eyes, Alistair took a breath, and then opened them to look at Oghren. "Yes, Oghren. You told me so." He turned to Lis and Leliana, lifting an eyebrow. "Let's all take a moment to note that Oghren told me so."
Sitting down next to the fire, Alistair said, "Delay or not, we learned some important things. It's not at all likely that Avernus is in the Deep Roads, even with the Blight being over.
"Also, fighting armored ogres is bloody awful. All those darkspawn were stronger than any we've encountered before now, even the ones that looked ordinary. Whatever the Architect is doing, it isn't just making them smarter, and that was bad enough.
"And I don't know about the rest of you, but what I really came away with was the idea that Kallian didn't just make a bad decision about the Architect, she made one that has to be reversed. I'm putting that on my 'to do' list."
Lis's mouth pulled to one side. "I'm not disagreeing with you. In fact, I think you're right, but…don't we have enough 'to do?' When you were fighting the Blight, did you take care of every other problem you came across?"
"Well…yes, actually."
Her eyebrows rose. "Ah. I stand corrected."
"I'm not saying that we should put off dealing with Avernus, or finding out what Kallian is up to, but once I'm done with that—and Anora—I'll be going after the Architect."
"You plan on doing that alone, do you? I think not."
Not knowing what to say to that, Alistair just smiled. He'd love to take Lis with him. He couldn't think of anyone he'd rather brave the Deep Roads with, even Leliana. Lis just had a way of making everything seem…more possible, brighter. He couldn't imagine what Fergus would have to say about that, though.
Besides, who knew where they'd stand by then? Alistair knew better than to count on such things.