There is only one thing left to do now that my foolish jealousy has lost me the most important of the few who I count among friends. My share of the Deep Roads expedition profits will fund the clinic for a very long time, but it will also have a more important purpose. During my time in Kirkwall I have made several contacts within the Mage Underground. The Mage Underground, a network that shelters escaped mages, even transporting them outside of Kirkwall, this is where I can make a difference. With a push in the right direction we can become bolder...infiltrating the Gallows itself to free our fellows.
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It has been a productive few weeks, productive indeed. A foolish Templar is bound before us. We use no true names for safety. To my right stands two gentlemen. The older of the two is called Addax. Addax was no mage, but had a child who was. The child was taken by force years ago. When Addax fought back, they left him half dead and without an eye. The younger was a mage we called Beks. He had been an apostate his entire life along with his brother. His brother ended up being caught, and Beks to this very day does not know what Circle they have taken him to. To my left is a young woman I find supremely valuable. We call her Rosebay, and she knew the Gallows firsthand. She had escaped a few years back, and now provided the movement with useful contacts within the circle. That is how we came upon the unfortunate man before us.
The Templar, Ser Wallner, was an ambitious sort. Feeding him a false trail of information about hidden apostates, sheltered only by a frail elderly couple, had worked in luring him to us, foolishly alone. He didn't want to share the glory with anyone else, wanting to easily climb the ranks within the order, making himself impressive to the Knight-Commander. Now he struggled before us, bound in an abandoned warehouse that reeked of fish. He could have what we wanted. Information only privy to the Templars, their plans, what they knew about Apostates we had hidden, the extent of information they had on the underground movement. He also may have what I need to know...which Templar did the ritual on Karl.
And I will make them pay...
We will have vengeance.
Ser Wallner though, he could still live by the end of this.
We must have every last one of them dead at our feet!
I don't believe it has to end that way.
There is no other way.
"I am going to give you one chance to give us the information we want Ser Wallner. This does not have to escalate to violence if you cooperate. We have heard whispers of mages past their harrowings made tranquil. What do you know of that?" Stone faced he said nothing. "Well perhaps that was a tad too difficult to open up with. How about how much is know about the locations of any Apostates in the area, or maybe how much your pals know about our little club here?" Still no reaction.
"Start cutting off his fingers...that's what I suggest" Addax hissed.
"Surely we are no so...barbaric?" Beks questioned nervously his eyes darting between the three of us.
"These men are monsters! Do not forget that boy!" Addax pointed to his black eye patch. "They took my eye for just because I was trying to protect my poor little girl!"
"Shouting won't get us anywhere." Rosebay interjected quite unamused at the two's bickering. I had to say I agreed. I tire of this. I know what has to be done, and I shall be the one to do it. I start to remove my coat.
"Janus what are you doing?" Asks a startled Beks as I pitch the hindering clothing to the floor.
"I am about to get results." The tunic comes off as well leaving me in my breeches.
"You mages are sick, sick staff twirling bastards. Maker preserve your humble servant!" Ser Wallner cries. He is making me most irritable.
"No our kind usually does not jump to the perversions you think of. That's something that you Templars are better at, forcing yourselves on the helpless...but no I'm going to give you a fighting chance to be fair. Cut him free."
"Janus this is foolish...it took so much just to catch him, months of preparation!" Rosebay shouts at me. Our patience is wearing thin.
"DO AS I SAY!" I feel the weight of the words as blue cracks from my skin for a split second. Addax, visibly shaken, takes his knife and cuts the cords binding the Templar. I am not afraid, years of running, my time with the Wardens, I do not fear a fight. "Now Ser Wallner come at me."
He wastes no time rising from the ground lunging at me with fist bared. I am calm, focused. If I let loose my rage it will be Justice in control. He takes his first swing and it connects with my shoulder as I attempt to dodge. He winds up and releases another fist this time to my jaw. The pain is nothing. I deliver my own blow to his gut, and he crumples in pain, and this I plant a knee squarely into his face, smiling as I hear the crunch of his nose breaking. He clutches his face, blood pouring all over his hands. It is horrific how elated I feel... He tries to blindly claw at me, leaving rivets of my own blood up and down my arms and chest. Enough of this. I push him to the hard dirt floor, and he pulls me on top of him. It is not the brightest of moves he discovers when I use the advantage to delivery an assault of punches to his head. His grip loosens and I stand. He is whimpering, this mighty Templar, jailer of mages, servant of the Chantry whimpers at my feet and I am pleased.
We are pleased.
Ser Wallner attempts to crawl away, I send my boot heel into one of his legs, the bone snaps. Now he will talk, oh how he had better talk! I pick him up by his greasy black hair, dragging his sorry form to a wooden beam.
"Now I said if you answered me there would be no cause for violence. I even gave you a fair chance when you refused to answer. If you want this to stop, you will talk." I shoved his face close to the beam. "Now what is going on with mages being made tranquil past their harrowing?" I start to push his face hard across the beam when there is no fast reply. His skin peels on the uneven splintering wood.
"Ser Alrik...He proposes a solution, he wants to make all the mages tranquil...he plans to bring it to the Knight-Commander, and the Divine." He cries out and I stop. He tells me of the Apostates the Templars have knowledge of hiding in Kirkwall, and he speaks of who they know definitively is working with the mage underground. "Please serrah mage, let me go I told you all I know!"
"One more thing... Who presided over Karl Thekla's tranquility ritual?"
"The very same Ser Alrik...now please." I pulled back letting him go.
"Bind him again." This Ser Alrik must pay, but maybe Ser Wallner can still understand... Addax secures the Templar again sharing a frightened look with my other companions. I begin to heal Ser Wallner, taking such care to mend his tissue, his broken bones. He looks dumbfounded as I do this. It takes much out of me to do this, weak as I already am from the fight...but I must push forward...he must see!
"What harmed you the most? Was I acting as a mage when I caused you physical harm? Did magic cause your bones to break, your blood to spill? All men have the capacity to inflict such great harm on others. One doesn't have to have magic to do so. Yet I have such a Maker given gift, the power to heal, the power to mend what is broken, yet you look on mages as cursed by the Maker. Can't you see what wonders mages can do for this world?"
He regards me slowly, perhaps taking in what I have said...he spits in my face. "Blight take you filthy mage."
He cannot be saved.
None of them can.
I start to believe that more and more everyday.
"You know what to do with him..." I wipe his blood flecked saliva off my brow. There will be one less Templar in Kirkwall tonight, and for once I am relieved that Issac is not by my side.