A/N: My main focus in this story is Keira, she's my character and so I tend to lean towards 'her' story more. But I also find that Thalia is really growing on me. So I've had this little chapter planned just for her for some time now. There will be more like this, but not many. Just a heads up. I also really liked the dialogue for the Broken Circle quest, so I tried not to change too much of it. I already have a few other chapters where the groups are split like this, so for those who are a fan of them, do not fear, they are not done yet ;)
Disclaimer : Dragon age and it's characters are owned by Bioware, this is just for fun.
Chapter Eleven : No Place Like Home
Why was Carroll, a Templar, guarding the dock to the island? As the boat fairing Thalia and the rest of the group across the lake, inches closer to her former home, a sense of foreboding begins to rise in the pit of her stomach. Something is wrong. The boat docks and they all climb ashore. The Tower is quiet. Thalia stands before the doors and looks up its massive height.
"The view from up there must be spectacular!" Leliana can sense her friends anxiety, but tries to stay positive.
"That it is..." The elf trails off and opens the large wooden doors. She gasps at what she sees in the main hall. Several Templar are injured, others are attending the wounded. As she eyes the mess before her, she spots Greagoir, and just behind the senior Templar are his Knights, who seem to be guarding the door to the stairwell. Surana slowly makes her way towards the Knight Commander as Templars rush past her. Her companions not far behind, they too seem to be in shock.
"And I want two men stationed with in sight of the doors at all times." The Commander is giving orders to one of his Templar Knights. "Do not open the doors without my expressed consent. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir!" The Knight salutes his superior and walks away.
Fergus studies the situation. He's no stranger to these tactics. "The doors are barred." He whispers over Thalia's shoulder. "Are they trying to keep people out...or worse...in?"
"Greagoir...what's happened?" Thalia takes a few steps closer to her former guardian.
"We're dealing with a delicate situation." The commander paces the floor, his hands resting on his hips. "You must leave for your own safety."
"What? No, I can't...Greagoir...this was once my home." Surana pleads with the man.
Sighing, Greagoir stops his pacing. "I should speak plainly. The tower is no longer under our control. Abominations and demons stalk the tower's halls. The Circle is lost. The Tower...has fallen."
Eyes brimming with tears, the little elf mage gasps. "How...how did this happen?"
The Knight Commander regards her sadly. "We don't know. We saw only demons...hunting Templars and Mages alike." He removes a gauntlet and rubs a hand over a tired brow. "I realized we could not defeat them and told my men to flea. They took us by surprise. We were prepared for one or two of them...not the hoard that fell upon us. So we shut the doors. We will remain safe for now."
Shocked, Surana shakes her head, trying to understand his reason. "You locked the doors? With everyone still in there?"
"My Templars and the mages. I had no choice...the abominations must be stopped at all costs." He explains wearily. "We do not lock the doors to leave them closed forever. Everything in the tower must be eliminated. I've sent word to Denerim for reinforcements and for the Right of Annulment."
The elf mage raises her hands to cover her mouth, frightened. "What? Greagoir...no..."
"What does he speak of?" Kate rests a hand on Thalia's shoulder.
"The Right of Annulment gives the Templars the right to neutralize the tower, completely." The Knight Commander rolls his head from side to side, exhausted.
"The mages in there are probably already dead. The abominations running around in there must be dealt with no matter what." Fergus points a finger to the ground, trying to emphasize the magnitude of the situation.
"This situation is dire. There is no alternative, everything in there must be destroyed so that it can be made safe again!" The Commander argues his point.
Angered, Thalia takes another step closer. "The mages are not defenseless. Some must surely still be alive!"
"If any of them are still alive, the Maker himself must have shielded them. No one could have survived." He replaces his gauntlet over his hand and stares at it. "It...it is too painful to hope for survivors and find...nothing." The Commanders eyes meet those of the elf mage.
"Let me go in. I'll look for survivors." Thalia requests
Greagoir shakes his head. "I assure you, an abomination is a force to be reckoned with and you will face more then one."
"Greagoir please...you need to let me at least try." Thalia grabs hold of the man's hands. "Please I beg you."
Once more he sighs. "If you succeed...I would owe you much."
"Alright...then it's settled." Thalia looks over her friends. "I do not expect any of you to risk your lives. I will go on alone."
"Like that's going to happen." Kate pulls out her daggers and twirls them in her hands. The mabari at her side barks, as if agreeing with his mistress.
"Besides..." Fergus crosses his arms and chuckles. "That big Templar...Cullen...Told me what he would do to me if I let anything happened to you. Lets just say...he wasn't planning a picnic." The older Cousland marches on towards the barred doors.
"I too am joining you. Morrigan, are you coming?" Leliana eyes all the Templars. "Or would a witch of the wilds prefer to remain in the company of so many...talented men?"
"I..." The witch studies her surroundings then decides to move on as well. "I intended to see the rest of this massive bird-cage."
A few hours later, Thalia and her group have made it through most of the tower. Discovering that Wynne had protected a hand full of mages and youngsters just beyond the locked doors, had been uplifting. Just knowing that at least some mages had survived, gave the little elven mage strength to carry on. Wynne had then explained how Uldred had been the one behind the entire massacre and how he and some of the other mages had turned to blood magic. Trying to persuade more mages to follow their cause, they had taken prisoners to the Towers peak, Irving being one of them.
Panting heavily, Surana rests her hands on her knees. "We need to take a break. I'm draining..."
"Agreed. But we can't linger here long, someone or something is bound to come across us here." Wynne surveys the area they are in. "This is the Templars quarters...it's so..."
"Yes...almost unrecognizable." The elf stretches her back. "I still can't get over everything we've seen. Those mages...I grew up with them...studied with them. Turning to blood magic...I just don't get it. And all those abominations...Maker..."
"Yes. It's a lot to take in. Even if we manage to save the tower...it will never be the same. It will never truly recover this loss." Wynne sighs sadly, adjusts her staff in her hand and heads toward a corridor. "This way looks clear."
Just as Fergus takes the lead, he stops and raises a hand. Confused, Kate places herself at his side. "What is it brother?"
"Shh." He turns his attention to a door that seems to be falling from its hinges. Carefully and quietly he makes his way toward the door and peers inside. To his surprise, he finds a Templar who seems to be completely oblivious to the presence of a Desire Demon, who is looming over his shoulder.
"Everything is just as you wanted my Knight. Our love and our family is more than you hoped for." The creature drags her fingers along the mans plated chest.
Just as she takes a glimpse over Fergus's shoulder, Thalia becomes enraged. "I know that man..."
Before he can do anything about it, the elf brushes past Fergus and heads toward the couple in the room. "What in Andraste's name is going on here?" Thalia prepares her stance, she's ready for a fight.
"Do you hear something, love?" The Templar is too deep into the delusion to understand what is actually taking place.
"It is nothing, my darling. Just the door. I will get it. The children have finished supper. Tuck them into bed, while I see who it is." Aggravated, the Demon turns to the intruders.
"Don't be long, the children will want to kiss you goodnight." The Templar Knight turns as if there really were children about somewhere.
"You are intruding upon a loving, intimated moment...and I dislike disruptions." The creature snarls in their direction.
"That's not a concern of mine!" Thalia casts an ice spell in hopes to freeze the demon in its spot.
"What was that?" The Templar sprints back towards his lover in disguise.
"Help! There are bandits at the door! They are going to murder the children!" The demon continues to struggle in the mound of ice that she has been captured in.
"They will not get pass me!" Sensing magic in the air, and believing that his family is under attack, the Templar concentrates and smites the area. Wynne, Thalia and Morrigan are knocked to the ground. The Knight then charges Fergus.
Grinning, the Desire Demon holds a glare with Kate. The creatures eyes shift, and Kate realizes that the demon is actually staring at the two abominations at her sides. Just as the monsters descend upon her, the younger Cousland, ducks and rolls backwards kicking up as she comes to a stand. Leliana seeing her chance sends an arrow towards the purple haired demon. Desire frees an arm and catches the arrow in mid-flight, she snaps it in two and tosses it aside.
Shaking her head, Morrigan allows her vision to clear. She takes a deep breath and allows herself to transform into a wolf and then holds ground with Kates hound. The two then tackle one of the abominations. Wynne, sees that the Templar is not going to lose steam any time soon.
"We need to take her down!" The Enchantress points to the demon. "She's controlling all of them."
Nodding, Thalia concentrates, she needs to focus her will and control on what Keira had taught her. Taking a deep breath, she raises her staff and then points it at the creature, letting all of her energy go at once. A bolt of lighting is sent crashing down on the demon, it falls to the grounds, a burnt husk screaming as it's eyes and mouth light up and then the rest of its body catches on fire.
Even though Desire has been struck down, her spell seems to continue to control the Templar and the abominations. Fergus has no choice.
"I'm sorry..." Twisting his wrist, Fergus pushes his sword forward and it slashes the other man in the neck. Coughing on his own blood, the possessed Templar crawls to the still burning body of his lover and collapses, dead.
The abominations are quickly dealt with as the group teams up and takes them down. Shaking, Surana takes a seat on some rubble.
"He really loved her..." She wipes her brow. "In some twisted way...he really did think she was real..." Sickened and saddened by the entire ordeal, Thalia can't help but feel that beyond the walls of Kinloch, Keira is having just as much luck.
"We need to keep moving." Fergus offers her a hand. "There's much to do, and we do not know how much time we have left."
Taking his offered help, the little elf takes one last look at the dead Templar. "Rest easy now friend."
She finally understands it. What Keira had tried to teach her. The Elements, can't be controlled, only directed. The elven mage looks over her sleeping group and helps them up one by one as they slowly wake from their slumber. Had the Sloth Demon not have tricked her into going into the fade, she might have never truly understood the elements at all. Now armed with the Litany of Adralla, Surana feels a little more prepared for what could be ahead.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Kate quickly dashes towards a corner where she empties her stomach.
"That was...unnerving." Morrigan slowly comes to a stand, while balancing herself against a large piece of broken stone.
Using her staff for support, Wynne aids Fergus to his feet. "What in Thedas was that?"
"A Sloth Demon. It's unimportant. We need to find Uldred." Thalia climbs over a piece of rubble and heads toward the doors that she knows leads to a staircase. "We need to end this."
As the elf opens the doors, she spots what she can only describe as a cage, made of some sort of magic. "This cage...I've never seen anything like it." Wynne is carefully studying the circle of energy, but dares not to touch it.
"Those poor souls...they must have suffered a great deal." Leliana can't help but fold her hands together when she sees the scattered and torn bodies of the Templars inside the caged circle.
"We need to get to the Harrowing chamber. That's where they all must be. " Wynne looks up the staircase, her eyes focused on the doors. "I need to know that if anyone is still alive..."
Thalia rests a hand on the Senior mages shoulder. "We are going to do whatever we can to stop them." She reassures the elder mage.
"Well, we can't stand here all day...lets get this over with." Fergus climbs the stairs and opens the doors. Once inside the chamber, they become witness to Uldred's techniques. If a mage refuses to join him, he forces them to do his bidding by turning them into an abomination. Blood magic, his tool for torture, he turns the mage before him into a twisted being. The mage screams in pain and horror, as his limbs become malformed and his clothing tares as his body grows double in size.
As Uldred turns, he notices his new guests. "Ahhh what have we here? Intruders. I bid you welcome...care to join in our...revels?" A grim smirk spreads across his face. His features darken as he awaits an answer.
"You must stop what you are doing immediately!" Wynne threatens the crazed man before her.
Raising his hands, as if in surrender, Uldred takes a step back. "Oh how could I disobey when you say that in such a commanding voice?" Dropping his hands, the Blood mage curls his lip. "I'm quite impressed that you're still alive. Unfortunately, that must mean that you killed my servants." Shrugging his shoulders, Uldred crosses his arms behind his back. "Ah well, they are probably better off dying in the service of their betters than living with the terrible responsibility of independence."
The Enchantress readies her staff and concentrates her magics. "Don't worry...you'll soon follow your servants."
The group slowly begins to move towards the blood mage.
"Wait, wait, wait...let's not be hasty. I'm trying to have a civilized conversation here." Uldred backs away further.
"We do not converse with abominations!" Thalia points her staff in the direction of her former mentor.
Angered, Uldred's brow knits in frustration. "Fight if you must. It will just make my victory all the sweeter." The blood mage claps his hands together and a wind picks up. The bodies of the dead surround him and he transforms into a giant abomination.
"If I die...Maker...please watch over Keira..." Thalia whispers and charges for the creatures before her.