Chapter 10: The Forgotten Tower

Carver shook his head, the last year fell away, once again here they were, Garrett had leapt before he looked and now he found himself trapped.

The young warden wished that he could say that he was surprised.

"Well done brother," he sighed, "Very well done indeed."

Hawke did not bother to respond, there was the Carver he remembered.

Varric glared at him.

"That isn't fair junior."

"Indeed," Arika agreed, the frown on her face made Carver want to blush, "You should not say such things milord."

The young warden cursed himself where had that come from? He…he had tried to eliminate that part of himself, the part that resented Garrett. The part that always thought that he was trapped in Garrett's shadow, he…he had thought that he had outgrown such folly.

Apparently…he was wrong.

"You're right," he admitted, "both of you," he looked up at his brother.

"I'm sorry Garrett that was uncalled for."

Despite the situation, Hawke actually laughed.

"Did you actually just apologize to me Carver?"

"Yes," Carver answered, "I don't see why that is…"

"If I had known that all I had to do was get trapped behind some magical barrier to get you to apologize, I would have done it long ago," Garrett chuckled.

Carver shook his head.

"Brother Focus," Carver grumbled, "You're the mage, do you see anyway to disarm these wards?"

Hawke inspected the glowing runes. He was no expert, but from what he could tell these were designed for only one way use.

They let you in, but once you were in, they would not let you out.

"Carver, try putting your sword through the barrier," he suggested, "maybe if you can breach it, I can widen the hole and escape."

Carver obeyed, he pulled his great sword, and plunged it through the opening.

The wards ripped the blade right out of the young warden's hands; it nearly dragged him through as well.

The sword clattered at Garrett's feet.

"Well, that didn't work," Hawke said dryly.

"Damn it," Carve cursed, "I liked that sword."

Garrett struck the barrier with his new staff; the barrier rippled, but did not weaken.

Merrill tried to summon those black roots of hers; she thought that that might breach the stone surrounding the opening.

The magic sealing the entrance withered them before they could do any damage.

Isabela cursed.

She was getting frustrated; they could not just leave Hawke in there.

"What now sweet thing," she asked the apostate.

Hawke shook his head, to be honest; he did not have a single clue,

"I suppose I should go farther in," he shrugged, "With luck, maybe the Carta have a way passed these wards."

None of his companions liked that idea. Even if it was true, it was likely that the Carta was setting up an ambush, more dangerous than that, if Hawke walked into a nest of darkspawn alone…

He would not stand a chance.

You did not have to be a Grey Warden to know that.

"Brother, you cannot go off alone," Carver said flatly.

"Well, it isn't safe for you to enter," he reminded them, "If you come through you will be trapped as well."

"And if we don't you will have to face the Carta by yourself Hawke," Fenris growled.

"Maybe we could send somebody back to Kirkwall for Anders," Varric suggested, "Maybe Blondie could…"

Isabela shook her head, that would take days, and Hawke was trapped.

There was no other real option.

"Bugger it all," she growled.

She stepped through the entrance.

"Isabela what are you doing?" Hawke gasped.

"Setting sail for Rivain," she said dryly, "what do you think I'm doing Hawke, I'm coming with you?"

"But your trapped now," he said angrily.

"I guess you will just have to find us both a way out then won't you." She said putting her hands on her hips."

"I'm coming to," Merrill proclaimed.

"Daisy stop!" Varric cried out.

She passed through the barrier as well.

Cursing under his breath Fenris followed as well.

"You're all mad, you realize that right," Carver complained.

Varric sighed, he could not agree more, but he had little options.

He passed through the barrier too.

Carver could not believe this! Had everyone gone mad?"

"What do we do?" Lin asked him.

"We could follow," Arika suggested.

"That entrance probably leads to the deep roads Arika," he reminded her.

"Since when are we afraid of the deep roads?" she asked.

"Since we might get caught behind some ancient magic barrier," Carver reminded her, "If we can't find a way out, if there is no water or food source in there. We could all die."

The two women did not respond; Carver's points were valid.

Carver tried to think of something he could do to help, but the ringing in his head kept getting louder.

What was going on? He could see from the way that Arika and Lin kept shaking their heads they felt it too.

It felt like his darkspawn sense, but it was louder, more demanding.

Speaking of darkspawn…

Carver's eyes narrowed.

Arika drew her sword.

"You are about to have company Hawke, be ready," she advised.

She joined the others on the other side.

Lin ran after her, that left Carver standing outside of it, the only one still free.

He cursed loudly.

Arika turned to him.

"Come along beloved," she said, "There are darkspawn to be killed."

Carver cursed himself for a fool, in the company of fools…

Still…

He would not leave Arika and Garrett down here by themselves.

He passed through the barrier, even though he knew what it meant.

Now, there was no way for anyone to go for help.

They would just have to fight their way out.

IOI

The wardens could feel the darkspawn approaching, the taint boiled in their blood. They could feel the menace flowing off the creatures.

Carver took the lead.

"Swords up front, staves and bows behind," He ordered, he turned to Isabela, "Can we count on you to keep the spawn off the archers."

Isabela did not respond; she turned to Hawke, looking for his orders.

"Don't look at me," Garrett replied, "Carver's the Grey Warden," he turned to his little brother, "Your show Carv."

"Thanks Rett," he replied retrieving his sword. He spun the blade, checking for damage, seeing none, he dropped into a fighting crouch.

Arika and Fenris joined him.

They could hear the darkspawn now, the creatures growled hungrily, sensing their mortal enemies.

The spawn charged through the chamber.

Carver's eyes widened.

He had never seen darkspawn like these before. They were short like genlocks, but barrel chested with broad shoulders. Their arm muscles were defined and swollen. They ran almost on all fours, using their massive knuckles for balance.

"What in Andraste's name are those?!" he heard Lin say.

It did not really matter he realized, they were darkspawn.

It was their duty to slay darkspawn.

It was a duty he took seriously.

One of the muscular genlocks lunged for him.

Carver sidestepped, he brought down his sword, and his blade took the creature's arms off at the elbow.

The wounded spawn squealed.

He spun his sword severing its misshapen head.

The body crashed into the wall behind them.

The two remaining creatures were more cautious.

It did not save them.

Merrill summoned chain-lightning burning the creatures. Garrett fired arcane bolts from his new staff.

Bianca sang, as Varric fired bolts into the darkspawns' massive chests.

The creatures fell dead.

Carver sighed, he…he had never seen darkspawn behave in such a feral manner. They were vicious sure, but they were not usually stupid. Rushing a superior force with no back up, it was a stupid move!

They should probably be grateful for that.

Arika cleaned her blade on the body of one of the fallen creatures; she looked up at the rest of their party.

"Everyone who is not immune to the taint should take another dose of that potion that blocks its effects," she advised, "A don't think this is the last we will see of these creatures.

The others obeyed.

Carver came up beside her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes beloved," she purred, she looked down at the dead beasts.

The reaver shuddered.

"What foul magic is this?" she growled, "I have never seen genlocks so…so…"

"Savage?" he added.

The reaver nodded.

"Something here must be effecting the spawn," Garrett offered, "I…I can sense it, it…I have never felt anything like it."

Carver shook his head, so they had unknown magic not only trapping them here, but also enhancing the darkspawn.

Awesome!

Arika turned to Lin.

"Scout ahead elf," she ordered, "We need a recon report."

The archer nodded moving forward.

The group moved into the next big chamber.

It was there that they found the carta dwarves that had fled down here.

Those large genlocks had eaten them.

"Remind me why I wanted to come along this time?" Isabela asked Hawke.

"Because you're crazy about me," he offered dryly.

"Crazy is a good word," she sighed.

The group did its best to secure the room; it was a good defensible position, only two ways in or out. The way behind them was secure.

The sun was setting above them; it had been a rough day. They would make camp here. It was likely the safest place they could find.

They seemed to be in some kind of old thaig, it was connected to the massive tower they had seen rising out of the deep roads on the way in.

They could see the tower from where they were standing; it was surrounded by a shimmering magic field.

The energy it was putting out was making Garrett and Merrill both dizzy.

Lin returned a few minutes later.

The elf seemed troubled.

"You need to see this," she informed her fellows.

They followed after her.

Everyone was surprised by what she had found.

IOI

Carver shook his head, what was this?

The room that they were in was decorated in a very familiar fashion. Statues of griffons lined the walls. A blue and silver banner bearing the sign of the grey wardens hung on the far wall.

Carver was not sure what to make of this. Was this some kind of old warden base? He had never heard of any warden bases in the deep roads before, small weapons caches sure, but not whole bases.

He did not think that the dwarves would have allowed such a thing.

Arika strode in and looked around.

The bones of both wardens and darkspawn could be found here, the remnant of a battle fought long ago.

"Rest easy brothers," she said solemnly, "We shall not disturb your sleep."

Carver offered up a quick prayer as well.

He could not imagine dying in this place, trapped with the darkspawn…

It was a fate he hoped to avoid.

"Any ideas Junior," Varric asked him.

""I don't know," he shrugged, "This place…I…have never heard of anything like it."

He turned to Arika.

She shook her head.

"Stroud never mentioned anything like this," she replied.

Merrill shivered, "This place is so dismal," the dalish whimpered, "Why would the wardens build a base here?"

"It isn't a base," Lin answered.

Carver looked at his friend.

The archer frowned.

"Think about it?" she said, "the wards, the architecture, I found halls filled with smaller rooms, most had collapsed in on themselves but…"

Garrett considered what the elf was saying. If this was not a base, long halls filled with small rooms.

Bile rose in Hawke's throat, he…he understood what she was saying.

"Cellblocks," he said coldly.

Lin nodded grimly.

"Exactly," the archer replied, "As I said, this is no base," the elf took a drink from her water skin, just a sip.

She might need it later.

"This is a prison," she finished, "Probably built by the wardens of old."

"So how do we get out?" Isabela asked, "Did you find anything?"

Lin gave her a sad smile.

"No," the elf answered her, "I found no tricks, no writings to suggest how to disarm the wards. My guess is that the wardens just put them up planning to hold whatever poor souls were too stupid to come through those wards. I think that is the point of this place, no guards are needed," Lin's face turned sad, "And just for the record, if this is some kind of warden prison, I doubt anyone knows about it but us and the Carta, so we can't count on a rescue. Add into it that the darkspawn are already likely sensing us in here, which means they will be sending reinforcements. Faced with that, plus the wards, it is highly unlikely that any of us will be getting out of here alive."

She gave the old tower the angriest look, she had not given up, but she was close to it.

"I'm sorry everyone," she said, "but that is just the way it is."

Isabela moved closer to Garrett. Carver took Arika's hand. Varric tried to give Merrill a reassuring look.

Everyone in the party looked so grim; they tried to find a flaw in the elf's logic.

Sadly, they could find none.

This prison had been designed to keep things in, not out.

In the distance they could already here the snarling of the darkspawn. Another brood was on its way.

Hawke and company drew their weapons.

The next battle was about to begin.