A/N So contrary to what my previous chapters implied Duran and Natia are not capable of being in two places at the same time, they're at the circle and I went back to correct that.
Alice rode
She rode as fast as the horse allowed, fearing that each second she delayed would be a second too many. She feared that the demon might fully manifest, making no possible outcome save Connor's death, she feared that the preservation spell might wear off, or that the slight imperfection would make the blood too little for her sister to use.
Above all she feared that she had been too kind and had doomed her friends.
oOo
Elisa was down.
It had been the first blow of the battle; Uldred had taunted her about her one great weakness and then launched a spell at her at the same time that Elisa threw Blood like a spear toward Uldred. Uldred's attack had worked, Elisa's had not; Blood would have killed him had he not transformed into a pride abomination at the last moment, Blood struck his leg instead of his heart. Elisa fell to her knees, desperately fighting whatever Uldred had done to her.
Moving as one Duran and Sten raised their blades, not aiming for the abominations but instead for Neira and Clara. Thankfully they choose to look to Solona for conformation before killing such powerful allies, even more fortunate was that Solona was able to give the negative; Wynne had wrapped herself in power and was holding the demons off. They just had to deal with the abominations before she failed.
oOo
Without and within Elisa fought.
She fought with one foot in the fade and one foot in the mortal world; keeping the demons out of herself as she was attacked from both fronts battling for everything she was worth. With luck Wynne would be able to keep the others safe but anything Wynne could do would be too late for her if she faltered.
And if it was too late for her then it would likely be too late for them all.
oOo
Alice was a few hours away from the circle when a bandit shot her horse.
It wasn't a very good shot and under normal conditions the wound would have been a minor inconvenience. But Alice had been riding the horse at a two day to collapse pace for 36 hours now and the arrow was the breaking point for the poor creature; the horse collapsed.
Alice's agility saved her and she rolled away when the horse hit the ground. She drew her blades and readied herself for the upcoming fight; she could not let this delay her for long.
A child's life depended on her.
oOo
If anyone could go toe to toe with a fully transformed Pride demon and slug it out it was Sten. The giant faced off Uldred, dodging, blocking and even just taking the demon's blows while dealing his own in equal measure. Duran and Natia worked together alongside Clara as the three dealt with the lesser abominations that followed Uldred, slowly wearing the horde down.
While Solona was equipped for close combat she did not engage just yet, instead using her defensive spells to aid Sten while Neira weakened Uldred.
And yet it was not enough.
The demon was so powerful that despite the powerful support of the two mages combined and the raw strength of the Sten against him he continued to persevere. Slowly Sten weakened and was pushed back, slowly the tide of the battle turned until Sten was just a little too slow and a blow to the head knocked him out.
oOo
You cannot win.
The voice whispered in Elisa's ear as she desperately fought for the control of her body, the despairing voice made all the more dark by the fact that the demon was right; even with all her power, all her skill she could not hold off the demons for much longer. She could hold off the attack from within – she had she had an unmatched advantage – and the attack from without would normally have been laughable; but both together were more than she could handle. Soon she would fall to the demon's attack and then her failure would doom both her friends and the circle. At best.
Suddenly an idea occurred to Elisa; desperate and a huge gamble, this plan was hinged on the hope that her own fortitude was greater than that of her attackers' and that the damage she did to herself would not be so great that she lost her advantage within. But she had no better idea and if she did nothing she would surely fail.
She drew the power of a Templar's smite through her body and back on herself.
oOo
Stepping over the body of the last of the bandits, Alice sheathed her weapons and began looking around; with luck her would be robbers had had been successful enough to steal at least one horse.
There
A horse was tied to a tree; it looked more like a plow horse than the rider she had been using but it was a horse and better yet it seemed to be fresh.
Perfect.
Alice untied the horse and set off on the trail once more; spurring the horse into as much of a gallop as such a creature was capable of. The good thing was that they only had to ride a few more hours; she could push the animal as far as it could go.
She would not lose any time from this attack.
oOo
Seeing Sten fall Duran broke off from where Natia and Clara where dispatching the abominations. For the time being it appeared that they need not worry about Uldred making any more; whatever Wynne was doing appeared to preventing any demons from affecting the mages during his previous attempts. Duran faced Uldred down as Solona wrapped him in shields to better his chances against the demon, as he was doing so Natia and Clara finished off the last of the abominations and came up behind Uldred to assist. The unconsciously devised plan for Natia to hamstring the monster while Duran distracted it and the mages aided them was ruined when Uldred kicked backwards, toward Natia. Sometimes size does matter and Natia's short legs could not get her away from Uldred's kick in time; she was sent flying into Clara and the two smashed into a broken pillar and were knocked unconscious. Duran seized the opportunity to deal a grievous wound to Uldred but found himself compromised as the abomination recovered quicker than he thought possible. Uldred grabbed him and threw him towards Neira; taking them both down. Before he passed out Duran felt Neira cast one last spell before falling into unconsciousness.
He felt himself fall into darkness, joining her.
It was all up to Solona now
oOo
The pain was even greater then she had imagined.
Elisa had both smited and been smited and would not like to repeat the experience of either. What she had not realized was that not only did a smite cause incredible pain, it also left the target vulnerable to further attacks; bringing the smite back down on herself was not simply a repeat of the pain of channeling it but rather twice as devastating.
Fortunately the same was true for the demons; the ones in the fade had all either fled or been killed outright – she doubted they would return any time soon. She mentally surveyed the damage she had done to herself and was dismayed; she would not be able to enter the fade safely for a week or so and would be limited to her weaker spells as a result.
She pushed the information aside and turned to face what remained of the attack from within.
The battle was not done yet.
oOo
Solona faced down Uldred alone; the only help she had was the curse Neira had placed on the demon before passing out; if it wore out before she killed him she was dead. Drawing Oathbreaker and her shield Solona faced down the monster; he had been wounded in both legs, once by Blood and once by Duran, hopefully she could use that to win.
She charged him and they clashed; Solona used all the spells she had at her disposal to keep him at bay as they fought, desperately seeking an opening before Neira's spell wore off. She retreated for a moment and drew the earth up beneath her launching it at Uldred. He deflected it and sent it flying off into a corner of the chamber, shattering a strange phylactery, but it knocked him back and gave her the opening she needed.
She charged towards him, shield raised and sword at the ready. He pulled his arm back and threw a punch but to put some power behind her shield and deflected it; throwing him further off balance and knocking him back, exposing his chest. She leapt up, driving her Oathbreaker into his heart before yanking it out and plunging it into his eye, killing him.
With Uldred's death Wynne released the spell "I won't be doing that to entertain children I think" was all she said before collapsing, exhausted beyond measure.
"Well done!" came a voice behind Solona, who turned to face the speaker "I knew you could do it! I knew that you were strong enough to kill Uldred and save the circle!" Irving continued "I've known since the moment you came here that you would rise above the rest, succeeding where others had failed. I'm glad that the wardens saved you; you're too great to be trapped in here. You alone did not succumb to the lures of blood magic and you will show the world the power of a good mage!" His voice stroked her ego, filling her heart with pride. She smiled, then frowned: Irving never praised mages like this; he said too big an ego was dangerous, too much pride…
Solona tensed, ready for another fight "Nice try mouse"
In an instant Irving transformed, taking the form a pride demon "Then I will take you by force!" Solona felt the power of the demon and despaired; she was too tired, there was no way that she could defeat another greater pride demon.
Suddenly Blood flew through the air like a spear, piercing Mouse's heart. It was quickly followed by Silence and Loss, who flew into the demon's eyes. Solona turned around to see Elisa standing over Uldred's body beside the real Irving "I don't make the same mistake twice" was all she said.
A/N so a bit of a shorter chapter, mainly because I thought that was a great place to end the chapter and because it think that one of the biggest fight scenes in this story deserved its own chapter. Next chapter will be wrapping up the Redcliff and circle arcs and watching a desire demon try to get inside Neira's small clothes. Zevran will show up soon along with initiating the Soldier's peak and return to Ostagar DLCs – that being said return to Ostagar will not happen for a while – Soldier's peak on the other hand… I have some fun ideas, not to mention a chance to play with how ruthless some of my characters can be.
Also I (along with Clara, Neira, Isolde, Connor and by extension, Eamon) would like to thank Latindragon for helping me figure out how to keep everybody alive through this chapter without making it seem like a "the author wills it, so let it be" plot point. And also for betaing for me
Anyways thanks for reading and as always please review