I am still in awe of all the readers. I never thought it would get so much attension! Thank you all for your support.
I've been ill and haven't been able to write as much as I usually do but here is the next chapter. Darkspawn and Tevinter cultist! What would DA be without them =P
I hope you enjoy!
.o.O.o.
Credits to FenXshiral and whom ever is responsible for the LingoJam elven DAI translator. I'm sorry if I abuse the language. Bare with me, I'm trying.
Chapter 13
"You can't go alone! It's madness!" Cullen roared, scowling at the stone-faced elf in full battle-attire walking promptly away from him.
Anuira had heard it all before, and quite frankly she was sick of it, she refused to lay down and become a 'lady in distress' over the fact that she now only had one arm. She was still going to fight for everyone and everything she deemed worthy but Cullen disagreed in his, according to her, misplaced need to protect her.
"I'm going and that's final!" she hissed, spinning on her heal to face him as she reached Tadwinks.
A small band of scouts consisting of mainly rogues and skirmishers were gathered there in the courtyard, ready to go the moment Anuira gave the orders. They all knew the importance of getting reinforcements to Highever as soon as possible since the only wardens, not currently returned to Weisshaupt in the Anderfells, was still within Skyhold. Not counting the King of Ferelden himself.
"But why does it have to be you? I could just as well go and you could…" Cullen started to argue but trailed off in annoyance as Anuira swung herself on to Tadwinks.
"You? Lead a band of rouges and skirmishers on a covert mission?" She spat, exasperated. "Please, you'd be a bogfisher in the Winterpalace!"
Cullen was not happy to be left behind and normally he would never be. But this time someone she trusted explicitly would have to coordinate the communications between Weisshaup, Denerim and Skyholds moving troops. The army consisting of all the people who'd settled on Skyholds slopes who were still willing to contribute to the cause, unofficially of course.
She had a funny feeling about this supposed threat in Highever. A feeling only strengthened by her latest run-in with Geal and Harel in the fade during the night. Their hooded friend had not made an appearance since the time in the woods on their way home from Halamshiral but the two mischievous spirits was more than a handful to handle without adding to her troubles. What really bothered her was that neither Geal nor Harel ever implied the reason they were still pestering her.
The spirits only danced around her questions with cryptic nonsense or questions of their own. But they kept coming back to one very disturbing thing, a loved one's demise. Everything the annoying spirits said contained subtle clues that hinted at impending death for someone she loved. It made her even more determined to have Cullen safe in within the ranks of their still rather large regiment of troops.
"Cullen, you are still the Commander of our troops, your place is with them. Unfortunately we can ill afford to let Highever wait for them to march all the way there. We need to get our warden friends there as fast as possible." Anuira tried in a soothing voice, well aware of the ex-templars worry for her safety. He did not feel any better about this mission than she did and for her to willingly go into harm's way alone when both of them knew something was amiss, was nerve-wracking to say the least.
"Maker… Be careful. Please…" Cullen sighed, his words trailing into nothingness as Anuira leaned down from the back of Tadwinks to press her lips to his.
"I will and we'll send word as soon as we find anything." she said as she turned Tadwinks and barked the go ahead to the group of volunteers gathered in the courtyard.
.o.O.o.
The way to Highever was one and a half days swift ride away, but since the group had no need of their mounts beyond transportation they were driving them hard to gain time. Skipping meals and rest in favor of making good time.
Once they were within sprinting distance of Harper's Ford they left their mounts to a local farmer who also provided information. Highever had gone absurdly quiet and people where acting strange but as far as the farmer knew there were no darkspawn. This was also confirmed by the Wardens who could not sense any activity in the immediate area.
Under normal circumstances Anuira would have been glad for the news but something in her gut told her this made it worse.
After a short rest and quick meal the group of ten made their way stealthily towards the town. Two of the rouges, a young rouge human male, Essex accompanied by a female dwarf, Filah made their way towards the tavern hoping to gather some information as the rest of the group stayed in range but out of sight. Snooping around Harper's Ford revealed two things and none of them good.
First off, there were actually darkspawn activity happening, but further down along the coast towards Soldiers Peak. The old warden fortress captured and purged by the Hero of Ferelden after the defeat of the Archdemon and the blight.
Second off, the weirdness happening in Highever had nothing to do with the darkspawn but everything to do with dark magic. Everyone had presumed the venatori's dispersion after the death of Corypheus. It seemed as though they'd all been very wrong.
The venatori cult had gone underground to regroup, changing their name to somnoborium, "Vessels of dreams", they were still very much active and ever the fanatics. Whispers could be heard among the agents that the darkspawn once again was close to finding an old god and they were of course trying to get to it before the darkspawn could corrupt it. They probably planned on trying to bend it's will to their own and then lay all of Thedas under their boot in another reign of Tevinter-tyranny.
Anuira wasted no time sending a crow towards Cullen with the information and asking him to send word to not only Weisshaupt and Denerim but also all other major nations that needed to know in case they were unsuccessful in their mission to halt both Tevinter supremacists and darkspawn.
Never before in history had they had a chance to stop a blight before it began but how they would go about doing that was a conundrum.
Anuira contacted Dorian through the crystal she was wearing around her neck letting him in on the plans of his fellow countrymen. Of course the furious man insisted on meeting up with them as soon as he was able and made her promise to give him constant reports until he arrived.
"Well, isn't this nostalgic? You and me battling the evil schemes of the Tevinter Imperium for the sake of Thedas!" he exclaimed bitterly. "You'd think they'd learned by now."
Anuira couldn't help but snicker at his snark. Creators she missed him.
"Nuvenan ithas. Sildearan laimem i'tel ma, isa'ma'lin." (I want/wish/desire to see you. I feel lost without you, brother.) she said, a gentle smile gracing her features.
"I'm leaving Nevarra first thing in the morning, da'ean." (da'ean - little bird) Dorian smiled before saying his goodbyes.
The infiltration-group gathered to get a something to eat and plan before springing into action. Time was short.
First Anuiras group would try to assassinate some key-members of the cult to sow chaos and buying time for the leaders of the nations to act as well as giving Skyholds forces a chance to arrive. They were at best still a four days march from Highever.
After wreaking havoc they would be moving down the coastline to intercept the darkspawn and hopefully they'd be able to keep them at bay until backup arrived.
Anuria's group successfully crippled the Somnoborium in Harper's Ford, as six identified higher ups and their throng of close guards was mysteriously and viciously killed during the night. The company dared not poison the food or water supplies due to the risk of hurting the innocent villagers but they hoped they'd done enough to cripple the cult until the army of Skyhold arrived.
During the assassinations information was found and quickly relayed to Cullen, that the somnoborium had taken over all of Highever with brutal killings, infiltrations and use of blood-magic to control the Teyrnir's nobles. This was a serious matter that desperately needed to reach the Fereldan monarchs. Hopefully they'd listen and hurry to reclaim their lands, leaving Anuira and her forces to deal with the darkspawn threat.
Now the small company of rouges led by the former Inquisitor, hurried along the coast-line in the fading darkness as the night gave way to morning, searching for a good place to camp before continuing towards Soldiers Peak.
.o.O.o.
It took them nearly all day after a few short hours of sleep, to find the small fishing-village now a plundered ruin after a darkspawn raid. Searching the houses briefly, one by one, turned up nothing but mindless chaos and the gruesome display had them all on edge. The two wardens in their midst was the jumpiest, still young to their duty and not having faced off with darkspawn before. The wardens felt the closeness to the darkspawn creeping along their spines, hearing their collective minds screeching in the back of their own, like an itch they couldn't quite reach.
The tunnel the darkspawn had emerged from was found in the cellar of the small chantry on the rock-shore by the jetties.
Everywhere they looked they found splatters of long since dried blood and the stench of death and decay was mind-numbing. Hardly any bodies were found and the first one they did find made one of the youngest skirmishers retch.
It was the body of a small girl, wearing the remnants of a simple blue dress with a bow in the back. Still clutching her doll in one hand thrown above her blond head, long curls in complete disarray while lying face down in a pool of dried gore. Her small, fragile body wearing the horrific but distinct teeth-marks of something much larger than a rat, flesh missing to the bone in some places and one foot almost gnawed of.
Once the young male scout, Cal, had stopped heaving they continued towards the tunnel leading into the bowels of earth and one step closer to the nightmares inhabiting the area.
Anuira took half the party, including the two wardens, Kaila and Josmael, on a brief scouting mission into the tunnels. They needed to know how far away danger was as well as knowing if the tunnel branched directly into the deeproads or if it was a maze of darkspawn-built tunnels to search first.
The other half put up camp and then proceeded to send the few dead they could find to the maker, creators or ancestors, whatever they believed in, by pyre