Chapter 12
Dorian waited for Kiara to yell at him, but it didn't happen. She actually didn't speak for four days, which had left the carriage ride long and dull thus far. He decided they needed to talk about what happened before she coiled into an furious little wisp. Dorian stopped himself from laughing at the fervor with which Kiara angrily crossed any part of her body she could, watching the scenery of the Heartlands crawl by through the window. "You know I had to do it. A few of our people stayed behind to see what they can find out."
The flamey little red head pinched her lips and shook her head. "What if the guards arrest him for murder? He's a good person and we shouldn't have left him there."
"Well, the two of you connected quickly," he jested. Kiara shot him a glare.
"Don't treat me like some fickle little girl. You know he was protecting me and that makes me responsible."
"I know you feel guilty, but keeping you safe had to be my priority," he insisted. The girl started to argue when the carriage pulled to a halt.
"Why are we stopping?" she asked.
"Perhaps the horses need a rest?"
Her hazel eyes widened at something outside and her rosy lips parted in confusion. "Dorian, isn't that the driver?" Dorian frowned and leaned forward to find what she saw. Indeed, their driver bolted down a grassy hill beside the road.
"Philippe!" Dorian called after him. The man looked back, but it was not Philippe. Dorian muttered a curse and wove magic into a protective barrier around the carriage. As he feared, a band of Corypheus's templars advanced on them. They swung their blades at the barrier, using their negation magic to weaken the spell, but it held for now.
"What do we do?" Kiara asked. Before Dorian could answer, something large crashed through his barrier and rammed into the carriage with the force of an enraged bronto. Kiara's scream filled the cabin. The side conceived as large shards of lyrian broke through and the whole thing was sent tumbling down the hill. Dorian couldn't brace himself well enough and his head smacked into the seat. Blackness claimed him.
The carriage had settled on its side when he fought his way back to consciousness. His head pounded painfully and it was difficult to focus on anything. Kiara was face down, completely still. His breath caught, but when a templar jumped inside between them, she grimaced and her eyelids fluttered open lazily. The man delivered a preemptive kick to the mage's face. His nose broke and warm blood spurted down his cheeks. Painful stars obscured his vision. The templar bent and clasped iron shackles around Kiara's wrists but she started to struggle when he heaved her up toward the open door by her elbows. Panic rose Dorian's heart beat to a fever pitch. He couldn't use magic. With Kiara in front of the templar, he would hit her instead. He awkwardly dragged himself forward.
"No!" she shrieked, struggling against her captor. Dorian reached for her, grasped at her boot. She moved too much. Another hand reached down and hauled her up by her arms, but she threw her foot into the first templar's face as she was lifted out. He stumbled back and his helmet was knocked a little askew. Dorian shot a bolt of lightning into the gap between his helmet and chestplate. He didn't wait for the energy to stop send convulsive waves through the man's nervous system. He was already dead.
His head spun when he tried to fumble to his feet and he sank back down. Blood soaked the side of his head where he must have struck it and more still gushed from his nose. His vision swam. Still, he grasped the rim above his head to help him stand. It took even more energy to pull himself up and fell off the carriage more than climbed off. The thing that had taken Kiara was the same one that had tackled the carriage. With large shards of lyrium protruding from his mutated back, he looked more like a beast than a man at this point. He was stampeding away from the crash site with Kiara in his clutches. Even if she could manage to pelt it with magic in her awkward position, being that close to such a potent vessel of templar magic probably rendered her own magic impotent.
Between Dorian and this monster, half a dozen templars advanced. Dorian summoned what magic he could into a blizzard spell. A flurry swirled to life above them and sharp shards of ice fell and impaled several. The rest were distracted enough trying not to be impaled so Dorian consumed the nearest enemy in a plume of flame.
A fireball knocked the next off his feet and Dorian's attention was drawn to a fellow mage atop a rock formation twenty yards off. His shaggy black hair was windswept as if he had been running and his close cut beard hid his deep scowl. He swung his staff around and struck the ground with its sphere head and a trail of earth erupted from the ground, moving toward the remaining templar. The blighter dove out of the way and the mage continued his assault, but Dorian returned his focus to Kiara.
Adrenaline pumped through his veins from the fight and he bolted for the treeline the Red Templar Horror had disappeared into. He could hear the monstrosity ahead. Far ahead. His breathing grew frantic and he willed his feet to move faster, kicking up pine needles and dirt as he ran. There! He could see them where the ground sloped further down.
"Kiara!" He cried out. He didn't see the blade swinging at him until it was too late. A force push spell shoved the templar back, but the reach of his blade still gashed across Dorian's back. He screamed. Felt the blood drip down his back. He'd lost far too much now. He tried to turn to face his attacker but crumpled to the ground in the process, grasping for breath on his hands and knees. His vision blurred badly. A fusillade of arcane energy pierced the templar scout's armor until he collapsed dead against a tree. The man from before ran into view to make sure the templar was dead and then turned to Dorian. Concern knitted his brows into a tight furrow. He knelt down in front of the Tevinter just as his vision started to go dark.
"Warn the Inquisition!" Dorian pleaded. Blackness once again took hold of him.
The speed with which this lyrium behemoth ran was unbelievable. It seemed that once it built up its momentum, nothing but a head on collision with something larger would stop it. And no matter how she tried, Kiara couldn't get any magic to work. She knew this templar was dampening it. Kicking and flailing at the beast had done nothing thus far except probably leave bruises on her. This thing was stronger than her and she knew it; Knew there was nothing she could do except let it carry her wherever it intended to carry her. She prayed to the Maker the whole way that somehow Dorian was alright.
The forest reached a mountain and daylight vanished as they darted into a cavern. It was most certainly not empty, either. Moans and wails echoed off walls that practically bleeding with red lyrium. Finally, the monstrosity slowed down, passing countless other Red Templars through the endless maze. Prison cells had been etched into the walls and barred with jagged rods of metal. At the end of a long tunnel, a templar opened one for her and she was tossed in. She rolled across the rocky floor. Sharp edges cut and bit at her through her tunic and trousers. Neither monster said a word and left the tunnel. For all it's frightfulness, at least the lyrium gave her light to see by. The girl grunted and flipped onto her back. She had to do something, but what? She'd only started wracking her brain when a voice nearly startled her into a heart attack.
"What's your name?" A woman asked. Kiara searched the dim cell and found her lying on the ground. There was a kindness in her green eyes that reminded Kiara of her sister. Sweat soaked her skin and long black hair. She looked feverish. Kiara gasped and scooted over to her. It was awkward to do with her hands shackled.
"Are you sick? I might be able to muster a little healing magic."
The woman smiled weakly. "It wouldn't do any good against lyrium withdrawal."
Kiara's eyes widened. "Lyrium withdrawal? Then you're a templar?"
"I used to be. Don't worry, you're in no danger from me. My name is Evangeline. What's your name?" she repeated.
Evangeline? The name sounded familiar. "Kiara. Why are they taking people?"
Evangeline licked her parched lips and shifted in an attempt to get comfortable. "Slave labor mostly, I believe. Those like me, they've been systematically turning into more of them. I don't think they've taken any mages captive until now. What could they want?"
Kiara pinched her lips. "My sister runs the Inquisition. But even as incentive for them to abduct me, it also means the Inquisition will come looking for us." Despite the woman's insistence that it would be useless, Kiara pulled what magic she could through the dampening of the templars to at least try to soothe Evangeline's pain. After a while, the warrior's muscles eased and her eyelids fluttered closed. Her breathing steadied. How little had she slept, Kiara wondered. Once she was certain Evangeline was in deep enough sleep that she would not wake if she stopped, Kiara decided to save her energy and settled on her back to wait. But of course, the templars had other plans.
A gaunt faced man stomped down the hall in heavy templar plate that clanged and jangled together with every movement just as his two companions. Kiara moved to sit protectively in front of Evangeline. His glower landed on her when he stopped just outside and he motioned his hand to instruct the cell be opened. Kiara didn't bother fighting when the two templars lifted her to her feet to pull her out. Silently, they towed her through the passages to a makeshift room with one solitary piece of furniture; A steel chair with hand and ankle shackles and no small amount of blood that someone had hastily tried to wipe from the seat. The templars yanked her to it when she resisted and roughly strapped her down.
The first man towered over her and she matched his glare. "If you survive this, you will be an excellent candidate to become the vessel," he said in a voice altered by red lyrium.
Kiara rolled her eyes with a sneer. "Do you really believe that this is the first time I have endured threats in dark places? Am I to snivel and cower like a child? More demons than you can count in that lyrium addled brain of yours have tried to claim me. I will not let you use me against my sister."
A wicked sneer twisted his features. "That's not the kind of vessel we mean." Despite herself, Kiara sank in the seat. One of the others marched around the chair and grabbed a fistfull of her hair to hold her head back. With his other hand he pulled her jaw down to keep her mouth open. The first man stepped closer and withdrew a small vial of some sort of dark liquid. She struggled, but the man and the restraints kept her. He dumped the contents into her mouth and she refused to swallow so the templar let go of her jaw and plugged her nose. Soon, she needed air and had to swallow to breathe through bull air between her lips. When nothing happened, she knotted her brows together in confusion.
"I don't understand," she sputtered breathlessly.
The leader pulled a knife from a sheath on his belt. "The venom itself doesn't hurt. Instead it makes you highly sensitive to any pain delivered after." Kiara whimpered when he pressed the tip of the dagger to her arm. He pulled it slowly across, barely cutting into the tissue, but he may as well have stabbed her through. She screamed.
"Move," Nora snapped to the gaggle of nobles who refused to scatter from the door to Josephine's office. She tore through the keep with Cullen and Josephine in toe, Josephine sputtering apologies for the abruptness. Nora sprinted down the stairway outside and across the courtyard to the gate. An open-faced wagon was being pulled across the bridge that she knew carried a wounded Dorian, accompanied by a number of her agents who all greeted her forlornly.
"I'm sorry." Dorian's voice was barely audible as she neared the wagon and she pulled herself onto it. It continued to jostle toward the infirmary building.
"Dorian, are you alright?" She asked. The question was pointless. He was definitely not alright. Bandages covered what she could see of his chest and his nose was bruised black and blue. Dew dampened the skin around his eyes and his lip crinkled as if he might start crying.
"I'm so sorry," he repeated. Nora felt herself well up and cupped his cheek with her hand.
"Don't be. You nearly killed yourself trying to protect her."
"I should have noticed that our driver was different. Even now, I can't say when he was replaced!"
Nora shook her head. "That doesn't matter now. Don't worry, we'll find her. You need to rest." Before he could argue, the Inquisitor stood and hopped from the waggon. Cullen and Josephine had stayed behind with the envoy. No one seemed to notice Cole watching from around the corner of the watchtower. There was a haunted look in his eyes, glued to a man she didn't recognize. Nora narrowed in on the stranger, anger flurrying in her chest. Only when she got near did the man notice.
"Who the hell are you and what happened?" Nora stormed up to him with a fury that made him backpedal into his horse. He held up his hands innocently.
Cullen got in her way. "Nora, wait. This man tried to help."
She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, but it did very little, if anything. "Start talking," she demanded.
"Ehm, my name is Rhys," he introduced himself awkwardly. Nora recognized the name and glanced again at where Cole had been hiding, but he was gone. "I was tracking the templars when I found them attacking their carriage. I was able to help this man from being taken, but in all honesty, I think they were only focussed on the girl."
"Where is she now?"
"They headed south through the forest near Val Firmin."
"Then that's where we're going."
Kiara had been gone when Evangeline had pulled herself back to consciousness. She felt gratefully refreshed given that it was the first time she'd been able to sleep in three days and her fever had subsided. The withdrawal pains weren't so bad now. But anxiety gnawed at her gut. Where had they taken Kiara? It was far too long before Evangeline finally caught a glimpse of the girl being dragged back down the hall. Why wasn't she moving? The men tossed her inside and the bars clanged loudly when they pulled them shut once more. Evangeline didn't wait for them to leave before fumbling over to her. The girl's eyes were puffy from crying and stared despondently at the floor. Until she blinked, Evangeline was afraid she wasn't actually alive.
One of the templars tossed a small satchel inside the cell before they marched off. A few rolls of bandages rolled out. Evangeline wasted no time wrapping the many gashes on the girl's arms. They ranged from mere scratches to dangerously deep gashes. She knew the torture couldn't have been that simple, didn't want to make her relive it by asking what else had been done. Certain plant extracts or even a few venoms could have been used to make it seem worse.
"Don't worry. I'll be alright," Kiara said quietly. Sadness dampened Evangeline's spirits when tears slid down the girl's expressionless face. Her hazel eyes fluttered closed and she fell asleep.