Chapter 11 War at Ostagar
Alistair's group moved quickly across the bridge as the army took their positions. Archers stood in a long line in front of the infantry with ballistae to their right, and the crowd of mabari stood to the left. Duncan and Conrí flanked Cailan as they made their way to the field. "The plan will work, your Majesty," Duncan rumbled.
"Of course it will," Cailan answered firmly. "The Blight ends here."
"I hope you're right, Cailan," Conrí muttered as he and Koun took their places.
Thunder cracked and it began to rain. Hundreds of darkspawn stalked out of the forest amidst a heavy mist. At the centre of the horde's front line a massive Hurlock, clad in fine, ornate plate armor that looked like it had once belonged to a Ferelden captain, now stained with dried blood and carved with obscene runes and sigils. Its bald skull was covered by a horned helm like the Alphas, though its helm was much more intricate, and in its hand was a twisted Greatsword. The way the other darkspawn shifted away from it with looks of fear made Conrí certain this creature was in control of the horde. A bloody Vanguard… great. This thing answers directly to the Archdemon. We have to kill it quickly.
The darkspawn started working themselves into a frenzy but made no move to attack. Do they suspect a trap? Erin wondered uneasily as she watched from the bridge. If they didn't engage the main force, they might melt back into the Wilds or worse, find Loghain and his forces. The darkspawn had to be convinced to join battle with Cailan's forces long enough for Loghain to turn the tables on the monsters.
The Hurlock general look up and down the length of its army then gestured emphatically with its sword.. With a screech of delight, the darkspawn in the front line broke into a run, followed swiftly by the lines behind them, all racing straight for the valley.
The Battle of Ostagar had begun.
The horde quickly began crossing the plane at a sprint, all the while screaming battle cries and howling in bestial rage.
"ARCHERS!" Erin heard Cailan's order even from high above. Looking down, she saw the companies of archers quickly light and nock arrows to the strings of their bows. A second voice shouted out and the archers loosed. A volley of flaming arrows flew into the rain-soaked night sky, followed by a second, and a third. Hundreds more darkspawn fell to the shafts; some killed by the shafts raining down, others as they were slowed by a minor wound from an arrow, then knocked aside by their kin charging from behind and trampled underfoot. As with the traps, the arrows slowed the darkspawn's onslaught. Unfortunately, the barrage didn't stop the charge.
Cailan shouted another command "HOUNDS!" At this, a chilling howl rang out from the front ranks and the wall of mabari kin ran from the front lines of the Ferelden army, hurtling like a wall of furry missiles across the valley, barking and snarling in eager rage at the battle at hand. While their numbers weren't large, the mabari line finally slowed the darkspawn.
Cailan grinned and drew his Greatsword. "FOR FERELDEN!"
His army answered with a deafening roar, and as one, charged with Cailan, Duncan, Conrí and the Grey Wardens at their head. The Hurlock Vanguard saw the threat and began to direct the attention of the darkspawn horde towards the incoming charge, but even as the horde saw them, Cailan's charge hit them like a hammer blow. The loss of their momentum had cost them the advantage, and the charge of the Ferelden army sent them reeling. Great boulders began to launch from behind the tree line, causing Erin to wonder if the darkspawn had siege engines of their own. As she watched, one such missile slammed into a ruined tower of Ostagar, damaging it even further, sending chunks of shouldering masonry falling into the valley.
"Let's get across the bridge, and get to the Tower of Ishal!" Alistair yelled over the din of battle. Erin nodded and the group raced across the bridge, keeping their heads down and shields up if they had them as arrows and even missiles were hurled at the archers and ballistae crews on the bridge. They managed to make it across the bridge, heading towards the gate they had entered the camp by, and made to turn left towards the Tower of Ishal.
Two figures came running towards them as they neared the entrance to the tower's courtyard: a tall, dark-haired man with a short beard, clad in the yellow and black robes of a mage of the Circle, and an older fellow in chainmail with a crossbow on his back. Both men bore expressions of terror on their faces as they ran towards the two Wardens, occasionally casting fearful looks back at the tower. They came to a stop at the foot of the stairs and saw the new arrivals; the chainmail-clad guardsman looked at the griffon medallions they wore and realized who they were. "You! You're Grey Wardens aren't you?! The tower...it's been taken!"
"What are you talking about, man! Taken how!" Alistair snapped.
"The darkspawn came up through the lower chambers, they're everywhere! Most of our men are dead!"
"Then we have to get to the beacon and light it ourselves!" Alistair ordered and turned to the soldier and the mage. "What are your names?"
"Wilhelm, soldier of Denerim, at your command, my lord," said the soldier bowing.
"Cormack, enchanter of the Circle of Magi, at your service, milord," the young mage nodded.
Erin nodded. "Come with us," she said. "We're gonna need all the help we can get! Stay back and attack from a distance; let us deal with the bulk of the darkspawn!" With that, the group raced up the stairs and into the courtyard leading to the Tower of Ishal, coming upon a vicious combat; about five armored men were desperately holding their ground against a group of seven Hurlocks and five Genlocks firing arrows into the fray. They were led by an Alpha wielding a blade in both hands.
The men were holding their own, but the darkspawn had the numbers game in their favor. As the group raced to their aid, Erin watched as one Hurlock leapt back from the swipe of a soldier with a battleaxe, then ran him through with its twisted scimitar. A second man fell, pierced at the neck and chest by three arrows shot by the Genlock archers. The Genlocks shrieked in delight at the kill, a cheer that turned into screams as Erin and Wilhelm dropped two of them with well-placed shots of their own.
With a yell, Garik hurled the axe he taken from Beraht at the Alpha; the blade flew end-over-end through the air and hit the Hurlock Alpha clean in the centre of its chest as it drew its sword arm back to finish off one of the men fighting. The monster was knocked clean off its feet, screeching in agony, its clawed hands clasped around the head of the axe embedded in its armored chest. Garik ran over and stomped the head in deeper; the Alpha gave a howl of pain, and then fell back to the ground, tainted blood dripping from its fangs.
Garik drew the new daggers he'd bought from the quartermaster, their design allowing him to punch with the knuckle guards as the blades swept down to run almost parallel to his wrists and forearms. He was ready to fight on, but with the death of their leader, the remaining darkspawn were falling back, retreating back inside the safety of the tower. Garik stooped to remove his axe from the Alpha's chest. The bit came free with what was no doubt a piece of the beast's heart. "Ew…" he muttered. "Should have left it where it was." Garik shook the axe, dislodging the bit of organ, before tucking the weapon into his belt.
Erin slammed an armored boot into the tower's door, and the warriors, mage and rouges charged in, ready to fight their way to the summit of the tower and light the beacon before all was lost.
The group raced into the tower's entrance hall before coming under attack by a trio of Hurlock archers and another emissary; a Genlock this time. As they entered the hall, Erin noticed the floor in front of the door was covered in a greasy slick. As they struggled in, Erin saw flames forming in the emissary's hands.
"Blast…" she swore, knocking an arrow and releasing, the missile piercing the Genlock's face and digging into its brain. Alistair and Wilhelm dropped two of the Hurlock archers with crossbow bolts, Erin charged the third darkspawn, knocked it to the floor with shoulder tackle and stabbed it in the throat.
The group tore through the first floor of the tower encountering a number of Genlocks and Hurlocks. Dozens of blood-stained bodies, hacked to pieces by blades and likely fanged teeth, indicated what had happened to the garrison. The darkspawn hurled themselves at the interlopers, but they posed little challenge; Erin, Alistair and Wilhelm first hit them with crossbow bolts and arrows. Those that survived long enough to fight back were finished off by Garik and Blair's daggers or Cormack's magic.
They quickly reached the staircase to the second floor. As they began to climb up to the second floor, Alistair wheezed out, "Maker's Breath, what are these darkspawn doing ahead of the rest of the horde! There wasn't supposed to be any resistance here!"
Erin shrugged her shoulders and glibly replied, "You could try to tell them they're in the wrong place."
"Right, because clearly this is all just a misunderstanding! We'll laugh about this later!" Alistair's face quickly sobered. "At any rate, we need to hurry! We need to get up to the top of the tower and light the signal fire in time: Teyrn Loghain will be waiting for the signal!"
The second floor armory was as much a blood-soaked hell as the first floor had been. The group was set upon by a pack of Genlocks as they entered. After hacking their way through the short beasts, the Wardens and their companions slammed through another door to find the tower's kennels. A number of mabari war hounds were trapped inside their cages while a group of Genlocks, led by an Alpha, took pot shots at the helpless dogs.
As the darkspawn saw the intruders, Blair placed a well-aimed shot at the cage release lever, freeing the dogs from their cages, and the mabaris fell upon their darkspawn tormentors like a torrent of fury. Leaving the darkspawn to the war hounds, the group raced to the staircase to the third floor, facing more Genlocks and a number of Hurlocks, but the creatures were eliminated as easily as those before them.
The group reached the staircase to the fourth floor, at which point Cormack used his abilities to summon magical flames that enshrouded their weapons. Alistair turned to the group. "Be wary," he said. "The beacon is up here, and no doubt the darkspawn will be waiting for us!"
Erin nodded and raised her twin swords. The top floor was a small circular chamber, the only notable object within it a pile of oil-soaked wood in a corner leading up a chimney to the roof of the chamber. Well… besides the mountain of muscle off to the right.
Hunched over in a corner of the chamber was a gargantuan creature unlike anything they had ever seen before. It looked like an ape of the jungles of Par Vollen, but it was much, much larger. If it stood upright, it would have towered over them at least ten feet tall. Its scarred, leathery skin was a dull blue-grey in color, with crude leather pauldrons, bracers and greaves tied to its muscular frame and limbs. The monster's head lifted the sound of their approach, and swung round to face them. Its ugly, ape-like face was crested with an crown of curling stag-like horns. The monster's expression contorted into a snarl of rage, its wide mouth baring fangs yellow with decay and corruption. Its gaping maw dripped blood from the remains of what Erin thought was one of the tower's guards. As Erin watched, the beast raised a boulder-sized fist to its mouth to wipe the blood aside, its small, beady eyes narrowed in feral hate as it glowered at them.
"By the Stone!" Erin heard Garik fearfully murmur. "An ogre..!" Erin's blood run cold. She'd heard stories of the ferocious ogres that prowled the wild, desolate places of Ferelden, killing and feeding on anything unlucky enough to cross their path, but she'd never realized they were darkspawn. The ogre rose to its full height, beating its immense fists on its broad, muscular and scarred chest as it roared a challenge.
The group began to fan out, moving wide to encircle the beast and attack it from all directions. "Use caution here!" Erin heard Alistair warn "This thing's going to take a lot of work to put down..."
His warning was interrupted as the ogre roared, lowered its head and charged like a bull straight at Alistair. The man saw the danger and leapt away, the ogre's charge causing it to miss the warrior and slam into the chamber's wall. Wilhelm put a crossbow bolt in its right shoulder and Cormack lashed it with a stream of magical fire, but such attacks did little more than enrage the darkspawn. It turned towards the mage, swinging out with a massive fist, and Cormack went flying through the air.
Blair took advantage to attack the ogre from behind, stabbing her wicked daggers into the back of the monster's right leg, hoping to sever its hamstrings and cripple it. The daggers bit deep into the flesh of the ogre's leg, but not deep enough. As Blair pulled her blades free to attack again, the ogre bellowed in pained fury and kicked out backwards, its clawed foot catching Blair in the chest and sending her flying. Blair gave a winded gasp, but to her relief, nothing seemed to be broken as her cuirass had taken the brunt of the blow.
Wilhelm realized what she'd been trying to do and put down his crossbow, drawing a mace from his belt and attacking the beast from behind. The ogre saw him coming and lashed out at him with its fist, but as it swung, Garik leapt into the air and sank his blades into the ogre's wrist, stabbing deep and holding on. The ogre howled in furious pain as it shook its right arm, desperately trying to shake the dwarf off, but Garik held on for dear life, cursing his stupidity loudly.
The others took advantage of the darkspawn's distraction; Alistair, Erin and Wilhelm hacked and chopped at the beast's chest, drawing blood and pulverizing flesh, Cormack lashed it with bolts of magic fired from his staff, while Blair leapt back to her feet and charged the ogre once more, continuing to hack at the beast's wounded leg.
The monster kicked out again, but Blair nimbly dodged aside and kept hacking. Three heavy slashes brought the beast down to one knee in a spray of tainted blood as its tendons were severed, but it continued to fight on, trying to throw off Garik. As it finally managed to force the rogue to release his grip on its arm, the ogre seized the dwarf in its meaty right fist, drawing back its left to pummel him into a pulp, when Erin slashed her swords down heavily, then striking upwards with them, slashing her blades twice through the ogre's face, splitting its snout and brow in a spray of dark blood.
The ogre staggered back and lost its balance on its injured leg up, throwing out its arms in a desperate attempt to regain its balance, and Erin seized her chance; springing into the air, she leapt and stabbed her right-hand sword into the ogre's shoulder to secure herself. Her full weight slammed into the ogre's chest, sending it toppling like a felled tree as the sudden impact threw it even further off balance. The ogre screamed as Erin wrenched her sword free from its shoulder; it reached out in a final gesture with a clawed fist, trying to seize and crush the Grey Warden, but before it could, Erin reversed her sword and used her full weight to drive the sword and its twin down into the ogre's brow. The darkspawn shrieked in pain as the sharp steel blades punched through the bones of its skull. The monster's screams petered out into a rasping death rattle as a final breath escaped its fanged mouth, its white eyes widening and going blank as life fled its tainted corpse. The ogre's outstretched claws limply fell back and it slumped to the floor, dead at last.
Garik gave a relieved sigh, wiping sweat from his brow as he realized the battle was won. He walked over to the Ogre's arm and pulled his blades free from the ogre's skin.
Alistair gestured to the pile of firewood, and Erin realized that while their fight was over, the battle below wasn't. "Light the beacon! We've surely missed the signal, so let's light it quickly before it's too late!"
Erin nodded and ran over to the pile of firewood, burying the Cousland sword, still wreathed in magical fire, into the pile. The oil-soaked wood quickly caught light and the fire spread, igniting the beacon. Erin grinned; within a matter of minutes, Loghain and his men would see the signal and come charging to Cailan's aid, hitting the darkspawn's flank and sending them into disarray. With a triumphant smile at their successful completion of their task, Erin and Alistair pulled out the telescopes they'd been given and headed to one of the chamber's windows to watch the victory.
What followed was nothing short of carnage. But it was not the carnage any of them had expected to see.
Loghain looked up at the beacon, hearing a rousing cheer coming from Cailan's army fighting in the valley, no doubt eagerly awaiting the reinforcements to come crashing into the darkspawn's flank. Turning to the dark haired woman at his right, Ser Cauthrien, his loyal second in command. He could see an eager anticipation in her eyes; no doubt she was eager to get her sword wet with darkspawn blood. Sadly, she was going to be disappointed. Loghain opened his mouth to give orders, but not the one any of his men either expected, or wanted to hear. "Sound...the retreat."
Cauthrien's dark eyes widened in confusion and shock, as though she hadn't heard, or she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But what about the king?" she protested. "Should we not...?"
"Do as I command!" Loghain tersely snapped, seizing Cauthrien's forearm. The woman stared at him in amazement but she quickly recognized the sorrow in his blue eyes.
Cauthrien pulled her arm free of Loghain's grasp. Her shoulders slumped as she turned away.
"Pull out!" Loghain heard his lieutenant snap. "All of you, let's move!" There were mutterings of discontent, uncertainty and even anger from among the ranks,
As he too turned to join them, Loghain spared one last look at the Tower of Ishal. He felt a pang of regret at what he was doing; abandoning the king, a man who'd been like his own son, the child of his greatest friends, along with so many brave sons and daughters of Ferelden, valiantly fighting for their homes.
His last act before joining his men in retreat was to sigh to himself, thinking of the Warden Cousland. He had spoken so passionately at the war council. He even had Loghain himself believing his words. But the signal had come far too late. No doubt the Wardens sent to the tower were dying at this very moment. So much potential… wasted…
Conrí slashed his sword through the neck of another Hurlock. The Warden Lieutenant was fighting back to back with King Cailan, and both men knew their situation was dire. Their charge had caught the darkspawn off guard, but a second wave of the monsters charged from the trees and hit the king's men hard, and slowly but surely, the darkspawn had driven the army back into the valley. The mages and archers had slowed the darkspawn's onslaught, allowing the infantry companies to battle a disciplined fighting retreat back to the valley, but now the battle had soon devolved into a frenzied melee as men and women desperately fought for their lives against the never-ending tide of monsters. Sporadic volleys of arrows were loosed by a few ragged units of archers who'd managed to retreat back to the camp, where they could fire down on the darkspawn from above.
Serena parried the blade of another Hurlock and delivered a vicious kick to the darkspawn's chest, sending it staggering back. She chanced a look upwards: at the top of the Tower of Ishal, a great fire was burning and Serena allowed herself a thin smile; Alistair and the others had succeeded. Her smile vanished as she realized the darkspawn were still driving on into the valley, and there was no sign of a second force hitting them in the flank: Loghain's men weren't coming.
Where are you! she cursed. Damn you, old fool, we need help!
Behind her, King Cailan slashed the sword of his father had given him across the midsection of a Hurlock, all but cutting it in half, before knocking the scimitar from the hand of a second. Before it could recover, Cailan seized the darkspawn by its sword arm, ran it through and then kicked the Hurlock off his blade with a booted foot. All around them, men and women were fighting bravely to the last against their monstrous foes; Tira hacked off a Hurlock's head with her longsword and smashed the jaw of a Genlock with the pommel of her short sword. Tristan was freezing Hurlocks and Genlocks by the dozens.
Duncan himself desperately parried another attack from the Hurlock he'd booted in the chest, then shouldered it to the floor, desperately trying to fight down a rising tide of an emotion he hadn't felt in years.
Panic.
It didn't matter how bravely they fought or how many they killed; in a battle of attrition, the darkspawn simply had more numbers than they did. Duncan desperately scanned the skies, looking for what seemed now like the only way to end the battle, but to his despair, there was no sign of the archdemon-no draconic roar, no beating of leathery wings. Clearly the dragon was content to let its minions do its bidding without committing itself to the field.
Suddenly Duncan and Conrí felt a surge through the taint. Something… massive was approaching quickly. They had both been so distracted by the darkspawn troops, they hadn't noticed it though the ocean of taint.
Duncan whirled round, but to his disappointment, the approaching danger was regrettably not the archdemon, but the hulking blue form of an ogre. Duncan desperately tried to stab at the ogre's chest, to drive his sword into its heart before it tore its way through the already crumbling army, but to his surprise, the ogre got him first, slamming a fist like a boulder into his side. Duncan felt ribs break as his plate armor crumpled under the blow, the ogre's punch sending him flying through the air to land badly on the wet, blood-soaked ground. Looking up, winded by the blow, Duncan could only watch in horror as the ogre advanced on Cailan and Conrí. Like himself, Duncan's lieutenant was batted aside like a fly. The young man landed heavily, obviously winded, though his cuirass had taken the brunt of the blow.
The king of Ferelden stabbed out, catching the monster a glancing blow on its arm, but the beast retaliated by seizing Cailan in its right claw, lifting him up to its face, growling at him with unthinking feral rage. Cailan showed no fear as the ogre held him up and roared angrily in his face. The young, brave king of Ferelden gasped only once as the ogre cruelly tightened the grip of its meaty fist.
King Cailan died instantly. The ogre toyed with his corpse briefly, as though considering feeding, then seemed to lose interest and tossed the broken body aside, the armored corpse flattening two soldiers as it hit the ground less than a meter from Duncan. The old Warden could only stare disbelievingly at the broken form of the brave young king, who had trusted him, aided him...believed in him. And I failed him. Maker forgive me, I've failed all Ferelden!
The ogre's roar brought Duncan out of his self-pity. The monster's roar sounded almost triumphant, as if it gloried in its act of killing. The sound caused Duncan's grief to melt into fury. Leaping to his feet and ignoring the lancing pain from his broken ribs, Duncan hurled himself at the ogre. His sword was gone from his hands, but he had another weapon: a silverite dagger of Antivan make, given to him years ago by an old friend.
With a roar of mad rage, grief and hate, Duncan sprinted straight at his enemy. The large darkspawn saw him coming and bellowed a challenge, but Duncan was already in midair by then, his knifes stabbing for the ogre's chest. The daggers bit deep and the ogre howled in pain as Duncan's weight drove them deeper into the monster's sternum. I hope it hurts, you ugly, tainted bastard!
Duncan drew the left blade free and stabbed it back in, then stabbed with the right, drawing blood from deep wounds each time he struck. Finally, with a hateful scream, Duncan drove both blades to the hilt in the ogre's heart. With a plaintive howl of pain, the ogre toppled backwards, Duncan riding its corpse to the ground as it fell slain. He allowed himself a moment of victory, then gasped in pain, doubling over as his heavily injured body made him pay for that moment.
Slowly forcing himself off the ogre's gigantic corpse, Duncan all but crawled over to Cailan's body. The king of Ferelden lying in a sprawled, mangled heap inches away. Duncan didn't bother to check for a pulse; no one could have survived with their spine so bent.
"Calian!" Conrí had regained his footing and sprinted over to his fallen friend. "No…" he muttered. His head drooped as his face contorted into a grimace of pain. "No! DAMNIT!"
Duncan felt despair for the first time in so long. They had failed. "Conrí…" he said quietly. "I want you to take Tira, Serena and Tristan and get out of here. We've lost."
"What about you?" Serena asked as she knelt next to him.
"I will try to buy you time. Get to safety!" Duncan ordered as he used Serena's shoulder to help him stand. He picked up his sword. "Go! Now!"
Conrí looked for a moment as if he might disobey, but to Duncan's relief, he turned to Tristan. "Surana, carve us a hole out of here. We head deeper into the Wilds."
Tristan nodded and turned to the wall of darkspawn between them and the gate to the Korcari Wilds. With a roar, he unleashed a stream of ice, freezing deep into the darkspawn force. He swayed when the spell ended, only to be scooped up onto Tira's shoulder. "You're not dying on me here, Surana." Conrí and Serena lead the charge, smashing through the icy darkspawn, shattering quite a few.
Duncan watched them go before turning to greet a small number of Hurlocks that looked to end them. One was an Alpha, wielding a massive axe. The man fought valiantly but knew his time was up.
The axe fell, and so did Duncan. One brief moment of pain, that washed away the regret, the failure, the loss.
Duncan felt no fear as death claimed him. His duty was done. He could finally know peace.
The Wardens on the tower could only watch as the horrific spectacle unfolded below them.
Erin barely heard Alistair yell in pained grief as Duncan fell. Erin simply felt numb. Another person that she knew torn away by the enemy of everything she held dear.
Soon enough, Erin could hear the howling shrieks and bellows of the darkspawn, accompanied by the footfalls of feet running upstairs. Erin raised her swords. With a bellowed war cry, Erin broke into a run at the door, flanked by Garik, Blair and Alistair, hoping to cut down as many darkspawn as possible before they fell, but Erin never got the chance. At the dull twang of bowstrings being loosed she felt incredible pain as a volley of arrows fired almost point-blank smashed her from her feet.
Pierced in the chest, shoulders and torso, Erin fell to the floor, blood leaking from arrow wounds that would certainly prove fatal. She tried to force herself back to her feet to fight on, but her body no longer answered her will. She heard the clang of metal on metal as Alistair and the others desperately made their own last stands, but her hearing began to fade away…
Her last thought before what was surely death claimed her was regret that once again, she had failed. Her family would never be avenged. Howe would never be held to account for his crimes. And now, Ferelden was surely lost to the darkspawn.
Darkness enveloped her, and Erin Cousland knew no more.
AN: I know, i know. I hate cliffhangers too, but i didn't do this on purpose. I still need a little work time on chapter 12, but it should be up some time tonight. If not, i'll have it up tomorrow. ~Sin
